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Peter Della Penna

Afghanistan’s coronation as kings of the Associates’ four-day competition will have to wait another day as UAE captain Rohan Mustafa and Chirag Suri rallied to string together a record partnership and push their Intercontinental Cup match into the final day.Afghanistan had seemed like they would canter to victory after taking the five remaining wickets in UAE’s first innings within the morning session. Having secured a 313-run first-innings lead, Asghar Stanikzai enforced the follow-on, before Mustafa and Suri began UAE’s resistance. They put on 146 – UAE’s highest opening-wicket stand in the Intercontinental Cup – each batsman raising his respective maiden first-class fifty.Zahir Khan had been the star of the morning session. He dismissed three batsmen, including Amjad Javed and Mohammad Naveed at the end of the 58th to leave UAE nine down. However, he was denied a chance at a hat-trick when he injured himself diving to stop a boundary in the following over, and didn’t return until the second innings. Rahmat Shah replaced Zahir in the attack and claimed the final wicket with around half an hour to go before lunch. Shaiman Anwar, unbeaten on 29 overnight, added another 56 but ran out of partners. He was left stranded on 85 not out.Suri and Mustafa safely batted out six overs before lunch, and sustained their obstinance through the afternoon session. By tea, UAE were 94 for no loss, with Mustafa two short of a half-century. He raised it in chaotic fashion early in the final session, with a scampered single that nearly had Suri runout.While Mustafa grinded his way to the landmark, Suri was slightly more fluent, striking a series of boundaries that included elegant straight drives. The fifty came off 96 balls, with a steer through backward point off Rashid Khan, who went wicketless on the day.Suri looked even more assured after passing the landmark. He put behind his short-ball discomfort from a day earlier as he pulled Dawlat Zadran to midwicket, before mixing in a few wristy flicks through the same region off Dawlat and Yamin Ahmadzai.UAE’s refusal to buckle left Afghanistan visibly frustrated. Umpire Ahsan Raza had to intervene at one point in the afternoon session, when Rashid, having fielded the ball off his own bowling, hurled it back past Suri to the wicketkeeper, triggering a verbal confrontation.UAE eventually cracked when Mustafa heaved Nabi lazily to mid-off halfway into the final session. Zahir returned after nursing his injured left shoulder to nab Suri for 81 five overs later. Replays showed the ball, which pitched on middle stump, struck Suri marginally in line with leg stump and may have spun past it.Play had ended at 5pm local time on the first two days. But the timings were amended for Friday prayers, extending play by a few minutes to accommodate a longer lunch. With the floodlights coming on amid fading light, pace spearhead Dawlat lifted Afghanistan’s spirits when he lured Shaiman Anwar into a false drive to cover, 10 balls before the players were taken off for bad light.Having secured six points for a first-innings lead, Afghanistan only need three more points from a draw to become the Intercontinental Cup champions. But with UAE still 112 runs behind and the spine of their batting dismissed, an Afghanistan win appears to be a matter of when, not if.

Western Australia have taken the extraordinary step of dropping Ashes prospect Nathan Coulter-Nile from the Sheffield Shield squad to instead lead an invitational XI against Joe Root’s Englishmen in their first tour match.Fellow Test contender Marcus Stoinis has also been ruled out of the Shield match for personal reasons, meaning he will be unable to stake his international claims in the final match before the Gabba Test squad is chosen.Coulter-Nile, who was a standout on Australia’s limited overs tour of India before the home summer, will be replaced by Jason Behrendorff in the WA squad to play New South Wales at Hurstville Oval. Behrendorff was himself rested from the Warriors Shield team for their first match against Tasmania. According to the WA coach Justin Langer, the decision is based upon Coulter-Nile’s recent injury history.”He hasn’t played back-to-back first-class games since 2015,” Langer said. “We are mindful of this and want to ensure his return to this level of cricket is managed appropriately to give him the best chance this season.”He is coping pretty well in his return from injury but he is still building up to the levels required for consecutive first-class matches. We believe the best plan is for him is to play the two-day tour match against England and then into round 3 of the Shield.”Cricket Australia’s sports science staff are involved in planning aimed at getting all Test pace bowling options to a peak of fitness ahead of the Gabba, including workload management. However it is a move away from the pattern of 2013-14 to offer England any bowlers of high pace ahead of the first Test of the summer.Four years ago they faced mainly bowlers of lesser velocity before reaching Brisbane, where they were stunned by the speed and hostility of Mitchell Johnson.Western Australia Shield squad: Mitchell Marsh (capt), Ashton Turner, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Josh Inglis, Matt Kelly, Simon Mackin, Shaun Marsh, David Moody, Jhye Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Jonathan Wells.Western Australia XI Tour Match squad: Nathan Coulter-Nile (capt), Will Bosisto, Jake Carder, Tim David, Kyle Gardiner, Aaron Hardie, Clint Hinchliffe, Nick Hobson, Calum How, Lance Morris, Josh Philippe, Mark Turner.

Tier 1Naeem Islam struck his maiden double-hundred across formats in Rangpur Division‘s draw against Dhaka Division in Khulna. He amassed 216 out of Rangpur’s first-innings total of 560 for 8 (declared) which also included centuries from Suhrawadi Shuvo and Ariful Haque.Naeem struck 23 fours and five sixes in his 349-ball innings that lasted eight-and-a-half hours. His 266-run fourth-wicket stand with Shuvo took Rangpur past 300, before he added another 183 runs for the sixth wicket with Ariful.Rangpur batted till 3pm on the second day, with Shuvagata Hom returning the best figures – 3 for 125 – among the opposition bowlers. In reply, Minhaz Khan, Raqibul Hasan and Shuvagata made fifties, but could not convert their knocks into bigger scores. Dhaka were bowled out for 321 as Abdur Rahman bagged a four-for with his left-arm spin.Asked to follow-on, Dhaka batted out 49 overs on the final day, crawling to 85 for the loss of Rony Talukdar. Opener Abdul Majid made a patient and unbeaten 52, having batted for more than three hours.Barisal fought hard to draw against defending champions Khulna despite being asked to follow-on in Rajshahi.Having elected to bat first, Khulna declared on 511 for 8 after Robiul Islam Robi and Ziaur Rahman made 114 and 152 respectively. Robi struck 17 fours while Ziaur blasted six sixes and 11 fours in his 222-ball knock. Barisal offspinner Sohag Gazi finished with figures of 4 for 148.Three-wicket hauls from Nahidul Islam and Abdur Razzak helped Khulna skittle Barisal out for 296 runs in 92 overs, despite half-centuries from Salman Hossain, Moin Khan and Gazi.Following-on, Barisal scored 296 again, but this time at the expense of only five wickets while playing out 110 overs. Captain Fazle Mahmud’s 107 anchored the innings, with fifties from Rafsan Al Mahmud and Gazi, whose unbeaten 68 saved Barisal from defeat as the ten Khulna bowlers used could only dismiss five batsmen.Tier 2Delwar Hossain’s all-round show – a match haul of 9 for 92 coupled with a half-century – and a second successive century from Mizanur Rahman powered Rajshahi to an innings and 13-run win over Chittagong in Bogra. With Sylhet defeating Dhaka Metropolis in the other Tier-2 game in this round, Rajshahi confirmed their promotion to next season’s Tier 1.Trailing by 143 after the first innings, Chittagong were shot out for 130 in 41.4 overs with Sadiqur Rahman’s 48 being the only substantial contribution. Delwar’s 6 for 23 – his career-best figures – helped him become the first quick bowler in this season’s National Cricket League to grab more than five wickets in an innings. Delwar’s charge with the ball was abetted by Farhad Reza, who coupled his first-innings four-for with two in the second.Put in to bat, Chittagong scored 260 in the first innings on the back of a 128-run fifth-wicket stand between Saeed Sarkar (70) and Sazzadul Haque (95). Rajshahi replied with 403 courtesy Mizanur’s 102, which included 13 fours and two sixes. Having hammered 143 in his side’s previous game against Sylhet, Mizanur added 153 for the third wicket with nightwatchman Delwar, who scored his second first-class half-century (62). Later, the wicketkeeper-batsman Hamidul Islam (73*) added important runs in the lower order and strung an 88-run ninth-wicket stand with Saqlain Sajib.A five-for in each innings from Sylhet‘s Enamul Haque Jnr handed Dhaka Metropolis a 190-run drubbing in Chittagong. In what was his seventh 10-for in his career, Enamul earned the distinction of becoming the first bowler to bag a 10-wicket match haul since the 2015-16 season.Sylhet put together 319 after electing to bat, with captain Imtiaz Hossain making 132 in nearly five hours, peppering 17 fours during his innings. Shykat Ali, Nihaduzzaman and Sharifullah took three wickets each for Dhaka Metroplis.Dhaka Metro were bowled out for 259 in 77.4 overs with captain Marshall Ayub scoring 98 off 149 balls as no other batsman crossed 40. Enamul took 5 for 96 from the 34 overs he bowled.Headlined by half-centuries from Shanaj Ahmed, Shahanur Rahman and Abu Jayed, Sylhet added 263 runs to their 60-run first-innings lead. Nihaduzzaman took four wickets and Elias Sunny picked up three wickets.After Sylhet declared on the final day to set a target of 324, Dhaka Metro lasted just 49.2 overs, as Enamul ran through the line-up with 5 for 63, skittling the opposition for only 133 runs.

Hampshire new-ball partners Kyle Abbott and Fidel Edwards gave Essex a champion’s hangover – as the Specsavers County Championship Division One winners suffered a batting collapse at the Ageas Bowl.Former Test fast bowlers Abbott and Edwards shared four wickets for 23 to leave Essex on 33 for five overnight after Hampshire had posted 254 thanks to classy fifties from James Vince and George Bailey.Essex were confirmed as 2017’s title holders last week having thrashed Warwickshire but stumbled on the south coast. However, they will be keenly aware that, with relegation positions so tight, they need to compete until the end out of courtesy to the other sides at the bottom end of the table.Their reply started terribly as Nick Browne failed to pick up the pace of Abbott to fall in the second over.Varun Chopra was bowled by the South African four overs latter to give the fast seamer his 50th first-class wicket of the season.Abbott’s opening partner Edwards joined the party in the following over to have Tom Westley lbw, as the visitors slumped to 12 for three.Dan Lawrence and Ravi Bopara steadied the ship by blocking out eight overs, before the latter was bowled by Gareth Berg without playing a shot.Essex sent out nightwatchman Sam Cook to see out the remaining six overs but he only managed two before he was bowled by Edwards – leaving his side 221 behind.Earlier, Essex’s wicket-taking duo Jamie Porter and Simon Harmer took their combined tally for the season up to 134 scalps, after captain Ryan ten Doeschate bowled without a toss on a good bowling track at the Ageas Bowl.The pair’s wicket-taking ability has been one of the main reasons behind Essex’s Division One triumph.But it was Porter’s new-ball partner Cook who made the first blow into Hampshire’s batting line -up as he struck Jimmy Adams in front in the second over.Porter wasn’t to be overshadowed for long as he had Joe Weatherley lbw to leave Hampshire struggling on 14 for two.Vince and Tom Alsop came to the host’s rescue with a punchy counterattacking stand worth 71 runs.The partnership ended when Alsop shouldered his arms at a straight delivery from Porter, with Vince completing his 30th first-class fifty in 65 balls soon after.But Vince departed soon after lunch when he feathered a back-foot drive behind off Cook.Spinner Harmer then took centre stage to claim his 64th, 65th and 66th wickets of the campaign.The South African off-spinner had Sean Ervine caught well by an off-balance Chopra at first slip and Ian Holland bowled, either side of Porter bowling a slow-scoring Liam Dawson.Harmer added Berg to his long list of victims as the Hampshire all-rounder edged behind.While the wickets were falling at one end, captain Bailey was accumulating runs at the other in fluent chanceless style.The Australian reached his half-century in 79 balls but slowed up as the softer ball made rapid scoring more difficult.Hampshire reached a second batting point, which could be important in an unlikely relegation battle, as Abbott was caught at first slip.Bailey, on 89, decided he need to farm the strike and score boundaries, with unreliable Edwards occupying the other end, but holed out on the mid-wicket boundary attempting a maximum to leave his side all out for 254.

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Dasgupta: SL batsmen must show intent against Jadeja and Ashwin

India lost their centurions, one at the start of play, and the other about half an hour to lunch, in a manner that suggested Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane had heard the calls from the dressing room that they were hogging all the fun. Once they relented, a strong lower order – with an allrounder at No. 9 – took their total past 600 for the sixth time in nine months. Sri Lanka did have a few moments to celebrate, of course, but each time their batsmen cast a suspicious eye on the pitch. It had begun puffing up clouds of dust like a steam train from the sixties.Virat Kohli declared on 622 for 9, giving the opposition 20 overs to survive. Upul Tharanga fell for a duck with the ball – juicy, short and on leg stump – sticking in short leg’s midriff. As he walked back, he might have felt like that kid in the arcade who had stood in an endless queue, impatiently waiting for their turn to have some fun, but just as he got his hands on the controllers, there was a city-wide power outage.India’s spinners continued to create more chances – the hard new ball offering more bite off the pitch – and Dimuth Karunaratne succumbed for 25. R Ashwin was the successful bowler on both occasions as he strutted out his offbreaks like an art collector exhibiting his best pieces. There was the old faithful, with a 45-degree seam, turning and bouncing sharply. The cheeky undercutter, that comes out with no change in grip or action but for the seam being almost perpendicular to the pitch. And finally the bold carrom ball, probing the other edge. All of them were aimed at off stump, so there were no easy leaves.By the end of the day, no one would be blamed for forgetting he had also scored important runs. Ashwin struck one of six fifties for India – a feat his team has achieved only twice in 253 away Tests. He got off the mark with an airy boundary behind point, pierced gaps at cover that seemed non-existent, and with a six over long-off, he asserted his place among the best in the business. Only 15 allrounders have claimed 2000 runs and 250 wickets in Tests. Ashwin reached there quicker than anybody else, in 51 matches.Wriddhiman Saha had watched a team-mate being stumped after haring down the track, but that had no bearing on his move to do the same and swat his fourth ball to the long-on boundary. He is a composed player of spin because of his ability to both sweep and stride down the pitch. He can then choose to attack or defend or nudge gaps – which were available aplenty as the total swelled monstrously.India scored a hundred or more in four of the five full sessions they batted at the Sinhalese Sports Club, and the only time they couldn’t, they’d already racked up 98. The carnage almost spilled over, in the 131st and 149th overs, when after berating the bowlers, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja took aim at umpire Rod Tucker with blistering straight drives. Thankfully, his reflexes were spot on.R Ashwin contributed again with the bat•AFP

Sri Lanka began the morning a bowler short – Nuwan Pradeep, the only specialist seamer and taker of six wickets in Galle, was down with a hamstring injury. And to make up for his loss, they gave their opening batsman the second new ball. Karunarante responded with a nip-backer that pinned Pujara in front of the stumps in the second over of the day for the first wicket of his career. He only had to wait 41 Tests, and the time it took to overrule umpire Bruce Oxenford’s on-field decision by DRS.So the man who had struck three centuries in three matches in this country, bested Dhammika Prasad on a green seamer in 2015, and Rangana Herath on this soon-to-be dust bowl, fell to a man who was bowling for only the second time in Test cricket. In other words, Pujara had leapt over the alligators in the moat, squeezed into the gap just as the draw bridge closed, slid down it with his arms raised aloft at a successful breach only to crash headlong into a guard sleeping against the wall.Rahane took charge of the invasion now, progressing smoothly until he found fit to attack debutant Malinda Pushpakumara in the 111th over. Three balls previously, the left-arm spinner had pushed one past the outside edge, and in an effort to reverse the pressure, Rahane danced down the track only to be deceived in flight and mugged by sharp turn. Pushpakumara screamed as only a man who had until then been treated like a defective Herath clone could. It was his first Test wicket, his 559th in first-class games.The original was starting to struggle too. Short balls from Herath once seemed like a set-up but now they are just reminders that the man is nearly 40 years old and is perhaps not putting as much body into his action as he used to. The evidence of the purchase he can elicit when he does so was apparent in the 122nd over, when a quicker delivery beat Ashwin’s late cut and crashed into his off stump. It was clocked at 91 kph by the speedgun, the exact pace Jadeja likes to bowl, and this is rapidly becoming the kind of pitch he can exploit rather effectively.His next wicket – Saha stumped after the ball left behind a crater in the surface – had all of the Sri Lankans crowding around the good length area like people surveying a car crash. At stumps, they had two extremely talented batsmen unbeaten – the captain Dinesh Chandimal on 8 and Kusal Mendis on 16 – to combat a deficit of 572 runs.

The role of a head coach in the Indian cricket team has never been as ambiguous as it has been since the first murmurs of trouble between Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble began. Kumble himself didn’t have much experience as a coach, but in the one year he spent in the job, he came across as somebody actively involved in working with bowlers, passing on some tips to batsmen, playing a role in strategising and also keeping an eye on the supply line.However, as each passing day conspired to get Ravi Shastri back as the coach, you wondered what India wanted in their coach. Now there are specialist bowling, batting and fielding coaches in the side. If Shastri had not picked them himself, the Cricket Advisory Committee would have enforced through Zaheer Khan and Rahul Dravid. What exactly does Shastri do then?”My role is to be in charge of the entire support staff, and to make sure that we get the boys in some great mental space to go out and express themselves with nothing else on their minds but to go out and play a brand of cricket which you have seen India play over the last three years: positive and fearless,” Shastri said, two days before the SSC Test.When asked how exactly he does that, Shastri shot back: “That is a skill, that is why I am here and you are not there.”Later he said, though, that all he had to do to achieve the right atmosphere in the dressing room was “walk in”. “That was enough”It is instructive that a press conference two days before the middle Test of a series revolved more around Shastri’s role in the team than around the Test or the series. “For me, I don’t carry any baggage,” Shastri said about the winning start in Galle. “For me it was like walking into the dressing room as I had left it. Nothing had changed, and no special buttons I had to press. It was just that one play button, and off you went.”The boys were fantastic in the last Test match but what we are striving for is improvement. There are still areas to improve from the last game. And we have discussed that and what we want from this team as a unit collectively is consistency. Not just where you are good in one game and totally the opposite in the other. Your levels of consistency have to be high.”Shastri was even asked how he makes sure he is not “overbearing” and balancing out the need to speak to players and giving them their space. “When you have been around the game for 37 years, you probably learnt a little bit,” Shastri said. “So that experience is very handy for me in knowing exactly how to deal with the players.”Just walk in, press the play button and using his 37-year experience (as player and commentator), coaching India sounds easy. He was asked how easy it exactly was. “I have been manager, director, now I am head coach, and it’s the same role,” Shastri said. “Absolutely the same role. So there is nothing that I have to change. The fact that you played the game and watched the game for long periods of time without a break does help. So you know what’s contemporary and what’s happening at the moment and you relate with people in that fashion.”I don’t think at this level coaching is needed. At this level, it is all about fine-tuning and getting the blokes in a good mental space to go out and play the game. They know they have reached here because they are good. At times you might need to just fine-tune them a bit because the amount of cricket that’s being played you might just get into the odd bad habit without you realising it. That’s where the experience of having played, probably having watched you can pick it up and pass on the message.”Shastri also said this team had achieved what many Indian greats had failed to achieve. “They have already done things that a lot of Indian teams and a lot of big names couldn’t do in their careers,” Shastri said. “Like, for example, to win a series here [in Sri Lanka] for 20 years. A lot of big names have played for 20 years, they have come to Sri Lanka many times, and they have never won a series. But they [this team] have done that. They have won a one-day series in 20 years, which a lot of teams haven’t done.”This team is used to doing things that a lot of other teams haven’t done, and that too overseas. Forget Australia, I am not even touching the Australia tour, so when you say overseas like South Africa, England, it is a lot of tough cricket coming up. I see it as an opportunity. I am very positive here that this team can do things that probably no other Indian team has done.”

Australia’s players have been offered key concessions in their pay dispute with Cricket Australia, but the Australian Cricketers Association has been enraged by the board’s decision to simultaneously send out contract offers to players.A week before the expiry of the current MoU, and following the most recent meeting between the two parties on Wednesday, CA’s lead negotiator Kevin Roberts wrote to the ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson stating that the board is willing to allow all players to share in profits above projections and also to significantly increase payment for domestic male players in recognition of their contribution.These two issues have been central to the dispute, after CA’s initial offer afforded “blue sky” payments above fixed wages to only the top male and female players, while at the same time placing a virtual freeze on payment levels for domestic male players at a time when the next Big Bash League broadcast rights deal is expected to offer a rich windfall to the game.However, the letter was accompanied by contract offers sent to all players despite talks between the two parties being a long way from resolved. The contracts do not specify their terms and conditions, moving the ACA to advise players not to sign.”The ACA notes that CA has made a revised MoU offer and sent it to the players. They have also issued ‘contract offers’ directly to individual players for their signature; bypassing the ACA,” the association said in a statement. “The ACA has advised players not to sign. The letter provided to players today from CA does not accurately reflect how far apart the parties remain with a week to go. The parties have not reached agreement on many fundamental issues.”The contract offers do not contain Revenue Sharing for all players, and are not what they appear to be. They do not include crucial information regarding terms and conditions. Further, as has been requested since August 2016, critical financial and forecasting information has yet to be provided so the ACA can properly assess the offers and advise the players accordingly. This remains unacceptable.”In the letter, seen by ESPNcricinfo, Roberts said that following his national “roadshow” to speak to state squads, CA is now prepared to “increase the international cricket surpluses that are shared with players, include all domestic players in the sharing arrangements, and increase annual pay rises to male state players with commensurate increases for WNCL and WBBL players to maintain gender pay equity”. The letter does not feature any financial details, as figures are believed to be open for discussion.At the same time, Roberts also indicated that players will now be offered contracts, with the provision to change their terms pending the outcome of further talks between CA and the ACA. “These contracts are conditional upon a new MoU being agreed,” Roberts wrote. “If further increases in pay are agreed for male state players, along with WNCL and WBBL players due to the increases contemplated above, the offers in the contracts would be varied accordingly.”The contracts would not require any variation for the inclusion of domestic players in the sharing of any international cricket surpluses above the level required to fund player payments. We trust that the ACA will respond positively to this new offer that CA is proposing in order to achieve a positive outcome for the players and the game.”While the concessions appear significant, there is no indication that CA is willing to budge on no longer offering the players a fixed percentage of agreed revenue over the next five years, the cornerstone of MoUs between the board and the ACA over the past 20 years. Equally, CA appears to remain intent upon rolling a portion of the “adjustment ledger” money from the current MoU into the next one, a move the players have rejected on the basis that it is money they have already earned.There was an adjustment ledger rollover in the previous 2012 MoU, but this was only due to the fact that the previous deal – a one-year agreement signed for 2011-12 – included far more money than would have been available in other years due to the fact that a lucrative India tour took place that summer. Without any carryover of money from that deal, the players’ wages would have spiked dramatically for one season then dropped off significantly in subsequent seasons.Domestic player payments would increase under Cricket Australia’s latest proposal•Getty Images

The ACA president Greg Dyer stated on Friday that “emergency mediation” was required between Nicholson and his CA counterpart James Sutherland to end the dispute and prevent a host of chaotic scenarios unfolding post-June 30, including around half of all players falling out of contract.”The current talks between the Australian Cricketers’ Association and Cricket Australia have failed to achieve a break through,” Dyer said. “With only seven days until the June 30 deadline, the ACA calls for emergency mediation to be conducted at CEO level. With this the ACA continues to search for ways to resolve the dispute. We are motivated by a sense of duty to the game and its players and frustration at the current process.”The ACA are instructed in this call by Australia’s male and female cricketers, who are determined to ensure every avenue is explored to avoid the post-June 30 cliff. We are hopeful that the common sense offers of flexibility made in negotiations will be treated more respectfully in an elevated and mediated environment.”As things stand, from June 30 most of Australia’s elite male and female cricket players will be unemployed, jeopardising upcoming tours and ultimately the summer of cricket. This creates uncertainty for broadcasters, sponsors, players and administrators. And potentially stains the game, in the eyes of fans, and Australia’s reputation in the international community.”Dyer said that, among other things, CA is yet to provide the ACA’s negotiating team with adequate financial forecasts about the state of the game over the next five years. CA has repeatedly claimed that the level of detail the ACA is seeking is not able to be provided due to a raft of commercial and broadcast deals needing to be negotiated over the next 12 months.”The ACA is yet to receive the necessary financial information and forecasts to inform Australia’s male and female professional cricketers,” Dyer said. “We have been calling for this since August 2016. To date, CA has only been willing to provide financial ‘scenarios’ and ‘formulas’, which lack the detail and scope required.”The players believe in the principle of sharing in the revenue they generate. The players asked CA for financial and forecasting information in August 2016. This has not been provided by CA, even though it has been provided in the past MOU negotiations. The players have offered two detailed submissions, spent seven months at the formal negotiating table and in May 2017 first called for mediation.”A CA spokesman said that more detailed financial information had been provided to the ACA during the most recent set of meetings: “Full financial information was provided to the ACA in confidence earlier this week, and the ACA currently has all figures and scenarios that Cricket Australia is working with. This information is sufficient for players and their union to assess CA’s pay offer. As CA has explained many times to the ACA, 80% of cricket’s revenue is uncontracted for the next five years, and confidential scenarios are the appropriate and financially responsible way to approach the issue.”

England have named five uncapped players in their 16-man squad for three T20s against South Africa at the end of June. Liam Livingstone and Mason Crane have won first call-ups, while Dawid Malan, Tom Curran and Craig Overton are also included ahead of potential debuts.Joe Root is among several white-ball regulars rested for the T20 series, meaning he can play Championship cricket for Yorkshire ahead of his first Test as England captain in July. Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Jake Ball and Ben Stokes have also been released to their counties, while Tymal Mills is missing through injury.Mark Wood will only be available for the first match of the South Africa series, with his workload likely to be managed by England after a starring role in their run to the Champions Trophy semi-finals. For the final two matches, his place will be taken by Somerset’s Craig Overton – who was previously called into the ODI squad in 2015, alongside his twin Jamie, but did not play. Jonny Bairstow is included for the first two matches before returning to Yorkshire.The inaugural round of day-night Championship matches on June 26-29 will see the involvement of Root, Moeen, Rashid, Ball, Stokes, Wood and Bairstow, as well as former England captain Alastair Cook and fast bowlers Stuart Broad and James Anderson, who is expected to have recovered from a groin injury.Livingstone had been tipped for inclusion in England’s one-day squad at the start of the summer and has been in impressive form for Lancashire and the Lions. “I found out yesterday and it’s obviously a very nice moment for me and I’m really looking forward to next week,” he said.”I’ve really enjoyed my time with the Lions whenever I’ve been involved. You’re given a lot of freedom and a free role to play. It’s a great environment to be involved in and especially with the way I play my cricket, it’s very exciting … I’ve always tried to not change how I am or the way I play so I’ll just go in and try to do what I’ve done for Lancashire.”From the very first day of hitting a cricket ball, it’s what you want to do and it’s what you work hard to achieve. A lot of hard work has gone into it, so if I was to make my debut it would be a very special moment for me and my family.”Crane, the Hampshire legspinner, made headlines when selected as an overseas player for New South Wales during the winter and was among the leading wicket-takers in the group stage of the Royal London Cup with 14 at 27.42. Malan, 29, is a former captain of Middlesex’s T20 side and was a non-playing member of the squad for the one-off T20 against Sri Lanka last year, while Surrey seamer Curran won his maiden England call-up to the ODI squad on the tour of the Caribbean in March.”The T20 series against South Africa presents us with an opportunity to incorporate several players who have come through the talent pathway into the senior group,” James Whitaker, England’s national selector, said. “The squad has an exciting blend of youth and experience and we are looking forward to a competitive series against strong opposition.”With five uncapped players selected, there is undoubted talent coming through the system and we are excited to see some of these players showcase their skills at the highest level.”Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Tom Curran and Craig Overton have impressed for the England Lions over the past 12 months and have transferred their skills across all formats, in particular with their respective counties.”Young legspinner Mason Crane is another player with great promise and he has made great strides with Hampshire this season and has added to his experience with stints in the North-South Series earlier in the season, where he took crucial wickets and even earned selection for New South Wales in Australia’s premier domestic competition the Sheffield Shield.”England T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (capt), Jonny Bairstow (first two matches of series), Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton (last two matches of series), Liam Plunkett, Jason Roy, David Willey, Mark Wood (first match of series)

ScorecardSteven Croft’s power-packed innings sparked Lancashire•Getty Images

Steven Croft’s violent century lifted Lancashire to a much-needed 26-run victory over Warwickshire in the Royal London Cup at Edgbaston.Croft exploited a very short boundary on the Hollies Stand side of the ground to smash 127 from 83 balls with eight fours and eight sixes, his best limited-overs score, which lifted Lancashire to 351 for 8.They then bowled Warwickshire out for 325 in the 49th over to record their first group win at the fourth attempt. The triumph at last got Lancashire up and running in the competition, though they still have little margin for error in their remaining games if they are to qualify.Cup-holders Warwickshire’s grip on the trophy, meanwhile, hangs by the slenderest thread after a fourth defeat in five games.Put in, Lancashire lost Alex Davies, lbw to Rikki Clarke, in the eighth over but were given a brisk start by Karl Brown before he edged Olly Hannon-Dalby to the wicketkeeper.Haseeb Hameed and Liam Livingstone added 54 in 12 overs but after Livingstone nicked Clarke and Hameed swept Ateeq Javid to short fine-leg, Lancashire were a wobbly 130 for 4.They were fortified by a stand of 103 in 87 balls between Croft and Dane Vilas (55) then, after Vilas lapped Javid to short fine-leg, Croft hit overdrive.The skipper and Jordan Clark added 114 from 56 balls, a thunderous assault which included a remarkable 35 from the 45th over, delivered by Hannon-Dalby. Of the over’s ten balls, four were lifted over the boundary rope with one, from a no-ball, scoring eight. Croft also biffed four sixes off Keith Barker in the penultimate over before holing out in the last.Kyle Jarvis then spiked Warwickshire big guns with two wickets in an excellent opening spell of 5-1-18-2. Jonathan Trott flicked to square leg and Ian Bell, having hoisted James Anderson for successive sixes, nicked behind.Sam Hain lifted a short ball from Anderson to deep point and Matt Lamb was bowled by Simon Kerrigan, at which point Warwickshire were 95 for 4.Tim Ambrose (68) and Clarke (76) kept their side in the game with a stand of 126 but both perished in the space of eight balls.Clarke charged at Simon Kerrigan and missed and after the in-form Ambrose, having taken his RL Cup run-tally to 222 in four innings, was beaten by Anderson’s direct hit, a target of 124 from the last 15 overs proved too much for the lower order.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:59

Moonda: Elgar has bedded in as senior opener

Could New Zealand’s twin-spin attack prove a masterstroke? It may yet depend on the Dunedin weather, with rain forecast for the final day of this nip-and-tuck Test, but late wickets under leaden skies set up what could be a wonderful final day. South Africa, who could barely push their scoring rate above two-an-over, closed with a lead of 191 and four wickets in hand.The shape of the day – a grey, chilly day that demanded deep resolve from players and spectators alike – changed deep in the final session. After Jeetan Patel removed Dean Elgar, 11 short of becoming the sixth South Africa batsman to make two hundreds in a Test, he cleaned up his bunny, Quinton de Kock, with a beauty (the tally of four successes in four innings not escaping Patel as he celebrated). Between Patel’s brace, Temba Bavuma also departed, the ball rolling back off his defensive shot to dislodge the off bail – success for Mitchell Santner who had been ignored for almost 60 overs.New Zealand’s strong end to the day came after being deprived the services of Trent Boult who did not appear after tea due to a sore hip. The second new ball initially went to the two spinners due to poor light, then the immense Neil Wagner – who has had a vast workload – wound himself up for another burst. Boult won’t be able to bowl for the first 90 minutes on the final morning and with a tight turnaround of three days to Wellington his prognosis will be a very significant factor.By close, when the light finally did close in with eight overs remaining, Faf du Plessis suddenly loomed as a crucial figure, unbeaten on 56 from 155 balls with the bowlers for company to try and push the lead over 250. The success for Patel and Santner will encourage him as Keshav Maharaj, who took five wickets in the first, could be a crucial weapon in defending a target alongside his pace trio.For most of the day it was about Elgar – given out caught behind 73 but saved by the DRS – as he took his time at the crease in the match to almost 13 hours before skipping down the pitch to Patel and finding deep mid-off. However, New Zealand had their chances to remove him earlier and put the heat on South Africa with more time to play with.On 35, James Neesham found his outside edge from round the wicket but BJ Watling could not gather the chance low to his left. It was the second time in the match that Watling had given an Elgar a life; in the first innings he was spilled down the leg side on 36. Then, on 48, a drive was drilled through the hands of substitute fielder Colin de Grandhomme at cover as Elgar went to his fifty from 144 balls.Coupled with poor use of the DRS, missing a chance to review against Duminy when he would have been lbw on 20 but using it when he got an inside edge, and dropping the same batsman on 6, it had been a messy first half of the day for New Zealand. However, as events later showed, South Africa’s scoring rate meant they were never out of touch and at risk if wickets fell in a flurry.South Africa resumed just five ahead and Hashim Amla departed early, flicking Wagner to the leg-side trap at midwicket to continue his poor time in New Zealand. Wagner returned after lunch to pin Duminy for a scratchy 39. At that stage South Africa’s lead was only 80. Duminy should have gone early when Boult, in the midst of a luckless opening spell, found the edge but Tom Latham, deputising for Ross Taylor at first slip, missed a regulation chance.For most of the first two sessions Williamson put the onus on Wagner, Boult (with potentially damaging results) and Patel – the latter bowling a 28-over spell – not using Santner until the 65th over. The left-arm spinner created an opportunity first ball when Elgar flicked firmly into Latham at short leg, but the ball ballooned in front of midwicket. Elgar then played a rare attacking stroke, advancing down the pitch to loft Santner straight, but the ball spinning into him created uncertainty and an outside edge fell just short of slip where Neesham and come up from his stance too quickly.Du Plessis was in no rush to try and escalate the scoring rate against accurate bowling. Late in the day he moved to his half-century off 142 balls with a hint of more aggression, with a brace of boundaries off Wagner, but it was South Africa who were the relieved players when the day ended. Du Plessis will have walked off knowing that his side have not been allowed to dictate terms in this match. Please, don’t rain.