All posts by h79snht.top

أعلن المدير الفني للفريق الأول لكرة القدم بنادي ريال مدريد، كارلو أنشيلوتي، عن قائمة اللاعبين الذين سيخوضون مباراة إشبيلية في الجولة الثامنة عشر من الدوري الإسباني.

ويلتقي ريال مدريد وإشبيلية غدًا الأحد، على ملعب “سانتياجو برنابيو” في تمام الساعة الخامسة والربع مساءً بتوقيت “القاهرة”.

ويحتل ريال مدريد المركز الثالث في سلم ترتيب الدوري الإسباني برصيد 37 نقطة مع مباراة إضافية مؤجلة، بينما يأتي إشبيلية في المركز الحادي عشر برصيد 22 نقطة.

وشهدت قائمة ريال مدريد غياب فينيسيوس جونيور عن المباراة، بسبب إيقافه وحصوله على عدة بطاقات صفراء.

اقرأ ايضاً.. أنشيلوتي يكشف عن أسوأ لحظاته في 2024.. ويوضح حالة ميندي وموعد عودة ألابا قائمة ريال مدريد لمباراة إشبيلية في الدوري الإسباني

حراسة المرمى: تيبو كورتوا، أندريه لونين، سيرجيو ميستر.

خط الدفاع: لوكاس فاسكيز، خيسوس فاييخو، فران جارسيا، أنطونيو روديجر، فيرلاند ميندي، راوؤل أسينسيو.

خط الوسط: جود بيلينجهام، إدواردو كامافينجا، فيدي فالفيردي، لوكا مودريتش، أوريلين تشواميني، أردا جولر، داني سيبايوس.

خط الهجوم: كيليان مبابي، إندريك، رودريجو، إبراهيم دياز.

📋✅ ¡Nuestros convocados!
🆚 @SevillaFC #RealMadridSevillaFC pic.twitter.com/lp3IR7ford — Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) December 21, 2024

United Arab Emirates stirred the qualifying round of the Asia Cup T20 with an upset over Afghanistan in a high-scoring opening match in Fatullah

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Feb-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Rohan Mustafa’a 77 is the highest individual score by a UAE batsman in T20Is•ICC

United Arab Emirates stirred the qualifying round of the Asia Cup T20 with an upset over Afghanistan in a fairly high-scoring opening match in Fatullah on Friday.In what was largely a tale of two knocks, Rohan Mustafa, the UAE opener, came trumps; his 50-ball 77 laying the base for their strong total of 176 for 4. Afghanistan were rocked early, and didn’t quite recover even though Karim Sadiq kept them in the hunt with a fighting 48-ball 72. The target eventually proved to be 16 too many.On paper, there was little doubt as to which was the stronger side. But UAE, with only three players having an experience of 10 or more T20Is, did the early running after opting to bat, with Muhammad Kaleem complementing Mustafa well during the course of a quick 83-run opening stand before Rashid Khan struck.The 17-year old legspinner, who impressed during the limited-overs series against Zimbabwe last month, slowed things down further by dismissing Shaiman Anwar and Amjad Javed, the captain, off consecutive overs as UAE, who looked set to get close to 200 at one stage, slipped from 121 for 1 to 128 for 4.Usman Mushtaq and Mohammad Shahzad came up with the rescue act. The two lent the finishing touches to the innings by adding 48 off the last five overs; Shahzad being particularly harsh on comeback man Shapoor Zadran, who was smashed for two sixes in the 17th over.Afghanistan’s chase hit a roadblock upfront as Mohammad Shahzad and Usman Ghani were dismissed in the space of three deliveries inside the first two overs. Asghar Stanikzai’s wicket to his opposite number further threatened to pull the shutters on the chase.Sadiq and Mohammad Nabi, coming into the tournament on the back of a successful stint with Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League, revived the chase with a 47-run stand, before Farhan Ahmed, the left-arm spinner, came back for a new spell and prised out Nabi for 23.The loss of wickets forced Sadiq to hit out, which he did quite well to bring up a half-century off just 35 balls to bring the equation down to 33 off the last two overs. Sadiq, however, fell for 72 when he was bowled by seamer Mohammad Naveed. Mustafa then followed his rapid fifty with three wickets in the final over as Afghanistan were bowled out for 160 with one ball to spare.By winning as comprehensively as they did, UAE also made it loud and clear that they weren’t in it to merely make up the numbers.

Andre Fletcher batted through a scorching afternoon in the Florida heat, making an unbeaten 79 to set up a 63-run win over Jamaica Tallawahs in Lauderhill

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Florida30-Jul-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAndre Fletcher batted through a scorching afternoon in the Florida heat, making an unbeaten 79 to set up a 63-run win over Jamaica Tallawahs in Lauderhill. It clinched a playoff berth for St Lucia Zouks and moved them two points clear of Trinbago Knight Riders into sole possession of third place. Zouks’ total of 206 for 3 is the highest total of CPL 2016 and second-highest ever in the four-year history of the CPL.Fletcher played the anchor role on a placid batting wicket as Johnson Charles and Shane Watson played the aggressor in partnerships of 89 and 59 for the first and second wickets respectively. Charles clubbed seven fours and two sixes in his 59 while Watson produced a flurry of sweetly-timed straight sixes, five in all, to make 43 off 20 balls.Fletcher later said the Florida heat – temperatures hit 33C with a real feel of 38C with the humidity – were the hottest conditions he had ever played in.Though the pitch played just as well in the second innings, Tallawahs were dealt an early blow when drawcard Chris Gayle was cramped up by Delorn Johnson and produced an edge to first slip for 13. Kumar Sangakkara kept up with the run rate early in the Powerplay, but got into a mix-up with Chadwick Walton and was run-out for 18 to make it 57 for 2 in the sixth over.Walton eventually top-scored for Tallawahs with 54 off 51 balls but struggled to maintain momentum. Tallawahs needed 68 off the final two overs with Andre Russell on strike but when he was caught at the long-on boundary to start the 19th over, a playoff berth was clinched by Zouks.

Mason Crane produced a stunning spell of legspin to secure a 3-0 whitewash for the South in a rain-affected climax to the new North-South Series in Abu Dhabi

ECB Reporters Network21-Mar-2017
ScorecardDaniel Bell-Drummond’s 81 anchored South’s innings•Getty Images

Mason Crane produced a stunning spell of legspin to secure a 3-0 whitewash for the South in a rain-affected climax to the new North-South Series in Abu Dhabi.The North seemed on course for victory in a game restricted to 40 overs per side by rare desert rain, with Ben Duckett providing a flying start to their pursuit of a modest South total of 228 for 8, and Sam Hain and Liam Livingstone sharing a mature third-wicket stand of 67 to steer the North to 146 for 2.But Crane, the 20-year-old Hampshire legspinner who recently became the first overseas player to represent New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield since Imran Khan, then offered further evidence of his exciting potential by taking four wickets for one run in the space of 10 balls under the floodlights at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.Hain was bowled for 44 from 97 balls, Joe Clarke was also bowled for a golden duck, and Crane went close to a hat-trick as Jack Leaning’s edge fell short of second slip.Leaning was out in the next over, also bowled and bemused, and finally Crane claimed the key wicket of Livingstone, the Lancashire allrounder who excelled on the recent England Lions tour of Sri Lanka, and had just reached his first half century of the series.He was lured down the pitch and smartly stumped by Ben Foakes, and despite another battling innings from Tim Bresnan, Toby Roland-Jones and Tom Curran polished off the North tail.Other performances of note in the tightest contest of the series included 81 from Daniel Bell-Drummond, continuing the good List A form which has brought him a Lions century in Sri Lanka and 92 not out in the first North-South contest in Dubai.Roland-Jones underlined his allround value by thumping an unbeaten 43 from 24 balls to give the South important lower-order runs, while Mark Wood continued his encouraging comeback after ankle surgery by taking 2 for 38, and the North spinners Josh Poysden and Graeme White both impressed – Poysden taking 3 for 55, and White claiming James Vince and Bell-Drummond as classic slow-left-arm victims.The game was delayed by almost four hours by steady morning rain, and North captain Keaton Jennings chose to bowl when he won his third toss of the series.Both teams were forced to make one change, with Sam Northeast ruled out for the South after feeling a twinge in his hamstring when making a century in the second game in Dubai on Sunday, and Durham allrounder Paul Coughlin unavailable after suffering cramp in his hamstring during that game.The South also recalled Lewis Gregory in place of his Somerset team-mate Tim Groenewald, with Crane replacing Northeast, while the North brought back White in addition to Wood, with Nottinghamshire’s Harry Gurney dropping out.Wickets fell steadily on a tricky pitch, but Bell-Drummond again displayed patience and skill to hold things together before Roland-Jones provided those much-needed late runs.Duckett responded by whacking 37 from 17 balls with seven fours and a six, but Roland-Jones prevented him from inflicting any further damage, and Liam Dawson produced another tidy spell of left-arm spin before Crane’s match-winning burst.

Kent were level with Essex at the top of Division Two for a few heady hours before a thumping innings win for Essex against Worcestershire reasserted the superiority of the long-time leaders

Vithushan Ehantharajah at Chelmsford02-Sep-2016
ScorecardTom Westley picked up a couple of wickets after scoring a career-best 254•Getty Images

“I’d be lying if I said I weren’t checking the scores,” admitted Essex’s head coach Chris Silverwood.Every interval – virtually every moment of peace – at Chelmsford over the last three days had been broken by an update of scores from around the country, both in the stands and the players’ balcony.News of Kent’s emphatic victory over Sussex, taking them level on points with Essex at the top of Division Two, filtered through as the players were walking off the field for tea. Just over an hour later, Essex had completed their demolition job of Worcestershire. This victory by an innings and 161 runs will have registered down the road in Kent, too.A three-day finish was on the cards when Worcestershire were reduced to 64 for 5 by lunch, in their first innings on day one. That Essex were able to fulfil expectations was ultimately down to Graham Napier, who picked up his fourth five-wicket haul of the season, after Ryan ten Doeschate had brought up his third century of the season before declaring 371 runs ahead.It was not the cleanest morning’s work from Essex. They lost Tom Westley run out for 254: his innings ended at 506 minutes after ten Doeschate dropped the ball into the off side and ran instantly. Westley gave up the run about halfway down, as Brett D’Oliveira swooped from point to throw down the stumps.Still, the Essex skipper remained calm and brought up his century from 114 balls. His innings also took his season’s tally past 1,000 first-class runs for the first time in his career.Essex should have struck in the first over of Worcestershire’s second innings. Jamie Porter got his fourth delivery to lift off a length and take Daryl Mitchell’s edge, only for Nick Browne to put down a simple catch at third slip. Browne would make amends later with a stunning one-handed catch at point, off the bowling of Will Rhodes, to remove Tom Fell.Mitchell’s reprieve allowed him and D’Oliveira to survive until the last over before lunch. It was then that David Masters, in his first over from the Hayes Close end, where he nabbed all seven of his first innings wickets, sent Mitchell on his way with a delivery that kept low as it moved in, knocking into middle and off stump.With the fourth ball after lunch, D’Oliveira was accounted for – becoming the first of Napier’s three afternoon-session wickets when he edged through to James Foster. The second came when Joe Clarke played on, looking to continue on an enterprising innings that was cut short at 22.At this point, George Rhodes, the only bright spot for Worcestershire at Chelmsford, seemed to be on his way to a second half-century in the match.It was at this point that ten Doeschate decided to throw the ball to Westley. Despite the change in regulation, spin has played little part at Chelmsford. In fact, Westley’s first over, the 39th of the second innings, was the first sight of spin from the hosts. It took just four balls to come good, as Ross Whiteley was trapped in front from around the wicket. In Westley’s next over, he drew Rhodes out of his crease to give James Foster his first Championship stumping of the season. The wicket of Leach, bowled by a full Napier delivery that moved late into the right-hander, took the teams to tea.There was a carnival feel to the evening session, as the floodlights were superseded by the sun, which found a gap in the clouds as Essex pushed for a day off. Ed Barnard, caught by Westley at second slip off Napier and then Ben Cox, flicking Masters tamely to Jamie Porter at mid on, gave Napier four in the innings and Masters nine in the match (he had never taken 10). And so the game within a game began – who would get the final wicket? In the end, it went Napier’s way, as Jack Shantry, having stroked a couple of boundaries, offered a high leading edge that ten Doeschate caught brilliantly, sprinting in from mid off.Essex now have a round off, while Kent host a revitalised Northamptonshire at Beckenham. In the meantime, the Essex players will be given some time off before they return to Chelmsford on September 12 to play Glamorgan, before a potential winner-takes-all clash with Kent at Canterbury in the final round of the season.Essex will play their remaining two matches without Alastair Cook, hence the acquisition of Adam Wheater on loan. With Hampshire happy for the wicketkeeper batsman to court opportunities elsewhere ahead of next season, Essex are thought to be interested in bringing him back to the club he left in 2013 on a more permanent basis. Silverwood, though, was keen not to comment on the matter just yet.

Kings XI Punjab have named South Africa batsman David Miller captain for IPL 2016. Last year the team was captained by Australia’s George Bailey, but the franchise had not retained Bailey this season

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-20162:11

Miller blitzes his way to KXIP captaincy

Kings XI Punjab have named South Africa batsman David Miller captain for IPL 2016. Last year the team was captained by Australia’s George Bailey, but the franchise had not retained Bailey this season.Sanjay Bangar, Kings XI’s coach, said Miller had the right temperament to lead. “I have watched David grow as a player. He has displayed outstanding batting abilities and a cool temperament in many high-pressure situations,” Bangar said. “I am confident in his potential to lead the boys this season.”While he has little captaincy experience on the South African domestic circuit, Miller, 26, is a key batting cog in Kings XI’s line-up. He has been with them since the 2011 season, signed in April 2011 as a replacement player for England allrounder Dimitri Mascarenhas.In 2015, he was the only batsman to score more than 300 runs for them, hitting 357 at 32.45, with a strike rate of 134.21. It was a poor year overall for the team, which finished last in the league stage of the tournament. Ahead of the IPL auction this year, Miller was one of four overseas players retained – the others being Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson.Miller’s appointment comes a few days after Kings XI appointed retired India batsman Virender Sehwag team mentor.Squad: David Miller, Swapnil Singh, M Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha, Rishi Dhawan, Kyle Abbott, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Pardeep Sahu, Anureet Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Farhaan Behardien, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Sharma, Manan Vohra, Gurkeerat Singh, Axar Patel, Nikhil Naik, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh, KC Cariappa, Armaan Jaffer

The Bombay High Court has ruled that IPL 2016 matches scheduled in Maharashtra after April 30 will be moved out of the state

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Apr-20163:51

Bal: IPL just a soft target

All IPL 2016 matches scheduled in Maharashtra after April 30 must be moved out of the state, the Bombay High Court has ruled. The ruling came after a Public Interest Litigation questioned the hosting of matches in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur due to a severe drought in Maharashtra.The ruling affects 13 matches, including the final which was to be held in Mumbai on May 29. Pune will miss out on six matches, including the Eliminator and Qualifier 2, while no games will be held in Nagpur. The state was earlier scheduled to host 20 matches.Last week, the court had sought an explanation from the BCCI and the three state associations on why water should be “wasted” on hosting the games when the state faced one of its worst ever droughts. The court later allowed the opening match to be held as scheduled in Mumbai on April 9, and asked the Maharashtra state government and Mumbai’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, to respond on plans to tackle the issue of water shortage. On Tuesday, the court orally asked the BCCI if matches could be shifted out of Pune.In its defence, the BCCI had stated that less water was used to prepare the ground for an IPL game when compared to an international fixture. The board also stated that it intended to use treated sewage water for ground preparation in Mumbai and Pune. Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants, the franchises based in Mumbai and Pune, had proposed to contribute INR 5 crore to the Maharashtra chief minister’s drought relief fund and supply 40 lakh litres of water to drought-hit areas at their own cost.While the BCCI is mulling its next move, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla has admitted that moving games out of Maharashtra is a logistical problem for the board. He also pointed out that no objections of this kind were raised when Mumbai and Nagpur hosted World T20 matches last month.”Organising the IPL is a gigantic work. It’s not easy. All preparations had been done, completed,” Shukla said. “Now shifting the matches will be a problem. So far, we have not got the written order, after we get that, we will study the order and work out an alternative plan. We always respect the court. We need to talk to other franchises. We will have to work it out.”The key problem is water for farmers, which we are trying to find a solution to. We were willing to give water, contribute to the CM’s fund. Now shifting matches will be a problem. If matches are to be shifted, where will they be moved, how will they be moved, all these issues are involved. And this comes after nobody raised an issue about the 24 World T20 matches that were held recently.”Nobody raised these issues for six months. Whatever was required, we were willing to do. In fact, I would like to point out that a lot many other sports and cultural events are going on in Maharashtra, which also use water and they should also help.”Anurag Thakur, the BCCI secretary, said there was an attempt to create negativity over issues: “We are not using drinking water, we have said that we will use treated sewage water only. How many swimming pools of five-star hotels have been shut? Have people stopped watering their lawns? There is an attempt to create negativity on every issue these days. IPL was to use 0.00038% of water so that shows the requirement was not much.”Ness Wadia, co-owner of the Kings XI Punjab franchise, welcomed the order. Kings XI were scheduled to play three home matches in Nagpur between May 7 and 15, apart from games in Mumbai and Pune on May 13 and 21, respectively. “I’m very happy with this, we welcome this decision,” he said.

Former South Africa cricketers weigh in after Australia coach labels Newlands crowd behaviour “disgraceful”

Firdose Moonda in Cape Town24-Mar-20181:59

Noise, grumbling and chatter: Everything that’s taking the sheen off a great series

Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith and veteran wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, have hit out at Australia coach Darren Lehmann and his team for calling the Newlands crowd “disgraceful” following the second day’s play of the third Test in Cape Town.At the end of the second day, during which Australia opener David Warner was confronted by a fan as he returned to the changeroom, and 12 other spectators were ejected from the ground for singing distasteful songs about Warner’s wife Candice, Lehmann said the fans had “gone too far,” and had made personal remarks about the Australian players’ partners and wives. Cricket Australia lodged an official complaint with Cricket South Africa, who beefed up security in response.Zero tolerance to anti-social behaviour by fans – Sutherland

James Sutherland, the CA chief executive, said the chairman David Peever had confronted his opposite number Chris Nenzani over crowd behaviour at Newlands.
“We are extremely disappointed that a small number of fans have directed such offensive and inappropriate behaviour towards our players and members of their families,” Sutherland said. “Our Chairman David Peever, who is in Cape Town, has taken the matter up directly with relevant CSA officials, including President Chris Nenzani.
“We acknowledge that CSA is taking steps to ensure incidents like those yesterday are not repeated and we have encouraged the strongest possible action in response to such behaviour. People who behave in such a manner should not be welcome at cricket grounds anywhere in the world, and together with the ICC and all member countries, we strongly endorse a zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour by fans.”

The only reaction from the South African camp so far was fast bowler Morne Morkel urging fans not to “get out line,” but Smith and Boucher have taken on Lehmann, effectively saying Australian crowds were the same, if not worse.”Correct Darren! Fully agree! But… start cleaning up in your own country first! The personal, racial abuse I’ve witnessed in Aus was ridiculous. U guys don’t live in a glass house! Why the fuss all of a sudden? Seems fine when the shoe is on the other foot,” Boucher tweeted in response to a clip of Lehmann posted by cricket.com.au, an account run by Cricket Australia.Smith responded to Boucher, pointing to the Australia team as a whole. He tweeted: “Absolutely right, and I don’t condone any of it… But blimey I have never seen an Aussie team whinge and whine like this!”Former South Africa spinner Paul Harris also added his voice, tweeting, “I cannot repeat what I was called numerous times in Aus. The personal and racial abuse was really out there. Shouldn’t throw stones in a glass house I say.”South African players have been subjected to abuse from Australian crowds on several occasions in the past with Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince, Garnett Kruger and Shaun Pollock all complaining of racial abuse in 2005-06. On South Africa’s most recent tour to Australia in November 2016, a spectator called Hashim Amla a terrorist in graffiti written on a fence at Bellerive Oval. The fan was banned from all Australian grounds for three years. In contrast, none of the fans involved in any incidents during the ongoing Cape Town Test, including the man who confronted Warner, have been banned, and though they were removed from the ground at the time of their indiscretion, they will be allowed back in.Some of the criticism of Lehmann stems from his own history in egging on crowds to act as a 12th man. In 2013, Lehmann said said his players had called Stuart Broad “everything under the sun,” and hoped “the Australian public give it to him right from the word go for the whole summer and he cries and goes home,” after Broad did not walk when nicking off during the first Ashes Test that summer. Lehmann also called Broad a cheat and was fined 20% of his match fee.Earlier in this series, Quinton de Kock was disciplined – 25% of his match fee and one demerit point – for saying something inappropriate, when he made a comment to Warner about his wife during the Durban Test. De Kock was responding to hours of being sledged by Warner on-field and his jibe prompted an aggressive response from Warner, who had to be physically restrained by his team-mates on the stairwell leading to the players’ changeroom. Warner was charged with and found guilty of a Level 2 offence; he earned three demerit points and was fined 75% fee for his actions.At the time, both captains said the sledging had got personal, though they disagreed about what constituted a personal sledge. For South Africa, comments about physical appearance and weight – which Warner made to de Kock – fall into the category, while Australia regard anything to do with family as personal.Some sections of the South African fan-base have latched onto the idea of shaming the opposition’s other halves and wore masks bearing the face of Sonny-Bill Williams, the rugby player with whom Candice Warner had a liaison several years before marrying Warner, during the St George’s Park Test. Two CSA officials posed with the fans and have since been suspended. The masks have not made an appearance at Newlands, but a Sonny-Bill banner was confiscated on day one and people singing songs about Williams were removed from the stadium on day two.

Riding on Kraigg Brathwaite’s second successive century, West Indies went to stumps at 295 for 4, having accumulated runs at 4.85 per over in the post-tea session

The Report by Mohammad Isam12-Jul-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKraigg Brathwaite’s second consecutive century helped West Indies establish early dominance on the opening day’s play in Kingston. West Indies went to stumps comfortably-placed at 295 for 4, having accumulated runs at 4.85 per over in the post-tea session: a significant jump from 2.25 and 2.83 in the first two sessions respectively.Brathwaite added 109 for the fourth wicket with Shimron Hetmyer, which came on the back of a 79-run third-wicket stand with Shai Hope, and 50 runs for the second wicket with Kieran Powell. Hetmyer, who had added 48 for the unbroken fifth-wicket stand with Roston Chase, remained unbeaten on 84 off 98 balls – his second Test fifty.But the day truly belonged to Brathwaite, who once again stood out for his tenacity. He was equally cautious against left-arm spin, orthodox offspin and pace, without showing any weakness or liking for a particular bowler. Brathwaite nullified Bangladesh’s first long spell of spin through the second session, doggedly defending anything outside his stumps, even as the ball zipped around.He collected the bulk of his runs on the on-side, with the singles and twos behind the square region a common occurrence. Six of his nine fours also came on the on-side as Bangladesh did well to restrict him from driving freely. But given his boundless patience, Brathwaite still looked at ease. He also ran hard between the wickets, picking up three threes.Having benefited from Bangladesh’s failure to take a review when he was rapped on the pad on 98, Brathwaite went on to pass Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo as he faced 250-plus deliveries in an innings for the sixth time in his career.He fell late in the day, trying to hit Mehidy for a second successive boundary through midwicket, only to find Taijul swiftly moving at short midwicket to complete the catch. By then, however, he had neutralised Bangladesh’s early thrust as they unleashed their spinners in the morning.Despite the pace and bounce on offer, Shakib went in with three spinners – as opposed to West Indies, who dropped their only specialist spinner – and used them immediately to good effect. Opening the bowling himself, Shakib and Mehidy created plenty of chances in the first hour, taking advantage of the big turn available outside the line of the stumps. They kept the close-in fielders busy with half-chances, and Devon Smith’s inside-edge, off Mehidy’s slightly leg-sidish delivery, resulted in a simple catch to Mominul Haque at short leg.No. 3 Kieran Powell tried to break the shackles, but when Mehidy noticed his inclination to hang back to full deliveries, the offspinner’s patience paid off when he was trapped leg-before to a similar delivery for 29. But Brathwaite’s single-mindedness in defence slowly offset Bangladesh’s early advantage. He reached his fifty in the second session, taking 149 balls to get there. He added 79 runs for the third wicket with Shai Hope, who struck two fours in his 29 off 79 balls. Hope then inside-edged Taijul Islam on to his pads, the ball lobbing up towards silly point for wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan to complete a diving catch.In Brathwaite’s presence, West Indies picked up pace in the final session. He took Taijul Islam for three fours before blasting Kamrul Islam Rabbi past point. Three overs after Brathwaite reached his century, Hetmyer sliced one past the slips for four to raise his fifty.More boundaries followed during the Hetmyer-Chase stand. Chase tucked Mehidy past fine-leg and through the covers for his first two fours, while Hetmyer struck the day’s first six, in the 90th over, over long-off. The shift in gears summed up West Indies’ progress from being severely tested against spin at the start of the day, to batting quite freely by the end of it.

Leicestershire’s chief executive has provided the clearest hint yet that the days of promotion and relegation in the County Championship could be coming to an end

George Dobell19-May-2018

Wasim Khan, Leicestershire’s chief executive, has provided the clearest hint yet that the days of promotion and relegation in the County Championship could be coming to an end.While Wasim, chairman of the working party looking into the future shape of domestic cricket, was at pains to say no decisions had yet been made, he makes no secret of his fear that two divisions “promotes short-termism” and feels the county season starts too early to encourage good quality cricket.Wasim, who also feels counties should be better rewarded for producing England-qualified players and that it should be made “very difficult” for counties to include non-qualified players in their teams, hopes to make his recommendations to the ECB’s cricket committee in October.Any changes will, if approved, be introduced for the 2020 season. If promotion and relegation is abandoned, it is likely to lead to the introduction of a conference system.As Wasim also sits on the ECB’s cricket committee and is involved on the working party that is drawing up the new County Partnership Agreements (which replace the old Memorandums of Understanding), his views are likely to prove highly influential.”Does promotion and relegation promote the right behaviours? Does it promote short-termism? Yes it does. That’s the unintended consequence,” Wasim said.”We’ve seen examples of that in terms of players being brought in to support promotion and relegation. We’re a prime example: at Leicestershire we’ve lost players in the past as they felt they had to go and play Division One cricket.”If our fundamental aim is to bring those two mountains together – county cricket and successful England teams – then we’ve got to take a bit more of a long-term view.”How can we encourage all of us to make more long-term decisions as counties? And is the current two-divisional structure helping us do that? If it is, then great. But the evidence would suggest we have to look at it and perhaps in some areas that it doesn’t.”Wasim’s working party – a group that includes England cricket director Andrew Strauss, Glamorgan chief executive Hugh Morris, Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon and Ashley Giles, director of sport at Warwickshire – met for the first time last week. It would have been premature to “jump into solution mode”, according to Wasim, so instead they discussed the process by which they will come to their decisions and “evaluation criteria for each of the four areas” they were asked to review.Those four areas are: the two-divisional structure; what gets played during the six-week window earmarked for The Hundred; the volume of T20 Blast games to be played during the county season; and the role of the minor counties. Over the next few weeks, the working party will split into two sub-groups to devise pros and cons for all possibilities and meet again, as a whole, on June 28.While it is clearly too early to predict their final decisions, Wasim makes no secret of his own desire to reintroduce the minor counties to the main List A competition as a method of spreading the reach of the game.”We’ve 39 cricketing counties in this country, not 18, and we know the numbers around participation have begun to dwindle in some areas,” he said. “There’s a lot we need to do to keep competing with other sports.”So, if you have Surrey turning up to play at Wiltshire, it is a game that is going to attract 3000 or 4000 people. Or Leicestershire playing at Dorset. Those games can then be used as a catalyst to get more young people enthused about the game. It’s about spreading the game far and wide. So the initial thinking involving the minor counties is certainty something we’re really want to do in some way, shape or form.”He is also open-minded about the possibility of counties starting the season abroad – playing either first-class or List A cricket.”If you asked most people, April is still too early to play county cricket,” he said. “So it’s about trying to find the optimal time to play it. Where you give an opportunity to bat for a long time on good wickets.”Can we play two games [abroad], for example. There’s been talk mooted in the past of playing white-ball cricket abroad. A lot of teams go on pre-season overseas tours and there’s a lot of expense. All these things will need to be looked at.”One thing that appears almost certain to remain the same is the number of T20 Blast matches played by each county. Certainly Wasim is very keen that there is no reduction to the current number of seven games hosted by each county, nor the Friday night (or weekend) scheduling.”We’re all massively pushing for it to stay in place because it’s so important for us,” Wasim said. “The Blast is critical. We don’t want to reduce the short format to just the eight venues, we want to excite kids to come to watch cricket here. We want to say to schools: here are some free tickets, come and watch your heroes locally. The Blast plays a critical role, not just in terms of sustaining the counties but for the player pipeline point of view as well.”We’ve been very clear from the outset: seven home games is critical for what we’re trying to do here.”Wasim also suggested counties may need to be better incentivised to pick England-qualified players and that, over the coming weeks, spectators will be asked for their views over the domestic structure.”One thing that has come out loud and clear is about incentivising the counties more around playing and promoting more English-qualified players,” Wasim said. “Ideally to support England and the future of English cricket we clearly need a strong county game with more county players exposed to playing county cricket who are qualified to play for England.”The strong consensus across the counties was we should make it beyond doubt that it should be a very difficult thing for us not to play English qualified players.”And yes, we’re definitely looking at canvasing the views of spectators. We’re looking at setting up an email address. We’ll encourage people to send their views in. A lot of good people watch cricket and have for a long time. Let’s get their views on what they think would work.”