Sri Lanka must contend with Sikandar Raza’s contentment in Bangladesh conditions after his success in the BPL

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando20-Jan-2018If Sikandar Raza is in outstanding form in the tri-series so far, the Bangladesh Premier League is owed a little credit. So contended his teammate, Craig Ervine, who has watched Raza top score for his side in successive games.In addition to the 52 against Bangladesh and the 81 off 67 balls against Sri Lanka, Raza has also taken three wickets with his off spin. Last month, he had struck 278 runs at a strike rate of 153.59 for Chittagong Vikings – an experience, Ervine believes, that has served him well.”He came for the BPL, did very well there, and he is very familiar with the conditions in Bangladesh,” Ervine said. “The first two games showed that he is in good form at the moment. He contributes with the bat, ball and in the field. He is a very important team member for us. I am hoping that form continues throughout the tournament.”Sri Lanka meanwhile, have struggled for form through the first round of matches, and Zimbabwe now have the opportunity to knock them out of contention for the final by winning Sunday’s match. There is reason for Zimbabwe to be confident – they have won their three most-recent ODIs against Sri Lanka, including two in Sri Lanka itself.”I am pretty sure Sri Lanka will be very keen to bounce back – they have to win the next two games in order to get to the final,” Ervine said. “I think we have the momentum between the two sides.”Part of Zimbabwe’s success against Sri Lanka has been due to their ability not merely to negotiate spin, but to score off it. Ervine is one of several top order batsmen who have used the sweep shot regularly and to good effect against Sri Lanka. That stroke was effectively the foundation of their series victory in Sri Lanka last year, and it proved invaluable again on Wednesday, when Zimbabwe defeated Sri Lanka by 12 runs.”In recent times, we have been playing spin a bit better,” Ervine said. “A lot depends on the wicket – Sri Lanka may think of adding an extra spinner instead of a seamer. But we just have to turn up tomorrow regardless of what team they pick.”

The West Indies captain sees the World Cup qualifiers as an opportunity to finalise combinations for the showpiece event in England in 2019

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Feb-2018Jason Holder has sounded the call for fans to rally round the West Indies team as they begin their campaign to earn a place in the 2019 World Cup.A team which was an automatic pick in each of the past 11 editions, back-to-back champions in 1975 and 1979, now has to go through a qualifying tournament to even take part in the ICC event. But, after expressing disappointment at such a turn of events, Holder invoked the rich history of West Indies cricket and announced that they were putting things in place to win a third world title.”All the guys are motivated and we know what’s at stake,” he said. “I see it as an opportunity for us to grab some momentum heading into next year’s World Cup, get some games under our belt, finalise our combinations, get things right and hopefully turn things around in terms of the ODI format. It’s probably one of our weaker formats and no doubt that we’ve been inconsistent. Obviously it’s something we’ve addressed and moving forward I think hopefully we should see some good performances.”West Indies made it to the quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup, but since then they have won only 8 out of 42 ODIs. Their win-loss ratio of 0.2 is the poorest out of all the teams that have played the format over the past three years.”We have put ourselves in this situation,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “We have got only ourselves to blame. We are here for a reason. Our form off late hasn’t been the best. It is a matter for us to put that behind and make things right. It is something new for us. We never had to qualify for the World Cup. It will be a new challenge. All these Associates teams tend to play fearless cricket, play quite aggressive cricket, trying to taking down the bigger nations.”Considering they are going into a qualifying tournament that entertains 10 competitors but allows only two to progress, West Indies would be pleased to have some of the big players back. Chris Gayle has come off a two-year ODI hiatus in 2017. Marlon Samuels, who has a history of saving his best for World Cups, is also back in the squad having missed their most recent 50-over assignment in New Zealand.”I must commend a guy like Chris, also a guy like Marlon, who’ve come here with that motivation to do well for West Indies and give us a chance to play another World Cup. As I said to the ground, it’s an opportunity to finish their careers well. It’s also an opportunity for guys to make a spark in their career and start their careers in the World Cup.”West Indies will be facing teams that have done well against them in the recent past. In 2017, they suffered a colossal loss to Afghanistan. In 2016, with a place in a tri-series final on the line, they were beaten by Zimbabwe. And Ireland knocked them over with ease in the last World Cup. Nevertheless Holder was confident his players will place their best foot forward.”I think everybody understands the importance of being in a World Cup,” he said. “We’ve obviously won the World Cup on two occasions and I think we’re trying to formulate our plans in terms of getting a third. We’ve done well in T20 cricket, we’ve done well in women’s cricket, Under-19 cricket, so now I think it’s about time we win another World Cup in the ODI format.”West Indies play their first match against UAE on March 6, but they have a warm-up game against Afghanistan on Tuesday.

Madhya Pradesh veteran ends 22-year career as the most-capped Ranji Trophy cricketer, and the third-highest run-scorer in tournament history

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Mar-2018Devendra Bundela, the Madhya Pradesh batsman and most capped cricketer in Ranji Trophy history, has announced his retirement, bringing to an end a 22-year first-class career. The 41-year old Bundela’s last match remains MP’s 2017-18 Ranji Trophy quarterfinal clash that was won by Delhi. Bundela breached the 10000-run mark in first-class cricket in that match.Bundela first rose to prominence as a member of the India Under-19 team that faced Australia in 1995. Shortly thereafter, he made his first-class debut against Tamil Nadu in the domestic season that year. He would go on to play 164 first-class matches in which he amassed 10004 runs at an average of 43.68, with the help of 26 centuries and 54 fifties. Bundela also struck 2299 runs in an 82-game List A career with a lone century and 13 half-centuries.Bundela, who captained MP for seven years, was an integral cog of the state’s batting order for several years, but never got the national call-up. Despite spending over two decades with the MP side, Bundela could never experience lifting the Ranji Trophy. The closest he got to doing so was when MP made the final of the 1998-99 Ranji Trophy, where they lost to Karnataka. He was, however, a prolific run-scorer during his time, his 9201 runs the third highest in tournament history, behind Wasim Jaffer and one less than second-placed Amol Muzumdar.

The Australia captain disagrees that Warner has been ostracised, says banned trio will be welcomed back if they conform to “new brand of cricket”

Daniel Brettig10-May-2018Australia’s captain Tim Paine has denied that there is a relationship barrier to David Warner’s return to the national team after his 12-month ban from the game expires next year.Warner was pinpointed by Cricket Australia as the instigator of the Newlands ball-tampering plot, and there were testy scenes in Cape Town in the days after the match, as CA’s integrity officer Iain Roy conducted interviews with a selection of players and coaching staff before code of conduct charges were laid.At the time, Warner was described as “going rogue” and being at odds with the rest of the team over what had occurred and who knew of the attempt to rough up the ball with the use of sandpaper. At the same time his stocks with CA’s management and board had sunk to a level where it looked unlikely that he could reconcile. On his return home to Australia, Warner acknowledged that his days as an international cricketer may well be at an end.”It is heart-breaking to know that I will not be taking the field with my team-mates I love and respect and that I have let down,” Warner said. “Right now, it is hard to know what comes next, but first and foremost is the well-being of my family. In the back of my mind, I suppose there is a tiny ray of hope that I may one day be given the privilege of playing for my country again, but I am resigned to the fact that that may never happen.”But in the coming weeks and months, I’m going to look at how this has happened and who I am as a man. To be honest, I’m not sure right now how I’ll do this. I will seek out advice and expertise to help me make serious changes.”A little more than two months after the saga unfolded, there has been a concerted softening of attitudes towards the suspended players, Warner included, while the former coach Darren Lehmann has been given a chance to coach young players at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane.His successor, Justin Langer, and the chief executive James Sutherland, have both suggested that there is a way back to the team for Warner, and Paine joined the chorus on Thursday by rejecting the notion that Steven Smith’s ex-deputy remained at odds with the rest of the South Africa touring party. Warner, Langer and Paine all share the same manager – Ricky Ponting’s longtime agent James Henderson.”No, he wasn’t [ostracised by the group] actually,” Paine told reporters in Hobart on Thursday. “Certainly the week in South Africa was very difficult and everyone said that, but guys in that team get along well and David is a respected member of that team and always has been. For as long as I’ve been around the team, he’s been really well-liked and really well-received by his teammates. Within our team, he’s someone with that energy and that competitiveness who we love playing with.”All three [Warner, Smith, Cameron Bancroft] are certainly going to be welcomed back into our team, if they’re prepared to toe the line with our new brand of cricket, which I know they will. I know they’ll all do the right thing and score enough runs to be back in our side and they’ll be certainly be welcomed back.Paine, who charted a new path for the national team that would dispense with the sledging and unsociable attitude to opponents that characterised most Australian sides over the past 30 years, said he had discussed the new direction with Langer. “Justin and I are certainly on the same page with the way we want it to look,” he said. “There’s just going to be a fine line between being still a really competitive, hard, Australian cricket team and being able to be a bit more respectful of our opposition and the game.”

Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer said they had “two opportunities to make more statements” ahead of the T20Is against Pakistan

Peter Della Penna in Edinburgh11-Jun-20181:26

More eyes on Scotland after England win – Coetzer

Scotland’s win over England at the Grange was not just their first ever over the “Auld Enemy”. It was also the first time an Associate country had ever beaten a No. 1-ranked side, and predictably it has reignited a debate which continues to lurk around such encounters: whether or not more teams, specifically Associates, deserve to be included in the World Cup.For a country like Scotland, the question has a double-edged sword. Yes, they want to keep hammering home the point with performances like that on Sunday to prove they belong. But the continued ignorance of global cricket administrators that results in the question constantly being asked can be exhausting.It was a hot topic after Scotland’s win, but rather than dwell on their absence from next summer’s showpiece event, Scotland coach Grant Bradburn indicated that such victories aren’t introducing much into the debate that hasn’t already been said, considering his side has also beaten Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan in the last 13 months.”It sends a message and now maybe confirms that there’s not only ten teams in the world that are reasonable cricket teams, but I think the world knew that looking at the way these guys played and the other Associate nations played in Zimbabwe [at the World Cup Qualifier],” Bradburn told ESPNcricinfo after Scotland’s six-run win. “There’s some fantastic Associate teams out there and hopefully today, if it helps the Associate cause then that’s fantastic.”I don’t think it’ll be any surprise to a lot of teams that we’ve competed well enough to stay in the game long enough and we’ve actually found a way to win the game. I don’t think it will come as any surprise because those who watched [the qualifier] have seen this team progress and personally I feel that the team were just bubbling away for a performance like that for quite some time. We got the conditions today and all of our batsmen appreciate conditions like that.”In past matches in which Associates have caused great upsets over Full Members, a constant theme has been that the underdog seized upon a good toss, bowler friendly conditions to skittle an unsuspecting opposition. Not so for Scotland. Their wins over Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in particular came on similarly flat batting tracks, where bowlers had to work hard for wickets while a stream of runs flowed.Against England, just as impressive as Scotland’s record-breaking total of 371, the highest ever by an Associate country, was the way their bowlers defended it. After Jonny Bairstow’s 54-ball ton got England off to a rip-roaring start, Mark Watt and Alasdair Evans built the pressure that eventually sparked a collapse for England to fall from 220 for 2 in the 27th over to 365 all out.Kyle Coetzer helped Scotland to a terrific start•Getty Images

“[Our batsmen] are all free-flowing shot-makers and they have the encouragement from us and they know their skills,” Bradburn said. “You put them on a good surface like that, it doesn’t really matter who is bowling and it happened to be the No. 1 team in the world. They’re a good team and it actually makes it sweeter that they played so well too.”You mentioned Jonny Bairstow, but there’s a number of players in their order that played magnificent contributions. Moeen Ali, I didn’t think the game was in our pocket until that wicket. It was a key wicket for me. I think our guys have been brewing for awhile.”Since the match, captain Kyle Coetzer has been inundated with messages from other players and captains across the Associate world, a typical example of the bond shared by players across emerging nations. Coetzer is mindful of the fact that when they perform the way they did Sunday, they are scoring a victory not just for themselves but enhancing the reputation of all other Associates by extension.”Prior to the game various other Associate players were messaging their messages of support and good luck and then afterwards they came flooding in even more after the game,” Coetzer said during the pre-series press conference ahead of the two T20Is against Pakistan starting on Tuesday. “I think that just shows how supportive every Associate member is of each other. In actual fact there’s been plenty of members of the English team messaging well done and good luck for the future and that will show the development of the game.”The messages of support and what’s come around from everyone, I think it’s been exceptional. We always want to support the Associate game but most importantly promote cricket as a special sport.”Whatever we do is great for Cricket Scotland but it’s great for the Associate world and there’s another two opportunities to make more statements. We’ve had messages flooding in from all around the world. Yeah it’s going to do wonders for the game in Scotland but it’s going to do wonders for the Associate game. It’s going to do wonders for the world game.”As for Calum MacLeod, Sunday’s Man of the Match after becoming the first Scotsman to score an ODI century against England, the win will go down as “one of the great days for Scottish cricket”. But he wants to make sure it’s not the end of the story.”Hopefully we use it as a springboard to kick Scottish cricket on,” MacLeod said. “Hopefully it’s a clear message to everyone watching that Associate cricket is strong and Scottish cricket is strong.”You just don’t know how it’s going to pan out. We’ve been crying out for more cricket and hopefully you always got the sense before that teams might add this game on. Now I hope it can be a catalyst that teams want to come and play us when they’re over in the UK and we can have more weeks and series like we do this week.”

Colin Ingram marshalled a challenging total before Luke Wright preyed upon weak Glamorgan bowling to make Sussex the early leaders in South Group

ECB Reporters Network08-Jul-2018
ScorecardLuke Wright led by example at Sophia Gardens by striking 88 from 53 balls, as Sussex gained their second win from two games and lead the Southern Group after an impressive all-round performance.It was a battle of the captains at Sophia Gardens, with Colin Ingram top scoring with an undefeated 81 from 44 balls to take Glamorgan to a challenging 173 for 4.But Glamorgan were let down by some poor bowling, as Wright and Laurie Evans shared a match winning partnership of 123 in just 12.4 overs. “I thought we had enough, especially on a used pitch, but we came up against two batsmen in good form,” said Ingram.Needing to score at 8.6 runs an over, Wright began with a flurry of boundaries although he lost his opening partner Phil Salt in the fourth over when he attempted to pull a short ball from Michael Hogan, edged to the wicketkeeper.

Marsh worry for Glamorgan

Australia batsman Shaun Marsh is having a scan on his shoulder after an injury suffered while fielding.He fell awkwardly while trying to make a boundary save, called for medical attention and left the field immediately.
“Shaun’s a tough guy, so it’s certainly not a bruise the way he walked off holding his shoulder,” Glamorgan’s coach Robert Croft said.”So we’ll have to wait and see, but we hope the scan will be favourable to us.”

Wright then greeted Graham Wagg by driving him straight for six, followed by a rasping cover drive for four, and when Wagg was taken off after one over, he had conceded 16 runs. The Sussex captain raced to his fifty from only 33 balls, and his team were well placed at the halfway stage on 89 for 1.Wright was well supported by Evans, who also punished some indifferent bowling from Glamorgan, who bowled far too short on a good pitch, and at 109 for 1 at the end of the twelfth over, were coasting to victory.Glamorgan then suffered a setback, when Shaun Marsh, their Australian overseas batsman, dived in an attempt to stop a fierce drive from Wright, but landed on his shoulder, and had to leave the field in some pain.Sussex required 41 from the final 5 overs, but there was no respite for the bowlers as Wright drove Ingram and hooked Wagg for sixes, before holing out on the mid-wicket boundary. Evans settled the issue by striking Hogan for two sixes in the 18th over, and there were eight balls remaining when Tom Bruce struck the winning runs.Glamorgan’s innings was built around a typically aggressive innings from Colin Ingram who struck from balls, and the captain was well supported by David Lloyd, who made 33, including a straight six off Rashid Khan, who again bowled his leg spin economically and picked up two wickets.Glamorgan were 59 for 3 after nine overs, after Shaun Marsh had pulled a long hop from Jofra Archer to deep mid- wicket, Usman Khawaja mishit to deep cover, and Aneurin Donald holed out to Khan at long off.Ingram was then soon into his stride, and played Khan, who was in the same Adelaide Strikers side that won the Big Bash Australia last winter, with respect, as the Afghan spinner ended with the creditable figures of 2 for 27 from his four overs.Ingram accelerated in the final overs. Ollie Robinson and David Wiese were struck for two huge sixes over long on as 53 runs were added in the final five overs.

The former wicketkeeper has been handed charge for upcoming season along with Wilkin Mota, who will coach Mumbai Under-19s

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2018Former wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant has pipped Ramesh Powar to become head coach of Mumbai for the 2018-19 season. Samant’s appointment ends a month-long fracas that first started with Sameer Dighe’s resignation in June.”I’m very glad and very happy, but at the same time I know that it’s a very big responsibility on me,” Samant said. “I’m sure that I will fulfil with very positive results. So I’m hoping my presence will benefit players as well as the association. Let’s hope for best.”Samant, Powar and Pradeep Sunderam, the former Rajasthan fast bowler, were the three shortlisted candidates formally called for interviews by Mumbai’s Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) comprising Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Raju Kulkarni, Kiran Mokashi and Sahil Kukreja. However, the CIC also then approached former India batsman Pravin Amre to take up the vacant role even though he hadn’t formally applied for the job.Amre, who was last Mumbai coach until the 2015-16 season, is understood to have asked for time, because his involvement as batting coach with Delhi Daredevils put him in a direct conflict of interest. The final decision was taken a day after the matter was deliberated over a nine-hour long meeting in Mumbai.Samant, 45, represented Mumbai, Assam and Tripura during the course of his 16-year first-class career. His last stint as a player with Mumbai, with whom he won four Ranji Trophy titles, was in 2010. He formally retired from first-class cricket in December 2011. In all, he played 101 first-class matches and made 3496 runs at 28.19.Samant has previous coaching experience, having helmed Mumbai’s Under-23 squad for two seasons after being appointed in 2015 following Sairaj Bahutule’s resignation. Meanwhile, recently-retired allrounder Wilkin Mota was handed charge of the Under-19 side for the 2018-19 season.Mumbai, who last won the Ranji Trophy in 2015-16, have had as many as three coaches in the last four seasons. Chandrakant Pandit, who returned for two seasons, was sacked following Mumbai’s loss in the Ranji Trophy final to Gujarat in January last year.They endured a difficult 2017-18 domestic season, where they were were beaten in the quarterfinal of both the Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy, by Karnataka and Maharashtra respectively, while losing three of their four matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s.

Jack Brooks gave a reminder of the qualities that Yorkshire will miss as he took four wickets against his new club

David Hopps29-Aug-2018
ScorecardAccording to psychologists there are four states of competence and as Lewis Gregory and Steven Davies struck the ball to all parts on a sunlit evening, and Somerset helter-skeltered to 374 for 8 by the close, there was little doubt among the Headingley cognoscenti which category they were minded to put the Yorkshire attack.Optimists were never going to be in the majority with Yorkshire only four points above the relegation positions – the Roses match in a fortnight could be a tense affair – but when Somerset’s openers, Marcus Trescothick and Eddie Byrom, had departed in the first half-hour with only five runs on the board, a few of them could be found, cowering ever so slightly as they suggested that perhaps things were not as bad as painted and that Andrew Gale, the coach, deserved patience in a difficult transtion period.But by the close, nobody would have made much of a claim that this had been a day of Conscious Competence and certainly not of Unconscious Competence, a state of perfection that even the great Yorkshire sides were rarely allowed by the critics to have attained. Nope, it was a toss-up between Conscious Incompetence and Unconscious Incompetence and, while they were on the subject of tosses, why on earth had Yorkshire chosen to bowl?There was easily enough life in the pitch for the pace bowlers to make it an eminently fair call, but they failed to take advantage, particularly in the first session, and now must negotiate the rest of the match with three pace bowlers after a recurrence of a split toe for Matt Fisher, which first needed stitches on England Lions duty a month ago.The Headingley mood might have been lightened when Jack Brooks arrested Somerset’s charge with two wickets in a single over – Gregory flicking to midwicket for 65 from 46 balls and then Davies falling to a good catch by Gary Ballance at extra cover for 80, itself quick enough at 122 deliveries. After a vigorous stand of 114 in 18 overs, Somerset had been pegged back a little at 346 for 7.

Hildreth upbeat

James Hildreth was confident Somerset were in a powerful position after the first day at Headingley.
“It was doing loads out there,” he said. “It was swinging a lot, it was a bit up and down, and there was also movement off the seam as well.
“We knew we had to fight it out and wait for the bad ball, which they bowled a few of to be fair. We knew we’d play and miss and edge to third-man, but we just had to go with it. Fortunately for us, it paid off.”

But this was the Brooks, the crowd-pleasing Brooks, the headband-warrior Brooks, the Brooks who can enliven the most prosaic of sessions in an instant with fulsome, attacking pace bowling, sometimes even attacking batting. And this was also the Brooks who it was confirmed this week will join Somerset at the end of the season on a three-year contract, because Yorkshire would only offer him two. Brooks, in many ways, has been a psychologist for the more hardened members of the Yorkshire crowd, a player who makes it fun, and as such a little bit of happiness has slipped away.A three-year contract for a fast bowler, at 34, clearly has considerable risk attached, and Somerset would be foolish not to know that, but Yorkshire are facing a difficult transition when good humour will not be readily available. Brooks’ uplifting qualities will be missed. To announce his transfer now had not pleased every onlooker but he is a professional and it helped to clear his mind in a difficult situation.Jack Brooks appeals•Getty Images

“I’m not ready for goodbyes yet – I fully intend to finish on a high,” Brooks said on the eve of the game. To help keep Yorkshire up, Somerset’s title challenge would have to be collateral damage. A return of 4 for 103 in 25 overs proved he still has much to offer without the need for sheepish looks towards the away dressing room and also took him within five wickets of 300 first-class victims for Yorkshire.He took one of the two new-ball wickets, defeating Byrom with bounce and providing a catch to Andy Hodd. Hodd’s presence was unexpected. As soon as Jonny Tattersall added wicketkeeping to his CV and broke into Yorkshire’s side this season in all formats, he had announced his retirement at the end of the season, but Tattersall suffered a back spasm the day before the match and Hodd made an emergency return from Taunton where he was due to play for Yorkshire’s 2nd XI.If there was life in the pitch for Yorkshire’s bowlers, there was not quite enough pace and several edges in the first hour fell short of the slips. Somerset’s innings duly settled, underpinned by a third-wicket stand of 137 in 33 between James Hildreth and Azhar Ali who both made 80s. Hildreth flirted with danger early on before settling into some fine square-of-the-wicket play; David Willey eventually won a catch at first slip with one angled across him. Azhar was more watchful, treating Brooks, in particular, with respect, and he possessed such security in far-from-straightforward conditions that it was something of a surprise when Josh Shaw yorked him with his hundred in sight.The mood of the sixth-wicket stand of 114 in 18 overs was something else. If you bowl short and wide at Davies you will certainly rush the game on, one way or another, and he feasted on Shaw after tea. Gregory, encouraged forth by some Yorkshire fill-in bowling, picked up where he had left off in the Vitality Blast quarter-final, turning a situation that Somerset were barely edging at 229 for 5 (par was perhaps 260) into a day with which they would have been immensely pleased.

Crawley, the 20-year-old right-hander, hit a career-best 168 in a total of 436 as Kent posted a first innings lead of 250

ECB Reporters Network19-Sep-20181:48

Warwickshire deal Sussex’s promotion hopes a blow

ScorecardKent opener Zak Crawley hit a fluent maiden first-class century to bolster his side’s promotion hopes and leave them in total command of their Specsavers County Championship clash with Division Two basement side Glamorgan.Crawley, the 20-year-old right-hander, hit a career-best 168 in a total of 436 as Kent posted a first innings lead of 250 before leaving the visitors to bat out the final hour of day two.The visitors lost both openers Nick Selman and Stephen Cook, caught in the slips off Darren Stevens’ away-swingers within six overs. Kiran Carlson toe-ended a Joe Denly long-hop onto off stump and, in the final over of the day, night watchman Kieran Bull, fended one from Matt Henry to first slip.Wobbling on 33 for 4 at the close, Glamorgan will need a further 217 to make Kent bat again, but the day had belonged to Crawley.In only his 20th first-class appearance Crawley, who honed his batting on ‘The Head’, the 1st XI ground at Tonbridge School – the alma mater of Colin Cowdrey and, more latterly, Ed Smith, England’s national selector – Crawley played a four-hour innings crammed with top-handed cover drives that would have delighted Lord Cowdrey himself.”It feels very good to be stood here tonight with a first hundred to my name,” he said. “I’ve been waiting a while for it and have got out in the 90s a couple of times along the way, so to get over the line today was nice, but I was even more pleased to kick on afterwards.”I’m not usually one for getting nervous in the 90s because I always believed 99 was as good as a hundred, but I’ll admit I was nervous today. A couple of old memories started creeping in about getting out on 93 and 96 before, but once I got the all important single I was fine.Batting in tandem with Sam Billings, Crawley helped add 132 in 29 overs for the sixth wicket as Kent set about firstly reaching Glamorgan’s first innings of 186 and building a game-defining lead thereafter.Resuming on their overnight score of 93 for 2, Kent suffered their first loss in the eighth over when Harry Podmore, their night watchman, fell for 2 – the second of four Kent players to be caught behind when leg glancing. Heino Kuhn fell in similar fashion soon after, flicking airily against Ruaidhri Smith to be caught by Cooke.Crawley reached the 90s with a hooked six off Smith and went on to post his maiden ton in a shade over three hours, having hit 15 boundaries and faced 141 balls.Daniel Bell-Drummond went soon after, pushing half forward with low hands, the England Lions batsman gloved a catch to second slip to send Kent into lunch with a slender lead of four runs.The hosts pressed on after the resumption as Crawley plundered 24 boundaries, while Billings recorded his second half-century of a run-parched summer from 74 balls and with six fours.It took a very good delivery from Bull to finally dislodge Crawley, the only casualty of the mid-session, after 304 minutes at the crease. Prodding forward to his 237th ball, Crawley was deceived by the off-spinner’s flight and dip and a delivery that turned through the gate to clip middle stump.A short, sharp shower rushed the players off for an early tea just before 3pm, after which, Ollie Robinson fell for 17 on his home debut, once again caught down the leg side when glancing.Having battled away for three hours in posting 85 for his highest score since his last championship century against Gloucestershire in Bristol in August 2016, Billings fell to the first ball of a new spell from Michael Hogan. Pushed onto the back-foot by a ‘hit-the-deck’ delivery, the Kent captain was powerless to stop a shooting Hogan off-cutter from plucking out middle stump.Having past the career milestone of 15,000 first-class runs, Stevens perished for 30 when driving a Jeremy Lawlor away-swinger to extra cover, leaving Grant Stewart and Matt Henry to take the home score beyond 400.Having scored only two batting bonus points in their six previous home games, Kent notched five and a maximum eight bonus points in a match for the first time in 2018 before Henry holed out for 31 to leave Glamorgan to bat the remaining 14 overs of the day.

CoA member Diana Edulji is “very upset” because she believes the men’s team would not have been treated the same way

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2018The India women’s team has lost out on a day’s preparation ahead of the World T20 next month because of an ongoing tussle between the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) and the BCCI, and Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji is “very upset” because she believes the men’s team would not have been treated the same way.The women’s team was scheduled to start a week-long preparatory camp at Wankhede Stadium from Tuesday, but the MCA refused to host them because of their disagreements with the BCCI. The BCCI confirmed the camp would begin at the Brabourne Stadium (CCI) from Wednesday.”I’m very upset that the Indian women’s team could not start the camp over the venue issue and I don’t think this treatment would ever be meted out to Virat Kohli’s men’s team. Why these different set of rules for men and women?” Edulji told the . “The camp should have started. It’s preparation for the World Cup, no less. Is this the way the women’s team are going to be treated? CoA has given clear directions that the camp should happen today (Tuesday). Why did this situation arise? Why didn’t GM [Operations Saba Karim] manage this? He gave us the assurance that he is working on it.”The MCA had expressed its disappointment with the BCCI after the CoA moved the fourth India-West Indies ODI from Wankhede to the Brabourne Stadium because of the absence of an authority to oversee the functioning of the state association. The MCA was being governed by its own CoA, but their term had ended on September 15 and CoA chief Vinod Rai explained that the MCA had subsequently not “legally authorised” a working group to oversee its functioning once its CoA vacated office.Unhappy with the shift of the ODI and claiming that the BCCI had not replied to queries on the same, the MCA challenged the board’s decision by moving the Bombay High Court, where a bench is likely to hear the matter on Wednesday.India will kick-off the World T20 with the opening match against New Zealand on November 9 in Guyana.