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The ICC World Twenty20 should expand to accommodate more Associate teams, according to Daryll Cullinan, the former South Africa batsman. Cullinan is at the World T20 qualifiers as a consultant to Namibia, who have won their first three matches, including a surprise victory over Ireland in their opening game. He said the shortest format of the game provides the best opportunity for Associates to play top-level cricket.”It is important for the teams to have the chance to qualify for global events,” Cullinan told ESPNcricinfo. “T20 cricket is unpredictable and is a very good platform for Associate countries. There are players who can take the game away from the opposition. In fifty-over cricket, it is a lot harder, as the better teams have a chance to recover. In T20 cricket, there isn’t a chance to recover, so they can be a lot more competitive. I would support the idea of six teams playing in the next T20 World Cup.”Only two of the 16 teams at the current qualifier in Dubai will progress to the main event that will be staged in Sri Lanka in September. Initially, six teams were due to be included but after the ICC decided to keep the 14-team format for the 2015 fifty-over World Cup, they reduced the number of Associate at the twenty-over event to two. They have promised the 2014 event will have more teams.Cullinan believes this is the best avenue for the Associate players to get exposed to cricket in its highest form. “Associate teams need to be realistic that Test cricket is probably out of their reach,” he said. “They may be able to have a good team of players and compete, but over an extensive period you need a greater depth of players and a culture of cricket, and that can take a long, long time. I’m not saying it’s not possible, but it will take a lot for it to happen.”An important factor that could assist in developing cricket in Associate countries is the involvement of former players like Cullinan, who has eight years of international experience. Often, it’s nothing more than good luck or coincidence that links a former international to these countries. In Cullinan’s case, he went to university with Namibian Cricket president Francois Erasmus and knows the chief executive, Graham McMillan, who is former team-mate Brian McMcmillan’s brother.”It is important to expose people to Associate cricket,” Cullinan said. “I’ve been exposed and it has far exceeded my expectations. The more people from the highest level who can see this, the better.”Cullinan said his role has two aspects – to work on cricketing technique and mindset as some of the players are better than currently think they are. “Skill is a factor but confidence and experience are things that can be improved,’ Cullinan said. “The players need to be seeking bigger challenges outside of Associate cricket because if they get a bit more competitiveness, such as competition for places in a side, that will improve performance.”One possible avenue for Associate players to gain experience are the T20 leagues currently popping up around the world. “If Associate players perform well, with the amount of Twenty20 cricket around the world now, there is no reason why these guys can’t attract IPL interest for example,” Cullinan said. “With all the T20 leagues around the world, the door is open to all the players and it would be good to give these players to regular high standards of cricket.”Ryan ten Doeschate is one of the Associate players who has had success in twenty-over leagues. He plays for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL and has had stints in the Big Bash League, the HRV Cup in New Zealand, the Stanbic Twenty20 in Zimbabwe and South Africa’s MiWay T20. Meanwhile the Bangladesh Premier League has a rule requiring that each team have at least one Associate player. “There needs to be greater understanding of what is happening in the Associate countries,” Cullinan said, “be it players or administrators, so they know what is happening and what talent is involved.”

Marlon Samuels may not want to lock eyes with Sachin Tendulkar when he arrives to play in his debut IPL season for the Pune Warriors. A proud man, Samuels had already given his word to Sourav Ganguly, the Warriors’ mentor, when he called the Jamaican to see if he would be interested in playing for his team. Simultaneously, as Samuels was liaising with Ganguly, Mumbai Indians, which is led by Tendulkar, was also showing a strong interest.Mumbai told Samuels they were looking for a replacement for the Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds, who retired from all forms of the game. Samuels was caught in a tug of war: on one hand was Ganguly, who had been impressed by Samuels during West Indies tour of India late in 2011; then there was Mumbai, and Tendulkar, the Jamaican’s all-time hero.”Sachin is my definitely my hero but I already gave Ganguly my word,” Samuels told ESPNcricinfo in Dhaka, where he is playing for the Duronto Rajshahi in the Bangladesh Premier League. “I know that Sachin will respect my decision,” Samuels said with a smile. If he had approached me first, I would have definitely played with him.”I was in negotiations with the Mumbai Indians. It didn’t go as great as I wanted. Nevertheless, Sachin Tendulkar is the main man for me. I was definitely looking to play with him one day. The offer arrived, but it boils down to my hero, and if I am a man of my word.”A strong and agile athlete, Samuels is a hard-hitter and doubles up as a handy offspinner – all this make him a valuable commodity in Twenty20. Those facts were not lost on Ganguly, who had been keeping tabs on Samuels since West Indies’ tour of Bangladesh in October 2011. Samuels made three half-centuries in four limited-overs outings on that tour, followed by three more across formats in India. By then Ganguly had one arm around Samuels’ broad shoulders. Ganguly assured the Jamaican that he would be on his buying list if the impasse between the Warriors’ owners Sahara and the BCCI were resolved.Incidentally, when the Warriors opted to sit out of the February 4 auction, none of the eight other franchises bid for Samuels. “It was definitely a league (IPL) that I was looking forward to play in,” Samuels says. “I never got picked up in the auction because most of the teams didn’t know of my availability.”His [Ganguly’s] team pulled out of the auction. But we still kept in touch and he was telling me that they need to fix a few things and pick me up as soon as everything is fixed. So said, so done.”So as it stands, Samuels is the first player to be bought by the Warriors, after they signed a truce with the BCCI following their boycott of the auction. He did not disclose the fee Warriors are paying him for his services. “I am not going to tell you the fee. It’s something to smile about.”What is also not known yet is how many games Samuels would be available for since the IPL clashes with the West Indies home series against Australia, and their tour of England in May. Though Samuels is non-committal, one of the Warriors officials had said the he would be available for “ten-odd games”.At the moment though Samuels is more focussed on the BPL where he has made two fifties in eight games, and been a calming influence on the Duronto Rajshahi group. “We all don’t speak the same language. Few guys don’t understand what I speak but what I want to say is that this is a team,” Samuels said. “We lost the first couple of games, but nobody was fighting, cursing or blaming each other. This is what a team is made up of. We just focused on things we had to get right. This is a wonderful bunch of young players, who want to learn more. They keep asking questions.”Samuels will meet a similar blend of cricketers when he goes to the IPL and wants to remain similarly unassuming. “I have to stay humble and show that cricket is my main priority,” he said.Edited by Nagraj Gollapudi

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMartin Guptill hit huge sixes during his match-winning 78•Getty Images

New Zealand’s intense performance with the ball and in the field restricted South Africa to 147 for 6, setting up a moderate chase in Wellington. Their most in-form batsman, Martin Guptill, continued his strong summer, scoring his sixth consecutive international half-century to begin the series with a comfortable victory. The target was achieved only in the final over, but South Africa did not threaten New Zealand at any stage of the game.South Africa came into this match having beaten Canterbury in the tour game, and New Zealand targeted the players who delivered that victory. Tim Southee attacked Richard Levi with the short ball, while Guptill went after Lonwabo Tsotsobe. Apart from the 15th over of the first innings, in which Kane Williamson conceded 26, Brendon McCullum used his spinners and shuffled his bowlers to keep South Africa under pressure throughout.A lot of that pressure was applied by tenacious and athletic fielding, and no one was better that Guptill. Hashim Amla had found his groove, and South Africa were beginning to accelerate, when he was run out by a dive reminiscent of Jonty Rhodes. Guptill had swooped on the ball from extra cover, sprinted towards the non-striker’s end, and dived full stretch to plough into the stumps.Richard Levi, who was expected to be the aggressor but was stymied by the offspinner Nathan McCullum, responded to Amla’s dismissal with a six and a four, but Colin Ingram gave him no support. Ingram stepped out to Nathan McCullum and watched an offbreak curve and spin past his bat, leaving Brendon McCullum with enough time to recover from a fumble and complete the stumping.Having lost two wickets in two overs, South Africa needed a cool head, but Levi was unable to keep one. Southee hit Levi on the helmet with his second delivery and dismissed him soon after. Under pressure, South Africa’s innings lost direction in the next five overs. AB de Villiers was out to a low catch from Guptill, which was referred to the third umpire, and Duminy and Ontong could only accumulate in ones and twos.Ontong broke the boundary drought in style, mowing Williamson for four consecutive sixes over the midwicket boundary, hitting each ball further back into the stands than the one before. Southee was brought back to control the damage and took a sharp return catch to dismiss Ontong and end the partnership on 50. Duminy did not let that setback slow him down, though, adding three more boundaries to finish as South Africa’s top scorer.After missing the last match against Zimbabwe because of a groin niggle, Guptill picked up where he had left off. He started by smacking Tsotsobe down the ground in his first over, and drove and hooked Albie Morkel. His best was saved for Tsotsobe – two massive sixes, measuring 102 and 127 metres, over the midwicket boundary.Rusty Theron took the wicket of Rob Nicol with his first ball to end the opening partnership on 49, but followed up with a wide and a no-ball. South Africa’s fast bowlers struggled to find rhythm on a pitch that was better suited to slower bowlers, of which the visitors had only one specialist in the XI.de Villiers turned to JP Duminy in the 13th over and he had immediate success. His second delivery spun just enough to bowl Brendon McCullum off the inside edge. Instead of giving the other slow bowler in the side, Justin Ontong, a go, de Villiers persisted with the quicks, who could not tie Guptill down. Guptill got hit on the helmet by Theron, and saw both Kane Williamson and Colin de Grandhomme dismissed, but hung around to see New Zealand through to victory.

After their lengthy break from the international circuit, England’s Test squad arrived in Dubai at the beginning of a year that will play a big role in determining the legacy that this generation of players leaves behind. Last year’s Ashes victory in Australia and the rise to No. 1 means this group has already carved their niche in history, but facing them in 2012 are contests that will determine how universally acclaimed they become.Next summer’s home series against West Indies and South Africa are sandwiched between away campaigns in the UAE and the subcontinent that will push the skills of this England team to their limits. Conditions that they are likely to encounter in the Middle East, Sri Lanka and India will require a new set of skills from batsmen and bowlers, and will also push Andrew Strauss as a captain.Victories in such an environment have been rare since Nasser Hussain’s triumphant tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2000-01. England have twice secured series wins in Bangladesh, but since Hussain’s successes the Johnny Cash-inspired series-levelling victory in Mumbai in 2006 has been the highpoint for them in the subcontinent.”England cricket teams’ record in the sub-continent has been patchy,” Andrew Strauss, the England Test captain, said. “I think it’s a really good time for us to have a lot of subcontinent cricket because we are confident; we’ve done well over the last two years or so and this is a kind of new frontier for us – to win and hopefully win consistently in the sub-continent.”We are aware it’s a stiff challenge and we are also aware you need to have very different types of skills if you want to do well out there. You’ve got to be very fit and it comes at a good time. It’s just what we need as a side but we are not underestimating the size of the challenge.”During England’s climb up the world rankings, which began following their series defeat in the West Indies in early 2009, they have only played one Test series in the subcontinent, when they beat Bangladesh 2-0 in 2010. During Australia’s era-long stay as the No. 1 Test side they achieved series victories in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and, finally, India to confirm their standing. That is the task now facing England.”If you want to be regarded all around the world as the best side in the world, then you’ve got to win in all conditions,” Strauss said. “But the rankings are there for a reason. To get to No. 1 you’ve got to win consistently. It doesn’t mean you’ve got to win every series, but you’ve got to win consistently. I’m very keen to move away from the rankings. I don’t think that’s something we need to focus on hugely at the moment. We are very conscious of concentrating on these short-term goals.”It would be wrong for us not to see these tours to the subcontinent as a way of us pushing ourselves forward as a group. I think that’s a pretty exciting thing to be able to do. Long-term goals are pretty irrelevant unless you can achieve your short-term goals. In some ways these challenges that await us in the next 12 months are more demanding. We are not at home, we are in subcontinent conditions and we need to develop new skills quickly.”Strauss, himself, faces an important year because while England beat all before them in 2011 his own form was patchy. He did not make a Test hundred – his previous three-figure score was 110 at Brisbane in November 2010 – and averaged 28.72 across eight matches. While the team continues to win consistently he won’t be in danger, but Strauss is reaching the stage of his career when he does not want a prolonged lean spell. He went on a pre-Christmas training camp to India but has not played for England since August or competitively since finishing the County Championship season in mid-September.”Last summer I probably didn’t play quite as well as I’d have liked to,” he said. “But form ebbs and flows a bit in Test cricket. I’m very keen to perform well and lead from the front. You can analyse these things to death; the truth is I’ve had a really good break, I’m healthy and I’m motivated. I had a really good training camp in India as well and hopefully that’s a pretty good recipe to play well.”

The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) has called for the Morgan Review into county cricket to face late changes, to ensure that English counties are given an opportunity to enter the Champions League.No commitment is made to the first-class counties’ participation in the Champions League, the world club Twenty20 tournament, in the proposed restructuring of the game, with Morgan implying that he was constrained by a decision already taken by the ECB’s Board.The PCA, perhaps suspecting political manoeuvring, has said that the decision will cost English cricket £2.2m a year as well as potentially preventing English players from partaking in the Champions League without justification.The ECB has insisted that Morgan’s recommendations – a 14-match championship, reduced from 16, a return to 50-over cricket and 14 Twenty20 matches – must be adopted as a package when county chief executives meet at Lord’s on January 23, leaving the PCA to appeal for a late change of heart.”We are concerned about the decision to extend the Twenty20 competition to fourteen group matches, explicitly for commercial reasons,” said a PCA statement. “One of the consequences of this decision is that the season cannot be completed in time to allow participation in the Champions League, a decision which – according to the analysis undertaken for ECB by Portas Consulting – will cost the game in England and Wales £2.2m a year.”We question whether the financial upside from the additional Twenty20 games will compensate for this lost revenue, and also question whether, from a player development perspective, it makes sense to turn our backs on the opportunities afforded by the Champions League for players to experience high-level competition on the Indian subcontinent.”The Morgan Review was strikingly non-committal on such a central topic, merely remarking: “The earlier decision of the Board of the ECB not to curtail the season to accommodate entry of two first-class counties in the Champions League is clearly helpful.”The PCA has also questioned the structure proposed in the report drawn up by David Morgan, a former ECB chairman, for the championship. He recommends that it consists of two divisions of nine, so necessitating that the counties cannot play each other twice. He proposes a hybrid system of derby matches and seeding to determine fixtures and concludes that the fact that the counties do not play each other twice “need not lead to unfairness or reduced integrity of the competition”.The PCA has an alternative proposal and, considering his widespread consultations in drawing up his report, including meetings with the players’ association, it is striking that the Morgan Review does not even list it as one of the options considered.”If we are to play fourteen matches in the County Championship, we believe there is a better structure than the one proposed (two divisions of nine, with sides playing some opponents once, and some twice), which was discussed during the consultation process, but which has not been mentioned in the final report.”We believe the best solution available is a first division of eight, and two parallel second divisions of five. In the first division, all sides would play each other home and away. In the second division, sides in division 2A would play those in division 2B home and away, and the other sides in division 2A home or away (and vice versa for teams in division 2B). The winners of Divisions 2A and 2B would be promoted, and the bottom two sides from division 1 relegated.”In this way, all sides in each of the divisions would have an identical fixture list of fourteen fixtures, maximising the integrity of the competition, and eliminating the element of chance implicit in the structure recommended in the Morgan report.”The PCA statement offers only “qualified support” for Morgan’s proposals, welcoming an overall reduction in the amount of cricket and reluctantly conceding that a trimming of the 16-match championship, which it has long championed, might have been inevitable to reach those ends.

Tamim Iqbal, the Bangladesh batsman, has said the offspinner Saeed Ajmal will be the biggest threat to Bangladesh when Pakistan tour there in November-December 2011-12. Ajmal is the joint-leading wicket-taker in Tests this year, with 41 from 6 matches at an average of 23.41, and also features in the top ten wicket-takers in ODIs this year. Tamim recognised Ajmal was in form and said the Bangladesh batsmen would have to watch his variations carefully.”I’ve only faced him [Ajmal] for one delivery and that was in county cricket when I was playing for Nottinghamshire and he was representing Worcestershire,” he told . “I scored a single and was happy to be at the other end. He’s a very good bowler and is in great form at the moment. It is going to be a real challenge to face the Pakistan bowlers in the upcoming series, especially Saeed Ajmal. He’s a very experienced bowler who has a lot of varieties and he will certainly be someone that my colleagues and I will have to watch carefully.”Pakistan will play one Twenty20 international, three ODIs and two Tests in Bangladesh between November 29 and December 21. Bangladesh are coming off a disappointing summer, having lost one-day series against Australia, Zimbabwe and West Indies, and Tests against Zimbabwe and West Indies. Pakistan have enjoyed an impressive run, having had successful tours of the West Indies and Zimbabwe and winning both the Test and ODI series against Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates.”It’s going to be a very tough and challenging series for us because Pakistan are playing some very good cricket and are in great form. Their batsmen and bowlers are in top form and it promises to be a difficult series for us.”After a tremendous 2010, in which he scored two swashbuckling Test centuries in England, Tamim has had a mediocre run in 2011, but showed a change in approach in the home Tests against West Indies, playing uncharacteristically patient knocks of 52 off 141 balls in Chittagong and 83 off 158 balls in Mirpur. Tamim said he was constantly learning and believed he was a better batsman now than he was when he first burst onto the scene.”I’m still learning a lot of things and developing my batting. I really hope that I have a long career ahead of me and I’m sure I am a much better batsman than I was when I first came into international cricket. I believe I still have a lot of things to learn and I am confident that I will get better with more exposure in international cricket against the best opposition.”After Bangladesh’s tour of Zimbabwe, the board removed Tamim from the post of vice-captain and also replaced Shakib Al Hasan with Mushfiqur Rahim as captain, with indiscipline cited as the reason for the decision. Tamim said he was happy to play under Mushfiqur but would have to wait before he judged him as a captain.”I’ve played under Mushfiqur in the Under-19s and I know him very well. He knows what he needs to do as skipper and what he needs to bring to the team. He’s started well and is doing a good job, but it’s too early to say as he has just skippered in the one series. Let’s see how it goes and I wish him all the very best for a successful stint as captain.”Bangladesh have struggled to build on the form they showed last year, when they won home ODI series against New Zealand and Zimbabwe easily. Tamim said the team had to play more international cricket to improve. He said he expected Bangladesh to be competitive in international cricket in a few years.”We need to play more international cricket. If you are playing cricket at the highest level you are going to improve. The Bangladesh Cricket Board is working very hard and I’m sure that we will continue to produce good cricketers. I think in a few years we can become more competitive as the youngsters that are being developed forge their way into the international arena.”

Group A

Paras Dogra scored his maiden first-class double-century to carry Himachal Pradesh to 531 against Tripura in Agartala. Dogra, who had smacked 26 boundaries in his innings, was eventually picked up for 205 by Timir Chanda – one of the new-ball bowlers eight wickets. Chanda’s 8 for 133, too, was his best effort in first-class cricket. Dogra apart, Sridharan Sriram and Rishi Dhawan scored half-centuries on day two, to bolster Himachal’s total. Tripura openers, Rajib Saha and Subhrajit Roy, were steady. They put on 81, before Saha was snagged just prior to stumps.Ranjit Paradkar and Shalabh Shrivastava produced their best first-class performances to carry Vidarbha to a massive 557 for 7 against Kerala, in Nagpur. Shrivastava added 20 runs to his overnight score of 84, to complete his maiden first-class century, while Paradkar finished unbeaten on 178. The only Kerala bowler to have much of an impact was left-arm spinner Padmanabhan Prasanth, who finished with his maiden five-for. Vidarbha declared with seven overs to spare in the day, which Kerala’s openers Abhishek Hegde and VA Jagadeesh successfully batted out.Andhra Pradesh finished day two with a 155-run lead over Services in Delhi. Services did well to knock over the three remaining Andhra wickets quickly in the morning, to keep them to 219. New-ball bowlers Suraj Yadav and Nishan Singh finished with four wickets apiece. However, a woeful collapse followed, to hand Andhra firm control over the match. The Andhra bowlers, led by Syed Sahabuddin who took a five-for, shot out Services for 95 as none of their batsmen managed more than Soumyaranjan Swain’s 37. In their second innings Andhra lost Manoj Sai cheaply, but with their big first-innings’ lead, they still held the edge at stumps.

Group B

Maharashtra‘s lower order contributed valuable runs to carry their team to 443 against Goa in Porvorim. Maharashtra resumed on 286 for 4, with Ankit Bawne and Rohit Motwani batting on 60 and 68 respectively. Bawne fell early and Motwani was bowled by Sher Yadav nine short of a century, but the lower order did not cave in. Kedar Jadhav and Shrikant Mundhe made scores in the 40s and Akshya Darekar made 29 not out to give Maharashtra an impressive total. New-ball bowler Robin D’Souza was the pick for Goa, taking 5 for 94 – his maiden first-class five-for. Goa’s openers were very cautious in their approach. Maharashtra, however, managed a couple of breakthroughs to leave Goa 48 for 2 at stumps.Hyderabad kicked on from 129 for 1 to 373 for 7 against Jharkhand in Uppal. The first half of the day’s play was washed out, and on resumption Jharkhand struck two quick blows. However, an 88-run stand Bavanaka Sandeep and Arjun Yadav put them back on track. Then Syed Quadri took charge, batting with the lower order, to carry Hyderabad past 350. He went to stumps unbeaten on 77. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem was the pick of the Jharkhand bowlers, taking 3 for 126 in a marathon 52-over spell.No play was possible on the second day of the Jammu & Kashmir v Assam match in Srinagar.

The lawyer of former Pakistan captain Salman Butt made his first robust defence of his client by listing a series of amazing claims from Butt’s former agent Mazhar Majeed, which included helping Pakistan to ball tamper by supplying them Vaseline on the field.Ali Bajwa QC attacked the credibility of Majeed as Butt sat in the dock next to former team-mate Mohammed Asif. Bajwa addressed Southwark Crown Court, on the fifth afternoon of the trial relating to one of cricket’s biggest controversies, while the prosecution’s key witness – journalist Mazhar Mahmood – was in the witness box. Mahmood’s multiple secret recordings of conversations with Majeed during a covert operation form much of the prosecution.Bajwa, reading from various transcripts in front of the jury, picked up on a series of boasts by Majeed. They included: (Majeed speaking to Mahmood) “You know that Zadari killed his wife”, referring to the current Pakistan President and his late wife, Benazir Bhutto. She was assassinated in 2007 when left with fatal wounds from an explosion while she stood in a car during a political rally.The court also heard how Majeed claimed to arrange a £12 million publishing deal for the autobiography of England and Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand, as well as a US$6 million deal for the recent autobiography of now retired Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, whose book rights were sold to Penguin.Majeed had apparently also told Mahmood that “all Pakistan and India cricketers lie about their age by at least three years” and that he knows “everyone” within the PCB and head of marketing Tariq Hakim “stays at my home – I know all the guys very well”.A claim that also raised eyebrows in the court was the one relating to how he helped the Pakistan team to tamper with the ball. Yasin Patel, on Bajwa’s legal team, stood with his left arm in a sling and corroborated with Mahmood the claim made by Majeed.Patel told of how Majeed claimed to enter the field of play “sometimes” and when the team could not take wicket he used to hand someone a heap of Vaseline so that the ball would swing. There was no suggestion as to whether Majeed was talking about an international match or not.A prosecution witness appearing in the afternoon, Alan Peacock, who has been a senior investigator for the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit with the ICC for 11 years, said player agents are not allowed to enter the field of play or be allowed access to their dressing, viewing or dining areas during games.Bajwa also questioned some of Mahmood’s methods during his covert operation for the now defunct and also established that the £140,000 that he paid to Majeed for the no-balls and future fixes was the highest amount of cash he had ever paid in his 20-year career as an investigative journalist.Bajwa also asked Mahmood why he didn’t keep a record of the text messages he sent to Majeed and only kept the replies. Mahmood did not know why. He also appeared perplexed at Mahmood’s failure to not know the last time he had spoken to Majeed.This, after the journalist revealed to the court that he agreed to carry out a request from the police to call Majeed just prior to their raid, to help them ascertain his location. Mahmood will appear for a third consecutive day on Wednesday.Butt and Asif face charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord’s Test in August last year when they allegedly conspired with Majeed, teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-determined no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.The case continues.

ScorecardRob Quiney made 109 for the Bushrangers•Getty Images

The legspinner Cameron Boyce helped Queensland begin their Sheffield Shield season with victory over Victoria at the Gabba, where Rob Quiney’s century wasn’t enough for the Bushrangers to salvage a draw. Victoria were set 301 to win after Peter Forrest scored his first ton for the Bulls, and while Quiney was at the crease, the visitors had some hope of chasing down the target.Quiney brought up his hundred with a straight drive for four off Steve Magoffin, but the fast man had his revenge soon afterwards when he had Quiney caught at slip for 109. It was one of seven catches – a Queensland record – taken in the match by Andrew Robinson, who snared five takes in the second innings alone.After Quiney departed, Boyce began to trouble the middle and lower order, driving Queensland closer to victory. Victoria’s last pair, Ryan Carters and Darren Pattinson, steadied the Bushrangers by surviving ten overs, but with three overs remaining and a draw within sight, Carters edged Boyce (4 for 78) to Robinson at slip to confirm the Bulls’ win.Things could hardly have worked out any better for Queensland, who declared at 9 for 243, after Forrest (101) completed his fourth first-class century, in his first game for the Bulls after relocating from New South Wales. The result was a fine effort from Queensland, who had lost their captain James Hopes, bowler Chris Swan and the star batsman Chris Lynn to injuries in the lead-up to the game.