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Board chief Nazmul Hassan says after Sunday’s AGM that the idea was to make sure all top-level cricket in the country was televised

Mohammad Isam31-Mar-2024The BCB has made two amendments to its constitution at the 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Dhaka on Sunday, with a view to launching its own TV channel. The board wants to ensure all competitive cricket that it runs in the country is broadcast, with this channel plugging any gaps.BCB president Nazmul Hassan said that the TV channel will generally show domestic matches and those international matches that their broadcast partners can’t show. “T-Sports and Gazi TV show most of our matches. If they cannot show some matches, we want to show those matches,” Hassan said. “They are showing the men’s Test match, so they can’t show the women’s series. We want both to be on TV, so we need to have an option.”We also want to show domestic cricket on TV. Everyone thinks that it will raise the standard of cricket in the country. People can then see the standard of umpiring in domestic cricket, for example.”The amendments were made to sub-clauses 6.17 and 6.20, which fall under the “scope and responsibility” section of the BCB’s constitution. The new 6.17 sub-clause allows the board to enhance its financial transactions and banking activities. The new 6.20 sub-clause talks of the option to form “one or more trusts, companies, societies/foundations as necessary to achieve ancillary objectives including enhancement of infrastructural, economic, commercial and social facilities for the development of cricket across the country”.BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said the idea was not to turn the national board into a “business enterprise”, but launching a TV channel would require the board to strengthen its legal framework.”According to our legal advice, we have made the amendments to bring more dynamism to our financial transactions and banking activities,” Chowdhury said. “As you know there are many criteria of Bangladesh Bank that we have to meet to make banking transactions.”[That BCB is looking to become a business enterprise] is misleading information. There’s a difference between company formation and floating shares of a company in the share market. We have a plan to form BCB TV, for which we have to come into a legal framework through the BCB’s constitution.”The AGM brought together the BCB’s 170-plus councilors (or members) from different backgrounds, the majority of whom are from Bangladesh’s 64 districts.The BCB has long promised to form regional cricket bodies and while most cricket in these regions is being run by ad-hoc committees, the board officials, mainly based in the capital Dhaka, have not allowed them autonomy. According to BCB chief Hassan, the regional bodies have to prove themselves first before independence is granted.”Regional cricket associations cannot be free of the centre’s interference unless we are satisfied with their work. They aren’t independent right now. But our big picture plan is to make them independent bodies. It is not decentralisation. It is de-concentration. We are reducing concentration away from Dhaka. Eventually it will be decentralised.”The BCB has allocated each body BDT 2 million (USD 17,400 approx) to organise a tournament in the coming months. “We have told them to organise a T20 tournament as a test case. We will pay them BDT 2 million initially. We will see how they perform and expend this money,” Hassan said. “We are not paying them blindly. Not all districts get money. Only those who are organising cricket are getting money.”

In ODIs, Ellyse Perry has gone past Hayley Matthews to become the top-ranked allrounder

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2022Tahlia McGrath has become the new No. 1-ranked batter in women’s T20Is, just over a year after her debut in the format, after her impressive knocks in the first two matches against India in Mumbai.McGrath, who made her T20I debut in October 2021, has already cemented her place in the Australia top order across formats. In T20Is, she has scored 485 runs in ten innings at an average of 121.25 and a strike rate of 149.69 so far. In the first T20I against India in the ongoing series, she scored an unbeaten 40 off 29 balls in Australia’s win and followed it up with a 51-ball 70 in the second game, which ended in a Super Over loss. She has jumped up three places, overtaking team-mates Meg Lanning and Beth Mooney, and Smriti Mandhana, to become the fourth Australian and 12th overall to top the table. Australia now have five batters in the top ten in that list.

Full rankings tables

• Click here for the full team rankings

• Click here for the full player rankings

Among the other batters to gain in the latest rankings update were Sophie Devine, Shafali Verma and Alyssa Healy, who have moved one spot up each to fourth, sixth and eighth respectively. Mandhana, currently No. 3 on the table, has gained 11 rating points to reach a career-best 741 points following her 79 off 49 balls in the second T20I.Among bowlers, Sarah Glenn has gone up one spot to No. 2, and Katherine Brunt has also gained one spot to go to No. 6.Meanwhile, in ODIs, Ellyse Perry has gone past Hayley Matthews to once again become the No. 1 allrounder. Perry had claimed the top ranking for the first time in February 2017 and has spent 1787 days at the top, the fourth-most behind Karen Rolton (2725), Enid Bakewell (2611) and Stafanie Taylor (1947).Among ODI batters, Suzie Bates went up five places to 17th after scoring an unbeaten 93 in the first ODI against Bangladesh. On the bowling front, Charlie Dean has moved up two places to 16th while Jess Kerr went up two places to 19th.

No holds likely to be barred once again as unfettered teams seek the series at Old Trafford

Andrew Miller19-Jul-2021

Big picture

Happy Freedom Day one and all! Yes, the time has come for the UK to throw off its shackles, fling caution to the wind, dive headlong into the moshpit of civil society and rejoice in the restoration of liberty to its people. (Give or take a chorus of pings from the NHS Test-and-Trace app, of course…)For England’s cricketers, however, Freedom Day came one day early. Honestly, has there ever been a more on-brand performance than the one rustled up by their batters at Headingley on Sunday? Bowled out for 200 in 19.5 overs, including a riotous denouement of seven wickets in as many overs – the promiscuity of their short-lived strokeplay making the humble mayfly seem a model of celibacy.It was rollickingly good fun, and as gloriously effective as their hell-for-leather chase at Trent Bridge had been gloriously futile. Pakistan responded by climbing into the threshing machine with admirable purpose, but they were all thrashed out by the 13th over, thanks largely to England’s own trio of players with Pakistan heritage – Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, whose Player-of-the-Match-winning haul of 36 runs at 225.00 and two wickets in three overs was CSK-esque in its effectiveness.And so to the decider, a day-night affair at Old Trafford, where England can be expected once again to spread the opportunities across their squad, as they take the field for the final time before that preliminary squad needs to be submitted to the ICC ahead of the T20 World Cup this winter.And even if they cannot get over the line in this contest, to claim their ninth series win in their last 11 T20I campaigns, the gains made by the white-ball squad, both in this leg and in the makeshift ODI campaign before it, have been immeasurable. Most of all, the sense of collective buy-in is absolute – that every player in the frame for selection recognises and embraces the free-spirited ethos that Eoin Morgan has espoused in the past six years. Full-throttle cricket might not win them every game, but it’ll lose them far fewer than the safety-first reticence of yore.As for Pakistan, their response to those indignities in the ODIs has been admirable. At Headingley, they were unable to replicate the landslide of runs that carried them to a hugely cathartic victory at Trent Bridge, but in Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, they have an opening pairing that can carry any fight, while Shaheen Shah Afridi’s pace and incision from his left-arm line provides an air of menace every time he gets thrown the ball. They are one of only two teams not to have lost a series to England’s T20I team in the last three years – their 1-1 draw in 2020 was followed by India’s 3-2 win in March – and there’s every reason to believe they’ve got a few haymakers left in them in this campaign.

Form guide

England WLWWW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
Pakistan LWWLW

In the spotlight

Is it fair to point out that Dawid Malan needs an urgent uptick in his form? Every time he gets written about in a white-ball context, it feels as though there’s an air of persecution in the analysis. But suffice to say, Malan’s methods are different to those of his England peers – not least Moeen, who is as likely to carve his first delivery straight to deep cover as he is to ping it clean over the ropes for six. That’s not Malan’s way. He builds his head of steam with relative early caution, then lets the ends justify the means as he stares back down the track with another half-century at a 150-plus strike-rate. Or at least, that’s how it’s meant to be. Instead in this series, he’s made consecutive scores of 1 (6) and 1 (5) … two runs in 11 all told, and 2 in 17 in his past four innings, after back-to-back ducks in the ODIs. Prior to that, of course, he made a match-sealing 68 not out to guide Ben’s Babes home in that extraordinary opening victory at Cardiff, so the runs are still in there somewhere. And so too, no doubt, is the bloody-mindedness. Malan has finished each of his last three T20I series with a half-century – against Sri Lanka, India, and South Africa, where he cracked a remarkable 99 not out from 47 balls. And such are the reasons another swift rebuttal cannot be discounted.Related

• England showcase strength in depth

• Liam Livingstone credits work with Paul Collingwood, Marcus Trescothick for record-breaking ton

• Buttler, Moeen star as spinners help England to win

• England spinners get to grips with parched Headingley pitch

It’s been a quietly significant series for the under-fire Shadab Khan. Pakistan’s vice-captain came into the series with a burdensome recent record after a fallow tour of New Zealand, and with his allround credentials under some scrutiny. He’s answered those charges emphatically in the first two games, with three vital wickets in the Trent Bridge victory, swiftly followed by a bold bout of biffing in a lost cause at Headingley. In between whiles, he has been a livewire in the outfield, with a series of outstanding catches and intercepts to lift his team’s morale when the heavy artillery has been raining down. He has a chance to finish a morale-boosting campaign on a high.

Team news

Moeen and Liam Livingstone appear to be locked into England’s middle-order for the moment, with Eoin Morgan indicating that both men would get a full run of games to make their cases – emphatically so, as things have turned out. Morgan himself dipped out of game two to share the opportunities around and to give Buttler a turn at the wheel, so if he is to return, then Jason Roy or Jonny Bairstow might be the obvious absentees, given their integral statuses in that first-choice XI. Tom Banton, his development arrested for various reasons in this white-ball campaign, might struggle to get a look-in now. England already have a selection headache looming when Stokes returns to overload their batting options. There seems little point in inflicting a migraine on themselves. Though it’s not impossible that Lewis Gregory gets another outing to provide a modicum of balance in the short term.England (probable): 1 Jason Roy/Jonny Bairstow, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Eoin Morgan (capt), 7 Lewis Gregory/Tom Curran, 8 David Willey, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Adil Rashid/Matt Parkinson, 11 Saqib MahmoodAfter their struggles in the ODIs, Pakistan have found a formula that can keep them competitive in T20Is. Wholesale changes seem improbable.Pakistan: (probable): 1 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 2 Babar Azam (capt), 3 Fakhar Zaman, 4 Sohaib Maqsood, 5 Mohammad Hafeez, 6 Azam Khan, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Haris Rauf, 10 Mohammad Hasnain, 11 Shaheen Shah Afridi

Pitch and conditions

Another sweltering day in prospect as summer’s late arrival continues to kick in, so it’s conceivable that the pitch may break up a touch as the match progresses. Scores in this season’s Vitality Blast haven’t been astronomical – only one game has seen scores higher than the 172 that Lancashire and Notts both made in their tie in June, so the range-hitting may be dialled down a notch compared to the first two games.

Stats and trivia

• England have won four of their seven completed T20Is at Old Trafford, dating back to a nine-wicket win over New Zealand in 2008.
• However, two of their three losses at the venue both came against Pakistan, by nine wickets in 2016 and by five runs in their most recent encounter last summer, when the series was squared 1-1.
• Mohammad Rizwan needs 57 runs to reach 1000 in T20Is. Should he achieve it in his next innings, his 31st, he will be the second-fastest Pakistani to the landmark, behind Babar Azam (26). England’s Dawid Malan holds the record with 24 innings.

Quotes

“He claims he’s hit two bigger – that was his chat last night. He has hit me for a couple of similar ones in training but it’s the biggest I’ve seen in a game. Some of the lads didn’t actually believe it had gone out the ground.”

Star allrounder plays down injury concerns after another showstopping performance

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jul-2020Ben Stokes has moved to ease injury concerns after he pulled up in discomfort while bowling late in England’s second-Test victory, in which he played a starring role.Stokes stopped bowling after four deliveries of his 15th over in West Indies’ second innings, having claimed the wickets of key batsman Jermaine Blackwood and tailender Alzarri Joseph, the latter putting England within one wicket of victory.”I’m fine,” Stokes told Sky Sports after England had won the match by 113 runs to level the series 1-1. “Just the body started to get quite stiff. I said to Broady, ‘the body’s starting to stiffen up, what do you reckon?’ and he said, ‘just stop’.ALSO READ: England surge to victory as Stokes turns on style again“Three or four years ago against Pakistan I had the same thing and I ended up blowing my calf so I didn’t want to take that risk.”Despite bowling an 11-over spell in West Indies’ second innings, on the final day of a Test in which he had also scored a patient century and bludgeoned a fifty, Stokes rejected suggestions too much had been asked of him with the ball.”Absolutely not,” Stokes said. “Obviously, I’ll give everything to the team, whatever is asked of me. We sort of found a method within our attack to change things up when things are looking a bit dry to go to that type of bowling or being aggressive in setting the field.”Not only does it give us a wicket-taking option. It also dries it up because we feel the batsmen don’t have really anywhere to go. So, you know, once you get past that five-, six-over mark you sort of feel like you’re fresh as anything you keep going in. But I’ll always do whatever’s asked of me.”Having scored 176 from 356 balls in England’s first innings, then 78 from 57 in the second, Stokes also broke up key partnerships with the wicket of Kraigg Brathwaite in the fist innings and then Blackwood’s in the second.Ben Stokes walks off with a stump after his Man of the Match performance•Getty Images

Asked about his contrasting performances with the bat, he couldn’t pick a favourite, but he took pride in batting long for his century while clearly enjoying captain Joe Root’s intent in sending him to open for the first time in a Test alongside fellow big-hitter Jos Buttler as England chased quick second-innings runs, a decision he said came after “a few conversations”.”Obviously Joe has the final call and that’s what he decided to go with, so it was a real positive move, I thought,” Stokes said. “It’s no good for us walk away with this game with a draw and so Joe made a real positive effort to get me get me and Jos up the order.”Looking at the scoreboard seeing 300 balls bowled feels a bit weird,” he added of his first innings, “but it had to be done.”Root, also speaking to Sky Sports, said Stokes’ starring role in the match was not the least bit surprising.”It doesn’t surprise me, you watch how he goes about his business, whether it be in practice his fitness, everything,” Root said. “He leads the way in many, many respects and he seems to want to keep getting better and better.”And we’re seeing those results out in the field as well, which is great for a lot of the younger guys coming through to see that you’ve got to put the hard yards in. He certainly does that and, you know, we’re starting to see that feed into the rest of the team, which is a great place to be.”

Batsman loses 20 percent of his match fee for disciplinary breach ahead of the fifth ODI against Australia in Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Apr-2019Umar Akmal will part with 20 percent of his match fee for the fifth ODI against Australia after having breached a team curfew ahead the match in Dubai. The PCB said he pleaded guilty to the charge and accepted the sanction imposed by Talat Ali, the team manager.”I am glad that Umar has realised his mistake, and has accepted and apologised for his actions, which were clearly unprofessional and in no way can be ignored or overlooked,” PCB managing director Wasim Khan said. “The PCB expects a high level of professionalism and commitment from its players, and this action is a reiteration and timely reminder that any indiscipline shall not be tolerated or accepted.”Umar was believed to be out attending an Akon concert on Friday night without permission from the team management, with his late return violating the rules set on when players needed to be back at their hotel while on tour.This series marked his international return after nearly two years out. A fiery spat with head coach Mickey Arthur in 2017 appeared to have put an end to his international hopes. But in a surprise move, he was called up to the Pakistan squad for the five-match series against Australia as Pakistan rung the changes after resting several first-team players.There were signs of his relationship with Arthur being on the mend during the series. There were a few occasions where the pair were seen sharing light moments in the dressing room. ESPNcricnfo understands the pair met before the series and made some headway towards resolving their differences.However, Umar may have fell off the mark in terms of trying to present a case for World Cup selection. There were several starts; he managed more than 35 in three of the five games, but his highest score was 48. Umar’s perennial struggle – converting 40s into bigger scores – or concentrating for long enough not to let poor shot selection bring about his demise, was front and centre right throughout the series.Umar has coughed up plenty of fines in his 10 years in and out of the Pakistan side, often to do with partying after-hours entertainment. He was dropped for a T20 series in England in 2015 after attending a party in Hyderabad while playing a Quiad-e-Azam trophy fixture, while in April 2016, local media reported he was involved in a brawl in a Faisalabad theatre after demanding the venue arrange a repeat of the dance performance he had been watching.

Mendis had also played the previous U-19 World Cup, in Bangladesh in 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Dec-2017Kamindu Mendis, who can bowl orthodox left-arm spin as well as right-arm offspin, and is also a handy batsman, will lead Sri Lanka Under-19s at the World Cup in New Zealand. Mendis was named as part of the 15-man squad announced by Sri Lanka Cricket on Wednesday. He had also played the previous U-19 World Cup, in Bangladesh in 2016.Sri Lanka are in Group D for the showpiece junior event, which runs from January 13 to February 3. They are grouped alongside Pakistan, Ireland and Afghanistan. They will begin their campaign on January 14 in Whangarei against Ireland, before playing Afghanistan on January 17 and rounding off their group-stage games against Pakistan on January 19.Squad: Kamindu Mendis (capt), Dhananjaya Lakshan, Santhush Gunathilaka, Hasitha Boyagoda, Nawanidu Fernando, Nipun Dananjaya, Ashen Bandara, Kishan Sanjula, Nishan Madushka, Jehan Daniel, Praveen Jayawickrama, Haren Buddila, Thisaru Rashmika, Kalana Perera, Nipun Malinga

New Zealand eye their first ever ODI series win in India when they take on the hosts in the series decider in Visakhapatnam on Saturday

The Preview by Arun Venugopal in Visakhapatnam28-Oct-2016

Match facts

Saturday, October 29
Start time 1330 local (0800 GMT)1:30

Taylor ‘excited’ at prospect of winning series

Big picture

New Zealand have never won an ODI series in India. While the prospect of correcting such a record is daunting at the best of times, the whitewash in the Test series and the drubbing in Dharamsala only made it seem near-impossible. But after nearly two weeks, with the series at 2-2, they would rather look at Saturday’s game as a chance to create history. After the Ranchi ODI, every member of New Zealand’s team management has used elegant variations of the same theme.New Zealand’s greatest strength during their last visit to India, for the World T20, lay in their astute reading of pitches. Tim Southee put it down to effective information exchange between batsmen and bowlers. “Not every time we can get it right. We just give ourselves the best chance to read the conditions and adapt quickly,” he said on the eve of the match.One area where they have not adapted quickly enough is their middle order. Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi struggled in the first three ODIs and were subsequently dropped, but Ross Taylor has shown signs of form in the last two games. In a crunch game, they will need most of their batsmen to back what has generally been a competent bowling unit.India, on the other hand, will probably look at an opportunity missed after they could not close out the series in Ranchi. That means Jayant Yadav and Mandeep Singh will have to wait till at least the new year to make their ODI debuts, unless there is a last-minute injury or a left-field selection punt. For a young middle order, though, this is another chance to repay the faith that MS Dhoni has invested in them.

Form guide

India LWLWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand WLWLW

In the spotlight

Axar Patel‘s record of two wickets from four games does not really indicate how well he has bowled this series. He has been Dhoni’s go-to holding bowler every time New Zealand’s batsmen have looked threatening, and in Ranchi he even contributed a gutsy 38 after being promoted to No.5. Axar’s niggardly bowling will once again remain crucial to bottling up New Zealand’s middle order.With seven wickets from four games, Tim Southee has quietly climbed to second place in the top wicket-takers’ list for the series. His late swing with the new ball and nerveless death bowling has given New Zealand all-round bowling cover. Southee’s knack of striking at the right time, like his dismissals of Dhoni in Delhi, and Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav in Ranchi, has proved to be game changing.

Team news

Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Umesh Yadav were among those that did not feature in India’s optional training session. Dhoni had an extended hit in the spinners’ net and, along with Jadhav, practised the sweep for a considerable length of time. Jasprit Bumrah appeared to have regained his fitness and will likely take Dhawal Kulkarni’s place in the XI. India are unlikely to tinker with the side too much otherwise.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Jasprit BumrahIn Ranchi, New Zealand had replaced Corey Anderson and Matt Henry with two spinners in Ish Sodhi and Anton Devcich. Taylor felt the six-bowler dynamic gave captain Kane Williamson greater latitude. Williamson and Mike Hesson will probably have to choose between the extra batting muscle of Anderson and the extra spin option of Devcich.New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 BJ Watling (wk), 6 James Neesham, 7 Anton Devcich/Corey Anderson, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Matt Henry

Pitch and conditions

The cyclone Kyant, which threatened to hit Visakhapatnam, has weakened into a deep depression, but there is forecast for showers on Friday and thunderstorm on Saturday. There were heavy showers on Thursday night as well, but the curator, K Nagamallaiah, said the ground staff had covered 80% of the outfield. On Saturday, the pitch appeared bald and devoid of any grass, even as the outfield remained lush. “The rain won’t have any effect on the pitch. It will remain good for batting and have good bounce,” he said.

Stats and trivia

• Amit Mishra has taken 10 wickets in the series, three more than any other bowler from either sides.
•  Tim Southee is the only New Zealand bowler to have taken three-wicket hauls in the series. He did it twice and both came in wins – Delhi and Ranchi.
• India have a 4-1 win-loss record in Visakhapatnam. The lone defeat came in the last completed game here, against West Indies in November 2013.
• India won the deciding match against New Zealand in the 1995-96 and 1999-2000 series.

Quotes

“We have been on the road for a long period of time but we have three more days to get ourselves up. You don’t often win series away from home, especially in the subcontinent. We know what we need to do to win.”
“Virat is a great player and it’s always nice if he scores. It makes life easy for the batsmen coming in. But, we have too many quality batsmen in the team and we need to deliver whenever we get the opportunity.”

Chris Cairns has received a warning from Mr Justice Sweeney, the judge presiding over his perjury trial in London, after repeatedly failing to give straight answers during a tense cross-examination from Sacha Wass, QC, the crown prosecutor

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Nov-2015Chris Cairns has received a warning from Mr Justice Sweeney, the judge presiding over his perjury trial in London, after repeatedly failing to give straight answers during a tense cross-examination from Sasha Wass, QC, the crown prosecutor.After restricting himself to one-word answers to his own lawyer, Orlando Pownall, during his first day in the witness box on Tuesday, Cairns was today told by Justice Sweeney to stop “making speeches” as he struggled to respond to Wass’s line of questioning.Opening her cross-examination, Wass asked Cairns, who denies two counts of perjury and perverting the course of justice, if he agreed that he had been “a most unfortunate individual” to have had so many former team-mates and acquaintances giving sworn testimony that he was a match-fixer.”Because,” she continued, after Cairns had failed to answer the first question, “if you’re telling the truth, you’ve been accused of match-fixing not once, not twice, but on three separate occasions. Do you think it’s unlucky to be accused on three separate occasions of something you haven’t done?”Pressing for a yes or no answer, and pointing out that “reasonable sane people” don’t generally make spiteful allegations without a reason, Wass repeated the question several times, adding: “Perhaps if you answer the questions rather than think about where they’re going.”When asked if he was trying to make the cross-examination last for weeks and weeks, Cairns replied, “Certainly not, I’d rather be at home with my family.”In the course of the three-week trial, the court has heard from – among others – Cairns’ former team-mates, Lou Vincent and Brendon McCullum, both of whom allege that he approached them to get involved in match-fixing, and Vincent’s ex-wife, Eleanor Riley, who claimed he had attempted to calm her fears about her then-husband’s activities by saying “everyone’s doing it”.He said of Riley’s testimony that it was a “conversation we never had”, and when asked by Wass why McCullum, who is currently preparing for a Test series in Australia, would fly all the way to London just “to stitch you up”, Cairns replied: “Brendon is doing what’s best for Brendon.”Cairns was then quizzed on the subject of the US$250,000 retainer he had been paid by VJ Dimon, an Indian diamond-trading company based in Dubai. Cairns said that the money had been owed to him for promotional work, rent and relocation costs, but Wass replied: “I’m going to suggest the money they were paying you was a reward to you for fixing cricket matches.”She then pointed out that the company had arranged a visit to Dubai for Cairns, Vincent and Daryl Tuffey, the three players implicated in his match-fixing operation. “You were given a short holiday by your pay masters,” she said.Cairns argued that his involvement in the diamond trade was a legitimate step into life after cricket and pointed out that he had obtained a diploma from the Gemology Institute of America after undergoing a three-month course in polished stones in Bangkok.Asked whether he had asked his former employers to give evidence on his behalf, Cairns replied that everything that had happened to him in the intervening years had made him “toxic”. It is difficult, he said, to “get people to come along and support me”.”Your business with them was match fixing,” Wass said, “and the last thing they’d want to do is come to court.”The trial continues.

Afghanistan continued their unbeaten streak in the tournament, as they completed their fourth successive title win against Nepal

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Apr-2013
ScorecardAfghanistan’s Gulbadin Naib starred with both bat and ball as Nepal’s 135 was chased with ease, with Afghanistan winning the Asian Cricket Council Twenty20 Cup in Kirtipur. Nepal were put into bat but were quickly reduced to 23 for 3 in the fifth over, with Naib and Shapoor Zadran providing the strikes. A 71-run fourth-wicket partnership between Paras Khadka and Binod Bhandari helped lend stability to the side, before Khadka fell for a vital 50. Nepal pushed their total to 135 for 7 at the completion of their 20 overs. Naib had the best figures of 2 for 20.Afghanistan started markedly well in comparison, as openers Karim Sadiq and Naib put up a 43-run partnership. Afghanistan were composed in their chase, losing a further two wickets along the way. Naib finished unbeaten on 43, with Mohammad Nabi striking a valuable 38 off 23 balls, including six boundaries. Afghanistan chased Nepal’s total of 137 inside of the 18th over, continuing their unbeaten winning streak in the tournament as they completed four out of four title wins.

India Women broke their run of losses against Australia Women in the final Twenty20 of the series, coasting to an eight-wicket win with 5.3 overs to spare

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Mar-2012
ScorecardIndia Women broke their run of losses against Australia Women in the final Twenty20 of the series, coasting to an eight-wicket win with 5.3 overs to spare.Having lost the first four games, India were playing for pride. Jhulan Goswami and Archana Das produced inspired spells to make sure the hosts had at least a consolation victory to show for what has been a disappointing home series. Goswami began by bowling Alyssa Healy and Lisa Sthalekar as Australia limped to 22 for 2. Offspinner Das then wound her way through the middle order, first having Rachael Haynes stumped and then removing Alex Blackwell and captain Jodie Fields in the same over.Goswami returned to clean up the tail in spectacular fashion. Ellyse Perry was caught behind off the second ball off the 19th over. Two balls later Goswami bowled Erin Osborne and made it three wickets in four balls by repeating the feat to dismiss Sharon Millanta. Australia were dismantled for 89; Goswami’s figures read 3.5-1-11-5, four of which were bowled. Leah Poulton offered some resistance in making 30 at the top of the order and Blackwell chipped in with 20, but none of the other batsmen made it past 10.India had struggled for runs in the series but opener Amita Sharma made sure there would be no twist in the tale with a measured unbeaten half-century. Sthalekar did manage to pick up two wickets but Australia just didn’t have enough runs on the board to defend and India overhauled their target with plenty of time to spare.