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The PCB has confirmed that the opening batsman tested positive in a recent dope test and has been issued a notice of charge

Umar Farooq10-Jul-2018The PCB has confirmed that opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad is the player who tested positive in a recent dope test. Shehzad is expected to receive a notice of charge, the issuance of which comes over two months after the test, and he will then have 14 days to respond. Shehzad has been given until July 18 to decide whether he wishes to have his B sample tested and until July 27 to respond to the charges leveled in the notice of charge.Shehzad originally underwent a random dope test in Faisalabad during the 50-over Pakistan Cup in the last week of April, but news of a positive test emerged through media reports on June 20. The PCB tweeted confirmation of the failed test but said, according to ICC rules, it could not name the player until the result was backed up by Pakistan’s anti-doping agency. The original finding, from the WADA-accredited lab in India, had reached the PCB in early June.Although there has been no specific reason given for the delay, a PCB official previously told ESPNcricinfo that the review board of the government’s anti-doping agency was doing a thorough check of the lab results.Once he has received the notice, Shehzad stands provisionally suspended and cannot play – or be involved in any capacity – in international matches, and games organised by any national cricket board or its affiliated members. He had already been dropped from the ongoing Zimbabwe tour, and his domestic team HBL is also considering stripping him of the captaincy.Shehzad can request for his B sample (taken at the time as his A sample) to be tested, and if that test does not confirm a positive result then his suspension would be lifted with immediate effect. He can also request for a hearing before an anti-doping tribunal through a written application that must be received by the anti-doping manager within 14 days.

Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson explain Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batting strategy they employed against Kings XI Punjab, to score 207 for 3 and set up a 26-run win

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-2017In the last few games, Sunrisers Hyderabad have not scored at the rate they have wanted to at the start of the innings. Consequently, the team’s strategy was tweaked slightly ahead of the match against Kings XI Punjab to ensure that the openers – David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan – went after the bowling in a combined assault.The ploy paid off handsomely after Sunrisers were asked to bat on a good batting surface in Mohali. Dhawan smashed a 48-ball 77, his second fifty in three games, and Warner cracked 51 runs off 27 balls. Dhawan described the approach to his partnership as “smart (and) aggressive”.”Usually when David attacks, I back off. In the last two games, David took his time so I attacked,” Dhawan told . “Today, we attacked from both sides. This was a good thing and it was a very good wicket. We both wanted to make it big and that’s what happened. I was feeling good about myself today and knew what plan I am going to go with.”We both were playing smart [yet] aggressive cricket, I would say. And, that was our plan because [in the] last few games we were playing well but our run rate was [a] bit low. So, we decided today that we were going to go out there and express ourselves more. I am used to playing with David Warner for two-three seasons now, so we know each other’s game and our running between the wickets is also very good.”On the relative merits and demerits of opening with two left-hand batsmen, Dhawan said it was not a factor so long as both the batsmen were good. “If they play well, they play well and it becomes hard for the bowlers,” Dhawan said. “For instance, they brought an offspinner (KC Cariappa) into the attack, but we were in such good nick that we were hitting the offspinner too. Of course, if it is a left-right combination, the bowler has to contend with altering his line and length. But, if batsmen are attacking from both ends, then there is no trouble.”Sunrisers also benefited from how Kane Williamson, at No. 3, furthered the momentum created by the openers. With an unbeaten of 54 at a strike rate of 200, Williamson was the key to Sunrisers smashing 52 runs in the last five overs. Williamson reflected on how they had to briefly play the waiting game before launching into another round of attack. Once Warner was dismissed in the 10th over, Dhawan and Williamson went 17 legal deliveries without a boundary.”There are times when you need to soak it up a little bit, but with the openers batting for about 10 overs with a run rate of over ten runs per over meant that we needed to see how many we could get and play the situation the best we could,” Williamson said. “After such a good start from the openers, it was important that we do that.”He (Dhawan) came out really aggressively as you need to do in this format; he was very dominant today and was batting so beautifully, which I suppose made my job easier when I was to come out and get myself in.”Dhawan revealed that Sunrisers had a 200-plus total in sights once they continued to score at a good clip going into the second half of the innings. “As a team goal, we always say that one of the top-four batsmen has to stay till the end. If one set batsman is playing at the end, it gives a huge advantage to the batting side, so that’s what we planned and we try to implement in each game,” Dhawan said.”Once we crossed 13 or 14 overs, we knew we had to reach 200 because we had a great start and continued to be in a good position. It paid off well because in the second innings there was a bit of dew on this ground, and their batsmen were playing good cricket, especially Shaun Marsh and [Martin] Guptill, at the start. Two hundred was a good score, that’s why we got the game.”

Resistance from the lower order of Victoria and then Queensland set up the prospect of a tantalising fourth-innings chase, after two days of a tense and low-scoring Sheffield Shield affair at the Gabba

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Mar-2016
ScorecardChris Hartley stroked four fours and a six during his unbeaten 45 off 67 balls•Getty Images

Resistance from the lower order of Victoria and then Queensland set up the prospect of a tantalising fourth-innings chase, after two days of a tense and low-scoring Sheffield Shield affair at the Gabba.Victoria collapsed to 7 for 85 in response to Queeland’s 190 before Chris Tremain, Scott Boland and Fawad Ahmed all made pesky runs to close the first-innings gap between the sides. James Hopes, Mark Steketee, Peter George and Jack Wildermuth shared the wickets, but would have been disappointed to let the visitors climb off the mat.As if to maintain their momentum, Tremain and Boland were then instrumental in in reducing Queensland to 8 for 114 on a pitch that was beginning to lose some of its earlier moisture.However, the hosts’ wicketkeeper and captain Chris Hartley formed a vital union with the leg spinner Mitch Swepson, the pair adding a brisk 57 to broaden Queensland’s lead.Swepson’s busy innings was ended by Boland shortly before stumps, but last man Peter George survived to the close and will hope to help Hartley add more runs when play resumes.

Lancashire maintained the pressure on Group B leaders Hampshire by beating them in a Yorkshire Bank 40 thriller at Old Trafford

21-Aug-2013
ScorecardLancashire maintained the pressure on Group B leaders Hampshire by beating them in a Yorkshire Bank 40 thriller at Old Trafford. The Lightning gained revenge for a Twenty20 quarter-final defeat by the Royals earlier this month with a five-run win that takes them within a point of the group pace-setters ahead of Monday’s final round of fixtures.A win for Hampshire away at Derbyshire would guarantee the defending champions a last-four place, but Lancashire stand to benefit from any slip-up if they beat Essex, who also remain in the hunt, at Old Trafford.Lancashire, who won the toss, put early pressure on under-strength Hampshire with a total of 261 for 9, built around half-centuries for Karl Brown, Steven Croft and opener Stephen Moore, who made scores of 66, 65 and 51 respectively. Offspinner Arron Lilley and Kabir Ali both took three wickets in Hampshire’s chase, including Ali defending 12 off the last over.It was a spirited performance from Hampshire, who were without four key players to international commitments. Michael Carberry, James Vince and Danny Briggs are all with the England Lions and Sohail Tanvir with Pakistan in Zimbabwe.Dimitri Mascarenhas took his best List A figures in more than 11 years – 5 for 42 – and 16-year-old off-spinner Brad Taylor returned 2 for 50. Taylor struck with his third ball on his 40-over debut when he had Moore caught behind. Brown and Croft shared a crucial 95-run stand for the fifth wicket to improve Lancashire’s score from 127 for 4 in the 20th over.Hampshire were behind the rate for the majority of their innings on a slow pitch even though they managed to keep wickets in hand. They needed 100 with 10 overs left and key men Neil McKenzie and Sean Ervine at the crease.They had shared 72 inside 10 overs for the fourth wicket, with McKenzie hitting 65 off 54 balls and Ervine 43 off 36. When McKenzie fell stumped to Lilley as the first of two wickets in two balls in the 35th over, Hampshire looked done. Liam Dawson followed to leave the score at 200 for 5.But Ervine kept them in touch before falling caught off an Ali full toss with the first ball of the 38th as the scored slipped to 228 for 6.Some impressive hitting from Adam Wheater and Mascarenhas took the equation down to 22 off the last two overs and 12 off the last before they also fell caught off Ali full tosses. Victory was Lancashire’s sixth in a row.

Defending champions Australia will take on England at Townsville’s Tony Ireland Stadium on Saturday to kickstart the latest edition of the Under-19 World Cup, in Queensland

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Aug-2012Defending champions Australia will take on England at Townsville’s Tony Ireland Stadium on Saturday to kickstart the latest edition of the Under-19 World Cup, in Queensland. On the same day, two-time former champions Pakistan play Afghanistan at John Blanck Oval on the Sunshine Coast, while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka face each other at Townsville’s Endeavour Park. At the Allan Border Field in Brisbane, Zimbabwe play Papua New Guinea.The biennial competition features 16 teams, including the 10 Full Members of the ICC and six qualifiers (Afghanistan, Ireland, Namibia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea and Scotland). The teams are divided into four groups of four each, with the top two from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals. The bottom two from each group will compete in the Plate Championship. The grand final will be played at Tony Ireland Stadium on August 26.Australia captain William Bosisto said his side cannot expect an easy journey, despite playing at home. Australia have won the tournament a record three times. “I wouldn’t necessarily say that Australia is a firm favourite in any way,” Bosisto said. “I think we see ourselves as having a very good chance to win the title, and hopefully we can do everything in our power to do that. But I know there will be many strong sides from the subcontinent, and obviously England, so we know there is a lot of tough competition out there.”England last won the title in 1998, under Owais Shah, and the captain Adam Ball said consistency is the key.”It is definitely time for England to add to that previous success,” Ball said. “It will be very tough for us to repeat that but I feel the team has what it takes to do so. I think Australia have to be one of the favourites as they are playing in their own country and have won the tournament several times before. I also think that Pakistan will be a very hard team to beat even in conditions that may not favour them.”Pakistan captain Babar Azam said his team’s chances will depend on how soon they adapt to the conditions.”I think we are one of the tournament favourites as we bat deep, have a couple of good allrounders and also possess a few quality fast bowlers and spinners in the side,” Azam said. “Moreover, our recent performance at the international level is encouraging so I think our team could be termed as favourites alongside some other teams. However, it will all depend on how quickly we adjust to the conditions in Australia. We all know that pitches and outfields in Australia are very hard and there is extra bounce on the pitches.”South Africa have never won the tournament, though they came close in 2008 in Malaysia, finishing as the runners-up. They open their campaign on Sunday, against Bangladesh.”This squad has been on a two-year progression plan for this event,” the captain Chad Bowes said. “We have arrived in Australia to play good, solid cricket and we believe that we have the potential to be the first South Africa side to win the U-19 World Cup.”

Afghanistan opened their Intercontinental Cup One-Day campaign with a close win over Canada at King City

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2011
ScorecardAfghanistan began their Intercontinental Cup One-Day campaign with a close win over Canada in a shortened game at King City. This result followed their commanding nine-wicket win over the same opposition in the four-day format of the tournament on August 5.Afghanistan chose to bowl, but it was Canada who started strongly after their openers Ruvindu Gunasekara and Hiral Patel put on 75 within the first 10 overs. Gunasekara was severe on fast bowler Hamid Hassan, who went for 28 runs in his first three overs. Mohammad Nabi, however, struck to dismiss Gunasekara (57) in the 10th over. Patel held firm at the other end, though, and his 57-run fourth-wicket partnership with Rizwan Cheema carried the hosts to 181 for 3 before debutant Dawlat Zadran dismissed them in quick succession. The remaining batsmen failed to get going as Canada slumped from 188 for 5 to 230 all out. Nabi was the only Afghanistan bowler to concede less than four runs an over, taking 4 for 31.Afghanistan’s chase started poorly as they lost two wickets within the first three overs. Opener Shabri Noori steadied the innings with a 62-run partnership with captain Nawroz Mangal for the third wicket before rain interrupted play at the end of the 22nd over. At that stage Afghanistan, on 93 for 3, were ahead of the chase by five runs according to the D-L method.When play resumed, Afghanistan’s target was revised to 213 in 43 overs. They kept pace with the asking-rate, courtesy a 114-run stand between Noor and Nabi for the fourth wicket. Nabi was dismissed in the 34th over for 58 and Noori followed soon after for 94. Afghanistan suffered a hiccup in the 40th over, stumbling to 207 for 8, with Patel picking up three wickets. However Samiullah Shenwari, batting at No. 8, held his nerve to carry his team home.

Pakistan located the cornered-tiger spirit that has long been their tactic of last resort, and conjured up a batting display that started out with dedication and erupted into delight

Andrew Miller at Edgbaston08-Aug-2010This was the day of defiance that this series so desperately needed. Against all expectations – not least those of England’s bowlers who had envisaged two days of R & R – Pakistan located the cornered-tiger spirit that has long been their tactic of last resort, and conjured up a batting display that started out with dedication and erupted into delight. Under the clearest skies of the contest, and with little fear of lateral movement, Pakistan overcame their suspicions about a two-paced surface and were able to remember the simple pleasures of putting bat to ball.By the close Pakistan’s lead was a slender 112, but even that was 40 runs more than they themselves had mustered in their first innings – not to mention 24 runs better than the total for which they had skittled Australia at Headingley. “Cricket is such a game that you are never out of it until it ends,” said Pakistan’s captain, Salman Butt. “This is a total that teams can get out to, and with the kind of bowling we have – and the wicket has taken spin as well – we surely have a chance.”There are the inevitable precedents for the sort of capitulation that Butt is now envisaging – at Sydney in 1993-94, Fanie de Villiers produced the spell of his life as Australia crumbled to 111 all out, chasing 117, while at Edgbaston in 1981, Ian Botham’s summer of miracles continued with his 5 for 1 in 28 balls as the Aussies once again tripped up in sight of a straightforward victory. With Umar Gul injured, pride is probably as much as Pakistan can hope to salvage in this particular contest, but with them you never know. With a sniff of incentive to fire up their fielders, and some all-important cloud cover to get Amir and Asif in the groove, they’ve certainly got the guns to give England a real fright.It might seem strange, then, to suggest that England needed a day like this as well. They might not appreciate the reminder right this minute, but all summer long, a suspicion has lingered that they’ve simply had it too good. When, for instance, Azhar Ali punched James Anderson through mid-off for 2, it was the first time in four innings Pakistan had reached 50 with fewer than six wickets down. On the one hand such a statistic underlines the sheer excellence of England’s efforts with the ball; on the other, it begs numerous questions about the application of Pakistan’s batsmen, as well as England’s troubling lack of incisiveness when at last those clouds deigned to shift.”The wicket is as dead as a dormouse,” said England’s spinner, Graeme Swann, whose career-best figures of 6 for 60 did at least suggest that, like one of those chalet-shaped barometers featuring a husband and wife on a pivot, England’s attack does contain options for rain and shine alike. But Swann can only bowl from one end at a time, and once his initial threat had been negated, his colleagues found no alternative means of getting past Pakistan’s ever-broadening bats. As Stuart Broad’s latest and most irksome case of white-line fever demonstrated, they did not enjoy the hard yakka one little bit.”Pakistan made us work really hard, but I don’t think it is any surprise that that was going to happen at some stage,” said Swann. “We have bowled them out cheaply three times in the series so far, so it’s just the way the innings went. It led to a few frustrations because of the fact we got through the top order and it was the guys lower down who made us work, but Pakistan deserve the plaudits rather than us getting the downers.”That may indeed be the case, for Zulqarnain Haider’s first substantial Test innings was a treat to behold. He reacted to his incredible king-pair reprieve like a man who believed that destiny had just spoken, and he found in Amir and Saeed Ajmal a superbly contrasting pair of allies – one who wormed his way under England’s skin with his limp-batted refusal to budge, and another whose array of leg-side biffs carried the fight to another level, once the threat of an innings defeat had been averted and the onus shifted to the creation of a defendable lead.But in dealing with both challenges, England found themselves distinctly lacking in ideas. “I took a perverse pleasure in watching Ajmal get his fifty,” said Swann. “It was a knock that I like to play with fielders spread all over the place and annoying the bowlers, but we lost our way a little bit when he was batting. We probably went to three men out, bowling bouncers, a little bit early. But I thought they stuck at it very well – it was so slow, so turgid for the seamers.”It has been a year of strange and unsettling contrasts for England. In the space of five days they rolled Pakistan for consecutive totals of 80 and 72, having claimed 20 wickets in the space of two sessions in their previous Test outing, against Bangladesh at Old Trafford in June. Prior that, however, Tamim Iqbal had slammed 266 runs from 276 balls in three of the most carefree onslaughts imaginable, and if you rewind even further, to the first Test in Chittagong, it was Swann himself who lost his rag through frustration, as Junaid Siddique’s century kept England waiting for their hardest-earned win of the year.Australia’s batsmen will have watched today’s events with interest. Notes will have been taken – much like the ones that John Buchanan is bringing in the other direction in his newly-announced capacity as an ECB consultant – and a tendency towards toothlessness will have been acknowledged, regardless of the rip that Swann applied to his third delivery of the match, an absolute snorter that pitched outside Imran Farhat’s leg stump and clipped the top of off.Magic balls are one thing, but a lack of mystery is another – and there’s something a touch transparent about England’s attack when the heavens conspire against them. Ajmal Shahzad, and his ability to reverse-swing the old ball at pace, would have been an asset in the circumstances, but in the absence of a five-man attack, his is a luxury that is unlikely to be countenanced.Right at this moment, clear skies conjure up images of just one contest – the Ashes. And if England’s sights are set on world domination, as Andrew Strauss declared they were before this Test, then it is no use for them to be big cats at home, but pussycats abroad – which is the very same accusation that was levelled at the current No.1 Test team, India, throughout the 1990s. Up until now, the attack has been spoiled by swing-friendly conditions, and while the advantage they have taken has been thrilling to behold, it’s not exactly prepared them for the challenges that lie ahead.”It’s not a bad thing that we’ve had to work to get ourselves into this position,” admitted Swann. “After getting three or four early wickets you do hope you will be able to go through, but they applied themselves well and put on two big partnerships, dead-batting the ball on a slow wicket.”

Josh Hull also included in development squad that will play unofficial Test against South Africa A

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Oct-2024Andrew Flintoff will oversee a 19-man squad in South Africa next month in his first assignment as the new England Lions head coach, with Jafer Chohan – the Yorkshire legspinner who was this week named in his first senior white-ball squad – among six new inclusions in the set-up.The tour, which comprises a training camp and a four-day unofficial Test against South Africa A in Western Province, will run from November 20 to December 14, and will be an opportunity for a clutch of promising players to replicate the training methods of the senior men’s squad, who will playing a Test series in New Zealand during the same timeframe.Josh Hull, who was an original inclusion for the ongoing Test tour of Pakistan but withdrew with a quad injury, has been named in the Lions party, having played his only Test to date against Sri Lanka at the Kia Oval last month.He is one of four players with prior experience of the senior men’s set-up, the others being Dan Mousley and Dillon Pennington, who were non-playing squad members in the summer just gone, and Pat Brown, the Derbyshire and former Worcestershire seamer who played the last of his four T20Is in 2019.Chohan, the first graduate of the South Asian Cricket Academy to be named in an England squad, is set to play a limited role in the South Africa tour due to his prior Big Bash League commitments, as is Matt Hurst, the Lancashire wicketkeeper-batter who is also making his first Lions tour.The squad also includes a number of recent graduates from England’s Under-19 set-up, among them Harry Moore, a highly-rated 17-year-old Derbyshire fast bowler, and Freddie McCann, the Nottinghamshire opener whose century in last week’s final round of the County Championship helped to preserve his team’s top-flight status.Related

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Flintoff, who is also the head coach of Northern Superchargers in the Men’s Hundred, said: “We’re delighted to have such a high-potential group of players heading to South Africa. In selecting these players, we have a mix of well-established performers who’ve been in the England setup and excelled in the domestic game, through to some of the most exciting young talent coming through.”The camp will support and accelerate the players’ development, provide insight into various aspects of the international setup and aid their transition into future performance set-ups”.England Men’s performance director, Ed Barney, added: “Selection aligns with England’s short and long-term needs across all formats, and we will continue supporting a group of exciting pace bowlers. Over half the squad consists of seamers, reflecting our continued focus on supporting these players to achieve their potential.”We are also excited about the competitive match opportunities, with a four-day fixture against South Africa A offering the opportunity for the squad to enjoy putting their skills on show against strong opposition.”The full coaching and support staff will be announced shortly.England Lions squad: Farhan Ahmed (Nottinghamshire), Zaman Akhtar (Gloucestershire), Kasey Aldridge (Somerset), Pat Brown (Derbyshire), Jafer Chohan (Yorkshire), James Coles (Sussex), Henry Crocombe (Sussex), Josh Hull (Leicestershire), Matt Hurst (Lancashire), Tom Lawes (Surrey), Freddie McCann (Nottinghamshire), Ben McKinney (Durham), Harry Moore (Derbyshire), Dan Mousley (Warwickshire), Dillon Pennington (Nottinghamshire), James Rew (Somerset), Hamza Shaikh (Warwickshire), Mitch Stanley (Lancashire), John Turner (Hampshire)

Club accept sanctions but express disappointment at being docked 48 points in County Championship

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jul-2023Yorkshire have been fined a total of £400,000, and handed points deductions in both this year’s County Championship and Vitality Blast competitions, following the announcement of long-awaited sanctions from the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC).The punishments relate to Yorkshire’s handling of Azeem Rafiq’s revelations of institutional racism at the club, for which they admitted to four amended charges at the original CDC hearing in February. In those, they accepted that their conduct between 2004 and 2021 had been prejudicial to the interests of cricket and had brought the game of cricket into disrepute.On Friday, the CDC panel – comprising Tim O’Gorman (chair), Professor Seema Patel and Mark Milliken-Smith KC – issued the club with an official reprimand, in addition to a £400,000 fine, an immediate 48-point deduction in the 2023 County Championship, and a four-point deduction from the 2023 T20 Blast.Neither points deduction is likely to make any material difference to Yorkshire’s on-field ambitions this season. They finished fifth in the North Group standings in the Blast, and so missed out on a quarter-final berth of a competition that concluded earlier this month, while they are off the pace for promotion in Division Two of the Championship, after managing one win in their first ten fixtures.The official breakdown of the fine is as follows:

The left hander will fly out with the squad at the weekend but remains under a fitness cloud

ESPNcricinfo staff09-May-2022 • Updated on 11-May-2022Henry Nicholls has been cleared to travel to England this weekend but may be struggling to be fit for the opening Test at Lord’s after picking up a grade one calf strain during a pre-tour training camp.Nicholls, the left-handed middle-order player, underwent a scan on his right calf on Tuesday after picking up the injury doing running drills in Mount Maunganui. The positive news was that he has not suffered a tear but he still faces uncertainty and is unlikely to play a full part in the two warm-up matches at the end of the month.”While it’s a positive that Henry hasn’t torn the calf, the next two to three weeks are going to be crucial in terms of his recovery and subsequent availability for the Test series,” head coach Gary Stead said. “Calves can be a challenge to rehab and we will need to minimise the risk of him re-injuring himself with any return to match action.”Related

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Nicholls is a key part of New Zealand’s Test side having made eight centuries in 46 matches with an average of 40.38. Daryl Mitchell, who is one of five members of the Test squad currently at the IPL, would be in the frame to replace Nicholls in the middle-order if required with Rachin Ravindra another option who would also be able to provide some spin bowling.”Henry’s obviously an important player for us at number five and we know he’ll be doing everything he can to make himself available,” Stead saidNew Zealand face England in three Tests during June with the opening match beginning at Lord’s on June 2.There remains a question mark over when the IPL-based players – Mitchell, Kane Williamson, Devon Conway, Trent Boult and Tim Southee – will join the tour depending on the progress of their franchises.Initially an enlarged 20-player squad has been named to cover for those absences with a reduced 15 names expected to be confirmed before the opening Test.