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Ajit Chandila has been granted bail by a Delhi court in the IPL spot-fixing case. According to , the court took the decision after ruling that the prosecution had “missing links” in their case.Chandila and his Rajasthan Royals team-mates Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan had been arrested, along with 11 bookies, on May 16 and charged under the Indian Penal Code section 420 and 120B, which deal with fraud, cheating and conspiracy. Sreesanth and Chavan had successfully made bail and were released on June 11.The court also directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to examine the issue of the missing links within a month. “It is very surprising,” the judge said. “There are some missing links in the case. I am sending the full file to the Commissioner of Police to let the case be examined.” The court also fixed October 7 as the date for hearing the prosecution’s plea seeking cancellation of bail granted to the three cricketers and the others arrested.Chandila was named as one of the accused in a 6000-page charge sheet issued by the Delhi police, along with Sreesanth and Chavan. In June, the police had invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), a special law passed by the Maharashtra state government to tackle organised crime syndicates and terrorism, against all three cricketers. But after the police failed to provide adequate evidence to support the addition of the MCOCA charge, a court in Delhi had upheld Sreesanth and Chavan’s plea for bail. The two of them were released from custody on June 11, while Chandila had not applied for bail then.Chandila had later submitted that he had been falsely implicated and said the police had “mischievously added” provisions of the MCOCA to the charges to keep him from getting bail. His counsel Rakesh Kumar had said Chandila had no connections to Dawood Ibrahim or his aide, Chhota Shakeel, who are among India’s most wanted criminals. Both of them are also charged in the case and the police allege that they control the betting syndicate in India.

ScorecardShoaib Malik’s illustrious form continued as Pakistan International Airlines clinched a place in the final•Pakistan Cricket Board

An unbeaten 56-ball 63 from Shoaib Malik helped Pakistan International Airlines cement a place in the final with a seven-wicket victory over Khan Research Labs in Karachi.Put into bat, KRL’s openers gave a solid platform, with an opening stand of 52. Once opener Mohammad Yasin fell for 31, and Ali Khan followed soon after for just 3, Saeed Anwar junior and Zain Abbas combined for a 74-run third wicket partnership to help KRL reach 146 for 5 in their allotted overs. Abbas finished with an imperious 66-ball 91, while PIA bowler Salman Saeed, playing his first T20 series, finished with career-best figures of 3 for 29.PIA started strongly in their reply, with the openers putting up a comparable 57-run stand, ended only by a run-out courtesy of Ali Khan. Malik anchored the innings with his 63 as PIA were able to build regular partnerships. They eventually knocked off the target with just four balls to spare in the match. Malik crossed 200 runs in the tournament, becoming the third-highest run-getter in the seriesPIA will take on the winner of the second semi-final between Habib Bank Limited and Port Qasim Authority.

The ECB have requested clarification from the ICC on the chain of events that led to Jonathan Trott being adjudged lbw in England’s second innings at Trent Bridge.Andy Flower, the England team director, went to see the ICC match referee, Ranjan Madugalle, after the TV umpire, Marais Erasmus, overruled the on-field umpire, Aleem Dar, following Australia’s review of Dar’s decision to give Trott not out.Erasmus took the decision to overrule Dar despite conflicting TV evidence and without the chance of inspecting Hot Spot from the crucial side-on position. Sky Sports, the host broadcaster who supply the Hot Spot cameras, told Erasmus the technology was not available as the delivery to Trott was not recorded because the technology had been cued to show the previous delivery, the dismissal of Joe Root to a catch down the leg side.In a comment posted on ESPNcricinfo, Warren Brennan, Hot Spot’s inventor, said the issue was down to “operator error”.”Here is the absolute truth from our perspective in regard to the Trott incident,” he wrote, “it was operator error. My operator did not trigger the system in order to cater for the Trott delivery. Instead the operator sat on the Root delivery in order to offer a replay from the previous ball and did not realise until it was too late that he should have triggered the system for the Trott delivery as the priority. Simple mistake, something that anyone could have made but my Hot Spot operator has worked on the system since 2007 and to my knowledge this is the first serious mistake he has made.”England have asked the ICC to explain the protocol whereby a TV umpire can overrule despite an absence of the expected technological aides and asked for those protocols to be reviewed.”It’s very frustrating,” James Anderson said afterwards. “Trott has hit the ball and been given not out. He did hit it. It is frustrating that it got overturned. We’re all for technology because, since it came in, more decisions have been given out correctly than wrongly, so we want it.”While replays suggested a deviation before the ball hit Trott’s pad – perhaps from an edge, perhaps in the air – there was no evidence of an edge on Hot Spot from the front-on angle. The Snickometer, a visual representation of the noise made as the ball makes contact with the bat, is utilised by Sky for the purposes of entertainment, but is not currently among the approved ICC aides. It did not suggest an obvious edge.The England team management were also perplexed after Ashton Agar was given the benefit of the doubt by Erasmus following a very tight stumping appeal when he had scored just 6. Agar went on to score 98 – the world record contribution from a No. 11 batsman in Test cricket – and added 163 for the tenth wicket – another world record – in partnership with Phil Hughes.”I thought the stumping was out, but I saw it on the big screen so it’s hard to tell,” Anderson added. “Matt Prior was pretty confident it was out.”It may also be worth noting that, had Root utilised the DRS, he may well have been reprieved. There was no evidence of Hot Spot following his dismissal to a leg side catch but, after consultation with his captain, Alastair Cook, Root did not call for a review. Those who suggest that the technology does not currently support the DRS, may feel they have further evidence for their case.

Rajasthan Royals have said the franchise’s co-owner Raj Kundra will be suspended and have to “forfeit his shares” if he is found guilty of any wrongdoing. Kundra, who according to Delhi Police has admitted to betting on IPL games, is a minority shareholder and has no part in the running of the franchise, according to a statement issued by Royals’ chairman Ranjit Barthakur and CEO Raghu Iyer.”Mr Raj Kundra is a minority (11.7%) shareholder, and he has no involvement in the running of the franchise. We believe that [he] is a law-abiding citizen and would not act contrary to law. If, however, he is proven guilty, or has breached any regulations, he will be suspended, and will also forfeit his shares,” the statement said. “This is a strict governance procedure agreed to by all Rajasthan Royals shareholders, and it is consistent with our zero tolerance approach.”As a franchise, we have always been clear that the same rules apply to players, management or owners. As such, our actions will be consistent as in the case of the spot-fixing allegations with respect to our players.”Kundra had confessed to betting on IPL matches, including games involving his own team, Delhi’s police commissioner had said on Thursday. “Raj Kundra has confessed to betting,” Neeraj Kumar, the Delhi Police commissioner, told reporters. “He would place bets through Umesh Goenka, who is a bookie.”However Kundra indicated on Twitter that the media had “misconstrued everything”, and issued a statement reiterating that he had done nothing “for which I need to have any regrets”.* He would give up his share in the franchise, if proven guilty on any count, Kundra said: “Factually the discussions [in the media] about me are not wholly true. The version is either twisted, misconstrued or exaggerated to make it highly news-worthy.”I have always remembered that the franchise takes a zero tolerance approach to betting, spot-fixing or match-fixing and I entirely and whole heartedly endorse the same. As far as my alleged own act of commission or omission is concerned, I reiterate that I am totally innocent and in any event I wish to make it abundantly clear that if an iota of wrong doing is finally established against me I would unhesitatingly forfeit my share in the franchise.”Kundra and his friend and business partner Goenka were questioned by Delhi Police over 12 hours. He had “volunteered” to answer the police’s queries, and leave his mobile phone with them, Kundra said. “As a shareholder in Royals, the investigating team of Delhi Police deemed it fit to question me. Upon receipt of information that the police had certain questions to be put to me, I as a law abiding citizen volunteered to positively respond to the call. Needless to say, I satisfactorily replied to the queries raised by the police and they accordingly allowed me to leave after my questioning.”As the case develops, in due process, it may become necessary for the police to question me further. In the interest of justice, it is crucial that I am available in India. As such I have voluntarily retained my passport with the police and have also assured my full cooperation. Delhi Police themselves have had no grievance with regard to this and they have already stated so publicly through the media.”Kundra is now likely to be investigated by the BCCI’s committee, consisting of two retired Tamil Nadu High Court judges, which was originally appointed to look into the allegations of corruption against Chennai Super Kings official Gurunath Meiyappan, and the owner companies of Super Kings and Royals – India Cements and Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt Ltd.Royals had suspended the contracts of Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila four days after they were arrested for alleged spot-fixing in May, and also filed a complaint against them with Delhi Police. The players were charged by a Delhi Court under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with criminal breach of trust, following Royals’ complaint. In Royals’ statement, Barthakur and Iyer indicated that they are co-complainants in the franchise’s case against the players: “We are working hard as co-complainants to ensure that all information is made available to the authorities.”*17.00GMT, June 7: The article has been updated after Raj Kundra’s statement arrived

Cricket Australia’s chief executive, James Sutherland, has described David Warner’s attack on Joe Root as “a despicable thing” and said Warner was extremely fortunate to still be available for Ashes selection. Sutherland also slammed the wider playing group and team management for the events that unfolded at the weekend, questioning why Warner and a group of Australian players were out drinking in the early hours of Sunday morning.The usually mild-mannered Sutherland was clearly livid during a press conference on Friday in Brisbane, where he said Warner’s public apology in London on Thursday meant little. Sutherland said there could have been no justification for Warner’s physical attack on an opposition player and that Warner was bringing “the game, his team and his team-mates down”.”David Warner has done a despicable thing,” Sutherland said. “But I also hold the team to account here. There were other people there with him and those that were there need to take responsibility for that, but so does the team as a whole and the team management group as a whole.”There is no place for violence anywhere and I’m extremely disappointed in that. I’m extremely disappointed in him and I have told him that … There were certain things that led to this situation that happened, as I understand it, at 2.30 in the morning. There’s not a lot of good that happens at 2.30 in the morning in a pub or a nightclub. I believe that the team as a whole and the people who were around him at the time also need to take responsibility for what happened.”As well as Warner and a group of England players, a number of other Australians including Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, Glenn Maxwell, Phillip Hughes and Clint McKay were reported to have been at the Walkabout pub in Birmingham when Warner’s punch at Root occurred. Australia’s stand-in captain George Bailey said on Wednesday it had been “a minor incident” that had been dealt with in-house.But Cricket Australia and its Code of Behaviour commissioner Gordon Lewis, a retired County Court judge, took the altercation seriously and at a hearing on Thursday Lewis imposed an A$11,500 fine on Warner and suspended him until the first Ashes Test. Lewis made his decision independently and while Sutherland said Cricket Australia was comfortable with the punishment, he said Warner could count himself fortunate to be available for Ashes selection.”I think he’s very lucky,” Sutherland said. “It could have been a lot worse, couldn’t it? It should never have got to that and as it stands, yes, he is lucky to be available for selection … Cricket people know it’s going to be very, very hard for David Warner to get selected for the first Test match. He can’t play cricket until the first Test match starts.”I note that overnight he has made comments apologising for what he has done and expressing remorse for his actions. That’s all well and good. It counts for a little bit, but not much. What really counts is his actions going forward in the future, and we’re watching those very closely.”Warner’s public apology came less than a month after he faced the media in Sydney to express his regret at a foul-mouthed Twitter rant at two Australian journalists, which earned him a A$5750 fine. The incident in Birmingham was clearly far more serious and while Sutherland stopped short of declaring that Warner was on a final warning, he said the batsman had been put under no illusions as to the direction his career was heading if he did not change his behaviour.”There is no excuse for what happened on Saturday night,” he said. “I don’t care what explanations people might want to put up, there is no place for violence in society and there is no place for Australian cricketers to be finding themselves in that position.”

Having dealt with the Higgs Boson, perhaps the scientists at CERN can turn their attentions to the mysteries of swing. England attacks usually know their way around the subject – and in James Anderson they have one of the finest swing bowlers in the world – but they struggled to make the ball talk in New Zealand over the winter and Stuart Broad has admitted they need to re-establish their credentials when the return series begins at Lord’s on Thursday.While Anderson, Broad and Steven Finn were not comprehensively outbowled over the three Tests in New Zealand, they had been expected to pose more questions for a supposedly fragile batting line-up. Neil Wagner, the leading wicket-taker, and Trent Boult, the only frontline bowler to average under 30, got more out of pitches that were on the slow side and, as England scrapped their way to a draw in Auckland, the difference between the two sides in being able to manipulate the ball was marked.Broad was England’s best bowler in New Zealand, with 11 wickets (one fewer than Wagner, the same as Boult) at 31.72, providing encouragement after he struggled with an injured heel on the tour of India. England tend to win when their swinging – particularly at home – and Broad admitted it was something the attack would be attempting to rectify, starting at Lord’s with a Dukes ball in hand.”Regardless of what New Zealand did, as a bowling unit we didn’t swing the ball,” Broad said. “So that is something that needs to be looked at and we have looked at. But it’s not something we’re too concerned about because we need to focus on this series and we’re arriving at Lord’s, which when it’s cloudy it does swing around and we have got the best swing bowler in the world in Jimmy.”We know we can bowl a lot better than [in] New Zealand. Regardless of whether you’re moving the ball, you can still put six balls in the right area and we probably didn’t do that as a unit consistently. That’s something we want to put into place this summer and that starts here on Thursday. It’s about the discipline of the bowling unit and building pressure together.Stuart Broad had an encouraging tour but England’s bowlers were not at their best in New Zealand•Associated Press

“We’ve all got good experience bowling here at Lord’s and I think we’ve got a good record as a team here. It’s something we have looked at, the reasons why – we don’t want to panic too much but we didn’t move the ball as much as we wanted to on what were slow, placid wickets. If it doesn’t swing for us and we don’t move it off the street this week we might be having a few panic meetings.”If there have been no panic meetings – hardly the style of the captain, Alastair Cook – there may have been one or two gentle pats on the backside in training. England were accused of complacency in New Zealand, of turning up and expecting to win, and while that has been denied by the players, Geoff Miller, the national selector, said the tour had provided a reminder that the team could not just “go through the motions”.After a frustrating second half of 2012, Broad has more reason than most to seek the heat of battle. With Finn’s somewhat indifferent early season form – his place could come under threat from Tim Bresnan – a Broad resurgence would be timely for England, in a year of Ashes ubiquity. Even if this series is an to the summer’s main event, his talk of “not relaxing into Test matches” and landing “the first punch” against New Zealand will perhaps provide encouragement that England’s intensity will not desert them again.”As a team we certainly won’t underestimate anything they can do,” Broad said. “We know they’re fighters, we know they’re a tough team and we know that we have to be very disciplined to compete with them and to beat them. This week we’ve had a lot of meetings about our focus as a team, how we want to play our cricket. You’ll see a really focused team coming out on Thursday, determined to put on some good performances, to throw the first punch, to make sure the first three days are our days, the first hour is our hour, not relaxing into Test matches and chasing the game.”

ScorecardAustralia Under-19 began their tour of New Zealand on a good note, with a convincing seven-wicket win over New Zealand Under-19 in the first Youth ODI.The hosts, who were put in to bat, were struggling at 3 for 31 after fast bowler Matthew Fotia took quick wickets. A 79-run fourth-wicket stand between Shawn Hicks and Ken McClure helped New Zealand recover. The pair scored half-centuries but were two among only three batsmen to score in double figures as New Zealand folded for 182. Fotia finished with figures of 4 for 44 off his ten overs.In reply, Australia brushed aside a few stutters to complete a confident chase. Captain Damien Mortimer, opening the innings, guided the chase with an unbeaten 87 off 126 balls, which included six fours and a six. Jake Doran, who arrived at 67 for 3, shared an unbeaten stand of 116 with his captain, scoring a run-a-ball 53 to take Australia to victory.

Glamorgan have become the latest county to announce a loss for 2012, although the club have significantly improved their fortunes after recording a deficit of £2m last year.After the wettest summer in 100 years – and one which saw the ODI between England and South Africa at Cardiff abandoned after 5.3 overs – Glamorgan’s accounts were £315,793 in the red. A turnover of £6.5m was equivalent to the previous year but the club have taken steps to reduce outgoings. Glamorgan also improved their net cash balance to £481,027, representing a year-on-year increase of more than £1.3m.The Glamorgan chief executive, Alan Hamer, said: “Whilst it is disappointing to report an operating loss, our trading performance during the past year is much improved. The game of cricket is currently facing many financial challenges and we have made many changes to the business over the last 12 months as part of a programme to improve the profitability of the club.”This year is our 125th anniversary and it promises to be an exciting season both on and off the field. Having received a £1m loan from the England and Wales Cricket Board, we have committed to making a whole host of improvements to spectator facilities including the installation of a permanent replay screen which will also act as a new scoreboard.”In 2012, Glamorgan’s Sofia Gardens ground hosted Friends Life t20 Finals Day, while during the coming season, Cardiff will be the location for five Champions Trophy fixtures, including the opening match of the tournament, plus an England-Australia ODI in September. The ground has also been awarded an Ashes Test for 2015.While several counties, including Warwickshire and Leicestershire, suffered heavy losses last year, an equal number have demonstrated their financial prudence in tough economic circumstances. Derbyshire, Worcestershire and in particular Somerset are among the clubs to enjoy surpluses from their 2012 trading.

Mushfiqur Rahim was wary of the work still ahead for Bangladesh to achieve an encouraging draw in the first Test in Galle, after the visitors amassed their highest-ever total of 638 in the first innings. Mushfiqur and Mohammad Ashraful provided the backbone of the mammoth innings with a 267-run fifth wicket partnership, in which both men eclipsed the previous highest score by a Bangladesh batsman.Mushfiqur also made history by becoming the first Bangladesh batsman to make a double-century in internationals, while Ashraful perished early in the day for 190, having been unbeaten on 189 overnight. Nasir Hossain was the third batsman to score a century, while Mominul Haque had made 55 earlier in the innings.
Sri Lanka went to stumps 48 runs ahead and with nine wickets in hand in the second innings, but despite a draw being the likeliest outcome, Mushfiqur insisted Bangladesh had plenty to do to achieve it. In their last series in November, Bangladesh had been in a similar position late in the Test, but collapsed for 167 all out against West Indies on the final day, in pursuit of 245 for victory.”Still a long way to go before we can say it was a good draw,” Mushfiqur said. “Tomorrow it’s day five and anything can happen. If we can manage to draw that, probably it will be a huge boost for us. It’s our main target to play consistent cricket over the five days in a Test, and we can take a lot of positives. We didn’t do well with the ball in the first innings, but on the second day we came back with the ball – although we didn’t get many wickets.”Mushfiqur said he was ecstatic with his double-hundred, but reiterated praise for Ashraful, for also shouldering the responsibility of replying to Sri Lanka’s 570 for 4. The pair had come together with their side in danger of failing to pass the follow-on target, at 177 for 4.”I thought that if I got the chance to bat long and if I got a partner at the other end, I would like to score a big hundred. Fortunately Ash really batted well, and also Nasir, so I had partners. I really played well. We really needed it badly, because they scored huge and we needed to avoid the follow-on. That was our first target. Our second target was to make sure we cross their total, so we did that.”When you have a good partner at the other end who can rotate the strike and score the odd four, it’s really helpful. Ash was telling me, “If you play well and if you don’t play a silly shot, you will get a lot of runs on this track. If we play session by session, and bat well, don’t look at the scoreboard.” That’s what we did.”Ashraful was playing his first Test since December 2011, and only found a place in the XI after injury had ruled out both Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal. Sri Lanka is his favourite opponent, having made five of his six hundreds against them, including three in Sri Lanka.”When Shakib is not here and Tamim is not playing, Ash came into the team and we had a lot of pressure and expectations on him, because he has always played well against Sri Lanka. He’s probably a bit unfortunate that he didn’t score a double hundred. Hopefully next time he can make it. We’re really happy to see him make big runs.”The Galle pitch showed few signs of wear, even at the end of the fourth day. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara put on 99 runs for the second wicket and were unbeaten at stumps.”On the fourth day, in the last session it spun a bit, but still it’s a good wicket to bat on. Hopefully if we bowl really well tomorrow in the first session and take a couple of wickets, probably we can put pressure on them.”

Andrew Weekes, a former Test umpire from the West Indies, died on January 21 in St. Kitts. He was 72. Weekes, who was the first international umpire from St. Kitts, stood in four Tests and three ODIs between 1983 and 1990.”He was one of the outstanding umpires in the Caribbean during the 1980s and early 1990s,” Julian Hunte, president of the WICB, said. “He did some tremendous work with the development of the game in St Kitts and also was one of the leading match officials in the Shell Shield and regional limited-overs tournaments.”He loved the game and he also dedicated a lot of time and energy to educating the people of his country. Excellence was his hallmark. For four decades he one of the leading educators on the island of St Kitts and helped to with the development of thousands of young lives. He was a true pioneer, ambassador and shining example for others to emulate.”