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Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the former India captain, has moved the Bombay High Court, seeking the appointment of an arbitrator in relation to the termination of his contract with the BCCI

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-2011Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the former India captain, has moved the Bombay High Court, seeking the appointment of an arbitrator in relation to what he claimed was the BCCI’s failure to abide by its contract with him while he was a consultant with the board as well as a member of the IPL governing council. He has also claimed an amount of Rs.1.16 crore as fees for services rendered.According to the application filed by Pataudi in the High Court, his agreement with the BCCI came into effect in October 2007 and was to last for a period of five years, where he would be paid Rs 1 crore annually. In the event that one of the parties chose to terminate the contract, as stated in Pataudi’s application, they would have to invoke the agreement’s arbitration clause.In October last year, the BCCI made wholesale changes to the IPL governing council, slashing its membership term from five years to one year and taking a decision that no payment will be made to any member of the original council. These new terms were unacceptable to Pataudi, as well as Sunil Gavaskar, and both turned down posts in the new governing council.In January this year, Pataudi wrote to the BCCI seeking the appointment of an arbitrator since his ties with the governing council had ended. When there was no reply from the Indian board, Pataudi took the matter to court. The case will be heard next week.Pataudi was critical of the BCCI following his withdrawal, saying the board was in a “mess” over the controversies that plagued the IPL, it no longer enjoyed the goodwill it once did in the global cricket community and that the time had come for it to back its financial clout with moral leadership.

The hosts overcame Ireland pretty comfortably in their opening match and should face a much sterner test against an England side desperately hoping to break their duck in global tournaments

The Preview by Sahil Dutta02-May-2010

Match Facts

Monday, May 3, Providence

Start time 1330 (1730 GMT)West Indies will need Kieron Pollard to recreate his IPL form against England•Indian Premier League

The Big Picture

West Indies overcame Ireland pretty comfortably in their opening match and should face a much sterner test against an England side desperately hoping to break their duck in global tournaments. Ottis Gibson will have plenty of inside knowledge about this England team and has regular captain Chris Gayle back from injury to implement every devious plan he makes.On the stodgy surfaces we have seen so far at Providence, the spinners play a key role and how the West Indies batsmen deal with England’s spinners could prove crucial. Against Ireland they were almost embarrassed by 17-year-old left-arm-spinner George Dockrell, so Graeme Swann and Michael Yardy should feel confident.England will be testing out yet another opening partnership in Twenty20 cricket and with Craig Kieswetter and Michael Lumb they feel they have finally stumbled on a combination powerful enough to boss the early overs. Quietly England have developed a competitive limited-overs side that, with Eoin Morgan there to finish an innings, appears to have all its bases covered.

Form guide (most recent first)

England LWLWA
West Indies WLLLW

Watch out for…

While Chris Gayle’s performance usually dictates West Indies’ fortunes, Kieron Pollard is another with a brutal ability to clear the ropes. His outings in the IPL were short and severe, clubbing boundary after boundary on his way to 273 runs at a strike rate of 185.71. If he gets hold of England’s medium pacers, the Providence ground may not be big enough.The World Twenty20 is littered with stars, many still swirling in their IPL riches. Michael Yardy is not one of them. Yet in the sticky conditions, his nagging left-arm-spinners have proved a revelation in the warm-up games, taking five wickets over the two games at a meagre economy rate. He could throw sand in the wheels of West Indies’ middle order and chip in with lower-order runs if England get in trouble.

Team news

West Indies expect to welcome their captain after he missed the Ireland game with a stiff buttock, meaning one of hit-or-miss slugger Andre Fletcher or Narsingh Deonarine will drop out from the team that beat Ireland. Sulieman Benn remains doubtful with his shoulder injury as does Jerome Taylor.West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Narsingh Deonarine, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Darren Sammy, 9 Nikita Miller, 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Kemar Roach.England are on baby-watch with Kevin Pietersen looking forward to his first-born, but he’ll be available for this opening match and with Lumb expected to keep Ravi Bopara out of the side the top-order is settled. Their fast-bowling options are more muddled with Ryan Sidebottom’s excellent form prompting calls for his elevation into the side, but it would be hard for him to dislodge one of James Anderson or Stuart Broad.England (probable) 1 Michael Lumb, 2 Craig Kieswetter, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Paul Collingwood (capt), 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Luke Wright, 7 Michael Yardy, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson.

Pitch and conditions

The cheap boundaries that tend to epitomise Twenty20 cricket should be harder to come by on the Providence wicket. In sweltering conditions the ball should grip on a sluggish surface for the spinners and make any maximums altogether more memorable than normal. It’s unlikely the pacemen will have much to draw from the wicket and it will be sweaty work for all the fielders in the heat.

Stats and trivia

• West Indies have an excellent T20 record against England winning three of four encounters, most recently in the last World Twenty20 when they knocked England out of the tournament
• England will try out their 16th opening combination but if Lumb does indeed join Kieswetter there will be the added twist that both openers are on debut.
  

  Quotes

  “I’m sure they come out here with blood in their eyes and want to beat us.”
  
  “Ottis is a very close friend to all of us, but we have a job to do, to go out and win this match.”

Test vice-captain says winning can become habit as team looks towards 2025-26 challenges

Vithushan Ehantharajah23-Jul-20242:00

Ehantharajah: England comfortable sitting in fourth gear now

Victory over West Indies in the second Test at Trent Bridge secured England their first multi-match series win since the end of 2022. Something which vice-captain Ollie Pope hopes can become a habit.It is a slightly misleading statistic. England have only lost one series under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum – the recent 4-1 defeat to India – and Sunday’s result, which gives them a 2-0 lead heading into the final Test beginning on Friday at Edgbaston, means they have now won four out of seven completed series.There was also victory over Ireland in a one-off Test last summer, and India in a Test rescheduled from their 2021 home series. With 16 wins from 26 matches, Stokes’ win percentage of 61.53% currently ranks third behind legendary Australians Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting as far as those who have captained at least 25 Tests.Related

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• Nobody puts Shoaib Bashir in a corner

And yet, after drawn series against New Zealand and Australia – both missed opportunities – followed by the loss in India, the onus was on England to get back to winning ways as soon as possible. Particularly with the shift in personnel brought about, primarily, to build towards the 2025-26 Ashes.”There was obviously a lot said after the India series about those kind of things,” Pope said when asked about the importance of notching this series win after the last 18 months. “Although it [talk of a lack of series win] fell in an Ashes series, and India is always a tough place to go.”I think winning can become a habit and the way we’ve gone about these two games is high class and that’s shown in the results so far.”That the series has been secured with the help of new faces speaks to Pope’s optimism about the future. James Anderson’s enforced retirement after Lord’s came alongside a stellar debut performance from Gus Atkinson, who emerged with 12 for 106 from the match courtesy of five-wicket hauls in both innings.With Ben Foakes and Jonny Bairstow discarded, Jamie Smith’s 70 in his maiden innings along with seven catches so far has ensured a seamless transition with the wicketkeeper position. Shoaib Bashir’s match-winning 5 for 41 on the final day of the second Test – his third five-wicket haul in just his fifth appearance – vindicated the gamble to select the offspinner instead of Jack Leach, who is above the 20-year-old in the pecking order at their county, Somerset.New blood settling quickly is a familiar quirk to this team; Atkinson, for instance, was the fifth player on debut under Stokes to claim a five-for. But the manner in which selectors moved away from others – notably Anderson, England’s greatest Test cricketer – suggests cultivating a comfortable environment and making uncomfortable decisions are not mutually exclusive.Ollie Pope’s 121 and 51 earned him the Player-of-the-Match award•Getty Images

“I think [there were] some big calls and some tough calls on guys to make. But it feels at the minute that we’ve got a really nice balanced attack and batting line-up as well.”Obviously we want to give guys confidence and that we’re building the team around them. But at the same time in international cricket there’s always going to be pressure for spots. And that’s shown in the last few weeks that the guys that have come in have done beautifully and we can keep building from here.”The way Bash bowled was amazing. Stokesy coming in as well [as an allrounder]. And then we’ve got the two quick guys this game as well, which was a really nice varied attack. And the batting is looking to take shape and hopefully it will be that way for a couple of years as well.”Pope’s part in that batting line-up came to the fore at Trent Bridge, scoring 121 in England’s first innings, then 51 in the second. It was a far-from-flawless sixth Test century as he was dropped on 46 and 54. But after 57 in his only innings at Lord’s, it seems Pope has emerged from a slump that saw him average just 19.05 in 18 red-ball knocks for England and Surrey – a run which began after a match-winning 196 in the first Test of the India series. He is averaging 44.64 as a Test No. 3 since his promotion to the role under Stokes.”I actually felt I played better in the second innings,” Pope said. “I got dropped twice in the first innings, one I actually creamed anyway. I didn’t feel quite at my best but I felt pretty good. And I felt pretty good at Lord’s last week as well so I’m happy to make it count this game, got that bit of luck and was able to cash in.”As well as an unassailable 2-0 lead, England left Nottingham with a bit of history, scoring 400 for both innings for the first time. The strike rates of 4.60 and 4.70, respectively, were brisk but no real risks were taken. A change of tack, perhaps?Pope does not think so – “it’s just out natural games” – but does acknowledge the batters are looking to adopt a more “ruthless” approach in this next stage of their evolution as a collective. All while retaining their capacity to go after opposition attacks.”There might be a day where we go and get five- or six hundred at some point in the future as well. And that’s a cool thing to have.”I feel that everyone has kind of grown into their roles and now there’s a real hunger. There always is a hunger, but now there’s an extra bit in that batting line-up and now we feel like we can go on to do even better things. At the time it was about building confidence now it’s about hopefully we can keep becoming more and more ruthless.”We put on just over 400 in the third innings of the game and had we not done that it might’ve been a closer affair in the end. We want to be as ruthless as we can as a batting unit, but still play the way we do because that’s our natural game. But being ruthless is being part of Test cricket as well.”

“The real red flag is their batting, and the inconsistency that they’ve shown in that five-game period is quite remarkable”

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Apr-202329:47

A deep dive into Delhi Capitals’ woeful season

Tom Moody wants Delhi Capitals to drop Prithvi Shaw, recall Rilee Rossouw, use Mitchell Marsh as an opener, and promote Axar Patel to No. 5 as they attempt to turn their season around.Capitals are in crisis after starting IPL 2023 with five consecutive defeats. They will likely have to win eight of their nine remaining games to have a chance of qualifying for the play-offs, starting with a home fixture against Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday night.Moody, a title-winning coach with Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016, has over a decade of experience in IPL dressing rooms. In an extended edition of ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time:Out, he dissected Capitals’ issues and offered a potential solution to their problems with the bat, which have seen them fail to pass 175 so far this season.Related

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“I’ve faced situations where you have your backs up against the wall, and it’s a challenging time for everyone because pressure comes from all angles,” Moody said. “You get external pressure: there’s a lot of noise coming from the media, a lot of noise coming from your fans. And you’ve got your internal pressure, right through from ownership to senior management, baring into that dressing room.”Moody believes that in the five-day gap between games, the franchise would have “gone through every department” of their line-up. “Clearly, the real red flag for Delhi Capitals is their batting and the inconsistency that they’ve shown in that five-game period is quite remarkable: the number of players, and the different positions that players have played in over that period of time,” he said.Capitals have regularly lost early wickets, most recently stumbling to 32 for 4 in the powerplay during their defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday. “Everything is being compounded at the beginning; they’re not crossing the first hurdle,” Moody said.4:27

Moody: ‘It’s got to a point where Shaw’s rope is running out’

Prithvi Shaw out, Mitchell Marsh to open

He believes that, after scoring 34 runs in his five innings of the season, Shaw’s time is up. “Prithvi Shaw is a unique case in that he’s an extraordinary talent and we all know what he’s capable of doing,” Moody said. “He’s done that not only in the IPL but on the international stage as well. With someone like him, you give him a little bit more rope with regards to his opportunity to come good, because you know that when he does, it’s going to be a high impact. But I think it’s got to the point after five games where that rope is running out.”You’ve got to make a tough call on certain players that aren’t showing any light at the end of the tunnel. And on the evidence of what we’ve seen so far with Prithvi Shaw, it may well be that IPL 2023 may not be his year where he has the impact that we all hoped that he was going to have.”It can just be, ‘oh, we’ll give him a couple more games and see what happens’. Those couple of games go, your chances as a franchise have gone. That’s why you’ve got to make that cold, hard decision at that point. This is crunch time.”Moody wants Marsh, who has batted at No. 3 so far this season, to be shifted up to open.”He’s done that before recently and he’s done it successfully. He’s naturally an enforcer so that would complement [David] Warner… it would help him as well,” Moody said. “You’ve got a left-right combination, you’ve got a 6ft4in and a 5ft8in batter, which is difficult to bowl to.”4:30

How should Delhi Capitals structure their top seven after five losses?

Rilee Rossouw in, Axar Patel up at No. 5

He would also adjust their overseas combination, playing three overseas batters alongside Anrich Nortje at the expense of Mustafizur Rahman. “I think they’re left with no other choice at the moment,” Moody said. “They’ve been going two and two but I think they have no choice but to go the other way.”At No. 3 and 4, I’d have Rilee Rossouw and Manish Pandey both padded up. I’d always want to keep a left-right combination in the top four: if Marsh gets out, Pandey goes in, and vice versa. That would be my lock for the top four.”As for Axar, Moody would promote him to No. 5.”His batting has really shone over the last 12 months. I’d embrace that and have real clear communication with him that this is his position to nail down… he could have a very good impact there, and it’s always nice to have a left-hander in that middle phase as well, because generally a lot of spin is being bowled.”Capitals have plenty of experience in their management and support staff, with Sourav Ganguly joining as director of cricket this year and working alongside head coach Ricky Ponting, but the franchise face an uphill task to turn things around.”The time we’ve spent dissecting it just shows you how difficult a challenge it is,” Moody said. “What you can be assured of is that Delhi have got an assured leadership group with Ponting and Ganguly, you’ve got experience in [Shane] Watson as a batting coach. They’ve got all the personnel. It’s a case of making sure that they get all those pieces in line to hopefully turning their fortunes around.”

Allrounder says he has been coping with the condition for the last 15-16 years

Umar Farooq13-Feb-2022Chronic back pain has forced Shahid Afridi to end his Pakistan Super League season early. The 41-year old allrounder, who has been in rehab, said he only chose to take the field this year “for the fans” but the pain had become too much to bear.Sunday night’s game for Quetta Gladiators was effectively Afridi’s last game in the PSL. He picked up two wickets in the game, against Islamabad United in Lahore, and ran Azam Khan out with a direct hit. It was his 53rd outing in the PSL, where he has been four teams over the years, playing for Peshawar Zalmi, Multan Sultans and Karachi Kings before Gladiators.”I was trying to sign off on a good note; my lower-back injury has been there for 15-16 years, and I have been playing with it.. But now it has become so much that it has affected my groin, my knee and it goes down to extreme pain in my toes,” Afridi said in a social media message. “I tried to cope with it but can’t tolerate the pain anymore. After all, when you have good health, you have the world with you.”I will go back and undergo rehabilitation on my fitness. There is cricket coming up, like the KPL [Kashmir Premier League] and T10 league. So I will soon return in front of my fans again.”Afridi’s stint this season was a disrupted one. He picked up a back injury during a training session, and then tested positive for Covid-19, and missed Gladiators’ first few games. Then, back on the field, he was carted for 67 runs in his four overs by United, the most expensive four-over spell in PSL history.He appeared to have hit his groove last evening, again against United, but was visibly in pain, and didn’t come out to bat as Gladiators won by five wickets.Afridi last played international cricket more than five years ago, but continued to take part in the PSL ever since its inception. He led Zalmi in the first season and was part of the team that won the title the following year.

The St Lucia Zouks captain says he’s ‘closer to retirement than playing more T20 cricket’

Deivarayan Muthu08-Sep-2020Daren Sammy’s place in the XI was often questioned when he was the West Indies captain. He didn’t quite have the flair or aura of his predecessors, but he undoubtedly brought results, particularly in T20 cricket. Things aren’t too different with Sammy at the helm of St Lucia Zouks in the CPL. He has managed just 34 runs in nine innings at an average of 5.66 and a strike rate of under 80 this season. He has bowled a mere two overs, giving up 19 runs for one wicket. But the Zouks have made the playoffs for only the second time in their history, and will make their first-ever final if they topple five-time finalists Guyana Amazon Warriors on Tuesday.Not many gave the Zouks a chance to go so deep in the tournament, especially after some of their key players, including Chris Gayle, became unavailable. Head coach Andy Flower said as much last week, while reiterating his faith in Sammy, whom he called an “inspirational figure”.So has the lack of expectations worked in Zouks’ favour? “A lot of people have said a lot of things about the St Lucia Zouks and the performance in the history of the CPL. But I’m one who has always been confident silently in our dressing room,” Sammy said ahead of the semi-finals. “I said that the guys we have in the squad this year are not superstars, but guys that could be very effective in these conditions.”You [have] seen the way we played throughout this competition – you know especially when we’re out there in the field as a unit, I can’t stress enough on how my men, especially my bowlers, have responded in these conditions. And the way we defended low totals and we have to do it two more times to win this competition.”While Mohammad Nabi’s displays with ball and bat have made up for Gayle’s absence, the Zouks have also found unlikely heroes in Roston Chase and Javelle Glen. Chase was not a CPL regular before this season, but he has regularly fronted up to bowl in the death overs and accumulate with the bat in the middle order on the turning tracks in Trinidad.Glen wasn’t a CPL regular either before 2020. The 22-year-old was sidelined from the 2018 season with injury and was with Jamaica Tallawahs in 2019, playing as a batsman who could bowl a bit. This season, however, Sammy has used Glen as an attacking legspinner, matching him up with right-handers and restricting them from accessing the smaller boundaries.The pitches for the final week at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy have been more batting-friendly than earlier in the season, but Glen, Chase, and Zahir Khan still combined in the end overs to strangle the Tallawahs in their chase in the last league fixture.”You look at the situation of the game – you know you have the advantage of whether the pitch assists spin or there’s a big boundary to which the batsmen have to hit,” Sammy said. “If you see throughout the tournament spin has been difficult to get away. Plus, Javelle every time he comes on to bowl, he brings this type of energy – positive energy – and it’s infectious and the team goes with it. I needed somebody who can spin the ball away from righty to hit in the big side and he was the guy.”I know he has done it before against Barbados and the confidence level he has…we trust him enough to do the job for us when required. And Roston has showed, his ability to execute – whether wide yorkers or making them hit to the big side – you always go for that experience.”Darren Sammy has become Peshawar Zalmi’s head coach•Pakistan Super League

Sammy had a taste of coaching earlier this year, moving upstairs at Peshawar Zalmi after giving up the captaincy in a mid-season reshuffle at the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Sammy, who will be 37 next year, conceded that CPL retirement has “crossed his mind”, but he hoped to exit in front of his home fans in St Lucia at the stadium named after him.”I’m pretty sure this year if we were playing in front of the crowd and I get to play in front of my home fans in St Lucia, I probably would’ve called it [a day] – like I always say; that’s it. I still have some time and I would really love to finish in front of St Lucia and my St Lucian fans at home and bow out at the Daren Sammy cricket ground. But, it all depends on how hard I work after this. If we win the cup, I will definitely have a think about it. I know I’m closer to retirement than playing more T20 cricket – that’s the truth.”‘One country can’t get all the love’
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the entire CPL season has been played behind closed doors in Trinidad. League leaders Trinbago Knight Riders, who have a bevy of Trinidad-based players in their squad, have enjoyed overwhelming home advantage. Before the start of the tournament, some of their players were also allowed to remain outside the bio-bubble and train while the rest of the squads were holed up in their hotel rooms. That didn’t go down well with Sammy. When asked if he would come back and play the entire tournament in just one country in a similar scenario, Sammy said he would, but wanted another country to get the chance to host the tournament.”I was very vocal in my dissatisfaction of what I was seeing in terms of bubble – guys having access to training and facilities every day when others were not,” Sammy said. “I questioned that but one thing I didn’t question is the availability of cricket for all those probably 160 cricketers that are here showcasing their talent.”Now if, let’s say next year, we still have to play in one country, I know for sure it can’t be Trinidad. You’ve got to share the love somewhere else – whether St Kitts, whether St Lucia – and we can come back. And one country can’t seem to be getting all the love all the time. That’s what I’ll say on that.”

England coach admits his side missed Jason Roy but stresses that the opening batsman will not be rushed back from injury

George Dobell22-Jun-2019Trevor Bayliss believes complacency among England’s batsmen cost them in their World Cup match against Sri Lanka.Bayliss, the England coach, believes his side “just took it a little bit easy with the bat” when confronted by a relatively low total and a relatively lower-ranked opponent. England have so far only played one side (South Africa) in the top five of the world rankings and have been beaten by two (Pakistan and Sri Lanka) ranked between sixth and ninth. They play Australia (ranked five), India (ranked two) and New Zealand (ranked three) in their final three qualifying games knowing they may need to win two of those matches to progress.But while Bayliss admitted the team missed the injured Jason Roy, he insisted there would be no risks taken with his recovery and he would not be rushed back for Tuesday’s game against Australia at Lord’s.”What went wrong? Obviously our batting,” Bayliss said. “I thought our bowling was pretty good. It was superb.”But with the bat we weren’t as busy as we normally are. Normally, on a wicket like this one, which wasn’t the easiest to play big shots on, we’re still busy and knocking singles around into the gaps. I don’t think we did that well enough.AFP

“We didn’t build those partnerships. If we’d shown the same urgency at the start of the innings as we did at the end, we would have been in a better place.”I think we just took it a little bit easy with the bat, to be honest. We thought if we just bat a bit of time we’ll put together a partnership. I think we forgot about the process we actually go through to put those partnerships together. That puts you under a bit of pressure towards the back end and that gave Sri Lanka confidence. They certainly bowled well. They hit their lengths and changed their pace.”Of course you miss someone of Jason’s ilk. He’s injured and I’m not exactly sure when he’ll be back, but we’re looking forward to him coming back.”We’re not going to risk him, that’s for sure. We’ll play each game as it comes and get the medical people to let us know whether they think he is right for the next game. If he’s not, well we’ll do the same heading into the next game.”With Roy not expected back until the India game (at Edgbaston on June 30), at least, James Vince looks set to win another opportunity at the top of the order. He has looked in good touch every time he has batted for England this summer but has failed to pass 43 in six international innings. Bayliss remains hopeful, however, that one substantial score can kick-start a career that has, to date, promised more than it has delivered.”It’s not as infuriating [for me] as it is for him,” Bayliss said. “He looks a million dollars, but then he finds a way to get out. Hopefully he’s one of those guys who can put one together and it tips him over the edge and he gets a string of big scores. He’s certainly a good player, but he’s looking to play a longer dig.”WATCH on Hotstar (India only) – England’s wickets against Sri LankaBayliss was also phlegmatic about Moeen Ali’s dismissal, caught on the long-off boundary at a time when England needed less than a run a ball to win the game.”I think he’s obviously disappointed,” Bayliss said. “I’m no more disappointed than he is with that shot. It was not a great time to play that shot after hitting a six the ball before.”But other times he goes out, hits it over the fence and we’d be yelling ‘great shot’. They’re always going to make a mistake if you’re trying things. They have a bit of a joke at times in the dressing room about hitting a single off the next ball and that being good cricket. Some of the guys have hit ‘six, six, six’ and that’s really good cricket.”Despite the setback, Bayliss says the dressing room remains full of belief. And, he believes the quality of the teams which England have to play next will ensure “minds are on the job”.”We know how good we are,” he said. “We didn’t play as well as we’d like in this game and maybe we let one slip, but we have been in this situation before and it hasn’t stopped us coming out and playing well in the next game.”I think the three teams we’ve got coming up are good teams and we know what we’re going to get. We know what we can expect from those three good teams so I think our minds will be on the job.”They will need to be. Australia will sense a chance to push England towards the brink of elimination on Tuesday and life will be no easier in the two matches to follow. While, from a global perspective, there may be some relief that the final group matches do not amount to a glut of dead games, England supporters – starved of World Cup success and knowing this is probably a one-off opportunity – may well have settled for just a little more predictability.

The two things England have most enjoyed in this Test match so far have been with neither bat or ball

Andrew McGlashan in Auckland23-Mar-2018The two things England have most enjoyed in this Test match so far have been with neither bat or ball: Ed Sheeran popped into the dressing room while in Auckland for three gigs this weekend, and rain wiped out most of the second day with more forecast for the next two. Stuart Broad’s 400th wicket aside, there is not much else they can take from it.Sheeran, a cricket fan who is friends with Shane Warne, received a bat from Mark Wood and a signed shirt. “A few of the lads chatted to him for a while, it was nice especially after a couple of average days to meet someone of his calibre,” James Anderson said. “It was nice of him to come in, there are a lot of big fans in there.”Back on the field there was precious little to savour in the 23.1 overs possible. They bowled tightly but without much penetration which is not a new story. Anderson managed to extract Kane Williamson for 102, but New Zealand’s lead swelled to 171.Having been bowled out for 58, the game is so far advanced that the weather is not yet a problem for the home side, but the forecast is poor for the weekend. From such depths England will take any help they can, although Anderson insisted they could yet haul themselves out of the mire.”We have to keep believing we can save it because if we don’t have belief there’s no point turning up and putting in the hard yards and bowling the overs in the middle,” he said. “We’ve got to believe that we can get something out of this game.”Twenty-four hours after registering their sixth-lowest total in Test history and threatening the lowest by anyone – 26 – there was a sense of England still trying to work out how it happened. The same could be said for New Zealand.When asked his thoughts on batting before lunch on the first day, Anderson said: “It was a big chance for my maiden hundred.” Gallows humour is not a bad idea.”I can’t remember experiencing an hour like that before,” he added. “Certainly at the start of the game. It’s just one of those things, when the stars align, you’re not on form and facing two world-class bowlers it’s going to happen. We’ve got to try and work very hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”There was still a sense of disbelief in Williamson’s voice: “It was a bit of a perfect storm, really. England have a very long batting line-up. Even when you do fire you expect a partnership or two. It was doing just enough and that just enough was on our side. Hard to beat it from our perspective with ball in hand.”On the first day England coach Trevor Bayliss lamented technical failings from batsmen with a reluctance to get on the front foot to a slightly moving ball and while the major post-mortem will wait until after the match, Anderson said the onus was on the batsmen to work out what had gone wrong.”I’m sure the batsmen are working hard with the coaches to figure out what went wrong with them and counter that during the second innings and hopefully bat much better. I think it’s something after the game we’ll really have a chat about it but at the minute you’ve really got to do what you can do to influence this game.”More rain would be music to England’s ears. Otherwise, they might have time to see one of Ed Sheeran’s concerts in person.

An ECB delegation has spent time in Australia this month assessing the Big Bash League as they step up preparations for a high-powered tournament of their own

Will Macpherson in Melbourne12-Jan-2017An ECB delegation has spent time in Australia this month assessing the Big Bash League as they step up preparations for a high-powered tournament of their own.Anthony Everard, the league manager of the Big Bash, said the delegation, led by the ECB’s head of commercial partnerships, Mike Fordham, “asked all the right questions” when they met. Fordham was joined by Gordon Hollins, the ECB’s chief operating officer, as well as two county cricket chief executives, Somerset’s Guy Lavender and Nottinghamshire’s Lisa Pursehouse.The travelling contingent are representing the “T20 working group”, which was established in December and also contains Rob Calder, the ECB’s head of marketing, and Tom Johnson, the head of business support as well as the chief executive of the PCA, David Leatherdale.It is understood that they are not looking to file a formal report from the BBL, but are observing and researching the way Cricket Australia and the clubs have pulled off the highly successful competition.Anthony Everard, league manager of the Big Bash League•Getty Images

ECB delegations have become a regular feature of the Big Bash as the future of T20 in England remains undecided. “There is a mutual curiosity,” Everard told ESPNcricinfo. “We welcome the ECB, we spent the morning with them, and they asked all the right questions. There is common ground, but also apples and oranges.”The BBL model has effectively tapped its target market: anybody who had not been to a cricket match before. The ECB appreciates that due to a differing population spread and starting point (18 counties, rather than six states) they cannot simply replicate but they do seem increasingly determined to hold a comparable eight-team competition from 2020.Last year, ECB’s market research suggested that only 13% of fans at NatWest T20 Blast games were under 16, and that the average was between 48 and 49, prompting fears about where the next generation of fans would come from and strengthening determination that a shake-up was required.Progress on the project – which has received significant opposition from county members – is expected when the county chairmen and CEOs meet at the end of March.This is not the first time the ECB have visited the BBL – which is averaging 29,875 fans per match this season, as well as free-to-air TV ratings of more than 1m people per night – for inspiration for their own competition. Last year Sanjay Patel, the chief sales and marketing officer, travelled to Australia to assess the competition. Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, travelled to the USA in November to meet with Twitter, Facebook and other social networks to research how the competition’s media rights package could work.The ECB are not the only overseas board in town to pick the BBL’s brains. Damien O’Donohoe, the Caribbean Premier League’s chief executive, has also met with his Australian counterparts this week.

Not many England cricketers have reacted to their selection for a major tour – a tour against the No. 1 Test side in the world no less – with “a bit of a chuckle”

David Hopps21-Nov-2015Not many England cricketers have reacted to their selection for a major tour – a tour against the No. 1 Test side in the world no less – with “a bit of a chuckle”, but that is how Samit Patel says he reacted when he was summoned against expectations for the Test series in South Africa.Assumptions that Patel had been called up for the Test series against Pakistan in the UAE, following Zafar Ansari’s injury, and then would be routinely discarded had only been encouraged by a 2-0 series defeat which led to a widespread debate over the state of spin bowling in England. He did not figure in many predicted squads on the day the tour party was announced, but he was in the one that mattered.Patel’s reputation proved more robust than even he expected. He played the final Test, performed as well as his two spin partners, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, and won the vote for South Africa ahead of Rashid as England’s selectors opted to give Moeen some meaningful competition with a like-for-like replacement on a tour where spin bowling is expected to play a secondary role to a diet of pace.”I had a bit of a chuckle to myself to be honest,” Patel told ESPNcricinfo at the Chance to Shine Street awards. “I’m just happy I’ve been given the chance to go to South Africa. I get pigeon-holed as a subcontinent cricketer which I don’t really like. So hopefully I can put that right and stop people saying that because I have played all my cricket in England. So I don’t really agree when people say that. I can’t be because I play in this country as well.”But it was very much a surprise to be honest. I thought they were going to go with Mo and Rash again – just continuity wise I thought that’s the way they’d go – but surprisingly I got the call. I was very surprised.”Rashid will benefit from his omission. He has not been deliberately excluded to play Big Bash in Australia – as Andrew Strauss, the director England cricket, has made clear that Test cricket remains paramount – but the selectors were aware that the opportunity existed for him to join his Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie at Adelaide Strikers and are delighted about this opportunity ahead of the World T20.That leaves Patel only too aware of his role in South Africa: if not carrying the drinks, he begins very much Moeen’s understudy, on hand in case of injury or a collapse of form with bat or ball. As a player who treated his Test series in the UAE “as though it was going to be my last Test tour” that is no hardship.”I’d fill any role for England. If they told me to bat No. 9 or 10 I’d bat there. Whatever fits the team I’d do. I think Moeen is fantastic – a good bowler, great batsman – so I think I’m second choice definitely. I personally think just Moeen and four seamers will be the make-up of the team. I’m not talking myself out of it, I just think that’s the way we’ll go.”He is supremely relaxed about James Anderson’s observations after the lost series in the UAE that England’s spinners needed to learn quickly. “I wasn’t aware what Jimmy said – it’s irrelevant though because he’s just trying to help the team. We do have to learn quickly. It’s a Test match playing for England. We probably did get exposed but they’re used to playing on wickets like that so you can’t really say we bowled badly. We bowled bad balls but so did their spinners. They were just more consistent at building pressure than we were.Samit Patel provides some impromptu coaching during the Chance to Shine Street awards at Kia Oval•Chance to Shine

There is not much in his record to suggest he is about to bowl out South Africa if he gets the chance to add to his seven Tests. If he does play, expect to see two fingers of his bowling hand strapped together as a protective measure, the legacy of a dislocation suffered during his first over on his Test return in Sharjah. “I’ve had it checked out and it’s fine, but I’ll probably keep the strapping on because I don’t want it slipping out again.”As a representative of England’s put-upon spin-bowling collective, Patel has learned to make the best of things. In 14 years of county cricket, he has become inured to Trent Bridge’s seam-friendly surfaces, averaging 200 overs a season and taking his first-class wickets at a touch over 40.”I don’t think it’s correct when people say we don’t have English spinners because we do. I don’t think our wickets encourage spinners. When it’s green in April, May, sometimes even June, why should people bowl spin? Groundsmen should make more spinning wickets if English cricket wants to see better spinners. I don’t think you should do that every week – groundsmen should pick their games, probably in the middle of the year, in June, July and August. I think we need to see more spinning wickets for us to get better batting and bowling on them.”It is a trimmer, more mature Patel these days, a far cry from the player who first won England honours seven years ago. If it would be unwise to suggest he is free of his addictions (only Samit could have gazed at the canapes at The Oval as if his resolve was being tested), at least the talk of his weight issues has relented. He thinks that is partly down to his own development, partly because of a less judgemental attitude around the England squad.”The environment does change. Hopefully I’ve made a better impression than when I first came in. My attitude then was poor and naïve. The criticism I got was probably fair, not wholly, but the majority. I think I’ve moved on from there and changed, which hopefully everyone has seen.”I thought I was untouchable. I couldn’t do anything wrong. I started well against the South Africans. Everyone thought I’d carry on but it doesn’t really work like that. It was a different period but you learn as you get older what you can and can’t do, and what you need to do.”Samit Patel was attending the Chance to Shine Street Awards. Lycamobile supports the programme as part of its mission to bring communities together. Chancetoshine.org/street