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The move came after he had said he would never play for Andhra again and was in talks with Madhya Pradesh to play for them

Shashank Kishore25-Jun-2024After stating publicly earlier this year that he would “never play for Andhra again”, out-of-favour India Test batter Hanuma Vihari is set to rejoin the association ahead of the upcoming domestic season. This after he was assured full support by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the state’s new ruling party.Earlier this month, Vihari was granted a long-awaited no-objection certificate by the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA). This followed a lengthy public spat in the aftermath of their 2023-24 Ranji Trophy campaign. At the time, Vihari had said he was “humiliated and embarrassed” at the treatment meted out to him by certain factions within the association. He alleged “political interference” as one of the reasons for him stepping down as captain at the start of the season.However, on Monday, Vihari held meetings with TDP officials before confirming his move.Related

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“I’m so happy to meet minister Nara Lokesh [TDP general secretary] today, and he assured me that I will have full support coming back to Andhra Cricket Association,” Vihari told reporters. “I am so happy meeting him, and I have got full assurance after meeting him. I understand his aspirations for the Andhra Cricket Association.”It’s good to be back in Andhra cricket. What I faced in the last couple of years was a lot of humiliation. I lost my self-respect. I wanted to leave Andhra Cricket Association and move to another state, but I’ve now got the assurance. So I am looking forward to coming back and serving Andhra for a long time to come.”Vihari’s U-turn, however, has left the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) fuming, with association insiders unhappy about being kept in the dark about the development. He was in talks to play for Madhya Pradesh last year, too, but the move fell through with neither party specifying the reason.ESPNcricinfo understands Vihari’s contract as a professional with MPCA was a formality after he had held talks with Chandrakant Pandit, MPCA’s director of cricket, over the move.Meanwhile, Vihari has also taken his first steps towards a possible coaching career in the future, joining Tamil Nadu Premier League team Madurai Panthers as mentor.Vihari, 30, played the most recent of his 16 Tests in July 2022. He has scored 839 runs at an average of 33.56 for India, with his lone century coming in the West Indies in 2019.Having started his career with Hyderabad in 2010-11, Vihari moved to Andhra in 2015-16. He then briefly returned to Hyderabad prior to the 2021-22 season before moving to Andhra again.

Charles, Greaves and Warrican also return while Kevin Sinclair continues to recover from his fractured forearm

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Aug-2024Kemar Roach is set to return to West Indies’ Test side for their home series against South Africa. A knee injury picked up during the County Championship had forced Roach to miss West Indies’ recently concluded tour of England.Related

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Fellow fast bowler Alzarri Joseph, meanwhile, has been rested, with wicketkeeper-batter Joshua Da Silva taking over the vice-captaincy. “We have decided to rest our vice-captain Alzarri Joseph for this series”, head coach Andre Coley said in a CWI press release. “Alzarri has had a considerable workload recently, and this break will allow him to recuperate and return to peak performance.”Coles had laid out a long-term outlook with regards to Alzarri’s workload management in an interview with ESPNcricinfo, “As far as Alzarri is concerned, it always helps to have a period of time away from the game to work on your individual skills, because you could get drawn into moving from one tournament to the next and might actually lose some of your skills.”So it’s building in the right amount of rest time where he does nothing, but then also have little periods where he is not in competition. That way he will be able to create more control around his bowling.”Offspin-bowling allrounder Kevin Sinclair isn’t part of the squad, since he is yet to recover from the fractured left forearm he suffered during the England tour, after being hit by a ball from Mark Wood in Nottingham.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Uncapped offspinner Bryan Charles, pace-bowling allrounder Justin Greaves and left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican, who were not part of the England tour, have found places in the 15-member squad.Both Jeremiah Louis – who withdrew ahead of the final Test in England due to a hamstring injury, and his replacement Akeem Jordan have also been left out.Zachary McCaskie, Kirk McKenzie and Akeem Jordan are the others who have had to make way. McKenzie played all three Tests in England but only scored 33 runs in six innings. McCaskie was part of West Indies’ Australia and England tours but is yet to make his Test debut.”The selection process for this squad was led by our Head Coach, Andre Coley,” Miles Bascombe, CWI’s director of cricket, said, “pending the implementation of our new selection process, which will be rolled out in the coming days and articulated publicly shortly.”West Indies are coming off a 3-0 whitewash in England and are currently bottom of the World Test Championship table with one win in seven games. The two Tests against South Africa will be played in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, from August 7 to 11 and in Providence, Guyana, from August 15 to 19.West Indies squad
Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Joshua Da Silva (vice-capt), Alick Athanaze, Keacy Carty, Bryan Charles, Justin Greaves, Jason Holder, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach, Shamar Joseph, Mikyle Louis, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Jomel Warrican.

Voll top-scored with 71, but it was a 60-run stand for the ninth wicket that took Australia A past 200

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Aug-2024Spinners Minnu Mani and Priya Mishra shared nine wickets between them to help India A bundle out Australia A for 212 on the opening day of the four-day match in Gold Coast.After opting to bat, Australia A were reduced to 144 for 8 before a 60-run partnership for the ninth wicket between Kate Peterson and Grace Parsons helped them past 200. In reply, India A finished the day on 100 for 2 with opener Shweta Sehrawat unbeaten on 40 with Tejal Hasabnis keeping her company with 31 not out.Australia A started on the right note through openers Emma de Broughe and Georgia Voll, who faced little trouble from seamers Sayali Satghare and Shubha Satheesh. Legspinner Mishra, who was the fifth bowler introduced in the 13th over, struck in her second over when she bowled de Broughe with a wrong’un. Mani then got into the act and had Australia A captain Charlie Knott jabbing one to short leg. Mishra then had Nicole Faltum miscue one to cover to have the home team on 68 for 3.File photo: Minnu Mani picked up five wickets to bundle out Australia A•BCB

Voll played a fluent innings at the top, scoring 71 off 95 balls and hitting 12 fours. However, she was caught behind in an attempt to cut left-arm spinner Mannat Kashyap.With Mishra and Mani bowling disciplined spells, Australia A lost regular wickets on a surface that was not as slow and spin-friendly as the one in Mackay for the third one-dayer. Peterson and Parsons, though, showed patience and used the crease well against spin.Mani finally broke the stubborn stand by trapping Parsons lbw from around the wicket before Mishra’s wrong’un did Peterson in.India A’s reply started on a slightly shaky note when Priya Punia was hurried on by a short one from Maitlan Brown. She was a tad late on the pull and was caught at midwicket. Shubha sped up the scoring and looked at ease against the fast bowlers. She was particularly severe on the offspin duo of Knott and Lilly Mills before being trapped lbw by Peterson.Sehrawat was slow to start off but looked at home as the innings went along. By stumps, she and Hasabnis had added 53 in an unbroken third-wicket stand.

The series will be in the UAE, with Bangladesh keen to get more ODIs under their belt ahead of the Champions Trophy

Mohammad Isam29-Sep-2024Afghanistan will host Bangladesh for three ODIs in the UAE in November. While the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) did not announce which cities would host the games exactly, it was confirmed that these ODIs are in lieu of the all-format tour that was supposed to happen earlier this year between the two sides as per the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP).The BCB had declined to tour the UAE or India in late June this year, to play Afghanistan, due to the summer temperatures. That forced the postponement of the tour, which has now been redesigned to include just the three ODIs, on November 6, 9 and 11.”Following extensive discussions, both boards have agreed to proceed with just the ODI leg, which will be crucial in both teams’ preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy, which is set to take place in Pakistan in February next year,” the ACB’s press release said.BCB president Faruque Ahmed had said last week that he met with ACB officials on the sidelines of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Malaysia. The BCB was keen on pursuing the idea of three ODIs, as Bangladesh have played only three ODIs so far in 2024. They have three more against West Indies at the end of the year, but the BCB felt that alone would not be adequate preparation for the Champions Trophy.”I spoke to the officials of Afghanistan Cricket Board in Kuala Lumpur recently,” Ahmed said. “We [were] trying to schedule three one-day matches against Afghanistan on our way to the West Indies.”After the Afghanistan ODIs, Bangladesh will go to the Caribbean to play two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is from mid-November.Afghanistan have played eight ODIs this year, including a 2-1 maiden ODI series win against South Africa earlier this month. After the Bangladesh series in November, Afghanistan will tour Zimbabwe to play all three formats.

Both teams happy to decide final on the field as shortened contest beats the weather

ESPNcricinfo staff and ECB Reporters Network23-Sep-2024After a first-day washout in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup final at Trent Bridge, Glamorgan managed to beat both Somerset and the weather to regain the title that they last won in 2021, in a competition that was pragmatically reduced from 50-overs-a-side to 20 to maximise the prospect of a result.It was, as Sam Northeast, Glamorgan’s matchwinning batter, said: “the right thing to do in the circumstances”. That sentiment was echoed by Somerset’s captain, Sean Dickson, who insisted his over-riding emotion was one of pride even as his team saw a third title slip through their fingers in the space of a week, after their loss in the T20 Blast final at Edgbaston and Surrey’s County Championship triumph on Friday.”We hadn’t played any Twenty20 for a while so it was strange coming into a 20-over contest,” Northeast told the ECB Reporters Network, after top-scoring for his team with 63 not out from 49 balls. “We didn’t even know we were going to get a game at all, so the change from 50 to 20 overs, about 40 minutes before, meant we had to adapt as best as possible.”In the event, it started to rain just as we were coming off, so somebody was clearly looking down on us. I’m glad they did make the change. It was the right thing to do in the circumstances, to get the game on.”Somerset had made the early running after winning the toss and choosing to bowl, with Alfie Ogborne, their 21-year-old left-armer seamer, claiming two wickets in his first over. However, the team’s inexperience was exposed at key moments of the contest, particularly while Northeast, Billy Root and Timm van der Gugten were accelerating through the back-end of their innings to add 115 in the final ten overs.”We didn’t really know what a good score was,” Northeast said. “So from my point of view it was just about building partnerships, getting a bit of a platform and trying to accelerate once we had a feel for the pitch.”At one point we thought 160 might be okay but that little innings from Timm van der Gugten at the end gave us what we thought was a pretty good score, one that we knew would be competitive. Timm hit the ball really cleanly and Billy Root through the middle too, and the way Will Smale got us off to a bit of a flyer meant we had something to build on.”With Somerset choosing to back the players that had carried them through to the final, it meant they were missing 11 players who had featured in this year’s Men’s Hundred, which had run concurrent with the group stages. Their most experienced player on the day was England’s left-armer spinner, Jack Leach, but between the damp conditions and the List A regulation fields that limited the number of out-fielders through the middle overs, he did not get a bowl.”As a county, we’ve ended up winning nothing when we would have liked to finish with at least one or two trophies,” Dickson said. “But the bottom line is that we have just competed for three trophies and we are really proud as a squad that we have been able to do that.”In this competition, we have resisted the temptation to bring back guys that we lost to the Hundred, so I’m hugely proud that this squad in particular made it all the way to the final.”And we were much happier today to be able to go out and try to win on the field, rather than have had a total washout and shared the trophy. No one wants to share a trophy, everyone wants a bash at trying to be a winner.”We were fine playing it as a T20. We just wanted to get a game on, as did they. We had a discussion with the umpires, the match ref and the ECB ref that was there so we were all on board.”We could analyse all day where the game was won and lost but I think they obviously bowled better than us. With the fresh pitch, it definitely offered something with the new ball up top.”Our bowlers were slipping and sliding all over the place, which was unfortunate, but that’s what you get for choosing to bowl first and we just have to take our medicine and move forward.”

Tilak Varma is the fifth capped player retained by MI ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction

Nagraj Gollapudi31-Oct-202410:44

Should Rohit or Surya replace Hardik as MI captain?

Mumbai Indians are set to retain their four major Indian players – Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav – along with Tilak Varma ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.With those five capped players retained, MI can use their one right-to-match option only on an uncapped player at the auction. While the individual amounts for each of their retained player is yet to be ascertained, MI will lose at least INR 75 crore from their purse of INR 120 crore, or more if they have paid a higher aggregate amount to the five.MI had a disappointing IPL 2024, finishing at the bottom of the league under the leadership of Hardik, who was traded in from Gujarat Titans and replaced Rohit as captain. Hardik was regularly booed at various venues last season as fans expressed their displeasure at the change of leadership, but he bounced back from poor personal form with significant contributions during India’s successful 2024 T20 World Cup campaign. However, Suryakumar was preferred as India’s T20I captain after that tournament once Rohit retired from the format, even though Hardik had captained India in T20Is for much of 2023.Related

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ESPNcricinfo has learned the MI management had a chat recently with their senior players on the plan going forward before agreeing on retentions.October 31 is the deadline by which the ten franchises have to submit their lists of retained players to the IPL. The teams have been allowed to retain up to six players ahead of the mega auction before the 2025 season, of which a maximum of five can be capped internationals and two can be uncapped players. While the IPL has set minimum deductions from the auction purse for each player retained – INR 18 crore for the first player, INR 14 crore for the second, INR 11 crore for the third, INR 18 crore for the fourth, INR 14 crore for the fifth, and INR 4 crore for an uncapped player – the franchises are free to pay more or less than those amounts to their retained players.

Queensland have notched their first win of the Sheffield Shield season following match-winning bowling displays from Mitch Swepson and Mark Steketee

AAP08-Dec-2024Legspinner Mitchell Swepson has boosted his hopes of being picked for Australia’s Test tour of Sri Lanka after weaving his magic to lead Queensland to a thrilling 23-run Sheffield Shield win over Victoria at the MCG.Chasing 273 for victory, Victoria were bowled out for 249 late on day three despite the best efforts of Peter Handscomb who made a fighting 78 off 139 balls.Swepson was the key player on Sunday, snaring 4 for 88 from 30 overs to ensure Victoria’s run chase spluttered. Mark Steketee then finished the job, claiming the final two wickets to finish with 3-46.With Australia set to take multiple spinners for the two-Test tour of Sri Lanka in January and February, Swepson’s performance was timely. He was spinning the ball so much on the turning pitch that one crowd member even yelled out, “Is that Shane Warne?” after one particularly impressive delivery.Queensland resumed play on day three at 195 for 8 and boasting a lead of 244. The Bulls added 28 before being bowled out for 223, with Steketee reaching 53 but only able to add five runs to his overnight score.Mark Steketee celebrates the winning wicket•Getty Images

Victoria’s chase didn’t start well. Star opener Marcus Harris was out for a two-ball duck when bowled by Tom Straker, and it was 26 for 2 when Jonathan Merlo edged Steketee behind.Campbell Kellaway (30) steadied the ship somewhat, but was clean bowled when Swepson got a delivery to turn sharply out of the foot marks. Swepson nabbed his second scalp when he bowled Tom Rogers for 14, and it was 115 for 5 when Sam Harper fell to Jack Wildermuth.Mitchell Perry became the third player to be bowled by Swepson, and Victoria’s hopes appeared over when Swepson found an edge from Handscomb to leave the home side 183 for 7.But there were more twists and turns to come, with Victoria bravely fighting to 246 for 8 as Sam Elliott (30), Xavier Crone (28) and Fergus O’Neill (13) added handy runs.Victoria needed 27 more runs for victory with two wickets in hand, but when Steketee had O’Neill caught at gully and then trapped Crone plumb in front a short time later, it sparked wild celebrations among the Bulls.Steketee was named man of the match for his scores of 44 not out and 53 to go with his bowling returns of 3 for 32 and 3 for 46.

Pressure grows on Group B participants and ICC amid Taliban ban on women’s sport

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jan-2025South Africa’s sports minister, Gayton McKenzie, has added his voice to the growing backlash at Afghanistan’s participation in next month’s ICC Champions Trophy, comparing the Taliban regime’s treatment of women in the country to Apartheid, and saying it would be “hypocritical and immoral to look the other way”.McKenzie’s intervention comes with South Africa due to face Afghanistan in their tournament opener in Karachi on February 21, and follows similar political pressure on fellow Group B participants, England. Earlier this week, a group of 160 British politicians called on the ECB to boycott its fixture against Afghanistan in Lahore on February 26.”If it was my decision, then it certainly would not happen,” McKenzie said in a statement from South Africa’s Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture. “As a man who comes from a race that was not allowed equal access to sporting opportunities during Apartheid, it would be hypocritical and immoral to look the other way today when the same is being done towards women anywhere in the world.”His intervention comes after Peter Hain, the renowned anti-apartheid campaigner and former British government minister, wrote to Cricket South Africa to voice his own concerns about the ban on women’s and girl’s cricket in Afghanistan, which has effectively been in place since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.In a subsequent statement, CSA acknowledged receipt of Hain’s letter, but echoed the response offered by the ECB, saying that, as the Champions Trophy is an ICC event, “the position on Afghanistan must be guided by the world body in accordance with international tournament participation requirements and regulations”.This stance has also been taken by the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, who urged the ICC to “deliver on their own rules”, which state that all Test-playing nations must also have in place a national women’s team and a programme of women’s cricket.However, an ICC spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo that the Afghanistan Cricket Board could not be held responsible for policies set out by its national government.”The ICC will not penalise the ACB, or its players, for abiding by the laws set by the government of their country. We will continue to constructively use our influence to assist the ACB in developing cricket and playing opportunities for both men and women in Afghanistan.”Both the ECB and Cricket Australia – who complete the four-team Champions Trophy Group B – have refused to engage Afghanistan in bilateral contests, with Australia having indefinitely postponed a T20 series that had been scheduled for last March.South Africa did, however, face Afghanistan in a three-match ODI series in the UAE in September, with CSA stating at the time that it would continue to schedule bilateral engagements as there was “no justification for subjecting Afghan cricket players – both male and female – to secondary persecution for the actions of the Taliban.”

Hampshire fast bowler impressed Lions coach Andrew Flintoff on tour of Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-2025Sonny Baker, Hampshire’s 21-year-old fast bowler, has been awarded an England Men’s development contract by the ECB after impressing for the Lions.Baker, a former England Under-19, came through at Somerset before joining Hampshire over the winter. He was called up for the England Lions tour of Australia, making his first-class debut against Australia A in the final tour match and finishing with figures of 3 for 60.His performances, which also included a match haul of 5 for 71 against a Cricket Australia XI, caught the eye of Lions head coach, Andrew Flintoff, with the ECB subsequently putting him on contract until September.”It has been an absolute pleasure to see Sonny thrive over the winter,” Flintoff said. “He and I are very different in character and personality, but it has been a delight to see the pride he takes in wearing the Three Lions, the energy he brings to every ball, and the theatre and magic he creates on the pitch.”His professionalism and dedication to every aspect of his game are an example to all. Sonny has a bright future ahead, and we look forward to continuing to work with him and Hampshire over the coming years.”

The former South Africa quick questioned their decision to not play Tabraiz Shamsi in the Champions Trophy semi-final

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Mar-20251:31

Is Bavuma still the best bet to lead SA in ODIs?

Former South Africa fast bowler Vernon Philander has backed Temba Bavuma to continue leading South Africa in ODIs, even as they lost their Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final against New Zealand on Wednesday.South Africa fell short by 50 runs in a chase of 363 in Lahore. Bavuma made a half-century as he tried to anchor the innings, Rassie van der Dussen contributed 69 off 66 and David Miller scored a second successive semi-final hundred but it wasn’t enough.”I think he’s a fantastic leader,” Philander said of Bavuma on ESPNcricinfo’s Match Day show. “I think what he has done over the last 24 months is that he has started to win that change room over. I think he’s done phenomenally well in the Test match arena [where they will play the 2025 championship final] and I don’t think we play near enough ODI cricket to play judgement down on it.”But if you look at his numbers, you look at his records in ODI cricket, I think he has been a wonderful player for South Africa. I think he has led from the front with the bat.”Of course, this evening he just couldn’t get going, but yeah they were heavily reliant on his form to get South Africa to where they are this evening – obviously falling one hurdle short of another final.”But I wouldn’t make a call too early. It’s still early days. I think Temba still has a couple of years left in him,” Philander said. “I just think Cricket South Africa will need to have an overall look at the way they approach, the way they prepare [for ICC tournaments].””And that starts from the top – from your coaches, from your video analysis: ‘What’s going to make my players more effective?’ and then you give the charge over to the captain and say ‘off you go’. So yeah, I just think a lot more planning that needs to be taking place heading into these tournaments.”3:51

Philander: ‘Honest conversations will need to happen’

Philander also questioned South Africa’s decision to play just one specialist spinner in Keshav Maharaj, saying that left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi would have been a more “effective” option ahead of a fourth seamer on a flat pitch.”I do feel it’s a conversation that needs to happen at the top. I think we’ve got enough players playing in the IPL. They’ve got enough experience playing on these slower surfaces,” Philander said. “So it is a conversation, and an open conversation. At the end of the day you also need to be honest sitting around the table when those kinds of chat do transpire.”But I do feel from a talent point of view, South Africa have got plenty. But it’s about making those right calls for the conditions at hand. I certainly feel we are not too far away from lifting silverware, but at the end of the day, those honest conversations will need to be had sooner or later.”From a management point of view, for years we have stuck to our guns in terms of backing our seamers. But I think we need to go and reassess.”Philander expanded on that, saying the team may need to veer away from playing to their strengths to playing the conditions.”This is not our first tour to the subcontinent,” he said. “There have been generations that have been here before. It is certainly time, from a leadership point of view, we start taking accountability, and for generations to come, what’s going to be effective touring the subcontinent? And certainly in the spin department, we also have to then make sure we produce the quality and calibre of spinners to win you games in the subcontinent.”But if you look at conditions this evening again, [Shamsi] is definitely a much more effective option on those kind of surfaces given the fact that the seamers were really skidding on and the batters enjoy the ball coming onto the bat.”I think it’s a conversation that needs to start at the top, the management needs to be part of it. I think we need to be challenged differently. For far too long, we persist with ‘seamers are going to win you the game’ irrespective of whether it’s at home or in the subcontinent.Philander pointed out, as an example, that bringing spin on earlier could have helped slow down Rachin Ravindra, who took on South Africa’s pacers to give New Zealand a strong start.”Today it was illustrated again. Had we brought spin on earlier in the powerplay, we could have curbed Ravindra from getting off to an absolute flyer at the start. Those are little things that you have to put into play,” he said. “You can’t just play one brand of cricket and hope for results to go your way. Conditions these days play a massive factor in all outcomes of cricket matches and you have to factor in conditions. I don’t think you can be naïve and say that we will go with our four seamers and boss a game in the subcontinent.”