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Mervyn Westfield wants to help the next generation of cricketers avoid making the mistakes he made

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jul-2013Mervyn Westfield, the former Essex seamer who was jailed for his part in spot-fixing during 2009 and launched an angry attack on his treatment by English cricket earlier this year, now wants to help the next generation of cricketers avoid repeating the mistakes he made.Westfield received a five-year ban for his involvement in conceding a set number of runs off an over in a Pro40 match against Durham in 2009, after being “cajoled” by Danish Kaneria who remains banned for life after his appeal failed.However, Westfield’s punishment has been relaxed a little following an appeal hearing yesterday and he will now be able to play club cricket from April 1, 2014, although he remains banned for the professional level until 2017. The amendment to Westfield’s ban came with the condition that he fully cooperates with the Professional Cricketers’ Association anti-corruption work.”I’m sorry for what I’ve done,” Westfield said in a statement released by the PCA. “I just want to put it right and help identify the clear dangers that exist. Cricket has been my life since I was six, and it’s all I know, what I love, and what I live for. I have missed playing so much.””I hope people can forgive my actions and maybe even find it in themselves to understand how difficult I’ve found it to cope with every step of this affair,” he said. “I will now do all I can to help PCA and others to educate cricketers, especially young ones, to ensure nobody has to go through what I have.”Westfield’s desire to now help the PCA is a distinct change to his attitude earlier in the year when he was furious at being forced to appear at Kaneria’s appeal hearing and claimed he had not been helped enough since the details of spot-fixing emerged.”No one else has given me any support despite all the promises a year ago,” he said in April. “I am here to bring to an end the pain and suffering that I am forced to continuously suffer, and in the hope that after today my family and I will never be subjected to the humiliation and hurt we have gone through in the last three years.”Earlier on Wednesday, Kaneria reacted angrily to his life ban being upheld and said that because Westfield’s punishment has been softened somewhat that he should have been allowed a chance to resume his career.

Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford has said that his team got it wrong by inviting Pakistan to bat first after winning the toss

Sa'adi Thawfeeq in Colombo30-Jun-2012Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford has said that his team got it wrong by inviting Pakistan to bat after winning the toss on the first day of the second Test at the SSC.”The score tells it very clearly that we got it wrong,” said Ford at the end of the day after Pakistan had amassed 334 for 1. “The thought behind it was that there are a lot of experienced men in our group and they know this surface pretty well. I don’t think any of them thought that pitch would play so well on the first day.”The decision wasn’t taken lightly and there were lot of discussions and I think just about all the wise heads and captains and ex-captains, involving the coaching staff and the team and everybody felt that it was worth having a crack with the ball. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out the way we were hoping.”There was something in the pitch in the first hour and with Pakistan not having started too well in the two innings in Galle, if we could strike early with the new ball, it would have got us in a pretty positive place and hopefully get them into a negative place. Unfortunately, it didn’t do anything here as everybody thought.”We have to give a lot of credit to the way they batted. They dug in and batted superbly.”Ford said that there were various strategies that they tried throughout the day – initially looking to attack and get wickets, before becoming more defensive when they found that the pitch was not offering much assistance.Ford said that batting well in the first innings was crucial for Sri Lanka. “Test match cricket goes over five days and we need to respond really well. We’ll have to come back and get into our work nicely tomorrow. On hindsight, the way the game is played certainly we’d have got in and had a bat. But unfortunately, that’s not the way cricket works and you’ve got to make decisions. I think lot of the thought behind the decisions, was solid and the research was done with the stats etc.”

A career-best 106 from 109 balls from Surrey’s rookie batsman Jason Roy could not make up for the loss of 71 overs to rain yesterday as a high-scoring County Championship Division Two tussle with Glamorgan ended in stalemate at The Oval

27-May-2011
ScorecardA career-best 106 from 109 balls from Surrey’s rookie batsman Jason Roy could not make up for the loss of 71 overs to rain yesterday as a high-scoring County Championship Division Two tussle with Glamorgan ended in stalemate at The Oval.Resuming at the start of the fourth and final day on 46 without loss, Glamorgan lost Will Bragg when he was bowled by Tim Linley, only for Gareth Rees and Mike Powell to canter along at four runs an over through to lunch and extend their side’s lead to 320 runs.Rees posted a 117-ball half-century with a six over long-on off Chris Schofield and nine overs later Powell progressed to his 50 off 75 deliveries, with a dabbed four to third man off Batty. Glamorgan’s batsmen showed even greater intent in the afternoon session but were overly cautious with their declaration.Rees reverse-swept the first ball of the session for four and lifted a delivery from Rory Hamilton-Brown over midwicket for six on his way to a 162-ball hundred. His stand with Powell added 185 in less than 34 overs, a new record for Glamorgan’s second wicket against Surrey, before he holed out to long-on.Roy, primarily a wicketkeeper but deployed as a declaration bowler, then made further breakthroughs with his maiden scalps in first-class cricket. Ben Wright became his first victim when he edged to Rory Burns then two overs later Mark Wallace drilled to Jade Dernbach at mid-off, leaving Powell unbeaten on 67 and Surrey with a target of 395 off a minimum of 50 overs.Roy and Hamilton-Brown evoked memories of great Brown Cap run-chases in raising a century stand in 15 overs as Roy raced to a 38-ball 50 with 10 fours. Hamilton-Brown was slightly more conservative, reaching his half-century in 52 deliveries.Surrey went into the final session requiring 266 off 31 overs but Hamilton-Brown was stumped for 68 having just brought up the 150 stand with a six over long-on off the bowling of Robert Croft.Nine overs later, Roy dispatched Dean Cosker into the pavilion to reach his maiden first-class hundred off 89 balls – but by then Surrey required 11 an over and had resigned themselves to a drawing the match. The hosts finished with 10 points to Glamorgan’s seven.

Kent took an early lead in the battle to avoid the Friends Provident t20 wooden spoon by securing a 12-run win over fellow South Group strugglers Gloucestershire at Canterbury

Cricinfo staff04-Jul-2010
Scorecard
Joe Denly cracked four fours and a six in his 44 against Gloucestershire•Getty Images

Kent took an early lead in the battle to avoid the Friends Provident t20 wooden spoon by securing a 12-run win over fellow South Group strugglers Gloucestershire at Canterbury.
In a re-run of the 2007 Twenty20 final, Gladiators soon lost their way when chasing Kent’s par-for-the-course total of 165 to suffer their eighth defeat of the campaign and allow Kent a fourth win in what has been a modest campaign.Gloucestershire lost their way in the chase as early as the sixth delivery when William Porterfield turned a leg-stump ball from Azhar Mahmood straight to Joe Denly at deep square-leg. The visitors re-gained some composure in reaching 42 before Alex Redmond drove the first ball of the afternoon from left-arm seamer Ashley Shaw, who was making his home debut, straight to mid-off.Hamish Marshall, having been dropped on six, added only 11 more before heaving across the line at a straight one from Simon Cook. Legspinner Malinga Bandara then took two wickets in three balls to cut down the Gladiators in full stride. Chris Taylor edged an attempted drive to the keeper before top-scorer James Franklin was deceived in the flight and picked out James Hockley at long-on. He had made 40 from 33 balls.Chris Dent chanced his arm against that of Denly to be run out for six then Richard Dawson miscued a sweep to deep square leg to give Bandara final figures of 3 for 27.Steve Snell (21) had two stumps plucked out after missing with a leg-side smear against Amjad Khan then, in the penultimate over Jonathan Lewis (26) holed out to long-off and, with 14 needed off the last over, Khan cleaned up Kirby to secure the win with four balls to spare.Batting first having won the toss, Kent initially made good use of the same firm pitch that they had used for Friday’s clash with Hampshire. Spitfires had 32 on the board within five overs before captain Rob Key (11) edged an attempted clip over midwicket to be caught at short fine leg.Denly survived a chance at mid-on when on 10 and raced to 44 from 31 balls with four fours and a six before he drove firmly to long-on where has was superbly caught on the run by Hamish Marshall to make it 89 for 2.Geraint Jones (8) soon perished when he slog swept straight down the throat of the man at deep square leg, then Alex Blake (5) naively skied a cover drive straight into the hands of Porterfield at deep extra-cover.After that, only Hockley with 13 at a run-a-ball and Martin van Jaarsveld, who top-scored with 59 from 40 balls, reached double figures as Kent, from 105 for 2, slid away to post 165 at an asking rate of 8.25 an over.Van Jaarsveld timed the ball superbly to collect six fours and a six until he drove over a full-length ball from Franklin to lose his off stump.In the Kent carnage that followed, left-arm seamer David Payne bagged 3 for 25 and Lewis 2 for 26 as Kent lost seven wickets for 60 runs in the pursuit of late runs.

Flintoff signs 2019 World Cup hero after Brydon Carse is ruled out through suspension

Matt Roller26-Jun-2024Andrew Flintoff’s Northern Superchargers have handed Jason Roy a lifeline in the Hundred, signing him a replacement player after he went unselected at March’s draft.Roy, a key part of England’s World Cup-winning ODI side in 2019, was released by defending Hundred champions Oval Invincibles over the winter after averaging 17.11 in their title-winning 2023 season. He entered the draft with a £100,000 reserve price and went unsold, with none of the eight teams deeming his recent form worthy of a high salary.But ESPNcricinfo understands that he will soon be announced as a replacement signing by the Superchargers. The ECB’s operations team confirmed to Hundred sides on Sunday that Roy – along with Mark Wood – had withdrawn from Monday’s wildcard draft because he had been offered a contract as a replacement. His deal to replace Brydon Carse has since been finalised.Carse was due to play a fourth successive season for the Superchargers after he was retained on a £60,000 contract, but his recent betting ban will rule him out of the Hundred this year. Details of Roy’s contract have not been disclosed, with replacement players able to negotiate a salary directly with teams so long as they do not breach the overall salary cap.Related

• Jason Roy handed Hundred lifeline with Southern Brave

• Harry Brook named as Northern Superchargers captain

• Rob Key: 'Andrew Flintoff would make an excellent England head coach'

• Jason Roy on skipping IPL 2024: 'Had to put my mindset and body first'

• Brydon Carse given three-month ban over betting breaches

Roy could miss the Superchargers’ opening match due to his commitments in Major League Cricket. He is due to travel to the United States shortly to represent Los Angeles Knight Riders for the second year in a row and the tournament’s final is scheduled for July 28 – two days after the Superchargers’ season opener against Trent Rockets.Flintoff will take over from James Foster as Superchargers coach in the men’s Hundred this year, his first job as a head coach. He has become gradually more involved in England’s white-ball backroom staff since recovering from severe injuries last year and is currently with the squad in Guyana ahead of their T20 World Cup semi-final.It has been a quiet start to the English season for Roy: he pulled out of the IPL in order to prioritise time with his young family, and has scored 122 runs at 24.40 in his five T20 Blast appearances for Surrey. He scored 55 from 40 balls against Gloucestershire in his most recent innings but has missed Surrey’s last three games with a calf injury.Wood is yet to sign a replacement deal at a Hundred team but withdrew from the wildcard draft since his availability is not yet clear. He is likely to be involved in England’s squad for the third Test against West Indies, which clashes with the first week of the Hundred, and could sign a short-term replacement contract closer to the time.

RCB will want to end their home stretch on a high before playing their next five games away

Deivarayan Muthu25-Apr-20235:33

Time for Russell to prove his worth?

Big picture: A tale of two top orders

After having conceded the highest IPL total at Eden Gardens, Kolkata Knight Riders will run into Royal Challengers Bangalore for another potential run-fest at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. In all, KKR have conceded three 200-plus scores across seven games this season, with the recent injury to Shardul Thakur also messing with the balance of their side.KKR’s issues at the top are more pressing: they have used five different opening pairs in seven matches, they have lost the most wickets (17) in the powerplay, and their run rate (7.80) during this phase is the second lowest among all teams this IPL. Only midway into the tournament, KKR have used all their eight overseas players so far, and are searching for stability on that front too.As for RCB, their top order has been central to their success. Faf du Plessis, who was once Chennai Super Kings’ designated pace hitter, has now raised his game against spin as well. Du Plessis and Virat Kohli have been the most prolific opening pair this IPL, tallying almost 500 runs, including two century stands. Glenn Maxwell has been in red-hot form, especially at the Chinnaswamy, rattling off three half-centuries in his last four innings at the venue. The brilliance of the trio has somewhat eased the burden on a misfiring middle order.With Mohammed Siraj being penetrative – both in the powerplay and at the death – and Harshal Patel getting his slower balls to dip sharply at batters once again, RCB will be looking to end their stretch of home games with another victory. They will be on the road for their next five matches before returning to the Chinnaswamy for their final league fixture, against Gujarat Titans, on May 21.

Form guide

Royal Challengers Bangalore: WWLWL
Kolkata Knight Riders: LLLLW

Team news: Hazlewood still a doubt for RCB

ESPNcricinfo understands that Josh Hazlewood is likely to sit out one more game before returning to action. If Hazlewood hasn’t recovered sufficiently from injury, David Willey will start again on Wednesday.

Toss and Impact Player strategy

Royal Challengers Bangalore
Du Plessis is also nursing a rib injury, and could once again be used as an Impact Player option by RCB. If they bat first, he could be subbed out for seamer Vijaykumar Vyshak or legspinner Karn Sharma after his batting shift.Possible XII: 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 , 3 Mahipal Lomror, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Suyash Prabhudessai, 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 David Willey, 11 Mohammed Siraj, 12 Kolkata Knight Riders
Jason Roy, who didn’t open the batting against Super Kings at Eden Gardens after having hurt himself in the field, is set to return to the top. Thakur bowled at full tilt at the nets on the eve of the game, but it remains to be seen if he’s available for selection. Meanwhile, KKR’s use of the Impact Player rule has had a fairly consistent pattern with wristspinner Suyash Sharma starting if they bowl first, or Venkatesh Iyer starting if they bat first.Possible XII: 1 Jason Roy, 2 N Jagadeesan (wk), 3 , 4 Nitish Rana (capt), 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Sunil Narine, 8 David Wiese/Lockie Ferguson/Tim Southee, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Kulwant Khejroliya/Vaibhav Arora, 11 Varun Chakravarthy, 12

Stats that matter

• There’s a case for KKR to match Sunil Narine up with du Plessis in the powerplay. The spinner has kept him to 47 off 67 balls while dismissing him twice in all T20s. Kohli has also struggled to get Narine away in T20 cricket: 137 runs off 141 balls while being dismissed four times.
• Umesh Yadav has a strong head-to-head record against Maxwell in T20s, getting him four times in seven innings while giving up only 31 runs off 28 balls.
• A total of 102 sixes have been hit at the Chinnaswamy in IPL 2023, the highest at a venue so far this season.

Pitch and conditions

Another easy-paced hit-through-the-line Chinnaswamy track is on the cards. The ball could swing early in the evening, especially if the overhead conditions are cloudy, and skid onto the bat later under lights.

Quotes

“If you take any game in the IPL for granted, that’s a big risk… what’s happened in the past is irrelevant tomorrow from 7.30pm.”
“The guys are out there training now, working their hardest to be the best version of themselves. There’s no rhyme or reason behind it.”

The big question

Barbados Royals, Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders will contest the first edition of the tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Mar-2022The inaugural season of the Women’s CPL, featuring three teams, is set to run alongside the men’s event this year. Both the CPL and the WCPL are expected to take place within a month-long CPL window that runs from August 30 to September 30. Barbados Royals, Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders will be the three teams taking part in the women’s tournament.Over the last two seasons, the CPL has been restricted to one host country due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with Trinidad & Tobago hosting the 2020 edition and St Kitts & Nevis the 2021 edition. According to a CPL media release, the league stage of CPL 2022 will take place across three countries in the Caribbean, with a fourth set to host the final stages.It is not yet clear what the format of the WCPL will be, and which venues will host it.In the lead-up to the 2019 CPL final, CWI had hosted two exhibition T10 matches featuring West Indies’ top women cricketers. A CWI statement had then hoped this event would pave the way “for a sustainable women’s league in the future.” The WCPL represents a significant step forward since then.”Increasing the opportunities for West Indian women and girls to get involved in cricket is one of CWI’s strategic priorities, and we are delighted that we have been able to partner with CPL to further the expansion plans that we had first unveiled in 2019 prior to the arrival of the Covid Pandemic,” Ricky Skerritt, the Cricket West Indies president, said. “We are confident that all CPL women’s games will be highly competitive and will add quality entertainment to our fans in the region and around the world.”The WCPL becomes the latest T20 league to start a women’s edition. Unlike the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia, the Women’s Hundred in England (which replaced the Women’s Super League) and the Women’s Super Smash in New Zealand, however, it does not feature the same number of teams as its men’s counterpart.The BCCI has so far staged three editions of the Women’s T20 Challenge, featuring both Indian and overseas players; the first edition was a one-off exhibition match, while the second and third were tournaments featuring three teams playing each other once and the best two meeting again in a final. After a hiatus in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tournament is set to return during IPL 2022.The Women’s T20 Challenge, however, is yet to expand into a fully-fledged Women’s IPL, though BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has suggested that its inaugural edition may take place in 2023.Last November, PCB chairman Ramiz Raja had hinted at a possible Women’s PSL, though no time-frame for the tournament has been revealed yet.

Lachlan Stevens is keeping an open mind going into the tournament but knows the squad has an “ace in the pack”

Andrew McGlashan24-Oct-2020Melbourne teams in the WBBL, the Renegades and Stars, will venture a little into the unknown this weekend when they begin their tournaments having done the majority of their preparation amid strict Covid-19 lockdown in Victoria.Although Victoria-based players, who were not part of the Australia squad for the recent series against New Zealand, have been able to train during Melbourne’s stage 4 restrictions it has been a far from ideal lead-in for the competition that will be staged in a Sydney-based hub over the next five weeks.There have been some protocols other teams have needed to follow, specifically those in Sydney, but far less restrictive than Melbourne over the last three months while the Perth Scorchers, Adelaide Strikers, Hobart Hurricanes and the defending champions Brisbane Heat have largely been able to train as normal in their home states.The teams have all been in Sydney this week so have been able to train at full tilt ahead of starting the competition on Sunday, but Renegades head coach Lachlan Stevens knows it has been a tough build-up.”It’s a really difficult question to answer,” he told ESPNcricinfo about how ready the Victoria-based players would be. “First and foremost we are very grateful to everyone who has gone out of their way and helped us come into the tournament, helped us train before the tournament even though it was with restrictions and a lot of protocols because of what was going on down in Melbourne.”We are all really lucky to be here, both the girls in the Stars and the Renegades teams. It’s certainly been a challenge and I’ve certainly felt for them in that regard so I’m really hoping once they get out there, and I know they will, they compete as hard as they can but it’s been a difficult preparation.”While Stevens expected the will to win to be as strong as usual, he conceded that the pandemic and the challenges of the last seven months brings a different outlook”It’s not that we are not here to try and compete and everyone will be doing their best to win matches,” he said, “but certainly I think you’d be a pretty harsh judge if you walked away from a tournament where everyone was safe and happy expecting any more than that. We want to provide an environment where they can do the very best they can and then whatever comes of that. Priorities have changed a little bit as they have for everyone in the last 12 months.”There will be challenges on the field for the Renegades from the outset with New Zealand pace bowler Lea Tahuhu not set to feature for at least the first half of the competition due to the side injury she picked up against Australia and is doubtful for the whole tournament. Stevens hopes to cover her absence from within the squad rather than dipping into the replacement-player pool that is available.They will also have to contend with missing last season’s leading run-scorer Jess Duffin following her pregnancy, but do have the return of Amy Satterthwaite as captain plus a potent spin attack of Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux and Molly Strano.”With Lea and Jess being out they [the spinners] are our ace in the pack,” Stevens said. “If we can get them enough runs on the board to be able to do what they do well, and likewise if we are bowling first hopefully they can take some wickets for us and be restrictive, then it gives us an opportunity in the game. They are certainly holding a large key for how we go about our work over the next few weeks.”Wareham and Molineux were both outstanding in the recent internationals against New Zealand in Brisbane and Strano is the leading wicket-taker in WBBL history with 96 in 72 matches at 17.10. She was a late addition to the T20 World Cup squad after injury to Tayla Vlaeminck, but given the strength of Australia’s resources can’t command a regular place.”She’s just one of the most wonderful team people in the history of cricket,” Stevens said. “She brings energy, enthusiasm and competes as hard as she possibly can every time. And with a smile on her face. I love watching her play.”What she does well is understand where batters’ strengths lie and how she can control them. She reads the play and batters very well and that goes a long way towards her record.”

ESPNcricinfo understands de Villiers’ last-ditch offer to come out of retirement was made in May, just 24 hours before the selectors unveiled their final 15-man squad

George Dobell and Nagraj Gollapudi06-Jun-2019AB de Villiers made a remarkable last-ditch offer to come out of international retirement for this summer’s World Cup, but it was turned down by the South Africa team management on the eve of their final squad announcement. Their thinking was that a recall would, among other things, be unfair to the squad that had been together for the past year since de Villiers announced his retirement.ESPNcricinfo understands that the offer was made in April, just 24 hours before South Africa’s selectors unveiled their final 15-man squad for the World Cup. De Villiers did not want to comment on the story, but said he was “wholly focussed” on supporting the South Africa team*. He reiterated his support for South Africa in a tweet.
De Villiers is believed to have approached South Africa’s captain Faf du Plessis, head coach Ottis Gibson and convener of selectors Linda Zondi, expressing his desire to reverse his retirement, but was told that this would not be possible. According to people privy to the talks, de Villiers’ request was “not even considered”.It is understood that there were two main reasons behind the team management and selectors’ decision. Primarily, de Villiers had retired in May 2018, exactly a year before the World Cup was scheduled. Thereafter, he did not fulfil the selection criteria, which included playing South African domestic cricket or international cricket in the intervening months.It was also felt that a recall for de Villiers would have been unfair on the players who have been performing in his absence, men such as Rassie van der Dussen, who made three fifties in his first four ODI innings after making his debut against Pakistan in January.Zondi later responded to the news, confirming that the above were the reasons why de Villiers was turned down.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The revelation comes amid a calamitous start to South Africa’s World Cup campaign, which has featured three defeats in a row – including Wednesday’s six-wicket loss to India at the Hampshire Bowl – in addition to the loss of another of their all-time great players, Dale Steyn, who withdrew from the squad this week due to a shoulder injury.South Africa may now need to win all six of its remaining group fixtures, starting with Monday’s clash against West Indies in Southampton, just to give themselves a chance of reaching the World Cup semi-finals.The situation has led many South African fans to demand an emergency recall for de Villiers, who made 9577 runs at 53.50 in his ODI career, including a world-record 31-ball hundred against West Indies in January 2015. The fact that he could indeed have been available to his country will add to the impression of a squad in the throes of another World Cup crisis.
Last year, in a video posted on Twitter, de Villiers called time on his 14-year international career with immediate effect, stating that he was “tired” and “running out of gas”.”For me, in green and gold, it must be everything or nothing,” he said. “I will always be grateful to my team-mates, the coaches and the staff of Cricket South Africa for their support through all these years.”Although he turned 35 in February, he demonstrated his enduring class with 442 runs at 44.20 for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the recent IPL, and he is due to link up with Middlesex in the T20 Blast immediately after the World Cup.More recently, however, de Villiers has been dropping hints that he would be willing to renege on his decision. Speaking on Indian TV in May, around the time of his World Cup offer, he stated: “I was keen to play in the World Cup, but I left, I retired.”It was a very sensitive situation,” he added. “For the last three years of my career, I was labelled as a guy who is picking and choosing when I was playing and when not. So I got quite a lot of criticism from back home, which also played a role in me retiring.”And it was difficult for me to then go ‘Hey, but I’ll still play the World Cup’. It’s that picking and choosing thing again, and it’s quite arrogant to do something like that. But as they say, you can’t have your bread buttered on both sides.”Around the same time, in May this year, speaking to , de Villiers had also compared the IPL and the World Cup, saying the IPL was the better tournament. “Nothing comes close to the IPL, to be honest,” de Villiers had said. “I know I am sitting in India and busy playing in the IPL, so it’s easy to say. But I have played in quite a few (tournaments) now across the world. I think it’s better than the World Cup.”It’s the most incredible tournament to be part of… It’s so intense, so fast, and the following is just incredible.”*June 6, 0822 GMT. The article was updated to include a reaction from AB de Villiers

James Sutherland on why Cricket Australia’s investigations found Darren Lehmann to be distanced from the ball-tampering incident

Daniel Brettig in Johannesburg28-Mar-2018″What the f*** is going on?”These were the words that distanced Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann from the ball-tampering plot hatched by David Warner and Cameron Bancroft with the approval of Steven Smith. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has said this was the message Lehmann relayed to Bancroft via 12th man Peter Handscomb, whom he spoke to on a walkie talkie.Lehmann offered this version of events to the CA head of integrity Iain Roy when interviewed at the team hotel in Cape Town on Monday, and it was accepted with the help of corroborating witnesses. Sutherland said this explained Lehmann’s absence from the charge sheet released by CA on Wednesday, which handed bans to Warner, Bancroft and Smith.”It is understood and it has been verified by others that on the walkie-talkie he said… you guys probably saw it, the first time anyone knew about it was when it came up on the vision screen,” Sutherland said in Johannesburg. “He saw that and he radioed down and he said ‘what the f*** is going on?’ He said to Handscomb: ‘Find out what the f*** is going on’.”Beyond that I would like to just touch on that he brought everyone into the room when the next break was [at tea]. He basically went through everyone and went ‘what is going on?’ There are other parts of the investigation that asked lots of questions of lots of people to try and understand that. But in Darren’s defence, these were findings that Iain Roy had.”Asked whether Lehmann found out at that stage whether Bancroft was using sandpaper or the adhesive tape he later claimed to have used, Sutherland replied: “I don’t know what the specific messages were. But for Iain it was very important to hear. Darren’s reaction to those things was pretty clear. He’s obviously tried to verify or understand [what] anyone else’s involvement [was].”However Sutherland reiterated that Lehmann’s role in the wider culture of the team would be examined by the independent review to be commissioned into the conduct of Australian men’s teams. “I’ve got no doubt that he feels some sort of personal responsibility for that. We all do. This is a terrible situation,” Sutherland said. “There are three guys going home that have been offered sanctions that are life-changing.”There is a feeling of guilt and questions obviously being asked of lots of people as to why or how that might have happened. That’s part of the purpose of later discussion and review. We’ll clearly take on board whatever comes out of such investigations. But further to that I think it’s really important that to say this process is about culture and performance and all of that, but it’s also about the standing of the Australian cricket team and how they engage with the Australian public.”There is a rebuild that needs to happen to reinstate the faith and the confidence and I guess the pride that the Australian public had and should have in the Australian cricket team. The review will be deep and far ranging. We’re committed to doing something about it. We cannot have this happen again. It’s just unquestionable and so obvious. If there are things that allow little things to turn into big things that allow this to happen, then you’ve got to go back to the core and find out what the little things are and address them. That is what we’ll be doing.”Turning his attention to Smith, Warner and Bancroft, Sutherland agreed that their charges and hefty punishments had more to do with the outrage their actions had caused than the specifics of ball tampering itself. “They haven’t been charged by Cricket Australia for ball tampering,” he said. “It’s something that’s important to remind people that the code is worth reading, those four dot points, that’s what they’ve been charged for.”That’s the significance. It relates to contrary to the spirit of the game, it relates to denigrating the game or having an impact on the reputation and image of the game, causing damage to the game, all of those things have quite clearly happened in a short space of time as a result of those actions. That’s what the report is for and the sanctions are on that basis.”As for the future prospects of Smith captaining Australia again, Sutherland said the 28-year-old had a steep road ahead. “His ban is for captaincy is 24 months. It’s not before 24 months,” he said. “All I’d say is that he’s got a very steep hill to climb to rebuild the confidence and faith of the Australian public.”Ultimately, the public and the Board who approve the captains of the Australian teams are the ones who will decide that or not. I think he’s got that opportunity. I know speaking to him today before he left, he actually said with a smile on his face when we were talking about the community service and working at club cricket, he said with a smile on his face ‘I’ll be doing that anyway’, which I think says a lot about him.”Warner, by contrast, is believed to have a far more lowly standing with CA’s Board and management. “Everyone’s different, Cameron Bancroft’s different as well,” Sutherland said. “Different relationships with different people. Irrespective of that, I think when you boil it down everyone will have different perspectives.”But when you have a look at it I think Steve Smith and David Warner both 12 months suspensions, it’s fair. Steve is the captain, David the vice-captain, they play different roles, they’re guilty of different things in our view, based on the investigation. People will have different views but the Board was dealing with the evidence they had in front of them.”The prospect of a challenge to the sanctions and a code of conduct hearing, Sutherland said, was simply something that CA would have to negotiate. The three players have seven days to deliberate on whether to challenge or not. “All we can do is uphold the code to our best judgement and take into considerations the evidence we have,” he said. “It’s about the spirit of cricket, it’s about the good of the game, it’s not about individuals or thinking about those sorts of consequences.”We’ve got to make those judgements on what’s best for the game and quite rightly as a course of natural justice under our code, players have the right to accept or reject the charges or the sanctions or both, and, if they do, to take that to appeal. That’s a good, proper legal process and that’s why it’s written that way.”