No international cricket match was played during the last week of September as all the Test-playing nations took a rare vacation with the Champions League T20 taking center stage during the final week of an eventful month.
Marvan Atapattu appointed Sri Lanka head coach
Sri Lanka Cricket appointed former Test captain Marvan Atapattu as the head coach, making him the island nation’s seventh coach in the last four years. Atapattu had served as the interim coach for three months before his full-time appointment last week, guiding the team during the recent series against England, South Africa and Pakistan.
Marvan Atapattu became Sri Lanka`s first full-time local coach in 15 years. According to a SLC press release, the executive committee “unanimously approved and appointed Mr. Marvan Attapattu to the position of National Head Coach of Sri Lanka Cricket with immediate effect”.
Pakistan name ODI and T20 squads against Australia
Pakistan announced their ODI and T20I squads for the forthcoming Australia series which starts on October 3rd. Former Captain Younus Khan was not included in the ODI squad after he expressed his willingness to play the ICC world cup in 2015.
ODI squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Ahmed Shehzad, Sohaib Maqsood, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shahid Afridi, Raza Hasan, Mohammad Hafeez,Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Umar Amin, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Irfan, Anwar Ali, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan.
T20 squad: Shahid Afridi (c), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Irfan, Bilawal Bhatti, Sohail Tanvir, Anwar Ali, Wahab Riaz, Raza Hasan, Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood,Umar Amin, Saad Nasim, Awais Zia.
JP Duminy to lead an experimental South Africa T20 squad
South Africa have named an experimental T20 side for their tour of New Zealand and Australia while the ODI side is pretty much the same one likely to step out for the World Cup next year.
South Africa will play three one day internationals (ODIs) against New Zealand in New Zealand and five against Australia in Australia with the first match being played on 21 October. While the one-day team offered no surprises, the T20 has seen a sweep of changes. A core group of players have rested, which has led to JP Duminy being given the captaincy. Rilee Rossouw, Reeza Hendricks and Kagiso Rabada have been added to the mix while David Wiese also returns.
ODI squad: AB de Villiers (captain), Hashim Amla, Kyle Abbott, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Vernon Philander, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn
T20 squad: JP Duminy (captain), Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Marchant de Lange, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, David Wiese
Former Kiwi all-rounder Chris Cairns charged with perjury
The former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns has been charged with perjury by the Metropolitan police. The charge is in relation to a libel case in 2012, when Cairns was successful in suing Lalit Modi, the then Indian Premier League commission, over match-fixing allegations.
Cairns, who recently arrived in London, attended a North London police station to receive the charge, which carries with it a maximum sentence in the UK of seven years in prison, will appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on 2 October for an initial hearing at which he will confirm his identity and enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
SLC allows Sachithra Senanayake to play mercantile cricket
Sri Lanka Cricket announced last week that it would allow suspended off-spinner Sachithra Senanayake to play mercantile cricket as he is making good progress in remedying his bowling action. The International Cricket Council (ICC) had said in a statement that Senanayake had worked with some experts in University of Western Australia and made tremendous improvement as the off-spinner continues training with his coaches.
England announce the ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour
England have confirmed Alastair Cook will captain the ODI side leading into the 2015 World Cup whilst announcing a 16-man squad for the seven match ODI series against Sri Lanka.
ODI squad: Alastair Cook (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes.
Mohammed Hafeez and Sunil Narine reported for suspect bowling actions
Kolkata Knight Riders player Sunil Narine and Lahore Lions skipper Mohammed Hafeez have been reported for a suspected illegal bowling actions during the CLT20 in India.
Under the CLT20 Suspected Illegal Bowling Action policy, Narine and Hafeez may request an Official Assessment from the BCCI Suspect Bowling Action Committee. Both off-spinners have been placed on the warning list and may continue to be selected to play and bowl for his team in a match. Under the CLT20 Suspected Illegal Bowling Action policy, if a player receives a report while on the warning list, the player shall be suspended from bowling for the remainder of the tournament and from bowling in any matches organised by the BCCI until such date as he is cleared.
Marlon Samuels and Jerome Taylor back in the West Indies ODI squad
Swashbuckling batsman Chris Gayle has been left out of the West Indies’ 15-member squad for the one-day series against India which starts on October 8th. The Caribbeans have brought in batsmen Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Smith, and fast bowler Jerome Taylor for the series.
ODI squad: Dwayne Bravo (captain), Darren Bravo, Jason Holder, Leon Johnson, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor.
Champions League T20 round-up
Three IPL teams and the Australia big bash winners booked their places in the CLT20 semi-finals after dominating the group stage. Group A leaders Kolkata Knight Riders will play Hobart Hurricanes in the 1st semi-final scheduled to play on October 2nd while group B winners Kings XI Punjab will play Chennai Super Kings on the same day at Hyderabad. Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders remained unbeaten winning all their 4 matches.
Mashrafe Mortaza named Bangladesh ODI Captain
Bangladesh has sacked wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim as their one-day international captain and replaced him with injury-prone paceman Mashrafe Mortaza.
Mushfiqur will continue to lead the Test side. Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan were appointed vice-captain for the Test and ODI sides respectively. Mashrafe was put in charge only for the five-match ODI series against Zimbabwe, who will arrive in late October for a tour which will also include three Tests.
