Australia’s decision to hand sub fielding duties to Grant Baldwin, the team’s massage therapist, has been a subject of criticism over the past two days

Melinda Farrell in Adelaide28-Nov-2015Australia’s decision to hand substitute fielding duties to Grant Baldwin, the team’s massage therapist, has been a subject of criticism over the first two days of the day-night Test in Adelaide. His performance was scrutinised by television commentators after a couple of fumbles in the field.At the end of the second day, Australia said they would not use Baldwin as a fielder any more and had drafted in South Australia’s Sam Raphael for substitute duties.Baldwin, 28, is also the assistant to the Australian team manager, Gavin Dovey, and replaced the injured Mitchell Starc midway through the second session on the opening day of the Adelaide Test. Baldwin had played for Victoria’s second XI between 2006 and 2008, and is a regular participant in Australia’s fielding sessions at the nets.The decision to use Baldwin was made after both James Pattinson and Steven O’Keefe were released from the Test squad to play for their respective states and, with a full round of Sheffield Shield matches taking place, Australia were left with the choice of fielding a current state second XI player, or drafting in Baldwin.Three local cricketers, none of whom have first-class experience, were available but the Australians were concerned the pressure of fielding in this Test may have been too much for inexperienced players. The fact Baldwin was already with the team and considered capable of doing the job were the deciding factors.”Grant’s played second XI cricket for Victoria and he’s fielded for us before on tours,” said Josh Hazlewood after the second day. “We’ve got three young guys here who haven’t played first-class cricket, I think we’re getting a guy in tomorrow who has played for SA, so it’ll be good to get him out there. We thought Grant was probably the best option. It’s quite a pressure situation out there in front of 40,000, so with those other three guys not playing first-class cricket before, we thought it was the best case.”

Centuries from Luke Ronchi and openers Luke Woodcock and Michael Papps, along with a match haul of nine wickets from offspinner Jeetan Patel shaped Wellington’s 92-run win over Otago

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Dec-2015
ScorecardFile photo – Jeetan Patel produced returns of 9 for 136 for the match•Getty Images

Centuries from Luke Ronchi and openers Luke Woodcock and Michael Papps, along with a match haul of nine wickets from offspinner Jeetan Patel shaped Wellington’s 92-run win over Otago.After Otago’s first-innings declaration of 279 for 8 had given Wellington a 49-run lead, Woodcock and Papps set about consolidating that with an opening partnership of 235 runs. The runs came at a fair clip in the stand which lasted 57.1 overs. Woodcock scored 131 for his sixth first-class century off 186 deliveries with 18 fours and a six. Papps, on the other hand, cleared the boundary five times during his 181-ball 132, his 28th first-class century.That stand was instrumental in allowing Wellington set Otago a target of 355 to win. Brad Wilson scored a steady 57 at the start, and fifties from Neil Broom and Derek de Boorder kept the chase alive after Otago had stumbled to 127 for 4. Broom and de Boorder added 100 runs for the fifth wicket but Broom’s dismissal for 85 triggered a late order collapse that saw Wellington seal the win.Otago lost their last six wickets for only 35, and Patel wreaked most of the damage taking four of the six wickets in that period. His returns of 6 for 77 complemented first-innings figures of 3 for 59. His wickets in the first-innings carved out Otago’s middle order, accounting for Broom, de Boorder and Anaru Kitchen, who top-scored for the side with 72. Apart from Kitchen’s 72, and efforts from Wilson (60) and Broom (48), the other Otago batsmen failed to build on their starts.Earlier, Wellington were shepherded to 328 in their first innings by Luke Ronchi’s unbeaten 116 and a 50 from Michael Pollard. Left-arm quick Bradley Scott had taken three quick wickets at the start to reduce Wellington to 89 for 4 after they had been put in to bat. The middle and lower order, however, rallied. Pollard and Tom Blundell added 56 runs for the fifth wicket and Blundell followed it by pairing with Ronchi to add 92 for the sixth wicket. The two partnerships took Wellington closer to 250 and Ronchi then steered the last four wickets into adding 91 runs, to take the score to 328. Ronchi’s 116, his 15th first-class century, came off 131 deliveries with 18 fours.

Every member of the BCCI’s top brass, including its president and secretary, could potentially be involved in situations of conflict of interest, going by the Lodha Committee’s yardstick

Nagraj Gollapudi04-Jan-20164:08

‘Detailed recommendations on conflict of interest’

BCCI officials in potential situations of conflict

• Shashank Manohar: his son Advait is serving a second term as vice-president of the Vidarbha Cricket Association

• Anurag Thakur: holds dual posts – Himachal Pradesh CA president and BCCI secretary

• Amitabh Choudhury: holds dual posts (Jharkhand CA president and BCCI joint secretary)

• Aniruddh Chaudhry: Haryana CA president and BCCI treasurer

• Ajay Shirke: Maharashtra CA president and IPL Governing Council member

• Ganga Raju: Andhra CA secretary and BCCI vice-president

• Sourav Ganguly: Cricket Association of Bengal president and IPL Governing Council member

• Rajiv Shukla: Uttar Pradesh CA president and IPL chairman

• TC Mathew: BCCI vice-president (South) and Kerala CA president

• CK Khanna: BCCI vice-president (North) and Delhi and Districts CA vice-president

• Jyotiraditya Scindia: Madhya Pradesh CA president, IPL Governing Council member and BCCI finance committee head

• MP Pandove: Punjab CA secretary and IPL Governing Council member

Every member of the BCCI’s top brass, including its president and secretary, could potentially be involved in situations of conflict of interest, going by the Lodha Committee’s yardstick. The committee has dedicated five pages of its report to the issue of conflicts, detailing its various forms and illustrating with various examples where not just the BCCI and state association administrators, but even employees, players, selectors and commentators could be in breach of the various rules.While the report does not name anyone, some of its examples clearly point to high-profile officials. These include Shashank Manohar (the BCCI president), Anurag Thakur (secretary), Anirudh Chaudhry (treasurer), Amitabh Choudhary (joint secretary), Rajiv Shukla (IPL chairman) and former India captain Sourav Ganguly (IPL Governing Council).According to the committee a conflict of interest constitutes the following forms as far as any individual associated with the BCCI is concerned: direct or indirect interest, roles compromised, commercial conflict, prior relationship and position of influence.According to Lodha, there are broadly two types of conflict of interest: tractable and intractable. “Tractable can be resolved by recusal or disclosure,” he said. “Intractable would be the one which can’t be resolved by either of these two and that can only be done by cessation of the COI.”Lodha said a proposed ethics officer would be the one-man jury to determine conflict as well as any penalty.The committee presented various examples to highlight the type of conflict, and left it to readers’ judgement to determine which cases might fall under each category. A case of indirect conflict, the committee said, could be: “C is a Member of the IPL Governing Council. The IPL enters into a contract with a new franchisee, the Managing Director of which is C’s partner in an independent commercial venture. C is hit by Indirect Conflict of Interest.”Ganguly could fall under this definition of conflict: he is part of the IPL Governing Council and is also a co-owner of Atletico de Kolkata, a football club owned by Sanjiv Goenka, who recently bid successfully for the Pune IPL franchise. While both Goenka and Ganguly have brushed off any suggestions that this is a case of conflict, the Lodha committee believes otherwise.Expanding on what constitutes “roles compromised”, the committee said: “when the individual holds two separate or distinct posts or positions under the BCCI, a Member, the IPL or the Franchisee, the functions of which would require the one to be beholden to the other, or in opposition thereof.”It further gave the example of “B is Secretary of the BCCI. He is also President of a State Association. B is hit by Conflict of Interest.” Thakur is the BCCI secretary as well as president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association.Falling under the same category is the case of “A is the Coach of a team. He is also Coach of an IPL Franchisee. A is hit by Conflict of Interest.” India coaches Sanjay Bangar (batting), Bharat Arun (bowling) and R Sridhar (fielding) also hold coaching positions at IPL franchises.The committee also gave examples of officials at various state associations who could fall under the “positions of influence” category of conflict.”B is the Secretary of a State Association. He also runs a cricket academy in the State. B is hit by Conflict of Interest,” the committee said. There are numerous administrators at state associations who own or have a stake in various city-based clubs across India.The committee said it was high time administrators stopped holding dual posts. “Strangely, while conflict of interest issues have been at the heart of recent controversies, virtually all office bearers of the BCCI continue to be office bearers in their respective State Associations ,” the committee noted. “Presidents and Secretaries of State Associations are to discharge functions with the primary interest of the State in mind, but as BCCI office bearers, these interests would have to be subordinated to that of national interest. Often, with powers centred on an office bearer, that individual has been found to appoint his State associates to critical posts in the BCCI, thereby creating an imbalance.”Offering a solution, the committee said such conflicts could be avoided “by automatic vacation” of post at the local level when an official is elected to the BCCI.While Manohar does not hold dual posts, he could be in a situation of conflict since his son is the vice-president of the Vidarbha Cricket Association. The committee report states: “When the BCCI, a Member, the IPL or a Franchisee enter into contractual arrangements with entities in which the individual concerned or his/her relative, partner or close associate has an interest. This is to include cases where family members, partners or close associates are in positions that may, or may be seen to compromise an individual’s participation, performance and discharge of roles.”

Bangladesh have recalled Nasir Hossain and Mohammad Mithun to the 15-man squad for the World T20, which starts from March 8 in India

Mohammad Isam03-Feb-20161:57

Isam: Mithun selection surprising

Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Mithun is the surprise inclusion in Bangladesh’s 15-man squad for the upcoming World Twenty20. Bangladesh have also recalled allrounder Nasir Hossain for the tournament that starts in India from March 8.Mithun’s selection means the Bangladesh squad has three wicketkeeper-batsmen, including Mushfiqur Rahim and Nurul Hasan, although the keeping duties will likely be taken up by Nurul. Mithun last played a T20 international in August 2014 though that game against West Indies was abandoned due to a thunderstorm. He played mostly for Bangladesh A thereafter, and hit a century for the team on their tour of Zimbabwe in November last year. Although he made only 130 runs in nine innings for Rangpur Riders in BPL 2015, his two half-centuries in practice matches after the Zimbabwe series last month played some part in his selection.Nasir’s recall is less surprising as Shuvagata Hom, who was tried in his place in the four-match T20 series against Zimbabwe in January, didn’t quite grab the spot with his performances while batting or bowling.Chief selector Faruque Ahmed explained that Mithun’s inclusion wasn’t straightforward but his performances for Bangladesh A and his ability to shuttle between the top and middle order were taken into consideration. Faruque said that Imrul Kayes, who played two of the four T20s against Zimbabwe, was also considered but eventually missed the cut.”Mithun impressed in South Africa and Zimbabwe for Bangladesh A last year,” Faruque said. “We thought of a particular place, and we discussed that with the coaching staff. This is why we picked Mithun as a batsman who can play in the top and middle order. He is quite experienced in this format. We always felt he is a T20 player and his A-team performance put him in consideration.”Mithun wasn’t fully fit during the Zimbabwe series but he was at the training camp in Khulna that was held after the international series. He performed well there in the practice matches. But at the top level, we haven’t seen his full potential. Mithun is a good player who can show his worth if given chance in the right time and place. We had to think long and hard about Imrul [Kayes] and Mithun. The team management – coach and captain – discussed this at length and I think we all took a good decision.”Among the 18 players who played the Zimbabwe T20Is in January, Mosaddek Hossain, Imrul, Shuvagata, Muktar Ali and Mohammad Shahid haven’t made the World T20 squad. Faruque said that the experimentation in the series was done because Bangladesh doesn’t have a settled T20 line-up.”Experimenting with players doesn’t guarantee their selection,” he said. “We experiment to see if we can find something particular from a player. Until the end of the World T20, we can’t say whether the experimentation was success or failure. We did a similar thing in 2014 when we picked Sabbir for the T20s against Sri Lanka ahead of that year’s World T20. This is a format where we still have room for improvement.”Faruque said that Nurul, ‘arguably one of the best wicketkeepers in the country’, is likely to take the keeping gloves during the tournament. The youngster had also impressed with his late-order batting against Zimbabwe.”We don’t have a T20 specialist as such,” Faruque said. “Sohan [Nurul] has been playing in the A team in the last two years and also recently for the national team. He is arguably one of the best wicketkeepers in the country. He has innovation in his batting and we feel he will be most effective in T20s.”Faruque said that Bangladesh’s Asia Cup T20 squad would be “very similar” to the World T20 squad: “Imrul, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Shuvagata and Muktar will also join this squad in their training camp in Chittagong [from February 7]. They are the four standbys and have been kept with the Asia Cup in mind.”Bangladesh are placed in Group A in the first round of the World T20, with Netherlands, Ireland and Oman. They will begin their campaign against Netherlands on March 9 in Dharamsala. The team that tops Group A will join India, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand in Group 2 of the Super 10s stage.Bangladesh World T20 squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Arafat Sunny, Abu Hider, Nurul Hasan

Australia’s innings victory in Wellington ensured they will retain the Trans-Tasman Trophy, and placed them tantalisingly close to the No. 1 Test ranking

Brydon Coverdale in Wellington15-Feb-2016

Taylor, Santner out of Christchurch Test too

New Zealand will again be without batsman Ross Taylor and allrounder Mitchell Santner for the second Test against Australia in Christchurch starting on Saturday. Taylor suffered a torn side muscle during the recent one-day series against Pakistan and Santner injured his foot during the Chappell-Hadlee Series earlier this month.
“Everyone wants to play against Australia, so both guys are understandably disappointed to be missing out,” coach Mike Hesson said. “The players and the medical staff worked hard for them to be available for the match, but in the end ran out of time.
“Ross is back hitting balls again and is targeting a return in the Island of Origin match before we head away to the World T20. Mitch is on track to be fit for the World T20 and we’ll continue to monitor both players closely.”

Michael Clarke took on the Australian captaincy after the nadir of their 2010-11 Ashes defeat at home; it took him three years to lift his team back to No. 1 on the Test rankings. Even then, they only sat at the pinnacle for three months. Steven Smith assumed the leadership from Clarke after another failed Ashes campaign, but less than one year on, the No. 1 position is within touching distance. The challenge, should they get there, is to stay there.Australia’s innings victory over New Zealand at the Basin Reserve not only ensured they would retain the Trans-Tasman Trophy, it placed them tantalisingly close to the top Test ranking. All they must do is avoid defeat in the second Test in Christchurch; victory or a draw will push them above India and into No. 1, while a loss would send them down to No. 3. It is a remarkable effort for a group that has lost six experienced men to retirement in the past year.”We’ve got a pretty new side and guys are gelling well together,” Smith said after taking a 1-0 series lead in Wellington. “I think we’ve played very good Test cricket over the last couple of months, obviously we had those series at home and to start this series the way we have it has been really satisfying. There’s still a lot of improvement left in us but I think we are going in the right direction.”Australia’s success during their home summer was emphatic, but was tempered by the flatness of the pitches and the quality of the opposition, with New Zealand taking until the third Test to find their best and West Indies a class below for their whole campaign. The challenge for Smith was to find similar results away from home and their comprehensive win in Wellington was a good start; a tour of Sri Lanka later this year is their next job after New Zealand.”When you are No. 1 in the world, every team you play against is out for you, they are hunting for you,” Smith said. “So it takes a lot of hard work to stay at No. 1. So if it does happen, if we get to No. 1 in this series, there is still a lot of hard work; we’ve got a pretty tough series in a couple of months’ time in Sri Lanka. So, lots of hard work still in us after this series.”Not that getting over New Zealand in Christchurch will be anything other than hard work, either. The New Zealanders will have the added emotion of farewelling their retiring captain Brendon McCullum, and not every part of Australia’s game functioned perfectly in Wellington. Jackson Bird struggled in his first Test for two and a half years, and Peter Siddle is no certainty to play the second Test after battling a back problem.”He’s had a bit of spasm through his back,” Smith said. “Today I was able to keep him on ice. He wasn’t needed in the end. We’ll wait and see how he pulls up over the next couple of days to see whether he’ll be fit for that second Test match.”Siddle’s work in the first innings in Wellington was of critical importance for Australia – he built the pressure that Bird was unable to – which helped Josh Hazlewood gain results at the other end. The uncapped Chadd Sayers is one option should Siddle be unavailable in Christchurch but the Australians would likely prefer to call on James Pattinson; the selectors ruled Pattinson out of Wellington as they were unsure his fitness would stand up to five days.”He has done quite a lot of bowling this week,” Smith said of Pattinson. “He has had a few sessions. I saw him bowling this morning actually and it looked like they were coming out really nicely and quite fast. I think he’s tracking pretty well to be fit for the second Test match.”What is certain is that in Christchurch, New Zealand will need to show a little more patience with their batting, after falling over for 183 in the first innings having been sent in at the Basin Reserve. Although the conditions were helpful to Australia’s fast men on the first day, New Zealand’s batsmen went hard at the ball on too many occasions and did not give themselves the best chance of remaining there until the pitch flattened out.”Being 50 for 5 on the first morning, when you’re presented with conditions like that, you need a little bit of luck,” McCullum said. “I thought in the end 180 wasn’t too bad but the wicket dried out a little bit quicker than we were hoping for. In hindsight, if we could have batted just a bit longer, if we could have got 250… then we would have been in the game.”Conditions were difficult on that first morning. Ideally it would have done as much as what it did for a bit longer, but that wasn’t the case. We toiled pretty hard with the ball in hand. A couple of things could have gone our way but they didn’t and from that point we struggled to get any control of the game with ball in hand.”Credit to Voges and Khawaja. I thought their innings, they were outstanding. Adam, the strength of character to overcome that non-dismissal that night then to go on to post a sizable total shows not only how good a player he is but how strong a player he is as well. There are certainly things for us to work on.”

Pakistan have replaced batsman Khurram Manzoor with Ahmed Shehzad in their World T20 squad

Umar Farooq07-Mar-20164:14

Bazid: No alternatives to Shehzad for Pakistan

Pakistan have replaced batsman Khurram Manzoor with Ahmed Shehzad in their World T20 squad, with chief selector Haroon Rasheed admitting that Manzoor’s inclusion was a gamble that “backfired” in the Asia Cup.Based on the Asia Cup performances, there had been a lot of deliberation among the selectors at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. The top order was the main concern with Mohammad Hafeez, Manzoor and Sharjeel Khan combining for just 94 runs in Pakistan’s four games in the tournament. To address the batting issues, the selectors brought back the experienced Shehzad, who was earlier dropped for his inconsistency. He won his place back with his performance in the Pakistan Super League, where he scored 290 runs in ten games at a strike-rate of 143.56, including a half-century in the final.

Pakistan’s World T20 squad

Shahid Afridi (capt), Ahmed Shehzad, Anwar Ali, Imad Wasim, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Nawaz, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Sharjeel Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz

“The inclusion of Khurram backfired and as a chief selector I take full responsibility,” Haroon Rasheed told ESPNcricinfo. “Call it an error of judgement or whatever, but we all have seen him scoring runs in domestic cricket and we gave him a chance. He didn’t grab it, it’s up to the player to justify his selection and in his case he didn’t. We gambled on [Shoaib] Malik last year and it paid off.”Now when we look around for who is going to replace Khurram, we don’t really have a serious contender, but Ahmed at least has some experience under his belt. He did show some form in PSL too, otherwise we haven’t seen any other [impressive] opening batsman.”There were suggestions that Salman Butt might be added to the squad but the idea was shot down; the board is not ready to reintegrate the former captain into the squad so soon after the end of his ban for spot-fixing in 2010. Butt, though, is “eligible” to play international cricket and recently scored 536 runs at 107.20 to finish second highest run-scorer in the National One-Day Cup behind Kamran Akmal. But captain Shahid Afridi opposed Butt’s selection and that along with the PCB’s lack of interest in bringing him back at this point meant Shehzad got the nod.There were also murmurs of Afridi’s place in the team being in question but he has been retained. He is set to call time on his international career at the end of the World T20 and his form was another major worry to come out of the Asia Cup; he scored only two runs in two innings there, and claimed two wickets from three bowling innings, continuing his year-long dip in form (17 T20s for 173 runs at 12.35 and 12 wickets at 35.41). During the Asia Cup he remained a mere shadow of his former self, reportedly skipping team meetings, training sessions and press conferences as well as having his on-field captaincy scrutinised, especially the way he used his bowlers.PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan had previously hinted at a change in leadership for the World T20 but with just a few days left for Pakistan’s tournament to begin the board decided against such a move. “I understand there is a lot of criticism but I am not going to change anything one week before the major tournament in India,” Khan recently said. “Afridi will remain captain unless he himself pulls out of the job. He has been serving Pakistan from the last 15 years. There are problems in his captaincy which can’t be mended, especially at a time when his career is about to be end.”

In his 23rd season as a first-class cricketer, Marcus Trescothick became Somerset’s second-highest run-scorer of all time

Vithushan Ehantharajah at The Oval25-Apr-2016
ScorecardMarcus Trescothick notched a half-century, having passed Peter Wight on Somerset’s run-scoring list•Getty Images

Spectators at The Oval spent much of the day moving in and out of cover. Those that remained after the third rain delay deserve credit: only a matter of miles away, hail was falling in the capital. While that threat failed to make its way south, those hearty few might not have minded after seeing Marcus Trescothick further cement his legend in domestic folklore. In his 23rd season as a first-class cricketer, he became Somerset’s second-highest run-scorer of all time.Many knew it was coming. When Tom Curran was guided down to third man for four to move Trescothick on to 13, Tom Abell made a note of shaking hands with the 40-year-old, who passed Peter Wight’s total of 16,965 with the boundary. Neither Curran nor Abell had been born when Trescothick made his first-class debut in 1993.Now only Harold Gimblett stands in his way. But with more than 4000 runs needed to topple the 1953 Cricketer of the Year, second might have to do.It is still a baffling achievement, quite frankly. Looking through Trescothick’s first-class numbers requires a few double-takes. It seems inevitable that by the end of the season he will have passed 24,000 first-class runs. If those runs are as easy to come by as they were at The Oval, where he brought up his 177th score of 50 or more, then 25,000 is well within reach.There is a temptation to watch each aspect of Trescothick’s game still on public display – the effortless straight drives with Dalek-like footwork or the caresses through backward point that belie the tree-trunk willow and Popeye forearms – and sink back into “what ifs”. What if his Test career hadn’t been cut short? What if this otherworldly opener was saved from the very human troubles that affected him?But here he is, aged 40, still playing the game he loves, still achieving and getting things done. The only noticeable difference is that he now requires four eyes to do so. Somerset started their first innings 463 behind but you could not tell there were any external forces affecting Trescothick, now batting in spectacles, and the matter at hand.Surrey’s opening duo of Tom Curran and Mark Footitt started a bit too wide but, when they eventually got their lines right, Trescothick pulled out his patented curtain-rail leave. On a handful of occasions, Curran, having moved to around the wicket, thought he had the left-hander beaten. But Trescothick was simply moving his bat inside the line of the ball. It was a feather in Curran’s cap that Trescothick did not score off 32 of the 37 balls he sent his way. Footitt and Ravi Rampaul were not quite so lucky.While Footitt would bag the only Somerset wicket of the day – Abell hooking high to Arun Harinath at deep square leg – he was also hit for three fours in an over by Trescothick, the first of which brought up his fifty from 75 balls, before being cut ferociously over backward point for the innings’ first six. Rampaul, too, was not allowed to settle as he was carted through point when offering a bit of width.The morning session was a peculiar mishmash of Surrey trying and failing to make their last five wickets count and Somerset curtailing them while dropping catches.Zafar Ansari, who was let-off the previous evening on 28, was shelled yet again with 42 to his name. He would go on to complete his half-century off 111 balls before offering a third chance with his 112th, which Trescothick managed to hold at second slip. Curran and Gareth Batty were both run out through indecision and fine work by Roelof van der Merwe, respectively, before Footitt found cover to round off a lower-order collapse of 5 for 69.From the wreckage, Tim Groenewald emerged with 5 for 94 – his second five-wicket haul for Somerset. Ryan Davies, in his first season after signing from Kent, took his first Championship catch for the county when Ben Foakes nicked behind for the first wicket of the day.When stumps was eventually called after a lot of back and forth between the players, umpires and the ground staff, 43 overs had been lost. Trescothick and Chris Rogers reconvene on Tuesday, still 364 behind but knowing that the weather has given them a helping hand in saving this match.

Edgbaston and Lord’s are in pole position to host the first floodlit Test in England against West Indies in 2017

George Dobell27-May-2016The summer of 2017 could see the first day-night Test staged in England, with Lord’s and Edgbaston the most likely venues.Both venues are keen, in theory, to explore the possibility of staging an August Test against West Indies under lights. The final decision whether and where a floodlit game is played will be made by the ECB.”We have talked about it internally,” Warwickshire chief executive, Neil Snowball, told ESPNcricinfo, “and we do think it is worth considering.”A key part of the attraction for Warwickshire would be the novelty. Under normal circumstances, they might expect a Test against West Indies to prove a relatively tough sell and feel that staging it under lights could help attract a larger audience.It is also believed that Birmingham City Council, who have a long-standing relationship with Warwickshire and helped fund the redevelopment of Edgbaston, would be supportive of the initiative in the hope that it brought exposure and revenue to the area.”There is a lot to be considered,” Snowball said, “such as the pitch, the dew, the ball and many other factors. But if we can work those things out and the ECB agree, it is an attractive possibility.”The MCC, who have an excellent record of selling games against most opposition, also have a history of spearheading the experimentation into day-night cricket and are expected to discuss the issue at up-coming committee meetings in June.While Lord’s is limited to 15 days of floodlight usage a year – any time the floodlights are raised constitutes a usage – to appease local residents, they would expect to allocate 10 of those days to the two Tests they host each season. A spokesman confirmed they were interested in the idea, but stressed that any decision would be made by the ECB.There is another Test against West Indies allocated for Headingley, but Yorkshire have not held serious discussions about the possibility of hosting a floodlit Test and would not do so until the exact dates for the series have been announced when a proper assessment of climate issues could be made.The summer of 2017 also sees England host the ICC Champions Trophy (starting on June 1 and finishing on June 18), a four-Test series against South Africa and then the three Test series against West Indies.Australia hosted the first day-night Test against New Zealand in Adelaide in November and England are expected to play at least one day-night Test during the next Ashes tour in 2017-18.The ECB chairman, Colin Graves, recently told the BBC he would “love to see day-night cricket” and the ECB have raised the idea of playing the second Test on the tour of Bangladesh in October under lights.While it seems unlikely that such an agreement can be reached in time for that tour, it does seem that the first day-night Test involving England is likely to occur within the next 18 months.

The Champions Trophy could be scrapped after the 2021 tournament in India, and could even be abolished after next year’s event, in England

Tim Wigmore23-Jun-2016The future of the ICC Champions Trophy is back in doubt. It is understood that the tournament is highly likely to be scrapped after the 2021 tournament, in India, and could even be abolished after next year’s tournament, in England, should a new ODI league be introduced from 2019.The Champions Trophy was originally meant to be scrapped after the 2013 edition, but the huge commercial success of that year’s tournament in England led to it being retained, at the expense of the World Test Championship that had been scheduled for 2017.However, now the tournament faces being a victim of the ICC’s ongoing review of the structure of international cricket. Under the latest proposals an ODI league, of 13 nations, is being planned from 2019, culminating in a play-off between the leading two sides in 2022.It is felt that, with an ODI league alongside the World Cup, a third 50-over tournament would be superfluous, adding unnecessarily to the schedule and risking confusion among casual fans by creating three winners of 50-over international tournaments in the space of 24 months.Although the Champions Trophy has proved hugely popular, in part due to its condensed nature – 15 matches will be played over 18 days in next year’s competition – the ICC has never been enamoured with having two marquee tournaments in 50-over cricket alongside the World Twenty20, and had planned to scrap the tournament as far back as 2011.Over seven editions, and despite the concise nature of the tournament, the Champions Trophy has struggled to build up a clear identity. An additional factor is the anticipated return of the World T20 to a two-year cycle. That proposal is likely to be ratified at the forthcoming ICC Annual Conference in Edinburgh.As part of the ICC’s proposals for reforms to the schedule of the international game, it is envisaged that structured competitions – ICC global events, and the leagues in Test and ODI cricket – would take up less than six months a year, creating ample time for countries to organise extra bilateral cricket, such as the Ashes, and for players to participate in domestic T20 leagues.The commercial implications of scrapping the Champions Trophy are not a great concern. This is because the extra value of a biennial WT20 would more than offset the costs of its removal.Indeed, it is understood that senior figures from the ICC have recently met with Star Sports in Dubai to discuss the future of ICC events and whether to retain the Champions Trophy.It is possible that, as part of the negotiations for Star Sports to broadcast the two extra WT20s in this broadcasting cycle, scheduled for 2018 and 2022, they would agree for the 2021 Champions Trophy to be scrapped.If it was agreed that the 2021 Champions Trophy would not take place, India, the scheduled hosts for that tournament, would be well-placed to host another WT20, in 2022 or 2024, instead.

Glamorgan underlined their mastery of the short-form game in the bucolic surroundings of Old Deer Park by thrashing Middlesex to secure a seventh win in eight completed NatWest T20 Blast matches

ECB Reporters Network08-Jul-2016
ScorecardMark Wallace inspired Glamorgan’s victory•Getty Images

Glamorgan underlined their mastery of the short-form game in the bucolic surroundings of Old Deer Park by thrashing Middlesex to secure a seventh win in eight completed NatWest T20 Blast matches.Glamorgan were on course for victory within eight overs as Middlesex were reduced to 39 for 5. Eoin Morgan and Ryan Higgins both made fifties but 144 for 8 never looked enough and Glamorgan knocked off the runs for the loss of one wicket with 21 balls to spare.Mark Wallace led the way with 69 not out, David Lloyd contributing 49 in a 125-run opening partnership and Colin Ingram finished things emphatically with three successive sixes off Ollie Rayner.Two wins from their remaining five South group matches should now secure Glamorgan a place in the last eight but Middlesex have work to do to join them.Dawid Malan criticised the decision to play at Richmond. “It is frustrating coming from a county ground to a club ground,” he said. “Personally I don’t think professional cricketers should play at club grounds, you never know what wicket you will get. Hopefully we will get to the stage where we won’t have to play on these pitches again.”Middlesex head Division One of the Specsavers County Championship while Glamorgan are bottom of Division Two, but the challenges of T20 cricket are very different to the four-day format and the visitors soon showed why they went into the tie four points clear of their hosts.Shaun Tait is now 33 years’ old, but the Australian is still capable of hurrying batsmen. His first ball knocked over Dawid Malan’s stumps and his sixth was edged by Paul Stirling to wicketkeeper Wallace. MIddlesex’s attempts to rebuild were cut short by three wickets in eight balls, two to Timm van der Guyten.That left Middlesex 39 for 5 in the ninth over and in danger of being dismissed before the after-work crowd had even arrived. Eoin Morgan, fresh from leading England to victory over Sri Lanka this week, eschewed his usual attacking game to rebuild with rookie Higgins.Aside from slapping van der Guyten over mid-off in the tenth over, and a reverse sweep off Dean Cosker in the 12th, Morgan proceeded cautiously. With five overs and a ball remaining Middlesex were 76-5. Morgan signalled the charge, clubbing Graeme Wagg over mid-wicket for six. The next over went for 19, the first of the innings to reap double figures.When Morgan was caught by Aneurin Donald for 58 Higgins, who had made 27 for thrice out previously this season, all in T20, took up the mantle. Wagg’s next over went for 20 as the Zimbabwean-born bat reached the first 50 of his career finishing unbeaten on 57 from 41 balls.The last 31 balls had gone for 78 runs but Middlesex still looked 20-30 runs short. Needing early wickets Malan gave Toby Roland-Jones, newly called into the England Test squad, three overs from the off. However, the breakthrough proved elusive. Roland-Jones did induce a false shot from Wallace, when the batsman was on nine, but the ball looped gently short of point.Wallace took swift advantage, lobbing a high full toss from Fuller for four, and cutting the subsequent free-hit to the same boundary. When the powerplay finished Glamorgan were 56-0 and they never looked back, Ingram finishing the match with three successive sixes of Ollie Rayner.