Cricket Australia has struck another obstacle in its plans to play back-to-back day-night Tests next summer, with Australia’s players arguing that one is sufficient

Brydon Coverdale29-Apr-2016Cricket Australia has struck another obstacle in its plans to play back-to-back day-night Tests next summer, with Australia’s players arguing that one is sufficient. The final Test of the summer’s first series against South Africa will be a day-night fixture in Adelaide if CA can convince the players of both sides to agree, while the first Test of the second series will be a day-nighter against Pakistan at the Gabba.However, South Africa’s cricketers have expressed their concerns about playing under lights with a pink ball, and the Australian Cricketers’ Association has now also raised queries about the wisdom of playing two day-night Tests in the summer. Alistair Nicholson, the ACA CEO, met with Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland on Thursday, and a wider meeting involving the players is expected to take place after the IPL.”The recent media regarding whether South Africa will or won’t play a day-night Test is only one part of the equation,” Nicholson said. “There are many other factors to be considered. The feedback we are receiving from our playing group is that there still remain concerns over day-night Tests and whilst there is acknowledgement that this format may grow the game, at this stage the players would prefer to only play one day-night Test in 2016-17.”Pink-ball Tests are a fundamentally different game to traditional red-ball Test matches. We continue to be concerned about the durability and visibility of the pink ball, both the changing light conditions and the specifically prepared pitches are altering the conditions that the players are used to at each venue.”Last year’s inaugural day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand at Adelaide Oval was over within three days, as extra grass was left on the pitch in an effort to protect the ball from too much wear and tear. Australia’s captain Steven Smith said on Cricket Australia’s website recently that last year’s Test was “probably two millimetres of grass away from a four-day game”.South Africa captain AB de Villiers said he had met with Smith and some of the Australia players earlier this year to discuss day-night Test cricket, and “the consensus from our talks were that there are just too many unknowns”. Smith said he was surprised at the comments from de Villiers and said the Australians would be happy to play a day-night Test if the South Africans wanted to.However, the ACA said in a statement that “the legitimate concerns of the players had to be heard” in the current discussions involving Cricket Australia. He said that while the ACA welcomed the news that Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa would continue their talks on the possibility of the Adelaide Test being day-night, the players wanted to be part of the discussion.”The players are supportive of innovation and certainly see the bigger picture,” Nicholson said. “It’s about growing the game through high quality cricket, accessible to as many people as possible. That’s why we urge more formal discussions with the players having a seat at the table. On behalf of the players the ACA would welcome that.”

Three-wicket hauls from fast bowler Ashok Dinda and legspinner Adam Zampa crafted Rising Pune Supergiants’ 19-run win via D/L method and hurt Delhi Daredevils’ chances of making the playoffs

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu17-May-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAshok Dinda took 3 for 20, including a maiden, to set up Rising Pune Supergiants’ fourth win•BCCI

Rising Pune Supergiants completed the double over Delhi Daredevils whose chances of making the playoffs received a jolt with a 19-run loss via D/L method in Visakhapatnam. Daredevils can still qualify for the playoffs with 14 or 16 points, but their net rate of -0.125 means they may need to win by a substantial margin in their remaining two games.Fast bowler Ashok Dinda knocked over the Daredevils openers within five overs, before R Ashwin and Adam Zampa found sharp turn to smother Daredevils to 121 for 6.Karun Nair, who showed considerable application to top score with 41, later said that his team was 25-30 runs short. Rain handed Daredevils two reprieves in their defence, before the game was called off by midnight. Ajinkya Rahane’s steady 42 not out steered Supergiants ahead in their chase and helped drag the side off the bottom of the table.The pitch on Tuesday was the same one used for the last two matches in Visakhapatnam. The conditions – both overhead and underfoot – and Supergiants’ improved fielding offered no breathing room for Daredevils until Morris blazed away. He struck the first six of the match in the final over of Daredevils’ innings and capped an otherwise sluggish innings with another muscled six over midwicket. But the game was Supergiants’ after they had kept Daredevils to 28 for 2, their third sub-30 score in the Powerplay this season.Dinda got his first ball to swing prodigiously and rapped Quinton de Kock’s pad with an inducker. That was heading down leg, but Dinda had de Kock lbw for 2 with a similar ball in his second over. Dinda then prolonged the lean patch of the returning Shreyas Iyer when he bounced the opener out for his fifth single-digit score in six matches in IPL 2016.Nair began fluently with drives and pulls against the seamers before the advent of spin restored Supergiants’ ascendancy. Zampa worked Sanju Samson over, having him stumped with a perfect legbreak that followed a brace of skiddy, quicker balls. He went on to dismiss Rishabh Pant and Nair in his next two overs. Daredevils were reduced to 70 for 5 in 14.3 overs.Ashwin, who was introduced in the 12th over, sent down an uninterrupted spell that read: 4-0-23-0. JP Duminy hung on for a run-a-ball 14 before he scooped Dinda to short fine leg.Morris mowed six boundaries, including two sixes and two fours off the last four balls of the innings, to finish with an unbeaten 38 off 20 balls.Supergiants opener Usman Khawaja threw away another bright start when he sliced Morris to backward point for 19 off 13 balls, but Rahane gave the chase substance with three off-driven fours and an upper cut off a Nathan Coulter-Nile bouncer. A top-edge off another hurrying bouncer from the Australia fast bowler detached George Bailey’s helmet before rain forced a delay of nearly an hour. Supergiants needed 65 off 70 balls when play resumed at 11.30pm and Bailey shook off the blow by getting on top of another lifting ball and whipping past midwicket.Sixteen balls after the first interruption, rain made another appearance. This spell brought an end to the game.

In a round of barn-burning finishes, neither side at the Ageas Bowl wanted to be left out

Vithushan Ehantharajah at the Ageas Bowl24-May-2016
ScorecardHarry Gurney chipped away at Hampshire’s top order, but they retained the edge•Getty Images

In a round of barn-burning finishes, neither side at the Ageas Bowl wanted to be left out.With that in mind, the visitors, taking their lead from Hampshire and their clown car of a physio room, brought some injury news with them this morning. Chris Read was ruled out of taking the field for the remainder of this match, having damaged his hand while batting yesterday evening. While he would eventually recommence his innings when the ninth wicket fell, he spent the remainder of the day with his feet up on the away balcony, watching on as Steven Mullaney took on captaincy duties and Riki Wessels kept wicket.Not wanting to be outdone, Hampshire dropped their own bombshell in the afternoon. Reece Topley, who had been expected to return this week from a hand injury picked up on the first day of the season, is now set for another three months out with a partial stress fracture of the lumbar spine. He has still yet to bowl a ball for his new county.It would be easy to caveat this match with a list of those not present, from the enforced to the elated (Jake Ball arrived in Durham this morning). But to do so is to ignore the quality that was on show. Those present have ensured the game has moved on in a manner that suggests neither are as bad as recent results suggest.At the forefront was Harry Gurney. After four wickets in Hampshire’s first innings, which stopped the lower order in its tracks, he did a number on the top order in the second. With an 81-run lead to play with, those at the front were undone by some fine swing bowling. Michael Carberry was exposed outside off stump before a beauty left Liam Dawson’s forward defence hanging and took his off stump for a wander.You would be forgiven for forgetting that Gurney is an international player. Or was. His name rarely comes up in selection debates for either white ball format. Even his worth as a long-form player is often filed over as simply “a left-arm option”. But Gurney’s used to being underrated.Even Nottinghamshire were not totally convinced that he would be a multi-format player for them when he joined from Leicestershire in 2012. Director of cricket Mick Newell admits that the motivation behind signing Gurney was that the left-armer always seemed to do well against Nottinghamshire in limited-overs cricket.His development into a skilled and highly valued part of their bowling cartel has pleasantly surprised many at the club. Deep down, he was confident in his own ability. When another player followed the familiar route from Grace Road to Trent Bridge, Gurney wrote a message in his locker: “If you improve half as much as I have since joining here, you’ll be a helluva player!”Luke Fletcher’s persistence throughout his 13 overs was rewarded with the wickets of Jimmy Adams caught at second slip and then Adam Wheater at mid-on, after the wicketkeeper played what might be one of the worst shots of the season. But both Fletcher and Gurney had to cede to Will Smith and Sean Ervine for the best part of 26 overs, as 78 was put on for the fourth wicket.Smith, captaining in the absence of Test newbie James Vince, displayed the sort of street smarts that saw him regularly bag around 900 runs a season while playing his cricket up at the seamers paradise that is Chester-le-Street. The first time he broke the 1,000 first-class runs mark was his first summer at the Ageas Bowl.His first half-century of the season, which came from 141 balls, was patient yet he kept the score ticking along. He ensured he presented a straight bat, while also getting down on one knee to lap Samit Patel over his shoulder. Everything in moderation – including moderation.Patel would get his share, though: a double-wicket maiden accounting for Smith, caught at midwicket, and Tino Best lbw for a pair. Ryan McLaren’s reverse sweeps, while a strong quiz team name, also helped Hampshire bring up a lead of 270 as the day drew to a close.Hampshire may already have enough. Mason Crane, the 19-year-old leg spinner, impressed with three wickets earlier in the day when he pitched the ball on a length that forced batsmen to play. He kept tabs on Dan Christian who tried to hit him out of the park but could only play onto his stumps. Brett Hutton, replacing Jake Ball in the match, swiped across the line only to find Adams at square leg, before Fletcher went for a heave and missed completely.It was only Wessels who had something to cheer for Nottinghamshire with the bat: a measured 72 from 159 balls adding some worth to an innings that always looked like coming up short. The final throes of the reply saw Gurney cart Dawson for two sixes down the ground before he lost his middle stump to Best.The pitch, for all its wear and turn, is still rewarding composure at the crease. Hampshire have just two wickets left and Nottinghamshire will be going to bed tonight thinking a chase of around 300 would be better than they expected.If the final day’s play is half as intriguing as this, we are in for a helluva finish.

The BCB has formed a four-member committee to investigate a Dhaka Premier League match that was abandoned last week after the umpires walked off the field

Mohammad Isam19-Jun-2016The BCB has formed a four-member committee to investigate a Dhaka Premier League match that was abandoned last week after the umpires walked off the field.When a stumping appeal against Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club was turned down by umpire Tanvir Ahmed, the players and fans of Abahani Limited began to protest. That led the umpires to consult with match referee Monu Datta and take their leave citing “illness”. The match did not resume on the reserve day.The board’s umpires committee chairman Nazmul Karim, disciplinary committee chairman Sheikh Sohel, technical committee member Athar Ali Khan and match referee Raqibul Hassan will interview players and umpires before reporting to the BCB president within 72 hours. If the match is replayed, it could be held on June 24.BCB president Nazmul Hassan said: “Such an incident should not have happened but we will get to the bottom of what happened in that game.”The BCB also formed the bowling action review committee, to be headed by Jalal Yunus with Dipu Roy Chowdhury, Omar Khaled Rumi and Golam Faruq Suru as the other members. Technical personnel will be appointed at a later date.The DPL players were supposed to get 60% of their fees by the end of the first stage of the tournament, and the clubs who have defaulted on the payments have been given three days to get up to date.”If they don’t pay within this time, the board will pay the amount from their coffers,” Hassan said. “In that case, the board will take stern action against the clubs.”Hassan also confirmed the 2016 BPL will begin on November 6 and added the BCB would take legal action against Sylhet Superstars franchise after their bank guarantee couldn’t be encashed. “They owe around Tk 3 to 4 crore to us and the players. We condemn this and will take legal measures.”

Cricket Australia has named an 18-man National Performance Squad for the upcoming quadrangular one-day series in Queensland, featuring teenage carrom-ball spinner Arjun Nair

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jul-2016Cricket Australia has named an 18-man National Performance Squad for the upcoming quadrangular one-day series in Queensland, featuring teenage carrom-ball spinner Arjun Nair.New South Wales allrounder Sean Abbott is the most experienced member of the group, which will take on Australia A, India A and South Africa A in a tournament in Townsville and Mackay during August.Nair, 18, is an emerging spinner who played two matches for New South Wales last summer but is particularly notable in Australia for his varieties. Although yet to make his List A debut, he will have the chance to show off his short-form talent in the four-team series.In May, a 24-man Australia A squad was named for a winter campaign set to include four first-class games against South Africa A and India A as well as the one-day series, although specific groups for the one-day and four-day matches were to be confirmed closer to the games. Three men named in that squad – Matthew Renshaw, Sam Heazlett and Mitch Swepson – will play for Australia A in the first-class games and for the NPS in the one-day series.”All of these players have some degree of state experience as part of the Australian Cricket Pathway and this is just another step up in their development,” Greg Chappell, CA’s national talent manager, said of the NPS group. “Selection in this squad pays tribute to the hard work that these players have put in and acknowledges that performances are noted and rewarded in the current Pathway system.”The squad will be coached by Graeme Hick and Ryan Harris. Hick said the quadrangular series would provide valuable experience for the players, many of whom have had just a taste of state cricket.”Although the team’s success won’t be measured by win-loss ratio, we still expect this side to be competitive and with the talent in the team, a victory along the way isn’t out of the question,” Hick said. “Alongside the Australia A squad, these players are the future of Australian cricket and we are excited to see the progress they make in this important tournament.”National Performance Squad Sean Abbott, Hilton Cartwright, Kyle Gardiner, David Grant, Sam Grimwade, Sam Harper, Sam Heazlett, Clint Hinchliffe, Josh Inglis, Caleb Jewell, David Moody, Arjun Nair, Tom O’Donnell, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Swepson.

The excitement gathering around Nottinghamshire’s trip to Twenty20 finals day on Saturday is being tempered somewhat by the growing likelihood that they will playing their four-day cricket in Division Two next season

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge16-Aug-2016
ScorecardBrad Wheal took a career-best 6 for 51•Camerasport/Getty Images

The excitement gathering around Nottinghamshire’s trip to Twenty20 finals day on Saturday is being tempered somewhat by the growing likelihood that they will playing their four-day cricket in Division Two next season after the fleeting vision of a highly unlikely victory proved to be a mirage.It may be a destination that Hampshire will also have to contemplate but this victory, only their second of the season, in which Brad Wheal, the 19-year-old pace bowler, claimed his maiden five-wicket haul gives them at least a chance to stay up. Surrey’s victory over Warwickshire does not help them in that respect but Warwickshire themselves as well as Durham suddenly look more vulnerable than before.Nottinghamshire, whose batting has been brittle for much of the season, reached 243 for 3 after Steven Mullaney and Brendan Taylor put on 162 for the fourth wicket, which made a record fourth-innings target at least theoretically possible.But the loss of Mullaney and Samit Patel to consecutive balls from Wheal sparked a collapse that saw five wickets fall for 17 runs in the space of 49 balls, after which effectively only Imran Tahir and Harry Gurney stood between Hampshire and victory, neither of whom was ever likely to present a lasting impediment.Will Smith, the Hampshire captain and former Nottinghamshire batsman, hailed what he hopes will be a turning point in the club’s fortunes.”While Mullaney and Taylor were going well there was even a slight chance they could push for a win but on day four things can happen very quickly and credit to Mason Crane and Brad Wheal that they did, with quality spin and fast bowling,” he said. “But everyone in the attack bowled exceptionally well to set things up.”We knew too with the old ball as we had it, soft and pretty scuffed up, reversing a little bit and skidding through, that it would be hard for anyone coming in. There was always a sense that if we got one wicket we could get a few.

Russell available for Blast Finals Day

West Indies allrounder Andre Russell is available for Nottinghamshsire on NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day, leaving the county with a choice of which two players to field between Russell, Dan Christian and Imran Tahir.
Russell had a four-match stint with Notts in the group stages and coach Mick Newell said: “It’s too good an opportunity to miss.”
Notts had to wait to see if Russell was available because West Indies have two T20 internationals against India in Florida the following week.

“It has been a hard season with the tragic passing away of Hamza Ali and what’s happened to Michael Carberry, plus all the injuries to the bowlers, but there is a sense that we are getting some momentum at the right time and we have to take positives from last year, getting three wins in the last four games or whatever it was, and believe that we can still do it.”Chasing 468 to win, which required them to exceed the county record for a successful fourth-innings run chase, Nottinghamshire they began the final day at 42 for 2 thinking only about survival, yet after Hampshire managed to prise out only one wicket in the morning session, Mullaney and Taylor began to enjoy a sense of gathering impetus in their fourth wicket partnership.Although Taylor, who has been out of form much of the season, was hardly fluent, with Mullaney very much the opposite, readily picking out the balls he could hit and usually despatching them efficiently, there was a moment with around 60 overs remaining that the required rate was only a touch more than five an over.Yet in the steaming heat the possibility vanished almost in the blink of an eye.Wheal, who had accounted for Michael Lumb in the morning session as the former England batsman drove loosely outside off stump, surprised Mullaney with a delivery that climbed off a length, the ball looping into the air off the leading edge, to which Gareth Berg responded by running in from mid-off to take a good diving catch.Then Smith’s one-wicket-brings-another theory paid off as Samit Patel fell first ball, caught behind down the leg side. Crane, the legspinner and another 19-year-old, had Taylor caught low down at slip and as tea was taken Nottinghamshire’s comfortable position had gone, 245 for 3 rapidly transformed to 259 for 6.Two balls after tea, Crane claimed his third of the innings as Luke Wood flicked a ball off his hips straight to Ryan McLaren at leg slip and when Wheal thudded one skiddily into Jake Balls pads there was no way back. In the event, Tahir survived as Chris Read shouldered arms to another delivery that kept low and Gurney lasted three balls before his off stump was flattened.Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, was typically blunt in his assessment, with his side now 30 points adrift of seventh-placed Durham, who have a game in hand.”If we keep playing as poorly as that we will get what we deserve,” he said.”To say we might have been distracted by Saturday would be an easy cop-out. The truth is that this is just the continuation of some pretty ordinary four-day form, we haven’t suddenly produced a poor performance out of nowhere. And one fifty and one hundred from the top six on a pretty flat wicket is pretty ordinary.”It was a game neither side could afford to lose and by doing so we have put ourselves under a lot of pressure in the last four matches.”Stuart Broad is expected to be available for at least a couple of Nottinghamshire’s remaining matches, but Yorkshire, Durham and Somerset away, with Championship leaders Middlesex the only side still to come to Trent Bridge, look daunting fixtures.Hampshire, with Somerset and Surrey away, Yorkshire and Durham at home, hardly face an easy run-in and there is still a gap to close. Yet, given the chance, Nottinghamshire would certainly swap.

Salman Butt hopes to keep knocking on the doors of the national selectors by the sheer weight of his domestic performances

Umar Farooq22-Sep-2016Pakistan batsman Salman Butt isn’t quite sure if he will be considered for national selection just yet despite a sparkling show in the National T20 Cup, but hopes to keep knocking on the doors by the sheer weight of his performances.Butt, 31, marked his return from a five-year spot-fixing ban in September 2015 by scoring 536 at an average of 107 in National One-Day Cup last year. In the subsequent ODI tournament in April-May 2016, he managed just 135 runs in five innings. In the shortest format he hit form again, finishing the National T20 Cup as the second-highest run-getter with 350 runs in eight innings.”Since my comeback, every time I’ve done well, it has given me a good feeling,” Butt, who is set to return to first-class cricket in October, told ESPNcricinfo. “I want to carry on with these performances till I get selected, that is the ultimate goal. I don’t know if the board really want me or not, but I have two good performances. Sometimes, if the team is playing well, you can’t be fitted in, so unless someone has a bad run or if the team needs to strengthen a specific area, it will be tough. Let’s see which door opens for me, but my job is to keep fit and keep scoring runs.”Butt was 26 when he was banned in August 2010. Until then, he had played 33 Tests, 78 ODIs and 24 T20Is. Given the game has moved forward significantly following a number of tweaks to the limited-overs rules, Butt’s style of batting and his strike rate could come into question should he be considered for selection at some stage. However, Butt insisted that he had the capability to adapt.”Tests and ODIs are the two formats I can walk into, but it won’t be difficult for me to chip in with the T20 format as well,” he said. “I have the experience. This was my first competitive T20 tournament after six years, and I still managed a decent strike rate of 140 in the last three games. Sometimes it is tough to maintain your strike rate because when you see four batsmen getting out in eight deliveries, you have to hold yourself back.”I know they are a lot of people talking about my strike rate from my last game [he made a run-a-ball 55], but situation and understanding of the game is one thing and typing on social media is something else. I understand the game better than I had before.”In the time he spent away from the game, Butt has attended anti-corruption rehabilitation programmes conducted by the PCB, taken part in social work and has also issued a public apology, which was key for the reduction in his suspension – he was banned for 10, but returned after five. The reduction came on the condition that Butt would commit no further breaches of the anti-corruption code and participate in educational programmes on corruption.While reluctant to talk about his past, Butt insisted that he wanted to make the most of the second chance offered to him. “There are two ways to live: either keep thinking about the past or look forward and move on. In my best interest, I’ve chosen to move on,” he said. “Obviously I’ve taken the good things from the past and eliminated the bad ones. The difference in me is for people to see. No matter what I say or do, it won’t make much of a difference, but my actions would speak and people can form their opinions based on that.”Butt insisted the knowledge of modern-day fitness requirements helped him prepare and stay in shape during his time away. “I was training at a private facility,” he said. “I knew the kind of fitness levels required and maintained myself accordingly. Having played international cricket, I knew the kind of work ethic needed to get me back. You can’t instill passion, that has remained.”Butt, who will turn 32 next month, hopes to draw inspiration from Test captain Mibah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan. “A batsman matures in his 30s,” he said. “There are very few naturally-gifted players in their 20s. We have Misbah and Younis. If you look at Australia, they bring in their batsman in their late 20s or early 30s. So it’s about fitness. There’s no set of rules that states if you are touching 40, then it’s over.”Misbah has proved to everyone through his dedication and fitness that you can fight on at that age. If you keep working hard, then your body responds in a certain way, so it’s about being committed, like Misbah has shown.”

Suryakumar Yadav, Kaustubh Pawar, Siddhesh Lad, Arman Jaffer and Aditya Tare continued the tradition of Indian domestic batsmen softening up touring spinners, as New Zealanders’ trio of slow bowlers went for 263 in 51 overs

The Report by Sidharth Monga in Delhi17-Sep-2016
Scorecard1:40

Bracewell shrugs off tough day for NZ

Amit Pagnis did it to Shane Warne in 1998; Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma traumatised Jason Krejza in 2008; Nathan Hauritz received a rude welcome from Ajinkya Rahane in 2010. On Saturday Suryakumar Yadav, Kaustubh Pawar, Siddhesh Lad, Armaan Jaffer and Aditya Tare continued the tradition of Indian domestic batsmen softening up the opposition spinners in their tour game. Rohit, himself a part of the Test squad now, failed to press claim for a slot in the XI, falling for 18 in an ungainly manner, but his Mumbai team-mates did a job for the India Test side by making New Zealanders’ three frontline spinners toil for 51 overs for 263 runs and just three wickets. A whopping 402 runs came in the day. Mumbai’s coach Chandrakant Pandit didn’t brag too much, but cheekily said he hoped the India team would be happy that a state side had tested the visiting spinners.Doug Bracewell, though, said the New Zealanders weren’t too concerned about their performance, although there were lessons to be learnt. A lot of it was down to the flatness of the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch. New Zealanders’ spinners, though, seemed to be playing for the conditions expected in the Tests rather than trying to beat batsmen in the air on an unresponsive track. Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner and offspinner Mark Craig, in particular, kept bowling quick and flat, which works on the kind of raging turners that South Africa were given in India’s last home season. Legspinner Ish Sodhi was the only one who created regular problems.Be that as it may, the Mumbai batsmen matched the intent shown by the New Zealanders on day one, shot for shot. Jaffer, yet to make his first-class debut, had come in to bat on the first evening, at the fall of the opener Jay Bista for a duck, and hit Santner for a straight six in the first over he played. Now he hit Santner back over his head twice in his first over on the second morning.The only time it seemed Mumbai were under pressure was when Sodhi, the last spinner used, began to turn a few. One legbreak got rid of Jaffer for 69, after which Rohit played an edgy innings. It just seemed anything could happen every time Rohit faced up. One of those things was a clean six over mid-off after eight straight dots, but he never looked in. On 18 he looked to charge Sodhi, who dragged his length back, drawing an uncertain defensive shot. In the same over Rohit repeated the charge without bothering about defending when beaten in the flight. An easy stumping for BJ Watling ensued.It could have become 133 for 4 when Yadav skied a pull towards the stumps at the non-striker’s end, but Sodhi, the bowler, dropped a dolly after going back a few steps, to herald an afternoon of pain. Having ridden his luck in the initial stages, Yadav got stuck into the spinners, hitting eight sixes in his 103 off 86 balls. He began with a swept four, and peppered the straight and midwicket region with his sixes. He brought up his hundred with a swept six off a full-toss.Pawar, known for his stodgy efforts, opened up in Yadav’s company, repeatedly driving the spinners over cover and back over their heads. The late-cut was beneficial too, as the spinners dragged their length back. He retired with an even hundred to his name, off 228 balls. Towards the end of the day, Lad and Tare filled their boots too, putting on an unbroken 137 in 22 overs. Lad ended the day batting on 86, having hit seven sixes.Two worries for the New Zealanders will be the absence of reverse-swing, and the sameness of their spinners’ offerings, not as a group but individually. Perhaps preoccupied with getting their pace right for the expected rank turners, they kept bowling similar trajectories and similar angles through the day. Their release points and pace didn’t vary much. When Santner did slow up the odd delivery, he caused some indecision, once even drawing a chance, but dropped a return catch from Pawar, who was 45 at that point.Release points changed for the quicks with both Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell trying the round-the-wicket angle, but they couldn’t get much reverse swing. When Neil Wagner went to his trusted bouncers, the lack of pace off the pitch and friendly bounce rendered him ineffective.”The surface didn’t really break up and turn that much,” Bracewell said. “We are not really concerned at this stage. It is early on in the tour. They played really well. I definitely know our guys will take some learnings out of today.”We know it is going to be a different surface for the first Test. Wasn’t really any surprises [to be given a different surface for the warm-up game]. Whether it is a part of India trying to get us to not expect something that might be our way… we definitely expected something like this. You just get on with it.”

USA allrounder Timroy Allen played six games for the CPL champion Jamaica Tallawahs this summer, an experience that he says helped him in a pressure situation during USA’s one-wicket win over Italy

Peter Della Penna in Los Angeles 31-Oct-2016USA allrounder Timroy Allen has said the experience gained while playing for the 2016 Caribbean Premier League champions Jamaica Tallawahs was a key factor in his match-winning half-century that helped USA to a one-wicket win over Italy at the WCL Division Four in Los Angeles. Allen credited the Tallawahs coaching staff, led by Paul Nixon, for fine-tuning parts of his game and building confidence levels after having spent nearly three years away from the USA national team leading into Division Four.”The batting stance I’m using right now is from the CPL coaches,” Allen told ESPNcricinfo after making 53 off 27 balls in Sunday’s victory. “A lot of that stuff comes from there. Hitting the ball, striking the ball, being able to stay confident in yourself and back your ability to clear the boundary at any given time. I tell myself that at any given time I could get 10 runs out of one over and consistently and repeatedly I keep telling myself that. So I don’t put any pressure, just get the ones and the twos.”Allen had previously made 51 not out off 26 balls against Italy three years ago in a 74-run win at 2013 WCL Division Three in Bermuda. On Sunday, he arrived at the end of the 26th over with USA at 107 for 5 in the chase of 186 in 41 overs. Allen struck two fours and two sixes early in his innings to reduce their target to 17 off seven overs.”The wickets are great to bat on,” Allen said. “The guys at this level, they’re not going to be that consistent where they’re gonna bowl six good balls so you just have to be patient and wait for the bad ball and that’s all I did today.”We were in a crucial position but at some point one of the senior guys are going to have to step up. A win is a win, I’m just a little disappointed I wasn’t able to finish the game so I’ll just have to go back and make sure the next time I’m in the situation again, I put my head down and finish it for us.”Allen said he feels the USA batting lineup is capable of posting huge totals with the small boundaries being used at Woodley Park, with Wright Cricket Field the smallest featuring 55-yard boundaries straight down the ground.”We’re capable of making 400 runs in this tournament so if we’re chasing 180-200 runs, we shouldn’t have any problem with it,” Allen said. “The situation we were put in today, the wicket was really good. It’s just the top order needs to come and help us out a little bit. Yesterday, [against Bermuda] they came big for us so we’re not going to put them under too much pressure. The guys have a lot of talent. They know exactly what we need to do. We need to come here and win but for us to win we need to come here and make runs. That’s it.”Despite their victories, USA’s fielding has been poor. The tournament hosts had six missed chances against Italy a day after dropping two chances against Bermuda. USA has also conceded a tournament high 45 wides, including another 16 against Italy. No other team has bowled more than 18 wides in their first two games.”I think we’re going to have to go back to the drawing table with our fielding in our whole approach,” Allen said. “We’re not playing cricket all year round so we’re going to make mistakes. It’s just for us to admit our mistakes and go back to the drawing table and capitalize, just make sure we don’t make the same mistake twice.”

Surrey have introduced a ballot to cope with demand for their NatWest T20 Blast match against Middlesex at The Oval.

George Dobell25-Nov-2016Surrey have introduced a ballot to cope with demand for their NatWest T20 Blast match against Middlesex at The Oval.The match has sold out for the last three seasons so, in an attempt to meet demand and gain data from the largest possible audience, the club have now decided to treat the game as they would an international fixture.It is anticipated that attendances for the T20 Blast will rise beyond a million for the first time in 2017. The tournament has been moved back into high summer – it has started in mid-May for the last couple of years – meaning it can take advantage of the warmer weather and school holidays. Surrey’s home match against Middlesex will take place on Friday, July 21.”Over the last four years, half-a-million people have seen Surrey play T20 cricket at The Oval,” Surrey chief executive Richard Gould told ESPNcricinfo. “65% of those people had never previously attended a professional cricket match and 125,000 of them were either women or U-16s.”The current competition, when well marketed and staged, is very effective at reaching a new audience.”The timing of the announcement comes not only as the ECB release the domestic fixture list for 2017 but as they renewed calls on the counties to sign a document (a redrafted version of which was circulated this week) handing over their media rights to the ECB until the end of 2024. As things stand, several of the counties argue that there is no specific agreement preventing them from selling domestic matches at their own grounds independently of the ECB.The original version of the document found little support – ESPNcricinfo understands that about a third of the counties signed it – and while the new version clarifies a few details (the counties are guaranteed £1.3m each a year on top of their current ECB income if they all sign), it specifies that they agree to all aspects of the new team T20 competition the ECB is planning from 2020.As counties do not currently know where or when those games will be staged, what the teams will be called, what other cricket will take place at the same time and the value of the alternative broadcast deal, there are several – perhaps even a majority – that are reluctant to sign. Until they do so, the ECB cannot be certain that they can prevent a breakaway league, though in reality that remains unlikely.Meanwhile a report commissioned by Surrey – who are leading the opposition to the eight-team competition favoured by the ECB – and distributed among the counties has cast doubt on the valuations obtained by the ECB for the relative worth of the different T20 competitions. While the ECB valuation suggested broadcast rights for the current competition were worth between £5-7m a year and a new eight-team competition worth between £30-35m, the new report concludes that they “are significantly undervaluing the broadcast appeal of county T20 cricket.”While domestic cricket is officially ascribed a nil value in the broadcast deal between the ECB and Sky, the new report suggests that Sky unofficially ascribed 20% of the value of the deal with the ECB (currently £65m a year) to county cricket when tendering for 2009. That provided a value of £13m to domestic competitions. With the “increased profile” of modern T20, the report suggests that value can now be increased to 20-25%, providing a value of £16.25m between 2014-2017 and £23.12m between 2018-2019, when the worth of the current broadcast deal increases to £92.5m a year.The report also notes that, since BT Sport added competition to the broadcast market, the value of deals for domestic football and rugby has increased markedly.The report concludes that a re-launched T20 competition involving all 18 first-class counties, sold on the open market and starting in 2020 could be worth “around £35m a year.”It would seem to underline the findings of an independent report by Oliver and Ohlbaum, analysts of the media and entertainment industries, from August which concluded “there is little consumer demand for the proposed city-based T20 competition even among younger and currently more casual fans of cricket.””Over 80% of sports fans surveyed by O&O this summer showed no interest at all in a city-based T20 competition,” it said.That report concluded that the ECB had “lost out on” an “estimated £60m” of potential broadcast revenue “when it did its last TV deal, back in 2011 just before BT Sport entered the market.”