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Scorecard

New Zealand may only have three-quarters of their squad assembled in England, but their new opening batsman, Aaron Redmond, got his tour off to a useful start with a solid 72 against MCC in the traditional opening match at Arundel. Rain interrupted the game throughout the day, and it dribbled into a draw after nine overs of MCC’s run-chase.Jamie How, New Zealand’s stand-in captain in place of Daniel Vettori – who is on leave with the Indian Premier League – shared in an opening stand of 91 with Redmond. How smacked 10 fours in his slick 46 from 56 balls before he was caught off Chris Cairns, his former team-mate, who was captaining MCC. Redmond, who played for Wigan in the Lancashire League last year, fell to a brilliant one-handed catch by Paul Nixon for 72.New Zealand’s innings fell away thereafter, not helped by frequent rain interruptions, but Tim Southee clattered two huge sixes to lift their total to a challenging 239 for 7 from 47 overs. Mark Gillespie nipped out the MCC openers in quick succession before the final rain break terminated the match, and attention now turns to New Zealand’s first proper warm-up against Kent at Canterbury tomorrow.New Zealand have always struggled to find a reliable opening combination, and Redmond, 28, is their latest. He was once a middle-order batsman but reinvented himself as an opener when he joined Otago in 2004, and was awarded with a contract with New Zealand two weeks ago.”I was a little bit nervous at the start because it’s the first time I’ve had the opportunity to play for a New Zealand side, but it was great to find my feet,” Redmond told PA. “It’s a great opportunity and the best thing I can do is keep performing and training hard. I thought it would give me a better chance to play for the Black Caps and I tried to work on my game and make it nice and tight and it’s worked for me.”Redmond is the son of Rodney who played one Test for New Zealand and was highly successful, scoring 107 and 56 against Pakistan in Auckland in 1972-73. However, he then struggled to adjust to new contact lenses on the visit to England later that year and managed only 483 runs at 28.41 and had to settle for being remembered as a one-Test wonder.The first Test gets underway at Lord’s on May 15.

Carlton Baugh, the wicketkeeper-batsman, has been dropped from the WestIndian one-day squad for five-match series against Pakistan startingDecember 5. The selectors have decided to retain Denesh Ramdin, who is partof the Test team, instead.The other players to miss out are Fidel Edwards, the fast bowler and WavellHinds, the opening batsman. Hinds had failed to make the Test squad, whileEdwards, had yielded his Test spot to Daren Powell in the second Test.Powell has made to the one-day squad as well.Lendl Simmons, the 21-year old opening batsman from Trinidad, is the onlynew face in the 14-member squad. Simmons was part of the Test squad and scored 40 in a tour match against the PCB Patron’s XI. Dave Mohammed, the chinaman bowler, whobowled creditably in the second Test is the lone specialist spinner.ODI squad
Brian Lara (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice-captain), Chris Gayle,Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Runako Morton, Marlon Samuels, Dwane Bravo, DwayneSmith, Lendl Simmons, Denesh Ramdin (wicketkeeper), Ian Bradshaw, Dave Mohammed, DarenPowell and Jerome Taylor

Darrell Hair offered to resign as a member of the ICC’s Elite Umpires Panel in return for a payment of $500,000, Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, told a press conference near Lord’s.Speed said Hair’s resignation offer was forwarded to Doug Cowie, the ICC’s umpire manager. A copy of that letter was also made available to the Pakistan Cricket Board.In the letter, Hair asked for “a one-off payment to compensate for the loss of future earnings and retainer payments over the next four years, which I believe would have been the best years I have to offer ICC and world umpiring.”Speed said that he was shocked and “thought it was a silly letter.” He continued: “This issue has been marked by a series of unfortunate and entirely avoidable overreactions,” adding that he believed that Hair did not have any malicious intent.”I am confident, as is David Richardson (the ICC’s general manager – cricket), who has been intimately involved in these matters, that Darrell had no dishonest, underhand or malicious intent. He was seeking to find a solution that was in the interests of the game.”Despite the revelations, Speed said that Hair had not been suspended and no action had so far been taken against him. But he did not rule out action.”I have said to him that he is not sacked, he is not suspended, and he has not been charged,” Speed said. “I also said to him that I didn’t guarantee that each of those three positions would be maintained indefinitely.”In a statement released later, Speed added: “We realise the disclosure of this correspondence makes Darrell’s situation extremely sensitive. We have made available to him a range of support services including security advice, counselling and media management to assist him at this time.”Speed admitted that he was surprised by Hair’s letter and consulted three lawyers independently before making the contents of the letter public. “When I received the letters I was extremely surprised by the content, as was David. I was concerned as to how I should deal with it and in part whether I was required to disclose the contents.”We received three separate and independent legal opinions. They offered the unanimous view that the ICC was required to disclose the correspondence as it was material or relevant to matters that might be raised in the Code of Conduct hearing of Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.”Although we are certain they are not the product of dishonest, underhand or malicious intent and believe the contents played no part in Darrell’s decision-making during the fourth Test, they could be read as such and may well be interpreted that way if they had emerged in the future.Speed said he was distressed that the issue had created lot of speculation and misinformation in the media as well as allegations of racial bias. “This issue has created unprecedented media and public issue… There is a huge amount of misinformation, speculation and conjecture in different parts of the world. There have been accusations of racism.”It involves two separate issues. Did the Pakistan team change the ball in an illegal manner? Secondly, when Pakistan refused to take the field, did that bring the game into disrepute? They are cricket issues. The ICC Code of Conduct provides a mechanism to dispense justice on cricket issues and that’s the process we are trying to achieve here.”The letter, a copy of which was released to the media, quoted Hair as saying that he was willing to relinquish the umpire’s job from August 31. “I am prepared to retire/stand down/relinquish my position on the elite panel to take effect from August 31, 2006. This payment is to be the sum of $500,000, details of which must be kept confidential by both parties.”ICC may announce the retirement in anyway they wish but I would prefer a simple “lifestyle choice” as this was the very reason I moved from Australia to settle in the UK three years ago.”Percy Sonn, the ICC president, hoped the disclosure of the correspondence represented a point in time after which everyone could once again go forward and focus on playing matters rather than intrigue.”Ever since last Sunday this ongoing situation has been marked by a succession of unfortunate and entirely avoidable over-reactions,” he said.”What we need now is for everyone to try and switch their attention to on-field matters once more.The ICC executive board will meet in Dubai next week to discuss the situation and also to fix a date for the Code of Conduct hearing.

Anil Kumble, India’s veteran legspinner, has said that the World Cup would probably be his last one-day tournament, a fact that would be an added incentive for him to do well at the event, starting in the Caribbean from March 13.”It will probably be the last one day series for me and it will be challenging. I hope I will be able to play a much bigger role this time,” Kumble said in a television interview to CNN-IBN. “The World Cup is a tournament everyone looks up to. The last World Cup was good for India, we played really well as a team. We have a very good chance of winning the World Cup.”Kumble, 36, has played in 17 World Cup matches, snaring 28 wickets. Though he was picked only for three games of the 2003 edition, Kumble would have fond memories of the World Cup, having ended as the highest wicket-taker in the 1996 tournament in the sub-continent. He is also India’s leading wicket-taker in both forms of the game – with 334 scalps in ODIS and 547 in Tests – and is expected to play a key role on the sluggish pitches in the West Indies.Kumble defended his current form, despite managing only five wickets in the six games after his return to the one-day side. “It is unfair to judge performance spread over three series on good batting surfaces. You cannot always get 3-4 wickets per match. The main purpose is to restrict runs. I have the experience and hence am not worried.”India’s squad for the World Cup has been termed ‘Dad’s army’ and Greg Chappell, the coach, recently admitted that fielding was the biggest concern ahead of the tournament. Yet, Kumble had a counter: “You can only do what you can as a fielder. We are all safe on the field. I’m not the most athletic. I have been like that ever since I started. I can’t change suddenly and become a Jonty Rhodes. I always put in a 100%. As a unit we have worked hard and we have fielded well.”

Match facts

Saturday, July 11, 2015
Start time 1000 local (0430 GMT)A young Sri Lanka side will be boosted by the presence of Lasith Malinga and Tillakaratne Dilshan•Getty Images

Big picture

Pakistan have recently been whitewashed in Bangladesh. Sri Lanka’s last ODI outing was that traumatic Sydney World Cup quarterfinal against South Africa. Both teams have lost key men. Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi have stepped off the one-day planet. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have disappeared over the horizon. These teams are not so much waging high-octane battle in the five-ODI series, as conducting experiments. Is Kusal Perera a viable long-term opener, for example? Or can Sarfraz Ahmed learn to transplant his knack of playing vital Test innings, into his ODI game, and where should he bat? What is each team’s top attack? Which batsmen will take the middle order into the future.The stakes are much higher for Pakistan, though. Presently ninth in the ODI rankings, they must defeat Sri Lanka to displace West Indies, and move up a spot. A proposed ODI triangular in Zimbabwe has added uncertainty to Champions Trophy qualifications, but a healthy margin of victory in this series would put a small buffer between them and the next team.The hosts are coming off a dispiriting Test series, but have often rebounded in the limited-overs formats. Lest we forget, Tillakaratne Dilshan still plays one-dayers, and Lasith Malinga leads the attack. Along with Angelo Mathews, they are capable of rallying a young team to at least present a challenge to transitional Pakistan.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)Sri Lanka: LWLWWPakistan: WWLLL

In the spotlight

With Rangana Herath omitted from the squad, Mathews said Sachithra Senanayake was Sri Lanka’s premier limited-overs spinner. Senanayake appeared to have returned successfully following the remodeling of his action, in the series against England at home last year. His returns in Australia and New Zealand, however, were less encouraging. With Nuwan Kulasekara’s experience also overlooked for this squad, pressure mounts on Senanayake to prove he remains a high-quality one-day bowler.Who else but Yasir Shah? They tried to attack him in the Tests, and Yasir took wickets. They tried to block him in the Tests, and Yasir still took wickets. They tried a mix of both, Yasir’s wickets still came. In the end, Sri Lanka only succeeded by tiring him out, at Pallekele. They will not be able to do that in an ODI. Even the batsmen who made big scores in the Test series didn’t have him worked out. He is the hosts’ top threat.

Team news

With Tillakaratne Dilshan back at the top, Upul Tharanga and Lahiru Thirimanne are likely to slot in at No. 3 and 4.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Kusal Perera, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Upul Tharanga, 4 Lahiru Thirimanne, 5 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 6 Angelo Mathews (capt.), 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Seekkuge Prasanna, 9 Sachithra Senanayake, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Suranga LakmalAsad Shafiq suffered a groin strain in the third Test, but has now recovered. He will likely face off with Babar Azam for his middle-order spot however.Pakistan (likely): 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Azhar Ali (capt.), 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Mukhtar Ahmed, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Babar Azam/Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Yasir Shah, 9 Anwar Ali, 10 Mohammad Irfan, 11 Rahat Ali

Pitch and conditions

With a little bit of rain around all across the island, there is likely to be a little seam movement at Dambulla. This doesn’t mean the spinners are out of it either. The weather is expected to be fine.

Stats and trivia

• Sarfraz Ahmed’s average as opener is 43. This is roughly twice his average in the middle order.
• Pakistan were blasted out for 102 the last time they played in Dambulla, in August last year.
• Angelo Mathews averages 53.69 from 42 innings at no. 5. This is again much higher than his average in other positions.

Azhar Ali has said he and Mohammad Amir had “moved on” from the complications that beset Amir’s reintegration to the Pakistan team, in the approach to the New Zealand tour. He said he would focus on captaining Amir, and helping create an environment in which the bowler could thrive.The first ODI on Monday will be the first occasion in which the two will play together, since Amir’s return to international cricket. “He bowled well in the T20s I think,” Azhar said. “As the captain my job is to take the best out of him. Hopefully we will all be united and with Mohammad Amir, and we will allow him to bowl really well and get wickets for Pakistan.”

Elliott credits diligence for bowling contributions

New Zealand allrounder Grant Elliott said his recent effectiveness with the ball in T20s was thanks to “hard work”. Elliott took nine wickets on the four occasions he bowled in the recent T20 series, against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
“As an allrounder sometimes your batting’s not going as well and you want to be able to get into the game,” Elliott said. “I always think about what I wouldn’t want to face, when I’m bowling. For me in T20s, it’s about taking pace off the ball. In the one-dayers it’s slightly different. I want to try and swing the ball and hit the back of the length.”
New Zealand are without Ross Taylor in the ODI series, after the batsman sustained a muscle injury in his side during the final T20. Brendon McCullum is also injured, but Elliott said the team had enough skill and experience to cope with the absences.
“It’s unfortunate what’s happened to Ross, but that always creates opportunity for guys to step up. We’ve got a lot of experience in this team. I think what we’ve seen in the past is that guys have come in during the recent tours of South Africa and Zimbabwe, filled gaps and done pretty well.”

Four weeks ago, Azhar had been among two players who sought to avoid a pre-tour conditioning camp, stating: “I will not attend the camp as long as Amir is there.” He had also attempted to resign the ODI captaincy over Amir’s inclusion, before the Pakistan Cricket Board intervened. He struck a more philosophical tone in Wellington.”Whatever my stance was, my job is to lead this side and keep harmony in the dressing room,” he said. “We are all united and keen for this challenge.He did not want to be drawn on what has allowed his position to change since December. “We should not discuss more about it. We’ve moved on.”In the event Azhar is the passive-aggressive type, the Basin Reserve does present him with a unique opportunity. Bowlers who have upset their captains sometimes find themselves bowling into the stiff wind that is a feature of the Wellington climate. A strong northerly breeze is forecast for the day.”We already discussed it and we’re practicing in this wind,” Azhar said. “So everyone is prepared for that.”In addition to Amir, Azhar has a legion of left-armers in the squad. Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan and Rahat Ali are likely to play at some point in the series, and left-arm spinning allrounder Imad Wasim has also been effective with the ball since making his debut last year.”A lot of the good bowlers that are coming in – most of them are left-armers, in Pakistan,” Azhar said. “Sometimes it’s an advantage because not every team has left-armers. They bowl at good pace as well, so we’re lucky to have them.”With bounce and pace expected in the Basin Reserve surface, Azhar said he hoped Irfan could trouble opposition batsmen. New Zealand allrounder Grant Elliott said Irfan’s height and pace made him an “exciting” bowler to face.”I think I made the comment that playing Irfan was like batting on a trampoline,” Elliott said. “The height that he comes from is very different. It takes a little bit of getting used to – the first couple of balls. He’s another great player for the crowd to see bowl. He’s seven foot and bowls at 140 clicks.”

The Indian team had mixed news from the sick bay ahead of the second ODI against South Africa on Friday. While S Sreesanth has been ruled out of the match, and Gautam Gambhir was also deemed unfit, MS Dhoni and Ajit Agarkar appeared to be ready for selection.”Sreesanth is still not well. He’s definitely not well enough to play tomorrow (Friday)”, said Rahul Dravid, the India captain, after the fast bowler did not turn up for practice.Gautam Gambhir, the opening batsman, has also joined the sick list. “Gautam Gambhir has also had a bit of a viral fever so he’s in the hotel”.”Ajit Agarkar and Dhoni seem to have recovered but we would have loved to have had them practice today because they’ve not played cricket for a week and to have an idea of exactly how they are feeling”, Dravid addedHeavy rain meant that the Indian team could not have an outdoor practice session and instead had to settle for gym work.Dravid said that the flu-related illness within the Indian team was continuing to pose selection problems.”We have an idea but it’s all dependent on who is fully fit and available. We will have to wait on Gautam [Gambhir] and see how he is before we make a call on that.Meanwhile, Ranadeb Bose and Ishant Sharma, the emergency reinforcements, have joined the team after arriving on Wednesday.Dravid responded to comments from Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, that India would be weakened without the presence of a genuine allrounder in their squad.”In these sort of conditions we have used Sourav Ganguly, used Sachin Tendulkar a little bit and we used Yuvraj Singh in the last game because the spinners were bowling well and against the South Africans we thought he might be quite handy”.”You’ve just got to see who is best for the conditions. If there was one guy we were using all the time we wouldn’t need a part-time bowler”, he said.Arthur said Dale Steyn, the fast bowler, and Thandi Tshabalala, the off-spinner, could give the Proteas’ attack increased variety on Friday. They are struggling with flu but Arthur expects them to play – and possibly play a crucial role.”I’ve done a lot of analysis of our last performance,” Arthur said. “And the only thing I can think of is I still think between overs 20-35 we are still a little bit predictable, if you look at the likes of Andrew Hall, Vernon Philander and Jacques Kallis bowling in that area, they are all pretty much the same. I really want to see Steyn and Tshabalala tomorrow. We need to go home with some answers. We need them bowling at the Tendulkars, the Dravids the Sourav Gangulys and Yuvraj Singhs.”Spin has been a problem area for South Africa for some time and whether Tshabalala, known for firing the ball in at the stumps, is the answer against high-class batsmen, remains to be seen. Steyn is a more experienced cricketer and this season has also been playing for English county Warwickshire.”Maybe they will give us the variation we are looking for”, Arthur said. “We were criticised a lot in terms of the variation of our attack – and I think that criticism was true.We need to find a spinner, and the other variation you can have is express pace – which Dale Steyn does bring to the party.”

Somerset announced a pre-tax surplus of £330,389 for the year ending September 30, 2015, as they set their sights on repaying the outlay on a new £3.9m pavilion.The investment was a chief factor in the county winning international status ahead of the 2019 World Cup as well as cementing its position as one of the most successful T20 venues in the country.A rise in profitability was a relief for Somerset, long regarded as one of the most financially-stable of the first-class counties, as they showed no ill effects from the disruption caused by the construction of the new pavilion, which was completed earlier this month, and the associated reduction in seating capacity and facilities during the season.Catering income, in fact, remained a bedrock of the club’s accounts with profits amounting to £964,000, a marginal drop on the previous year.Cricket income rose 10% to £1,284,000 despite a disappointing season in which Somerset only escaped relegation in the final match of the season and failed to challenge in both limited-overs cup competitions. Income from the ECB rose by a similar amount to £2,051,000.Treasurer Malcolm Derry said: “The year was expected to provide significant financial challenges due to the major off-field upheavals associated with the new pavilion.”These strong financial results are of particular importance as the club remains committed to both operating within its budget and repaying the debt taken to finance the new Somerset Pavilion to schedule whilst not detracting from our substantial ongoing investment in our core business of cricket.”These payments will take a considerable time with net debts standing at £3.85m.Somerset claim, though, to have retained a strong commitment to investing in their playing squad. When playing costs are expressed as a percentage of income received, they claim to rank second among the 18 first-class counties.

Scorecard

Mumbai’s bowlers, led by Ramesh Powar, dominated the opening day of the Ranji season after Karnataka won an important toss and chose to bat on a turning wicket. Ajit Agarkar prised out the Karnataka openers cheaply before Powar removed Rahul Dravid, who led a mini recovery act. Powar then ran through the tail to leave Karnataka struggling at 189 for 9. B Akhil led a rearguard effort with a gritty unbeaten 119-ball 53, an innings whose importance will be known after Mumbai bat on this wearing track.The first session featured some fine seam bowling from Agarkar, but Powar dominated the next two. He had delivered the sucker punch ten minutes before lunch when he removed Dravid with a flighted delivery that spun and bounced to produce an edge off a jab. Karnataka’s defences had been breached and it would have been even worse had the short-leg fielder, Sahil Kukreja, held on to sharp chance offered by C Raghu in the same over.Undaunted, Powar struck almost immediately after lunch. Slip, silly point, short leg and backward short leg watched in glee as Powar began to tease the batsmen with variations in flight and turn. In the fourth over he deceived Yere Goud with a lovely flighted delivery that dipped rapidly on the lunging batsman and spun to leave him desperately swishing in the air.The runs came in a trickle in the post-lunch session – 58 runs in 34 overs – as the batsmen struggled to come to terms with the turning ball. Raghu, with a patient 138-ball 31, fought hard while Akhil showed rare glimpses of aggression as he drove and cut the spinners on a few occasions. Using his height, he stretched well forward to drive Powar and Iqbal Abdulla, the 17-year-old left-arm spinner making his Ranji debut. He even attempted a couple of reverse-sweeps against Powar as he began to run out of partners.Abdulla got sharp bounce, with Vinayak Samant, the wicketkeeper, collecting some deliveries in front of his face. All indications were that Anil Kumble would have plenty to look forward to later in the game.Powar certainly enjoyed the wicket. In the last session, he grabbed three wickets in four overs as the tail succumbed pushing and prodding. Sunil Joshi was struck on the pad while stretching forward, Kumble stabbed a turning delivery and Vinay Kumar jabbed at a floater.The first hour of the day belonged to Agarkar, who kept the ball full, got late movement and strangled the batsman. Barring an elegant cover drive from Dravid, hardly any shot pierced the infield as Agarkar ended his first spell with figures of 8-3-9-2. He was on the job right from the start, teasing the outside edge with his second ball before striking two balls later when Barrington Rowland, on nought, lunged at a good-length delivery that shaped away.That brought in Dravid, with another semi-crisis to tackle. The first ball was patted to the off side and he soon got off the mark with a dab to cover. Dravid played cautiously, constantly looking to get forward to kill the movement but the same could not be said of the other batsmen. KB Pawan, brought in for Robin Uthappa, was edgy throughout his 31-ball stay. He was caught at the crease, unsure of his off stump and was constantly pushing tentatively away from his body. Agarkar beat him repeatedly but what would have pleased Pravin Amre, Mumbai’s coach, the most, was the effort from Rajesh Verma.Verma was rewarded for his five-for (“a pleasant surprise” according to Amre) in the Irani Trophy with a place in the playing XI. He repaid that faith with a fine spell, bowling just marginally short of good length and cutting the ball both ways with a whippy action. He beat Pawan three times in his first over and continued to harass him subsequently.Dravid was cautious against Verma and Agarkar but was beaten only three times: the first prompted an lbw appeal as Agarkar brought one in to rap him high on the pads; the second missed the outside edge as Verma cut it away; and the third, half an hour before the break, saw Dravid play a rare stroke away from the body off Agarkar. The rest met the middle of the bat as Dravid proceeded to settle the nerves in the dressing room.Spin was introduced in the 17th over, and Dravid immediately hit Powar for successive fours, an elegant off drive followed by a cut against the turn, while Raghu, who grew in confidence as the innings progressed, dabbed the ball around in the gaps to rotate the strike.The first signs of alarming spin came off the fifth ball of the 23rd over. Powar got it to turn sharply and bounce, forcing a surprised Dravid to hurriedly pull out of an intended cut. Soon Powar took over to have a stranglehold over Karnataka.