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Derbyshire have appointed Simon Storey as their new chief executive, replacing Keith Loring

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Apr-2012Derbyshire have appointed Simon Storey as their new chief executive. He replaces Keith Loring, who remains with the club in a consultancy role but has stepped down from day-to-day duties.Storey, 42, has a marketing background with 20 year’s commercial experience. He comes from a management role with a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland.”It is an exciting time to join the club,” Storey said. “I am relishing the opportunity to help lead Derbyshire towards future success. I do not underestimate the challenge ahead but I have confidence in the long-term direction of the club and I am committed to bringing all my leadership abilities, commercial experience and sporting passion to help the club achieve our goals on and off the field in the coming years.”Storey will inherit a county in reasonable financial shape, Derbyshire having made a profit in five of the last six years. But the main challenge is to bring back success on the field. Derbyshire have not finished above fifth in Division Two of the County Championship since their only season in the first division – in 2000 – where they finished bottom.Last season had long-standing chairman Don Amott leave the county after a boardroom dispute and coach John Morris left two months into the new season.But Derbyshire have begun 2012 strongly, with victories over Northamptonshire and Glamorgan and a draw against Leicestershire.

Zimbabwe Cricket have confirmed that Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand will be touring the country in the course of a busy schedule in 2011

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Mar-2011Zimbabwe Cricket have confirmed that Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand will be touring the country in the course of a busy schedule in 2011 that includes both one-day internationals and Test matches, as well as a triangular series including South Africa and an Australian A side.”The Zimbabwe Cricket team is scheduled to have a busy schedule in 2011-2012 season commencing in August,” ZC managing director Ozias Bvute told in Zimbabwe. “Tours have been confirmed with Bangladesh, Pakistan, New Zealand and a triangular series against South Africa and Australian ‘A’ sides.”Bvute admitted frustration at Zimbabwe’s performance at the World Cup, where the team thrashed Canada and Kenya but struggled to be competitive against the top sides. He suggested that more matches against strong teams was the key to Zimbabwe’s development.”There is a lot of disappointment after our inability to progress to the quarter-finals at the World Cup, however, given the schedule of matches lined up over the next four years we feel this should adequately prepare our team for the next World Cup.”Zimbabwe’s home season begins with Bangladesh’s visit between July 1 and July 22. The two teams have been regular opponents in recent years, having played 18 ODIs against each other since January 2009, with Bangladesh winning 13 of those games. Zimbabwe will play a one-off Test match and four ODIs against them before Australia A arrive for a one-day tri-series also involving Zimbabwe and South Africa, and two four-day matches against the host. Match details are yet to be confirmed at this stage, but the tour will run from late June to late July.Pakistan then visit for another Test match, three ODIs and two Twenty20 matches from July 26 to August 19. New Zealand, who sent an A side to Zimbabwe for an unofficial Test series against Zimbabwe A last year, have not yet finalised dates for their tour.Understandably, the squads for visiting international sides are yet to be named, but Cricket Australia’s National Selection Panel has announced a provisional 24-man squad which will be trimmed in May.”We have given the provisional squad advanced notice for this tour to allow them sufficient time to prepare for the series pending selection in the final squad,” said National Talent Manager Greg Chappell. “The Australia A program in recent years has played a big role in readying athletes for the rigors of international cricket, with players such as Tim Paine, Callum Ferguson, Cameron White and Mitchell Starc all coming into the Australian set-up at varying times over the last couple of years and having an impact.”This group is a cross section of the best young players in the country. Some of them have already had a taste of international cricket and show signs of being among those that will be the backbone of our teams in the future, while the others have shown enough in domestic cricket to suggest that they are the type of cricketer that we will need to be able to challenge India, South Africa, England and Sri Lanka for supremacy in the next few years.”With the new World Test Championship and the new ODI ranking periods beginning straight after the ICC Cricket World Cup and with tours to Sri Lanka and South Africa later this year and New Zealand and India touring Australia next summer, it will be a great opportunity for these young players to show their skills and put their name forward to be part of this challenging period for Australian cricket,” added Chappell.The last time an Australian representative team visited Zimbabwe was in 2008, when a Centre of Excellence Scholarship team toured Africa.Provisional Australia A squad: George Bailey, Michael Beer, Luke Butterworth, Trent Copeland, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Callum Ferguson, Aaron Finch, Peter George, Jon Holland, Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Nicolas Maddinson, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Stephen O’Keefe, Tim Paine, James Pattinson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

England coach Andy Flower believes the IPL experience of his top-order batsmen will serve them well when the World Twenty20 begins in West Indies at the end of the month

Cricinfo staff22-Apr-2010England coach Andy Flower believes the IPL experience of his top-order batsmen will serve them well when the World Twenty20 begins in West Indies at the end of the month. Five of the squad – Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Michael Lumb and Ravi Bopara – have been plying their trade in India with mixed results ahead of England’s attempt to finally win a global one-day tournament.Pietersen, despite being dropped for a period by Bangalore Royal Challengers, has been in impressive form while Collingwood has continued his productive year, but Flower thinks the main beneficiary of the IPL will be Lumb who could make his international debut when England play West Indies on May 3.He is the one uncapped player in the 15-man squad and is being earmarked to open the batting alongside Craig Kieswetter who made his debut in the one-day series against Bangladesh.”I think the experience of the IPL will stand these guys in very good stead,” Flower said. “Michael Lumb will certainly benefit from the fact he was out there exposed to crowds of 30-40-50,000 people and a lot of noise and excitement. When he makes his debut for England it won’t be as much of a shock or surprise as it might have been.”Ravi Bopara started the IPL well and it’s a pity he didn’t play the whole tournament but, again, exposure to international cricketers and some of the talk and conversation that would happen when you’re in the dressing-room watching the game or when you’re having a meal together in the hotel, will all be invaluable. And KP coming into some dominant form is a great thing for English cricket.”Ironically the England player who joined the IPL with the most hype was Morgan following his impressive form in Bangladesh and against Pakistan in Dubai. However, he only played six matches games for Bangalore, making 35 runs in four innings, before being benched as the likes of Pietersen and Cameron White arrived from their international duties.Flower, though, remains incredibly excited by the talent Morgan has shown in his short England career which included a match-winning, unbeaten 110 in the second ODI against Bangladesh to go alongside a 51-ball 67 against Pakistan in the first Twenty20 in February.”He’s an extraordinary cricketer in many ways – he’s not a big bloke but he hits the ball incredibly hard and he times it beautifully,” said Flower, who was promoting the Sky Sports coach education programme. “He can play a variety of roles – he can play the man who hits it out of the ground, but he’s also played a couple of innings for us where he’s knocked it around and played quite a solid role in the middle order.”One of his qualities is the ability to adapt and to play the situation accordingly, and I think that is part of the difference between an international cricketer and an ordinary cricketer,” Flower added. “I wouldn’t want to pigeon-hole him too much. He might become a Test cricketer for all we know.”England depart for Barbados on Sunday having feared for a while that they would face an arduous journey over land and sea to Dubai to catch a charter flight after the air chaos brought by the volcanic ash cloud.

Gudakesh Motie, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford and Romario Shepherd have been rested for the Nepal series, while Shimron Hetmyer had made himself unavailable

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Sep-2025The West Indies team management is looking to expand the bowlers’ pool ahead of the T20 World Cup early next year in India and Sri Lanka.Their next T20I assignment is against Nepal at the end of this month for which the selectors have picked five uncapped players, including legspinner Zishan Motara, left-arm quick Ramon Simmonds and legspin-bowling allrounder Navin Bidaisee, apart from batters Ackeem Auguste and Karima Gore, who played international cricket for USA until 2021 but is yet to get his West Indies cap.They have also picked a support staff heavily stacked with former bowlers to accompany the 15-man squad to Sharjah, with Rayon Griffith as the head coach, Ottis Gibson as fast-bowling consultant, and Nikita Miller and Jerome Taylor as assistant coaches.Related

• 'Not tactics, just team belief' – Pooran toasts TKR's spirit after CPL glory

• Nepal, WI to play first bilateral T20I series in September

• Five uncapped players in Akeal Hosein-led WI T20I squad against Nepal

“The tour of Nepal is quite strategic for us,” CWI director of cricket Miles Bascombe said in a press meet. “We have recognised that probably over the last few years, our bowling has been a little bit of the Achilles’ heel in our white-ball team. So we have tried to bolster the support for the bowling group.”After touring the UAE, West Indies will tour Bangladesh for six white-ball matches in October and then fly to New Zealand for five T20Is and three ODIs.Full-time head coach Daren Sammy explained that some of the first-choice players like Gudakesh Motie, the second-highest wicket-taker in the ongoing CPL, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford and Romario Shepherd had been rested for the games in Nepal to manage their workloads. Except Shimron Hetmyer, who blew hot and blew cold this CPL and was unavailable for the tour.Ottis Gibson’s presence raises the profile of the West Indies support staff•Getty Images

“If you look at the workload of these guys, Rovman for sure, he has been battling a wrist injury that prevented him from playing in the Pakistan series,” Sammy said. “I mean, he pushed it through this CPL. He requested a time off for him to further look at it. Motie and Shepherd, because of their workload over the last few months, we gave them a time off for that. Sherfane was also [rested] because of his workload.”Hetmyer also requested that he was unavailable for that Nepal trip. So again, like I said, it’s not always a bed of roses. Some things we don’t see, but it’s always a challenge. I’ve said that when I call somebody and tell them, ‘you’ve been selected for some of the series’, and I have to ask to everyone, do you accept the selection to play for West Indies? It’s something that I must do because we don’t own the players. We could only select from what’s available to us. Hettie has been one of our promising, talented players from the Under-19 level. However, the scope of things that now… we could only select and hope guys accept this selection. But he’s always available for selection from our side.”Sammy further said that the selectors and coaches also looked at the performers from the inaugural Breakout League – a new T20 league launched earlier this year to spot talent from across the Caribbean – and the CPL to pick fresh players for the upcoming T20Is.Nathan Edward is a rare left-arm quick in West Indies cricket•ICC/Getty Images

“You look at the Breakout [League] and again, I will emphasise the need for continued avenues for us to showcase and unearth talent,” he said. “And the Breakout, maybe some people were against it because it was a T20 format, but if you see this year, the amount of players that came through – Bidaisee was one of them that came through and show his skillset in the Breakout. And, he reminds me of Samuel Badree, who probably could bowl in the powerplay, bowl in the middle, very consistent around that good-length area that brings challenges to batsmen.”And two areas that I’ve spoken about in our bowling department in T20s is the need for a wristspinner. And every single team I could remember in World Cup T20 cricket, has had a left-arm seamer. Just the angle they bring and the difficulty, especially in the back-end of an innings, or whether the ability to swing. I don’t think in the history of West Indies cricket we’ve actually even had two left-arm seamers playing together, much less three. And we also, from the Breakout, you see a young Nathan Edward, who’s been quite quality as well. So again, you put that and you’re hoping that one or two will graduate so quickly that they could be into the senior team.”We gave Jediah [Blades] the exposure, but the way Ramon Simmonds has been bowling in all phases of the game gives me, and I’m pretty sure the selection group, confidence. It makes us excited about the prospects, the promise he’s shown. And then to top that, having somebody like an Ottis Gibson working with them, it’s a win-win situation for us. And hopefully that experience that they will gain or learn from getting the skillsets and the technical aspects of fast bowling or seam bowling from Ottis on that short trip could be a step…”Matthew Forde was still not fit to be considered for selection after he dislocated his shoulder in August, which made him miss the ODIs against Pakistan. CWI is, however, hoping he will be “up and running again” by the Bangladesh series.

Three teams with ten points keep table toppers in check

Mohammad Isam28-Mar-2024

Key takeaways

Abahani Limited are on a hot streak in the Dhaka Premier League after winning their first six matches on the trot. They are on top of the points table while Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, Legends of Rupganj and Mohammedan Sporting Club are behind them with ten points each. Only net run-rate separates the three teams.The veterans stepped up this week with Shakib Al Hasan making important contributions for Sheikh Jamal – including a fifty and three wickets in two games, while Tamim Iqbal struck three fifties in a row for Prime Bank Cricket Club. Mashrafe Mortaza was the biggest surprise taking 5 for 19 bowling offspin against Gazi Group Cricketers on his way to his eighth five-wicket haul in List-A cricket.

Best batters

Parvez Hossain Emon has hit three centuries in this DPL season. He is the first to cross the 400-run mark in the competition, with Mohammedan’s Mahidul Islam Ankon (373 runs) hot on his heels.Related

• DPL week 1: Abahani's flying start, Mahedi's last-over hat-trick, and Tamim gets stuck in traffic

Ankon struck three fifties this week, helping Mohammedan to five wins so far. Tamim too had a productive week with three fifties while Emon and Towhid Hridoy were the only centurions. Hridoy struck an unbeaten 125 off 84 balls for Abahani against Rupganj Tigers Cricket Club, with six sixes and eleven fours. Abahani won that game by 140 runs. Emon’s 110 though came in a losing cause as Mohammedan beat Prime Bank by one wicket at BKSP-4 in Savar.

Best bowlers

Maruf Mridha, the young left-arm quick who plays for Gazi Tyres Cricket Academy, has risen to the top of the wicket-takers’ chart with 16 scalps. At the other end of the experience scale is Legends of Rupganj’s Mashrafe, with his five-wicket haul. Abahani’s left-arm spinner Tanvir Islam took the other five-for this week, with figures of 6-3-7-5 against Brothers Union.

Best match

Mohammedan’s one-wicket win against Prime Bank could be decisive in the title race. Batting first, Prime Bank raced to 218 for one with openers Emon and Tamim, and No. 3 Sabbir Rahman all firing. They collapsed thereafter, to be 279 all out.Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby is one of the stars to look out for•BCB

Mohammedan were given a revised target of 272 runs in 47 overs after rain interrupted play at the BKSP-4 ground, in the 33rd over. After Ankon’s 78, it was their No. 8 Abu Hider, whose 36-ball 54 took Mohammedan home from 159 for 6.

Points to ponder

Abahani continue to dominate the points table but they could face stiff competition from old rival Mohammedan and a new one in Sheikh Jamal.
Rupganj Tigers and City Club remain winless while Partex Sporting Club, Gazi Tyres and Brothers Union have all opened their accounts.

Players to watch

After allrounder Ariful Islam and left-arm spinner Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby made good starts in the first week, Maruf Mridha shone among the Under-19 graduates this season. Prime Bank opener Emon has also shown consistency with his three centuries while Mohammedan’s Ankon is steadily rising too.

Team-mates told her “go for the hundred because you don’t get opportunities like this very often”

Firdose Moonda15-Feb-2023Muneeba Ali knows that cricketers don’t get days like the one she had against Ireland very often. Only one of them will become the first woman from their country to score a T20I hundred. When more centurions come, they will join an elite club.It’s only once every couple of years that a cricketer can say they’ve scored a century at a World Cup. Before today, across seven editions of the Women’s T20 World Cup, there were five centurions: Deandra Dottin, Meg Lanning, Harmanpreet Kaur, Heather Knight and Lizelle Lee.Muneeba is the first woman from Pakistan to score a T20I hundred and the sixth to achieve the feat at a World Cup, and she did it all without even a T20I fifty to her name. Her previous best in the format was 43.”I enjoyed that,” she said afterwards. “We don’t get these chances in international cricket regularly so I cherish this moment.”And so she should.In what became a stirring riposte to being beaten 2-1 at home to this same Ireland team, Pakistan piled on the second-highest score of the tournament so far and then dismissed Ireland for under 100. The victory was set up by Muneeba, who started gently when she flicked the second ball she faced fine for Pakistan’s first four and steered the fourth past deep third and then brought out a power game that left Ireland out of answers.She pulled Leah Paul behind square, swatted Arlene Kelly down the ground and swept Cara Murray through short fine leg. But she had to survive being dropped on 47, when she heaved Paul to long-on, where Louise Little charged in and then had to pull out of the catch to avoid clashing into mid-on, to bring out her favourite shot: the drive through extra cover. There were four of them, including the hit that saw her reach her century, and it was the result of a mis-field, one of several from an Ireland outfit that had a tough day out but could still admire Muneeba’s effort. “It was difficult to be on the other end but as a spectacle it was outstanding,” Arlene Kelly said.Kelly blamed a bowling performance that saw Ireland spray the ball “two sides of the wicket,” and “string together a couple of dot balls and then give a loosener,” for how heavily they conceded but also acknowledged that Muneeba’s approach put them under pressure. Like many batters at this tournament – England, Australia and India’s line-ups for example – Pakistan “want to take a fearless approach,” Muneeba said, and approach their batting proactively rather than reactively.That reflected in the way Muneeba paced her innings. She knew from about the 12th over, after she’d reached fifty, that a hundred was there for the taking. By the 15th over, she was on 70 and her hundred came in the 19th over, with her second fifty scored in only 26 balls. “There were enough overs and I had enough runs and my team-mates were telling me to go for the hundred because you don’t get opportunities like this very often,” she said.She took on Laura Delany and Kelly, both medium-pacers – evidence that she “enjoys playing pace and is still learning against spin,” but she said she will continue to “work on my boundary options.” Crucially, Muneeba wants to concentrate on batting through the innings and giving Pakistan the ability to end innings on a high note.”There are always some overs which are more productive than others but what is important is how you finish an innings and that is something we could do well today,” she said. “In the first few overs we took our time to settle and that’s how it normally should be. Today was my day and I built a good innings.”Not long after that innings ended, Muneeba had to come out and keep wicket in Pakistan’s defence. Asked if she found it difficult to concentrate on that task after the highs of her hundred, she smiled and replied in the negative. “That wasn’t hard because I got good runs so I was enjoying my time in the middle. I wanted us to win.”And after they did, it all sunk in: days like these don’t come very often at all. “I realised only after the match that I had done something special.”

Captain picked up three wickets in the final over but Bangladesh don’t get the fairytale ending

Danyal Rasool22-Nov-2021Bangladesh won the toss, Bangladesh opted to bat, Bangladesh put up a below par total, Bangladesh lost. You’ve seen this movie before in this series but anyone who told you this one was no different would have to be treated with scepticism. Because although it looked like the same script might play out, a sensational final over from Mahmudullah took Bangladesh to the brink of a famous victory. It went down to the final delivery, which Mohammad Nawaz carved over extra cover for a boundary to complete a clean sweep for Pakistan, and a heart-breaking loss for their opponents.Bangladesh got off to a slow start once more, with the top order failing to find enough boundaries in the Powerplay with Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim and Shahnawaz Dahani keeping the pressure up. Both sides had made a number of changes to their XI, with Bangladesh handing out as many as three debuts, and yet they still couldn’t help but fall behind. Despite wickets in hand, Pakistan ensured Bangladesh were never able to achieve the acceleration they will have aimed for, managing just 55 in the final eight overs and finishing with 124 for 7.Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have both found runs much harder to come by this series, and throughout the Powerplay, they preferred conservatism over aggression. That meant this was the highest opening partnership of the series, but when a rank long hop saw Babar hole out, Pakistan had just 32 runs in seven overs.The game entered a holding pattern where both sides were content to take it deep. Haider Ali was the glue holding Pakistan’s innings together – and the asking rate in check – with a 38-ball 45, but when he and Sarfaraz Ahmed fell off successive Mahmudullah deliveries, Pakistan still needed 8 off 4. It took a six from Iftikhar Ahmed and a final-ball boundary from Nawaz to get over the line even as pandemonium threatened to take over.That final overOn the first ball of the sixth over, a drive from Babar hit Taskin Ahmed flush on the hand, causing the Bangladesh fast bowler to go off for medical attention, with Shohidul Islam completing his over. When Taskin returned a little later, it seemed like little more than a footnote in the game. But towards the end it became immediately apparent that Shohidul taking over the sixth over meant Bangladesh were a bowler short for the final six deliveries.Haider Ali played a crucial hand in Pakistan’s chase against Bangladesh•AFP/Getty Images

Captain Mahmudullah took on the job himself, with Pakistan needing eight. He began with a dot ball before Sarfaraz sent one straight down cow corner’s throat, and Haider sent the next one down to long-on. Mahmudullah was on a hat-trick, Pakistan needed eight off three, and two new batters were at the crease. Iftikhar met his first delivery with a lovely lofted drive that went all the way for six, but with two to get off the last two balls, he went for the glory shot and was out caught at short third man.This is where things began to tip over in bedlam. Mahmudullah bowled from well behind the umpire, and Nawaz pulled out exceptionally late as the ball clattered into the stumps. The umpires called a dead ball but a brief argument ensued, with Bangladesh clearly unhappy about that call. Next delivery, Mahmudullah stopped in his stride, threatening to run the non-striker out. The build-up over, he finally tossed one up full, and Nawaz backed away to clear extra cover, finding a gap and taking Pakistan through to the narrowest of victories.The immediate squeezeThese three games have felt like clones of each other. Bangladesh, batting first once more, struggled in the Powerplay, with no player personifying their stifled approach more than Mohammad Naim. He top-scored with 47, but took 50 balls to get there. That he needed a sharp acceleration at the end to even manage that strike rate indicates how rough it was in the early stages for the opener, who managed just 10 runs off his first 21 balls. His innings was just one sign of a deeper malaise though, where no one who faced more than three balls was able to get more than a run-a-ball.Wasim and chances grabbedWasim spent the entire T20 World Cup on the bench, even when Hasan Ali’s struggles appeared to hint there might be an opening in the side. He has brushed aside that disappointment emphatically in Bangladesh on pitches that aren’t designed for his kind of game. After two exceptional performances, it was more of the same for the young fast bowler, who was economical up front, and returned to mop up with a couple of wickets at the death. This might have been a low-intensity game but Wasim treated it as anything but, keeping rigidly to an off stump line in the Powerplay, allowing just five runs in two overs, before being called on to bowl the 17th and 19th. Bangladesh would manage just 10 runs in those two, with two wickets in the 19th to take Wasim’s series figures to 11-0-48-5.Haider finally comes goodHaider’s inclusion in the Pakistan side is almost divisive enough to form part of a culture war. There’s the mounting statistical evidence he has failed to raise his game at international level, a slew of low scores in innings that palpably lacked confidence underlining that point. And then there’s the eye test combined with his domestic form, which indicates this precocious 21-year old is a supremely gifted striker of the ball. These might not be the pitches to showcase that, but in a target of 125 where no other Pakistan batter (min. three balls faced) scored at more than six an over, Haider smashed his way through the Bangladesh attack with 45 off 38. It included a courageous pair of sixes in the 16th over, just after Shohidul had Rizwan chopping on to bring the asking rate back under control and set Pakistan on course.

But, he says, the Pakistan board decided to go ahead with the series to do its part for the resumption of cricket

PTI26-Jul-2020The PCB came under intense pressure in deciding whether to send its team to England or not after 10 players tested positive for Covid-19, but eventually went ahead with the tour to help with the resumption of the game amid the pandemic, CEO Wasim Khan has said.Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, Haider Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Wahab Riaz, Imran Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain and Kashif Bhatti were among those who tested positive in the first round of testing ahead of the tour. Some of these players subsequently cleared a second or later test and joined the rest of the squad in England.Pakistan play a three-match Test series against England starting on August 5, followed by three T20Is.”The Board was under pressure when so many players’ tests came positive. Thus sending the cricket team to England during the coronavirus pandemic was quite a tough decision,” Wasim Khan was quoted as saying by Pakistani channel Geo News. “We kept to our plan to go ahead with the tour because we had in the first place decided to send the team to play our important part in the restoration of world cricket, and to keep it on track it is imperative to continue with matches.”Khan also said that “cricket and Covid-19 will have to co-exist”.He said the PCB also took into account that West Indies proceeded with their tour of England despite the uncertainties. “Whenever we are asked regarding our decision to proceed with the tour to England, the same question should also be posed to the West Indies cricket team, which has also continued with scheduled matches,” he said. “West Indies decided to go to England when the situation was quite worse over there [due to the pandemic].”

In the aftermath of the Christchurch attack, both NZC and BCB decided that sending an age-group side to one of the worst affected countries would be insensitive

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Apr-2019New Zealand Cricket (NZC) have cancelled their Under-19 team’s tour to Bangladesh, slated for this month, in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques in which at least 40 people had been killed.NZC chairman Greg Barclay said both the NZC and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) agreed that sending an age-group team to one of the countries worst affected would be insensitive and inappropriate.”We have conveyed our deep sense of regret over the circumstances leading to this mutual decision, and the BCB have been both understanding and generous in response,” Barclay said. NZC have nothing but respect for the BCB and believe this development has only served to bring our countries closer together, and to strengthen our bond through cricket. In reply, the BCB has expressed ‘solidarity with NZC and the peace-loving people of New Zealand’.”However, Barclay said both countries remain committed to playing bilateral series across all levels, including “Developmental” and “A” tours, starting with the Bangladesh Under-19 team’s tour to New Zealand in September.Members of Bangladesh’s senior side were just “about 50 yards from the mosque”, which was the site of one of two terror attacks in Christchurch last month. They managed to escape through Hagley Park and shortly after the tour was called off.The aftermath of the attack had also seen Canterbury pull out of the final round of the Plunket Shield.

Suresh Raina’s 41-ball 61 proved in vain as Tamil Nadu chased down 163 with four balls to spare

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jan-2018Washington Sundar’s all-round effort and Sanjay Yadav’s 32-ball 52 helped Tamil Nadu register a five-wicket win over Uttar Pradesh in a Super League encounter in Kolkata. Uttar Pradesh captain Suresh Raina’s 41-ball 61 proved in vain as Tamil Nadu chased down 163 with four balls to spare. Raina’s half-century came a day after he scored an unbeaten 126 against Bengal.Electing to bat, Uttar Pradesh powered away to a strong start despite losing opener Samarth Singh in the third over. Raina and Shivam Chaudhary (38 off 33 balls) put on 70 for the second wicket in 8.1 overs. After Chaudhary’s dismissal, Raina and Akshdeep Nath, the other hero from Uttar Pradesh’s win over Bengal, raised 53 runs. By the time Sundar struck to remove Raina, the left-hand batsman had finished with seven fours and a six. Nath remained unbeaten on 38 off 28 balls even as Sundar finished with figures of 2 for 32. Tamil Nadu captain Vijay Shankar and legspinner M Ashwin, who is expected to be on IPL franchises’ wishlists, took a wicket each.Sundar (33 off 30) and Bharath Shankar (30 off 19) got Tamil Nadu off to a brisk start in the chase. With No. 3 Yadav striking at a brisk pace, including two fours and three sixes, and N Jagadeesan scoring an 11-ball 20, Tamil Nadu got home without too much discomfort even as Ankit Rajpoot and Mohsin Khan took two wickets each. Despite a steep reserve price of INR 1.5 crore, Sundar, who made his international debut in the recent home series against Sri Lanka, is expected to be a hot pick at the IPL auction.