Category Uncategorized

Jaykishan Kolsawala made an unbeaten century in the second inning as the Baroda Cricket Association XI drew its opening tour game against Kenya

Cricinfo staff26-Jul-2010
Scorecard Thomas Odoyo made a chanceless hundred against Baroda•Cricket Kenya

Jaykishan Kolsawala made an unbeaten century in the second innings as the Baroda Cricket Association XI drew their opening tour game against Kenya. The visitors batted first and posted 308, set up by half-centuries from openers Anupam Gupta and Kedar Devdhar. Captain Pinal Shah then contributed 53 while Yusuf Pathan chipped in with a quickfire 35 off 26 deliveries. Quick bowler Nehemiah Odhiambo was the best Kenyan bowler on display, taking four wickets, although he was somewhat expensive, going at almost four an over.Kenya replied with 327, but were in trouble at 103 for 6 before Odoyo and Odhiambo stitched together a 148-run partnership for the seventh wicket. Odoyo eventually fell to Ajitesh Argal, who finished with 3 for 55, as Kenya took a 19-run lead.Baroda lost opener Devdhar before a run had been scored in their second innings but Kolsawala and Shah added 101 for the third wicket to make sure a draw was the only possible result.This was the first match of Baroda’s tour of Kenya. Next up is a one-dayer against the home side on July 27.

Experimental side captained by Nat Sciver-Brunt made to work before getting home in final over

Valkerie Baynes11-Jul-2024England mixed it up, put it in a test tube, found themselves under pressure and still came out with a win and an unassailable 3-0 lead in their T20I series against New Zealand.Sophie Ecclestone’s four-wicket haul smothered Sophie Devine’s defiance before Alice Capsey’s T20I career-best of 67 not out saw the hosts win by six wickets with four balls to spare in Canterbury.With two matches left, the hosts could well continue their experimental approach which saw Sophia Dunkley take her chance with a 26-ball 35 returning to the top of the order and sharing a 66-run partnership with Capsey to put England in control. Two quick wickets to Fran Jonas preserved the hope that Devine had given New Zealand but Capsey’s 60-ball innings, and an cool cameo by Freya Kemp of 16 not out from eight balls saw England home as the White Ferns were left to rue a rash of missed chances in the field.

Devine intervention

From Suzie Bates’ stunning straight drive for four off the first ball of the match – bringing up her 10,000th international run – to her 52-run partnership with Amelia Kerr for the second wicket, this was more like the batting performance New Zealand had craved. At the end of the powerplay, the White Ferns were 46 for 1 and Kerr took them past the 50-mark with four off Sarah Glenn’s first delivery, a fuller one which she lifted behind square. But when Ecclestone cleaned up both in a devastating first over, Devine needed to produce the sort of innings that had so far eluded her on this tour.With Georgia Plimmer having fallen for a first-ball duck in the opening over, the spectre of New Zealand’s batting woes loomed large again and, at 63 for 3, it fell to Devine and Brooke Halliday to steady them. Devine received a life on 4 when Charlie Dean couldn’t hold a sharp return catch before Halliday spooned a Glenn delivery straight to Nat Sciver-Brunt at long-on. Devine broke a boundary drought lasting 5.4 overs when she struck Dean for two fours in four balls, swung through square leg and thundered through long-on, but as the wickets continued to fall, Devine would have to unleash if they were to turn 100 for 6 into a defendable total.Kemp made it 106 for 7 with a perfect yorker to remove Hannah Rowe but Devine slammed the first six of the match over long-on two balls later then slog-swept Ecclestone for an even bigger one over deep square leg and drove the next ball down the ground for four. Devine brought up her fifty with the first of three fours in a row off Dani Gibson, smashed down the ground, before slashing past short third and ending the innings with a heave through square leg to walk off with her first half-century of the tour.

Ecclestone’s incisions

Ecclestone came into the attack and struck with her second ball, Bates chipping straight to Sciver-Brunt at mid-off for a 27-ball 38. Kerr swung her bat in anguish after she was beaten a beauty three balls later, a flighted delivery that dipped then gripped off the pitch and sailed past the inside edge onto the top of middle stump. When Ecclestone splattered Izzy Gaze’s off stump with her arm ball, New Zealand were in all sorts of trouble. That’s when Devine shifted gears but Ecclestone claimed her fourth when Leigh Kasperek tried to match her captain’s hitting and heaved across the line, only to miss and see her middle stump rattled. It was the last ball of Ecclestone’s allocation, giving her 4 for 25, her second four-wicket haul in T20Is and bettered only by the 4 for 18 she took against New Zealand at Taunton in 2018.Alice Capsey’s half-century got England over the line•Getty Images

“What-if?” planning

England made sweeping changes in a piece of “what-if?” planning ahead of the T20 World Cup, as it was described at the toss by Sciver-Brunt, standing in as captain for Heather Knight, who sat out alongside Danni Wyatt and Lauren Bell. That made way at the top of the order for Dunkley to play her first T20I since March. Kemp returned after her unbeaten 26 and 1 for 30 playing again as an allrounder in the opening T20I in Southampton while making her comeback from a back injury. Bell made way for fellow seamer Lauren Filer in the other change, which was in keeping with a theme Knight painted ahead of the T20I series where she said England would look to try different combinations and tactics with a view to needing to adapt to changing conditions in Bangladesh.Having been dropped after England’s tour of New Zealand earlier this year, Dunkley scored 15 in her only other appearance of this visit by the White Ferns, in the third ODI in Bristol. Here she had another chance to show what she could do ahead of the T20 World Cup and the spotlight intensified here when Maia Bouchier fell on the first ball of the run-chase, pinned lbw by Rowe. In Rowe’s next over, Dunkley powered a big six over long-off, then helped herself to three fours – and 15 runs in all – off Devine’s second over, which was the last of the powerplay and ended with England comfortable on 50 for 1. But when left-arm spinner Jonas entered the attack, she had two wickets in two balls, Dunkley cramped by a full ball which drifted in and chopping onto her stumps and Sciver-Brunt to an lbw decision that would have been overturned had she reviewed with ball-tracking showed it was missing leg stump.

Capsey, Kemp get the job done

That left England needing 73 runs in 10 overs and Capsey made the most of her chance when she was pinned on the front pad attempting a reverse sweep off Kasperek and successfully reviewed, the ball shown to be going down the leg side. Amy Jones survived two dropped chances, put down on 11 by Plimmer at long-off and Devine at mid-off on 18 with England needing 28 off 17 balls. Capsey slammed Kerr over long-on for six next ball so that when Jones was run out, the equation was 22 needed from 15.Yet another chance went begging when Maddy Green failed to hold in the deep and Kemp capitalised, cleverly reversing Kasperek to the boundary through short third and smashing the next ball down the ground to leave England with five to get off the last over. They got there with four balls to spare via a streaky four by Capsey off a Jonas misfield.

Mehidy and Ebadot picked up two apiece as Ireland crumbled after Tector’s fifty

Mohammad Isam04-Apr-2023Bangladesh dominated Ireland’s first day back in Test cricket, bowling them out for 214 in the first innings of the one-off Test in Dhaka. Taijul Islam took his eleventh five-wicket haul as the six-man bowling attack kept themselves ahead in most situations. The home side ended the day on 34 for 2, with Tamim Iqbal falling to Andy McBrine off the last ball of the day after looking quite confident for the last half an hour along with Mominul Haque. But McBrine got one to kick at Tamim’s forward press, to take the edge and fly to second slip where Mark Adair took the catch. He had earlier bowled Najmul Hossain Shanto with an in-ducker, the ball taking the inside edge on to the stumps, in the first over. The Ireland players were cock-a-hoop with the late wicket in an otherwise difficult day.Ireland made 214, their highest first innings score in Tests, batting out all but 30 minutes of the first day’s play. In a batting line-up that had six debutants and playing a Test after four years, it wasn’t a bad effort at the Shere Bangla National Stadium’s challenging conditions.Harry Tector’s fifty had some delectable shots, particularly his drives down the ground. He also slammed a straight six, but fell prematurely after adding 74 runs for the fourth wicket with Curtis Campher. It was the highlight of the Ireland innings as the pair played some splendid shots in the first hour of the second session. Ireland were at their most comfortable during this time, but it was roughly an hour before things started to change for the visitors.They got together after Ireland lost three wickets in the first session. Shoriful Islam removed Murray Commins with a delivery that cut back into his bat, given out lbw for five. Shanto caught James McCollum at second slip, at the second attempt, after the batter edged Ebadot Hossain.The Tector-Campher partnership ended when Mehidy Hasan Miraz bowled Tector with a classic offbreak turning through his forward press. Tector struck six fours and a six in his 50 off 92 balls. This was a bad time for Ireland as they also lost PJ Moor, playing his first Test for Ireland after playing eight matches for Zimbabwe, and Campher, in the space of eighteen balls.Ireland could have folded early from 124 for 6, but they added another 90 runs for the last four wickets. Tucker added 35 for the seventh wicket with McBrine, before adding another 40 with Mark Adair, who made 32 off 52 balls. Taijul removed Tucker and Adair to complete his five-for. Mehidy closed out the innings with Ben White’s wicket in the 78th over.

Ashish Nehra and Gary Kirsten to join coaching staff; Vikram Solanki set to be team director

Nagraj Gollapudi17-Jan-2022Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan and Shubman Gill are set to be a part of the Ahmedabad franchise for the upcoming IPL season.The Ahmedabad franchise, which was bought last October by CVC Capital Partners (Irelia Company Pte Ltd), has also finalised its coaching staff – they will be led by former India fast bowler Ashish Nehra, and former South Africa batter and head coach Gary Kirsten. Former England batter Vikram Solanki, who is currently Surrey’s head coach, will be the team director.Related

• Ashish Nehra: 'From year one, you should be looking to win the tournament'

• IPL 2022 auction: Warner, Ashwin, Rabada, Bravo list maximum base price

• Dhoni, Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah retained by IPL franchises for 2022

• $1.6 billion for two IPL franchises: does it add up?

• Lucknow and Ahmedabad become home to the two newest franchises

This is the second IPL franchise where the trio of Nehra, Kirsten and Solanki will work together: the previous instance was at Royal Challengers Bangalore.Ahmedabad and Lucknow, the two new teams in the IPL, are yet to disclose the players they have bought but the deadline for doing so is fast approaching: January 22. Both teams were given the same purse – INR 90 crore – as the existing eight franchises. However, unlike the other teams, which could retain four players, the two new ones can buy a maximum of three players with the overseas slot limited to one.While the IPL has set INR 15 crore, INR 11 crore and INR 7 crore for franchises retaining three players, ESPNcricinfo has learned that Ahmedabad have decided to pay both Hardik and Rashid the same amount – INR 15 crore. It is also learnt that Hardik is likely to take charge as Ahmedabad captain, a first experience for the allrounder in the IPL. The third player – Gill – will be paid INR 7 crore. This means the franchise will go into the auction in February with a purse of INR 53 crore.This is the first time Hardik and Rashid will play for the same team in the IPL, having previously represented Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively. Hardik’s rise, since he was bought as an uncapped player for a mere INR 10 lakh in 2015, has been exponential. By 2018, he had established himself as the best allrounder in India and Mumbai duly retained him as their second pick at the auction that year, paying INR 11 crore. In the next two seasons, Hardik scored 762 runs and took 32 wickets in 29 games. He is a four-time title-winner: 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.Hardik struggled with fitness issues over the last two IPLs, and did not bowl at all in this period. His batting, too, hasn’t been as effective as before. That forced Mumbai to look in a different direction as they retained the in-from Suryakumar Yadav, who has proven he can bat and accelerate at any position. Hardik is currently focussing on regaining complete fitness and has not been part of any of the Indian white-ball squads since the T20 World Cup.As for Rashid, the Afghanistan legspinner became a big talking point immediately after Sunrisers decided to retain Kane Williamson, who will be full-time captain from IPL 2022, along with the uncapped Jammu & Kashmir pairing of Abdul Samad and Umran MalikIn 2017, Sunrisers bought Rashid for INR 4 crore and, a year later, they retained him for INR 9 crore. Remarkably, Rashid featured in all 76 matches played by Sunrisers since his debut, picking up 93 wickets at an economy rate of 6.33. Only Jasprit Bumrah has taken more wickets (104) than Rashid in the last five IPL seasons.Both social media and rival teams were aghast that Rashid had not being retained in 2022. ESPNcricinfo has learnt that while Sunrisers did want to keep Rashid, they told him that he would be their second pick behind Williamson. The talks got derailed thereafter, which freed Rashid to weigh up his options, including going into the auction.For Gill, this will be his second team in the IPL having been picked by Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2018 auction for INR 1.8 crore. The 22-year old, who has already played 10 Tests and three ODIs, has been earmarked as one of the brightest young talents of this decade, and at one point was even looked upon as a future leader by the Knight Riders. However, the Knight Riders had several other options when it came to retention and Gill had to be left out.

He made the decision after his side, Balochistan, were eliminated from the National T20 Cup

Umar Farooq16-Oct-2020Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. Gul (36), who represented Pakistan in 47 Tests, 130 ODIs and 60 T20Is from 2003-16, made the decision after his side, Balochistan, were eliminated from the National T20 Cup on Friday night against Southern Punjab.After the game, a visibly emotional Gul thanked his family, coaches and team-mates throughout his career, and was given a guard of honour by both sets of players.Gul, from Peshawar, retires as a modern great of Pakistan fast bowling. He was the leading wicket-taker during Pakistan’s run to the 2007 World T20 final, and also the leading wicket-taker in the 2009 edition, when Pakistan won the trophy. He spent much of this time heading the world T20 rankings, with a reputation as the best yorker bowler in the format. His career best, five for 6 against New Zealand at the World T20 in 2009 were, at the time, the best ever T20 bowling figures. Currently, he’s part of PCB’s cricket committee.”It has been an honour to represent my club, city, province and country at various levels for two decades,” Gul said after the game. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my cricket, which has taught me the values of hard work, respect, commitment and determination. During this journey, I have had the pleasure of meeting numerous people who have helped and supported me in some way. I want to thank all those people as well as my teammates and peers for their support.”I owe a big thank you to the fans who supported me throughout my journey. They have been an inspiration, especially at times when the going was not great. Lastly, I thank my family for standing firmly behind me throughout my career and helping me to cherish my dreams of not only playing cricket but traveling across the country and globe. They have sacrificed a lot, while I too have missed their presence and company. I now look forward to spending valuable time with them but it will be difficult to stay away from cricket and I now look forward to giving back to the sport and the country that has made me one of the most fortunate people on the planet.”He began his career on the under-19 circuit and represented Pakistan in the U-19 Cricket World Cup 2002 in New Zealand. He had played just nine first-class matches when he was called up for the national side after Pakistan’s disastrous performance at the 2003 World Cup that saw both Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis fade away. He played 125 first-class, 213 List-A and 167 T20 matches, in which he took a total of 987 wickets.He was a regular member of the national team until a knee injury surfaced in 2012. He took on more responsibility in long-form cricket and became the leader of the Pakistan attack after the spot-fixing bans on Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif in 2010. However, injuries put paid to his hopes of sustaining that spell in his career as he missed large parts of 2013 and 2014, which needed surgery in Australia.He hadn’t been centrally contracted since and was also left out of the 2015 World Cup squad. While he did make a comeback in 2016, it was all too brief as the Pakistan selectors and the team management seem to have moved on.

After Pandey’s hundred and Gill’s fifty carried India A to 295 for 6, Krunal tore up West Indies A’s chase with 5 for 25

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jul-2019
Three days before the selectors meet to pick India’s senior squad for the Caribbean tour, Manish Pandey, the A team captain, made a statement with an 86-ball century that fashioned a 148-run victory. Opener Shubman Gill also staked his claim for higher honours with his second successive half-century in the West Indies to follow up an unbeaten 109 against Sri Lanka A at home last month. After the two batsmen carried India A to 295 for 6, Krunal Pandya wrecked West Indies A’s chase with 5 for 25 in seven overs. The 148-run win meant India wrapped up the five one-day series with two games remaining.ALSO READ: India’s selectors to meet on July 19After opting to bat, India A lost Anmolpreet Singh for a duck in the third over, but Gill and No.3 Shreyas Iyer forged a 109-run stand to give the innings direction. Iyer, who made a brisk 77 in the tour opener, was more sedate on Tuesday, scoring 47 off 69 balls. The stand ended when Iyer was dismissed by offspin-bowling allrounder Rahkeem Cornwall in the 27th over. Pandey and Gill then took charge of the innings, putting on a 110-run stand to take the team towards 250.While Gill fell 23 short of a hundred, Pandey reached the landmark off 86 balls, in the last over of the innings. Seamer Romario Shepherd then pinned him lbw with an inswinging yorker off his next ball to keep the visitors to under 300.With West Indies selector Robert Haynes in attendance, John Campbell and Sunil Ambris have the A team a positive start by adding 51 for the first wicket. Ambris was the more aggressive opener, making 30 off 32 balls before he was trapped lbw by Avesh Khan. However, fingerspinners Krunal, Washington Sundar, and Hanuma Vihari tore up the middle and lower order as West Indies A went from 51 for 0 to 117 for 9.With No.11 Akeem Jordan for company, Keemo Paul launched some big blows and top-scored with 34 off 16 balls, dragging his side to 147. It was Vihari who sealed the victory when he had Paul holing out in the 35th over. Ambris and Paul were the only West Indies A batsmen to pass 25 in the chase.

She will replace former England allrounder David Capel, who has been in the job since October 2016

Shashank Kishore05-May-2018Former India women wicketkeeper Anju Jain is set to take over as head coach of the Bangladesh women team. She will replace former England allrounder David Capel, whose 18-month contract hasn’t been extended.Capel will step down after the ongoing South Africa tour consisting of five ODIs and three T20Is, that serve as preparation as Bangladesh seek to qualify for the Women’s World T20 to be played in the West Indies in November.While the finer details of Jain’s deal are yet to be worked out, it is understood that she will join the national team on a six-month contract and take over as soon as they return from South Africa on May 21. She will be joined by her former India colleague Devika Palshikar and Anuja Dalvi, who are already onboard as assistant coach and physiotherapist respectively.”An opportunity to coach a national team at this stage is quite exciting,” Jain told ESPNcricinfo. “At this moment, the biggest challenge is to help the team qualify for the Women’s World T20 in West Indies. There is talent, but you need to give them games. Our primary responsibility as a coaching group will be to ensure they develop the finer skill sets, and that will come with experience.”The BCB has penciled in a 10-day tour of Ireland in preparation for the eight-team Women’s World T20 Qualifiers to be held in Netherlands in July. Bangladesh, who lost all their four matches at the previous edition in 2016, are the top-ranked side in the group that consists of Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Netherlands, Uganda, Thailand and United Arab Emirates. Two teams from the qualifiers will join the top eight at the World T20.Jain is a Level-B certified BCCI coach and has extensively taken part in exchange programmes with Cricket Australia. Her involvement with Bangladesh will mean she will step down as head coach of Vidarbha women’s team. She previously coached India at the 2012 Women’s World T20 and the 2013 World Cup.Jain is the second India woman cricketer to land the Bangladesh job. Former captain Mamta Maben was previously in-charge of Bangladesh across two stints in 2011 and 2013.

Batting allrounder Maddy Green has been sidelined with a hand injury while Australia vice-captain Alex Blackwell suffered a minor hamstring strain during the third T20 in Adelaide

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Feb-2017Batting allrounder Maddy Green has become the third New Zealand women player sidelined due to an injured hand this season. Australia, too, saw an injury in their team as vice-captain Alex Blackwell suffered a minor hamstring strain during Wednesday’s loss in the third T20I in Adelaide. Although she was not ruled out of the forthcoming three ODIs against New Zealand, batsman Rachael Haynes was added to the squad as cover. Allrounder Ellyse Perry was also returning from a hamstring injury she had picked up in the Women’s BBL.”We expect both Alex and Ellyse to feature throughout the upcoming series against New Zealand. However we want to ensure both players are 100% fit on their return,” national selector Shawn Flegler said.Green joined allrounder Sophie Devine, with a dislocated thumb, and offspinner Leigh Kasperek, who had suffered multiple fractures on her left little finger only a week ago, on the injury list. Green was “anticipated” to be in contention for the Women’s World Cup in June, a New Zealand Cricket release said. She broke her left thumb while taking the catch to dismiss Amanda-Jade Wellington during New Zealand’s 47-run win in the third T20I. Offspinning allrounder Anna Peterson joined the New Zealand squad in place of Kasperek for the ODIs at home while a replacement for Green has not been named yet.Peterson, meanwhile, comes on the back of a hat-trick in the second T20I against Australia and an impressive run with the bat for Auckland in the domestic one-dayers and T20s. Peterson had toured Australia too as a late replacement for Devine.The three-ODI series will start in Auckland on Sunday, followed by the second and third matches in Mount Maunganui on March 2 and 5.

A round-up of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Super League matches played on January 15, 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jan-2016
ScorecardFile photo – Hardik Pandya followed up his blistering knock against Delhi with a match-winning effort for Baroda•BCCI

Allrounder Hardik Pandya slammed eight sixes in his unbeaten 86 as he guided Baroda to a six-wicket win over Vidarbha in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Super League match in Mumbai.Baroda, who were struggling at 85 for 4 in the 13th over, went into the last five overs of the chase needing 63 runs. Pandya, who had recently struck 34 runs in an over, took charge of the chase, slamming sixes off Ravi Jangid and Ravi Thakur to help Baroda reach the target with an over to spare. Pandya’s 43-ball knock – his fifth half-century – is his best in T20 cricket. Pandya was supported by Irfan Pathan (26*), who contributed to the unbeaten 83-run, fifth-wicket partnership.Earlier Vidarbha were buoyed by Ganesh Satish’s 31-ball 54 with supporting knocks from wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma (35) and Apoorv Wankhede (40).
ScorecardA half-century from Aditya Tare steered Mumbai past a difficult start and took them to a six-wicket win over Kerala at the Wankhede Stadium. Chasing 161, Mumbai were 21 for 2 before Tare and Siddhesh Lad (36) steadied them with a 70-run stand for the third wicket. Tare then added 48 for the fourth wicket with Abhishek Nayar before he fell in the 17th over, having made 71 off 46 balls, with nine fours and a six. With 22 required from the last 19 balls, Nayar saw Mumbai home, finishing unbeaten on 38 off 20 balls.Sent in to bat, Kerala rode on the back of a 45-ball 69 (7×4, 2×6) from Rohan Prem, and his partnerships of 57 for the second wicket with Sanju Samson (22) and 55 for the third wicket with Sachin Baby (32). But Kerala lost steam towards the end of their innings, scoring only 19 runs off the last 14 balls while losing four wickets.
ScorecardThe 112-run opening partnership between Samarth Singh and Prashant Gupta helped Uttar Pradesh comfortably march over Jharkhand with a nine-wicket victory in a Group B Super League match at Bandra-Kurla Complex ground.The absence of any stern contest from Jharkhand, with both bat and ball, robbed the match of any excitement forcing a Uttar Pradesh player to remark ” [Oi, is this cricket?]”Electing to field Uttar Pradesh never faced any pressure as none of the Jharkhand batsmen proved to be threatening.Jharkhand’s hopes rested on the Saurabh Tiwary, whose aggressive batting style had earned him plaudits and big money from franchises few years ago in the IPL. Tiwary showed some glimpses of his old form, hitting a couple of big sixes, but suffered an embarrassing end to his innings. Tiwary charged Suresh Raina, who was bowling his first over and was completely beaten by the flat trajectory and pace of the ball, and was easily stumped.Jharkand finished on 133, a target that UP’s top order chased without fuss with 19 balls to spare.

A five-member bench of the Appellate Division of Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has ruled in favour of holding Bangladesh Cricket Board’s elections on the basis of its amended constitution, which was earlier declared illegal by the High Court.

Mohammad Isam25-Jul-2013A five-member bench of the Appellate Division of Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has ruled in favour of holding the Bangladesh Cricket Board elections on the basis of its amended constitution. However, it said the legality of the subsequent elected BCB committee will depend on its final judgment in this case, as a leave to appeal petition has been allowed.BCB chief Nazmul Hassan said a date for the polls will be discussed at a board meeting on July 29.The court ruling came following a petition filed by the BCB and the National Sports Council (NSC), the country’s sports regulatory body, against a High Court verdict that declared the amended BCB constitution illegal on January 27.The High Court had said that the NSC had no authority to amend the constitution of the BCB, following a writ petition filed by Yousuf Jamil Babu, president of Bangladesh District and Divisional Sports Organisers’ Association, and Mobasher Hossain, a former BCB director, last December. According to the petition, the NSC had sent an amended constitution to the BCB in November, but as per article 26 of the BCB constitution the NSC had no authority to amend it. However, Article 11.1 states that it has the authority to approve the BCB’s proposed amendments.”We can hold elections under this constitution pending the full bench’s approval,” Hassan said in Mirpur, a few hours after the Supreme Court ruling. “But for now, the elections can be held. It is very good news. We will hold elections as soon as possible, and will start making preparations from the July 29 board meeting.”Hassan, however, didn’t confirm or deny his participation in the elections, although he was unsure whether he could directly contest the president’s post or had to first take part in the normal elections for a director’s post. Article 13.2 (a) of the BCB’s amended constitution states that “the president must be a board director first”.”If there’s more than one panel, I will directly contest for the president’s election and not join a specific panel as I want to remain neutral. I have to see first whether I have to be a director or directly contest for the president’s post. I haven’t yet decided to go for elections. You have to understand that I was appointed through a gazette. I have to know what they [those who appointed him BCB president] think.”Former BCB president Saber Hossain Chowdhury told several newspapers over the last month or so of his interest in contesting the elections. He was the board chief between 1996 and 2001, when Bangladesh made their World Cup debut and gained ODI and Test status.The president’s election was one of four major changes brought to the constitution by the NSC in November last year. They had earlier rejected some controversial amendments adopted in BCB’s extraordinary general meeting held on March 1 last year.According to the NSC-amended constitution (based on which the BCB elections will take place), there will be three NSC directors (up from one in the previous constitution); the top six clubs in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League (those who qualify to the Super League) will each get two councillorships; that the BCB president will be elected by the 27 BCB directors; the NSC also added a paragraph in the article 9.1 (a) and (b) which reads, “Former cricketers/cricket organisers will get priority while councillors are selected from every regional cricket association, and will be nominated by the president of that district/divisional sports association”.The Supreme Court’s ruling aided the BCB’s ad-hoc committee, which was put in charge on November 27 last year with the specific task to hold elections within three months.