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Plays of the Day for the 17th match, between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium

Cricinfo staff22-Mar-2010Fumbling times for Tare
Twice in the first over of the match, Aditya Tare failed to collect the ball cleanly. On both occasions the ball arrived at a slower pace than the Mumbai glove-man would’ve expected, but both times Tare was besides the line of the delivery instead of lining himself behind. He continued to fumble frequently, adding to the bowlers’ and Sachin Tendulkar’s frustration. Three overs before the Kolkata innings came to an end, Ryan McLaren’s attempted yorker to Owais Shah went wide, but Tare was once again was slow off his haunches, and his dive came late as the opposition picked a few more extras.Simon says not out
Dwayne Bravo picked a return ball from Chris Gayle and immediatlely threw at the stumps, finding the Jamaican halfway down the pitch. But Gayle, having been sent back by Sourav Ganguly, charged back home to beat Bravo’s direct throw in the nick of time. Simon Taufel, the square-leg umpire, did the right thing to re-arrange the bails and avoid cutting the rhythm of the match, even if the entire Mumbai team pleaded him to refer the decision to the third umpire.Bravo, bravo
After his first over in the second spell went for 13 runs, Bravo, before passing the ball to the captain, bounced it hard on the pitch in disgust but the rebound came back swiftly to hit him flush on the face. Bravo didn’t wince, and the consummate cricketer that he is, was furious at himself for leaking runs.“Sky is your limit”, Dinda to Gayle
During the batting time out taken by Kolkata, 12th man Ashok Dinda rushed into the field, along with Dav Whatmore. As the Kolkata coach got busy with Owais Shah, Dinda threw the towel to Gayle and started pointing towards the top tier of the CCI pavilion, inspiring the West Indian to hit over the sky. Though the distance was within manageable limits for the 6’4″ tall West Indian, it was a big challenge considering the Mumbai bowlers were firing yorker-length deliveries at him consistently; in the end Dinda’s demands went unfulfilled.Hazare presses the panic button
On the final delivery of the Kolkata innings, Zaheer Khan fired in a searing inswinging yorker against Gayle. Gayle had moved a step down the legside when the ball hit him on the toe of his back leg, which was easily half a yard, if not a full one, down the leg side. But the umpire Sanjay Hazare, reluctant initially, finally raised his finger after Zaheer started to appeal incessantly.Kartik goes blind, makes Dada angry
Murali Kartik, Kolkata’s best bowler, made an impact immediately by picking a wicket in his first over. And in the following over, he nearly snatched the prized wicket of Tendulkar, as the Mumbai captain’s leading edge flew back towards Kartik. However, Kartik failed to sight the ball at all and came up with a late attempt which proved to be unsatisfactory. Ganguly, standing at cover shrieked at his bowler knowing well it would be the most important turning point of the match as Tendulkar was on 41 and the match still hung in the balance.Ganguly gives extra workouts
Throughout the Mumbai innings bowlers argued with Ganguly about the fields he was setting. One fine example was when Angelo Mathews pushed Shane Bond back towards the third man and positioned Owais Shah at short-fine leg. The very next instant, Ganguly got Bond inside the circle while sending Shah towards fine leg. Mathews argued strongly, waving his hands, forcing Ganguly to reverse his decision. Ganguly’s indecisiveness only added to the workload of his fielders.

Former India great set to become the first capped male Indian player to play in the BBL with Thunder, Hurricanes, Sixers and Strikers all chasing him

Alex Malcolm and Sidharth Monga23-Sep-2025R Ashwin is set to become the first capped male India player to play in the BBL with four clubs vying for his services to play in the latter stages of the upcoming season.It is understood that Sydney Thunder, Hobart Hurricanes, Sydney Sixers and Adelaide Strikers are the four teams chasing Ashwin’s signature in what is set to be a major coup for the BBL. Thunder and Hurricanes appear to be the frontrunners for the India great with a deal likely to be finalised later this week.No internationally capped India male player has played in the BBL previously, but Ashwin’s retirement from the IPL earlier this year has opened the door for him to play franchise cricket overseas for the first time.Related

• Ashwin enters ILT20 auction with the highest base price for any player

• R Ashwin brings curtain down on 'my time as an IPL cricketer'

• Afridi, Rizwan and Rauf among top picks at BBL overseas drafts

• All the BBL and WBBL squads for 2025-26 season

• CA exploring BBL investment 'unashamedly' to be second behind IPL

Only retired Indian players are allowed by the BCCI to participate in overseas T20 leagues. Earlier this year, Dinesh Karthik played for Paarl Royals in the SA20. In 2023, Ambati Rayudu turned up to play for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the CPL, and then in January 2024 with MI Emirates in the ILT20. Robin Uthappa and Yusuf Pathan featured for Dubai Capitals in the ILT20. Two years ago, Suresh Raina was part of Deccan Gladiators in the Abu Dhabi T10.Ashwin has already committed to the first-ever ILT20 auction in the UAE, which will take place next Tuesday. If bought, he will play out the ILT20, which has changed dates for the upcoming season and will now run from December 2 until January 4.The BBL begins on December 14, and the home-and-away part of the season runs until January 18. The finals will be held between January 20 and 25. It means Ashwin will be available for three-four games at the end of the season for one of those teams, plus finals should the team he signs with qualify. ESPNcricinfo understands that his deal will also include the BBL for the 2026-27 season.BBL clubs can only play three overseas players in their XI. Each of the clubs has already locked three players in via the league’s pre-signing rules and the June overseas draft. Clubs can sign an additional four overseas replacement players, meaning they can have up to seven on their list, but only three can play at any one time. Also, if any of the teams release an international player for SA20, Ashwin could fit in as a replacement for him.The league rules state that replacement overseas players have to nominate themselves for the draft, which Ashwin did not as he had not retired from IPL cricket at the time. But there is an exemption for overseas players to be allowed to play in the BBL if their circumstances have changed. Former New Zealand batter Martin Guptill was previously signed by Melbourne Renegades in 2022-23 after retiring from international cricket despite missing the inaugural BBL overseas draft. England star Nat Sciver-Brunt was allowed to play for Perth Scorchers in the WBBL after being cleared by the ECB, having initially been ruled out of nominating for the draft due to injury.The club that signs Ashwin will still have to fit his salary inside their overall purse, much of which will already have been allocated for most squads, but there will likely be an additional marketing agreement with Cricket Australia that will not count towards the salary cap for the team that lands him.Teams can also go over the cap by 5% in a particular year with approval from the league’s technical committee, provided that it is offset over a three-year period.

The Australia allrounder reflects on his first-hand experience of facing new pace sensation Mayank Yadav

Alex Malcolm04-Apr-20242:25

Maxwell: Mayank’s consistent high pace is rare

Glenn Maxwell has described the pace of Mayank Yadav as “pretty formidable” and believes the speeds he produced were the equivalent of former Australia quick Shaun Tait in his prime.Maxwell was one of Mayank’s three victims in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s loss to Lucknow Super Giants at home on Tuesday.Mayank’s stunning display earned him his second straight player of the match award and sent shockwaves to Australia given he bounced out Maxwell and castled Cameron Green with two deliveries above 150kph.Related

• India need to make an effort to invest in Mayank Yadav

• Injured Mayank Yadav 'unlikely to play' next two games for LSG, says Justin Langer

• Aussies at the IPL: Marsh's hamstring concern, Maxwell and Green struggle

• Moody: Mayank 'definitely in the conversation' for T20 World Cup

• When Mayank hushed the Chinnaswamy

Speaking on ESPN’s , Maxwell said he had paid close attention to Mayank while watching LSG’s previous game against Punjab Kings but nothing could prepare him for the real thing.”I thought it was really impressive,” Maxwell said. “He hurried on a few of the Punjab batters and I certainly did a little bit of homework before coming up against him. But it’s nothing doing homework against someone until you actually see it coming out of the hand and have to try and pick up the length.”He bowled me the first one which was just a high bouncer and the wicket that we’ve been producing at [Bengaluru] has been a little bit two-paced and it sort of came through a bit slower than I thought it was going to. And I was like, ah, that wasn’t too bad.”And then the next one was hard length and skidded on probably faster than I thought it was going to be and as you saw I went to pull thinking that I picked up the length really well and before you know it, it’s on you, hitting the shoulder the bat and ballooning up in the air.”He has some real extra speed that you don’t really see a lot of around world cricket at the moment. You see guys bowl pretty consistently around the 140s [kph] or high 140s. But to have mid-150s consistently in your arsenal is pretty formidable.”Maxwell said that the closest comparison he could draw in terms of pace was to Tait, who he faced in Australian domestic cricket in the second half of his career.”It’s such a beautiful smooth action,” Maxwell said. “He [Mayank] sort of glided through the crease really nicely. I think pace-wise, the only one that I can sort of really resemble it to is a little bit like Shaun Tait when he was in his heyday.”I think when he was at the peak of his powers it was extremely hard to pick up the extra zip it feels like it has off the wicket. I think that’s as close as it probably comes to it.”Maxwell admitted that he and RCB had not started well after losing three of their first four games. Maxwell has bowled impressively but has scores of 0, 3, 28 and 0. He said that RCB’s overseas batters in particularly were having trouble adjusting to some unexpected surfaces in Bengaluru in particular.”It obviously hasn’t been a great start for us or myself individually,” Maxwell said. “It’s been a little bit of a struggle. I think we’ve been probably caught a little bit behind with our conditions that we’ve probably produced in the first few home games as well.”I think last year we had a beautiful even wicket that we were able to I suppose get ourselves into the game, get our top batters going and I’ve felt that those two-paced wickets it’s just been a bit of a struggle for our overseas players to get into the game and get that sort of consistency of performance. And when you start slow in T20 cricket it can be a hard thing to come back and find rhythm to get back into it. So hopefully this little away trip does us some good.”

Mike Baird, the former NSW premier, will take up the position next February

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Dec-2022Cricket Australia will have its fourth chair in less than 18 months after Lachlan Henderson announced he would step down early next year having taken a new role in the corporate world.Mike Baird, the former New South Wales premier, will take up the position next February having been unanimously endorsed.Henderson, who will remain on the board, became chair in February when he was appointed the permanent replacement for Earl Eddings who resigned in October 2021. Richard Freudenstein held the role in an interim position before Henderson.

Chair stacking

David Peever: 2015-2018
Earl Eddings: 2018-2021
Richard Freudenstein: 2021-22 (interim)
Lachlan Henderson: 2022-23
Mike Baird: 2023-

“The new role I’ve taken in my home city Perth will make it difficult to devote the time required as Chair, so I have decided this is the right time to hand over the role,” Henderson said.Baird will take the chair at a crucial time for the game in Australia with the next broadcast rights and new MoU currently being negotiated.”Lachlan has made a great contribution as Chair and I’m delighted he will continue to provide his considerable business and cricket expertise on the CA Board,” he said.”It is an honour to take such an important role in Australian cricket at a time when so much exciting work is being done to grow our national sport and take it forward. I’m pleased to have the chance to work even more closely with CEO Nick Hockley and his team and all those working across Australian cricket.”It was been a controversial week for CA amid the fallout to David Warner withdrawing from his bid to have his leadership ban overturned, a process that was led by CEO Nick Hockley and endorsed by the board.

Shoulder injury will likely rule batter out for six weeks

Andrew Fidel Fernando15-Jul-2021Kusal Perera is almost certain to be out of Sri Lanka’s series against India, after picking up a shoulder injury. The team has not divulged the exact nature of the injury, nor withdrawn him officially, but a team doctor says he’s likely to be out for six weeks.Although Perera is no longer captain, having been replaced in that role by Dasun Shanaka following the contracts standoff between the players and the board, he remains one of Sri Lanka’s key batters in the top order. He is, in addition, the team’s primary wicketkeeping option, with Niroshan Dickwella still suspended over his breach of the team bio-bubble, in Durham. Perera’s probable absence, as well as that of Dickwella, Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka (all of whom bat in the top five) means that Sri Lanka will only have what is essentially a second-string top order.Although Perera has not been in particularly good form recently, he has been one of Sri Lanka’s best batters. He was one of Sri Lanka’s three half-centurions in the ODI series, against England, and struck his team’s most-recent century, when he hit 120 off 122 balls to lead Sri Lanka to their only win in a three-match series against Bangladesh.Sri Lanka have not officially named their squad yet. The first of three ODIs against India, who are fielding a second-string side, is scheduled for Sunday.

BCCI president says there’s a “plan in place” to conduct a camp for the India women’s team

PTI02-Aug-2020BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the women’s IPL or the Women’s T20 Challenge, as it is better known, is “very much on”.The men’s IPL will be held between September 19 and November 10 in the UAE due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in India. The women’s T20 matches will also be fit into the schedule, according to Ganguly.”I can confirm to you that the women’s IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also,” Ganguly said.The BCCI president, who is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on waiver of the cooling-off period to continue in the position, did not divulge details but another senior official privy to the development said that the women’s T20 matches will be held during the last phase of IPL, like last year.”The women’s Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that,” the source said.A BCCI release later in the evening stated that the Women’s T20 Challenge would also take place alongside the IPL, featuring three teams playing four matches during the final week of the tournament.Ganguly also said that the centrally-contracted women players will have a camp which has been delayed due to the prevailing situation in the country.”We couldn’t have exposed any of our cricketers – be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous,” Ganguly said. “The NCA also remained shut because of Covid-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that.”The BCCI’s cricket operations team is chalking up a schedule where India Women are likely to have two full-fledged white-ball series against South Africa and West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand next year.With the WBBL scheduled to run between October 17 and November 29 in Australia, it remains to be seen how the authorities will manage the participation of several Indian and foreign players.

Kumar Sangakkara, a member of the MCC World Cricket committee, said there’s “a real opportunity to cement” the future of the format

Nagraj Gollapudi09-Mar-2019Test cricket is dying? Think again. The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) announced on Saturday that an overwhelming 86% of fans prefer watching the five-day matches compared to the limited-overs versions, many of them saying Test cricket was the “ultimate” form.The longstanding custodians of the game wanted to assess the popularity of the longest format against the limited-over versions and put out a survey. Here are its major findings.

MCC World Cricket committee members

Mike Gatting (chairman), Suzie Bates, Ian Bishop, Kumar Dharmasena, Sourav Ganguly, Shakib Al Hasan, Rod Marsh, Tim May, Brendon McCullum, Ricky Ponting, Ramiz Raja, Kumar Sangakkara, John Stephenson, Vintcent Van der Bijl and Shane Warne.

What was the MCC survey about?

Titled the ‘MCC Test Cricket survey’, the idea behind the research was to test the popularity and relevance of the longer format among fans, and whether they had the time and inclination to follow the oldest format of the game.

What were the results?

The survey was carried out across 100 countries with over 13,000 fans participating. “Overwhelmingly, Test cricket came out as the format that interests fans the most, regardless of country supported or age,” the MCC said in a release. The results allowed the MCC to conclude that there was a “positive future” for Test cricket based on the review of the survey.One of the most striking findings of the survey was that an average of 86% of the responders said Test cricket remained their “preferred” format followed by ODIs, T20Is and domestic T20s in that order. “Responders to the MCC Test cricket survey still consider the Test format to be the pinnacle of cricket and the favourite format of cricket to attend, follow and watch, with respondents describing the game as the “ultimate” form of cricket,” the MCC said.That finding may raise eyebrows considering global cricket administrators, including the ICC, have acknowledged T20 cricket is the vehicle that is driving the growth of the game.

Have there been other such surveys?

Yes, the ICC conducted one last year, which said cricket had more than a billion fans globally, and close to 70% (of 19,000-plus people between ages 16-69) supported Test cricket.Recently, Dave Richardson, the ICC’s outgoing chief executive who also sits on the MCC World Cricket committee, stressed that Test cricket was not dying, but merely striving for relevance, which would be sorted once the World Test Championship kicks off in July.

Other key findings in the survey

The MCC said over half of the respondents wanted to watch Test cricket regularly but would still like some improvements:

• Addressing the cost and availability of tickets to enable more fans to attend
• Increasing access to Test cricket on free-to-air TV
• Including half-day tickets to encourage families to attend

Any reactions to the MCC survey?

Kumar Sangakkara, the former Sri Lanka captain who has been on the MCC World Cricket committee since 2012, said that he was not entirely surprised by the results. He pointed out that series triumphs by India in Australia, Sri Lanka in South Africa and West Indies surprising England at home in the past few months have allowed Test cricket not only to enjoy an “incredible” year but also injected enthusiasm among fans for the longer format.”There’s a real opportunity – and responsibility – for us all to cement the future of our superb longer form,” Sangakkara said.Former England captain Mike Gatting, who is chairman of the MCC World Cricket committee, said that administrators ought to listen to the fans’ concerns in order to stave off the imposing challenge that T20 leagues and forthcoming tournaments like The Hundred pose. He also pointed out that there was a lot of demand for day-night Tests, especially in Asia, and the administrators needed to capitalise on that.”Virat [Kohli] has expressed his commitment to maintaining the position of Test cricket at the top of the sport, while off the back of South Africa’s one-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka Faf [du Plessis] insisted such matches demonstrate Test cricket is still the number one format,” Gatting said.”When you have high-profile leaders like Virat and Faf being part of hugely exciting series, it shows what Test cricket can be. It is easy to see why the format is viewed as the pinnacle of our sport and we want to see it future-proofed and that could include looking at more day-night Tests, which we can see there is a big demand for, especially in Asia.”

Former spearhead Glenn McGrath, however, prefers that Australia play the left-arm quick only if he is “100% fit”

Daniel Brettig in Sydney02-Jan-20181:11

‘Play Starc only if 100% fit’ – McGrath

A recovering Mitchell Starc is a strong chance to return to Australia’s team for the fifth Ashes Test at the SCG, though he would be doing so over the objections of the former spearhead Glenn McGrath, who believes the left-arm quick should only resume bowling when he is “100% fit”.Having failed to recover from a bruised heel in time to take part in the Boxing Day Test, Starc bowled off his full run for about 30 minutes in the SCG nets on Tuesday, and is clearly eager to front up on his home ground alongside fellow New South Welshmen Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon. The captain Steven Smith, meanwhile, took a rare day off the nets due to some back soreness but is expected to be fine to play.

SCG Pink Test marks 10 seasons

When Glenn and Jane McGrath founded a breast cancer charity in 2005, they intended to raise awareness about the affliction and also to help ensure sufferers were afforded as much support as possible. The first “pink” day three of the SCG Test followed, and in 2018 the Jane McGrath foundation marks 10 years of that day.
“Great to be back here and to think 10 years have gone by is amazing,” McGrath said. “The SCG was my home ground, my favourite cricket ground in the world, so anytime I get to come out here is pretty amazing. But to be the Sydney Pink Test as we call it now makes it that much more special and for 10 years to have gone past is incredible – each year it seems to get bigger and bigger. The way the cricket community has got together and supported the foundation is amazing, I think we’ve got 119 McGrath breast care nurses, supporting more than 160,000 individuals and families going through breast cancer.”
The foundation’s fundraising goal for this match is A$1.3 million equivalent to the employment of 10 full-time breast care nurses over 12 months, who can provide support for 1000 individuals. This year’s events will also feature a “pink picnic” at the Sydney Football Stadium for those unable to get into the SCG, with the cricket to be played on a big screen, and pink picnic rugs and a hampers provided.

With nearly two months between this match and the first of Australia’s tour of South Africa, Starc has the opportunity for a break in between, even if he is named in the squad for the ODI series against England. The announced is due on Wednesday. McGrath, who was famously averse to any sort of resting or management during his long and durable career, said he would prefer to see Australia be cautious with Starc, given the niggardly nature of heel injuries and the looming South African assignment.”You want him playing but you want him at 100% and you want to make sure next series he’s ready to go at 100%, so if Starcy’s not 100% I’d be tempted to rest him, unfortunately for the Sydney public,” McGrath said. “They want to see him performing on his home ground and he wants to be out there as well, but you’ve got to think ‘ok, South Africa’s important’, so we’ll wait and see.”As a player you want to play every game, you really only think about the next game and do whatever you can to get through it. When you’ve got important series, South Africa coming up, Australia have won this series here, he’s such an integral part of the Australian line-up. I think they missed him in Melbourne more so bowling to the tail, because the pace and the lengths he bowls, he can clean up a tail pretty quickly.”The SCG strip, part of a natural wicket block as opposed to the MCG’s drop-in surface, is another factor for the selectors, as its extra live grass may be more helpful to Jackson Bird, who had little joy when replacing Starc in Melbourne. How much the wicket is shaved and whether it dries out much more ahead of Thursday’s coin toss will also determine whether Ashton Agar becomes a serious chance to join Lyon in a dual spin attack.Cummins, who is expected to play his first Test on his home ground, said Starc’s heel was showing good signs in that it had not worsened at all since the first time the left-armer experienced pain, as opposed to the more serious ailment Cummins had suffered during his 2011 Test debut in Johannesburg. But he agreed that it would not be wise to risk Starc’s ability to take part in South Africa.1:34

Starc confident he’s going to play – Cummins

“I’d say that [South Africa] is probably the big concern. If it was really bad that’s I guess what would keep him out,” Cummins said. “But it’s different to me. He can walk around. Each time I kind of bowled a spell it got worse and worse. The way he was saying, it was almost worse in the first innings and stayed the same for the whole Perth match.”And the last couple of weeks it’s definitely got a lot better. So it’s definitely different to what I had. By the end of my match, or even the first innings, I could hardly walk. It’s like anything. It’s a bruise. If you keep smashing it, it will get bigger and bigger. But he says it’s in a good spot now. I think if he doesn’t think he can get through this match he wouldn’t play but we’ll find out in the next couple of days.”Starc joined Cummins, Hazlewood, Bird, Smith and his deputy David Warner for a conference in the middle of the SCG before training, in which the subject up for discussion was swinging the ball. Both conventional and reverse swing are likely to factor in Sydney, and Cummins said the assistant coach David Saker had been at pains to discuss taking care of the ball to ensure it would be capable of doing both.”We were actually just talking about swinging the ball and the keys,” Cummins said. “Obviously for bowlers our major tool is the ball, batters the bat. It’s about getting our message the same, which side to shine. It’s kind of sometimes a decision of ‘when do we start shining it one side or the other to get it reversing’ and things like that. I thought both teams did it pretty well in Melbourne.”He also assuaged concerns that the Australians needed Starc to be playing in order to take 20 wickets. “We’ve seen Birdy out the back there he’s bowled beautifully on this wicket and all season in the Shield and taken lots of wickets,” Cummins said. “So I think he’ll fit in pretty seamlessly and here at the SCG. Hopefully there’s a bit more spin for Gazza [Lyon] and we saw how important the first couple of games were when the ball spun, how damaging he can be.”I think we’ll be fine, we’ve got Mitch Marsh in as well. The good thing about our group at the moment is we can all get up for a big spell and it feels like anyone can bowl that big spell that can crack a game open. It doesn’t feel like there’s one spearhead.”For his part, McGrath said he was not in favour of allowing fielding teams more latitude in terms of deliberate bounce throws to encourage greater reverse swing, a practice both teams were warned about by the umpires at the MCG. “You try to look after the ball and get it swinging on pitches like in [Melbourne] where there’s nothing happening,” he said.”Sometimes in India where the pitches are quite flat. But I think conditions in India are a little more abrasive anyway. Not sure how I feel about that. If that [bounce throwing] happens naturally fair enough, but if it’s intentionally throwing it in the deck any chance they get, I think there is a bit of a line there.”

Damien O’Donohoe, the chief executive of the Caribbean Premier League, believes there is space in the cricket calendar for the CPL and the new English T20 league, set to start in 2020, to co-exist and eventually benefit each other

Andrew McGlashan28-Oct-20161:39

‘CPL second only to the IPL’ – O’Donohoe

Damien O’Donohoe, the chief executive of the Caribbean Premier League, believes there is space in the cricket calendar for the CPL and the new English T20 league, set to start in 2020, to co-exist and eventually benefit each other.The 2016 CPL was staged from June 29 to August 7, which is likely to be the timeframe the ECB will try to exploit with the new T20 league that is causing much angst in the county game. The ECB is keen to make use of the school summer holidays, which run from mid-July through August, to try to attract a new, younger fan base to the sport.But the fact that English cricket is only now looking to revamp its domestic T20 competition – and is still three years from having the new venture ready to launch – means other T20 leagues are well ahead in their development. While the ECB has managed to find a way of accommodating the IPL, allowing players who wish to compete to take part in the tournament, and in some cases actively encouraging participation in the Big Bash League, which has no impact on the English summer, the direct competition from the CPL could cause problems.There may be an indication of the impact during the 2017 English season when the NatWest Blast returns to a block in later summer after three seasons of being played largely on Friday nights from mid-May until late July. In those three years, the CPL has forged its position as an attractive proposition for overseas cricketers. Staging the NatWest Blast at the same time might mean missing out on the West Indian T20 stars – some of the more attractive signings in the game – who will already be in action for their CPL teams.”It probably will be a similar window but we work quite closely with the ECB and at the end of the day there will be room for both leagues,” O’Donohoe told ESPNcricinfo. “The ECB has their own challenges, and I really wouldn’t envy their job, but they are real professionals who will make it a success. What we’d love in time is that we get the English stars in the CPL and they get some of ours.”But there is no denying that English cricket is playing catch-up with the format of the game they launched in 2003. “They have much bigger challenges in terms of the politics of the game than anybody else,” O’Donohoe said. “Of course, they created this form so they should be leaders in this space, but they are not. But they have huge plans…so there will be great things to come.”Of more immediate interest to O’Donohoe is the continued growth of the CPL. He was speaking in London on Thursday when St Lucia Zouks became the last of the six sides to become a privately-owned franchise after its acquisition by Jignesh Pandya, the founder of the Rohan Group of companies, who currently serves as the Chairman of Global Sports Ventures and Royal Sports Club. Global Sports Ventures was recently announced as having signed a $70million deal with USACA.The CPL staged six matches in the USA during the 2016 season and its plans for expansion in the country are well documented. O’Donohoe hopes that “in the not too distant future” there will be two franchises based in the US. He is also determined, though, that the CPL, which he believes stands second to the IPL among the various T20 leagues, needs to continue to play to its own strengths.”When we speak to the guys at the Big Bash, which we do on a daily basis, they have a very different idea of what they are trying to do, trying to bring a whole new audience to the game. Some of their games get 80,000 people, which we could never do in the Caribbean, but from an international point of view we have 80 million TV viewers in India, are the first professional league to go into America and have our six franchises sold and hopefully in the not too distant future we can have two franchises in the US.”Our single-biggest issue with the CPL has always been time zones and when we play our games. We have a huge international audience but if we play games during the day it doesn’t fit with our product, we are a local product and can’t fit it just for an international audience. The great thing about the east coast would be the time zone. Los Angeles would be fantastic so would San Francisco and Silicon Valley. We would love to go there in time, but the east coast will be our focus initially. New York would be No. 1 on our list. But we have a lot of work to do.”

Logan van Beek, who played for Netherlands in the 2014 World T20, produced the best performance of a young career to spearhead Canterbury’s 304-run victory against Otago

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Oct-2015
Peter Fulton made 155 off 144 balls in Canterbury’s second innings•Getty Images

Allrounder Logan van Beek, who played for Netherlands in the 2014 World T20, produced the best performance of a young career to spearhead Canterbury’s 304-run victory against Otago in Christchurch. Van Beek scored his maiden first-class hundred to rescue Canterbury’s first innings and then took career-best match figures of 8 for 70 – six in the final innings – to bowl out Otago on the fourth day.Having lost the toss, Canterbury were in deep trouble when 20-year old fast bowler Jack Hunter, playing his second first-class game, dismissed both openers for ducks in the first over of the match. Hunter, who finished with figures of 4 for 47, along with Michael Rae and Sam Wells, cut through the line-up and reduced the hosts to 130 for 8.Van Beek, the grandson of former West Indies and New Zealand Test cricketer Sammy Guillen, rallied the lower order during an aggressive hundred from No. 9. He made an unbeaten 111 off 125 balls, adding 59 for the ninth wicket and 104 for the tenth, before Canterbury were dismissed for 293.”It was one of those situations where the team was in trouble, I’ve been in that situation a lot of times before and I’d get 20, 30 or get [out] early and we’d just fall over,” van Beek told stuff.co.nz. “We went five runs at a time and next thing you know I was on 40. When Will came out it was five runs at a time. I threw a bit of caution to the wind and next thing I know I’m on 90.”I’ve had a few coaches and players ask why did I take the single the first ball. I thought Will was playing it so well. I was quite relaxed, I thought if it’s going to happen it’s going to happen,” van Beek said of his decision to not farm the strike. “He took this big flay at a short and wide one. My heart just went …. (gasps). He looked at me and kind of winked.”I’ve been in the gym preparing my body. I had a goal to be ready for the first game of the season, I ticked that off. All the hard work’s paid off.”Otago began the second day on 5 for 0 but the wickets column quickly filled up. Only three batsmen made it past single figures, with No. 8 Nick Beard top scoring with 22, as the visitors were routed for 91 in 36.3 overs. New-ball bowlers Ryan McCone and Will Williams took three wickets apiece, while van Beek had figures of 2 for 13, to give Canterbury a lead of 202.Their top order did not fail a second time. Openers Leo Carter and Ronnie Hira made half-centuries, and though they fell in quick succession to leave the score 134 for 2, Peter Fulton and Ken McClure built on that platform. At stumps on the second day, Fulton was 97, McClure 47, and Canterbury were 272 for 2. They declared on 350 for 2 on the third day with Fulton unbeaten on 155 off 144 balls, having hit five sixes, and McClure on 66 not out.Chasing a target of 553, Otago opener Brad Wilson held up one end, but wickets fell at the other. After two half-century stands for the first three wickets, and Sean Eathorne retiring hurt, Otago began to lose batsmen regularly. They slipped from 159 for 2 to 213 for 6 by stumps on the third day, with van Beek picking up three wickets. Losing Wilson for 100 just before stumps was a severe blow to Otago.Though there was rain on the fourth day, Canterbury needed only 12.4 overs to wrap up the victory. Van Beek took the last three wickets to finish with a career-best innings haul of 6 for 57. Otago were dismissed for 248 in 97.1 overs.