Lewis closes in on century for Durham

Durham captain Jon Lewis was three short of his second century of the season when his side closed the first day on 215 for two against Worcestershire at Chester-le-Street.Play began 90 minutes late following rain and Lewis batted through the day, hitting 15 fours off 255 balls.Without a half-century in his previous 11 Championship innings, Lewis had only one narrow escape. On 21 he took evasive action against a short ball from Andy Bichel and edged it just over the slips.He had to work hard against Bichel and Alamgir Sheriyar, with the left-armer conceding only 26 runs in 18 overs. But the third seamer, Chris Liptrot, was the weak link in the attack, going for five runs an over.England Under-19 left-hander Gary Pratt contributed an impressive 37 to a stand of 85, only seven short of Durham’s highest opening stand of the season.Only nine runs came off the first nine overs before Liptrot came on and Pratt quickly hit him for three of his six fours, two of them racing through the covers off successive balls.Pratt fell lbw trying to whip Liptrot through the leg side then Martin Love shared a stand of 53 before he was snared by David Leatherdale.Coming on after tea, the medium-pacer struck in his third over when Love pushed forward and edged to wicket-keeper Steve Rhodes for 26.Leatherdale posed no problems for Paul Collingwood, who quickly cracked him for three fours on his way to 41 not out.

'Disappointed, but have to follow rules' – Malik

Shoaib Malik, whose unbeaten 96 had kept Pakistan on course during a severely tense chase of 277 in Harare, admitted he was disappointed by the way the match ended after the umpires took the players off for bad light. At the time, Pakistan needed another 21 runs to win in two overs with two wickets in hand. But with play being curtailed, Duckworth-Lewis calculations indicated the visitors were short by five runs.”The way we were batting then, I think the game was in our favour,” Malik said. “Obviously there are certain ICC rules and we have to follow them. I think overall it was a great game, but at the end of the day it’s a little bit disappointing the way it ended. But being a professional cricketer and representing your country, you have to follow certain rules and regulations.”Malik batted for almost 42 overs and helped Pakistan recover from a precarious 76 for 6. He added 111 runs for the seventh wicket with Aamer Yamin, who struck a maiden ODI fifty, and an unbeaten 63 for the ninth wicket with Yasir Shah.”I had one thing in my mind,” Malik said. “If we play the full 50 overs, then we might have a chance. The minute that Aamer Yamin came in he gave me that hope, ‘okay I’m here and I can hit boundaries’. So he started hitting boundaries and I started taking singles. And it was just one thing that I always had in my mind during the game: that I have to play until the 50th over. And whichever way the game goes, either to Zimbabwe or us, I still have to play the fifty overs.”Yamin departed with 90 still needed from 61 balls and Pakistan were left with three wickets in hand. But Malik insisted he never felt the game had slipped away. “I never thought of it that way. The way [Yamin] batted, he gave us hope. Even when Yasir Shah came in, the way he was batting I think the pressure was on the Zimbabwe team. It’s like a team thing. Obviously we lost, but at the end of the day we have achieved a lot from this game.”Earlier in the day, three of Pakistan’s top-four batsmen had fallen playing aggressive strokes. But Malik said an attacking approach had been part of the visitors’ gameplan. “The way cricket is going I think you have to play aggressive cricket, and that’s what we even talked about in our meeting before this game. Sometimes you lose wickets, sometimes you score runs. It’s part of the game.”Malik also gave credit to the Zimbabweans for the way they played, singling Elton Chigumbura out for particular praise. “We started off well bowling as a unit, but obviously we must also give credit to the Zimbabwean batsmen, especially [Chamu] Chibhabha and Chigumbura. Especially Chigumbura and the way he batted at the end. There are areas of improvement for us, which we’ll look at and come back hard.”

NSW's all-round power delivers Pura Cup title

New South Wales 281 & 8 for 563 dec beat Victoria 216 & 370 (Jewell 99, White 57, Crosthwaite 50, Casson 4-128) by 258 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Simon Katich captained New South Wales to the Pura Cup and was named Man of the Match after making 86 and 92 © Getty Images
 

New South Wales became the Pura Cup champions for the third time in six years with a 258-run win over Victoria after Beau Casson grabbed four wickets on the fifth day. Nick Jewell looked set to pick up a consolation century but his dismissal for 99 was indicative of Victoria’s season – so near and yet so far.The Bushrangers were consistent enough to make all three domestic finals, however for the second summer in a row they had to settle only for the Twenty20 title. The Blues, on the other hand, had a terrible limited-overs campaign yet completed the Pura Cup undefeated and deserved the triumph.Even without their Australian stars returning for the decider, New South Wales would have been hard to beat. As it was, Brett Lee picked up five wickets and made 97 in his first Pura Cup final, Stuart Clark grabbed handy victims and Michael Clarke contributed a useful 64.The Blues had batted Victoria out of the contest on the fourth day and they began the final morning wondering only if they would secure the title with a victory or a home draw. They knew how the Bushrangers felt as New South Wales started the fifth day of last year’s decider 567 behind, with ten wickets in hand away from home against Tasmania; Victoria had eight wickets up their sleeve and were down by 532.It looked like being a quick kill when David Hussey (31) drove Lee to cover in the first over of the morning without adding to his overnight score. However, Jewell and Cameron White combined for a handy 115-run stand, Adam Crosthwaite chipped in with a half-century, Bryce McGain posted his highest first-class score and the last pair, Dirk Nannes and Shane Harwood, combined for 52 to extend the match to within ten minutes of tea.Casson bowled 29.3 overs unchanged on the fifth day and finished the job with McGain caught at bat-pad for 25 before finally trapping Nannes lbw for 32. New South Wales celebrated and as their major contributors, including the captain, Man of the Match and Player of the Series, Simon Katich, and the centurion Phillip Hughes, grabbed stumps, the injured Doug Bollinger and those who made way for the international stars, such as Mark Cameron, joined the fun on the SCG.Katich made 86 and 92 and passed the all-time record for most runs in a season during the decider, but said the only thing that mattered was the title. “The main thing is we’ve got this trophy in the cabinet,” Katich said. “It’s nice to have done well but this is what means the most. I’m just so proud of the boys.”The Blues had endured a longer wait for the party than they anticipated after White and Jewell frustrated the hosts through most of the first session. White entertained the crowd with consecutive sixes pulled and slog-swept off Casson before he skied a catch to mid-on on 57, giving Clark a wicket in his first over of the day.That started a mini-collapse as Casson had Andrew McDonald (4) caught at silly point and Jewell was lbw to Clark from the last ball before the break. It was a disappointing end for Jewell, who wanted a healthy score to help him confirm his spot as Victoria’s No. 1 opener for 2008-09 after averaging 31.31 for the season before this innings.He was in a more positive frame of mind than usual, freed of the burden of expectation as Victoria knew they could not win the match. Jewell narrowly missed his first six of the summer when he pulled Stuart MacGill marginally short of the midwicket boundary, and he cover-drove and flicked through the legside with confidence.Like Jewell, Crosthwaite could not afford to throw his wicket away as he aimed to stay in front of Matthew Wade as Victoria’s preferred wicketkeeper. He helped himself to 50 – he previously had only one half-century from a first-class career spanning four seasons – before Casson’s wrist-spinner stayed low and struck the stumps.The win was the 45th domestic first-class title for New South Wales – the first 42 were Sheffield Shields and the remaining three were Pura Cups. They will return in 2008-09 as defending champions of a competition that will have either a completely new name or an old familiar one, as the Pura Cup is farewelled and the Sheffield Shield could be reinstated.

Warriors claim remarkable win as Tigers stumble

Western Australian medium pacers Damien Martyn and Kade Harvey have combined to lift their team to a two-run victory over Tasmania in a thrilling Mercantile Mutual Cup encounter between the teams here at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart today. It was a stunning triumph which not only capped another of the cliff-hanger finishes that have loomed large over this season’s competition but which also came after the home team had appeared to be well in command.More than anything else, this will be remembered as a day of heartbreak for the Tasmanians. Plagued by a poor history of results in one-day cricket, and a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, they allowed both maladies to come back and curse them again. Through long periods of the match, they had seemingly held the upper hand; by its conclusion, though, success had escaped their clutches once more.”We should have won the game,” bemoaned home skipper Jamie Cox following the defeat. “They didn’t actually win the game; we lost it.””We had two blokes playing nicely. But for some reason, we didn’t keep our heads … which is really disappointing.”Having amassed what could be described as no more than a competitive score of 8/246 from their fifty overs (on a beautifully true pitch) and then watched as the Tasmanian batsmen made exemplary progress toward the target, the Warriors, by contrast, could barely believe their good fortune. With their opponents only four wickets down and requiring just twenty-six runs off the final six overs, the act of revival engineered by Martyn (2/12 off three overs) and Harvey (1/67 from ten) was little short of spectacular. They conjured a remarkable turnaround which saw Shaun Young (70) and Dene Hills (20) hit catches high into the leg side and permitted only a tentative twenty-three runs to be added to the total. The Western Australians’ jubilation by the end was about as palpable as the gravity of the Tasmanians’ stumble.”It was a bit tense, wasn’t it?” beamed Martyn after the match. “There wasn’t any plan, really; luck was on my side.””We know they’re young guys,” he said of the inexperienced pairing of Andrew Dykes (5* off ten deliveries) and Scott Kremerskothen (6* from eight balls) that was left to attempt to lift the Tigers to victory as the wheels rapidly began to come off around them.”It’s hard batting at the end anyway and once we got the two experienced guys (Young and Hills), we felt we were a real big chance,” opined the current international one-day player.Martyn’s two wickets and Harvey’s concession of six runs from his closing spell of two overs allowed them to walk away with most of the individual plaudits. But the visitors also owed an enormous debt of gratitude to youngster Simon Katich and the experienced duo of Tom Moody and Jo Angel.It had been Katich (73) and Moody (68) who had provided the batting impetus to an innings that had otherwise been devoid of momentum through the morning. Until finally the victim of a mistaken decision to attempt a fourth run from an off drive in the forty-sixth over, the left handed Katich continued a love affair with Bellerive that has seen him amass runs here voraciously over recent seasons. Particularly strong through the off side, his driving from the front foot was a feature.At the other end in their rapid-fire stand of 125 for the fifth wicket, Moody was also in sparkling form. He was more productive off the back foot than his partner but also played a number of crunching cover drives. Crucial in the final analysis was the duo’s capacity to capitalise on a bizarre decision from Cox to throw part-time spinner Hills the ball in the forty-fourth over. In such a tight match, the twenty-one runs that were smashed from Hills’ six deliveries of naked turn assumed critical importance.Around the dismissals of Adam Gilchrist (5), Ryan Campbell (13), Justin Langer (17) and Martyn (31) through the opening half of the morning session, the Tasmanians had in fact held a very firm upper hand initially. Leading an attack which rebounded strongly from the hammering that it received at the hands of New South Wales last week, Young (1/36 off ten overs) and teenage paceman Brett Geeves (1/23 off seven) stood out, but the Tigers’ general accuracy and control was impressive throughout the early stages.Although unable to make any more than one incision – the caught and bowled of Michael DiVenuto (13) – Angel (1/25 from ten overs) later produced his own brilliant spell of bowling, without which the Warriors would well and truly have been on their way to defeat. Relying on impeccable length, the veteran right hander conceded a mere nine runs from the opening seven overs of the afternoon at the River End. At a time when his teammates were being savaged by the likes of Young (70) and Cox (61), it was a performance which did enough to keep the Western Australians in with a glimmer of a chance. And in the end, the lifeline that he had thus thrown his team proved decisive.

Selectors got things wrong – Lehmann

Following Australia’s 3-1 Ashes defeat to England in 2010-11, then chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch unwittingly heaped further ridicule on his panel by stating he felt they had done a “very good job” that series.There were no such prevarications from Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann this time around, as he weighed up the implications of an identical margin with one Test of this series to play. Asked how much responsibility he and the selection chairman Rod Marsh took for the team’s predicament, Lehmann was blunt.”A lot,” he said. “As a coach and selectors we’ve got things wrong at certain times, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve got to own up like players have to and everyone else that our performances weren’t good enough, full stop. We’ve got to work on how we’re going to move forward.

Darren Lehmann on…

  • Too much aggression overseas: “I think England played good, aggressive cricket this series to be perfectly honest. We just didn’t adapt well to have times to play aggressive cricket to stay in long enough to be able to get the bowlers into their third or fourth spells and be able to play aggressively then.”

  • Steve Smith’s shot selection in Nottingham: “I think Steven would admit himself that he probably let himself down in shot selection. He knew what England were going to do, and that’s a learning curve for everyone. Everyone’s learning, coaches, players, and it’s all about getting better.”

  • Depth coming through: “We’ve got some good depth, we’ve just got to stick with them. We’ve got to pick and stick a little bit now and make sure we’ve got the right formula for different tournaments, different formats and making sure we’re not just discarding players really quickly. If we pick young guys we just have to stick with them a bit and ride the wave.”

  • Chris Rogers and Adam Voges: “They’ve played well. Adam’s struggled but played really well here which is pleasing for him. So we just need to sit down and think about that, how we want to go about it and what we think the best future for Australian cricket is. There are going to be tough calls somewhere, we’re not afraid to make the tough call.”

  • More county cricket for Australian players: “I think it was a great experience for me. It’s very hard in the schedule now to fit that in for bowlers. That’s probably the hardest thing, and that’s something we have to look at as a whole cricketing body how much cricket’s being played. That’s a different discussion point.”

“For us it’s about working out what our best line-up is in different conditions and making sure we’ve got players who can adapt between spinning wickets and seaming and swinging wickets and making sure they can cover both formats really well. We’ve got a bit of thinking to do and reviewing what went wrong. So it’s about getting batsmen who can bat long periods of time and bowlers who can put pressure on, day in and day out.”Specifically, Lehmann admitted the selectors should not have abandoned their long-held policy of employing an allrounder in Test matches. Mitchell Marsh was dropped for his brother Shaun, unbalancing the bowling attack – Mitchell Starc was left to bowl an 11-over spell at one point – while the extra batsman made no difference at all to a ghastly first innings 60 and an ineffectual 253 in the second.”I spoke to Rodney this morning and we wanted the extra batter and spoke to the captain about it in this particular game, but we’ve always wanted five bowlers, so we probably got that selection wrong,” he said. “Happy to admit when we’re wrong, you don’t get everything right, and that’s a good learning curve for us.”We’re really strong on having five bowlers and we didn’t do that this game. In the end it didn’t matter, we only bowled once and we didn’t bat well enough, so that’s a learning curve for us. We’ll look at all areas where we can improve. That’s just what you do after series like this and try and move forward. We’ve had some really good results, this obviously not being one of them.”Lehmann also raised a query about the fact the selectors were left to choose a single squad for dual tours of the West Indies and England. The first trip provided a vastly different set of conditions and challenges to the other, even down to the fact the Caribbean matches were played with a different version of the Dukes ball. Lehmann and Marsh were left to drop Shane Watson and Brad Haddin after one Test in England, making their selections look near enough to redundant.”We’ve had that discussion as a selection panel and that was a tough one for us,” Lehmann said. “End of the day we were guided a bit by above and how we wanted to move around from West Indies to England. But if we had our time again we’d probably prefer to pick different squads at different times.”Logistics and other things come into it that are way above my head. But if we had our time again we’d probably like to pick separate squads and then see what comes from the West Indies tour leading into an England tour.”The team’s capacity to learn, both from matches in the past and also mistakes earlier in this series, was highly questionable at times. Lehmann actually reckoned the Australian Test side of 2013 had performed better than this one, a poor reflection on his own work and that of his support staff including the assistant coach Craig McDermott, batting coach Michael Di Venuto and fielding coach Greg Blewett.”Fair to say that. I think we played better [in England] in 2013 to be perfectly honest and that’s probably answers your question. We certainly didn’t cope with the swinging or seaming ball in the last two Test matches well enough and that’s something we have to get better at. Our preparation was fine, I can’t complain about the work ethic from the lads either. We got out-skilled by a very good cricket team in England.”With a new leadership axis about to form between Lehmann and Steven Smith, the coach agreed he faced a challenge to keep his own methods fresh in a role he has now had for more than two years – his longest coaching stint at any single team. Smith’s elevation to the job will provide a sea change of sorts, but Lehmann will also have to find new ways to thrive, provided he decides to stay on.”For me it’ll be how we develop as a side now,” Lehmann said. “And the transition of players that’s probably going to happen. So for us it’s about making sure we pick the right players with the right way we want to go about things. And look they’re fantastic, but if you’re going to have that transition of older players and new players and that’s going to be an exciting challenge not only on me as a coach but also the coaching staff and players adapting to different places.”I’m actually looking forward to the last Test. I think it’s going to be a great last Test match, and very enjoyable for England. But we’ve got to try to get a result there for us. And then you’ve got the one-dayers, the one-day guys coming in which will keep us fresh as well. You’ll have new players. That does keep you fresh and excited. You’re on the road a long time, no doubt about that, but I’m still a cricket nuffy and love watching cricket. Don’t like watching 60, though.”

'Unusual bounce' the Wellington secret

It is perhaps not the catchiest moniker, but New Zealand are back at Fortress Wellington Regional Stadium – more colloquially known as the ‘Cake Tin’ – for their quarter-final against West Indies and the secret to their impressive record of 15 wins and seven defeats at the ground is the make-up of what’s beneath their feet.Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, talked of an “unusual bounce” which takes opposition teams time to adjust to and makes home advantage even more of a boost. England found that to their cost earlier in the tournament when they were bundled out for 123, although that was as much to do with the swing obtained by Tim Southee than anything odd happening off the 22 yards. Since that match, three innings totals have been in excess of 300, with Sri Lanka chasing down 310 for the loss of one wicket.There is, though, further recent evidence that New Zealand’s attack can exploit the conditions. At the end of January, Pakistan were bowled out for 210 and the previous year they removed India for 216, although between those two matches one was lost to Sri Lanka. There was a period from 2007 to 2011 when New Zealand’s bowlers certainly dominated as they bundled out Australia (148), England (130), West Indies (128) and Pakistan (124).”It’s quite an unusual bounce which takes a little while to get used to and we’ve played enough games there that our guys have adapted to that,” Hesson said. “Sides that haven’t been there in recent times will need to adjust.”I don’t want to give too much away but it’s a different surface, it’s a drop-in and it had a big gap underneath it, now it’s got some rubble or shingle underneath so it bounces a bit differently than it has in the past. We’ve had some recent experience of that.”Tim Southee will return to the scene of his 7 for 33 when he faces West Indies in the quarter-final•Associated Press

The figures of Southee at the ground certainly stand out – after his haul against England, he now has 21 wickets at 12.00 from six ODIs. Although he has not bowled poorly since that heady day, his 2 for 65 against Australia at Eden Park was followed by wicketless outings against Bangladesh and Afghanistan, so it is a timely return to a happy hunting ground.”When you go out on a ground where you’ve performed well you do feel good about it,” Hesson said. “He had great rhythm that day and the ball swung beautifully for him. Let’s hope it’s a nice still day and he can swing it around corners again.”New Zealand returned to training at a blustery Basin Reserve on Tuesday following a short break after finishing the group stage unbeaten. They will have Wednesday off before a rigorous practice day on Thursday. Hesson continued to be positive about the outlook for Adam Milne who missed the Bangladesh match with a shoulder injury.However, Hesson certainly will not be taking a break from cricket on Wednesday with a keen eye on the quarter-final between South Africa and Sri Lanka. If New Zealand progress to the semi-final at Eden Park, they will play the winner of that match.”That’s a massive game on our side of the draw,” he said. “It’ll be interesting in Sydney and winning the toss and batting over there is pretty important if it’s going to turn. Most of the support staff will sit down and watch it, some of the players will and some will want to get away and not think about it. They all deal with it a little bit differently. I pretty much watch every ball.”

'Planning to do away with CLT20' – Shukla

Rajiv Shukla, the IPL chairman, has said the BCCI is looking to scrap the Champions League Twenty20. The issue was discussed at the board’s governing council meeting in April as a result of limited interest from fans and sponsors.Shukla said there are thoughts of conducting a different tournament in its place, and that he and BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur are weighing possible options.”Yes, we are planning to do away with the Champions League T20,” he told . “In place of that, we are considering an alternative league. But at the moment all this is at the planning stage.”Several ideas are coming and honourable secretary and myself are considering those ideas. We will sit together after the IPL gets over and try and plan out something.”At the moment we don’t have anything in hand, but yes we are in the process of bouncing off ideas. When something concrete comes up, we will certainly bring it to everyone’s notice.”There have been six editions of the CLT20 so far pitting the top teams of various countries against each other. India, Australia and South Africa are the primary stakeholders of the tournament, while teams from West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have been regular competitors.The major fallout for the teams would be the loss of monetary benefits. CLT20 appearances are included in IPL teams’ sponsorship deals and the non-Indian teams receive $200,000.There have been reports of the top-four IPL teams who make the playoffs this season to play a league-based event leading into a knockout stage to be played in the UAE.

Fletcher's replacement not decided yet

The BCCI is yet to decide on the replacement of Duncan Fletcher, the India coach whose tenure ended after the World Cup. Anurag Thakur, the board secretary, revealed that the BCCI was considering changes in all positions “whether it’s the coach or the support staff”.The time frame for the appointments has not been set, though, nor was it made clear if Ravi Shastri, the India team director since the tour of England, would continue. “Good things come to those who wait,” Thakur said. “We are in the process of finalising that in the cricket advisory committee and also shortlisting the name of the coaches who are available for the interview. Once that process is completed we will be in a position to take a final call to select the coach.”There is still no clarity on Duncan Fletcher’s replacement, and if Ravi Shastri will continue as team director•Getty Images

Asked about what coaching and support staff would travel to Bangladesh, Thakur remained vague and said it would be finalised next week. However, ESPNcricinfo understands that Shastri in not likely to accompany the team to Bangladesh and his tenure is all but over. India’s tour to Bangladesh starts with the only Test in Fatullah on June 10, and in case the board fails to make a decision by then, the team is likely to leave with the assistant coaches – Sanjay Bangar, B Arun and R Sridhar – in charge.It is also understood that Sourav Ganguly’s name is being discussed as either the team director or the High Performance Manager for the National Cricket Academy.Rahul Dravid is also likely to be approached for a coaching job for India A. However, no formal approach has been made yet to either of the two. Dravid, in the past, had indicated his interest in coaching before adding “there is a time and place for everything”. Speaking at the Dilip Sardesai lecture last September, he had said, “I would love at some stage to work with young cricketers. Whether that’s with the Indian coach, I don’t know. It could be as a coach of a Ranji team at some stage.”Without naming anyone, Thakur said the board was keen on utilising the services of former cricketers. “They can share ideas, they can be advisors to the board and we want to involve them to improve our domestic cricket, to improve our performances overseas, in the overall interest of Indian cricket,” he said.

PCB not worried over possible pullouts

Nasim Ashraf: ‘It would be their loss to miss a mega event’ © AFP
 

Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has said he is not worried about the prospect of several international stars skipping the Champions Trophy in the country in September over security fears.The ICC on Thursday confirmed that the tournament would stay in the country but players from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and England have reportedly expressed reservations about touring. If players still aren’t convinced, cricket boards could be forced to send second-strength teams.”If some players do not come it would not make any difference,” Ashraf told . “It would be their loss to miss a mega event.”Ashraf quoted the example of the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa last year which was a success despite some senior players, particularly from India, missing out. India, incidentally, went on to win the tournament.”We have the example of the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa last year where some top players did not feature in teams, but the event was still a huge success,” said Ashraf.Haroon Lorgat, the chief executive of the ICC, said that players cannot be forced to tour, nor would they or their boards be penalised as a result. He hoped the task force formed to assess the security ahead of the tournament would be able to convince players.Pakistan had successfully hosted the recent Asia Cup in Karachi and Lahore and Ashraf implied that the security situation isn’t as bad as reports suggest.”I invite players’ representatives of all the countries to come and see the ground realities,” Ashraf said. “There are several Australian companies with their citizens working in Pakistan, which prove the fears are unfounded.”

UAE introduce home-grown quotas

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) has ordered that at least four of the country’s 15-man Asia Cup squad must be Emiratis.The UAE side has traditionally been almost entirely made up of expats from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India who are eligible under the ICC’s four-year qualification rules. This was at its most apparent during the 1996 World Cup when the only non expat in the UAE side was Sultan Zarawani, the captain, whose place was more down to his passion and wealth than cricketing ability.But the ECB has now moved to counter this with the introduction of a quota. Mohammad Tauqir has been named as the deputy to the captain, Saqib Ali, while Fahad Alhashmi, Alawi Shukri and Salman Farooq have also made the tour party.Shukri, who had been campaigning for such a system, told The National that it was “a very good day … we have won one small battle”. He plays for UAE Nationals Club, a side of UAE passport holders plus three overseas players.However, Shukri admitted to the newspaper that he was not exactly in the best state of mind for the tournament. “I have barely picked up a bat in three weeks, which probably is not the best preparation for playing against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,” he said. “But hopefully I will be OK.”

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