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Josh Hazlewood has pleaded guilty to breaching the ICC’s Code of Conduct after showing dissent at the result of a decision review during New Zealand’s second innings

Brydon Coverdale in Christchurch23-Feb-2016

Umpire Ranmore Martinesz was subjected to questioning by the Australians•Getty Images

Josh Hazlewood has pleaded guilty to breaching the ICC’s Code of Conduct after showing dissent at the result of a decision review during New Zealand’s second innings in Christchurch. Hazlewood, who was fined 15% of his match fee for the incident, along with captain Steven Smith was part of an ugly confrontation with umpire Ranmore Martinesz in the last over before lunch.The incident occurred after the Australians appealed for lbw from a near yorker that Hazlewood delivered to Kane Williamson, and Martinesz ruled not-out. Smith immediately asked for a review from third umpire Richard Illingworth, who saw a small Hot Spot mark near the bottom of Williamson’s inside edge and instructed Martinesz to stay with his not-out decision.The Australians, who had seen the replays on the big screen at Hagley Oval, appeared to be furious with the review, indicating to Martinesz that they thought the Hot Spot was the result of Williamson’s bat hitting his boot. Smith walked towards Martinesz to remonstrate and Hazlewood was heard on the stump microphone to say: “Who the f*** is the third umpire?”Their reaction drew immediate criticism from the TV commentators on air at the time, Mark Richardson declaring the actions of the Australians as “intolerable” and Ian Smith saying that Martinesz “does not deserve a grilling out there”. Hazlewood also appeared to express frustration as the players walked off at the lunch break, speaking to New Zealand batsman Corey Anderson.”I didn’t actually hear anything, I got told that he was saying something to me,” Anderson said after play. “But I’m actually deaf in my left ear, so he could have been on my wrong side. Whether he said something or not, I’m not too concerned. You hear a little bit every now and then when you’re out there, but you’re so focused and consumed by what you do, you end up blocking most of it out.”One factor in the drama appeared to be that the replays shown on the big screen at Hagley Oval, which the players saw at the time, were less clear than those seen by TV viewers at home. Anderson said Williamson had been “unsure” whether he had nicked the ball or not, and that it was sometimes not until the players saw replays in the change-rooms that they understood the process.”It was one of those ones where it’s so close you don’t know sometimes whether you’ve whacked your foot or if you’ve whacked the ball,” Anderson said. “I know from the big screen there’s a few bits and pieces that are harder to tell. I know there was one yesterday with Joe Burns that we thought nicked the glove and it was turned down. Once you go back in the sheds and see what has actually happened, it’s a lot clearer.”It’s always one of those things. We’ve been on the end of those where you want a wicket so badly and you want something to happen in the game and it doesn’t quite go your way. It’s part of it. It’s happened before and it’ll happen again.”The incident occurred near the end of a session in which Australia had failed to take a wicket, despite a dropped catch, an edge that fell fractionally short of wicketkeeper Peter Nevill, and another lbw review that also showed an inside edge. Jackson Bird, who eventually finished with a five-wicket haul, said frustration had played a part in the response of the Australians.”We bowled pretty well in the first session and we probably thought it was out,” Bird said. “But those 50-50 calls, they either go your way or they don’t. So it was probably the frustration of the whole session. We’d bowled pretty well and hadn’t got a wicket. We’d been pretty close a couple of times. So you know – it’s one of those things. We couldn’t quite tell what was going on. It didn’t go our way but that’s how the game goes sometimes.”However, the Australians were unhappy at the fact that Hazlewood’s comment – “who the f*** is the third umpire?” – was broadcast. Stump microphones are not supposed to remain live when players and umpires are conversing.”Yeah it is a little bit [disappointing],” Bird said. “We’re all for having technology in the game, and all the new technology that comes out every year is great and great for the viewers at home. But I don’t see why the stump mics need to be broadcast to the whole world. I’m not sure why they were.”

The two will also train at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane and be part of Queensland Bulls’ pre-season preparations

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jul-2022Chetan Sakariya and Mukesh Choudhary will headline the overseas presence at the KFC T20 Max series in Queensland next month. They will also train at Cricket Australia’s National Cricket Centre in Brisbane and be involved in Queensland Bulls’ pre-season preparations, as part of the old exchange programme with the Chennai-based MRF Pace Foundation, which had been paused because of Covid-19.Sakariya, 24, made a name for himself during IPL 2021, playing for Rajasthan Royals, and has turned out in an ODI and two T20Is so far while also playing for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2022, while Choudhary was impressive in his debut IPL season, this year, for Chennai Super Kings, picking up 16 wickets in 13 games. The two will be joined by three Papua New Guinea internationals: Norman Vanua, Chad Soper and Charles Amini.Related

• How 'systematic', 'quiet' Choudhary made it from Bhilwara to CSK

• Meet Sakariya – who overcame personal tragedy to make it to the IPL

Sakariya will play for Sunshine Coast, while Wynnum-Manly will have the services of Choudhary. Sandgate-Redcliffe have all the three PNG players – regulars with their national side, which finished third at the recent World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe – in their ranks. Vanua and Soper are medium pacers, while Amini is a legspinning allrounder.There will also be a strong list of current or recent BBL players, some of them internationals, in the mix too: Jordan Silk, Beau Webster, Cameron Boyce, Ben Cutting, Liam Guthrie, Nick Larkin, Clint Hinchliffe, Josh Lalor, Nick Hobson, Jake Lehmann, Arjun Nair, Chris Sabburg, Nick Bertus, Ryan Gibson, Spencer Johnson and Nathan McSweeney.In a note on its website, Queensland Cricket said, “Due to the popularity of the concept and a surge in the number of players expressing interest, Queensland Cricket today updated the competition rules to allow each Premier club to sign an additional interstate or international recruit, moving from three players per club to four.”Several regionally based players have already brokered arrangements with teams, while contracted Queensland Bulls and Brisbane Heat players will be available for selection as part of their pre-season preparations.”The tournament will be played over three weeks, from August 18 to September 4, at the club grounds as well as at the refurbished Allan Border Field, under lights.Exchanges between the MRF Pace Foundation, founded in 1987, and Australia began in 1992, when the academy opened its doors to players from beyond India’s shores.Among the first to come and train under Dennis Lillee, then the director at MRF, was Glenn McGrath, who later took up the directorship once Lillee retired after a 25-year stint in 2012. Fast bowlers from many other countries, including Mohammad Asif (Pakistan), Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka), Heath Streak (Zimbabwe), and premier quicks from Australia like Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson, have all trained at the academy over the years. Similarly, young Indian quicks have been given the opportunity to spend time in Brisbane as part of the programme. The last of these, in 2019, were Prasidh Krishna, who has since played ten ODIs for India, and Mukhtar Hussain, the 23-year-old right-arm quick from Assam.

Bilateral Test series outside iconic ones like the Ashes and big-ticket tours involving India could be endangered in the future if they are not properly nurtured and marketed

Nagraj Gollapudi30-Jul-2015Bilateral series outside iconic ones like the Ashes and big-ticket tours involving India could be endangered in the future if they are not properly nurtured and marketed. The alert has come from ICC chief executive David Richardson, who says the success of domestic Twenty20 leagues like the IPL, Big Bash and the growing Caribbean Premier League have made them more attractive to cricket fans and broadcasters.To arrest the decline of bilateral series, cricket’s administrators are discussing the creation of qualifying leagues for both Test and ODI cricket as a possible solution.”Apart from series such as the Ashes – which has an iconic, traditional status – and series between India and the top Full Members, many bilateral series are perceived as having little relevance,” Richardson told ESPNcricinfo in London. “Attendances in most series, especially for Test cricket, have fallen and the revenues generated from these series are not growing.”Richardson said the issue was once again high on the agenda at the ICC annual conference in Barbados in June and would take precedence at the next ICC Board meeting in October.”The international cricket landscape has changed over the years and even more significantly in recent times with the advent and success of domestic Twenty20 leagues such as the IPL, the Big Bash and the CPL. These events are attracting widespread support from fans and hence the interest of broadcasters, sponsors and other commercial partners.”Similarly the interest in and value of ICC events such as the World Cup, the Champions Trophy and World Twenty20 has grown significantly over the last eight years or so. The increase in interest in ICC events and domestic Twenty20 leagues effectively provides competition for the interest in bilateral international cricket series (FTP series).”How can the ICC enhance the appeal of bilateral series that are part of the FTP and an important source of revenue for the Full Members? Providing context to these contests has been the popular response in the past, and Richardson offered the same solution to begin with. He also felt that sometimes countries were responsible for their own plight.”How can we grow interest in bilateral series – bigger crowds, more people watching on television, following the series on their phones, tablets and computers? For this to happen bilateral series need greater context, a clear narrative, improved marketing and a more certain and coordinated schedule,” Richardson said. “What’s the use of scheduling a series in the monsoon season or how can you expect to grow the fan base or attract attendances if series are scheduled or changed at the last minute?”To make bilateral series more relevant, Richardson said countries needed to opt a less-is-more formula. Instead of an irrelevant seven or five-match series, Richardson suggested a better substitute to be a tri-series scheduled at an opportune time.Richardson revealed a possible solution the administrators were thinking about was creating qualifying leagues for both Test and ODIs, an idea that had the support of all the powerful members of the ICC Board. “Scheduling more tri-series, creating a brand around the FTP and around individual series, creating a fresh brand for the ODI format itself (World Cup Cricket for example, as Wally Edwards is proposing), creation of Test or ODI World Cup Qualifying leagues. These are all ideas that need to be considered and discussed. They have been mooted before, but now with the involvement of Mr Srinivasan as Chairman, the BCCI, ECB, CA and the other Members, these issues are being seriously looked at.”We are just in discussions at the moment. Michael Holding has spoken about a Test league of two divisions, others have previously suggested a six-and-four teams format. But first the principles and then the detail needs to be debated and agreed. I think it is achievable if all the Full Members think it is worthwhile and want it to happen.”According to Richardson, any such league system would be independent of the ICC ranking, similar to the qualification leagues in football. “The debate on leagues is still in the drawing board phase, but even if leagues were introduced, the rankings would still coexist. The ICC rankings will always be there. Take international football, for example, they have qualifying leagues for the FIFA World Cup and Continental tournaments, separate to the world rankings.”

The South Africans were given a taste of the toil that awaits them as they spent all but 20 minutes of the day on the field before losing two wickets against the Board President’s XI in Mumbai

The Report by Firdose Moonda in Mumbai30-Oct-2015
Scorecard1:30

Moonda: SA will be concerned by the form of their spinners

The South Africans were given a taste of the toil that awaits them in the upcoming Test series after they spent all but 20 minutes of the day on the field before losing two wickets against the Indian Board President’s XI in their only warm-up fixture at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.But the visitors learnt two valuable things from their prolonged stay in the sun: that Imran Tahir may be ready for a Test return ahead of Dane Piedt and Kagiso Rabada can be introduced at some stage in the series.Tahir, who carried drinks in the morning, was only introduced into the attack 10 minutes before tea. He bowled six overs and was the most effective of the three spinners in operation. Although the wicket he claimed – that of Sheldon Jackson who tried to launch him down the ground – was more a result of Dale Steyn’s athletic catching than his own ingenuity, Tahir asked more questions than the offspinners.Piedt, making a return to the highest level after a shoulder injury, was expensive and struggled for control. Simon Harmer was better and bowled cleverly at the end of the innings but neither would have inspired the confidence Tahir did. Piedt bowled like a man who understood he was competing for a place and delivered a succinct reason for why that place should be his.Rabada ran in the same way. He bowled three spells in the first two sessions, when the other seamers had only bowled two each, and showed an understanding of the areas and the lengths needed at this level. With only 14 first-class matches to his name, Rabada’s longer-form match awareness was impressive.Both Tahir and Rabada were only in action after Steyn and Vernon Philander had done what they do best as a new-ball pair, clinically carving through the President’s XI top order.The first wicket fell on the fifth ball of the morning when Unmukt Chand edged Steyn to Hashim Amla at first slip. It was the kind of dismissal Philander has made a career out of and five overs later, he showed why. After flirting with Chesteshwar Pujara’s outside edge, Philander finally found it to end a disappointing outing for the opposition captain.Shreyas Iyer was the next victim, edging to wicketkeeper Dane Vilas, who had a solid outing in his first experience on this tour. Vilas caught all three chances that came his way and like all good wicketkeepers, went relatively unnoticed otherwise.At 35 for 3, the South Africans may have hoped to bat quickly, but KL Rahul and Karun Nair denied them. Rahul, who watched wickets fall from the other end, tightened his own game to avoid falling into the off-stump trap even when the South Africans’ second wave of seamers arrived.Morne Morkel bowled an opening spell of three overs and followed that up with a one of two overs upon his return from a quad injury, even as Rabada constantly threatened. Some relief came in the form of the medium-pacers and the spinners, which may concern the South Africans as Harmer and Piedt could not find a way though.Rahul was strong on the drive and found runs behind square. He brought up 50 off 92 balls, with 80% of those runs scored in boundaries. Nair also found gaps in the field more easily than singles and it took the reintroduction of Philander to stabilise the visitors. He had Nair caught behind after lunch and continued to beat the bat until late in the day to begin answering some of the questions about his ability on subcontinental surfaces.Rahul looked well set, but perished while trying to accelerate, as a flick off Harmer found Faf du Plessis at short fine leg. With the two set men out, the South Africans may have fancied running through the President’s XI but Naman Ojha and Jackson were stubborn in their defence.While the heat and humidity began to take its toll on the visitors, Ojha milked them and brought up a half-century off 76 balls. Again, one of the front-liners had to be called, as Steyn came back after tea to dismiss Ojha in the slips off his first ball. But the President’s XI tail remained resolute and thwarted the South Africans, who put their seamers away as they day grew long, leaving Piedt and Hamer to finish off, which they did.Hardik Pandya made them work for his wicket, and enjoyed flaying the spinners about before falling to Piedt, who was rewarded with a wicket right at the end.South Africa’s day got longer when Shardul Thakur demanded the full attention of their batsmen, who were flagging. Dean Elgar played and missed several times but it was Stiaan van Zyl who was out first. The nightwatchman Harmer was bowled off the last ball of the day, leaving South Africa’s specialist batsmen with a full day to turn the tide tomorrow.

The left-arm quick has been ruled out of action for four to five weeks, according to team physio Bayjedul Islam

Mohammad Isam19-May-2022Bangladesh left-arm quick Shoriful Islam has been ruled out of the rest of the Test series against Sri Lanka after he sustained a right hand injury on the fourth evening in Chattogram. An X-ray revealed a fracture and Shoriful has been ruled out for four to five weeks, which is likely to make him unavailable for the first West Indies Test as well, set to start on June 16.The selectors didn’t name a replacement for Shoriful while announcing an unchanged squad for the second Test in Dhaka starting May 23.”Shoriful Islam had a contusion of the right hand while batting,” Bayjedul said in a BCB release on Thursday. “After the fourth day’s play an X-ray was carried out which has revealed a fracture on the base of the 5th metacarpal bone. Such injuries tend to take around three weeks to heal followed by a couple of week’s rehab. He will not be available to play for four to five weeks.”Kasun Rajitha struck Shoriful on his right hand after he tried to fend away a short ball in the 167th over of the Bangladesh innings. Physio Bayejidul Islam came out a couple of times to tend to him but Shoriful continued to bat. Four overs later, he fell down screaming in pain after swinging and missing at Rajitha.Shoriful eventually retired out to close the Bangladesh innings on 465 and he didn’t come out to bowl at all when Sri Lanka batted again.Bangladesh are already without Taskin Ahmed and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the Chattogram Test due to injuries. Taskin’s participation is also a concern for Bangladesh’s West Indies tour next month as well. Taskin, who consulted a specialist in London for his shoulder injury earlier this month, is undergoing conservative treatment at the moment, so the selectors are yet to decide if he will be considered for the Tests in the West Indies.”We are not getting Shoriful for the Tests in West Indies. Taskin too is most likely unavailable for the red-ball matches. We might get the pair in the white-ball part of the tour,” Minhajul Abedin, the BCB chief selector, said.Bangladesh are likely to head for the tour on June 5 to play two Tests, three T20Is and three ODIs till mid-July.

It has also been learnt that Ravindra Jadeja will remain with the team as a player

Nagraj Gollapudi20-May-20223:36

Shastri: Dhoni ‘unbelievably fit’, has ‘enjoyed his cricket this year’

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings have not had a happy IPL 2022, but they have a leg-up for the next edition: MS Dhoni will be with the team as a player next season and, importantly, is going to be their captain too. The main reason to play, as Dhoni explained, is to bid adieu to his supporters in Chennai and the rest of India.Asked by Ian Bishop on Star Sports about his future before Super Kings’ match on Friday evening against Rajasthan Royals, Dhoni said, “Definitely [I will play IPL 2023]. It’s a simple reason: it will be unfair to not play in Chennai and say thank you [to the fans]. Mumbai is one place where, as a team and as an individual, I have got a lot of love and affection. But it wouldn’t be nice to the CSK fans.”And also, hopefully next year there will be an opportunity where the teams will be travelling so it will be a like thank you to all the different places where we will be playing games at different venues. Whether it will be my last year or not that’s a big question, because you know we can’t really predict about something two years down the line. But definitely I’ll be working hard to come back strong next year.”Related

• Shastri: Jadeja as captain 'looked a fish out of water'

• Dhoni: Hopefully my last T20 will be in Chennai

As reported by ESPNcricinfo almost an hour before the toss, Dhoni, now almost 41 years old, has told the Super Kings team management that he will be available for the 2023 IPL and will lead the team too. In another shot in the arm for the four-time IPL champions, it has been learnt that Ravindra Jadeja, who left the Super Kings camp following an injury, will also be in the mix for the 2023 season. This debunks the perception that Jadeja had fallen out with Dhoni and the team management after the captaincy swap a little more than halfway into Super Kings’ 2022 season.The developments are significant for Super Kings, whose game against Royals is their final match of the ongoing season. With just four wins so far in 13 matches, Super Kings are ninth on the points table, just above Mumbai Indians.It was on May 1, ahead of Super Kings’ ninth league match, against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Pune, that Dhoni returned as the team’s captain. This, after Jadeja had decided to step down, having taken the reins from Dhoni at the start of the season.At the toss, when Danny Morrison asked Dhoni whether he would be seen in action in 2023, Dhoni had given a cryptic answer: “You’ll definitely see me in the yellow jersey – whether it’s this yellow jersey or some other yellow jersey you will have to wait and watch.”The issue of the Super Kings’ captaincy has been in the news right from the beginning of the season; when, just two days before the first game of IPL 2022, it was announced that Jadeja would be leading them; when a run of losses kept Super Kings in the bottom two of the points table; when the decision was made to return the captaincy to Dhoni and then Jadeja abruptly exited the competition.5:26

Vettori: ‘Probably comes down to Jadeja not enjoying the captaincy’

After winning the first match on his return to captaincy, Dhoni had spoken about the circumstances that forced him to take back the captaincy. He explained that captaincy was “having an effect” on Jadeja’s game, and that the team management had eventually decided that they needed Jadeja the player more.”What is important is once you become the captain, you have to take care of many things,” Dhoni had told Star Sports after the Sunrisers match. “And that also includes taking care of your own game. And with him, his mind was working a lot.”It’s not easy to control your mind, it’s the strongest feature… body, physiques, all of those things are fine, but once your mind starts working and it wants to contribute more: okay, what’s the combination I can play with; okay, who can bowl at what point of time. It doesn’t really stop. So, what really happens is the individual is not able to relax – even when he closes his eyes and wants to sleep, the mind is still working.”So what I felt was, it was having an effect on his game also. When he was going in to bat, or when it comes to his preparation, is putting this [extra] burden affecting his game? Because I would love to have Jadeja as a bowler and batter and fielder. Captaincy, fair enough. Even if you relieve [him of] captaincy, and if he is at his best [as a player], that’s what we really want because we were also losing a great fielder. We were struggling [to find] a deep-midwicket fielder.”They will be there, in the Super Kings ranks, next year too•BCCI

Dhoni, the Super Kings captain right through their journey in the IPL – bar the two years the franchise was banned following the spot-fixing scandal of 2013 and the first few matches of the ongoing season – and Jadeja were both part of the quartet retained by Super Kings ahead of the 2022 players’ auction. While Jadeja was retained as the first pick at INR 16 crore, Dhoni was the second player retained at INR 12 crore.Dhoni, who will be close to 42 by the next IPL, is already the oldest player in the tournament. Though he is one of the fittest players around as well as one of the most astute captains, the question about Super Kings’ next captain has been posed often to both Dhoni and the Super Kings management over the past few years.Last October, immediately after Super Kings won the 2021 IPL, N Srinivasan, the Super Kings’ owner, said that Dhoni would always be “part and parcel” of not just the franchise, but also the city of Chennai and the state of Tamil Nadu. “There is no CSK without Dhoni and there is no Dhoni without CSK,” Srinivasan had said.A month later, while felicitating Dhoni and the team for winning their fourth IPL title, Srinivasan had reiterated, “People keep bugging him, ‘are you going to continue?’ , he’s there, I say. He’s not gone anywhere. Why don’t you understand the fact that he’s there. He’s still there. With us.”