All posts by csb10.top

James Faulkner, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle and Steve O’Keefe have all been jettisoned from Cricket Australia’s proposed list of centrally contracted players for the 2017-18 season, amid pay negotiations that show few signs of a swift resolution.The Australian board named 33 male and female players on the list on Monday, and offered contracts for the first time to the left-arm spinner Ashton Agar, the tall fast bowler Billy Stanlake and the batting allrounder Hilton Cartwright, who made his Test debut at the SCG in January. The young batsmen Matthew Renshaw and Peter Handscomb, who impressed on the tour of India, have also been offered their first full contracts, having earned incremental deals over the 2016-17 season.

Cricket Australia’s contract offers for 2017-18

• Male cricketers: Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson, Matthew Renshaw, Steven Smith, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

• Female cricketers: Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell, Nicole Bolton, Lauren Cheatle, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Meg Lanning, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington

Apart from Faulkner, O’Keefe, Siddle and Marsh, the wicketkeeper Peter Nevill and batsmen Joe Burns and George Bailey were also not on the list this season. Faulkner, incidentally, was left out of the team for the Champions Trophy, his first omission from an Australia squad for an ICC event since 2012. All the above players are now cast as domestic cricketers who, according to CA’s pay offer to the players, do not contribute to the game’s financial returns. The chief executive of the Australian Cricketers Association, Alistair Nicholson, emphasised that much still needed to be done before the current MOU expires at the end of June.”It is important to remember that the in the absence of an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) agreement beyond 30 June, all the terms and conditions that underpin any contract have not been finalised,” he said. “The ACA has expressed a commitment to working with CA to reach a new agreement before the end of June, but in reality we are still a long way apart on a number of issues.”The uncertainty created for a number of key stakeholders is not ideal as we know that alongside the players, it is their families, state associations, corporate partners and broadcasters all wanting to understand what lies ahead for the game.”The absence of a Revenue Sharing Model in CA’s proposal is the number one element that drives a wedge between the players and the administrators at this point in time. The Revenue Share Model has underpinned a very successful period in Australian cricket for the past 20 years, and we consider it vital that all playing groups are afforded the opportunity to be partners in the game going forward.”Trevor Hohns, chairman of Australia’s selection panel, said players had been picked on their potential to play for Australia in all three formats over the next 12 months, with assignments like the Ashes in the home summer and an away Test series in South Africa in March next year.”We have selected 20 players for this year’s contract list with a focus on players who we believe could play a part in an exciting 12 months of cricket, which includes the Ashes and an important away Test Series against South Africa,” Hohns said. “Consideration has also been given to some players who we believe could potentially play in all three formats for Australia.”Cartwright, the second-highest run-getter in the 2016-17 Sheffield Shield, Renshaw and Peter Handscomb all made their Test debuts over the home summer as Australia sought to revamp their side following a stunning defeat against South Africa in Hobart, where they were dismissed for totals of 85 and 161.Agar, who has not played a Test since his debut in the Ashes in 2013, last played an international for Australia in March last year but was one of the four spinners the team picked for the India tour. He has effectively taken the place of O’Keefe, recently fined and suspended for offensive behaviour at the New South Wales end of season awards night following a strong performance on the India tour.Stanlake, meanwhile, was given a debut in the limited-overs matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka and Hohns said the selectors wanted to monitor his progress, similar to what they had done with Pat Cummins, who has held a national contract continuously since 2011 despite a raft of injuries that have only recently shown signs of abating.”Hilton has thoroughly earned his spot in the list this year,” Hohns said. “He was the second-highest runs scorer in the Sheffield Shield last season and, when given his opportunity with the Test side last summer, he impressed. He is an exciting prospect for Australian cricket and we look forward to seeing him perform for Australia in the coming 12 months, if given his opportunity.”Ashton is a talented young player who we consider offers a fantastic package with his batting, bowling and fielding, and someone who is capable of playing all forms of the game.”Billy has picked up the last spot on the contract list for the coming season. We see him as a player of immense talent and a great option for Australia in the future. We want to be able to monitor his progress in the coming 12 months, not dissimilar to what we have done with Pat Cummins in the past.”Among the women’s cricketers, the 19-year-old legspinner Amanda-Jade Wellington was offered a contract for the first time, while Rachael Haynes was given a contract for the first time in four years. Wellington impressed over the summer, snaffling 17 wickets in eight limited-overs appearances, while Haynes recently made a comeback to the ODI side after three years.

4:22

Bal: Guha saying CoA hasn’t fulfilled its mandate

Dear Vinod,It has been a pleasure working with Diana, Vikram and you in the Supreme Court Committee of Administrators. It has been an educative experience, spending long hours with three top-flight professionals from whom I have learned a lot in these past few months. However, it has been clear for some time now that my thoughts and views are adjacent to, and sometimes at odds with, the direction the Committee is taking as a whole. That is why I eventually decided to request the Supreme Court to relieve me of the responsibility, and submitted my letter of resignation to the Court on the morning of the 1st of June.For the record, and in the interests of transparency, I am here listing the major points of divergence as I see it:1. The question of conflict of interest, which had lain unaddressed ever since the Committee began its work, and which I have been repeatedly flagging since I joined. For instance, the BCCI has accorded preferential treatment to some national coaches, by giving them ten month contracts for national duty, thus allowing them to work as IPL coaches/mentors for the remaining two months. This was done in an adhoc and arbitrary manner; the more famous the former player-turned-coach, the more likely was the BCCI to allow him to draft his own contract that left loopholes that he exploited to dodge the conflict of interest issue.I have repeatedly pointed out that it is contrary to the spirit of the Lodha Committee for coaches or the support staff of the Indian senior or junior team, or for staff at the National Cricket Academy, to have contracts in the Indian Premier League. One cannot have dual loyalties of this kind and do proper justice to both. National duty must take precedence over club affiliation.I had first raised this issue to my CoA colleagues in an email of 1st February, and have raised it several times since. I had urged that coaches and support staff for national teams be paid an enhanced compensation, but that this conflict of interest be stopped. When, on the 11th of March, I was told that that there was a camp scheduled for young players at the National Cricket Academy but at least one national coach was likely to be away on IPL work and might not attend the camp, I wrote to you:

No person under contract with an India team, or with the NCA, should be allowed to moonlight for an IPL team too.BCCI in its carelessness (or otherwise) might have drafted coaching/support staff contracts to allow this dual loyalty business, but while it might be narrowly legal as per existing contracts, it is unethical, and antithetical to team spirit, leading to much jealousy and heart-burn among the coaching staff as a whole. This practice is plainly wrong, as well as antithetical to the interests of Indian cricket.I would like an explicit and early assurance from the BCCI management that such manifestly inequitous loopholes in coaching/support staff contracts will be plugged.Yet no assurance was given, and no action was taken. The BCCI management and office-bearers have, in the absence of explicit directions from the CoA, allowed the status quo to continue.

2.I have also repeatedly pointed to the anomaly whereby BCCI-contracted commentators simultaneously act as player agents. In a mail of 19th March to the CoA I wrote:

Dear Colleagues,Please have a look at this news report:Sunil Gavaskar is head of a company which represents Indian cricketers while commenting on those cricketers as part of the BCCI TV commentary panel. This is a clear conflict of interest. Either he must step down/withdraw himself from PMG completely or stop being a commentator for BCCI.I think prompt and swift action on this matter is both just and necessary. CoA’s credibility and effectiveness hinges on our being able to take bold and correct decisions on such matters. The ‘superstar’ culture that afflicts the BCCI means that the more famous the player (former or present) the more leeway he is allowed in violating norms and procedures. (Dhoni was captain of the Indian team while holding a stake in a firm that represented some current India players.) This must stop – and only we can stop it.Yet, despite my warnings, no action has been initiated in the several months that the Committee has been in operation

As the mail quoted above noted, one reasons the conflict of interest issue has lingered unaddressed is that several of the game’s superstars, past and present, have been guilty of it. The BCCI management is too much in awe of these superstars to question their violation of norms and procedures. For their part, BCCI office-bearers like to enjoy discretionary powers, so that the coaches or commentators they favour are indebted to them and do not ever question their own mistakes or malpractices. But surely a Supreme Court appointed body should not be intimidated by the past or present achievements of a cricketer, and instead seek to strive to be fair and just.Conflict of interest is rampant in the State Associations as well. One famous former cricketer is contracted by media houses to comment on active players while serving as President of his State Association. Others have served as office-bearers in one Association and simultaneously as coaches or managers in another. The awarding of business contracts to friends and relatives by office-bearers is reported to be fairly widespread.Had we been more proactive in stopping conflict of interest within the BCCI (as per Lodha Committee recommendations, endorsed by the Court), this would surely have had a ripple effect downwards, putting pressure on State Associations to clean up their act as well.3. Unfortunately, this superstar syndrome has also distorted the system of Indian team contracts. As you will recall, I had pointed out that awarding M S Dhoni an ‘A’ contract when he had explicitly ruled himself out from all Test matches was indefensible on cricketing grounds, and sends absolutely the wrong message.4. The way in which the contract of Anil Kumble, the current Head Coach of the senior team, has been handled. The Indian team’s record this past season has been excellent; and even if the players garner the bulk of the credit, surely the Head Coach and his support staff also get some. In a system based on justice and merit, the Head Coach’s term would have been extended. Instead, Kumble was left hanging, and then told the post would be re-advertised afresh.Clearly, the issue has been handled in an extremely insensitive and unprofessional manner by the BCCI CEO and the BCCI office-bearers, with the CoA, by its silence and inaction, unfortunately being complicit in this regard. (Recall that the Court Order of 30 January had expressly mandated us to supervise the management of BCCI.) In case due process had to be followed since Kumble’s original appointment was only for one year, why was this not done during April and May, when the IPL was on? If indeed the captain and the Head Coach were not getting along, why was not this attended to as soon as the Australia series was over in late March? Why was it left until the last minutes, when a major international tournament was imminent, and when the uncertainty would undermine the morale and ability to focus of the coach, the captain and the team? And surely giving senior players the impression that they may have a veto power over the coach is another example of superstar culture gone berserk? Such a veto power is not permitted to any other top level professional team in any other sport in any other country. Already, in a dismaying departure from international norms, current Indian players enjoy a veto power on who can be the members of the commentary team. If it is to be coaches next, then perhaps the selectors and even office-bearers will follow?5. Ever since the Supreme Court announced the formation of the CoA, we have been inundated, individually and collectively, by hundreds of mails asking us to address various ills that afflict Indian cricket and its administration. While many of these issues were trivial or clearly beyond our purview, there was one concern that we should have done far more to address. This concerns the callous treatment to domestic cricket and cricketers, namely, those who represent their state in the Ranji Trophy, the Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and other inter-state tournaments. The IPL may be Indian cricket’s showpiece; but surely the enormous revenues it generates should be used to make our domestic players more financially secure? There are many more Indian cricketers who make their living via the Ranji Trophy than via IPL; besides, for us to have a consistently strong Test team (especially overseas) we need a robust inter-state competition and therefore must seek to compensate domestic players betters.And yet, shockingly, Ranji match fees have remained at a very low level (a mere Rs 30,000 odd for each day of play); moreover, cheques for match fees sent by the BCCI are sometimes not passed on by the state associations to the players. We need to learn from best practices in other countries, where domestic players are awarded annual contracts like those in the national team, while their match fees are reasonably competitive too.Several months ago, the experienced cricket administrator Amrit Mathur prepared an excellent note on the need for better and fairer treatment of domestic players. Both Diana and I have repeatedly urged action, but this has not happened.6. I believe it was a mistake for the CoA to have stayed silent and inactive when the Supreme Court judgement was being so flagrantly violated by people clearly disqualified to serve as office bearers of state and even BCCI run cricket bodies. The disqualified men were openly attending BCCI meetings, claiming to represent their state association, and indeed plated a leading role in the concerted (if fortunately in the end aborted) attempt to get the Indian team to boycott the Champions Trophy. All these illegalities were widely reported in the press; yet the CoA did not bring them to the notice of the Court, and did not issue clear directions asking the offenders to desist either.7. I believe that the lack of attention to these (and other such issues) is in part due to the absence of a senior and respected male cricketer on our Committee. Allow me to quote from a mail I wrote on 1 February 2017, before our first full meeting:

Dear fellow members,I much look forward to meeting you all later today. I know Vikram already and greatly admire both Vinod and Diana for their remarkable work in their chosen fields, and am truly honoured to be working with them as well.I presume apart from discussing IPL, etc, with the BCCI representative we will get some time to discuss the way forward separately. I have several ideas which I wish to share with you about our collective responsibility, and wanted in this mail to flag what is most important of these. This is that we must incorporate into our committee of administrators, either as a full member or as a special invitee, a senior male cricketer with the distinction and integrity that Diana has. That will greatly enhance both our credibility and our ability to make informed decisions.The absence of a respected male cricketer in the CoA has attracted a great deal of criticism already, much of it from important stakeholders in Indian cricket. It must be addressed and remedied. The amicus curae had suggested two outstanding names, Venkat and Bedi, both of whom were rejected because they were over seventy. However, there are some cricketers of the right age and experience who fit the bill. Based on my knowledge of the subject, I would say Javagal Srinath would be an excellent choice. He is a world-class cricketer, was a successful and scandal-free Secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association and is an ICC match referee, and comes from an educated technical background to boot. I strongly urge the Chairman and the other members to consider approaching him in this regard. He would complement Diana perfectly, and the combination of these two respected and top class former cricketers would enhance our credibility and effectiveness enormously.While Srinath is in my view the best choice, there are other alternative names too. I hope we can set aside some time at our meeting to discuss and resolve the issue.With regards Ramp.s. Needless to say, I have not discussed this with Srinath or with anyone else.

I raised this issue in a formal meeting of the CoA as well, but unfortunately my proposal to invite a senior male cricketer to join the committee was not acted upon. We should have approached the Court to take necessary action, or else incorporated a senior, respected, male cricketer as a special invitee. With such a person on board the CoA would have gained in experience, knowledge, understanding, and, not least, credibility. Indeed, had we such a person on board, the BCCI management and the office-bearers would have been compelled to be far more proactive in implementing the Lodha Committee recommendations than they have been thus far. As the only cricketers on the CoA, Diana’s contributions have been invaluable; on many issues of administration and the rights of players she has brought a perspective based on a first-hand experience that the rest of us lacked. A male counterpart would have complemented and further enriched her contributions; but perhaps it is not too late to make amends.8. While all our meetings were held in cordial atmosphere, between meetings perhaps there was not adequate consultation, and there were several crucial decisions made where all the CoA members were not brought into the loop. For instance, a capable, non-political Senior Counsel representing the CoA and the BCCI in the Supreme Court was abruptly replaced by another Senior Counsel who is a party politician. Surely other CoA members should have been consulted by email or by phone before this important change was made.I have taken too much of your time already, but permit me to make one last suggestion. This is that the place vacated by me on the Committee of Administrators be filled by a senior, respected, male cricketer with administrative experience.Let me in conclusion thank you for your courtesy and civility these past few months, and wish you and the Committee all the best in your future endeavours.With best wishesRamchandra Guha

ScorecardBenny Howell pulled off a wicket with the final ball•Getty Images

Benny Howell took a wicket off the final ball to earn Gloucestershire a tie against Middlesex in a thrilling T20 Blast game at Cheltenham College.Defending 182 for 5 and with Middlesex needing 59 off the last four overs, with only two wickets in hand, the points appeared to be heading the way of Gloucestershire.However, Ryan Higgins (68 not out off 28 balls) had different ideas and with Nathan Sowter providing able support, the pair took the visitors to within a single run of what would have been an unlikely victory.Unfortunately, for Middlesex, Sowter struck Howell’s final ball to Tom Smith at short cover and the Gloucestershire left-armer held on to earn his side a share of the spoils.Batting first in front of a full house at the picturesque Cheltenham College ground, Gloucestershire made a rapid start to their innings, courtesy of experienced openers Michael Klinger and Phil Mustard.The pair took 31 from the first three overs and looked well set when Klinger edged Tim Southee (20) behind at 31 for 1.Although Gloucestershire were severe on anything short and wide or too full, they struggled to cut free at any real pace. They passed 50 off 31 balls but when Mustard departed in the 7th over, for 26, and Iain Cockbain followed, for 20, in the eighth, Middlesex found themselves in the box seat.Sowter bowled particularly well from the Chapel End, with Tom Helm, Southee and Toby Roland-Jones providing healthy support.Cameron Bancroft was always likely to be the weapon to which Gloucestershire would turn and he didn’t disappoint. He struck the ball to all four corners of the College ground, reaching 50 off 30 balls, with four fours and two sixes.Unfortunately, for Gloucestershire, the Australian drove the very next ball, a full toss from Southee, straight down the throat of Brendon McCullum at extra cover.Howell weighed in with a useful 33 from 25 balls as Gloucestershire edged towards a competitive total and Kieran Noema-Barnett and Jack Taylor added some useful runs at the death.The target should have been well within the reach of a Middlesex side that was piled high with top class batting. Unfortunately, for the visitors, they lacked early application and soon found themselves in a spot of bother.Opener Paul Stirling, who struck his second ball back over Matt Taylor’s head for six was first to perish – bowled, playing a dreadful shot, off the final ball of Taylor’s opening over.Dawid Malan, who hit David Payne for three boundaries in the left-armers first over, looked in decent touch as Middlesex progressed at a rate of 10 an over. However, Gloucestershire kept themselves in the hunt with the key wickets of McCullum and Morgan in successive overs from the College Lawn End.First, McCullum (7) departed at 43 for 2, bowled by a slower delivery from Payne. Then, Morgan, who failed to score, sliced a Smith delivery to a grateful Payne on the extra cover boundary in the seventh over.The big wicket came in Benny Howell’s first over. Malan, who had struggled for the strike, top edged a length delivery to sub fielder George Hankins on the mid-wicket boundary.Having rebuilt, courtesy of George Scott and John Simpson, Middlesex shot themselves in the foot when Simpson, having dispatched the third delivery of Howell’s third over for six, ran himself out off the very next ball, for 15.Scott departed in the same manner, for 24, in the 14th over, following a mix up with Higgins, before Roland-Jones offered a caught and bowled opportunity that was well taken by Jack Taylor. Bancroft then took the most remarkable of catches to send back Southee at 119 for 8.Against the odds, Higgins quickly turned the tide and helped Middlesex to within touching distance of victory with 11, 19 and 18 off the 17th, 18th and 19th overs.It meant the visitors required 11 off the final over, from Howell. A six from Higgins put them in the box seat, but it was not to be as Howell and Smith came up trumps.

Regional sides in the 2017-18 Quaid-e-Azam trophy will be selected, in part, through a draft process, after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) voted the changes through at a board meeting. Karachi, which represents the largest regional association in the country (a city with nearly 25 million residents), led the objections and walked out of the meeting on Friday in protest. But that was the only significant objection to what is now a reality: a radical new model whereby regional first-class sides will pick players through a draft process and not, as has been traditionally the way, through their own inter-districts cricket.”There were animated discussions on the domestic revamp,” PCB chairman, Shaharyar Khan said in a press conference after the meeting in Lahore. “Karachi said this new system was wrong. But we have taken the position that the draft will happen, otherwise there is corruption and nepotism in the system. It happens often in some regions where the president wants to play his players. Karachi did raise an objection and then, yes, they did walk out of the meeting.”Problems with non-merit based selections is one of the main reasons the PCB has come up with this new model, as well as a desire to enhance the competitiveness of regional sides who have struggled to compete against department sides in the QEA; historically, when regional and department sides have been grouped together in the tournament, the latter have fielded the better players, enabled by greater financial resources at their disposal.The move has come in for some criticism, and it was partly that which led the board to agree to a compromise on the balance of players picked by a draft process and players picked through more conventional routes.Initially, the model envisaged that 12 players out of a regional squad of 20 would be picked through the draft. Lahore, another major regional association, had suggested a reversal, where eight players would come through a draft. In the end, a compromise was reached: eight players will be picked through a draft, 10 through the usual selection and two will be emerging players from the region’s Under-19 circuit.Najam Sethi, the PCB’s executive committee head, said all stakeholders had been taken on board. “Ejaz Farooqi (head of the Karachi association) wrote a letter of objection to the board and spoke about it as well at the meeting. Shakeel Sheikh, who is the head of the committee, has made those decisions with all stakeholders involved. Lahore wanted a 12-8 model (with 12 from region and 8 from a draft). So the compromise we worked out is 10-10. Selection will remain with regional heads and regional coaches. It won’t be such a big issue.”The decision was taken in the final outgoing Board of Governors (BoG) meeting under the leadership of Shahryar Khan – whose tenure ends next month. It was the last meeting chaired by Khan as well as for the 10 governing boards members; next month, a new board with a new chairman will be formed.Four new regions – Lahore, Sialkot, Quetta and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) – will replace Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi and Peshawar. United Bank Limited (UBL) and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) will retain their spots as departments on the board on the basis of their standing in the 2016-17 QEA, while Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and Sui Southern Gas Corporation (SSGC) will replace National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL).Sethi, who heads the Pakistan Super League (PSL), is the leading candidate to take over as board chairman from Khan. He was recently named as one of two direct nominees on the BoG, appointed by the patron of the board, the prime minister of Pakistan. Until Friday, Nawaz Sharif was that man, but he was disqualified by Pakistan’s Supreme Court in a situation that has been building up since the Panama Papers. His disqualification, for the moment, leaves Pakistan without a functional government, and the PCB without a patron.Coinciding as it does with the ascension of a new board head, ordinarily, the political uncertainty would ripple out into the board as well. But Sethi was confident that movement in Islamabad would not affect the PCB’s imminent changes next month. “What happened in Islamabad has no relation to the PCB,” Sethi said. “Today the PCB has no patron. But now a new one will come. It’s not such a big deal, there is no constitutional issue.”Sethi’s prospects will, however, depend heavily on who takes over from Sharif as the prime minister and patron of the PCB. Even before Sharif’s dismissal, a Supreme Court advocate had filed a writ petition against Sethi’s nomination in the Islamabad High Court. The court hasn’t admitted the case but is assessing the maintainability of the petition and the hearing has been adjourned until August 10.

Twenty-four hours after he was dropped for the first time in his Test career, Mominul Haque has been reinstated in the Bangladesh squad for the first Test against Australia, which starts from August 27. Mominul will replace Mosaddek Hossain, who is suffering from an eye infection, and the turnaround came after a meeting between the BCB president, Nazmul Hassan, and the selection committee.Mosaddek will need at least 15 days of rest for his condition to improve, according to an eye specialist. His infection was known to the selectors after he missed Bangladesh’s training camp in Chittagong earlier this month. During Saturday’s press conference, coach Chandika Hathurusingha had said that Nasir Hossain had been picked in the 14-man squad as Mosaddek’s back-up.However, following a stormy press conference after the team’s announcement on Saturday and subsequent criticism by the media, the BCB president called the selection committee, which also includes Hathurusingha, for an impromptu meeting. Hassan later said that such discussions with selectors and players often occur before a tour or home series, and this time took place after the squad was announced. Hassan said he would have insisted on Mominul’s inclusion in the squad if he had met with the selectors before Saturday’s announcement.”I don’t know if he would be in the XI but there was an opportunity to keep him in the squad,” Hassan said. “What would happen if they made it a 15-man squad instead of a 14-man squad? There’s no need to create controversy. Anybody would feel bad seeing Mominul out of the squad.”We have decided that Mominul is coming in as Saikat has an eye infection. So we don’t want to take a risk with him. See, it wouldn’t have come to that if we didn’t have a gap [in communication].”Squad for the first Test: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), Mominul Haque, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Taijul Islam, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Nasir Hossain, Shafiul Islam.

Benny Howell, a limited-overs specialist, has not played any championship cricket this season. Opening the innings for Gloucestershire is just as rare, although he fulfilled the role in 2012 when he joined the county from Hampshire.But when play ended early the 29-year-old all-rounder was only four runs away from a second Championship century, the first made against Leicestershire two years ago. Gloucestershire will resume on 161 for 1, still trailing by 281, with Howell on 96 and James Bracey on 45.Howell said: “It was very pleasing to hit the ball well after a frustrating season where I have been out of the side because of various niggles and injuries. I began my career as an opener, and after today hopefully I can push on and refresh my career in that position. I still want to play in all forms of cricket, especially the one- day format, and I could possibly move up the order and bat higher.”Howell adapted well to his new role, and with Chris Dent in fluent form, the opening pair put on 53 in 15 overs, before Dent sparred at one from Ruaidhri Smith to give wicketkeeper Chris Cooke a straightforward catch.Howell was then joined by 20-year-old James Bracey, a local product from the Bristol area, and after playing himself in, the wicketkeeper batsman played some elegant shots through the offside.The second wicket pair have added 108 for the second wicket, and with the slow pitch not offering anything to pace or spin, and with further rain likely to cause interruptions over the final two days, a draw is the likely outcome to this end of season encounter.Earlier Kiran Carlson was dismissed nine runs short of becoming Glamorgan’s youngest double centurion, when he chipped Jack Taylor to mid-on. The 19-year-old from Cardiff scored 191, an innings that lasted 7 hours 23 minutes.After losing two wickets in the final 15 minutes at the end of the first day, Smith helped Carlson add 97 runs for the eighth wicket, before Jack Taylor took two wickets in three balls, Smith edged Taylor’s arm ball to slip and Marchant De Lange was trapped leg before without scoring.

Ottis Gibson, South Africa’s new coach, has not given Morne Morkel any assurances about the 2019 World Cup even though the fast bowler has indicated he could consider a Kolpak-deal if he is not part of South Africa’s plans. Gibson has only had brief interactions with Morkel, who left the team camp after being injured in the first Test against Bangladesh in Potchefstoom, but said his 50-over future was not discussed in detail.”I absolutely didn’t tell him anything about the World Cup because it’s still so far away,” Gibson said after the second Test in Bloemfontein. “I’d encourage him to keep enjoying his cricket, which he’s been doing before he got injured.”Gibson said that it was “not my understanding” that Morkel could look at other options if he is not part of the World Cup plans, though Morkel has publicly indicated as much.During the opening round of the season’s first-class matches, at which Gibson was present, last month, Morkel said “as a cricketer you need to look at options because you have a life span.” He was specifically speaking about one-day cricket.”I am 32 and it is one of the conversations I am going to have with Ottis to find out where I fit in with white-ball cricket‚ and if there are any plans for me in 2019‚” Morkel said. “Are they going to look to rebuild for the World Cup? I need to see what is going to happen. Am I going to miss out? I don’t know when they are going to make the shift of bringing in younger players‚ those are all the things that must be communicated.”While Morkel did not mention Kolpak in that conversation, he has been previously linked to a move to the UK. South Africa may be able to hang on to him if Gibson is able to clarify where Morkel stands.”I can’t afford to sit on the sidelines for the next two years and not play cricket. It is all about timing and communication,” Morkel said. “At the end of the day as a cricketer you need to look at the options because we have a life span. But if there is communication and you know where you stand‚ then it is easier for everyone.”Morkel was part of South Africa’s most recent 50-over campaign, the Champions Trophy in England, where he played in all three group matches. Prior to that tournament, Morkel had not played an ODI for over a year while he recovered from a potentially career-threatening back problem. He made his comeback in Test cricket first and opted out of this year’s IPL in a bid to stay fit for international cricket, but is now injured again.Morne Morkel is weighing up his options for the next two years•Getty Images

Morkel suffered a grade two tear in his side and will spend between four and six weeks on the sidelines. While that has ruled him out of the ongoing Bangladesh series, Morkel expected to come back for the inaugural Global T20 and the rest of the South Africa’s home summer, including Tests against India and Australia.South Africa also have six ODIs against India, which will be an important part of their World Cup plan, but it remains to be seen if Morkel is part of that series. Gibson has indicated they will use ODIs this year to give exposure to as many players as possible before choosing candidates for the World Cup.”We’re looking at 34 or 35 games between now and 2019 and the idea between Faf, the selectors and I is to have a look at players who might be on the fringes. We have to give players opportunities so that in a year’s time we narrow that pool down,” Gibson said. “At the moment we need a wide pool of players to look at. We also need to determine the type of players – bearing in mind the conditions in England – that we’re going to need. They need opportunities for the next year so that we can make better judgements going forward. Then we finally need to narrow down to 15 or 16 players we feel can play at the World Cup. It’s still a long way but that’s the plan.”Similarly, Gibson has yet to engage with former captain AB de Villiers, who will make himself available for all formats from Sunday. De Villiers will play in a practice match against Bangladesh on Thursday, then be part of the ODIs, and is aiming for a Test comeback by early 2018. But Gibson has not yet worked out how much cricket de Villiers will play or how he will slot back into the team, especially the Test side, which he has not played for since January last year.”We’re all looking forward to seeing AB. I’ve had a few conversations with him,” Gibson said. “We haven’t really had a face-to-face yet but that will happen.”

If England are to defy the odds and retain the Ashes in Australia this winter, then their players must retain the freedom to make their own choices on and off the field, says Kevin Pietersen, even in the wake of the incident in Bristol last month that led to the arrest and suspension of star allrounder Ben Stokes.Pietersen, who experienced the highs and lows of Ashes cricket in the course of his six campaigns at home and away, was famously sacked by the ECB in the wake of the 5-0 defeat on England’s last tour of Australia in 2013-14, despite having been their top-scorer in the course of a sorry campaign.

Pietersen on…

England’s squad ethos: “When I saw [Stuart] Broad during the Big Bash last year, he said ‘you really would love this environment’, but I don’t look back at things and want things that aren’t going to be there. I live a very happy life now, much better than anything I could be doing.”
England’s spin issues: “[Graeme] Swann got hit regularly on the last trip and I know that [Darren] Lehmann will probably tell them to do the same to Moeen Ali, and Moeen Ali is half the bowler of Swann.”
England’s batting after KP and Bell: “It’s probably not for us to say, to go chumping around, making statements about who’s replaced who. Other people can talk about those. I just know there are some very, very big frailties in that batting order.”
Stokes’ treatment by ECB: “The media in Australia are talking about the hypocritical side of my sacking compared to what they’re doing at the moment. I think the most pressure in the situation is on [Andrew] Strauss, if I’m honest. The players are what the players are. He’s made some big statements and some big decisions in his brief career, so the big pressure is on Strauss.”
Joe Root’s character: “I don’t know how Root captains, but he’s a free wheeler – he laughs, he jokes, I’ve always liked the way that he’s come across. I was out there batting when he walked out on Test debut, just really relaxed. He was like ‘hey buddy what’s up, how you doing?’ I was like ‘pfff geez, first Test match, pretty big Test match this … we have to draw to win in India’, but he was calm, and got 70 odd.”

And while he fears that Stokes’ potential absence is likely to be a fatal blow to England’s hopes of emulating the last successful Ashes tourists in 2010-11, he is adamant that the team will be beaten before a ball is bowled if they fail to embrace the full experience of a tour of Australia.”When we had the great tour Down Under in 2010-11, we had the most incredible couple of nights out at the start of that tour, which brought the team so close together,” Pietersen told ESPNcricinfo in an exclusive interview. “Before the 2013 trip, we were talking about having similar nights out to get the team bonded, but obviously it was too intense going into the 2013 series and those sort of opportunities didn’t present themselves – or weren’t allow them to present themselves – which caused issues.”I know that it sounds so stupid, but if you go and get hammered as a team on a night out – as senior and junior players – so long as you don’t do something ridiculously stupid, the bonds you can create there are better than any ridiculous sessions you can do in the forest in Germany. Those are the little bits and pieces of cricketing nous and sense of understanding a team that were good on that tour but horrendous in 2013-14.”This time around, England’s management has opted against any overt exercises in team bonding, such as the aforementioned trip to Bavaria in 2010-11 or a much-lampooned SAS training weekend in Stoke that preceded their departure four years ago. However, the issue has rarely been more in the spotlight than in the wake of the events outside Mbargo nightclub on September 25, when Stokes was allegedly caught on video throwing punches at two men in a street brawl.Regardless of the ramifications for Stokes, on this tour or beyond, Pietersen believes that the incident underlines the importance of personal responsibility for sportsmen who find themselves caught in the public eye, especially in the age of social media when camera-phones are ubiquitous.”Personal responsibility has grown men in any industry, I think,” he said. “It is key to your success and your development, because I think you can develop more as a person if you do things yourself.”I wanted to make mistakes to learn, but people always knew I was fully committed and that I trained my absolute backside off at the ground, and also away from the ground, and that’s how I would definitely like a team that I was involved in to behave.”It’s your job and your career, and if you mess it up, there will be another one on the conveyor belt that’s going to come in and take your place. So, if I was the leader of a group of players, I’d give them that rope and say if you’re going to go hang yourself, you’ll hang yourself.”You can go out as long as you’re sensible, it doesn’t matter. You have to enjoy your career, you’re away from home so much, you’re not in your own bed. You cannot just be ‘hotel, team coach, dressing room, practice, play, journalism, hotel, food’ … you just can’t do it, it’s just not in you. You’ve got to go out there and you’ve got to pick your moments, and when you pick them, you take that pink ticket and you have a good go.”Do whatever you want, but don’t get caught drinking at 2 o’clock on the morning before a game, don’t get caught fighting in the streets, don’t get caught doing things you shouldn’t be doing before the games and, in particular, before training days, because those always stood me in good stead for when I went into battle.”If you lost form and didn’t play well then I would support you because none of us are going to get things right all the time. But if you go and damage the reputation of my side, then I’d have issues.”Kevin Pietersen was England’s leading run-scorer during their 5-0 defeat in 2013-14•Getty Images

The need for England to intensify the bonds in this year’s squad is heightened by the imbalance of experience in their ranks, particularly in the batting. Their line-up for the first Test at Brisbane on November 23 could feature as many as three Ashes debutants in the top five, with Mark Stoneman likely to open alongside Alastair Cook, James Vince earmarked to bat at No. 3, and Dawid Malan incumbent in the middle order following a pair of half-centuries in the series win against West Indies in the summer.”I think without [Joe] Root or Cook, that batting order is incredibly weak, incredibly inexperienced, and with Stokes maybe not going, I mean, it’s even worse,” Pietersen said. “People say that ‘one bloke doesn’t make a team’, well, I mean one bloke who bowls 140kph, get important wickets, can hit 100 off 70 balls, can hit 200 off 100 balls in a Test match, and also, more importantly, catches everything at slip off the spinner, is a massive player. A massive, massive player.””The opening batting with Cook, that worries me,” he added. “No. 3 worries me, I think Root should bat at three, five worries me, six will worry me too if Stokes doesn’t go. I mean there’s a lot of numbers in that batting order. I’ve been in Australia this week, and they are very confident of their chances and they talk of some very big gaps in the English team.”Asked if Stokes’ absence would be a fatal blow to England’s chances, Pietersen responded: “Yep. A massive, massive blow. A huge, huge blow. A lot of TV channels and all the news channels [in Australia] are running stories about how England are going to miss Stokes.”But we never know. I mean I’m sitting here now, it’s an autumnal day here in London and we’re talking about England getting whacked. I’ve said that before and they’ve won. So I don’t know, but hopefully the cricket is good. I’m going to be commentating on the series and I just don’t want to see a one-sided affair like our last trip.”

It began with India’s bowling coach B Arun questioning Sri Lanka fast bowlers’ fitness on day two when they doubled over and vomited as they struggled to cope with the Delhi pollution. Mohammed Shami was more understanding on day three in saying that Indians’ being used to pollution is not necessarily a good thing but at the same time said the situation was not as bad as was being depicted.On day four, having seen his team-mate Shami vomit on the field, Shikhar Dhawan was more understanding of Sri Lanka’s struggles with the Delhi air, but he only went as far as giving them a benefit of doubt.”It is possible (that their discomfort is genuine),” Dhawan said when asked if he would reconsider India’s stance now that he had seen Shami struggle too. “Now only they (Sri Lankans) know (if their concerns have been genuine). Maybe in Sri Lanka the pollution is not that high. There are more beaches in Sri Lanka. It’s natural that coastal areas won’t have so much air pollution. Of course, they may be feeling discomfort. And it is not as if there is no pollution. I won’t hide that. It is what it is. Maybe they are feeling it more, I don’t know. But I still insist playing is our and [the two words loosely translate to duty and deeds but mean much more], which we should do. They must be feeling it (discomfort), though.”Duty was the theme when Dhawan was earlier asked if he sympathised with the Sri Lanka players, who are not used to these levels of pollution. “Maybe they are not used to this, but there will be many in our team who are not used to this pollution,” Dhawan said. “They come from other states. But whatever our job is, we fulfill it. Nothing should come in the way of your work. That’s my thinking. All of us are not from Delhi so it is the same for them as Sri Lankans.”When pointed out that even those players from other parts of India have some experience of playing in Delhi and having travelled to Delhi, Dhawan said: “See, if you are playing at another time in Delhi, the pollution level is different. It is not as though there is no pollution. Of course there is pollution. And it increases in the winters with the smog. Whatever the situation is, we have to mould to that. No matter who you are playing for – for the country or the state – it is a job, and you have to do that job.”Having grown up in Delhi, Dhawan is expected to be the most acclimatised to these conditions. While he showed awareness of what triggers the pollution in the winter months, he said his side didn’t feel impeded by it. “Look I have been born and brought up in Delhi,” Dhawan said. “Because the crops are harvested in other states (and the stubble is burnt for new crops), the pollution becomes a bit too much in these months. These days there has hardly been any sun either. If there had been sunlight, maybe the pollution would have come down a little bit. But it has not impeded us when playing cricket.”Dhawan confirmed Shami was fine, and “you will see him on the ground tomorrow”. Dhawan complimented both his fast bowlers for the effort they put in these conditions. On a dead pitch, Shami and Ishant Sharma took five wickets between them in the first innings. Shami then provided the first breakthrough in the second, moments before he got sick. “Both bowled at a good pace because those of us standing in the slip cordon can feel that pace,” Dhawan said. “This showcases their mindset and fighting abilities. They know that there isn’t much help from the wicket. It’s a (absolute dead track), but they have bowled with a lot of pace, it’s good for them.”

Itinerary

• April 8, 1st ODI

• April 11, 2nd ODI

• April 14, 3rd ODI

England women will play three ODIs in India in April next year, after competing in a T20 tri-series involving the hosts and Australia women.The series begins on April 8, five days after the tri-series final in Mumbai. India women haven’t played ODI cricket since their stellar run to the World Cup final in July, when they narrowly lost to England, but they will have some ODI game time before they meet England again. India will play Australia women in a three-match ODI series in Baroda, which begins on March 12.The venues for the series against England are yet to be announced.