BCB confirms Australia’s tour to Bangladesh in August

The Hundred: ECB’s overstretch diluting purpose of county clubs feels Surrey’s outgoing CEO

Right from its inaugural season, or even before it, The Hundred seems to be becoming the marquee tournament for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Surrey’s outgoing Chief Executive Officer, Richard Gould feels that this would dilute the purpose of having county clubs. “I think the ECB could perhaps understand the role and value of county clubs better,” Gould was quoted as saying to The Cricketer. Explaining the role of the national sports body and how it should be different from the clubs, Gould gave the example of the English Football Association and Rugby Football Union. “I also wonder if the ECB are overstretching themselves. Governing bodies like the FA and RFU look at governance, grassroots and the running of the international teams,” he said. “But the ECB organise competitions themselves, and over the last three or four years, we have seen a deepening of that centralisation. The ECB are now running teams – in The Hundred, and women’s cricket (earlier Kia Super League and now The Hundred Women),” added the 61-year-old administrator. Gould conceded that investment on the part of ECB is a great initiative and what it did for counties during the pandemic is equally appreciated, but its role as governing body should not conflict with earning profit from the very sport it governs. “It’s been good to see investment, but it’s diluting the purpose of clubs. Clubs are being given money in lieu of purpose. If you lose purpose you lose the ability to sustain yourselves in the long term,” he said. The Bristol born then attacked the board for introducing something like The Hundred, trying to replicate IPL by having a team for just one month of the year and neglecting counties that have built a tradition of the game for almost 200 years. It’s easy to underestimate the value of the county network. Surrey have developed players for 170 years. Look at the annual cost of setting up new teams for The Hundred. More money per team per year than they are putting individually into Surrey, Somerset, Yorkshire and so on… That’s difficult to understand sometimes,” Gould said. “These new teams will exist for 33 days a year. They have no player pathways. No academy. No age-group teams. No regional community projects. They don’t have international venues. Our domestic clubs do so much: they provide focus and pride.” Gould, who was once touted to become the ECB Chairman said that the ideal situation would have been maintaining a two-division T20 League with promotion and relegation, but the idea was shot down as not being financially viable. “Our preference was for a two-division T20. Six or seven years ago that was also the majority view of the counties. That only changed when the ECB said that there was no terrestrial broadcast interest in county cricket,” said the man who will be joining the English Football Championship side Bristol City as its manager in the upcoming season. “They said they could get £35m a year for a competition with new teams. They said they would get far less – £5m – if it was a county competition. I’m sceptical about that,” he added showing his scepticism for the ECB plan. As far The Hundred is concerned, it will start on July 21 with the women teams of Oval Invincibles taking on Manchester Originals before the men of the same teams collide the next day at the Kia Oval. Surrey are currently in the fourth position in the Group 2 of the County Championship 2021.

BAN vs SL | 2nd ODI: Bangladesh take 2-0 unassailable lead against Sri Lanka

Bangladesh took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka on Tuesday in Dhaka after beating the visitors by 103 runs (D/L Method) in a rain-affected match. Sri Lanka were restricted to 141/9 after the match was reduced to 40-over per side chasing 245. Kusal Perera’s side didn’t really begin the proceedings very well but managed to put 71 in 18.2 overs at the cost of three wickets. The visiting side then witnessed a flurry of wickets only to get reduced to 122/9 before ending the match. Mehidy Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman scalped three wickets each for the hosts while Shakib Al Hasan had a couple of scalps to his name. Opener Danushka Gunathilaka top-scored with 24 off 46. Earlier, batting first, Bangladesh rode on Mushfiqur Rahim’s fine century to manage a score of 246 on the board before getting bundled out 48.1 overs. The home side didn’t have a great start as they lost four early wickets but Rahum and Mahmudullah steadied the ship for the team and stitched a stand of 87 runs for the fifth wicket before Mahmudullah departed for 41. The wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur , on the other side went on to complete his ton. He scored 125 off 127 during the course. Chameera and Sandakan picked up three wickets each for Sri Lanka while Isuru Udana bagged a couple. Bangladesh were forced to make a concussion substitute after Mohammad Saifuddin was hit on his helmet while batting. Taskin Ahmed came in the match as his replacement. The Sri Lankan captain expressed his disappointment on the defeat and put the onus on the middle-order collapse. “It's very disappointing. Both matches, the middle-order collapsed and lack of experience cost us. We need to have a serious talk. They have to back and believe in their strength and play fearless cricket,” Perera said. Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim who was adjudged man of the match said that he was happy to make the vital contribution for the side. “Contributing from the front was great, but I was disappointed not playing the last 11 balls. Mahmudullah batted well and a couple of guys chipped in, and the bowling effort was special tonight. There are areas we can improve. We need to be fearless, but there's a fine line between fearless and sense. Hopefully our batsmen take a few notes from this game and come back better next match, because this isn't the easiest pitch to bat on,” he said. The Bangladesh side low lead the series 2-0 with the the third and final match to be played on Friday at the same venue.

Dropped from central contract in May, 4 India players won't be paid salary for last 7 months

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), after being humiliated for not paying the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 prize money to the Indian Women finally asked the team members to send in their invoices for the prize money as well as to get the amount of the central contract for 2020-21. However, this has sprung yet another controversy. The UK Telegraph reported that the women cricketers who have not got retainer contracts this year, would not be paid the retainer fees from October to May, the period for which the central contract was not renewed till the time the new contracts came in place. “Four players who recently lost their central contracts will receive no payment for their work between October last year and May this year. This means that during a seven-and-a-half month period those four players — Ekta Bisht, Dayalan Hemalatha, Veda Krishnamurthy and Anuja Patil — were unable to seek alternative employment or income, and yet will be paid only match fees and tour allowances,” the report by Isabelle Westbury said. Krishnamurthy, who lost her mother and elder sister to Covid-19 in a span of just 15 days, was among the four players omitted from the BCCI’s central contracts which were announced earlier this month. The report further scrutinises the BCCI pay system in which the Indian players, domestic and international have to fill in an invoice for any prize money, match fees or daily allowances and the sum specified in their retainers which are paid quarterly. The BCCI has also been questioned on its stance for asking the Indian Women’s team members of the T20 World Cup to fill just over $25,500 in their invoice for the prize money. According to the math done for the total prize money won by an individual member of the team, each Women’s team member is entitled to nearly $37,000. “Not only should India’s women have received $500,000 for finishing runners-up, but they should also have received $15,000 per group stage win. This would have meant total winnings of $560,000 (Rs 4.08 crore), as India’s women won four group-stage matches. Split equally between the 15-woman squad which competed in that tournament, each player should therefore receive in excess of $37,000,” the report said. It now puts the focus on the fact as to where have more than $175,000 (Rs 1.27 Crores) unaccounted money gone? It is instances like these that are putting the board under the scanner The Indian Women’s team is currently quarantining in Mumbai from where they would leave for England on June 2 for a multi-format series beginning with the one-off Tests in Bristol from June 16.

Bangladesh cut down one Test from Zimbabwe tour

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has said that it has reduced one Test match from the tour of Zimbabwe and will be playing an additional T20I. The Bangladesh team that was earlier scheduled to play two Tests, three ODIs and two T20Is will begin the tour on July 7. "We have decided to deduct one Test from the tour and add one T20s,'' said BCB cricket operation chairman Akram Khan. "We have taken this decision in order to accommodate some time from DPL,'' he added. The team will fly to Zimbabwe on June 29 and will play the only Test in Bulawayo. The Bangladesh side is also slated to play a two-day practice game on July 3 and 4 and then on July 14, a couple of days prior to the start of the ODI series. The ODI series will take place on July 16, 18 and 20 in Harare while the T20I fixtures will be played on July 23, July 25 and July 27 at the same venue. Bangladesh is presently hosting Sri Lanka in a three-ODI series in Dhaka. They had won the first encounter by 33 runs to take 1-0 lead in the series. They will also host Australia and New Zealand for five T20Is in view of starting the preparation for the World T20 scheduled to take place later this year.