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A hamstring injury recurrence has already put him out of Western Australia’s Marsh Cup final against South Australia

Alex Malcolm and Tristan Lavalette06-Mar-2023Jhye Richardson has been ruled out of Australia’s ODI tour of India, and his IPL stint with Mumbai Indians is also unlikely, after he suffered a hamstring injury recurrence in his first grade game back since the initial injury occurred during the BBL.Richardson had not played any cricket since straining his hamstring on January 4. The injury was initially diagnosed as minor, and it was hoped he would return for the BBL finals, but it took him two full months to return to play. He missed Perth Scorchers’ BBL title run and has not played any Marsh Cup or Sheffield Shield cricket since. But he was selected in Australia’s 16-man ODI squad for the three-match series in India that starts on March 17 in Mumbai.Nathan Ellis, who has played three ODIs, has been called up as Richardson’s replacement.Richardson made his return to competitive cricket on Saturday in Perth playing for his club side Fremantle against Wanneroo in a 50-over fixture, where it was hoped he would make his domestic return in the Marsh Cup final before departing for India.Related

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• Jhye Richardson out of BBL for two-three weeks

However, he managed only four overs for Fremantle, where he did take 3 for 5, before leaving the field and heading for a scan. He later went to the WACA ground to consult with the WA medical staff.Richardson has had a rotten run with soft-tissue injuries over the past two seasons independent of the major shoulder injury he suffered in 2019. He took a maiden Test five-wicket haul against England in Adelaide in December 2021, his first Test since injuring his right shoulder, but a nagging heel injury ruled him out of the next Test and he has not played Test cricket since.He played in the T20I and ODI series on the tour of Sri Lanka in June of 2022 but then had an interrupted pre-season for WA ahead of the domestic summer starting in October with a number of soft tissue concerns limiting him to just two Sheffield Shield games and one Marsh Cup game prior to the BBL.

Teams to be spread across nine venues: Chennai, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru, Rajkot, Cuttack, Guwahati, Kolkata, Hyderabad.

Nagraj Gollapudi31-Jan-2022The league phase of the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy is likely to be played between February 16 and March 5. As per the plan devised by BCCI, the 38 teams that take part in the Ranji Trophy are likely to be spread across nine shortlisted venues. These venues include: Chennai, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru, Rajkot, Cuttack, Guwahati, Kolkata and Hyderabad.Keeping in mind the tight window in which it has to conduct the premier first-class tournament, the BCCI shortlisted venues with several grounds so that simultaneous matches could take place within a particular group.More than one state association, which houses the shortlisted venue, confirmed that they had unofficially heard the BCCI planned to have four teams per venue in the Elite Group. It could not be confirmed whether the six teams in the Plate group would be housed in one venue or more. The state associations said they were expecting an official confirmation from BCCI imminently.On January 27, BCCI secretary Jay Shah had confirmed that the board had decided to host the Ranji Trophy in two phases. While the league stage was set for February-March, the knockouts were slated for June, leaving the April-May window for IPL 2022.Related

• BCCI's Ranji plan: League phase in Feb-March, knockouts in June

• 'At times I think: one day this will be over, and if I get picked for India, can I make a difference?'

The Ranji Trophy was originally scheduled to start on January 13, but had to be postponed indefinitely because of rising Covid-19 cases in India. When making the decision to hold the Ranji Trophy, Shah said that recovery rates from the third wave of the pandemic were encouraging, but the BCCI would continue to have biosecure bubbles for the tournament to mitigate any risks.”Ever since the decision on postponement was made, the board was working on several models to ensure that the tournament takes place as soon as the environment is safe and conducive,” Shah had written in a letter to state associations. “We will continue to have biosecure bubbles to mitigate any potential risk. The board is committed to providing a healthy and secure environment and seeks your support in ensuring a safe tournament for all our key stakeholders.”

Says with the qualifiers yet to happen and several teams not even able “to assemble”, it was best to push the tournament back

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2020The postponement of the 2021 Women’s World Cup to 2022 came down to concerns around readiness of the players, and not safety in New Zealand, the event’s CEO Andrea Nelson has said. As ESPNcricinfo had reported on Friday, Nelson said that given three participating teams are still to be identified and several sides “can’t train” yet, postponement was the best option.The qualifier for the tournament was supposed to be held in July, but was postponed due to the pandemic. So, for now, England, Australia, South Africa, India and hosts New Zealand are confirmed participants, with three more spots open in the eight-team tournament.”It came down to the ability of the teams to qualify,” Nelson told . “We’ve done a lot of contingency planning around this event, to give it the best possible chance of proceeding successfully – ultimately the decision to delay it comes down to cricket. No qualifying tournaments have been able to be held yet, so in order to qualify and then compete in the event in 2021 – it was too risky.”We’ve got teams that can’t train, they can’t assemble – in the case of a country like the West Indies they can’t leave their islands to bring the team together – and that’s just not a feasible way to ask a team to prepare for their pinnacle event.”New Zealand has been one of the least affected countries worldwide by Covid-19. As of Sunday morning, there were only 23 active cases in the country, according to their Ministry of Health’s official numbers, and these were all at the borders – that is, people testing positive when they fly in from elsewhere, and going straight into quarantine. In mid-June, New Zealand had even welcomed back fans into a packed stadium for a Super Rugby Aotearoa game in Dunedin.ALSO READ: Why the women’s World Cup was postponed by 12 monthsHigh-profile women players England captain Heather Knight and Australia wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy have raised concerns over the postponement. Nelson, though, said pushing the tournament would allow players to be at their best for it.”Having the tournament in 2022 gives the best possible chance for teams around the world to train, prepare, and come and compete in their pinnacle event,” she said. “We have absolutely no doubt we’ll be able to pick up those plans and deliver an amazing event a year later.”The qualifier was originally slated to be held in Sri Lanka in July this year, and has also been pushed back by a year. Sri Lanka is likely to remain the host, with its team competing for one of the three remaining spots in the main event.

The innings eclipsed KL Rahul’s century for Kings XI Punjab, and single-handedly dragged the hosts to victory when they needed 133 off their last 10 overs

The Report by Sruthi Ravindranath10-Apr-2019Kieron Pollard’s 83 off 31 balls eclipsed Chris Gayle’s storming 63 and KL Rahul’s unbeaten century, as Mumbai Indians’ stand-in captain single-handedly took on a chase of 198 and led his side to a three-wicket win at the Wankhede stadium. Mumbai needed 133 to win off their last ten overs – a feat no IPL team had achieved before – and they sneaked home in a nail-biting finish.In the absence of Rohit Sharma, who was rested as a precautionary measure after he suffered a muscle spasm in his right leg yesterday, Pollard took control and promoted himself to No. 4. He tore into the Kings XI bowling, especially the left-arm seam of Sam Curran, who went for 54 runs in his four overs, 17 of them coming off the penultimate over.With 15 required off the last over, Pollard smashed a six and a four off Ankit Rajpoot before miscuing a pull to David Miller at deep midwicket. The equation was now four off four balls, and Alzarri Joseph and Rahul Chahar hauled the hosts over the line with their frenetic running between the wickets.Quick, slow, quickHaving opted to bowl, Mumbai could not keep the opening pair of Gayle and Rahul quiet beyond the fourth over. Having made just 20 off the first four overs, Gayle and Rahul took turns to punish the bowlers in the next five overs, belting them for 66 runs. Kings XI’s score after the first half of their innings was an imposing 93 without loss.Gayle did most of the damage, taking 22 off Jason Behrendorff in the fifth over and 14 off Hardik in the ninth. He brought up a 31-ball fifty in the 11th over, swatting Krunal over long-on for the sixth six of his innings. Rahul, not taking too many risks, brought up a fifty of his own, two overs later, off 40 balls.The dismissal of Gayle in the 13th over came at the start of what eventually proved a fatal slowdown for Kings XI. Only 30 runs came in the five overs from the 13th to the 17th, and at the end of that spell Rahul was batting on 64 off 52.Sam Curran brought some urgency into the innings with successive fours off Jasprit Bumrah in the 18th over, and Rahul took the baton upon his dismissal, scoring 36 off the last 12 balls of his innings, including hitting Hardik Pandya for 6, 6, 4, 6 in a 25-run 19th over. Even so, his 63-ball ton was the joint fifth-slowest in IPL history.Mumbai’s early stutterThe Kings XI bowling unit, especially Mohammed Shami, stifled Mumbai’s top order in the first half of the innings. Debutant Siddhesh Lad, who scored his first IPL runs with a six and a four off Rajpoot, fell to a full one from Shami in the fourth over. Shami had cramped him for room with his first three deliveries, and then knocked back his leg stump when he tried to walk across his stumps to manufacture a shot.Just when Suryakumar Yadav and Quinton de Kock were pulling things back, Curran halted Mumbai’s progress by snaffling out Yadav in the eighth over. Ashwin had de Kock caught in the deep in the next over, for 24. That would remain the second-highest score of the innings.Captain Pollard to the rescuePollard continued from where he’d left against Sunrisers Hyderabad last week. Mumbai were 58 for 2 after 8 overs, and with the chase running out of steam, the onus was on Pollard to play a blinder. And he did exactly that. He changed the course of the game in the 12th over, punishing Curran for 18 runs. Off the last ball of the over, however, Curran effected a brilliant run-out to send back the non-striker Ishan Kishan. With that, Hardik Pandya joined Pollard, but even he couldn’t do much, scoring 19 off 11 before spooning Mohammed Shami to long-on. Krunal Pandya departed in the same over, and Pollard was now truly on his own.Still, he kept his cool, and sent powerful hits to all parts of the ground – he hit ten sixes in all. He went after Curran in particular, making use of the ample room he provided, and smoked him for 47 off 15 balls.

England women look to evolve in wake of World Cup triumph, with three new caps named for their tour of India

Raf Nicholson07-Mar-2018Sometimes new caps are like buses. You wait ages for one, and then three come along at once.So it was today at Loughborough, as England Women’s squad to tour India in the forthcoming ODI and T20 tri-series was announced, and not one but three new names appeared on the list: Hampshire’s 18-year-old left-arm seamer Katie George; Bryony Smith, Surrey’s 20-year-old opener; and Alice Davidson-Richards, the 23-year-old all-rounder who has represented Kent for eight years, four times winning the County Championship title, but whose name will still not fit on most scoreboards.The man pulling the strings is of course coach Mark Robinson, who has plucked the three from county obscurity in a move that nobody – not least George, Smith and Davidson-Richards – was quite expecting.George is fresh from completing her A levels. Davidson-Richards has a degree from the University of Leeds in Human Physiology, and works as a personal trainer. Smith is a secondary school teacher. These are players who one week were jobbing county amateurs (lest we forget, there is still almost no money to be made in English women’s domestic cricket), and the next have had the possibility of a glittering career in international cricket dangled before their eyes.”It’s really weird,” Davidson-Richards (known to her team mates as “ADR”) said in the ensuing press conference. The three have spent the past two months up in Loughborough training almost full-time with the full England squad, something that is still alien to her: “It’s such an odd concept that you train, and then you’re done for the day.”It has been a marker of Robinson’s tenure as coach that, unlike the previous incumbent, he is prepared to blood new players. Spinners Alex Hartley and Sophie Ecclestone have both made their debuts; Fran Wilson has been brought back in from the cold, after five years’ absence from the international scene. All have experienced success, with Hartley and Wilson both integral to England’s World Cup win last year.And yet Robinson’s selections, this time around, seem bolder; more unexpected.Katie George, who debuted for Hampshire in 2013, has spent her entire county career playing in Divisions 2 and 3 of the Women’s County Championship; in 38 matches for the county she has taken 32 wickets at a nothing-special (in women’s county terms) economy rate of 3.59. Bryony Smith has represented Surrey for the last four seasons, since the age of 16. In that time she has hit 797 runs at an average of 17, with a highest score of 70. On paper, these numbers are far from spectacular.Davidson-Richards’ selection is in some ways the most surprising. Perhaps it shouldn’t be, but given the dearth of career opportunities, 23 – in women’s cricket terms – is old. Davidson-Richards was one of only a handful of players to survive a recent cull by Robinson of the Women’s Senior Academy squad, in which several players of her generation lost out, including Georgia Adams (24), Eve Jones (25) and Sophie Luff (24).”I definitely thought my time had passed me by,” she admitted today. “When I finished university it was like, ‘what am I going to do with my life? No idea!’ I went and played for six months in Australia, enjoyed the game again, which is the important thing for me. And from there it’s somehow got me to here!”Then there is the fact that should Smith or Davidson-Richards make their debut in India – and with three ODIs and the potential of five tri-series matches (assuming England reach the final), the likelihood is that they will – either one would become the first batsman to debut for England in five years.So why these three? And why now?Robinson was, as ever, frank in his assessment: “We’ve got to address some areas that we haven’t done very well in T20. The youngsters are there to wake a few people up. What we’re doing at the moment isn’t going to win you a World Cup, and we have to change that.”Smith, he suggests, “gives it a good hit”; Davidson-Richards – who bats at No.5 for Kent and Yorkshire Diamonds – offers “power down the order”. For an England side which has struggled to acclimatise to the new era of women’s T20, in which scores of 160-plus are the new norm, these are potentially crucial assets in what is, after all, a World Cup year.Of Smith in particular he was clear that her role lay in attempting to answer the as-yet unsettled question of who might open alongside Danni Wyatt in the World T20 in November: “We haven’t been able to find that partnership. Bryony will chuck herself into the ring as a potential opener.”His most effusive praise, though, was reserved for George, who he described as “a junior Katherine Brunt”. Brunt herself will be missing the India tour with a back injury; and at 32 will in any case not be around forever. There is perhaps no better time to attempt to blood a possible replacement.Another factor has been the importance of their ongoing performances in the Kia Super League, a competition which has helped expose players to the kind of high-level opposition which has sometimes been lacking from women’s domestic cricket. George and Smith both shot to national attention during the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2016: George, at age 16, stood out in particular as being the youngest player to feature, yet still looked right at home in Vipers’ world-class bowling attack. For Davidson-Richards her time came last season as, in front of the TV cameras at Headingley, she scored 22 not out and took 3 for 20 for Yorkshire Diamonds, securing the Player of the Match award.”The KSL’s fantastic,” Robinson said. “Watching Katie George bowl [for Vipers] in last year’s final, I absolutely loved it. She raced in, she bowled quick. She absolutely went round the park” – she bowled three overs and finished with figures of 1 for 34 – “but she kept running in fearlessly and bowling.””Live on TV, 5000 people at Hove – what brilliant exposure. That wasn’t a player shrinking, that was a player having a proper go, and that’s what you want.””And I watched Bryony Smith, again on TV, hit four consecutive fours against Katherine Brunt in that first year. And you’re thinking – wow, she’s taking on the big girls, it’s brilliant!”Certainly Smith did not shy away from the idea of “taking on the big girls” in today’s press conference. Asked what she saw as her role for England, she was unequivocal: “I want to open. That’s where I want to be, at the top.”For all three, one thing that will need to be carefully managed is their possible future transition into full-time professionalism. For now, both Davidson-Richards and Smith will continue to juggle paid employment outside cricket with their international commitments. “It’s a really big step up,” Davidson-Richards admitted. “I like going back to work on a Monday. It brings me back to the centre.” It highlights the dilemmas for a women’s game which, in England at least, is still caught somewhere between its amateur history and the professional present.For Robinson, the important thing right now is to broaden the talent pool: “We’ve got to improve our depth and we’ve got to get players up and running.” For the players concerned, meanwhile, the tour represents nothing more or less than an opportunity to represent their country. That, for now, is more than enough.

The USA Cricket Association has announced over the weekend that it has offered central contracts to four players and intends to offer up to 20 more contracts in the next “two to three months”

Peter Della Penna21-Nov-2016The USA Cricket Association has announced over the weekend that it has offered central contracts to four players and intends to offer up to 20 more contracts in the next “two to three months”. The declarations were made by USACA president Gladstone Dainty and former USA coach Robin Singh during a series of speeches and presentations made at the USACA T20 National Championship in Florida this weekend.USA captain Steven Taylor, allrounders Timroy Allen and Timil Patel, and Trinbago Knight Riders batsman William Perkins were the first four players offered central contracts by the USACA. Dainty stated in a speech to the players on November 19 that the contracts were worth $48,000. It is not known if any of the players has accepted the offer yet but according to multiple sources, USA’s players were advised by ICC Americas officials last month to decline any offer made by USACA after rumours of potential contract offers had circulated.

USACA provisional national squad

Rana Adil, Danial Ahmed, Timroy Allen*, Alex Amsterdam, Fahad Babar, Adil Bhatti, Sam Das, Akeem Dodson, Kushal Ganji, Muhammad Ghous, Elmore Hutchinson, Sheldon Irvin, Naseer Jamali, Nosthush Kenjige, Ali Khan, Carlitos Lopez, Jaskaran Malhotra, Prashanth Nair, Saurabh Netravalkar, Japen Patel, Nisarg Patel, Sagar Patel, Timil Patel, William Perkins, Ryan Persaud, Usman Rafiq, Ravi Ravish, Nicholas Standford, Roy Silva, Jessy Singh, Pranay Suri, Steven Taylor, Ravi Timbawala
*

A battle for control of the selection process for USA national teams is not unprecedented. In 2005, a dispute over USA squad selections between USACA and the Council of League Presidents resulted in USA being kicked out of the Intercontinental Cup and replaced by Cayman Islands. USACA was suspended soon after, the first of three administrative suspensions over the course of the next decade.In September, ICC Americas staff, currently administering USA cricket in a caretaker role, hired former Sri Lanka Test cricketer Pubudu Dassanayake as the new USA coach ahead of WCL Division Four in Los Angeles, which USA won to gain promotion to Division Three. Robin last coached a USA side at 2014 ICC WCL Division Three in Malaysia, when USA finished fifth and were relegated to Division Four, but he is still listed on the USACA web site as their men’s national coach.However, under USACA’s current suspension, the ICC has made clear that it has assumed complete control over USA’s operational affairs including national-team selection. Dassanayake is expected to continue leading USA’s preparation for Division Three in Uganda next year. USACA has until December 15 to ratify a new constitution that has been approved by the ICC. Failure to do so may see a resolution put forth by December 31 leading to USACA’s potential expulsion as an Associate Member at the next ICC Annual Conference in June 2017.In a speech delivered on Sunday, Robin said he had put together a list of players from which 20 would receive USACA contracts in early 2017. Robin emphasised that the contracts were made possible by the $70 million investment deal announced last month between USACA and Philadelphia businessman Jay Pandya, who was subsequently announced as the new owner of the CPL franchise St Lucia Zouks.”We’re going to consider all of these people going forward to give contracts,” Robin said after the list of 29 additional names for consideration was unveiled. “Hopefully in the next year or two, we want to actually give out about 20 professional contracts and we want to make it as clear as possible. We want to make sure people are actually committed to the game. I’ll put out a list of commitments and requirements that I expect, and there’s going to be some very tough lines.”The USACA list of 33 players differs in notable ways from the 30-man national squad announced by ICC Americas evaluators in July. Among those that have been included in the USACA list of potential contract recipients are several players with first-class experience overseas including former India U-19 and Mumbai medium pacer Saurabh Netravalkar, Carlitos Lopez and Roy Silva. The only players who were part of USA’s Division Four and Auty Cup squads from October not included in USACA’s proposed contract list are Srini Santhanam, Hammad Shahid and Abdullah Syed.”In the next three months, we’re going to make sure there are a lot of games played,” Robin said. “It’s not only for the people who are on this list. I will call people outside the box and I think it’s necessary. If people are injured, or not available, or not honest enough, we will remove them from the list because it’s not my money. We are playing with other people’s money here and I think [Pandya] has made a serious commitment to take the game forward in this part of the world, and I think, as cricketers, you owe it to yourself to give yourself the best chance.”

Travis Dean became the first Victoria batsman in nearly 27 years to score a century on first-class debut as the Bushrangers took control on the third day against Queensland at the MCG

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2015
ScorecardTravis Dean became the first Victoria batsman in nearly 27 years to score a century on first-class debut as the Bushrangers took control on the third day against Queensland at the MCG. Peter Siddle and James Pattinson claimed three wickets each as the Bulls were skittled for 103 in their second innings, leaving Victoria with a very gettable target of 229 to win.At stumps, Victoria had made a solid start in their chase and were 0 for 38, needing a further 191 runs for victory, with Dean again at the crease on 23 and Rob Quiney on 14. It capped off an outstanding day for the Victorians, who had declared 125 runs behind on the first innings in an effort to make a game of it.Dean finished the first innings unbeaten on 154, having scored most of his runs during a 271-run partnership with Peter Handscomb, whose 137 was his fifth first-class hundred. Dean’s hundred on first-class debut was the first by a Victorian since future one-Test opener Wayne Phillips managed 111 against the touring West Indians at the MCG in 1988.Victoria then needed either a declaration from Queensland or a demolition from their own bowlers, and Siddle and Pattinson provided the latter. Pattinson accounted for both Joe Burns (6) and Usman Khawaja (11) on the day of their call-up into Australia’s Test squad and Siddle, who is also part of the squad for the first Test against New Zealand, picked up 3 for 21.