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Women cricketers will get up to 12 months of paid leave, while male cricketers can get up to 30 days’ leave

Umar Farooq04-May-2021The PCB has launched a parental support policy, which will allow players – women and men – to get paid leave during periods of pregnancy and upon the birth of a child. Women will get up to 12 months of paid leave, with men allowed 30 days. All players can benefit from the scheme immediately, and it will start with Bismah Maroof, who recently took an indefinite break to prepare for motherhood.”The PCB has a duty of care towards its cricketers and, at every turn, it has taken measures to support them,” Wasim Khan, the PCB chief executive officer, said. “In this relation, it is appropriate that we have a player-friendly parental support policy so that our professional cricketers can feel fully supported during an important stage in their lives, without worrying about their careers.”To have this policy for our women cricketers was even more significant. Women play a pivotal role in the development of society and our women cricketers have brought us laurels and recognition on the world stage. Now that we have a maternity leave policy, I am hopeful that it will attract more women and girls to take up the sport as this will help them strike a crucial work-life balance.”The PCB’s central contracts don’t have any specific clauses covering parental leave. But the Maroof example has encouraged the PCB to look for an opportunity to review the contract clauses, making it more progressive. The term of the present annual contracts, for both men and women, ends in two months but the policy stands effective for any contracted player.Apart from the paid leave, contracted women cricketers are guaranteed contract extension for the following year even after 12 months away. For men, the one-month leave has to be availed within the first 56 days of the birth of the child.Women’s cricket took off properly in an organised fashion in Pakistan in the late 1990s. But several women cricketers have left the game after marrying or having children. There are exceptions. Batool Fatima became a coach, while Nain Abidi did play after getting married in 2017. Asmavia Iqbal retired from her playing career after marriage and took up a role as a selector. The new policy hopes to prolong women’s cricketing careers with the flexibility offered following the birth of children.Key features of the policy

• Women cricketers to transfer to a non-playing role until the commencement of their maternity leave leading up to the birth of their child
• Women cricketers are entitled to take up to 12 months of paid maternity leave and will be guaranteed a contract extension for the following year, in line with their existing contractual arrangements
• Upon conclusion of the maternity leave, the player will be reintegrated into cricketing activities and provided adequate medical and physical support in respect of their post-childbirth rehabilitation
• If a woman player is required to travel for cricketing activities, the PCB will support the player by allowing her to travel with a support person of her choice to assist in caring for her infant child, with the travel and accommodation costs to be shared equally
• Upon conclusion of the maternity leave, the player will be reintegrated into cricketing activities and provided adequate medical and physical support in respect of their post-childbirth rehabilitation

Coach reveals allrounder only began ‘return-to-bowling’ programme upon arrival in England

Valkerie Baynes24-Sep-2020West Indies are taking a cautious approach to Deandra Dottin’s bowling return as she continues her comeback from a serious shoulder injury.Andre Coley, West Indies women’s interim head coach, has revealed that Dottin, who is yet to bowl in the T20I series against England and sent down just two overs in the tourists’ two intra-squad warm-up matches, only began a “back-to-bowling” training programme after arriving in England on August 31.”She’s recovered from injury,” Coley said. “It’s no secret that our players haven’t been able to do much for a very long time and Deandra is on a back-to-bowling programme, she started that while she was here so she’s still on that. We need to make sure that she’s 100 percent to be able to go on competitively.”She has been doing bowling work behind the scenes, during training, and we are comfortable in terms of where she’s at, but we want to make sure that long-term she’s okay and she can actually bowl at the intensity that she wants consistently and not just for a game or two games.”We are we are happy that healing is there, it is really now just getting her back into bowling, making sure that her lines are good and she’s actually 100 percent to bowl.”ALSO READ: ‘I want to be a genuine allrounder’ – GlennWest Indies’ hastily arranged tour of England came after India and South Africa cancelled their planned series in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which time West Indies’ players had undergone limited preparation compared to England, who returned to individual training in June in the expectation of hosting some international cricket during their summer.Dottin missed a year of international cricket from February 2019 and underwent surgery on her right, bowling, shoulder in June of that year. She made her top-level return at the T20 World Cup earlier this year, where she did not bowl.She could be seen with her shoulder wrapped in ice packs in the dugout after batting in West Indies’ 47-run loss to England on Wednesday evening, the second time in their five-match series that the tourists have been defeated by that margin. But Coley said icing the shoulder was about preventing any further injury.”She’s fine as far as I’m aware,” he said. “She’s returning from an injury which had her off from competitive cricket for a while so anything that you would have seen around shoulder stuff would have been just pre-habbing, making sure that we’re managing. There’s no injuries around the shoulder at the moment.”It could be argued that West Indies have missed Dottin’s bowling so far this series when they struggled to contain England opener Tammy Beaumont in the first match and failed to clean up the England tail in the second.But Dottin has done her part with the bat – her 69 in the first match was the best by any batter from either side, albeit in a losing cause, and she was the pick of the West Indies line-up again with her 38 in the second.Dottin’s performances with the bat have highlighted a key problem for West Indies though, an over-reliance on Dottin and captain Stafanie Taylor at the top of the order. It means that if neither them nor Hayley Matthews, who has had a lean series so far with twin scores of just 3, are able to bat deep, their chances fall away rapidly.”Contributions, we have discussed it, since we have been here we have done work around it,” Coley said. “We have to be realistic about our resources. Our main batters basically are at the top. We have young players who have potential but obviously still need to continue to grow and improve. It’s really about how they can actually support the top-order batters. It’s got to be key in our side.”If a couple of players from the top five actually bat very deep, and in the event that we need the lower-order batting then they’ll have to support, but because of the lack of depth in the lower order, unfortunately our reality is that the bulk of the scoring is really left with about three or four players.”England can clinch an unassailable 3-0 series lead with victory in the next match on Saturday.

Board CEO cites “lack of preparation” as the reason for the decision

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Feb-2020The Bangladesh Cricket Board has declined the Pakistan Cricket Board’s proposal to play their second and final Test in early April as a day-night affair, saying that the team is not prepared for it at the moment.”We have spoken with our team management and they are not ready to play a day-night Test at the moment, due to lack of preparation,” Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the BCB chief executive, was quoted as saying by .”The board understands their [team management] point of view and, after taking everything into consideration, we have decided not to play day-night Test in Pakistan.”The Bangladesh tour of Pakistan was finalised as a three-part affair because of the visitors’ concerns about the security situation. The first leg, of three T20Is, was played over a four-day period in January in Lahore, Pakistan winning 2-0, and the first of two Tests was played earlier this month, Bangladesh losing by an innings and 44 runs.The third leg, in early April, will feature a one-off ODI and the second Test, both in Karachi. The two-Test series is part of the World Test Championship.Pakistan have played four day-night Tests so far, losing in Australia in 2016 and 2019 and winning one – against West Indies in Dubai in 2016 – and losing one – against Sri Lanka in Dubai in 2017. As for Bangladesh, their maiden foray into the format didn’t go as expected, as they lost by an innings and 46 runs to India in Kolkata late last year.

Andre Russell also returns for West Indies, and is expected to make his first ODI appearance since 2015

The Preview by Mohammad Isam21-Jul-2018

Big Picture

ODIs haven’t been much on the menu for Bangladesh and West Indies off late, as the impending series is only their second assignment in the format in 2018. The hosts’ successful qualification into next year’s World Cup means that their summit climb starts here at home, against a Bangladesh side that is eager to find a footing after the terrible Test series.The visitors have the inspirational Mashrafe Mortaza back in their ranks. It was a touch-and-go thing for him to come to the West Indies after he stayed back with his ill wife for much of the last four weeks. But he will be pleased to find that his squad has extra cover for batting and pace bowling.Apart from the big four – Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah – in their batting line-up, Mashrafe has Anamul Haque, Liton Das, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain and Nazmul Hossain Shanto to try different combinations. Among them, Liton is likely to have won the openers’ battle against Anamul Haque while Sabbir and Mosaddek have to fight for the lower-order finisher’s role.Mashrafe will lead the pace attack alongside the returning Mustafizur Rahman who has much to prove after he missed the Afghanistan T20s and the West Indies Tests due to injury. Rubel Hossain will be enlivened by a format in which he is better at, than Tests or T20s, while Abu Jayed would also be buoyed by his Test showing. Abu Hider, who has played couple of T20s, provides variety with his left-arm pace. In the spin department, Shakib and Mehidy Hasan Miraz are joined by Nazmul Islam who has impressed in recent T20s.The home side meanwhile has made several changes to the side that played in Zimbabwe in March. Gone are Carlos Brathwaite, Sheldon Cottrell, Nikita Miller, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuel and Kesrick Williams; Alzarri Joseph and Kieran Powell have been brought in while Andre Russell makes a comeback to the ODI side after three years.West Indies will feel more confident than Bangladesh given how the Test series went. Now, Jason Holder has Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis and Russell for the batting firepower, though they will surely miss the services of Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach. Holder, however, can depend on his own bowling form, with help from Joseph and Keemo Paul, who impressed on Test debut a week ago, and spinners Devendra Bishoo and Ashley Nurse.

Form Guide

West Indies: LWWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Bangladesh: LLWWW

In the spotlight

Jason Holder’s 11-wicket haul in the second Test has put him front and centre on Bangladesh’s radar. Holder has also been West Indies’ most successful bowler in the last 12 months, picking up 22 wickets. His batting can be dangerous in the late overs too, especially now that Andre Russell has returned to the ODI squad.Surprisingly, Bangladesh’s highest wicket-taker in the last 12 months has been Rubel Hossain. The 14 wickets at 20.14 is a far cry from his Test average of 157.00 during the same period. Bangladesh will depend on him with the middle and slog overs, with the hope that he finds his rhythm.Jason Holder celebrates a wicket•Getty Images

Team news

West Indies will have three automatic changes as Samuels, Carlos Brathwaite and Kemar Roach are not in the current ODI squad. Powell may get the nod ahead of Jason Mohammed while Russell will certainly take Brathwaite’s place as one of the pace-bowling allrounders. Joseph may play in place of Roach, which would leave Nurse out.West Indies (probable): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Shai Hope (wk), 4 Kieran Powell, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Jason Holder (capt), 7 Rovman Powell, 8 Andre Russell, 9 Devendra Bishoo, 10 Keemo Paul 11 Alzarri JosephBangladesh will be making two changes from their previous ODI, which was all the way back in January 27. Mohammad Mithun and Mohammad Saifuddin are out, with Liton likely to open with Tamim. Jayed and Hider have to wait for their turn to be part of the pace attack.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Liton Das, 3 Sabbir Rahman, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Shakib Al Hasan 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mosaddek Hossain , 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Pitch and conditions

The Providence Stadium’s pitches were unpredictable when ODIs were last played here in 2017, but more recently in CPL and first-class matches, sides batting first couldn’t really kick on. There is a forecast of showers in the morning, so there could be a delayed start.

Stats and trivia

• Chris Gayle and Mushfiqur Rahim have 500-plus runs in West Indies-Bangladesh ODIs, with both close to overtaking Marlon Samuels’ 523 runs, the top-scorer in this particular contest.
• Evin Lewis is 32 runs short of completing 1,000 ODI runs, and if he does it in the first ODI, he will become the fourth West Indies batsman to have done it in 30 innings or less. Sir Vivian Richards still holds the world record for fastest to 1,000 ODI runs, having done it in 21 innings.

The 27-year-old fast bowler had only just overcome a knee problem to play the recently concluded series against West Indies

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jan-2018Doug Bracewell has been ruled out of New Zealand’s first two ODIs against Pakistan with a hamstring problem. The 27-year-old fast bowler had only just returned from a hiatus of nearly a year in the recently concluded series against West Indies, playing five out of six limited-overs matches to pick up six wickets. On Wednesday, though, he hurt his right leg in the field and will now undergo medical assessment to determine his recovery.

New Zealand ODI squad

Kane Williamson (capt), Todd Astle, George Worker, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Colin Munro, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.

Opening batsman George Worker has been called up as replacement. He struck back-to-back ODI fifties against West Indies and has also played well for the Central Stags in the ongoing Super Smash T20 tournament. Having hit 75 off only 38 balls, and coupling that with a wicket as well, the 28-year-old will join the national squad in Wellington on Friday.New Zealand coach Mike Hesson sympathised with Bracewell, considering the fast bowler had battled a difficult knee-injury over the previous season. “Doug’s worked really hard to make it back into the side after a pretty serious injury last year and he’s impressed in the opportunities he’s had. We know he’s a hard trainer and back him to rehab well and be available for selection in the not too distant future.”Colin de Grandhomme, who took time off after the death of his father, is expected to be back in action for Auckland from Sunday. Hesson hoped the 31-year old allrounder would then be available for the final three ODIs of the Pakistan series, the squad for which is yet to be picked. The first out of five ODIs will be played on January 6 at the Basin Reserve.

David Richardson, the ICC’s chief executive, has indicated that cricket’s governing body has come around to the idea of cricket becoming an Olympic sport

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Mar-20172:51

‘T20 is a natural fit in the Olympics’ – Sandusky

David Richardson, the ICC chief executive, has indicated that the governing body has come around to the idea of cricket becoming an Olympic sport, and that it is close to making a decision on whether to apply to the IOC for involvement in the 2024 Games.The question of cricket’s inclusion at the Olympics has long been fraught with difficulties but, speaking at the SportPro conference in London, Richardson reportedly gave his backing to the move, which would likely take the form of a T20 tournament featuring six to eight teams.”We need to make a decision by July this year so we can make an application in time for September, when, as I understand it, the IOC will consider new sports for 2024,” he said. “I think the majority of the members – and certainly myself – think the time is right and we’ve come to the conclusion that the overall benefit to the game in terms of globalising and growing it, outweigh any negatives, so I’m hoping.”The host city for the 2024 Olympics has yet to be determined, with only Los Angeles and Paris left in the running (Rome, which has withdrawn from the bidding process, had previously given its backing to cricket being played). Cricket has only featured at one previous Olympics, the 1900 Paris Games.”T20 is the ideal format and we’d say even better than rugby sevens as it’s actually one of the mainstream formats of cricket,” Richardson said. “Neither LA or Paris would be a disaster for us, in fact both would be opportunistic, especially the US option.”The BCCI has been seen as the major obstacle within the ICC. The ECB was previously opposed to the idea, fearing it would clash with the English season, but the new chairman, Colin Graves, signalled a change in stance after taking office in 2015. Making cricket part of the Olympic programme has been seen as a way to gain access to increased funding and help spread the game globally, with the MCC a consistently strong advocate.Richardson said the IOC had decreed the best players must be involved if cricket is to win inclusion – “They’ve told us we mustn’t send beach cricket or six-a-side teams, it must be a format played at international level and it must be our top players” – and mooted the possibility of regional qualifying tournaments to decide which countries get to take part at the Olympics. He also suggested that England would be able to compete as Great Britain and potentially select Scottish or Irish players.”From an ICC perspective, the fixture calendar is the most challenging part of it,” he said. “In the northern hemisphere, the Olympics are held in the English summer, so that’s a problem for them if they’ve got an Ashes series on. So there will be issues and England in the past have said ‘are we sure we want to go down this route?'”

Dwayne Bravo has replaced Darren Sammy as the West Indies ODI captain for the Champions Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff04-May-2013

West Indies squad for the Champions Trophy

Dwayne Bravo (capt.), Denesh Ramdin (wk & vice-capt), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith

Dwayne Bravo has replaced Darren Sammy as the West Indies ODI captain for the Champions Trophy. Sammy, who retains his place in the side, will continue to lead them in Tests and Twenty20 internationals. Under Sammy, West Indies won the World Twenty20, but have won only three ODI series over the last three years, two of them against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.”Our results in Tests and T20s have been showing consistent improvement, and Sammy deserves every kudos for the work he has done in leading and moulding the team in these formats,” chairman of the selection panel, Clyde Butts, said. “We remain confident in his leadership in these formats, and will recommend that he continues as the captain for Test and T20 cricket.”However, our ODI results have not been as strong, and we believe that it is best that we freshen the leadership of the team in this format.”West Indies have won 19 and lost 30 ODIs under Sammy, who first captained them in April 2010. Sammy averages 21 with the bat and 42 with the ball in the format. He has often been criticised for batting too low – usually No. 8 – to justify his place as primarily a bowler of limited penetration. However, that criticism hasn’t been limited to just one format.I’ll take it from here: Dwayne Bravo replaces Darren Sammy as ODI captain•AFP

Bravo, who averages 24 with the bat and 30 with the ball, was thrilled at the news. “I must say congratulations to Sammy in his leadership of the team, and I am very happy to be taking over from him,” he said. “I am even happier that he remains in the team, and I am looking forward to working with him along with the team management and all the players, especially vice-captain Denesh Ramdin, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kieron Pollard and Marlon Samuels.”Sammy pledged support to the new captain. “I congratulate Dwayne Bravo,” he said, “and give him my full support as he leads the ODI team. He can be assured of my unwavering commitment to the team and our plans to be champions of one-day cricket.”Bravo did captain West Indies in February when Sammy was rested during the home ODIs against Zimbabwe.For the Champions Trophy, Andre Russell, Narsingh Deonarine, Veerasammy Permaul and Kieran Powell were left out from the 13-man squad that faced Zimbabwe. Sammy, Ravi Rampaul, Samuels, Gayle, Devon Smith and youngster Jason Holder made comebacks.”We have shown confidence in the players who have served well in both the batting and bowling departments, and have identified some young players such as Jason Holder and Johnson Charles who add quality to the squad,” Butts said.Among those left out, only Powell was injured. Darren Bravo, who has undergone a minor eye surgery, was picked although he is yet to resume playing for Trinidad & Tobago.

Australia seamer set to be available for full Blast season

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Dec-2022Kane Richardson will play county cricket for the first time in 2023 after signing a contract with Kent for the duration of the T20 Blast.Richardson, the death-overs specialist who has been a regular feature of Australia’s white-ball squads, played English domestic cricket for the first time last summer, taking 13 wickets for Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred.He has not registered for the upcoming IPL auction, having been part of the competition in previous seasons, which means he will be available for the duration of the Blast, including the knockout stages.Kent were Blast champions in 2021 but struggled badly in their title defence last summer, winning only three of their 14 group-stage games. They have lost Matt Milnes, a key part of their T20 attack, to Yorkshire this winter but have recruited the veteran Michael Hogan from Glamorgan and confirmed Richardson’s signing on Monday.”Kent have a great T20 pedigree and I’m looking forward to the challenge of performing in the Vitality Blast for the first time,” Richardson said. “I know the club has won both English white-ball titles in the last two years and it’ll be my job to help us continue this hot run of form in 2023.”Paul Downton, Kent’s director of cricket, said that Richardson would play an important role as a senior player to help the development of their younger seam bowlers. “We’re really excited to have Kane join us for the whole T20 competition this year,” he said.”He’s an established international bowler who will bring a vast amount of experience to the club. His skillset is up there with the best and he will be an invaluable source of information to our young and developing seamers.”Counties are permitted three overseas players in their squad simultaneously but only two can feature in the playing XI in any given competition. Last year, Kent used George Linde and Qais Ahmad as their overseas players in the Blast, and Linde is due to return for the second year of his contract in 2023.Kent’s Blast season starts at home to Gloucestershire on May 23. Their final group game is away at Somerset on July 2, with the knockout stages due to be staged in the subsequent two weeks.

Contingency plans include resetting bubbles from scratch if there is a Covid-19 outbreak; no window later in year if tournament stalled

Umar Farooq20-Jan-2022The PCB is set to host another season of the Pakistan Super League during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the first 15 games to be played in Karachi from January 27, and the remaining matches scheduled in Lahore, including the final on February 27. There are provisions in place to avoid a postponement even if a handful of players contract Covid-19 – the franchises have 20 players on their roster, with an additional pool of reserve players to provide cover in case of an outbreak.ESPNcricinfo has obtained PSL’s Covid-19 protocol document, which details how the PCB will form its bio-bubble environment. The document broadly covers health and safety protocols that are being put in place at venues, and has a step-by-step guide to every stage of the tournament.What will the PSL’s bio-secure bubble look like?
This season the PCB has replicated the biosecure bubble that was created by Restrata, an independent company that managed the environment during the rescheduled Abu Dhabi leg last season. The PCB will regulate the bubble itself, forming three distinct bubbles with different protocols.The main bubble will comprise all teams, support staff, match officials, hotel staff and certain PCB officials. Vehicle drivers, close protection security staff, reserve players, bubble-integrity managers, anti-corruption officials and hotel staff will all reside within the bubble and are not allowed to leave. As per the guidelines, each franchise will be allotted rooms on a separate floor of the hotel and maximum possible efforts will be made to avoid interaction between teams at the hotel.The second bubble will be created in a separate hotel and will include the TV production crew, key event management staff and essential hotel staff and drivers. The third bubble will comprise of groundstaff, who will be housed in dedicated biosecure accommodation.Vigilance will be more stringent for the primary bubble. The bubbles cannot interact with each other and every individual will be required to follow general health and safety guidelines, as well as specific protocols to maintain the integrity of the bubble.How often are teams going to be tested for Covid-19?
There will be as many as 17 tests starting on January 20 – the day teams are checking into the hotel. There is a mandatory three-day quarantine, followed by four days of training, before the tournament starts from January 27 in Karachi. The first three days of quarantine will have regular testing before everyone with two negative PCR results is allowed to enter the bubble. Every individual will then have a PCR test every second day.What if an individual requires hospital treatment for an injury or illness?
The PCB has designated Agha Khan Hospital in Karachi and Hameed Latif Hospital in Lahore to handle all potential medical requirements of individuals involved in the PSL.A medical passage will be established through which individuals requiring hospital visits for scans and/or consultations will be moved with minimal contact with others. Individuals will be provided a dedicated treatment room, sanitised passageways, PPE suits for all medical staff and will be taken around in a dedicated vehicle.What happens in case of a positive test?
The individual(s) will be immediately separated from the rest of the squad and undergo a PCR test.All close contacts (those who have had an interaction of longer than 15 minutes from less than two metres away in the previous 48 hours) will be isolated and tested. All casual contacts will also be isolated and tested immediately.Once the case is confirmed as positive, the individual will isolate for a minimum of seven days and self-monitor their symptoms, providing updates to the Bio-bubble integrity manager. On day seven, if the individual is asymptomatic, they will have to undergo a Rapid Antigen Test and on returning a negative result, can be re-integrated into their bubble.If symptoms persist on day seven, the isolation will continue till day 10. If the individual is asymptomatic on that day, there will be no need for an exit test to rejoin the bubble.What happens if protocols and guidelines are breached?
With every team there will be a bio-bubble integrity manager policing the bubble. The offender may face a sanction ranging from reprimand to expulsion from the league. Penalties can be levied for minor or major breaches, from game bans to match-fee fines. The PCB can require any participant to quarantine in their hotel room in case of a breach, and undergo repeated testing.How many fans will be permitted?
The PCB had originally announced full crowds for both the Karachi and Lahore legs. However, Pakistan’s National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) determines regulations surrounding Covid-19 restrictions, and with cases rising steeply in Pakistan over the past few weeks – particularly in Karachi – the NCOC announced that the Karachi leg would see a maximum of 25% crowd attendance. Lahore, for now, is still set to see full crowds. Spectators’ entry is subject to Covid-19 protocols – no one will be allowed to enter the venue without a valid vaccination certificate.What is the PCB’s contingency plan for a Covid outbreak?
Each of the last two seasons, the PSL was played over two legs due to Covid outbreaks, but this season, the PCB has made contingency plans to try and ensure the PSL isn’t postponed or cancelled. The PSL management will instead reset the bubble and start over after seven days, recreating the bio-bubble from scratch. In case of outbreaks among franchises, matches can go ahead as long as there are 13 players available on each side. There will also be a reserve pool for franchises to pick players from. A PCB official confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that if the league were to be postponed for some reason, it would have to be cancelled altogether, since there will be no window to play the remaining games.Could the entirety of the PSL be held in one city?
It would appear unlikely at present. ESPNcricinfo understands that all bookings and hotel confirmations have been finalised in both Karachi and Lahore, and there are at present no plans to change that.

Sri Lanka’s batting coach said the 23-year-old’s ability was the reason he was pushed up to open the batting

Mohammad Isam02-Feb-2018Sri Lanka’s new coaching set-up believed that Kusal Mendis would benefit from opening the batting in Tests. He has responded by scoring 196 on return and Thilan Samaraweera, the batting coach, said that although he would be disappointed at missing out on a double-century for the second time in his career, the change in batting position would benefit him in the long-term.Mendis’ career-best score, however, made him the second Sri Lankan after Kumar Sangakkara to get out in the 190s at least twice. He has done it in the space of 11 months too, but what is most encouraging is his proclivity towards making big hundreds – three of his four centuries are over 175 runs. Samaraweera said that Mendis’ ability against spin gives him the added advantage.”I think full credit goes to Dhananjaya [de Silva] and Kusal Mendis after we lost an early wicket,” Samaraweera said. “They put on a 300-run partnership. After Bangladesh made 513 runs, we told the team that we should keep batting. Those two players set the tone, especially after losing the in-form man from last year.”I think he is disappointed. The bigger picture is that if he had scored those two double-hundreds, it would have been very special for a 23-year-old. We want to give him every opportunity. We believe he has a lot of ability, which is why we put him in the opening position.”Samaraweera said that Sri Lanka don’t have a set target but would be taking a call on that if they can bat comfortably till the lunch session on the fourth day. “The first two hours are important tomorrow,” he said. “We have to keep building partnerships. We have to bat normally because 180 is a lot of overs. We have three quality spinners.”But the Bangladesh camp wasn’t planning in the same way. Given that they have only picked up three wickets, the home side are already looking ahead to their second innings which they expect to start at some point on the fourth day. Khaled Mahmud, the technical director, said that they are hoping the pitch plays similarly over the last two days, which may make it easier for their batsmen to take them to safety.”Sri Lanka are in a better position given how the game has panned out. Tomorrow is very important for us to see how quickly we can bowl them out and then bat well in the second innings. I think a lot will depend on how the wicket plays on the fourth day. I believe that it still hasn’t deteriorated that much at this stage.”I don’t want to give excuses and complain about the wicket. It is a batting-friendly wicket. I think we wanted a slow wicket with a bit of turn which would have helped us. Nevertheless we batted well on this wicket. We have to play good cricket in the last two days.”One of the major problems for Bangladesh was the one-dimensional shape of their attack. Offspinner Mehidy Hasan has bowled only 19 overs so far, while the two left-arm spinners Sunzamul Islam and Taijul Islam have bowled 88 overs combined.Mahmud said that it was captain Mahmudullah’s decision to bring Mehidy in as late as the last 15 minutes in the first session, perhaps because there were two right-handers at the crease.”It was nothing to do with strategy. The captain took the decision. Maybe because there were two right-handers at the crease. But I always say that’s not the main thing. Miraz [Mehidy] is a fine Test bowler. I think the thinking was to bring him in later.”