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Former England spinner to represent George Galloway’s Workers Party in Ealing Southall

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Apr-2024Former England spinner Monty Panesar will stand as a parliamentary candidate for George Galloway’s Workers Party at the next general election.Panesar, who was born in Luton and played 50 Tests for England, taking 167 wickets at 34.71, will be on the ballot in Ealing Southall. The constituency has been a Labour Party stronghold under Vivendra Sharma since 2007. Sharma currently holds a majority of over 16,000 in a constituency whose population, according to the 2021 Census, is almost one-third (30 per cent) Asian.”I want to be the voice for the workers of this country,” Panesar said in a column in The Telegraph. “My aspiration in politics is to one day become Prime Minister, where I would make Britain a safer and stronger nation. But the first job at hand is to represent the people of Ealing Southall.”Galloway returned to the House of Commons in March after victory in the Rochdale by-election, following the death of the previous incumbent, Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd. Speaking on Tuesday morning, Galloway confirmed Panesar, 42, will be unveiled as one of his party’s candidates at a press event outside the Houses of Parliament.Speaking to LBC, Galloway said: “I’ll present 200 of them outside Parliament this afternoon, including – you’ll like this – Monty Panesar, the ace Indian cricketer, former England international cricketer, who will be our candidate in Southall.””Monty, of course, was a great left-arm spinner and so we could do with him”.Panesar, whose full name is Mudhsuden Singh Panesar, became the first practising Sikh to represent England in 2006, when selected at Nagpur in the first Test of that winter’s tour of India.Following his retirement, he undertook a sports journalism course at St Mary’s University, London, and earlier this month leant his support to the Show Racism the Red Card campaign, in which he talked up the benefits of immigration in a video.In 2021, he defended Michael Vaughan, his former England captain, after he was accused of using racist language towards Azeem Rafiq during a match for Yorkshire in 2009.

Both were given year-long contracts in which they will also oversee the 2023 domestic season

Umar Farooq16-Feb-2023Former Pakistan opener Imran Farhat and fast bowler Naved-ul-Hasan are set to join Afghanistan’s high performance centre in Kabul as batting and bowling coaches respectively. Both were given year-long contracts in which they will also oversee the 2023 domestic season.Since the Taliban took over in the country, Afghanistan cricket has revamped its corporate and domestic cricket structure and invested to upgrade the facilities in Kabul to include a high performance centre. Afghanistan has seven domestic tournaments covering all three formats, that run from February to November and both coaches will also be involved in selecting players for the development programme. The national high performance centre is responsible for picking players from the domestic circuit and setting up a pathway to keep them ready for the national teams.”As part of the ACB’s goals for the players and game development in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan Cricket Board is looking forward to welcoming more renowned individuals to its National High Performance Centre,” the ACB said in a statement.Naved had a prominent career for Pakistan from 2003 to 2010, especially in ODIs. His Test career saw just nine matches for 18 wickets, but his 74 ODIs fetched him 110 wickets and his four T20Is saw him bag five wickets. His domestic career was a lot more prolific, playing 156 first-class, 197 one-dayers and 126 T20s for 1095 wickets combined in all three formats. After his playing days, Naved started his own cricket academy in his native city Sheikhupura, in Punjab, and most recently worked in the Pakistan domestic set-up as an assistant coach with Central Punjab’s second XI and had a short stint as a bowling consultant with UAE as well.Similarly, Farhat had a formidable domestic career with nearly 16,000 first-class runs in 230 games, 7572 in 220 one-day innings, and 1636 runs in 69 T20s. His international career lasted 12 years, from 2001 to 2013, for 40 Tests, 58 ODIs and seven T20I. He has been working as a coach after retiring in 2020 with successful stints with Central Punjab’s second XI to win titles in all formats last season. He has also been working with domestic Under-19 teams and was the batting coach with Bahawalpur Royal – which won the Pakistan Junior League title.This isn’t the first time the ACB has roped in Pakistan coaches. Inzamam-ul-Haq and Rashid Latif had worked with the Afghanistan team as head coaches. Umar Gul recently completed his one-year contract as bowling coach with the national set-up. Kabir Khan had the longest stint with them and played a significant role to uplift Afghanistan cricket in the early days of development in the country, when he helped them qualify for three T20 World Cups in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Phoebe Litchfield was named WBBL ‘Young Gun’ as the best player under the age of 21

Alex Malcolm24-Nov-2021Harmanpreet Kaur is hopeful a women’s IPL can be established sooner rather than later, after she created history becoming the first Indian to be named WBBL player of the tournament following a stunning season for Melbourne Renegades.The India T20I captain made 399 runs for the tournament at an average of 66.50 and strike-rate of 135.25, including three match-winning half-centuries. In addition to being Renegades’ leading run-scorer, she was also their leading wicket-taker bagging 15 wickets at an economy rate of 7.46, bowling a lot of vital powerplay and death overs.She was Player of the Match three times and polled 31 votes, under a 3-2-1 voting system that is voted on by the standing umpires after each match. She finished three votes clear of Perth Scorchers duo Beth Mooney and Sophie Devine.Harmanpreet becomes the third overseas player to be named the WBBL’s player of the tournament after New Zealand duo Devine (twice) and Amy Satterthwaite. She hoped it was another stepping stone towards the establishment of the women’s IPL in the short-term future.”I think we have been looking at this for a long time and I hope, you know, sooner this women’s IPL will also start and we will also invite overseas players over there so that they can also share their experience with our domestic players,” Harmanpreet said. “I think this is something we are really waiting for and I hope, you know, this will start.”Performance is something which is in our hands and that’s what we have been doing and the rest of the things are totally dependent on BCCI and the cricket board.”We can’t do something extra on that but we can only request and that’s what we have done, you know, for many years.”They know better than us. They know when to do it and how to start and they are also thinking about that and I’m sure, you know, they will definitely come up with something for women’s cricket.”Harmanpreet Kaur was involved in a team hat-trick in the 20th over of Melbourne Stars’ innings•Mark Brake/Getty Images

Harmanpreet has been breaking ground for Indian women’s cricket ever since becoming the first Indian to play in both the WBBL and the Super League in England. She is hoping to inspire the next generation of players with her deeds in the WBBL.”Playing any tournament will give you lots of confidence and WBBL is something, you know, it’s a very, very big platform back home,” Harmanpreet said. “Every Indian wants to play in this league and I was the first one who got this opportunity to play and today, you know, winning this player of the tournament definitely gives lots of confidence to Indian girls also. They can also come here and perform and, you know, be part of this and then there are all the chances to achieve a lot in their cricket career.”Harmanpreet paid tribute to Renegades teammate Jemimah Rodrigues and coach Simon Helmet for their support throughout the tournament.”I think that is the reason I was more calm,” Harmanpreet said. “I was enjoying [playing] more because you know I had a teammate from back home and I really, really enjoyed her company.”Simon is a very, very nice human and is a great, great coach. I was lucky, you know, I played under him and I learned a lot from him and I think when I go back, I will definitely share his working skills with our coaches and definitely share this experience with my teammates.”Harmanpreet knows the job is not done as the Renegades wait to face the winner of Tuesday’s Eliminator between Brisbane Heat and Adelaide Strikers in tomorrow night’s Challenger. If they win the Challenger they will fly to Perth to face Scorchers in the final on Saturday. Harmanpreet didn’t bat in the last match against Heat but is fit for the Challenger.”I was not feeling well that day,” Harmanpreet said. “But luckily I’ve got four or five days off now and feeling much better now and I’m ready to go.”I have never [won] any title like this so far. And if we win, that will be a very great achievement for me.”Meanwhile, Phoebe Litchfield was named WBBL ‘Young Gun’ as the best player under the age of 21. The award is selected by Australia’s national selection panel.The 18-year-old Sydney Thunder batter made 263 runs at 21.91, striking at 109.12.”It means a lot to be recognised with this award,” Litchfield said. “It’s a surprise, to be honest. I could think of a number of other young players who would be deserving of this award, which is really exciting for the future.”Batting at No. 3 was a challenge but also a great opportunity. I was very privileged that Trevor Griffin trusted me with that spot and I hope I made the most of it.”

ECB will announce fixtures for new tournament and T20 Blast on Wednesday

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Aug-2020The ECB has announced that this summer’s women’s domestic 50-over competition will be called the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, named after England’s World Cup-winning captain.The tournament will begin on the Bank Holiday weekend later this month – August 29-31 – and will feature the eight teams from the new regional hubs in two group of four. Each team will play six group-stage fixtures, with the top team in each group progressing to a final on September 26, held at the home ground of the finalist with the most points.The ECB has maintained its desire to stage some women’s domestic cricket throughout the Covid-19 crisis, and awarded 20 county players and five England rookies with regional retainer contracts in June. Some county games have been played in recent weeks, with Surrey’s win over the Middlesex in the London Cup last month the first major women’s fixture to take place this season.”I’m delighted that, despite the obvious challenges of Covid-19, we have been able to continue to build the new women’s elite domestic structure to the point that we’ll see the eight regions playing 50-over cricket this summer,” Clare Connor, the ECB’s managing director of women’s cricket, said.”Off the back of appointing the eight regional directors of women’s cricket and awarding regional retainers, we have worked closely with colleagues across the men’s domestic game to ensure we are able to stage domestic women’s cricket safely and at high-quality venues.”Rachael Heyhoe Flint would have been proud to witness the professionalisation of the domestic women’s game. She did so much for our sport and without her work, passion and dedication, we wouldn’t be where we are today. It’s therefore fitting that this special edition of the competition will be played in her honour.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The team names of the eight new regional hubs have also been confirmed, with six of the eight names identical or similar to those used in the Kia Super League. The two new sides are Central Sparks (Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire) and Sunrisers (Middlesex, Essex, Northants, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk).England players are unlikely to be available until the end of the competition due to their series against South Africa, which is due to start at the end of August, although dates are yet to be announced.The full schedule will be released alongside the men’s T20 Blast fixtures on Wednesday morning. The competition’s name from next season is yet to be announced, but the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy is currently planned as a one-off, similar to the Bob Willis Trophy in the men’s game.

West Indies, like Ireland, have issues to solve in their bowling attack although conditions might suit the hosts more

The Preview by Ankur Dhawan10-May-20191:58

‘You’ve just got to let Chris Gayle be’ – Jason Holder

Big picture

Ireland wanted points on the board and they got two of them, but things couldn’t have been worse. A 196-run hammering in the tournament opener against West Indies followed by a washout against Bangladesh leaves them bottom placed and means that another defeat would put them on the brink of elimination. They have plenty of problems but they start at the top. Captain William Porterfield averages a shade over 11 this year from six innings, less than even Boyd Rankin. It’s not that he has been terribly out of nick but in his last four innings he has contrived to fall in different ways after getting a start.But the greater concern remains the impenetrability of their bowling attack, particularly on flat surfaces with an older ball. Since January 2018, they have taken the least number of wickets between overs 15 and 40 among Full Members: 55. Even UAE have done marginally better than them. Keeping that in mind, and despite the fact that they conceded 381 against West Indies in the first match, their best bet might be to chase down a score, much like Bangladesh did in the second match of the series.Bowling hasn’t been West Indies’ strong suit either, as they have the worst average, least number of wickets and third-highest economy rate among Full Members since January 2018. However, they at least have pace, which proved to be a major difference between the two teams in the first match. Another key and admittedly obvious difference was the top order, despite the absence of Chris Gayle and Shimron Hetmyer. Shai Hope, perhaps the best batsman in the tournament, already has two hundreds, but that has also meant that the middle order hasn’t had much of a hit, which showed in the last match against Bangladesh where they finished with an under-par261 for 9 from 205 for 2 in the 41st over. Apart from that, a better fielding effort than the one against Bangladesh would go a long way in securing a spot in the final.

Form guide

Ireland LLWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
West Indies LWWLW

In the spotlight

Darren Bravo is averaging just a shade over 28 since his return to the side against Bangladesh in December. It isn’t much lower than his career average of 31 but for a player of his class, it has to be considered paltry. Furthermore, he has only one fifty during this period which suggests that he has tended to squander starts. So far, he has had only one decent opportunity in the tri-nation series and in that he meekly prodded forward and edged a straight ball from Shakib Al Hasan to the keeper. West Indies need him to step up.After Andy Balbirnie, Paul Stirling has been the second-best batsman among active players for Ireland since 2018. However, he hasn’t scored a hundred in 12 innings since March 2018. He was cleaned up lazily playing down the wrong line to a Kemar Roach loosener in the last match and before that against England, perished to another soft dismissal off Tom Curran for 33. In his last 12 innings, he has passed double figures on nine occasions, but only three of those are 50-plus scores. Ireland need their opener to start converting his starts into substantial scores to consistently compete against strong batting sides.

Team news

The change Ireland could consider is roping in Boyd Rankin for Tim Murtagh, who was economical against England, expensive against West Indies but averages 63 with the ball this year – although majority of those matches were in spin-friendly Dehradun.Ireland (probable): 1 William Porterfield, 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Andy Balbirnie, 4 Lorcan Tucker, 5 Kevin O’Brien, 6 Gary Wilson, 7 George Dockrell, 8 Mark Adair, 9 Josh Little, 10 Tim Murtagh/Boyd Rankin, 11 Barry McCarthyAfter smashing 179 in the tournament opener, John Campbell missed the last match against Bangladesh with a sore back and Sunil Ambris opened in his place. Campbell should be back for the clash against Ireland, with Ambris likely to drop down the order again.West Indies (probable): 1 John Campbell, 2 Shai Hope, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Roston Chase, 5 Jonathan Carter, 6 Sunil Ambris, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Ashley Nurse, 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Sheldon Cottrell, 11 Shannon Gabriel

Pitch and conditions

Heavy rain washed out the Ireland-Bangladesh clash on Thursday but a clearer day is expected in Dublin on Saturday. With all the rainfall lately, there could be something on offer for the seamers, which might suit Ireland more than West Indies, who have quicker bowlers, thus bowl a slightly shorter length than what would be ideal on a moisture-laden pitch.

Stats and trivia

• The 196-run defeat against West Indies was Ireland’s heaviest batting second since 2015, overall their fifth heaviest.
• Another hundred from Shai Hope on Saturday will make him the tenth batsman to score three consecutive centuries in ODIs, and the only West Indian on that list

Ashton Agar stifled New Zealand with the ball before D’Arcy Short capped an excellent debut series by crunching his second T20I fifty

The Report by Alan Gardner21-Feb-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAfter the boom at Eden Park, swiftly came the bust. Five days on from Australia’s world-record T20 chase, New Zealand opted to set a target again; this time, after an excellent bowling display on a less-frisky surface, the requirement over 120 balls was almost 100 runs fewer. D’Arcy Short capped an excellent debut series by crunching his second T20I fifty and the match descended into a hit’n’gurgle as the rain swept in for a second time.That Australia did not have to resort to the spectacular with the bat was down to a canny display with the ball. Where 32 sixes had streaked the Auckland skies when these two teams met in the group, the tally barely managed double-figures in the final. Short dismissively swatted three early on to ease Australia on to the front foot as they hunted down a fifth successive win that gave them the trophy as well as taking them second in the ICC rankings – a remarkable turnaround, given they started the month languishing at No. 7.The T20 tri-series is a new-ish innovation but defeat for New Zealand followed a familiar script. In a variety of multi-team tournaments, including most recently at the 2015 World Cup, Australia have held the whip hand over their Trans-Tasman neighbours: their record now 12 wins in a row in finals going back to 1981.Despite a flinty innings from Ross Taylor, New Zealand’s decision to bat first abruptly back-fired. Striving for a suitably stratospheric score to challenge a powerful Australia line-up, they lost wickets throughout the innings – only two partnerships, the first and the ninth, managed more than 18 runs. Kane Williamson had perhaps been hoping a used pitch would break up further for his spinners to exploit, but New Zealand’s batting cracked first, with Ashton Agar particularly impressive in taking career-best figures.David Warner successfully muzzled the New Zealand innings with 16 bowling changes and then helped establish a base for the chase, Australia’s openers combining for 72 in eight overs. Short was the more aggressive, striking two rapier straight drives and then hoisting Trent Boult for the first six in the fifth over; he cleared the ropes twice more in the next, off Tim Southee, as Australia finished the Powerplay comfortably set on 55 without loss.A short rain delay allowed New Zealand to regroup and although they removed Short after he had completed a 28-ball fifty, it was near-impossible to build pressure in the field. Warner was bowled by Ish Sodhi and Agar, promoted to No. 3, fell to a stumping against fellow left-armer Mitchell Santner; had a wild slog from Glenn Maxwell gone to hand a couple of balls later, New Zealand might have had some leverage.Even as the game slipped away, their commitment in the field remained impressive. Williamson almost ran out Aaron Finch with an elastic, sliding pick-up-and-throw from mid-off, while Mark Chapman performed a relay catch on the rope to deny Finch six after he had latched on to a Santner no-ball.Maxwell and Finch had taken Australia within range, needing just 30 from 32 balls, when a second, heavier shower swept through. With Duckworth-Lewis-Stern looming in the gloaming, most of the crowd had disappeared disappointed into the night when the umpires finally decided at around 10.40pm that no further play would be possible.It was always going to be a struggle to match the fireworks of Friday but New Zealand did get off to a rapid start through Martin Guptill and Colin Munro once again. A frenetic opening featured several boundaries, although timing the ball on a worn surface looked a little harder, and New Zealand had 48 on the board inside five overs when Billy Stanlake made the breakthrough, Guptill toe-ending a blow down the ground straight to Warner at mid-off.Munro was next to go, mistiming another big shot to the edge of the ring, and Australia began to make regular inroads. Williamson and Chapman managed a boundary apiece before falling in the space of three balls to Agar, who was the only bowler to deliver consecutive overs. Agar also removed the powerful Colin De Grandhomme, who was tempted to hit across the line to the longer boundary, and when Santner fell first ball pulling at AJ Tye, New Zealand had lost 6 for 45.With Warner changing things up relentlessly, Australia presented a moving target. Tim Seifert was flummoxed by a Marcus Stoinis yorker and Southee under-clubbed another boundary catch, but Sodhi at least managed to hang around alongside Taylor for a few overs to give the scorecard some respectability. New Zealand managed to save face, but saving the match was beyond them.

Suranga Lakmal picked up four wickets in an innings for only the second time in a 32-Test career as South Africa ended the first day of their Test series against Sri Lanka at a vulnerable 267 for 6

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy26-Dec-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:26

‘Bold move to bat first on this wicket’ – Duminy

Suranga Lakmal picked up four wickets in an innings for only the second time in a 32-Test career as South Africa ended the first day of their Test series against Sri Lanka at a vulnerable 267 for 6. It was a strange, seesawing day in which it was hard to say if South Africa failed to make full use of good batting conditions or if Sri Lanka’s bowling attack was too reliant on Lakmal to fully exploit a greener-than-usual St George’s Park pitch. It may need South Africa to bowl on this surface for a complete picture to emerge.Faf du Plessis trusted history, which said this was among the slower surfaces in South Africa, over the appearance of the pitch, and conditions proved to be a mixed bag. South Africa’s openers added 104 and all of their top five got starts, but none of them carried on beyond 63. None of them were really at fault for their dismissals apart from JP Duminy, who top-scored and gave his wicket away in one of the hinge moments of the day.Perhaps Sri Lanka could have had South Africa in a worse position had Lakmal enjoyed better support from the two other frontline quicks. It was instructive that when Sri Lanka took the second new ball – as soon as it became available – it was Angelo Mathews who shared it with Lakmal rather than Nuwan Pradeep or Dushmantha Chameera. It was also instructive that Sri Lanka’s second-most successful bowler on the day wasn’t a seamer but the ageless Rangana Herath, whose dismissals of Duminy and Temba Bavuma, both against the run of play, changed the complexion of the day.When Duminy decided to sweep Herath in the 71st over of the day, South Africa were 213 for 3. Duminy was batting on 63 and was looking in the form of his life, driving like a dream through mid-off and extra-cover. The ball wasn’t the safest to sweep. It was pitching outside off stump, but not far enough outside off stump for the batsman to be able to use his front pad as a second line of defence if it turned past his bat. Duminy missed, Herath hit front pad, and DRS could not save the batsman when he reviewed the on-field decision.Four overs later, Herath hurried one on with the arm to beat Bavuma’s back-foot defensive. This time the on-field decision was not out, and the ball looked like it may have been sliding down leg. Herath didn’t look convinced himself, but with only 5.1 overs left for the reviews to be reset, Sri Lanka chanced their arm, and ball-tracking returned three reds and sent Bavuma back. South Africa had slipped from 213 for 3 to 225 for 5.Each of Suranga Lakmal’s four wickets was either caught behind or in the slips•AFP

Du Plessis and Quinton de Kock saw off Lakmal’s first over with the second new ball, and when de Kock flicked and slashed him for two fours in the second over of his spell – his 20th of the day – it seemed that the day’s efforts might have been telling on the fast bowler. But he was still more than capable of bowling the wicket-taking ball: de Kock took a single to bring du Plessis on strike, and out came the perfect line to pin du Plessis to the crease, the perfect line to make him poke, and a bit of outswing to graze his edge through to first slip.The same ingredients had contributed to his first three wickets as well. All three came at the start of new sessions. South Africa went to lunch 92 for 0. Lakmal shaped one away from the right-handed Stephen Cook, then shaped another away from the left-handed Dean Elgar, and suddenly Dinesh Chandimal had two catches behind the wicket and South Africa were 105 for 2. Duminy and Hashim Amla then added 78, before Lakmal struck in the third over after tea, angling the ball into Amla and then moving it away to find his edge through to Chandimal once again.Amla fell for 20, and his average dipped below 50 for the first time since November 2012. It had been a strange innings, his strike rate 26.31, made stranger by Duminy’s fluency at the other end.The left-handed Duminy scorched the very first ball he faced to the cover boundary, while the right-handed Amla took 56 balls to hit his first four, stepping down the track to whip Rangana Herath wide of mid-on. Duminy flowed onto the front foot and got his head over the ball at every opportunity, while Amla was often crease-bound after making that big back-and-across trigger movement. Duminy found the gaps without even trying, while Amla timed drives and punches sweetly but straight to fielders.Still, it took a peach of a delivery to dismiss him. Lakmal always looked capable of delivering one. Less so Nuwan Pradeep and Dushmantha Chameera, who were wayward through the day, and released the pressure on South Africa’s openers with a steady stream of deliveries at their pads in an otherwise quiet first session.Aside from the odd flirt outside off stump, the shuffling, fidgety Cook showed an excellent understanding of his own game. He took full advantage of anything remotely near his pads, and scored the bulk of his runs – 41 out of 59 – through the leg side, primarily through flicks and glances as well as one sweep in front of square against Rangana Herath.Elgar showed excellent judgement outside off stump, leaving 39 of the 86 balls he faced from Sri Lanka’s three seamers, but was quick to pounce on anything overpitched, timing his drives sweetly through mid-off and extra-cover. Cook took the bulk of the strike during the opening partnership, facing 125 balls to Elgar’s 89.

Medium-pacer Hamish Kingston’s four wickets helped Tasmania seal a massive 223-run win to end their seven-match Sheffield Shield losing streak, and win their first game of the season

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2015
ScorecardFile photo: Ben Dunk scored a career-best 144 not out to lead Tasmania’s charge•Getty Images

Medium-pacer Hamish Kingston’s four wickets helped Tasmania seal a massive 223-run win to end their seven-match Sheffield Shield losing streak, and win their first game of the season. Tasmania bowled out New South Wales for 170 at Bankstown Oval in Sydney after declaring on 313 for 7 to set the hosts a target of 394.Opener Ryan Carters was NSW’s only source of resistance as Ed Cowan was the first wicket to fall, to Xavier Doherty. Kingston then troubled the middle order by dismissing Kurtis Patterson and Nic Maddinson and two quick wickets from Jackson Bird left NSW reeling on 116 for 6. Ben Rohrer, Jay Lenton and Sean Abbott fell for ducks before Carters was trapped lbw by Kingston for 77. Kingston dismissed Gurinder Sandhu too and Doherty finished things off, as Bird, Faulkner and Doherty took two wickets each. Kingston registered 4 for 61, his best first-class figures, and took seven in the match.Earlier, Tasmania added 41 runs to their overnight 272 for 6, led by Ben Dunk’s career-best and unbeaten 144 that featured 18 fours, as captain George Bailey declared 50 minutes into the morning session.

Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan, who have been dropped from the ODI team, have been retained in the top A category while fast-bowler Umar Gul, who plays all three formats, has been dropped from A to B

Umar Farooq14-May-2013The PCB has has announced 30 central contracts for 2013, with a 15% increment in the monthly retainership fee. Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan, who have been dropped from the ODI team, have been retained in the top A category while fast-bowler Umar Gul, who plays all three formats, has been dropped from A to B. Kamran Akmal, who wasn’t considered for a central contract last year, has been awarded a Category C contract this time.The PCB, for the second straight year, has increased the retainership incomes, with the Test match fees across all categories up by Rs. 55,000. “The 2013 Central Contracts have raised the Retainership fee by 15 per cent,” the PCB said in a statement. “In the 2012 Central Contract, the same had been increased by 25%. It may be noted that the increase in player fees in 2012 made after 3 years as the last increases were made in 2009. Thus in the last two years a total increase of more than 40 % has been made.”

The contracts list

Category A (Pakistan Rs. 359375 monthly): Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi
Category B (Pakistan Rs. 251562): Shoaib Malik, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Junaid Khan, Abdur Rehman, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Nasir Jamshed
Category C (Pakistan Rs. 143750): Kamran Akmal, Imran Farhat, Aizaz Cheema, Taufeeq Umar, Adnan Akmal, Faisal Iqbal, Ahmed Shahzad, Mohammad Irfan
Stipends category (Pakistan Rs. 71875): Sarfaraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Umar Amin, Zulifqar Babar, Asad Ali, Harris Sohail Sohail, Anwar Ali

The raise this year was a result of lengthy negotiations between players and the PCB, as most of the senior players were unhappy with the retainers offered. Players have been deprived of the ICC tournaments appearance fee by the PCB, and they were also barred from playing the 2012 Bangladesh Cricket League. Last year, a lack of planning meant Umar Akmal, Afridi and Saeed Ajmal failed to fulfill their commitment with their respective Big Bash League franchises.A senior player, on the condition of anonymity, told ESPNcricinfo last month that players were underpaid compared to other teams around the world. “Whatever the case is, we are missing IPL and last year players even missed out on the BPL,” said the player. “In a country where cricketers are playing the game as their full-time livelihood, they should be treated with care. We need serious deliberation on this matter with the PCB.”The players were without contracts since December 31, 2012. They were handed their current contracts on Monday hours before Pakistan’s 15-man squad departed for Scotland ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy. In a press release, the PCB listed 30 names across four categories “A, B, C and stipends,” with five men, including Afridi, handed the top contract. Nine players – who failed to find themselves in three major categories – were slated into the stipend category.

Simon Katich wants to pay back Hampshire for helping to turn him into a Test cricketer – and an unbeaten 180 against Yorkshire will do for a start

Myles Hodgson at Headingley16-May-2012
ScorecardSimon Katich’s Australia days might well be behind him but his century for Hampshire against Yorkshire was part of his payback for the opportunities they gave him•Getty Images

Yorkshire may have looked to Australia for a solution to last summer’s relegation, but it was Hampshire’s own recruit from down under who transformed the opening day with Simon Katich marking his return to Headingley with his highest first-class score in four years.The first team coach Jason Gillespie, senior batsman Phil Jacques and overseas signing Mitchell Starc were all recruited from Australia by Yorkshire during the winter and charged with securing an immediate return to the first division, and until today’s turnaround their formula was working with successive wins over Gloucestershire and Leicestershire taking them to joint top of the table.Should Yorkshire fail to record three championship wins in a row for the first time since 2005, they can blame their failure to dislodge Katich as a major reason for their frustration. He began by rescuing a dismal start to Hampshire’s innings, and finished it unbeaten on 180 – his highest innings since scoring 157 for Australia against West Indies at Bridgetown in 2008.Currently on his fifth county, a sequence which began at Durham in 2000 and included a short spell with Yorkshire in 2002, Katich’s first job was to repair an innings that was in danger of collapse before lunch on the opening day after Hampshire won the toss and chose to bat.Liam Dawson fell before a run was scored, earning Ryan Sidebottom his 550th first-class wicket by edging behind, and the tone for the early overs was set.Jimmy Adams fell lbw to Steve Patterson and Michael Carberry edged Iain Wardlaw to slip attempting a drive that could be regarded as a little too extravagant in the circumstances. Plucked from league cricket by Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale mid-way through last summer, Wardlaw was unfortunate that umpire Steve Gale rejected an lbw appeal against Katich from the next delivery.Having made his Test debut at Headingley 11 years ago, Katich will no doubt always have happy memories of the place, an affection which will have strengthened by several reprieves during an innings which began in the sixth over of the day. He was dropped on 114 by Sidebottom at mid-on and then smashed a return catch back at Adil Rashid on 144, but was otherwise dominant throughout the day.It is the first major innings he has played since returning to Hampshire, a county he wants to help for their role in helping to regain his place in Australia’s Test side after his previous spell between 2002 and 2005. “I feel I owe the club for the opportunities they gave me nine years ago,” said Katich, now 36. “It certainly helped me get back to playing Test cricket for Australia, so it would be nice at this stage of my career to give something back.”Sean Ervine, the former Zimbabwe batsman, helped Katich add 124 for the fifth wicket but was caught at deep mid-on after getting a leading edge against Root, a deserved reward for an impressive spell from the Kirkstall Lane End. Captain Andrew Gale was suitably enough impressed to continue with Root immediately after tea and remove Rashid from the attack.If Yorkshire believed Ervine’s dismissal would allow them to rally in the final session, they were to be disappointed. Instead Michael Bates, 21, helped himself to a championship-best score of 88 and enjoyed an unbroken 145-run stand with Katich that ensured Hampshire made the most of the sunny conditions.”Batsmen have had it tough the first part of the season and now with a bit of sun, hopefully it will be a little tougher for the bowlers,” Katich said.