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Cricket Discipline Commission punishment concludes long-standing investigation

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Sep-2024

Essex have been fined £100,000, £50,000 of which is suspended for two years, after being sanctioned by the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) for systemic and longstanding racism and discrimination within the club.The punishment comes in the wake of an independent report, compiled by Katherine Newton KC and published in December 2023, which centred on the testimony of three former players, one of whom was nicknamed “Bomber” due to his South Asian heritage, and another taunted with bananas for being Black.The club was charged with a breach of ECB Directive 3.3 during the years 2001 to 2010, for “conduct, acts or omissions which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the game of cricket or any cricketer or group of cricketers into disrepute”.The sanction mirrors that which was levelled against Essex in May 2022, when the club was fined £50,000 after the former club chair, John Faragher, was alleged to have used the racist phrase “n****r in the woodpile” during a board meeting in 2017 – the incident which prompted the commissioning of the Newton report.The CDC panel, consisting of chair Nigel Popplewell, Professor Seema Patel and Mark Milliken-Smith KC. said it was unable to apply sporting sanctions such as points deductions, which is the punishment that Essex last week received after their opening batter, Feroz Khushi, was found to have used an illegal bat in their opening County Championship fixture of the ongoing season.Essex, who have also been reprimanded, have until October 2 to appeal.Dave Lewis, Interim Director of the Cricket Regulator, said: “The racism experienced at Essex County Cricket Club over a period of many years was abhorrent, and the evidence of those subjected to abuse was deeply disturbing. They have shown real bravery in speaking out, and I hope that this prosecution will help ensure that no one suffers again as they did, and that racism of this kind is never normalised.”The sanctions announced against the club today by a panel of the independent Cricket Discipline Commission come at the end of a long and complex investigation by the Cricket Regulator and follow the club’s own investigation which resulted in it sanctioning several individuals. The CDC panel took into account the fact that Essex had pleaded guilty to the charge and has already taken significant action to address these issues and become a more inclusive club.ECB Chief Executive Officer Richard Gould said: “Racism has no place in our sport. I’m appalled by what those who experienced racism at Essex have been through, and the way this behaviour could become normalised. It is vital that as a sport we listen and learn from their experiences, and ensure that no one suffers like that again.”I welcome the action Essex has taken in recent years to address these issues and become a more inclusive club, and the commitment it has shown to make further progress.”Over the past year, the whole game has responded positively to the action plan we set out in response to the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket, and we will shortly update on the progress which has been made. We recognise there is still significant work to be done, and are determined to tackle discrimination wherever it exists and break down barriers to ensure that cricket becomes the most inclusive team sport in England and Wales.”Essex County Cricket Club Chair, Anu Mohindru KC, said: “Essex County Cricket Club today received the sanctions handed down by the independent Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) following the Club’s admission to historic use of racist and discriminatory language and conduct.”There is deep regret for what occurred in the past, but these events do not reflect the Essex Cricket of today. The Club have accepted the sanctions and remains committed to tackling all forms of discrimination, and is fully aligned with the ECB’s goal of making cricket the country’s most inclusive team sport.”We have made significant progress in achieving these aims in the communities we represent through our excellent outreach work, as well as building a workplace that values and respects every individual. Essex Cricket will continue to move forward as the best open, inclusive, and diverse organisation we can possibly be.”We remain fully committed to working towards positive and lasting change. This is a responsibility we take seriously, and we will continue to engage with all those affected, our community and stakeholders to ensure that the progress already made in recent years is upheld and further strengthened.”

Tom Latham, who could be New Zealand’s next ODI captain, has said that the team will have to become increasingly flexible with how they adapt to players opting out of central contracts to take up franchise deals.Kane Williamson, Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne made themselves unavailable for the latest batch of contracts although former captain Williamson, who will play the SA20 in January, was given a casual agreement to reflect his continued standing among New Zealand’s most important players.Williamson will probably only miss a handful of limited-overs matches against Sri Lanka, and at the time of announcing his new arrangement insisted he remained fully committed to international cricket, but it marked another significant shift in the game following Trent Boult’s decision to decline a contract two years ago to allow him more T20 league opportunities.Related

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“Think at the moment where cricket’s going in New Zealand is slightly different,” Latham said. “It’s certainly not a black and white situation, and certainly changing with all these leagues popping up. Guess everyone is in a slightly different boat in what their future may look like depending on their age or stage they are in life.”We’ve got a lot of cricket in the summer [and] got an ICC pinnacle event [the Champions Trophy] which is exciting to look forward to. So whether it be with different personnel, whether it be with the guys we are used to having, whenever we can have them I’m sure that will be great, but think we’ve certainly got to be pretty fluid with what things look like in the future.”New Zealand have become used to playing white-ball series without key players either through rotation or due to a clash with the IPL and the latter is set to happen again next season when they face Pakistan in late March. Latham added that the New Zealand contract system had worked well since its inception but suggested those in charge might see this as a time to review whether it fits the modern game.”Don’t know what the right system is, there is a lot of flexibility within our contracts at the moment, but think with the changing landscape of cricket I’m sure it will be something that New Zealand Cricket and the players’ association look at and try and come up with something,” he said.”We’ve seen over many years now, at times we haven’t had those senior guys. That gives me an opportunity as a senior player to step up and lead as well. But also other guys who haven’t necessarily had opportunities in the past to step up in different leadership roles. It’s never great when you miss guys of Kane’s calibre, but it gives opportunities to other guys to put their best foot forward.”

Latham’s captaincy ambitions

Latham himself is not at the forefront of those deciding between international and franchise cricket given he is primarily a Test and ODI player. “There’s no Test franchise stuff…if that comes out, that would be great,” he joked.However, in a bid to find more T20 opportunity he had been due to head to Canada for the Global T20 tournament until he recently picked up a broken finger in training which will sideline him for four weeks. But it shouldn’t leave him in doubt for the start of New Zealand’s run of Test cricket in September when they are due to face Afghanistan in a one-off match before tours of Sri Lanka and India.There could also be a significant promotion in the pipeline with him among the candidates to succeed as ODI captain after Williamson had to relinquish the role with his contract decision. Latham has regularly stood in over the years, leading in 44 ODIs including last year’s World Cup when Williamson suffered a broken thumb.”It would obviously be a real honour,” Latham said. “For me it’s always been about trying to put the team first as best as possible and I’m sure they’ll have those discussions around what they want from a team point of view and certainly if I get the opportunity to do that it would be really special.”But if NZC wanted to unite both white-ball sides under the same person, to avoid three different leaders with Tim Southee the current Test captain, they may need to look elsewhere.”We’re not at the stage of confirming it yet, so I don’t want to speculate whether Tom will be or not,” coach Gary Stead said. “But he’s certainly one guy that will be in discussions around that role. The important thing is whoever is in place, we want in place for two to three years or so, leading to that next [ODI] World Cup. That will be one of the important decision-making factors that we discuss.”New Zealand will play six ODIs during their home summer, three apiece against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, before taking part in a tri-series in Pakistan ahead of the Champions Trophy.

10.3 to MP Stoinis, top edge and Gurbaz calls for it with two more fielders congregating! Naib brings out his guns to celebrate and the short ball does the trick against Stoinis. Extra bounce, got big on Stoinis, and all it needed thereafter was the three Afghanistan fielders not colliding behind the batter.12.2 to TH David, trapped him in front? Umpire Ahsan Raza raises his finger late. David reviews after a chat. This was a back of a length ball on off that jagged into his pads while . David missed his flick, and he was hit on the knee-roll. No bat involved… and it’s clipping the outside of leg stump! The decision says and Australia are 85/514.4 to GJ Maxwell, BIG BIG WICKET! Noor Ahmad may not have bowled much, but he may have taken the most important catch of his life! Maxwell slices at this length ball outside off, and Noor at backward point dives diagonally forward to take a dipping catch!16.3 to PJ Cummins, slower ball deceives Cummins, that’s Naib’s four! Full ball on off and this doesn’t bunce much. Cummins tries to play across the line but misses. He’s bowled and Naib is off in celebration. However he then takes a tumble, has he hurt himself in glee?

There have been plenty of disappointing aspects to Arsenal’s season this year.

One of the most significant – outside the lack of trophies, of course – has been the pretty dismal form of Martin Odegaard.

This time last year, the Norwegian international was named the club’s Player of the Year for the second campaign on the bounce, and now there are genuine discussions about his place in the team.

It might sound hyperbolic, but the team’s captain and chief creator amassing a tally of six goals and 12 assists in 45 games isn’t great, especially when there are several ways Mikel Arteta and Co could replace him.

With that said, there is one player, someone once compared to the former Real Madrid star, who certainly shouldn’t be looked at as his replacement and instead should be sold as soon as possible.

How Arsenal could replace Odegaard

Okay, so we don’t think the captain is in any real danger of fully losing his place in the team at the moment, but should his poor form continue into next season, it shouldn’t be off the table.

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So, aside from making an expensive signing, what could Arteta and Co do to replace him in the team?

Well, the first option, which seems to be quite popular among sections of the fanbase, is giving Ethan Nwaneri the chance to make the position his own.

Now, the Hale Ender has primarily played out on the right this season, but across his time in the academy, his most played role was that of a number ten or the most attacking midfield player.

Moreover, if this year has shown us anything, the 18-year-old phenom knows where the goal is and how to play a dangerous pass in behind.

For example, in just 1378 minutes of first-team football, he scored nine goals and provided two assists, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 125.27 minutes.

A longer-term option, and one that might seem a little foolhardy at the moment, could be unleashing Max Dowman there once he’s acclimated to senior football next season.

Now, it would be utterly absurd to even suggest such a thing for most players his age, but the 15-year-old is evidently not like most players, with respected talent scout Jacek Kulig even going as far as calling him “the most exciting” prospect “since Lamine Yamal.”

It’s not hard to understand why he would say such a thing either, as in just 23 appearances, totalling 1945 minutes, this season, the “ridiculous player,” as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, scored 19 goals and provided five assists, which comes out to an unreal average of 1.04 goal involvements every game, or one every 81.04 minutes.

So, in short, there are a couple of great in-house solutions should Odegaard not improve his form next year, but another player was once compared to the Norwegian and should be nowhere near the team next season.

The Arsenal star who must be sold

Some Arsenal players, like Jorginho and Kieran Tierney, are already confirmed to be leaving this summer, or they look like they might, like Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Someone who must join the departing players is Fabio Vieira.

The Portuguese midfielder joined the Gunners for around £34m in the summer of 2022, and while it was somewhat of a surprise signing, there was still some genuine excitement at the time, as he’d just produced 23 goal involvements in 39 games for Porto the season prior, and was even described as being similar to Odegaard by Gunners’ legend Gilberto Silva.

Unfortunately, things just did not work out for the 24-year-old, and across his two campaigns at the club, the “phenomenal” midfielder, as once dubbed by Kulig, produced just 13 goal involvements in 49 appearances.

After struggling to make any sort of impact for two seasons on the bounce, the decision was made to send him back to Porto for a season-long loan last summer, and while he’s looked better, it would be overdoing it to go any further.

Vieira’s recent seasons

Season

21/22

22/23

23/24

24/25

Appearances

39

33

16

39

Goals

7

2

1

5

Assists

16

6

3

5

Goal Involvements per Match

0.58

0.24

0.25

0.25

All Stats via Transfermarkt

For example, in 39 appearances, totalling 2457 minutes, he has scored five goals and provided five assists, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 3.9 games or every 245.7 minutes, which is significantly worse than Odegaard’s output this year.

So, if he’s doing better than he was but still isn’t at the level required to play for the club, the only logical answer is to try and sell him as soon as possible while he still has some value.

Therefore, while it might sound harsh, Vieira should never play for Arsenal again, for his own sake and the sake of the club.

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Chelsea have taken a huge tumble in their race for Champions League football next season, after drawing 2-2 with 18th-placed Ipswich Town, having gone in 2-0 down at half-time.

The Blues held a whopping 74% possession in the game, generated 2.14 xG, created four big chances and took 34 shots, only converting all of this attacking input into two goals.

Enzo Maresca’s side now sits fifth in the Premier League after 32 games played, one point behind fourth-placed Manchester City and three points behind third-placed Nottingham Forest.

With six games left to play, chances for points are becoming fewer and fewer.

Many will use this result to continue directing their frustration at Maresca, but after two defensive lapses in the first half and plenty of missed chances in the second half, it’s hard to look anywhere beyond the players on the pitch for this one.

One of those at fault (again) was Robert Sanchez.

Robert Sanchez's performance vs Ipswich

One of the worst performers for Chelsea once more was the man between the sticks. Sanchez has had a shocking spell between the sticks this term and it only got worse when the Tractor Boys came to town.

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Indeed, Sanchez only made two saves in the game, of course, conceded two goals and only completed 64% of his passes, often putting his own teammates under pressure.

The 27-year-old had 35 touches and only completed one of his nine long balls attempted. Not only did he put Chelsea under pressure when playing out from the back, but he also didn’t save the Blues to make up for it when Ipswich did get chances, conceding two goals from four shots on target.

The Sanchez issue isn’t a new one in the Chelsea fanbase; in fact, it is one of the most highly scrutinised. But their other highly scrutinised position is centre-forward, and today’s performance won’t help to eradicate any of those concerns.

Nicolas Jackson's performance vs Ipswich

Nicolas Jackson has only recently returned from injury, injecting some much-needed pace to the front line, working hard and giving opposition defenders something else to worry about.

However, after a 5/10 display from the Senegal international, according to The Express, it is clear that Todd Boehly needs to spend big in the summer to add to their striking department.

Minutes

87

Touches

20

Shots

5

Accurate Passes

8/11

Ground Duels Won

1/4

Aerial Duels Won

3/7

Possession Lost

4

Jackson has made 27 appearances this season, scoring nine goals and providing five assists for the Blues. Despite adding much-needed directness from the front since returning to the side, it’s games like this one against Ipswich that highlight exactly why Chelsea need to invest in a different profile of striker in the summer.

The 23-year-old had as many as five shots in the match, with all five of those shots being off-target, as well as hitting the post from a tight angle at point-blank range. Jackson only managed 20 touches in the game, completing just eight of his 11 passes and losing seven of his 11 duels – ground and aerial.

Chelsea had 19 shots from inside the box, had 55 touches inside the box and put 46 crosses into the penalty area against Ipswich, but Jackson failed to make an impact with all of that action.

This proves Boehly and Clearlake will need to spend big this summer, adding a more box-dominant centre-forward to this squad to fight it out alongside Jackson for the striker position.

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ByKelan Sarson Apr 13, 2025

When you’ve had it as good as New Zealand have had it for so long, letting go is hard. But things change, and the world moves on

Andrew Fidel Fernando30-Sep-2024Letting go is hard, especially when what you are letting go of is the best you’ve ever had.Defeats like Sunday’s just didn’t happen to New Zealand’s men’s Test team over the past 10 years. Since 2014, there have been two innings losses, both significantly less-heavy than this Galle loss. The first was against Australia in Brendon McCullum’s farewell series in 2016, which ok, qualifies as a horror-Test. (One of the great regrets of the great New Zealand years, is that they never got a Test series win over the opposition they love to beat most). But the other innings loss was against Pakistan in Dubai in a 2018 series New Zealand ended up winning 2-1.Related

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And yet, as if checking off a bingo card of Test misery, New Zealand have in their last match managed to:

India play ODIs for the first since Mithali Raj’s retirement, and there might be some changes in the way they apporoach the format now

S Sudarshanan30-Jun-2022Related

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Where will Harmanpreet bat?
Harmanpreet Kaur has taken over the ODI captaincy. But where will she bat?When Raj occupied the No. 4 spot, Harmanpreet followed her. Only twice in the last two years has she batted at No. 4 in ODIs: once against South Africa at home in 2021, when she had to retire injured, and then against New Zealand earlier this year, when her 63 coupled with Raj’s unbeaten 54 helped India score their only win in the five-match ODI series.Overall, Harmanpreet has batted at No. 5 on 45 occasions, and averages 30.97 with a strike rate of 71.50. However, she has batted 48 times at No. 4, too, where she has 1618 runs at an average of 40.45 and a strike rate of 70.22. Notably, her monumental 171 not out against Australia in 2017 had also come from No. 4.With Harmanpreet now the senior-most batter in the team, expect her to bat at No. 4 and try to get her eye in before unleashing the big shots.Yastika Bhatia hit 225 runs at 75 and a strike rate just under 100 in the last domestic 50-over competition•Getty ImagesWho will occupy the other middle-order spots?
Jemimah Rodrigues wasn’t included in India’s ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour despite a spot going vacant following Raj’s retirement.In her absence, India have options in Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol, who can also chip in with some overs of legspin, and S Meghana, the reserve opener in the World Cup squad. There is also Deepti Sharma, but more on her later.Meghana finished as the leading run-scorer with 388 runs in the last domestic one-day competition, with her side Railways crowned champions. Also, an impressive strike rate in excess of 100 helped her get a national call-up ahead of the World Cup earlier this year.However, though she is used to opening for Railways, the presence of incumbents Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma forces her to bat either at No. 3 or in the middle order. In the T20Is against Sri Lanka, India used Meghana at No. 3, which suggests that that could be her role in ODIs too.But, what about Bhatia? She hit 225 runs at an average of 75 and a strike rate of a shade under 100 in the same domestic competition as Meghana while batting at No. 3. Nine of her 13 ODI innings have also come in that position.So it could become a three-way jostle for two middle-order spots, considering Mandhana and Verma are at the top, Harmanpreet is likely at No. 4, and Deepti and Richa Ghosh, the first-choice wicketkeeper, are all part of the top seven.Deepti Sharma’s bowling numbers have fallen since 2020•ICC via Getty ImagesWhat will Deepti’s role be?
Perhaps no other batter in the squad has been moved up and down the order as much as Deepti. She has batted at all positions from No. 3 to No. 9 in the last two years. In fact, she is not a stranger to opening the batting either, having played 13 times in that role in ODIs, including when she hit a career-best 188 against Ireland in 2017.After Raj’s retirement, there are three different roles India might have in mind for Deepti: an accumulator at the top, a finisher, and a lower-middle order bat who can bowl.Her bowling effectiveness is on the wane, though, with a recent rise in economy rate and average. Deepti got 64 wickets at an average of 27.81 and an economy rate of 3.84 from her debut in 2014 until the end of 2019; but since 2020, her 17 wickets have come at an average of close to 47, and her economy rate has shot up to 5.32.That she has kept her place in the side despite the emergence of Sneh Rana is mainly down to her ability to bowl at all stages of the match coupled with the fact that she is a utility player. But in the absence of Rana, who is not in Sri Lanka, how Deepti shapes up could decide how India fare in the series.Poonam Yadav is one of the three spinners in India’s squad in Sri Lanka•Getty ImagesMake or break for Poonam?
Poonam Yadav’s inability to pick up wickets consistently or contain the runs in the last two years have hurt India. Her loop and dip have had batters in a tangle in the past. However, with the batters now figuring her out and using the back foot to counter her, Poonam’s bowling average and strike rate have taken a battering since 2021.That led to her being dropped from the XI in favour of newcomer Prathyusha Challuru at home against South Africa last year. Poonam is not the first-choice in T20Is as well, with India preferring Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Radha Yadav over her.Without Ekta Bisht, Poonam is one of the three spinners – including Deepti – in the squad, with the ODIs against Sri Lanka potentially deciding her future in the team.The focus this season will increasingly be on T20Is given the Commonwealth Games and the T20 World Cup early next year, and solid performances by the new players, even in the ODIs, could give the Indian management a happy headache.

It’s been a hard, injury-studded slog to the top for South Africa’s brightest pace-bowling hope, and now he’s looking to turn up the heat

Firdose Moonda22-Apr-2020Pace is pace, .While the modern bowler is interested in developing a slower ball or learning the art of reverse swing, for Anrich Nortje, speed is key to his craft.”Pace, especially for me, is crucial,” Nortje says from his family farm in the Eastern Cape during South Africa’s Covid-19 lockdown. “When you don’t have the pace, you have to focus so much on skill because it’s so difficult to teach someone pace at a later stage in their career.”So pace was always Nortje’s baseline and the rest, like control and consistency, came later.By the time he began to focus on technique, he had been bowling for several years, had played for age-group provincial sides, and had had a smorgasbord of injuries. He was 17 when he broke his collarbone and came to the realisation that “my body wasn’t really built for rugby”. At 1.88 metres tall and with a wiry frame, Nortje had more fast-twitch fibre than big muscle, which steered him towards bowling.He made his first-class debut in 2013, in Namibia, where he opened the bowling and took a wicket in his second over. He was 19, “quite shy and reserved”, according to his team-mate Jon-Jon Smuts, “but he had white-line fever”. He was also very proud of his Afrikaans background, a quality that was immediately evident. “I think the most English music he listened to was Jack Parow,” Smuts said.ALSO READ: Close your eyes to reality, and imagine this South Africa dream teamAfrikaans rapper Parow makes what he calls “dangerous” music that stings with satire, while wearing a leopard-print peak cap with a ridiculously long visor, a 70s ‘tache and a smirk. What might someone like that have in common with Nortje? “It’s a never-say-die, never-stop-fighting attitude,” Nortje says, when asked what underpins Afrikaans culture.A self-styled “proper Dutchman”, Nortje, like Parow, wants to be someone who stands out. “When times are tough, I want to put my hand up and try and make a change,” he said. “I want to be the player that stands up when it’s 40 degrees and it’s flat. That’s how I see it.’In his first full season as an international, Nortje achieved exactly that. During one of the tougher periods in South African cricket, in which they won only one of five home series, he was one of the bright spots. Nortje was South Africa’s highest wicket-taker of the 2019-20 summer, and has one of the best strike rates among ODI bowlers since January 2019. To the international cricket community, he surged onto the scene overnight, but his bowling was a product many years in the making.