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James Pattinson is licking his lips at the prospect of returning to Australia’s Test team on a pitch that should offer him – and his sore shins – some assistance. Pattinson appears almost certain to replace the injured Peter Siddle for the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch after he bowled in the nets on Thursday and came through the session seemingly unscathed.He had been ruled out of the first Test in Wellington as the selectors were not convinced his body would stand up to the rigours of a Test match after he had spent much of the previous month sidelined by shin soreness. Pattinson had returned for Victoria two weeks ago but bowled only 21.3 overs in a Sheffield Shield game before Cricket Australia withdrew him and flew him to New Zealand.But instead of playing him in the Test, Australia chose to keep Pattinson training in the Basin Reserve nets to prove that he could get through a full match with the view to having him available at Hagley Oval. As it happened, his workload in the nets was even higher than that of Jackson Bird, Mitchell Marsh and Siddle in the Test win.”I got through a fair bit, I think I bowled close to 35 overs last week in the nets, which is a substantial amount in the nets,” Pattinson said in Christchurch on Thursday. “So I’m full of confidence now, knowing I can get through this game and it was pleasing – because in the nets I probably bowled the best I have over the last six months. I’m starting to feel really good with my action and physically I felt really good too.”I’ve had sore shins for a while. With the grounds in Australia the wickets have been really hard. I’ve had sore shins for most of the year and it probably just got a little bit worse. So I think with shins it’s just about managing them. If you do keep playing with them, they can turn into fractures, which is something I didn’t want to happen. So it’s about managing them and now I’m feeling really good.”Pattinson looked fired up while bowling in the Basin Reserve nets before the Wellington Test, bouncing several of the Australian batsmen, but nothing could convince the selectors to take a punt on him and they opted instead for Siddle and Bird. Pattinson said he understood why the decision had been made, and the plan had always been for him to aim for full fitness by the second Test.”I was a little bit sore,” he said. “I probably thought I could have tried to get through but again being the first Test of the series – we sort of sat down before, when I first started back planning. I probably was trying to aim for the second Test and then if we got the first Test it’d be a bonus. So being the first Test in a big series, we just took the cautious approach.”It wasn’t ideal when Sidds went down and it wouldn’t have been good if I played and went down in the first Test as well, having two down. So it’s probably worked out really well for us … I’m ready to go. I had a good workout in the nets last week. Ready to go, feeling really good and excited if I get the call-up.”Pattinson was productive in the home Test summer after coming in for the series against West Indies and collecting 13 wickets at 22.46, not that there was significant assistance for Australia’s bowlers on the flat home pitches this season. They found some sideways movement on the green Basin Reserve pitch on the first morning and Pattinson has no problem with New Zealand coach Mike Hesson asking for an even greener surface at Hagley Oval.”As fast bowlers we’ve had to work hard for our wickets over the last six months in Australia, the wickets have been quite flat,” Pattinson said. “We come over here and we’ve got some green wickets. We’re licking our lips, which is great. I know all the bowlers are pretty pumped and I think the green wicket should play into our hands pretty well, hopefully.”

Charges against Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, who had been chargesheeted by the Delhi Police for the IPL 2013 corruption scandal, were dropped by a trial court in Delhi on Saturday. The court’s decision, however, did not have an impact on the life bans imposed by the BCCI on Sreesanth and Chavan. The three were among 42 individuals released by the court on grounds of lack of sufficient evidence for prosecution under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).The three cricketers were arrested in May-June 2013 for their alleged involvement in betting and spot-fixing during the IPL. While Sreesanth and Chavan were granted bail within a month, Chandila had to spend more than three months in prison before he was released on bail. The BCCI banned Sreesanth and Chavan in September 2013, while Chandila’s case is pending before the board’s disciplinary committee.

Civil consequences will continue to affect cricketers

Suhrith Parthasarathy, a lawyer told ESPNcricinfo that the trial court’s decision would have little impact on the ‘civil consequences’ faced by the cricketers.
“They were charged under a law that was meant to deal with organised crime in Maharashtra and the charges have been cleared because the prosecution was unable to produce before the court sufficient evidence to prove their charges,” Parthasarathy told ESPNcricinfo,”In criminal law, the kind of evidence the prosecution needs to bring to court is a kind of evidence that shows beyond reasonable doubt that these individuals had committed the offences under the MCOCA. Obviously the Delhi Police was unable to do it in this case and therefore the court has cleared them of all these charges. This does not mean that the other civil consequences that Sreesanth and the other cricketers would face follow. Those would continue to apply.
“Obviously Sreesanth and the others will try and go to the BCCI and say, look the criminal court has cleared us of charges now you also overturn the life ban. The BCCI can still say that under our regulations, we believe you have committed spot-fixing. The balance of probability shows that you have committed the offence and therefore we are not overturning the life ban.”

With the absence of a specific criminal law to deal with spot-fixing in India, the cricketers were chargesheeted for offences under the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the MCOCA. The court, however, said there was not enough evidence for charges to be framed under the MCOCA, a special law passed by the Maharashtra state government to tackle organised crime syndicates and terrorism which contains far stricter provisions relating to bail and admissibility of confessions compared to the Indian Penal Code.In its reaction to the court’s decision, the BCCI said its disciplinary action would remain unaltered. “Any disciplinary proceeding or decision taken by the BCCI is independent to any criminal proceeding and has no bearing. The decisions of the BCCI, based on its independent disciplinary action, shall remain unaltered,” the board said in a press release.The three cricketers, were, however, hopeful of returning to the game. Sreesanth said he wanted to start training as soon as possible to get back into the selection process. “I’m very, very happy. I want to thank God,” he said. “I will try to start training properly as soon as possible, I wasn’t allowed anything. Hopefully I can get permission from BCCI to use their facilities so that I can get fit and come into the selection process.”Reacting to the court’s decision, Chandila said the period following the spot-fixing scandal was “the worst of my life”.Chavan also expressed hope of returning to the game: “So far I just know that I have been given a discharge and now I am looking forward to play cricket. So let’s see how it goes. I am taking it step by step. It was tough for me as a cricketer. It was a tough time but I got through with support from family and friends. I am sure I will be back to cricket again.”

They worried Sri Lanka with a rousing batting recovery, startled South Africa with a barnstorming start in a big chase, and left England gasping with their spin bowling. Three Super 10 matches against three Full Members, and Afghanistan created chances of winning each of them. They eventually fell short all three times, but the displays have only strengthened their belief that beating top opposition is not a distant prospect.On Sunday, Afghanistan will end their World T20 with a meeting against West Indies, who top their group with three wins in three matches. Afghanistan will be up against, perhaps, the most power-packed batting line-up they have faced in the tournament.But in Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shenwari and Hamza Hotak, Afghanistan have enough depth in the spin department to make life difficult for batsmen reliant on big shots on a slow pitch and one of the bigger outfields in Indian cricket. Afghanistan have played three matches at the VCA Stadium before, in the first round, and though they faced far weaker opposition at that stage of the tournament, they know the conditions.”Definitely, their batting is very [strong], but we have a very good spin department,” Asghar Stanikzai, Afghanistan’s captain, said on the eve of the match. “So where we can restrict them is, we will try to depend more on spinners, since the boundaries over here are longer and hitting the spinners will not be that easy. They are good strikers of the ball but we play good cricket, and are not just trying to give them a tough time but we are here to go back with at least one win [from the Super 10 stage].”Afghanistan have made massive strides since their first appearance at a world event in 2010, and Stanikzai said they were no longer content simply with pushing big teams hard. He was particularly disappointed that they had let strong positions slip against Sri Lanka and England, and said Afghanistan were close to being a “serious team” that would win matches regularly.”When we first appeared in that [2010 World T20] in West Indies, we were only thinking that we are playing with big names and most of us were very impressed with the players around,” Stanikzai said. “This time we are not only participating in this tournament but we were serious about it.”If you see our last three matches, especially against Sri Lanka and England, we have played very good cricket. To be honest, we could have won those games because we knew the strength of our team, but somehow we made mistakes and that’s why we couldn’t finish on a winning note. If you compare between 2010 and 2016, there is a lot of difference in the Afghanistan team, and in the next one or two years we will be a serious team and beat these Full Members very easily, as we have potential.”West Indies are already through to the semi-finals, but their coach Phil Simmons knows they cannot take Afghanistan lightly.”They’ve played well in all the games,” he said. “They’ve batted really well, [especially when] they were chasing a big score against South Africa, who we played yesterday. So they’ve been playing well and I know them from before [Simmons was Ireland’s coach from 2007 to 2015], so I know that they’re going to come to try and win. So we’ve got to just play properly.”While Afghanistan are clearly a team on an upward curve, there are fears that West Indies are heading in the opposite direction. They have failed to qualify for the ODI Champions Trophy in 2017, and have struggled in Test cricket for a number of years. They have been among the best T20 sides in the world, as their displays in this tournament have suggested, but some of their biggest stars in the format, including Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy, are in their 30s and could possibly be playing at their last ICC event.Simmons disagreed with the pessimistic view of the future, pointing to the fact that Bravo and Sammy are only in their early 30s, the fact that the current squad has performed so well while missing Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons and Sunil Narine, and the fact that West Indies have just won the Under-19 World Cup.”I’m not too sure how you write off guys at 30, 32 and 33,” Simmons said. “But to answer your question, yes, you can see it in the amount of players we have missing here. You see it in the young players coming up. You saw it in the Under-19 squad and you see it in the CPL at home, so it’s going to keep coming for a long time to come.”

The PCB has taken a step towards establishing a biomechanics facility in the country by forming a partnership with Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and giving them $460,000 worth of equipment for three years. The equipment had been lying unused at the National Cricket Academy for the last eight years but will become operational from June.Pakistan have had severe issues with suspect bowling actions in the recent past. Saeed Ajmal has become a diminished force after he rectified an illegal action, and Mohammad Hafeez is presently serving a one-year suspension before he can have his action retested. The project would be a move in the right direction towards preventing such problems, but a drawback is that LUMS – like most other institutes in Pakistan – has no experience in sports sciences and biomechanics studies. The PCB and the university are hoping to break new ground in the country.”As you are aware the equipment has been unused for the last eight years and giving it to LUMS is for the sole purpose of making it functional rather than leaving it to become obsolete,” the PCB told ESPNcricinfo. “There is no agreement but a memorandum of understanding, which was vetted by PCB and LUMS’ lawyers. The MoU allows the transfer of equipment to LUMS and its use by faculty. It retains the PCB’s ownership of the equipment, which can be taken back whenever PCB so requires. The MoU allows both organisations to benefit mutually – PCB through operationalising a biomechanics laboratory and LUMS through the enormous research potential the lab holds.”The project will be driven by LUMS engineering laboratory director, Ahmed Kamal Nasir, a PhD in mobile robotics, and Mian Muhammad Awais, a professor of artificial intelligence. “We know our limitations but LUMS is very well placed with extensive connections with other universities – both local and foreign,” Awais told ESPNcrcinfo. “Therefore, this consortium will act as a magnet for those wanting to do research in biomechanics and will ensure a wide catchment area for experts.”Just because the lab is based in LUMS it does not mean that experts from elsewhere will not be able to come and use the equipment and provide their expertise. Eventually, not only PCB will benefit but our educational system will also grow in this field.”Pakistan could have been the first Asian country to have a high-profile biomechanics facility, but construction of the laboratory where the equipment was to be housed was suspended after an audit revealed financial mismanagement

There are presently five ICC accredited labs – in Brisbane, Chennai, Cardiff, Loughborough and Pretoria – where bowlers can go to test their actions and work on them. These labs are centres of biomechanical studies with expert personnel, with some offering a range of courses in sports sciences, motion analysis and biomechanics. LUMS, however, does not have this expertise as yet.Pakistan could have been the first Asian country to have a high-profile biomechanics facility had the equipment procured when Nasim Ashraf was PCB chairman been installed as planned by December 2008. The project, however, was put on hold by Ijaz Butt during his term as PCB chairman because an audit revealed financial mismanagement. As a result, the construction of the laboratory where the equipment was to be housed was suspended.Zaka Ashraf, during his term as PCB head, attempted to make the NCA a centre of excellence for cricket and also brought Pakistan’s only renowned biomechanist at the time – Hafsa Zaneb – on board. But the legal tussle between Ashraf and Najam Sethi in 2013 stalled the building of the facility.”When I contacted them in 2012, they had the equipment but not the physical facility. Biomechanics lab construction was halted,” Zaneb told ESPNcricinfo. “So initially we only discussed the possibilities about the functionality of a future lab, and how we could use the lab and equipment commercially too. They thought that construction will take about a year, and by then we can get other things such as human resource and training component ready.”After this understanding was achieved, my contact was with Dr Sohail Saleem [PCB former head of sports medicine] only. Dr Saleem may know better why PCB cut off that contact but one reason could be that the lab was not ready then till late 2014.”The construction had begun and was meant to be finished by March 2015 but hit more hurdles related to alleged financial fraud and was not completed. In the meantime the equipment, which was said to be state of the art when purchased, remained unused and ESPNcricinfo was told that two of the 18 cameras sustained damage, while others had software that had become outdated.The decision to try and revive the lab was made after a number of bowlers on the domestic circuit were suspected to have illegal bowling actions.

Deepak Shodhan, the first Indian to make a Test century in his debut innings, has died aged 87. He was India’s oldest living Test cricketer.Shodhan passed away at his residence in Ahmedabad. He had been suffering from lung cancer, which was detected in February this year. The funeral was scheduled for 11 am on Monday.An attractive left-hand batsman who bowled left-arm pace as well, Shodhan was given his first India cap at 25, against Pakistan at Eden Gardens in 1952, and made an immediate impact. He walked in at No. 8, with the score on 179 for 6 and no specialist batsmen left, and he walked out with 110 against his name. India claimed a lead of 140 runs, but the match ended in a draw.”I was in the reserves for the series against Pakistan in 1952-53, the historic first Test series between our two newly independent nations,” Shodhan had said in a recent interview. “In the final Test match, at Calcutta, I was drafted into the playing XI after our captain Vijay Hazare pulled out unwell. It was Lala Amarnath, who was captaining India in Vijay Hazare’s absence, who asked for me to be brought in – ‘that tall Gujarati boy who had done so well in the trials and other matches’.”Despite that bright start, Shodhan played only two more Tests, on a tour of West Indies in 1953. The team had journeyed to the Caribbean by a small boat, which kept tossing and turning. Everyone got sick at some point or other and Shodhan remembered being the last man standing. Having made 45 and 11 in the first Test at Port-of-Spain, he did not play the next three and was taken ill when he returned for the fifth one in Jamaica. That didn’t stop him from walking out at No. 10, after West Indies had taken a 264-run lead, to try and salvage a draw.Madhav Apte, the 83-year old former opening batsman who was part of that series, recollected Shodhan’s bravery. “He was down with flu and was admitted to the hospital and did not bat in the first innings. [In the second innings] We needed someone to waste time and delay the West Indies batting. Deepak managed to just do that and consumed enough time to help India draw that match.”Shodhan had a long domestic career, playing for Gujarat and Baroda in the Ranji Trophy and was a title-winner in 1957-58. “I loved playing cricket. My first-class career stretched on to 1962, ten years after I played my last Test match,” he had said in April. Shodhan had made his debut in 1946-47, in the same match that his older brother Jyotindra, currently 91 years old, had struck his first century.Datta Gaekwad, father of former India allrounder and coach Anshuman Gaekwad, has become India’s oldest living Test cricketer at 87 years and 202 days.

JJ Warr, the former Middlesex and England seamer who later became a cricket writer and then president of the MCC, has died at the age of 88.Warr England’s career was limited to two Tests in which he managed just a single wicket against Australia on the 1950-51 Ashes tour.His Test career was recalled late last year when his debut figures of 0 for 142 in Sydney were overtaken as the worst by an England player in their first Test by Adil Rashid’s 0 for 163 in his first innings against Pakistan in Abu DhabiAfter his brief England career, Warr remained prolific in county cricket, taking 116 wickets in the 1956 season, and finished with 956 first-class wickets at 22.79. He also captained Middlesex in the last three seasons of his career.He became a writer for the , an after dinner speaker and was MCC president in 1987-88 before being made an honorary life vice-president.

Indian domestic cricket is on the cusp of a significant change as the idea of playing the entire Ranji Trophy at neutral venues found a favourable response at the captains’ and coaches’ meeting in Dharamsala. A final decision on the matter will be taken at the BCCI’s working committee meeting on June 24.

Issues with the SG ball, umpiring raised

The issue of which balls to use in domestic cricket, which has been discussed at past meetings, was once again brought up for discussion on Wednesday. The SG balls, commonly used in domestic cricket, are known to lose shape, forcing teams to change the ball frequently.
“The problem is you change the ball so frequently,” a coach said. “Say if you are working on a certain ball, and suddenly you change it, you lose the advantage. A D-shaped ball does not offer you the same kind of swing and turn a normal-shaped ball offers. It won’t land on the seam and the bowlers won’t be able to do what they want to do. You don’t have the same feel in the hand when the ball is out of shape.”
When BCCI president Anurag Thakur asked what could be the remedy, a few of the bowlers present at the meeting asked for Dukes balls. But considering that the number of balls required is so high, Thakur observed that it would be very difficult for the BCCI to procure Dukes balls for an entire domestic season. He said that the BCCI had spoken to SG and certain changes were being made to the ball that would allow it to hold its shape for longer.
Another problem that was brought up at the meeting was the quality of domestic umpiring. The BCCI was told that the issue was aggravated on spinning and underprepared pitches where the umpires committed mistakes consistently. One of the suggestions put forward was the deployment of a referral system in domestic cricket.

The general consensus after the captains’ and coaches’ meeting, which is part of the inaugural BCCI conclave, was to try the new idea of playing on neutral pitches as that could facilitate the growth of Indian cricket and help players adapt to various conditions and challenges.”Personally, I feel that playing at neutral venues is really good,” Gujarat captain Parthiv Patel said at the end of the meeting. “You want every domestic player to be ready for the international level.”Since BCCI technical panel head Sourav Ganguly first mooted the neutral venue concept, players and coaches on the domestic circuit have come out with mixed responses. Those same concerns were raised once again at Wednesday’s meeting, which was chaired by BCCI president Anurag Thakur, who is also the president of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association. Thakur had asked captains and coaches from all five zones to put forth their views so the BCCI could use the feedback when making its final decision.According to some of the participants at the meeting, it was mentioned that for many decades teams had played on a home-and-away basis and some teams had taken unfair advantage by offering underprepared pitches. Hence, they argued, there was no harm in trying something new.Former India fast bowler and current Vidarbha coach Paras Mhambrey appeared to share this view. “If you speak about home advantage, then many a time it has not been used in the right manner. Is it good for cricket in general and for the youngsters coming through to play on such tracks? Are they growing or not? That is a call we have to take.”According to Mhambrey, a majority of states were in favour of playing on neutral pitches. “There are pros and cons and there are going to be concerns, but what is important is we need to find a balance. When you look into the whole structure, you have to by and large look at the growth of Indian cricket in general. I agree it is going to be a different challenge.”Maybe you are taking the home advantage [away], but what has happened in the last year isn’t good for cricket. Maybe when you go on tours, the conditions are not in your hand, [or] in your favour, so you [need to adapt] to different situations and conditions. By and large, for Indian cricket to prosper and have quality players coming through the system, that can be a positive step.”Some of the doubts raised at the meeting included the concern that players would be away from home for longer periods of time, and also that young players would miss out on watching quality cricketers from their home state.Playing at neutral venues as such is not a new concept: Ranji knockout matches have been played at neutral venues. But prominent players like Sachin Tendulkar did not favour the idea mainly because it deprived teams of home support.However, Parthiv felt the home crowd was not a determining factor. “A lot of people come and watch home players, but that is not a large issue. The large issue is on the field. Everyone was more or less on the same page where they were all keen to play on a neutral wicket and try and challenge themselves.”Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya agreed. “It is a good initiative,” he said. “As a coach or as a team you are always looking forward to a challenge and neutral venue is going to be a challenge. There is no doubt about that. Last year we had T20 and one-day cricket was not zonal. We played it in groups. Everyone enjoyed that new format, which brought freshness. So there is no harm in trying the neutral venues concept.”One thing that everyone agreed on at the meeting was it was wrong to play on underprepared or sub-standard pitches where matches got over in under two days. Thakur said that the BCCI would guarantee much more competitive pitches and would utilise the experts’ views to make domestic cricket better.

ScorecardMichael Klinger again led the Gloucestershire batting•Getty Images

Michael Klinger hit 95 as Gloucestershire closed in on a home tie in the NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals with a 30-run South Group victory over Essex at Cheltenham.The group leaders posted 212 for 1 on the small College Ground, Klinger receiving excellent support from Hamish Marshall and Ian Cockbain, whose unbeaten 65 came off just 35 balls.In reply, Essex made 182 for 9, Dan Lawrence top-scoring with 35 and Benny Howell taking 3 for 28 from his four overs.The result took Gloucestershire to 19 points from 13 games, while Essex remain on ten with work to do in their final four group fixtures to reach the knockout stage.Marshall, in his final Cheltenham Festival before leaving Gloucestershire at the end of the season, was the initial aggressor in an opening stand of 75 with Klinger that occupied 8.4 overs.Marshall had faced 28 balls, hitting seven boundaries when driving a return catch to Ravi Bopara. It was the only Essex success as Cockbain joined Klinger in an unbroken partnership of 137 in 11.2 overs, which delighted the 5,000 sell-out crowd.Klinger reached his half-century with a reverse sweep for four off Bopara, having faced 41 deliveries, but it was Cockbain, who produced the more explosive hitting.The consistent No. 3 batsman hit the first six of the game off Ashar Zaidi and went on to smash three more maximums and 6 fours, reaching his half-century off just 28 balls.Essex were unable to protect the short boundaries on both sides of the pitch as Klinger began to match his partner shot for shot. By the end of the innings the Gloucestershire captain had hit 13 fours and two sixes in his 57-ball knock.The visitors’ reply began badly when Matt Taylor bowled Kishen Velani for a duck in the first over and followed up by having Tom Westley caught at mid-wicket off a miscued pull shot with the total on 18 at the end of the third over.Nick Browne hit a big six over midwicket off Liam Norwell, but the Essex woes continued when Bopara was caught at short third-man off Howell and Ryan ten Doeschate was run out by Klinger’s throw to the wicketkeeper as Browne attempted a quick single to mid-wicket.It looked a very close call and ten Doeschate stood still for several second before angrily swishing his bat and walking off. At the end of the six-over Powerplay the visitors were 46 for 4.Browne was caught at deep mid-wicket off Howell to make it 58 for 5 in the eighth over. At the halfway stage of their innings Essex still required 131.Lawrence, dropped on 21, looked dangerous until, on 36, he lofted Graeme van Buuren’s left-arm spin to Cockbain at long-on. And when Zaidi was bowled by Howell aiming a big hit it was 122 for 7, with the contest as good as over.Festival time at Cheltenham•Getty Images

ScorecardAndrew Gale buckled down for his highest score of the season•Getty Images

At 9.45 on the third morning of this match the Yorkshire cricketer, Andrew Gale, strolled back to the away dressing room from the Old Trafford nets. His body cast a clear, sharp shadow as he walked across the outfield. With his batting gloves and helmet wedged neatly under his arm and the bat held rather like a lance in hand, Gale cut a faintly chivalric figure as he glanced across to the square where he has played on many occasions. Yorkshire’s skipper is an old warrior, though, and these lists hold many memories for him, not all of them congenial. “O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms…?” Rather a lot, since you ask.This has been not only a tough season for Gale but also a slightly strange one for his county. And even though he made 83, his highest score of the season, and Yorkshire avoided the follow-on, neither of those trends were lobbed out of kilter on a Monday when the cricket was watched by a good-sized crowd including – ECB panjandrums, please note – a large number of schoolchildren.Gale wanted a hundred but fell 17 short and County Championships are not won by sides battling to concede deficits of less than 150. By the close, Tom Smith and Haseeb Hameed had extended Lancashire’s 134-run first-innings lead to 204, Hameed stroking quite lovely boundaries to the cover and midwicket boundaries. While Middlesex were thrashing Durham on Monday evening, Yorkshire will almost certainly be batting two sessions or so to save the Roses match on Tuesday. Beating Nottinghamshire at Scarborough next week is looking a necessity.Moreover, while Yorkshire are the only team with a chance of winning all three trophies, their club captain, who has played only four-day games, has struggled in his quest for big runs. Gale has netted for numberless hours and declared himself in decent nick. He has played second-team cricket on slow pitches like that at Derbyshire’s Belper Meadows in an effort to get the scores that would justify his view. Yet he began this 269th Roses match with 327 Championship runs in the bank at an average of 19.23.For much of the first session, it seemed as though Gale was going to find his grail in a place as strange as Trafford. Resuming on 136 for 2, he and Alex Lees were already well set on a wicket containing few obvious ogres and they had added another 47 runs in 75 minutes before Lees was leg before to Kyle Jarvis for a hard-worked 85 when playing across a ball that held its line.Gale was batting well. His style is unlikely to inspire sonnets but he has made over eight thousand runs, so who gives a damn? There had been a cheery clump to the boundary off Jarvis long-hop and a fine drive over mid-on off Simon Kerrigan. In the first hour of the morning he added 20 runs to his overnight 36 and he had faced a Lancashire attack emboldened by their first-innings total of 594. So emboldened, indeed that one or two home players had made observations to Gale which required the brief intercession of the umpires, Paul Baldwin and David Millns. After his infamous contretemps with Ashwell Prince, Yorkshire’s captain has almost certainly had enough of conversations with Lancashire players on the Old Trafford outfield.For most of the second hour of Monday’s play, Gale was partnered by 24-year-old Melburnian Jake Lehmann, who was playing his first innings for the county. Rather than resembling his father, Darren, in any particular way, Lehmann sports a rather natty moustache vaguely reminiscent of Edwardian England. So perhaps it was not only the youngster’s fine straight boundaries off Jarvis which encouraged the watching Gale. If you are engaged in a battle for Yorkshire’s pride, it probably doesn’t harm if you’re batting with a bloke who looks like FS Jackson.Notwithstanding such reminders of yet another golden age for White Rose cricket, Gale was out five minutes before lunch when he cut Tom Smith to gully where Simon Kerrigan delightedly took his first catch in that position for Lancashire. There was an annoyed wave of the bat from Gale and a resigned departure. He needs a century, the batsman’s litmus test of achievement. It’s one more than 99 but it’s the one run that everyone notices.Throughout the morning session Lancashire had been bowling well. Steven Croft’s attack was no doubt encouraged by their side’s dominance in a fixture they have not won since 2011 and they deserved their successes. In the afternoon more were to follow as Lehmann played on to the excellent Kyle Jarvis after making a quietly impressive 46 off 53 balls. Three balls earlier Rashid had been brilliantly caught by Hameed at short leg off Kerrigan, the ball being clipped crisply at head height where the 19-year-old clutched it in two hands before scampering back to the justifiably astonished bowler.Lehmann’s dismissal left Yorkshire on 272 for 6, 73 short of the follow-on. It is doubtful, of course, whether Croft would have invited Gale to have another bat but it would have been an affront to White Rose honour had he even had the opportunity. The indignity was avoided thanks to a typically determined effort from Andy Hodd who made 43 and had taken his side to within four runs of their first objective when he was brilliantly caught by a diving Liam Livingstone, who sprinted 15 yards from slip before hurling himself forward to take the skied snare off KerriganEleven overs later Yorkshire were all out for 360 but the innings ended in perhaps unprecedented fashion when Ryan Sidebottom “walked” for a catch at the wicket off Kerrigan. For a few Yorkshire supporters, Lancastrians too, perhaps, it was as though Yorkshire’s last man had taken a page from a Shakespeare First Folio and made a paper aeroplane out of it. Most people, of course, call it honesty and it would be interesting to see what cricket might be like if the game’s often admirable ethics incorporated such behaviour.

ScorecardFile photo – Jess Jonassen broke the back of Sri Lanka’s batting with figures of 4-3-1-3•Getty Images

Australia Women capitalised on another batting implosion from Sri Lanka Women to march to a nine-wicket win in the third ODI in Colombo, taking a 3-0 lead in the series with one game left.The template of the match followed the first ODI of the series, in which Sri Lanka were bowled out for 76 well before the scheduled innings break. Unlike that game, however, on Friday they got off to a promising start after being put in to bat by Australia.Openers Prasadani Weerakkody and Nipuni Hansika added 50 runs in 11.3 overs, the first half-century stand by Sri Lanka in this series. All that effort crumbled, however, against a devastating spell from left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen, who struck three times in four overs and had miserly returns of 4-3-1-3. She accounted for Hansika, Chamari Polgampola and Sri Lanka captain Chamari Atapattu and triggered a steep decline that saw the hosts lose nine wickets for 40 runs, crumbling to 102 all out in the 37th over.The rest of the Australian attack, too, picked up wickets, with Holly Ferling and Kristen Beams taking two each.Australia barely broke into a sweat in their chase. They reached 64 for 0 in 16 overs by the time lunch was taken and needed only 11.3 overs more to wrap up the win, for the loss of Nicole Bolton for 35. Opener Elyse Villani was unbeaten on 48, surpassing her previous ODI best of 45 scored earlier this week.The fourth ODI will be played on September 25 in Colombo.