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A round-up of the third round of matches from the Plunket Shield 2016-17

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Nov-2016Tim Southee and Ish Sodhi took fourteen wickets between them to lead Northen Districts to a 21-run win in a low-scoring match against Canterbury in Hamilton. The win took Northern Districts to the top of table.Northern Districts batted only 29.5 overs in the first innings after being put in, and were bowled out for 138. Medium-pacer Kyle Jamieson did the bulk of the damage, taking 4 for 32. But Tim Southee’s five-wicket haul and Ish Sodhi’s four added to a first-day tally of 21 wickets as Canterbury folded for 112 in response.Daryl Mitchell (44) top-scored for Northern Districts in the second innings, and five others got into double figures, as they were bowled for 181. Canterbury began their chase of 208 with a 62-run opening stand between Michael Davidson (45) and Peter Fulton (28), before losing 5 wickets for 41, to slump to 103 for 5. The last-wicket pair of Henry Shipley (26) and Ed Nuttall (11) put on 33 – the second-highest partnership of the innings – but could only take them to 186 before the match ended early on day four.Luke Woodcock scored his second consecutive century of the season – an unbeaten 203 – as the match between Wellington and Auckland ended in a draw. Martin Guptill, who scored 159 runs in the three Tests on the tour of India, struck form in the game, with a fifty in the first innings and an unbeaten 128 in Auckland’s second innings, after they were set a target of 342.Woodcock’s innings was instrumental in helping Wellington declare their first innings at 475 for 8 after having been at 79 for 4 early in the match, following strikes from Cody Andrews (3-101) and Dan Grobbelaar (2-95). Woodcock put on century stands with Tom Blundell (85) and Matt McEwan (63) – the latter for the eighth wicket – as Wellington last four wickets added 396 runsJeet Raval’s 84 and his 110-run opening stand with Martin Guptill (56) set Auckland up in their reply. Michael Guptill-Bunce then made 109 at No.3, but there were no other significant contributions, as they were bowled out for 374 and conceded a 101-run lead. McEwan followed up his half-century with 4 for 80.Both teams scored at well over four runs per over in their second innings. Legspinner Tarun Nethula took 5 for 71 as Wellington played attackingly while trying to set a target.Anaru Kitchen (133) and Josh Finnie (98) both made career-best scores as Otago overturned a shaky first-innings start to take control of the rest of their drawn game against Central Districts in Dunedin.19-year-old Finnie joined Kitchen when Otago were reduced to 101 for 5 after electing to bat. He narrowly missed out on a maiden century when the pair’s 182-run stand was broken by Doug Bracewell (3-58). Kitchen then reached his seventh first-class hundred and put on 61 with Derek de Boorder (45*) who batted with the tail to stretch Otago’s score to 402.Fast bowler Neil Wagner then took three early wickets to reduce Central Districts to 22 for 4 from 19 for zero. A 112-run partnership between Tom Bruce (83) and Dan Cleaver (50) briefly stabilized Central Districts, but they conceded a 186-run lead – in being bowled out for 216 – that allowed Otago to press for a result and set a target of 400.Hamish Rutherford led that effort – 213 for 7 at 5.39 per over – with a 107-ball 110 studded with nine fours and five sixes. But Central Districts were led by Ajaz Patel (45), Mitch Renwick (48) and Tom Bruce (55) as they batted out a little over three sessions to earn a draw.

Umar Akmal made 38 to give Pakistan a late boost after a regular fall of wickets, and the target was made to look bigger with the bowlers dismantling the Zimbabwe top order inside five overs

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu29-Sep-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:12

By The Numbers – Six on the trot for Pakistan

The second T20I between Pakistan and Zimbabwe more or less followed the same script as the first. Having chosen to bat, Pakistan scraped to 136 again, and the Zimbabwe batsmen were never on course during the chase. Umar Akmal struck a busy 38 to lend the visitors late boost after a regular fall of wickets, and the target was made to look bigger with the Pakistan bowlers dismantling the Zimbabwe top order inside five overs. The asking rate continued to rise and the hosts eventually fell short by 15 runs.Chamu Chibhabha was given out lbw in the third over of the chase despite the ball pitching outside leg stump, Hamilton Masakadza made room and carved Mohammad Irfan to third man, while some sharp fielding from the tag team of Shahid Afridi and Sohaib Maqsood ran out Craig Ervine. Imad Wasim then struck in his second over when Richmond Mutumbami, scoreless for seven balls, was bowled through the gate. The Pakistan fielders cranked up the intensity, cut down runs and ably backed their bowlers up.Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza offered some resistance with a 60-run partnership, using nudges and bunts while occasionally attempting reverse-sweeps and slogs. Just as Zimbabwe looked to find a higher gear, Raza was dismissed by a canny slower ball from Imran Khan for his maiden international wicket. At that point, the equation read 53 runs from 23 balls.Elton Chigumbura, though, gave Zimbabwe an outside chance when he hit two sixes off Imran over long-off in the 17th over. The first one was palmed over the fence by Ahmed Shehzad, and the second cleared him comfortably. The returning Irfan, coming in for Wahab Riaz, snuffed out Zimbabwe’s slender chance by having Chigumbura caught at long-on for 17 off 8 balls. Williams and Luke Jongwe fought it out but could only reduce the margin of defeat.While Irfan generated typical extra bounce even on a slow pitch, Imran was impressive with his assortment of slower cutters. They finished with combined figures of 8-0-60-4 as Pakistan claimed their third straight T20 series win.The match-winning target was set up by Akmal, who came in at 72 for 4, and boosted Pakistan’s innings. He began with a brace of fours before he launched the first six of the game off the penultimate ball of the innings. Akmal was also adept in finding gaps and Wasim managed a couple of fours as Pakistan took 14 runs off the last over.The start too had been bright before the middle order botched it up. Mohammad Hafeez, the other change in Pakistan’s XI, did not take much time to find his bearings, playing a handsome drive and two pulls.However, Tinashe Panyangara dismissed Shehzad for seven in the fourth over, and two overs later Hafeez was undone by the slowness of the pitch when he tamely chipped Jongwe to short midwicket.The Shoaibs – Malik and Maqsood – threatened to mount a recovery but were foiled by the spinners. Their 30-run stand ended when Malik dragged Graeme Cremer to long-on. Instead of going back to rebuilding mode, Maqsood advanced down the track the following over and played an injudicious shot: skewing one into the lap of backward point. Rizwan and Afridi also failed but Akmal lifted Pakistan, despite good variations from Panyangara and Jongwe at the death.

Australia coach Mickey Arthur has said the selectors would welcome Michael Hussey back if he decided to make a return for this year’s Ashes series, given the lack of experience in Australia’s Test squad

Brydon Coverdale in Delhi19-Mar-2013Australia coach Mickey Arthur has said the selectors would welcome Michael Hussey back if he decided to make a return for this year’s Ashes series, given the lack of experience in Australia’s Test squad. However, Arthur said he was confident that in time the younger members of Australia’s team would be capable of filling the vacuum left by the retirements of Hussey and Ricky Ponting, although their absence had contributed to the slipping team culture over the past few months.Arthur also conceded he had put his job on the line with the uncompromising decision to leave four players out of the Mohali Test due to their failure to complete a task in which they were asked for ideas on how they and the team could improve. But he said such a move was necessary to bring the culture of the team back to where it needed to be following the departures of Ponting and Hussey, whose intense work ethic served as examples to their younger colleagues.A Hussey comeback appears unlikely given his decision to retire was made largely due to his desire to spend more time at home with his young family, and the Ashes tour would require him to be away for two and a half months. But the Australians have missed Hussey badly during the ongoing Indian tour and given that he has remained a solid run-scorer in the Sheffield Shield, Arthur said the door would be open if he wanted to return.”We’d certainly listen to Mike Hussey if Mike Hussey came knocking at our door,” Arthur said. “But that’s a hypothetical at the moment. He’s retired. We’ve moved on now, you know. Yeah we miss him. We miss the aura of Ricky Ponting. But I’m hoping that these younger players will take over that mantle in time to come. They’re nowhere near ready yet.”But in time to come they’ve got to step up and take on those mantles because they’re going to be the role models for the next generation of cricketers. I’m confident we’ve got the best players here. These guys just need to be given that confidence and just need to stand up. I’m pretty sure they will.”However, the young squad did need a rev up from Arthur, captain Michael Clarke and team manager Gavin Dovey last week when those four players were left out of the team. The bold decision was described by Arthur as a line in the sand after standards had slipped among the wider playing group during the Indian tour, from players being late to meetings to wearing the wrong uniforms, to giving back-chat.The decision has split opinion in the cricket world and although Cricket Australia’s board backed the team management in their move, Arthur is well aware that it could be a make-or-break moment in his coaching career. Arthur took the reins of the Australia team in late 2011 but it is 2013 that will define the Arthur-Clarke leadership team, with two Ashes series coming up. Things have not started well in India.”I would say I’ve put my neck on the line,” Arthur said. “But I’ve put my neck on the line because I’m really passionate about Australian cricket and I’m very passionate about this team. I want this team to achieve ultimate success and that’s to get to number one in the world. It was needed. It had to happen and the responses have been fantastic. I’m comfortable. It was a week of massive pain. It really was. But I’m comfortable.”I sit here now knowing that this team is going in the right direction. People will say why did it take so long. It took so long because the team was running itself, because we had some senior players around it; we don’t have those senior players around this team any more. This team needed to be shown direction and it got a pretty clear message of that before this Test match.””We’ve got to understand where we’re at at the moment with a very young group of players that needs to be shown the right way to go. If you’ve got older, senior players the team governs itself and then it’s easy just to run and coach. If you’ve got a young team you need to grab the team and really make the players understand what their responsibilities and ownerships are of the side.”Although Arthur is happy with the response from within the squad after the tumultuous past week, his hardline stance has brought him plenty of criticism from former players, fans and the media. In fact, the online abuse became so bad that Arthur decided on Tuesday to delete his Twitter account.”I think if you’re on it you just open yourself up to that [abuse],” he said. “There has been some very positive stuff as well, but it’s not worth it. I’ve got bigger things to worry about than Twitter to be honest.”

Jamaica made it six wins out of six by completing a clinical victory over Combined Campuses and Colleges in Bridgetown, Barbados

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Mar-2012
Scorecard
Jamaica made it six wins out of six by completing a clinical victory over Combined Campuses and Colleges in Bridgetown, Barbados. It was a team effort from Jamaica, with a string of useful contributions from the batsmen taking them to decent totals, and the bowlers hunting in packs to dismiss CCC cheaply.CCC were set a target of 321 runs, a tough ask in a season in which the highest fourth-innings total to win a game is 219. They managed to last only 56.1 overs and were all out for 166 early on the fourth morning. Legspinner Odean Brown picked up a five-wicket haul as CCC lost their last five wickets for only 23 runs.CCC had a chance to put Jamaica under pressure after bowling them out for 200 on the first day. Medium-pacers Jason Dawes and Jason Holder had taken three wickets each to inflict the damage. However, CCC failed to capitalise and crashed to 137 all out. Shacaya Thomas, who scored 78, was the only batsman who showed resistance against Jamaica’s persistent bowling attack.With a 63-run deficit to deal with, CCC were unable to restrict Jamaica’s top order, with Tamar Lambert getting a half-century. Although no one else got to 50, each of the top five made contributions, and Jamaica added enough runs to take the game away from CCC. Ryan Austin bagged five wickets but he too struggled to curtail the scoring and gave away 89 runs.Jamaica will face Guyana in the semi-finals, in Kingston from March 30.

Graeme Swann admitted that England were left shell-shocked by the manner and magnitude of their incredible three-wicket defeat at the hands of Kevin O’Brien on Wednesday night

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Mar-2011Graeme Swann admitted that England were left shell-shocked by the manner and magnitude of their incredible three-wicket defeat at the hands of Kevin O’Brien on Wednesday night, but insisted that the team’s best response would be to put the result right out of their minds as they turn their attention to Sunday’s crucial showdown against the Group B pacesetters, South Africa, in Chennai.As Ireland’s celebrations continued long and loud in the wake of the biggest result of their lives, England flew out of Bangalore knowing that their World Cup campaign is in danger of sliding out of control, after three consecutive fixtures – including a thrilling tie with India – in which their frailties have been exposed with both bat and ball. However, with contests against South Africa, Bangladesh and West Indies still to come, qualification for the quarter-finals remains in their own hands, so long as they revert to winning ways at the earliest opportunity.”If we are going to win this World Cup – which we truly believe we can – we’ve got to go out and prove it, and we do that first and foremost in the field,” said Swann. “Four or five days ago, the whole world was saying ‘Oh my God, England can win’ this – because we didn’t get destroyed by that invincible Indian team. We know the fickle nature of the world, and we’re going to ignore that and just carry on and play the best cricket we can.”At 111 for 5, chasing a massive 328 for victory, Ireland’s chances of victory were seemingly non-existent, until Kevin O’Brien climbed onto the offensive with the innings of his – or anyone else’s – life. His incredible 50-ball century slammed England’s bowlers onto the defensive, and in partnership with first Alex Cusack and then John Mooney, Ireland clawed their way back into the contest.”It’s disappointing to lose any game of cricket,” said Swann. “But it was one where we got ourselves into a position of such dominance, to then have it taken away from us is quite shell-shocking. Every now and again someone wakes up and has the best day of their life – and yesterday Kevin O’Brien did that. We should have bowled better; we certainly could have bowled better, but that’s tarnishing the knock he had – personally I think he won the game rather than we lost it.”Despite that assertion, the cracks in England’s performance were visible long before O’Brien got going, with Matt Prior dropping a steepling chance behind the stumps to reprieve Ed Joyce, and Swann himself was visibly peeved with his fielders before claiming three quick wickets to put his team firmly in charge of the contest. “A lot of guys were peed off, and rightly so,” he said. “We got ourselves into a position where the opposition were 110 for five, with 20 overs to go. That’s a game an international team of the calibre that we feel we are should win 10 out of 10.””It’s annoying in the extreme, but I’m not taking anything away from Kevin O’Brien and the performance of his life,” Swann added. “It’s the best knock I’ve seen in a long time. If a guy gets 100 off 60 balls [sic], a guy gets 100 off 60 balls. There’s not a lot you can do, except say we should have bowled differently – and in the next game we will do. If we start panicking and thinking we’re the disgrace that half the people on Twitter thought we were last night, there’s no point in us playing.”You can always bowl better,” he added. “When a guy hits that many sixes you are obviously putting the ball in the wrong place. We could have bowled more yorkers and more slower balls wide of the wicket – that’s easy in retrospect to say. When you’re in the middle and the pressure is on with a guy going great guns, it can be difficult to think clearly. But we back ourselves to be professional and think clearly, so in future that’s certainly something we have to look at.”

Half-centuries from Ashen Fernando and captain Dinesh Walpita helped S. Thomas’ College fight out a draw against Royal College in the Inter School’s Annual Big Match

Cricinfo staff13-Mar-2010
Scorecard
Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dinesh Walpita – both captains starred in all-round efforts – share the trophy•Manoj Ridimahaliyadda

Half-centuries from Ashen Fernando and captain Dinesh Walpita, backed by a useful lower-order effort by Chamod Pathirana, helped St Thomas’ College fight out a draw against Royal College at the Sinhalese Sports Club in the Inter Schools Annual Big Match. Royal College’s performance had been led by example from their captain Bhanuka Rajapakse, who starred in an all-round effort, and so did Walpita for St Thomas’ College.Royal College, led by opener Ramith Rambukwella’s blistering 165, which came off 148 balls and included 21 fours and five sixes, cruised to 288 for 4 on the third day and declared to set St Thomas’ College a challenging target of 258. St Thomas’ College, though, went about trying to save the game, as Walpita batted steadily, striking nine fours in his 128-ball 51. There were, however, moments of trepidation as Royal College nipped out the first three wickets for 53. Walpita, determined to battle through to a draw, added 69 in 22.3 overs with Fernando, who contributed 55.Still, Royal College never had victory out of sight and fought back through Rajapakse, who dismissed Walpita and wicketkeeper Sachin Peiris of consecutive deliveries to reduce the opposition to 123 for 5. The next two wickets, though not adding too many, did manage to bat 11 overs, and Pathirana, with Neomal Wickramasekera, played out a further 46 balls before play concluded.It was St Thomas’ College who had grabbed the advantage at the end of the first innings, gaining a lead of 31. Walpita, after putting Royal College in, took four wickets to help limit his opponents to 283 for 9. Rajapaksa, too, played a captain’s hand, scoring 68 off 60 balls. In reply, Pasan Wijewardene (99) and Nuwan Kavinda (86) were involved in a 159-run partnership to help their team get past 283 and post 314, though Rajapakse and Manisha Thanthirigoda, sharing eight wickets, had fought back.The tables turned in the second innings, but some determined batting by St Thomas’ College on the final day helped them save the game.

Ashes hopeful Marcus Harris was run out for 61 as Victoria reached 167 for 3 following South Australia’s 350 for 9 declared

AAP05-Oct-2025Marcus Harris looked set for a statement pre-Ashes innings before a sharp piece of fielding left the Victoria No.3 kicking himself at a missed opportunity on day two of the Sheffield Shield clash with South Australia at Adelaide Oval.The match was evenly poised when bad light stopped play late on Sunday afternoon, with Victoria 167 for 3 after SA declared at 350 for 9.Harris had been patient, compiling 61 from 149 balls and hitting three fours as he tries to force his way back into the Australian Test team for the Ashes. Peter Handscomb then called for a quick single after pushing into the covers.Daniel Drew pounced and his excellent direct hit caught Harris centimeters short of his ground at the striker’s end after Harris slightly veered his run and failed to stretch or dive with both options likely to have saved him.Handscomb was looking set at stumps on 38 and Oliver Peake finished unbeaten on 11.SA made the perfect start with the ball when Wes Agar had promising opener Campbell Kellaway caught at first slip for a second-ball duck.But Harris and Blake Macdonald then settled in for a 93-run stand. Macdonald was dismissed when looking set, caught behind for 45 when he chased a wide Lloyd Pope delivery.Earlier, the home side resumed on Sunday morning at 270 for 3 and Test quick Scott Boland eventually broke up the partnership between Henry Hunt and Jake Lehmann that had dominated the opening day.They added another six runs for a stand of 218 before Boland had Hunt caught behind for 126 from 307 balls.Boland also claimed Lehmann as the sixth wicket for 113 off 188 deliveries with Handscomb taking a sharp chance at second slip.Mitchell Perry took another wicket on Sunday to finish with 4 for 75, while Boland and Doug Warren snared two wickets apiece.South Australia No.8 Hanno Jacobs scored 41 from 52 balls on his Shield debut for South Australia, which included two fours and a six.

MI’s batting coach Kieron Pollard believes fans will ‘sing Hardik’s praises’ soon after another disappointing loss

S Sudarshanan15-Apr-20241:40

Pollard to Hardik’s critics: ‘Stop nitpicking’

Hardik Pandya looked forlorn. He had walked out to bat with Mumbai Indians’ asking rate just under 13, and by the time he was dismissed – for 2 off 6 balls – it had shot up close to 17. He paused on his walk back and joined the MI group that included the head coach Mark Boucher and batting coach Kieron Pollard as the timeout was taken.A couple of hours earlier, Hardik took the responsibility of bowling the last over for Mumbai and gave away 26 as MS Dhoni smacked three successive sixes to help Chennai Super Kings to an unlikely 206. That total proved to be enough for Super Kings to script a 20-run win despite an unbeaten 105 from Rohit Sharma.Pollard threw his weight behind MI’s under-fire captain Hardik and said everyone “will be singing his praises when time comes”.Related

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“I don’t know if it will affect his confidence. He is a confident guy, he has been great around the group,” Pollard said after Mumbai’s fourth loss in six outings in IPL 2024. “In cricket, you have good days and bad days and I am seeing an individual who is working bloody hard to improve his skills and plying his trade.”I am sick and fed up of [us] looking to pinpoint individuals; cricket is a team game at the end of the day. This is an individual that is going to represent the country in less than six weeks’ time, and all are going to cheer him and want him to do well. So high time we try to encourage and stop nitpicking and see if we can get the best out of one of the great allrounders India has produced. He can bat, bowl and field, and has a X-factor about him.”I hope very well deep down within my heart that when he comes out on top, I’ll sit back and watch everyone sing his praises.”After the pre-season IPL trade, Hardik has been the subjected to jeers from the fans in Ahmedabad (where his former team Gujarat Titans is based) and Hyderabad in their first two games, and a similar treatment has continued in Mumbai’s home games, too. But his form this season has been a concern.1:35

Gavaskar on Hardik: ‘Ordinary bowling, ordinary captaincy’

Returning from an ankle injury suffered during the ODI World Cup last year, he has scored 131 runs at a strike rate of 145.55 and picked up three wickets but at a high economy of 12. In his first stint with Mumbai – from 2015 to 2021 – Hardik averaged 27.33 with the bat but struck at 153.91. In his two years with Titans, whom he captained, his average shot up to 37.86 – he played in the middle order and anchored their innings – while the strike rate came down to 133.49.On Sunday, he pulled a short ball from Tushar Deshpande straight to Ravindra Jadeja at deep midwicket on the longer part of the ground.”As an individual you have to evolve,” Pollard said of Hardik’s batting methods. “When you are young, you have the youthful exuberance. You go out and do things in a certain manner. The older you get, accountability and responsibility kick in.”What I am seeing is the guy is evolving. We, as individuals, want to see certain things but sometimes the game does not demand certain things and [players] are going to make mistakes as you go along, as we all have done. The individual has put in the work and hard work pays off. So, all of us will be singing his praises when time comes.”Speaking on ESPNcricinfo TimeOut, former Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody felt Hardik has the right support staff at Mumbai.”As good a player Hardik Pandya is, he has got to earn the respect of the dressing room and his fans,” Moody said. “He’s finding that difficult because no one’s letting him in at the moment. What would have made it easier is if they would have won their first three games in a row, and it would have been business as usual. We wouldn’t be this far down the road with regards to talking about it.”It is a challenge. He has got a lot of good people around him though. You look in that dugout there’s a lot of experience around him – a lot of international experience, a lot of IPL experience and on the field. That’s what he needs to draw from. He needs to take onboard support from that experience and try to get this ship turned in the right direction.”

Trio join former coach Gale in pulling out of delayed hearings, citing a lack of faith in process

Vithushan Ehantharajah03-Feb-2023Matthew Hoggard and Tim Bresnan, the former England fast bowlers, have hit out at the ECB’s disciplinary process after confirming that they will not be attending the hearings into historical racism at Yorkshire. Former Scotland international John Blain has also criticised the process and withdrawn his cooperation.Hoggard, a veteran of England’s 2005 Ashes victory, told the BBC that the inquest into allegations of institutional racism made by their former Yorkshire team-mate Azeem Rafiq had “failed everybody”, while Bresnan told the Times that they had pulled out because they believed they had “no chance of a fair hearing”.The three former Yorkshire cricketers were among seven people due to appear before the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) in March, on charges levelled by the ECB in June in the wake of Rafiq’s emotional testimony before the DCMS select committee in Westminster in November 2021.However, Hoggard, Bresnan and Blain have now taken the same approach that their former captain and ex-club coach Andrew Gale took last year, informing the ECB that they have lost confidence in the process and that they will not attempt to defend themselves against the charges.”The process has failed everybody,” Hoggard said. “Every party involved has a problem with the way this process has been dealt with. Azeem has a problem with it, all the respondents have, [former Yorkshire chairman] Lord Patel has, Yorkshire have. There has got to be a better way.”After what the ECB described as a “thorough and complex investigation”, the players were charged in accordance with Directive 3.3, which says: “No participant may conduct themselves in a manner or do any act or omission at any time which is improper or which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the ECB, the game of cricket or any cricketer or group of cricketers into disrepute.”Gale, the former club captain and latterly head coach – who is also Bresnan’s brother-in-law – responded two weeks later with a statement that denied all the allegations against him, adding that he had “moved on with his life”. He was also one of the members of staff who won an employment tribunal against Yorkshire last year, after their collective sacking in the wake of the allegations.In a subsequent statement, the ECB insisted that the laying of the charges in June last year had “not been a finding of guilt”, and claimed that the disciplinary process had been undermined by “significant misreporting” in the media.”Individuals are entitled to choose not to participate in the hearings if they wish, but the cases will still be heard in their absence and we are satisfied that the disciplinary process in this matter has been both rigorous and fair,” the statement read.”The ECB’s investigation and disciplinary process has been overseen by an independent committee and specialist leading King’s Counsel (KC).”As with any case before the Cricket Discipline Commission, defendants are entitled to a fair hearing by an independent and experienced CDC Panel where they can call witnesses, and they can also challenge the evidence in support of the charge, including through cross-examination of the ECB’s witnesses. It is entirely the decision of defendants if they choose not to take advantage of this opportunity.”At the end of the hearing it is for the independent CDC Panel, not the ECB, to determine guilt or otherwise and any sanction.”Hoggard’s witness statement, parts of which were revealed in The Cricketer last week, will be his only contribution to the commission. However, he told the BBC that he was pulling out because he didn’t think it was a “fair process”.”There are no winners in this,” he added. “It is not an admission of guilt. The people who know the truth, know the truth. That is all that matters to me. I, as a respondent, have not been spoken to by the ECB once.”Bresnan, who played in the 2010-11 Ashes win in Australia and was also part of the England team that won that year’s World T20, likened the experience to “being charged [by police] and tried without even being arrested”.”The thing that is hardest to swallow is that these allegations came out in such a way. It has been two-and-a-half years of nonstop articles, leaks, tweets, different stuff coming out without any right of reply,” he told the Times. “I had witnesses who wanted to provide statements in private, but we couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t appear in the public domain.”Blain said: “The decision to withdraw was quite an easy one in the end, given the process we have gone through. But it slightly hurts me, because I know my role in this and what I was at the club at the time.”For nearly 800 days I’ve kept my counsel on this. I haven’t been interviewed by the ECB and yet they’ve charged me without talking to me. It’s an allegation that was brought for an incident on an unstated date.”The leaks have been quite distasteful and reduced the whole thing to a bit of a circus. It didn’t have any class or traditional values about it. It had this feeling of being substandard.”Responding to the trio’s decision, Rafiq issued a statement in which he insisted his claims had been “vindicated time and again”.He added: “This has included: a legal investigation that confirmed I was a victim of racial harassment and bullying; a Yorkshire commissioned panel that concluded I suffered discrimination; numerous apologies, both public and private, from people who witnessed or were involved in this behaviour; and others have come forward to confirm the culture in the wider game.”It is regrettable that these defendants are not willing to go to a public hearing and face what happened.”At the time of writing, only Hoggard’s former England captain and fellow 2005 Ashes-winner, Michael Vaughan, and former bowling coach Richard Pyrah are due to participate with the process. Gary Ballance, who has left Yorkshire and returned to play for Zimbabwe, the country of his birth, accepted his CDC charge on five counts, including the use of racist language, but will not appear at the hearings.In November 2022, the CDC announced the hearing would be made public which in turn led to a delay in the process due to respondents appealing the decision. However, the ECB confirmed to the Press Association on January 13 that those appeals had been dismissed by an independent Appeal Panel convened by the CDC.The CDC panel comprises chair Tim O’Gorman, a lawyer and former professional cricketer, alongside Mark Milliken-Smith KC and Dr Seema Patel, a Senior Lecturer in Law who is an expert on discrimination in sport.

Senior seamer recalls days of paying to play as she hails progress of women’s game

Andrew Miller20-Jul-2021Katherine Brunt, the longest-serving member of the England women’s squad, has warned her peers not to lose sight of the huge progress made by their game, after a gender pay row threatened to overshadow Wednesday’s standalone opening fixture of the Hundred.According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, several of the more junior members of each of the Hundred’s eight city-based teams risk losing out on regular income for the duration of the tournament, due to heightened restrictions within the teams’ Covid-safe environments.With salaries for the women’s game starting at £3,600, compared to the lowest men’s pay bracket of £24,000, this means that some of the participants may be required to choose between the tournament or their existing jobs.However, Brunt – who made her Test debut as a 19-year-old in 2004, and went on to become of the ECB’s first centrally contracted female players a decade later – insisted that the women needed to remain mindful of the bigger picture, adding that the struggle for equality is never a smooth process, but that the prospects for their sport were better now than at any time in her career.”I used to pay to play,” Brunt said. “I used to only get expenses for a good eight years of my international career. So when you look at it from that standpoint, with more women in cricket being paid than ever before, then we’re doing pretty well. We’re doing very well.”The wages aren’t anything to turn your nose up at,” she added. “They’re good. Yes, they could definitely be better. And there’s gaps in it. That happens all the time in every different field, but it’s definitely going to get better. This isn’t going to go the other way, this is only going to go up.”Related

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A record 41 female players across the English game now hold professional contracts, and while Brunt said she sympathised with those players on the fringes who aren’t yet financially secure within cricket, she also recognised the responsibility of the Hundred’s female competitors to live up to the billing that this competition now offers them, and to set about proving their worth “time and time and time again”.”I do feel for those girls but it is a good chunk of change for one month’s work that they would never have seen before,” she said. “You’d only ever dream about it, to be honest, so you have to look at it from that angle too.”We’ve been fighting for equality for hundreds of years,” Brunt added. “These things don’t happen overnight. And as long as the conversation keeps going, that’s all you can ask for. It’s when you keep quiet and don’t say anything that things don’t move forward, so I think it’s great that the girls are speaking out and they’re brave enough to do that but, equally, sometimes the positive message gets lost in that.”Regardless of all the other things that are flying around, the important thing is that we are being paid. Yes, we are a way off the men, but that’s because the men bring in more crowds, they bring in more money. They bring in more press around the world. You can’t get people like Andre Russell and Rashid Khan over here to play unless you make it worth their while.”But once we start playing these games, and we get this year in the bag, and we show that we can play these games alongside the men, then they will invest in us even more. But we need to keep proving this time and time and time again, but not forget that positive message which is that we’re all being paid for once, and more than ever before.Katherine Brunt has been an England stalwart since before the days of professionalism•ECB/Getty Images

“I’m only going to bang on about the positives because I’m here to play the Hundred and get on with this, and do the best I can for my team.”Brunt’s opening match for Trent Rockets comes on Saturday when they take on Southern Brave at Trent Bridge, a venue that she has never played at in the entirety of her two-decade career. While she admitted to a degree of trepidation about bowling at a venue where England and Pakistan racked up 433 runs between them in last week’s men’s T20I, she also admitted that the chance to share equal billing with the men’s team would fill her with pride.”It’s going to be great,” Brunt said. “It’s my first time ever at Trent Bridge, which is unbelievable, but it’s a brilliant ground, with lovely facilities. The boys are here at the same time as us. I’m watching Rash [Rashid Khan] bowl now, and it gives you the feeling that you’re part of something bigger – part of one team, and not just a spare part, or a sidepiece. You’re ‘it’. You’re the ones that people are coming to watch and be entertained by. And that’s brilliant, we’re all really excited.”However, she added a note of caution to the anticipation, warning that the complications of the tournament’s build-up, as well as the fast-tracked nature of many of the newer players in the squad, meant that the standards in the opening rounds may need to be given some leeway.”We really don’t want to mess up, but it’s going to be carnage,” Brunt said. “People are going to have to be patient. We will get better, I promise you, but as of this point, tomorrow’s the first game and today I’ve still got four names to learn. It’s a quick turnaround, but we’ll get there.”