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Former Sri Lanka women’s team coach has signed a two-year deal

Mohammad Isam27-Oct-2022Hashan Tillakaratne, the former Sri Lanka captain, has been appointed as the national women’s team head coach for the next two years by the BCB. He will join the set-up in November, with the side starting their build-up for next February’s T20 World Cup in South Africa around that time.”We have spent a long time looking for a coach. Finally we found one,” Shafiul Alam Chowdhury, the BCB women’s wing chairman, said. “We have signed a two-year contract with Hashan Tillakaratne. He will join us in the first week of November.”Tillakaratne’s first assignment will be the tour of New Zealand in December, where the team will play three T20Is and three ODIs – the matches will be played between December 2 and 18.He has some experience coaching women’s teams, having worked with the Sri Lanka national team since July last year. He came on the BCB’s radar when he took Sri Lanka to the Asia Cup final earlier this month in Sylhet. BCB representatives reportedly contacted him and finalised the arrangement during the tournament, where Bangladesh, the defending Asia Cup champions, failed to get into the last four. Tillakaratne had at least another year left on his SLC contract.At the Asia Cup, Bangladesh were being coached by former cricketer Mahmud Emon. Tillakaratne will be Bangladesh’s first foreign coach since early 2020, when former India cricketer Anju Jain left the job.Tillakaratne played 83 Tests and 200 ODIs between 1986 and 2004, leading Sri Lanka in 11 Tests towards the end of his international career. In Tests, he scored 4545 runs at an average of 42.87, and he hit 3789 runs at an average of 29.60 in ODIs.After retirement, Tillakaratne has been an SLC selector and has performed various coaching roles with the men’s senior and Under-19 teams.

Former Australia allrounder has enjoyed success with Brisbane Heat and Queensland Fire

Matt Roller11-Nov-2022Ashley Noffke, the former Australia allrounder, is a contender for the vacancy as England women’s head coach, ESPNcricinfo understands.Noffke, who played one ODI and two T20Is for Australia in 2007-8, has enjoyed recent success as head coach of Brisbane Heat and Queensland Fire, winning the 2019-20 Women’s Big Bash League and 2020-21 Women’s National Cricket League.He signed a contract extension last year that runs until 2025 but is understood to have been interviewed for the vacancy created by Lisa Keightley’s departure. Noffke is highly regarded in Australian cricket and previously worked as Australia women’s assistant coach under Matthew Mott, who became England men’s white-ball coach earlier this year.Jonathan Finch, the director of England women’s cricket, interviewed several candidates last week and an appointment is expected in the next 10 days. The job was advertised in September and the successful candidate will start on a three-year fixed term until November 2025.Two other contenders share the name Jon Lewis: the former Gloucestershire seamer who is men’s pace-bowling lead at the ECB, and the former Durham batter who has worked with England’s women as a batting consultant over the last 18 months.Further candidates for the role include Jon Batty, who has coached Oval Invincibles to the title in both editions of the women’s Hundred, as well as Michael Bates, the wicketkeeping and fielding coach who has worked extensively in the women’s game, and Gareth Breese, the Welsh Fire and England women’s performance pathway coach.Charlotte Edwards, the former England captain and current Southern Brave, Southern Vipers and Sydney Sixers coach, has previously ruled herself out of the running.England are expected to name a squad for their upcoming West Indies tour shortly after a coach is announced.

Jadeja and Rohit met with match-referee Pycroft to clarify visuals of spinner rubbing a substance on his bowling finger

Nagraj Gollapudi09-Feb-2023The Indian team management has told ICC match referee Andy Pycroft that Ravindra Jadeja was applying pain-relief cream to the index finger of his bowling hand in the video clips widely circulated on social media on the first day of the Nagpur Test against Australia.In the video footage, Jadeja was seen taking a substance off the back of Mohammed Siraj’s palm with his right hand. Jadeja then appeared to rub this substance on to the index finger of his left hand – his bowling arm – just before beginning to bowl a delivery. At no point in the footage was Jadeja seen rubbing anything on the ball itself, though he did have the ball in his hands at the time.Related

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• Krishnaswamy: The underappreciated genius of Jadeja

The incident took place when Australia were 120 for 5, by which time Jadeja had already dismissed Marnus Labuschagne, Matt Renshaw and Steven Smith.ESPNcricnfo has learned that immediately after play ended on the first day, Jadeja along with India captain Rohit Sharma and the team manager, were shown a video clip of Jadeja’s actions. Pycroft, it is understood, wanted to just inform them about the incident and no charge has been laid against Jadeja.While the incident triggered debates on social and mainstream media, it is learned that the Australia team had not brought the matter to the attention of the match referee. According to the playing conditions, the match referee can independently probe such incidents without needing a complaint to be lodged. And under the Laws of Cricket, the bowler needs the umpire’s permission to apply any sort of substance on their hands to ensure the condition of the ball remains unaffected.Jadeja had made a successful return to international cricket after a five-month injury layoff on the first day of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He ran through Australia’s middle order, dismissing Labuschagne and Renshaw off successive deliveries, before picking up the wickets of Smith, Todd Murphy and Peter Handscomb. He finished with 5 for 47, as Australia were dismissed for 177 in their first innings in Nagpur.

Gudakesh Motie, the star of West Indies’ win in the second Test in Zimbabwe, rises 77 places in the bowlers’ rankings

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Feb-2023R Ashwin moved to within 21 rating points of Pat Cummins at the top of the ICC Test bowlers’ rankings following his five-wicket haul in the second innings of the Nagpur Test between India and Australia. Ashwin is currently second on that table, while Ravindra Jadeja, who picked up a five-for in the first innings of the Test, is at No. 16.The two spinners played key roles in India’s three-day win over Australia, by an innings and 132 runs. After Australia batted first, Jadeja led the way with 5 for 47 as the visitors were bowled out for 177. India then put up 400, with Rohit Sharma hitting a century and Jadeja and Axar Patel scoring half-centuries, before Ashwin came into his own on the third day, running through the opposition with returns of 5 for 37, with Jadeja returning 2 for 34.

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Rohit’s 120, by far the most impressive batting effort on a tricky pitch, helped him move up from No. 10 to No. 8 on the batters’ table.David Warner and Usman Khawaja, the Australia openers, however, had a torrid time of it, scoring 1 and 10, and 1 and 5 respectively. As a result, Warner fell six spots to 20th and Khawaja went down two spots to tenth.Axar didn’t have much success with the ball in Nagpur, picking up just the solitary wicket in 13 overs across the two innings, but his 84, at a crucial time in the game, helped him move up in the allrounders’ rankings, up to seventh, a rise of six places.

Gudakesh Motie soars after 13-wicket match haul

The other Test series on in the past week featured Zimbabwe and West Indies, who drew their first game in Bulawayo before West Indies won inside three days in the second, also in Bulawayo. Gudakesh Motie was the star of the show, picking up 19 wickets in the two Tests, including 13 in the second, and that took him up 77 places to 46th place after playing just three Tests.In the first Test, Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul, the West Indies openers, put up a 336-run stand, with Brathwaite scoring 182 and Chanderpaul an unbeaten 207. It was the highest opening stand for West Indies in Tests, and the performance took Brathwaite up four spots to 21st and Chanderpaul up 28 spots to 58th.

Cheteshwar Pujara top-scored with 59, the only batter to pass 30 as India were dismissed for 163 in their second innings

Alex Malcolm02-Mar-2023A remarkable eight-wicket haul from Nathan Lyon put Australia on the brink of a rare Test win in India. The game, however, was far from over after a stunning first-innings batting collapse from the visitors and an obdurate half-century from Cheteshwar Pujara kept the hosts in the contest in Indore.Day two was even more chaotic than day one, with Lyon claiming 8 for 64 to bowl India out for 163 in the second innings on the stroke of stumps, setting Australia a target of just 76. It would not have been that many without Pujara’s 142-ball 59. It might not have been that many without another chaotic Australian collapse in the morning session that will give India’s bowlers hope on the third day.Australia had led by 77 runs with six first-innings wickets in hand at drinks on the second morning only to lose 6 for 11 in 34 balls of chaos to let India back into the game. On a spinner’s paradise, Umesh Yadav took three wickets in three overs to finish with figures of 3 for 12, while R Ashwin bagged three at the other end to bowl Australia out with a lead of just 88. Their tail has provided no resistance on the entire tour, but this was statistically among the worst lower-order collapses in Australia’s Test history.Related

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Pujara had to work exceptionally hard to erase India’s deficit without much help from his top-order teammates as Lyon never let them breathe during an unwavering spell from around the wicket after lunch. Pujura stood firm but he never stood still in nearly four hours of attrition to keep India alive. Having learned from his mistake in the first-innings, he played almost exclusively on the front foot with a vertical bat, always playing in front of his pad, and used his feet superbly to smother the spin of Lyon, Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann. It was something his team-mates could not manage. Shubman Gill fell to a wild heave across the line to Lyon in the first over after lunch. Rohit Sharma misjudged the length going back to a full ball from Lyon. Virat Kohli played an ill-fated cross-bat shot off the back foot to Kuhnemann, before Ravindra Jadeja was unable to get his bat in front of his pad as he was trapped plumb in front by Lyon.India’s deficit though had been whittled to just 9 by tea and it quickly became a lead of 23 with six wickets in hand just four overs after the break. Shreyas Iyer thumped three fours and two sixes to leave Australia wondering if they had let the game slip from an impregnable position, just as they had done in Delhi.But Steven Smith, who captained magnificently in Pat Cummins’ absence, pulled the right rein by bringing Mitchell Starc into the attack. Shreyas chipped the ball to midwicket where Usman Khawaja took a diving catch to his left, having spent almost all of the second session off the field.Cheteshwar Pujara was superbly caught by Steven Smith at leg slip•Getty Images

Shreyas’ exit allowed Lyon to attack again from around the wicket. He beat KS Bharat on the outside edge with one that slid on to crash into middle and off before trapping R Ashwin plumb with one that spun back past the inside edge.India led by 52 with three wickets in hand but Australia were still sweating with India’s best batter in the series Axar Patel joining Pujara. Lyon kept probing, Smith kept tinkering with the field, and eventually the reward came. Smith took a stunning one-hander at leg slip having left that position vacant quite a lot during Pujara’s innings. Lyon was able to claim the final two wickets without Axar doing major damage and they avoided a nervy couple of overs starting the chase on the second night in the process.It was sweet relief for Australia having earlier butchered a chance to take the game well beyond India’s reach in the first innings. Peter Handscomb and Cameron Green had added 30 without loss and without any drama in the first hour of day two. Both batters had defended well and used their feet smartly to find scoring options without huge risk. Less than half an hour later Australia were all out with a lead of just 88, having lost 6 for 11 in 34 deliveries.It was a stunning turnaround sparked by Ashwin and Umesh, two bowlers Rohit had hardly used in the first hour. Ashwin found the perfect length that he had been searching for on day one and extracted some extra turn and bounce to have Handscomb caught at short leg. Umesh then claimed the key scalp of Green with a ball that just straightened a touch off the seam and had Green playing the wrong line as tried to work through the leg side. He was hit on the back leg and adjudged lbw by Joel Wilson. Had he not been given out, India would have had no reviews to use. Ball tracking had it clipping the outside corner of leg stump. Australia folded from there as they have done so often in this series with Umesh castling Starc and Murphy’s off stump with fast reverse-swinging deliveries from around the wicket while Ashwin got through Carey and Lyon’s defences with ease.

Shreyas Iyer will report to the NCA for his own rehab after undergoing back surgery next week

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Apr-2023Jasprit Bumrah has started his rehab, from Friday, at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru after having undergone back surgery in New Zealand last month.The surgery was successful and Bumrah was “pain-free”, according to a media statement from the BCCI. The plan is to get him fully fit for the home ODI World Cup, which is likely to start on October 5.Bumrah has not featured in any cricket since late September last year, when he pulled out of the home white-ball series against South Africa – the reason, reportedly, was a stress reaction in his lower back. He attempted a comeback in January this year for the home series against Sri Lanka, but that didn’t happen after he experienced pain in the back. He was subsequently sidelined from the ongoing IPL 2023 and the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, which begins on June 7 at The Oval.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri had recently expressed his frustration at frequent and recurring injuries to senior Indian bowlers. “Let’s put it this way: there are quite a few in the last three or four years who are permanent residents of the NCA,” Shastri said on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time:Out show. “Soon, they’ll get a resident permit there to walk in any time they want, which is not a good thing at all. It’s unreal.”Related

• WTC final: Ponting wants India to play Kishan and Suryakumar for 'a little bit of X-factor'

• Iyer to have back surgery, out of IPL 2023 and WTC final

• Bumrah undergoes back surgery in New Zealand

Shreyas Iyer to undergo surgery next week

Shreyas Iyer, who has also been ruled out of IPL 2023 and the WTC final, is set to undergo surgery on his back next week. He will report to the NCA for his own rehab after remaining in the surgeon’s care for two weeks.An impinged nerve caused by a bulged disc in the lower back area on the right side has troubled Iyer ever since he returned from the Bangladesh series last December. Despite taking about six injections, Iyer continued to experience discomfort.

Rainford-Brent and Pete Ackerley fill final two vacancies on board ahead of AGM

ESPNcricinfo staff09-May-2023Ebony Rainford-Brent, the World Cup-winning former England batter who went on to found the African-Caribbean Engagement (ACE) programme, is set to join the ECB board as one of two new cricket non-executive directors.The appointments of Rainford-Brent and sports development expert Pete Ackerley completes the restructuring of the ECB board, after last month’s announcement of four new non-executive directors: Penny Avis, Baroness Zahida Manzoor, Jennifer Owen Adams and Gareth Williams. Katie Bickerstaffe has also been reappointed for a further three-year term as senior independent non-executive director.”I’m delighted to make our final board appointments,” Richard Thompson, the ECB chair, said. “We have a strong and diverse board with extensive experience and a wide range of skills.”Ebony is a unique talent, a trailblazer who was a winner on the pitch and has achieved so much off it. Her ACE programme has already made a huge impact in creating opportunities for youngsters from Black communities, and she shares my impatience for making further progress in creating a truly inclusive sport.”Pete also brings with him a vast amount of cricketing experience along with invaluable insight in other sports. He is steeped in the recreational game, and will be another huge asset to the board.”I’m also delighted that Katie Bickerstaffe has been appointed as senior non-executive director. Katie has already made a huge contribution over the past three years, utilising her experience from a number of different senior roles along with her passion for growing the game.”Rainford-Brent, who worked with Thompson while director of women’s cricket at Surrey, was the first black woman to play for England and part of the teams that lifted the World Cup and World T20 in 2009, winning 29 caps between 2001 and 2010. Since retirement, she has worked as a broadcaster for the BBC and Sky Sports.Ackerley is currently chief executive officer of the British American Football Association, and has previously served on the ECB’s participation and growth board, as well as working with Lancashire Cricket Foundation, the Lord’s Taverners, the England and Wales Cricket Trust and the Football Association. He is also a former head of development at the ECB.The appointments, which are set to be ratified at Wednesday’s Annual General Meeting, will fill vacancies arising from the death of Brenda Trenowden, Jim Wood’s departure after reaching his maximum time on the board, and Valerie Amos, Martin Darlow, Barry O’Brien and Lucy Pearson not seeking re-election.

Bumrah and Shreyas are also undergoing rehab after surgery and could return for the Asia Cup in September

Nagraj Gollapudi and Shashank Kishore15-Jun-2023Rishabh Pant’s fast pace of recovery has surprised the BCCI and the medical staff at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, where the India wicketkeeper is undergoing rehabilitation after he survived a serious car crash last December.ESPNcricinfo has learned that while the BCCI is attempting to fast track Pant’s rehab to try and get him ready for the ODI World Cup this year, the recovery process is likely to last longer. However, the prospect of potentially not playing any cricket in 2023 has not affected Pant, who recently started to walk without crutches and climb stairs without any support.Pant is believed to be largely pain-free, and while skill work is still “quite some time away”, he is currently increasing his lower-body and upper-body mobility exercises under the guidance of physio S Rajnikanth, who has previously worked with several India age-group teams and has also been part of the Delhi Capitals support staff. Rajnikanth had previously helped rehabilitate Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and M Vijay from serious injuries. Thulasi Ram Yuvaraj, another NCA physio, has been with Pant ever since he was airlifted to Mumbai, days after the car crash.Related

• VVS Laxman's 'better than world's best' new Centre of Excellence will oversee India's growing talent pool

• Jasprit Bumrah 'bowling with full intensity', set to test fitness in practice matches

• Shastri wants two left-handers in India's top six for the ODI World Cup

• Four Asia Cup matches in Pakistan; remaining nine in Sri Lanka

• Asia Cup 2023 set to be played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Pant is believed to be mixing his rehab with sessions of aqua therapy, light swimming and table tennis. He has also been spending time conducting interactive sessions with batches of age-group cricketers – male and female – who have been attending training camps at the NCA. These sessions have been facilitated by NCA chief VVS Laxman to help break monotony, while also boosting morale of young cricketers.Pant last played during India’s tour of Bangladesh in December 2022. While being away from the field has been a big disappointment for Pant, it is understood he has been keeping himself occupied and positive, and watched the World Test Championship final with some of the other India players doing rehab at the NCA, such as Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer and Prasidh Krishna.