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The BCCI’s objection to the ICC’s assessment of the Nagpur pitch is that there are “inconsistencies” in the match referee’s report, and the board unanimously stands behind the surface.According to a top BCCI official, the assessment that the Nagpur pitch was “poor” was not right, and that the BCCI was going to contest it strongly. “The report says the ball ‘spun’ on day one,” he said on the sidelines of the IPL Governing Council meeting in Delhi. “It says ‘excessive turn’ only for day three.” However, it is worth noting that the ICC’s guidelines on what qualifies as a poor pitch is “excessive assistance to spin bowlers, “, and not just early in the match.The officials present at the meeting were vehement in their support of the pitch, whose excessive turn, variable bounce and pace had come in for criticism from various quarters. “Excessive turn is subjective,” the official said. “It depends on how the bowler uses it. I don’t think there was anything wrong with the surface.”The ICC informed the BCCI on December 1 that Jeff Crowe, the match referee, in consultation with the umpires, had rated the pitch poor. The BCCI had 14 days to respond after which Geoff Allardice, ICC”s general manager of cricket, and Ranjan Madugalle, its chief match referee, will consider all evidence, including video footage of the match, before deciding if the pitch was indeed poor.If found to be poor, the penalties range from a warning and/or a fine of $15,000 with a directive to institute corrective measures.Another official said the worst-case scenario will be a warning from the ICC, but insisted there was nothing wrong with the pitch. “Early turn is a new concept to them [the batsmen],” he said. “Maybe they are not used to it, but it would have been a problem only if the pitch had been dangerous.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsLuke Wright’s unbeaten 109 was a memorable innings for the record crowd that showed up at the MCG•Getty Images

Forecasts had suggested the Melbourne derby might break the Big Bash League’s record attendance (previously 52,633). But in the end, the record was veritably smashed, with 80,883 people watching Luke Wright’s masterful century guide the Melbourne Stars to a crucial seven-wicket victory over cross-town rivals the Melbourne Renegades.Earlier 12,901 people – more than have ever watched a Women’s WT20 Final – had seen Renegades Women sneak home against their Stars counterparts. That game was also the first women’s fixture to be shown on one of Australia’s main TV channels.Crowd-wise, this was the perfect storm, a warm Saturday evening at a family-friendly time at the back-end of the holiday season. The significance of such a crowds – particularly with regard to the BBL’s relationship with Test cricket in Australia – cannot yet be known. What is for certain is the tournament has landed; the MCG is used to filling like this for the AFL’s finals series and flagship days, for Ashes Test matches, or for World Cup Cricket.Wright’s innings was brutal, stalking down a Renegades total that always looked light, vindicating David Hussey’s decision to invite them to bat first. Chris Gayle – the self-proclaimed biggest draw of the night – never got going; looking to heave John Hastings’ second ball, Gayle contrived to find Kevin Pietersen at mid-off.Aaron Finch shared 49 with Cameron White, but the Renegades continued to lose set batsmen at inconvenient junctures. Finch heaved Ben Hilfenhaus for a leg-side six before miscuing Marcus Stoinis to point. Every time Adam Zampa entered the attack, White seemed to find an extra, utterly brutal gear, launching the legspinner for three sixes between cow corner and long-off. White put on 58 with another former Stars player, Matthew Wade, who the ball over Stoinis’ head for a beautiful four. Both batsmen, however, fell in the space of three balls just as the Renegades needed to motor. Wade attempted to ramp Hastings and edged behind, then White sent Michael Beer straight to deep backward square.Tom Beaton nailed his first ball for a straight six but was gone an over later, caught in the deep on the leg side, then Hastings picked up two wickets in the final over to finish with 4 for 29. Tom Cooper hit a marvellous ramped six, but mistimed a pull to fine leg. An uncomfortable Dwayne Bravo innings ended in comical fashion, his bat flying towards midwicket – for the second time this competition – as he was comprehensively yorked.Wright looked ravenous from the off. The Renegades bowling looked shy once more, and after a series of hard-run twos to get going, he pulled Nathan Rimmington for four, then bunted him over long-on for six next ball. His opening partner Stoinis was scratchy, and fell to a stunning catch by Wade off Chris Tremain, the wicketkeeper diving full-stretch, one-handed to his right to take a thick edge.Wright continued on his merry way, briefly joined by Kevin Pietersen, who drove his first ball for a beautiful four but was caught behind playing a half-hearted pull off Cameron Gannon, the pick of the Renegades’ bowlers. Wright’s first half-century for the Stars in his last 15 innings came after consecutive boundaries – pulled, then straight-driven – off Gannon. Wright is seldom elegant, but is more calculated than he looks, and his strong wrists and brutal bottom-hand make him tough to bowl to when set.Glenn Maxwell came, shone briefly, then left; a stunning swept six off Xavier Doherty followed by a horrid misjudgement to Bravo, who bowled him through the gate at the end of an over that saw Wright biff him for two more boundaries. Wright stepped up a gear to Doherty’s next over. He was dropped by Beaton at long-on on 64, and punished the fielder to the tune of two consecutive sixes straight over his head. In the company of the calm Peter Handscomb, it was a cakewalk, Wright bringing up his century in the penultimate over with a pull over midwicket for six, and finishing the job off the first ball of the last, hitting Gannon down the ground.The BBL is on the charge and so, thanks to Wright, are the Stars.

In a setback to India’s chances in the final Test in Adelaide, RP Singh, the left-arm seamer, has been rendered out of action for at least two weeks. RP picked up a hamstring injury but the good news is that it is a grade 1 injury, which is the lowest possible hamstring tear. RP suffered the problem on the second evening, bowling the seventh over of the innings.RP Singh, India’s second-highest wicket-taker in this series with 13 victims in seven innings, had walked off the field on the second evening. He underwent a scan later in the evening and it was confirmed on the third morning that he wouldn’t take part in the day’s play, leaving India with four specialist bowlers. It left India relying on Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly bowling 12 overs between them.MV Sridhar, India’s assistant manager, later revealed the extent of the injury. “He will undergo a rehabilitation program, which will be monitored by John Gloster, the physio. He is under constant supervision. We will reassess his situation after two weeks.”Sehwag admitted that the side would miss RP Singh’s incisive bowling, given that they were pushing for a victory to square the series. “It helps to have five bowlers because the fast bowlers were tiring,” he said on India’s decision to play five bowlers for the first time since the Mirpur Test against Bangladesh in May 2007. “When the match started we went with five bowlers and it’s unlucky that RP is injured now. But we still have four bowlers and myself, Sachin and Sourav can contribute a bit.”India’s most-improved bowler in the last year, RP Singh played a big part in Sydney and Perth. He rattled Australia’s top order on the first day in Sydney before claiming six wickets in the memorable win in Perth. He has led the attack manfully, combining well with Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma, and managed to swing the ball in both directions.It’s also a blow for India’s chances in the forthcoming CB Series one-day tournament. He is surely out of the Twenty20 international against Australia and will mostly be out of the first three matches of the tri-series, starting on February 3. The earliest he will be expected to return is on February 14, when India take on Sri Lanka in Canberra.

Rumours continue to do the rounds that all is not well within the South African camp. The latest reports claim that Graeme Smith, who turned 24 yesterday, had a heated row with Joubert Strydom, one of the selectors, after Sunday’s bizarre team selections.Instead of focussing on the second ODI at Bloemfontein, Smith spent much of his time yesterday trying to convince the media and the public that the situation had been overplayed, denying that he was at loggerheads with any of the selectors and rubbishing speculation as ” a load of crap”.”The selectors do have the final call, at the end of the discussion process that takes place,” he told reporters. “I’m happy with the way things are being dealt with. Haroon Lorgat, the convener, is very professional and we trust him to do the job.”That came less than 24 hours after Smith had complained that neither he nor Ray Jennings, the coach, were involved in the selection process and that he did not understand the selectors’ thinking. Lorgat denied that. “Perhaps Graeme wanted to deflect the heat from himself after the team’s performance on Sunday,” he said. “But he and all the players have to understand that it is they who have to go out and perform, not the selectors.”The consensus seems to be that while the public façade remains just about intact, behind the scenes there is confusion and unreast. Lorgat, never more than a stopgap, will step down soon, and Omar Henry, his predecessor who remains a selector but is hardly part of the process, will follow in April. And even Jennings has only been appointed until May, with no guarantee that he will be reappointed. Without stability behind the scenes, it is hardly surprising that things on the field are wobbling.At least one of the worst blunders last weekend – the omission of AB de Villiers – has been put right, and Adam Bacher’s strange and misguided re-emergence (he batted at No. 4 when he has been opening) ended before it really began. It is hard to see a way back for Bacher.Smith admitted that the inconsistency was taking its toll. “It is important to find combinations and stick with them,” he explained. “We need to believe in guys and give them everything they need to be successful. We have to have a plan and know we are going somewhere.”A lot of things get thrown around when you lose. Once we start winning we will get the belief back. We don’t want to be chopping and changing before we go to the World Cup.”

Australia’s captain Steven Smith believes his men will have adequate preparation for their Trans-Tasman Trophy defence in New Zealand despite there being no warm-up match ahead of the first Test. The two Tests in Wellington and Christchurch are preceded by three ODIs, which will be the only local match preparation for several Test squad members including Smith, David Warner, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh and Shaun Marsh.Three other Test players – Adam Voges, Nathan Lyon and Peter Nevill – will play in a Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Western Australia in Lincoln, New Zealand, which was scheduled to help local preparation in lieu of a tour game. Others such as Usman Khawaja, Joe Burns, James Pattinson, Chadd Sayers, Jackson Bird and Peter Siddle (fitness permitting) have a Sheffield Shield game in Australia before flying to New Zealand.It is hardly an ideal situation given that the conditions in New Zealand are likely to offer more swing and seam than was seen during the Test series between the two sides in Australia at the start of the summer. And with only two Tests, there is no room for a slow start as the Australians adjust; New Zealand are proven performers at home, and have not lost a Test in New Zealand since early 2012, before Brendon McCullum and Mike Hesson came together as captain and coach.”It is what it is. We’ve played a lot of cricket this summer,” Smith said in Melbourne on Friday ahead of his departure early on Saturday morning. “Everyone will be playing some form of cricket, whether it’s one-day cricket or the Shield match. I think it’s adequate preparation and we’ll be ready to go for that series.”None of Australia’s squad has played a Test in New Zealand, the last tour there having been nearly six years ago when a 20-year-old Smith was part of the squad but had to wait until later in the year to win his first baggy green. However, Smith thinks he knows the kind of pitches the Australians will face in New Zealand and he knows that the challenge of facing the moving ball will again be significant, as it was during last year’s Ashes tour.”It’s going to be a little bit different,” Smith said. “They’re going to prepare wickets that are going to do a little bit. We’ve got some bowlers there to hopefully get a bit out of that and the batters are going to have to adapt a little bit better than we have previously on wickets that have done stuff. Guys are working hard and we know what to expect.”It’s very difficult to do. When you grow up in Australia you can play out in front a little bit more, and in those conditions you’ve got to play under your eyes so your nicks don’t carry and you’re not getting out in front. It’s hard to train, you sort of have to get away from everything that you learn growing up and try and for a new technique, in a way. Hopefully the guys can do that and adapt, to all the conditions around the world.”Key to New Zealand’s hopes will be their pace attack led by Trent Boult, who struggled early on in the Tests in Australia but by the third Test in Adelaide with the pink ball was proving a handful for Australia’s batsmen. Boult has described the upcoming tour as the “pinnacle of the season” for New Zealand; Australia remember all too well the way he destroyed them in Auckland during last year’s World Cup, albeit swinging a white ball rather than a red one.”He looked like he was back to his best in the last couple of Tests here,” Smith said. “He got a bit more work into his body and he was ready to go. He’s done very well for New Zealand recently, he bowls extremely well in New Zealand, so he’s going to be a tough one for us. But guys know what to expect. Hopefully the batters can combat whatever he brings at us.”During that memorable World Cup game in Auckland, Mitchell Starc was just as deadly with the moving ball as Boult, and Australia will sorely miss the injured Starc in New Zealand conditions for this Test series. Hazlewood will lead the attack and two of Pattinson, Siddle, Sayers and Bird will round out the pace attack; choosing who makes the cut in Wellington could be difficult given the lack of a tour game.”We’re going to have a few net sessions before we start,” Smith said. “We’ll have a look and see how they’re going, see how their bodies are and see who’s going to be best for the conditions that we’re faced with. It’s going to be a tough call on whomever misses out but we’re confident that these guys are going to do a job for us in New Zealand.”

Ray Jennings, the coach of the South Africa Under-19 team, acknowledges the need to develop the underprivileged segments in South Africa but feels the issue requires flexibility because “you are also looking to win”. However he was clear that any player picked for South Africa, regardless of race, is good enough to play international cricket.”I’m sad that coloured players in the team could have the stigma attached, where they feel they are underprivileged when that’s not the case,” Jennings told Cricinfo while preparing his side for the U-19 World Cup. “It’s not about having a 50-50 or 60-40 split between white and coloured players. In our country, the sides are picked on their cricketing ability because the players of colour are good enough to play.”Jennings’ comments come in the wake of the spat between the senior team coach, Mickey Arthur, and board president Norman Arendse over the selection of South Africa’s squad to Bangladesh. “Before people criticise any player representing the country, especially at the Under-19 level, they should come to the ground, take a look, and judge for themselves,” said Jennings, a former coach of the national side.The 15-member squad chosen for the World Cup contains a mix of both white and coloured players, including Jonathan Vandiar who is of Indian origin. “The players of colour are good enough to represent the country,” Jennings said. “I haven’t been given a transformation policy as coach of the U-19s. To me, the policy is if the player is good enough to play. And there are enough players of colour who are good enough to play.”Moving on to the tournament itself Jennings said the South African squad was stronger than the one that took part in the previous edition in Sri Lanka in 2006, a side selected without the players being properly assessed. “While picking the 2006 side, we had a four-day tournament before we arrived for the World Cup,” he said of the side led by Dan Elgar, which reached only as far as the semi-finals of the League. “From a cricketing point of view, the top players in the world can have four noughts in a row.”This year I’ve tried to have five or six camps, and we’ve had a tour and a three-day competition. The guys have played enough cricket for me to know their mental toughness, their skills and how they perform in each position. I would anticipate probably a 50% better result in this World Cup compared to the last.”South Africa’s preparations began on a positive note with a seven-wicket win against Namibia in a warm-up match on Tuesday. Wayne Parnell, their captain, said that even though they chased the target of 106 in 19 overs, they continued batting (as if the game was still on) and set themselves goals of 185 in 30 overs and 300 plus after 50. They achieved both.Their competition will get tougher, though. They play Sri Lanka in the next warm-up and are pooled with Papua New Guinea, West Indies and India in what is arguably the tightest group. South Africa played India recently at home but lost the youth Test series 0-1 and didn’t make the final of a limited-overs tri-series which involved Bangladesh too. Their first match is against West Indies on February 18 at the Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpur.

England captain Ben Stokes believes there would be “hell on” if a pitch like the one served up at the MCG was presented in other parts of the world and added that his feedback to the match referee “won’t be the best”.England won the fourth Test inside two days. It was the second two-day Test of the series. The last time there had been multiple two-day Tests in the same series was in 1912 while Australia has only hosted four two-day Tests in history with two coming this summer and the third being played at the Gabba in 2022.Although it wasn’t dangerous, the consistent excessive seam movement throughout the match made batting very difficult as it was the first Test in Australia since 1932 where no individual batter reached 50.Stokes was blunt in his assessment of the surface post match.Related

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“Being brutally honest, that’s not really what you want,” Stokes said. “Boxing Day Test match. You don’t want a game finishing in less than two days. Not ideal. But you can’t change it once you start the game and you’ve just got to play what’s in front of you.”But I’m pretty sure if that was somewhere else in the world, there’d be hell on. Not the best thing for games that should be played over five days. But we played a type of cricket that ended up getting the job done.”Ben Stokes looks to the heavens as wickets tumble in England’s innings•AFP/Getty Images

Stokes was asked if he was referring to what the reaction would be if a two-day Test had been played on a pitch on the subcontinent.”It’s your words, not mine,” Stokes said.He was also asked what his feedback would be to the match referee about the pitch.”It won’t be the best,” he said.Australia captain Steven Smith was more diplomatic about the MCG surface. Australia had anticipated there would be a lot of seam movement on offer when they left out a specialist spinner even before seeing the pitch on the morning of the game.MCG curator Matt Page had elected to keep 10mm of grass on the surface despite cool and damp weather in Melbourne in the lead in, having presented a pitch with 7-8mm of grass in warmer conditions on Boxing Day 2024 which produced a five-day classic that ended in the final session of the match. Smith felt there was too much grass but did not want to be ultra critical.”Obviously, it was a tricky one,” Smith said. “Thirty-six wickets over two days, it probably offered just a little bit too much. It’s tough as a groundsman. I think he’s always looking for the right sort of balance, I suppose. Last year’s wicket was an outstanding one, it went to day five last session.”In an ideal world, every wicket does that and it’s exciting for everyone. But yeah, maybe if you took it from 10 [millimetres] to eight, it would have been a nice, challenging wicket, maybe a little bit more even, I suppose. But groundsmen are always learning and yeah, he’ll probably take something from that, no doubt.”The Test last only 852 balls, just five more than the game in Perth, and is set to cost Cricket Australia millions of dollars as more than 90,000 were expected to attend day three and another huge crowd was expected for day four, with all tickets to be fully refunded.It was also the first time in Test history in Australia that a game had been completed without a ball bowled by a spinner. Australia have played four seamers in two of the four Tests this series and Nathan Lyon only bowled two overs in their two-day win in Perth.Smith said the state of Australian pitches at the moment meant spin was not really an option for a captain to turn to.”A lot of the wickets we’re playing on now, I think spin has been … it’s the easiest thing to face on some of these wickets that are offering a lot of seam,” Smith said. “It’s almost to the point where, why would you bowl it when you could leak 30 or 40 runs quickly if they decide to play positively, and the game shifts immediately?”Obviously Perth Stadium, we barely bowled spin, two overs maybe. We didn’t bowl a spinner in the pink-ball Test. And last week [in Adelaide] was obviously a different one. There was quite a dry surface and it offered some rough which was a nice wicket.”And then this one, spin didn’t look like getting a chance to bowl. So I don’t know whether it’s something that can be spoken about. I love seeing spinners play a part in the game, but right now, why would you?”

The Titans moved into the MTN Domestic Championship final after their semi-final against the Cape Cobras was washed out for the second day running at Centurion Park.Heavy rain fell on the reserve day and there was no chance of getting the match started. The Titans go through because they finished top of the table during the group stage and they now face the Warriors in Wednesday’s final.However, there are already doubts as to whether the day/night match will go ahead due to the inclement weather.

Stephen Katwaroo, the West Indies Under-15 captain, has spoken of his delight in securing the 2008 CLICO International Under-15 Championship final at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain. West Indies beat Pakistan by 89 runs, with Kraigg Brathwaite top-scoring in their 228 for 9 with 82.”It was a great performance from the guys,” Katwaroo told the . “We were looking forward to the final and we played hard cricket so we did not expect anything less than winning.”It was a good contest; we just played the best we can and here it is, we are champions,” Katwaroo said. “It was a match we had to win and the guys were eager for revenge. That game [against Pakistan in the knockout final] was just a warm-up match and we put everything into this game and like everyone said it was a good final. We put our best foot forward and did the best we can.”It can’t get better than this. This is a West Indies team, and as youths, all of us are mentally and physically fit. The guys understand the game, they understand the concept and that was basically what got us through the tournament.”The best wicketkeeper award went to Pakistan’s Muhammad Waqar Khan, while Ramon Senior’s 11 wickets earned him the best bowler award.”It was a great feeling to win the league championship,” Keith Arthurton, the former West Indies batsman turned Under-15 coach, said. “We knew what we needed to do and they had a score to settle with Pakistan so it is great that we came out on top.”

Darren Cousins roared in with a sensational three-wicket burst at Wantage Road to earn in-form Northamptonshire a victory that virtually assures them of promotion into the Championship’s Division One for next season.The former Essex paceman snapped up Gloucestershire’s last three wickets – Martyn Ball, Jon Lewis and Tom Cotterell – in the space of nine deliveries with the second new ball, seeing Northants home by an innings and 74 runs with ten balls to spare.The visitors looked to be heading for safety at 202-7 with eleven overs of the final hour gone, but Cousins then induced a fatal error from Ball who miscued an attempted pull, and the two tail-enders were dispatched swiftly.It was a fifth straight Championship win for Matthew Hayden’s men, who have extended their lead at the top of the second division table with two rounds of matches remaining.Off-spinners Jason Brown and Alec Swann made important early inroads, Brown dismissing opener Tim Hancock with his first ball of the morning as Gloucestershire crumbled to 110-5 either side of lunch, despite a battling 39 from Dominic Hewson.Skipper Mark Alleyne (18) and Jack Russell (41) held the fort for an hour-and-three-quarters until Hayden produced a master stroke by calling up veteran seamer Paul Taylor to bowl his occasional left-arm spin. The move paid off handsomely as Alleyne edged to Hayden himself at slip, and Russell was bowled looking to cut.Jeremy Snape (23 not out) looked set to deny his former county, but Cousins swept away Gloucestershire’s remaining batsmen to clinch a magnificent win.