Somerset regained the leadership of Group C with a comfortable six-wicket
victory over the Unicorns in the Clydesdale Bank 40 match at Taunton

21-Aug-2011
ScorecardSomerset regained the leadership of Group C with a comfortable six-wicket
victory over the Unicorns in the Clydesdale Bank 40 match at Taunton.The visitors posted 208 for 5 after winning the toss, Michael Thornely
becoming the first Unicorns player to score a century in the competition this
season. The opener was unbeaten on 105 at the end of the 40 overs, while captain Keith
Parsons contributed 38. George Dockrell was the pick of the Somerset bowlers
with one wicket for 24 runs from his eight overs.The total was never likely to test Somerset’s strong batting line-up. Marcus
Trescothick (53) and Craig Kieswetter (45) put on 99 in 14 overs and after both
departed James Hildreth (50 not out) ensured victory with more than five overs
to spare.Spinners Bradley Wadlan (two for 39) and Luke Beaven, who conceded only 34 from
his eight overs, did their best to tie the home side down, but the Unicorns were
50 runs short of a competitive total. That was despite a tremendous effort from Thornely, who hit 11 fours in facing 115 balls. He gave one chance in the final over when he was dropped by Jos
Buttler at deep midwicket off Alfonso Thomas.By then Thornely was on 104, having paced his innings well. Former Somerset
favourite Parsons leant good support in a fourth wicket stand of 53 and will
have been disappointed to sky a catch to deep midwicket with his team 115 for
three in the 26th over. Dockrell, who opened the bowling with his left arm spin, showed excellent
control and variation to go for just three an over.Trescothick and Kieswetter looked set to make light work of their target. But,
on 45, Kieswetter drove a catch to cover off Luis Reece and it sparked a blip in
the Somerset innings.Trescothick soon followed, having hit seven fours in his 42-ball innings,
bowled trying to reverse sweep Wadlan. And when Peter Trego was caught at cover
to give Wadlan another wicket it was 116 for three. Nick Compton celebrated the award of his county cap at the interval with a steadying 25 off 43 balls, allowing Hildreth to go for his shots as he moved to a half-century off 50 deliveries.When Compton was bowled by Andy McGarry with 27 runs still needed, Jos Buttler
marched out to hit 23 of them off just eight balls, ending the game with a big
six over midwicket off Glen Querl. A victory in one of their two remaining games should now be enough to put Somerset in the semi-finals.

Andy Roberts and Curtly Ambrose, the two greatest fast bowlers to emerge from Antigua, believe that the demise of Allen Stanford’s cricket empire in the Caribbean has left an irreplaceable void in their own home country

Andrew Miller22-Sep-2011Andy Roberts and Curtly Ambrose, the two greatest fast bowlers to emerge from Antigua, believe that the demise of Allen Stanford’s cricket empire in the Caribbean has left an irreplaceable void in their own home country, the island which served as a base for his operations for 18 years.Almost three years have elapsed since the Stanford ground in Antigua played host to one of the most extraordinary nights in the history of Caribbean cricket, when a team led by Chris Gayle beat Kevin Pietersen’s England in a contest that was worth US$1 million for every member of the victorious West Indies XI.Even as Gayle took receipt of the winners’ cheque, however, the cracks in Stanford’s enterprise were appearing. When England were next in the country, during their Test series in the spring of 2009, his bank was found to be at the centre of what US financial regulators described as a “fraud of shocking magnitude”, with queues around the block as investors scrambled desperately to retrieve what was left of their funds.The financial situation in Antigua has been bleak ever since, because Stanford had been a direct employer of some 430 of the country’s 85,000 citizens. But in a wider cultural sense, the loss to West Indies cricket has been every bit as damaging, given how many hopes he had built up through his lucrative inter-island Twenty20 tournament (the first event to capitalise on the extraordinary marketability of the short-form game) and how much glamour his involvement had reintroduced to a sport whose lustre of the 1970s and 80s had been fading.”His end of his involvement has been a loss to West Indies cricket in terms of the facilities, and the rewards he brought to some of the players,” Roberts told ESPNcricinfo. “Stanford is partly responsible for what is happening in world cricket today in terms of where Twenty20 is concerned. If he hadn’t put that amount into it, the Indian board wouldn’t have put so much money into IPL.”Both Ambrose and Roberts were paid as ambassadors of the Stanford brand – the so-called Stanford “Legends”, a group which included their fellow Antiguan greats Sir Viv Richards and Richie Richardson. But even allowing for the personal benefits they enjoyed through their association with Stanford, and regardless of the methods by which it is alleged he made his money, both men were able to recognise the extent to which his largesse had benefited the sport.”He left a big hole, to be honest,” said Ambrose. “The excitement was coming back, the fans were coming out, it was a stepping stone, and you were starting to see a resurgence in West Indies cricket. That was through Stanford. He had the money, he had a plan and it was working. But we all know what happened next.”This week, Stanford’s legacy will be on display as a pair of unpopular Twenty20 matches at The Oval, drawn up to fulfil the ECB and WICB’s contractual obligations to Sky, and set to be contested by two teams lacking many of their big names through injury, rest, and the competing demands of the Champions League in India. The ever-worsening relationship between the board and WIPA, the players’ association, has also been exacerbated by the void created after his funding tap had been turned off.”Since he left the scene, West Indies cricket has gone back to the way it was, and nothing is happening at the moment,” said Ambrose. “It is really, really sad to see what has happened, and the cricket gets worse every day, with the board’s impasse with WIPA. If we love cricket the way we say we do, and it was one of the reasons why we got involved [as ambassadors], we’ll find a way to bring West Indies cricket back to a certain level.”Even as Gayle took receipt of the winners’ cheque, however, the cracks in Stanford’s enterprise were appearing•AFP

However, the current situation leaves Roberts despairing of cricket in his region. “[This week’s] games are meaningless,” he said. “To be honest, I do not think we are getting what we deserve as far as a competitive West Indies team is concerned. Only half of the players are worthy of representing West Indies, and I am speaking my mind as far as that is concerned. I don’t know if a lot of West Indians are feeling proud to represent West Indies at the moment. A lot of them are only there for the money, and there are lots of reasons why our cricket is suffering.”I was a part of the Stanford set-up for a number of years, and the money he put into West Indies cricket, it’s a great loss,” Roberts added. “I never knew what he did, and as far as I’m concerned it didn’t bother me, because what he did had no [apparent] effect on Antiguans and Antigua. But now he’s gone, the country has been suffering for two years, because of the amount of people he employed as a single employer.”For many years after his international retirement, Roberts was the groundsman at the Antigua Recreation Ground in the capital St John’s. But, by his own admission, it was Stanford’s personal ground, equidistant from his bank and the airport in the east of the island that rose to become the country’s stand-out venue. With state-of-the-art floodlights, an immaculate outfield, and a renowned on-site restaurant, Sticky Wicket, it was a venue to rival the Getty Ground at Wormsley in terms of high-class private facilities.These days, the grass is over-grown, the stands are crumbling and it exists as a living testament to the facade that Stanford’s empire turned out to be. “It’s a shame to look at the ground,” said Roberts. “It was one of the best kept grounds in the entire Caribbean. It was small and the facilities were out of this world. But we allowed it to deteriorate to such an extent that it’s going to take a lot of money to bring it back to half of what it was before.”In the meantime, the key priority for West Indies is to repay the debts left by Stanford’s departure, which includes the prospect of replicating these fixtures every season until the Sky deal runs out. “I hope the ECB can find a way to get these games off a little earlier,” said Roberts. “It’s meaningless at this time of year.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the second ODI between Bangladesh and West Indies in Mirpur

The Preview by Siddhartha Talya14-Oct-2011

Match Facts

Bangladesh v West Indies, October 15, Mirpur
Start time 1330 (0730 GMT)Bangladesh will need Tamim Iqbal back at his fluent best•Associated Press

Big Picture

In a short series, the opportunities for comebacks are limited, and the pressure’s on Bangladesh to turn things around quickly to give themselves a chance of upsetting West Indies. They could have made a closer contest of the first ODI on an excellent pitch for batting but their batsmen, with the exception of Shakib Al Hasan, struggled to get a move on. In a chase of 299, the hosts finished with 258 for 7, with six of the top seven getting starts. Only one among them threatened to put any pressure on West Indies, undermining what is otherwise a competitive score.Not the usual slow and low fare, the pitch gave the West Indies batsmen an opening to take charge and they did. Bangladesh’s army of spinners were caught by surprise and in conditions that didn’t help them much, they were tamed. At the same venue on Saturday, the hosts need their bowlers to adapt quickly and their batsmen to show more intent to entertain any hopes of matching their opponents.

Form guide

Bangladesh: LWWLL
West Indies: WWWLL

Spotlight

Andre Russell: Russell won many admirers during the World Cup with his all-round skills and is a handy man to have at No.7. Apart from his big-hitting skills, he can be a wily bowler with his changes of pace and has had impressive results thus far. The more limited-overs cricket he plays, the more opportunities he gets to showcase his skills to those hawks at the IPL who’ll have a keen eye on his progress.Tamim Iqbal: He produced an uncharacteristic innings in the previous game when his side needed an attacking opening. One of his team’s best stroke-makers, Tamim will be expected to deliver on a good pitch and bat big, an ability he’s shown in the past in both Tests and ODIs.

Team news

Darren Sammy missed the first ODI due to an upset stomach. He should return, and replace Danza Hyatt. Adrian Barath retired hurt after injuring his hamstring, and it remains to be seen if he’s fit.West Indies (possible): 1 Lendl Simmons, 2 Adrian Barath/Kieran Powell, 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Darren Sammy (capt), 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Devendra Bishoo, 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Kemar Roach.Will Bangladesh stick with Mohammad Ashraful? He fell cheaply on a day most batsmen got starts, a result that will only heighten the scrutiny over his place in the side.Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Mohammad Ashraful/Shahriar Nafees, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (capt and wk), 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Naeem Islam, 7 Alok Kapali, 8 Nasir Hossain, 9 Abdur Razzak, 10 Shafiul Islam, 11 Rubel Hossain.

Stats & Trivia

• Spinners have taken 333 out of the 695 wickets at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur. That’s almost half – no wonder Mushfiqur Rahim was surprised the pitch took no turn.
• Mohammad Ashraful hasn’t scored a half-century in his last 17 innings – his highest in those innings is 31.

Quotes

“I think we are all confident. On Thursday we lost by 40 runs but there’s a lot of positives to take from the game. We were chasing a big score and we always were in with a chance.”

Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has said he was happy with the way his side fought back after losing early wickets in the second ODI against Sri Lanka in Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Nov-2011Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has said he was happy with the way his side fought back after losing early wickets in the second ODI against Sri Lanka in Dubai, even though Pakistan ultimately lost the game by 25 runs.Set a target of 236, Pakistan slumped to 11 for 3 as Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat and Younis Khan made just seven runs between them. Umar Akmal led the recovery with a sparkling 91, but Pakistan eventually came up short, and were bowled out for 210 in 46.3 overs.”I think the way they started, them taking three early wickets, we were under pressure,” Misbah said. “Everyone fought well until it ended. It was a bad day for us. It was just a matter of playing 50 overs, which we did not do. I am happy with the way we fought after losing three early wickets. The youngsters really performed well.Umar had the chase under control, but perished in the batting Powerplay while attempting a fourth successive boundary. That gave Sri Lanka the opening, and they dismantled the lower order to seal victory.”Umar Akmal’s natural game is to have a go at the bowlers, so he was doing that,” Misbah reasoned. “I think he tried his level best, the way he played he just made the game for us, but sometimes you make mistakes. That’s a part of cricket – he had just scored three boundaries, but he took a chance. He should have gone for a single but I think he was confident. Sometimes you get out playing confident shots. It is a part of the game.”Earlier, an incisive opening spell from Umar Gul had kept Sri Lanka under control for the bulk of their innings, until Mahela Jayawardene sparked a revival in their batting Powerplay. Misbah admitted that Jayawardene’s innings turned the momentum of the game.”We had a chance to keep them to 200, but Mahela played really well,” Misbah said. “I think the bowlers did a great job, but altogether it was a bad day for us. The way Umar Gul bowled in his first spell, he was unlucky not to get wickets.”Sometimes like today you may be bowling well, but the batting was good and some fielding lapses cost us. It is something we have to control in the future.”The Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan was also thankful to Jayawardene for his contribution to the series-levelling win. “Mahela is a very experienced player, and his partnership with Upul Tharanga was really crucial for us since that’s how we got to 230,” Dilshan said. “Mahela had struggled for the last few days with his knee, but yesterday he told me not to worry, and that he was ready to play with pain. It showed his character and how tough he is.”We needed this win. Everyone played very good cricket. I got a start but threw my wicket. We needed to get a start and we got that. We planned for 240 but we were short by about 20 runs. The bowlers did a great job. We are relieved. This win was very much needed and now the series is open and we hope to play this type of cricket in the remaining matches.”The third game of the five-match series will be played on Friday, also in Dubai.

The question of scheduling a Twenty20 domestic tournament directly at odds with Australia’s Test preparations for the Australia-India Tests had Michael Hussey stumped

Alex Malcolm15-Dec-2011Michael Hussey has always been a diplomat. In school-yard terms you would describe him as the teacher’s pet, always sitting at the front of class, answering every question as perfectly as he can, eager to please, keen to say and do the right things. But the question of scheduling a Twenty20 domestic tournament directly at odds with Australia’s Test preparations for the Australia-India Tests had him stumped.”It’s a difficult one. I think . . . I think it’s err . . . I think, I don’t know what I think really.” Hussey said in a confused tone. He knew what he wanted to say. He just had to word it as carefully as he could.”I really want to be a part of the Test team,” Hussey said with clarity. “I love the traditional Test matches like the Boxing Day Test and the New Year’s Test. Obviously playing in my home Test match is really special as well. So, for me, that’s the No.1 priority.”With the amount of injuries that have been around the team in the last few months it does make you a little bit nervous that if you do have injuries to the Australian Test team, that we might be picking players that have only been playing Twenty20 cricket.”It is maybe a small concern. But from a Twenty20 point of view it is the ideal time to be playing the game with school holidays on and trying to get as many new kids down to the ground. And it’s important for us players to really engage with the young kids out there as well. It’s probably not ideal. But we’ve just got to live with it.”That was as controversial a comment as you could get from Hussey. You could tell in his own mind he was wrestling with the concept of promoting the game to a wider audience, whilst protecting the integrity of its traditional form.His Perth Scorcher team-mate Shaun Marsh is an example of an injured player possibly returning to the Test side through Twenty20 cricket.Marsh, still battling a bulging disc in his back, was hopeful he could play in a Big Bash League fixture for Perth, in Melbourne on December 22, in order to prove his fitness for the Boxing Day Test. Whether such an audition will be enough was another question.”I’m not too sure,” Marsh said. “I guess it would give me the confidence if I got through that game, that I could play in a Test match. Obviously Twenty20 is pretty quick and it would be nice to spend a bit of time out in the middle, but like I said, I’m not a selector, I’m not too sure what they’re thinking.”Switching from the shortest format to the longest version without any lead-in is not a new concept for Hussey. His sole preparation for Australia’s two-test Tour of India in 2010 was to participate for Chennai Super Kings in the Champions League in South Africa. Chennai’s success in that tournament forced Hussey into a more awkward situation than the present, which is a one-off outing for the Scorchers, against the Hobart Hurricanes at the WACA on Sunday, followed by the Boxing Day Test on December 26.”For me personally it’s only one game. We’ve had Test matches in Sri Lanka, South Africa, two Test matches against New Zealand so I think we’re still, pretty much, in Test mode. I don’t think one Twenty20 game will affect the preparation too much,” Hussey said.But he admitted it was not an easy task given his previous experiences.”I found it tough playing Test match cricket, a few years ago, and then going straight to a Twenty20 tournament. It took me a good couple of weeks to fully adapt to Twenty20 mode from Test match mode. So I guess I’m not expecting any miracles out here on Sunday. As I said, I’ll just go out there and enjoy it. If things go well, great, if not, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.”

A round-up of the third day’s play of the sixth round of matches of the Ranji Trophy Elite, 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-2011Group BAn exciting final morning can be expected in Kolkata as Bengal are 34 runs short of taking the first-innings lead while Delhi need two wickets to grab three points. Such a scenario was possible only because of Manoj Tiwary, who compiled his third consecutive first-class century, and is now 37 runs adrift of a second double-century this season. Beginning the day on 84 for 4, Bengal survived an early morning scare after Sourav Ganguly was dropped by Shikar Dhawan at second slip off Parvinder Awana on 19. Though Ganguly managed to reach his 88th first-class fifty, he was living dangerously and eventually played into the hands of Yogesh Nagar at gully, trying to chase a wide delivery off Pradeep Sangwan.Tiwary remained unruffled, picking runs through the day at a consistent pace. He cobbled together vital partnerships with Laxmi Shukla and Subhomoy Das to keep the Delhi bowlers busy. Tiwary did blame Bengal’s experienced batsmen for playing the wrong shots but was positive about overtaking Delhi in the morning. “They [Delhi] have already taken the (second) new ball. There isn’t much movement in the wicket now and whatever grass is there will go with the mowing tomorrow,” Tiwary told the media after the day’s play.Haryana were facing the prospect of an innings defeat against Madhya Pradesh in Rohtak after fast bowler TP Sudhindra’s career-best seven-for made the hosts follow-on. Haryana were dismissed for just 126 in reply to MP’s 487, with Sudhindra adding three more wickets today to his haul of four on the second day. It was only captain Amit Mishra’s unbeaten 45 that carried Haryana past 100. Their troubles grew when Sudhindra struck with the third delivery of the follow-on innings, removing Rahul Dewan for a duck. Nitin Saini and Sunny Singh fought back in a century stand, but Asif Ali bowled Saini for 53 to leave Haryana needing another 214 to avoid an innings defeat. Sunny remained unbeaten on 75 to give Haryana hope that they could achieve that.An unbeaten 138-run alliance for the fifh wicket between the rookie pair of Pratharesh Panchal and Manprit Juneja helped Gujarat recover from a top-order failure to reach 293 for 4 in Ahmedabad. Parthiv Patel had only made four when he edged an away-going delivery from Jagannathan Kaushik, and was brilliantly caught by R Prasanna in the third over of the Gujarat innings. Avi Barot and Niraj Patel managed to get the starts but both fell to offspinner Sunny Gupta. When Priyank Panchal, too, was dismissed by Gupta for 80, Gujarat were in trouble at 155 for 4. But Parmar dug in with a dogged, unbeaten 45 and debutant Juneja hit 14 fours in his unbeaten 84 to ensure that there were no further jolts for the hosts on the third day. Despite their gritty efforts, Tamil Nadu‘s 698 is still looking miles away going into the final day.Group AA solid batting show from their top order put Rajasthan in a position to declare early on the final day and have a crack at Saurashtra in Jaipur. After Pankaj Singh completed his first five-for of the season and Saurashtra were bowled out for 265, conceding a first-innings lead of 131, Aakash Chopra produced an unbeaten 87 to put Rajasthan firmly in control. Vineet Saxena and Hrishikesh Kanitkar provided Chopra with support, both making scores in the 30s. Pankaj, the second-highest wicket-taker last Ranji season, has carried on with the same grit this year, too, and was confident of having a second go at the visitors, who on 11 points, are desperately searching for positive result to keep their knockout hopes alive. Pankaj said he just took advantage of Saurashtra’s anxiousness.”The pitch was mostly good yesterday but it wasn’t consistent. Today it was far slower. I knew the batsmen would go for false strokes if I hit the right areas. They were always under pressure and I just took advantage of it,” Pankaj told .If the fog does not play spoilsport for the fourth successive day in Lucknow tomorrow, Uttar Pradesh will entertain hopes of overtaking Mumbai‘s first-innings score to grab the vital three points they need so desperately to keep their knockout prospects alive. So far 83 overs have been lost to fog and on Thursday play was delayed by 135 minutes. Out of the 73 overs scheduled, only 53 could be bowled.As soon as Mumbai lost their final wicket in the first over of the morning, UP reached 166 for 2 in reply to Mumbai’s 414 before bad light curtailed the day’s play. Though UP lost Tanmay Srivastava and Mohammad Kaif before reaching a score of 100, the pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Parvinder Singh played enterprisingly to stitch together an unbeaten 68-run partnership for the third wicket. Bhuvneshwar was lucky to survivie after being dropped on seven at square leg by Abhishek Nayar and then on 27 by Kaustubh Pawar in the slips. In contrast Parvinder, one of the prolific scorers for UP, played aggressively, hitting five boundaries including two sixes in his 52-ball stay so far.Interestingly, in a scenario where more than 90 overs are lost due to bad light, the rule states that both teams would share at least two points each. But with Suresh Raina in their ranks, UP will hope to get the lead without having to rely on the elements.Orissa require another 86 runs, with five wickets in hand, to overhaul Railways‘ first-innings score of 379 in Delhi. Orissa’s openers put on a stand of 124 in all, after resuming on 108 for no loss. Subhrajit Sahoo was out for 70 to end the partnership, but another steady stand followed between Paresh Patel and Subit Biswal. Paresh fell just five short of a hundred, triggering a mini-collapse. Orissa went from 202 for 1 to 205 for 5, before Abhilash Mallick and Govind Podder steadied them with an unbroken partnership of 89. The veterans Sanjay Bangar and Murali Kartik, who bowled the maximum overs on the penultimate day, hold the key in stopping Orissa from taking away the three points now available from this match.On a gloomy day in Bangalore, Punjab became the first team to take the first-innings lead against Karnataka this season. Mayank Sidhana’s second half-century of the match, and bad light that ended play more than an hour early made a draw the likeliest result as Punjab ended the day nearly 200 ahead with only three wickets down. Read the full report here.

A century from Sami Aslam and a five-wicket haul from Mohammad Nawaz helped make it two wins out of two matches for Pakistan Under-19s in the tri-nation tournament in South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jan-2012
ScorecardA century from Sami Aslam and a five-wicket haul from Mohammad Nawaz helped make it two wins out of two matches for Pakistan Under-19s in the tri-nation tournament in South Africa. Despite a late collapse, Pakistan managed to get to 260. While South Africa Under-19s managed to stay in the chase till the 35th over, the required run-rate had risen to almost eight runs an over, and they succumbed to the pressure, getting bowled out for 206 in the end.Nawaz and legspinner Usman Qadir were the men who ran through the South African middle and lower oder. Half-centuries from Chad Bowes and Diego Rosier had taken the hosts to 143 for 2 in the 35th over. Qadir dismissed Rosier and three balls later Nawaz had Bowes caught behind. The new batsmen were under pressure to attack from the outset and Nawaz took advantage, helping himself to four more wickets to finish with 5 for 33. Qadir, who had taken two wickets in Pakistan’s victory over Zimbabwe Under-19s the previous day, finished with 3 for 53.Pakistan had been put in, and their openers put together a 143-run partnership. Babar Azam got his second half-century of the tournament but it was Aslam who dominated the partnership. Aslam scored 112 off 133 balls including 11 fours. When Aslam was dismissed in the 40th over, Pakistan were 216 for 3 and looking at an imposing total. However, they got just 44 runs off the last 10.4 overs while losing six wickets. Nineteen-year-old fast bowler Rabian Engelbrecht disrupted Pakistan’s progress, dismissing Aslam and Adnan Mehmood off consecutive balls before accounting for Nawaz four overs later. Left-arm spinner Lesiba Ngoepe made sure the tail did not add quick runs, and finished with 3 for 47.While the end to Pakistan’s innings was disappointing, the work of their openers had ensured they reached a defendable total, and their bowlers completed the job.

A number of IPL franchises have expressed concern about the potential damage to the IPL’s image from Sahara Pune Warriors’ abrupt withdrawal from the league

Tariq Engineer05-Feb-2012A number of IPL franchises have expressed concern about the potential damage to the IPL’s image from Sahara Pune Warriors’ abrupt withdrawal from the league, with some saying the decision might make sponsors think twice about associating with the tournament in the future. An hour before the player auction on Saturday, Sahara India Parivar cut its ties with the BCCI, withdrawing its sponsorship of the Indian team and its ownership of the IPL Pune franchise. The announcement took the other franchises “completely by surprise” and has thrown the schedule and format of the tournament into doubt again.”When a franchise like this walks, it is not good for the league,” a team administrator told ESPNcricinfo. While he said allowances must be made as the IPL is a new product and, as with any new business, there will be teething problems, he said the reasons “why this is happening are not good”.The Pune Warriors are the fourth team over the past 18 months whose status ahead of an IPL season remains unclear. In 2010, the BCCI terminated Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab but they took the board to court and won the right to participate in the 2011 IPL. Last September, Kochi Tuskers Kerala became the third team to be terminated, though one of the team’s co-owners said last week that they plan to file a case of their own in court and are confident of being part of the 2012 season despite their players having been sold to other teams.It is this uncertainty over which teams will be part of the league, franchises said, that sends the wrong signal to sponsors and partners. No business likes uncertainty. Franchises typically sign multi-year deals with their sponsors. But if a sponsor can’t be sure the team they are backing will remain in the league, they are going to be jittery about committing their money and resources.The operational details of the IPL – number of matches, dates etc – are up in the air as well but, beyond the logistics, it is the constantly shifting goalposts that add to the confusion. It renders decision-making by both franchises and their partners more difficult because the underlying factors that determine those decisions are unclear. A sponsorship deal for a team that plays 14 matches will naturally differ from one for a team that plays 18 matches. If you can’t be sure of the number of matches, it becomes that much harder to put a value on a contract.Adding to the league’s concerns is the fact that the 2011 IPL produced the lowest television ratings of any of the four seasons, an average Television Viewer Rating (TVR) of 3.91 per game, down 29% from 5.51 in 2010. Even the final, which drew a TVR of 6.96, paled in comparison to the 12.85 rating in 2010. It was also the first final to draw a single-digit rating.Santosh Desai, brand analyst and managing director of Future Brands, said he felt that the 2012 season would be a crucial barometer of the IPL’s long-term prospects because of a number of coalescing factors, including the general slowdown of economies around the world and the other problems surrounding Indian cricket at the moment: the national team’s poor performances away from home and the loss of the domestic broadcaster. In such a scenario, he said, something like the Warriors quitting the league takes on a larger significance.”[The IPL] is sentiment-driven. The moment you take away the good cheer, everything looks darker and gloomier. It begs greater scrutiny on the part of the franchises of the harder, more rational aspects of the IPL. From every single quarter there seems to be some reason for doubt. So this could be the most challenging season.”Desai also said a lack of proper governance, going back to when Lalit Modi was the IPL chairman, was part of the problem. “Once you build something, you need a steady hand, someone with a long-term perspective. Auctions are too frequent. If you look at the manner of the BCCI overall, the conflict of interest issues have not been resolved. So certainly governance is an issue.”It’s too early, though, to say the IPL itself is in serious trouble. When the NBA went on strike last year, the consensus opinion was that the league’s viewership would suffer if and when the league started up again. The strike was eventually called off and six weeks into the 2011-12 season, television ratings are up across the board.Sahara’s issues with the BCCI relate largely to the IPL. In 2008, Sahara’s bid for one of the first eight IPL franchises was “thwarted”, as it said; in 2010, Sahara successfully bid US$370 million for the Pune franchise but later asked the board for a refund of what it called its “extra bid money” stating that its bid price had been calculated on the basis that 94 matches would be played per season from 2011 onwards but only 74 matches were played last season. Other requests, such as not having player retention to create a “level-playing field” or allowing one extra foreign player for the two new teams were also turned down.Some are also still hopeful that a compromise can be reached between Sahara and the BCCI. “We sincerely hope the parties come to a consensus and a solution is reached in the best interest of the league and cricket,” a franchise official said.

Driven by a blistering century from Charlotte Edwards, England Women cruised to a 59-run win against New Zealand Women in Lincoln, sealing the three-match one-day series 2-0 in the process

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Mar-2012
ScorecardCharlotte Edwards struck 20 fours in her unbeaten ton•Getty Images

Driven by a blistering century from Charlotte Edwards, England Women cruised to a 59-run win against New Zealand Women in Lincoln, sealing the three-match one-day series 2-0 in the process. Edwards, the captain, picked up on her fine form from the previous match, stroking 137 not out from 88 balls in the rain-hit match that was reduced to 26 overs a side.England’s total was built around two substantial partnerships – the first was a 98-run stand between Edwards and Sarah Taylor for the second wicket that came at nine-and-a-half runs an over, followed by a 47-run fourth-wicket partnership, complied at over 10 an over. Such was Edwards dominance, that Lydia Greenway contributed but nine runs to the latter stand.Chasing an imposing revised target of 224, a target that required them to score at 8.62 runs an over, New Zealand cracked. Five of their top six got into double figures, but only Amy Satterthwaite could manage a half-century, top scoring with 69 as the hosts folded for 164. New-ball bowlers Anya Shrubsole was the most effective of England’s bowlers, claiming 3 for 28.”We went out there with a mindset of Twenty20 cricket and it paid off,” Edwards said after the match. “It was great to contribute myself. I feel I’m in the form of my life.”It’s a great wicket here, so we went out and got stuck in and to get 219 was a fantastic effort. We knew that would always put New Zealand under pressure. We bowled and fielded well on a good pitch. It was difficult conditions in the wind and it was cold, but the bowlers bowled well with Anya up front.”The final match of the series will be played at the same venue on March 5.