Tag Futebol

Twelve teams could contest the 2015 World Cup as the ICC is considering a compromise between the 14 teams of 2011 and a tight 10-team model currently on the table

Daniel Brettig and Nagraj Gollapudi04-Apr-2011Twelve teams may contest the 2015 World Cup as the ICC is considering a compromise between the 14 teams of 2011 and a tight 10-team model currently on the table for the tournament’s next edition.The ICC’s executive council is meeting in Mumbai on Monday and on the agenda is the format for the next World Cup, to be hosted by Australia and New Zealand, following the rousing success of this year’s edition, which was won by India.Following much discussion of the 10-team tournament favoured by organisers, and an outcry by Associate nations given their likely exclusion, the ICC may now be leaning towards a 12-team event, possibly with two pools of six teams followed by quarter-finals, semis and the final.”At the moment it is still 10 teams but we are discussing the 12-team option,” an ICC official told ESPNcricinfo.The same format was used in the 1996 tournament, co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and won by the Sri Lankans. Another path is to choose a round-robin model where each team plays each other once before the semi-finals, as was the case when Australia and New Zealand hosted in 1992.Prior to his team’s departure for Bangladesh, new Australian captain Michael Clarke reiterated the desire of most international players to see Associate nations given their chance on the limited-overs game’s biggest stage.”I really enjoy seeing the minnow teams getting an opportunity to be honest, I guess it’s up to the ICC to work out whatever they think is for the betterment of the game, that’s obviously their priority,” Clarke said in Sydney.”For me I think the two World Cups I’ve been involved in have been fantastic, it certainly does feel between games like you have a long period, when you’ve got six and seven days between games, but I’ve enjoyed seeing some of the minnow teams or all of the minnow teams play.”I think we’ve seen throughout this World Cup that there were a few upsets and some great cricket played, so I just hope and am certain that the ICC are looking to improve the game of cricket.”Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said the executive council meeting would finalise much of the discussions surrounding the next event, plans for which are already being mapped out by the Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket.”The length of 50 overs will find certain teams out but I think there are 10 teams that can seriously compete in that format,” Lorgat told Sky Sports News. “That’s a debate we are still finalising; in fact the board meeting over the next two days will consider that and will determine which teams will play in the 2015 World Cup.”Ireland were the best Associate nation at each of the past two tournaments, and their chief executive Warren Deutrom had said the deferral of a decision on the tournament format until after the 2011 event was a sensible one.”I think that is the right decision,” Deutrom said. “What it does is allow the ICC board to make a decision based on all the evidence, rather than no evidence whatsoever. We are pleased because if two or three teams do perform well during the group stages, that does provide an option to look favourably on qualification, and to see if the number of teams is quite right.”

Katherine Brunt played a major role in England’s one-day series triumph over New Zealand, contributing with both bat and ball at crucial times

Cricinfo staff18-Jul-2010Katherine Brunt played a major role in England’s one-day series triumph over New Zealand, striking the winning boundary in a tense, one-wicket win in the first match at Taunton, and picking up three cheap wickets to help restrict the visitors to a gettable total infront of her home crowd at Barnsley in Saturday’s series-sealing nine-wicket victory.”It’s been a hard summer trying to find my form,” she told ecb.co.uk. “I’m carrying a few niggles but I’ve stayed strong but the conditions and pitches haven’t suited my bowling until today. I’ve really had to work hard at bowling immaculate lines and lengths, which is all you can bowl on pitches like at Taunton.”I’ve worked hard and so has everyone else, and we’re all just hitting our straps now and putting in some really good performances. The batters had to dig really deep and Sarah Taylor and Claire Taylor played really, really well.” Sarah and Claire Taylor shared in an unbeaten 98-run stand on Saturday, Claire reaching a half-century which included six fours and a six, and Sarah anchoring the innings with 49 not out.”We’ve had a lot of rain here so it turned out to be a good seamer’s track,” added Brunt. “It turned quite a lot as well so it was always the bowlers’ day – for the first time in quite a while.”Brunt suggested that New Zealand captain Aimee Watkins’ decision to bat first was a tactical error in bowler-friendly conditions, and highlighted the value of knowledge of conditions at the ground. “That just goes to show that we know the local weather and how the pitch has always played,” she explained. “I guess that helps – me being a Yorkshire girl, a local girl, to help them out with that – so we were fortunate to have that edge.”Brunt lauded Barnsley Cricket Club’s efforts in staging the first international match at the ground, which will hold special memories for her after her dominant performance with the ball helped England bounce back after their disappointment in the Twenty20s, which New Zealand won 2-1, with several members of her family in the crowd.”I managed to reserve 25 tickets for my family – cousins, aunties and uncles – so I’m really glad they could make it and see what I do and how much I enjoy playing cricket for my country. It’s fantastic to be able to have a one-day international here. I never thought that was possible, but Barnsley Cricket Club has come a long way.”They’ve built a a new pavilion and they’ve got a new scorebox, which is brilliant. They’re done a really great job today hosting and hopefully there’ll be some more in the future.”

Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, has said his team’s victory in the Chappell-Hadlee trophy, was a fitting response to the 3-0 defeat inflicted by New Zealand two years ago

Cricinfo staff11-Mar-2010Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, has said his team’s victory in the Chappell-Hadlee trophy, was a fitting response to the 3-0 defeat inflicted by New Zealand two years ago. The hosts, then, had won the first game comfortably by ten wickets before going on to chase 300-plus targets in the next two.”It doesn’t matter how many series you play but you always remember the last series you played, especially if it’s a losing one,” Ponting, who didn’t play in that series, said. “That was just before the World Cup, and we were throroughly outplayed in that series and it led to people to write us off. We regrouped pretty well over there and obviously played well, and we’ve regrouped very well since we’ve been here.”Australia scaled down their revised target of 200 in 34 overs with almost three overs to spare, but the bulk of the hard work had been done by their bowlers, who hit back to bowl the hosts out for 238 after their openers had delivered a fiery start. Ponting, acknowledging the importance of change bowlers, lauded the performance of James Hopes and Nathan Hauritz, who shared five wickets to cripple the middle order and help consign New Zealand to a below-par score.”I think that’s pretty important out here,” Ponting said. “On this sort of ground, the new ball flies off the wicket and off the bat at a pretty good pace. And that’s what they [the New Zealand openers] did particularly well today, using the pace of our new ball bowlers really well, hit the boundaries and got the momentum going their way.”Then when Hauritz and Hopes came into the game, it was a lot harder to score. It was harder to hit those boundaries, we restricted them, took those boundaries away and created chances which we took. We got on a bit of a roll then, the momentum was in our favour.”Australia won their third consecutive game of the series to clinch the trophy, and Ponting, who led his team to its eighth successive ODI series win, said the turnaround, after the defeat in the first game, was a result of attacking cricket. The hosts have been bowled out in each of the last three games.”New Zealand got off to good starts in every game, it’s sometimes hard to reverse momentum in one-day games but we’ve been able to do that really well,” he said. “They got off to a fine start, we weren’t very good with the ball early on, so we just kept attacking and set attacking fields. We told the bowlers to keep hitting the areas and if they continued to play the big shots, we’ll take our chances and that’s how it worked out.”If you hit your spot and you challenge the batsmen to play big shots, or take risks to hit boundaries, then you have half a chance. The brand new ball didn’t do that today, we gave them too many soft balls to hit to the boundary and once we tightened things up a bit and challenged them, that’s when we were in the game a bit more.”Our fielding, too, has improved throughout the series and once you’ve put them under the kind of pressure that we did today, it becomes really hard to get back into the game. Our wicket-taking ability in the middle has been the difference in the game.”The Duckworth-Lewis system came into play again, and this time it was Australia who were left chasing a stiff target despite dominating with the ball. Ponting admitted the revised score had given New Zealand an opportunity to fight back, though his batsmen secured the target comfortably. “It was a bit stiff, I actually thought it might have been wrong,” Ponting said.”I thought that was about 30 runs too many. It just goes to show that none of those equations are going to be perfect. We probably needed to be rewarded more for having bowled them out in 44 overs. But when you’re chasing 200 in 34 overs on a ground like that – 200 in a T20 game is only a good score out here – we knew that if we didn’t buy ourselves out of the water early and lose too many wickets early, we should be able to manage the chase.”[Cameron] White played a very sensible and mature innings, and it was a good run-chase in the end.”Ponting hinted at changes for the final ODI in Wellington, and added the presence of experienced players in his side made his job easier despite the absence of Michael Clarke, who had to return to Australia for personal reasons. “It does present an opportunity to include some new names,” Ponting said. “A couple of guys are a little sore after the game tonight. We’ll see how they pull up in the morning. We’ll look at giving McKay a go. We need to look ahead at the Test matches.”I’m lucky to have people like Hussey and White, who have good cricket brains. . Although you’ve lost your vice-captain, there are plenty of experienced guys around. Little things like, I’d like to think, bring good teams closer.”

Potts has retained his place, while Billings has been dropped following Foakes’ recovery after a bout of Covid-19

Vithushan Ehantharajah02-Aug-2022England have handed a recall to Ollie Robinson for the upcoming home Test series with South Africa.Robinson, the right-arm seamer whose last Test appearance was against Australia in Hobart in January this year, has made the squad of 14 for the first two matches of the three-match series after a battle with an array of ailments that kept him out of action for almost two months. After coming through problems with his back, Covid-19, and dental issues, he will be in line to add to his nine caps so far.Related

• England's summer slump leaves T20 WC plans in a mess

• Mott braced for 'hard decisions' as T20 WC selection looms

• England return to Pakistan after 17 years

Robinson, 28, has had a mixed start to his Test cricketer, despite exemplary overall figures of 39 dismissals at an average of 21.28. His debut at Lord’s at the start of last summer was marred by the emergence of historic offensive tweets, before he put that behind him to emerge as England’s standout bowler of 2021 and earning a spot as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year. However, he was publicly admonished for his fitness during the 4-0 Ashes defeat, something which came in for further scrutiny when he was unable to play a part in England’s tour of the Caribbean in March.He began the 2022 summer looking to put that problem behind him only for back spasms and other niggles to restrict him to just four first-class appearances by the middle of May. But 4 for 44 and 5 for 66 in his return to County Championship action for Sussex against Nottinghamshire last week, getting through 36.1 overs, showed Robinson was back on the right path. He will continue to prove his game-readiness by turning out for the England Lions in their four-day match against the South Africans at Canterbury, which begins on August 9. ESPNcricinfo understands batter Harry Brook, also a member of the 14-man squad, will play in this match too.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The finishing touches on the squad were made by the selection committee on Monday, with Brendon McCullum dialling in from New Zealand. He is due to be back in England by the start of next week.Robinson was expected to be part of the Lions squad, which is expected to be named on Friday. But an injury to Surrey quick Jamie Overton, who made his debut in the final Test against New Zealand at Headingley, saw them pick Robinson in the main group. Robinson was due to represent Manchester Originals in the Hundred, which starts on Wednesday, but opted to continue at Sussex and play in their Royal London Cup matches instead.Durham’s Matthew Potts, one of the beneficiaries of Robinson’s absence, retained his place in the squad after 18 dismissals from his four Tests this summer. Wicketkeeper-batter Sam Billings has dropped out now that Ben Foakes has recovered from his bout of Covid-19, which led to him being replaced during the Headingley Test.

“I haven’t even looked that far,” Morris said when asked about playing for South Africa in the future

Deivarayan Muthu30-Mar-20212:31

Chris Morris – ‘Stokes and I could be an interesting duo to come up against’

Chris Morris had played all of one international – a T20I against New Zealand in Durban – when he earned his maiden IPL deal in 2013, with the Chennai Super Kings shelling out US$ 625,000 for him. Eight years later, Morris’ South Africa future is uncertain, but he continues to be a sought-after player in the IPL.In the most recent auction, he became the most expensive player ever in the IPL, with the Rajasthan Royals outbidding the Royal Challengers Bangalore to sign him for INR 16.25 crore (USD 2.2 million approx.).Morris recalled the fierce bidding war for him at the auction earlier in February, saying his “breath was taken away”.Related

• Morris on South Africa future: 'That's a difficult question'

• Why teams broke the bank for Morris, Jamieson and Meredith

• First instance of four 14-crore-plus players at one IPL auction

• Sangakkara: Morris price no barrier in finding right support for Archer

“Look, I’ll be the first person to say that my breath was taken away,” Morris said during a virtual-media interaction on Tuesday. “I didn’t expect to first of all be bought for that much and second of all for so many teams to want to employ my services. It’s definitely a humbling feeling…and like I said it took my breath away for that to happen and for teams to keep going for me like that blew my mind.”Between the end of IPL 2020, when Morris was injured, and the IPL 2021 auction, Morris hadn’t played a single competitive game, but the Royals still broke the bank for his big hitting and death bowling. Those dual skills have made him a T20 globetrotter – he has had stints in the BBL, IPL, and T20 Blast in England. This will be Morris’ eighth IPL season and he will return to the Royals, a franchise he represented in 2015, when they made the playoffs. Morris, now 33, said that initially he didn’t see himself playing as many seasons in the league.”I never in my wildest dreams thought I’ll be in my ninth IPL or eighth – math has never been my strong suit – but I never thought I’ll be playing this many IPLs,” he said. “For me to still be needed for my services and be valued is very cool and humbled. We need to put the performances in; it’s as simple as that. When you do contribute to the team and have a bit of fun…amazing things happen when you have fun on the cricket field.”Morris also looked back at the IPL as a “life-changing” event, cherishing the experience of playing with and against top international players in the world.”You want to use the word life-changing, but every single time you come to the IPL, your life changes whether it’s personal or cricket or anything else,” he said. “It’s a life-changing experience to be part of the IPL. It’s been an absolute blast of a journey so far and hopefully there’s a new story to be written over the next nine weeks.”Morris, though, refused to view the IPL as a dry run for the 2021 T20 World Cup, which will also be held in India, insisting that his focus is entirely on performing for the Royals.”Whether there’s a World Cup or not, it’s going to be a very important [IPL] season all the way,” he said. “Like I said, World Cup or no World Cup, [I] still want to win the IPL doesn’t matter what’s coming up after. Your main focus is to win the IPL – the second-biggest trophy, if not the biggest trophy to win in a year without the World Cup. It’s the biggest trophy to win as a cricketer playing domestic cricket. The whole world is watching you, the eyes are on you. It’s the one. It’s the big one to win as a player especially when you’re playing in it for a quite a number of years. You don’t want to use the word tick the box, but definitely something you want to do to have an opportunity to win the IPL.”Other guys will hopefully be focusing on the World Cup and that takes their focus away from the IPL and we can jump onto that. Personally, I’m not worried about the World Cup, I’m here to do the job to win matches and hopefully push for winning the trophy in the IPL.”Earlier this year, when asked about his South Africa future, Morris didn’t provide a firm answer. This time as well, he maintained his stance on the matter, having last played international cricket in the 2019 50-over World Cup.”I haven’t even looked that far,” Morris said. “I’ve just focused on playing for Rajasthan Royals – that’s my immediate focus and port of call right now. We will cross that bridge if we get there – if it ever arrives – but no focus on that and all my focus is here.”Playing for the Royals will invite price-tag pressure – and there will be greater pressure if the injured Jofra Archer is sidelined from the entire tournament – but Morris wasn’t too fussed about it, having dealt with it in the past.”It’s natural to have a little bit of added pressure when something like that has happened [at the auction],” he said. I would be lying if I said there wasn’t any pressure. But, fortunately enough, in the past I have come in [to the tournament] with quite a big price tag on my head, so at the end of the day, you got to perform on the field, no matter what your price tag is. So, there is a little bit of added pressure, but the pressure that you get from a price tag doesn’t affect you on a cricket field at the end of the day.”Morris disagrees with Steyn about too much money talk in IPL
During his PSL stint with the Quetta Gladiators, Dale Steyn, speaking to , reckoned that the IPL was less rewarding than some of the other T20 leagues, with more “emphasis on the amount of money”. Morris, however, disagreed with his former team-mate at South Africa and the Royal Challengers.”No, I don’t feel the same (laughs). Dale’s a free spirit, Dale’s one of the legends of the game, Dale’s one of my favourite people in the world,” Morris said. “Dale’s got his opinions, he will be outspoken about his opinions, but that’s Dale’s character.”I’m not going to delve into it too much and it was just the case of Dale feeling at that time what Dale was feeling – what he was feeling emotionally or physically or mentally. Whatever he feels that’s what he feels, and I’m happy to have a conversation with him about it. But, we’re all different animals, we’re all different people and we have different opinions and that’s what makes the world go around.”

He has sustained a strain in his groin after five months of extensive rehabilitation of his back

Umar Farooq05-Nov-2020It took just 38.5 overs across three innings for Hasan Ali to break down once again after five months of extensive rehabilitation of his back. His attempt to restart his career was marred by yet another blow when he sustained a strain in his groin while playing for Central Punjab against Northern Punjab in the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. As a result, Ali has been ruled out of the third round of the tournament.Ali is working with a physiotherapist in Karachi and has been advised at least a week’s rest before any further decision is made on his fitness. He is being continuously monitored and underwent an MRI scan to get more clarity about the severity of the injury. He has also reduced any further toil on his body and is doing only light training for now.Ali made himself available for competitive cricket after spending several months at the High Performance Centre in Lahore. He started the first-class season in the first round against Sindh at the National Stadium in Karachi, where he bowled a combined 32.3 overs while conceding 106 runs for three wickets. But during the second-round game against Northern Punjab, he lasted only 6.2 overs on the first day, and walked back in pain to not return again as his side lost the match by nine wickets.Ali’s career took a big blow last year after he suffered a back injury during the opening round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in Lahore, following which he underwent a seven-week rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy. He was declared fit for the final round of the tournament, only to suffer a fresh injury – a rib fracture in November 2019 – that ruled him out for a further six weeks.ALSO READ: The promise and the pain of Hasan AliAli has also continued to miss international cricket – he last represented Pakistan against India in the 2019 World Cup – but was declared fit to play in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) earlier this year. He had an unimpressive outing with eight wickets in nine games with an economy rate of 8.59 for the Peshawar Zalmi before the tournament was put on hold because of the Covid-19 pandemic.Soon after the PSL stint, Ali had recurring back pain, and scans confirmed the problem in the back had flared up again, with symptoms similar to that of a lumbar herniated disk. Ali consulted an Australian doctor and avoided surgery on his back while continuing to work and train with a physiotherapist. He also lost his central contract last month, but will have his medical expenses covered by the PCB until recovering fully. Ali will also get additional financial assistance from the board’s welfare fund, a safety net reserved only for retired players in dire need.Despite the injury, Ali is likely to stay in Karachi and will be joining the Zalmi squad for the PSL playoffs starting November 14.

India captain talks up side’s bench strength and chances of winning elusive ICC title

Deivarayan Muthu in Guwahati04-Jan-2020India’s captain Virat Kohli has said that having a strong pool of “game-ready” players has set the scene for their T20 World Cup campaign in Australia later this year.India will be without seamers Deepak Chahar (injured), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (injured) and Mohammed Shami (rested) for their upcoming three-match T20I series at home against Sri Lanka, but they have able back-up options in Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur. In addition, their premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is set to return to international action for the first time September 2019.On the batting front, they will be without the rested Rohit Sharma, but they still look in fine shape, with Shikhar Dhawan returning from injury to partner the in-form KL Rahul at the top of the order.”T20 is something we don’t have any problems in picking players,” Kohli said of India’s bench strength on the eve of the series opener in Guwahati. “Because you have the IPL. At a very competitive level, the guys have been performing season after season.”And all the players you see are probably the most important Indian players in their team in the IPL. So, from that point of view, it’s about figuring out which player can fit in at what time and what’s the strongest combination you can take to the World Cup.”And everyone’s game-ready, which is the most important thing and the biggest plus of having a squad like this with guys who have played a lot of T20 cricket, as I said, at a very competitive level.BCCI

“So, yeah the next few series will be very exciting to see [as to] who stands up under pressure situations and how they react to pressure when maybe Rohit or maybe myself, or KL or Shikhar at the top haven’t fired.”In Dhawan’s absence, Rahul had enjoyed a longer stint at the top during the limited-overs series against West Indies and embodied India’s new, attack-at-all costs approach in T20Is. Now, with Rohit rested, Dhawan will have an opportunity to regain his touch after recovering from injury.Dhawan didn’t quite have the weight of T20I runs behind him in 2019, and suffered two major injuries that year. However, he was the top scorer in T20Is in 2018, with 689 runs in 17 innings at an average of 40.52 and strike rate of 147.22.Kohli discussed the possible toss-up between Rahul and Dhawan for the second opener’s slot while keeping all the cards close to his chest.”Rahul has done really well for himself and it’s good for the team as well that he’s coming into his own,” Kohli said. “We know how good a player he is and what he can do with the bat. We are happy that he’s got runs so consistently.”Look, these things happen in cricket that some guy gets injured and another guy comes in and grabs that opportunity. I think it all boils down to who is batting [well] at that moment.  You want to go into a tournament with the strongest XI you can compile. Shikhar has been unfortunate in terms of injury but he’s an experienced player. That’s the dynamic of the squad.”When Rohit comes back, it’s going to be a difficult thing to address because Shikhar is an experienced player but KL is playing so well. We have to decide the best combination to go with and what’s the best eleven we can go with.”Kohli was also particularly enthused with the progress made by both Saini and Thakur – both of whom were not part of India’s T20I squad for the West Indies series. Saini has cracked T20 cricket after bowling lengthy spells in the Ranji Trophy while Thakur has been drafted back on his back of his impressive performances in the IPL and more recently in the ODI series decider against West Indies in Cuttack.BCCI

Kohli believed that having all bases covered on the bowling front will benefit India on the larger grounds in Australia during the T20 World Cup.”Saini is a different case because he has come from the domestic set-up into the IPL and into the Indian team,” Kohli said. “So, he has bowled quite a bit and has good understanding of lines and lengths and he’s obviously got pace. Thakur, again, has played a lot of T20 cricket and has been playing the IPL for a while. And, he’s quite experienced in that regard.”Bhuvi, Bumrah, we really don’t have to discuss [about them]. Shami is again someone who will always stay in the mix. And Deepak Chahar has bowled really well for the number of games he has played.”Because the tournament is in Australia, you will need these many options and back-ups to be able to take firstly your strongest squad and have those back-ups in place who also can come in and do the job.”It’s good that we’ve identified five or six guys and it will be priority based on who goes and back-ups will be in place for fast bowlers. Small niggles can happen now and then, so we’re pretty sorted in that regard. So, not a worry at all.”India finished 2019 unbeaten in Tests, shed their conservative approach in T20Is, and were also on a roll in ODIs until New Zealand stopped them in their tracks in the 50-over World Cup semi-final. Another World Cup year has dawned, and Kohli set India’s focus towards the ICC tournament, challenging them to build on the gains from the past year.”We want to keep the standard as high as we can because it’s very important to understand that there’s a young influence that’s coming into the team now,” he said. And they need to be able to take the same culture and same mindset forward. Little transitions keep happening and we want to make sure that the guys who are coming in are on the same page and get up to speed as soon as possible.”We need to keep growing these younger guys into guys who will take the team forward. I think the main focus is on that and the ICC tournaments that are coming along, that’s something we are going to target.”

Offences related to corruption in sports will carry a prison term of up to 10 years, as well as various fines

Andrew Fidel Fernando11-Nov-2019Sri Lanka has become the first South Asian nation to criminalise several offences related to match-fixing, after its parliament passed all three readings of a bill entitled “Prevention of Offences Related to Sports” on Monday. Offences related to corruption in sports will carry a prison term of up to 10 years, as well as various fines.Aside from Sports Minister Harin Fernando, who presented the bill to parliament, former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga, who is a cabinet minister, was a strong supporter of the new legislation during Monday’s parliamentary debates. The sports ministry in particular is understood to have worked closely with the ICC’s Anti Corruption Unit during the process of drafting the bill. In fact, although the bill covers all sports, it is the recent ACU investigation into Sri Lankan cricket that is believed to have prompted this legislation.The bill’s ambit is broad. It seeks not only to punish “any person related to a sport” who is directly involved in fixing, but also those who “provide… inside information”, curators who prepare playing surfaces to suit betting operators, and match officials who “deliberately misapply the rules” for money. In addition, it is now also illegal for former players (and others involved in sports) to provide corrupt figures access to current players.Just as significantly, the bill also criminalises “acts of omission”, which includes failure to report corrupt approaches. This means that Sri Lankan cricketers who are approached by potential corruptors may now have to report these approaches not only to the ICC’s ACU under the ICC code, but also to a Special Investigation Unit appointed by Sri Lanka’s government.Although parliament passed this legislation during Monday’s special sitting, it is not law until the Act is gazetted, probably in the course of the next 10 days. A parliament spokesperson said the gazetting is expected to be a mere formality.While Ranatunga was a leading figure during the debate, urging parliament to push an unamended bill through as soon as possible, former SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala proposed amendments to the bill that were ultimately defeated on the floor. Sumathipala was at pains to mention, however, that he was not against the passing of the bill as a whole, only the contents of certain clauses.Sri Lanka’s cricket has been under investigation by the ICC’s ACU since 2017. Several former players have been charged under the ICC code, the most notable of whom is Sanath Jayasuriya, who was banned for two years in February this year.

India took apart South Africa’s spinners to finish with 27 sixes in the match, five more than any team has ever hit in a Test

The Report by Sidharth Monga05-Oct-20194:05

Agarkar: Rohit can better his own record for most sixes

In his second innings as opener, Rohit Sharma scored a century even better than in the first to set up a declaration for India with a day and 13 possible overs to go. In the nine overs before bad light brought a premature end to play on the fourth day, Ravindra Jadeja removed the first-innings centurion Dean Elgar.Rohit’s was another six-filled innings but on a worn-out surface with the ball beginning to rag. A strike rate of 85.23 on day four was truly exceptional, and just what India needed after South Africa had kept them in the field for far longer than they would have liked to.

Watch cricket on ESPN+

India v South Africa is available in the US on Hotstar and ESPN+. Subscribe to ESPN+ and tune in to the three Tests.

Rohit became only the second India opener to score twin tons in a Test, and now holds the record for most sixes in an international match in all three formats. Batsmen around him had a merry time as the South Africa spinners went into complete breakdown, undoing the work done by their batsmen on day three and the fast bowlers at the start of India’s innings.Only two bowlers in Test cricket – timeless ones included – have conceded more runs than Keshav Maharaj’s 318 in this game. He went for 129 in his 22 overs, and wasn’t even close to being the most unimpressive bowler on show. Dane Piedt’s inconsistency was taken apart: he was hit for nine sixes in his 17 overs, which went for 102 runs. Between them, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada went for just 62 in 25 overs, and it could be argued they bowled better than that.BCCI

It is hard to believe, but for a session and a third, it all seemed to be going to plan for South Africa. Starting the day 117 behind, they had a sticky last-wicket stand of 35 and also kept India’s scoring in check. It took India two hours and 27 minutes of play to get back to a lead of 117. Philander had bowled a spell of 4-3-2-0, Maharaj has taken a wicket, and Rabada kept asking questions. While Rohit had managed to hit three sixes, rotating the strike had been difficult and the scoring rate hovered around two.It was an interesting time in India’s innings. It might seem ridiculous after the later onslaught, but there was a brief period when India needed to make sure they didn’t collapse and allowed South Africa hopes of winning the Test. Pujara was cautious to begin with; when he began to look for runs, he found that the pitch was not easy right now to manipulate gaps. He kept skipping down the pitch, but he kept finding fielders on the leg side. An outside edge off Piedt went down, but so big was the deflection that to call it a chance would be cruel on Quinton de Kock.Two overs before a drinks break, gloves came out for Pujara. Rohit berated him for lack of urgency in running. You could feel there was pressure building on Pujara. He still kept finding the fielders. You wondered if he would finally try to loft the ball. He skipped down to Piedt again, was beaten in the air – a rare occurrence – and then managed to get a thin inside edge to beat de Kock and get four runs. After that, as if magically, the ball began to find gaps.Pujara was 8 off 62 before this, and India 64 for 1 in the 28th over. The flood gates opened so dramatically that he had hit four fours in seven balls. All along the ground. In the extended middle session, he went past Rohit’s score and also his boundary count. The only time he hit in the air, though, was when spinners bowled long hops, and he put them both several rows back in the stands.Rohit Sharma made his opening debut with centuries in both innings•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Rohit’s six-hitting at the other end was something else. Except for one, his 10th of the match that landed in long-on’s hands but Senuram Muthusamy’s foot just flicked the rope before he did the release-and-step-out trick, all of Rohit’s sixes were regal languid hits. It was contagious with Jadeja hitting three in 32 balls, and Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane landing one each of their own. India hit 27 sixes in the match, five more than any team has ever hit in a Test; the overall tally of 34 sin the match was one short of the record.Pujara once again got a beauty from Philander to be dismissed lbw by a straight ball that seamed away, but by then he and Rohit had put India on the path to domination again. The torment, though, was to continue. India promoted Jadeja possibly to get a right-left combination going, but he didn’t have to worry about picking up the scoring rare because Rohit gave already high rate a boost by hitting Piedt for three consecutive sixes.By the time Rohit missed once, South Africa had been beaten into submission and they chased after him to congratulate on his superb effort: more runs and more centuries in a match than anyone opening for the first time.After some more fun – it was arguable India enjoyed themselves for a bit too long keeping in mind there could be some rain on the final day – Kohli asked South Africa to enter the cauldron again. India were not allowed to use fast bowlers because of the light, but it wasn’t a blow to them. Spinners would have done the bulk of the bowling anyway. Before stumps, Jadeja trapped Elgar in front, but before that he had to convince his captain to go for a review.Having worked hard with the bat on day three, having batted out 131.2 overs, South Africa’s batsmen will be filthy with their spinners for having put them in such a situation yet again.

Zazai struck five sixes and three fours in his 36-ball 57 before Shakib’s 3 for 18 reduced Titans to 87 all out to hand Dynamites a 105-run win

The Report by Mohammad Isam08-Jan-2019How the game played outHazratullah Zazai’s second fifty in as many games blew away Khulna Titans as Dhaka Dynamites romped to a 105-run win in Mirpur. Zazai struck five sixes and three fours in his 36-ball 57 as Dynamites reached 192 for 6 batting first. Khulna were woeful in the chase, slumping to 87 all out in 13 overs, with their No. 11 batsman Ali Khan, who pulled his hamstring while attempting a catch, absent hurt.Zazai became the first batsman in the tournament to make a half-century batting first in a day game. Paul Stirling removed Zazai and Shakib Al Hasan in the 12th over, but Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell did not let it slip from there, as the pair put on 55 runs for the fifth wicket in the next 5.3 overs.In the chase, Titans were reduced to 35 for 3 in 4.1 overs by Sunil Narine and Shakib. It all went down for the visitors after their captain Mahmudullah was dismissed in the eight over – they lost last four wickets in the space of nine balls.Turning points

• Dynamites’ impressive top order: Dynamites openers Zazai and Narine added 67 in the first 5.1 overs, following which Zazai brought up a 43-run stand with Rony Talukdar, who made an 18-ball 28.
• Dynamites retaliated quickly after Stirling’s two wickets in the 12th over through Pollard and Russell’s partnership
• Titans’ 193-run chase went awry after Junaid Siddique, who struck three sixes and a four in his 16-ball 31, fell in the fifth over

Star of the dayZazai, who struck seven sixes in his 41-ball 78 against Rajshahi Kings in the first game, struck four out of his five sixes down the ground this time. He went after left-arm paceman Shoriful Islam, blasting him for four sixes, and the fifth was a flat-batted hit over midwicket off Mahmudullah.The big missDavid Wiese dropped Zazai on 12 despite diving forward at mid-on in the second over.Where the teams stand It is Dynamites’ second win in as many games, while the Titans have lost both their matches.