Zafar Ansari has joined Stuart Broad as an injury doubt ahead of the third Test after both players missed training in Mohali on Thursday

George Dobell in Mohali24-Nov-2016Zafar Ansari has joined Stuart Broad as an injury doubt ahead of the third Test after both players missed training in Mohali on Thursday.While the England management have yet to confirm anything, it seems Broad has almost no chance of playing. He sustained a foot injury on the opening day of the Visakhapatnam Test and has been hobbling around in a moon boot in recent days.Ansari’s situation is less clear. He has recovered from the illness that troubled him in Vizag, but is still struggling with a sore back. He will have to prove his fitness in training on Friday if he is to have any chance of playing in the Test that starts on Saturday. Fellow spinner Gareth Batty is therefore likely to come back into the side if Ansari is ruled out.Any thoughts that England may have had of playing an extra seamer were surely scotched by a first look at the Test pitch in Mohali. Dry, cracked and shaved, there is nothing in it to suggest a fourth seamer would be a lot of use.That is not ideal, though. Batty, like Moeen Ali, is an offspinner and, against an India line-up packed with right-handers, the left-arm option that Ansari provided could be missed.There is another option. England could pick an extra batsman, allowing them to retain Ben Duckett – they are keen not to dent his confidence – and find a place for Jos Buttler. Moeen Ali would probably be moved back down to No. 8, with Chris Woakes at nine and Adil Rashid at ten, but it is England’s batting that has let them down and, in the cooler climate of Mohali – think of a pleasant day in England in May – there is less need for a sixth bowler to share the workload.It is unlikely they will adopt such an approach. Alastair Cook likes the balance of an attack that contains three seamers and three spinners and, with a couple of those spinners a little more inconsistent than he would like, the insurance policy of the extra bowler is understandable. It is more likely that Moeen – ultimate utility player that he is – will be asked to fill yet another hole and bat at No. 4.You wonder if Moeen’s low maintenance demeanour and innate modesty sometimes count against him; it is hard to think of a player who has been shunted up and down the order as often. If he bats at No. 4 in Mohali, No. 3 will be the only position in the top nine he has not filled.One man who looks certain to play in Mohali is Woakes. England missed him in Vizag, most notably with the bat, but also with the ball. As well as developing great accuracy – he hardly bowled a poor delivery in Rajkot – he has also developed into England’s quickest bowler with a bouncer than can trouble the best of them; just ask Cheteshwar Pujara. In his absence, it was mainly left to Ben Stokes to test the India batsmen with the short ball.Chris Woakes bowled impressively at Rajkot before being rested for the second Test•AFP

Woakes is about as far from the archetypal image of a raging, snorting fast bowler as you could meet. He modestly admits that his late development of pace has rendered him the fastest bowler in the team for “the first time since I was 12” and said the first thing he thinks when he hits a batsman is wanting to make sure he’s okay. While he claims he was disappointed to be rotated out of the team for the second Test, it is hard to imagine him unleashing much more than a quiet “tut” of disapproval at the decision. Besides, he says he feels fresher for the break.He was asked – inevitably – about England’s method of shining the ball. And, equally inevitably, he steered a diplomatic course between expressing some sympathy for Faf du Plessis and some understanding of the margins that exist between sucking on a sweet to generate saliva and directly applying the sweet to the ball. A future in diplomacy awaits.”If you’re placing a sweet on the ball that is obviously against the rules,” Woakes said. “But everything else seems to be a little bit of a grey area. We won’t be changing anything we do when we go out there this week. There’s always cameras on you, there always have been, so there’s nothing we need to change.”Hashim Amla said he had chewing gum in his mouth pretty much all day. Is that deemed as wrong and as cheating? I think it needs to be clarified exactly what the problem is.”At drinks breaks, guys have sweets or mints just to freshen up and keep the energy going, but nothing from a sweet is allowed to go on a ball so therefore we don’t do that. It’s just a sugar boost really. Gatorade has sugar in it as well. We take those drinks on board and then lick our [finger] and put that on the ball. Is that classed as a sugary substance going on the ball? I don’t know.”Of more concern to England is how to bowl to Virat Kohli. While Pujara has scored heavily in the first two Tests as well, it is Kohli who is keeping England awake at night. He looks magnificent and, in the second innings at Rajkot and Vizag, a class above anyone else from either side. In the past, England have been able to deal with him with lateral movement and good control. But there is little movement here and Kohli looks an improved player. These are still three Tests to play, but he could well prove to be the difference between the sides in this series.”His first 30 balls will be crucial,” Woakes said. “Because once he gets in, it’s hard to get him out. But I feel like the teams are fairly evenly matched. I know they are in their own conditions and they are good in their own conditions but I don’t think they’re out of reach.”

The former New Zealand captain has expressed his disappointment on being left out of the T20 matches against Bangladesh but was excited to return to international cricket after undergoing eye surgery

Mohammad Isam in Wellington10-Jan-2017New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor has expressed disappointment at being left out of the T20 matches against Bangladesh at the start of the year. In their first T20 campaign since the 2016 World T20, New Zealand tried newcomer Tom Bruce and Corey Anderson at No. 4, Taylor’s usual batting position, where both batsmen were among the runs.”I was disappointed to be out of the T20 side,” Taylor said. “I love playing all formats for my country and to get the call on Boxing Day was disappointing. You’ve got to respect the selectors’ decision. To answer it back with two 80s [in the Super Smash] was nice but at the same time it is nice to be back in Test cricket.”New Zealand Cricket also didn’t allow Taylor to play in the Big Bash League this season due to their play-travel rule, after he had applied to play for the Melbourne Renegades. Taylor said that while New Zealand coach Mike Hesson was happy to let him go to Australia, NZC CEO David White didn’t allow him.”It would have been nice to play in front of 70-odd thousand in the Melbourne derby but New Zealand Cricket have got their protocols on play-travel and you’ve got to respect that.”Hess was all for me going but David [White] had other reasons,” Taylor said. “He didn’t want me to go with the play-travel rule, and he didn’t think it was a good idea with such a big summer ahead. I had a chat with him. He had his reasons. As it worked out I probably wouldn’t have played anyway, with the side strain [which he picked up during the Super Smash and from which he has fully recovered now]. It is what it is.”Taylor, though, now wants to move past these two selection decisions as he prepares for his first international match since undergoing eye surgery.”I think my peripheral vision feels a little better,” he said. “I went around to my manager’s house and asked her if she bought a new fridge. She looked at me pretty strangely and said it has been around for the last 4-5 years. I don’t know if it is a good or a bad thing.”At the moment I’m just enjoying being back in the Test team and can hopefully score some runs and give a bit back to the youngsters and help Kane [Williamson] out along the way.”

The player auction ahead of the 2017 season of the IPL will be held on February 20 in Bangalore

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2017The player auction ahead of the 2017 season of the IPL will be held on February 20 in Bangalore, with the tournament scheduled to begin on April 5.”So far, more than 750 players have registered for the Player Auction 2017,” the BCCI said in a release. “The deadline for player registration ends today, February 3, 2017.”Each IPL franchise can have up to 27 players in its squad, with a maximum of nine overseas players. The purse for each team has been capped at INR 66 crore (approximately $10 million).Originally proposed for February 4, the auction was delayed as the BCCI grappled with the fallout of the Supreme Court removing its president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke on January 2.This will be the last IPL season before teams overhaul their player rosters for 2018 and beyond. All existing player contracts will expire after IPL 2017 and most players – apart from those the franchises are allowed to retain – will have to go into the auction ahead of the 2018 season.

The offspinner believes India’s spin-friendly wickets mean that Australia’s batsmen stand no chance during their four-match Test series against India later this month

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Feb-2017Harbhajan Singh said Australia don’t stand a chance in the four-match Test series against India, especially if spin-friendly pitches are laid out. He also felt Australia’s inexperienced batsmen lacked the quality of their predecessors like Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Adam Gilchrist.”If Australia play well, India will win 3-0. That is Australia play well. Otherwise, 4-0,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying by the . “I don’t think the wickets [in India] are going to be that easy for them. If the ball starts spinning from the first ball, I don’t think they will survive for long.”Players like [Matthew] Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, [Damien] Martyn, [Michael] Clarke were all top-class batters. This team – apart from [David] Warner and [Steve] Smith – I don’t think they will be able to play the game they play in Australian conditions, here in India. It is going to be a tough series for them.”Australia’s spin attack is led by Nathan Lyon, who has 228 Test wickets, but the rest of the group – Steve O’Keefe (four Tests), Ashton Agar (two) and uncapped legspinner Mitchell Swepson – are thin on experience. While R Ashwin felt Australia’s spinners couldn’t be taken lightly, Harbhajan said they would find it difficult to bowl the right speeds on Indian pitches.”I don’t think they have the quality to do so. It is different bowling here and bowling there [Australia],” he added. “The speed [off the pitch] is different – they will have to adjust to that.”You don’t get that in Australia but here you get a lot of help, so from the first ball you need to bowl that correct speed. Not many spinners have done [that] in India for the last 15 years. Only [Monty] Panesar and [Graeme] Swann did it but nobody else.”Upon Australia’s arrival, Smith had said he would let individuals decide if they wanted to engage in verbal jousting with India on the field.”If they want to sledge, then they better be prepared for a lot of stuff from this Indian side,” he said. “This Indian team is not going to sit back and listen. All I can say is good luck to Australia if they want to play that way.”Harbhajan, who last played a Test in 2015, is India’s most successful offspinner. With 95 wickets from 18 Tests, including a breakout series in 2001 where he claimed 32 wickets to engineer India’s historic triumph, he was for a long time Australia’s bête noire.

Backing Kusal Mendis was an easy decision for Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford and the batsman repaid the faith hitting 194 in Galle

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle09-Mar-2017Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford produced a ringing endorsement of Kusal Mendis after the 22-year old hit 194 in Galle and said the team management “never thought of dropping him” despite a spell of poor form.Mendis averaged 21.70 across 10 Test innings with only one half-century on the tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa. However, it took him only one innings, back in home conditions, to shrug off those returns and the Sri Lankan staff was certainly expecting the turnaround.”It’s not hard to back him at all,” Ford said. “He’s such a wonderful talent, and he’s going to win a lot of games for Sri Lanka along the way. The worst thing we could do is to put too much expectation on his shoulders. We don’t want to put him under any pressure. He is learning and no doubt with his talent he will pay us back down the line. We never thought of dropping him – he’s just got too much talent. I am sure down the line, he is going to show everybody just how great he is.”Ford said better shot selection – particularly early in the innings – marked Mendis’ path to improvement. His technique and attitude, Ford said, did not need much tinkering. “He is one player always supporting the guys that are doing well – he’s very happy for the other guys. He had a smile on his face the whole time when he didn’t quite fire as we know he can.”He kept working as hard as ever. He loves his cricket he loves his practices. We have seen with a guy like that – with the amount of talent he’s got – it’s not hugely about technique. It’s just about making sure his decision-making and his shot selection is good. He probably is the first to admit that he was a bit extravagant early on in South Africa and got himself out. He’s come home and done a lot of work on his own. Hats off to the fella he deserves the big score.”Although Mendis fell six short of his maiden double-century, he did become the youngest Sri Lankan to 1000 Test runs. But things could have been so different. Subashis Roy had Mendis caught behind for a golden duck, until the umpire signaled no-ball, and Ford felt being recalled to the crease after initially believing himself out may have spurred Mendis to greater focus.”Getting out first ball may have shook him up because he really applied himself after that – he really worked hard in those first two sessions. It all started to get easier as he went along. It was brilliant to see when he went to his hundred, that he raised his bat and went back to re-mark his guard. It was pretty clear that he was starting all over again. We sort of chatted at team meetings that it’s just not about making hundreds, but making very big hundreds – those are the things that change matches. For a young guy, he has taken that on pretty well.”Sri Lanka ended the first innings 182 runs ahead, after bowling Bangladesh out for 312. However, the rain that washed out all but two balls of the third session has dented Ford’s hopes of pushing for victory.”We should make up eight overs each day – in total we may lose about 20 overs out of the match, which is quite a lot when you are pressing for a result on what seems to be a pretty good batting wicket. It’s going to make it harder for us, and we haven’t really done our math yet as far as where we need to be, and how much time we’ll need to bowl them out. When we do go out to bat, we need a partnership early on so that we can dictate, and then declare when we feel it’s the right time.”

Younis Khan has joined Misbah-ul-Haq in retiring from Test cricket at the end of the tour of the West Indies in April and May

Umar Farooq08-Apr-20173:12

Samiuddin: ‘Younis was prolific despite hardships’

Younis Khan has joined Misbah-ul-Haq in retiring from international cricket at the end of the tour of the West Indies in April and May. He announced his decision in Karachi on Saturday, two days after Misbah did likewise in Lahore, bringing an end to a 17-year Test career.”People are calling me and asking me not to make any announcement to leave but now is the time,” Younis, 39, said in Karachi. “A time comes in every player’s life when he has to decide and I always tried my best to serve my county with my head high. No player always remains fit, the motivation never remains the same, so this is the time when Younis should leave the field after the upcoming series in West Indies.”The exits of Younis and Misbah after the three Tests in the Caribbean will cost the Pakistan team more than 190 matches worth of experience. Younis heads into the series 23 runs short of becoming the first Pakistan batsman to score 10,000 Test runs. Misbah, nearly 43, needs 49 for 5000.”I always tried to be a good ambassador and serve my country to take it one step forward,” Younis said. “If I’ve ever made a mistake in my career, if I’ve forgotten something, or done something wrong, please think of me as one of your own and forgive me, ignore me and let’s move on.”This isn’t something sudden, this was always building up and few of my close friends knew it. Although I had a plan to retire after surpassing Javed bhai’s [Miandad] runs record, then I was motivated to complete 10,000 runs so I have decided to get them. The reason I announced it beforehand was people start asking me for more, they could then ask me to take 11,000 or 12,000 or I may start thinking about reaching Sachin’s 15,000 runs. Humans can never be satisfied but I am not of an age to make it that far, so I want people to respect my decision and allow me to fulfil my future plans.”Though Younis and Misbah leave on their own terms – unusual for Pakistan cricket – it is reasonable to think that eventually, a decision could have been forced upon them. It is understood the chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq was keen for both to retire after the West Indies tour, allowing them a proper farewell and a chance for Younis to get to 10,000. Inzamam wants to build a younger side around a new Test captain and felt this was the time to do it.Younis Khan made his debut in 2000 and now averages 53 in Test cricket•Getty Images

Speculation of retirement had not followed Younis like it did for Misbah, but the lack of a big score until the third Test in Sydney, where Younis made an unbeaten 175, did raise the question. Younis had said then that his future depended on what the team wanted from him.Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur knew that pressure would mount quickly on Younis and Misbah, especially if results did not go Pakistan’s way. The situation Pakistan wanted to avoid was both leaving at the same time. Arthur said during Pakistan’s tour of Australia that in an ideal world, he would want them to stagger their exits so that the impact on younger batsmen in the side could be more carefully managed. Younis and Misbah had a significant influence on the development of players like Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq.When asked how Pakistan would cope with him and Misbah leaving at the same time, Younis expressed confidence that Pakistan would be able to move on.”In the past these things were said, what Pakistan will do with big stars leaving, it will be difficult ahead … but life never stops for anyone, it needs to move on,” he said. “When I came in I shared the dressing room with players like Rashid Latif, Moin Khan, Inzamam, Wasim, Saeed Anwar and I thought what will happen if they fade away. All pressure will come on us as junior players.”But after two to three years Pakistan still did wonders, like in 2009 I won the World T20 with youngsters around me … I think Sarfraz [Ahmed] has a chance here to stand up and take the Pakistan team forward and we should think this way.”Younis has played 115 Tests, having made his debut in 2000, and has 9977 runs at an average of 53.06 with 34 hundreds, the most for a Pakistan batsman. His best Test score – 313 against Sri Lanka in 2009 – is the third highest for Pakistan, after Hanif Mohammad’s 337 and Inzamam-ul-Haq’s 329. He was recently named one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year, following his contribution in Pakistan’s 2-2 drawn series in England last summer.

During the ICC meetings over the week in Dubai, intense negotiations saw the BCCI’s opposition to change outmaneuvered by the collective will of the rest

Daniel Brettig27-Apr-2017It started with money, and it has ended with money. The “Big Three” financial model drawn up by the boards of India, England and Australia unveiled amid much consternation three years ago is no more, replaced by a plan to vastly reduce the BCCI’s share of ICC revenue and offer identical amounts to seven of the game’s Full Member nations.After a week of intense negotiations that saw the BCCI’s opposition to change outmaneuvered by the collective will of the rest, the amount of ICC revenue to be handed out to each nation is now as follows. The BCCI will receive US$293m across the eight-year cycle, the ECB US$143m, Zimbabwe Cricket US$94m and the remaining seven Full Members US$132m each. Associate Members will receive total funding of US$280m.While this distribution is not a complete rollback to the equal funding from ICC events that Full Members used to receive, it is a considerable distance from the US$440 million the BCCI stood to earn under the Big Three model. The distribution to the ECB has reduced marginally from around $US150 million, while Cricket Australia’s share is similar to what it previously received, albeit now in line with those afforded to South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and West Indies. These changes were passed by 14 votes to one, with the BCCI the sole dissenter.Battles over the ICC events financial model have been drawn out over a period of years, starting with the ascension of Shashank Manohar as the governing body’s chairman following the exit of his predecessor and rival N Srinivasan, widely considered the Big Three’s chief architect. Manohar stunned the cricket world by stating his intent to resign earlier this year, but was cajoled into staying on until the ICC annual conference in June, where the above changes are set to be ratified.Battles over the ICC events financial model have been drawn out over a period of years, starting with the ascension of Shashank Manohar as the governing body’s chairman•Getty Images

“This is another step forward for world cricket and I look forward to concluding the work at the Annual Conference,” Manohar stated in an ICC release. “I am confident we can provide a strong foundation for the sport to grow and improve globally in the future through the adoption of the revised financial model and governance structure.”The governance structure of which Manohar spoke was the other major outcome from this week’s round of meetings in Dubai. The ICC’s constitution is to be extensively redrawn, with numerous changes to the way the global game is run and the way that the performance and eligibility of member nations are assessed. These constitutional changes, which were passed by 12 votes to two, include:

• Opening a pathway to include additional Full Members in the future subject to meeting membership criteria
• Removing the Affiliate level of membership so there are only two levels; Full Member and Associate Member
• Introducing an independent female director to the board
• Introducing membership criteria and forming a Membership Committee to consider membership applications
• Introducing a deputy chairman of the board who will be a sitting director elected by the board to stand in for the chairman in the event that he or she is unable to fulfil their duties
• Equally weighting votes for all board members regardless of membership status
• Entitling all members to attend the Annual General Meeting

At the same time as the financial and governance changes were being debated and ultimately passed, talks continued on greater context for international cricket, via the creation of a Test match Championship and an ODI league. Progress on this front has slowed, partly due to discussions around the impact of windows for domestic Twenty20 tournaments around the world, most recently the competition announced by South Africa.More promising was an acknowledgement by the BCCI that it will reconsider its longstanding opposition to cricket’s inclusion in the Olympics, a move that other members of the ICC Chief Executives Committee are strongly in favour of pursuing. There was also further discussion of efforts to return international cricket to Pakistan after a gap of eight years. The ICC’s chief executive David Richardson was grateful for the amount of progress made.”It has been a very productive week,” he said. “Progress has been made on a number of significant issues, in particular around international cricket structures. Efforts to find a solution, enhancing the context of international bilateral cricket and retaining the relevance of the international game, will continue.”Reaction to the game’s new landscape is likely to be varied, much as the Big Three model resulted in heated discussion around the world. In particular, the world awaits the BCCI’s response with interest.

AB de Villiers hopes to use the three T20s against England to thoroughly banish memories of the Champions Trophy exit and the resultant analysis of his leadership and lack of runs

Firdose Moonda20-Jun-2017AB de Villiers hopes to use the three T20s against England to thoroughly banish memories of the Champions Trophy exit and the resultant analysis of his leadership and lack of runs. De Villiers will captain a fairly inexperienced squad, which includes nine players from the failed Champions Trophy campaign but is without several seniors who are being rested before the Test, and he hopes they can use the matches to find a rhythm South Africa have lacked on this tour.”It was a tough few days after the Champions Trophy, to go through that phase of reflecting and to hear some of the criticism. It’s never easy but I have always been the kind of guy to see the positive in that and see opportunity to improve. These three matches give me that opportunity as a player and as a captain for the team,” de Villiers said. “I don’t feel like I need to prove anyone wrong or prove something to someone. I just want to go play. I feel like a youngster starting my career again. I am really full of energy and love playing. I just want to score some runs again and captain the team to a few good wins.”With a total of 20 runs from his three innings in the Champions Trophy, on the back of a quiet IPL, it’s fair to say de Villiers had a lean run but he insisted he is in good touch and simply a victim of poor luck. “I feel like I am playing very well. I had a couple of bad dismissals in those two games. The first game I tried to take it on a bit. The second game I don’t know how the ball went up in the air like that. The third game I felt like I was going to get 200 off 5 balls so I got run out. There’s nothing wrong with my form. The results are not showing.”Neither are they showing for South Africa. They arrived in England on a high following a successful 2016-17 season, in which they won eight trophies including three fifty-over series and sat at No.1 on the ODI rankings but are empty-handed. They lost their three-match ODI series to England and crashed out of the Champions Trophy in the first round, adding to a trove of major tournament misery.This time, de Villiers is taking a different approach to his reaction. Instead of dwelling on the disappointment, he is determined to get over it as quickly as possible.”I am past that stage of really harping on it for a very long time. The difficult part is the criticism all around, just hearing the negative stuff all the time but I am past nagging about losing games of cricket because that happens. It’s happened quite a few times,” de Villiers said. “I am not going to look into that too much. I am ready to move on. I know I am still a good player, I know the team can still achieve amazing things and it’s important for me not to think about what happened in the past. I am not going to spend too much energy thinking about the last 10 or 12 tournaments I have played in.”But he is still devoting time to thinking about the one tournament he does want to play in: the 2019 World Cup. In an effort to remain fit and focused, de Villiers has opted out of Test cricket for the rest of the year – and he has hinted it may be longer than that – which has earned the ire of some former players. Both Ashwell Prince and Herschelle Gibbs commented that players should not be allowed to dictate their availability to the national board but de Villiers claims that is not what he is doing.”It’s never been about managing my workload. It’s more about prioritising certain things that I still want to achieve. I’ve never been picking and choosing my games,” he said. “It’s making sure I am in the best form for that 2019 World Cup. That’s the goal. I have to regroup with CSA when I get back home. The new season will be starting and I have to see how I fit in and move forward from there.”De Villiers will be part of the new Global T20 League, as the marquee player for the Pretoria franchise. The competition will run across November and December, preceding a yet-to-be-confirmed series against India that will feature four Tests. It was initially de Villiers’ aim to play in those Tests but it remains to be seen if he does, especially as his own recent statements are more aligned with shorter formats, 50-over particularly.Despite South Africa’s premature end to the Champions Trophy, with the World Cup to be played in the same place, de Villiers believes they were taught lessons they could help them in future. “We learnt a lot of things. Pakistan surprised all of us. The way they controlled the middle overs, especially with the ball in hand. From the mental point of view, it shows that any team can come out on top on the day,” he said. “We made a few notes – mental notes which we will use coming back in 2019. I hope I will be part of that. That’s the plan.”

With the cricket board officially offering ‘temporary amnesty’ to players who do not fit their selection criteria, the likes of Gayle, Pollard and Narine could be back as early as next month

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jul-2017With West Indies in a race to qualify for the 2019 World Cup, their cricket board has offered “temporary amnesty” to the players who do not fit their selection criteria in order to have them available to play ODIs. This could pave way for the return of stars such as Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree as soon as next month when the team is scheduled for a tour of England, as had been earlier reported by ESPNcricinfo.Cricket West Indies (CWI) has had a stringent policy of picking only those players who are active in the domestic one-day tournament for 50-over internationals. But, with one eye on putting the best XI on the park, the board and the West Indies Players Association have called a truce.On September 30, the top-eight ranked teams as per the ICC will gain automatic qualification to the next World Cup. CWI chief executive Johnny Grave admitted to the possibility that West Indies – ranked ninth, 10 points below their closest rival – might not make the cut. Should that be the case, West Indies will then have to go through a 10-team qualifying tournament and unless they end up in the top two, they won’t make the showpiece event in England in 2019.”We recognise that it is highly unlikely that we will now automatically qualify for the 2019 World Cup, so whilst the qualifying tournament has yet to be confirmed by ICC, we may only have eight ODIs against England and New Zealand in the next six months to prepare,” Grave said. “It is crucial that we can have our best performing Windies players available for selection in these important games.”Grave also indicated that the CWI’s cricket committee was due to present their findings on player eligibility criteria by the end of July. These recommendations will then be put forward at the board of directors meeting in September. But in the meantime, “all CWI registered players will be available for selection” the press release said.Additionally, CWI is compiling a list of all male and female and age-group players in the system. “This will show commitment on the part of the players to be available for the format/s of the game they wish to play; a commitment to participate in the regional set-up and to honour the system to be in place by then,” board president Dave Cameron said. “We must be able to identify the full slate and categories of players we have in the West Indies.”

Richard Levi and Adam Rossington helped blast Northamptonshire to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Worcestershire at Wantage Road

ECB Reporters Network27-Jul-2017Richard Gleeson picked up early wickets•Getty Images

Richard Levi and Adam Rossington helped blast Northamptonshire to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Worcestershire at Wantage Road to keep them firmly in the qualification mix from the North Group of the NatWest T20 Blast.Levi and Rossington hammered 72 from the first five overs of Northants’ chase of 158 and the rest of the innings was a formality as victory came in the 18th over. Northants climbed to second in the table while a fifth defeat for Worcestershire left them teetering on the brink of elimination.After Richard Gleeson and Rory Kleinveldt shared six wickets to help bowl the visitors out for 158, Levi and Rossington produced a brutal display of hitting. Most of the runs came down the ground with nine fours and four sixes in the opening five overs, with Pat Brown, the 18-year-old playing in just his second Worcestershire match, taken for 26 in two overs.Rossington, having driven Jack Shantry with particular gusto, made 42 in 20 balls before sweeping Joe Leach – the fifth bowler in seven overs – to long-on.Levi, after knocks of 41 and 88 on return from concussion, was again in excellent touch and made 47 from 32 balls before chipping John Hastings straight to cover as Northants reached 100 for 3 a the half-way stage, Ben Duckett also out caught and bowled for a three-ball duck. But Northants captain Alex Wakely and Rob Keogh ended any chance of the chase becoming tight with a half-century stand for the fourth wicket, Wakely heaving two sixes over midwicket in his 46 from 28 balls.Earlier, Gleeson produced a fine new-ball spell after Northants had won the toss. Having not previously taken a wicket in the competition this season he took three in two overs.Joe Clarke never looked settled and stepped away to swing wildly, inside-edging into his stumps. Ben Cox did the same looking to drive a very full ball just outside the off stump and Hastings received a superb yorker first delivery. His first three overs conceded only 10 runs and he finished by matching his career-best of 3 for 12.It was an excellent Powerplay for Northants as Worcestershire made only 35 for 3 but Mitchell Santner tried to inject some momentum into the innings with the night’s first six over long-on as Steven Crook’s only over went for 13. Santner struck another six off Keogh over long-off but picked out the same fielder trying to pump a full-toss.Santner and Brett D’Oliveria recovered the Worcestershire innings from 58 for 4 in the 10th over – Daryl Mitchell, after reaching 33, was given out caught behind trying to cut Keogh – to 105 for 4 in the 14th. But three wickets then went down for just six runs, including the dangerous Ross Whiteley for just 1, caught at deep midwicket.D’Oliveria was left with the lower-order to try and cobble together a competitive score. He was dropped by Ben Sanderson diving forward at short third-man on 32 and went on to flat-bat Sanderson, now with ball in hand, down the ground and drove him past extra-cover before heaving a ball out of the ground over midwicket in the penultimate over of the innings, going on to a third T20 fifty in 30 ballsHe helped add 47 runs from the final four overs of the innings but it was not enough for Worcestershire.