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Luke Wells and Glenn Phillips propelled Fire to their highest ever total, but rain saved Brave’s blushes

ECB Media14-Aug-2024Southern Brave secured their place in the Hundred Eliminator at the Kia Oval on Saturday thanks to rain intervening at Utilita Bowl against an already-eliminated Welsh Fire.The Brave came into the match knowing that a point would guarantee their presence in Saturday’s showdown but at the halfway stage, with 181 posted by the Fire, they would have feared losing control of their destiny.Two quick wickets – Alex Davies for a duck and then James Vince for 19 – further set the Brave back. But on the stroke of Vince’s dismissal, with rain falling steadily, the umpires took the players off.The rain never abated, and with just 16 balls having been bowled of the Brave’s innings – a minimum of 25 balls are required to deliver a result – the game was duly abandoned.”Bowling first, things probably got away from us a bit,” Vince said. “We were sloppy. Some good players got going and we weren’t able to shut them down, so it was always going to be a tough ask to chase that down.”We had a few messages saying the weather might be on its way so it we had a few discussions about how to approach those first 25 balls; thankfully the rain came just in time.”On the whole, across the tournament, the bowling group gets a lot of credit. They’re quality, experienced bowlers. Our batting goes under the radar a bit. We’d like a few more guys in form, but on the whole we’ve been reasonably consistent.”Luke Wells struck 53 from 30•Getty Images

It was a bitter pill for the Fire to swallow. With the bat they were irrepressible, with Luke Wells and Glenn Phillips especially destructive, sharing a 76-run partnership from just 30 balls to propel the Fire to their highest-ever score in the tournament’s history.Wells, registering just his second fifty in the competition, took just 28 balls to reach the milestone, while Phillips was spectacular, clubbing five sixes – including one hit over square-leg against Jofra Archer that sailed 102 metres – from just 19 balls. In all, 10 sixes were struck across the Fire’s innings.For the Brave, only Akeal Hosein escaped punishment, the West Indian left-armer conceding just 21 from his 20-ball quota.Ultimately, it was immaterial. Brave are through to face either Northern Superchargers or Birmingham Phoenix, with the latter’s game against Manchester Originals tomorrow determining the final placings at the top.

He’s done it again, and again. The Headingley Test saw England’s seam-bowling veteran add to his tally

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jun-2023 • Updated on 06-Jul-2023

2013

3.6 143.1 kph, oh he’s gone! This one was right on target, he pitched it straight on the stumps on length, it seamed back in and Warner’s bat came down late enough for the ball to hit the top of off stump. Broad has got the early breakthrough

2013-14

30.3 135.1 kph, oh, what’s he done! Warner’s slapped a short ball straight to cover. It wasn’t a great delivery, short of a length outside off. Warner driving lazily off the back foot and it was a simple catch.

58.4 134.1 kph, plays away from his body, thin edge and gone! A crumb of comfort for England, Broad again the catalyst with his eighth wicket in the match. Having just flayed a six down the ground, this was a slightly neither-nor way to go, just dangled the bat out. But the damage, you feel, is doneESPNcricinfo Ltd

7.6 133.6 kph, got him! Poor stroke, clipped straight to point. Just short of a length and Warner has picked out Carberry square on the off side. He lives and dies by the sword and in trying to be uber-aggressive again, Warner pops up an easy catch with a flicked back-foot drive. The delivery might have just stopped in the wicket a little, and it actually just nipped away a touch, it certainly didn’t come on as Warner was hoping. Important strike for England after leaking a few runs early doors

5.5 136.1 kph, got ‘im! Broad gets rewarded for a full length. Holds its line on Warner whose footworks lets him down this time, and Broad zips it past the outside edge to take off stump. Lovely delivery

2019

3.5 NOW THAT’S OUT!! Full and fast, pinned in front of middle and leg! Warner is gone, no attempt even to review – Broad has burst through in the fourth over of the morning, and Edgbaston is all over this! “Cheerio, cheerio!” they crow, as Warner grits his teeth and heads for the dressing rooms. But hang on, because Hawk-Eye now has its say: and the ball was missing leg!! So a Tale of Two Missed Reviews ends with Warner back in the hutch for spit

2.6 huge appeal from Bairstow and the slips! Broad isn’t so sure, but the cordon is adamant there was a noise as Warner flirted outside off! It’s gone to a review and the crowd like what they’ve seen already! Almost off the back of the bat as Warner tried to leave that uncomfortable kicking back-of-a-length, and that’s 450 wickets for Broad, and a massive one at that!

4.2 bowled ‘im, shaves the leg bail! Big nip-backer from round the wicket and Warner goes cheaply again! Broad the man to get him for the third time in a row this series, slightly rickety defensive shot but that was a sweet cherry – and England have their openingStuart Broad wheels away in celebration after dismissing David Warner during the 2019 series•Getty Images

1.2 big appeal… given! Wilson looked like he shook his head, and then stuck the finger up – utterly bizarre – and Warner sends it upstairs… impact umpire’s call, and smashing into leg stump on with the angle! Warner’s struggles against Broad continue! Wide on the crease again from Broad – you know the drill now when he’s bowling to Warner – and moved in off the seam to thwack him on the pad

0.4 caught behind! Five times for Broad! Warner trying to leave made his decision to late! Got a little outside edge before withdrawing the bat. Easy catch for Bairstow! It was a good length but way wide of off. It didn’t shape away much. The tightness of the previous leave maybe caused doubt for Warner and he was too late to withdraw the bat!

0.6 given lbw! Broad’s done it again! A straighter delivery, good length, spears into the pads and Warner is trapped deep in the crease. A pair for Warner, his first in Tests and three ducks in a row

6.4 gone! Do not adjust your monitors, Stuart Broad has got David Warner again! Again, you know the drill. Round the wicket, on a length, Warner has a nibble at it, and edges it to slip where Burns takes a good catch. Seven times in the series!

2021-22

20.6 edged, gone! Broad gets Warner. A fraction fuller from Broad, and this is the sort of delivery that Warner struggled so much with back in 2019. Angling in from wide on the crease, then nipping away off the seam from a fuller length to take the outside edge. Crawley gobbles up the chance at second slip and England have the breakthrough. That’s the 13th time Broad has dismissed Warner in Tests. Possibly wide enough to leave alone but Warner has struggled to judge the line with that exaggerated angle

0.3 brilliant catch at point! Warner goes for a pair. Short outside off stump, Warner goes for a square drive and Pope dives full length to his right. Warner’s second pair in Tests after Old Trafford 2019Broad claimed the wicket of Warner in both innings at Headingley 2023•Getty Images

2023

10.1 chopped on! Broad gets Warner again. Edgbaston erupts! Wide tempter, not quite a half volley, Warner throws his hands at a full blooded drive with no footwork and drags a thick inside edge back onto the stumps. Warner throws his head back in disbelief.
0.5 edged and taken at second slip! Broad gets Warner again! Sweet 16. Good length, fifth stump line, no need to play, he pushes at it firmly, gets a thick edge and it flies rib high to Crawley’s left and he opens his body nicely to pouch it. Crowd erupts.
2.2 and of course it is Broad who dismisses Warner. Like clockwork. Warner with a wry smile as he makes his way back. Length ball angling into Warner, the batter tries to fend it low, but the ball takes an edge and Crawley dives at slip to gobble it up. That’s No. 17 for Broad in this battle against Warner*July 6 and 7 – This article was twice updated

Jake Lehmann made 102 in the first innings and Liam Scott took 5 for 46 but South Australia opted not to chase 253 off 50 overs on the final day

AAP05-Mar-2022South Australia declined a potentially season-reviving run chase and settled for a draw in their penultimate-round Sheffield Shield match against Queensland in Brisbane.Set a challenging 253 off 50 overs at the Gabba, SA rarely showed interest in chasing down the target and, despite needing a win to stay in touch on the Shield ladder, were 3-115 when the match was called to an early end after 37 overs.Opener Jake Weatherald scored the bulk of the runs with a watchful 60 not out off 112 balls. SA were 38 off 11 overs when the second wicket fell – both scalps claimed by Xavier Bartlett (2-30). Opener and debutant captain Henry Hunt scored 15 at the top of the order and Jake Carder contributed 11 before the run-rate further slowed.Earlier in the day, Queensland scored at 4.5 run per over in compiling a second innings score of 191. Sam Truloff top-scored with a quickfire 64, while young bowler Liam Scott picked up career-best figures (5-46).SA only completed their first innings early on day four with Jake Lehmann hitting 102 in 9(d)-244.

The Victoria opening pair beat the previous mark of 464 set by Mark and Steve Waugh

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Nov-2020Marcus Harris and Will Pucovski broke the 30-year record held by Mark Waugh and Steve Waugh for the highest partnership in Sheffield Shield history as their monumental opening stand for Victoria extended to 486 on the third day against South Australia.The pair resumed on 0 for 418 with Pucovski on 199. He reached his second double century off the first ball of the day as he and Harris moved briskly up the records charts.Harris was dropped at slip by Callum Ferguson with the score on 436 and it was his cover drive which took the stand to 465, surpassing the Waugh-Waugh landmark which was made against Western Australia at the WACA in 1990-91.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

As attention turned to the all-time first-class partnership lists and a 500-stand loomed, South Australia finally ended the stand when Harris gloved a short ball to the keeper.They were just short of the first-class record for any wicket in Australia which is the 503 added by Aaron Finch and Ryan Carters against the New Zealand XI in 2015 during a game that was then abandoned due when the pitch became unsafe.The highest first-class partnership in history is the 624 added by Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene against South Africa in 2006.Pucovski, opening for the first time in first-class cricket, finished unbeaten on a career-best 255 when Victoria declared on 3 for 569.

Nazmul Hassan alleged that Rhodes did not push the players hard during a pre-World Cup preparation camp in Leicester, and was not involved in strategic matters

Mohammad Isam24-Jul-2019Nazmul Hassan, president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, has come down heavily on Steve Rhodes’ one-year tenure as coach of the national team. Hassan alleged that Rhodes did not seem serious enough about winning as a coach, did not push the players hard during a pre-World Cup preparation camp in Leicester, and was not involved in strategic matters. Rhodes did not respond to ESPNcricinfo when contacted about these allegations.Rhodes was appointed Bangladesh coach in June 2018, with his contract set to run until next year’s T20 World Cup. However, the BCB and Rhodes parted ways earlier this month, following the team’s eighth-place finish at the 2019 World Cup in England.Hassan said that the players had told him they did not get to speak to Rhodes, and that he did not address team strategies.”We arranged for a practice camp before the World Cup, but nobody came. There was a cultural mismatch. He assumed that every player will practice on their own, but since our players heard it was optional, no one turned up. So there was no use making all that arrangement spending so much money.””I saw the changes [in the style of coaching] when I was in Dubai for the Asia Cup final. We saw that things have changed. We waited. The players have told me continuously – after the New Zealand tour and also during the World Cup – that they don’t get to speak to the coach.”He only lands in the team meeting on the day before the game. He doesn’t talk about strategy. He is just there. This is what the players have told me. I am telling you after listening to everyone. I never had a direct interaction. But from what I have seen, I felt that he doesn’t match with us.”Hassan believed that a five-day break for the team during their World Cup campaign -in the eight-day gap between their matches against Afghanistan and India – affected the concentration of the players, even though the team had been given a break to freshen up. He claimed that players had gone to Europe and expressed his surprise that nobody had informed him or the board directors Akram Khan (present with the World Cup squad as cricket operations chairman) and Khaled Mahmud (team manager) of the break. However, the players had been informed of the break by the team management, led by Mahmud. and none of them visited Europe.”There was a five-day holiday before the India game,” Hassan said. “There’s a difference between giving rest and a break. Everyone had left, so it broke their concentration. Maybe it is fine in their culture, but we feel that it doesn’t match with our culture.”Ahead of matches against two tough opponents, how does it feel to know that your players have gone to Europe? It is not acceptable. I don’t care what anyone is saying. I don’t think it was the right decision. You can give rest for two or three days. Their eyes and face should have said that they were thinking about the World Cup, the next two games. They haven’t matured as cricketers to come back from this type of break.””The biggest surprise was that I didn’t know that the team was on holiday. It hasn’t happened before. This was definitely a lapse but I am not singling out anyone. We had Akram [Khan] and [Khaled Mahmud] Sujon who were there but they also didn’t know. They heard about it after the break was given, so how did it benefit us?”Hassan claimed that captain Mashrafe Mortaza and wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim were added to the squad on the morning of the team’s last game against Pakistan, despite them carrying injuries.”The night before the Pakistan game, I was with the players till 11.30pm. Mushfiq, with his hand in a sling, was telling me that he couldn’t move his hand,” Hassan said. “He was not in the squad. Mashrafe didn’t practice the day before, and neither did he attend strategy meetings. He was also out of that game. These are just two examples.”We had fixed the squad in the presence of the coach and everyone. But the next day we saw another team playing the game. These things haven’t happened in the past. This is definitely a problem. We have decided that it won’t work like this. We are not saying he is not good but the way the team was running, it was totally different from our thinking.”

Pakistan finally broke the back of Northamptonshire’s resistance as Shadab Khan completed a 10-wicket haul and Mohammad Abbas also impressed

Alex Winter at Wantage Road07-May-2018
ScorecardPakistan will head to Ireland for the first Test of their tour with a hard-fought win behind them after finally seeing off a game Northamptonshire on the fourth-afternoon at Wantage Road with a simple chase of 133.As tour matches go, this was a very worthwhile exercise for both sides and a template for preparation before a Test tour. Only on the final afternoon when Pakistan’s chase became a formality did the game lose intensity. Therefore, Shadab Khan’s 10 for 157 in the match, Asad Shafiq’s unbeaten 186, and Haris Sohail’s two half-centuries was solid form to take to Malahide.Whether conditions in Ireland in any way resemble this slow wicket under unbroken sunshine on Friday is another matter and Pakistan showed vulnerability for the brief time the ball did swing at the start of their first innings and had Shafiq been caught on 13, Northants may have run them closer.But Pakistan travel over the Irish Sea with success and some selection decisions made clearer. Shadab is surely now worthy of inclusion even if the wicket turns out as emerald green as the Pakistan caps. The way he bamboozled Northants on the first afternoon was an indication of what a good legspinner can do and Ireland’s batsman have little pedigree playing legspin either.It is also a huge threat to tailenders and Shadab duly took the final two wickets of the Northants second innings, Brett Hutton and Gareth Wade lbw, to complete a maiden 10-wicket match haul.Far less of a threat was Mohammad Amir. After taking 1 for 45 against Kent, he was somewhat wayward here and lacked the zip that has produced 95 wickets in 30 Tests – he went wicketless in 27 overs. Perhaps he was saving himself for William Porterfield and Co.It was the far-less heralded Mohammad Abbas that opened Pakistan’s route to victory. Abbas, fairly short for a fast bowler but skiddy and likely to be effective in conditions that could prevail in Malahide, has played in Pakistan’s last five Tests after making his debut in the West Indies a year ago. Having been unlucky not to take a wicket in the first innings, regularly beating the bat, he took two with the old ball on the fourth morning, breaking through in the 14th over of the day.Full deliveries slid into Rob Newton and Steven Crook to win lbw decisions before extracting two of Rob Keogh’s stumps when the new ball was taken. Newton’s wicket was key. After making a battling century on the third afternoon, he needed to lead Northants well after lunch to try and save the game. But he could only add 16 to his overnight score before being beaten by one that kept low – the first of five morning wickets for 61 runs.It left a simple target and the chance for Azhar Ali to find some form after 15 against Kent and just 9 in the first innings here. But trying to take a leg-bye running from the non-striker’s end he collided mid-pitch with his opening partner Imam-ul-Haq and was beaten by Ricardo Vasconcelos’ throw. That the nephew of Inzamam was involved in a comedy run-out was not lost on the Twitterati.So it was left to Imam and Haris to continue their earlier form, which they did with the most fluent run-scoring of the game to reach their target in 27 overs. Haris resumed in good touch from his first-innings 79 and steered a boundary through backward point off Hutton, flicked another through square leg off Wade and drove the same bowler fluently through extra-cover en route to a 66-ball half-century, his second of the game.Imam, who could be set for a Test debut in Malahide after playing in both tour matches with Sami Aslam left out here, was the only Pakistan batsman to make a significant score against Kent and here warmed to his task having scratched around for 11 from 60 balls in the first innings. He slammed Rob Keogh’s offspin back over his head for his first boundary, passed fifty in 72 balls before pulling the winning boundary to send Pakistan to Dublin with victory.

John Hampshire, the former Yorkshire captain and England batsman who went on to become an international umpire, has died at the age of 76

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-2017
John Hampshire, the former Yorkshire captain and England batsman who went on to become an international umpire, has died at the age of 76 after a long illness.Hampshire, who scored a century on his Test debut, against West Indies at Lord’s in 1969, played eight Tests and three ODIs for England, but will be best remembered as an integral member of the great Yorkshire side that dominated the County Championship in the 1960s.In a 23-year career that included spells with Derbyshire, Tasmania and, briefly, Leicestershire, Hampshire scored a total of 28,059 first-class runs at 34.55, including 43 hundreds – the vast majority of those coming during his 456 appearances for Yorkshire.He debuted for the club as a 20-year-old in 1961 and won the County Championship on five separate occasions, holding his own in a team packed with club legends including Geoff Boycott, Ray Illingworth, Fred Trueman and his first captain, Brian Close. An upright front-foot driver with a strong leg-side game, he was one of the most handsome batsmen of his time.”Initially Yorkshire might have been a difficult dressing room to feel at home in, but Brian Close was a tremendous captain,” Hampshire told ESPNcricinfo in one of his final interviews earlier this year.”He integrated everyone. Most of the guys, they wanted to do well because they wanted the side to do well. And they wanted other players to do well. There were some terrific rows, but they were cricket rows. They weren’t personal vendettas or anything like that. Closey was the ringleader a lot of the time, but as soon as they were finished it was, “Right, come on, we’ll have a drink.”Hampshire, like many in that side, could be an intimidating figure on first meeting, but once respect was won, hidden behind a serious exterior was a warm and self-deprecating humour.Just a year after the end of his playing career in 1984, he became a first-class umpire, and stood for the first time in a Test match at Old Trafford during the 1989 Ashes.Later that year, he and John Holder were invited by Pakistan’s captain, Imran Khan, to stand as neutral umpires during Pakistan’s home series against India, a move that helped pave the way for that to become the standard across all international matches. In total, Hampshire stood in 21 matches up until 2002, and finally retired from the county circuit in 2005.Andy Flower, coach of England Lions, was a prominent figure in the Zimbabwe side that was coached by Hampshire upon their entry to Test cricket in the early 1990s and maintained the friendship from that point.”He was very passionate about Zimbabwe cricket,” Flower told ESPNcricinfo. “He grew to love the country, and its cricket, and he was a very important part of our early years. He gave us a really good grounding in the basics of the game, which served us very well.”I last saw him at Lord’s during the summer. He was there as a guest of the ECB, and we had a couple of great chats during the day. Even though he was unwell, he was always such a strong and generous guy, so he’d still be smiling and giggling at himself.”It was always the right balance with John, between playing hard on the field, and relaxing and chatting off it. When he was coach and I was captain, he would often sit me down with Scotch or a good wine – he fancied himself as a connoisseur – and we’d talk about the game for hours.”In March 2016, Hampshire stepped up to the role of Yorkshire president, an appointment he described as being “the icing on the cake” of his career. To some extent, it was a final show of brotherhood by Yorkshire because his county career at Headingley had ended in disillusionment. In 1978, Hampshire famously was instrumental in a batting go-slow at Northampton in protest at a six-hour century by Geoffrey Boycott. It cost his side a bonus point and Boycott the captaincy. Hampshire replaced him but only for two seasons, before he departed for a simpler life at Derbyshire.”From a very humble beginning, getting trains, trams and buses to Headingley to practice in the winter in hope of getting a game for Yorkshire Seconds, to being president. I think it’s quite an achievement,” he said.”John epitomised everything that’s good about Yorkshire County Cricket Club,” said Steve Denison, Yorkshire’s chairman. “Brave, talented and with a heart of gold, he captained Yorkshire, scored a century at Lord’s on his Test debut and became a highly respected umpire after hanging up his playing whites.”Loved by players and members alike, John capped his wonderful life in Yorkshire cricket as our club president last year. On behalf of everyone involved with and connected to the Club, I would like to extend our most sincere condolences to John’s wife Alison and two sons Ian and Paul. He will be sorely missed by all at Headingley.”

Former Sri Lanka cricketer and SLC president Ian Pieris died on Friday at the age of 82 after a long illness

Sa'adi Thawfeeq02-Jan-2016Former Sri Lanka cricketer and SLC president Ian Pieris died on Friday at the age of 82 after a long illness. His funeral took place in Colombo on Saturday.Pieris served as the president of the SLC on two occasions. His first term, in 1989, lasted just four months and the second, in 1990, for one year.In his first term, Pieris did not see eye to eye with the board’s executive committee on the need to follow the instructions of the sports minister Nanda Mathew, and subsequently resigned on principle. During his second term, Pieris, along with the secretary S Skandakumar, did a lot of ground work to get international tours started to Sri Lanka.Pieris also had a distinguished cricket career playing as a top-order batsman for S. Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia, and as a right-arm opening bowler for Singhalese Sports Clumb, Cambridge University and All-Ceylon (as the national team was then known).While at school, Pieris made his international debut when he was picked to play against Lindsay Hassett’s Australia team in 1953. Pieris later joined SSC, but one of his ambitions was to play on the hallowed turf at Lord’s.During his three-year stint at Cambridge University from 1956, Pieris teamed up with the likes of Bob Barber and Roger Prideaux, who later went on to play for England, and Ian McLachlan, who played for Australia.Pieris’ best contribution for his country was as a batsman at No. 11, when he scored 46 not out in an entertaining last-wicket partnership of 110 in 53 minutes with Neil Chanmugam in an unofficial Test against West Indies at the P Sara Oval in March 1967. Recalling that innings, Pieris had said: “I was angry with the captain, the selectors and with everybody because I was sent to bat at no. 11. I felt that there were many who were sent before me. I was so angry I thought to myself that I am going to show these chaps that I can bat. Fortunately for me, Neil also stuck there. That’s how I scored 46 not out, fueled in cold fury.”Apart from cricket, Pieris also played golf and tennis, but was forced to stay away from active sports in 2003 because of a back problem which continued to plague him till his death.

BCCI treasurer Ravi Savant is the first board official to speak out against MS Dhoni’s possible conflict of interest, saying the India captain should immediately disassociate himself from the sports management company

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jun-2013The new BCCI treasurer Ravi Savant is the first board official to speak out against MS Dhoni’s possible conflict of interest, saying the India captain should immediately disassociate himself from the sports management company that manages him and a few other India players.”Dhoni should immediately disassociate himself from the management firm while he is captain,” Savant told NDTV. “Dhoni should be given a notice for conflict of interest if this was not part of his contract earlier.”The new BCCI secretary Sanjay Patil, however, said the board was not going to act immediately. “Whatever Mr Savant has said is his personal opinion and the board has nothing to do with it,” he said. “The board has no intention to send any letter to either Dhoni or any other cricketer with the Champions Trophy going on. There was no discussion on this issue at the working committee meeting.”On Monday, the BCCI stand-in chief Jagmohan Dalmiya said the board would look into the issue involving Dhoni and Rhiti Sports Management Pvt Ltd, but only after the ongoing Champions Trophy in England.”I don’t want to disturb the team during the Champions Trophy. I gain nothing by doing that,” Dalmiya had following the BCCI’s emergent working committee meeting in Delhi. “We have taken note of the issue. We are looking into it but we are not going to hound someone.”The issue centres around Dhoni’s involvement with Rhiti Sports Management Pvt Ltd, the company that manages his commercial interests and those of some other India players such as Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja, and looks after Chennai Super Kings’ marketing. Dhoni had owned 15% stake in the company for a little over one month earlier this year, meaning that, at least on paper, he was India captain with a say in the selection of players managed by the company he co-owned, and a possible share in the profits that their endorsements yielded.According to a statement issued by Rhiti Sports, the shares issued to Dhoni were bought back the following month, and the transaction was only to clear some of the company’s dues. “As on date, MSD holds no shareholding in Rhiti Sports Management (P) Ltd. However, it is made clear that shareholding was allotted to MSD on 22.03.2013 only to secure certain old outstandings which were due for more than one year,” the statement, signed by Rhiti Sports’ chairman and managing director Arun Pandey, said. “Further, the payments were cleared in April 2013 and the shareholding was transferred back to promoter of the company on 26.04.2013.”1445 GMT This story has been updated to include the quote from BCCI treasurer Ravi Savant

A potential side injury to Lancashire captain Glen Chapple added to another difficult day for the champions, as Warwickshire reached 289 for 4

Jon Culley at Edgbaston16-May-2012
ScorecardVarun Chopra made his second hundred of the season•PA Photos

After losing the three matches of their opening five least badly affected by the weather, the last thing Lancashire need is to lose their captain, talisman and lead bowler, all three of which descriptions apply to Glen Chapple.At the end of an opening day demanding the selfless commitment to the cause that has become his speciality, Chapple left the field early complaining of discomfort in his left side. “He’s had a bit of pain and he has had it iced but you never know with these things,” the Lancashire coach, Peter Moores, said. “He could wake up in the morning and it won’t be there or he’ll be stiff as a board. We’re hoping it’s nothing serious. Sides are a nightmare for bowlers. If it’s a bad one it could be six or seven weeks.”Lancashire are not short of seam bowlers. Although Tom Smith is currently sidelined, Kyle Hogg and Saj Mahmood offer experienced back-up and the arrival of Ajmal Shahzad from Yorkshire has provided Moores with an unexpected asset. The immediate problem, though, is Chapple’s fitness for the remainder of this match. Neither Hogg nor Mahmood is playing, Lancashire having chosen to play with two spinners. Shahzad could face an early test of his stamina as much as his discipline.Moores can rightly claim ‘so far, so good’ with regard to the latter. The England fast bowler’s move across the Pennines came amid accusations that he did not follow team orders playing for Yorkshire, suggesting that whoever decided they could benefit from his undoubted talent might face a challenge in making it work in their favour.”I take people as I find them and he has been great so far,” Moores said. “He is a high-energy bloke who wants to get stuck in and play some cricket. He has settled in really well, the lads have enjoyed having him around. You’ve seen him today, he has run in hard and chucked himself around in the field. He has always been that sort of cricketer and hopefully it is a good move for him and a good move for us.”You have all sorts of different players in a team but he has the energy and enthusiasm you want in a fast bowler. What has been impressive both here and at Hove last week on his debut is that he has run in hard, put a lot of balls in the right areas and asked a lot of questions. He deserved his wicket and on another day could have had more.”Shahzad was impressive enough, bowling the out-of-form Warwickshire captain, Jim Troughton, for the latest in a sequence of low scores, and having Varun Chopra dropped on 51, which was a costly mistake by Stephen Moore at second slip given that the opener more than doubled that score. And Moore was right to contend that, on a flat wicket, to have kept the home side to below three runs per over was a good effort.But there was no escaping the conclusion that two of the three sessions were won by Warwickshire and the last one was no worse than shared. Chopra and Ian Westwood both played exceptionally well against the new ball, judiciously leaving such threatening deliveries as they could safely avoid, and punishing the bad ones efficiently. Chopra, making his second century of the season, was especially good on the eye when he could cut or drive.Their partnership of 168 is the biggest opening partnership in Division One so far and Warwickshire’s biggest since they put on 202 together against Somerset at Edgbaston last July, when Westwood made a century. He looked set for another one this time and cursed himself when he missed out, pushing at a ball outside off stump from Luke Procter and edging to first slip.Chopra completed his, after a couple of handsome boundaries in the 90s, from 218 balls, but he too would have wished for a more glorious ending. On 113, having perhaps begun to feel that Lancashire’s two spinners were starting to tie him down, he went after Simon Kerrigan with an ungainly heave and was caught at midwicket.Kerrigan was Lancashire’s matchwinner at Edgbaston last season, taking 5 for 7 in the second innings, he and Gary Keedy sharing eight wickets for nine runs as Warwickshire were bowled out for 97, handing Lancashire a victory that ultimately decided the title. If Chapple’s injury is serious, they will have important work to do again.For the moment, though. Warwickshire will fancy themselves for revenge at the double, having beaten Lancashire at Liverpool impressively last month. Their early season form, comprising three wins from four matches, has established them as favourites to take Lancashire’s crown. The loss of Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott to England, moreover, is balanced by the return in this match of Chris Woakes, fit again after his ankle injury.Warwickshire slipped from 224 for 1 to 246 for 4 during Lancashire’s best phase of the day. Kerrigan had Will Porterfield caught at slip before Chopra holed out, and then, when the second new ball was taken, Shahzad bowled Troughton. But late runs for Darren Maddy and Tim Ambrose kept the momentum with Warwickshire.