ESPNcricinfo’s preview of the second Test between Australia and Sri Lanka in Melbourne

Daniel Brettig25-Dec-2012

Match facts

Should Michael Clarke be absent, Usman Khawaja will return to Test match duty•Getty Images

December 26-30, MCG
Start time 1030 (2330 GMT)

Big Picture

Australian cricket’s biggest day conjures up plenty of memories for the hosts, but only one painful recollection for the visitors. The MCG on Boxing Day was the scene of Darrell Hair’s fateful decision to call Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing, in a match that finished in a comfortable 10-wicket victory for Mark Taylor’s Australians. Back then, the result was entirely overshadowed by anger surrounding Hair’s decision, and the bitterness it engendered was to infect the rest of the tour. This time around there is no such issue burning away, though the ball tampering allegations that marked the latter stages of the Bellerive Oval match provided a reminder that Australia and Sri Lanka seldom oppose one another without something rancorous cropping up.Pushed into the final hour by Mahela Jayawardene’s tourists before claiming victory in Hobart, Australia seek a series win to conclude a year that has been moderately successful if not overwhelmingly so. They remain a team in development, and will take on an even more transitional look on Boxing Day should Michael Clarke not recover from a hamstring strain in time. His absence would hand the captaincy to Shane Watson, while opening the way for Usman Khawaja’s recall. The bowling attack has already been re-shaped, Mitchell Johnson and the debutant Jackson Bird shuffling into the spaces left by Ben Hilfenhaus (injured) and Mitchell Starc (unhappily rested).The Sri Lankans must defy a history of Test match underachievement in Australia if they are to keep the series alive. They have never won a five-day encounter down under, though in Hobart they came close to securing a stalemate. Melbourne and Sydney will afford the visitors pitches more useful to their cause than Hobart proved to be, with Rangana Herath a considerable threat on surfaces offering even a modicum of turn. The greater question for Sri Lanka will be which pacemen can step up to provide wicket-taking support – the lack of an effective pace spearhead has been the overwhelming reason behind their lack of a victory on these shores.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
Australia WLDDW
Sri Lanka LLWDD

In the spotlight

Even if Shane Watson does not walk out to toss the coin on the first morning, he will be expected to contribute more substantially in this Test than either of the previous two. So far since his return from injury, Watson has looked a little out of sorts as a batsman, yet to go past 30 in four innings and struggling notably with Herath at Bellerive. Nonetheless, there were signs in Hobart that Watson is growing into more of a leader – his longer-than-usual bowling stints after Hilfenhaus was injured were critical to Australia’s ultimate success, even if the wickets column did not suggest it. Having played an undersung role in that result, Watson will now want his name in lights. A Boxing Day century, his first in Tests since 2010, would do that nicely.In his final series as captain, Mahela Jayawardene dearly wants to leave a Test match mark in Australia. The current outfit is doughty and persistent, but require an influential score by their leader in Melbourne to put Australia under the requisite pressure to push for victory. There are suggestions Jayawardene may have been distracted by a board dispute in recent days, while the ball tampering episode in Hobart indicated that this is a touring team that does not wish to go quietly. Having overcome all manner of squabbles and snares over his career, Jayawardene’s capacity to cope is well known. He has the Melbourne Test, and its expected influx of Sri Lankan supporters, to give Australia some headaches.

Team news

Clarke’s fitness remains the major question for Australia, and it appears more likely he will be saved for future contests rather than carrying a tender hamstring into the Test. Bird is set to debut as the owner of handsome records for Tasmania in Sheffield Shield cricket in general and at the MCG in particular.Australia 1 Ed Cowan, 2 David Warner, 3 Phillip Hughes, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Michael Clarke/Usman Khawaja, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jackson Bird.The tourists appear likely to enter the match unchanged from their Hobart combination, though Dhammika Prasad is on standby for Nuwan Kulasekara, who is still sore after a blow to the ribs in Hobart.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Shaminda Eranga, 11 Chanaka Welegedara.

Pitch and conditions

Melbourne’s weather is forecast to be pleasantly temperate for the week, while the pitch is also on course to be even tempered, if a little lively early on. The ground’s new head curator David Sandurski has likened the Test strip to that played on by Victoria and South Australia in a November Shield fixture, in which the left-arm paceman Gary Putland plucked 12 wickets but Phillip Hughes cracked 158 on his way back to the national team.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka’s one previous Boxing Day visit to the MCG resulted in a 10-wicket defeat in 1995 – infamous as the match in which Muttiah Muralitharan was called for throwing by the umpire Darrell Hair
• If passed fit, Michael Clarke needs another 55 runs to better Ricky Ponting’s Australian record for most runs in a calendar year
• Kumar Sangakkara enters the match 40 short or passing 10,000 Test runs

Quotes

“It’s improving every day. I did a fair bit of running today in the indoor nets. A decision can’t be made today. I really need to wait and see how I pull up tomorrow morning.”

“I think we’ve been through a lot of hostile things in the past. 1995 was one thing, and even after that. I don’t think it will faze our guys at all. If anything that might give us a little extra.”

Islamabad recovered the vast ground they lost to Quetta and overcame a first-innings deficit to secure a nine-wicket win on the fourth day at the Diamond Club Ground

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jan-2013Islamabad recovered the vast ground they lost to Quetta and overcame a large first-innings deficit to secure a nine-wicket win on the fourth day at the Diamond Club Ground. They took six points from the game, while Quetta earned none.Such a result seemed improbable after Quetta had scored 263 in the first innings and then dismissed Islamabad for 134. Quetta’s first ten batsmen all got starts but Qaiser Abbas’ 73 and Jalat Khan’s 40 were the most significant contributions. Zohaib Ahmed took 4 for 74 for Islamabad.Islamabad’s first innings was wrecked by Gohar Faiz, who took a career-best 8 for 50. Opener Raheel Majeed’s 31 was the top score for Islamabad.The turnaround began on the third day, when Nasrullah Khan took 5 for 27 to help Islamabad dismiss Quetta for 122 in 34.2 overs. He ensured Islamabad hadn’t been batted out of the game, and were chasing a target of only 252. They ended that day on 45 for 0.On the final day, Islamabad’s openers converted their start into a 207-run stand. Majeed made an unbeaten 124 and Shan Masood scored 96 before he edged to the wicketkeeper. By the time they were separated, victory was all but assured. The target was achieved in the 65th over with no further loss for Islamabad.

A wrap of the third day of the ninth round of Ranji Trophy matches in Group B

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Dec-2012
ScorecardFile photo: Abhimanyu Mithun took 6 for 36 in the first innings, but was wicketless in the second•AFP

On a crazy day’s play, Maharashtra lost their nine remaining first-innings wickets for 41 to be bowled out for 99, but in their follow-on, rattled off 315 for 2 in 74 overs. That earlier collapse, during which Abhimanyu Mithun took six wickets and Stuart Binny four, gave Karnataka a lifeline, and they now need to win with a bonus point to progress to the quarter-finals.Maharashtra began the day at 58 for 1, moved on to 68, and then all hell break lose. No one barring the openers reached double figures, and the whole innings lasted just 29.1 overs. The highest partnership during this period was 10, which came immediately after three wickets fell at the score of 80.Karnataka enforced the follow-on, but Mithun and Binny bowled only a few overs in the initial stages of the second innings. The Maharashtra openers were rampant and added 156 in 31.2 overs. Sangram Atitkar fell short of what would have been a fourth century, but Harshad Khadiwale went on to score 136 and fell half an hour before stumps. There was no panic, though, as Ankit Bawne and Rohit Motwani saw them through to stumps without further damage.Karnataka have no option but to win this match. If they win with a bonus point, they make it to the quarters; if they win without a bonus point, they will hope Delhi don’t win their match against Vidarbha.
ScorecardThe other side from Maharashtra, Vidarbha, endured a similar collapse as Maharashtra but towards the end of their first innings, against Delhi. They went from 220 for 5 to 257 all out, which allowed Delhi to enforce a follow-on. If Karnataka win their match, Delhi will need an outright win to progress, so the follow-on was desperately needed. If Karnataka don’t win in Pune, Delhi are already through.Progress through the first half of the day remained slow as Delhi kept pegging away, but failed to get wickets in a cluster. Then Hemang Badani and Sairaj Bahutule added 71 for the sixth wicket to take the thought of a follow-on further away, but Delhi came charging back. Pradeep Sangwan got Bahutule, and Narwal dismissed Badani and Amol Jungade.Vidarbha, who were placed third at the start of this match, will now be ousted, because even in the best-case scenario they can end joint-third along with Delhi, in which case their poor run quotient will push them out.
ScorecardUttar Pradesh beat Odisha inside seven sessions to end on the top of Group B, thus ensuring a meeting with a Group C team in the quarter-final. Odisha, who had to take the gamble of producing a green pitch against the best attack in the country, fell short by 23 runs, and were knocked out.The day began with Odisha needing 92 runs with four wickets in hand, but it took UP only 17.2 overs to run through the rest. Imtiaz Ahmed completed his first 10-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Govind Podder resisted with a 36 – the second-highest score in the match, but UP were too good for Odisha.A wicket fell every four-and-a-half overs in this match. The highest score – 37 – came from UP batsmen Umang Sharma and Akshdeep Nath. This match was good news for other aspirants from Group B – Karnataka, Baroda, Vidarbha and Delhi – who now have one team fewer fighting for those last two slots.
ScorecardIn the rain-affected, inconsequential match in Chennai, Tamil Nadu continued to have a long bat without declaration on their minds. Dinesh Karthik, who is not captaining the side in this match, fell 13 short of a double-century. When they did finally declare, they had left Haryana no chance to compete with their first-innings total.

A collective bowling effort was backed up by a century from Kamran Akmal as Pakistan A clinched the second unofficial ODI against Afghanistan by seven wickets

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Feb-2013
ScorecardGulbodin Naib celebrates his century•Hasrat Sadaat/Afghanistan Cricket Board

A collective bowling effort was backed up by an attacking century from wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal as Pakistan A clinched the second unofficial ODI against Afghanistan by seven wickets, and thereby the series 2-0.Afghanistan were behind for most of the game, after their top-order batsmen were dismissed cheaply. Seamers Imran Khan and Wahab Riaz, and spinner Adnan Rasool reduced them to 77 for 6, before 21-year old Gulbodin Naib put on a 93-run partnership with Mirwais Ashraf to help push their score beyond 200.Naib started slowly, but made up for it towards the end of the innings to bring up his hundred in the penultimate over, before falling to Wahab Riaz five balls later. He struck 13 fours and three sixes in his innings.Pakistan, unlike their opponents, were in control of their innings throughout. An opening stand of 94, dominated by Akmal, in 18.4 overs set the base for a comfortable victory. Akmal retired hurt after scoring 104, and by then he had seen his side through to a secure position at 177 for 3.Pakistan had won the first match comfortably as well, by eight wickets.

Nick Compton praised the role of Alastair Cook in helping nurse him towards a maiden Test hundred

Andrew McGlashan in Dunedin09-Mar-2013Nick Compton praised the role of Alastair Cook in helping nurse him towards a maiden Test hundred on the fourth day in Dunedin. The pair combined for their third century opening stand in 10 innings, with Cook scoring his 24th Test hundred, and Compton was grateful for the experience of his captain as he edged towards three figures.Cook, who fell with Compton on 99, did not have to wait for more than a few days for his first Test century, which came in just his second innings against India in Nagpur. While Compton’s wait has not been too long the final moments were surrounded by tension. Compton’s innings had started to flow more freely after a sticky start against the new ball, but once the 90s arrived scoring seized up again and, for a short while, it appeared he could be stranded overnight short of the milestone.”He’s fantastic, a real solid grounding sort of guy. He’s a special guy,” Compton said. “Both of us weren’t moving our feet too well early on and probably got away with it a little bit. It grew from there. It was great to have that over-by-over focus. He’s a tough character and he kept me going when at times I wanted to get on with it a little bit.”The Cook-Compton partnership replaced one of the most settled of England’s history. Cook walked out with Andrew Strauss in 117 innings and they are comfortably England’s most prolific first-wicket pair whose 4711 runs together included 12 century stands. The new era, however, has started productively with three hundred partnerships in 10 innings.They are now only one behind three pairs who had lengthy associations – Geoff Boycott and Graham Gooch (four in 49 innings), Michael Atherton and Marcus Trescothick (four in 30), Atherton and Mark Butcher (four in 32). Currently, too, for partnerships that have lasted at least 10 innings they sit second behind Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe in terms of average. A skewed statistic, yes, but one nonetheless that shows their early success.Before the Test, Cook spoke about the differences in their characters – the intensity of Compton – and how life has changed since he is no longer opening with Strauss. He said he felt a duty, as the senior man, to help Compton along.”I think you get a bit more intense when the pressure is on and you are searching for runs, trying to get yourself together,” Compton said. “I’ve always been someone who analyses myself quite a lot, probably to the detriment but I also think it’s got me to where I have – the hunger and the drive. Alastair is a very balanced guy, very level-headed guy.”When Cook finally fell, shortly before the close, edging behind off Trent Boult with the second new ball, the stand of 231 was England’s highest for the first wicket since Strauss and Trescothick added 273 against South Africa at Durban in 2004, which was the beginning of another rearguard after a poor first innings, and also their eighth-highest ever upfront.It has given England a good chance of salvaging a draw after two horrid days in another slow start to an overseas series. “We put ourselves in this position, we’re well aware of that,” Compton said. “We weren’t good enough in the first innings and New Zealand were right on it. They batted brilliantly, they bowled well. So it was a bit of a kick up the proverbial, if you know what I mean. It was a case of really trying to get back into it.”

A preview of Delhi Daredevils in IPL 2013

Rachna Shetty01-Apr-2013

Big Picture

Delhi Daredevils are fast earning themselves a reputation of being the underachievers of the IPL. Almost every year they start among the favourites, and despite a line-up that includes the likes of Virender Sehwag and David Warner, the title, and a place in the final, has eluded them so far. They’ve finished as semi-finalists in 2008 and 2009, and were in the play-offs in 2012. They were also semi-finalists in the Champions League Twenty20 in 2012.This year may be their toughest in the IPL. Kevin Pietersen has been ruled out for the entire tournament due to injury, while Jesse Ryder is recovering after being assaulted in New Zealand. Captain Mahela Jayawardene is coming off injury, while Virender Sehwag is going through a lean patch. On a positive note, it’s a good opportunity for the Indian youngsters in the squad to make an impression. Unmukt Chand, Siddarth Kaul, Manprit Juneja and Kedar Jadhav have all shown glimpses of good form in the recent domestic matches.The bowling department relies heavily on pace, but some of their key bowlers head into the tournament with little match practice. Ashish Nehra played his last game in January this year, and played just three Ranji matches prior to that for Delhi this season. Umesh Yadav and Irfan Pathan are making their way back after injury lay-offs. While Daredevils can take heart from Yadav’s five-for on his return to competitive cricket, the pair’s fitness and workload will be a concern for them, even as the franchise seek a replacement for Varun Aaron.With some of their major players missing, Daredevils may get a chance to make the most of the allrounders in the squad. Jeevan Mendis and Johan Botha will join a squad that has Andre Russell, Roelef van der Merwe, Irfan, Sujit Nayak and Yogesh Nagar.

Key players

Morne Morkel has regained his fitness after a hamstring injury, and will once again spearhead the Daredevils pace attack. He was the leading wicket-taker in the IPL last season, taking 25 wickets at an average of 18.20. He played an influential role in a side that finished at the top of the league stage. Daredevils will again look to him to lead the bowling as they seek an elusive title.David Warner‘s importance to Daredevils has increased considerably with the absence of Pietersen and Taylor. With Sehwag’s form patchy, and Jayawardene out of match practice, Warner will be the player Daredevils will look to for high-octane starts. He was all at sea during the recent Test series but has a well-earned reputation as one of the premier Twenty20 batsmen in the world.

Big players in

Daredevils have strengthened their spin department with Johan Botha and Jeevan Mendis, both of whom were picked at the IPL auction. Botha has captained South Africa and Rajasthan Royals, and will be expected to bring his experience to a fairly young spin attack – left-arm spinners Shahbaz Nadeem and Pawan Negi have only 25 matches between them.Ashish Nehra returns to the Daredevils squad after two years, after Pune Warriors traded him for New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor. The team would be worried about Nehra’s match-fitness. The fast bowler played his last match in January 2013 and has faced injury issues over the last year. He suffered a hamstring injury in November last year and played just four domestic matches for Delhi this season. Nehra will be hoping to replicate his 2009 form for Daredevils, when he picked up 19 wickets from 13 matches at an average of 18.21 to emerge as the third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament.

Big players out

Daredevils will miss Kevin Pietersen‘s big-hitting ability in the batting order. He scored 305 runs at an average of 61 in eight matches, including an unbeaten 103 against Deccan Chargers. With Sehwag and Warner in scratchy form, and Jayawardene short of match practice, Pietersen’s absence becomes even more of a blow.By his own standards, Ross Taylor had an indifferent IPL 2012, scoring 197 runs at an average of 19.70. The trade-off to Pune will mean that this will be Taylor’s fourth franchise in six IPL editions.

Under the radar

After hitting the headlines as captain of India’s World Cup-winning U-19 team, Unmukt Chand has landed himself a high-profile contract with Pepsi, which has him featuring in ads with the heavyweights of Indian cricket, including MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. The buzz has only increased after his consecutive hundreds in the domestic T20 competition and the century in the final to lead Delhi to the Vijay Hazare title. The next two months will reveal whether he can translate that form to the high-pressure environment of the IPL, and use that as a ladder to the national team.Availability
None of Daredevils’ players have international commitments during the IPL.

Shane Watson’s hundred, the first of IPL 2013, might have gone in vain as Chennai Super Kings chased down Rajasthan Royals’ target of 186, but the Australian allrounder was relieved to be back among the runs and bowling once again

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Apr-2013Shane Watson’s hundred, the first of IPL 2013, might have gone in vain as Chennai Super Kings chased down Rajasthan Royals’ target of 186, but the Australian allrounder was relieved to be back among the runs and bowling once again.”It’s nice to finally score some runs. I felt that I have been hitting the ball really well,” he told the IPL site after the game. “In T20 you need a little luck as well to get your innings going. Unfortunately we weren’t able to finish well.”I’m very excited to get back to bowling. It’s certainly something that I’ve missed in the last three months. It will probably take me another two games to fully find my feet and bowl exactly how I want to.”Watson’s bowling return is neatly timed, coming only two days before Australia’s selectors are expected to announce their Test squad for the Ashes series in England this summer. Although he has recently relinquished the vice captaincy, he remains a strong contender to make the squad.He bowled for the first time this year in Royals’ previous game, against Royal Challengers Bangalore, following a series of injuries, the most recent of which was a calf issue. In the match against Super Kings, the final over of the game was his second.Watson said he is almost close to full bowling fitness, but not quite there just yet. “I’m getting closer to being 100%. A couple of more training sessions and games, and my body will be absolutely ready to handle the rigours of bowling. It is holding up well generally but now it’s just the matter of it getting used to bowling again.”On the whole I feel as good as I ever have. I’ve put in a lot of hard work during this period and hopefully, will reap the rewards for the coming 10 months or so. I was half-capacity without my bowling. It feels great to be bowling once again.”Though they could not pull off the win, Royals did well to get to 185 in Chennai, he said: “I think 185 is a lot of runs on any ground. At the beginning of the match our mindset was probably 160-170 and we ended up with an above-par score. We batted really well as a unit.”Speaking about Watson’s innings off 101 off 61 balls, Chennai spinner R Ashwin said the great start he gave Royals forced Super Kings to shuffle their bowling options, resulting in him coming on within the Powerplay: “This year I have bowled quite a few death overs as I have come into the attack pretty late. I have bowled a lot of 13th, 15th and 17th overs this season. We have a couple of overseas seamers and an Indian seamer, which gives the captain many options to exploit in the Powerplay,” Ashwin said. “[Today though] Watson was going great guns and the captain probably wanted to shut down [Royals’ scoring] and look to get a breakthrough. Shane Watson made sure that I had to come early into the attack.”

Preview for the match between Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors in Raipur

The Preview by Rachna Shetty in Raipur27-Apr-2013

Match facts

Sunday, April 28, 2013Start time 2000 IST (1430 GMT)Mahela Jayawardene will hope a change of scenery will bring good fortune to Delhi Daredevils•BCCI

Big Picture

With the tournament only half complete, the match between Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors is not quite the battle of the wooden spoons. But both teams will be looking to haul their sputtering campaigns back on track after poor shows in their last respective games.Daredevils squandered any confidence gained from beating Mumbai Indians by losing to Kings XI Punjab. It was a showing consistent with their other six losses in the tournament so far, making the win seem an aberration. The team is still hopeful but their poor run has put them in a place where they have to win each remaining match.Daredevils will be hoping there will be some serendipity for them in Raipur, which hosts its first IPL match. The stadium had hosted one stage of the BCCI’s Corporate Trophy earlier in the year, and the batsmen did well on the surface.For Warriors, the game will be an indicator of whether their players have recovered from the mauling they received from Chris Gayle in their last match. Coach Allan Donald spoke about the mental scarring, but the team has had a few days off to rest and pick up the pieces. Their mix-and-match captaincy formula has hurt them but against Daredevils, their bowling will have a chance to make an impact early on.

Form guide

Delhi Daredevils LWLLL (most recent first)
Pune Warriors LLLWL

Players to watch

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the only bowler spared from the hammering that Chris Gayle meted out. The youngster has impressed throughout the tournament, picking up early wickets, with his swing bowling. He has plenty of skill to trouble Daredevils’ fragile top order.Mahela Jayawardene has always led from the front and his stint as captain with the Daredevils is no different. He’s taken the flak for some under-par performances and his own batting has been poor. Daredevils need an inspirational performance from him to improve their sinking chances.

Stats and trivia

• Daredevils have won two of the four games they played against Warriors, with one being a no result
• Virender Sehwag is the seventh highest run-getter in the IPL, with 2051 runs from 71 matches at an average of 31.07.
• Yuvraj Singh needs 13 runs to reach 2500 T20 runs.
• Ross Taylor needs 42 runs to reach 1000 IPL runs

Surrey awoke from the inexplicably ghastly nightmare of losing seven first-innings wickets for 12 runs in 11 overs to secure the draw that at least buys them a bit of breathing space

David Lloyd at Guildford08-Jun-2013
ScorecardRory Burns fell 15 short of a century but did enough to stave off defeat•PA Photos

Surrey awoke from the inexplicably ghastly nightmare of losing seven first-innings wickets for 12 runs in 11 overs to secure the draw that at least buys them a bit of breathing space. But with only Derbyshire below them and the halfway stage of the Championship programme almost reached, it is hard to predict anything other than a fight against relegation.Signings continue to be made. Australia’s Glenn Maxwell will arrive for at least part of the T20 programme while Surrey expect to confirm the capture of South Africa’s JP Duminy for the last two months of the four-day campaign early next week.What they need above all else, though, is a Championship victory after seven matches without success. That spirit-lifting outcome was an impossibility here once Warwickshire ploughed on beyond 600. And but for a more disciplined second-innings effort, built around Rory Burns’ three-hour occupation, a desperately embarrassing defeat might have ensued.As it was, the pitch proved simply too bland for Warwickshire to pressurise Surrey into another implosion. The defending champions were further hampered by the absence of fast bowler Chris Wright, who sat out the final day with a flu-like illness, and they could also point to the potentially crucial loss of 37 overs to rain on the third morning.But unlike Surrey, who were left thanking the heavens for small mercies, the visitors can rightly claim to have taken a good step forward at Woodbridge Road. Their injury list is starting to shorten, with opener Ian Westwood and allrounder Keith Barker not only returning to action here but also making excellent contributions.Even better, Warwickshire have produced just the batting response coach Dougie Brown wanted after they were routed for 128 and 140, by Yorkshire, on their last outing. Retaining the title looks a tall order right now (they have only one victory from seven matches, compared to four at the same stage last season) but it is not an impossible task by any means.The Bears were growling all right this morning, having stunned Surrey through the previous evening’s Boyd Rankin-inspired burst. And it took them less than half an hour to claim the final three wickets, which left the hosts to follow-on an almighty 357 behind.Chris Tremlett, defending tentatively on the crease, edged Rankin before Ricky Ponting – deciding he might as well go on the offensive – and Jade Dernbach perished to Barker’s left-arm quicks.On a pitch which had yielded 863 runs for the first 11 wickets, Surrey’s last seven had gone down for an undistinguished dozen. No wonder their followers were less than happy and no doubt wishing that next month’s forum could be brought forward a few weeks.At least there was a bit of cheer for the faithful second time around. With nothing more than slow turn to encourage spinners Jeetan Patel and Ateeq Javid, Warwickshire could only prod and probe for weaknesses during lengthy spells.It was Rikki Clarke, though, who denied opener Burns what would have been a worthy century, finding the outside edge with a real ‘effort’ ball just before tea. And when Patel claimed a second victim during the early stages of the final session, via Zander de Bruyn’s bat-pad catch to silly point, the visitors rightly extended their victory bid well into the final hour.There was no shifting Ponting a second time, however, and he at least is earning his corn.As for that elusive first win, Surrey’s director of cricket, Chris Adams, insisted: “We’ve competed in every game without managing to pull it together with both bat and ball for an entire four days. But I don’t think we are far away. I feel we are really close to bringing it together and putting in that performance.”

BCCI president N Srinivasan has decided not to travel to London for the ICC annual conference but he may attend the three ICC sub-committee meetings via vide-conferencing

Amol Karhadkar and Nagraj Gollapudi24-Jun-2013BCCI president N Srinivasan has decided not to travel to London for the ICC annual conference, to be held from June 25 to 29. Srinivasan has stepped aside from BCCI functioning till the completion of probe into alleged IPL corruption scandal.However, it does not necessarily mean that Srinivasan won’t attend the three ICC sub-committee meetings, including the important finance and commercial affairs (F&CA) committee, of which he is a member in individual capacity.A close associate of Srinivasan confirmed that he “will not” travel to London but didn’t deny the possibility of Srinivasan attending “some of the meetings” via video-conferencing.Last week it was decided that while Jagmohan Dalmiya, who has been taking care of day-to-day BCCI affairs since Srinivasan stepped aside, will represent the BCCI in the ICC board meeting, Srinivasan will attend the sub-committee meetings.BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel was going to attend the ICC chief executives’ meeting, while Sundar Raman, the IPL chief executive officer, was going to attend the working group meeting of the CEOs.A BCCI source revealed that since the BCCI contingent was getting bigger and the fact that Srinivasan would be at the conference but wouldn’t represent the BCCI in the board meeting, it “wouldn’t have reflected well on the board’s image. So the president agreed not to travel to London. In case he is pressed (by the ICC) to give his inputs during the sub-committee meetings, he may join them via video-conferencing,” he said.The F&CA committee primarily recommends to the ICC board regarding the shape ICC’s commercial rights should take. The ICC is looking to negotiate the next tranche of rights for eight years after the 2015 World Cup. The committee also decides on when the various primary ICC-owned events take place, how many events should be included, who might host those events, what sort of fees might accrue to host those events, the format of the event, what should be the strategy to sell the rights for these events, to whom should they go, should the rights be sold as a bundle, as was the case last time. The broadcast rights are sold as a bundle but the sponsorship rights are sold on an individual basis and that is managed by the ICC. Even though the committee has been discussing the commercial rights issue, the decision over the next tranche of rights is unlikely to be finalised this year. It is expected to be finalised in the first quarter of 2014.Meanwhile, Patel and Raman will hold the key in continuing BCCI’s opposition to implementation of the DRS in all Tests. Ever since the DRS was first used in a Test series featuring Sri Lanka and India in 2008, the BCCI has not allowed the technological aid for umpires to be used in any of its home series.While Patel, who was appointed the secretary earlier this month, will attend his first ICC meeting, Raman has enjoyed an increased profile over the last couple of years with regard to BCCI’s functioning and been a regular at recent ICC meetings.Raman had been inducted into the CEOs working group, which included representatives from the ECB and Cricket Australia (Dean Kino) with the ICC adding on two of its own representatives to carry out backroom work in preparation for contractual arrangements to be put in place by the time the final rights agreements discussions begin.Meanwhile, the ICC annual conference is likely to discuss anti-corruption measures in detail, following the spot-fixing scandals which erupted in the Indian and Bangladesh Premier Leagues. Besides, the fate of Bangladesh as hosts for the next year’s World Twenty20 may also be decided since the BCB has admitted lack of adequate facilities.