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Usman Shuja, 36, who had set the record to become USA’s top wicket-taker in the 50-over format, has announced his retirement from international cricket

Peter Della Penna18-May-2015Usman Shuja, who set the USA record for career wickets in 50-over cricket in October, has announced his retirement from international cricket at age 36. The fast bowler was USA’s leading wicket-taker at ICC WCL Division Three in Malaysia last year, but was not included in USA’s T20 squad for the ICC Americas Division One tournament earlier this month and cited a desire to formally step aside in order to allow younger players to develop.”The team as a whole with the next generation is ready to take over,” Shuja told ESPNcricinfo on Sunday night. “I think I can still help out, but I feel I’ll be more of a hurdle for them to express themselves than to help them. There have also been some huge personal life changes with having a baby last year, a start-up job and having achieved the record, the whole personal element has dropped my motivation quite a bit.”Though Shuja played a series of unofficial games for USA against Cayman Islands in 2003, he made his official USA debut in 2006 against the same team at the ICC Americas Division One tournament, taking 1 for 21. With his 3 for 12 against Bermuda on the first day of play at 2013 WCL Division Three, Shuja surpassed former USA captain Zamin Amin’s mark of 47 wickets that had stood since 2004. He added five more at 2013 WCL Division Three to set the new USA mark of 53 in 35 games at an average of 15.49, comfortably better than Amin’s 22.09 and a better average than anyone else in USA’s top 10.Shuja also took nine wickets in 15 T20 matches for USA with his 4.56 economy rate standing at number one. He credits his father, a former first-class wicketkeeper-batsman for Lahore and PIA in the 1960s, with instilling in him a competitive drive from an early age.”He was very tough,” Shuja said. “If I got one or two wickets he would just shrug it off. He pushed me and helped with the skills. When I was in college at Texas and I was going back to Pakistan every year, he hooked me up with Misbah-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis and got me coaching from Waqar and the entire Pakistan team so they could analyse my skill-set. He’s always been supportive because he had played first-class professional cricket in Pakistan. The point is that he was always engaged. Even till now he always knew how many runs I had scored and wickets I had taken every week.”Shuja was controversially dropped ahead of USA’s tour of Bermuda in 2013 for ICC WCL Division Three and said the main reason he didn’t retire then was that he felt strongly that he had more left to contribute to the national team.”I think I was still at the top of my game at that time,” Shuja said. “I felt the drive to play and I also didn’t want to leave when I was dropped. I felt I was dropped unfairly so there was a little bit of unfinished business. Today, I think a few things have changed for me personally and my motivation has gone down quite a bit. The moment I made that decision it was a relief. I’m not willing to put the hard work in to deserve a spot to be able to step on the field now but the feeling of being on the field and the whole preparation to get there, that I’ll still miss.”I will definitely miss just being able to represent the country and playing at the highest level. I’ve always been driven by the competitiveness of the games and also to be able to say I play for the country. Those two things are softer elements but those were the driving factors and I’ll miss that quite a bit. But most importantly is the friendships. I made some really good friends. To be able to go on tours and talk cricket is the thing I’ll miss the most.”The fast bowler says his proudest moment as a member of the USA team was their victory over Nepal in front of a hostile Kathmandu crowd on the final day of round-robin play at 2010 ICC WCL Division Five, a win which secured USA’s promotion to Division Four in Italy. However, Shuja says he laments the fact that USA wasn’t able to produce more meaningful results during a two-year stretch when the core group of players was perhaps more talented than the USA team that reached the Champions Trophy in 2004.”I think it’s a story of missed opportunities,” Shuja said. “The 12 years associated with US cricket, I think we have touched a lot of interesting opportunities where we were under prepared. We had really good teams, really good coaches. Everything just didn’t fit together but there were pieces of it that were there and I genuinely feel that we could have been something like Canada, if not better. It was always an honour to play but there were just a lot of missed opportunities. If we had prepared better, we could have done better especially in the 2010-11 time frame.”I think 2010 was the time when most of the guys were if not at their peak, they were still in their prime or at the tail end of it. They were still pretty good and the team that went to Italy, Nepal, the first UAE trip and even Hong Kong, I think that was a pretty solid team. We just never prepared. We had some missed planning. There was no strategy and things like that. I think we could have done a lot better if there was a little bit of planning and help from the administration.”

When John Hastings stepped out on to the WACA two months ago to the day, it was nearly as big a moment as his trip to Perth this week

Brydon Coverdale30-Nov-2012When John Hastings stepped out on to the WACA two months ago to the day, it was nearly as big a moment as his trip to Perth this week. Hastings was lining up for Victoria in his first match at first-class level for nearly two years, having missed all of last summer due to a serious shoulder injury suffered while diving for a catch at a training session. Shoulder reconstructions and fast bowlers don’t make for a happy mix, so simply returning to state level was an achievement.But five Shield matches and an Australia A appearance later, Hastings was going so well in his comeback season that he found himself catapulted into Australia’s side for the Perth Test. A tap on the shoulder from the selectors a quarter of an hour before Australia started their warm-up was all the warning Hastings was given that he would become Australia’s 430th Test cricketer.”It was a pretty special moment,” Hastings said. “I didn’t have too much time to think about. It was probably a good thing actually. I found out about 15 to 20 minutes before the warm-up. Last night I had a pretty good sleep and I wasn’t thinking about it too much. I knew my role already if I was to play. Then it’s just about getting out there, warming up and all of a sudden you’re taking the new ball for Australia. It definitely is a boyhood dream.”It’s been a pretty big start to the year, playing all the Sheffield Shield and all the one-dayers and it was nice to get the performances on the board. You sort of have it in the back of your mind that you’d love to be playing Test cricket, or for Australia in any format, but for me it was all about getting my body right, getting back into it, feeling what cricket was like again and hopefully putting some good performances on the board. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind the last six months.”Hastings’s mother and his fiancée were in the crowd to watch him being presented with his baggy green by Adam Gilchrist, and before he knew it he was being asked to take the new ball for Australia. It’s a job he only occasionally performs for Victoria, particularly when they need an into-the-wind workhorse, and that was the case at the WACA, where the breeze was working for the left-armers, Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson, at the other end.After a nervous start, Hastings found his rhythm and drew a loose shot from Hashim Amla, who flicked the ball off his pads to midwicket only to be reprieved by Ed Cowan. But, in his next over, Hastings was rewarded with his first Test victim when AB de Villiers nibbled outside off stump and the edge was snapped up by Michael Clarke at first slip, leaving South Africa at 5 for 67.”It was a good feeling to get one early,” Hastings said. “I was pretty nervous to start with actually. I wasn’t into a rhythm at all for the first eight or ten overs and then I came out after the break and there was a little bit of swing there, which was good. I had a good bowl during the lunch break and ironed a few things out, put it all behind me, the nerves and then to get that wicket of AB was really nice.”It was the only wicket for Hastings, who finished his first day of Test cricket with 1 for 51 from 20 overs. But he can be content that he played an important role on a day on which Australia knocked South Africa, the world’s No.1-ranked Test side, over for 225. Whatever the future holds for Hastings, working his way back from such a serious injury to earn a Test call-up is a fine achievement in itself.

Trinidad & Tobago secured a place in the final of the Regional Super50 with a four-wicket win against Guyana at Providence

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Oct-2011Trinidad & Tobago secured a place in the final of the Regional Super50 with a four-wicket win against Guyana at Providence. Guyana chose to bat but came unstuck against T&T’s spin-heavy attack and medium-pacer Rayad Emrit. Legspinner Samuel Badree, who bowled an economical spell of 1 for 28 in ten overs, struck the first blow, dismissing Guyana captain Assad Fudadin for a duck. Emrit got rid of the other opener, Trevon Griffith, and Guyana were 22 for 2. Leon Johnson, who top scored with 66, led the resistance from the middle order but it was broken by the offspinners, Sunil Narine and Sherwin Ganga. Narine bowled a 12-over spell and finished with 2 for 26. Emrit returned to jolt the lower order, picking up 4 for 39 as Guyana were limited to 200 for 9.T&T’s chase got off to a rocky start with wicketkeeper William Perkins falling to offspinner Steven Jacobs before a run had been scored. Jacobs would go on to finish with figures of 2 for 20 in 12 overs. The other opener, Justin Guillen, scored 63 to keep one end steady but there was little support at the other. Guyana were in with a solid chance when Sherwin Ganga fell with T&T on 106 for 5 in the 28th over. Jason Mohammed, however, scored an unbeaten 65 from No. 5 and shepherded T&T home. He had support from Emrit and Kevon Cooper, who both made 17, as they reached 201 for 6 with 23 balls to spare.

Charl Willoughby claimed 4 for 60 as Somerset bowled out Lancashire for 259 on the opening day of their County Championship clash at Taunton

07-Sep-2010
ScorecardCharl Willoughby claimed 4 for 60 as Somerset bowled out Lancashire for 259 on the opening day of their County Championship clash at Taunton. The figures took the South African’s first-class wicket tally for the season to 50, a landmark he has achieved in all of his five seasons with Somerset, and raised hopes of a victory that could keep alive their title hopes.Only Shivnarine Chanderpaul (56) offered much resistance before the last two Lancashire wickets added 90, Gary Keedy making 34 and Sajid Mahmood 29. By the close Somerset had replied with 54 for 1, Marcus Trescothick falling to Keedy for 33.Willoughby produced a fine nine-over opening spell from the Old Pavilion End, sending back openers Tom Smith and Paul Horton with only 32 runs on the board. It was 77 for 3 when Mark Chilton was lbw moving across his stumps to Alfonso Thomas and 126 for 4 when Steven Croft was run out by Peter Trego as he was sent back by Chanderpaul attempting a single to square leg.Chanderpaul moved to his half-century in typically stubborn manner off 72 balls, with seven fours. But he then departed in totally uncharacteristic fashion, top-edging a reverse sweep off Murali Kartik to Trescothick at slip.From 153 for 4, Lancashire slumped to 169 for 8 as Willoughby removed Gareth Cross and Kyle Hogg either side of Kartik pinning Luke Procter lbw. News of Nottinghamshire’s struggles at Trent Bridge had reached Somerset, rekindling their hopes of a first ever Championship title. But they were then frustrated as Mahmood and Keedy added 34 for the ninth wicket.Mahmood became the second batsman to fall to the reverse sweep after hitting six fours, but Keedy went on to share another stand of 56 with last man Simon Kerrigan, who battled away for 80 balls to make an unbeaten 16. Keedy was bowled by Ben Phillips when the new ball was taken, having faced 87 deliveries and hit five fours.The left-arm spinner then did his side another big favour by having Trescothick caught at short midwicket by Smith just as he was looking to cut loose. Arul Suppiah and night watchman Thomas saw Somerset through to the close, but on a green looking pitch their team will need to bat well tomorrow to gain a meaningful first innings advantage.

No. 7 continues lower-order fightback before India lose Vaibhav Suryavanshi cheaply at start of reply

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay21-Jul-2025India Under-19 51 for 1 trail England Under-19 309 (Ekansh 117, Pushpak 4-76) by 258 runsEkansh Singh completed a superb hundred on a second day of England’s Youth Test against India that was severely truncated by rain.Only 28-and-a-half overs were possible between the cloudbursts but that was long enough for Kent right-hander Singh to compile 117 sprinkled with three sixes and 14 fours. Singh was last out, as England’s youngsters totalled 309, having shared an eighth-wicket stand of exactly 100 with James Minto who made 46.Naman Pushpak finished with 4 for 76 for India who lost teenage starlet Vaibhav Suryavanshi for 20 in reaching 51 for 1 before a thunderstorm ended play shortly after 5pmOvernight and morning rain delayed the start until 12.30pm and the showers returned 22 minutes later to drive the players off again. The intervening period was long enough for Ekansh to treat the smattering of spectators to four boundaries, including two sumptuous cover drives.It was 2.15pm before the game resumed but Ekansh had lost none of his rhythm, twice driving the ball back past the stumps for four as he continued to deal exclusively in boundaries on the day until he moved into the 90s. His battle with strike bowler Aditya Rawat was an engaging one, the seamer producing two excellent yorkers both superbly dug out by the batter. There would be no nervous 90s, Ekansh raising his 100 in the grand manner with a huge six over long-on.Minto provided great support, an uppercut over the slips for six resulting in a lost ball, necessitating the third change of the cherry in the short afternoon session.The 100-stand was raised before Minto chipped one straight back to Pushpak after which the end came swiftly. Alex Green became Pushpak’s fourth victim, before Singh holed out on the long-on boundary.India’s reply began in explosive fashion with Suryavanshi and his skipper Ayush Mhatre playing almost a shot a ball. The latter top-edged one over the slips before being given a life by Ralphie Albert when he spilt him at cover, Alex French the unlucky bowler.Suryavanshi meanwhile took a heavy toll of Green, nonchalantly driving him over mid-off for six before slashing one backward of square for another maximum. However, youthful impetuosity got the better of him when he pulled Green’s next delivery down the throat of fine leg – something of a waste, especially given three balls later the rain returned, forcing an early tea.Only 15 minutes more play was possible – just long enough for India to raise their 50.

The home side have been hit by Covid-19 but will be unchanged at the Gabba with West Indies needing more from their batters

Andrew McGlashan24-Jan-20241:43

West Indies look for a miracle win while Australia battle the weather

Big Picture: Australia look to make it 5-0

Pat Cummins is viewing the 2023-24 season as a seven-Test summer with an eye on the two matches coming up in New Zealand, but their home portion will draw to a close in Brisbane this week. It may sound harsh, but the biggest obstacle to them completing a 5-0 sweep could well be the weather.It remains a somewhat uncertain picture, but there is now an increasing amount of rain forecast over the weekend, although even the loss of a day or more of playing time wouldn’t rule out the prospect of a result. The first Test in Adelaide barely reached the third day (none of the three against Pakistan needed a fifth day) and the records Australia’s bowlers possess with the pink ball suggest West Indies batters will be up against it again.Related

• Brisbane's day-night Tests: Shafiq's heroics and Cummins' career-best

• Roach advises Joseph to 'build own legacy' but cautions of 'distractions' of franchise cricket

The other factor in play is that should the weather become a major factor, it would leave Australia at risk of dropping crucial World Test Championship [WTC] points if the match was to be a draw. Of course, you don’t want to rule out the visitors, but they would need to play out of their skins to force a win.That being said, midway through the second day of the Adelaide Test, West Indies were keeping themselves in touch, in no small part due to the efforts of debutants Shamar Joseph and Justin Greaves. At 168 for 6, Australia were still behind before Travis Head – who has recovered from Covid-19 – turned the game with an increasingly belligerent century.The concern for West Indies is how they can put together enough runs. Kirk McKenzie showed promise, but they need more from captain Kraigg Brathwaite and a resurgence from Tagenarine Chanderpaul.It’s all relative, but the batting is the area under a little bit of a spotlight for Australia with just two centuries in four Tests so far this season. They have, ultimately, made enough runs to win – and often comfortably – but Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne are on the brink of completing a home season without a Test century between them.

Form guide

Australia WWWWL
West Indies LDLLLMarnus Labuschagne averages 73.83 in pink-ball Tests•AFP/Getty Images

In the spotlight: Marnus Labuschagne and Alzarri Joseph

Marnus Labuschagne has had no problem scoring runs against the pink ball: he averages 73.83 in day-night Tests. His second innings against Pakistan in Sydney was as good as he had looked for some time, but then he fell to a top-edged hook against Shamar Joseph in Adelaide. Since becoming a fixture in the Test side he has not failed to score a century in a home summer. He also averages 81.50 on his home turf at the Gabba.As the new vice-captain and a senior member of a young team, Alzarri Joseph needs to stand up for West Indies. He did not bowl poorly in Adelaide, but a first-innings return of 1 for 55 was below what his team needed. It was hoped that his maiden five-wicket haul in South Africa would prove a breakthrough moment but his last three Tests have produced two wickets. And like his new-ball partner Kemar Roach, Australia is proving a tough place for him with an average of 55.33 from three outings.Cameron Green has tested positive for Covid-19 but is set to play•ICC/Getty Images

Team news: Aus unchanged, WI may ponder a bowling switch

Head has tested negative for Covid-19 so is clear to play without restrictions, but Cameron Green may be under protocols having returned a positive test on Wednesday. If he remains positive he will use a separate changing room. Head coach Andrew McDonald also tested positive. If needed, he will sit away from the rest of the squad on game day.Australia 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Steven Smith, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Cameron Green, 5 Travis Head, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh HazlewoodWest Indies will bring in offspinning allrounder Kevin Sinclair for a Test debut in place of Gudakesh Motie.West Indies (possible) 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), 2 Tagenarine Chanderpaul, 3 Kirk McKenzie, 4 Alick Athanaze, 5 Kavem Hodge, 6 Justin Greaves, 7 Joshua Da Silva (wk), 8 Kevin Sinclair, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Shamar Joseph

Pitch and conditions

The pitch retained a green tinge the day before the game, but certainly not as much as last season’s two-day contest against South Africa. The forecast for the opening day is good, but the threat of rain increases after that and could be significant over the weekend. The day-night element adds intrigue, with Steven Smith referencing the Pakistan Test in 2016-17 when the visitors nearly chased 490.

Stats and trivia: Starc two shy of 350

• This will be the third day-night Test at the Gabba, following Pakistan in 2016-17 and Sri Lanka in 2018-19
• Australia have never lost a day-night Test: they have won all 11
• Mitchell Starc needs two wickets for 350 in Tests

Quotes

“It should be good. They are a pretty good attack with some good bowlers. Pink ball when it’s nipping around might suit them like it does for our bowlers. It is always a challenge batting under lights when the ball is new. It is always difficult.”
“We didn’t bat well [in Adelaide] so it was always tough. We did great to bowl them out for under 300, but we didn’t put runs on the board. They are a world-class attack but it’s important for us to get runs on the board then that will put us better in the game.

England captain opts to avoid controversy on opening night of Australia tour

Tristan Lavalette09-Oct-2022England captain Jos Buttler said he might have considered appealing against Matthew Wade obstructing the field in a higher-stakes contest in the aftermath of his side’s thrilling eight-run victory over Australia in Perth.The series opener, in what is effectively a warm-up ahead of the T20 World Cup, was delicately poised with Australia at 170 for 5 and needing 39 off 23 balls when Wade top-edged a fierce short delivery from speedster Mark Wood into his helmet that then ballooned into the air.Wood ran towards the batter’s end in a desperate effort to take the return catch but was blocked by a seemingly shaken Wade, who then impeded the quick by sticking his arm out as he tried to get back into his ground.Related

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Buttler was asked by the on-field umpires whether he wanted to appeal, but declined as Wade survived and needed his helmet replaced. There was widespread confusion for players and the 25,000 Optus Stadium crowd, but the incident was somewhat dampened by Buttler’s non-appeal in England’s first hit out on Australian soil as the T20 World Cup looms.”Maybe,” said Buttler in his post match press conference when asked if he would have appealed for obstructing the field if it was a T20 World Cup match. “They asked if I wanted to appeal and I said ‘no’. I’ve only just got to Australia so I thought just carry on with the game.”Buttler said he “didn’t really see what happened” because he was watching the ball closely.”It was hard because I didn’t know what I was appealing for,” he said. “I could have asked some of the other boys to see if they had a better view but thought I would get on with the game.”Maybe I should have asked a few of the lads.”Wade, last year’s T20 World Cup hero for his ability at finishing an innings, threatened to get Australia over the line after surviving the incident but holed out in the final over as the home side fell short in the first men’s international match in Perth in almost three years. It was Wade’s first dismissal in a chase since August 2021 – also the last time Australia lost when batting second in T20Is.”When you’ve been hit in the head and you’re running around and don’t know where the ball is… it’s chaos,” Australia allrounder Marcus Stoinis told reporters.Buttler paid tribute to Wood, who claimed the key wicket of David Warner for 73 just three balls after the Wade controversy and finished with 3 for 34. “To come back, take those wickets, bowl fast and intimidate the guys which he can do with that pace… he’s got great character too,” Buttler said.

Scotland overcome mini-collapse as Munsey-Budge stand sees them home

ESPNcricinfo staff20-May-2021A century stand between George Munsey and Dylan Budge saw off early jitters in a low scoring chase for Scotland, helping them ease to a six-wicket win over Netherlands.Munsey top scored with an unbeaten 79, the No. 6 batter steadying the ship after Netherlands reduced Kyle Coetzer’s side to 66 for 4. At that point, they still needed 106 more to wrap up the win in the second ODI in Rotterdam. The Dutch bowlers failed to make any further inroads, though, with the visitors cruising to the target with nearly eight overs to spare.Experienced pace bowler Alisdair Evans set up the chase after Netherlands opted to bat. Wickets off successive deliveries got rid of opener Max O’ Dowd and Ben Cooper, before he returned to run through a tail that offered little resistance.Evans would end with a career-best 5 for 43, with Dutch wicketkeeper Scott Edwards the only batsman to offer notable resistance with a half-century. It helped his side limp on to 171, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the home team from being bowled out with eight balls to go.The chase would begin steadily enough for Scotland, with Coetzer and Mathew Cross ensuring no wickets fell in the first Powerplay. But with the score on 34, they’d be rocked as Netherlands picked up three wickets without a further run being added to the score.The openers and Calum MacLeod were all back in the pavilion, with Vivan Kingma and Paul van Meekeren responsible for the breakthroughs. Richie Berrington had his defences breached shortly after by Philippe Boissevain, bringing Munsey and Budge together out in the middle.There was no further drama as far as Scotland were concerned, the pair steadily knocking off the runs. With the target as low as 172, the run rate was never likely to be a problem, and with Netherlands failing to break the partnership, the chase ended up becoming as stroll. It ensured the series would be drawn 1-1, after Netherlands had won a rain-affected opening game by 14 runs.

Some key players need to restore confidence before facing India after a bruising tour

Andrew McGlashan07-Jan-2020New Zealand are “hurting a lot” after being whitewashed in Australia, with coach Gary Stead admitting confidence among some key players will need to be resorted ahead of the next Test series against India in February.Defeats by 296 runs, 247 runs and 279 runs – in a series where they only passed 200 twice – condemned New Zealand to their worst ever result in Australia having arrived as the No. 2 team in the world. While they were hampered by injuries to key players, and a flu bug that went through the camp during the Sydney Test, they were so far short of expectations as to raise questions over their planning and mindset.This was the middle series of three key contests for New Zealand, having played England at home and then having India at the end of their season. Stead had said before this series that the team should be judged at the end of that run, which leaves the India matches as key for restoring some reputations, although it will be hard to shake off the magnitude of this defeat.ALSO READ: Williamson’s workload, Santner’s spot – five questions for New Zealand“Everyone in the team is hurting and hurting a lot,” Stead said. “We wanted to perform better than this but Australia didn’t allow us to. There’s no doubt the team has taken a confidence knock as everyone does when this happens. We have to go back and regroup, look in the mirror and say how can we keep getting better. India are an equally strong team and they will bring a big challenge for us. We need to learn from what’s happened here but also trust the way we’ve played in New Zealand in the past will hopefully stand us in good stead when we play India.”There are unlikely to be significant changes for the Tests against India partly because there is not a vast pool to be selected from, but the emergence of Tom Blundell and Glenn Phillips on this tour has at least given some options. Blundell will likely retain his place opening in the short-term while Phillips will put pressure on the incumbents to produce runs.BJ Watling chops one onto his stumps•Getty Images

“The way Australia applied pressure for long periods, and equally when they batted how they absorbed it is the key thing,” Stead said. “They just did it better than us for long periods of time. The decision making around our batting needs to be stronger.”It would be silly to have knee-jerk reactions about coming to Australia, which is one of the two toughest places in the world to tour. It’s not like we have thousands of cricketers in a population base that allows us to make wholesale changes. There’s no doubt we’ll think about it, review what’s happened and find the good and work out where we can keep making improvements.”Trent Boult (broken hand), Lockie Ferguson (calf) and Matt Henry (broken thumb) are on the injury list with Ferguson’s time frame the most uncertain. Before the India Tests there is a five-match T20I series and three ODIs where Stead indicated the selectors may need to look at some other options.”One of the key things will be assessing injuries. This tour hasn’t been kind to us… it has the potential to leave some holes depending on their recovery time. That might mean more opportunity for a different crop of people to be looked at.”We’ve got the T20 World Cup further down the track, I think it’s 22-23 matches away now and we’re still honing the way we want to play and who we see fitting into roles and learning as much as we can before we hit that tournament.”

Cricket Australia could name its new chief executive next week as the race to replace the outgoing James Sutherland heats up

Daniel Brettig20-Sep-2018One of Melbourne Grand Prix chairman John Harnden or the former Cricket New South Wales chairman John Warn may be named as the new chief executive of Cricket Australia as soon as next week after the race to succeed the longtime boss James Sutherland narrowed to the final preferred candidate stage.ESPNcricinfo understands that two other remaining candidates, one of them the current Cricket Australia chief operating officer Kevin Roberts, were informed they had fallen out of the running at the start of the week, with final presentations by Harnden – also a CA Board director – and Warn believed to have been made on Tuesday.Another senior figure who is thought to have featured in leadership discussions is the former Australian women’s team captain and head of game development Belinda Clark, who is highly regarded within CA and may well be in line to replace Harnden or Warn after their tenure, which is not expected to come close to the 17 years clocked up by Sutherland.Roberts, who had appeared a likely successor for Sutherland from the moment he left the CA Board to join the executive management team in late 2015, raised the ire of the Australian Cricketers Association last year for the way he managed pay negotiations with the players’ union, resulting in a standoff where players went unpaid for almost a month and an Australia A tour of South Africa was cancelled. He was ultimately sidelined from talks that were to be concluded by Sutherland and the team performance manager Pat Howard.However, Roberts is thought to have retained the backing of the chairman David Peever to replace Sutherland until late in the process. Succession planning was one of numerous issues raised by the former Board director Bob Every when he quit CA in protest at Peever being given in-principle approval to continue as chairman for another three years. This decision remains to be ratified by the states at the CA annual general meeting on October 25.When Sutherland replaced Malcolm Speed in 2001, he was only 35 years old and younger than the then Australian team captain Steven Waugh. By contrast Harnden (53, the same age as Sutherland) and Warn (45) are considerably more seasoned. However, CA’s current battle to regain public confidence, bed-down a new $1.18 billion broadcast deal with News Corp and Seven and also make ready for hosting the two separate women’s and men’s world Twenty20 tournaments in 2020 suggests an intensive commission for Sutherland’s successor.Other major issues for CA include efforts to contextualise international cricket via the ICC, with Test and ODI championships due to begin in 2019, and the juggling of the Big Bash League amid an increasingly clogged rota of domestic T20 tournaments, many of which offer considerably greater financial incentives. Equally, the game is in a constant battle for participants and spectators with other Australian sports, as evidenced by the game’s slip to seventh, below basketball, for participation numbers according to Sport Australia’s annual figures.Harnden, who is Melbourne-based, has been considered the most likely candidate for some time, given the breadth of his experience as a former chief executive of the Australian Grand Prix, the South Australian Cricket Association, the Melbourne Commonwealth Games and the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup before replacing Ron Walker as the Melbourne Grand Prix chairman. In particular his record of running major events would be an advantage ahead of 2020, while his work with a variety of state and federal governments provides an indicator of the political skills required at ICC level.Nevertheless, Harnden has also sat on the CA Board since 2016, in that time being a part of flawed decision-making around the MoU. The appointment of an internal candidate, at a time when CA is itself subject to a broad cultural review by the Ethics Centre following the Newlands ball-tampering scandal, would also be a matter for conjecture.Warn, based in Sydney, stepped down from his roles as NSW chairman and also a senior executive at Westfield earlier this year to spend more time with his family, and would need to move south to take up the role heading CA’s operations at their Jolimont headquarters. Known as a highly combative club cricketer for Manly-Warringah in Sydney grade competition, Warn’s corporate career in retail has dovetailed with directorships at Cricket NSW and also the NSW Waratahs rugby union team.He and the NSW chief executive Andrew Jones were widely credited with improving the structure and performance of Australian cricket’s largest state association. However, Warn also presided over a recent downturn in the results of the men’s state team and the failure of its younger generation to develop after the fashion of the likes of Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, which saw the coach Trent Johnston replaced by Phil Jaques over the off-season.Others mentioned as potential candidates included the WACA chief executive Christina Matthews, Jones, NRL CEO Todd Greenberg and Football Federation Australia CEO David Gallop. At the time that Sutherland announced his impending resignation in June, Peever stated that candidates with a significant knowledge of or background in cricket would likely be favoured.”This is an incredibly complex job, it has many dimensions,” Peever said. “What we must do is find the best person for the role. While I don’t want to put any constraints around it, it is a Cricket Australia role, so we’re probably going to have a little bit of bias towards an Australian, and it is a role in cricket, so we’ll probably have a bias towards someone in cricket.”