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The ECB’s proposal for a new city-based T20 competition, which had originally been slated for a launch season in 2018, may now be postponed until 2020 to coincide with a new broadcasting deal.The go-ahead to further explore the eight-team proposal was given by a 16-3 vote at the ECB board meeting at Lord’s in September, following discussions between the 18 first-class counties, the Professional Cricketers’ Association, and MCC.The ECB hierarchy, led by chairman Colin Graves and chief executive Tom Harrison, have been keen to push through a new T20 league to rival the success generated by the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big Bash, despite fears from many counties that it would undermine their raison d’etre.

Championship by night

A round of Championship matches will be played under floodlights in 2017 – possibly in late June, the brightest time of the year.
The matches will be played using pink Dukes balls, so keeping faith with the make of ball used in the county game. Dukes have yet to be tested under lights with all previous experiments using a Kookaburra.

Surrey, Kent and Sussex were reportedly the three counties who opposed the proposal, although several have since expressed reservations about the lack of detail.The original plan had been for the competition to be shown on Sky Sports for at least the first two seasons, with few England players likely to be involved due to an overlap with international commitments. However, the delayed start may now encourage a terrestrial broadcaster to come forward, in line with the ECB’s desire to use the competition as a vehicle to attract new audiences to the game.In a separate development, the ECB board today ratified a recommendation from the Cricket Committee that the option of allowing the visiting team to bowl first in County Championship fixtures should be retained for the 2017 season.The proposal caused some controversy when it was brought in for the start of the 2016 season. However, the stated aim of encouraging home counties to produce better four-day pitches – and improving the conditions for spin bowlers – were broadly considered to have been a success.The Cricket Committee – which included Yorkshire’s director of cricket Martyn Moxon, Leicestershire’s chief executive Wasim Khan and David Leatherdale, the chief executive of the PCA – studied a range of data that showed, among other factors, that a total of 10,094 overs of spin had been bowled across the season, compared to 8,643 in 2015 – the highest since 2011.Peter Wright, the chairman of the Cricket Committee, told ECB.co.uk: “In many ways the statistics merely reinforced the feeling we had been picking up around the game throughout the summer, that the experiment was working in beginning to rebalance the game.”As we stressed when we introduced the new options for visiting captains, this was not all about spin. We wanted matches to last longer, and to become more thorough preparation for international cricket.”That meant better, four-day pitches, which would mean bowlers had to work harder to take wickets, and would encourage a greater variety of bowling, whether spin in its various forms, genuine pace or reverse swing from more abrasive pitches.

Ben Stokes hailed the “most mature” performance of his career to date after saving England from a precarious position against Bangladesh in Chittagong.Coming to the crease with his side in trouble and the ball spinning sharply, Stokes responded with a mature innings of 85 to help England establish a lead of 273 with two wickets in hand going into the fourth day. On a pitch that continues to provide assistance to spin bowlers, that may already prove a decisive advantage.While Stokes’ innings lacked, for the most part, the fireworks of some of his previous Test performances, it was played in unusually demanding circumstances. In ferociously hot and humid conditions and with his colleagues struggling to negate the turning ball, Stokes showed that he had matured significantly as a batsman.Instead of being content with “batting for 20 minutes and then losing concentration” he defended skilfully, rotated the strike and provided the substantial contribution his side required. It is currently the only half-century in the England innings and the highest score of the match.”That was definitely my most mature performance with the bat in Test cricket,” Stokes said. “They were probably the toughest conditions I’ve had so far in international cricket – especially going in with all the men around the bat and the ball spinning as much as it was.”My defensive game against spin has gone up another level. That’s from working hard. I’m making sure I don’t fall into the trap of batting for 20 minutes and then losing concentration on what I’m actually trying to do.”We can all hit boundaries, but the hardest thing to do is defend when you first come in. I didn’t want to give my wicket away and made sure if I was going to get out it was going to take a good ball.”I knew that if we kept rotating the strike the game was going to get easier. There was so much time left in the game that it was just a matter of occupying the crease, rotating the strike and putting the bad balls away. The guys around the bat would soon disappear.”The longer you spend on wickets like that, the easier it becomes. If we can get through the tough periods – and there are going to be plenty here and in India – then the easier it’s going to get. I tried to put the foot on the gas towards the end to try and get the lead up as high as we could but I’m happy with how it went.”Stokes had already produced an outstanding spell of bowling to polish off the Bangladesh innings. Gaining pace, bounce and reverse-swing that has been absent for every other bowler in the match, Stokes bowled six overs on the trot at the start of the morning session – an outstanding effort in such uncomfortable heat – claiming three wickets for nine runs.While other seamers could barely get the ball about hip height or move it off the straight, he struck batsmen on the helmet and nipped the ball both ways. That brought him 4 for 10 in a 10-over spell continued from the previous day that saw Bangladesh collapse from 221 for 4 to 248 all out.Afterwards he credited Joe Root, in particular, for looking after the ball and ensuring it was in a condition where it would reverse.”Reverse swing is a massive weapon for us in the sub-continent,” Stokes said. “It can be quite tough to control how much the ball is going to swing. But we’ve been working a lot on reverse. We were very critical about keeping the ball in good nick. Joe Root has been non-stop in keeping the smooth side smooth and shiny and making sure the other side is as dry as possible.”It’s tough to tell the spinners to keep their hands off with the amount of bowling they are doing, but they did a really good job.”It’s actually very tough to maintain the ball because one little bit of moisture on the side that we keep dry can almost put you back two overs to where you started off. We all know that and we try to keep as few hands on the ball as possible. We did that and that’s how we managed to get as much sideways movement as we did with the old ball.”

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza has called for an aggressive approach from the team on the eve of the first ODI against Afghanistan.”We want to play all-out aggressive cricket,” Mashrafe said. “We want to begin like we had finished last year. We sometimes have to play defensively, but we want to play our best cricket.”Mashrafe, however, was wary of Afghanistan, who had defeated BCB XI by 66 runs in the warm-up match on Friday.”Why shouldn’t we think of this as a tough series? We should keep that in mind when taking the field on Sunday,” he said. “We will do well if we can carry the confidence that we built through training in the last two-and-a-half months.”

We can give Bangladesh a run for their money – Rajput

Afghanistan coach Lalchand Rajput has said that his team can give Bangladesh a hard time, and is banking on the bowling attack to deliver.
“We get the confidence from the win in the practice match, and definitely, we will take the momentum,” Rajput said. “Bangladesh is a Test playing country, who have done well at home. It is not going to be easy, but, definitely, we will give them a run for the money. We have a very well-balanced team. We have good medium-pacers and spinners, who will get assistance in Bangladesh.”
Rajput reserved special praise for right-arm seamer, Karim Janat, who is uncapped at international level. He revved up the pace against BCB XI and was rewarded with the wicket of Imrul Kayes.
“We have a young guy who just came from the U19s, Rajput said. “He really impressed us in the camp in India. We have experience and youth. It will be great if the boys can perform in such a platform.”

Coach Chandika Hathurusingha felt that the long gap between international matches – one day short of six months – was the major problem for his team. He also believed that the first hour of the first ODI would be vital in shaking off the rust.”The main focus is to win the three ODIs against another national team,” he said. “Not playing for a long time is a bit of an Achilles’ heel for us. That is what we are trying to get over, that uncertainty.”The first match is very vital for us. The first hour is vital for us. It is important that we start well, so the focus is all about winning the first game.”Hathurusingha was pleased with the skills of the side, but said that playing in front of a large crowd could be a challenge for the players.’We have no concern over any skill part – batting, bowling or fielding. It is all about the mental side of the game – getting into the game, playing in front of a crowd for your country,” he said. “We played so many practice matches with the top 25 players in the country. You cannot create that atmosphere. Probably, we play a higher level of cricket, but you cannot create that atmosphere of playing another international team.”Bangladesh will be without their best bowler, Mustafizur Rahman, who is undergoing rehabilitation after a shoulder surgery. He is set to miss the home series against England too, but is likely to recover for the New Zealand tour at the end of the year.In the absence of Mustafizur, Mashrafe hoped himself, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam would step up.”We had the same attack in the 50-over World Cup,” he said. We will miss the Fizz, but the ones who are in the team, they have a chance to prove themselves. I think this is our best possible bowling attack.”The Bangladesh squad includes uncapped batsman Mosaddek Hossain, who has been a prolific run-getter in domestic cricket. He staked claim for a place in the first ODI by top-scoring for BCB XI on Friday.”Mosaddek is in the team on merit,” Hathurusingha said. “He played very well in first-class and the Dhaka Premier League. We played four to five practice matches and we saw him, and yesterday, he obviously put his hand up. He is really putting pressure on the guys who are in the team, so that’s a healthy situation for me and the selectors.”

Match facts

Sunday, August 28, 2016
Start time 1430 local (0900 GMT)Tillakaratne Dilshan needs 158 or more in his final innings to finish among the top 10 ODI run-scorers of all time•AFP

Big Picture

Three days ago, there was no reason to expect that this third ODI would be particularly headline-grabbing – at least, not beyond Dambulla hosting day-night cricket for the first time in six years. Then, Tillakaratne Dilshan announced his impending retirement, Steven Smith flew home and handed Australia’s captaincy to David Warner, and, suddenly, there was more than your average amount of interest in the match. It will also be an important game in determining the outcome of the series – the winner will move 2-1 up with two to play.But for Sri Lankan fans, the attention will all be on Dilshan, the former captain, who is set to play his 330th and final one-day international. It will not be Dilshan’s last international appearance, for he is due to play in the T20s that follow this series, but it is the beginning of a farewell to a Sri Lankan favourite, and one of the last remaining international cricketers who made his debut in the 1990s.Much of the attention will also centre on Australia’s stand-in captain. The decision to fly Smith home to rest ahead of a busy upcoming schedule has been met with plenty of criticism. It does, though, provide an opportunity to test the leadership credentials of Warner, who has never captained Australia in any format. In fact, Warner’s only previous captaincy experience has come in Twenty20, so this is new for him on more than one level.

Form guide

Australia: LWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka: WLLLL

In the spotlight

At 39, Tillakaratne Dilshan has certainly been there and done that. And now, he’s doing it for the last time – in ODI cricket, at least. Barring a monumental knock of 158 or more in his final innings (which would see him overtake Brian Lara), Dilshan will bow out as ODI cricket’s 11th highest scorer of all time. His record against Australia might not be the strongest – he has averaged 26.33 against them in 43 ODIs – but this is one last chance to make a big score against the No.1 team in the world.David Warner will become the 23rd man to captain Australia in ODIs, and while he has never led a team in 50-over cricket, his record as a captain in Twenty20 cricket makes for remarkable reading. Warner has led teams in 34 T20s for 19 wins, but even more impressive is his personal figures as skipper: he averages 53.79 and has five scores of 90 and above. His most recent captaincy experience came in the 2016 IPL, where he led Sunrisers Hyderabad to the title and was second only to Virat Kohli on the tournament’s run charts. Australia’s powers that be will hope Warner continues to lead by example – at least, in terms of his run-making.

Team news

Sri Lanka have added 19-year-old right-arm pacer Lahiru Kumara for the remainder of the series, in place of allrounder Milinda Siriwardana. Like 18-year old batsman Avishka Fernando, who was named in the squad at the start of the series, Kumara has played no senior cricket at all. However, given their success in the previous match, there is every chance Sri Lanka will go in with an unchanged side.Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Danushka Gunathilaka, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Dhananjaya de Silva, 7 Kusal Perera, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Seekkuge Prasanna, 10 Dilruwan Perera, 11 Amila Aponso.Smith’s departure will force at least one change to the top order, with either Shaun Marsh or Usman Khawaja coming into the XI. The selectors might also be tempted to strengthen the attack after Australia’s combined “fifth bowler” – Moises Henriques and Travis Head – leaked runs at an alarming rate in the second game. Henriques has struggled for form on this tour, and dropping him would allow Head – who has one-day scores of 202 and 175 in the past year – to move into the top-six.Australia (possible) 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Shaun Marsh/Usman Khawaja, 4 George Bailey, 5 Matthew Wade (wk), 6 Travis Head, 7 James Faulkner, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon.

Pitch and conditions

Although pace bowlers have a strong record of wicket-taking in Dambulla, the Australians anticipate that the pitch will still offer plenty for the spinners.

Stats and trivia

• This will be the first day-night ODI in Dambulla since 2010, when the floodlights were deemed to be of inadequate strength. They have now been upgraded
• Australia have played only two matches – in any format – in Dambulla. Both were ODIs played in 2004. They won one and lost one
• The departure of Smith deprives Australia not only of their captain, but also of the highest run-scorer in ODI cricket worldwide over the past year

Quotes

“I think he deserves a break, whether or not it was during the series or before the series. It is going to be very, very tough with the scheduling these days to play all three forms and every single game possible.”

ScorecardGareth Batty produced a matchwinning return•PA Photos

It is hard to remember a Championship win that asked more of a bowling side. The pitch, for much of this game, looked like it would take the points and a few bowlers with it. Most of the Ageas Bowl pitches have. But with great focus and effort, and the sort of performance from Gareth Batty that will be remembered well beyond his career, Surrey sent Hampshire down for an innings and 13 runs.Batty was not so much leading from the front as picking up those around him, yapping under the helmet and then getting the job done himself. A century in the first innings began his work before two for 78 in the Hampshire reply was bested by a sensational six for 51 in the follow-on. Throw in Stuart Meaker’s reverse swing addled 18 overs of four for 40, and you wonder where the doubt in obtaining a result came from.But with 10 overs left in the day, hope had all-but gone. At the end of Batty’s 24th over (56th of the match) he walked duck-footed to mid off, shoulders slunk, cap in hand, dreading what might be. Of all long-form cricket’s gut punches, the handshakes after a drawn fixture take the most out of a skipper who has spent the last few hours on top. And Batty’s side had been ahead for the last three days.Summoning one last push, Batty returned to take two in his next over. Lewis McManus, having started the day with bat in hand, looked like he would finish it, too. But, after six hours and 21 minutes of crease time across both innings, he was finally dismissed to a fast arm ball. Three balls later, Andrew’s outside edge was found with a perfect off spinner. It was left to Meaker to finish things off. Late movement into the right hander did for Gareth Berg, before Mason Crane was the recipient of a bouncer that would haunt the most weathered opening batsmen, let alone a 19-year-old number 10.Surrey currently sit outside the relegation zone, 10 points away from Nottinghamshire, who have replaced them in the bottom two. Even if Hampshire were to win their game in hand with full bonus points, they would only go one ahead of Surrey. It bears reiterating: rarely will you see a side work so hard to achieve a four day win of this magnitude.On the evening of day two, Surrey’s players went to bed preparing themselves for what they knew would be six of the toughest sessions of cricket many of them will have experienced in their lives. So, too, did Hampshire. But Surrey, staying at the Ageas’ Bowl own hotel, will have drawn their curtains looking out onto the very field that would ask for as much energy and sweat as they could give and not necessarily provide anything in return.They needed 18 wickets to win the match: at least 18 chances to be created, certainly 18 to be taken to ensure that they are in control of their own destiny with five matches left to play. And while their own first innings of 637 for 7 taunted Hampshire throughout this match, it sent Surrey to sleep that night with a stark reminder of the unforgiving nature of this road. The skip was taken out of Crane’s step after 51 overs of toil.Even Surrey’s captain Gareth Batty was concerned, believing he was “thrown under the car” by Will Smith and Hampshire’s senior bowlers – Gareth Berg had the next greatest workload with 30 overs. “That wouldn’t be happening under my watch.”That part of Batty’s mantra as captain is to look at what is best for the individuals has, at times, seen him make calls that, from afar, confuse a touch. But given the task at hand, across two of the hottest days of the year, it was this sensitivity that ultimately saw Surrey triumph in extraordinary fashion.With 11 wickets to get on day four, the first ball to do something off the straight was the run out of Brad Wheal. Lewis McManus, who finished the first innings unbeaten on 133, was desperate to retain the strike when Aaron Finch, prowling the off side outfield, hurled down the stumps at the nonstriker’s end from all of 50 yards. Theirs was the longest partnership of the innings, clocking in at 37.1 overs. Surrey now needed 10 more wickets in the next 84 overs, having just taken the same amount from 133 overs.The first two to fall took 19 overs with them: Jimmy Adams tempted into one that left him late from Meaker, Tom Alsop edging Batty to first slip. For a while, that was their lot. The bowlers were cycled through, each getting a burst: an over or two at first to state their case. As “overs remaining” ticked to 44, Mark Footitt was removed from the Pavilion End after a spell of four that seemed to settle Smith and Ryan McLaren. The all rounder looked totally at ease while Smith, 18 from 112 balls at this point, was putting the finishing touches on a fort he had no intention of relinquishing.Batty brought himself on to bowl and, with various changes of pace, found a sliver of light shining through a gap in the closed drawbridge. Somehow a fizzed delivery snuck off Smith’s bat and between his legs to bump into his leg stump. Surrey were in. Adam Wheater, tea interval on the mind, left a reverse swinging delivery from Meaker that almost sent his off stump back to the pavilion with him.After tea, Batty came into his own. It was not so much the spin, but the changes in pace: the appreciation that keeping the interest of those around the bat – there were up to six for Batty – required enough fluctuations in delivery to put a batsman’s timing out of sync. Sean Ervine was hurried into guiding a ball to Aaron Finch at leg slip. Ryan McLaren pressing forward early and popping a catch up to Dominic Sibley at bat-pad.But so the overs ticked on, with four wickets still to get. But so Batty ticked on and these four wickets were claimed.He was naturally punchy in victory, using the opportunity to not only champion his young team, having grumbled away the opportunity to talk about his own century and eight wickets in the game, but to stick up for his coach, Michael Di Venuto, who has spent the aftermath of many a four day game fighting fires on Twitter.To Di Venuto’s credit, he looks to interact and appease each tweet sent his way, countering calls for change with the insistence that the hard work behind the scenes will soon be evident on the field. Most of the comments to Di Venuto comes from an honest place: fans worried about the plight of their club and wondering, out loud, what could be done differently. A handful have question Di Venuto’s merits as a coach. One or two have made their attacks personal.”I think it’s disrespectful. Unjust. The two run outs [Burns to remove Ervine and Finch to remove Wheal] – that’s from him working on us hitting the stumps. He takes all credit there. Nobody else. We’ve been very close in a couple of games and not got over the line. I think it’s very unjust for the man’s record, both as a player and a coach.”In victory, Surrey are bullish and you get a sense, from the way they have acquitted themselves throughout this match, that whatever they have left to give will be left on field before the season is up.”There have been a lot of people lobbing knives at us but we have pulled a few out of our back,” said Batty. “I say to them,- I hope you are enjoying the win tonight.”

Australia’s stand-in coach Justin Langer believes Matthew Wade could become the best wicketkeeper in the country if he was to follow the hard work ethic of predecessors Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist. Wade was key to Australia’s win in the tri-series final against West Indies thanks to his unbeaten 57 from 52 balls, and Langer said his batting form at practice was outstanding throughout the tour.However, Wade’s glovework has rarely matched the sharpness of previous Australia wicketkeepers such as Healy and Gilchrist, and earlier in the tri-series Wade himself nominated Peter Nevill as the best gloveman in Australia. Earlier this year, the selectors chose Test wicketkeeper Nevill ahead of Wade in the squad for the World T20 in India, leaving ODIs as the only format in which Wade is the incumbent.Wade has played 12 Tests and was the first-choice Test wicketkeeper during 2012 and early 2013, until the selectors went back to Brad Haddin for the Ashes campaign in England. Now 28, Wade’s international future appears more likely to be in the shorter formats with Nevill well established in the Test side, but Langer said there was no reason Wade could not push his case for a recall.”What often happens is you only highlight the mistakes,” Langer said. “But you don’t notice him very often and that’s a really good sign. My advice to him, I was very lucky to play with Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist and they always had the best work ethic of anyone in the squad, so if he just continues to work hard there’s no reason [he can’t improve].”I heard him say a couple of weeks ago Peter Nevill is obviously the best wicketkeeper in Australia. Well, I’d like to think Matthew Wade is aspiring to be the best wicketkeeper in Australia. He’s in the one-day side, if he works hard, if he has a Healy and Gilchrist work ethic, then there’s no reason why he can’t be the best wicketkeeper in Australia. But that’s up to him if he really wants to work at that.”During the tri-series, Wade spilled a one-handed chance that allowed Marlon Samuels to go on and score a century, but, after Australia’s win in the final, captain Steven Smith acknowledged that the pitches in the West Indies made it a tough place to keep wicket.”It has been difficult,” Smith said. “He’s missed a couple of opportunities but it is a tough place to keep. There’s lots of balls that were bouncing before him and the ball was reversing and doing a bit. It is a difficult place to keep.”Wade’s batting has always been a plus at the selection table, with two centuries from his 12 Tests and an average of a touch under 40 in first-class cricket. His innings in the tri-series final earned high praise from Langer, who was coaching the side in this tournament due to the absence of Darren Lehmann.”He showed maturity, he’s the captain of Victoria at the moment,” Langer said. “He showed really good leadership and he batted very well. A big innings under pressure, that’s when you earn respect from your team-mates, that’s when you earn respect from the selectors, that’s when you earn respect from the public and the media.”

ScorecardMichael Klinger’s century powered Gloucestershire to victory•Getty Images

Michael Klinger led from the front as Gloucestershire completed a NatWest T20 Blast double over arch-rivals Somerset with a seven-wicket victory at Taunton.The skipper scored a brilliant 101 as his side made light of a victory target of 168, winning with four balls to spare to go top of the South Group. Ian Cockbain contributed 41 to a second-wicket stand of 107.The hosts posted a disappointing 167 for 7 on the high-scoring ground, Mahela Jayawardene making a scratchy 41 and Peter Trego 32. Matt Taylor returned a career-best 3 for 16 and Tom Smith 2 for 28.That was never likely to be sufficient if Klinger got going and the ultra-consistent Australian duly obliged with a superb 71-ball innings, featuring 10 fours and four sixes. Jamie Overton was the pick of the home attack with 3 for 33.Somerset struggled to gain any momentum after being invited to bat. Jim Allenby fell early to a miscued pull off Taylor and at the end of the six-over powerplay the scoreboard read 40 for 2.Johann Myburgh produced the odd sweet shot in his 25 before falling to Howell, who was typically miserly in claiming 1 for 23 from his four overs of wily medium pace.Trego looked in good touch hitting five boundaries, but after he launched a catch to long-off to give left-arm spinner Smith his first wicket there was no one to clear the ropes in mid-innings.Jayawardene struggled for any semblance of the form that made him among the most elegant batsmen to have played the game and was dropped at extra cover off Smith on 26.By the time he was sixth man out, to the accurate Taylor, in the 18th over Somerset had just 141 runs on the board and were resigned to a below-par score.Jamie Overton’s successive sixes off Andrew Tye boosted the total, but with the sun shining, it didn’t look enough, even when he followed up with a perfect yorker to bowl Hamish Marshall in the fifth over with the score on 40.That was as good as it got for the home side, who had to wait until the last ball of the 17th over for their next wicket as Klinger and Cockbain produced an array of powerful strokes.When Cockbain was caught at long-on by Craig Overton off brother Jamie, having hit three fours and a six in his 39-ball innings, Gloucestershire required only 21.Klinger reached his hundred off 67 balls, having looked in total command. Although he fell in the penultimate over, the job was done against what on the night was a very moderate Somerset side.

Yorkshire’s victory from a parlous position at Hove last week caused their coach, Andrew Gale, to praise their character and resilience. If they repeat the feat against Northants at Headingley then similar acclamation will surely follow. Why, Yorkshire grit might even get a mention.Yorkshire are slight favourites, with Northants 94 for 4 in pursuit of 220, but it is foolhardy to suggest as much. If the Headingley Cricketing Gods get the slightest indication that victory is already being anticipated then expect the sun to shine, the pitch to play with monotonous predictability and Northants to scoot home soon after lunch. This not a ground on which you get ahead of yourself.What is abundantly clear is that, for the second successive week, Yorkshire are involved in an engrossing contest that has shown Championship cricket at its best. That is partly due to Yorkshire’s batting frailties – and that vulnerability remains – but largely because both surfaces, whether encouraging spin or seam, have provided a balance between bat and ball. Northants, like Sussex, have been worthy opponents.Related

• Alex Davies salvo sets up Lancashire chase after Sussex squander sizeable lead

• Overton five-for brings Somerset back into contention

• Chris Wright seven-for keeps Leicestershire in victory pursuit

Spare me this contention that the prime duty of the Championship is to produce utterly flat pitches so potential Test cricketers can learn to concentrate. If you want England batters to learn to concentrate, try mindfulness, memory tests or get them to read a book or two.Northants, like Sussex, have exchanged punch for punch, but their chances diminished the moment their one batter of true quality, the South African Ricardo Vasconcelos, ran himself out for 41 when he pushed the ball to David Willey’s left-hand at mid-on and was beaten by a direct hit. If anybody can be forgiven a momentary misjudgement, perhaps someone fulfilling the role of opening batter, wicketkeeper and captain could.Two other wickets fell in successive balls to Jordan Thompson, inswingers at the end of his first over and start of his second removing Ben Curran and Charlie Thurston. He has taken the new ball in this match and he has barely wasted a delivery. Combative with bat and ball, at 24, he is coming into his own. Gale’s message that he is “my type of cricketer” will find nods of agreement from a growing number.At 43 for 3 overnight, only 15 runs on, Yorkshire clearly had their work cut out to fashion a victory that would maintain their unbeaten record. That they made 247 in the toughest batting conditions of the match would have given them considerable satisfaction.Northants’ chief threat rested with the South African Wayne Parnell who took five wickets in an innings for the second time to finish with match figures of 10 for 143. Plus most of the 31 byes, of course, because at regular intervals Northants’ aggrieved stand-in wicketkeeper Vasconcelos was left sprawling in the dirt, rising more slowly on each occasion, sometimes with hands on hips in exasperation at lavish late swing.This was only Parnell’s second career 10-wicket haul, which, at 31, is quite a surprise, because when the ball swings, he is quite a handful. He quickly removed the left-handed Gary Ballance with an outswinger and in his following over, picked off the nightwatchman, Steve Patterson.In one of Parnell’s most wayward overs, Johnny Tattersall picked the ball of his pads for 14. But Tattersall, who had played soundly, then deflected a back-of-a-length delivery from Taylor to the keeper, giving Tom Taylor his only wicket of the match. Yorkshire were 86 for 6 and in the mire, but they don’t just bat deep, they bat deep with considerable nous.Partnerships of 59 in 17 from Dom Bess and Harry Brook for the seventh wicket and and 65 in 19 for the ninth wicket between Thompson and Willey underlined that Yorkshire’s lower orders were not spooked by the moving ball, and Northants’ seamers could not quite sustain the pressure. All made between 37 and 41 in a concerted team response.Presumably Brook’s pronounced back and across movement has been influenced by Ballance, whose shift deep into his crease before the bowler delivers caused such debate during his England career. Slightly-built, Brook cuts a fretful figure at the crease, an exhausting collection of short walks, tugs of kit and head jerks: one wonders, looking at that substantial trigger movement, if he can quite spare the calories. Bess, by contrast, stands still and ruminates. Both, in their own way, began the fightback.Brooke might have fallen to Taylor on 23, but Vasconcelos dived over one. Instead, he fell to the first ball he received after lunch, another victim for Parnell, who drew him into driving at a wide one.The appearance of Simon Kerrigan’s left-arm spin was a sign that Northants needed to block an end in case they needed a second new ball. When the ball was brought on for the umpires in case they needed it, it must have reminded Willey that, at nine down, he needed to up the tempo.Three successive sixes against Gareth Berg took Yorkshire’s lead beyond 200. Yorkshire grit, if Northampton born. The last of the sixes appeared to damage the “R” in Yorkshire on the electronic scoreboard, so Gale should be particularly careful about talking about Willey’s “Yorkshire grit” in case they try to put his words up on the big screen…

Afghanistan will get plenty of practice, and scope to gather information on their Asia Cup opponents, when they play Pakistan and UAE in a T20I tournament starting in Sharjah on Friday. They’ve named virtually the same squad for both competitions, with only Naveen-ul-Haq missing from the tri-series.Abdollah Ahmadzai takes his place in the 17-member squad. The 22-year-old fast bowler, with 14 wickets from 10 T20s, is still waiting for his first international cap and has been named among the reserves for the Asia Cup. These games will be Afghanistan’s first white-ball matches since the Champions Trophy ended in February 2025.Mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar is in line to make his T20I debut in the UAE tri-series, as he joins a strong spin unit comprising captain Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Noor Ahmad.Related

• Pakistan, Afghanistan, UAE gear up for Asia Cup rehearsal

• No Babar, Rizwan in Pakistan squad for Asia Cup

• Afghanistan bring in Ghazanfar to strengthen spin department for Asia Cup

• Junaid Siddique comes back as UAE ring in the changes for T20 tri-series

• Afghanistan bring back former Ireland allrounder John Mooney as fielding coach

The tri-series will also mark the return of Ibrahim Zadran, with the opener not a part of Afghanistan’s last T20I assignment in Zimbabwe in December 2024. From that squad, left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote has also been left out, although he is part of the reserves for the Asia Cup. Zadran returns having last played T20Is during the 2024 World Cup.The tri-series, which Afghanistan and Pakistan will kick off, has the three teams playing each other twice in round-robin format before the top two meet in the final on September 7. Should Afghanistan reach the final, they will only get a day’s rest before their first Asia Cup game, against Hong Kong, on September 9. UAE’s first game of the Asia Cup is on September 10 and Pakistan’s is on September 12.

Afghanistan squad for UAE tri-series

Rashid Khan (capt), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mohammad Ishaq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fareed Ahmad, Abdollah Ahmadzai, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Patrick Moroney, a former national selector, has been appointed as South Africa’s new convenor selector for the men’s senior side. Moroney will begin work on August 1. That means his first series in charge will be South Africa’s white-ball tour of Australia, which starts on August 10.Moroney has had a long involvement in selection which dates back to 2001. He has worked with the South African National Academy, the emerging sides, and was in the running to become South Africa’s convenor of selectors in 2019. Then, he lost out to Victor Mpitsang but was appointed to work alongside him.Most recently, Moroney worked as convenor selector for the Under-19 men’s side, which included last year’s World Cup selection. Both Kwena Maphaka and Lhuan-dre Pretorius were among his picks at that tournament.”His deep understanding of the game, combined with decades of experience in talent identification and selection across various levels, makes him the ideal person for the job,” Enoch Nkwe, director of national teams and High Performance, said in a statement announcing Moroney’s appointment.This is the first time coach Shukri Conrad will have to work with a selection convener since his appointment in January 2023. At the time, Nkwe did away with the selection panel, which was chaired by Mpitsang and also included Moroney, the national coach, and the captain. That left the duties of picking squads and teams solely with the national coaches.Conrad was put in charge of the Test side, and made several left-field selections, including most recently putting Wiaan Mulder at No. 3 – though Mulder now holds South Africa’s highest Test score – while Rob Walter had the white-ball job. Walter faced criticism from various quarters over taking a squad with only one black African player to last year’s T20 World Cup, where South Africa reached the final.It is learnt that CSA’s board had since insisted on the reinstatement of a convenor of selectors, albeit not a full panel. Interviews were concluded in May, when Conrad was given the all-format coaching job, and at the time Nkwe explained the reason to bring back a convenor of selectors to offer “support” to a coach who would already have a lot on his plate.”We needed to review, and look at areas in terms of where we can actually support the coach,” Nkwe said. “We need to have more eyes on the ground as the coach is going to be focusing on performance.”Also at the time, Conrad said he was happy to work with someone, and hoped that person would be a “like-minded person, and that has got South African cricket and the Proteas at heart”.Earlier, Mpitsang and Moroney had worked together in the selection panel from late 2019 until early 2023, and that period coincided with Mark Boucher’s tenure as South Africa’s head coach. Among the most debatable choices that panel made was changing a winning XI on the tour of England in 2022. After South Africa won the first Test at Lord’s, they picked a spinner to play on a seamer-friendly pitch in the second Test at Old Trafford, which forced South Africa to bat first on a difficult track. As a result, they lost that match and then the series. The panel also selected a then-unknown Marco Jansen, who has since gone on to represent South Africa in all formats.