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The England players have apologised for their celebrations at The Oval after winning the Ashes 3-0 on Sunday

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-2013The England players have apologised for their celebrations at The Oval after winning the Ashes 3-0 on Sunday. There were reports – neither officially confirmed nor denied – that they had urinated on the pitch but the statement issued via the ECB on Wednesday did not go into the specifics of the incident.”The England cricket team would like to state that during our celebrations after winning the Ashes at no time was there any intention to disrespect Surrey CCC, The Oval or anyone else involved in the game we love,” the statement read.”As a team we pride ourselves on respecting all things cricket including the opposition and the grounds we play at. We got carried away amongst the euphoria of winning such a prestigious series and accept that some of our behaviour was inappropriate.”If that has caused any offence to anyone we apologise for that and want to reassure people that it was a simple error of judgement more than anything else.”Australian cricket journalists were still at The Oval after the crowds had dispersed when they reported seeing several England players taking it turns to relieve themselves on the pitch. It is not known how many players were involved.

Rahul Sharma said he had always believed he would come out of the drugs scandal that threatened to derail his career in 2012

Kanishkaa Balachandran in Bangalore21-Sep-2013Rahul Sharma, the India A legspinner, has said he always had the self-belief to overcome the drugs scandal that threatened to derail his career and prove he has plenty to offer with his bowling skills. Rahul took his maiden five-for in T20 cricket on Saturday, helping India A win the only T20 against West Indies A by 93 runs in Bangalore.Rahul had been picked for the first one-dayer, when he took 2 for 57 but was dropped for the next two. He was recalled for the T20 and his 5 for 23 sent West Indies A packing in 16.2 overs while chasing an improbable 215.”I am pleased to return with good performances after the IPL in 2012,” Rahul said. “It was a tough phase for me and I used to feel bad about it even during this season. But I had the belief that I could come out of it quickly and do well.”Rahul and his Pune Warriors team-mate, the South Africa fast bowler Wayne Parnell, were among 90 people detained following a party at a hotel in the Juhu suburb of Mumbai on May 20 last year, a day after the Warriors’ IPL 2012 campaign ended. According to reports, recreational drugs were consumed at the party. Both players were charged for consuming drugs in March this year but were allowed to play in IPL 2013.Rahul took four wickets in the three-match unofficial ODI series against New Zealand A recently and was named in the limited-overs squads against West Indies A. On Saturday, he dismissed Kirk Edwards for a first-ball duck, getting him to drive to mid-off. He then had the innings top-scorer Andre Fletcher bowled for 32, trying to sweep. He gave the batsman a salute send-off to stir things up. Faced with a mounting asking rate, the lower order gifted away their wickets in pursuit of runs.”The coaches, team-mates and captains believed in me. I had met Narendra Hirwani and he gave me some tips and shared his experience with me. I had a chance to speak to Anil [Kumble] as well,” Rahul said. “I’m looking to take this performance forward.”

Sri Lanka batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan is set to retire from Test cricket

Sa'adi Thawfeeq09-Oct-2013Sri Lanka batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan is set to retire from Test cricket. A Sri Lanka Cricket media release on Wednesday stated that Dilshan will hold a press conference on Thursday to make a formal announcement.”I have taken this decision to allow Sri Lanka Cricket to groom another youngster in my place,” Dilshan, 36, said on Wednesday. “I was to announce my retirement after the Zimbabwe Test series but unfortunately the tour was postponed.”Sri Lanka was to tour Zimbabwe from October and the tour itinerary included two Tests. The aggressive opener made his Test debut in 1999 against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo and scored 163 in his second match. In a Test career spanning 14 years, Dilshan played 87 Tests and scored 5492 runs at an average of 40.98.His 16 Test centuries included a career-best 193 against England at Lord’s in 2011 as captain.Dilshan will continue to play in the shorter formats for his country, however. “I will discuss my future with the national selectors and if they need me I will play till the 2015 World Cup,” Dilshan said.Dilshan had suggested he was nearing the end of his Test career as early as December last year, during the Australia Test series, in which he made the highest score, with 147 in Hobart. He had also hit a hundred in Galle, during his last Test series in March.He is the first of the three senior players to quit Tests, and his departure will create further problems for Sri Lanka at the top of the order, where Sri Lanka have struggled to find a consistent opening partner for him in recent years.Dimuth Karunaratne has shown promise in that position during the last year, but with the selectors having seemingly jettisoned Tharanga Paranavitana and Upul Tharanga from their long-term plan for Tests, Sri Lanka will now likely have to blood another opener, before Karunaratne has secured his place in the team.With seven away Tests approaching in the first half of 2013, Dilshan’s retirement will place added pressure on Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, with middle-order batsmen Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal also in the early stages of their Test careers.Sri Lanka also lose their best fielder in Dilshan, as well as an off-spin option. He has 39 Test wickets at an average of 43.87.

George Bailey is intent on proving his worth as a long-form batsman before the Australian squad for the first Ashes Test is named, flying directly to Brisbane in order to take part in Tasmania’s Sheffield Shield fixture against Queensland

Daniel Brettig03-Nov-2013George Bailey is intent on proving his worth as a long-form batsman before the Australian squad for the first Ashes Test is named, flying directly to Brisbane in order to take part in Tasmania’s Sheffield Shield fixture against Queensland from November 6.Members of the ODI squad in India were allowed to make their own decision on whether they would be available for the second Shield round, only two days after their return home from the subcontinent. Bailey, however, has chosen to take part in the match against the Bulls and their strong pace attack as the best way of demonstrating his credentials.Bailey is strongly favoured to be chosen as the sixth batsman in Australia’s team for the first Ashes Test in Brisbane, irrespective of how seriously Shane Watson’s hamstring turns out to have been damaged by his bowling and batting in a lost cause at Bangalore. Bailey had the option of returning to Hobart for a few days’ rest and to not play again until after the Ashes squad had been named on November 12.But he is aware of not having played first-class matches since a brief county stint with Hampshire early in the English summer, and also that any questions marks around his inclusion are based on a poor domestic record last summer. Runs in Brisbane would silence those doubts.”I don’t think there will be any major challenges with guys getting back into first-class cricket,” Bailey said after the Bangalore defeat. “We’ve all played a lot of cricket in Australia, we know the conditions, we’re familiar with what is on offer. But you’ve just got to try and adjust really quickly.”Obviously the format is different and the red ball offers different challenges. It’s not going to be a surprise to us, but it’s just about taking back the same sort of mindset. Certainly what I’ve been training for in the nets and working with Diva [Michael DiVenuto, batting coach] is not to be too different from one-day to four-day cricket, so hopefully that transpires.”Over the weekend, Bailey was the subject of numerous glowing features in the Australian press, declaring his status as Australia’s man of the hour and a welcome level head to add to a batting line-up that changed constantly during the earlier Ashes bout in England. However the former captain Ian Chappell, who alongside Shane Warne has been a longtime critic, offered a contrary view in his Sunday column, asking the national selectors to see beyond the hype around Bailey and look elsewhere.”A selector has to look past the number of runs and see the batsmanship,” Chappell wrote in Sydney’s . “Bailey, despite his mountain of runs in one-day cricket, is a batsman who’s restricted through the cover region, can be stifled by good spinners and is troubled by well-directed short-pitched bowling. His moderate first-class record and those limitations are not a good template for a Test batsman.”Facing a quality England attack on bouncy Australian pitches is a far cry from what Bailey has been relishing in India. Batting on pitches that bowlers find as helpful as a Parisian asked for directions in English and against an Indian attack more benevolent than the Bill Gates Foundation, has little bearing on what’s looming at the Gabba and beyond.”There’s also a chasm of difference between batting against a pedestrian attack hoping to contain and top-class bowling predators seeking wickets with field placings to reflect those widely varying approaches. The Australian selectors have to ignore the clamouring from a Board and a public that are desperate for victory over England and choose a combination that gives the side their best chance of winning.”With another Tasmanian Test aspirant Alex Doolan seconded to play for Australia A against the Englishmen in Hobart, Bailey may find himself batting higher than his customary middle-order post for the Tigers.

Ishant Sharma’s sixth five-wicket haul ensured Haryana were bundled cheaply for 138, after which Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand, looking to build on Delhi’s lead, took them to stumps unscathed

Amit Shetty22-Nov-2013
ScorecardIshant Sharma took a sixth first-class five-wicket haul•BCCIIshant Sharma exploited the helpful conditions of the Roshanara track to the fullest with a five-wicket haul as Delhi gained complete control on the second day of their Ranji Trophy group match against Haryana by taking a 98-run lead. Ishant and Rajat Bhatia shared nine wickets between them as Haryana were shot out for 138 in only 55 overs. In the remaining one hour, Delhi scored 35 runs with Gautam Gambhir reaching 26, courtesy of a couple of streaky boundaries, and an equal number of crisp ones.Delhi’s first innings folded at 201 within 17 minutes of the start of play on the second day, with an addition of only seven runs. Ishant then came out and produced a controlled performance as he hit the deck with regularity to finish with impressive figures of 5 for 29 from 17 overs. Bhatia again proved his worth in this Delhi side grabbing 4 for 32 in 16 overs, while Parvinder Awana worked tirelessly, despite getting only one wicket in the innings.Having been dropped from the Indian team after some ordinary performances, Ishant’s sixth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket couldn’t have come at a better time. He would be eyeing a place among the pace attack that will be heading to South Africa beginning early next month and despite a helpful pitch, Ishant showed a lot of discipline.Defending a first innings score of 201 needed early breakthroughs and Ishant got a couple of them straightaway. He didn’t do anything spectacular, consistently bowling back-of-a-length deliveries that reared awkwardly with a hint of away movement from the right-handers. The first two dismissals were identical as Nitin Saini (6) and Sunny Singh (1) were troubled by the extra bounce. Both edged it to Punit Bisht, who had a good time behind the stumps, taking five regulation catches.Ishant’s first spell read 6-1-10-2 as Gambhir cleverly rotated his bowlers by giving them short spells, not letting the Haryana batsmen settle to any particular bowler.After his useful 39, Bhatia bowled within his limitations to trouble the batsmen with his slow cutters. The even layer of grass helped his cause as the ball moved after pitching. One such delivery, an off-cutter for left-hander Abhimanyu Khod (15), saw him edge to Bisht for his third catch. Avi Barot (34) and Rahul Dalal (13) stayed for some time but were certainly not settled. It was Awana, who troubled them with some pace and movement, but was unlucky as a few edges flew past the slips.Bhatia provided the first breakthrough in the post-lunch session as he got one to dart back sharply to trap Dalal in front of the wicket, though the batsman didn’t seem happy with the umpire’s decision. Bhatia’s third success was more due to Gambhir’s brilliant effort at point. It was an ordinary delivery pitched wide outside off and Barot went for a crushing square cut. Gambhir anticipated and took a reflex catch low down to reduce Haryana to 75 for 5.Jayant Yadav was caught leg before as he played across the line to a fuller delivery, finally bringing a smile to Awana’s face. However, Joginder Sharma’s (35) entry brought life back into the Haryana chase as he started taking the bowlers on. The pitch had eased out a bit by then and he found an able ally in Sachin Rana (23).The pair added 46 runs for the seventh wicket, though Joginder off Pawan Suyal’s bowling, before Ishant came back and struck again. It was another delivery that rose from short of a length as Rana became Bisht’s fourth victim of the innings. Joginder’s 73-minute resistance finally ended when he tried to drive on the up and instead nicked off to Bisht, who completed his fifth catch.Starting the post-tea session at 134 for 8, Haryana could add only four more runs as Ishant completed a well deserved five-wicket haul by bundling out the last two batsmen in successive overs.Gambhir and Unmukt Chand have done well to survive the last hour, but their real job will be in the morning when Joginder and company begin to move the ball. It’s getting easier for batting and like Ishant today, Virender Sehwag would be eyeing a decent knock in the middle tomorrow.

Craig McDermott reckons Australia’s attack is the best in the world and Peter Siddle believes it is the strongest he has played in, but the tour of South Africa in February looms as their ultimate test

Brydon Coverdale in Melbourne23-Dec-2013Craig McDermott reckons Australia’s attack is the best in the world and Peter Siddle believes it is the strongest he has played in, but the tour of South Africa in February looms as their ultimate test. Against South Africa, Australia will not only have to bowl to the world’s top two Test batsmen on the ICC rankings, AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla, they will also be judged against Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn, the No.1- and No.2-ranked bowlers.Siddle, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Lyon have delivered the Ashes after being supported by Australia’s batsmen, which did not happen in England this year; the addition of Johnson to the side was also a major factor. The success was set up by outstanding bowling in the first three innings in Brisbane and Adelaide, where Australia prevented England reaching 200, and they have not conceded 400 in any of England’s 16 Ashes innings this year.Tackling the No.1 Test team in the world at home will be a wholly different challenge and, while nobody questions the dangers posed by Steyn and Philander, it is Australia’s depth that McDermott believes gives his attack the edge. Morne Morkel is ranked No.11 in the world and Jacques Kallis comes in at No.29, but South Africa’s spinner Imran Tahir does not offer the kind of control that Lyon does, and is ranked No.55.Harris and Siddle are currently Nos. 5 and 6, Johnson No.15, Lyon No. 21 and Shane Watson No.38, but the Australians also have James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins and Ben Hilfenhaus all returning from injuries. South Africa’s depth has hardly needed testing in the past few years, so fit and consistent have been Philander, Steyn and Morkel, but Kyle Abbott and Marchant de Lange are particularly promising backups.”It’s not just the bowling attack that’s on the field, I think it’s the backup we’ve got as well,” McDermott, Australia’s bowling coach, said in Melbourne on Monday. “That’ll maybe be put to the test over the next couple of weeks. We’ll see.”I think we’ve got the best attack in the world. It’s very well balanced, particularly with Nathan as our spinner – he’s bowled well – and you’ve got Watto there as your fifth bowler. He’s pretty handy as a fifth bowler. Nathan’s done an unbelievable job for us this year. He’s taken some very crucial wickets and very crucial times, particularly Alastair Cook twice with those cut shots where he’s got a little bit of extra bounce.”Peter Siddle: “This is probably the best line-up I’ve played in.”•Getty ImagesShould any of Australia’s fast bowlers struggle for fitness ahead of the Boxing Day Test, the selectors would look to Doug Bollinger and Nathan Coulter-Nile as the two standby fast men in the squad. Bird has made his return through the BBL, Pattinson and Hilfenhaus are expected to do the same, while Starc and Cummins have longer to wait until they regain full fitness.One of the most pleasing aspects of Australia’s attack this summer has been the ability of Harris, Siddle and Johnson to remain fit and in form for three consecutive Tests, with the strong possibility of a fourth being added to the list. Siddle, who will reach the milestone of 50 Test appearances on Boxing Day, said it was the strongest Test bowling attack during his time in the baggy green.”We’re in a good place at the moment,” Siddle said. “We’ve been striving as a bowling unit for a long time to get that consistency right and to be able to complete innings together. That’s what we’ve worked towards and this series has shown that. We’ve been able to bowl teams out quite quickly, give our batters a big chance and be able to put a lot of pressure on the opposition.”Everyone from Mitchell to myself and Rhino and Lyno, we’re all performing well and playing our role. We’ve always been about partnerships with bat or ball and I think with the ball at the moment this is probably the best line-up I’ve played in, where we’ve been able to stick it together and get everything right and win Test matches. At the moment this is definitely the best line-up that I’ve ever played in.”Asked if the Australians could lay claim to being the best attack in world cricket at the moment, Siddle stopped short of echoing McDermott’s words.”We’re up there, aren’t we?” he said. “We’re winning Test matches, we’re bowling teams out, but it’s on the back of the batters. The batters have set a record of 500 for three consecutive Tests in a row for the opposition to chase. It does make it a lot easier for the bowling unit. The combination at the moment with batters and bowlers, we’re just playing good positive cricket and being consistent at it.”That consistency in the field has helped restrict England’s run-scoring opportunities, which in turn has frustrated their batsmen and contributed to wickets falling. At this stage, the collective economy rate of Australia’s bowlers in this series is 2.83, their lowest in any Ashes series since 1994-95. Notably, that was McDermott’s last Ashes series as a player.”It’s a known fact that you build enough maidens on an opposition, especially back to back to back, and you generate wickets,” Siddle said.

Australia failed to round off an otherwise excellent day’s work on the opening day of the women’s Test at Perth when, having bowled England out for only 201, their openers both succumbed to Anya Shrubsole in a tricky six-over period before close of play

Raf Nicholson10-Jan-2014
ScorecardArran Brindle held England’s innings together at the WACA•Getty ImagesAustralia failed to round off an otherwise excellent day’s work on the opening day of the women’s Test at Perth when, having bowled England out for only 201, their openers both succumbed to Anya Shrubsole in a tricky six-over period before close of play.Shrubsole forced Elyse Villani to nick one to Heather Knight at first slip on 4, then had Meg Lanning caught behind for 5. Both were subjected to some short, attacking bowling from Shrubsole and her new-ball partner Katherine Brunt. Shrubsole finished with figures of 2-4, and England left the pitch smiling for the first time.Earlier, England had been dismissed to 201 after captain Charlotte Edwards won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch that looks likely to break up by the fourth day of this Test. On a stereotypical WACA pitch, it was the quicks who made the early breakthroughs.Holly Ferling dismissed Heather Knight for 14, swatting at a ball outside off-stump to send an easy catch to Jess Cameron at second slip, with her third ball of the day. Ellyse Perry followed this up in the next over with the crucial wicket of Sarah Taylor, trapped lbw to an inswinger for one, having faced just two deliveries.Edwards, so often Australia’s biggest nemesis, was then given out lbw for 17 to a full delivery which hit her on the back pad from second-change quick Sarah Coyte, leaving her team faltering at 3 for 32.England needed an anchor, and they found one, of sorts, in Arran Brindle, who passed 500 Test runs. Her fluent innings of 68 included 12 boundaries, and she shared partnerships of 64 with Lydia Greenway and 58 with Natalie Sciver, before playing on against the last ball before tea. Greenway had been given out to a similar inswinger from Perry earlier in the session, and England went to tea five down.Sciver, batting with a maturity that belied her debutant status, scored 49 as England managed to claw their way to 189, but when she was out caught behind chasing a stray ball down the leg side, it was symptomatic of a poor performance with the bat from England. The Barmy Army, at the ground hoping for some English revenge, were audibly deflated by the turn of events.The Australian bowlers must be given credit: not one of the bowlers failed to perform. All four of the quicks – Perry, Ferling, Farrell and Coyte – found movement off the pitch, with Ferling’s first spell of five overs particularly ferocious. Spinners Erin Osborne and Sarah Elliott bowled in tandem during the afternoon session and dried up the runs to great effect.Rene Farrell, though, playing in her first international match since the 2011 Ashes Test, was the highlight. With support from Perry, she swept through England’s tail, having Brunt caught by Alex Blackwell at gully and tempting Danielle Hazell to hit out to Villani at mid-wicket, finishing with figures of 4 for 3.A day of Test cricket in which 12 wickets fell suggests that this is a bowlers’ pitch, a fact which both Sciver and Farrell acknowledged at close of play. England’s two quick wickets mean, crucially, that this Test is now evenly poised, and as with the Perth temperatures – it is forecast to be 44 degrees tomorrow – is certain to heat up from here on in.

Australia finished the international summer with an 84-run win in the final T20, set up by George Bailey’s quick 49 not out

The Report by Brydon Coverdale02-Feb-20140:00

Ehantharajah: Dernbach’s over turned the game on its head’

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThere was talk that England had chartered a plane to fly them out of Sydney immediately after this match. Who could blame them? Beaten, bullied and broken by the Australians in the Tests and ODIs, England finished their tour with another heavy loss, this time by 84 runs, in the final T20. It meant another clean sweep for Australia. It meant across all formats, Australia had crushed England 12-1 this summer. The 1 was an ODI in which Australia rested several key players.That England were bowled out for 111 – English cricket’s unlucky number – seemed somehow appropriate. Anything that could go wrong for England on this trip has, although that has as much been due to Australia’s outstanding cricket as English misfortune. In this final game, the difference between the sides was evident from the way Australia finished their innings, when the captain George Bailey plundered 26 runs off the last over from Jade Dernbach.It pushed the target into seriously difficult territory, although with the exception of Eoin Morgan, England’s batsmen looked incapable of chasing down 150, let alone 196. Michael Lumb had been dropped, which meant a new opening combination of Luke Wright and Alex Hales but neither man reached double figures. Wright pulled a catch to deep square leg off Mitchell Starc for 8 and Hales was also caught in the deep off Nathan Coulter-Nile for 6.England’s 2 for 19 became 3 for 25 when Ben Stokes, in for his first match of the series, was caught for 5 off a leading edge from the offspin of Glenn Maxwell. Joe Root did not have the time he required to get himself in, and consequently ate up 21 balls scratching along to 11 before he holed out to deep midwicket to give Maxwell his second wicket and Cutting his second catch.George Bailey was Man of the Match for his quick 49•Getty ImagesBy then, the required run rate had inflated so much that the result was inevitable. Morgan struck a couple of sixes but was caught in the deep for 34 off 20, and the final overs were notable not for anything England did but for the young legspinner James Muirhead continuing to impress the Australian selectors, picking up two wickets by drawing Tim Bresnan out of his crease for a stumping and bowling Stuart Broad with a big legbreak.All England could do was avoid their biggest ever T20 loss. The 90-run defeat against India in Colombo in 2012 remains their worst, but this occupies equal second on their all-time list. It was Bailey who really sunk them with his unbeaten 49 off 20 deliveries towards the end of Australia’s innings.Dernbach finished with 0 for 49 from his four overs when his last was wrecked by Bailey. All six balls seemed in the slot for Bailey, who struck three fours and two sixes, including a long and high one over long-on, before the last ball produced a slash to third man for two, and England couldn’t even finish with a run-out as Jos Buttler missed trying to flick the bails off.Bailey had good support from Matthew Wade, who finished on 19 from 10 balls, in a 56-run partnership that came after Broad threatened to peg the Australians back with two wickets in the 16th over. Broad, who finished with 3 for 30, had the veteran Brad Hodge caught at deep fine leg hooking for 7 and two balls later bowled Daniel Christian for a duck to leave Australia at 6 for 139 with four overs to go.Again Australia’s opening partnership of Cameron White and Aaron Finch set a strong platform with a 48-run stand – they started the series with a 106-run partnership in Hobart and followed it with 48 in Melbourne – and Finch was the more threatening of the two, crunching Stokes for a pair of sixes in his first over. But, on 30 from 21 balls, Finch mistimed a pull and lobbed a catch up to midwicket off Bresnan.Maxwell cleared the boundary twice, including a searing flat six over long-off, before he was caught at long-on from the bowling of Broad for 14. Australia promoted Cutting as a pinch hitter and the ploy worked reasonably well as Cutting showed his power with three sixes in his 29 off 16 balls before he was sharply caught by Root off his own bowling.White struggled for fluency but steered the innings nicely with 41 off 37 balls before he was given out caught down leg side off the debutant Chris Jordan, a decision that White seemed unhappy with but which brought Hodge to the crease for his long-awaited first international innings in nearly six years. Hodge managed a one, a two and an inside-edged four before picking out fine leg with his hook.Miked up by Channel Nine in the field later, Hodge said he was just happy to be part of what had been such a remarkable summer for the Australians. England’s players are just as happy that it is now all over.

Brendon McCullum has termed it “incredibly satisfying” to have defeated world champions India 3-0 in Hamilton with a game to go

Abhishek Purohit in Hamilton28-Jan-20140:00

‘Big win for us’ – McCullum

Brendon McCullum has termed it “incredibly satisfying” to have defeated world champions India 3-0 in Hamilton with a game to go. The decisive win came on a Seddon Park pitch offering turn and bounce to the India spinners and McCullum said that was why it was an even more creditable achievement.”First and foremost, to beat a very, very good team in India, and today as well in these conditions, I thought it was more favourable to them than what it was for us,” McCullum said. “To win as emphatically as we did and continue the blueprint that we have shown with the bat built around Roscoe and Kane’s performances in the last four games and to execute that again tonight and get the rewards for it is incredibly satisfying. The boys are very, very happy at the moment.”New Zealand have now beaten South Africa and England away and India at home in one-day series in the last 12 months. McCullum said sealing this one even before the fifth match in Wellington against what was the top one-day side when it came to New Zealand was quite something. “This is a big one for us. We are obviously proud with what we achieved in South Africa and England [in] those one-day series. Just focussing on the one-day game. But this one, the No. 1 ODI team in the world when they arrived here and how dominant their batting line-up is as well. To have tipped them up and be sitting after the fourth game at 3-0 is a pretty good achievement for us.”We closed out the series which we have been talking about all the way through the summer, so really pleased with the effort tonight and how emphatically we did it as well in really tough conditions. And we still managed to see guys hold their heads and play an innings of true class. Really satisfying win.”Kane Williamson’s four consecutive fifties have played a big role in New Zealand’s 3-0 series lead•Getty ImagesAfter the match, a small group of fans stood outside the ground holding a banner that said “No Thanks” to the BCCI, Cricket Australia and the ECB. As laudable as the result on the field was for New Zealand, it also held a different significance, coming as it did just as the ICC met to consider the proposal to shift monetary and decision-making control to the three big cricket boards. Although McCullum would not comment on that aspect, he did say he was pleased that New Zealand had shown the world they could overcome topopposition.”That’s something we can’t comment too much about, way above our head but what we can do is go about playing good cricket and trying to impose ourselves on the world game and show that we are capable of playing against the very best teams in the world and having success. I wouldn’t say it was a motivating factor for us but we are just delighted to be able to play against a team of that class, come out on top and show the rest of the world that we are a very good team in our own conditions.”McCullum added it was important New Zealand pushed for making it 4-0 in Wellington, but felt tonight was the time for his men to soak in what they had accomplished. “That’s what we want to strive for,” he said. “But we won’t let this opportunity to really enjoy what we have achieved pass us by either. I think it’s a hell of an achievement, what we have done tonight. We will worry about the next couple of days tomorrow morning when we wake up. But we are obviously delighted at the moment.”

The BCB’s top brass has held separate meetings with the captain Mushfiqur Rahim, coach Shane Jurgensen and the national selection committee to identify problem areas within the team

Mohammad Isam03-Mar-2014In the aftermath of Bangladesh’s defeat to Afghanistan in the Asia Cup, the BCB’s top brass has held separate meetings with the captain Mushfiqur Rahim, coach Shane Jurgensen and the national selection committee to identify problem areas within the team. The meetings took place following Mushfiqur’s comments after the loss, when he questioned the motivation of some of his team-mates.ESPNcricinfo has learned that Mushfiqur and Jurgensen identified four players for “looking disinterested during recent matches.” Mushfiqur called for changes to the team but that may not be possible because the World Twenty20 squad has been finalised and replacements can be named only for injured players.BCB president Nazmul Hassan and a couple of board directors attended the meetings but the players’ identities were concealed.”When we discussed the problems within the team, we asked the captain and coach about some players and they talked about how frustrating their body language has been,” a BCB official said. “They looked like they were not in the field, the management told us. Both parties agreed on this at the meeting. There will however be no action taken by the board but the team management will decide on what to do with them.”Earlier in the day, each member of the Bangladesh team was called for one-on-one meetings with the management to understand why plans were not being executed properly. Several batsman are out of form, no bowler has inspired confidence and fielding standards have slumped.After returning to the team for the Sri Lanka series, Anamul Haque has struggled for consistency, often following one impressive performance with poor ones. He made 77 against India in the Asia Cup, but only 1 against Afghanistan.Shamsur Rahman has made only one fifty in seven innings since his Test hundred against Sri Lanka, and looked out of place against pace and bounce. Mominul Haque made 50 and 60 in his last three innings but Bangladesh needed him to push on. Nasir Hossain has been woefully out of form.Nasir gave four chances in the last game but the Afghanistan fielders let them slip. He repeatedly tried to drive legspinner Samiullah Shenwari through mid-on, never quite middling it or finding the gap.Abdur Razzak has experience but his bowling is without edge, and Rubel Hossain hasn’t been able to lead the pace attack without a steady new-ball partner. The fielding has been poor too, with Bangladesh dropping at least one catch in the four of their last five games.Mushfiqur’s captaincy has seen better days. On two occasions, he released pressure just when Bangladesh needed wickets. Sri Lanka were 67 for 8 and Afghanistan 90 for 5 but Bangladesh allowed big partnerships on both occasions.Some of the selection decisions have been difficult to understand. Mahmudullah was picked to replace the injured offspinner Sohag Gazi, despite having scored just six runs in three games. He had one 12-wicket haul in first-class cricket before the Sri Lanka series, but Mahmudullah remains a batting allrounder. Such changes can confuse players about their role and future in the team.Bangladesh have matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan left in the Asia Cup and only a short gap before the World Twenty20. They will be a nervous unit, particularly since the captain made it clear that a culling is afoot.