A magnificent 190 for Hampshire and the misfortune of a few others has put James Vince back in the frame

George Dobell10-May-2019A few weeks ago, James Vince was all but resigned to watching the World Cup on TV. His form was decent but, with England ranked No. 1 in the world and a batsman as accomplished as Alex Hales assured only of a place as first reserve, Vince had been left among the also-rans for a spot in the squad.But then Hales was dropped. And while Vince was still not sure of elevation in his place, he has since seen Joe Clarke and Tom Kohler-Cadmore – both of whom represented the Lions recently – suspended, Dawid Malan injured and Jason Roy suffer a back spasm that has taken too long for comfort to shrug off. All of a sudden, Vince isn’t just in danger of making it into the squad, he’s in danger of making it into the team.That’s not to say he owes his call-up simply to the struggle of others. In every conceivable way, he timed his best innings of the season so far – a record-breaking 190 in the Royal London match against Gloucestershire; Hampshire’s highest List A score – perfectly. It came on the day news of Hales’ drug-test failure emerged and ensured he was in the forefront of selectors’ minds.”It was pretty good timing to get 190 that day,” Vince said at training ahead of the second ODI against Pakistan. “If Alex was here I don’t think I’d be here now. It has given me an opportunity. Now the plan is to get a game or two and get some runs and push my claim ahead of the World Cup.”In the white-ball stuff, I’ve been in and out and covered when guys have been injured. I’ve not really had a huge amount of games in a row but that’s the nature of international cricket.”It’s the nature of the way the white-ball side has gone over the last three or four years, too. They’ve played some magnificent cricket and got to No. 1 in the world, so it’s been a tough team to break into. When I have had opportunities it’s been to pop in for a game knowing that when the main guys are fit I’d be out of the side again unless I did something remarkable.”All I can do is my best when I do get an opportunity to wear the shirt and try to force my way firstly into becoming a regular in the squad and then taking opportunities whenever possible. It only takes an injury or something and I could get a run of games. My job is to be as ready as I can.”He is unlikely to get much of a chance to push his claims on Saturday. Unless Roy suffers a reaction to training on Friday, he will return to the England side in place of Vince who will have to be content with playing in Hampshire’s Royal London semi-final on the same pitch on Sunday.But there is every chance that, before the season is out, he could have regained his place in both England’s Test and ODI side. Noting the difficulties England have had filling the hole at the top of the order in Test cricket, he has opened for Hampshire in this season’s County Championship campaign. And while the big scores are yet to come, his willingness to embrace the role may have sent a positive message to the selectors.”I had a chat with Joe Root and Ed Smith before the summer started to try to see what would give me the best chance of getting back into the Test side,” he said. “And the feedback I got, especially from Ed, was the higher up I batted for Hampshire the better. I think they’re more comfortable moving guys down the order than up it.”Having already played 13 Tests, though, there may be those who feel Vince has been given every opportunity to show what he can do. But he hopes a minor technical change might have helped his footwork. On the evidence of his batting for England over the last week or so, when he made 18 in the ODI in Dublin and 36 in the T20I versus Pakistan, he looks in sublime form.”I have gone slightly narrower with my feet to try to get them moving a bit more rather than being stuck,” he said. “But apart from that I haven’t changed too much.”I have aspirations in all formats. First and foremost, I want to do well for Hampshire and then be as ready as I can to take any opportunities with England. It’s been a bit stop-start for me in international cricket, but if I can get a big score hopefully I can kick on from there.”

‘You can’t, on the day before the announcement and a team that’s been working for something for year and even longer than a year, come and say, ‘I want to make a comeback now.”

Firdose Moonda14-Jun-20192:03

Morkel: Management’s decision to not include de Villiers is right

South African middle-order batsman Rassie van der Dussen was “not surprised” to hear AB de Villiers wanted to play in the 2019 World Cup but believes it would have set a “difficult precedent” if the former captain was included. It would also likely have meant van der Dussen himself would not be at the tournament.ALSO READ: AB de Villiers revelations could bring South Africa World Cup squad closer – Faf du Plessis“It’s not necessarily the best question to ask to me because I am involved in it but had he not retired it definitely would have influenced me directly,” he said. “But you can’t, on the day before the announcement and a team that’s been working for something for year and even longer than a year, come and say, ‘I want to make a comeback now’. I am not saying he was wrong or he was right; so don’t misquote me. But it would have set a difficult precedent – not necessarily a wrong one, because it’s still AB, he is still one of the best players in the world – I just think it was handled maybe not in the correct way from his side.”Rassie van der Dussen celebrates his fifty•AFP

South Africa’s squad was informed of de Villiers’ desire to come out of retirement at their pre-tournament team camp, which included scaling the Table Mountain and training at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria. Though some, like Kagiso Rabada, have given little away about their opinion on the matter, van der Dussen explained de Villiers had been given options to make a comeback, which he refused.”As I believe it, Ottis [Gibson, the head coach] and Faf [du Plessis, the captain] gave him opportunities to, say, ‘Let’s manage your workload going into the World Cup because we want you to play a World Cup’. He had a fair chance to manage that and he said no and that he is happy to retire and that’s fair enough. And Faf accepted it, Ottis accepted it and they stood by it,” van der Dussen said.ALSO READ: Did de Villiers want to have his cake and eat it too?Zondi, Gibson and du Plessis have all confirmed they told de Villiers he could have time off but would need to play some part in the series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka which took place earlier this year to stay in contention. Van der Dussen made his ODI debut in the series against Pakistan and impressed. Van der Dussen scored five half-centuries in his first nine ODI innings to earn his place in the World Cup squad and, at the tournament, has so far been South Africa’s most convincing performer with the bat.Van der Dussen is South Africa’s second-highest run-scorer with 113 runs from his three innings, one run behind Quinton de Kock. He has labelled the tournament the ultimate test of a player’s ability, which is why he understood de Villiers’ interest in coming back.”I wasn’t surprised [that he wanted to come back],” van der Dussen said. “The media and the press reports quite a lot on AB and the things he’s said and how his last year has gone. I wasn’t surprised that he would want to make a comeback on the world’s biggest stage. That’s the thing all the biggest players in sport have in common. They want to perform when the pressure is on and when the stage is at its biggest.”Despite knowing he may have missed out if de Villiers had been accommodated, van der Dussen does not think the situation has put extra pressure on him to put in de Villiers-esque performances but hinted that if the situation demands it, maybe he could do just that.”In terms of did it affect me? No. I am quite happy to be mentioned in the same sentence as AB. He is obviously one of the best there has ever been,” van der Dussen said. “So do I have to replace him? I don’t feel I have to. Can I play match-winning innings for my country? I believe I can. Is that what he did? Yes, he did. It didn’t have as big an effect as I think people would like to believe it had.”

Bangladesh come into the series as the more settled side despite missing a few big names, but they’ve never won an ODI at the Premadasa Stadium

The Preview by Madushka Balasuriya25-Jul-2019

Big picture

While all eyes will rightfully be on Lasith Malinga ahead of his final ODI, the Sri Lanka quick’s swansong also brings into the focus the journey both these sides have been on over the last several years.In 14 ODIs against Bangladesh, Malinga has tasted defeat just three times, and remains probably the last member of the Sri Lanka squad, barring maybe Angelo Mathews, to remember having played Bangladesh when a Sri Lanka victory was considered a mere formality.For the rest of the squad, though, these games have been much feistier affairs, spurred on by disputes over celebratory taunts, shattered dressing-room doors, and coach swaps.The last six completed ODIs between the two sides, meanwhile, have been evenly shared – which is why it was such a shame their game at the World Cup was washed out. As such it’s safe to say that this series is set to be the most competitive bilateral contest, ever, between the two nations.Even so, Sri Lanka come into the game with more problems than the visitors. A chronic inability to pick up wickets in the middle overs has left the team management with their fingers perennially crossed over the return to form of Akila Dananjaya, while the batting order’s instability has long been a point of contention. Malinga’s imminent retirement only deepens their woesBangladesh, on the other hand, despite their underwhelming finish in a World Cup that began with so much promise, have by far the more settled side. Even without stars such as Shakib Al Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza and Liton Das, they have built enough strength in depth to put out arguably the stronger of the two teams, and while captain Tamim Iqbal was keen to avoid the favourites tag in the build-up, the fact that the team will be disappointed with anything other than a win shows how far they’ve come.

Form guide

Bangladesh: LLWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka: LWLWL

In the spotlight

Shakib Al Hasan was unarguably Bangladesh’s star performer of the World Cup, but with him ruled out, Mohammad Mithun has a golden opportunity to stake his claim for a spot in an otherwise settled batting line-up. Likely to take up the coveted No. 3 role, Mithun could give Sri Lanka’s bowlers a tough time if he carries on the form he showed in the warm-up match.Lasith Malinga picked up 13 wickets at the World Cup, more than twice as many as any other Sri Lankan bowler. In his final game, expect him to push his ageing frame to the limit, and attempt to give himself a fairytale farewell.Mohammad Mithun gets creative•Getty Images

Team news

Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), 2 Kusal Perera (wk), 3 Avishka Fernando, 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Dhananjaya De Silva, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Isuru Udana, 9 Nuwan Pradeep, 10 Akila Dhananjaya, 11 Lasith MalingaBangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal (capt), 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Mohammad Mithun, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mahmudullah, 6 Sabbir Rahman, 7 Mossadek Hossain 8 Mehidy Hasan, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Rubel Hossain

Pitch and conditions

The pitch at the Khettarama has the reputation of being high-scoring with ball coming on to bat, with teams putting up an average first-innings total of 313 in the last five matches here, of which four have been won by the team batting first. However, there’s an 80% chance of rain in the afternoon and evening, something the team winning the toss will have to take into consideration.

Stats and trivia

• Tamim Iqbal is 129 runs away from becoming the first Bangladesh cricketer to score 7000 ODI runs.
• No player taking part in this series from either side has scored a century at the R Premadasa Stadium. The highest score remains Angelo Mathews’ 97 not out.
• In eight attempts, Bangladesh are yet to win an ODI at the R Premadasa stadium.

Quotes

“Not too long ago we were in a similar situation and Sri Lanka came to our country and played a beautiful series. In cricket we’re like a family, and we need to help each other when these sort of things happen. Nobody in our team thought about not coming. We’re feeling very comfortable, and we’re only thinking about our cricket.”
“To be very honest I just heard from him just now, that’s the truth. So I haven’t even thought about it yet.”

Cricket South Africa had been trying to get SuperSport to broadcast the second season of the T20 tournament but it couldn’t be done

Liam Brickhill07-Aug-2019This year’s Mzansi Super League will once again be screened on , South Africa’s public broadcaster.There had been some speculation, especially ahead of the first edition of the MSL, that Cricket South Africa might look to as broadcaster, but they have ultimately stuck with once again, despite the lack of a financial incentive to do so. Last month the secured a R3.2 billion bailout from the government, and earlier this week it was announced that the broadcaster had failed to secure the rights for the country’s Premier Soccer League as it was not commercially viable. But CSA are short of other options.

List of retained players

Cape Town Blitz: Asif Ali, Janneman Malan, Anrich Nortje, Dale Steyn
Durban Heat: Kyle Abbott, Sarel Erwee, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Khaya Zondo
Jozi Stars: Dan Christian, Reeza Hendricks, Duanne Olivier, Sinethemba Qeshile, Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen
Nelson Mandela Bay Giants: Junior Dala, Heino Kuhn, Marco Marais, Chris Morris, Jon-Jon Smuts
Paarl Rocks: Henry Davids, Cameron Delport, Bjorn Fortuin, Aiden Markram, Mangaliso Mosehle, Tabraiz Shamsi
Tshwane Spartans: Theunis de Bruyn, Tony de Zorzi, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla

“We only have literally two broadcasters in the country who can afford to broadcast cricket, and that’s and ,” chief executive Thabang Moroe said on Tuesday. “So you can imagine that CSA does not have much room to manoeuvre in terms of making decisions.”As things stand, we are lucky to find ourselves where we are, in the sense that we can broadcast international cricket both on free-to-air as well as pay TV. Obviously because none of them have exclusivity, we do not receive the same values as we would, had we given any of them exclusivity, but that’s the pain we have to take for wanting to spread the game.”As far as restructuring of commercial and broadcast deals is concerned, it’s difficult to say yes or no to that question now, the reason being the landscape that we operate in as far as the South African economy is concerned.”The second MSL will take place in November and December this year. The date for the player draft has not been announced yet, but it is expected to be shortly, as are the various South African and international marquee players.Dale Steyn is one of several Protea cricketers who have been retained by their franchises for this year’s tournament. More than 250 cricketers, including international stars, T20 specialists and Kolpak signings have entered the draft.”This is confirmation that MSL is now an established global brand that is taking its place at the head table alongside the other Global T20 events,” Moroe said. “We have drawn interest from around the world with players applying from virtually all the top tier international countries.”This will certainly be the biggest T20 event we have hosted since the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup that was staged here in 2007 and became the fore-runner of all the global T20 events that followed. We look forward to adding yet another highlight to our home international season that will be followed by the incoming tours by England and Australia.”

The left-arm spinner’s fifth such haul skittled West Indies A in both innings, while Saha made his case for Test selection in his first-class comeback

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jul-2019
Wriddhiman Saha’s back-to-the-wall 66 in his first first-class game since the Cape Town Test in 2018 and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem’s ten-wicket haul headlined India A’s six-wicket win over West Indies A in the first four-dayer in North Sound.Nadeem took 5 for 62 in the first innings and followed it up with 5 for 47 in the second, to end with match figures of 10 for 109. It was Nadeem’s fifth haul of ten wickets in a match, and he has now taken five in an innings 18 times in 107 first-class matches.Saha, who had been sidelined from the long format for over a year because of a spate of injuries, walked in to bat when India A were 134 for 4, 94 runs behind West Indies A’s first-innings 228. He rallied the innings with 66 off 167 balls, batting for 207 minutes at a venue where he had contributed handsomely to the senior side’s victory in 2016. Saha had followed his 40 off 88 balls with seven dismissals behind the stumps then.In this game, Saha effected five dismissals to go with his half-century, and made his case to be the first-choice keeper for the senior team ahead of Rishabh Pant, who enjoyed a breakout tour of Australia in 2018-19. After fingerspinners Jomel Warrican and Rahkeem Cornwall made inroads for West Indies A, Saha put on 124 for the sixth wicket with Mumbai allrounder Shivam Dube – the highest partnership in the game. Saha and Dube who polished off India’s chase of 97 before lunch on day four.After opting to bat, West Indies A slid to 97 for 5, but fifties from Jermaine Blackwood and Cornwall propped up the hosts. Blackwood, who usually scores at a brisk clip even in the long format, ground out 53 off 116 balls while Cornwall made 59 off 100 balls. However, Blackwood’s dismissal triggered another collapse as West Indies A went from 195 for 5 to 228 all out. Nadeem wheeled away for 22 overs in the first innings, doing most of the damage.In response, India A had a good start with Priyank Panchal and Abhimanyu Easwaran adding 61 for the first wicket. Warrican and Cornwall then accounted for both the openers and Shubman Gill to bring their team back into the game. KS Bharat, who is also on the radar of the national selectors, was dismissed for a golden duck.Saha and Dube, though, revived the innings and handed India A an 84-run first-innings lead. By the time West Indies A wiped out the deficit, they were two down and middle order, too, folded against Nadeem and Mohammed Siraj. Captain Shamarh Brooks top-scored with 53 off 124 balls, but found little support from the other end as they were bowled out for 180. Barring Brooks, only opener Montcin Hodge passed 25 in West Indies A’s second innings.Warrican and Cornwall once again made early inroads for the hosts, but Easwaran, Vihari and Bharat made small contributions to move India A close to their target before Saha and Dube wrapped up the chase with six wickets to spare.

Captain ecstatic as Australia seal the Ashes with a thrilling 185-run win at Old Trafford

Daniel Brettig at Old Trafford08-Sep-2019Australia’s players loosed a blood-curdling collective scream upon Manchester when umpire Kumar Dharmasena’s finger raised to deliver them an Ashes victory on English soil for the first time since 2001. If there was a brief moment’s purgatory while DRS confirmed the news, it contributed to a far more exhilarating moment than on that last distant occasion.That corresponding instant 18 years before had been the apogee of anti-climax, as the winning run at Trent Bridge arrived from an Andy Caddick no-ball delivered to Mark Waugh: 3-0 in three Tests, six Ashes series wins in a row for the world’s best team. Quite ho-hum really.Just as so much has changed in the intervening years, there could not have been circumstances much more different in how this victory was finally achieved: all adrenaline, broken tension and sheer elation at doing something none of these players had experienced as anything other than schoolboys staying up late to watch on television back home. It had been a more similar sensation in 1989, when the Australian team, also at Old Trafford, launched into collective celebration on the team balcony upon the achievement of a nine-wicket victory.Steve Smith, holding a souvenir stump, celebrates victory•Getty Images

Whether or not this win sets up 17 years of domination over England, as that one did, remains to be seen. But it was an entirely fitting finish all the same: Josh Hazlewood, alongside Pat Cummins, Australian twin pillars of pace strength in this series, followed up a stinging short ball to Craig Overton by bowling his umpteenth scrambled seam ball in the three Tests he has played, moving the ball late and sharply off the pitch to find England’s No. 8 the plumbest of lbws.It had been harder for Australia than England to win lbw verdicts across this series – at the end of the match the ledger read 18-8 in favour of the hosts – but an ever-increasing and improving focus on hitting the top of the off stump had been central to how Australia found a way to close out the series the very next match after their enormous trauma at Headingley. That day, against a rampant Ben Stokes, Australia’s bowlers had failed to look for the stumps enough, and had also lost their heads tactically.This time, however, the mistakes were not repeated, neither by the bowlers nor the captain Tim Paine, who enjoyed one of his very best days of the series to help ensure the urn was retained without the need for a decisive closing encounter at The Oval. On day five of a Test, with the ball getting old and not too much happening, captains occasionally need to make things happen – throw bowlers round to opposite ends, use some part-timers, change up their fields. It’s something the likes of Mark Taylor, Michael Clarke and Michael Vaughan were considered masters at, less so Ricky Ponting and Alastair Cook.Paine had it all to do in terms of his leadership reputation after the conclusion of the Leeds Test, where by his own admission he had got plenty of things wrong. Here though he gained the morning’s first breakthrough with a last-moment decision to replace Mitchell Starc with Cummins, and did the trick again in mid-afternoon when he broke up a tandem between Starc and Nathan Lyon. First, he introduced Marnus Labuschagne in place of Lyon. Next, he replaced Labuschange with Travis Head. Thirdly, he swung Labuschagne around to the opposite end for the final over before drinks. Lastly, he brought Starc back on from the other to the one from which he had operated in the first place.This all had very little to do with Starc getting his first ball of the over bang on target to Bairstow, but the chopping and changing may well have disrupted the batsman’s rhythm just enough to miss it. The lbw verdict from Kumar Dharmasena took England past the last pair of recognised batsmen, and gave the Australians hope that a quick ending would eventuate.But the 2019 Ashes have confounded expectations consistently ever since Edgbaston, turning this into the perhaps the greatest and certainly the most enthralling series since 2005. Jos Buttler and Craig Overton pushed keenly into line, surviving Australian thrusts with pace and spin beyond the tea break and allowing conversations to start about how long there was remaining, how likely the light was to hold, and whether the tourists were starting to tighten up again as per Headingley.Paine, though, worked in concert with Hazlewood to make the best use of a ball changed when the original went out of shape, finding themselves the beneficiaries of its greater hardness and, for a rare time this series, a tendency towards reverse swing. Buttler had been defending sturdily, covering the movement, but the deployment of a silly point for Hazlewood brought the extra pressure and judgment error required – as Hazlewood’s well-disguised inswinger snaked into off stump, Buttler resembled no-one so much as Michael Clarke when confounded by Simon Jones on this very ground 14 years before.Jofra Archer fell victim to fifth-day variation, lbw to a Lyon delivery tunnelling under his bat, before Overton found another ally in the celebrity tail-ender Jack Leach, promoted above Stuart Broad. Fifty balls Leach defended, taking the strike confidently, and seldom looking under major threat even against the second new ball. Once more, though, Paine made a bold and ultimately beautiful call, calling up Labuschagne with a little over an hour remaining. Finding turn out of the footmarks, his fifth ball spat and jumped up at Leach’s gloves, claiming the penultimate wicket in the manner of a latter-day, right-arm Michael Bevan.At this point, with only one more wicket to get, the Australians might have tightened up once more, but they had learned the hard way to both be more attentive to the mores of playing cricket in England, and to try to relax as much as possible with victory just a wicket away. Paine agreed in the aftermath that this had been a team that put ego to one side and learned, slowly and methodically, how to win in this part of the world. It’s a feat that has been beyond four previous touring teams.The route to this glory had been pockmarked by the Newlands scandal, a blow to the national team’s psyche but also a valuable moment of reflection, but had also been characterised by plenty of measures intended for learning. Dukes balls in the Sheffield Shield, Australia A tours of England, an internal trial match in Southampton to make a late call on the final squad of 17, and a tactical commitment to shutting down the scoreboard of England, bowling accurately and trying most of all with the bat to survive.”This group has done it better than most if I am honest, hence the result,” Paine said. “We’ve known for a while England play different than we do over here. This team has made a real effort of putting their ego aside and roll up their sleeves and do the job asked of them, rather than worry about how it looks or the brand or style we play. We want to play winning cricket and need to adapt to conditions that allow us to do that, and this group have done that superbly.”So the still-newish ball was handed to Hazlewood with 14 overs remaining, and as he had done all series, he tried to move it off the seam and not through the air. Overton was pinned in front, the air cracked with Australia’s scream and the Ashes urn was retained. Paine was elated, pumping his fist as he ran, while nearby the batsman of the series Steven Smith could not stop jumping for joy.”It’s been a long, long time,” said Paine. “We know how difficult it is to win over here. We are the lucky ones who have been here. Every player has some story or sacrifice which is what makes moments like this so great. It doesn’t happen, retaining the Ashes in England, very often but we’d like to win next week.”There was a period in recent Australian cricket history when winning the Ashes in England felt like a birthright; this team have deservedly regained what was somehow lost along the way.

Malan celebrates England recall with unbeaten fifty as Middlesex move into strong position at Lord’s

ECB Reporters Network23-Sep-2019Sam Robson and Dawid Malan hit half-centuries as Middlesex built a solid platform on a truncated first day against Derbyshire at Lord’s.Robson batted fluently for his knock of 93 from 163 balls, sharing a 90-run third-wicket partnership with Malan, who remained undefeated on 51 when bad weather brought proceedings to a premature close.The Middlesex captain, who has been named in England’s T20 squad for their tour of New Zealand, still requires another 16 to pass the landmark of 1,000 County Championship runs for the season.Derbyshire exercised their right to bowl first and gained an initial success in the fifth over when Nick Gubbins pushed forward to Luis Reece and was caught behind without scoring.Reece and Fynn Hudson-Prentice bowled tightly to squeeze Middlesex’s scoring rate to around two an over, but Robson and Max Holden dug in as they gradually put together a partnership of 52.However, Derbyshire struck again shortly before lunch when the pacy Sam Conners – making his first appearance at Lord’s – unleashed a rising delivery that Holden could only deflect into the hands of Wayne Madsen at first slip.Robson, who looked comfortable on both sides of the wicket, nudged a two to third man to pass 50 for the sixth time this season in the second over of the afternoon session.Meanwhile, Malan – who hit a career-best 199 when the sides met at Derby earlier in the season – settled quickly at the crease, clipping Reece for a boundary through midwicket as the Middlesex total progressed into three figures.The skipper survived an lbw appeal from Anuj Dal, who looked the pick of the Derbyshire bowlers, regularly getting the ball to fizz past the bat without any tangible success.There was another close call for Malan on 34 when he edged medium-pacer Alex Hughes to slip, but this time Madsen – who is only five catches short of the Derbyshire record for an outfield player – spilled the chance.Yet it was Hughes who made the breakthrough in his next over as Robson attempted to cut him and Harvey Hosein, standing up to the stumps, snapped up the edge.Bad light prompted the umpires to call for an early tea soon afterwards but, when play resumed, Malan swiftly advanced to reach his half-century from 94 deliveries.He and Martin Andersson moved their side’s score along to 176-3 before a further deterioration in the light, coupled with the arrival of rain, halted play for the day.

The extra official will be separate from the third and fourth umpires and will use technology to help the on-field officials

Vishal Dikshit05-Nov-2019The IPL is planning to have an exclusive TV umpire to monitor no-balls from the 2020 edition. It is understood this extra match official will be separate from the third and fourth umpires and will use technology to help on-field officials monitor no-balls.The decision to use technology more in order to reduce the errors made by the on-field umpires was taken by the newly-formed IPL governing council, headed by former India batsman Brijesh Patel, at a meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday.One governing council member confirmed that they were first looking to try out this additional umpire in a domestic tournament. With the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament beginning on Friday followed by the Ranji Trophy next month, the official said the new idea could be tried out in either of the tournaments.The development is likely to be welcomed by players and teams considering umpiring standards in the IPL have been a talking point for several years, which saw the introduction of DRS in the tournament in 2018. In IPL 2019, India’s two senior-most players – Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni – pulled up match officials in separate matches over controversial no-ball decisions.Kohli called a missed no-ball opportunity “ridiculous” after a match against Mumbai Indians when Royal Challengers Bangalore needed seven off the final ball and Shivam Dube only managed a single. TV replays on the big screen later showed Lasith Malinga had overstepped, and had the no-ball been called, AB de Villiers, who was on 70 off 41, would have taken strike and faced a free hit with five needed off the last ball.”We are playing at IPL level, not club cricket,” Kohli had said at the post-match presentation. “That’s just a ridiculous call off the last ball. The umpires should have their eyes open.”MS Dhoni stops the game to confront the umpires over a revoked no-ball call•BCCI

Earlier in the tournament, in Chennai Super Kings’ away match in Jaipur against Rajasthan Royals, Dhoni controversially walked on to the field to engage with the on-field umpire Ulhas Gandhe over a no-ball call. The incident took place in the final over of Super Kings’ chase with the visitors needing 18 to win. With eight needed off the last three balls and new man Mitchell Santner on strike, Ben Stokes bowled a full toss and Gandhe first signalled a no-ball for height, only for his square-leg colleague Bruce Oxenford to overrule the decision.The IPL’s idea comes on the back of a similar decision taken by the ICC which recently decided to conduct trials in which a TV umpire will monitor front-foot no-balls. The ICC said it was looking to try it out in a few limited-overs series first, similar to how it was used during an England-Pakistan ODI series in 2016.

Victoria and New South Wales played out a sedate final day at the MCG before the teams shook hands on a draw

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2019Victoria and New South Wales played out a sedate final day at the MCG before the teams shook hands on a draw.Daniel Hughes and Nick Larkin put on an unbroken opening stand of 129 with no chance of a result being forced. New South Wales started marginally behind, but once they avoided losing any early wickets the action fizzled out.The draw consolidates New South Wales’ position at the top of the table after they started the season with four consecutive wins although the gap to second has been narrowed after Queensland’s two-day victory over Tasmania.There is one more round of Sheffield Shield matches before the BBL break.

Coach’s message to county’s supporters appeared to suggest links between the teams

Matt Roller17-Dec-2019Lancashire have removed an “inadvertently misleading” statement from Manchester Originals head coach Simon Katich from their website amid fears about the blurring of lines between the the county and the new Hundred team based at Old Trafford.Katich’s ‘open letter’, written to Lancashire supporters with the intention of encouraging them to attend games in the new competition, claimed that “the Originals are an extension of this great county” and that “the squad…is built around a core group of Red Rose players”.Lancashire share a senior member of coaching staff with the Originals, with the county’s head coach Glen Chapple set to work as an assistant to Katich, while four Lancashire players are also in the Originals’ squad: Jos Buttler, Matt Parkinson, Saqib Mahmood and Dane Vilas.ALSO READ: Blast stars frustrated by Hundred draft as smaller counties struggle for attentionKatich also told the last week that he “would have liked to have drafted a few more Lancashire boys, but the way the draft panned out a few things didn’t go to plan”.Andy Nash, a former ECB board member and an outspoken critic of the Hundred, claimed on Twitter that the letter represented “clear evidence [that the Hundred] elevates the eight hosts and leaves ten counties as bystanders”.The potential for concern is particularly notable in the case of the Manchester team. Every other Hundred team has at least two counties affiliated with it, but Lancashire are the only county linked with the Originals. The overlap in senior members of coaching staff raises the fear that players who impress for Lancashire are more likely to be signed in future drafts, providing players with an added incentive to sign for the county.Jos Buttler of Manchester Originals looks on prior to The Hundred Draft•Getty Images

An ECB spokesperson reiterated that there is no overlap in the two teams’ governance, that Katich is not employed by the club, and that it has introduced safeguards to ensure that no conflict of interests arises. Each new side will be run by a team board with an independent chairman, and regulations have been put in place to make sure contracts with counties and with Hundred teams cannot be linked.”Lancashire Cricket Club is wholly supportive and committed to the Hundred and the opportunity to attract a new and diverse audience,” a spokesperson said.”The letter was taken down as it was inadvertently misleading. We look forward to hosting Manchester Originals in the same way we’re looking forward to hosting England v Pakistan for the Specsavers Test next year and delivering a first class experience here at Emirates Old Trafford.”December 18, 1300 GMT – This article was updated to reflect the fact Mark Chilton will no longer be working for the Originals in the Hundred