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Twenty-year-old left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein picked up his maiden ten-wicket haul to help Trinidad & Tobago comfortably beat Windward Islands in the Regional Four Day Competition. Hosein’s 6 for 33 in the first innings was instrumental in earning T&T a 100-run lead and he backed it up with another strong performance, taking 5 for 34 in the second which gave T&T its first win.Put in to bat, T&T were struck early blows before Adrian Barath and Jason Mohammad stabilised the innings with a 68-run stand for the third wicket. Barath was caught behind for 39 off Delorn Johnson, but Mohammed added another critical 55 with Stephen Katwaroo. The innings though slumped once Katwaroo was dismissed by Alston Bobb. T&T lost four wickets for 13, all to Bobb, including that of Mohammed for 79 and only some late order contributions lifted them to 222.Windward Islands had no answers to the spin of Hosein though as after an opening stand of 38, the team collapsed against his left-arm spin. Apart from Dwayne Smith, who was unbeaten on 48, none of the batsmen offered any resistance and the team was bowled out for 122.Darren Bravo then ensured T&T didn’t lose the advantage by scoring a gritty 69 off 188 balls. He was the eighth batsmen to be dismissed, but by that time, the lead had already swelled to 267. T&T were bowled out for 210 eventually, setting up a 311-run target. Windward Islands did marginally better in their second innings, scoring two more runs than the first, as they crumbled to a heavy defeat. As in the first innings, Hosein, who was playing only his third first-class match, did bulk of the damage and no one except Smith stood up to the challenge.Carlos Brathwaite’s four wickets in the second innings led Barbados‘ efforts on the final day that saw them bowl Guyana out for 94 and complete a 136-run win. Brathwaite, who didn’t bowl in the first innings, accounted for four of the first five wickets to fell that reduce Guyana to 43 for 5 in chase of 231. The trend continued as Ashley Nurse and Sulieman Benn shared the remaining five wickets to dismiss Guyana in the 43rd over.In a low-scoring match, only two fifties were scored and none of the team could cross the 200-run mark. One of those half-centuries came from Barbados No. 3 Roston Chase, who revived the team from 58 for 4 to 132 for 6 before falling to Raun Johnson for 55. Veerasammy Permaul picked up three wickets in his 15th over to end Barbados’ innings on 184.Guyana made a strong start to their innings with a 92-run stand for the first wicket between Sewnarine Chattergoon and Tagnarine Chanderpaul. But Nurse cut through the top, picking up the wicket of Chattergoon and Assad Fudadin off successive deliveries. That triggered a remarkable collapse as Guyana lost the whole of the side within 48 runs, handing Barbados a 44-run lead. Benn ran through the bottom half to end up with 5 for 26.Barbados’ second innings response was similar to their first as some useful contributions by the top order ensured they crossed 150 before eventually being bowled out for 186. Devendra Bishoo, the legspinner, was the pick of the bowlers with his 5 for 70, the bowler’s first five-for this season. But on a pitch on which the highest total in the three innings was 186, a target of 231 proved to be too strong.

Nigeria landed in Colombo on Sunday for a nine-day tour during which they will play four Twenty20s. Sri Lanka Cricket said it was hosting the Nigeria national team to “uplift the standard of cricket of the Associate Members of ICC”.The tour by Nigeria comes three months after Kenya had played seven Twenty20s in Sri Lanka. The opposition for Kenya had been a strong Sri Lanka A team which included the likes of Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne and Shaminda Eranga.Over the last month, Sri Lanka had also hosted Afghanistan’s training camp for the Asia Cup.

Group A

Goa‘s unbeaten run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy extended into the Super League as they defeated Haryana by eight wickets in Rajkot.Swapnil Asnodkar’s unbeaten 70 off 59 balls guided the 117-run chase, helping Goa achieve the target in 18 overs. He had good support from Suraj Dongre and Rohit Asnodkar.Earlier, Goa’s bowlers mad a big contribution to the win, keeping Haryana to 116 for 9. They had an early advantage, reducing Haryana to 36 for 4 in the sixth over and they built on it, in spite of a 40-run, fifth-wicket partnership between Joginder Sharma and Rahul Dalal. Medium-pacer Harshad Gadekar was the most successful bowler for Goa with 2 for 17.Gujarat rode on left-arm seamer Kamlesh Thakor’s 3 for 19 to wrap up a comfortable six-wicket victory over Jharkhand. A feeble target of 109 was mowed down with almost two overs to spare with their captain Akshar Patel remaining unbeaten on 46 off 37. He struck six fours, and his presence nullified the impact of two quick wickets as the chase went into the final five overs.Jharkhand never got going after they chose to bat. They lost three wickets in the powerplay and their rebuilding efforts were hampered by regular wickets. Kumar Deobrat was the top-scorer with 25 off 19, but six of his colleagues had a strike-rate less than hundred. All of Gujarat’s bowlers managed to pick up wickets and only one of them went at over run-a-ball.

Group B

In the first Group B match between the toppers of the east and the west zones, Baroda‘s bowlers prevailed over Bengal and helped clinch an easy seven-wicket win at the Bandra-Kurla Complex ground in Mumbai.Opting to bowl, Baroda put immediate pressure on the opposition by getting rid of the Bengal openers in the first five overs. The innings never really recovered as Bengal batsmen failed to construct any meaningful partnerships. Sanjib Sanyal, the Bengal captain, top-scored with 13 in a total of 96 as the trio of Lukman Meriwala, Hardik Pandya and Abhijit Karambelkar finished with combined figures of 12-1-51-9.Baroda openers then gave their team a solid start adding 37 and despite the loss of two quick wickets in the seventh and the eighth overs, the team was never in trouble. Deepak Hooda and Rakesh Solanki scored an unbeaten 39 for the third wicket to help Baroda cross the line in 14 overs.Kerala pipped Delhi by 14 runs at Wankhede Stadium to procure a winning start to the Super League. The target of 151 was not beyond Delhi’s reach, despite being without their captain Gautam Gambhir, but none of their batsmen could build on their starts. KJ Rakesh was the most influential factor in the victory, taking 3 for 34 and also contributing 36 with the bat.Having been put in, VA Jagadeesh smashed 52 off 36 balls, including nine fours to fuel Kerala’s opening stand of 89. The rest of the batting failed to gather similar momentum. Javed Khan (2 for 22) took two wickets in four balls which aided in muffling the charge.The chase was maligned by early wickets but Nagar and Jagrit Anand offered some stability with a 34-run parthership for the fourth wicket. There was little resistance since that stand until No. 9 Sood struck 22 off 13 balls but victory was firmly beyond Delhi when he fell in the final over.

Gavaskar hopes for controversy-free IPL
Sunil Gavaskar, the interim BCCI president for the IPL, said he hoped the UAE leg of the tournament had brought the attention back to cricket after spot-fixing controversies plagued the tournament last year. Gavaskar was a part of the IPL’s governing council meeting on Saturday that was held to discuss the first leg of IPL 2014, which was held in the UAE from April 16 to April 30.”The human nature being what it is, nobody can give any guarantees. We have put some measures in place and certainly the way the UAE leg went, it has given us some confidence,” Gavaskar said. “If it carries on the same way we will have this India-leg also free from any off-field controversies.”Gavaskar also stressed that the IPL had educated all players to report suspicious approaches.”I believe that the presence of the integrity officers is evidently a big plus. It is a big plus because earlier anybody could call in case there were any approaches but I don’t think people were confident about it,now the integrity officer travels with every team. So the younger player or the most susceptible sometimes, is the uninitiated player. We have given them all the education that is necessary.”Tambe executes plans to perfection
While Karun Nair walked away with the Man-of-the-Match award for a 50-ball 73 which helped Rajasthan Royals chase down 153 against Delhi Daredevils, Pravin Tambe had just as big a part to play in the team’s fourth win of the season, picking up the crucial wickets of Kevin Pietersen and Quinton de Kock to keep the score down.Tambe lured Pietersen with a tossed-up delivery which the Daredevils captain ended up slicing to Steven Smith at long-on, before taking a smart return catch to send back de Kock for 42. The legspinner said that both scalps were a result of a well thought-out plan.”Pietersen’s wicket was very important because he is a big player and everyone knows that. And if he stays at the wicket, he can turn things around for his team,” Tambe said. “We knew that he would target at least one bowler. I was the only spinner, so I thought he would target me. I knew the areas that I had to bowl in, and I bowled according to the plan and got his wicket.”As for de Kock, I wanted to bowl stump-to-stump and I knew that he would take his chances. He had been at the wicket for a long time and I knew that there was a good possibility that he would get out if he took the chance by going after me.”Tare content after Mumbai win
After Mumbai finally broke their string of losses with a win against Kings XI Punjab at home, batsman Aditya Tare said that the last league game in the UAE, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, had lifted the side in spite of the result not going their way. Against Sunrisers, Kieron Pollard’s 48-ball 78 nearly took Mumbai to victory but they were held back by good death bowling from their opponents.”That was the best game of cricket we played in the UAE. That was our first performance this season that we were proud of as a team,” Tare told . “It was unfortunate that the result didn’t go our way and we lost narrowly. Also, that knock brought Polly back in form, which is very critical for us because we bank heavily on him when the chips are down and when we need to score heavily in the last crucial overs. It is great to have him back in form.”His dismissal against Sunrisers also spurred Tare to ensure that Mumbai finished the chase against Kings XI well. In Dubai, Tare had fallen with Mumbai needing 27 off 14 and Pollard still at the crease. At Wankhede on Saturday, the pair came together when Mumbai required 43 from 20 and smashed 44 runs in 2.3 overs.”Yes, I played a few shots and got out, leaving Polly (Kieron Pollard) to do all the work. Had I not gotten out, the result might have been different. So, today when I remained unbeaten till the end, it meant a lot to me,” Tare said.Ashwin bowls an analogy
With five wins in six games, Chennai Super Kings have established themselves in the top half of the table and their performance is an indicator of the team having regrouped from the recent struggles – from the arrest of a team official for alleged betting, to the courts questioning the legitimacy of the team participating in the IPL.With elections still being held in parts of India, R Ashwin drew on a pithy analogy to explain how the team had maintained its focus on cricket. “I think the off- field happenings have gone overboard. But like the happenings in Parliament don’t affect people, it’s similar to that; the controversies have not affected us,” he said at an event in Delhi.

Sunil Gavaskar, the interim BCCI president for the IPL, has admitted that two cricketers reported approaches this season, and that the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) officials had been alerted to it.Asked if players had been approached during this year’s IPL, Gavaskar replied: “There have been a couple and it has been reported to ACSU. They are looking into it.”He also said that issue regarding Brendon McCullum being approached by bookies is something to be concerned about. “I can assure you that the leak did not come from the IPL. I don’t know where it came from. It’s an issue to be concerned [about]. I have to say we have got an integrity officer attached with every team this time. It has made it a lot easier for players to communicate.”Sometimes players didn’t know what to do. Okay, there was a number to contact. But a lot of people [players] were thinking if you contact it, does your number come under their list. The anonymity and confidentiality aspect was something the players were not sure about.”Now with the integrity officer attached to every team, it has become a lot easier. If there has been an approach, people go and tell the officer so that he takes it forward.”Gavaskar said he has also been seeking suggestions from the legends of Indian cricket to help youngsters deal with various pressures of being a part of the IPL. “I called up four legends of the game… Sachin [Tendulkar], Anil [Kumble], VVS [Laxman] and Rahul [Dravid]. They are contemporary cricketers. They know the current pressures, tensions and situations our cricketers deal with,” Gavaskar said. “The IPL is a hugely covered event. It is way bigger than the Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy or the Vijay Hazare Trophy, so sometimes it is easy for youngsters to get carried away.”Indian cricket could end up losing these talented youngsters. Or they could end up losing valuable years till they realise that sport is a great leveller and can bring you down to earth very, very quickly. We have to take care of that situation.”Based on the suggestions from the famous quartet, Gavaskar along with his colleagues in the IPL governing council intend to formulate a plan to groom youngsters. “This is something that the IPL GC was thinking of. From here, it will go to the BCCI working committee and hopefully from there it will take wing.”The programme, once ratified by the working committee, is likely to be implemented during the off-season, when barring the touring Indian team, the other cricketers will be in India. “After the IPL, it will be an off-season for most of the cricketers apart from those who are selected to tour England and the few other players who play league cricket in England. Majority of the players will be in India and during the time we could have an ongoing programme. The BCCI will very soon have the programme under way.”Gavaskar also announced that the BCCI is in discussion with Tendulkar and Dravid to pitch in for improving the standards of cricket by interacting frequently with cricketers from smaller centres.”Sachin and Rahul are wonderful role models to help the youngsters. I think we can have them talk to youngsters and raise the standards of the sport. This matter will also be discussed in BCCI,” Gavaskar said. “Most of our cricketers come from small places. Somebody like Mahi (MS Dhoni), he’s an inspiration to budding cricketers from lesser known towns. The thing to do is to spread the net wide. That is something the BCCI must capitalise on but I’m here only for a short term… mine is really a T20 innings.”

ScorecardDanushka Gunathilaka gave Sri Lanka A’s pace a good tempo•Manoj Ridimahaliyadda/ESPNcricinfo

Sri Lanka A have opened their campaign in England with a five-wicket win over the Unicorns in a 50-over warm-up, as slow-bowling allrounder Sachith Pathirana made significant contributions in both disciplines.Unicorns batted first at Gosford but despite a steady opening stand of 61, were hamstrung by the breakthroughs Sri Lanka A’s spinners regularly effected.Pathirana’s left-arm spin and Ramith Rambukwella’s offspin accounted for five scalps in total, including the top four, as Unicorns were reduced to 138 for 5 by the 34th over.The seam bowlers took wickets through the middle overs, with legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna also taking one scalp. Unicorns were all out for 237 in the 48th over. Rambukwella finished with the innings’ best figures of 3 for 34, and Tom Burton top scored with 44.Sri Lanka A began their chase with a 95-run opening stand, driven primarily by Danushka Gunathilaka’s 57 off 67 balls. Left-arm spinner Toby Bulcock turned that wicket into a mini-collapse – taking three of the four wickets that fell for 15 runs, but Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Pathirana were on hand to right Sri Lanka A’s course.Rajapaksa made 52 off 62, and though he fell with over 50 runs still to get, Pathirana’s 52 not out saw Sri Lanka A over the line in the penultimate over.Unicorns are a one-day outfit comprised of uncontracted players. They were part of England’s one-day domestic competition until this year.

ScorecardMitchell Marsh scored 63 off 62 balls and took 3 for 41•Getty Images

A five-for from pacer Kane Richardson set up a 28-run win for Australia A against India A in the opening game of the quadrangular A-team one-day series. Earlier, a 116-run, fifth-wicket stand between Alex Doolan and Mitchell Marsh lifted a struggling Australia A innings to 7 for 252. Doolan missed his maiden List A hundred by four runs, while Marsh scored a brisk 63.Richardson got the first breakthrough for Australia A, breaking an opening stand of 39 between Unmukt Chand and Robin Uthappa. However, the game turned in Australia A’s favour during an eight-over period between the 12th and 20th overs, when India A lost five wickets for 19 runs. Marsh accounted for Manish Pandey in the 12th over and in the next one, Richardson dismissed Uthappa and Manoj Tiwary off successive balls. India A had limped to 4 for 84 in the 20th over, when Marsh got the wickets of Ambati Rayudu and Akshar Patel. He eventually finished with figures of 3 for 41.India A looked to be slipping away but Sanju Samson’s fighting half-century and his stands with the lower order kept the chase alive. Samson added a quick 45 with Parvez Rasool but Australia A managed to peg the scoring rate back after Rasool fell. The eighth-wicket partnership between Dhawal Kulkarni and Samson yielded 45 runs in 12.5 overs. India A went into the last five overs needing 48 off 30 with five overs and one wicket in hand. Samson took 17 runs off Marsh in one over, but his departure in the next brought the innings to a close at 224.Australia A faced similar struggles after being put in to bat. Mohit Sharma, who joined the India A squad for the quadrangular series, and Kulkarni reduced Australia A to 3 for 41 within two overs. Phillip Hughes was caught behind off Mohit , while Kulkarni got rid of Cameron White for 15 and Chris Lynn for a duck. Doolan then shepherded the side’s rebuilding effort, sharing an 80-run stand with Calum Ferguson. His rapid century stand with Marsh ensured that the innings did not lose momentum as the overs progressed. The two kept turning the strike over between the boundaries and then stitched together some big overs towards the end of the innings.Richardson said the pitch at the Marrara Oval aided bowlers from both sides more than the track for the four-day games in Brisbane.”The last two four-day games in Brisbane were quite tough on the bowlers and it was good to get up here and see some grass on the wicket,” he said. “As their bowlers showed upfront, it was going to be tough work for the batsmen. We started pretty slow with the ball but once we got into it, I think the bounce helped us with a bit of movement.”

Match facts

August 14-18, 2014
Start time 1000 local (0430 GMT)

Big Picture

The umbrellas went up in Galle almost as soon as Angelo Mathews had swatted away the winning runs for Sri Lanka. Making their way back to the dressing room as the drizzle intensified, Pakistan’s players must have wondered how on earth they lost the Test match after scoring 451 in the first innings. Whether it was their Test-match rustiness or an outcome of over-caution in their second innings, Pakistan simply didn’t maintain their standard of play over five days. Against a team as buoyant as Mathews’ Sri Lanka, you cannot afford to do that.Over the following days, Pakistan’s spirits were further dampened by news of Saeed Ajmal being reported for a suspect action. It is a cliche that Pakistan are at their most dangerous when they have their backs to the wall, but Misbah-ul-Haq’s team will have to believe in that old cornered tigers line as it tries to square the series at the SSC. After a quietly impressive climb up the Test rankings under Misbah, Pakistan are in danger of dropping from third to sixth if they lose the series.Galle decked itself up to bid farewell to Mahela Jayawardene, and his home ground, the SSC, will no doubt do the same•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Beating this Sri Lankan side, at a notoriously difficult venue for wicket-taking, will be a difficult ask. More so when they face a team that will want to give its most-capped player a fitting farewell at his favourite venue. Mahela Jayawardene will play his 149th and final Test match, and Sri Lankan cricket will never quite be the same again without those silken drives and late cuts from their No. 4.While filling the Mahela-shaped hole will be a headache in the long-term, Sri Lanka aren’t without more immediate issues to sort out. The opening combination isn’t yet settled, and a recall for Dimuth Karunaratne suggests the team management aren’t quite convinced by Upul Tharanga. All three of their first-choice fast bowlers are battling one niggle or another, and a new-ball combination of Dhammika Prasad and Chanaka Welegedara doesn’t look the most convincing, on paper.Pakistan’s batsmen will need to put pressure on Sri Lanka’s bowlers, and not let Rangana Herath in particular get on top of them. There is a growing feeling among followers of Pakistan cricket that the formula that led to the team’s rise under Misbah – of cautious batting and run-strangling by spin – is in need of change, and that the natural style of their younger batsmen such as Ahmed Shehzad should be given more space to express itself. A flat batting track and an injury-hit attack will afford Pakistan the opportunity to try and appease their fans. Whether they do so or not remains to be seen.

Form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)

Sri Lanka WDLWD
Pakistan LWLDL

In the spotlight

It is fitting that Mahela Jayawardene‘s final Test match was moved from the P Sara Oval to the Sinhalese Sports Club, where he has scored more runs than anyone else has at any other ground in the known universe. He has scored 11 centuries at the SSC in 26 Tests, and nothing in his recent form suggests he won’t finish off with another, for old times’ sake.He will play the second Test, but it remains to be seen what Saeed Ajmal‘s state of mind will be, having been reported for a suspect action after the first Test. Pakistan will desperately want his action cleared when he undergoes testing, but before that will want him at his best at the SSC if they have any chance of squaring the series. Judging by the disparity between Ajmal’s figures in Galle – 5 for 195 in 65.1 overs – and those of the rest of the attack – 7 for 418 in 114.2 overs – Pakistan’s bowling will look a lot less threatening without its banker-cum-magician.

Teams news

Sri Lanka could make up to three changes, mostly due to fitness concerns. Eranga has been ruled out* with a hip injury, and left-armer Welegedara is likely to take his place. Kithuruwan Vithanage has a finger injury, and Lahiru Thirimanne could come in for him if he isn’t fit enough to play. Sri Lanka also recalled opener Dimuth Karunaratne in the lead-up, and he could come in for Upul Tharanga, who has been inconsistent since his return to the Test side.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne/Upul Tharanga, 2 Kaushal Silva, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Kithuruwan Vithanage/Lahiru Thirimanne, 7 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 8 Dilruwan Perera, 9 Dhammika Prasad, 10 Rangana Herath, 11 Chanaka WelegedaraPakistan’s batting fell away on the fifth day in Galle, and it was a collective failure after a promising display in the first innings. It’s unlikely there will be too many changes, but Shan Masood could replace the inconsistent Khurram Manzoor at the top of the order.Pakistan (probable): 1 Khurram Manzoor/Shan Masood, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Abdur Rehman, 9 Mohammad Talha, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Junaid Khan

Pitch and conditions

The pitch at the SSC is expected to be hard but quite flat, with Mathews saying that he expected less help for the spinners than it had provided during the Test match against South Africa late last month. It has been raining quite frequently in Colombo, mostly at night, and the weather could eat into playing time, just as it did against South Africa.

Stats and trivia

• Mahela Jayawardene needs 137 runs to finish with 3000 runs at the SSC
• Rangana Herath needs four wickets to reach 250 in Test matches, while fellow left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman needs four to reach 100
  

  Quotes

  “If you take the last five or six games that we’ve played, we’ve played some really good cricket and it went down to the last over more often than not. We’ve been playing pretty good cricket.”
  “Every game is a new game regardless of what happened in the previous game so we are looking forward to win this one to level the series and spoil Mahela’s party.”
  * August 13, 2014 3.30pm GMT: This preview was updated after SLC announced that Eranga had not recovered from his injury

The future of women’s Test cricket remains bleak according to the ECB’s head of women’s cricket, Clare Connor. And, unless other national boards increase their support for Test cricket, Connor believes the longer format will struggle to survive.”There’s no doubt it’s hanging by a thread,” Connor told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s difficult to see a future for Test cricket.”India Women claimed a landmark six-wicket victory over England at Wormsley last week in a standalone Test, the first India have played in eight years.This followed on from two Tests between England and Australia in the preceding year, which formed part of a multi-format Women’s Ashes Series comprising one Test, three one-day Internationals and three T20s.”I would love to combine a multi-format series, to combine that [a one-off Test] with the three ODIs for the Women’s Championship and that’s what we tried to do with India this summer,” said Connor. “For whatever reasons India didn’t want that schedule and that’s why we’ve got South Africa coming over as a separate competition to play those three T20s, because we didn’t want to have a summer without those.”The multi-format concept was devised after Cricket Australia declined a proposal to play three Tests to decide the Women’s Ashes, and Connor said other countries, such as New Zealand, have shown little, if any, interest in staging women’s Tests in the past decade.”Cricket Australia have said they don’t see it as a viable format to grow the game from a commercial perspective, profile perspective, participation perspective,” Connor said. “They don’t think it’s going to be appealing to young girls or to women to follow it and take up the sport as a consequence.”But she believes the format can be commercially viable, particularly given the positive reaction to the Women’s Ashes Series, and the increasing professionalism of the game in most countries, which now offer female players central contracts.”We would like to play more Test cricket and we would certainly like to see more between the top four or five countries,” Connor said. “We would like to see a multi-format story for each bilateral competition because it doesn’t take a huge amount of time. You can play the ODIs in a week, the Test in a week and the T20s in a week.”I don’t think we should give up the fight to try and achieve that,” said Connor. “And I think it’s probably worth a new conversation with New Zealand, because I do remember at the time one of their big challenges was around player time away from uni or work.”Globally, the women’s game is facing something of a watershed moment, with England and Australia leading the way in committing to full professionalism and there is a fear that, despite India’s victory over England in the Test, the gap between the top two nations and the rest of the world could widen considerably. The launch of the Women’s Championship for ODIs is attempt to bring some coherence and relevant to that format.While the future Tests are in doubt, the ECB is maintaining its opposition to a privately run international T20 tournament before an official proposal has been completed.The WICL, fronted by former Australian international Lisa Sthalekar, has flagged the idea of a twelve-day T20 tournament featuring the world’s best players. But the ECB has said it will not release any players to the proposed competition, and Cricket Australia followed suit, although it appears CA is adopting a softer, ‘wait and see’ approach, while the proposal is still being prepared.”I think both boards have been unsettled, maybe the ECB more,” Connor said, “because since conversations started with WICL – I had a first conversation back in May 2013 – nothing materially has developed or has been established.”Cricket Australia has indicated its interest in holding a Women’s Big Bash League in conjunction with the men’s version but the ECB has no current plans to host any competition.Connor said she understood that less well paid players from other countries could be disappointed the ECB will not support a competition that could see them significantly supplement their modest earnings.”I do see that it’s easy to sit in ECB offices and Cricket Australia offices and say ‘Our players are fine, thanks’,” she said. “But it would be better to have that kind of competition run by a full member if it can be achieved.”

ScorecardFile photo – Ankit Bawne’s century contained eight fours and two sixes•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Ankit Bawne’s ninth first-class century and a run-a-ball 73 from Yusuf Pathan steered West Zone to a 43-run lead against East Zone on the second day at the Bansi Lal Stadium. Bawne scored 105 and was eighth out, lbw to the Tripura medium-pacer Rana Dutta, immediately after West Zone had gone past East Zone’s first-innings total of 278. Dutta then dismissed Akshay Darekar to bring up his fourth first-class five-wicket haul, but the last-wicket pair of Dhawal Kulkarni and Shardul Thakur proved hard to dislodge, and they carried on batting till stumps, having stretched their partnership to an unbroken 30.West Zone, having started the day on 10 for 0, had lost three wickets – including that of their captain Cheteshwar Pujara -in 11.1 overs and were 40 for 3 when Bawne walked in. That quickly became 47 for 4 when Dutta bowled the opener Vijay Zol. Bawne and Suryakumar Yadav then began the process of steering West Zone out of trouble, adding 74 for the fifth wicket before Dutta struck again to have Suryakumar caught and bowled for 31.That partnership came at a fairly brisk 3.60 runs per over, and the arrival of Yusuf upped the scoring rate even more. Yusuf struck 10 fours and two sixes in his 73-ball 73, and added 124 with Bawne in 136 balls before he became Dutta’s fourth victim. East Zone could have had Yusuf out much earlier, and could have had West Zone 148 for 6, but Manoj Tiwary dropped him off Ashok Dinda when he had only scored 8.