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The Perth Scorchers bid the WACA ground farewell with their third Big Bash League title in four years and a vintage performance straight from their tried-and-tested copybook

The Report by Will Macpherson at the WACA28-Jan-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:28

Macpherson: Most comprehensive BBL final result ever

The Perth Scorchers bid the WACA ground farewell with their third Big Bash League title in four years and a vintage performance straight from their tried-and-tested copybook. Their nine-wicket win came with 25 balls to spare, comfortably the most emphatic winning margin in a BBL final.Their triumph lifted one of the BBL’s peculiar hoodoos, as they become the first table-toppers to take home the title. The Sydney Sixers, whose women’s team won the WBBL earlier in the day, were the latest – and likely the last – victims of BBL cricket, the WACA way.Just like the final game of the regular season, and the semi-final, the Scorchers’ night could barely have run closer to their well-worn plan. Adam Voges won the toss and bowled, as they prefer to and 28 of 35 captains this BBL season have done. They took wickets in the Powerplay and strangled the Sixers, keeping them to 141. In the chase, their top order did the work in a belligerent Powerplay, then they sauntered home as if they had an early dinner reservation. Which they may well have done – the game was over in the blink of an eye.The plan is for the Scorchers to play next season at the new 60,000-seater Perth Stadium, across the river from the WACA but hulking, seeming bigger at each glance. Just another homogeneous state-of-the-art bowl, there will be no Fremantle Doctor, history or iconic floodlights. A third title (they have now won half of all the BBLs) intensifies the Scorchers’ undoubted aura but with the WACA goes some of the Scorchers’ strength.As much as the Scorchers’ quality and the long journey west, the wonderfully partisan crowds have made the scorching stadium a horrible place to visit; indeed there are vast swathes of Australia’s uninhabitable red centre that are louder than ‘The Furnace’ when the opposition take a wicket, but the celebratory roar is unique in the competition, and the new stadium has plenty to live up to. Every other BBL club aspires for a hostile atmosphere like the WACA’s and a club identity like the Scorchers.Every other club aspires to cricket like the Scorchers’ too. They have had the deepest squad, as evidenced by the fact that they did not need the Marsh brothers here, or Jason Behrendorff, their highest-ever wicket-taker, all tournament. Their team is built on consistency of selection and experience of the competition, and it evolves slowly. They have the clearest – and perhaps even most defensive – gameplan, and are immaculately drilled, too. At the WACA, particularly chasing, they are mighty tough to beat.This always looked a big toss, given Mitchell Johnson’s flying form and the Scorchers’ unrivalled propensity to squeeze. The Sixers, too, had batted first just once all season, and they managed 99 for 9 then. Their batting, marshalled by the specialist finalist Moises Henriques, is suited to the chase.And so it proved. Johnson began with a smile, then four dots, a single and another dot. At the other end, Daniel Hughes looked to tuck into Ashton Turner but soon holed out. Already, Sixers were scrambling, and in the next over Nic Maddinson was run out and Michael Lumb caught behind. It was all eerily reminiscent of the semi-final win over Melbourne Stars. Johnson took 1 for 13, with 16 dot balls. Again, he was on fire.Brad Haddin, as he tends to be these days, was there for a good time, not a long time, powering his way to 38 and adding 57 with Henriques, and particularly tucking into Tim Bresnan and Ashton Agar, who he stuck sweetly down the ground for consecutive sixes. But the eventual Player of the Match Jhye Richardson, selected ahead of Behrendorff, bounced out Haddin (it was very close to a no-ball), then did for Henriques and Jordan Silk in the same over.Johan Botha and the tail wagged, but Sixers’ hopes of 160 and a competitive match went with Henriques. Tim Bresnan, an inspired short-term signing whose T20 value has risen exponentially over the last fortnight, bowled beautifully at the death to nip any chance of a big score in the bud, dismissing Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshius and Botha.It seems generous to call what followed a chase. Sam Whiteman, the flair in a functional top order, came out swinging from the hip, sending Jackson Bird for six to the 60m leg-side boundary and a triptych of violent fours. Ben Dwarshius was then biffed for two sixes behind square. At the other end, Michael Klinger built an innings. The first seven overs brought 70.When Whiteman was stumped, out came Ian Bell, looking determined to be there at the end, cutting with élan and pulling with control. In the course of his unbeaten 71, Klinger made this his most prolific BBL season ever, and again overtook Aaron Finch as the league’s all-time top-scorer. Appropriately, it was he who struck the final blow, lofting Botha high and handsome down the ground. The WACA erupted, one last time.

The Ranji Trophy quarter-final between Jharkhand and Mumbai is likely to be shifted out of Bangalore, in keeping with the BCCI’s attempt to ensure none of the World T20 venues are “fatigued” ahead of the tournament

Arun Venugopal30-Dec-2015The Ranji Trophy quarter-final match between Jharkhand and Mumbai is likely to be shifted out of the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore in keeping with the BCCI’s attempts to ensure none of the World T20 venues are “fatigued” ahead of the tournament.While none of the other six World T20 venues has been allotted a Ranji Trophy knockout game, the KSCA has requested the BCCI to move the quarter-final out of Bangalore. KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel said it was done with a view to give the curators enough time to prepare the pitch ahead of the World T20.”We are going to give rest to our wickets,” Patel told ESPNcricinfo. “There is also the junior team which wants to have a camp here. We don’t have enough time to prepare the wickets for the World Cup, so we have requested the board. We are waiting for the board to respond.”While the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore is slated to host three Super 10 matches, none of the other venues for the Ranji knockouts – Visakhapatnam, Valsad, Mumbai (Brabourne Stadium), Vadodara, Cuttack and Pune – has been allotted any World T20 games. The Chinnaswamy Stadium had also played host to ten matches in the Vijay Hazare domestic 50-over competition recently, including two quarter-finals, a semi-final and the final.A BCCI source said the board was keen to make sure the pitches didn’t suffer from the after-effects of a long cricketing season. “The World T20 begins after a whole season of cricket,” the source said. “The idea is to rest the pitches and let them recover from fatigue so that they are ready for Twenty20 cricket. The BCCI is very keen to make sure the pitches are fresh and ready when the World T20 begins. That is why centres that are not hosting the World T20 have been given the Ranji knockouts, like Pune for example.”On the nature of pitches for the World T20, the source said the BCCI was intent on preparing pitches that were “conducive for T20 cricket.” “It should allow for runs to be scored with good bounce and carry,” the source said. “That is the specific instruction from the BCCI.” It is understood that there have been elaborate discussions on the pitches and overall ground conditions, and preparations are expected to go on for the next two months.Patel, while indicating that the match between Jharkhand and Mumbai would be televised, said the KSCA hadn’t offered any suggestions of an alternative venue. The BCCI source, however said, Mysore was the likely replacement. Alur, another venue in Karnataka, hosted a number of matches in the Vijay Hazare domestic 50-over competition recently, but Mysore is considered better equipped to handle the logistical challenges involved in broadcasting a game.

Michael Clarke is not certain whether he will be fit to face Sri Lanka in Australia’s vital last Champions Trophy group match on Monday but has declared that he “will definitely be back for the Ashes”

Andrew McGlashan14-Jun-2013Michael Clarke is not certain whether he will be fit to face Sri Lanka in Australia’s vital last Champions Trophy group match on Monday but has declared that he “will definitely be back for the Ashes”.Even before David Warner decided to take swing at Joe Root last week, Clarke had enough on his mind as he tried to overcome a recurrence of his back problem which had ruled him out of Australia’s first two matches.Australia’s tournament hopes rest on Monday’s meeting with Sri Lanka at The Oval but it remains uncertain whether their captain will be able to return to the side. Clarke was not with the squad during the first two games – a defeat to England and an abandonment against New Zealand – and his linking back up with the team as they arrived in London was dominated by him dealing with the fall-out to Warner’s night out.However, there was time to ask Clarke about the state of his back and though he tried to make positive noises he was not giving any promises.”It is getting there,” he said. “I can sit here and say I will be 100% fit for the game on Monday. But I have been saying that for the last two games as well.”It is about judging my back every day. It is slowly getting better, there is no doubt about it, but I am as keen as ever to try to get on the field and help this team have some success.”George Bailey has led the side in Clarke’s absence and has struck two half-centuries, but the top order has been unconvincing. Before Warner’s enforced absence, his form had been poor and Shane Watson is also struggling for runs. Phil Hughes battled his way to an unconvincing 30 against England and was run out for a duck against New Zealand.

The delayed Cricket Kenya elections this weekend will go ahead despite a dispute within the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association

Martin Williamson25-May-2012The delayed Cricket Kenya elections this weekend will go ahead despite a dispute within the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) which threatened to derail the process.In a throwback to the kind of argument which left Kenyan cricket embroiled in acrimonious rows between 2003 and 2005, the NPCA, itself riven by an internal dispute, had sought to again postpone the CK election.Although the NPCA nominated a candidate, it argued that the withdrawal of two of the three candidates it was being asked to choose between was a reason for the delay. This was rejected by CK.Yet again there is confusion over the details and three NPCA clubs – Swamibapa, Premier and Impala – claim that they were unaware of resolutions passed in their names.Some NPCA officials have threatened to boycott the elections. “The issue as to whether NPCA should attend or should not attend the AGM is a matter for the NPCA,” a board spokesman said. “There is nothing that we can do to prevent them from attending. They have complied procedurally with everything they were required to do.”The dispute has all the hallmarks of the way Sharad Ghai and his associates managed to keep control of the old Kenyan Cricket Association until they were ousted in 2005. Since then although Kenya have continued to struggle on the field, its finances, accountability and transparency have become far more stable.

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers in Chennai

The Preview by Sriram Veera30-Apr-2011

Match facts

Sunday, May 1 Chennai
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)With nine wickets to his credit, Amit Mishra is third behind Iqbal Abdulla (10) and Shane Warne (10) in the list of spinners•Indian Premier League

Big picture

They win one and they lose one but Deccan have slowly picked themselves off the bottom and are beginning to inch up in the points table. They were almost a two-man bowling attack, with only Dale Steyn and Amit Mishra contributing in the first half of the tournament, but suddenly, from nowhere, Ishant Sharma announced himself in some style in their last game. Admittedly, the pitch was helpful but Deccan will hope he will rouse himself to greater deeds from here on.As far as their batting is concerned, Deccan have depended heavily on Kumar Sangakkara. Their domestic batsmen have failed, their big signings like Cameron White, Daniel Christian and JP Duminy haven’t quite managed to live up to their billing yet. So, it’s no surprise that they haven’t been consistent so far.Deccan’s opponents Chennai Super Kings have lost three games but it took some exceptional performances, and iffy conditions, to beat them. Paul Valthaty dropped his cloak of anonymity one day, Harbhajan Singh picked his maidenTwenty20 five-for on another day, and rain played a big part in the game they lost to Kochi. They have won all their home games and won their first away game in the last encounter against Pune. They return to Chennai where their spin-heavy attack can be expected to test Deccan’s batting.

Form guide (most recent first)

Deccan: WLWLW (sixth in points table)
Chennai: WWLLW (fifth in points table)

Team talk

Will Deccan Chargers opt for the off-colour Pragyan Ojha at Chepauk? Ojha, who was a star performer in previous IPL editions, has been looted for runs but they might be tempted to give him a go on Sunday. Surely, now, JP Duminy, or even Michael Lumb, will be given a go in place of Cameron White?Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team selector.

In the spotlight

S Badrinath has been one of the most classically pure batsmen in this IPL. Everything seems to have fallen in place for him this IPL season; he hasn’t been dismissed in his last three games and has harvested runs in some style. Interestingly, he will face Dale Steyn, the man who made him look like a novice in his last Test match. The ball cut in, swung out, reared at the throat, and Badrinath struggled; his critics have used that failure to fuel their arguments. Will there be a mini-redemption for him on Sunday?India loves their quick bowlers because there haven’t been many in their history. And so when Ishant Sharma harassed Ricky Ponting in a furious spell at Perth, they thought they had found a new hero. However, Ishant slowly lost his mojo and with it his place in the national team. He sparkled on a pitch that had something for the seamers against Kochi. Will it be the start of his journey back to the highest level or was it just a one-off?

Prime numbers

• Kumar Sangakkara and Badrinath are the top scorers for their respective sides and both have made 235 runs. Chennai have two other batsman who have tallied more than 200 but Deccan’s second highest run-tally is 144 (Bharat Chipli).
• Doug Bollinger is the only bowler from either of these teams who has an economy rate of under 6 an over (5.93)

The chatter

“Our captain [Sangakkara] is playing beautifully at the moment, Sunny Sohal has done well, [Bharat] Chipli has also done quite well. Mishra’s been outstanding, probably one of the best bowlers in the competition. Everyone’s beating everyone out there. No one’s really slipping away at the top of the table. If we win tomorrow it will be our fourth win and we’ll be pretty close to those top four positions.”

The pool stage is over, the minnows have all been swallowed and only the big fish remain swimming on to Barbados for the Super Eights. Now, the real test begins for New Zealand and South Africa

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale06-May-2010

Match Facts

Thursday, May 6, Bridgetown

Start time 1330 (1730 GMT)Morne Morkel could once again prove a handful on the bouncy Barbados pitch•AFP

The Big Picture

The pool stage is over, the minnows have all been swallowed and only the big fish are gliding on to Barbados for the Super Eights. Now, the real test begins. New Zealand and South Africa bring slightly different form to this meeting, with Daniel Vettori’s men undefeated against a lacklustre Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, and Graeme Smith’s group having lost to India and beaten Afghanistan.Barbados has provided a more lively surface and having played all their games, including the warm-ups, on the slower pitches of Guyana, New Zealand will need to adjust quickly. It might mean a rethink of their tactic of giving the new ball to the spinner Nathan McCullum, who has been a revelation in being named Man of the Match in both their games.South Africa got through with a comfortable win over the Afghans and had a good chance to get used to Kensington Oval. However, while their bowling was excellent there were some question marks over their batting. Although Jacques Kallis has scored more than 100 runs in the two games, South Africa need him to find the boundary more frequently, while a couple of his colleagues got out to lazy shots against Afghanistan.

Form guide (most recent first)

New Zealand: WWTLW
South Africa: WLWLL

Watch out for…

The conditions suited the slower bowlers in Guyana but the first day of games at Kensington Oval proved the fast men will be a handful. That is good news for Shane Bond, who is the quickest of New Zealand’s attack and could therefore become their key weapon in the Super Eights.South Africa will look to Morne Morkel for pace and bounce once again, after he devastated Afghanistan’s inexperienced top order on the same surface. New Zealand’s batsmen are more adept, but Morkel’s height makes him a tough proposition on any pitch that offers him assistance.

Team news

Despite the change in venue, New Zealand’s coach Mark Greatbatch said it was unlikely they would alter their winning team. There will be some pressure on the top order to perform, after Jesse Ryder was the only man to really fire against Sri Lanka, while opportunities were limited in the shortened game against Zimbabwe.New Zealand (probable) 1 Brendon McCullum, 2 Jesse Ryder, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Daniel Vettori (capt), 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Gareth Hopkins (wk), 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Shane Bond.The comfortable victory over Afghanistan should mean South Africa also take an unchanged line-up in to their first Super Eights clash. The experiment of Kallis opening with Loots Bosman was abandoned after the loss to India, and Graeme Smith will be expected to walk out first once again.South Africa (probable) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Loots Bosman, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 JP Duminy, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Roelof van der Merwe, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Charl Langeveldt.

Pitch and conditions

The first day of action in Barbados resulted in 21 of 34 wickets falling to fast bowlers. Batsmen struggled to adjust to the extra pace and bounce after the slower surfaces in St Lucia and Guyana.

Stats and trivia

• The teams have met in four Twenty20 internationals. New Zealand won the first one, back in 2005, and South Africa have triumphed in the three since then
• During the victory over Zimbabwe, Brendon McCullum became the first man to reach 1000 career runs in Twenty20 internationals and the first man to strike 100 fours
• Daniel Vettori and Graeme Smith are the two most experienced captains in Twenty20 internationals
  

  Quotes

  “We’re going to have to up our ante with our batting. It’s going to be a key area.”
  Mark Greatbatch, the New Zealand coach, wants more from his top order.

He is set to feature in domestic cricket between two ODI series, against South Africa and New Zealand

Daya Sagar02-Dec-2025Virat Kohli is set to return to domestic cricket for Delhi in the 2025-26 Vijay Hazare Trophy, the domestic 50-over competition, the DDCA has confirmed.Kohli, 37, plays only one format now for India – 50-over cricket – and since the BCCI has made it a mandate for contracted India players to feature in domestic cricket, Kohli will represent Delhi when the tournament starts on December 24 in Ahmedabad.”He will definitely play a few games, but not sure about the entire tournament,” DDCA secretary Ashok Sharma told ESPNcricinfo. “It will depend upon his India matches too.”Related

• Kohli dictates South Africa's reality from within his bubble

• Kohli: 'If I'm arriving somewhere I'll arrive at 120%'

Kohli recently struck his 52nd ODI century, against South Africa in Ranchi, and was named the Player of the Match for his knock of 135 that was studded with seven sixes.Once the last ODI of the ongoing series finishes on December 6 in Visakhapatnam, Kohli will have enough time before the start of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. However, it is not clear yet if he will play all of Delhi’s seven league matches, which will go on till January 8, just three days before the start of the ODI series against New Zealand in Vadodara.Delhi will play five league matches in Alur, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, and the other two at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Kohli’s home ground for his IPL team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).Kohli last played 50-over cricket for Delhi in September 2013, in the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy which had India Blue and India Red as the other two teams. The last time Kohli played the Vijay Hazare Trophy was in the 2009-10 season. He led Delhi in both those tournaments.In the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – the domestic 20-over competition – Delhi have won two of their four games under the leadership of Nitish Rana.

LSG head coach Langer felt dropped catches “really killed us in the end”

Abhimanyu Bose18-May-20244:26

Langer: IPL has same pressure as World Cup

Lucknow Super Giants’ win over Mumbai Indians in their last game of the season was not enough to take them to the playoffs, but it was the kind of performance their captain KL Rahul wanted more of throughout the season.LSG finished on 14 points and occupied sixth spot on table – level with fourth-placed Chennai Super Kings, who still have a game to play on Saturday – but their net run rate of -0.667 was not enough to push them into the top four.”At the beginning of the season, I really felt that we had a strong team and had most bases covered,” Rahul said after the game. “[We had] a couple of injuries obviously, which happens every season to every team, but those injuries and the guys that went away really dented us a little bit, and we didn’t play well enough collectively.Related

• Hardik banned for MI's slow over rate, will miss first game next season

• Boucher admits off-field noise may have 'clouded' Hardik after MI finish at bottom

• Mohsin Khan nearly lost an arm, but he's back to being Lucknow's enforcer

• Pooran-inspired win fails to take LSG into the playoffs

“When the bowlers had a good game, the batters wouldn’t have a good game. We just didn’t come together as much as we would have wanted to.”Rahul’s comments were echoed by LSG head coach Justin Langer, who said they wanted to try a few new tricks in their last game, and that included opening with Devdutt Padikkal in place of Quinton de Kock. But the Padikkal move did not pay off – he was trapped lbw for a golden duck by Nuwan Thushara – and LSG soon found themselves in a familiar position of losing early wickets.They were 69 for 3 in the tenth over but Nicholas Pooran’s whirlwind 29-ball 75 revivied them. It also helped Rahul accelerate from 29 off 28 to finish on 55 off 41 and took the side to 214.LSG had come into the season with a reputation for defending totals, and they lived up to it the first three times they batted first. However, their bowling took a hit in the second half of the competition, with injuries to key bowlers like Mohsin Khan and Mayank Yadav, and they struggled to defend totals.But in Mumbai, even after the hosts enjoyed an 88-run opening stand in 8.4 overs, their bowling unit came together to effectively blunt the opposition by the 15th over. Naman Dhir, batting at No. 7, gave them a scare with a 28-ball 62 not out, but LSG got through.Langer acknowledged that they missed the services of Mayank and Mohsin, but felt that their sloppy fielding “really killed us in the end”.”I think dropped catches cost us,” Langer said at the post-game press conference. “If you go back to the Delhi game at home, we dropped [Jake] Fraser-McGurk on 17 [24] off Marcus Stoinis. And I think he hit 26 [21] runs off the next over and it really kickstarted his whole season. I saw a stat today that we’ve dropped a lot of catches. We’ve probably got the best fielding coach in the world [Jonty Rhodes] and we dropped some catches. And often it’s [something] as simple as that to [decide] the outcome of the season.”We missed Mayank, he was huge. Mohsin [Khan] had quite a sore back for some of the tournament. But I think dropped catches is the thing that really killed us in the end.”But against MI, LSG held on to all their chances – five catches taken on the field. Krunal Pandya and Ravi Bishnoi took a brilliant catch each to send Dewald Brevis and Suryakumar Yadav, respectively, packing.”Today was a really good performance,” Rahul said. “This is the kind of game we wanted to play more where batters are scoring, and bowlers are doing their job. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that, so we find ourselves here.”

Pakistan’s first-class cricket is set to return to a model featuring both regions and departments

Umar Farooq24-Jan-2023The Pakistan Cricket Board has invited the country’s private and government departments besides three military institutes to be part of the domestic circuit. The PCB has initiated a restructuring of domestic cricket, and a return to the 16-team hybrid first-class model featuring both regions and departments.The PCB has already abolished the previous six-team model after the completion of the 2022-23 season in the first week of January.”The Pakistan Cricket Board has formally written to 27 leading departments, seeking their interest in participating in the PCB Domestic Cricket Season 2023-24, which will start in August,” the PCB confirmed through a press release. “In the letters, the PCB has not only invited the departments to confirm their participation in the upcoming season at their earliest convenience [which] can help them prepare the season’s calendar but has also encouraged them to set up strong cricket sides, assuring them maximum coverage and publicity through the traditional and new media.”Related

• Pakistan might rest Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan to manage workloads

• Kieron Pollard, Haris Sohail, Ben Cutting among picks at PSL replacement draft

• Umar Gul: We need departmental cricket back in Pakistan

• 'There's been famine for the last four years' – Najam Sethi out to revive domestic cricket in Pakistan

In the new structure, eight regional teams and eight department teams will play in the premier first-class tournament, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. Every season, the regional and department teams finishing bottom get relegated and two toppers (one region and one department) from the Grade 2 tournament will be promoted. Although the 2023-24 season effectively starts in August, the Pakistan government had given the new head of the PCB, Najam Sethi, 120 days (starting from December 21, 2022) to reset the set-up and go back to the 2014 constitution.Racing against time, the PCB management committee is making every effort to return to the previous model, reviving the 97 districts that make up the 16 regions. There are around 3200 clubs already functioning across the country and are the major feeders of players into the regional system.The Pakistan government recently removed Ramiz Raja and his Board by revoking the 2019 constitution the PCB was operating under and brought back Najam Sethi to head the management committee, giving it full executive powers to work on reviving the constitution of 2014. Aside from the changes in the board and its structure, that constitution will also bring back department sides into the domestic circuit – they had been removed in 2019 after former Pakistan captain Imran Khan became the Prime Minister of the country (the PM automatically becomes the PCB’s patron).Umar Gul and Misbah-ul-Haq were among prominent voices calling for department cricket to be reinstated•Getty Images

Even though the PCB has reached out to the departments, it’s not clear if the departments are willing to revive their teams in the current economic climate. There might not be much appetite for such organisations to hire a squad of cricketers. A number of department sides had shut down their sporting operations even before Imran’s changes, with Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and United Bank Limited (UBL) among the prominent ones to do so.PM Shahbaz Sharif, the PCB’s current patron-in-chief, had already issued a directive in October last year to all 18 government departments/institutes to restore the governance of their sports structure in Pakistan and restart the financing of sports departments. The pick-up on that has been slow – ESPNcricinfo understands that Ramiz Raja as chairman had written to private banks to ask about reviving their teams but they had shown little interest. Various government departments are dependent on government budgets and haven’t allocated a budget since the PM’s notification.Several government departments that function autonomously – such as State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Sui National Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV), Sui Southern Gas (SSG), Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) – can easily allocate funds though it’s unclear if they see it as a priority. The PCB’s letter is an attempt to know their intentions. It is understood that not all 27 departments will be willing to return but the PCB requires at least 16 in the system under its proposed domestic structure. PSL franchise Lahore Qalandars are among the private teams willing to launch a team in the Grade 2 set-up to complement their player hunt program.According to the 2014 constitution, the Board of Governors (BoG) will have ten members including four regional representatives (the top four teams from the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy), four representatives of service organisations (the top four department teams) and two members to be nominated according to the patron’s discretion. To form a Board the PCB also needs to have an active domestic circuit.The abolition of departments in 2019 led to resentment in the cricketing community of Pakistan. A group of former board members and cricketers including Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez and Umar Gul have been urging the government to revert to the previous domestic structure that included departmental teams such as Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), SNGPL and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The model introduced on the insistence of Imran led to a large number of players losing their livelihoods from their employment with departments.

Australia lost both openers after India declared early in the second session

Annesha Ghosh02-Oct-2021A high-octane second session in which Jhulan Goswami’s epic two-spell new-ball burst accounted for Australia’s openers headlined day three of the standalone pink-ball Test in Carrara. Ellyse Perry, who shortly before India’s declaration on 377 for 8 had become the first woman with the double of 300 wickets and 5000 runs in international cricket, rode her luck through her 98-ball 27 to carry the hosts to 143 for 4 at stumps, 85 behind the follow-on target of 228.A booming inswinger from Goswami crashed into left-hander Beth Mooney’s leg stump in the seventh over and when she returned for her second spell in the 23rd over, she renewed her battle against Alyssa Healy, who had creamed her for a crackling cover-driven four five balls into Australia’s innings. In her second burst, Goswami, in the space of three balls, beat Healy’s defence with one that came back in, hurled a bouncer into the opener’s front shoulder, and drew a faint outside edge with an outswinger to leave Australia at 63 for 2.Meghna Singh complemented Goswami in a fiery 12-over pace-bowling opening charge. The pink ball, which India had their first brush with only two days out from the start of this day-night fixture, moved in the hands of the pair and later Pooja Vastrakar, who, on the night, delivered her most incisive performance with the ball in international cricket yet, taking out captain Meg Lanning – albeit via an erroneous lbw decision – among her two wickets.Vastrakar set up a riveting battle against Lanning, who struck three fours – including a trademark square drive and an emphatic pull – en route to 17, when she survived two edges off back-to-back Vastrakar deliveries: Deepti Sharma shelled a thick outside edge at gully before a leading edge landed in an unpatrolled area at short cover.Left-arm spin, a missing component in India’s attack in their drawn Test against England in June, was deployed to good effect in the form of Rajeshwari Gayakwad, who remained wicketless for her 12 overs, but beat Lanning’s outside edge twice, including a dropped chance by the wicketkeeper off the final ball before tea.Ellyse Perry celebrates her 300th international wicket alongside Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham•Getty Images

Goswami challenged Perry, taking an inside edge precariously close to her stumps on 2 and then beating her front-front drive’s outside edge. With Australia on 86 for 3, Perry survived an lbw appeal on 8, with replays showing Gayakwad taking top of leg in what eventually proved to be a pad-bat front-foot block.After Lanning’s departure, a steady rebuild had ensued via a Tahlia McGrath-Perry stand, before McGrath’s uppish cut to Smriti Mandhana at point gave Vastrakar a well-deserved second wicket.Aggressive tactical ploys from India captain Mithali Raj bookended the day’s play, both in the form of attacking field placements inside the circle and repeated insistence on swapping the wet ball with dry ones before a final burst from the three quicks post-tea.The opening session of the day had been largely sluggish, with Australia picking up just two wickets before dinner, the second of those, Vastrakar’s scalp, being Perry’s 300th international wicket to go alongside 5000 runs. Australia also dropped two chances, which meant India gathered 83 runs in a session spanning 40.4 overs, going into the session break at 359 for 7, which had already become the highest by any visiting side against Australia.Deepti put on 45 with Taniya Bhatia, building on India’s overnight score of 276 for 5. Before Perry removed Vastrakar for 13 at the stroke of the dinner break, Stella Campbell offered a reverie-snapping breakthrough with her second ball of the day. The tall debutant’s nagging fourth-stump line, helped by healthy bounce and carry off the drop-in surface, forced Bhatia to prod at the outswinger for wicketkeeper Healy to gobble it up, and give the 19-year-old her maiden Test wicket. She clocked 124kph with that delivery.Having picked up her first wicket of the series in the second session of the truncated day two, Perry almost had a second with her third ball of the day. An inswinger, Perry’s yorker, struck right-hander Bhatia on toe on the off-and-middle line, but there was hardly an appeal for lbw. From that lifeline on a duck, Bhatia, playing her first match since the ODI series against England, unfurled an array of cover drives and cuts before perishing to Campbell.Deepti then added 40 with the Vastrakar, playing mostly risk-free against spinners and pacers alike, riding on five scares since day two, including two close shaves past first-slip Lanning. The closest of them was when, on 24, she nearly chopped on and her attempt to brush the ball, rolling millimetres away from the off stump, almost put her in further jeopardy. A single off her 148th ball took her to her second straight Test fifty, the previous having anchored a rescue act against England. After she was given out when India batted on briefly after dinner, replays showed the ball had pitched outside leg. In the absence of DRS, the umpire’s call couldn’t be challenged.With just the fourth day left in the game, chances of a second drawn Test for India this year – extending their unbeaten streak to six in the longest format – seems the likeliest outcome.