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Gayle 'takes all the pressure off' – Powell

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The opener Kieran Powell has said he needed to divorce himself from Chris Gayle’s brisk scoring to ensure he did not throw his own wicket away on the second day in Antigua. West Indies will now set their sights on batting into day four after making such a strong start to the first innings against New Zealand, with the total having reached 145 for 0 at stumps on the second day.It was already the highest opening stand in a Test by a West Indies pair since Gayle and Daren Ganga added 162 in Multan in November 2006. The performance highlighted the importance to the West Indies side of Gayle, who was playing his first Test in more than 18 months, and he moved along to 85 from 124 deliveries while Powell shuffled along at his own pace to 58 from 164.”It’s a big relief because it takes all the pressure off your scoring,” Powell said of having Gayle at the top of the order. “The shots you see him play, you just have to put yourself in your own bubble and get away from that or you try and do things and get out. It wasn’t difficult, I just got myself in my own little bubble and just tried to steady. It didn’t matter what I saw at the other end from Chris. I just tried to stick within my limitations.”The West Indies openers had already undone much of the good work New Zealand had put together over the first day, although he deficit remained 206 runs at stumps. But with the world’s No. 4-ranked batsman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, still to come, along with men like Marlon Samuels and Narsingh Deonarine, finding a way through to the West Indies tail looms as a tough challenge for New Zealand.”It’s always important to get a good start when you’ve got guys like that in your team,” Powell said of Chanderpaul and the middle order. “They know they can come in and play under no pressure and express themselves a bit earlier in their innings as well. We’ve got a good start early, so if we can bat the whole of tomorrow and a piece of day four we should be in a good position to bat once and have New Zealand out twice.”The New Zealanders felt they were on top after the first day, when they closed at 232 for 4, but Sunil Narine’s first five-wicket haul in a Test match meant they were dismissed for 351 soon after lunch on the second afternoon. Daniel Vettori said that although New Zealand’s bowlers hadn’t started as they would have hoped when Gayle and Powell walked to the crease, they believed the pressure was building by the end of the day.”It wasn’t the way we wanted to start but I thought by the end of the day we were actually bowling pretty well and starting to create some pressure and maybe if the session had gone a little bit longer we could have taken some wickets,” Vettori said. “You can’t give those freebies away to Gayle because he’s like a Sehwag, he’ll just really hurt you.I think we were going at sixes and sevens pretty early on and it puts you on the back foot and you have to bowl to defensive fields and you probably don’t bowl as well as you’d like. That was pretty disappointing after what was a reasonably good batting performance.”We created some pressure at my end, I thought Kane [Williamson] bowled really well and then Neil Wagner at the end, being able to get it to reverse and starting to ask some questions. That’s going to be a handy asset for us tomorrow. I think the goal is to keep West Indies around a par score, because that wicket is going to get tougher and tougher to play on.”Wagner finished his first day of Test bowling with 0 for 35 from eight overs and although he leaked eight boundaries, Vettori said that was not a reflection on how he had bowled.”He can actually bowl reverse and he does it really well. He runs in hard and asks a lot of questions,” Vettori said. “On these sorts of wickets he’s going to be tough going and we’ve got to make sure we create that sort of pressure so we can attack.”We need to make sure they come away about par and that’s by getting early wickets tomorrow, particularly Gayle’s wicket and probably Chanderpaul’s as well, because he has the ability to bat for a long time. If we can do that, who knows, we can create some pressure and the chance to win the game.”

T20s in Florida an abomination – Guyana President

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Guyana President Donald Ramotar has strongly criticised the West Indies Cricket Board for moving the two Twenty20 internationals against New Zealand to Florida. Ramotar said that the decision was an “abomination” and unfair to the Caribbean regional governments who had spent heavily in the development of stadiums.”Governments invested millions of dollars in building facilities to enhance the game and to promote the growth of the sport,” Ramotar said. “However, today we face the abomination – key matches are now being taken out of the region while some of our territories are deliberately deprived. This must be of great concern to us.”West Indies Cricket is not the private property of some administrators but it is a regional public good.”West Indies hosted New Zealand in Florida for the T20I leg of the ongoing bilateral tour, a decision WICB president Julian Hunte had described as “long overdue.””This was a bold expansion of the series beyond the shores of the Caribbean, and we are excited to have brought the game back to the scores of West Indies fans in North America,” Hunte said.Ramotar, however, said that cricket administrators were working in self-interest. “Cricket is one of the first truly regional institutions that has fostered the confidence that we can successfully integrate,” Ramotar said. “It has given us heroes and role models and is perhaps the best emblem we have of our regional identity.”Some administrators of the sport seem not to care about the importance of this institution but more about perpetuating themselves at any cost.”

Bragg and North keep contest even

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ScorecardA thousand runs before the end of May? In Wales this month the goal has been doubling Glamorgan’s solitary bonus batting point. What was more, they achieved three in conditions favouring saturating, stultifying seam-up: a green pitch at West End that had been prepared for their very demise. A true Welshman in Will Bragg and an Australian in Marcus North, brought in specifically to bolster the upper order, were the prime contributors to a total of 327.As on the first day, considerable concentration and no little fortune were required to make runs on a pitch only marginally less verdant then when the first ball was bowled. David Hughes, the ECB’s pitch inspector, returned for a second look, but, in fairness to Nigel Gray, the bounce was even and there was decent carry. “He is a good groundsman,” said Hughes, whose main concern on Wednesday was the number of indentations. Groundsmen seemingly are looking to leave more grass on newly cut pitches this season in the hope of gaining greater pace.Bragg, who came to the wicket when Gareth Rees was held by James Tomlinson in his follow through, playing slightly across the line, made his second half century in successive innings and 73 in all including nine fours. North, with scores of 79 and 21 to his name following his recovery from a broken finger, struck 70 with 12 fours before making a rare misjudgement in leaving alone a ball from David Balcombe that bowled him. He used to play on this ground for Hampshire, if only once, in 2009. Such is the life of an itinerant overseas player.He batted more freely than Nick James, who, contrary to at least one train of thought here is not the son of Steve James. Still, he can concentrate with similar intensity to the former Glamorgan and England opener, as 15 runs in 28 overs would suggest. In due course Chris Wood had him taken at the wicket by Michael Bates, whereupon Bragg and North, who looked more at ease with the conditions than his fellow Australian left hander, Simon Katich, added 96.Bragg reached 50 off 97 balls with five fours and a five. Playing within his limitations and coping adequately with the movement, he was eventually beaten by the first ball of a new spell from David Balcombe, edging to Bates. Like Hampshire, Glamorgan are top-heavy with left handers in their upper order, which disrupted the direction of the medium pacers: too many balls were speared down the leg side.And talking of statistics before May is out, Liam Dawson’s catch to account for Ben Wright was his 15th of the season at second slip. A 16th was to follow when Mark Wallace edged Balcombe. Jim Allenby drove Kabir Ali uppishly to midwicket and the tidy Bates took a further catch, this time off Tomlinson, to remove John Glover. By now, though, Glamorgan were approaching a total of 300, which represented riches indeed. They finished with a lead of 11, Dean Cosker contributing an unbeaten 40.Hampshire were left with eight overs to bat through, albeit in decent light. Dawson, his confidence buoyed by his slip catching – he really is among the best in the country in that position – saw off the new ball and outscored his captain to boot. A match that at the outset, given the grass on the pitch and Glamorgan’s poor form, might have lasted no more than two days, is proving to be an excellent contest.

Unbeaten Carter drives Barbados

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ScorecardA solid, unbeaten 96 from Jonathan Carter helped carry Barbados into a position of strength against Jamaica on day two of the Regional Four-Day Tournament final.Jamaica began the day on 266 for 8, and went on to add only seven more runs to their total. In reply, Barbados lost opener Omar Phillips for a first-ball duck and Kyle hope cheaply. However, a 144-run third-wicket stand between Rashidi Boucher and Carter put them back on course.Boucher fell soon after passing a half-century, but Carter saw things through till stumps, finishing unbeaten on 96. Dwayne Smith was with him at the crease at the end of play, with Barbados 76 behind with seven wickets in hand.

Prasanna Jayawardene, Randiv back for Sri Lanka

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Sri Lanka Test squad

Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Angelo Mathews (vice-capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranavitana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Dinesh Chandimal, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Suranga Lakmal, Dhammika Prasad, Chanaka Welegedera, Suraj Randiv, Rangana Herath
In: Prasanna Jayawardene, Suraj Randiv and Suranga Lakmal
Out: Ajantha Mendis, Kanishka Alvitigala, Dilhara Fernando, Dimuth Karunaratne, Thisara Perera, Kaushal Silva and Nuwan Pradeep

Wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene and offspinner Suraj Randiv have returned to the Sri Lanka Test squad for the home series against England. Both had missed the tour of South Africa late last year, Jayawardene due to an injury and Randiv as a result of being dropped.Strong performances on the domestic circuit since then have helped Randiv win his place back. In five first-class matches this domestic season, Randiv has picked up 37 wickets for Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, at an average of 27.35. He has played six Tests for Sri Lanka, picking up 21 wickets at 42.95.Mahela Jayawardene will lead Sri Lanka for the first time in a Test series since his return to the captaincy after taking over from Tillakaratne Dilshan, and Angelo Mathews will be his deputy.*There was no place for Ajantha Mendis, who hasn’t played top-flight cricket since the series against South Africa last year after suffering a back injury.Apart from Mendis, the other players from the touring squad to South Africa who have missed out this time are Kanishka Alvitigala, Dilhara Fernando, Dimuth Karunaratne, Thisara Perera, Kaushal Silva and Nuwan Pradeep.Suranga Lakmal, the seamer, also returns to the Test squad having missed the tour of South Africa due to an ankle injury. Lakmal, along with Dhammika Prasad and Chanaka Welegedera, will make up the Sri Lanka pace attack. Rangana Herath will be the lead spinner.The two-Test series begins in Galle on Monday.

BCCI to probe alleged JKCA financial scam

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In the wake of the widespread allegations of embezzlement of the BCCI grants at the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), the Indian board has decided to take action and has asked its auditors to investigate the matter and prepare a detailed report on the situation.

Even as his name has featured in the alleged financial scam at the JKCA, Muhammad Aslam Goni was in Johannesburg, as the manager of the India team for the one-off Twenty20 played on Friday evening at the Wanderers against South Africa. Though he was appointed to the post by the BCCI, no board official would comment on the appointment.

“We are asking the auditors to check the JKCA accounts and report back to us,” Anurag Thakur, the BCCI joint-secretary, told ESPNcricinfo. According to Thakur there was no deadline set and a final call on the matter would be taken by the BCCI president N Srinivasan once the auditor’s report was ready.The allegations came to light when Muhammad Aslam Goni, the JKCA managing committee chairman, lodged an FIR with the police on March 10 against Ahsan Mirza and Mohammad Saleem Khan – the JKCA general secretary and chief administrative officer respectively – accusing the duo of pushing the BCCI funds into bogus bank accounts created in the name of the association.But on March 21, Goni himself was dragged into the controversy when majority of the 62 JKCA working committee members claimed Goni, too, was involved in the scam and demanded he resign from the chairman’s position. The working committee requested JKCA president Farooq Abdullah to dissolve the current management committee and organise fresh elections at the end of April.

Nottinghamshire suffer Pattinson blow

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Darren Pattinson, the Victoria and Nottinghamshire seamer, will miss at least the first two months of the English domestic season after he was diagnosed with a stress fracture of the back.Pattinson, 32, who played one Test for England against South Africa in 2008, had been playing domestic cricket in Australia when the injury was diagnosed. His 21-year-old brother, James Pattinson, who has claimed 25 wickets in his first four Tests, is also currently sidelined with a stress fracture in the left foot, though he is hoping to return to action within days.Nottinghamshire are also looking for a new overseas batsman after it emerged that David Hussey was very unlikely to be able to fulfil his contract with the club. Hussey, 34, has recently been recalled to Australia’s limited-overs side and has now set his sights on playing in the 2015 World Cup.It is understood that Nottinghamshire approached VVS Laxman, who agreed a stint a couple of years ago only to see it vetoed by the BCCI, but he was unwilling to play Twenty20 cricket.The club hope to have found a suitable replacement, a batsman who is available for the majority of the summer, before their AGM on February 27.

England on verge of series success

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Match Facts

February 18, Dubai
Start time 1500 (1100 GMT)Tim Bresnan is still waiting for his first game of the one-day series•Getty Images

The Big Picture

England’s whitewash in the Tests was unexpected and so, too, is their current standing in the one-day series. They are already in an unassailable position following two victories in Abu Dhabi – spearheaded by Alastair Cook and Steven Finn – and a win in Dubai will give them a notable series victory which would buck the trend of their recent struggles away from home in this format.And they hold the advantage despite only two batsmen firing. Cook has been outstanding with a pair of well-crafted hundreds and was well supported on both occasions by his Essex team-mate Ravi Bopara. The others still have significant issues to confront and it can’t be left to the captain all the time. Unlike the batsmen, all the bowlers have played key roles and, as in Test cricket, England possess a fine attack.Pakistan have plenty of issues to sort out. They appear short of a quality batsman and can’t quite decide on the balance of their team. They have got one game left to find out some answers before it is too late to save the series.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
Pakistan LLWWW
England WWLLL

Watch out for…

Quietly Samit Patel is have a good few months for England. He didn’t lose ground during the whitewash in India and has played a crucial part in the two victories here. His left-arm spin is proving hard to score off – only Afridi, briefly, took to him in Abu Dhabi – while he is selfless with the bat when needed and held a decent catch to remove the dangerous Umar Akmal in the second game. There could well be changes to England’s Test squad for Sri Lanka and Patel has done himself no harm.It took a month, but England finally managed to get through an innings without major damage against Saeed Ajmal during the second one-day international. Ajmal’s figures of 1 for 54 were ordinary compared to his recent exploits, but it would be dangerous to suggest England are close to cracking him. It will be a surprise if he goes two consecutive matches with little impact.

Team news

Pakistan appear very unsure about what to do with their team, but the lower-order clearly needs to be strengthened. One option is to recall Shoaib Malik, who can also bowl some offspin, or bring in the young allrounder Hammad Azam. Either way it could be Abdur Rehman who makes away after a wicketless display in Abu Dhabi and a horrid 12-ball innings. They may also feel compelled to change the wicketkeeper after two poor games by Umar Akmal, but then balance becomes an issue.Pakistan (possible) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Imran Farhat, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Umar Akmal (wk), 7 Hammad Azam, 8 Shahid Afridi, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Aizaz CheemaEngland have a fully fit squad to select from for the first time in the series so it’s a question of whether they want any rotation. James Anderson could make way for Tim Bresnan but it would be tough on Anderson who bowled well in the second match. Kevin Pietersen remains under pressure.England (possible) 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Kevin Pietersen, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Ravi Bopara, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 7 Samit Patel, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven Finn

Pitch and conditions

A sandstorm caused significant issues for England’s training session and the players were forced to wear sunglasses. The wind is due to be strong again on match-day so there could yet be a few problems. The pitch is unlikely to differ much from what has been on offer throughout the tour.

Stats and trivia

  • No England batsman has scored three consecutive one-day international hundreds
  • James Anderson became England’s leading wicket-taker against Pakistan during the previous match
  • Pakistan’s batsmen have yet to score a half-century in the series

Quotes

“Cooky’s such a good player, who is fulfilling his role in the team really, really well. You can’t complain when you get two hundreds in successive games.”
“England have performed very well in both ODIs. They have beaten us in every department.”

Trevor Bayliss named new Knight Riders coach

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Trevor Bayliss, the former Sri Lanka coach, has been named as Kolkata Knight Riders’ new head coach, replacing Dav Whatmore who stepped down two days ago.”We are pleased to welcome Trevor Bayliss as our head coach,” Shah Rukh Khan, co-owner of the Knight Riders, said in a press release. “With his rich experience, very successful track record and knowledge of the conditions in the subcontinent, we believe he is the right person to take KKR to the next level of performance.”Bayliss, 49, will be the third coach of the Knight Riders, after John Buchanan and Whatmore. “I have followed the IPL and KKR’s performance and I am honored to become part of this team,” Bayliss said, “which has already built a reputation as a very popular & professional franchise.”Bayliss had been in charge of the Sri Lankan team for four years before resigning following their run to the 2011 World Cup final. He had also guided them to the final of the World Twenty20 in 2009. As coach of New South Wales until 2006-07, he helped the Blues win a Pura Cup title as well as a domestic one-day trophy. He isn’t new to the world of Twenty20 franchise cricket either, and is currently in charge of the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League tournament in Australia. The BBL appointment came after he missed out to Anthony Stuart on a mentoring assignment with the New South Wales team.

Smith blames defeat on second-innings stumble

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Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, has said that his team needed more runs in their second innings to push their opponents out of the game. South Africa were bowled out for 339, but it meant that Australia had to achieve the highest-successful chase at the Wanderers. Australia went on to score the required 310 to square the series, but they ended up scraping home by two wickets in a thriller.”We were set up quite well after the AB [de Villiers]-Hashim [Amla] partnership and we needed to form one or two more partnerships that (fourth) morning,” Smith said. “Losing four wickets in that session set us back. That was the time we really needed to put the knife in and make it count and take the Test out of their grasp but we didn’t.” South Africa lost all their remaining recognised batsmen – de Villiers, Amla, Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher for just 29 runs, leaving their tail exposed to Australia’s attack.On the whole, it was a symptom of a greater concern that affected the team throughout the series: their inability to execute the knockout punch when they had Australia cowering near the ropes. “There were times when we could have kept our concentration levels up a little more and maybe capitalised on a really good position,” Gary Kirsten, the South Africa coach, admitted. “There’s an importance to getting into that position and then being able to concentrate through a longer period of time.”In their first innings, South Africa were set for a big total at 241 for 4. Six wickets tumbled for a mere 25 runs as they crashed to 266 all out. With the ball, they had Australia stuttering at 215 for 6, with 95 runs left to win, and allowed Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson to tug the advantage Australia’s way.Smith however felt the bowlers gave their best in defending the total. “I thought we bowled well today in particular, especially that two and a half hour session upfront,” he said. “We asked a lot of questions and we beat the bat a lot.”Both Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey had been dismissed before tea, leaving South Africa in a fairly commanding position. With conditions remaining seamer-friendly till the end, Smith banked on swing bowler Dale Steyn and rookie Vernon Philander to finish the job. Philander looked to cap off a dream first series in Test cricket, after taking a five-wicket haul for the second time in as many matches.He threatened throughout and proved his enormous progress in the last two seasons of first-class cricket. The conditions were hardly alien to him as he made use of seam movement. “All surfaces are conducive to me,” Philander said. “I rely on good line and length on the fourth stump and so I can nip it away or nip it back. That comes into play on most wickets all over the world.”When even that could not clip off the tail, Smith turned to legspinner Imran Tahir in the final overs with Australia needing just five to win, in a moment of innovation not seen before in South African cricket. “I knew it was a brave call,” Smith said. “I felt [Patrick] Cummins had stood up quite well to the pace and I felt there was an opportunity for Imran. It would have been a wonderful story for him and for us and he almost did it.”Tahir had an lbw shout against Cummins that was ruled not out which was reviewed. Replays showed he was struck outside the line of offstump and the decision stayed with the umpire. “Umpire’s call is a pretty marginal thing these days,” Smith said. “It was a gut feel to use Imran. I was thinking about it for three overs, it took me a few overs to get there.”For Smith, South Africa’s major concern is the ability to close out a game, which, if they had done this time would have given them their first home series win against Australia since readmission. “We certainly had our opportunities to take the game away from Australia,” he said. “We have to take responsibility.”Kirsten, however, reflected on the positives. “Both sides let it slip and pulled it back brilliantly,” Kirsten said. “The one thing I have been impressed by is the resilience of this team. We showed that we could pull it back.”