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The confusion surrounding security arrangements ended after the BCCI agreed to pay the actual cost for the security cover provided by the police

Arun Venugopal09-Jan-2017Fans will be allowed free entry into the Brabourne Stadium to watch the first warm-up game between India A and England after the BCCI agreed to pay the actual cost for the security cover provided by the police. A Cricket Club of India official told ESPNcricinfo that entry for what could be MS Dhoni’s last game as captain of an Indian side would be restricted to the north and east stands, which can accommodate around 10,000 fans, as the west stand was undergoing renovation. If the stands were filled by 3 pm, an hour and a half after the start of the game, the gates will be closed.The decision to allow fans into the stadium came a day after confusion prevailed around the security arrangements for the game. According to and , fans were in danger of being locked out after the police demanded Rs 60 lakh to provide security, and the CCI redirected the request to the BCCI. The BCCI, according to the reports, had subsequently instructed the club to not allow spectators and restrict the attendance to members of the Cricket Club of India, in the premises of which the stadium is located, should the police not lower their fee.According to the CCI official, the police, having initially asked for Rs 2 lakh to provide security, had hiked up the fee after anticipating a greater crowd in the stadium. The request was then forwarded to the BCCI, who, after closed-door meetings with the police department, eventually accepted to cover the actual cost incurred for security late in the evening. The BCCI, it is understood, has communicated the decision in writing to the CCI and the police department.”There were only 40 policepersons who were set to be deployed initially,” the official said. “There are normally hardly 200-300 people for warm-up matches, but with Dhoni [possibly] playing his last match as a captain, the game has become high profile. There will be a bigger crowd now. So, more police personnel will have to be deployed; there will be around 300 policepersons now.”The CCI gets only a grant of Rs 1 lakh per game from the BCCI and our expenses are generally reimbursed by the board. Even in this issue, the police dealt directly with the BCCI.”

Another interrupted day allowed only 24.3 overs to be bowled in the Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Victoria at the SCG

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2015
ScorecardRyan Carters bats on the second day at the SCG•Getty Images

Another interrupted day allowed only 24.3 overs to be bowled in the Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Victoria at the SCG, though this time the lack of play had more to do with the aftermath of Friday’s storm than any rain on the day itself.Due to the dampness of the outfield play did not begin until around 2pm, and the Test 12th man Peter Siddle soon claimed the wicket of Ryan Carters to break his stand with Ed Cowan.Kurtis Patterson and Cowan then carried on for 45 runs, the latter reaching the cusp of another half century to follow his hundred against South Australia in Adelaide last week.However Victorian concerns about still-slippery areas of the outfield did not abate, and play was ultimately abandoned in mid-afternoon due to these issues.

It was as if the Chennai Super Kings batsmen wanted to beat the evening crowds in the Mumbai local trains

The Report by Sidharth Monga05-May-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Mitchell Johnson bowled Mumbai to a win again•BCCI

It was as if the Chennai Super Kings batsmen wanted to beat the evening crowds in the Mumbai local trains. So as opposed to chasing the below-par 140 in a hurry, they kept throwing away their wickets away, folding for the lowest total this IPL and losing by 60 runs to end their seven-match winning streak.No matter how much credit you give to Mumbai Indians’ bowling – one of the more watchable acts of the IPL – it was a surreal case of mediocrity manufacturing excitement in the first few overs of the chase. In the first over of the chase, Mitchell Johnson kept bowling short and wide, Michael Hussey kept cutting it to Kieron Pollard at point, and Pollard kept dropping. The third successive one of those cut Pollard’s nose, and he walked off the field even as the Wankhede Stadium rubbed its collective eyes.You could argue Johnson came back with a superb second over, but that began with a loose shot from M Vijay, who dragged a wide length ball on. Suresh Raina played across one, and got a leading edge to Pollard at point. This time Pollard dived in front and half-redeemed himself. As is the rule with Super Kings, they sent S Badrinath to face the crisis, and he nearly edged the hat-trick ball. Soon, Johnson beat his other edge with a left-arm bowlers’ outswinger, and was denied a triple-wicket maiden only by Dwayne Bravo.And Wankhede was yet to finish rubbing its eyes. In the next over, Bravo drove a shortish Pawan Suyal delivery off the back foot straight to cover. At 18 for 4, MS Dhoni held himself and Ravindra Jadeja back, and sent in R Ashwin, who soon fell to the veteran offspinner he has usurped, Harbhajan Singh. In came Dhoni with the asking rate past eight and only five wickets in hand.Hussey regained his orange cap, but his innings was never fluent. Lasith Malinga’s over to him was striking as the bouncers did Hussey in with both the slowness and then pace. Under immense pressure, Hussey looked for release the moment Pragyan Ojha came on to bowl, and lofted him straight to deep midwicket to make it 40 for 6 in 9.1 overs.Too much was left for Dhoni to do, and he too holed out off Ojha. Malinga ran through the rest, and Mumbai kept themselves in the top four with the end of the league approaching. It shouldn’t have been that easy, though, after they managed about 50 fewer than the average first-innings score in Mumbai this season. Once again, they were off to a slow start, and five of their top six failed to score at more than a run a ball.The two who did, captain Rohit Sharma and Harbhajan, went on to bat until the end. When they took it to the end, they got a loose last over from Ben Laughlin and took 19 runs off it. It didn’t seem the case then, but the momentum had shifted.

Junaid Zia, the Lahore Eagles fast bowler, has been reported for a suspect bowling action

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Mar-2012Junaid Zia, the Lahore Eagles fast bowler, has been reported for a suspect bowling action after the group match on Wednesday against Rawalpindi Rams in the Faysal Bank Super Eight Twenty20 tournament in Rawalpindi.Zia was reported by the on-field umpires Islam Khan and Khalid Mahmood after the game, which the Eagles won by 34 runs. Zia bowled four overs, conceded 14 runs and took three wickets.”On-field umpires reported Junaid’s (Zia) action as suspect and we have reported it back to the PCB,” Arshad Pervez, the match referee, told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s a routine report and the PCB will further scrutinize it at the National Cricket Academy.”Zia, the son of former PCB chairman Retd Gen Tauqir Zia, has played four ODIs for Pakistan, since his international debut in 2003-04. He first made an impression in Pakistan’s junior ranks, and was part of the Under-19 World Cup squad in 2002.In the same match, the Rams captain Sohail Tanvir was fined his full match fee for making comments on the umpires. Tanvir was found guilty under clause 2.2.3 of PCB Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel.

Lasith Malinga has said he could not bowl yorkers in the final against India because the ball was wet, while Muttiah Muralitharan said the inability of the spinners to get wickets caused the loss

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Apr-2011Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan came in to the World Cup final with 27 wickets between them in the tournament. They were expected to lead Sri Lanka’s attack on Saturday, but Murali went wicketless and Malinga couldn’t build on his first spell of 2 for 11 in four overs.Malinga got the early wickets of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, but failed to give Sri Lanka a breakthrough in the middle overs, as he so often does with the old ball. When he came on in the end, with India closing in on a win, he bowled one over for three runs, but his next went for 11, relieving the pressure on India’s batsmen. Malinga suggested the dew may have affected his bowling later on in the innings.”I couldn’t bowl yorkers properly because the ball was too wet,” Malinga said on his return to Colombo on Sunday. “It was difficult to swing the ball. I tried hard. I regret I couldn’t take more wickets.” This was not the first time in the World Cup that a player had said he was hampered by dew. After England’s loss to Bangladesh in Chittagong, Graeme Swann had likened bowling with a wet ball to playing football with your hands tied behind your back.On that occasion, England had been put in to bat by Bangladesh, but on Saturday, it was Sri Lanka’s decision to bat first. They had bowled second during their group match against New Zealand in Mumbai, and on that occasion dismissed the opposition for 153. Malinga had been expensive in that match, going for more than seven runs an over, but had not been required to bowl more than five overs, as Sri Lanka’s spinners ran through New Zealand. Murali, who took four wickets in that game, had said that it was tough to turn the wet ball but one had to learn how to adjust and think of other ways to dismiss batsmen.During the final, Murali didn’t look 100% fit – though his captain later insisted “he was fine” – and rarely troubled India’s batsmen in his eight overs which went for 39. He said the 274 Sri Lanka had posted was enough to defend but the spinners not capitalising on Malinga’s start was the main reason for the loss.”We got enough runs on the board; 274 was a good score. Malinga took two vital wickets but after that we couldn’t crack their side, especially in the middle part,” Murali said. “The spinners didn’t take enough wickets.”If I or Suraj [Randiv] took a few wickets then the story would have been different. These things happen in cricket so you have to move on and I’d like to wish the team well for the future. Hopefully, in 2015 they’ll bring home the cup.”Randiv, who had only joined the squad after an injury to Angelo Mathews and found himself playing in the tournament for the first time in the final, went wicketless in nine overs, while Tillakaratne Dilshan picked up one wicket with his part-time offspin.The loss meant Murali’s one-day career did not have the dream finish that his Test career did – he took eight wickets, including his 800th in a victorious last Test – and he admitted he was disappointed. “It was a little bit disappointing because my main aim was to win the World Cup. But unfortunately we couldn’t do that because India were a better side on the day.”While Murali had announced before the tournament started that this would be his last international series, Malinga has now said he will not play another World Cup. He has been injury prone, with a recurring knee injury being a source of constant concern, and said he will not last till 2015, by when he will be 31.”I hope to be of service to my team as long as I can, but I won’t be able to play in the next World Cup in 2015,” Malinga said. “I have been carrying injuries for the past few weeks with little rest.” He was rested from Sri Lanka’s first two group games but has since played seven matches in just over a month.Malinga has been part of two losing teams in World Cup finals, in a stop-start career that comprised only 30 Tests and 84 one-dayers since debuting in 2004.While they couldn’t do enough in the final, Murali and Malinga both had their moments in the tournament. Malinga grabbed a second World Cup hat-trick in Sri Lanka’s group-stage match against Kenya, and then took three wickets in the semi-final against New Zealand. Murali bagged three wickets in his last game in his hometown of Kandy, got four in the group match against New Zealand and then struck with his last ball in Sri Lanka, in the semi-final.When he announced his retirement, Murali had said he would continue playing domestic Twenty20 tournaments, and he will turn out for Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the IPL, which starts on April 8. After that he plans to play for Wellington for a couple of seasons on New Zealand’s domestic circuit, most likely in the HRV Cup. He said he would go to Wellington because he had promised former Chennai Super Kings team-mate Stephen Fleming he would.”Stephen has a bit to do with Wellington, so I have promised him I would come to play for two years to help them,” Muralitharan said. “It’s up to Stephen to put through a deal for me. I’ve always enjoyed playing there. You have nice, friendly people and a competitive [international] cricket team given that they made the [World Cup] semi-finals again.”Murali will also spend time working on his plan to build a sports complex for war-displaced civilians. “Cricket unites communities,” he said. “We can use the game to reach out and help those who are less privileged than us, to make their lives a little bit easier.”

Sind Dolphins, buoyed by half-centuries from Shahzaib Hasan and Asad Shafiq, raced to their second consecutive win of the Pentangular One Day Cup

Cricinfo staff23-Apr-2010
Scorecard
Sind Dolphins, buoyed by half-centuries from Shahzaib Hasan and Asad Shafiq, raced to their second consecutive win of the Pentangular One Day Cup and consequently inflicted a second defeat in as many games on Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Panthers in Karachi. The top order made the victory possible for the Dolphins, with openers Khurram Manzoor and Shahzaib added 100. Asad then combined with Shahzaib to push the score to 144, and backed up by small, yet important, contributions from those who followed, the Dolphins overhauled a target of 251 with 31 balls to spare.For the Panthers, Rafatullah Mohmand starred with 90 at the top of the order to take them to a competitive score, and he was supported by Adnan Raees, Zohaib Khan and Yasir Shah. Azam Hussain picked up 2 for 37, and played a significant role in ensuring the Panthers were kept to a score that his team could chase down.

India’s T20I captain has not been in good form in T20 internationals this year

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2025India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav has been named in Mumbai’s squad for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy starting on November 26. Allrounder Shardul Thakur will lead the 17-member squad, which also includes Shivam Dube, Sarfaraz Khan, Ajinkya Rahane and Ayush Mhatre.Suryakumar’s inclusion in Mumbai’s T20 side comes ahead of India’s T20I series against South Africa from December 9. Despite a prolific IPL for Mumbai Indians – 717 runs at a strike rate of 167.91 this season – he hasn’t been among the runs in international cricket, scoring only 184 runs in 15 innings in 2025 at an average of 15.33 and strike rate of 127.77.India play ten T20Is at home – five each against South Africa and New Zealand – ahead of a T20 World Cup they will be co-hosting with Sri Lanka in February and March 2026.Related

• Varun named Tamil Nadu captain for Mushtaq Ali Trophy

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Like Suryakumar, Dube will also be looking for match practice. He has batted in only six out of 11 T20Is across the Asia Cup and the series in Australia, scoring 76 runs off 60 balls in those games.Mumbai are the defending champions of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, having beaten Madhya Pradesh in the final in 2024-25. This season, they start their campaign against Railways in Lucknow.

Mumbai squad for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025-26

Shardul Thakur (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Ayush Mhatre, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Sairaj Patil, Musheer Khan, Suryansh Shedge, Atharva Ankolekar, Tanush Kotian, Shams Mulani, Tushar Deshpande, Irfan Umair and Hardik Tamore (wk)

Lancashire make early running on truncated day before former star digs in for visitors

ECB Reporters Network24-May-2024Three wickets from Lancashire’s Tom Bailey put the hosts in charge against Warwickshire after a truncated day at Emirates Old Trafford ended with the visitors 89 for three from 39 overs on day one of this Vitality County Championship Division One clash.Bailey, who has struggled for consistency so far this campaign, showed what the Red Rose had been missing, as he dismissed Rob Yates, Will Rhodes and Ed Barnard either side of tea to finish the day with three for 25 after the game had finally got underway at 2.10pm following overnight rain.Full of confidence following a fine performance in beating Durham at Blackpool, a win which has left them within striking distance of mid-table, Lancashire will be looking to move off the bottom with a similar result against the Bears, who are winless in six matches, their second defeat – added to four draws – coming on Monday against Essex at Chelmsford.Once the extensive mopping-up operation had finished, Warwickshire, having won the toss, began batting under typical overcast Manchester skies with Yates opening the batting with former Lancashire wicket keeper batter, Alex Davies.The opening pair had put on 38 when Yates badly misjudged a Bailey delivery which jagged back and removed his off bail in the 11th over as the left-hander departed for 19.Skipper Davies, meanwhile, was going along nicely against his ex-teammates, with some trademark cover drives and busy running, a painful reminder to the home crowd of his talents.But it was Bailey, who had the bit between his teeth and with a worn pitch, gloomy skies and Nathan Lyon at the other end in support, he produced a beauty to find Rhodes’ edge with the batter on 14 when keeper Matty Hurst took the catch.74 for two quickly became 82 for three when Barnard edged another excellent Bailey delivery to Hurst to depart for two.The score had progressed to 89 for three with Davies unbeaten on 47 and Dan Mousley one not out when the players left the field at 5.09pm due to a combination of drizzle and bad light.

Sussex batter shows benefit of work with Ian Bell on first Lions tour

Vithushan Ehantharajah01-Feb-2023Sri Lanka A 136 and 228 for 1 (Fernando 114, Madushka 91*) trail England Lions 467 (Haines 118, Fisher 53, de Silva 3-59) by 1o3 runsTom Haines’ century on debut has put England Lions in a commanding position on day two of the first unofficial Test in Galle.The Sussex opener scored 118 from No. 3 as the Lions finished their innings on 467, establishing a first-innings lead of 331. The hosts were able to whittle that down to 103 by close, with a century from Oshada Fernando and unbeaten 91 from Nishan Madushka in a strong response of 228 for 1 in their second innings.Haines, 24, has been touted for higher honours off the back of two stellar seasons that saw him average 47.04 and 49.52 in the 2021 and 2022, with 1176 and 941 runs respectively. Among them were six centuries spread evenly across both, with this latest three-figure score taking him to nine in his first-class career.”It is very special and a very proud moment for me,” Haines said at stumps. “The thing that I was most pleased with was that it has put us into a really good position in the game. We would have liked a few more wickets to end the day, but we’ll have to come back tomorrow and try and get some more.”While not his first experience of Sri Lankan conditions, having toured here with Sussex Academy “nine or 10 years ago”, he scored positively with 12 fours and a six across a knock that boasted a strike rate off 85.50. It was in line with the innings as a whole which went at a rate of 5.31 across the 87.5 overs. Evidently the pre-tour briefing to try and emulate the positive approach of the Test side instilled by head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes has been well heeded.Haines also credited batting coach Ian Bell, who presented him with his Lions cap on day one, for reinforcing his work against spin. Bell, along with Graeme Swann, have been drafted in by the ECB to pass on their wisdom to the Lions, a relationship the began on the Lions training camp in Abu Dhabi last November.”I have really enjoyed working with him it has been top drawer,” Haines said. “I enjoyed working with him at the Lions camp in Dubai before Christmas.”He has definitely helped me out with playing spin and just my mental attitude towards it, and how you apply that so that you do it in the game.”Swanny and Belly spoke about the importance of first-innings runs before the game – about how certain shots you can play in the first innings but second innings you might need a completely different repertoire of shots. We’ll see how it plays tomorrow.”

That said, the senior paceman doesn’t expect Australia to play the same four-man attack all summer

Alex Malcolm17-Nov-2021Australia vice-captain Pat Cummins feels he is as fresh as he has ever felt coming into a Test series, but says he would be surprised if the side persists with the same four-man attack through all five Ashes Tests, something they did against India last summer.Cummins returned to Australia and into hotel quarantine on the Gold Coast on Tuesday with the majority of the triumphant World Cup-winning squad to begin their Ashes preparation.He hasn’t played a first-class match since February. Cummins has also only featured in seven T20s since April having opted out of the limited-overs tours to the Caribbean and Bangladesh during Australia’s winter. He also missed the second half of the IPL prior to the World Cup to be home for the birth of his son.Australia will only have one three-day intra-squad match to prepare for the first Ashes Test starting December 8 but Cummins has no concerns about his personal preparation.”My body feels as good as it has in a couple of years. There’s no niggles,” Cummins said. “I think the first, I guess, benefit of the short spells is we’re all feeling really fresh. I always feel like it’s better to be underdone than overdone coming into a big Test series.”For now it’s just trying to work back from that day one, get a few good bowls in, I think. We’ve got access to quite a few centre wickets. So we’ll have three, four, five centre wickets where we try and have relatively big days, you know, bowl a couple of spells on those days. And we’ll be ready to go. And we had a similar prep last year and all felt really good going into that Adelaide first Test.”Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc played all four Tests against India last year, but the plan backfired as the trio tired on the final days in Sydney and Brisbane and were unable to bowl out India in either game as the visitors produced a famous come-from-behind series win.Australia rotated their bowlers heavily in the 2019 Ashes series using Peter Siddle and James Pattinson as specialists in those conditions. Cummins was the only one of the five Australian fast bowlers used in that series to play all five Tests and he expects that there will be some rotation again this summer.”When someone’s I guess rested it is normally more to it than just purely workload,” Cummins said. “There’s always niggles and small little injuries that we’re dealing with, basically after every single Test match.”The great thing is we’ve got a huge stable of fast bowlers. So yeah, I don’t think it’ll be a huge issue if someone’s not able to get up for a Test or someone’s just red-lining a little bit. Someone else can slot in.”I’d be surprised if the same four bowlers were used for all five Tests. That’s pretty rare, especially the five-Test match summer. But I certainly won’t be putting my hand up to be rested unless I’ve got something going wrong.”Pat Cummins hasn’t played a first-class match since February 2021•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

Jhye Richardson is firming as a certainty to play a part in this Ashes series having not played a Test match since 2019 when he dislocated his shoulder in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup and Ashes tour.Michael Neser has also been a constant presence in Australia’s Test squads in recent years and could also make his Test debut this summer despite coming off a hamstring injury.”I think both can slot in really well,” Cummins said. “It might be like-for-like maybe in some regards. I’d say probably Jhye, especially last week, I only saw a little bit but apparently, he bowled beautifully up here at the Gabba.”It’s really great to see him back around the squad. He was on the verge of a World Cup and an Ashes series a couple of years ago before having a shoulder injury, so it’s great to see him get back and bowling well, fully fit, and hopefully he kind of starts off where he left off against Sri Lanka a few years ago.”Chairman of selectors George Bailey confirmed Australia would have a squad mentality after announcing the 15-man Ashes squad for the first two Tests as well as an Australia A squad on Wednesday. Bailey was also impressed by Richardson’s form leading into the Ashes series following his Player of the Match performance for Western Australia against Queensland at the Gabba last week where he took eight wickets including 5 for 23 from 22.2 overs in the second innings.”Getting pretty excited by Jhye,” Bailey said. “One physically, I think he looks as strong as I’ve seen ever seen him.”He’s had a couple of niggles, and he’s worked his way back from those so he’s starting to build some resilience into his body, still a young body.”I think he’s worked his way into the last three shield games quite nicely, but one particular spell I think it was the morning of day [three], a really impressive spell early on, I think he ended up ended up getting the wickets of Marnus [Labuschagne] and Joe Burns, who both commented that it was it was impressive quality.”