Four state associations objected to the short notice given for scheduling the SGM

Nagraj Gollapudi11-Jul-2017The BCCI has been forced to put off the special general meeting (SGM) scheduled for Tuesday to ratify the three Lodha Committee recommendations shortlisted for reconsideration by the Supreme Court.The postponement was because some state associations – Tamil Nadu, Saurashtra, Kerala and Goa among them – objected to the short notice given for scheduling the SGM, saying it did not comply with BCCI regulations. The BCCI will now issue a 15-day notice for the next date of the SGM; it is expected to be held between July 25 and 27. The minimum notice period for calling an SGM is ten days.According to a BCCI official, the delay will not hinder the decision taken by the special committee, which was appointed to shortlist which Lodha Committee recommendations to put forth for reconsideration. “The special committee had met twice and three points were finally shortlisted,” the board official said. “That was all communicated to the COA. It will file a status report in any case.”Tuesday’s postponement is another example of the delaying tactics used by a section of the BCCI’s members who are against implementing the Lodha Committee recommendations, ever since the Supreme Court of India approved them in an order on July 18, 2016.At the previous SGM on June 27, the BCCI members were made aware of the lack of time to finalise the recommendations ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on July 14. Former BCCI president N Srinivasan, who was not in favour of the BCCI adopting a new constitution as per the Lodha Committee’s recommendations, was present at that June 27 SGM as the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association’s (TNCA) representative.On July 8, BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary had said in an email that the SGM had been called on July 11 as per the instructions of acting board president CK Khanna, and that the short notice was subject to the approval of the members.On July 10, the TNCA was the first to lodge a protest against the two-day notice for the SGM; its secretary RI Palani said it was “illegal”. “The meeting, should it be convened on July11, 2017, would be illegal and all decisions taken there would be of no consequence.”According to Palani, it was a “critical requirement” for members to have enough time to discuss the recommendations and the implications of implementing them. “Curtailing this process is antithetical to the democratic principles on which the BCCI and its members are based.”

Jason Holder, West Indies’ captain, has challenged his players to “look themselves in the mirror” and find a way to fight back into the series after crushing defeat at Edgbaston

Andrew Miller at Edgbaston19-Aug-2017Jason Holder, West Indies’ captain, has challenged his players to “look themselves in the mirror” and find a way to fight back into the series, after being dealt a humiliating innings-and-209-run defeat in the first Investec Test at Edgbaston.West Indies lost 19 wickets in a single day, six of them in the final session under the floodlights, to lose a historic pink-ball contest inside three days, and now they face a massive challenge to recover their poise ahead of Friday’s second Test at Headingley.”It’s obviously very disappointing, we didn’t show enough fight,” Holder said after the match. “We were totally outplayed.”We’ve got to just believe, we have a few days off now, we have to use them wisely. We’ll sit and talk, and formulate some plans about how we are going to go, but it’s not impossible [to come back]. It’s just one game, the series is not lost, we have believe, regroup, and come back strongly.”Holder’s troubles, however, extend across every facet of West Indies’ game. Neither of their innings totals (168 and 137) came close to matching the individual contribution of England’s top-scorer, Alastair Cook (243), while Stuart Broad’s feat of overtaking Ian Botham’s Test wickets tally of 383 underlined the yawning gulf in experience between England and their opponents.”There’s inexperience in the side but we have to be professional and get over that,” said Holder. “I thought we were in the game for a session, but Cook and [Joe] Root put on a really good partnership and we were struggling in the end. We’re a young side with nothing to lose, we just have to believe and come back strongly.”The early finish to the Test does at least give West Indies the best part of a week to get over such a bruising defeat, but while Holder said that the coaching staff would do their best to formulate some plans to stage a comeback, it was up to the individual players to raise their games.”We can’t dwell on it, we have to critique each performance of each player, and look at ways we can move forward. But each player has to look himself in the mirror and see where they can improve.”West Indies lost 19 wickets on a day of abject batting at Edgbaston•Getty Images

Holder, whose own performance was well below the spirited standards that he has so far set in his Test career, singled out the efforts of Jermaine Blackwood and Kemar Roach for particular praise. Blackwood, who made a century against England in their last Test series in the Caribbean in 2015, top-scored with 79 not out in the first innings, having been recalled to the team for the first time since last year’s tour of the UAE.And Roach, whose first-morning extraction of Mark Stoneman was as good a delivery as was bowled all match, fought a lone battle to lift the standards of a seam attack that could yet be reinforced by a recall for Shannon Gabriel at Headingley next week.”I was really appreciative of the way Blackwood played,” Holder said. “He was his normal self after coming back into Test cricket. I want to keep encouraging him to be selective but play his natural game. And I thought Kemar Roach toiled and bowled well, he gave a tremendous effort every time I called on him.””Not an easy job but it’s not impossible,” he said of captaining West Indies. “We’ve got to stay in the game and stay in the fight. Only a couple of Tests ago, England were beaten by South Africa, and we’ve competed really well in the last few Tests we’ve played. We beat Pakistan [at Sharjah in 2016], and they beat England here last year. So it’s important for us to stay with it, and come back strongly.”

David Hopps at Grace Road26-Sep-2017
Ben Raine is a combative soul, a sort of Ben Stokes type without the England caps, the headlines and the penchant for street theatre. Almost single-handedly, he has challenged the notion that Northants are about to pip Nottinghamshire for promotion and that Leicestershire are condemned to a winless season.Raine played age-group cricket with Stokes at Durham. Even on such days like this, he will probably insist that he would love to be compared to him. He struck 59 to prevent a rout and then took four wickets to invite hopes of a transformation beyond belief. Hopefully he followed up with an early night and a cocoa.Until Raine’s intervention, it had taken less than 17 overs for two facts to be gleaned from an extraordinary first session at Grace Road: firstly, Leicestershire, barring miracles, were likely to endure a winless season, and Northants’ promotion challenge was still very much alive.Or, as their former England batsman Ben Duckett neatly put it on Twitter, as he missed the match through injury: “COME ON THE CHUBSTERS!”After little more than an hour of coming and going, Leicestershire were 26 for 7. You don’t want a home match in late September, with the toss regulations as they are, when you are adrift at the bottom of the table.Leicestershire avoided a historic low as Raine rallied but even he could not entirely offset a day that ended with Northants leading by 71 with two wickets remaining. But he certainly irritated a side that had anticipated far greater riches.Now for the arithmetic, sort of. Northants, third, have Nottinghamshire, in second, in their sights. A Notts win would end Northants’ challenge, but Notts are in disarray at Hove. If Notts escape with a draw, that will probably suffice for them. If Notts lose and Northants beat Leicestershire, the Chubsters are First Division-bound.This, it should be stressed, is the same Northants side which Peter Moores, the Notts coach who has led the county to both limited-overs trophies, and who had reason to anticipate a treble only a few weeks ago, would issue with lifestyle sheets and impose punishment runs if they were ever caught watching The Great British Bake Off. This is also the Northants side which, according to the analysis favoured within the Test match counties, supposedly just concentrates on T20 and doesn’t care two hoots for the Championship. There’s that theory gone then.Leicestershire’s flimsy resistance will doubtless attract criticism. Their very name invites greed among some business types who just want to close them down and divide out the proceeds. Their recent record is not much of a case for the defence. But the ground itself is much improved – quietly attractive on a decent autumn day – and there is a yearning for self-improvement. What’s not to like?What was not to like was Leicestershire’s batting, even allowing for a humid morning during which the ball swung persistently, if not extravagantly. From the moment that Michael Carberry was struck in front by Ben Sanderson’s outswinger, they were up against it, Sanderson and Richard Gleeson going on to take five wickets apiece.The debutant, Sam Evans, got the most savage delivery – one from Gleeson that jagged back ferociously to take the inside edge – Ned Eckersley and Aadil Ali missed inswingers from Sanderson to be lbw and Mark Cosgrove played on as he drove at a full-length ball from Gleeson. Add Lewis Hill’s curious walking shot and the best delivery of the lot, which left Neil Dexter to uproot his off stump as he played to leg, and 26 for 7 it was.One of Duckett’s fellow chubsters, the veteran South African allrounder, Rory Kleinveldt, had given Northants a fighting chance of promotion when he took a career-best 9 for 65 against Nottinghamshire at Wantage Road last week. Kleinveldt must have sensed a further bounty on a bowling morning at Grace Road, but perhaps he was over-ambitious because he was stretching gingerly in the warm-ups and then broke down with a side strain after only 11 deliveries.That left Northants’ resources under strain – Luke Procter, on loan from Lancashire, was third seamer and was to bowl four overs for 27 as Raine joined Zak Chappell in a facesaving stand of 68 for the eighth wicket. No repeat then of Leicestershire’s 25 against Kent in 1912, their lowest Championship score, or more recent embarrassments – 34 against Essex on a dodgy park pitch at Southend or 43 against Worcestershire last season.Things might have been worse for Leicestershire. Raine was dropped on 15 at second slip by Richard Levi, off Gleeson, and Chappell should have been comfortably run out on 5, only for wicketkeeper David Murphy to fumble a gentle throw from the bowler’s end.Northants looked solid shortly after tea, 90 runs to the good, Procter and Rob Newton well set. Raine removed them both, Procter for 82, had Simon Kerrigan lbw for nought, second ball, and ensured no act of courage from Kleinveldt, whose appearance at No 9 lasted four deliveries. Not for the first time, he looked full of competitive edge.Poor lad. All his career, Raine has probably wants to be compared to Stokes and it had to happen on a day like this.

Moeen Ali complained of a sore left side, while Steven Finn hurt his left knee during England’s training session in Perth on Thursday. Both players underwent scans on Friday

George Dobell in Perth02-Nov-2017Injury concerns to Moeen Ali and Steven Finn overshadowed England’s first attempt at middle practice at the start of their Ashes tour. Both players underwent scans in Perth on Friday after reporting discomfort during the session at Richardson Park. Results of the scans are expected later in the day, but talk within the camp suggests Moeen should be fine in a few days but Finn may have sustained a more serious injury.*Both players have been ruled out of England’s opening warm-up match on Saturday. Finn’s injury was sustained while batting in the nets. He either hit his left knee with the bat or squeezed the ball into the knee and was forced to hobble out of the training session.But it is the prospect of injury to Moeen that will most concern England. Moeen complained of a sore left side and, as a consequence, did not take part in the training sessions and was immediately ruled out of the two-day game against a Western Australia XI over the weekend.With Ben Stokes also out of action, England can ill-afford to lose another of their allrounders.While it is premature to suggest Moeen could be an injury doubt for the Brisbane Test – there are more than three weeks until the series begins and the whispers around the tour party suggest the scan is largely precautionary – it does enforce the suspicion that England’s squad may require more depth in spin-bowling before the series is over.The only other spinner in England’s Ashes squad is Mason Crane. While he is highly rated and showed impressive composure in his first couple of international matches (two T20s against South Africa), England may well be reluctant to give a 20-year-old legspinner his Test debut as the only spinner in the opening encounter of an away Ashes series.That could mean the England management may consider calling up reinforcements. Jack Leach, the Somerset left-arm spinner who has been named in the Lions squad that arrives in Australia in two weeks, would probably be the most obvious candidate, though he does not come close to replicating Moeen’s ability with the bat. Liam Dawson, who has played three Tests over the last year, might be considered a more like-for-like replacement, while Samit Patel continues to excel at domestic level and could be considered.The loss of Moeen will complicate matters ahead of this weekend’s warm-up game. England had been keen to field a team – or a 12, anyway – as close as possible to the side they will put out in Brisbane with the only issues to resolve the identity of the No. 5 batsman (either Dawid Malan or Gary Ballance) and the fourth seamer. In the absence of Moeen, though, Crane is likely to win greater opportunity and Craig Overton’s batting (and his ability to field at slip for the spinners) could earn him an advantage over Jake Ball.*06.15GMT, November 3: The article was updated with the latest from the England camp.

The medium-pacers helped pull things back for Comilla Victorians after Chittagong had put on 80 in eight overs, before Jos Buttler and Marlon Samuels helped them chase 144

The Report by Mohammad Isam07-Nov-2017

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Dwayne Bravo’s celebrations were catchy as ever•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / Getty

Comilla Victorians inflicted a collapse on Chittagong Vikings, before an efficient chase took them to an eight-wicket win. Mohammad Saifuddin and Dwayne Bravo starred with the ball for Comilla, before Jos Buttler scored 48 to help them chase 144.Chittagong would rue giving away a good start, having reached 91 for 1 in the 10th over, but hardly making any noise in the final half of the innings – making only 52 runs and losing six wickets.After Buttler had set up Comilla’s chase, Marlon Samuels and Imrul Kayes finished the job with efficiency as the Chittagong bowlers couldn’t quite force the issue.Soumya’s reverse-sweep headlines fast startLuke Ronchi had struck a six off the first ball of the third over but when Soumya timed his reverse-sweep to perfection, Comilla knew they were in trouble. The left-hander had been in woeful form for much of Bangladesh’s tour of South Africa, except for the two T20Is at the end.The switch-hit was followed by Ronchi striking Al-Amin Hossain for consecutive fours in the next over. He then went on to hit twin sixes off Dwayne Bravo, the first one a fantastic piece of timing despite being beaten by the slower ball. Soumya struck two more fours in the sixth over before Ronchi fell for 40 in the same over, having struck three sixes and four fours in his 21-ball knock.Dilshan Munaweera tried to keep up the pace while Comilla also erred in the field. Having dropped Ronchi when he was on nine in the second over, Al-Amin’s movement at deep midwicket was astounding as he didn’t get under a Soumya mis-hit. He signalled that it was the sun but he was wearing a cap; Bravo, the bowler, was unhappy. Chittagong reached 91 for 1 after 10 overs, with one eye on a 200-plus score.A stuttering collapseComilla’s fightback began in the 12th over, when Munaweera needlessly scooped one to Marlon Samuels at short fine leg. Saifuddin then got into the game with two consecutive wickets in the 14th over. Sarkar missed a paddle sweep to be bowled before Anamul Haque was caught at long-on for three. After three more wickets fell, Sikandar Raza struck two fours in the last over – there were three in the last 10 overs – to take them past the 140-mark.Buttler gets underwayLiton Das and Jos Buttler let fly from the second over of the 144-run chase, hitting a flurry of fours and sixes. Liton struck Shuvo for a four through the covers and a swept six over fine-leg. Taskin Ahmed was hit through point over mid-on for a four and six respectively by Buttler. Sunzamul Islam was given the triple treatment – a four through midwicket, a blast over long-on for a six and a chip over midwicket for another four.Subashis Roy trapped Liton leg-before in the fifth over, after which Buttler and Imrul Kayes added 57 runs for the second wicket. Buttler was caught behind off Subashis too, after making a 42-ball 48 with three fours and two sixes.A well-orchestrated finishSamuels and Kayes, didn’t allow any more hiccups in the Comilla chase, adding the remaining 44 runs in just 3.4 overs. Samuels struck four boundaries and a six in his unbeaten 18-ball 35, while Kayes struck a four and a six in his 31-ball 33. Comilla won with 16 balls to spare.What they said“Sometimes it happens when you have 80-odd runs and you are going ten an over, you starting thinking ahead to 200-plus. I think in the coming games we need to be very careful about that in the middle overs, even if we are playing a T20 game. We need to be sensible.”

Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja ripped through Sri Lanka’s top order after India set them 410 to win the Delhi Test or survive the best part of four sessions to save it

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy05-Dec-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBCCI

Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja ripped through Sri Lanka’s top order after India set them 410 to win the Delhi Test or survive the best part of four sessions to save it. Bad light brought the fourth day to an end with a theoretical 13 overs remaining, with Sri Lanka struggling at 31 for 3.Sri Lanka came within six balls of going to stumps just one down. Nigel Llong had a long look at his light meter before motioning Jadeja to bowl, and he duly picked up two wickets in what turned out to be the last over of the day. First, Dimuth Karunaratne stretched forward to defend a topspinner that dipped on him, and nicked to the keeper, playing for non-existent turn. Three balls later, the nightwatchman Suranga Lakmal made a mess of his attempt to block a stump-to-stump delivery, cue-ending the ball into the ground and back onto his stumps.Shami had given India their first breakthrough with an exhibition of searing pace and accuracy. He sent down two bouncers that reared dangerously towards Sadeera Samarawickrama’s head. The batsman evaded the first one, falling onto the floor while swaying out of line, but couldn’t avoid the second, ball kissing his glove and bouncing off his right shoulder to gully.The effort of those back-to-back bouncers in the Delhi smog quickly told on Shami; he vomited and went off the field thereafter. Lakmal had shown similar symptoms while bowling in the morning session, when Sri Lanka again came out with a number of their fielders wearing face masks.There was no such discomfort for India’s batsmen in their second innings; three of them scored half-centuries, with the declaration arriving as soon as Rohit Sharma brought up his in the 10th over after tea.There were two major partnerships in India’s innings. Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara added 77 for the third wicket at just under four-and-a-half an over, and Virat Kohli and Rohit added 90 for the fifth at just under a run-a-ball. Kohli and Rohit only hit eight fours between them, but picked up a steady stream of singles and twos against spread-out fields as Sri Lanka waited for a declaration. Kohli holed out in a bid for quick runs, soon after reaching his fifty and passing 600 runs for the series.Having secured a 163-run first-innings lead in the sixth over of the morning, India came out with clear intent to score quickly. M Vijay, normally so watchful outside off stump, repeatedly looked to drive the new ball on the up, and, having hit two fours in this manner, nicked Lakmal behind on 9.Instead of Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane walked in at No. 3, having scored 4, 0, 2 and 1 in his four previous innings in the series. Rahane likes the ball coming on to the bat, so perhaps this was an effort to have him face a harder, newer ball than normal. The experiment didn’t come off. He struggled to middle the ball in his 37-ball innings, as a control percentage of 64 would suggest, and survived two close lbw shouts before holing out while looking to hit Dilruwan Perera over long-on.Pujara was the freer-scoring batsman in his third-wicket partnership of 77 with Dhawan. He came out full of urgent intent and was typically twinkle-toed against the spinners, stepping out frequently, working the ball into gaps, often calling “two” loudly as soon as he had hit the ball.He hit successive fours off Dilruwan early in his innings, an off-drive and a square-cut, and went to lunch batting on 17 off 15 balls. He found the boundary three more times after lunch before he was caught at slip off Dhananjaya de Silva, playing for turn when the ball went on with the around-the-wicket angle.As in the second innings in Kolkata, Dhawan took his time initially and switched gears effortlessly to reduce the gap between runs and balls. It took him 63 balls to hit his first four, a late-cut off Dilruwan, but the boundaries flowed thereafter, as he stepped out against the quicks, went over the top against the spinners and, as always, scored heavily square of the wicket on the off side. As in Kolkata, he seemed set for a century when he was dismissed, beaten by Sandakan’s turn when he danced down the pitch and went for a big hit.In the morning, Dinesh Chandimal HAD extended his score from an overnight 147 to a career-best 164 before becoming the last man out in Sri Lanka’s first innings. He added 30 for the last wicket with Lakshan Sandakan, who ended up unbeaten on 0 off 20 balls. The No. 11 was beaten multiple times by Ishant Sharma and Shami, but defended stoutly when the line was on the stumps.Chandimal went for his shots, and picked up three fours in the morning, two of them with cuts and uppercuts. That shot, in the end, cost him his wicket, as he sliced Ishant straight to Dhawan at third man.

Usman Khawaja, fresh off his return from the Ashes, smacked 85 in the first innings to lift the Thunder to 175

The Report by Daniel Brettig11-Jan-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsUsman Khawaja played his first BBL match of the season•Getty Images

Australia duty giveth, Australia duty taketh away. Sydney Thunder were hoisted to a narrow victory by the newly available Usman Khawaja over a previously high-flying Perth Scorchers side that lacked Jhye Richardson, AJ Tye, Shaun and Mitchell Marsh among others. In doing so, Khawaja kept the Thunder in contention to squeeze into the Big Bash League semi-finals, while also giving Adelaide Strikers a chance to go a game clear of the Scorchers at the top of the table.Cameron Bancroft and Hilton Cartwright made a bold bid to chase down the Thunder’s total in the closing overs, with one Cartwright straight six managing to hit the top of the grandstand at the Sydney Showgrounds. However Mitchell McClenaghan, who had not enjoyed the best of evenings, was able to find a wide yorker when he needed to with five runs to defend off the final ball of the match.Continuing the innings“He just goes out there and looks from ball one that he’s been batting for three hours already. No obvious weakness, no obvious time that it takes him to build into his innings. From ball one he knows his game so well.” With these words Pat Cummins had described Steven Smith’s domination of the Ashes series, but he might just as easily have been talking about the way Khawaja took up where he had left off when dismissed at the SCG after making 171.Khawaja had not played a single BBL match last season, but his innings here, opposite Kurtis Patterson, Shane Watson and Callum Ferguson, showed the combination of smooth aggression and strike rotation that had helped him dominate the Thunder’s victorious 2015-16 tournament. One straight six off the bowling of Ashton Agar, where he danced down and drove high and long, was so picturesque as to resemble the posed shot he is playing in an advertisement for a popular brand of deodorant this summer. The Thunder will hope he can continue the upward trend throughout the rest of the tournament.Getting them in singlesFerguson was happy to find singles to put Khawaja on strike in a 54-run partnership that seemed set to take the Thunder near 200, but when the left-hander fell to a skier the hosts needed more acceleration from the set batsman. However Ferguson is yet to hit a six in this BBL, and striking in the region of 118 per 100 balls is short of the level of attack the late overs need.As a result Sydney stuttered notably in the back half of the innings, only twice topping double figures in the closing 10 overs. Mitchell Johnson and Joel Paris could both be happy with their bowling figures, while Agar was also able to keep things relatively tight despite missing out on Khawaja’s wicket when Bancroft was unable to complete a stumping from a flat and fullish delivery the batsman played over the top of.Swinger SandhuIn an alternate universe, Gurinder Sandhu is a leading seam bowler in England, bending the Dukes ball at will and using his height to generate edge-catching bounce on grassy strips. In this one, he has slipped from the fringes of the Australian squad – touring India with Australia A in 2016 and also playing ODIs for his country – to the edge of the New South Wales system, and a far from consistent berth in the Sydney Thunder line-up.But on this night he was able to demonstrate the sort of trajectory, wrist position and movement that had first attracted the interest of talent spotters. Late new ball outswing made life exceptionally hard for two Australian Test batsmen in Bancroft and Adam Voges, either side of a probable future Australian cricketer in Ashton Turner being completely flummoxed by a slower ball yorker that pinned him on the back foot in front of the stumps. Fawad Ahmed was able to follow-up with a perfect wrong’un to Voges, leaving the Scorchers in a position from which Bancroft and Cartwright had no choice but to throttle back.(Almost) dropping the BBL“I’m getting sick of all these dropped catches” spat Mark Waugh on Ten’s commentary, after McClenaghan had grassed a straightforward chance from Cartwright, to follow up an even simpler chance from Bancroft that Ben Rohrer allowed to burst through his hands. The standard of catching in the BBL has been generally deplorable, and these mistakes served to allow the Scorchers to stay in the contest for far longer than they had a reasonable right to.Having let the required run rate blow out into the region of 12.5 runs per over, Bancroft and Cartwright then started to peg back the lost ground with big hits, the former taking 10 from the next two balls after Chris Green had been let down by Rohrer’s miss. Green was again the bowler (albeit delivering a loose leg side full toss) when McClenaghan reprieved Cartwright, who smote sixes off the balls immediately before and after the drop.The hitting increased in intensity to a point when Cartwright deposited McClenaghan’s second ball of the final over onto the roof of the stand at long on, and a subsequent no-ball for a delivery reaching the batsman above waist height on the full seemed to have tilted the balance towards the Scorchers. But McClenaghan was able to find the lines and lengths to jam Cartwright and Bancroft with the game on the line, keeping the Thunder in contention despite their many errors.

The legspin-bowling allrounder played 19 Tests from 1951 to 1958 and led the team in eight of them

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jan-2018Clive van Ryneveld, the former South Africa captain who also played rugby for England, has died aged 89. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and his work as a lawyer included providing assistance to players – the most notable one being Basil D’Oliveira – with their contracts.A legspin-bowling allrounder, van Ryneveld was part of South Africa’s famous Test win in England in 1951. It was his debut match.In all, he played 19 Tests between 1951 and 1958 – captained South Africa in eight of them – and finished with 724 runs and 17 wickets. He had a more successful first-class career, playing 101 games, making 4803 runs and taking 206 wickets. After retiring from cricket, he became one of the founding members of the Progressive political party and also served a term in parliament, representing one of the East London constituencies.CSA acting chief executive Thabang Moroe paid tribute to Van Ryneveld: “On behalf of the CSA Family I extend our deepest condolences to his family, his friends and his many cricketing colleagues. Apart from being an outstanding all-round sportsman he did his utmost to create a level playing field for all South Africans.”

The ECB has bowed to increasing pressure and agreed to an external review of the process leading to the payment of £2.5m to Glamorgan

George Dobell28-Mar-2018The ECB has bowed to increasing pressure and agreed to an external review of the process leading to the payment of £2.5m to Glamorgan. Barely 48 hours after dismissing calls for such an inquiry at a meeting of the county chairmen, the ECB has performed a U-turn which suggests chaos at the heart of the organisation.While an ECB press release suggests the U-turn is the result of “time to reflect” on the request formally made by Somerset and Surrey on Monday, it may not be coincidental that the ECB’s Audit, Risk and Governance committee met on Wednesday in order to sign off the accounts. With such a substantial and extraordinary payment having been made to Glamorgan – and the suggestion that further payments have been promised elsewhere – it is entirely possible the committee required more details before the accounts could be signed off.”Following the ECB’s meeting with the chairmen of the first-class counties and MCC on Monday we have taken time to reflect on this, as a Board,” Colin Graves, the ECB chairman, said in a statement. “The Board agree that it will be valuable to have an external review into the process around the payment.”I recognise there have been questions raised and, whilst answers have been provided, we are determined that the process is fully reviewed.”It was revealed several weeks ago by the that Glamorgan had received the payment in return for not applying to host a Test in the major match allocation that runs until the end of the 2024 season. While the ECB executive insists such payments were agreed, in principle, at a board teleconference in September 2016, the likes of Andy Nash and Richard Thompson, who have resigned from the board in recent days in protest at what they see as a lack of transparency behind such decisions, believe they required more detailed consideration. Both men claim such a payment amounts to favouring one county over others and conflict with the ECB’s constitution.The ECB has not yet published the terms of reference for the review. But while it is understood the county chairmen requested an entirely independent inquiry led by a respected QC, the ECB has appointed Good Governance Institute (GGI) and asked them to look only at “the process leading to the recent payment to Glamorgan”. As GGI were employed by the ECB in a consultancy capacity as recently as the end of last year – they compiled a report entitled “Governance Improvement Programme” – one county has already raised questions over their independence and, as a result, their suitability for the task.There is also concern over the breadth of the review. With several Test-hosting grounds believed to have budgeted for similar compensation payments – the suggested figure was £500,000 for every year they do not host a Test – some of the other counties want to know how they were led to believe such payments were likely. The ECB has agreed to take another look at the policy, but it is currently unclear whether it forms part of the GGI review.”We need to know what other payments have been promised over the last few months,” one county chief executive told ESPNcricinfo. “But this review does represent encouraging progress.”

All but four of the Lodha Committee recommendations are acceptable to these associations, but some of those four are crucial

Sidharth Monga10-May-2018Twelve state associations of the BCCI have informed the Supreme Court that they are ready to implement the Lodha Committee reforms barring four exceptions, the board’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary said a day before a fresh Supreme Court hearing.

State associations that have sent the undertaking to the amicus curiae

• Andhra

• Assam

• Goa

• Jharkhand

• Kerala

• Mumbai

• Rajasthan

• Railways

• Tripura

• Universities

• Uttar Pradesh

• Vidarbha

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, which is believed to be against the reforms, is not among the 12 that have agreed to implement them. Maharashtra is the 13th association to have agreed, but because it has run into legal trouble lately, Choudhary didn’t count it. According to the BCCI constitution, a three-fourths majority is required for the reforms to be implemented.The Supreme Court had asked the BCCI office bearers – who had given an undertaking they would ensure the reforms were implemented – to submit their suggestions regarding difficulties in implementing the reforms. The four points the 12 associations found difficult to implement were ‘one state, one vote’, the three year cooling-off period after a term, the constitution of the all-powerful apex council, and the distribution of power and functions between elected representatives of the board and its professional wing.The most significant suggestion put forward by these 12 states is for the board to have six representatives in the apex council as opposed to the one suggested in the Lodha reforms. “The apex council as presently contemplated has three office bearers, which will go up to five,” Choudhary said. “There will be one who represents the board, which will be 37 members, and two for players. Insofar as the board is related, the country is very, very large, therefore my submission is that each zone including a separate zone from northeast, so six representatives.”The implementation of ‘one state, one vote’ and the cooling-off period “doesn’t seem practical” to these 12 associations. The argument against ‘one state, one vote’ has been made in the past, and revolves around the role played by the traditional associations such as Mumbai, Baroda, Saurashtra in big states. They are against the cooling-off period because, according to them, if the two other restrictions – an age cap of 70 years and a total cumulative tenure of nine years – of an official’s tenure are implemented successfully, “the further restraint becomes unnecessary”.”Besides this, you have to contemplate the situation that the office bearers run for three years, then totally new faces come up,” Choudhary said. “That will mean no continuity.”Regarding the exception to the strength of the national selection committee – three now as opposed to five earlier – the 12 states are happy to comply given the team has managed with three for a while now. Given the amount of cricket played in India, though, they would still prefer five selectors.However, in its draft constitution submitted in December 2017, the court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) had effectively put aside most of the objections raised.”Each State shall be represented by a state cricket association duly recognised by the BCCI and such associations shall be Full Members,” the draft states. “No State shall have more than one Full Member at any given point of time.” In states with multiple current members, the Full Membership – and its rights and privileges – shall rotate annually among them. The basis of that rotation will be framed by the BCCI.”No office bearer – whether in the BCCI or the state association – shall have consecutive terms,” the draft says. “Further, once an office bearer has completed a term of three years he/she shall not be a member of the governing council or any committee for the next three years.”