Sanath Jayasuriya appointed as coach by a Melbourne club following ICC ban

Brendon McCullum commends contrasting but brilliant captaincy of Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli

Former New Zealand captain and predecessor of Kane Williamson, Brendon McCullum commended the ‘brilliant’ leadership of both Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli for their teams’ qualification into the first World Test Championship final. He pointed out that the longest format demands a proactive approach from captains to induce favourable situations and both these leaders have been able to achieve that feat while also leading their sides from the front with the bat in hand. “Both Virat and Kane have led their sides brilliantly. Their own forms have been superb. To be able to qualify for the WTC final is a massive achievement. To reach the final of WTC, the results they needed for a long period. You have to force the situations in Test cricket to garner success in the longest format of the game. Both captains have pushed their teams to excel, and I believe they rightfully deserve the opportunity to play in the final,” McCullum said on Sports Today. However, he did not miss out on detailing the difference in the leadership style of Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson. He underlined Williamson’s calmness while trying to be dominant against Kohli’s ultra-aggressive approach in leading his side. “They are inspirational leaders but lead their teams indifferently. One (Kohli) is out and out aggressive, while the other (Williamson) is a dominant leader but is not as expressive as his counterpart. They are true ambassadors of the game and are the must-watch talents of the present time,” McCullum added. The World Test Championship final will be played in Southampton from June 18 to 22 and both sides will be eager to clinch the trophy to stamp their dominance over the world in the longest format.

The ball moves all day in overcast conditions in England: Hanuma Vihari

India batsman Hanuma Vihari has explained how the conditions in England are challenging. The right-handed batsman in a chat with ESPN Cricinfo further told how shot selection is really important in such conditions. “In England you have to be really certain with your shot selection. In India, you can get away with a push, or even if it is not there to drive, you can still get away driving on the up. If I were to play that ball a second time, I would try to play as late as possible,” Vihari said. Vihari made his County debut while playing for Warwickshire. Talking about his innings against Essex, the right-handed batsman admitted that he didn’t really capitalise on the starts that he got. “It was just my first innings in county cricket. I learned that I should play much later. In the second match, against Essex, I got 30 and 50. Essex are the defending champions and have a decent bowling attack with Peter Siddle and Simon Harmer. I thought I batted well, but I should have converted it into a bigger score,” he added. Talking about the conditions, Vihari said that the ball moves all day when it is overcast making it difficult for the batsman. “The overhead conditions play a part as well because when it is sunny, it gets a bit easier to bat, but when it is overcast, the ball moves all day,” he said. Vihari is a part of the Indian squad that will play the final of the inaugural World Test Championship against New Zealand in Southampton scheduled to begin on June 18 and the five-match series against England in August.

Taskin Ahmed to get central contract, Shakib to make all-format return to contract list

Bangladesh Cricket Board would be rolling out the central contracts for their players very soon and it has been learnt that all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan would make a return to the list, having missed out last year due to the ICC one year ban. Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, who returned to international cricket early this year in January, is also set to be rewarded for his performances with a central contract after three years. The 26-year-old is now in the reckoning to be a long term Tigers prospect. "Taskin bowled a lot of overs in the Test series against Sri Lanka. He is very much in the ODI plans but if we push him to play all three formats all the time it can be harmful in the long run,” Khaled Mahmud, former Bangladesh captain and Team leader for the Tigers’ on their Sri Lanka tour recently, said about the tall fast bowler, who has picked up 17 wickets since his return to international cricket. "We need to make a balance somewhere and that is most important if we want long service from players like Taskin," Mahmud added. The right-handed pacer is aware of BCB plans which sees him more as an out and out attack bowler in longer formats, but Taskin believes that T20 cricket is not out of sight for him either. ''Yes, Nannu Sir (chief selector Minhajul Abedin) spoke with me after the series (two Tests against Sri Lanka),'' said Taskin. ''It is not that I will not play T20Is. It's just that they wanted me to concentrate on Tests and ODIs," he said. Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury confirmed that the board would soon be rolling out the contracts and there might be an increase of one player from last year’s 17 in the list. The top all-rounder Shakib would be getting an all format, both red and white ball contract as it seems, while the likes of Mahmudullah and Mustafizur Rahman would have to be content with just the white ball contract. Last year only seven cricketers could get the all-format contract and according to reports, Mushfiqur Rahim was the highest-paid Bangladeshi cricketer. "In the last board meeting we decided that we will make a final decision regarding how many cricketers are going to be in the central contract in our next board meeting," Cricbuzz quoted Nizamuddin as saying. Currently, the Bangladesh cricketers are busy with the Dhaka Premier Division T20 tournament, being played in the capital city.

Ollie Robinson likely to be dropped from 2nd Test against New Zealand for 'racist and sexist' tweets

England newcomer Ollie Robinson, who made an impressive debut in Test in the ongoing Test match at Lord’s is is likely to face exclusion from the squad for the second Test against New Zealand for the ‘racist and sexist tweets he sent out when he was just 18-year old, The Telegraph reported. The ECB has launched an investigation and Robinson’s exclusion from the team could well be extended for some part of the series against India as well, the report stated further. Also, the ECB is mulling a vetting process of profiles of new and merging players to avoid such ‘embarrassing situations in the future. “We have a zero-tolerance stance to any form of discrimination and there are rules in place that handle conduct of this nature. We will initiate a full investigation as part of our disciplinary process,” ECB CEO Tom Harrison had said in a statement on the same night when Robinson’s tweets went viral. The pacer has already apologised for what he called ‘thoughtless and irresponsible’ behaviour on his part irrespective of his state of mind then. Robinson however found support in his squad as England assistant coach Graham Thorpe said that as he has accepted his mistakes and apologised for it to the dressing room and the world, the onus was on the dressing room to support him so early in his career. “He had to say sorry to the dressing room, he had to say sorry to the world about what he did. So from that perspective it's very hard for him but he knows he made mistakes. So at the end of the day, that's why he had to make those apologies. But in our dressing room, we had to support him as well,” Thorpe said. The second Test of the series against New Zealand is scheduled to start on June 10 at Edgbaston in Birmingham while the series against India will start on August 04 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.