Malan’s rapid fire 57 set the tone for a competitive 175, before the bowlers, led by Steyn, rallied to defend a revised target of 145 after floodlight failure reduced the chase to 16 overs

The Report by Akshay Gopalakrishnan21-Nov-2018Janneman Malan swings during his half-century•MSL

Cape Town Blitz’s bowlers rallied to defend a revised target of 145 against Nelson Mandela Bay Giants to maintain their team’s unbeaten run in the 2018-19 Mzansi Super League. With three wins in as many matches, Blitz are the only undefeated team in the competition, rising to 13 points, eight clear of the second-placed Jozi Stars.Farhaan Behardien, the Blitz captain, had had little hesitation in electing to bat on what he sussed out to be a worn surface. Janneman Malan vindicated that decision, tearing into the Bay Giants attack with a 39-ball 57 that set the base for a competitive 175. In reply, Bay Giants were well behind the mark, at 49 for 2 in 8.4 overs, when floodlight failure resulted in a fifteen-minute break in play. With no provision of extra time to account for stoppages, four overs were slashed from the Bay Giants chase, leaving them with 96 to get in 44 balls.Much of that early struggle by the Bay Giants was down to Dale Steyn, who turned back the clock to produce a fiery spell of fast bowling. Clocking speeds in the range of 85 to 90 miles per hour on a consistent basis, Steyn was incisive, and had the Bay Giants batsmen fretting against his pace. Steyn hit the deck hard, generated substantial bounce, hit razor sharp lines, and managed disconcerting movement off the deck. And the impact was felt immediately.With his second ball, Steyn got Marco Marais into a tangle, and produced a leading edge, with the batsman playing half-heartedly across the line, to Quinton de Kock behind the stumps. That over from Steyn ended up being a wicket maiden. In his next, he foxed JJ Smuts with a slower one that the batsman tamely chipped back, with Steyn getting down sharply on the followthrough to snare it low in front. He then followed up with a short ball, fired in at full tilt, that spat up off the deck, and crashed into the helmet grille of Heino Kuhn. At the end of his second spell, Steyn had figures of 2-1-1-2. A top-edge over the slips in his next over resulted in the first boundary of Steyn’s spell, but by the end of that over, the last of the Powerplay, Bay Giants had played out 19 dots.Kuhn did well to ride the early storm, however, and in the first full over after the resumption, laid into Dane Piedt, cracking three fours and a six, making it the most expensive over of the match. Using quick feet and powerful arms, Kuhn scooped, slogged and reverse-swept Piedt to breathe life into the chase for the first time.Thrown a lifeline when he was shelled at third man off Steyn on 42, Kuhn swatted the next ball through midwicket for four, and brought up his half-century off 32 balls. But an unfortunate run out, in another boundary-heavy 13th over, transferred the pressure back on Bay Giants. In the face of a mounting required rate, Hussain Talat’s double-strike in the next over further tilted the scales in the favour of Blitz, who then made sure to avoid any more surprises.As with the bat, Bay Giants struggled with the ball early on, failing to find the right length. They kept pitching it short to Malan, who was in an unrelenting mood and smashed two fours and a six off the first seven balls he faced. Ryan McLaren managed to hit a different length, but a full toss and a half-volley outside the off stump were hardly the need of the hour and were duly put away for boundaries. So dominant was Malan that de Kock had contributed only 6 to the first-wicket partnership when he stepped down and blindly swung to be stumped.Phehlukwayo matched Malan’s aggression, and the two continued to pinch timely boundaries as they settled into the ideal pace in their partnership of 49 in 37 balls. Having settled down courtesy some generous gifts from the Bay Giants bowlers, Malan collected his fifty with a full toss from Tahir that he chipped straight back over for four.Malan and Phehlukwayo fell in successive overs – Malan trapped plumb in front by the left-arm spin of JJ Smuts and Phehlukwayo to a blinder from Aaron Phangiso at midwicket – but the platform laid by them was such that the brief cameos that followed lower down were sufficient to haul Blitz to a match-winning total.

He has warned his players that Bangladesh could yet make a strong tilt for their target of 321, and told them not to let their shoulder drop if a partnership develops

Liam Brickhill05-Nov-2018Optimism is Zimbabwe’s most enduring, and endearing, quality. Having not played a single Test all year before this one, not won a Test since their historic fifth-day triumph against Pakistan five years ago, not won a Test in Bangladesh since 2001, and stumbled through a 3-0 defeat in the preceding ODIs, they have batted and bowled their way into a position of strength. Ten wickets are all that stand between them and the sweet relief of victory that will justify the hope and optimism of their coach, Lalchand Rajput.”We are always positive,” a beaming Rajput said after Zimbabwe left the field on the third day with Bangladesh still 295 runs adrift in the fourth innings. “We are here to win. I’m a very positive person and I never give up until the last. This is a situation where we have the opposition in such a position that it’s very difficult to lose.”While the current situation might have surprised many, Rajput is not one of them. Zimbabwe prepared well for this tour, he explained, having been in camp for almost two months before departure. Had a few decisive events not gone against them in the ODIs, that scoreline, he felt, might not have been so lopsided.”I’m not really [surprised], because if you look at the ODI series we had chances in the first ODI,” he said. “In the second two ODIs, there was a lot of dew and the toss was crucial, but still we got to 280 in the last ODI. We are not that troubled that we lost the series 3-0 as we had our chances, but we could not finish and take those chances.”Now the Test match has been good so far, with two more days to go, and we have to try and bowl well and field well because such chances don’t come very often. And if you look at the stats as well, teams have not often chased more than 300 in the fourth innings here.”Indeed, Bangladesh’s highest winning fourth-innings effort with the bat in this country is the 101 for 7 they scored against Zimbabwe in Dhaka four years ago, while only twice before have other teams chased over 300 to win here.But records are made to be broken, and while there has been some turn and bounce on offer, the Sylhet pitch has not yet disintegrated into the sort of minefield where Zimbabwe could be assured of rolling Bangladesh over cheaply. Rajput reminded the press corps that cricket is a funny old game, and it’s too early to celebrate just yet.”It’s a positive situation yes, and the boys are very happy, but cricket is a very funny game,” he said. “It can change in just one session. We’ve got to be really focused on our bowling now, because we just have to bowl and field well. If one partnership is there, we don’t have to put our shoulders down. On this type of wicket, if one wicket falls, you might get or three, so you’ve got to be positive when that happens.”As a coach you’ve got to be giving them the positives, and time to time during the drinks break or the lunch break, you’ve got tell them that they’ve got to be upbeat. In cricket you’ve got to have the body language that you want to win badly, that’s important. The body language shows how keen you are to win, and you’ve got to not drop the body language at all.”You cannot take anything for granted until the last wicket is taken or the last runs scored. We look at the positive aspects of the game, and we are very positive that we can try and get those ten wickets tomorrow.”Hope springs eternal. This time, it may well be justified.

CEO Kevin Roberts says an important question to ask is whether there is enough emphasis placed on performance over potential

Andrew McGlashan04-Jan-2019Cricket Australia will assess if the selection criteria used for the men’s team promotes potential too much over on-field performance, as the debate intensifies whether a group of players at state level are being overlooked when they could be better suited for a struggling Test side.The recall of Marnus Labuschagne, who has averaged 28 with the bat this season in the Sheffield Shield and nearly 60 with the ball, and his elevation to the No. 3 position for the fourth Test against India, has again thrown the spotlight on what parameters the selectors use to make their judgements.Australia head coach Justin Langer recently referenced that those players pushing for Test selection with the bat are only averaging in the 30s, which appears to ignore the likes of Matthew Wade (571 runs at 63.44) and Joe Burns (472 at 47.20), despite the ongoing struggle to find a top order that can compete in the absence of Steven Smith and David Warner. Of the top 10 Sheffield Shield run scorers so far this season, two of them are in the Test side (Marcus Harris and Shaun Marsh) while of the other eight six are averaging over 40.”Over the last decade or so there has been some suggestion that perhaps potential may have played more of role in selections than previously and I think that’s a good question for us to ask,” Kevin Roberts, the Cricket Australia CEO, told on the second day in Sydney. “I’m not saying we have it way out of whack at the moment, but they are important questions to ask ourselves. Are we placing enough emphasis on performance – potential is important but, as they say, potential never won a game.”A 35-year-old athlete today is probably quite similar to a 25-year-old athlete of say 20 years ago when I was playing and we have to be conscious of that. A lot of cricketers reach their potential in their late 20s, even early 30s. It’s really important to identify young talent, the next Ricky Ponting if you like, but for other players who are not the next Ponting, I think it’s important we have a system that inspires them to stay in it and inspires them to feel like they have opportunities when they are reaching the peak of their careers.”The structure of the Australian domestic season will also be looked at, although it seems unlikely there will be any solution to the clash of the BBL with the Test summer which leaves players without any red-ball cricket to state their case of selection or recall, but Roberts denied that was a major shift in position.”One of things we really need to look at is how do we give maximum respect to domestic competition as a foundation for our international teams both male and female, making sure our national programme compliments our domestic competitions rather than collide with them. That’s not easy, but we can really elevate the focus on our domestic competitions and make sure they are the best nursery for our international players.”I wouldn’t suggest it’s a backflip or significant change of direction. We need to look at the challenge that is scheduling, how do we optimise that, how do we make sure the best players are available for domestic competition. We know international players have a very heavy schedule and we know their availability is limited, but we can do our best to optimise our scheduling to make sure it provides the best grounding possible.”Roberts also said there would be ongoing discussions with Langer over how to prioritise the on-field demands of the next two years which includes the World Cup, Ashes and World T20. An indication of the juggle of resource taking place was the omission of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood from the one-day squad to face India.”One of things I’ll be discussing with Justin, and I’ve started in recent weeks, is that everything is important but how can we make sure we are having our best possible crack at the ODI World Cup, then the Ashes and then T20 World Cup rather than the caravans just rolling on from one series to the next. We need to really determine what is most important and ensure Australian cricket is performing at its best at those junctures.”

England batsman flies home for further assessment, with one-day tour of the Caribbean looming on the horizon

Mohammad Isam31-Jan-2019Alex Hales could be a doubt for the one-day leg of England’s tour of the Caribbean – their last opportunity to fine-tune their squad selection for the forthcoming World Cup – after being ruled out of the rest of the BPL with a shoulder injury.Hales, who is not currently in England’s first-choice XI in ODI cricket, sustained the injury during Rangpur Riders’ match against Rajshahi Kings in Chattogram on January 29. He had been in fine form in this year’s competition, making 304 runs in eight games for the Riders, at a strike-rate of 167.03 with a century and two fifties.The one-day leg of England’s Caribbean tour gets underway in just under a month’s time, on February 20, with five ODIs followed by three T20Is. England’s World Cup squad is due to be named by April 23.His injury means the Riders will be without two of their key batsmen in the qualifiers, as AB de Villiers will also leave after he has played his sixth game, their last league phase match, on February 2.According to coach Tom Moody, Hales will seek further remedial advice once he is back in London.”We got the news last night. He requires going back to London to have some specialist’s opinion on his left shoulder,” Moody said. “He hurt his left shoulder in the last game during his batting. The ECB requested that he get some further medical advice.”The absence of both Hales and de Villiers, who made a rapid hundred in this year’s tournament, leaves the Riders short on overseas star quality going into the final stages of the competition.”Unfortunately that’s the end of his tournament with us and obviously he had a significant impact and great value to us,” he said.Moody however said that the Riders’ squad has the depth to tackle the loss of two top batsmen. “We knew from the outset that we had [AB de Villiers] for a certain number of matches, so we are prepared for that.As much as we would as a team, franchise and tournament would love him to play to the end of the final, it’s not going to happen. As with Alex Hales, we will plan accordingly. We feel we have the necessary quality to make the adjustment,” he said.Riders are currently on top of the points table with a place confirmed in the qualifiers that begins on February 4.

Queensland managed a small first-innings but could face a tough chase in conditions that continue to aid the bowlers

Alex Malcolm04-Mar-2019A critical unbeaten half-century from Daniel Hughes gave New South Wales a chance to put up a challenging fourth-innings total after giving up a first-innings lead to Queensland at the Gabba.The Blues began their second innings on day two 35 runs behind Queensland after the Bulls’ tail wagged courtesy of Jimmy Peirson and Mark Steketee.Hughes lost his opening partner Nick Larkin in the third over of the innings, with only five runs of the lead erased, when Michael Neser made the breakthrough having Larkin caught behind.Hughes was joined by Kurtis Patterson and the pair chipped away at the lead and put the Blues in front with a 48-run stand before Luke Feldman struck.After five wickets in the first innings, including finding the outside edge of Patterson, Feldman nipped one back off the seam from around the wicket to find Patterson’s inside edge and Peirson took an excellent catch to his right.Hughes pressed on to his 13th half-century in Sheffield Shield cricket from 137 balls. He played with the patience required in conditions that continued to swing and seam. Moises Henriques was fine support, finishing 23 not out from 60 balls to leave the Blues 68 runs in front with eight wickets in hand.Earlier, Peirson and Steketee both made 41 as the Bulls climbed out of a hole at 7 for 104 to establish a lead. The pair added 50 for the eighth wicket before the breakthrough came via the unlikely source of batsman Jack Edwards as he had Peirson caught behind for his first wicket in first-class cricket.Steketee swung hard and found the boundary five times in his unbeaten 41, his equal second-highest score in Shield cricket. He added 30 with No. 10 Feldman before Sean Abbott and Trent Copeland finished the innings with wickets in consecutive overs to bag three scalps apiece.

He told his Wellington team-mates about his retirement decision after their match against Otago on Tuesday

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Mar-2019Wellington and New Zealand allrounder Luke Woodcock will retire from cricket at the end of the ongoing season. Woodcock, 36, played four ODIs and three T20Is for New Zealand from 2010 to 2011 and is currently playing the Plunket Shield. He told his Wellington team-mates about his retirement decision after their match against Otago on Tuesday, a release said.”It just feels right at this stage to move on,” Woodcock said. “You always get told that you’ll know when things are coming to an end and in all honesty, I never really believed that. But over the last six to nine months things have started to kick in around that final stage of my career and the decision not to play in the Ford Trophy this year was probably a sign it was time to call it a day.”Woodcock made his international debut in a T20I against Pakistan in Hamilton and played only two more matches but didn’t get to bat in any of those. He did, however, pick one wicket in T20Is. He played four ODIs in all and ended with 14 runs and three wickets in those.His domestic career was much more celebrated. Woodcock made his Wellington debut at the age of 19 in 2001 and racked up 10,594 runs and 339 wickets in 384 appearances for them across formats. In November 2017, he broke the record for most first-class appearances for one team by any player in New Zealand when he played his 128th first-class match for Wellington. With them, he won the four-day State Championship in 2004, the Ford Trophy in 2014 and two T20 trophies in 2015 and 2017.He also played over 100 matches for Wellington in each of the three formats. “To reach 100 games in all three formats is pretty special and won’t probably sink in until the season’s done, but I’m really proud of being able to do that for Wellington,” he said. “Cricket Wellington means a lot to me and has been a big part of my life for the last 17 years and I can’t thank them and the Johnsonville Cricket Club enough for helping me have the career that I’ve had.”Wellington head coach Bruce Edgar said Woodcock had been a “great giver to other people”.”Woody’s impact on cricket in Wellington has been felt at local level all the way through to the Firebirds,” Edgar said. “He’s always been committed and passionate to play club cricket and be part of the community and he has represented our values strongly.”He’s been a great giver to other people, not just himself, a lot of players have really looked up to him as a person and as a player, so he’s really epitomised everything we stand for.”Woodcock said he’ll miss the banter, among other things.”Winning four-day matches is extremely difficult so it’s a pretty satisfying winning those. I’ll miss the banter too – I’ve copped a bit and given a bit in my time!”His final appearance will be against Canterbury starting Sunday at the Basin Reserve.

Harry Conway continued to star with a useful partnership and more wickets at Drummoyne Oval

Daniel Brettig13-Mar-2019Harry Conway continued to enjoy the game of his life but Victoria were inching their way to a defendable fourth-innings lead against New South Wales after two dramatic days of the top of the table Sheffield Shield match at Drummoyne Oval in Sydney.NSW had begun the day by eking out another 38 priceless runs for the final three wickets, as the captain Peter Nevill found more than useful help from Conway to forge a first-innings advantage. The Victorian response was quickly unsettled by Conway, who got an outswinger to lift off a length at Travis Dean and reap a catch in the slips, maintaining the visiting captain’s difficult season.Marcus Harris and Will Pucovski steadied things for a time, but in the minutes before lunch both were deceived and dismissed: Pucovski pinned lbw on the front foot by Steve O’Keefe, then Harris tucked up by a Greg West bouncer and gloving into the cordon from the very last ball of the morning.In the afternoon, Conway bent a near yorker around the groping bat of Cameron White to pin the former Victorian captain lbw for a golden duck, and Nic Maddinson hinted at a major score before glancing West into Nevill’s gloves for 33.Conway’s third strike arrived when Matthew Short was turned around by another away swinger and well held by Nick Larkin in the slips, and Seb Gotch’s unsuccessful attempt to hammer Jason Sangha’s legbreak beyond the boundary left Victoria with only three wickets remaining. Nevertheless, their lead by the close was worth 130, with James Pattinson and Peter Siddle intent on adding more.

Justive DK Jain sent them notices for their alleged conflict of interest for serving as IPL franchises’ support staff members as well as members of the Cricket Advisory Committee

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Apr-2019The BCCI’s ombudsman-cum-ethics officer Justice DK Jain served notices to former India batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman on Wednesday for their alleged conflict of interest for being part of IPL franchises’ support staffs as well as serving as members of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC). Justice Jain has given them time until April 28 to file their written responses.While Laxman is Sunrisers Hyderabad’s mentor, the Mumbai Indians website mentions Tendulkar as their icon.This is the third case of conflict of interest allegation being filed during this IPL after former India captain Sourav Ganguly was summoned by Justice Jain for his triple role as the CAB president, CAC member as well as advisor of Delhi Capitals. The three former batsmen were part of the CAC that had picked the India coach Ravi Shastri in July 2017 in their last meeting.In his notices sent to Tendulkar and Laxman, Justice Jain also stated that he had also asked the BCCI to file their response by April 28.”A complaint has been received by the Ethics Officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (for short “the BCCI”) under Article 39 of the Rules and Regulations of the BCCI, regarding certain acts, allegedly constituting as “conflict of interest” on your part,” Justice Jain wrote in the notices.”You may file your written response to the accompanying Complaint, supported by duly executed affidavit, on or before 28th April 2019, with the Office of the Ethics Officer, BCCI, Mumbai for further proceedings in the matter.”The ombudsman stated that their failure to respond to the notices would result in them not getting any further opportunity to file a response.”On your failure to respond to the present notice, the Ethics Officer shall be constrained to proceed in your absence, without giving any further opportunity of filing a response to the Complaint, to you.The complaints were filed by Sanjeev Gupta, a life member of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association.

Alex Wakely out for a duck in first match since quitting Northants captaincy

David Hopps11-Jun-2019When Alex Wakely pondered his resignation as Northants captain, he would have imagined the day when the burden upon him would finally be released and he would walk to the crease, bat in hand, without a care in the world. Once more, the sun would shine, the birds would sing in the trees and the pitches would be bountiful.Five days after relinquishing the job, that glorious moment came. It was 11 degrees Celsius at Chester-le-Street, and if any birdlife could be seen under a heavy blanket of cloud, it was being buffeted by an untamed north-west wind.Against the eighth ball he faced, Wakely decided to live that dream of a better future. He drove fulsomely at Brydon Carse, the ball seamed and clipped the outside edge and he duly lodged his first duck back in the ranks.Instead, the innings of substance fell to Ricardo Vasconcelos, a 21-year-old South African, while Northants’ former captain doubtless mooched around the dressing room and, without a team to run, wondered what to do with himself.The manner in which Vasconcelos reached his hundred, after a stoppage for bad light, and the clock past six, was something for Wakely to aspire to: a dreamily controlled hook for six off Carse which possessed such easy authority that Roy Fredericks might have quivered in his grave with admiration.Vasconcelos tops Northants’ averages with 595 Championship runs at 74.4 and already has a Championship hundred to his credit this season with a career-best 184 against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens on a dead pitch where both sides topped 500. On a surface that demanded good judgement, this was much more meaningful.The cares of captaincy, or of anything much at all, have yet to beset Vasconcelos. And captaincy exhausts everybody in the end. With his 30th birthday now past, and a first-class batting average of 31, Wakely will not find adjustment straightforward, but if the game grants him the same care and consideration that his fellow professionals say he has given them then there will still be satisfying days ahead, just not in Chester-le-Street on a day where the wind moaned through the media stand so loudly that it might have been carrying the souls of every dead Durham member as they bemoaned the sight of their beloved county at the foot of Division Two.Not that Durham lack spirit. From the depths of 81 for 7, they would have been happy with 253, the product of the county’s record stand for the eighth wicket – 154 – from Ben Raine and Carse, eclipsing the 147 put on by Phil Mustard and Liam Plunkett against Yorkshire ten years ago. Both batsmen made their highest first-class scores, Raine perishing on 82 when Brett Hutton won an lbw decision and brought him to his knees and Carse advancing to an unbeaten 77. They will have more entertaining alliances down the order, but few of more value.Northants, second bottom, are an unpredictable batting side. Vasconcelos, a diminutive left-hander, possesses an eager extra cover drive which once he had settled he played with fast hands and exquisite timing. But he was fortunate to survive the 16 overs up to lunch, as was his fellow left-hander Ben Curran. Both struggled at times to locate the ball. It is not known if either are religious men, but clearly Matthew 7:7 was not about to fulfil its promise.When it came to dissatisfaction, nobody could beat Jack Burnham. A cheerless day heaped misery upon him as he dropped three slip catches by lunch. Two came in successive balls, the first a routine affair when Chis Rushworth found Curran’s edge on 18, the second down by his bootstraps at the start of the next over as this time Vasconcelos nicked Raine.By the time Burnham spilled Curran again on 26, with Rushworth once again the unfortunate party, his captain and fellow slip, Cameron Bancroft, was gazing at him intently as if trying to solve a particularly difficult Codeword. Immediately after lunch, Burnham found himself about as far away from the slips as it was possible to be.Carse eventually got Durham motoring with three wickets. Curran was bowled through the gate, perhaps beaten for pace, Wakely followed and, in a later spell and with the third-wicket stand with Vasconcelos having produced 99, Temba Bavuma edged to the wicketkeeper.It is rare on such a day that Rushworth, Durham’s indefatigable seamer, does not gain a mention. Three wickets in eight balls shortly before tea put Durham back in the match. Rob Keogh, lbw for nought to one that rattled back sharply, became is 450th first-class victim. In his next over, Adam Rossington was surprised by one that bounced and Luke Procter fell to a leg-side strangle.With Northants still 79 behind, Durham fancied a first-innings lead, but the redoubtable Vasconcelos found support from Brett Hutton and, as the lead fell instead to Northants, and the players trooped from the field for a second bad light call, with the crowd long since departed, only the souls of the dead were left to lament for a final time a season that has yielded few delights.

Nazmul Hassan alleged that Rhodes did not push the players hard during a pre-World Cup preparation camp in Leicester, and was not involved in strategic matters

Mohammad Isam24-Jul-2019Nazmul Hassan, president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, has come down heavily on Steve Rhodes’ one-year tenure as coach of the national team. Hassan alleged that Rhodes did not seem serious enough about winning as a coach, did not push the players hard during a pre-World Cup preparation camp in Leicester, and was not involved in strategic matters. Rhodes did not respond to ESPNcricinfo when contacted about these allegations.Rhodes was appointed Bangladesh coach in June 2018, with his contract set to run until next year’s T20 World Cup. However, the BCB and Rhodes parted ways earlier this month, following the team’s eighth-place finish at the 2019 World Cup in England.Hassan said that the players had told him they did not get to speak to Rhodes, and that he did not address team strategies.”We arranged for a practice camp before the World Cup, but nobody came. There was a cultural mismatch. He assumed that every player will practice on their own, but since our players heard it was optional, no one turned up. So there was no use making all that arrangement spending so much money.””I saw the changes [in the style of coaching] when I was in Dubai for the Asia Cup final. We saw that things have changed. We waited. The players have told me continuously – after the New Zealand tour and also during the World Cup – that they don’t get to speak to the coach.”He only lands in the team meeting on the day before the game. He doesn’t talk about strategy. He is just there. This is what the players have told me. I am telling you after listening to everyone. I never had a direct interaction. But from what I have seen, I felt that he doesn’t match with us.”Hassan believed that a five-day break for the team during their World Cup campaign -in the eight-day gap between their matches against Afghanistan and India – affected the concentration of the players, even though the team had been given a break to freshen up. He claimed that players had gone to Europe and expressed his surprise that nobody had informed him or the board directors Akram Khan (present with the World Cup squad as cricket operations chairman) and Khaled Mahmud (team manager) of the break. However, the players had been informed of the break by the team management, led by Mahmud. and none of them visited Europe.”There was a five-day holiday before the India game,” Hassan said. “There’s a difference between giving rest and a break. Everyone had left, so it broke their concentration. Maybe it is fine in their culture, but we feel that it doesn’t match with our culture.”Ahead of matches against two tough opponents, how does it feel to know that your players have gone to Europe? It is not acceptable. I don’t care what anyone is saying. I don’t think it was the right decision. You can give rest for two or three days. Their eyes and face should have said that they were thinking about the World Cup, the next two games. They haven’t matured as cricketers to come back from this type of break.””The biggest surprise was that I didn’t know that the team was on holiday. It hasn’t happened before. This was definitely a lapse but I am not singling out anyone. We had Akram [Khan] and [Khaled Mahmud] Sujon who were there but they also didn’t know. They heard about it after the break was given, so how did it benefit us?”Hassan claimed that captain Mashrafe Mortaza and wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim were added to the squad on the morning of the team’s last game against Pakistan, despite them carrying injuries.”The night before the Pakistan game, I was with the players till 11.30pm. Mushfiq, with his hand in a sling, was telling me that he couldn’t move his hand,” Hassan said. “He was not in the squad. Mashrafe didn’t practice the day before, and neither did he attend strategy meetings. He was also out of that game. These are just two examples.”We had fixed the squad in the presence of the coach and everyone. But the next day we saw another team playing the game. These things haven’t happened in the past. This is definitely a problem. We have decided that it won’t work like this. We are not saying he is not good but the way the team was running, it was totally different from our thinking.”