Gurusinha reappointed Sri Lanka selector after resigning

Despite having stepped down from his role as Sri Lanka selector just weeks ago, cricket manager Asanka Gurusinha has been reappointed to the position, along with three new selectors.Graeme Labrooy, the former Sri Lanka seamer, had already been confirmed as the head of the committee on Friday. The remaining members are former national team manager Jeryl Woutersz, former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Gamini Wickremasinghe, and Sajith Fernando, who was once a prolific allrounder at domestic level.Gurusinha had been part of the Sanath Jayasuriya-led selection committee since April, and had resigned alongside that committee, saying: “When the others are stepping down, I can’t stay there.” His reinstatement affirms that SLC are happy for him continue in his powerful, tri-partite position. As cricket manager, Gurusinha effectively fulfills the roles of a team director, a team manager, and now, again, selector.Woutersz, meanwhile, had been team manager as recently as January last year, before he was replaced by Charith Senanayake.The new selectors’ first assignment will be to choose the squad for the Tests against Pakistan – the first of which begins on September 28. The team is scheduled to depart on Sunday.

Abject West Indies tumble to humiliating innings defeat


Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA historic Test match was dealt a humiliating conclusion under the Edgbaston floodlights, as West Indies crumbled to one of the most spineless defeats in their long and once-proud history. By losing 19 wickets for 261 runs in the space of 76.4 overs, they were shot out twice in the day for scores of 168 and 137, the margin of their innings defeat – 209 – still greater than either of their efforts with the bat.For the record, James Anderson, with 3 for 34, was the pick of England’s bowlers in the first innings, while Stuart Broad claimed identical figures to be the star performer in the second. In crushing West Indies’ middle order with a spell of 3 for 4 in 11 balls after tea, Broad surged past Ian Botham’s tally of 383 Test wickets to claim second place behind Anderson on England’s all-time list. Not since Trueman and Statham were last in harness in 1963 had both chart-toppers been present in the same England team, and Anderson, who now has 491 to his name, must fancy his chances of ticking off another remarkable milestone in next week’s second Test at Headingley.But frankly, any of England’s bowlers could have taken the top billing in this contest. Only Jermaine Blackwood, with a defiant and at times bombastic 79 not out in the first innings, and Kraigg Brathwaite, with a sheet-anchor 40 in the second, found any means to resist an attack that used the conditions well but were never required to stretch themselves to assert their authority.

England unchanged for Headingley

England squad: Joe Root (capt), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Mason Crane, Dawid Malan, Moeen Ali, Toby Roland-Jones, Ben Stokes, Mark Stoneman, Tom Westley, Chris Woakes

In the absence of any meaningful contest out in the middle, the fancy-dressed hordes in the Hollies Stand settled for making their own entertainment – most notably during the afternoon, when their entire focus turned from the pink ball in the middle to a black-and-white inflatable version that had been confiscated by a steward. They eventually got their ball back, to a huge cheer. West Indies’ bowlers, on the other hand, never got close to being called upon again.An air of farce hung over the day from the moment of the first delivery, which Anderson sent down at 1.30pm – half-an-hour earlier than scheduled due to the rain on the second evening. And yet, no sooner had the ball left his hand than the heavens opened and the players fled the field. But far from being the start of a great West Indian escape, it merely postponed the inevitable as far as Anderson was concerned. With his fifth ball of the resumption, he found wicked lift from a good length for Ben Stokes in the gully to snaffle a spliced edge. Kyle Hope, who had hung around with rare intent on the second afternoon, was gone without addition.Stuart Broad bowled Shane Dowrich to move second on England’s all-time list•Getty Images

It was the beginning of the end and the day had barely begun. At precisely the same time, a few miles up the M6, Manchester United were busy smashing three goals in five minutes to see off the challenge of Swansea City, and it’s hard to say which trio came thicker and faster as West Indies’ wickets tumbled like stricken defenders. Kieran Powell ran himself out in the next over, pinged out by a direct hit from Anderson at mid-off, before Roston Chase was beaten by an Anderson nipbacker and bowled off the inside edge for an 11-ball duck.At 47 for 4, Blackwood and Shai Hope came out swinging, but Hope in particular never looked like enduring. A fat-inside edge off Toby Roland-Jones smashed his stumps for 15, and Roland-Jones doubled his tally when Shane Dowrich attempted a shockingly ill-advised clip through the leg-side that missed his bat by a mile and pinned him dead in front of middle.Jason Holder played a futile game of waft-and-miss against the offspin of Moeen Ali – a thin edge to the keeper, revealed on review, was the inevitable upshot – and when Kemar Roach missed a drive at Broad to lose his off stump for 5, West Indies had lost seven wickets for 101 in the morning session alone.It was abject and dispiriting, but at least Blackwood could hold his head high. With the sort of calypso flourish that seems almost poignantly rare these days, he bashed his way to a 49-ball fifty, including two eye-catching sixes off Moeen, and had made it 79 from 76 before he ran out of partners. Alzarri Joseph hung around as best he could, enduring for 17 balls before Broad thumped his pads to send him on his way lbw for 6. And then, with a century just about in his sights, Blackwood attempted desperately to keep the strike at the end of Anderson’s 15th over, but Tom Westley at midwicket beat the floundering Miguel Cummins with a direct hit.Joe Root immediately signalled to the West Indies dressing room that they should get their pads back on, and it took Anderson until his third over to get back in the wickets, as Powell fenced to Alastair Cook at slip for 10. All Hope was lost when Kyle and Shai fell in quick succession to Roland-Jones and Stokes respectively, and though Brathwaite bedded in with dignity, he too joined the procession on the stroke of tea as he played back to Moeen to be adjudged lbw on review.After that, it was a question of when, not if, the match would be over in the space of three days. Blackwood’s charge-and-miss against Moeen confirmed that he wouldn’t be the one delaying matters for a second time, while Broad made damn sure of a day on the golf course with a surgical strike on the lower middle order. Dowrich and the hapless Holder – a distracted figure throughout a desperate contest – fell in consecutive deliveries before Roach just about prevented Broad from claiming a hat-trick of hat-tricks.Victory was duly sealed at 8.56pm when Roland-Jones had Joseph caught at third slip by Stokes for 8. It was, technically, the latest finish to a Test match in English history, but it was an early bath in every other respect. Even in an era of slim pickings for the longest format, Test matches are rarely this mismatched.

Bolton century leads Australia to breezy win

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:37

‘Felt like I was in a dream’ – Bolton

An opening partnership of 171 between Nicole Bolton and Beth Mooney paved the way for Australia women to begin their title defence with an eight-wicket win against West Indies, the team they beat in the 2013 final. Mooney made 70, while Bolton remained unbeaten on 107 as Australia completed their chase of 205 in 38.1 overs.At no point were West Indies on top after they chose, after all manner of toss-related confusion, to bat first. Four of their top five got starts, but none of them got past fifty, as Australia’s bowlers, led by Ellyse Perry, kept striking regular blows to ensure that an innings struggling to get out of second gear never built significant momentum.Wickets through the middle overs cut short any partnership that threatened to blossom. Jess Jonassen, who dropped the opener Hayley Matthews on 27, made amends by bowling her with an arm ball just when she was looking dangerous, having added 19 off her last 18 balls. That ended a second-wicket stand of 52 between Matthews and Chedean Nation.Then came a cameo from Deandra Dottin, who put on 34 in 29 balls with her captain Stafanie Taylor for the fourth wicket. Dottin may have just begun to worry Australia’s think tank when Perry brought a swift end to her innings. Having just conceded two successive fours – a pull and a flick, both placed wide of midwicket – she came up with the perfect riposte, an inducker that bowled Dottin through the gate.West Indies, 157 for 4 at that point, simply couldn’t pick themselves up, with Taylor finding no support at the other end. The last seven wickets fell for 47 runs, Taylor eighth out for 45 off 57 balls.”It’s not the start we wanted,” Taylor said. “There were a couple of mistakes that we made but we just need to go back to the drawing board. We have more games coming up so we can use this as an example. We didn’t bat well, we had a platform but the middle order didn’t push on to get us to that total.”Australia were never going to sweat over a target of 205 unless they lost wickets up front. Bolton and Mooney ensured that wouldn’t happen, serenely seeing off West Indies’ new-ball bowlers. Shakera Selman found late swing into the stumps from over the wicket to the two left-handers, while the taller, quicker Shamilia Connell went round the wicket and extracted bounce from just short of a good length. The first five overs brought only 15 runs, but neither batsman looked anything but secure.Then Mooney, profiting from Connell dropping too short, picked up two fours in the sixth over before Bolton clipped Selman to the square-leg boundary in the seventh. Australia were away. Mooney and Bolton barely had to stretch themselves thereafter, as the spinners and medium-pacers kept offering up a boundary ball roughly every second over.Mooney led the scoring through two-thirds of the opening stand, bringing up her fifty 2.5 overs before her partner, before Bolton left her in her wake with a blaze of boundaries. Stepping out whenever she saw some flight and punishing the inevitable short balls that followed, Bolton raced from 45 off 69 balls to 92 off 96, her sprint to her third ODI hundred interrupted only by Mooney’s dismissal at the other end, bowled by Taylor’s offspin.Taylor picked up another wicket, Meg Lanning miscuing a big hit, but it was only a consolation, as Bolton and Perry steered Australia home with no further drama.”When we were out there that it felt like we were in a dream,” Bolton later said. “To share an opening partnership like that of 171 is special, we didn’t play the scoreboard but instead the way we normally play, tried not to put too ourselves under too much pressure.”It was a pretty damaging partnership, there was a period where it kicked into gear for me – I was mindful of getting the job done but the closer I got to a century the more the nerves kicked in.”It was a pretty special feeling, the result is exactly how we want to play as a team and the bowlers played a massive part in that.

India facing a 'changed Bangladesh'

It says much for the progress of Bangladesh in recent years that their senior players and coaches keep being asked a very similar question: is this the biggest moment in the history of the team?That a reasonable answer to that question – whether it was asked ahead of the World Cup quarter-final in 2015, when they defeated England in a Test in Dhaka or Sri Lanka in a Test in Colombo, when they won home ODI series against Pakistan, India and South Africa, or now, when they find themselves in the semi-final of a global tournament for the first time – is “yes” confirms the impression that, as their captain Mashrafe Mortaza put it, their “graph is pretty good. We’re coming up.”While most would accept that they have enjoyed a little fortune on the way to the semi-final – rain came to their rescue against Australia – the general impression remains: Bangladesh are a growing force in international cricket. Their future looks bright.There is no doubt that India are favourites in this semi-final, though. Strong favourites. It’s not just that they have a hugely experienced batting and bowling line-up, it’s that they have a huge amount of experience of playing in such high-profile games.But as if Pakistan’s victory over England had not already exposed the folly of presumption, Bangladesh have a record that demands respect. They have produced the two highest partnerships of the tournament to date (Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah added 224 for the fifth wicket against New Zealand, while Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim added 166 for the third wicket against England), they have recorded four of the nine highest individual scores (including three centuries) and they have won two of the last three ODIs between these sides.Most of all, they have a skillful, varied attack that, even on the fine batting surface anticipated at Edgbaston, provides Mashrafe with options.For all those reasons, Bangladesh should be a far more confident side than the one brushed aside by India in the World Cup quarter-final. Now they know they can win big games and fight back from tough positions. Now they know they belong at this level. India, Mashrafe said, are going to find a “changed” opponent.”Winning against England [in the 2015 World Cup] helped us a lot. We lost our next match, against New Zealand in New Zealand, but on a tough wicket we scored almost 300 and the team took a boost from that.”After that, we beat Pakistan, India and South Africa. Yes, it was at home, but we gained more self-respect by beating those sort of teams.”So this team has changed. Over the last two or three years, we’ve changed a lot, especially in the dressing rooms. Now we play with freedom. The coaches support the players and don’t drop them. These sort of things actually change teams.”Mashrafe took particular confidence from the victory over New Zealand. With 20 overs of the New Zealand innings remaining, they were 152 for 2 with Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson well set. A total well in excess of 300 looked likely.”That’s the thing,” he explained. “We never give up. They batted really well, but we came back strongly. And once you have played at your best, you know how well you can play and things can change. I know, on our day, we can do anything.”Might the pressure of the occasion prove a burden? Mashrafe accepted his side is in uncharted territory here, but, like his coach the previous day, attempted to alleviate the burden.”It is our first time in our life in a semi-final; that is a fact,” he said. “And if you look at it as a semi-final, the pressure will be very hard. But if you think of it as just another match, the pressure will come a lot easier. And India has more pressure than us as the population is huge there and people love cricket a lot. Both teams have a lot of expectations.”For a Bangladesh team of which very little was expected not so long ago, such hopes are another sign of progress. Few would bet against this being the first of many semi-final appearances over the coming years.

'Cannot focus only on Williamson' – Mashrafe

Bangladesh only have positive thoughts going into their match against New Zealand even though they know they are lucky to still have a chance to qualify for the semi-finals and could still go home even with victory in Cardiff.The captain Mashrafe Mortaza admitted they had reacted negatively to their warm-up collapse against India, when they were skittled for 84 at The Oval, by picking an extra batsman for the opening England fixture. He promised, however, there would be no repeat, despite struggling against Australia except for Tamim Iqbal’s defiant 95.”We have to think positive for sure,” Mashrafe said. “For that we need to pick five bowlers – we normally play with five bowlers all the time. In the first match we were maybe thinking of the India practice match, but we can’t just go the negative way. We have to score as well as we have to get them all out.”We knew before the tournament that we had to produce something special, otherwise it wouldn’t be easy to beat teams like England and Australia. But we are a team that wouldn’t let go of a chance, so if one comes up tomorrow we will have to make sure we don’t let it slip.”Bangladesh are certainly familiar with New Zealand’s style of cricket, even if the side they faced in Ireland – and beat in their most recent meeting – did not contain some of the senior players. Among those they did not meet last month was Kane Williamson – who has been in magnificent form in the opening two matches – but, like Tamim, he too has very little to show for his efforts so far.’We can win from a really bad situation if Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur and Shakib are around’ – Mashrafe Mortaza•AFP

“He is in great form but we cannot focus only in on Williamson,” Mashrafe said. “They have some players like [Martin] Guptill who can change the game. So we have to think about all of their batsmen as a bowling group. And also if you look on our side, I think Tamim is in great form. It doesn’t mean that Tamim will come in to score tomorrow, as well. So you never know what’s going to happen.”Bangladesh are yet to see in this tournament how their batting fares if Tamim fails to post a significant score, although even with his contributions, the middle and lower order has not offered much beyond Mushfiqur Rahim’s 79 against England. In that match, they struggled to accelerate during the closing overs while in the Australia game they collapsed from 122 for 3 to 182 all out after the dismissal of Shakib Al Hasan. But Mashrafe said that Bangladesh’s batting depth should not be disregarded on the basis of their recent performances.”Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur and Shakib are players who can change the course of a game. We can win from a really bad situation if they are around. I am hoping that they will rise on the big situation, which is coming up tomorrow.”Everyone is excited. We knew that these three matches would be difficult for us. We know our limitations and strengths, so we are basing our game on those lines. We were lucky against Australia to get a point; we didn’t play too badly against England. We are still in the tournament, with a game in hand. I can feel it in the dressing room. We want to have a positive end to this tournament.”

Court warns BCCI about ineligible office-bearers

In a warning to the BCCI and its state associations, the Supreme Court has indicated that people who do not meet the Lodha Committee’s criteria to be office-bearers cannot take part in the board’s meetings or represent it at the ICC.The response was to the Committee of Administrators (CoA), appointed by the court to run the BCCI, asking for clarity on whether disqualified office-bearers could return as representatives to attend BCCI or ICC meetings. The CoA’s request was part of its third status report and was submitted to the court on Friday, two days before the BCCI’s special general body meeting.The SGM was called in part to select a person to represent the board at the crucial quarterly round of ICC meetings in Dubai from April 24 to 27. The COA was aware that former BCCI president N Srinivasan, who fails the eligibility criteria on three counts, would be in attendance and was a favourite for the role. Eventually, the SGM was adjourned, and acting BCCI president CK Khanna said they would reconvene after the court issued its final decision on April 17.According to the Lodha Committee’s recommendations, anyone who is 70 years of age, or has completed separate nine-year terms as an office-bearer at state and BCCI levels is no longer eligible to remain an office-bearer with the board. In a short hearing on Monday the CoA, through its legal counsel Chander Uday Singh, raised the concern that these disqualified officials could still represent the board at ICC meetings.Kapil Sibal and Tushar Mehta, arguing on behalf of the BCCI and some state associations, said even if a person is disqualified to be an office-bearer, they could not be barred from being named a representative for the board or a state.The three-judge bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra, AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said they would give their final decision on April 17. “This is a matter to be debated,” they said, although they did wonder about how a disqualified official could represent the BCCI at the ICC to do something “indirectly which otherwise directly was not permissible.”This is the second time in three months the court has been asked to take a call on who will represent the BCCI at ICC meetings. In February, the court had approved three names – Vikram Limaye (CoA member), Amitabh Choudhury (acting secretary) and Anirudh Chaudhry (treasurer) for this purpose. Choudhury attended the ICC chief executives committee meeting while Limaye represented BCCI at the Financial & Commercial Affairs and the ICC Board meetings.

Shahzad, Usman swat aside PNG

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Muhammad Usman struck six fours and a six•Peter Della Penna

Half-centuries from Ghulam Shabber, Rameez Shahzad and Muhammad Usman underpinned UAE’s 82-run victory over Papua New Guinea in Abu Dhabi. Mohammad Naveed and captain Rohan Mustafa, meanwhile, made cameos as UAE ran up 292 for 5. Spinners Ahmed Raza and Imran Haider then claimed combined figures of 7 for 79 to dismiss PNG for 210.PNG, though, had started positively in their chase with Tony Ura and Vani Morea adding 82 for the first wicket. Legspinner Haider then claimed three wickets in three overs to jolt PNG. Raza, the left-arm spinner, smothered the middle order further with the lone source of resistance coming from Sese Bau who contributed with 42 off 51 balls. The last five wickets tumbled for six runs as PNG were bowled out in 47.3 overs.Having been inserted, UAE lost Mohammed Qasim early to Chad Soper, but a string of fifty stands from the middle order shaped the innings. Shabber was circumspect, making 50 off 96 balls while Shahzad, Usman and Naveed went at better than a run a ball as UAE threatened the 300 mark. Seamer Alei Nao picked up 2 for 47 on ODI debut.

No disqualified officials at the IPL auction, says Committee of Administrators

The Committee of Administrators has barred disqualified BCCI and state association office bearers who are part of the IPL governing council from attending the IPL auction. The tenth IPL auction is set to take place in Bangalore on February 20.The Committee of Administrators was appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee the implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations. The committee named three persons in particular – CK Khanna, Amitabh Choudhry and Anirudh Chaudhry – and also warned that any other IPL governing council member attending the auction should do so only after they have self-assessed to determine that they do not stand disqualified as per the Lodha recommendations.The release sent out by the BCCI said: “Mr. CK Khanna, Mr. Amitabh Choudhary, Mr. Anirudh Chaudhry and any other persons who claim to be ex-officio members of the IPL GC on account of being office bearers of the BCCI shall not be entitled to attend the IPL Player Auctions since the issue regarding validity of the undertakings filed by such persons pursuant to the order dated 2nd January 2017 is still pending before the Hon’ble Supreme Court.”Amitabh Choudhry had earlier tried to attend an India selection meeting as joint secretary but the Supreme Court had ordered that the meeting be convened by the board CEO Rahul Johri.The committee said it didn’t have the details of all the IPL members so they were expected to assess for themselves if they were disqualified. “The Committee of Administrators does not have complete data to determine whether each of the members of the IPL GC other than the ex-officio members are disqualified or not,” the release said. “In view thereof, the said other members are requested to assess for themselves as to whether they are disqualified or not. Should they attend the IPL Player Auctions, the concerned members would be deemed to have undertaken and represented that they are not disqualified as aforesaid.”The IPL governing council has four members out of which Rajiv Shukla, Jyotiraditya Scindia and MP Pandove stand disqualified under the Lodha Committee norms. Only Sourav Ganguly can now attend the auction. The committee said it might nominate persons as substitutes if required.The release said: “In the event less than 2 of the members are available to attend the IPL Player Auctions on 20th February 2017, any role that may ordinarily have been performed by the IPL GC in relation to the IPL Player Auctions will be performed by such persons as the Committee of Administrators may separately designate for the purpose, if required.”

Windward Islands, Trinidad & Tobago score sizeable victories

Windward Islands recorded a comfortable six-wicket win over Kent at Coolidge in their final match of the Regional Super50. Kavem Hodge, who had spent most of the tournament batting at No. 6 for Windwards, struck his maiden List A fifty after being promoted to open the batting to chase Kent’s 205.Hodge got the Windwards chase going in the right direction after the early fall of Johnson Charles for 5 by adding 54 for the second wicket with Devon Smith (32) and another 86 for the third wicket with Sunil Ambris. Hodge ended with 68 and Ambris 48, just two shy of what would have been his seventh fifty in eight games during group play. Ambris ends the round-robin stage with 423 runs at 70.50, second overall behind Leeward Islands captain Kieran Powell’s aggregate of 509 at 84.83.When Hodge fell in the 40th, 31 runs were still required for victory. Captain Liam Sebastien and Kyle Mayers knocked off the rest of the runs, securing victory with 13 balls to spare. Kent had stumbled to 35 for 5 after choosing to bat at the toss before a 104-run sixth-wicket stand between Will Gidman and Adam Rouse salvaged their innings. Shane Shillingford eventually dismissed both men for 94 and 40 respectively and Kent’s tail fought until the 49th over before they were bowled out with seven balls left in the innings.Trinidad & Tobago rolled past West Indies Under-19 by 182 runs at North Sound to set up a first-place showdown with Leeward Islands on Sunday. The win over West Indies U-19 moved T&T to 6-1 in Group B, the same record as Leewards though T&T trails Leewards by two points due to the bonus point structure in round-robin play. The winner of Sunday’s match will top Group A and most likely face Jamaica while the loser will probably face Barbados, who hold a five-point advantage at the top of Group B heading into the final round of group matches.Kyle Hope, Jason Mohammed and Denesh Ramdin each struck half-centuries in T&T’s total of 290 for 5 after West Indies U-19 opted to bowl. Hope made 70 off 98 balls, adding 58 for the first wicket with Kjorn Ottley before teaming up with Mohammed to add 74 for the third wicket. Mohammed top scored with 84 off 73 balls and produced a 92-run fourth-wicket partnership with Ramdin before falling late in the innings. Ramdin took T&T through to the finish, ending on 60 not out off 42 balls to ensure the target would be well out of reach for West Indies U-19.Left-arm spinner Khary Pierre continued his fine tournament by doing most of the damage during a seven-over middle overs spell of 3 for 6 that accounted for top-scorer Emmanuel Stewart for 20 and captain Kirstan Kallicharan for 16. West Indies U-19 were eventually bowled out for 108 in 29.2 overs. Their final game is a rematch with Kent, the only side West Indies U-19 has beaten in the competition.

BCCI secretary, treasurer to attend key ICC meeting

Senior banker Vikram Limaye will join acting BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhury and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry as the board’s representatives for the quarterly round of ICC meetings, which take place in Dubai between February 2-5. The appointments were finalised on Monday at a Supreme Court hearing in Delhi, in which the Court also approved a committee of administrators to run the BCCI.The Court’s decision on who represents the BCCI at the ICC will be of particular interest to cricket administrators around the world as they gather for a significant round of meetings later this week. A number of the big decisions world cricket has been discussing and debating over the last year could be pushed through at the meeting. There is expected to be some progress on the vast governance changes ICC board members have been working on, changes that undo much of the administration and revenue distribution measures that were put forth by the Big Three in 2014.There will also be a continuation of discussions on the shape and format of international cricket in the future. As well as being impacted by these decisions, in ordinary circumstances the BCCI would have been a key influence on the decision-making itself; any reduction, for instance, of their share in a new revenue distribution model – as mooted in the past by ICC chairman Shashank Manohar – would likely have been opposed. It still may, of course, but the impermanence of the BCCI administration currently might have an effect on how the meetings develop.Limaye was one of four people appointed by the Court to be on the committee of administrators, and he was chosen to travel to Dubai due to his vast experience in the finance sector. The Court made it clear that the committee is the final authority on all matters until the BCCI conducts fresh elections having amended its constitution as per the Lodha Committee recommendations. Effectively that means Limaye would need to sign off on any BCCI decision taken at the ICC meetings later this week.At the hearing on Monday, the Court had initially suggested that acting board secretary Choudhury accompany Limaye for the ICC meetings. But BCCI’s legal counsel Arvind Datar pointed out that as a treasurer Chaudhry had better knowledge of the finances in cricket and hence should also be part of the BCCI team. Gopal Subramanium, the amicus curiae in the case, raised reservations against BCCI office bearers’ attending the the ICC meetings.The Court, however, made it clear that it was approving both Choudhury and Chaudhry to attend “so that there will be objectivity and transparency”. It made it clear it was treating their appointment as an exception and allowing them to attend mainly because they had prior knowledge of the BCCI’s stand on ICC matters as they had been part of the previous administration. Justice Dipak Misra, part of the three-judge bench, pointed out that it was not giving a “stamp of approval” on their eligibility as office bearers.This will be the first ICC meeting for not just Limaye but also Choudhury and Chaudhry. The BCCI CEO Rahul Johri was present at the big ICC meetings last year – the annual conference in Edinburgh in June and the quarterly meetings in Cape Town. In Edinburgh, the former BCCI president Anurag Thakur and former secretary Ajay Shirke were also present, while Thakur was in Cape Town as well.In practice, somebody like Limaye, with no previous experience of cricket administration and with only an interim role at the BCCI, does not pose any problems as far as the ICC board taking decisions is concerned. Each member nominates its representatives to the ICC board and the chief executives’ committee, so whether an official is interim or permanent doesn’t matter, and they vote – if a vote is required – as normal. In theory, if any resolutions pass at this meeting that a future, permanent administration of the BCCI is not happy with, they can raise the point on the agenda at a future meeting.

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