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Lancashire chase derailed in gutsy final over from Scrimshaw despite David’s 42 not out

ECB Reporters Network24-Jun-2022George Scrimshaw bowled a superb final over to give Derbyshire Falcons a five run victory over Lancashire Lightning in the Vitality Blast game at Derby.The fast bowler had gone for 48 from his first three overs but conceded only five off his last as the North Group leaders came up short on 183 for 5, chasing 189.Tim David smashed an unbeaten 42 off 23 balls but could only watch from the other end as Scrimshaw kept the Falcons quarter-final hopes alive.Shan Masood with 75 from 50 balls and Wayne Madsen, 70 off 30, drove the Falcons to 188 for 8 but Steven Croft’s 47 from 29 balls put the Lightning on course until Scrimshaw had the final word.After the Lightning elected to bowl, the Falcons were restricted to 44 from the powerplay for the loss of Luis Reece who sent a return catch to Tom Hartley off the fifth ball of the innings.The ball crossed the ropes only four times during the first six overs, four of those overthrows, and Hayden Kerr’s attempt to break the shackles two overs later ended in the hands of cover.That brought together Madsen and Masood who accelerated with a mixture of orthodoxy and improvisation.Masood lofted Luke Wells down the ground before Madsen scooped Tom Hartley over the wicketkeeper for four and then drove the left-armer to the cover boundary.Masood hammered Danny Lamb back over his head for four on his way to his fifth 50 of the competition, a record for Derbyshire, and Madsen powered to his half-century off only 23 balls.He pulled Wells over midwicket for the first six of the innings as 19 came from the 14th over and Masood tore into Lamb in the 16th, driving and pulling the seamer for two sixes before lifting a full toss to mid off.But Madsen was striking the ball with power and precision, taking 18 off four balls from Richard Gleeson before he was lbw to the next.The pair had plundered 64 from four overs but the Lightning recovered well with Luke Wood and Gleeson conceding only 20 from the last three overs.Even so, it left the Lightning with a tough chase and they lost Phil Salt in the third over when he was superbly caught by Leus du Plooy diving at deep square leg.Wells pulled Mark Watt for two sixes in the next over and Croft dispatched Scrimshaw for another six with 19 coming off the fifth.The powerplay ended with the Lightning 64 for 1 and Scrimshaw came in for more punishment in his second over with Croft pulling him for six before Wells called for a new bat and promptly struck two fours.Croft was dropped on 33 at short fine leg off Alex Hughes but du Plooy took another good catch to remove Wells who pulled the off-spinner to deep midwicket.The Lightning needed 91 off 10 overs but the Falcons were stemming the run flow and Dane Vilas was caught behind cutting Matt McKiernan in the 12th over.Croft launched Hughes over long on for six but was brilliantly caught at backward point off Watt in the 14th over.David responded by pulling and driving McKiernan for two sixes and another six off Scrimshaw left the Lightning needing 33 off 24 balls.Kerr and Watt conceded only 10 off the next two overs and although Rob Jones pulled Kerr for four, the Lightning needed 11 off six balls.Scrimshaw delivered when it mattered, trapping Jones lbw with his fifth ball before Lamb missed a wild swing at the last to end another T20 thriller.

Jonny Tattersall takes the catch to dismiss last man Wayne Parnell in tensest of finishes

David Hopps02-May-2021A wonderful match contested under glowering skies – and missing only glowering spectators – fell the way of Yorkshire by a single run as their captain, Steve Patterson, broke Northamptonshire’s resistance in what will rank as one of the season’s great finishes.Wayne Parnell, whose diligent 33 from 102 balls had guided Northants to the brink of victory, was intent purely on survival as he pushed at a ball which left him from around the wicket and Jonny Tattersall held the catch. In the tensest of finishes, Patterson had taken the onus upon himself, committed to the basics, and been rewarded. The team man who took the Yorkshire captaincy when nobody else wanted it had prevailed.At the non-striker’s end, a story was after all not written in the stars. Nearly 10 years ago, Ben Sanderson had been released by Yorkshire. He went back to his trade as a builder and rediscovered his love for the game with Shropshire and Rotherham Town. How he would have loved to make the winning hit. Instead, he never got to swing that demolition ball for a final time and could only console himself with an unstinting bowling display (4 for 85 in 42 overs) that had underlined his qualities.This being cricket, and this being England, rain also had to play a part. With tension at its height, and Northants having lost their ninth wicket with 14 needed, the last man, Sanderson, trudged out, peering into stygian darkness, with the floodlights belatedly flickering into life, only to be told by the umpires to walk straight back again.Nearly an hour later, the sides returned. There would have been conversations aplenty, some talking, some listening, some merely closing off the world. Sanderson drove Duanne Olivier to the cover boundary, Parnell freed his arms and sliced Patterson to third man for another four. Sanderson scrambled a bye when Patterson might have bowled him. Empty stands or not, the tension was palpable.Then came Patterson’s intervention, a cruel end for Parnell who had also taken 10 wickets in the match. Yorkshire kept their unbeaten record in Group 3 and recorded their second Championship win by one run. Northants lost by one run for the first time. It was a match that deserved a tie.Related

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County cricket has its detractors, and many shifts in the global game are stacked against it, but this was a constantly rewarding contest in which countless little moments threatened to tilt the balance one way or another. It is to be hoped the advent of online streaming services meant that many new converts discovered as much.The edge was with Yorkshire at start of play with Northants needing a further 126 runs with six wickets intact in encouraging seam bowling conditions. Northants were prepared to wait for the loose deliveries, and considering that the ball was swinging, Yorkshire kept them to a minimum. It was gripping stuff.Yorkshire were vulnerable, especially as the equation meant they were unlikely to get the chance of a second new ball. With their intended new-ball pairing this season, Ben Coad and Matt Fisher, both injured, their four-strong pace attack was a bit of a mix-and-match affair. Patterson was later to underline that he remains as steadfast as they come, but he is 37 now; David Willey’s career emphasis has been on limited-overs cricket; Jordan Thompson might be the epitome of a Yorkshire terrier, but he was a terrier in only his 10th first-class match; and Olivier, South African Kolpak turned overseas player, is having to learn how to moderate his approach from all-out quick to cannier operator.The first hour or so, though, in which Northants lost three wickets, strengthened the suspicion that Yorkshire would prevail. But in every previous innings, half the side had fallen with the score below 100, only to make a partial recovery as the ball got older. This time when Luke Procter was caught at the wicket, Northants were on 115. You could contend they were ahead of the game.The most heated of dismissals involved Tom Taylor, who was at the centre of two marginal umpiring decisions in successive overs, both of which were met with trenchant observations from several Yorkshire fielders.The advent of on-line streaming now means that the decisions of county umpires are subjected to closer examination than ever before, and with the pressures will come high standards. If the system is working properly then international umpires (whose standards are staggeringly high) will prove to be slightly better than most county umpires, just as international cricketers are also superior. There is no shame in that.As far as Taylor is concerned, both decisions were marginal, and the umpires did their job. Yorkshire were adamant that his edge off Willey was neatly clutched by Tom Kohler-Cadmore at second slip, but Taylor stood his ground, and neither Nick Cook, nor his square leg partner, David Millns, felt able to give the catch.Taylor could not make good his reprieve. Patterson produced a big break-back in his next over, the delivery probably struck Taylor in line, and was probably good for height, and Millns gave it. Patterson is not a showy sort, but his bellow could have been heard in the beer garden at The Original Oak, the pub where Ian Botham once allowed himself a bevvy or two before transforming the 1981 Headingley Test the following day, and where there was supping to be had once more.Saif Zaib batted staunchly in both innings, edging his score along largely with pushed offside singles, two of which might have run out Taylor, only for Willey’s shy to miss the stumps on both occasions, the first of them flying for five overthrows. It was a similar shot against Willey that brought about Zaib’s downfall, caught at the wicket, his error followed by a frustrated kick of the turf.Yorkshire’s close catching had been exemplary throughout, but two blemishes then allowed Parnell and Gareth Berg to add 32. Tattersall spilled Berg, off Olivier, as he dived across first slip, and Kohler-Cadmore could not hold a fast, neck-high chance at first slip as Parnell cut at a short one from Patterson.Berg’s departure, driving at Willey, left Northants eight down with 42 needed. Yorkshire’s game surely? Parnell opted to trust Simon Kerrigan’s obduracy and played no differently. Two sets of four byes trimmed the target further, as did an inside edge by Parnell against Olivier, which narrowly missed his stumps. At second slip, Lyth’s hands spent more time clutching his head than hanging by his side.Oliver returned to have Kerrigan caught at second slip. Then came the rain and thousands of afternoon plans put on hold in households across Yorkshire and Northamptonshire as the final, decisive moment was anticipated.

Only 21.5 overs were possible on the first day of Glamorgan’s Championship match with Kent

ECB Reporters Network19-Jun-2016
ScorecardWill Bragg continued his good form on a rain-affected day•Getty Images

Only 21.5 overs were possible on the first day of Glamorgan’s Championship match with Kent. Glamorgan lost both openers but recovered well before prolonged rain through the afternoon led to a 4pm abandonment.Will Bragg and Chris Cooke shared an undefeated third-wicket partnership of 86, after Kent had chosen to field first on a green-tinged pitch. Sam Northeast’s decision was immediately vindicated when Matt Coles uprooted Mark Wallace’s leg stump with his fifth ballSix balls later, Darren Stevens trapped Jacques Rudolph leg before and, with the pitch assisting seam and swing, the visitors would have been confident of dismissing Glamorgan cheaply.Coles, however, conceded 25 runs from his opening three overs, forcing his captain to take him off as Bragg and Cooke began Glamorgan’s recovery. Stevens and Mitchell Claydon were not as expensive but there were too many loose deliveries that were punished, as Glamorgan raced along at almost five runs an over.Bragg, Glamorgan’s leading Championship run-scorer this season, again batted fluently, striking six fours from 61 balls, but Cooke was the more aggressive with eight boundaries, mainly from Coles’ bowling – the Kent seamer returned to concede 10 off his fourth over for figures of 4-0-35-1, before rain stopped played 25 minutes before the scheduled lunch break.Adam Rouse, the Kent wicketkeeper, would have been glad of the truncated day’s play after he dislocated the little finger of his left hand, which was put back into place by the Kent physiotherapist following a lengthy stoppage.

Becomes fourth Bangladeshi to the mark after Mohammad Rafique, Shakib Al Hasan and Taijul Islam

Mohammad Isam13-Feb-2021Mehidy Hasan became the fastest (in terms of number of Tests) Bangladesh bowler to take 100 Test wickets, when he removed Shayne Moseley on the third evening of the Dhaka Test against West Indies. The offspinning-allrounder got to the milestone in his 24th Test, one quicker than Taijul Islam, who took 25 Tests. Mehidy became the fourth Bangladesh bowler to take 100 Test wickets after Mohammad Rafique and Shakib Al Hasan, apart from Islam.It was the ninth over of the West Indies second innings, after they had taken a 113-run lead and had lost Kraigg Brathwaite to Nayeem Hasan. Mehidy tossed the ball up, keeping it full, and as Moseley played a defensive shot, it bounced and spun, catching the edge through to second slip, where Mohammad Mithun took the catch.Mehidy, 23, came into this Test on 98 wickets, having taken eight wickets in the Chattogram Test, in which he also scored his maiden Test century even though it was in a losing cause.In the ongoing Test, too, Mehidy has made an impact with the bat. On the third morning, Bangladesh had been reduced to 155 for 6 when he walked in to join Liton Das in the middle. Das scored 71, Mehidy 57, the two added 126 runs for the seventh wicket, made sure Bangladesh avoided the follow-on, and gave them a platform to fight towards a series-levelling win.At the end of the day’s play, Mehidy said that he was glad to be the first offspinner from his country to reach the milestone – the other three are all left-arm spinners – but didn’t want to set end-of-career goals.”I am very happy to have taken 100 wickets,” he said. “It is slightly more special for me as I am the first offspinner [from Bangladesh] to get to the landmark. I will try to take more wickets for the country, and I look forward to having a long career.”It is not possible to say how many runs and wickets I will end up with; if you set such a goal, it creates pressure. I want to keep doing well. I want to do well as long as I am playing for Bangladesh.”Mehidy made an impressive debut in 2016 when he took 19 wickets in the Test series against England, the best series haul by a Bangladesh bowler. This included his first 10-wicket haul, when he finished the Dhaka Test with figures of 12 for 159. A couple of years later, he broke his own record by taking 12 for 117 against West Indies, which is the record for the best match figures by a Bangladesh bowler.

USA coach Pubudu Dassanayake says a poor bowling performance was the main reason his side fell to Denmark by four wickets on Wednesday at WCL Division Four in Los Angeles

Peter Della Penna in Los Angeles 04-Nov-20162:06

‘It’s all about how we come back’ – Dassanayake

USA coach Pubudu Dassanayake gave credit to Denmark’s death bowling unit, saying their ability to bowl yorkers at the death saved them 30 runs in the final four overs that was a turning point in USA’s four-wicket loss on Wednesday at WCL Division Four. Dassanayake believes it is something USA must learn from when preparing to take on good teams in tournament play.”The major difference is that our bowlers didn’t bowl well and especially the main bowlers, our spinners,” Dassanayake said. “It was a decent batting track but defending 260 I would never doubt it but we bowled pretty badly. Having said that, Denmark bowled really well at the end. Almost every ball was a yorker and they defended about 30 runs in that period because of the way that they bowled. A lot of credit to them but it’s and eye-opener for our bowling department and at the death overs how we’re going to handle it if that situation comes again.”One area to come under scrutiny is not just USA’s poor bowling performance but the bowling strategy itself. USA captain Steven Taylor pulled specialist left-arm spinner Danial Ahmed from the attack after just one over for nine runs and didn’t use him for the rest of the game, the second time Taylor has done so in the tournament and instead opted to use himself and Alex Amsterdam to fill out those overs with part-time offspin. Taylor finished with 3 for 46 in ten overs while Amsterdam took 0 for 32 in seven.Ahmed bowled a superb spell of 0 for 29 in ten overs a day earlier against Oman and though he is wicketless so far in the tournament, he has had numerous chances put down off his bowling. Ahmed’s overall economy rate for the tournament is 4.27 and Dassayanake says he has confidence in Ahmed heading into the Jersey match.”I haven’t thought about any changes yet for Friday,” Dassanayake said. “We know Danial’s capability. Against Oman the way he bowled ten overs really contributed a lot to win that game. We have to keep building confidence in him. We’ll meet and see our best combination for Friday and come back with it. The things I have with the reserves, Jessy and Prashanth as bowlers, there are lots of options for me to select. I’m not blaming Danial, especially I don’t think anyone can blame him today because he only bowled one over. It’s just about giving that confidence to him and come back hard on Friday.”However, Dassanayake didn’t rule out other potential changes. Ali Khan has been bowling the last two games with a hamstring strain while Ravi Timbawala has been troubled since the first match of the tournament with a right thumb injury. Jessy Singh bowled well in the first two games of the tournament for USA before making way for Khan while hard-hitting Abdullah Syed is waiting to make his debut as a batting reserve.”We have to look into our injuries,” Dassanayake said. “Ravi is struggling with his thumb. Ali from the beginning had the hamstring injury but slowly he is getting better. There are a few other niggles. Still again we will assess all the injuries and see who is the best XI available for Friday.”Dassanayake remains bullish on USA’s chances of promotion despite the loss to Denmark. USA sits at 3-1 in a three-way tie for first place with Oman and Denmark, though USA has by far the best net run rate, which is the tournament tiebreaker. USA comes up against Jersey on Friday at Wong Cricket Field, a team currently 1-3 in the tournament whose only victory so far has come against winless Italy. A win for USA will clinch promotion to Division Three and set up a potential rematch in the final against Denmark, who take on Oman in a virtual semi-final at Severn Cricket Field.”When you lose it’s tough to take but still I am comfortable to say that USA is the best team in this league,” Dassanayake said. “It’s just one bad session we had in the evening. With my experience in World Cricket League, it always happens in these tournaments at this level. It’s all about how we come back hard on the next day. Everybody has to stay cool and come back and do their best on Friday and I’m pretty confident what we’re going to do. No one is panicking in our group. We have lots of confidence to get through this tournament. It was just a bad half day.”

Former Yorkshire fast bowler starts work immediately after answering call to help club

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Dec-2021Darren Gough has been appointed managing director of Yorkshire cricket* as the club looks to rebuild in the wake of last week’s sacking of its coaching and medical staff.Yorkshire confirmed Gough’s appointment on Monday morning amid the fallout from Azeem Rafiq’s allegations of institutional racism at the club. Gough will start work immediately on an interim basis, initially until the end of the 2022 season, and one of his first tasks will be to oversee the recruitment of a new coaching team.”Yorkshire County Cricket Club has been part of my life since my earliest days in cricket when I made my debut in 1989, and I spent 15 happy years at the club,” Gough said in a statement issued by the club. “Like many, I have followed how the club handled the recent racism allegations with sadness and anger.”I want to play my part in rebuilding cricket in Yorkshire and I am looking forward to working with the exceptionally talented group of players here. I am also aware of my wider responsibility to listen to everyone and ensure that every person who is associated with this club feels welcome, instilling values we want associated with the White Rose: honesty, straight talking, hard work, integrity and excellence.”Gough added that he shared “the collective determination to face the issues head on with a series of positive actions”.”Change will not happen overnight, but I am certain that we can make Headingley roar again,” he said.Lord Kamlesh Patel, the club’s new chairman, said: “As a former captain of the club, Darren’s impact on the Yorkshire and England teams was considerable as a player. His infectious enthusiasm and will to win will be so important as we aim to be the best on and off the pitch.Darren Gough spent two weeks working with England in New Zealand in 2019-20•Getty Images

“As we start on this journey with Darren, we want to engage everyone at the club and involve as many people as possible in shaping our direction. We have a considerable job ahead of us, but we are ready to embrace the opportunity together and build a brighter future for Yorkshire County Cricket Club”.As one of the most popular players in Yorkshire’s history, Gough claimed 453 first-class wickets in 15 years with the club, during which time he also picked up 229 wickets in 58 Test appearances for England, before finishing his career at Essex, where he still lives.Gough, 51, has been working in the media – doing commentary and hosting talkSPORT’s Drivetime radio show – and been involved in coaching on a consultancy basis since his retirement in 2008, including a stint with England’s Test squad in New Zealand in 2019-20.His new role is expected to be focused on strategy, planning, recruitment and development as he steps into the role vacated by Martyn Moxon on Friday – one of 16 members of the back-room staff axed in a dramatic statement of the club’s determination to put the racism scandal behind them.That issue is unlikely to resolved without further revelations, however. The 16 former employees are expected to seek legal advice on Monday, after it transpired that several of their number had sent a joint letter to the Yorkshire board in October, seen by ESPNcricinfo, outlining their deep unease at the club’s handling of the racism case, and its failure to rebut Rafiq’s extensive claims.*December 6, 10am GMT – This story was updated throughout after confirmation of Gough’s appointment

Captain also praises Jason Roy’s innings in straightforward run chase

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Mar-2021Eoin Morgan praised his bowlers for setting up England’s comprehensive victory in their T20I series opener by restricting India to a total that proved impossible to defend.The pace trio of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Jordan made life difficult for India’s batsmen, who managed just 124 for 7 from their 20 overs – having been 22 for 3 after the Powerplay – despite a fighting 67 off 48 balls from Shreyas Iyer. Archer claimed 3 for 23 from his four overs, his best T20I figures.Before the series, Chris Silverwood, England’s coach, had played down concerns about the quality of training facilities in Ahmedabad, saying they were “the same for both sides”. But speaking after England’s eight-wicket victory with 27 balls to spare, Morgan raised questions over the standard of the nets.”The wicket was as expected. [It] was better than the net facilities that we’ve had here, so that was a huge positive for us,” Morgan said in the post-match presentation. “But the plans were very basic: hit a good length, straight, we didn’t have to go to plan B and C very often, which is always a good sign when the bowling unit does that.”One of Jof’s strengths is that he can bowl really fast, amongst others, but Mark Wood’s super strength is that he can bowl fast. It’s hard to do the whole time but when he bowls like he did tonight it’s very good entertainment but also it’s great to have him in your side.”Our bowling unit, similar to our batting unit, there’s a lot of competition for places. There’s guys on the sideline today that could easily have got a call in that XI – Reece Topley, Tom Curran – today, so we’re trying to cover all departments, particularly when we’re put under pressure or under the pump.”Today the guys were so good that they almost didn’t allow that to happen. Throughout the series there will be continuous challenges and we will be up against it a lot of the time, so it’s important for those moments to produce your best.”Jason Roy and Jos Buttler set off England’s pursuit well with a 72-run partnership. Roy top-scored for the visitors, one shy of his half-century, having come into the match without reaching 25 in his previous 10 international innings going back to February 2020 and amid talk of Alex Hales possibly returning to the England fold, at least in a training capacity to begin with, after a strong BBL season.”There’s a huge amount of competition for places within the squad and even outside the squad,” Morgan said. “So it’s always nice, you know, there’s huge support in the changing room for anybody that scores runs and does well and when Jason scores runs and does well in the fashion that he plays, it really does gee the boys up.”Related

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While it was pace and bounce that went a long way towards delivering England victory on Friday, Roy said he had been working hard on facing spin in the nets.”[It was] better than a slap in the face. I’ll take 49 at the start of the day and I’ll take a comfortable victory like that as well,” Roy said. “For us to come out and bowl like we did and field like we did in our first game was incredible to see and will hold us in good stead for the rest of the series.”I’ve done a lot of practice, especially against Adil Rashid in the nets. He’s helped me a lot to learn about my game, learn my strengths.”Morgan also said there was no hangover among his side’s multi-format players following England’s tough 3-1 Test series defeat, which ended at the same venue less than a week ago.”It’s a completely different format of the game and there’s a complete distinction between the formats as well,” Morgan said. “We’ve been on tours before where possibly the white-ball guys have played for us and we’ve not played well and it’s not lingered into the Test matches.”Likewise, the other way around, and particularly in big series, like the Ashes, for instance, we’ve come out of the back of it and learned from it and equally when we’ve won at home in the Tests we’ve used that as confidence coming into the white-ball series.”

The ICC has denied that Sri Lanka Cricket had asked that the costs involved in the Kusal Perera doping case be reimbursed, and it said it had not agreed to compensate the board

Andrew Fidel Fernando16-May-20163:42

Perera and SLC must be compensated

The ICC has denied that Sri Lanka Cricket had asked that the costs involved in the Kusal Perera doping case be reimbursed, and it said it had not agreed to compensate the board. Hours before the ICC’s denial, a SLC official claimed the ICC had said verbally that it would compensate the board.”The ICC can confirm that it has not received any request for compensation from SLC or Mr Perera and it has not agreed (verbally or otherwise) to any such reimbursement,” the ICC said. “Whilst the circumstances of this case are unfortunate, the ICC does not accept that it is responsible for the finding of the WADA-accredited Qatar Laboratory or the consequences that flowed from such a finding, and the ICC will be considering its own position in respect of who should bear the costs incurred by the ICC in its additional efforts and investigation that ultimately resulted in the Laboratory agreeing to withdraw the original finding.”The statement contradicted SLC secretary Mohan de Silva, who had said: “The ICC has agreed to compensate us, but there is nothing in writing. In any case we will be making an appeal for that. I’m quite confident that they will oblige us.”De Silva had said it was SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala who was in direct contact with ICC about the reimbursement. Speaking on the amount SLC had spent on the case, Sumathipala had said on Thursday that SLC “definitely have to get our costs back.”SLC had said it spent over 13 million Sri Lankan rupees (USD $92,000 approx) on clearing Perera’s name, though the board did not quite need the 15 million it had set aside to fight the case.In addition to fees paid to Perera’s UK-based lawyers Morgan Sports Law, SLC also helped fund a polygraph test and separate urine test conducted in London, as well as a hair analysis conducted in a Paris lab. Each of these measures is said to have helped give Perera leverage with the ICC.Perera himself suggested he was not dwelling on the suspension’s personal cost to him, but board president Sumathipala had said the “indirect cost” to Perera had been “colossal”. In addition to missing a full tour of New Zealand, a bilateral series against India, and two major tournaments in the Asia Cup and World T20, Perera was also ineligible for the IPL auction. He had been fixture in all three formats for Sri Lanka prior to the suspension.SLC’s executive committee had not made a firm decision on further legal action, but de Silva confirmed discussions were ongoing in the board about “how to compensate Kusal”.The Qatar-based lab, whose findings were deemed “unsustainable” for “scientific and technical reasons” by the independent expert hired by the ICC, may come under scrutiny. However, that expert had also stated the lab had “correctly identified 19-Norandrostenedione in the samples” taken from Perera.Perera has resumed his training with SLC coaches at Khettarama, after five months of being barred from doing so. He may be in the fray for the limited-overs leg of Sri Lanka’s tour of the UK and Ireland.1400 GMT, May 16: The story was updated with the ICC’s response to the SLC official’s comment

Taskin Ahmed has said that his bowling action did not require a major change after he was suspended by the ICC over it in March this year

Mohammad Isam31-Jul-2016Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin Ahmed has said that his bowling action did not require a major change after he was suspended by the ICC over it in March this year. Both Taskin and Arafat Sunny, whose actions were found illegal after independent assessments, are likely to have their remodeled actions tested by the ICC in August.Taskin underwent rehabilitation work with BCB coach Mahbub Ali Zaki while also playing in the Dhaka Premier League from April to June. On Sunday, he gave an action test in front of the BCB’s bowling-action review committee who employed six cameras during the session at the National Cricket Academy ground in Mirpur.”I never really needed a major change in my bowling action, because the problem wasn’t that big,” Taskin said. “They found three deliveries faulty out of seven overs.”It feels good that we have such technologies at home now. The test has given me more confidence. I have spoken to a number of experts who said that my bowling action has improved. If I keep going at this rate, I will be ready for the main test soon.”BCB’s Management Information Systems manager Nasir Ahmed said that the committee will analyse the footage which will give them a better picture of Taskin’s improvement.”We have taken his footage in a professional way, for the first time since his rehab began. We will analyse the footage of this test and those from his rehab,” Nasir said. “We will see his progress before sending him for the ICC bowling action test.”We have done the test in 2D camera, but the ICC’s test will be in 3D so it will be hard to be 100% sure about his action. But we can judge how much he has improved and whether he has been able to grasp what he was told to work on.”The BCB had asked the Bangladesh team management to take a decision on Taskin and Sunny, the other Bangladesh bowler who was banned in March.
According to BCB sources, national coach Chandika Hathurusingha believes that both bowlers should be sent in August, well in time for the team’s preparation ahead of the England series in October.

A family member has become the seventh positive case in the England touring squad

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Dec-2021England head coach Chris Silverwood will miss the fourth Test in Sydney after being forced to isolate for 10 days due to a family member becoming the seventh Covid-19 case within the touring party.Covid cases started to emerge in the England camp on December 27, the second day of the Boxing Day Test, with play delayed by half an hour when the squad underwent rapid testing which cleared them to play.The seven cases are three support staff and four family members. No players have tested positive.Graham Thorpe, one of England’s assistant coaches, will take on Silverwood’s duties for the SCG Test which is due to start on January 5.The squad will undergo another round of PCR tests on Thursday. Both England and Australia are due to fly to Sydney via a charter flight on Friday morning. They will then stay in a hotel that has been booked exclusively for their use.Related

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The MCG Test was able to continue after the initial positive cases in the touring group due to Victoria’s looser definition of close contacts which meant only negative results were needed.The New South Wales government has now also amended its close contact definition and has promised it will ensure the Test goes ahead even if more cases emerge in the squads.On Thursday, New South Wales recorded 12,226 Covid-19 cases having passed 11,000 the previous day.After Sydney, the series is set to conclude in Hobart with a day-night Test by which time Silverwood will have completed his isolation.Despite the outbreak in the England squad, Cricket Australia has remained confident that the series can continue.”We’ve seen through the last 18 months [we can get games on],” CA chief executive Nick Hockley said earlier this week. “I have to say I am so proud of the work of everybody involved, in particular thank the players but also the governments and health departments across the country. We’re having to learn to live with this.”