Barsby's exit overshadows Queensland win

James Hopes’ shock promotion to Queensland’s caretaker coach began with a victory after he replaced Trevor Barsby on a sensational day for the Bulls

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2010
ScorecardThe captain James Hopes is the new caretaker coach•Getty Images

James Hopes’ shock promotion to Queensland’s caretaker coach began with a victory after he replaced Trevor Barsby on a sensational day for the Bulls. Barsby stepped down after a meeting on Wednesday morning due to an “unworkable” situation with his players and support staff.Before the season Barsby, who was in charge since 2008, had his contract extended to 2012, but he made the decision to walk away after five squad members were questioned by Queensland Cricket’s board on Tuesday night. “We’re not sacking Barsby,” Jim Holding, Queensland Cricket’s chairman, said at the Gabba.”Trevor made his own decision this morning to stand down. No players directly approached me and said there was a problem. When Trevor decided that his relationship with the playing group and support staff was unworkable, I can tell you some of the players we spoke to yesterday said it was becoming unworkable.”The Bulls are having a difficult season after the campaign began with Chris Simpson being replaced as captain by Hopes. The allrounder Hopes is currently out with a hand injury but was put in off-field charge for the win over Western Australia. He will also coach for the four-day game starting on Friday.Queensland’s young line-up posted 210 in their 45 overs, with Jason Floros leading the recovery from 4 for 44 in difficult conditions. Floros finished with 60 while Craig Philipson (35) and Nathan Rimmington (32 off 24 balls) also provided valuable contributions.Ryan Duffield collected 4 for 58 from 12 overs before the Warriors slipped to 132 in their chase. Chris Swan led the locals with 3 for 28 while Ben Cutting, Luke Feldman and Alister McDermott got two each, giving the new captain Ben Dunk a 78-run win.However, the result was overshadowed by Barsby’s sudden exit. Barsby, who took the side to two Sheffield Shield finals, went on immediate leave but plans to discuss his employment situation with the board. “We will look at the coaching options for the Bulls for the rest of the summer as a matter of urgency,” Holding said.

Davies, Symonds set up Surrey win

Cracking half-centuries by Steven Davies and Andrew Symonds helped Surrey maintain their hopes of qualifying for the Friends Provident t20 knock-out stages

22-Jun-2010
Scorecard
Andrew Symonds top-scored for Surrey with a 33-ball 63 to help set up an 11-run win•Getty Images

Cracking half-centuries by Steven Davies and Andrew Symonds helped Surrey maintain their hopes of qualifying for the Friends Provident t20 knock-out stages after edging out Hampshire Royals by 11 runs in a high-scoring clash at The Oval.Chasing the Lions’ excellent 200 for 8, Hampshire ran out of steam against the Surrey spinners with 1 for 28 for Gareth Batty and two wickets for Rory Hamilton-Brown that gave his side their fourth qualifying win.Batting first, the Lions got off to a flying start through openers Hamilton-Brown and Davies who posted the home 50 inside four overs of the powerplay. Hamilton-Brown contributed 10 to the run-fest until he clipped a length ball from Sean Ervine into the hands of Liam Dawson at deep square leg. Left-hander Davies showed no compassion for his ex-Worcestershire team-mate, Simon Jones, who, two years after his last Twenty20 appearance prior to knee problems, disappeared for 25 in his first over.Davies sprinted to an 18-ball 50 with nine fours and a brace of sixes and drove another sublime six over extra cover off Ervine, only to fall two balls later when he clipped to Jimmy Adams at deep square-leg to make it 74 for 2.Teenager Jason Roy, preferred to veteran Mark Ramprakash, hit an audacious six off left-arm spinner Danny Briggs into the top tier of the pavilion but the right-hander from Reigate soon top-edged a sweep to deep-square.Stewart Walters attempted to accelerate with a slog-sweep against Briggs’ arm ball only to be bowled and Jones bravely switched ends to concede only seven from his second over from the Vauxhall End.Symonds, in tandem with Younis Khan, added 71 in seven overs with Symonds posting the second 50 of the evening in 11 minutes with five fours and two sixes but Khan sliced a drive to long off to give Ervine figures of 3 for 28. Ervine’s direct hit from long-off to the striker’s end stumps ran out Symonds for a stunning 63 from 33 balls as he chanced a second run.Entrusted with the last over, Jones showed his character to run out Chris Schofield in his follow through then bowl Batty with a slower ball, but he was powerless to prevent Andre Nel’s last ball six that raised the Lions’ 200.Initially, the Royals run-chase ticked along at the asking rate of 10 an over as Michael Lumb (11) and Jimmy Adams added 33 before Lumb miscued to midwicket to bring teenager James Vince to the crease for only his second t20 appearance.The youngster showed his style with 43 from 17 balls before needlessly attempting a slog-sweep to lose his leg stump to Hamilton-Brown. Ervine (3) checked a drive into the hands of the Surrey skipper at cover then Adams, having hit 46 off 37 balls, attempted to cut Schofield only to be caught behind off a looping bat-pad chance.The 14th over proved a turning point as Batty conceded only five, forcing the asking rate beyond 12 an over for the first time and Nic Pothas (18) soon cracked under the pressure by holing out to deep cover.Dawson soon followed to another catch in the deep and though Neil McKenzie (52 not out) improvised cleverly Hampshire were unable to find the 29 they needed from Nel’s final over of the night.

Stuart Law appointed head coach of USA men's team

The former Australia batter has previously been the head coach for Bangladesh and West Indies

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Apr-2024Former Australia batter Stuart Law has been appointed as the new head coach of the USA men’s team. His first assignment in charge will be the three-match T20I series at home against Bangladesh before the T20 World Cup in June, for which the USA are co-hosts along with West Indies.”It is an exciting opportunity to join USA cricket at this time. USA is one of the strongest Associate nations in the sport, and I believe that we can mold a formidable squad going ahead,” Law said. “The first task will be to prepare the team for the series against Bangladesh and then set our sights on our home World Cup, which will be huge.””Stuart is one of the most accomplished coaches in the sport. He brings a lot of experience to USA Cricket with his varied assignments, particularly in developing international sides over the years,” USA Cricket chairman Venu Pisike said. “His appointment will only help the team grow to their full potential. We are excited to have Stuart on board just before the World Cup and look forward to lots of successes together.”Law has previously been the head coach for Bangladesh and West Indies, and Sri Lanka and Afghanistan on an interim basis in the past. He has also coached Bangladesh Under-19s. He had led Bangladesh to their first Asia Cup final in 2012.He also had a number of roles in Australia, including batting coach to the national team, a job with CA’s Centre of Excellence, and coaching the Under-19 team.USA will play the three matches against Bangladesh at Prairie View, where they recently beat Canada 4-0 in a T20I series.

England analyst Nathan Leamon to join Kolkata Knight Riders

He joins the team as a strategic consultant ahead of IPL 2021

Matt Roller01-Feb-2021Kolkata Knight Riders have hired England’s white-ball analyst Nathan Leamon as a strategic consultant ahead of IPL 2021.Leamon, who has been involved with the England team since 2009, has worked closely with Eoin Morgan – the Knight Riders captain – in recent years. He will be involved with the franchise’s auction planning, and will work alongside AR Srikkanth, their current performance analyst, during the season.It is understood that Leamon will take a leave of absence from the ECB during the tournament itself, after they recognised the value in him spending two months at the IPL working alongside Morgan ahead of the T20 World Cup in India later this year.Related

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The Knight Riders finished mid-table at fifth in IPL 2020, which was played in the UAE, with seven wins and equal number losses, closely losing out on a playoff spot. It was also the first time the franchise had been coached by the former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, a close friend of Morgan, who was appointed captain by the Knight Riders midway into the 2020 season after Dinesh Karthik stepped down abruptly.Morgan found himself defending Leamon in December after England trialled a system of coded signals from the dressing room to the pitch during their T20I series in South Africa, which suggested a choice of bowler and a possible field through a letter and a number. Morgan said there was “nothing untoward” about the trial and said it was “100% within the spirit of the game”.Leamon’s previous experience working in franchise cricket includes his time with Multan Sultans in last year’s Pakistan Super League, but a clash between the tournament and the white-ball leg of England’s tour to India means he will not return to that role this year.The IPL auction will be held on February 18. The Knight Riders have eight slots available, including two for overseas players after releasing Tom Banton and Chris Green from their 2021 squad. They have the joint-smallest purse remaining alongside Sunrisers Hyderabad, at INR 10.75 crore (USD 1.47 million approx).

NZC lodge police complaint over Jofra Archer abuse incident

Board confident that Bay Oval individual has been identified after inquiry

George Dobell in Hamilton03-Dec-2019New Zealand Cricket has lodged a complaint with Tauranga police over the racial abuse directed at Jofra Archer near the end of the first Test against England at Bay Oval.Information gathered from an inquiry which included studying CCTV footage, listening to audio, interviewing bystanders and obtaining material on social media has been incorporated into the complaint. As ESPNcricinfo reported at the time, the alleged culprit contacted Archer on Instagram in the hours after the incident.While NZC describe the information-gathering exercise as “useful” and are confident they have been able to identify the culprit, they lack the authority to conclusively and publically identify the person responsible and therefore feel “unable to comment on public speculation regarding his personal details”.Despite this, NZC chief executive David White said he believed there was enough material to justify lodging a complaint with the police especially, a press release stated, “if the Bay Oval perpetrator was to reoffend”.”What happened to Jofra was reprehensible and has led to a general upscaling of security around the area of racial abuse at all our international venues,” he said.”Should the person responsible ever reoffend, we believe we have enough information to link him to the Bay Oval incident.”White confirmed that, if a conclusive identification was forthcoming, NZC would seek to ban the offender from all its international venues “for a lengthy period”.

Motie six-for helps Guyana firm up top spot

A round-up of the Regional Four-Day Tournament matches that ended on December 14, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-2015
ScorecardFile photo: Tagenarine Chanderpaul struck an important second-innings fifty in Guyana’s victory•WICB Media

Gudakesh Moti, the left-arm spinner who made his first-class debut only a month ago, has taken a fourth five-wicket haul in five matches to entrench Guyana atop the Regional 4-day Tournament points table for 2015-16. He bowled 23.3 overs, allowed a meager 33 runs, and snatched up six wickets to hand Jamaica their second loss of the season, by 117 runs at Sabina Park.Fourth-innings chases are invariably tough, but the hosts’ battling line-up did not do themselves any favours. They had already been bundled out for 146 in their first innings, which was the major reason for their target being 326. In the second innings, as many as six batsmen faced more than fifty balls each, but none of them could reach a score of fifty. That is not to slight the increased determination. Tamar Lambert made 30 off 128, debutant Rovman Powell spent over two hours at the crease for his 23 and Jamaica batted out more than 100 overs in search of the draw, but it wasn’t to be as Motie broke through. The 20-year old dismissed the final six batsmen, including Lambert and Powell to become the top wicket-taker in the competition.That mantle had been with Jamaica’s own left-arm spinner Nikita Miller only a few days ago. He had taken 6 for 46 off 26 overs to restrict Guyana to 189 in their first innings, and claim the top spot. Motie only got one wicket off 11 overs on his first try, but Jamaica didn’t have it much easier as his left-arm team-mate Veerasammy Permaul spun them out with 5 for 25 in 22. 5 overs, an economy rate of 1.09.Guyana claimed a lead of 43, then Tagenarine Chanderpaul became the only batsman with a substantial score in the entire match, a situation his father Shivnarine has come across many a time. Tagenarine made 81 off 249 balls and, with handy contributions down the order, pushed the lead past 300.
ScorecardA string of top-order fifties from Trinidad & Tobago beat a string of lower-order fifties from Windward Islands for the first-innings points in St Lucia.T&T won the toss and their bowlers put on a strong show to reduce Windward Islands to 76 for 5. Then came the rally with Andre Fletcher digging in for 63 off 159 balls and offspinner Shane Shillingford eventually outscoring him with 64 off 161 balls. No. 10 Mervyn Matthew chipped in with 48 runs, including seven fours to drag Windward Islands to 306.T&T had help from the lower order too – No. 10 Marlon Richards whacked 60 off 58 balls with five sixes – but their total of 382 was set up by No. 3 Yannic Cariah’s 70 off 216 balls and middle-order batsman Yannick Ottley’s 99 off 218 balls, with 12 fours. They took a lead of 76 runs, and the subsequent seven points that came with it. Left-arm fast bowler Kevin McClean took 4 for 66.Windward Islands then batted out 81.4 overs and were at 189 for 8 when the match came to a close. It was a slow moving draw, with the run-rate less than three in all three innings Devon Smith made 56 off 186 balls at the top of the line-up and Shillingford again showed his capability to bat by spending 94 balls at the crease for his 34, which included 4 sixes.

Kirsten quits SA job effective August

Gary Kirsten has decided not to renew his contract as South Africa coach

Firdose Moonda10-May-2013Gary Kirsten’s tenure in charge of South Africa will end on July 31 after he decided not to renew his contract for a further two years. Kirsten, who was appointed in 2011, cited the needs of his sons, Joshua and James and daughter, Joanna, who are all under the age of 10, as the only reason for him opting not to continue to be in charge of the team he took to No.1 on the Test rankings. His last assignment will be the Champions Trophy in England before he settles in to spend more time with his family.”I feel I can no longer cope with the lengthy periods of separation from my family that this job demands,” Kirsten admitted. “Last year, I had 250 days away from Cape Town, my home. I believe my absentia as a father is compromising my responsibilities to my family. I’ve just had five weeks at home now, which is the longest period I have had there for a few years and I began to realise the impact my absence as a father has had on my family.”When Kirsten took the job as South Africa coach, he made it plain to his employers, CSA, that his first priority was to his family. His contract included terms relating to the amount of time he could spend at home, even during the season and on tours, because he did not want the job to rob him of his primary role of husband and father.At the time, he and his wife, Deborah had a policy in place about the maximum number of days they would spend apart – 21. Kirsten also assured her if the separation ever became “unbearable”, he would not continue as coach. He has now decided it has reached those levels and Deborah was among the most surprised by that conclusion.”I don’t think she believed me when I said I was not going to renew,” Kirsten said. “But that’s how I feel about the importance of the institution of family. I don’t want to be a statistic so that when my kids are grown up, they say they didn’t see their dad. Right from the outset of my contract, it was a concern – how I would be able to manage the time apart. I even considered doing only one format of the game but we felt it would be unfair on many people. The last five weeks at home have made me more aware of my responsibilities.”Kirsten denied that political reasons pushed him, although there was some suspicion he was under pressure for a slow transformation rate, especially in Test cricket. Although South Africa has not had a quota system in place for several years, it was widely frowned upon that no black African played in the longest format for South Africa during Kirsten’s time in charge. “No, that has nothing to do with it. I’ve given my reasons and those are 100%,” he said.Kirsten leaves South African cricket in a healthy state at Test level, where he had the best record of all past coaches. The team won 63% of the Tests they played and Kirsten was the only coach who took them to No. 1 in the world with victory over England. “The Test team moved to new heights,” he said. “We’ve got an incredibly strong senior player base. They are the heartbeat of the team and they drive the values and the culture of the team, so I move away very comfortable that that is in place.”His limited-overs returns were not as striking. So far, Kirsten is the third-worst performing coach in the fifty-over game with a win percentage of only 56%. He conceded, “performances in ODIs and Twenty20s haven’t been where we wanted them to be. But we’ve built a good base of players.”After winning the World Cup with India in 2011, Kirsten was widely thought to be the man who would help South Africa finally lift that trophy. But he said that was never part of his plans. “It was not my intention to go to the World Cup. My work is part of a process to help the players and South African cricket reach the goals they want to reach,” he said, although he did have some advice for the man who takes South Africa to the 2015 event. “Going into the World Cup in two years, we don’t have to shift the team around too much.”Kirsten has one more chance to achieve success in the fifty-over format with the team in a month’s time. He pledged to approach the Champions Trophy with “renewed vigour,” but after that family will have him around almost full-time.Kirsten confirmed he will not seek any other employment immediately although he will not rule out contributing to South Africa in a consultancy role. “I like to think my time is not done. I don’t think I will ever leave coaching but it would have to be in a way that suits my needs,” he said.CSA will appoint a committee to handle the appointment of the new coach, who will take over for the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka in July and August. Kirsten himself could be involved in the process and hinted his assistant, Russell Domingo may be best placed to take over.”My relationship with Russell has always been a close one. He is passionate and clinical and he has done a lot of coaching. I have no doubt that he is very capable of doing high-level coaching jobs,” he said. Domingo and bowling coach Allan Donald’s contracts also expire at the end of July and they will only know if they will continue in their roles after the new head coach has been appointed.Donald appears interested in continuing. He is currently coaching Pune Warriors in the IPL and told ESPNcricinfo that if it was up to him, he would stay on. “I spoke to Gary personally a couple of days ago and I respect his decision 100%,” he said. “At the moment we are very focused on the Champions Trophy and I’m sure that this team needs no motivation to go and win this tournament for Gary. As far as I’m concerned, we’ve just got to let this whole thing take its course and, for me, there is no decision to be made about my future with the Proteas.”

Shahzaib, Faisal give Sind huge lead

A round-up of the Pentangular Cup matches that took place on January 26

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2012Shahzaib Hasan and Faisal Iqbal scored centuries to give Sind a huge lead against Baluchistan on the second day at the National Stadium in Karachi. Resuming on 127 for 1, with Hasan on 66, Sind were dismissed for 487, leading by 323 runs. Hasan scored 119 off 129 deliveries, while Faisal’s century was more rapid – 112 off 134 deliveries. There were useful contributions from Fahad Iqbal (68) and Mohammad Sami (48) as well. Fast bowler Rahat Ali took 5 for 106 for Baluchistan but was unable to prevent Sind from taking firm control of the Pentangular Cup game.Punjab dismissed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province for 210 and then reached 95 for 1 on the first day of their Pentangular Cup match at the at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Raza Hasan took 5 for 80 after Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chose to bat, and he was supported by Asif Raza, who took 3 for 29. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were in fact in danger of not reaching 200, but the No. 9 Khalid Usman scored 59 off 48 balls to lift them from 144 for 7. No other batsman made more than 50 in the innings. Punjab lost Nasir Jamshed for 8 in their reply but Ahmed Shehzad and Shoaib Malik steered them through to stumps without further loss. Shehzad scored 57 off 77 balls in Punjab’s 95.

India U-19s continue to dominate

A round-up of the fourth match-day of the Quadrangular Under-19 series in India

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Oct-2011India Under-19s continued to dominate in the youth quadrangular series in Visakhapatnam, registering a comprehensive six-wicket win against Australia Under-19s.Batting first, Australia was in trouble straightaway, losing their top three for only three runs to Sandeep Sharma. Ashton Turner and captain Kurtis Patterson essayed a brief recovery, but once offspinner Baba Aparajith broke the stand, none of the lower middle could get going as Australia folded for 173 in 48.5 overs. In reply, India were solid, knocking off the runs with 17.4 overs to spare. The chase was built around a number of 30 and 40 something cameos from the top order – Aparajith top scored with an unbeaten 48. This is India’s fourth win in four games in the series.A team performance helped Sri Lanka Under 19s to a two-wicket win against West Indies Under-19s.Choosing to bat, West Indies slumped to 94 for 5 in 28 overs, before a 152-run stand for the sixth wicket between Kavem Hodge and Justin Greaves carried them to a competitive total. Fast bowler Lahiru Madushanka and left-arm spinner Amila Aponso were the pick of the bowlers, claiming five wickets between them, as West Indies put on 258 for 8 in their 50. Sri Lanka’s top and middle order all contributed in the chase, with each of the top seven scoring between 22 and 47. While West Indies kept pecking away at the wickets, the cameos were enough to carry Sri Lanka home with nine balls in hand. This is Sri Lanka’s third win in four games, while West Indies are yet to register a win in the tournament.

Luke Wright joins New Zealand coaching staff for limited-overs series

Gary Stead said it was important to manage coaching workload during a long period on the road

ESPNcricinfo staff10-May-2022Luke Wright, the former England allrounder, will be part of New Zealand’s coaching staff during their upcoming limited-overs tours of Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands.Wright is part of an expanded coaching group which means no one will be involved in New Zealand’s full schedule of tours which begins with the Test series against England and runs through to August in West Indies.Dion Ebrahim, Dean Brownlie and Graeme Aldridge will also be part of the set-up alongside lead bowling coach Shane Jurgensen and batting coach Luke Ronchi.Ebrahim, the former Zimbabwe batter who played 29 Tests and is now Otago head coach, will be part of the England Test tour before Wright, who stepped down as Sussex’s T20 captain earlier this year and has previously worked as an assistant coach for Melbourne Stars in the BBL, joins for the white-ball matches.Related

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Head coach Gary Stead will miss the tour of Ireland – which will be led by Jurgensen – before returning for the Scotland and Netherlands series followed by a tour of West Indies in August. Jurgensen and Ronchi will return home after Ireland to be replaced by Aldridge and Brownlie. New Zealand used a similar mix of coaches last year.”A key lesson from last year’s Covid-enforced schedules was the importance of keeping not just our players fresh, but also our staff,” Stead said. “We’ve got 14 weeks of non-stop cricket ahead in all three formats and across four countries – along with a T20 World Cup also looming in Australia in October.”We need to ensure our coaches are at the top of their games throughout that period, and able to create an environment in which the team can continue to improve and thrive.”Aldridge and Brownlie have previously been involved in the national set-up while Stead was looking forward to the ideas that Wright and Ebrahim will bring.”Along with the practicality of having an extra set of hands, it’s also a way of introducing different voices and skills to the group, as well as giving the fourth coaches themselves an opportunity to learn and develop,” he said.”Dion is a promising new head coach on the domestic scene. I’m sure he will get plenty out of touring with the Blackcaps. Luke will offer in-depth knowledge of the conditions in the UK and his vast experiences in T20 cricket all around the world.”