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Brett Elliot, the Kookaburra managing director, has said that the pink ball is ready for Test cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jun-20153:03

Archive: Iain O’Brien and Ajit Agarkar weigh in on pink balls and day-night Tests

Brett Elliot, the Kookaburra managing director, has said that the pink ball is ready for Test cricket. In 2009, the MCC made a recommendation to experiment with pink balls and since then it has been used by the ECB and CA as well.”The Kookaburra turf pink ball has been extensively tested over the past five years by the MCC, ECB, CA, and I believe the ball is ready for an international Test match,” Elliot told the . “We have also supplied a number of other ICC members like CSA and WICB, and have been equally happy with its performances at domestic level.”After staging a day-night round of Sheffield Shield matches in November, Cricket Australia is looking to provide the setting for the first day-night Test against New Zealand later this year with Adelaide, Brisbane and Hobart the possible venues.Elliot has said that the pink ball is as hard as the red and white balls but an additional dye is added to improve the brightness of the ball, which is believed to promote swing as well.”To ensure the best visibility whilst also preserving the natural wear characteristics of the ball throughout the course of the game, we add additional colour to the pink ball and also the white ball. This enhances the brightness of the ball although some say also encourages early swing,” Elliot said.During the Sheffield trials the pink ball had swung longer than the red ball and had undergone broadcast trials, with Cricket Australia and Channel Nine hoping to attract bigger crowds.The board is expecting a reply from New Zealand Cricket by the end of the month on the use of pink balls and day-night Tests though some New Zealand players aren’t too keen on it, describing the night format as “gimmicky”.

Russell Domingo, South Africa’s assistant coach, has been promoted to the role of head coach for the national Twenty20 side

Firdose Moonda07-Dec-2012Russell Domingo, South Africa’s assistant coach, has been promoted to the role of head coach for the national Twenty20 side. In a managerial split similar to England’s, Gary Kirsten will retain overall accountability of all squads but Domingo will take some of the burden off him in the shortest format.His rein begins in little over two weeks when South Africa host New Zealand for three T20s, starting on December 21. The three-match series also includes the Boxing Day T20, which replaced the traditional Test this year. South Africa will also play two T20s against Pakistan in March 2013.”I believe this decision is a positive move to creating a more sustainable and balanced coaching approach,” Kirsten said. “It’s common best-practice around the world, and we feel it will give us the platform to spread our coaching resources efficiently.”Domingo was appointed at the same time as Kirsten and bowling coach Allan Donald in June last year. At the time, Kirsten had made his intention clear to delegate responsibility, especially because his wife was expecting their third child and he wanted to spend sufficient time with his young family.Before any drastic changes could take place though, Kirsten’s immediate priorities were to oversee South Africa’s rise to No.1 in the Test rankings and aim for ICC T20 glory. He only managed one of those goals as South Africa claimed and retained the mace in England and Australia but faltered at the World T20 in Sri Lanka, where they did not make it out of the second round.Now, there is a suggestion that South Africa will look to completely overhaul the T20 set-up, starting by putting Domingo in charge. “He fully understands the team culture and will be able to build that culture with the new crop of T20 players we will be blooding this season,” Kirsten said of Domingo.South Africa threw all the resources into capturing the ICC silverware, even recalling stalwart allrounder Jacques Kallis for the tournament in Sri Lanka. But having failed in that quest again, they are planning ahead for the 2014 edition of the tournament.A significant number of promising players could expect to be injected into the T20 side this summer as a new-look squad is created. These may include allrounder Chris Morris, left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso and Titans captain and opening batsman Henry Davids.Domingo, who managed the Warriors franchise before his national appointment, has intricate knowledge of players on the South African domestic circuit from that experience. Notably, he was also in charge when Warriors won their first trophies of the franchise system: T20 and one-day cups in the 2009-10 season.Warriors qualified for the Champions League T20 in 2010 and under Domingo reached the final at home. While Kirsten already knew of Domingo’s coaching calibre from back when Domingo employed Kirsten as a consultant, those results also influenced Domingo’s ascendance to the international stage.”Coaching at the highest level has always been a goal of mine and I’m looking forward to building on the foundation we have set for this format,” Domingo said.Kirsten will remain involved in selection and strategic planning of the T20 squad but Domingo will be involved in the day-to-day activities. This will also give Kirsten more time off to accommodate his family responsibilities. Kirsten remains in charge of the one-day squad though, with an eye on the 2015 World Cup.

Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Sri Lanka captain, has said that his team can do well in South Africa if they can manage to put runs on the board

Firdose Moonda in Benoni07-Dec-2011Sri Lanka’s Test squad have arrived in South Africa with an obvious weakness – their bowling. Tillakaratne Dilshan, their captain, chose to say almost nothing about it.”Any fast bowler who comes to South Africa likes to bowl here,” Dilshan said in Benoni, where Sri Lanka are preparing to play a warm-up match against an Invitation XI starting on Friday. And that was that.He made no reference to their missing quintet of seamers that includes Suranga Lakmal, their carrying of the perennially under-performing Dilhara Fernando, the responsibility that will sit on the shoulders of Chanaka Welegedara or the adjustments Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath will have to make to be effective in South Africa. He made no comments about the need to take 20 wickets to win a Test – something Sri Lanka have never done in South Africa.Instead, Dilshan’s plans for success in a country with some of the most seamer-friendly, pacy and bouncy pitches in the world did not involve the ball at all. “If the batting unit can put some runs on the board, we will do well in South Africa,” he said.Except that even in the batting department, Sri Lanka have not been their usual powerful selves. Only Kumar Sangakkara scored a century in their recent three-Test series against Pakistan, which they lost 1-0. Sri Lanka were bowled out in five of the six innings, three times for less than 260. “We know in the last few series, batting didn’t click,” Dilshan admitted.Yet when asked to identify the area which could prove match winning for Sri Lanka, Dilshan was adamant that it would be batting. If the line-up could use Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara as their kingpins and perform around them, Dilshan predicted they would do well. “The batting unit is experienced; Mahela and Sanga have played a little bit in South Africa. Those are experienced guys. We can build around them. Thilan [Samaraweera] has come back into the side, he is experienced guy in the middle order. Myself and the youngsters, like Chandimal, have to put their hands up.”Jayawardene and Sangakkara are two of the three players (the other being Fernando) to have played a Test in South Africa before, Sri Lanka last toured the country nine ago, in 2002. Dilshan admitted that his team will have to make a speedy adjustment to the conditions that are foreign to them. “We have played on and off one-day series in South Africa and that has helped a little bit,” he said. “But, everyone should get ready for these conditions as soon as possible.”The warm-up match will be Sri Lanka’s only opportunity to acclimatise to conditions and the pitch in Benoni should provide them with a good introduction to South African surfaces.Although not a particularly spicy pitch, it has recently produced a match in which wickets fell heavily. The SuperSport Series contest between the Titans and the Cobras in October saw the Titans dismissed for 112 in their first innings and nine wickets fell on the second day.Dilshan did say that some of his batsmen, including him, are already comfortable with such pitches. “Sanga, Mahela and myself really like bouncy tracks,” he said. “If we get runs on the board as a batting group in this three-day match and everyone can come into form, that will be important for us. We have to play our brand of cricket. If we can play our brand of cricket we can beat South Africa.”At the same time, Dilshan recognised that Sri Lanka had no room for mistakes. “We can’t make any mistakes. We have to be at 100% commitment for this series. Everyone should put their hands up and take responsibility.” Hopefully, that includes the bowlers as well.

Round-up of the fourth day of the fifth round of Division Two of the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Nov-2010Peshawar barely hung on for a draw against Pakistan Television at the Arab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar. A century from Raheel Majeed and his 154-run stand with Awais Zia had propelled PT to 271 for 7 in just 38.4 overs. Both scored at better than a run-a-ball and were intent on trying to force a win, as PT extended their lead to 322. And Peshawar were brave enough to make a dash for it. In a thrilling chase, opener Gauhar Ali set the tone with 48 off 54, while Sajjad Ahmed (67 in 97) and captain Akbar Badshah (80 in 100) consolidated what Gauhar had begun. At 224 for 4, there was still hope for Peshawar, on the back foot since conceding a first-innings lead, but a collapse followed where five wickets fell for 46. Seamer Saad Altaf and left-arm spinner Yasim Murtaza shared six wickets and took their side to the brink of a win, but the last-wicket pair of Mohammad Farooq and Sajjad Ahmed batted out a nervy phase to draw the game. Peshawar are second from bottom, while PT are seventh.

Australia’s aura may have vanished but the players’ self-confidence remains untainted, with Shane Watson insisting the team still has a chance of victory

Peter English at the SCG05-Jan-2010Australia’s aura may have vanished over the past year but the players’ self-confidence remains untainted, with Shane Watson insisting the team still has a chance of victory. Pakistan have controlled the second Test for three days and should level the series on Wednesday after the hosts scrambled to an 80-run lead by finishing at 8 for 286.Michael Hussey, who reached an unbeaten 73, is the last major hope and will have Peter Siddle (10) and Doug Bollinger as his only allies. “I definitely think we’re still in it,” Watson said. “It’s obviously not a day that we really were hoping for. It would have been nice to get 200 in front, but while Hussey and Siddle are there we are still a chance to get, hopefully, best-case scenario, 150 ahead. It would be a target that if everyone goes well and bowls well, it gives us an opportunity to win the game.”Watson was the standout batsman with his smooth 97 and after the strong performance showed he was a student of the history of his adopted home ground. He remembered the time in 1993-94 when a team was bowled out in the fourth innings for 111 at the SCG in a chase of 117. The only problem was that it was Australia doing the tumbling that day.”We’ve got to still give ourselves a chance to try and have a decent enough target to bowl at,” he said. “The wicket is still doing a bit, the new ball is still seaming and bouncing and some are keeping a bit low, there’s still enough there for the bowlers.”The legspinner Danish Kaneria provided the main trouble for Australia with 4 for 117 before hobbling off shortly before the end with cramp, but Australia have the bigger impediment. Starting their second innings 206 runs behind, their journey was always uphill, but after Watson and Phillip Hughes (37) put on 105 there was hope of the 400-plus total needed to scare the Pakistanis.While only three wickets had fallen when the deficit was wiped out, the problems began with Michael Clarke’s exit, lbw to Mohammad Asif on 21, and in 18 overs Australia lost 5 for 40. “The way Phil and I started I thought we were going to be able to bat the way we wanted to,” Watson said, “but we weren’t able to string the bigger partnerships together.”Unless rain or a Hussey-inspired miracle intervenes, the hosts will end their ten-match winning streak against Pakistan, the world’s No.6 side, and continue their recent trend of losing momentum as soon as they start looking good. The ruthless Melbourne win was last week, but it was also a year ago.

Attack leader plays down concerns about workload and past injuries after latest stellar display

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jun-20254:39

Bumrah: ‘Nobody is dropping catches on purpose’

Jasprit Bumrah resumed Test cricket from where he had left off in Australia with a stress reaction in the already operated-on back: carrying the India attack and looking the most threatening bowler on the park. While he was away, there was concern aplenty if Bumrah had been bowled into the ground and how well he would be able to return from the injury.While Bumrah has kept his medical status close to his and his inner circle’s chest, experts felt another such injury could prove to be the last one for his Test career. The headlines haven’t impressed Bumrah. “I can’t control what people write,” he said. “Nor am I trying to teach people what to write and what not to write about me. Everybody is free to write what they want. I understand cricket is very popular in our country, and I understand that using my name in the headline boosts the viewership. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter to me. Because if I let it get into my head, I will start believing it. I need my beliefs and my ways to dictate how I go. Not the way others want me to play.”I always wanted to play for India. I played for India on my belief. I have played every format on my belief. I have always heard ‘no’ from people. First they said ‘you won’t be able to play’; then they said ‘you will last only six months’; then they said ‘you will last only eight months’, and just like that I have spent ten years in international cricket listening to all this. I have played the IPL for 12-13 years.Related

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“Even now people keep saying this injury will be it. Keep waiting, I will not think about that. I will keep doing my work. Every three-four months there will be headlines but, let’s see, I will play till it is in my destiny. I prepare my best, and leave the rest to god. Whatever [abundance or good fortune] god has given me, I try to carry it forward, and try to take Indian cricket forward.”The last injury does seem to have changed his outlook towards how much he should push himself. He has already informed the team management he will not be available for all the Tests this series. That, he says, is why he opted out of captaincy.Given that it had been announced he would be playing only three Tests, it could increase the sense of urgency around these games – because he will have fewer days to make an impact in. Not for Bumrah. “You don’t look at what is going to happen in the future,” Bumrah said. “You are there in the ground at that moment. You have to do a job. So at that moment I’m trying to assess the wicket. I’m trying to assess what is happening, what are my options, how is the wicket behaving, who’s the batter there, what is he thinking, how do I outsmart him or what do I do? I look at all of those things at that moment. I was not thinking about what will happen or how many games I will play. At this moment, focusing on the Test match. When the match is over, think about all these permutations and combinations.”The expectations, he said, can be extra baggage, which he doesn’t want to carry. “I ask myself this question at night, did I give my absolute best?” Bumrah said. “If the answer is yes, I quietly go to sleep.”

Plus, how much does each franchise have left to spend on their auction shopping?

Nagraj Gollapudi15-Dec-2023

Chennai Super Kings

Purse available: INR 31.40 crore (USD 3.77 million approx.)
Slots left: 6 (3 overseas)
Key positions to be filled: A replacement for Ambati Rayudu. They need another Indian batter for the middle order as well, ideally a power-hitter. Also, an overseas fast bowler who maybe doubles up as an allrounder, and an Indian fast bowler.
Current squad: MS Dhoni, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Nishant Sindhu, Ajay Mandal, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mukesh Chowdhary, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana
The now-retired Ambati Rayudu played some crucial knocks for Chennai Super Kings as impact sub last season•Getty Images

Mumbai Indians

Purse available: INR 17.75 crore (USD 2.13 million approx.)
Slots left: 8 (4 overseas)

Key positions to be filled: The dominant Mumbai Indians teams of the past have always comprised two overseas fast bowlers, one of them being an allrounder, so expect them to look out for those skillsets. One of those could also be a spin-bowling allrounder.

Current squad: Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff, Hardik Pandya, Romario Shepherd

Gujarat Titans

Related

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• RCB release Hazlewood, Hasaranga; KKR let Shardul go

Purse available: INR 38.15 crore (USD 4.58 million approx.)
Slots left: 8 (2 overseas)
Key positions to be filled: While like-for-like might be tough, they need a replacement for Hardik Pandya – a batting or bowling allrounder, perhaps an overseas option. Also, an overseas fast bowler in place of Alzarri Josesph. And an Indian keeper-batter as a back-up for Wriddhiman Saha.
Current squad: David Miller, Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Josh Little, Mohit Sharma
How do you fill a Hardik Pandya-sized hole in your squad?•BCCI

Kolkata Knight Riders

Purse available: INR 32.70 crore (USD 3.92 million approx.)
Slots left: 12 (4 overseas)
Key positions to be filled: Two overseas quicks, including one with all-round skills. And an Indian keeper-batter.
Current squad: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Suyash Sharma, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Purse available: INR 23.25 crore (USD 2.79 millon approx.)
Slots left: 6 (3 overseas)

Key positions to be filled: Replacements for Wanindu Hasaranga and Harshal Patel. An overseas fast bowler to replace Josh Hazlewood. Also, an Indian allrounder or finisher to replace Shahbaz Ahmed, who transferred to Sunrisers Hyderabad via a trade.
Current squad: Faf du Plessis, Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Cameron Green, Mayank Dagar
Having released Harshal Patel, and several other big names from their bowling attack, RCB have some shopping to do•BCCI

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Purse available: INR 34 crore (USD 4.08 million approx.)
Slots left: 6 (3 overseas)
Key positions to be filled: Overseas allrounder (batting or bowling), and an Indian batter. Also, an overseas wristspinner.
Current squad: Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Sanvir Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Mayank Markande, Shahbaz Ahmed

Delhi Capitals

Purse available: INR 28.95 crore (USD 3.47 million approx.)
Slots left: 9 (4 overseas)

Key positions to be filled: An overseas fast-bowling allrounder, an Indian keeper-batter, and an Indian finisher.
Current squad: Rishabh Pant, David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Yash Dhull, Abishek Porel, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Mitchell Marsh, Pravin Dubey, Vicky Ostwal, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar
Released by Punjab Kings, Shahrukh Khan could be a big pull at the auction•AFP via Getty Images

Punjab Kings

Purse available: INR 29.10 crore (USD 3.49 million approx.)
Slots left: 8 (2 overseas)
Key positions to be filled: An Indian batting allrounder to replace Shahrukh Khan, who was released. An overseas fast-bowling allrounder.
Current squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Jitesh Sharma, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Rishi Dhawan, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Shivam Singh, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Vidwath Kaverappa, Harpreet Bhatia

Rajasthan Royals

Purse available: INR 14.50 crore (USD 1.74 million approx.)
Slots left: 8 (3 overseas)

Key positions to be filled: An overseas batter or batting allrounder, and an overseas fast bowler as back-up for Trent Boult.
Current squad: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan
Who can be Trent Boult’s back-up for Rajasthan Royals?•Associated Press

Lucknow Super Giants

Purse available: INR 13.15 crore (USD 1.58 million approx.)
Slots left: 6 (2 overseas)

Key position to be filled: A replacement for Avesh Khan, who was traded to Rajasthan Royals; this could be an Indian allrounder, too.

Current squad: KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Prerak Mankad, Yudhvir Singh, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Naveen-ul-Haq, Devdutt Padikkal

International players will have a couple of windows to appear in the tournament this season

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-2022Meg Lanning will continue her break from the game as the Australian domestic season gets underway with the expanded WNCL, but a host of international players will be on display during the opening rounds which take place ahead of the WBBL.Even though they are missing Lanning, Victoria can still call on Ellyse Perry and Annabel Sutherland from their contracted Australia names when they face South Australia while Sophie Molineux will captain the side having taken over during the winter.Related

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South Australia, meanwhile, are stocked with international names. Megan Schutt has been named captain while the side could feature Tahlia McGrath, Darcie Brown and Amanda-Jade Wellington.New South Wales will be captained by Alyssa Healy who will be joined by Ash Gardner against Queensland at North Sydney Oval. Others with international experience include Hannah Darlington and Erin Burns, while pace bowler Maitlan Brown has featured in squads without yet making a debut.

Opening WNCL fixtures

September 23 SA vs VIC, Karen Rolton Oval; WA vs ACT, WACA; NSW vs QLD, North Sydney

September 25 SA vs VIC, Karen Rolton Oval, WA vs ACT, WACA; NSW vs QLD, North Sydney

September 30 NSW vs WA, North Sydney

October 1 QLD vs ACT, Bill Pippen Oval

October 2 NSW vs WA, North Sydney

October 3 QLD vs ACT, Bill Pippen Oval

October 4 VIC vs TAS, Junction Oval

October 6 VIC vs TAS, Junction Oval

Queensland will be captained by Jess Jonassen and their squad features Grace Harris who was a key part of the Commonwealth Games success. Georgia Redmayne has been a regular reserve player for Australia.Western Australia will be able to call on Beth Mooney, who made the big off-season move by switching from Queensland, and breakout bowling star Alana King. Their first opponents, ACT, are the only side without an Australia-listed player.Tasmania, who begin their title defence next month, have Nicola Carey as a current Australia representative while Heather Graham has also featured in recent squads.From the players in Australia’s contracts list announced earlier this year, Rachael Haynes won’t feature having announced her retirement along with the Victoria pair of Tayla Vlaeminck (foot) and Georgia Wareham (ACL) who remain long-term injuries.The WNCL has increased to a 12-game tournament this season with each side playing each other twice before the final. The competition begins on Friday with six sides in action with the fixtures repeated on Sunday. Tasmania and South Australia will play twice in these opening rounds while the other teams have four games.The tournament then resumes in mid-December when Australia will be in India for T20Is, but there should be another opportunity for those players to appear after Christmas before the visit of Pakistan in January. The latter part takes place in February when the T20 World Cup is on in South Africa.

He says it will be “extremely disconcerting” if his candidature was rejected due to reasons other than “my incompetency as a coach”

PTI15-May-2021India Women’s outgoing head coach WV Raman has alleged that a “smear campaign” against him has gained unwarranted traction and he has urged the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly to stop it. In an email that Raman also sent to the National Cricket Academy head Rahul Dravid, he wrote it will be “extremely disconcerting” if his candidature was rejected due to reasons other than “my incompetency as a coach”.Raman was not retained as the head coach of the senior women’s team by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) which picked Ramesh Powar for the job.”I presume you might have been told different views about my style of functioning and work ethic,” Raman wrote. “Whether those views conveyed to the officials of the BCCI had any impact on my candidature is of no consequence now.Related

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“What is important is that the smear campaign seems to have gained some unwarranted traction with some BCCI officials which needs to be halted permanently. I am prepared to give an explanation should you or any of the office bearers require it.”Raman said there was no argument if his application was rejected because of “incompetency” as a coach, but he expressed his concern for the involvement of other reasons behind it.”If I were to be rejected due to my incompetency as a coach, there is no argument on a judgment call at all,” he wrote. “But what will be extremely disconcerting is if my candidature was rejected due to any other reasons. Especially if it was due to allegations from people who were more focused on achieving their personal objectives at the expense of the overall hygiene and welfare of the Indian women’s team and the pride of the country.”While Raman’s letter did not name anyone, it is understood that he was writing about the star culture that prevails in the team, which he said is probably doing more harm than good.”If some people in the system have been highly accommodative to the extent of being seemingly obsequious to an accomplished performer for years on end – and if that performer feels constrained to adhere to the culture – then I would leave it to you to decide if the coach was asking for too much.”In a coaching career spanning 20 years, I have always created a culture in which the team always comes first and insisted on no individual overriding either the game or the team.”He said “paying heed to only one individual’s views while disregarding everyone else’s over a long period of time has resulted in gaping holes in the process and the system”.”The time has come for you two accomplished former legends to salvage women’s cricket, falling which things could gather momentum in the wrong direction. I have some suggestions that might help in the improvement of women’s cricket. I will be delighted to share those if you are interested.”

The Australia captain looked set for a maiden Test ton until he was given out on review

Daniel Brettig 29-Dec-2019Tim Paine’s first innings lbw verdict was shown to be correct by a narrow margin on HawkEye as well as the VirtualEye ball-tracking used by the umpires to make the decision.While VirtualEye’s ball-tracking is used by the host broadcaster Fox Cricket, the rival Seven network has HawkEye ball-tracking in place for analytical use. Both technologies showed Paine was stuck in line to ensure it would not be “umpire’s call” and therefore not out, after Neil Wagner’s initial appeal was turned down.Paine was visibly frustrated, but it appears that the decision was a case of fine margins rather than outright errors on the part of the technology or its operators. Ian Taylor, the chief executive of VirtualEye, had extended an invitation to Paine to watch the decision in detail, but Paine hadn’t yet accepted the offer.”I did read this morning that I’ve got an invite, so I might take it up at some stage, but I’m not too interested,” Paine said after Australia’s 247-run win in the Boxing Day Test that helped seal the series with one Test to play. “It is what it is, sometimes you get a bit frustrated, today we might’ve got one that went our way. So that’s how it works.”You’d hope it would be spot on, not trying to get it more precise. I think it would be nice across all Test matches to have the same technology in place for every Test in the Test Championship, we’ll see what happens.”HawkEye is the ball-tracker used by the majority of cricket-playing nations, and is also in place for the Big Bash League, where Seven is the host broadcaster for the majority of games rather than Fox Cricket. However there is presently no use of a decision review system in the BBL, meaning that VirtualEye is the only ball-tracker on show in matches in Australia when the time comes for umpires to make decision and players to review them.Paine, who has signed a deal with Seven to commentate on the BBL in the new year, said he was more likely to look closer at the technology when he begins that stint.”It’s certainly got its good points, there’s just some ironing out at times to be done,” Paine said. “But that’s only my opinion, I know they’re trying to get it as precise as they’re possibly can, but I think as an aid to help the umpires get the correct decision I think its good. I’m actually doing a bit of commentary after the Test so I’ll have plenty of time to sneak in then maybe.”On the final day of the MCG Test, the Australians were beneficiaries of another tight call when New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was given out lbw by Marais Erasmus. VirtualEye showed the delivery from James Pattinson would’ve just grazed leg stump, enough for the decision to be upheld.”Obviously it’s not 100% accurate and I think they’re always looking to try and improve that,” Williamson said. “You’d like to think overall that the technology does increase the amount of right decisions, whether you feel like you’re unlucky or not, you pretty much have to look within and try and play it better and try and learn and just keep improving. That’s the focus for me, and you just need to move on.”