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Bangladesh doesn’t have an Elite Panel umpire, forcing the ICC to make the appointment

Mohammad Isam25-Jan-2021The ICC has named Richard Illingworth as a match official for Bangladesh’s Test series at home against West Indies next month. This will make Illingworth the first neutral umpire in a Test since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.In June last year, when international cricket resumed after the global lockdown because of the pandemic, the ICC had temporarily removed neutral umpires for all international formats owing to the “current logistical challenges with international travel”.But Bangladesh doesn’t have an umpire in the ICC’s Elite Panel, necessitating the appointment of Illingworth. He arrived in Chattogram on January 24, 11 days before the first Test, which will start February 3.Like all inbound travellers from the United Kingdom, Illingworth, too, is currently undergoing mandatory institutional isolation in accordance with the January 13 directive from Bangladesh’s civil aviation authority. All passengers from the UK are required to isolate for four days after their arrival in the country regardless of the result of their first Covid-19 test. After a second test, the passengers must go into home quarantine for another ten days. The strict measures have been put in place following the appearance of the new strain of the Covid-19 virus in the UK.However, since Illingworth has already arrived in Bangladesh, he is expected to go through a shorter quarantine as the BCB usually negotiates with the government for exemptions relating to cricketing assignments. The BCB has already got similar exemptions for their coaching staff as well as the West Indies contingent and TV crew, who arrived from the UK a little over two weeks ago.Illingworth will officiate the two Tests alongside home umpire Sharfuddoula, who will stand in his first Test match. He will become the fifth Bangladeshi umpire to stand in a Test match after Enamul Haque, AFM Akhtaruddin, Mahbubur Rahman, and Showkatur Rahman.

The Sri Lankan smashed a 22-ball fifty, but it wasn’t enough to take defending champions Knight Riders home in a chase of 161

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu11-Oct-2019
The last time Barbados Tridents made the CPL final, in 2015, Kieron Pollard was their captain. Four years later, Tridents, led by Jason Holder, toppled Pollard’s Trinbago Knight Riders in front of a raucous Trinidad crowd to set up a final clash with Guyana Amazon Warriors, who have won 11 of their 11 games in CPL 2019 so far.A torrential downpour had delayed the arrival of Tridents’ team bus, a floodlight tower experienced power failure, JP Duminy was forced to retire hurt in the first innings, but Tridents overcame the odds to end Knight Riders’ hopes of a three-peat.ALSO READ – Pollard: A mercenary and a legendAfter helping Tridents loot 43 off their last two overs to finish with 160 for 6, Ashley Nurse took 2 for 14 with the ball to send Knight Riders’ chase spiraling out of control. When Pollard was run out for 23 off 16 balls, the crowd fell silent and Tridents’ owners were celebrating. Knight Riders’ Sri Lankan recruit Seekkuge Prasanna, however, threatened a jailbreak with 22-ball half-century and dragged the chase to the last over.Knight Riders needed 14 off the final over and Prasanna was on a boundary-hitting spree, having launched slower-ball specialist Harry Gurney out of the ground. Left-arm seam-bowling allrounder Raymon Reifer, who had earlier hit an unbeaten 24 off 18 balls, pinned Prasanna in front with a dipping yorker to seal Knight Riders’ fate.Third-time unlucky
Javon Searles drew an outside edge from Johnson Charles with the second ball of the match, but wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin dropped it. Searles then had the opener skying a loft in his second over, but neither Lendl Simmons nor Chris Jordan attempted the catch in the infield and reprieved him again. Charles then managed a mere eight runs off 15 balls from Sunil Narine and Khary Pierre before searching for a release against Ali Khan. Charles ventured another lofted hit, but the USA seamer hit a hard length and had him splicing a catch to mid-off.ALSO READ: Pierre: Trinbago Knight Riders’ master of thriftOh hello, Ashley Nurse!
Before this game, Nurse had last bowled on September 22 in Tridents’ first home match of the season. He hadn’t quite fired with the bat either until Thursday. While other higher-profile names like Alex Hales and Shakib Al Hasan fell cheaply, Nurse punched 24 off nine balls at a strike-rate of 266.66.When Nurse entered to bat, Tridents were 112 for 6 in the 18th over and their coach Phil Simmons confirmed that Duminy would not return to bat because of a “hamstring twinge”.Nurse was up against the Barbados-born Jordan, who had conjured a double-wicket over earlier in the evening. But the onset of dew meant Jordan couldn’t grip the ball and dished out a beamer that was smoked for a six over the bowler’s head. Jordan then attempted a slower ball later in the over, but Nurse manufactured pace for himself and slugged it over midwicket for another six.He cracked another six in the last over of the innings, bowled by Ali Khan, to push Tridents to a competitive total along with Reifer.Seekkuge’s salvo
Narine kickstarted Knight Riders’ chase with four fours off the first over, bowled by Shakib, but was tricked by Gurney’s slower cutter in the third. Lendl Simmons, the second-highest run-getter this season, had a rare failure, chipping a similar slower ball from Jason Holder to mid-on. USA’s legspin-bowling sensation Hayden Walsh Jr. and Nurse then carved up the middle order, leaving Knight Riders at 81 for 5 in the 12th over. Pollard briefly gave his side hope by muscling Walsh Jr. for a brace of sixes down the ground, but a mix-up with Prasanna four overs later resulted in his dismissal. At this point, Knight Riders still needed 41 off 25 balls. Prasanna then went cray-cray, as did the Knight Riders fans. Guney was dumped onto the roof, and the ball bounced out of the Brian Lara Stadium. Walsh Jr. wasn’t spared either as Prasanna took him for back-to-back sixes. However, Reifer had the final say, ensuring we will have a new champion this season.

The Australian picked up where Martin Guptill had left off to strength Worcestershire’s position at the top of the table

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge04-Aug-2018Worcestershire 206 for 2 (Ferguson 102*, Moeen 65) beat Nottinghamshire 134 (Mullaney 55, Parnell 3-20, Brown 3-21) by 72 runs

ScorecardMartin Guptill is a tough act for any batsman to follow but Worcestershire may not miss the hard-hitting Kiwi for very long if Callum Ferguson performs in the way he did here as the Rapids maintained their momentum in the Vitality Blast.Ferguson’s first T20 hundred in 88 attempts helped the Rapids build their biggest total of the season, one that proved far too much for Nottinghamshire Outlaws, whose grip on the trophy they won so impressively last season is looking decidedly shaky.Ferguson’s unbeaten 102 off 56 balls is the second personal milestone he has achieved during his two spells at New Road this summer.  He opened his first visit by hitting 192 against Leicestershire in the Royal London One-Day Cup, easily his best in List A cricket.As it happens, Guptill signed off with 102 against Northamptonshire in the last of his seven Vitality Blast matches before leaving to join Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League.Worcestershire have now won seven of their nine completed matches and lead the North Group by three points as they seek to reach finals day for the first time, having been losing quarter-finalists three times. They had targeted this match as one that might be a yardstick of how far they are capable of progressing and in the end exceeded the best hopes.”Nottinghamshire are a really good side and that was a big game for us,” Ferguson said afterwards. “We thought 160 or 170 would maybe be a par score on this pitch after getting 200 we were confident we could defend the total, especially on a surface that we felt was slowing up towards the end of our innings.”It was a really good performance and sets us up nicely for the rest of the competition.”Nottinghamshire seemed to have corrected their losing habit at home this season, winning their last two fixtures in front of packed houses at Trent Bridge, including a nine-run victory over East Midlands rivals Derbyshire.Yet, even with Alex Hales back from a side injury to play his first domestic match for two months, they could never reach the scoring rate needed to have a realistic chance of chasing down a target of 207 after Ferguson and Moeen Ali had put on an exhibition of destructive batting that even the most partisan in the home crowd had to applaud.After Hales had chipped Wayne Parnell straight to mid-off, their best hope of getting anywhere close ended in a fashion that rather summed up their night when Steven Mullaney, the one Nottinghamshire batsman who had looked capable of making a meaningful game of it, was run out for 55 when he made the schoolboy error of failing to ground his bat after comfortably completing a single.After his demise, the Outlaws capitulated all too rapidly. Billy Root and Jake Libby were out in the same Patrick Brown over. The last five Nottinghamshire wickets fell in the space of three overs. Parnell claimed 3 for 20, finishing the match off with two in two balls, but too many Nottinghamshire batsmen gave their wickets away cheaply.Joe Clarke had been an early scalp for Harry Gurney after Worcestershire had opted to bat first, chipping an easy return catch to the left-armer in the second over of the innings, but there was no more success for the Nottinghamshire bowlers until the 15th over as Ferguson and Moeen took turns to find gaps in the field.Moeen was ruthlessly brutal, clearing the rope four times in his 36-ball 65, a couple of blows threatening the upper levels of the Radcliffe Road stand as Samit Patel suffered the indignity of conceded 19 in an over.Having been 51 for 1 at the end of the Powerplay, Worcestershire powered on relentlessly to be 83 for 1 at the halfway stage, then adding 47 in three overs to be 138 for 1 after 14 before Dan Christian took a well-judged catch on the off-side as Moeen miscued Ish Sodhi.With Ross Whiteley, never one to pass up a chance to throw the bat, taking over from Moeen, there was no loss of momentum in the Worcestershire innings, 60 runs coming in the final six overs, which was just enough time for Ferguson to reach three figures.He said that the confidence shown in him by his team-mates is helping him with the pressure of trying to pick up where Guptill left off.”Guppy is a tough act to follow but there is a lot of belief in the dressing room and I guess some of that rubs off on you as an individual,” he said. “And when you get the chance to  bat with Moeen Ali when he is in that kind of mood it helps too.”I’m enjoying my time here. I’ve played most of career in Australia batting the middle order so I have really enjoyed the opportunity to bat higher up the list.”

Samit Patel continued to make the most of the richest vein of form of his career with another imperious innings on the first day against Leicestershire

ECB Reporters Network19-Jun-2017
ScorecardSamit Patel continued to make the most of the richest vein of form of his career with another imperious innings on the first day of Nottinghamshire’s Specsavers County Championship match against Leicestershire at Trent Bridge.Patel reached the close on 157 not out, scoring his runs from 222 balls with 17 fours and a six, as the home side closed on 345 for 4 after being asked to bat first.Since making 82 against Derbyshire on June, 4 in the second innings of Nottinghamshire’s last home match, Patel has rattled off an unbeaten 257 versus Gloucestershire and then one-day cup scores of 66 and 122 not out in last week’s wins over Somerset and Essex.The 32-year old was given not out on 37 after the umpires had conferred with Leicestershire claiming a slip catch by Paul Horton but a bump ball seemed to be their judgement.Otherwise it was a breeze, on a day that badly needed one, for the middle order stroke-maker, who picked up a couple of milestones during his five and a half hours at the crease.On 89 he reached 11,000 runs in first class cricket and the shot that took him to his 26th first-class hundred also took him to 10,000 for his county.Jake Libby fell for 7 inside the first hour of the day, nibbling Dieter Klein down the leg side and into the gloves of wicketkeeper Lewis Hill.On a stiflingly hot day, the visitors’ gamble of opting to bowl first and pick up early top order wickets wasn’t helped by the early loss of Ben Raine. The allrounder had sent down 3.2 overs before he left the action in some discomfort with a side strain.”It doesn’t look good for him, it looks worse than the previous side strain he had, so that’s not good news for us or for Ben, who is absolutely gutted,” Pierre de Bruyn, the Leicestershire head coach, said.Steven Mullaney appeared untroubled in making 40 from 59 balls but then had his defences exposed as Gavin Griffiths nipped one back to flatten his middle stump.Brendan Taylor, also off the back of two substantial white ball innings (156 and 62), made 61 in his first Championship knock of the summer.He had a scare on 48 when he nicked Clint McKay but wicketkeeper Lewis Hill couldn’t gather low down. A couple of deliveries later the former Zimbabwe captain was gifted two overthrows from an errant shy, to reach his 50 from 104 balls.Klein picked up his second wicket when he had Taylor caught behind to a regulation nick and he struck again when Michael Lumb dragged on for 36, soon after tea.Late in the day Leicestershire took the second new ball and Patel greeted its arrival by hoisting McKay several rows back over the midwicket fence as his unbeaten fifth wicket partnership with Riki Wessels neared three figures.Notts had a further reason to be thankful with the announcement that James Pattinson, their Australian quick bowler, has been cleared to remain in the country and will participate in the Royal London One-Day Cup final a week on Saturday.

Batsman Ajinkya Rahane, who had been appointed vice-captain for India’s tour of the West Indies in July-August, has said the new role will not affect his batting

PTI31-May-2016Batsman Ajinkya Rahane, who had been appointed vice-captain for India’s tour of the West Indies in July-August, has said the new role will not affect his batting.”As a vice-captain there will be responsibilities and I like to take responsibilities,” Rahane said. “When I toured Zimbabwe as a captain, I learned a lot from my team-mates, it was a good experience and we had won in Zimbabwe.”There is certainly a sense of responsibility when going to the West Indies. I enjoy taking responsibilities and I will learn new things from this team and it will be important how I go ahead step by step… I don’t think that captaincy and vice-captaincy make any difference on batting.”Rahane, who had toured the West Indies with the India A side in 2012, said that he was looking forward to the challenge of playing in different pitches.”I had toured the West Indies as part of India A around 3-4 years back, at that time the wickets were little slow,” Rahane said.”In international cricket, there will be different wickets. I have heard there is good bounce and pace in Barbados, Jamaica.”At the same time, I feel the wickets may be spin-friendly. We will get the idea of the wickets once we go there. But it is an exciting tour in the West Indies. We are going with a young Test team. We have done well recently and so we are looking forward to the tour.”Rahane also said that he would look to pick the brains of Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar before the tour.”Whenever they (Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar) are available, I try and converse with them about each tours,” Rahane said. “Before going to the West Indies, if I can meet them, I will ask them about their experience, conditions and what kind of cricket is played there. If they are available, I will like to speak to them.”

Phil Simmons could be forgiven for phoning his old friends at Ireland and asking if his former job was still available. Less than a month into his new role as West Indies head coach, the sheer enormity of his task has become apparent

George Dobell in Barbados29-Apr-2015Phil Simmons could be forgiven for phoning his old friends at Ireland and asking if his former job was still available. Less than a month into his new role as West Indies head coach, the sheer enormity of his task has become apparent.It is not that his team lacks talent. It is not that they lack the will to win or the stomach for the fight. It is that regional cricket in the Caribbean has declined to such an extent – and is played on such rotten pitches – that the gap between it and international cricket has become a chasm.Simmons’ job, then, is not just to coach a team, not just to improve a squad of players, but to cut through the politics and self-interest and apathy to improve cricket across the Caribbean. It is a colossal task and will surely feel, at times, like herding cats.But he is not the sort to be easily discouraged. Far from it. While he admits to having been “startled” by the “reckless” batting on the final day in Grenada, he is “very encouraged” that West Indies have recorded four centuries in the two Tests and that three of them have been scored by players aged 23 or younger.

Phil Simmons on…

• Injuries: “Jerome Taylor bowled two spells in the nets on Tuesday, so we’ll see how his shoulder reacts. Jason Holder has recovered well and will bowl on Thursday.”

• Shivnarine Chanderpaul: “He’s having a bad series, but all the greats have had bad series. We didn’t drop them. I remember Clive Lloyd at 41; I remember Gordon Greenidge at 41. Shiv is still 40. And he is working as hard as anyone. We have four experienced guys in the side and they all need to make their presence felt.”

• Pitches: “In an ideal world, I’d like a nice, quick, bouncy wicket where who can bat, will bat and who can bowl will take wickets. But I can’t think of anywhere in the world where there’s one of them now. I know there’s a cynical view that we’re doing this for a tactic or to make sure that Tests last five days, but I don’t think it’s true.”

• James Anderson: “I was impressed by the extra effort he put in on the last day. It was what his side needed. That’s why he’s played 100 Tests and taken most wickets for England. When he sees a small gap, he pushes through it. He showed his leadership skills.”

His challenge is to help the team extend their good play from one session to three a day. And to do that, he feels the standard of regional cricket must improve.”The thing is, our young players are learning international cricket on the international stage,” Simmons said. “And that’s not ideal.”When you play county cricket, the level is close enough to Test cricket. And when I think back to my days – and I hate to do that – I learned a lot in regional cricket. But I don’t think there’s a lot to be learned at that level now. So it’s when you come up here that you start learning.”You can get away with reckless batting in our four-day game. It seems to be the normal thing to do. But you don’t get many bad balls and you have to bat for longer when you play international cricket. And if Bishoo bowled 50 overs in our four-day cricket, he would take 20 wickets.”I saw a 50-over game a while ago. The standard of the wicket was terrible. Terrible. That is the first part of my job. Not the international team. The biggest part of my job is getting the proper coaching set-up, the proper fitness set-ups, the proper wickets in our regional cricket right around the Caribbean.”We have to address these things. I don’t know how yet, but we’ll find a way. That’s the only way we’ll produce better cricketers.”Simmons has decided to take a ‘glass half full’ attitude to West Indies’ performances in the series to date. So while he could have been infuriated by aspects of the batting in Grenada or the bowling in Antigua, he has instead seen the largely untapped potential in his side.”I’m very encouraged by what I’ve seen,” Simmons said. “We had two hours of negligence on the last day in Grenada and we lost the game. It was a reckless period. It just needed a couple of guys to bat for another half-hour or so and we would have saved the game.”I’d like to see us play two or three sessions consistently. We’ve played well in one, been bad in the next, then come back in the one after that. But we’ve not played consistently well for three sessions.”We just need our young players to understand that how they play must be determined by what the teams needs and what the scoreboard reads.”But they don’t do that because of the level of our first-class cricket, so they have to learn here that, if the score is 40 for 4, you might have to bat for two sessions and come back the next day to get your big score. The mindset has to change. They have to realise you have to bat for longer.”Jermaine Blackwood exemplifies the issue. While he made an impressive century in the first innings in Antigua, he has been dismissed in both second innings in remarkably reckless fashion: once coming down the pitch and attempting to slog over the leg side and once caught at mid-off as he tried to drive Chris Jordan over the top. For a side looking to save a Test, they were odd shots.”He didn’t assess the situation properly,” Simmons said. “He assessed it properly in the first innings of the match. He still played his shots, he still hit over the top off the fast bowlers, but he did it in the right situation. In Grenada he didn’t. But he’s in his what? Fifth Test? It will take him some time to learn.”You hear people talk about how bad this is, or how bad that is. But when you’re in the camp, it’s not all as bad as people say. But there has been nothing as startling as the way we batted on the last morning in Grenada. There is learning to be done.”