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Wes Hall, the former West Indies fast bowler, has said he is “astonished and saddened” at the board’s remarks over a recent press conference he addressed. Hall denied saying that the Stanford 20/20 board, of which he is a member, “was frustrated over the use of Stanford funding by the WICB”, a comment which was termed as “reckless, baseless and grossly inaccurate” by the WICB.”In more than 50 years involved in West Indies cricket, I have never known the WICB deliver such a fierce tirade against anyone,” Hall was quoted as saying in the . “West Indies cricket has been my life. To have such condemnation wrongly directed at me by the WICB is torrentially tasteless.”Hall said a tape recording of the conference confirmed he did not mention the WICB in his statement, made at a press conference last week. “Stanford gave money as part of its development plan directly to the 20 individual territorial boards that participated in the regional 20/20 tournament, some of which are not even members of the WICB, and not to the WICB,” he said. Hall explained he was misquoted by a Jamaican daily, which said “the Stanford board was a bit frustrated because we give them (WICB) the money and they put it on fixed deposit and spent in on non-cricketing things”.”The ‘them’ was a reference to the relevant territorial boards, not to the WICB,” he said. “The only money that the WICB has received from Stanford is US$2 million annual licence fee for sanctioning the regional Stanford 20/20. There is also the proposed US$3.5 million annually for the Stanford Super Series over the next three years.”In a statement, the WICB “regretted that its former chairman [Hall] was associated with such a gross misrepresentation of the facts which are that the Stanford Group has been woefully short on its promise to facilitate cricket development in the Caribbean”.”Everyone knows that one board initially put the Stanford money on a fixed deposit account and spent only $37 for a case of Gatorade and that another used it for purposes other than intended,” Hall said. “If the WICB doesn’t know that, it shows how out of touch it is.”Because of a lack of accountability by some boards, representatives of all territorial boards were assembled in St Croix last March to review the status of their funding.” Hall explained. He said each board participating in the Stanford 20/20 tournament had initially received US$100,000 to prepare their players and upgrade facilities, and were later given $15,000 a month as part of the Stanford 20/20 development programme.”The system was changed so that each board had to submit its bills to be paid directly by Stanford 20/20,” he said. “As I said at the press conference in Antigua, Sir Allen Stanford is very rich, but he’s not a benevolent fund, and you have to obey the rules.”

ScorecardA mismatch on paper, a mismatch on the pitch. Pakistan stormed to an easy seven-wicket win over Zimbabwe, knocking off the required 108 runs with Shoaib Khan jnr stroking an even 50. In winning, Pakistan have reached the final.Zimbabwe briefly threatened to make it a contest thanks to an aggressive and uncomplicated 53 from Hamilton Masakadza, but none of his team-mates could match his ability in shot-selection. The next highest score was extras with 18, and against a batting side of the depth and natural strokeplay of Pakistan, their bowlers were equally unable to defend such a low total.Nevertheless, Masakadza briefly exposed the rustiness in Pakistan’s armoury, taking a particular fancy to Abdur Rauf. After he was cracked behind square off the back foot, Masakadza then swivelled a six over square leg, before bettering this with two stronger pulls off Anwar Ali, one of which landed on the road. Pakistan’s bowling was predictably short, and Zimbabwe took toll to bring up their fifty in just the sixth over.At the other end, Cephas Zhuwawo was virtually static in his scoring, and a top-edge off Umar Gul failed to help his confidence. An ugly slog-sweep off Shoaib Malik sent him back in the next over, and Pakistan had their breakthrough at 62 for 1. There was very little substance or fight thereafter from Zimbabwe, and Fawad Alam took centre-stage. A bullet-throw from the deep ran out Masakadza, who had just brought up a fine 35-ball fifty while Shahid Afridi beat Tatenda Taibu in the flight. Chamu Chibhabha hung around for 35 minutes, scoring 8, and became Alam’s second wicket when he slapped him to long-off.From 81 for 1, Zimbabwe lost 7 for 26, and a target of 108 was never likely to trouble Pakistan. They did lose their gun-opener, Afridi – typically attempting orbit and beyond with a huge heave – but Khan and Salman Butt played a fine hand with a partnership of 96 in just over 15 overs.After losing Afridi, Khan propelled Pakistan forward with a classical off-drive, bisecting mid-off and the stumps, before he lifted Chigumbura for another over his head. Butt took toll of Chigumbura’s floaty half-volleys, launching one over his head as Pakistan sprinted to the finishing line. No Zimbabwe bowler was spared – Ray Price began poorly with five wides down to fine-leg, and lacked control thereafter.Unfortunately, Khan fell for 50 from 54 balls when he was brilliantly caught by Taibu, diving to his right. Appropriately, however, it allowed Alam to come in and flick the winning runs down to fine leg, as Pakistan eased home with an over to spare.

England’s Sarah Tayor, the youngest player in the history of women’s cricket to score 1,000 one-day runs, has said she learnt much from team-mate Claire Taylor, ranked the No. 1 batsman in the new ICC rankings for women’s one-day cricket.”Personally the one thing I really learnt from her is to bat in gears. She is one of these players that writes messages on her arms to get her through an innings and she always used to write ‘gears’ on her arm,” said Sarah, 19. “At first I was a bit naïve to and I went out and played how I wanted and hoped it would pay off.”Learning from Claire and Charlotte Edwards, people who I always wanted to play with when I was younger as they are your idols, I understood what gears was, so you start in off in first gear and work your way through. She has been a tremendous help and always give me a few words of advice.”Sarah admitted making the No. 4 spot in the new ICC rankings, launched in Mumbai on Thursday, was a surprise. “It was only from an interview in a match this summer where somebody asked about the ICC rankings and somebody said that I would be involved in it that I had an idea that I would be anywhere close,” she said. “I had no idea I was going to be in the top five – I thought I would be somewhere near the bottom.”I was really shocked when I turned on the computer this morning. I will be checking it more often now. The competition is there now and if you know somebody is higher you want to try and beat them.”Sarah also hoped to reach the top spot at some point. “I just hope to continue the way I am playing and more records will be broken,” she said.England will train in Bangalore in November in preparation for the ICC Women’s World Cup in March. “If we can prove to people how hard we work and what a team we are, to say we are World Cup winners in Australia – that would be fantastic as well,” said Sarah.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has rejected the retirement letters of the ‘rebel’ players who have joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL), maintaining that they violated their contracts by not giving prior notice.”We are not accepting their retirement letters,” Gazi Ashraf, chairman of the BCB’s cricket operations committee, told the Dhaka-based . “They didn’t mention when would their retirements be effective from.”It was also totally unacceptable the way they talked with the media and hence they breached the code of conduct. The cricket operations committee will table their recommendations to the emergency meeting and they will ultimately take the decision. And definitely everything will be decided in line with the ICC’s decision about unauthorised competition last March.”The BCB officials met with their legal experts yesterday to make the guideline for the meeting. Ashraf said that the BCB would welcome the players back if they approached the board. “Still our door is open for them but time and tide wait for none in this world,” he said. “It’s true we will miss their international experience but we have players in the pipeline. And I request everybody to look at their recent performance.”According to Hossain, the BCB’s mistake was it followed the previous regime’s players’ contract document where there were ” a number of loopholes”. He said the BCB would update it and aim to improve the financial benefits for players in domestic competitions.The Dhaka Warriors, the ICL’s newest franchise, comprises Habibul Bashar, the former national captain, recent internationals Aftab Ahmed, Alok Kapali, Shahriar Nafees, Farhad Reza, Dhiman Ghosh, Mosharraf Hossain, Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baisya, Manjural Islam and Mohammad Sharif, reserve wicketkeeper Golam Mabud, and Mahbubul Karim, part of the Bangladesh Academy team currently touring Sri Lanka.Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh coach, said the exodus had been expected and that it will be impossible to get the players back. “We can’t afford to lose that many players on a regular basis,” Siddons told AFP. “We’ll replace these guys with young players but my biggest concern is the ICL will come knocking again next year. The guys who were going are gone and the guys who are staying can get on with the job.”Naimur Rahman, Bangladesh’s first Test captain and current national selector and president of the Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB), condemned the players’ move to the ICL. “We have little resources and few players,” he said. “We can’t think like other countries in this regard.”Aminul Islam, a former Bangladesh captain who is also a member of the CWAB, labeled the attitude of the ‘rebels’ as ‘unprofessional and childish’. “I saw no reason for them to retire,” he said. “If they gave specific grounds for resignation, then I would have no problem with it. Their steps will be harmful because it showed the wrong way for the future generations. I wouldn’t call them blackmailers, but definitely it was a childish and unprofessional decision.”One of them said that the coach [Jamie Siddons] misbehaved with him. Most of us have heard worse things but never came out in public,” said Islam. “Another said that he wasn’t assured of his spot in the team but he has been in the team for the past year. Only one’s performance can assure him a place in a national team.”

Shoaib Akhtar has had to put his plans to join Surrey on hold after arriving in the UK without the proper visa. He has been forced to head back to Pakistan, but is still hopefully of joining the county once the paperwork is completed.Although the Pakistan Cricket Board had given Akhtar a No Objection Certificate, clearing the way for him to play in Surrey’s last three County Championship matches, the visa problems mean that the plan has been put on hold.Shoaib holds a long-term visitor visa for the UK, but requires a working visa to be able to play county cricket. “I am disappointed, but there are rules to follow,” Akhtar told AFP. “I will now complete the documents here and fly back to London possibly on Saturday. I am desperate to play for Surrey.”Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon told The Mirror: “We did everything we could to get him here, but it hasn’t worked out. We thought he’d make an impact as he wanted to get his career up and running again.””We have cleared Shoaib to play county cricket,” Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, told the on Wednesday. “The bowler has been out of competitive cricket for quite sometime and needs to regain his match fitness. We believe a short county stint might help him in doing that.”The Pakistan board has been wary of allowing its fast bowlers to play county cricket because of the toll it takes on them. “We’ve been stopping our fast bowlers from playing for counties because in the past such stints have affected their form and fitness,” Naghmi said.”But Shoaib’s case is different. He hasn’t played much cricket in recent times and can actually benefit from a county stint.” The PCB had prevented Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif from taking up county contracts last year though it later compensated both financially for the loss of earnings.Shoaib has previously had county stints with Durham, Somerset and Worcestershire. He has played only one first-class match this year and was banned by the PCB for five years in April. The ban was subsequently suspended and Shoaib was picked for the Champions Trophy but he still has to pay a fine of Rs 7 million (approx US$92,000) to the board.”The past eight months were disappointing, but now I am focused on my return,” he said. “I want to bowl at least 15-20 overs in an innings and gain rhythm because we are hosting India late in the year.”

Suhrawadi Shuvo will lead a 14-member Bangladesh National Cricket Academy squad for a short tour of South Africa next month. The tour includes two four-day games in Pretoria, starting August 8, followed by three one-dayers.Making a comeback from injury is Marshall Ayub, the Under-19 batsman. Announcing the squad at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur on Tuesday, Rafiqul Alam, the chief selector, said Ayub had fully recovered from the knee injury which kept him out for a year.”Marshall is now fully fit to play competitive cricket and has been practising with the academy players for the last one and a half months,” Alam said.The squad doesn’t include any of the Bangladesh A cricketers currently in England. “We picked the best side from the available 19 academy players as six of them are travelling with the Bangladesh A team in England,” Alam said. “We excluded the players touring in England as getting a South African visa for them from England would be difficult.”Shakil Kasem, the head of the development committee, said such tours are important to cover for the shortcomings of the domestic structure in the country. He added that former and current national players like Mohammad Rafique, Khaled Mashud and Mohammad Ashraful will interact with the squad on August 2, two days before departure.”It is the breeding ground. The next four-five years is very important for us because we have to produce some quality players to fill the gap,” Kasem said. “As our domestic competitions are not organised enough, where will these players get seasoned before entering the international stage? So we have to concentrate more on the academy team.”

The ICC has taken the first significant step towards resolving the contentious issue of unauthorised cricket – including the status of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) – by setting up a high-powered committee to study its legal aspects. It has also discussed the issue of global agreements to prevent cricketers from appearing in such games, Cricinfo has learnt.The committee, which was formalised during the ICC’s annual meeting in Dubai last week, includes Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, Norman Arendse, the Cricket South Africa president, Shashank Manohar, the BCCI’s president-elect, Lalit Modi, a vice-president of the BCCI [and the IPL’s chairman and commissioner] and David Becker, the ICC’s senior counsel – business and commercial.The committee was set up after officials were made aware the ICL may explore the possibility of coming under the governing body’s umbrella as “a kind of authorised unofficial cricket” under a specific rule that deals with exhibition matches and other games of a similar nature. It is understood that preliminary discussions took place in Bangalore during a meeting of key ICC board members on April 18, before the inaugural IPL game.When asked about the committee and its objectives, an ICC spokesperson said, “The purpose of the group is to ensure that whatever conclusion is reached is in the best interests of the game.”The issue of the ICL and its status came into focus on the sidelines of the ICC annual meeting last week when officials from India, England, Australia and South Africa met for a discussion on the proposed Twenty20 Champions League.While India, Australia and South Africa are clear that players associated with the ICL cannot take part in the league, England will have to take a tough call on the issue as around 25 ICL players are currently playing for 15 English counties. Officially, the ECB does not support any involvement with unofficial cricket but, in this situation, has to operate within the stringent trade laws in England.The ICC, meanwhile, has also sent a letter to the ICL seeking details of its correspondence with the BCCI on the issue of their status in the game. An ICL official told Cricinfo the letter was received last week and added the league is yet to send its response. Himanshu Mody, the ICL’s business head, confirmed the development to Cricinfo but declined to comment on it. When asked about the letter, the ICC spokesperson said, “Dialogue and correspondence on the subject is ongoing.”According to ICL officials, they had first written to the BCCI in April 2007 informing them about their plans to hold a city-based Twenty20 league. “But they reacted harshly to the issue,” an official said.The BCCI is very clear it would not budge on the ICL. “We had received two or three letters from the ICL, but we made our position very clear early that they cannot be recognised,” a BCCI official said. The BCCI has barred all official contact with players associated with ICL and expects all other members of the ICC to align with them on the issue.The ICL has already organised three Twenty20 tournaments and a 50-over competition but its status was placed on the international cricket stage this April by Malcolm Speed, the former ICC CEO, who said the governing body had received a letter from the league seeking clarity on their existence. Speed, who was since told to go on “paid leave” by the ICC before his successor Haroon Lorgat took charge last week, had also said that the issue was being handled by the ICC’s lawyers.Later, Dave Richardson, who took over from Speed on an interim basis, said the ICC would go by the BCCI’s policy towards ICL. “The ICL is a domestic event that takes place in India so our rules prescribe that any decision as to whether an event be regarded as official or not must be made by the country that event is played in,” Richardson had said.

Stanford Twenty20, bankrolled by Allen Stanford, the Antigua-based billionaire, has resumed developmental funding for regional cricket boards in the West Indies. Funding had stopped earlier this year, after Stanford wasn’t impressed with the accountability of the respective boards.After meeting with the chief executives of the regional boards, it was decided that the sum of $15000 would be paid per month for development purposes. Forbes Persaud, the Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) chief executive, said he was happy that funding had resumed and stressed the TTCB intended to make full use of what was on offer.”We at the TTCB are very happy for whatever funding we receive to assist with our running of the cricket. To run cricket is very expensive and we are very grateful for the help from Stanford,” Persaud told . “We have a number of development programmes that we think are essential to our cricketers and which have been working for us and we intend to use this contribution to assist in that way.”Stanford Twenty20 also indicated that the US$15,000 sum needed to be used up each month, as there would be no rolling over to the next month.This has brought some concerns from the boards, as some indicated that in certain months of the year their development programmes would carry them over the prescribed mark while in other months, the cost would be less.

John Dyson, the West Indies coach, is optimistic of Chris Gayle’s chances of playing the third and final Test against Australia at Kensington Oval starting on Thursday. Gayle, the team’s captain, has been out of action since the third one-dayer against Sri Lanka in April, missing the Indian Premier League and the first two Tests against Australia with a groin injury.Dyson said he was happy with Gayle’s rehabilitation in the nets and didn’t rule out the possibility of risking him even if not fully fit. “He’s been in the nets,” Dyson told . “Even during the rehabilitation phase of the injury, he’s been in the nets and has been hitting the ball very well in the nets. It’s not ideal, but that’s the way it is, and we’ll make sure he gets some extra good practice next week.”He might have to put up with a little bit of discomfort, and we’ll get the opinion from the medical team. If they say ‘look, we don’t think it will be damaged and he is able to play’, it’s worth the risk then.”Dyson is hoping for a sporting pitch in Barbados, unlike the surface prepared for the second Test in Antigua. There were 1341 runs scored for the loss of 28 wickets at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, where the match ended in a draw despite Australia declaring twice.Resistance from Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul helped West Indies bat out the final day and end on 266 for 5, chasing a challenging 372 to square the series after losing the first Test. Barbados will be hosting its first Test since 2005 and Dyson hoped the pitch would give the fast bowlers some assistance.”I hope for a good cricket wicket,” Dyson said. “My definition of a good cricket wicket is that for a Test match on the first day, if you are a genuinely quick bowler and you’re prepared to try hard, you’ll get some assistance. That will flatten out for days two and three and be a good batting wicket. On day four, it might start to spin and on day five, who knows, it might spin a lot. It might help the medium-pacers if it cracks a bit.”Reflecting on the drawn Test, the first between the two sides since 1995, Dyson said it was always going to be difficult to produce a result compared to the surface used in Jamaica, where Australia won by 95 runs. “I thought the Jamaica wicket was actually pretty good, it was a little slower than I thought it might be,” he said. “The one in Antigua, there was just nothing in it for the pace bowlers. I was surprised by that.”Dyson drew positives from the second Test and backed the efforts of his side in the field in the second innings, especially after some dropped catches and misfields in the first. “I was happy with the result of the second Test,” he said. “I thought we played some good cricket.”I think players like Shiv [Shivnarine Chanderpaul] and Sars [Ramnaresh Sarwan] and [Dwayne] Bravo batted well, and Xavier Marshall as well.They all put in good performances with the bat. The bowlers worked hard on an unresponsive wicket and we lifted our fielding in the second innings so they were some good things happening in the Tests.”

Big picture

IPL 2021 was the first time that the Royal Challengers Bangalore won more than two games in a row at the start of a season. In fact, they won their first four matches. In a tournament in which they have promised much but not delivered a title, it seemed like just the Royal Challengers’ luck that such an event would happen. However, the break might have actually done the franchise good, because they’ve got a squad that looks rather stronger than the already good unit they had at the start of the tournament. The loss of Washington Sundar to injury is significant, but in the bargain, they have gained Wanindu Hasaranga, Tim David, Dushmantha Chameera and George Garton – a quartet that looks more potent than the ones they’ve lost: Adam Zampa, Daniel Sams, Finn Allen and Kane Richardson.

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In comparison, Kolkata Knight Riders’ only replacement between the two halves of the IPL has been Tim Southee in place of Pat Cummins who has withdrawn from the second leg of the league.At this point, both teams are exactly halfway through their league campaign, and have mirror-image results: the Royal Challengers have won five and lost two games, while the Knight Riders have won two and lost five. That’s an accurate reflection of how well each side did in the first half. Whether it’s a portent of what’s to come in the second remains to be seen.Related

• Virat Kohli set to become first player to 200 IPL matches for a single team

• Narine in CPL team of the tournament

• Washington ruled out of remainder of IPL 2021

• Southee replaces Cummins at KKR

In the news

With Cummins absent, the Knight Riders could bring in Lockie Ferguson’s fiery pace. Ferguson had tested positive for Covid-19 about a month ago in England, but has recovered now and reached the UAE after returning a negative test. The other three Knight Riders’ overseas spots are a lock-in, with captain Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine – the latter two in good form in CPL 2021, particularly Narine. They have the option of Shakib Al Hasan, but it’ll be tough to look past how well Narine bowled in the CPL.For the Royal Challengers, Hasaranga is expected to slot into the XI straightaway as the fourth overseas player alongside AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell and Kyle Jamieson. Washington’s injury also opens the doors for Shahbaz Ahmed to be potential starter in the XI. Garton, who had a good outing on the Blast finals day with bat and ball, will be unavailable for selection for the Royal Challengers. He is scheduled to fly to UAE on Monday and will then have to complete a mandatory quarantine period. He remains an unlikely starter for the team in any case.0:59

Morgan: ‘We are a dangerous side, with nothing to lose’

Likely XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Nitish Rana, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Lockie Ferguson, 9 Kamlesh Nagarkoti/Shivam Mavi, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Prasidh KrishnaRoyal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 Rajat Patidar, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Kyle Jamieson, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Strategy punt

• Dinesh Karthik has a marked difference when coming in later in the innings than earlier. Since IPL 2020, whenever Karthik has come in before the 13th over, he has averaged 12.50 and struck at 116. There’s a sea-change when he’s come in after the 13th over, averaging 104 and striking at 171. The strategy for KKR should be clear: don’t bat Karthik in a fixed position, rather bat him at fixed times. Unless Russell is still in the shed, it would be worth sending Karthik in when a wicket falls near the death overs, even if it means he goes in ahead of Morgan, for example.
• In the first half of IPL 2021 in India, de Villiers hit a game-plan that proved largely successful for him. He was knocking the ball around in the middle overs, and exploding at the death. His middle-overs strike rate was just 92, the lowest among batters with at least 50 runs in that phase. However, his death-overs strike rate was 243, the second highest in that phase. de Villiers is adaptable enough to tinker with that approach if the need arises, but his method demonstrates how tough it is to bowl to him once set, which is why the Royal Challengers can afford de Villiers a few balls to do that. Having Maxwell coming in just before him also helps, since the burden of big-hitting is not exclusively on de Villiers.

Stats that matter

• Kohli is set to play his 200th IPL game when he leads the Royal Challengers against the Knight Riders. He’ll be the fifth to get there after MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, but the only one to do it all for a single franchise.
• Kohli is also only 71 runs shy of becoming just the fifth man to amass 10,000 runs in T20 cricket, behind Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Shoaib Malik and David Warner.
• Russell and de Villiers have each been the nemesis for the other’s team in the IPL’s recent past. Since IPL 2019, no one has hit more sixes against the Royal Challengers than Russell (19 – joint most with KL Rahul but in one fewer innings). In that same period, no one has hit more than de Villiers’ 13 sixes against the Knight Riders.