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Richard Pybus has been appointed coach of South Africa’s Cape Cobras franchise for the next three years

Cricinfo staff07-Jul-2010Richard Pybus has been appointed coach of South Africa’s Cape Cobras franchise for the next three years. The English-born Pybus had earlier worked with the Pakistan senior team as a consultant and coach, and also had stints with Border and Titans in the South African domestic circuit.”We are thrilled to be able to have the services of a coach of Richard’s calibre,” said Andre Odendaal, the CEO of Western Cape Cricket. Odendaal said Pybus was chosen after an exhaustive selection process. “We had some excellent candidates but Richard has a remarkable CV and we believe he is the right man to help the Cobras achieve the goal of winning a higher percentage of trophies, while at the same time ensuring that the Western Cape continues to develop as a nursery of talent for South African cricket.”Justin Kemp, the Cobras captain, welcomed Pybus’ appointment. “It’s wonderful to have a coach on board with the track record of Richard. I know the structure and discipline he will bring to the Cobras will stand us in good stead. The success he achieved at the Titans was exceptional. With his assistance and guidance, we can hopefully continue the excellent standard of cricket we played this past season, and even improve upon it.”Pybus coached the Border senior side in 1998-99, during which they reached the finals of the SuperSport Series and Standard Bank Cup. Both achievements were firsts for the province. He was appointed as a consultant to the Pakistan team in 1999, when they reached the finals of the World Cup. He returned to Border but took charge of Pakistan as head coach until after the 2003 World Cup. He was head coach for the Titans between 2005-06 and 2008-09, during which time the franchise won six titles in four seasons. He was appointed coach of Middlesex in February 2007 but five months later quit citing personal reasons. He was later named the 2009 South African Coach of the Year.

Michael Clarke insists his promotion to No. 4 makes no difference to his game despite the added responsibility of moving one step closer to the top of the order

Brydon Coverdale in Leeds19-Jul-2010Michael Clarke insists his promotion to No. 4 makes no difference to his game despite the added responsibility of moving one step closer to the top of the order. Clarke has spent most of his career at No. 5, but having been Australia’s best middle-order player over the past 12 months, he has shifted up a spot at the request of the captain Ricky Ponting.Clarke’s previous stint at No. 4 was short and unsuccessful; after the 2005 Ashes he was handed the role when Damien Martyn was dropped, but he lasted only three Tests for scores of 39, 5, 5, 14 not out and 5. Then came Clarke’s own axing from the side, and when he returned to the team six months later, he was reinstalled down the order.”Ricky came and grabbed Michael Hussey and myself at training the morning of the Derby game and told us what was happening,” Clarke said ahead of the Leeds Test. “For me it hasn’t fazed me. When I was younger I cared more about the position I batted. After getting dropped from the Australian team, for me it was always just about being the team, it doesn’t matter where I bat.”Before the series Ponting said the change, which involved Hussey moving to No. 5, was about getting one of his most in-form batsmen in as early as possible. Clarke’s highest Test score is the 168 he collected in Hobart against Pakistan in January and he is hopeful that batting higher in the list he will have the opportunity to bat for longer periods.”You probably get in a little bit earlier against the newer ball and if you make a big score, you can probably make a really big one, knowing you’ve got at least one more batter behind you,” Clarke said. “But my role doesn’t really change, you play the same way. Conditions dictate how much fast bowling you face compared to how much spin you face. I haven’t changed my game at all because I’m batting No. 4.”Clarke has reasonably good memories of Headingley after scoring 93 there last year during Australia’s innings victory over England and the Australians will head to the venue in fine spirits this time after beating Pakistan at Lord’s. The Pakistan side will have a new captain, Salman Butt, after the surprise retirement of Shahid Afridi, and Clarke said he would be missed.”Losing your captain would be quite a change, but in saying that he hasn’t played that much Test cricket over the last five years anyway,” Clarke said. “Afridi has been a wonderful player for Pakistan. He’s played a lot of cricket, especially one-day cricket and has a lot of experience, and I think he’ll be missed in the Test cricket as well.”

MS Dhoni said at the pre-match press conference that they were toying with the idea of picking a specialist batsman in place of the struggling Ravindra Jadeja

Siddarth Ravindran27-Aug-2010India are considering playing an extra batsman in Saturday’s final following a slew of collapses in the tri-series. MS Dhoni said at the pre-match press conference that they were toying with the idea of picking a specialist batsman in place of the struggling Ravindra Jadeja.”If we feel the wicket is dry and not hard then Jadeja will get a spot,” Dhoni said, “but if we feel it won’t help the spinners and we feel like playing an extra batsman then Jadeja will have to miss.”Allrounder Jadeja has been the preferred option at No. 7 for the past couple of months, but he has not contributed much with the bat on the difficult Dambulla tracks either in the Asia Cup or the current tri-series. The absence of Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan, both of whom are capable batsmen, has weakened India’s ability to resist down the order when the specialists fail.”In this tournament the lower order looks completely different because you don’t have Harbhajan Singh who bats at No.8 and you don’t have Zaheer Khan who bats at nine,” Dhoni said. “They are two batsmen who can score a few runs. When it comes to the four batsmen who we have right now… they have not been able to score, but it won’t be justified to put the blame on them because they are in the side for their bowling and they are doing that job.”Virender Sehwag has been the architect of both of India’s victories in this tournament, scoring nearly as much as the rest of the team. “I don’t want to put pressure on Sehwag since he is a free-flowing cricketer,” Dhoni said. “He is a natural aggressive cricketer. So he should back himself and bat the way he bats.”India reached the final after their pumped-up quick bowlers demolished New Zealand’s batting on Wednesday. “Last game there was lot of intensity and we are hoping that in tomorrow’s match also there is enough intensity,” Dhoni said. “First 15 overs and last 10-12 overs and Powerplay is important. In the middle if the intensity drops down a bit it is okay but at the start of the game it sets up the tone for the whole match.”Right through the tournament, Dhoni has stressed on the need to give the opposition bowlers respect in the initial stages of the innings. “I think this has been a series of ups and down not only for our batsman but for all the three teams that have participated. The new ball spell has been important. It will be crucial not too lose too many wickets early. How you do that is not important, whether it looks good or doesn’t.”On Saturday, Dhoni will be looking to win his fifth successive one-day series in Sri Lanka as captain. Calling correctly at the toss helps. “We have won many tosses; in the series before the Asia Cup when we had come to Sri Lanka, at the Premadasa, we won four tosses out of five,” he said. “Before it we had played the initial part of a series in Dambulla, where again we won several tosses. In this tournament we have seen that the toss is not the factor like in the earlier series.”

It was, unarguably, by any measure reasonable or unreasonable, the biggest win in the hitherto limping Lions franchise’s history, and Alviro Petersen knew it

Telford Vice10-Sep-2010There is plenty to ponder when a David like Alviro Petersen breathes the same rarefied air as the Goliath who is Sachin Tendulkar. And the Highveld air was indeed rare at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, where Petersen’s Lions played Tendulkar’s Mumbai in the Champions League Twenty 20 opener.Lo and behold, David’s dapper dazzlers stuck to the Biblical script by slaying Goliath’s giants by nine runs. Let the atheists among us quiver in disbelief: look in the Book. It was, unarguably, by any measure reasonable or unreasonable, the biggest win in the hitherto limping Lions franchise’s history, and Petersen knew it.”It’s a great start,” he said after the game. “It’s all we could ask for. We were underdogs, but we were a family out there. On paper, the Mumbai Indians are probably the better team. But we focused on what we had to do and our bowlers came through beautifully in the end.”Tendulkar did his bit with a sparkling 69, but it wasn’t enough on the night. Not that Petersen was about to admit that the Mumbai skipper was an unusually large thorn in the Lions’ paws. “Whether we play against Sachin Tendulkar or just an ordinary guy, we play with the same intensity.”For all that, Petersen has first-hand knowledge that Tendulkar is anything but ordinary. They first met on the field in Kolkata, in February this year, when the South African marked his Test debut with an innings of 100. Tendulkar made 106, the 47th of his 48 centuries in the 166th of his 169 Tests.Neither had a memorable first one-day international in Jaipur, but the second match of that series, in Gwalior, will forever be remembered as the game in which Tendulkar took one-day batting into a galaxy far, far away with his monumental 200 not out. Petersen scored nine.The trend looked set to continue at the Wanderers on Friday. In the fourth over of the Lions’ innings, Petersen and Jonathan Vandiar scooted for the same end of the pitch. Petersen was declared dead on arrival for 12 when the bails were removed leisurely at the other end.Tendulkar looked dead in the water for six when Ethan O’Reilly struck him plumb in front in the second over of the Indians’ reply. Asoka de Silva was among the few in the ground who reckoned otherwise. A blink of an eye later, Tendulkar was bumbling about mid-pitch when a frozen rope of a throw whizzed past the stumps. “I just put it behind me and thought about the next ball,” Petersen said about the near miss. “The next ball is the important thing.” Three overs of next balls after that, a shy that might have run Tendulkar out for 18 hit him instead.By the time Shane “Cheese” Burger knocked out two of Tendulkar’s stumps, in the 15th over, the momentum was firmly with Mumbai. Only for Burger to snatch the advantage back for the Lions by yorking Kieron Pollard, a ball after the West Indian had launched him over long-on for six. JP Duminy and R Sathish also became casualties as the Lions surged to their famous victory.”Hats off to the Lions bowlers. They were exceptional in the last four overs. Until then, we were very much in the game,” said Duminy, who had been sent to the post-match press conference instead of his captain. “He [Tendulkar] played extremely well, but it’s a team sport and we all have to chip in. Unfortunately, we ended up a few runs short.”Vandiar, who rose from the ashes of his moment of madness with Petersen to score a 71 that bristled with pugnacity and verve, showed he has a few things to learn about diplomacy off the field as well as on it. Asked what he thought about batting as well as he had against an attack studded with bowlers of the stature of Zaheer Khan, Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh, Vandiar said, “They’re world class, but they’re just guys.”Petersen, who went to some trouble to explain that his team remained the tournament underdogs, despite their fine win, might want to have a word with the youngster about that. After all, the Lions captain has up close and personal knowledge of what world class players can do.

Marcus Trescothick believes the motivation of playing at Lord’s in the Clydesdale Bank 40 final can help inspire his players

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's17-Sep-2010Marcus Trescothick believes the motivation of playing at Lord’s in the Clydesdale Bank 40 final can help inspire his players to bounce back from the disappointment of seeing the County Championship title clinched by Nottinghamshire. It is Somerset’s last chance to take something from an impressive season, but the Warwickshire coach Ashley Giles is intent on making it a weekend to forget for his former England team-mate.The Somerset squad were shattered on Friday evening after watching Nottinghamshire clinch the Championship crown with the final ball of the competition when they claimed the third wicket they needed against Lancashire to earn a third bonus point. After being held to a draw by Durham at Chester-le-Street, Trescothick’s team had to watch the big screen at the ground and await their fate before making a quick dash to Newcastle airport to fly to London for the one-day final.Somerset had already experienced coming a narrow second-best this summer after watching Hampshire take the Friends Provident t20 title by losing fewer wickets at The Rose Bowl and, despite being the most consistent county unit throughout the season, they face the prospect of having no silverware to show for their efforts.”It was a massive day and the disappointment was pretty tough, but we talked a bit last night and had a flight down from Newcastle,” Trescothick said having reflected on the Championship for a few hours. “But just coming here lifts the mood immediately, getting into the changing rooms, seeing the ground – the best in the world – it picks you up pretty quickly and we’ve not had to say a great deal to the boys. They are all ready to go.”It’s almost the best scenario to get right back into it and play such a big game. I think if we had time to dwell on it for a few days then it would probably last a bit longer. The effect of playing the CB40 is that we have to get straight back up, there’s no other option. The boys have turned it around pretty quickly.”Standing between Somerset and a trophy is an in-form Warwickshire team who enjoyed the final day of the Championship when they secured victory against Hampshire to retain Division One status. Despite having played most of his England career alongside Trescothick, Giles only has one interest in his mind and that’s making sure the Taunton trophy cabinet stays empty this winter.”Somerset, runner’s up twice, it’s our job to make sure it’s three,” he said. “I feel sorry for Marcus, but sympathy ends tomorrow when we arrive back at Lord’s.”Warwickshire will be boosted by the availability of Jonathan Trott, after he was released from one-day duty by England, and he will form a strong top order with Ian Bell who will captain the side and Neil Carter who is in line for county cricket’s Most Valuable Player award. Alongside an in-form Chris Woakes and the legspin threat of Imran Tahir, Warwickshire have plenty of weapons to challenge Somerset although Giles is happy if the opposition remain favourites.”We seem to be the underdogs all the time which suits us, people forget we’ve only lost three 40-over games in two years,” he said. “We took the competition seriously last year where others saw it going out and I think that’s helped us this year.”The reduction of the main domestic one-day tournament from 50 to 40 overs for this season provoked much debate because the international game remains the longer duration. And even among the two teams who have reached the final there remained a split opinion.”The international game is 50 overs and I think you have to have a domestic structure that mirrors it if we want to produce players for 50-over cricket,” Trescothick said. “Having said that I like 20-over cricket, but sometimes it’s a little short and 40 overs is pretty good for the crowd.””When we first talked about it there was some resistance but I think it’s been a brilliant competition,” was the view of Ashley Giles, who also wears his England selectors’ hat. “There’s no dead cricket and scores have gone through the roof. Last year 230-240 was a good score but guys are getting 300 regularly now. We’ve moved the game on and the tempo is closer to 20 overs than 50 overs.”The crowd at Lord’s on Saturday will hope the 40-over season is crowned by another high-scoring encounter.

New Zealand A bowled themselves into a position of control on the third day of the second unofficial Test, making Zimbabwe A follow-on, and then picking up four second-innings wickets to leave the hosts struggling

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2010
Scorecard
New Zealand A bowled themselves into a position of complete control on the third day of the second unofficial Test, making Zimbabwe A follow-on, and then picking up four second-innings wickets to leave the hosts struggling to save the game.Malcolm Waller and Forster Mutizwa, who had steadied the innings on the second day after Zimbabwe had stumbled to 61 for 4, were going to be crucial if they were to avoid the follow-on. The duo began positively, adding 41 in the first six overs. However, Chris Martin struck a huge blow when he bowled Mutizwa for 47 with the first ball of the day’s seventh over. Zimbabwe slipped further in the next over, when Waller was run out by Martin Guptill for 53, while attempting a third run with the follow-on mark still 229 runs away.Timycen Maruma resisted with an aggressive half-century, slamming six fours and four sixes in his unbeaten 62 off 78 balls, but lacked support from the other batsmen. James Franklin ran through the lower order, finishing with his 14th first-class five-wicket haul, as Zimbabwe folded up for 256.They began promisingly in the follow-on innings with a 51-run opening stand. Brent Arnel, who was getting some movement off the seam, got the breakthrough, getting Tino Mawoyo caught by Tim McIntosh in the slips. Mutizwa was promoted three places to No. 3, and had motored along to 36 before Arnel struck again, getting him caught by Jamie How, again in the slips. Arnel then dismissed opener Steve Marillier, who had batted patiently for his 50. Punjab-born Auckland offspinner Bhupinder Singh removed Vusi Sibanda late in the afternoon to compound Zimbabwe’s woes as they slipped to 155 for 4.Zimbabwe’s hopes now rest on Waller, who remained unbeaten on 15, and Charles Coventry, yet to come in, if they are to save this match.

Sri Lanka, perhaps for the first time, will find themselves in alien territory despite the fact that they are the home side when they meet West Indies in the second Test starting at the R Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday

Sa'adi Thawfeeq22-Nov-2010Sri Lanka, perhaps for the first time, will find themselves in alien territory despite the fact that they are the home side when they meet West Indies in the second Test starting at the R Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday.There’s a new laid pitch and construction work going all round the area to get the stadium ready for the 2011 World Cup and playing a Test match amidst such a set up is not the ideal scenario. But the Sri Lankans are keen to test the pitch ahead of their World Cup so there was little choice but to play this Test match here.”As long as play doesn’t get disrupted and the match referees and teams are happy with the situation when we start the game that should be okay,” said captain Kumar Sangakkara. “We have to keep our focus mainly on what’s happening out there in the middle and the best of what we have here. This venue was picked most probably because it is a World Cup venue to try and see whether the pitches and everything was upto scratch. We’ll have to come tomorrow and see how the wicket behaves and then take it from there.”You’ve got trust the curator to give us the best wicket possible,” he added. “It was a bit damp today and hopefully the sun will dry it out and have it Test match ready by the time play is due to start tomorrow.”Being in Sri Lanka usually the wickets are nice and dry and they turn. This might be different from that, we don’t know yet. The final proof of what the pitch is doing is to actually play on it. It would have been a nice reference to have if a domestic game was played here before the Test. But that’s the beauty of playing international cricket. Sometimes you have to take things on the chin and just get on with the job.”Sangakkara felt that where his team fell behind West Indies in the drawn first Test at Galle was their failure to focus on the game plans and executing them. “We expect to play a lot better from ball one of the game, to make sure we are focused on our game plans and executing them,” he said. “That’s where we fell behind West Indies in the last game. They outplayed us on those little details. Those are the things we have to tighten.”Sri Lanka are likely to go with their usual combination of two seamers and two spinners despite the attack failing to trouble West Indies for a long periods last week. “It is sometimes tempting to go with fast bowlers but we should not get carried away by what we see,” said Sangakkara. “We need to plan out a team that can handle situations for all five days and not just one innings but four quality innings of batting and bowling.
“Our best combination is two seamers and two spinnners. Angelo Mathews might just be able to bowl a bit more in this Test match. We really need to know what the pitch is like when we leave and if there is rain tonight and how it turns up tomorrow.”West Indies are also planning on using two spinners for this Test and Sangakkara believes it is good for the game that the slow men are having such a key role to play. “It’s great, for all the talk of Twenty20, that we are finally seeing a new era for spinners. They are really dominating cricket in every format of the game.”In the shorter versions they have been more dominating than ever. It’s encouraging for sides and for countries where there are youngsters who are good spinners who haven’t had much of a go. It’s good for Sri Lanka, West Indies and other countries we see some great spinners now playing Test cricket.”West Indies’ preparations have been overshadowed by Shane Shillingford, the offspinner, being reported for a suspect bowling action but Sangakkara preferred to focus on the bowler’s skills rather than controversy. “He is an interesting bowler the lines he bowls and the little bit of variation that he has in pace. He is a bowler who can probably change direction at the very last minute the way he bowls. We had a good chat about him. We got a few plans in a few different areas to try and defend and then attack him as well.”With left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn expected to return to the team after serving a one-Test suspension, Sangakkara added: “Benn is also quite a good bowler when the conditions suit him. He is coming back after a long break so whatever combination they play it will be a tough challenge. We have also to think about their fast bowlers who bowled exceptionally well and how to combat that. They’ve got a very good bowling attack and we got stay a step ahead as far as we can.”

Round-up of the second day of the sixth round of Division Two of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Nov-2010Raheel Majeed’s career-best 162 resisted the impact of Mohammad Irfan’s five-wicket haul as Pakistan Television progressed to 325 before reducing Khan Research Laboratories to 160 for 5 at the Khan Research Laboratory Ground in Rawalpindi. Majeed and Yasim Murtaza (60) extended their partnership to 147 before PTV lost their last three wickets for the addition of no runs. KRL’s reply was steered by a run-a-ball 82 from captain Mohammad Wasim, but Saad Altaf and Mohammad Ali, who bowled unchanged for 36 overs until stumps, made regular breakthroughs at the other end to leave the game in the balance.Peshawar‘s batsmen stamped their authority on the second day at the Arbab Niaz Khan Stadium as Quetta lost ground following the bowler-dominated opening day. The visitors could only add 38 to their overnight 87 for 6, conceding a 87-run first innings lead. The wickets were shared around by the home seamers, with Imran Khan finishing with 4 for 50. Peshawar’s reply was driven by steady half-centuries from Ashfaq Ahmed, Sajjad Ahmed (1) and Tariq Khan. Quetta’s incisiveness was badly hampered by the absence of first-innings hero Arun Lal, who could bowl only three balls on the second day. Kashif Sattar picked up three wickets, but could not check Peshawar’s surge to an imposing 290 for 5 by stumps.It was slow progress all-round at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium where Abbottabad and State Bank of Pakistan were locked in an attritional battle for the upper hand. Resuming at 221 for 5, the hosts could not make much headway on the second day. Mohammad Naved, Ansar Javed and Nazar Hussain shared nine wickets to bowl Abbottabad out for the addition of 57 runs. SBP lost their captain Kashif Siddiq early in their reply and batted cautiously thereafter in search of the first-innings lead. Rameez Alam guided their reply to 150 for 3, and was unbeaten on an even 50 at stumps. Seamer Ahmed Jamal was responsible for all three breakthroughs.Karachi White‘s bowlers dismissed Lahore Shalimar for 139, gaining a 122-run first-innings lead at the Southend Club Cricket Stadium in Karachi. Asif Khan was the only batsman to come to terms with the all-round host attack. Azam Hussain and Atif Maqbool finished with three wickets apiece while the remaining four were shared by Sohail Khan and Ali Mudassar. Inspired by the bowlers, the home batsmen responded with a strong start to their second innings, with unbeaten half-centuries from Asif Zakir and Rameez Aziz guiding them to 180 for 3 by stumps.Lahore Ravi were firmly in control of their match against Hyderabad, with centuries from Junaid Jan and Fahad-ul-Haq lifting them to 254 for 2 at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Opener Mohammad Saad departed for 14, but thereafter it was a long fruitless day for the visitors. Fahad was the more aggressive of the pair, hitting 13 fours in his 103 off 160 balls. He perished after adding 164 for the second wicket, but Junaid stayed put till stumps, finishing unbeaten on 107 off 231 balls.

Karnataka have filed an official complaint with match referee Manu Nayar against the Reliance Stadium pitch for their Ranji semi-final against Baroda

Abhishek Purohit06-Jan-2011Karnataka have filed an official complaint with match referee Manu Nayar against the Reliance Stadium pitch in Vadodara on which their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Baroda ended inside two days in a seven-wicket win for the hosts. Nayar confirmed the development to ESPNcricinfo. “As is normal procedure, I have forwarded the complaint to the BCCI along with my match report. The matter is with the board now.”The dry pitch took vicious turn throughout the game, which saw 33 wickets falling before tea on the second day, 23 of them to the spinners. Karnataka caved in for 107 and 88 to lose while Baroda managed 153 in their first innings, largely due to captain Pinal Shah (83) who was the lone half-centurion in the game.Javagal Srinath, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) secretary, said that they were contemplating whether to lodge a separate protest with the BCCI on the issue. “As of now, the players have filed an official complaint letter to the match referee. We at the KSCA can only take a call once we speak to the players and coach,” Srinath told . “We will speak to them and then only decide our course of action.”The Karnataka players were unhappy with the nature of the wicket, and Robin Uthappa even said that it was unfit to play a semi-final on. A source from the Baroda camp, however, told ESPNcricinfo that there was not much reason for Karnataka to complain. “They won the toss, they opted to bat, and if they caved in for 107, I cannot see how it is anyone else’s problem but theirs. The wicket was the same for both the sides. And if it was such a spinners’ paradise, how was a fast bowler (Baroda’s Murtuja Vahora) able to take five wickets in the first innings?”

The ICC has rejected Salman Butt’s reply on the spot-fixing charges against him, and asked Butt to file a fresh response

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Dec-2010The ICC has rejected Salman Butt’s reply to the spot-fixing charges against him, and asked Butt to file a fresh response. “He must file a fresh reply by later today [December 17] or he could lose his right of defence against the allegations levelled against him,” Aftab Gul, Butt’s former lawyer, told , according to a report in the . It was not clear whether Butt had filed his revised reply within the deadline.Gul also said he was no longer representing Butt. “As far as I know now Aitzaz Ahsan is handling his case,” he told .An ICC code of conduct tribunal will hear the case against Butt and seamers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif from Januarty 6-11 in Doha. The trio were suspended by the ICC pending an investigation into allegations by the tabloid that they arranged for deliberate and planned no-balls to be bowled in Pakistan’s fourth Test at Lord’s against England. Since then, Butt and Amir have had their appeals against suspensions dismissed by the ICC in a hearing in Dubai, while Asif chose not to appeal.The evidence gathered by NOTW was meanwhile passed on to Scotland Yard and the ICC’s anti-corruption unit, who subsequently launched their own investigations and gathered more evidence. The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service is considering whether the evidence passed on to them by police is enough to warrant criminal prosecution against the players.