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Sam Billings has led Kent to promotion but Glamorgan are now consigned to the wooden spoon

ECB Reporters Network20-Sep-2018
ScorecardKent took a giant leap toward a return to the top tier of the Specsavers County Championship by wrapping up an innings and 172-run win over Glamorgan with five sessions to spare in Canterbury. And by the time they had got changed the celebrations could begin as Sussex, their only challengers, failed to gain maximum batting points at Hove.Kent’s 10th win of the campaign – their first with maximum points – was Glamorgan’s 10th defeat and although Kent will have to wait on events at Hove in the game between Sussex and Warwickshire to know their promotion status, the reverse ensures that the Welsh county will collect this season’s wooden spoon.Glamorgan lost their last six wickets inside 75 minutes of the third day as Darren Stevens, so often their nemesis, took 5 for 24 to secure the 21st five-wicket return of his career.Matt Henry, the undoubted signing of the season in Division Two, chipped in with another four and eight in the match as Kent banked 24 points to Glamorgan’s three.

“Division One has always been my ambition” – Billings

Sam Billings, Kent captain: “I’ve never played first division Championship cricket and it’s always been my ambition, so I’m tremendously proud that this team has taken Kent back to the level of English cricket that this great club feels it belongs.”
Robert Croft, Glamorgan coach: “It’s a challenging time for everybody at Glamorgan cricket and there’s a lot of work still to do. There are young players here we are giving opportunities to and they’re fully aware they’ve got to meet us half way by giving us performances. We expect them to show signs of improvement.”

Glamorgan suffered their first loss to the ninth ball of the morning and the third of the day from Kent’s ageless all-rounder Darren Stevens. A good length away-swinger that cut away further off the pitch, drew Jeremy Lawlor into an injudicious defensive push outside off stump that the right-hander feathered through to keeper Sam Billings.Ten balls and six runs later, Chris Cooke departed in near identical fashion by meddling with a Stevens leg-cutter that brushed the outside edge to give Billings another catch.Matt Henry then added to his tally as the championship’s leading wicket-taker with a full-length leg cutter that squared up the right-hander’s defence to pluck out his off stump and make it 45 for seven.Still within the opening hour, Ruaidhri Smith nudged outside off to be superbly caught by Billings, diving low to his right in front of first slip off Henry, who then took his 74th victim of a prolific summer by ripping out Timm van der Gugten’s off pole.It was left to Stevens to polish the job off by 11.45am when last man Michael Hogan, the Glamorgan captain, sliced an attempted cover drive to be athletically caught at extra cover by Joe Denly, leaving the tenacious Jack Murphy unbeaten on 22.Stevens finished with five and Henry four as Kent returned to the Championship top flight after eight seasons in Division Two.

Mumbai captain lauded his team’s consistency throughout the tournament and credited their relationship on and off the field as the main reason for success

Saurabh Somani20-Oct-2018Before the tournament final on Saturday, Siddhesh Lad had batted only five times in the Vijay Hazare Trophy this face, facing 124 balls and staying unbeaten thrice. Aditya Tare had batted only four times, staying not out twice and facing a total of 48 balls.This is not surprising because Mumbai’s top order featured Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane at various times, and even Rohit Sharma for a couple of matches. They either finished off games quickly, leaving little work for the lower middle-order, or simply batted through. Against a Navdeep Saini-inspired Delhi in the final though, Mumbai found themselves 40 for 4 in the eighth over, with the 177-run target suddenly looking a lot more troublesome than it ever had. Tare and Lad were in the position of stage prompters who have suddenly been thrust in the starring role because the protagonists’ no-show on the big night.They responded with a 105-run partnership in 23 overs that knocked the wind out of Delhi’s defiance. Tare got 71 off 89, an incredible 58 runs coming from boundaries. Lad made 48 off 68, and looked more measured than Tare but just as reassuringly solid for Mumbai.”Amazing is the one word,” gushed Iyer after the four-wicket win. “The consistency which we have shown in the tournament has been brilliant from the first match. The lower order batsmen hardly got a chance to bat, and today when they got an opportunity, they showed what they are made of. Everybody in our team can bat and bowl. We are a perfect team, and that is why we have won.”They are batsmen who have performed previously in pressure situations,” added Iyer. “We believed in them because we knew that they would finish off the game. Ajinkya [Rahane] and I were chatting and said they would win us the game.”The feature of the Tare-Lad stand was how they counter-attacked, despite having lost important wickets. Iyer said that was the strategy that made most sense, given the attacking fields Gautam Gambhir had employed.”We (the top order) were also doing the same, but we got out,” Iyer said. “We had to play that way as they had put an attacking field. If we got bogged down, they would have been on top. You never know, we might have lost five-six wickets and the match would have been sealed (in Delhi’s favour). But our team were going at six runs per over, which was a positive sign for us. We just knew that they (Tare and Lad) had to play out this phase. Delhi did not have a fifth bowler with [Pawan] Negi having got injured as well.”Mumbai’s bowling attack has been the unheralded champion of their campaign. The batting had drawn the most eyeballs, but match after match, the bowlers stepped up too. “Our bowling has improved really well,” Iyer agreed. “Since the batting has been really strong through the league phase, it was a bit of a worry for us how our bowling unit would perform. But they lived up to expectations. We had planned how we would go up against each batsman, and they really executed plans really well. Not only against Delhi but also against other teams. I wasn’t there in a few matches, Ajinkya wasn’t there, and Dhawal [Kulkarni] was leading and we defended a good total against Punjab. From there on, we got the momentum. They (the bowlers) have been really focused and motivated since the start of the league phase, and they wanted to do something good for the team.”While most teams stress on reducing the pressure before big games, harping on the ‘treat-it-as-another-game’ byword, Mumbai chose to do the opposite.”We decided yesterday that we’ll play this match as a final and not as just another match,” Iyer said. “Right from the toss, it went with me and I gained momentum from there onwards. We were a little bit confused when we saw the wicket and couldn’t analyse how it would play. The best chance was to bowl first and everything went really well until we came on to bat.”What sets us apart is that all of us gel together really well. Even off the field, we stay together, cherish each other, play around with a little bit of pranks and fun. This is what the team is made up of.”

He ended his career after doctors couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t have a bleed in his lungs when he bowled

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Nov-2018John Hastings, the Australia fast bowler, has retired from all forms of cricket after doctors couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t have a bleed in his lungs when he bowled. A mystery condition – the first symptoms of which he had first experienced several years ago – had forced Hastings to put his career on hold last month.Hastings, who had played for the Melbourne Stars for seven BBL seasons and captained them in 2017-18, had moved to the Sydney Sixers for the upcoming season, but had to end his career with a “lot of grey area” still surrounding his “long-term health”.”There was just a lot of grey area surrounding long-term health, whether it was causing any damage, and if there was any potential to have a fatal bleed on the field,” Hastings told the . “They just really couldn’t say yes or no. And I wasn’t happy with that.”It was a pretty tough little period, the last five or six months, but I’ve come to terms with it now, and I’m pretty comfortable with where it’s all at.”I would have loved a Big Bash title. That would have been unbelievable because I think it’s an amazing competition. And we had our chances with the Stars throughout the years. [But] it wasn’t to be.”Hastings, 33, played one Test, 29 ODIs and nine T20Is for Australia. He had retired from Test and ODIs in October 2017 to become a T20 specialist. Overall, Hastings played 75 first-class matches for Victoria at home and Durham and Worcestershire in the English county circuit. In that time, he scored 11 fifties with a top score of 93 and took 239 wickets, including seven five-wicket hauls, at an average of 27.22. He played 113 List A matches for 179 wickets at an average of 27.59 and his best figures of 6 for 45 came for Australia against Sri Lanka in August 2016.In addition to playing for Victoria and the Stars on home soil, Hastings also represented Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, Durham and Worcestershire in England, Kandurata Warriors in the Sri Lanka Premier League and Quetta Gladiators in the PSL earlier this year. He played 106 T20s overall for 116 wickets and finished with an average of 24.70 and economy rate of 7.95.”I just loved to help my mates out and win games of cricket,” Hastings said. “Just being in that team environment’s something you can’t replicate in everyday life.”It’s pretty underrated how good our last 10 years were. To be a part of that, to be accepted, coming down from NSW, it’s not an easy thing for someone to fit into a pretty hostile environment I guess.”Hastings is now planning to open a cafe next year along with his wife Briannan and her cousins, in Frankston South, where they live.”That’s going to be called ‘Mr Frankie’. I’ll be in there helping out, trying to sell some coffees, and we’re just going through the process of liquor licensing,” he said. “There’s an opportunity in the market down there to provide something fresh, new and fun.”

England have announced their XI and Sri Lanka could also make a couple of changes as they seek a consolation win

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando22-Nov-2018

Big Picture

What can Sri Lanka salvage from here? They’ve lost both Tests so far. They are without their captain due to injury. Their best bowler from the previous Test is off in Brisbane, having his action assessed. Having come into the series as mild favourites (they had either won or drawn their three previous series this year), they are now gasping. A battling performance their showing at Pallekele may have been, but there is the very real possibility that they could be whitewashed on home soil by a non-Asian team – something that has not happened since the great Australia side visited in 2004.England have essentially already achieved their goals for the tour, winning each of the three series comfortably. They want to get to No. 1 in the world, so a whitewash will serve those purposes beautifully. But there are gaps to fill yet. Jonny Bairstow looks like he will be the latest No. 3, following experiments with Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes. Stuart Broad comes in for his first Test of the series, with James Anderson exiting. Incredibly, these changes mean that Ben Foakes – the best batsman of the series so far – bats as low as No. 8.Perhaps what largely remains for Sri Lanka is to gain some confidence ahead of their bumper southern hemisphere summer. The team leaves for New Zealand on December 4, and those who play all three formats may not return to the island until the final week of March. Two-Test series against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa beckon.Jack Leach, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid shared 19 of Sri Lanka’s 20 wickets•Getty Images

Form guide

Sri LankaLLWWW (completed matches, most recent first)
England WWWWL

In the spotlight

Kusal Mendis is Sri Lanka’s future. Or at least, he is supposed to be. Having played some stunning innings, Mendis has made plain his talent, but over the last 18 months there have also been some haunting dips in form. He was already dropped once from the Test team, for last year’s tour of India, before he made a strong comeback earlier this year against Bangladesh. Having not crossed fifty since the West Indies series in June, he is now firmly under the microscope again, and desperately needs runs in Colombo.For so long, Jonny Bairstow seemed an almost indispensable member of England’s batting order, but Foakes’ rocket-powered arrival in this series has put substantial pressure on Bairstow. As a wicketkeeper, Foakes appears to clearly be the better option, having done an outstanding job to the spinners through the series. In order to remind the selectors of his value, Bairstow must now make the trek up to No. 3 and produce runs as a specialist batsman. It has long been argued that relieving him of the gloves may free him up as a batsman, but that remains to be seen.

Team news

Danushka Gunathilaka has been drafted into the squad in place of Dinesh Chandimal, and may push the under-performing Kaushal Silva out of the second opening spot. Left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan is likeliest to come in for Akila Dananjaya, who is in Australia for his biomechanics test.Sri Lanka: (possible) 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Danushka Gunathilaka , 3 Dhananjaya de Silva, 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Roshen Silva, 7 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 8 Dilruwan Perera, 9 Suranga Lakmal (capt), 10 Lakshan Sandakan, 11 Malinda PushpakumaraFor England, Broad and Bairstow come in for Anderson and the injured Sam Curran.England: (possible) 1 Rory Burns, 2 Keaton Jennings, 3 Jonny Bairstow, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ben Stokes 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Ben Foakes (wk), 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 Jack Leach

Pitch and conditions

Another turning pitch has been prepared – one just like the one at Pallekele, said Sri Lanka captain Suranga Lakmal.

Stats and trivia

• England have not whitewashed an opposition away from home, in series three games or longer, since 1963.

• Broad presently sits at eighth equal – alongside Rangana Herath – on the Test wicket-takers’ list with 433 dismissals. He needs two more to get past Kapil Dev and move to seventh.
• Mendis has not made fifty in his ten most-recent innings. In that stretch, he has got past 15 on seven occasions.
  

  Quotes

  “We can’t be making spinning pitches and keep letting their tail get runs. We have a plan to stop them. We gave the spinners a lot of overs at the tail in the previous games because the pitch suited them. But as a seam bowler, maybe there will be a change in this match.”
  “There’s only been two other sides who have won 3-0 out here in Test cricket so it would be a brilliant achievement which would fill us with a huge amount of confidence going into the rest of the winter.”

Along with sister Shaiza, Sharmeen had gone about getting women’s cricket in Pakistan officially recognised in the mid ’90s

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2018Sharmeen Khan, one of two sisters all but responsible for the birth of the modern women’s game in Pakistan, has died. Reports suggest that Sharmeen, 46, died of pneumonia.Sharmeen played two Tests – Pakistan’s women’s team has only ever played three – and 26 ODIs between 1997 and 2002, opening the bowling with her right-arm pace and batting in the lower-middle order. Sharmeen, along with her elder sister Shaiza, played in Pakistan women’s first ODI, in Christchurch in 1997.But far more than her playing record, Sharmeen’s role as a fiery advocate of the women’s game in Pakistan in the mid-90s is her legacy. A year before that first ODI the two sisters had helped secure ICC membership for Pakistan women all on their own. It had not been easy, the sisters fighting off various conservative forces within the country, as well as administrative indifference. Those years were marked by various legal battles involving the control of the women’s game – in Pakistan women’s cricket dates back to the 1970s.Such was their influence, the sisters had Pakistan’s earliest tours in that era bankrolled by their father’s business – training camps would be conducted by Sharmeen and Shaiza often at their sprawling residence in Karachi. The sisters set up the Pakistan Women’s Cricket Control Association (PWCCA). This body was recognised by various PCB chiefs and was aligned with the International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) in the days before the women’s game came under the administration of the ICC.Once that did happen, and the women’s game in Pakistan came under PCB control, Shaiza and Sharmeen were edged out of the scene, though not without a legal fight.Shaiza was the more dominant presence, much more vocal with her opinions and also the more gifted player of the two. But both sisters were recognised internationally – among their proudest achievements were representing the MCC when the club opened membership to women for the first time in 1999. And both Shaiza and Sharmeen, along with Kiran Baluch, were given lifetime MCC membership in 2003, in recognition of their pioneering roles in Pakistan.

The left-arm spinner picked up his maiden ten-wicket match-haul as Saurashtra were bowled out for 127, losing by 78 runs

The Report by Saurabh Somani07-Feb-2019Vishwaraj Jadeja was frozen, in despair perhaps, or disbelief even. He had gone down to sweep Aditya Sarwate but the ball was too full and dipped on him – too much to make contact with the bat. Just in line with the stumps, and straight enough to make the umpire’s finger go up. The chaps at Madame Tussaud’s would have taken him as he was, no questions asked.Eventually, Vishwaraj dragged – and never has a verb been more apt – himself across the ground. At the boundary where he kicked the turf in frustration in the first sign of animation he had shown, he had to pass by the trophy that Saurashtra and Vidarbha fought so splendidly for. He didn’t give it even a look, an image that summed up how the day had gone for both teams.Vishwaraj had made 52, but with his departure went Saurashtra’s last smouldering hopes of a miraculous win in the Ranji Trophy. His fall meant Sarwate had his first ever ten-wicket haul in a match, and he had chosen the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 final for his best show.Saurashtra fought till the end, coming back at several points in the match when Vidarbha had seemed to run away with it, but eventually couldn’t stop Vidarbha from becoming only the sixth team in history to successfully defend a Ranji Trophy title.Fittingly, the catch that signalled victory went to Sarwate as Saurashtra were bowled out for 127, losing by 78 runs. Sarwate had taken 11 for 157 in the match, and contributed 49 in the second innings. His season brought 354 runs at 29.50 and 55 wickets at 19.67, but it was a complete team effort from Vidarbha.For Saurashtra, it was a third heartbreak in the final in the last seven seasons, though the loss was the closest it has been. They had lost to Mumbai in Mumbai in 2012-13 and then in Pune in 2015-16.The day began with Saurashtra 58 for 5, and needing yet another stirring effort from the tail to get to their target of 206. Vishwaraj was the only top-order batsman left, but he found good support from Kamlesh Makvana, and then Dharmendrasinh Jadeja. It was not enough to induce doubts in Vidarbha, but both teams would have had memories of their first innings fresh – when the last three wickets added more than a 100 runs for each side.Before an hour into the day’s play though, Sarwate struck. Makvana stretched forward and thought he had his stumps covered, expecting the ball to break away. Instead, it held its line and went on straight, clipping the bails. In the next over, Akshay Wakhare rapped Prerak Mankad on the pads with the batsman not offering a shot.Vishwaraj and Dharmendrasinh resisted for a while, raising distant hopes of a twin-Jadeja inspired comeback even though Ravindra was absent – but Sarwate ended that dream.Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya had done a splendid job for Saurashtra with the bat in the first innings, but they were walking into a very different situation now. The pitch was two days older, and the ball hadn’t yet gone soft, while Vidarbha had the scent of victory.Shortly before lunch, Dharmendrasinh swept Wakhare in the air, and Sarwate completed the catch at midwicket to signal that the title was Vidarbha’s.

ECB announces “overwhelming support” for new competition, with only Surrey understood to have voted against

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2019The ECB has won support from 17 of the 18 first-class counties for its new competition, The Hundred, which is due to be launched next year. The counties were asked to formally approve the playing conditions endorsed by the ECB in November, with only Surrey understood to have voted against.The new format will see 100-ball innings for each team, with a change of ends every 10 balls and bowlers allowed to deliver five or 10 consecutively out of a maximum of 20. The ECB has also confirmed the inclusion of strategic timeouts of up to two-and-a-half minutes for the bowling side, and a 25-ball Powerplay at the start of each innings.The ECB’s chief executive, Tom Harrison, last month spoke about the importance of the new competition in helping to grow a new audience for English cricket.”This is a significant step, with overwhelming support for The Hundred,” Harrison said on Thursday. “Over the last three years we have worked closely with the whole game to create an important opportunity for the whole game.”This new competition has already helped to secure vital new partnerships and substantial broadcast revenues and it will help us to meet the ambitions of our game-wide strategy for 2020-24 – “Inspiring Generations”. The Hundred will help cricket to reach more people.”We remain totally committed to the existing, popular forms of cricket and will be committing significant funds and focus to all levels of the game, protecting and nurturing the core whilst reaching out to a wider audience.”The ECB will now move on to confirming the details of the eight new, city-based teams for The Hundred, followed by a planned player draft in the autumn. “You will now see an acceleration in the progress of The Hundred and a series of significant building blocks over the coming months,” said Sanjay Patel, the competition’s managing director.

David Richardson will continue till July as originally planned, with his focus mainly on the smooth conduct of the 50-over World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Apr-2019Manu Sawhney has assumed formal charge as ICC chief executive officer with “immediate effect”, three months before he was meant to start the job.In January, the ICC Board approved Sawhney’s appointment as the next ICC CEO to replace the incumbent, Dave Richardson, whose seven-year tenure comes ends with the World Cup. Sawhney was meant to work till July in tandem with Richardson, but the ICC has now said that with the transitioning having gone smoothly, he was ready to start the job from Monday.Sawhney has attended various ICC discussions already and sat during the Chief Executives’ Committee and Board meetings in February. It is understood that taking early charge would allow Sawhney to set the ball rolling on newer projects while allowing Richardson to focus on the World Cup.One of the key and significant project that Sawhney has already started work on is the broadcast rights cycle after the 2023 World Cup. Currently Star India holds the rights for ICC’s global events till then.In a media release, the ICC said Sawhney had been working “alongside” Richardson for the past six weeks “to ensure a smooth transition for the organization”.Sawhney said he could not wait to start the new job, while outlining some of the key areas he would be focusing on: “I am excited by the opportunities ahead and I am looking forward to working in partnership with our Members, partners and staff to ambitiously accelerate the global growth of the game. Technology, engagement, women’s cricket and driving greater value are key focus areas for us as we consider how we can innovate to transform the sport’s long-term future and create a vibrant and sustainable sport globally.”India-born Sawhney, the unanimous choice of the nominations committee, came to prominence during a 17-year-long career at ESPN-Star Sports (ESS), where he rose to become managing director. It was in his time with the company that ESS sealed the broadcasting deal for global ICC events in the 2007-15 cycle. Sawhney then moved to Singapore Sports Hub (SSH), where he worked as CEO, and also sits on the audit committee of Manchester United Sports Ltd.

Iqbal Imam takes charge from upcoming series against South Africa, replacing Andy Richards

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Apr-2019The Pakistan women’s team will have a new batting coach for their upcoming ICC Championship fixture against South Africa. Former Pakistan first-class cricketer and coach Iqbal Imam has put in charge of the batsmen, replacing Andy Richards.A statement from the PCB said Imam’s appointment had been made “in light of the PCB’s vision and strategy to invest further into women’s cricket and to help the women batters improve on their overall performance and become one of top performing sides in the world”.Imam takes charge of the batting with a stellar coaching resume behind him. He is currently the head coach of the Karachi region, and was one of Sharjeel Khan’s coaches when he made his international debut, with both hailing from Hyderabad. He had also served as the assistant coach of the Pakistan A team, the Under-19 team and the women’s U-17 team.In a 15-year domestic career, Imam played 262 first-class and List-A games, scoring 8,439 runs and taking 219 wickets with his right-arm offbreaks. He will join the team’s training camp in Karachi, which begins on 9 April under head coach Mark Coles. They depart for South Africa on 29 April for three ICC Women’s Championship ODIs on May 6, 9 and 12, which will be followed by five T20Is on May 15, 18, 19, 22 and 23.PCB managing director Wasim Khan said: “Iqbal is a hardworking and committed batting coach who fits perfectly in the PCB’s vision for women’s cricket, which is to provide them with skilled individuals who will add significant value to both their development and performances.”Iqbal’s appointment is also testament to the PCB’s commitment to reward and promote all the top performers, while also creating merit-based coaching opportunities for talented Pakistani coaches.”The tour to South Africa is an important one as our team will like to build on their success against the Windies and move up the points table. In addition to this, this challenging tour also provides a chance for the Pakistan girls to prepare for next year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020.”

Aguilleira led West Indies from 2009 to 2015, including in the final of the Women’s World Cup 2013

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Apr-2019Former West Indies women captain Merissa Aguilleira has retired from international cricket. Aguilleira, 33, was one of the senior-most players in the West Indies team, having played 112 ODIs and 95 T20Is in an international career that started in 2008.Aguilleira, a wicketkeeper-batsman, had been captain from 2009 to 2015, including in the final of the 2013 World Cup and the semi-finals of the World T20 in 2010, 2012 and 2014. She was also part of the West Indies team that won the World T20 in 2016 at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.As a wicketkeeper, Aguilleira was involved in 104 dismissals in ODIs, the most for West Indies and fifth overall, and 72 in T20Is. She scored six half-centuries in ODIs in a total of 1752 runs at an average of 20.61. In T20Is, she scored 768 runs at an average of 14.49 with a best of 39 not out.”I wish to thank all members of the team with which I worked and that worked with me to secure success in our endeavors to bring pleasure, pride, happiness and inspiration to West Indian people everywhere,” Aguilleira said in a Cricket West Indies statement. “It is an absolute honor to have been of service to West Indies cricket. My continued goal is to assist CWI to build and develop women’s cricket and help others like me to achieve their dreams.”Aguilleira’s last international series was the T20I tour of Pakistan in February, in which she also led the side in regular captain Stafanie Taylor’s absence. Her last ODI was in September last year against South Africa, a series in which she brought off her 100th ODI dismissal. Aguilleira, however, had been left out of the squad for the upcoming tour of Ireland and England in May-June.”From my own experience this cannot be the easiest of times for Merissa,” CWI’s director of cricket Jimmy Adams said. “However, her dignity and candor in communicating this decision has been exceptional. The highest of accolades are due to her for a career spanning more than 10 years which included over 100 ODIs. Far exceeding the statistics, Merissa has been the epitome of professionalism throughout her career whilst consistently upholding the highest possible standards on and off the field.”Personally I am very grateful to Merissa for all her help and assistance she gave me since I became Director of Cricket, and I have no doubt that she will continue to add value to the game in the region in the future. I wish her all the very best as she begins a new chapter in her life.”