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Alastair Cook has conceded England probably did not deserve to escape Dubai with a draw after their first-innings collapse on the third morning

Andrew McGlashan in Dubai26-Oct-2015Alastair Cook has conceded England probably did not deserve to escape Dubai with a draw after their first-innings collapse on the third morning, the manner of which Cook said “happens too often” and has thrown the spotlight on the middle order.Wahab Riaz bowled the defining spell of the match, and potentially the series, when he claimed 3 for 15 in nine overs to spark England’s slide from 206 for 3 to 242 all out. While Cook lauded that performance he said that it was up to England’s batsmen to find a way through those situations.England had resumed the third day on 182 for 3 with notions of going past Pakistan’s 378 to apply similar pressure to that they had managed in Abu Dhabi but instead effectively conceded the game. Cook did not want the near miss at a great escape, when Adil Rashid fell with 6.3 overs remaining as he drove Yasir Shah to cover, to gloss over problems.”It happens too often at the moment as a side. It’s a real frustration,” Cook said. “You can talk about it all you want. Maybe it’s a realisation of that moment – full credit to Wahab, he bowled really well, 90mph reverse swing from different angles with some short stuff thrown in, so we aren’t saying it’s easy – but it’s a realisation that it’s a tough moment and for 45 minutes I’ve got to suck it up.

Cook admits concern over groin injury

Following the insistence on the fourth day that Alastair Cook was not suffering an injury it was confirmed on the final day in Dubai that the England captain had right groin tightness although Cook later said the problem had eased overnight.
Cook was visibly limping during his second innings and an updated medical bulletin emerged on Monday as England attempted to save the Test.
“It was a bit frustrating yesterday. My body has been pretty good to me over quite a long period of time,” Cook said. “It was a little bit discomforting and a bit of a concern but it’s pulled up a bit better today.
“We’ve got a really good medical and they are hard at work. They’ll be badgering me for the next however many days, but Jimmy just told me to drink a glass of cement and toughen up. It should be fine. It was disappointing yesterday but probably a cumulation of nine pretty hard days.”
Cook has only ever missed one Test for England, that coming in his debut series against India in 2005-06 when he was ruled out of the third match with a stomach bug.

“To lose one wicket you are allowed, but not six or seven. You have to try and get through, he’s got 30 balls in this spell, get through that then it gets a bit easier. That starts from the top and goes right down to the bottom. We talk about it, we’ve spoken with Mahela [Jayawardene], all that sort of stuff, now we’ve got to do it. And we didn’t. Credit to the way they bowled, but we didn’t bat well in that two hours and it’s cost us.”Behind Cook and Joe Root, who have scored 1245 and 1278 runs respectively in 2015, England’s next best is Ben Stokes with 681 runs at 32.42 and the middle order again struggled in the second innings, especially against Yasir Shah. Jonny Bairstow, having battled for more than an hour-and-a-half, played around a googly, Stokes was completely befuddled before edging Imran Khan to slip and Jos Buttler’s nightmares continued when he nicked a beautiful leg-break to slip.They were shown up by the efforts of the lower order, firstly Stuart Broad alongside Rashid and then Mark Wood with who Rashid batted 29.2 overs to give England a glimmer of surviving.”You always have faith and belief in the team,” Cool said, “but I always thought we were two wickets ahead of where we should have been. When Woody walked out with 40 overs to go it didn’t look quite so encouraging but he can bat, so can Jimmy and he’s done it before, and as that partnership grew and grew, people sat stiller and stiller. The belief started to happen but it was a long way back from that third morning and we probably didn’t deserve to get out of jail, however well Adil played.”Cook did not want to single out the extravagant drive Rashid played which picked out cover despite, for so much of his 172-ball innings having been a picture of watchfulness, and said that Rashid would not be the only England batsman wishing he could have his moment again.Mark Wood shows his disappointment after being dismissed•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

“A few of us would like our shots back, I was one of them as well,” Cook said. “You never mean to get out or mess up and he would love to have that shot back especially given how well he played the other 170 balls, but that’s cricket, that’s sport. It’s not down to that one ball.”The player under most pressure for his place in Sharjah is Jos Buttler who, after falling for 7 in the second innings, now averages 13.00 since the beginning of the Ashes. One option for England is that Bairstow takes the gloves and James Taylor comes into the middle order, but Cook remembered his own experiences of being in a slump to offer Buttler hope.”He’s hasn’t scored the runs he would like on this tour. He’s kept pretty well. It’s Test cricket, it’s a real tough time when you are struggling, I’ve been there numerous times and it’s hard,” he said. “The way he went about his business these five days, he’s doing everything right he’s just not getting a break. You are only one score away. It’s frustrating for him and everyone but that’s just the way cricket is.”Naturally when you lose game or players haven’t performed as well as they would have liked people will look at the team. We’ll look at our team and if we sustain the type of cricket we’ve played for five days rather than four-and-a-half we’ve got a really good chance.”

Worcestershire have signed Kyle Abbott, the South African pace bowler, as their overseas player for the second half of the 2016 campaign – subject to him obtaining a visa and a No Objection Certificate from Cricket South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2015Worcestershire have signed Kyle Abbott, the South African pace bowler, as their overseas player for the second half of the 2016 campaign – subject to him obtaining a visa and a No Objection Certificate from Cricket South Africa.Abbott, a regular member of South Africa’s ODI and T20I squads, including the series last month against India, is scheduled to be available for Worcestershire from early July until the end of the season. South Africa have two Tests against New Zealand in that period, but he does not anticipate being called into the squad.Promotion will be the priority for Worcestershire, whose reputation as county cricket’s Yo-Yo club remained intact when they were relegated from Division One last year.Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire’s director of cricket, had indicated he wanted to sign another quality pace bowler to aid the trio of Joe Leach, Jack Shantry and Charlie Morris who sterlingly bore the brunt of the workload in 2015. They bowlewd more than 1400 Championship overs between them and were among the hardest-worked pace bowlers in the country.”It is very exciting to welcome Kyle on board for the last three months of next season,” Rhodes said. “He will be available after the Tri-Series in the Caribbean with Australia and the West Indies in June. To have him for an extended period of time, July, August, September, I think he will be a real asset”He will pass on, I’m sure, some excellent experience to our younger bowlers and we know he is the type of person that will fit into our dressing room as well. We look forward to him doing well. He is not just a Test match bowler, he is a one-day bowler and he has also got good T20 skills. He will potentially be playing in all three formats.”Abbott has to date played three Tests for South Africa and on his debut in 2013 returned the outstanding figures of 7 for 29 against Pakistan at Centurion when his victims included current captain Misbah-ul-Haq and the former Worcestershire spinner Saeed Ajmal.He has previous experience of county cricket with Hampshire in 2014, helping them to promotion from Division Two of the Championship with 36 wickets in nine matches at 20.33 runs apiece.He also made 12 appearances that season for Hampshire in the NatWest T20 Blast – a competition he played in last summer for a six-match spell with Middlesex.As a Division Two side, Worcerstershire will regard him as quite a coup. His 232 first-class wickets have come at 21.30 apiece and he was also signed up by Chennai Super Kings in 2015 to play in the Indian Premier League.

Mehedi Hasan will lead the Bangladesh Under-19 side for the second time in a World Cup after he was named captain for next year’s tournament on Wednesday

Mohammad Isam23-Dec-2015Mehedi Hasan will lead the Bangladesh Under-19 side for the second time in a World Cup after he was named captain for next year’s tournament. The 15-member side, which was announced on Wednesday, includes four other players – Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Saeed Sarkar, wicketkeeper Zakir Hasan and Joyraz Sheik – who will participate in their second World Cup.Much will depend on the experience of these five players, who played in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup in the UAE, with the likes of Saif Hassan and Sanjit Saha having recently performed well too. The newcomers are Ariful Islam and wicketkeeper Jaker Ali, both of whom were recently tried against Zimbabwe and India.Saleh Ahmed Shawon and Saha, along with pacer Abdul Halim and left-arm quick Mehedi Hasan Rana will comprise the core of the bowling attack.The selectors have chosen a setup that has been doing well since 2014, winning against Sri Lanka and South Africa – both home and away – and against Zimbabwe at home. The side also competed in the tri-nation series against India and Afghanistan, where they lost to India in the final.Bangladesh will now play a three-match Youth ODI series against West Indies U-19 in January ahead of the World Cup, where they play one of two opening-day matches, against defending champions South Africa on January 27.Bangladesh Under-19 squad: Mehedi Hassan Miraz (capt), Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Joyraj Sheik, Pinak Ghosh, Saif Hassan, Zakir Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Shafiul Hayat, Saeed Sarkar, Mehedi Hasan Rana, Abdul Halim, Sanjit Saha, Saleh Ahmed Shawon, Ariful Islam, Jaker Ali

Having already conceded the series to Australia, India have a golden opportunity at limited-overs regeneration

Sidharth Monga19-Jan-2016

Match facts

January 20, 2016Start time 1420 local (0320 GMT)4:37

Agarkar: A chance to test new players

Big Picture

By the way of losing the series so abysmally India have given themselves a golden opportunity at limited-overs regeneration. Hardly ever do they get a chance to play international cricket with little expectation; now they have two matches coming up with few expecting them to win. Expectation brings pressure, pressure inhibition. Now is the best time for them to shed inhibition. Just start that final push early and don’t worry about the weak lower middle order. Just bowl those bouncers and forget about the hooks and the wides. Tinker with combinations, although the selectors haven’t left them much room. If it comes off, who knows what wonders the knowledge that it can come off can do.Not much is likely to change by the way of the strategy of the opposition and the conditions. If anything, Canberra’s Manuka Oval is an even bigger playing surface, which leaves no place to hide for weaker throwing arms. Australia want to move on from 17 to 18 and 18 to 19. Their winning streak at home now stands at a world-record 17, but Steven Smith reckons there is still room for improvement. They will want to improve on the fact that they have taken a total of five wickets in the first 30 overs of the three matches. They won’t want to inherit the dead-rubber syndrome of the old Australia. Two of those are coming up; will the foot continue to be on India’s throat?

Form guide

Australia: WWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India: LLLLW

In the spotlight

His batting in finishing the Melbourne ODI deserves all the headlines, but whisper it quietly: among those who have bowled a minimum of 15 overs in this series where being defensive has been the only option, Glenn Maxwell has the best economy rate, of 5.61. India will feel it is criminal to have let him bowl eight overs for no serious damage, which takes pressure off Smith should one of his main bowlers have an off day.The best economy rate for India unsurprisingly belongs to Ravindra Jadeja, who came into his own on a slightly slower and drier surface at the MCG. Axar Patel might have felt a little hard done by when Jadeja came right back into the ODI team based on Test form while the incumbent even kept winning one-day matches for his state side single-handedly. With the series gone now, perhaps India can try both of them in the same game; it doesn’t really make sense naming two players in a squad when you are never going to play them together.Australia captain Steven Smith is looking at a new world-record winning streak at home•Getty Images

Team news

While David Warner had been away on paternity leave, Shaun Marsh scored two fifties, but he knows well Australia don’t go sentimental over these things when it comes to selections. Earlier in the summer he nearly scored a double-century, but had to make way when the batsmen he replaced was back. Warner, though, has said that he needs to justify his place given the pressure from Shaun Marsh. It will be interesting to see if they give Nathan Lyon a game, keeping in mind they have picked him for the Twenty20s.Australia (probable) 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Steven Smith (capt.), 4 George Bailey, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9, John Hastings, 10 Kane Richardson, 11 Nathan Lyon/Scott BolandIn Melbourne India kept R Ashwin out to give them two half bowlers, but saw the ball turn, the lack of which had made Ashwin ineffective in the first two games. The catch-22 will continue. Barinder Sran seemed burnt out playing his third ODI in six days and in three different time zones. He could make way for Bhuvneshwar Kumar.India (probable) 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ajinkya Rahane, 5 Manish Pandey/Gurkeerat Mann, 6 MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin/Rishi Dhawan, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Umesh Yadav/Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Barinder Sran/Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Pitch and conditions

Another flat pitch and warm day is expected in Canberra, which should set up a similar contest of runs.

Stats and trivia

• India last beat Australia in Australia in an international game back in February 2012. Since then they have lost nine matches and drawn two. Since the start of their 2011-12 tour, India have faced Australia in Australia in 19 completed international matches. They have drawn two Tests, and won an ODI and a T20I each. They have lost everything else.
• Glenn Maxwell has now been dismissed in the 90s on four occasions. In his playing span, only Kane Williamson has managed to do this more often: six times.
• Virat Kohli’s average against Australia in Australia was 15..81 before this series began. It has now risen up to 40.22.

Quotes

“Absolutely no shame in the way they played. In spite of the results. I know there is only one way to go after this tour of Australia, and that is up.”
“The boys are playing fantastic cricket. The way we are going out there and addressing the situation is phenomenal. Especially the batting. Credit to the top order, and I was very very excited to see Glenn Maxwell play a mature innings and carry us home.”

Needing a win to stay in contention for their first Big Bash League semi-finals, Sydney Thunder turned out in style in front of a record crowd to sink Sydney Sixers

The Report by Will Macpherson at the SCG16-Jan-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAndre Russell whacked 46 off 20 balls•Getty Images

Needing a win to stay in contention for their first Big Bash League semi-finals, Sydney Thunder turned out in style and sank Sydney Sixers in front of a record crowd. Thunder had lost their previous four games, missed their preferred opening partnership, but produced a clinical performance with the bat to post the season’s highest score. Quick contributions from Shane Watson, Michael Hussey, and Andre Russell powered Thunder to 202. The bowlers then dismissed Sixers for 156 to cap off an impressive all-round performance.Thunder are now safe, so long as one of the Melbourne teams lose their final games, or else they enter the murky world of net run-rate. Either way, in keeping their side of the qualification bargain, Thunder pulled the plug on Sixers’ season.It was not all plain sailing, though. To remain in contention for finals themselves, Sixers had to win inside 16 overs. And when Nic Maddinson was joined by Brad Haddin in pursuit of 203, Hussey, playing his final game in Sydney, looked anxious, and with good reason. Thirty of Maddinson’s first fifty runs came in sixes, and he was swinging with such power that the back of his bat simply flew off as he tried to drill offspinner Chris Green down the ground.

Players support Carters’ charity Batting for Change

Each six hit at the SCG had a touch more significance as the players personally pledged AU$775 to Sydney Sixers’ wicketkeeper Ryan Carters’ charity Batting for Change. In its second edition, the Batting for Change cup was retained by Thunder, after their opening night win at Spotless Stadium in December.
In total, 17 sixes were hit, raising $13,175, which will take Batting for Change to within $10,000 of their target of $120,000.
Shane Watson hit three sixes, raising $2,325, while Andre Russell’s supreme display saw him clear the rope four times. Remarkably, within 19 balls, Sixers captain Nic Maddinson – a long-time supporter of Batting for Change – had overtaken as the hosts set about chasing Thunder’s 202.
Carters founded Batting for Change ahead of BBL03. He raised around $30,000 for Heartland School in Kathmandu in the first season, and $108,000 (Sixers played two extra games as they reached the Grand Final) for the education of 500 women in Mumbai in BBL04. This season, the charity has been raising money to fund bachelor degrees for another 500 women at the SPRJ Kanyashala Trust in Mumbai, as well as for 100 women in rural Sri Lanka.
The charity works by taking pledges – say, $10 – from donors for every six hit by the Sixers during the BBL season.

Green proved an unlikely staller for the Thunder. Brought into the attack with Sixers on the charge, he had Haddin caught sweeping second ball and conceded just five runs in his first two overs. Maddinson’s blitz ended when he was caught brilliantly by a diving Henry Nicholls at long-on off legspinner Fawad Ahmed the following over. Sixers were 118 for 4 in the 13th over, and they added very little to that.With the bat, Thunder could have done little more. Watson, promoted to open in the absence of Usman Khawaja and Jacques Kallis, veritably ghosted to 66 off 41 balls. Hussey anchored the innings, while Russell was in brutal form, fearlessly clearing his front leg and throwing his hands to launch four sixes in the death to propel Thunder.Despite a torrid start to the tournament, Watson has been in fine form in 2016. This innings was marked by his staples: hard-hit pulls, booming front-foot drives, attractive cuts, slog-sweeps to the spinners and three stunning sixes too. All good signs with the World T20 around the corner. Either side of sending Doug Bollinger sailing down the ground, he went after Nathan Lyon, nailing him over cow corner, then long-on. Aiden Blizzard, who joined Watson at the top, pulled a Johan Botha half-tracker for a six, but fell to the first ball of the seventh over, Sean Abott’s first.Watson built for six more overs with Hussey, before he was caught at long-on attempting another biff. Hussey was smart as ever, pulling boundaries behind square and running with the speed of a man half his age. It was a surprise to see Nicholls come in at No.4 before Russell, but the New Zealander did not last long, miscuing Lyon to backward point.Russell then set to work immediately, with a violently-pulled six followed by a magnificently orthodox cover-driven four off Ben Dwarshius. Jackson Bird was then belted for a six, before Russell got stuck into Bollinger. There was a six over cow corner, a drive through cover, and a pull despite taking his eyes off the shot contained in a single over, the 18th. It took a moment of genius to eventually dismiss Russell as Botha tossed up catch on the long-off fence to his alert team-mate Jordan Silk. A cameo from Ben Rohrer then took Thunder past 200, where they looked safe.After Michael Lumb fell early, Sixers’ chase was all about Maddinson. He was in sublime touch and looked set to pull off a heist, even if not quite quickly enough. He struck Russell for successive leg-side sixes, then gave Fawad the same treatment down the ground. Watson was next to be sent for a six and a four, before the debutant Nathan McAndrew was bullied.Green, however, arrived and slows things up, while Fawad attacked the new batsmen. Slowly but surely, Sixers’ dominoes fell, and Thunder completed the job.

NSW reached 316 on the back of Ben Rohrer’s 78 and Daniel Hughes’ ton. Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris steadied Weatern Australia with an unbeaten 143-run stand that took them to 2 for 150 at stumps

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Feb-2016
Scorecard File photo – Joel Paris claimed 4 for 61 to clean up New South Wales’ tail•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Ben Rohrer’s 78, built on Daniel Hughes’ 124 from the first day, took New South Wales to 316 in their first innings.Unbeaten on 62 at the start of the day, Rohrer saw New South Wales past 300 before he was dismissed early in the day. Joel Paris cleaned up the tail soon after, ending with figures of 4 for 61. Michael Hogan and David Moody chipped in with two wickets each.In response Doug Bollinger rocked Western Australia early with the wickets of William Bosisto and Michael Kilnger off consecutive balls in the seventh over. Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris, however, steadied the hosts with a 205-run stand before NSW received a boost.Harris, who hit 23 fours in his 120, was caught behind off Gurinder Sandhu. Bancroft and Ashton Turner then batted out the next 11.1 overs to see them through to stumps trailing by just 69 runs.

Ajinkya Rahane’s game – founded more on incremental run-gathering than rapid bursts of power-hitting – was perfectly conditioned to the Supergiants chase of 121

Arun Venugopal in Mumbai 09-Apr-20160:55

‘The ball was stopping and seaming’ – Rahane

An unbeaten 66 off 42. A strike rate of 157. A target of 122. This is Ajinkya Rahaneterritory.While it would be unfair to suggest he is a batsman made for low-pressure situations, his game – founded more on incremental run-gathering than rapid bursts of power-hitting – is perfectly conditioned to the rhythm of chasing small-to-middling totals. Such targets can cause panic, particularly on surfaces where the ball doesn’t come in a straight line, and this is where Rahane’s expertise is valuable.

Harbhajan blames shot selection for loss

“Do you ever see a Mumbai wicket that is difficult to bat?” joked Mumbai Indians spinner Harbhajan Singh after a game in which the hosts were held to 121 for 8, with Ambati Rayudu the only batsman in the top seven making double-figures.
“We just need to work on our game a bit more. Sometimes we think there’s hardly any time [while batting] in the middle, but we need to take more time.”
Despite three of the four matches in the World T20 being won by the team chasing, Mumbai had opted to bat first. Harbhajan admitted to not knowing the rationale behind the decision, but said they needed to read the pitch better.
“It was obviously Rohit’s decision to bat first and I stand by him. [I think he felt there would be] less pressure on the batsmen while batting first. Even if you bat first here, you need to play better cricket than this.”

He has done this many times for Rajasthan Royals in the past – Saturday’s score was Rahane’s 19th 50-plus score in his IPL career, level with Virat Kohli at seventh in that category – mostly with Rahul Dravid for company. In IPL 2013, Rahane and Dravid negotiated a Jaipur pitch that had plenty of lateral movement to go with some serious pace from Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav, and accomplished a chase of 155 against Delhi Daredevils. Saturday’s Wankhede pitch, though markedly different from the flat surfaces in the World T20, was not unplayable and the target was well below par. Rahane had this covered.The first ball of the innings from Mitchell McClenaghan was curving back in, but Rahane met it before landing with a friction-free push-drive for four. His stock-in-trade was proving useful, as Rahane, restricted for room by a short ball from Jasprit Bumrah, remained still and punched it late through cover. In the ninth over, Vinay Kumar bowled length outside off with mid-off in the ring and Rahane had no trouble placing his drive between the bowler and fielder.It wasn’t always pretty though – his first six, off McClenaghan, was a hurried, top-edged pull that only just went over the square-leg fielder. In fact, all his attempted pulls wanted for timing on a pitch that allowed for healthy bounce and sharp movement off the seam. But with little scoreboard pressure and Faf du Plessis playing the composed role Dravid did at Rajasthan, Rahane could afford a little rashness once he got his eye in.”I’ve always felt the opening partnership is vital in low-scoring matches and it’s good we got a 78-run stand,” he said. “Our intent was positive, we were looking for runs but it was important to play close to the body. It was important to time the ball on the wicket. This was the first time I was batting together with Faf [du Plessis] and I really enjoyed a lot.”Rahane admitted the pitch was more difficult to bat on than they had initially expected and going for broke wasn’t an option.”We thought it could be 170-180 wicket,” Rahane said. “The ball was stopping and seaming a bit, so I wanted to play close to my body. I wanted to take my time. I didn’t want to take many chances in the first six overs and just wanted to play proper cricketing shots. Once I was 25-30, I wanted to take my team through.”After du Plessis was dismissed in the 10th over, Rahane found himself batting alongside Kevin Pietersen for the first time in his career. Despite Pietersen being the archetypal aggressor who quickened his tempo towards the end, Rahane was amused at the role-reversal that happened initially. “It was fun batting with KP. When he came in, he just told me, ‘Just play your game, whatever you are playing so far, and I’ll give you strike.””It was very different, Kevin Pietersen saying, ‘I’ll give you strike and you play your shots’. It was very good that he told me such things. But yeah, good to have him. We all know he is an experienced player, especially in this format.”

Wayne Madsen and Neil Broom made it Derbyshire’s day after Matt Coles had given Kent an excellent start to the Division Two match at Derby

ECB Reporters Network22-May-2016
ScorecardWayne Madsen’s century lifted Derbyshire out of an early hole•Getty Images

Wayne Madsen and Neil Broom made it Derbyshire’s day after Matt Coles had given Kent an excellent start to the Division Two match at Derby.Coles took 3 for 9 on his return from suspension to reduce the home side to 35 for 3 but Madsen with his 20th first-class century for the county and Broom with 96 led a recovery that was continued by Shiv Thakor’s unbeaten 86.Although Coles took his fourth wicket with the second new ball to end with 4 for 75 from 26 overs, Thakor and Tom Taylor shared an unbroken stand of 69 in 11 overs to take Derbyshire to 381 for 7 at stumps.It had looked so different when Coles got the ball to move sharply during an opening 10-over spell from the Racecourse End that raised doubts over Derbyshire’s decision to bat.Chesney Hughes had come into the game in prime form but his average plummeted to under a hundred when he was trapped lbw without scoring by the 15th ball of the morning.Hamish Rutherford had made an unbeaten 71 in the T20 Blast victory over Lancashire the previous day but he made only 5 before he left a ball from Coles and had his off stump knocked back.Coles was asking questions of all the batsmen and the quality of his bowling was highlighted by Billy Godleman’s innings of 3 off 40 balls before he edged onto his pad and was caught at gully.At that stage, Derbyshire were in danger of crumbling but Madsen played positively from the start and with Broom, took the initiative away from Kent.After Coles was withdrawn, batting became considerably easier and by lunch, Madsen and Broom had established a platform that allowed them to dominate in the afternoon.Broom, who had flicked Calum Haggett for six over square leg early in his innings, underlined his increasing confidence by lofting James Tredwell over the long-on boundary before driving the former England spinner for his first four.Madsen revealed his pedigree as a former international hockey player with the reverse-sweep that took him to his century but when he tried to dispatch Tredwell over long-on, he was well caught by Adam Ball.But there was no respite for Kent as Broom and Thakor added 85 in 19 overs with Broom moving to within four runs of a century when he was beaten by a full length delivery from Ball and trapped lbw.Thakor completed his second 50 of the season before Kent struck two quick blows as Tom Poynton edged a drive at Mitch Claydon and Matt Critchley played across the line at Coles but by now the balance had shifted towards Derbyshire.

Bringing in experienced batsmen Paul Horton, Neil Dexter and Mark Pettini from Lancashire, Middlesex and Essex respectively  has already paid considerable dividends for Leicestershire this season

ECB Reporters Network22-May-2016
ScorecardPaul Horton experience at the top of the order again proved valuable•Getty Images

Bringing in experienced batsmen Paul Horton, Neil Dexter and Mark Pettini from Lancashire, Middlesex and Essex respectively  has already paid considerable dividends for Leicestershire this season, and it did so again on the first day of the County Championship match against Worcestershire.Horton hit 89, Dexter 50 and Pettini closed on unbeaten on 40 after Worcestershire skipper Daryl Mitchell exercised the away team’s right to bowl first at the County Ground.Mitchell’s decision was based on the pitch having a greenish tinge, but while the ball swung throughout the day, and there was good carry, there was little movement off the seam.  Attempting to give the ball time to swing, the Worcestershire bowlers also regularly over-pitched, and Horton, opening the Leicestershire batting with Angus Robson,  took full advantage, hitting eight fours in going to his 50 off just 59 balls.Six of those boundaries were drives through the covers, but Horton could have been dismissed on 54, when he edged an attempted drive at Charlie Morris, only for Tom Kohler-Cadmore to spill the chance low to his left at second slip.Remarkably Horton was dropped again by Kohler-Cadmore at first slip, a far easier chance off Joe Leach when on 80, and the opening partnership had reached 141 when Robson, who had just gone to his 50, edged a Morris outswinger and wicketkeeper Ben Cox held a fine one-handed catch diving to his right.Horton, who now has a century and three half-centuries to his name since joining Leicestershire from Lancashire, then became the first of two victims for New Zealand seamer Matt Henry, missing a well-pitched up delivery and being given out leg before.Leicestershire captain Mark Cosgrove followed in short order and in exactly the same manner, leg before to a delivery which swung in and stayed a touch low.At 157 for 3 Leicestershire were wobbling, but Pettini and Dexter added 86 for the fourth wicket, before Dexter, having just gone to his half-century off 104 deliveries, went lbw on the back foot to Jack Shantry. It was the third time he had reached 50 in six innings this season.Bad light and rain saw 13 overs lost before play resumed at 6.30pm. Leicestershire added eight runs in the five overs that remained.

The England coach Trevor Bayliss has admitted England’s wicketkeeping position remains a debating point for the selectors ahead of the Test series against Pakistan

George Dobell14-Jun-2016The England coach Trevor Bayliss has admitted England’s wicketkeeping position remains a debating point for the selectors ahead of the Test series against Pakistan.Bayliss was as impressed as anyone with Jonny Bairstow’s batting during the series against Sri Lanka – “nobody is hitting the ball better than Jonny,” he said – but confirmed that Jos Buttler would keep wicket for the limited-overs games and revealed that other names were being considered for the Test team.Bairstow claimed 19 dismissals against Sri Lanka – a record for an England keeper in a three-match series – but also missed four chances, including a straightforward effort off Chris Woakes at Lord’s. He also missed, by conservative judgements, six chances in the four-match series against South Africa. While his position in the team as a batsman is beyond question after he contributed two centuries and was named Man of the Series, his future as keeper is less clear.CricViz, the analytics company, gave Bairstow’s keeping a rating of -111 for the Sri Lanka series. For comparison, they rated Dinesh Chandimal -22 for the same games, gave Sarfraz Ahmed a rating of +20 for the Pakistan series and AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock and Dane Vilas ratings of -62, -21 and +41 respectively for the series against England in South Africa. Bairstow finished that series with a -28 rating.

Bayliss on…

Tymal Mills
“I’ve only seen him at one practice in South Africa and the reaction of our batters at the time said enough: there was plenty of them lining up in the spinners’ net to have a bat to stay away from him. It will be exciting to see what he’s got.”
Resting players
“If there was a World Cup just round the corner I’d be playing our strongest team. But it’s just a one-off match. It is a chance to give them a little bit of a break and get about 12 days off. And it’s a chance to look at a few new, younger players.”
Broad’s limited-overs future
“The limited-overs team has been picked on merit but that does not mean that it’s the end of his career. There’s bowlers in the team that still haven’t cemented their spot. He’s there or thereabouts. He’s keen to play at home in the 2019 World Cup and we are aware of that. There is no reason why he couldn’t be playing in the Champions Trophy next year.”

Describing himself as an “old school” judge who would always prefer to pick the “best wicketkeeper” rather than a batsman who can do a job with the gloves, Bayliss mentioned Ben Foakes, the young Surrey wicketkeeper, as one man under consideration.”I am a little bit old school,” Bayliss said. “I think the best wicketkeeper should be the wicketkeeper.”Our wicketkeepers – and there are three of them if you include Sam Billings – are young and inexperienced, I suppose. They are probably batters who are wicketkeepers.”I’ve said to all three of them that I believe the wicketkeeper in the team should be the best we have. Basically just to make sure they continue to work hard. Jonny, Jos and Sam certainly have stepped it up with the practice.”Personally I believe it is a wicketkeeping position. Ben Foakes is one name that has been mentioned, along with two or three others. From the selectors’ point of view, it is something we are going to have to work through and think pretty carefully about.”Foakes is only 23 and enjoying his first season as first-choice wicketkeeper at Surrey. While he developed at Essex, he was obliged to leave for more opportunity as his progress was blocked by the brilliant James Foster. But Foakes was identified as a player of great potential long ago: he was selected for the Lions side for the 2012-13 tour of Australia before he had played a List A game and has been invited to train with the full England team several times since.He is a good enough batsman to have played for much of last year as a specialist and, while Bayliss has yet to see him play, Surrey’s director of cricket, Alec Stewart, rates him as “the most talented keeper in the country” and Andy Flower has long recognised him as one for the future.Whether that future is now remains uncertain. In an ideal world, Foakes would be allowed to continue to develop in the county game before being exposed to the pressure of international cricket. But the England management are concerned about the prospect of a winter where England will play seven Tests in Asia, with the keeper expected to spend a large amount of time standing up to the stumps against the spinners.In the short term, Bayliss has reassured Buttler that he remains first-choice keeper in the limited-overs sides and suggested he could go some way to convincing the selectors to recall him to the Test team with a strong performance in the white-ball matches. Realistically, though, he will need to prove himself in the County Championship with Lancashire; he has not played a first-class game since he was dropped from the Test team in October and he is not scheduled to play one ahead of the Pakistan series.”Jos will be the wicketkeeper for the limited-overs games,” Bayliss said. “He has been in the last few white-ball series.”Runs could put him back in the frame for the Test side, but the selectors would like to see him score runs in the four-day game to show us he’s back in form. We know the devastating player he can be. It’s a bit unfortunate we don’t have any games for another couple of weeks, but he will get his opportunity I’m sure.”Bayliss also hinted that Scott Borthwick was in pole position to replace Nick Compton as England’s No. 3 against Pakistan. While he is another player Bayliss has yet to see play in the flesh, his record on Durham’s tricky surfaces is exceptional. He has passed 1,000 first-class runs in each of the most recent three seasons and also offers legspin bowling – he won a Test cap as a spinner in early 2014 – and strong fielding.”I haven’t actually seen him bat,” Bayliss said. “But the feedback I’ve got is that he is a player who is in form. He is a tough sort of a cricketer playing at Durham where sometimes the wickets have got a little bit more in them. He is very enthusiastic; a great guy to have in the team. But he’s not the only one. There’s a few others around that could get a game.”