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Nottinghamshire breathed new life into their NatWest T20 Blast campaign as they won a last-ball thriller by three wickets over rivals Lancashire at Old Trafford

ECB/PA15-Jul-2015
ScorecardJames Taylor showed a cool head to guide his side home•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire breathed new life into their NatWest T20 Blast campaign as they won a last-ball thriller by three wickets over rivals Lancashire at Old Trafford. With six needed off the last two balls, captain James Taylor hit successive boundaries to seal victory.Nottinghamshire, who lost the toss, won for the sixth time after reducing the hosts to 13 for 3 to move level on points with fourth-placed Lancashire on 12 points from 12. Lancashire are only ahead on net run-rate with two North Group matches left after failing to defend 137 for 4 on a slow pitch, a total which included a pair of 51s for Karl Brown and Steven Croft.This was their fourth home defeat in six this season, having previously never lost more than twice at this venue in a Twenty20 campaign.Former Lancashire allrounder Steven Mullaney excelled in returning 1 for 14 from four overs of canny medium pace before Notts made hard work of the chase.They lost three wickets for 19 to slip from 63 for 1 in the 11th over and ended up needing 13 off the last against Kyle Jarvis. Taylor kept cool to finish 33 not out off 21.Early wickets for Samit Patel, Harry Gurney and a run out hurt the hosts as Ashwell Prince chipped to mid-off, Paul Horton chopped on and Alex Davies was run out without facing a ball going for two. But Brown ensured Nottinghamshire did not have things all their own way as he hit all of six boundaries accrued in a Powerplay score of 36 for 3.In fact, the in-form right-hander scored all of Lancashire’s first eight boundaries on the way to a 39-ball fifty, his third in a row, as he helped them reach 69 for 3 after 11.Unfortunately for the hosts, Brown holed out to long-on in the next off the medium pace of his childhood best-mate Mullaney as the score slipped to 70 for 4 and ended a 57-run partnership with Croft.They went without a four or six from the fifth ball of the 11th over to the third ball of the 17th, although Croft and James Faulkner shared 67 unbroken for the fifth wicket to carry their side to something to bowl at.Notts lost Michael Lumb to a Jarvis slower ball in the third over of their chase and only reached six overs at 28 for 1. At halfway, they were 61 for one, needing 77 more with Alex Hales (30) and Riki Wessels together. But they lost 3 for 19 inside three overs to put the game back in the balance at 82 for 4 in the 14th.Wessels cut Jordan Clark to point, ending a 47-run stand with Hales, who then miscued Stephen Parry’s left-arm spin to midwicket, before Patel also cut Clark to point.The target went to 45 off the last five overs and 21 off 11 balls when Faulkner yorked compatriot Dan Christian and had Mullaney brilliantly caught at deep midwicket by a running Arron Lilley – leaving Notts 117 for six in the 19th. Chris Read also fell in the last over but the visitors made it home.

Ranchi is preparing to host India, with local boy MS Dhoni as captain, for the first time and the city is buzzing with anticipation

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jan-2013With the local boy arriving in Ranchi as India captain for the third ODI against England, the city has been taken over by Dhoni mania. In neighbouring West Bengal, Sourav Ganguly still sends the locals berserk whenever he makes a public appearance. Ranchi has had to wait eight years after Dhoni’s India debut to host its maiden international game. No wonder then that thousands lined the roads from the Birsa Munda airport to the team hotel, a sight that left MS Dhoni feeling “humbled”. Getting in and out of the team hotel has been difficult, with people crowding the entrance and even prompting the police into a mild lathi charge.To celebrate the occasion, a liquor shop put up posters of Dhoni and Alastair Cook and even lined its counters with bats and stumps. The authorities went a step further. The state aviation department has been roped in, and there are plans to have a glider fly over the stadium and scatter (pink-coloured powder) on the outfield during the inauguration ceremony, before the start of the match and during the innings break.Students are demanding a holiday on Saturday, the match day, something schools, already hit by shutdowns because of a severe cold wave, can ill-afford. J Mohanty, principal of DPS [Delhi Public School] Ranchi, is benevolent, though. “This is a proud moment for Jharkhand,” Mohanty told the . “The cricket match will be on the students’ minds and they will also have to wait outside the hotels for a glimpse of their cricketing heroes. So we will not hold any additional classes this weekend.”There is a reason Dhoni matters so much to Ranchi and Jharkhand, which had little to cheer when it was part of Bihar state and has had little to cheer since it was carved out in 2000. Political instability is common; central-government rule has just been imposed for the third time in the state’s short existence. “Small-town boys from places like this just don’t get to be captain of India,” Ushinor Majumdar, Jharkhand correspondent for the Hindustan Times, told the . “And it is mostly because of Dhoni that there is so much attention. In many ways it is an under-developed, backward place. But it is known in cricket thanks to Dhoni.”International cricket in Jharkhand was restricted to the steel city of Jamshedpur, where Dhoni has played a couple of ODIs, including one against England in 2006, at Tata Steel’s Keenan Stadium. It was the state association’s desire to have its own stadium that enabled Ranchi to watch Dhoni play for India in the city.Dhoni was clearly thrilled with the stadium at his hometown. “Personally, it’s a special moment for me. The journey begins tomorrow. It’s the beginning of a new innings,” he said at a function inaugurating cricket’s latest international venue*.He said the 39,000-seater stadium will give Ranchi plenty of recognition. “When I first joined the team, people were asking me the place I belonged to,” Dhoni said. “I used to say I am from India and the next thing I would say I am from a place called Ranchi in Jharkhand. I used to explain Ranchi, giving various routes like it is a place close to Kolkata, near Jamshedpur. We are the richest state in natural resources.”But, after the stadium was built it has now become an international venue. At least, we need not have to explain further about Ranchi in the cricket playing nations. It is a proud beginning; proud moment for people of Jharkhand.”The mood in the city has already shown how proud Ranchi is of the double honour of making its international debut with a homegrown captain.* January 18, 17.00GMT This story has been updated after the stadium’s inauguration ceremony

Dirk Nannes, the Australia fast bowler, will return to Surrey for their Friends Life t20 campaign this year

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2012Dirk Nannes, the Australia fast bowler, will return to Surrey for their Friends Life t20 campaign this season. Nannes, who is the leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 cricket, will join Murali Kartik as the overseas players at The Oval.Nannes, a Twenty20 Cup winner alongside Kartik with Middlesex in 2008, took 19 wickets at 20.05 for Surrey in the Friends Life t20 in 2011. Altogether, he has taken 169 T20 wickets, earning caps for both Netherlands and Australia.”As we saw last season in the shortest form of the game, Dirk is still one of the most consistently dangerous and economical bowlers on the world scene,” Surrey team director Chris Adams said. “He did a fantastic job for us and I can speak for the whole club when I say we are delighted to welcome him back for another spell.”Nannes, who is based in the UK, will be contracted for Surrey’s ten group games in the Friends Life t20 South Division, with a provision to stay on for the knockout stages if the county qualifies.

The BCCI’s pitch curator Sudhir Naik, who was sent to Vadodara to inspect the pitch that will be used in the Ranji Trophy final, has deemed it a sporting wicket

Abhishek Purohit in Vadodara10-Jan-2011After the Ranji Trophy semi-final between Baroda and Karnataka ended in one-and-a-half days on a sharp turner, the track for the final has expectedly attracted attention from various quarters. The BCCI even sent its curator Sudhir Naik to inspect the surface at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara, the venue for Tuesday’s final between Baroda and Rajasthan.Naik’s visit followed Karnataka’s complaint to the match referee about the dry pitch at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara, where thirty-three wickets tumbled before tea on the second day of the semi-final, resulting in a shock exit for the visitors. But Naik allayed all concerns, saying the Moti Bagh track was a good wicket. “It is the right choice for the final, and will assist both the pacers as well as spinners,” he told the .The captains of both the teams in the final agreed with Naik’s assessment. “I think there should be some help there for the seamers,” Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the Rajasthan captain, said. “It looks a fine surface, but in a five-day game the pitch can change its nature as the game goes on.” The Baroda captain Pinal Shah said the wicket would take some turn as the game progressed.Both captains would hope their reading of the pitch turns out to be correct, as their bowling attacks will be accordingly calibrated. Rajasthan are banking on their seam trio of Pankaj Singh, Deepak Chahar and Sumit Mathur, while Baroda could go in with two specialist spinners in Bhargav Bhatt and Aditya Waghmode, as well as Swapnil Singh, a batting allrounder who bowls left-arm spin.The wicket is devoid of grass and looks good for batting. “It is a typical red soil wicket. It should break up a bit and turn from the third day onwards,” Aakash Chopra, the Rajasthan opener, said. Amit Asawa, the Rajasthan coach, said he did not see the game lasting beyond four days.Swing is usually a major factor at Moti Bagh, a stadium that has no stands and lies in the sprawling Lakshmi Vilas Palace complex amid scores of trees. The wind blows vigorously at the ground, and the ball nips around in the morning session. “The first session is always the key at Moti Bagh,” Pinal said. However, if one can survive till lunch, the lush outfield and true bounce provides good value for shots.”It does not seam much here, but another thing you have to take into account is the amount of dew,” Mukesh Narula, the Baroda coach, said. “For the last week or so, there has not been much dew here, and there was none at the Reliance Stadium. But it’s winter now and if the dew comes, it will definitely have an impact.” There are a lot of variables for the teams to ponder over, but given how the wicket looks, another finish inside two days is unlikely.

Legendary legspin coach Terry Jenner will travel to Zimbabwe later this month to conduct clinics with some of the country’s up-and-coming bowlers

Cricinfo staff19-Jan-2010Legendary legspin coach Terry Jenner will travel to Zimbabwe later this month to conduct clinics with some of the country’s up-and-coming bowlers.”We are expecting Terry Jenner on January 26 to hold coaching courses with our spinners,” Ozias Bvute, Zimbabwe cricket’s chief executive, said. “This is part of our programme to improve the standard of cricket in the country.”The appearance of Jenner will help Zimbabwe’s aim of showing the wider world that the rows which blighted it over the past decade are a thing of the past. He follows in the footsteps of former England bowler Mike Hendrick who visited at the end of last year.

Star seamer leaves Southampton after four fruitful seasons, and heads for club he originally signed for in 2020

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2025Mohammad Abbas, the Pakistan seamer, has swapped Hampshire for Nottinghamshire, where he will be available for six fixtures in the forthcoming Rothesay County Championship.Abbas, who has claimed 758 first-class wickets at an average of 20.66, will begin his stint in May, following the conclusion of Fergus O’Neill’s month-long spell with the side. He will then return to the club in September for the closing stages of the County Championship season.Abbas joins fellow seamer O’Neill and South Africa international Kyle Verreynne in agreeing terms as an overseas player for the upcoming red-ball campaign, with Conor McKerr (three-year contract) and Daniel Sams (Blast) having also joined the club ahead of the new season.He had originally agreed to join Nottinghamshire for the 2020 season, before his stint was curtailed by the Covid-19 pandemic. He subsequently starred for Hampshire, claiming 180 wickets at 19.07 across four summers, with successive 50-wicket seasons in 2022 and 2023.In a statement, Hampshire explained that they had released Abbas due to a need to “rebalance their squad”, with James Vince’s retirement from first-class cricket meaning they are exploring options for an overseas batter.”Mohammad has consistently been one of the top performers in the County Championship and has unfailingly produced his very best for Hampshire time and time again,” Giles White, the men’s director of cricket said. “His character will be sorely missed in the dressing room and on the pitch, and everyone at the Club wishes him the very best in his career.Abbas’s first-class form earned him a recall to the Pakistan Test side against South Africa this winter. In total, Abbas has 101 international wickets in 30 matches across formats, while his domestic record also includes 79 wickets for Leicestershire between 2018 and 2019.”Trent Bridge is a special place to play cricket, so it will be great to call the ground home this summer – especially after not being able to come over and play for Notts five years ago,” Abbas said.”I’ve really enjoyed my time in the English game, and the squad at Notts is in an exciting place. There’s a good blend of young talent and senior players who’ve been around for a while and know their game really well, and I’m looking forward to contributing in any way that I can to their success.”Nottinghamshire’s head coach Peter Moores said: “Players of Mo’s experience and track record don’t come around all that often, so we’re really excited about what he can bring to us this summer.”His control and his ability to find a way of getting wickets on any sort of surface make him extremely valuable; he’s certainly been a tough opponent for us to face over the years.”We’ve already got an exciting group of bowlers at our disposal for the summer, and the addition of Mo’s craft and subtlety will add a different style of bowling to the rest of our attack.”

Scorchers had reached 30 for 2 after 6.5 overs when umpires stopped play to inspect the pitch, with the fixture abandoned soon afterwards.

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff10-Dec-2023Melbourne Renegades’ Big Bash League clash with Perth Scorchers has been abandoned after 6.5 overs because of safety concerns over a water-damaged pitch.The ground staff in Geelong worked feverishly on Sunday to dry the pitch after heavy rain crept under the covers overnight. Renegades captain Nic Maddinson declared the pitch still “absolutely drenched” at the toss and sent the Scorchers in to bat.Scorchers had reached 30 for 2 after 6.5 overs when umpires stopped play to inspect the pitch, with the fixture abandoned soon afterwards.In a statement, Cricket Australia said: “CA will conduct a thorough review into the extremely frustrating circumstances that have resulted in the game being abandoned and a huge disappointment for fans and players.”The decision to abandon the game came after concerns from batters over inconsistent bounce and extravagant seam movement, in particular from the Scorchers’ Josh Inglis. At the time, Aaron Hardie was unbeaten on 20 off 23, while Inglis was not out on 3 off 7.”That last delivery we saw behave quite uncharacteristically and in our minds we thought it behaved dangerously so that was the reason for coming off,” umpire Ben Treloar told .”When we initially started we saw the pitch, we had a good look at it, [but] until you start playing on it sometimes these things don’t present themselves. After the first few overs we were quite hopeful it was going to be okay but then it started to go south and that last one was enough for us to consider it dangerous.”Ashton Turner, Perth Scorchers’ captain, said there were doubts over the surface before the game began but it was worth trying to get a game played.”Start of the day we knew there were some doubts over the wicket but credit to both teams, we made a fair go of it,” he said. “We had enough evidence to call the game off and think the umpires made a really difficult decision, but probably the right decision”There were definitely question marks over the nature of the wicket but think we needed to try and make something happen. Fortunately no one got hurt and the playing conditions say that no one has to get hurt to call it off which I think is common sense.”He added that officials perhaps needed to look for ways that a game could still carry on when a situation such as this develops.”Think we need some flexibility with the playing conditions,” he said. “I’ve heard ideas floated about whether we can play from one end, no doubt there is a way that we could get a game of cricket but we need some flexibility with the playing conditions to allow that.”Renegades veteran Aaron Finch told the broadcast that deliveries had taken “big divots” out of the surface.”Josh Inglis said it felt dangerous when he was batting,” Finch said. “It’s just bouncing ridiculously. If that’s bouncing on line with someone’s body or their head, then that could [cause] some real issues.”It’s hard to say [if it’s too dangerous] when nobody’s been hit but you don’t want to wait for somebody to get seriously injured.”In a statement, Melbourne Renegades said: “On Sunday morning, the club was made aware that the GMHBA Stadium pitch sustained some water damage during Saturday’s heavy rain. Kardinia Park Stadium Trust undertook work throughout the day to improve the condition of the wicket and match officials deemed the surface safe to commence play.Renegades general manager James Rosengarten added: “Our first thoughts are with our fans – the loyal supporters we have across Geelong and Victoria. We are incredibly disappointed in tonight’s events.”We had an important match against the Scorchers and our fans have a right to feel incredibly let down. It should have been a great night of cricket and we will discuss the outcomes of that in the days ahead. The club will ensure that all general public ticket purchasers are refunded”

Four Sri Lanka batters hit quick 30s to overcome Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 45-ball 84

Sreshth Shah03-Sep-20222:55

Maharoof: ‘Gunathilaka proved a lot of people wrong’

Last Saturday, Sri Lanka were all out for 105 against Afghanistan. Just seven days later, though, the very same batters put in a strong all-round performance – this time batting second, out of choice – to thwart Afghanistan’s challenge and complete a four-wicket win in the first match of the Super 4 round of the 2022 Asia Cup.Even though the highest individual score for Sri Lanka was 36, many of their batters chipped in, pulling their weight with a target of 176 in front of them. Kusal Mendis provided the early assault, Pathum Nissanka showed his many gears, Danushka Gunathilaka helped them shift the momentum, and as the game entered the death overs, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Wanindu Hasaranga mauled the Afghanistan bowling to help the competition’s official hosts win with five balls to spare.However, it wasn’t all about the Sri Lanka batters. Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s special innings of 84 off 45 balls meant Afghanistan were eyeing 200 at one stage, but the Sri Lanka bowlers restricted them to a much-lower total.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Maheesh Theekshana conceded just eight runs off his two overs at the death, Hasaranga went for only 23 in his four overs, and left-arm seamer Dilshan Madushanka took 2 for 37. Overall, it was the highest successful T20I chase in Sharjah and, more importantly, gave Sri Lanka two points on the Super 4 table.For Afghanistan, it was a first T20I loss after posting a 170-plus total. They will now have to recover quickly, otherwise a slide is a realistic possibility with fixtures against India and Pakistan to follow. Rashid Khan went for 39, no other batter apart from Gurbaz looked fluent, and the 2022 Asia Cup suddenly seems very wide open.The Gurbaz show
It was an early reprieve for Gurbaz that kickstarted the Afghanistan innings’ lift-off. After hitting his first six of the day in the third over, Gurbaz tried to repeat the same on the next ball but ended up hitting it to long-off where Gunathilaka took the catch but stepped on the boundary skirting in the process.Gurbaz’s eight off five balls soon became 50 off 22 as he continued finding boundaries, preferring the region between long-on and deep midwicket most. With Hazratullah Zazai struggling to a 16-ball 12 before being bowled by Madushanka, and Ibrahim Zadran, the No. 3, slow off the blocks, it was Gurbaz’s attacking shots that brought up the team fifty in 6.1 overs.Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit four fours and six sixes in his 45-ball 84•Getty Images

The pitch was two-paced – there was the occasional low bounce – but Gurbaz rallied on to take Afghanistan to 70 for 1 by the eighth over. But no boundary in the next four overs brought Sri Lanka back into the game. Gurbaz, though, dragged the momentum back in Afghanistan’s favour by finding sixes off Dasun Shanaka and Chamika Karunaratne in back-to-back overs, and Ibrahim joined in with a few lusty blows of his own down the ground.The Sri Lankan squeeze
Karunaratne’s 21-run 14th over meant Afghanistan entered the final six overs needing only 68 more to reach 200; with nine wickets in hand, that was a real possibility. But Hasaranga gave away only six in the 15th over, and Gurbaz was caught at deep midwicket in the next while trying to take Asitha Fernando on. Theekshana’s 17th and 19th overs went for a total of eight runs, and Ibrahim fell to Madushanka, for a 38-ball 40, in the 18th.Najibullah Zadran did smack 17 in ten balls, but his dismissal, along with the quick wickets of Mohammad Nabi and Rashid in the last two overs, meant Afghanistan could add only 12 off the last 12 balls, and only 43 off the last 36.Sri Lanka’s openers put on 62
Nissanka struggled early against Fazalhaq Farooqi – their wrecker-in-chief in the previous outing – but Mendis was not afraid to take on Afghanistan’s two main spinners. His region of choice was the square boundary on the leg side against both Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid, as he creamed a slog sweep over deep midwicket off the former in the fourth over and hit two sixes off the latter in the sixth, which went for 17.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Only once before had Rashid conceded 17 or more runs in his opening over in T20Is, and with Sri Lanka at 57 for no loss after the powerplay, the base was set for the middle order to take the chase forward.Mendis fell for a 19-ball 36 just after the powerplay ended, mistiming a pull off Naveen-ul-Haq to deep midwicket, which brought the spotlight on Nissanka. Nissanka looked like the anchor around whom the others would hit out, but he fell in the ninth over, for 35 off 28, when trying to chase a Mujeeb half-tracker.The middle order steps up
With both openers out in quick succession and two new batters at the crease, Afghanistan had their tails up. Gunathilaka and Charith Asalanka were watchful initially, and that saw the required run rate creep up to 9.88 after 11 overs. But Gunathilaka then attacked Mohammad Nabi, and Sri Lanka took 14 and 11 from his two overs, the 12th and 14th of the innings respectively. That ensured the required run rate stayed under ten even though Shanaka and Asalanka fell attempting big hits.2:54

What went wrong for Rashid Khan?

However, Afghanistan’s back broke when Rajapaksa hammered Naveen for 4, 4, 6 in an 18-run 16th over. The first boundary was hit past point, the next one was straighter through deep extra cover, and the best of the lot – the six – was hammered over the bowler’s head. Rajapaksa was dropped off the final ball of that over, and with the Afghan shoulders drooping in unison as a reaction, it seemed like the match was already in Sri Lanka’s pocket.Rashid then got into a chat with Gunathilaka after the batter reverse-swept him for four, forcing Rajapaksa to intervene and keep matters under control. Even though Rashid won that battle with Gunathilaka’s wicket for a 20-ball 33, Sri Lanka needed only 25 from 20 balls at that stage.Hasaranga smacked three fours off the first six balls he faced, and even though Rajapaksa fell for a 14-ball 31 trying for a glory shot when the target was two runs away, celebrations began among the Sri Lanka fans well before the winning runs were hit.

He replaces WV Raman, coming back after his last stint had ended in an acrimonious fallout with Mithali Raj

ESPNcricinfo staff13-May-2021Ramesh Powar has returned as the India Women coach, after his first stint ended in acrimony in late 2018 amid a fallout with Mithali Raj.Powar was replaced by WV Raman, and will now take over from the incumbent. While Raman’s coaching tenure began in December 2018, the Indian team has been largely inactive for almost two years, including the time period after which the Covid-19 pandemic struck.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Under Raman, India reached the final of the T20 World Cup in 2020, losing to Australia on March 8. With the pandemic striking worldwide almost immediately after, the team didn’t play another international match until their home series against South Africa Women that began on March 7 earlier this year. South Africa won the ODIs 4-1, and the T20Is 2-1. Raman’s position had come in for scrutiny following the losses to South Africa, and those reversals, ESPNcricinfo understands, prompted the selection panel led by Neetu David to ask the BCCI for a rethink on the support staff. BCCI secretary Jay Shah is believed to have spoken to at least one member of the selection committee before the Indian board put out an advertisement, on April 13, inviting applications for the head coach’s job – for a term of two years, with the job including overseeing the senior team as well as the India A and Under-19 teams.Powar was then selected by the Cricket Advisory Committee, comprising Madan Lal, RP Singh and Sulakshana Naik, who interviewed a number of candidates for the post which saw 35 applications. Besides Powar and Raman – who re-applied – the others in the fray were Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Ajay Ratra, Mamtha Maben, Devika Palshikar, former chair of selectors Hemlatha Kala, and former assistant coach Suman Sharma.Related

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ESPNcricinfo understands Powar is expected to meet with the five-member selection panel, led by Neetu David, on a virtual platform this week to pick the squad for India’s upcoming tour of the UK, which kicks off with a one-off Test on June 16 in Bristol.Powar had first been appointed as coach in July 2018 in an interim capacity, and his contract was then extended to cover the 2018 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. While India reached the semi-finals of the event, its aftermath had Raj and Powar trading accusations, with Raj saying she felt “deflated, depressed and let down” by the actions of Powar during the tournament, and Powar countering that Raj had “threatened to retire” mid-tournament if she wasn’t given the opener’s slot.The controversy meant Powar’s contract was not renewed, even though senior players Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana had both written to the BCCI urging them to continue with him.Powar then worked at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru and with the India A sides, before taking over as the coach of Mumbai men’s team in February 2021. Under his charge, Mumbai turned their fortunes around to romp to the Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-overs domestic competition) title after a forgettable Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign in which they won only one of their five games.In his playing career, Powar played two Tests and 31 ODIs for India from 2004 to 2007, taking a total of 40 international wickets. His domestic career spanned from 1999-00 to 2015, as an offspinning allrounder of considerable skill. He took 470 first-class wickets (average 31.31) while also scoring 4245 first-class runs (average 26.53) in 148 games. He played 113 List A matches, taking 142 wickets and hitting 1082 runs. Powar played 28 T20 games, including in the IPL for Kings XI Punjab and Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

The proposal is a way of defying the ICC’s prohibition of bilateral tournaments comprising any more than three teams

Daniel Brettig24-Dec-2019A four-nation limited-overs tournament comprising India, England, Australia and one other invited nation has been proposed by the BCCI in part as a way of defying the ICC’s prohibition of non-ICC tournaments (apart from the Asia Cup) comprising any more than three teams in current and future Members Participation Agreements (MPA). The Super Series – as announced by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly over the weekend – is proposed to be rotated annually between the boards of cricket’s three major financial powers, starting 2021, and span two weeks.As players and officials around the world reacted to the Super Series proposal, Ganguly toned down his language by telling the that “nothing is confirmed yet” and “nothing is concrete”.However, ESPNcricinfo has learned that, as was the case in the lead-up to the Big Three breakaway move by the BCCI, ECB and Cricket Australia in 2014, a central issue is the terms under which India will be prepared to sign the MPA. Back then, the issue was primarily a larger slice of ICC tournament revenue for the BCCI, and the resultant reshaping of the global scene saw millions of dollars pushed back India’s way, a scenario that remained even after many of the reforms were rolled back after 2015.Nevertheless, Ganguly stated even before he was formally installed as BCCI president that one of his agenda items would be to increase India’s share of global cricket revenue, an uncannily similar ticket on which N Srinivasan vaulted to the top of world cricket’s hierarchy before he was sidelined as a result of the IPL corruption scandal. Srinivasan is now back in circulation as a senior figure behind many of the recent machinations.This time around, the four-nation bilateral series concept has risen in direct opposition to the idea floated by the ICC’s chief executive Manu Sawhney of two “Champions Trophy-style” ODI events in the next tournament cycle to begin in 2023. This would be geared at providing a global event in each calendar year and thereby allow greater and more consistent flows of ICC revenue to nations other than India, England and Australia, all of whom are increasingly reliant on this central funding for their operations.Linked to this is the intention for the MPA to limit the types of tournaments that member boards can stage, in order to raise the value of ICC broadcast rights as the global governing body would be the only source of events that collected all of the game’s most attractive teams and players at once for international tournaments.At the same time, this would serve to raise bilateral revenue for all nations via league structures for Test matches and ODIs that require all nations to at least maintain some pretence of playing each other an equitable amount, rather than the rich nations simply playing off against one another every year or two. Asked recently whether there was any danger of India, England or Australia not signing the MPA as a result of their reservations about an extra ICC event, CA chairman Earl Eddings had said he hoped such a scenario could be avoided.”We’re a long way off – this is post 2023 so we’ve got a number of years to work through it, but you can’t do one thing without the other,” he told ESPNcricinfo earlier this month. “To be able to work on your Future Tours Programme, you need to know where that fits in with an ICC schedule, so you can’t just look at an ICC schedule in isolation, just as you can’t look at a bilateral or Future Tours Programme in isolation.”There has been some anxiety among member nations about the direction of the ICC, pushing aggressively for an increase in global events revenue, since Sawhney took over from David Richardson at the end of this year’s ODI World Cup in England, and Eddings and chief executive Kevin Roberts recently met with Sawhney in Melbourne to discuss the issues of the moment. Eddings and Roberts are due to travel to India to meet Ganguly and the new BCCI administration in Mumbai in January around Australia’s first of three ODIs against India.The ECB confirmed its leaders recently met Ganguly and other BCCI office bearers, during which time the concept of the four-nation event was discussed. “We meet regularly with other leaders from the major cricketing nations to share learnings and discuss topics that impact our sport,” the ECB said in a statement. “A four-nation tournament was raised at a meeting with the BCCI in December and we are open to discussions with other ICC members to see if this concept can develop.”CA has been tight-lipped about the proposal, with some conjecture as to how much of it has yet been shared with the governing body by the BCCI. Australia’s coach Justin Langer admitted that the tightness of the current schedule made any attempts to slot in extra tournaments extremely problematic.”We all understand the schedule in world cricket is really tight,” Langer said. “So I am sure there will be lots of negotiation and there are people, that’s their role to negotiate and get that right. But we all know it is a tight schedule.”Struggles for other ICC member nations have been underlined by the fact that New Zealand’s board has returned a financial loss each of the past three years, while Ireland have recently been forced to cancel a host of matches due to a lack of funds. This after the leaders of the Big Three proposals of 2014 had promised to make all nations better off.