Somerset’s upheaval has continued as chief executive, Lee Cooper, has signalled his intention to step down after only nine months in the job

David Hopps14-Mar-2018Lee Cooper, who took over the role of Somerset chief executive only nine months ago, is to relinquish the position because of pressures of work.Cooper had told Somerset that he could stand aside from the bulk of his duties at Cooper Associates, one of England’s fastest-growing financial services companies, where he remains as a non-executive director.But that scenario has not materialised as he has found it increasingly difficult to distance himself from a company that he founded, and which lies just across the road from the Taunton ground that carries its name.Alarm calls several hours before dawn have not been uncommon as he has attempted to balance both roles.In a statement issued by the club, Cooper said: “When I took up the role of chief executive at Somerset, I assured the then chairman and the committee that I would be able to fulfil my duties whilst standing aside completely from my former responsibilities with Cooper Associates.”It has become increasingly apparent to me that it has not been as straight forward as I envisaged to do so.”I do not believe that it is fair to the club that I continue as Chief Executive if it is likely that other business commitments begin to affect the amount of time that I can properly devote to its affairs.”Andy Nash, Somerset’s former chairman, has confirmed that he has no interest in returning to the county in a new role, remarking that his own chief executive days are behind him.Nash resigned as Somerset chairman to become a Board member of the ECB but he stood down from the Board last week in protest about additional payments to Test-hosting grounds.Nash claimed the payments were further evidence of a desire within the higher echelons of ECB to dismantle the 18-county system in favour of as few as eight city-based teams – precisely the model being used for the new Twenty20 competition.Charles Clark, Nash’s replacement as chairman, will now supervise the latest upheaval in Taunton: “I have been aware for some time that Lee has been facing some very challenging personal decisions,” he said. “Whilst his tenure has been relatively short, he has impressed all who have come into contact with him with his enormous work ethic, diligence, openness, organisational capabilities, courage, determination and passion for our club.”Cooper certainly achieved much in his short time. He restructured the cricket department, resulting in the return of Andy Hurry and the departure at the end of last season of Matthew Maynard as coach.At the end of last season, he threatened legal action action against the ECB during Middlesex’s appeal over relegation which, had it been successful, would have sent Somerset down in their place.He also revamped the club’s membership structure, raising additional revenue but bringing a mixed response. He was forced to publish an an open letter in which he addressed claims of a “conflict of interest” between his roles at Somerset CCC and Cooper Associates, stressing: “Personally, I’m a Somerset supporter first and an employee second and from my perspective, we’re in this together.”To complete a feverish period, there was also disappointment. When the ECB released their Major Match List for 2020-2024, Taunton failed to gain any England internationals and also failed to be chosen as a venue – even a part-time venue – for the the new domestic T20 tournament due to start in 2020. In the West Country, there was talk of ECB betrayal.

Two days after taking a career-best 6 for 23 against Bermuda, the allrounder scores 17-ball 51 and takes three-for as Uganda move to No. 2 in points table

The Report by Peter Della Penna02-May-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
ICC/Peter Lim

Two days after taking a career-best 6 for 23 against Bermuda, Mohammad Irfan was at it again. His blistering half-century and a three-wicket haul with his offspin helped Uganda beat Vanuatu by 81 runs at WCL Division Four.Irfan’s 17-ball 51 at Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur included seven sixes. This astonishing assault came after Uganda were struggling for momentum at 92 for 4 in 37 overs. From there on, Uganda scored at 10 runs an over. Irfan scored 51 in a whirlwind 55-run stand off just 26 balls with Hamu Kayondo to shift the momentum. Uganda eventually finished with 222 for 8 in 50 overs.It wasn’t all about Irfan’s assault though. Riazat Ali took over after Irfan’s dismissal, hitting four sixes in his 23-ball 38. Vanuatu captain Andrew Mansale bore the brunt of the aggression, conceding nine of the 13 sixes hit by Uganda in his nine overs of offspin. He finished with 1 for 78.Uganda captain Roger Mukasa repeated the bowling strategy that worked so effectively when they bowled out Bermuda for 60. He gave the new ball to offspinners Irfan and Frank Nsubuga, and the move worked as they Vanuatu were reduced to 2 for 4, including the prized scalp of player-coach Shane Deitz for a third-ball duck.Nalin Nipiko fell at the end of the Powerplay to make it 24 for 5 as Uganda pressed hard for another massive win to boost their net run rate further. Mansale, however, brought respectability back to the Vanuatu innings with his 69 off 110 balls during the course of a 53-run sixth-wicket stand with Ronald Tari to give Vanuatu an outside chance.Riazat Ali Shah took out Mansale in the 43rd over and finished off the rest of the tail with 3 for 16 as Vanuatu were eventually all out for 141 in 47 overs.

Taylor is playing his penultimate red-ball game for the county and guided Notts into a dominant position with a 208-ball 146

ECB Reporters Network20-Jun-2018
ScorecardRoss Taylor collected his first Specsavers County Championship century for Nottinghamshire as champions Essex toiled in the humid conditions at batsman-friendly Chelmsford.Taylor, who has joined for the first half of the summer, and is playing his penultimate red-ball game for the county, guided Notts into a dominant position with a 208-ball 146 on day one between the sides currently in third and fourth positions.The 25th first-class century of the 34-year-old Taylor’s career – only the eighth away from the Test arena – took four and three-quarter hours and included 23 fours.It had looked a good toss for stand-in captain Chris Nash to win at the start of the day, and an even better one by the end of it when they had 311 for 6 on the board. Essex’s bowlers, who had steered them to three victories in their opening six fixtures, had a particularly unproductive day, bar the occasional ball that turned from Simon Harmer and a nagging spell early on from Matt Coles.Taylor dominated a fourth-wicket partnership of 122 in 36 overs with Billy Root, who contributed just 32 of the stand from the 112 balls he faced.Taylor was quicksilver in comparison. He went off like a train, going to lunch with 32 from 33 balls. He slowed down appreciably for a time afterwards and needed another 40 balls to add the 18 required to reach his fifth Championship fifty of the season. But it took him just 51 more balls to make it to his second half-century. He had already hit 18 fours by that stage.Taylor, who had also registered three ducks in an otherwise inconsistent summer, had earlier shared a third-wicket partnership of 53 in a dozen overs with his skipper.Nash almost went to the third ball of the day when he got a faint snick to Jamie Porter. Varun Chopra went late to his left at first slip, getting fingertips to the ball but unable to stop it racing away to the boundary.It was not an auspicious start for the home side, and Nash reached his half-century straight after lunch to the 83rd ball faced when he clipped Wagner through midwicket for three. But he departed to his next ball, the first of Matt Quinn’s second spell, walking across his stumps, missing the ball and falling lbw for 51.Quinn had earlier marked his long-delayed return to the Essex attack by taking his first wicket since the end of May 2017. The New Zealand seamer had not bowled in the Championship for 374 days after back problems that required a succession of operations.Opening from the River End, Quinn found movement away from the batsmen off the seam. But it was a straight one to Jake Libby, to which the opener shouldered arms and was bowled, that gave Essex the breakthrough in the 10th over.Samit Patel, having made 20, followed 10 overs later when he was plumb lbw to Coles, who slipped into a nagging line and length from the start. Coles, making his Championship debut for Essex after moving from Kent, was the pick of the bowlers on an easy-paced wicket that favoured the batsmen.Nash’s exit early in the afternoon brought in Root, and with some judicious batting the fourth-wicket pair had Essex toiling in the field and paying for every wayward ball. Root even had the audacity to come down the pitch and lift Harmer straight for six. Later he pulled Coles for the boundary that took Notts to their first batting point.Taylor reached three-figures when he swiped fellow Kiwi Wagner through midwicket for his 18th boundary from the 124th ball he had faced. The boundary also brought up the hundred stand in 29 overs with Root, younger brother of the England Test captain.Root’s role as sleeping partner to Taylor’s rapier was ended when Chopra took a routine slip catch to a forward prod to give Harmer his first wicket of the match. The offspinner then got one to turn to account for Riki Wessels, who went back and was pinned lbw.Taylor finally departed three overs from stumps when he attempted to cut Porter, but only succeeded in touching the ball through to wicketkeeper Adam Wheater.

A star-studded West Indies line-up proved too powerful for their World XI counterparts on an entertaining if one-sided evening at Lord’s

The Report by Andrew Miller31-May-2018West Indies XI 199 for 4 (Lewis 58, Ramdin 44*, Samuels 43) beat World XI 127 (Perera 61, Williams 3-42) by 72 runs

ScorecardA star-studded West Indies line-up proved too powerful for their World XI counterparts on an entertaining if one-sided evening at Lord’s, as a quartet of cameos from Evin Lewis, Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin and Andre Russell set up a hefty 72-run victory in the one-off Hurricane Relief T20 Challenge.With the cricket world rallying round the West Indies, and in particular those islands in the north of the region that were devastated by the twin hurricanes Irma and Maria eight months ago, a crowd of approximately 15,000 witnessed some outstanding feats of big-hitting as well as one or two more eclectic sights – not least the appearance of Nasser Hussain as an on-field “roving reporter” (an experiment from the broadcasters, Sky Sports, who were providing the global feed for the event free of charge).There was yet another comeback, too, for cricket’s very own Frank Sinatra, Shahid Afridi – who, due to the official T20I status of the match, was featuring in his 99th such contest, more than two years after his previous retirement at Mohali in March 2016.This time, and probably for the first time, Afridi looked like a player for whom there was no coming back, as he creaked through four overs of geriatric, if effective, legspin. And inevitably, he still managed to pull it off like the showman he has always been. His second ball drew Andre Fletcher down the track then spun past his edge for a simple stumping, whereupon Afridi embarked on that familiar star-shaped celebration, just as he had done on this very ground in 2009, after hitting the winning runs in the World T20 final.The hitting, on this occasion, was largely restricted to the West Indians – most particularly Evin Lewis at the top of the order, who left his opening partner, Chris Gayle, for dead in rattling along to 58 from 26 balls with five fours and five sixesRashid Khan eventually pinned Lewis lbw with the third ball of his spell, but Gayle at the other end was never allowed to get going. In particular he was flummoxed by the fierce pace and cunning change-ups of Tymal Mills, who did not concede a single run until his 11th delivery, by which stage he had also struck Gayle a glancing blow on the helmet for good measure. But sadly for Mills, who has had terrible luck with injury, he was unable to complete his spell after leaving the field with a quad strain, and he did not come out to bat either.Gayle was finally bowled by Shoaib Malik for 18 from 28, whereupon Samuels marched onto centre stage with a fusillade of sixes – two in two balls off Malik, and a gargantuan mow down the ground to welcome the Nepalese legspinner, Sandeep Lamichhane, to Lord’s. Ramdin joined the fun with 44 not out from 25, as did Russell to spectacular effect in the penultimate over – three massive sixes took Rashid for an eye-watering 24 runs.In reply, the World XI spluttered under the floodlights. Before they’d found their bearings they’d been reduced to 8 for 4, with Samuel Badree scalping Luke Ronchi and Denesh Karthik for ducks in his opening over, either side of Russell seeing off the opener, Tamim Iqbal and Sam Billings.Thisara Perera wasn’t done yet, however, and his 28-ball half-century kept the crowd entertained in the gloom – as did some comical running between the wickets when Afridi, limping with a knee injury, appeared at five-down with Billings alongside him as a runner. Officially, runners are no longer permitted in full international fixtures, but the ICC were happy in the circumstances to give him special dispensation. After all, the night was about much more than just cricket.

Liam Dawson also impressed with four wickets in front of England head coach Trevor Bayliss while India’s spinners had a poor day

David Hopps at Derby22-Jun-2018
ScorecardTrevor Bayliss, England’s coach, is taking time out from the T20 series against India and Australia to run the rule over England Lions and if the results stay like this in their triangular series against the A teams of India and West Indies he could get to like it. Nick Gubbins was the first member of England’s shadow squad to make a favourable impression with an unbeaten hundred as India A, who were expected to be daunting opponents, were despatched by seven wickets with 8.1 overs to spare in Derby.This was Derby at its most inviting. Once renowned as the coldest, most windswept ground in England, it has improved beyond measure and a gorgeous summer’s day and a slow, slightly abrasive pitch seemed designed for India A. But an exciting batting line-up malfunctioned and India A lacked the spin-bowling threat to defend their modest total of 232. Gubbins was at his smoothest in making 128 not out off 132 balls”I think the wicket got better throughout the day as the sun baked it,” Gubbis conceded. “It looked a bit sticky early on, maybe because we were bowling well. A good toss to lose.”Gubbins has been on the fringes of the England Test side for a while, only for Keaton Jennings to win the right to partner Alastair Cook at the top of the order after the selectors dispensed with Mark Stoneman: a partnership that looks certain to begin the Test series against India later this summer. Bayliss rarely bursts into raptures, but he will have been quietly impressed with what he saw.Gubbins’ season has been disrupted by injury. He made hundreds in the first two North v South challenge pre-season challenge matches in Barbados, but tore a hamstring while fielding in the final match and has managed only two Championship matches for Middlesex. He did return in the Royal London Cup, leaving him well attuned to the 50-over game.Only in the 90s, during an eventful over from the offspinner Krishnappa Gowtham, did he look vulnerable. He should have been stumped by Rishabh Pant on 91 when he came down the pitch, struck a boundary through the hands of mid-off as Gowtham flung his arms aloft in frustration, and finished the over by bringing up his fifth List A century with a dance-down-the-wicket six over long off.Sam Hain also made a composed half-century in a second-wicket stand of 134 in 24 overs as no India A bowler managed to exert much pressure and the result was signalled long before the end. A few disconsolate India ex pats chanted their loyalty to Ravi Jadeja as defeat loomed. India can be expected to put up much stiffer opposition in a triangular where sides play each other twice before a final at Kia Oval a week on Monday.Two India U-19 starlets departed in the first hour: Prithvi Shaw fell to a catch at the wicket off Tom Helm, who had earlier struck him on the forearm, causing a delay for treatment, and Shubman Gill’s impressive 37 from 40 balls came to grief perhaps because of slight over-confidence when he was bowled, playing inside a ball from left-arm spinner Liam Dawson which had no discernible turn.In between there was also an excellent catch by Ben Foakes, way to his right, which provided respite for Reece Topley after an uncertain start.Dawson, now 28, and with ten internationals behind him across three formats, was one of three players in this Lions side qualifying for the description of wily old pro, a designation that could also apply to the captain, Steven Mullaney, who is having his first taste of senior representative cricket at 31, and Chris Jordan, who managed only one match for Sunrisers in this season’s IPL.Dawson eased the chase by taking 4 for 30, a miserly spell despite only a semblance of turn, and one which turned out to be the best analysis by a Lions spinner in England. Dawson bowled Gill for 37 as he played inside a straight one and had Shreyas Iyer, India’s captain, stumped for 42 – a wild swing across the line caused by his failure to reach the pitch of the ball. There was a first-ball duck for Vijay Shankar as he pushed forward, Gowtham also falling in similar fashion.Pant’s 64 from 55 balls was the third India A knock to threaten destruction. He struck Dawson over the low-slung, brick-built bar, but he fell to the offspin of Liam Livingstone when he swept to deep backward square. Seven down for 180, with 18 overs left, India A had been architects of their own downfall.With the same surface destined to be used in England’s match against West Indies on Saturday, England could give an outing to Lancashire’s legspinner Matt Parkinson with India also likely to re-examine their spin options.

England were in a position from which to dominate India, but then gifted the ascendancy back to an alert and hungry visiting side

The Report by Sidharth Monga01-Aug-2018On Yorkshire Day, two Yorkshire batsmen put England in a position from which to dominate India, but then gifted the ascendancy back to an alert and hungry visiting side. The moment of inspiration came from India’s captain Virat Kohli who ran out Joe Root – once again between 50 and 100 – with a direct hit from deep midwicket, after which this side’s biggest match-winner R Ashwin, took out the dangerous duo of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler. He ended the day needing one wicket to become the first India spinner to take a five-for in England since 2002. England ended the day at 285 for 9, having at one stage been 216 for 3.What will worry England is that they lost wickets to soft dismissals on a slow and low pitch that looked as though it ought to have assisted India more: seven of the nine wickets to fall were either bowled or lbw, which is India’s speciality. But what will infuriate England is that Root and Jonny Bairstow had the attack at their mercy, going at more than six an over in the final session until Root responded to Bairstow’s call for a second run that didn’t exist. It all went downhill for them thereafter.Kohli is ruthless. He doesn’t think twice before accepting such gifts, having all too often been part of the side on the receiving end of such lapses. The moment arose after Bairstow pushed Ashwin towards deep midwicket where Kohli, to judge by his leisurely initial response, didn’t appear to have considered the possibility of the batsmen attempting a second run. But then he heard the call, and all those hours of strength training kicked in. He went from leisure to business in no time, and Root would have struggled even without a stutter. The exclamation point was how Ashwin judged that the shy was going to hit the stumps, and let the ball go through MS Dhoni-style.Kohli seized the moment to remind Root, and all of England, of his bat-drop celebration after he had finished off the Headingley ODI. He blew kisses. He pressed his finger to his lips. And then he uttered the words that might just be the most enduring ones for this series: “Mic drop?” followed by two words that lip-readers will tell you were of four and three letters, the second of which is “off”. There has been so much talk of Kohli’s batting and his record in England, but here Kohli the fielder had opened the door for India to barge through.Joe Root’s dive couldn’t save him from being run out•Getty Images

Even before this brilliance in the field, Kohli had had a lively start to his day. He dropped Cheteshwar Pujara from India’s starting XI, picked only one spinner, and announced to the world that he wouldn’t look back and regret it if things went wrong. We make a decision and try to make the best of it, he has always said. And after losing the toss, his new-ball bowlers were losing their discipline when he surprised everybody by bringing Ashwin on in the seventh over of the Test.Ashwin had two left-hand batsmen in his sights, a damp pitch that can often offer turn, and a new ball prone to natural variation when it lands on the seam. Out of India’s limited-overs sides, under pressure every time a wristspinner does well with the white ball, and always reminded of his record in these parts of the world, Ashwin showed none of that anxiety. In only his second over, Ashwin set Alastair Cook up beautifully: a quick arm ball to push him back, a slow offbreak to lure him forward, another arm ball, another offbreak, and then the killer offbreak that pitched on middle, much straighter than the rest. The bat face closed ever so slightly, and the slow ball, given every chance to turn by the revs and the seam position towards short third man, spun past the defensive prod.As the early moisture dried out, England’s batsmen – Root and Keaton Jennings, the latter dropped on 9 by Ajinkya Rahane at slip – the turn went out and the batsmen became more comfortable. Ishant Sharma was too short, Umesh Yadav too straight, and it was left to Mohammed Shami, returning from personal problems and a failed fitness test, to keep India in the game. He did so with the wickets of Jennings and Malan in the middle session, but an urgent Bairstow had begin to take the momentum away from India in the second hour of the middle session.India looked ragged at the start of the final session. Shami was down on pace. Ashwin was attacked. Root and Bairstow were scoring at will. Even defensive fields were not working. It looked like Root had gone past those concentration breaks that had resulted in his last 10 half-centuries not getting translated into hundreds. And then they took the ill-advised second. Moments later, Bairstow dragged Umesh onto his own stumps.Ashwin is often criticised for using too many variations. A lazy bit of advice that every expert gives to him is to concentrate only on the offbreak. Here he showed he didn’t need that advice. He used his variations, a lot of them, but he also showed he is a bowler at peace with, and in total control of, his game. The arm ball with the upright seam swerved beautifully away from the right-handers. He even bowled a front-of-the-hand legbreak that swung back in. And then natural variation did the trick. He bowled an offbreak that turned enough to beat Buttler’s inside edge but not enough to miss the leg stump. Stokes played hesitantly at a long hop, offering a return catch. Not long before, it had seemed India were in for a long leather hunt on day two, but with England suddenly in freefall, it seemed the India openers might have to take guard on day one itself.Allrounder Sam Curran kept that from happening, but Ishant and Ashwin inflicted one final blow each before stumps to make the day India’s beyond any reasonable doubt.

Olly Stone’s four wickets gave Warwickshire hope but Durham’s ninth-wicket pair refused to budge

ECB Reporters Network07-Sep-20181:22

Warwickshire’s lead cut as Division Two heats up

Warwickshire 310 (Trott 79, McCarthy 4-58) and 199 (Hain 58*, Patel 7-54) drew with Durham 292 (Stone 7-59) and 115 for 8 (Stone 4-37)
ScorecardDurham’s tail dug deep to earn a draw and dent Warwickshire’s promotion hopes on day four of their captivating Specsavers County Championship match at Edgbaston.Set 218 to win from 41 overs, Durham were fancying their chances but four wickets from Olly Stone helped reduce the visitors to 102 for eight with six overs remaining.The Bears intensified their efforts, missing the edge many times, but wicketkeeper Stuart Poynter (9*) and number ten Matt Salisbury (5*) put on a resolute ninth-wicket partnership of 13 runs from 35 balls.It was heartbreak for a home side that remains top but sees their lead reduced to seven points to second placed Kent who beat Northants earlier in the afternoon.With 70 overs lost in the match and Warwickshire’s promotion rivals Sussex and Kent closing in on top spot, there was plenty of urgency from the hosts to engineer a winning opportunity.Starting the day on 28 for one, Ian Bell was the first to go, caught by Graham Clark after wafting at Axar Patel’s first ball for 10, with Dominic Sibley following him shortly after, bowled by Patel for 27 trying to sweep.Jonathan Trott then fell four balls later, edging to Paul Collingwood for 13 off Barry McCarthy, leaving the Bears struggling on 68 for four.A valuable partnership of 89 from 202 balls between Sam Hain and Tim Ambrose who was dropped twice on 10 and 14, edged Warwickshire ahead in the game.But once Ambrose was trapped LBW by Patel, wickets fell at an alarming rate – five in nine overs – as the spinner bulldozed through the tail, once Barry McCarthy removed Keith Barker for five, to chalk up a career-best of 27.4-12-54-7.The 24 year-old bowled his namesake for seven, before getting Chris Wright (15), Stone (0) and Ryan Sidebottom to hole out with the latter dismissal coming via the head of Will Smith at short leg.Durham needed to go at 5.31 an over to reach their target, but they were immediately put on the back foot.Barker trapped Alex Lees lbw for nine, before Wright got Cameron Steel to edge behind for 21, whilst Stone dismissed Smith for eight an over later. Both wickets had come following a bowling change.Stone struck again, Richardson given lbw, putting the visitors on 54 for four and needing another 164 to win from 22.4 overs.An away win now looked heavily unlikely and Warwickshire, who were rotating the seam attack, struck with 21 overs remaining when Stone got Clark to find Hain at deep square for 23.Patel, who was going at a run a ball, was the next to fall trapped LBW by Barker for 22 leaving the experienced Collingwood and Stuart Poynter to see out the final the thirteen overs.But Collingwood was caught by Ambrose for 13 off the bowling of Wright and McCarthy followed when Stone trapped him lbw for two.Warwickshire’s tails were up but Durham’s were a match, defending seven intense overs of pace which saw five slips and no fielder more than 15 yards away from the bat.There’s little time for either side to dust themselves down with Warwickshire heading to Grace Road to face Leicestershire on Monday, whilst Durham return to Chester-le-Street to face third placed Sussex.

A remarkable four-wicket haul in his first international appearance in more than eight years has propelled Denly back into the limelight

George Dobell in Colombo27-Oct-2018Joe Denly admits he felt as if he were making a second debut as he made his first international appearance for eight-and-a-half years in Colombo on Saturday.But, after producing a player-of-the-match performance, Denly expressed the hope his experience would show others they should “never give up on the dream”.Denly, now aged 32, admits he thought it was “unlikely” he would ever play international cricket again. Especially after a couple of years in which he concedes he “went missing” from domestic cricket after struggling to deal with the disappointment of being dropped by England.Denly was 23 and an opening batsman when he last played for England. But here, called into England’s limited-overs squad as a replacement for the injured Liam Dawson, he opened the bowling with his legspin and batted at No. 7. “It was a new experience for me,” he said with a smile afterwards.Denly’s rebirth as a spinner is remarkable. For, up until the end of the 2016 season, he had only ever taken one T20 wicket in a career that stretched back to 2004. And that wicket had come with his first ball in international cricket for England, as Graeme Smith thumped one to long-on (to end an opening stand of 170 in 13 overs…) at Centurion in November 2009. So he had never taken a T20 wicket in country cricket and had only taken 31 first-class wickets in that time, too.But in 2018 he claimed 20 T20 wickets. He struck, on average, every 12.95 deliveries and, despite often bowling in the Powerplay, conceded his runs at a very respectable 7.76 an over. Underlining the sense that this was no fluke, he claimed 23 first-class and 14 List A wickets, too.”What’s the lesson? To never to give up on that dream, I suppose,” Denly said. “I’ve had some ups and downs in the last eight years. But, over the last two or three years, I’ve enjoyed my cricket a lot more. I’ve played with a bit more freedom and I’ve learned to deal with failure a lot better.”I feel a different player to the one I was in 2010. This time I’ve come in with the attitude of embracing it and enjoying every moment of it.”I was didn’t know what to make of it all back then. But being more experienced and playing in various competitions around the world has put me in a good position to step into international cricket and perform. I’m enjoying my cricket at the minute and hopefully that’s showing on the field.”That calmer temperament was evident as he negotiated a masterful over from Lasith Malinga early in his innings. At one stage, as Malinga followed a perfect slower ball with an even more perfect inswinging yorker, he was forced to play-out four dots balls in succession. And, with Denly’s first eight balls realising only three runs, the pressure was mounting.Joe Denly struck twice with the ball on his comeback•AFP

But he held his nerve. Instead of attempting a desperate heave in an attempt to break the shackles, he backed himself to come through that period and gave himself the chance to catch up. Soon he had hit Dhananjaya de Silva for three boundaries in four balls and, while his eventual 20 from 17 balls may seem unremarkable, it was a useful contribution. His runs were scored at a quicker rate than either Ben Stokes’ or Eoin Morgan’s.”I think I dealt with that a lot better than I would a few years ago,” he said of the over from Malinga. “I think I would probably have tried something a bit rash back then.”I knew he was one of the best bowlers in the world in those situations. And you know that sometimes you’re going to be made to look a bit silly. Dot balls put you under pressure. So it’s about understanding that and giving yourself a chance.”It was with the ball he really shone, though. While he didn’t bowl with the turn or variation of Adil Rashid – who produced a wonderful spell of all-sorts complete with the slowest, loopiest deliveries you will ever see in men’s internal cricket (a couple were timed at around 36 mph), Denly demonstrated a calm head and decent control in bowling at a brisk pace and gaining just a little drift and turn.His final figures – 4 for 19 – were his best in any form of the professional game. And, had we heard, before the series, that two legspinners would combine to take figures of 7 for 30 in a T20I, we might have been forgiven for shaking our heads ruefully at the grim state of England’s batting against spin. That fortunes are reversed is as surprising as it is encouraging.”Being, primarily, a batsman, I feel I have a pretty good sense of what batsmen are trying to do,” he said. “I back myself to land my leg-spinner reasonably well and I enjoy opening the bowling. I did it for Kent in T20 last summer.”So, might this performance help him win a place in England’s Test team? Well, it can’t have done any harm, can it? It was, after all, Dawid Malan’s form in a T20 match (against South Africa in Cardiff) that went a long way towards convincing the England management he was ready to play Test cricket, while the likes of Alex Hales and Jos Buttler also impressed in the white-ball formats. Both in terms of temperament and his all-round skills, he must have impressed.”I think getting a chance, performing with the ball and chipping in with a little 20 down the lower-order can only give me confidence,” he said. “It’s certainly nice to get a game in before the red-ball stuff starts.”Obviously there’s a spot up for grabs at the top of the [Test] order. I think being able to bowl might work in my favour. But it comes down to performing in these warm-up games and putting your name forward for that first Test. I’m certainly going into those practice games looking forward to performing, scoring runs and giving myself the best chance.”It’s already been a remarkable comeback. And there’s no reason there shouldn’t be another chapter or two to come.

The former Pakistan legspinner said he had owned up because he could not “live a life with lies” anymore

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-20185:16

Danish Kaneria confesses guilt in spot-fixing case

Former Pakistan legspinner Danish Kaneria has admitted his guilt in the spot-fixing case involving former Essex team-mate Mervyn Westfield, more than six years after he was banned for life by the ECB.”My name is Danish Kaneria and I admit that I was guilty of the two charges brought against me by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2012,” Kaneria, 37, told . “I have become strong enough to make this decision, because you cannot live a life with lies.”Westfield, 23 at the time, had admitted to accepting £6000 in return for conceding a set number of runs off an over in a Pro40 match against Durham in September 2009. He was jailed after pleading guilty to the charge of accepting or obtaining corrupt payments. Kaneria, who was arrested along with Westfield in 2010 only for charges to be dropped due to a lack of evidence, was alleged to have been the go-between between Westfield and Anu Bhatt, who was on the ICC radar for being a person involved in illegal betting.Kaneria had protested his innocence in the matter several times over the years and appealed repeatedly – and unsuccessfully – to have his life ban revoked. Though he was banned by the ECB, the ICC’s anti-corruption code states that decisions based on a board’s regulations should be upheld by boards around the world.In the Al Jazeera interview, Kaneria said he had met Bhatt four years before the Essex game for which he and Westfield came under scrutiny. “In 2005 on a West Indies tour, my assistant manager introduced me to Anu Bhatt, because he was a Hindu and he was a cricket fan,” Kaneria, who was the only Hindu in the Pakistan team at the time, said. “Then we were on a India tour and over there, 2008 it was I think, Anu Bhatt invited the whole team for dinner, so me and my wife and other cricketers went to his house for the dinner.”Kaneria admitted to ignoring warnings from the ICC’s ACU that Bhatt was a “suspicious guy”. “[ACU] Came to Pakistan and told several cricketers and me that he is a suspicious guy and is involved in doing fixing,” he said. “I regret very much, I didn’t complain to the higher authorities, like English Cricket Board or ICC unit. I didn’t inform or didn’t tell them this guy is over here [in the UK].”Mervyn used to tell me that he wants to become a rich cricketer. I was highly paid in Essex, and I was an international player at that time. And I was living a life, a very lavish life, so he also wanted to make money. I think he was targeted by Anu Bhatt and I think he fell into that temptation. Being an international cricketer and a senior cricketer, I should have taken it one step higher of telling Mervyn that this guy is suspicious.”I want to apologise to Mervyn Westfield, my Essex team-mates, my Essex cricket club, my Essex cricket fans. I say sorry to Pakistan. If the ECB and ICC and other bodies would give me a second chance I can help to educate young people in cricket, teach them that if you do wrong you are finished like me.”Kaneria said that part of the reason he maintained his innocence at the time was that his father – who died of cancer in 2013 – had been in poor health. “His health was getting worse and worse,” Kaneria said. “I didn’t have the courage to face him and tell him that I was wrong. He was a very, very proud guy. Very, very proud of me and what I did, representing Pakistan, representing my country.”Kaneria played 61 Tests for Pakistan between 2000 and 2010 and took 261 wickets at an average of 34.79. He is still Pakistan’s most successful spin bowler.

The allrounder was reported after Uganda’s opening match against Denmark at Division Three, during which he took 1 for 25 in nine overs

Peter Della Penna in Oman13-Nov-2018Uganda allrounder Irfan Afridi has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect after his bowling action was found illegal following video analysis taken at ICC WCL Division Three in Oman.An ICC press release announced the news about an hour before Uganda’s third match against Kenya on Tuesday at Division Three, and Afridi was replaced in the starting XI by offspinner Frank Nsubuga. Afridi was reported after Uganda’s opening match against Denmark at Division Three, during which he took 1 for 25 in nine overs.”Per Article 3.5 of the ICC Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions, video footage of Irfan’s bowling spells were provided to the Expert Panel of Mark King and Andrea Cutti, who are members of the ICC Panel of Human Movement Specialists, for their analysis and assessment,” the ICC release read. “The assessment revealed that the amount of elbow extension in Irfan’s bowling action was above the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations.”Uganda’s second match against USA was embroiled in controversy after umpires told Uganda captain Roger Mukasa that they would no-ball Afridi on the field if he continued to bowl. Till then, Afridi had bowled only one over in the game. With Afridi kept out of the attack, USA posted a total of 252 which was easily defended.Afridi’s suspension from bowling will remain until he submits to a further assessment of his bowling action by an Expert Panel or at an ICC approved Testing Centre and the assessment finds his bowling action legal.