Hawk-Eye has explained the mechanics behind the David Warner lbw dismissal in the second innings of the Bengaluru Test, which to the naked eye seemed a dubious “umpire’s call” on the point of impact

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Mar-2017Hawk-Eye has explained the mechanics behind the David Warner lbw dismissal in the second innings of the Bengaluru Test, which to the naked eye seemed a dubious “umpire’s call” on the point of impact.Here is ESPNcricinfo’s commentary of the call:

9.1 83.0 kph, lbw first ball. Long long chat, and they decide to review. Warner doesn’t look convinced, but he has reviewed it. Warner has picked a ball too full to sweep and is beaten. The question is, has he got an edge or has it straightened enough? This is pitched outside off, the ball has straightened, and I don’t see any part of ball in line. However, the machine is showing “umpire’s call”. I don’t know how. I must be wrong, but I will need an explanation from somebody here. Don’t see any part of ball in line. They show umpire’s call. Both on impact and the stumps. On many more replays, perhaps one mm of the ball hit him in line. Oof 42/2

Australia ended up losing that review, and that quite possibly cost them later on; they would likely have challenged a Shaun Marsh lbw call if they had both their reviews in hand, and, as replays showed, Marsh would have been allowed to bat on.Australia’s official Twitter handle tweeted an image of the Hawk-Eye projection of the Warner dismissal.
In that image, to the naked eye, there seems daylight between the point of impact and the line of the stumps. The ESPNcricinfo commentary said in relation to the image:

Make your own minds if this was “umpire’s call”. My naked eye sees nothing, but I also know once you agree to use a machine you have to agree with it.

The machine has now explained how it returned an umpire’s call. ESPNcricinfo has seen a Hawk-Eye video that removes the batsman from the image, and zooms in on the point of the impact from the top, as they do in tennis. That shows 2mm of the ball in line with the stumps.”Although it may have appeared on first glance that the impact was slightly outside the line of off stump, in fact there was actually 2mm of the ball inside the outside edge of off stump, thus making the impact ‘umpire’s call’, resulting in the original decision of out remaining,” Hawk-Eye said.It was unfortunate for Warner and Australia that they were done in by such a minute margin, but it was not inaccurate.

The Australian Cricketers Association has put forward the request to try to avoid negotiations extending beyond the June 30 deadline

Daniel Brettig12-May-2017In the latest escalation of Australia’s player pay dispute, the Australian Cricketers Association has requested independent mediation with Cricket Australia to try to avoid the negotiations passing beyond the June 30 deadline.ESPNcricinfo has learned that the ACA lodged a formal request with CA for independent mediation on Friday, in the form of a letter from the association president Greg Dyer to the board chairman David Peever, following the the most recent meeting between the two negotiating teams in Melbourne on Thursday. It is the first time since the signing of the first MOU in 1998 that either party has felt the need to call for outside assistance.As part of the request, the ACA has offered to allow the squad selected for this year’s women’s World Cup in England, a tournament which straddles the MOU deadline, to sign a tournament-specific contract. There is unease both nationally and at state level about the contractual limbo created by the dispute, though on Thursday the fast bowler Mitchell Starc was adamant about players not wanting to enter contract talks with CA until a new MOU is signed.The request was made with little more than six weeks remaining before the expiry of the current MOU, with neither side of the debate showing any desire to back down from their publicly stated positions. It is believed that the prospect of a dispute resolution process was first broached by CA’s negotiating team early in talks, before the board presented its formal pay offer that was recently rebuffed by the players.As part of its request for independent mediation, the Australian Cricketers Association has offered to allow the squad for the Women’s World Cup to sign a tournament-specific contract•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

While the ACA is as committed to maintaining the present fixed revenue percentage model that has been in place for two decades as CA is determined to dismantle it, a major sticking point in negotiations has been the board’s reluctance to provide the players association with all the financial information it has requested and believes it is entitled to.At the same time, CA has pointed out that the ACA has declined to assent to its offer of documentation outlining a range of financial scenarios around its existing pay offer, which limits any “blue sky” money over and above fixed amounts to the nation’s top centrally-contracted male and female players. Domestic male players, by contrast, would have their wages effectively frozen over the next five years despite a looming Big Bash League television rights deal expected to as much as triple the value of the competition.In a parallel negotiation, the AFL and the AFL players association are soon to announce a new collective agreement that is set to bring a fixed revenue percentage model to Australian football for the first time.A CA spokesman declined to comment on the mediation request.

Sikandar Raza’s half century helped Zimbabwe chase down Scotland’s target of 170 with 13 overs to spare

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Edinburgh17-Jun-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball updates1:41

‘Maybe we needed to lose first game’ – Cremer

Zimbawe’s spin-bowling attack capitalized on an overeager batting approach with captain Graeme Cremer’s 5 for 29 doing the bulk of the damage to wipe out Scotland for 169 in 42 overs. Sikandar Raza’s composed half-century anchored the Zimbabwe chase to clinch a six-wicket win for the tourists at the Grange with 78 balls to spare. It meant the series finished deadlocked at 1-1, with hosts Scotland failing to complete a landmark series win against a Full Member team.When Cremer had Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer stumped for 61 in the 22nd over, it seemed at the time to be a minor speed bump with Scotland comfortable at 106 for 2. But when Calum MacLeod was bowled six overs later by Sean Williams for 58 – while exposing his stumps on an attempted back foot punch – the floodgates were opened and Cremer raided the middle order for his second five-wicket haul.Williams’ figures might appear understated on the scorecard after he ended with 2 for 26, but he played a crucial role – coming on in the fourth over – after Zimbabwe’s opening pace attack was battered by Coetzer for three fours and a six to race to 27 for 0. Williams began with a maiden to Matthew Cross, thereby foreshadowing the role that spin would play to reel Scotland’s scoring rate back under control. Cross continued to struggle, trying to get Williams away in the sixth, but the pressure resulted in him backing away for a carve to the off-side only to see his off-stump sent cartwheeling.Coetzer and MacLeod added 71 for the second wicket as Williams came off once the Powerplay concluded. The pair milked Chris Mpofu’s medium pace for easy runs and Coetzer soon reached his eighth ODI fifty off 45 balls in the 15th over. His innings ended soon after though, when he stepped down the pitch to flick Cremer through the leg side, only to miss it completely and the wicketkeeper Peter Moor did the rest. MacLeod carried on to notch his third ODI half-century in the 25th when he cut Raza’s offspin through point for back-to-back fours. But when MacLeod fell in the 28th to Williams, it triggered a collapse that saw Scotland lose their last eight wickets for 34 runs.Richie Berrington first walked too far across his stumps before missing a flick as Cremer trapped him lbw in the 29th over. Then, a miscued flick to mid-off by Con De Lange, to start the 31st, put Cremer on a hat-trick and he completed the over gaining his second lbw decision, although the dismissed Preston Mommsen appeared to be struck quite high.Rather than go into a shell at 141 for 6 in 31 overs, having just lost 4 for 6, Scotland kept the faith in coach Grant Bradburn’s mantra of maintaining aggressive intent. But wickets fell regardless. The always adventurous Craig Wallace stayed true to form by going for a reverse sweep against Cremer but missed and the stumps were rattled once again to give Zimbabwe’s captain his fifth scalp.With Williams’ quota done, Raza came back to help wipe out the tail. Josh Davey was lbw prodding forward before Alasdair Evans edged behind as the ninth wicket. Raza and Cremer were done with their bowling quota by the 41st, but the captain stayed with spin by tossing the ball to Ryan Burl to bowl his first over in ODI cricket. The over concluded with Burl’s maiden scalp to end the innings as Chris Sole missed a swipe across the line to be bowled for 2, leaving eight overs unused and Michael Leask stranded on 11, the only player outside the top three to reach double-figures.Zimbabwe were required to bat 45 minutes before lunch was taken and, like Scotland, got off to a hot start in their first few overs before Sole, who began his spell with 11 dot balls and two wickets – gave them a scare. With the score at 30 for no loss after four overs, Sole struck with his first ball, snaring Solomon Mire with a gloved pull for a leg-side catch to Cross. He then tested Hamilton Masakadza early in the seventh over with the short ball too, until the opener fell fending a catch at backward point to make it 31 for 2.Sole prised out one more before the interval – the short ball working again – as Williams creamed a cut but picked out backward point to make it 44 for 3 in 10.3 overs. The break, though, arrived at the right time for Zimbabwe and they came out far more assured when play resumed with Craig Ervine and Raza adding 55 runs for the fourth wicket.Sikandar Raza hit seven fours during his unbeaten 58•Peter Della Penna

Scotland’s chances of defending the total were severely hampered when vice-captain de Lange bowled just two overs before leaving the field after completing the 17th over. The left-arm spinner had taken his maiden five-for in the first ODI but Coetzer said after the match that de Lange could not continue due to a migraine headache.With de Lange out, MacLeod was brought on to bowl part-time spin but was ineffective, finishing with 0 for 21 in five overs. Davey bowled a controlled spell of medium pace at the other end in a bid to keep pressure on and managed to beat Ervine driving for 30. But Raza continued on with Burl, teaming for a 72-run stand to seal victory. While Burl finished unbeaten on 30, Raza struck the winning boundary through midwicket to end on an unbeaten 58 for his seventh ODI half-century.Zimbabwe leave Sunday morning for the Netherlands where the first of three one-dayers takes place in Amstelveen on June 20, before they continue on to Sri Lanka for the start of a five-ODI, single-Test tour beginning June 30. Meanwhile, Scotland’s home summer fixture-list is over before the arrival of the June 21 solstice. Their next series isn’t until October, when they tour Papua New Guinea for two ODIs in the WCL Championship and a four-day Intercontinental Cup match.

Saturday’s gala to celebrate Australia’s former World-Cup winning women’s players to be the site of an informal discussion between the two opposing parties

Daniel Brettig30-May-20173:46

What exactly is the Cricket Australia-ACA pay dispute?

The Australian women’s team will come face to face with Cricket Australia’s chairman David Peever, chief executive James Sutherland and the board of directors at a gala event on Saturday, as the pay dispute with the Australian Cricketers Association creeps to within a month of major dislocation to the game.Clea Smith and Jodie Fields, both key members of ACA staff, have been invited to the event at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane as members of past women’s World Cup winning squads. The function was devised to recognise the achievements of those players and award them retrospective winners’ medals, but will also offer a rare chance for members of the two opposing parties in the pay dispute to meet in less formal circumstances.On the day Sutherland again pressed CA’s case to break-up the fixed revenue percentage model that has existed for the past 20 years, ESPNcricinfo has learned that the board is eager to resume talks on less confrontational ground. These would start with discussion of the principles shared by CA and the players in the board’s pay offer, with no intention of “trapping” the ACA into agreeing to the full offer and thus an end to revenue sharing.In acknowledging how relations between CA and the ACA have broken down over the past four years, the board believes that initial talks based around common ground, such as the need for women’s pay to rise substantially, would help to develop a better rapport between the parties. That would then be useful when the fundamental sticking points – namely CA’s intent to end revenue sharing and the ACA’s to retain it – are discussed.Numerous past collective bargaining negotiations between sport governing bodies and players’ representatives have begun this way, not least concurrent talks going on to reach a new deal between the AFL and the AFL Players Association, helmed by the former ACA chief executive Paul Marsh.His successor Alistair Nicholson has been thwarted in his efforts to build a CEO-to-CEO relationship with Sutherland, and has instead had to deal with CA’s lead MOU negotiator Kevin Roberts and the recently departed cricket operations chief Sean Cary. One attempt by CA to get the two negotiating teams together in the less formal setting of a BBL match last summer was cancelled when the board suspended negotiations in December ahead of the Boxing Day Test.A graphic of Cricket Australia’s pay proposal•Cricket Australia

On Thursday CA released their formal pay offer to the players, originally revealed on ESPNcricinfo, via the board’s website. This arrived as part of a board public relations campaign Sutherland described as no longer “sitting on our hands”. Sutherland, who helped bring the dispute to its current pitch of tension by threatening to leave all out of contract players unemployed if an agreement is not reached by the June 30 expiry of the current MOU, argued that “there aren’t many people in Australia” being offered an overall payment pool increase of 15% for the next year. The majority of that increase is taken up by increases to payments for women, while domestic male players face an effective freeze on their wages for state competitions.”In some quarters, we’re being perceived as being hard or unfair on the players in this situation,” Sutherland told the . “But it’s important to note that we have a player payment pool in this current year of $79m, and our proposal for next year is for a player payment pool of $91m. That’s a 15% increase. There aren’t many people in Australia getting an increase like that, or have an offer like that on the table.”We understand that 71% of what we spend our money on basically relates to elite and high performance cricket. Another 17% relates to what we call running the game. Just 12% goes to grassroots cricket. We need to find ways to increase that. It’s not enough.”We’ve identified that through a lot of reviews we’ve done leading into this new strategic planning cycle. While the ACA has addressed [grassroots] to some extent, they don’t know anywhere near the detail we do in terms of what is involved in managing these issues both at an operational level and at a strategic and policy level.”Sutherland also noted that the “status” of the Sheffield Shield was at issue in the debate. “People are used to the model and feel like they’re losing ground,” he said. “Status is not a bad word for it actually. I understand that there’s an element of this that’s about preserving the status and tradition of Sheffield Shield, for example, in the whole makeup of Australian cricket.”

Following the 2-3 defeat to Zimbabwe in the home ODI series, the Sri Lanka captain also suggested he will consider stepping down from the captaincy

Andrew Fidel Fernando10-Jul-2017The unexpected 2-3 home series loss to Zimbabwe is “one of the lowest points” of Angelo Mathews’ career, and may in fact prompt the re-evaluation of his captaincy. Two days ago, Mathews hinted he may not be Sri Lanka’s captain during the 2019 World Cup, but an unexpected series loss to the 11th-ranked ODI side has his leadership draw particular scrutiny.”It’s one of the lowest points in my career, and a hard one to swallow,” Mathews said. “Everything went against us, from the toss to misreading the wicket. But there are no excuses. At the end of the day we were not good enough to beat them. They played better cricket.”Under Mathews, Sri Lanka have won an away Test series against England, and a home Test series against Australia – two of Sri Lanka’s greatest triumphs in the format – but they have been largely poor in ODI cricket since the last World Cup. They have defeated Ireland and West Indies under Mathews, but have lost home series against Pakistan, Australia and now Zimbabwe. Mathews said he would seek consultation before making a firm decision on his captaincy future.”Still haven’t thought about stepping down,” he said. “There’s time. I’ll give it a bit more thought and talk to the selectors. I haven’t decided anything yet.”Though they have won T20 series against depleted South Africa and Australia squads, Sri Lanka have not won an ODI or Test series this year. Their performances on the South Africa tour and the group-stage exit at the Champions Trophy came under particular fire.”We have not been consistent,” Mathews said. “The pressure is on all of us. The more we lose, the more pressure we are under. There is no solution for that and the only solution is winning. We try to win games, but we commit too many mistakes.”On Monday, Mathews largely dwelt on a substandard batting effort after Sri Lanka scored only 203 in the series decider and ended up losing by three wickets. Danushka Gunathilaka hit a pained fifty, and Asela Gunaratne scored a smart 59 not out – much of it in the company of the tail. However, the top order had failed to break the shackles Zimbabwe’s spinners had imposed on them and were bailed out, to an extent, by the 50-run ninth-wicket stand between Gunaratne and Dushmantha Chameera.”We did well with the bat in the last four games, but this game we were awful with the bat. If we could have got to 235, we could have done well. It was a flop today. There was some turn for the spinners in the beginning, but our eventual score wasn’t enough. We have a lot of improvements to make.”Despite the dispiriting defeat, Sri Lanka have little time to lick their wounds. The one-off Test against Zimbabwe begins on Friday, before a full tour against India kicks off on July 26.”We have an India series coming up, but before that, we have the Test against Zimbabwe to talk about. The Indian series will be even tougher. In a small period we have to fix our problems. As a team we did do the training, but nothing is working in the middle.”

Things got rather more difficult for India’s slow bowlers after they enforced the follow-on, as Sri Lanka delivered on their promise to use the sweep more

Sidharth Monga05-Aug-20171:27

Dasgupta: Hardik should have been brought on earlier

The third day’s play at SSC was a good illustration of how difficult winning Test matches can be. You nip an opposition out in under two sessions, you ask them to bat on because you suspect the pitch will slow down quickly, and then the opposition batsmen come with a game plan, attack you, have some luck running, and at the end of the day you have two wickets to show for 60 overs’ work. The effort to win looks that much bigger because India didn’t do too much wrong with the ball. They erred with the selection – Hardik Pandya ahead of Kuldeep Yadav on a turning track – but even he produced the breakthrough at the end of the day.The cause of what unfolded on day three was quite predictable. Sri Lanka spoke of sweeps and reverse sweeps even coming into the Test, Ajinkya Rahane in a press conference on day two said he anticipated sweeps and that they were a risky option, and history suggests India spinners don’t like being swept as Andy Flower, Matthew Hayden and Younis Khan among others have shown.The effect fluctuated wildly. Dinesh Chandimal delivered on his promise to play these shots but he found square leg first thing in the morning. Niroshan Dickwella continued sweeping and said at the end of the day that losing the captain early in the morning to that shot didn’t deter them. “Chandimal is only one wicket,” he said. “We are in a good position in the second innings because we kept sweeping.”At the forefront of it was Kusal Mendis, who scored his third Test century. In the second innings, Sri Lanka swept or reverse swept 35 of the 240 balls of spin they faced, a healthy 15%, for 63 runs and no wicket. In the morning, Dickwella swept or reverse swept 15 of the 37 balls of spin he faced, much higher 40%. The impact was there to see, especially on the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja, who went at close to five an over in the second innings. Neither he nor R Ashwin had a wicket to show for it.The sweep carries a bit of risk so you need top-class execution and a bit of luck. Ashwin complimented Sri Lanka for that. “I thought Mendis batted beautifully,” Ashwin said. “He put Jadeja off his length very quickly. Kept on sweeping him, and he was lucky, he got away with it, but credit to him, he batted beautifully.”R Ashwin: ‘A batsman who’s sweeping against me, I don’t really mind it, it gives me a good chance’•AFP

However, the idea that batsmen are sweeping him excites Ashwin. “You can try and vary your pace,” he said when asked what adjustments are required when batsmen sweep so much. “For me, the best option is to try and vary the pace and try and find the top edge, because as it is, I’m a tall bowler. To try and get underneath the bat is a bit of a no-no as far as I’m concerned because you start darting the ball in and you start bowling faster.”I did try a lot, I went wider, I went straighter. I didn’t give him a lot of boundaries in terms of sweep, which he did yesterday. So that was my plan, basically try and get him to play a sweep and… one run is a good trade-off for a top edge, that’s how I look at it. As a batsman who’s sweeping against me, I don’t really mind it, it gives me a good chance. But having seen him for the first time, probably the next time I will try and come in with a different plan.”The other important statistic for the second innings was the number of times the spinners beat the bat without getting the edge: 37 times, one in six balls. This was a little reminiscent of how India kept missing the edge in Pune against Australia earlier this year where the ball turned a lot, but a look at the pitch map will show that they did try to bowl fuller here but with no luck. There was also one big difference here. For Ashwin, the ball didn’t turn from the straight here, only from wide outside off, which worked for them if they were turning it back in, but not when taking it away.”You can change the angles, which I tried from over the stumps,” Ashwin said when asked of the adjustments spinners can make when they are missing the edge so often. “It’s pretty difficult because from the straight there is not a lot happening. It is only a kind of a visual mirage that you’re trying to create, try and turn the ball out from the left-hander and get him miss one that’s coming straight. Obviously that didn’t happen. With the technology improving more and more, the batsmen are pretty adept at covering their stumps and then probably playing inside the line for ones that are turning away. You do try everything in the middle; some day it works, some days it doesn’t.”The other challenge for India will be the dying bounce in the SSC pitch. “I think this wicket will get slower and slower,” Ashwin said. “It is not going to be easy work tomorrow for sure. We will have to be really disciplined. I thought we gave a few runs more than ideally we should have given today. Tomorrow we can probably try and squeeze them out and try and nip a few wickets up early. It is going to be very very important. Mind you, it is not going to be easy. Because it is slowing down at a very, very quick pace. Edges aren’t carrying. So that means we will have to stick to our guns and try to prise a few wickets out.”India were tested on day three – “Test teams are allowed to bat well,” Ashwin said – but how they respond to it will reveal a lot about them. If they do come back well, they will savour the win much more.

The bans handed out by SLC to the 22 players implicated in the Tier B match-manipulation case will be lifted, pending the result of an appeal process

Madushka Balasuriya01-Oct-2017The bans handed out by SLC to the 22 players implicated in the Tier B match-manipulation case will be lifted, pending the result of an appeal process.Players of Panadura Sports Club and Kalutara Physical Culture Club were last month banned for one year from all cricketing activities for their supposed role in manipulating the result of a Tier B first-class match in January – captains Chamara Silva and Manoj Deshapriya receiving two-year bans. However, upon receiving complaints from the two clubs, SLC has commenced a formal appeals process, and temporarily climbed down from the original punishments.The three-member appeals committee is expected to return with their final verdict in two to four weeks, until which time the players of Panadura and Kalutara are free to resume cricketing activities.Although some players had themselves lodged formal complaints, it is the clubs who were instrumental in persuading SLC to begin an appeals process. The fallout from the initial verdict saw Silva, along with his team-mates, seek out legal representation, as well as distance themselves from Panadura SC. Silva has claimed that he was never given an adequate opportunity, or even informed, to come speak before the original inquiry panel – something SLC contests – and has since called for a fresh inquiry into the allegations.A lawyer, speaking on behalf of the players of Panadura SC, stated that while his clients would be willing to speak before an appeal committee, they would still continue to call for a fresh inquiry. Accepting an appeal committee, he said, would be akin to accepting the original verdict.The exact scope of the appointed appeal committee is somewhat unclear, however. While a traditional appeal committee would merely be expected to review already existing evidence, this new committee is actively pursuing fresh evidence from the players of the clubs. As such, it bears resemblance to a fresh inquiry.SLC also stated that, should they so wish, the committee could even request ‘special powers’ from the board to interview individuals that may be implicated in the course of the appeals process. If this turns out to be the case, it would be a significant departure from the stance of the original inquiry panel, which did not see fit to investigate any individuals apart from those who had charges laid against them – ie. the players – during the course of its seven-month investigation.To further complicate the issue, Sri Lanka’s sports ministry may also launch a parallel inquiry, though an official announcement is yet to be made.

Four half-centuries, and a four-wicket haul from Ashton Agar led the visitors to a 103-run victory in the warm-up fixture in Chennai

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-2017
ScorecardMatthew Wade shored up the Australians with a rapid 45•PTI

The Australians kicked off their limited-overs tour of India with a dominant 103-run win over the Indian Board President’s XI in their only warm-up match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Powered by solid contributions from their batting order, with as many as four batsmen making half-centuries, the Australians ran up 347 for 7 before Ashton Agar returned a four-wicket haul to send Board President’s XI packing for 244.The Australians’ dominance began with a second-wicket stand between David Warner and captain Steven Smith, after Hilton Cartwright had been sent back for a second-ball duck by medium-pacer Avesh Khan. Warner raced to 64 off 48 balls and dominated the partnership of 106 before Kushang Patel, another medium-pacer, had him caught behind. Smith was more sedate for his 55 that took 68 balls, but with him and Glenn Maxwell falling in the space of six overs, the Australians went from 106 for 1 to 158 for 4.Travis Head added 88 with Marcus Stoinis, who top scored with 76 at No. 6. Head departed at the end of the 40th over, having scored 65 of 63 balls. Stoinis and Matthew Wade then pushed them into overdrive with a sixth-wicket stand of 85 that came in eight overs. Both batsmen fell in successive balls – Stoinis for a 60-ball 76 that had four fours and five sixes and Wade for 45 off 24 with two fours and four sixes – but the Australians still punched 16 runs in 11 balls after their dismissals.”I think when you are exposed to conditions, it obviously helps,” Stoinis said. “I’ve been part of three IPLs and A tour. Having an Indian coach … I have been working closely with him. That helps. Sriram and I got along very well at Delhi Daredevils in my first IPL. For four months I was working with him then. It was mostly defence in subcontinent and trying to trust that before you go on attack.”Hemang Badani, the Board President’s coach, didn’t think it was a 350 pitch and admitted they conceded too many. “I think it was 40 too many; 280, 290 would have been a decent target,” he said. “We would have planned and batted differently. With 340 on the board, it is difficult from ball one. Batting second tends to become difficult.”Board President’s XI’s spin duo of Washington Sundar and Rahil Shah held their own amid the carnage, giving away 55 runs in their combined 15 overs, with Washington’s figures reading 8-1-23-2.Board President’s XI, like the Australians, lost an early wicket in Rahul Tripathi but quickly recovered through a second-wicket stand between Shreevats Goswami (43) and Mayank Agarwal (42) that was worth 79. But 89 for 1 became 156 for 8 with little resistance coming from the middle order. Akshay Karnewar and Kushang held the Australians back briefly with 40 and 41 not out respectively, to help add 88 runs for the last two wickets. Agar dented the middle and lower order with 4 for 44.”Ashton Agar bowled beautifully,” Stoinis said. “It is also about understanding conditions and what lengths you want. I think everyone will get something out of it individually.”

Ed Cowan, the leading Sheffield Shield run-getter last season, was left out of the 12-member team for New South Wales’ opening game in favour of young batsman Daniel Hughes

Daniel Brettig23-Oct-2017Australian cricket’s push to find younger batting talent has been harshly underlined by New South Wales’ decision to drop last summer’s leading Sheffield Shield run-maker Ed Cowan for the younger Daniel Hughes.In what the Blues coach Trent Johnston described as the “toughest” selection call of his career, Cowan was left out of the XII to travel to Adelaide for the opening match against South Australia from Friday, despite leading all comers last season with 959 runs at 73.76 in nine matches. Among other things, Cowan’s omission has definitively ruled a line through his name in terms of any future recall to the Australia side.Rather than saying Cowan had been squeezed out by the inclusions of the Test captain Steven Smith and his deputy David Warner, Johnston made it clear that the 35-year-old had lost out to Hughes, 28, who made 543 runs at 36.20 in the Shield last season, also from nine matches. Hughes was one of the leading run-makers during the recent domestic limited-overs tournament.”NSW is fortunate that we have a wealth of talent available for our first game,” Johnston said. “It was always going to be a tough decision. We had to weigh up past form with current form.”Ed has been outstanding during the Sheffield Shield over the past two seasons and has an excellent record against the pink ball. Daniel Hughes has been in terrific form during the JLT Cup so there were lengthy discussions. Finally we decided to go with Dan in that last batting spot. It wasn’t easy. There were a lot of things we had to weigh up and consider.”Selection for the Shield rounds ahead of the Ashes has been done collaboratively between the coaches, the network of state talent managers and the national selectors – chairman Trevor Hohns, national coach Darren Lehmann, national talent manager Greg Chappell and Mark Waugh.The most obvious example of this is how the workloads of the fast bowlers are tightly mapped out at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, but there are also discussions about which other players the selectors wish to see ahead of the international season. In 2012, Chris Rogers came close to losing his state contract to make room for younger players, before Victoria were informed that the national panel had an eye on him looking ahead to the 2013 Ashes tour of England.Cowan, who can expect a recall when Smith and Warner return to the Test team, had more or less foreshadowed his own omission last week, stating he was “essentially no chance” of ever playing for Australia again despite his performances. He also noted how his former Tasmania team-mate George Bailey had been summarily dropped from the ODI team. “What percentage did I give myself last year? One or two per cent? I think you need to move the decimal place to the left. There’s essentially no chance,” Cowan told podcast.”The way the selectors have shown their hand, they’re not that interested in necessarily always picking their best team in all formats — before it was ‘we’ll play around with the T20 team and the one-day team’. I think Test cricket, sadly, has become a little bit like that as well. For the older guys who are performing, my gut feel is the door is probably shut.”You could probably track the Australian ODI performance on a downward trend the moment they stopped picking George [Bailey] because he was too old, and picking guys who hadn’t even represented their state.”Bailey is set to captain Tasmania in their opener, with both Tim Paine and the incumbent Test wicketkeeper Matthew Wade named in the Tigers’ squad. The national selectors have indicated they see both glovemen as contenders to be part of the Test team next month.Sheffield Shield squads
New South Wales: Steven Smith (capt), Sean Abbott, Trent Copeland, Pat Cummins, Moises Henriques, Daniel Hughes, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Peter Nevill, Kurtis Patterson, Mitchell Starc, David WarnerTasmania: George Bailey (capt), Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird, Alex Doolan, Jake Doran, Andrew Fekete, Ben McDermott, Tim Paine, Sam Rainbird, Tom Rogers, Jordan Silk, Matthew Wade, Beau WebsterVictoria: Pete Handscomb (capt), Fawad Ahmed, Scott Boland, Dan Christian, Travis Dean, Aaron Finch, Marcus Harris, Sam Harper, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Siddle, Chris Tremain, Cameron WhiteQueensland: Usman Khawaja (capt), Joe Burns, Brendan Doggett, Luke Feldman, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, James Peirson, Matt Renshaw, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Sam Truloff, Jack Wildermuth

The seamer’s maiden five-wicket haul sent Himachal Pradesh hurtling to 167 all out. Vidarbha, meanwhile, made Bengal follow on, while Goa gained a slender lead against Services

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2017Seamer Shahnawaz Hussain’s career-best figures of 6 for 53 helped Chhattisgarh bowl out Himachal Pradesh for 167 and hand them a thrashing by an innings and 114 runs. Shahnawaz’s maiden five-wicket haul gave Chhatisgarh their first outright win of the season and with it seven points.After Chhattisgarh posted 456 in their first innings to secure a 281-run lead, Himachal Pradesh were bowled out in 49.5 overs in their second dig. Himachal Pradesh’s innings was devoid of any momentum right from the start, as they slipped to 9 for 2, 88 for 5 and 121 for 7 at various stages. Only Nikhil Gangta (41) and Paras Dogra (35) played reasonably substantial knocks, but Shahnawaz cleaned up the middle and lower order. Earlier in the morning, Chhattisgarh added 67 runs to their overnight 389 for 6. Rishi Dhawan, Pankaj Jaiswal and Sidharth Sharma claimed three wickets each.Vidarbha held the whip hand at the end of day three after bowling out Bengal for 207 in their first innings and making them follow on in Kalyani.Resuming their first innings on 89 for 3, Bengal didn’t lose a wicket until the 15th over of the day, but once captain Manoj Tiwary (50) and Wriddhiman Saha (0) fell in quick succession, things went downhill for them in no time. From 132 for 3, they slipped to 172 for 7, and they were eventually bowled out for 207, conceding a 292-run first-innings lead.Offspinner Akshay Wakhare picked up three wickets, while seamers Rajneesh Gurbani and Lalit Yadav finished with two apiece. Following on, Bengal were in early trouble as they slipped to 10 for 3. Lalit struck three times in the space of two overs to remove Abhishek Raman, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Koushik Ghosh. There was some damage control done, however, by Sudip Chatterjee (40*) and Tiwary (36*) who ensured Bengal didn’t suffer any more jolts, moving them to 86 for 3 by stumps. They still trail Vidarbha by 206.A last-wicket stand of 27 between Keenan Vaz (70, 167b, 7×4) and Heramb Parab helped Goa secure a slender seven-run lead against Services at the Palam ground. At stumps, Services were 108 for 3 in their second innings.In the morning, resuming their first innings at 150 for 6 in reply to Services’ 263, Goa looked like they would concede the first-innings advantage when they slipped to 193 for 8. It was thanks largely to Vaz and overnight batsman Amogh Desai (52) that Goa eventually edged past Services. Vaz added 50 for the ninth wicket with Felix Alemao before the seamer Sachidanand Pandey – who would finish with five wickets – dismissed the latter. Vaz and Parab eventually ensured Goa achieved the lead.