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Ryan Harris is no certainty to play in the final Investec Ashes Test at The Oval as Australia’s selectors consider his long-term importance ahead of the home Ashes series later this year

Brydon Coverdale13-Aug-2013Ryan Harris is no certainty to play in the final Investec Ashes Test at The Oval as Australia’s selectors consider his long-term importance ahead of the home Ashes series later this year. Harris was outstanding at Chester-le-Street, where his seven-wicket haul in the second innings and nine for the match gave Australia a victory chance that was not grasped by the batsmen, but the 47 overs he bowled was the most he has ever sent down in a Test.His relentless speed, accuracy and aggression caused problems for England’s batsmen and despite having not played in the first Test at Trent Bridge, Harris is now Australia’s leading wicket taker in the series with 20 victims at 19.25 and is second only to Graeme Swann from either side. But his injury history – this is the first time he has ever made it through three consecutive Tests unscathed – will be considered by the selectors in the lead-up to The Oval.”We would love him to play,” coach Darren Lehmann said. “He is exceptional. The extra day would be good because there’s only a week before the next game. To be perfectly honest, we will be extra careful with him. We have to make sure he is right come the next Test series.”He is so valuable to us, as he showed in the past few games. We would have loved to have played him in the first Test but he wasn’t quite right. He has shown his value since then. If he is in any doubt of getting through he won’t play.”Harris is without question an impact bowler, the kind of man who can run through a batting line-up, and he has collected 67 wickets at 22.32 in his 15 Test appearances. Harris has missed far more Tests than he has played but has still managed to bustle his way into the top ten of the ICC Test bowling rankings, sitting at No.7, behind Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Rangana Herath, Saeed Ajmal, Peter Siddle and Swann.”He’s top three or four I reckon,” Lehmann said. “But that’s a totally biased opinion isn’t it, I’ve had him for years [as coach of Queensland]. I just reckon he’s outstanding in what he gives to the team and how he bowls and he just gets good players out, doesn’t he? The wickets he’s got have been high end all series. He’s blown England away a few times.”Should Australia rest Harris the logical replacement would be Mitchell Starc, who has bowled well in patches during this series, including a searching spell of reverse swing at Old Trafford. Starc made way for Jackson Bird at Chester-le-Street and while Bird also bowled well at times, swinging the ball away and building pressure, he also lacked the pace to offer the kind of threat posed by Harris.”I thought he was good in patches,” Lehmann said of Bird. “He was really good at certain stages of the game and then bowled poorly in other patches and he knows that. He’s a great young kid. Hopefully he’ll get his chance to bowl again at The Oval and impress again.”The make-up of Australia’s attack will also depend on the fitness of Shane Watson, who has developed into their first-change option this series due to his accuracy and economy. The Australians believe they need a fifth bowler and after Watson left the field halfway through one of his overs on Sunday with pain in his right hip/groin region, there remains uncertainty over whether he will be able to bowl at The Oval.If Watson is unable to bowl it would be difficult for him to keep his place as a batsman only, despite his impressive first-innings 68 at Chester-le-Street. One possibility would be to include James Faulkner or Ashton Agar as a bowling allrounder at No.7 and move Brad Haddin up to No.6, but such decisions will not be considered until Australia find out more about the injury to Watson, who fielded and batted after suffering the pain.”I’ll sum that up with the medical staff in the next couple of days,” Lehmann said. “I hope he’s bowling. That’s what he’s picked in the side to do, bat and bowl. And I thought he bowled really well in the first innings and batted well. But we need him bowling. We like to have five bowlers. England can have four at the moment because we’re not batting well enough at the moment and that’s a simple fact of life.”He’d be a chance [to play as a batsman only] because he played very well but he’s got to value add and he value adds when he’s bowling. So we’ll just have to sit down and see how he goes.”

The limited-overs career of Younis Khan, the Pakistan batsman, hangs in the balance after he was left out of a 30-man squad for the Champions Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Mar-2013The limited-overs career of Younis Khan, the senior Pakistan batsman, hangs in the balance after he was left out of a 30-man squad for the Champions Trophy to be held in June. The Pakistan board announced the pool of players unexpectedly early, and there had been speculation over Younis’ future after a poor one-day series in South Africa earlier this month.Younis, 35, was among several Pakistan batsmen who floundered in the series which South Africa won 3-2. Younis collected 116 ODIs runs at 23.20 as Pakistan’s fragile batting struggled through much of the tour. He has had a difficult ODI run in recent years – his last century came as long back in 2008, and in three of the previous four years he has averaged less than 25.The other major exclusion from the squad was of 20-year-old left-arm spinner Raza Hasan, who is looking to make his comeback after suffering a spine injury last December. Hasan had made an impact during the World Twenty20 last year, playing in four matches in that campaign.The experienced allrounder Abdul Razzaq, who hasn’t played an ODI since November 2011 continued to be ignored by the national selectors.The Champions Trophy features the top eight ODI sides in the world, and is scheduled to be held in England in June. Pakistan are in Group B along with India, South Africa and West Indies. All teams have to announce their preliminary squad for the tournament before April 6.Squad: Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Ahmed Shehzad, Misbah-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Umer Amin, Sohail Tanvir, Hammad Azam, Azhar Ali, Shahid Afridi, Asad Ali, Anwar Ali, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Imran Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Yasir Arafat, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Zulfiqar Babar, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan

Some stern words from the leadership pair of Brendon McCullum and Kane Willamson helped New Zealand to bounce back against England

Nagraj Gollapudi at Lord's18-May-2013If not for some stern words from the leadership pair of Brendon McCullum and Kane Willamson during the final drinks break on Saturday, New Zealand might have found it hard to stop England from marching away with a massive lead. That was the moment Tim Southee pinpointed when asked to reveal exactly what had helped New Zealand bounce back late on the third evening of an exciting first Test.”The first half of the session we just ambled,” said Southee, who bagged three wickets in 17 deliveries to swell his match tally to six. “Brendon pulled the guys up during the drinks session and Kane gave us a few stern words. That did mean something because we were meandering along in the field.”Until that final hour of the day, England had imposed themselves completely. Their bowlers made amends for the errors of Friday, by bowling fuller lengths to earn a first-innings lead. And even when Alastair Cook and Nick Compton had departed in quick succession having made good starts, England recovered through the diligence of the impressive Joe Root and the rock solid Jonathan Trott, who was enjoying playing on one of his favourite grounds, where he has now eight successive 50-plus scores.Beset by the twin problem of having to keep wicket, after BJ Watling walked off with an injured knee, and losing his lone specialist spinner in Bruce Martin to a calf injury, McCullum threw the ball to Southee, who had gone wicketless in his first spell of the innings. Factors such as a slow pitch, warm sunshine, lack of swing and a pair of batsmen playing aggressively to build England’s lead made Southee’s task daunting.His fellow fast-bowling pair of Trent Boult and Neil Wagner had struggled with their lengths and he had seen the England bowlers Stuart Broad and Steve Finn falter the previous afternoon. Perhaps that might have helped him realised quickly that the key was to pitch on the right lengths. “A touch fuller,” he said. “There wasn’t a hell of a lot of swing there for us throughout the whole of today. We had to try something else before it started to do a little bit during the last session. It was a touch on the slower side but there are still ways to go about it and we had to adjust our lengths.”Southee’s patience paid off as he beat the defence of Root, who had shown remarkable composure until his fall. Then Southee earned the distinction of getting Matt Prior for a duck in successive innings of the same Test. “He had a great series in New Zealand,” Southee said. “He can take the game away with his destructive nature. He is a big wicket because of the way he can come out and play aggressively and score quickly.”Southee had returned to active cricket after recovering from a thumb injury during the home series against England earlier this year but six wickets at an average of 56 in three Tests – though he bowled better than that suggests – showed he was still regaining fluidity. He admitted that the presence of a strong unit of fast bowlers, including Boult, Wagner and Doug Bracewell, had helped bring out their competitive nature.Asked to predict which way the match was heading, Southee played it safe, saying that New Zealand could not afford to get too far ahead of themselves because the England tail was still capable of hurting them badly.

The South African Invitation XI batsmen held out against the touring Pakistanis to deny them a first win on their visit

The Report by Firdose Moonda28-Jan-2013
ScorecardThe South African Invitation XI batsmen held out against the touring Pakistanis to deny them a first win on their visit. The Pakistanis only batted for 5.1 overs on the fourth morning before declaring to give their bowlers a final run before the start of the Test series on Friday.Having resumed only five down, the Pakistanis lost three quick wickets on the final morning. Dolphins’ quick Kyle Abbott trapped Sarfraz Ahmed lbw with the old ball and then bowled both Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Gul with the new one. Beuran Hendricks got rid of Saeed Ajmal in between that and the Pakistanis declared on 250, with a lead of 322.They made early inroads into the hosts’ batting line-up with Junaid Khan and Umar Gul removing Andrew Puttick and Stiaan van Zyl. Davy Jacobs showed some resistance but became Mohammed Irfan’s first victim after an hour and a quarter at the crease. Irfan was again used only infrequently, although he also picked up the wicket of Cody Chetty.Saeed Ajmal got the most number of overs under his belt and finished the match with four wickets. With the Pakistanis deciding they could get no more out of the fixture, they agreed to shake hands on a draw with an hour left to play.Of concern to the visitors will be the fitness of Taufeeq Umar, who had to sit out the fixture with a sore leg, and the brittle middle order. Between them Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah and Asad Shafiq scored only one half-century in the two innings. The Pakistan squad travel to Johannesburg on Tuesday to prepare for the first Test. South Africa also assemble in the city tomorrow.

Clarke was once again Australia’s standout batsman but the innings crumbled either side of his hold-it-together stand with Matthew Wade to leave India in control

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran02-Mar-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBhuvneshwar Kumar struck three times in his opening spell•BCCIBefore the start of the match, the local organisers performed a religious ceremony in the middle and if, like bowlers around the world, they had asked for answers on how to dismiss Michael Clarke, they had no luck. Clarke was once again Australia’s standout batsman, top scoring with 91, but the innings crumbled either side of his hold-it-together stand with Matthew Wade to leave India in control.And if his batting wasn’t enough to leave connoisseurs raving, Clarke sprang a surprising and enterprising declaration just before stumps – the first time a team had declared on the opening day since 1974 – to give his bowlers a shot at India.The first day of the Hyderabad Test was a seesaw affair, with India dominant in the first and final sessions, and Australia unshakeable in the second. After tea, India’s spinners again proved too difficult to read for the visiting batsmen, and the home side reclaimed the advantage after Clarke and Wade had levelled the game with a century stand. The pair had to do a repair job due to seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s new-ball breakthroughs.Bhuvneshwar had made his debut on a dustbowl in Chennai, the worst sort of surface for a quick bowler. He didn’t even get to bowl in the second innings, and the speculation was that he could make way for left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha in this Test. Not only did he play, though, his skiddy bowling accounted for three top-order batsmen in the first session. Those strikes were his first wickets in Test cricket, and the first for an Indian seamer in this series.Smart stats

This was the first time a team declared their first innings on the opening day of a Test since Pakistan did so against England at Lord’s in 1974.

The lowest first-innings total a team declared on and went on to win is 200 by Australia against England at the MCG in 1936-37.

Michael Clarke was dismissed in the 90s for the fifth time in his career. It was also the third time (second against India) that he fell on the score of 91.

Clarke also became only the second Australian captain, after Kim Hughes, and the sixth overall to be dismissed in the 90s against India.

The 145-run stand between Clarke and Matthew Wade was Australia’s highest fifth-wicket stand in Tests in India and their sixth-highest fifth-wicket stand against India overall. Six of the century stands came after the fourth wicket had fallen for fewer than 100.

Wade’s 62 was his fifth fifty-plus score in Tests. He has scored 592 runs so far at an average of 39.46 with two centuries and three fifties.

The pitch was dry, there were puffs of dust when the ball bounced, and it had plenty of cracks that should excite the spinners as the match progresses. Ishant Sharma’s first ball jumped off one of them and swerved dramatically away from Ed Cowan, but Ishant didn’t pose much of a threat otherwise with the new ball.Bhuvneshwar did all the damage, using his ability to get the ball to snake back towards the left-hand batsmen. David Warner inside-edged after looking to play across the line, and speculation over Cowan’s place is set to resume after he was adjudged lbw for 4, though the ball pitched just outside leg.Two potential contenders for Cowan’s place, Shane Watson and Phillip Hughes, set about bringing some stability to the innings. Watson began by middling plenty of deliveries, while Hughes got going with boundaries in his favourite point area. The pair had been together for about an hour, when Watson misjudged how much a Bhuvneshwar delivery would bounce and attempted a powerful swipe to midwicket. He missed, and the stroke that served him so effectively in Twenty20s, left him looking like he lacked patience on the first morning of a Test. Hughes had begun briskly, moving to 17 off 21, but was again skittish against spin, playing out several maidens to R Ashwin. He scored only two runs off his next 36 deliveries before being caught behind.Facing another crisis, Clarke was in prime form, twinkle-toed as usual against the spinners and assured against the fast bowlers. There were two standout shots early on – a dance-down-the-track loft over Ashwin’s head for six, and a clip off Bhuvneshwar for four that bisected two short midwickets.Ashwin had looked good in the morning session, tossing the ball up and bowling accurately, waiting for the pitch to play its part instead of attempting too many variations too soon. Australia were helped as India held back Ashwin for more than an hour after the break, instead turning to Harbhajan Singh, who was again below his best.It wasn’t a flawless innings from Clarke. An edge off Bhuvneshwar dropped well short of the keeper, a surprise legcutter from Ishant confounded him, but the biggest chances were a close lbw shout on 32 that the umpire deemed to be sliding down and a drop on 52 as Cheteshwar Pujara put down a bat-pad chance at short leg.While Clarke was all confidence right from the start, his partner Wade, who was deemed fit despite a suffering a cheek fracture on Friday, was more circumspect early on. Wade began to feel comfortable following a drive over mid-on off Harbhajan after almost an hour. He didn’t sweep much, a shot that caused him problems in the first Test, and was harsh whenever the bowler dropped short, picking up several boundaries past point on his way to a half-century.Just when Australia seemed to be capitalising on their decision to bat, things went awry. Wade slapped a short ball to a diving Bhuvneshwar at point, ending a 145-run partnership and starting a collapse. Moises Henriques was far less certain than he was in his debut Test, and was bowled by a peach from Ravindra Jadeja. Henriques was looking to play to the leg side but the turn beat the bat and hit the top of middle. The debutant Glenn Maxwell didn’t last long either, edging behind for 13, and when Clarke missed a sweep to be bowled Australia had lost five wickets for 28 runs.With the ball turning and bouncing, Clarke decided that the final pair wouldn’t last too long and chose to test India’s openers before stumps. There was no reward for the innovative move, though, as Virender Sehwag and M Vijay played out the final three overs.The batting failure will hurt, but what made it worse for Clarke was that the changes Australia made meant their bowling was weaker than in the previous Test. Xavier Doherty, playing his first Test in two years, is the lead spinner instead of Nathan Lyon, and the two allrounders, Henriques and Maxwell, are both better batsmen than they are Test bowlers.

Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard blasted fifties to take Mumbai Indians, at least temporarily, to second spot in the table

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran14-May-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard put on 122 in 10.5 overs to turn around the match•AFPA match that had all sorts of drama – delays due to rain, a floodlight failure, an unbelievable four free-hits in a row, a hit-wicket, and Munaf Patel being caned for 24 in the final over of the first innings by 21-year-old Mayank Agarwal – ended on a familiar note: Mumbai Indians’ batsmen completing an improbable chase in the last over, and Bangalore Royal Challengers’ fifth bowler costing them again (3.4-0-58-0).Both teams’ top orders have some of the leading lights of the world game, but most of them failed to make an impact, leaving it to batsmen lower down to make an impact. Agarwal slammed a 30-ball 61, his first IPL half-century, to rescue Royal Challengers, but Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard blasted fifties of their own to take Mumbai Indians at least temporarily to second spot in the table.The match highlighted some other customary themes: Indian bowlers unable to land their yorkers at the death, underlining concerns over the make-up of their World Twenty20 attack, and batsmen refusing to give up even when the asking-rate reached ridiculous levels.When Pollard walked to the middle in the ninth over, Mumbai Indians had already lost half their side, the required-rate was soaring towards 12, and Royal Challengers were so assured of their position that Muttiah Muralitharan briefly operated with the unusual Twenty20 luxury of three close-in catchers.Pollard showed the game was by no means over, by calmly lofting KP Appanna for consecutive sixes in the 11th over. With Appanna proving expensive, Royal Challengers turned to Chris Gayle’s bowling but Rayudu muscled a four and six to keep Mumbai Indians believing.Mumbai Indians’ desperation to win was shown by the perfect full-length dive Pollard put in in the next over to beat the throw from the deep by inches. Murali was proving unhittable, and the batsmen watchfully played out his overs, and ransacked the rest.With four overs to go, Mumbai Indians still needed to get 57. Royal Challengers’ bowling has been dismal all season, and towards the end of the game they reverted to form. Zaheer Khan was hammered over midwicket for six, and then crashed past long-off. Vinay Kumar’s next over was bookended by yorkers, but in between he offered three hit-me deliveries that Rayudu blasted for two sixes and a four. Zaheer was better in the penultimate over, though his one full toss was edged to third man for four.With the main bowlers having finished their quota, Royal Challengers needed Gayle to win them the match with the ball this time, having 14 to defend. Gayle looked to fire everything flat and fast into the pads but Pollard effortlessly launched the second ball for six over midwicket, before a streaky four past third man and an almighty pull over midwicket took Mumbai Indians home with two deliveries to spare.The hitting at the end overshadowed another top-order failure from Mumbai. Sachin Tendulkar’s troubles continued, Herschelle Gibbs flopped and Rohit Sharma was caught and bowled for 5.There had been a similar collapse from Royal Challengers early on: Gayle had a rare failure, Virat Kohli was run out after Gibbs proved he’s an acrobatic fielder even at the age of 38, Saurabh Tiwary showed glimpses of form before treading onto the middle stump after tucking the ball to the leg side, and even AB de Villiers, for once, didn’t fire.Tillakaratne Dilshan hung around but wasn’t at his most fluent, trying to hammer every delivery and succeeding rarely. It was left to Agarwal to lift Royal Challengers with an innings filled with eye-catching lofted off-side strokes. With two overs to go, at 134 for 6, they would have settled for 150, but Agarwal closed off the innings with a sequence of 4, 6, 1 (to retain strike), 6, 4, 4, 2, 6, 2.It wasn’t enough, though, as Mumbai Indians completed their fourth final-over chase of the season, snapping Royal Challengers three-game winning run.

Sussex cruised to an eight-wicket win over Northamptonshire at Arundel to consolidate their place at the top of group C in the Clydesdale Bank 40

22-Jul-2012
ScorecardSussex cruised to an eight-wicket win over Northamptonshire at Arundel to consolidate their place at the top of group C in the Clydesdale Bank 40.Chris Liddle took 4 for 21 and Scott Styris 2 for 12 as Northamptonshire were bowled out for 129 after James Middlebrook (37) and Rob Keogh (30) had rescued them from 46 for 6 at one stage. Murray Goodwin scored an unbeaten 67 and put on 96 for the third wicket with Ed Joyce as Sussex eased home in the 31st over.Northants arrived having lost all three of their completed games in the competition and were soon in trouble as they slumped on a tricky wicket. They got off to a bad start when Kyle Coetzer was bowled off the second ball of the innings by Amjad Khan.David Willey followed in the next over to give Kirk Wernars a wicket on his debut in the competition to leave Northants on 2 for 2. Wernars picked up a second wicket when David Sales played on and Alex Wakely’s brief cameo of 16 came to an end when he drove a ball from Liddle straight to Joyce at short extra cover.Styris then removed Rob Newton and David Murphy before Keogh and Middlebrook began the recovery with a partnership of 60 for the seventh wicket. Keogh hit 30 from 60 balls before Liddle returned to the attack to have him caught at long-on while Middlebrook was caught on the boundary in the final over for 37.Sussex’s chase did not get off to the best of starts as Chris Nash chipped a catch to mid-on off the bowling of Willey in only the third over. Luke Wright followed trying to break the shackles of some tight Northants bowling as he skied a catch off the bowling of Coetzer.At that stage Sussex were 34 for 2 after 10 overs and a tricky afternoon looked in prospective but Joyce and Goodwin ensured the hosts cruised home with plenty to spare.After playing cautiously to begin with Goodwin cut loose by smashing Middlebrook for the only six of the match and then hitting Coetzer for three consecutive fours to bring up his 50 off 59 balls. He was dropped on 51 by wicketkeeper David Murphy and finished unbeaten on 67 off 74 balls with six fours and a six.

Local Sri Lankan cricket fans who want to watch the full duration of the Test against England in Galle will be asked to fork out up to a month’s wages after it was confirmed there would be no cheaper tickets available for locals

Andrew McGlashan in Galle 25-Mar-2012Local Sri Lankan cricket fans who want to watch the full duration of the Test against England in Galle will be asked to fork out up to a month’s wages after it was confirmed there would be no cheaper tickets available for locals.Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed it had set the ticket prices at 5000 Sri Lankan rupees ($38) and 7500 Sri Lankan rupees ($57) per day, having seen the demand created by the visiting England fans as a chance to boost their struggling finances. That move has angered England supporters who feel they are being exploited for being loyal followers of their team overseas.However, it also prices many locals out of the game, as paying even for four days would equate to 20,000 Sri Lankan rupees, which is around four week’s pay for a large proportion of the population. Recent Tests in Galle have not been heavily attended by Sri Lankan fans – the game against Australia last year was not sold out despite much lower prices – but rather than trying to encourage more supporters through the gates the board has opted to cash in while it can. Yesterday, a Sri Lanka Cricket official said there would be a 1000 rupee ticket available but that has not materialised.”We need to develop the game of cricket in Sri Lanka so whenever there is an opportunity and a demand for tickets it is our policy to put prices up,” Nishantha Ranatunga, the Sri Lanka secretary, said. “You can see people buying tickets for this price. We will get the best deal. Yes, there is a substantial increase from previous tours and the World Cup but we have seen a lot of Sri Lankans buying tickets at this price.”There is talk of a protest by England fans on the opening day of the Test, suggesting they may decamp to the Dutch Fort which overlooks the ground, although many visiting supporters have arrived with pre-paid tickets bought as part of tour packages.Andrew Strauss did not want to comment on the ticket prices, but wanted as many England supporters in the ground as possible. “I don’t know the Sri Lanka Cricket board’s policy on ticket pricing,” he said. “But clearly we want to have as many fans as possible in the ground and we know the Barmy Army always travels and supports us wherever we go in the world. The more of them that are in the ground supporting us and watching some good quality Test cricket the better it is for not just for us but also the game as a whole.”Sri Lanka Cricket has severe financial problems after running up debts of $32.5 million to finance the building of two international stadiums in Hambantota and Pallekele, and to renovate the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, for the World Cup.Payments owed to players, dating back to the World Cup, were only fully settled less than two weeks ago, after the state-owned Bank of Ceylon released 600 Sri Lankan million rupees ($5 million) after discussions with the sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage.Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, confirmed they had been paid up to the end of the CB series in Australia. “We got paid last week,” he said. “It’s something we couldn’t control, but the newly elected board made us a promise and they kept to that. We continued playing cricket and the boys were happy with that.”The players might be happier now, but supporters from both sides are unlikely to be having similar feelings.

Fabian Cowdrey, the son of Chris Cowdrey and grandson of Colin Cowdrey, will continue the family connection with Kent after signing his first professional contract with the club

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Oct-2011Fabian Cowdrey, the son of Chris Cowdrey and grandson of Colin Cowdrey, will continue the family connection with Kent after signing his first professional contract with the club.The latest Cowdrey to play county cricket is 18 and was part of the Kent junior academy from 2008 to 2010 and has played regularly for the 2nd XI.He was one of a group of players to sign new deals with Kent as the county look ahead to next season followed the departure of Martin van Jaarsveld and Joe Denly along with director of cricket Paul Farbrace. Adam Riley, the offspinner, and Chris Piesley have both extended their contracts while further academy members, Ivan Thomas, an allrounder, and Benedict Kemp, who is a right-arm seamer, have secured deals.”It was very pleasing to see academy products Ivan Thomas, Benedict Kemp and Fabian Cowdrey performing well in second eleven cricket this season,” Simon Willis, the Kent high performance director, said. “They have been rewarded for their efforts with contracts for the 2012 season and I look forward to seeing their continued development as they become exposed to the professional environment.”However, batsman James Goodman, who represented England Under-19s, has ended his professional career after deciding to pursue opportunities away from the game.

A round-up of the first day’s play from the Ranji Trophy Plate semi-finals

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Dec-2011Maharashtra recovered from a shaky start to end the opening day of the their Plate semi-final against Himachal Pradesh in a satisfactory position in Pune. Maharashtra chose to bat and lost their openers early, slipping to 45 for 2. They then had a partnership of 53 between Sangram Atitkar and Nikhil Paradkar before losing the third wicket on 98. Paradkar, however, went on to score 80 before he was run out, adding 130 with Ankit Bawne for the fourth wicket. Bawne ended the day on 56, steering his team to 232 for 4. Himachal Pradesh used eight bowlers, none of whom had much success apart from keeping the run-rate under control.Shalabh Shrivastava stopped a top-order wobble and helped steer Vidarbha to 225 for 5 in their Plate semi-final against Hyderabad in Nagpur. Hyderabad, however, will be pleased with their effort after losing the toss: they struck at regular intervals and limited the scoring. Vidarbha were 26 for 2, having lost Aniruddha Chore and Ravi Jangid in successive overs. Shrivastava, who went on to make 83, added 110 with Shiv Sundar Das, who had held firm at the top for 64. Himachal Pradesh then struck two late blows, reducing Vidarbha from 189 for 3 to 205 for 5 to leave the match evenly balanced.