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Concerns raised during the Prime Minister’s XI match about the experimental pink ball have been dismissed by Cricket Australia, as a host of cricket and broadcasting figures prepare to descend on Adelaide for a day/night Sheffield Shield fixture that will

Daniel Brettig26-Oct-20151:39

Chappell: White ball still the ideal option

Concerns raised during the Prime Minister’s XI match about the experimental pink ball have been dismissed by Cricket Australia, as a host of cricket and broadcasting figures prepare to descend on Adelaide for a day/night Sheffield Shield fixture that will be used for all manner of last-minute rehearsals.The meeting between South Australia and New South Wales, part of a full round of floodlit Shield games, will not only serve as a pink ball proving ground for the players involved but also Channel Nine and various operators of technology associated with international cricket and the Decision Review System.Ian Taylor, the head of Animation Research, recently admitted that the company responsible for ball tracking was yet to do so successfully with a pink ball, telling Fairfax Media that “we can track it some of the time”. Management and crew from Nine, CA, the ABC and numerous other interested parties including the Australian Cricketers’ Association will be in Adelaide to see for themselves how the ball and playing conditions stand up to scrutiny.The latest version of the Kookaburra ball was chewed up badly by Manuka Oval’s abrasive pitch and square, leading the Test batsman Adam Voges to offer a blunt critique. Players on both sides were similarly nonplussed, and there was much discussion of the topic during the two-day tour match that followed. David Hussey, another participant, said the ball simply did not look capable of lasting 80 overs.”The ball simply doesn’t stand up for the 80 overs, and during the PM’s XI game we had to change the ball twice, so certainly some tinkering needs to happen sooner rather than later,” Hussey told SEN. “The administrators have simply gone ahead with it, they want day/night Test cricket to happen purely for TV rights I believe. I think it’s going to be here to stay but I really think they have to do something about the ball and very quickly.”Talking to some of the Kiwis after Friday night’s match, they were fielding in the evening and they could barely pick up the ball. So it’s probably more of a player safety issue rather than playing at night. As Victoria batting coach I’m trying to tell all the batters just to play the ball as late as they possibly can, because it is a different style of ball, and you just see a sort of blur to start off with. It takes a few balls to get used to it.”The concept sits quite comfortably with all the players, but the pink ball, there could be a better option about.”Separate issues about the ball’s visibility were raised, including the inability of some batsmen to pick up the orientation of the seam as a way of working out which way it was going to be swinging or seaming. Visual cues such as these are viewed as critical to a batsman’s capacity to survive against fast bowling at the top level of the game. However CA’s head of cricket operations, Sean Cary, said the Canberra match was not a source of worry.”We’re not reading too much into the condition of the ball during the Prime Minister’s XI match in Canberra,” said Cary, who will also be in Adelaide for the Shield match. “We know the Manuka wicket is very abrasive and has a similar impact on a white ball in limited-overs cricket.”We’ve worked very closely with the Australian Cricketers’ Association and Kookaburra during its development to get it ready and fit for purpose. That included making significant improvements in the last 18 months around greater seam visibility, colour, shape and hardness.”We’re as confident as we can be that the ball is ready to go and I think from the experiences in the last round of Shield cricket that we had using the pink ball, we can be really positive as we approach the Test.”Greg Dyer, the president of the ACA, has stated that it is not too late for the Adelaide Test to revert to a day fixture. However the logistics and commercial arrangements being set in place for a match that was announced as far back as June make this a distinctly unlikely possibility – in a nutshell too much money is being spent, or made.Advocates of day/night Test cricket have been out in force, with the former captain Steve Waugh declaring the necessity of the game moving into the night in a string of interviews. “Test cricket is withering away in a lot of countries; Australia and England are the only two places where people watch Test matches,” Waugh told Triple M.”Day/night will bring people back to the game. We’ve got to get over the fact it might not be a perfect ball … once we play one day/night Test people will be saying ‘what were we worrying about?’.”

Concerns over the future of Northamptonshire will deepen as the extent of the club’s debts become clear. Northants owe local councils over £2m and year-end financial figures will show that turnover has dropped and losses grown

George Dobell20-Nov-2015Concerns over the future of Northamptonshire are likely to deepen as the extent of the club’s debts become clear.ESPNcricinfo understands that Northants owe local councils over £2m and that, despite strong talk of new business plans, the year-end financial figures will show that turnover has dropped and losses grown.Northants declared a loss of £305,636 last year but, despite cutting the cricket budget by around £300,000 this year, that loss is expected to rise to somewhere approaching £500,000. Alarmingly, despite having invested in improved facilities, the club’s turnover – £3.7m last year – is expected to have dropped by around £200,000. Membership, meanwhile, has dropped well below 2,000 and appears oddly passive.It was announced in recent weeks that Northampton Borough Council had lent the club £100,000 with a further £150,000 to be made available as required. But it has now emerged that the club borrowed £2m from the city council (there were two separate loans of £1m each) for ground redevelopment work a couple of years ago, with the loan to be repaid by the ECB out of proceeds from the next round of broadcast rights expected at the end of 2019.It is understood that all counties can expect an additional grant of up to £2m from the ECB for investment into facilities at this time.Should the club go out of business before then, the council could expect to recoup no more than £700,000 under the terms of the agreement, meaning that £1.3m of public money is in jeopardy. They therefore have a keen interest in ensuring the club survives until the end of the decade, at least.The ECB has been offering advice to the club for some time. There has been a reluctance to loan more money – the club had requested up to £500,000 – however, until there is greater confidence in the club’s plans and management structure.While officials at the club continue to deny it, insiders maintain that the chief executive, Ray Payne, conducts the role in a part-time capacity and is a relatively rare visitor to the ground. Typically, that has meant he has been at the ground for a day or two each week.The club have also taken loans from directors – thought to be worth around £550,000 – and received grants from supporters. It is understood some players have accepted new deals on reduced salaries and that at least two players have been told their contracts cannot be confirmed until it becomes clear whether the ECB will lend more money. With the level of debt approaching £3m, the ECB have a difficult decision to make.Professional sport in Northampton is in a parlous state. The council this week has also announced an independent enquiry, to be conducted by KPMG, into the management of a £10.25m loan to the town’s football club and they are working with Northamptonshire Police to ascertain how the money has been spent. They have also loaned the rugby club over £5m. News that a further £1.3m of public money is at risk is likely to be acutely politically embarrassing.In August, ESPNcricinfo revealed that the club had approached the ECB for extra funding and had considered a ground move. The club originally denied the story and told the ECB there was a covenant on the ground that forbade development. They later admitted that they had approached the ECB for funding, had “briefly” explored the possibility of a ground move and admitted that the covenant had been lifted several years ago.They maintain it is not relevant that the chairman, vice-chairman and other board members have a background in land or property development. ESPNcricinfo understands that more than £10,000 was spent on drawing up plans for the move.The scale of the losses this year is especially disappointing given that the club should have benefited from several one-off events. They hosted a three-day game against Australia – which had been budgeted to bring in around £100,000 – they raised around £30,000 from the transfer of David Willey to Yorkshire (Willey was released from his contract a year early; Yorkshire paid a fee), they gained 25% of the gate for the T20 quarter-final at Hove and prize money of almost £50,000 for reaching the competition’s final. They also had the new conferencing facilities to sell that had been improved at a cost of around £400,000.Northants’ struggles do not come at a good time. While the ECB has found what amounts to emergency funding for several counties in recent years, there is currently a debate about ways in which to cut the domestic schedule. The other first-class counties appear well disposed to help, but there are those in prominent positions within the ECB who feel that losing a couple of counties would be no bad thing.

Dimuth Karunaratne, who is one just three batsmen in Sri Lanka’s squad to have played Tests in New Zealand before, has found himself dishing out advice to his younger, less experienced team-mates

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Dunedin08-Dec-2015A 27-year-old opening batsman, 23 Tests in, and still developing the guts of his technique may reasonably expect a senior’s arm around his shoulder and a wise word from time to time. For three years, since his debut in late 2012, Dimuth Karunaratne got that from the greats he used to share a dressing room with.

‘Hope Bracewell can go up another gear’ – Southee

Doug Bracewell’s return to form, and the New Zealand attack’s overall performance in the Adelaide Test, bodes well for the series against Sri Lanka, Tim Southee said. Bracewell has been a sporadic presence in the Test side over the past two years, but took 3 for 18 from 12.1 overs in the first innings at Adelaide to help restrict Australia to 224.
“I think Doug bowled extremely well in periods in Australia – and it’s probably the best I’ve seen him bowl in a long time,” Southee said. “It’s encouraging for us, coming back to conditions we’re all familiar with. Hopefully he can go up another gear. It’s nice to have options, and we’ve got a bit of depth there in the bowling department.”
Southee had good returns throughout the Australia series, but Trent Boult was some way from his best at the start of the tour. Boult did take take five wickets in the final innings of that series, however, as the remainder of the attack also peaked.
“We were a little bit off in Australia at times, from the standards we usually operate at. But we showed at times – especially in Adelaide and Perth – what we are capable of. When we get it right we are a very dangerous side. In grounds we are familiar with, we can show the high standards we’ve set over the years.”

But now, only 12 months after winning his way back to the Test side, Karunaratne finds himself dishing out advice. It is his arm around someone else’s shoulder now; his war stories team-mates are listening to.Such is the dearth of experience in Sri Lanka’s top order, that Karunaratne is a relative old hand in the batting unit. Of the others on tour, Udara Jayasundera is yet to debut, Milinda Siriwardana has played only two Tests, and Kusal Mendis – at 20-years-old – has had one Test outing, and 11 senior games in total.Among the batsmen likely to play in the first Test, Karunaratne is among just three batsmen who have played Tests in New Zealand before. Having faced down Tim Southee and Trent Boult’s new-ball spells before, Karunaratne knows his team-mates will look to him to set the tone, and provide direction.”There’s a little more responsibility on us now,” he said. “The players who have batted here before – myself, Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal – will have to take that on. We don’t have greats in the team anymore, so it’s up to us. And there are also some very new players, who we have to motivate. We’ve got to pass on what we know. There are two potential opening partners for me on tour, and I’ve told them that it’s not as easy to bat here as in Sri Lanka – every ball can pose a threat.”Karunaratne was once a talented dasher, regularly moving into the 20s and 30s with a spate of boundaries, before giving up his wicket playing one stroke too many. He has only recently developed the Test-match temperament to go with his skill – his 152 at Hagley Oval’s Boxing Day Test, having been the first of his three important Test hundreds in the past year.”The last New Zealand tour was all new, but now I have a little experience here,” he said. “I’ve got some idea of how to play on green tops, and what the bowlers will try to do. Just because I scored last time, that’s not a guarantee that I will do well, but I’ve been working hard on leaving the ball and playing close to the body. The first 15 overs are always going to be tough, but after that you can look to build your innings.”I’ve learned that the later you play the ball here, the more successful you can be. The ball moves only a little bit – not a huge amount. Playing the ball under the eyes and close to the body is key, and you also have to score maximum runs from the wider balls. You have to get big value out of the bowlers’ mistakes as well. If you don’t do that you can get stuck, so it’s a balance.”Karunaratne is realistic about his technique, however. A bottom-hand dominant batsman when he entered the team, Karunaratne has opened up new scoring areas over the past year, but admits he might have to pare his game back given the conditions and bowling in New Zealand.”Last year when I was here, I knew I was very strong on the leg side, so I waited for balls on the legs. Now, I’ve got a bit more confidence to play on the off side, but also with that, there is the fear that you can make a mistake playing those shots. Boult especially will try and get me out behind the wicket on the off side – that’s where he bowls. In the nets I’ve tried to go for shots on the offside, but to be honest, I did miss a few there as well. I’ve got to keep all that in mind and try to play straight. I’ve targeted just surviving in that first 15 overs. After that it gets easier.”On form Karunaratne appears Sri Lanka’s best batsman. He hit 180 against West Indies in the most recent series, and was the pick of Sri Lanka’s batsmen in the tour-match in Queenstown, where he hit the top score of 93. He ranks Southee and Boult as the “top new-ball bowlers in the world”, but feels he is ready to take guard against them again.”We’ve been playing a lot in home conditions this year, so it can be a bit of a shock to the body when you come here and it’s cold,” he said. “When you spend some time at the wicket though, you start to feel that you can do well in these conditions, and that you can score runs. What I tried in the practice match was to stay in the middle to get that feeling. That really helped.”

A round-up of the U-19 World Cup matches played on January 28, 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-2016Group DNepal U-19 pulled off a dramatic 32-run win over New Zealand U-19 in a thrilling encounter in Fatullah. Nepal posted a total of 238 and then defended it by bowling New Zealand out for 206. Nepal have a win-loss record of 11-3 while defending totals of 150 or more. Five of those wins have come against Full Members.Things had looked dicey for Nepal when they were 68 for 3 after winning the toss and batting first. Captain Raju Rijal (48) and Aarif Sheikh (39) added 61 to bring the innings back on track. Some handy middle-order contributions, including a 23-ball 35 from Kushal Bhurtel helped Nepal to a competitive total. In fact, Nepal’s 238 for 7 is their highest in Youth ODIs. Fast bowler Nathan Smith picked up three wickets but went for 58 runs in his 10 overs.

Bangladesh’s Sanjit reported for suspect action

Bangladesh offspinner Sanjit Saha has been reported for a suspect action after their Under-19 World Cup opener against South Africa in Chittagong on Wednesday. An expert panel will review footage and determine the legality of his bowling action, but Sanjit can continue bowling until the results are known.
Bangladesh coach Mizanur Rahman said, “He remains in our plans until we hear anything further from the authorities. I think it will be in the next three days starting tomorrow.” Bangladesh’s next match is on Sunday against Scotland in Cox’s Bazar.

After a middling start in the chase – New Zealand were 32 for 2 in the ninth over – Glenn Phillips (52) and Josh Finnie (37) strung together a 72-run stand. However, both men fell in quick succession and soon the innings itself threatened to fall apart.Dale Phillips, at No. 7, did his best with 41 off 50 balls, and along with Smith brought the equation down from 95 off 60 to 41 off 24. Medium-pacer Dipendra Singh Airee then swung the game decisively in Nepal’s favour with a double strike. They now have a win-loss record of 20-17 in all Youth ODIs and their win-loss ratio of 1.176 is by far the best among non Full-Member teams.A couple of half-centuries from Sarfaraz Khan and Washington Sundar helped India U-19 overcome a dodgy start and beat Ireland U-19 by 79 runs and record their 11th win on the trot.Joshua Little, who earned praise from his captain Jack Tector for the amount of pace he generated, picked up 3 for 52 and fellow seamer Rory Anders with 3 for 35 had dragged India down to 55 for 4. Ireland had opted to bowl and would have felt that decision was vindicated until Sarfaraz and Washington put on 110 runs in 104 balls to swing the momentum back in India’s favour.Sarfaraz struck 74 runs off 70 balls with seven fours, but his skill was in manipulating the field and securing ones and twos. Washington, who now has six fifties in seven matches, pushed India past 200 and Zeeshan Ansari’s run-a-ball 36 took the total to a formidable 268.Ireland’s chase was bogged down by too many dot balls and not enough urgency from their batsmen. The times when they did try to make something out of nothing, India’s fielders made them pay. Ishan Kishan, who bagged a duck earlier, hit the stumps direct to run Stephen Doheny out in the third over and 10 balls later Armaan Jaffer followed suit and had Tector short of his ground.Fast bowler Avesh Khan (10-1-24-2) hustled the batsmen with his pace and bounce while left-arm quick Khaleel Ahmed (9-1-36-1) was maintained a steadfast line of attack on off stump to lend proof to their captain’s Kishan’s words that India hand’t been nervous when their middle order collapsed because they had a skillful bowling attack. Among them was 16-year old legspinner Ansari, who has a googly and a flipper in his repertoire. Medium pacer Rahul Batham took the most wickets with 3 for 15.Ireland were anchored by fifties from William McClintock (58 off 86) and Lorcan Tucker (57 off 89). Both batsmen displayed the aptitude for the big shots, but they weren’t able to sustain their hitting. They put on the highest partnership of the match – 113 off 151 balls – but faced a required rate of 8.89, which had to be maintained over 18 overs. Both men fell in the final 10 overs and Ireland were all out in the 50th overs.Group BPakistan U-19 cruised to a six-wicket win with 111 balls to spare in their tournament opener against Afghanistan U-19 in Sylhet.Pakistan opted to bowl and it proved an excellent decision as legspinner Shadab Khan and seamer Hasan Mohsin ran through Afghanistan. Shadab picked up 4 for 9 in five overs and Mohsin returned figures of 3 for 24. Only Tariq Stanikzai, who complied a 76-ball 53, was able to resist them as Afghanistan fell from 98 for 3 to 126 all out.Pakistan lost captain Gauhar Hafeez for 1 in the chase, but Zeeshan Malik (29) and Mohammad Umar (25) helped them recover. Mohsin struck 28 off 36 as well to be named Man of the Match. Zia-ur-Rehman picked up two wickets while Rashid Khan, who has already represented Afghanistan on the international stage, claimed one victim.Sri Lanka U19 produced a dominant display with both bat and ball to beat Canada U19 by 196 runs in Sylhet. After choosing to bat, Sri Lanka piled on 315 on the back of fifties from Kaveen Bandara, captain Charith Asalanka, Shammu Ashan and Vishad Randika. Wanidu Hasaranga struck three fours and two sixes in his 13-ball 28 to provide the impetus to the end of the innings on a high. In response, only Arslan Khan manged to score more than 22 for Canada as they were bowled out for 119 in the 40th over.

A city-based T20 competition could be back on the agenda in England and Wales after a group of county chief executives called upon their colleagues to embrace more radical change

George Dobell26-Feb-2016A city-based T20 competition could be back on the agenda in England and Wales after a group of county chief executives called upon their colleagues to embrace more radical change.It had been presumed that the meeting of the county chief executives at Trent Bridge on Thursday would simply wave through a raft of proposals to the structure of county cricket that might be termed a compromise between those who want city-based T20 and those who want no change. Those proposals were understood to include introducing promotion and relegation in domestic T20 cricket and a reduced County Championship fixture list with an eight-team top division and 10-team bottom division. The changes would have been implemented for the 2017 season and would last until the current TV deal expires at the end of 2019.But there was a feeling from some at the meeting – not least the MCC chief executive, Derek Brewer – that the proposals were not radical enough. Brewer argued that, with Test revenues expected to come under strain in the next few years, it was essential to exploit the global appeal of the T20 format. English cricket, he said, was missing an opportunity by failing to implement a streamlined, city-based competition in a school holidays window.Others present felt that the positives of moving to two divisions, with broadcasters focusing on the top tier, might be outweighed by the threat of losing lucrative local derby matches – such as Yorkshire’s and Lancashire’s Roses fixtures, which are understood to be worth £300,000 per game.As a result, the counties asked for more clarity on the financial repercussions of each of their options. With some of the larger, Test-hosting counties anxious about their debt issues, the mood for change among the chief executives does appear to be growing. Warwickshire, Hampshire and Glamorgan are among those counties apparently now in favour of a city-based competition.Many of the county chairmen, and most of those in executive positions at the ECB, are already convinced of the benefits of a city-based T20 competition along the lines of Australia’s Big Bash League. It has, until now, been the chief executives who resisted a move in that direction with many of them citing substantial growth in attendances and revenues since the NatWest Blast was scheduled on a more predictable basis and pointing out that the quality of overseas players – both in terms of talent and marketability – involved in the 2015 competition was exceptionally high.But if evidence can be produced ahead of the next county chairmen’s meeting on March 7, and the ECB board meeting that follows it, that a move to a city-based competition will financially benefit all the counties, it remains just about possible that it could yet be introduced in 2017.Time is an issue. The ECB are adamant that agreement must be reached before the season so that teams go into the campaigns knowing what the outcomes could be. For example, the finishing positions in this year’s NatWest Blast would decide which divisions teams would be in next year.It remains likely that the compromise solution – a two-division T20 competition involving all 18 counties with teams financially compensated for a lack of derby games – will be ratified, but it does seem that resistance to more radical change is crumbling.

Kasun Rajitha, Dushmantha Chameera and Dasun Shanaka – Sri Lanka’s lanky seam-bowling labour force – came upon a thoroughly surprising green Pune deck, and wound up delivering their team a surprisingly thorough victory

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando09-Feb-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:08

India’s win-loss ratio of 0.625 at home

Kasun Rajitha, Dushmantha Chameera and Dasun Shanaka – Sri Lanka’s lanky seam-bowling labour force – came upon a thoroughly surprising green Pune deck, and wound up delivering their team a surprisingly thorough victory. The three quicks took eight wickets for 59 between them, to blow India away for 101. Sri Lanka’s inexperienced batsmen were rarely at ease in pursuit, but did well enough to get to the target with five wickets in hand and two overs to spare.Chameera had provided glimpses at his penetrative potential during the recent tour of New Zealand, but Rajitha and Shanaka had gone unheralded until today. If Binura Fernando – the left-arm quick – had not injured a hamstring ahead of this match, Rajitha might not even have debuted. Instead, he claimed two wickets in a tone-setting first over and finished with 3 for 29. Shanaka is in the team largely for his batting, but bowled magic deliveries through the middle overs, uprooting Suresh Raina’s leg stump with an in-dipper, and bouncing MS Dhoni second ball. He took 3 for 16.Fresh from Australian run-gluts, India’s route to defeat was paved with over-ambition. Even after the pitch had proved itself spicy, big shots continued to be attempted. Edges kept being collected. Wickets continued to tumble. The biggest stand of their innings was between R Ashwin and Ashish Nehra, who put on 28 for the eighth wicket. Without Ashwin’s 31 not out, their total might have been closer to 80.Sri Lanka’s innings appeared to be heading in the same direction at 23 for 2 in the fifth over, but Dinesh Chandimal and Chamara Kapugedera combined for 39 tension-relieving runs. Three late wickets fell, but the target was so small, even this scratchy batting performance was more than good enough. The victory puts Sri Lanka back on top of the ICC T20 rankings.It was Rajitha who first put the fire in a young Sri Lanka team. Barely heard of before he took five wickets in a tour match against the Indians in August last year, he delivered an immaculate first international over, seaming the ball sharply away from right-handers, and generating fine pace and carry. His first wicket came second ball. The length delivery stopped a little on Rohit Sharma, who hit aerially down the ground. Chameera moved across from mid-off to help a stick-thin fast-bowling brother out, diving feet off the ground to pouch that catch. Clearly excited by that scalp, Rajitha ended the over with a seaming short ball at Ajinkya Rahane, whose leading edge carried to an advancing cover.He had a catch dropped off Raina’s inside edge in between, but Rajitha soon had a third wicket, in the fifth over. Then Shanaka took over, bowling slower, but just as accurately. The Raina-Dhoni double blow in his first over put India at 51 for 5. It also doubled Shanaka’s wicket-tally in all T20s. He had played in 26 matches before this, and was called upon to bowl in less than a quarter of those games.Chameera troubled the middle order with raw pace until Ashwin picked India off the floor with a sensible approach and excellent timing. He smoked Chameera through the leg side for four first ball, but largely awaited the bad deliveries to play his big shots. In the end, Ashwin just ran out of partners – Nehra succumbing to Chameera’s pace and Jasprit Bumrah running himself out, in the 19th over.Nehra dismissed Sri Lanka’s openers, who were also guilty of attempting too many boundaries while the ball was still zipping around. Chandimal and Kapugedera were streaky but smart, looking for singles and twos, with the required rate always under a run-a-ball. Chandimal top-scored with 35, Kapugedera hit 25.MS Dhoni banked on spin through the middle overs, and the slow bowlers did remove Kapugedara, Chandimal and, later, Shanaka. But Sri Lanka had stacked their side with allrounders again, and batted deep. Milinda Siriwardana was on hand to apply the finish, hitting 21 not out from 14. Ashwin was the best of India’s bowlers as well, picking up 2 for 13 from his three overs.

Allrounder Shane Watson, who had announced his international retirement on Thursday, has said that he is keen to make the most of the last few games he has got

Sidharth Monga in Mohali26-Mar-2016Chandigarh is not an easy place to remember; it is nigh impossible to tell one sector of its grid-based layout from another. Shane Watson can. He has vivid memories of being here to play cricket in Mohali. He had scored a high-quality Test century here, but ended up losing that match, one of the greatest Tests played in India. More vividly, though, he remembers being sent back home midway during Australia’s next tour of India. Now he and his team fight to make sure his international career doesn’t end in Mohali. They want it to go to Mumbai, and then Kolkata.”It’s a good thing we’re not staying in the JW Marriott because I’ve got a bad memory of one of those rooms in particular there so that’s given me some nice memories coming back to Mohali,” Watson said, looking back at the disastrous tour of India four years ago. “But yeah that wasn’t really one of my high points, being suspended from a Test match for not doing my homework that I didn’t realise I had to do.”In his press conference before the start of Australia’s knockouts – they meet Indian in a virtual quarter-final – Watson sounded a lot more relaxed than what most of the players with their modern media training do. He joked about the homeworkgate, about the time they sledged Virat Kohli at MCG, but he himself dropped Kohli two balls later, about how perhaps Ajinkya Rahane can replace Kohli when asked third time if he felt his IPL team-mate Rahane merited a place in the Indian XI. It could perhaps be down to the relief that getting such a big announcement out of the way brings.”No, not really [if anything had changed since the announcement],” Watson said. “Apart from just really making the most of these last few games that I’ve got. After I announced my retirement, over the last day it’s been reminiscing a bit more. It’s the first time I really sat back and really looked at my career and the different highlights.”Even from a young age, the age of 20, I’ve got so many incredible memories. It really is the first time in my whole career that I’ve had the chance to just spend some time thinking about how incredibly lucky and fortunate I’ve been and the amazing things I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to experience throughout my career. That’s more the last day I’ve been experiencing. Just making the most of playing these last few games, because I know how much of a privilege it’s been to be able to play for my country, and I’m going to make the most of these last few games.”Shane Watson: “Look, in the end, I’m very happy to just be playing. I have been very fortunate to be able to play for my country for a number of years.”•Getty Images

It could be the last few or the last. The familiar foes, India, will start as favourites despite three cagey performances: they have got the bowlers to exploit the slow pitch in Mohali, and they also have the recent upper hand through beating Australia 3-0 in the T20Is in Australia earlier this year. Watson, though, said the Australian T20 side has improved a lot since then.”We’ve got a very different team to those games we played,” Watson said. “We went through quite a few players throughout those three games. Now we’ve been a bit more settled as a unit. That’s a great starting point for us compared to India, who have been just about the same team all the way through so they certainly know their roles very well within the batting unit and the bowling unit. For us to be able to click [against Pakistan] as a batting and bowling unit that’s a great thing and the most important thing going into a knockout game so I’ve got no doubt India are going to be very wary of what we do.”Watson is aware of India’s strength at home, though, and hoped that Australia would prevail in the mental contest that all knockout matches are. “In big games it really comes down to your mental approach more than anything else,” he said. “Your skills don’t change, and the biggest challenge mentally is to be able to try and hold your nerve when the pressure comes on, which is certainly going to happen in a knockout game.”India has quite a lot of expectations, quite a few people who follow the game here compared to back home in Australia so there’s a little bit more expectation on the Indian team compared to the Australian team, but both teams want to win. It’s such a big tournament for everyone, for all of the international sides, especially a knockout game. It really just comes down to how you hold your nerve, and the good thing is, recently in the one-day World Cup we certainly did that at home. We also know that India did it very well at home in 2011 as well, and they’ve got quite a few of the same players so it’s going to be a great game.”For Australia, Watson’s flexibility has been a big asset. They had tried David Warner in the middle order, but it is Watson, with his experience of batting in the middle order in the IPL, who has given them what they might feel is the ideal batting order. Against Pakistan, after two games of Warner in the middle, Watson batted at No. 6, and scored 44 not out off 21 to provide their innings the impetus. Asked if that was the way to go for Australia, Watson said: “Our batting clicked, that’s for sure. In the end I know with the experience that I’ve had batting in a lot of different spots throughout my career, I am the most versatile batsmen in our line-up, to be able to move up and down the order.”So whatever was required for the selectors and the captain to feel that they wanted certain guys in certain positions, it certainly worked today there is no doubt about that. Look, in the end, I’m very happy to just be playing. I have been very fortunate to be able to play for my country for a number of years.”Three more nights, Watson might want.

With four wins in six matches, Delhi Daredevils are placed third and have the opportunity to climb further on Tuesday against Gujarat Lions in Rajkot

The Preview by Akshay Gopalakrishnan02-May-2016

Match facts

Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

Big Picture

In an IPL that has, at various points, been bereft of excitement due to the slew of one-sided finishes, and predictable because of the number of successful chases, Delhi Daredevils’ performances have been refreshing.After racking up a grand total of 10 wins across the last three seasons, 2016 has been a welcome change for Daredevils. With four wins from six matches, they are placed third and have the opportunity to climb further on Tuesday against Gujarat Lions, who suffered a 23-run loss against laggards Kings XI Punjab.Zaheer Khan’s astute leadership has been central to Daredevils’ success, as have the performances of their foreign contingent. Chris Morris has been their most impressive foreign buy. His effective end-overs bowling, and fearsome ball-striking, of the kind he displayed in an unbeaten 32-ball 82 in a narrow loss for Daredevils the last time both sides met, makes him an important part of the line-up.Daredevils, however, have struggled to get an opening partnership going despite having tried three different combinations. Shreyas Iyer is under pressure to retain his place, having scored just 22 runs in five innings.There aren’t too many batting concerns for Gujarat Lions, even though the loss to Kings XI would serve as a wake-up call. But not all was doom and gloom in Rajkot. Shivil Kaushik, the chinaman bowler, put behind a disappointing debut to finish with figures of 3 for 20, which included the wickets of Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and M Vijay.

Form guide

Gujarat Lions LWWWL (last five matches, most recent first)
Delhi Daredevils WLWWW

In the spotlight

Dwayne Smith came in only after an injury forced Aaron Finch out of the side and has grabbed his opportunities. With 163 runs in four matches at a strike rate of 153.77, he has been as effective as Brendon McCullum at the top of the order for Gujarat Lions.But for a 60 against Mumbai Indians, Sanju Samson has had a lean tournament (133 runs in six innings). A flat Rajkot deck could just be what he needs to rediscover his touch.

Team news

Finch’s fitness is being closely monitored. At a training session on the eve of the game, he was the first to pad up and had a long net session, facing throw-downs before practising against Pravin Tambe and a few net bowlers. Finch batted and ran between the wickets without any apparent discomfort. If he is picked, James Faulkner may have to make way. McCullum and Smith are likely to open, which means Dinesh Karthik may have to move down to slot Finch in at No. 4.Gujarat Lions (probable): 1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Aaron Finch/James Faulkner, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Ishan Kishan, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Dhawal Kulkarni, 11 Shivil KaushikDaredevils may not want to tinker with the XI that beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs in their previous match. It’s not clear if JP Duminy, who missed the previous game because of an illness, has recovered. With Sam Billings, his replacement, having scored a 34-ball 54 on IPL debut, Daredevils may have to make a tough choice. Iyer’s struggle for runs – he has three ducks this season – could pave way for Mayank Agarwal’s inclusion.Delhi Daredevils (probable): 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Shreyas Iyer/Mayank Agarwal, 3 Sanju Samson, 4 Karun Nair, 5 Sam Billings/JP Duminy, 6 Chris Morris, 7 Carlos Brathwaite, 8 Rishabh Pant, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Zaheer Khan (capt), 11 Amit Mishra

Pitch and conditions

Though Sunday’s match between Kings XI and Lions ended up being low scoring, surfaces in Rajkot are traditionally flat. So expect another run-fest. The players would welcome a night game.

Stats and trivia

• Delhi Daredevils have effected eight run-outs, the most by any team this season. Their batsmen have been involved in only one run-out, the fewest in the tournament.
• Praveen Kumar got his first wicket of IPL 2016 off his 147th ball – the second-longest wait for a bowler in a season. Praveen himself holds the record, having taken 159 balls in 2012.

Derbyshire continued their positive response to last week’s backroom upheaval when successfully chasing 296 to beat Worcestershire by seven wickets in their opening Royal London Cup fixture at New Road

ECB Reporters Network05-Jun-2016
ScorecardHamish Rutherford’s rapid hundred powered Derbyshire’s chase•Getty Images

Derbyshire continued their positive response to last week’s backroom upheaval when successfully chasing 296 to beat Worcestershire by seven wickets in their opening Royal London Cup fixture at New Road.Hamish Rutherford led the way with a brilliant 104 from 76 balls, putting on 132 in 22 overs with Billy Godleman as Derbyshire registered their second win since Graeme Welch, the elite performance director, resigned on Friday.Having beaten Leicestershire in the NatWest T20 Blast within hours of Welch’s departure, they turned in another strong performance on a good batting surface.When Chesney Hughes was brilliantly run out by Ross Whiteley from deep point in the 10th over, Rutherford took charge with clean hitting in front of the wicket for seven sixes and six fours. Godleman may not have been quite as fluent but still reached 50 in 66 balls.Although they were bowled in quick succession, the wickets going to Daryl Mitchell and Ed Barnard, there were no signs of a wobble.Wayne Madsen and Neil Broom, the New Zealander unbeaten with 45, cleared off 104 runs in 12.1 overs to see their side home with 11 balls to spare.Madsen was as cool as ever, reaching 50 from 41 balls. In all he hit seven fours and a six while his partner picked off five boundaries as he also scored at better than a run-a-ball.Worcestershire won only one game in this competition last season, and although they began a new campaign with a challenging total of 295, their innings lacked a coherent pattern.When Mitchell won the toss, he took the chance on batting under early cloud cover and there were some problems as Andy Carter and Ben Cotton dismissed the openers with only 17 runs scored by the eighth over.Tom Kohler-Cadmore edged Cotton to second slip without scoring and Mitchell himself was bowled, middle stump, as Cotton took two for 24 in his new-ball spell.Alexei Kervezee led the initial counter-attack with a 33-ball half-century, which included three sixes, in his first List A appearance for the county in two years.Following on from his match-winning 52 not out on the same pitch in Thursday’s NatWest T20 Blast clash with Yorkshire, he dominated a partnership of 115 in 14 overs with Joe Clarke.Kervezee was eventually out for 77, lbw to Shiv Thakor, and Clarke was run out for 44 when new batsman Brett D’Oliveira played the ball straight to Madsen at midwicket.With D’Oliveira soon bowled by Thakor, Worcestershire had lost half their side for 143 and it was left to Whiteley to lead a second phase.
The former Derbyshire left hander made 61 from 49 balls, hitting six fours and two sixes before he as lbw to Matt Critchley, a consolation for the legspinner as he conceded 101 runs in his 10 overs.Ben Cox and Joe Leach chipped in with useful runs, but Cotton came back to take two more wickets for an impressive return of four for 43 and Carter struck in successive overs to close the innings with two balls left.

A rollicking opening stand and a Marlon Samuels special lifted West Indies to their second victory of the triangular series over an uncharacteristically sloppy Australian side in St Kitts

The Report by Daniel Brettig13-Jun-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:57

Samuels, openers give West Indies four-wicket win

A rollicking opening stand and a Marlon Samuels special lifted West Indies to their second victory of the triangular series over an uncharacteristically sloppy Australian side in St Kitts.From a strong platform of 139 for 1 after 27 overs the visitors’ innings lost momentum, and the target of 266 was vulnerable to an early assault on the short boundaries of Warner Park. Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher duly hurled themselves at a bowling attack that was missing Mitchell Starc, and were helped by a pair of dropped catches from Usman Khawaja.Those misses helped take West Indies to an opening stand of 74 inside 10 overs, and that early acceleration allowed Samuels to sculpt an innings in his familiar style – long periods of inactivity mixed with brief bursts of power and inspiration. Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin offered support, and a wobble arrived too late to save Australia from defeat.Khawaja had taken advantage of a promotion to the top of the order to help guide Australia’s innings, but he fell short of what would have been his maiden ODI century. Bogged down in the 90s, he was ultimately run out when chasing a third run for his partner George Bailey.Steven Smith, the captain, forged 74 without always looking in complete control of his game or the conditions, before Bailey played sensibly to push the visitors beyond 260. Jason Holder bowled an exemplary spell for West Indies, having started on the best possible note by surprising Aaron Finch with bounce and having him taken at slip for a duck in the first over of the match. Sunil Narine was also economical, while Carlos Brathwaite and Kieron Pollard claimed two wickets each.Fletcher and Charles clearly had boundaries on their minds when they walked out to start the pursuit, helped by the fact there was no Starc to contend with, for reasons of rest. Nine times the rope was reached or cleared in the first seven overs, and from there the required rate was never likely to drift beyond six runs per over.After Khawaja’s misses – he dropped Fletcher and Charles within the first eight overs – James Faulkner contributed an excellent cutter to deceive Fletcher, and Adam Zampa struck in his first over with a skidding delivery that pinned Charles in front of middle stump. However, their early work gave Samuels and Bravo time to get established, while Smith was unable to pressure the scoreboard through his bowlers.The boundaries briefly slowed to a trickle, but neither batsman lost his composure, and the target had been whittled down to 99 from 115 balls by the time Bravo was claimed by Zampa with a bouncing legbreak that touched glove and pad before looping up for Matthew Wade.Ramdin kept Samuels company as the equation shrank further, and it was left to the senior batsman to put the result more or less beyond doubt with a trio of sixes off Zampa in the 41st over. The first of these was almost caught by the debutant Travis Head, who did take the ball cleanly but was thrown off balance by the proximity of the rope and was unable to hurl the ball in for a successful juggle. The next two cleared him comfortably.Samuels would not be Samuels without moments to counterbalance the brilliance, and a languid single in the same over ended his innings when Wade scampered around and fired a dead-eye throw at the non-striker’s stumps. Nathan Coulter-Nile found a way through Ramdin and coaxed the thinnest of edges from Holder to keep the crowd on tenterhooks, but Pollard and Brathwaite kept their heads to collect victory with more than four overs remaining.Having lost David Warner for the rest of the tournament due to a broken finger, the Australians gave an ODI debut to the left-hander Head, who had his cap handed to him by Damien Martyn. Head’s inclusion as a middle-order batsman who also bowls offspin was a pointed message to the out-of-sorts Glenn Maxwell, who was dropped before Australia’s previous match, a victory over South Africa.That result had been built upon strong batting in the afternoon, and Smith had similar visions when he walked out to the middle. Somewhat surprisingly Holder sent the Australians in when he won the toss, but he was all smiles after getting Finch with sharp bounce and subtle away movement.Smith and Khawaja were both struck on the splice of the bat by prancing early deliveries from Holder and Jerome Taylor, but they were then able to steadily build a platform that, by 24 overs, had taken on the dimensions of 103 for 1. At that point Smith and Khawaja chose to accelerate, and in the next three overs they piled on 36.West Indies’ anxiety had risen quickly, but Holder was able to settle it with a miserly spell, conceding only 13 from three overs when the batsmen were looking to attack. The reward came indirectly when Holder brought on Brathwaite, who was the beneficiary when Smith charged wildly at his first ball and skied a return catch.A period of further stagnation followed, a previously fluent Khawaja mired in the 90s and Bailey trying to get started. Ultimately Khawaja was unable to reach three figures, and there may be some examination of his running between the wickets after he failed to make a third run from Bailey’s reverse sweep to third man.Mitchell Marsh came into bat before Head, and he was able to add 49 with Bailey in six overs before skying Brathwaite to mid-off. Bailey’s innings was replete with typical good sense and the occasional hefty blow, meaning Australia did not totally squander their earlier platform. Australia seemed content with 265, but they reckoned without the pyrotechnics of Fletcher and Charles, and the skilled insouciance of Samuels.