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England captain Andrew Strauss has defended the trip to Germany that resulted in star seamer James Anderson suffering a broken rib.

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2010England captain Andrew Strauss has defended the trip to Germany that resulted in fast bowler James Anderson suffering a broken rib.The England management opted to send the squad for what has been dubbed by sections of the press as a boot camp. The bonding sessions has been described as extremely positive ahead of what is likely to be a demanding Ashes tour, but it came at a cost as Anderson emerged from a spell of boxing with a broken rib.The Ashes gets underway on November 25 and Strauss is confident Anderson will be available to lead the attack at the Gabba.Asked if the camp was a mistake, Strauss told : “I don’t think so. We gained a huge amount out of it. The reason we had it when we did was it gave us a huge amount of time ahead of the first Test in case there were injuries. We weren’t expecting injuries and the guys taking the course were told to make sure that did not happen, but things do happen.”We are professional sportsmen and you are going to get injuries, whether it is in the nets, the gym sessions or on one of these camps. It is not ideal but we have every confidence Jimmy will be fighting fit well before the first Test.”Hopefully the side benefited from a shared experience, it was a tough one and we will need to be tough over there.”It has been reported that Anderson is touch and go to make the first Test, but Strauss claims the indications are the Lancashire bowler will be a 100% for the Brisbane curtain raiser.”Ideally that will be the case,” Strauss said in response to questions on whether Anderson will be ready for the lead-up to the tournament. “The indications are he will have a reasonable amount of time before the first Test but you never know. We have to be prepared as in any tour you will get injuries.”Chris Tremlett is said to have landed the blow that got through Anderson’s defences and Strauss joked that his boxing technique may need improvement. “I don’t know who it was with, it was three minutes of boxing each. We were well protected so Jimmy’s defensive technique needs working on.”

Kent lost their last eight wickets for 120 runs in a session and nine balls to gift Lancashire only their second success in Canterbury since 1936

21-Aug-2010

ScorecardKent lost their last eight wickets for 120 runs in a session and nine balls to gift Lancashire only their second success in Canterbury since 1936. The 121-run drubbing moved the visitors to fourth in the County Championship Division One table with a game in hand to maintain their outside championship hopes, whereas Kent slip back toward the relegation scrap following their fifth defeat of the top-flight campaign.Resuming on their overnight score of 84 for 2 and in pursuit of an unlikely victory target of 339, Kent added 13 runs before the start of their nightmare slide against the twin seam threat of Tom Smith and Glen Chapple that saw them lose four wickets for three runs in the space of 27 balls.Visiting skipper Chapple was first to strike, running one down the Canterbury slope and away from right-hander Martin van Jaarsveld who edged to Paul Horton at slip to make it 97 for 3.In the next over Sam Northeast went back and across his stumps to Smith only to work across the line and go leg before then, in his next over, Smith got one to lift sharply at Geraint Jones who feathered a catch to his counterpart Luke Sutton.Without addition to the score Darren Stevens followed a Chapple leg-cutter to give Sutton another catch and leave Kent floundering on 100 for 6. Lancashire struck again through Smith when Alex Blake, chopping down late on a short one, played the ball onto the base of off-stump.Kent partially saved face thereafter with a sprightly eighth-wicket stand of 72 in 63 balls between left-handers James Tredwell and Matt Coles (51) that at least took the game into its penultimate session.Coles raced to his maiden half-century for the county from 41 balls and with six fours but, two deliveries after raising his bat, the 20-year-old miscued a slog sweep against Gary Keedy straight into the hands of Sajid Mahmood at deep midwicket.In the over before lunch, Tredwell, having hit five boundaries to take Kent beyond 200, danced past one from Keedy to be stumped by a yard. Nine balls after the restart and without addition to the total, Cook swept at Keedy only to be caught at deep mid-wicket and hand Lancashire their 21-point win while Kent bank only four.

Shoaib Malik, who is currently serving a one-year ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), is set to join Lancashire for their Friends Provident Twenty20 campaign that begins in the first week of June

Cricinfo staff11-May-2010Shoaib Malik, the former Pakistan captain who is currently serving a one-year ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), is set to join Lancashire for their Friends Provident Twenty20 campaign that begins in the first week of June. His participation has been supported by the PCB, who gave the No Objection Certificate (NOC) but is subject to visa regulations.Malik was one of the seven players punished by the PCB following Pakistan’s tour of Australia, where they lost all their matches and were bogged by off-field controversies. Malik has since kept himself occupied with his wedding to Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, and with the appeals process against the ban. The PCB is yet to give its verdict on the appeals. Malik’s last competitive appearance was the final of the RBS Twenty20 Cup final in March, when he led Sialkot Stallions to the title, three days before PCB handed the ban.Despite the ban, the PCB had no problem with Malik, and other banned players, perusing county opportunities. “The suspended players can play in domestic cricket and anywhere
abroad,” PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar said. “We gave Rana Naved the necessary permission to play in county cricket and Malik’s case was similar.”Malik has a commendable Twenty20 record at the international level, averaging 26.21 at a strike-rate of 114.85 with the bat, in addition to a bowling average of 20.42 and an economy rate of 6.65 runs per over. He led Pakistan to the final of the World Twenty20 in 2007, and was a member of the team that won the tournament in 2009.The offspinning allrounder was delighted by the opportunity to play for Lancashire. “When Lancashire approached me to come and play for them I didn’t hesitate in saying yes. I love playing cricket in England and the opportunity to play with a club of Lancashire’s reputation was too good to pass up.”Their recent overseas signings in [Simon] Katich and [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul only add to an already strong list. I’m very excited and look forward to a strong Twenty20 campaign,” Malik said.Mike Watkinson, the Lancashire County Cricket Club chairman, believed that Malik would be an asset to the side. “We are delighted to recruit yet another world-class player to the cricket club. Shoaib will be a quality addition to our Twenty20 squad.”Peter Moores, the head coach of the county side shared Watkinson’s optimism about Malik’s inclusion. “Shoaib has a proven track record in the game and is a versatile cricketer. He’s at a good age, can bat up and down the order and is an experienced spin bowler. We look forward to welcoming him to the squad,” Moores said.

Kemar Roach is smaller than the great West Indian bowlers of the past but faster than he looks

Peter English19-Nov-2009Kemar Roach is smaller than the great West Indian bowlers of the past but faster than he looks. Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Corey Collymore were Roach’s childhood heroes and he would like to carry on the tradition by leading the side in the three-Test series against Australia starting next week.Standing at well under six feet, Roach is a 21-year-old with a reasonably gentle run-up before he explodes through the crease and his slippery deliveries surprised the local batsmen. He regularly hurried Nick Kruger, who carried a headache after being struck on the helmet during his 172, and collected Ryan Broad’s edge with a lifting delivery before lunch.While Roach’s 1 for 67 off 23 overs came in the Bulls’ hefty total of 4 for 384, he gained frequent plays and misses and was frustrated not to win a couple more calls from the umpires. “That’s what cricket is all about – hard days and long days,” he said. “I know to work hard to get wickets and I’ll bowl all day if I have to. It was tiring but I was accustomed to that, I’m accustomed to bowling a long time. It’s not a problem for me.”Roach, who was clocked at 94.5mph [152kph] during the Champions Trophy, was called up for the two Tests against Bangladesh during the players’ strike and was the leading bowler with 13 wickets in the lost series. “He just ambles in but then it is on you,” Kruger said. “He is quick and he got me with a good one – I have got a bit of a headache.”Kruger felt Roach was holding back too. “He was just ambling in there today,” he said. Both Kruger and Wade Townsend, who also scored a maiden century, had some tough moments in the early stages but recovered for a satisfying 243-run stand for the second wicket.”They came hard at us but we batted pretty well,” Kruger said. “It was my day, I had a couple of chances and they were probably recovering from a bit of jet-lag.”The West Indians were not helped by some dropped chances, but Roach expected the performances to improve for the first Test. “There’s more cricket to play and that was only one day,” he said. “I don’t think we will be that bad again.”

Former bowler has played 26 Tests and 191 ODIs and has experience of being on a selection panel in domestic cricket

Sidharth Monga30-Jun-2023Former India bowler Ajit Agarkar is the frontrunner to be the next India men’s chairman of selectors after applying to the vacant spot in the selection committee. The BCCI advertised on June 22 for the vacancy that has not been filled since February when the last chairman of selectors, Chetan Sharma, resigned following a news channel sting operation on him. Agarkar applied on June 29 evening, a day before the deadline. If selected, the 45-year-old Agarkar, who played 26 Tests and 191 ODIs for India, will become the most experienced member of the panel, and thus also the chairman of selectors.Chetan represented North Zone in the panel, so Agarkar’s appointment will result in the panel having two selectors from West Zone, Salil Ankola being the other one. In the BCCI constitution, drafted as per the RM Lodha-committee recommendations, there is no mention of selectors being appointed on a zonal basis; just that the five selectors should have been retired for at least five years and played a certain number of matches. While the BCCI has followed an unwritten rule of picking a selector from each of the five zones traditionally, the advertisement for the role never specified it was looking for a candidate from a specific zone.Shiv Sunder Das, S Sharath and Subroto Banerjee are the other three selectors. With the most international experience among them, Das serves as the chairman as of now.Related

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For a team in transition, as India is, a settled selection panel with vision, clarity and continuity is of utmost importance. But the selection committee has been anything but settled since last year when the BCCI moved away from the convention of giving a chairman two terms and asked for new applications for Chetan’s role following the semi-final loss in the T20 World Cup. However, the board failed to attract a better option, and re-elected Chetan the chairman of selectors only for the sting operation leading to his resignation, which has never been acknowledged by the BCCI.One big challenge for India is that the chairman of selectors is paid just over INR 1 crore per year. Any former cricketer easily makes more with work in the media, which comes without the scrutiny a national selector faces, and also coaching gigs in T20 leagues.Agarkar himself was part of the Delhi Capitals’ coaching staff in the IPL apart from doing media work. Capitals’ Twitter handle on June 29 announced Agarkar, and Shane Watson too, had parted ways with them. Agarkar has also served as a chairman of selectors for Mumbai in domestic cricket from 2017 to 2019, when the entire panel abruptly stepped down.Agarkar brings the heft and the experience that the BCCI is looking for in a perspective chairman of selectors, but it remains to be seen if the board will review the compensation for the selectors.

India batsman initially set to be available for three games but it could be extended

George Dobell06-Apr-2021Warwickshire are set to sign India batsman Hanuma Vihari as an overseas player after Pieter Malan, their original choice, ran into difficulties obtaining a visa.Vihari, an India Test regular, does not have an IPL deal and is expected to be available for at least three LV= Insurance County Championship games. The BCCI is understood to have agreed the deal in the hope that his experience in the county game will prove beneficial ahead of the World Test Championship final, which is scheduled to be played in Southampton in June, and India’s five-Test tour of England that follows.Warwickshire had originally signed Malan, the South Africa top-order player, for the entire season. But with South Africa currently categorised as a “red list” country by the UK government, he has been unable to obtain a visa at this stage. Even if he does, he will be obliged to spend time in quarantine before becoming available, meaning it is unlikely he will play before May. With that in mind, there seems every chance Vihari’s stay could be extended.Related

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While Warwickshire have not confirmed the approach to Vihari, an official at the BCCI did appear to do so.”Yes, Vihari will be playing for Warwickshire this season,” Press Trust of India quoted an unnamed BCCI official as saying. “He would play a few games. He is already in England now. He will play a minimum of three games. We are trying to figure out if there is a chance to play a few more. With a curtailed domestic season this time [in India] and Vihari being a part of the Test side, he needs match practice.”All his other Test colleagues are part of the IPL teams. Even if it’s white ball games, they will be fit and match-ready. But we need to ensure that Vihari also gets game time before the England tour. It’s not just one World Test Championship final but it’s followed by a full-fledged five-Test series. We need him ready.”While ESPNcricinfo understands Vihari is not yet in the UK – and will not, therefore, be available for Warwickshire’s opening game of the season against Derbyshire – it is understood the process between obtaining a visa and being available to play could be as little as six days. The process for Malan is understood to take around 17 days from the moment a visa is granted. Neither man has a visa at this stage.Other India players such as Cheteshwar Pujara, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, M Vijay and Axar Patel have all had spells in the county game in recent times, while Virat Kohli signed for Surrey in 2018 but was obliged to pull out due to injury. Shreyas Iyer has also signed to play for Lancashire in the 50-over competition, although his fitness is uncertain after requiring shoulder surgery.

“We never gave up. We always said in the dressing room that we need to keep fighting.”

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Feb-2021When West Indies stepped out for the fifth day of the Chattogram Test, every conceivable odd was against them. They had been thoroughly outplayed by Bangladesh for the first four days, and having already lost three wickets in the second innings, they needed another 285 runs for an improbable victory. Taking guard in the middle were two debutants in Kyle Mayers and Nkrumah Bonner, who had made just 57 runs combined in the first innings.Related

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Much like they had done in the 2018-19 home series, Bangladesh would have looked to wrap up a comfortable win, but this time, Mayers (210*) and Bonner (86) had other plans, stitching together a heroic 216-run partnership to help West Indies complete the fifth-highest chase in Test cricket, as well as the highest by any team in Asia.Mayers, who took the Man-of-the-Match honours for his stunning double-century, later said he had always backed himself and his team-mates to get the job done.”I am always a positive person. I always believe in my abilities and the team, and I always was positive [to finish the chase],” he said. “We never gave up. We always said in the dressing room that we need to keep fighting. The captain and coach told the bowlers as well that you need to keep fighting on a pitch like this. Shannon [Gabriel] put in great effort to lead the way.”It’s a great feeling to be playing Test cricket. Then to go on and score a century, and then to make it a double, and then going on to win this Test. I would like to be thankful to my team-mates, my coaches and family back home. A guy making his debut and making a double should inspire all youngsters to work hard and reach this level.”Centurion Kyle Mayers gets a hug from Nkrumah Bonner after reaching his maiden international ton•BCB

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite, who himself had led the way in the first innings by top-scoring with 76, said that his team had been fueled by the losses in the 2018 tour of Bangladesh, when they were defeated in both Tests in under three days. He also denied suggestions that he had been dealt a short hand with a “depleted” squad.”I won’t say it was a depleted side. I was very confident when leaving with this side. We were outplayed in 2018, and we were confident we would do better this time,” Brathwaite said.”I have believed in this team from day one. It’s just about believing in ourselves and backing our plans, and that’s what we have done till day five. We lost some momentum with three wickets in the evening yesterday, but the pitch was playing well. We knew it was an open game. We trusted our plans, and Bonner and Mayers showed that they can stick to the plans, and make it work.”Bangladesh’s captain Mominul Haque conceded that his bowlers “didn’t create enough chances” or consistently “bowl in the right areas”, but was encouraged with the level of play his team had shown for the first four days.”All credit goes to Bonner and Mayers who batted really well. On the last day, if the wicket was a bit more helpful for spinners, we could have created more chances, but we didn’t grab those chances,” Haque said.”We lost, but we got some positives. We played the first innings as a team, and we dominated first four days. Mehidy [Hasan Miraz] played really well, and he bowled very well too. Fitness-wise, it was very difficult, especially in the first innings, to play a Test match after no four-day cricket for a year.”

Former director of cricket concerned by lack of viable homegrown candidates for England coaching jobs

Andrew Miller14-Aug-2019Andrew Strauss, the man who appointed Trevor Bayliss during his stint as England’s director of men’s cricket, has said that the lack of English coaches at the highest levels of the game is a concern for the sport, and believes that The Hundred has missed an opportunity to advance the careers of some of the best home-grown candidates.Strauss, who stood down from his role late last year to care for his wife Ruth in the last months of her fight with a rare form of lung cancer, also believes that the demands of England’s schedule across all three formats are “too much” for one man to manage alone. He added that his successor in the role, Ashley Giles, will have to factor in the attractiveness of short-term coaching gigs in franchise T20 cricket.Bayliss, who joined the England set-up ahead of the Ashes in 2015, was appointed very much on the strength of his success in white-ball cricket, where he enjoyed trophy-winning stints with Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash and Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL.ALSO READ: Back surgeon doubted he could fix PattinsonHe duly lived up to his primary expectation by helping to transform England’s white-ball fortunes from the misery of the 2015 World Cup to the glory in the final of the 2019 tournament, against New Zealand at Lord’s last month. However, in Test cricket, England’s standards have failed to progess, with last week’s defeat in the first Test against Australia being their sixth in their last seven Ashes encounters.”For Trevor to win the World Cup, that is an extraordinary feather in his cap,” Strauss said. “He has been a fantastic England coach, he has been a great man and you speak to the guys who have played under him and they all have huge respect for him as a person and you can’t ask for more than that.”He will be slightly frustrated that the Test team has not progressed as much as he would have liked. But considering the long-term trend in England cricket, my argument would be that a coach can only do so much. But we’ve got to do more to prepare players to perform away from home in particular, and that is a systemic thing rather than something that the coach has full control over.”With the exception of two truncated stints from Peter Moores, England have not had a long-term English head coach for two decades, with Duncan Fletcher (1999 to 2007) and Andy Flower (2009 to 2014) taking charge of the team’s fortunes with some notable success, particularly in Test cricket.And though Strauss believes that the likes of Chris Silverwood and Paul Collingwood – currently within the England set-up – could develop into high-calibre contenders, the lack of top-level opportunities is creating a “chicken-and-egg scenario” for their progression. The confirmed appointments for the men’s Hundred include several Australians in Shane Warne, Simon Katich and Andrew McDonald, as well as the South African Gary Kirsten.”Personally I think that [The Hundred] was a great opportunity for English coaches to be appointed,” Strauss said. “Each of those teams will have their own reasons for appointing experienced coaches, who have coached in T20 cricket elsewhere in the world. You can completely understand that, but there is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation in that unless English coaches get an opportunity, how do they get the experience.”We’ve always got to look for an opportunity for our English coaches to get more experience than just doing county coaching gigs. They need to do more than that if they are going to be viable candidates for England jobs going forward.”Some of the really good, young English coaches are currently involved in the England team. So Paul Collingwood being a great example, Chris Silverwood, Marcus Trescothick is doing some work as well. So those are guys who may have had some appeal to The Hundred teams but actually are involved with the England teams at the moment.”Marcus Trescothick talks to Graham Thorpe at England training•Getty Images

The right candidate for the England job, however, will need to deal with more than just the mechanics of red- and white-ball cricket.”The coaching is one thing, dealing with the media is another, dealing with the pressure of high-intensity series and all those things play in just as much as your ability to coach 11 players,” Strauss said.”I personally don’t think it’s sustainable for the same coaches to do all formats, whether it’s a coach or assistant coaches, you need people to be able to come and go because it’s just too much.”We can’t prepare and play at the same time. If you’re playing one series, you need someone who’s preparing for the next series that’s coming on in a couple of weeks. It’s very hard to do that.”His [Giles’] thinking at the moment, from what I’ve heard, is that he thinks that there is value in having one head coach who looks after the whole thing, who you identify periods of rest for. And then you have support staff there who will dip in and out. Which is fine, I think that makes sense.”However, the lure of The Hundred for overseas coaches merely underlines the attractiveness of franchise-style competitions, and the problems that Giles is likely to face in persuading a suitable name to commit to the long-term challenge of guiding England’s fortunes.”That’s the real challenge, there’s some great coaching opportunities for people out there who can go for three months of the year, and have the rest of the year off to do other things,” Strauss said. “So I think if I was in Ashley’s shoes right now, I’d be asking myself the question around what does the England team need going forward. If he feels he needs a coach for all formats, then he’s got to think whether he’s looking for a certain type of experience and style, and then try and identify the candidates from there.”