Misbah-ul-Haq says cricketers who have lost livelihoods shouldn’t be left “deserted” by the PCB and the government

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-2020Umar Gul and Misbah-ul-Haq have added their voices to the motion to revive department cricket in Pakistan. A year after the entire structure was revamped, there are now voices from within the Pakistan Cricket Board seeking a re-evaluation, with Gul being a PCB cricket committee member and Misbah the head coach and chief selector of the senior men’s team.The PCB has been criticised for the move to abolish departmental cricket, with the move having rendered hundreds of cricketers jobless at a stroke, and both Gul and Misbah have urged the board and the government to set up a plan for players whose livelihoods have been affected. In its new structure, the PCB had constituted six associations from each province in Pakistan, with 192 cricketers given an annual contract. Replacing the old structure with the new one was a decision driven by the current prime minister Imran Khan, who is also the patron-in-chief of the PCB, and who had rejected an earlier domestic model the board proposed that included departments.”The salary I used to receive from the department was sufficient to cover my monthly expenses. But now, honestly speaking, what we are earning from domestic matches, which includes match fees and a monthly retainer, is not enough to cover the needs of my family,” Gul told .”The players felt secured in departmental cricket but that is no longer the case. We need departmental cricket back, even if it is in grade two, and I will continue to raise my voice in this regard as a member of the cricket committee.”Elaborating on the shape department cricket could take, Gul said, “Even if it’s a grade two tournament, it can be with three-day cricket for 10 to 12 departments. In previous meetings, we talked about finding a window for it so that players who lost their livelihoods can get back to their lives.”There had been a possibility of departmental teams returning to Pakistan’s domestic circuit earlier this year when the Iqbal Qasim-led PCB cricket committee tasked the then director of cricket, Haroon Rasheed, to try and find a window to potentially squeeze in a new tournament. But the idea never materialised, leading Qasim to resign from his post in protest and calling the committee toothless.Most departments have already suspended contracts they had with cricketers. Those who were permanent employees were asked to pick desk jobs, effectively ending their cricketing aspirations. These were players hired mainly for their cricketing skills, and given their lack of qualifications for other jobs, they have had to pick non-executive jobs with lesser pay.Earlier this week, after the national side’s return from England, Misbah had also stressed on the livelihoods that had been affected.”The cricket board is trying to have an alternative for the players,” Misbah said. “You obviously don’t want cricketers playing in the system to have their livelihoods fully abolished, or have a shortage of players, or that they face financial losses. We have spoken about this, but unfortunately, this issue hasn’t progressed properly. One of the reasons are circumstances around Covid-19 when everything was shut down and it took over three months [to normalise]. And now the season is upon us and the board didn’t get time to do much about it. But in my opinion, I think they should think about this. I did tell the PCB and the government and they should make a thorough plan on how to involve these cricketers and not leave them deserted.”Domestic cricket in Pakistan has been played among departments and regions since the early 1970s, when Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistan’s first Test captain and later the PCB chairman, encouraged organisations like HBL, Sui Southern Gas Corporation, WAPDA and others to provide employment opportunities for players. Since then, top players have been contracted by the departments in question and been given full-time jobs. The role of these departments in helping Pakistan cricket and cricketers has been significant, but it also ended up depriving regional sides of their top players.

Rashid also played his part, taking 3 for 12, as Sunrisers climbed to third on the points table

Alagappan Muthu08-Oct-2020Support acts. They’re not talked about often in an IPL game. But that was the difference between the two teams in Dubai. Jonny Bairstow walloped 97 off 55 balls, with his opening partner David Warner chipping in with 52 off 40 himself, to lift the Sunrisers Hyderabad to 201 for 6.The Kings XI Punjab had Nicholas Pooran in breathtaking form, but his 77 off 36 was an aberration on the scorecard… because their next highest score was 11. Sunrisers’ bowling was just too good for them.The domino effectThe Kings XI had a good plan. Load up on powerplay specialists to attack a top-heavy opposition. If only their execution was as good. There were five wides in the first over. Full tosses caressed for four in the second. Worst of all, they gave Warner room early in his innings. The Sunrisers captain hit five boundaries from his first 14 balls and cruised to his 50th IPL fifty. He brings up one of those every 2.64 (!) innings.Heeeeeeere’s JonnyPower. Bairstow has so much of it that it sometimes doesn’t matter what you bowl. The Kings XI tried to use Sheldon Cottrell’s left-arm angle to snag the outside edge, but all that did was offer room to be whacked over the off side. Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s mystery spin didn’t work because the batsman played him like a medium-pacer, sitting back in his crease and cross-batting him away. Ravi Bishnoi was hit for 6, 4, 6 in his first over.Bairstow went to fifty shortly after that, celebrated it by thumping Maxwell for 4, 6, 6 and showed no sign of stopping. Perhaps the best illustration of his form tonight is that he went from 29 to 81 in the time Warner went from 29 to 50. Sure, he had more of the strike but that too was a recognition of his quality. It takes a lot to make Warner play second fiddle.The redemption of Kings XIBefore taking their first wicket in this game, Kings XI had gone 219 balls without one. In that time, they’d also carefully gift-wrapped 408 runs to the opposition. Most worryingly, their death bowling has been awful this season, giving up 15 runs an over in the last four.But as soon as Warner fell everything changed. It felt like there was too little time for even a team like Sunrisers with such a brittle middle order to mess up, but they lost five wickets in four overs to two uncapped Indians – legspinner Bishnoi (3-29) and left-arm yorker specialist Arshdeep Singh (2-33). After being 160 for 0, in the 16th over, Sunrisers finished 201 for 6, with only five boundaries in the last 38 balls.King of KingsWhen Pooran sent the 17th ball he faced into the second tier in Dubai, he brought up the fastest fifty of this season’s IPL. And coolest thing about that is, he had told everyone it was coming.Pooran got to his landmark as he hit legspin-bowling allrounder Abdul Samad for 6, 4, 6, 6, 6, 0. At the time, he had a strike-rate of nearly 300. The rest of his team, meanwhile, managed 33 runs off 35 balls at a strike-rate of 94.How long can one man resist a whole team though, especially one working double-time to win? Priyam Garg had one stump to aim at to run Glenn Maxwell out and he nailed it. Rashid Khan was stringing together overs that cost no more than three each. Plus, his googly may well be cricket’s version of a hieroglyph. Very few are capable of reading it. It earned him a double-wicket maiden in the 15th over.Kings XI slipped from 91 for 3 in the ninth over to 126 for 6 in the 14th. There was no recovering from that.

Sunrisers have already beaten Capitals twice this season, but they have middle-order worries of their own

Hemant Brar07-Nov-20206:45

Should Delhi Capitals rejig their top order and push Marcus Stoinis up?

Big Picture

The Delhi Capitals and the Sunrisers Hyderabad couldn’t have taken more contrasting paths to Qualifier 2 of IPL 2020.The Capitals’ coach Ricky Ponting wanted his side to play their best cricket in the second half of IPL 2020. But things have gone in the opposite direction: after winning seven of their first nine games, the Capitals lost four matches on the trot.Smiles returned on their faces when they beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last league match to qualify for the playoffs, but a timid performance against the Mumbai Indians in the first Qualifier meant they are back to figuring out their best XI. Do they continue with left-arm seamer Daniel Sams, who has an economy rate of 9.50 after three wicketless outings? Do they replace Sams with Harshal Patel, which will also allow them to bring back the big-hitting Shimron Hetmyer? To make room for Hetmyer, do they drop the out-of-form Prithvi Shaw and open with Ajinkya Rahane, or leave out Rahane and keep faith in Shaw?The Sunrisers, meanwhile, are peaking at the right time. At one stage, they were seventh on the points table with three wins from nine games but now are on a four-match winning streak, which includes a comprehensive win over the Capitals as well. They know what their best XI looks like, each player in the XI knows his role and, more importantly, their bowling has come together well: only once in the last six games have they conceded more than 150.However, it’s not that they have become invincible. Despite allrounder Jason Holder acting as a shield, their lower-middle order still has some cracks, glimpses of which could be seen during the Eliminator against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. And they still don’t have a reliable sixth bowling option in case one of their bowlers has an off day. But do the Capitals have enough firepower left to take advantage of those issues and make it to their first IPL final ever?

In the news

• Wriddhiman Saha missed the Eliminator because of an injury. There has been no official update since then, and it’s unlikely he will play Sunday’s match.
• Vijay Shankar is yet to recover from a hamstring injury and will once again be unavailable.

Shreyas Iyer’s Delhi Capitals and David Warner’s Sunrisers Hyderabad have taken contrasting routes to the second Qualifier•BCCI

Previous meetings

The Sunrisers have had two easy wins against the Capitals. In Abu Dhabi, David Warner, Jonny Bairstow and Kane Williamson lifted them to 162 for 4. The Capitals were always behind the asking rate in their chase, and any hopes of a revival were quashed by Rashid Khan, who picked up 3 for 14 to give the Sunrisers a 15-run win.In Dubai, the Sunrisers trounced the Capitals by 88 runs in a must-win game for them. Batting first, Saha (87 off 45) and Warner (66 off 34) set the platform for a mammoth 219 for 2. In response, the Capitals were all out for 131. Khan once again proved to be their tormentor, picking up 3 for 7 from his four overs this time.

Likely XIs

Delhi Capitals: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Harshal Patel, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 R Ashwin, 11 Anrich NortjeSunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shreevats Goswami (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Priyam Garg, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Shahbaz Nadeem, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 T Natarajan

Strategy punts

• The Capitals should try to play out Khan as winning the battle against him can go a long way in winning the match. But it’s not an easy thing to do, especially for the Capitals’ batsmen. Khan has dismissed each of Shreyas Iyer, Shimron Hetmyer, Rishabh Pant, Marcus Stoinis and Axar Patel twice in T20s. Since 2019, he has taken ten wickets in five games against the Capitals. His economy in those games? A miserly 3.8.
• The Capitals can replace Shaw and Sams with Hetmyer and Harshal. They can promote Rahane to open the innings and Hetmyer can play the role of an enforcer in a middle-order that has gone quiet in the last few games. Harshal has a good slower ball and is also handy with the bat. Another punt the Capitals can take is making Stoinis open the innings; his best numbers have also come as an opener. But that’s a double-edged sword as it makes the already misfiring middle order even more vulnerable.
• The Capitals should deploy their best bowlers – Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and R Ashwin – in the powerplay. If they can get a couple of early wickets, that will expose the Sunrisers’ middle order. With not many explosive batsmen down the order, the Capitals can then restrict them.

Stats that matter

• Teams batting second have won eight of the last nine games in Abu Dhabi.
• Shaw, in the last eight innings, has scored only 49 runs at an average of 6.1. Three times he has been out for a duck during this period. Overall, he has eight single-digit scores in 13 innings this season.
• Among those who have faced at least 100 balls this season, only Glenn Maxwell (101.88) has a lower strike rate than Rahane (107.76) and Rishabh Pant (109.61).
• Warner has tallied more than 500 runs in each of his last six IPL seasons. In all those seasons, he has averaged over 40 with a strike rate in excess of 135.
• The Capitals have lost six out of their seven playoff/knockout games. Their only win, though, has come against the Sunrisers, in the Eliminator last year.

“Being able to produce the kind of freedom in my performance was the biggest thing for me”

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Nov-2020For Glenn Phillips, who has had a stop-start international career, smashing a 46-ball century – the fastest in T20Is by a New Zealand batsman – against West Indies was “absolutely massive”. No, it won’t make him believe his future with the national team is all sorted out, but “you don’t get those very often, so I am going to enjoy it”.”That’s just an incredible day. You don’t get them very often… make the most of it,” Phillips said at a media interaction after New Zealand beat West Indies by 72 runs in the second T20I to go 2-0 up in the three-match series. “My whole thing is to try and be an entertainer for the crowd and, in that moment, having the crowd’s back, I wanted to give them something special, the whole team wanted to give them something special. It was amazing for me personally, (that) I could be part of it.”ALSO READ: Stats – Phillips hits fastest T20I ton by a New ZealanderPhillips and Devon Conway got together at 53 for 2 in the seventh over, but they didn’t really pick up pace till the last ball of the tenth over, when Phillips smacked Kieron Pollard for six. Then came the drizzle, overs that netted them 18, 11 and 24 runs, and then a rain delay. The big hitting continued after that as the two put together a 184-run stand, Conway ending on 65* from 37 balls to Phillips’ 51-ball 108.”Big part of our game plan is communication, reading the situation, adjusting to it. So, for me and Devon, we’ve never played with each other before, the communication side of things is even more crucial,” Phillips said. “We’ve both played a lot of T20 cricket, and when you lose two quick wickets, you don’t want to lose three or four. Especially on a ground like this where it’s hard to get going again, on a pitch that’s a little bit two-paced.”So we decided to give ourselves a couple of overs and by the time we both got going, it was 11-12 overs, and we have a very deep batting line-up, so that death phase can start much earlier, especially with the wind being an absolute hurricane in one direction. So making the most of that side and hitting with the wind and basically getting the momentum going. And then even when the rain came, just carrying on from where we started.”We’ve always been a team that’s big on our running between the wickets, especially on a big ground like this, which, I feel we adapted to very well after playing at Eden Park, which is so small, and twos are hard to come by. We said to each other ‘the moment we hit the ball, we’re going to run and look for two, no matter what’. He’s quick between the wickets, I am quick between the wickets, so we might as well use that asset especially when you’re not necessarily in the power-hitting mode.”Phillips, 23, made his international debut in a T20I in February 2017, but has only played 13 matches in the format now (along with one Test).”I had to go back, work on things, and took a step back to be able to move forward again. Then I had the opportunities in the Caribbean (Premier League), which slowly worked my confidence back and I was able to have a couple of good performances, being able to come out against these boys has had a massive part of play in that,” Phillips said. “And be able to produce the kind of freedom in my performance was the biggest thing for me – and, yeah, I was absolutely ecstatic. You don’t get those very often, and I was going to enjoy it.”The stint with Jamaica Tallawahs in the CPL – he top-scored for them with 316 runs at a strike rate of 127.41 from ten innings this season – have helped in a big way, Phillips said, especially learning to play smartly against spin: “The problem is not necessarily being able to find the boundary, the problem is finding the ones in between and not put myself under pressure.”Phillips, however, isn’t looking too far ahead. “There’s guys that are established and still having to come back. And there’s players that are higher up in the rankings than myself. All I can do is, when I am given the opportunity, do the best that I can possibly for the team, because if the team’s winning, then everyone’s happy,” he said. “Whether I am playing here or I am playing for the Tallawahs, or the (Auckland) Aces or my club back home, just being able to play the role that I need to play for that team and take it one day at a time.”

‘I’m sure a few New Zealand coaches there have got their eye on him’

Deivarayan Muthu07-Jan-2021Everyone wanted a piece of Kyle Jamieson in New Zealand’s international home summer, with the Bay Oval crowd even standing up to sing ‘Happy birthday’ to him when he turned 26. While he had a dream first year in Test cricket, Jamieson also made his T20I debut this home summer, taking three wickets in four matches at an economy rate of 7.75. So, do the IPL franchises want a piece of Jamieson as well?Gary Stead, who has overseen Jamieson’s progress from his domestic side Canterbury to the national team, reckoned that the presence of New Zealand coaches in the IPL might be “one of the advantages” for him. Brendon McCullum, the Kolkata Knight Riders head coach, and Stephen Fleming, the Chennai Super Kings head coach, have also commentated on the 6ft 8in quick for Spark Sport. Meanwhile, Mike Hesson, the former New Zealand coach, works with the Royal Challengers Bangalore as their team director.Related

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“See, I’m not sure. Maybe they [the franchises] will [come knocking at his door] and maybe they won’t. Sometimes, it’s a bit of the luck of the draw with the IPL and how you get in there,” Stead said of Jamieson’s IPL prospects. “I guess one of the advantages is a few New Zealand coaches that are head coaches there as well that I’m sure have got their eye on Kyle as well as other people in our set-up as well.”Earlier this season, Jamieson’s team-mate Tim Seifert, the wicketkeeper-opener, had also caught the attention of Fleming who told Spark Sport: “There’s a team in yellow [Chennai Super Kings] that might have a look at you as well. Not just Brendon’s [Brendon McCullum’s] team, there are other teams out there!”Even before Jamieson made his T20I debut, Shane Bond, who is part of the Sydney Thunder and the Mumbai Indians backroom, foresaw an IPL opportunity for him.”I’m looking forward to see how he goes in T20, and there’s always opportunities in the T20 game as well,” Bond had said. “With another IPL around the corner, who knows what can happen. Things in this game can change pretty quick, so looking forward to seeing what he can do.”Jamieson’s USP is his towering frame that enables him to bounce out batsmen, but he has shown that he can be just as threatening by pitching the ball up and swinging it both ways. In all T20 cricket, he holds the record for the fifth-best figures, having claimed 6 for 7 for Canterbury Kings against Auckland Aces in January 2019. All up, he has 49 wickets in 33 T20s at an average of 19.81 and economy rate of 7.96.Jamieson said after the Christchurch Test that he had honed his inswinger during the winter, and the day after that game, Stead delivered a glowing appraisal of him, saying “the world could be his oyster”.”I mean it’s just keeping him grounded as well. We all know he’s got some great attributes and some great skills and who knows the world could be oyster his with what’s ahead and what’s coming up,” Stead said. “But, at the end of the day, he’s still a cricketer and he’s one of our boys when he gets together with us and we treat him that way. He’s got everything there in front of him, but hopefully he stays fit and he will be a big part of New Zealand cricket I’m sure.”

Allrounder has been key to Sydney Sixers’ middle order in one of his best BBL campaigns

Andrew McGlashan29-Jan-2021Dan Christian has not shut the door on representing Australia again after hitting what he believed was career-best form for the Sydney Sixers.Christian joined the Sixers from the Melbourne Renegades, whom he had helped win the title in the 2018-19 season. Although run tallies in the BBL are skewed by the growth of the competition, his average of 36 this campaign is his second best after 2013-14. Christian’s strike rate of 186.66 is far and away his highest in any edition of the tournament and his second best for any league behind the 194.05 he struck at in the 2018-19 Mzansi Super League.Christian, 37, last played for Australia in 2017, a career that includes 19 ODIs and 16 T20Is. Having been overlooked for the expanded squads of the Covid-19 era, his time would appear to have gone; but he believes he as “a lot of cricket left in me”.Related

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“For sure, I’d still love to be playing in that Australian side,” he told reporters in Canberra. “If the opportunity arises, great. But one of the things I’ve focused on is just win games and competitions. That’s the currency for playing at the next level. If you are doing that, you will get noticed. Certainly found that in my days at Victoria when we were winning all those Sheffield Shields.”Christian has enjoyed the new challenge after changing clubs, also taking 13 wickets alongside the runs he has scored following a lean last season with the Renegades. When asked if he’d ever played better, he said: “Probably not, it’s hard to remember… particularly in the Big Bash, I’ve had similar runs of form in other competitions – particularly in England – but over here probably been my best ones.”I didn’t look at changing anything, was probably more the fresh start and confidence of being in a new group. Still feel I have a lot of cricket left in me despite being 37.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“I’ve been playing really well in England in the last few years, and the great thing about being in this Sixers side is I’m playing a very similar role – that bowling role in the middle, a bit at the death, then batting-wise coming in around 10-12th over and finishing off things. Feel that’s where I play my best cricket so nice to do that for the Sixers.”Christian will be part of the Sixers side taking on the Perth Scorchers in the Qualifier final in Canberra on Saturday with the prize being a direct route into the final on February 6.He hopes that conditions at the Manuka Oval, which will host the match due to the ongoing border restrictions impacting Sydney, are similar to when the two sides met a couple of weeks ago when Christian took 2 for 22 from his four overs to pull back a rapid Scorchers to the extent that the chase was a cruise.”Hopefully it plays pretty similar to what it did last time,” he said of the pitch at the Manuka. “Generally how we’ve played a lot of our stuff, pace off from our spinners and our medium pacers have been really successful, as long as it’s different to what they have at the Optus [Stadium in Perth] because they are brilliant on the fast, green wicket.”

Board chief upset at not being able to dictate team decisions during series

Mohammad Isam14-Feb-2021Mominul Haque knows that winning and losing a game for Bangladesh produces two very different types of reactions. It was all very calm when Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe last year, but after West Indies blanked them 2-0 in their backyard, he knew “a lot of things won’t be in your favour and a lot of things will come out”.One of those is a public tongue-lashing from Nazmul Hassan, the BCB president, shortly after the 17-run defeat against West Indies in Dhaka. Previous captains have endured such dressing downs, in both public and private, and this was no different. Hassan slammed the captain and coach for the decisions they took, one of which was the selection of Soumya Sarkar from outside the squad, to replace the injured Shakib Al Hasan.Hassan, who often gets involved in the minutiae of running the Bangladesh team, said that Sarkar was his fourth choice.”When Shakib was injured, I had [board directors] Akram [Khan], [Khaled Mahmud] Sujon, [Ismail Haider] Mallick, [chief selector Minhajul Abedin] Nannu and [selector Habibul Bashar] Sumon in front of me,” Hassan said. “I gave them four or five options. My first choice was Mahmudullah Riyad, and then Mosaddek [Hossain], Mahedi [Hasan] and the fourth option was Soumya [Sarkar]. They [captain Haque and coach Russell Domingo] selected Soumya.”I still went ahead and personally called Mahmudullah, who told me he had back pain. Mosaddek was in Abu Dhabi. We tried, but they [Haque and Domingo] had only one choice. They didn’t mention any other names.”Haque said they needed an allrounder in place of Shakib. “Shakib ‘s absence threw off our combination. I needed a batsman who could bowl medium-pace.”I went with Soumya because he is an experienced player, and has been playing ODIs recently too. These things come up when you lose a game, and it would have been a different story if we had won.”Hassan slammed Russell Domingo and Mominul Haque for making all the decisions by themselves•AFP via Getty Images

Sarkar’s selection was just one of many topics that Hassan criticised the Bangladesh team for. He also took offence about Taijul Islam saying after the third day of the first Test that a lead of 250 was good enough on that pitch. Bangladesh, though, set West Indies a target of 395, which they chased down with three wickets in hand.”We are not going to make abrupt changes but we can’t let this happen,” Hassan said. “Definitely it is time to look into these things. Look, we can lose a Test but we cannot just declare that a 250-lead is enough to beat a visiting side.”We couldn’t defend 395, and a batsman went on to score a double-hundred on the fifth day. These are unacceptable. We bowled poorly, no doubt.”Hassan sounded ticked off by the spin strategy as well, and said the team management should have picked a second seamer for the Dhaka Test.”Since the Afghanistan Test [in 2019], all I have heard is spinning wicket. Recently our pacers did well in the domestic tournament. We have a number of pacers. But we didn’t play the pacers. We took five pacers, closed down any room for an allrounder but we played only one pacer. Why did we then take these pacers?”Hassan said that there is a detachment between the Bangladesh team and him due to their bio-secure bubble. He took exception to the fact that Haque and Domingo, the captain and coach, had taken all the team decisions during this series. Pre Covid-19 and bio bubbles, Hassan and some of the board directors typically stayed with the team management during home and away series.”The decision-makers are the captain and the coach. We are not part of it. We will seek answers from all of them, not just the captain and the coach. I must know whether they [Bangladesh’s team management] had a team meeting before today’s play. My hands are tied due to the bio-secure bubble. I am totally handicapped.”After a game, I am usually entering their dressing room at this time, or sit in their team hotel. I haven’t been able to interact with them. We only had one Zoom meeting with the full team but that’s not enough to know what’s going on. I asked Akram what the plan is. He says he doesn’t know. The selectors don’t know. We are not inside the bubble. We have to know what happened before I can tell you anything.”He called the lack of access he had “intolerable” and warned about a “message” being given to the team.”I cannot give you any more details but I want to tell you that we tried. Now we have to know what’s happening, as it is becoming intolerable. There’s however very little time since we are heading to New Zealand, and then a week after New Zealand we are going to Sri Lanka. We cannot make a lot of tumult in this short time but the message will be given.”

Game moved from Hove to Old Trafford after leatherjacket larvae cause damage to outfield

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Mar-2021Sussex and Lancashire have agreed to switch their season opener from Hove to Emirates Old Trafford after an infestation of leatherjackets – crane fly larvae – damaged the outfield at Sussex’s headquarters.Lancashire will now host the teams’ encounter in the opening round of the County Championship, starting on April 8, with the corresponding fixture later in the month being shifted to the 1st Central County Ground at Hove. Both fixtures will be played behind closed doors, because of UK government restrictions relating to Covid-19.Following an inspection by the ECB’s pitch and grounds advisor, Andy MacKay, on Friday it was agreed with Sussex’s head groundsperson, Ben Gibson, that although the groundstaff had made “significant progress”, moving the fixture would allow extra time for the outfield to recover.As reported by ESPNcricinfo earlier this month, Sussex were forced to contemplate the change after discovering their bug problem. European crane flies (known colloquially as daddy longlegs) lay their eggs in soil, which then hatch out and feed on the roots of plants – in this case, the grass on the outfield. The insecticide that was commonly used to treat the issue has been banned in the UK since 2016.The square has not been damaged, though, and Sussex are expected to play their first home fixture against Yorkshire on April 22-25 as planned. The return match against Lancashire will start on April 29.

The Australian allrounder is understood to have opted out because of concerns over the lengthy stay in biobubbles

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Mar-2021Mitchell Marsh has pulled out of the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s IPL 2021 campaign because of “personal reasons”*. As reported by ESPNcricinfo earlier in the day, the Sunrisers have drafted in England opener Jason Roy as Marsh’s replacement, acquiring him at his base price of INR 2 crore.Marsh, last in action in Australia’s T20I series in New Zealand in the first week of March, is understood to have been worried about the seven-day quarantine followed by the long stretch in biosecure bubbles – like everyone else – for the duration of his team’s presence in the competition.Roy, who had opted out of the Delhi Capitals’ campaign in IPL 2020 because of personal reasons – and had been replaced in the team by Australian pace bowler Daniel Sams – was released by the franchise ahead of the 2021 auction. Most recently, turning out for England in the white-ball series in India, Roy showed good form, scoring 144 runs in five T20I innings – with a strike rate of 132.11 – and following it up with 115 runs in three ODI innings, striking at 123.65.Related

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Having an extra option to open the batting could work well for the Sunrisers – who also have Kane Williamson in their ranks – because David Warner, their captain and one-half of a prolific opening pairing with Jonny Bairstow, might not be 100% after his struggles with a groin injury.Warner conceded in early March that it had been a mistake to rush back from the injury to play in the Test series against India, and while he has since played for New South Wales without any apparent problems, he expects the problem to linger for most of the remainder of the year.Marsh, who was bought by the Sunrisers for his base price of INR 2 crore in the 2020 auction, lasted just four balls in the team’s season-opener against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dubai before hurting his ankle. He batted at No. 10 in the chase and was dismissed for a first-ball duck, before leaving the competition.Jason Holder was drafted in as his replacement and had a telling impact on the Sunrisers’ fortunes, making useful contributions with the bat and picking up 14 wickets in seven games as they reached the playoffs of the competition.