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Mark Robinson, the World Cup-winning former coach of England Women, looks set to be appointed as Warwickshire’s new head coach.He will, if confirmed, replace Jim Troughton who was sacked at the end of a 2020 season which saw the club finish without a victory in the Bob Willis Trophy and fail to reach the quarter-final stages of the T20 Blast.Robinson, who led England to the 2017 Women’s World Cup, has previously coached Sussex, where he enjoyed great success, winning back-to-back County Championships in 2006 and 2007, the T20 competition in 2009, and List A titles in 2006 (Friends Provident Trophy), 2008 and 2009 (Pro 40 League).While Warwickshire had expressed a hope of completing the appointment before Christmas, ESPNcricinfo understands the process was delayed when another coach on the shortlist suffered some bad news about a health issue in their family.Robinson’s arrival marks something of a change of approach at Edgbaston. Their last few appointments – dating back to the sacking of Mark Greatbatch in 2007 – have all been former Warwickshire players, with Ashley Giles, Dougie Brown and Troughton having periods at the helm. Robinson offers fresh perspective and inherits a support staff that includes three former Warwickshire players in Graeme Welch (bowling), Tony Frost (batting) and Ian Westwood (second XI).Related

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Further changes are not anticipated, with Robinson joining a relatively new management team which includes chief executive Stuart Cain, who started in July 2020, and director of sport Paul Farbrace, who joined ahead of the 2019 season.As well as winning multiple trophies, Robinson has shown an astute eye for new signings, bringing in Jofra Archer and Ollie Robinson – no relation – during his time at Sussex. He also demonstrated the courage to make tough decisions, such as moving on from Charlotte Edwards during his time as England Women’s coach, and respect for his sensitive handling of the mental health issues suffered by Michael Yardy and Sarah Taylor. Promoted, relegated; sacked and lauded: he has, pretty much, seen it all.But this role offers a significant fresh start for him. He was left licking his wounds after being sacked by the ECB in August 2019 after England were overwhelmed in the Ashes by a vastly superior Australia side. It was just two years after the World Cup triumph and less than a year since leading them to the final of the 2018 World T20. He has not held a high-profile role since, though he was recently connected with the position of Bangladesh Women’s head coach.Robinson, now aged 54, previously enjoyed a long playing career as a seam bowler with Northants, Yorkshire and Sussex. He is likely to be joining a club in something of a transition. The likes of Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Jeetan Patel and Tim Ambrose have all left the club over the last couple of years with Warwickshire believing they have a talented core of young players with their careers in front of them.In Robinson they will find a quietly spoken, studious coach with a gentle manner and commitment to the welfare of his squad on and off the pitch. But he’ll also have high expectations. It looks a decent combination.

Wasim Jaffer, the former India opening batsman and domestic giant, has resigned as Uttarakhand’s head coach citing “interference in team selection” days before they were to compete in the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament, starting February 20.”I feel really sad for the players as I genuinely think that they have lots of potential and can learn so much from me but are denied this opportunity because of so much interference and bias of selectors and secretary in the selection matters for non-deserving players,” Jaffer wrote in an e-mail to the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU).The 42-year-old Jaffer further wrote, “If the honorary secretary of CAU would want to inculcate such kind of work environment while not letting me take certain decisions pertaining to the team’s welfare and performance… then I don’t think there’s any valid reason for me to continue as head coach of men’s senior team of CAU.”Mahim Verma, the CAU secretary, rejected Jaffer’s allegations, countering that the coach had been given everything he had asked for since being appointed as the state team’s coach last June. “We gave him whatever he asked for, had a pre-season camp for a month, let him choose his outstation players, trainer and bowling coach, but his interference in selection matters was getting too much,” Verma told PTI.Uttarakhand had a poor run in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, winning just one game and losing four in the group stage, and that didn’t go down well with the association either.”After the result in Mushtaq Ali did not meet our expectations, the selectors wanted to try out a few other players but he kept insisting on picking his own team, which is not right as selectors are there, too, to do their job,” Verma said.Jaffer has become the third Uttarakhand coach to resign after a short stint in recent years – KP Bhaskar in 2019 and Gursharan Singh in 2020 had stepped down before Jaffer took charge.

Bangladesh 40 for 2 (Alzarri 1-2, Seales 1-15) trail West Indies 450 for 9 (Greaves 115, Louis 97, Athanaze 90, Roach 47, Hasan 3-87) by 410 runsA maiden Test century for Justin Greaves headlined a dominant day for West Indies against Bangladesh on day two of the Antigua Test. After his 115 helped West Indies post 450 for 9, West Indies bookended the day with two Bangladesh wickets, leaving the visitors 410 behind with eight wickets in hand.It was a fine recovery after slipping to 261 for 7 despite an overnight score of 250 for 5. Greaves shared a 140-run eighth wicket stand with Kemar Roach, who batted for more than four hours for 47, his highest Test score in his 15-year career.Greaves’ unbeaten 115 justified his Super50 form, where he struck three consecutive centuries earlier this month. He made a patient effort, striking just four boundaries in his 206-ball stay. It was the perfect follow-up to the nineties that Alick Athanaze and Mikyle Louis had scored on day one to lay the foundation.Bangladesh continued to give away strong positions with the ball, toiling for 144.1 overs, but unable to bowl out the home side. Hasan Mahmud took three wickets, all of them on the second day. Taskin Ahmed toiled hard and even found the edge of Greaves’ bat once but nobody appealed. The spinners, stand-in captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam, shared three wickets from their combined 73.1 overs.West Indies declared with Bangladesh needing to bat out a maximum time of an hour and 45 minutes. But there was no respite for them against the four-man West Indian pace attack. Zakir Hasan fell for 15 after he under-edged a Jayden Seales delivery onto his stumps. The left-hander struck three fours in his short stay, all off Seales, but was slightly unlucky with the ball shaving the leg-stump. Mahmudul Hasan Joy edged Alzarri Joseph for 5, shortly after he was dropped on the same score.It was a long way from the start of the day for the visitors, having started the day in the best possible way by taking two early wickets.Mahmud removed Joshua Da Silva with the fifth ball of the morning session, trapped lbw with a delivery that darted into his front pad. This was Mahmud’s first wicket in the game despite bowling well on the first day. It was also his 24th wicket this year, making him the highest wicket-taker in a calendar year among Bangladesh’s pace bowlers.File photo: Hasan Mahmud had helped Bangladesh start the morning well•BCCI

That number became 25 when Alzarri fell in Mahmud’s next over. Zakir took a superb two-handed catch at gully, reminiscent of how he opened the Pakistan tour with Abdullah Shafique’s catch at gully in August. If Bangladesh sensed they had their opening to bowl out West Indies for under 300 runs, that was blunted by Roach.He was the right type of foil for Greaves, who was willing to grind out the Bangladesh attack. Greaves handed the strike to Roach from time to time, as the pair didn’t allow any more wickets in the first session. There were only two boundaries in those 26 overs too, but that hardly bothered the home side who needed a recovery.Greaves started the second session with his third boundary when he pulled Taskin through midwicket. He, however, survived a caught-behind chance on 77 with neither Taskin nor wicketkeeper Jaker Ali (who was deputizing for Litton Das after the first session) hearing a faint nick. it was only a replay on the big screen that showed what Bangladesh missed out on.Shortly afterwards, a Roach single brought up the team’s maiden century partnership for the eighth wicket against Bangladesh. It was followed by a rain break of seven minutes, after which Roach slammed Mehidy over his head for his first boundary. Mahmud finally removed Roach with a fine angling delivery, clipping the top of his middle-stump. Their 140-run stand was West Indies’ third-highest for the eighth wicket.Greaves soon reached his century with his fourth boundary shot, driving Taijul through the covers. It was potentially his best shot of the innings and the landmark was only his second first-class ton.West Indies declared in the 145th over of their innings, after their tail-enders Seales and Shamar Joseph struck some meaty blows. That left enough time for the bowlers to have a crack, which they successfully did.

New Zealand laid down an impressive marker on their return to ODI cricket for the first time in a year with a thumping victory over a disappointing Bangladesh. Trent Boult top and tailed the wicket-taking as the visitors’ batting was overwhelmed on a surface offering bounce then Martin Guptill briefly peppered the grass banks as the target was hunted down with more than 28 overs overs to spare.Only Madmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim passed 20 for Bangladesh as the line-up was challenged by the University Oval surface which was exploited perfectly by New Zealand after they bowled first. In a sign of the hold they had with the ball, there were only eight boundaries (along with three sixes) as they bundled the opposition out with eight overs remaining when Boult claimed the last two wickets in three balls. Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell Santner claimed a tidy brace each.Guptill picked up his T20 form from the series against Australia, sending seven of his 19 deliveries to the boundary, including four for six, in an opening stand of 54 in 5.3 overs. His fun was ended when he had a huge swing at Taskin Ahmed, who bowled with good pace, and edged behind although Guptill wasn’t sure and used up a review.With no scoreboard pressure Henry Nicholls and Devon Conway, the latter of three New Zealand debutants, went along at a leisurely pace. Conway departed with a handful of runs needed, picking out deep square leg, but it allowed fellow debutant Will Young a brief stay at the crease and his consecutive boundaries wrapped up victory, leaving Nicholls one short of his fifty.This was New Zealand’s first ODI since their aborted tour of Australia last March and just their fourth since the 2019 World Cup final. For the first time since 2012 they handed out three new caps in the same game with allrounder Daryl Mitchell joining Conway and Young. Mitchell wasn’t needed with bat or ball and his one chance to get on the scoreboard was spurned when he was distracted by Tom Latham diving across him as Matt Henry found the edge of Liton Das in the sixth over. It was New Zealand’s only error of the innings.The opening scoring shot of the game was a six as Tamim Iqbal upper cut Boult over backward point, but the contest was soon won by the left-armer with a classic set-up: after twice beating Iqbal with late away swing he made one hold its line which thundered into Iqbal’s pads to earn the lbw. Three balls later and Boult had his second when Soumya Sarkar played a poor stroke against a shorter delivery, popping a catch into the off side.Das shaped up well in challenging conditions as he tried to commit either fully forward or fully back, but his hard work was undone when he got a leading edge to mid-on in Neesham’s opening over.The scoring rate rarely got above three an over against a relentless New Zealand attack. Kyle Jamieson, who struggled in the T20I series against Australia, went wicketless but at times Bangladesh could barely lay a bat on him as he gained troublesome bounce from a reasonably full length.Rahim played solidly to try and give his team some chance of building a foundation but became Neesham’s second wicket when he was cramped for room playing a cut and found gully. That was the first of three wickets to fall for nine runs in six overs.Bangladesh’s woes were compounded when Mohammad Mithun was run out backing up after a firm straight drive from Mahmudullah flicked the finger of Neesham into the non-striker’s stumps. Mehidy Hasan then moved too far across his crease against Santner and had his leg stump tickled.Debutant Mahedi Hasan marked the occasion when his first scoring stroke in ODIs was a huge 94-metre six over long-off but an attempt to repeat it four overs later offered a catch to mid-on leaving Bangladesh seven down with 18 overs remaining.Madmudullah and Ahmed formed a 10-over stand although large parts of it was purely survival before Madmudullah, attempting to inject some impetus, picked out midwicket where Santner timed his leap perfectly. Boult did the rest.

Dimuth Karunaratne’s maiden double-century and an unbeaten 154 by Dhananjaya de Silva enabled Sri Lanka to come closer to Bangladesh first-innings tally of 541 for 7. The wicketless day finished 53 minutes before the scheduled end, hastened by the second of two bad light-induced stoppages, the first one having lasted 33 minutes. During the 76 overs completed in the fourth day, Karunaratne and de Silva batted gleefully against a bowling attack that could do little on a regressive pitch.Sri Lankan captain Karunaratne spent in the field all of the 24 hours of play that have been possible across the first four days. He fielded for 13 hours of those and then opened the batting for Sri Lanka, so far lasting 11 hours and three minutes.Karunaratne reached his maiden double-hundred after the first stoppage, edging Taskin Ahmed for a four, his feat also the first double-century in Pallekele and the first double-hundred by a Sri Lankan batter at home in seven years. His previous highest score was 196 against Pakistan in Dubai in 2017. Throughout his innings, he pierced the covers at will, but got 12 of his 25 fours through the on-side. He also ran well between the wickets, picking up plenty of twos and threes in humid conditions.By the end of the fourth day, Karunaratne and de Silva had added 322 runs, the highest for the fourth wicket in Sri Lanka, beating the 258 between Michael Hussey and Shaun Marsh from 2011. They added 283 runs at 3.72 per over, with de Silva being the aggressor with his 20 fours in his 278-ball stay.He punished anything pitched wide outside the off stump, carting five fours through point, and plundered plenty of runs by just gliding the ball behind the slips or past fine-leg. de Silva also brought out the straight hits twice.Karunaratne and de Silva added 102 in 31 overs in the first session, during which Karunaratne reached 100 runs off 247 balls. He took a bit of time in the nineties, spending 30 balls, but once he had reached the three-figure mark, he took on the Bangladesh bowlers more comfortably.It allowed de Silva to bat more attackingly, as he built a relatively more proactive innings around Karunaratne’s steadiness. The pair hardly gave any chances although Liton Das failed to grab a thick edge off Karunaratne, when he was on 166, off Taijul Islam. Bangladesh didn’t have any further chances on the day. They didn’t bowl well in pairs, nor could any one bowler come up with a fine spell by himself. Captain Mominul Haque relied mostly on his spinners, who couldn’t replicate the chances they created on the third day.Bangladesh’s bowlers found it hard in the first session, but they disintegrated mostly in the 10 overs after the lunch break. Karunaratne and de Silva smashed 61 runs in that period, picking up eight fours.

Nick Hockley has been named the new permanent chief executive of Cricket Australia, having held the role in an interim capacity for almost a year.Hockley stepped into the job last June following the sacking of Kevin Roberts during the fallout to CA’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.”As Australia’s national sport, cricket is at the heart of our national and cultural identity. I am under no illusion about the importance of cricket to the lives of so many Australians, nor the magnitude and responsibility of this role,” Hockley said. “Leading Cricket Australia is the greatest privilege of my working life and I am committed to doing all I can to making a positive contribution to the game and the community.”It has been extremely rewarding to be part of CA, State and Territory Associations and the Australian Cricketers’ Association working together like never before over the past 12 months, to overcome the challenges presented by Covid-19 and deliver a summer for the ages. I look forward to building on this momentum and playing my role in deepening those relationships further, as well as playing a leading role in growing the game internationally alongside fellow ICC members.”Amid the pressure of funding cuts to states – which were eventually much lower than originally forecast – other than a battle with host broadcaster Channel Seven and the ongoing challenges of border closures, Hockley was able to steer the game through a turbulent 2020-21 season which enabled them to deliver a full professional programme. That included a tour by India, which involved tense negotiations almost until the final day, alongside two Big Bash tournaments and a full state professional summer.Related

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Despite having done an impressive job dealing with the impact of the pandemic, there have been questions raised as to whether Hockley has the broader vision to carry CA forward. But he now has the chance to make changes and decisions that were difficult while he still held the interim tag.”Nick’s contribution to Australian Cricket has been immense and on behalf of the board, I am most pleased to confirm his appointment as CEO, which was unanimously endorsed by the board,” Earl Eddings, the CA chairman, said. “From delivering the historic T20 Women’s World Cup to ensuring a safe and successful 2020-21 season, Nick has already proven himself to be in the very top echelon of sports administrators both in Australia and around the world.”Nick was named interim CEO at an incredibly challenging period for Australian sport, and society in general, and there were many instances where the once-in-a-generation obstacles in his path must have seemed overwhelming. But through his leadership, resolve, worth ethic and vision for the game, Australian Cricket emerged stronger than ever. For that, Nick deserves enormous credit.”Prior to his hasty elevation into the top CA role, Hockley had been chief executive of the 2020 T20 World Cup committee that had staged the record-breaking women’s tournament in Australia last year, and which concluded just days before the pandemic shut down global sport. Before that, he had worked on the 2015 men’s World Cup as well, having also previously been involved in the London Olympics.Confirmation of Hockley’s full-time job removes one of the leadership uncertainties around Australian cricket. Eddings is set to seek a second term as chairman at October’s elections, although there are significant divisions in the game over what would be a highly unusual move.On the playing front, the subject of who succeeds Tim Paine as Test captain potentially after next summer’s Ashes has not made much movement, while Justin Langer, the men’s head coach, is out of contract after the 2021-22 season amid rumblings of discontent in the dressing room.

Emily Arlott took four wickets in an over including a hat-trick as Central Sparks thrashed defending champions Southern Vipers by 120 runs at Hove to maintain their 100% record in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.The 23-year-old Worcestershire seamer trapped Maia Bouchier (1) on the crease with the first ball of her fourth over before claiming her hat-trick with the fourth, fifth and sixth deliveries. Georgia Elwiss (0) was also leg before, Charlie Dean superbly caught by the diving Amy Jones behind the stumps and Ella McCaughan bowled through the gate as she finished with 5 for 29.Arlott, watched by England head coach Lisa Keightley, could have had a sixth wicket had Gwen Davies not dropped Danni Wyatt when she was on 4. The England international went on to make 61, her third successive half-century, but Vipers were dismissed for 104 in 27.5 overs and suffered their first defeat of the season.It was a bad day for the hosts who dropped four catches and donated 34 extras including 29 wides. Sarah Glenn scored 11 off one ball from Tara Norris, hitting a no ball for four and the subsequent free hit for six in her 40 off 37 balls, which helped Sparks to a total of 224 from 49.2 overs.Vipers seemed to have control in the 18th over when Amy Jones, who had scored 114 and 163 not out in her previous two games, lost her off stump to Dean’s off break for 5 and Sparks were 57 for 3, but skipper Eve Jones and Gwen Davies put on 71 in 16 overs with Jones hitting eight fours before she was run out for 55 by McCaughan’s direct hit from backward point.Davies was sixth out for 45 but Sparks scored 67 off the last ten overs thanks to some clean hitting by Glenn. On a slow pitch, off-spinner Charlotte Taylor took 3 for 22 from her ten overs while Dean had 3 for 37.Vipers would have fancied their chances of chasing 225 but Wong and Arlott offered control and got the bounce and carry which had eluded Vipers’ seam attack. Wyatt hit eight fours and doubled the score in an eighth-wicket stand of 52 with Carla Rudd (10) before Arlott returned in the 26th over to have Rudd leg before and Wong finished things off with two wickets, including Wyatt who was bowled through the gate.”I was so engrossed in the game that it wasn’t until we were in the huddle afterwards that the other girls told me I’d taken a hat-trick,” Arlott said. “I took one when I was 13 in a club game in Worcestershire so it’s a really special feeling.”We didn’t expect the pitch to offer the bounce and carry we got but Issy [Wong] and I know each other’s games so well and if one of us is bowling well the other looks to contain. Whenever we get wickets we do so as a partnership but I was pleased that she finished with three as well.”

Ireland wicketkeeper-batter Neil Rock has tested positive for Covid-19. Rock was part of the 15-member T20I squad named for the home series against South Africa, which is set to begin with the ODIs in Dublin on Sunday. Batter Stephen Doheny has been called up as a replacement.The uncapped Rock has been isolated from the squad as he awaits a follow-up test at the team hotel. According to a Cricket Ireland release, one player and one staff member who came in contact with Rock will also be tested.Meanwhile, Doheny will undergo a Covid-19 test as well and will join the squad on Monday if given a negative result.