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The West Indies Cricket Board has accepted, “with regret”, the resignation of its chief executive Bruce Aanensen after a meeting in Barbados on Saturday. Aanensen had sent his resignation letter to the board president on Tuesday.”The board recognises that the reasons given by Mr. Aanensen for his resignation relate to very complex and challenging matters with which it will continue to be engaged,” said the WICB. “After discussion and review, the board is satisfied that the president has acted in the best interests of West Indies cricket at this time.”Barry Thomas, the WICB’s chief financial officer, was expected to act as chief executive officer in the interim. Aanensen took up the position in February, replacing Roger Brathwaite, who stepped down in 2006.Aanensen was involved in a number of disputes with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) including the contracts issue during the build-up to the World Cup and the controversy over whether or not the subsequent tour to England was part of the ICC’s Future Tours Program.The appointment of Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the WIPA, as a director with the WICB and the new board president Julian Hunte’s decision to work with the WIPA to resolve all outstanding issues was thought to have precipitated Aanensen’s decision to relinquish his post.

Javed Miandad, the former Pakistan batsman and captain, criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the removal of Zaheer Abbas as team manager for next month’s Champions Trophy in India. Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, announced yesterday that Abbas would be replaced by Talat Ali, a former Pakistan opener and ICC match referee.Quite a few former Pakistan players had criticised Abbas for not taking a proactive role in resolving the crisis at The Oval – in which Pakistan forfeited the Test to England following allegations of ball-tampering. However, Shaharyar had emphasised that Abbas’s removal had nothing to do with those events. Miandad, though, wasn’t very convinced, claiming that such a move would appear to hold Abbas responsible for the fiasco.”He (Abbas) has served Pakistan cricket like an icon and is still a hero for millions of cricket lovers worldwide,” Miandad told PTI. “By only removing him, the board has held him responsible for what happened during the Oval Test. There were a number of board members at the Oval on that day and what were they doing? Why only hold Zaheer responsible for what happened? They have disgraced a hero and it should not happen.”Miandad felt that Abbas was being used as a scapegoat in the incident.”What was Zaheer expected to do that day? What authority does a manager have? The chairman said afterwards the players were not aware of the time and that the umpires had called off play. Who is he fooling? Every player and coach knows the rules and there is a clock in the dressing room to remind players when they are supposed to be on the field.”

The players’ statement in fullZimbabwe Cricket took the unprecedented step of barring five journalists from its annual general meeting in Bulawayo today.Four local reporters and one from international agency AFP arrived at Queens Sports Club for the meeting only to find their entry blocked by Lovemore Banda, ZC’s communications and media manager. He told the five that they would have to wait for an official press conference later in the afternoon. However, the five refused to budge and two police officers were called to escort them out of the building.The move was all the more surprising as some of those ejected had been reminded less than 24 hours earlier that the meeting was taking place. And further confusion came when Ozias Bvute, the ZC managing director, told them that it was “not my decision.”It is likely that ZC banned the reporters as tough questions were expected in the light of yesterday’s statement issued on behalf of the country’s players which slated the board, accusing it of being “at best incompetent, and at worst, a bully”.

The MCG could lose out on its annual one-day international if a South Australian proposal is approved by Cricket Australia. For many years, the MCG and the SCG, in Sydney, have staged a final each in the tri-series which is an integral part of the Australian summer, but declining attendances at the MCG have resulted in the South Australian Cricket Association asking for the Melbourne final to be rotated between the Adelaide Oval, the Gabba in Brisbane and the MCG.SACA would like the new roster, which guarantees Sydney a final, to come into existence the season after next. According to the Melbourne’s The Age, Cricket Victoria have cited extenuating circumstances for the drop in spectator interest – a wash-out one year, 44 degree temperatures in another, and a final without Australia.Cricket Victoria has also refuted SACA’s claim that it could stage the final more profitably by selling out the far smaller Adelaide Oval. Sydney finals are usually packed affairs, with the SCG’s capacity being less than 50,000, but the MCG has found it difficult to pack in a full house (80,000) even when the more popular sides like England and India visit. quoted Geoff Tamblyn, Cricket’s Australia chairman as saying, “Cricket Victoria will defend its position to host the final.” The state is banking on the fact that it has an agreement with the MCG to provide at least eight days of international cricket each summer. Were the one-day final to be removed from the roster, there would be just seven such days on the calendar.

All Today’s Yesterdays – June 29 down the years1950
A landmark day for West Indian cricket. West Indies won their first Test in England, a 326-run thrashing at Lord’s, led by a mystifying display from their young spin twins Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine. They were both playing their second Tests, having each only played two first-class matches before the tour. Valentine’s match figures were 116-75-127-7 (the 75 maidens are still a Test record), and Ramadhin’s 115-70-152-11; it was the slowest torture imaginable. They were abetted by 168 from Clyde Walcott, an innings that John Arlott described as being "of thunder, of almost biblical intensity". England never recovered, and lost 3-1 a series they had expected to win comfortably. Maybe hubris set in. A crowd full of West Indian fans didn’t care as they celebrated joyously, and a famous Calypso song – "With those little pals of mine, Ramadhin and Valentine" – was born.1939
Birth of the gangling Victorian seamer Alan Connolly, a bit of an unsung hero for Australia in the sixties. He finished with 102 wickets, and four five-fors – none of which came in Aussie victories. His best figures were 6 for 47 against South Africa at Port Elizabeth … when Australia were routed by 323 runs. Unusually, Connolly excelled overseas, with 66 in 16 Tests. At home he took only 36 in 13. He also played county cricket for Middlesex.1965
Whatever happened to Paul Jarvis, the England pace bowler who was born today? When he became Yorkshire’s youngest-ever player – at just 16 years 75 days – he was burdened with a "new Fred Trueman" tag, but he never got close, taking only 21 wickets in nine Tests. Injuries didn’t help, nor did the selectors’ penchant for shunting him in and out of them (those nine Tests came in five instalments, either side of Jarvis’s ban for going on the South African rebel tour of 1989-90). Jarvis later played for Sussex and Somerset, but got nowhere near leaving the legacy people expected, although he has taken almost twice as many one-day wickets in India than any other Englishman. It’s not much consolation.2000
The fifth-highest opening partnership in Test history – and Sri Lanka’s highest by almost 150 runs. In a dead rubber against Pakistan at Kandy, Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu put on 335, with Atapattu making his third Test double-hundred. In a match of only 155.4 overs, Atapattu was still there at the bitter end, 207 not out and having dead-batted allcomers into submission.1931
Another weighty partnership, this one for the eighth wicket. Les Ames and Gubby Allen got England out of a hole by adding 246 against New Zealand at Lord’s, with Allen making his only Test hundred and Ames his first in England. At the time it was the highest for the eighth-wicket in Test history, but it’s been passed twice in the last six years, by Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq at Sheikupura in 1996-97, and by Nathan Astle and Adam Parore at Perth in 2001-02.1939
Birth of the link in the only three-generation Test-playing family. West Indian opener Ron Headley was the son of the great George and father of England seamer Dean. He played just two Tests, both in England in 1973. Headley played much of his cricket in England, for Worcestershire and Derbyshire.1911
Long before speed-guns inflated Shoaib Akhtar’s ego further, Worcestershire’s Robert Burrows bowled Lancashire’s William Huddleston in a County Championship match at Old Trafford – and sent the bail flying 67 yards. It’s a record that even Shoaib hasn’t broken.Other birthdays
1947 Jeff Moss (Australia)1969 Simon Brown (England)

Amit Pagnis, first-innings centurion for Railways in their Ranji tieagainst Rajasthan in Delhi, scored another hundred in their secondinnings, enabling his captain Abhay Sharma to effect a declaration andgiving his side a good chance at a second successive outright victory.Rajasthan’s innings ended without further fuss, closing at 175.Railways, however, made a bad start, losing both openers for 13.Pagnis and in-form Yere Goud then put up a 136-run partnership,repeating their fine collaborative effort from the first innings. Goudmade a steady 59 before he was caught and bowled by opposing captainPudiyangum Krishnakumar. Pagnis found more support from Sayed RazaAli, who scored a blistering 47 off just 45 balls. When Railwaysdeclared, Pagnis was unbeaten on 133.Facing a Himalayan target of 393 runs, Rajasthan look unlikely to winthis game; indeed, given their first innings collapse and MuraliKartik’s fine form, one would not be blamed for predicting an outrightwin for Railways.The Madhya Pradesh – Uttar Pradesh match at Indore was more keenlycontested; Uttar Pradesh, overnight on 164/5, were bowled out for 238.Rizwan Shamshad completed a stolid half-century, ensuring that hisside’s total was substantial; for Madhya Pradesh, Yogesh Golwalkarpicked up four wickets.Madhya Pradesh, thus, started their second innings looking to build ontheir lead and set their rivals a steep total. Former Indian one-daybat Amay Khurasiya top-scored for his side, hitting 54 off 96 balls.None of the other batsmen, however, could come up with substantialcontributions and Madhya Pradesh ended Day Three on 185/6, 262 runsahead of Uttar Pradesh.

ScorecardRob Key was one of five Kent batsmen to pass fifty•Getty Images

Ravi, Jesse, Hoddy and Napes. As rampant seam attacks go, it’s not really a patch on Josh and the Three Mitches. But, for most of the patrons at the Nevill Ground in Tunbridge Wells, that was a somnambulantly pleasing fact.Thirty miles and several light-years from the scene of yesterday’s crime at Lord’s, life went on as normal in Kent’s most idyllic of outgrounds. Kent churned out the runs, 352 of them on the day, for the loss of four wickets. Essex stuck wilfully to their task, outplayed on the day maybe, but proving positively incisive compared to the horrors being endured by Sussex’s and Glamorgan’s bowlers at Horsham and Colwyn Bay.Fourth versus eighth in the second division of the LV= County Championship brought with it an excuse not to be drawn to the edge of one’s seat, or chew one’s nails to the quick. Instead it was an excuse to sit back and soak in, as Kent closed on an imposing 420 for 4, a lead of 160 leaving them well placed to exact revenge for their five-wicket defeat on a Chelmsford minefield in April.The spectators who bimbled around the boundary’s edge included plenty refugees from England’s Ashes debacle: horrified survivors of that grim fourth day, as well as mildly bewildered holders of those now-redundant fifth-day tickets, all booked up but with nowhere to go.In between their perusals of the second-hand bookstall at midwicket, or their chats with Jack Russell – the Gloucestershire and England legend was incongruously in situ, selling signed copies of his painting compilations – the faithful were rewarded with a meandering day of accumulation.None of Kent’s batsmen made fewer than Sam Northeast’s 43, but Daniel Bell-Drummond’s 81 from 71 balls – 46 of which had come in his first-evening onslaught – remained the clubhouse-leading score by the close.His aggression and timing was matched, in the gloaming, by the evergreen Darren Stevens, who enlived the evening session with 11 fours and a fierce six over midwicket off David Masters, as he and Ben Harmison laid into the new ball to carry the total past 400 in an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 117.In between whiles, Kent’s batsmen took turns to drive the innings along without ever seizing the day by the scruff of the neck. Bell-Drummond looked the likeliest to do so, but with the third ball of his second spell, Ryder bowled him off a big inside-edge, his deceptively lolloping run-up giving way to a command of swing and seam that has now earned him 34 wickets at 23.76.Rob Key, restored to the opener’s role that he had relinquished during his last stint as captain, made a confident 71 – a lower-octane affair than his 87 against the Australians at Canterbury last month, maybe, after which he had joked that he wasn’t paid enough to face Mitchell Johnson at full tilt, but one which ended amid the threat of unexpected bounce. Graham Napier kicked one off a good length and Key, visibly taken aback, flapped an uncommitted pull to a stooping Nick Browne at square leg.That ought to have been Napier’s second of the day after Joe Denly had been dropped by Ryder at slip before he had scored. But he was quickly into his stride thereafter, clipping Napier through midwicket to get off the mark, and moving serenely along to 69 from 121 balls before Ravi Patel, the left-arm spinner, bowled him through a loose drive.Northeast, by that stage, had lost his leg stump to Jamie Porter, Essex’s quickest bowler whose methods were less suited to the conditions than those of his team-mates – his 18 overs were milked for 105 runs, including a loose morning spell in which Key and Bell-Drummond had picked off the boundaries at will.”I always enjoy playing at Tunbridge Wells, it’s always a decent wicket and enjoyed spending some time out there today,” said Denly at the close. “It’d be good to get one over Essex, and we are in a very strong position. Hopefully tomorrow we can kick on again, get a good lead and hopefully put them under some pressure.”It was very slow wicket,” he added. “Early on, Keysy and Deebs [Bell-Drummond] played very well with the newer harder ball, but when it got softer it was pretty hard to score and time, and my innings was a little bit scratchy. But at the end when the new ball was taken, Stevo and Ben were able to score a bit more freely and put us in a good position.”

Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has been named Newcomer of the Year at the 10th annual SA Sports Awards in Bloemfontein on Sunday.Rabada holds the record for the best figures on debut – 6 for 16 against Bangladesh, including a hat-trick – and is widely believed as the next big thing in South African cricket. He has played all forms of the game and has been particularly impressive with his ability to bowl quick, full and accurate. Dale Steyn has said the 20-year old Rabada had more talent at that age than he did, and now CSA chairman Haroon Lorgat has chimed in with: “Kagiso Rabada is a standout talent and destined for greatness.”The nominees for the SA Sports Awards had been chosen subject to a time frame from September 1 2014 to September 30 2015 and included AB de Villiers for the SA Sports Star of the Year award. Medium-pacer Shabnim Ismail was in the running for the corresponding award in the women’s category as well. All of which were a sign that South African cricket was in good hands, according to Lorgat.”The success of our programmes is also reflected in the fact that we had several other finalist nominees including our World No. 1 Proteas Test team, the world’s best batsman, AB de Villiers, for the SA Sports Star of the Year, Shabnim Ismail in the SA Women’s Sports Star of the Year award, and Geoffrey Toyana as SA Coach of the Year.”While Kagiso deservedly won his award the other nominees make us equally proud and deserve our congratulations for being recognised among the best in their respective categories.”Former first-class cricketer Rushdie Magiet, who played 37 matches in a decade-long career, was one of four recipients of the inaugural Steve Tshwete Lifetime Achiever award. Magiet, 72, represented Western Province from 1971-72 to 1980-81 and took 109 wickets at an average of 13.63 and an economy of 1.83.”I know Rushdi Magiet personally and he has indeed given a lifetime of service not only to cricket but also to social responsibility,” Lorgat said. “We are delighted that he has received this well merited award.”