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Kings XI Punjab have expressed their desire to play more matches at the Maharashtra Cricket Associaton stadium on the outskirts of Pune in the next edition of the IPL, but have clarified that Mohali will continue to remain their base. While the Maharashtra Cricket Association is open to hosting Kings XI, a final decision can only be taken based on whether one of the two new franchises, that will be announced tomorrow, picks Pune as their home base.The MCA stadium was one of the home venues for Kings XI in IPL 2015 and hosted three matches.Mohit Burman, one of the co-owners of Kings XI Punjab, said the franchise would speak to the BCCI on the matter soon. “We played a few matches this season in Pune and it was a good experience. We would now want to play more matches there,” Burman told ESPNcricnfo.Burman, however, said the franchise had no desire to shift its base to Pune. “We remain a Punjab franchise and we would continue to play in Mohali,” he said.While Kings XI have lost four of their five matches overall at the MCA Stadium in Pune, they have benefited financially. “They played only three matches in Pune. They made [Rs] 10.6 crore within that short period,” an IPL official said. “If they play five-plus [games], then their profits would increase effectively.”The official, however, said that Kings XI would have to wait for the outcome of the auction on Tuesday, where the two new franchises that will replace Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals will be unveiled. “What if one of the new franchises opts for Pune, which is part of the nine bidding cites?” he said.

Angela Reakes, a 24-year-old legspinner with the ACT and the Sydney Sixers, was handed a suspended two-year ban from the game after she was found to have placed bets on the outcome of the Man-of-the-Match award during the World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand in March. Reakes, the first Australian cricketer caught betting on matches since Cricket Australia unveiled its anti-corruption code, will now become part of information sessions designed to prevent others from making similar or worse indiscretions.She placed five bets, totalling a sum of AUD $9, in contravention of Article 2.2.1 of the Code, which outlaws “placing, accepting, laying or otherwise entering into any bet with any other party (whether individual, company or otherwise) in relation to the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of any Match or Event”.CA has 16 official betting partners, all of which have signed up to “assist CA in its ongoing management of the integrity of CA competitions, by agreeing to the information sharing and other integrity requirements specified by CA”. A CA spokesman declined to comment on whether Reakes’ offence had been uncovered via these arrangements.Other sanctions included an official reprimand from CA, and also the requirement to become part of CA’s anti-corruption compliance education to other cricketers in coming seasons – she will thus become part of the education process designed to prevent similar missteps. While she accepted the sanctions voluntarily, the suspended sentence will hang over Reakes for the remainder of her career, meaning an instant ban should she ever transgress again.”All elite cricketers are reminded regularly that betting on any form of cricket is strictly prohibited,” said Iain Roy, head of CA’s integrity unit. “It is outlined in the Anti-Corruption training that we deliver on an annual basis and is written into our Code of Behaviour.”Angela understands that in placing these bets she made a bad mistake and has acknowledged the seriousness of her error. She has been cooperative during the investigation and we believe the penalty in these circumstances is appropriate.”Reakes moved from the New South Wales Breakers to the ACT Meteors in the off-season, and enjoyed a productive domestic 50-over tournament where she was her team’s leading wicket-taker. She has taken one wicket in seven matches while bowling economically for the Sixers.

At the MCG on Friday, the world champions will attempt to maintain their unbeaten run against a talented opposition boasting a number of fresh faces. But in a reversal of the usual trend in recent years, Australia are the challengers and India are out to confirm their status as the world’s best Twenty20 side.The teams have met twice before in the shortest format and India came out on top both times, first with a 15-run semi-final win at the ICC World Twenty20 and then with a seven-wicket triumph in Mumbai a month later. However, India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said his side was not overly concerned about Friday’s result.They have a 17-man squad to choose from and nine of those players were not part of the Test group. Dhoni said because the new arrivals had had only one training session in Melbourne, India would need to treat the Twenty20 as a chance to warm up ahead of the tri-series that also features Sri Lanka.”We will take the Twenty20 as one of the practice games,” Dhoni said in Melbourne. “The guys are more serious about the Twenty20 World Cup rather than just winning one game. I don’t know how the Australians will take it but we’ll take it as a good opportunity to get the new guys in and let them get used to the conditions.”Ricky Ponting said Australia were keen to stamp their authority on Twenty20 cricket after India’s successes against them. “For us, maybe there are some scores to settle,” Ponting said. “We are going to be playing more of it and there’s definitely room for improvement for Australia.”Australia have typically rested some senior players for one-off Twenty20 internationals, and this time Mitchell Johnson and Matthew Hayden are being given a break after a Test series that strained the relationship between the two sides. There is a chance that neither team will be led by the man who guided them through the Tests, with Ponting’s back injury giving Michael Clarke a slim hope of captaining Australia for the second time in two months, and Anil Kumble having returned home.Ponting picked up the problem during the Adelaide Test and although he is confident of playing, he conceded it was difficult to tell how much the complaint would affect his play. “I’ve been pretty much flat on my back for the last couple of days, just trying to give myself the best chance to recover,” he said. “At the moment I’m feeling okay but I haven’t done anything to test it out yet.”Ponting will likely have one new face in his line-up with David Hussey expected to make his international debut on his adopted home ground at the MCG. Hussey’s outstanding domestic Twenty20 form earned him a place and it will give him the chance to play alongside his brother Michael for the first time in three years.The pair has not been on the same side since a couple of Australia A games three seasons ago, and they never played together at Western Australia with David having to move to Victoria to break into state cricket. “It’s always been my goal to play for Australia,” he said, “so hopefully it can happen and can be a special night for me with my parents flying over.”The match will be preceded by a women’s Twenty20 international between Australia and England, which will be exposed to a huge audience with Channel set to air a highlights package on February 10. The MCG crowd is also expected to be something special, with Cricket Victoria hoping to break the ground’s record of 90,800 spectators, set during one day of an Australia-West Indies Test in 1961.Australia squad Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Ricky Ponting (capt), Brad Hodge, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, David Hussey, Adam Voges, James Hopes, Brett Lee, Ashley Noffke, Nathan Bracken, Ben Hilfenhaus.India squad Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, MS Dhoni (capt, wk), Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth.

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) is preparing for a legal battle against the English board if the ECB rejects the appeals of cricketers involved in the league to register for their respective counties.”It is unfortunate that the ECB has chosen not to register some players who are currently playing for the ICL,” Himanshu Mody, business head, ICL, told Cricinfo. “These players and their respective counties have begun the process of appeal, and are confident that the ECB will see reason.”Many ICL players, including South Africans Justin Kemp (Kent), Johan van der Wath and Andrew Hall (both Northamptonshire), New Zealander Hamish Marshall (Gloucestershire) and West Indian Wavell Hinds (Derbyshire) have expressed concerns in the wake of the regulations recently released by the ECB that prohibit county players from playing in the ICL.Recently, Tony Greig, a member of the ICL’s executive board, had cautioned that the ECB’s stand would leave the players with no other alternative but to take legal action.”If their appeals fail, the players and their counties may have no option but to adopt a legal remedy in English courts. ICL, on its part, will support the players,” Mody said.Mody added that the BCCI’s threat to file a complaint against the ECB if it cleared ICL players to join counties was “just another way to create a barrier”. The BCCI’s move came after the PCB granted NOCs to Mushtaq Ahmed and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan to play for the counties. But the BCCI has an understanding with other boards that they wouldn’t allow any of their players to participate in the ICL.Mody welcomed the PCB decision and felt the other boards will also follow suit. “The PCB’s decision to give the Pakistani players the NOC is a decision of the PCB and the ICL appreciates the decision. The ICL is hopeful that justice and sense will prevail and the other boards realise the contribution of the ICL.”The Edelweiss 20s challenge, the ICL’s latest tournament, has entered the final stages with the best-of-three finals being staged over the weekend. The ICL will then conduct an ‘international’ tri-series involving a World XI, a Pakistan XI and an India XI.

Hong Kong have included 43-year-old former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan Campbell in their squad for the upcoming World Twenty20, which starts from March 8 in India.Campbell, who has a Hong Kong-Chinese lineage, played two ODIs for Australia in 2002 and has been a part of Hong Kong’s domestic set-up since 2012. He is also the national team’s current batting coach.Campbell had moved to the territory in 2012 to take up a role as head coach at the Kowloon Cricket Club, which he also represented as a player. He scored 160 runs in five matches, including two fifties, for Kowloon CC in the Hong Kong Premier League one-day Tournament in September-October last year.”I’m there to mentor them as I have done for so long,” he said. “It has been a while (since I played international cricket), but if you look at my numbers I think I’m still one of the best batsmen in Hong Kong. Brad Hogg is still going around for the Scorchers and I must admit he’s inspired me a bit to say age is just a number.”The squad for the World T20 also includes James Atkinson who, like Campbell, does not feature in the 15-member team for the Asia Cup. Medium-pacer Adil Mehmood and 19-year-old allrounder Ninad Shah have been picked for the Asia Cup, where Hong Kong will first have to play a qualifying tournament that starts from February 19. Both squads will be led by Tanwir Afzal.Hong Kong coach Simon Cook said that Campbell’s experience would help Hong Kong deal more clearly with high-pressure situations on the field. “His form in Hong Kong has been good in Premier League and Sunday games for Kowloon Cricket Club,” Cook said. “One of the things that we learned about our last World T20 tournament is that having that ability to think clearly in high pressure situations is critical and Ryan’s experience will be an enormous help in that regard.”The qualifying tournament for the Asia Cup will be played between February 19 and 22. Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Oman and UAE will play each other to decide the one Associate who will advance to the main draw involving the region’s four Full Member teams. Hong Kong will then kick off their World T20 campaign with a first-round match against Zimbabwe in Nagpur on March 8.Hong Kong squad for Asia Cup: Tanwir Afzal (capt), Mark Chapman (vice-capt), Haseeb Amjad, Nadeem Ahmed, Tanwir Ahmed, Waqas Barkat, Christopher Carter, Babar Hayat, Nizakat Khan, Aizaz Khan, Waqas Khan, Adil Mehmood, Kinchit Shah, Ninad Shah, Anshuman Rath.Hong Kong squad for World T20: Tanwir Afzal (capt), Mark Chapman (vice-capt), Haseeb Amjad, Nadeem Ahmed, Tanwir Ahmed, James Atkinson, Waqas Barkat, Ryan Campbell, Christopher Carter, Babar Hayat, Nizakat Khan, Aizaz Khan, Waqas Khan, Kinchit Shah, Anshuman Rath.

Sport has always drawn crowds, even in the most hostile conditions. Tuesday morning in Canberra was no different with dark grey clouds looming ominously. Rains lashed the Manuka Oval from between seven and half past ten, raising doubts if any game was possible in the first place.That didn’t dampen the hundreds who started gathering outside the oval in little flocks at the scheduled start time (10 am). For them, despite the weather, the game was still on. And like in every crowd, where there is a bunch that stands out with its characteristic fervour, there was one here too making heads turn. Shaking their bodies and tapping their feet, they created a buzz with their livewire intensity.The Appu Army, the latest addition to the existing bunch that includes the Barmy Army (England), Wave the Flag (Australia) and Bharat Army (India), were here to follow their side closely. The pouring rain didn’t matter to them. They had come down from Sydney in droves. Their red coloured T-shirts made them stand out and were joined by their friends in hay-coloured sombrero-hats.They kept playing the distinctive tune that lets you know the Sri Lankans are around. The Appu Army was in full swing and lent a carnival-like atmosphere as they marched up and down the main drag behind the Don Bradman stand inside the ground. The horns and the whistles kept blowing, so did the conch shells and the hand bells. So festive was the atmosphere that it was difficult for the Indians not to soak it in.The Appu Army, under a month old, is the concept of Lal Jacobs, a Sydney-based web designer. Jacobs’ friends had been coaxing him to starting something like the Barmy Army for a while and he decided to do something about it during Sri Lanka’s tour game against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI here last month.”I just wanted to start something that would help the Sri Lankans enjoy the game more,” Jacobs says with a smile, adding that he doesn’t intend to emulate the Barmy Army’s style of traveling with the team around the world. For Jacobs, originally from Sri Lanka, it’s about getting people together whenever there is an opportunity.Interestingly there were a few Tamils wearing red T-shirts with a map of Sri Lanka that had “Voice of Tamils. Where’s humanity” painted across the north and east, which has borne the bulk of the violence over the past few decades. Jacobs agrees sport is one of the best mediums to get the message of peace across. “Cricket is one game that gets both the Tamils and the Sinhalese together which is such a good thing”. It was definitely the case at the Manuka Oval, where ethnic Tamils were seen mingling freely with the Sinhalese. In the aftermath of the Harbhajan Singh-Andrew Symonds affair, where cricket was pushed to the background and the crowds turned partisan, this was a happy turn of events.”It doesn’t matter if it’s a truncated game. We are here to enjoy Sehwag, Tendulkar and Jayasuriya blast, that’s what matters,” a beaming Jacobs said as he emptied his pint of beer. Meanwhile the drum beats carried on as did the rain.

Karachi Blues, who are battling for survival in the Grade-I, let some of the initiative slipped away on the first day of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy match against Sargodha at the UBL Sports Complex here on Monday.Sargodha recovered to reach 180 in their first innings after being reduced to 67 for seven an hour into the afternoon session.Karachi Blues, in reply, survived two overs to close on two without loss. But Suleman Huda might have perished LBW to pacer Umair Hasan had umpire Sajjad Asghar not declared a no ball.After electing to bat first on a slow track, Sargodha lost the top five batsmen for only 26 runs on the board. Stand-in skipper Naved Latif, who amassed 394 against Gujranwala barely eight weeks ago, fell to left-arm paceman Imranullah for a first-ball duck. Imranullah bowled a fine opening spell to claim three wickets which left Sargodha taking lunch at 46 for five.When wicket-keeper Shahid Mahmood was bowled by left-arm spinner Salman Fazal for 14, Sargodha slumped to 67 for seven. However, dogged batting, engineered by left-handed Ashraf Bashir, by the lower order brought respectability to the score.Ashraf and Faisal Khan Afridi, a burly right-hander, shared an eighth wicket stand of 51 in 40 minutes. Afridi used the long handle effectively to make 31 off 32 balls with five fours. He also lifted Salman Fazal over long-off to the top railing of the stand for massive six.Ashraf finally departed when he holed out to Karachi Blues captain Farhan Adil at cover off part-time off-spinner Nomanullah after making 39 of 130 deliveries in two hours and 10 minutes. He put on 38 for the ninth wicket with Tariq Munir.Tariq slammed six boundaries on his way to a top-score of 44 in 87 minutes off 75 balls before he was caught behind by Rashid Latif shortly after the second new ball was taken by Mohammad Javed.Imranullah and Salman Fazal claimed three wickets apiece for 26 and 74 runs respectively while Javed chipped in with two for 31.

England 253 and 467 for 7 dec beat New Zealand 168 and 431 (Southee 77*, Taylor 74, Bell 69, Fleming 66, Panesar 6-126) by 121 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out

England secured their first overseas series victory in three years with a convincing 121-run win in Napier, even though they were delayed by a thrilling onslaught from New Zealand’s impressive debutant, Tim Southee, who clubbed his country’s fastest Test half century off 29 balls and finished on 77 off 40 deliveries with nine sixes. However, Monty Panesar was the final-day match-winner and ended with career-best 6 for 126 despite a late mauling from Southee.It was an enjoyable end to a series that has been played in fine spirit. Southee’s display gives New Zealand something to cling to after a summer that has seen their resources stretched to breaking point by various departures. For a while his mighty swinging after lunch rekindled memories of Nathan Astle’s onslaught at Christchurch seven years ago. He took 41 off two Panesar overs on his way to a fifty, and then continued to swing hard when England went back to pace. But when he lost the strike in Ryan Sidebottom’s comeback over he left Chris Martin five balls to face and it only took four as Sidebottom, England’s outstanding bowler of series, fittingly finished the match by plucking out the off stump for his 24th wicket.Although some of England’s cricket has been far from impressive it’s a commendable fightback after going 1-0 down after their humiliation in Hamilton. They also had to fight back from a disastrous start in this match when they slumped to 4 for 3 on the first morning. A number of players have rehabilitated themselves after lean spells, notably Andrew Strauss with his 177 and today it was the turn of Panesar, who continued his probing display from the fourth day even if he was clinging to his career-best at the end.This was his seventh five-wicket haul and first for nine Tests dating back to his successful series against West Indies last year. He finished the Sri Lanka tour before Christmas with a few questions being raised over his effectiveness and this match-winning contribution is a timely boost. Panesar’s role in the second innings was crucial because there was nothing in the surface for the quick bowlers.New Zealand raced out of the blocks against the new ball as Michael Vaughan set attacking fields. Ross Taylor took three boundaries off Sidebottom’s opening over and a slew of shots took him to fifty off 85 balls and carried him top of the series run chart. With New Zealand searching for someone to replace Stephen Fleming’s runs, Taylor has a huge role to play. He also took a positive route against Panesar, but then one gripped a little and took the outside edge for Paul Collingwood to take a sharp low catch at slip.The sixth-wicket stand was worth 104 with Brendon McCullum for once being overshadowed, providing 38 of the partnership, and after cutting a short ball from Panesar through point he was beaten on the back foot by a quicker delivery. Sidebottom and Stuart Broad looked tired after their earlier exertions , while Jeetan Patel showed there were few demons even for a limited batsman as he twice drove Sidebottom straight down the ground.Patel and Daniel Vettori added a comfortable 48 in 14 overs with threat only coming from one end. Panesar broke through again when Patel swept firmly to backward square-leg and was well held by Broad diving low to his right. Vettori flayed away merrily while he could before providing James Anderson with his first wicket of a disappointing match when he gloved a pull. It came in rather curious circumstances as the previous delivery had been called dead ball to Anderson’s annoyance, but he made the next delivery count.With Martin the last man it looked as though England would be able to celebrate over lunch. Anderson struck him a nasty blow on the helmet with the first ball of the final over, but Martin then squeezed a single. Southee swung the last delivery before the break onto the midwicket stand roof, a prelude to what was to follow as 71 runs came off 6.5 overs. It was far too late to save this series, but Southee is part of the young brigade who will have a key role to play when these two teams meet up again, at Lord’s, in six week’s time.

The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) is stepping in to help make sense of the conflict that has developed between the ECB and the Indian Cricket League (ICL). A number of county players are effected by the ECB’s recent tough stance against ‘unofficial events’ and face the prospect of bans if they return to the ICL.Chris Read, Paul Nixon, Darren Maddy and Vikram Solanki all played in the first ICL tournament last year and, although that won’t impact on their domestic future, they have been warned that if they return a one-year ban will be imposed. Overseas players are also caught in the middle with Shane Bond, Jason Gillespie, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mushtaq Ahmed unlikely to gain the No Obligation Certificates they require from their home boards.”The ECB have recently announced profound regulatory and policy changes with regard to players’ participation in unauthorised cricket,” said a PCA statement. “Several cricketers, including a number who are currently playing in ICL and have connections to English counties, have expressed serious reservations about the changes themselves, the rationale for them and the ultimate consequences for players and have asked for the PCA’s help and advice.”The ECB have been keen to ward off the threat of the ICL while getting on board with the Indian Premier League (IPL). Although no England players will be involved in the first IPL tournament which starts next month, that is set to change in the future even though it could impact the domestic season.”The PCA is about to begin pre-season meetings with every county squad and will be able to comment further in early April after it has discussed all of these complex issues with its members in detail,” they added.”In the best interests of its members and the game in England and Wales, the PCA will work with the individual players, the ECB and the counties to try to resolve the many outstanding individual player issues created by the ECB’s recent decisions and regulatory changes.”Around 20 players due to participate in county cricket this coming season are directly affected, and the longer-term consequences for all players are not yet fully understood. The PCA are optimistic that honest and open dialogue with all stakeholders will ensure the best outcome for the sport.”

Rain affected more than half a day’s play as Tamil Nadu and Hyderabadsettled for a tame draw in their KSCA Coca Cola Under-25 Tournamentmatch at the Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodayar Sports Complex inBangalore on Saturday.Play started only at 14.15 hours on the third and final day due to acontinuous drizzle in the morning. Resuming at the overnight score of262 for 8, Hyderabad’s first innings folded up at 290. Ravichandra(104), who was stranded at 97 overnight, completed his century in notime. However he was the first to go when he was caught at square legby K Velmurugan off DS Doss. Then Fatima Reddy (17 notout) andMallikarjun (6) took the score on to 290 when Mallikarjun foundhimself stranded out of his crease.Tamil Nadu in reply made a disasterous start to their second inningslosing opener Ravindra John (0) off the fifth ball of the innings whenhe offered a catch to Saberwal off Ghouse Baba. Then the other openerS Badrinath (3) and N Lokesh (19) took the score upto 26. Badrinathwas the next to be dismissed when he gave a chance to Fatima Reddy atmidwicket off the bowling of Ghouse Baba. Ghouse Baba claimed histhird wicket of the innings, that of Lokesh, when he shattered thebatsman’s defences.C Hemanth Kumar (11) and R Satish (10) then took the score on to 49for 3 when play was called off for the day. Tamil Nadu got 5 pointswhile Hyderabad had to be content with three. Tamil Nadu now take onKarnataka in the finals which is to be played at M Chinnaswamy Stadiumin Bangalore from October 9 to 11.