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West Indies are still missing three members of their squad as their tour match against Sussex got underway

The Report by George Dobell at Hove06-May-2012
ScorecardFile photo: Adrian Barath hopes to adapt quickly to English conditions•AFP

It was surely fitting that the West Indies tour should start with a depleted day’s play and under a cloud. In bitterly cold and damp conditions, the tourists’ batsmen enjoyed – or experienced, anyway – a brief snatch of cricket before rain returned and, for the second day in succession, play was abandoned mercifully early. It means the West Indies now have only five days cricket in which to acclimatise to English conditions ahead of the Test series.That is for those of the squad that are here. Three of them – Assad Fudadin, Narsingh Deonarine and Marlon Samuels – have still not arrived in the country, with the first two held up by “visa problems” and Samuels delayed by “a travel problem”. The West Indies tour management insist they are not concerned by the delays, but this is hardly ideal preparation. With poor weather in the UK expected to continue well into next week, some of the squad will have very little chance to adjust to the unique conditions ahead of the Test series.”We are not concerned about the late arrival of the three players and we are extremely hopeful that they will all be here ahead of the game against England Lions,” a spokesman for the West Indies team said. But the use of the word “hopeful” is just a little unsettling.It would be easy to criticise the WICB – it pretty much always is – but there may some be some mitigating factors. For a start, the West Indies squad was only named a few days ago and, bearing in mind that the Border Agency in the UK has recently undergone a significant – and somewhat controversial – restructuring, it is entirely possible there is a backlog at their end.In the 18 overs of play that were possible, the West Indies scored 46 runs but lost two wickets. With the damp outfield soon preventing the ball from swinging and bowlers struggling to retain their footing on a surface that quickly became skiddy, the lack of pace was the main problem for the batsmen.Adrian Barath, leaving the ball well and appearing compact and tidy, looked comfortable until he missed one that hit his thigh pad and dribbled on to his leg stump, while Kieran Powell looked less at ease but battled through and will have benefited from the experience.Kirk Edwards was even less comfortable. He survived a simple chance to Luke Wells at slip from the second delivery he faced – hanging his bat out at one he should have left – and, though he punched one pleasing drive through mid-on for four, soon felt for another one he should have had no business with and gifted a catch to slip.Since making a century on debut at the Gabba, Barath’s career has stalled, as a Test average of 23.60 underlines. He knows this is an important tour for him.”Over the past year or so, I haven’t really had the sort of performances I’d like,” Barath said afterwards. “But I’m going to have to put that behind me. It’s all about learning from my mistakes in the past, and building from it, and learning from team-mates like Shivnarine Chanderpaul about these conditions. He’s played a lot of cricket here, scored a lot of runs and has a lot to offer.”I’m working on playing the ball a bit later and leaving a lot more balls. It’s about learning fast, and I have a lot of responsibility. I was a bit unlucky, but the time I was out there I felt really good.”The weather has also been far from ideal from a Sussex perspective. The club worked hard to market this fixture and were expecting 10,000 spectators over the three days. With a beer festival and steel band inside the ground, the atmosphere could have been excellent had the weather been a little kinder. As it was, when the Barmy Army’s trumpeter, Billy Cooper, blasted out Jerusalem it seemed tinged with irony. The land may be green; it certainly doesn’t feel very pleasant.Meanwhile Sussex are waiting to hear news on Luke Wright who is undergoing tests in India to ascertain whether he has contracted Dengue Fever. Wright has been playing for Pune Warriors in the IPL. The club are also currently talking to Ajmal Shahzad, the unsettled seamer released by Yorkshire, with a view to bringing him to Hove.

Edgbaston’s rain-blighted season continued with Warwickshire’s Friends Life t20 match against Somerset washed out after only 7.1 overs were bowled.

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jun-2012
ScorecardEdgbaston’s rain-blighted season continued with Warwickshire’s Friends Life t20 match against Somerset washed out after only 7.1 overs were bowled.Somerset reached 59 for 1 in the two brief passages of play that were possible between the showers before the finaL downpour arrived at 8.45pm.The abandonment completed a bleak month for Warwickshire, who also had last week’s 25,000 sell-out against Worcestershire washed out without a ball being bowled while three days of the England v West Indies Test two weeks ago were also lost to rain.Warwickshire have only two home games remaining in the competition, both in the last two rounds of group matches, as Edgbaston has to be prepared for England’s one-day international against Australia on July 4.The abandonment left Warwickshire with just one win from their first five group matches and struggling to qualify for the quarter-finals.The only wicket to fall was Peter Trego who top-edged a pull off Chris Wright and was well taken by wicketkeeper Richard Johnson running back towards the sightscreen.Nick Compton cut Keith Barker for four and Craig Meschede got off the mark by hooking the same bowler for six but drizzle turned into heavy rain and the players left the field soon after with Somerset on 41 for 1 from 5.2 overs.Play resumed 70 minutes later and the match was reduced to a 15 overs contest but only 11 more balls were bowled,

The New South Wales batsman Kurtis Patterson is one of three players with senior state cricket experience named in Australia’s squad for the Under-19 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jul-2012The New South Wales batsman Kurtis Patterson is one of three players with senior state cricket experience named in Australia’s squad for the Under-19 World Cup. However, the Australians have not yet named a captain for the tournament, which will be held in Queensland in August and at which they will be the defending champions after Mitchell Marsh led his side to the title in New Zealand two years ago.Patterson, who scored 157 in his Sheffield Shield debut last summer, will be joined in the 15-man squad by the batsman Travis Head, who made a promising start to his career for South Australia last season, and Cameron Bancroft, who has played for Western Australia. The batsman Meyrick Buchanan, who played on game for the Melbourne Renegades in the inaugural Big Bash League, has also been included.”Overall, I think we’ve got a squad that’s pretty well balanced with good batting depth, a variety of bowling options which includes good pace bowlers and a couple of excellent developing spinners,” Greg Chappell, Cricket Australia’s national talent manager, said. “Playing at home in Queensland will always place more of a spotlight and expectation on this team to do well in front of a home crowd and in familiar conditions, but we know this is going to be a fierce challenge against quality opposition.”We played Pakistan in the 2010 final in Christchurch and two years before that India won the title so we know the subcontinent teams are always very strong and that is no different whether we play them away or at home. We also saw a very good West Indies outfit last year in Dubai and in the quad series this year we saw first-hand an attacking England outfit and a talented New Zealand line-up, along with the Indian side.”There is no doubt this is going to be huge challenge for our team but we’ve had some very good preparation and we’ll continue that right up to the World Cup by playing Pakistan on the Gold Coast later this month.”The side will be coached by Stuart Law, as part of his new role as high performance coach at the Centre of Excellence. Law said he was looking forward to steering Australia’s young cricketers through a challenging tournament.”The ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup is the pinnacle for players at this age level,” Law said. “You only have to look back at the last couple of tournaments to see the quick progress some players have made. India’s 2008 captain Virat Kohli is now established at international level, while we’ve seen 2010 Australian representatives Mitch Marsh and Josh Hazlewood quickly advance to an opportunity within the Australian team in limited-overs cricket.”There’s no bigger challenge than playing against the best players from around the world and the Under-19 World Cup provides that opportunity for players of this age. We know it’s going to be challenge and playing at home only lifts that expectation but we’re certainly looking forward to the tournament.”Prior to the World Cup, Australia will play a three-match series against Pakistan on the Gold Coast, in preparation for their title defence. The squad for that series will include the 15 men named for the World Cup, along with extra players Sebastian Gotch, Joshua McClelland and Alex Gregory.Under-19 World Cup squad Ashton Agar (Vic), Cameron Bancroft (WA), William Bosisto (WA), Meyrick Buchanan (Vic), Harry Conway (NSW), Sam Hain (Qld), Travis Head (SA), Joel Paris (WA), Kurtis Patterson (NSW), James Peirson (Qld), Gurinder Sandhu (NSW), Mark Steketee (Qld), Nicholas Stevens (Qld), Ashton Turner (WA), Jack Wildermuth (Qld).

Surrey will be reminded of their outstanding finish to last season when Chris Adams, their director of cricket, provides the analysis on a humiliating defeat to Durham

Myles Hodgson at Chester-le-Street09-Aug-2012
ScorecardChris Rushworth broke through early on the third morning and victory came swiftly for Durham•Getty Images

Surrey will be reminded of their outstanding finish to last season when Chris Adams, their director of cricket, provides the analysis on a humiliating defeat to Durham. The heavy loss, completed before lunch on the third day, leaves them hovering above the relegation zone in Division One while Durham have leapfrogged over them and moved away from the bottom spot.Needing a miracle to avoid defeat after resuming on 69 for 5, still trailing by 112 runs, their fate was sealed in just 30.2 overs when they were dismissed for 143. To cap a desperate few days in the North East, they were also docked one of the three points they gained from the match for a slow over rate. “It’s been a difficult few days,” Adams admitted.Yet as one-sided a defeat as it became, Adams believes there are certain similarities between their situation now and last season. Twelve months ago a heavy defeat at Canterbury put their promotion hopes in doubt only for them to reel off successive victories over Leicestershire, Essex and Derbyshire and pip Northamptonshire by a point.”If you think back to last year we got an absolute drubbing at Kent in similar circumstances and we sat down and looked at the table and knew we had to win at least three of the last few games, to win promotion and we did,” Adams said. “Many players thrive with short term targets and that’s what we gave ourselves last year, win three out of four in the championship and keep winning every game in the 40-over competition and this is very similar.”Indeed Adams and Geoff Cook, his counterpart at Durham, are both of the same view that each side must win at least two of their last four matches to avoid relegation. Durham appear in the happier place having just secured successive wins from nowhere, which has moved them to fourth bottom, one place and eight points clear of Surrey.They can be forgiven, however, if they remain conservative in their celebrations. At the halfway stage of the summer they had lost four out of their eight matches, were rooted to the bottom of division one and Phil Mustard stood down as captain to be replaced by Paul Collingwood. Their resurgence has been dramatic, but the job is yet to be completed.”They suffered through the first half of the year through lots of reasons and it’s nice to see them enjoying each other’s success, but its early days yet,” Cook said. “We’ve had two positive results, but the signs were good before that. It’s good to see the team playing in a much more confident way, with some excellent direction.”Any unlikely hopes of Surrey avoiding defeat were all but ended by the loss of two wickets inside the first 10 overs of the day. Tim Linley fell lbw to the sixth ball of the day from Chris Rushworth and Rory Burns ended 191 minutes of defiance for his 39 by flashing at a lifting ball from Graham Onions and edging behind.Callum Thorp, irritated by having an appeal for a catch behind dismissed by umpire Jeff Evans from the previous delivery, ended another stubborn innings by removing Matt Spriegel with his next ball, a quicker bouncer that flew off the top of his bat over the slip cordon. He was unlucky in that Ben Stokes’ athleticism was enough to make the ground and take a diving catch.Scott Borthwick finished off the innings to claim the only two wickets with spin on the stroke of lunch and leave Adams with some confidence to rebuild before Surrey are next in Championship action, against Middlesex at The Oval next week. By then he is hopeful that Rory Hamilton-Brown, their captain, may be available for selection for his first Championship match since the tragic death of his team-mate and flat-mate, Tom Maynard, two months ago.”He wasn’t quite ready for this game because of match fitness, but he’s been away with the seconds and it’s another step forward for him,” Adams added. “He is close and it will be a big boost to the side having him back, but he has to be ready and right and I will take my lead a little bit from him.”

A blistering 85-run opening stand between Imran Nazir and Ahmed Shehzad and a cool finish from Angelo Mathews helped Nagenahira Nagas overhaul Kandurata Warriors’ 159 for 7 in the final over

Andrew Fernando at the R Premadasa Stadium13-Aug-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThisara Perera clobbered 72 off 33 balls and yet ended up on the losing side•Ron Gaunt/SPORTZPICS/SLPL

A blistering 85-run opening stand between Imran Nazir and Ahmed Shehzad and a cool finish from Angelo Mathews trumped perhaps the innings of the tournament so far, from Thisara Perera, as Nagenahira Nagas overhauled Kandurata Warriors’ 159 for 7 in the final over. Nazir blasted five sixes and four fours in his half-century, and left his side needing just 75 from 68 at his dismissal – a task Mathews ensured never got out of hand.Fleet of foot was the key to Nazir’s success, as he routinely skipped down the track to change the lengths of both the spinners and the quick men, as well as backing away in his crease on occasion to line up the extra cover fence. Sohail Tanvir’s second over cost 20, as both Nazir and Shehzad took full toll of some hittable lengths, before the next over, from Perera, disappeared for 15 to get Nagenahira well ahead of the required rate.Kaushal Lokuarachchi beat Nazir in the flight in consecutive deliveries when the batsman was on 41, only for the wicketkeeper Kaushal Silva to fluff both straightforward stumping attempts, losing sight of the ball as it passed between bat and pad. Shehzad had been dropped on the boundary earlier too, and the mistakes continued to stack up for Kandurata, who bled at least 15 more runs through misfields alone, leaving aside the runs they might have saved had those chances been taken. When Mathews arrived at 110 for 2 from 12.3 overs, he showed off his improving knack for finishing innings by calmly taking his side over the line to make it two wins from two.In the Kandurata innings, Perera arrived at the crease with his side stagnating at 61 for 4 from 10.5 overs, and though he took seven balls to get going in earnest, when the explosion came, it was dramatic and effective. A towering six over midwicket, followed by a scorching boundary to the same area set the tone for his assault; the Nagenahira bowlers would continue to offer him length throughout the innings, and he rarely missed an opportunity to pepper his favourite midwicket boundary. Amid the heaves to cow corner there were clobbered fours down the ground and to third man as well, but few balls cramped him for space or posed a genuine threat to his technique. When he fell at 149 for 6, he had contributed 72 of the 88 runs scored during his stay. In the end, Kandurata’s total wasn’t enough to challenge their opponents.

The BCCI’s working committee will meet on September 4 to decide on the future of the beleaguered Deccan Chargers IPL franchise

Nagraj Gollapudi02-Sep-2012The BCCI’s working committee will meet on September 4 to decide on the future of the beleaguered Deccan Chargers IPL franchise. The meeting comes after the franchise owners sought the board’s help in finding a new buyer, conceding they could not carry on running the franchise given their financial problems.At the meeting, board president N Srinivasan – who met the franchise owners recently – is likely to explain the BCCI’s future stand. “They have thrown up their hands. They met the BCCI president directly and said that they cannot get their house in order,” a BCCI working committee member, told ESPNcricinfo.On August 14, the IPL governing council had asked the Chargers management to explain why the franchise had been mortgaged to two leading Indian banks when the BCCI held the ownership rights for the franchise. Granting a month to Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL), the board asked the Chargers’ owners to come back with a reassurance that they were in a strong position to continue owning the franchise. T Venkatram Reddy, DCHL chairman, who was present at that meeting was confident the crisis would be resolved soon.But earlier this week, Reddy revealed to that DCHL were in advanced talks with potential buyers and the franchise was in safe hands. However, according to the board official, the issue had become “complicated” with the investors in the franchise having asked the board to get involved.”The lenders do not want the team to die. Nine lenders have written to the board saying they do not mind the team being sold and the board should try and help. The BCCI just wants now to facilitate in finding a buyer. We want to see if there is an amicable sale of the franchise,” the official said.In June DCHL had appointed Religare Capital Markets to look for potential investors who might be interested in buying a part or the entire stake in the franchise. But the board official pointed out any sale could not be a straightforward process. “It is not an easy task because there are some legal proceedings against the Deccan Chargers owners. There are also a number of lenders, number of people who have a stake in the team. One of the lenders has even filed a company winding-up petition,” the official said.Asked if the IPL could be in the danger of being reduced to eight teams, the official said that would be the final step. “We are trying to see and find out an amicable way out. If not, there is no other option. It is a complicated issue and is likely to be discussed during the working committee meeting,” he said.However not all board members are impressed at the sudden “soft approach” being thought about by the BCCI top brass. “Less than a month ago we had stated and issued a notice to the Deccan Chargers owners that in case they would not settle their dispute the board would auction for a new team. Now apparently we have to take a softer route. How are we concerned? The lenders are knocking at the BCCI doors because they are in trouble,” a working committee member said.

The PCB governing board has sanctioned the purchase of bulletproof buses to ensure best security protocol for visiting teams, and thus address some of the security concerns that have prevented international teams from touring Pakistan

Umar Farooq24-Oct-2012The PCB governing board has sanctioned the purchase of bulletproof buses to ensure best security protocol for visiting teams, and thus address some of the security concerns that have prevented international teams from touring Pakistan over the last three and a half years.Pakistan has been a no-go zone for major international teams after the attack on Sri Lankan team – their bus was shot at by gunmen near Gaddafi Stadium in March 2009, and the attack injured five cricketers and killed six security men and two civilians. Since then, Pakistan have been playing their ‘home’ series abroad, and the PCB has been trying to bring international cricket back to the country. Now, the PCB hopes it can be revived as early as next year, following the successful staging of two exhibition Twenty20s involving an International World XI in Karachi last week.The PCB relies heavily on the government with regards to providing the visiting teams’ security. The bullet proof buses will be an additional safety measure for visiting teams, ensuring box security while travelling. The buses were sanctioned at the PCB governing board meeting on Thursday in Abbottabad, the garrison town north of Islamabad.”To ensure best security protocols for international teams, the Board of Governors unanimously approved the purchase of bullet proof buses,” the PCB said in a statement. “The members noted that the step would enable the PCB to achieve higher security measures for the teams visiting Pakistan in future.”Apart from working on security protocol, the PCB has been working on identifying potential new venues for international cricket across the country and upgrading them to international standards. The board had visited the Abbottabad cricket stadium and, at the meeting, approved a Rs 12.5 million budget for its upgrading and development.Earlier this year the PCB had identified a 35-acre piece of land in Islamabad, where a stadium that is meant to be the biggest in the country, with a capacity of capacity of 50,000, will be developed. “The board unanimously decided to name the stadium after Mohtarma Shaheed Benazir Bhutto,” the PCB statement said.The stadium will be in the Shakarparian area of Islamabad, with multiple facilities that include a cricket ground, a cricket academy and lodging facility. According to the Memorandum of Understanding between the PCB and Capital Development Authority (CDA), the PCB will receive 70% of the revenue generated by the stadium, while the CDA will take 30%.Also at the meeting, the governing board reviewed the progress made in bringing together Pakistan’s proposed Twenty20 league. “The board was updated on the progress thus far and a roadmap was shared with them,” the statement said. “The board appreciated it as a positive initiative for the revival of international cricket in Pakistan.” The league is planned for March 2013, immediately after Pakistan’s South Africa tour, which ends on March 24.The board also sanctioned the use of Kookaburra balls in domestic cricket, terming it a ‘positive step’ for the improvement of the domestic game. The PCB is yet to introduce the balls in the ongoing President’s Trophy; the fifth round of the tournament, starting from November 2, will be played with the imported balls.

Twelve months ago, the chances of Ricky Ponting being part of the Australian side for this year’s home series against South Africa seemed to be almost non-existent

Brydon Coverdale in Brisbane06-Nov-2012In South Africa this time last year, Ricky Ponting’s days as a Test batsman appeared to be rapidly dwindling. At 36, he was enduring the leanest patch of his long career, having not scored a Test century for nearly two years. Such slumps are usually terminal for batsmen in their late thirties. The chances of him making it all the way through the 2011-12 Australian summer appeared slim. The chances of him being part of the side for this year’s home series against Graeme Smith’s men seemed to be almost non-existent.

Ponting confident of fitness

• Ricky Ponting is confident the hamstring niggle that required him to be withdrawn from Tasmania’s Sheffield Shield match on Friday won’t affect his chances of playing at the Gabba. Ponting batted in the nets on Tuesday and will increase his workload over the remainder of the week. “I did everything that was required today,” Ponting said. “I’ve been pretty confident from the last three days, since the end of the Shield game in Hobart. I didn’t do any running today. I was limited with what I could do in the nets but that was just precautionary. With two days to go training-wise before the Test, I’ll ramp things up tomorrow, do a little bit of running tomorrow and batting against the bowlers and then top things up on Thursday but so far I’m very positive.”

Fast forward 12 months and Ponting is not only part of the team, he is its form batsman. David Warner and Michael Hussey have had scant first-class preparation. Michael Clarke has had some starts for New South Wales without going on. Ed Cowan hasn’t reached 50 in his four Sheffield Shield games this summer. Meanwhile, Ponting has piled up the runs for Tasmania and is on top of the Shield run tally with 355 at 118.33.Most importantly, he has fixed a technical flaw that was undermining his entire game. On Melbourne Cup day last year, Ponting shuffled across his stumps in Potchefstroom and was lbw to Vernon Philander for 2. He went on to be dismissed cheaply in the same way in three of the four Test innings that followed, once by Philander and twice by Dale Steyn. It was a trigger movement that was threatening to end his career.”It was technical. You don’t go from playing the way I was playing to getting hit on the pad as often as I was without something being wrong,” Ponting said in Brisbane on Tuesday. “The frustrating thing for me through that period was that I identified it really early in the series and I was training really hard and trying to rectify it and still getting out the same way. It just took a long time to break the habit that I was in and the cycle I was in.”I’m doing things a little bit differently at training now, with the way that I train and prepare. Some of the drills that I’m working on have made me feel a lot better balanced at the crease and certainly not getting hit on the pad as much as I was 12 months ago. My pre-ball movements were a little bit earlier than what they normally were. I was trying to move early to give myself a little bit more time but it was actually having a detrimental effect. I was actually moving too early and locking off and not being able to move again after that.”Gradually, he worked out how to address the problem and the runs piled up during the home series against India in December and January, when he made 62, 60, 134, 7, 221 and 60 not out. He made more runs in that series than he had in his previous four series combined. Ponting has tried not to look back at that South African tour too often since then, but he concedes that things couldn’t have gotten much worse.”There’s no doubt it was a lowlight,” he said. “I was training really hard and not getting the results I was after. At that stage where I was batting we needed to be getting results if the team was going to win games. Whenever you fail it’s not just about you, it’s about feeling like you’ve let your team-mates and your mates down. It was a low moment.”I batted my way back in the second innings of that last Test match over there and then started the series well here against New Zealand and things turned around in the summer. Pretty much from the end of that series in South Africa until now I’ve been a pretty consistent run scorer in all the games I’ve played. Some of the things I’m working on are starting to pay dividends.”Now, Ponting finds himself preparing to take on Steyn, Philander and Morne Morkel once again, this time at the Gabba, a venue that fast bowlers always enjoy. Steyn is the ICC’s No.1-ranked Test bowler and Philander, who debuted in Cape Town during last year’s series against Australia, has rocketed to No.2, while Morkel sits at No.9. Ponting said despite the class of South Africa’s attack, Australia’s experience at the Gabba would hold them in good stead.”We know the ball swings around a little bit up here. All of our batsmen have played enough here to know how to combat it,” he said. “They’re all good bowlers and their records speak for themselves, especially over the last couple of years. Philander burst onto the scene last year.”We’ve played a lot against Morkel over the years and had a reasonable record against him, us as a team, and Steyn is one of the best bowlers of the last four or five years. The thing about their attack is they’re all different bowlers. They’re all slightly different and that makes a good attack. There’s not much opportunity for our batsmen to relax but that’s what Test cricket is all about.”

The reality of finances and availability has led to a marked downscaling of the ambitious plan for a professional T20 league in the USA

Martin Williamson03-Dec-2012Months after plans were outlined for a professional Twenty20 competition in the USA that was going to be so impressive there was talk of it impacting on the English season, it seems the reality of finances and availability has led to a marked downscaling of the scheme.Rather than the big-name international stars originally suggested, USA Cricket Association president Gladstone Dainty has said that organisers will be looking for the best players from Associate and Affiliate countries to form the core of the competition. But that approach could also have major pitfalls by bringing USACA into conflict with other boards.The competition is due to start in July 2013 and while Dainty admitted there had been unforeseen problems, he insisted it was still very much on course. “It will be a truly global set-up and emerging players – from the likes of Afghanistan, Ireland, Scotland, Kenya, wherever – will be given plenty of opportunity,” Dainty told ESPNcricinfo. “In the USA we don’t have this big pool of players so we will tap into the Associate and Affiliates and we also have New Zealanders to draw on. It’s in this way we hope the cricketing world will support our efforts.”It’ll be a showcase and a stage where their players can be playing against the best. There will be financial incentives for their players and I don’t think there will be a problem. It’s not a long season and flying a player from Ireland or Scotland every week is certainly not a very expensive proposition.”Asked if availability of players in the middle of the European season would be an issue, Dainty said: “We would want them released … just as if an England player is released from their county to play for England. We don’t want to stop the Irish and Scottish boards from doing things, we’re just trying to put a quality product together and we will work with them to ensure we have access and can share them.”But Dainty’s view on availability seems to be based on the requirements of boards to release players for international competitions – and the USA league would not class as that.Cricket Scotland chief executive Roddy Smith, who said that he had not had any contact from USACA, told ESPNcricinfo: “The scheduling will obviously be problematic for Scottish players as it clashes directly with our home season. The primacy of international cricket is paramount as is the high priority CS places on its home non international and regional cricket.”Contracted players will not be released if it means them missing cricket for Scotland. If there is a window where players are free, and our performance staff believe it is beneficial for all parties that they take part in a sanctioned ICC T20 event then their participation may be a possibility.”Those views were echoed by Cricket Ireland boss Warren Deutrom. “As in anything, our first thought is to be reasonable and provide an opportunity to our players if the schedule permits. As you know, a few of our non-county players have occasionally spent stints in county cricket for specific competitions – for example the ECB T20 – when we have no international commitments.”Of course, the schedule is key here. Once we know the exact dates for the USA event, we’ll be in a better position to know whether it conflicts with our existing commitments which obviously take precedence. USACA would need to seek permission of the counties to release those players during that period.”

A stomach ailment has forced Dermot Reeve, the former England allrounder, to be replaced as Maharashtra’s senior coach for the rest of the season

Amol Karhadkar21-Dec-2012A stomach ailment has forced Dermot Reeve, the former England allrounder, to be replaced as Maharashtra’s senior coach for the rest of the season. Reeve, who was unable to make it to New Delhi for Maharashtra’s Ranji Trophy Group B tie against Delhi that ended on Tuesday, has been replaced by the former Maharashtra captain Surendra Bhave.The team has slumped since Reeve took over from the Australian Shaun Williams ahead of the season. With two rounds to go in the league stage, Maharashtra are at the bottom of Group B. With eight points from six games, Maharashtra are in danger of being relegated to Group C. As a result, Reeve’s tactics were being questioned not just by a section of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA), but also those on the Ranji circuit. Suresh Raina, the Uttar Pradesh captain, criticised Reeve’s defensive tactics during UP’s tie in Pune.However, MCA president Ajay Shirke put the sacking theory to rest. “Dermot is unwell for a while. Since it has been clear that he will not be able to be with the squad all the time, we had to make a decision since it puts a lot of pressure on the captain,” Shirke told ESPNcricinfo. “As a result, we have appointed Surendra Bhave as the coach. He will take us through the rest of the season.”Bhave, the former Maharashtra opening batsman, served as a national selector for four years till last September. He had been appointed chairman of Maharashtra’s senior selection panel ahead of the 2011-12 season, thereby acquainting him with the players.”It is unfortunate to lose Dermot’s services but we are determined to make the most of the remaining two games. We will do everything we can to avoid relegation,” Bhave said after a long practice session at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium on Friday, on the eve of Maharashtra’s match against an in-form Baroda.