Pakistan T20 League not to be underestimated - Lorgat

Haroon Lorgat, the former ICC chief executive, has said the value of the upcoming Pakistan Super League (PSL), Pakistan's franchise-based Twenty20 competition, could be in "excess of $100 million". Lorgat, who was involved by the PCB to assist the board in setting up the league, was speaking during a PCB ceremony in Lahore to unveil the logo for the PSL which is scheduled to be launched on March 26 this year.

"People should not underestimate the potential of the Twenty20 league in Pakistan," Lorgat said. "With the rising popularity of T20 cricket, every ICC member country has the right to host its own professional league. Pakistan has done hardwork and I hope with foreign players' participation, perceptions about the country will change. I can see a lot of work has been done in parallel against many odds, but certainly this league will be come into reality shortly."

The PCB announced that each team in the PSL would be allowed to sign a maximum of six overseas players and would include 10 local cricketers plus two emerging players.

The tournament would be played over 15 days between five teams and would involve a total of 23 matches for the first three years. The matches will be played at a single venue, with teams playing each other twice in a league format before the top four teams qualify for semi-finals. The PCB has ambitious plans to expand the league in the fourth year to eight teams and a 59-match tournament.

Although the names of the region/city-based franchises or the list of companies interested in buying these franchises were not revealed, the PCB is hopeful of completing the franchise-auction process and signing a broadcast deal before the end of February.

"A lot of hard work has been put in place to develop the PSL," Zaka Ashraf, the PCB chairman said. "The objective is to recognise the growth of T20 cricket around the world, encourage our cricketers and give them the exposure to the grass-root talent in the country. It will also provide opportunity to foreign players to compete in Pakistan."

Read More..

Plenty of Indian problems to resolve

One of India's major problems in the just-concluded ODI series against Pakistan was the repeated top-order collapses against some high-quality bowling from Junaid Khan and Mohammad Irfan. Even Virat Kohli, who has had as purple a patch in ODIs as anyone has ever had, faltered. Virender Sehwag is already a casualty, and his limited-overs career is at a crossroads, if not an end. Gautam Gambhir's weakness against the moving ball was in the limelight once again, prompting murmurs over his place in the side as well.

India have also only had two 50-run opening stands in 19 ODIs over the past 12 months, something they are trying to fix by bringing in Ajinkya Rahane, who is set for an extended run after an eternity carrying drinks.

"The stats suggest that for quite some time we have not got off to a very good," MS Dhoni said ahead of the first ODI against England in Rajkot. "Yes, the openers have been scoring runs on and off, but we have not been able to get a good partnership between them. One of them has been getting out. We are hoping to get good starts in this series. Jinx [Rahane] is the new opener. He has played on and off and done decently well."

Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh were two others who had series to forget against Pakistan but one thing in favour of some of the struggling batsmen is that Rajkot is synonymous with big runs, regularly in the news for the latest colossal score from Ravindra Jadeja or Cheteshwar Pujara.

India's totals in the previous two ODIs in the city, though at the old Madhavrao Scindia Stadium, are 414 for 7 and 387 for 5. Though Friday's match will be played at the swank new ground in the city's outskirts, that too promises to be full of runs. The last limited-overs tournament played here was the Challenger Trophy, where not only were 300-plus scores the norm, those totals were almost chased down on occasions as well.

The flip side of a flat track is the magnifying lens it puts on bowlers. While the batting is brimful of experience, several of the quick bowlers are in the infancy of their international careers. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was outstanding in his debut Twenty20 in Bangalore last month and sparked plenty of excitement, but at his military-medium pace, on tracks with little movement, he could be in for a difficult time. Shami Ahmed has had only one game so far and Ishant Sharma's propensity to leak runs has meant he hasn't been a regular in the ODI side for nearly three years.

One other plus for India is that Dhoni's personal form was exceptional in the Pakistan series, as it has been for much of his ODI career, providing some welcome respite for the under-fire captain. "I never question my ability… Self-belief is something that's very important. Especially in a team sport, it's important that everybody keeps believing in themselves and understands the roles and responsibilities they've got."

It has been a difficult month for Dhoni, with only two days to digest the morale-sapping Test series defeat to England before shifting his focus to the Twenty20s, two days after which cricketing ties with India's bitterest rivals resumed. Now, just three days after Pakistan left as victors, he's back at the start of a new series. And if he thought the England ODIs would be somewhat low-profile, he would have changed his mind after seeing the thousands who turned up outside the team hotel to catch a glimpse of their stars.

There have been suggestions, including from Rahul Dravid, that perhaps the time has come for Dhoni, who has long performed the triple-role of leader, batsman and wicketkeeper, to give up captaincy in at least one of the formats. It's not an idea Dhoni agrees with though, as of now. "We'll have to wait and watch. It's not something that's on my mind before the start of an important series. We can't be thinking about that now."

The last time India lost a live home ODI against England was way back in 2002, when Andrew Flintoff waved his shirt in celebration at the Wankhede Stadium, an act that was famously echoed by Sourav Ganguly at Lord's the next year. The previous two ODI series in India between the two sides have ended in 5-0 drubbings for England. Alastair Cook has rightly termed his team as underdogs going into the series but India have already seen one proud 28-year-old record fall this season, and have plenty to sort if they aren't to lose another.

Read More..

Harbhajan backs neutral venues for Ranji knockouts

391 overs. 1133 runs. 13 wickets. The summary of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final between Jharkhand and Punjab is more than enough to indicate what kind of wicket was offered for a knock-out game of the premier domestic championship at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur.

And it's not just about Jamshedpur. The numbers in Rajkot and Mumbai - two of the other three quarter-final venues - are also similar, if not worse, in terms of competition between the bat and the ball. This, in a season when the BCCI has issued a diktat to all the state associations for producing 'sporting' tracks.

The only quarter-final that saw a result was, not surprisingly, played at a neutral venue. With England based at the Palam ground in Delhi, Services hosted favourites Uttar Pradesh at the Holkar Stadium in Indore in what turned out to be a fascinating contest with David eventually overcoming Goliath.

If the four quarter-finals were an indication, isn't it high time the BCCI returns to the policy they adopted during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons? That of playing all knockout games at neutral venues, thereby negating any home advantage and reducing the possibility of a flat-bed. Punjab skipper Harbhajan Singh supported the neutral venue theory despite ending up on the better side.

"Yes. Why not? We're playing the premier domestic competition where all the teams have got an advantage of playing at home in the league stages. When it comes to knockout stages, why not have Punjab playing in Mumbai and Mumbai playing in Gujarat and Haryana," Harbhajan said, after Punjab progressed to the semi-final on the basis of the first innings lead against Jharkhand. "It will also be good for the game. Imagine someone like Sachin Tendulkar going and playing in Haryana or in Delhi, people will come to watch and it will be a big thing for the game, so why not!"

The game in Jamshedpur turned out to be a torrid experience for the bowlers. The wicket - which neither offered movement or bounce for seamers nor turn for spinners - surprised Shahbaz Nadeem, the Jharkhand captain. "The two home games we played here, the wicket was so much better. The ball was coming off the deck much quicker and the spinners came into the game on the third and the fourth day. Such kind of a wicket came as a real surprise. It negated all sorts of home advantage we had."

With literally no help from the strip, the bowlers had nothing else to do but "hope" as Harbhajan said. But he expressed his displeasure with some of the umpiring decisions that went against him

"A few decisions didn't go my way and for that I have been fined. Otherwise, I could have had three-four wickets in my account," he said. "I hope that the umpiring standards improve. At least those who are out should be given out. On these kind of wickets, you're going to get a batsman out only once. And if you're not given the wickets you've earned, then perhaps you have to toil for another 20-odd overs."

If Keenan was bad, Khanderi could be worse for Punjab as they prepare for their semi-final against Saurashtra. With Rajkot renowned for flat pitches, Punjab could be in for yet another tough week ahead.

"It (the Rajkot pitch) would be more or less similar to this," Harbhajan said. "Let's hope we get a result-oriented wicket. Whether it's a seaming track or a spinning track, it should produce a result. That too on the fifth day, not the sixth. Sixth day will be like… I don't know. I have never seen it, I have never played it. If there is no result in six days, then what's the point. The best thing is to get a result in five days. It would be better to produce a wicket that produces a result in five days rather than extending the match by another day."

Over to Rajkot!

Read More..

Inexperienced Australia bat at the MCG

Toss Australia chose to bat v Sri Lanka
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

In his first match as the stand-in captain of Australia's one-day side, George Bailey won the toss and chose to bat on a hot day at the MCG. Australia named their team on the eve of the game and there were no last-minute changes, with the debutants Aaron Finch and Phillip Hughes to open and their fellow first-gamer Usman Khawaja to come in at No.3.

It is the first time since 1986 that Australia have fielded so many debutants in a one-day international, and the first time since the days of World Series Cricket that debutants would fill the top three batting positions.

"It's exciting for the whole group," Bailey said. "Three debutants and it's straight to the top of the order for those guys. The word we have really spoken about all week is opportunity. Opportunity for individuals and also as a group, we've been written off in a few circles so it would be nice to prove something and show the depth of Australian cricket."

Sri Lanka named Ajantha Mendis as their lead spinner with Jeevan Mendis as the other main spin option, while Nuwan Kulasekara was included after recovering from injury.

Australia 1 Phillip Hughes, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 George Bailey (capt), 5 David Hussey, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Clint McKay, 11 Xavier Doherty.

Sri Lanka 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 4 Lahiru Thirimanne, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Ajantha Mendis.

Read More..

Gibson in Warwickshire frame

West Indies could be looking for a new head coach after it emerged that Ottis Gibson could be in contention for the role of director of cricket at Warwickshire.

Gibson, who led West Indies to the World Twenty20 in October, is understood to have tired of the politics inherent in Caribbean cricket and is one of more than 100 in contention to succeed Ashley Giles at Edgbaston. Giles left Warwickshire after leading the club to the county championship title in 2012 to take up the role of coach of England's limited-overs teams.

While Gibson has previously intimated his desire to remain with the West Indies team, he is out of contract with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) later this year and, after the CEO Ernest Hilaire quit in September and with the president Julian Hunte due to depart in March, he may feel his future is more secure elsewhere.

Appointed in January 2010, he has suffered public fallouts with such high-profile figures as Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan and endured criticism as various politicians, even prime ministers, in the Caribbean have sought to join the bandwagon. Gibson declined to confirm or deny his interest in the Warwickshire role when contacted by ESPNcricinfo.

Among the other candidates thought to have shown an interest in the Warwickshire job are former New Zealand, Scotland and Kenya coach, Andy Moles, the England bowling coach, David Saker - who has now withdrawn - the former Glamorgan and Bermuda captain, David Hemp, and the ECB's performance director, David Parsons. Dougie Brown and Graeme Welch, who are already on the coaching staff at Edgbaston, have also applied for the role with Welch the man favoured by the Warwickshire dressing room.

Gibson is sure to be considered among the strongest candidates. A former international player, the Barbados-born fast bowler helped Durham to their first silverware in 2007 before being appointed England's bowling coach. He has improved the fitness and discipline of the West Indies squad but, despite some encouraging performances, has been thwarted by the unavailability of senior players and his sometimes troubled relationship with them.

The interest of so many high-profile candidates underlines the attraction of the Warwickshire job. Based at a large, recently redeveloped stadium with excellent facilities, the role pays relatively well and does not require the huge amount of overseas travel involved with an international coaching position. Whether the salary could match the package that Gibson enjoys with West Indies, thought to be around $300,000, is highly debatable, however.

Read More..

ECB launches ticket tout campaign

The ECB, emboldened by a Supreme Court ruling against ticket touts, have launched a poster campaign against the resale of tickets for next summer's Champions Trophy and Ashes series.

Cricket fans could even face the threat of a ban from county grounds if they are caught selling tickets for personal gain during what promises to be a sought-after summer of international cricket.

Auction websites such as Seatwave and Viagogo will also be monitored according to a poster campaign under the slogan: "TOUTS OUT! Where did YOUR ticket come from?" There has already been an unprecedented demand for Ashes tickets this year after England's recent successes.

A recent legal ruling by the Supreme Court promises to work in the ECB's favour. They are entitled to demand from ticketing websites the details of customers who are seeking to profit by reselling their Ashes tickets above face value.

An ECB spokesman said: "We want fans to understand that we are committed to eradicating ticket touting. Fans need to understand that we will make targeted interventions into the market place and will cancel tickets if we spot them being sold at inflated prices on ticketing websites."

Touts who resell tickets to concerts and sport events online faced losing their anonymity following a court ruling in November. In a case between the Rugby Football Union and Viagogo, the Supreme Court ruled that Viagogo must release names and addresses of people who resold tickets to England rugby matches on its site.

When the RFU monitored Viagogo in 2010-2011, the governing body found that tickets to its events were being sold for up to 20 times their face value, breaching its ticketing terms and conditions.

The RFU had led the way among governing bodies in the past by taking legal action, but it had previously been unable to address sites like Viagogo as the company offer anonymity to sellers.

Viagogo went into liquidation after a TV documentary criticised its methods. It now trades as Viagogo AG, based in Switzerland.

Read More..

Boult thrust into leading from the front

New Zealand may be at a particularly low ebb but their young bowling attack is the main cause of optimism for the future. To demonstrate their current predicament, the bowler leading their attack has just nine Tests under his belt.

Trent Boult is accustomed to the new ball, having opened the bowling in eight of his Tests, but now, with Tim Southee absent from the tour through injury, Boult has assumed the senior role, forging a new partnership with Doug Bracewell - his third opening partner.

The pair first shared the new ball at Kingston in August and, along with Southee and the remainder of Chris Martin's career, should provide a stable base for New Zealand to try and rebuild.

"I'm only nine or 10 Tests in but to be leading the attack is pretty special and something I feel quite good about," Boult said. "I've grown a lot and although it's only a handful of international fixtures I've made pretty big strides in developing as a bowler. I'm not looking too far ahead but I've got that job with the new ball which I love.

"I've opened the bowling a few times although Tim or whoever else has been there in the past. I don't feel any more pressure than normal or any more emphasis that I've got to be the man to do the job. We've got a good bowling unit that works well together and as a long as we do our jobs and back each other up we're going to continue to be pretty successful."

Boult has been successful in his fledgling Test career with 29 wickets at 28.79. He is part of a young attack who have proved they can deliver results. Victories over Australia in Hobart in November 2011 - Boult's debut - and Sri Lanka in Colombo 12 months on were significant feathers in the caps of Boult, 23, Bracewell, 22 and Southee, 24 - a young trio who Boult enjoys playing with.

"It's definitely a collective thing. We're lucky to be three pretty good mates and we played a lot of cricket together growing up. Tim's very good, he's injured but I'm still talking to him and bouncing ideas off him back in New Zealand. He's played a lot of cricket and I really respect the way he thinks. He's tactically a pretty smart cricketer.

"We work together. I don't think you can say 'this is how I do it, this is the best way'. It's selfish thinking you're going to do it on your own and I think it's pretty important that you work as a group."

Regrouping is essential for New Zealand after the embarrassment in Cape Town. New Zealand were fired out for their third-lowest Test total of 45, from which no amount of youthful exuberance could conjure a recovery. Worse still, South Africa's reply came at a healthy run rate of above four-an-over on the first afternoon.

"It's hard with that score we had on the board," Boult said. "Maybe a couple of guys were guilty of going out there searching a bit and trying to swing the game and get wickets quickly. I don't think that's the way to go.

"We need to stick to our plans and what we've been talking about, and that's being patient and trying to outlast our opponents. Although the intensity has been high at training, it's all about keeping it simple and not getting too far ahead of ourselves."

The swinging ball will again be a factor in the second Test but Boult expects conditions to be different in Port Elizabeth from Cape Town. "There's swing there with the new ball but I'm not sure how much it's going to hang around, like the conditions in Sri Lanka or India. It's a crucial part of it to swing that new ball and use it effectively as possible."

Read More..

Sri Lanka seek one-day redemption

Match facts

January 11, MCG
Start time 1420 (0320 GMT)

Big Picture

The great mystery of Sri Lankan cricket is how they can be so disappointing in Tests and yet so impressive in the shorter formats. In part it comes down to personnel, for bowlers like Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis are not in the Test setup but are consistently dangerous in limited-overs matches. Part of it must also be a down to attitude: at times during the Test series, the Sri Lankans clearly lacked the kind of patience that could have helped them challenge Australia, but across 50 overs such a mindset is not a bad thing.

Part of is simply a matter of confidence. Sri Lanka deserve to be bullish entering this five-match series. Last time they played a bilateral one-day series in Australia they won, and in last summer's triangular series they took Australia to a third final. They have also won their past three one-dayers at the MCG, the venue of this first game.

On paper, Sri Lanka appear a much stronger side than in the Tests, and not just because of Malinga and Mendis. Thisara Perera is a fine limited-overs allrounder, Akila Dananjaya is a spinner of potential and mystery, and men such as Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne, who came in for the Sydney Test, should be in their element.

Australia's squad is a mixed bag. There are four uncapped men - Phillip Hughes, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja and Ben Cutting - but all four are very fine players who deserve their opportunities. At 35, Brad Haddin is back for his first international match in nearly a year, and the team will be led by the T20 captain George Bailey. Their lack of experience is glaring. Missing from this squad are Michael Clarke (221 games), Shane Watson (154), Michael Hussey (185), as well as the less experienced but first-choice David Warner and Matthew Wade.

Australia have made no secret of the fact that this squad has been chosen with tours of India and England in mind, as well as the 2015 World Cup. But in the meantime, are they good enough to beat a dangerous Sri Lanka team picked for the present?

Form guide

(Most recent first)
Australia WLWWL
Sri Lanka WWWLL

In the spotlight

Aaron Finch has been in irresistible limited-overs form this summer and has a chance to make his name as an ODI player. The leading run scorer in the Ryobi Cup this season with 497 runs at 99.40 and in the Big Bash League with 309 runs at 77.25, his powerful striking has been one of the major reasons the Melbourne Renegades have been the dominant team in the Twenty20 tournament. He even hit the roof at Etihad Stadium with one enormous stroke in December. Finch has played three Twenty20 internationals and performed well, and now he has his chance in the 50-over game. Finch will open the batting and his home crowd will be hoping to witness something memorable in his first ODI.

Just as Finch is the BBL's top run scorer, Lasith Malinga is its leading wicket taker with 13 at 10.69 for the Melbourne Stars. He mesmerised the Perth Scorchers with 6 for 7 and Sri Lanka hope he will carry that kind of form into this series. His slingy action disguises his accurate, swinging yorkers, deceptive slower balls and dangerous bouncers and along with the spinner Ajantha Mendis, he could be the most important player in the series.

Team news

Australia have confirmed their line-up, with Cutting and Steven Smith the men to sit out of this game. Finch and Hughes will open, with Khawaja at first drop, while Glenn Maxwell is expected to bat in the top six.

Australia 1 Phillip Hughes, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 George Bailey (capt), 5 David Hussey, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Clint McKay, 11 Xavier Doherty.

Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Lahiru Thirimanne, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Ajantha Mendis / Rangana Herath.

Pitch and conditions

There was a little more pace and bounce than expected during the MCG Test and the pitch should be dry, given Melbourne's forecast of 37C for the day of the match.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have won the past three ODIs between these teams at the MCG
• Mitchell Johnson is the only member of Australia's squad who has played 100 one-day internationals
• George Bailey will become the 21st man to captain Australia in ODIs

Quotes

"Watching a few of the replays of the games last year there were some great contests. I don't think playing in Australian conditions holds many fears for the Sri Lankans in the one-day format."
George Bailey

Read More..

Agarkar shines as Mumbai squeeze Baroda

Baroda 167 for 5 trail Mumbai 645 for 9 decl. (Jaffer 150, Nayar 132, Tendulkar 108) by 478 runs
Scorecard

Mumbai buried Baroda under a mountain of runs on a flat track, and then watched irresponsible Baroda batsmen crumble under the weight. In reply to the hosts' 645 for 9 declared, Baroda got off to a good start, but their batsmen played irresponsible shots to be reduced to 157 for 5, a predicament from which there seems no way back. Not against Mumbai, renowned masters of the game of not letting the opposition back down once.

It has been thus right from the time Wasim Jaffer and Sachin Tendulkar came together to bat on the first morning. Abhishek Nayar carried their good work forward on day two, and while he could add only 10 to his overnight 122 on day three, their bowlers did the job, both with the bat and the ball. Nayar fell at 563 for 8, but Ajit Agarkar and Javed Khan attacked the tired Baroda bowlers with a 73-run stand in 13.1 overs.

Agarkar, the better batsman of the two, relied more on finding gaps and picking twos while Javed hit four sixes, one of which resulted in a lost ball. Javed holed out just before reaching fifty, but Agarkar brought up his 16th in first-class cricket. Not many expected Mumbai to declare - what with the possibility of a sixth day in the match - but they asked Baroda to bat for 25 minutes before lunch.

Those 25 minutes didn't bring much nerves as openers Saurabh Wakaskar and Aditya Waghmode continued with what has been a fruitful season. The same continued in the post-lunch session, although the openers remained content in defence, reaching 93 for 0 by tea. After tea, though, Mumbai's move of playing two left-arm spinners began to work. Debutant Vishal Dabholkar broke through soon after Wakaskar reached his fifty, and Baroda their hundred. He pushed at a length ball that didn't turn enough, and moving to his right at slip, Wasim Jaffer took a catch more difficult than the kind Yusuf Pathan kept dropping at slip.

Waghmode survived an easy stumping soon after, but his partner Abhimanyu Chauhan, who had shackled himself, didn't enjoy such luck. Dhawal Kulkarni had pushed him back with short balls, Chauhan was stuck at 0 off 20 balls, but the 21st was pitched up, and snuck through the gap created by his staying on the crease. Not that Waghmode made much of his luck: he went to punch a ball rising higher than the waist and angling away, and managed a nick to provide relief to wicketkeeper Aditya Tare, who gleefully accepted the chance.

Even before Yusuf Pathan could confound with his slash-slash-miss-miss innings, Kedar Devdhar fell lbw to Dabholkar. Agarkar came back to account for the reckless Yusuf, who toe-ended a pull shot to mid-on. Ambati Rayudu, who had been off the field with illness, came to bat at No. 7, but he is left with too much to do.

Read More..

Derbyshire eye up Chanderpaul

Derbyshire hope to pull off a coup by signing the world No. 2 Test batsman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, for part of the 2013 season.

Regarded as one of the weaker first-class counties for several years, Derbyshire have enjoyed a resurgence in recent times and were promoted to Division One of the County Championship for the first time in 12 years as champions of Division Two last season.

It was the first time they have achieved promotion having previously contested Division One cricket by default in the first season of split divisions. No other county had experienced so long in the bottom division.

The signing of Chanderpaul would underline the new ambition of the club. Chris Grant, the club chairman appointed in March 2011, swiftly demonstrated his desire to shake things up at the club by sacking John Morris, the long-serving director of cricket, in the middle of a game barely six weeks later. Karl Krikken was appointed in his place and led the side to promotion in his first full season in charge.

Chanderpaul would add solidity to a batting line-up that sometimes appeared fragile in 2012. Derbyshire gained more bowling bonus points than any other side in Division Two but finished only mid-table in terms of batting bonus points.

While the club have a strong unit of seamers, several of their "home grown" young batsmen - the likes of Ross Whiteley and Dan Redfern - are still developing and it was the overseas players, Martin Guptill and Usman Khawaja, who topped the county's batting averages in 2012.

Derbyshire have already added former Essex and Middlesex top-order batsman Billy Godleman and former Warwickshire wicketkeeper Richard Johnson to their staff. Godleman is the latest county player to seek the services of freelance coach and mentor, Neil Burns, who has been credited by Nick Compton and Monty Panesar as the man to have revitalised their careers.

Derbyshire are not the only county interested in signing Chanderpaul. It is understood that he, along with South Africa's Hashim Amla and Pakistan's Misbah-ul-Haq, is among Worcestershire's targets.

38-year-old Chanderpaul has enjoyed sustained success in his previous stints in county cricket. In 2011 he played for Warwickshire, scoring three centuries and averaging 89.83 in five matches to help the club finish second in the County Championship, and he has had three spells at Durham, helping them to titles in 2008 and 2009 and averaging 58.26 for them in first-class cricket. He also played for Lancashire in 2010.

Read More..