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A round-up of Ranji Trophy Group A matches on November 2, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2015
ScorecardAditya Sarwate claimed 4 for 74 and Akshay Wakhare took 6 for 58 to spin Vidarbha to back-to-back wins•PTI

Karnataka sewed up their first outright win of the season despite plucky knocks from Pranay Sharma and Dishant Yagnik delaying the inevitable.Resuming on 42 for 3, Rajasthan’s pursuit of 358 was steady enough, with Pranay and Tanveer-Ul-Haq adding 60 runs in the morning before Stuart Binny had Tanveer lbw. The hosts were then rocked by the wickets of Rajat Bhatia and Puneet Yadav inside the next two overs, and defeat looked imminent at 116 for 6.Pranay, who went on to complete his second first-class century, and Dishant Yagnik, however, ensured they fought it out with a 98-run stand. But, once Pranay was dismissed by David Mathias, Rajasthan didn’t make much progress. Yagnik remained unbeaten on 71, while Mathias picked up three wickets for Karnataka.
ScorecardOffspinner Akshay Wakhare and left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate took all the wickets to fall in Maharashtra’s second innings as Vidarbha notched up an 82-run win in Nagpur.Set a target of 245, Maharashtra resumed the final day on 3 for 1, but Harshad Khadiwale and Ankit Bawne took the score to 62 before Wakhare sent back Bawne. Khadiwale, the only batsman to pass fifty, was the next batsman to depart, as Sarwate picked up the first of his four wickets.Maharashtra’s innings soon began to disintegrate, as they slipped from 110 for 3 to 137 for 7 inside 13 overs, and eventually 162 all out. While Wakhare picked up six wickets in the second innings, Sarwate, playing his second first-class game, finished with match figures of 7 for 115.
ScorecardBengal secured the first-innings lead after Haryana, set a target of 316, hung on for a draw in Rohtak.Haryana got off to a poor start in the chase, losing their openers Rahul Dewan and Nitin Saini with only 14 on the board. Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma led the fightback with a 65-run alliance, but seamer Sayan Mondal eventually had him caught behind for 46 off 52 balls.Rohit and Sachin Rana then put together 63 runs, but once both the batsmen were dismissed Haryana ensured they emerged out of the game with one point. Ashok Dinda picked up three wickets for Bengal.
ScorecardLeft-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan’s seven-wicket haul triggered Odisha’s collapse, enabling Delhi to secure the first-innings lead in Bhubaneswar.Odisha looked reasonably well placed to surpass Delhi’s total when they resumed on 195 for 4 in the morning. Sangwan, however, struck with the fourth ball of the day, having Anurag Sarangi caught behind. Sangwan then went on to pick up four more wickets of the five that Odisha lost inside eight overs, adding a mere 22 runs to their overnight total.Delhi scored at more than six an over in their second innings, with Dhruv Shorey (62 off 66 balls), Gautam Gambhir (54 off 41) and Nitish Rana (52 off 46) blasting away, but collapsed from 158 for 1 to 193 for 9, at which point they declared their innings, leaving Odisha with 288 to chase.Seamer Basant Mohanty took a hat-trick to dismiss Puneet Bisht, Suboth Bhati and Pulkit Narang, and finished with a five for. In their chase, Odisha opted to down the shutters, and settled for one point.

Pakistan long-serving team manager Yawar Saeed, whose last stint with the team was in 2010, has died at the age of 80 in Lahore

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Oct-2015The long-serving Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed, whose last stint with the team was in 2010, has died at the age of 80 in Lahore.Saeed was the son of Pakistan’s first captain Mian Mohammad Saeed, who led the country in unofficial Tests before they gained full status, and the brother-in-law of former captain and paceman Fazal Mahmood. Of his 59 first-class games, 50 were for Somerset on England’s county circuit.He stepped down from the team manager role after the spot-fixing debacle in England that saw three Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir jailed and banned from playing cricketing for five years.Born in Lahore before the partition of India, Saeed’s cricketing career lasted between 1953 and 1959. He played against MCC and had also featured in a match against West Indies in 1958-59. He picked up 106 wickets at 34.05 as a seamer and contributed 1547 runs at 15.47 with the bat. He also represented East Pakistan, Amir of Bahawalpur’s XI and Pakistan’s Central Zone.

A fifty from opener Ayasha Rahman and three wickets from legspinner Rumana Ahmed sealed a 35-run win for Bangladesh Women against Zimbabwe Women in the first T20 in Cox’s Bazar

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Ayasha Rahman scored a brisk fifty•AFP

A fifty from opener Ayasha Rahman and three wickets from legspinner Rumana Ahmed sealed a 35-run win for Bangladesh Women against Zimbabwe Women in the first T20 in Cox’s Bazar. Bangladesh put on 125 for 3 helped by their top three batsmen and then restricted the visitors to 90 for 8.Put in to bat, Bangladesh saw an opening stand of 76 in 13.4 overs between Ayasha and Sharmin Akhter before their innings saw three run-outs. Sharmin was the first one to fall for a 45-ball 35 before Fargana Hoque joined Ayasha. The duo upped the run rate by scoring 49 runs off 37 balls to take them to 125. Ayasha (50) and Ritu Moni were then run out on the last two balls of the innings, and Fargana was unbeaten on 32 off 21.Zimbabwe started losing wickets from the fifth over onwards after a slow start. Rumana dismissed the openers in consecutive overs before Sharne Mayers and Pellagia Mujaji stalled the fall of wickets for 6.4 overs but scored only 29 runs together. Once that stand was also broken by a run out, in the 14th over, Zimbabwe started losing wickets in a heap. Rumana struck again to finish with 3 for 11 from four overs and the visitors saw their last four wickets fall for ten runs in 12 balls as the asking rate shot over 16 runs per over.

Two nominations for the vice-president’s post and one for the treasurer’s were disqualified on the grounds of not meeting minimum requirements by a committee headed by Sri Lanka’s Director-General of Sports

Sa'adi Thawfeeq13-Dec-2015Fourteen objections were raised against the candidates for the Sri Lanka Cricket elections and those against K Mathivanan and Asanga Seneviratne running for vice-president were upheld on the grounds that they had not served on the executive committee for a minimum period of two years. Easman Narangoda’s nomination for treasurer was rejected for the same reason.According to the SLC constitution, only those who had represented Sri Lanka in Test and ODI cricket are waived of this requirement. So Arjuna Ranatunga’s candidacy for vice-president is safe. The former World-Cup winner is bidding for one of two posts along with his brother Nishantha Ranatunga and Shammi Silva, who is also now the sole contestant for the treasurer’s post. The elections take place on January 3.The two frontrunners for the post of Sri Lanka Cricket president – Nishantha and Thilanga Sumathipala – were given the green light to contest after objections were filed against them by rival candidates.Director-General of Sports Ruwanpathirana said that the objections raised against Sumathipala, Nishantha and a third candidate Jayantha Dharmadasa were overruled by a committee headed by him after a careful study.Sri Lanka Cricket is holding elections after a period of seven months during which time their affairs were looked after by a nine-man interim committee headed by former Sri Lanka Test cricketer Sidath Wettimuny.

Glenn Maxwell has acknowledged that it will take far more innings like his 96 at the MCG to change the public perception of him as a rash and big hitter, but he believes he has already made significant strides, starting with last year’s series in England

Brydon Coverdale17-Jan-20163:54

Maxwell reveals his batting mantra

By his own admission, this was the kind of innings that the old (or young) Glenn Maxwell could not have played. Chasing 295, he came in at almost precisely the halfway point with almost exactly half the runs still required. A run a ball was needed, or near enough, and a run a ball he delivered, or near enough: his half-century came from exactly 50 balls, and he lifted his tempo only towards the end to finish on 96 off 83.The old (or young) Maxwell would have gone hard from the time he strode to the crease, and maybe it would have come off, but more likely he would have perished trying for the big shot, not quite living up to the Big Show nickname that he hates. Maxwell acknowledges that it will take far more innings like this to change the public perception of him, but he believes as Australia’s ODI No.5 he has made significant strides, starting with last year’s series in England.”I probably got, early on in my career, a little bit too excited trying to score 150 strike-rate every game and trying to be the match-winner every game and I didn’t really finish the job a whole lot,” Maxwell said after the win over India in Melbourne, which secured a series victory for Australia. “It’s a long process. I don’t think it’s something that’s just going to happen overnight by one innings.”It’s going to have to be a slow grind. It’s going to have to be trying to change a lot of people’s perceptions of how I’m seen. I’m hoping a lot more innings like that and hopefully people will start to forget about the stupid nicknames and all that sort of thing, and the hype, and the trick shots. It’s something I’m trying to change and it’s been something I’m really working on.”Maxwell hopes that the natural extension of his development and the work he has put in off the field on the mental side of his game is that eventually he will again be considered for Test cricket, having failed to offer much in his three matches so far in the baggy green. In the chase at the MCG he showed his ability to pace things to perfection, and it was notable that his reverse sweep made only a couple of appearances.Not that Maxwell played in what you would call a classical style. The most memorable moment was when he dealt with the off-side field being up to Barinder Sran by slapping Sran over extra cover for six. Describing the shot is not easy: it was arguably related to the cut family, but about as distantly as the hippopotamus is related to the whale family.”I have areas that I want to hit the ball, and I think it’s pretty obvious on the field where I’m trying to hit the ball,” Maxwell said. “I haven’t really cared about how it looks trying to get the ball there. I think people get caught up in attractive batting, good-looking batting, with balls hit to the fielder.”I’ve always thought it doesn’t matter how it looks, as long as you can get it to the fence. I’ve never looked to be an attractive batsman, I’ll always just try to get the job done. It’s something I’ve probably failed to do over the past few years. I’ve scored quickly and scored a few runs in one-day cricket but haven’t really got the job done. Tonight was a big step forward.”Maxwell fell with one run left in the chase and four runs left for his hundred – he skied a catch off Umesh Yadav that might have flown over the infield for four, and his century, had he connected properly. “I didn’t really care where it went, I just wanted to hit it over the infield,” he said. “I didn’t care if it went for one, two, eight, four.”But Australia still had three wickets in hand and eight balls to get the one run required – they only needed one delivery as James Faulkner bunted a single next ball. It completed a remarkable run of victories in this series, the team having overhauled India’s 309 at the WACA, 308 at the Gabba, and 295 at the MCG – all record successful run chases for the venues.”It’s amazing the way our team is playing and the way we’ve been approaching those chases,” Maxwell said. “I don’t think a lot of teams are doing it like we are at the moment, as comfortably as it looks at the moment. To do it three times in a row is pretty phenomenal and probably shows why we’re No.1 in the world at the moment. It’s a backing from the coach to play with everything on the line, it doesn’t matter if you die trying, that’s fine, as long as you give it a crack.”

Saif Hassan struck his second Youth ODI century before Sanjit Saha picked up his second five-wicket haul, to help Bangladesh U-19 to a 16-run win against West Indies in Chittagong

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jan-2016
ScorecardFile photo – Saif Hassan struck 11 fours and three sixes in his 107•BCB

Saif Hassan struck his second Youth ODI century before offspinner Sanjit Saha picked up his second five-wicket haul, to help Bangladesh U-19 to a 16-run win against West Indies U-19s in Chittagong. The victory also gave Bangladesh a 3-0 series win.Bangladesh managed to put up 235 for 7 on the back of Saif’s contribution. He hammered eleven fours and three sixes in his 147-ball 107, and batted out the entire 50 overs. He added 87 runs for the fifth wicket with Shafiul Hayet, who struck 61 off 69 balls, with nine boundaries.In reply, West Indies got off to a good start as the openers – Tevin Imlach (38) and Gidron Pope (57) – compiled 82 in just 78 balls. However, the bowlers made regular breakthroughs after the dismissal of Pope, who smashed 11 fours and a six. Saha cut through the middle order with figures of 10-3-21-5 as West Indies were bowled out for 219 off the penultimate delivery.

ESPNcricinfo previews the fourth ODI between South Africa and England at Johannesburg

The Preview by Andrew Miller11-Feb-2016

Match facts

Friday, February 12, 2016
Start time 1330 local (1130 GMT)

Big Picture

Well, that’s put the cat among the pigeons. Just when it seemed that England’s 50-over fledglings were set to spread their wings and secure a hugely impressive second overseas series victory of the winter, they were clawed back to earth by a performance that AB de Villiers, South Africa’s captain, rightly described as “hungry”. With local knowledge spilling out of a team containing six Titans players, South Africa hunted down a stiff target of 319 with disdain, thanks almost entirely to a record-breaking opening stand of 239 between Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla.So, at 2-1 up with two to play, England know they are suddenly in a contest – and life is unlikely to get much easier in the equally stratospheric conditions at the Wanderers. The Bullring comes into his own for floodlit one-day games, and South Africa’s record at the venue is hugely impressive – 19 victories in 27 completed matches including, ten years ago next month, the jewel in the crown: their astonishing chase of 435 against Australia.On the evidence of the series so far, there could be similar scoring feats in prospect on Friday. England’s total of 399 at Bloemfontein might have been challenged more closely had the weather not intervened in the first match, while their apparently hefty 318 for 8 at Centurion proved to be at least fifty runs shy of par. With power-hitters on both teams, including some – such as AB de Villiers and Jason Roy who haven’t entirely got going as yet – there is unlikely to be much let-up in the thin, six-friendly, air of the Highveld.South Africa’s fightback at Centurion was made possible, in part, by the improved balance of their team, with the inclusion of the allrounder David Wiese at the expense of Rilee Rossouw allowing de Villiers to use the part-time seamers of Farhaan Behardien more sparingly. But England in return struggled to use their own options, with Chris Jordan’s erratic seamers proving particularly expensive once again. One thing is clear: it has not so far been a series for the bowlers, so whichever team’s attack holds its nerve the best when the fur begins to fly is liable to claim the spoils.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)


South Africa: WLLWL
England: LWWWW

In the spotlight

England have one imperative above all others if they want to sew up the series without having to win a decider at Cape Town on Sunday. Stop de Kock. Quinton de Kock‘s preposterous form has harvested three centuries in his last four innings, including a maiden Test hundred at Centurion last month. In one-day cricket, however, he is in overdrive. His match-smashing 135 on Tuesday was his tenth in 55 innings . No ODI player in history has ever reached that milestone so quickly, or so young either – at 23 years and 54 days, he pipped Virat Kohli to the mark by four months. The power and purity of his strokeplay is extraordinary, and seemingly unstoppable when he gets on one of his rolls.Adil Rashid has been quietly going about his business in the series so far, and if his figures to date, 2 for 130 in 26 overs, don’t look like an awful lot to write home about, then they are perhaps best expressed alongside those of his legspinning counterpart in South Africa’s ranks, Imran Tahir – 2 for 193 in 28. Following coolly on from his breakthrough stint with Adelaide Strikers in the BBL, Rashid has applied a tourniquet to his previously leaky economy rate, and South Africa’s willingness to see off his spells rather than take the long handle to them is a testament to his control and variety. He’s got the confidence to be a trump card in the closing stages of this series.

Team news

South Africa have given no clear indication as to whether they will make changes to their XI but the balance provided by Wiese served its purpose at Centurion. A continuation of that policy would mean no room, once again, for the specialist slugger, David Miller, although the million-dollar man, Chris Morris, might believe he would be worth a shout for that extra allrounder’s role. Morne Morkel is due a rest and could miss out for Marchant de Lange but, since he is not playing the T20s, he may just keep going for now.South Africa (probable) 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Farhaan Behardien, 7 David Wiese, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Kyle Abbott, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran TahirEngland’s big dilemma is the form of Chris Jordan. His value in the field was demonstrated by the stunning running catch off AB de Villiers at Port Elizabeth that could prove a pivotal moment in the series. But he has so far taken one wicket in 17.3 overs in the series, at an average of 143 and an economy rate of 8.17. The obvious replacement is also the odd man out in the squad. Stuart Broad’s recall for white-ball cricket was made all the more curious when he was yesterday omitted from England’s World T20 squad. However, with a series to win, and fond recent memories of Johannesburg, a recall would seem to be the pragmatic approach.England (possible) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 David Willey, 11 Reece Topley

Pitch and conditions

A typical Wanderers ODI pitch is packed with runs and consistent bounce and carry. South Africa have scored over 300 in their last four matches at the venue and won three. The pitch is off-centre for this match which means one boundary will be shorter. A fast outfield and thin air will also aid the batsmen. Thundershowers are forecast between 4pm and 6pm.

Stats and trivia

• With scores of 46, 55 and 33 not out so far, Faf du Plessis has returned to form after a tough Test series and is within 90 runs of reaching 3000 in ODI cricket.
• If selected, Stuart Broad will play in his first ODI since England’s victory over Afghanistan at Sydney in March 2015, their last match of a dismal World Cup campaign.
• At 1633m above sea level, the Wanderers Stadium is at an unusually high altitude. Scientific models have worked out that a shot that would just reach the boundary at the Wanderers (approx. 65m) would fall some four metres short at lower-altitude venues.
• South Africa will take the field in pink kit as part of an annual breast cancer awareness day. That could be ominous for England. The last time de Villiers wore pink for an ODI, he slammed 149 from 44 balls against West Indies.

Quotes

“It’s key for us to assess conditions very early; what is working on the day. AB is fantastic in picking up the rhythm of the batsmen and where they’re looking to target areas. We’ve done our research into exercising our skills to keep them quiet.”

Kyle Abbott believes South Africa can keep England’s line-up quiet. “Stuart’s played more than 100 one-dayers for England and has huge amounts of experience. If he comes in, that’s just one of a few things he’ll bring – that experience and knowledge of one-day cricket.”
Joe Root, for one, welcomes the prospect of Stuart Broad reclaiming his berth in the one-day team.

England Women huffed and puffed past India’s spin attack to secure their second straight win at the Women’s World T20, in Dharamsala

The Report by Shashank Kishore 22-Mar-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:40

‘A lot of belief in our dressing room’ – Knight

India Women nearly got out of jail courtesy their trump card, spin, in conditions as subcontinental as it could get to lift the hopes of a boisterous home crowd, but a turbo-charged start from Sarah Taylor and Tammy Beaumont helped England Women overcome a nervous breakdown. They eventually crossed the line by two wickets in a pulsating finish in Dharamsala.India’s 90 for 8, which seemed inadequate at the halfway mark, was made to look bigger as England’s pre-determined approach on a surface, where the ball spun visiously, came back to bite them. It needed the calm of Natalie Sciver, who made a crucial 19, and Jenny Gunn to allay fears of a shock loss as England squeezed home with six balls to spare.Ekta Bisht, who replaced Poonam Yadav in the XI, injected fresh life in to India’s defence with a crafty display of left-arm spin bowling to finish with career-best figures of 4 for 21. But, lack of application with the bat threw India’s campaign in choppy waters. They need to win against West Indies on Sunday and hope other results go their way.After misfiring with the bat, India came out attacking, and received an early fillip when Charlotte Edwards was dismissed by the third over. But Taylor, perhaps identifying the surface to be a raging turner, announced herself with three fours off her first seven balls to briefly throw India’s plans off.Beaumont also showed she was up for the fight by making a sprightly 20. Harmanpreet Kaur, who was smashed for three fours off her first three balls, hit back with two wickets off successive balls. Beaumont holed out to midwicket before Taylor was stumped superbly by Sushma Verma.From 42 for 3, England’s nervy approach was reduced to a battle of push and prod as Bisht exploited the slow, spinning surface to scythe through the middle order. Heather Knight, who had earlier picked up three wickets with her offspin, was stumped, too, while Lydia Greenway was trapped plumb in front attempting an expansive sweep to leave the game on a knife’s edge.India’s fielders also lifted themselves, even though England found scoring slightly easier against the pace of Jhulan Goswami. England also had a reprieve when Katherin Brunt survived a close lbw shout, with England needing 11 off 23. Then as things got tighter, the nerves began to show as Kaur put down a regulation catch at cover with England needing three. The next ball was hit behind point for four by Anya Shrubsole to trigger wild celebrations in the England camp.Earlier, there was little doubt that the toss would be crucial, and Edwards opted to bowl. The decision paid off almost immediately as Vellaswamy Vanitha fell in the first over to leave two of India’s best batsmen – Mithali Raj and Smriti Mandhana – to weather the early storm.Mandhana started off with a crunching off drive, but the slowness of the wicket became evident early on as she repeatedly found leading edges off cutters. England were surprisingly off the boil on the field, but the hole India dug themselves in to allowed England to regroup.Shikha Pandey, and not Kaur, walked out at No. 4 in a bid to up the ante. But Pandey struggled, which put more pressure on Raj. A touch player, who relies on timing instead of muscle, she then looked to go over the top, only to see the ball lob to point. The batting meltdown somewhat seemed complete when Veda Krishnamurthy was bowled through the gate by Knight’s loopy offspin to leave India on the ropes at 52 for 5 in 14 overs. That they finished with 90 was courtesy Kaur’s improvisation and Anuja Patil’s deft touches.A second successive sub-100 score put immense pressure on India’s spinners to pull off a heist. Hard as they tried, all England needed was an injection of momentum at the top. Once they got that, it was a question of weathering the blips, which they overcame, but not without jangling nerves.

The ICC’s head of global development Tim Anderson has highlighted the importance of the new 10-person USA advisory group for creating a sustainable foundation for the future of the game

Peter Della Penna06-May-2016The ICC’s head of global development Tim Anderson has said that the task of drafting a new constitution for USA cricket is the biggest priority following the announcement of four advisory groups this week.A 10-person group has been formed under the title Sustainable Foundation and they are the ones tasked with forming the new constitution which is seen as a vital step in trying to pull USA cricket out of years of infighting and uncertainty.”It’s a difficult and complicated thing, the development of a new constitution, particularly given the diverse nature of the US cricket community,” Anderson told ESPNcricinfo. “So I don’t know how long it will take but it’s obviously the most important thing that there is to do right now within the future of US cricket, to set up a framework or governance structure that enables the game to move forward.”The USA Cricket Association was suspended last year at the annual conference and given 39 terms and conditions to meet for reinstatement, which they have failed to meet. Part of the reason for the initial suspension, and inability to be reinstated, was that they failed to ratify a new constitution at each of their last three annual general meetings. Anderson denied that the instructions from the ICC to form a new constitution mean that USACA will definitely be expelled at the ICC annual conference in June, but conceded that “USACA probably wasn’t best placed to do that piece of work”.”They don’t represent the large majority of cricket stakeholders in the USA,” Anderson said. “That was what was uncovered by the working group that put together the report that went to the ICC board last year and there’s nothing to suggest that still isn’t the case today.”We thought it was better for us, after we went through the strategic framework exercise with the community, to develop a group that included people that are from within the USACA structure as well – they’re not excluded, they’re very much included – but was more diverse than just USACA to consider what a new constitution and new governance framework might look like.”We’re not sure what the group will come up with at this point but we think we’ve got a really strong and diverse group of people that have great expertise across the American sports landscape. That will include USACA, leagues aligned to USACA and not aligned to USACA. Our whole mantra around trying to unify cricket in the USA, which the ICC board wanted to do back in June last year, that holds very true in this exercise and that’s what we’re trying to do.”Anderson’s determination to attempt to satisfy and unify the various groups in US cricket was most evident in the composition of the seven-man advisory panel on high performance. The group includes six people with extensive playing and coaching experience in international cricket or professional sports, including three former USA national team players and former West Indies international Ricardo Powell.However, the seventh member of the panel, Mir Ali, is a USACA regional administrator from Chicago who has no high level cricket playing or coaching experience. Anderson justified his inclusion by reinforcing the ICC’s position that the various US cricket groups need to be represented on each advisory panel.”We want to try for all of these groups to be as representative as possible of all the various and diverse areas of US cricket, be that geographic, cultural, from a gender perspective and political as well,” Anderson said. “There are various political factions in US cricket. USACA is the ICC’s member in the USA and although it is suspended we felt it was important that we included people from within the USACA structure in all of the groups.”We talked to USACA about that. Mir Ali is someone that is heavily involved and extremely keen to assist cricket both within the Chicago region and around the country. He was put forward by USACA as someone that they would like us to consider to be involved in one of the groups and we thought he was well suited based on his experiences in US cricket to represent USACA in that particular group.”While USACA has never had a female board member, Anderson said that picking seven women to be included as part of the 32 people on the four advisory panels was part of the ICC’s effort to encourage more female cricket development. At the first two USA Combines in San Francisco and Florida last month in which female players were invited to attend for tryouts, only 16 appeared in San Francisco while just one pre-teenage girl came to the tryout in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.”Females are absolutely fundamental to the future of USA cricket,” Anderson said. “The female involvement in cricket in the USA isn’t significant. It’s quite minimal in fact. We’ve got seven women out of the 32, which is significantly disproportionate to the amount of female cricket happening in the USA. But I think it’s an indicator to how important we see women in the future of US cricket.”Above all, Anderson is hoping that the various groups represented on each of the four advisory groups will be able to cooperate and produce meaningful results, rather than hang onto past grudges as an impediment to making progress.”We weren’t sure of the reaction we were going to get but we’re really satisfied that there’s lots of people in the USA that want to contribute,” Anderson said. “We thought that a bit over 150 [applications], people mainly from within the USA cricket community that wanted to be involved was a positive, strong response.”It’s important that people are aware that just because they may not like a person or what some person has done in the past, in order to take the game forward in the USA we need to put those things behind us and move forward in the best interests of the sport. The ICC board has been very clear that we believe in the best interests of cricket in the USA, we need to have a unified approach.”

Anurag Thakur has been appointed the BCCI president at the board’s special general meeting in Mumbai on Sunday

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2016Anurag Thakur has been unanimously elected the BCCI president at the board’s special general meeting in Mumbai on Sunday. Thakur, 41, and formerly the BCCI secretary, was the only nominee for the post; he will serve as president until September 2017. He will also represent the BCCI on the ICC executive board and the Asian Cricket Council.Thakur is the 34th president of the BCCI and after taking office he nominated Ajay Shirke, the Maharashtra Cricket Association president, as his successor as secretary. Shirke will represent the BCCI at the chief executives committee meetings of the ICC. He had previously served as BCCI treasurer, resigning the post in 2013 because he was unhappy with the board’s response to the IPL corruption scandal.Thakur succeeded Shashank Manohar, who had stepped down as president a week ago so that he would be eligible to be elected the ICC’s first independent chairman. He had held the post of BCCI secretary during Manohar’s tenure and was seen to be the automatic choice to replace Manohar, given the support he gained since he was appointed joint secretary in September 2011.As per the BCCI constitution, its president is elected by a rotational system where each of the five zones is given the chance to put forward candidates at the special general meeting. It was the East zone’s turn and Thakur was formally endorsed by all its six units – Cricket Association of Bengal, National Cricket Club, Odisha Cricket Association, Tripura Cricket Association, Assam Cricket Association and Jharkhand Cricket Association.Thakur, one of the youngest BCCI presidents, is also a politician and is the BJP member of parliament from Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur district. The son of the two-time former Himachal Pradesh chief minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal, Thakur is also the head of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association.