BCCI threatened to form parallel world cricket body

The BCCI had threatened to form a parallel world cricket body before the England and Australia boards agreed to the controversial restructuring of the ICC and decided to give a lion's share of its revenue to the India board, according to the BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel.

"We got criticised by many in the media and lot of them did not agree but we told them that if India is not getting its proper due and importance then India might be forced to form a second ICC of its own," Patel said at the Sports Journalists Federation of India's annual convention in Hyderabad.

"England and Australia agreed and after that it was decided and from June 27th onwards the new structure will come into place. I would like to state that all 10 Full Members have signed the resolution."

There was also no stopping BCCI president-in-exile N Srinivasan from taking over as the chairman of the ICC later this month in Melbourne as the Indian Supreme Court has not prevented him from doing so, Patel said.

"By the month end, India will take a leading role in the ICC. Mr Srinivasan is going. There is no Supreme Court bar on him. Both of us are going to Melbourne. In the last four months we have settled (the issue) with all the Full Members of the ICC and convinced them about the new structure and the new financial model of the ICC which would be followed in the coming years.

"India would play a leading role in the ICC and the reasons are well known. India is more or less responsible for 68 to 72 percent of the ICC's gross revenue but unfortunately so far we were getting three to four percent of it."

Patel said that a private agency study had confirmed India's substantial contribution to the ICC.

"Srinivasan asked a private agency to study the model and find out who is responsible for what amount and we found that India is responsible for 72 percent and ICC worked out that it was 68 percent. We had a meeting with the ICC officials in Dubai and we informed that 68 to 72 percent is not an issue but it was clear that the majority of the income is coming from India, so why should India take only three to four percent?"

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SL hopeful on Lakmal for Headingley

Sri Lanka remain hopeful that Suranga Lakmal will be fit for the second Test against England at Headingley, despite a hamstring injury keeping him out of the current squad.

Lakmal suffered the problem during the one-off T20 at the start of the tour but his rehabilitation is understood to be going well back in Sri Lanka and he will undergo a fitness test while the first Test, at Lord's, is ongoing. He could then rejoin the squad for the second Test, which starts four days later.

The make-up of Sri Lanka's seam attack could be key to their chances of upsetting England in the Tests and claiming an unexpected sweep of all three series. Lakmal has emerged alongside Shaminda Eranga as one of Sri Lanka's preferred new-ball bowlers, under the tutelage of Chaminda Vaas, and his absence leaves some uncertainty around the line-up for Lord's.

Eranga has recently been left out of limited-overs competition to preserve him for Tests but he has not played a competitive match since February. He has been Sri Lanka's most successful Test pace bowler since his debut in 2011, with 38 wickets, putting him ahead of the left-armer Chanaka Welegedara and Lakmal.

Welegedara's last Test was in 2012, while Nuwan Kulasekara is only a fitful performer in the longer format, despite his importance to Sri Lanka's white-ball cricket. Nuwan Pradeep, perhaps the liveliest of the seamers on show in Northampton, where the third day was washed out by a heavy morning downpour, is also in contention, despite a modest Test record of eight wickets at 89.25.

Prasanna Jayawardene, Sri Lanka's Test wicketkeeper, said of Lakmal, "If he's fit, he'll definitely come in". Jayawardene had a good view of Welegedara, Pradeep and Dhammika Prasad, the other seamer in the tour party, from behind the stumps at Wantage Road and suggested the competition for places was a good sign for Sri Lanka, as they attempt to add to Test wins on English grounds in 1998 and 2006.

"Lakmal is a huge loss but everyone saw yesterday that our pace bowlers did brilliantly on this track," Jayawardene said. "We have a good pace attack so we can do much better on this tour."

Jayawardene indicated that Sri Lanka want the opportunity to bat again on Sunday, when the forecast is more promising and play will begin half an hour early. The batting line-up has not inconsiderable experience of conditions in England and Jayawardene's only Test century outside the subcontinent came in Cardiff in 2011 - a bittersweet experience, as Sri Lanka collapsed for 82 on the final day to lose by an innings.

Having won the T20 and ODI encounters - the latter amid some rancour - Sri Lanka can claim a psychological edge going into the Tests. With England in transition and expected to field three debutants for the second match running, this series represents a tantalising opportunity for a rare success away from home.

"We all want to do that, I think we have a good chance this time, because we had a good one-day series and morale is high," Jayawardene said. "All the boys did well - fielding, batting, bowling. So we are going for the Test series, 100 percent.

"It's not easy coming from the subcontinent, we have to adapt to the conditions very early, adjust our technique when batting and bowling in these conditions. After the one-day series loss, they are coming hard, we're expecting that."

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Whiteley strikes to send Worcs top

Worcestershire 107 for 5 (Kohler-Cadmore 32, Whiteley 25) beat Durham 105 for 3 (McLeod 43) by five wickets
Scorecard

It's often a strategy, in rain-truncated games, to evaluate the conditions by bowling first. Worcestershire captain Daryl Mitchell had no hesitation in doing just that, following a two-hour delay, and his methods paid dividends as his side timed their tricky chase to perfection to move top of the North Group.

It's hardly surprising, on the back of another winter of submersion, that New Road's pitches aren't conducive to deliveries whistling past the batsman's helmet or bowlers thrusting it down with great speed but it makes for compelling viewing nonetheless.

With sixteen required to win off the final over, in a game reduced to 13 overs per side, Worcestershire were indebted to some clean striking - something that was rare hitherto - from Gareth Andrew and Ross Whiteley to ensure they made it four consecutive wins in the shortest format.

While Worcestershire exhibited all their pluckiness to get across the line from an unlikely position, Durham had only themselves to blame. Having batted first on a stodgy surface that was under the covers for much of the day, Durham learnt what methods were efficacious. They duly took note, reducing the hosts to 58 for 4 in the ninth over but let it slip when victory was within their grasp.

At the interval, Jack Shantry described Durham's total of 105 for 3 as par. The visitors, however, went about proving it was above that on a wet outfield and two-paced track. Usman Arshad bowled with great variation, taking all the pace off, and along with John Hastings proceeded to strangle the Worcestershire chase. That was until Andrew, only playing because of the shortened game, armed with his long-levered bat demonstrated that batting wasn't as arduous as others had may it out to be. Only Calum MacLeod played with any sort of fluency for Durham as their innings struggled to gain the momentum and impetus expected in such a short game.

Chris Russell took two wickets in as many balls to highlight the deviant nature of conditions. Mark Stoneman could only pull straight to deep square leg before, next delivery, Phil Mustard could only glove one that unexpectedly lifted through to Ben Cox.

If the shortest format requires thinking outside of the box, Worcestershire certainly meet that criteria. Their bowling attack is as unorthodox as it comes. Mitchell took all the pace off the ball - regularly clocking just 48mph - and although he went wicketless, Saeed Ajmal ensured there would be no Durham acceleration.

MacLeod, who scored an unbeaten 43 which included three sixes, was the standout performer as he propelled his side, alongside Gordon Muchall, past the 100 mark with an unbeaten stand of 72 off just 42 balls. But it should have been a partnership of 74. Richard Oliver, patrolling the leg side boundary, managed to cling onto a towering MacLeod swat but landed on the boundary cushion before releasing the ball. A four was given and despite video evidence clearly showing it should have been a six, the decision couldn't be changed.

In truth, it didn't matter. For much of their innings, Worcestershire plodded along, losing wickets at regular intervals as Durham's bowlers utilised conditions brilliantly. When New Zealander Colin Munro fell lbw to Hastings, giving the bowler his third wicket, the contest seemed all but over. Andrew, though, had something of a point to prove after being left in the shadows in recent weeks. He lofted a full toss from Chris Rushworth down the ground, then swatted a boundary to the leg-side before falling trying to repeat the trick next ball. Whiteley proceeded to finish off the job.

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Time is of the essence for Mills

Kent 344 for 7 (Stevens 105, Nash 82, Ryder 5-50) v Essex
Scorecard

Time-keeping has been a bit of an issue for Essex of late. So when Tymal Mills trotted onto the field some 80 minutes after his colleagues, a few in the crowd may have wondered whether another disciplinary ruling could be expected.

County cricket being what it is, no announcements were made. And those spectators not in the know were presumably doubly mystified when Mills - one of the domestic game's most exciting young fast bowling prospects - was then made to wait until midway through the afternoon session before being called into the attack.

Happily, unlike Essex team-mate Monty Panesar - left out of the county's last Championship match, against Glamorgan, for not being in the right place at the right time - Mills was entirely blameless. And, boy, he could not have tried much harder to make an explosive impact before being subdued by Darren Stevens, whose rollicking century put Kent firmly into the driver's seat.

The facts of the matter are that Mills was not supposed to be playing at all. Having only recently recovered from a side strain, the 21-year-old had been left out of the squad for this match and was at home in Chelmsford this morning when the call came to head for Canterbury.

Fellow pace bowlers Reece Topley (knee) and Matt Salisbury (back) both failed fitness tests after waking with aches and pains following the previous evening's NatWest T20 Blast game against Surrey, leaving Kent coach Paul Grayson with a bit of a crisis to sort out.

"We phoned Tymal to get him here as quickly as possible," Grayson said. "But as this is his first four-day game after injury he won't bowl a huge amount of overs." Five overs too many in his first spell so far as both Brendan Nash and Ben Harmison were concerned, it turned out.

A pleasant if somewhat sleepy afternoon of medium-pace, spin and steady run-scoring was turned into an altogether more riveting contest once Mills - having "qualified" to bowl through being on the field for as long as he was off it - had the ball thrown to him by Essex captain James Foster.

The left-armer, who has roughed up several England batsmen during recent Ashes preparations, began by whistling a quick bouncer past Nash and then, with his fifth delivery, ended a third wicket stand of 113 with a delivery which the former West Indies batsman tried to pull but merely top-edged.

It was some start by Mills, especially as the ball was 45 overs old and Nash had played with such certainty in reaching 82 that he looked odds-on to complete his second hundred of the season. Next over, Mills' pace almost did for Daniel Bell-Drummond as well with an edge flashing past third slip to complete the opener's half-century. And, just for painful measure, he then forced Ben Harmison to retire hurt with a finger injury.

Until that brief burst, Jesse Ryder - the New Zealand batsman and medium-pacer - had been Essex's most potent weapon. Indeed, when Ryder claimed a third wicket by ending Bell-Drummond's painstaking innings, it looked as though the visitors might take control.

But Stevens, as he has done so many times in his career, changed a day's play with sound defence when required and joyful, uncomplicated hitting against any delivery giving him even a hint of encouragement to attack.

Stevens had not managed a fifty in eight completed Championship knocks before today but here he reached that minor milestone at only slightly slower than a run a ball - and then accelerated to reach three figures from 94 deliveries.

No wonder the 38-year-old looked delighted with his efforts. His fun ended when he swung once too often to give Ryder the first five-wicket haul of his first-class career but neither that statistic nor the promise of more Mills meteorites in the weeks ahead was much consolation for Essex at the end of a trying day.

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Emboldened Sri Lanka keep their cool

It may have been tempting for Sri Lanka to hide Sachithra Senanayake in this match, in hope the furore would blow over. But emboldened by the added pressure instead, they made his role in the match more prominent

As the Edgbaston crowd's displeasure eddied around the ground late in England's innings, Sri Lanka were still, at the centre of the whirlpool. Spectators had been incensed by Sachithra Senanayake's run out of Jos Buttler - a Mankad which, upon the umpire's inquiry, Angelo Mathews did not hesitate to uphold. The England innings was already creaking at 199 for 7, but as the boos rang around the ground, Sri Lanka did not delay delivering the final blows. With 220 to chase, this would be their game to lose.

It was a brief passage of play, but one which illustrated an unwavering focus that has become a theme of this Sri Lanka team's cricket, particularly in 2014. They had had one horror day at Sharjah in January, but quickly shed the trauma of that defeat to trounce Bangladesh across all formats.

An unbeaten Asia Cup campaign came as the annual contracts tussle with the board began to bubble up. That saga erupted before the World T20, which was won with contracts unsigned, and administrators engaged in disputes with senior players. Mahela Jayawardene, the man who was most visibly shaken by the heated exchanges with SLC, was the team's lead scorer in that campaign.

Before the deciding ODI in Birmingham, Sachithra Senanayake had his action reported. "We are like family," Mathews had said earlier in the series, and even if things are not quite as rosy as that cliché makes out, this Sri Lanka team is knit tighter than most international sides. The doubt cast over a team-mate's bowling action will have reverberated around the dressing room.

Here, the players had support from the establishment back home. SLC expressed surprise in their response to the match officials' report on Senanayake, and the implications of that release were clear; "Why has he been reported only now, just before a must-win match in England?" Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya also lent his support to Senanayake in public. At the toss, Mathews hinted at the collective sense of frustration in the camp. "When we travel to certain parts of the world, it happens," he said.

It may have been tempting for Sri Lanka to hide Senanayake in this match, in hope the furore would blow over. But emboldened by the added pressure instead, they made his role in the match more prominent. He came on in the sixth over of the innings - earlier than he had been on at any stage in the series - and delivered parsimony and menace, taking the wicket of Alastair Cook and conceding 36 from his ten overs. The picture of Arjuna Ranatunga shaking his finger at the umpires, when Murali was called for throwing in 1999, made the rounds on Twitter.

"The report was a big motivational factor for us," Jayawardene said. "Sachi is a fantastic young player in the group. He's very cheerful and keeps everyone happy. So we had a special meeting for Sach last night. We had a good dinner out, just for him. We wanted to make sure that he feels comfortable with all of us and as a team we'll walk through."

Small wonder then, that Senanayake had the moxie to be the man who removed the bails when Buttler took an unfair head-start on a run - however unintentionally. Mathews and Jayawardene said they had observed Buttler's walking start at Lord's as well, and were compelled to take action after repeated warnings.

Sri Lanka may be among the younger teams in top-flight cricket, but they know they play a highly competitive, professional sport. The ECB left the team in no doubt of that fact, when they lured their head coach to swap sides, weeks ahead of this tour.

Sri Lanka had a less convincing outing with the bat, but as has so often been the case, their bowlers had done enough to make victory manageable. Several England players, led by Buttler, spoke heated words to Mathews, during his time at the crease, and Mathews let the spray fall flat to the turf. His characteristically unruffled 42 sealed the series.

Sri Lanka move to the Tests now, unfancied and outgunned, but buoyed by confidence and propelled by the fire of grievance. As Kumar Sangakkara said after the World T20 win, perhaps upheaval suits this team. England players, like many of their supporters, made their indignation known to Sri Lanka at Edgbaston, but perhaps they would be wise not to irk the visitors further.

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Florida non-committal till USACA pays for venue

The USA Cricket Association risks losing the booking at Lauderhill's Central Broward Regional Park for its USACA National Championship until the deposit is paid, the director of the stadium has told ESPNcricinfo. USACA, which in its announcement on Monday confirmed the Florida facility as the venue for the event, has lost out on bookings in the past for not putting down a deposit at the facility and the possibility exists that it could happen again if another party who is willing to pay steps up.

"I can send them an invoice and if they don't pay any money towards that for August, they're not going to get the stadium for August for their championships. We're a business," said Duncan Finch, Parks and Recreation Manager at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. "Am I holding my breath that they'll pay promptly for the national championships? They just requested the dates."

Finch said he first received contact from USACA on Thursday about stadium availability in anticipation of the city of Indianapolis' announcement on Friday that they were terminating their hosting agreement for the championship. On Monday, USACA reached out only to request the dates but Finch revealed that USACA has already lost out on hosting dates for the traditional Auty Cup rivalry against Canada. Former USACA chief executive Darren Beazley had announced in December that this year's matches would be held in Florida this October, but Finch said the stadium eventually chose to give the dates to another group after USACA refused to pay.

"That was supposed to be in September," Finch said. "It was going to be in October [16-19] but we didn't have any time for it. Darren had talked to us about it last October and we held the date but we were waiting for a deposit and never received a deposit from USACA. So it is not scheduled here at the stadium. Darren had shifted it in agreement with Canada to September 11-14. We asked for a deposit for the last seven months now and we didn't receive it. So it's been canceled here at the stadium."

Finch also stated that the reason why the event is being held from Thursday, August 14 to Saturday, August 16 - as opposed to the four-day event from Thursday, August 21 to Sunday, August 24 in Indianapolis - is that the facility has been booked for use by a local soccer league for Sundays this summer. Finch says the facility has started to focus its efforts more on soccer due to the historic lack of cricket bookings.

"We're becoming a soccer stadium. The writing's on the wall," Finch said. "This year on my book for people that have paid, FC Barcelona Academy has rented 210 dates in the stadium starting with their summer camp in July. Other soccer activities, we're up to about 30 other soccer dates."

According to Finch, there have only been two cricket events held at the stadium this year: the US Open T20 from December 5-8 and the American College Cricket championship from March 12-17. The last high profile, revenue-generating cricket event to be held at the stadium was in 2012 when the West Indies and New Zealand played a pair of T20s at the ground.

The park was hoping to build off that successful event by having Pakistan and West Indies play a pair of T20s during Pakistan's tour last summer. Instead, negotiations with USACA broke down and the two T20 matches for Pakistan's tour of the West Indies were held in Jamaica. Finch says the Caribbean Premier League also showed interest to stage games there this summer but an agreement couldn't be reached.

"There were discussions about the CPL playing here and that fell apart," Finch said. "We talked with the CPL in December and the next step was to get sanctioning from USACA and Cricket Holdings America and it fell apart."

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Smith promises Northants shake-up

Northamptonshire chief executive David Smith has promised a shake-up at Wantage Road after the county's fifth loss in six matches left them adrift at the foot of the Division One table but insisted head coach David Ripley's position is safe.

Smith was at the helm when Ripley's predecessor David Capel was sacked in mid-season two years ago but, speaking after the 271-run defeat by Yorkshire, Smith said that responsibility lay with the players for Northamptonshire's poor start following promotion last season.

"That's our fifth loss in six games and it is clearly not good enough," Smith said. "The level of performance is not good enough. There is a huge difference between the standard of cricket in Divisions One and Two and clearly at the moment we are well adrift but it is not a coaching issue, it is a playing issue and we have to address that.

"We rely on our senior players but there are some senior batsmen who are not getting runs. We have not got a single hundred yet in the Championship.

"Based on the evidence so far some of our players have found the step up to be one too far. But we knew there was a gap and that shouldn't surprise anyone. We want the kind of players who relish the opportunity and relish the fight.

"We can't be picking the same team and making the same mistakes, therefore we have to look to make changes, and so the side we pick against Sri Lanka this week will provide the opportunity for other players to put their names forward."

Smith said Ripley retained his full support in what he described as "a project" aimed at putting this club back on its feet.

"David is under no pressure whatsoever. We have a project at this club, David and I will work together and over the next three to four years we will get this club back on its feet.

"He and the coaches are working tirelessly to put things right. In terms of accountability and responsibility the players have to put their hands up. They are letting themselves down at the moment because they are better than that.

"Derbyshire got to grips with the first division but too late and we want to avoid that happening to us. We have 10 games left and we have to ensure that our level of performance is far more competitive than it has been.

"We won promotion on merit and earned the right to be here. Now we have to earn the right to stay in the first division."

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Jayawardene defends Buttler Mankading

Mahela Jayawardene has defended the Sri Lanka team after England's captain, Alastair Cook, suggested "a line had been crossed" in the deciding ODI of the series between England and Sri Lanka.

Jayawardene insisted that Sri Lanka were left with little option but to run out Jos Buttler in the 44th over after the batsman, at the non-striker's end, repeatedly backed-up too far. While it was the spinner Sachithra Senanayake who removed the bails midway through his bowling action, the umpires offered Sri Lanka captain, Angelo Mathews, the opportunity to withdraw the appeal before they gave Buttler out. It was the first instance of 'Mankading' in international cricket since 1992.

Alastair Cook, the England captain, denounced the incident as "a pretty poor act" and suggested he would not have behaved in the same manner.

"I thought it was disappointing," Cook said. "There's a line and that line was crossed here. I've never seen it before in the game and I was pretty disappointed by it. As captain of your country, there are certain ways you want your team to operate. And obviously he is fine with it. He has said he will do it again.

"You don't know what you would do if you were put in that situation, in the heat of the moment, until you are. I'd like to think I wouldn't do it, but I suppose you just don't know.

"I haven't been in the situation, as captain of England, where I have had to make a 'spirit of cricket' call. Paul Collingwood had one a few years ago and admitted afterwards that, in the heat of the moment, he probably made a mistake.

"If he was properly trying to steal a single, I could possibly understand it. But he was half a yard out of his crease. It's pretty disappointing."

But Jayawardene, defending his captain and his team, revealed that Sri Lanka had warned Buttler twice before the incident and felt he had been claiming an unfair advantage by leaving his ground early.

"We gave him a fair chance," Jayawardene said. "Twice. Before the first warning, we told the umpires that he was taking too much of a lead and then he was warned again. We had to do that, because they kept doing it.

"We analysed our game after Lord's. They took 22 twos in the last 12 overs. Ravi Bopara and him ran riot. And most of the time they were taking starts that are not legal by the written laws. We just wanted to make sure we got a fair chance. We warned them and we warned the umpires, but they didn't listen to us, so we had to take the right steps.

"We always try to play in the right spirit, but if the other team is not playing in the right spirit and not going with the law, then unfortunately we had to take the law into our hands. It was the third time. It is fair enough, I think. We all need to play by the rules.

"If the other sides are not going by the rules, then they're not playing by the spirit, so what can you do?"

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Narine's worst, and highest scores in defeats

Key numbers from the IPL 2014 final between Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab

200 - Kolkata Knight Riders' score, the highest by a team chasing a target in the final of any Twenty20 tournament. The previous highest was 198, by Wayamba against Ruhuna in Sri Lanka's Inter-Provincial Twenty20 tournament in 2011. Wayamba's score tied the game, which Ruhuna later won in the one-over eliminator. In the IPL, the previous highest in a final was also by Knight Riders, when they scored 192 against Chennai Super Kings in the 2012 final.

115* - Wriddhiman Saha's score, the highest by a batsman in the final of a Twenty20 tournament. There's only been one other century in the final of a Twenty20 tournament: Brad Hodge scored 106 for Victoria against New South Wales in the final of the Australian Twenty20 Competition in 2005-06. The previous highest in an IPL final was M Vijay's 95 for Chennai Super Kings against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2011.

1 - The number of scores higher than 115 in a losing effort in an IPL game: Andrew Symonds scored an unbeaten 117 for Deccan Chargers against Rajasthan Royals in 2008, a match in which Chargers scored 214 but lost by three wickets; the highest score for Royals in that game was 71, by Graeme Smith. In any Twenty20 match, this is the seventh highest in a loss; the highest is 141 not out, by Somerset's Cameron White against Worcestershire in 2006.

46 - Runs conceded by Sunil Narine in his four overs, which equals the most runs he has ever conceded in a Twenty20 match. There have been two other instances of him conceding 46 - off 3.4 overs against Barbados in the 2013 Caribbean Premier League, when the batting team was bowled out for 122; and in a Twenty20 international against New Zealand earlier this year in Auckland, when New Zealand made 189.

19 - Runs conceded by Narine in his second over, the second highest he has conceded in an IPL match. His highest is 23, also against Kings XI Punjab, in 2013 in Mohali. After conceding only ten in his first three overs of that game, his fourth went for 23 as Manpreet Gony hit him for two sixes and a four.

99 - The number of runs Kings XI scored in the middle overs, from the seventh to the 15th. It was the fifth highest of the tournament by any team. Of the 11 instances when teams scored 90 or more runs in the middle overs in IPL 2014, seven were by Kings XI.

4 for 54 - The bowling figures for Karanveer Singh, the most expensive four-for in all Twenty20 cricket. The previous highest number of runs conceded for a four-wicket haul was 50, by Hammad Azam of Rawalpindi Rams against Sialkot Stallions in 2010.

8 - The number of dots played by Knight Riders during their Powerplay, the least by any team in IPL 2014. Kings XI had played nine dots in their match against Sunrisers Hyderabad during the league stage.

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Madsen made to regret toss decision

Hampshire 332 for 7 (Wheater 87, Smith 82, Palladino 4-83) v Derbyshire
Scorecard

Hampshire openers Jimmy Adams and Will Smith took full advantage of being given first use of their own pitch as Derbyshire's miserable season continued.

Visiting captain Wayne Madsen was immediately left to regret asking the Division Two leaders to bat first as Adams and Smith rattled off a century stand before Adam Wheater and Sean Ervine continued the punishment later in the day.

Having seen off the early threat present on the opening morning of the game Hampshire's top two made good progress.

Adams just beat his partner to his half-century but 110 without loss at lunch quickly became 118 for 3 as Adams, on 60, nicked Tony Palladino's first ball of the afternoon session and was soon followed back by Joe Gatting and James Vince.

But Derbyshire, bottom of the table without a win in either competition this summer, could not capitalise as Smith and Wheater put on 109 in 24 overs.

Palladino returned to trap Smith leg before for 82, his highest score for Hampshire having joined over the winter, and even when Wheater departed for 87 to a catch at cover just after tea Ervine ensured there was no loss of momentum.

Ervine shared a sixth wicket stand of 62 with Michael Bates before Tim Groenewald removed him for 47 and then quickly accounted for Matt Coles.

But Bates' steady 27 not out off 64 balls guided the hosts to 332 for 7 at the close despite the best efforts of a persevering Palladini, who finished the day with 4 for 83.

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