All posts by csb10.top

ScorecardTitle-chasing Kent will require a backs-to-the-wall batting effort on Sunday if they are to protect their unbeaten Division Two status after tomorrow’s final day of their Specsavers County Championship clash with Durham in Canterbury.Having been set an unlikely victory pursuit of 484 in a minimum of 90 overs, the hosts started their second innings just after 5.30pm and went in unscathed at stumps on 35 for nought – still needing 449 for an unlikely win.Openers Daniel Bell-Drummond and Sean Dickson escaped the 30-minute examination without alarm despite a pitch that is waring and beginning to show signs of variable bounce.A Durham victory would finally take them above zero after they began the season with a 48-point penalty from the ECB.Kent had started the day hanging on grimly in their first innings with skipper Sam Northeast leading their fight to avoid the follow-on. However, Paul Collingwood’s side needed only 12 overs and 50 minutes’ play to mop up Kent’s two remaining first-inning’s wickets and secure a 212-run lead.Barry McCarthy polished the job off by having Yasir Shah caught behind by a tumbling Stuart Poynter for 48 and then, with his next delivery, snaring Mitchell Claydon lbw with the home score on 236.Debutant Shah featured in a ninth-wicket stand worth 113 in 34.2 overs with his new captain Northeast, who was left unbeaten on 109 after posting his 18th first-class hundred from 162 balls and with 13 fours.McCarthy finished with a career-best 6 for 63, while Chris Rushworth bagged 3 for 69 in a much-improved Durham bowling performance.Batting again before noon and after deciding not to enforce the follow-on, Durham suffered a near immediate blow with the loss of left-handed opener Keaton Jennings.Prodding half-forward and inside the line of Darren Stevens’ first delivery, an off-cutter, the ball thudded into the right pad forcing umpire Jeff Evans to raise his finger.Paul Collingwood has put Durham in sight of their first win•Getty Images

Stephen Cook needed a stroke of luck to survive with his score on 25. Driving loosely at one from Will Gidman he watched as Matt Coles, at second slip, dropped a tough chance diving in front of first slip.After lunch, Durham continued at a surprisingly sedate pace, adding 100 in the mid-session for the loss of Stephen Cook who, with his score on 44, fenced at one from Claydon to edge to the keeper.Kent’s short-leg fielder Dickson went off for treatment just before tea when Graham Clark’s full-blooded sweep against Yasir Shah struck him a fearful blow at the back of his neck and immediately drew blood. Thankfully, the South Africa-born player emerged after the interval to take up a fielding spot on the ropes as Durham started to increase their run rate.Cameron Steel miscued a hook against Coles to hole out to mid-wicket, then Clark, after reaching an 81-ball 50, was bowled around his legs by Shah.In the quest for quicker runs Ryan Pringle was stumped off the bowling of Joe Denly and Stuart Poynter holed out to deep square leg to gift Yasir Shah his second scalp of the innings.Paul Collingwood upped the tempo further with a 49-ball, unbeaten 50 that took his side to 271 for six before his declaration with 10 overs remaining in the day.

ScorecardJofra Archer was in the wickets for Sussex [file picture]•Getty Images

Another eye-catching performance from Jofra Archer allowed Sussex to glimpse an improbable fourth championship victory over Gloucestershire at Hove.Gloucestershire had been set 351 to win in 75 overs – a motorway maximum of seventy an hour over five hours.At lunch, at 30 for three, they were out of it. Once again Archer had been at the heart of the Sussex challenge, with two wickets. He had Chris Dent caught behind and then plucked out Gareth Roderick’s off stump with a snorter in the last over before the break. Abi Sakande had taken the first wicket, bowling Cameron Bancroft for 13.After lunch it was Archer the fielder who inspired his side, with two magnificent catches at long-leg off the bowling of Chris Jordan. First he dismissed Phil Mustard, high above his head and inches away from the ropes. Then, just before tea, he pulled off an even better one, this time diving forward to catch George Hankins. The obdurate Hankins had provided Gloucestershire’s main middle-order resistance, with a two-hour 51.That left Gloucestershire in serious danger of defeat, at 117 for six with one session to go. But Jack Taylor played a feisty innings in the gloaming, scoring 69 not out, and they did not lose another wicket.Gloucestershire had declared their first innings overnight, on 150 for one, conceding a disadvantage of 208 runs.When Sussex batted in their second innings it resembled the sort of pre-declaration bowling that was so common on Tuesdays and Fridays in the days of three-day cricket.But with 150 overs lost to bad weather, including the whole of the second day, both sides needed to do something positive to produce the excellent finish we saw on Thursday.Sussex thrashed 142 from 18.1 overs in their second knock, for the loss of just one wicket. It took them only 55 minutes. Harry Finch scored 74 from 59 balls, with a dozen fours, and Luke Wells hit five fours and a six in his 44.The bowling, though, was very friendly, opened by Will Tavare and Bancroft, a fine young batsman, an occasional wicket-keeper but only a very occasional bowler, with only six balls in first class cricket before this spell, in which he conceded 67 runs from seven overs. Some lobbed-up leg-breaks from Mustard added to the general geniality of the attack. But it all contributed to an absorbing conclusion.

1:14

County Championship round-up: Yorkshire crumble against Essex

Nothing if not courteous, Lancashire’s batsmen left it to each other to score runs on the first day of this game; nothing, if not careless, most of the recipients turned down their invitations.Ryan McLaren’s team thus surrendered the opportunity afforded them by winning the toss and having first use of a sanded pitch. Hampshire’s bowlers, whether seam, swing or spin, seized their own opportunities gleefully and Lancashire’s total of 149 looked insufficient well before James Vince made 40 off 46 balls in the evening sunlight.But if Vince’s cover drives and glides are pleasing on the eye, his batting does not always suggest permanence and Hampshire’s No 4 perished an hour before the close when he skied a pull off Kyle Jarvis to Stephen Parry at midwicket. Indeed, Vince was one of five batsmen removed by Lancashire’s bowlers in a long evening session at the end of which the home side’s deficit was only two runs.Everyone was left to reflect on a day in which a total of eight top-five batsmen had reached double figures but only two had made more than 30, none passing 50. A rather short game is thus in prospect and perhaps a close one but hardly a contest which suggests that four-day batting is flourishing at present.Such an assessment probably takes insufficient account of a Rose Bowl pitch which is already offering bounce and turn and it certainly pays miserly credit to the bowlers on each side.Yet perhaps the batsmen’s problems are also a consequence of the fact that they have played no first-class cricket over the past month. Some have played only T20 and Liam Livingstone’s heave across the line to Kyle Abbott just after lunch certainly seemed more like one of the desperate remedies required by the short form.But Livingstone was by no means the only occupant of Glen Chapple’s crowded naughty step; Dane Vilas’s wild cut to a ball from Ian Holland and Jos Buttler’s loose push to a delivery from Fidel Edwards which snaked through the gate were also out of keeping with the requirements of the day. Indeed they were lowlights of a long period either side of lunch in which Lancashire lost all their wickets for 110 runs.But the impact of T20’s placement in the current schedule is wider than that; it should be noted that 53 wickets fell on the opening day of the three current Division One games. Helpful pitches and fine bowling may explain some of them but the impact of spending a month manufacturing weird but effective shots to good balls may also have a part to play. Perhaps the proper role for the glorious entertainment that T20 often has yet to be found.Haseeb Hameed found no release from an unproductive season•Getty Images

For some the problem is of a rather different nature. Deprived of long-form first-class cricket and deemed surplus to requirements in the T20 stuff, some Lancashire and Hampshire batsmen have played second team or Premier League cricket; others may even have been reduced to asking their dads to bowl at them in the back garden but since this is how Haseeb Hameed learned the lessons that helped make him a Test batsman in the first place, perhaps no one should complain. It is rarely wise to mess with Boltonian legends.It was noticeable, however, that the most tranquil and productive period in Lancashire’s innings was the first hour of the morning when Hameed and Alex Davies, neither of whom have played T20, were adding 39 runs in 14.2 overs. That partnership ended when Hameed, having scored 6 off 39 balls, drove at a wide outswinger from Edwards and gave a waist-high catch to Jimmy Adams at second slip. The England opener has yet to rediscover the blissful rhythms of Rajkot and Mohali. The selectors will have to carry on watching him hopefully for a while yet.The similarly redoubtable Davies went on to make 36 before he was beaten by a fine ball from Liam Dawson and edged a catch to Sean Ervine at slip. The remainder of Lancashire’s innings suggested little but impermanence. Shiv Chanderpaul, the one batsman for whom adhesion is an article of faith, was run out by Buttler when called for a sharp single to Mason Crane at backward point.Lancashire then lost their last five wickets in 11 overs and their last three in eight balls. By mid-afternoon skipper Steven Croft may have been regretting his decision to drop himself for this game.Crane took three of the last five wickets but just as valuable to Hampshire’s effort was Dawson, who bowled 17 accurate, probing overs either side of lunch at a cost of only 42 runs. He, as much as Abbott, Edwards or Gareth Berg, deserved the applause of the home supporters in the Rod Bransgrove pavilion.Hampshire delight was quelled a little by the loss of both Jimmy Adams and Lewis McManus to Lancashire’s new ball bowlers inside the first nine overs of the home side’s innings. But Vince revived their spirits and Dawson – not needed by England but invaluable to his county – was still there to steady the ship after George Bailey had been caught at slip off Matt Parkinson for 22. It is advantage Hampshire but not by much.

The biggest media rights deal in cricket means that the IPL’s eight franchises have had their finances doubled with the stroke of a pen, even before they formulate plans for the 11th season of the league.Going forward, each IPL franchise will pocket INR 150 crore (US$ 23.4 million) from the central-revenue pool, twice the amount they had been working with in the first ten seasons. Each franchise, as a result, is likely to have a profit of about INR 50 crore (approx US$ 7.8 million) per season for the next five years.This doubling of revenue is the result of the BCCI’s two whopping five-year contracts signed around the IPL this year: Star India paid INR 16,347.50 crore (approx US$ 2.55 billion) for the media rights this week, and Chinese mobile manufacturer Vivo retained the IPL title rights in June by paying INR 2199 crore (approx US$ 341 million).Without accounting for any other sponsorship deals the IPL has struck, based on the Star India and Vivo monies alone, the overall central revenue pool would be around INR 3500 crore (approx US$ 546 million) per season, after offsetting the operations costs of around INR 200 crore (approx US$ 31.2 million).A revenue-sharing agreement was central to the original contracts signed between the BCCI and IPL franchise owners for the first ten years. The franchises were assured a percentage share of the income from central rights, after deduction of franchise fees. Between 2008 and 2012, franchises got 80% of the income from central rights and between 2013-17 it was reduced to 60%.From the 2018 season onwards, under the new rights deals, franchises will receive 50% share of the central-rights income, which amounts to about INR 1750 crore (approx US$ 273 million) and is split across the eight franchises – that is, about INR 218 crore (approx US$ 34 million) per team. Of this, 45% is the standard franchise share while the remaining 5% is variable based on where the franchise finishes at the end of the season.Also, from next year, the old franchise fee has been re-defined. Previously the owners paid 10% of the amount they had originally paid to procure the franchise in 2008 as an annual fee. From 2018, the BCCI will charge a 20% levy on the franchise’s overall revenue. The overall revenues not only comprise the money the franchise gets from sponsorship, ticketing and any other ancillary contracts, but also the IPL central-pool payment derived from the media-rights income.Following the BCCI’s mega IPL deals, the franchises are likely to pocket at least three times more in profits than in previous seasons•Associated Press

Till now, the average overall revenue for franchises has been in the region of INR 200-250 crore (approx US$ 31.2-39 million). With the injection of more funds derived from the Star India and Vivo deals, if we peg the overall revenue at about INR 280 crore (approx US$ 43.68 million), each franchise would then need to pay INR 56 crore back to the BCCI as the required fee of 20% their income. Despite this, even accounting for player payments and operations costs, it would leave the franchises richer by at least INR 40-50 crore (approx US$ 6.2-7.8 million) on average.In the first ten seasons of the IPL, the franchises’ central-rights income had been in the range of INR 70-85 crore (approx US$ 11-13 million) with some of them making a modest surplus of a bit more than INR 15 crore (approx US$ 2.34 million) at the end of the year. In the wake of the mega deals struck by the BCCI, the surplus is likely to be at least three times that figure. While the franchises are delighted by the bonanza, they also want the BCCI to acknowledge the role they have played.Venky Mysore, the managing director of two time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders, wants close synergy between the franchises and the BCCI going forward with regards to the development of the league. “The franchises have played a very important role in the success the league has achieved and in building the value of the league,” Mysore said. “One would hope that BCCI/IPL take the franchises into confidence as important stakeholders and create greater collaboration.”At the same time, Mysore said, it was imperative that new ways be found to keep the fans’ attention on the IPL. “One of the challenges for all the franchises and the league as a whole is to keep building the fan base and to keep improving the fan experience. The attention span of fans is getting shorter and in addition there are competing entertainment options. So it is imperative for all stakeholders to be innovative in building the fan base and creating new levels of engagement.”Another benefit for franchises would be the opportunity to offset any losses accrued over the years. “It [the new media-rights deal] will help all the franchises, and if any franchise has built up losses those would be negated absolutely,” Hemant Dua, the Delhi Daredevils CEO, said. “It will help franchises build stronger and better brands, and also to provide a better fan experience.”

Of course it was spin that sealed Somerset’s victory. And of course it was Jack Leach who took the final wicket.Less than a year after his career was threatened by suggestion that his action was not legal, Leach clinched his fourth five-wicket haul of the campaign to secure his side’s third victory in the final four games of the season. As a result, he passed 50 wickets in the season and Somerset avoided relegation. Matt Maynard, Somerset’s departing director of cricket, said he “couldn’t make sense” of the decision not to take him to the Ashes.Leach wouldn’t see many pitches like this in Australia, of course. Pitches where spinners open the bowling in three of the four innings and take all 10 wickets in the fourth innings. Somerset have made a point of preparing such surfaces in the last couple of years and, in Leach and Dom Bess, they have two bowlers well equipped to take advantage.The Somerset players took a lap of honour at the end of the game. It wasn’t so much a sign that they were content with their low position in the table; more a reflection of their relief in retaining their decade-long stay in Division One (no side in the land will have been in the top division so long when the 2018 starts) and gratitude to their 2000 supporters. Cricket still matters in Taunton.This pitch was marked “below average” by the Cricket Liaison Officer (CLO), Wayne Noon, as it showed signs of “excessive turn” from the start. Crucially he could not see any uneven bounce on days one or two. As a result there will be no points deduction and Somerset’s place in Division One is assured.That isn’t quite the get out of jail free card it might appear. The ECB regulations state that, should a pitch be marked “below average” twice within a 12-month period in the same competition, penalties can be applied. While Somerset have not had another such mark this season, they will, Noon said “have to be very mindful” of their surfaces in 2018.There is a slight caveat to all this. Phil Whitticase, a senior CLO, will arrive in Taunton on Friday and conduct a further investigation into the pitch. He will, as part of that investigation, speak to the umpires and the groundsman and it remains theoretically possible that he will increase the penalty. He could also decrease it.But it would be a major surprise – and an astounding own goal from the ECB – if they should, for the second season in succession, alter the table after the campaign has finished and change the relegation positions. But, not so long ago, it seemed impossible that a hotel magnate with comic hair would become US president; life is full of surprises and not all of them are good.Adam Voges, the Middlesex captain, was frank in his assessment of the pitch. “We knew we’d get a spinning wicket,” he said. “And I’ve no problem with teams preparing pitches to suit their strengths.”But we were surprised by how much disturbance there was before a ball was bowled. There was excessive spin from ball one. There were rake marks at both ends. There should be a line and whether that line was crossed is the match-referee’s decision.”He remains more upset by the two-point deduction for a slow over rate following the crossbow incident at The Oval last month. He feels his team were assured by officials at the time that the nature of the incident would be taken into account and no penalty levelled.”It was such an extraordinary circumstance,” he said. “We had every intention to rectify our over rate and were assured at the time that it wouldn’t be an issue. Whether there is anything that can be done now is up to the administrators.”Voges admitted, though, that to leave themselves in a position where they were hurt by such moments was a reflection of their disappointing cricket over the course of the season. Champions in 2016, they end 2017 with rumours of deep dressing-room discontent. They still look a very strong side on paper, though, and might reflect in time that they have simply been victim to a league which relegates a quarter of its participants a season. Over-reaction would probably be an error.”You look at the season as a whole and it’s obviously been disappointing,” Voges said. “It’s not just the last week or the last month.”It took less than two hours to wrap-up victory on the final day. Leach and his fellow left-arm spinner, Roelof van der Merwe, utilised the conditions expertly with the latter finishing with career-best figures. Leach, in particular, bowled beautifully with his subtle and wonderfully disguised changes of pace causing many of the problems. And, for all the talk about this pitch, it wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow in Asia. England really don’t play spin very well.Marcus Trescothick salutes the crowd after Somerset secured Division One status•Getty Images

Leach may yet feature in the Ashes. He can expect to be named in the Lions party that will train in Perth as the Test series is played and, should anything befall Moeen Ali, could well be called into the Test squad if required.”I’d prefer to see him there instead of Mason Crane,” Maynard said. “Crane can’t get into the Hampshire side all the time. I can’t understand it. If he gets called into the team he won’t know anyone there. They’ve missed a trick in not picking him”One thing is sure: for Leach to recover from the low he was in only a few months ago is testament to impressive resilience. To re-model an action without missing a game and then emerge as a better, more skilful, more mature bowler bodes well for his future.He had, he admits, some “dark moments” on the Lions tour of the UAE last winter. There were times, as he tried to bowl with his new action, when he feared he might never recapture the bite and consistency of previous days. Just nine months later, he is back to winning games for his side and pushing for an England spot.”I’ve shown good resilience,” he said. “Something like that can’t be fixed overnight and, from a mental perspective more than technical, there were some dark moments on that tour. I wanted to make a really good impression but it was hard.”Now I look back on it as part of the journey. I think I’m probably a better bowler now. I can bowl a bit quicker and I’ve learned a lot. About myself and my action. At the start of the season I wasn’t sure if I could keep doing this, so to have finished with more than 50 wickets…. Yes, I’m proud of how I’ve reacted to the challenges. It was tough.”Leach was one of eight academy products in this Somerset side. Well, academy or equivalent. They didn’t have academies when Marcus Trescothick was growing up. Hell, they didn’t even have the Quantocks. But it means that Maynard’s successor – and it still seems likely that Andy Hurry will be named as such next week with Jason Kerr as his deputy – inherits strong foundations ahead of next season.”I’d love to have stayed and seen the project through,” Maynard said. “We did have discussions about me doing the head coach role, but decided there could be friction if I didn’t agree with the new director of cricket. So a settlement was agreed and we part very amicably. The club have handled it well.”The club have undergone quite a transition under Maynard. The over-reliance upon imports has improved and the trust in home-grown youth has improved. And it was his idea that Trescothick, at slip, should field on his knees to the spinners in certain circumstances. “When the ball is dying, we felt he could get that bit lower,” he explained. It wasn’t, perhaps, a perfect stay but the club went within an ace of winning that elusive first Championship title a year ago. Memories in cricket have never been shorter.It transpires the review of the club structure was led by James Taylor, the England batsman who retired through illness at the start of last season, who felt it was necessary to employ a head coach and director of cricket. Maynard, who described cricket as his passion, will now consider more “backseat” roles such as batting consultancy positions. He is unlikely to be without offers for long.So, Somerset will play in Division One in 2018. And that means Trescothick could yet fulfil that Championship-winning dream. If he does, it would be a success popular far beyond the borders of the county.

The inaugural season of Cricket South Africa’s T20 Global League, which was scheduled to begin on November 3, has been postponed to November 2018 instead.The franchises understood that the delay in securing a stable television broadcast deal and central rights sponsorship for the tournament were the main reasons for postponing the GLT20, the brainchild of former CSA CEO Haroon Lorgat who had parted ways with the board last month.

SACA expresses “concern and disappointment”

The South African Cricketers Association has called for an “independent review” into what has caused the postponement of the T20 Global League.
“This has a very significant impact on a large number of local and overseas players, all of whom have signed contracts to play in the league,” Tony Irish, chief executive of SACA, said. “Some players turned down other opportunities in order to commit themselves to these contracts. We will be looking at all implications of this for players, including what compensation should be paid to them.”
“SACA is well aware of the fact that this will also affect various other groups including franchises, coaches and stadium owners. I think it will be necessary for CSA to appoint its own independent review into what has actually transpired here as there are significant implications across South African cricket.”

ESPNcricinfo learned that CSA had informed all the eight franchises of the decision over the past few days. “We have not come to this decision lightly,” CSA’s acting CEO Thabang Moroe said. “Having discussed it with all our stakeholders including the franchise owners, we believe that the interest of the league should be our first priority. We have re-assessed our strategy and believe that postponing the first edition of the T20 Global League to next year will serve us well. We will regroup and come back stronger and better.”With less than a month to go before kickoff, the event faced numerous logistical challenges, not least the inability to secure a broadcast deal or a title sponsor, resulting in hefty financial losses. Though local broadcaster SuperSport is understood to have been close to putting pen to paper, the deal was going to be worth much less than CSA anticipated.Last week, Moroe told reporters that CSA was bracing for a $25 million loss on the first edition of the tournament, which amounted to half of the organisation’s cash reserves. He also provided an assurance that the tournament would go ahead as planned.Moroe had taken over from Lorgat, who parted ways with CSA on September 28, after his relationship with the board became untenable. The board’s unhappiness with Lorgat’s methods of organisation of the T20 Global League was one of the reasons for his departure, but one of the GLT20 franchise owners told ESPNcricinfo that Lorgat’s absence had created “much bigger challenges” in putting the tournament together, because he was its driving force.”When you know that something is not right then you should not do it,” the owner said. “We are half-prepared and it will be a bigger disaster if we go this way.”There was no indication that any of the current owners, seven of whom are from overseas, would withdraw from the event. Moroe met with the franchise owners on at least one occasion and was confident they remained committed to putting the tournament together. However, the time-frame was too short to put together an event of the quality CSA and the owners wanted.The postponement of the GLT20 leaves an enormous gap in the South African cricket calendar. For six weeks in peak summer, neither the national team nor the domestic franchises will be in action because CSA had created space for the event. Zimbabwe are due to visit South Africa over Boxing Day for a four-day, day-night match that is awaiting Test status, which means that after Bangladesh’s tour ends on October 29, South Africans will not see any live home cricket until December 26, unless a contingency plan is made.

No England wicketkeeper can have expended so much energy in the role as Matt Prior. So said the when he called time on his first-class career more than two years ago.Now Prior’s energy levels are hitting maximum again as he comes to the terms with the fact that he can no longer ignore. The vacant head coach’s role at Sussex is a job made for him.If not that precise role then something else where he can bark a few orders, lay down a few ground rules, and sort out a Sussex culture which he is adamant has become slack and unprofessional.Prior, who was part of a great Sussex era when they won three Championships between 2003 and 2007, told the Brighton on Friday: “I am passionate about Sussex cricket. I’ve spoken to a number of senior players in the last month or so, a number of coaches and staff. What I’m hearing is frightening.”Obviously things are not good. I think Sussex have become soft, if I’m honest. I don’t want to sound like I’m here as an enemy. I’m here as an ally.”Whether Rob Andrew, Sussex’s chief executive, will have the courage to recognise that Prior’s challenging persona can be channelled into something positive and long lasting remains to be seen – not many chief executives like the failings of their county to be be openly discussed. Andrew told ESPNcricinfo this week that the decision on a new head coach will not be rushed.By the time he makes it, Prior’s blood pressure could be in need of daily checks. Until then, a thick-set figure will be seen pedalling away his frustrations, uphill into the wind, down Sussex’s country lanes.When Prior retired because of persistent Achilles problems, he turned to cycling for satisfaction, founding One Pro Cycling, Britain’s first continental professional cycling team.But since the removal as head coach of Mark Davis, by mutual consent, last month, so ending a 16-year association with the club, Prior has realised that he would love nothing more than to park his bike inside the cramped and characterful Hove ground where he spent much of his career.Prior was initially coy about his ambitions, perhaps even conflicted, but he is a passionate man and he has been unable to curb his excitement, especially on Twitter where his recent pronouncements have displayed his love for a county that has lost its way.Take this, for instance, the day before Davis’ sacking:”Some big changes going on at @SussexCCC – who knows what’s gone on behind closed doors. All I do know is the culture needs to be rebuilt!”Or this, four days later:”Damage was done long before Mark Davis was put in charge. So frustrating as been saying for a long time things need to change drastically.”And, most recently, this:”For the number of people asking yes I am very keen to be involved with @SussexCCC & help the club get back to winning ways. I have spoken to a number of senior players & staff & what has been going & how a few individuals have behaved is quite frankly worrying. It needs to change.”That Prior has the experience – if not the coaching certificates – for Sussex’s top job is undeniable. He became an increasingly influential figure in the England dressing room in a career that encompassed 79 Tests and 68 ODIs between 2004 and 2014.Kevin Pietersen resented his senior professional role, and emphasis on the team ethic, deriding him as the Big Cheese in one of the most vicious personal attacks ever seen in a cricket autobiography, but then Pietersen was not the greatest fan of authority.Prior has seen Yorkshire and Lancashire make internal appointments in the past year, promoting Andrew Gale and Glen Chapple respectively as soon as their playing days were over.He has also shown in his cycling venture that he has an appetite for a challenge. The development of One Pro Cycling has not been an easy one – funding problems have caused the team to trim back plans to compete in world events, alongside Team Sky, and return to continental level and rosters have also been cut – but the extent of Prior’s sporting ambition has been clear. He knows what he wants to achieve and tends to take the direct approach to getting there.”I’ve learned about the real world – the world outside cricket,” he said.As a player, too, he has had the opportunity to study the various approaches of Peter Moores, both with Sussex and England, Duncan Fletcher and Andy Flower.As Moores turned a largely homegrown Sussex side into one of the best-drilled sides in the country, Prior commanded respect as an up-and-coming player for his drive and the enterprising way he played his cricket. The demanding leadership and sense of direction that Moores instilled in the club remains a strong influence on him.If he returned to Sussex in an influential capacity, he would not be content with a snooze in a deckchair behind the arm and an occasional burst of Sussex by the Sea.

Pacers Keon Joseph and Keemo Paul took a combined 16 wickets in the match as Guyana secured an eight-wicket victory over Barbados at home.Paul took his second first-class five-wicket haul, while Joseph took three wickets as Barbados posted 294 after electing to bat. They then returned to take four wickets each in Barbados’ second innings before half-centuries from Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Leon Johnson helped them run down a 178-run target with eight wickets to spare.Having lost the toss, Guyana won the early exchanges, with Joseph snaring three wickets in a new-ball burst that reduced Barbados to 32 for 3. A 78-run fourth-wicket stand between Kevin Stoute followed, which ended with a run out of Moseley. Stoute fell for 47 to left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie as Barbados lost half their side for 123. Then came the substantial partnership of the match, between Kenroy Williams (68) and Justin Greaves, who top-scored with 72. The duo’s sixth-wicket stand of 121 hauled Barbados close to the 250 mark before Paul wiped out the lower order as Barbados lost five wickets for 50 runs to be bowled out for 294.Tagenarine (52) and Chandrapaul Hemraj (79) kickstarted Guyana’s replay with half-centuries and a 115-run first-wicket partnership. Barbados chipped away at the wickets thereafter, but Gudakesh Motie’s unbeaten 72 steered them to 314 all out. Ashley Nurse and Jomel Warrican took three wickets each.Joseph and Paul quickly reduced Barbados to 109 for 7 in the second innings. Jonathan Carter prolonged the innings with 53 and a ninth-wicket stand of 86 with Mario Rampersaud, before Barbados folded for 197.Chanderpaul and Johnson, the Guyana captain, took their team close to the target with a second-wicket partnership of 117 after Hemraj’s dismissal for 21. Johnson was bowled by Harding for 61 with Guyana 25 away from the target, but Tagenarine (62*) and Vishaul Singh (22*) sealed Guyana their fourth win in five matches.

On a quiet Tuesday, as the Cape Town suburbs poured into offices in town, four India players woke up nice and early, packed their bags, and made their way to the Newlands nets. This is rare for Indian teams to do: to go straight into the nets after a defeat. The players in the nets were those who didn’t play in the XI – KL Rahul, Ajinkya Rahane, Parthiv Patel and Ishant Sharma – but, still, it is a move that suggests India realise they need all the help they can muster after their batting struggled badly and their bowlers let the game slip before making a stellar comeback.This is something that should please traditionalists such as Sunil Gavaskar who keep asking India to go to the nets and prepare harder after losing. The team’s refrain usually has been: “What will an extra nets session achieve?” The team didn’t even train a day before this Test, sending Sanjay Bangar, the batting coach, to look at the pitch and address the pre-match press conference, which is usually handled by the captain.The four players who turned up for nets could well be called upon in the rest of the series. Rahane seemed a certainty to start in Cape Town, but lost out to Rohit Sharma based on “current form”. As Shikhar Dhawan struggled with his “minor injury” at the start of the tour, Rahul would have thought he would make the playing XI, but Dhawan recovered, and his left-handness prevailed. Ishant was not well three days before the Test, but the team management says that was not the reason he was left out to make way for Jasprit Bumrah. Parthiv could be a left-field choice if Wriddhiman Saha continues to struggle against quick bowling.The order in the nets was unusual. One was kept for throwdowns from Bangar, throwdown specialist Raghavindra and fielding coach R Sridhar. The other net was where Ishant and the net bowlers bowled. Two batsmen would go into the nets, and the third would wait outside. They would face an over each and switch: the idle batsman would take one of the nets, the batsman in that net would switch to the other net, and the remaining batsman would watch from the outside.Ishant bowled with new balls, and the throwdowns were intense, not shy of bouncing the batsmen. This could be more of an individual enterprise than a team order for players who feel they could be asked to play as the series wears on. If they are going to be asked to play, then it makes complete sense to prepare as hard as they can, because the word around is that the pitches up in the north are going to test India even more without necessarily seaming as much as the one in Cape Town did.If Rahul comes in, he will have to replace Dhawan. To fit Rahane in could be trickier because Rohit now has only had one chance. Ishant’s selection, too, may pose a few challenges, considering Bumrah made an impressive comeback in the second innings of the Newlands Test. If he plays as the fourth specialist fast bowler, that could further weaken the batting. The decisions only become tougher as India travel north, but it seems they want everybody prepared should those changes be made.

New Zealand were too slow to adjust to the nature of the Sydney pitch according to Ross Taylor who thought a total of 140 would have given them a fighting chance.Three wickets in the first four overs – including two from Billy Stanlake’s opening two deliveries – set back New Zealand’s innings to such an extent that they could only limp to 9 for 117 with Australia cantering to a rain-adjusted target to take the opening points of the Trans-Tasman tri-series.The start of Stanlake’s spell was the most eye-catching period of the match as he pushed the speedgun over 150kph, dismissing Colin Munro first ball then producing an unplayable delivery to take Martin Guptill’s off stump.Munro is given licence to attack at the top of New Zealand’s limited-overs line-ups, but didn’t give himself a sighter against Stanlake when he top-edged a short ball and, while Guptill could do little about his delivery, Tom Bruce then top-edged another short ball to long leg in Stanlake’s second over.”We probably didn’t assess conditions well enough, Australia bowled very well and there was a little in the wicket but we weren’t able to soak that up,” Taylor said. “Don’t know it was 160-170 wicket but if we’d scrapped our way to 140 we might have been a chance.”With New Zealand’s two top-order strikers gone in two deliveries, boundaries were hard to come by to the extent that there was just one in the Powerplay after the opening over – and that was an edge fine of slip by Taylor – as captain David Warner gave Stanlake three of his four overs on the bounce.”I thought he bowled very well and those were two big wickets with his first two balls set the tone for their innings and our batting,” Taylor said. “He’s bowled very well in the Big Bash, it wasn’t a quick wicket here but he bowled well with good pace and will be one to watch in the future for sure.”Kane Williamson soaked up 21 deliveries for his 8 before getting a leading edge into the covers and Taylor was left to hold the innings together. Tom Blundell was promoted up the order to try and ensure the innings went deep to allow Colin de Grandhomme, who finished as the top-scorer with 38 off 24 balls, the freedom to attack later on.Taylor edged Ashton Agar’s final delivery to depart for 24 off 35 balls – New Zealand’s second-slowest 20-plus score in T20Is – while de Grandhomme clubbed three of the four sixes New Zealand managed, but Taylor rejected any suggestion that the difficulty in clearing the rope was because of the transition from the small grounds in New Zealand.”You just have to back yourself that you are doing the right thing at the time, try to eliminate the dot balls. Each time we lost a wicket we had to hold back and take it as deep as possible. I think it was more the wicket than the size of the boundary… the slower balls stuck in the wicket.”