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Jack Carson claims three, but late loss of wickets leave hosts with work to do

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay08-Sep-2025Hampshire were bowled out for 226 in just 71.3 overs after being asked to bat first on a challenging Hove pitch on the opening day of their championship match against Sussex. That left Sussex to face 22 overs and by the close they had reached 42 for three as Hampshire fought their way back into the match.Not for the first time the Hampshire innings was held together by their captain Ben Brown, once a very popular player in Sussex colours. But even Brown needed some good fortune on his way to a 129-ball 71, and he was dropped behind by opposite number John Simpson off the bowling of Sean Hunt when he had scored just 18.At the start of the day just 15 points separated the teams between fifth and ninth places. And both Hampshire, in fifth position, and Sussex, just two points behind, started the match in search of reassuring, anti-relegation points.Hampshire, who made four changes, bringing in Ali Orr, Toby Albert, Bjorn Fortuin and Keith Barker, reached a diffident 81 for three at lunch against a rejigged Sussex seam attack which welcomed back Olli Robinson, Jaydev Unadkat and Sean Hunt.Sussex, who had lost their two most recent championship games by an innings, broke through in the sixth over when Fletcha Middleton, driving at a wide delivery from Unadkat, edged behind. It was 47 for two in the 14th over when former Sussex opener Orr clipped Hunt to short leg where Oli Carter took a very sharp catch, low down. And Robinson picked up his first wicket in his livelier second spell when, bowling over the wicket to the left-handed Nick Gubbins, he straightened one to have the batsman lbw.After the break the Hampshire batsmen found the going no easier on a rather sticky surface. The pitch – being used for the first time this season for a championship match – did not encourage strokeplay. Albert pulled left-armer Hunt through midwicket to bring up the hundred in the 35th over but when he attempted a similar stroke against Robinson he gloved the ball to slip.Tom Prest also perished as he attempted to be positive, clipping Fynn Hudson-Prentice to Daniel Hughes at midwicket. Fortuin played himself in but when he jumped down the wicket to drive Jack Carson through the on-side he was through the stroke too soon and chipped it back to the bowler.Hampshire put all their eggs in Brown’s basket, and the batsman gathered his runs with sweeps and nudges, mostly on the leg-side. But when he swept Carson for a single to reach his half-century it had taken him 105 deliveries. From 119 for five Brown led his side to partial recovery, but once he was eighth out at 215, sweeping Carson to square-leg, Hampshire’s resistance was broken.Conditions were no easier when Sussex batted. Tom Haines edged Kyle Abbott waist-high to second slip and Carter was bowled by a nip-backer from Keith Barker. Shortly before the close, James Coles, driving loosely, dragged a delivery from James Fuller onto his stumps.

Seamer Jake Ball chimes in with 4 for 34 as Somerset win by six wickets

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay14-Aug-2025Somerset 252 for 4 (Vaughan 95, J Rew 53*) beat Yorkshire 247 (Revis 85, Ball 4-34) by six wicketsFour-wicket seamer Jake Ball and opener Archie Vaughan with a career best 95 starred as Somerset ended Yorkshire’s 100 percent winning start to this season’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup by bowling the Group B leaders out for 247 at York and then chasing confidently.Somerset joined their hosts on 12 points at the top of the table at the halfway stage in the group campaign courtesy of this six-wicket win with five balls remaining. Both counties having won three and lost one.Yorkshire still hold sway courtesy of a superior net run-rate, but they were second-best on a used Clifton Park pitch.Yorkshire lost wickets in clusters at either end of a scrambling innings which saw ex-England limited overs quick Ball take an excellent 4 for 34 from 9.4 overs and Matthew Revis top-scored with a middle-order List A best of 85 off as many balls.Ball’s best List A figures in just over six years preceded Sheffield-born teenager Vaughan’s classy 127-ball effort with 11 fours. It was ironic that this senior best should come against the county for whom his father Michael starred.Yorkshire, inserted, slumped to 28 for 3 inside 10 overs.Without injured in-form opener Imam-Ul-Haq (hip), they lost Adam Lyth bowled by a beauty from Ball, Will Luxton run out next ball and James Wharton caught behind one-handed going low to his right by James Rew off Ben Green.Luxton misjudged a push to mid-off, where Josh Thomas misfielded before recovering to throw the non-striker’s stumps down.Revis, who hit nine fours, held things together on the pitch used for Tuesday’s win over Lancashire, with Yorkshire compiling nothing more than a workable total.Fin Bean, on 28, cut 18-year-old debutant seamer James Theedom to backward point with the score on 72 in the 18th over.Revis oozed confidence following three recent Championship centuries and a 69 earlier in this competition. He reached a 49-ball fifty here shortly before Yorkshire reached the halfway-mark in their innings at 115 for 4.He found an ally in fellow all-rounder George Hill. They calmly shared a recovery fifth-wicket partnership of 102.Yorkshire then lost four quick wickets, including Revis and Hill caught pulling, as the score fell from 174 for 5 in the 36th over to 204 for 8 in the 42nd. Green’s second wicket accounted for Revis, 34-year-old Ball’s second was Hill for 41.Tom Lammonby’s left-arm seam also claimed two wickets in that period.Dan Moriarty heaved the only two sixes of Yorkshire’s innings in a career-best 30 before holing out to cover as Ball struck twice in the 49th over to wrap things up.Vaughan, in his first competitive senior career appearance against his birth county, steered Somerset’s stress-free chase.Lammonby was well caught at deep gully by Lyth off Hill en route to 48 for 1 after 10 overs before 19-year-old Vaughan shared a second-wicket partnership of 70 with Lewis Goldsworthy, 30.Vaughan was particularly strong off the back foot on either side of the wicket. He reached his fifty off 65 balls.Goldsworthy fell at 111 for 2 in the 25th over when he top-edged a pull at Revis to long-leg.Vaughan continued on unflustered, sharing 64 with his captain James Rew. But he was bowled looking to go over the top against Dom Bess’s off-spin. Still, at 175 for three in the 38th, Somerset were in a strong position.James Rew finished unbeaten 53 off 62, while brother Thomas also contributed 31.

“I can proudly say I can bowl four overs now as a third seamer or a fourth seamer”

Deivarayan Muthu03-Aug-20223:18

Hardik Pandya – ‘When I bowl it gives a lot of balance to the side’

After having started his international career as a back-up bowling option, Hardik Pandya now believes that he can do the job as a frontline seamer. Apart from Arshdeep Singh, Hardik is the only India seamer to have bowled his full quota of four overs in each of the three T20Is so far in the Caribbean. On Tuesday, on a used Basettere pitch, Hardik handcuffed West Indies’ big hitters with a mixture of slower offcutters and on-pace deliveries.”Obviously, I’ve enjoyed bowling,” Hardik said after India secured a 2-1 series lead. “Again I’ve mentioned multiple times, that was the reason I felt I should take some time off to make sure my bowling comes off because I’ve realised when I bowl, it gives a lot of balance to the side; it gives a lot of confidence to the captain.Related

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“Yes, I used to bowl before. I used to be a filler in between when someone is not bowling well. I can proudly say I can bowl four overs now as a third seamer or a fourth seamer where I can contribute equally as I do with the bat.”When Hardik was introduced into the attack in the third T20I, West Indies were 32 for 0 in four overs, with Kyle Mayers dominating the early exchanges. After seeing Mayers swat his on-pace short ball over midwicket with the strong wind, Hardik shifted his lines wider, varied his pace more regularly, and challenged the batters to hit against the wind.Hardik sent Brandon King’s leg stump cartwheeling with a slower offcutter into the pitch and then beat Mayers three times in a row in the tenth over by taking his cutters away from the left-hander’s reach with his sharp angle from over the wicket. He finished with figures of 1 for 19, and after India wrapped up a seven-wicket victory, even Mayers conceded that Hardik and India had used the conditions better than West Indies.”For me, it’s the approach that I’m following,” Hardik said. “I understood that if you enjoy life and be in a frame of mind where you are positive, eventually a lot of the time the result goes your way. So, for me, it’s not about the result. It’s about how I take the game on, how smart I’m thinking and how I can make sure I use the situation and condition[s] which is offering me something with the bat or the ball.”1:04

Hardik on T20I vice-captaincy: ‘I enjoy responsibility, it adds flair to my game’

India captain Rohit Sharma was impressed with how Hardik and R Ashwin operated in the middle overs to keep Nicholas Pooran and the other middle-order hitters in check.”How we bowled in the middle overs [was pleasing],” Rohit said. “I think that was very, very crucial because they were about to get that big [opening] partnership and with few of their experienced players batting in the middle and I thought we used the conditions really well. We used our variations pretty well and then how we chased the runs, I thought it was quite clinical.”‘Responsibility adds more flair to my game’
Being appointed T20I vice-captain for the West Indies tour has raised his game to a new level, Hardik has said. Earlier this year, he captained Gujarat Titans to IPL glory in their first season and then oversaw India’s 2-0 sweep of a spirited Ireland side in Malahide.”I’ve always enjoyed responsibility and it has added more and more to my game,” Hardik said. “Whenever I’ve taken the responsibility, it has added some more flair to my game because it makes me think more and when I think more it just adds more value to my cricket.”Hardik also lauded Rohit for building a team environment that gave players – even those on the bench – security, echoing Dinesh Karthik’s comments from the T20I series opener in Tarouba.”Obviously, very privileged to get the opportunity to be vice-captain,” Hardik said. “When the captain gives you a lot of flexibility and lot of freedom, which is his strength throughout his captaincy stint, whenever I’ve played with him… and here as well a lot of credit goes to him on how they’ve got the team together and making sure that a lot of positive mindset comes in and at the same point of time players are feeling secure. They’re not looking over their shoulder, making sure they’re getting ample chances, and they are being told as well if they’re not playing.”

Sri Lanka were restricted to a sub-par total and a trio of fifties from Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai then powered an ice-cool chase

Madushka Balasuriya30-Oct-20232:55

Maharoof: SL lost the game between the 11th and 40th overs

For the second game running Afghanistan showcased exemplary calm in the chase, whittling down a sub-par target of 242 with ice-cold composure. A trio of fifties from Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai led the way, as Afghanistan leapfrogged Sri Lanka into fifth place on the points table with six points now on the board.Sri Lanka meanwhile are virtually out of the running for a semi-final berth, needing to essentially win all of their next three games – against India, Bangladesh and New Zealand – to stand any chance.For Afghanistan this was a win set up by their bowlers, who had stifled Sri Lanka’s batters on a deck that was for all intents and purposes tailor-made for batting, before their batters ran down the target with minimal fuss.Related

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Fazalhaq Farooqi was the pick of the bunch ending with figures of 4 for 34, but the most intriguing quirk of this game was that despite being afforded a true surface with a lack of lateral movement and minimal turn, both sides rarely scored at more than five an over.Their reasons however differed. While Sri Lanka could be criticised for a criminal lack of intent, Afghanistan were simply following the breakdown devised for them by head coach Jonathan Trott. Several times over the course of the innings the broadcast camera would pan over his giant whiteboard with 10-over markers clearly laid out – “50 after 10”, “100 after 20”, etc. But despite it being offered up in as easy-to-digest a manner as possible, such was the efficiency with which Afghanistan went about their work, Sri Lanka were powerless to do anything about it.Sure Dilshan Madushanka tailed one in on Rahmanullah Gurbaz off just the fourth ball of the chase to dislodge middle stump, but Afghanistan had their playbook and they followed it to a tee. Even when the wickets did fall, Afghanistan were quick to snuff out any momentum Sri Lanka might have been looking to derive.Partnerships of 73, 58 and 111 – between Ibrahim Zadran and Shah, Shah and Shahidi, and then Shahidi and Omarzai – formed the spine of their chase. Throughout that effort, boundaries were never sought after but only accepted when offered, as they were content to wait for loose balls, rarely willing – or needing – to take a risk.Sri Lanka for their part began to look more and more broken as the innings wore on, running out of ideas and steam on a surface that offered them nothing and against a team that were equally unforgiving.Fazalhaq Farooqi finished with a four-wicket haul•Associated Press

But the tone for this game had been set from the very beginning, as having been asked to bat first – a decision Kusal Mendis said he would have taken even had he won the toss – Sri Lanka would proceed with an uncertainty conspicuously absent in their first five matches.Perhaps this was borne by this being Sri Lanka’s first real game of the tournament where a chance of a semi-final spot – however unlikely – was tangibly within grasp. Inhibitions had been shed in an improbable chase against South Africa, and that aggressive intent had cascaded through to their next game against Pakistan. Then against Australia, the confidence continued to flow before an unprecedented collapse stopped them dead.Maybe it was this that pushed Sri Lanka into a more conservative approach, but evidence of any shift didn’t prove forthcoming in games against Netherlands and England, where their intent, or lack thereof, wasn’t scrutinised to any great degree with a pair of middling chases calling more for caution than aggression.Against Afghanistan though, on a surface which had been described as a “batter’s paradise” during the pitch report, the inclusion of Dimuth Karunaratne betrayed the fear that had been driving Sri Lanka’s thinking.Rashid Khan leads Afghanistan’s lap of honour in what was his 100th ODI•ICC/Getty Images

Yes, Kusal Perera hadn’t made an impact aside from his 78 against Australia, but a surface such as this might have proved precisely the panacea for his batting troubles. Instead Sri Lanka were left frustrated as his replacement Karunaratne would play and miss a handful of shortish, wide deliveries on either side of the wicket – rare loose balls in otherwise tight opening spells from Fazalhaq Farooqi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Sri Lanka would end up striking just four boundaries in the first 10 overs.That powerplay would also see Sri Lanka end on 41 for 1, their lowest score after 10 overs in the entirety of the tournament. This pronounced lack of ambition would afflict them throughout an innings that only sporadically scratched the five an over mark, let alone the sixes and sevens that have been more prevalent across this tournament.The deference showed to the Afghanistan bowlers through the middle overs was incongruous to say the least when compared to how Sri Lanka had approached those first two games against South Africa and Pakistan.What this meant was that when the quality deliveries that Afghanistan’s bowlers are capable of inevitably arrived, Sri Lanka’s batters would fall having failed to effectively capitalise on the opportunities afforded elsewhere.Karunaratne would be the first to go, trapped lbw by one darting in from Farooqi, the on-field not out call overturned on review. A 62-run stand between Nissanka and Mendis would follow, before Omarzai would jag one in from a back of a length outside off and coax Nissanka to feather an edge through to Gurbaz behind the stumps – thus ending his streak of fifty-plus scores at four. Gurbaz was deputising for Ikram Alikhil, who was off the field receiving treatment after having dislocated a finger on his right hand while keeping.Dhananjaya de Silva was mostly clueless against Rashid Khan•ICC via Getty Images

Kusal Mendis was next to fall while going for his favoured slog sweep for a fourth time in four games. He would have been disappointed to find the man stationed for just such a stroke, but what was more jarring for onlookers might have been the reticent version of Mendis that had knocked around 49 deliveries prior to that for a modest 39; despite the lack of demons in the wicket, much like the rest of his team-mates, Mendis was shackled by a demure approach in an innings that saw just the three boundaries.Mendis’ dismissal, which followed a 50-run stand with Sadeera Samarawickrama, would prove the catalyst for a mini collapse that would see Sri Lanka tumble from 134 for 2 to 185 for 7.Samarawickrama, who had looked his usual industrious self in his 40-ball 36, was caught in the crease by a quicker one from Mujeeb that tailed in. Dhananjaya de Silva, who had put on 28 with Charith Asalanka, was then worked over beautifully by a Rashid googly through the gate, one that had been setup over the course of a nagging over in what was Rashid’s 100th ODI. Asalanka would miscue a pull to mid-off shortly after off Farooqi, while a chaotic and unnecessary run-out – Angelo Mathews calling for a run that would have kept him off strike for the start of the next over – would send Dushmantha Chameera packing.Only a rearguard stand of 45 from 42 between Mathews and Maheesh Theekshana, where the latter showed off his batting chops with some expansive stroke-play through the offside, took Sri Lanka to a total of any respectability. But on a true surface, and against a commanding Afghanistan side, it was never going to be enough.

After just three matches together in 2-1 defeat to West Indies, head coach is encouraged by his charges’ fight

Cameron Ponsonby10-Dec-2023Matthew Mott has called for patience with England’s new-era white-ball team as a work in progress, stressing that they’ve only had three opportunities to play together.England succumbed to a four-wicket defeat in Barbados to lose their first series following a difficult World Cup campaign 2-1.A group which featured just four players to have played more than 10 ODIs, found themselves in strong positions in all three matches against a West Indies side going through a similar reboot having failed to qualify for the World Cup.However, a late-innings onslaught from Shai Hope and Romario Shepherd in the opening match saw England slip to a four-wicket defeat in Antigua, before losing by the same margin at the Kensington Oval after a top-order collapse gave England a total of just 188 to defend in a rain-reduced game.Related

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“We haven’t put a complete game together and that’s the frustration,” Mott, England’s head coach, said immediately after the defeat. “We put ourselves in a chance to win all three games and come away with a series loss, so that’s not ideal.”But there are definitely some really good signs there that there’s a group of players who love playing with each other. They’re some really good mates in there and I think it’ll really take the game forward.”In line for particular praise were Rehan Ahmed and Sam Curran. Rehan, described by Mott as a “revelation”, has been tasked with filling the almighty shoes of Adil Rashid and took five wickets across the series at an average of 23.40 and an economy of 4.33. On the other hand, Curran had a mixed series. In the opening ODI, he showed his class with the bat to save England’s innings from the perilous position of 239 for 7, before conceding the worst ever figures of an England player in ODIs as he was taken for 0 for 98.”Sam’s definitely a player that we really want to invest in,” Mott said, with Curran proving his qualities with the ball in the second match where his triple-strike in the powerplay put England ahead of the game. “He’s got a lot of qualities that we like and he’s got the game to really play well.”A point of pride for Mott was the fight England showed to almost steal an unlikely victory from the final ODI. Suffering from the natural disadvantage of bowling second in a rain-affected match, England were faced with greasy conditions that made it harder for their spinners to grip the ball and easier for the West Indies batters to play seam. But thanks to a Will Jacks-inspired performance with the ball, England reduced West Indies to 135 for 6, with 53 runs still required for victory.”I thought today we showed a lot of character and spirit to fight all day,” Mott said. “You don’t want to make excuses, but to hang in there as a team and show the fight that they did, throwing themselves around and nearly snatching one was something that we’re looking for.”After three months of almost exclusive ODI focus, England’s attention now turns to T20s, with the five-match series against West Indies starting on Tuesday in Barbados.”We’ve played really good T20 cricket over a period of time. It’s always good when you lose a series to change the format,” Mott said, also confirming that Jos Buttler will return to opening the batting after spending the New Zealand series in September lower down the order. “You move on pretty quickly. It’s only a couple of days, it won’t be that different. Obviously you’ve got a few new players coming in with experience. But it’s much of a muchness really.”There are five changes to England’s personnel in the Caribbean, with Chris Woakes, Rashid, Moeen Ali, Reece Topley and Tymal Mills joining the squad for the T20 leg. Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley, Matthew Potts, Tom Hartley and Brydon Carse will head home.”It’s probably easier transitioning back,” Mott said. “T20 is, particularly for the batting group, pretty clear, you go out and take the game on, there’s not a lot of dead balls. And from the bowling group, you’re trying to hit your variations as much as you can and deny them hitting opportunities. So I think we’ll be fine. We’ve got a couple of days to work on it and looking forward to it.”Also joining the England set-up is Andrew Flintoff, who will continue the first team mentoring role he took up in the summer as part of his first steps back into the public eye following his serious car crash whilst filming Top Gear.Flintoff, whose role is now paid, was part of the backroom staff for both the New Zealand white-ball series and the home ODIs against Ireland before he flew to Abu Dhabi along with Graeme Swann as part of the England Lions’ red-ball training camp. It has been a high-profile return to coaching for Flintoff, who has also been hired as Northern Superchargers head coach for the 2024 edition of The Hundred.

Going forward, the PCB is likely to strike a more conciliatory tone with players whose national duties clash with franchise leagues

Danyal Rasool14-Jun-2023There might be a potential clash brewing between international commitments and T20 franchise agreements for some Pakistan players following the Global T20 Canada’s draft announcement on Wednesday. The GT20’s third edition will be played from July 20 to August 6, and though the precise dates of Pakistan’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka are yet to be announced, there is expected to be a significant overlap as the FTP has the second half of July marked for the Test series.There is a sizeable chunk of Pakistan players in the GT20 draft; as many as 14 players have been named. While most of those drafted have either retired (Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik were picked as marquee and icon players) or aren’t part of Pakistan’s current red-ball plans, the drafted squads do include Pakistan vice-captain Mohammad Rizwan as well as first-choice opener Abdullah Shafique.Even for players who aren’t selected for that Test series, a No-Objection Certificate from the PCB will be necessary to participate in the GT20. Ten of the players drafted, including Zaman Khan, Azam Khan and Saim Ayub, have played white-ball cricket recently for Pakistan. While the PCB does not have an official cap on the number of leagues a player can play, a PCB official told ESPNcricinfo that the decision on NOCs would still be made keeping in mind a player’s fitness and need for rest.The PCB has made clear that any player picked for the Test series against Sri Lanka will not go to the GT20, though it is understood the board will be broadly permissive from now on. This would be something of a departure from the PCB policy over the years when it would preemptively deny NOCs for leagues before drafts or auctions. Going forward, there is likely to be less rigidity when dealing with players who have overseas franchise T20 commitments, with the board looking to strike a healthier balance between player welfare and national duty.Rizwan, an icon player with Vancouver Knights, was dropped in favour of Sarfaraz Ahmed for Pakistan’s most recent Tests against New Zealand, and with Sarfaraz having distinguished himself with the bat in that series, he is likely to retain his place. Whether that means Rizwan will drop out of the squad entirely remains to be seen, but the PCB believes common ground will be found.The GT20 returns after a four-year hiatus. The first two seasons took place in 2018 and 2019, but following payment disputes and the Covid pandemic that followed, a third edition wasn’t held in the next three years. Toronto Nationals boast four Pakistan players, the heaviest contingent. Mississauga Panthers and Brampton Wolves have three each, while Surrey Jaguars have two. Vancouver Knights and Montreal Tigers each have one, Rizwan and Abbas Afridi, respectively.

Although Hasaranga’s resignation comes on the heels of Sri Lanka’s poor T20 World Cup showing, it is still something of a surprise

Andrew Fidel Fernando11-Jul-2024Wanindu Hasaranga has resigned as Sri Lanka’s T20I captain after roughly six months in the role. He said in a statement put out by the board that his decision was in the best interest of Sri Lankan cricket.”Sri Lanka will always have my utmost best efforts as a player, and I will support and stand by my team always,” Hasaranga said in his resignation letter, later seen by ESPNcricinfo.*Related

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Although Hasaranga’s resignation came on the heels of a poor World Cup in which Sri Lanka failed to qualify for the Super Eight, it was still something of a surprise. There was little public pressure on him to be ousted, partly because he was still so new in the role. He also appeared to be relishing the job, even prioritising Sri Lanka commitments over IPL appearances this year as he recovered from a foot injury.In his resignation, he lamented Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign at length.”Sri Lanka’s early exit at the T20 World Cup is extremely disappointing to me as the captain and for the entire team,” he wrote. “As a team and a nation our expectations were high, and I was confident that the best Sri Lanka team was selected to play the tournament.”I do not wish to place excuses to condone our below-par performance, but also wholeheartedly believe that the Bangladesh game was very close and we should have been able to pull through [Bangladesh won by two wickets, with six balls remaining]. If so, circumstances and the fortunes for our nation would have been very much different.”Sri Lanka won six of the 10 T20Is they played under Hasaranga, winning bilateral series against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan to start 2024. He had also been suspended for two matches for abusing an umpire during this stint.He remains captain of the Kandy Falcons Lanka Premier League team in the ongoing franchise tournament.While there are no obvious candidates to replace him as captain of Sri Lanka in T20Is, Charith Asalanka’s name will be discussed. He took the reins in the two matches Hasaranga had been suspended for, and also leads Jaffna Kings in the LPL this year.Sri Lanka’s next T20I assignment is the three-match series against India at the end of this month. Sri Lanka will enter that series with a new coach as well, with Sanath Jayasuriya taking over in an interim capacity after Chris Silverwood stepped down following the World Cup. Mahela Jayawardene, too, had quit as consultant coach last month.

Three members of the management committee – Tanvir Ahmed, Gul Zada and Shakil Sheikh – are at the centre of the conflict worry

Umar Farooq25-Apr-2023The PCB has played down concerns of conflict of interest in the ongoing regional electoral process, at the end of which the board’s directors will be appointed. The concerns are about officials from the interim setup, who are currently tasked with overseeing the PCB’s restructuring but are also taking part in the elections.A 12-member management committee, headed by Najam Sethi, was handed interim charge of the board last December and given 120 days to bring back the 2014 PCB constitution in place of the version from 2019 it had been operating under. That timeline was this week formally extended by two months to the end of June. One of the key processes in that is conducting elections in over 100 districts, from which 16 regions will be formed. Four of the heads of those 16 regional associations will eventually sit on the PCB’s board of governors (BoG).Three members of the management committee – Tanvir Ahmed, who has been elected president of Larkana region; Gul Zada, from Peshawar region; and Shakil Sheikh, who is in the running in the Islamabad region election – working from PCB headquarters currently are at the centre of the conflict concern. As members of the committee, they were given executive powers when they took charge to restore the departmental cricket structure, the formation of a BoG, and election of a board chairman.Responding to a query from ESPNcricinfo, the PCB explained that its constitution stipulates that no employee of the board shall be eligible to contest any election of the board or any election under the aegis of the board. But when asked if there was a potential conflict of interest in a member of the management committee overseeing the electoral process as well as running in it, the PCB said, “As far as members of the MC [management committee] are concerned they are not employees of the Board, hence, there is no bar in the PCB Constitution or any Election Bylaws refraining them from contesting elections of RCAs/DCAs.””The elections of Regional Cricket Associations and District Cricket Associations are being held in line with the PCB Constitution and applicable PCB Election Bylaws,” the PCB added. “The Election Regulations under which the District and Regional elections have been/are being conducted have not been modified or amended by the MC, therefore, there is also no risk of a potential conflict of interest.”Related

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To restore the 2014 constitution, the PCB needs to form a BoG comprising ten members: four regional representatives (top teams from the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy), four representatives of services organisations (top departmental teams), and the two members directly nominated by the PCB patron, which is the country’s prime minister. The federal secretary of the inter-provincial coordination ministry (or an officer nominated by them) shall be an ex-officio, non-voting 11th member. The term of each member of the BoG is three years – equivalent to one term of the chairman.There are over 100 districts in the country across all provinces and a cluster of districts are represented by one region. For example, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Narowal and Gujarat fall under Sialkot region. Similarly, every region has several districts to represent the larger portion of the area.”The elections themselves have been conducted/supervised by the Election Commissioner appointed by the Patron,” the PCB said. “It is the PCB election commissioner who has the power and responsibility for holding and monitoring fair, free and transparent elections under the PCB Constitution including those of Chairman, Regional, District, and other Cricket Associations as well as Service Organizations or Departments, whether Full or Associate Members. It is important to note that EC and electoral processes are independent of the Board.”Some time ago, to avoid a potential conflict of interest, Haroon Rasheed had resigned from the management committee to take up the role of chief selector. PCB announced it at a press conference but clarified that it was determined there “existed no cavil” in Rasheed carrying on as chief selector as well as a management committee member, so ultimately he didn’t step down.”It was agreed that when matters pertaining to the performance of the selection committee are discussed and debated at an MC meeting, Haroon Rasheed will recuse himself and leave the room till such time that the agenda point has not been conclusively addressed,” PCB said.