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Peter Della Penna

Mahuru Dai receives one demerit point

Papua New Guinea allrounder Mahuru Dai has received an official warning and one demerit point for violating Article 2.1.8 of the ICC code of conduct, which relates to “abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during an international match”.
The incident occurred during PNG’s revised chase of 170, after Dai was caught by the substitute fielder off Rohan Mustafa. Dai admitted the offence, and accepted the sanction.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) kicked off their World Cup Qualifiers campaign on a very positive note, easing past Papua New Guinea (PNG) in a rain-hit encounter in Harare. PNG’s target was revised from 222 to 170 from 28 after a rain break, and they didn’t get close, folding for 113. Seamer Mohammad Naveed contributed much to this slide, taking career-best ODI figures of 5 for 28.At one point PNG looked in danger of missing out on triple digits, falling to 70 for 8; none of their top five got past 12, and the innings’ top score was 24 from No. 6 Charles Amini who was eventually run out.It was PNG who chose to chase, and UAE looked like there were keen to make them pay for this decision from the outset. Their openers Rohan Mustafa and Ashfaq Ahmed put on 91 at a brisk pace, but none could kick on to big hundreds. PNG enjoyed some relief after Ashfaq fell for 50 off 56, taking two more quick wickets.The UAE middle order could not quite get going thereafter, and Mustafa was kept in check too – he eventually fell five short of a hundred, having played out 136 balls. PNG must have felt relieved to have only 222 to chase, given UAE’s start. However, rain and Naveed intervened and spoiled those plans.

The last time Anil Kumble was part of an India camp was at his home ground, M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, in 2008. Two men were under immense pressure to keep their places in the side: Captain Kumble and former captain Sourav Ganguly. Just before the series both had struggled in Sri Lanka: Ganguly had scored 96 runs in six innings, and Kumble had taken eight wickets for 400 runs in three Tests. Just before the home series against Australia, Kumble answered in the negative when asked about retirements. A few days later, Ganguly announced this series was to be his last, and an injured Kumble ended his career even before Ganguly.Eight years later, Kumble and Ganguly have emerged as an unlikely duo shepherding the Indian team from the management perspective. Unlike Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, Ganguly has turned out to be pretty hands-on as a state association president and a member of the cricket advisory committee. Kumble, too, has had a stint as a state association president, actually winning an election, willing to put his reputation on the line by entering the contest. Now Ganguly is believed to have played a key role in getting Kumble as the coach of Indian team.Sitting in the same spot that Ganguly had been in when he uttered words that still resonate – “just one last thing lads, before I leave, I just want to say that this is going to be my last series,” Kumble was asked for his opinion on the way Shastri had been overlooked. Shastri had alleged Ganguly was not even present to interview him when he made his presentation. The underlying suggestion being that the decision had already been made before the interview process.Kumble was a relentless bowler, always at the batsman, but here he did a good impression of leaving this swinging ball alone outside off. “I was the first one to call Ravi after I was chosen as head coach,” Kumble said. “He did a wonderful job with the Indian team. It is not about Anil or Ravi, it is not about the head coach. It is about the players, it is about the team. And from my point of view, whether it is me or Ravi or any Indian, we all want the Indian team to do well. We all want the Indian team to perform at its best. We all believe that there is potential for the Indian team to be the best in all three formats.”And If I’m part of the journey, that’s all I have to say. He congratulated me. I told him it’s a fantastic team, a young team that we have. It could be someone else tomorrow [in place of me]. I’m not permanent in this role. I have an opportunity to make a difference. I have an opportunity to be part of the journey and if I can be part of the journey where we see Indian cricket rise to where we all want it to be, then I think it’s wonderful. I feel privileged, like I already mentioned. And an honour again to be a part of the team.”Kumble was more comfortable and open talking about his own role. At the outset he repeated that he and his support staff were going to be in the background, that his legendary status as a cricketer himself was not going to overpower his team. About his preferred support staff – Sanjay Bangar and Abhay Sharma as batting and fielding coach are temporary appointments for the upcoming West Indies tour – Kumble didn’t reveal much except that he was keen to work with the bowlers himself. A fast-bowling coach couldn’t be ruled out, though.”At this point in time, I thought I can get close to the bowlers, for a start,” Kumble said. “Yes, we are considering options, I don’t want to say what because this is my first trip as coach with the team and I’d like to observe and try and see how the team is shaping up. At this point in time, I thought that with the bowlers, it is the strategy that I can certainly play a part of and that’s something which I am looking at, trying to get closer to the bowlers, understanding what their needs are and then looking at probably bringing in, if you are looking at a fast bowling coach I think is what you are trying to say. There are considerations that I am thinking of but at this point, I don’t know if it will be possible to take someone to the West Indies. If that doesn’t happen, then certainly I am keen to look at the bowlers. I feel that that is certainly an area where I can contribute a lot more.”Kumble was asked what he, as a player, used to look for in a coach. The answer to this was the most definitive in his 20-minute press conference. “As a coach, all I sought was organised preparations for the team and informed inputs to the captain and the team to strategise better. Inclusive of every player. You have to include every player. It’s not about just the 11 who are to play. Also abut the six or seven who are not going to play.”That’s something I sought as a player because it was not always that I played in every team that played for India during my time. I was dropped, I was not chosen for tours. So I understand [what it means to] be the most important member in the team to being dropped. I understand all of that, I understand that communication at such times is very critical. For the coach to pick up the phone and send the message, ‘Don’t worry you are still part of the team.’ That’s what I will look to do. Hopefully I will be able to succeed in telling people who are part of the system that they will always be part of it.”Kumble had earlier remarked it felt a little odd being interviewed by three of his long-time team-mates. Having stepped into the team atmosphere, though, Kumble doesn’t feel odd at all. “Obviously you know the roles and boundaries as a coach,” Kumble said. “Other than that it’s no different. All of us want Indian cricket to be doing really well, and these are exciting times. I feel privileged to be a part of that journey, and in whatever way I can help Indian cricket achieve that. It was no different walking into a meeting room with the entire team, although the faces were different. I’ve played with some of them; I’ve mentored a couple of them in various capacities. To be back in the changing room is always special.”

Faf du Plessis is comfortable with the selection process in South African cricket and believes transformation targets are not stopping them from fielding their best teams. The South Africa Test captain was responding to fresh criticism by Graeme Pollock of a system that requires the national side to field a minimum average of six players of colour (including two black Africans) over the course of a season.Speaking at an event in London earlier this month, Pollock said South Africa would become a “middle of the road” Test team in future if the transformation policy remained in place. Du Plessis said he had not heard “the context in which Pollock was speaking” so it would be “unfair” to respond to Pollock personally but said that the team understood the policy.”We as a team understand what we need to do and how we need to take the country forward,” he said. “We get on with our business as usual. We play the best team and we try and win every game we play.”In 2016 the South African government banned four major sports – cricket, rugby, athletics and netball – from bidding for or hosting international events for not having done enough in terms of transformation. Each sport signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the sports ministry, the terms of which remain private. CSA has, however, made public the targets they decided to implement at national level and after exceeding them in the 2016-17 summer the ban was lifted.”The major thing is the problem with the politics and interference with the selection of players,” Pollock had originally said. “It’s affecting the performance of the side – they don’t put the 11 best players on the field. It’s never going to change. As South Africans, we’ve got to accept that South Africa are going to be middle of the road in their future Test cricket.”He took issue with the domestic set-up, where targets are applicable per match and require each franchise and provincial team to field six players of colour including three black Africans. Pollock said this created an inherently weak structure which produced below-par cricketers of all races.”You are going to pick a guy like Heino Kuhn, the opening batsman, who got a couple of hundreds in first-class cricket. He’s not good enough to play Test cricket. The guys are playing in a bad standard of first-class cricket in South Africa because of the politics and interference in selection.”A week after Pollock’s comments were first published, however, his spokesperson Basil O’Hagan issued a statement which claimed the quotes were “totally misconstrued”, issued an apology and said Pollock is in favour of transformation.”Graeme extends his sincerest apologies to CSA Board and the South African cricketing public for the manner in which his comments at recent function in London were totally misconstrued. Graeme fully supports the endeavours of the transformation process,” O’Hagan said.When asked by ESPNcricinfo which part of Pollock’s original statement was misconstrued, O’Hagan said he would not respond to every paragraph of the original article but called it “incorrect” as a whole. O’Hagan also said Pollock “maintains transformation is the way to correct decades of oppression of black South Africans and marginalisation of black cricketers.”The clarification did not prevent strong criticism from former Test player and current Cobras coach Ashwell Prince in the where Prince detailed his own struggles across a two-decade long career.”Pollock’s comments most definitely struck a nerve. Not just with myself, but it seems the overwhelming majority of South Africans. Quite frankly, as a former Protea, one has reached the point where you simply just cannot sit back and allow people with these kind of mindsets to keep feeding the world this kind of rubbish and just let it be,” Prince said.”People who were disadvantaged under the previous political regime simply have to be given opportunities which in the past were reserved for a privileged minority.”South Africa will have five players of colour in their side for the third Test against England at The Oval with Kagiso Rabada’s return following his suspension. They fielded four at Trent Bridge with JP Duminy dropped, but with the targets being assessed over a whole season whether they have been met or not for 2017-18 will not be known until after the home summer against Bangladesh, India and Australia.

Thilanga Sumathipala, Sri Lanka Cricket’s president, has vowed to support Pakistan in their bid to host top-flight cricket on a regular basis. He was speaking at a media conference in Lahore, during Sri Lanka’s short visit for the third T20I.”Since we have experienced more than 30 years of war, we know what isolation means,” Sumathipala said. “We have gone through more than 30 years of war in Sri Lanka, but Pakistan has never cancelled a single game of cricket which we agreed to play against each other in Sri Lanka.”There are various [types of] people. We appeal to them to keep children, women, religious places and sports aside. Leave us alone, let us play our game of cricket in peace and harmony. We want to enjoy the game of cricket and give everyone opportunities and a chance to share our happiness in the game.”Since the attack on the Sri Lankan team nearly nine years ago, Pakistan have been trying to convince the world to visit, but had not managed to convince teams to tour until 2015, when Zimbabwe visited for a short series.But the first real sign of cricket returning on a more regular basis was taken earlier this year when a number of international cricketers featured in the final of the Pakistan Super League. Then, in September, Pakistan hosted a World XI, coached by Andy Flower and captained by Faf du Plessis, for a three-match series. Sri Lanka’s short trip is the latest step in the PCB’s efforts to convince international sides to tour the country.”Good or bad, Pakistan cricket and the government of Pakistan have stood by Sri Lanka,” Sumathipala said. “This is not a matter of just government. As you all understand, since the last incident was against Sri Lanka, the sentiments were quite different. We thought we should take the initiative and support Pakistan cricket.”If Pakistan is weak in cricket, Asian cricket will be weaker and that will make world cricket weaker and weaker. Your strength is our strength and it’s our responsibility to look after each other. We strongly believe in that.”The one-off match in Lahore was played under extraordinary security arrangements, with thousands of armed policemen deployed between the stadium and team hotel. The arrangements were similar to the security protocol followed for a presidential visit.”The arrangements made for the team and spectators are very much satisfactory,” Sumathipala said. “You deserve regular good cricket being played in your country. It is such a wonderful country that has produced so many talented cricketers. We don’t want anyone to fear and leave Pakistan away from international cricket. We encourage Asian regions to play more games in Lahore and in other [Pakistan] cities if possible one day.”As far as SLC is concerned, we are happy and privileged to be here to support Pakistan cricket. We believe in, especially in the Asian region, Pakistan is a very important, pivotal partner, a brother that we can’t allow to be left alone.”

James Vince admits he was as surprised as anyone to find himself in the England squad named for this winter’s tour of Australia.The 26-year-old Hampshire batsman, who played seven Tests in 2016 but has not been selected since after averaging just 19.27, was preferred on the basis that, despite a relatively thin summer in domestic red-ball cricket, his game is better suited to Australian conditions than some of the other candidates for the middle-order slots.”Until the last few days and reading a couple of articles in the papers I hadn’t really considered it,” he said. “I felt my own red-ball form this season has been a little bit indifferent, although I have played a lot of cricket in April and September when conditions have been a bit tough.”But I got a call from James Whitaker on Tuesday night and it turned out to be a busy few hours on the phone. My winter was pretty much planned out with Twenty20 stuff so it is a bit of a surprise.”He concurred with the selectors’ view that his batting style is the kind that can prosper on fast, bouncy Australian pitches.Vince feels his game is suited to Australian conditions•Getty Images

“When I have played in Australia in the past and more recently in South Africa on a Lions tour I have found that playing with a different ball in different conditions, with more pace but less natural movement than you get here, I have found my game is quite well suited to that and I have done well there so far.”The wickets are a bit truer and the Kookaburra ball does not do so much or for so long. It is a different test but when I have played in those conditions I have enjoyed batting.”He said his first taste of Test cricket had been a frustrating experience given how much confidence had been invested in him but says he had enough faith in his ability to believe another opportunity would come his way in time.”It got me down a little bit in that I was frustrated when I did get to 30 or 40 I didn’t go on and get big scores. If I had managed to convert a couple of those it would have been a different summer and maybe people would have had a different opinion of me.”But no part of me thought I wasn’t up to playing at that level and having had a taste of it I went away with a hunger to work hard and get back in the side.”

The ECB’s proposal for a new city-based T20 competition, which had originally been slated for a launch season in 2018, may now be postponed until 2020 to coincide with a new broadcasting deal.The go-ahead to further explore the eight-team proposal was given by a 16-3 vote at the ECB board meeting at Lord’s in September, following discussions between the 18 first-class counties, the Professional Cricketers’ Association, and MCC.The ECB hierarchy, led by chairman Colin Graves and chief executive Tom Harrison, have been keen to push through a new T20 league to rival the success generated by the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big Bash, despite fears from many counties that it would undermine their raison d’etre.

Championship by night

A round of Championship matches will be played under floodlights in 2017 – possibly in late June, the brightest time of the year.
The matches will be played using pink Dukes balls, so keeping faith with the make of ball used in the county game. Dukes have yet to be tested under lights with all previous experiments using a Kookaburra.

Surrey, Kent and Sussex were reportedly the three counties who opposed the proposal, although several have since expressed reservations about the lack of detail.The original plan had been for the competition to be shown on Sky Sports for at least the first two seasons, with few England players likely to be involved due to an overlap with international commitments. However, the delayed start may now encourage a terrestrial broadcaster to come forward, in line with the ECB’s desire to use the competition as a vehicle to attract new audiences to the game.In a separate development, the ECB board today ratified a recommendation from the Cricket Committee that the option of allowing the visiting team to bowl first in County Championship fixtures should be retained for the 2017 season.The proposal caused some controversy when it was brought in for the start of the 2016 season. However, the stated aim of encouraging home counties to produce better four-day pitches – and improving the conditions for spin bowlers – were broadly considered to have been a success.The Cricket Committee – which included Yorkshire’s director of cricket Martyn Moxon, Leicestershire’s chief executive Wasim Khan and David Leatherdale, the chief executive of the PCA – studied a range of data that showed, among other factors, that a total of 10,094 overs of spin had been bowled across the season, compared to 8,643 in 2015 – the highest since 2011.Peter Wright, the chairman of the Cricket Committee, told ECB.co.uk: “In many ways the statistics merely reinforced the feeling we had been picking up around the game throughout the summer, that the experiment was working in beginning to rebalance the game.”As we stressed when we introduced the new options for visiting captains, this was not all about spin. We wanted matches to last longer, and to become more thorough preparation for international cricket.”That meant better, four-day pitches, which would mean bowlers had to work harder to take wickets, and would encourage a greater variety of bowling, whether spin in its various forms, genuine pace or reverse swing from more abrasive pitches.