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Ireland will be without the experience of Alex Cusack when they take on England next month, after the allrounder was ruled out with a back injury

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Aug-2013Ireland will be without the experience of Alex Cusack when they take on England next month, after the allrounder was ruled out with a back injury. He has been rested from domestic cricket in recent weeks but will not be fit for the September 3 ODI.Cusack has played 50 ODIs for Ireland, taking 52 wickets with his right-arm medium pace to go with 679 runs at 22.63. He shared a sixth-wicket stand of 162 with Kevin O’Brien, scoring 47, during Ireland’s famous victory over England in Bangalore at the 2011 World Cup.”It’s certainly disappointing for Alex to miss the game as he’s an important player for us, particularly in the Powerplays,” Ireland’s coach, Phil Simmons, said. “However, we have strength in depth now and it’ll give one of the other guys a chance to shine. We are blessed with a number of very talented allrounders so have plenty of cover in that department.”The match against England will mark the opening of Ireland’s redeveloped ground at Malahide, which has had its capacity increased to 11,000. With three weeks to go, tickets are still available on the Cricket Ireland website but well over half of the allocation has already been sold and Simmons said that anticipation was building.”We’ve seen just how well the tickets have gone with over 7,000 sold already,” Simmons said. “It’s going to the biggest match ever held in Ireland, and there will be a fantastic atmosphere at the new international venue at Malahide. It’s my home town and I know just how much of a buzz there is around the place to have the Ashes winners coming here. It’ll be a magnificent occasion, and hopefully we’ll give the Irish fans another day to remember.”Despite losing to Ireland in a record run chase at the last World Cup, England have won on each of their four visits to play ODIs. As in 2009, England will arrive in Ireland having won the Ashes – and on that occasion their winning margin was just three runs in a rain-affected game.

Alan Richardson completed his second 10-wicket return in a week as Worcestershire piled the pressure on Gloucestershire in their Division Two match at New Road

24-May-2013
ScorecardAlan Richardson made it consecutive 10-wicket hauls to put Worcestershire in sight of victory•PA Photos

Alan Richardson completed his second 10-wicket return in a week as Worcestershire piled the pressure on Gloucestershire in their Division Two match at New Road.After his side had batted on to make 457, the veteran seamer led the push for victory with 3 for 34 as Gloucestershire continued to struggle on a ground where they have not won in the Championship for 27 years. Needing 223 to avoid an innings defeat, they were still 136 short of their target on closing the third day because of bad light at 87 for 5.At the age of 38, Richardson is in the form of his life with career-best match figures of 12 for 63 in a two-day win against Kent and so far a return of 11 for 71 in the current game following his eight for 37 in the first innings. Yet up to the trip to Canterbury last week, he was beginning to feel he “couldn’t buy a wicket” after taking only 6 for 282 in the first four matches of the season.Now his mood is upbeat after playing on two helpful pitches. When the ball is new and nipping around, as it has done in this match, he is likely to cause problems for the best batsmen. Gloucestershire had no answer on the first day and they were again in trouble when batting again in between afternoon showers.After an initial flurry of boundaries, Richardson brought one back into Chris Dent’s pads and claimed a second success in his next over when wicketkeeper Michael Johnson held a straightforward chance from Dan Housego.Gloucestershire’s captain Michael Klinger, who played for Worcestershire in the first part of last season, looked in good form with five boundaries but having reached 26 he played on as soon as Gareth Andrew switched ends to replace Richardson.Hamish Marshall stayed for more than an hour but then edged Chris Russell’s first ball down the leg-side and Richardson claimed the bigger prize when Alex Gidman was also caught behind after making 26 in 33 overs.Gloucestershire’s struggle was tough on teenage pace bowler Craig Miles after his efforts in taking 6 for 99 in only his fourth Championship appearance. When Worcestershire resumed at 302 for 3, Moeen Ali added only one run before he was out for 123, pulling Miles to square leg for the first of three wickets in nine balls.The home side could have wobbled when Neil Pinner fell to Liam Norwell for 18, but the ever-dangerous Andrew smacked 66 from 71 balls and put on 98 with Jack Shantry (31) before Miles took two of the last three wickets.

With Services 54 for 5 in their chase of 113, Soumik Chatterjee hobbled and went on to play the most significant innings of his career

The Report by Abhishek Purohit in Indore08-Jan-2013Over time, when they look back at the history of the game for inspiration, they would do well to consider Soumik Chatterjee’s unbeaten 34, made on one leg and with plenty of bravado. Unable to walk, the Services captain had been carried off by four of his team-mates from the dressing room to the team bus on day one, after he’d badly damaged his left knee while fielding. He’d dragged himself out to the middle to bat at No 11 in the Services first innings, and lasted one delivery. In the second, with Services 54 for 5 in their chase of 113, Chatterjee hobbled in again and went on to play the most significant innings of his career, which led to what he called the biggest achievement of his life.”This match is my life’s biggest achievement,” Chatterjee said of Services’ Ranji Trophy quarter-final win over Uttar Pradesh. ” [I won’t come back without winning it for the team]. Yes, I was injured but I knew that if I made up my mind, I could win the game for the team.”It was a matter of having a partnership for five-six overs. When that happens, the other side loses the advantage. I knew that if I and Rajat [Paliwal] could play out five-six overs, the game would be ours.”Chatterjee was asked whether he had thought about the chance of aggravating his injury when deciding to come out to bat. Scans had revealed serious clotting around the knee. “There was no risk. Even if I lose my life, I will always be there for team,” he replied in the emotional aftermath of victory.When Chatterjee came out to bat, the immediate reaction among journalists watching the game was that with his perceived inability to run, he would end up squeezing out any remaining momentum from the chase. But to everyone’s disbelief, he soon started limping and then, unable to bear the pain, hopping on his fit right leg for singles.Wing Commander Deepak Bhaskar, the Services manager, said it was a collective decision by himself, the coach and Chatterjee to send in the captain at No 7. “We were not sure whether he would be able to run,” Bhaskar said. “It was all down to him, how he felt out there when he started batting.”While Chatterjee was sure he would be able to recover in time for the semi-final starting on January 16, Bhaskar was more realistic. “It is a call we will have to take,” Bhaskar said. “We will see how his treatment goes.”There is still more than a week left for the semi-finals, and for the moment, Chatterjee was grateful to all his team-mates. “All 11 players of the side are special and I give credit to all of them,” Chatterjee said. “We won because of all of them. Not only the 11, but all the 15 (in the squad) and the 17, including the coach and the manager, and also the four who have sat out, I credit them all. We won because of all their hard work.”

While there is no doubt Jayawardene and his men will have a packed Premadasa cheering for them tomorrow, there is also no doubting who most neutral fans want to win

Abhishek Purohit in Colombo06-Oct-2012As Darren Sammy’s pre-final press conference ended, a few journalists and camerapersons standing at the back of the Premadasa media room actually clapped. If you were looking for evidence of just what West Indies, even a decade-and-a-half after their decline, mean to cricket and its fans, here it was. No one clapped after Mahela Jayawardene had finished speaking to the media; not even the local media men. While there is no doubt Jayawardene and his men will have a packed Premadasa cheering for them tomorrow, there is also no doubting who most neutral fans want to win.West Indies are the game’s original, and only, gladiators. In their prime, their bowlers put the fear of death in opposition batsmen’s minds, their batsmen fearlessly slaughtered opposition bowlers, and their team ruled the cricket world with sheer force. Everywhere, fans loved the raw skill and passion which West Indies brought to cricket. The skill and passion have dimmed over the years, but fans still keep waiting for some performances, or a performance, that will remind them that once, this was a side which forced you to sit down and watch it do its stuff.In these difficult times, West Indies have invested their faith in a man who has divided opinion in a way a modern captain scarcely has. Whether he should be there in the side or not is a debate which will probably continue as long as he is captain, but Sammy is the man who will go down in history as the one who led West Indies to their first World Cup final – albeit in the Twenty20 form – since 1983. Yes, it has taken just two outright wins, over Australia and England in the Super Eights, to make the final, but West Indies won’t mind that.Sammy has been nearly invisible with bat and ball through the tournament while Chris Gayle has soaked in most of the attention. He has had to face difficult questions over Gayle’s absence from the squad and his subsequent return. It was heartwarming to see Sammy jump around in the dugout with delight after every Gayle six in the semi-final. The captain has no pretensions to being a world-class player but has always maintained he’s there to bring the squad together, to involve everyone, and make it easy for his players to perform without inhibition. Even when he was asked about what the final meant for him as a leader, as someone who had worked for a united squad, he only spoke about the Caribbean people.”For me, it is going to be a memorable occasion,” Sammy said. “I am more focussed on the team and the Caribbean people. I have just been playing cricket for a few years but the fans have been supporting for a number of years. To me it is all about them. They are who come and watch us play, wake early in the morning and stay up late at night.”What if West Indies went a step further, what if they beat Sri Lanka tomorrow? “It would be massive,” Sammy said. “It’s been over a decade and the fans are craving for bigger success. That is the goal we left the Caribbean with. We have been saying it in the dressing room, it is one team, one people, one mission. We are just one step away from the World Twenty20. When we do well people in the Caribbean are very happy, work stops for a few hours back home. It would mean everything to us as players, as coaching staff. It would give us a big boost.”Sammy said the last man who won a World Cup for West Indies, Clive Lloyd, had a message for the side ahead of the final. “I got an email from Mr. Lloyd saying we are very proud in the Caribbean of what the team is doing, people are very happy and just go out and win it. ‘Success comes before work only in the dictionary. Continue to work hard so that you can reap success tomorrow,’ he said. It means a lot to everybody. That in itself will be the biggest motivation for us.”Lloyd and the people of the Caribbean won’t be the only ones rooting for West Indies tomorrow. There is a world title to be won, and probably the entire cricketing world, barring the Sri Lankans, will be behind Sammy and his men.

A little calmer when it mattered most, Australia completed a victory more testing than the scoreboard ultimately showed to defeat Pakistan in Sharjah and claim the overnight ODI series 2-1

The Report by Daniel Brettig03-Sep-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed added 129 at the top•Associated Press

A little calmer when it mattered most, Australia completed a victory more testing than the scoreboard ultimately showed to defeat Pakistan in Sharjah and claim the overnight ODI series 2-1. It was a result achieved as much by perspiration as inspiration, Michael Hussey and the nerveless tyro Glenn Maxwell forming the critical union to rescue their team from the uncertainty of 159 for 5 when Matthew Wade fell to Abdur Rehman.Michael Hussey could so easily have been out lbw to Saeed Ajmal before he had scored, amid a mesmerising spell in which the offspinner claimed what appeared a pivotal 3 for 11. But Misbah-ul-Haq made a pair of judgements that were to prove too timid – failing to refer the umpire Billy Bowden’s decision, and then taking Ajmal off after five overs when another wicket or two might have sealed Australia’s fate.Pakistan’s hesitation could perhaps be attributed to the weight of history, having not defeated Australia in an ODI series since 2002. There was to be little such trepidation about the way Michael Hussey and Maxwell closed in on the target, which had been reined in to manageable proportions by Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc after Pakistan’s openers made their team’s best start against Australia since 1985.Mohammad Hafeez’s stand of 129 with Nasir Jamshed should have allowed Pakistan to soar well past 250, but Australia’s bowlers stuck admirably to their task to limit the rest. It was Johnson who started the salvage operation, claiming two wickets while keeping his economy-rate down, and thus allowing Starc to strike four times to continue his decent form.As had been flagged as a possibility by the assistant coach Steve Rixon earlier in the series, Wade’s exertions during 50 overs in the field were deemed too much for him to back up immediately as an opener.His replacement at the top of the order was unexpected – David Hussey opening for the first time in his ODI career – but provided a useful left-right contrast with David Warner in a stand that showed plenty of brio if not total safety.Warner and David Hussey both smote huge sixes, causing the umpires to twice call for a replacement ball, and denting the previously tidy series figures of Hafeez. Rehman hurried a Warner pull shot and claimed his wicket to break the partnership at 44, but Michael Clarke was typically fluent and with David Hussey he kept Australia ahead of the asking-rate.However Ajmal’s introduction brought a marked change to proceedings, as he found spin despite the moist night air and yet again confused the Australians with his variations. Clarke had struck one significant blow in drawing blood from the left hand of Shahid Afridi with a fierce drive, but he advanced too early to Ajmal and was well stumped down the leg side by Kamran Akmal.Michael Hussey seemed palpably lbw, but Pakistan chose conservatively not to refer Billy Bowden’s not-out verdict. David Hussey perished in pursuit of another six, and George Bailey gloved an attempted paddle-sweep. Ajmal’s spin had turned the innings, but he was then withdrawn to allow Wade and Michael Hussey some desperately needed breathing room.They steadied things until Wade’s exit, bowled between bat and pad, whereupon Maxwell made another free-spirited contribution to a series in which his batting comfortably outshone his bowling as he ransacked Afridi for 16 runs in the 43rd over. Michael Hussey was out to a tired slog and Dan Christian did not endure, but Maxwell kept his cool and his timing to guide the weary Australians home.They had been grateful to win the toss and avoid the worst excesses of the evening moisture. Bolstered by happy memories of game one when they had topped and tailed the Pakistan innings, Pattinson and Starc took the new ball with some intent. Starc looked initially short of rhythm and comfort having shrugged off a side/chest complaint to take part, but Australia’s opening duo made Jamshed and Hafeez work hard to survive the early overs.Both batsmen top-edged attempted hook shots and were fortunate to see their respective strokes fall safely. Nonetheless, the shots signalled their ambition, even as a sluggish pitch, slow outfield and tidy Australian fielding made scoring difficult.Gradually, Hafeez and Jamshed wrested the initiative, seeing off a useful spell by Johnson and profiting more from the others. The allrounder Christian shelled a difficult return catch when Hafeez was on 26, but it was the only hint of a chance offered by the openers as they strode to Pakistan’s first century opening stand against Australia in ODIs since 1985.Jamshed’s innings was a worthy follow-up to his match-shaping innings in Abu Dhabi, while Hafeez was finally showing the Australians the worth of his batting after some years of underachievement. The six off Pattinson was a particularly compelling reminder.Australia were so desperate for a wicket that Clarke sacrificed his one referral to a speculative appeal for a leg-side catch off Jamshed. The stratagem was indirectly helpful in securing the breakthrough, distracting Jamshed enough for Johnson to have him touching a bouncer behind in the same over.Afridi was promoted in the order to make a flash-in-the-pan seven, and Hafeez’s innings was ended when Clarke struck him in front while attempting to sweep. Asad Shafiq, Misbah-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali did not go beyond their starts, keeping the target within Australia’s reach.

James Taylor is “relishing” the prospect of facing South Africa’s bowling attack at Headingley having been called into the squad for the second Test but is not taking his debut for granted

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jul-2012James Taylor is “relishing” the prospect of facing South Africa’s bowling attack at Headingley having been called into the squad for the second Test but is not taking his debut for granted.Unless England change the balance of their side and play five bowlers, which is unlikely, Taylor will earn his first cap at No. 6 after Ravi Bopara became unavailable due to personal reasons shortly before the squad was named on Sunday morning.Taylor, who has been captain of England Lions over the last two years and averages 61.60 from ten first-class matches for them, has long been earmarked as a Test batsman in waiting. But he had seemingly fallen down the pecking order at the start of this season after failing to secure a place in the extended England performance squad and Jonny Bairstow was chosen to replace an injured Bopara against West Indies.However, Taylor led the Lions against the West Indians in May and scored an impressive century at Derby and this week hit his first Championship hundred for his new county, Nottinghamshire, against Sussex. It is actually Taylor’s one-day form that has been more consistent and he has made 345 runs at 69 in the CB40.”Facing South Africa’s bowling attack is always going to be a tough challenge but it’s something that I would relish because getting an England Test call has been my aim from the word go,” he said. “Test cricket is the pinnacle but there was a noticeable step up to division one of the Championship and wickets haven’t been easy to bat on this season”I’ve always backed myself to play at the highest level and even though I’m young I’ve played a lot of cricket and I’ve got a lot of runs behind me. The next goal is to get a place in the eleven and if I get that opportunity I have to take it with both hands. If I get in the team then I have to work hard to get runs and then work harder again to do that consistently.”I’ve always tried to keep my feet on the ground and strive to become a better player and that will always be my mantra.”Taylor’s move from Leicestershire to Nottinghamshire for this season was with the aim of boosting his Test ambitions after getting a brief taste of international cricket last season against Ireland. He has now jumped back ahead of Bairstow while fighting off the challenge of Eoin Morgan and Nick Compton.”I hoped that I would be next in line but I never took anything for granted although I have scored consistent runs in all forms of the game to earn this chance,” he said. “Playing at Headingley would be a very proud moment for me but nothing has happened yet, I’m just one step closer and waiting for the nod and the opportunity to help England to get back into the series.

A win will take Afghanistan to the top of the Group B points table

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Sep-20252:26

Abhinav Mukund impressed by Afghanistan’s on-field trial

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat against Afghanistan in their Asia Cup clash in Abu Dhabi.Bangladesh captain Litton Das said the pitch looked a bit on the slow side, despite the Abu Dhabi surface having been better for batting recently. Rashid Khan said Afghanistan would have liked to bat first as well.Bangladesh made four changes with Saif Hassan, Nurul Hasan, Taskin Ahmed and Nasum Ahmed coming in. Mahedi Hasan, Pervez Hossain Emon, Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan missed out. Afghanistan, meanwhile, named an unchanged XI.Related

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A win for Afghanistan On Tuesday will take them to the top of the Group B points table.Bangladesh: 1 Tanzid Hasan Tamim, 2 Saif Hassan, 3 Litton Das (capt & wk), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Nurul Hasan, 6 Jaker Ali, 7 Shamim Hossain, 8 Nasum Ahmed, 9 Rishad Hossain, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Taskin AhmedAfghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Sediqullah Atal, 3 Ibrahim Zadran, 4 Gulbadin Naib, 5 Karim Janat, 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan (capt), 9 Noor Ahmad, 10 AM Ghazanfar, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

Called in to replace the injured Sophie Molineux, Bekker dismissed Meg Lanning and gave away just nine runs in her four overs

AAP09-Nov-2024Local replacement player Charis Bekker went from the pub to centre stage as Melbourne Renegades posted a 15-run WBBL win over arch-rivals Melbourne Stars.Bekker was playing just her second WBBL game after being called into the squad to replace injured spinner Sophie Molineux (knee). The 20-year-old didn’t let the big stage of a Melbourne derby faze her, returning the miserly figures of 1 for 9 from her four overs to be named player of the match.”It’s been a bit of a whirlwind,” Bekker said. “I was at the pub a couple of days ago with my mates, and then got the call [to join the squad]. I played against the Scorchers which was really cool. And then hopped on a flight. It’s been really rushed.”Bekker’s maiden WBBL wicket was none other than superstar batter Meg Lanning.”Everyone was cheering me on, I was just trying to bowl my best ball, and it happened to be Meg Lanning, which was kind of awesome,” Bekker said.Deepti Sharma top-scored for Stars with 23. Georgia Wareham claimed the key wicket of captain Annabel Sutherland for 16. The result improved Renegades’ record to 3-3, while the Stars are now 2-3.Earlier, Renegades were struggling at 87 for 5 before Naomi Stalenberg (26 not out off 17 balls) and Nicole Faltum (29 off 23) added some handy runs to lift the total to 146 for 6.The Renegades were 54 for 2 after 10 overs when they took the power surge. Although Deandra Dottin fell for 7 shortly after, Renegades cracked 29 runs off the two overs. Alice Capsey and Wareham fell in quick succession before Stalenberg and Faltum steadied the ship with a 55-run stand.Stars’ run chase started slowly with the scoreboard reading 16 for 1 after five overs. Bhatia was lucky to still be there after being dropped by wicketkeeper Faltum in the first over when she was yet to score. The opener scored 22 off 26 balls, but the rest of her team-mates struggled for fluency as the required run rate ballooned out.Jemimah Rodrigues top-scored for Brisbane Heat•Getty Images

India starJemimah Rodrigues posted an impressive half-century as Brisbane Heat piled more misery on defending champions Adelaide Strikers in an eight-run win at the Gabba.Rodrigues anchored the Heat’s innings with 61 from 40 balls, belting seven fours and a six in her player-of-the-match performance. Opener Grace Harris (33 from 22) and captain Jess Jonassen (32 from 21) also provided handy knocks.In reply, Strikers were reduced to 16 for 3 in the fourth over before Bridget Patterson and Madeline Penna threatened to pull off a remarkable fightback. The unbeaten pair put on a 113-run stand for the fifth wicket – from just 62 balls – but weren’t quite able to drag their side over the line. It was the second-highest fifth-wicket stand in WBBL history.Strikers remain last on the table with a 1-4 record, while Heat (3-3) are right in the finals mix.

Former Test opener believes Smith should stay at the top against India after requesting the role last summer

Yash Jha08-Oct-2024Who will open for Australia? Who should open for Australia? Should Steven Smith continue at the top of the order or shift back to number four? These questions have surrounded the Australian Test set-up for a while, and are only gaining traction ahead of India’s visit to Australia next month.”Steve Smith made the call to be able to go and open, and I think he should stay there”. That’s the verdict from Shane Watson as the clock ticks down to the year-end Border-Gavaskar Trophy.”Obviously the safety blanket for him would be moving back to No. 4, but I would love to see him continue to take on the opening spot because he’s got the skill to be able to do it,” Watson said at the sidelines of the launch of the International Masters League in Mumbai on Tuesday.Related

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Smith’s move up the order following David Warner’s retirement after the New Year’s Test against Sydney has been a subject of widespread debate, with no clear winner. Watson himself had backed Cameron Green to succeed as Test opener before Smith’s promotion, but has been convinced otherwise by Green’s performances – headlined by a career-best match-winning 174 not out against New Zealand in Wellington.”Cameron Green came in and batted at No. 4 and did a brilliant job,” Watson said. “His hundred that he got in New Zealand was something very special and he’s the perfect No. 4 candidate now with the future, moving forward.”As if not tricky enough already, Australia’s situation has been further complicated as they sweat on Green’s availability for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which starts in Perth on November 22. The 25-year-old allrounder was flown home from the UK following the third ODI against England after complaining of soreness in his lower back. He has had four previous stress fractures prior to his Test debut in 2020 but the exact nature of his current injury has yet to be confirmed. Cricket Australia’s medical team have been carefully assessing scans over the past two weeks to map out a plan for his recovery with an announcement on his availability for the India series expected to come this week.Smith’s four-Test stint as opener so far has yielded 171 runs – over half of which came in one innings against West Indies – at an average of 28.50, but Watson thinks it’s not a problem caused by his batting position.”I believe the reason why he didn’t do so well over the previous couple of Test matches is just [that] he was a little bit off with his technique,” Watson said. “You see [saw] him getting out a couple of ways which I’ve never really seen him get out before.”I know he would’ve had time just to go away, make some little technical adjustments, and if he opens and he makes those little adjustments, he can be incredibly successful as an opening batter knowing the incredible skill that he’s got.”

<Should Brisbane have been the venue for the first Test instead of Perth?

The Gabba will not host the first Test this summer•Getty Images

Watson also voiced his dissatisfaction with the decision to keep Perth as the venue for the opening game of the five-Test series and not Brisbane, traditionally the starting point of Australian Test summers.”I’m a traditionalist at heart. Growing up, the Gabba was always the first Test match and that’s the Test match I used to go to,” the former Australia allrounder said before highlighting the challenge Gabba poses to visiting sides.”The Gabba is a more challenging place to play for the foreign teams because there’s bounce, there’s seam, there’s swing, and it’s hot and humid. So it just provides a few more challenges, whereas Perth, for example, it’s not humid, the ball doesn’t swing as much, doesn’t necessarily seam as much as well.”I always just love the Gabba as being the place for the touring team to be able to come in and have to try and just take on the Australian conditions at their most challenging.”The ‘Gabbatoir’ had been an Australian stronghold for decades, with Australia boasting a 16-2 win-loss record in Tests in Brisbane in the last 20 years. But the fortress has been breached of late. West Indies claimed an upset 8-run win in January, while India famously clinched the 2020-21 series by handing Australia their first Test defeat at the Gabba in 32 years. The ground is also coming towards the end of its use for life with CA only signing a two-year agreement to play Test matches there with doubts over the Gabba’s viability beyond that as Brisbane requires upgraded infrastructure to host the 2032 Olympic games.

Tensions between domestic and international cricket are only likely to increase, the international players’ association said

Nagraj Gollapudi29-Nov-2022Forty percent of the world’s top T20 men’s players are operating as free agents as they shun national contracts to move around the world plying their trade in lucrative domestic T20 leagues. Another 42% are operating in a hybrid model combining a national and domestic contract along with playing in at least one overseas T20 league.That means 82% of the top-100 T20 players don’t want to be shackled solely to a national contract, once the only route of sustenance and security for players. These are the core findings of the 2022 Men’s Global Employment Report conducted by the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA).FICA’s report was unveiled on Tuesday, its findings derived from the Global Player Survey conducted earlier this year. The responses come from 400 players across 11 countries, the majority of them international cricketers. The survey does not feature players from India and Pakistan as neither country has a players’ association that is affiliated with FICA.Related

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This is the third edition of the FICA report, which was conducted for the first time in 2018 and then in 2020. In its inaugural survey four years ago, FICA had warned of a flight of talent from the “vertical pathway” (graduating from domestic to international cricket) to the “horizontal pathway” (dominated by overseas T20 franchise leagues).Such a threat now is a stark reality with domestic T20 leagues (including T10 tournaments) pinned across cricket’s global landscape and dominating even the international calendar. An already crowded T20 leagues roster will see the arrival from 2023 of two new competitions: the ILT20 and the SA20, both of which start in January.Such a wider choice, FICA says, is behind the “growing trend” of players moving towards the hybrid or free agent route “with 82% of the top 100 players from the T20 Player Index” now in this category. The report does point out currently most of those free agents are players from the “smaller cricketing economies” who are making use of the “volume of opportunities” on offer.”Some of the individuals playing for 3 teams or more represent a potential new category of free-agent player ‘The league specialists’ – many of whom have limited international careers, including playing very little Test cricket, with their primary focus being in the Domestic Leagues landscape,” the report said.Players are now starting to forge careers away from the national set-ups•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Part of this band are the likes of Tim David who featured in seven T20 leagues in 2021 along with Afghanistan trio of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman each of whom played in half a dozen T20 leagues in the same year.The remaining 18%, the report pointed out, is the group of players on a more traditional employment pathway, and almost exclusively Indian players “highlighting the restraints placed” by BCCI which has barred them from featuring in overseas domestic T20 leagues. The findings also point out “40% of the top T20 players in the world” don’t have a central contract “with a top nine cricket country” (not including Zimbabwe, Ireland, Afghanistan in the 12 Full Member countries).While it admitted that “using only the T20 format as a snapshot skews the data” FICA pointed out that the shortest format was “increasingly relevant indicator as the vast majority of the best players in the world play the format.”How much is too much?To illustrate how far the landscape of international cricket has changed, FICA compared the number of ODIs/T20s across random years between 2003 and 2021. In 2003 there was no international T20 cricket, but out of 196 international matches played, 71% (152) were ODIs along with 44 Test matches. In 2021, 485 international matches were played across three formats with the break-up being: 346 T20Is (71%), 46 Tests (9%) and 93 ODIs (19%) – the vast increase in T20Is is also because of a widening of the classification in 2019 to include all such matches played between Associates.The chief catalyst behind players going solo is the lucrative remuneration on offer in these leagues, and the FICA report echoed that point. “Professional cricket is increasingly a multi-contract, multi-employer system,” the report said. “The gap between domestic earnings and international earnings has increased further since FICA’s last report and exceeds international earnings in all bar two countries.”Another major reason players, including high profile names, are redrawing their futures is the relentless international schedule which has forced a massive workload upon them. That is not going to reduce with increasing frequency of ICC tournaments in the next FTP: there are 20 global tournaments in 2024-31 FTP compared to 14 in the previous eight-year cycle (2015-23).Ben Stokes is among the leading players to have retirement from one format of the game•Getty Images

Ben Stokes sounded an alarm bell when he retired from ODIs this year. Quinton de Kock has retired from Test cricket at the age of 29. Trent Boult also gave up a central contract and decided to become a free agent, joining several other New Zealand players who have rejected a national contract.Such a trend, FICA report said, was not just limited to high profile players and would continue especially in the wake of new T20 leagues and the spread of IPL owners “horizontally” into other overseas leagues. Multiple employers and contracts would only increase the “tension” between players and their national boards, the report pointed out.”When combined with an increasingly crowded global playing schedule, and scheduling overlap between domestic leagues and international cricket, tension is created with many of the best players in the world incentivised to prioritise domestic leagues and forgo international fixtures and/or central contracts. This is further amplified by the workload of domestic leagues being generally half that of international cricket on a time / wage basis – i.e. ‘twice the pay for half the work’. Whilst this trend is not limited to ‘profile players’ some pertinent recent examples include Trent Boult rejecting a NZC central contract, Ben Stokes retiring from ODIs and Quinton de Kock retiring from Test cricket at the age of 29. This trend looks set to continue with the creation of more domestic leagues, and IPL media rights reportedly selling for over 6 billion USD for the next 5 years.”Of those who participated in the FICA survey, 49% said they would “consider rejecting a central contract if they were paid more to play in domestic leagues”, but 74% (dropping from 82% in 2018 report) still value Test cricket as the summit in the game. Seventy-nine percent wanted a threshold number for minimum and maximum number of international matches annually while 63% wanted franchises leagues “ring fenced” to have more clarity and allow domestic and international cricket to “co-exist”.Tom Moffat, the FICA CEO, said a balanced global structure was a must for the health of the game and its players and a “clear framework around bilateral international cricket scheduling” was necessary. “The majority of the value in each of the three major, revenue generating cricket landscapes, is generated through a small number of players, and those players can only be in so many places at once.”