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Ashton Agar, the Australia left-arm spinner, has joined Birmingham Bears for the entirety of this season’s Vitality Blast campaign, including the knockout stages should the team progress.Agar, 25, has played 15 T20Is for Australia, and was a key member of the Perth Scorchers teams that won the Big Bash League in 2014-15 and 2016-17.He is best remembered in England for his remarkable Test debut at Trent Bridge, in the opening match of the 2013 Ashes, when he made 98 from No.11.”I’m thrilled to sign for Birmingham Bears for this year’s Vitality Blast and to make Birmingham my home for July, August and hopefully September!” said Agar.”Whilst they missed out on qualification last year, the Bears have been one of the top teams in the Blast over the last five years and I would love to play a lead role in bringing them back home to Edgbaston for Finals Day this year.”Having played at Edgbaston for Australia in last summer’s IT20 against England, I’ve certainly experienced its atmosphere and know just how passionate the supporters can be. I’m certainly looking forward to having them behind us when we start our Blast campaign in July.”Agar will join up with the Bears squad ahead of their opening Blast fixture on July 19, against local rivals, and reigning champions, Worcestershire Rapids. He will then remain available throughout the campaign as they seek to make a fourth appearance at Finals Day in six seasons.”Ashton has won major T20 trophies and possesses quality international experience,” said Jim Troughton, Birmingham Bears’ first-team coach.”Securing him for the entire Vitality Blast campaign bolsters our bowling attack and gives us an excellent spin pairing with Jeetan Patel. However, Ashton has also proven himself to be a very capable and powerful batsman who can clear the ropes, whilst also being an excellent fielder.”In addition to having excellent cricketers, it’s important that we have the right characters taking to the field for the Bears and, having played alongside Ian Bell during Perth Scorchers victorious Big Bash campaign in 2016-17, we have no doubt that he’ll wear the Bear with pride and be a great addition to the dressing room.”Having now agreed terms with Ashton, as a club we would like to thank New Zealand international Colin de Grandhomme for his attitude and commitment to the Bears in our last two Vitality Blast campaigns and we wish him every success in the game moving forward.”

Big picture

The IPL is a strange place, where friends turn foes and foes turn friends. Chennai Super Kings’ MS Dhoni v Chennai boy R Ashwin will headline this contest. There’s also Shane Watson v Chris Gayle to look forward to. Chennai boys M Ashwin and Varun Chakravarthy, who had bowled at the Super Kings nets and then bagged bumper contracts with other franchises, also return to Chepauk as part of the opposition.

Form guide (most recent matches first)

Super Kings: Lost to Mumbai by 37 runs, beat Royals by eight runs, beat Capitals by six wickets, beat Royal Challengers by seven wickets
Kings XI: Beat Capitals by 14 runs, beat Mumbai by eight wickets, lost to Knight Riders by 28 runs, beat Royals by 14 runs

Kings XI are on a high after pulling off a coup at the death against Delhi Capitals on Monday. On the other hand, Super Kings faltered against Mumbai Indians, suffering their first defeat of the season after a Hardik Pandya-Kieron Pollard bash. To add to their woes, Dwayne Bravo has been ruled out for two weeks because of a hamstring strain. Kings XI, meanwhile, will be bolstered by the return of Gayle, who had missed the game against Capitals with a niggle.With or without Bravo, there are concerns over Super Kings’ fast bowling, particularly at the death. In the past two years in the IPL, Super Kings have the worst economy rate (11.20) between overs 16 and 20. When Bravo was misfiring last season, Super Kings fell back on Lungi Ngidi, but he couldn’t even turn up in India because of an injury.Kings XI have more options in the death with the ball. In addition to Andrew Tye and Sam Curran, spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Ashwin can also tackle pressure in the slog overs. But who is their finisher with the bat? Ashwin had conceded that Kings XI were at least 25 runs short in Mohali. Mandeep Singh and Hardus Viljoen have promised much, but they haven’t gotten enough big hits away.

In the news

Gayle trained at Chepauk on the eve of the game, and Mayank Agarwal confirmed that the West Indies opener was fit.New Zealand allrounder Scott Kuggeleijn, meanwhile, is in line to make his IPL debut on Saturday after having a fairly long stint at training on Thursday after arriving in Chennai.Kings XI’s mystery spinner Varun only did some light stretching, and did not bowl in the nets. He is unlikely to feature on Saturday.

Previous meeting

It was the last game of the group stage of IPL 2018 when the two teams last faced off, in Pune. Kings XI only put up 153, bowled out with two balls left as Ngidi struck four times. Super Kings then rode on Suresh Raina’s unbeaten 61 and the promoted Deepak Chahar’s 39 to get past the target in 19.1 overs.Chris Gayle goes big•BCCI

Likely XIs

Chennai Super Kings (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Ambati Rayudu, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Kedar Jadhav, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Scott Kuggeleijn, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Harbhajan Singh 10 Mohit Sharma/Shardul Thakur, 11 Imran TahirKings XI Punjab (probable) 1 KL Rahul (wk), 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Sarfaraz Khan, 5 David Miller, 6 Mandeep Singh, 7 Sam Curran, 8 R Ashwin (capt), 9 M Ashwin, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Mujeeb Ur Rahman/Hardus Viljoen

Strategy punt

• There is a case for R Ashwin to take the new ball right away against Ambati Rayudu. The offspinner has dismissed Rayudu four times in ten innings while giving away only 64 runs off 57 balls in T20 cricket. Rayudu also had struggled against pace this IPL season, falling three times in three innings for 28 runs off 32 balls. So Kings XI could have R Ashwin and Hardus Viljoen bowling to Rayudu with the new ball.
• Likewise, Dhoni could recall Harbhajan Singh and unleash him on Gayle and KL Rahul. Harbjahan has dismissed Gayle three times in nine innings while he has got Rahul twice in six innings.

Stats that matter

• R Ashwin has taken 43 wickets in 37 matches in the IPL at Chepauk. Only Bravo (44) has more wickets than Ashwin at this venue in the IPL.
• Dhoni is set to play his 150th IPL match for Super Kings on Saturday.
• Kings XI have the best run rate (9.8) between overs seven and 15. Super Kings have the best economy rate (6.3) in the middle overs in IPL 2019.

Alex Lees says that Cameron Bancroft has the full support of his Durham team-mates after being announced as the club’s captain for the County Championship and Royal London Cup campaigns this season.Bancroft hit the headlines last year for his involvement in Australia’s ball-tampering scandal in their Test series against South Africa. He was banned for nine months by Cricket Australia, but that not deter Durham from securing his signature for the coming campaign.Bancroft has since made a successful return to cricket in Australia, and has been confirmed as the successor to Paul Collingwood as skipper for the four-day and 50-over formats when he arrives at Emirates Riverside.Lees believes that the decision to appoint Bancroft was a good move by the club, allowing other players time to develop on the field without the burden of the captaincy.He said: “I think a few fans and cricket spectators may have been surprised. On the field here over the last couple of years it has been indifferent. There are a lot of guys who may have played a lot of cricket, but maybe aren’t assured of their place in the team.”It was a tough decision to make, but for me it was a no-brainer. There’s a mix of experience and inexperience in the squad. Even if it’s for a year or two years it allows the squad to develop and leadership qualities will appear from other members of the team. Once we settle then there will be a clear path for leadership roles.”[Director of Cricket] Marcus North knows Cameron quite well. He has said he’s the right man and we support that. It gives the team a chance to bed in and 12 months down the line we will definitely know where we’re at with the squad of players.”Lees was seemingly a strong candidate for the captaincy, but Durham chief executive Tim Bostock revealed that the former Yorkshire player turned down the role.The opener has admitted that he wanted time to focus on finding his form at the crease after a couple of lean years. However, Lees is comfortable assuming the role on a short-term basis for the County Championship opener against Derbyshire due to Bancroft’s absence.Lees added: “I needed to dedicate a little bit of time to myself to get back to scoring regular runs for Durham, producing match-winning contributions. I think that was the first and foremost plan I had moving from Yorkshire to here.”It’s nothing something I’m looking at this particular moment in time. My main focus is scoring runs. Captaincy is something I have done in the past, and I’ve got no apprehension of what it’s going to be.”It’s a perfect situation. I can do a couple of games here and there for the team, but when Cameron comes I can then concentrate on scoring as many runs as I can. Hopefully in the same way as I did at the start of my career.”Durham travel to Derbyshire for their County Championship opener on April 5 before hosting Sussex a week later when Bancroft is expected to make his debut for the club.

Big picture

There’s a sense of deja vu as Royal Challengers meet Rajasthan Royals, although the roles have reversed from last year. For one, this is a home game for Royal Challengers. As things stand, it could be they who snap the thread by which the visitors’ playoff hopes hang. Not that Royal Challengers don’t stand a mathematical chance of qualifying themselves, but it’d require the kind of miracle that’s more suitable for fantasy fiction.Royals are coming off back-to-back wins, the first time they have been able to do so all tournament, and encouragingly, they have achieved this without Jos Buttler (both games), Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer (both didn’t feature in the second win). The loss of Steven Smith’s leadership is nigh, but not just yet. Their power and touch players alike should enjoy the true surface in Bengaluru, quick bowlers Oshane Thomas and Varun Aaron may not detest it either, and Shreyas Gopal should feel at home. However, they can’t afford leaking runs through sloppy fielding as they did against Sunrisers at home, and despite a player-of-the-match performance last match, Jaydev Unadkat’s dependence on cutters could be tested here.What Royals need is two straight wins; over a team that’s virtually out of contention and perhaps as a result with less to play for, and then over Delhi Capitals, who might have their guard down having already qualified for the playoffs. They shouldn’t expect any favours from either team, and will also need to keep an eye on their net run rate, should they end up tied on 14 points with other contenders.Of course, Royals’ best-case scenario would be to win both matches, and to hope that Sunrisers, Kings XI and Knight Riders all finish on 12 points each, rendering net run-rates irrelevant.

Form guide

Royal Challengers Bangalore: lost to Delhi Capitals by 16 runs, beat Kings XI by 17 runs, beat Super Kings by 1 run
Rajasthan Royals: beat Sunrisers by seven wickets, beat Knight Riders by three wickets, lost to Capitals by six wickets

Previous meeting

Both teams came into the contest winless and it was Royals who had points on the table at the end of it, as Shreyas Gopal spun a web around the Royal Challengers batting line-up. With healthy contributions from their top four, Royals, chasing 159, got over the line with one ball to spare.

Likely XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Heinrich Klaasen/Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Gurkeerat Singh, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Yurzvendra Chahal, 11 Navdeep SainiRajasthan Royals: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Liam Livingstone, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Sanju Samson (wk), 5 Ashton Turner, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Shreyas Gopal, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 Oshane ThomasSanju Samson flicks•BCCI

Strategy punt

• Marcus Stoinis’ demotion to No. 7 in the match against Delhi Capitals was surprising and arguably impacted the eventual outcome. He averages 71 and has a strike rate of 154 at No. 4 this year, his best in any position. He also finds the boundary once every four balls in this position. Royal Challengers would do well to elevate him.
• Since IPL 2017, Sanju Samson has scored at his slowest against offspin and legspin with a strike-rate of 117. The frequency with which he finds the boundary against these two types of bowling is also his lowest at 12.1 and 9.8 respectively. This suggests that Royal Challengers could have the combination of Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar bowling to him in tandem.

Stats that matter

• This will be Steven Smith’s 50th match as captain in all T20s.
• Yuzvendra Chahal needs two wickets to get to 100 in the IPL.
• Virat Kohli needs one win to bring up 50 wins in the IPL as captain.
• Ajinkya Rahane needs 14 runs for 5000 runs in T20s

Triple Olympic gold medal-winning rower Drew Ginn and longtime Justin Langer collaborator Ben Oliver have been formally commissioned as the new high performance executives for Cricket Australia, taking joint control of an area that sprawled into such vast territory under the former czar Pat Howard that the governing body deemed it too large for one person to run.Howard was sacked by the new chief executive Kevin Roberts shortly after he replaced James Sutherland, in the wake of the damning Ethics Centre review of Australian cricket culture that was ordered after the Newlands ball tampering scandal last year. A lengthy search for Howard’s replacement has seen the role filled temporarily by the executive in charge of community cricket, Belinda Clark, as CA stopped and then redefined the recruiting process as being for two jobs rather than one. Ginn will be based in Melbourne and Oliver in Brisbane with the pair starting on July 29.While Howard joined cricket “cold” in 2011, following a career in rugby union, pharmacy and property development, Ginn has moved across from his background in rowing and the Olympic movement via two years as the head of high performance with Tasmania. He will take control of a role primarily responsible for the running of domestic competitions, Australian youth teams, player, coach and umpire pathways including club cricket, talent ID and sports science.”I am looking forward to joining Cricket Australia and having the opportunity to work more broadly across the National system,” Ginn said. “The past two years with Cricket Tasmania have been immensely rewarding.”This is a chance to continue the work I have enjoyed locally and to now work closely with many great people involved in leading our domestic, national and youth competitions along with the leaders of our State programs, and those leaders in our Cricket Australia pathway programs, and our sports science and sports medicine areas.”Peter Roach, the head of cricket operations, will report to Ginn. Roach has also taken over control of scheduling, an area of some difficulty for CA in recent times after India insisted on an ODI tour in mid-January next year. The Big Bash League, Sheffield Shield and domestic one-day tournament programs for next summer are still to be announced.Oliver, a former first-class player for Victoria and Tasmania, held roles with CA, Cricket Victoria and the ICC before working closely with Langer as the high performance manager for Western Australia since 2012. Together, they established a program that was the envy of other states, notably by their use of a squad closely unified between the WA state team and the Perth Scorchers BBL club – a model subsequently used unashamedly by Tasmania and the Hobart Hurricanes.”I have devoted most of my adult life to cricket, in both playing and high-performance roles, and I am extremely proud and humbled to continue that association as EGM, National Teams,” Oliver said. “I look forward to working with Justin Langer and Matthew Mott and their national men’s and women’s teams, as well as national selectors and all those involved in team operations and logistics.”Cricket Australia head office•Getty Images

Among the first items on Oliver’s to-do list will be a look at the national selection panel, which will be shorn of the national talent manager Greg Chappell, currently with the Australian team on World Cup assignment, when he retires at the end of the Ashes series. Having already lost Mark Waugh, who was not replaced last year, that would leave only Langer and the chairman of selectors, Trevor Hohns, as formal members of the panel.Howard’s tenure featured no end of issues, as he sought to work as a change agent to pursue goals outlined in the 2011 Don Argus-led review of Australian team performance, which followed the hefty loss of the Ashes 3-1 at home to England in 2010-11. His hard-nosed and confrontational style did not always go down well across the Australian system, particularly when added to his lack of a cricket background.Alongside numerous issues of workload management for fast bowlers in particular, Howard’s term saw the 2013 homework scandal in India that contributed to the sacking of Mickey Arthur to be replaced by Darren Lehmann in 2013, the death of Phillip Hughes in 2014 and subsequent work to change concussion protocols in the game, winning the World Cup in 2015 on home soil and then suffering a dramatic Ashes defeat in England later that same year.Another run of losses in late 2016, including Test series defeats by Sri Lanka away and South Africa at home, led to Rod Marsh’s resignation as selection chairman and a refocus on the demands for strong performance by the Australian team – Howard and Sutherland visited the team dressing room in Hobart to push that message directly. Results did improve, including a narrow series defeat against a highly fancied India in India in 2017, and the regaining of the Ashes at home in 2017-18, before the Newlands scandal in South Africa led to many changes, including the end of Howard’s time in the job.Clark was left to run the department while a replacement could be found, and it was her opinion that the executive general manager’s role had to be split in two. “Australian cricket owes Belinda a debt of gratitude for the exceptional job she has performed throughout a challenging time for Australian cricket,” Roberts said. “She is one of our game’s greatest trailblazers and servants at all levels and we are delighted that she will resume her role as EGM of Community Cricket in late August after handing over to Ben and Drew and having a well-earned break. It is a critical role and a job she loves.”

Lancashire have made little secret of the fact that they regard themselves as the strongest all-round side in Division Two, and not too many would argue with that assessment, but for once it was not the bowlers running amok but stubborn resistance from their batsmen that served them well as they seek to regain higher status at the first time of asking.With three counties to be promoted this season as part of a divisional restructuring, a Lancashire failure would be hard to countenance, but it needed some workmanlike resistance on the final day at Wantage Road to protect their unbeaten record and stretch their lead over second-placed Glamorgan to seven points.Lancashire never seriously threatened their target of 391 in a minimum of 89 overs, reaching 275 for 4 when stumps were pulled with six overs remaining. The potential for nine overs with the second new ball insisted that a spirited Northants took the game long but in the first over with it Brett Hutton suffered a refused lbw appeal and an edge short of slip in his first over and reality soon dawned.It is below Lancashire where the jostling really starts in Division Two. Glamorgan are the surprise packet of the season and only 29 points separate the rest, led by Derbyshire, who unexpectedly find themselves third after beating Worcestershire at Kidderminster, and propped up by the perennial strugglers Leicestershire.Those of a mind to dismiss Leicestershire’s chances out of hand risk a pep talk from Paul Nixon until it is mathematically impossible. Forty miles up the M1 at Grace Road, Hassan Azad, knew that only too well, stoutly saying after their defeat against Durham: “We don’t feel we are out of it. The table is so close that with five games to go if we can get some forward momentum there is still a chance for us to get in the mix.”At Wantage Road, Haseeb Hameed, given licence to linger, passed fifty for only the second time this season. He was one of four Lancashire batsmen to do so. Alex Davies followed up his career-best 147 with an in-tune 52 and Josh Bohannon (for only the second time this summer) and Dane Vilas both assembled untroubled fifties before a draw was accepted. Make that five fifties if you count the shots played by the next man in, Steven Croft, on the dressing room balcony, his visualised pull shot against the second new ball being particularly impressive.As ever, though, it was the health of Hameed’s game that attracted most attention. He made a century in the opening match of the season at Lord’s, bringing excitable predictions that he had rediscovered the form that brought him an England Test debut back in 2016 but another run of low scores has followed. Given a chance with England too soon because too many experts were carried away by the of his debut, he has had a long road back.Wantage Road, all of a slumber, was an afternoon made for his passivity. Even as India lost in the World Cup semi-final, a spectator popped his head in the press box, more concerned with a Dead Ball signal that he thought had been made for four byes. The pitch was benign,Hameed left well and worked the bowling smartly off his pads before he shouldered arms to a turning offspinner from Rob Keogh early in the final session and lost his off stump.His most anxious phase came against Ben Sanderson after lunch as the lbw decisions (111 for 3 in the 33rd) gave Northants a glimmer of victory. Sanderson on a roll is often when Northants’ cricket comes alive. Hameed top-edged a hook over long leg for six and withstood considerable Northants squawking, twice for slip catches that fell short and once for a stumping when his back foot remained entrenched, or maybe it was a catch when there was fresh air between the bat and the ball, or perhaps for taking too long to adopt his guard, or having his short collar at the wrong angle, or just for being there, defiantly.During Northamptonshire’s second innings, Lancashire were without strike bowler Saqib Mahmood, who suffered an abdominal injury that ruled him out of England Lions’ squad to play Australia A at Canterbury next week. A shame for a career that is catching light slower than had been hoped.Northants batted on for five overs at the start of the day, thrashing another 49 runs to add to their 341. The security was necessary because without it a Lancashire run chase could well have claimed the game. As it is, a draw takes Northants fifth and with a new captain at the helm, Adam Rossington, it would not be natural if they did not join the chorus of sides asserting that this will be their year. The clever money, though, would be better put on Middlesex whose Australian coach Stuart Law finally seems to be battering them into some sort of shape.

Match referees will take the final call on concussion substitutes under new ICC regulations, giving them the power to rule out a replacement player entirely if the referee deems there is no appropriate “like-for-like” player available.The concussion substitute rule will make its start in Test cricket in the first Ashes match between England and Australia at Edgbaston from Thursday, also the opening contest of the inaugural World Test Championship, in which the world’s top nine teams will compete over six bilateral series each to play in a final in England in two years’ time.The ICC’s most senior referee, Ranjan Madugalle, will be the primary arbiter of the new concussion rule, in concert with umpires Aleem Dar, Joel Wilson, Chris Gaffaney and the England and Australia team doctors, Mark Wotherspoon and Richard Saw. Geoff Allardice, the ICC’s operations manager, explained that the match referee would be empowered to decide whether a concussion replacement is appropriate in the circumstances, whether they should be restricted in what they can do in the game, and if a replacement should be disallowed.Mark Adair receives medical attention after being hit on the helmet•Getty Images

“The treatment of the player is the No. 1 priority with this,” Allardice said. “Whether the player is to take no further part in the game comes from the medical staff, and whether there is a replacement available is the secondary consideration. If a player breaks a leg in a game there’s no replacement available with that circumstance either. It is an opportunity for teams to help manage their players better, but there’ll be a bit of a period where we’ll find out the rules and if there are any loopholes with the rules that have been set.”In terms of the like-for-like replacement … the match referee is the sole decision maker on that. Every circumstance is going to be different depending on when the player is requested to be replaced. If a bowler is injured and they’ve only got a batting innings left then the decision might be different than if the same player was injured and they’ve only got a bowling innings left. It’s very much around the circumstances of the game.”The match referee could put conditions on a player being involved. If there is an allrounder replacing a batter, then he might put a condition that that player is unable to bowl during the match. The referee has the flexibility to best accommodate a like-for-like replacement. There will be a period where we’re going to find if there are any loopholes with the rules.”Plenty of questions about the concussion substitute provision have been raised by Australian captain Tim Paine, among others, many around the scenario whereby Nathan Lyon has been chosen as the sole frontline spin bowler in the touring squad. Should Lyon be ruled out of a match while batting, the closest spin replacement Australia may have is Marnus Labuschagne, who would be batting a long way below his usual station at Lyon’s usual No. 10.”The referees will be given guidelines as will the teams around how to interpret those, but it’s very much around what is the likely role of the injured player for the rest of the match, and who is most like for like with the role that player would play,” Allardice said. “The aim of the concussion replacements is to try and make the decision making around payers who’ve sustained injuries and concussions a bit more straightforward.”If there’s any pressure for those players to continue in the game because the team doesn’t want them to be one player short, then there is a replacement player available. The conditions around concussion replacements are the player needs to be concussed, it needs to happen on the field of play during play, it needs to be replaced with a like for like player, which will be up to the discretion of the match referee, and a request for a replacement needs to come within 36 hours of the incident happening.”Another area still being discussed is how to handle matches and series in which a fully accredited team doctor is not present for each team. There is the possibility that in future, the ICC may add an independent doctor to its current travelling officials’ team of three umpires and the match referee.

Kevin Roberts, the Cricket Australia chief executive, has conceded that club cricket is in “gradual decline” and admitted that there is widespread disaffection in the game’s grassroots following numerous signs of anger manifest in reports in the nation’s two major newspaper groups.In May, published a story revealing an old internal document in which Cricket Australia had called for a generational change in the leadership of clubs, spun to suggest that the governing body had “appealed for the dismissal of thousands of long-serving club volunteers”.This week, following the publication of CA’s annual cricket census figures that habitually trumpet an overall increase in participation, the journalist and columnist Malcolm Knox wrote reports suggesting that the governing body vastly over-inflated its figures, making the contention that registered club cricketers number only about 250,000.Roberts, who had declined to be interviewed by Knox before the publication of the story in the on Sunday and instead asked to speak this week after his return home from the UK, conceded a problem area though disputing the precise nature of the figures. He did so in an open letter to all registered club players and volunteers around the country.”Whilst I disagree with the conclusions reached and the figures provided by Malcolm, what came through clearly to me was the sense that some within the cricket community don’t feel they are being heard,” Roberts wrote. “We acknowledge that the number of registered players in traditional club environments has experienced a gradual decline over the past few years, even though total cricket participation continues to grow at a healthy rate.”Cricket clubs, like all club sport, face retention challenges in an increasingly time-poor society. As a volunteer, I also appreciate that leading a cricket club is becoming harder and new volunteers are not always lining up to help the club stalwarts. The commitment to supporting volunteers and making sure the game has a successful and sustainable future is one of Australian cricket’s top priorities under my leadership.”I understand it will take more than a letter from me to make everything better. It’s on me to lead ongoing consultation and action from all of us at Cricket Australia and the State & Territory Cricket Associations who serve their communities. We need to maximise the impact of the millions of dollars we’ve committed to improving community cricket facilities and the 68 new community cricket staff employed by State & Territory Cricket Associations to support clubs and volunteers.”ALSO READ: How many cricketers does Australia really have?Following the announcement of the census results, published a detailed breakdown of CA’s club participation figures, reflecting three consecutive years of decline in club cricket numbers – from 392,812 male and female, senior and junior players in 2016 to 365,076 this year.There has been a renewed focus within CA upon making its own participation numbers more accurate so that funding and resources can be better directed towards problem areas. At the same time, CA’s community cricket chiefs Belinda Clark (currently acting as the head of team performance) and Kieran McMillan have openly acknowledged that more needs to be done to bridge the gap between burgeoning school programs and clubs.”In recent years, we introduced modified junior formats to improve recruitment and retention, started offering free community cricket coaching programs and invested in growing cricket for girls,” Roberts wrote. “These commitments are starting to bear fruit. Providing improved digital support to reduce volunteer workload is another key focus into the future.”Having spent most of my life in cricket clubs as a player, coach, volunteer and parent, I’m passionate about clubs being the heart and soul of their communities. The initiatives I mentioned above are a positive step in the right direction, and we will continue to engage and listen to cricket communities, even if we don’t like what we hear.”Roberts also conceded that some players were counted twice on the way to reaching CA’s overall census participation figures – something he admitted was true even of his own daughter for the fact she plays both club and indoor cricket – but defended the wider methodology used.”When combining school participation programs and registered players, we reach the total participation figure of 1.65 million. Whilst this does include some players more than once, like my daughter who plays club and indoor cricket, it’s simply not true to suggest that total participation is inflated by double-counting most or all registered players,” Roberts said. “We are proud of cricket’s deep connection with local communities and the fact that cricket plays a part in the lives of so many participants across the country.”Like most organisations, we are working to improve our data. Junior clubs will have noticed this with all registrations being managed online this season, a process which makes it much easier for parents and players to register anytime, anywhere. I have had the privilege of meeting many of cricket’s employees, players and volunteers throughout my lifetime of involvement in cricket.”Cricket has helped shape who we are, and in some cases, has seen us become friends for life. Your passion and commitment to the game are key reasons why cricket is such a strong part of our nation’s fabric.”

Guyana Amazon Warriors kept pace with Trinbago Knight Riders on the opening weekend of CPL 2019, as a fiery half-century from Nicholas Pooran helped them score 72 off the final four overs at Providence, putting a total on the board in the process that was well out of reach of Barbados Tridents. It gave them a 47-run win, which meant that Amazon Warriors ended their initial home slate with three wins from three to equal the Knight Riders on six points, while the rest of the teams remained winless.Pooran struck 61 off 30 balls with five sixes to light up the ground. Romario Shepherd then lit up the stumps in the chase, sitting on a hat-trick at one stage in the process of taking 4 for 13 in just 2.4 overs, as Tridents were bowled out for 133 in just 16.4 overs.A rough night for NurseAshley Nurse had a rough night. Having to go solo after his legspinning wingman Sandeep Lamichhane left the field after one over due to a bad reaction from a topical cream, Nurse went wicketless for 38 runs in his four overs. But worse, he spilled Chandrapaul Hemraj on a fairly straightforward chance off a full toss spliced to extra cover on 37. It allowed the opener to sustain momentum after a pair of early setbacks.Jason Holder had bounced out Brandon King in the second over while Shimron Hetmyer’s sliced drive was intercepted by a brilliant effort diving left at backward point by USA’s Hayden Walsh Jr., on as a sub for Lamichhane. Shoaib Malik was the third batsman to fall for a single-digit score when he edged Roshon Primus behind attempting to run a single to third man, and the tenth over ended on 63 for 3.But the home side scored 117 off their last ten overs, aided in part by the platform laid by Hemraj. Nurse atoned for his error in the 16th, running back from point to claim a skier off of Raymon Reifer’s bowling, but Hemraj had made 63 by that stage, and done a solid job building the foundation for Pooran and Sherfane Rutherford to launch from.Pooran turns it onThe wicketkeeper-batsman put on a sensational hitting display in the waning overs. Rutherford had provided an appetiser with four sixes muscled over the leg side and long-off in a stretch from the 17th through the first ball of the 19th. But Pooran came on strike and provided fans with the main course to lap up when he creamed five sixes off the last eight balls of the innings. He started with a pair of flicks over long-on before working his away around to long-off and finally cover. Almost every ball was pitched on off stump, but his clever use of the crease allowed him to spray the ball at will over different parts of the boundary. The pair left the Tridents shell-shocked heading into the innings break.Striking goldHemraj’s night wasn’t done after his first-innings half-century. He began the chase wiping out prized CPL recruit Alex Hales for a golden duck with a delivery that kept low and Tridents failed to get the wheels going after that. Shoaib continued to cycle through his spinners for the first eight overs as more breakthroughs followed.Shadab Khan struck twice – Johnson Charles caught at deep midwicket and debutant Leniko Boucher at mid-off – before Jonathan Carter dragged Shoaib on defending away from his body. Holder then committed a blunder with a slow response to a drive over cover by JP Duminy, allowing Keemo Paul’s relay to Chris Green to catch him short. Duminy soon dragged on to Paul as well, leaving the score 75 for 6 at the strategic time-out.Shepherd then wiped out the tail in quick time. Nurse’s aggressive counter-attack ended when he was brilliantly caught down the leg side by Pooran, who anticipated an attempted scoop to pull off a fantastic diving catch to his left. Reifer lost track of his stumps shuffling across and was bowled behind his legs first-ball to put Shepherd on a hat-trick. He ended the match in his next over. Primus flat-batted a slog to long-on before Lamichhane was yorked to send everyone home early.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has decided to raise the beep-test requirement at the domestic level in a bid to address the overall drop in fitness levels among Bangladesh men’s players. The national selectors recently instructed the first-class teams to only pick players who reach at least 11 on the test, an increase by two levels from last season when a fitness test first became mandatory.”We have noticed that the fitness of the national players are very poor,” Nazmul Hassan, the BCB president, said. “The coach [Russell Domingo] asked, ‘What sort of fitness is this? I have never seen such fitness of players in South Africa’. We cannot suddenly increase the fitness-level requirements. We cannot reach the mark of 13 points [in the beep test] or even go above that.”So, there has been a decision regarding this, that if we keep the fitness acceptance levels so low in the domestic or lower-tier competitions from where the players get into the national side, then naturally the players in the national side will only score nine or ten in the beep test. Now let’s see. We have taken the decision after considering everything. I think we have to improve the fitness.”But the new requirement, made known to the cricketers three weeks prior to the start of the 2019-20 season, has not gone down well with some. Tushar Imran, the leading first-class run-scorer, said it was unfair on the part of the selectors to impose it so close to the season.”I am always prepared to take up a challenge,” Tushar told , “but it is not fair to say that we can’t play if we can’t reach 11. Cricket is our bread and butter. It is going to be difficult for a lot of cricketers.”A lot of ‘super-fit’ players from the senior side are not scoring a lot of runs or taking wickets. What will the selectors do with them? [But] we are prepared to take the challenge, because it is our livelihood.”Former Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful argued that only players in the national side or in the high-performance camp will get the necessary facilities to raise their fitness levels.”It wouldn’t have been any problem to get 11 if we were given proper training facilities in the off-season,” he said. “I got 11.5 last year, but these facilities are only available to the national team, the high-performance side and the Under-23 team. I remain hopeful that I can do 11.5 this year too, since I never had fitness concerns when playing for Bangladesh.”Shuvagata Hom, a domestic star who has played 17 international matches, said that if a certain fitness level was set as a requirement, the domestic players should have been given more time to be prepared for it.”It is going to be difficult for players outside the national set-up,” Hom said, “because we hardly get seven to ten days of training for the first-class competition. We don’t get to do long fitness camps, which would have helped us reach that stage in fitness when asked to take this beep test at a short notice.”The first-class sides will announce their squads after the fitness test, which is likely to be held on October 1. The National Cricket League begins on October 5.