Steady Bowes tonne in warmup
CANTERBURY captain and opener Chad Bowes dominated the first day of the warmup match between his side and Otago in Alexandra.
Otago had a bad end to its day, losing two wickets in as many balls, and will resume today on five for two wickets.
Bowes compiled more than half his side’s runs on a day where scoring was not overly brisk.
The former South African under19 captain scored 152 and batted for almost the whole day, as his side made it through to 287 for nine at its turn at bat.
Otago faced five overs at the end of play, and openers Hamish Rutherford and Brad Wilson were looking solid. But Rutherford was dismissed by Andrew Hazeldine in the penultimate over of the day, and Josh TasmanJones was then bowled first ball.
Wilson will resume with Cam Hawkins this morning.
Bowes has a liking for Otago — he scored an unbeaten century in a one day game against the southern side in January this year.
He accumulated rather than dominated on the outer ground at Molyneux Park, bringing up his 100 in 165 balls, though he hit twothirds of his runs in boundaries on the way to three figures.
He pushed on past 150 and then walked off undefeated with Canterbury at 283 for six.
Otago worked hard all day. Mark Craig, who was captaining the side, took three wickets in the top order, with new wicketkeeper Mitch Renwick picking up a stumping.
Canterbury was struggling at 142 for five, but Bowes got together with Theo van Woerkom and the pair added 76 together.
Hazeldine then chipped in with 35 to help get Canterbury further advanced.
But Christi Viljoen took three wickets in an over to prevent Canterbury from getting 300.
Otago bowled 92 overs, with spinners Craig and Michael Rippon sending down 52 between them.
Craig, who has has a poor injury run in recent seasons, would have been happy to have bowled 30 overs yesterday and gone at just over two an over.
The second day of the threeday game should go ahead today, though occasional rain is forecast this afternoon. Otago will look to bat long into the day to amass time in the middle.
MELBOURNE: Kevin Roberts, the face of Cricket Australia during toxic negotiations for a new pay deal with players, will succeed longserving James Sutherland as the board’s CEO later this month.
A former first class batsman for New South Wales with a strong corporate background, the 46yearold Roberts has been Sutherland’s deputy for a number of years since joining the CA board as an independent director in 2012.
Roberts beat strong candidates, including board director John Harnden, who organised the successful 2015 World Cup cohosted with New Zealand, and former New South Wales cricket chairman John Warn.
He takes over CA at a sensitive time, amid reviews into the board’s governance and the culture of the men’s team, whose reputation was left in tatters by the balltampering scandal in South Africa.
A former adidas executive, Roberts is best known to the public as CA’s lead negotiator in pay talks with players that grew increasingly poisoned and led to the boycott of a tour last year.
CA’s insistence on ending a 20year revenuesharing model proved a colossal miscalculation, and players ended up refusing to deal with Roberts.
They were only coaxed back to the table once Sutherland joined the talks late and agreed to continue the revenueshare.
Roberts told a media conference in Melbourne yesterday he would be paying players’ union boss Alistair Nicholson ‘‘the respect’’ of a phone call later in the day.
But he added that plenty of relationshipbuilding had already been occurring behind the scenes.
‘‘There’s no doubt it was a challenging situation,’’ he said of the pay dispute.
‘‘But we move forward, we learn and we make commitments as to how we grow the game and how we develop relationships.
‘‘I’ll head up to the UAE (United Arab Emirates) to meet with the Australian men’s team and coaching staff and also catch up with the women’s team,’’ he added.
Tim Painecaptained Australia is set to play Pakistan in a twotest series in the Gulf nation starting next week.
The Australian Cricketers’ Association said its chairman, Greg Dyer, wished Roberts well on his appointment, but his comments suggested lingering distrust between players and the board.
‘‘This is a critical time for Australian cricket,’’ Dyer said in a statement.
‘‘The cricket public need to reconnect with the game and this will begin with CA being open, fair and transparent in order to regain their trust.
‘‘The on and off field events of the past 18 months have created an expectation that a number of things will need to change.
‘‘Just as the players have been held accountable, we also expect that CA will be fully accountable in taking the difficult steps required to restore the reputation of the game.’’
Sutherland, in charge since 2001, announced in June he had given CA a year’s notice of his intention to step down, but Roberts will formally take over the role later this month when confirmed at the board’s annual general meeting. — Reuters