'More than nervous, I was emotional' - Rayudu

Ambati Rayudu's personal history has all the makings of a classic bildungsroman. The early promise of a teenage prodigy, the growing pains, the rebel years, and now redemption. The final chapter of his story is yet to be written, but now that he's enjoyed a successful debut for India, it's a lot more likely that his ending will be a happy one.

"It feels marvelous," said Rayudu after he shared a match-winning 159-run stand with Virat Kohli to help thump Zimbabwe by six wickets in the series opener at Harare Sports Club. Kohli departed before the match was won - though not before racking up a 15th ODI century - but Rayudu stood firm and hit the winning runs off a Tinotenda Mutombodzi full toss.

"It's been pretty emotional," he said. "More than nervous, I was very emotional." If that was the case, he hid his emotions well after entering with India at 57 for 2 with the openers back in the pavilion. India weren't exactly under intense pressure at the time, but the match was far from won.

With Kohli stroking the ball supremely at the other end, Rayudu was afforded the luxury of time and space to play himself in, and left three of his first 10 deliveries alone. Placing the ball and running well, he left the bulk of the aggressive stroke play to Kohli and reached a debut fifty, off 74 deliveries, in the 39th over.

"I think he's playing the best cricket possible," Rayudu said of Kohli. "I definitely feel that he's the best in the world right now in the one-day format. He made it a lot easier for me, and I was just looking at the way he was constructing his innings. It's a very good learning experience."

Rayudu's clashes with authority over the years have been well documented, and a large tattoo on the side of his neck completes the 'bad boy' image, but it was at the IPL that he found a support structure to temper his fiery side and harness his potential. Whether the tournament helps or hinders young cricketers' development is a deeply divisive issue, but in Rayudu's case the Mumbai Indians set-up seemed to bring out the best in him.

"My family, my friends and especially the Mumbai Indians support staff [have been there for me]," Rayudu said. "Sachin [Tendulkar] and Robin Singh especially. They've helped me a lot, and I'd definitely like to thank them for that.

"I always had the belief that if I could get things right and I could get my mind right I could make it into the team one day, and I'm really happy that I got my chance today."

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Penalty compounds Gloucs misery

Warwickshire 149 for 3 (Clarke 40) beat Gloucestershire 145 for 7 (Klinger 68, Javid 3-26) by 0 wickets
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Warwickshire kept their hopes of reaching the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals alive while inflicting further misery on Gloucestershire with a seven-wicket win at Edgbaston.

The Bears paced their chase of a 126-run target to perfection with Varun Chopra and William Porterfield leading the way with an opening stand of 68 and Rikki Clarke clobbering 40 from 21 balls.

Gloucestershire's defeat, which ended their own slim hopes of making the knockout stages, followed the decision by an England and Wales Cricket Board pitch panel to deduct them two points from next year's competition for the substandard surface they prepared for their home group match against Warwickshire at Cheltenham on July 14.

The Gladiators, who were shot out for 96 at Cheltenham, were more competitive this time and made 145 for seven after they were put in thanks to captain Michael Klinger's 68 from 52 balls. It took Klinger time to assess the pace of a pitch that Warwickshire used for last Saturday's win over Northamptonshire and the Australia A right-hander managed only 21 runs in the first 10 overs.

But Klinger found his range by pulling Steffan Piolet over the short-midwicket boundary before reverse sweeping Ateeq Javid for a second six. Klinger's third six, swept off Piolet, took him to a 40-ball half century but he perished in the penultimate over of the innings when he was bowled while aiming Jeetan Patel through the off-side.

Apart from Klinger only Ian Cockbain, who also launched Piolet for a six in his quickfire 25, really got to grips with Warwickshire's miserly offspinners.

Javid followed up his four wickets at Cheltenham with 3 for 26 and Patel, who bowled Ed Young with his last ball, finished with a season's best 2 for 13.

Chopra and Porterfield's partnership ensured there was no chance of a repeat of Warwickshire collapse against Somerset on Sunday when they were shot out for 73, their lowest Twenty20 total.

Porterfield eased to 34 from 30 balls, comfortably his highest score in this season's competition, but then carved Alex Gidman to Cockbain at point and Chopra also perished when well set, falling lbw while trying to sweep slow left-armer Tom Smith.

Clarke then struck three sixes off Young in what proved to be the decisive over before he picked out deep midwicket, and Darren Maddy guided Warwickshire home with 14 balls to spare.

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Stevens edges basement battle for Kent

Kent 173 for 7 (Stevens 67*) beat Sussex 164 for 6 (Machan 67) by nine runs
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Kent edged victory by nine runs in the basement battle against Sussex watched by a near 4,000 crowd at Canterbury.

The visitors' challenge faded when Scott Styris was caught on the deep-midwicket boundary from the fourth ball of the final over, having hit the previous two balls for four and six.

New Zealand international big-hitter Styris had the home fans on edge as Mitchell Claydon made a bad start to the task of preventing Sussex from scoring 23 from the final over in reply to Kent's 20-over total of 173 for 3. But then Styris, attempting another clubbing legside blow, holed out to Brendan Nash at deepmidwicket.

Despite bowling a wide to new batsman Will Beer from his next ball, Claydon held his nerve to allow just a single and a leg bye from the last two balls of the contest to close out Sussex on 164 for 6.

It is only Kent's second win of the group stage, but at least they now go above Sussex - who are anchored at the bottom of the South group table with just one win from nine games. Kent still have three matches left.

In the end, Kent were indebted to a late assault by Darren Stevens - who finished on 67 not out - and a far faster start to their innings than Sussex. Stevens faced only 44 balls in all, striking four sixes and three fours, and took 18 runs from the last six balls of the Kent innings in a merciless attack on Lewis Hatchett.

Kent scored 70 for 2 from their first six Powerplay overs, but Sussex managed only 39 for 1 from theirs. Although Matt Machan hit 66 from 48 balls, with two sixes and six fours, and added 68 for the third wicket with Chris Nash, who made 31 from 24 balls, they were always struggling to keep up with the required rate of 108 from the second 10 overs.

Earlier, Nash's clever four overs of offspin had brought Sussex back into the game. He went for just 15 runs but Styris, mysteriously overlooked for the final over, conceded just 13 runs from his three overs. That final Hatchett over was to cost Sussex dear.

The Kent innings was given a flying start by the youthful opening pair of Fabian Cowdrey - son of Chris and grandson of Colin - and Sam Billings, who put on 60 in 5.2 overs before Billings was bowled for a 14-ball 24, swinging at Chris Liddle.

Cowdrey, 20, got things moving by hitting Mike Yardy for successive fours from the first three balls of the third over and Billings joined in by pulling a full toss for six from the fifth ball of the same over.

Billings, 22, then drove fours through extra cover off Liddle before Cowdrey swung Hatchett over midwicket for six to bring up Kent's 50 and then earned four more from a ramp shot to fine leg off the same bowler. There was a further six from Cowdrey, driven straight off Liddle, before he fell for a brilliant 41 off just 21 balls when, deceived by a slower ball from left-arm paceman Liddle, he mishit to cover.

Nash, in at No. 3, could not get going and made only 15 from a third wicket stand of 53 in 10 over with Stevens before the returning Liddle bowled him. But Stevens,who had already hit Yardy over the midwicket boundary and driven leg-spinner Beer straight and to wide long-on for successive sixes, then provided the explosive finish in a final over which cost Sussex 20 runs, with Hatchett starting it with a high full toss that went down in the book as two no balls.

Veteran all-rounder Stevens then sprinted for three twos before flipping another full toss for four, hitting another two into the legside and then, from the last ball of the innings, carving a short ball over cover for six.

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Lancashire have power when its needed

Lancashire 127 for 2 (Moore 66*) beat Yorkshire 124 for 8 (Lyth 32, McClenaghan 2-19) by eight wickets
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An electricity failure may not have been the perfect dress rehearsal for hosting the third Investec Ashes Test in a week's time but as omens go, an emphatic hammering of your fiercest rivals to all but secure your place in the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals was almost as good as it gets for Lancashire.

Dominant throughout in front of a partisan 12,151 crowd, Lancashire will qualify for the quarter-finals if Derbyshire fail to beat Leicestershire on Friday. It was the perfect send off, almost, for the refurbished Emirates Old Trafford before it is handed over to the ECB in preparation for potentially the decisive Test in the Ashes.

Yet only a week before the ground will hold 26,000 for the opening day of the Test, Lancashire suffered a 20-minute power cut at the Statham End, which wiped out electricity to the dressing rooms and two floodlights at that end of the ground, and was only resolved shortly before the start. It was perhaps fitting, given his recent form, that Jimmy Anderson should rectify the problem, although not England's premier swing bowler, but his namesake who performs as Lancashire's resident electrician.

That problem apart, which ground officials insisted would not have delayed the start, it was a triumphant evening for Lancashire. The temporary seating area, which will hold 9,000 for the Ashes, was utilised for the first time and they delivered one of their best displays of the season to all but end Yorkshire's slim qualification hopes and boost their own with a fourth win in their last five matches.

Having won the toss and decided to bat first, presumably to ensure Lancashire had the potentially more difficult task of batting under floodlights, Yorkshire's plan backfired spectacularly and they struggled to 124 for 8 on a sluggish pitch. Restricted to 23 for 2 at the end of the six Powerplay overs, they were unable to regain any momentum after being confronted by an electric display in the field from Lancashire.

Their only partnership of note, 33 off 27 balls between Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance, had limited effectiveness because of the athleticism of Lancashire's fielding display that frustrated their desire to show more aggression. Lyth fell to a catch at fine leg attempting to scoop Tom Smith and Ballance fell to a brilliant diving catch by Steven Croft, who ran in from the long-on boundary.

Attempting to gain momentum, Yorkshire suffered two run outs in a desperate chase of runs and recorded only one boundary in their final four overs, which provided a stark contrast to Lancashire's approach when they began their reply. From the moment Stephen Moore pulled two boundaries in the second over from Iain Wardlaw, the contest was all but over.

Moore and Smith added 88 in only 7.4 overs and although Lancashire lost two wickets in Azeem Rafiq's first over, Smith stumped as he advanced down the wicket for an aggressive 42 and Ashwell Prince brilliantly caught at cover by Lyth, any anxiety from the mainly Lancastrian crowd was brief with Moore's unbeaten 66 off 35 balls securing victory with nine overs remaining.

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Australia revival 'will take time' - Howard

Australian cricket faces years of difficult times ahead until the nation's domestic competitions can again be relied upon to provide effective preparation for young batsmen and spin bowlers. This grim view was not shied away from by Cricket Australia's team performance manager, Pat Howard, as he sifted through the wreckage of the 347-run defeat at Lord's, which has left many wondering how such a result could be possible two years after the Argus review highlighted many of the problems on display.

In a frank discussion of what appears a dire medium-term forecast for the national team, Howard defended his decision to sack the former coach, Mickey Arthur, and replace him with Darren Lehmann a mere two weeks before the start of the Ashes series. He also agreed with an emotional James Pattinson's assessment that the lack of rest afforded the bowlers by an inept first-innings batting display at Lord's had contributed to his back stress fracture.

But the major conclusion Howard was prepared to draw from Lord's was that problems in the Australian game will take years to remedy, requiring even stronger alignment between the states and CA to strengthen the club and Sheffield Shield competitions that have been left in disrepair while Twenty20 dollars have been chased with far more vigour than adequate grounding for Test match cricketers.

"When Australia and Australia A play over the same weekend and the highest scores were Glenn Maxwell and Moises Henriques getting 60s and 70s [in Zimbabwe], our ability to bat a long time needs to improve," Howard said. "We need to work with the states to enforce that message around batting for a long time and batting with patience. Making sure Sheffield Shield cricket goes into the fourth day so we start getting footmarks, we start getting spinners bowling more in the Shield so they get used to that as well.

"There's a big process there to get right, and it's going to take time. I definitely need to work with the states to get this to a point where the Shield prepares players for Tests even better. We would love lots more people scoring big hundreds at home. Only two people got three hundreds in Shield cricket last year, Ricky Ponting and Chris Rogers. One of them is here and one you know plenty about, so the system has got to help provide that."

A minor victory for CA's high-performance regime in their battle with the marketing and programming side of the governing body's Melbourne office is a change to the 2013-14 summer, which will see the domestic limited-overs competition played as a whole early in the season, before a run of six consecutive Shield matches leading up to the final two Tests of the summer. The Big Bash League then takes hold until mid-February.

"I am happy about the fact it is not going Shield, one-dayer, Shield, one-dayer - there are six games of red-ball cricket in a row at the start of the season," Howard said. "No interruptions, no trying to hit it over the top, people are going to have to be patient and spinners will get some time to get wickets. I am hoping we will reinforce over that period the discipline of red-ball cricket. It's an opportunity for the coaches to drill in those messages."

On the matter of Arthur, Howard said he did not retreat for one moment from the call to install Lehmann, on a basis the South African has described as "totally unfair".

"When you sit there and look and have conversations, and there were plenty of articles written about what was right and what was wrong, you knew there was something that needed to be dealt with," Howard said. "It was dealt with and you make decisions not just for one week or two weeks but you make them for a period and who's going to best galvanise the side. I don't want to go into that particularly, but who was going to get the best out of this group, that was a simple decision.

"Obviously there is a legal issue going. I can't comment on that. But it's never nice when you get moved on. It's happened to lots of people. It's never nice. On the ground it's not affecting the players. They've moved on, gone on and feel galvanised with this group. Even though there are two Tests we lost, was one close, the other we didn't play well enough, clearly … I don't move away. It was the right decision."

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McClenaghan earns dramatic tie

Lancashire 139 for 9 (Cross 28, Taylor 4-23) tied with Leicestershire 139 for 9 (Smith 45)
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New Zealand fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan hit a last ball boundary to give Lancashire a dramatic tie with Leicestershire at Grace Road.

Chasing a victory target of 140, Lancashire needed 13 to win off the final over bowled by left arm spinner Shakib Al Hassan. Eight runs came off the first four balls but Shakib had Gareth Cross caught off the penultimate delivery, leaving five runs off one ball.

McClenagahan faced his first ball needing to hit a six for victory or a four to tie and he obliged by clipping the ball to the deep backward square leg boundary as Lancashire finished on 139 for 9, exactly the same score as the Foxes.

It was Lanashire's second tie in the competition this season and leaves them in second place behind Nottinghamshire in the North Group. The result means Leicestershire must now win their last three games to have even the slightest chance of reaching the quarter-finals.

Put in to bat the hosts made a woeful start to their innings, scoring only eight runs in the first three overs for the loss of Josh Cobb, brilliantly caught by Ashwell Prince off Glen Chapple. But Greg Smith and Joe Burns added 40 for the second wicket before Burns was caught and bowled by Kabir Ali.

After that it was a case of the Foxes battling to post a competitive total on a slow paced pitch. Smith top scored with 45 off 42 balls and Shakib hit a quick-fire 23 off 16 balls with four boundaries.

But the crucial knock came from Rob Taylor who smashed three sixes - two of them off McClenaghan - in a 15-ball innings that gave the Foxes something to defend. McClenaghan took 2 for 29 and Kabir 3 for 23.

Lancashire looked on course for their fifth win when they were 48 for 1 at the end of the power-play. But some tight bowling from Taylor, who finished with a competition best of 4 for 23, Shakib (1 for 22) and Shiv Thakor (1 for 31), saw Lancashire lose their way.

Wickets fell in clusters and in the end Cross was the top scorer with 28 until he was ninth out in the last over caught in the deep by Taylor off Shakib. But McClenaghan kept Lancashire in sight of a place in the quarter-finals with his last ball boundary.

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Goodwin, Allenby steer Glamorgan

Glamorgan 161 for 5 (Goodwin 59, Allenby 50) beat Worcestershire 157 for 6 (Samarweera 65, Kervezee 44) by five wickets
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Glamorgan resurrected their hopes of reaching the Friends Life T20 quarter-finals with a final over victory over Worcestershire in Cardiff. The hosts were indebted to half centuries from Murray Goodwin and Jim Allenby and a match-winning cameo from Ben Wright. Set 158 to win, Glamorgan won by five wickets with five balls to spare.

Glamorgan went into the match having lost three on the trot after they had won all four of their first group games. But they suffered three setbacks in the opening eight overs as they slipped to 46 for 3 in response to Worcestershire's 157 for 6.

The home side lost Mark Wallace in the second over before Chris Cooke was caught at third man and then skipper Marcus North was trapped leg before by Moeen Ali. Even with Allenby looking in good form and with Goodwin in support they needed 100 from 10 overs.

Allenby took the pressure off by hitting a six off Shaaiq Choudhry and that started a good spell for Glamorgan as he and Goodwin shared a partnership of 57 off 43 balls for the fourth wicket. But Allenby, who reached his 50 from 42 balls, holed out off Gareth Andrew. At that stage Glamorgan needed 53 from 32 balls, which became 37 required from the final four overs.

Goodwin brought up his 50 from 30 balls but was caught off the last ball of the 17th over to leave Glamorgan still needing 18 from the final 12 balls. But Wright, 22 not out from 12 balls, produced a productive penultimate over scoring 13 from the first four balls which meant Glamorgan needed only one to win from the final over.

After Worcestershire won the toss Thilan Samaraweera was the mainstay of their innings with 65 from 42 balls with eight fours and a six.

After being restricted to only 27 for 1 in the opening six overs, bowled exclusively by the seamers on a greenish pitch, Samaraweera dominated a second wicket stand with Alexi Kervezee worth 91 in 10.1 overs. That was after Ali was caught at cover off Wagg, who ended as Glamorgan's star bowler with three for 15 from his four overs.

Worcestershire accelerated their score when the spinners were on. The slower bowlers conceded 98 runs from nine overs. The visitors had looked well set thanks to Sri Lankan Samaraweera before he was run out by a direct hit from Goodwin in the 14th over with Worcestershire 103 for 2.

West Indian Andre Russell was bowled from an inside edge from Wagg before Nathan McCullum picked up the wicket of Kervezee (44 from 40 balls) in his final over. Wagg claimed a third wicket when Joe Leach was caught on the deep midwicket boundary before Ben Cox went in Michael Hogan's final over.

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Durston, Hughes blast Notts away

Derbyshire 101 for 8 (Durston 50*, Hughes 46) beat Nottinghamshire 92 for 7 (Lumb 43) by 16 runs
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Derbyshire kept themselves in contention for a place in the quarter-finals of the Friends Life t20 after pulling off a 16-run victory over Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.

Openers Chesney Hughes and Wes Durston set up the win by putting on 98 together as the visitors totalled 108 for 1, after being put in, after thunderstorms had reduced the contest to just nine overs per side. Notts, who went into the match knowing that victory would be enough to see them through to the last eight, lost wickets at regular intervals before ending on 92 for 7.

Hughes' was the only wicket to fall in the Derbyshire innings but he had plundered a hard-hitting 46 from just 25 deliveries by that stage. He hit two sixes, both pulled over the leg side fence off Samit Patel, and six powerful fours, before top-edging Ian Butler to short fine leg in the penultimate over.

Durston, whose only T20 century came on the same ground in 2010, also cleared the ropes on two occasions as he ended the innings with an unbeaten 50 to his name, having also faced 25 balls.

Alex Hales was bowled by the first ball that he faced, from Tim Groenewald, as Notts began their pursuit but whilst his opening partner, Michael Lumb, was at the crease the home side remained optimistic. Lumb scored the first 43 runs of Nottinghamshire's innings, with five fours and three sixes in a 15-ball knock but once he had been caught in the deep by a diving Mark Turner the remaining wickets fell steadily in pursuit of quick runs.

Patel also failed to score and David Hussey was caught at long on, having been sent on his way by the umpires after believing the delivery from Dan Redfern had been bowled above waist height. Although Ian Butler and Chris Read both hit sixes in the closing stages, the target proved to be beyond reach as Derbyshire celebrated only their second victory in the last 15 matches against their local rivals.

Notts still head the North Group with two matches remaining and have it within their own destiny to finish as group leaders and earn a home quarter-final tie.

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SA to stick with two specialist spinners

South Africa sunk to their second-heaviest defeat ever, in terms of runs, on Saturday, but AB de Villiers said he would seek to employ a similar strategy against Sri Lanka in the second ODI. South Africa's bowlers were largely to blame for the loss, conceding 320 for 5, and 137 in the last 12 overs, but de Villiers was particularly enamoured of the prospect of fielding two frontline spinners.

Robin Peterson and Aaron Phangiso bowled only 14 overs collectively in the first match, taking 1 for 80 between them, but had done enough to persuade de Villiers they were both worth sticking with. Both frontline spinners are left-armers and Sri Lanka are likely to field five left-hand batsmen in the top eight. The part-time offspin of JP Duminy is also available to South Africa, though he did travel for 51 in his seven overs in the first match.

With the R Premadasa pitch expected to play slower on Tuesday, having already sustained 82 overs of wear in the first match, de Villiers felt all his slow bowlers were capable of making an impact.

"I'd like to have both of the spinners in there," de Villiers said. "I enjoyed the fact that we played a lot of frontline spinners, even though they didn't take a lot of wickets. It's a nice style of attack for us. There are a few right-handers as well in the team. I think they both bowl well to left-handers. Aaron especially showed that against Kumar Sangakkara right at the death. Under a lot of pressure he bowled a really good over. I truly believe they have the experience and the skill - Robin, Aaron and JP, to adapt to certain batters whether they are right or left-handers, and I'll try to bowl them at the right times.

"JP is just a part-time bowler still, but he is handy, especially to left-handers. He'll pretty much bowl in every game and he's definitely part of our plans. We wouldn't like to experiment too much with our side. I believe the best XI played two days ago. We'd like to stay as close as possible to that XI with the odd change here and there."

De Villiers also called for improvement from his side in the field, after a shabby showing in the first game. South Africa have built a reputation for being one of the best fielding sides in the world, but allowed the heat and humidity to affect their performance, de Villiers said, though the only dropped catch came as early as the first over.

"We're not the best fielding team in the world yet. We've got the potential, so it's a bit frustrating to see us field like that. I think the boys have learnt from their mistakes. It was a long 50 overs in the field and the afternoon was quite hot, which is not an excuse, but something new to the guys, something they couldn't adapt to. In this game they'll hopefully know what to expect and take a few matchwinning catches and a couple of run-outs. The bowlers certainly need them."

Hashim Amla has not been declared fit after suffering from muscle spasms in his neck last Friday, but de Villiers said he had recovered smoothly since then, and hoped Amla would bring some much-needed experience into the top order. South Africa are missing their most seasoned batsmen in Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis, who have not come on tour.

"Hash is still not 100% and we'll have to reassess that at training, when he'll have a light net and then final reassessments tonight and tomorrow morning. It's important to start well, but also to stabilise the innings if we don't start well, which we also didn't do in that match. We got it wrong in both departments. I'd like to focus on the basics tomorrow and get that in place, even if we have a bad start."

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BCCI relationship Lorgat's top priority

Understanding the BCCI's concerns and improving his relationship with the Indian board is one of Haroon Lorgat's top priorities as he begins his tenure as chief executive of CSA. Lorgat was appointed on Saturday and will officially take over the role on August 1 for a term of three years. His unveiling ends a nine-month period of uncertainty for the organisation which has been without a permanent boss since Gerald Majola's sacking in October 2012.

Although Lorgat was considered the frontrunner for the job even before he applied late last year, when CSA's board restructure was completed, a major hurdle to his appointment was the BCCI's objection. The Indian board is believed to harbour dissatisfaction with Lorgat from his time at the ICC, where they clashed with him over issues ranging from the FTP and DRS to the corporate governance review.

They informed CSA of their unhappiness and there was even talk India would cancel its upcoming tour to South Africa. CSA's president Chris Nenzani confirmed officials from South Africa met with the BCCI in February to discuss, among other things, Lorgat. The board is satisfied they have not put either the India tour or their relationship with the BCCI at risk despite giving Lorgat the top job.

"We went to India and talked to the president of the BCCI and they raised their concerns about Haroon [Lorgat]," Nenzani said at a press conference at the Wanderers. "We told them, 'We will not undermine your concerns but we will have to take decision based on the interests of CSA.' We have a long history of friendship and a good relationship with the BCCI and we value that relationship. We have no reason to believe this appointment will jeopardise the relationship in any way."

	Haroon Lorgat: ""We have to respect India and it's up to me to fix up anything that needs patching"

Nenzani said he had received "no information the tour will not go ahead", while Lorgat confirmed the two boards are still in talks about the itinerary. CSA released a schedule for two T20s, seven ODIs and three Tests to be played between November 21 and January 19 but the BCCI want some adjustments that could see the Tests played first.

By the time India arrive in South Africa, Lorgat would have completed three months in office and hopes to have gleaned thorough knowledge of the BCCI's reservations about him, reassured them and gained their trust. Lorgat admitted he is "not too sure" exactly what the BCCI's point of contention is but conceded they bumped heads at the ICC and the ethics officer was called in to mediate. All complaints against Lorgat were dismissed thereafter and Lorgat thought the matter had been put to bed.

"I am saddened by these inferences and I did not expect such a poor relationship to have formed. I don't like to be out of favour with someone I thought was a friend. I will do my best to understand the concerns," he said.

	If I need to sit across a table, to go to India, whatever it takes to smooth things over, I have to put CSA first. When the issues come out, if it means I have offended someone and I need to apologise, I will. Haroon Lorgat

But it does not end there. Not only does Lorgat want to comprehend, he also wants to reconcile and he is willing to go the extra mile to ensue that happens. "If I need to sit across a table, to go to India, whatever it takes to smooth things over, I have to put CSA first. When the issues come out, if it means I have offended someone and I need to apologise, I will."

Lorgat's deference to India may seem at odds with CSA's bold decision to choose him despite India's unhappiness, but Lorgat explained he is not seeking to further ruffle feathers. "We have to respect India and it's up to me to fix up anything that needs patching," he said.

Asked if he thought India was too powerful and used that might to exert their will, Lorgat was diplomatic. "I think in anything too much dominance of one person is not good. But I also think we should not begrudge strong people. We should aspire to be as strong as they are."

Over the last two years, while South Africa's Test team has gained the highest stature in world cricket, its administration has lagged far behind. The bonus scandal and revolving door of acting presidents and acting CEOs led to what ESPNCricinfo understands was a loss of respect at higher levels.

Lorgat's other aim is to restore the standing CSA once had, both in the eyes of other boards and its own public, whose trust was dented in the aftermath of the Majola affair. "What's happened in the past was not what anybody wanted to see," Lorgat said. "I am confident the reputation will improve. I am impressed by the new board and I think we have good people who will ensure corporate governance."

He also thanked his predecessor Majola, despite the manner in which he was dismissed, for "leading the organisation for almost a decade." Under Majola, South Africa hosted ICC events such as the inaugural World T20 and 2009 Champions Trophy and even stood in to put on the IPL in season 2.

Ironically, staging the Indian event led to Majola's downfall. Bonus payments from that event which did not pass through the board were the main reason for him being fired. But that South Africa were willing to bail India out in their hour of need was indication of the closeness of their relationship and Lorgat hopes to begin restoring that as soon as he can.

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