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Mahela Jayawardene praised his bowlers as they wrapped up an historic first Test win in the West Indies with only 16 minutes remaining on the final day. Chaminda Vaas led the march with 5 for 61 as the hosts were dismissed 121 short of their unlikely target of 437.”We had a challenge when we came and that was to win a Test match in the West Indies and we have achieved that,” Jayawardene said. “We played hard and a lot of guys contributed. It was an amazing effort from Vaas and our quicks took 13 wickets in the Test, so a lot of credit to them. Murali bowled his heart out and overall it was a very good team effort.”Jayawardene felt his day-four declaration gave West Indies a hint of a chance and he was pleased when he saw aggression from the home batsmen. “We wanted them to play a few shots on this wicket because that’s how we could have created opportunities,” he said. “That’s why we gave them a target they could have achieved, rather than giving them 500 when they would have been in a very defensive frame of mind.”The move eventually paid off, but the scenario became more difficult during the 134-run, second-wicket partnership between Dwayne Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Bravo, who was promoted to open instead of Chris Gayle, scored 83 while Sarwan picked up a cautious 72 before becoming the fifth to fall.”If they had batted till about tea it would have been a different story, we would have struggled,” Jayawardene said. “We managed to get Bravo before lunch and then Sarwan before tea, which were two crucial wickets, and in between we got Shiv [Chanderpaul].”Gayle entered at No. 6 and held firm, finishing with an unbeaten 51 and narrowly missing holding on for a draw. “Even though Chris was at one end, we knew we could put pressure on the other batsmen and see what would happen,” Jayawardene said. “Our guys bowled really well to pick up those wickets. In the last hour it could have been anyone’s game in the sense that they could have saved the game or we could have gotten the win. Once we got into that situation we knew we had to give everything.”With his side holding a 1-0 lead in the two-match series, Jayawardene said there was no chance of thinking about a draw in Port-of-Spain from April 3. “It’s important that we go for a win in the second match as well, that’s the way we play cricket,” he said. “That’s the attitude whether it is home or away.”

Zimbabwe’s one-day series defeat to Bangladesh is set to open another can of worms with the board and local cricket followers infuriated by the team’s poor performance. Zimbabwe went down to their third straight defeat at Bogra, on Tuesday, handing the series over with two matches left.Pressure on the coach Kevin Curran has quickly resurfaced and the board, which previously backed him when he came under siege from former board member Crispen Tsvarayi and the former head of selectors Bruce Makovah, has also become edgy. The humiliating loss to Bangladesh could be the final straw.Curran is not alone, though. Calls to axe under-performing players – a riot act was reportedly read by selectors before the tour – have grown by the day since Zimbabwe lost the first ODI by nine wickets.Sources have told Cricinfo the board wanted Curran to stay on until the World Cup, but there are now whispers in the corridors of Zimbabwe Cricket power that he is a contributing factor to the team’s slide.The defeats are dreadfully timed. The board is making frantic efforts to be seen to nurture a team that will be competitive when it finally returns to Test cricket at the end of next year.Many blame the board for the team’s continuing plunge, and it is feared that more players may quit the team to run away from taking stick on their own while the Peter Chingoka regime exonerates itself. Vusi Sibanda, the opening batsman, has already missed two tours with Zimbabwe after deciding to play league cricket in Australia where he is reportedly performing well.

England’s wounds have hardly had time to heal since their mauling inthe third Test against Sri Lanka, but Shane Warne believes that theywill only emerge stronger and tougher against Pakistan later thissummer. Speaking at the launch of his new poker website, PokerCricket.com, Warne said:”It’s the one series they’ve got before the Ashes so it will make alltheir players really hungry. I expect a very good showing.”Thoughts are already turning, of course, to this winter’s showdown inAustralia, and Warne hopes that Monty Panesar will be on the plane,despite mounting speculation that his fellow spinner won’t be able tocope with the crowd pressure.”If Monty keeps fielding like he has, I’m sure he’ll be a crowdfavourite in Australia.” But if Monty keeps fielding like he has -fluffing at will – he may not be much of a dressing-room favourite.Still, Warne believes Panesar has no option but to continue as he is.”The more you try and fight them, if you get upset with them, the moreit can actually affect you. You can have a joke with them and fun withthem.”If it’s not so surprising that Warne favours Panesar, what may come asa shock to English tacticians is his backing of another spin wizard:Merlyn, the bowling machine. Ominously, he claims that Merlyn – thevery machine designed to help English batsmen learn to combatWarne-like whirlers in last year’s Ashes – leaves him holding all theaces.”I think it helps me,” he revealed, “because it does these sillythings with balls that spin that far and people say ‘How do I playthat?’ and that helps me. So the more they use that the better Ireckon.”One thing he does say which will come as some comfort to the Englandline-up is that he has no plans to develop any new balls just now.”There’s nothing in the pipeline at the moment,” he said – but is thisjust a double bluff? Either way, he’s doubtless going to cause Englandenough problems come this winter – and beyond.He hasn’t yet ruled out playing in the 2009 series, as Richie Benaudrecently said he hoped he would do. Speaking of Benaud, thesilver-haired septuagenerian was the surprise choice for who Warne wouldlike to play him in the upcoming musical of his life.The work, imaginatively entitled Shane Warne: The Musical, iscurrently being penned by the Melbourne-based comic Eddie Perfect. Hehad been undecided whether to let Warne know or not, but news travelsfast and Warne already knew about it – and he’s not necessarilypleased.

“It depends on what sort of spin he wants to put on it, doesn’t it? Hecan be factual, he can not be factual. He can exaggerate it. I don’tknow, I haven’t thought it through whether I like it or don’t like it.But I don’t like it how people can do books on you … anyone can writea book on anyone, I don’t like that law. I don’t like that people cando things about your life without consent, I don’t think that’s fair.”Neither does he think the ticketing fiasco in Australia has worked outparticularly fairly, although he recognises the need for CricketAustralia to have put some policies into place, regardless of how theywere eventually executed. “There’s a 40,000 stadium – you don’t want35,000 Englishmen and 5,000 for Australia, it’s a home ground forEngland.”Not that he will take much notice when the Barmy Army start up. “Ithink because I’ve copped it so much, sledging doesn’t get to me. TheEnglish have got the best songs. Sometimes they overstep the mark butI think generally it’s maybe a bit of fun.”And fun is what it’s all about for Warne, who hasn’t ruled outappearing in the 2009 Ashes. “It’s all about enjoyment. If you enjoywhat you’re doing, keep doing it, if not it’s time to do somethingelse.”He has to retire at some point – and his poker venture will, he hopes,provide a business interest, but in the meantime, how many more Testvictims would he like to go with his 685 to date? How many is enough?”Never enough! Whatever it is in life, it’s never enough.”

Scorecard

Victoria will host Queensland in the Ford Ranger Cup final after a David Hussey century set up a crushing 143-run win for the Bushrangers over Tasmania. Hussey made 116 as the Bushrangers gave the Tigers a challenging target of 284 but the home side’s finals hopes evaporated and they crashed to 140.The demoralising loss was worsened for Tasmania when their captain Dan Marsh retired hurt with a potentially season-ending calf tear. The timing of Marsh’s injury would be a major worry for the Tigers, who are still in real contention for the Pura Cup final with two matches remaining.Hussey’s 103-ball innings was punctuated by six fours and five sixes and no bowler was safe as he and Rob Quiney built an important 98-run partnership for the third wicket. Quiney continued on from his impressive Pura Cup debut during the week and finished with 50, including two sixes beautifully clipped off his pads over square leg and midwicket.A quick 31 late in the innings from Adam Crosthwaite pushed Victoria to 6 for 283 and only Xavier Doherty (2 for 43) escaped with acceptable figures. Early wickets to Mick Lewis and Shane Harwood started the downward spiral for Tasmania, who virtually lost any chance when Marsh went to hospital with his leg problem.George Bailey top-scored with 35 but two wickets each to Harwood, Darren Pattinson, Andrew McDonald and Grant Lindsay sealed the win. Victoria’s home final will give them a chance to add to the Twenty20 title they earned last month.

No venue shift for Bangalore
The Bangalore Royal Challengers’ match against the Rajasthan Royals on Saturday will go ahead as scheduled after Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, refused their request to shift the match in light of yesterday’s serial bomb blasts in Jaipur, which killed about 60 people. “We cannot do that [shift the venue]. The match will go ahead as scheduled in Jaipur on Saturday,” Modi told Cricinfo, adding that additional security will be provided at the team hotels and the Sawai Mansingh stadium, the match venue.Laxman backs under-fire Dravid
VVS Laxman has firmly backed Rahul Dravid, his India team-mate and Indian Premier League rival, whose Bangalore team is in the middle of a torrid run. “For sure, Rahul is a good captain,” Laxman, told Cricinfo. “Even if you see the games Rahul’s team have lost, some of them were very close. If they had won those, no questions would have been raised about his captaincy. I am sure he will bounce back because I know he is a very tough character.”Kolkata’s poor time management skills
The Kolkata Knight Riders have been handed US$1000 fine by Talat Ali for maintaining a slow over-rate during their match against the Delhi Daredevils, the third time in as matches that they have been rapped for the offense. The IPL’s regulations state that a team will be fined $500 for each slow over. Ali had leveled a similar fine on them after their match against the Deccan Chargers, prior to which they incurred a $500 fine after facing the Bangalore Royal Challengers on May 8.

Cricket South Africa has announced that it will not be able to send a side to play in England should Pakistan not be able to honour their commitments.”We were approached by the ECB earlier this week, requesting the Proteas to replace Pakistan should they withdraw from the ODI tournament against England,” Gerald Majola, the board’s chief executive told reporters. “We have turned down the request on the basis that we are committed to playing against Zimbabwe in the three-match ODI tournament starting next month.”Majola also indicated that South Africa are concluding arrangements to face as yet un-namedopposition in Abu Dhabi “`We are looking for extra one-day games and they are almost finalised,” he said. “The conditions in Abu Dhabi are very similar to those in India and that willgive us the preparation we need for the Champions Trophy.”England have also been reported to have approached New Zealand and West Indies asking whether they could fill the gap should the need arise.But West Indies are due to play their opening match in Malaysia on September 12 – two days after the scheduled date for the last ODI in England – and are also likely to find themselves struggling to help out.

Professional cricketers in England will have to wear mandatory helmets next season while batting or fielding close to the wicket.The ECB Board endorsed changes, first reported on ESPNcricinfo, on Wednesday to regulations governing the use of helmets across the professional game, bringing to a formal end the fast-disappearing era of the cap and floppy hat and the cry from the likes of Brian Close, fielding at short leg, to catch the rebounds.Any player who does not wear what the ECB calls “compliant protective headgear” will not be permitted to play.The insistence upon helmets follows several deeply troubling, high-profile incidents that have brought home the danger of the sport, including the tragic death of Australia’s Phillip Hughes after he was struck in a match in his own country and Australia and the blow suffered by Craig Kieswetter, the former England wicketkeeper, which ended his career.The ECB’s chief medical officer Dr Nick Peirce also sought to put things in perspective, however, saying: “We can see from our injury surveillance that cricket is not a dangerous sport in comparison to many other leisure activities.”The key changes in the professional game in England and Wales will apply to batsmen facing all types of bowling, wicketkeepers standing up to the wicket and fielders standing closer than eight yards from the batsman’s middle stump – except behind the wicket on the off side.The ECB is also recommending that all recreational cricketers wear helmets which meet the latest British safety standard from next season, although it has retreated from trying to make this compulsory.Instead, as the outgoing chief executive of the PCA Angus Porter said, the hope is that professional cricketers will lead by example. The use of protective headgear, however, is already mandatory for all Under-18s within the recreational game. The growing cost of recreational cricket, however, is bound to lead to some resistance.The changes – new regulations will be confirmed in the New Year – follow a joint review of existing safety guidance by the ECB and the Professional Cricketers’ Association and are designed to reduce the risk of head and facial injuries within the game. Key measures which ECB has recently taken in this area include:

• Forming an ECB Cricket Safety Working Group which reviews risks to safety and the well-being of players and spectators.
• Re-defining the role of the ECB Chief Medical Officer to enable greater emphasis to be placed on injury surveillance and research into the safety of the game.
• Setting up an Emergency Care Working Group to improve training and provision of emergency care standards at first-class, 2nd XI and training venues.
• Introducing new concussion guidelines via the ECB’s Sports Science and Medicine department. The department is also working with Birmingham University to conduct further research into concussion in cricket.
• Collaborating with the Loughborough Institute of Sport Technology, through sponsorship of a PHD researching helmet design, head injuries and safety in relation to cricket.

Peirce’s comments that cricket was not a high-risk sport were tempered by the reality, as the ECB and PCA see it, that action needed to be taken.”We can see from our injury surveillance that cricket is not a dangerous sport in comparison to many other leisure activities. However, as we have seen in recent times, the cricket ball can cause significant injury and it is extremely important that players take the appropriate precautions when batting, keeping wicket or fielding close to the stumps.”The latest cricket helmets have made significant strides in providing protection against potentially catastrophic injury and we would strongly advise all players to make sure their helmet conforms to the latest British Safety Standard.Today’s decision is a major step forward and will help make first-class cricket safer as well as sending a strong message to the recreational game about the importance of helmet safety.”Porter said: “We welcome today’s decision on helmet use. It provides an excellent opportunity for professional cricketers to lead by example and drive greater awareness of the importance of player safety across the whole game.”The rule covers matches for all England teams and programmes, county first, second and academy XIs and Women’s Super League and all matches played by the first-class counties. It has yet to be confirmed whether it will extend to the Minor Counties.Helmet regulations for England’s disability cricketers will be reviewed shortly.Under current rules for Under-18s, batsmen and wicket-keepers standing up to the stumps must wear a head protector. This rule will continue to apply, but it is now strongly recommended that all Under-18s who are in the ECB’s county age-group programmes and above should follow the new regulations. Again, for reasons that remain unclear, this has not been made mandatory.As of November 2015, there are more than 20 helmets from seven different manufacturers that meet the new standard. The full list of helmets meeting this standard is available here

Medium-pacer Sony Cheruvathur, the 29-year-old with just eight first-class matches under his belt, has been appointed as Kerala’s captain for the forthcoming season.The team doesn’t boast any heavyweights but the new coach Vedam Hariharan felt it was an opportunity for the youngsters to stand up to the challenge. “True, the last five to six years we had to depend heavily on imports for our batting,” Hariharan was quoted as saying in the . “This year, we don’t have men with heavy records. Players should now stand up to be counted.” Hariharan, who has coached sides in Australia, Scotland and Ireland was roped in earlier this month.Sadagoppan Ramesh and S Suresh, experienced hands from Tamil Nadu, were Kerala’s outstation professional players last year but the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) decided not to draft anyone in this time. Kerala begin their campaign with an away match against Vidarbha in Nagpur, between November 3 and 6, and host Services in Palakkad from November 15 to 18.The side is also set to play a friendly against Karnataka in Bangalore from October 29 to 31. Kerala plays four of its five matches away from home but Cheruvathur, making his captaincy debut, wasn’t deterred. “We do very well in away matches for we get tracks where we can use our fast bowlers,” he said. Former Indian fast bowler Tinu Yohanan will be leading the pace attack along with the accurate Prasanth Chandran.Squad for the first two Ranji Trophy games: Sony Cheruvathur (capt), VA Jagadeesh (vice-capt), Prasanth Parameshwaran, Sebastian Antony, Sambasiva Sarma, Rohan Prem, Robert Fernandes, Sreekumar Nair, Raiphy Vincent Gomez, Vinan G. Nair (wk), Tinu Yohanan, Prasanth Chandran, S Aneesh, P Prasanth, KJ Rakesh. Coach: Vedam Hariharan.

Cricket Kenya has confirmed that India A will tour Kenya in late July or early August to play two four-day matches as well as taking part in a one-day series which will involve at least one other country’s A team.The deal was brokered by Samir Inamdar, CK’s chairman, while he was in India attending the Afro-Asia Cup. Indian board officials told him that they were keen to attract another side to ensure there was a high level of competition.Sri Lanka have expressed an interest in visiting in August on their way home from England, although Pakistan have declined, explaining that their players have too many commitments. South Africa A are scheduled to tour Zimbabwe which rules both of those sides out, although India had indicated they were keen to have Zimbabwe take part.Inamdar told Cricinfo that he had also written to the West Indies board suggesting that if their A team does go ahead with their tour of Zimbabwe then they might consider stopping in Kenya on their way home. If, however, the tour is cancelled, then he has still offered to host West Indies outright.

The profits from the World Cup may entirely clear the debts of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). Board president Ken Gordon told the Express last week: “I’m optimistic enough to hope that it might wipe it all out.”The beleaguered board are carrying a debt of US$15m. And it was the pre-tournament hope of Gordon that the six-week tournament, which will end on Saturday in Barbados, would go some way to relieving that burden.Asked last week if the WICB would in fact reap the expected financial bounty, the president said, “I expect that if we don’t reap the full benefits, we will get pretty close. There may be a shortfall but I don’t think it will be of any significance. I think we will come close to the targets we set. And I think overall, we will look back on this as a tremendous event.”Elaborating on what the World Cup profits could mean for the board, Gordon continued: “West Indies cricket expects to get a fair investment on it and out of that it intends to put in place plans for the developing of cricket. That’s what we want to do. We’ve been carrying a deficit of US$15m. If we can find a way to clear that, it eases our overall structure. It gives us the ability to have bank-borrowing, to do things which we can’t do now. Now we can hopefully work our way out of that.”The Caribbean’s first-ever hosting of cricket’s biggest event, however, has been marred by the death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, complaints about the numbers of spectators at some venues and the restrictions on them.”Many things have gone wrong,” Gordon admitted. “But,” he asked, “who could have expected Bob Woolmer, right at the beginning of the series, to go like that? Who would have expected India and Pakistan to be withdrawn and so many thousands of people who were planning to come canceling? Who could have expected these things? Some countries have paid the price for it.”In spite of the difficulties, though, Gordon insisted that the World Cup was more success than failure. “This is the third largest event in the world. And we have done it when people didn’t think we could. And I think at the end of the day, we should all take some little pride in achieving it.”Gordon said he was impressed with the manner in which the local organisers have responded to the various problems. “We have dealt with enormous problems and our people have grown every time they have addressed them. And I think even though there were all these setbacks which I referred to, we moved into a second gear. And other things were done to put in place.”Grenada was happy, Guyana was happy. From what I see here, Barbados looks happy. We’ve had some empty stands, but you always have empty stands when you have weak games. The challenge is how you handle that in a way that would minimise the damage to the visible, while at the same time, not affecting the sales you’re trying to build, and I think we’ve done a pretty good job at this.”And Gordon noted further that he was especially pleased with “the tremendous personal growth I’ve seen amongst the people who have been managing this. The volunteers have been one of the great successes of this thing … because they have been absolutely superb. I’ve heard so many tourists talk about that. You can’t quantify the benefit of the warmth that has been generated at that level when those people leave here We must understand that this is not a project that you can expect your investment to be returned in a year or two, it’s a long-term investment.”Gordon, who has tendered his resignation as WICB boss but who has been asked to re-consider, is expected to give the board his final decision on Sunday at a special meeting.The WICB have been busy this week with planning meetings on the way forward for the cricket following the West Indies’ disappointing World Cup performance. Gordon said last week a change of culture was needed, “by laying down rules on which you are first of all absolutely serious about implementing. Those who don’t conform to those rules will know it’s their option to conform or otherwise…the new people you bring in, people who are committed to those standards, will ensure that they are maintained.”Asked why such change was taking so long, Gordon said: “I can only speak for the last 18 months and I will tell you that we have attempted to do so. But when you are dealing with a culture that has been inculcated over a very long time, you don’t do that and press your fingers and it disappears.”Gordon said he felt Brian Lara’s appointment as captain for a third time, last year, and his re-commitment to really do everything that he could to put cricket on a new footing, was the start of “an important beginning.”But the president conceded last week that West Indies cricket must now go back to the drawing board again. “We were found sadly wanting. We tried but it wasn’t good enough because we were not trying the right way, because we are not prepared properly enough to do it. And that’s what we’ve got to correct.”