Usman Khawaja’s return looked like it might force Joe Burns out of Australia’s Test side; instead, it was Shaun Marsh who had to watch on as they celebrated Boxing Day centuries

Brydon Coverdale26-Dec-2015It took until 4.30pm, but the MCG crowd finally found a contest worthy of their attention this Boxing Day. There was booing, there was cheering, there was genuine interest in the outcome. Would Joe Burns or Usman Khawaja reach his hundred first? Oh, you thought this battle was between Australia and West Indies? No, by late afternoon Khawaja and Burns were the only dramatis personae involved, while Jason Holder’s men relegated to the status of extras.The batsmen had gone to tea almost level, Khawaja on 84, Burns on 83. For nearly half an hour after the resumption they traded the lead until Khawaja, on 97, sent a late cut towards the boundary. Jeers rang out around the ground as third man cut it off and kept the batsmen to two. Burns began the next over on strike, on 97, and managed to punch Jomel Warrican away through point for three, beating Khawaja to the ton by a nose, and two balls.To see the reaction of Burns was to understand how tenuously he felt he was holding his place in this side. When he reached his maiden Test hundred against New Zealand at the Gabba last month, Burns’ celebration was subdued, he soaked it all in like the level-headed individual that he is. But this time it was different. Having completed the third run, he tore off towards mid-off, ripped off his helmet and gave it a kiss, full of emotion, full of relief.Later, commentating on ABC Grandstand, Chris Rogers said he had spoken to Burns after the Hobart Test and Burns felt certain he was going to be dropped for Boxing Day to accommodate the returning Khawaja. It would have been a harsh call but given Shaun Marsh’s 182 at Bellerive Oval, it was understandable that he felt that way. When Burns spoke to the media in Melbourne earlier this week, he tried to put on a brave face, but looked like a man resigned to his fate.What a moment, then, when Burns brought up his hundred. The selectors had rightly stuck with him – Burns had started the summer with three straight century partnerships with David Warner, and was far from out of form – and he had repaid their faith. When Khawaja scored a BBL hundred six days ago, Burns watched and was pleased for his mate, but worried what it might mean for his own Test place. Another MCG ton for Khawaja came today, with Burns nothing but thrilled.Both men played brilliantly during their 258-run stand but much like in Hobart during the 449-run Marsh-Adam Voges partnership, the lack of pressure from the West Indian attack should be noted. Holder did the best he could and was admirably economical, but runs leaked more or less unchecked from the other end. Eventually Holder resorted to asking Carlos Brathwaite to bowl a defensive line wide of off, until umpire Marais Erasmus started calling wides.

Khawaja, Burns and their fellow batsmen might as well enjoy this bountiful summer while they can. It won’t happen every year

By the end of the day Burns had finally been defeated, or perhaps defeated himself, by dancing down the wicket to be stumped off Kraigg Brathwaite. Khawaja also failed to reach stumps, caught down the leg side in the dying overs. Australia’s captain Steven Smith was interviewed by ABC Grandstand this week and admitted that last summer he felt as though India simply weren’t going to get him out. Khawaja might have a similar feeling at the moment.He has now scored centuries in all three Tests that he has played this summer, as well as his BBL hundred for the Sydney Thunder, and not since October has he been dismissed for less than a hundred in any match, in any format of the game. If last year was the Summer of Steve, this one has belonged to Khawaja. That said, so many runs have been on offer against lacklustre bowling this season that Smith is Australia’s only specialist batsman averaging under 50 for the summer.Khawaja and David Warner have each made three centuries this summer, Burns and Voges two each, Smith and Shaun Marsh one apiece. And while those achievements are to be celebrated, they must also be put in perspective: apart from New Zealand’s work with the pink ball in Adelaide, bowling pressure has been all but non-existent from Australia’s opponents. Not to mention the West Indian fielding – Smith and Khawaja nearly ran a five on Boxing Day.But Khawaja, Burns and their fellow batsmen might as well enjoy this bountiful summer while they can. It won’t happen every year. And they will be judged as much by how they adapt to foreign conditions. Khawaja has the game to succeed all around the world but his past tours have been far from fruitful, Burns is in his seventh Test but all have come at home, and tours of New Zealand and Sri Lanka next year will test their adaptability.Last time Australia toured Sri Lanka, Shaun Marsh scored a century on Test debut and Australia thought they had found a batsman for the next decade. Five years on they are still not quite sure what to do with him. He has opened, been first drop, No.4, No.5. He has been in and out of the side, again and again. And now, again. Often he has been lucky to be picked; this time he is unlucky to miss out. But Australia’s selectors are happy with their top five. And after Burns repaid their faith on Boxing Day, they’re even happier.

Should Zimbabwe Women qualify for the World T20, it will be a sign of how the game has progressed in the country in recent years

Liam Brickhill28-Nov-2015″If Don can do it, I can do it too.” So said Betty Wilson during Australia Women’s tour of England in 1951, when she was told that the ground she was playing at – Headingley – was the one where Don Bradman virtually always made a hundred. She did indeed reach a century that day, in just 75 minutes, hitting the last ball of the day for four to win the match.Wilson, who was never paid for playing, was a consummate professional in an amateur era. Women like her have been knocking on cricket’s glass ceiling for generations. Yet, in an age of million-dollar IPL contracts, World Cups in multiple formats, and a global cricket audience of well over a billion people, Associate and women cricketers enjoy virtually none of the fame and riches of the game’s top echelons, and are largely motivated only by their love of the game.”I just had to do it,” says Zimbabwe allrounder Tasmeen Granger of her choice to pursue a life in cricket. “I fell in love with it.” Like Wilson, Granger is not paid to play and does not have the safety of a professional contract. She is a member of the Zimbabwe women’s squad that has arrived in Thailand looking to qualify for their first ever major event – the World T20 in India in March next year, which will run concurrently with the men’s tournament.Granger is part of a new generation of Zimbabwean women battling to elevate their game to the status of the men’s in the public eye. When Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, healthy local cricket structures helped to plot the men’s path towards Test cricket, yet, as Isabelle Duncan – another notable cricketer – explained in her book , there was an “urgent need” to revitalise women’s cricket in the country “after its almost complete decline. The women’s game was in a dire state with very few players, no funding and a weak standard.” Thirty-five years later, things have improved, though there is a long way to go yet.Granger described her start in cricket as an act of rebellion after her parents stopped her from playing rugby. “My parents said: ‘No, it’s a guys’ sport, stop that!’ And then I was like, ‘Okay, fine, you say it’s violent, so I’ll play cricket. I came up in the system in high school, playing with the guys, because there was no girls’ team at Petra High School.”Granger had an example to follow in Bulawayo: Sharne Mayers, two years her senior at Petra, had done the same thing and played for the boys’ side at school. Mayers was named Zimbabwe Women’s Cricketer of the Year in 2010, aged 18, and immediately made an impact in the national side. Granger was the same age when she joined Mayers in the senior squad.

“My parents said: ‘No, rugby is a guys’ sport, stop that!’ And then I was like, ‘Okay, fine, you say it’s violent, so I’ll play cricket'”Tasmeen Granger

Virtually every member of Zimbabwe’s squad started out in international cricket as a teenager. Mary-Anne Musonda, who, like Granger, is an offspinner and handy batsman, is already a nine-year veteran of international competition, at 24. Musonda was a 13-year-old hockey prodigy at Kwekwe High when a cricket coach spotted something special in her.”My hockey coach and my cricket coach were friends,” said Musonda. “My cricket coach was passing by and I think he saw me swing the hockey stick or something, and he spoke to my hockey coach. He said, ‘You should try to play cricket’, and I thought, sure why not. When I tried cricket I actually started enjoying it more than all the other sports. I just got into it, and that was it.” Two years later she was part of the national squad at the Africa Region World Cup Qualifying series in Nairobi in 2006 – a groundbreaking tournament for the Zimbabwe women, as it marked their first ever full international competition.Musonda carried drinks for all but one of the games, but she thought, “I’m here, it’s enough. Because with the calibre of players that were there, I knew it was not possible for me to play. Just being there with them was the best. That was pretty brilliant for me. Good exposure, good experience and I really enjoyed it.”Cricket structures available to girls have improved greatly since the likes of Mayers, Granger and Musonda started to play the game, and particularly since the franchise system was adopted nationally in 2009. Many high schools across the country offer girls the chance to play cricket, while every provincial franchise now includes a full women’s team in their programme, and the Under-19 side, which has won the Four Nations tournament in Botswana three years running, regularly joins the national team in camp for exposure and experience.”Before, it was a case of if coaches spotted girls in certain schools, they’d just tell you, ‘We want you here on trial,'” says Granger. “It’s gotten better over the years, but when I started you’d find that if we wanted game time, we’d play with the boys’ development side. That’s how I got into playing club cricket. There’s a club called Emakhandeni, where the likes of John Nyumbu and Brian Chari play. That’s the club I started playing for, and that’s how I got game time. And it helped a lot.”Like the men’s side, Zimbabwe women have also suffered from a paucity of bilateral cricket in the past, being focused almost entirely on tournaments. Yet that is beginning to change, and with increased exposure Zimbabwe are progressing. “Our women’s team has definitely come a long way and since I debuted there’s been big progress,” says Granger. “In 2013 we found ourselves at the global qualifiers in Ireland. We fell three runs short of qualifying for the World Cup in New Zealand. We went to the qualifiers in December last year in Benoni and we won the tournament. Besides South Africa, Zimbabwe is one of the outstanding teams in Africa. We played South Africa at home about a year and a half ago and we got thrashed badly. And now the team went up to South Africa about a month or two ago, and now we’re losing by three runs, two wickets, three wickets, like that. It’s a huge change.”England’s Sarah Taylor is a role model for Mary-Anne Musonda•Getty ImagesThere is greater stability and continuity in the national squad. “There are rookies and kids coming into the system, but the national team is quite stable,” Granger says, “and it’s more or less the same team that’s been playing together for the last two or three years. Now we have camps almost every month, whether it’s a fitness camp or a technical camp, we’re practising a lot more. Management, the likes of Caroline Nyamande, have done so much. You can tell it’s growing.”More games also means that it is more likely that the women’s game could be fully professionalised, though that is still some way off. “We haven’t had an opportunity to be contracted yet, so to decide that you will focus only on cricket without a contract is unrealistic,” says Musonda. “We haven’t developed to that level yet but it is heading in that direction. The more exposure we get, the more game time, then the more realistic it gets for us to be contracted. If you don’t have games then a contract won’t happen.”Without a doubt we need investment. We really need some kind of sponsorship. Most of the time we might be able to go and play games, but then we don’t have funding or equipment. The structures are there, we just need input into those structures. With that, anything is possible. Get all the girls involved at school, get as many games as possible. That would kick-start something positive.”Granger’s career is also beginning to provide examples of the opportunities available to Zimbabwean women in cricket. She became the first Zimbabwean female cricketer to play for an overseas side when she was selected to play in a combined Canadian-American side in the Atlanta Women’s Cricket Tournament – which also includes national teams from the Bahamas and Cayman Islands – for two years in a row in 2014 and 2015, and has also just landed herself a player-coach job with the East Christchurch-Shirley Club in New Zealand. That post will allow Granger, who holds a Level 1 certificate, to further her coaching qualifications, bringing vital experience back to the game in Zimbabwe. Her contract runs from October to March, but she says she will be available for Zimbabwe whenever needed: “I can’t abandon my country, ever. I’m always available for selection, though it will be weird not to train with them.”Granger and Musonda are conscious of the fact that they may be role models to the next generation of women in Zimbabwean cricket, just as players such as former national captain Julia Chibhabha (sister of Zimbabwe batsman Chamu) were to them. “People like Sinikiwe Mpofu and Julia Chibhabha, they stuck it out when things weren’t really working, and it’s because of people like that who decided: ‘Okay, look, we’re not getting the best deal here, but let’s not only think of ourselves. We’re going to retire, sure, but what about the girls coming up behind us?’ They were pioneers, and they did it really well,” says Granger.”Julia Chibhabha has to be the one who sticks out, not only for the way she played cricket but the way she carried herself as a captain and as a senior,” says Musonda. “I really liked playing with her. Internationally, I really look up to [England batsman] Sarah Taylor. She’s a legend.”

“Without a doubt we need investment. We really need some kind of sponsorship. Most of the time we might be able to go and play games, but then we don’t have funding or equipment”Mary-Anne Musonda

There is a slim chance that Musonda could get to play against Taylor, as it is rumoured that Zimbabwe are attempting to engage the England women’s team for a one-off match at home. “It’s a possibility,” says Musonda. “I was talking to my manager Caroline Nyamande and she said there is a chance that we might play England.”Nyamande, who is the national coordinator for women’s cricket, and manager of the national side, is one of the main driving forces of women’s cricket in Zimbabwe, and the team’s trip to Thailand for the qualifiers has been her focus for several months. “Although we have played China and beat them before, we will not take them for granted,” said Nyamande before Zimbabwe’s opening match against China at the Asian Institute of Technology Ground in Bangkok. “We have had good preparations, including touring South Africa, while the icing on the cake was the Bangladesh warm-up games. All players are raring to go and they are quite geared up. We want it so bad.””We’re out to prove a point,” says Granger. “We’re not just a development side. We’re a serious cricket team. Ten teams go to the qualifiers, and only two qualify, so it’s going to be tough. So we’re gunning hard for it. As a team, we want to go to the World T20. Our group has got fire in it. If we can get to the final, we’re going to a World Cup. And the girls do really deserve it because we’ve worked hard for it. We’ve come a long way.”The top two sides from each group will make it to the semi-finals, and the final is on December 5. The two trophy finalists will join defending champions Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies in the main tournament next year.”It would be a start to my biggest dream, just getting to the World T20 and performing there,” says Musonda. “For Zimbabwe. That’s my goal, that’s my dream. Just putting Zimbabwe ladies on the map.”

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Mar-2016But the teams and spectators had to wait for a long time as persistent rain delayed the start•ICC/Getty ImagesThe contest was reduced to six overs a side, eventually, and Netherlands opener Stephan Myburgh collected a few boundaries despite seeing wickets fall at the other end•ICC/Getty ImagesThe three batsmen after Myburgh didn’t score much, putting up scores of 0, 2 and 8…•ICC/Getty Images…Before Peter Borren, at No. 5, scored 14 off 9 to help them to 59 for 5 by the end of the innings•ICC/Getty ImagesIreland struggled to get partnerships going right from the start despite numerous swings from the batsmen•ICC/Getty ImagesAhsan Malik conceded only five runs in the first over to build the pressure…•Associated Press…And Paul van Meekeren struck on consecutive deliveries in his first over to wobble the Ireland line-up•ICC/Getty ImagesIreland never recovered as van Meekeren took two more wickets and Ireland stumbled to 47 for 7 from their six overs, to end their campaign without a win•AFP

Our readers feel Chanderpaul deserved a proper farewell, recount the nervous moment when McClenaghan was down and hope the BBL continues to focus on the average family

30-Jan-2016Shivnarine Chanderpaul announces retirement
Reader: HDG1978
Hats off to Chanders for his steely resolve and determination.A dependable bat despite his unorthodox and ungainly stance. Always considered second-best in a West Indies team that featured the enigmatic genius Brian Lara, his wicket was equally precious as Lara’s was for any opposition bowler. Though their careers coincided with the decline of the once great WI team, Lara and Chanderpaul along with Gayle and Sarwan gave lots of joy to fans of West Indies cricket like me. His run of scores against India on its 2001-02 tour of West Indies was a source of frustration for me as an Indian fan. But his finest moment was when he anchored the highest successful fourth innings chase in Test cricket against Australia at St. John’s in 2003; it will always be fondly cherished. Was a fan of Clive Lloyd as a captain but not as a selector as I feel that Shiv thoroughly deserved a farewell home series against Australia last year for his stellar performances and for being a pillar of strength of a faltering West Indies side for 21 long years(1994-2015).Reader: t20cric
It’s quite sad to see Chanderpaul go like this. He’s a great cricketer and looking at his top five performances article, he wasn’t just a batsman who only played slowly (I thought he always played slow innings before). West Indies really should have maybe given him more of a chance and let him get to 12,000 runs before retiring. He had quite a few memorable performances against Australia and for those who judge a player’s greatness by looking at their performances against the best team of their era, that would mean that he’s a true great. Chanders was the last of the long line of great West Indies cricketers and with his retirement it’s truly the end of WI’s legendary era. Also, his retirement leaves Younis Khan as the last one left from the group of great batsmen who all played during the same era: Chanderpaul, Lara, Sangakarra, Jayawardene, Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Kallis, Ponting, Yousuf, Inzamam etc.Jack Bannister – player, journalist and pioneer – dies aged 85
Reader: guildfordbat
Deserved and fitting tributes from George Dobell and the posters below. I loved this story from Jack Bannister’s playing days which I heard him tell on the radio last summer. Warks were playing a three-day County Championship match (as they were then) at Kent and were a bowler down from injury as soon as the hosts went out to bat. Bannister bowled the second over and continued to do so throughout the morning and afternoon. In those days, a new ball became available after 75 overs. Anyway, Bannister had bowled 37 overs on the reel when his captain Mike (MJK) Smith came over and asked, ”Do you want the new ball now or do you want another over to loosen up?”Reliable yet misunderstood
Reader: US_Indian
What a sad end to one of the illustrious careers in cricket and his contribution is as immense as any of the great West Indians. It is an irony that the whole world runs after the glamorous and the flamboyant ignoring the quiet and solid contributors as well. They easily forget that for a team’s success both are required. Whereas the whole world goes gaga over a Lara or Richards they easily ignore others who equally are important and their contributions to the team in its real sense. It is a pity as far as West Indies cricket is concerned a certain Kanhai, Kallicharan or Rowe or a Shiv goes unnoticed and are not given their due credit very conveniently. With due respect to Richards, people easily forget he had a good team to back him with Fredericks, Greenidge, Haynes, Kallicharan, Lloyd, King, Rowe on the batting side and a Gibbs, and the foursome fearsome bowlers. He would not have been the same if he didn’t had that kind of players on his team. Lara had always guys like Shiv, Hooper etc to depend upon.’Seeing him go down like that and not get up for a long time was scary’•AFPMcClenaghan suffers facial fracture above left eye
Reader: J.vomkrieg
I was watching at the ground. Seeing him go down like that and not get up for a long time was scary. Memories of Phil Hughes are still pretty fresh in people’s minds. There was a really nervous pause over the ground, and a genuine sense of relief when he got up. We were all very worried it was something far worse than a fractured eye socket (which is still pretty horrible). Speedy recovery to Mitch!Journey to a million: the BBL success story
Reader: sssmillar
The great part of the BBL is that it is aimed at families. A family pass is $42.50 as opposed to over $40 for the cheapest adult ticket to the Test matches or ODIs. They also give away heaps of free stuff, which to kids seem brilliant even if the free stuff struggles to last the three hours until the end of the game. It is certainly a cheap night out and makes a lot of families go to two or three games each season because of it. If the marketing people never forget this, it will continue to grow and become a long term part of our summer holidays. Most sports in Australia seem to target the corporate dollar and forget the average family. Let’s hope the BBL never does this and put the the normal people first.Smith critical of Australian pitches
Reader: flickspin
I agree with Smith. Pitch variety is important, like wine pitches should reflect their climate. Pitch curators will make the odd bad pitch, that’s going to happen. Brisbane is usually green with bounce and carry to the keeper. Perth is usually hard with extra bounce and carry to the keeper. The Fremantle Doctor kicks in at lunch which helps swing. Melbourne the pitch gets slower as the game moves on, days four and five there are catches at cover and midwicket for mistimed shots and the old ball reverse-swings.Hobart is green: it usually swings and has movement off the pitch, it’s the pitch most like New Zealand and England. Adelaide is good for batting until days four and five when it spins (in the old days Adelaide Oval had short boundaries square of the wicket and long boundaries down the ground). Sydney pitch is also good for batting until days four and five when it spins. I would also give Canberra a Test. It would interesting to see what that pitch would play like at high altitude.Remembering the mighty Shell Shield
Reader: Kenneth Stapleton
Glorious days. I had the privilege of seeing Michael Holding bouncing Viv Richards. Andy Roberts doing the same to Lawrence Rowe and Roy Fredericks. The grounds were full and the crowds were in a frenzy. I would always remember the Combined Islands v Trinidad 1975 match. Combined had their first title within their grasp. The Mighty Swallow song, ‘Combined is the best’. It is such a shame we cannot get a sponsor now and no one goes to the games.

In December, Carlisle CC was left under 16 feet of water, but ECB funding and a lot of hard work is helping get the club ready for the start of a new season

David Hopps05-Apr-2016There are few more charming grounds than Edenside, home of Carlisle CC. The river curls past two sides of the ground, a steep banking on one side gives the ground intimacy and a sense of history is provided by a 19th-century pavilion. This is a satisfying place to play and watch cricket.But Carlisle, like many English grounds, is built on a flood plain and a few weeks before Christmas the peace was shattered. Edenside has been flooded before but never like this. Storm Desmond savaged the north of England with Cumbria and Yorkshire worst affected. Honister, in the Lake District, had 34cm of rain in 24 hours. Carlisle took the brunt with hundreds made homeless.Somewhere at the bottom of the Eden are the remnants of a letter from Mike Gatting, who came up to Edenside with Middlesex to face Cumberland in the first round of the NatWest Trophy 20 years ago. Gatting, who had played his last Test for England the previous year, made 71 to guide Middlesex through a tricky game and then wrote a note to congratulate Carlisle on the finest teas in the country.”We have lost so many old pictures from the past,” Mark McAlindon, chairman of the selection committee, says. “We moved the pictures upstairs into the changing room thinking that would be high enough but it wasn’t. The water came up just below the pavilion clock. It was hip high in dressing room.”They cherished Gatt’s note at Carlisle CC, chuckling over his trencherman’s appetite, but then they also cherished much of the other stuff that has so far been loaded on to five 40-yard skips. On the bar in the pavilion, still bare less than a month before the start of the season as electric drills screech and paint pots are opened, are a collection of old photographs, water damaged but just about salvageable.Carlisle CC was left under water by Storm Desmond in December•Carlisle CCThis scene is being enacted all over the north. The ECB’s response has been swift and admirable: community commitment writ large. An emergency flood relief scheme was initially primed with £500,000, then doubled once the scale of devastation became clear. Dan Musson, the ECB’s facilities and investment manager, put on his wellingtons and witnessed the scale of the damage. After a site inspection, money was in bank accounts within a month. So many cricket grounds are built on flood plains. If the climate is changing, the future is a worrying one.More than 54 clubs registered for help – the majority in Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire but with others affected in Northumberland, Wales, Worcestershire and Devon – as Storm Eva added to the devastation caused by Storm Desmond. Two children’s names unlikely to be shortlisted by many cricket-loving parents in the years ahead.”It’s absolutely fantastic the way that the cricket family has pulled together,” Musson says. “From a club level the number of volunteers who’ve been working incredibly hard to try and save elements of their cricket ground, while their own homes might be significantly affected by flooding, is just remarkable.”At Edenside, the chairman Mike Rayson, a local newsagent who has done much to re-energise the club, was about to throw his water-wrecked bat into the skip, consoling himself that not for the first time it was a confirmation of retirement. Heartened, too, that the club has been galvanised by its predicament.He got the first call about the flood around 6.30pm one evening. “Three months from the day that Cumberland won the Minor Counties Championship final here, I got the phone call to say that Carlisle would be flooded,” he says. “We had about 15 people down at 10.30 on a Friday night and moved all our equipment upstairs. We got as much out of the club as possible.

“Nature has changed. It used to flood but there was only a trickle, it would put little pockets of silt on the field and it would do good”Carlisle CC groundsman, David Reed

“On Saturday morning the river was about two foot away from the top of the riverbank and I got a call at 6pm that evening to say the club was about six feet under. It was about 16 foot deep at its peak. From then it has been a slog – a slog to get rid of all the stuff, to order things, to get workmen in, to get them in at the right time, to get jobs signed off.”The ECB has been very generous. The community has been very good and we had people who came down from Sellafield for a day. The club members have rallied. Every week we have had a dozen and more.”A month before the season there is still a lot of work to do on the square. To be honest, we haven’t really started that. There is still tons of work – there is still plasterboard of the walls, there is still the full club to repaint, the bowels of the club needs a good gutting out. There is still two months’ work to do but we only have a month to do it.”Marc Brown, the 1st XI captain, agreed to rejoin the club just before the flood hit. “I’ve come from Netherfield – the best batting square in the league,” he says. “I’ll have to work hard for my runs this season. Low and slow, because of the river, and I expect it will definitely be low and slow this year.”This was Carlisle’s third flood in ten years. Carlisle stands on the confluence of three rivers: the Eden, Caldew and Petteril. The Caldew joins the Eden at the back of the ground. They were granted £20,000 by the ECB; half of that went on the insurance excess. There followed £5000 from Sport England, another £1400 from Cumbrian Cricket and £9000 from Cumbria Community Association to re-equip a thriving junior section. It is money easily spent, even by the most cash-conscious club.If the flood was bad, the looting was far worse. The first time they smashed up the one-arm bandit. They returned to steal most of the spirits, which had been stored away upstairs. Then they came back to smash up the pool table. There have been a lot of prosecutions in Carlisle. The flood waters had receded to reveal some grungy minds.”We knew the flood was coming,” Rayson reflects. “There was nothing we could do. You have to live with it. The looting was hard to stomach.”Volunteers at Carlisle CC get to grips with the clean-up operation•Carlisle CCStorm Desmond struck as Carlisle CC were drawing up proposals to re-site the pavilion furthest from the river, where the water could be expected only to lap in at ankle height. They are awaiting a decision on funding and aspire to running an indoor centre of excellence as well (the finest in the north), which, if successful, would be a powerful restatement of their determination to prosper. Their successful junior sides are testimony to the club’s vigour. “The old pavilion would make a lovely riverside café,” Rayson muses.Only now are thoughts turning to the season, which begins a little later this far north. The groundsman, David Reed, now well into his 70s, was born in Fletchertown, 12 miles away, and is Cumbrian to the core. He can’t put a date on when he became groundsman. “There wasn’t really a set time. They just sort of threw it at me when I was a player.” But he can remember the dates of the floods: “2005… 2009… 2015″.”It is just repetitive,” he says. “It leaves a big mess and you clean the mess up and that. But I never think I’ve had enough. I’ve never wanted to walk away from Carlisle CC. You just have to get up and get on with it.”Nature has changed. It used to flood but there was only a trickle and there wasn’t even a flood bank then. It would put little pockets of silt on the field and it would do good: we were quite happy with a slight covering.”A lot of clubs would like this setting. I come down here because I want to come down.”He faces a challenging task to get the square ready for the opening league fixture against Millom on April 30. As he contemplated the work ahead, an icy squall battered his face. It was 5C, approaching lunchtime, with snow on the Lake District peaks a few miles to the south.”We’ll be ready for the first game. It only takes a week of good weather to get it ready.”NatWest CricketForce, an initiative for cricket clubs encouraging members of the club and local community to prepare grounds for the new season, was held nationwide on April 1-3

Admitting that the ICC may have given the USA disproportionate help compared to other Associates, Tim Anderson, the ICC’s head of global development, has said the country’s market potential justifies such a strategy

Peter Della Penna20-Jun-20163:24

Time for cricket to leave its niche community – Sandusky

The ICC has long talked about making inroads into the development of the game in the USA, and over the course of the last 12 months, that talk has begun to translate into significant action. An aggressive strategy to transform cricket in the United States, first unveiled last November in the wake of USACA’s most recent suspension in 2015, has continued plowing ahead this month with the shift of the ICC Americas regional office from Toronto to Colorado Springs.ICC staff were treated to a welcome reception in Colorado Springs at the start of the month, hosted at the stately Penrose House by the El Pomar Foundation, with a strong US Olympic Committee delegation in attendance. According to Tim Anderson, the ICC head of global development, the welcome the ICC received is a demonstration that the local sports community is serious about embracing cricket and aiding the ICC in its local development aims.”One of the core reasons for coming here was really connecting to the significant national sports network that operates out of Colorado Springs,” Anderson told ESPNcricinfo. “The USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun, Patrick Sandusky, Rick Adams and a number of their senior management were there together with several of the national governing bodies of various sports that are also based in Colorado Springs.”We were hosted by the El Pomar Foundation – that plays a significant role in Colorado Springs society, sport and other social causes – and they were very generous in welcoming us to town. The Colorado Springs Sports Corporation was also well represented. Their CEO Tom Osborne was really the lead person in attracting ICC to Colorado Springs. I guess we made the decision based on the hope that we would be treated in the way that we have been treated, which is very very well.”With the ICC taking such a great interest in assisting US cricket, players and administrators in other Associate nations have griped privately that such assistance is unfair compared to that provided to other members. An example of this is the unveiling of the ICC’s strategic plan for the USA, which set targets for the USA to qualify for the 2019 World Cup and 2020 World Twenty20.Anderson admitted that the help given to the USA over the course of the last year may be disproportionate compared to other Associates, and also alluded to the preferential treatment given to Ireland and Afghanistan such as their place on the current 12-team ODI rankings table and a proposal to have a revised 12-team, two-division Test structure. However, he said the USA’s market potential – both in terms of player talent pool and fan interest – made it imperative for the ICC to invest in the country for the long-term growth of the game, similar to what FIFA did in the early 1990s in regards to US Soccer.”The ICC’s members approved a strategy last year that was different to the previous strategy,” Anderson said. “That strategy for the next few years is very strong about targeting support to meet strategic objectives around game and market development. Game development is about ultimately creating cricket systems in members whereby we can get more competitive teams on the international stage. Market development is about working with members who have potential to add significant value to the international cricket economy.”The ICC hasn’t been shy about that and we’ve been very open about that desire and that means countries like the USA and China that have potentially latent ability to contribute to the game’s economic growth, they’re being invested in in a different way. We have a significant amount of our revenue base that comes out of one marketplace, a very important marketplace which is absolutely fundamental to the game’s survival, India, but if there is a significant drop in rights values in India, the whole game is going to suffer.”In order to avoid another scenario like the Big Three attempting to usurp the majority of global revenue distribution, there is now a greater sense of urgency to develop more markets beyond India where the game can be profitable. It’s one reason why Anderson has worked to convince his ICC superiors and other Full Members to stay the course with committing more resources to the USA.”Our investment portfolio, for want of a better term, is not diversified,” Anderson said. “The board is aware of that and thinks that we need to have more countries that are contributing to the economy. This is a country that if it is done properly over a long period of time, rights values in this marketplace will assist all members.”So it’s a much longer-term play. It’s a different investment and I think it’s absolutely the right thing to do. In saying that, I can understand countries in World Cricket League Division Five or Four won’t see it like that but there’s a much larger strategic objective here which I think is the right thing for the sport.”Part of that market development involves staging events like the Caribbean Premier League’s six-game visit to Florida next month and last November’s Cricket All-Stars tour headlined by Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne in New York, Houston and Los Angeles. Rumors have circulated of an IPL exhibition tour sometime this summer but Anderson says he has yet to receive a formal approach from the BCCI, nor has he been contacted by Cricket All-Stars organizers about a follow-up tour this fall.Anderson feels the key to garnering more such events is developing cricket-specific stadium infrastructure to attract premier visitors. At the moment, hosting options are limited because the USA’s only ICC ODI-certified stadium is the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida, which will stage the six CPL games.”The challenge with a potentially significant fan interest in games in the USA is that we don’t really have the stadia that can cater to serious cricket,” Anderson said. “Not to belittle the Cricket All-Stars but that was more exhibition cricket on baseball fields and serious cricket fans probably enjoyed the opportunity but that’s not real cricket, small boundaries on baseball fields. So one of the strategic challenges for the sport here if it’s really going to grow is that we need more large cricket grounds that can cater to large crowds.”However, Anderson says this goal needs to be tempered with the realization that those major events alone cannot be a year-round source of revenue at such venues. Broward County officials in Florida learned that the hard way after $70 million was spent on building the CBRP, only for a handful of revenue-generating cricket events to be held there since it opened in 2008.Similarly, the only national or international tournament held at the $6 million World Sports Park in Indianapolis since its opening in 2014 was the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 in May 2015, leaving some locals questioning the wisdom of using taxpayer funds on a cricket field for such limited use. In that sense, Anderson hopes a critical emphasis is put on developing local community turf facilities, something exposed by the recent ICC Combine regional trials conducted around the USA. Only three of the eight trials were conducted at turf-wicket facilities and the other five took place at multi-purpose artificial fields.”Having more options is a good thing around the country,” Anderson said. “The reliance on international ICC activity isn’t sustainable. It’s about the development of the game in the local community. In saying that, it’s not just about events. It’s about training camps, combines, men, women, youth. We’ve just been around the country with a round of combines and there aren’t enough facilities there for domestic combines. It has to be a balancing act.”

Pakistan’s lead fast bowler bags a brilliant catch – and a dubious distinction

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Oct-2016It is not often that a sensational piece of athleticism earns you a record you would rather do without. But it was exactly that fate that befell Mohammad Amir when he pulled off a show-stopping effort to get rid of Darren Bravo in the Sharjah Test.Just as the first session of day two seemed to be drifting sleepily towards the lunch break, Amir took it upon himself to wake everyone up. Bravo, who had endured a stern bouncer examination, swiped across the line of a Zulfiqar Babar delivery and skied the ball into the cover region.Amir, who was in to cut off the single, turned around, sprinted back and put in a full-length dive, arms outstretched. The ball lodged cleanly in his hands and, despite a hard landing, he completed a stunning catch to get rid of West Indies’ best batsman.The spectacular display gave him his first catch in Test cricket – in his 20th match – and, with it, the dubious distinction of taking the longest to get to the mark.

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-2016It took only three deliveries from Ben Stokes to seal England’s win. First he had Taijul adjudged lbw after DRS confirmed the ball would go on to hit leg stump•Associated PressTwo balls later, Shafiul Islam was also out leg before, despite another review…•Associated Press…leaving Sabbir, unbeaten on 64, distraught after defeat by 22 runs•AFPJoe Root consoled him after he had taken his side so close•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesBangladesh were denied again as England took a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series•AFP

Though financial and administrative hurdles continue to hinder the team’s progress, Zimbabwe inspire a sense of optimism as they approach a landmark Test

Tristan Holme in Harare27-Oct-2016October in Zimbabwe is pregnant with expectation. After the long, dry months of winter, the heat is back, without the rain – so, each afternoon, eyes are drawn to the gathering clouds in anticipation that that might be the day the heavens finally open. Until the rains come, the air remains heavy with the accumulated haze of winter’s fires, the giant trees look tired from thirst and the heat becomes oppressive. By evening, the clouds have dissipated, taking hope with them. Maybe tomorrow.Zimbabwe cricket has built a similar feeling of anticipation on a handful of occasions since 2009, when it first began to stir from the tumult of the post-rebel period. But, each time, like an October afternoon, hope turned to more disappointment.It is probably better to whisper it, then, but as Zimbabwe prepare to play their 100th Test on Saturday, expectation is in the air once more. There have been times in the past few years when every Test, no matter how painful the result, felt worth savouring for the simple fact that they came along so rarely. What, one might wonder, are the odds of Zimbabwe playing another 100 at the current rate, in the current environment?Those odds will always be determined by happenings beyond the boundary, which too freely dictate the rise and (mostly) fall of Zimbabwe’s on-field fortunes. Yet, at least now, there are positive movements that could bring improvement to those playing the game.Heath Streak has come in as head coach, adding stability after a chaotic few months in which the inexperienced Makhaya Ntini was thrown in at the deep end, probably unfairly. More significantly, having now had several months to get his teeth into his new administrative roles, Tatenda Taibu feels that the wheels are starting to turn. Breaking away from an umpire’s meeting delivered by former Zimbabwe international and ICC match referee Andy Pycroft on Thursday morning, Taibu confirmed that the domestic season is due to start on November 22 and should run through to August. Significantly, as many as 40 contracts are expected to be offered, ranging from one to three years. This is a major improvement on the paltry six-month contracts that domestic cricketers have previously been offered for a pitifully short first-class season.Equally important has been the increasing number of fixtures enjoyed by the Zimbabwe A team, who have hosted South Africa A and Pakistan A in recent months. Those tours, along with a visit by a Sri Lankan Development Emerging side in July, have begun to unearth new talent that Streak has promised to make use of. Finally, challengers are emerging to the old faces in the Zimbabwe side, who have maintained their places because of a lack of alternatives. Fast bowler Carl Mumba and top-order batsman Tarisai Musakanda could make their international debuts in the two-Test series against Sri Lanka after impressing for Zimbabwe A.

In the past, we were just happy to be able to compete and not embarrass ourselves at this level. As a group we’ve decided we’re not happy to do that any more. We’ve got to take things forwardIncoming Zimbabwe coach, Heath Streak

“When I took on the job, I said that I wanted to push some of the youngsters, but I also said that I wanted to create a platform for young guys to showcase themselves,” said Streak. “Before, when you didn’t make the national side there was nothing below that, other than domestic cricket, or there were gaps of no cricket, which made it difficult for guys to get back in the side or showcase their ability. So that’s definitely something I’m going to create, and I’m also looking at succession planning, and where we see gaps and where we see youngsters, that will be able to fill them. That will reflect in contracts, in selections and in age-group teams – working out what we need to keep supporting the national team.”However, as is always the case for Zimbabwe, a lack of continuity in Tests means that they must show improvement now. Their next Test assignment, as things stand, is a tour of Sri Lanka next June, meaning their 100th and 101st Tests could be their last chance to make an impression for eight months. The Sri Lanka team that has traveled to Zimbabwe is young and raw, but by June they could resemble a wisened old group of pros by Zimbabwe standards – especially if they achieve their objectives on this tour.”It’s quite an exciting time for us, because it is very much a rebuilding time, but because of injuries we’re forced to accelerate that process and play some young guys,” coach Graham Ford said. “Some of the young chaps that will play have been in and around the Test squad for the last while but haven’t got much game time. This is a chance for them to show what they can do and for us to assess them further, and hopefully they’ll take that opportunity.”We do have a really tough series coming up in South Africa over the Christmas period, so it’s important that we keep trying to make progress. When we played England in England we got beaten but the key was to make progress and I think we did improve along the way. We certainly improved against Australia, and we’re going to need to keep improving if we’re going to compete against South Africa in South Africa.”Such a schedule is the envy of Zimbabwe’s cricketers, who have played just six Tests in three years – as many as Sri Lanka have played this year alone. Streak feels that if they are to make immediate improvement, a new culture is required. “Obviously it’s still very early in my tenure, but what I hope people will be able to see [in this series] is a change in mindset,” Streak said. “I want to encourage the guys not to be scared of losing and not to like losing. In the past we had this mindset where we’re just happy to be able to compete and not embarrass ourselves at this level. And as a group we’ve spoken about it and decided we’re not happy to do that any more. We’ve got to take things forward.”Of course, as has been the case for so long in Zimbabwe, events away from the field will determine how long progress on it may last. With Zimbabwe Cricket carrying $19m debt and no fresh income streams on the horizon, it is difficult to see how they can afford a bigger and better domestic system, more contracts, a proposed new academy and more tours for the A team. ZC’s finances have been in such disarray that, nearly 10 months after the end of their financial year, they are still to have an audit signed off – a situation that has put them at odds with the ICC’s new requirements.In theory, there is much to be positive about. But until the issues of finance and administration are taken care of, the game in Zimbabwe will continue to feel like another hot afternoon in Harare, when the rain just won’t come.

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Oct-2016Misbah-ul-Haq elected to bat in Pakistan’s 400th Test•Getty ImagesAzhar Ali, who started shakily, survived when Leon Johnson spilled a half-chance at gully•AFPBut once the early nerves settled Azhar and Sami Aslam found run-scoring easy on a flat deck•AFPWest Indies wasted a review when Jason Holder chose to go upstairs after rapping Azhar, who was on 38, with the ball slanting down leg•Getty ImagesBoth batsmen raised their fifties soon; Sami Aslam getting there first with a boundary off Roston Chase•Getty ImagesAzhar joined his partner soon after, and the two took Pakistan to 171 for no at the supper break•AFPRoston Chase broke a 215-run stand when Sami Aslam dragged on for 90. That was the lone moment of cheer for the visitors as Pakistan ended on 279 for 1 with Azhar unbeaten on 146•Getty Images