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An on-field brawl between two Bermuda club cricketers during the country’s Champion of Champions final on September 12 has resulted in one of them being banned for life and the other slapped with a lengthy suspension by the Bermuda Cricket Board

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-20151:05

On-field brawl between Cleveland County Cricket Club and Willow Cuts Cricket Club players

An on-field brawl between two Bermuda club cricketers during the country’s Champion of Champions final on September 12 has resulted in one of them being banned for life and the other slapped with a lengthy suspension by the Bermuda Cricket Board.At the end of an over during the game, Cleveland County Cricket Club’s wicketkeeper Jason Anderson, while changing ends, smacked the Willow Cuts Cricket Club’s batsman George O’Brien on the head to spark off a massive fight. O’Brien swung his bat at Anderson, who – after a moment of calm – then rushed the batsman and pushed him to the ground. Anderson then appeared to aim at kick at O’Brien’s body too, and the pair had to be separated by a large number of players and officials as play was stopped.Anderson was given “a life ban from all cricket, and any involvement in the game of cricket in Bermuda in any capacity” by the BCB, while O’Brien was suspended for a length of time that will include six 50-over matches at the start of the next season.The Cleveland Club imposed more sanctions on Anderson, banning him from representing the club “in all sporting activities for life.” Cleveland coach Clay Smith wrote in his column for that the incident was a new low in Bermuda cricket.
“Our standards of discipline have slipped tremendously, and what is deemed acceptable on the field of play is completely unacceptable,” Smith wrote. “Too few players are being written up for what some may deem minor infractions.”There is a solution to this madness, it just requires the Bermuda Cricket Board to implement the code of conduct that players are expected toplay under at the ICC international level.”The incident was criticised in Bermuda’s parliament. “What was to be a family and community event, has instead been marred by a repugnant incident of violence, lawlessness and unsportsmanlike conduct,” Shadow Sports Minister Michael Weeks said.

Mark Wood is flying home early for England’s tour of the UAE to see a specialist about the left ankle problem that forced him to sit out the third Test against Pakistan.

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Nov-2015Mark Wood is flying home early from England’s tour of the UAE to see a specialist about the left ankle problem that forced him to sit out the third Test against Pakistan. He will miss the ODI and T20 legs of the tour, which begin in Abu Dhabi next week, with his place in the squad being taken by Liam Plunkett.Wood, whose energetic delivery stride has caused discomfort in his ankle joint for several months, has previously admitted that he may require surgery to rectify the issue. He required a cortisone injection to get through last summer’s Ashes win over Australia, and missed the third Test at Edgbaston before returning for the final two matches.He received a second injection during the Pakistan series, having claimed six wickets in 62.5 overs across the first two Tests, including his best Test figures of 3 for 39 in the first innings in Dubai. However, the England management opted not to risk him for the series decider, with Samit Patel instead earning a recall to complete a three-spinner attack.”Mark Wood’s ankle condition is well known and while we have managed his workloads over the summer and during the Test series against Pakistan it has been decided that the sensible course of action is to seek further advice from a specialist,” said James Whitaker, the national selector. “We will then be able to consider how to ensure Mark is able to perform at his very best in an England shirt going forward.”Liam Plunkett will replace Wood in both squads and, having featured in the ODI side last summer, his inclusion provides Eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss with an experienced pace bowling option in the squad.”With the Test tour of South Africa looming next month, England now have concerns over three of the seamers who played a role in last summer’s Ashes win. Steven Finn is currently recovering from a stress-related foot injury while Ben Stokes batted with some discomfort but did not bowl or field in the second innings in Sharjah after damaging his collarbone.England begin their preparations for the one-day leg of the UAE tour with a 50-over match against Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, while the four match ODI series against Pakistan starts on Wednesday.

Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann has described the team’s fielding as “average at best” during their win over New Zealand at the Gabba

Brydon Coverdale10-Nov-2015Not much went wrong for Australia in their 208-run victory over New Zealand in the first Test at the Gabba. The top order could hardly have put in a stronger performance. The attack was a little off the mark with the new ball, but 20 wickets was proof that they did enough right over the course of five days. But there was one area of Australia’s game that was distinctly sloppy: the fielding.”Average, at best,” was how coach Darren Lehmann summed up the fielding effort at the Gabba. Catches were dropped, too many balls were either not stopped or not chased hard enough. It cost Australia little in the end, for they put enough runs on the board and created enough opportunities to still win by a comfortable margin. But Lehmann expects more in the field at the WACA.”Even our ground-fielding, and we pride ourselves on that,” he said. “So there’s a bit of work coming up for the lads. We could’ve stopped a lot more balls that we didn’t.”Notably, Lehmann mentioned two of the newest members of the side – Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns – as players who needed to work on their fielding to lift it to international standard. Khawaja’s lack of urgency in the field was the source of some criticism during his previous chances in Test cricket, and at the Gabba his former team-mate Simon Katich joked on ‘s commentary that an all-run six could be on the cards when Khawaja chases to the boundary.Burns was in the firing line at short leg. He took a simple catch there late in the game but did not always appear to have the reflexes and balance desirable in the role; tough chances didn’t stick in each innings, and he also dropped an easier one that Australia feared was a life for Kane Williamson, but which replays suggested had not come off the bat.”He just needs work,” Lehmann said. “We saw him out doing that [before play]. He is just going to have to do more work, more time on his fielding and probably Uzzy to be fair. They’ve got to move better and field at the level you’d expect of international cricketers.”However, other members of the side struggled in the field as well. Adam Voges dropped a sitter at slip off Mitchell Johnson that gave Doug Bracewell a life, and Nathan Lyon at point spilled what he should have taken in the second innings when Martin Guptill failed to keep the ball down off a Johnson delivery.In a close match, such missed opportunities can prove decisive, but Australia had the running of the Brisbane Test from the time their top three piled on the runs on day one. However, Lehmann said he would also be looking for improvement from the fast bowlers at the WACA, after they failed to make New Zealand’s openers play often enough in both innings at the Gabba.”Our batting was very impressive, and I think we improved with the ball,” Lehmann said. “I don’t think we bowled as well as we’d have liked. I don’t think we bowled with the new ball as well as we could’ve, and give New Zealand credit – they left well and made us work for it – but we’ve certainly got to get better in that area … I think they had to play at less than half the balls with the new ball in the first 20 overs, so that’s something we’ll look at there.”But they got 20 wickets and I thought in patches they were very, very good – all Mitches to be fair; Mitchell Marsh got a couple of key wickets. Lyon was very good in the second innings, and to bowl them out in 83 overs and 88 overs was very good, so can’t complain too much, just me being picky.”

The Big Bash League enjoyed a landmark day in both Melbourne and Perth on Saturday, as a crowd of 80,883 – a competition record by nigh on 30,000 – packed into the MCG for the Melbourne derby

Will Macpherson in Melbourne02-Jan-2016The Big Bash League enjoyed a landmark day in both Melbourne and Perth on Saturday, as a crowd of 80,883 – a competition record by nigh on 30,000 – packed into the MCG for the Melbourne derby, and the WACA Ground sold out once more for Perth Scorchers’ fixture with Sydney Sixers.Furthermore, 12,901 were at the MCG by the conclusion of the Women’s Big Bash League Melbourne derby fixture, a record for a women’s domestic game, and a larger crowd than any Women’s World T20 final.In Melbourne, however, the BBL’s routine notching of milestones did not come without difficulty. Ahead of the WBBL fixture, as many as 2,000 fans were left outside the MCG as only one general admission gate was opened at the beginning of the match. The crowd more than doubled during the second innings.For the men’s fixture, many thousands were caught out by the stadium’s stringent security measures. To illustrate, the crowd at the start of the game stood at about 55,000, and the 80,833 figure was only reached at the innings break as frustrated fans were finally able to enter the stadium. For the Renegades’ innings, a queue had snaked all around Yarra Park.A Cricket Australia statement read: “The Melbourne Cricket Ground has been highly proactive in their security measures for major cricket events this summer. The match tonight experienced an unprecedented record crowd for domestic cricket.”We thank fans for their patience and apologise for the delays experienced entering the ground tonight. The safety and security of our fans, players and officials is always our number one priority and rest assured we’ll continue to work with the MCG to ensure everyone has a fantastic experience at any cricket event this summer.”Despite the difficulties – which reportedly also saw many of the venue’s food vendors run dry shortly after the innings break – there was a sense of triumphalism around a fine day for the competition.”It’s been a great day for cricket,” said CA’s Mike McKenna. “We were absolutely delighted to see crowds across the country come out in force, with record attendances at our men’s and women’s Big Bash League matches.”To have more than 80,000 people at the MCG for the local Melbourne derby, then to witness a sell out in Perth for a re-match of last year’s final, all on the same day, was a genuine milestone in the short history of the league.”Englishman Luke Wright, who upstaged more celebrated overseas players Kevin Pietersen, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo to score a match-winning century for the Stars, said the crowd sent a message about the competition’s pulling power.”It was one of those moments where until it finishes you can’t really enjoy it,” Wright said. “I’ve been lucky enough to play internationally and in the IPL so I know about big crowds. Tonight rather than people abusing you and spitting at you, it was great to have the crowd behind. It just sends a message about how big this competition is.”You look around and you pinch yourself, we had a feeling it would be big tonight, but obviously not that good. How special was that? To get a win, it’s up there with the best cricketing moments of my life.”

A five-wicket haul from Zia-ul-Haq led National Bank of Pakistan into the final of the National One-Day Cup with a six-wicket win over United Bank Limited at the Gaddafi Stadium

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2016
ScorecardKamran Akmal struck seven fours and two sixes in his 79-ball 63•Getty Images

A five-wicket haul from Zia-ul-Haq led National Bank of Pakistan into the final of the National One-Day Cup with a six-wicket win over United Bank Limited at the Gaddafi Stadium. Having sent them in to bat, National Bank quickly had United Bank in trouble at 10 for 2, with both openers departing in the space of three balls. There wasn’t much of a recovery after that, with only Younis Khan (41, 65b, 5×4) and Hammad Azam (59, 83b, 5×4) getting past 25, their 42-run stand for the fifth wicket the best of the innings. Zia, the left-arm quick, finished with figures of 5 for 33 in 7.5 overs as United Bank were bowled out for 185, with seven balls still remaining.National Bank slipped to 10 for 2 themselves, losing opener Hamza Paracha and No. 3 Nasir Jamshed in successive overs, but Kamran Akmal, walking in at No. 4, steadied their chase. First, he added 37 with Ahsan Ali (23) and then put on 73 with Akbar-ur-Rehman for the fourth wicket. Akmal fell for a 79-ball 63 (7×4, 2×6) with 69 runs still required, but Akbar steered National Bank home in the company of Umar Waheed (27), remaining unbeaten on 70 (84b, 10×4).

Marchant de Lange has bolstered South fast bowling stocks ahead of the ODI series against England but Albie Morkel could miss out because of a back spasm

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2016Marchant de Lange has bolstered South fast bowling stocks ahead of the ODI series against England.But the likelihood that Albie Morkel will also be added, following injuries to Dale Steyn and Kyle Abbott, has receded because he has been afflicted by a back spasm.Morkel’s injury became apparent when he was playing in the Momentum One-Day Cup in East London. A decision on his involvement – or a replacement – is expected on Monday.De Lange hardly advertised his wares when he took 2 for 69 for a South Africa A side thrashed by 163 runs by England in Kimberley in a warm-up match ahead of the series. But he now has the chance to add to his three ODI caps, the last of them won more than a year ago.Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach, reiterated that as well as the absence of Steyn, Abbott and Vernon Philander, there was also concern over the workload of Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel in the recent Test series which pointed to likely opportunities for de Lange to push his claims.”Marchant gives us more options with our fast bowlers,” Domingo said. “We need to manage the workloads of Morkel and Rabada, who have played a lot. We need to manage them over the next few days. We need to broaden our fast bowling base for this series.”We have had a lot of injuries of late. Not having Dale and Vernon is a big blow, but it’s an opportunity to test the depth of South African cricket and to provide opportunities for the fringe bowlers to step up and put in some good performances.”South Africa do have the encouragement of a 3-2 win against India in their last ODI series as they seek to redress the balance after a 2-1 defeat in the Test series. The opening match takes place at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.”In South Africa we will always want to be regarded as favourites in home conditions,” Domingo said. “We have a good and settled side, we have been playing really well and we have some of the best one-day batsmen in the world.”

After digging South Africa out from a position of 22 for 3 in a chase of 237 in the series decider against England, AB de Villiers said that he felt he could handle pressure situations better and had pushed himself down the order for that purpose

Firdose Moonda14-Feb-2016If AB de Villiers was less experienced, South Africa might have lost the series to England on Sunday. If AB de Villiers was less experienced, 22 for 3 would have been a hole too deep for him to dig his team out of. If AB de Villiers was less experienced, 237 would have been too much to chase. But AB de Villiers was playing in his 200th ODI and knew exactly what to do: embrace the situation and then overcome it.”You live for those pressure moments,” de Villiers said. “Through an international career, you have ups and down but you always feel you are gong to be tested in moments like that. It has taken me years to feel comfortable and to feel like I have good composure in those situations.”De Villiers knew that after a top-order tumble South Africa needed cool heads. Luckily, he had his calmest team-mate, Hashim Amla, on hand to provide that.”The chat between us was not to worry about the runs and to make sure we get in and not lose another wicket,” he explained. “We’ve done it before. I felt it was really important to take it 10 runs at a time and get to a fifty-run partnership.”After 58 balls together, de Villiers and Amla had that. They’d also survived a squeeze, punished some poor balls and given themselves some breathing room. After another 48 balls, that stand had doubled and South Africa were safe. The captain’s decision to drop himself one lower than the No.4 position he usually bats looked like a stroke of genius and the victory target was well within reach.”I like to push myself a little bit down when we are chasing. I feel I handle the pressure situations well and that’s why I want to be there at the end,” de Villiers said. And if he is there at the end, the South Africans always feel they have a chance.More than his ability and audacious strokeplay, it’s de Villiers’ attitude that keeps his countrymen and, in the space of the last week, his team-mates hopeful. With South Africa 2-0 down, de Villiers rallied his troops and asked them “to keep believing”.He admitted that in facing the prospect of a second series defeat at home in the same summer, they were in a “really dark space”, but that he wanted them to snap out of it.”I asked them to keep spirits up. I asked them to keep believing and have the faith we can come back,” he said. “We showed inspirational videos here and there but we tried to focus on the basics and do the small things right and well, and created more pressure than England and then things went our way.”South Africa also made key personnel changes when they realised the precariousness of their position. They stopped relying on JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien, to operate as the fifth bowler and brought in an allrounder to give them 10 overs. They shortened their batting line-up from a specialist point of view but added two genuine finishers and seemed to find a better balance, even if it’s not something they will stick with long-term.”I like to think we haven’t moved away from that seven-batsmen option,” de Villiers said. “But David (Wiese) and Chris (Morris) brought a different dynamic. Change was needed after the first two ODIs and they breathed an air of confidence into the side.”Wiese has been the more consistent of the two but Morris will be remembered as the hero after his match-winning innings of 62 at the Wanderers. His knock there kept South Africa alive. It gave them the belief de Villiers sought but they still could have drowned in the wave of emotion that match swept over them. That they didn’t only shows how desperate they were to finish the job.”We took a lot of confidence from that but after an emotional game like that, it’s easy to lose your fighting spirit,” de Villiers said. “We were just maybe a bit more hungry than England to really nail it down.”Even so, he praised the opposition for giving South Africa a wake-up call and a warning for what they will offer in tournaments to come. “They are a fantastic one-day team,” he said. “To come back from rock bottom in that 2015 World Cup. The talent was always there but mentally they had to get through a few obstacles.”Morgs played a big part in that. Even though he didn’t have a great series with the bat, he still had the right body language. He is the right man to take England forward. They will be a team to deal with in the next few years, especially at the 2017 Champions Trophy and 2019 World Cup.”If de Villiers keeps performing like he did at Newlands, so might South Africa.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson expected spin to play a big part in the World T20 and hoped that his side would step up to the challenge

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Nagpur14-Mar-2016The last time New Zealand played a World T20 game, they crashed to 60 all out against Sri Lanka. Since that horror day in Chittagong, New Zealand are yet to play any match, in any format, in the subcontinent. In the two years since that nightmare against Rangana Herath, New Zealand have grown immeasurably in terms of confidence and experience, but their personnel remains largely the same, and their ability in spin-friendly conditions remains untested.Kane Williamson is New Zealand’s best player of spin, as he showed in that game by scoring 70% of their total, but seldom adds any spin to his public pronouncements. They are almost deliberately bland. On the eve of his side’s World T20 opener against India, he dead-batted every question thrown at him.”Yeah, whenever you play around the world, you need to adapt to different conditions,” Williamson said, when asked about New Zealand’s preparedness for Indian conditions. “We have been playing a bit of cricket at home, it is important that we make those adjustments coming into this tournament. We have had some good preparations in the UAE and in Mumbai as well. But at the same time, whichever ground you play around India, the conditions can be slightly different so we have to assess those again tomorrow.”Having watched some of the the first-round action from the ground, Williamson expected a slow turner at the VCA Stadium.”We certainly are expecting spin to pay a big part in this tournament,” he said. “I suppose, judging by the warm-up games in Mumbai, they had a bit for the seamers and it swung a little bit. They were very good surfaces but from what cricket we have seen here in Nagpur, spin looks likely to play a big part. It’s important that we adjust our game plans accordingly.”Williamson is leading the side following the retirement of Brendon McCullum, who perhaps surprisingly chose to quit international cricket following the home series against Australia even though the World T20 was only a few weeks. Williamson refused to divulge his views on the timing of McCullum’s exit.”I suppose we were certainly fortunate to have Brendon leading us and being in the side for as long as we had him and I guess, in a way, there is no great time for him to walk away with all the good that he is doing,” Williamson said. “But it’s part and parcel of anything you do that it comes to an end and there’s so many other priorities in Brendon’s life and we certainly wish Brendon well. He is very close to this side still and he has got a little bit of cricket left to play in some of the T20 competitions around the world, which is exciting for him, but I know he will be watching us closely.”New Zealand will be playing for the first time since the death of Martin Crowe, their greatest ever batsman and a mentor to Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill. Williamson said the team would wear black armbands and observe a minute’s silence before Tuesday’s match.”In the match tomorrow, we will be showing our respects by wearing black armbands and I believe after the anthems, there will be a moment where there will be a pause, so that will be a special time of recognition on behalf of the side,” he said. “Some blokes in the side, they were very close to Martin, and I guess they will deal with it in their own way throughout the tournament and throughout the cricket that is coming up. He was a big part of their lives as a cricketer and as a person. It’s just the process that you get through when something significant like this happens.”

Kolkata Knight Riders’ openers laid the foundation for a total of 164 and their bowlers overcame the threat of a Glenn Maxwell fifty to go to the top of the table

The Report by Alagappan Muthu04-May-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGautam Gambhir struck his 30th IPL fifty to help Kolkata Knight Riders post 164•BCCI

“One interesting decision and everyone forgets you hit a fifty in the last game.” It seemed Glenn Maxwell was still smarting from an incorrect caught-behind decision in Kings XI Punjab’s previous game against Gujarat Lions. He couldn’t score any runs then, but on Wednesday, it was almost like he couldn’t be stopped.Almost, because Piyush Chawla found a way, and did so at the perfect time. Maxwell fell for 68 off 42 balls with his side still 45 runs away from a target of 165 with only 26 balls in hand. A well-populated Eden Gardens reveled in the tension. So did a bowling attack that featured six internationals. Kolkata Knight Riders closed out a victory by seven runs and climbed to the top of the table.Andre Russell had 11 runs to defend in the final over and he did so by picking up one wicket, apart from two run-outs, to finish with 4 for 20 in four overs. He was Knight Riders’ battering ram, but he needed Chawla to make that decisive dent. By contrast, Kings XI were reliant on one man and he had far too much to do.Maxwell took on the challenge though. He came in with the score on 13 for 3 and his determination to contribute was apparent in the shots he played – flicks and cuts against the Knight Riders quicks, who bowled too short at him, and powerful lofts down the ground against the spinners. Essentially, Maxwell wanted to limit the risks he took. His fifty came off only 29 balls, by which time he had played only one reverse sweep.Towards the end of his innings, the cross-batted shots kept coming out and one of them did him in. Maxwell misread a googly from Chawla, played a reverse sweep against the turn and was adjudged lbw by umpire Anil Chaudhary. The batsman walked off unhappy because he felt he was hit outside the line of off stump, and while replays indicated more than half the ball had been outside the line, some of his anger may have been directed at himself. He was the only Kings XI batsman who showed any kind of control and with him out of the way, Knight Riders breezed past the finish line.The result seemed never in doubt when Russell had knocked over Marcus Stoinis and Vohra in his first two overs. Morne Morkel had M Vijay caught at mid-off in the fourth over as the Kings XI top order paid the price for not taking time to understand a slow pitch.Knight Riders fared better in that department as well. Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa struck fluent half-centuries and added 101 runs for the opening partnership. Though the run-rate they maintained was only 7.48, they laid an excellent foundation for the big-hitters down the order by punishing a bowling line-up that couldn’t get their length right.On a sluggish pitch, short-pitched bowling allowed the batsman time to pick his spots, as Stoinis found out in the third over when Gambhir pulled a couple of fours away. It also allowed time to recover after making a mistake, as Mohit Sharma found out in the fourth over when Uthappa came forward to a back of a length delivery and was still able to drive it past point.On top of that, Kings XI dropped Uthappa three balls after Gambhir was run-out. The culprit, Mohit, recovered well though. He and Sandeep Sharma switched to a mix of yorkers and slower deliveries for the last five overs. That meant Yusuf Pathan and Russell could not bring their power-hitting into play and Knight Riders had to settle for only 43 runs in that period.Kings XI have dropped to the bottom of the table with six losses in eight games. They went in with only three overseas players on Wednesday – Maxwell, Stoinis and David Miller – after Shaun Marsh’s back injury ruled him out of the IPL two days ago. Hashim Amla, who was brought in as a replacement, sat out because he had arrived in India on the day of the match and had had very little time to prepare.

Ravi Sawani, the former general manager of the ACSU), has questioned the remarks made by the former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, who termed the approach of the anti-corruption watchdog “casual”.

Nagraj Gollapudi07-Jun-20162:58

Bal: ICC’s biggest challenge is creating an environment of trust

‘Origin of leak not from ICC’

: The ICC commended Brendon McCullum two years ago – and continues to do so today – for his brave, courageous and principled stand against corruption in cricket. The ICC also understood and shared his dismay at the leak of his confidential statement, which prompted a thorough and detailed investigation by the ICC. While the probe proved that the origin of the leak was not from within the ICC, it failed to establish beyond doubt the actual source. Nevertheless, the ICC has already put strong measures in place to ensure this type of incident is never repeated.
In 2014 (and unrelated to the leak of confidential information), a comprehensive review of the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit was carried out to review its processes, functions and resources. The review was conducted by the ICC’s Integrity Working Party (IWP), which included independent corruption experts. All the recommendations of the IWP were reviewed and adopted by the ICC Board during the 2015 ICC Annual Conference in Barbados.
Every event or incident provides an organisation with opportunities to review its structures and measure its operations against best practice. This is exactly what the ICC has done in this particular case – it believes the outcome has been processes, procedures and resources which have been further bolstered and strengthened.
The ICC reconfirms that it is doing absolutely everything in its power to fight the threat of corruption in the sport and will continue to do so. It also reaffirms its commitment to gain and retain the complete trust of cricketers, and to work in close cooperation with all stakeholders in cricket.

Ravi Sawani, the former general manager of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), has questioned the remarks made by the former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, who termed the approach of the anti-corruption watchdog “casual”.Delivering the MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture at Lord’s on Monday, McCullum, who gave match-fixing evidence against his former team-mate Chris Cairns at Southwark Crown Court in London last year, said he felt the ACSU’s evidence-gathering had to be “much more thorough, more professional”.In his testimony during Cairns’ perjury trial, McCullum had said that, on the eve of New Zealand’s first match of the 2011 World Cup, he and Daniel Vettori, then captain, had gone to the hotel room of the ACSU representative John Rhodes to report the approaches that Cairns had allegedly made in 2008, when McCullum was playing the inaugural season of the IPL in India. McCullum recollected Rhodes taking notes but not recording their conversation.According to McCullum, Rhodes said his notes would “probably end up” at the bottom of the file. “When I made my first statement to the ICC, my impression was that it would be put in the bottom draw and never see the light of day again. No attempt was made to elicit a full and comprehensive statement from me on that occasion,” McCullum told the audience at the lecture.Cairns, who retired from international cricket in 2006, had been part of the un-sanctioned Indian Cricket League in 2008, the tournament which gave rise to the allegations of which he was subsequently acquitted. However, Sawani said the ACSU could not have used McCullum’s statement against Cairns since the ICL did not fall under the ICC umbrella.”We could not have used any part of what McCullum had told us against Chris Cairns in any manner because Chris Cairns was not under the ICC jurisdiction at that moment,” Sawani told ESPNcricinfo.”He [Cairns] was accused of doing something when he was part of the ICL operations. As per the ACSU code Cairns had not done anything in any ICC-controlled match so there was no necessity for us to prosecute Chris Cairns. Also, because we had taken a decision not to prosecute McCullum for the delay in reporting an approach, there was no requirement for recording McCullum’s statement in a detailed manner.”After speaking to Rhodes, McCullum made detailed statements to the ACSU and the Metropolitan Police in London in 2014. The Metropolitan Police, McCullum said, was “streets ahead in terms of professionalism” compared to the ACSU. Sawani, however, disagreed with McCullum.”The Met Police recorded his statement to criminally prosecute Chris Cairns and his lawyer [who was also acquitted] for certain offences as per the English law and obviously they went into great details as to what happened and exactly what was the cause of the statement that he had made and what happened thereafter,” Sawani said. “It had to be evidence recorded as per the procedure prescribed in English criminal law and then used during criminal proceedings.”According to Sawani, the ACSU took a well-deliberated decision not to punish McCullum for his failure to report the approach three years after Cairns allegedly made it.”I took that decision that no action need be taken against Brendon McCullum,” Sawani said. “McCullum was stating something three years late about an incident. No action was taken even though technically it was an offence. The player himself had come forward to report an approach about which we were not aware and it would have been stupid on our part to punish him for that.”Later in 2014, McCullum’s second statement to the ICC was leaked in the . McCullum said he still did not know how his statement had found its way into the paper, and if anyone had been held accountable.”To report an approach and to give evidence requires considerable courage – players deserve much better,” McCullum said. “How can the game’s governing body expect players to co-operate with it when it is then responsible for leaking confidential statements to the media?”However, Sawani denied that anyone within the ACSU would have divulged any details to an outsider, adding that there were others present in the room each time McCullum recorded a statement.”McCullum himself admitted this,” Sawani said, “when he said ‘I had told other people about Cairns’ approaches – one of them was my captain and friend, Dan Vettori’. There were many possibilities. The truth is out there somewhere and only Ed Hawkins [Daily Mail reporter] can say from where he sourced extracts of that statement.”