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The uncapped allrounder Jimmy Neesham and batsman Tom Latham have been added to New Zealand’s squad for the second Test against India starting in Wellington on Friday.The chances of New Zealand making a change after their 40-run victory in the first Test in Auckland may appear slim but alterations to the squad were required after Jesse Ryder and Doug Bracewell were both unavailable for selection. Both men have been fined by New Zealand Cricket for misconduct after they were out drinking until 3am on the first morning of the Auckland Test.Neither Ryder nor Bracewell were considered for the squad for the second Test due to their off-field behaviour. Neesham has been brought in as a replacement for Bracewell, while Latham has taken the place of Ryder as cover for Ross Taylor, who is awaiting the birth of his second child. If the baby is not born before the match starts, Latham will make his debut so Taylor can sit out.”Tom’s an incredibly exciting prospect and is constantly pushing for selection,” Bruce Edgar, the general manager of national selection, said. “If called upon, we’re confident that he’ll take the opportunity with both hands.”Latham, 21, has played 13 one-day internationals and seven Twenty20s for his country but is yet to be called upon in Test cricket. Neesham, 23, has played 11 ODIs and five T20s for New Zealand and the selectors believe that although he is not necessarily a like-for-like replacement for Bracewell, he offers plenty with both bat and ball.”We see Jimmy as a genuine all-rounder who can play a number of roles for us. His form with both bat and ball in the Plunket Shield this season speaks for itself,” Edgar said. “We’ve been able to keep a settled side recently and strung together some successful results along the way. We hope to keep that going, but are well aware India will come back at us hard.”New Zealand squad Peter Fulton, Hamish Rutherford, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum (capt), Corey Anderson, BJ Watling (wk), Tom Latham, Jimmy Neesham, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult.

Fast bowler Dhawal Kulkarni has been named in Mumbai’s squad for the West Zone one-dayers and is set to return to competitive cricket following a long lay-off due to a toe injury last November.Kulkarni hurt himself last year a couple of days after he was named in the squad for the ODIs against West Indies. He had played the side’s opening Ranji game against Haryana but the toe injury kept him out for the rest of Mumbai’s first-class season, which ended with a quarter-final defeat to Maharashtra.Middle-order batsman Suryakumar Yadav, who led India Under-23s to victory in the ACC Emerging Teams Cup in August last year, will captain Mumbai. Yadav had a good Ranji season, scoring 529 runs in eight games, including a century in the quarters against Maharashtra and the move to promote him to captain was done with the aim of building a squad for the future.Mumbai play their tournament-opener against Baroda on February 27 and will also play Gujarat, Maharashtra and Saurashtra in the West Zone leg that lasts until March 3. The top two teams from the zone will qualify for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, which starts on March 11.Mumbai squad: Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Abhishek Nayar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sushant Marathe, Iqbal Abdulla, Vishal Dabholkar, Shardul Thakur, Javed Khan, Shoaib Shaikh, Bravish Shetty, Saurabh Netravalkar, Siddharth Chitnis, Parag Khanapurkar, Sujit Nayak.

William Porterfield, the Ireland captain, has highlighted his left-arm spinner George Dockrell as being key in their attempts to secure a spot in the main draw of the World T20.Dockrell, who plays for Somerset in county cricket, made his Ireland debut at the age of 17 and quickly became their lead slow bowler. His role gains importance in an attack missing the experience of the retired Trent Johnston and John Mooney, who left the recent West Indies tour with a stress-related illness.With conditions in Bangladesh set to favour spin Dockrell, who has an economy under six from 23 matches, will need to shoulder plenty of responsibility.”He has done really well for us over the last few years and we’ll be looking for him to put his hand up during this tournament,” Porterfield said. “In previous tournaments he has done well so hopefully he can carry that form on here. Paul Stirling can bowl his offies as well and when you can get overs from your top order it gives you a great balance, which I think we have.”Ireland are grouped with Zimbabwe, UAE and Netherlands for the qualifying tournament and, given their standing as the top Associate, their fortunes could rest heavily on their opening match, against Zimbabwe, a team they have never met at T20 level.”It doesn’t bother me who the favourites are,” Porterfield said. “We’ve been in tournaments where we’ve started as favourites and others where we haven’t. If we are underdogs that doesn’t bother me. Anyone can beat anyone. Favourites tags don’t mean much.”Porterfield is also able to see a positive in having to go through the qualifying event, knowing that if the team can progress from the group they will head into the main tournament having played plenty of competitive cricket. “Who goes through can potentially hold an advantage, you’ll probably have to win three games to go through so you’ll have some momentum and know you are playing good cricket.”Ireland’s confidence heading into the tournament is helped by their recent tour of the Caribbean, where they secured a T20 victory against West Indies. Although that was their only win, it allowed them to spend an extended period together as a squad in warm weather rather than training back in Ireland during late winter.”We have often played our better cricket when we have been together a while,” Porterfield said. “We’ve been to West Indies, Dubai and now here and it’s all been about building up to March 17.”

Afghanistan will prepare for the 2015 World Cup with a two-week camp in Pakistan, coach Kabir Khan has said. The camp is scheduled to begin on April 15 in Karachi and former captains Aamir Sohail and Rashid Latif will also be working with the side’s batsmen and wicketkeepers.”We have a full year of events starting with the Asian Cricket Council Trophy next month and the excitement will reach the highest point with the World Cup, and we have planned a two-week camp in Karachi from April 15,” Khan told .Afghanistan secured their maiden World Cup qualification in October last year, after finishing second in the World Cricket League Championship with a victory over Kenya. The win capped off a remarkable run for Afghanistan five years after they began their cricketing journey by winning Division Five of the World Cricket League.Earlier in March, Afghanistan participated in their first Asia Cup and beat hosts Bangladesh. They had a poor World Twenty20, though, winning only one of their three first-round matches, and failed to qualify for the main draw. They also went down to Nepal in the league stages.”We had a few good results in the Asia Cup where we beat the hosts Bangladesh,” Khan said. “But our batsmen did not handle pressure well in the World Twenty20.”Sohail said he was aiming at making the players more competitive at the World Cup next year. “It will definitely be fun to coach the exciting players from Afghanistan and I will try to make them competitive enough to play against the world´s best teams next year,” he said.Afghanistan were given a grant of $1 million by the ICC after qualifying for the World Cup and the governing body has also arranged camps in Australia and New Zealand later this year. Afghanistan are placed in Group A of the draw alongside Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and England and will play their first match on February 18, 2015 against Bangladesh.

ScorecardThe last 56 runs of Gary Ballance’s innings came from only 21 deliveries•Getty Images

As each round of Championship games progresses, so another piece slots in to the jigsaw for Peter Moores and co. An England Test line-up that looked as uncertain as at any time in history a few weeks ago is gradually staring to come together. Arguably only injury will change the first-choice XI at this stage.Whereas in earlier rounds the likes of Chris Jordan made their claim, over recent days it has become ever more likely that Sam Robson and Gary Ballance will fill the batting vacancies.While Ballance’s likely inclusion at No. 5 is not ideal – it may well force Ian Bell or, more realistically, Joe Root to bat at No. 3 – it is becoming almost impossible to suppress his inevitable rise. If Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad and Matt Prior are fit and Moeen Ali, perhaps batting as low as No. 8, is picked as the spinner (he has taken 88 first-class wickets at 31.10 apiece since the start of 2012), England have their side.It is a shame to dwell on such matters when this game between Middlesex and Yorkshire, a fine encounter that has fluctuated in fortune each day, deserves attention in its own right. It has been an excellent advert for the quality and entertainment offered by county cricket. But if the county game exists to serve the England team – and that is certainly a key function – then it is probably wise to keep an eye on the bigger picture.There may also not be quite as many opportunities to compete for a Test place as had been thought, either. It is likely that several of the participants in this match could be withdrawn from the next round of Championship matches to prepare for international duty.The England squad for the ODI against Scotland is currently scheduled to be announced on Thursday and will meet for white-ball training sessions at Loughborough next Tuesday and Wednesday. While that would allow squad members to play the first two days of the next round of games – they could be substituted under the Championship competition regulations at the halfway stage – it does mean that their opportunities to impress the selectors in the red-ball game will be limited. The international season is, these days, almost endless.It seems all but certain that Ballance’s days as a county player are numbered. While no young player comes with guarantees, Ballance has the record, the hunger, the technique and the temperament to suggest that he will play at the highest level with distinction.While a first-class average of 54.42 might be mitigated, partially anyway, by some success at a modest standard in Zimbabwe, it is harder to explain away the fact that he is the only man playing Division One cricket to have scored more than 1,500 Championship runs since the start of 2013 or that he has 406 runs already this season. He has scored four centuries in his last seven Championship matches.Equally, there is the evidence of his strokeplay. While the final part of this innings came against modest bowling – Neil Dexter and Ollie Rayner were thrashed for the majority of the tenth-wicket stand of 66 in five-and-a-half overs – the power and range of stroke exhibited by Ballance was reminiscent of Kevin Pietersen at a similar stage of his career.Ballance thumped 56 off 21 balls during that partnership, including five sixes and four fours, with one Rayner delivery slog-swept over the grandstand and out of Lord’s and one fairly respectable Dexter delivery picked up and deposited over square leg in a manner that would have pleased Viv Richards.Besides, Ballance had earned the right to such luxuries. By demonstrating the restraint and technique required to survive Middlesex’s fine trio of mainline seamers earlier in his innings, he had worn down the attack and played himself in. By the time he late cut to third man – becoming Tim Murtagh’s 500th first-class wicket in the process – he had helped his team set an improbable 472 for victory.Only once have Yorkshire conceded more to lose a first-class match, when a Peter Trego-inspired Somerset made 479 for 6 at Taunton in 2009. While Cambridge University once chased 507 to win here against MCC in 1896, the highest successful chase by Middlesex at Lord’s is 366 for 5 against Sussex in 1926.But an opening stand of 181 in 38.4 overs has given them a chance. Chris Rogers, positive from the start, rushed to a century at almost a run a ball, driving crisply and proving merciless off his legs, while Robson survived a nervous start to lend increasingly assured support. The Yorkshire attack, so impressive the previous day, allowed their desire to get the better of them just a little and erred in both line and length on a pitch that has slowed in pace and eased in character, but still offers bowlers encouragement.Robson might have gone without scoring. Drawn into prodding outside off stump, he edged low to slip off Jack Brooks where the ball appeared to not quite reach Adam Lyth, before settling in to play an innings full of the cuts and back-foot drives that may well become familiar to spectators of Test cricket over the coming years. He is not, at this stage, the complete player, and was eventually drawn into pushing at one he could have left to end the partnership but, as England look to the future, it is proving hard to ignore him.There is, at some stage, a legitimate debate to be had about the reason players developed in Australia and southern Africa, in particular, appear to mature more quickly than those brought up only in England – the lack of cricket in state schools is surely a huge issue – but in Ballance and Robson, England have two 24-year-olds from southern climes who could serve them for much of the next decade.

Mahela Jayawardene has defended the Sri Lanka team after England’s captain, Alastair Cook, suggested “a line had been crossed” in the deciding ODI of the series between England and Sri Lanka.Jayawardene insisted that Sri Lanka were left with little option but to run out Jos Buttler in the 44th over after the batsman, at the non-striker’s end, repeatedly backed-up too far. While it was the spinner Sachithra Senanayake who removed the bails midway through his bowling action, the umpires offered Sri Lanka captain, Angelo Mathews, the opportunity to withdraw the appeal before they gave Buttler out. It was the first instance of ‘Mankading’ in international cricket since 1992.Alastair Cook, the England captain, denounced the incident as “a pretty poor act” and suggested he would not have behaved in the same manner.”I thought it was disappointing,” Cook said. “There’s a line and that line was crossed here. I’ve never seen it before in the game and I was pretty disappointed by it. As captain of your country, there are certain ways you want your team to operate. And obviously he is fine with it. He has said he will do it again.”You don’t know what you would do if you were put in that situation, in the heat of the moment, until you are. I’d like to think I wouldn’t do it, but I suppose you just don’t know.”I haven’t been in the situation, as captain of England, where I have had to make a ‘spirit of cricket’ call. Paul Collingwood had one a few years ago and admitted afterwards that, in the heat of the moment, he probably made a mistake.”If he was properly trying to steal a single, I could possibly understand it. But he was half a yard out of his crease. It’s pretty disappointing.”But Jayawardene, defending his captain and his team, revealed that Sri Lanka had warned Buttler twice before the incident and felt he had been claiming an unfair advantage by leaving his ground early.”We gave him a fair chance,” Jayawardene said. “Twice. Before the first warning, we told the umpires that he was taking too much of a lead and then he was warned again. We had to do that, because they kept doing it.”We analysed our game after Lord’s. They took 22 twos in the last 12 overs. Ravi Bopara and him ran riot. And most of the time they were taking starts that are not legal by the written laws. We just wanted to make sure we got a fair chance. We warned them and we warned the umpires, but they didn’t listen to us, so we had to take the right steps.”We always try to play in the right spirit, but if the other team is not playing in the right spirit and not going with the law, then unfortunately we had to take the law into our hands. It was the third time. It is fair enough, I think. We all need to play by the rules.”If the other sides are not going by the rules, then they’re not playing by the spirit, so what can you do?”

Jacques Kallis will be reinstated to the No. 3 position in South Africa’s batting line-up for the ODI series against Sri Lanka. That spot is Kallis’ preferred one – he has batted there 197 times in his 311 ODI innings, scored 7769 runs at 46.52, marginally higher than his overall average of 44.86, and scored 13 of his 17 centuries at first-drop – and he will occupy it as South Africa look to firm up their 2015 World Cup line-up.”Jacques is back and he has held the No. 3 position for a long time but hasn’t played a lot of ODI cricket recently so he will probably slot back into that position,” Russell Domingo, the South Africa coach, said. “We have a good understanding of what our batting order is going to be and we are going to try and be as consistent as possible with it.”Domingo has been an advocate of a settled rather than a floating batting line-up since he took over from Gary Kirsten last July. He established a batting order which had JP Duminy at No. 3, AB de Villiers at No. 4, Faf du Plessis at No. 5 and David Miller at No. 6 on last year’s limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka but that was disrupted when du Plessis was dropped, Graeme Smith returned from injury and Kallis recommitted to the ODI side ahead of the home summer.The shuffling meant that when Kallis made his comeback in November against Pakistan, there was uncertainty over where he would feature. Kallis played four matches, batted at No. 4 twice, No. 3 and No. 6 once each and finding a place for him appeared more difficult than initially thought.Finding his own form was also tricky. Kallis scored a half-century on comeback but managed only a combined 26 runs in the other three matches. He has since retired from Test cricket to concentrate on the fifty-over version with an eye on next year’s World Cup, for which South Africa’s build-up begins on Sunday.Although the three matches in Sri Lanka will be played in dissimilar conditions to the World Cup, South Africa are looking to make a final decision on combinations before they head to Australia and New Zealand for ODIs later this year. Those matches will be an exercise in putting the final trimmings on; these ones are about deciding on the ingredients.For that South Africa will need to hope the weather plays ball in Sri Lanka. Already they were forced indoors for their first practice session on Tuesday but managed to get outside on Wednesday, where the 33-degree heat and 80% humidity took its toll.”The guys practiced with good purpose and intensity so we are good to go in terms of getting the tour started after a bit of rain,” Domingo said. “It’s been hot and humid. These are some of the factors that we have to get used to in tomorrow’s game. Tomorrow’s game will be a good start in terms of acclimatizing to these hot conditions.”More rain is forecast on Thursday, when South Africa are due to play a warm-up match against a President’s XI in Moratuwa. South Africa will field all 15 players in their squad and Domingo wants to see “all the bowlers bowl some overs and as many batsman get a hit as possible.”

The inquiry into England fast bowler James Anderson’s alleged involvement in the incident with India allrounder Ravindra Jadeja will begin on July 22, a day after the scheduled conclusion of the ongoing second Investec Test at Lord’s.The ICC appointed Gordon Lewis, Australia’s representative on the ICC Code of Conduct Commission, as the Judicial Commissioner to preside over the hearing. He will also hear the charge against Jadeja. Lewis was also the commissioner for David Warner’s hearing into the Joe Root incident.The preliminary hearing will take place via a conference call to address any issues that need to be resolved prior to setting the hearing date and will also explain the procedure that will be followed at the hearing.The incident is reported to have taken place as the players left the field for lunch on the second day of the Trent Bridge Test. India alleged that Anderson abused and pushed Jadeja, while England alleged that Jadeja turned and approached Anderson in a threatening manner.Anderson was charged under a Level 3 offence, and if guilty he faces a ban between two and four Tests, or four and eight ODIs, whichever games are first. Jadeja was charged with a Level two offence, and if guilty he could be fined between 50-100% of the match fee and/or get up to two suspension points. Two suspension points equates to a ban of one Test, or two ODIs.

How satisfying is this after Johannesburg and Wellington?
It is a result of hard work and effort of the team. I felt in the last couple of series outside India we were in a position to seal victories in one game each in both places, but somehow we were not able to do that. I felt the bowlers put in great efforts in both matches. What was important was to keep working hard. Keep giving the same kind of preparation and thinking into the game. And because of that we have sealed the first game for this team. It was fantastic to see the kind of effort and determination from this team.How does it compare with Durban where you won in similar seaming conditions?
I don’t believe in comparison. Not as if I have 50-60 Test wins to look back at. Every Test is special for its own reason, every innings or hundred or fifty is special in its own way. If you see, the team or the 18 from back then, almost the entire team is different. Just in that way it is very special. It was a Test match where there was a lot of pressure on us. Lost a crucial toss and had to fight hard for those first one-two hours when there was moisture on the wicket. I felt that the openers did that with the No. 3 batsman and then we scored runs, and Bhuvi bowled well in the first innings and Ishant in the second innings.How does it feel to win at Lord’s?
Don’t know how exactly it feels. It will be my last Test at Lord’s. Don’t see myself coming back here in I don’t know how many years. Definitely a memorable Test match. Have had close Tests here. Still remember 2007 series where we drew the match because of bad light, and me and Sreesanth were batting at that time. We saved that Test and went on to be victorious in that series. Every match is special and it’s great to win Test matches outside India. Being Lord’s, yes very special. But at the same time every Test match is special.You spoke about Johannesburg and Wellington. What lessons have you leanred from there? Did you think of those Tests when you went almost the entire first session without a wicket? Did you do things differently?
For me the process is important. That is the reason why I can forget the past. So we cannot think about the past that we didn’t do this or that. Yes there was pressure on us because with 200 runs needed we knew there will certainly be a winner in this game. Who the winner will be we were not sure. We had a fantastic chance to win this Test at the start of play today. Cricket is a great leveller and in the first session we didn’t get any wickets till the last ball was bowled. It showed us that you have to be at the top of your game. Because once the opposition gets an opening they will make sure that they make most out of it. They had a very good partnership going. Once we got a wicket we made sure we put pressure on opposition.MS Dhoni on standing back to Ravindra Jadeja: “The good thing was, they [batsmen] didn’t really step out and miss one because that would have been a perfect thing for the commentators to talk about.”•PA Photos

Did England’s struggles playing the short ball against Australia and Sri Lanka convince you that you could use it too?
If you compare our bowling with the Australian attack we have very different bowlers. We don’t have many bowlers who can bounce like that. If I was Mitchell Johnson I won’t bowl up ever. I don’t care who the batsman is. Ishant is someone who can do that. Can’t ask Bhuvi to bowl that. Even Shami can bowl quick, but he doesn’t get a lot of bounce off the wicket. We just wanted to exploit conditions and throw a challenge to them and see what they do: duck or play shots. In this case we were lucky and it worked in our favour. Some days they will not play any shots and it wont work in your favour.What do you make of Jadeja’s approach?
Jadeja is very talented. At times he feels pressure. What’s important is that he gets a few innings like this. Going forward he will start feeling more confident. And maybe you will see a change in his approach. Still I think the number where he bats he has to score quickly, look for runs. Irrespective of how he plays, quite a few batsmen lower down the order score many more runs playing aggressive cricket rather than just surviving in the middle. He should just look to go in and hit the fast bowlers. What we have seen is, once he attacks he gets into much better positions to play his strokes.Did Ishant bowl through pain or a niggle? He was on his haunches when he got Root’s wicket
Ishant had a very long spell by then and we needed to get one more wicket at that stage. What I told him is, that I am happy to give you bowling and a chance to get eight wickets but at the same time if you have the slightest of the niggle – and by niggle I meant was even the slightest pain in any part of the body – then it is better you don’t bowl the next over because I don’t want you to get injured. Also from outside it doesn’t look hot, but it was very humid and you tend to lose a lot of fluid and that can lead to injuries. The fluids work as coolant in the body, without a coolant the engine seizes.Please talk us through your move to stand back to Jadeja.
I actually wanted to have a fielder there, but according to the rules of the game you can’t have three fielders there [behind square on the leg side]. I wanted Virat to stand slightly wide of where he was standing because anything like a snick or a faint edge on the leg side would go between him and me. So the plan was to stand behind and cover that. But if the batsmen keep stepping out to play, I would have had to go back up. They didn’t really step out so I had the liberty of standing back. The good thing was, they didn’t really step out and miss one because that would have been a perfect thing for the commentators to talk about. The game has really changed, and it is more about what suits that point of time. I don’t think in the old days, there are quite a few journalists from olden times, and they might not have seen deep-square leg, fine leg and deep midwicket, short leg and midwicket and bowl bouncers. Earlier, one short leg was enough to bowl bouncers.

ScorecardSam Northeast stood out at Chelmsford with a memorable hundred•Getty Images

A magnificent century from Sam Northeast was the highlight of the day as Essex and Kent battled it out for supremacy in their crucial Division Two battle.After Northeast had rescued his side with a superb 117 to give them some respectability in a total of 198 all out, Darren Stevens picked up three wickets as Essex found run-gathering far from an easy task on a day when 14 wickets fell for a total of 295 runs.The visitors were soon left regretting choosing to bat first on a pitch tinged with green and certainly helped the seam bowlers in the morning session.This was confirmed by Kent losing half their side for only 37 runs before the 18th over was completed.David Masters, playing against his old county, was chiefly responsible for their demise as he found enough movement and occasional lift to pose persistent problems.His opening spell of seven overs saw him remove Rob Key, Ben Harmison and Brendan Nash for a mere 11 runs, and his figures would have made for more impressive reading had not Stevens dispatched him for an on-side six.Stevens, who has so often been a thorn in Essex’s side in the past, was to fall lbw to medium-fast Jamie Porter who was making his debut for the county following a number of good performances in the second XI.The other early victim was Daniel Bell-Drummond, who edged Jesse Ryder to Tom Westley in the slips, but Northeast and Sam Billings were to save Kent from utter catastrophe as they shared a sixth wicket stand of 83 in 25 overs.Billings was adept at punishing anything well-pitched up as he helped himself to eight fours and one six while making 51 before Graham Napier trapped him lbw.Thereafter, it was Northeast who lit up the stage with a series of punishing strokes either side of the wicket and he so dominated proceedings after losing Billings that he scored 74 of the remaining 78 runs.He reached a deserved century with a mid-wicket six off left-arm spinner Monty Panesar and also laced his innings with 15 fours before he was last out, caught on the long-on boundary by Panesar when attacking Ryder.His 117 came off 151 deliveries and it was his third century of the campaign. Masters and Napier proved the most productive of the home attack each claiming 3 for 44 with Napier picking up two wickets in three balls.With both counties still nursing hopes, albeit slim, of claiming a promotion place, Essex will have been well satisfied in dismissing Kent for under 200 and denying them a bonus point.But they did not get off to the best of starts in reply, Tom Westley departing without a run on the board when he was caught low down by a diving Harmison in the slips to provide Mitch Claydon with an early success.Then it was the turn of Stevens to make an impact as he so often does in matches between these two teams. He started by removing Jaik Mickleburgh lbw for 15 and then tempted Ravi Bopara into a loose shot to a wideish delivery that finished up in the hands of Tredwell in the slips before finding the edge to have Nick Browne caught behind for 28.That left Essex on 67 for 4 but they managed to steer clear of further trouble as they moved to 97 for 4 by the close to leave themselves 101 runs behind going into the second day.Essex head coach Paul Grayson said: “It’s probably honours even at the end of the day. It was an interesting morning with the ball moving around in the conditions. We would like to have bowled them out for a few less but Sam Northeast played brilliantly and Sam Billings counter-attacked us a little bit.Kent bowler Tredwell said: “After winning the toss, things didn’t start as we would have liked. It looked a good wicket when we won the toss but we quickly changed our opinion.”