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The second edition of the Caribbean T20 tournament will be played in January 2011, just over six months after this year’s event. The tournament was advanced so that the West Indian representative for Champions League 2011 can could be identified earlier.Guyana won the inaugural Caribbean T20, beating Barbados in the final on July 31, and qualified for the 2010 Champions League that gets underway on September 10.”We were informed by the officials of the Champions League that the regional tournament was played too late in the season,” West Indies Cricket Board director Baldath Mahabir explained. “They needed to know who would represent the West Indies at the tournament earlier and this was the major reason in bringing the tournament forward to January, to give them proper notice of our representatives.”The 2010 tournament was marred by poor weather, with three washouts in 16 games, however Mahabir was confident of better conditions following the rescheduling. “Rain affected the tournament this year because we were playing at the tail-end of the cricket season in Trinidad. In January the weather is expected to be much better and this is another plus.”

MS Dhoni was full of praise for VVS Laxman, calling him “very, very special”, after the latter’s sublime century helped India win the third Test and level the three-match series against Sri Lanka.Laxman finished with an unbeaten 103 and got enough support from Sachin Tendulkar (54) and Suresh Raina (41 not out), to propel India to a five wicket win over Sri Lanka.”He (Laxman) proved today why he is called very, very special,” Dhoni said. “He always comes up with innings that have a huge bearing on the game. It was very important for him to score runs as the team needed it most to level the series. I think it is a very special innings. Hopefully, he plays plenty more innings like this for us.”I think the way he batted he paced his innings really well. He was struggling a bit with back spasm but still he wanted to go on without a runner. But after lunch there was a time when he had to go for a runner. I think there was pain and there was pressure at the same time,” he said.Dhoni also singled out the contributions from Tendulkar and Raina, who smashed Chanaka Weledegadara for six over long-on to bring up the victory.”I think Sachin too batted really well and after he got out, Raina came in and supported Laxman. Raina batted well. In the initial few balls he played a few big shots but after that he calmed himself down and batted sensibly.”According to Dhoni, coming back to draw the series meant both the batsmen and the bowlers had done their jobs. “If we had lost this series it would have been because of our batting line up not performing really well,’ he said. “If it was a draw series which meant that both the batsmen and the bowlers did decently.”He added that the bowlers couldn’t really be blamed for not taking wickets as there wasn’t much help from the pitches, especially for the fast bowlers.”I think in the first Test the batsmen could have done much better. I cannot really complain about the bowlers because in all the three Test matches we bowled first on a fresh track where there was not much help for the fast bowlers initially or the spinners. But this was one track where there was a bit of help for the spinners right from the very first day,” he said.Suraj Randiv was the only Sri Lanka bowler to threaten India on the last day, and finished with figures of nine for 162 in just his second Test. But Dhoni said India had enough experience to handle the problems Randiv posed.”Randiv bowled really well. But we have got a batting line up where most of the players have played over 100 Tests. Or some are very close to playing 100 Tests. So, they are experienced enough to make their own plans.”Dhoni said India’s strategy on the last day was to see out the initial overs, after which the ball got soft, making batting a whole lot easier.”The first few overs were very important because the ball was quite hard which meant the spinners got a bit of bounce and turn. We just wanted to go through the initial overs and play our shots when the ball gets soft.”

ScorecardPhil Jaques gave Worcestershire a handsome leaving present by levering the Royals off the bottom of the Friends Provident t20 North Group with a six-wicket win against Leicestershire at New Road.In his last appearance for the county, the Australian left hander made an unbeaten 78 from 48 balls and put on 94 with Vikram Solanki (51no) as the home side raced home with an over to spare.A whirlwind 44 from Paul Nixon enabled Leicestershire to post a demanding total of 171 for 4 but this was not enough as Worcestershire recovered from losing Sanath Jayasuriya (19) and Moeen Ali (5) in the first six overs.Solanki was first to light the fuse with two leg-side sixes off Leicestershire’s hard-pressed attack and then Jaques introduced a subtle touch by reverse sweeping boundaries off the spinners.The target was down to 32 from 20 balls when Solanki moved across his wicket and saw his leg stump flattened by Matthew Hoggard, but in the same over Jaques restored momentum by hoisting the Leicestershire captain for six.Another maximum off Nathan Buck settled the issue as Jaques closed his boundary account with five fours and three sixes in his highest score in this season’s competition. Leicestershire were given a strong start as Brad Hodge followed fellow-Australian David Hussey in becoming the second player to reach 3,000 runs in all Twenty20 competitions around the world.The 35-year-old opener dominated the first half of he innings against a steady Worcestershire attack. James Taylor (14) featured in the biggest partnership of 51 before he was caught on the mid-wicket boundaryHodge eventually accumulated six fours and a six from 38 balls but Leicestershire could have toppled off course when he was run out for 70. Chancing a second run after an initial fumble by Daryl Mitchell at deep cover, he was well beaten by an accurate return to wicketkeeper Ben Cox.It was then that Nixon wrestled the initiative from the home side. In a systematic display of hitting, mostly on the leg side, the veteran left hander smashed seven fours and a six in taking 38 runs from the last 10 balls he received. The last two overs, bowled by Gareth Andrew and Jaysuriya, cost Worcestershire 39 runs but Jaques made sure this was not decisively damaging.

ScorecardJimmy Adams overshadowed Kevin Pietersen’s appearance•Getty Images

England’s Kevin Pietersen made his first appearance for Hampshire for two years in today’s Friends Provident t20 clash with Surrey but was upstaged by opening batsman Jimmy Adams.Pietersen, released by the ECB for one match, came in at number three and made 15 from 10 balls before lifting a catch to long-off. Pietersen hit three fours in an over from Surrey pace bowler and former Hampshire colleague Chris Tremlett but then carelessly drove Chris Schofield to Matt Spriegel.Adams went on to make 101 not out, his first century in the competition, and share in a stand of 144 in 12 overs with Sean Ervine for the third wicket. Adams reached his landmark in the final over but needed a bit of luck – he was caught on the long-on boundary off a no-ball when on 99. Hampshire finished with 201 for 2 and Surrey made a reasonable fist of their chase before going down by 10 runs. They made 191 for 9 but were never seriously threatening the Hampshire total.Adams hit four sixes and seven fours and faced 65 balls. Ervine made 54 not out and all the Surrey bowlers took a pasting on an easy-paced wicket. Surrey made a promising start through opener Steven Davies, who hit two sixes in his 24, and their hopes were renewed when Mark Ramprakash and Andrew Symonds were putting on 64 in seven overs for the fourth wicket.Ramprakash was in dominant form as he hit his side’s top score of 61 before pulling Australian pace bowler Dan Christian to square leg, where Adams held a spectacular catch diving forward. Ramprakash struck three sixes and six fours in his 41-ball innings but his dismissal at 139 signalled a rapid Surrey decline.Left-arm pace bowler Chris Wood finished with figures of three for 30 and veteran Dominic Cork took two wickets in an over, those of Younus Khan and Spriegel, as Surrey lost wickets in a vain chase for their second win in two days. Cork took two for 27 from his four overs while Adams completed a remarkable personal day with a superb run-out of tail-ender Andre Nel.

Pakistan offspinner Saeed Ajmal has said the pain of losing the semi-final of the ICC World Twenty20 to Australia still lingers, having bowled the last over which conceded the game. Pakistan were firm favourites with Australia needing 18 off the final over, but Michael Hussey bludgeoned Ajmal for three sixes and a four to hand his team a miraculous win, with a ball to spare.”When Hussey hit the last six I was absolutely heartbroken, I am still heartbroken,” Ajmal told PakPassion.net. “It was a very emotional and difficult time for me. My team-mates all came up to me and consoled me and told me not to worry, but I was very upset. The pain is there, when you lose a game of this magnitude it hurts really badly”.Wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal told the same website yesterday that the team stood behind Ajmal and in no terms held him responsible for the defeat. Ajmal said he received overwhelming support from everyone involved.”All of the squad, from the players to the coaches to the backroom staff have said to me that I wasn’t to blame for the defeat and they have all said that we played as a unit, we won matches as a unit and we all take responsibility as a unit for the defeat,” Ajmal said. “There is no question of anyone pointing the finger at any individuals”.That Ajmal bowled the over was part of a plan, having succeeded in shutting South Africa out of the contest in their previous game. He said he wanted to fire in yorkers to keep Hussey in check, but things didn’t go according to script.”The first delivery was perfect, it was what I had planned, it was a perfect yorker to Mitchell Johnson and it only went for a single,” he said. “However, then the wind seemed to pick up and I was bowling into the wind which made me lose my line and length. I dragged the next delivery down and instead of bowling yorkers into the blockhole for the remaining deliveries as I tried to fire the ball in at the batsman, the deliveries ended up being quick and became length deliveries, which was what Hussey was hoping for. He was then able to get the elevation on the deliveries, instead of having to dig them out”.Ajmal said the best way to shrug off the disappointment was to start bowling again. “The best way for me to get over this match is to start playing cricket again, get the ball in my hand and to start bowling again.”Thankfully the Asia Cup is not far away and I am looking forward to playing in that tournament in Sri Lanka. I have faith in my ability and I am confident that I can bounce back after the match in St Lucia”.

Scorecard
The Unicorns stunned Sussex by making the highest score by any side batting second in the history of 40-over cricket to beat the reigning champions by six wickets at Arundel. Former Somerset allrounder Wes Durston led the chase with 117 off 68 balls as the Unicorns, a side made up of the best amateur players in the country, got home with three balls to spare.On a flat pitch, Durston hit 13 fours and five sixes and figured in a match-winning third-wicket stand of 165 in just 18 overs with Josh Knappett, who anchored the run chase with 90 off 84 balls. Durston was caught behind off Yasir Arafat and the Pakistan quick bowler yorked Knappett in the penultimate over when eight runs were needed off eight balls.With James Kirtley nursing a sore shoulder, Luke Wright had to bowl the final over but Sean Park inside-edged his third ball to the boundary and the Unicorns could celebrate back-to-back wins in Group A following last week’s success over Glamorgan.It was a nightmare return to county action for Sussex skipper Mike Yardy and Wright after he had helped England win the World Twenty20 a week ago. Yardy did take the wicket of Jackson Thompson with his fifth ball but his decision to keep himself on at the start of the Unicorns’ four-over batting power-play backfired when he was hit for 18.Yardy made seven bowling changes between the 20th and 27th overs but Durston, whose previous highest score in List A cricket had been an unbeaten 62 four years ago, was enjoying himself and he went to his hundred in magnificent style with a third successive six off off-spinner Chris Nash.All this came after Sussex had piled up 325 for four, their highest score in 40-over cricket. Wright, who came in after Nash and Ed Joyce had put on 89 in 14 overs for the first wicket, cleared the rope three times in his favourite areas on the leg side on his way to 38 off 27 balls before he top-edged looking to clear midwicket again and was well caught by the diving Neil Hancock as he ran in from the boundary.Yardy was strangled down the leg side after contributing 36 to a stand of 95 from 69 balls with Murray Goodwin, who held the second half of the innings together with an unbeaten 92 from just 59 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. Goodwin found a willing ally at the end in Joe Gatting who made his highest score of the season in any competition with 55 from just 29 balls including a six and 11 fours.Sussex scored 180 of their runs in boundaries but the Unicorns’ cause was not helped when former Warwickshire seamer Tom Mees had to be taken out of the attack after bowling just 3.5 overs having been warned three times by umpire David Millns for running on the pitch.Chris Brown, who bowled Nash round his legs after the opener made 53 from 41 balls, also held a juggling return catch to dismiss Ed Joyce while Durston had the satisfaction of removing Wright. They kept a check on the scoring rate until the last five overs when Goodwin and Gatting smashed 74 runs against a tiring attack.It should have been defendable but Sussex’s attack was taken apart with only Monty Panesar conceding less than seven runs an over.

In his email to the BCCI, the English County Board Chairman, Giles Clarke, outlined the details of Lalit Modi’s alleged plan to set up a parallel league in England. The details of the plan, as reported in the , are:The ten existing Indian franchises would have the first right to buy the new franchises in England at an auction. Each franchise would need to strike a 50% partnership with a UK-based stakeholder to give the team a local presence. If any of the existing franchises chose not to bid for a team, the losing bidders from the Indian auctions would have the second right to bid. After that, the auction will be thrown open to all interested bidders.The counties would get 20% of the revenues while the franchises would get 80%.All franchise fees are payable to the BCCI, out of which 20% may be paid to the clubs.Each county would be guaranteed a payout between $3 – $5 million a year, along with a staging fee of $1.5 millionThe player regulations would be the same as they are in the IPL – 10 overseas players per team, with no more than four in the playing 11.The mail also spelt out potential courses of action should the national boards oppose the new league:Players could be induced to revolt against the national boards, given their desire to capitalise on their earning power. It cites MS Dhoni as an example of some earning several times more than his BCCI salary from his IPL contract and spin-offs.Alternatively, franchisees could buy out players who are prevented from playing in the league by their national boards and create their own cricket structure, thereby shifting the power structure of cricket.Finally, Modi suggests such a development is inevitable even without the co-operation of the ICC, as players would rather play for money than their national or state / country sides. The smaller nations could be compensated for the loss of revenue from international games to allow the growth of the Twenty20 version.”ODIs have reached a saturation point and though unlikely to disappear, cannot grow any further. Tests are almost redundant and only T20 has growth value.”This would practically mean just a handful of nations playing international cricket and their players spending the rest of their time playing the IPL and its UK version, while the smaller countries sit idle and don’t get to play any games.”

Chris Hartley accepted the award named after his childhood hero as his exploits with bat and gloves earned him the Ian Healy Trophy for Queensland’s Player of the Year. Hartley, who was called on to Australia’s Ashes tour briefly in 2009, completed an outstanding all-round season and became the second wicketkeeper behind Brad Haddin to collect 800 runs in a Sheffield Shield campaign.”To receive an award named after a great Queensland and Australian cricketer, and my childhood hero, is pretty special,” Hartley said after being given the trophy by Healy. “If you look back at the [previous winners’] names like Love, Maher, Kasprowicz, to put my name there is a really, really special feeling.”Hartley began the summer wanting to back up a strong season in 2008-09 and he achieved that with 827 Shield runs at 48.64, including two hundreds, and also collected 43 catches and a stumping. Despite the accolades – he added the state’s Sheffield Shield Player of the Year to his overall domestic prize last month – he remains behind Haddin and Tim Paine in the national wicketkeeping rankings.Ben Cutting, the fast bowler, was voted the players’ player after leading the Shield wicket list with 46 at 23.91 and capturing 15 victims in the FR Cup. Lee Carseldine picked up the one-day prize while James Hopes was the state’s most valuable performer in the Twenty20 competition.Luke Feldman, who starred in the senior team with 33 wickets at 23.96, was the Queensland Academy of Sport Player of the Year. Melissa Bulow, who was recognised for being only the second Queensland woman to appear in 100 state matches, won the major prize for the Fire.

The PCB has struck against its players with a venom unseen in recent memory, carrying out the deepest cull of a senior cricket team in many years and banning and fining seven of its top players after the side’s disastrous, winless tour of Australia. It has banned Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf, from playing for Pakistan in any format for an indefinite period, while handing out one-year bans to Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers were fined Rs2-3 million [$24,000-35,000] for various misdemeanours and put on six-month probations.Action had been expected once details of the inquiry committee’s report recommendations were leaked in the press on Monday and Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, had followed it up by saying “more than significant action” would be taken against players. While the punishments for Malik, Rana, Afridi and the Akmal brothers were expected, the action against Yousuf and Younis has caught most people off-guard.”Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan, keeping in view their infighting which resulted in bringing down the whole team, their attitude has a trickledown effect which is a bad influence for the whole team should not be part of national team in any format,” the board said in its statement issued on Wednesday.The PCB has stopped short of calling the punishment a life ban. “They will not be part of any Pakistan team in any format from here on,” Taffazul Rizvi, the board’s legal advisor told Cricinfo. “A life ban means they cannot play domestic cricket or any other similar cricket, but we are not stopping them from that. They can play domestic cricket or county cricket here and abroad.”Typically there was confusion and the board later appeared to climb down by clarifying that this was not the end of their careers. In a statement released at least six hours after the original release, the board said, “that the recommendation of the Committee is not a life ban on these cricketers. There is no specified term in the recommendation for these two players. As and when the PCB deems appropriate, these players will be considered for selection for the national team.”Rizvi refused to elaborate on the nature of the pair’s cases, but it is believed that the board had generally had enough with the two. Younis twice stepped down from the captaincy last year with player unrest against his leadership the underlying cause both times. Yousuf’s sins are equally unclear, other than that he led a winless tour to Australia and engaged thereafter in a public battle with Malik.The cases of indiscipline that have led to one-year bans on Malik and Rana, similarly, have not been expanded upon. “Rana Naved ul Hasan and Shoaib Malik be fined Rupees Two million. They should not be part of national team in any format for a period of one year.”Malik’s name has figured persistently at the centre of speculation over the last year in inciting player unrest within the team, though nothing substantial has appeared in public to back that up. “We cannot discuss the specifics of the incident as we are under oath,” Rizvi said. “But obviously we have taken action after much consideration and based on solid information.”In contrast, the cases of Akmal brothers and Shahid Afridi are straightforward. The brothers were fined for their behavior in the aftermath of the Sydney Test; Kamran was dropped by the board but insisted publicly he would be selected in the run-up to the third Test. Younger brother Umar was alleged to have feigned an injury to not play the Test in protest, though he did eventually play. Kamran has been fined Rs 3 million, Umar Rs 2 million and the pair are on probation.Afridi was punished for the ball-biting incident in the Perth ODI, where he was captain. He has already been punished by the ICC, who immediately gave him a two-match ban. “For the shameful act of Shahid Khan Afridi, which has brought the game and country into disrepute, he be fined Rupees 3 million,” the board said. “A warning be issued to him by the Chairman PCB and he be put on probation for 06 months, during which his conduct be strictly monitored.”The bans were handed down by an inquiry committee which comprised former players Wasim Bari, Zakir Khan and Yawar Saeed, besides Wazir Ali Khoja, a member of the PCB governing council, and Rizvi. The committee held hearings on February 12th, 13th and the 27th, and looked into reports from former coach Intikhab Alam, manager Abdul Raqeeb and newly appointed coach Waqar Younis, who was the bowling consultant during the Australia tour. Besides the players who were punished, the committee questioned Intikhab, Raqeeb, opener Salman Butt, assistant coach Aaqib Javed, the physio Faisal Hayat and the PCB’s cricket analyst Mohammad Talha.Attention will turn now to how the players will respond. Legal action or appeals will be a consideration though Rizvi insisted the board was on solid ground. “We are on good ground with this,” he said. “The PCB has done it thinking it is the right thing to do. It sets an example for the future.”As a whole, the action is almost unparalleled in even Pakistan’s troubled history. The 2000 Justice Qayyum report had similar repercussions but that was about the graver concerns of corruption. This cull has been carried out, ostensibly, in a bid to curb indiscipline and player power.

The New Zealand batsman Peter Ingram, who marked his debut with a brisk 42, believes the home side can cross 400. An unbeaten 100-run association between Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum enabled New Zealand to overcome a tough position and finish the first day on top.”We’ll be looking for 400-450,” he said. “The boys will be going out there doing their routines and processes the best they can to try and achieve that. There’s a positive feeling in the camp. We talked about more guys needing to go on. Hopefully the boys do that tomorrow and put Bangladesh under pressure.”Ingram, 31, found himself at the crease in the sixth over after Shafiul Islam picked up Tim McIntosh. He began confidently with a series of boundaries before his dismissal – a loose pull shot to mid-on – left New Zealand 66 for 3. They became 126 for 4 when the impressive Rubel Hossain picked up his third wicket, Ross Taylor.”I’m happy with the way I played until the shot I played when I got out,” said Ingram. “It was a bad decision and bad execution. I felt like I hit balls that were there to be hit and played well until I made a bad decision and I got out. The wicket is a nice easy pace and good to bat on. I’m pretty gutted I threw it away really.”We all got starts and more guys need to go and make big scores which hopefully Guppy [Guptill] and Baz [McCullum] do tomorrow. Rubel bowled some good heat and you’ve got to be on top of your game every ball.”After taking those early wickets Bangladesh were seriously tested by Guptill and McCullum and will go into the second day trying to limit the damage. “We had a good chance the first two hours when we bowled well and fielded well,” said Mohammad Ashraful. “But later on we didn’t take any wickets so we’ve gone from 158 for five to 258 for five. Tomorrow we have to bowl well and take the rest of the wickets. The wicket was good I think. Rubel bowled well and Shakib [Al Hasan] bowled well but it’s not turning that much.”