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job are former New Zealand, Scotland and Kenya coach, Andy Moles, the England bowling coach, David Saker - who has now withdrawn - the former Glamorgan and Bermuda captain, David Hemp, and the ECB's performance director, David Parsons.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.

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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.

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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."

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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

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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.

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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.

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Glamorgan dispense with Metson

Colin Metson, whose appointment as Glamorgan managing director coincided with a turbulent period in the county's affairs, has been sacked after his downgraded role of cricket and community manager was made redundant.

Metson returned to Glamorgan with the county in crisis after the resignation of cricket manager Matthew Maynard, president Peter Walker and captain Jamie Dalrymple because of a managerial restructuring.

But Metson's power was soon on the wane and he was shunted away from first-team duties at the beginning of the 2012 season and given a lesser role in the community development programme. That role has now been made redundant and he will leave Glamorgan at the end of the week.

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Life's biggest achievement - Chatterjee

Over time, when they look back at the history of the game for inspiration, they would do well to consider Soumik Chatterjee's unbeaten 34, made on one leg and with plenty of bravado. Unable to walk, the Services captain had been carried off by four of his team-mates from the dressing room to the team bus on day one, after he'd badly damaged his left knee while fielding. He'd dragged himself out to the middle to bat at No 11 in the Services first innings, and lasted one delivery. In the second, with Services 54 for 5 in their chase of 113, Chatterjee hobbled in again and went on to play the most significant innings of his career, which led to what he called the biggest achievement of his life.

"This match is my life's biggest achievement," Chatterjee said of Services' Ranji Trophy quarter-final win over Uttar Pradesh. "Maine ye socha tha ki aaunga toh jitaake aaunga, warna baahar nahi aaunga [I won't come back without winning it for the team]. Yes, I was injured but I knew that if I made up my mind, I could win the game for the team.

"It was a matter of having a partnership for five-six overs. When that happens, the other side loses the advantage. I knew that if I and Rajat [Paliwal] could play out five-six overs, the game would be ours."

Chatterjee was asked whether he had thought about the chance of aggravating his injury when deciding to come out to bat. Scans had revealed serious clotting around the knee. "There was no risk. Even if I lose my life, I will always be there for team," he replied in the emotional aftermath of victory.

When Chatterjee came out to bat, the immediate reaction among journalists watching the game was that with his perceived inability to run, he would end up squeezing out any remaining momentum from the chase. But to everyone's disbelief, he soon started limping and then, unable to bear the pain, hopping on his fit right leg for singles.

Wing Commander Deepak Bhaskar, the Services manager, said it was a collective decision by himself, the coach and Chatterjee to send in the captain at No 7. "We were not sure whether he would be able to run," Bhaskar said. "It was all down to him, how he felt out there when he started batting."

While Chatterjee was sure he would be able to recover in time for the semi-final starting on January 16, Bhaskar was more realistic. "It is a call we will have to take," Bhaskar said. "We will see how his treatment goes."

There is still more than a week left for the semi-finals, and for the moment, Chatterjee was grateful to all his team-mates. "All 11 players of the side are special and I give credit to all of them," Chatterjee said. "We won because of all of them. Not only the 11, but all the 15 (in the squad) and the 17, including the coach and the manager, and also the four who have sat out, I credit them all. We won because of all their hard work."

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No commitment yet on tour to Pak

BCB president Nazmul Hassan met Zaka Ashraf, the PCB chairman, during the third India-Pakistan ODI in Delhi in a bid to restore bilateral relations, but no firm commitment of a future tour was made during the meeting. Last week, Bangladesh had pulled the plug on a proposed tour to Pakistan in the wake of the the security situation in Pakistan, about which the ICC has also expressed its concern.

"The BCB president assured Mr. Ashraf that he will have detailed discussion on the Pakistan tour with the board's ad hoc executive committee on his return to Bangladesh after attending the Asian Cricket Council meeting in Kuala Lumpur," Jalal Yunus, the BCB's media committee chairman, said. "The two boards also decided to work closely to find out an appropriate time to tour Pakistan."

"They also talked about participation of Pakistani players in the second edition of Bangladesh Premier League."

After the BCB voiced its reluctance to tour Pakistan, the PCB retaliated by questioning its players' availability in the BPL scheduled to begin on January 18. The domestic Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is also going to run during the same time but the BCB are confident that the Pakistan players will show up.

"When the request was made to send the Pakistani players to the BPL, the PCB president neither agreed nor denied so we have to wait and see," Yunus said.

Meanwhile, Dave Richardson, the ICC CEO, has said that the PCB has a lot to do to encourage teams to tour Pakistan. "It's premature to say whether it's still safe to tour Pakistan or not. They've got a difficult situation there. They still have a lot of work to do in convincing the international world that it is safe to go to Pakistan," he said.

In March when the BCB had first announced of its desire to tour Pakistan, the ICC had issued "special dispensation" for cases that required local match officials in a bilateral series if they can't send neutral officials.

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Harbhajan Singh fined for dissent

Punjab captain Harbhajan Singh has been fined 50% of his match fee for showing dissent at the umpire's decision on the second day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Jharkhand in Jamshedpur.

The incident occurred in the fifth over after tea. Harbhajan, who replaced Manpreet Gony, changed the angle by going round the wicket to Sunny Gupta. The ball lobbed off the pads and went to silly point where the fielder plucked a sharp chance. A huge appeal followed but the umpire CK Nandan turned it down. Harbhajan was so furious at the decision that the other umpire Sanjay Hazare had to step in from square leg to calm him down. Harbhajan showed his disapproval by not just gesturing at the umpire but also kicking the turf in disappointment.

"Harbhajan was found guilty under the article 2.1.3 of the BCCI's Code of Conduct for the players. As a result, he has been fined 50% of his match fees for a Level 1 offence," the match referee Sunil Chaturvedi said after conducting a hearing that involved Harbhajan, both the umpires and Punjab coach Arun Sharma.

Chaturvedi was seen going through the video footage of the incident. It was followed by a hearing, which lasted 20 minutes.

Article 2.1.3 of the BCCI's Code of Conduct for players deals with "(a) excessive, obvious disappointment with an Umpire's decision; (b) an obvious delay in resuming play or leaving the wicket; (c) shaking the head; (d) pointing or looking at the inside edge when given out lbw; (e) pointing to the pad or rubbing the shoulder when caught behind; (f) snatching the cap from the Umpire; (g) requesting a referral to the TV Umpire; and (h) arguing or entering into a prolonged discussion with the Umpire about his decision."

The clause ends with: "It shall not be a defence to any charge brought under this Article to show that the Umpire might have, or in fact did, get any decision wrong."

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