Young franchise coaches make their mark

In another coup for rookie coaches, the two teams battling it out for the first-class title in the final week of fixtures are both managed by men in their first season in charge.

Paul Adams' Cobras are top of the table and look likeliest to clinch the prize while Geoffrey Toyana's Lions must beat third-placed Warriors and hope Cobras do not win to claim the silverware. The two franchises shared the domestic one-day cup as well after the final was rained out twice to ensure Adams and Toyana made powerful statements in their opening summers.

While the two coaches celebrate their early success, South African cricket on the whole has reason to be pleased. Yet again, the first-class competition will be decided in the final round of fixtures and this season has been one of its most closely fought.

Of the 27 matches played, there have been only six draws and three washouts. Of the 18 positive results, 13 went into the final day, 10 were completed in three days and one lasted two. The decrease in draws reflects South Africa's more aggressive attitude to cricket which is evident at Test level, especially since Graeme Smith's men claimed the No.1 ranking last year.

What it points to is that the level below international cricket is strong as South Africa continue to produce players ready to play Test cricket. "The depth of quality on the domestic circuit is huge," Toyana said. "If you look at the guys who play franchise cricket who make it to the national team and immediately perform, it is really impressive. Just look at Faf du Plessis who was magical in Australia."

Du Plessis is one example, Dean Elgar, who scored his maiden Test century against New Zealand in Port Elizabeth and Rory Kleinveldt, who replaced Vernon Philander twice due to injury, are two others. Bubbling under are Dolphins' paceman Kyle Abbott, Lions' allrounder Chris Morris and Warriors' offspinner Simon Harmer.

Kleinveldt has been made available for the Cobras match by South African team management, and will be a big boost to the team. They have had to replace batting allrounder Alistair Gray with Richard Levi after the former broke his arm and although Kleinveldt cannot make up for Gray's absence, the presence of a national team member is always regarded as a bonus.

Cobras are a team used to success and want more of it. "We need tunnel vision for the match against the Knights. Our focus is on winning the match, not on the cup," Justin Ontong, their captain said, while Adams added that his team need to produce "top-class cricket," to win the tournament.

For Lions, the approach is more measured. They have not won a first-class competition since the turn of the millennium in 1999-2000 and are pleased to have come this far. "It's been a great experience for me and the boys. They've responded well to my coaching style and I'm quite happy with where we are. It's a photo finish in the Sunfoil Series," Toyana said.

However, amid the back-slapping, Boeta Dippenaar, the former South Africa batsman and current commentator, sees cause for concern. "Is this an indication of a more attack-minded playing mentality and 'win at all costs' attitude within the four day game? Or is it an indication that the players are playing too much one-day cricket, with the effect that the need for patience in building an innings is no longer of importance," he asked.

"I also wonder whether wickets are being prepared for a true battle between bat and ball, or are they being purely prepared for an outright result."

As a possible answer to Dippenaar's questions is that this season there have only been seven scores of over 400, compared with 18 last season and 20 the season before. That could be an indication of conditions becoming more seamer-friendly across the board, especially as South Africa claim to house the best pace attack in the world and want to ensure they have adequate replacements. Or it could be a reflection of a wetter summer which has left surfaces under-prepared.

While the administrators and pundits ponder the reasons why South African cricket has become more cut-throat, the teams involved are looking for one more big push. "It's always been good to see the sides play competitive and winning cricket. It's exciting to not have had so many draws and it's improved this season. Our depth is good and the youngsters coming through are all really impressive," Toyana said. The Test team can only benefit from that.

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Butt pleads to play again as appeal looms

Salman Butt, the former Pakistan captain, has asked for a chance to resume his playing career as he prepares to challenge his ICC ban handed down for spot-fixing during the Lord's Test against England in 2010.

Butt, who was banned for 10 years with the possibility of five suspended, and Mohammad Asif, currently serving a seven-year ban with two suspended, will appear at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, over the next two days in a last-ditch attempt to appeal against the bans.

In a statement released through his lawyer on Wednesday, Butt said: "It may be easy for some people to say that a five-year ban from cricket is all right but what they don't realise is that for a sportsman like me - this is like a lifetime ban," he said in a statement issued by his solicitors this afternoon.

"Cricket is my life and every single day that has passed has been so painful because I have not been able to play. All I want is an opportunity to get back into cricket whilst I am still young and I can still play well."

Asif's hearing is scheduled for Thursday and Butt's for Friday. Unlike criminal trials, CAS hearings are held in private and not open to either the public or media.

Lawyers from both parties - the ICC and the player - will present arguments in front of the three-strong arbitrators panel, including the current president of CAS. Butt will be represented by Yasin Patel, a London-based barrister, who was also part of the legal team that fought his case in the UK.

"We are appealing the sanctions that were imposed upon us and they should not have been so high," Patel said. It is understood that Asif's arguments will be similar.

CAS, which was formed in 1983 to rule on a variety of disputes within sport, is widely regarded as the final point in the appeal process. It cannot reverse the UK court rulings because the criminal proceedings were under UK laws, but it does have the power to reduce or overturn the ICC sanctions as they are part of the appeal system laid down in the ICC anti-corruption code. If the outcome was an alteration to the bans it is unlikely that there would be a counter-appeal process open to the ICC. No new witnesses or evidence can be produced by the players.

It is not yet clear whether the CAS will issue an instant verdict and that will depend on the arguments they have heard and if they are satisfied or if they require more time to study the case.

Mohammad Amir, the third player to be caught in the News of the World sting, has decided not to appeal against the five-year ban against him. The ban does not permit the players to take part in any official match - international, domestic or club - until at least September 2015. All three players served time.

Butt served seven months of a 30-month prison sentence, Asif was released from Canterbury Prison in Kent on June 3 last year after he served half of a year-long sentence while Amir spent three months in a young offenders' institution after admitting his charge at a pre-trial hearing.

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Bresnan to head to USA for surgery

Tim Bresnan, the England bowler, will travel to America shortly for a second operation on his troublesome elbow which ruled him out of the tour to New Zealand.

When he was left out of the squads for New Zealand, the national Geoff Miller said that further surgery might be required. Bresnan underwent his first operation late in 2011 and has struggled to regain top form since, finishing 2012 with two wicketless Tests in India following a lean series against South Africa, and has often appeared down on pace.

Andrew Gale, Bresnan's captain at Yorkshire, confirmed the latest development: "He's going out to America in the next week or so, and he'll be there for a week or two to have an operation and then some rehab on his elbow," he told the Telegraph and Argus.

Bresnan's most recent appearance for England was a success when he took 4 for 45 in the final ODI against England and Gale was hopeful he would be back to full fitness early in the season. There is an outside chance of him featuring on Yorkshire's pre-season tour of Barbados.

Bresnan will have his eyes set on being available for the New Zealand series which starts in late May, but a more realistic aim could be the Champions Trophy where England are keen for him to take the No 7 slot in the one-day side to enable them to play five frontline bowlers in home conditions.

In his absence, Chris Woakes has a chance to establish his credentials in New Zealand. Woakes is part of all three squads for the tour although will have to move ahead of Stuart Broad and Graham Onions to earn a Test place.

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Cricket not linked to drug report - Sutherland

Cricket Australia's chief executive James Sutherland has said there was no evidence linking cricket to an Australian Crime Commission report that has found widespread drug use in Australian professional sport as well as links to organised crime and possible match-fixing.

However, the disturbing findings of the report have prompted Cricket Australia to consider its integrity processes, and in a statement the organisation said it would "immediately implement a review of our own integrity systems, controls and processes to ensure that Australian cricket is fully equipped to deal with the heightened integrity risks that have come to light this week".

Sutherland and other chief executives of major sports were part of an hour-long press conference on Thursday in Canberra, where some of the findings of the Australian Crime Commission's year-long investigation were revealed. The ACC report suggested there was widespread use of banned substances including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs in Australian sport.

"The findings are shocking and they'll disgust Australian sports fans," Australia's justice minister Jason Clare said. "The findings indicate that drugs are being facilitated by sports scientists, coaches, support staff as well as doctors and pharmacists, and in some cases sports scientists and others orchestrating the doping of entire teams. In some cases players [are] being administered with drugs that have not yet been approved for human use.

"The investigation has also found that organised crime is used in the distribution of these drugs. This is particularly serious. Links between organised crime and players exposes players to the risk of being co-opted for match fixing and this investigation has identified one possible example of that, and that is currently under investigation ... It's cheating but it's worse than that. It's cheating with the help of criminals."

The Australian Crime Commission said the sporting bodies affected had been briefed on the investigation's findings. While the specific sports in which widespread drug use was found were not revealed to the public, Sutherland said there had been no suggestion cricket was directly affected.

"There's no specific evidence that has been passed through to us but all this report does for us is heighten our concerns about risk and gives us a mandate with all of the other sports to take our own action independently, but also collectively with other sports, the government and other agencies," Sutherland said.

When asked about match-fixing and the integrity of cricket, especially the Big Bash League, Sutherland said: "We're as confident as we can be in that regard. We have our own integrity unit that has surveillance activities over all of the Big Bash League matches. That's networked through to the ICC, who has its own anti-corruption unit and we work very closely with them, with information not just about the Australian betting market but the global betting market.

"We're as confident as we can be. Of course this report heightens our awareness of risk and we will only be taking a step up in terms of the support around our integrity unit to protect the Big Bash and all other cricket matches played in Australia."

The release of the report came in the same week that the AFL found itself embroiled in a drug scandal centred on the Essendon club and its use of supplements given to players. The fast bowler Peter Siddle, when asked about what supplements Australian cricketers were given, said only basic items like multi-vitamins were used and none were injected.

"It's just all the general multi-vitamins and general stuff for health and wellbeing," Siddle said. "Ours is pretty simple. Some blokes take them, some blokes don't. It's pretty standard stuff."

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No games in Jaipur for Rajasthan Royals

The Rajasthan Royals will play all their home games of the 2013 IPL in Gujarat instead of Jaipur, their original home city. The decision to move the matches from Jaipur to Rajkot and Ahmedabad was taken after an IPL governing council meeting on Monday in Chennai.

Following a dispute between the Rajasthan Cricket Association and the state sports council, the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur has been unavailable for the RCA for almost a year.

Since the dispute could not be resolved, the governing council, in its previous meeting on January 23 had placed Ahmedabad and Rajkot on standby for hosting the Royals' home games. The governing council meeting confirmed allocating four games each to the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium in Ahmedabad and the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium in Rajkot.

Royals have used Jaipur as their base in each of the five years since the IPL was launched in 2008.

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An off day for all - Mithali

India captain Mithali Raj could barely bring herself to speak at the post-match press conference. Surely it couldn't have ended so soon for the Women's World Cup hosts. It wasn't even a week since the tournament started, and they were already out, going down to defending champions England and shocked by unfancied Sri Lanka. India had been knocked out of the 2007 men's World Cup by Sri Lanka too, an exit their captain MS Dhoni calls a bigger setback than the recent home and away Test series losses.

There was a catch in Raj's voice as she spoke at the post-match presentation. Sitting in the chair in the media room later, she stared vacantly, head tilted upwards, as journalists walked in. She continued to stare in space for a few seconds after the first question was asked. Finally, she found her voice, saying she had never thought Sri Lanka would make as many as 282, after they chose to bat.

"I think honestly 280 is something I didn't expect Sri Lanka to score with the kind of bowling attack we had," Raj said. "When you chase a big total it is very important to have a very good start. We lost a quick wicket and then as we built a bit of partnership between me and Thrirush Kamini, we intended it to go big. After me, we lost Harmanpreet Kaur. I think the top three batsmen below 50 runs, that is where I thought the match is going to be tight."

Though India were chasing 283, getting to 251 would have sufficed to take them to the Super Six on a better net run-rate than West Indies. Raj said India wanted to go for the win initially. "Our first intention when we went in to bat was to chase 280 but as we lost wickets that definitely was playing in the minds of the batsmen who were going in. All of them were aware of the 251 target."

Against England as well as Sri Lanka, India's bowlers went for a lot of runs, conceding 272 and 282. Raj said she hadn't expected her entire attack to have an off day and felt they had given Sri Lanka too much width. "The Sri Lankans scored most of their runs square of the wicket. That itself shows as a bowler, where you are bowling. All the bowlers were off colour today. I guess we can expect one or two to be off colour but not all of them. I won't say it was complacency [against Sri Lanka] but I had a lot of faith in my bowlers. Against England also we gave extra runs in the last session and today we gave too many runs after the second Powerplay."

Even Jhulan Goswami , India's most successful and the second-most successful ODI bowler, conceded 63 runs. Raj defended her premier bowler, saying she could not be expected to deliver every time. "It's not that one player performs each and every day. She has done well against West Indies and England. But I didn't expect the other bowlers to have an off day too. There is one bowler you watch for and if that bowler may not get the right line and length on that day that doesn't mean she has let me down. She has won many games for India. I don't think she has let me down."

Raj said she was disappointed for having failed as captain to take India to the next stage of the tournament but not for having failed as a batsman with scores of 8 and 20 against England and Sri Lanka. "As a player there are fluctuations in sports. Sometimes you are very good, sometimes you don't take off. As a player I don't think too much into it."

While Raj felt India had fielded "very well" in the tournament, she also saw potential in India's young players. "I really cannot talk about the future but there are a lot of positives we can take from the young players like Thirush Kamini, Poonam Raut, Harmanpreet Kaur and Karu Jain. It is very disappointing to be out of the tournament as the host team. But I am sure in the future these girls will perform well for India.

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Gibson signs new three-year deal

Ottis Gibson has signed a new three-year deal to keep him as West Indies coach until 2016.

Gibson came close to becoming the new Warwickshire director of cricket last week, having attended a second interview on his way to Australia, but the WICB were keen to retain his services and he will now take West Indies beyond the 2015 World Cup.

He became West Indies coach in early 2010, replacing John Dyson, having been England's bowling coach since 2007. Under his charge West Indies have shown recent improvements, notably by winning the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, although he has had to contend with his share of off-field issues such as the stand-off with Chris Gayle and the impact of the IPL on the Caribbean season.

"I enjoy being involved in West Indies cricket and it is something I'm very excited about considering what we have achieved - especially in the last year - beating New Zealand at home in all three formats and winning the World Twenty20 tournament in Sri Lanka," Gibson said. "This confirms that we are making progress and I am happy to continue with the team for the next three years as we look to take West Indies cricket forward."

"There is a lot to do and things to look forward to. There is the Champions Trophy in England this year, we will be defending the World T20 title in Bangladesh next year and there is the World Cup in 2015. These are things we have talked about and these are things the selectors have been planning for.

"We will also look to climb the ICC rankings in all three formats. This is something we have to strive for, to make the move up. There is a lot more one-day cricket than Test cricket this year, but next year there are quite a few more Test matches, so these will be opportunities for the players to perform and for the team to progress. You set goals and the real enjoyment is when you achieve those goals and see progress being made."

Michael Muirhead, the WICB chief executive, said: "Ottis has added significant value to the development of the West Indies team during his tenure and we are delighted to have secured his services for another three years.

"Most notably is that he led the implementation of a system of professionalism within the team unit and curbed the negative results which we were experiencing with some frequency.

"While there have also been some challenges along the way, these are not to be unexpected in such a dynamic and high pressure environment and the WICB looks forward to the continued development of the West Indies team through this next critical phase under Ottis' stewardship at the elite team level."

West Indies are currently on tour in Australia for a one-day series then return to the Caribbean for a home season that includes a full tour by Zimbabwe, a triangular one-day tournament involving India and Sri Lanka plus a Test series against Pakistan.

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Tough for Taylor to return - Hadlee

Sir Richard Hadlee has questioned Ross Taylor's response to his sacking as New Zealand captain and believes he should have played on after the fall-out rather than take time away from the game.

Taylor, who was relieved of the captaincy after the Sri Lanka tour despite drawing the Test series 1-1, opted out of the following trip to South Africa saying he needed a break from the international game. He will return to the New Zealand side for the Twenty20 series against England which starts on Saturday and is also in the one-day squad. Barring any dramatic change in events, he will resume his Test career next month.

In Taylor's absence, New Zealand were crushed in the Tests against South Africa, including being bowled out for 45 in Cape Town, and also lost the Twenty20 series, although they fought back impressively to take the one-day contest.

Hadlee, while sympathising with the poor handling of the situation, would have preferred to see Taylor move on quickly from losing the leadership and return to the ranks immediately.

"I find it very interesting how Taylor reacted. In some ways I'm a little disappointed that Taylor decided to exile himself for a period of time," Hadlee told ESPNcricinfo. "If you fall off the horse you get back on it, and I can't imagine an All Black rugby player who was captain then was replaced not make himself available to play again as soon as possible.

"Clearly Taylor had been affected in some way and needed to get his mind right. It was his call, but I'm not sure it was good thing because when he gets back into the side it's going to be quite an uneasy period for him, and other team-mates, knowing that he walked away."

Hadlee, though, added his voice to those unimpressed by the handling of the whole situation, which saw Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, tell Taylor before the Test series in Sri Lanka he wanted a change of captain but, it later emerged, only in the limited-overs formats. Taylor has recently met with Hesson for the first time since losing his position and is ready to move on, though he admitted that the relationship will take time to develop.

"There were clearly mixed messages, which have been well documented," Hadlee said. "Taylor had clearly been hurt and offended, perhaps not so much by the decision but how it came about because it was done before the first Test. That decision should have been made in the review after the tour."

Hadlee would have been comfortable if New Zealand had gone down the split-captaincy route now used by England, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. But, despite the circumstances of the change, he sees Brendon McCullum as someone with the right qualities to lead New Zealand and does not think he should be judged too harshly on the Test performances.

"At the moment Brendon McCullum is doing all forms and clearly struggling in the Test team, but I think that is more to do with resources available rather than issues with him personally," he said. "He has shown his true colours, especially as a leader, in the one-day format so that is pretty encouraging."

Of greater concern for McCullum, according to Hadlee, is that he works out what sort of batsman he wants to be in the longer format. After being elevated to opener, partly due to the lack of other options as much as his suitability for the position, he has largely shelved his natural attacking game to try and set a more cautious tone for his team-mates but that may not be making best use of his ability.

"The big problem Brendon is facing at the moment is how he, himself, plays the game as a batsman. Does he open or drop down the order? Does he play aggressively, take high risks, which if he fails can set a bad example or take a more circumspect role that goes against his instincts? He's caught in between with how he should play but that is what the selectors have left the left him with."

Although McCullum will have Taylor back to boost his batting order against England, another of New Zealand's most destructive players remains unavailable. Jesse Ryder, who has not played for New Zealand since being dropped for disciplinary reasons during the one-day series against South Africa last year, will not resume his international career in the near future despite a prolific domestic season.

Ryder will continue with the plan drawn up in the wake of his latest problems with authority last year and play a full season for Wellington before taking up his IPL deal with Delhi Daredevils. Hadlee, who had a close association with Ryder when he was chairman of selectors, hopes to see him back in the set-up but says that no more controversies can be tolerated.

"When Jesse is ready to come back that will be great for our game, but the most important thing he needs to do is obey a set of rules and protocols," Hadlee said. "If you are going to break them it doesn't set a very good example, if Jesse can get away with things. We can't have any more controversy. If he's willing and able to do that he'll be a great asset to our game."

Sir Richard Hadlee was promoting Sky Sports' year of live cricket, which includes England v New Zealand, back to back Ashes, ICC Champions Trophy and live county matches

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Australia and NZ battle for points, Pakistan and SA for survival

The last round of matches in Group B of the Women's World Cup may not contain the intrigue of those in Group A, but there's plenty at stake in Cuttack. Australia and New Zealand have already qualified for the Super Six, having won two games each, but the winner of their contest will carry forward more points to the next stage of the competition. The match between Pakistan and South Africa, however, is a knockout. The winner goes through, the loser plays for seventh place.

As a result, Australia and New Zealand had an intense training session at the DRIEMS Ground, as did Pakistan and South Africa at the Barabati Stadium, despite all four teams playing two games in the last three days. The Pakistan batsmen put their heads down and tried to block as many balls as they could, while the South African camp focused on catching drills. With good reason.

Pakistan scored only 188 runs for the loss of 20 wickets in their first two games against Australia and New Zealand, getting dismissed in 33.2 and 41.2 overs. South Africa dropped far too many catches, especially against New Zealand in their tournament opener, which ended in a 151-run defeat.

Though the South Africans put on a much better display against Australia, their death-over batting prevented them from achieving the second upset of the World Cup, after Sri Lanka shocked England in Group A. The improvement, however, left South Africa upbeat ahead of their contest against Pakistan.

"There are a lot of positive from those [two] games," former India captain Anjum Chopra, who is South Africa batting consultant, said. "We made a few silly errors against New Zealand and that cost us dearly. We came back and rectified those errors in the game against Australia. We would have liked to have the result going in our favour, which could well have been on the cards had we gotten about 30 to 40 runs more. We were about 144 at the end of 36 overs and we finished at 189, which is not very satisfying.

"If we start getting tighter and tighter and taking our chances, we can go through. Every game we have had to go out there and take more than 10 wickets [due to dropped catches], and in international cricket you can't be doing that every day."

The contest at the DRIEMS ground will be intense too. Rivals Australia and New Zealand have faced each other frequently in the past - six times since the beginning of 2012. Australia have the edge in terms of head-to-head contests, but New Zealand are tough opponents on current form.

"We have had two challenging matches against Pakistan and South Africa. It's good preparation," Alex Blackwell, Australia's vice-captain, said. "We've got to do few things better, particularly with our batting. Against New Zealand, we have got to get it all together.

"I am really impressed with what the New Zealanders are putting out, both with the bat and ball. They look like a very good all-round side. Players in form, Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine coming back into form and adding some guts to their batting, and Nicola Browne as well, so we've got to work out ways to get them out. We normally play on fast and bouncy wickets either back home or in New Zealand. But coming up against a very familiar opposition but in some challenging conditions [will be testing for both teams]."

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India not taking SL lightly in wide open group

Sri Lanka have never beaten India in women's cricket. They hadn't beaten defending champions England either, until three days ago. No wonder India captain Mithali Raj was wary of Sri Lanka going into their final group game of the tournament, especially given the flat pitch at Brabourne Stadium, which has produced big totals in all but one of six innings so far.

"Next game is a do-or-die game for us and we are not going to take Sri Lanka lightly," Raj said. "On such a wicket, especially, it could be anybody's game and they have done well against England."

Raj said India's unbeaten record against Sri Lanka wouldn't make any difference to their approach. "This is a World Cup. We definitely don't look down upon any team as such. So we are going to take them as another opponent that we need to win against to qualify for the Super Six. That's our aim now."

All four teams in Group A have a victory each. While the two sides that win on Tuesday - England play West Indies in Mumbai as well - will proceed to the Super Six, the final spot will go to the losing team with the better net run-rate. Sri Lanka's NRR nose-dived after their heavy defeat to West Indies, but their captain Shashikala Siriwardene was hoping to beat India so that her side wouldn't have to depend on the other game's result. Siriwardene also felt India's batsmen wouldn't be as big a headache as Stefanie Taylor and Co proved to be, given they don't have the powerful hitters West Indies did.

In all four games played so far in Mumbai, teams have bowled after winning the toss but of those sides, only Sri Lanka ended up victorious, that too, off the last ball against England. India lost to England after asking them to bat, but Raj said she would still choose to field, if given a fresh pitch.

Tuesday's game between India and Sri Lanka will be played under lights, just like the tournament opener between India and West Indies. The India bowlers got consistent movement, in the air and off the pitch, and the West Indians found batting difficult in the evening.

England captain Charlotte Edwards pointed out that difference between morning and afternoon starts, but Raj was clear what she would do.

"I will [have to] see if we are getting a fresh wicket. If it is the same condition I will still opt to field because the way Jhulan [Goswami] bowled in the first spell [against England], she was brilliant. So I wouldn't want any other pacer to get that kind of an edge so I will still go for fielding if we win the toss."

India had stuck early against England, but following a steady century partnership between Edwards and Sarah Taylor, they conceded too many runs in the latter half of the innings. Raj was hopeful of avoiding a repeat of that against Sri Lanka. "The kind of start the bowlers have given us, getting us the first breakthrough, I only hope that we don't give away too many runs in the Powerplay or in the last session.

"That's where I guess we were a little lost [against England] so probably that wouldn't be happening in the next game. In the last session we seemed a little lost in terms of bowling and [giving away] few boundaries. I guess we will try and minimise the boundaries."

To achieve that, India could take a look at the way England have tackled the benign conditions. "I think we have adapted well," Edwards said. "It is important that we bowl wicket-to-wicket stuff. That is something we have tried to talk about. Any width on these wickets is just a free hit."

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