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George Bailey could be “working in a coalmine or flipping burgers at McDonald’s” if not for the money poured into cricket by Channel Nine, according to the network’s executive producer of cricket, Brad McNamara

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2013George Bailey could be “working in a coalmine or flipping burgers at McDonald’s” if not for the money poured into cricket by Channel Nine, according to the network’s executive producer of cricket, Brad McNamara. Bailey last week defended the Australia side he was leading from criticism it was a “B-team”, but said he could understand such talk coming from Channel Nine as the network enters a new negotiating period over cricket’s television rights.The Australians rested Michael Clarke, David Warner and Matthew Wade from the first two ODIs against Sri Lanka, which led to criticism from Channel Nine’s head of sport, Steve Crawley. However, in a stinging rebuke on Thursday, McNamara said Nine was not guilty of disparaging the one-day format and that ratings had been good for the first two ODIs in Melbourne and Adelaide.”Nowhere has Channel Nine ever talked the one-day game down, nowhere have we ever said this is a ‘B team’,” McNamara said on Sky Sports Radio. “It’s rubbish and George should stick to playing cricket and leave rights to the people who know what they’re talking about. I reckon he’s got his hands full as it is. He needs to concentrate on staying in the side.”And he needs to understand where his money’s coming from. Without the TV rights deal, George is probably working in a coalmine or flipping burgers at McDonald’s. All this talk about the death of one-day cricket, it’s not coming from us. Given we were lacking star quality, we were very happy [with the ratings].”Bailey has been Australia’s leading run scorer in ODIs in the past six months and made an impressive 89 during the win at the MCG last Friday. He has handed control of the one-day team back to Clarke for the third match against Sri Lanka, to be held in Brisbane on Friday.

The Rajasthan Royals will play all their home games of the 2013 IPL in Gujarat instead of Jaipur, their original home city

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Feb-2013The Rajasthan Royals will play all their home games of the 2013 IPL in Gujarat instead of Jaipur, their original home city. The decision to move the matches from Jaipur to Rajkot and Ahmedabad was taken after an IPL governing council meeting on Monday in Chennai.Following a dispute between the Rajasthan Cricket Association and the state sports council, the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur has been unavailable for the RCA for almost a year.Since the dispute could not be resolved, the governing council, in its previous meeting on January 23 had placed Ahmedabad and Rajkot on standby for hosting the Royals’ home games. The governing council meeting confirmed allocating four games each to the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium in Ahmedabad and the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium in Rajkot.Royals have used Jaipur as their base in each of the five years since the IPL was launched in 2008.At any rate, the significance of home advantage might be reduced following instructions – after a meeting between the curators of various state associations and BCCI officials – regarding the state of pitches in IPL 2013.* “Clear instructions have been handed out to the curators, that they should prepare sporting wickets and should not listen to any requests from the franchises,” a member of a state association was quoted as saying by . “The franchise owners have also been apprised that they should not put any type of pressure on the curators to prepare wickets of their choice.”*07.00GMT, February 6, 2013: This article has been updated with the news about the pitches for IPL 2013

Senior BCCI and HCA officials, along with a CA security officer, will meet the Hyderabad police commissioner to finalise the security plan for the second Test

Amol Karhadkar24-Feb-2013Senior officials of the BCCI and the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), along with a Cricket Australia security officer, will meet the Hyderabad police commissioner on Monday to finalise the security plan for the second Test between India and Australia, which starts in the city on March 2.The HCA secretary MV Sridhar said the meeting was a “routine affair”, but its significance is increased after 16 people were killed, and many more injured, in bomb blasts in Hyderabad on February 21, the eve of the ongoing first Test in Chennai. Though both CA and BCCI clarified the second Test would go ahead as scheduled, neither board was willing to take any chances.So far, the host association had not been informed of a specific demand by the Australian team management in terms of security. “It’s a routine affair, to finalise the security arrangements,” Sridhar said. “If they have any specific concerns or demands, it will surely be considered.”Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI general manager – cricket development, is travelling from Mumbai to Hyderabad for the meeting.

Shane Warne’s manifesto for Australian cricket has finally ventured into the area he knows most about: spin bowling

Daniel Brettig04-Mar-2013Shane Warne’s manifesto for Australian cricket has finally ventured into the area he knows most about: spin bowling. In summing up the underlying reasons for a dreadful dearth in genuinely accomplished spinners around the country, Warne all but acknowledges that his was an impossible act to follow.While offering the novel suggestion that spin bowlers the world over would benefit from an increase in the height and width of the stumps to compensate for advancements in bats and the reduced size of grounds, Warne’s main point revolved around how spinners are viewed in Australia.He reasoned that spin bowlers are now expected to provide exactly the sort of threat he once did – simultaneously an attacking weapon and defensive bulwark, able to dry up runs then clamber all over an opponent with wickets the moment circumstances changed. This, Warne said, was a commission too great to expect of the vast majority of young slow bowlers.”I think the problem lies in what we expect from our young spin bowlers and the way they are handled at domestic level by their captains and coaches,” Warne wrote. “The attitude should always be about taking wickets and not about economy rates: 4/100 off 25 overs is a good result and better than 2/60 off 25 overs.”I believe the expectations are too high and the young spinners are put under a lot of pressure to be both attacking wicket takers as well as tight economical bowlers, which is very hard to do.”My guidelines on what to look for in a young spinner is pretty simple; someone who can spin the ball. Any fast bowler that can swing or make the ball move has a chance to take wickets; if they bowl straight they will struggle. The same criteria applies for spin bowling.”Among the problems faced by young spinners is the expectation, both from themselves and their captains, that they will be capable of bowling equally well across all three formats, when the subtleties and requirements range from first-class matches to Twenty20s is vast.Warne did not play T20 until his career was entering its twilight – how different might he have turned out if he had been juggling the shortest form with first-class matches and his early Tests in 1992?”Twenty20 and 50 over cricket are a hindrance in the development of a young spinner as you have to bowl differently in those forms; with so many $’s involved in the various 20/20 competitions around the world, it’s not an easy situation,” Warne wrote. “This is where the responsibility falls upon the player.”If the young spinner wants to play Test cricket for Australia, then maybe they have to back themselves to learn how to bowl before taking up the options available to them around the world in the shorter forms of the game.”Easy to say, I know, but I believe we should identify our top four spinners and put them on a decent contract and have them play nothing but first class cricket for twelve months and then take a view and re-assess.”Lastly, Warne emphasised the importance of a strong, constructive relationship between a spin bowler and his captain. While Michael Clarke has largely set a decent example of this for Australia in recent times, stories are legion of Shield and club captains either misusing their spinners or ignoring them completely.”They also have to play under a captain who is prepared to back the spinner and play them in all 10-shield games not just in Adelaide or Sydney where the ball spins,” Warne wrote. “This way, the spinner gets experience in all the different conditions and the good spinners will adapt and find a way to be successful.”The more a captain can put a young spinner, and the team for that matter, in situations where they have to learn how to win a game for the team or help contribute to a win, the faster the jar of experience strengthens along with their confidence.”Nothing beats knowing the captain has faith in you and will back you, as Alan Border did with me when I started. It means a lot, eases your mindset and boosts your confidence.”

Pakistan are considering Grant Flower for the position of batting coach

George Dobell and Umar Farooq12-Apr-2013Pakistan are considering Grant Flower for the position of batting coach. While Flower is currently fulfilling a similar role with the Zimbabwe team, ESPNcricinfo understands that he is out of contract in August and Zimbabwe Cricket are prevaricating over a new deal.ESPNcricinfo has learned that Flower is in the frame for the role, but he is still just one of a few candidates; the PCB might look to fill the position some time before Flower becomes available in August.In response to the PCB advert last year several former Pakistan Test batsmen, including Zaheer Abbas and Saleem Malik, applied for the role but the PCB was looking to hire a candidate with at least Level 3 coaching accreditation and a minimum of five years’ experience working with top cricketers.Flower, 42, the younger brother of England coach, Andy, has been Zimbabwe batting coach since October 2010. He applied for the head coach position but lost out to Andy Waller. Flower previously played 67 Tests and 221 ODIs for Zimbabwe.

Preview of the match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings in Hyderabad

The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran07-May-2013

Match facts

May 8, 2013
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

Big Picture

In-form teams are entitled to the odd bad day. On Sunday, Chennai Super Kings, on top with 18 points and two wins away from the playoffs, had one. Nobody would have expected the table leaders to go tumbling for 79, the lowest team score in this IPL. The captain MS Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming conceded it was good in a way that the meltdown happened now, rather than in the later stages, when qualifications for the playoffs are at stake. Super Kings have relied on their batting depth to get them this far, but the slow pitch in Hyderabad will test them.Sunrisers Hyderabad, like Mumbai Indians, haven’t lost a game at home. They have a chance at making it back to the top four. They are presently at No.5 and a win will knock Royal Challengers Bangalore down a notch. Momentum is on their side, after two consecutive wins.

Form guide

(most recent first)
Chennai Super Kings LWWWW
Sunrisers Hyderabad WWLLW

Players to watch

Karan Sharma, the Sunrisers legspinner, has picked up five wickets from seven games this season. Not sensational numbers, but he has made a bigger impact with his economy-rate of 5.59, which is gold dust in this format. With an action similar to Zimbabwe’s Paul Strang, Sharma has emerged as one of the relatively unknown Indian players to watch out for.S Badrinath has featured in all 12 Super Kings games this season, but has been underutilised, having batted in only six innings. Badrinath has been a regular with the team since the opening IPL, but has been shunted down the order below the allrounders Dwayne Bravo and Chris Morris, unless the team is in trouble. He was promoted to No.4 against Mumbai Indians but was dismissed for a third-ball duck.

Stats and trivia

• S Badrinath has three scores of 34 this season
• MS Dhoni has hit the most runs off Dale Steyn in the IPL – 76 from 42 balls. It’s the most Steyn has conceded to any batsman

Quotes

“Four more games are left and it’s a pretty long tournament to maintain your standards.”
“There have been a number of games in which teams, including ours, have not scored what we felt was a par score on it. I think we have bowled particularly well on it, at times our opponents too bowled well on it. I think it is not as bad as it looks statistically. It is decently good surface.”

Preview of the first Group A match in the Champions Trophy 2013, between England and Australia

The Preview by David Hopps07-Jun-2013

Match facts

Saturday, June 8, Edgbaston
Start time 1030 (0930 GMT)Jos Buttler’s 16-ball 47 against New Zealand was a further indication that England have unearthed potentially one of the most gifted T20 batsmen in the world•PA Photos

Big Picture

“Australia in crisis” was how one respected English newspaper saw it after their disintegration against India in their final Champions Trophy warm-up. An irredeemable batting display saw them bowled out for 65 by India and, to make matters worse, the chronic back complaint that ruled their captain, Michael Clarke out of this match, has yet to respond to treatment. Whether it is really a crisis will become more apparent at Edgbaston on Saturday, but Australia, winners of the past two Champions Trophies, could certainly be in better shape.Clarke therefore misses the first of 13 England v Australia clashes that will dominate a summer also containing five Tests, five ODIs and two T20s. He has not played a game since mid-March – the third Test against India – because of a weakness that has troubled him intermittently since he was 17, but he aggravated the condition on the long-haul flight from Australia. Australia should surely be looking for the best first-class flat beds they can find, even if the rest of the squad are put into cattle class.George Bailey will stand in for Clarke with his usual affability. He can take consolation from the fact that the practice match against India will not appear in the official records because of the licence to play more than 11 players, and from a record which has seen Australia win their last six matches, including a 5-0 whitewash of West Indies.England will find it a welcome change to be playing somebody different from New Zealand. They beat them 2-1 in New Zealand then lost by the same scoreline in England. It is time for a new challenge. It is not to decry New Zealand to observe that for many England fans the summer is about to begin for real.

Form guide

(most recent first, last five completed games)
England: WLLWW
Australia: WWWWW

Watch out for…

Jos Buttler‘s explosive 16-ball 47 against New Zealand at Trent Bridge earlier this week was a further indication that England have unearthed potentially one of the most gifted T20 batsmen in the world. His strike-rate is already higher than any other England player – a couple of matches from Phil Mustard apart – and as George Dobell has revealed on these pages, his latest exploits came despite worrying personal circumstances.Australian eyes will be on David Warner more than most. After becoming embroiled in a Twitterstorm with two Australian cricket writers over his involvement in IPL, he has made ducks in both warm-up matches. His latest tweets have been very non-controversial – he has even praised Birmingham in the sunshine.

Team news

England (probable): 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Ian Bell, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Joe Root, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Tim Bresnan/Ravi Bopara, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Steven Finn, 11 James Anderson
Australia (probable): 1 Shane Watson, 2 David Warner, 3 Phil Hughes, 4 George Bailey (capt), 5 Adam Voges, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Clint McKay

Pitch and conditions

England is enjoying one of its most settled spells of summer weather in recent years and it is set to continue over the weekend. That could negate the threat of two new balls as batting conditions are more comfortable than anticipated. The quicker bowlers will have to wait for more unsettled weather until the early part of next week, especially in Cardiff.

Stats and trivia

• Michael Clarke’s attempts to get his back into shape ahead of back-to-back Ashes series included long bushwalks near Berrima in the New South Wales southern highlands with his fitness guru Duncan Kerr.
• Kerr’s other clients include the Australian children entertainers The Wiggles and he even played drums on one of their albums.
• Jos Buttler’s innings against New Zealand had the second highest strike-rate in any ODI of 15 balls or more.
• The only England batsman to have a higher strike-rate in T20 internationals than Buttler is Phil Mustard, the Durham wicketkeeper, and he only played twice.

Quotes

“In the past, our best was certainly the best in the world. If Australia played their best, no one could match them. And if they had an off day it was only just an off day. That’s going to be our challenge for this tournament. I think the perception is we don’t have that calibre of player. So out of that comes the opportunity to prove people wrong.”

“You’re not going to be remembered for what happened in the warm‑up games. You’re going to be remembered for what happens in the actual tournament.”

James Foster struck his first century of the season to put Essex in control on
a rain-affected third day at Grace Road.

23-Jun-2013
ScorecardJames Foster’s innings turned the match around•PA Photos

James Foster struck his first century of the season to put Essex in control on
a rain-affected third day at Grace Road. The Essex captain and wicketkeeper hit a masterful 143 to lead his side to a total of 356 and a first-innings lead of 54.And, despite the loss of 35 overs in the day, Essex were looking in an even
better position at the close, with Leicestershire on 91 for 4 in their second
innings, leading by only 37 runs.Niall O’Brien was the first to go, edging a catch to Foster as he fenced at a
delivery from David Masters. That was in the seventh over, and in the next Reece
Topley had Greg Smith lbw leaving Leicestershire 27 for 2.Joe Burns and Ned Eckersley staged a brief recovery putting on 46, until Ryan
ten Doeschate turned things round again by dismissing both batsmen in the space
of six overs. He had Eckersley lbw attempting a pull shot and then bowled Burns, when the
Australian, trying to cut, chopped the ball back into the stumps.Shiv Thakor and Matt Boyce added five more runs before bad light brought an end
to play with eight overs still to go.Earlier Foster had hit his fourth century in five years against Leicestershire
and his chanceless innings contained 21 fours and a six and came off 190 balls. In the end he became Matthew Hoggard’s sixth victim when he skied a catch to
mid on after taking Essex past the 350 mark to earn them a fourth batting bonus
point.Foster set the tone in the first over of the day when he took 12 runs off Ollie
Freckingham to race from his overnight 45 to 57. He continued in the same fashion and was quick to punish some wayward bowling from the home attack. Foster posted his century with a neat late cut to third man earning him his 14th four in addition to the six off Jigan Naik.His seventh-wicket partner, Graham Napier, was no slouch either, reaching 52
off 80 balls with seven fours, before falling lbw to Freckingham to end a stand
of 114. But Foster skilfully marshalled the tail through another 11 overs until he was
ninth man out at 355.Hoggard, in his first game since April, finished with impressive figures of six
for 66 in 29 overs and Alex Wyatt took three for 80.

Somerset’s supporters have had good reason to grumble on occasions this season. But all they needed to do today was lap up wall-to-wall sunshine and roar their approval at a near perfect performance.

David Lloyd at Taunton21-Jul-2013
ScorecardPakistan international Yasir Arafat blew Warwickshire away•Associated Press

Somerset’s supporters have had good reason to grumble on occasions this season. But all that another bumper crowd at Taunton needed to do today was lap up wall-to-wall sunshine and roar their approval at a near perfect performance.Championship cricket continues to be a real struggle for this team but when it comes to limited-overs stuff, they are now well and truly punching their weight – even without Marcus Trescothick, currently sidelined by an ankle injury.Warwickshire were on a little bit of a roll themselves before this afternoon with three consecutive Friends Life t20 victories to add to a sudden revival of four-day fortunes. But here, the Bears were completely and utterly flattened – knocked onto the ropes by a bowling and fielding performance almost without blemish and then floored with a ruthless batting display that saw victory achieved inside nine overs.There cannot have been many more one-sided games in the relatively short history of T20s – and none more embarrassing for Warwickshire, who had never before been dismissed for fewer than three figures.The visitors had won three games while batting second to ease themselves level on points with third-placed Somerset in this tight group. But here they chose to set a target and then saw only two players – Darren Maddy and Rikki Clarke – reach double figures on a pitch offering a bit of zip but nothing untoward.There was not a weak link for Somerset but three players best summed up their terrific performance: widely travelled paceman Yasir Arafat, wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter and would-be stumper Jos Buttler.Arafat, the 31-year-old Pakistani who has appeared for Kent, Lancashire, Surrey, Sussex and now Somerset in this country, was a relatively late and fairly low-key T20 signing by the Taunton hierarchy. But he has been on song since the start of this competition and scarcely wasted a delivery here while returning the remarkable figures of 4 for 5 from three overs.Like all the bowlers, Arafat was backed up by some terrific catching. The best of the lot was plucked out of the air, just inches off the ground, by a diving Nick Compton at backward point. The ball, carved away by Chris Woakes off Alfonso Thomas, appeared to be past the fielder but it somehow lodged in his left hand.Not far behind that take was the skier held by Buttler at deep backward square leg – pouched on the run, diving forward, when Varun Chopra must have thought he had got away with a slightly top-edged pull against Arafat.In Buttler’s ideal world, he would be behind the stumps in this form of cricket, gaining experience to enhance his England ambitions. That is not the way it is working out at Taunton, leaving Buttler to decide whether to seek pastures new at the end of this season. But he is a more than handy outfielder, a fact beyond dispute.And as for Kieswetter, currently out of England favour, everything went right on both sides of the stumps. He held three catches, two of them routine takes and the other a splendidly well-judged effort on the run, and then dashed off an unbeaten 39 to put Warwickshire out of their misery.There is still a long way to go in this group – both these teams have three more games to play. But on the evidence of this performance, only one of them looks to be on course for the quarter-finals.

Yorkshire have Phil Jaques and Kane Williamson to thank for leaving them in a position to chase the most remarkable of Championship wins against Durham having been asked to follow-on after lunch on day three with a deficit of 299 runs

Graham Hardcastle at North Marine Road30-Aug-2013
ScorecardPhil Jaques went past 150 as Yorkshire knocked off most of the deficit after following on•Getty Images

Yorkshire have Phil Jaques and Kane Williamson to thank for leaving them in a position to chase the most remarkable of Championship wins against Durham having been asked to follow-on after lunch on day three with a deficit of 299 runs. That is the county’s aim heading into tomorrow’s fourth day at Scarborough, no matter how unlikely it may seem.The contest between the Championship’s top two became one to relish as it swung one way then the other on the third day. Jaques and Williamson, Australia and New Zealand Test batsmen respectively, challenged Durham’s position of strength with an unbroken second wicket partnership of 257 inside 60 overs to recover the score from 19 for 1 following the early loss of Adam Lyth.As Lyth trooped off, Yorkshire, the Championship leaders, were contemplating a second defeat of the season. But Jaques scored the 42nd century of his first-class career, 151 not out off 192 balls, while Williamson, a late-season overseas signing designed to stiffen their Championship challenge, added an unbeaten 90 to his first innings 84.Williamson ended the day having achieved the rare feat of completing a century partnership in the first innings, which slipped from 182 for 3 to 274 all out, and a double century in the second both on the same day.”The game’s still well and truly open,” said Jaques, who helped to reduce his side’s deficit to just 23 runs with his eleventh century in Yorkshire colours. “There’s a lot of rough to work with, and they’ve got a lot of left-handers. We’ve also got a leg-spinner. If we can get a decent little lead, we might have a crack at them tomorrow afternoon.”They were well on top making us follow-on, but we’ve pretty much knocked over their lead now. We’re Yorkshire, and we’re trying to win games of cricket. If it gets to a point where we’re not scoring quick enough to build a lead, so be it. It’s a fast scoring ground. If you don’t bowl well, you’ll go the distance. If you do bowl well, there’s still something in it.”Yorkshire are still not clear of danger, but it would seem unlikely that they will suffer another collapse like they did on the third morning when they slipped from a position of relative comfort at 211 for 3 with Williamson and Jonny Bairstow, who made 82, going nicely.They lost their last seven wickets for 63 in the face of some probing bowling from Ben Stokes, Scott Borthwick, Jamie Harrison and Mark Wood, who all finished with two wickets. The loss of Wood to a side strain for the afternoon and evening sessions hurt Durham.The run out of Gary Ballance following a mix-up with Bairstow summed up Yorkshire’s morning. The left-hander played his first ball beyond Chris Rushworth at mid-wicket, who chased the ball down and threw back to Phil Mustard behind the stumps as the pair went for two. Mustard did the rest with Ballance diving in vain to make his ground.The start of Yorkshire’s second innings was not without incident, either. Jaques survived a confident lbw shout from Stokes on 28 during a sustained spell of short-pitched bowling from the seamer. Jaques top-edged a six over long-leg and a four over Mustard’s head before settling down to take advantage of a tiring attack.There was also the unusual sight of a seven-ball over and an even rarer four-ball over, both bowled by Harrison from the Trafalgar Square End of the ground, where Martin Bodenham was standing. The four-ball over consisted of two no balls, which were not bowled again. It was a strange old day. Mind you, it could be the same on the final day as well.