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IPL 2026 will be held between March 26 and May 31, occupying the same window it has in recent years.While the BCCI hasn’t announced the full fixtures yet, the 19th edition of the IPL will kick off roughly three weeks after the conclusion of the men’s T20 World Cup – scheduled from February 7 to March 8 in India and Sri Lanka – and run for just over two months.It also means that for the second year running, the IPL will clash with the PSL, which is scheduled to be held between March 26 and May 3.Related

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The IPL teams, who announced their list of retained and released players in mid-November, are currently getting into the IPL auction on December 16 in Abu Dhabi, where 369 players have been shortlisted to go under the hammer.A total of 77 slots are available, including 31 for overseas players. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have the most vacancies, 13, followed by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) with ten. After trades and retentions, KKR also have the biggest purse available: INR 64.30 crore (US$7.1 million approx.). Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are next with INR 43.40 crore (US$4.8 million approx.).The IPL 2025 final was won on June 3 by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), who made it their first IPL title win with a six-run win over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Ahmedabad.

	How can Sunil Gavaskar (pictured) juggle both hats properly, David Morgan wonders © Getty Images

David Morgan, the president-elect of the ICC, has voiced his concern over Sunil Gavaskar’s recent critical comments on Mike Procter. Gavaskar, the former Indian captain and the chairman of the ICC’s cricket committee, had come down hard on Procter after the decision to hand Harbhajan Singh a three-match ban.”Conflicts of interests pervade our sport. In terms of Gavaskar, within the ICC, there is a concern now that he’s chairman of the cricket committee and a journalist who has expressed some fairly outspoken comments,” Morgan said in Perth, while on a business visit.”But that would be dealt with by David Richardson of the ICC. In all walks of life and business, you have people operating with conflicts of interests. All boards have a policy for conflicts. When people come to the board table they leave their other baggage at the door.”Morgan was happy to have witnessed a “terrific Test”, especially after the tumultuous week that preceded it. He said the Sydney fiasco had offered several lessons, mainly with regard to umpiring and technology.”Once we have fool-proof technology we should trial it,” he said, looking ahead. “We need to see technology improved and find a way to embrace it. I think referral system with improved technology is the way to go, as long as it doesn’t take away the authority of the umpires.”He said the ICC would back Steve Bucknor, but revealed that the decision to replace him was not related to the protest made by the Indian side. “The decision to replace Bucknor was not the result from any protest from one of the participating teams,” he said. “There was a protest but the decision wasn’t a result of the process.”Would this be a precedent for other umpires to be replaced too? “I don’t believe that a precedent is being set. I believe we have acted in the best interest of the game and the best interest of Bucknor. He’s our longest serving umpire and our best umpire. I’m sure he will be back.”Bucknor himself said that he would like to continue for another year, if his contract is extended in March, but no more. “I am scheduled to go to Bangladesh, where they will play South Africa, in another four weeks,” Bucknor, speaking from Jamaica, told CANA. “I am in reasonably good physical condition.”I think I am seeing reasonable well, so I will go on until I think it is necessary. I can’t stop anybody’s opinion. I would not wish to go on beyond another year. If I am asked to go on for another year, I would accept, but not beyond.”Morgan agreed that the volume of cricket was a concern but said that it was up to the member boards to come to an agreement. “The ICC doesn’t drive the volume of cricket, the member boards do,” Morgan said. “Volume of cricket is a concern, sometimes exaggerated.”When England play Australia all that is needed as far as ICC is concerned is a two-match series, twice in six years. If we operated to that from a business point of view, it would be commercially suicidal. So it’s a fact and minds [between the two concerned boards] need to be engaged about it.”

Scorecard
West Zone continued their winning streak in the Deodhar Trophy, beating South Zone by 192 runs after Shrikant Mundhe and Abhishek Nayar took four wickets each and removed any chance of South Zone chasing a mammoth 308.The result of the tournament had been decided in West’s favour – after a gap of 16 years – two games ago following South Zone’s 30-run win over North. South Zone, meanwhile, are at the bottom of the league table with three points.Sent in to open, Yusuf Pathan scored his maiden century in domestic cricket – an 80-ball 112 – and set up the West Zone total. In his 104-run partnership with Parthiv Patel for the first wicket, Pathan scored 68 while Patel made 36. Pathan then added another 86 runs with Cheteshwar Pujara, who himself made 69 off 80 balls. Venugopal Rao, the South Zone offbreak bowler, took three wickets though he was smashed for 61 runs in his eight overs. B Akhil and Vinay Kumar also had expensive spells for their two wickets each.South Zone never got off to a start that would have set up the chase. Mundhe took four top-order wickets, including that of VVS Laxman (11), for 34 runs. South Zone had collapsed to 6 for 97 inside 24 overs after which Nayar polished off the tail for another 19 runs. Rao was South Zone’s top scorer with 26.

Following the signing of Chris Silverwood today, John Emburey has been promoted to the position of Director of Cricket for Middlesex.”We are delighted that John has accepted the position of Director of Cricket, responsible not only for first team performance as Head Coach, but also overseeing all cricket in the county from grass roots to the first XI,” Vinny Codrington, the chief executive, told the club’s website.”He will continue in his role as head coach and will continue to work closely with Jason Pooley the assistant coach, and Toby Radford the Academy director.””We have an exciting future here at Middlesex.” Emburey commented. “Thanks to Jason and Toby we have an excellent youth system and there are some very exciting cricketers in our Academy.”This season should see the emergence of some exciting new talent with Eoin Morgan and Billy Godleman, who is the first to come through the Academy system. The county is in good shape for its long-term future.”Middlesex’s opening match of the season is against Oxford on April 20.

Brian Luckhurst: 1939 to 2005© Getty Images

Brian Luckhurst, the former Kent and England batsman, died on Tuesday at the age of 66. Luckhurst, who was associated with Kent County Cricket Club for 51 years and ended up as their president, had been suffering from cancer of the oesophagus for some time.Luckhurst’s international career began with five unofficial Tests against the Rest of the World XI in 1970, after which he made the first of 21 appearances for England, against Australia on the Ashes tour of 1970-71. As Geoff Boycott’s opening partner, he marked the occasion with 74 in the first innings, and made four centuries in 41 innings, including a top-score of 131, in the second Test at Perth. He had guts as well – two of his hundreds were made with a broken hand.Primarily a dependable batsman who knew his limitations and stuck to them, Luckhurst was also a part-time left-arm spinner, whose solitary international wicket was the notable scalp of Gundappa Viswanath, and an outstanding allround fielder. His fleet-footedness against spin earned him a century apiece against India and Pakistan in 1971, although he was unlucky to be omitted from the subsequent tour of the subcontinent in 1972-73.His final Test appearances came at the age of 35, against Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson on the ill-fated Ashes tour of 1974-75. After that, he concentrated his efforts on Kent’s fortunes, a club he had joined at the age of 15, and was a member of a side which dominated county cricket in the 1970s, winning nine trophies outright and sharing the County Championship in 1977. In all, he played in 335 first team matches from 1958 to 1976 before retiring to become captain of the 2nd XI, club coach and later, the manager of the Ames Levett Sports Centre.In 1985, he made an unexpected return to first-team duty when Kent suddenly found themselves one short against the Australian touring team. The 2003 Canterbury Cricket week was the 50th he had attended, and to mark the occasion he was presented with an inscribed silver salver by the club’s chairman, Carl Openshaw.”He was a great buddy and a loyal servant,” Mike Denness, who captained Luckhurst in the Kent and England sides, said. “In cricketing terms, he probably didn’t have a lot of natural gifts, but with the gifts he had, he worked so hard at it that he deserved to reach the top which he did by opening the batting for England.”His funeral will take place at Alkham Parish Church, Alkham, near Dover on Monday, March 14 at 1.30 pm, followed by a private cremation at Barham Crematorium at 3.00 pm and a reception at the St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury.

Dhaka 72 for 3 beat Chittagong 71 (Mahmud 3-10, Arafat 4-17) by seven wickets with 31.1 overs to spare
ScorecardArafat Sunny turned in a matchwinning performance, scalping 4 for 17, as Dhaka beat Chittagong comfortably by seven wickets. Put in to bat, Chittagong could not resist the mediumpace of Khaled Mahmud (3 for 10), who accounted for the first three batsmen with just 32 on the board. From there it was all downhill. Mohammad Rafique (3 for 13 from 9 overs) got rid of Faisal Hossain (20), the top-scorer and Chittagong slid to a paltry 71 all out in 32.3 overs.Things happened in such an unseemly haste, that GM Nowsher Prince, a national selector, arrived slightly late, and missed the fall of the first six wickets. He was in time, however, to witness the fall of the first two Dhaka wickets, Al Sahariar and Fahim Muntasir, with just 15 on the board. From there on, though, it was smooth sailing for Dhaka, who reached their victory target in 19.5 overs.Khulna 238 for 4 (Bashar 81, Tushar 69) beat Barisal 157 (Ahmed 49, Bashir 5-32) by 81 runs
ScorecardHabibul Bashar (81) and Tushar Imran (69) powered Khulna to a sizeable total of 238 for 4 from 50 overs after they were put in to bat by Anisur Rehman, the Barisal captain. The two hit three fours and two sixes apiece, and shared a 93-run partnership for the third wicket.Barisal’s run chase got off to a reasonable start when Imran Ahmed (49), added 43 runs with Rashedur Rehman for the first wicket. The fall of Rehman, caught and bowled by Abdur Razzaq, however, triggered off a slide. Wickets fell at regular intervals, and only Nahidul Haq, with 43, provided any substance to the total. Tamim Bashir helped himself to 5 for 32 as Barisal slumped to 157 all out.Rajshahi 223 for 8 (Siddique 43, Rehman 54) beat Sylhet 171 (Parvez 76) by 52 runs
ScorecardAnisur Rehman’s 54, coupled with Junaid Siddique’s 43, was enough to see Rajshahi to 223 for 8 from 45 overs. This ended up being a matchwinning score against Slyhet. Siddique struck five boundaries in his 63-ball stay at the wicket. Sylhet used as many as seven bowlers, but only Tapash Baisya, with 2 for 44 and Enamul Haque Jr, with 2 for 39, troubled the batsmen.Parvez Ahmed, the Sylhet captain, waged a lone battle, making 76 off 90 balls at number three. He struck five boundaries in his innings, more than the rest of his team put together. Wickets were shared all around for the Rajshahi bowlers, but that was not a concern, as Sylhet were all out for 171 in the 43rd over, and lost by 52 runs.

Ben Hollioake will miss next week’s opening one-day international against New Zealand after tests were carried out on his troublesome left knee.The all-rounder, 24, missed the last two ODIs in India because of the injury, which sparked fears that he might be forced out of the reminder of the tour.But to Hollioake’s relief, a scan yesterday revealed no cartilage defect, and he has been told to rest for a week, which rules him out of the first ODI of the five-match series in Christchurch.Hollioake also missed today’s opening warm-up match against a NorthernDistricts XI under the lights of the WestpacTrust Park Stadium.

The optimism, the hope, the expectation. It only lasts about 90 minutes of the opening day for most…

Saturday’s last minute defeat to newly promoted Yeovil Town is of course not the best start to the season, but some fans are overreacting massively to the first game.

The game was not only Steve Lomas’ first competitive game in charge, but realistically no team wants to play a newly promoted side on the first game of the season. They are usually still on a high and have a winning mentality still, there an unknown package in this league.

Look when ‘Wall went to Bristol City first game they were promoted – they went and won 3-0 at Ashton Gate.

Lomas is a novice in management in English football, and he made a couple of mistakes with his line-up. Why start Richard Chaplow, an experienced, competent Championship midfielder on the wing, and play Jimmy Abdou and Josh Wright in the centre?

Wright is a midfielder who can’t tackle, but can’t pass a ball forward, there’s a myth that he’s a “passing midfielder”. On the other hand all Millwall supporters love Jimmy, but he can only do one thing and that’s to defend.

In reality, Nicky Bailey and Richard Chaplow should be our centre midfield pair. A half fit Bailey came on in the second half against Yeovil and was the best player on the pitch, that may show you how good Bailey is, but most likely shows how bad Wright and Jimmy were together.

And Danny Shittu, the man-mountain and hero of last season, looks even slower than last year, it may have been only one game but he looks like he has the turning pace of a cruise liner. Robbo might be a better option this year no fully fit.

Of course it’s not the best start to have to the season, but give the new signings time to gel into the team, we have decent players here now, we just need time for the jigsaw pieces all to fit.

Lomas picked up his first win as manager on Tuesday night after goals from Martyn Woolford and Andy Keogh secured a 2-1 win against AFC Wimbledon in the Capital One Cup. Lomas made seven changes to his team against Yeovil, it seems he stuck to his word after declaring he will give all players a chance.

It also gave the chance for players to shine, Nicky Bailey certainly took up the chance, his second man of the match performance in four days. He seems to be one of the only midfielders we have who seems comfortable on the ball, and seems to know what he’s going to do with the ball before he receives it.

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On a free transfer he seems to be a great signing, and hopefully he’ll be paired with Richard Chaplow in centre midfield. Can be a devastating partnership at this level.

COYL

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	Mohammad Ashraful’s early dismissal, though doubtful, wrecked Bangladesh’s chances of putting up a fight © Getty Images

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has said that Bangladesh could have shown more resolve in chasing a mammoth target of 336 in the second one-day international in Napier yesterday. Bangladesh failed to build on a solid opening stand of 63, losing three wickets for the addition of only five runs and went on the defensive for the rest of the chase. Bangladesh ended on 181 for 6 before rain forced an early end to the match, handing New Zealand a 102-run victory by the D/L method, and the series 2-0.”There was probably a little bit of frustration about the style of play,” Vettori said. “We thought Bangladesh would chase a little bit harder – whenever you chase 330 [sic] you have to take a few risks. If you don’t, you stall and that’s what happened.”Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons said the quick loss of wickets, including that of captain Mohammad Ashraful, was rather unfortunate as it threw the team’s plans off balance.”We had a plan in mind and we were going along according to that plan but we lost three wickets for five runs and the plan changed,” Siddons said. “The batsmen really did not get going after that and we probably lost our biggest strokemakers.”Siddons also backed his batsmen to go for their strokes, despite several instances of experienced players throwing away their wickets in the first two matches. He said a lot of improvement was needed on the bowling front, after each of the New Zealand batsmen enjoyed a good hit in the middle, in particular Jacob Oram ,who clubbed 55 off 31 balls in the slog overs.”If the ball is not swinging or spinning, which it really didn’t today apart from the early overs where I think we bowled really well today, then it is a problem,” he said. “The pace is also not there.”Despite the heavy defeat, Siddons was willing to be patient. “These are young players and it’s going to take time. We are going to suffer some pain, there’s no way round it.”The other topic of discussion was Ashraful’s controversial dismissal, after he spooned a low catch to Ross Taylor at cover. Taylor claimed the catch while Ashraful stood his ground, convinced that it was a bump ball and that prompted the umpires to confer. Vettori backed Taylor’s honesty and the umpires’ decision.”You saw Ross’ reaction,” Vettori said. “He left it in the umpires hands and they made the call. From what I’ve heard it was the right call.”The third and final one-day international will be played in Queenstown on December 31.