Shane Watson should consider giving up bowling in a bid to resume his stalled Test career, according to his former coach John Buchanan. Watson missed Australia’s opening matches at the ICC World Twenty20 with a hamstring problem and again broke down with hamstring trouble in his first game.Sitting on the sidelines is not new to Watson. He missed the entire Ashes series with hamstring injuries, the start of the Word Cup with a calf strain and has also dealt with back and shoulder problems during his international career. Buchanan said he hoped Watson did not have to become a specialist batsman but it might be the only way to keep him on the field.”It’s an avenue he’s going to have to explore,” Buchanan told the . “You would hope it doesn’t come to that for him. Everyone is feeling for him. He’s a hard worker and does everything he can to get his body right. He’s an intense character and he’s only 26, so there are ten good years of cricket ahead of him.”Buchanan said Australia should consider using Watson as an opening batsman at Test level. Watson has expressed a strong interest in partnering Matthew Hayden at the top of the order but Phil Jaques and Chris Rogers are almost certainly ahead of him in the queue.”There’s no doubt he has the technical proficiency to open the batting at Test level,” Buchanan said. “He’s proved it in domestic cricket which, given the standard of our domestic competition, is a good barometer for Test cricket.”Opening the batting would necessarily reduce the amount of bowling, if any, he’d have to do in the Test side. From that point of view, it would be a plus and ease his workload. You couldn’t expect him to open the batting then bowl 20 overs in a day. But Shane is a talented bowler and I hope it’s a path he doesn’t have to take.”Buchanan said the regularity with which Watson would return from an injury only to break down again must erode his confidence. “He probably goes on the field hoping he’s going to get through it okay,” Buchanan said.”You don’t want to have those sort of thoughts at this level of sport. You have to have complete confidence in your fitness and your body. A big factor for him now will be how he deals with it all mentally.”

ScorecardHampshire returned to winning ways in Group B of the Royal London Cup with a 23-run Duckworth-Lewis victory over Warwickshire in a rain-damaged contest at Edgbaston.Comfortably beaten by Essex the previous day, Hampshire responded by compiling a meaty 280 for 7 built around a century stand by Liam Dawson and Will Smith.They then reduced the home side to 4 for 2 and those early wickets proved crucial by cranking the Duckworth-Lewis equation right up when rain came.Facing a thrice-amended target of 208 from 31 overs, Warwickshire, resuming on 101 for 2 from 26.1 had to go for broke and Dawson took advantage, completing his excellent day with 3 for 34.The win gave Hampshire a big step towards the quarter-finals but defeat for the Bears halted their momentum from successive wins and leaves them needing to win both remaining games, at home to Sussex and Kent, to qualify.Put in, Hampshire raced to 50 in 50 balls thanks to Michael Carberry who sped to 33 from 22 balls before nicking Oliver Hannon-Dalby to wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose.After Adam Wheater was run out by William Porterfield’s direct hit, Hannon-Dalby, fresh from taking 5 for 27 against Glamorgan on Monday, collected his seventh wicket in three days with a superb leg-cutter edged by James Vince.Jimmy Adams’s anchor role ended when he lifted a drive at Jeetan Patel and fell to a fine catch by Porterfield.That was 94 for 4 but Dawson, with his third half-century in four RLC innings, and Smith added 123 in 22 overs before both were caught in the deep. Gareth Berg and Chris Wood added useful late runs to leave Warwickshire a tough target.The total looked even more difficult after Wood removed Porterfield, caught at point, and Jonathan Trott, lbw offering no stroke, with the second and third balls of his first over. Varun Chopra and Ambrose added 77 in 14 overs before the latter, having moved to 41, ran himself out.A succession of showers then saw the target tweaked and retweaked after which Warwickshire simply had to take too many risks. Dawson had Chopra stumped and Ateeq Javid caught at short third man before Laurie Evans charged at him and missed, was bowled and with him went Warwikshire’s victory hopes.

Mithun Manhas has switched from Delhi to Jammu and Kashmir for the forthcoming domestic season. It will be a homecoming for Manhas, who was born in Jammu, but left his home state in his teens in search of better cricketing opportunities in Delhi.”It’s a sort of mixed bag emotions,” Manhas told ESPNcricinfo. “While it was difficult to move on from Delhi where my cricket career has shaped up, I am delighted to be joining Jammu and Kashmir. Not only is it my home team but also because the team has been doing quite well in the domestic circuit over the last couple of years. I hope I can help them take their games to the next level.”Ever since making his first-class debut for Delhi in 1997-98 along with the likes of Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra and Aakash Chopra, Manhas has been a run machine in domestic cricket. While the other three went on to earn India caps, Manhas did not, partly due to the presence of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly in India’s middle order.Manhas has made 9071 first-class runs in 147 matches, at an average of 45.81. He insisted he had “no regrets” and stressed that he was not leaving Delhi on a bitter note. “I spoke with Chetan Chauhan [the former India opener, who is now a DDCA vice-president] and he told me I could help groom Delhi youngsters,” Manhas said. “But I thought there are plenty of youngsters who are ready to shoulder more responsibility, so I should not stick around.”Moreover, experienced players like Rajat [Bhatia] and Gautam [Gambhir] will ensure the youngsters will be taken care of even in Viru’s [Sehwag, who has moved to Haryana] and my absence.”Manhas has plenty to look forward to in the forthcoming domestic season, which starts on October 1: he is 89 runs short of joining Wasim Jaffer (9759 runs), Amol Muzumdar (9202) and Hrishikesh Kanitkar (8059) in the elite club of batsmen with 8000 Ranji Trophy runs.Manhas said he wasn’t too focused on personal milestones. “I am sure I have at least a couple of seasons left in me, so records isn’t a concern,” he said. “The primary focus will be to help Jammu & Kashmir take yet another step towards becoming a consistently top team in domestic circuit.”

The ICC conducted a “successful” town hall meeting with stakeholders from the USA cricket community, in Chicago on Saturday. The meeting was hosted by ICC chief executive David Richardson and head of global development Tim Anderson, and was held in the aftermath of USACA’s suspension at the ICC annual conference in June, to discuss the development and future of USA cricket. The meeting was attended by 85 people, with most representing approximately 100 cricket leagues across the country.”We came to learn earlier this year that although lots of cricket was being played in the USA, and lots of passionate people were supporting the game, these efforts were largely disconnected,” Richardson said. “A focus on bringing people together to share information, discuss common issues and, importantly, start talking about how exciting the future of cricket in the USA could be was therefore needed, and that’s what was achieved during this meeting.”The objective of the meeting was to engage stakeholders and encourage open dialogue to come up with solutions for problems that have plagued USA cricket in recent years. The ICC had sent out a survey to select stakeholders last week to find out what areas of concern were of highest priorities for them, covering varying aspects ranging from, “junior development, women’s cricket, fundraising, performance of teams,” Anderson had said before the meeting.”There remains much work to do, however, judging by the attitude of those in attendance who are keen for cricket in the USA to move forward with greater purpose, this has certainly been a very positive step in the right direction,” Richardson said after the town hall meeting.The USA local advisory group will assist the cricket community in strategic planning and development in the coming months.

One-day cricket in India appears to have been given a makeover according to MS Dhoni. A total less than 300 could still be match-winning, and the back end of an innings might actually end up as one of the lowest phases of run-scoring.Dhoni’s reasons: the ball goes soft, so it does not come onto the bat, and therefore stroke-play becomes hard. Also, dry pitches and outfields ensure the ball gets scuffed up and offers reverse swing. And finally, the option of having an additional fielder on the boundary – five instead of the earlier four – means big shots will not necessarily fetch big runs.”Now as we are seeing in the 40th to 50th [overs], it’s not easy just to go in and slam the big shots and get 80-90 runs. You’ll see most of the sides saying, ‘Last 10, if you are chasing, you shouldn’t have more than 65 runs or 70 runs’. That also you have to have a good day,” Dhoni explained.For context, in the last 10 overs in Chennai, India made 69 and lost five wickets. South Africa hit 64 and lost three. A similar break-up happened in Rajkot as well: India 67 for 4, and South Africa 60 for 3. Only once has a team scored over 100 runs in this period, with AB de Villiers at the helm in Kanpur.”But it may change, depending on the wicket, the amount of reverse swing that the bowlers are getting [here] if it’s not there then maybe they will score a bit more. Or if the bowlers don’t execute well. But on a good day, when they are bowling well, it will be very difficult to get something like 80 or 90 in 10 overs. That used to be the case with the previous rules.”Dhoni believes slow pitches will allow bowlers a lot more margin for error in the slog overs. He feels more teams will stop drilling their bowlers to deliver inch-specific yorkers and will follow a “new strategy” of bowling length and back-of-a-length deliveries to curb the batsmen. Having extra protection in the deep has also helped in that regard.”And more than the short deliveries, it’s the length deliveries that’s more difficult to hit because with the reverse swing, the bowlers they can actually cramp you. Even the ones that are short, they are short enough but they don’t get to the same height [as the batsman is expecting] which means you have to take that risk of playing the big shot. So it’s like the new strategy that has been put by a lot of sides.”On a slower wicket, it’s not easy to play the big shots and these are the bigger outfields. And that scuffed up ball, it doesn’t come off the wicket so when you dig in short you have to play the big shot and it’s not easy to always clear the boundary. So with the new rule changes, with that extra fielder outside, the batters who come after especially the 40th over, straight away if they are supposed to go in and play the big shot they’ll find it difficult.”Bowl just back of a length, slip in the odd yorkers, but as of now on these conditions and these wickets, it’s something that’s really working. But it’s important to be ready with a plan B because it will work but you don’t know how long it will work because batsmen will also look to try and get new ways of scoring runs and you may not get the same kind of reverse swing in every game. The ball won’t get scuffed up in every game so all of a sudden, when you play on a wicket with a bit more pace, you can use the pace of the fast bowler. In smaller outfields, maybe the fast bowler will find it slightly difficult to have the same strategy.”

Gary Kirsten, the former South Africa and India coach, will work with the England Lions squad this winter in a consultancy role.Kirsten will join the Lions ahead of a 50-over series against Pakistan A in January, part a coaching group that also includes Worcestershire’s director of cricket Steve Rhodes, who will join the Lions as assistant coach, and Daniel Vettori, the former New Zealand spinner, who will be present at the first phase of the winter when he takes part in a specialist batting and spin training camp in Dubai later this month.Once described by MS Dhoni, India’s captain, as “the best thing that ever happened to Indian cricket,” Kirsten did not renew his contract after India won the 2011 World Cup, stating that he needed to commit more time to his family.A few months later, he accepted the role of South Africa coach and took them to No. 1 in the Test rankings before again stepping down for family reasons. Last year after the sacking of Peter Moores, he distanced himself as a candidate for the England role that eventually went to Trevor Bayliss.Andy Flower, the ECB’s technical director, said: “One of the primary objectives of the England Performance Programme and the England Lions touring schedule is to provide the players with experiences and opportunities that go above what they would get in domestic cricket. Being able to call on the likes of Gary Kirsten and Daniel Vettori, to support the delivery of the programme and work with the players, represents a big part of this objective.”Gary Kirsten will join England Lions this winter•Associated Press

The EPP winter training schedule began this week with the full squad assembling at the national performance centre in Loughborough for a four-day camp before they split into two groups for the batting and spin camp in Dubai and a fast bowling camp in South Africa.The two groups then come together in Dubai later in the month, before the England Lions face Pakistan A in a five-match T20 series in the UAE in December. Another Lions squad, which has still to be named, will then face Pakistan A in a five-match one-day series in January 2016.Batting and spin camp (Dubai, Nov 11 – Dec 1): Zafar Ansari (Surrey, depending on fitness), Danny Briggs (Sussex), Joe Clarke (Worcestershire), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Daniel Bell-Drummond (Kent), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Dawid Malan (Middx), Stephen Parry (Lancs), Tom Westley (Essex), Ross Whiteley (Worcs), James Vince (Hampshire).Fast bowlers camp (Potchefstroom Nov 11-23; Dubai Nov 24 – Dec 1): Jake Ball (Notts), Tom Curran (Surrey), Mark Footitt (Surrey), Craig Miles (Gloucs), Tymal Mills (Sussex), Craig Overton (Somerset), Jamie Overton (Somerset).

Nottinghamshire batted stubbornly in the sunshine at Hove to prevent Sussex from capitalising on their big 404-5 score on the first day. At 240-3 by the close the visitors were 82 runs away from saving the follow-on in this Division Two championship match.Jason Lewry and James Kirtley found little life in the pitch and the only early wicket was that of Guy Welton caught at slip. Darren Bicknell crept to 2 by lunch, took 56 minutes afterwards to increase, and got finally into double figures after being 26 overs at the crease.
Captain Jason Gallian was run out for 44 but John Morris increased the scoring rate with three boundaries in an over from Will House. He seemed to be set to prosper on a pitch which seemed to be made for batting.Sussex accepted the challenge by turning to the unorthodox left-arm spin of Michael Bevan who dismissed Bicknell at 163 to a slip-catch by Tony Cottey.Bicknell’s 45 had taken 66 overs. Usman Afzaal had an early life as Umer Rashid missed a easy chance. After that the batsmen proceeded easily enough with Morris on 75, just eleven runs short of his highest score of the season.Earlier Sussex had increased their overnight total by only 68 runs as the last five wickets toppled for 17: Paul Reiffel took three to finish with 4-85.

Somewhere, W.G. Grace is smiling. Gloucestershire have been transformed from a weak, unfashionable county to the premier force in one day cricket. The team famously described by the `elite’ in the England side as `Minor Counties West,’ are alive and kicking, very, very hard. The current Gloucester team boasts neither Jessop or W.G., nor Hammond or Walsh, but it was with a fantastic team effort from a spirited county that they crushed Glamorgan by seven wickets to lift the Benson and Hedges Cup.The victory was Gloucestershire’s third consecutive win in a Lord’s showpiece final, an unprecedented feat. The west-country county beat Yorkshire in the Super Cup Final, and Somerset in the Natwest Final last year, the most successful in the club’s history. Having sealed a win yesterday, they have won three of their five trophies in less than twelve months.Few thought that it would be so easy yesterday. An estimated 11,000 Welshmen had journeyed to the capital to support Glamorgan. A groan went through the ranks of Gloucestershire supporters when the news came that Glamorgan had won the toss, choosing to bat. In the past few years, Gloucestershire have struggled to chase runs, preferring to unleash their seamers having scored amid-range total. Glamorgan too, have a propensity to collapse under pressure, so would have been delighted to secure first knock on a cracking looking pitch.Robert Croft and Matthew Elliott opened up for Glamorgan, on a glorious sunny day, but soon both were back in the pavilion. Croft, batting obscenely out of his crease, trying to combat the seam of Ian Harvey, hit a leading edge, brilliantly caught by Jon Lewis at mid-off. An ecstatic Harvey picked up the wicket of his Victoria buddy Elliott, flattening the left-hander’s leg stump. New man Mike Powell struggled initially, struck several times in the box and on the finger by Smith, who was mixing mediocrity with brilliance to provide an interesting cocktail.Still, Glamorgan were not going to lie down. Matthew Maynard looked a world apart, as he timed the ball from the beginning of his innings. A push through mid-wicket went top the fence, as did a scorching pull, with Lewis suffering badly. Maynard bought up his half-century with a slashed drive backward of square. Powell too, was beginning to find some form, timing the ball well and scampering between the wickets. One criticism that could be levelled at the Welsh is that they did not accelerate enough to take the game away from Gloucestershire, or even to gain much of an initiative. It was to cost them dear. Snape picked up Powell two runs short of his 50, caught and bowled by a Jeremy Snape quicker ball. Powell and Maynard had added 137, and it was Adrian Dale that came to the crease, to try and keep the run-rate up.Dale ran himself out for five, as a clatter of wickets began to fall. James Averis, who was bowling another cracking spell – his eventual figures of 2-49 did him no justice – broke Steve James’ off stump in two. Keith Newell mis-hit a Harvey full toss to mid-off. Keeper Adrian Shaw hit Averis low to Barnett at mid-on. Alex Wharf was plumb leg before, and Harvey claimed hisfifth wicket, bowling Steve Watkin.In between the wickets, Maynard reached his century, a wonderful innings peppered with drives and pulls, tempered only given that he lost the strike toward the end of his knock. He was the last man out, for 104. It was an innings which eventually won him, perhaps unfairly, the gold-award. 225 was certainly a competitive total, but Glamorgan were restricted by some fine fielding – particularly Hancock and Snape – and bowling, led by Ian Harvey, who finished with 5-34, completely flummoxing the Glam batsmen late on.If Gloucestershire wished for a solid start, they would have fallen short of the mark. For they got a sensational start from Tim Hancock and Kim Barnett. Barnett drove his first ball through the covers for four, whilst Hancock pulled twice to the fence in Watkin’s first over. The openers continued in this vein, for 80 glorious runs in a touch over 15 overs. Barnett was the first to fall, edging a wide one from Croft onto his stumps, gone for a fine 39. The new man was Rob Cunliffe, and he set off where Barnett had left off.Cunliffe hit three boundaries in his all too short knock of 24, he and Hancock motored between the wickets. Cunliffe went with the score on 118, after edging a Steve Watkin lifter through to Adrian Shaw.Meantime, Hancock had reached his half-century. The 28 year old had played a fine knock, and helped to set up a Gloucester win. He fell on 60, a diving grab from Owen Parkin.At 131-3, Gloucester were wobbling just slightly. Although it took Windows and Alleyne a while to get in, they were soon playing commanding innings. Windows launched himself at anything short, punishing Dale and Wharf in particular.Alleyne was content to give Windows the strike. By the time Windows had reached his half century, Gloucestershire had done the necessary. Mark Alleyne hit the winning strike, hitting nonchalantly through the leg side. Gloucestershire had won by seven wickets, with 19 balls to spare.They may have won three trophies in a year, but the celebrations were just as raucous. The crowds still cheered when Russell lifted the trophy, cheered for Alleyne, for Martyn Ball, the most spirited 12th man in the country, for Mike Smith, for Ian Harvey. In short, the fans were cheering for a squad nurtured and developed by their excellent coach John Bracewell. The day leaves just one question, when will Gloucester be back at Lord’s.

After being bowled out for 321, the Northerns Titans restricted the Griqua Diamonds to a close of play score of 109 for three on the second day of their Supersport Series match at Supersport Park on Saturday.Resuming on 160 for three, Northern’s Neil McKenzie picked up where team-mate Martin van Jaarsveld left off, adding 70 runs of his own, including 11 fours and one six in his 219 minutes at the crease.McKenzie guided his side to 228 before he was dismissed, caught behind by Wendell Bossenger off the bowling of Deon Kruis.The dismissal ended a 70-run fourth-wicket partnership with Gerald Dros, and sparked a mini collapse of the Northerns batting order.Dros (40) left the crease a mere 5.1 overs later, and the home side could manage only 85 runs for the remainder of their wickets.Griquas paceman, Zahir Abrahim, was the most productive with his four wickets for 73 runs. But Northerns had nevertheless managed to fashion an impressive total out of a pitch that favoured the Griquas bowlers, even if they failed to take full advantage of it.Griquas found themselves in immediate trouble in their innings. In stark contrast to the provincial record first-wicket partnership of 243 achieved by Mickey Arthur and Martyn Gidley against the Highveld Strikers two weeks ago, the visitors were reeling at four for one five overs, into their first innings.A teasing delivery from Steve Elworthy found the hands of Gerald Dros inthe slips, with Arthur yet to get off the mark then Dros sowed further panic in the Griquas ranks 11 overs later when he seemed to have caught Grant Elliott.But the umpires decided it was not a clean catch. It proved a vital let-off for Griquas, with Elliott on five runs at that stage. Elliott went on to add a valuable 75 runs for the second wicket with Martyn Gidley.But the spin of Nigel Brouwers made the breakthrough for Northerns, withElliott clean bowled for 34 and Griquas at 79 for two.Willie Dry offered little resistance with his one run, leaving Gidley (45 not out) and Pieter Koortzen (18 not out) as the men tasked with reviving the Griquas innings on Sunday morning.

Another solid batting performance by Pierre de Bruyn and a five-wicket haul from Andre Nel enabled Easterns to claim a comfortable 59-run victory over North West in their Standard Bank Cup match in Potchefstroom on Friday evening.Easterns won the toss and elected to bat first, putting on an impressivetotal of 210 for nine wickets in their 45 overs.North West were bowled out for 151 in 43.3 overs of yet anotherrain-delayed match.Easterns got off to an inauspicious start with the loss of openers DerekBrand and Mike Rindel for no runs.Rindel was the first wicket to fall with the score on a paltry 1-1 andwith his wicket coming off only the fourth ball of the match.Derek Brand’s wicket fell five balls later, and with Easterns’ total notmuch healthier at 2-1.When Derek Crookes left the crease with the score at 7-3, it seemed asthough Potchefstroom’s faithful were destined for an early evening.But Deon Jordaan provided the first bit of stability to the Easternsinnings with his 49 runs, lifting the visitors to 103 for four.However, it was young Pierre de Bruyn who again stood out for his team. Sensing the urgency, De Bruyn fired 68 runs off 92 balls, including six fours and one six, to provide the backbone of Easterns’ innings. De Bruyn also weighed in with a useful bowling performance that saw him claim two wickets for 30 runs.Lower down the Easterns batting order, De Bruyn’s teammates seemed tofeed of his form.Kenny Benjamin was looking good on 21 runs off only 23 balls before hewas dismissed, and Graeme Pollock also added a quickfire 34 off 28 ballsbefore being sent back to the changeroom.The start to the North West innings was equally dismal. The home teamwere reeling at 30 for five as Andre Nel sunk his teeth into some poorbatting by the hosts.The Easterns paceman, who bowled a superb line and length, finished thematch with figures of 5-27 in his 8.3 overs.