Despite Livingstone’s 94 off 48, Kings fall short in their chase of 214

Vishal Dikshit17-May-2023A dazzling display of boundary hitting all around the ground from Rilee Rossouw in his unbeaten 82 off 37, combined with useful contributions from the other Delhi Capitals top-four batters, handed Punjab Kings a 15-run defeat and severely dented their playoff chances.Kings got close to the finish line in the end, thanks to a belligerent 94 off 48 from Liam Livingstone, but he fought a lone battle. The loss kept Kings on the eighth spot with 12 points. They now depend on many other results going their way to stay alive in the playoffs race because they have only one match to go, and three teams are already above 14 points, which is the most Kings can get to.Kings were mostly behind the asking rate right from the start because their only other batter who scored over 25 was Atharva Taide, who struggled for fluency and retired out on 55 off 42 balls. Livingstone’s pursuit of boundaries in the end kept Kings’ slim hopes alive, whether they needed 79 off 24 or 38 off 12. In the last over too, when they needed 23 from the last three balls, they got a lifeline when Ishant Sharma sent down a no-ball which Livingstone sent for six, making it 16 required from three with a free hit coming. But Livingstone failed to connect with the subsequent full toss and holed out to long-off on the last ball.

Warner, Shaw flick the switch on

In the first IPL game in Dharamsala in ten years, David Warner and Prithvi Shaw saw out the first 16 balls for no boundaries before racing away. Warner broke the shackles with consecutive fours off Sam Curran before pulling Kagiso Rabada for two sixes. Shaw too got going when he saw Arshdeep Singh’s short balls didn’t have much pace. He pulled and glanced him for 4, 4 and 6 in a 16-run over. When Warner also put away Nathan Ellis’ slower balls for fours, Capitals ended the powerplay on 61 and soon brought up their highest opening stand of this IPL.Prithvi Shaw and David Warner got going gradually in the powerplay•BCCI

Rossouw’s fifty takes it up a notch

Rahul Chahar wasn’t having a good day. Soon after he was put away for three fours in his first two overs by Shaw, he dropped a tough chance to give Warner a life on 39. Warner continued to attack because Capitals had all ten wickets in hand at the halfway mark. But when he skied one more, Shikhar Dhawan completed a spectacular catch at mid-off to remove him for 46 off 31.Capitals kept the left-right combination by sending out Rossouw at No. 3, and he attacked literally from ball one. That he pulled his first ball for four and drove his third for four more showed how good the pitch was for batting. The range he showed in the 13th over off Rabada epitomised his innings; a length ball hit straight for six, another length ball placed just wide of short third for four, and yet another length ball dispatched over square leg with a lovely pick-up shot for six in a 17-run over. Not long after Rossouw also punished Chahar and Curran for sixes, Shaw holed out for 54 in the 15th over.

Kings trust Brar for death overs

Rossouw had raced away to 45 off 21, and Capitals to 148, with five overs to go when Dhawan bravely brought on Harpreet Brar, who gave away just 14 runs in the 16th and 18th overs combined, before Phil Salt and Rossouw made up for it in the last two. Salt smoked Ellis for two sixes over long-on while also edging one delivery for four.For the final over, Dhawan once again trusted Brar instead of the designated death bowler Arshdeep, who had been expensive in his first two. Rossouw mercilessly muscled Brar, who also gifted two wides, for two sixes and a four on the leg side. A misfield on the last ball from Rabada at fine leg gave Capitals their first 200-plus total of the season.Liam Livingstone fought a lone battle•Associated Press

Kings also start slow

The Capitals quicks hardly gave any freebies early on. Khaleel Ahmed started with a maiden to Prabhsimran Singh, Ishant had Dhawan caught at slip for a duck, and Khaleel nearly bowled another maiden to keep Kings on 10 for 1 after three. Prabhsimran then hit the pedal with three consecutive fours before Taide also collected boundaries to get out of the hole of 1 off eight balls. Prabhsimran and Taide also enjoyed a fair share of luck. Their leading edges fell safe, and Capitals missed a few direct hits. Taide’s edges even fetched him some boundaries. Kings finished the powerplay on 47 for 1, with the asking rate almost 12 an over.

Livingstone stands tall but alone

As soon as Prabhsimran holed out to long-on off Axar Patel, it was all a Livingstone show. It started with Livingstone getting a life on 3 off Kuldeep Yadav when Anrich Nortje put him down at deep midwicket, and Taide too got dropped off Kuldeep in his next over. Taide, however, could not score freely as he struggled to find the gaps or go over the fielders.Livingstone, meanwhile, made use of his big bat swings for plenty of hits in the ‘V’ down the ground when the bowlers missed their lengths even marginally. He hit a boundary nearly every over and was only beaten by Kuldeep a couple of times. In the 15th over, he dispatched two full tosses from Mukesh Kumar for fours but Taide was labouring at the other end and he retired out when Kings needed a stiff 86 from 30 with their hitters Jitesh Sharma, Shahrukh Khan and Curran yet to come.Despite the firepower in the dugout, the heavy lifting was left for Livingstone. Jitesh holed out to long leg for a duck in the 16th and Shahrukh found long-on in the 17th. Meanwhile, Livingstone blasted two sixes and a four off Khaleel, and three sixes came off Mukesh in the 18th to make it 38 required from 12. Nortje then rattled Curran’s leg stump with a yorker and when 33 were left from the last six balls, Ishant started with a dot to all but seal it. His no-ball was thwarted for six, but he finished the game with three dots and send Kings’ hopes crashing.

Scotland scored 277 and needed to prevent Netherlands from crossing it in 44 overs; de Leede ensured it didn’t happen

Hemant Brar06-Jul-2023Bas de Leede put in an all-round performance for the ages as Netherlands stunned Scotland to book their ticket to the 2023 men’s ODI World Cup in India. First, de Leede’s maiden five-wicket haul helped Netherlands restrict Scotland to 277 for 9. Netherlands needed to chase that down inside 44 overs to trump Scotland on net run-rate. Around the halfway mark, they looked all but out of the contest, before de Leede smashed 123 off 92 balls, his first ODI century, to power them over the line in 42.5 overs, with four wickets to spare.This will be Netherlands’ fifth appearance in the men’s ODI World Cup. They last featured in the 2011 edition. De Leede, meanwhile, became only the fourth player to score a hundred and take five wickets in a men’s ODI, reducing Brandon McMullen’s equally outstanding hundred for Scotland to a footnote.In the morning, Scott Edwards opted to bowl citing help for seamers in the first hour, and Logan van Beek duly sent Matthew Cross’ off stump cartwheeling in the opening over of the match. Christopher McBride and McMullen ensured Scotland didn’t lose another wicket in the first ten overs. While McBride struggled with timing, McMullen looked at ease. He used his feet well, often coming down the track to try to disrupt the Netherlands seamers’ lengths.McBride chipped in with two successive fours off left-arm spinner Clayton Floyd in the tenth over but fell to de Leede in the next when he pulled straight to short midwicket. De Leede picked up his second wicket when George Munsey gloved a pull that was caught down the leg side.That left Scotland 64 for 3 in the 15th over, but McMullen was looking more and more comfortable by now.Through a perfect alchemy of timing and power, he put up an exhibition of eye-catching strokes. In the 11th over, he timed offspinner Aryan Dutt over long-off for his first six. A few overs later, he went down the pitch to a short ball from de Leede and smashed it over mid-on. To bring up his fifty – off 63 balls – he lofted Ryan Klein over wide long-off for another six, and then chipped Floyd over extra cover for back-to-back fours.Brandon McMullen scored his second ODI century•ICC/Getty Images

McMullen reached his hundred off 106 balls, with a punched four through extra-cover off van Beek. He and Richie Berrington added 137 off 135 balls for the fourth wicket, and took the side past 200 in the 38th over. Scotland were eyeing a total in excess of 300, but the late strikes from Klein and de Leede reined them in. Klein first had McMullen caught behind and then left Michael Leask’s stumps in disarray to make it 207 for 5.Berrington held one end up and brought up his half-century but couldn’t provide the impetus. He was on 64 when de Leede uprooted his middle stump. Shortly afterwards, de Leede sent back Chris Greaves and Mark Watt off consecutive deliveries to complete his five-for. All that meant Scotland could score only 74 in the last 12 overs.Max O’Dowd and Vikramjit Singh gave Netherlands a steady start of 65 in 12.4 overs before Michael Leask trapped both lbw in successive overs. The loss of Wesley Barresi and Teja Nidamanuru in a short interval further dented Netherlands’ chances, leaving them needing 170 in 20 overs to qualify.De Leede was on 19 off 30 at that stage. He and Edwards revived the chase by hitting four fours in four balls, across the 25th and 26th overs. The pair added 55 in 44 balls before Edwards failed to connect with a sweep against Watt and was lbw.Even at this point, Scotland were the favourites; Netherlands needed 115 in 13.1 overs with half their side back in the pavilion. And when the next three overs produced just 12 runs, it became 102 required from ten overs.With Netherlands’ backs against the wall, de Leede went on an all-out attack. He started by hitting Watt for a six before picking up two fours off Safyaan Sharif a couple of overs later. Saqib Zulfiqar too found the occasional boundary to keep Netherlands abreast with the required rate.With 45 needed in four overs, it was even-stevens. That’s when de Leede went into overdrive, hitting four sixes in a space of ten balls that also included a maximum from Zulfiqar. One of those hits took de Leede to his hundred, off just 85 balls. By the team he was run out, Netherlands needed just two from 11 balls. They got them in singles.

Former England captain questions whether 40-year-old is in England’s best XI for Oval Test

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jul-2023England’s “sentimental” selection of James Anderson in their team for the fourth Ashes Test at Emirates Old Trafford might have cost them the match. That is the opinion of his former captain Michael Vaughan, who also said on Sunday that Anderson has had “no impact at all” in the ongoing series.Anderson was rested for England’s three-wicket win at Headingley but returned to their side on his home ground this week, taking the new ball from the James Anderson End. He bowled tightly throughout the drawn Test, returning match figures of 1 for 81 in 37 overs, but his only wicket came when Pat Cummins chipped the first ball of the second day to cover-point.Across the series, Anderson has taken four wickets in three matches at 76.75 apiece, and he has still not finished an Ashes Test on the winning side since 2015. Heading into the fifth Test at The Oval next week, during which he turns 41, Anderson will face competition for his place from both Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue.Related

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“We all agreed that James Anderson deserved to have that sentimental pick because he’s a legend of the game, but it may have cost England,” Vaughan told the BBC’s Ashes Daily podcast. “Josh Tongue is a young quick who has created impact in that one game that he has played, and I know the Australians don’t like facing him.”Jimmy, in the three Test matches that he’s played in this series, has just had no impact at all. I don’t remember him getting a key wicket at any stage and that’s very unlike Jimmy Anderson.”We pick on Jonny [Bairstow] because he’s dropped a few chances but we’ve got to be honest: Jimmy Anderson has played three games and has had no impact at all in this series, and it might just be that for The Oval, he might not be in England’s best XI.”Vaughan said that Anderson lacked “that zip that he used to get” during the Manchester Test. “Chris Woakes has almost showed us what can be done with the Dukes ball when you’ve got that zip because he’s been going over the top with the seam and it’s just been doing enough,” Vaughan said.”It’s been wobble seam and a bit more action off the surface at a similar pace. It’s not like Chris has been bowling three or four mph quicker than Jimmy. For whatever reason, Jimmy’s not been getting that kiss off the surface that we’ve seen for many, many years.”At this stage, Anderson has given few hints about his future as an England player, but there is a long break until their next Test series against India in January-February 2024. With home series against Sri Lanka and West Indies next summer, there is a case that England should look to refresh their side after this Ashes series.”I just think Jimmy will make his own decision,” Vaughan added. “I can’t imagine he’s going to be the type who is going to say ‘this is my last Test and I’m going to retire at the end of it’. I don’t think he’ll let anybody know. I think he wants to carry on playing.”He loves playing cricket, he loves bowling, he loves being out in the battle, he loves the dressing room. I think he’ll find it very, very difficult to leave the game as a player. He’s played on for such a long period of time, he clearly is absolutely in love with playing the game and his body is pretty good.”Robert Key [England’s managing director] will deal with that very professionally. I don’t think he’s the kind of guy who will go up to Jimmy and say, ‘Oh, by the way, you’re not going to get another contract.’ I think if Jimmy Anderson wants to carry on, England will work a way that [will allow him to] carry on.”

The opener broke the record for most balls faced by an Indian Test debutant and gave his team a lead of 162

Hemant Brar13-Jul-20231:29

Yashasvi Jaiswal continues his dream red-ball debuts

Centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma put India in a commanding position on the second day of the first Test at Windsor Park. At stumps, India were 312 for 2, leading West Indies by 162 with Jaiswal unbeaten on 143 and Virat Kohli 36.Having started the day on 80 for no loss, Jaiswal and Rohit showed great patience throughout their 229-run partnership. It was the first time in Test cricket that India took a first-innings lead without losing a wicket.Run scoring wasn’t easy, though. India managed only 232 in 90 overs on the second day despite losing just two wickets. West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite used nine bowlers with Rahkeem Cornwall being the most threatening. However, Cornwall had to leave the field in the first session with a chest infection and did not return.Jaiswal was the first to bring up his hundred, becoming the third Indian opener after Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw, and the 17th Indian overall, to do so on Test debut.Rohit followed shortly afterwards with a four off Alick Athanaze. It was his tenth century in Test cricket, and only second outside India in 27 matches. But off the very next ball, he gloved the spinner onto his thigh and Joshua Da Silva caught the rebound.Before this Test, Shubman Gill had told India’s coach Rahul Dravid that he wanted to bat at No. 3. The move didn’t bring immediate success for Gill, though, as he edged Jomel Warrican to second slip for 6.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

With the spinners getting turn and bounce, West Indies delayed taking the second new ball until the 101st over. In their desperation for another wicket, they also burnt two reviews against Kohli but India survived that period.In the third over with the second new ball, Kemar Roach rapped Jaiswal on the pads but Richard Kettleborough turned down the lbw appeal. West Indies had no reviews left and replays showed the ball would have gone on to hit the leg stump.The second new ball was just eight overs old when Brathwaite brought back Warrican. It was only then that Kohli, having faced 80 balls, scored his first boundary with a cover drive. He celebrated with an air punch and a big smile. By stumps, he and Jaiswal had added 72 for the third wicket.In the morning, Jason Holder and Roach stuck to a good length outside off, conceding just 19 in the first nine overs of the day. The first boundary off the bat came in the tenth when Jaiswal pulled Joseph to bring up his half-century. The shot also brought up India’s first opening century stand in 23 innings, since KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal added 117 against South Africa in Centurion in December 2021.After the first drinks interval, Rohit reached his half-century as well. He also had some advice for Jaiswal whenever the youngster looked impatient or played a loose shot.Cornwall was getting assistance from the surface and had challenged both of Jaiswal’s edges before the break. On the other side of it, he pinged him on the helmet with extra bounce as the left-hander failed to connect a sweep. Warrican, much quicker through the air than Cornwall, also found big turn to beat Rohit’s outside edge, but a wicket eluded West Indies.At the start of the second session, Jaiswal tried to raise the tempo. He skipped down the pitch a couple of times against Warrican but didn’t have much success. It was Rohit who showed the way by chipping Holder down the ground for a four. In Holder’s next over, Jaiswal also threw his bat around to pick up two fours, the first of those coming off an outside edge.West Indies moved to plan B after that, with Alzarri Joseph bowling the short stuff. With the ball coming slower off the surface, Rohit twice miscued the pull but was lucky both times. From the other end, Warrican found Rohit’s outside edge but it fell short of the slip fielder.Jaiswal played the short ball much better, even pulling Joseph behind square leg for four. Having taken 16 balls to open his account on day one, he took just 31 deliveries to move from 70 to 100, displaying the versatility that was the hallmark of his innings.

England’s 2019 reunion ruined despite fighting fifties from Buttler, Stokes, Livingstone, Malan

Andrew Miller08-Sep-2023New Zealand 297 for 2 (Mitchell 118*, Conway 111*) beat England 291 for 6 (Buttler 72, Malan 54, Stokes 52, Livingstone 52) by eight wicketsNew Zealand landed the first blow in their World Cup warm-up series in Cardiff – and were able to rush off the pitch in good time for the All Blacks’ opening fixture of the rugby version in Paris – as England’s “Class of 2019” reunion was gatecrashed by a brace of outstanding, uncompromising centuries from Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell.Set what seemed to be a competitive 292 for victory, after a hard-worked England innings featuring four separate half-centuries, including from Ben Stokes on his return to the ODI format, New Zealand instead inched ahead of the required rate from the outset of the powerplay, and on a pitch that seemed to have eased up in the cooler evening conditions, accelerated with dismissive power through the back-end to land a crushing eight-wicket win with 26 balls left unused.Conway, fittingly, finished the match with his only six of his innings, effortlessly launched back over Liam Livingstone’s head, having set New Zealand’s unflustered tempo throughout an exceptional knock of 111 not out from 121 balls. However, it was Mitchell who applied the muscle, clobbering seven sixes and seven fours in his unbeaten 118 from 91, to provide the lion’s share of an unbeaten 180-run stand for the third wicket.It left England’s earlier efforts looking distinctly huff and puff – rarely has this trend-setting white-ball team been left looking quite so off the pace after batting through their 50 overs. Jos Buttler top-scored with a grafting knock of 72 from 68, after he and Stokes had built on a fluent 54 off 53 from Dawid Malan at the top of the order, while Livingstone’s first fifty in any international since June 2022 – a free-wheeling knock of 52 from 40 balls – had looked like being the difference between the teams, with Conway admitting after the match that their total of 291 for 6 had been “slightly above par”.Instead, Conway took it upon himself to make a mockery of such assessments. By the end of the powerplay, he and Will Young – preferred to Finn Allen at the top of New Zealand’s order after a stellar year in the 50-over format – had put them 11 runs to the good at 61 for 0. Much of that momentum came courtesy of a wayward opening burst from Reece Topley, whose two overs were picked off for 25 runs, while David Willey was relegated from his new-ball role for the first time since his ODI debut, 64 matches and eight years ago.Jos Buttler carves through the off side during his 72 from 68 balls•AFP/Getty Images

It took a moment of magic from England’s go-to man Adil Rashid to break the partnership. Introduced straight after the end of the fielding restrictions, the first delivery of his spell was a tossed-up, drifting legbreak, that dipped just back of a length before biting into the off stump, via a thin deflection off the back pad as Young was turned inside-out.That moment gave England a toe-hold, but New Zealand had no reason to change their approach. Henry Nicholls, in theory a placeholder for the injured Kane Williamson at No. 3 but keen to seize his chance to make the position his own, knuckled down for an even-tempoed 26 from 30 in a second-wicket stand of 56, as he negotiated, first, Joe Root’s offbreaks, then an energetic but ineffective maiden ODI spell for the debutant Gus Atkinson, whom he dispatched through backward square and long-off in consecutive overs.Willey did return to dislodge Nicholls with a long-hop, but by then, England’s gameplan had suffered a critical blow. After two brief visits to the dressing-room, Rashid left the field with a wince at the end of the 17th over, with what the ECB later confirmed was cramp. And though he did return to the fray after lengthy treatment, he was not permitted to bowl again until the 37th, by which stage New Zealand’s chase was romping along at 203 for 2.Mitchell, by this stage, had marched his way to a 54-ball fifty – which he had admittedly brought up after cuffing a Livingstone long-hop through the hands of Chris Woakes at short midwicket, but that was about the limit of his false strokes. With two fours and two big sixes already to his name, Mitchell put the hammer down on England’s ailing trump card, and the remainder of the chase was torched.Rashid’s first ball back was planted over long-off for six, his second was finessed through backward square for four. The first ball of Rashid’s next over was pumped through long-on for four more. Conway then flicked Livingstone to midwicket to bring up his century, whereupon Mitchell took it upon himself to lead the celebrations. His next three balls, all from Rashid, were launched for six, four, six, and after rushing through to his own hundred from 84 balls with a nudge to leg off Livingstone, he completed the smackdown with 18 more runs from his final seven balls.England were rather bewildered by the end of it all. Way back at the start of the day, it had seemed that the major talking point would surely revolve around their shock inclusion of Harry Brook as an opener in place of Jason Roy, who suffered a back spasm before the start of play.With Jonny Bairstow also rested in the wake of his shoulder niggle in the fourth T20I, it meant that England’s innings was launched not by a reunion of their 2019 old guard, but by a potential harbinger for the 2023 defence. Despite Malan’s protestations last week that Brook is “4, 5, 6” so they couldn’t possibly be in competition for one spot, there’s no time to stand on ceremony with the World Cup defence looming in less than a month’s time, and so the England management opted to nip that notion in the bud from the get-go.The stage might have been set for a comedic run-out … instead the upshot was a measured opening partnership of 80 in exactly 15 overs, and perhaps contrary to any pre-innings presumptions, it was Malan who made most of that running in another pointedly fighting knock, studded with nine cherry-picked fours, the majority blazed through the covers as he capitalised on New Zealand’s fuller lengths in the powerplay.Related

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It was an innings that looked even better in hindsight, once England’s engine-room had struggled to match his even tempo – most particularly Joe Root, who never looked settled in his torturous knock of 6 from 15 – and after rolling his wrists on a pull through fine leg to bring up a 48-ball fifty, Malan seemed to tap his pad with his bat in an act of self-congratulation, a tacit acknowledgement of the pressure he is currently under.And yet, the doubters will not have been entirely silenced by his display – least of all the manner in which it ended. With a World Cup in India looming, a vulnerability against spin isn’t an ideal Achilles heel. Yet it took just two balls of Rachin Ravindra’s introduction for his start to be picked apart, as he planted his front foot on the line of off stump, and might well have been given out lbw had the ball not ricocheted onto his elbow and down onto his stumps.Nevertheless, in the personal shoot-out stakes, Malan had been quicker on the trigger than his opening partner. Despite a first-ball clip off the pads for four, Brook cut a subdued figure in his first stab as an ODI opener, perhaps unsurprisingly given that this is just his fourth 50-over match of any vintage since before the last World Cup.He was noticeably starved of the strike for much of the powerplay, 24 balls to 48 at one point, which may or may not have been an act of subtle one-upmanship on his team-mate’s part. Nevertheless he struggled to land any telling blows in the course of a 41-ball 25 all told, with just one other boundary – a wristy blap across the line against Kyle Jamieson. And then, just four balls after Malan’s departure, Lockie Ferguson bent his back in a blistering mid-innings spell, to find a perfectly directed bouncer that Brook could only fence meekly to the keeper.And so it was that Root and Stokes, England’s multi-format old firm, were reunited at 80 for 2 without either man having faced a ball. They could have been parted before they’d started too, when Stokes fenced his first ball, another fierce lifter, inches over the head of the sprawling Glenn Phillips at gully. Unlike Root, Stokes recovered his poise to dig England towards what ought to have been a defendable total. After their crushing finish to last week’s T20Is, however, New Zealand’s batters proved once again that they are on one hell of a roll.

Players to get three-year deals, along with increased monthly retainers and a percentage of the PCB’s revenue

Danyal Rasool27-Sep-2023The PCB and the Pakistan men’s team players have reached a landmark agreement on central contracts, ending several months of deadlock and uncertainty. For the first time in Pakistan, three-year contracts have been put in place – rather than the standard 12 months – along with a significant increase in player earnings, as well as a fixed share of revenue from the PCB’s earnings from the ICC.The agreement comes nearly three months after the most recent central contracts expired on June 30. Ever since, Pakistan’s players had been playing without receiving any retainers or other financial compensation. ESPNcricinfo understands the PCB offered the players the option to continue the payment structure of the old contracts until the new deal was struck, an offer the players turned down.As such, there was an impasse between the two parties, with the Test series in Sri Lanka, an ODI series against Afghanistan, and the Asia Cup all played by players without active contracts. It looked inevitable that Pakistan would play the World Cup without contracts too, with the captain Babar Azam offering no indication that an agreement was close during his pre-departure press conference.Related

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While the players and the board were far apart in terms of what they were willing to agree to for much of the last few weeks, the deal that has been struck is more generous for players than any in recent history. The monthly retainer was never really a sticking point, with Category A players receiving PKR 4,500,000 (USD 15,590), a more than four-fold increase over the previous year. The PCB had initially offered Category A players the option to play just one T20 league aside from the PSL, but agreed to allow all centrally-contracted players two additional leagues regardless of category of contract.By far the biggest sticking point, though, was the possibility of revenue sharing. The players demanded a percentage of the revenue the ICC pays annually to the PCB, something the board was reluctant to agree to. In the end, the parties agreed to the players receiving a 3% share of revenue, which amounts to around USD 1 million (the PCB is set to earn USD 34 million per year from next year as a share of ICC revenue). This will be paid to players over and above their monthly retainers and match fees, which are also set to increase by 50% in Tests, 25% in ODIs and 12.5% in T20Is. While it is a far cry from Cricket Australia’s 27.5% revenue-sharing deal with its centrally-contracted players, or the BCCI’s 26%, the Pakistan players were keen to agree to any percentage, however small, to set a precedent.”This deal signifies our commitment to improving the financial health of our players, acknowledging their hard work and dedication to the game,” Zaka Ashraf, the PCB management committee chairperson, said. “We firmly believe that a financially secure and motivated team is more likely to excel on the field.”As we move forward, the entire nation stands behind these players to do well in the upcoming ICC Men’s World Cup. We have faith in their abilities, and we are confident that they will make the nation proud with their outstanding performances.”The main reason the players managed to get the PCB to agree to most of their terms was a collective bargaining position. It is understood the four players leading the negotiations – Babar, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shadab Khan – put up a united front for these talks, and retained the trust of the rest of the team to negotiate on everyone’s behalf.”It is by far a historic deal,” Babar said. “I am extremely happy and satisfied that we have reached an agreement with the PCB. It has been a lengthy and, at times, challenging negotiation process, but I believe we have reached a fair and beneficial agreement for both parties.”The decision to extend these contracts to three years also provides all parties with medium to long-term certainty. This does not mean all players currently offered central contracts will keep them for the next 36 months, or even that they cannot be demoted. The contracts will be subject to annual review, with players potentially coming in or dropping out, but the infrastructure and framework of the contracts is set to remain unchanged till 2026.Pakistan arrived in Hyderabad in India earlier today, where they play their warm-up games against New Zealand on September 29 and Australia on October 3. Their first game of the World Cup is also in Hyderabad, against the Netherlands on October 6.

List of centrally-contracted players

Category A: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi
Category B: Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan
Category C: Imad Wasim and Abdullah Shafique
Category D: Fahim Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmad, Saud Shakeel, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shan Masood, Usama Mir and Zaman Khan

SLC and the sports minister are at loggerheads on various fronts as the row over the administration of cricket in the country deepens

Andrew Fidel Fernando15-Nov-2023Sri Lanka Cricket has initiated a defamation lawsuit against the country’s sports minister, as the row over the administration of cricket in the country deepens.SLC is currently suspended by the ICC, at the request of SLC’s own officials, in an attempt to impress on the Sri Lankan government that the ICC will not tolerate political interference in the board.Meanwhile, at home, SLC and the sports minister are at war on various fronts – this defamation lawsuit being the latest of them. Separate from this legal action, the sports minister has also vowed to fight the stay order delivered by the Sri Lankan courts last Tuesday, which removed the “interim committee” that the minister had appointed, and essentially reinstated the board officials who had been sacked the previous day.Related

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• No decision on 2024 Under-19 World Cup yet as SLC suspension row rumbles on

• Sri Lanka Cricket suspended by ICC board

“In response to the persistent and damaging defamatory statements made by the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Roshan Ranasinghe, Sri Lanka Cricket has taken a decisive step to protect its reputation and integrity,” a board release said. “Therefore, on the 13th November 2023, [SLC officials] jointly filed a defamation lawsuit in the District Court of Colombo, seeking damages amounting to 2.4 billion rupees on behalf of the Sri Lanka Cricket.”The release did not mention which particular statements SLC alleges are defamatory, but the comments that have been taken exception to, likely came on Saturday, during a long press conference the sports minister held, in which he accused the board of corruption and mismanagement, among other things. The minister has been accusing the board of corruption for around a year, but has often done so in parliament where his speech is protected from defamation suits due to parliamentary privilege.SLC had also held a press conference on the same day which featured personal insults directed at the sports minister.Under Sri Lanka’s sports law, which has been in place since 1973, the sports minister does have a range of powers over SLC as well as other sporting bodies in the country.SLC is seeking assurances from the top level of Sri Lanka government, that there will be no further political interventions, which in turn is likely to see the ICC suspension on the board lifted.