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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.”

As one of the mature bodies in a Test attack featuring several younger men, Peter Siddle is preparing for a heavy workload this summer

Brydon Coverdale30-Oct-2012Ten days from the first Test against South Africa, Australia’s attack is the subject of so many known unknowns and unknown unknowns that it would leave Donald Rumsfeld’s head spinning. Will the selectors choose four fast men or three and a spinner? Do they want the left-arm variety that Mitchell Starc provides? Is Starc fit enough after playing so much Twenty20? Has Ben Hilfenhaus had enough cricket lately? It seems like the only known known is that Peter Siddle will be there, ready to bowl himself into the ground.It’s a job that he’s hoping is his all summer long. While the selectors are keen for the younger fast men – Starc, Pat Cummins and James Pattinson – to rotate through the side to avoid burnout, there will be plenty of burden on Siddle. Six Tests – three against South Africa and three against Sri Lanka – are on the agenda over the next two months and Siddle, 27, wants to be part of all of them.”That’s the plan. You always want to play as many as you can,” Siddle said. “I’ve been lucky enough that the last two summers I’ve played every Test match. I’m the only one [of the bowlers] who has done that and it’s something I’ll be trying to do again. The preparation that I’ve had here, and leading into this series, is the same as what I’ve done in those years. I think it will leave me in pretty good stead to be fit and strong. As long as the form is still there.”And it will be a slimmed-down Siddle who will take on the South Africans at the Gabba, starting next Friday. When Siddle visited South Africa for a three-Test series in early 2009, one of the local papers kept referring to his “man boobs”, but they won’t have any such ammunition this time. The switch to a vegetarian diet has helped him lose five kilograms since the tour of the West Indies in April, and he looks fitter than he ever has before.He’ll need to be. The ability to bowl long spells, day in day out, has always been an attractive part of Siddle’s package. That will be even more important given the reluctance of the team management to ask too much of the younger men. Siddle might have Hilfenhaus to help him carry the workload at the Gabba, but there is also a chance he will be the sole mature body alongside Pattinson and Starc.”I’ve always been like that,” Siddle said. “That’s just me in general. I like to have the ball in my hand, I like to do anything I can for the captain and for the team. If that situation comes up and I have to bowl those long spells, I do.”There’s a lot of young blokes around the squad, some haven’t played a lot of cricket. They’re developing as well and you can tell the improvements from last summer to now, Starc, Pattinson and Cummins, just the way that they’re getting through games and pulling up, they’re improving. If I have to bowl long overs then I will.”At this stage, Siddle’s Victorian team-mate Pattinson appears the next most likely fast man to win a place in the Gabba line-up, given that he is on top of the Sheffield Shield wicket tally this summer and was Man of the Match on Test debut at the Gabba last season. Pattinson said there would be fierce competition in the nets next week among the fast bowlers, and while he would love to play all six Tests this summer he was realistic about the role workload would play in the selectors’ decisions.”It’s hard to put a cap on how many Tests I’ll be available for. Six would be really nice,” Pattinson said. “But I’m not sure which way they’re going to go. It’s going to be determined on workloads and how much we bowl in the first couple of Tests, who’s up and firing.”It’s just part of sport. The competition in the nets is extremely high. I can’t wait to get up there on Tuesday and bowl against everyone in the nets. It’s almost competition within your own team. That’s what brings out the best in your team as well, having that competition vying for spots.”

Andy Flower has said the successful blooding of a new generation of cricketers in the recent one-day series against India will provide an extra incentive for his senior players in the Test team to keep up the good work

Andrew Miller18-Sep-2011Andy Flower, the England coach, has said the successful blooding of a new generation of cricketers in the recent one-day series against India will provide an extra incentive for his senior players in the Test team to build on the high standards they produced in their rise to the top of the world rankings.Speaking in the aftermath of England’s impressive six-wicket win in the fifth and final ODI in Cardiff – a result which handed them a comprehensive 3-0 scoreline – Flower reflected that the international season “couldn’t have gone much better”. Nevertheless, he warned of the dangers of self-satisfaction creeping into the squad’s mentality, and said any player who dared to rest on his laurels risked paying for that attitude with his place.”I am delighted with the way the summer has gone, but at the risk of repeating ourselves we don’t just want to put our feet up and say, ‘Gee, it’s a lovely little time we have had together’,” said Flower. “If people aren’t hungry enough then I don’t think they will keep up with the side. They will drop out or be dropped out.”The hunger is very important because it drives you to train harder, it drives you to get out of bed early in the morning to go training. It drives you to do the extra work and to do your skills practice. To keep the weight off your body. It drives you to be inquisitive about maximising your potential.”If there is any self-satisfaction or too much contentment it can take you into a dangerous place. Our philosophy is to look forward and at the challenges ahead as opposed to those behind us. If you do look behind you, you are not planning properly for the future.”The dramatic arrival of the 21-year-old Yorkshire batsman Jonny Bairstow is a case in point. His nerveless debut innings of 41 not out from 21 balls not only secured a notable victory in a stiff run-chase in Cardiff, it served notice of the talent challenging for regular places in the England team, and reminded those players currently on the sidelines – Eoin Morgan and Kevin Pietersen among them – that competition is healthy.”I can’t remember a debut like that,” said Flower. “It was very clean and impressive hitting. Not many people can strike it as cleanly as that. Not many people are that talented. He should be very proud of his performance and it is great to make an impact in international cricket straightaway, but let’s all keep level heads about it. Talk is cheap, but he did it with his actions, and he will continually be asked questions to repeat his performances out there in the middle when the pressure is on.”As Flower suggested, Bairstow’s “innocence” at international level may have helped him to shrug off the pressures of the match situation, and play each of his 21 balls on its merits. Though he wouldn’t be drawn on specific matters of selection ahead of the tour of India next month, Flower used an analogy from his own playing days with Zimbabwe to highlight the situation that England have now reached, with so many candidates pressing their claims for places in England’s various teams.”What it does re-emphasise to me is that opportunity is very important,” said Flower. “When we were given Test status, I was a little skeptical that we deserved it as a Test-playing nation, but I thought, ‘wow, what an opportunity’. I never thought I’d play international cricket. You’ve been given a chance, try to do something with it. These young guys have been given a chance and it’s very interesting to see how they’ve done against similar opposition. I think that’s been very informative for everyone and very exciting for the future of English cricket.”England’s one-day campaign hasn’t just been about Bairstow’s performance. Steven Finn filled the void left by James Anderson and Stuart Broad in Cardiff with his best spell to date in one-day cricket, while Jade Dernbach has shown the potential to become a truly innovative bowler, even if he hasn’t quite learned when to use his many slower-ball variations. Ravi Bopara overcame a torrid start to the series to produce key innings in each of the last three games, and Flower was delighted with the overall direction of his team.”The guys have been grabbing their opportunities, which is outstanding,” said Flower. “We have got a little bit of exposure into Ben Stokes – it has been exciting working with him – he is an exciting young player and a really good young man. Dernbach has got more exposure and experience against a really good one-day side, so a lot of good things have happened.”I have only been doing this job two-and-a-half years and a lot has happened – it is amazing how quickly things happen.”•Getty Images

“We’ve won in difficult situations – it has been a really good series in that regard,” added Flower. “We rested KP, we played Bell at No. 4, then through injuries other people have got chances. Finn, in the two chances we have given him, has been outstanding. His figures don’t suggest so but he looked really exciting as a fast bowler and he is going to be an integral part of the England attack over the next few years. Bairstow last night got his one chance and grabbed it with both hands, and it was nice for Ravi to see it right through to the end last night.”On a personal note, Flower was adamant that his own hunger for the England job matches that which he expects of his charges, not least having witnessed the sort of potential that has been displayed in the past fortnight.”I am excited,” he said. “I have only been doing this job two-and-a-half years and a lot has happened – it is amazing how quickly things happen. When I was given the job I said I wanted to make a difference and I still hope that can occur in the next couple of years. I am very proud of the way the guys are performing and it is interesting to see how the three captains [approach] pans out.”I am sure most coaches are the same – coaches or captains – you shouldn’t need motivation to play for your country. There are plenty of reasons to be motivated. It is more about channeling that energy and making sure it is organised and making sure, as far as possible, individuals are maximising their potential. I don’t think it is so much motivation – it is more how we manage that.”The side is going to vary along the way but English cricket has good resources – both financial and human. There are proud cricketing nations out there that are just as hungry as us so it is going to be a good battle. We can achieve very good things. That was a very young side we had out there – Swann I assume was the oldest – so that is a very young side to beat India.”

A decision on the structure for county cricket in 2011 has been delayed after the ECB agreed to set up a working party to examine all the options

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2010A decision on the structure for county cricket in 2011 has been delayed after the ECB agreed to set up a working party to examine all the options.The ECB management board met on Wednesday to discuss the outcome of a meeting of 56 representatives from the first-class game in England at Lord’s last week, but no format was agreed for the domestic game. There appears to be a split forming between the large counties with international grounds who want a reduction in Twenty20 cricket and the small clubs who still managed healthy crowds despite an increase to 16 group matches in 2010.The Friends Provident T20 included 151 matches in the 2010 season which put enormous strain on the schedule despite a reduction from four to three tournaments across the summer. Overall, crowds for the tournament were down but some counties still pulled in good numbers because they had fewer seats to fill and are urging the ECB not to reduce the fixture list because it will hit their major income stream when counties are trying to become more self-sufficent.During the season five new structures for the County Championship were leaked – including conferences or a return to one league – but all the proposals were rejected and it appears the 16-match, two-division set-up will remain in place. The Clydesdale Bank 40 competition completes the structure and there has been no suggestion that the length will be altered despite the England set-up admitting, in an ideal world, they would like a 50-over event that would match the international version.The working party will be chaired by David Collier, the ECB chief executive, and will include representatives from the PCA and across the county game. It will report back at the next management board meeting on November 17 when the ECB hopes a decision will be made on which structure to adopt.