New South Wales and Western Australia will play a Sheffield Shield game at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln, ahead of the Test series between Australia and New Zealand

Daniel Brettig02-Feb-2016Back in October, the New Zealand touring team was hosted for a tour match at Blacktown Oval to Sydney’s west – if “hosted” is the right word. The ground staff had been unable to grow grass after the football season, leaving a pitch of rolled mud that was at first a road before growing progressively more treacherous.Fearing injuries to their batsmen before the first Test, New Zealand pressed successfully for the match to be abandoned, and made a speedy exit to Brisbane. The absurdity of the episode was only enhanced by the fact that Cricket Australia had scheduled a Sheffield Shield match to be held at New Zealand Cricket’s high performance centre in Lincoln by way of preparation for the return trip, and that the centre’s curator was at Blacktown that week discussing facilities with Cricket NSW.Four months on, and there will be no “get square” on the outskirts of Christchurch. The pitch for the Shield fixture between NSW and Western Australia will not suffer for lack of grass coverage, and nor will it force an early abandonment. The flexibility of New Zealand to allow an event without precedent in cricket history – a domestic match played on the shores of an imminent Test match opponent – is rare in an age of administrators protecting hometown results, and may yet have other flow-on benefits for the nation across the Tasman.The concept was first discussed as New Zealand and Australia pieced together a new bilateral agreement in the afterglow of last year’s World Cup. Cricket Australia argued there was insufficient time amid a looming World Twenty20 for the originally scheduled three Tests and a warm-up match, and New Zealand countered that a revival of the dormant Chappell-Hadlee ODI series would be advantageous. The Sheffield Shield match was tossed up as a compromise for cricketers not part of the 50-over series.”The scheduling is a significant jigsaw puzzle at the best of times,” CA head of operations Sean Cary told ESPNcricinfo. “But with the lead-up to the World Twenty20 and Australia needing to play India at home, New Zealand in New Zealand, South Africa away before the T20 World Cup, we had to jockey between the three countries to alter the FTP slightly to fit everything in.”The New Zealand tour match came about because we’d changed the original schedule for a three-Test tour to two Tests with ODIs in a shorter space of time. That meant we didn’t really have enough time to play a fully-fledged tour match before the Test series, so in part of the negotiations around additional matches for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series we floated with NZC the idea of playing a Shield match in New Zealand in lieu of the tour match.”We chose a NSW home match v WA because a large proportion of the current Test squad comes from those two states.”As it has turned out, only Peter Nevill, Nathan Lyon and Adam Voges will be taking part among members of the Test side, while Joe Burns, Jackson Bird, James Pattinson, Peter Sidle and Chadd Sayers must be content with a Shield match for Queensland on the eastern seaboard. The likes of Steven Smith, David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh and Usman Khawaja are part of the ODI series.Even so, the fixture is providing a chance for further cross-pollination between the administrations of the two countries. “Essentially its a NSW home match, so they operationally take their structure from Sydney to Christchurch,” Cary said. “NZC have supported in that they are match managing the contest. There are some little bits and pieces to fine tune like online scoring and that side of it, we need to do a bit of work ourselves with NZC to make sure everything looks and feels as if it’s being played in Australia … but essentially it’s a NSW home game.The pitch in Blacktown, where New Zealand’s tour game was abandoned on their tour of Australia•Getty Images

“NZC are responsible for the wicket. In our pre-tour visit I met the curator, I went out to the ground, he showed me which wicket is being used, it’s right in the centre of the block. They’ve not played any cricket on it this summer until that Shield match so it’s going to be in pristine condition, and the curators these days have a lot of pride in their work. They’ll produce as best quality wicket they possibly can.”As for the Blacktown episode, Cary said there was a strong degree of understanding among the New Zealand ground staff for the problems faced at by those responsible for the ground at the time. He also conceded it had been CA’s error to have the tour game played in Sydney rather than in Brisbane, where Allan Border Field sat unused at the same time the Blacktown match was called off.”There’ll be no tit-for-tat there,” Cary said. “We’re first to acknowledge unfortunately we didn’t make the right decision in terms of venue selection for that Blacktown game. We apologised profusely and gave the best possible solution for New Zealand after that. Funnily enough the curator at Lincoln was actually at Blacktown at that time because they’d been invited over to see what NSW had done with their indoor centre and training set-up and providing their own information.”He saw the situation and was very much feeling sorry for the curator because he knew he didn’t have much to play with in terms of a four-day wicket. They were sharing knowledge about the indoor nets for all seasons that New Zealand cricket are starting to prepare, and they were sharing that knowledge with Cricket NSW.”What is clear about this fixture and its lead-up is that relationships are building between the two countries that may be useful in future. The concept of New Zealand-based Big Bash League teams has been touted in recent times, and such a possibility will be more realistic for all the information sharing that has gone on over the past year or so.”Because of the relationship the curators built up through the World Cup being hosted in both countries, we had the New Zealand curator group here and our curator group went to New Zealand over the two years leading into the World Cup,” Cary said. “They’ve built relationships, they share knowledge and everyone gets along well.”From a high performance perspective it gives guys opportunities to get a taste for international cricket, they travel to another country, they have to go through all the rigmarole of customs and getting acclimatised and all those things. So it helps our developing cricketers, and also shows we can share knowledge and experience in an operational sense and hopefully learn from each other and be better at putting on cricket in our respective countries.”Lincoln’s quiet surrounds will feel a long way from the hustle and bustle of the BBL, but it will also be very distant from those chaotic scenes at Blacktown. New Zealand’s generosity to Australia in this case should not be forgotten.

The ICC has commenced sale of tickets on its website for the World T20 in India, with less than two weeks for the event to begin

Arun Venugopal24-Feb-2016The ICC has begun the sale of tickets for the World T20 in India on its website, with less than two weeks for the event to begin. The first phase of the sale, which went live at 12 pm IST on February 24, made tickets available for matches in Bangalore, Chennai, Dharamsala, Kolkata and Mohali, but excluded those featuring India, the semi-finals and the final of the men’s and women’s events. The second phase of the sale – for matches in Mumbai, Delhi and Nagpur – will begin at 12pm IST on February 26.Tickets for seven “highly sought after” matches – four India games, the semi-finals and the final – will be sold online through a lottery system, where buyers need to indicate their preferred match after registering themselves. They will then be moved to a draw where the winners will be chosen through an automated process following which they will receive a payment link to complete the booking. The window to register for the lottery will be open only for seven days from February 25. Only two tickets can be purchased per person for India matches, the semi-finals and the final, while for other games a maximum of six tickets per person is allowed.The BCCI appointed as the ticketing agency for the event, and said the entire ticketing process was “monitored and audited by a reputed auditing agency.”A member of the organising committee told ESPNcricinfo that the schedule for the sale of tickets over-the-counter for all matches – including India’s and the knockouts – would be announced by the respective hosting centres. He said the lottery system was to streamline the high demand for tickets.”We had to do lottery system, otherwise when a traditional ticket counter opens up, some 20,000 people queue up,” the official said. “The first 10,000 get tickets and then there is a lathi charge. We have to move away from that culture.”If you put tickets online on first-come-first-serve basis, there will be some 10,000 people who click at 12. After 12:05 pm, the entire system becomes redundant. The traffic for these high-priority games is huge, so everyone must get a fair opportunity.”When ESPNcricinfo accessed the website at 12:01 pm there was a queue of 5907 and it took our staffer 12 minutes to reach the top of the queue. After she selected her match of choice there was another queue of 931 where the waiting time was about two minutes. The whole transaction was completed in 15 minutes.While ticket sales for previous World T20s had commenced three to six months ahead of the event, the current edition has had a number of delays. The ICC had earlier refused to be drawn into any criticism of the ticketing process, stating it would be “inappropriate” to make comparisons. The organising committee member attributed the delay to a combination of factors, including the uncertainty over the status of Delhi as a venue.”The schedule was launched only on December 19 (sic December 11), and only after that our work starts,” he said. “We have to start pricing separately for women’s games, men’s games, the semi-finals and final. Once the ticketing agency is finalised you will have to do backend mapping. Delhi has obviously been a contributing factor for the delay. Till 10 days ago I didn’t know if I had to push those games to some other venue.”The official said other hosting nations in the past had been able to put tickets up for sale early because of the ICC announcing the fixtures “well in advance.” He also pointed to the logistical issues of hosting matches at eight venues – previous editions of the World T20 had only three venues. “As much as it looks like a T20 format, look at the complexity of the whole tournament. This is the first time we are doing women’s and men’s matches together, and we have double-headers,” he said. However, the last three editions of the World T20 had men’s and women’s games together.While such delays hurt the travelling fan the most, the official said ticket sales were almost entirely driven by local public. “Look at this way, India as a destination … it has always been local sale which chews up into the entire volume than people coming from outside,” he said. “That’s not a reason [for the delay], but it’s a comfort in some way.”

South Australia will host their first Sheffield Shield final in 20 years after a Cameron White rearguard secured Victoria the most unlikely of draws to foil New South Wales

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Mar-2016
Scorecard Nathan Lyon finished with a match haul of five wickets•Getty Images

South Australia will host their first Sheffield Shield final in 20 years after a Cameron White rearguard secured the most unlikely of draws to foil New South Wales in the last match of the regular season at Traeger Park in Alice Springs.Victoria faded in the second half of the season to surrender a vast lead at the top of the Shield table to a fast finishing SA, but White’s performance – with help from Scott Boland – denied NSW their own home final, after the Blues seemed certain winners early on the final day.White, who has spent time out of the Victoria side over the past two seasons as his domestic career seemed to be winding down, played the most stubborn of innings. This meant Victoria were lifted out of a deep hole, which had worsened from the unpromising overnight score of 3 for 20.When Victoria captain Matthew Wade was pinned lbw by Nathan Lyon at 5 for 56, White and the lower order were left with the faint hope of surviving no fewer than 74.2 overs to secure a draw and a place in the final.However White was not disheartened, and a stand of 62 in 24 overs with Dan Christian took the Bushrangers somewhat closer before the allrounder fell to Lyon’s wiles.The tall paceman Chris Tremain then offered staunch support for a further 20 overs, and took Victoria to tea with four precious wickets in hand.A second new ball loomed on resumption, and Trent Copeland used it effectively, coaxing Tremain to drag the first delivery he faced after the interval onto the stumps.From that position the Blues looked to be favourites, but Boland steadied after a nervy start to provide vital support as White proved more or less impassable at the other end.NSW tried no fewer than seven bowlers including the captain Nic Maddinson and Ed Cowan, but could not find a way to disturb White’s concentration, nor his sturdily straight bat.Boland’s sense of security grew, and in the closing overs White even allowed himself the extravagance of a late flurry to reach a most deserved hundred. Having led the Shield table for most of the season, the Bushrangers ultimately stumbled over the line.Their reward will be a final match up against a young SA team, that has confounded expectations plenty of times already this season, and now have the advantage of needing only a draw to secure the Shield, as they did in 1996 by a mere one wicket against Western Australia.

Suriname’s withdrawal from the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 due to violations of player-eligibility guidelines was the culmination of a five-month investigation sparked by documents submitted by Vanuatu Cricket Association president Mark Stafford

Peter Della Penna04-Mar-2016Suriname’s withdrawal from the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 due to violations of player-eligibility guidelines was the culmination of a five-month investigation sparked by documents submitted by Vanuatu Cricket Association president Mark Stafford. According to an ICC statement announcing Suriname’s withdrawal from Division 5, disciplinary charges were brought against the Surinaamse Cricket Bond with respect to player-eligibility regulations following the ICC’s own investigation into the matter.”We believe the material we have collated is more than sufficient to create a ‘reasonable suspicion’ that breaches of the Regulations have occurred and that the Head of Legal should carry out a detailed investigation in which copies of all passports, entry visas, employment records, playing records and related documents should be furnished to the Head of Legal to enable him to verify the claims made as to eligibility,” Stafford wrote to ICC head of legal Iain Higgins in a 15-page document on October 7, a copy of which has been obtained by ESPNcricinfo; the document was submitted along with a 19-page supplementary evidence document.Vanuatu had finished third after losing to eventual champions Suriname in a semi-final at WCL Division 6, held between September 7 and 13 in Essex, and Suriname was promoted to Division 5 at Vanuatu’s expense. Following Suriname’s withdrawal, Vanuatu will now replace Suriname at Division 5, which will be played from May 21-28 in Jersey.Stafford’s letter on behalf of the VCA included detailed notes from Vanuatu’s own investigation and asked for Higgins and the ICC to take the matter further with their own investigation. Stafford’s submission cast doubts pertaining to the eligibility of at least six members of Suriname’s squad including star allrounder Wasim Haslim, WCL Division 6 leading wicket-taker Muneshwar Chris Patandin, and Player of the Tournament Gavin Singh, who all originally hail from neighbouring Guyana.The ICC announcement claims that the SCB has now accepted that “it failed in its duty to ensure the provision of accurate residency information to the ICC in respect of a number of players.” Prior to participating in any ICC tournaments in the future, the SCB “will be required to satisfy to the ICC that it has put in place robust processes for maintaining accurate residency records and ensuring the compliance of all Suriname teams with the player eligibility regulations.”According to ICC eligibility guidelines, non-citizens must be residents of the country they are aiming to represent for a minimum of 183 days per year in the four years prior to the start of a tournament in order to qualify. Much of the evidence compiled and submitted are links to scorecards from various club matches played by the players outside of Suriname, demonstrating their participation in club seasons in the UK, Guyana, Canada and the USA.Stafford’s letter made a case that the evidence demonstrates the improbability of each player being able to fly back and forth to Suriname in between matches during the club cricket season, therefore reducing the likelihood that they satisfied the 183-day residency requirement. The scorecard evidence was also complemented by other documents including numerous time and location stamped social media posts made by the players or their family members showing them consistently outside Suriname for lengthy periods of time, as well as public property records showing players owning and operating residences and businesses in the USA.Another point raised by Stafford is that ICC eligibility criteria also states a player needs play in “50% of the domestic league matches that his club was scheduled to play within the relevant domestic structure in any 3 of the preceding 5 domestic league seasons”. Vanuatu’s letter contends that a traditional season runs for 15-20 weeks but that Suriname allegedly manipulated this by scheduling a five-team round-robin domestic tournament in which each team played four games, meaning that a player would only have to play two games in Suriname to meet the 50% stipulation.Stafford wrote that concerns over the eligibility of many of Suriname’s players were brought to his attention prior to the start of the Division 6 tournament. Stafford served as the team’s tour manager at the tournament and writes that Vanuatu team management tried to raise the issue with ICC officials at an ICC technical meeting on September 6, the night before the first match of the tournament, but says that his attempt was unsuccessful.The VCA’s 19-page supplementary letter with appendices also states that they received supporting evidence from Botswana Cricket Association, whose national side also played at Division 6, to demonstrate that Suriname fell foul of the eligibility rules. Among the other pieces of supporting evidence were press conference and interview transcripts from cricket officials in the Nickerie district of Suriname, who claimed that local players were losing interest after being passed over in favor of Guyanese players that were suspected of being ineligible to represent Suriname due to their foreign residency.

Rob Newton and Steven Crook hit centuries to bat Northamptonshire to a draw on the final day of the County Championship match with Gloucestershire at Bristol

ECB Reporters Network25-May-2016
ScorecardSteven Crook played a defiant innings at No. 7•Getty Images

Rob Newton and Steven Crook hit centuries to bat Northamptonshire to a draw on the final day of the County Championship match with Gloucestershire at Bristol. Newton, unbeaten on 58 overnight, went on to make 108, off 234 balls with 18 fours, while Crook hit 103 not out before Gloucestershire called off their bowlers in the evening session.The visitors closed on 399 for 8, leading by 157, having batted with far more application than in the first innings. Adam Rossington contributed 39, despite clearly feeling discomfort from the finger injury he suffered while wicketkeeping on Monday, and Richard Gleeson a valuable 31.David Payne (3 for 72) was the pick of the Gloucestershire bowlers, but in general they erred on the short side. The hosts took 11 points from a game they had high hopes of winning at the start of the day, while Northants claimed seven.The visitors began the day on 120 for 3, trailing by 122. After the early loss of Richard Levi for 23, caught behind dabbing at a wide ball from Payne, Rossington helped Newton add 60 for the sixth wicket. Rossington,looked in pain against the quicker bowlers, but played well before miscuing the medium-pace of Kieran Noema-Barnett to mid-on where Payne took a good diving catch.Crook appeared to survive a chance to Roderick, standing up to Noema-Barnett, before he had scored and was unbeaten on 7 at lunch, while Newton headed off on 99 with plenty of time to contemplate his century, having looked untroubled.He brought up three figures by pulling the second ball after lunch, a juicy long-hop from left-arm spinner Graham van Buuren, for his 17th boundary. It was a chanceless hundred, but Newton then fell to the second new ball, which was taken with Northants 241 for 5, still one run behind.Five had been added when Payne found a way between Newton’s bat and pad with a full, swinging delivery, which rattled into his stumps. That brought in Seekkuge Prasanna, on his Championship debut. He immediately went on the counter attack, blasting 26 from 23 balls, including four fours and a six, before holing out to deep backward square, top-edging a short delivery from Payne.At that stage Northants led by only 52, but Gleeson then joined Crook in a match-saving stand. Crook was unbeaten on 82 at tea, with his side 357 for 7 and leading by 115.The final session produced more frustration for Gloucestershire on a pitch offering little assistance. Crook reached a brilliant hundred with successive boundaries off Josh Shaw, having faced 127 balls and hit 17 fours. By the time Gleeson fell lbw to van Buuren for a hugely valuable 31, the partnership with Crook was worth 101 and Northants led by 153. Soon afterwards the players shook hands.

The CARICOM has reaffirmed its resolve to dissolve the WICB and said it would soon create another prime ministerial sub-committee that would have wider say on cricket in the Caribbean

Nagraj Gollapudi08-Jul-2016The CARICOM has reaffirmed its resolve to dissolve the West Indies Cricket Board and said it would soon create another prime ministerial sub-committee that would have wider say on cricket in the Caribbean. A CARICOM cricket review panel had made the recommendation to dissolve the WICB in November 2015, in a report that termed the board’s governance structure as “antiquated”, “obsolete” and “anachronistic”.”We will do everything possible to effect the decision,” Grenada prime minister Keith Mitchell told the at the end of the CARICOM Heads of Government conference, which concluded on July 6 in Guyana. “We’re looking at legal options on the basis that cricket is a public good run by a private institution.”The regional body also discounted the remarks of Gaston Browne, the Antigua and Barbuda prime minister, who had categorically rejected the idea of dissolving the WICB.Mitchell, who is the outgoing head of the CARICOM sub-committee on cricket that had backed the panel’s findings last year, said the opposition to WICB’s current governance structure was not his alone, but a collective one and, hence, Browne’s opposition did not carry much weightage.”[It is a] common position of the Heads, not individual positions, and we cannot operate on the basis of individual positions, it’s about the Heads,” Mitchell was quoted as having said by . “When I expressed my sentiments on cricket, it was about what the Heads said – the committee that we established jointly with the West Indies Cricket Board – and we agreed between the subcommittee and the West Indies Cricket Board to implement the recommendations.”So it was not a Keith Mitchell decision, it was not a Keith Mitchell activity, it was a committee set up by the West Indies Cricket Board and the Heads of Government.”The CARICOM cricket review panel was appointed by the Prime Ministerial Committee on the Governance of West Indies Cricket in the wake of the crisis that engulfed the board after the BCCI suspended bilateral ties and slapped $41.97 million as damages following West Indies’ decision to pull out midway through their India tour in 2014. Set up to review the governance and administrative structure of the WICB, the five-member panel, comprising V. Eudine Barriteau, Sir Dennis Byron, Dwain Gill, Deryck Murray and Warren Smith submitted a damning report.Apart from its comments on the current set-up, the panel strongly recommended the establishment of an interim board in place of the WICB. However, Dave Cameron, the WICB president, rejected the panel’s findings, saying they were not supported by facts.The WICB received further support from Browne, who broke ranks with CARICOM. Browne continued to remain defiant even this week. “That (recommendation to dissolve) is a recipe for chaos and confusion and we are totally opposed to any forced dissolution of the West Indies Cricket Board,” Browne told the .Regardless, the CARICOM heads have refused to give up their stance on WICB. According to Roosevelt Skerrit, the Dominica prime minister and chairman of CARICOM, an additional sub-committee on cricket with a much wider scope will be appointed soon. “There were two before; one on governance issues and one of the larger issues confronting cricket…this is a new committee on cricket mandated to examine all matters relating to the development of cricket, which is a very wide area of concentration.”

Jason Holder has kept his cards close to his chest when asked about West Indies’ line-up for the second Test against India, saying he would decide after taking a look at the pitch on Saturday morning

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jul-2016Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, has kept his cards close to his chest when asked about the team’s composition for the second Test against India, which starts at Sabina Park on Saturday. He said the pitch looked full of moisture on the eve of the Test, but would wait till the morning of the match before taking a final decision.”We will take the final decision tomorrow morning, see how the pitch looks,” he said. “Yesterday it looked a bit green and this morning there was a lot of moisture.”Despite the look of the pitch, Holder felt it was difficult to predict how it would behave.”The last game we played here against Australia there was not this amount of grass on the pitch,” he said. “Previously there was grass, but the pitch still ends up being on the slower side. To be fair, as I said, probably it’s difficult really to predict how the pitch will play here in Jamaica. Going into this game tomorrow morning, I just need to take a final decision.”West Indies went into the first Test in Antigua with only one genuine quick bowler, in Shannon Gabriel, with allrounders Holder and Carlos Brathwaite playing a holding role with their seam-up. Holder did not reveal if either Alzarri Joseph or Miguel Cummins would come into the team for the second Test, but had words of encouragement for Joseph, the uncapped 19-year-old fast bowler, when asked if he was ready for Test cricket.”To be fair, I have never played against Alzarri, never seen him play cricket live,” Holder said. “But I have seen him play cricket on TV. And there is obviously a lot of talk going behind him. He has talent, he has the ability, he has pace. I support him fully. He has done what is done to get here.”We just need to get behind him if he is making his debut tomorrow. If he plays in the near future, we just need to give him support. Support is all we can give. At this time, it’s important for him to back his skills and know what got him here. He got here by hard work, he got here by performances. He will just continue doing what he has been doing before and if given the opportunity, I wish him all the best.”In a West Indies line-up that struggled in both innings of the first Test in Antigua, Jermaine Blackwood perhaps struggled the most, falling for ducks in both innings. Since scoring 92 against Sri Lanka in Galle last year, Blackwood has made 78 runs in nine Test innings at an average of 8.67. Holder did not specify if Blackwood would retain his place at Sabina Park, his home ground, but said the middle-order batsman had his full support.”I haven’t picked the team as yet,” Holder said. “Jermaine has done well for us in the last few seasons. But I support him, I back him 100%. If he is given a chance to continue, I hope he will go and put out a good performance. He has got a Test century and has done well against some of the best bowling attacks. Everybody goes through a rough patch. It’s just about him turning it around.”

Earl, the tropical storm threatening Kingston, allowed for only 15.5 overs on the fourth day. In that time, India helped themselves to four wickets, suggesting all they needed was a session or two more to wrap up a Test victory

The Report by Alagappan Muthu02-Aug-2016
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammed Shami used the heavy cloud cover and swing with the new ball to his advantage•AFP

Earl, the tropical storm threatening Kingston, allowed for only 15.5 overs on the fourth day. In that time, India helped themselves to four wickets, suggesting all they needed was a session or two more to wrap up a Test victory. The forecast is better for cricket tomorrow and West Indies are trailing by 256 runs in their second innings.An early start – at 9.30 am – had been scuppered by overnight rain leaving the outfield rather wet. When the players finally got on the field at 10.45 am only three overs were possible before a couple of sharp showers forced them back into the dressing rooms. A good chunk of the session was played amid a mild drizzle, which at one point got strong enough to halt play for about a minute before it disappeared into thin air.West Indies felt tentative batting in these conditions. Not least because the heavy cloud cover was helping the new ball swing nicely. Mohammed Shami used it to his advantage, pitching one on middle and seaming it away to hit the top of Marlon Samuels’ off stump for a five-ball duck at his home ground. In his next over, with lunch only seconds away, Shami had Darren Bravo caught in the slips with a well-directed short ball.Bravo lasted 37 balls, most of which were looking to maim his nose. He did not look to attack them. He struggled to defend them. He often took his eyes off them. Eventually he fell to one of them.The weather was bad, which might have worried India but West Indies’ abysmal batting sent them to lunch with beaming smiles. There was no more play thereafter.Although not as wide as India’s smiles, there were cracks on this pitch now, around the short-of-a-length area. Ishant Sharma is naturally a hit-the-deck bowler. When he did so at the start of his second over, it stayed low. Two balls later, however, it gained some extra bounce, hit Rajendra Chandrika’s elbow as he was trying to leave the ball outside off and cannoned onto his stumps. Chandrika made 1; his Test average is currently 14 after 10 innings. No West Indian opener has been as bad.Kraigg Brathwaite had looked a lot better against the short ball. He cut and pulled at the first opportunity against the fast bowlers. Could he bat as well against spin? Virat Kohli brought Amit Mishra on in the 13th over. Mishra bowled one unintentionally short. Brathwaite played an awful pull shot – his feet not going back and across to generate power – and was caught excellently by KL Rahul running back from midwicket.Kohli ran up to his bowler, his mouth open, his eyes wide, laughing. Mishra hugged his captain, bemusement on his face. Rain that started one minute and left the next. Batsmen who didn’t really know what to do. And bowlers who were taking wickets as easily as they snapped their fingers. It was all just a little silly for Test cricket.

Australia are considering a triad of spinners for next year’s tour to India as a result of a Sri Lankan humiliation the coach Darren Lehmann dubbed “reasonably” embarrassing for the national side

Daniel Brettig18-Aug-2016Australia are considering a triad of spinners for next year’s tour to India as a result of a Sri Lankan humiliation the coach Darren Lehmann dubbed “reasonably” embarrassing for the national side.Sifting through the rubble of a campaign that resulted in a third consecutive series whitewash for the Australian side in Asia, Lehmann admitted it was going to be extremely difficult to improve in Asian conditions between now and the 2017 trip for four Tests in India, given the intervening months will be taken up by the home summer.However he declared that the team taken to India would likely be a radical departure from recent trips away, when the selectors have deemed two spinners sufficient slow-bowling cover. During this tour, even the second seamer Josh Hazlewood has at times looked redundant, with Nathan Lyon often sharing the new ball with Mitchell Starc.This means the likes of Adam Zampa, Fawad Ahmed, Ashton Agar and Mitchell Swepson will come into calculations for next year’s India tour in addition to Lyon, Steve O’Keefe and Jon Holland.”The difference is we’ve got to change in the subcontinent. Results will say that with India, UAE and now Sri Lanka,” Lehmann said. “We’ve got to change the way we pick and shape up the squad for a subcontinent [tour]. We have to look at all different angles I suppose. The shape-up of the side, whether you need one quick, two quicks, three quicks, allrounders, and see how we play.”It certainly hasn’t worked the way we’ve played. We think we’ve had the right balance but our batters haven’t made enough runs. It’s pretty simple. When you look at [Sheffield] Shield cricket, it’s very hard to determine who’s going to be a good player of spin and not on Australian wickets. So for us somehow we’ve got to find a way.”Amid other conclusions from the tour, which took Australia to nine consecutive Test match defeats in Asia, despite a raft of investments in better performances in the region, Lehmann:- stated pitches for the IPL, where most of the Australian squad has spent time, did not provide relevant experience for Asian Test matches.- reiterated his call for the toss to be jettisoned from Test matches, with the away side being given the choice of whether to bat or bowl first.- argued that Test pitches have become more extreme for visiting teams since Australia’s most recent era of Asian successes from 1998 to 2006, with the ball turning sharply from day one. Lehmann did however concede the SSC pitch for the third Test was the best of the series.- said he would examine his own methods, including how he dealt with the team in times of defeat.”You always do that anyway,” Lehmann said. “We’re obviously reviewing every day and at the end of the game. That’s a process you always do regardless of the result, whether you win or lose. It is only a game, but still, that hurts. We should be reasonably embarrassed by our performance in this series and that’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not hiding the fact we didn’t play well enough and we’ve got to improve. That’s a simple fact. The guys will take that back and actually try to improve. And they’ve got to improve, simple.”Lehmann had previously stated that any players dropped for poor displays in Sri Lanka would not have that held against them for the home summer. However a hundred by Shaun Marsh at the SSC has complicated matters for Usman Khawaja, Joe Burns and even Adam Voges.”Adam has been fantastic for us since he has come in,” Lehmann said. “You always have those issues when you’re an older player. He’s got to make every post a winner. We just have to wait and see what happens over the next couple of months. We’ll just pick the best side we think is going to win in Perth against a quality side like South Africa, whatever that may be and whatever the pitch delivers. We’ll pick it appropriately like we normally do.”Having added Travis Head to the squad for the five ODIs and two Twenty20 matches that now roll on through Sri Lanka, Lehmann said the allrounder Mitchell Marsh would be flying home early to rest before the home summer. His role in the side will likely be taken by Moises Henriques. “It’s a big summer ahead for him,” Lehmann said of Marsh. “We’ve obviously got some quality allrounders in our one-day squad anyway, so we get a chance to freshen him up and ready to go for South Africa and moving forward.”

Northants are well placed for a fourth victory of the season after Richard Levi made one of his most important contributions of the Championship season

ECB Reporters Network14-Sep-2016
ScorecardRichard Levi’s 95 boosted Northants’ second innings•Getty Images

Richard Levi’s 95 helped put Northamptonshire on course for a fourth win of the season as they set Gloucestershire 442 to win at Wantage Road. The hosts were bowled out for 376 in their second-innings before Gloucestershire closed day three at 35 for 2.Gloucestershire were sent in for 16 overs to the close and they lost Gareth Roderick for 19, who edged a good length delivery from Ben Sanderson that just held its line, and Will Tavare, who tried to play a back-foot push and was caught at second slip for a nine-ball duck.Northants’ position was set up by Levi, whose only other innings of note in the County Championship came in the third match of his injury-hit season with a century against Derbyshire. He steered his side into control of the game with a confident 114-ball innings with 15 fours.At 155 for 4 shortly after lunch, Gloucestershire sensed a way back into the game but Levi shared a stand of 71 with Adam Rossington for the fifth wicket and 76 with Steven Crook for the sixth.Rossington missed a sweep at Jack Taylor and was lbw for 34 before Levi, five short of a pleasing century, pushed into the off side and called for a single that Crook disagreed with as Will Tavare dived to his left to make a sharp save. Levi was three-quarters of the way down the wicket and gave up any chance to recover his ground. Tavare had time for a cup of tea before returning a throw to Phil Mustard.Earlier in the day, Northants resumed 44 for 0 and Ben Duckett made his way to 70 in the final innings of a wondrous 2016 season.Having struck five fours to reach 31 not out by the close on day two, he began the third day in typically aggressive touch. An extra-cover drive against Liam Norwell was the stroke of the morning as he passed fifty in 59 balls with eight fours.But when a fifth hundred of the season looked possible, Matt Taylor made a ball jump and take the splice of the bat, providing a catch to George Hankins at point.Duckett walked off to a great ovation having scored 1,338 County Championship runs at 60.81 with four centuries – and two doubles – this season.Rob Newton was also out on the third morning, edging Matt Taylor to slip after an opening stand of 116 with Duckett and in the over before lunch Alex Wakely edged David Payne to second slip to keep Gloucestershire in the game. Levi’s afternoon ensured it was the hosts who took control.