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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 Supreme Court, in a significant reprieve to BCCI and state office-bearers, has allowed them to serve separate nine-year terms at central and state level

Nagraj Gollapudi20-Jan-20171:58

Ugra: Attorney general’s intervention a sign of government backing BCCI

The Supreme Court, in a significant reprieve to BCCI and state office-bearers, has allowed them to serve separate nine-year terms at central and state level, permitting a total of 18 years in cricket administration. The clarification on Friday contradicted the Lodha Committee’s interpretation of the court’s order on January 2, when the committee said an office-bearer would be ineligible to continue if he had served nine years in total, whether at BCCI or state level or combined.The confusion over tenure arose after the court modified its January 2 order, which had originally said: “A person shall be disqualified from being an Office-Bearer if he or she has been an Office-Bearer of the BCCI for a cumulative period of 9 years.” On January 3, the court modified that to: “Has been an Office-Bearer of the BCCI or a State Association for a cumulative period of 9 years.”The original Lodha Committee recommendation regarding eligibility, which was passed by the Supreme Court on July 18 last year, had made it possible for an individual to serve nine years each at both BCCI and state level. A BCCI office-bearer’s cooling-off period could have been a three-year term at their state association, after which they could once again contest an election for a BCCI position. And if they won the BCCI post, the ensuing three-year term would serve as their cooling-off period from holding office at state level. An individual could therefore have spent 18 years in Indian cricket administration between the BCCI and his state association.Such a scenario was possible once again after the Supreme Court clarified the uncertainty that arose following the order on January 2 and 3, and reverted the terms of tenure to the original recommendation of the Lodha Committee.The purge of the existing BCCI and state leadership may not be as severe as previously thought•PTI

The Supreme Court also put off finalising the committee of administrators (COA) to supervise the BCCI to January 24. The court had asked amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium and senior legal counsel Anil Divan to nominate people for the COA, which they did by submitting nine names in a sealed envelope on Friday. The court asked the parties not to disclose the names, and pointed out a nine-member panel was “too big”.Upon studying the names, the court asked Subramanium if any of the candidates were over the age of 70, because the Lodha Committee had recommended that BCCI and state office-bearers should be under 70. Subramanium said a few names were over 70 and that the reasons for their inclusion were also listed.On January 2, the court had dismantled the existing power structure of the BCCI by removing the board’s president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke for impeding the implementation of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations. The court said the board would be supervised by a committee of administrators until new office-bearers were elected once the BCCI implemented the recommendations. The court had directed the COA to supervise the administration of the BCCI through its chief executive Rahul Johri.The COA’s other key function was to ensure that the Lodha Committee’s recommendations passed by the court order on July 18, 2016, were implemented by the BCCI and state associations.Last week RM Lodha, the former chief justice of India and chairman of the Lodha Committee, said the COA would issue a fresh set of guidelines for the BCCI and state associations to adopt the new constitution in accordance with the recommendations. “There has to be [fresh timelines], but that will be done by the administrators. We said we don’t have that much of time, and that there has to be layers of administrators,” Lodha said. “The changes will happen. We will be there to supervise and guide the administrators.”The Lodha Committee was formed in January 2015 to determine appropriate punishments for some of the officials involved in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal, and also to propose changes to streamline the BCCI, reform its functioning, prevent sporting fraud and conflict of interest.In January 2016, the committee released its report, which recommended an exhaustive overhaul of the BCCI’s governance and administrative structures. On July 18, the Supreme Court of India approved the majority of the recommendations and directed the Lodha Committee to supervise the BCCI’s implementations of the same. However, despite the Lodha Committee laying out timelines and other directives, the board did not cooperate because it said that its state associations objected to the recommendations. This impasse eventually led to the Supreme Court removing Thakur and Shirke from office on January 2, 2017.

While the bowlers have been central to Zimbabwe’s plans, Afghanistan have relied heavily on Mohammad Shahzad so far. Having come back from a 2-0 deficit, Zimbabwe start off as marginal favourites

The preview by Shashank Kishore05-Jan-2016

Match facts

Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Start time 1500 local (1100GMT)Zimbabwe’s bowling attack has shown better adaptability on slow Sharjah decks, with Nevill Madziva and Graeme Cremer central to their plans•Chris Whiteoak

Big picture

The series was nearly dead and buried when Afghanistan, cruising high and happy on a 2-0 lead, reduced Zimbabwe to 45 for 7 a short distance into the third ODI. Then Afghanistan took their foot off the pedal and slipped into their comfort zone in anticipation of a second successive series win. Half an hour’s indiscretion followed, and before they realised it, Zimbabwe had put up 175. Then they came out playing to the gallery, only to be brutally exposed against the swinging ball to give Zimbabwe an opening, which they tore into on Monday courtesy Chamu Chibhabha’s allround show. As a result, Afghanistan, who slipped at the first sign of turbulence, find themselves vulnerable, with plenty of doubt lingering over the temperament of the batsmen heading into the series decider.Cricket is often a confidence game, and there is little doubt as to which is the happier camp at the moment. For every step taken, Zimbabwe have often found ways to go back two steps. One such instance was their series loss to Afghanistan at home in October. Having started 2016 with two successive wins, the onus is on them to ride the momentum and make amends for that loss, for a slip-up here could also mean they will be edged out of the top 10 in the ICC ODI rankings.Afghanistan have relied heavily on Mohammad Shahzad with the bat and their plethora of spin options with the ball. The lean patch of Asghar Stanikzai and Mohammad Nabi hasn’t helped, and has put more pressure on Shahzad to alter his natural style of play and transform from an attacking batsman to an accumulator. Zimbabwe have been a little more rounded. Chibhabha aside, Graeme Cremer’s loopy legspin and Nevill Madziva’s late swing have accounted for a bulk of the batsmen in the middle overs. Hamilton Masakadza’s form has somewhat covered up for the inability of Sikandar Raza and Malcolm Waller to notch up scores of substance. Wednesday will be another chance to correct that.

Form guide

(Last five completed matches, most recent first)
Afghanistan LLWWW
Zimbabwe WWLLLL

In the spotlight

In the fourth ODI, Chamu Chibhabha became only the sixth Zimbabwean after Prosper Utseya, Andy Blignaut, Neil Johnson, Gary Crocker and Duncan Fletcher to achieve the double of a half-century and four wickets. He showed all the virtues of a good opener – left well, played late, held his composure initially, put away the loose deliveries. The disappointment of not carrying on was writ large on his face when he mistimed a pull to midwicket. He later admitted his batting was still a work in progress, particularly when it came to pacing his innings. He will have another opportunity to make amends in a crunch clash.Mohammad Nabi, Afghanistan’s highest run-getter in ODIs, has scores of 17, 33, 0 and 11 in his four innings so far. He has been unusually subdued and hasn’t been able to express himself in the manner that has brought him a bulk of his 1443 runs. With Samiullah Shenwari also being left out, Nabi’s return to form is vital for a predominantly top-heavy batting line-up. While Mohammad Shahzad’s belligerence is capable of ensuring they don’t miss their most accomplished batter, Afghanistan could be found wanting if law of averages catch up with their wicketkeeper-batsman.

Team news

The move to send Malcolm Waller in at No. 3 in the fourth ODI didn’t pay off. More importantly, it disturbed Masakadza’s rhythm. Zimbabwe’s most accomplished batsman could slot back in at his preferred slot, especially if Zimbabwe bat first on what is expected to be another slow Sharjah deck. With the team winning two games on the bounce, the only change they could possibly ponder is the return of Craig Ervine, who has fully recovered from a flu that kept him out of the third ODI, in place of Waller. That would mean somewhat countering Afghanistan’s spin threat by having a left-hander in the middle order.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Peter Moor, Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Hamilton Masakadza, 4 Craig Ervine, 5 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Richmond Mutumbami(wk), 8 Luke Jongwe, 9 Graeme Creamer, 10 Neville Madziva, 11 Tendai ChisoroWith Stanikzai and Nabi not in the best of nick, there is a case to push Karim Sadiq, a regular opener till not too long ago, up the order. But two successive batting meltdowns would have invited a fair amount of soul-searching. If they want some experience in a crunch clash, they could go back to Nawroz Mangal, the former captain.Afghanistan (probable) : 1 Noor Ali Zadran, 2 Mohammad Shahzad (wk), 3 Mohammad Nabi, 4 Asghar Stanikzai (capt), 5 Rashid Khan, 6 Hashmatullah Shahidi, 7 Najibullah Zadran/Nawroz Mangal, 8 Mirwais Ashraf, 9 Dawlat Zadran, 10 Amir Hamza, 11 Shafiqullah

Pitch and conditions

Captains winning the toss have had no hesitation in batting first so far. The trend is unlikely to be disturbed, considering both sides will not want to fall back on the pressure of having to chase in a must-win game. The ball has nipped around under lights too, and cooler weather conditions at this time of the year should help the fielding side in the second session.

Stats and trivia

• A win in the fifth ODI will give Afghanistan only their second series win against a Full Member and strengthen their position at No. 10 in the ICC ODI rankings
• Peter Moor and Chamu Chibhabha’s 92-run opening stand is the highest of the series from both sides.

England’s bowlers again kept Pakistan in a vice-like grip, after attacking innings from Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor, to secure another comprehensive victory

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jul-2013
ScorecardSarah Taylor held England’s innings together with her ninth T20 half-century•Getty Images

England’s bowlers again kept Pakistan in a vice-like grip, after attacking innings from Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor, to secure another comprehensive victory. Danielle Wyatt claimed 3 for 16 and debutant Tash Farrant took two wickets in her second over as Pakistan were restricted to 75 for 6 from their 20 overs, well short of the 146 required for victory.Edwards opted to open with the spin of Wyatt and she claimed the wicket of Javeria Rauf with her sixth delivery. Wyatt picked up a second wicket in her second over and Farrant’s double-strike left Pakistan on 14 for 4. By the middle of the seventh over it was 23 for 5 before a 22-run stand between top-scorer Nahida Khan and Nida Dar.Wyatt removed Dar for 12 but, with 101 required from less than seven overs, the game was already up. Nahida finished on 28 from 48 balls, putting on 30 with captain Sana Mir.England’s captain, Edwards, had scored half-centuries in the two ODI wins over Pakistan earlier in the week and she set the tone again, with a 33-ball 46. Edwards and Taylor put on 57 for the second wicket and although Pakistan made regular incisions thereafter, Bismah Maroof picking up two wickets in the 16th over, Taylor held the innings together with ninth T20 half-century.

Simon Jones, the former England fast bowler, took four wickets as Glamorgan claimed their first win of the season by beating Durham by 15 runs in a low-scoring CB40 match at Colwyn Bay.

10-Jun-2012ScorecardSimon Jones, the former England fast bowler, took four wickets as Glamorgan claimed their first win of the season by beating Durham by 15 runs in a low-scoring CB40 match at Colwyn Bay.Glamorgan, without a win in the second division of the Championship, had looked unlikely to get off the mark in Group B after being bowled out for 163 in 34.3 overs on a slow pitch, only for Durham, who had won three of their previous four CB40 matches, struggled as well and slumped to 148 all out in reply.Jones began Durham’s slide to defeat by claiming the wickets of Phil Mustard and Ben Stokes in the space of two overs. Mustard gave a sharp catch to Martin van Jaarsveld at slip and Stokes was lbw as the visitors reached 28 for 2 in the eighth over.Glamorgan then struck twice more in the next two overs. James Harris trapped Gordon Muchall in front before Jones had Mark Stoneman caught behind.Jones, who had figures of 3 for 18 off six overs at that stage, was replaced at the Penrhyn Avenue end by Jim Allenby who broke through to remove Dale Benkenstein via a sharp catch at backward point by Stewart Walters. Will Smith and Michael Richardson rebuilt before the former was run out at the non-striker’s end via the hand of the bowler Will Owen. Scott Borthwick lasted only three overs before he was bowled by Dean Cosker.Jones then returned and claimed the wicket of Richardson, who went lbw for 45, and in the next over Allenby bowled Liam Plunkett as Durham slumped to 122 for nine. Mitchell Claydon and Chris Rushworth threatened to pull off a grand recovery but with 13 balls remaining Owen bowled Rushworth to seal the home side’s maiden win.Earlier, Glamorgan had made an encouraging start after winning the toss but lost three wickets in the space of four overs as they went from 41 without loss to 48 for three. Both openers were out in quick succession. Captain Mark Wallace was caught behind and Gareth Rees, who made 28 off 20 balls, was caught on the mid-wicket boundary before Marcus North became Rushworth’s second victim.Stokes struck twice in as many overs as Glamorgan struggled to 100 for five. Allenby looked settled until he edged behind for 26 before Van Jaarsveld was bowled for 25. When Glamorgan lost two wickets in consecutive deliveries to Smith’s offspin, few would have given much for their chances.

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, doubts any action will be taken against Simon Katich.

Daniel Brettig and Brydon Coverdale10-Jun-2011James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, doubts any action will be taken against Simon Katich for his tirade against CA and the national selectors.However Sutherland has taken issue with Katich’s contention that the naming of a 17-man squad prior to the first Ashes Test in Brisbane last year, in order to appease the demands of the CA marketing department, had destabilised the team.CA were sent scurrying for a response by Katich’s bold address at the SCG on Friday morning, and Sutherland emerged from a concurrent board meeting to say it was unlikely that Katich would be penalised before his central contract expired on June 30.”I understand that Simon’s disappointed and that he’s made comments along those lines today but I don’t see that CA will be taking action for those comments,” Sutherland said. “My view and the Cricket Australia board’s view is that it is right for people to be able to make their subjective judgements but it crosses the line when there are any suggestions about the integrity of individual members of the selection panel, the panel as a group, or the processes they engage in to make these selections.”I am not necessarily saying Simon has entirely called them into question in that fashion but Cricket Australia stands by them in terms of their integrity and the process they go through.”Sutherland said he was “not happy” with Katich’s public pronouncements but would seek him out personally to discuss them rather than charging him with bringing the game into disrepute over public comments, an area usually within the remit of the head of cricket operations, Michael Brown.”The simple answer is yes, Simon could have expressed his views more privately. But he chose to do that in the manner that he did,” Sutherland said. “I’m not making a complaint about that. I know Simon did have some discussions with the Australian Cricketers’ Association to explore that. If that’s not some sort of avenue to at least understand what his rights might be then I’m not sure what is.”More divisive was Katich’s view that the Ashes campaign had been damaged by the selection of a 17-man squad that could be announced via a public event at Sydney’s Circular Quay. The announcement was a fizzer, attracting few spectators or television viewers, and things would only get worse from there.”It’s fair to say that has come up from time to time in discussions, certainly something in the review. My personal view on that is that as professional sportsman you live in a world of competition,” Sutherland said. “You compete against other teams, you compete against other people for spots in teams, and if the process of selection means you have a squad of 13 or 14 or whatever it might be before a Test match, or even 17, well so be it.”People live in that competitive world, and if anyone can cope with that, it is elite athletes, elite cricketers. I don’t see how someone who has the mental toughness and strength to compete in Test cricket at the highest level how that should affect them too much. At the same time I acknowledge that it wasn’t an ideal situation, and perhaps looking back on it we would’ve done it slightly differently.”As for the growing tide of opinion that the selectors should be full-time employees, Sutherland said there were “no immediate plans” to change the current system, but hinted that may change after the Argus review had concluded.”At the moment we have a selection panel of three, Greg Chappell is a full-time employee, there are no immediate plans for that, but there is a review under way and it is quite obvious that one of the topics of discussion within the review process has been about selection,” he said.

A round-up of the fourth day’s action of the ICC World Cricket League Americas Region Division One in Bermuda

Cricinfo staff02-Jun-2010An all-round performance by Gary Savage helped Argentina beat Cayman Islands by 13 runs at the Sea Breeze Oval and secure their first win in the tournament. Batting first, Argentina were in trouble initially at 33 for 3 before Savage walked in and set about building important partnerships with the middle order. He added 81 with Grant Dugmore for the fourth wicket and 82 for the sixth with Alec Ferguson. Ferguson went ballistic, smashing five sixes and six fours in his unbeaten 62 off only 22 balls. Savage also made the same score, but he focused on dropping anchor and faced 123 balls. He was dismissed by Marlon Bryan, who took four wickets. Cayman Islands were off to a terrible start, losing four wickets for 21 as Lucas Parterlini and Savage made early inroads. The lower order started showing some resistance when Kevin Bazil and Ronald Ebanks added 60 for the seventh wicket. A last-ditch effort by Conroy Wright wasn’t enough as Argentina sneaked through by 13 runs. Wright scored 58 while Savage rounded off a good day with 3 for 28.Continuing with all-round performances, Bahamas had no answer to Hiral Patel and Rizwan Cheema, who starred for Canada at the St George’s Cricket Club. Hiral Patel took 3 for 15 to bundle out Bahamas for a paltry 98, and Cheema smashed a 43-ball 85 to seal the game in nine overs. Only three Bahamas batsmen went past double figures, with Narendra Ekanayake top scoring with 31. A combined effort helped Canada end the innings within 37 overs. The chase lasted just 47 minutes as Cheema pounded eight sixes and eight fours to seal the game by ten wickets.The hosts Bermuda suffered their first loss of the tournament, going down by six wickets to their neighbours United States of America at the National Stadium. Lennox Cush and captain Steve Massiah set up the victory, sharing six wickets between them to restrict Bermuda to 188. Bermuda had set the foundation for a bigger score when Steven Outerbridge and Jekon Edness added 76 for the second wicket but lost their way after that. Massiah started the collapse before Cush took four wickets to restrict them to a score under 200. Sushil Nadkarni led the chase with 57, which included four sixes, before Massiah took over. His 67 came off 103 balls with seven fours.

Josh Hazlewood hinted his team would rather see Scotland through at defending champions’ expense

Andrew McGlashan12-Jun-20241:43

Hazlewood: Zampa ‘has been fantastic for us’

Josh Hazlewood has said Australia could try and manipulate any margin of victory over Scotland to try and knock England out of the T20 World Cup 2024 though his captain Mitchell Marsh could face a ban if found guilty of doing so by match officials.The exact sums won’t be known until England have played Oman and Namibia, and a defeat against either will end their campaign. But there is a good chance a scenario emerges whereby Australia could win their final group match by a narrow-enough margin to ensure Scotland go through at England’s expense on net run-rate, with the teams level on five points each.”In this tournament you potentially come up against England at some stage again,” Hazlewood said after Australia confirmed their Super Eight spot with a clinical win over Namibia before stressing any tactical decisions were not his to make. “They’re probably one of the top few teams on their day and we’ve had some real struggles against them in T20 cricket, so if we can get them out of the tournament that’s in our best interest as well as probably everyone else.”It’ll be interesting to see. We’ve never really been in this position before as a team, I don’t think, so whether we have discussions or not, we’ll just try and play it again the way we did tonight. That’ll be up to [other] people, not me.”But if Australia decided to do so, they would risk Marsh being banned for up to two of their three Super Eight fixtures. He could be charged under Article 2.11 of the ICC’s code of conduct, which is designed to prevent the manipulation of games for “inappropriate strategic or tactical reasons… such as when a team deliberately loses a pool match in an ICC Event in order to affect the standings of other teams in that ICC Event.”The code of conduct clarifies it could also apply to “the inappropriate manipulation of a net run rate” and the captain would be held responsible, and charged with a Level Two offence. Depending on the severity of the offence, this could carry a minimum sanction of a 50% match fee fine, with a maximum of four demerit points and two suspension points – which would rule Marsh out of Australia’s first two Super Eight matches.In practice, it could be difficult for umpires to say categorically Australia had deliberately attempted to manipulate net run-rate, barring an obvious shift in tempo from a position of dominance. In any case, Andrew McDonald, Australia’s head coach, will consider resting players for the Scotland fixture with nothing on the line.Such a scenario would also revive memories of when Australia attempted to game the system at the 1999 ODI World Cup against West Indies with a go-slow batting performance to ensure they could take extra points into the Super Sixes.”Whether you get close and you just knock it around and drag it out,” Hazlewood suggested of how it could play out. “There’s a few options there but… to take confidence from winning and winning well, I think that’s almost more important than potentially trying to knock someone else out. They [England] have still got a lot to do on their behalf as well, so I think it’ll become clearer the closer we get to that sort of stuff.”Related

• Cummins: Australia would never have manipulated England's exit

• Michael Jones: 'If David Warner opens the bowling it'd be pretty funny'

• Matthew Mott hopes Josh Hazlewood's run-rate comments were 'tongue-in-cheek'

• England aim to revive rocky title defence against Oman

• Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins – A rotating carousel of pressure

With run-rates not carrying forward to the Super Eights in this tournament, there would be no damage to Australia’s hopes should they take their foot off the gas. On that factor, Hazlewood said he thought it was odd that no benefits were taken forwards from group-stage performances.”It’s a little bit strange that it doesn’t go through the tournament,” he said. “This is probably the first T20 World Cup I’ve played that’s set up this way, or first World Cup in general that’s set up this way, so it’s a little bit different. I think the work that you do in the round games and if you go through undefeated and have a good net run-rate, doesn’t really account for much once you’re in the Super Eights. So, yeah, it’s a strange one but that’s how it is.”For their part, Namibia could render all calculations unnecessary if they are able to pull off an upset in their final game against England although captain Gerhard Erasmus was remaining diplomatic in the midst of the Australia-England rivalry.”Obviously, also in the Australian press that will be pretty liked,” he said. “But for us, we’re pretty neutral so I can’t really comment on any of that. We’re here to continue playing at our best abilities. Unfortunately, as the captain I sort of have to say that we haven’t quite reached our full potential in this tournament.”I guess you’re all Aussies here [at this press conference], so you’re really cheering us on to maybe try and get that win. But I’d have to rein it back a little bit and say that we probably need to play our best cricket and nothing more than that.”

Batter added to long-list for Hundred draft, which takes place on Thursday

Matt Roller22-Mar-2023Laurie Evans has had his provisional suspension from all cricket lifted after a positive test for a banned substance caused him to miss the English winter.Evans denied any wrongdoing after failing a routine anti-doping test while playing for Manchester Originals in the Hundred last year, saying he was “shocked” at his positive result.But he was unable to fulfil his contracts in the Abu Dhabi T10 and the Big Bash last winter while charges hung over him, and has not played competitively since September 3.ESPNcricinfo understands that his suspension was raised in a ruling on Tuesday evening. Evans has not been absolved of the charges and will face a hearing later this year, but he is free to resume his career.He is on a white-ball-only deal with his county Surrey and could make his competitive comeback in the Vitality Blast in late May.Evans’ name has also been added to a revised longlist of players available in Thursday’s Hundred draft, which was circulated to teams on Wednesday afternoon.An ECB spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo: “The National Anti-Doping Panel has ruled that a Provisional Suspension imposed on Laurie Evans on 1 November 2022, in respect of an alleged anti-doping rule violation under the ECB Anti-Doping Rules, is lifted with effect from 21 March 2023.”Consequently, Mr Evans is eligible for The Hundred Draft tomorrow and to play cricket pending the conclusion of the anti-doping proceedings against him.”As a short-form specialist, he could also make himself available for the inaugural season of Major League Cricket in the US.Surrey declined to comment.March 22, 2023, 1635 GMT – This story was updated to include comment from the ECB.

“I think after losing the toss, putting a significant score on the board, and then for the bowlers to do their thing, was outstanding.”

Mohammad Isam11-Jan-2022New Zealand captain Tom Latham said he was pleased with his team’s scoring rate, which he believes put Bangladesh under a lot of pressure, in the second Test in Christchurch.New Zealand scored at more than four runs an over as they posted 521 for 6 in the first innings, and they eventually won by an innings and 117 runs in Christchurch, completing the match inside three days. Latham made 252 runs with 34 fours and two sixes.”After getting put in first thing in the morning when we definitely would have bowled, to make that significant contribution at that point of time, was really good for us,” Latham said. “We were focusing on each partnership. Will Young and Devon Conway played really well. We spoke about doing things for longer than what we did at the Mount [Maunganui Test], I thought we did that really well.Related

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Latham particularly went after the short ball, bringing out the pull shot often, which he said came “naturally” while he was batting.”I was trying to execute strong positions. As we have seen here, you can score quickly due to more pace and bounce. It wasn’t a conscious effort to go after the short ball but it certainly happened a little bit naturally. Perhaps I was able to execute (more shots) down the ground and through the off-side.”The rate that I scored at was probably most pleasing, being able to put them under pressure. (We could) ask them to come back for spell after spell, I thought we three guys – myself, Will Young and Devon Conway – did that well on the first day.”New Zealand exceptional bowling was also on show, starting with Trent Boult and Tim Southee with the new ball on the second afternoon when reduced Bangladesh to 27 for 5, eventually bowling them out for 126 in the first innings.In the second innings, it was Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner who bowled well in tandem, taking important middle and lower-order wickets.”I thought we bowled well in partnerships and being patient at both ends. We kept them under pressure for a long time. You can score quickly on this surface. The way we found different ways to get guys out, it was the most pleasing thing.”The best thing about this bowling unit is that they always want the ball in hand,” Latham said. “They are always willing to bowl another over. It was no different today. I am certainly happy to have all these guys in our side.””It is always nice for guys to sign off on a winning note. But for us, it was about putting a performance to be proud of. I think after losing the toss, putting a significant score on the board, and then for the bowlers to do their thing, was outstanding. Certainly, it was the perfect performance.”