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Tributes pour in for Brett Lee after his Test retirement

Cricinfo staff24-Feb-2010Brett Lee has retired from Tests after 76 games and 310 wickets in the hope of prolonging his one-day and Twenty20 careers. Here are some tributes from current and former players and administrators.Dennis Lillee

“Brett is going to go down as one of the great all-time express bowlers in the world … 150-plus kph puts a huge strain on the body and it can only take so much. For him to play 76 Tests and 300-odd wickets doing what he does is a credit to him.”Andrew Flintoff

“It is very sad to hear the news that Brett is to retire from Test cricket. Everyone will remember our little moment we shared after the Edgbaston Test in 2005, but for me the great battles with bat and ball against Brett will live with me for a long time.”Richie Benaud

“I hope Brett is able to continue to play for Australia in limited-overs internationals, he is a master of orthodox and reverse-swing and no one has ever been more proud to represent his country in Test cricket. Lee and Glenn McGrath formed a splendid partnership with the new ball in both forms of the game from 1999 to 2007 and being one of only nine Australian pace bowlers to take 200 Test wickets is a great achievement.”Damien Fleming

”Of the genuine quicks [of his era], he would have played twice as much as the other guys. We just thought we had discovered the Shane Warne of fast bowling [when he emerged]. That probably put unrealistic expectations on him, but that was my thinking because he actually bowled in really good areas in those first couple of Tests, and he was lightning.”Jason Gillespie

“To always come back fitter, hungrier, stronger and bowling the pace that he bowled, I just think is a testament to his character. I don’t think the public would appreciate how much pain he bowled in … and he always wanted another over.”Justin Langer

“There are few better sights in the game of cricket than Brett Lee in white, sweat band pumping, high leap, poetic follow through and then a smile. Test cricket will be poorer without Brett, who apart from his fitness and skill, is one of the most likeable people I have met in the game of cricket.”Merv Hughes

“You look at Shoaib Akhtar and Shaun Tait and certainly Brett Lee was right up there in pace, his longevity at that pace was superb and I really can’t believe that people questioned his ability.”Andrew Hilditch, Australia’s chairman of selectors

“Brett has made an outstanding contribution to the Australian Test team over a long period and it has been a great pleasure to see him develop as a person and a cricketer over that period. He’s been one of the world’s quickest bowlers in Test cricket for a long period of time and a key member of Australia’s squad during a very successful era in Australian cricket. While Brett has announced his retirement from Test cricket, we will continue to monitor his progress as he returns from injury and will be keeping a close eye on his form in the shorter formats.”James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive

“Brett’s had a fantastic career in Test match cricket for Australia over a long period and I take this opportunity to congratulate him on the way he has represented his country and the outstanding contribution he has made. Brett has played a key role in helping the Australian team be one of the most successful Test teams in history. But it’s also the way he went about his cricket, with a readiness to smile and a clear enjoyment of what he was doing, which also helped lift the team’s popularity and won the support of fans in Australia and throughout the world.”

Victoria allrounder Will Sutherland will join the four-day squad for the second of the two matches in Lucknow

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Sep-2025Allrounder Aaron Hardie has been ruled out of the Australia A tour of India due to a shoulder injury to add to the list of pace-bowling options to be sidelined.Hardie will be replaced by Victoria allrounder Will Sutherland, who was already part of the one-day squad for the tour and will fly out to India in time for the second four-day game in Lucknow. A replacement for Hardie in the one-day squad will be named at a later date.It is hoped that Hardie will be able to recover in time for the early rounds of Sheffield Shield matches – Western Australia’s opening game is against New South Wales at the WACA on October 4.Related

• Maxwell named for 50-over return for Victoria despite ODI retirement

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Hardie featured in the recent T20I and ODI series against West Indies and South Africa but he struggled against the latter and had not been selected for the short New Zealand trip for three T20Is, instead being included in the A squad. Depending on how his recovery tracks, he may come into consideration for the white-ball series against India.Though an allrounder rather than a specialist bowler, Hardie’s injury adds to a growing list of players sidelined heading into the season. Pat Cummins is the most significant with question marks over whether he will recover from his back injury in time for the Ashes.Lance Morris, a team-mate of Hardie’s at WA, has been ruled out for 12 months having undergone back surgery, while promising quick Callum Vidler has been diagnosed with a stress fracture. Morris had been due to feature in the four-day leg of the A tour and Vidler the one-dayers. Brody Couch had initially been Morris’ replacement but he suffered a side injury during the Top End T20 final with South Australia’s Henry Thornton subsequently called up.The first four-day game against India A starts on September 16 followed by the second on September 23. The three one-dayers, which will all be in Kanpur, are on September 30, October 3 and 5.

Updated Australia A four-day squad

Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Jack Edwards, Campbell Kellaway, Sam Konstas, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Fergus O’Neill, Oliver Peake, Josh Philippe, Corey Rocchiccioli, Liam Scott, Will Sutherland (second game only), Henry Thornton

Updated Australia A one-day squad

Cooper Connolly, Harry Dixon, Jack Edwards, Sam Elliott, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mackenzie Harvey, Todd Murphy, Tanveer Sangha, Liam Scott, Lachie Shaw, Tom Straker, Will Sutherland, Henry Thornton (one to be added)

Tash Farrant seals contest with half-century for South East Stars

ECB Reporters Network24-Apr-2024England seam-bowling prospect Ryana MacDonald-Gay took a career-best five for 31 before opener Tash Farrant continued her fine start to the season with an unbeaten 68 as South East Stars made it two wins from two by thumping The Blaze in their Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy clash in Leicester.England star Farrant, who hit a career-best 94 as Stars opened with a victory over holders Southern Vipers last weekend, led the way as Bryony Smith’s side eased to an eight-wicket win with a 159 balls to spare.It could have been more comfortable still but for a competition-record partnership saving The Blaze’s blushes after they had been reduced to 49 for nine after winning the toss and choosing to bat. Skipper Kirstie Gordon and number 11 Grace Ballinger’s stand of 77 was the highest for the 10th wicket by any side since the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy was launched in 2020.England’s Sarah Glenn returned for The Blaze for her first action since suffering a concussion injury a month ago but last season’s runners-up were still without four first-choice players because of international commitments with three others injured.Badly depleted at the top of the batting order, The Blaze were in trouble from ball one as opener Marie Kelly, one of the more experienced of their available batters, reached for MacDonald-Gay’s opening delivery and bottom-edged into her stumps.Wickets two and three came in each of her next two overs as MacDonald-Gay fixed her aim with Sophie Munro and Ella Claridge having no answer to balls arrowed in at the stumps.A rocky start for The Blaze rapidly became worse as MacDonald-Gay’s new-ball partner Phoebe Franklin found enough away movement to remove South Africa all-rounder Nadine de Klerk and Glenn in the space of four deliveries, with neither making a run, the former caught behind before Glenn edged to second slip, as 16 for three became 17 for five.Teresa Graves was dropped at extra cover off Franklin but the Stars were soon celebrating again as MacDonald-Gay trapped Daisy Mullan in front.A boundary apiece from Graves and Bethany Harmer gave The Blaze momentary encouragement but it was promptly nipped in the bud as another straight ball from MacDonald-Gay accounted for Graves and handed the England A bowler the reward of a first five-wicket haul in women’s List A cricket.The Blaze were 39 for seven and there was no respite as England seamer Alice Davidson-Richards took over at the Bennett End and picked up a wicket first ball as Harmer was caught at backward point, MacDonald-Gay adding to her impressive morning’s work by taking a fine one-handed catch.When Davidson-Richards then dismissed Cassidy McCarthy, The Blaze were 49 for nine with barely 75 minutes played and the end seemed to be coming quickly.But Gordon and Ballinger had other ideas, the last-wicket pair holding up the Stars for more than an hour and a half, taking a mature, measured approach that saw them resist any temptation to throw the bat and concentrating instead on working the gaps in what is English domestic cricket’s largest playing areas, with only a quarter of their runs coming in boundaries.Ballinger passed her previous List A best of 18 before she was leg before to the off-spin of a palpably relieved Smith, with Gordon’s unbeaten 41 her best List A score in English domestic cricket.Their efforts had at least given themselves and their fellow bowlers a bigger total to defend than had seemed likely but it was still nowhere near enough to deny the Stars, for whom Smith made 34 from 33 balls before Farrant took charge, hitting five fours and two sixes in her 81-ball innings.Both Farrant and Smith made good use of the shorter, straight boundaries before Smith holed out to mid-on following an 82-run opening stand, with Gordon bowling Scholfield for The Blaze’s only other success.

The two-week tour will include three ODIs as well in Dhaka and Chattogram

Mohammad Isam27-Dec-2022England’s first bilateral tour of Bangladesh in six years is confirmed for March 2023. The two sides will play three ODIs and three T20Is over two weeks, to be held in Dhaka and Chattogram.The three-match ODI series is part of the Super League, a tournament to decide which teams get direct entry into the 2023 World Cup. Both England and Bangladesh have already qualified. The first two matches are in Dhaka on March 1 and 3, before the third takes place in Chattogram on March 6.Then, Bangladesh and England will play their first-ever bilateral T20I series. The first match is in Chattogram on March 9, before the other two will be held in Dhaka on March 12 and 14.

Bangladesh vs England schedule

1st ODI: March 1, Dhaka

2nd ODI: March 3, Dhaka

3rd ODI: March 6, Chattogram

1st T20I: March 9, Chattogram

2nd T20I: March 12, Dhaka

3rd T20I: March 14, Dhaka

There was some speculation that the Bangladesh Cricket Board may be reluctant to host England’s big-hitting batting line-up in Chattogram. Especially given how just a few days ago, India put up a 400-plus total there.England are likely to arrive in Bangladesh around February 20. They are scheduled to play two practice matches before the ODI series begins.England have won all four bilateral ODI series between the two sides, although it got close in 2016. Bangladesh drew the Test series which followed those games, coming from 0-1 down with a performance that ranks among their very best.ECB chief executive Clare Connor was excited to see the two sides returning to play each other in a bilateral series after a long time.”It is exciting that the England men’s white-ball squad will return to Bangladesh for the first time since 2016,” she said. “The atmosphere generated in Dhaka and Chattogram for this eagerly-anticipated tour will be fantastic. There is a great passion for cricket across Bangladesh, and we expect a tough challenge against a side who have an excellent record in home conditions.”

Strong display with bat and ball drives impressive 59-run victory

ECB Reporters Network25-Jul-2021Glamorgan 295 for 6 (Rutherford 86) beat Northamptonshire 236 (Taylor 65|) by 59 runsVeteran seame Michael Hogan and promising young all-rounder Joe Cooke took three wickets apiece to knock the stuffing out of a strong Northamptonshire line-up as Glamorgan claimed their second Royal London Cup victory by 59 runs.Hogan turned in a hostile opening spell to claim two early scalps while Cooke, 24, followed up three wickets on List A debut against Warwickshire on Thursday by removing Northamptonshire’s middle order and hit an unbeaten 33 with the bat.Earlier an assured 86 from New Zealand international Hamish Rutherford provided the bedrock for Glamorgan, before some brutal hitting from Cooke and Tom Cullen pushed them to an imposing 295 for 6.Despite 65 from Tom Taylor, the target proved beyond Northamptonshire’s reach in their opening game of the tournament.Rutherford shared a 68-run opening stand with Nick Selman who offered a simple caught and bowled chance to teenage debutant, left-arm wrist-spinner Freddie Heldreich. The youngster picked up a second when he got one through Steven Reingold’s forward defensive and hit the top of off-stump.Rutherford combined a mixture of sweetly timed sweeps and cuts with some crunching boundaries and found an ally in skipper Kiran Carlson. The pair took the attack to the spinners, before Ben Sanderson removed both in quick succession.First Carlson top edged a bouncer straight to Heldreich at fine leg. Then just when Rutherford looked set for a century, he chopped on to his stumps. When Billy Root hooked a short ball from Tom Taylor to a diving Charlie Thurston at deep square leg, Glamorgan had lost had lost three wickets for 23 runs in 5.2 overs.Cullen broke the shackles with three boundaries off Heldreich before Callum Taylor hit namesake Tom over his head for six. After a stand of 60 in 10 overs, Taylor had a big swing at Taylor and was bowled.Glamorgan needed a big finish and Cullen and Cooke obliged by taking the attack to experienced seamers Sanderson and Wayne Parnell.The pair pummelled Sanderson for 23 in one over as the last five yielded 66 runs. Cooke hit Sanderson for a huge straight six into the pavilion and Cullen hit another maximum over long-on before running three to bring up his half-century off just 40 balls.Hogan struck in the first over of the chase, drawing the edge from Emilio Gay and later bowling Rob Keogh. It was not all brute force from 40-year-old Hogan though who used conditions to beat the bat repeatedly.Lukas Carey claimed the third wicket after an early mauling at the hands of Ricardo Vasconcelos, before the Northamptonshire skipper edged behind to leave the hosts 49 for three.Curran and Saif Zaib looked to relieve the pressure, scoring three quick boundaries against rookie duo spinner Steven Reingold and seamer Andrew Gorvin, but the pair, with just one List A appearance behind them, started to exert control, backed up well in the field.Curran kept busy with a run-a-ball half-century, after starting his account with two straight boundaries. He and Zaib added 65 before Northamptonshire lost three wickets for 18 in four overs.Curran skied a delivery from Cooke which was comfortably caught by the keeper. Then Hogan returned to pick up Thurston who chipped to mid-on before Zaib pulled Cooke to square leg. Despite some aggression from Tom Taylor, a jubilant Cooke bowled Wayne Parnell to end hopes of a late recovery. Northamptonshire were eventually all out for 236 with 5.4 overs remaining.

Taylor hit 1389 runs across the three formats and became New Zealand’s leading Test run-scorer

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Apr-2020Ross Taylor has taken the Sir Richard Hadlee medal as New Zealand’s overall cricketer of the year on the final day of the NZC awards.Tim Southee was named Test player of the year after taking 40 wickets in eight Tests and Kim Cotton, who stood in the T20 World Cup final at the MCG, was umpire of the year to round out the virtual awards.Taylor’s honour, the third time he has won the medal, came on the back of a period where he scored 1389 runs across all formats, broken down to 511 at 39.30 in Tests, 548 at 49.91 in ODIs and 330 at 30.00 in T20Is.ALSO READ: Kane Williamson and Sophie Devine among New Zealand limited-overs winnersDuring that time he became New Zealand’s lead Test run-scorer when he overtook Stephen Fleming during the SCG Test in January and also became the first player to reach 100 appearances in all three formats.As he had during the emotional moment of the Test milestone, Taylor reflected on the role of his mentor Martin Crowe.”I’m sure he would be proud of this,” Taylor said. “Marty was able to pass on a lot of his experience and wisdom which has played a massive part in my career. It was always something that he always pushed me to do [break records]. I think he would probably be surprised at how well I have done.”But I’ve been fortunate to be helped by a lot of people over the years and I guess when you win awards like this it’s nice to be able to thank them.”Reflecting on the 12 months overall, Taylor said: “It’s been full of ups and downs. A World Cup final – losing that final. The Boxing Day Test, which was such a proud moment to be part of and to have so many Kiwis there supporting us was something I’ll never forget. I was happy with the consistency this season and any time you can contribute to the team performance and help get the team across the line is special.”Hadlee, who was part of the selection panel that first picked Taylor in 2006, praised his longevity.”I’ve watched your progress over the past 14 years and I just want to congratulate you on all your performances and records to date. You’ve been a wonderful performer, you’ve got a fantastic record and on behalf of New Zealand Cricket I’d just like to say thanks very much for your contribution, not only to New Zealand cricket – but to world cricket.”

Our ball-by-ball commentary tracks England’s reliance on streaky first-day runs

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-2019England’s chastened cricketers attempted to mend their ways after being asked to bat first at Gros Islet. But, though a run rate of two an over suggested a determination to dig in and wait for their chances, the actual runs that they scored in the first session-and-a-half told a different story. Here are the first ten occasions on which the ball crossed the boundary, as recorded on ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary. Not all of them were quite as intended …8.5 Roach to Jennings, FOUR, dropped! Jennings turned into an S, feet going one way, hands another as the ball bends away to take the shoulder of the bat… but Chase puts it down at third slip! Burst straight through the hands18.2 Paul to Burns, FOUR, pitched up and swinging, Burns drives and edges wide of fourth slip! Flashes and gets away with it… England’s second boundary of the day, picked up via a second edge through the cordon27.1 Gabriel to Denly, 5 runs, on the back foot, thumped firmly into the covers, and that is a disastrously bad shy at the stumps! No-one backing up and Gabriel shrugs futilely as the ball whizzes to the rope! Hetmyer the culprit. That’s four more he’ll need to score later28.1 Roach to Denly, FOUR, short, wide and wafty! Denly picks up four, but not in a convincing fashion. Almost too wide to reach, like his debut dismissal, and toe-ended through point to the rope29.5
Gabriel to Denly, 5 wides, wild and leg-sided! The only mercy about that delivery is that Dowrich wasn’t penalised with byes. He got a glove to it but that was way off target30.3 Roach to Denly, FOUR, wider on the crease, speared into the pads, and tickled very fine. Denly starting to enjoy his innings now after a dour start35.6 Gabriel to Buttler, FOUR, a wild flashing drive, and dropped by second and third slip combined! Another revolting fling of the bat outside off from Buttler, scuppered by the outswing, and well, where was the 6’8 Jason Holder when his team needed him?37.6 Gabriel to Buttler, FOUR, squeezed off a thick outside-edge. This has been a manic 20 minutes. In the air for a while, but safe enough in the circumstances. England need a stiff drink … which is opportune …38.1 Paul to Root, 5 wides, oops, he’s swung that one too far, well down the leg side and giving Dowrich no chance40.1 Paul to Root, FOUR, schwing and pinged! Classical cover drive from Root, that sashays silkily away to the rope… Possibly the first boundary in front of square today

Hong Kong were bowled out twice under 150 runs within the first two days of the four-day Intercontinental Cup match

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGetty Images

Centuries from Javed Ahmadi and Asghar Stanikzai coupled with Rashid Khan’s seven-wicket match-haul consigned Hong Kong to an innings-defeat inside two days in the Intercontinental Cup match in Mong Kok. The hosts, having won the toss, couldn’t make more than 150 in either innings, handing table-leaders Afghanistan their fifth win in six games and a full 20 points.Hong Kong’s struggle with the bat was evinced in all batsmen barring Anshuman Rath, who scored a half-century in either innings. For Afghanistan, fast bowler Dawlat Zadran began the rout in the seventh over of the match, sniping out opener Matt Stiller for six. Thereafter, Rashid ran through the line-up, abetting Zadran’s figures of 3 for 15 off nine overs, with a third first-class five-for. That the highest partnership – in the game – for the home team was only worth 41 runs for the third wicket – between captain Babar Hayat (39) and Nizakat Khan (16) was further testimony to their inability to gather any momentum through either innings.Having skittled Hong Kong out for 142, Afghanistan stitched together three mammoth partnerships on the back of five of their six batsmen scoring fifty-plus. Afghanistan, who had finished on 270 for 2 at stumps on day one, plundered another 195 runs in 41 overs for the loss of three wickets, before declaring. Ahmadi, who collected more than half his runs in boundaries – 16 fours and two sixes – anchored the opening stand of 124 with Ihsanullah (63), before adding 78 for the second wicket with Rahmat Shah, who took 126 for his 57. Coming in at No.4, captain Stanikzai put on 161 for the third wicket with Rahmat, en route to his 129-ball 125. Stanikzai followed it up with a ram-raid of a partnership with Mohammad Nabi that fetched their side 98 runs at a scoring rate of 7.63.Debutant Kyle Christie, who had earlier ran Ahmadi out, became the fourth bowler in the Hong Kong attack to pick up a wicket in the match with Nabi’s dismissal in the 88th. By then, however, Afghanistan had put on 465 for 5, with Nabi finishing on 63 off 44 balls.With a first-innings lead of 323 to fall back on, Afghanistan’s charge with the ball was led again by the Rashid-Zadran combine who took out the top four before Zahir Khan steamrolled the lower order, picking four wickets for 16 runs. Rashid, Zadran and Nabi bagged two wickets apiece as Hong Kong failed to last 40 overs.

The USA Cricket Association has announced a $70 million deal with Global Sports Ventures for the licensing rights to a domestic Twenty20 league

Peter Della Penna30-Sep-2016The USA Cricket Association (USACA) has announced a $70 million deal with Global Sports Ventures, LLC, for the licensing rights to a domestic Twenty20 league. The announcement was made on Thursday by USACA president Gladstone Dainty and GSV president and chief executive Jignesh Pandya at a press conference in New York City.”Global Sports Ventures has entered into a partnership with USACA and it’s a very lucrative one but not lucrative in the sense that it will enrich us but it gives us a chance to survive and to grow,” Dainty said. “What this will do first and foremost, it will ease your pain in the sense that USACA, instead of running you down for dues, dues will be merely something that you will pay just to belong. But every league, every academy etc., USACA will become a resource so that that league or that academy can become a delivery outlet to grow the sport. So basically it can be matching funding, direct funding, facilities development, etc.”Currently, the USACA remains under administrative suspension by the ICC and has no sanctioning authority for cricket in the USA, including the ability to issue and receive no-objection certificates to and from other member boards. As such, any foreign player participating in a T20 league under the auspices of the USACA could run afoul of their respective member guidelines.However, Dainty was confident that USACA’s suspension would be lifted soon. The governing body had been given a deadline extension to December 15 to meet 39 terms and conditions for reinstatement. Without commenting on whether or not the USACA has met those guidelines, Dainty felt the board would be vindicated in the near future.”At this time we feel good in the sense that the CEO of the ICC said that they’ve investigated long and hard, they found nothing and it is our expectation that we will be reinstated without a problem shortly,” Dainty said.The USACA announcement came on the eve of an ICC delegation arriving in New York to have meetings with stakeholders, including Dainty. The delegation, which includes ICC chief executive Dave Richardson and chairman Shashank Manohar, is expected to meet with members of four ICC advisory groups to work towards forming a constitution inclusive of all stakeholders.Pandya stated that he was undeterred by USACA’s current suspension and its status with the ICC when coming to an agreement.”We have done our due diligence and based upon that, the deal has been finalised,” Pandya said “We all have the same goal. USACA, ICC or any other cricketing body throughout the world is to develop and support the game of cricket which we all love in the US and our team completely believes that since everybody has one goal, solutions can be figured out and I’m very confident that everything will go as planned and things will be done right.”This is the third major licensing deal the USACA has announced in the last 10 years, though the prior two fell apart in relatively short time. In 2006, the board came to a licensing agreement with Centrex International for $10 million over 10 years, but by 2008, USACA ceased receiving funding from Centrex and the deal fell apart.In 2010, a deal was announced for a licensing agreement with Cricket Holdings America, LLC, a multi-layered partnership among USACA, New Zealand Cricket, Top Bloom, Neil Maxwell’s Insite and Podar Enterprises. The 10-year deal was agreed with $9 million available over the first three years based on the formation of a franchise T20 league to launch in 2012 as well as the hosting of T20Is using USA as a neutral venue. However, lack of sufficient infrastructure was blamed in part for the delayed launch of the proposed CHA franchise league, and CHA eventually dissolved.One of the biggest promises USACA president Gladstone Dainty made was that the board would be able to provide central contracts to both men’s and women’s players•ICC/Mainoor Islam Manik

The rights to a pair of T20s between New Zealand and West Indies at Lauderhill, Florida, in 2012 were sold for $1, a move Dainty claimed was to prove USA’s hosting viability for more lucrative opportunities later on.However, this time Dainty is ever-more bullish. According to him, the licensing deal with GSV will provide USACA $70 million over 15 years. One of the biggest promises Dainty made at Thursday’s press conference was that the board would be able to provide central contracts to both men’s and women’s players, saying “a lot of the funding we get will be going directly towards that.” While players may not get “rich”, Dainty said the contracts he plans to offer will be enough “certainly to make them live middle class and to provide all the benefits including medical insurance, paid-in social security.””With this agreement, one of our first order of business is to put a process in place to identify and reward our performing players and our emerging players with contracts,” he said. “Not token contracts. They will be given contracts to make them professional players.”We’ll have a pipeline, we’ll have a winning team. We’ll have a team playing at a really world-class level and those are some of the ingredients we need to take this forward. It gives us an opportunity not only to dream but to live our dreams.”As for Global Sports Ventures, a web page lists its headquarters in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, 20 miles northeast of downtown Philadelphia. Separate from GSV, Pandya’s main business operation is as a franchise ownership of multiple Pizza Hut locations in and around southeast Pennsylvania.

Kane Williamson is a vocal proponent of New Zealand’s team-first culture, and contends that a focus on individual milestones can be a ‘distraction to achieving it’

Firdose Moonda13-Aug-2015Kane Williamson looked a leader long before last week, when he took New Zealand to a series win in Zimbabwe, long before last year, when he took them to victory over Pakistan in the UAE, and even before July 2012, when he headed up their humbling in the West Indies. It was earlier that year, on a windy and wet Wellington afternoon, when he saw off an increasingly vicious Morne Morkel, survived being struck everywhere it hurts – his arm, his shoulder, his box – and forced a drawn Test against South Africa that Williamson first made his claim as a future captain.

‘Captaincy helps my batting’ – Faf du Plessis

While Kane Williamson compartmentalises captaincy and batting, his opposite number Faf du Plessis combines them to form a complete package. Du Plessis took over as South Africa’s T20 captain in February 2013 and believes the extra responsibility has enhanced him as a cricketer.
“I really love captaining. It makes the game feel a little bit easier for me because I am thinking of all the aspects and I feel it also helps my batting because I am a cricketer that relies on being smart when I bat, that carries into my captaincy,” du Plessis said.
“I’ve played under really good leadership and I think I have matured a bit more than I was two years ago. Even though I have always enjoyed captaincy, the more you do it the more you mature and you understand what makes people tick. In that sense I’ve grown the most.”

That day Williamson impressed not by virtue of his runs – and he made 102 of them – but by his resoluteness. He could not be broken because if he was, his team would break with him and that, more than the individual feat, was the most important part of being an international cricketer to him. He said so that day; he said so again today.”That’s a lot of what we talk about: playing for the right reasons, playing to move the team forward and being able to somewhat remove too many selfish endeavours – which can be a challenge in the game. There’s so many stats around that they can come into individuals’ mindsets but the biggest thing for us is that when we play for the team the obligation is purely to help the team and move the team forward.”New Zealand’s kumbaya culture of cricket has multiplied manyfold since that day. Now it’s not just Williamson that believes in taking one for the team, but all of them. Close your eyes and attend a New Zealand press conference and you will think they keep bringing the same man to the microphone, because they all say the same thing, but unlike the rehearsed corporate speak of professional sport today, New Zealand actually sound sincere.It helps that when they’re on the field, they walk that talk too. Just think of the World Cup. New Zealand represented true team culture. They were having what Brendon McCullum called “the time of our lives,” and we couldn’t help having it with them.”It was a lot of fun. We had a great time. It was just a fantastic time to be playing cricket; to have it in our own country, it really changed the way the country looked at the sport,” Williamson said. “In New Zealand, rugby is No.1 but during that World Cup we might have taken that spot for a brief moment in time, which it made it all that more special.”No regrets over not going that one step further? None, it seems. “It would have been nice to go all the way but still, we played the cricket we wanted to play. Someone had to lose in that final and it was us,” Williamson said. “Now the World Cup’s over, that’s cool, and we are still looking to improve.” Because next year there is another major trophy to play for and New Zealand want to win as much as anyone else.A serious challenge on their part will likely require a Williamson in top form, even though he will not admit it himself. “It is about playing for the team in any situation. I am a believer that sometimes results or figures that you try and reach can be a distraction to achieving it. My focus is contributing playing a role that I’m given and if you are able to pass milestones along the way, thats great.,” he said.Captaincy is one of those milestones. Williamson is not likely to lead because McCullum will be back but Williamson’s seniority and the experience he gains as captain on this trip will come in handy. He has admitted this trip is challenging him in different ways, with demands of both bat and brain but he has come up with a way to handle them.”I think captaincy is separate to batting. In the field, it’s applying yourself more in terms of thinking, whether it’s bowling changes, fielding positions, the whole lot. And it’s an enjoyable challenge, particularly in T20 cricket where there’s so much happening and things happen quickly so you need to stay on your toes,” Williamson said. “It’s enjoyable and a challenge as well with a new-look side.”The newness of the New Zealand side should, in theory, increase the pressure on Williamson to perform with the bat more often but he insists it hasn’t. The responsibility is shared by old and new players, who Williamson said will always put the team first. “It’s more about looking to contribute to a team performance, a team win, and that’s where we want people playing their games. Whether that means one or two guys consistently perform and hold a position that great but ultimately we want a bunch of guys that are going to be giving to the team and moving the team forward.”