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Sri Lanka Cricket’s Illegal Bowling Action Committee (IBAC), headed by former double international Ishak Sahabdeen, has taken several steps to eradicate suspect actions with the immediate aim of ensuring their players are not pulled up during the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh next year.”At the last Under-19 World Cup held in UAE in 2014, three of our bowlers were reported for suspect actions, this is not a good sign for us as a cricketing playing nation,” said Sahabdeen, who represented Sri Lanka at cricket and hockey. “We want to make sure that we are clean at the next World Cup.”As a first step, Sahabdeen said seven bowlers would be sent to the ICC-accredited testing centre for suspected bowling actions in Chennai to be assessed ahead of the Under-19 World Cup.To curb this problem the IBAC will also come down firmly on school coaches, who after a period of time could have their coaching license suspended or cancelled if they fail to report or correct bowlers with suspect actions.”With the under-13 and under-19 seasons commencing in the first week of September, we have requested the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association to register each certificate number of the respective coaches, like they register the players,” Sahabdeen said.Sahabdeen said the IBAC had also decided to ban school cricketers from wearing long sleeves, elbow guards, skins and tubing while bowling so that their elbows are exposed. This rule will be implemented from September.According to Sahabdeen, 80% of the 170 bowlers reported in domestic cricket this year, from under-13 age group to the Premier League, were offspinners. “These bowlers try to bowl the doosra and the faster ball and eventually end up being reported for throwing because they exceed the 15-degree limit.” Only 41 of those 170 bowlers have been cleared by the IBAC, and Sahabdeen fears the other 129 will have their careers curtailed because nothing can be done about their actions.Sahabdeen held the coaches responsible. “There are two sides to it. In most instances it is their ignorance of what constitutes an illegal delivery and the other is that they don’t want to correct the bowler’s action or report him as it would reduce his effectiveness and the team’s performances would suffer eventually.”In order to educate and create awareness among school and club coaches, the IBAC printed posters in three languages – Sinhala, English and Tamil – which are to be displayed at all school and club grounds and on notice boards of schools and clubs. The IBAC also brought Richard Dunne, the ICC human resources manager, to educate the coaches on suspect bowling actions – workshops were conducted in Colombo, Galle, Dambulla and Kandy with a total of 160 coaches attending.Apart from Sahabdeen, the IBAC comprises former Sri Lanka fast bowlers Graeme Labrooy and Eric Upashantha, along with umpires’ educator Tyron Wijewardene and Head of Coaching Unit Jerome Jayaratne. Sahabdeen said the drive to eradicate illegal bowling gathered momentum after Sri Lanka offspinner Sachitra Senanayake was reported for a suspect action during the tour of England in 2014.

Unbeaten half-centuries from Manprit Juneja and Rujul Bhatt steered defending champions and table-toppers Gujarat to 262 for 4 in a game they would like to win considering how tight things are in Group B. There is the possibility of a two-way tie, even a three-way tie. So to stay safe in such circumstances six points – or seven if they could manage it – could be vital.Jharkhand chose to bowl on home turf but ran into a very stubborn opening batsman in Samit Gohel, who faced 179 deliveries for his 64. Nevertheless, he struck eight fours and a six. His partner Priyank Panchal, who came into the game with back-to-back hundreds, fell for 33. Bhargav Merai (23) and Parthiv Patel (33) didn’t trouble the scorers too much either and when Gohel fell in the 61st over, Gujarat were 179 for 4. That’s when Juneja and Bhatt (who made 40 of his 51 runs in boundaries) came together to string a stand worth 83 runs in 22 overs.Their regular No. 3 was busy scoring a hundred for India so Avi Barot was left to play the innings Cheteshwar Pujara might have, batting almost the entire day to remain unbeaten on 128 as Saurashtra battled for qualification into the Ranji Trophy knockouts. He came to the crease in the 10th over and, with Robin Uthappa (59) and Sheldon Jackson (54*) for support, took the score to 286 for 3 against Rajasthan in Jaipur.With Saurashtra needing nothing short of a win – and even then they could find themselves out of the title – they could not afford a bad start. But the openers couldn’t get past 20 and it was down to the middle order to regain the upper hand. Uthappa struck 11 fours to bring up his third half-century in as many matches and when he fell, Jackson took over striking seven fours in a 93-ball innings. Left-arm seamer Tanvir-ul-Haq was Rajasthan’s most successful bowler, picking up 2 for 48 in 21 overs.Kerala‘s Sandeep Warrier and Vinod Kumar took six wickets between them to reduce Haryana to 207 for 9 in Lahli. The two medium-pacers have kept their team alive in the race towards the quarter-finals, bowling 37 overs between them for only 90 runs.But they had to wrench the upper hand back from Haryana, who at one point were 94 for 1. Then they became 158 for 6 and finally ended the day clinging on to their last wicket. None of the hosts’ batsmen could make a score higher than Rajat Paliwal’s 45. He was dismissed in the penultimate over before stumps, and Kerala received a bigger boost when Warrier picked up a wicket with what became the last ball of the day to push his tally to 4 for 50.

Darren Bravo, the West Indies Under-19 batsman, has expressed his disappointment over the Under-19s’ poor performance in the recently-concluded regional KFC Cup but insisted that the experience will help the team in the build-up to the 2008 ICC U-19 World Cup in Malaysia.The World Cup, scheduled for February next year, is now the top priority for Bravo who believes that the Under-19s can improve and give a good account of themselves.”We showed a lot of energy in the field,” Bravo said, “And the 20-man squad gelled nicely together. “After the first game, which was a bit demoralising, I think we improved a lot in our batting but more so in the bowling department.”We improved and we need to keep improving and getting better and our experience in the KFC Cup has definitely helped us to do that,” Bravo said.Looking back at the first game against Barbados, where nine U-19 players made their List A debut, Bravo said playing against Pedro Collins and Fidel Edwards had been difficult.”Collins was getting a lot of movement and Edwards was bowling very fast. It was difficult to get them away but the experience was good for us and it came in handy in the other games.”There is still a lot of work to be done Bravo pointed out, saying that he was not satisfied with his own performance throughout the tournament.”I stayed at the crease for a long time but I think there is still a lot of room for improvement.”

Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, has again tried to calm talk about Michael Vaughan making an early comeback during the Ashes series. Following England’s defeat at Brisbane, Vaughan left the squad and flew to Perth to join up with the Academy and is aiming to play against Western Australia 2nd XI on Wednesday.Various comeback dates for Vaughan have been thrown around during the opening weeks of the Ashes tour, ranging from the third Test at Perth to the one-day series which follows in January. Now, with his playing return imminent, the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne is being suggested.However, Fletcher still refuses to look too far ahead. “I don’t think he can play in this Test series, at this stage,” he told reporters. “We’re still planning to have him hopefully for the one-dayers and if anything comes earlier than that then well and good.”If Vaughan comes through Wednesday’s one-day match his next outing could be the two-day game against Western Australia between the Adelaide and Perth Tests. England are expected to use a number of their reserve players in that match.But Fletcher still feels that Vaughan would need to play a few more matches to prove his fitness and merit a place in the side. While Vaughan was with the squad in Brisbane he took part in a fielding session and batted in the nets. If he plays on Wednesday it will be his first competitive match since June when he lined-up for Yorkshire in the County Championship.”I’m not going to say when he’s going to play [for England] again until he’s played some games of cricket and he’s come out and he’s 100 percent, ” added Fletcher. “We’ve spoken a lot to [him], like I do with other senior players. He seems to be pretty positive, he’s working hard at his game, he had a couple of nets sessions.”

Michael Kasprowicz, the Australian fast bowler, believes that Australia should take a leaf out of England’s book and provide more coaches for its first-class bowlers. Kasprowicz is one of three senior members – Jason Gillespie and Damien Martyn the other two – trying to regain a spot in the Test side.Thirty three-year-old Kasprowicz, who lost his place in the Test team following the Ashes defeat to England, is of the view that even Test bowlers are neglected in the system’s pursuit for excellence at the domestic level. Speaking to , he added that both young and experienced bowlers would benefit from a specialist bowling coach. “I don’t think anyone should assume that because you play for Australia or first-class cricket, you know the lot. I just see a benefit using a bowling coach for not just the young guys coming through, but the ones in the competition as well.”Kasprowicz said he has been impressed by the England board’s system for coaching up-and-coming bowlers and professionals. “All bowlers in Australia would benefit from it. What struck me as quite impressive was what England were doing with their academy. Their age groups are a little bit older and, for example, right at the moment, their academy intake is just below the Test level,” he said. “In Australia, we haven’t had that kind of access to the coaches. I mean, only very early on did I have anything to do with Dennis Lillee [a former coach at Australia’s cricket academy].”Recently, Cricket Australia stated it would not appoint a full-time bowling coach for its senior bowlers, instead opting for an academy coach to monitor the work of the Test bowlers.

Terry Jenner, who played nine Tests for Australia but is better known as Shane Warne’s mentor, has criticised Australia’s selectors for omitting Stuart MacGill from the squad to tour India next month. Jenner questioned the idea of going with Nathan Hauritz and Cameron White to back up Warne, saying that India was hardly the right place to groom youngsters.Speaking to the newspaper, Jenner said, “It’s very sad that a bloke who has taken 150-odd wickets at Test level has been passed over for two guys who haven’t even been successful at first-class level. I would have thought that if you were to pick the best two spinners in Australia you’d have to pick MacGill as the second spinner.”You have to blood young bowlers for the future, but Hauritz has had no success and for someone like that to go to the most difficult place in the world for spinners – a place where Shane and Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan] have averaged 40 or 50 – what hope does Nathan have?”Jenner reckoned that both Hauritz and White were picked with containment roles in mind. “But, in that case, they may as well have picked someone like Andrew Symonds to keep it tight because he bats and fields well, too,” he said. “Put it this way, I can’t imagine Hauritz keeping [Sachin] Tendulkar down for too long. My thinking is that if you don’t have one who’s good enough, you don’t take one at all.”Jenner’s views found support from two offspinners who had a fair degree of success in Indian conditions. Greg Matthews was instrumental in the Tied Test of 1986, and he said, “I find it amazing that, for the place where you have the most difficult conditions, a place where we haven’t been successful for 35 years, they’re taking one guy who struggles to make a first-class team and another whose stats don’t rate. Hauritz is a lovely young man but he played eight games last year for two wickets a game at 63 and they’re putting him up against the best in the world.”Gavin Robertson, who was the foil for Warne on the ill-fated tour of 1998, believed that Hauritz’s style was better suited for the one-day game. “You can’t bowl slow on subcontinental wickets, you’ve got to rip the hell out of the ball and make it drop quickly,” he said. “If you don’t, you’ll be in trouble. Nathan needs to spin the ball more. When you play a lot of one-day cricket you tend to underspin it. You really have to dig it into the dust and try to get bounce and spin, otherwise you’ll be in trouble.”

Sri Lanka’s cricketers, under fire for a string of below-par performances, are facing a 30% pay cut as the authorities attempt to raise the dipping standards by introducing performance incentives.The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) has said that it wasslashing the fixed contract fees as part of the shake-up. Sri Lanka has been on a downswing recently. They did reach the semi-finals of the World Cup earlier this year, but after that, they have failed to reach the final of a four-nation tournament in Sharjah and a tri-series at home.The board has reduced the number of contracted players to 12 from the previous year’s 15. They have also decided to cut 30% from the match fee of US$1,750 per Test and US$ 1,250 per one-day international.However, the fees will be increased by 50% for a win against one ofthe top four ranked sides and 25% for a win against teams placed fifthto eighth in the International Cricket Council (ICC) world rankings. The players are also entitled to an additional US$500 for each win.The cuts reflect the tightening financial situation of the cricket board,which announced a US$2.7 million loss for 2002.The contracted players 1 Hashan Tillekeratne, 2 Marvan Atapattu, 3 Sanath Jayasuriya, 4 Muttiah Muralitharan, 5 Chaminda Vaas, 6 Mahela Jayawardena, 7 Kumar Sangakkara, 8 Russel Arnold, 9 Dilhara Fernando, 10 Kumar Dharmasena, 11 Prabath Nissanka, 12 Thilan Samaraweera.

Spinners Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar bowled Northamptonshire to a stunning 202-run victory over Leicestershire at Wantage Road – a result that keeps alive their hopes of staying in Division One next season.Set 288 to win, the visitors reached 62-3 at tea with a draw looking comfortably the most likely outcome.But the slow men were not to be denied on a pitch offering them plenty of fourth-day help, and Leicestershire lost their last seven wickets for 23 in the final session to be dismissed for 85 with half-an-hour to spare.Swann snapped up a season’s-best 5-34 while left-armer Panesar, the 19-year-old making his first-class debut, claimed 4-11 from 20 overs for an outstanding match return of 8-131.Jason Brown also played his part, capturing the key wicket of Vince Wells. The Leicestershire skipper had survived 79 deliveries for his five runs but then padded up to Brown and saw the ball dribble back on to the stumps, dislodging a single bail.Northants pressed on at the start of the day and David Ripley was able to declare on 302-8 shortly after lunch. Openers Mike Hussey (82) and Alec Swann (113) posted 164 in 41 overs, while Richard Davis was the main beneficiary of the hosts’ urgency as he snapped up 6-73 to round off an excellent Championship comeback.The result gives Northants a chance of avoiding the drop, although they must round off their campaign with difficult away trips to play Kent at Canterbury and Somerset at Taunton.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsNamibia’s left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz bowled 16 dot balls in four overs•ICC/Sportsfile

A power-packed half-century from 23-year old Stephan Baard was followed up by a triple-wicket maiden from Bernard Scholtz as Namibia outplayed Papua New Guinea by 49 runs in Malahide.Often times there is nothing quite like scoreboard pressure. It’s doubly useful on a tired pitch where the slower you bowl the harder it is to hit. Before the game, Namibia had decided that if the ball was too full or too short, their batsmen would go after it. Come game day, they amassed 181 for 5 in their 20 overs. As with such big scores, one of the top order goes on to score big.Baard typified Namibia’s pre-game attack plan. When the ball was overpitched, he drove viciously through cover and mid-off. Three fours and two sixes came from that part of the ground. Then when PNG were forced to bowl flatter and shorter, he used the sweep and the pull liberally. Meanwhile, Namibia got past 60 runs in the Powerplay for a third time in the tournament and he eased to a fifty off 27 balls.He did slow down thereafter, but consequently stayed at the crease until the penultimate over to ensure the early platform amounted to a sizeable total. Baard, with 233 runs at an average of 77.66 is the top-scorer of this year’s World T20 Qualifier, so Namibia’s middle order simply had to bat around him. Sarel Burget, at No. 5, made 38 runs off 20 balls in a fourth-wicket partnership that yielded 74 runs in 42 balls.That he didn’t pick up the Man-of-the-Match award indicates the value of Scholtz’s effort with the ball. He offered no pace for the batsman and profited when they tried to make some of their own. That can be a difficult plan for a spinner to trust, considering this was slam-bang T20 cricket. But in Malahide, the ball wasn’t coming onto the bat and it was a pretty large ground too.So Scholtz kept bowling slow and broke PNG’s chase in the 13th over. Charles Amini mistimed a loft because of the lack of pace and was caught at long-on. Next ball, Scholtz slowed it up further and Mahuru Dai swept across the line straight to deep midwicket. The hat-trick ball was looped up above the eyeline as well, got loads of turn to hit new batsman John Reva on the pads, but it had pitched outside leg stump. He would finish the over trapping Reva plumb in front for the score to dip from 90 for 4 to 90 for 7. Scholtz bowled 16 dot balls in his four overs, Papua New Guinea’s priorities shifted from hunting down the runs to lasting the 20 overs.Things had looked very different at the start of the chase. Tony Ura helped ransack 68 runs in the first six overs to keep Papua New Guinea well ahead of the rate. He had five fours and a six in his 21-ball 34 and was looking especially good while driving the ball. But Namibia found a way past him through a run-out and thereafter did not find much resistance to their progress to the top of the Group A table thereafter. If they remain on top until the end of the league stage, they will claim direct qualification into the World T20 in India next year.

After 649 runs were scored at a rate of 7.77 to the over in the first ODI between South Africa and England in Bloemfontein, few would argue with Faf du Plessis’ assertion that “this series will be a series of the batting line-ups”. But there is more to the towering totals than aggressive approaches on flat pitches. The new faces in both attacks have also played their part in the run-fest.”Both bowling line-ups are not as experienced as they would like to be but the batting line-ups are explosive and you’ve got a lot of match-winners in both teams,” du Plessis said, referring specifically to the depth of England’s line-up. “It’s definitely not nice when you do your pre-match planning because every guy that you look at seems to be a good batter. It’s obviously why they are a stronger team now: they have got a better batting line-up.”

One eye on the IPL auction

Hashim Amla, Dean Elgar, Rilee Rossouw, Chris Morris, Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan and Sam Billings may go into the second ODI somewhat distracted. They are all in the IPL auction and by the time the game gets underway, will know their fate.
“I’d be lying if I say everything is on the game. You think about it. Fortunately for me I am already picked up so I will not be anxious to see about that,” Faf du Plessis, who is contracted to the Rising Pune Super Giants, said. “It’s great because this year there are England players as well. As a leadership group you try not to speak about it too much but let’s not lie, the auction is life-changing for some players. For me it will be interesting to see what the England players go for because we are used to playing an IPL without them.”
South Africa have 18 players in the auction including the still-injured Vernon Philander, and nine other players retained by franchises, while England have seven players in the auction. The numbers that matter, however, will be the selling price and du Plessis thinks those could even be the inspiration for some on-field banter. “Hopefully our guys get picked up for a lot of money and the English guys don’t so we gain a bit of confidence from that.”

All of England’s top six scored runs on Wednesday and all, except Joe Root, maintained strike rates of over 100, helped by wayward bowling from South Africa’s new-look pace pack. The opening bowlers, Chris Morris and Marchant de Lange, had only played 11 ODIs between them before the Bloemfontein game and their inexperience showed. They bowled both sides of the wicket in their first spells and could not find the right length, but got tighter as the innings wore on.AB de Villiers did not want to be too hard on them but du Plessis was willing to point out where they want wrong. “It was a good batting wicket but I felt we did make a lot of mistakes. We gave a lot of boundaries away. We were not as disciplined as we would want to be,” he said.As a result, South Africa’s other wicket-taking option, Imran Tahir, was forced into a role that did not make best use of his attacking skills. “For Immi to do really well, he doesn’t have to feel he has to have all the pressure on his shoulders to be a game-changer. In T20 cricket when he can just express himself, come on and do his tricks, that’s when he is best. I suppose any leggie is like that,” du Plessis said. “If he is just bowling defensively, like he had to do in Bloemfontein, it takes away all that armoury that he has got.”To ensure Tahir can concentrate on controlling the middle overs, du Plessis explained that South Africa’s seamers need to start better, especially in Port Elizabeth where the slower surface almost guarantees Tahir will be a factor. “Our bowlers need to be smarter. It’s important to try and do that from the beginning and not wake up 10 or 15 overs into the game. The smarter team on the day will win the game,” du Plessis said.South Africa will be bolstered by the likely return of Kyle Abbott, whose hamstring niggle healed sooner than expected and he should be able to provide some control. “Something we have missed this whole series is experience, Although Kyle is not a guy who has played 100 ODIs, he is someone who has played a little bit more. Kyle brings a bit of consistency. With someone like that you just know when pressure situations present himself, he will be a bit more equipped than someone playing their first few games,” du Plessis said.Abbott’s career is only 20 ODIs old but, as he showed at the 2015 World Cup where he had the lowest economy rate among South Africa’s bowlers, accuracy is his strength.That does not mean South Africa’s batsmen are off the hook. Du Plessis stressed the importance of showing the same care with the bat as with the ball on a surface that will test both line-ups more than Bloemfontein did. “The pitch will be slower. We can’t play the same style of cricket. We have to think faster on our feet,” he said, and that applies to himself as well.Du Plessis found some form in the 50-over game after struggling in Tests and feels a big score is, as clichéd as it sounds, just around the corner. “Things started changing slowly towards the end of the Test series for me. I was unhappy to not have played that last Test match and to have scored runs in the first ODI was very nice. I feel a lot better in the nets. I feel like I am hitting the ball as well as I can,” he said. “I would still like to turn those fifties into bigger scores. I’ve been getting a lot of fifties in the last year or two but not as many hundreds as I would like. For me it’s about turning that good performance into a performance that can make the team win.”