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While the number of contracts has dropped, their value has increased across categories A, B and C

Danyal Rasool05-Jun-2020The PCB has increased salaries across the board for the country’s top women cricketers, as well as more lucrative financial incentives for domestic cricket. Bismah Maroof retains the captaincy, while Anam Amin and Umaima Sohail get full contracts. Maroof finds herself promoted to the highest category A, as does Javeria Khan, while Nida Dar, who became the first Pakistan women’s player to participate in the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia last year, drops down from Category A to C due to a “below par season”, according to women’s chief selector Urooj Mumtaz. A sustained run of poor form with the bat appears to have cost 28-year old Sidra Ameen a central contract, while 22-year old left arm spinner Nashra Sandhu also drops out of the 9-woman list.

The contracted players

Category A: Bismah Maroof and Javeria Khan
Category B: Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig and Sidra Nawaz
Category C: Nida Dar, Umaima Sohail, Anam Amin and Nahida Khan
Emerging: Ayesha Naseem, Fatima Sana, Kainat Hafeez, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui, Najiha Alvi, Rameen Shamim, Saba Nazir, Sadia Iqbal and Syeda Aroob Shah

Sana Mir’s retirement means nine central contracts this year, as opposed to 10 last year but it also means that in two years, the number of centrally contracted women’s cricketers has nearly halved. Two years ago, 17 women were awarded central contracts, a number the current PCB administration brought down last year. Mir’s exit ostensibly leaves a hole no player has been able to fill, and the trade-off is an increase in the quality of the contracts. Category A players see their earnings rise by a third, while Category B and C players will have their remuneration increased by 30% and 25% respectively. Domestic cricketers experience a significant boost as well, with match fees and event prize money doubling at that level, while daily allowances increase by 50%.In addition, an emerging contract list of nine promising women’s players has been created. ESPNcricinfo understands they will be paid retainers, with the category in effect serving as a vote of confidence to the players believed to be knocking on the door of centrally contracted players most earnestly.Mumtaz said: “On behalf of the selection committee, I would like to congratulate all the players who have received the central contracts. The selection committee had detailed deliberations prior to announcing the central contracts. International performances over the past 12 months, fitness standards and the players’ ability to contribute in both white ball formats were key measures that formed the criteria for the selection.”Bismah and Javeria have been promoted to Category A, following leading performances with the bat in the last year. Diana Baig has been promoted to Category B and she joins Aliya Riaz and Sidra Nawaz – both of whom have been retained in this category – as she topped the T20I bowling charts for Pakistan in the last 12 months.”We had to take some tough decisions and would like to emphasise and encourage those who have missed out to take this as an opportunity to improve their game and make a strong comeback. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Bismah Maroof on retaining her leadership role in both ODI and T20 formats for the upcoming season. She has been a phenomenal performer and has risen to the occasion whenever the situation demanded.”I am extremely delighted to announce the emerging contract category. The addition of this category will incentivise players to remain dedicated to the game, importantly increasing the pool of players and creating a competitive environment at the junior level.”The Pakistan national women’s team is scheduled to feature in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier and the ACC Women’s T20 Cup in the next 12 months, while an U19 team will feature in the inaugural ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup.

Assistant coach integral to development of new white-ball philosophy set to take charge at Warwickshire next month

George Dobell16-Feb-2019Paul Farbrace, England’s assistant coach, is to leave in the next few weeks to take on the role of sport director at Warwickshire. He will start his new job at the conclusion of England’s Caribbean tour in mid-March meaning he will not be with the team during the World Cup.Farbrace was a key architect in England’s improved white-ball form. Although he was in position during the debacle of the 2015 World Cup, having been appointed in April 2014, his period as interim coach, between the sacking of Peter Moores and the arrival of Trevor Bayliss, saw England play a far more aggressive style of cricket and results improve sharply.He previously led Sri Lanka to the World T20 title in 2014 and had spells coaching England women, England Under-19s and Kent. He has also turned down approaches from several counties and at least one country, Bangladesh.”I have had five fantastic years with England,” Farbrace said. “It has been a brilliant experience working with world-class coaches, players and support staff. I have been fortunate to taste some genuine success and be part of the development of some excellent players, who have the world at their feet this summer.”There is never a great time to leave an international set-up and despite what will be a fantastic summer for English cricket, the opportunity to shape the future of one of the game’s biggest counties was too much to resist. It would have been tough for me to have turned down the opportunity once Warwickshire showed an interest in me.”I am very grateful for the opportunity that Warwickshire’s Chairman Norman Gascoigne and Chief Executive Neil Snowball have offered me and I am looking forward to starting a new chapter in my career development.”Finally, I would like to thank the ECB, and in particular, Trevor Bayliss, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root and Ashley Giles for their support in what has been a difficult decision to make. I wish them every success this summer. I believe they have the right attributes to create history by lifting the World Cup in July and winning The Ashes that follows it.”While his departure, ahead of a World Cup for which he had been planning for four years, is unfortunate it is not a complete surprise. Farbrace, like several of the other England coaches, was out of contract at the end of September. With no job security and his chances of gaining the England head coach role apparently diminishing – there seemed to be a view that a new voice was required – he has taken the chance to leave. His predecessor was Ashley Giles, who is now managing director of England men’s cricket at the ECB.”I would like to thank Paul for all his efforts over the last five years as a key figure in England’s success across the red and white ball formats,” Giles said.”Paul was integral, alongside, Andrew Strauss, Trevor Bayliss and Eoin Morgan, in transforming our white-ball strategy, which has seen us become the best team in the world leading into a World Cup year. His efforts in developing players in the elite environment will benefit him in his new role at Edgbaston.”He is an ambitious professional and highly regarded and respected in the game and the opportunity at Warwickshire is something that would have been difficult for him to turn down. I respect his desire to take this on and wish him every success in leading the county on their return to the top flight of Specsavers County Championship.”I will now start the process to find a successor and work closely with our existing set-up to ensure we have everything in place ahead of a busy summer of international cricket.Other candidates for the Warwickshire role included former England head coach Andy Flower and David Parsons, the ECB performance director.

A team source told ESPNcricinfo that the pitch on day four was the flattest out of all the days of the Test, which didn’t make sense to them; the dampness, they felt, was extraordinary and helped bind the track

Sidharth Monga in Johannesburg02-Feb-2018India’s win at the Wanderers might have seemed like a matter of breaking one partnership in the final innings and running through the rest, but the ​”​surprising​”​ dampness on the pitch on the fourth morning left them fuming and made them work much harder for wickets than what they felt was par for the course.A team source told ESPNcricinfo that the pitch on day four was the flattest out of all the days of the Test, which didn’t make sense to them because the surface had got progressively difficult to bat on, to the extent that the umpires, worried about the players’ safety, suspended play on the third evening. The team believes the dampness helped bind the pitch.There had been heavy rain on the third night, which left the outfield wet and unfit for the usual 10am start, forcing play to begin at 11am. “The other thing they are worried about, which is interesting, is that the pitch is a little bit… just a slight bit of dampness on the top of the surface,” Mike Haysman said in his report on , announcing a delay in the start of play. “That’s all. With a bit of sun, I guess there is no breeze… So just a slight bit of dampness on the top of the grass.”A Gauteng Cricket Board source told ESPNcricinfo: “The ground staff normally remove the covers by 7am but because of the rain they removed it later with the result that the normal sweating under the covers had not completely dried by 10am.”India feel this was more than normal sweating. “When we looked at the pitch first thing in the morning, it was wet,” an India team source told ESPNcricinfo. “It was very wet to the ​touch.”India believe the dampness delayed the return of the pitch to its natural self. “The way the ball misbehaved after tea, it should have started that after the first half hour,” the source said. TV experts also felt the pitch had become less unfriendly to bat on, with Sunil Gavaskar lying down on the pitch during the lunch break, suggesting it had gone to sleep.On the first day, 25 balls beat the bat in the opening session of 27 overs according to ESPNcricinfo logs, 40 times in 25 overs on day two, 18 times in 23.5 overs on day three, and 12 times in 19.2 overs on day four. The first session of day four – truncated to 90 minutes – was the only one of the match without a wicket; the first sessions on the first three days consumed two, two and three wickets.​​In the face of a “”, a flat pitch, India say sealing victory came down to “our patience and our skill”​, especially with the sun coming out late on day four​. To the extent that, in the middle session, they rested it all on the second new ball. They wanted to have as many to defend when the second new ball became available. For the first time in the match, India used Hardik Pandya for a longer spell, and Pandya mostly bowled wide outside off, conceding 15 runs in six overs. When Pandya was done with his spell, South Africa needed 127, and the new ball was 31 overs away.India were prepared to go all out with the new ball, but eventually things began to happen sooner. Ishant Sharma dismissed Hashim Amla to a catch to short midwicket, ending the only century-run stand of the match, worth 119 runs. About 15-20 minutes before tea, the uneven bounce became more pronounced, claiming AB de Villiers with a rising delivery before the break and Faf du Plessis with one that stayed low after it. Mohammed Shami then ran through South Africa’s resistance.It was a sticky situation for Cricket South Africa and GCB. After the suspension of play on day three, they were left hoping the pitch would not misbehave further because if play had been abandoned – although it might have saved the home team from a defeat – it would have resulted in heavy sanctions from the ICC, including no international cricket at their premier venue for a year. That also may have affected the sold-out Pink-Day ODI, scheduled on February 10. In the end, Wanderers got away with just a poor rating and three demerit points, keeping the rest of the cricket for the season.

Steven Smith, Australia’s captain, praised Travis Head for taking his opportunity at No. 6 in Australia’s 68-run victory over New Zealand in the first match of the Chappell-Hadlee series

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2016Steven Smith, Australia’s captain, praised Travis Head for taking his opportunity at No. 6 in Australia’s 68-run victory over New Zealand in the first match of the Chappell-Hadlee series. Smith said the decision to prefer Head in the middle order had nothing to do with Glenn Maxwell’s comments about team-mate Matthew Wade ahead of the match, describing Head’s batting as “beautiful” after the two put on a century stand to revive Australia from 92 for 4 in Sydney.Head made 52, his highest international score and second half-century in 13 ODIs, to help set up the Australia innings, while Smith went on to record 164 – a record at the SCG – as New Zealand conceded a total that proved to be well out of their reach, despite a fighting hundred from Martin Guptill.”It was more about giving Travis another opportunity, he played well last week, scored a hundred in Shield cricket so he’s in good nick,” Smith said of the decision to pick Head ahead of Maxwell. “I guess it was about giving him an opportunity first and obviously he played pretty well, so he’s taken that opportunity.”Asked about the relationship between the two Victorians, after Maxwell’s criticism of Wade, Smith said: “I think they’re okay. I made some comments in here the other day about him, the comments that he made were disappointing and disrespectful towards Matty and I think we’ve moved on from that now and it’s about focusing on this series. It was great for us to get a win tonight and hopefully we can play some more good cricket in the nation’s capital.”Maxwell has not played an ODI since the tri-series with West Indies and South Africa in June, during which Head made his debut. Since then, Head has made a number of handy starts – only twice failing to reach double-figures – but he needed some luck in Sydney, with Matt Henry fluffing a simple catch when he had 7.”When he came out to bat, we were just communicating, saying that we’d try and get through to about 40 overs and then we’d have a bit of a crack at them,” Smith said. “We were able to still play quit positively through that period and score five an over, so we set ourselves up nicely with that partnership and I thought the way he played was beautiful, he obviously got dropped that one at mid-off, but besides that I think he played some really good cricket. And it was nice to see Matthew Wade come in at the end and play a good little cameo as well.”It looks like [Head’s] improving every game, he’s in good form, coming off the back of a hundred last week in the Shield, so he’s playing some good cricket and I’m sure he’s going to continue to improve.”Smith chose not to dwell on his own innings, calling it “pleasing” and saying he preferred the century he made at the SCG during the 2015 World Cup semi-final. He was also grateful for the indecision among the New Zealand ranks after Trent Boult appealed for an lbw when Smith had made 14 – Kane Williamson chose not to review, possibly on the suggestion of a team-mate that there was bat involved, only for Hawk-Eye to show it would have been overturned on DRS.”I was pretty glad they didn’t review it. I think it was out, so yeah, of course I’m glad,” Smith said. “But not much was really going through my head, I let it go pretty quickly and moved on. Thought he set me up pretty well, actually, Boult wasn’t swinging any so I was moving across even further and then he got one to come back quite late. So set me up pretty well and fortunately it got given not out, and unfortunate for NZ that it was.”I think someone said that I’d hit it, from point, I reckon I heard someone say that I’d hit it, and I think they ran with that. I may have looked at my bat at one point as well, to throw them.”

Anurag Thakur admitted to the IPL’s brand value taking a hit in the aftermath of the 2013 spot fixing scandal, but stressed on the market not having lost faith in the tournament and Indian cricket

Amol Karhadkar26-Oct-2015Anurag Thakur, the BCCI secretary, admitted to the IPL’s brand value taking a hit in the aftermath of the 2013 spot fixing scandal, but stressed on the market not having lost faith in the tournament and Indian cricket.”As far as the branding is concerned, I personally feel yes, we got a hit,” Thakur said, while officially unveiling Vivo as the IPL’s title sponsor for the next two years. “In the last couple of years, we have struggled. But we have brought reforms in the last few months. That has paid off.

Mini-IPL proposed for CLT20 window

Anurag Thakur, the BCCI secretary, has hinted at the possibility of unveiling a new domestic T20 tournament during the window that was earlier allocated for the now-defunct Champions League T20.
“After eight seasons of the IPL, we can proudly say that we have given a tournament which is successful, vibrant, and where talent meets opportunity not only for the Indian cricketers but also globally,” Thakur said.
“Today if we’re thinking of getting rid of one of the domestic T20 leagues, say for example the Syed Mushtaq Ali – I am not saying that we are going to do it – you have another set of tournaments where you have six to eight teams using that window to give opportunity to more players and play in that center.
“They will get the opportunity to earn more, play with better talent, and the competitive cricket will help Indian cricket to build better bench strength. That is just talk; I have thrown the idea about.

“We had four people lined up to bid for the title sponsorship. I am glad that Vivo came on board. They wanted to be partners for the next seven to twelve years but we had the option to go for only two years. As far as the brand is concerned, cricket is still a popular game and IPL still remains one of the strongest brands.”While he declined to spell out the names of the four interested corporate entities, he hinted that some of those “first-generation companies” will soon be unveiled as BCCI/ IPL partners. Thakur also added that the BCCI’s recent move to introduce ‘no conflict of interest’ declarations among representatives of its affiliates and former cricketers was an outcome of the 2013 scandal.”If you look at it, that’s an initiative taken by the BCCI, because where the incident started, when it happened, if someone in that crucial position was unable to take any call at that time, was that because of conflict of interest? Has that dented the image of the BCCI? In future, how you can take precautions?” he explained.”We wanted to draw a line somewhere against anyone having a conflict of interest, irrespective of whether he is a coach, player or administrator, so that the image doesn’t get any dent or no such untoward incident happens in the future. We are trying to create a paper which makes it clearer. We are trying to circulate a paper to all the members to come back with the various relations and clarifications, which will be discussed in the upcoming AGM on November 9.”

Adam Gilchrist is the second international player to join the newly formed Caribbean Premier League

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-2013Adam Gilchrist, the former Australian wicketkeeper, has become the second international franchise player, after Ricky Ponting, to sign with the newly formed Caribbean Premier League (CPL).The CPL is scheduled to begin on July 29, and conclude on August 26. The tournament involves six franchise countries across the Caribbean: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago. The teams will all have one local and one international icon or ‘franchise player’ each. Gilchrist and Ponting have not yet been assigned teams.Gilchrist, who retired in 2008 after the Australia-India series, said he was excited about playing in the League. “The CPL will feature some of the world’s best cricketers, and I can’t wait to test my skills and play in what is going to be a dynamic and exciting competition,” he said. “I have fond memories of playing cricket in the Caribbean. Plus, I love playing the Twenty20 format, and there is absolutely no better place anywhere to do this than the West Indies.”Since his retirement, Gilchrist, like many former internationals, has been involved in the IPL. He led Deccan Chargers to victory in 2009 and has been with Kings XI Punjab, as captain, since 2011.

A Ricky Ponting century and an aggressive 84 from Jason Krejza propelled Tasmania to a vast lead over South Australia, before the Redbacks made a better start to their second innings

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Mar-2012
ScorecardA Ricky Ponting century and an aggressive 84 from Jason Krejza propelled Tasmania to a vast lead over South Australia, before the Redbacks made a better start to their second innings to make a fight of the Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval.After the Tigers closed at 9 for 399, with Mark Cosgrove unable to bat due to a finger injury, SA’s openers Michael Klinger and Tom Stray reached 0 for 103 by stumps, closing the deficit to 170 runs.Ponting’s 130 was his first Shield century for Tasmania since November 2007, and arrived at the ground on which he made his debut for the state in 1992.Krejza’s innings was speckled with 10 boundaries and a six, and he appeared set to add a second first-class century to his career tally before he was last out.Nathan Lyon, Joe Mennie and Peter George claimed three wickets apiece for the Redbacks, who can thwart Tasmania’s Shield final ambitions by securing a draw on the final day.