Stiaan van Zyl, Dane Vilas and Simon Harmer remain part of South Africa’s national plans despite all being dropped from the Test squad in the 2015-16 season, as they were named in CSA’s spin camp that will take place in Mumbai in May

Firdose Moonda10-May-2016Opening batsman Stiaan van Zyl, wicketkeeper Dane Vilas and offspinner Simon Harmer remain part of South Africa’s national plans despite being dropped from the Test squad at various points in the 2015-16 season. The trio, along with four other batsmen and seven other bowlers, will travel to Mumbai for CSA’s annual spin camp which will take place for a week from May 14.

SA spin camp

Bowlers: Bjorn Fortuin, Simon Harmer, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Tshepo Ntuli, Aaron Phangiso, Dane Piedt, Prenelan Subrayen
Batsmen: Temba Bavuma, Reeza Hendricks, Smangaliso Nhlebela, Hector Ngobeni, Stiaan van Zyl, Dane Vilas

Both van Zyl and Harmer have participated in previous editions of the camp and, given their uncertain place in the team, may view this as a lifeline, even though some of their competitors are accompanying them on the trip.Van Zyl was dispensed with at the top of the order after a series of low scores against India and England. He was replaced by Temba Bavuma – who is part of the camp – against India, and then by Stephen Cook. After van Zyl’s struggles against R Ashwin in particular – the offspinner dismissed him in all five innings in India – he was sent back to his franchise Cape Cobras, and moved down to a more familiar spot in the middle order. Despite that, van Zyl has indicated to the national selectors that he would like to challenge for a Test opening place again and could turn out in that position when the 2016-17 season starts.Vilas also paid the price for a poor India tour and lost his spot to Quinton de Kock, who appears to have established himself as South Africa’s long-term wicketkeeper in all formats. The importance of a back-up, however, has not been lost on the management. When de Kock was injured ahead of the Wanderers Test against England in January, Vilas was flown in as an emergency replacement and has since gone on to score big runs for Cape Cobras. He finished second on the run charts of the Sunfoil series first-class competition, scoring 761 runs in eight matches at an average of 69.18.Like Vilas, Harmer dealt with the disappointment of losing his Test spot with solid domestic performances. After playing two of the four Tests in India in November 2015, he returned home to take 31 wickets in nine matches at 22.41 for Warriors to finish as their leading wicket-taker in the Sunfoil series and eighth overall.Ahead of Harmer are three other spinners: chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi, who is currently with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL and is not part of the camp, offspinner Dane Piedt, Harmer’s replacement and South Africa’s first-choice Test spinner, and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj. Piedt and Maharaj have been picked for the camp, with Phangiso and Prenelan Subrayen, who had their actions declared illegal and then cleared in March this year. Among the younger talents is Cape Cobras’ left-arm spinner George Linde, who has been contracted to the franchise for the first time for the coming season.

Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis have joined the Australian exodus from the IPL, departing early from Kings XI Punjab

ESPNcricinfo staff17-May-20161:40

‘Losing Maxwell is a big blow’ – Bangar

Allrounders Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis have joined the Australian exodus from the IPL, departing early from Kings XI Punjab. While Maxwell left with an apparent side strain, a source within Kings XI put Stoinis’ departure down to “personal unavoidable circumstances”.*Kings XI are out of contention for the IPL playoffs, and Maxwell told Cricket Australia medical staff that he has been feeling increasingly sore over recent matches. CA’s national team physio David Beakley said Maxwell’s fitness would now need to be assessed ahead of Australia’s departure for the limited-overs triangular series in the Caribbean, also featuring West Indies and South Africa, later this month.”Glenn reported increasing soreness in his left abdomen area following last night’s match and as such a decision was made for him to return home for further assessment and treatment ahead of the West Indies tour,” Beakley said. “From the information we have so far, the injury doesn’t appear to be something that will prevent Glenn from participating in this tour, but we are keen to give him the necessary time to recover before departing to the West Indies at the end of this month.”Steven Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh and John Hastings had also departed the competition before its completion. Maxwell’s tournament failed to live up to expectations, featuring a pair of eye-catching half centuries amid a wider trend of insubstantial scores.Stoinis’ contributions were more weighty. He scored 146 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 135.18, including a match-winning 52 against Delhi Daredevils – a game in which he took three top-order wickets as well. He also had a big impact in the match against Mumbai Indians, when he claimed his best figures in T20 cricket – 4 for 15 – in another Kings XI victory.*15.00 GMT, May 17: This article was updated when the news of Marcus Stoinis going home came in.

Angelo Matthews has spoken of his shock at feeling Shaminda Eranga’s racing heartbeat during Sri Lanka’s second ODI at Malahide on Saturday

Melinda Farrell at Trent Bridge20-Jun-2016Angelo Mathews has spoken of his shock at feeling Shaminda Eranga’s racing heartbeat during Sri Lanka’s second ODI at Malahide on Saturday.Eranga was rushed to hospital as his team-mates took to the field for the second innings of the match and remains in Ireland where he is undergoing tests to determine the cause of his elevated heartbeat, which is understood to have reached an alarming 220 beats per minute.

Mathews would Mankad again

Angelo Mathews has stood by his decision, during the 2014 series, to enforce the Mankading of Jos Buttler, a move that was at the time decried by Alastair Cook as “a pretty poor act”.
Sachithra Senanayake ran out Buttler at the non-striker’s end during the fifth ODI at Edgbaston after the batsman had repeatedly been warned for backing up early. But Mathews said he wouldn’t shy away from a repeat performance if a similar situation occurred.
“You face challenging moments in life,” he said. “Being in the hot seat is not easy. Sometimes you have to make those hard decisions, Unfortunately I had to make that. I still stand by it, because we warned him twice before. That’s all we could possibly do at that time.”
“We are not looking forward to doing the Mankading. We will play our cricket within the rules. If someone is trying to take advantage of the rules then we will probably warn him. But the Test series was played in very good spirit, so hopefully we’ll play the ODI series in very good spirit, too.”

The 29-year-old had gone out to bat in the first innings and faced a single delivery, the final ball of Sri Lanka’s innings. According to the team management there were no warning signs of any ill-health and and they are not aware of Eranga having any previous heart conditions.It was during Sri Lanka’s warm-up in the innings break that Eranga realised something was wrong.”At the time he called me and said ‘something has happened to me’,” said Matthews. “He was warming up and just before we went on the field, he said something happened to me, can you touch my heart because it is beating fast. I felt something unusual so I quickly called the physio and the physio went for the doctor with him. It was a shocking incident.”While Eranga’s health is of the utmost concern, he received a separate blow on Sunday when the ICC deemed his action to be illegal. The seamer had been reported after the second Test against England in Durham and subsequent tests in Loughborough showed the flexion of his elbow exceeded the legal maximum of 15 percent.ESPNcricinfo understands Eranga was not showing signs of undue stress before the ODI on Saturday and that doctors have ruled out anxiety as a cause of his condition.”It has been a tough 48 hours for him,” said Matthews, “And the whole team is behind him and we are fully supportive of him. It was an unfortunate incident just before we went on to the field.””It’s another unfortunate incident where his action has proved to be illegal and he will have to go back and work with the fast-bowling coaches and come back strong.””We are very confident he will come through both – his condition as well as his action – so we are very supportive of him and the whole team are behind him.”Eranga will remain in Ireland until the results of the tests are known and, once he is declared medically fit to fly, he will then return to Sri Lanka.His absence leaves a hole in a bowling attack that has already been depleted by injuries to Dushmantha Chameera and Dhammika Prasad, Sri Lanka are preparing to call in at least one replacement from the Sri Lanka A squad, which arrives in England tomorrow ahead of two four-day games against Pakistan, followed by a 50-over tri-series also involving the England Lions.During the three-Test series Sri Lanka struggled with the early season English conditions but showed gradual improvements and Matthews hopes the change in formats will lead to a change in fortune for his side.”It was pretty unfortunate that we haven’t performed well in the Test series but we kept improving game by game and as time went on we really started hitting our straps and we had some convincing wins in Ireland,” he said.”But England is a completely different team, we still have to play our best cricket to beat them here.””We haven’t done well in the recent past but we’ve played a lot of T20 games rather than one-dayers. We are a forceful unit when it comes to one-dayers, we’ve got a good set of guys and a bit of experience.”

Ed Joyce hammered a career-best 160* in an innings that featured 19 fours and three sixes to propel Ireland to a series-levelling win against Afghanistan in Belfast

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jul-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEd Joyce hammered a career-best 148-ball 160* in an innings that featured 19 fours and three sixes to propel Ireland to a series-levelling win against Afghanistan in Belfast. Joyce’s knock, the second-best score by an Ireland batsman in ODIs and third-highest by a player from an Associate team, helped the side post 265 for 5, a total they defended by 12 runs. The five-match series was tied 2-2.Ireland, who were batting first for the first time in the series, lost captain William Porterfield in the fifth over when he edged to second slip for 8. Sean Terry, playing his third ODI, was dismissed in the 10th over when Yamin Ahmadzai completed a stunning one-handed grab off his own bowling, diving low to his right.Gary Wilson, promoted to No. 4, and Joyce then got stuck into rebuilding the innings. Joyce got to his fifty in the 24th over, off 70 balls. The pair combined for a 134-run stand to set up a strong platform for Ireland in the end overs. In between, Wilson survived a nasty collision with Mohammad Shahzad in the 32nd over, when he tried to return to his crease.Wilson holed out to square leg off the first ball of the 41st over, for 58 off 92 balls. At that stage, Joyce was on 93. After Kevin O’Brien fell in the following over, Joyce took charge and smashed 67 of the 87 that Ireland scored in the last 10 overs. He finished with 60.37% of Ireland’s runs, the highest percentage in a completed ODI innings for an Associate side.After the game, Joyce, who was named Man of the Series, said he was spurred on by his controversial dismissal in the previous match. “I probably was extra motivated; I was actually pretty tired this morning going into the game, had a niggle, but what happened in the last game obviously gave a bit of extra motivation.”Afghanistan’s chase was dented early by the Ireland seamers as they were quickly reduced to 27 for 3. Rahmat Shah (30), captain Asghar Stanikzai (32) and Mohammad Nabi (25) got starts in the middle order but failed to convert as Ireland chipped away.Afghanistan were tottering at 119 for 6 in the 33rd over. Najibullah Zadran and legspinner Rashid Khan, however, put on a 93-run seventh-wicket stand but the soaring asking rate proved insurmountable. Three wickets in three balls – one at the end of the 46th over and two at the start of the next – effectively killed the chase.Dawlat Zadran smashed five boundaries in his unbeaten 15-ball 31 but it wasn’t enough. O’Brien finished with 3 for 57, while medium-pacers Peter Chase and Barry McCarthy picked up two wickets each.

It feels like the business end of the season and from the point of view of Yorkshire supporters, accustomed as they have become to leading from the front, sixth place in the Division One table, 25 points behind the leaders, cannot look especially promisin

Jon Culley at Headingley04-Aug-2016
ScorecardKeith Barker finished the day with 4 for 55•Getty Images

It feels like the business end of the season and from the point of view of Yorkshire supporters, accustomed as they have become to leading from the front, sixth place in the Division One table, 25 points behind the leaders, cannot look especially promising.Yet Yorkshire themselves still think a third consecutive title is within their compass, reasoning that a game in hand on all those ahead of them, bar Durham, is a significant point in their favour. Four wins in their final seven matches, they reason, should be enough.It seems a tall order. They could do with one of those wins being against their current opponents, given their relative points tally. A victory for Warwickshire would mean that Yorkshire have two teams beyond the reach of their game in hand. They are unbeaten in eight four-day matches against Ian Bell’s team and three of their four wins have been by an innings, but there is no prospect of such an outcome this time.It was just as well that Warwickshire, having had Yorkshire on the brink of a cheap dismissal at 204 for 9, have not been able to prise out the last wicket. Another 48 have been added so far, largely thanks to the enterprise of Steve Patterson and his eager accomplice, Ryan Sidebottom.Warwickshire wanted to bat first and were denied when Andrew Gale won the toss but if this was an advantage Yorkshire did not make the most of it. The pitch is not without challenges but there were a few easy dismissals, and some solid starts not built upon.Travis Head, Yorkshire’s overseas player for the remainder of the season, played nicely and his half-century on Championship debut suggested he can be the all-round asset Jason Gillespie has backed him to become, yet even his innings ended disappointingly.Having despatched Warwickshire’s best bowler with some authority for two fours in three deliveries, the first hit with power through extra cover to complete his fifty off 78 balls, he cut the next ball straight to gully.It was the second of four wickets for Keith Barker, the reliable left-armer, who edged ahead of Kyle Jarvis as the leading Division One wicket-taker with 41 dismissals. A feathered edge accounted for Gale, Jack Leaning pushed forward to one slanted across him and was taken at second slip and Jack Brooks, looking to cut, was bowled off the bottom edge.Leaning’s demise was a little tame, too, although in the context of his season his 42 was at least a step in the right direction. The 22-year-old batsman was one of the driving forces of Yorkshire’s 2015 title win, hitting three hundreds and three other fifties and falling just short of a thousand runs in the season, yet he has struggled this year by comparison.His 51 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in April remains his highest score in 14 innings in the Championship, although he has shown some form against the white ball, including an unbeaten 131 – with five sixes – against Leicestershire in the Royal London One-Day Cup and 64 off 29 balls – again with five sixes – against Northants in the NatWest T20 Blast.”Jack’s gone through a period where he has not scored the runs he would have liked but he is a quality cricketer,” Gillespie, Yorkshire’s coach, said. “He’s disappointed today because he did all the hard work and felt he could have gone on to make a really big score but he has great determination and hopefully this augurs well for a strong finish to the season.”Tim Bresnan was another who may reflect ruefully on the way his innings ended, having survived some difficult moments against Jeetan Patel, who bowled 27 overs unchanged and is already getting some turn. Soon after the dismissal of Leaning had ended a partnership of 60 that had seemed to be putting Yorkshire back on track, an airy clip off his legs off Oliver Hannon-Dalby had Bresnan caught at deep square leg.Hannon-Dalby, back in the side for spinner Josh Poysden with Chris Wright replacing the injured Boyd Rankin, took two wickets against his former county, including the key one of Adam Lyth, a double centurion in his last red-ball innings, with a peach of a ball that moved away late.As Yorkshire teetered at nine-down, Warwickshire looked cock-a-hoop, yet walked off the field frustrated. “We need to get the momentum back but I still think we are slightly ahead of the game,” Warwickshire’s director of cricket, Dougie Brown, concluded.”I don’t think we let it get away from us. Patterson and Sidebottom are good players and they batted very well. Patto’s slightly unorthodox but what he does he does very well. Yes, 200 all out would have been better but 250 for 9 is not the end of the world.”Sidebottom is back in the side for the first time since April, having recovered from an ankle injury and with Jack Brooks returning from a torn quad muscle the Yorkshire attack has the look of the one that has proved so effective in the last couple of years. If Yorkshire are to pull off those four wins, they might hold the key.

Former Sri Lanka batsman Thilan Samaraweera has been appointed as Bangladesh batting consultant for the upcoming home series against England

Mohammad Isam02-Sep-2016Former Sri Lanka batsman Thilan Samaraweera has been appointed as Bangladesh batting consultant for the upcoming home series against England. This will be his second stint in this role with an international team, having already worked as batting consultant to Australia earlier this year.BCB president Nazmul Hassan said on Friday that Samaraweera would be available only for one series, but added that the contract could be extended. He also said that the BCB was looking for a spin bowling coach, who could be appointed before Bangladesh’s tour to New Zealand later this year.”Thilan Samaraweera, the batting specialist, has been hired for the England series as a consultant,” Hassan said. “We will see if we want to extend him. We are still looking for a spin bowling coach. [We will] get the best among those available. We hope to appoint one before the New Zealand series.”Meanwhile, fielding coach Richard Halsall has been promoted to the position of assistant coach after Ruwan Kalpage was sacked last month for ignoring instructions to report to duty. Halsall was part of the major shake-up in the coaching staff that came about in mid-2014, when head coach Chandika Hathurusingha was appointed.

Babar Azam became the third Pakistan player – and eighth overall – to score three consecutive ODI centuries as he top-scored with a 106-ball 117 in Pakistan’s commanding 136-run victory over West Indies in Abu Dhabi

The Report by Sirish Raghavan05-Oct-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:59

By the Numbers: Pakistan repeat whitewash against WI

Babar Azam became the third Pakistan player – and eighth overall – to score three consecutive ODI centuries as he top-scored with a 106-ball 117 in Pakistan’s commanding 136-run victory over West Indies in Abu Dhabi. The win completed Pakistan’s 3-0 sweep of the ODI series and enabled them to displace West Indies at No. 8 in the ODI rankings.Azam put on a run-a-ball 147 for the second wicket with captain Azhar Ali, who scored a century of his own to become the only Pakistan player to score three hundreds as ODI captain. The top-order hundreds formed the backbone of Pakistan’s total of 308 for 6, a score that looked beyond West Indies almost from the start of their scratchy, plodding reply.

We still have to improve finishing an innings – Azhar

Having climbed to No. 8 on the ICC ODI rankings, Pakistan captain Azhar Ali has asked his team to brace for a more challenging period as they try to secure a qualification for the 2019 World Cup. Pakistan need to be among the top eight sides by September 30, 2017 to gain automatic qualification into the World Cup. If they fail to make the cut, they will have to play a Qualifier in April 2018.
“Our last seven-eight limited-overs games have been fantastic and our confidence has increased, specially of the younger players in the side,” he said. “You can see the hunger in them to perform and this will help us move forward in the format. There is still a year for the World Cup qualification. There will be a lot of challenges. Our job isn’t done yet because to qualify for the World Cup we will have to win more series and matches.”
Azhar said the team had begun showing improvements and potential during the ODI series in England, which they lost by 4-1. He said the biggest area where Pakistan’s batting needed to improve was finishing an innings and scoring well in the slog overs.
“One aspect we want to improve upon is finishing the innings,” he said. “Finishing an innings well is very important, regardless of how you have started an innings. I think if we can improve that then we can score bigger totals and consistently score more than 300.”

The margin of victory could have been even bigger had Pakistan’s middle- and lower-order batsmen fully capitalised on the strong launchpad provided by Azam and Azhar. Pakistan had moved to 232 for 2 by the time their partnership had been broken in the 39th over; they added just 76 runs thereafter, as successive batsmen struggled to find their timing on a slowing wicket and against an older ball. The last ten overs of Pakistan’s innings yielded only two boundaries, one of which was possible only thanks to a lazy misfield by Evin Lewis at deep backward square.But if the end of Pakistan’s innings appeared anti-climactic, it was still lively compared to the dreary run-chase that followed. Showing an inability to rotate the strike, against pace and spin alike, West Indies’ batsmen got stuck and never approached the run rate required to mount a genuine challenge. By the end of the 30th over, West Indies had soaked up 112 dot balls – as many as Pakistan had faced in their entire innings – and were wallowing in the gloom of impending defeat with the score 119 for 5. Their limp effort continued thereafter as the match drifted towards its inevitable conclusion.On a flat pitch that became slower and more sluggish over time, the best time for batting was at the very start. Having won the toss, Pakistan batted first – for the third time in a row – and made the most of the good conditions early on, racing along to 36 off the first four overs. Opening bowlers Azarri Joseph and Shannon Gabriel clocked up speeds in excess of 140 kph – Gabriel hit the late 140s several times – but could not quite find the control to match. Sharjeel Khan was characteristically strong square of the wicket, while Azhar showed nice touch, flicking through midwicket, driving down the ground and playing a commanding cut past backward square.The introduction of Kraigg Brathwaite and Jason Holder slowed the tempo of Pakistan’s innings somewhat, before Sunil Narine and Sulieman Benn helped West Indies regain a greater measure of control, stifling the batsmen with their lack of pace and disciplined lines. Benn was rewarded in his second over when Sharjeel lost patience and hit a well-flighted delivery straight to Joseph at long-on.Babar Azam and Azhar Ali added 147 for the second wicket•Getty Images

With the spinners continuing to exert the squeeze, Azhar and Azam meandered along, bringing up the team’s 100 in the 20th over. But as the partnership got going, the runs began to flow again. Once Azam was set, he found the gaps with increasing ease. Azhar used the sweep and slog-sweep with great effectiveness against Benn. Pakistan’s second 100 runs came off just 83 balls.It was Holder who ended their partnership when Azhar, batting on 101, played a tired heave across the line of a slower ball that clipped the top of off stump. Shoaib Malik was dismissed by Narine next over as West Indies began to pull things back for the second time in the innings, just when Pakistan would have wanted to push on. Azam picked up ones and twos as he approached his century, but, with only three wickets down, Pakistan would have wanted rather more than that.Azam departed off the last ball of the 46th over, looking to paddle-sweep a yorker-length ball from Kieron Pollard, only to find his leg stump disturbed. Pakistan were 280 for 4 with four overs remaining. They added another 28, but the late charge towards which they had been building never actually materialised.It didn’t need to. West Indies’ openers, Lewis and Kraigg Brathwaite, started steadily, putting on 45 off 56 balls before Lewis, on ODI debut, was bowled around his legs by Sohail Khan. That partnership turned out to be the biggest of West Indies’ innings, as wickets fell regularly thereafter. A 42-run sixth-wicket partnership between Holder and Denesh Ramdin was the only other stand of substance, but it came after the match was all but lost. Once Imad Wasim broke that stand, the end came quickly, with the last five wickets falling for the addition of just 13 runs.

“We believe in our skill much more, and not focus on creating atmosphere or conditions that might suit us partially,” Virat Kohli said when asked about surfaces aiding India at home

Sidharth Monga in Indore11-Oct-20162:33

We’re focusing on our skills, not conditions – Kohli

Harbhajan Singh, India’s most successful offspinner at the moment, has opposed the kind of surfaces the team has played on at home over the last ‘four’ years. He’s stated as much in several interviews. He used the hash tag ‘tailor-made conditions for spinners’ while referring to the Indore surface. He went on to say his and Anil Kumble’s wickets tally would have been “something else” if they had bowled more on such pitches. Virat Kohli, to whom the mention of the word ‘pitch’ is a red rag, was told of Harbhajan’s comments after India had completed the whitewash of New Zealand inside four days in Indore.Kohli was then asked if he attributed these wins to pitches or “something else”. “Who made that statement?” Kohli shot back. “Harbhajan Singh,” he was told. “Oh? Okay,” he stopped.It must be mentioned that while the conversation around pitches has been subdued this season because they haven’t been as dramatic as they were against South Africa last season. Kolkata, in fact, was a seaming pitch, which brought the New Zealand fast bowlers into the game. However, Harbhajan’s is the first instance of someone criticising the pitches from inside the system. He is an active cricketer who was a part of the India squad in the Asia Cup played in Bangladesh earlier this year. Kohli refrained from directly reacting to Harbhajan’s statement although he did sound a little taken aback.”Obviously, I mean,” Kohli paused. “See even if it is a turning pitch you have to bowl well. There is no… spin doesn’t happen only off the pitch. Spin is about how many revs you impart off the shoulder first. And then the ball will do something off the pitch. I quite clearly remember after we lost to New Zealand in the World T20, suddenly their spinners were quality and we were found out. I don’t see anyone talking about that now. The same spinners have played. Why have they not been able to pick wickets? It is as simple as that. Our fast bowlers picked wickets everywhere. We never complained about anything. So… see you can give a guy a cement track to bat on. He [still] needs to have the mindset to score runs. It is as simple as that.”Earlier when asked about complete team performances on three different tracks and how much confidence that gives India for the England series, Kohli once spoke about the pitches. “Well, we knew before the series that people are going to start talking about pitches,” Kohli said. “But we made it a point that we… we knew that there are monsoons everywhere, wickets are not going to be as dry. Especially in Kolkata, we knew that it wouldn’t be dry; it was a newly laid wicket. We didn’t say anything once. We believe in our abilities, we should be good enough to do it on any surface and against any team.”That is a step in the right direction as far as our team is concerned. We believe in our skill much more, and not focus on creating atmosphere or conditions that might suit us partially. We just wanted to express ourselves the way we can on a cricket field. We finished two games in four days on perfectly fine Test cricket pitches. That gives us a lot of confidence.”

The concussion substiute rule will be activated in this season’s domestic limited-overs competitions in New Zealand – the McDonald’s Super Smash T20 and the 50-over Ford Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2016New Zealand Cricket is set to introduce the concussion substitute rule in this season’s domestic limited-overs competitions – the McDonald’s Super Smash T20, which begins on December 4, and the 50-over Ford Trophy, which begins on January 15, 2017.The move came after two players – Canterbury opener Chad Bowes and Otago wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan Duffy – were forced out of games after being struck on the head.Bowes, who was hit by a Scott Kuggeleijn bouncer in Canterbury’s second innings against Northern Districts in the Plunket Shield game in Christchurch, was forced to retire hurt on 9 and missed the following two rounds.A bouncer from Lockie Ferguson resulted in Duffy falling onto his stumps after being struck in the second-round Plunket Shield match between Otago and Auckland. Duffy has not played since.New Zealand Cricket, however, will not have the concussion substitute rule in the Plunket Shield as the ICC had earlier rejected the idea for first-class cricket.The rule was used for the first time in the Matador Cup Elimination final in Sydney in October. New South Wales batsman Daniel Hughes was struck by a bouncer from Peter Siddle and was forced to retired hurt, before eventually being ruled out of the match.Under the new rule introduced by Cricket Australia this summer, the Blues were then entitled to pick a concussion substitute. The replacement player, Nick Larkin, then officially became part of the playing XI, and came in to bat at No. 8.In Australia, only a like-for-like player can be activated as a concussion substitute. In New Zealand however, the 12th man will be the replacement player to create a level playing field for away teams who travel with only 12 players, as opposed to Australia where sides carry more reserve players.

Alviro Petersen has denied that he ever accepted a bribe or contrived to fix matches but did admit to “playing along” with those involved in the scandal

Firdose Moonda13-Nov-2016Former South Africa opening batsman Alviro Petersen has denied ever accepting a bribe or contriving to fix matches but admitted to “playing along” with those involved in the match-fixing scandal in the domestic T20 tournament. Petersen was charged on Saturday by Cricket South Africa with six breaches of the anti-corruption code. In a statement through his lawyer Robin Twaddle, Petersen confirmed that he rejected a plea bargain because he regards the charges as “heavy-handed”, and would welcome a tribunal instead. He also claimed to know of at least one other player who has not been charged by CSA.In the statement, Twaddle wrote that Petersen was “surprised” when he learned of charges being drawn up against him at the end of July because the cricketer had been co-operating with the investigation. “Alviro acknowledges and admits that he played along with other persons involved in the scandal so as not to alert them to the fact that an investigation was underway,” Twaddle writes. “Alviro was in constant contact with the investigative team from the time he reported his knowledge of the scandal until Bodi was charged and he gave information that he had received of actual plans to influence matches to the investigative unit.”In March, Petersen revealed he had reported fixing approaches but did not consider himself under investigation. At the time, he also said the ACSU was aware of his meetings and discussions with other players. Petersen maintained that he blew the whistle on Gulam Bodi and five other players, who were subsequently banned for between seven and 20 years.Since then, Petersen has been involved in what Twaddle called “a lengthy negotiating period” with CSA during which the board offered him a plea bargain. Although the details of that agreement have not been revealed, Petersen rejected it because he thought it excessive.”Whilst Alviro is willing to take responsibility for his actions over this period, although they were taken in good faith under the circumstances at the time, he could not reach agreement with CSA because he believes that the sanctions which would have been imposed were disproportionate to Alviro’s actions and do not take sufficient cognisance of the defenses and mitigating circumstances put forward by Alviro,” Twaddle wrote.Petersen, who was due to play for the Lions franchise in the domestic T20 competition which started on Saturday, has been suspended from all cricket activities. He has 14 days to officially respond to CSA. Twaddle is out of the country until November 22.