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Khan Research Labs defeated National Bank of Pakistan by 10 wickets in the Ramadan T20 cup game in Karachi.

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jul-2013
ScorecardZain Abbas was adjudged the Man of the Match•PCB

Zain Abbas capped off a strong all-round performance, scoring an unbeaten half-century and bowling economically, to guide Khan Research Labs to a 10-wicket win over National Bank of Pakistan in the Ramadan T20 Cup in Karachi.Abbas got the crucial wicket of Aqeel Anjum just as NBP were beginning to settle and and bowled some tight overs, finishing with figures of 4-0-16-1. He hit seven fours and three sixes during his 58-ball 68 as KRL overhauled the 132-run target with 12 balls to spare.National Bank of Pakistan chose to bat and got off to a shaky start, losing their captain Kamran Akmal and Umair Khan in the second over to successive deliveries from the debutant, Usman Khan. With NBP struggling at 7 for 2, Anjum and opener Sami Aslam revived the innings with a third-wicket stand of 62 runs. Aslam struck three fours in his 32-ball 28, before getting caught by Ali Khan off Nauman Ali. Three deliveries later, Anjum also departed after hitting the ball back to Abbas.Hammad Azam struck a late 21-ball 33, but NBP were unable to build any other significant partnership, as medium-pacer Rahat Ali and left-arm spinner Nayyer Abbas dismantled the lower middle-order to restrict the batting side to 132 for 7 in their 20 overs.KRL remained comfortable throughout their run chase, as the openers Abbas and Mohammad Yasin struck boundaries at regular intervals to maintain the required run-rate. Yasin’s 50-ball 61 included eight fours and two sixes, and the pair reached the target in a little over 75 minutes.Abbas was named Man of the Match for his all-round performance.The win took KRL to second place in Group B, while NBP remain at the bottom, having lost both their matches so far.

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has banned Shah Rukh Khan from entering Wankhede Stadium for five years

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2012The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has banned Shah Rukh Khan, the Kolkata Knight Riders owner, from entering Wankhede Stadium for five years as a result of his scuffle with security guards after the game between Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians on May 16. The IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, however, said the ban was not final until the BCCI had its say on the matter.”The MCA managing committee is forced to ban Shah Rukh Khan from entering Wankhede Stadium for a period of five years,” Vilasrao Deshmukh, the MCA president, said in Mumbai. “It was a unanimous decision. It applies to any match whether domestic or international at the Wankhede. We have taken a decision to protect the dignity of our association. BCCI is our parent body and we have written to them informing what had happened. We have no control over BCCI’s decision. We are also an independent body with the Wankhede being our property.”If rules are violated, action will be taken. It does not depend who the individual is. It’s a message to everyone, whosoever he or she may be, that stern action will be taken if there is any misbehavior. How can he go inside the ground without proper accreditation? Even I can’t go inside the ground if not invited for presentation ceremony.”Shukla said only the Indian board could make the final decision. “State bodies can only recommend but a final decision has to be taken by the BCCI. When the matter comes to BCCI, the board will decide [on the ban].”The incident took place after Knight Riders had beaten Mumbai Indians. Shah Rukh was accused of trying to walk on to the field of play after the game and MCA officials lodged a complaint against him the Marine Drive police station. They also said he had been drunk and abused officials.Shah Rukh, however, denied being drunk and said he was reacting to the “obnoxious” and “unpardonable” behaviour of officials at the stadium. He said he had not been present at the match but had gone there after it was over to pick up a large group of his children and their friends. Shah Rukh said he saw security guards manhandling the children and when he objected a group of officials came over and the altercation started.

Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan fast bowler, has questioned the PCB’s decision to appoint 36-year-old Misbah-ul-as Haq as the limited-overs captain

ESPNcricinfo staff21-May-2011Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan captain, has questioned the PCB’s decision to appoint 36-year-old Misbah-ul-as Haq as the limited-overs captain in place of Shahid Afridi, saying the move is “at best a stop-gap arrangement.””The present Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq is on the wrong side of 30 and I don’t see him leading the side beyond six to eight months”, Akram told on Friday
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Earlier this week the PCB decided to hand Misbah the reins for the two ODIs against Ireland at the end of the month, but chose not to offer a reason for the move. It is likely, however, that the decision came after the board decided they had had enough with Afridi’s penchant for awkward public statements. The latest situation arose when Afridi returned from the Caribbean and hinted at unhappiness with coach Waqar Younis over matters of selection.Out of 34 ODIs, Afridi had won 18 and lost 15; a stretch which included tough series against England and South Africa, and took Pakistan to the semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup, and Akram believes those results mean it was wrong to sack Afridi over such “trivial matters”.”Arguments between captains and coaches are not new in Pakistan cricket,” Akram said. “Afridi was hailed as a national hero after the World Cup, and came back from the West Indies after winning the ODI series only to find out he has been sacked. What is the PCB up to?”It is a wrong step taken by PCB, and only [chairman] Ijaz Butt is to be blamed for this. In Pakistan, the coach wants all the power and when it doesn’t happen, the fight begins.”Akram was not the only one critical of the board’s decision. Abdul Qadir, former Pakistan legspinner, felt the board should not have been so quick to change captains. “Afridi should also be careful in giving media statements,” he told . “But the fact is changing the captaincy is a cricketing decision and this one is not a sagacious one. Dropping Afridi as captain and retaining him in the side to play under Misbah appears a bad move,” he said.And former chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed said the PCB was to blame and called for the government to intervene. “Players are the ones who bring in money for the board and attract people to the sport. Afridi didn’t commit a crime if he spoke about problems he was facing as captain. Instead of listening to him the board sacked him as captain this is unjust and unfair and the government should take notice of this.”

South Africa had the better of a scrappy outing in the first Twenty20 yesterday, but there is still some way for them to go before they are back to their best.

The Preview by Liam Brickhill20-May-2010

Match Facts

Thursday, May 20

Start time 1400 (1800 GMT)Ryan McLaren ripped through West Indies on a helpful surface in the first Twenty20•AFP

The Big Picture

South Africa had the better of a scrappy outing in the first Twenty20 yesterday, but although they will have been desperate for a positive start to their tour after the fallout of their unsuccessful World Twenty20 campaign, the circumstances of their victory call for further introspection, and there is still some way for them to go before they are back to their best.To be fair, South Africa can hardly take all the blame the low-intensity, sloppy display of the first match. Although the outfield held up well, the pitch at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium remains substandard, especially for limited-overs cricket, and West Indies’ efforts in the game were hardly inspirational. The stadium was only around a tenth full, and it remains to be seen whether today’s game will attract more local interest.South Africa have made something of a fresh start in the shorter formats, with Herschelle Gibbs and Mark Boucher left out, with Alviro Petersen and Ryan McLaren slotting in to the line-up, with AB de Villiers keeping wicket. While Petersen, who normally plays as an opening batsman, failed when brought in at No. 7, McLaren took his chances to record the second-best bowling figures in Twenty20 history with 5 for 19.After a wearily familiar performance from West Indies yesterday, in which they performed well in fits and starts but never built up any consistency as a team, it may be time for them to do some re-thinking and clearing out too. Indeed, Chris Gayle has warned his underperforming batsmen that their time is running out, and the side will be under intense pressure to perform today.

Form guide (most recent first)

South Africa WLLWW
West Indies LLWLW

Watch out for…

Given the gloves for the first time in T20 International’s last game, AB De Villiers did a sterling job. Chances were easily snaffled and his leg-side stumping of Narsingh Deonarine off Johan Botha was exhilarating. However, with the bat for South Africa he’s flickered without firing for too long in this format. The pitch may not be easy but it’s time for him to lift his and South Africa’s game.When things start to go wrong, West Indies can too often let their shoulders slump and allow the game to drift. One man, though, is always fighting, always bustling and always believing. Dwayne Bravo may be struggling for form with the ball but he was West Indies’ best batsman in the opening fixture and, given the responsibility of batting three, could be the man to carry a fragile batting line-up.

Team news

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was left out of the line-up for the first game, but with West Indies under pressure after their defeat he could well come back in to provide some stability to a shaky top order. Andre Fletcher failed with the bat, but looked sharp behind the stumps and should retain his place, although whether he opens or comes in down the order remains to be seen.West Indies (possible) 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Dwayne Bravo, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Andre Fletcher (wk), 7 Darren Sammy, 8 Jerome Taylor, 9 Nikita Miller, 10 Sulieman Benn, 11 Kemar Roach.South Africa’s experiment with Alviro Petersen down the order didn’t quite work out in the first game, and they could well opt to bring in 20-year-old Dolphins left-hander, David Miller, who made a 60-ball 115 for South Africa A during their recent match against Bangladesh A in Mirpur.South Africa (possible) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Loots Bosman, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 David Miller, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Johan Botha, 8 Ryan McLaren, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Roelof van der Merwe, 11 Charl Langeveldt

Pitch and conditions

The outfield at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium looked far improved from the sandpit that lead to the farcical abandoned Test during England’s tour last year, if a little on the slow side. But the pitch had a mottled hue, and was unpredictably two-paced. It seemed to have settled down a touch by the time West Indies batted, but conditions for the batsmen are likely to be less than friendly today once again.

Stats and trivia

• Ryan McLaren’s figures of 5 for 19 in the first game are the second-best in Twenty20 history, behind Umar Gul’s stunning 5 for 6 against New Zealand. He also became just the fourth bowler to register a five-wicket haul in the format, and Darren Sammy is one of the three other bowlers to reach the feat.
  

  Quotes

  “We all know the nature of T20 cricket – the bowler is always up against it.”
  Ryan McLaren talks up his man-of-the-match winning 5 for 19.
  “We have to pick ourselves up. This is no time for pointing fingers.”
  Chris Gayle urges his side to remain motivated despite their loss in the opening game.

England captain believes her players have become ‘smarter’ while sticking to aggressive mantra

Valkerie Baynes18-Jun-2024For some 18 months, England Women have committed to playing a harder, faster, more aggressive style of cricket but, according to Heather Knight, they are also becoming smarter.Since Jon Lewis took over as head coach at the end of the 2022 English summer, the team vision has been clear, expressed in mantras such as “attacking mindset”, “walk towards the danger” and the even more ubiquitous “inspire and entertain”.It has worked in so far as it has transformed a team which was comprehensively beaten 12 points to four by Australia in the 2019 Ashes and 6-4 in a rain-hit 2021-22 series into a side which drew last year’s series on points, winning four matches to Australia’s three.But it is very much a work in progress. In their recent home series against Pakistan, England lacked ruthlessness and polish, despite being a far stronger side.Knight, England’s captain, believes that in hosting New Zealand in three ODIs starting next week followed by five T20Is, they have an opportunity to build on knowledge gained against the White Ferns in New Zealand earlier this year.”We became a bit of a smarter team,” Knight told ESPNcricinfo, looking back on England’s tour of New Zealand in March and April. “We played on bigger boundaries, wickets that did a little bit more in the powerplay, so it wasn’t really easy to attack then. We learned how to be a bit smarter and how to adapt a little bit to different conditions.”Sometimes it’s going to be hard to attack in the powerplay, the idea was to sort of go from ball one and keep the foot down, but that isn’t always going to be possible and sometimes there’s going to be little bumps along the road, but I think we learned a lot from that tour.”Heather Knight speaks at a Chance to Shine event at Lord’s•Chance to Shine

England defeated New Zealand in their ODIs earlier this year 2-1 and won the T20I series 4-1.England have lost only two of their 13 completed ODIs since the start of December 2022 and they have won 21 of their 27 T20Is in that time. Crucially, with a T20 World Cup fast approaching in Bangladesh in October, one of those defeats was to hosts and underdogs South Africa in the semi-final of last year’s T20 World Cup and two more to a visiting Sri Lanka side who had never beaten them in a series before.There were also learnings against Pakistan, including playing on slower wickets. At Edgbaston, England recovered from 11 for 4 to win the first T20I, then secured a 37-run ODI victory in Derby which Knight described at the time as “scrappy”.”Our job is just to keep getting better, keep playing cricket that we want to play and also winning those games when it’s tough,” Knight said.”You look at that Derby game, it wasn’t probably the most exciting to watch sometimes,” she added, recalling how England failed to claim the final wicket of a match that they had otherwise dominated. “I guess in that case it is just about punching out results and trying to say, look, it wasn’t quite the perfect wicket to be able to play how we wanted to, but being smart with it and adapting to what’s in front of us.”Because ultimately our biggest chance to inspire as well is winning big competitions and performing in big events, and trying to win in the way that we want to do, which is exciting and attacking.”The balance is much finer in T20 cricket, where the margins for error are far smaller and understanding that is becoming a key part of England’s narrative.Danni Wyatt’s 48-ball 87 in the third T20I against Pakistan was by far the standout performance for England, while Nat Sciver-Brunt produced a corresponding innings in the ODIs with an unbeaten century in the last match of the tour.”T20 is so hard to be consistent, it’s really a tough thing to do,” Knight said. “A top opening batter in world cricket maybe might come off one in three, one in four, and someone like Danni is one of the best openers in the world. She doesn’t come off every game and she’s brilliant at being able to manage that.”It can be quite mentally tough, honestly. Her super-strength has been able to say: ‘Right, I didn’t get any runs, I’m completely fine. That’s how I want to play and I’m going to go and try and play exactly the same way in the next game’.”It’s about being really clear going into that T20 World Cup in particular, how we want to do things. It’s all well and good saying, ‘oh, we’re going to be attacking, we’re going to be aggressive,’ but being really clear on individually the ‘how’ of that.”But it is not only a World Cup victory, or how it is achieved, that has the potential to inspire, as Knight well knows. On Monday, she joined Chance to Shine, the children’s cricket charity with whom she has held a long association, in welcoming hundreds of state school pupils to Lord’s for a day of cricket coaching and other activities.Related

• Knight's appointment as Somerset board advisor a masterstroke, says Lewis

• England survive top-order implosion as Sarah Glenn derails Pakistan's victory hopes

• Heather Knight challenges England's batters to adapt aggression to 50-over format

• Very little Down time – NZ batter keen to seal top-order spot after baby break

• Sophia Dunkley meets the brief to earn England recall

Knight has worked with the organisation since finishing university, when she coached state-school children – often alongside Charlotte Edwards – two days a week while juggling a burgeoning playing career that, for her, didn’t become fully professional until three years later, in 2013.”It enabled us to pay the bills basically whilst we were still playing cricket for England and enabled us to live before everything became professional,” Knight said. “It’s really important to try to get cricket into state schools and there’s a lot of barriers there, like facilities. At my old school there, people used to smoke on the rubbish astro turf that we had and there was stains on it and things like that.”Here today there’s state-school children from all over the place, from all backgrounds, coming in and having an amazing day at Lord’s. It’s all about giving them a good first experience of cricket really, and trying to get them interested in the game and more involved.”Chance to Shine deliver cricket to over 600,000 young people each year, working in state schools and underserved communities. Until midday on 18th June donations made to Chance to Shine will be doubled by the Big Give campaign. Support the charity today and help inspire more young people through cricket.

Club to face CDC hearings next week charged with bringing game into disrepute

Matt Roller23-Feb-2023Yorkshire have pleaded guilty to a charge of destroying or losing data and documents relating to allegations of racism made against the club.The ECB confirmed this week that Yorkshire had admitted four charges “including a failure to address systemic use of racist and/or discriminatory language over a prolonged period and a failure to take adequate action in respect of allegations of racist and/or discriminatory behaviour”.The reported on Wednesday that the specific admissions included a guilty plea to a charge that evidence relating to allegations of racist abuse, made by Azeem Rafiq, had been destroyed.The club confirmed the report on Thursday morning ahead of next week’s Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) hearings, where a panel will hear disciplinary proceedings brought by the ECB against Yorkshire and seven ex-players.”It has been reported in a number of news outlets that, in relation to the Cricket Discipline Commission inquiry, the club has admitted a charge of deletion of data and documents,” Yorkshire wrote to members on Thursday.Related

• Azeem Rafiq: 'Cricket is in denial' about problem of racism

• Yorkshire chair Lord Kamlesh Patel set to stand down

• Yorkshire admit liability on racism charges as Richard Pyrah pulls out of process

• Azeem Akhtar won't return as Essex chair after independent review clears him of racism

“The CDC proceedings are ongoing and, as such, we are limited as to what we can say at this time. However, we are writing to reassure members reading these reports to let them know that no personal data relating to members of the club was compromised.”Yorkshire said that following Lord Kamlesh Patel’s appointment as chair, “it was discovered that emails and documents, both held electronically by the club and in paper copy, had been irretrievably deleted from both servers and laptops and otherwise destroyed.”After a thorough independent investigation it was established that the deletion and destruction of documents date from a time period prior to the appointment of Lord Patel and relate to the allegations of racism and the club’s response to those allegations. The club is not prepared to conjecture publicly as to why this occurred, who was responsible or the motivation for doing so.”The club said that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the ECB were “informed of the position”. The ICO took no action, while the ECB brought a charge “on the basis that the conduct (deletion/destruction) may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket and/or which may bring the ECB and/or the game of cricket into disrepute”.Yorkshire added: “The club has admitted this charge, as there was no viable defence in these circumstances. We wished to let members know the position at the earliest opportunity we were able to and to allay concerns about the integrity of members’ data, which the club believes is secure.”The CDC hearings take place from March 1-9 in London. Gary Ballance has admitted liability in response to a charge of using “racially discriminatory language” while Tim Bresnan, John Blain, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Gale and Richard Pyrah have all withdrawn from the proceedings.Michael Vaughan is the only remaining defendant.

Pope set to deputise behind stumps in Sydney with Buttler, Bairstow suffering hand injuries

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-2022England have drafted Sam Billings into their Ashes squad as a back-up wicketkeeper-batter ahead of next week’s fifth Test in Hobart.Billings, who has just completed a Big Bash spell with Sydney Thunder, was due to fly to the UK on Friday to prepare for England’s T20I tour of the Caribbean later this month. But, with Jos Buttler’s woes deepening and Jonny Bairstow suffering a nasty blow to the thumb during his unbeaten century in the fourth Test, Billings will now join the touring party in Sydney after a period of isolation in the team hotel, subject to returning a negative Covid test result.England said in an update* before play on day four at the SCG that both Buttler and Bairstow had been sent for X-rays, and that Ollie Pope would be subbed in to keep wicket during Australia’s second innings.Buttler’s struggle for form with the bat continued during the third day at the SCG when he was dismissed for an eight-ball duck, prodding a Pat Cummins delivery tamely to Usman Khawaja at short extra cover. Buttler now has 96 runs at 16.00 from seven innings. He may well have been hampered on this occasion by a finger injury picked up while fielding the previous day which cast doubt over his ability to keep wicket during Australia’s second innings.Related

• Sam Billings: 'Don't want to be pigeonholed as a white-ball player. I'm better than that'

• Seventy balls of England struggle

• Defiant Jonny Bairstow century keeps England fighting

Bairstow reached 103 not out at the close, having been left in agony after being struck on the thumb by a Cummins delivery during the afternoon.”I was hurting,” Bairstow said. “But, look, you’re playing in a New Year’s Test match in Sydney on the pink day, it is going to take a heck of a lot to get you off the field. In some ways, it frees you up, in some ways it doesn’t. But at the end of the day, you’ve still got a job to do. Yes, it will be sore, but at the end of the day you’re playing cricket for England and I’m very, very proud to do that.”Asked about potentially taking the wicketkeeping gloves in Hobart, Bairstow said: “I don’t know as yet, to be really honest with you. I’ll know some more information tomorrow. I’m not sure about the keeping side of things anyway. But from a batting point of view, I’ll be out there in the morning.”Sam Billings has just finished a BBL stint with Sydney Thunder•Getty Images

With Buttler and Bairstow under injury clouds, Pope spent time working with wicketkeeping consultant James Foster in the nets on Friday afternoon in case he is needed behind the stumps when Australia bat again.Billings is yet to make his Test debut, but he has spoken previously of his ambitions to break into the red-ball side. He has played 58 limited-overs matches for England and averages 34.29 in first-class cricket with six centuries.England also have concerns over the fitness of Ben Stokes, after he left the field mid-over holding his side on day two. England said on Saturday that Stokes had also gone for a scan and that they would “evaluate the extent of the injury and update at the end of the Test match”, amid questions about his availability for Hobart.*2300 GMT – This story was updated

He feels players who thrive on external motivation are “really going to struggle” in the IPL this year

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Sep-202011:38

Newsroom: Optimistic, introverted players likely to perform better

Mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton feels players who thrive on external motivation and pressure are “really going to struggle” in IPL 2020, while some of the “mid-range” players will outperform the big names. Upton also said there might be more cases similar to that of Suresh Raina, who withdrew from the IPL after reaching the UAE and returned to India on Saturday.The 13th edition of the IPL will be unprecedented as most matches are expected to be played behind closed doors, and players will be living in biosecure bubbles for nearly three months after most teams reached the UAE about four weeks before the start of the tournament. Living strictly in team bubbles, mostly without families and as many as 13 personnel testing positive for Covid-19 in the Chennai Super Kings camp are new factors players will have to deal with this time.According to Upton, who has coached multiple teams across the IPL, the BBL and the PSL, “funny things” could happen in this year’s IPL, and the teams who handle them well will do significantly better than others.”The big-match temperament players do well when the pressure is on, when there are a lot of people around,” Upton said on ESPNcricinfo Newsroom. “The fact that you are gonna have games in front of empty stadiums now, you are just not going to have that level of pressure. So the players who rely on big-match temperament to deliver results… Someone like Virat Kohli, will he still be as good when you take away that external stimulation and noise and pressure? You are gonna find players who normally fall over when the pressure gets high. They will be able to just carry on batting because there is not going to be the physical presence of spectators.”Athletes who are internally driven, who find the motivation from within themselves, they are going to be fine, they are going to do well. Your typical confidence players, who look for motivation, inspiration or validation from outside, they are really going to struggle. Your optimists are going to do a hell lot better. Your pessimists are gonna struggle. So it depends how many introverts, internally driven, optimists you have got in your team. The more you have got, the luckier you actually are.”Upton also said teams needed to take extra care of the players who relied on the external motivation so that they are in a better state of mind during matches.”[Teams need] to understand who are the extroverts, the confidence players, the externally motivated players, those who are risk-averse, the fear-based, the pessimists. Those are the players we really need to nurture to bring them up to a place where they can be comfortable in their own lives, comfortable by themselves in their hotel rooms without that external validation and stimulation and how can we get those players arriving on the ground and able to focus on the game and deliver in front of empty stadiums.”Sydney Thunder coach Paddy Upton hits a ball•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

‘There are a number of other players who are very much in the same boat as Raina’Upton also warned that we might witness more cases similar to that of Raina in coming days, and he hoped teams were preparing for those situations. The batsman decided to give the tournament a miss due to “personal reasons”, and it later emerged that apprehensions about living in a biosecure environment for the duration of the IPL, players and officials in his camp testing positive for Covid-19, and a personal tragedy were understood to be reasons behind his decision.”There are a number of other players who are very much in the same boat as Suresh Raina and I just hope that the teams are aware of that and are catering for that,” Upton said. “There are coaches who are gonna be struggling, there are support staff who are gonna be struggling in that three-month bio-bubble.”Arriving there already depleted, having navigated, being locked indoors, we are gonna find players who haven’t been exercising, we will see some strangely overweight players, we will see players out of nick. I know some players have been lucky to be able to get into the nets, so they are gonna go ahead.”We need to be predicting these strange things and not have a knee-jerk reaction. When all of a sudden Suresh Raina goes home, we have this knee-jerk reaction and strange comments in the media. Funny things are gonna happen. Smart teams will predict them, put things in place and have that cushion of support system to be able to support players. The teams that do that best are gonna go so far ahead of the other teams that really don’t do that well and they [who don’t do that] are just gonna fall over, unfortunately, in this IPL.”Upton said a factor like money might not have been a “strong consideration” in Raina’s exit and added that his decision needs to be respected.”There are very few players who when cross the rope are motivated by money,” Upton said. “Yes, it’s part of the motivation but I don’t think that’s a strong consideration for Suresh. Whatever he is going home for is more significant than the large amount of money he is not going to be making. So it’s probably not ideal to be drawing that analogy and saying. ‘look, how much money he is missing’. He knows that he has made a decision and we need to really respect that.”

Khawaja’s scans clear after he was hit on the helmet by an Andre Russell bouncer that forced him to retire hurt

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2019Steven Smith maintained a promising run of scores ahead of the World Cup by guiding Australia to a comfortable warm-up match victory over the West Indies in Southampton. This was after Usman Khawaja sent a scare through the camp when he was struck on the helmet by Andre Russell.On his way to 76 batting at No. 4, Smith added 53 with his captain Aaron Finch and 109 with Shaun Marsh, who then formed a union with Glenn Maxwell to glide the Australians past their target of 230 with 11.3 overs to spare.It was Smith’s third half-century in as many practice games, having also batted effectively against New Zealand XI in Brisbane before the team’s departure for England, via Gallipoli.”It’s certainly the best seat in the house, he’s going fantastically since he’s come back in and it’s great to see him come in, score some runs and no doubt he’s ready for a big tournament,” Marsh said of Smith. “I don’t really speak too much out there but he’s obviously got a great understanding of the game and you try to feed off that, so he’s been fantastic to bat out there today and I’ve always enjoyed batting with him so it’s good fun.”He’s come back in and done what he usually does, score runs, so it’s fantastic to have them both back in the team and they’re both really valuable players for us. [Smith] has been fantastic since our camp for New Zealand and the way he batted up there, and to come out and bat like he did today was fantastic for us.”Andre Russell checks on Usman Khawaja after hitting him on the head with a bouncer during a World Cup warm-up match•PA Images via Getty Images

Khawaja had earlier gone to hospital for scans on his jaw after suffering a nasty blow from Russell’s bouncer. The opener retired hurt and looked to be in some discomfort, indicating an area on the right side of his head as he walked off the field accompanied by Australian team doctor Richard Saw. He did not take any further part in the match, but was later cleared of any structural damage. Khawaja was expected to take part in a light training session on Thursday.”It was very scary actually, it copped him on the side of the cheekbone I think,” Marsh said. “I think he’s okay so that’s the main thing and hopefully he’ll bounce back pretty quickly. Obviously he’s a little bit shaken, when you do get hit in the head you do get shaken by it, but Uzzy’s a tough cookie and he’ll be fine and ready to go.”Khawaja’s presence at the top of the order had meant David Warner moved down to No. 3. Khawaja was on 5 when he retired hurt and Warner made 12 before he was dismissed by Oshane Thomas.West Indies were bowled out for 229 on the small out ground, as the Australian pacemen Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Nathan Coulter-Nile made frequent use of the bouncer, well supported by the wrist spin of Adam Zampa. Among the bowlers, only Jason Behrendorff (1 for 65 from nine overs) was got at by the West Indies, who were missing Chris Gayle.Marsh’s unbeaten 55 batting at No. 5 gave him a head start in the race for batting berths once the tournament begins on May 30, also recalling his runs against England in the bilateral series the two team played a year ago. Australia’s next warm-up fixture is against the tournament hosts on Saturday.”I’d like to think I’m nice and flexible, I’ve batted from one to six throughout my career,” Marsh said. “So I’m just going to enjoy the next two practice games, spend some time in the middle and see what happens. It certainly does give you confidence knowing you’ve scored runs over here in the past and it was nice to spend some time out in the middle and get my feet moving. Good fun.”Importantly we played well as a team today, I think the bowlers did fantastically well on that wicket and I thought he way Zampa bowled on a smallish ground was fantastic and it was nice to spend some time out there and bat with Smithy as well.”

The ACA has questioned the process followed by Cricket Australia in arriving at the sanctions for the players, and whether the severity of the punishments were befitting of the offence

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Mar-2018While acknowledging that Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft had made “serious mistakes” by ball-tampering in South Africa, the Australian Cricketers Association has questioned the process followed by Cricket Australia in arriving at the sanctions for the players, and whether the severity of the punishments was befitting of the offence.Smith and Warner were banned from international cricket for 12 months by Cricket Australia, and Bancroft for nine. Smith and Bancroft were also banned from leadership positions in Australian cricket for a further 12 months after the end of their ban, while Warner was banned from captaincy positions for life.The ACA said in its statement that while it was right for the players’ mistakes to be sanctioned, there were “a number of glaring and clear anomalies in the process to date which causes the ACA to query the severity and proportionality of the proposed sanctions.”They were as follows:

• The grading and sanctions proposed are considerably higher than the ICC’s grading and sanctions.
• The disproportion between the proposed sanctions and those previously handed down in world cricket for ‘changing the condition of the ball’ – including by Captains of international teams applying artificial substances
• The activation of CA’s Board as a deliberative body on the proposed sanctions
• That public statements by CA to date have not referenced consideration of contextual factors including the environment in South Africa during the series and the impacts on individual players
• The rush to place players before the world’s media last Saturday night without the benefit of considered and coherent advice

The ACA said that it would continue to provide welfare and legal support to the players.Smith, Warner and Bancroft will have the right to challenge CA’s verdicts and also the duration of their penalties via a CA code of behaviour hearing with an independent commissioner, who can also choose whether the hearing is public or private. Players at the hearing will be permitted to call as many witnesses as they like, and also to have legal representation.