Tag Futebol

After the carnival of the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, a one-day tri-series in Zimbabwe may not seem like the sort of fare to whet the appetite, but India and Sri Lanka’s trip to the Southern African nation is an important sounding board for all three

Liam Brickhill26-May-2010After the carnival of the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, a one-day tri-series in Zimbabwe may not seem like the sort of fare to whet the appetite, but India and Sri Lanka’s trip to the Southern African nation is an important sounding board for all three teams.The reasons for this are manifold. For a start, the 50-over World Cup is just over nine months away, and after India’s lacklustre showing at the World Twenty20, the performance of their squad for this series – with a number of big names not making the trip – will be a test of India’s bench strength and may also unearth the potential of some of the less experienced players. Should this squad perform beyond expectations, it may also be just the reality check needed to get India’s heavyweights performing again.Sri Lanka made it as far as the semi-finals of the World Twenty20, but that they got there at all was almost entirely due to Mahela Jayawardene’s sparkling early-tournament form. But with Sri Lanka also resting a slew of their frontline players, they too have the opportunity to test the depth of their resources and allow a few youngsters the opportunity to gain international experience in what should be fairly easy conditions.The fact that so many known international stars are not making the trip has irked more than a few people in the Zimbabwe set-up, but while there are worries about how much local attention tours by two second-string sides might draw, Zimbabwe must surely also be looking ahead to the World Cup and a couple of positive results in this series could only help their attempt at a cricketing renaissance. Zimbabwe also need all the exposure they can get, and with a paucity of international cricket on their calendar, this series may be their last chance to really test themselves ahead of the tournament in February next year.But the issue of most immediate importance is Zimbabwe’s first hosting of a series against major opposition since the last time Sri Lanka toured the country in November 2008. Since then, the only senior sides to visit have been Kenya, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, and although the Zimbabweans have travelled to South Africa and the West Indies – as well as the obligatory visits to Bangladesh and Kenya – and sent an invitational XI to play in the Deodhar Trophy in India in 2008-09, the successful hosting of two international sides will send an important message both about the state of cricket there, and more importantly about the state of the country.In both areas, there has been little wholesale change, but positive steps are being made. Zimbabwe won the first Twenty20 and one-day game of their West Indies tour in March, and scored two notable victories against Pakistan and Australia in the warm-ups to the World Twenty20. Inbetween those successes, however, the team – and particularly the batsmen – have struggled.Zimbabwe’s early exit from the World Twenty20 came as a result of the frustrating, but far from unfamiliar, failure of the team’s batsmen to apply themselves when even a modicum of pressure is placed upon them. The weakness is a mental one, as batsmen who have been repeatedly brutalised by being thrust onto the international stage before their time have had their confidence fractured, perhaps irredeemably so. The spectacular collapse has become a default setting, rather than an aberration. In this light, six games (at least) against weakened opposition on home soil will be an opportunity for the home side’s batsmen to start pulling themselves out of the mire.The last time Sri Lanka toured they came away with a 5-0 series whitewash, but were at least challenged in a few of the games, scraping home by five runs and two wickets respectively in the third and fourth games, while only a five-wicket haul by Muttiah Muralitharan saved them from defeat in the fifth. This time, the touring side will be missing Murali’s guile, while Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara are also being rested.The last Indian side to tour the country was an A side in 2007. That team included players such as Pankaj Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Rohit Sharma, and Zimbabwe also have experience of players such as Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin from their Deodhar adventure. The last full Indian side was in the country in 2005-06, and is unrecognisable from this touring squad.It seems, then, that this tri-series may well be more competitive than many of Zimbabwe’s recent international outings. Whether the home side plays to its potential, or implodes spectacularly, remains to be seen. Either way, the first major international tour to Zimbabwe in 18 months is a step in the right direction.

They replace Jaiswal, Dube and Samson, who will return to India with the rest of the T20 World Cup-winning squad before flying out to Zimbabwe for the last three games

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jul-2024B Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma and Harshit Rana have been drafted into India’s 15-member squad for the first two (of five) T20Is in Zimbabwe starting later this week. They will replace Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal, all of whom will return to India with the rest of the T20 World Cup-winning squad before flying out to Zimbabwe for the last three games.The victorious T20 World Cup squad was expected to land in India on Monday, but their arrival has been delayed because of Hurricane Beryl, which led to the airport in Barbados being shut down. ESPNcricinfo understands that Samson, Dube and Jaiswal will be part of a felicitation ceremony in India before they travel to Zimbabwe.Rinku Singh and Khaleel Ahmed, who were part of the reserves for the World Cup, are likely to join the squad in Harare directly from the Caribbean. Shubman Gill, who has been named captain of the squad in Zimbabwe, is set to join the squad directly from the USA, where he was on holiday after being released from India’s touring reserves at the end of the group stage.Sai Sudharsan, who made his international debut on the tour of South Africa last December, is currently playing for Surrey in Division 1 of the County Championship and is likely to join the squad in Harare on July 4 after the conclusion of Surrey’s ongoing fixture against Essex. Sai Sudharsan had re-signed with Surrey last month after an impressive maiden stint with the team last year. It’s Sai Sudharsan’s first call-up with the India T20I side.For Jitesh, the call-up is a lifeline of sorts after he fell out of favour with the selectors following a disappointing IPL 2024, where he scored just 187 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 131.69.Rana, for whom this is a maiden India call-up, was part of the victorious Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at IPL 2024. Rana had been at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy till late last month as part of a conditioning camp for rising fast bowlers. He was the joint-second-highest wicket-taker for KKR (19 wickets at an average of 20.15), the same as Andre Russell and only behind Varun Chakravarthy, who had 21.The series kicks off on July 6, followed by matches on July 7, 10, 13 and 14. All matches will be played at the Harare Sports Club.

India’s squad for 1st and 2nd T20Is vs Zimbabwe

Shubman Gill (capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande, Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Harshit Rana

Opener scores second hundred of season as teams shake hands on draw

ECB Reporters Network30-Apr-2023An impressive, unbeaten first century on his home ground from Leicestershire’s Rishi Patel brought pleasant compensation to spectators who witnessed their side’s LV=Insurance County Championship match with Glamorgan fizzle out as a draw on the final day.Patel, 24, whose potential has excited the coaching staff at Grace Road since his move from Essex in 2020, seems now to be realising it. This was his second hundred in three matches after breaking his duck by driving his team to an epic victory over Yorkshire at Headingley three weeks ago.He played superbly, rarely making an error let alone offering a chance, hitting 18 fours and three sixes in his career-best 134 not out before Leicestershire declared their second innings on 252 for 3, most of them coming cleanly off the bat as he picked off boundaries all round the wicket.His captain, Lewis Hill, was unlucky not to join him on three figures, dragging one on to his stumps for 82 having never looked in any trouble, the two sharing a 203-run partnership for the second wicket.Earlier, Glamorgan had extended their overnight lead from 39 to 58 in losing their last two first-innings wickets as they were all out for 465, Chris Cooke the final man to depart after hitting 132. Veteran Leicestershire seamer Chris Wright finished with 5 for 89.Bottom of the table last season, Leicestershire are beginning to look like a team with promotion potential this year, having topped 400 first-innings runs in all three Championship matches played so far and compiling seven partnerships of 100 runs or more in those games, compared with nine in total in the 2022 campaign.Cooke’s century for the visitors followed his unbeaten 191 in the corresponding fixture last season, when his contribution was somewhat overshadowed by Sam Northeast’s epic 410 not out in Glamorgan’s record 795 for 5 declared. It was a match that was arguably the nadir of a desperate Leicestershire season as they lost by an innings despite themselves making 584 in their first innings.This time, in the lead rather than supporting role, Cooke lost his middle stump making room to swing hard as Wright completed a five-wicket haul for the first time since September 2021.Two overs earlier, Andrew Salter had departed in unfortunate and uncomfortable circumstances, a ball from Wright jagging back to strike him somewhere around his protective box and rolling on to the stumps as he dropped to his haunches.Having been 155 for 5, Glamorgan will have felt well satisfied that their second five wickets had put on double that runs tally. Doing so had taken so long, however, on top of overs lost earlier to the weather, that there was little prospect of fashioning a positive result.Glamorgan’s only hope was that they could bowl Leicestershire out in around 50 of the 87 overs still to play and give themselves a modest target in such time that remained. Michael Neser gave them an encouraging start, having opener Sol Budinger out for a single when he prodded at one outside off stump and gave David Lloyd the simplest of catches at first slip.Yet such optimism as that wicket might have stirred was tempered in the next over as Patel pounced on a leg-side delivery from Timm van der Gugten with such timing and vigour that the ball sailed out of the ground and into Milligan Road, coming to rest under a parked van. He followed up with a crisp drive through cover for four.It was an indication of what was to come as Patel picked up boundaries all round the ground. He hammered 18 in one over off Salter soon after lunch, back-to-back swept fours taking him to 51 from 74 balls with nine fours and a six, which he celebrated with another six down the ground off the offspinner, followed by a clip for four through midwicket.Salter recovered well and with Neser taking over from van der Gugten at the Bennett End the flow of runs was temporarily stemmed. But Patel got going again when Marnus Labuschagne replaced Salter, reverse sweeping the Australian to the fence to go to 98 before driving Jamie McIlroy’s medium pace through mid-off to complete a hundred off 137 balls, containing 17 fours and two sixties.Hill went past fifty off 91 balls soon afterwards as Leicestershire’s lead topped 100 with very little doing for any of the bowlers under high cloud.The Leicestershire skipper must have had an eye on his second century of the season but missed out, falling just before tea on 82 as his counterpart Lloyd picked up a first wicket in the second innings, to which he added a second when Colin Ackermann holed out to deep midwicket soon after tea, before the teams shook hands on the inevitable draw at 4.50pm.

England allrounder, who retired from Tests last year, says coaching changes were inevitable after poor Ashes

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2022Chris Silverwood, the sacked England head coach, is a “good guy” who looked after his players’ best interests, Moeen Ali says.Speaking after Silverwood, his assistant Graham Thorpe, and head of men’s cricket Ashley Giles were removed from their posts in the aftermath of England’s 4-0 Ashes series defeat, Moeen acknowledged that changes were inevitable within the national team set-up following such a disappointing campaign in Australia.”One thing with Silverwood, he tries to look after the players and he’s a brilliant person, he’s a very good coach,” Moeen said. “It’s a shame he’s obviously not there anymore but he’s made lots of friends and he can go with a lot of respect because he was such a good guy.”It’s always sad when people leave, the guys are good guys and they’ve all done a great job, but at the end of the day everything is about results and we had a poor Ashes and these things happen. It’s not a job forever. They tried to do the best for the players but these things happen when you have a bad tour like Australia, which is big for England, people then always after that get sacked, so it’s very sad.”Related

• Giles' fatalism sealed his fate – England's Test revival will depend on tough calls

• England sack Chris Silverwood in wake of Ashes disaster

• Root to remain England Test captain as Thorpe becomes latest Ashes casualty

• Langer apologises for being 'too intense' in resignation letter

Silverwood and Thorpe followed Giles in paying the price last week for England’s dismal tour of Australia, which was beset not only by poor results on the field, but reports of an off-field drinking culture and poor fitness levels.Among the contenders to step in as interim coach for England’s three-Test tour of West Indies, which gets underway on February 24 with the first Test starting on March 8, are current assistant Paul Collingwood, who oversaw the recent white-ball tour there, and Richard Dawson, who guided the Young Lions to the Under-19 World Cup final, also in the Caribbean. Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, has expressed an interest in the post, while Justin Langer – who led Australia’s T20 World Cup and Ashes victories – has firmed as a contender for a permanent coaching position with England after his split from Cricket Australia.Moeen was absent from the Ashes tour, having announced his retirement from Test cricket in September. He continues to play white-ball cricket at the highest level, however, captaining England in the absence of an injured Eoin Morgan during their 3-2 T20I series defeat to West Indies which included two Player-of-the-Match performances. He is also active in franchise competitions around the world, playing in the Abu Dhabi T10 at the end of last year, and now with table-topping BPL side Comilla Victorians, who have won four of their six matches so far.Speaking in Sylhet, where his wife is originally from, Moeen said he was relishing the chance to hone his batting against spin as well as capitalise on the conditions with the ball.”Bangladesh is one of the hardest places to come, especially for batsmen, but you can learn so much,” Moeen said. “If you play well here, I feel you can play anywhere. That’s one of the reasons I came to Bangladesh, to try and improve and get used to conditions, so when I come with England, hopefully in the future, I know the conditions better and things like that.”It’s good for me because obviously I bowl spin. Batting, I want to still improve. I’m 34, still always trying to improve and we’re doing well as a team. We want to win, obviously I want to win trophies. [I have] maybe five, six years left and I want to win as many trophies all over the world as I can, so that’s my aim with Comilla Victorians, to win the competition.”Of the field, Moeen also revealed he was keen to learn more Sylheti.”It’s my first time in Sylhet,” he said. “My family’s from here. I know a few Sylheti words and that’s about it. I wish I could learn more actually, I will try and learn more now that I’m here because the guys in the hotel are speaking, Sylheti to me so I need to try and learn.”

The PCB agreed to meet with the PSL owners on October 7 to try and resolve their long-standing issues

Umar Farooq01-Oct-2020The PCB and six PSL franchises have agreed to settle their outstanding issues related to the league’s financial model out of court. The legal suit has thus been disposed of by the Lahore High Court. Both parties will meet on October 7 in Lahore to try and find a resolution.Last week, the six franchises had collectively filed a writ petition in a bid to force the PCB to change the financial model, a long-running demand from the franchises. Their central grievance is that the PSL has apparently made the PCB richer while the franchises have run losses every season. The petition asks the court to direct the PCB to “formally redress the grievances of all franchises” and “revise the model of PSL in accordance with its statutory mandate and make it financially viable”.The PCB had been offering to rework the model and had several meetings over the years on the matter with various suggestions put forward, but little definitive action has resulted from these discussions. The lawyers for the franchises argued in the court that “the existing structure and arrangement are inherently inequitable and the said inequity of the model needs to be removed”.It was further argued by the franchises that, in the wake of Covid-19, discussions around restructuring the model had been deferred further by the board. It was argued that the “PCB has a statutory duty under the Sports Ordinance 1962 to promote and develop the sports and all its measures should be in conformity to the said purpose including the franchise arrangements and other structures. Franchise owners are continuously suffering losses under the present model and they cannot continue like this.”The drastic escalation, to take the matter to the courts, began after years of apparent frustration for the franchises. The model of revenue distribution was a contentious issue almost from the outset. The franchises have a number of demands, from wanting tax exemptions, to better distribution of gate money, to more favourable exchange rate terms.Five out of six franchises have ten years’ rights for their respective team and after five years in business, no franchise has broken even in the first four full seasons of the league. Multan Sultans, the most expensive team – they were bought for USD 6.35 million in 2018 – have ownership rights for seven years. The PSL was played with five teams for the first three seasons and when Multan Sultans entered the fray, it resulted in a dilution of payments to each club from the central pool that the PCB has set up for revenue.Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi, who was hearing the petition, questioned PCB lawyer Tafazzul Rizvi asking why “they do not sit with the PSL owners and address their genuine grievances”. The court adjourned the case following PCB representative Salman Naseer stating the board was prepared to invite the PSL owners on October 7 to begin the process of redressing their grievances.”It was sad that the matter was taken to the courts,” Salman Naseer later said in a statement. The PCB has always tried to sit down and amicably resolve such issues. The coverage that this case has received has damaged both the PCB and the PSL globally. We have always tried to sit down and talk to the franchises. That was true before the case and will remain so after it, too. We have invited the franchises to meet on October 7 and discuss the matter in good faith to resolve these difference. We have also extended an offer not to take any adverse action against them until 9 October. In return, they have promised us that they will immediately pay us whatever they owe from 2019 and 2020.”