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Innings of the dayRoss Taylor began his innings on Wednesday afternoon with an unflattering accolade from the PA man ringing in his ears: “With a highest score of 17 …” boomed the announcement as he strode out to bat. But Taylor put all such insecurities to one side and set about proving that he’s more than just a one-paced wonder. His mighty hitting was there to see when the delivery merited the shot, but for the most part he played straight and late, and made crease occupation his primary concern. It was an eye-opening performance from a man who’d been under-estimated after failing in his first two Tests.Shot of the dayDaniel Vettori didn’t need to play too many expansive strokes in his beautifully paced innings. The majority of his 12 boundaries came from dabs behind square and sweeps through midwicket, as he waited for England to err in line on a decidedly sluggish pitch. But he did enjoy one majestic moment when Monty Panesar floated a full-length delivery right into the arc of his bat. Down he dropped to one knee, and deposited the ball clean over long-on. Two balls later he was back to basics, with a sweet late cut that whistled to the third-man fence.Bowling change of the dayNot a lot went right for England in the field. Their front-line bowlers were off the pace and the pitch was unforgiving, and midway through the afternoon session, Michael Vaughan turned to his last resort. Kevin Pietersen has pretensions as an offspinner – indeed that is what he was when he played against England for KwaZulu-Natal in 1999-2000. But no-one quite expected him to have such an immediate impact. Ross Taylor allowed himself a solitary sighter, then launched into a mighty mow towards midwicket. The ball spiralled straight up in the air, and Pietersen claimed his third Test wicket.Just desserts of the dayRyan Sidebottom has earned a justifiable reputation as England’s most luckless bowler. Against India and Sri Lanka last year, if a catch was going to be dropped, it would doubtless be off one of his deliveries. But in Hamilton he’s at last earned a measure of payback. First there was Alastair Cook’s outstanding pluck at gully to remove Stephen Fleming, and then today, just when it seemed he’d run out of time to massage his figures, he popped up with two wickets in three balls to give them the sheen they deserved. He left the field with 4 for 90 in 34.3 overs. A testament to a job very well done.Improbable coincidence of the dayYesterday Matthew Bell cleaned up his namesake, Ian Bell, with a whistling pull shot that clattered into his right wrist as he took evasive action at short leg. Today, Matthew – also positioned beneath the lid – got his comeuppance courtesy of England’s captain, Michael Vaughan. Jeetan Patel served up a short ball, Vaughan pulled hard, down into the ground and back up into Bell’s outstretched left fingertip. Blood poured out, presumably from a removed nail, and off he trooped to join the casualty ward.Duff dismissal of the dayAlastair Cook scored a century in his most recent Test innings, at Galle in December, and had been easing benignly along on a pitch that was proving to be as dead as the England bowlers had claimed. But then, with five overs to go until the close, he pulled loosely at the tireless Chris Martin, and the substitute fielder Nick Horsley pouched a simple catch at square leg. Cook was kicking himself as he left and rightly so. Once again England’s inability to convert promising starts into prolific finishes had undermined their day’s work.

Cricket South Africa’s general council reaffirmed it’s backing of the transformation policy, which has been the point of contention in the public spat between the board president Norman Arendse and the national team coach Mickey Arthur.A resolution at the meeting held on Saturday emphasised that the team to tour Bangladesh must be chosen by the selectors on the basis of the transformation policy and presented to the president as soon as possible. The squad, which was to be announced last week, was apparently delayed since the touring team chosen had only four coloured players, and not the longstanding policy of seven in a squad comprising of 15 or more players.Meanwhile, Gerald Majola, the CSA chief executive, has been asked to immediately look into the complaint against Arthur filed by Arendse before the South African team leaves for Bangladesh. The row erupted over the team selection, and Arendse laid formal charges against Arthur, telling the that he was being “disrespectful” and “abusive” while adding he was “cocking a snook at his employers’ policy of transformation.”Arthur followed suit and filed a counter-charge. “Yes, there is animosity between us,” he told Supersport. “I told him he was power-crazy and egotistical but I never swore at him.”I’ve taken him on about this team. The transformation policy that Arendse wants to be applied does not exist. He is out of bounds. I told him he was not a selector and should keep his nose out of team selections.”The resolution also says that Majola “is required to investigate utterances by any CSA employee in the print and electronic media since Tuesday, February 5, 2008,and consider whether there is any basis to charge such employee with bringing Cricket South Africa into disrepute in accordance with [the official] disciplinary code and procedure.”

Sri Lankan umpire Ranmor Martinesz has been banned from officiating at any matches sanctioned by Sri Lanka Cricket, after he joined the unofficial Indian Cricket League.Martinesz had requested for leave from officiating at matches conducted by SLC, sources in the board said. However the SLC refused to grant him a break.Martinesz, 40, was a fast bowling allrounder who represented St Peter’s College. He was to go on to play for Sri Lanka Under-19 and U-23 before turning out for SSC, Negombo CC and Sebastianites.A recurring back injury forced him into umpiring in 1996. He was promoted to the Premier division in 2000 and for the past three years had played the role of third umpire at Test matches and ODIs at home.This news comes in the wake of the England board tightened up regulation to prevent county players from signing up the ICL.

ScorecardNew South Wales began their KFC Twenty20 campaign with an emphatic eight-wicket victory as Brad Haddin’s electric half-century led the successful run chase against South Australia. The Blues cruised home with three overs to spare after Haddin helped himself to 54 off 44 balls to follow a disciplined performance from the bowlers.After deciding to bat, South Australia struggled from the start when Matthew Elliott fell in the first over. The Redbacks couldn’t form any partnerships of note and by the half-way mark they were already six wickets down and unable to increase the tempo.Allrounder Moises Henriques continued to apply pressure with two wickets, while Nathan Hauritz produced a tight spell with his offspin, dismissing Nathan Adcock and Graham Manou. Ryan Harris’ 31 off 38 balls prevented an embarrassing scoreline but South Australia failed to break the shackles and the Blues were left needing a little over a run a ball.This proved an easy task for Haddin and Simon Katich and they added 67 in less than ten overs, with Haddin clearing the boundary twice against Dan Cullen. Dominic Thornely added the finishing touches with a brisk 37 off 22 deliveries, completing the win with a six over long-on off Adcock.

Bromley 179 (Wells 64, Watson 47, Renshaw 3-21) beat Kibworth 175 (Hanger 40, Sheen 4-30) by five runs
Scorecard

Bromley from Kent won the Cockspur Cup with a tense four-run victory over Kibworth from Leicestershire at a sun-drenched Lord’s.Bromley, last year’s beaten finalists, batted first and didn’t seem to have made enough when they were bowled out for 179 in the last over of their innings. But Kibworth, who made a solid start to their reply, lost wickets at key stages and in the end they were left needing nine to win with two wickets in hand off the last over.Nobody could accuse James Butterfill, Bromley’s captain, of lacking courage as he brought himself on to bowl. His third ball was a long hop which Mahmood tried to hit out of the ground but was bowled, and off the final ball Chris Hill, Kibworth’s No.11 fell to a catch a couple of yards inside the short midwicket boundary as he went for the six needed for glory.Kibworth made a slow start against the accurate Tom Mees and Ruel Brathwaite, Mees, bowling from the Pavilion End, being particularly hard to get away. His opening spell of six overs yielded eight runs and he finished with 0 for 18 off nine. But after seeing off the new-ball bowlers, Kibworth failed to press on.

Their openers, whose hundred stand in the semi-final had helped them into the final, lost their way. Sunny Patel, who played for England Under-19s earlier this summer, started confidently but quickly lost his touch, and John Hanger struggled to find the gaps. Seventeen-year-old Josh Cobb briefly upped the tempo with a breezy 22, but once he fell to Man-of-the-Match Grant Sheen, the innings again hit the doldrums as Bromley strangled their middle order.It was only in the final five overs, with the rate in double figures, that Kibworth finally started hitting out, but by then they had left themselves with too much of an ask.Former Surrey batsman Nadeem Shahid admitted afterwards that he thought Bromley were 20 runs short at the end of their innings.On a slow and low pitch – the same one that had been so batsman-friendly in the Village final on Sunday – Bromley lost three early wickets, two to the lively Mahmood and then the key one of Shahid to Nick Ferraby, chipping limply to mid-on.

The former Sussex and Kent batsman Alan Wells and James Watson rebuilt the innings. Wells, now 46 but in fine trim, was in good touch until he injured himself scurrying a quick single; Watson, who could politely be described as burly, looked as if he would hit the ball a long way but only opened his arms in the final few overs.Bromley’s running was poor, rarely putting pressure on the fielders, and nor did they milk the absurdly short Tavern boundary – but neither did Kibworth. After Wells holed out for an admirable 64, the innings subsided with a whimper.Watson fell three short of what would have been a pedestrian fifty – he faced 83 balls – as Simon Renshaw returned to mop up the tail. However, Renshaw bowled four booming leg-side wides in his last two overs, and in the event that was the difference between the sides.

Michael Clarke could miss the first Test against West Indies in Jamaica next week following the death of his fiancée Lara Bingle’s father. The rest of Australia’s squad departed for the Caribbean on the weekend but Clarke stayed at home having been given compassionate leave.Graham Bingle, who had been fighting cancer, died in Sydney on Saturday and with the funeral likely to be held later this week it is still unclear how long Clarke will remain in Australia. “My priority is Lara and her family,” Clarke told the . “That’s all that matters at the moment.”If Clarke was to fly out on the weekend he could arrive in Jamaica with as little as two days before the first Test, which begins on Thursday May 22. But a lack of practice – his team-mates will have had a warm-up match by then – means he would be no certainty to play, according to the coach Tim Nielsen.”If he gets over for the first Test, he will need some preparation,” Nielsen said. “But as the Test gets closer, we’ll make some decisions and work out where he is at.”A Cricket Australia spokesman confirmed Clarke’s departure date was still up in the air. “Our thoughts are with Michael and Lara and the family at this difficult time,” the spokesman told . “Michael’s providing support to his fiancée’s family ahead of the funeral and I’m sure that in due course, and when the time is right for both of them, he’ll be liaising with Cricket Australia about his future availability.”Brad Hodge, who was playing in the Indian Premier League, has been enlisted as a shadow player while Clarke is unavailable. However, the original squad featured Simon Katich as the backup batsman and he is more likely to play the Kingston Test than Hodge.

Duleep Trophy, after three seasons of being the season kick-off tournament, has got back its due status: of a tournament played after the Ranji Trophy in which the season’s best players compete. It is back to the 75 best players outside the Indian side taking up the unique challenge of competing through zonal teams made up of the best from various states in the respective zones. To add to the competition, England Lions will be the visiting team this year. Cricinfo takes a look at the build-up of the six teams

Central Zone
Last time Mohammad Kaif led the Central Zone side, they won the Duleep Trophy in 2004-05. By the semi-final stage of the Ranji Trophy this year, Kaif – by then certain to be the Central Zone captain – would have quite enviably started thinking how to utilise the most potent attack in the country: pace bowlers – Praveen Kumar, Sudeep Tyagi, Pankaj Singh and Sanjay Bangar, and spinners – Piyush Chawla, Murali Kartik and Praveen Gupta. Following the Ranji final, some of the confusion must have cleared as Kumar and Chawla have been released to join the Indian team for the ODIs in Australia. But the attack, even without the two, should pose a threat to most of the batting line-ups.In Tyagi and Bangar, they have the leading wicket-takers from the Super and Plate Leagues respectively. Pankaj, before leaving for Australia, had taken 26 wickets from five matches.If the Centrals Zone’s bowling attack is enviable, Kaif is left with the unenviable task, just like with Uttar Pradesh, of leading an unproven batting line-up. Apart from him and Tanmay Srivastava, centurion in the Ranji final, Rajasthan’s Robin Bist and Vineet Saxena are the only two batsmen from the Super League. Harshad Rawle scored a century in the Plate final. The batting is yet to look the strongest, but if they can give their bowlers enough runs they could go close to repeating the success of 2004-05 – Kaif, Bangar, Kartik and Naman Ojha were members of that side too.England Lions
In 2003-04 when India started the experiment of inviting one foreign team to play the Duleep Trophy, England ‘A’ were the first visitors. A team that comprised of Kevin Pietersen, Simon Jones, Matt Prior and Sajid Mahmood lost both their matches outright, including a successful 503-run chase by South Zone. The Lions, who play Central Zone and West Zone in the league stage, will want to improve on the precedent.Monty Panesar, this year, is their biggest player, and should generate a lot of interest. Apart from Panesar, their captain Michael Yardy, wicketkeeper James Foster, Ed Joyce, and Liam Plunkett have been in and around the England team for quite a while. Apart from Panesar, who will most likely tour India for Tests later this year, upcoming pace bowlers like Graham Onions will cherish this opportunity of playing in subcontinent conditions.North Zone
Delhi, the Ranji champions, deservedly dominate the North Zone’s line-up with six players, but the defending champions will be depleted because of the absence of their key players. Gautam Gambhir, off for the ODIs in Australia, and Pradeep Sangwan and Virat Kohli, representing India in the Under-19 World Cup, also would have made it easily.Aakash Chopra, whose 188 in the last year’s final secured North Zone the trophy, and Shikhar Dhawan will make a dangerous opening combination. Mithun Manhas, Punjab’s Uday Kaul, Services’ Yashpal Singh and Himachal Pradesh’s Paras Dogra will make up the middle order. Rajat Bhatia, easily the most valuable player this Ranji season with 525 runs and 26 wickets, including a big century when Delhi were 36 for 4 in the final, will be just the perfect No. 6 for them.In Sangwan’s absence, North Zone will look to the Himachal duo of Ashok Thakur and Vikramjeet Singh Malik to lead the pace attack. The two took 62 wickets between them this season. Joginder Sharma, who didn’t have a great season, does provide them an option. Chetanya Nanda and Amit Mishra will be their main spinners.West Zone
With three teams from West Zone making the Ranji semi-finals this year – Mumbai not being one of them – West Zone put up a solid challenge at this year’s Duleep Trophy. Parthiv Patel, the leading run-scorer in the Plate League, will lead the side, which boasts of internationals like Ramesh Powar, Munaf Patel, Ajit Agarkar and Yusuf Pathan. In Cheteshwar Pujara, they have the Super League’s highest scorer as well as other heavy scorers, Rakesh Solanki, Niraj Patel and Harshad Khadiwale.Sandeep Jobanputra and Siddharth Trivedi will give Agarkar and Munaf a tough fight for places in the starting XI, if both of them are fit, that is. Then they have Maharshtra’s Samad Fallah as a wildcard. Powar, Pathan and Rakesh Dhurv will make up the allrounder-spinner combo, with Rajesh Pawar one of the reserves.The best part for West Zone is that they have not been hit by selections to the Indian team, so they are one of the strong contenders this time round.South Zone
This hasn’t been the year for the teams from South Zone, who haven’t won the title since 1996-97: Tamil Nadu played it too safe despite having all their games at home, Hyderabad had to fight to avoid relegation, Karnataka were disappointing after Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid left for national duty. But Andhra and Kerala surprised, with Andhra finishing at No. 3 in their group and Kerala making the semi-finals of the Plate League.

R Vinay Kumar and Sunil Joshi, Nos 2 and 6 on the wicket-takers’ list, are absent from the South Zone squad. There could have been some logic in not playing Joshi, as younger spinners – Pragyan Ojha and S Anish – have been picked, but Vinay Kumar will surely feel disappointed for having missed the selection.S Badrinath, M Vijay and D Ravi Teja will expectedly make the core of the batting line-up, with support from Raiphi Gomez, Arjun Yadav and Swapnil Asnodkar. Sreesanth’s selection for the ODIs in Australia will weaken their attack, with NC Aiyappa and D Kalyankrishna in lead roles.East Zone
It has been a contrasting year for Orissa and Bengal, but it nonetheless ended in disappointment for both. Bengal got relegated and Orissa came within a favourable result of a semi-final and lost. The two states dominate the East Zone side, which has never won a Duleep Trophy. The Orissa players will look to impress furthermore, while for Bengal players this is one final go at an elite first-class competition before they start their fight in the Plate League.The East Zone bowling attack comprises mainly the Bengal attack – Ranadeb Bose and SS Paul – and Orissa’s Mohantys – Debasis and Basanth – who were the key to their success this year.Manoj Tiwary, who fizzled out after a sparkling start to the season, has been given another opportunity, and again he has to carry out the responsibility he failed to do with Bengal: to lead a weak batting line-up. He will have captain Shiv Sunder Das for company. The ones who need to rally around them are Bengal openers Arindam Das and Anustup Mujumdar and Jharkhand captain Manish Vardhan.

Left-arm seamer Obed McCoy bagged career-best T20 figures of 4 for 41 and Rahkeem Cornwall blitzed 36 off 14 balls, but it still wasn’t enough for St Lucia Zouks as Guyana Amazon Warriors opened their CPL 2019 campaign with a 13-run win in front of a boisterous home crowd at Providence.In pursuit of 156, Zouks enjoyed a blistering start, with Cornwall carting six boundaries in a mere eight balls. However, spinners Shadab Khan and Chris Green claimed five wickets between them to put the target beyond their opponents’ reach.ALSO READ – CPL updates: St Kitts and Nevis Patriots penalised for slow over rateIt was stand-in captain Green who took the prized scalp of Cornwall and marshalled his resources smartly after regular captain Shoaib Malik copped a blow on his right forearm in the batting innings and did not take the field in the chase. His arm was seen in a sling at one point, but Green said later that it was just a precautionary measure.The calm before the storm
Zouks will be without Lasith Malinga for the entire CPL 2019, but Krishmar Santokie and Kesrick Williams made an early impression with their pace variations and reduced Amazon Warriors to 25 for 2 in the fourth over. Shimron Hetmyer tempered his naturally attacking strokeplay and set about working past the early strikes along with Malik on a slow Providence track.They put on 48 together in 47 balls before McCoy duped Hetmyer with his back-of-the-hand variation in the 12th over. Guyana’s new marquee player Nicholas Pooran fell for a golden duck and then Fawad Ahmed had both Malik as well as Sherfane Rutherford stumped with fizzing wrong’uns, but Keemo Paul and Green landed the mighty blows at the death. They, too, forged a 48-run stand, but this came at a breakneck speed, off only 21 balls.Paul showed why he was named West Indies’ T20 player of the year, marrying power with composure. He took seven balls to get off the mark, but then teed off with a rasping slogged six over midwicket against the break off Fawad. He pressed on to smash Santokie for three successive boundaries in the penultimate over of the innings, helping Amazon Warriors breach 150.Jimbo’s opening salvo
Shadab had Andre Fletcher chopping on for 8, but Cornwall showed off his T20 prowess a week after making his Test debut. He golf-swung Paul down the ground, short-arm jabbed Ben Laughlin over the midwicket boundary, and laced Green against the turn over extra-cover. However, moments after he had taken Green for back-to-back fours, he was pinned lbw by a slider. Where’s your middle order, Zouks?
Malinga’s Sri Lanka team-mate Niroshan Dickwella, too, had pulled out of the tournament while big-hitting New Zealand allrounder Colin de Grandhomme was away on international duty. The onus was on Darren Sammy, Thisara Perera, Najibullah Zadran and Chris Barnwell to see off the chase. But the spin of Shadab and the seam of Romario Shepherd were too much for the allrounders. From 52 for 2, Zouks slid rapidly to 109 for 7. Shadab, in particular, excelled with his legbreaks and googlies that gripped and turned sharply.Santokie made a late cameo (15* off 9 balls), but all it did was to reduce the margin of defeat. These are still early days in the tournament, but Zouks need to patch up their flimsy middle order.