Gibson not ruling out England job

Ottis Gibson has declined to reject the suggestion that he is interested in the role of head coach of the England side. Gibson, who is currently head coach of West Indies, is known to have expressed an interest in other coaching roles of late and is highly thought of at the ECB having worked as the England bowling coach before returning to the Caribbean in 2010.

Asked whether his "name was in the hat" for the England job, Gibson replied, somewhat enigmatically, "My name is firmly in the hat for this job I'm doing."

While Gibson went on to insist he was "fully committed" to his current role and "improving the fortunes of West Indies cricket," his failure to categorically rule out any interest in the England job will do little to douse speculation over his possible candidacy.

Gibson has experienced a roller-coaster ride as West Indies coach. Among the high-points, he oversaw the side's victory in the World T20 of 2012 and signed a new three-year contract only 12 months ago.

But at other times, he has suffered public fallouts with such high-profile figures as Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan and endured criticism from various politicians, even prime ministers, in the Caribbean. West Indies have also won only one of their last six T20 internationals, including defeat against Ireland in Jamaica a week ago, and have lost four of their last five Tests, three of them inside three days.

Gibson's apparent wandering eye - he was also linked with coaching jobs at Warwickshire and Glamorgan - suggests he may be tiring of the ups and downs apparently inherent in West Indies cricket.

"When you're not working then every job appeals to you," Gibson said. "But at the moment I'm working and working hard so that is all I'm looking at right now."

Gibson admitted that West Indies "haven't played well in this format over the last six or twelve months" ahead of the ODI series against England.

"Both sides haven't set the world on fire recently in this format," he said. "So, England will be thinking that it is a good time to play us. We're at home so hopefully that will count for something but we're two teams that maybe you could say are in transition."

Gibson was, at least, optimistic that Chris Gayle would be fit to return to the side for the World T20 in Bangladesh, but had less positive news over the involvement of Kieron Pollard or Kemar Roach,

"From all reports I've heard Chris should be back," Gibson said. "He had some time out with a hamstring injury and he had a good two months to get himself right. He did some work in Australia with a physio.

"He was back here and played in the first T20 and looked good, but then he had a reaction in his back. When you work so hard on one thing then something else can give way so he had a reaction in his back and his hip so we've given him some more time to get himself comfortable on the cricket field.

"Pollard had a knee injury and he hasn't recovered from that. We've given him time but he just hasn't recovered. Kemar Roach had a shoulder operation in December and he's now on his way back, but neither of them will be ready for Bangladesh."

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Varun Aaron: fast, but not fearsome

Varun Aaron ticks all the boxes when it comes to sheer pace but has been lacking control and bowling nous, and that is compounding India's bowling woes

Varun Aaron is quick. On Wednesday at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, he maintained an average speed of 88.2mph, and his fastest delivery clocked 93.2mph on the speedgun. That's 149.99kph. India have a fast bowler. A genuinely fast bowler.

It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that the selectors gave Aaron a chance to play for India solely because he was quick. He made his ODI debut in October 2011 and his Test debut a month later. At that point, he had taken 26 first-class wickets in 12 matches at an average of 41.50. His last first-class match before his international debut was for Rest of India against Rajasthan. In that match, he took one wicket for 117 runs in 42 overs.

He didn't have the numbers in first-class cricket to suggest he could take wickets at the international level. He had, however, sent the speedgun needle into previously largely uncharted territory for Indian fast bowlers. You could legitimately label him "right arm fast".

On Wednesday, Aaron came on with Bangladesh 40 for 1 in 11 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami had bowled tight first spells, and each of them had produced edges that flew through gaps in the slip cordon. There was little in the pitch to enthuse the seamers, but they had kept the batsmen under pressure.

Aaron immediately released it with his first two balls, wide half-volleys that left-hand batsman Mominul Haque drove handsomely for fours. This was a portent of what was to come, although it wasn't immediately apparent, after R Ashwin dismissed Mominul at the other end and Aaron bowled a quiet second over.

You could tell even then, though, that he wasn't really worrying Anamul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim. His length wasn't asking them any difficult questions, and both batsmen came forward and drove him confidently. For now, they were hitting to the fielders.

What came next was unexpected. Out of nowhere, in Aaron's third over, Anamul jumped down the track and clattered him over long-on for six. In his fifth over, Anamul charged him again. Aaron banged the ball in short. Anamul swatted it for six. Later in the over Aaron served up another half-volley. Anamul clumped it back past him for four.

Aaron was bowling fast, but there was no extra ingredient - no cunning and no intimidation either. Even that can work sometimes, if you bowl fast and attack the stumps, but Aaron's default line was fifth or even sixth stump.

When he came back on later in the innings, in the 37th over, Aaron dismissed Anamul, bowled off his inside edge, but only after he had struck two more fours, the second a slash past point off a high full-toss that was called no-ball. In his next over, the high full-toss made another appearance, seemingly slipping out of his fingers and striking Mushfiqur Rahim a painful blow on the chest. The second offence meant he had to go out of the attack.

It was unlikely he would have done any more bowling after that over anyway. Before being struck by that beamer, Mushfiqur had spanked Aaron for two more fours and a six. All of that had left him with figures of 1 for 74 in 7.5 overs. This was the second time that Aaron had gone for more than eight runs an over in an ODI, and this was just his eighth match. His career economy rate had now spiked to 6.64.

India's excitement with Aaron's pace is understandable. It's a precious resource. And he has improved his bowling to the extent that he has enjoyed his best ever first-class season after recovering from recurring back injuries. But he still seems unsure of what exactly he's trying to do when he bowls at the international level. It has been the same case with Umesh Yadav, and it's hard to tell if either of them is getting the guidance they need to make the most of their talent.

It's hard to tell if any of India's young fast bowlers are getting this. Aaron's spell in Fatullah was the 12th instance of an Indian fast bowler conceding eight or more runs per over in an ODI spell of six or more overs since the start of 2013. Umesh Yadav and Mohit Sharma appear once each on that list. Vinay Kumar and Mohammed Shami, like Aaron, have two entries each, while Ishant Sharma features a staggering four times. All of this, remember, has happened in the last 14 months.

In that period, India's batsmen have been made to chase 300-plus targets eight times. They've been made to do it not just in Jaipur, Nagpur and Rajkot but also in Johannesburg, Kingston and Wellington.

Despite Aaron's waywardness, their target in Fatullah was "only" 280 and they got home without too much fuss. It's what Virat Kohli does. But he must wish sometimes that he didn't have to do it so often. He will wish he won't have to keep doing it in this tournament. MS Dhoni isn't around to help him.

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Trott on track for April comeback

Jonathan Trott is on course to start the domestic season with Warwickshire and has been backed to return to international cricket.

Trott left the Ashes tour with a stress-related illness straight after the opening Test in Brisbane. At the time it was revealed he had been managing his condition for a considerable length of time.

He has since been supported by the ECB and PCA during his recovery and is on track to play for Warwickshire at the beginning of the season. Their first Championship match is against Sussex, at Edgbaston, on April 13 but he is expected to play against Oxford MCCU at the Parks the week before.

He will not be part of Warwickshire's pre-season tour of Barbados but that was always part of the plan. Trott has yet to speak publicly since leaving Australia but Dennis Amiss, the chairman of Trott's 2014 benefit committee, said his desire to return at all levels is strong.

"He's doing very well. He's had a great rest, which is very important, and he is raring to go again," Amiss told the BBC. "He's still very hungry. He wants to continue succeeding both for Warwickshire and for England."

"Cricket is his passion and I believe he has qualities, as we've seen, to be able to score a mass of runs for Warwickshire to get himself back into the England side and regain his position."

"I think it was essentially burnout. The England and Wales Cricket Board has helped him while he has been back. Everybody has given him a lot of help. Rest has been the most important thing."

In Trott's absence, Joe Root was initially promoted to No. 3 but was dropped after the Melbourne Test and Ian Bell took the position. In the one-day side, the No. 3 role is currently held by Ben Stokes.

England's home international season begins with a one-day international against Scotland on May 9 before Sri Lanka arrive for a tour that includes one Twenty20, five one-day internationals and two Tests.

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I wasn't feeling any pressure - Rahane

'Shot selection was crucial' - Rahane

Having scored just 51 runs in five innings during the ODI series in New Zealand, Ajinkya Rahane might have felt under pressure coming into India's opening match of the Asia Cup against Bangladesh. But after scoring 73 and putting on 213 with Virat Kohli to guide India to their target of 280, Rahane said he felt relaxed when he first arrived at the crease.

"Frankly speaking, I wasn't thinking about the past," he said. "I was slightly relaxed and just wanted to play my game. I got a hundred in the last innings in New Zealand [in the Test series], so I was confident during my batting. My plan was to take my time initially and then play my shots. That really worked today."

India had lost both their openers in the space of two overs when Rahane walked in to bat. At that stage, Rahane said the pitch hadn't been an easy one to start an innings on.

"On this wicket, shot selection was very crucial," he said. "It was not easy to play shots initially, the ball was keeping low. There was some odd bounce and uneven bounce. We were just planning to play straight initially and back ourselves to play our shots later on. Obviously Virat took his chances really well and that worked."

Bangladesh left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak had said that dew had made life very difficult for Bangladesh's bowlers under lights. Rahane, however, said it hadn't been that much of a factor. "I don't think so," he said. "It was there, but only after 38-40 overs."

When India bowled, they had done well at the death to restrict Bangladesh to 279 after a big partnership between Anamul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim. In the last five overs, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami bowled the yorker particularly well. During their first pre-tournament training session, India's bowlers had been seen practicing their yorkers against a foam dummy made to look like a batsman.

"I think that is working really well," Rahane said. "Joey is really working hard with the bowlers in the nets and that is really crucial. On this wicket, I think the bowlers did really well. Bhuvi and Shami later on bowled wicket to wicket and it was not easy to hit that length."

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'We thought we were 25-30 runs short' - Mathews

Between innings during their opening match of the Asia Cup, Sri Lanka felt they had fallen short of a winning total against Pakistan. Lahiru Thirimanne had scored a century and added 161 with Kumar Sangakkara for the second wicket. With that in mind, Sri Lanka should have scored "at least 325", according to their captain Angelo Mathews.

"I actually think that we were 25-30 runs short, to be honest," Mathews said. "Especially with the start that [Kumar] Sangakkara and [Lahiru] Thirimanne got for us, we should have got at least 325, minimum. We lost our way in the middle, we kept losing wickets and we had to consolidate in the last few overs, to set 297 target. I actually thought, if we didn't lose wickets, we could have got 325-330 easily."

In the end, Sri Lanka's score of 296 proved enough to secure them a 12-run victory. But at one stage, they had looked out of it, with Pakistan needing 57 from the last eight overs with six wickets in hand. Mathews said that Sri Lanka's bowlers had had no answers to Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal during their 121-run fifth-wicket partnership.

"When Misbah and Umar Akmal were batting, they were batting brilliantly, and we just didn't have answers to them," Mathews said. "We just had to hang in there. We knew that if we take one wicket from there the game is going to open once again, so we did that and fortunately our bowlers did it once again, Lasith Malinga took that crucial wicket, and that turned the game for us."

Malinga ended up taking his sixth ODI five-wicket haul, and reached 250 wickets in the format. When asked what discussion captain and pace spearhead had before his final spell, Mathews said he usually left it to Malinga to make his own plans.

"When it comes to Lasith, he has always been our best bowler," Mathews said. "We always bank on him in pressure situations. He's been our best bowler for so many years, and we always throw the ball to him, and he knows exactly what he has to do. I was pretty comfortable with what he wanted and I always give him the option to do whatever he wants because he is very well experienced and he knows exactly what he's doing."

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Malinga beats Murali to 250 ODI wickets

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Jayaditya Gupta: It can't do Indian cricket any good when there is rampant speculation over the motives and methods of its highest-profile player

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Ask Steven: Also, centurion No. 8s, cricketers nicknamed "Stumpy", and youngest List A players

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Bigger, better? Sorry, no

Jonathan Wilson: Why does cricket have to succumb to the marketers' eternal need for everything to be bigger, flashier, younger?

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Root hits ton but Corbin makes England work

England XI 290 for 8 (Root 104*, Stokes 58) beat UWI Vice Chancellor's XI 261 for 7 (Corbin 105, Tredwell 3-39) by 29 runs
Scorecard

Joe Root warmed up for the one-day series against West Indies with an unbeaten 104 but England were given a scare by Kyle Corbin, who struck a powerful century, before they wrapped up a 29-run win at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

After compiling 290 for 8 on the back of Root's hundred, England made steady inroads into the UWI Vice Chancellor's XI once they broke a half-century opening stand and appeared to have the game completely in hand. However, 23-year-old Corbin, who has a List A average of 13.43, added 103 with Devon Thomas, who has played 21 ODIs, to give the VC XI an outside chance of reaching their target.

Thomas was bowled by Stuart Broad to bring relief to England but Corbin reached a 98-ball century and it was only when he found short third man off Tim Bresnan that the visitors were absolutely assured of not suffering an upset.

Root hit nine boundaries in run-a-ball stay as he anchored the innings from No. 4 following a brisk opening stand of 58 by the new-look pair of Alex Hales and Luke Wright.

In Australia, Root lost his place in the one-day side for two matches before returning for the final game in Adelaide where he hit 55, and this innings assures him of another run in the team as England look to begin the rebuilding after a debilitating few months.

With England's focus very much on Twenty20, regular one-day openers Alastair Cook and Ian Bell have remained at home so Hales is in line for his ODI debut on Friday. Wright was given the first opportunity to be alongside him, ahead of Michael Lumb or Moeen Ali, and struck the ball cleanly before finding deep cover.

Hales top-edged a pull to be caught and bowled after playing himself in then Root and Ben Stokes (58) added 68 in 12 overs. Stokes continued in the No. 3 role that he was promoted to during the one-day series in Australia and cleared the boundary four times before falling to Miguel Cummins, the pace bowler who made his ODI debut against Ireland at the weekend.

England's middle-order strokemakers, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler, could not get going, both falling lbw to legspinner Akeem Dewar. When Ravi Bopara fell to Raymon Reifer England had lost 4 for 50 and the innings was threatening to fizzle away.

However, Root and Bresnan added 62 in seven overs for the seventh wicket, Root dominating the partnership as he moved towards three figures.

Chadwick Walton and Adrian Barath gave the VC XI a steady start before James Tredwell struck with his first ball when Walton pulled a long hop to long-on and then had Paul Palmer caught at slip. The same bowler-catcher combination came together for a third time to remove Barath when Jordan was back at long-on.

When Broad and Bopara claimed a wicket apiece the VC XI were 143 for 5 and it appeared a formality for England, but Corbin kept them on their toes.

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'Batsmen should have finished better' - Misbah

Pakistan's 12-run defeat to Sri Lanka in the opening match of the Asia Cup meant they hadn't managed to chase a 250-plus target successfully since February 2011. Asked what the issue was, their captain Misbah-ul-Haq said they had no problem constructing chases, but simply lacked finishing.

"I think there is no problem," he said. "We just chased even in the Test match [against Sri Lanka in Sharjah, where they scored 302 in 57 overs in the fourth innings], and the effort even today was good. A little bit more, we should have batted the same way, batsmen should have taken a little bit more responsibility and finished the game."

At one stage, with Misbah and Umar Akmal at the crease and both having crossed 50, Pakistan seemed to be cantering to an easy win. Their batsmen then proceeded to gift Sri Lanka wickets with a series of poor shots.

"The way Umar and I had a partnership going, if we had just played out the overs the match was easy," Misbah said. "Only a wicket could get them back in the game, and that is the mistake we made."

Pakistan had done well to restrict Sri Lanka to 296, after Lahiru Thirimanne and Kumar Sangakkara had laid the platform for a massive total with their 161-run stand for the second wicket. Misbah was pleased with the job his bowlers had done at the death, but wished they had started the match a little stronger.

"In the last 10 overs, if you see, whichever bowlers we used, they gave away 64 runs," Misbah said. "This was the reason we held them back. Saeed Ajmal and Junaid Khan have been bowling the last few overs for some time now, and they did the same thing today. I think at the start we bowled too many bad balls, or boundary balls. If we had bowled a little better then, the 10-15 run margin that decided the game, I think we could have done better."

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Gillespie rules out England job

Jason Gillespie, the former Australia fast bowler and popular coach of Yorkshire, has ruled himself out of the running for an England coaching job following the resignation of Andy Flower.

It took only a matter of hours following the news of Flower's exit for Gillespie to be mentioned as a strong possible contender for the role of managing England. His positive effect on the Yorkshire dressing room and uncomplicated coaching style has raised comparisons with his fellow South Australian and adopted northerner Darren Lehmann.

But Gillespie told ESPNcricinfo he was adamant that his immediate future lay with Yorkshire. He expressed a desire to move into international coaching in time but did not wish to entertain leaving the county job in which he has mentored the likes of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow and took the club to a second-place finish behind Durham in the 2013 Championship.

"I'm 100% committed to Yorkshire, really want to work with our players and support staff to achieve success at our County," Gillespie said. "We believe our club is moving in the right direction on and off the field and I am excited to be part of it. I am learning a lot about coaching and people where I am now. I love my job, I would look at an international opportunity down the line but not at this stage."

Apart from his desire to carry on with Yorkshire, Gillespie also has a young family to consider - the significant amount of global travel entailed in an ECB job is also likely to factor into his thinking. Gillespie had previously applied to be Australia's bowling coach in a post-playing career that has also taken him to Zimbabwe.

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Vinay defends defensive tactics

At times during the second session on the fourth day, it seemed as if Maharashtra, and not Karnataka, were the team with the 210-run first-innings lead. Someone would bowl - it didn't matter who it was, specialist or part-timer - and the batsman - it didn't matter if it was Kedar Jadhav or Ankit Bawne - would stroll down the pitch and work the ball either side of the pitch for a walked single to a deep fielder. There were, at times, as many as seven deep fielders to choose from.

"Hopefully you might have watched the game," said Vinay Kumar, Karnataka's captain, when asked about his team's tactics. "It's a four-day game. The last four days it was very difficult for batsmen to get runs. That's why, wherever they could get boundaries, we put the fielders back so that they could get as less runs as possible."

Karnataka didn't quite succeed in restricting Maharashtra, who scored 272 runs in 68 overs, at exactly four runs an over. On the third day, Karnataka scored 244 in 90 overs.

"What are you trying to say?" Vinay said, when these numbers were put in front of him. "I know what you said but you want to say we play badly or they played well? They didn't have anything to lose. They just went and, if we had been in their position we would have thrown our bat from ball one, right? That's what they did and we're very happy that we got six wickets."

Maharashtra didn't exactly throw their bats at the ball. Vijay Zol did, initially, and only when the ball was in the slot, when Karnataka's seamers started with conventional fields. But each time a Maharashtra batsman played an aggressive shot, a fielder left the slip cordon, and often dropped back to the boundary. Pretty soon, especially when Jadhav and Bawne were together at the crease, singles were there for the taking, and Maharashtra's batsmen kept taking them.

Even so, Maharashtra were too far behind in the match to really turn things around. And they gave away four wickets in the post-tea session, two of them to full-tosses. Those two full-tosses gave Vinay his 299th and 300th first-class wickets. By the end of the day, with Maharashtra six down and only 62 ahead, it looked like Karnataka's tactics had worked.

"We want to give as less runs as possible," Vinay said, when asked how his team would approach the final day. "Because tomorrow morning they need to face more overs to get those 150 or 200 runs. If we bowl 15-20 overs tomorrow morning and restrict their lead to 200 runs then they'll get less overs and they'll try really hard to get us. In this wicket if you try too much it's very easy for batsman to get runs. That was the thought behind that."

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