Noelle Needham's hockey journey almost ended on her family's cow farm.

When knee injuries and surgeries cut short her playing career at Minnesota State Mankato in 2007, the 21-year-old figured she should try the family business. So she returned home to Elkton, South Dakota, and took out a "beginning farmer" loan. Then she and her mother drove seven-plus hours to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, hand-selected 100 heifers and trucked them back home.

Needham loved life on the ranch, but soon realized that it wasn't going to fulfill her. "I just felt a calling," she says. "I had a hard time not being involved with hockey."

Needham's parents told her to do what made her happy. She sold the heifers.

Needham -- who had been recruited to Shattuck-St. Mary's, the country's top prep hockey program, at age 13 -- started offering private hockey lessons to young players, cold-calling families to ask for the opportunity to work with their sons and daughters. Needham was willing to do anything and go anywhere; if she had a 10 p.m. session in Minnesota and a student wanted to skate there again at 6 a.m., she wasn't above sleeping in her truck. (And she did, spending a handful of nights reclined in her Dodge 1500 Ram.)

Along with a friend, Ashley Munsterman, Needham started a summer camp for girls in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. That grew into Legend Hockey, an elite training and development program they co-founded in 2009, and the Sioux Falls Power, a Tier I club team. When the Power's under-16 boys' team suddenly needed a coach midseason in 2017, Needham stepped behind the bench.

At a tournament in Connecticut later that season, Needham's Sioux Falls team was blowing out an opponent. Ryan Hardy, then a scout with the Boston Bruins and now GM of the USHL's Chicago Steel, was in the stands. "My buddy was coaching the other team," Hardy says. "And Noelle's team was just dominating them. I was like, 'Who is this [coach]? She's impressive.'"

Hardy introduced himself and invited Needham to guest-coach at one of his camps in Chicago. In the summer of 2018, when new Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas was looking to hire a Midwest-based amateur scout, he texted a few hockey people, including Hardy, to ask: Know of any good candidates?

Hardy sent back a list of four men. Then he added another name: Noelle Needham. "This is kind of unique," Hardy wrote to Dubas. "She doesn't have any scouting experience and, of course, she is a woman. But she's great."

"Thanks for all of this information," Dubas wrote back. "Can I get Noelle's phone number?"

The next thing she knew, Needham was taking part in a blind audition -- along with a handful of other candidates -- for a scouting position with the Maple Leafs, one of the NHL's most storied franchises. It was a far cry from the farm.

Although the NHL declares that "hockey is for everyone" during its annual initiative each February to foster inclusiveness, the league has lagged behind the other major North American pro sports when it comes to gender diversity in front offices.

Hockey has broken ground in some ways -- this past January, Kendall Coyne Schofield became the first woman to participate in the NHL's All-Star Weekend skills competition -- and is bringing more female players into the fold. (Hockey is the fastest-growing girls' sport in America, and nearly 200,000 women now play it around the world, up from 170,000 in 2010 -- a 17.6 percent increase.) But that growth hasn't been reflected in the NHL's coaching ranks or player-development roles.

Meanwhile, NFL teams have hired 17 different women as interns or full-time coaches since the Arizona Cardinals made history by bringing Jen Welter on board to work with inside linebackers during training camp in 2015 -- including the two female full-time coaches Tampa Bay hired in March. Seven women have served in coaching or player development roles in the NBA, including Indiana Pacers assistant GM Kelly Krauskopf and Lindsay Gottlieb, the former Pac-12 Coach of the Year whom the Cleveland Cavaliers hired last week as an assistant coach. Three women have worked as assistant GMs for MLB teams and more than 100 work in baseball operations roles. But, as of last summer, the total number of women working in NHL front offices among the league's 31 teams was four.

So when the Maple Leafs hired Needham as an amateur scout last August -- making her the first woman to serve in such a role full time -- and named six-time Olympian Hayley Wickenheiser as their assistant director of player development -- the highest hockey operations role ever held by a woman -- it made waves within the sport. Needham and Wickenheiser joined a staff that already included Meg Popovic, Toronto's director of well-being and performance, and Barb Underhill, a former world champion pair figure skater who serves as a skating consultant to both the Maple Leafs and their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. Every time Toronto players went to the rink last season, they not only interacted with women, but relied on women to help them become better hockey players. Suddenly, the Maple Leafs had as many women working in their front office as all the other teams in the league combined.

It helped that Dubas, 33, the NHL's second-youngest GM, tends to look at things differently. "I just think the more diverse you can make your organization [the better] -- and that's just not a male and female thing," he says. He's quick to emphasize that, "We did not make any of these hires looking for social credit." In fact, the Maple Leafs did not permit Needham to speak to any media before this story, just as they don't allow any other scouts to talk publicly.

Dubas points to Masai Ujiri, his counterpart with the newly crowned NBA champion Toronto Raptors, as an inspiration for his hiring philosophy. Ujiri, a Nigerian immigrant, has championed the advancement of women and spearheaded a speaker series called "She The North" that aims to empower women in sports. The Raptors employ more than a dozen women in their front office.

Dubas also has a background in analytics -- and an affinity for identifying market inefficiencies. "In Toronto, we're confined by the salary cap and we're also confined by the fact that other teams in the league will use their tax situation in their state or city as a reason for why a player should make less playing there," Dubas says. "Because of our taxation in Canada and Ontario, it's incumbent on us to find other areas where we can use our resources to improve the development of our players and improve the offering we can give to players in terms of helping them maximize their potential."

So diversifying makes good business sense.

"Research shows that the more diverse your organization is, the better your decision-making and your operation in general. If you're only hiring white males -- and I'm saying that as a white male -- you're probably leaving a lot on the table in terms of where your organization [is going] and how it can think, and how it can evolve and develop," Dubas said after Needham and Wickenheiser were hired. "I don't think we've gone out and said that we want to hire females only, males only -- anything like that. We want to hire the best candidates."

As a kid growing up in Saskatchewan during the 1980s, Wickenheiser had two dreams: to play for the Edmonton Oilers, and to go to Harvard Medical School. "It was a time when it was kind of OK for a girl to play, but maybe not," she says. There were no girls' teams, so she played with boys and wasn't always welcomed by players or their parents. She often arrived at the rink early, "so nobody would see that a girl was there," she says, and cut her hair short "so I didn't have to hear the abuse."

But she didn't quit -- even after she was cut from one team simply because the coach said he didn't want to deal with the "trouble" of having a girl on his team anymore. At 15, Wickenheiser made her debut for Canada's women's national team. After the 1998 Olympics, then-Philadelphia Flyers GM Bob Clarke called her. "I think you're a good player, but I can help you get better," he said, and invited her to the team's rookie camp. Says Clarke now: "She was probably in the top 10 of the 30 kids we had there as far as skating, shooting, passing, seeing the ice. Every drill she did, she was as good as anybody out there."

In 2003, Wickenheiser signed with a men's team in Finland -- becoming the first woman to play full-time professional hockey in a position other than goalie. She wasn't universally welcomed there, either. Rene Fasel, the International Ice Hockey Federation president, wrote in the organization's newsletter: "I don't think it would be healthy for Hayley, or any other female player, to go into a corner with a player who is determined to deliver a hard check." At 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, Wickenheiser was powerful enough to hold her own against men, but she knew she needed to adjust her game. She and skills coach Darryl Belfry worked on transforming her from a bull on the ice to a spider.

"When I signed in Finland, most people thought it was a joke, and that having a female would make the team worse," Wickenheiser says. "We won the league and moved up to the first division, and I averaged a half a point a game there. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life."

After 23 years on the Canadian women's team and almost a dozen Olympic and world championship gold medals, Wickenheiser retired from professional hockey in 2017 and enrolled at the University of Calgary, where she is studying to become an emergency room doctor.

This summer, Dubas called. Then called again. Then visited Wickenheiser in Calgary. Dubas knew that his players could benefit from having Wickenheiser as a resource, considering the elite level at which she played and the pressure she endured to sustain it.

Before she gave Dubas an answer, Wickenheiser called Clarke for advice. "When other clubs had called her to be a consultant, my opinion was, 'That's a nothing job. Somebody is just trying to make it look like you work for them,'" Clarke says. "Don't get a name and a title and nothing to do."

Wickenheiser made Dubas outline his expectations. He told her that she would work with prospects in the Western Hockey League when they came through Calgary -- watch tape, get to know them, share what she has learned during her storied career. Then she would travel to Toronto a couple of times a month to run practices for the Marlies, meet with players who are rehabbing and evaluate film.

She said yes. Most of her med school lectures are podcasted, so Wickenheiser schedules her visits to Toronto for times when it's not mandatory that she be in class. She downloads five hours of lectures, and listens to them on the flights from Calgary to Toronto.

"There's absolutely no reason why a woman one day won't be a general manager in the NHL, and I hope it's Wickenheiser," Clarke says. "She's starting where every male has to start. You start at the bottom and work your way up. You get better, you learn to work with people, you learn how to do contracts, you learn how to manage the big business, financially. Her judgment on hockey players is not going to be any different than a male's."

As the NHL draft begins on Friday in Vancouver, the Maple Leafs and every other NHL team will be trying to do one thing: acquire the best talent available.

Which is exactly what Dubas was trying to do in that blind audition last summer. The candidates were each given three game tapes of four amateur players. They were asked to file reports to an online system that would keep the bylines anonymous. Dubas wanted to judge the prospective scouts' work on its merits, without being influenced by things like the candidates' gender, appearance, ethnicity and age.

The top scorer? Needham. After she was offered the job and accepted it, Dubas, Leafs president Brendan Shanahan and countless others from the organization called to congratulate her. She received a box in the mail with a computer. She was given a brief training on how to format a scouting report and how to schedule her time. There wasn't much else in the way of instruction. Needham was simply told to trust her instincts: tell us what you see, not what you think you should see. After all, that's why she got the job.

"It gave me a lot of confidence, the way management handled it, that they were interested in me just for what I can offer to the organization," she says.

In 2017, Needham became the first female coach to take a U16 team to the USA Hockey National Championships. The Power have now made it there for three consecutive years. When she founded Legends Hockey, her goal was to develop a hockey culture in South Dakota, which until recently was relatively nonexistent. Needham wanted to help send the first South Dakotan to the NHL. Little did she know it would be her.

In addition to scouting for the Leafs, Needham continues to run her company and coach the U16 boys. She's typically on the road a few times a week, crisscrossing the Midwest to scout USHL games.

Often at games -- whether she's coaching her own team, or sitting in the stands scouting, wearing Maple Leafs gear -- women will come up to Needham to introduce themselves. "Usually it's mothers of players, and they say 'That's so cool you're doing this,' or they want to talk to me about leadership," she says. Needham's take? If she can inspire one more woman to take on a bigger role in her workplace, wherever it is, then it's all worth it.

Of course, she is used to being the only woman around. Even the members of the Leafs' front-office sorority are scattered. Popovic and Underhill are both based in Toronto, and have gotten to know each other. They talk with Wickenheiser when she visits. Needham, by virtue of her job, is often operating solo. Sometimes the team's Minnesota scout, Scott Bell, will accompany her to games -- but more than often, she's in the stands alone.

During a scouting trip earlier this year, Needham went downstairs to talk to a coach outside the locker room. The security guard stopped her. "I'm sorry," he said. "Mothers of players on the team aren't allowed down here."

"I'm not even old enough to be any of these kids' mothers," says Needham, 32. She calmly offered to show her NHL ID badge, and the guard apologized. He let her in.

"The world is changing, and there are opportunities now that there weren't when I was a young girl," Wickenheiser says. "But if you're really passionate about what you do and you're confident, that's what people respect: dedication and confidence. And if you are dedicated enough, the doors will open."

Needham has learned to channel her inner confidence and charge through those open doors. Back when she first took over coaching the U16 boys, she felt some trepidation. "I was more nervous to recruit," she says. "Would parents send their kids to play for a female in this space?"

She decided that she had to trust her instincts and experience. She learned that 15-to-16-year-old boys -- like anyone -- benefit from positive affirmation. "I'm not soft on them by any means," she says. "But realizing that, and how to challenge them, it's just been a really good fit. They're at the age where they're not too cool to listen. I've never had an issue with disrespect. I've never had an issue with them not listening to me."

And that confidence in her skills and hard-won expertise has carried over into scouting.

"Me being a female?" Needham says. "It has never been a thing at all."

Spain's World Cup winning striker Fernando Torres announced his retirement from football on Friday, bringing an end to a glittering 18-year career.

I have something very important to announce. After 18 exciting years, the time has come to put an end to my football career. Next Sunday, the 23rd at 10:00AM, local time in Japan, I will have a press conference in Tokyo to explain all the details.See you there. pic.twitter.com/WrKnvRTUIu

— Fernando Torres (@Torres) June 21, 2019

Torres, who scored more than 100 goals across two spells at his boyhood club Atletico Madrid, also played for Premier League sides Liverpool and Chelsea and Italy's AC Milan.

He left Atletico to join Japan's Sagan Tosu in July last year but has struggled to hit the heights of his best days at Atletico and Liverpool at the J-League side.

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"After 18 exciting years, the time has come to put an end to my football career," the 35-year-old wrote on Twitter, adding that he would hold a news conference in Japan on Sunday to explain his decision.

Torres made his Spain debut in 2003 and scored the winning goal in the 2008 European Championship final against Germany before helping his country win their first World Cup in 2010.

He was the top scorer at Euro 2012 as Spain successfully defended their title and scored 38 goals in 110 appearances for his country in total, making him Spain's country's third-highest goalscorer behind David Villa (59) and Raul (44).

Torres' greatest moments

Torres enjoyed his the most prolific spell at Liverpool between 2007 and 2011, netting 81 goals in 142 games across all competitions.

He moved to Chelsea from Liverpool for a then British record fee of £50 million ($63.49m), and won the FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League with the London club.

Crystal Palace right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka has had his head turned by interest from Manchester United, England under-21 manager Aidy Boothroyd has said.

United have had a £35 million initial bid plus £5m add-ons turned down by Palace and the defender would reportedly cost United between £50m and £60m, according to ESPN sources.

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And Wan-Bissaka, who scored an own goal in England's opening game of the European under-21 Championships, has been distracted by the proposed move, Boothroyd told reporters at the tournament.

"When that speculation is flying around it is bound to turn your head," Boothroyd said.

"For a young player, all he knows is Crystal Palace academy and Crystal Palace. It would be daft not to say that in some way he must think about it.

"What I will say is, because he doesn't say too much, you don't get to find out too much. He keeps things to himself and is a very private guy."

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Wan-Bissaka, 21, who has three years remaining on his Palace contract, started 35 Premier League games for the club last season, winning their player of the year award.

Manchester United have shown interest in young British players so far this window, having signed winger Daniel James from Swansea for £15m.

Chelsea expect to finalise the appointment of Frank Lampard as their new manager next week, sources have told ESPN FC.

Lampard has been identified by club owner Roman Abramovich as the preferred choice to take over from Maurizio Sarri, unveiled as the new Juventus coach on Thursday.

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Chelsea are prepared to pay the £4 million needed to release Lampard from his contract with Derby, but the Championship club's desire to secure a replacement before sanctioning his departure has slowed the process.

Lampard is expected to sign a three-year contract and be accompanied by former Chelsea academy coach Jody Morris and long-time fitness coach Chris Jones.

Derby had wanted to keep Lampard after a positive first season in which he led a vibrant young team to the Championship playoff final, and are reported to have offered him a contract extension.

Lampard will work closely with former Chelsea teammate Petr Cech, announced as the club's new technical and performance adviser on Friday.

Cech will provide advice on all football and performance matters, work to improve the pathway from the academy to the first-team squad and travel with the senior side home and away.

Another member of Chelsea's first Premier League title-winning team, Claude Makelele, has also been linked with a role helping to look after loan players, while academy coach Joe Edwards will be promoted.

Dennis Silk, the former chairman of the Test and County Cricket Board, has died at the age of 87.

Silk, who chaired the board between 1994 and 1996, was one of many outstanding batsmen to come out of Cambridge in the 1950s, and were it not for the demands of his career in teaching, would undoubtedly have had a longer career in the game.

He made his debut for Cambridge University in 1952, and also played for Somerset from 1956 to 1960 - although just 33 of his 83 first-class appearances came for his county. He toured four times with MCC, twice as captain (North America and New Zealand) and was subsequently president of the club between 1992 and 1994.

Between 1968 and 1991, Silk served as warden (headmaster) of Radley - the alma mater of the former England captain Andrew Strauss - and was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the outstanding headmasters of his generation.

Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman have been found to be in positions of conflict of interest for their roles as commentator and the positions they hold in Indian cricket. That is the ruling of the BCCI's ethics officer Justice (Retd) DK Jain, who has given them two weeks to choose between the two roles.

Justice Jain was reviewing complaints filed by members of the public against Ganguly and Laxman. Another complaint, against Sachin Tendulkar, alleged a conflict between his roles as mentor of Mumbai Indians in the IPL and as a member of the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee. However, during the hearing of the case, Tendulkar submitted that he had decided not to be part of any BCCI committee, and had informed the board about it. Following this disclosure, Justice Jain ruled there was no issue of conflict and no need to investigate further.

In the case of Ganguly and Laxman, having heard both the complainants as well as the former players in person, and upon studying the BCCI's constitution, Justice Jain concluded that the two men could hold only one post at any given point of time. "That is the spirit of the constitution, the concept of one man one post," Justice Jain told ESPNcricinfo. "And they are holding more than one post… therefore there is a conflict of interest as defined under the constitution."

"That is the spirit of the constitution, the concept of one man one post. And they are holding more than one post… therefore there is a conflict of interest as defined under the constitution." JUSTICE JAIN

Ganguly and Laxman were deemed to have breached Rule 38 (4) of the BCCI constitution, which states that a person cannot hold two positions at the same point out of 16 listed. The clause says: "It is clarified that no individual is allowed to occupy more than one of the following posts at a single point of time except where prescribed under these rules."

The 16 positions are: Player (current), selector/member of cricket committee, team official, commentator, match official, administrator/office bearer, electoral officer, ombudsman & ethics officer, auditor, any person who is governance, management or employee of a franchisee, member of a standing committee, CEO & managers, office Bearer of a Member (state association), service provider (legal, financial etc.), contractual entity (broadcast, security, contractor etc.) and owner of cricket academy.

Ganguly is the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, advisor at Delhi Capitals in the IPL, and also a TV commentator. Laxman is a mentor at Sunrisers Hyderabad and a TV commentator.

"I have only interpreted provisions of the rule which were framed pursuant to adoption of the constitution after the Lodha Commission's recommendations (were accepted by the court)," Justice Jain said.

He said that both Ganguly and Laxman can challenge the order and take it up with the BCCI. It is understood that the BCCI's legal team is studying the order.

If either or both Ganguly and Laxman carry on performing both roles, Justice Jain said it was for the BCCI to take a call on the path forward. "It is the job of the BCCI to first interpret and then enforce constitution and the rules. They are also bound. They are also the creature of the constitution," he said.

Big picture

Remember Bristol, May 28? Seems like a long time ago, doesn't it? In their final warm-up game before the World Cup, West Indies gave everyone a taste of what they could be at their best. A fast start, courtesy Chris Gayle. A hold-the-innings-together hundred from Shai Hope. Big hitting from almost everyone else, all the way down to No. 10, with Andre Russell in particularly unforgiving mood. A total well north of 400. Pace and bounce from a five-man seam attack, and eventually a 91-run win.

All this against one of the more fancied sides going into the World Cup, New Zealand.

Three weeks on, West Indies have one win from five matches in the tournament proper, and are falling behind in the race - if it can still be called that - for semi-final spots. Much like Afghanistan's Rashid Khan, Russell hasn't managed to make the switch from bossing a T20 league to doing likewise in a 50-overs tournament, with further complications thrown in by a pair of utterly wonky knees. His World Cup has been a microcosm of his team's tournament; too much hitting, too little batting, slow on the field, and no real Plan B beyond the short ball.

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If West Indies are to make any kind of push - even a heroic failed one - they'll need to show there's more to their game. Their last two round-robin fixtures are against Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, but they could be out of top-four contention before that if they don't find a way past New Zealand and India.

New Zealand? They're still unbeaten, and they've come through a couple of cliffhangers to stay that way. They are more than likely to make the semi-finals, but they know they can't relax against West Indies - who remain a dangerous team for all their flaws - especially given that they are yet to meet two of their fellow top-four favourites, Australia and England.

Form guide

New Zealand WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
West Indies LLLWL

In the spotlight

He made an unbeaten half-century in New Zealand's tournament-opener against Sri Lanka, and got off to a couple of starts thereafter, but Martin Guptill hasn't really lit up this World Cup. West Indies, however, will want to get rid of him as soon as possible. While they've undergone plenty of personnel changes since 2015, Gayle, Russell and their captain Jason Holder will remember all too well Guptill's 237 against them in the quarter-final in Wellington.

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Evin Lewis hasn't featured in all of West Indies' matches, but after a quiet start he found some form with a 67-ball 70 against Bangladesh. West Indies' lower-order hitters become more dangerous the less time they're required to bat, and if Lewis clicks alongside either Gayle or Hope, he could set them up to do what they do best.

Team news

New Zealand seem unlikely to make any changes, unless they replace the out-of-sorts Colin Munro with Henry Nicholls at the top of the order.

New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Colin Munro, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Tom Latham (wk), 6 James Neesham, 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Trent Boult

ALSO READ: Colin de Grandhomme to the fore as New Zealand's 'X-factor player'

West Indies could bring back the offspinner Ashley Nurse if the pitch looks a little dry, given the number of left-handers in New Zealand's top seven. With Andre Russell unlikely to play, according to captain Holder, Nurse could slot in at No. 8.

West Indies (probable): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Shai Hope (wk), 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Ashley Nurse, 9 Shannon Gabriel/Kemar Roach, 10 Sheldon Cottrell, 11 Oshane Thomas

Pitch and conditions

The two matches so far at Old Trafford have produced first-innings totals of 336 and 397, so plenty of runs can be expected once more. Cloudy skies are forecast for Saturday - though rain isn't expected - and there might, as a result, be some new-ball swing, particularly for Trent Boult and Matt Henry.

Strategy punt

• What should West Indies do if they win the toss? New Zealand have batted second in all of their matches at the World Cup so far, and their biggest target has been 245, against Bangladesh. They've shown a bit of vulnerability in a couple of these small chases, so West Indies have two options: back themselves to post a big total on what has been a flat pitch so far, and put New Zealand under scoreboard pressure; or bowl first and expose New Zealand to a challenge they haven't faced in a while.

• Since scoring an unbeaten 58 against Sri Lanka, Colin Munro has made 24, 22 and 9, and has twice fallen to the short ball, against Afghanistan and South Africa. Given West Indies' propensity to bowl fast and short, New Zealand could replace Munro with Henry Nicholls, a strong back-foot player who has been in excellent form, across formats, in the months leading up to the World Cup.

• West Indies' fast bowlers have pitched 52% of their deliveries at this World Cup either "short" or "short of good length", according to ESPNcricinfo's data. That's significantly higher than the overall figure (before the England-Sri Lanka match) of 43% for all fast bowlers at the tournament. Given the dimensions of Old Trafford, with long straight boundaries and short square ones, West Indies might need to find a Plan B.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand have won four of their seven World Cup matches against West Indies, including the three most recent meetings.

• Trent Boult has an exceptional ODI record against West Indies: 17 wickets in seven matches at an average of 15.58, with a best of 7 for 34.

• Tom Latham averages 33.00 in ODIs, but that figure drops to 27.00 when he keeps wicket.

GMT 1520 The preview was updated to include news of Andre Russell's fitness.

The entire board of Zimbabwe Cricket has been suspended with immediate effect by the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC), a government parastatal and the governing organisation of all registered sporting associations in the country. ZC acting managing director Givemore Makoni has also been suspended from his position.

David Ellman-Brown, Ahmed Ibrahim, Charlie Robertson, Cyprian Mandenge, Robertson Chinyengetere, Sekesai Nhokwara and Duncan Frost have been announced as an interim committee to run cricket in the country.

The SRC's move came a week after it issued a directive that ZC's elective annual general meeting be suspended, alleging complaints about the nomination process and the violation of ZC's constitution, as well as "various other controversies". ZC ignored the directive, and Tavengwa Mukuhlani was re-elected for another four-year term following the meeting, leading the SRC to invoke its powers under the terms of the SRC Act.

More to follow…

If you're worried about Rashid Khan in the aftermath of the shellacking he got at the hands of England, don't be, says the Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib.

Rashid was the chief victim of Eoin Morgan's brutal, six-laden 148 on Tuesday, copping figures of 110 for no wickets from nine overs. Through the course of that innings, he conceded three fours and a whopping 11 sixes. One of the best performers on the franchise T20 circuit, though, Rashid will not let those figures torment him, said Naib. Against India, he will also be bowling to batsmen he is familiar with, having played three seasons of the IPL.

"It happens to every player - you face this kind of bad day," Naib said of Rashid's performance on Tuesday. "Rashid is not an easy bowler to face. Even we can't play him in the nets even though we know him, so he's very difficult. The credit goes to the England side who played really well, but I think Rashid is now one of the strongest players mentally, so he learns everything very quickly, and also learns from mistakes.

ALSO READ: The pall over Rashid Khan's World Cup

"I saw him today and he's totally different. This is a good sign for me and the team. He's not thinking about what happened. He's just focusing on the present and future, which is the good thing about Rashid."

Although Rashid is the most high-profile example, he is not the only Afghanistan player having a poor World Cup. The team, in general, has performed worse than expected, and though never tipped to be one of the semi-finalists, they have now suffered three big defeats in succession.

In an interview with Mid-Day, Rashid put the team's performance down partly to inexperience.

"I don't think we prepared that well for a tournament like this," he said. "We should have won at least one or two games; we had the opportunity to do so, but we lacked experience. Hopefully, we will get that with time. All teams have come here with big preparations. We will utilise this experience when we play these teams again.

"For example, it was our first ODI against South Africa, we played New Zealand after four years. If we play against teams after four years, we will lack understanding. We have played against Pakistan before in the Asia Cup, so we had a fair idea. In the World Cup warm-up match, we won against them. So, the more you play against them, the better."

Rashid would not be drawn directly on the other controversies surrounding Afghanistan at present - particularly regarding the alleged board interference with the way the team is run. He had, however, been publicly critical of the decision to remove Asghar Afghan from the captaincy less than two months before the start of the World Cup.

"When the captain was changed, yes we made our anger public. I did not do that to support our previous captain or anybody else. I did it for Afghanistan cricket. If someone is trying to spoil my Afghanistan cricket, then it does not matter who it is," he said. "Cricket is the only thing that brings a smile on people's faces. I wanted to say that it was not the right time to take such a big decision - just before the World Cup.

"When I am on the field, I don't think I play for my captain or for my cricket board. I play only for Afghanistan. No one is important than my country."