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ScorecardAlan Richardson took his 19th first-class five-wicket haul•PA Photos

The bottom two sides in the County Championship crossed swords at cloudy Canterbury where 14 wickets fell during a poor opening day’s cricket between Kent and Worcestershire.Alan Richardson bagged 5 for 41 as basement hosts Kent were skittled for 159 inside 51.2 overs, but the eighth-placed visitors also struggled in reaching 105 for 4 – to go into day two trailing by 54.Without a win from their opening three matches, Kent got off to a reasonable start at 35 without loss and having been invited to bat first by the winless visitors. But Rob Key’s decision to shoulder arms against the naggingly accurate Richardson gifted him his first wicket as the ball jagged in to peg back Key’s off stump and send Kent into tailspin that saw them lose all 10 wickets inside the next 40 overs.Richardson removed both Brendan Nash and Michael Powell for ducks. Nash caught at second slip off a leg-cutter and Powell held at third slip after Gareth Andrew parried the initial chance in the gully. Richardson took a breather after an excellent opening burst of 10-6-9-3 and though the floodlights came on soon afterwards, Kent’s situation dulled further.Ben Harmison, on his season’s first Championship appearance, clipped uppishly off his legs to be caught at midwicket and Darren Stevens also played across the line to fall lbw to Andrew.Kent’s capitulation gathered momentum after lunch as they lost their next three wickets for four runs in the space of six deliveries. Andrew skittled Geraint Jones for 16 then snared home skipper James Tredwell leg before five balls later, winning the appeal despite Tredwell’s big push forward in defence.Opener Sam Northeast square drove Andrew through cover point to post a 97-ball 50 with eight boundaries – his first half-century of the championship summer – only to be caught behind without addition when Richardson returned for a second spell.Kent saved some pride with a ninth-wicket stand worth 43 between Mark Davies and Matt Coles, who made 21 from No. 9, that ended when Coles swished across the line to depart leg before to Jack Shantry.Davies continued to hit out, clipping 40 from 51 balls, before slicing an ambitious drive against Richardson high to point to end Kent’s innings and send the players in for tea.With the floodlights still on Worcestershire’s reply began, but they too were soon in trouble as Shreck pinned Matthew Pardoe leg before when barely shuffling from the crease. Mark Davies accounted for Daryl Mitchell in similar fashion and then re-arranged the stumps of Sri Lankan Test batsman Thilan Samaraweera to leave the visitors in dire straits at 34 for 3.Moeen Ali and Alexei Kervezee dug deep in a fourth-wicket stand worth 70 in 16.1 overs with Ali notching the second 50 of the day from 86 balls and with six fours. But Tredwell’s decision to re-introduce Coles for a second spell paid immediate dividends when he had Ali caught behind from an ill-advised cut shot.

Match facts

April 17, 2013
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

Big picture

Except for their opening match, which they lost narrowly, Mumbai Indians have been living up to their reputation of a big-ticket team. Their opening combination still hasn’t fired but then, these are men who have more than 60,000 international runs between them. If the match against Pune Warriors is any indication, Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting are finding their groove in the IPL.To add to Rajasthan Royals’ worries, Mumbai have perhaps the most formidable middle-order. Between them, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard have scored 479 runs in the team’s four matches and the Royals will have to dismiss them early to dominate the match. In the bowling department, with the hard pitch at Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Mumbai might ponder picking Munaf Patel or Jasprit Bumrah ahead of Pragyan Ojha, adding more power to the pace attack of Lasith Malinga and Mitchell Johnson.Royals have always punched above their weight and their record against Mumbai is not as one-sided as many would presume. Of the nine matches the teams have played, Royals have won four times. Their bowling won them the match against Kings XI Punjab and the onus on restricting Mumbai’s powerhouse batting would again fall on Sreesanth, Siddharth Trivedi, James Faulkner and Kevon Cooper. Their batting in the last two matches – with a habit of losing wickets in clusters – is an area of concern. They made heavy weather of what should have been a straightforward chase against Kings XI and, although they huffed to a six-wicket win, against Mumbai’s better bowling, that kind of batting would mean handing the match to Mumbai on a platter.There’s another undercurrent to this match – Sreesanth and Harbhajan will play against each other for the first time since the former revived the ‘slapgate’ episode on Twitter last week.

Players to watch

James Faulkner was the third-highest wicket-taker in the Sheffield Shield and did well with the bat, too. Watching him bowl to Ponting will be interesting given that the two play for Tasmania. He’s batted at No.6 before and can be a good lower-order batsman for Royals.On a wicket that’s been friendly to pace bowlers, Lasith Malinga will be a handful for the Royals’ batsmen. He’s already on top of the bowling charts in the IPL with 85 wickets, but he doesn’t have a great record against Royals, with seven wickets from seven matches at an average of 25.71. This match is a chance to change that statistic.

Stats and Trivia

• Rohit Sharma has scored the most runs for Mumbai against Royals. In 10 matches, he has scored 302 runs at an average of 33.55.
• Royals’ wicketkeepers Sanju Samson and Dishant Yagnik are ranked second behind MS Dhoni in the list of wicketkeepers with the most dismissals in an innings in this season of the tournament.
• Royals have won 21 of their 31 home matches, a victory percentage of 67%. In the history of the IPL, that’s second only to Chennai Super Kings’ home record of 25 wins from 38 matches.

Quotes

“We have been banking on our medium pacers… We hope they give us early break throughs and we are able to capitalise on it.”

Australian cricket’s next television deal may ban rights holders from the kinds of in-broadcast betting infomercials currently peddled by Channel Nine, the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has said.The Bet365 online gambling firm is a prominent presence at Australian grounds through dual deals with CA and Channel Nine. But Sutherland conceded Thursday’s Australian Crime Commission (ACC) revelations of the links between performance-enhancing drug use, organised crime and betting corruption had forced a reconsideration of how prominently betting agencies and their services were now featured around professional sport.”We will consider that, whether it’s appropriate or not,” Sutherland said of the current betting inserts into Channel Nine’s coverage. “As it is, there are certain things we have spoken to Nine about in terms of the way in which that’s presented; it’s not within play, it’s separate, it’s in breaks and technically they’re allowed to make choices about who they promote and what organisations endorse their products in those breaks.”There is no doubt that there will be a greater level of scrutiny and question marks about that. We’ll make our decisions about that in time.”There is also a review of the interactive gaming act being undertaken by the federal senator, Stephen Conroy, which may yet place tighter controls on the advertising and “product-placement” of gambling firms within sporting broadcasts. CA’s television rights deal expires at the season’s end, with the Seven Network expected to make a significant play to wrest Australian coverage of the game from Channel Nine.Despite the game’s long and chequered history of underhanded links with gambling, betting firms have seldom been more prominent than Bet365 currently is. The relationship begs the question: how does Cricket Australia set the boundaries on bookies’ involvement in cricket when its boundary rope bears the logo of a betting agency?Nevertheless, Sutherland said the commercial arrangements presently struck between CA and betting firms provided a major deterrent for corruption in the form of the information shared between each party, the better to pick up unusual trends or financial relationships that contravene the rules.”I think that it’s a real positive,” Sutherland said. “The level of connection between the sports and the license betting operators is a real gain in an integrity sense, because what we have is an ability to control the types of bets the license betting operators take on cricket.”On top of that they are compelled to share information with us at any stage that we have cause for investigation on suspicious activity around cricket betting, and that wouldn’t otherwise be the case. So if you didn’t have those integrity arrangements with the betting companies, you wouldn’t have that access to information – that is a level of protection that we are afforded, and in other parts of the world it just doesn’t take place.”Though Sutherland is the chairman of COMPPS, the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports, the ACC investigation did not uncover specific examples of wrongdoing in cricket, which has had its nose bloodied many times before by issues of corruption. Sutherland said findings about the link between drug use and coercion towards match-fixing had been revelatory for him, and further encouragement to ensure all sports worked together to maintain their integrity.”They did a whole lot of investigations and investigations led them down various paths, and the paths they went down didn’t cover cricket,” Sutherland said. “I’m not here telling you cricket doesn’t have a problem. Every sport has a problem and we have to address that by ensuring we have the hardest possible anti-corruption measures within our integrity unit. So that’s the step up we’re going to take.”The pleasing thing out of all this [is that] we’re not, as a sport, going to be operating in isolation on this; we’re going to be doing it in [conjunction] with government and all the other sports, and have a national integrity unit to share information and all these things. So people who hop from one sport to another and try and corrupt people or games or whatever, there’s a heightened awareness of who they are and what they are doing.”

Cri-zelda Brits, the former South Africa women’s captain, will return to the international stage for the tour to West Indies later this month which is part of the team’s preparation for the Women’s World Cup in India.Brits, 29, took an indefinite break from international cricket last year to focus on her off-field profession after she was promoted to a manager with her company. Now, with the World Cup around the corner, Brits is excited about her return.”I’m really happy to be back,” he said. “This is a very exciting time for me and I’m really looking forward to representing my country again. This break served to show me how much I love the game and how much I’ve missed playing international cricket. I can’t wait to get into get on the field in St Kitts and do what I was born to do.”Brits made her debut against India in 2002 and initially played for more than a decade during which time she gained 57 ODI caps. She has also played four Tests and 17 Twenty20s.Hilton Moreeng, the coach, said: “It’s a pleasure to see the return of an experienced player like Cri-zelda, I’m certain she’ll have a positive influence on the side. I’m confident about the team we’ve chosen, it’s a really good mixture of youth and experience and I’m happy with the depth in the side.”We’re excited about going to the West Indies and to face some tough competition. This is the best preparation for the World Cup that we could ask for and we look forward to our arrival and getting our campaign started.”The squad includes two debutants, Savanna Cordes and Elrisa Theunissen, after they impressed in CSA Women’s Provincial League.South Africa leave for St Kitts on December 28 for their series which will take place from January 7-15. They will finish off with a two-match T20 series before departing for the World Cup in India.Squad Mignon du Preez, Susan Benade, Cri-zelda Brits, Trisha Chetty, Savanna Cordes, Dinesha Devnarain, Shandré Fritz, Marizanne Kapp, Dané van Niekerk, Marcia Letsoalo, Sunette Loubser, Yolandi Potgieter, Chloe Tryon, Elrisa Theunissen

Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar have yet to experience a Test victory when they have bowled in tandem for England, but after sharing nine India first-innings wickets at the Wankhede they remain hopeful that they can finally put that right at the eighth attempt.Swann took three of the last four India wickets to fall on the second day in Mumbai, including his 200th Test wicket, providing much-needed support for Panesar at a time when India seemed to be taking the game away from England. Instead, the game is a tight one with England, 178 for 2 at the close of the second day, trailing by 149.”We love playing together but our record as a team hasn’t been that successful when we have done so we are looking to change that,” Swann said. “I’m a big advocate of playing two spinners. I love playing with Monty – I grew up with him at Northamptonshire.”I love it when he takes a wicket. That face like a man possessed when he got Sachin Tendulkar out yesterday – I have never seen a man so wound up in my life.”Swann, who began the series with a 51-over marathon in India’s first innings in Ahmedabad, cannot survive that sort of workload, especially bearing in mind his susceptible elbow, but England need a change in fortune when he teams up with Panesar.In fairness to both, it has been England’s vulnerability when batting against spin, rather than their own bowling limitations, which makes their own record appear such a poor one.Swann prefers the Wankhede track to the one he toiled on at Motera. “Even though there is turn and bounce it is a very nice wicket to bat on,” he said. “It is going to start spinning more but good Test pitches should do that.”This pitch is better to bowl spin on than last week. There is a lot more bounce in the pitch. We are used to more bounce so maybe it evens the teams out a bit. But we are not at a stage of the game where we can say we will win this now. The main thing is we are in a good position in the game.”Swann had a particular reason to be grateful for another partnership – but this time it was two batsmen working in tandem. When Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen reached the close unscathed, with their third wicket stand worth 110 runs, it spared Swann an unexpected nightwatchman’s role.England had kept faith in the job of nightwatchman, they had just replaced the man employed to do it, Jimmy Anderson. With Tim Bresnan, another candidate dropped, Swann, as their most capable lower-order batsman against spin, found the role thrust upon him.”Apart from me having my pads on as nightwatchman it was a very calm changing room,” Swann said. “I don’t know why it was me. I think I lost the toss.”Swann become the first English offspinner to complete 200 Test wickets when he dismissed Harbhajan Singh. Only Derek Underwood lies ahead of him. “Five years ago I wouldn’t have dreamt of taking 200 wickets,” he said. “The change at the top was just at the right time for me.”The change was Duncan Fletcher’s departure as England coach. Swann was never his type. As he relished his 200th wicket, Swann must have been delighted that Fletcher been forced to watch him reach it.

Results from Group A will be watched closely in the latest round of the Ranji Trophy, given the difference between seven of the nine teams that are part of it is a maximum of two points. That’s the margin that separates Mumbai and Bengal ahead of their clash at the Brabourne Stadium on Saturday, and an outright result may trigger a churning in the points table. Not much separates the two protagonists of each side as well, and the sub-plot that is their individual performances will be monitored just as closely as the bigger picture. Rohit Sharma and Manoj Tiwary share much in common as they take on each other, not just as leaders of their respective Ranji teams.Both have played for India but are at the fringes of the country’s Test side; Rohit has been part of the Test squad on two occasions but hasn’t earned a cap, Tiwary never; both have hit a century each in the tournament so far. In the middle of a busy home season that includes a major series against Australia next year, and with India’s current middle order a cause for concern, the Ranji Trophy’s value in pushing their claims for a Test place cannot be overstated.Rohit and Tiwary admit the desire for a Test place remains at the back of their minds, but as senior members of their respective teams they also admit there is a larger responsibility, something that’s prompted them to revisit their individual approach to batting. “When I started I was an aggressive batsman by nature but then I realised I had to curb my instincts because in a days’ match, you have to have patience to score big runs,” Tiwary said at the Brabourne Stadium on Friday. “It can’t just come if you play quickly or take too many risks initially. Being the senior member of the side and a responsible batsman, I try to occupy the crease because all the other batsmen gain a lot of confidence when I am around. It becomes an added responsibility.Rohit said he was enjoying the responsibility of leading the side in Ajit Agarkar’s absence. “It will definitely change my batting responsibilities and approach to the game. I am trying to lead from the front,” he said. “I am getting to know the players better and trying to find out how I can extract more out of them. I am trying to make everyone comfortable.”Added responsibility doesn’t mean I will stop playing my shots. If the ball is there to be hit I will go for it. It doesn’t change my game at all. But I am more careful now.”Mumbai are yet to win a game outright this season and Rohit wants more consistency from his team. “We failed to get an outright victory in the last three games but I feel our bowlers did a good job,” he said. “We played on flat wickets and there wasn’t anything for the bowlers. Restricting Rajasthan to 470, I feel, was commendable because they were 270 for 2 on day one. We came back strongly on the second day but they tried their best. I believe we have to be more consistent and if we manage to do that the results will favour us.”Bengal have lost two of their four games, and are without fast bowler Ashok Dinda, who was named Umesh Yadav’s replacement in the squad for the third Test against England in Kolkata. “He was judged the best bowler on the domestic circuit and with the way he was bowling, we will definitely miss him,” Tiwary said. “But we have a bowler in Shami [Ahmed] who has been bowling really well. He got a hat-trick in the last game, got 11 wickets. Looking at the other bowlers, we have a decent attack. We will play to our strengths and try and attack them.”Tiwary returns to Brabourne Stadium a month after he scored 93 for India A against England XI in their warm-up game ahead of the Test series. “They are the No.2 side in the world, so such an innings gives you a lot of confidence for the following matches. When you face quality bowlers and score against them, that confidence has helped me score even more runs in the few Ranji matches I have played since then.”Tiwary missed Bengal’s previous game due to a wrist injury, but has been cleared to play against Mumbai. Rohit hurt his forearm during training on Friday, but will play the game. For what will be the first Ranji game at the Brabourne Stadium this season, the captains were happy with the pitch, which they said had some grass on it and would assist fast bowlers.

ScorecardNetherlands and the UAE shared seven points each after the Intercontinental Cup match ended in a draw after no play was possible on the fourth day in a rainy Deventer. The result meant that both teams are now placed in the middle of the table with 30 points each. The highlight of the match was debutant Shahbaz Bashir’s century on the third day which helped Netherlands score 308 runs.The two teams will play two ODIs – Rotterdam on July 21 and Deventer on July 23 – but the possibility of rain being a factor remains high after two full days were lost in Deventer.

Elise Lombard, the chief executive of South Africa’s Titans franchise, died on Thursday after a sudden heart attack. Lombard was the only female chief executive in the country’s cricket administration and had been in charge of the Northerns Cricket Union, which amalgamated with Easterns to form the franchise in 2004, for 30 years.During her time at the helm, Lombard was involved with the development of SuperSport Park in Centurion into a Test venue and presided over the most successful franchise in South African domestic cricket. Titans have won more trophies than any other franchise and have qualified for the upcoming Champions League T20, which will be hosted in South Africa. Lombard was involved with the organisation of that event.”This has come as a huge blow to all of us and one that will be felt by the entire CSA family throughout the country,” Jacques Faul, the Cricket South Africa acting CEO, said. “During her time in office she turned the Easterns-Titans franchise into one of the powerhouses in the land and she contributed enormously to the financial well-being of the game.”Lombard was the guest speaker at CSA’s ladies’ function on Wednesday, an event held to commemorate National Women’s Day on August 9, the day she died.Tributes poured in from around the cricketing world, including from some of the players she first administered. Steve Elworthy, now director of marketing and communication at the ECB, posted on Twitter. “Terrible news, just heard Elise Lombard, Titans CEO while I played 14 yrs, passed away, condolences to the family – very sad news”.Pat Symcox, the former South Africa offspinner, also remembered Lombard as signing his first bonus – the equivalent of just over US$0.50 in today’s terms. “RIP Elise Lombard! what a lady since my debut for Northerns in 1983!Signed my first bonus cheque that season… R4.63!Great loss to SA cricket.”Current players also sent their messages of condolence such as Faf du Plessis: “So sad 2 hear about titans ceo elise lombard’s death. was an amazing woman who did so much for 4 the titans and always with a smile on her face.”

The ICC has approved a six-match Twenty20 series between Pakistan and Australia, which, if it goes ahead will be the longest bilateral T20 series ever staged by international sides. The decision has improved chances of the series being staged, most likely in the period between August 22 and September 10.The PCB had deployed a four-man team, including officials from its finance and legal departments, to examine the possibility of staging a series in the UAE. It was originally keen to lock in a series of three T20s and three ODIs in August, but the extreme heat at that time of year raised serious concerns from Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association.The ICC has a rule limiting the number of matches in a bilateral T20 series to three, but countries can ask for special dispensation to hold a longer series in exceptional circumstances. The PCB’s struggle to find a suitable venue for an ODI series in August prompted the proposal for a six-match T20 series.”The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) requested support for the flexibility to stage a six-match Twenty20 International series against Australia potentially in the United Arab Emirates in August,” the ICC said in a statement. “This request required a special dispensation from the CEC and then the ICC Board as the current regulation permits only three T20I in a series.”Because of the extreme daytime heat in the UAE at that time of the year, the CEC raised no objections to the principle of a six-match T20I series replacing the scheduled series of three ODIs and three T20Is should the PCB elect to make that switch.”A PCB official told ESPNcricinfo: “The ICC’s approval has made things easier for us. There were many issues apart from the weather but now we can move in one direction and will announce our decision shortly.”A Cricket Australia spokesman said on Monday afternoon CA was still waiting for further details of the series from the PCB. Paul Marsh, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers’ Association, said the ICC’s decision was sensible given the extreme heat that players would be forced to play in if 50-over games were scheduled, while T20s could start in relatively cooler conditions later at night.”It’s a good commonsense decision given the circumstances,” Marsh told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s not a perfect situation playing in the UAE at that time of year but we understand the limitations of not being able to play in Pakistan, so it’s a good compromise given the circumstances.”A number of three-match T20 series have been held between international sides in the past, but never have four or more games been approved by the ICC.The six games will provide an excellent opportunity for both sides to finalise their preparations for the ICC World T20, which takes place in Sri Lanka in September.