Injured Jadhav to miss Duleep Trophy

Maharashtra batsman Kedar Jadhav will miss the forthcoming Duleep Trophy due to an injury. Jadhav, the highest run-getter in the 2013-14 first-class season, had aggravated a left-wrist fracture during the India A tour of Australia in July-August.

The West Zone squad for the regional tournament will be led by Cheteshwar Pujara and includes Parthiv Patel and Yusuf Pathan. Harshad Khadiwale, who was the second-highest run-scorer for Maharashtra in last year's Ranji Trophy, was also included along with India Under-19 captain Vijay Zol.

The squad's pace line-up comprises Dhawal Kulkarni, Shrikant Mundhe, Jasprit Bumrah and Shardul Thakur. Left-arm spinners Akshar Patel and Akshay Darekar have also been picked.

West Zone play their first match of the tournament against East Zone between October 15 to 18 in Lahli and the winner of this match will then play South Zone from October 22 to 25. The Duleep Trophy final will be played from October 29 to November 2 in Delhi.

West Zone squad Cheteshwar Pujara (captain), Parthiv Patel, Vijay Zol, Harshad Khadiwale, Saurabh Wakaskar, Suryakumar Yadav, Ankeet Bawne, Yusuf Pathan, Aditya Tare, Akshar Patel, Akshay Darekar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Shrikant Mundhe.

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Decision to withdraw Narine good - TTCB president

Azim Bassarath, a director of the West Indies Cricket Board [WICB] and president of the Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board [TTCB], has expressed his outrage over the controversy surrounding offspinner Sunil Narine's action in the Champions League Twenty20 and his subsequent withdrawal from the India tour.

Narine was barred from bowling in the Champions League final after being reported for a suspect action twice in successive games. The WICB then decided to withdraw the spinner from the entire tour of India.

"I am very disappointed with the turn of events and the news concerning Sunil's action is quite a shock," Bassarath said. "Sunil has been bowling successfully in international cricket for quite a while and has never been reported to the ICC."

Referring to Clive Lloyd's disclosure, that the West Indies board and team management had been told Narine would be under the scanner in India, Bassarath stated that the bowler's absence would be a major loss to the team but the decision to withdraw him was correct.

"What is even more disturbing is that Clive Lloyd heard Sunil would get called for his action and this cannot be taken lightly," he said. "This news does not sit well since it suggests that Sunil was being targeted and I think the decision to bring him home was a good one.

"Sunil is a big asset to the West Indies team, especially in India where he has developed a reputation as one of the best bowlers in the world. He knows the conditions in India quite well and [his withdrawal] is a major loss to the West Indies team. After being thrashed by England recently I know India will be looking to rebound and not having Sunil there is a massive blow."

Bassarath also questioned the quality of umpiring at the Champions League and suggested the ICC should have a look at that.

"I think the ICC needs to have a serious look at this matter," Bassarath said. "The umpires involved so far are not on the Elite Umpires Panel* and this should be addressed. There needs to be a better standard of umpiring at this tournament."

Rod Tucker, one of the umpires who reported Narine, is an Elite Panel umpire, along with Kumar Dharmasena who was the third umpire when the bowler was reported after the game against Dolphins.

Bassarath revealed that Narine had undergone testing in Australia in 2011 to ensure his action was legal before the third edition of the Champions League, in which he played for Trinidad & Tobago. Given Narine's extensive international and club appearances in the past few years, Bassarath felt the bowler did not need to be under the microscope. The TTCB president also said his board would support Narine and take steps to help him return to international cricket.

"Sunil passed the necessary testing in Australia and has gone on to forge a successful international career so I must reiterate how shocked we are by these events," he said. "Right now the TTCB is waiting on the WICB to determine a course of action.

"I am concerned that this incident will affect Sunil's confidence and hurt his cricket career. The TTCB is 100% behind Sunil and we willl ensure that he will be representing the West Indies soon. I spoke to his parents and they are concerned about what took place in India but we will wait until Sunil returns to Trinidad and put measures in place to ensure that he overcomes this incident."

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Suryakumar Yadav reported for suspect action

Kolkata Knight Riders part-time bowler Suryakumar Yadav has been reported for a suspect bowling action following the Knight Riders' eight-wicket loss to Chennai Super Kings in the final of the Champions League Twenty20 in Bangalore. Suryakumar, who bowled offspin in the game, becomes the fifth bowler to be reported for a suspect action during the tournament after team-mate Sunil Narine, Prenelan Subrayen of Dolphins, and Adnan Rasool and Mohammed Hafeez of Lahore Lions.

The charge was laid by on-field umpires Rod Tucker and Kumar Dharmasena along with third umpire S Ravi. After all video evidence of the match was taken into account, the umpires felt that there was a flex action in his elbow beyond the acceptable limit when bowling during the match. He had sent down three overs, conceding 21 without taking a wicket.

Suryakumar has been placed on the 'warning list'. Under the CLT20 Suspected Illegal Bowling Action policy, he may request an official assessment from the BCCI's suspect bowling action committee, and if cleared, he will be off the list. If a player receives another report while still on the warning list, the player shall be suspended from bowling in any matches organised by the BCCI - including the IPL - until such date as he is cleared.

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Had to stay till the end - Raina

It has been a four-year long wait for Chennai Super Kings since they won their first Champions League title in 2010. Contrary to their reputation of being regular finalists, it was a rather bleak period for them as they failed to make it to the final even once. So it was a relief for MS Dhoni and his team-mates that they were able to break a worrying trend. Pawan Negi, playing only his second game of the tournament, starred with a five-wicket haul before Suresh Raina controlled the chase with a clinical century,

"I am so happy we delivered in a crucial situation, especially Pawan Negi bowled well and they were 20 runs short, but I and Baz [Brendon McCullum] had a good partnership and finished off," Raina said. "I was looking to be positive in the first six overs. I know they had Piyush and Kuldeep and Yusuf - I have played a lot against them before. I knew if I get to a fifty I have to make sure to stay till the last over because if one wicket fell, the pressure would have come to the next batsman. "

Raina had played a similar innings - a 25-ball 87 - in a tough chase against Kings XI Punjab during the knockout stage of the IPL this year, but his run-out robbed the team of momentum and Super Kings lost the match by 24 runs. Dhoni said that even though Super Kings were floundering in the knockouts, their were learnings from all those losses.

"What's important is to get to the knockouts. After that you may win games, you may lose games," Dhoni said. "We have made eight finals, won four, I won't say it is bad. We made quite a few errors in the last two finals, so what we took out of those finals was really important.

"Raina did that in this game. In the last semi-final we played, he started well but was run-out and we were not able to chase the runs. Today he was aggressive throughout and calculative. Raina's batting was fantastic because we needed someone to be there till the end and he is someone who plays spin really well."

Dhoni added that the toss was crucial as dew was expected to be a factor later in the day. "We thought there would be dew later and because the start was an hour early, we thought our spinners could still get a bit of help," he said. "It was slightly difficult for the opposition bowlers. But I think we didn't start well. Our fielding was not up to the mark. In finals, you have to take the game to the next level. It's not about the bowling, we made too many misfields."

Those misfields meant that Kolkata Knight Riders were off to a good start with Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir adding 91 for the first wicket. Gambhir maintained an aggressive stance throughout his innings and did not let the more established Super Kings spinners settle. The counter-punch, however, came from an unexpected quarter. Negi, the left-arm spinner, reaped the rewards of tossing the ball on a helpful pitch and returned a five-wicket haul that was crucial in limiting the Knight Riders score to 180.

"Negi is not afraid to toss the ball," Dhoni said. "That was quite crucial because if there is dew and you keep bowling flat, you do not get much purchase out of the wicket. I was happy that he was still looking to flight the ball. Gambhir batted well for them. Because of him, our left-arm spinners were not able to contain them but once he got out, we were able to put pressure on other right-hand batsmen."

In the absence of Sunil Narine, all eyes had been on the young chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, who had also been named in the India squad for the one-dayers against West Indies. Although, he was dismantled by Raina in his spell, Dhoni had encouraging words to say about him.

"Kuldeep was fantastic," Dhoni said. "He is a bowler who is not afraid to toss the ball, he has got variations. He bowled really well throughout the tournament. Also, this time of the year, more often than not you get a bit of dew, which makes it difficult for the spinners. It gives them the kind of experience they need once they graduate to the next level. At the same time, they share dressing room with legends of the game. It's crucial they learn a lot out of them. You don't get opportunities like this."

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Rossington moves to Northamptonshire

Adam Rossington has completed a permanent move to Northamptonshire as they continue their rebuilding after being relegated from Division One. Rossington, 21, asked to be released from his Middlesex contract early after spending the second half of the 2014 season on loan at Wantage Road.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Rossington, who came through Middlesex's Academy, took the gloves from Ben Duckett in the Championship and topped Northamptonshire's averages, scoring a century and two fifties, as they finished bottom of the table. He also impressed in limited-overs cricket, scoring 400 runs across the two short formats.

"I would like to thank Middlesex and Angus Fraser for allowing me to leave my contract a year early," Rossington said. "It's never an easy decision to leave the club you have played at since you were six but I feel it's the right move for me at this moment in time in order to play first-team cricket on a regular basis.

"I'd like to pass on my thanks to all the players I have played with and I'd also like to thank Mark Ramprakash, Jack Russell and everyone at the Academy for all their time and effort over the years. I wish Middlesex all the best."

Rossington, a former England U-19s wicketkeeper, was given his Middlesex debut in 2010 but made the majority of his 40 first-team appearances in T20 competition.

Middlesex's director of cricket, Angus Fraser, said: "It is sad for the club when a product of its own youth system moves on to another county but John Simpson remains Middlesex's number one keeper, which has not allowed Adam the exposure to first eleven cricket he is looking for. Adam is an extremely talented young cricketer and we all hope his career blossoms and he fulfils his potential at Northants."

Northamptonshire have already signed another young batsman in Josh Cobb from Leicestershire, and released several experienced players after suffering a chastening return to Division One for the first time in a decade. Alex Wakely, who missed the 2014 season with injury, has taken over the captaincy from Stephen Peters.

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Gale given further two-match ban

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale has been banned for the first two matches of the 2015 season after the ECB opted not to hold a formal hearing into allegations that he racially abused Ashwell Prince. Gale has admitted to "improper" conduct and will be required to take part in an anger management course.

The announcement amounts to an agreement between Yorkshire and the ECB that, while Gale's behaviour was unpleasant, he need not be branded a racist. Having conceded that his words "could have caused offence", Gale will miss the champion county match against MCC in Abu Dhabi and the first match of Yorkshire's Championship defence.

ESPNcricinfo had previously revealed that Gale's ban would be extended in return for the ECB sidelining the racial element of the case. Gale incurred an automatic two-match ban, due to a previous disciplinary breach, after being charged with a Level 2 offence for comments made to Prince in the Roses match at Old Trafford.

According to a statement from the ECB's Cricket Disciplinary Commision, Gale "acknowledges and deeply regrets that the words he used caused any offence and, in particular, that they could have caused offence as a result of the reference to the nationality of the person to whom they were made. Mr Gale wishes to express that this was absolutely not his intention."

Gale is understood to have sworn at Prince over the Lancashire batsman's time-wasting, telling him to "f*** off back to your own country, you Kolpak f******". Yorkshire rallied in response, giving Gale their full backing and bringing in lawyers to fight the case. As well as what is effectively a four-match ban, Gale was forced to miss the presentation of the Championship trophy after Yorkshire won the title at Trent Bridge.

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Narine withdrawn by WICB from India tour

Croft: I'm not surprised about Narine

West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has decided to withdraw offspinner Sunil Narine from the entire India tour. A WICB spokesperson confirmed to ESPNCricinfo that Narine was being called back home after the CLT20 banned him from bowling having called his action illegal.

Clive Lloyd, the chairman of the West Indies selection panel, had said on Friday that the decision on whether Narine would remain in India for West Indies' upcoming limited-overs series' would be made in consultation with the WICB "in a day or so". Narine was suspended from bowling in the Champions League Twenty20 on Thursday, and is ineligible to play in the tournament's final on Saturday.

Suggesting that corrective measures to his action, if any were needed, should have been made earlier, Lloyd questioned the timing of Narine's suspension, saying the decision could be "destroying" to Narine and affect the team's chances on the forthcoming tour of India and in the World Cup.

From October 8, West Indies will play five ODIs and a T20 against India, before three Tests. Narine's bowling ban is restricted only to the Champions League and other BCCI-run tournaments like the IPL, but the decision to remove him from the tour means scrutiny on him has now extended into international cricket as well.

"I am very disappointed because he is an exciting cricketer," Lloyd said on Friday, at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, where West Indies played a warm-up game. Lloyd made his comments before the decision had been taken. "The point is, just like [Muttiah] Muralitharan, because your action is different, doesn't mean that you are throwing.

"We have to take a look at things and assess the situation. We don't want to make any rash decision as such. We will discuss it. The board [WICB] will probably take it from there. We will have to inform the board. We can't take decisions just like that. They have to be informed."

The West Indies squad leaves Mumbai on October 6 for Kochi, which will host the first ODI on October 8.

Lloyd said the WICB and the West Indies team management had been told that Narine would be under the scanner in India by a source whose identity he would not disclose. "Before we came here we were told that they were going to call Narine, so it's quite obvious that something must have been said somewhere," he said. "I really can't tell you that [who it was] but I can tell you it's a highly reliable source, because we have to make contingency plans for things like that just in case it happens," Lloyd said, adding that the West Indies cricket fraternity would back Narine.

Lamenting the timing of the suspension, "just before an important series against India and the World Cup that follows", Lloyd said he could not really understand the need to raise questions over the legality of Narine's action when "he has been bowling in the same manner" for years.

"He has been bowling over the years with the same sort of action. Now all of a sudden it has changed. What has changed, I don't know," Lloyd said. "You can't just ban him from bowling just before an important tour like this and with the World Cup coming up. It destroys the individual's ability as such and I think you may end up destroying someone's career.

"This guy has been doing well playing for KKR for the last three years. If you look at his action, he has been doing pretty much the same and I want to know what is it that has been found that they ban him and not say something like, 'Listen, you have a bit of a problem and you have to rectify it.'"

Lloyd compared the situation with that of Pakistan offspinner Saeed Ajmal, who has been suspended from bowling in international cricket. "All of a sudden, this guy [Narine] who is supposed to be one of the best bowlers around - like Ajmal for that matter, how many Test wickets does Ajmal have? - and all of a sudden his bowling action is suspect. My point is something should be done before all this comes to this point.

"It can destroy a team. You want to know if this is being orchestrated because if you lose your main bowler then it puts some pressure on the selectors and the team and so on."

Lloyd also questioned the Champions League T20 regulations and procedure, which has proven to be rather ambiguous.

"Nobody has told us anything. Nobody has written a letter. That is the thing about it. Something should be said to us. We are left high and dry. All of a sudden, the guy is not playing in a tournament he has played for the last three years. What are you then saying about the tournament then? Are you saying that the tournament has probably previously allowed people who have got bad actions to play?"

Asked if the ICC, which has been tightlipped over the issue since it doesn't govern the Champions League, should step in and get in touch with the WICB, Lloyd sad he hoped it happened soon. "I think it's wrong the way they have gone about it and I have been involved in the ICC for years [as a match referee and technical committee chief] and I think you cannot just ban a guy just like that. This is a guy who has played for us all over the world, not only in the West Indies. All of a sudden, this guy has got a suspect action. I am not happy, I would like to strongly say that."

Kumar Dharmasena, a leading umpire on the ICC Elite Panel, has been involved in three of the four cases of suspect actions being reported in Champions League. So, Lloyd said, he was not sure if that indirectly meant Narine would be reported in international cricket.

With the ICC taking a hard stance on illegal actions in the last six months, the WICB was likely to be wary. Ian Gould, another Elite Panel umpire, will be one of the match officials for the ODI series in India. Gould was among the umpires who reported offspinners Sachithra Senanayake and Ajmal, both of whom were later banned from bowling in international cricket, earlier this year.

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Grayson questions umpires on Ajmal

Paul Grayson, the Essex head coach, said English umpires should have called Saeed Ajmal for chucking this season.

Ajmal played a key role in helping Worcestershire to promotion in the County Championship but Grayson said his Essex side would have won promotion instead if umpires had been brave enough to report Ajmal.

In nine Championship matches this season, Ajmal's action was not officially questioned and he helped Worcestershire to five victories and four draws with key performances that saw his side top the Division Two table for most of the season, much to the surprise of most observers.

But on international duty for Pakistan, Ajmal's action was reported almost immediately on their tour of Sri Lanka and he was subsequently banned from bowling by the ICC.

"I wish one of our English umpires had the bravery to call him early season," Grayson said, having seen his side fall eight points short of second-placed Worcestershire. "He's been called for chucking; it's illegal.

"Speaking to a lot of umpires on the circuit, they all talk about him chucking it, but whether they had that support from the ECB; I'm not sure why they weren't prepared to call him."

It was thought Ajmal would merely prop up Worcestershire who were largely expected to struggle in the Championship last season. But instead his 63 wickets 16.47 saw Worcestershire only miss out on the Division Two title during the final round of the season.

"I've no doubt that if Worcestershire didn't have Ajmal, we would have gone up this year," Grayson told BBC Essex. "They've struggled in the second half of the season when he was supposed to be away with Pakistan.

"I don't want to sound like we're being bitter, but I do believe we should have gone up this year."

2014 was the second year in succession Essex have finished third in the table having entered the final round of matches with a chance of promotion. It consigned them to a fifth year in Division Two having been relegated in 2010.

Worcestershire director of cricket Steve Rhodes subsequently said the club would welcome back Ajmal to New Road next season if he is cleared to bowl again by the ICC.

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Can Cooper barrel into contention?

Tom Cooper is in elite company. His one-day international average of 48.80 is higher than that of Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke and Dean Jones. It's not quite up to Michael Bevan levels, and of current Australians George Bailey is also ahead of him, but there is no doubt that Cooper's figures are impressive.

The only thing is, all his runs have been scored for the Netherlands. That in turn means the majority have come against other associate nations - his top five scores all been at the expense of either Afghanistan or Scotland. There was an unbeaten World Cup fifty against West Indies in 2011, and 47 against England in the same tournament, but opportunities against top nations are scarce.

Cooper hopes that will change one day, for as much as he has learnt from going Dutch, he would rather wear the yellow of Australia than the orange of the Netherlands. Or, better still, a baggy green. To that end, he hopes that 2014-15 will be a repeat of his strong 2013-14 season, a summer in which he was second only to Marcus North on the Sheffield Shield run tally with 881 at 51.82.

But first comes the Matador Cup, the one-day tournament that begins on Saturday and runs through most of October. Cooper was among the top 10 run scorers in the competition last year, with 294 at 49.00, and his efforts across both formats earned him an Australia A call-up this winter. Now he has to ensure that last year was not an anomaly.

"It doesn't matter if you do well one year and not the next," Cooper told ESPNcricinfo. "The challenge for me this year is to go out and do it all again. I had some decent form in the Australia A series and now just chomping at the bit to get into the season and hopefully re-enact what happened last year."

Cooper's Australia A selection led to an unbeaten one-day century in Darwin, and a pair of first-class half-centuries against South Africa A in Townsville. But he knows that big hundreds are required to take his game to the next level, the kind of scores his South Australia team-mate Phillip Hughes keeps accumulating match after match, season after season.

"That's where I'd like to take my game," Cooper said. "It's just a matter of consistently scoring those runs and once you get a start, turn them into big scores. There's no better example than what Hughesy has done over the last couple of months and forcing his way back into the side. It's unbelievable what he's done. It makes you want to do it yourself."

But there are some things Cooper has done that Hughes has not: played in a World Cup and a World T20. They were opportunities that arrived through the fact that his mother, Berni, is from the Netherlands. In fact, it was her idea that Cooper apply for an EU passport to make it easier to travel in Europe and perhaps play county cricket, and from there he was rapidly propelled into the Dutch side.

"I had no idea up until six or seven years ago, Mum mentioned the idea more for the travel side of things than cricket," he said. "It's been a great opportunity to play in a couple of World Cups and experience things that not many people get to experience in their life. It doesn't get any bigger on the world stage than that.

"Just to compete against the best teams in the world, if you play against South Africa and see how AB de Villiers goes about his game, and just being there watching them play and prepare, and getting to rate yourself at that level. If you do well it gives you a lot of confidence to know what you're doing and that you're somewhere around the mark."

The tournament nature of the World Cup will be reflected in the Matador Cup again this year; it begins on Saturday, when South Australia take on New South Wales at Allan Border Field in Brisbane, and defending champions Queensland host Victoria at the Gabba. Then for the next three weeks, it's all one-day cricket before the Sheffield Shield begins on October 31.

Given Cooper's success in the Shield last summer, and the fact that new Test batsmen such as George Bailey and Alex Doolan have failed to fully grasp their opportunities, it is not out of the question that he could find himself in contention for a baggy green over the next year. If that were to happen, he would have to forgo the Dutch orange, but it would not be a hard decision to make.

"As a kid it's always been a dream to play for Australia," he said "I've been fortunate that I've been able to have so many experiences with the Dutch and get a taste of it. But as a kid, playing for Australia was that No.1 goal that I wanted to do and still want to do."

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Mills declines 'attractive' Essex offer

Tymal Mills, the left-arm fast bowler, has turned down an "attractive" new contract with Essex.

He has had an injury-hit career since making his debut against the Sri Lankans in 2011, managing just 29 first-class matches to date where he has taken 52 wickets at 35.59 although has often been touted as an England prospect.

In 2013 he gave England a scare when he struck Graeme Swann on the hand during the warm-up match involving Essex and was also taken to Australia to bowl in the nets at the start of the return Ashes in an attempt to prepare for facing Mitchell Johnson.

Mills made six Championship match appearances in 2014 before a back injury in late July limited him to just one subsequent outing.

"It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to leave Essex. I want to thank the club for giving me my introduction into professional cricket and in particular to John Childs, for my time spent on the Academy, and then Chris Silverwood, who has helped me no end since turning Professional.

"I am excited for the next chapter in my career and wish the club all the best moving forward."

Paul Grayson, the Essex head coach, told the club's website: "We are of course disappointed that Tymal has decided to leave the club, especially as he is one of our own from the Essex Academy.

"There was an attractive new contract offer on the table for him but he has decided to reject and continue his career with a new club."

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