A round-up of all the WICB regional 4 day tournament matches that ended on February 22, 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Feb-2016
ScorecardJon-Russ Jaggesar ended with match figures of 11 for 111•WICB Media/LMA Photography

Offspinner Jon-Russ Jaggesar’s 8 for 58 and Evin Lewis’ 104 in the second innings, shaped Trindad & Tobago’s eight-wicket win over Jamaica at Sabina Park.Jaggesar’s eight-for helped bowl Jamaica out for 155 in the second innings after his side had conceded a 19-run lead in the first innings. None of the Jamaica batsmen managed a score more than 30, Nikita Miller top scoring with 28.Lewis anchored T&T’s chase of 175 with his maiden first-class century. He shared a 102-run partnership with Kyle Hope before falling with T&T’s score on 168.In the first innings, Jamaica were guided to 225 by Shacaya Thomas’ 64 and Kirk Edwards’ 66. They shared a 100-run stand for the second wicket before Jaggesar and Imran Khan picked up six wickets between them to help ensure that no other batsman crossed the score of 40.In response, Nikita Miller rattled T&T by picking up 7 for 69, to help bowl them out for 206. Lewis’ 87 at the top of the order was the only score of note, with as many as six T&T batsmen falling for single-digit scores.
ScorecardFifties from Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Leon Johnson helped Guyana manage a draw against Barbados despite Roston Chase’s career-best match figures of 10 for 104.Chasing a target of 405, Chanderpaul made a patient 69 after which captain Johnson too resisted with a fifty. Chase kept Barbados’ hopes alive with by picking up wickets in clusters, but couldn’t manage to take his side to victory as Guyana ended at 252 for 7.Barbados were in a strong position after centuries from Shai Hope and Jonathan Carter helped them set Guyana a target of 405 in the final innings. While Hope’s ton was a more patient effort, Carter’s 100 came off 104 balls during which he hit eight fours and three sixes.Chase cut through Guyana in the first innings to help bowl them out for 190, and end with figures for 5 for 27. Barbados too had a top-order collapse in the first innings, as they were reduced to 154 for 6. Kevin Stoute then revived the innings with an unbeaten 56 at No. 8 that took them to 274 before being bowled out.With the draw, Guyana maintained their position at the top of the points table with 107 points, while Barbados follow at second position with 90 points.
ScorecardLeeward Islands’ fixture with Windward Islands winded down to a draw in St Thomas. Choosing to bat, Leewards posted 327 on the back of Rahkeem Cornwall’s 97 and handy forties by Orlando Peters, Nkrumah Bonner and Jahmar Hamilton. Cornwall’s 97 came off just 95 balls, during which he smashed ten fours and six sixes. Kyle Mayers was Windwards’ best bowler, picking up 5 for 83.Windwards responded strongly with Kavem Hodge scoring his maiden first-class century. He was assisted by Devon Smith (89), Sunil Ambris (56) and Kyel Mayers (58), helping Windwards post 389 on the final day.Leewards made 171 for 8 in the second innings, thanks to captain Bonner’s 46 and Hamilton’s 40, before the match ended in an inevitable draw. Liam Sebastien was the pick of Windwards’ bowlers, picking up 4 for 49.

It’s an amazing life Lendl Simmons leads. One day he is lounging at his home in the Caribbean, watching the World T20 from afar then he is winning a semi-final

Nagraj Gollapudi in Mumbai31-Mar-2016It’s an amazing life Lendl Simmons leads. One day he is lounging at his home in the Caribbean, watching the World T20 from afar. Then last Sunday Clive Lloyd, West Indies’ chairman of selectors, calls him immediately after Andre Fletcher has done a hamstring while West Indies slip against Afghanistan. Lloyd is simple and direct with Simmons: are you fit and confident to walk into the World T20 campaign as a replacement for Fletcher? Walk into the most important match West Indies have played so far in the tournament?Simmons gets his feet off the sofa in his home in Trinidad and tells Lloyd he is in. He lands in Mumbai on Tuesday to join the West Indies squad. He has taken two flights, flown across the continents and straightaway hit training. He must be weary, no?Little wonder then that the first questions Simmons is asked immediately after his match-winning performance deals with whether has he had enough sleep. Simmons smiles and assures every one that he had enough rest.”I was very rested for this game,” Simmons said before happily breaking down his sleep timetable in the short time he has been in India. “I slept on both flights. I came here and I slept the night. In the morning I had practice. After that I slept from 3-10pm. Slept again from 12pm-4pm. So I was very rested.”According to Simmons one big advantage he had was the familiarity with the venue, which is the home ground of Mumbai Indians, the franchise he plays for in the IPL. “I was coming here. I was to leave on Friday to come to Mumbai to get ready for the IPL. I saw it as an opportunity to come and get ready for the IPL as well. Seeing this is my home ground as well I know the conditions, think I read it well.”With his IPL experience and having watched Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni earlier in the evening, Simmons said he already knew what his plan was. “When I went out to bat I had a clear mind of what I wanted to do because we had a target to chase. But before the game I was a bit nervous. I was under a bit of pressure as the guys said I came here for a job. But in all it was good. We had a target to chase. And we got there.”Asked exactly at what point he felt West Indies had wrested control from India, Simmons’s surprising response was never. “At no point I thought that we had it under control because as when a wicket falls you never know,” Simmons said.But what made the chase easier for West Indies, Simmons revealed, was India’s “suspect” bowling. According to Simmons, in the absence of spin from the pitch and the reluctance of Dhoni to give the ball to his premier spinner R Ashwin, West Indies found it easier to find a way out despite the early loss of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels. “The bowling was suspect. They had Nehra and Bumrah, two fast bowlers, but not express pace,” he said.Right from the first day in India, West Indies have spoken about how each of the 15 players is a match-winner in the squad. How each one needs to take the responsibility to take over the responsibility if the other fails. So when Gayle was bowled by Jasprit Bumrah and Samuels erred in his shot selection, West Indies did not panic even as the Indian fans danced merrily imagining their team contesting for the crown against England at Eden Gardens on Sunday evening.”India will certainly be aware that is not a one-man show in this team because Chris Gayle did not get off tonight but we still managed to get over the line and it was a big total. Seeing that he did not perform and we were still able to put up a fight and win the game with balls to spare shows a lot of character from our players.”Simmons did have the customary word of caution going into the final that they could not be overconfident against England. But he was not shy declaring that there was more than one man in the dressing room who could stand up if the others failed. “Every one of our players is a match-winner in our team: Sammy to bat, Bravo to bat, Russell came in, he played his part, Ramdin still to bat. We have a lot of batting power and any total anyone makes we can chase it. We always back ourselves to chase totals.”Simmons’ voice is soft. At times you have to strain to hear him. In comparison to the other powerful batsmen in the team, Simmons is short, lanky, less muscular. But with bat in hand Simmons loses that softness. He can pack a punch and demolish bowling attacks without blasting the ball hard. On Thursday evening he quietly silenced the Wankhede faithful to their utter shock and despair. They had had come to watch Kohli. They had come to watch Dhoni. They had come to watch Gayle. They went back having watched a gem from Lendl Simmons.

Rangana Herath wants to cap his 17-year international career off by becoming the third Sri Lankan bowler to take 300 wickets in Tests

Sa'adi Thawfeeq23-Apr-2016While Rangana Herath may have retired from limited-overs cricket to extend his Test career, there may still be doubts over how much he could put his 38-year old body and those surgically repaired knees through. The Sri Lanka left-arm spinner, though, wanted to secure 300 Test wickets and be part of his team’s next 10 Tests before taking a call on his future.”I have not set any goals for myself. Whenever I have played for my country, I have always wanted to see how best I could contribute to win,” he said. “That has been my approach all the time. It would be a big achievement if I can get to 300 Test wickets, but after that, I don’t see any goals that I can pursue.”There are about ten Tests lined up for this year and I’ve decided that I can manage myself and my knees playing in that format rather than the hustle and bustle of one-day cricket,” he said.Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas are the only Sri Lankans with 300 or more Test wickets. Herath is three short of the mark and could get to it this May in the first of three matches against England at Headingley, the venue where he played a starring role in a famous win for Sri Lanka in 2014.With three Tests at home, against Australia, to follow the England tour and three Tests in South Africa in December, Sri Lanka would want to retain Herath’s services for as long as possible. He has been the team’s leading wicket-taker since Muralitharan’s retirement in July 2010. Overall, only James Anderson and Stuart Broad have taken more wickets than Herath’s 226 in this period.The problem, though, is his fitness. In 2012, he underwent arthroscopic surgery to have the cartilages of both knees repaired.”It was fine for the first few years or so, but with the extra workload of playing international cricket, the pain in both knees started to come back, especially when I am running,” Herath said. “I have managed to continue playing by taping my knees. I was not 100% certain of being fit to play in all three formats, that’s why I decided to stick to Test cricket, a pace at which I can manage my legs. I am lucky that I didn’t end up as a fast bowler because my career wouldn’t have lasted this long.”Herath’s retirement would leave another hole in a Sri Lankan side that is struggling to cope with the retirements of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. But Herath expressed faith in the youngsters coming through. “You don’t need one bowler to run through the entire opposition,” he said. “We still have quality fast bowlers and spinners who can take 20 wickets to win a Test match.”We have plenty of good spinners around, like Dilruwan Perera, Tharindu Kaushal, Sachithra Senanayake and Jeffrey Vandersay, but they need to be given a consistent run in the national team. That is how they will gain the confidence to bowl under pressure and under different conditions and situations and win matches for us. I will certainly want to share my experience and help young spinners and contribute in whichever way I can.”Herath made his Test debut as a 21-year old in 1999, but it took him over a decade to find a permanent place in Sri Lanka’s XI. “When I was dropped from the side, I never gave up hope. I knew I had the skill to play for the national team and kept on performing at domestic level,” he said. “The national selectors thought that I was good enough and persisted with me for virtually all the matches played by the Sri Lanka A team. That gave me hope that one day I would be considered to play in the senior side.”A tours, however, were infrequent at that time and Herath had been playing in the Staffordshire League in England in 2009, when he was summoned to the national squad to replace an injured Muralitharan for the home Tests against Pakistan. He took 15 wickets at 26.93 and helped Sri Lanka win the series 2-0.Although Herath played 71 ODIs and 17 T20Is, he never played in a World Cup final until 2014 when Sri Lanka beat India to lift the World T20 title in Bangladesh. His 5 for 3 against New Zealand in a virtual quarter-final at that tournament is widely regarded as the best bowling performance in the shortest format.Herath had helped his team enter World Cup finals on two other occasions, but was left out for the summit clashes. In the 2011 World Cup semi-final, he took 1 for 31 off nine overs against New Zealand, and in the 2012 World T20, he returned his second-best figures of 3 for 25 against Pakistan, both at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.Herath has not thought of life after cricket yet. “I am still employed with Sampath Bank and have some years to serve with them,” Herath, who is presently their business promotions manager, said. “I am lucky to have an employer like Sampath Bank who has never questioned my position even on occasions when I had not been part of the national team.”

Riki Wessels made an unbeaten 159, his highest score for Nottinghamshire since he fell one short of a double hundred against Sussex at Hove in May 2012

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge29-May-2016
ScorecardRiki Wessels made his highest first-class score for four years•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire’s season is in danger of following last season’s perilous trajectory, three defeats in their opening six Championship matches again leaving them with catching up to do. With Chris Read out of the picture until some time in July with a broken hand and thus unable to organise the lower middle-order rescue act that has become his speciality, you fancy the challenge this time might be greater still.A tough fixture against a resurgent Durham, chasing a third consecutive win, did not look the ideal moment to be relying on batsmen in unreliable form yet two of them have delivered abundant runs here, as a result of which Paul Collingwood’s team is the one needing to fight back.Brendan Taylor, whose 71 in the defeat at the Ageas Bowl last week was his first innings of substance this season, followed up with his first century for almost a year on Saturday and, after an opening passage not without difficulties, Riki Wessels matched him and more, building on similar portents of returning form against Hampshire by making an unbeaten 159, his highest score since he fell one short of a double hundred against Sussex at Hove in May 2012.Backed up by a career-best 74 from Brett Hutton in a partnership that added 197 for the seventh wicket, Wessels enabled Nottinghamshire to build further on the recovery from 27 for 3 engineered by Taylor and Samit Patel on the opening day to reach a total that ought to be enough, at the very least, to ensure a fourth defeat is avoided.Watchful at first, perhaps even a little fortunate at times as Graham Onions and the returning Chris Rushworth bowled with skill but no luck in the first hour or so, Wessels completed a 92-ball half-century with a streaky four to third man off Onions but pushed on confidently thereafter, Durham suffering for the absence from their attack of one of their seam quartet, Brydon Carse, who has a foot injury. Wessels moved from 50 to 100 in 64 more balls and from 100 to 150 in just 42. Even so, he did not take any serious liberties in looking for boundaries until the reverse sweep off Scott Borthwick that took him to 150.”I’ve felt all right but kept getting out in different ways,” Wessels said, reflecting on a run of low scores after an 81 in the opening fixture against Surrey. “Onions and Rushworth bowled well first up so it was good to get past fifty and push on this time.”The Wessels innings spanned four and a half hours, after which he was compelled to swap batting gloves for wicketkeeping gauntlets as Read’s stand-in behind the stumps, from which vantage point he was able to watch Jackson Bird deliver a damaging burst of three wickets in six deliveries either side of tea as a solid start to Durham’s replay unravelled.From 72 without loss they slipped to 75 for 3 as Keaton Jennings and Mark Stoneman succumbed to near-identical dismissals, each clipping balls that were caught low down at short midwicket, before Jack Burnham was pinned in front first ball.The Australian finished on 4 for 59, which perhaps did not do justice to his performance on a wicket that is not offering much to the bowlers.Bird missed the defeat at Hampshire through a minor injury. Luke Fletcher might consider himself unlucky to be the man left out to accommodate him after taking 12 wickets in his last two matches but in a straight choice between him and Hutton, Nottinghamshire took the view that in Read’s absence the young all-rounder was a likelier source of runs and were justified in doing so.After a wicketless morning, Durham enjoyed the better of the afternoon, taking the last four Nottinghamshire wickets for 61 further runs and losing only the one wicket before the next interval. Borthwick’s leg-spin claimed all four, giving him only the third five-for of a career that has certainly suffered, in regard to that part of his game, from spending half of it bowling – or, more often, not bowling – at the Riverside.He might have seemed destined to be a one-Test wonder after his solitary, unsuccessful appearance during the ill-starred 2013-14 Ashes tour, but England have not yet given up on him completely as a leg-spinning allrounder. Encouraged by England’s spin coach, Peter Such, he went to New Zealand in the winter to work with Warwickshire’s Jeetan Patel, who has been an effective spinner in English conditions for a number of years.Running through the Nottinghamshire tail does not count for much, of course, but it will have been good for his confidence, if nothing else. He needs no such boost in terms of his batting. As he and Collingwood rebuilt after Bird claimed Michael Richardson as his fourth wicket, Borthwick is unbeaten on 59 at the close, having recorded two fifties and two hundreds in his last six innings.

Coach Duleep Mendis has said he is satisfied with Oman’s top-two finish at WCL Division Five in Jersey, but has admitted that his side’s batting struggles are a major concern

Peter Della Penna01-Jun-2016Coach Duleep Mendis has said he is satisfied that Oman were able to secure promotion with a top-two finish at WCL Division Five in Jersey, but has admitted that his side’s batting struggles are a major concern. Speaking prior to the team’s departure from Jersey, back to Oman, Mendis told ESPNcricinfo that he expects several new players to come into the Oman squad for WCL Division Four to be held in the USA later this year.”The bowlers did extremely well right through the tour from the first game onwards, the seam bowlers as well as spin,” Mendis said. “The batsmen didn’t click; other than one or two batsmen, others never got off. That is one of our main concerns when we get back.”Opening batsman Zeeshan Maqsood finished as the tournament’s leading scorer with 350 runs at an average of 70. His opening partner Khawar Ali, however, managed only 68 runs in seven innings, including three scores of 2 against tournament champions Jersey. The rest of the batting order fared little better, with spin-bowling allrounder Aamir Kaleem the only Oman player besides Maqsood to cross 100 runs in the tournament, making 139 at 34.75.”We need to buckle down and get these things organised,” Mendis said. “Batting has to be organised because number two, three, four never gave us any runs. That is a main concern right now.”We tried with the present lot for a long period now and some of them haven’t really come off, so we need to go back and see what we have, and I’m sure there will be some new faces in the batting lineup in LA. They are quite used to playing 50 overs. It is not that they have not experienced it in the past. It is nothing new to them. But I think the present lot have been in the circuit for a long period and it is always good to have fresh blood coming in and even the fielding standard will improve.”Mendis said Oman’s lineup faces obstacles from the ICC’s player-eligibility guidelines regarding non-citizens at Associate tournaments. In any tournament below the WCL Championship, only two players who have lived in a given country for four years but not yet seven years are eligible to play in any starting XI.Oman carried three such players – wicketkeeper Swapnil Khadye, batsman Noorul Riaz and left-arm pacer Bilal Khan – in their squad to Jersey, with Bilal the odd man out in all but two games. Mendis admitted his preference was to have Bilal in his first-choice XI, but problems with the batting necessitated a different approach. Going forward, Mendis said Oman may have to reconsider the selection of four-year players if it poses issues with team balance.”The wicketkeeper Swapnil came off well,” Mendis said. “He started keeping well, [and] his contribution with the bat was good, so I think he has almost established himself. Noorul is a big question mark. He’s a new player who [debuted] for this tour. He did all right. At the same time, there are one or two other seamers as well who could come into the side. They might not be as good as Bilal, but they are somewhere there. But as I said, we will have to go back and see how we can get the best combination going.”The domestic 50-over season in Oman wrapped up just prior to the team’s departure for Jersey and will not begin again until September. Mendis said he is targeting a preparation tour to the UAE around then as part of the team’s build-up to Division Four in Los Angeles. Mendis says he toured there with a Sri Lanka XI as a player and feels the dry conditions in the San Fernando Valley at Woodley Park will suit his side more than those they encountered in Jersey.”The main concern for us when we came was to get in the next Division, Division Four,” Mendis said. “Because of relegation [in 2014], we had to come down to Division Five, but between now and then, the boys gained a lot of experience playing in the world circuit – the WT20 and Asia Cup – and we were confident when we came here that we would get into Division Four.”We are very keen that we do well in WCL Four and go up to Three. That will be our main goal now. Before the WT20, our goal was to make a big impact on the tournament and we did that. When we came here, we wanted to get qualified for [Division] Four and we did that. Now the next target is to get to Three.”

Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford said Nuwan Pradeep was unlucky to miss out on a Lord’s five-wicket haul, given the quality of his bowling in the second innings

Andrew Fidel Fernando at Lord's12-Jun-2016Sri Lanka coach, Graham Ford, said Nuwan Pradeep was unlucky to miss out on a five-wicket haul and a place on the Lord’s honours board, given the quality of his bowling in the second innings. Pradeep finished with 3 for 37 from 15 overs, but had three clear chances missed off his bowling, and was also denied a wicket by an incorrect no-ball call.Pradeep had England’s highest scorer Alex Hales dropped on 19 by second slip on Saturday evening; Hales was reprieved off Pradeep’s bowling again on 39, when a diving Dinesh Chandimal failed to hold on to a tough chance down the leg side. A much easier chance off Steven Finn was then missed by Chandimal next ball. Finally, on Sunday, Pradeep pegged back Hales’ off stump when the batsman was on 58, but umpire Rod Tucker incorrectly ruled that Pradeep had overstepped. Hales said later that the no-ball call had not had a bearing on the stroke he played.”It was disappointing that Nuwan Pradeep bowled so damn well and had such bad luck,” Ford said. “If ever a guy deserved to get a five-wicket haul at Lord’s, it was him. It’s sad for him in many ways.”Pradeep is Sri Lanka’s highest wicket-taker in the series, having claimed 10 scalps at an average of 31.6. Ford said the bowler had improved significantly since Ford’s first, two-year stint as Sri Lanka coach – between 2012 and 2014 – when Pradeep first began to play Tests.”He’s certainly moved on a great deal since then. He’s always been a guy that runs in hard and tries really hard. But he’s now got more skill: he’s got the ability to move the ball both ways. He’s also got the ability to now assess conditions and make a decision on the types of lengths he should be hitting on a particular surface. He’s grown a great deal as a bowler. He’s come on in this series and I can’t say enough about how well he bowled in the second innings.”Ford said Sri Lanka’s seam unit had made gradual improvements during the series, but was nevertheless critical of their consistency. Sri Lanka conceded 17 runs in the first four overs of England’s second innings, then allowed the hosts to move to 45 for 0 after 12 overs before finally breaking through.”The seam group have improved, but there are areas where we’ve let ourselves down, and often the momentum gets lost,” Ford said. “Yes there are one or two catches that could have made a difference as well. The way they went out today and really hit their areas was very, very pleasing. But I have told them that yesterday when we started, we did leak a few release balls that can really ease the pressure and settle the opposition dressing room.”In comparison, England bowled three consecutive maidens to begin day three. They took three wickets in the first eight overs of the day.”We’ve got to be really ruthless at the start of sessions, as England were yesterday,” Ford said. “They gave us nothing up front. After seven overs we had seven runs. That was a four down to third man and a three down to third man. Two nicks – that was all we got. We didn’t get one release ball. That’s why they are such a great bowling unit. We are showing signs of starting to get that sort of thing right.”Rangana Herath, Sri Lanka’s second-highest wicket-taker in the series, had also had a wicket denied him by the umpires – when S Ravi turned down an lbw shout against Alastair Cook in the 49th over of England’s innings. Had Sri Lanka reviewed that decision, it would have been overturned. Herath took 4 for 81 in the first innings.”Rangana’s just brilliant,” Ford said. “He often bowls in conditions that don’t really suit him, and to bowl as well as he did in the first innings here was amazing. I’m sure everyone appreciated watching the great skill and ability he has.”Sri Lanka’s openers survived 12 overs of their second innings unscathed, and the team now requires 330 for victory on the final day. Ford suggested there was more to be gained from attempting the target, than there was to be lost in risking a whitewash.”Very definitely we want to win the game,” Ford said. “That’s why we’re here. Winning a match at Lord’s is very special, and it would be a wonderful achievement and a huge growth within the group if we manage to do it. The boys are going to come in and try very hard.”Great that we got through that really tricky session tonight. Hopefully the weather’s great tomorrow and there are good batting conditions. If we get a good partnership up front, we’ve got the ball strikers to get busy and chase the target. We’ll have to be positive, but that’s the way the boys are going to go about their business anyway.”

Gloucestershire’s seamers bowled them to a 61-run County Championship win over Division Two leaders Essex at Cheltenham.

ECB Reporters Network16-Jul-2016
ScorecardCraig Miles completed a split-innings hat-trick•Getty Images

Gloucestershire’s seamers bowled them to a 61-run County Championship win over Division Two leaders Essex at Cheltenham.Starting out on 16 for 1, requiring a further 197 for victory, the visitors crashed to 152 all out by early afternoon, with Liam Norwell, David Payne and Craig Miles all profiting from the overcast conditions.Norwell claimed four wickets in the innings, while Payne and Miles took three each, maintaining an exemplary line and length to put constant pressure on the batsmen.The result catapulted Gloucestershire into the promotion race as they took 21 points to the six earned by Essex. They now trail the leaders by only 11 points, with a game in hand.Norwell removed nightwatchman Jamie Porter with the first ball of the day, Gareth Roderick holding a thin edge at the second attempt, and followed up by having Tom Westley caught at first slip for 17 before left-armer Payne pinned Nick Browne lbw, pushing forward.Miles then claimed a split-innings hat-trick when bowling Ravi Bopara for 3, shouldering arms, with his first ball of the day, having also struck with his final two deliveries of the first innings.He followed up by dismissing Dan Lawrence, who drove a catch to extra cover and Ryan ten Doeschate, caught behind, in a six-over spell of 3 for 26.”My dad had mentioned to me that I was on a hat-trick after the first innings and Hamish Marshall reminded me before I ran in to bowl my first ball today,” Miles said. “I gave it everything and it was a great feeling, whether it was spread over a few overs or not. I’ve never taken a hat-trick in any form of cricket.”The ball I took the last wicket with is the one I get to keep and have mounted. But it was a real team effort by the bowlers. Liam Norwell and David Payne probably deserve a ball each too.”Essex did their best to be positive, but the quality of the bowling, with the ball swinging and seaming off the pitch, allowed Gloucestershire to dominate the morning session.James Foster pulled Norwell for a defiant six in the final over before lunch, but then edged a wide delivery through to wicketkeeper Roderick and departed for 7.That left Essex 124 for 8 at lunch, still requiring 89 runs, with spots of rain in the air. The afternoon session saw only one run added before Graham Napier edged a defensive shot off Payne to give Roderick his fourth catch.Ashar Zaidi smacked Norwell for a six over wide long-on, but the following ball saw the left-hander, on 37, get an inside edge onto his stumps and it was all over at just before 2.15pm.That gave Norwell 4 for 65 from 16.3 overs, while Payne finished with 3 for 40 and Miles on his lunch figures of 3 for 26. It was a high class bowling effort on a day Essex began as favourites.

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal sustained a fracture on the ring finger of his left hand while fielding at team practice in Mirpur on Saturday

Mohammad Isam28-Aug-2016Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal sustained a fracture on the little finger of his left hand while fielding at team practice in Mirpur on Saturday. An X-ray on Sunday confirmed the nature of the injury.BCB’s chief physician Debashish Chowdhury said that Tamim is likely to be ruled out for two to three weeks, which means that he could be uncertain for selection for the ODIs against Afghanistan, if they go ahead in September.”He has fractured his finger during catching practice,” Chowdhury said. “The good thing is that the fracture did not spread and is in one place. We are hopeful for him to recover within two to three weeks.”Tamim was taking part in a training session ahead of Bangladesh’s home series against England. He is likely to be fit by the time it starts, in October.

New Zealand quick Adam Milne is unlikely to make it to the squad for the ODIs in India next month, having yet to fully recover from an elbow surgery, according to national selector Gavin Larsen

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Sep-2016New Zealand quick Adam Milne is unlikely to make it to the squad for the ODIs in India next month, having yet to fully recover from an elbow surgery, according to national selector Gavin Larsen.Milner last played competitive cricket in April. He sustained a grade two hamstring tear in his right leg during the IPL in May, and was subsequently ruled out of his county stint with Essex as he required surgery on his elbow. He has been named to play in three 50-over matches between a New Zealand XI and an Emerging Players XI in Lincoln next week, but is set to only play as a batsman.”Milne is just coming back from a wee tidy-up elbow operation he had,” Larsen told .”He’s travelling nicely and he’s going to play in those games, but we are keen to keep expanding his batting game so he’s going to play as a batsman. It’s probably fair to say that it would be a stretch [for him to make the squad for India].”Milne had earlier missed IPL 2015 after failing to recover from a heel injury he picked up during the World Cup, where he missed New Zealand’s last two matches.Seam-bowling allrounder Corey Anderson, who is recovering from a back injury, however, reportedly has a brighter chance of making the squad for the ODIs in India. He will be part of the Emerging Players XI team in the three one-dayers against New Zealand XI.”We will monitor Corey, like we’ll watch everyone, and assess where he is at after those games,” Larsen said.”It is the bowling obviously we are very keen to see Corey keep progressing in, to be getting back to being selectable as a genuine allrounder. We are trying to get that on track as quick as possible.”New Zealand XI: George Worker, Anton Devcich, Will Young (capt), Colin Munro, Mark Chapman, Adam Milne, Tom Blundell, Ben Wheeler, Seth Rance, Jacob Duffy, Hamish Bennett, Cameron FletcherEmerging Players XI: Michael Bracewell (capt), Jeet Raval, Robbie O’Donnell, Corey Anderson, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Seifert, Shawn Hicks, Todd Astle, Scott Kuggeleijn, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Edward Nuttall

An ICC delegation led by chief executive David Richardson and chairman Shashank Manohar are set to meet various stakeholders in New York regarding progress for cricket in the USA

Peter Della Penna30-Sep-2016An ICC delegation led by chief executive David Richardson and chairman Shashank Manohar will be in New York City this weekend to meet various stakeholders regarding progress for cricket in the USA.The ICC Americas office has been acting in an administrative caretaker role since the ICC’s suspension of the USA Cricket Association (USACA) in June 2015. Manohar, Richardson, ICC chief legal counsel Iain Higgins, WICB president Dave Cameron and Singapore Cricket Association chairman Imran Khawaja, who is one of the three Associate representatives on the ICC board, are expected to be part of the delegation. The delegation will hold meetings while building a progress report to be delivered at the next ICC board meeting in October.According to several sources, the ICC travelling party will be meeting with members of the four advisory groups that were appointed in May to oversee the implementation of the ICC’s strategy for cricket development in the USA. That strategy includes goals for qualifying for the 2019 World Cup and 2020 World T20. ICC Americas administrators are expected to fly in from their new office in Colorado Springs to be in New York this weekend. Recently hired USA coach Pubudu Dassanayake is also expected to be in attendance.The delegation is also scheduled to meet USACA president Gladstone Dainty. The USACA announced on Thursday that it had secured a $70 million dollar licensing deal with a Pennsylvania-based entity called Global Sports Ventures, LLC. At a press conference in New York on Thursday, Dainty said that he was confident the ICC would lift the USACA’s suspension.”The ICC and the suspension of USACA, everybody knows about it,” Dainty said. “I’m not going to say how USACA feel about it. But at this time we feel good in the sense that the CEO of the ICC said that they’ve investigated long and hard, they found nothing and it is our expectation that we will be reinstated without a problem shortly. If we aren’t, then I’m sure that you guys are going to make sure that justice is done.”