It will come as a blow for Netherlands, who were scheduled to get three T20Is against a Full Member in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup

Danyal Rasool22-Nov-2023Pakistan’s tour of the Netherlands in 2024 has been postponed indefinitely at the PCB’s request.Pakistan were scheduled to play three T20Is against Netherlands in early May 2024 as part of a tour of Europe that also included three T20Is against Ireland, and four against England. All those games were scheduled in the build-up to the T20 World Cup which starts in June 2024, to be held in the West Indies and USA.Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Board (KNCB)’s high-performance manager Roland Lefebvre confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that the tour had been put off, with the PCB citing scheduling clashes, and concerns about player workload.”The KNCB understands the predicament the PCB are in, given the busy playing schedules and at the same time keeping the well-being of players in mind,” Lefebvre said. “We value the good relationship we have with the PCB, and look forward to rescheduling this series to a later date.”The postponement will come as a blow for Netherlands, who were scheduled to get three T20Is against a Full-Member side in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, for which they have already qualified. That also means Netherlands and Pakistan are yet to face each other in a bilateral T20I fixture, with their only two meetings in the format having come at the T20 World Cup.In fact, there was significant on-field bonhomie between the Pakistan and Netherlands players after their fates were tied together at last year’s T20 World Cup, with each side doing the other a favour. Netherlands beat South Africa to keep Pakistan alive in a tournament that saw them go on to reach the final, while Pakistan defeated Bangladesh in the following game to ensure direct qualification to the 2024 T20 World Cup for Netherlands.Last year, Netherlands had hosted Pakistan for three ODIs as part of the Super League. Pakistan went on to win the series 3-0, but two of those matches were decided by margins of only 16 runs and nine runs.The PCB acknowledged to ESPNcricinfo that next year’s series had been postponed at their request, and said they were actively working on finding an alternate window.

Qualified accountant had served in role since 2018 having joined board in 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Dec-2023Fanos Hira has retired as chair of Worcestershire and stepped down from the board after nine years at the county.Hira’s involvement at New Road initially began as part of a subgroup of the board in 2014, and the main board in 2016 before becoming chair in 2018. Having replaced Stephen Taylor in the role after Worcestershire secured the T20 Blast title, he oversaw further on-field success as the club finished runners-up in the same competition in 2019 before earning promotion back to Division One last season. Hira was also an observer on the ECB board.As a qualified accountant, Hira used his expertise to produce a comprehensive report on the ECB’s finances, finding projections made in Deloitte’s assessment of the Hundred back in 2016 optimistic. The report, compiled with the help of new ECB chair Richard Thompson, claimed the competition, which began in 2021, had made a loss of £9million in its first two years.Hira has also advocated for transfer fees being introduced in county cricket to remunerate clubs that nurture and produce talent only to have them picked off by bigger teams. This summer alone, Worcestershire lost Dillon Pennington, Jack Haynes and Josh Tongue – all products of their academy – to Nottinghamshire.The 55-year-old leaves with the county in better financial shape, with Ashley Giles in place as chief executive since June – a position that had been vacant since 2019 – to continue overseeing cricket matters. Hira is due to be awarded Honorary Life Membership at Worcestershire, subject to ratification at the next AGM. The club will undertake an open process to appoint a new chair.”It’s been an honour to be involved so closely with Worcestershire over such a long period,” Hira said in a statement. “I am grateful to all staff, coaches, and players for their tireless efforts.”There have been many highlights for me, but this season, it has been particularly pleasing to see the immediate progress in white-ball and red-ball cricket under the leadership of the club’s coaching and management team.”I wish everyone associated with Worcestershire all the very best for the future, and I look forward to watching the team continue to entertain and compete in the coming years.”Paul Pridgeon, vice chair of Worcestershire, said: “His efforts and commitment, as a volunteer, have been tireless over the years. Fanos has guided the club through very tough times, including substantial governance reform, the challenging Covid years, and the recent cost-of-living crisis, and his impact on the club cannot be underestimated.”

The PCB Women’s Wing head said the decision “was quite disappointing” but hopes the league takes off soon with stability returning to the board

Danyal Rasool09-Feb-2024The PCB has pushed back a commitment they made over three years ago to launch a women’s T20 league and shelved women’s exhibition matches on the eve of the start of the ninth season of the PSL.In 2023, three women’s exhibition matches featuring players from countries including South Africa, England and New Zealand were held, but this time around, it’s not on the agenda. Tania Mallick, head of the PCB women’s wing since 2021, attributed this to the uncertainty around the PCB chairman, saying the interim management committee led by Zaka Ashraf until last month did not wish to financially commit to a women’s league.”The impression I got was they did not feel they were in a position to make such big financial decisions,” Mallick told ESPNcricinfo. “What was conveyed to us was the next committee and administration would do this, ‘we don’t want to’. The obstacle is not within our management or the financial officers within the PCB. It was the interim management committee that was not willing to commit. I don’t feel frustrated with my management because they all agree [we need a league]. Even the PSL department, we had planned everything but it was taken off the board at the last minute. This was towards the tail-end of the Zaka regime. It was quite disappointing for all of us and I told the girls that repeatedly.”Related

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There was little to no public communication from the PCB regarding its plans or intentions for women’s cricket for the best part of 2023. Much of the year was a difficult period for Pakistan women’s cricket, though it ended on a note of optimism as the side whitewashed South Africa 3-0 in a home T20I series, before becoming the first Asian side to beat New Zealand in New Zealand, stunning them 2-1 in the T20Is.After that series, Fatima Sana spoke to ESPNcricinfo, and said that the three exhibition matches had “opened up the minds of our girls” and that “all the players want” to have their own league. The PCB has toyed with the idea of various leagues besides the PSL across three different chairs, with the Pakistan Junior League taking place in 2022. Last year, a local T10 league was also mooted, which Mallick said would have potentially included women’s games.But for a board that once spoke about getting Asia’s first women’s T20 league off the ground, things have changed significantly.”Every new administration who comes in also doesn’t necessarily have the same kind of interest in women’s cricket,” Mallick said. “I still feel Pakistan is at the emerging stage of women’s cricket and needs to go a long way. So [the administrative turnover] has a huge impact. We always wonder if we’ll have a women’s league or exhibition matches now, but if we had one chairman these question marks would not have been there. A couple of chairmen announced it’ll definitely happen but because every chairman had such a short span of time, they spent most of their time firefighting and couldn’t have a strategic policy.””There was talk about a T10, and women were a part of that but unfortunately that couldn’t take place and women’s exhibition matches have also been pushed back. But all the chairmen that have come in, it’s not as if they’re unwilling to support us. They’ve imposed no financial cap on us to prevent us from holding camps or sending our Under-19 team to Bangladesh. But the problem is that normally with a chairman we can plan for a three-year period. There was a restriction there because we were only able to plan for a few months here and there.For Mallick, there is a possible reason for optimism, as there are signs of stability returning to the PCB. Mohsin Naqvi was elected as PCB chairman on a three-year term earlier this week, and barring significant unforeseen events, should be in the role for the foreseeable future.The Pakistan women’s team celebrate a historic series victory in New Zealand•Getty Images

“With the new chairman coming in hopefully we can plan for a longer period,” Mallick said. “Higher management have told us repeatedly that it’s not that we are not supporting it, we definitely support it but as soon as we have firmer footing, it will be in place. We are hopeful we don’t have to go back on that one because I felt the exhibition matches had a very good impact in terms of exposure.”Mallick was unwilling to commit to a firm date for a women’s league. While she hopes it will happen “earlier than 2025”, that would mean a league happening independent of the PSL, as well as the PCB carving out a window that does not clash with other stakeholders, a scenario that is optimistic to the point of being unrealistic.But having been in the job for more than two years, Mallick admitted that having had just three exhibition matches to show by way of a league has been “frustrating”. She feels attracting top talent from around the world will not be an issue, pointing to the players that made the trip over for those exhibition matches, and adding Pakistan have received expressions of interest from players around the world.She also warned against the dangers of a league rushed through, though. “We don’t want to compromise on the quality of the league we put up. If you saw the exhibition matches, the broadcast, everything was at par with the men’s league,” she said. “It has to be of that quality, anything below that is not acceptable. The new chairman has only just come in, so you really can’t say how it’ll be taken up in the future with the Champions Trophy taking place in 2025 as well, but we’re very hopeful.”Pakistani women cricketers don’t get called up to many leagues. Fatima Sana was a one-off because she gave such an exceptional performance in New Zealand and she was asked to stay back. They don’t get that exposure, and I think that’s really holding us back. As the landscape in women’s cricket is changing, the style of women’s cricket is changing. Our girls only play against each other, and when they play, they play against international teams.”Playing a league is very liberating because you don’t have the pressure of international matches. When you play in a league, you can bring out your personality and play the way you want to. You play against senior players, you learn their style and learn from those coaches. But our girls don’t get that.”

Ishan Kishan turned up for the Reserve Bank of India in the DY Patil T20 tournament

Shashank Kishore27-Feb-2024Shreyas Iyer will feature in the Ranji Trophy semi-final for Mumbai after recovering from back spasms that had ruled him out of the quarter-final at home against Baroda. Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan also returned to competitive cricket on Tuesday, turning up for the Reserve Bank of India in the DY Patil T20 tournament – a popular corporate tournament featuring top domestic players – in Navi Mumbai.Shivam Dube, however, will continue to sit out because of a side strain as he races against time to be fit for the IPL where he will play for Chennai Super Kings.Iyer and Kishan came under the spotlight after India captain Rohit Sharma said on Monday that players who “have the hunger” to play and perform in Tests will be prioritised when it comes to selection. Iyer, who had been picked for the first two Tests of the ongoing five-match England series, was dropped for the final three Tests. Kishan’s case became more curious after the Jharkhand and India wicketkeeper-batter took a personal break in late December and then opted not to play in Ranji Trophy. In the DY Patil T20 game, Kishan made 19 off 12 balls.Iyer was meant to play the quarter-final, which Mumbai won on the basis of a first-innings lead, but had to eventually miss the clash as a precautionary measure. This will be the second Ranji fixture for Iyer this season following the clash against Andhra in December ahead of the England series.Ishan Kishan turned out for the RBI team at the DY Patil T20 Cup•DY Patil Sports Academy

Iyer isn’t currently part of the Test squad after being left out following India’s series-levelling win in Visakhapatnam. He made scores of 29, 27, 13 and 35 in his last four Test innings. In Iyer’s absence, his Mumbai team-mate Sarfaraz Khan was awarded a Test cap in Rajkot, where he started with twin half-centuries.Iyer’s return for the semi-final against Tamil Nadu allays any fears over recurring injury concerns. He missed the entire IPL last year and subsequently underwent back surgery. He returned to the ODI set up ahead of the Asia Cup and was a key member of India’s World Cup side that finished runners-up. Iyer made 530 runs in 11 innings, including two centuries and three half-centuries. He is set to lead Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2024, where he will team up with Chandrakant Pandit for the first time since he came on board as head coach. Knight Riders have also signed former captain Gautam Gambhir as a team mentor.In Kishan’s absence, India first gave KS Bharat a Test recall, before handing a maiden Test cap to Dhruv Jurel, who was named Player of the Match for his 90 and 39* in Ranchi, where India took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-Test series. Earlier this month, Kishan had been training with Hardik Pandya, his IPL captain, at a private facility in Baroda.Mumbai squad for semi-final: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Bhupen Lalwani, Amogh Bhatkal, Musheer Khan, Prasad Pawar, Hardik Tamore, Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Aditya Dhumal, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Avasthi, Royston Dias, Dhawal Kulkarni

“He understands his game more and taking on more responsibility has become non-negotiable to him”

Shashank Kishore27-Mar-2024Riyan Parag is set to get an extended role at No. 4 at Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024. For his team, it’s reward for his work behind the scenes, his impressive domestic form, and the upsides he offers as an “all-round batter”, something he couldn’t put on display while playing as a finisher.Last season, Parag made 78 runs in seven innings. In IPL 2022, he made 183 in 14. In 2021, he made 93 in ten. These are underwhelming numbers. Yet, Royals believe they have seen enough in Parag that points to something special in the offing.”It was a cricketing decision,” Royals’ director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara said of Parag’s promotion in the batting order. “We looked at how he has performed over the years. It’s a very difficult thing for someone like Riyan, who has an overall game, just to always only get the toughest parts of the game where he has to come in and up the run rate at the death.Related

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“We all felt that he has a much more important role that he can play for us. And the hard work that he did leading up to the season, all the runs he scored at domestic cricket, all played a part in that decision.”Riyan, and all the players, of course, have to repay that faith. He’s off to a great start. He just has to keep working on making sure he reads the game well and keep trusting what he can do at No. 4. He’s good against pace and again so that important position of four was ideally suited for him.”Parag opened IPL 2024 with a 29-ball 43 against Lucknow Super Giants, putting together a match-turning 93-run stand off 59 balls with Sanju Samson. Parag didn’t try to take down the bowlers from the get-go but played himself in and attacked once set. It’s in line with the role he has played at Assam. It’s a role that has brought him a truckload of runs in the domestic season, especially across the white-ball formats.At the Deodhar Trophy, the inter-zonal 50-over tournament, he was the highest run-getter, highest six-hitter, and third-highest (joint) wicket-taker. Two of his five List A hundreds came in that tournament. He was Player of the Tournament too.His first century there, a 102-ball 131, took his team from 57 for 5 to 337 for 8. His second, a 68-ball 102 not out, decimated West Zone. In the final, his team was tottering at 72 for 4 in a chase of 329 and Parag brought them back with a blistering 65-ball 95.He followed that with another chartbuster at the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s. He made 510 runs in ten innings at a strike rate of 182.79. This included a sensational run of seven back-to-back half-centuries. He subsequently earned a call-up from the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy to be part of a targeted pool of players.Riyan Parag had a sensational 2023-24 domestic season•PTI

“The biggest thing we’ve seen in Riyan is maturity,” Sangakkara said. “Irrespective of the support we offer players, self-awareness of your game, knowing what is good for you, how your lifestyle is both on and off the field – all of that has changed in Riyan.”He’s still a very, very young cricketer. We shouldn’t forget that. He’s also been hugely in the focus over the years as one of the faces of the franchise, of the younger brigade. He’s also seen the huge jumps that [Yashasvi] Jaiswal and [Dhruv] Jurel have made, and he’s got a hunger there now and an example to follow into the national team.”We know players have a variety of ambitions – IPL is one of them. He understands his game more and taking on more responsibility has become non-negotiable to him.”Since Parag’s IPL debut in 2019, only Rahul Tewatia has played more games than his 55 in the tournament among uncapped Indian players. If Sangakkara’s reading of Parag is accurate, that “uncapped” bit against his name could change.

Select committee chair concerned that club will renege on commitments to diversity and inclusion

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Apr-2024The ECB has been warned by MPs to keep a close eye on Yorkshire in the wake of Colin Graves’ re-election as chair, to ensure that the club does not renege on its commitments to diversity and inclusion.Yorkshire were last year fined a total of £400,000 and handed points deductions by the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC), following their handling of Azeem Rafiq’s revelations of institutional racism at the club.Graves, who previously served as Yorkshire’s chair between 2012-15, was last year sanctioned by the ECB for dismissing allegations of racist incidents during his tenure as “banter”, but issued a “personal and unreserved” apology to all victims of racism following his return to the post in February.Graves appeared before the DCMS select committee shortly after his reappointment in February, where he was challenged by MPs on his plans for Yorkshire’s refinancing – including an immediate cash injection of £1 million, followed by further investment worth £4 million. His family trust, which is managed by independent trustees, is still owed nearly £15 million by the club.In its Equity in Cricket report, released on Friday, the committee said: “We expect the ECB to closely monitor Yorkshire CCC to their work and ensure that there is no return to the ‘business as usual’ that allowed a culture of discrimination to take root and thrive at the club. We urge the ECB and the cricket regulator to pay particular attention to the future performance of Yorkshire CCC in relation to inequality.”In June 2023, a report by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) castigated English cricket on the grounds of class, race and gender, with Richard Thompson, the ECB chair, describing its findings as a “wake-up call” and an opportunity to “reset cricket”. It has been recommended by the committee that the ECB publishes a progress report on the anniversary of the publication, addressing each of its 44 recommendations.Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, the committee’s chair, said: “The ECB has made welcome progress on fixing the problems facing cricket identified so powerfully in the ICEC report. To achieve its ambition for cricket to be the most inclusive sport in the country and truly welcoming to all it must be open on how it is backing up its words with actions.”The start of the county cricket season is always a time for optimism, and we hope that members at Headingley can look forward to a successful future, with a board committed to a member-led club and a continued focus on tackling discrimination. The ECB should keep a close eye on progress to ensure Yorkshire continues going down the road to reform.”The report was released on the same day that the UK government announced a £35 million investment into grassroots and state school cricket, with the aim of enabling 900,000 young people to play cricket over the next five years.Responding to the report, Thompson added: “We welcome the ongoing support and scrutiny from DCMS following the publication of the ICEC Report.”We are keen to forge ahead and continue with the changes we have already been implementing in our ambition to become the most inclusive sport in England and Wales.”

The SRH allrounder said he didn’t know whether his bowling would be needed against RR but he was prepared just in case

ESPNcricinfo staff24-May-2024Abhishek Sharma said he “didn’t know” whether he would have to bowl for Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 against Rajasthan Royals in Chennai but was ready in case the call came. And despite bowling just three overs previously in IPL 2024, Abhishek sent down a match-winning spell of 2 for 24 to put SRH in the IPL final.”To be honest, I didn’t know I will bowl this match but I was very much ready with my bowling because I’ve been working really hard on my bowling,” Abhishek said after the game. “The last two years it’s been really good with my batting so I wanted to work on my bowling with my dad. So special mention to my dad.”Abhishek’s had a blockbuster season with the bat, scoring 482 runs at a strike rate of 207.75 in 15 innings. His 42 sixes are the most this season, and the most for an Indian batter in any IPL season. On Friday night, however, it was his left-arm spin that came to the fore against RR’s middle order. He had Sanju Samson caught at wide long-on with his third ball and bowled Shimron Hetmyer with a carrom ball in his third over to leave RR six down. Abhishek did not concede a boundary in his first three overs.He was the sixth bowler used by SRH in their defence of 175 as the Chennai pitch began to offer lots of turn in the absence of dew. Though he hadn’t bowled much for SRH this season, Abhishek had bowled 20 overs in Punjab’s successful campaign in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last season.Related

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“When I saw the starting XI, I knew he’s [Abhishek] going to bowl today,” Varun Aaron said on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out show. “He’s a really good bowler. I’ve seen a lot of him in domestic cricket. He’s one of those bowlers who tosses it up a little bit, more than the others. He bowls that carrom ball which comes out from the front of the hand, that was a really good ball. That shows he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve and he’s a full-time bowler for Punjab. He’s one of those who likes to bowl and tells the captain, ‘I want to bowl in domestic games, it helps me be in the game more.’ He’s one of those allrounders who look forward to bowling. The other thing is he would have been wanting this chance to bowl for the longest time and he lapped it up really well.”Though he hasn’t bowled much this IPL season, Abhishek is one of only a few Indian batters who can bowl as well in limited-overs cricket, along with the likes of Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag and Nitish Kumar Reddy. That skill-set has been missing in the Indian team for a while – none of the specialist batters in the squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup can bowl.”He backs himself 100%,” Tom Moody said on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out show. “Yes, he doesn’t bowl as much as he needs to bowl in domestic cricket for whatever reasons but for the future of Indian cricket he needs to be bowling because he is a serious package to be reckoned with. [Bats] at the top of the order, someone who can bowl left-arm spin whatever the format, he’s going to be a real asset going forward.”The reason that makes him unique as a spinner is he tosses it up and what he tries to do is get overspin on the ball, so the ball comes down like that (with seam upright and facing the batter, not sideways), Nathan Lyon style, it dips. So he doesn’t bowl side spin, he bowls overspin and he’s got that clever carrom ball he’s been working on which is the one Hetmyer got and was an absolute peach.”