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Comments from Andy Roberts’ that Munaf Patel had lost his pace and was “spinning the ball” have sparked a debate, with Javagal Srinath, among others, saying that Munaf was “doing the job” that was required of him.”The question of pace doesn’t matter as long he is being effective,” Srinath told the . “Also, there is this aspect of conserving energy. I think Munaf has done extremely well of late.”Roberts, the former West Indies fast bowler had expressed surprise at the tendency of young Indian fast bowlers to cut down on their pace as they play more international cricket.His comments were made in reference to Munaf Patel, who is India’s second highest wicket-taker in the current ODI series against West Indies, and Ishant Sharma, who played for the first time in the series in the fourth game.”When he [Munaf] came to the West Indies in 2006, he was quick,” Roberts said. “But now, he is spinning the ball. Ishant Sharma with his height and action was very promising when he began, but now he seems to have lost steam.Srinath indicated that fast bowling has become a matter of “adaptability” these days. “There are various formats, pitches and conditions. In Twenty 20, it’s a question of containment. What’s the point in going flat out on placid pitches?”By cutting down on pace as and when required, bowlers have become smarter these days. Still, you can’t overlook the fact that Munaf has been taking wickets despite reducing pace,” he said.Munaf, who has played 65 ODIs for India, has picked up 30 wickets in 16 games this year at an average of just above 23, which is well below his career average of 28.86, and has picked up eight wickets from three games in this series.India’s bowling coach Eric Simons, described Munaf as the “unsung” hero of India’s World Cup victory, saying the high degree of technical skills that India’s bowling attack possessed made up for its lack of express pace all through the tournament. Munaf was India’s third-highest wicket-taker in the World Cup behind Zaheer and Yuvraj Singh with 11 victims.Former India allrounder Irfan Pathan also suffered from a drop in pace after his international debut and Roberts, who worked briefly with Pathan during Greg Chappell’s tenure as India coach, felt such issues cropped up only after the players made their international debuts. “One has to remember this happens only once they make it to international arena. Maybe the players are better off without these coaches.”These coaches turn you into line-and-length bowler. Not what you naturally are. These boys then lose their ability.”Roger Binny, the former India allrounder, said cutting down on pace had “worked” for Munaf. “His line and length has improved and he has bowled some crucial spells for India. What would you prefer, a wayward fast bowler or a slower one who gets you wickets.”

Simon Katich has become the first player to sign up with a Big Bash League team outside his current state after it was confirmed he would join the Perth Scorchers this summer. Katich is the captain of New South Wales but chose not to play with one of the two Sydney-based Twenty20 sides, and instead will return to his home city for the tournament, a decade after moving from Perth.In the longer format, Katich is hoping to make plenty of runs for the Blues and show Australia’s selectors what they are missing from the Test side after his dumping from the national squad this month. In the shorter version, he will be joined in Perth by the Western Australian trio of Marcus North, Shaun Marsh and Luke Pomersbach.The three batsmen have signed with the Scorchers, while Michael Hussey has also agreed in principle to playing with the Perth side subject to his availability. The deals were overshadowed on the first day of the Big Bash League contract window by the news that Chris Gayle and David Warner would unite at the Sydney Thunder, but the Scorchers coach Mickey Arthur said he was comfortable with the way his side was shaping up.”This is the first of our exciting player announcements and we look forward to making a few more in the coming days,” Arthur said. “Securing Shaun Marsh was a high priority given he is one of the hottest T20 prospects in Australia and a Perth born and raised star. We could not see him wearing anything else but the orange.”Simon Katich and Marcus North give us tremendous experience, leadership and hardness. I am thrilled to have both of them on board, and look forward to welcoming Simon back to his city of birth to represent the Scorchers. Luke Pomersbach is another whose record speaks for itself. As one of the most dangerous batsmen in T20 cricket and another of our local stars it is great news to have him committed to the Scorchers.”

Kemar Roach has become the latest West Indian signing in county cricket and will be joining Worcestershire for the remainder of the season as they scrap to stay in Division One of the County Championship. Roach will replace Worcestershire’s current overseas international Saeed Ajmal, who is returning to his national side earlier than scheduled next week, to participate in a training camp prior to embarking on Pakistan’s tour of Zimbabwe.”I am delighted to sign for Worcestershire and to be able to play county cricket for the first time,” said Roach. “Growing up in Barbados, every young cricketer aspired to play for the West Indies and to play county cricket. Many of my heroes like Lara, Walsh and Ambrose spent time in the county game and I view it as a huge challenge.”Even though I am only going to be joining for a short period, I believe this stint gives me the chance to make an impact on the club and on county cricket and hopefully be the start of a long relationship with Worcestershire.”Roach joins Worcestershire on the back of international duty in the Caribbean, having opened the bowling against India and Pakistan earlier this year. In his fledgling career, Roach has taken 40 Test wickets at an average of 29.90, and has a total of 87 first-class wickets in 31 matches.”To have one of the fastest bowlers in the world in our team for the last few games of the season can only be a huge plus factor,” said Worcestershire’s director of cricket, Steve Rhodes. “Albeit a short stint, I know that Kemar is determined to make an impact on the county scene.”Ajmal, who arrived at New Road in June, has claimed 36 wickets for the county across all forms of cricket. He leaves as their highest wicket taker in the Clydesdale Bank 40 this season, having taken 11 wickets. His most notable performance came in the recent match against Derbyshire, where he picked up 4 for 24.”We’ve enjoyed Saeed’s involvement with the team and he’s been a model professional both on and off the field,” said Rhodes. “We’d like to thank Saeed for the time he has spent with us, and also for his help in guiding and inspiring some of our younger bowlers. Obviously we were disappointed that he’s had to leave us early but in the hectic international schedule we recognise that international cricket comes first.”

Scorecard
The second day of the County Championship match between leaders Durham and bottom club Hampshire at Chester-le-Street was washed out.Only 30 overs were possible yesterday, with the visitors reaching 77 for 3, and with more rain forecast it spells frustration for both sides.Durham, currently seven points clear, have three matches left after this week and their three title rivals have games in hand. Second-placed Lancashire have to play struggling Worcestershire home and away. Hampshire are 50 points adrift of safety and four of their five remaining games are against the title challengers, including Warwickshire home and away.

No one in Pallekele was more surprised to see Michael Hussey handed the ball than the man himself.On a hunch from Australia’s captain Michael Clarke, Hussey was brought on to disrupt a budding partnership between Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews, and in three balls’ time he had enticed Sangakkara to push a catch to short extra cover. Job done, Hussey sauntered back to his position at gully, where he had earlier held a blinding catch to remove Mahela Jayawardene.Hussey returned neat figures of 1-1-0-1 and joked at the end of the day that he was more than happy to bowl only the one over because he “was starting to stiffen up already”. According to him, there was method to Clarke’s madness.”I couldn’t believe Michael Clarke was going to give me a bowl,” Hussey said. “He did sort of say he wouldn’t mind giving me a couple of overs, because with a little less pace they [Sri Lanka] might chip one out to cover and, obviously, he was spot on. It wasn’t just about ‘let’s just give anyone a go’, it was about trying to bowl a little slower. The pitch was slow and it was a bit hard to drive. He’s certainly a thinking captain and yeah, he had the golden hand today.”It was a very valuable wicket for the team. I’ll take it any day of the week because he’s [Sangakkara] one of the best players in the world and they had a pretty good partnership going. To be able to break that and give the guys a chance with the ball reversing a little was very fortuitous I think.”Hussey’s contribution summed up a day when Australia’s skill and instinct was matched only by Sri Lanka’s underachievement. Under such circumstances it is little wonder that the visitors are well and truly on the way towards a first series victory anywhere since defeating New Zealand early in 2010.As for the catch, Hussey rated it one of his most significant snares, removing the batsman who had held up Australia’s push for victory in Galle with a masterly 105. “It’s pretty special. Definitely, was a great reaction from the team.”It’s always great to hang on to a spectacular catch but, more importantly, it was the wicket of Jayawardene who was a big thorn in our side down in Galle. I guess I was pretty lucky today in that the two wickets that were probably the key were in my hands.”Australia’s domination of Sri Lanka’s batsmen has been almost total. Ryan Harris and Trent Copeland were precision personified with the new ball, while Nathan Lyon again bowled with courage and variety to the middle order. The bowlers, Hussey said, deserved a lot of credit for his side’s success.”I think it’s a real testament to the way the bowlers have gone about their work,” he said. “They’ve been very patient. The surface out there is good. Despite it being a bit slow, making it hard to get the timing right, it’s only as good as the bowlers bowl. If they bowl with width or err in length, you’ll be able to score quite quickly out there. But our bowlers were very disciplined for long periods of time.”They’re very clear in their minds about what they’re trying to do and we’ve proven we can do it now for the first one and a half Test matches. But we’ve got to maintain that standard over longer periods of time if are to get back to where we want to be in the standings.”

Tillakaratne Dilshan has said the future of Sri Lanka’s bowling lay in the hands of the fast men, and not spinners who have been their traditional strength.”In the past 20 years or so we have depended on the spin of [Muttiah] Muralitharan for our success,” Dilshan said before the team left for the UAE to meet Pakistan in a series of three Tests, five ODIs and a one-off Twenty20 International. “Murali is a bowler who can take six-eight wickets in an innings, we have still not found anyone who can do it consistently as him.”The future for our success lies with our fast bowlers. In the spin department only Rangana Herath has proved himself a top-quality bowler. If we hope to win Test matches we will have to have the support of the other spinners as well.”Sri Lanka suffered a blow when one of their most promising young fast bowlers Shaminda Eranga was ruled out of the tour with a shoulder injury to his bowling arm. He has been replaced by allrounder Kosala Kulasekara.Sri Lanka are taking five fast bowlers and two spinners to the UAE. Dilshan said that he was not duly worried that Sri Lanka had yet to record a win in their previous 11 Tests. “We have lost two matches and drawn nine and that is not a bad record. We lost the two Tests to very good sides England and Australia, one of them was due to a poor batting performance at Cardiff and in the other at Galle the toss played a crucial role. If you look back on the rest of our performances I am quite satisfied.”Dilshan said that he was confident his team would be able to end their win drought in UAE. “Pakistan has a mix of experienced and young talent in their line-up. It won’t be easy beating them but it will be a good challenge. I think we can take on that challenge and beat them.”We have not played Test matches in the UAE but we have watched videos of the Tests played there by Pakistan. I don’t know what the conditions and the pitch will be like playing a Test series during this time of the year there.”Since taking over the reins from Kumar Sangakkara, Dilshan first had former Australia cricketer Stuart Law as interim coach for the tour to England and then former Sri Lanka fast bowler Rumesh Ratnayake playing a similar role in the recently concluded home series against Australia, before Sri Lanka Cricket eventually found a permanent successor to Trevor Bayliss who quit at the end of the 2011 World Cup in April.”I have captained Sri Lanka with two different coaches in England and at home against Australia and now Marsh is the third. I never had an opportunity to sit down with one coach and discuss any long-term plans for the team,” Dilshan told .”Marsh is contracted for two years and he is a respected player and coach and I hope we can build on a good partnership and carry Sri Lanka cricket forward,” he said.”I have not spoken to him at length, the way I see it I think his presence will benefit a lot of youngsters and we can get a lot out of him to develop our cricket. While working together only we can find shortcomings and overcome them.”

Azhar Mahmood has agreed to an extension of his contract with Kent County Cricket Club, having originally joined the club from Surrey at the end of the 2007 season.Mahmood made 21 Test appearances for Pakistan, and also played in 143 ODIs. In 2011, he enjoyed a prolific campaign in the Friends Life t20, amassing 485 runs at an average of 40.41, including his maiden hundred in the format, off just 57 balls against Gloucestershire at Beckenham.During the 2011 Clydesdale Bank 40 campaign, he was Kent’s leading wicket-taker, claiming 18 victims in ten appearances with his right-arm seam, at an average of 24.27. With the bat he added 246 runs at an average of 27.33. Mahmood remains an integral part of the Kent line-up and a firm favourite with Kent supporters, who this year voted him their Player of the Season.”We are delighted to have re-signed Azhar,” said Kent’s Chairman of Cricket, Graham Johnson. “He made a fantastic contribution in 2011, has a wealth of experience in the game and is always keen to share it. This is something that we value very highly, and he has an important role to play in the development of our younger bowlers.””I am so pleased to have agreed the extended contract,” said Mahmood. “I am really looking forward to the next two years. Whilst it has taken a while to conclude my contract I have never had anywhere other than Kent in my thoughts. It is a special club and I truly believe we can achieve great things in the coming years.”

Peshawar beat Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) by 42 runs at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar, powered by a seven-wicket haul by Waqar Ahmed. Waqar Ahmed had claimed two wickets on the fourth day, and took another five on Wednesday to finish with 11 in the game. Ali Waqas, Khurram Shehzad and Imran Khalid all scored half-centuries, but none of them could bat out the overs needed to secure a draw. This is Peshawar’s fifth win in five games, which puts them at the top of the points table.Karachi Whites registered an easy nine-wicket win against Hyderabad at the Niaz Stadium in Sind. Hyderabad had resumed 36 runs ahead, with one wicket in hand in the follow-on. The last pair added 19 runs on the final morning to set Karachi Whites 56 for a win. Opener Fazal Subhan was run out cheaply in the chase, but Zeeshan Jamil teed off from the other end. Jamil smacked 41 not out off 30 balls with six fours and two sixes to mow down the paltry target in 8.1 overs.United Bank Limited (UBL) claimed the eight wickets that they needed and sealed their match against Lahore Shalimar at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground by 146 runs. The hosts began the final day on 81 for 2 in pursuit of 385 and, as none of their batsmen could build a long innings, folded for 238. Opener Mohammad Hamza and Asif Raza showed slight resistance with knocks of 60 and 46 respectively, but it was not enough to save the game for Lahore Shalimar. Fast bowler Mohammad Irshad finished with the best figures for UBL: 4 for 67.Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) beat Multan by an innings and 61 runs inside three days at the Multan Cricket Stadium. Multan, following-on, collapsed from 77 for 3 to 114 all out. They were not helped by the fact that their captain Naved Yasin was injured and so could not bat in either of their innings. Only Moinuddin managed to hit a half-century for Multan, scoring 53 before he was picked up by new-ball bowler Rahat Ali. Rahat was the wrecker-in-chief, claiming four top and middle order wickets to take his match haul to seven.

Shane Watson, Ryan Harris, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Johnson and Pat Cummins will all miss Australia’s first Test against New Zealand, leaving the national selectors to fill plenty of gaps ahead of the squad announcement on Saturday.All five players are carrying injuries and will be unavailable for the national selector John Inverarity and his panel to consider. Watson has a hamstring strain, Marsh a back ailment, Harris a pelvis problem, Johnson an injured foot and Cummins a bruised heel.”We unfortunately suffered some injuries during the recent Test series against South Africa. With such a short turnaround time between series, five players who were involved in the series will not fully recover in time to play the first Test against New Zealand,” Pat Howard, the CA team performance manager, said.Decisions on the futures of Ricky Ponting and Brad Haddin will be deferred by the injuries, giving the duo a further chance to shore up their spots. Ponting said the volume of injuries reminded him of an ODI tour of India in 2009, when the list of unavailable players touched double figures.”This is obviously a really testing time for the depth of Australian cricket,” Ponting said at the SCG. “A lot of the guys that will be considered [as replacements] have been in and around our squad the last couple of years anyway because we’ve had a fair share of guys, fast bowlers especially, who have been injured the last little bit. It’s something we’ll have to cope with.”With the A game going on at the moment and the Shield game just starting out the back here I’m sure the selectors will be looking long and hard at a lot of those players playing in those couple of games. By the time they’re ready to announce the squad for Brisbane, I’m sure we’ll have a very competitive XI come Thursday.”While the list of players ruled out reflected the hideously cramped nature of the international schedule in 2011, Ponting said it also had a little to do with the fact the New Zealand series was being followed by a major four-match contest against India.”That’s the way it’s been for the last six or seven years in Australian cricket and that’s why we’ve had the turnover of players that we did,” Ponting said. “You have a look at the time I was captain. I don’t know how many debutants I had compared to what we had the previous 10 years before that but I think that’s just international cricket.”I dont know if it’s ever too much but I’ve said for the last few years you can’t fit any more in, it’s as simple as that. The international programme is so full and to have what we’ve just had at that time of year and to come back to an Australian summer that’s as busy as it is, I’m sure by the end of the summer we’ll have a few more guys that are looking for a bit of a break.”The management thing around our group is crucial and we have to make sure that we’ve got all of our guys fit and healthy for when the really big series comes around. There’s no doubt after we play New Zealand in the next two Test matches, the next series that we play is a very big one against India.”Marsh and Watson are expected to be some chance of playing in the second Test of the series in Hobart, but the futures of Harris, Johnson and Cummins are less clear. Cummins’ heel problem is expected to be given plenty of recovery time as CA is very conscious of not burning out the 18-year-old after his stunning Test debut in South Africa.”Pat Cummins experienced left heel pain towards the end of the second innings in his debut Test match. He had scans that have cleared him of any serious injury but we don’t expect that he will fully recover in time,” Alex Kountouris, the Australian team physio, said. “He will be reviewed early next week to determine his workload plan for the summer.”Johnson’s foot injury, sustained during the second innings of the Johannesburg Test, has resulted in considerable swelling, and he will consult a foot specialist before plans are made for his recovery.”His foot was considerably swollen and painful after the game but he is showing early signs of improvement. He will not return to training in time to be fit for the Gabba,” Kountouris said. “His return to training and playing will be clearer in coming days after he is assessed by a foot specialist in Perth and the swelling has had a chance to resolve.”Harris is yet to bowl again after missing the second Test due to his pelvis injury, and his recovery will continue to be monitored.”He is making good progress but has not returned to bowling as yet and is therefore unavailable to play the first Test against New Zealand,” Kountouris said. “A decision on his return to training will be made early next week and will determine his return to playing.”

ScorecardVineet Saxena is the only batsman to score a half-century in the match so far•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Haryana and Rajasthan’s Ranji Trophy semi-final has played itself out like the traffic on the state highway running alongside the Bansi Lal stadium. Over the course of two days, the game has moved speedily and headlong in opposite directions with frequent bursts of hooting, tooting and clamour.Three innings have been completed and 32 wickets have fallen in two days. The second day was as frenetic as the first: Haryana’s second innings ended on 97; Rajasthan scored 192 in 68.5 overs in their second innings and set Haryana 185 to win; by stumps, Haryana were 15 for 2. At the end of it, both sides were left with a shot at earning a place in the Ranji final. Haryana need 170 more runs to get to their first final in over two decades. Defending champions Rajasthan need eight more wickets to reach their second-straight final and shake the rafters of the first-class game yet again.Harshal Patel must have felt a sense of déjà vu when he walked in as nightwatchman towards the end of the day, in Haryana’s second innings. Just like he had done at the start of the day’s play, he found himself facing a fired-up Pankaj Singh. A beastly hit on his bare forearm from a Pankaj bouncer reminded him of the changed state of the game. At stumps he was sent off for a precautionary X-ray.A humdinger of a cricket match like this should come with a statutory warning against predictions. All through the first two sessions on Wednesday, the drama of the first day, on which 18 wickets fell, had ebbed a little. Order and sanity resumed as Rajasthan nipped out the last two Haryana wickets in the first seven overs of the morning and then made a solid start to their second innings.There was wild cheering from a sprinkling of spectators when the home team passed Rajasthan’s first-innings total of 89 with two scampered singles more suited to a last-over finish in a Twenty20 game. The only way the first-innings lead will be the deciding factor in this game is if Rohtak witnesses its first snowstorm since the ice age.When the Haryana innings ended, it was Rajasthan’s match to win. At stumps, though, it was Haryana’s to lose. All because more than half of Rajasthan’s batsmen decided that logic and method were not the way to go about this game.Just before tea on Wednesday, it was all going well for Rajasthan. The pitch had settled as much as it could, and while batting still felt like wire-walking, some footholds had been found. The Rajasthan openers had spent an hour at the crease. The loss of captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar’s wicket in the first over after lunch was followed by a sizeable third-wicket partnership between Vineet Saxena and Robin Bist. It was, finally, looking like a normal game of cricket.The first sight of spin came halfway through the second session. Amit Mishra, the Haryana captain, brought himself on in the 122nd over of the game and the 38th of Rajasthan’s second innings. It took him 13 overs to get a wicket, but his first delivery saw Haryana get the breakthrough they needed. A yes-no-sorry call from Bist, after a firm drive to cover, left Saxena stranded. Saxena, who had worked hard for two hours and 48 minutes for his 58 off 119 balls, departed with a withering glare at his partner.Rajasthan made two incisions into Haryana’s second innings at the end of the day•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Bist, an attacking, attractive, pocket-sized batsman, and the leading run-getter in the Ranji Trophy this season, sought to make amends with a 46-run partnership with Rashmi Parida. Mishra then brought on Harshal Patel for a new spell; Bist tried to drive Harshal’s first ball on the up, and edged to Sacin Rana at second slip.After the tea break, came the bedlam. Parida and Puneet Yadav strung 30 runs together before Yadav became the second of Sachin Rana’s four victims. That dismissal sent the innings into free-fall, and six wickets fell for 18 runs. Parida’s 97-minute innings ended when Mishra trapped him lbw with a straight ball, Rana picked up two more, and wicketkeeper Dishant Yagnik, who had scored a vital century in the quarter-finals, went for a massive swipe off Mishra but sent the ball straight up in the air.Saxena, the only batsman to score a half-century, said later: “We could have got to 250; the pitch was not easy to bat on but all of us got starts, got into the 20s and spent time at the crease.” Saxena served the Haryana batsmen a reminder of the difficulty of the pitch. “You never feel you are really set,” he said. “You can get out to any ball.”The batsmen have proved that in the first two days. With sideways movement on offer for the bowlers, lack of decisive footwork cost batsmen heavily on the second day.There were two more examples of that in Haryana’s second innings. Rajasthan’s Rituraj Singh, whose 7 for 45 in the first innings was somewhat forgotten after his team’s subsequent batting collapse, struck with his second ball, when Rahul Dewan left his bat out to dry. Sunny Singh did something similar in the next over to give Pankaj Singh a wicket. The two wickets hurt Haryana and left the match in the balance going into the third day.Saxena said he expected the match to “go down to the wire.” He said Haryana “had a lot to play for and there was a lot at stake for them.” By the end of the second day, the track was showing signs of variable bounce, and, with balls keeping low, the lbw appeals will become more frequent and louder going into the third day.Haryana will have to see off the new ball on Thursday morning, which Saxena said “was doing a bit and cutting off the wicket.” The first session will, perhaps, reveal which side has it in them to make it to the Ranji final.