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Somerset Under 11’s got their season off to a flying start when they won the Four Counties Competition against Devon, Gwent and Glamorgan, that took place at Millfield Prep School recently.Somerset won all three of their games, and beat Devon in the crucial deciding game.In their first game Somerset beat Gwent by 25 runs, thanks to Will Robinson(23), Jamie Howson (14), Ross Jenkins (13) and Alex Barrow (10), who all made valuable contributions to the total of 89 for 4 off their allotted overs. Thanks to some tight bowling Gwent were then restricted to 67 for 4.In the second game against Glamorgan, Somerset dominated and scoring 125 for 2 thanks to Ross Jenkins (37 not out) and Jamie Howson (31 not out), and then kept their opponents to just 36 for 7.In the final match against previously unbeaten Devon, Somerset recovered from a shaky start to score 75 for 9, thanks to Ross Jenkins(20) and Max Delamain (10).Alex Thompson and Jack Leach then reduced Devon to 9 for 4, from which they never recovered and were eventually all out of 49,well short of their target.Congratulations to all of the Somerset Under 11 team and also to their manager and coach.

David Boon, the match referee for the ongoing Ashes series in Australia, has tested positive for Covid-19 and will therefore miss the fourth Test, starting on January 5 at the SCG.Boon will be replaced by Steve Bernard, who is part of the international panel of ICC referees and is based in New South Wales. He is expected to return to his role for the fifth Test, starting on January 14 in Hobart.Boon, who turned 61 on December 29, is asymptomatic and fully vaccinated, including having had a booster shot.He will remain in Melbourne, the venue of the third Test, and will quarantine for 10 days in line with Victorian state government health guidelines, which means he should be in the clear ahead of the fifth Test.All players from both teams, their families, the England and Australian support staff and the match officials have been having daily PCR tests since Monday, December 27.Related

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During the third Test, there were four Covid cases in England’s touring party on the second day. Two members of the support staff and two family members of support staff returned positive Covid-19 rapid antigen tests. Play began 30 minutes late on the day, after all the players tested negative with rapid tests.Earlier today, England coach Chris Silverwood was also ruled out of the fourth Test due to a family member becoming the seventh Covid-19 case within the touring party, and Silverwood thus forced to isolate for 10 days. Graham Thorpe will take on the head coach’s role for England for the fourth Test.Australia already have a series-sealing 3-0 lead, having won each of the first three Tests by handy margins. They secured the Ashes with an innings and 14 runs demolition of England at the MCG, having bowled the visiting side out for just 68 to win the Test inside three days.

David Lloyd will replace Chris Cooke as Glamorgan’s club captain from the 2022 season, becoming the first Welshman since Mark Wallace to hold the position.Lloyd, the 29-year-old allrounder, will lead the side in the County Championship and the T20 Blast, with Kiran Carlson – who captained the club to their first trophy since 2004 this summer – retaining the captaincy for the Royal London Cup, unless he is drafted in the Hundred.Cooke, 35, has stepped back from the role despite an excellent season with the bat which saw him score four Championship hundreds. “This has not been an easy decision, but I feel that it is the right time, not only for myself, but also for the development of the squad,” he said. “Throughout my tenure I have tried to improve the culture and performances at the club and I will take a lot of pride from what we have accomplished. I hope that I have helped to set an exciting course for this group of players.”Wallace, now Glamorgan’s director of cricket, said: “Chris has done a great job as captain over the past few years and has led the team with a lot of skill and dedication, but he has decided that now is the right time to step aside.”Lloyd, a product of Wales’ National Counties set-up and the Glamorgan academy, is also the first man from North Wales to become club captain since Wilf Wooller in 1947. He had been due to captain the side in the Royal London Cup in 2020 until Covid-19 forced the competition’s cancellation, and Wallace described him as “the obvious choice”.”David’s hugely respected by everyone in the changing room and the way he stepped up to open the batting showed his leadership capabilities,” Wallace said. “He’s a very considered, measured player with an excellent cricket brain who we think will thrive with the captaincy.”We also think he’ll work very well in partnership with Kiran Carlson, who steps up as vice-captain after he showed an aptitude and talent for leadership during the Royal London Cup victory.”Lloyd will be expected to lead a promotion challenge in the Championship after a busy off-season for Glamorgan, which has already seen them sign Eddie Byrom, Sam Northeast and James Harris, with Australians Marnus Labuschagne and Michael Neser due to return as overseas players.

A hat-trick, a four-over return without giving up a run, a controversial boundary call that rescued the defending champions and scintillating performances from IPL stars were among the many highlights from the group stages of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s domestic T20 competition.As the caravan moves to New Delhi for the knockouts, amid worsening air quality that has left the local administration contemplating a lockdown, here’s a quick look at those made it and those who missed out.

Group A

Defending champions Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, led by the in-form Ruturaj Gaikwad, both made the cut on the back of four wins in five matches. However, Maharashtra have to play the pre-quarterfinal despite finishing with a better net run rate than TN because head-to-head is the first criterion for teams tied on points. When the two sides met, TN comfortably defended 167 despite Gaikwad’s 30-ball half-century.Maharashtra won’t have Gaikwad’s services from here on, as he is part of India’s T20I team for the New Zealand series. TN, who endured a massive slice of luck en route in the group stage, won’t have any such worries, having a full squad to choose from.In what proved to be a turning point, a final-over umpiring gaffe resulted in Odisha being denied a boundary. M Ashwin’s feet were in contact with the rope even as he went beyond the line to push the ball back in – and Odisha lost the match by one run. Punjab were the closest among the other sides to qualification, but eventually lost out after going down to TN.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Group B

Bengal stole the top spot from high-flying Karnataka in the final group game, but both sides made it through to the knockouts without any hiccups. Both sides will be missing key players because of either India A or national duties. Bengal will be without Abhimanyu Easwaran and Wriddhiman Saha, while Karnataka will be without Mayank Agarwal, K. Gowtham, Devdutt Padikkal and Prasidh Krishna.Shreevats Goswami, controversially left out of the group stages, has an opportunity to make amends as he returns for the knockouts. Goswami was left out due to Saha’s availability, despite being among the top three run-getters in the tournament for the side in three of the last five seasons.Mumbai was the nearly-side from this group, having finished with three wins in five matches. Although captain Ajinkya Rahane top-scored with 286 runs in five games at a strike rate of 133, including four half-centuries, they couldn’t capitalise. Prithvi Shaw’s poor form – 107 runs in five innings, 83 of which came in their final game against Baroda after being knocked out – didn’t help matters either.Deepak Hooda’s move to Rajasthan has paid big dividends•BCCI

Group C

Rajasthan were the undisputed leaders, maintaining an all-win record to blaze into the knockouts, even as Himachal staved off competition from Andhra and Jharkhand to squeeze into the knockouts as the second side from the group.Much of Rajasthan’s running was done by their new signing Deepak Hooda, alongside established hand Mahipal Lomror. Hooda, who moved from Baroda after a spat with Krunal Pandya last year, top-scored with 291 runs in five games, including an unbeaten 39-ball 75 after walking into bat at 10 for 2 to help beat Jharkhand. More than the four half-centuries he struck, his strike rate of 175 stood out. Ravi Bishnoi, the legspinner, impressed with the ball, picking up eight wickets in five games.Himachal, meanwhile, were propped up by Rishi Dhawan, who finished the group stages with 14 wickets, third-best. This included his career-best figures of 6 for 23 that helped pip Jammu & Kashmir in a thriller after his 26-ball 45* had set the game up in the first place.

Group D

Gujarat topped the pool with four wins in five games, on the back of clinical batting performances, led by Priyank Panchal. However, their designated captain won’t be available for the knockouts because of India A commitments, along with Arzan Nagwaswalla, the left-arm fast bowler who picked up seven wickets. Piyush Chawla, who featured in just one game at IPL 2021, proved why he isn’t a spent force yet. He picked up five wickets in as many games and was economical, conceding at just 6.42 per over.The Sanju Samson-led Kerala took the second spot, after overcoming stiff competition from Madhya Pradesh. Both sides managed three wins, but Kerala pipped them on head-to-head, in the team’s final league engagement, making light work of a 172-chase courtesy stroke-filled half-centuries from Samson and Sachin Baby. Meanwhile Venkatesh Iyer, who made it to the India’s T20I side on the back of a breakout IPL season, managed just one half-century at the top of the order in five outings for MP.Akshay Karnewar was devastating in the Plate Group•Prakash Parsekar

Group E

They named two captains and two squads prior to departure, the kind of confusion and chaos not new to Hyderabad cricket. But on the field, they managed to turn a corner, winning all five games to make the quarterfinals. Tanmay Agarwal, the captain, is currently the tournament’s highest run-getter with 302 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 150, while left-arm seamer CV Milind leads the wicket charts with 16 scalps, including a best of 5 for 8 that helped defend 147 against Uttar Pradesh.Saurashtra were the second qualifiers from the group, with four wins in five games. While Jaydev Unadkat led the wicket charts, Sheldon Jackson, who returned to his home state after a stint with Puducherry at the end of the 2020-21 season, left his imprint with the bat, top scoring with 221 runs in five matches. Their only loss was in a last-over thriller against Hyderabad, where Unadkat joined Prerak Mankad at 67 for 6 and then put on a near century stand to set up a defence of 173. Hyderabad won by two wickets with three balls to spare. Hanuma Vihari, who returned to home like Jackson, from Andhra, had underwhelming returns, 57 of his 94 runs coming in one innings alone.

Plate Group

Two-time Ranji winners Vidarbha proved no match for the rest of the pack, as they emerged runaway winners from this group. Meghalaya and Tripura fought hard to post four wins in five games, but couldn’t close out games against Vidarbha.Vidarbha’s Akshay Karnewar, the ambidextrous spinner, broke the record for the most economical figures in T20 cricket when he produced a return of 4-4-0-2 against Manipur. He became the first player to bowl four maidens in four overs in men’s T20 cricket, bettering Pakistan pacer Mohammad Irfan’s returns of 4-3-1-2 in CPL 2018. A day later, Karnewar claimed a hat-trick against Sikkim returning figures of 4-1-5-4.

Stafanie Taylor had figures of 4 for 5 from her four overs•Getty Images

A superb individual performance from Stafanie Taylor gave Western Storm lift-off in the Kia Super League as they defeated Loughborough Lightning by five wickets in front of the Sky TV cameras at Taunton.Taking centre stage ahead of Somerset’s NatWest T20 Blast fixture against Kent, the West Indies allrounder returned startling figures of 4 for 5 in four overs and effected a game-changing run out as Lightning were restricted to 108 for 9 after being put in. Trounced by defending champions Southern Vipers in their opening match, Storm chased down their target with five balls to spare to register their first victory in this season’s domestic women’s T20 competition, Taylor top-scoring with 34.Amy Jones afforded Lightning’s innings early impetus, raising 21 from 12 balls, before chipping Freya Davies to Claire Nicholas at mid-on with the scoreboard on 30. But the visitors still managed to accrue 38 runs from the Powerplay with overseas star Ellyse Perry to the fore.The Australia allrounder clubbed the first six of the match off Jodie Dibble and was moving up through the gears when she attempted a risky single to midwicket and was brilliantly run out by Taylor’s direct hit. Having scored 25 from 28 balls, Lightning’s inspirational opener walked while the third umpire was still studying the TV replay, and Lightning’s chances of posting a challenging total went with her.The leading run-scorer and wicket-taker in the inaugural KSL 12 months ago, the irrepressible Taylor picked up where she left off. She claimed three wickets in five balls in her first over to reduce the Lightning innings to rubble and fundamentally alter the complexion of the match.Propelling offbreaks from the River End, the West Indies allrounder pinned Lightning captain Georgia Elwiss lbw with her second ball to strike a crucial blow for the home side. She then lured Sonia Odedra into a front-foot indiscretion, enabling Rachel Priest to execute a smart stumping, before trapping Thea Brookes in front of the stumps without scoring to reduce Lightning to 59 for 5 at the halfway stage.Any prospects of last season’s beaten semi-finalists recovering were stifled by Taylor, who had Paige Schofield caught behind for 15 in the act of cutting, leaving Marie Kelly and Lucy Higham to attempt a rescue act from the wreckage of 73 for 6 in the 14th over.Determined to prove a point after experiencing a torrid debut at the Ageas Bowl two days earlier, New Zealand pace bowler Holly Huddlestone knocked back Kelly’s off stump to register her first wicket in KSL, while Higham was run out in the penultimate over and England’s Beth Langston holed out to long-on as Storm exerted a vice-like grip.Priest departed for a duck in the first over, skipper Heather Knight was run out for 24 by Higham’s excellent pick up and throw from point and Georgia Hennessey, having scratched 23 from 29 balls, drove Elwiss to Perry at midwicket as Storm struggled to 62 for 3 in the 13th over.When England international Fran Wilson fell in the 16th, that was the cue for the ubiquitous Taylor to break the shackles. She helped herself to five boundaries and played the lead role in a fifth-wicket stand of 30 with Taunton-born Sophie Luff (18 not out) to calm any nerves.

ScorecardAlex Wakely’s unbeaten hundred fashioned an excellent run chase•Getty Images

A well-crafted unbeaten century by Northants Steelbacks’ captain Alex Wakely piloted his side to their first win in this year’s Royal London One-Day Cup and condemned Lancashire Lightning to their third successive defeat, a position from which they will find it immensely difficult to qualify for the quarter-finals.Needing 325 to win this 50-over match at Aigburth, the Steelbacks reached their target with 20 balls to spare and with six wickets in hand. Wakely was 109 not out when the win was confirmed by Adam Rossington’s four and six off Liam Livingstone and never during their pursuit of Lancashire’s target had the visitors appeared seriously discomfited.That this was so was partly due to Richard Levi, who bludgeoned twelve boundaries in his 46-ball 62, and helped Northants reach three figures inside 15 overs. When Levi had holed out to mid on Ryan McLaren off Jordan Clark, Rob Newton continued the assault but was caught by Alex Davies off Tom Bailey for 44 when the score was 125.With Josh Cobb having been Anderson’s first victim in the second over of the innings, Northants’ reply was interestingly poised but Wakely and Rob Keogh then put the game beyond Lancashire’s reach with a 152-run fourth-wicket stand in 23 overs.Wakely survived a stumping chance on 24 when Davies failed to gather the ball and was also dropped by the Lancashire keeper when he inside-edged a very difficult chance off Anderson, the resulting boundary taking him to his 42-ball fifty.From then on it was the plainest of sailing on the calmest of seas for the Northants batsmen as they put Lancashire’s total into perspective on a very hard, very true pitch. Wakely reached his century having hit 12 fours and faced 92 balls. Keogh played on to Anderson when he had made 69 five overs before the close but that was of little more than statistical importance. The game had been all but settled long before.Earlier in the day four batsmen had made fifties in Lancashire’s total and the most crucial was that of Jordan Clark who finished the innings with 76 not out off 51 balls and took 24 runs off Nathan Buck’s final six balls. Clark’s fine knock included eight fours and two sixes and it placed on the finishing touches to a recovery which saw Lightning recover from 94 for 5 in the 19th over when Steven Croft was superbly caught at the wicket by Rossington off Muhammad Azharullah for 19The fightback was begun by Dane Vilas and McLaren who put on 86 for the sixth wicket before Vilas cut Ben Sanderson to Newton on the point boundary and departed plainly angry with himself despite having batted with considerable responsibility for his 47-ball 61.Vilas and McLaren’s partnership was a List A record for Lancashire’s sixth wicket against Northamptonshire and a similar mark was established for the seventh wicket by McLaren and Clark’s 108-run stand, which was only ended when McLaren hoisted Azharullah high to long on where Steven Crook took a fine running catch.Some of the Northants’ bowling figures hardly reflected the merit of their earlier efforts, most notably in the first twenty overs of the innings when Lancashire lost five prime wickets. That early period in the game was marked by Karl Brown’s stylish 58 off 47 balls and including 11 boundaries, but it also saw Davies caught at the wicket for a first-ball nought off Sanderson in the opening over and Haseeb Hameed caught at backward point by Graeme White off Buck for nine.When Livingstone fell into Azharullah’s none too subtle trap and hooked a short ball straight to substitute fielder, Saif Zaib at deep backward square leg Lancashire were 77 for 4 and a total in excess of 300 appeared a distant objective. Azharullah was the most successful Steelbacks bowler with three for 55 but White sent down ten overs of left-arm spin at a cost of 47 runs and Sanderson took two good wickets before coming in for some late punishment.

Jason Mohammed, one of the only bright spots to emerge from a series whitewash by England, has been called up to the West Indies T20I squad for the first time. The 30-year old batsman struck back-to-back fifties earlier this month and could be vital to a team missing some of its biggest players.

West Indies T20I squad

Samuel Badree, Carlos Brathwaite (capt), Jonathan Carter, Andre Fletcher, Jason Holder, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton, Kesrick Williams
In: Jonathan Carter, Jason Mohammed, Veerasammy Permaul, Lendl Simmons
Out: Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran

Chris Gayle has not played international cricket since the 2016 World T20. On top of that, Dwayne Bravo’s hamstring injury and Andre Russell’s ban took away two of the world’s best allrounders from Carlos Brathwaite’s side.But there was good news on Friday, when it was learnt that Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree and Lendl Simmons were picked for two of the four T20Is against Pakistan from March 26. A WICB release listing the 16-man squad on Saturday confirmed all four men were available to play the entire series.Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul also has the chance to be capped for the first time in T20Is. He picked up 12 wickets from eight List A matches in January and February and will likely be the understudy to legspinner Badree and offspinner Narine, both in the top 10 of the ICC bowlers rankings in the shortest format.Batsmen Jonathan Carter, who has recently become a regular in ODIs, and Rovman Powell, whose power-hitting has invoked comparisons with Russell, pushed the number of uncapped players in the squad to four. The experience of Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor and Jason Holder could offset that, although Holder has not played a T20I for West Indies since 2015.

Wellington were denied the chance to move closer to the top of the table by a defiant Otago lower order at the Westpac Stadium. Otago’s eighth-wicket pair of Sam Wells (118) and Nathan Smith (59) added 141 as their team survived having been made to follow-on. They began the final day 59 for 4 in their second innings which became 135 for 7 – still a deficit of 69 – but Wells and Smith repelled Wellington for the next 53 overs. Wells made his fourth first-class hundred and when he fell there was enough resistance from the last two wickets – Smith batted for three and a half hours – to ensure Wellington would not have time for the chase. On the opening day Michael Papps had become New Zealand’s first century maker against the pink ball. Hamish Bennett then helped conjure the chance of a result after the second day was washed out as his 4 for 19 skittled Otago for 98 – the last eight wickets falling for 44 – but despite the continued effort of Bennett, alongside Brent Arnel, they were thwarted.Canterbury remained leaders after their match against Auckland at Eden Park turned into a quest for bonus points following the middle two days being washed out. On the ground set to host the floodlit Test against England next year, Canterbury slipped to 25 for 4 before they were rescued by fifth-wicket stand of 183 between Ken McClure (92) Andrew Ellis (103) which lifted them to 305 for 8 after the opening day. The next two days were lost and on the last Auckland made 333 as wicketkeeper Ben Horne (93) fell just short of a maiden first-class hundred. Legspinner Todd Astle finished with 5 for 75. There had been a first-class debut for Glenn Phillips, who made his New Zealand T20 debut against South Africa last month, while it was Mitchell McClenaghan’s first first-class outing since December 2015.Rain also ruined the match-up between Northern Districts and Central Districts in Hamilton, but Ish Sodhi and Seth Rance achieved significant personal success. On the opening day Sodhi, who was left out of the Test squad to face South Africa, claimed 7 for 107 as Central Districts fell from 176 for 2 to 272 for 9 when they declared in the night-time session. The move worked a treat as Rance ripped through the Northern Districts top order, ending the first day with 4 for 6 and a career-best 6 for 31 overall. Adam Milne, also making a first-class comeback after 15 months, bowled 14 wicketless overs but scored an unbeaten 51. Northern Districts remained second and Central Districts bottom with three rounds to play.

If you thought for a moment that this was like any other win for Australia, think again. It was so special, so rare, that Steven Smith knew the length of the drought his men had broken. “We haven’t won a game here for 4502 days,” he said after Australia’s triumph in Pune. The number rolled easily off his tongue in every interview. It might be imprinted in his brain forever.When Australia last won a Test in India – in late 2004 – Smith was 15 years old, Matt Renshaw was an eight-year-old English boy living in New Zealand, Mitchell Starc was a 14-year-old wicketkeeper, and Steve O’Keefe was a 19-year-old yet to make his first-class debut.Here, Smith made a century he will remember for the rest of his life, Renshaw scored more runs than any Indian batsman, Starc scored more runs than any Indian batsman (to go with a couple of important wickets), and O’Keefe gained better figures than any visiting spinner had ever before achieved in a Test in India.And all of this on a pitch that should have suited India. “It was one of the most difficult wickets you’ll bat on,” Smith told ABC radio after the win. “This was, from day one, the driest surface and most inconsistent sort of spinning surface that I’ve ever seen. It’ll be interesting to see what they’ll come up with [for the second Test].”Yet for all of that, Australia outperformed India in every facet of the game, more than doubling India’s total in each innings. Their batsmen found ways to score, their bowlers created more chances, their fielders snapped them up. Australia’s frontline spinner, Nathan Lyon, took five wickets for the match, but the stand-out was O’Keefe, who claimed 12.Compare this to India’s two lead spinners: R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja managed “only” 12 wickets between them. Smith said the result was credit both to the way O’Keefe adjusted his bowling to suit the Indian conditions, and to the way Australia’s batsmen resisted the urge to chase deliveries that might turn away.”A lot of our right-handers – and left-handers – got beaten on the outside edge of the bat,” Smith said. “Those guys are big spinners of the ball, and generally it’s the one that goes straight that gets you in a bit of trouble. It’s great the guys are learning and actually playing for that straight one and allowing the other one to spin past the bat. That has been a big learning curve for us as a team for a while.”It’s great that we were able to implement the things that we’ve practised and talked about in the game. In regards to our spinners, I think SOK [O’Keefe], compared to Jadeja, probably goes a little bit wider of the crease and a little bit more side-arm, so potentially doesn’t have to get the ball to straighten quite as much to find the outside edge. It’s really smart bowling and you reap the rewards for that.”In the first innings, O’Keefe picked up three of his wickets through outside edges and one from a stumping that beat the edge; in the second, five of his six wickets came from attacking the stumps for lbw or bowled dismissals. His match haul of 12 for 70 was second only to Ian Botham’s 13-wicket bag in Mumbai in 1980 for a visiting bowler in India.”I love SOK’s willingness to learn, and try different things and adapt to different conditions,” Smith said. “He’s able to bowl differently to what he does back home. Back home he gets over the top of the ball a lot more, and here he comes around it and changes his seam positions and gets the most natural variation out of the wicket – very similar to Jadeja.”O’Keefe was Man of the Match, but Smith’s contribution was also significant. In the second innings, he came to the crease at 10 for 1 and soon Australia were 23 for 2; they had a healthy lead already, but a collapse could have handed the momentum back to India. Smith had some fortune, dropped three times, but went on to make 109. Among Australians, only Mark Taylor and Damien Martyn had previously made second-innings hundreds in India.”I obviously rode my luck throughout the innings and had a few lives, but you need a bit of luck on a wicket like that,” he said. “I was pleased with myself to score a second-innings hundred here in India and formulate some different sort of plans than how I normally play and problem-solve on the spot. From that aspect I’m pleased with myself and it was great we were able to get such a big lead.”That Australia emerged with a win in India for the first time in 4502 days was a remarkable achievement, and Smith was understandably proud of his men. But he was also at pains to note that much work remained in order to win the series – although as the holders of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy one more victory would be enough for Australia to retain it.”It’s only one game,” Smith said. “It’s a four-match series, and we’d like to win the series. For us it’s about taking it one day at a time.”

India fast bowler Sreesanth had been trying to play league cricket in Scotland this year but the BCCI, which had imposed a life ban on him following his alleged involvement in the IPL spot-fixing scandal of 2013, has refused to give him the necessary permission.Sreesanth had been hoping to play for Glenrothes CC and had asked the BCCI for a no-objection certificate, however a board official confirmed that they had not obliged his request. Sreesanth, though, claimed he has not received any word from the BCCI. “I don’t know… I still haven’t got any letter from BCCI,” he told ESPNcricinfo in a text message and revealed a similar request last year had gone unanswered.In May 2013, Sreesanth and two other Rajasthan Royals bowlers – Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandila – were arrested for alleged fulfilling of promises made to bookmakers. All three players were later banned for life by the BCCI.In 2015, Sreesanth was cleared of spot-fixing charges by a Delhi trial court due to insufficient evidence under the MCOCA act, a special law passed by the Maharashtra state government to tackle organised crime syndicates and terrorism.”I will try to start training properly as soon as possible,” Sreesanth had said then. “I wasn’t allowed anything… Hopefully I can get permission from BCCI to use their facilities so that I can get fit and come into the selection process.”But the BCCI’s investigation in 2013, handled by the board’s then anti-corruption unit chief Ravi Sawani, only needed to focus on the conduct of the players and not their alleged connections to organised crime syndicates. The BCCI’s decisions were therefore “independent to any criminal proceeding” and “based on its independent disciplinary action, shall remain unaltered.”Sreesanth, Chavan and Chandila were found guilty of match-fixing, seeking or offering a bribe as a reward for match-fixing, underperforming for a reward, ensuring the occurrence of an event during a match, knowing it is the subject of a bet, receiving payment or gift for the possibility of bringing cricket into disrepute, failing to report an approach by bookmakers to fix a match to the BCCI anti-corruption unit.