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India’s campaign for Champions Trophy has begun under a cloud of discontent within the dressing room with the captain, and possibly a few other senior players, expressing a lack of confidence in their head coach.Speculation had been rife ever since the BCCI chose not to automatically extend the tenure of Anil Kumble as the head coach, choosing instead to advertise the position, and it has now emerged that the decision was made following feedback from Virat Kohli about Kumble’s coaching method, which he is said to have described as “intimidating”.Kumble’s year-long contract expires at the end of the Champions Trophy. The development comes at less than an ideal time for India, with their first match in the Champions Trophy, against arch rivals Pakistan, just days away.It is understood that Kohli relayed the sense of discontent to the BCCI’s top office bearers as well as the Committee of Administrators (CoA) before the team left for England. He is also understood to have spoken to Sourav Ganguly, who is part of the cricket advisory panel which has been tasked with deciding the coaching option.The players’ concerns are thought to centre mainly around Kumble’s man-management skills. In the words of one official familiar with the details, Kumble has been conducting himself like a “headmaster” at a school. Such an approach, the official said, “had not gone down well” with the players who are used to a more relaxed dressing room. Some players – not the bigger personalities like Kohli or MS Dhoni – have felt “a bit intimidated” by Kumble’s approach.Such has been the approach, the official said, that some of the injuries that have ruled players out during Kumble’s tenure were not strictly cricket related. “Kumble was pushing hard. The bulk of them [injuries] are non-cricketing injuries. One of the players was stressed out. So the team is not a happy lot.”What has surprised the BCCI is that Kumble has failed to read these concerns. The official said that the reason Kumble has been successful was because “the team has been successful” playing cricket mostly at home. “The way the cricket set-up works in India is the coach is not the king. So the coach has to understand that.”Based on the player feedback, the BCCI decided that the time to “change” had come and the “best” way to move forward was to put in place an advertisement inviting fresh applications. The official admitted that the timing was not ideal – the advertisement went out on the day Indian squad arrived in London to defend the Champions Trophy, and applications for the job close on the eve of the tournament opener – but he said the process had to followed.The most telling public comments came from Kohli, who said last week he did not find anything untoward with what the BCCI was doing. “The process has been followed every single time the similar way in Indian cricket for the past so many years is what I know,” Kohli said at his first media briefing upon landing in England. “Even the last time the post was up for a change the same procedure was applied. With the term being one year, the procedure is being followed in the same manner. I don’t see anything very different from what has happened in the past. That is something the board has recognised. They want to follow the same pattern.”Kohli was equivocal in his response to the success India have had under Kumble. “When you have results come your way, the contribution is from every part of the team,” he said. “It is not from a single source to say the least. Everyone works hard equally if not more than the other person.”Kumble has not yet spoken publicly about the situation. He is, however, bound to be disappointed considering India have only lost one series in any format under his charge: the two-match Twenty20 series in Florida against West Indies last August. Kumble has also been front and centre in talks with the BCCI over enhancing the contracts not just of the national team’s players but also domestic players and Indian coaching staff.The situation also puts three other Indian legends in an awkward position. It was only last June that Kumble was nominated by the three-man cricket advisory panel comprising his contemporaries, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman; Kumble wasn’t in the original shortlist of candidates the BCCI had finalised because he had no formal coaching experience. But it was at the panel’s insistence that he was put in. And now they have to go through the process again; it isn’t yet known if Kumble will go through the process again. Ganguly is currently in England, doing television commentary for the official broadcaster of the Champions Trophy.At the time of Kumble’s appointment, the BCCI made out the contract for only a year saying that would give Kumble time to prove his coaching credentials. The former BCCI president Anurag Thakur had said that a review would be carried out after one year. Incidentally, Ajay Shirke, who was the BCCI secretary last June, had said that when the review was done, Kumble should find himself in the “driver’s seat” considering India were playing a long home season comprising 13 Tests and a couple of ODI series. Kumble might not be holding the steering wheel anymore.

Derbyshire 309 for 4 (Thakor 130, Godleman 95) beat Northamptonshire 307 for 7 (Levi 109, Cobb 56, Thakor 3-39) by six wickets
ScorecardShiv Thakor starred with bat and ball as Derbyshire secured an impressive victory•Getty Images

Shiv Thakor delivered a superb all-round performance as Derbyshire celebrated a club record one-day run chase to beat Northants by six wickets in the Royal London Cup match at Derby.Thakor scored 129, his first limited-overs century, after taking 3 for 39 and shared a second-wicket stand of 168 in 28 overs with Billy Godleman who made 95.Derbyshire reached 309 for 4 with eight balls to spare in reply to Northants’ 307 for 7 which was built around Richard Levi’s 109 off 107 balls and Josh Cobb’s 56.Northants had looked on course for a bigger total when Cobb hit three sixes in a 49-ball 50 as they took advantage of some inconsistent bowling but Derbyshire regrouped and managed to exert some control despite Levi’s impressive striking.Thakor bowled intelligently from the city end and although Levi deposited him into the back row of the stand, the powerful South African never quite inflicted the damage he threatened at one stage.After Cobb was bowled behind his legs and Rob Keogh drove to short extra, Levi and Alex Wakely took the visitors past 200 before the skipper failed to clear long-on.When Jeevan Mendis went for 18 in the 40th over, a score of well over 300 looked on against an attack missing three frontline bowlers but Derbyshire kept their discipline and although Levi reached his century off 104 balls, Northants had to scramble to pass 300 after he miscued Thakor to deep midwicket.Derbyshire had never successfully chased over 300 in a limited-overs game but Northants also had key bowlers missing and Godleman and Ben Slater played with authority to put on 71 in 11 overs before Slater was beaten by Ben Duckett’s throw from cover.Godleman took consecutive fours from Miles Richardson who was playing his first one-day game for Northants and with Thakor batting aggressively from the start, Derbyshire took a firm hold on the contest.Northants’ bowlers had failed to take a wicket in the previous game against Warwickshire and they looked increasingly unlikely to breakthrough as Godleman and Thakor scored freely without taking risks.The 150-stand came up in 26 overs and Thakor celebrated his century which came off only 86 balls with the first of three consecutive fours off Steven Crook in the 38th over.Godleman looked certain to complete his second one-day hundred against Northants but Keogh found some extra bounce to have him caught behind in the 39th over.Derbyshire had thrown away winning positions last season but although Thakor was run out when he was caught off a no-ball , they eased home to condemn Northants to a second defeat in the competition.

Virat Kohli has tweeted a clarification on his post-match comments in Dharamsala, where he had said he wouldn’t be calling the Australian players his friends “ever again”. On Thursday morning he tweeted that he was referring to only a “couple of individuals”, and that his comment had been blown out of proportion.Before the four-Test series had begun, Kohli had spoken warmly about his friendships with all of the Australian players, saying: “I’m really good friends with all these guys off the field. I know them really well, but I know where to draw the line of friendship. When you step onto the field, I could be playing against my big brother it wouldn’t matter.”When once again asked about his equation with them off the field after the series, Kohli had said: “No, it has changed. I thought that was the case, but it has changed for sure. As I said, in the heat of the battle you want to be competitive but I’ve been proven wrong. The thing I said before the first Test, that has certainly changed and you won’t hear me say that ever again.”The series had featured several high-intensity moments, both on and off the field, the biggest of which came after the second game in Bengaluru. In the post-match press conference there, Kohli had said Australia captain Steven Smith had looked to his dressing room for help in deciding whether to refer his lbw decision, and Australia had been doing the same previously too. That prompted both boards to come out strongly behind their teams, before the ICC said no one would be charged – neither Australia for a DRS protocol breach, nor Kohli for his allegations – and asked the teams to move on; the BCCI filed an official appeal after that, but withdrew it hours later.Smith, who had termed his action in Bengaluru as a brain fade, had said before the third Test that Kohli’s comments on Australia breaching DRS protocols more than once in the series were “completely wrong”. After the series ended, he said he was disappointed with the BCCI for airing on-field exchanges between Ravindra Jadeja and Matthew Wade through a video clip on its website, while also apologising for letting his own “actions falter a little bit throughout this series”.

Match facts

March 4-8, 2017
Start time 0930 local (0400 GMT)4:26

Chappell: Matter of how long Australia can maintain confidence

Big Picture

It was no surprise that a spinner took 12 wickets and was Man of the Match in the first Test in Pune. Nor was it a surprise that the winning captain scored the only hundred of the match. It was not even particularly surprising that the Test was over in two and a half days. What was surprising – flabbergasting, even – was that the spinner was not R Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja but Steve O’Keefe, the captain was not Virat Kohli but Steven Smith, and the team with a 1-0 lead after less than three days of play in this series was not India but Australia.”The pressure was off us, wasn’t it? Everyone wrote us off and expected India to win 4-0. That can’t happen anymore.” Never a truer word was spoken than those from Smith after the Pune Test. But if it was true that the pressure was off Australia in that match, it is no longer the case in Bengaluru, where the expectations on Australia will be high. Not only did they beat India in Pune, they dominated in all aspects of the game. They more than doubled India’s total in each innings, the spinners were more effective, their catching was sharper, even their use of the DRS was more assured.Pressure was on Kohli’s mind after the match, too. “How badly we batted in the first innings is the main reason why we couldn’t get back into the game,” he said. “We put ourselves under a lot of pressure.” The intensity will only increase in Bengaluru, where Australia are in the unexpected position of being able to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by the halfway point of the series. Kohli’s men must find a way to turn around their fortunes quickly, or else an ignominious fate awaits them.So, was Pune an aberration? What surprises will Bengaluru have in store? It is the only venue in this series that has hosted Test cricket before, and it is a ground at which past Australia teams have enjoyed success. Much speculation has surrounded the nature of the pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the lead-up to the match, especially given Australia’s triumph on the dry, spinning surface in the first Test. What will be in it? Sharp spin? Reverse swing? Piles of runs? It should be fun finding out.

Form guide

India: LWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia: WWWWW
1:16

Will India bounce back?

In the spotlight

Last time India hosted Australia in a Bengaluru Test, back in 2010, Cheteshwar Pujara made his debut. On Australia’s next Test tour of India, Pujara destroyed the visitors in Hyderabad with 204 and a monstrous triple-century partnership with M Vijay. And he began this home season well, with three straight half-centuries against New Zealand and then hundreds in the next three Tests against New Zealand and England. But since then, Pujara’s season has quietened down a little, and India would desperately love for their No. 3 to return to his best in this match, at the venue where his Test career began against this same opposition.Steve O’Keefe was Man of the Match in Pune for his twin 6 for 35s, but on a very difficult batting pitch Steven Smith stood head and shoulders above any other batsman with his 109. Only two Australians had previously made second-innings hundreds in Tests in India: Mark Taylor and Damien Martyn. Not only that but Smith’s effort lifted him into truly elite company on the ICC’s all-time batting rankings; only five batsmen have ever achieved ratings points higher than Smith’s current level: Don Bradman, Len Hutton, Jack Hobbs, Ricky Ponting and Peter May. He will enter the Bengaluru Test with a batting average of 60.34 – not bad for a bloke who started as a legspinner batting at No.8.

Team news

Hardik Pandya has a shoulder niggle and is not in contention, but the remainder of India’s squad is available for this Test. It remains to be seen whether the selectors give the same XI another chance after their disappointing performance in Pune.India (possible) 1 KL Rahul, 2 M Vijay, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Wriddiman Saha (wk), 7 R Ashwin, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Jayant Yadav, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav.Australia announced an unchanged XI on the eve of the second Test, retaining Mitchell Marsh, whose bowling services were not exploited in Pune.Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Matt Renshaw, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Shaun Marsh, 5 Peter Handscomb, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Steve O’Keefe, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

Pitch and conditions

There has been so much discussion and speculation about the pitch that India’s coach, Anil Kumble, got fed up during his press conference in the lead-up to the Test. “Can we move on? It’s only 22 yards, it won’t be different here,” he said. Both teams expect a better batting surface than in Pune, but it will still be dry and should take plenty of turn.

Stats and trivia

• Smith needs 112 more runs to reach 5000 in Tests. Should he do it in his first innings in Bengaluru, he will be the equal third-fastest to the milestone alongside Garry Sobers, Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards and Matthew Hayden, and behind only Don Bradman and Jack Hobbs.
• India have beaten Australia only once at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, while Australia have won there twice and the teams have played out two draws. India’s win, though, did come in the most recent of those five Tests, in 2010.

Quotes

“The way we played last week was such a positive sign. It was a difficult wicket and we showed them we can compete in those conditions. And more importantly, we probably showed ourselves as well.”

Ed Cowan, the former Australia Test batsman, has declared the new Dukes ball being trialled in the Sheffield Shield this season should be seriously considered for use as the Test match ball of choice down under.Having smashed it for an innings of 212 for New South Wales against Victoria at the MCG over the past two days, Cowan paradoxically praised the Dukes – a version of which has been specially devised for use in Australian conditions – for offering more help to the bowlers.That much was seen later on day three of the match when Trent Copeland and Sean Abbott swung it prodigiously to help the Blues put the Bushrangers under immense pressure with one day of the match remaining. Cowan told ESPNcricinfo the balls had stood up on a pair of diverse pitches at the MCG and also last week in a second XI match he played at Geelong.”I think the Dukes is a far superior cricket ball to the Kookaburra in terms of the quality of contest between bat and ball,” he said. “They certainly stay in shape, they’re harder for longer, they consistently swing, there’s a little bit there for the bowlers all day if you’re good enough to bowl well, but you can get some runs if you’re disciplined with the bat.”From Australian cricket’s point of view I’d love Cricket Australia to look really hard at using Dukes balls in Test cricket in Australia because I think the quality of the ball is superior. I’ve been lucky enough to play a bit of cricket in England and use the Dukes a bit. I’ve always found you just have to be really disciplined on the front foot, particularly day one or two of a four-day fixture, you can’t bully the ball off the front foot through the off side.”You’ve got to play the ball late, respect the ball when they pitch it up and really wait for the bowler to come to you. It doesn’t change your plan too much at the top of the order but I certainly think those overs 50-80 with a Kookaburra ball, where a batsman can really dictate terms and hit bowlers off a good length, you can’t get away with a Dukes and that keeps bowling sides in it for longer.”Considering how the Dukes ball kept the bowlers in play even after it’s been used for 50 overs, Ed Cowan hopes Cricket Australia consider it for use in Tests too•Getty Images

The Victoria stand-in captain Cameron White has wondered at the point of using the Dukes in Shield matches where most likely contenders for the 2019 Ashes are otherwise engaged, but Cowan noted the trial had offered a competitor to Kookaburra the opportunity to show its wares. The traditional manufacturers of Australian cricket balls have been heavily occupied with developing a pink ball for day/night Test cricket in recent times, and is believed to be eager for CA feedback on how the red version can be improved.”I know CA brought it in under the public guise of preparing for 2019 – I don’t know whether politically they’re trying to put some pressure on Kookaburra,” Cowan said. “But regardless of whether you’re playing in Shield rounds and might go on an Ashes tour, I think they’ve actually fallen over a better cricket ball to use in Australian conditions.”We used it in a second XI game last week in Geelong on a very different wicket and it held up beautifully and swung consistently. It responds to overhead conditions well. I think it’s good to have some competition in town because the Kookaburra balls have been poor in domestic cricket for a couple of years now.”Among the bowlers, the South Australia seamer and recent 12th man for Australia Chadd Sayers said the Dukes was a ball that rewarded the pacemen provided they could control its swing early on. “It was hard to control early with the lacquer on the ball but the ball stays harder for longer which is great for a bowler,” Sayers said after the first innings of SA’s loss to Western Australia at Glenelg Oval.”A few swung down the leg side, which wasn’t supposed to happen. You’ve just go to find a way to make the ball work in your favour, which I think we did eventually. It probably took us five overs to work out what was going on.”Cowan’s innings was watched by the interim selector Greg Chappell, a noted advocate of youth. Both men have had disagreements with each other in the past, before Chappell helped remodel Cowan’s approach to batting following his ejection from the Test team in 2013.”We have had an evolving relationship and a positive one,” Cowan said of Chappell. “We’ve had our moments of disagreement, but he has a great view of the game and needs to be respected. As a selector there’s obviously a general feel of picking youth that has its merits if the young guys are good enough.”I’m still a fan of the best Test and one-day team being picked for every game, but it’s good to see young guys get an opportunity if they deserve it, I think that’s the key. Greg has a great mind on cricket, a great technical eye and Australian cricket is very lucky to have such a fine servant.”

Sam Billings has put his name up for a flexible position in the England batting order in the one-day series against India, and has also expressed a desire to provide the team with a back-up wicket-keeping option to Jos Buttler. Reputed to be among England’s best players of spin bowling, Billings, batting at No. 3, made the right noises with a 93 to help England gun down India A’s 305 with three wickets in hand in their first warm-up match on Tuesday.Billings is also coming into the tour on the back of good T20 form, having made three 40-plus scores for Sydney Thunders in the Big Bash League. However, with Joe Root and Ben Stokes set to take the field for the first ODI in Pune on January 15, he is likely to find himself out of the playing XI. Not that he is about to wallow in self-pity.”You cannot afford to be disappointed or feel sorry for yourself,” he said after the match against India A at the Brabourne Stadium. “It is a professional sport at the end of the day. Joe Root is one of the batsmen in the world – top-three without a doubt.”It is a great thing for English cricket, isn’t it? A strong squad makes the team even stronger on a long tour. With the Champions Trophy coming up, the bigger the squad, the stronger the squad, the better.”Since his international debut in June last year, Billings has turned out for England in 13 limited-overs games but only once has he batted higher than No. 6. While he scored 62 opening the batting in Chittagong, he has for the most part jostled for a middle-order slot with Jonny Bairstow, who is also higher up the pecking order as a stand-by wicket-keeper. Billings, however, doesn’t believe batting at No. 7 was his easiest route into the side.”Not necessarily. In Bangladesh, I had the opportunity to open. That’s the great thing; we have got a really strong side, 1 to 11,” he said. “We have Liam Plunkett sitting out, Jonny Bairstow sitting out as well. I just try to offer as many options as I can to the team and the squad – whether it is with the bat, with the gloves, whether it is opening the batting, or batting at six or seven, finishing off the innings.”I will still work as hard as I can in all aspects of my game. If something happens to Jos, I want to be able to come in a back-up keeper as well, and be one of the best fielders I can as well. At the end of the day, I just try to show people what I can be in a different role to what I am normally accustomed to.”In a series where spin is expected to play a big part, Billings believed he would be able to call on his experience of playing for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL last year. “Ashwin and Jadeja – two of the best in the world, so it is about combating them as best as we can,” he said.Billings expressed delight at the chance to work with Rahul Dravid in his role as Daredevils’ mentor. “My footwork against spin definitely improved just in the six weeks, I would say, working with Rahul Dravid, one of the best players ever to play the game. It was an amazing experience, one I’d like to have again.”Billings admitted his 93 against India A wasn’t his most fluent innings, but was comfortable with how he had worked out the conditions. “It is a different role from what I am normally accustomed to today. We lost a couple of wickets. Every time I started to try and get going, I had to tone it down again,” he said.”It is about manipulating the spin as much as hitting boundaries – rotating the strike with those fine sweeps, just trying to disrupt the bowler and the fields that they set. It is just about getting used to the pitches, very different from Australia from where I came from.”

Police presence will be increased around the MCG for the Boxing Day Test after a series of terror-related arrests in Melbourne on Thursday night.Seven people were arrested over what Victoria’s Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton said was a potential multi-mode attack at Federation Square, Flinders Street Station and St Paul’s Cathedral, believed to be planned for Christmas Day.Although there has been no suggestion of the Boxing Day Test being targeted, Mr Ashton said police presence would be heightened around the cricket, as it would at other major events in Victoria during the holiday period.”We’ll see a lot of additional police presence in the CBD particularly, through the Christmas period, right through the new year period,” he said. “We’ve added additional layers of security to the cricket Boxing Day Test. These are precautionary measures but it’s important the community is reassured that we are putting these additional resources in place.”I took the opportunity to talk to Cricket Australia this morning and had a discussion with them, informing them that we will have an increased police presence for the cricket. But we are doing the planning across the state. So all of those significant events that will be occurring across the state will be complemented by additional police during this period.”I do stress that there’s no intel, there’s no information suggesting a threat at this time to any of those events. However, we’re just making sure that we’re taking those extra precautions given what we’ve been dealing with over the last couple of weeks in relation to this.”Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said: “Our security team is in contact with the relevant authorities to ensure we have the appropriate level of security at the Boxing Day Test and other cricket matches being held around the country.”The safety and security of our fans, players and officials attending any cricket match is our number one priority. We applaud Victoria Police for their efforts this morning in neutralising the threat and we will continue to work with the relevant authorities to ensure the highest security standards and protocols are maintained.”A “ring of steel” was erected around the MCG last summer as a security measure, with full bag and body searches conducted at the fence before fans were allowed inside the perimeter. Although it was decided not to put the fence in place again this year, the same searches will again take place as patrons enter the MCG proper.

Middlesex 242 and 63 for 0 lead Warwickshire 172 (Westwood 81, Rayner 5-49) by 133 runs
ScorecardIan Westwood top-scored with 81 but his run out precipitated a collapse•Getty Images

At 122 for 2, with a second consecutive century seemingly well within the grasp of Ian Westwood and Ian Bell supporting him with dogged vigilance at the other end, Warwickshire might have quietly fancied themselves to defy Middlesex’s spinners and claim a first-innings lead.Then came a controversial run-out, which changed the course of the day, perhaps the match and may yet be seen as a critical moment in the destiny of this season’s Championship.Westwood was the victim, denied his just deserts in almost comical fashion. Bell drove towards mid-on, Ollie Rayner, the bowler, dived to his right in an attempt to cut it off and failed, but in doing so presented himself unwittingly as an obstacle to Westwood, who had answered Bell’s call for a single.Though stumbling, Westwood managed to stay on his feet, but by now Toby Roland-Jones had fielded at mid-on and was preparing to release the ball underarm towards the non-striker’s stumps. Bell changed his mind about the run and Westwood spun round but with Rayner still prostrate instinctively stopped in his tracks, by which time Roland-Jones had hit the target and the stranded batsman was cursing his luck.Back on his feet again, Rayner shrugged apologetically, while Bell spread his arms appealingly, looking in the direction of his opposite number, James Franklin, who quickly sought the counsel of the umpires. A discussion followed, prompting Westwood to delay his departure, but if consideration was given to withdrawing the appeal it was rejected and Westwood was sent on his way.The word from the officials later was that since there had been no wilful attempt to obstruct the batsman there was no reason to turn down the appeal. Inevitably, there were mutterings about the spirit of the game but in this instance there was no onus on Middlesex, for whom a win here could go a long way towards clinching a first title in 23 years, not to accept a slice of good fortune.Rayner admitted he was happy it was not his call to make as to whether Westwood should have been invited to remain.”I’m glad it wasn’t my decision but it is a bit of a funny one because if it had gone for one nothing would have been said,” he said. “As it is the ball was hit back at me and I tried to stop the one, and if you look at it on the camera it is after that has happened that they decide to take the run.”It is a shame when something like that makes such an impact on the game but a wicket is a prized thing in cricket, the umpires seemed okay with it and as far as we are concerned it is a legitimate run-out.”Westwood himself, though disappointed, regarded himself as a victim of misfortune – for the second day running, after being hit by the ball at short leg on day one – rather than anything more sinister. He had the consolation of another solid score and the prospect of a much better end to the season than its beginning, when a paltry 15 runs in his first five matches saw him dropped.”It was just one of those things,” he said. “Ollie was lying in front of me so it was impossible to get back, but I think the rule is that unless Ollie is deliberately impeding me, which he wasn’t, then the umpires have to give it out. Then it down to the opposition captain as to whether to uphold the appeal.”In any event, it could hardly be argued, as Warwickshire collapsed to 172 all out, that the next seven wickets were a matter of luck. Within four more overs, Ravi Patel, the left-arm spinner called in for his first match of the season, had dismissed Sam Hain and then Bell via catches by first slip and the wicketkeeper, and then Rayner, who is enjoying an excellent season, took five off the reel.He trapped Rikki Clarke in front, playing back, before Keith Barker gave him the charge and was stumped, then turned one sharply to bowl Jeetan Patel through the gate. Sam Robson took a fine catch at short leg to remove Chris Wright and Harry Podmore held on to a steepler on the run at mid-on as Josh Poysden completed the five.The haul takes him to 40 for the season, in sight of the 46 wickets he accumulated in 2013, his best year so far. “It has been a good year, the pitches have been a little bit better and I think I know my game a bit better but I’m not trying to get ahead of myself,” he said. “I’m just trying to get the ball in good areas. If you bowl a lot of overs there is a fair chance of getting a few wickets and that’s what has happened.”Rain is forecast for Saturday, but after Robson and Nick Gubbins added 63 to the lead for no loss, Middlesex have an advantage of 133 and a productive morning would see them well placed to advance the match before any bad weather arrives.

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf has warned the PCB to stop hosting its “home” series in the UAE or it will damage Pakistan cricket.”Playing on the flat and low-bounce pitches of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai has already affected our cricket and our players, and if we don’t stop organising our series there it will eventually damage our cricket,” Yousuf told PTI.He said that playing in the UAE for the last six or seven years had an adverse effect on the skills and technique of Pakistan batsmen. “If it is all about creating records, fine. But it is not helping our cricket in anyway and we will stop producing players capable of playing on any surface in a few years’ time if we continue playing our home series in UAE.”Yousuf said that it was a point of concern that against Australia in two Tests in the UAE in 2014-15, Pakistan batsmen had scored nine centuries while in the first two Tests in England there was only one century.”And let us be straight, so far we have not encountered any typical English pitch in the ongoing series,” he said.He backed any move by the PCB to try to organise its home series at some other neutral venue. “Sri Lanka or Bangladesh are far better options as conditions there are more suited for cricket,” he said.The PCB has been forced to organise its home series at neutral venues since the attack by gunmen on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in March 2009.

Towards the end of India’s practice session at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Monday, Rohit Sharma ignored a teasing legbreak outside his off stump. Cheteshwar Pujara, the deliverer of that legbreak, grinned. Someone behind him – possibly R Ashwin – yelled out: “Bowled, Yasir!”In the first half of 2015, Pujara versus Rohit was a batsman-against-batsman contest, a selection headache for India’s Test-match team management. Now, things were a little different. Pujara was bowling to Rohit. No matter what Rohit did, Pujara was yelping excitedly, whether it was a defensive push into the off side – “caught at silly point!” – or a leg-side slog – “caught at midwicket!”Pujara had already finished a long batting stint, as had M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane. In pairs, they had rotated through three different nets – seamers, spinners and throwdowns.Rohit had not batted with that group. He was now batting against Pujara, Ashwin – who continued bowling despite a long spell against the first set of batsmen – and a pair of net bowlers. At the other two nets were Wriddhiman Saha and Stuart Binny.Binny, by then, had bowled a lengthy spell, and had looked particularly sharp against Dhawan, swerving the ball past the left-hander’s outside edge on a couple of occasions. Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami had bowled alongside Binny at the seamers’ net, and had both looked to hit fullish lengths, with Ishant sending down the odd bouncer for variety.Concurrently, Ashwin, Jadeja and Amit Mishra had been in operation at the spinners’ net. When the first set of batsmen had completed their sessions, Mishra had bowled to an empty net with head coach Anil Kumble keeping close watch. With the toe of his shoe, Kumble had drawn a line extending down the pitch from leg stump, and seemed to instruct his legspinner to try and pitch the ball within the stumps, perhaps in order to keep the lbw and the outside edge in play.Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur only came out when the core batting group had finished its session, and bowled solely to Rohit, Saha, the allrounders, and the lower order.Watching the first half – or three-quarters, in terms of time – of the net session, it seemed as though India had narrowed their squad down to 13 for the first Test in Antigua. Rohit, Umesh, Bhuvneshwar and Thakur did not seem to be among the 13.It also looked like India were planning to play five bowlers – or four specialists and an allrounder – leaving them two major calls to make on the eve of the match: whether to pick Dhawan or Rahul to partner Vijay at the top of the order; and whether to pick a seam-bowling allrounder in Binny, a spin-bowling allrounder in Jadeja, or to pick both and leave out Mishra.With three days to go for the Test match, not too much could be gleaned from looking at the pitch, straw-coloured and glowing in the afternoon sun, except that there was hardly any grass on it. The pitches in St. Kitts, where India played their two warm-up matches, were on the slow side, and Ashwin had reckoned his team would need to be patient in order to take 20 wickets given similar conditions in the Test series. “I’m sure I’ll have to be as boring as possible in terms of trying to plug away all day long,” he had said.On Monday, Rahane reinforced that point, from both batting and bowling perspectives.”Patience will be the key as a batting unit but once you get set it is important to [make] each and every session [count] because we will have to give time for our bowlers,” he said. “It is not easy to take 20 wickets on this kind of pitches, especially on the slower tracks. As a batting unit, we will have to take responsibility and I think one or two batsmen will have to get set and score big here.”And that, he said, might mean a guarded approach from the batsmen.”You cut out certain shots because, technically, I don’t think we will have to change anything really. But we will have to cut out some shots initially, in the first or second session, and after that when you get used to the conditions you will play your shots. But initially, it is important to take time for yourself. If you are used to getting 100 in 150 balls, maybe here you will have to get 100 in 200 balls. So as a batsman it is important to play at least 200-plus balls here.”It will be even more vital for India’s specialist batsmen to spend time at the crease if there are only five of them. The trade-off, of course, is an extra bowler, another body to share the workload of taking 20 wickets in sluggish conditions.