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The Bangladesh Cricket Board faces a race against time to host Australia’s practice match later this month at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium, which has been inundated with contaminated water. The BCB is now looking at Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan or Sylhet as back-up venues for the two-day practice match scheduled for August 22 and 23.Over the last few months, contaminated water from adjoining factories has leaked into the ground and its surrounding premises. Seasonal rainfall has compounded the problem, with large parts of the ground and its surrounding premises waterlogged. The weather has also hampered the BCB’s efforts to drain out the excess water through the installation of pumps. The National Sports Council, the government body that effectively owns and maintains all sporting venues in the country, including Fatullah, has been criticised for its lack of initiative in dealing with the problem.Jalal Yunus, the BCB’s media committee chairman, said on Saturday that the BCB will discuss alternative venues with another Cricket Australia security team that arrives on August 15, three days before the full touring party is set to reach Dhaka.”We are still trying to get Fatullah ready,” Yunus said. “We are using pumps to drain out the water. Fatullah was set as the venue for the practice match almost a year ago, when we had done the tour MoU with Cricket Australia. As the rain falls every day, the situation is becoming more delicate. The possibility [of holding the match in Fatullah] is falling, but we are thinking of alternative venues like the BKSP.”We will hold talks with CA’s security team about the venue, whether we can have it somewhere other than Fatullah. If we can shorten the travel time to BKSP, maybe there can be a solution. Sylhet is also an option but we have to see how viable it can be.”BKSP, Bangladesh’s largest sporting institute, has three cricket grounds, one of which has hosted practice matches for touring sides in the past. But it is 36km north of Australia’s team hotel in Dhaka, and would take at least 90 minutes to reach. Fatullah is 25.5km to the south of the team hotel in Dhaka, while Sylhet, which hosted matches during the 2014 ICC World T20s, lies 240 kms to the east of the capital.

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association’s (TNCA) executive committee has nominated N Srinivasan to be the state association’s representative at the BCCI’s special general meeting on Monday (June 26) in Mumbai. According to a TNCA official, he is also slated to attend the state associations’ meetings with the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) on Sunday.Srinivasan, the former BCCI and ICC chief, currently stands disqualified from the role of TNCA president, but is a member of the association’s executive committee.It is unclear if Srinivasan is eligible to attend the meetings given the precedent established in April when the Supreme Court blocked his unlikely return to the boardrooms of the ICC. While the BCCI was inclined to nominate him as its representative for the ICC meetings, the CoA made it clear that any such move needed the Supreme Court’s approval.The Supreme Court subsequently halted Srinivasan’s comeback by observing that there was a “cloud” hanging over his integrity.The Supreme Court and the COA had then warned that office-bearers disqualified under the Lodha Committee recommendations could not attend BCCI meetings. Srinivasan was disqualified after being found ineligible on two counts: he was over 70 years of age and had completed nine years as an office-bearer at both the TNCA and the BCCI, thereby violating the judgment of July 2016, which had approved the recommendations of the Lodha Committee.The CoA is yet to respond to ESPNcricinfo’s queries regarding Srinivasan’s eligibility to attend Monday’s SGM.Srinivasan’s most recent public appearance came on June 19, when he felicitated the Tamil Nadu team that had won the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Deodhar Trophy in the 2016-17 domestic season.

Niroshan Dickwella has played more Tests, but during the 121-run stand that turned the match, it was Asela Gunaratne who found himself constantly pestered for advice. Sri Lanka had been five-down and 185 runs short of their target when the two came together. Dickwella played aggressively through the partnership, and helped ensure some of the pressure Zimbabwe had exerted, was reversed.”Since he came to the crease, what Dickwella told me was: ‘Talk to me all the time, and make me score runs.'” Gunaratne said. “I think what he meant was that he hasn’t scored a big Test innings, where I have. He just wanted me to tell him how to handle situations. Sometimes when the game was going a certain way, he wanted me to keep advising him. Occasionally I’d tell him not to go for certain shots. In the end, he stuck around and scored.”Gunaratne’s own hand in the victory had been a little more measured than Dickwella’s. At the crease when the winning runs were hit, Gunaratne compiled a sensible 80, despite having suffered a mild hamstring injury earlier in the match. Captain Dinesh Chandimal revealed he had expected Gunaratne to play a major role, at the start of the day.”I told Asela this morning: ‘You’re going to get a hundred today’.” Chandimal said. “But very confidently, Asela said to me: ‘No Chandi, there won’t be need for me to get a 100. I’ll get 70 and win the game.’ That’s the kind of faith I expect from my players. There’s a chance he might not have been able to do that today, but the way he spoke, even I became confident as a captain that we could win this match. I’m really happy I have players like that.”Though Chandimal himself had been out for 15 on the fourth evening, he said it was important to him that his middle order batted with freedom. Of the three Sri Lanka players to make fifties, two – Dickwella and Kusal Mendis – batted at a strike rate of around 70 for much of their innings (though they would both slow slightly in the approach to their dismissals).”When it came time for us to bat yesterday, most of what we talked about was playing your own game as batsmen,” Chandimal said. “We knew that it was tough for us to bat out the time and draw the match. If we tried that, it was likely we’d lose. So we said: ‘play your own game’.””As a captain I told them that I’d take the responsibility for any mistakes, so don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Kusal, Dimuth Karunaratne and Upul Tharanga played well. Then at the end, Asela and Dickwella were excellent.”Dickwella and Mendis had also perished playing aggressive strokes: Mendis a sweep and Dickwella a reverse-sweep. Chandimal, however, refused to characterise those dismissals as wasteful.”We’ve played on these kinds of pitches before in Sri Lanka, and in India and Bangladesh. On these pitches, it’s with sweeps and reverse-sweeps that we can score runs. There’s a risk in that, but if we are chasing scores, we have to play those shots. At training we had practiced those things, and they bore results today.”

Where they finished

Fifth, with seven wins and seven defeats.

The good

Hashim Amla had his breakthrough IPL season. In his second year in the league, Amla topped the Kings XI Punjab run charts, making 420 runs at an average of 60 and strike rate of 146. He filled the void created by M Vijay’s injury, and Kings XI sorely missed him in their must-win game against Rising Pune Supergiant to make the playoffs; Amla had left for South Africa duty by then.Fast bowler Sandeep Sharma and allrounder Axar Patel showcased their skills at various points. Sandeep was Man of the Match in successive games, for his 4 for 20 against Delhi Daredevils, and for dismissing Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers against Royal Challengers Bangalore. He finished with 17 wickets, and was the joint highest wicket-taker in the Powerplay – nine and an economy of less than seven – along with Mitchell McClenaghan. Axar was Kings XIs second highest wicket-taker with 15, and scored his 227 runs at a strike rate of 140.Legspinner Rahul Tewatia had been bought for INR 25 lakh at the auction but didn’t play until late in the league phase. Tewatia took 2 for 18 in his first game, dismissing Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa against Kolkata Knight Riders. In all, Tewatia bowled nine overs in the tournament and conceded only 49 runs.

The bad

Kings XI struggled to finish well with the ball. They conceded 10.37 an over in the last five overs. Only Gujarat Lions were worse.Kings XI did not start well either, with bat and ball. They lost 25 wickets in the first six overs of the innings. Only RCB and Daredevils lost more. The 17 wickets they took in the Powerplay was the lowest after KKR’s 16.Their contingent of overseas players contained too many batsmen, and only Amla pulled his weight. David Miller was benched after making 83 runs in five games, and Shaun Marsh, Eoin Morgan and Martin Guptill were patchy.Glenn Maxwell fared better, making 310 at a strike rate of 173, but played himself too low in the batting order. He finished the season having played only 18 balls in the Powerplay, and scored only 11 runs off them for three dismissals.What Glenn Maxwell said after their campaign•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The ugly

Kings XI had stayed alive by winning two successive games in the last week of the league, and now needed to win their final match to seal a playoff spot. But they subsided for 73 – their lowest IPL total – against Rising Pune. The lack of fight drew the wrath of Kings XI’s director of cricket Virender Sehwag, who slammed Maxwell and the overseas batsmen for not taking responsibility.Kings XI had bought eight players at the auction in February and they played only 28 matches in total. Darren Sammy and Rinku Singh did not play a game, while Morgan and Varun Aaron, among their most expensive purchases, did nothing of note. Ishant Sharma, who was Vijay’s replacement, went wicketless in all his six games and conceded nearly 10 an over. Kings XI splurged nearly INR 8 crore on Ishant, T Natarajan, who was underused, and Aaron; money that could have been spent more wisely.

The missing ingredient

Allrounders. Apart from Axar, they only had Marcus Stoinis, who made 17 runs in three innings and took two wickets in five, while going at 10.47 an over. Maxwell bowled himself sparingly despite being economical, with seven wickets in 14 matches at 6.57.

Out of their control

Wrist and shoulder injuries ruled Vijay out of the tournament. They also lost Amla at a crucial stage. Guptill’s hamstring trouble kept him out of the first half of the season and he never took off after regaining fitness.

Match facts

Royal Challengers Bangalore v Rising Pune Supergiant
Bengaluru, April 16, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)2:54

Hogg: Dhoni has to stand up and be a leader

Form guide

• Royal Challengers Bangalore (sixth): lost to Mumbai Indians by four wickets, lost to Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets, defeated Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs

• Rising Pune Supergiant (eighth): lost to Gujarat Lions by seven wickets, lost to Daredevils by 97 runs, lost to Kings XI by six wickets

Head to head

Overall: The two teams have faced off only twice, in IPL 2016, with RCB winning both times.The last time they played in Bengaluru, Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 108 helped the home side chase down the 192 target with three balls to spare.

In the news

Before the match against Mumbai Indians, Kohli had said Chris Gayle was “a top contender to start in every game” but with the Chinnaswamy surface being drier than usual, combined with the West Indian’s poor form, it remains to be seen whether RCB will tweak their batting. Shane Watson, who captained RCB in the first three matches, will probably remain sidelined for extended periods through the tournament.Steven Smith’s return to the Rising Pune XI helped their batting, even though they had to leave out Faf du Plessis. With Lockie Ferguson going at an economy rate of 11 against Gujarat Lions, Pune may choose Adam Zampa’s legspin over Ferguson’s pace on a Bengaluru pitch that had much for spinners to exploit. They will be forced to think about how many legspinners they would want to play though.

The likely XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Virat Kohli (capt), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Kedar Jadhav (wk), 5 Pawan Negi, 6 Mandeep Singh, 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Tymal Mills, 9 S Aravind, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Samuel BadreeRising Pune Supergiant 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Rahul Tripathi, 3 Steven Smith (capt) 4 Manoj Tiwary, 5 Ben Stokes, 6 MS Dhoni (wk), 7 Ankit Sharma, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Lockie Ferguson/Adam Zampa, 10 Rahul Chahar, 11 Imran Tahir

Stats that matter

• Gayle has outstanding numbers against the frontline Rising Pune legspinners – he has scored 51 off 30 deliveries against Imran Tahir and 44 off 16 balls against Zampa, in the CPL and the Big Bash League.
• The only Rising Pune bowler to dismiss Kohli is Ashok Dinda, who was dropped in the last game. Against Tahir and Zampa, Kohli has scored 75 runs off 42 balls.
• Rajat Bhatia has been Rising Pune’s second-best bowler so far this season (economy rate of 7.85), but Bengaluru is easily his least favourite venue as far as the numbers go: in 14 overs in the IPL, he has figures of 0 for 145. His economy rate of 10.35 is his worst among all IPL venues where he has played more than one match.
• How Rising Pune use Tahir remains to be seen. In the death overs since 2014, his economy rate has been 8.56 and has taken 36 wickets at an average of 14.08. In the middle overs in the IPL this season, he has taken four wickets and only conceded 29 runs in 42 deliveries.
• Tymal Mills has never bowled to Ben Stokes in a T20 game. Stokes scores at a strike-rate of 166 in the last five overs while Mills has taken 31 wickets in the same period, averaging 13.25 with an economy rate of 7.36.

Reactions

Cricket Australia chairman David Peever: “This resolution is a clear indication that whilst the Board may not yet agree on the detail of our reform process, we are committed to the overarching philosophies of it. We all believe that Shashank should be the man to see it through and whilst respectful of a decision made for personal reasons, we are delighted that he has agreed to remain in post until the completion of the 2017 Annual Conference where we can elect a successor.”
BCB president Nazmul Hassan: “For the greater interest of cricket, we need Shashank as the chairman of ICC especially at this critical juncture. He can be assured of our full support.”
ECB president Giles Clarke: “I am very pleased that the team effort has convinced Shashank about how important it is he leads through these discussions to take us to the new constitution, new Full Members and respecting the rights of all Full Members. It has been a great collegiate effort.”

Shashank Manohar has agreed to defer his resignation as ICC chairman until the body’s annual conference in June this year. That, cricket’s leading administrators hope, will give them enough time to implement the changes to the governance and financial models of the ICC, changes behind which Manohar has been a significant presence.The u-turn in Manohar’s stance, following his surprise resignation earlier this month, came after an ICC board resolution earlier this week that requested him to stay with “overwhelming support”.”I respect the sentiments expressed by the Directors and the confidence they have reposed in me. In the light of this, and although my decision to depart due to personal reasons has not changed, I am willing to continue as Chairman till the responsibility as per the resolution is complete,” Manohar said in an ICC release.”I have a duty to work with my colleagues to enable a smooth transition and continue our work on the governance of the ICC.”Efforts to try and convince Manohar to change his mind had begun almost as soon as his resignation was made official. A number of board directors have been in touch with him since. Those contacts were supplemented by a meeting in India a few days ago between Manohar and the CA chairman David Peever and ICC Development Committee head Imran Khwaja, which is believed to have been an important one in convincing him.On March 15, Manohar had caught much of the cricket world by surprise when he announced his decision to step down as ICC chairman, offering nothing more than “personal reasons” as an explanation. The development raised concerns over whether the new ICC constitution, for which Manohar was the driving force, would be passed at the April meetings, when specific points in the document will come up for vote.In principle the constitution had passed at the ICC board meeting in February. Seven Full Members had voted in favour but the BCCI and Sri Lanka Cricket had voted against the new constitution, while Zimbabwe Cricket abstained. Since then, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has expressed reservations against some aspects of the new constitution.The Indian board’s primary objection to the new constitution is the financial model, according to which the BCCI stood to make substantially less than it did under the existing model, which was devised by the Big Three.It was revealed that Manohar had met with the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators the evening before he announced his resignation to discuss the new ICC constitution, though he said he had already made up his mind to quit before the meeting.Significantly, the BCCI, with whom Manohar has had a complex relationship since he became an independent ICC chairman last year, endorsed the decision, along with other major directors. “It is important that the current issues are resolved to everyone’s satisfaction,” Vikram Limaye, a member of the BCCI’s CoA, said. “We had a productive meeting with Mr Manohar recently wherein we outlined the concerns of BCCI on the financial model and governance issues and our suggestions for resolution. We are committed to working with ICC for a satisfactory resolution of these issues.”On Wednesday, the CoA had also spoken of how they intend to proceed on issues related to the ICC in the run up to the April board meeting. The tone of those messages suggested a shift from the more abrasive stance the BCCI has employed towards the ICC in recent years, to a more conciliatory one.

Alastair Cook has stepped down from his role after 59 Tests as England captain. His appetite to continue had been questioned during England’s 4-0 defeat to India before Christmas and Cook has now confirmed he will pass on the captaincy, with Joe Root his likely successor.Appointed in August 2012, Cook led the team in more Test matches than any other England captain. His record includes Ashes victories at home in 2013 and 2015, as well as series wins in India and South Africa. With 24 Test wins, he is joint-second as England’s most successful captain but five losses in seven Tests over the winter meant he also eclipsed Michael Atherton’s record for defeats.Cook discussed his decision with Colin Graves, the chairman of the ECB, on Sunday evening and has confirmed his continuing commitment to playing Test cricket to Andrew Strauss, England’s team director, and the selectors. Strauss suggested Cook’s replacement would be named before the ODI tour to the West Indies later this month, with Root favourite to be be named as England’s new captain – the 80th in their Test history – in the coming days.Cook, 32, is England’s most-capped Test player, their most prolific batsman with 11,057 runs in 140 Tests to date, and has scored more Test centuries than any of his countrymen. He also led the one-day side on 69 occasions between 2010 and 2014, another England record.During his five seasons at the helm he was named Cricketer of the Year (2012) and ICC World Test Captain (2013) and his services to the game were recognised with a CBE – collected at Buckingham Palace on Friday – to follow the MBE he was awarded in 2011.”It’s been a huge honour to be England captain and to lead the Test team over the past five years,” Cook said. “Stepping down has been an incredibly hard decision but I know this is the correct decision for me and at the right time for the team. I’ve had time to reflect after the India series and this weekend I spoke to Colin Graves to explain and offer my resignation.”It’s a sad day personally in many ways but I want to thank everyone I’ve captained, all the coaches and support staff and, of course, the England supporters and the Barmy Army who follow us home and away and have given us unwavering support.”Playing for England really is a privilege and I hope to carry on as a Test player, making a full contribution and helping the next England captain and the team however I can.”Alastair Cook was awarded a CBE last week•Getty Images

Strauss, the man from whom Cook inherited the Test captaincy in 2012, paid tribute to his former opening partner and explained the next steps in appointing a successor.”I want to thank Alastair, on behalf of the ECB and from a personal perspective, for the fantastic contribution that he’s made to the England Test team since taking over as captain in 2012,” Strauss said.”His country owes him a great debt of gratitude; he’s led the team with determination, conviction and a huge amount of pride over the last five years and his record stands for itself. With more matches leading the team than anyone, including two Ashes wins, he deserves to be seen as one of our country’s great captains.”Off the field as well as on, he has shown his strengths, developing the team and its culture, managing a fundamental transition and helping us to build for the future. As with all leaders, there have been times where circumstances have tested him but his resilience and temperament have helped him to prevail and to prosper.”He has always served with the best interests of the team in the front of his mind and stays true to that as he steps down from the role. Alastair will be missed in his capacity as captain but I hope that he has a number of years left to add to his record-breaking feats as an opening batsman and look forward to his continued success.”We now move on with the process of appointing the right successor. There are a number of established players who are playing formal or informal leadership roles and whilst we’ve rightly not spoken to anyone in relation to the Test captaincy so far, we can now talk fully and openly within the team. We expect to be able to make an announcement before the team head to the West Indies on February 22.”Cook first captained England in Bangladesh in 2010, deputising for the rested Strauss. After taking over permanently in 2012, Cook led from the front with three centuries as England came from behind to win their first Test series in India in 28 years. England retained the Ashes with a 3-0 win the following summer but cracks were beginning to show and Australia took swift revenge a few months later.The 5-0 whitewash left England needing to rebuild, and the decision to do so without the involvement of Kevin Pietersen was one of the most controversial of Cook’s reign. Beaten at home by Sri Lanka at the start of the 2014 summer, England then lost the second Test to India at Lord’s, prompting Cook to consider resigning. He chose to continue but his hopes of leading England at the 2015 World Cup were dashed when the ECB sacked him less than two months before the tournament.He subsequently oversaw the regeneration of the Test side, as players such as Root, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow helped England to regain the Ashes in 2015 and then secure a memorable win in South Africa the following winter.Although England’s progress was recently checked by two difficult tours of the subcontinent – drawing 1-1 with Bangladesh before being outclassed by India – Cook had retained the support of his players and the coaching staff. His decision to step down comes during a seven-month gap between Test commitments and gives his successor time to prepare for home series against South Africa and West Indies, before the challenge of another Ashes tour to Australia.

Australia are gearing up for Tests against a team that has not lost at home in over four years – India; England are undergoing generational change as Joe Root takes over from Alastair Cook; South Africa’s preparations for the Champions Trophy have seen them reach No.1 on the ODI rankings and they are now fine-tuning against the No. 3 side – New Zealand; Pakistan are in the midst of their T20 showpiece, and Zimbabwe? Zimbabwe are about to play Afghanistan for the fourth time in three years. Welcome to the future of cricket.This is what things could look like post the current FTP, when, if the 9-3 Test split is agreed upon, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan will become even more familiar with each other than they already are. Ireland will join their club, and although all three of them should be able to look forward to regular fixtures against their other nine Full Members, they will have to get used to forming a second tier of sorts. Afghanistan and Ireland won’t mind too much – it is their chance to play with the big boys – but Zimbabwe are understood to be more than just a little put out by the prospect.They already feel like outsiders looking in, and their fixture list will keep them that way. Zimbabwe are not due to play anyone until July, when they should visit Sri Lanka. They host West Indies before heading into the World Cup qualifiers next March, and unless their fixture list fills up fast, they will be woefully short of match time. That is why they are reaching out to Afghanistan – and are also reportedly in talks with Scotland – and why they are trying to play against as many A teams as possible.Zimbabwe need matches, and they need them desperately if only to figure out who their best are. To say they have very little idea of that is putting it mildly. To that end, Zimbabwe have named a squad that includes six changes from the one that played in a triangular series against Sri Lanka and West Indies in November. That’s almost half the squad that is different, and it suggests they are still very much in a look-and-see phase.The most notable exclusions are Hamilton Masakadza, Tinashe Panyangara and Sean Williams, who all failed fitness tests. Williams has a back injury and should be recalled upon recovery, provided he passes a second test while Panyangara, who has not played any cricket since the tri-series, will retake his test on Friday. Chamu Chibhabha and Brian Chari have struggled for form, although Chari scored an unbeaten 84 in the most recent round of List A matches.In their places, Zimbabwe have picked from some of their most in-form players from the series against Afghanistan A. Although they lost 1-4, Ryan Burl was the highest run-scorer with 266 runs at 53.20 and could not be ignored. Burl notched up over 100 runs more than his nearest challenger, Innocent Kaia, also from Zimbabwe, who was not selected. Instead, Zimbabwe looked to add bowlers who performed against Afghanistan A despite an obvious lack of penetration. Tendai Chatara and Nathan Waller were their joint highest wicket-takers with six each, and fourth overall. They were picked alongside Wellington Masakadza, 19-year old left-arm seamer Richard Ngarava, and Solomon Mire, whose return is the most interesting.Afghanistan have proven that they can challenge established international outfits, and this series will give them the chance to make another case for more matches•Peter Della Penna

Mire was talked up as the next big thing – a Lance Klusener of sorts – ahead of the 2015 World Cup. He played five matches and did not make anything like the impact he was expected to before choosing to stay in Australia and play grade cricket. He has only recently returned to Zimbabwe and made himself available for international cricket.The indication is that Zimbabwe need someone (else) in the Elton Chigumbura mould so that if Chigumbura, who has most recently played as a batsman only, needs to be dropped, they don’t lack a seam-bowling allrounder. Mire’s worth is chief among all the things Zimbabwe want this series to reveal.So is appeasing the country’s sports minister, who has voiced his disapproval with the state of Zimbabwean cricket to the point where he has asked for “something drastic” to take place to improve things. “We are extremely worried by the performance of our cricket teams, especially when they are playing Associate nations,” Makhosini Hlongwane, the sports minister, was quoted as saying in . “Zimbabwe should work hard to improve its rankings among Test-playing nations and should move away from being the whipping boys of cricket.”That’s not an exaggeration, and Afghanistan are the best evidence of it. Zimbabwe have played Afghanistan in three ODI series since July 2014 and not won any of them. They drew the first, 2-2 at home, lost the second 3-2, also at home, and were then defeated 3-2 in Sharjah in the third. Zimbabwe may take heart from the level of competitiveness they showed in all those rubbers – they came back from 2-nil down to draw level in the UAE – but the fact that even their A side has struggled against Afghanistan’s next-best does not bode well for World Cup qualification, especially as Afghanistan will be one of the teams they will be up against.Afghanistan have already shown they have enough in the tank to challenge some of the more established international outfits and recently narrowly lost a series to Bangladesh 1-2. They don’t even need the A sides and their international outfit to overlap as much as Zimbabwe do and could leave out the top three wicket-takers from the A team’s recent win in Zimbabwe – Nawaz Khan, Abdullah Adil and Fazal Niazai – for the series proper. They have called on Aftab Alam and Samiullah Shenwari to join the ranks.With recent history on their side, Afghanistan can only look to this series as another opportunity to make a case to be considered for more matches. They already have recent developments at the ICC on their side. If the ODI league and new Test structure materialise, Afghanistan and Ireland will be the greatest beneficiaries, and unless Zimbabwe step up soon, they may find that even those two countries don’t want to have too much to do with them.

Rajesh Sawant, the 45-year-old India Under-19 trainer, has been found dead in his hotel room in Mumbai on Sunday. He is survived by his wife and daughter.A BCCI press release said Sawant “passed away in his sleep.” He was in Mumbai helping the team prepare for the series against England Under-19, which begins tomorrow.”What I have gathered so far,” acting BCCI joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary was quoted as saying by , “is he did not report for team activities in the morning, so people started looking for him and eventually he was found to have passed away in his room.”Sawant had been part of the Afghanistan coaching staff in the past and worked with the India A teams that played the England XI in the two List A matches earlier this month. Sawant had also trained the Rest of India side ahead of the 2016-17 Irani Cup match against Gujarat.

Australia’s cricketers should be prepared to say goodbye to the Gabba as their traditional starting point to summer outside of Ashes series – if the words of the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland are anything to go by.While admitting the team sees the Gabba as a “real stronghold”, Sutherland has hinted strongly that the search for a more commercially successful Brisbane Test is likely to lead to this year’s mid-December time slot being persisted with, more than likely in the day/night configuration to be tried against Pakistan this week. Such a decision would mean the loss of a major competitive advantage for the hosts.In unveiling the schedule for next summer’s Ashes, CA have outlined how that now seems to be the only Test series in which the national team’s preparation is to be kept as ideal as possible, with as many as four Sheffield Shield matches scheduled before the first match at the Gabba. Other summers against less marketable opponents will likely throw up similar issues to those seen this season – at least until proposed league structures for international cricket are approved at ICC level and take effect some time after 2019.

CA executive to be spoken to over Brayshaw link

Allegations that Ben Amarfio, Cricket Australia’s executive general manager for communications, digital and marketing, has been seeking job opportunities for his friend James Brayshaw with CA media rights partners will be dealt with “behind closed doors”, the chief executive James Sutherland has said.
Fairfax and News Ltd both reported on Monday that Amarfio had been helping Brayshaw try to renew his contract with the international cricket rights holders Channel Nine – a clear conflict of interest – though Sutherland denied the former Southern Cross-Austereo executive had been acting formally as Brayshaw’s agent; he and the network have now cut ties.
“Look I don’t think it’s right that one of our staff was acting as an agent, but let’s just say they’re things we’ll deal with behind closed doors at Cricket Australia,” Sutherland said. “I don’t think this is the place to be talking about that any further.”

“We’ll definitely keep our options open there. Every summer’s different. I know there are aspects of the 2018-19 summer that are very different to others, that’s just the nature of international cricket,” Sutherland said when asked about keeping the Gabba Test in mid-December. “It’s certainly a possibility we play the Brisbane Test match at a different time in the season.”I want to make that very clear. It was absolutely calculated for us to play the Test match here at this time. We wanted to ensure we gave ourselves the best opportunity to understand the Brisbane market and how we can increase attendances here. There’s a lot of promotion around it, we’ve got fantastic partners in the Queensland government and Brisbane city council, let’s see how this week pans out.”We’re on target to have the highest attendance ever for a non-Ashes Test match at the Gabba this week. We’re looking at around 80,000 and we’re very hopeful we’re on track for that.”Success in home Ashes series is seen as the most pivotal team performance metric for the entirety of CA, especially after the disastrous 2010-11 summer placed considerable heat upon Sutherland and the governing body’s board directors, resulting in the Argus review. To that end, Australia’s players can expect a similar lead-in to the 2013-14 season, albeit with the distraction of an ODI series in India beforehand. That result eased a level of pressure on the top end of CA that has not been matched by this summer’s home series loss to South Africa.”We’re really comfortable with the traditional order, and let’s be honest, this venue is a real stronghold for the Australian team, they love playing here,” Sutherland said. “This is the same order as the 13-14 Ashes summer, which was very successful for the team and in terms of spectator attendance and public interests.”We’ve really wanted to not change anything in that regard, and we’ll have a similar lead-in to the 13-14 summer with something like three or four Shield matches leading into the first Test, which we’re able to do when the Ashes series starts in late November.”The preparation leading into a series of Test cricket will depend from year to year, it’s actually quite difficult when you start a Test series in early November because usually the Australian team will be touring somewhere. But we need to work around that to get the best possible preparation in the circumstances, and for an Ashes series it’s clear with a Test series starting in late November that we’ll be able to get three matches in before the series starts.”Casting his eye over the MOU discussions currently going on between CA and the Australian Cricketers Association, Sutherland said that he was not worried by the prospect of industrial action from the players. “No, I’m not concerned,” he said. “These sorts of negotiations come around every four years or whatever the cycle is and they’re things that need to be worked through behind closed doors in an appropriate fashion.”I don’t think it’s our role to be giving a ball-by-ball commentary on it. We will, with the ACA, work through it and work with the ACA and our players to ensure the game of cricket is stronger and better for whatever the new agreement might be.”There is a lot to talk about and there are some very important issues and in some ways those issues are complex. Every time an agreement like this comes along it is an opportunity to put together a better agreement for all parties and I know that’s what we’re interested in and I know that’s what the ACA is interested in.”Late on Tuesday the ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson spoke about the past two days of negotiations, indicating there is a long way to go.”Today we were able to clarify that the ACA and CA have a lot of detail to work through with differences in a number of areas,” he said. “With the position that CA have taken in responding to our submission, we will now re-engage with the players and the ACA Executive to gain their feedback on CA’s response.”The players are emphatic that they are partners in the game and will continue to push for one agreement for all cricketers, men and women, national and state.”