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Cameron White’s return to the Australia team can be likened to that of the ageless Brad Hogg – a nod to experience over youth and to suitability for a very specific task, the wresting of the World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka in September.Not given to euphemism or evasion when he speaks publicly about the composition of his teams, the national selector John Inverarity said candidly that White had beaten the young New South Wales allrounder Steve Smith for what was most likely the final place in the squad. He cited White’s greater experience – and recent strong touch – as the major reasons.”I’d say Steve Smith was on the cusp. In the end, Cameron White was preferred to Steve because of Cameron’s very good form in the IPL and then again he played for Northants in England and he had some very good innings there,” Inverarity said in Perth. “He’s in very good form. When he’s at his best, he’s a very destructive player. He’s in good nick at the moment and we’re really hoping he’ll perform.”I think Cameron came back into the squad because we thought in a pressure situation with his experience, he might be better than the younger ones. So that was a factor there but generally we’ve just looked for the best balanced side and the best cricketers.”It was only last summer that White lost his captaincy of the T20 team and his place in the squad altogether, towards the end of a prolonged run of poor batting form and scarcely any bowling. His role in Sri Lanka appears likely to be lower down the order than in the past, providing late innings fireworks and the occasional spell of his flat wrist-spin on the expected low, slow surfaces.”It’s up to George Bailey, the captain, to work out the batting order but I think it’s likely to be Matthew Wade probably at six, could well be Cameron White at seven and then either Glenn Maxwell or Dan Christian at eight,” Inverarity said. “So there’s a lot of depth and there’s three left-handers in the top seven so the left-right combination which makes it more difficult for the opposing bowlers.”There’s a lot of potential there. In any form of cricket whether it’s Test or T20, wickets in hand is always a good thing so you’ve just got to get that judgment right. Cameron in the games up in Darwin also bowled well and got some wickets up there. He’s just a little bit like [Shahid] Afridi with the spinners that don’t turn a lot but are often quite difficult to get away. He could be handy.”Inverarity made it patently clear in announcing his squad for the tournament that there was no real emphasis on the future in this squad. It is a 15-man group compiled entirely to claim the trophy, and to defy Australia’s lowly ninth ranking in T20 internationals. There will be a contrast, Inverarity noted, with the teams to be chosen for ODI cricket later on, as the panel continues to assess its options for that format’s 2015 World Cup.”This is a marquee series,” Inverarity said. “It is the World Cup, the ICC World T20, so we just picked the best players we could who we think are going to perform best. It will probably be during the ODI games during the Australian summer we’ll be looking more to the future, but in this squad we’re just looking at the next month.”Twenty20 cricket is very unpredictable. It really is. If you had a Wimbledon final and instead of the best of five sets, the best of three, I mean it’s just a reduced package. So yeah, I think we’ve got a very good squad, and a very versatile squad. A lot of bowling and a lot of batting, there’s a lot of strike power there. So we’ve got a good chance. Anything could happen, they’re prepared and certainly giving it their very best.”As for Hogg, Inverarity said he presented an irresistible case for selection during last summer’s BBL and had subsequently backed it up by training and testing very well in comparison to his younger fellow squad members.”Hogg’s done so well. I saw him in the Big Bash last year and he’s very fit, he’s in really good shape and full of enthusiasm as he always is,” Inverarity said. “So we’re hoping he does really well. He’s continued to do well since the Big Bash League in the IPL in the other T20 leagues around the world, he’s done very well.”He doesn’t [look like slowing down]. Not with his enthusiasm, he’s very fit. A lot of testing goes on and he comes out pretty well.”

ScorecardVarun Chopra’s unbeaten half-century helped Warwickshire to victory•PA Photos

Paul Best claimed 3 for 19 on only his second Friends Life t20 appearance to help Warwickshire to a comfortable seven-wicket success over Gloucestershire at Bristol.The home side could post only 122 for 7 after winning the toss, Dan Housego top-scoring with an unbeaten 59 off 61 balls and left-arm spinner Best proving the most penetrating of the Warwickshire bowlers.The result was never in serious doubt when the visitors replied as Varun Chopra (56 not out) and skipper Jim Troughton shared a second-wicket stand of 69 in 12 overs and victory was sealed with 11 balls to spare.Muttiah Muralitharan was not surprisingly the pick of the home attack, conceding only 19 from his four overs – despite being hit for six by Chopra – and taking a wicket on a slow pitch that ensured scant entertainment.Gloucestershire never recovered from a bad start to their innings. Benny Howell was run out for a duck after playing the second ball of the match to Best at point, who scored a direct hit at the bowler’s end.Housego was the only home player to adjust to a difficult pitch, accumulating his runs steadily before reaching his fifty with a six over midwicket off Jeetan Patel. By then he had faced 57 balls and struck three fours.The next highest score was Ian Cockbain’s 13 as the Warwickshire bowlers exerted a stranglehold, helped in no small measure by the lack of pace in the wicket.Steffan Piolet, Chris Woakes and Keith Barker, who conceded 26 runs, all bowled economically in support of 21-year-old Best, whose victims were Alex Gidman, James Fuller and Ed Young.Warwickshire lost Rikki Clarke for 9 to a brilliant boundary catch by Howell diving forward at deep square-leg off the bowling of James Fuller. But Chopra and Troughton were then able to bat without taking risks to put their side in a winning position.By the time Troughton was caught and bowled by Muralitharan only 38 runs were needed in more than six overs.Darren Maddy did not last long and was seen off by Ed Young, but Chopra continued his good form in the competition, reaching his fifty off 47 balls, with 4 fours and a six, and he struck thumped Fuller to the boundary to seal an ultimately comfortable win.

ScorecardMarcus North’s first century for Glamorgan helped the team take control on the second day of their County Championship Division Two clash with Leicestershire at Cardiff.North, who scored a century in the Ashes Test at the same ground in 2009, was in sparkling form and struck 116 as Glamorgan reached 302 for five to claim a 31-run lead after Leicestershire were all out for 271.He had previously scored three half-centuries in four innings for the county and shared in 103 and 91-run partnerships with Gareth Rees (66) and Ben Wright (44) respectively, with Leicestershire captain Ramnaresh Sarwan using eight bowers. Glamorgan’s overseas star was out just two overs before the close, with his 148-ball knock containing 11 fours.Rees and Will Bragg stand of 75 had earlier broken the record for Glamorgan’s best opening partnership of the season – beating the 59 against Derbyshire. They were, however, helped by a number of no-balls sent down by the Leicestershire seamers.But the pair were separated when Bragg gave a sharp catch to Josh Cobb at mid-off off Wayne White, who followed that up by removing Stewart Walters’ off-stump. Rees went on to score his first championship 50 of the season in his 13th innings from 88 balls with seven fours.But after tea Preston Mommsen took a fine diving catch at backward point to remove Rees for 66 off the bowling of Robbie Joseph. The Rees dismissal did not concern North who went on to complete a classy century from 120 balls with 10 fours. He struck the last two of those consecutively to go to three figures.Wright and North were then caught behind off Nathan Buck and Claude Henderson respectively, which saw Glamorgan employ nightwatchman Dean Cosker for the final 12 balls of the dayLeicestershire’s first innings lasted only another 22.5 overs of the second morning. After resuming on 199 for 6 it took 18 balls for the visitors to register their first batting point.But the seventh-wicket partnership looked well set until both White and Mommsen were both out with the score on 241. White holed out to Huw Waters at mid-off to give Cosker a second wicket, while Mommsen was bowled by Jim Allenby, who then trapped Henderson, but not before the South African had hit a six off Cosker.Last man Buck lasted only five balls. He was bowled by Cosker missing the ball with a big swish of the bat, leaving Joseph stranded on 18.

Andrew Gale, captain of a Yorkshire side still seeking a first championship win of the season, has earmarked his county’s match against Gloucestershire at Bristol on May 9 as Mitchell Starc’s debut for the county.The arrival of Starc, one of Australia’s up-and-coming fast bowlers, is eagerly awaited by Yorkshire as they seek a greater cutting edge to an attack that has so far failed to impress after relegation to the Second Division.Gale expects Cricket Australia to provide Starc’s No Objection Certificate imminently. “Hopefully, Mitchell’s NOC will come through in the next day or so,” he said. “He will certainly add further quality to the side. Fingers crossed, he will be available for the Gloucestershire match. It’s just a question now of sorting out the paperwork.”Starc, a 22-year-old left-armer, would then fly from Sydney on May 4, subject to receiving his visa in time. He returned to Australia’s side for the final Test against West Indies in Dominica and now has taken ten wickets at an average of 32.50 in four Tests.Kent, who have made a strong start to the season after finishing second bottom last season, proved the latest Division Two side to trouble Yorkshire in a rain-hit match at Canterbury, adding to the disgruntlement of Yorkshire members.Some Yorkshire members have been heard to complain that Gale’s Yorkshire side spends too much time fielding with their hands in their pockets. There is good reason for that: with temperatures as low as 5C, Yorkshire have been using hand-warmers.

Of all the people in New Zealand unhappy to see Tim Southee dropped from the national squad, Grant Bradburn, his coach at Northern Districts, is perhaps the most disappointed. Southee was cut from the ongoing second Test against South Africa after a poor performance in Dunedin and was sent back to play first-class cricket to rediscover confidence and work on his action.”He [Southee] is disappointed that he has been dropped and we’re gutted for him too,” Bradburn told ESPNcricinfo. “We push them out of our environment and we take it personally when players come back. Our mission is to get them through our team, equip them with all the skills to go play international cricket and we don’t want to see them back.”Southee admitted he was rushing through his bowling action and told New Zealand radio station that it had caused the ball to go along the wicket, and not into it, making it easier for batsmen to play him. To rectify that Southee will concentrate on getting his front arm higher up for longer in the Plunket Shield. Bradburn said the best way to get Southee bowling like he used to was to remind him of how he was able to succeed in the past. Southee took 7 for 37 in a match against Wellington in November 2011 and that may be what Bradburn will ask him to remember.”We’ll be taking Tim back to the times where he has bowled well for us and just opening his eyes to remembering those key things that he does,” Bradburn said. “There are three or four key things that all key players do when they are playing well. In our environment, we’re really big on analysing more so when they are playing well than when they are not playing well. Too many top-class sportsmen over analyse things when they are not going good, instead of understanding why they perform well and what makes them tick at that level. Those are things we like to highlight for them.”Southee could also get some tough love from his Northern Districts team-mates and the management, something Bradburn believes may do the trick. “Tim will be knocked down into shape,” Bradburn said. “He will probably get the worst job in the team. He’ll be on rubbish duty, which is housekeeping, or he’ll be on the pooch, which is carrying the computer bag around, so he’ll get the worst job. When he comes back into our environment, he just gets treated like everyone else. He doesn’t get any special treatment. The guys will bring him down to earth and put him in his place.”Northern Districts are due to play Auckland in a Plunket Shield game from March 18.

Scorecard The second day followed the same trend as the first, as 15 wickets fell in the day. However, Netherlands are now firmly in the driver’s seat and will look to wrap up the match early on the third day. They are four wickets away from their first victory in the competition.At the start of the day, the game was in the balance with Netherlands struggling at 138 for 8, a lead of 142. But a late charge by their lower order took the game away from Afghanistan. In what has turned out to be a low-scoring game, a half-century by Tom Heggelman carried Netherlands past 100. A spirited fightback by Afghanistan bowlers then brought them back in the game as five wickets fell for 28 runs. Netherlands were left tottering at 138 for 8. It was then that Peter Borren and Pieter Seelaar, both of them scoring 43, surprised Afghanistan to take the score to 228. Izatullah Dawlatzai took five wickets in his spell after picking up four in the first innings.Afghanistan came in to bat needing solid performances from their top order in their chase of 233. However, they continued in the same vein as in the first innings as they lost three wickets by the 12th over. Asghar Stanikzai provided some resistance as he shared a 53-run partnership with Nawroz Mangal, the highest in the game, and an intriguing third day looked a possibility. However, the last eight overs of the day saw three wickets go down, including that of Mangal. Seelaar took all the three wickets.

New Zealand Cricket has confidently dismissed suggestions in the that New Zealand players had agreed to meet with a bookmaker to fix matches. The newspaper, on Sunday, released the results of an investigation it had conducted into fixing and quoted an Indian bookmaker as saying he had turned down the chance to work with New Zealand players because it was not worthwhile with more lucrative match-fixing opportunities on offer in the IPL.”We have complete confidence that the claims made are baseless and have no credibility,” NZC chief executive David White said in a statement responding to enquiries about the article. “The sources are not credible and the accusations are unsubstantiated making them irresponsible, damaging and untrue.”The integrity and reputation of the game is paramount and NZC have absolute confidence that our players share these ideals. We have been in contact with the ICC anti-corruption unit and this is now a matter for them to follow up on.”The article claims that their undercover reporters’ meetings with alleged bookmakers has revealed that fixing is still rife in cricket despite the recent imprisonments of four cricketers for spot-fixing. The ICC has routinely promised that it will investigate the claims uncovered by the newspaper’s investigation.Edited by Dustin Silgardo

For a tournament that comprises four games between five entities called ‘zones’, making them assemble teams that are together for barely three weeks, the Duleep Trophy still attracts its share of attention. It is perceived by some as having become irrelevant in a packed domestic season; others say it is still the gold standard for domestic cricket. It is the only tournament in which the Kookaburra ball is used, as opposed to the SG which is the norm in India.One thing is clear though. The Duleep Trophy has been, and largely still is, a showcase of the country’s best domestic talent. The finalists this time, Central Zone and East Zone, have their share of fringe India players like Wriddhiman Saha and Piyush Chawla, and past stars like Mohammad Kaif.They have the first-class season’s top three wicket-takers – Ashok Dinda, TP Sudhindra and Pankaj Singh. They have the top two run-getters – Robin Bist and Vineet Saxena. A couple of national selectors are expected to watch the game.This is the final chance for Test hopefuls to get noticed before the season descends into a spate of state one-dayers, zonal one-dayers, state Twenty20s … all climaxing into the clutter of the IPL.Both sides are banking on their fast bowlers, with the grassy Indore pitch looking a complete contrast to the lifeless strip that made for a sleepy Ranji Trophy final in Chennai last month. Chawla, the Central Zone captain, remarked on how green the surface appeared – an unusual sight in India, except when a desperate home team dishes out green tops in search of an outright win.Indications were that the grass would stay tomorrow. It did for the Ranji quarter-final between Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai in January. The visitors saw the grass, the overcast conditions and the cold weather, and chose to bowl. Fifteen wickets fell on the first day, two on the second, six on the third, and one on the fourth. Mukesh Sahni, the MP coach, had said then that despite all the green cover, the pitch tends to ease out on the second day, and becomes good for batting. The surface was looking dry beneath the grass, with the afternoon sun beating down hard.Samundar Singh Chauhan, the curator, said that the pitch for this game had more live grass compared to the one for the Ranji quarter-final. Seemingly, Central – who have several MP players for whom this is a home ground – would bowl if they won the toss.Chawla said that this being a five-day game, sides always had a chance to come back even if they did poorly in the first innings. A five-day game also leaves a side with a huge disadvantage if one of the bowlers gets injured, which is why Central were worried about the fitness of Pankaj.The fast bowler was feeling stiffness in his shoulder, though he practised without any visible discomfort. Chawla said Pankaj had a 70% chance of playing; Rituraj Singh will take his Rajasthan team-mate’s place if Pankaj is ruled out tomorrow morning.East were also hit by an injury to one of their fast bowlers. Debashish Mohanty, the East coach, said that Abu Nechim had been ruled out. One of Bengal’s Shami Ahmed or Tripura’s Rana Dutta will replace Nechim.Mohanty was understandably confident about his side’s chances, with East having beaten West outright by five wickets in the quarter-final and then North on the first-innings lead in the semi-finals.East have historically been the weakest side in the Duleep Trophy and are the only zone never to have won the tournament. Of the four other zones, Central have won the least number of times. Both sides would feel this is their best chance.

An inexperienced Sussex side, victors against Netherlands in the opening game of Caribbean T20 found the going tougher against Jamaica in Antigua when they crashed to a 50-run defeat.Jamaica’s second straight win in Group B owed much to Nkruma Bonner, who struck an unbeaten 66 off 57 balls to set up a competitive score of 152 for 5. Bonner struck seven fours and a six in his knock and was part of a 51-run opening stand with Kennar Lewis. Sussex did fight back with a couple of quick wickets but important contributions of 20 and 24 from Carlton Baugh and Andre Russell respectively, in the company of Bonner, shored up the innings.Most heartening for Sussex was the form of their inexperienced leg-spinner Will Beer. Beer has been largely protected from limited-overs cricket but he was summoned back from grade cricket in Adelaide for the tournament and he turned in a parsimonious spell of 1 for 13 in four overs and was also unfortunate to have Bonner dropped in the deep.Sussex began brightly, reaching 49 for the loss of Matt Machan, run out without scoring, but after Chris Nash was bowled by legspinner Odean Brown for 26 they subsided rapidly to 73 for nine with a stream of rash strokes against the spinners. The last-wicket pair of Amjad Khan and Chris Liddle delayed the inevitable with a stand of 29.Brown picked up three wickets and Krishmar Santokie, Nikita Miller and Marlon Samuels grabbed two each. Only three Sussex batsmen reached double figures. Sussex’s next fixture is against Combined Campuses and Colleges, also at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, on Saturday.Netherlands were steamrolled by Barbados in Antigua, losing by 10 wickets after being bowled out for 73. Offspinner Ashely Nurse picked up three wickets and was supported by Tino Best, Carlos Brathwaite and Sulieman Benn, each of whom made breakthroughs and bowled economically. The top score in the Netherlands innings was 16, by Michael Swart. The Barbados openers just took 7.3 overs to finish the game off. Dwayne Smith smashed six fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 49 off 27 balls and captain Kirk Edwards chipped in with 22.

Seventeen wickets fell, all to seamers, on a manic first day at the Gohati Cricket Stadium in Swabi that ended with Sialkot on 77 for 7 in response to Abbotabad‘s 97. Seamer Mohammad Imran took 6 for 34 as Abbottabad were bowled out for 97. They were 55 for 7 before a few lower order contributions took them close to three figures. Sialkot would have been satisfied after choosing to field, but their batsmen then suffered a similar plight, as Abbottabad’s new-ball pair of Ahmed Jamal and Ikramullah Khan took seven wickets between them.Left-arm quick Wahab Riaz picked up six wickets as Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited reached 239 for 7 against National Bank of Pakistan at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Riaz struck early blows to reduce ZTBL to 73 for 6 but half-centuries from Yasir Hameed and Haris Sohail helped them make a recovery. Riaz continued to pick up wickets, and three fell in a cluster at the end of the day leaving the match evenly poised.Islamabad ended with the advantage after 18 wickets fell on the first day of their match against Faisalabad at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. The hosts were skittled for 169 but their new-ball pair of Nasrullah Khan and Fakhar Hussain left Faisalabad reeling at 92 for 8 by stumps. Islamabad had been reduced to 119 for 9 before Zohaib Ahmed’s 63 and his 50-run last-wicket stand with Nasrullah Khan got them to 169. The seamers did the damage for Faisalabad with Abdur Rauf and Waqas Maqsood taking three wickets apiece and Naseer Akram picking up four.State Bank of Pakistan shot out Pakistan International Airlines for 137 at the National Ground in Islamabad, and then made a positive start to their response. Kashif Siddiq scored 43 not out to take State Bank to 77 for 2, leaving them 60 runs behind with eight wickets still remaining. PIA slumped to 53 for 4 after being put in, two of those wickets falling by virtue of run-outs. Fahad Iqbal steadied the innings with his 45 but seamer Rizwan Haider and left-arm spinner Hasan Mahmood took three wickets each to get rid of the lower order quickly.A late collapse negated half-centuries from Ahmed Shehzad and Aftab Alam, and Habib Bank Limited reached 241 for 8 after they were put in by Water and Power Development Authority at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Shehzad’s 59 helped Habib Bank get off to a solid start before seamer Imran Khan and left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar began to make inroads. Alam scored 63 but Habib Bank slipped from 184 for 3 to 238 for 8. Babar finished with 4 for 91 from 26 overs.Ahmed Iqbal and Yasir Mushtaq scored half-centuries to help Karachi Blues recover from 68 for 4 to 211 for 5 against Rawalpindi at the National Stadium, Karachi. Iqbal got 54 not out off 179 balls and Mushtaq scored 82 off 141 to take Karachi out of a sticky situation after they had elected to bat.