Vince matches sparkle with grit

Hampshire 330 for 8 (Carberry 66, Dawson 64, Vince 61) lead Glamorgan 224 (Wallace 67*, Ervine 3-36, Coles 3-39, Abbott 3-66) by 106 runs
Scorecard

James Vince has attracted attention for his natural stroke-making ability but he kept his instincts in check with a circumspect innings to steer Hampshire into a three-figure lead over Glamorgan. But Vince was the third player to go no further than the 60s as the visitors kept the game from racing away by fighting back with the second new ball.

Vince is a joy to watch, with his languid, fluid style producing effortless drives and flicks but there was little opportunity for such strokes on a day of showers that interrupted play regularly until after tea. It was during the final session that Glamorgan gained their rewards for not allowing Hampshire to find the progress of the first evening, taking 5 for 53 after a new ball was requested at the earliest opportunity.

Vince passed 500 County Championship runs for the season during his 61 - only Daryl Mitchell, with 532, has more in the country and he has faced almost double the number of balls - but this innings came at a strike rate 20 lower than his overall mark so far this season. It was difficult for the batsmen to settle, with four rain breaks before tea, and the new side to Vince's game was required to continue Hampshire's progress.

Vince has worked hard to tighten his technique with Hampshire first-team coach, Tony Middleton - who has overseen the majority of Vince's career - after recognising the need to become more consistent in four-day cricket. He has moved across his stumps slightly and resisted temptations outside off stump - in general selling his wicket dearer. His work was rewarded with over 1000 Championship runs last summer and selection on the England Lions tour to Sri Lanka.

The new season has seen his best form to date in four-day cricket, with a match-winning 144 against Gloucestershire at Bristol and 159 at the Ageas against Surrey. Runs at the right time, with England places available.

Here he demonstrated the vital characteristics for international cricket, temperament and discipline, while still finding time to please the eye; a straight-driven four of Graham Wagg just before lunch the pick of his eight boundaries. He also demonstrated smart batting against left-arm spinner Dean Cosker. Vince took him over mid-on, prompting the fielder to go back and Cosker to shift his line a touch wider, allowing Vince more space for his flowing blade, which sent a second boundary wide of mid-off.

But the first delivery of the second new ball saw Vince caught on the crease and lbw to Wagg for 61. It prompted a Hampshire slide, with Wagg also getting Joe Gatting to naively drive outside off stump and edge to Mark Wallace.

Vince and Liam Dawson had taken Hampshire to 196 for 2 and a position to build a match-winning first-innings lead - batting once would be preferable with the potential for more time to be lost. But a game Glamorgan attack, notably shorn of Michael Hogan who is in Australia with his wife and new-born child, persisted well and forced Dawson into an error, slashing off the back foot to a ball not short enough for the stroke and edging behind. It was a first Glamorgan wicket for Tom Helm, a loanee from Middlesex who only turned 20 five days ago and was asked to open the bowling.

Dawson went for 64 and followed Michael Carberry with a weak dismissal. Carberry's fluency of the first evening, where he helped Hampshire tick along at three-and-a-half an over, was completely absent on the second morning and he added just four runs to his overnight total. Jim Allenby is a dangerous bowler to drive off anything but a very full length; Carberry leaned out to play through the covers and sliced a catch to backward point.

Allenby later had Matt Coles dismissed fourth ball in exactly the same fashion and, in between, forced Sean Ervine to play on for another middling score that demonstrated how Hampshire had coughed up the chance to take a stranglehold on the match.

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Super Kings sign David Hussey as replacement

Australian batsman David Hussey will replace Dwayne Bravo in Chennai Super Kings' squad for the rest of the 2014 IPL season. Super Kings announced it on their official Twitter account. They also retweeted Hussey saying, "Just recd some amazing news!!!!! Can't wait until tomorrow.... Get in there!!!!"

The 36-year-old Hussey, who has played 69 ODIs and 39 T20s for Australia, has plenty of IPL experience, having featured in 23 matches for Kolkata Knight Riders and 36 matches for Kings XI Punjab in previous seasons. In all, he has scored 1206 runs at an average of 25.65 and a strike rate of 122.93, with four half-centuries.

Bravo, the West Indies allrounder, was ruled out of the tournament after injuring his shoulder while fielding against Kings XI Punjab during Super Kings' first match in 2014.

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Rejigged tour can help Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka may have their best chance of winning a Test series in England for many years. A schedule more sympathetic to their needs, an opposition in transitional mode and confidence gained from success in Bangladesh has given Sri Lanka an optimism not always shared by some of their predecessors.

The English leg of their tour begins on Tuesday. Sri Lanka will take on an Essex side including Alastair Cook in a 50-over game in Chelmsford, with further warm-up matches scheduled against Kent and Sussex ahead of the international fixtures which start in a week.

But while Sri Lanka's record in England is not encouraging - they have not won a Test in England since 2006 and have never won a series of more than one match in the country - circumstances are a bit different this time. On both their 2006 and 2011 tours Sri Lanka played the Test section of the tour ahead of the limited-overs section.

This time, however, they will have had a far greater chance to acclimatise to conditions. They will have been in Ireland or England for more than a month before the first Test and will have the opportunity to play their stronger suit - the limited-overs games - ahead of the Test series.

They also find an opposition lacking some of the pillars of its success in recent years - the likes of Andy Flower, Graeme Swann, Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott - and having just enjoyed a memorable double-success in Bangladesh, where they followed victory in the Asia Cup by winning the World T20.

"We have started training a bit earlier than usual because we know the English conditions are not going to be easy for us," Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lanka captain, said on Monday. "If we can adapt ourselves as soon as possible, I am pretty sure the team will come good. The conditions and the weather are the main challenge we face.

"We are not trying to be complacent against an England team having made all of those decisions. Yes, they might be missing star players like Kevin Pietersen, but they still have enough potential to beat any team on any day, especially playing under English conditions. They will be very hard to beat.

"You know what happened in Bangladesh: they beat us quite easily in the sub-continent conditions, so you cannot be complacent and just have to go hard at them."

"The confidence levels are very high," the coach, Marvan Atapattu agreed. "This team comes with confidence and success."

Certainly if the batsmen play as straight as the tour management did when deflecting questions about Paul Farbrace's departure, they should fare well. Mathews did not believe the suggestion that Farbrace, who resigned the Sri Lankan coaching role to take the assistant coach's job with England just weeks before the tour, had any team secrets to impart and dismissed the idea that any of his squad resented the decision.

"We respect his decision," Mathews said. "He is a good coach and was part of our success. He was with us for a short period of time, not a very long period of time, but in those few months, he was pretty good. Everyone has his own choices. He has made his choice and we wish him all the very best.

"When it comes to an international cricket team, there are no secrets. You have so many videos of all the players, of the support staff as well. We had guys like Ajantha Mendis and Lasith Malinga come into the team, but you cannot really hide them from playing international cricket.

"Everyone knows a little bit about the opposition, so I don't really think he has all the inside information."

But Sri Lanka hope that the appointment of Chris Adams, the former Surrey coach, might provide an insight into England's players and tactics. Adams joined up with the team on Monday and will spend the rest of the tour with them. Kumar Sangakkara will also join up with the squad on Wednesday or Thursday, having completed his short stint with Durham.

"Chris Adams is to give me the information I need to know, about venues and players, during this tour," Atapattu explained. "We will try to pick his brains to improve our game and lend our support to the players. Yes, we will try to get inside information from him."

Sri Lanka's record in English conditions probably still leaves them as underdogs going into the Test series. But Peter Moores and Co face a far from straightforward test at the start of England's new era.

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Craig, Davidson added to Australia umpires panel

Shawn Craig, the former Victoria batsman, has been promoted to Australia's National Umpire Panel and will officiate in state matches during the 2014-15 season. Craig and former New South Wales grade cricketer Greg Davidson are the two new additions to the 12-man group, replacing Tony Ward and Ian Lock from last summer's panel.

The panel provides the umpires for all domestic cricket played in Australia and does not include those Australians on the ICC's Elite Panel of Umpires - Steve Davis, Bruce Oxenford, Paul Reiffel and Rod Tucker. Cricket Australia's senior manager of cricket operations, Sean Cary, said Craig and Davidson had earned their places on the panel through strong performances.

"Both Shawn and Greg have extensive involvement in cricket and long playing careers before progressing to umpiring," Cary said. "Their promotion is a reward for hard work and the critical role our state associations play in developing high-quality officials.

"Australia has a proud history of producing quality umpires who have gone on to international honours after coming through our state and development pathways. We believe there is significant potential in this group to continue that."

Craig, 40, played 20 first-class matches for Victoria from 1996 to 2001 and was a first-grade cricketer for St Kilda until 2006-07. Davidson, 43, played 21 seasons for Parramatta in Sydney's grade competition, before retiring after the 2007-08 season.

2014-15 National Umpire Panel Gerard Abood, Ashley Barrow, Shawn Craig, Greg Davidson, Simon Fry, Mike Graham-Smith, Geoff Joshua, Mick Martell, Damien Mealey, Sam Nogajski, John Ward, Paul Wilson.

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Kayes double ton puts South Zone on top

South Zone's Imrul Kayes lit up a dull day in Mirpur with his maiden double-hundred in first-class cricket. His 204 pushed North Zone virtually out of the contest on the third day of the BCL final.

South's lead has now swelled to 446 runs, and they are in position to dictate terms, with seven wickets and two days remaining. They batted out the entire third day, making 410-3 with Imrul's double and Mithun Ali's eighth first-class hundred.

Early morning rain delayed the start of play by 45 minutes, but it hardly deterred the South Zone openers. Anamul Haque fell after adding 57 for the first wicket, followed by an 80-run second wicket stand between Imrul and Soumya Sarkar, who made 41. The latter was needlessly run out in the 38th over, after Imrul called for a single and Soumya hesitated before he was caught well short of the crease at the striker's end.

Imrul batted with less patience than Mithun, who hardly put a foot wrong. The pair had to constantly tackle the in-form Taijul Islam and Sanjamul Islam, both left-arm spinners bowling in tandem in the afternoon session. Imrul smashed nine sixes and 20 fours in his stay at the crease, lasting one minute short of six hours, while Mithun struck 13 fours and five sixes in his unbeaten 111.

The 254-run stand between Imrul and Mithun hardly had a glitch, except for Imrul popping half-chances close to short-leg, cover and long-on. The last of those didn't make North Zone captain Nasir Hossain happy and he expressed himself quite loudly, with Imrul batting in the 190s at that point.

Soon, Mithun reached his hundred with a cover-driven four and Imrul tucked the ball around the corner to reach his first double-hundred. His previous best score was 138. Imrul said he always had a dream to reach the milestone, and that his team's dominance on the third day had taken them to a great position.

"I am feeling really good," Imrul told the media. "I had a target to score a double century for a while now. Actually, not being able to score a double-century in the current scenario, being a top order batsman, one isn't able to get that acceptance so this was required. When another batsman scores a double hundred, it feels bad. I tell myself, 'why can't I do it?'

"The match is completely in our hands. If we can bat for two sessions tomorrow we will give them the bat. We know that if we draw we will win the game."

Imrul's dominance of Taijul looked risky at times, but he was always in control with his shots along the ground, even when he struck them straight to mid-on or mid-off. He struck five of his nine sixes off this left-arm spinner, never letting him settle for too long. He struck two sixes off Sanjamul and one each off Subashis Roy and Nasir Hossain.

He explained that since the left-arm spinner was bowling with some flight, he took it upon himself to use his feet. "Actually I played to the situation," Imrul said. "If he gave me flight, any batsman will automatically go down the wicket.

"Taijul has been bowling well in the last year. There are many quality left-arm spinners so in four-day cricket if we get in an attacking mode and play him normally, we can easily negotiate him. First I saw that if a batsman stretches out to play him on the front foot it will be very dangerous for him. If you use your feet against him, it will be easier."

Taijul ended with figures of 1 for 109 off 27 overs while Farhad Reza took the wicket of Imrul late in the day, when the batsman hooked the ball straight to deep fine-leg.

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'Started pondering Test future after NZ series' - Sammy

Darren Sammy, the West Indies all-rounder who announced his retirement from Test cricket yesterday, has said his decision wasn't a fallout of his being replaced as captain by wicketkeeper-batsman Denesh Ramdin.

Sammy, whose decision to call time on his Test career came hours after he was axed as captain, said he had been thinking about it for a long time. "After the New Zealand series [which West Indies lost 2-0] I sat down with the team management and the selectors and then told myself that we cannot continue like this. Probably my career is on the line. I was very serious about it," Sammy told ESPNcricinfo.

"It was a difficult decision. If you have been playing cricket as a kid, all you have been dreaming of is to represent your team in Test cricket and I have been fortunate enough to do it. But I thought it was the right time for me to move on. I feel it's time the West Indies Test team continues to move in a new direction, under a new leader."

Extending his support to Ramdin, who led Trinidad and Tobago into the semifinals of the regional four-day championship, Sammy had a word of advice for him as well. "Denesh has been captaining regional teams with distinction but it (leading West Indies) is a difficult job," he said. "Leading guys who come from different cultural backgrounds and getting the best out of them. I wish him all the best as he tries to the lead West Indies Test cricket forward into a new era."

Despite marking his Test debut with a seven-wicket haul in the second innings at Old Trafford or having been heckled as perhaps the slowest-ever West Indies new-ball bowler, Sammy, the first cricketer from St Lucia to play Test cricket, will be most remembered for having led the West Indies when a player revolt marred Caribbean cricket in 2010.

"When I was asked to lead the team when it was in disarray, it was the most challenging phase for me," Sammy said. "There was no way I could not have accepted the job. To get the bunch to play as a unit, earn their respect and then lead them towards a new direction has been a memorable journey. From what I have contributed, I hope I have done my bit and it's time for somebody else to carry on."

Sammy, who has had a moderate run in the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad this year, stressed that his best as a limited-overs cricketer was yet to come. "I am sure we all have a part to play to take West Indies cricket forward in whichever format we are playing in," Sammy said. "I am pretty much available in one-day and T20 cricket and hope my services will be utilised. I have my best years of cricket ahead of me and look forward to contributing to West Indies cricket. I am still fit. Probably I might not look fit but I am fit. I wish I can keep on playing my role in West Indies cricket."

Sammy thanked the West Indies cricket fraternity and his family for their support. "I respect this great game a lot and I have always given my best, whether it was in the dressing room or when I have trained," he said. "I thank all my teammates and support staff and administrators for all their support. I would also like to thank all my friends and family for standing beside me, especially my wife Cathy."

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India to tour Bangladesh after IPL

India will tour Bangladesh for a three-ODI series during the window between the IPL final on June 1 and their departure for England on June 22. The three ODIs will be played in Dhaka on June 15, 17 and 19.

ESPNcricinfo understands India will have a new captain in all likelihood, with MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli unavailable for the tour. Dhoni has planned a family vacation and the BCCI is inclined towards resting the captain for a rigorous season starting with the England tour and culminating with the 2015 World Cup.

Similarly, Kohli, who led India during the Asia Cup in March in the absence of the injured Dhoni, has also indicated to the BCCI hierarchy that he would prefer a break going into the hectic season. The other three players who have led India in the recent past are Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina. None of them were part of the Asia Cup campaign. As a result, the selectors could be forced to choose a new captain, with Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin the main contenders to lead.

India's tour to Bangladesh was in principle agreed upon between the boards at the time of FTP negotiations in February, and the dotted line was signed on the sidelines of last month's ICC executive board meeting in April.

ESPNcricinfo had learned last week that the BCB was waiting to hear from the BCCI and also waiting to confirm the six-year TV broadcaster's deal, for which they had asked for bids from April 24. The main selling point for the BCB was the two India tours to Bangladesh during this period, including the series in June. The open bid to determine the broadcaster is on May 16.

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Wright latest to send England reminder

Sussex 441 for 5 (Wright 183*, Brown 152*) v Durham
Scorecard

With England seeking a new start under Peter Moores it is the opportune time for players to push their name forward. Luke Wright was the latest to do so with a century against defending County Champions Durham as Sussex moved into a strong position at Hove.

Having missed the first few rounds of the season to be with his wife and new-born child in Australia, Wright endured a low-key return for Sussex last week against Lancashire but here gave a strong reminder of his ability after a lean winter with England.

Wright closed the day five short of his first-class best and in league with wicketkeeper Ben Brown, who went past his career-best score, set a new record for the sixth wicket for Sussex and for anyone against Durham. The pair added 326 to haul their side out of a sticky patch at 115 for 5 to close well on top.

At that stage, Durham's decision to insert Sussex looked a good one as they chase a first victory of the season. Chris Nash was the first man to go, edging Chris Rushworth behind for 10, and Michael Yardy then fell for just five when he was caught by Kumar Sangakkara off the bowling off Graham Onions.

Wickets continued to tumble - Ed Joyce bowled by Usman Arshad for 21 before opener Luke Wells gave wicketkeeper Phil Mustard a second victim. And when Matt Machan also edged behind, Sussex looked in some trouble.

But little did they know by the close of play Wright and Brown would have guided them to 441 with no further wickets lost.

Durham did have a chance to snare Brown relatively early but Mustard dropped his fellow wicketkeeper. His misery was then compounded the following ball when Brown stole a single, Mustard shied at the stumps and conceded four overthrows, allowing Brown to reach his 50 in 76 balls.

By that stage Wright had gone to his own half-century, also in 76 balls, and the hundred partnership was raised in the 58th over. Wright went on to notch up three figures with a four off Usman Arshad and five overs later Brown was also celebrating his century.

The pair survived the second new ball and played out the remainder of the day to complete a remarkable turnaround and leave Durham wondering how it all slipped away from them.

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South take lead after Al-Amin four

South Zone toiled hard to take the first-innings lead against North Zone on the second day of the Bangladesh Cricket League final in Mirpur. Al-Amin Hossain's four wickets were crucial, but the sluggishness of the North Zone batsmen also contributed to the position of the two teams.

North Zone were bowled out for 235 runs in 97.5 overs, being set behind by 36 runs. According to the points system, South Zone have already collected five points, one ahead of their opponents.

Resuming the day on 15 for no loss, Junaid Siddique fell in the 11th over of the morning when he edged Al-Amin after making 25. The second-wicket stand between Maisuqur and Farhad Hossain put North Zone back in the game, as they took up more than 35 overs to add the 60 runs.

On a flat batting track, this approach, however, was ill-advised as Farhad and Maisuqur let go of several scoring opportunities as they looked to stretch the innings. The breakthrough eventually came just before lunch when Farhad was caught behind off Shuvagata Hom for 32.

Naeem Islam was quickly sent packing by Al-Amin who produced a snorter to make the batsman fend to gully, giving substitute Salman Hossain an easy catch. Maisuqur was also undone by a short-of-a-length delivery by the same bowler, falling for a painstaking 42 made in just over four hours.

Thereafter, captain Nasir Hossain held on to one end, making 69 off 110 balls with nine fours and a six. Towards the end Taijul made 29 off 24 balls but it could not quite earn North Zone a lead.

Apart from Al-Amin's four, Sohag Gazi, Abdur Razzak and Shuvagata took two wickets each.

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Shivam Sharma grabs his ticket out of obscurity

Last July during his first major coaching assignment, Sanjay Bangar, the Kings XI Punjab head coach, and three other experts spent three weeks with 20 talented youngsters at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. It was a camp for those who had impressed in the previous season's domestic Under-19 competition but were no more eligible to compete at the junior level.

Shivam Sharma, the little-known allrounder who made his debut for Kings XI on Friday, was one of them. Shivam had a superb junior record in that season, with a batting average of 82 and bowling average of 20, besides captaining Delhi Under-19.

Most of the other players from that camp in Bangalore went on to play in the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy. But thanks to a chaotic selection policy in Delhi cricket, Shivam wasn't even picked in the Ranji probables or in the Delhi Under-25 side.

While Shivam was disheartened due to the lack of recognition, Bangar had marked him as one for the future. As a result, despite Shivam having only played Delhi club cricket all through the previous season, Bangar called him for a Kings XI selection trial in Chandigarh.

"That camp has been a turning point in his cricketing journey so far," Naresh Jain, Shivam 's coach, told ESPNcricinfo a day after Shivam marked his IPL debut with the prize scalps of Yuvraj Singh and Albie Morkel. "Having been sidelined from the bigger assignments for no fault of his, Shivam was very disappointed, but the Kings XI selection trials gave him the much-needed confidence that he was as good as anyone else of his age."

Hailing from a lower middle-class family in Delhi, Shivam has been training in the Vidya Jain Cricket Academy in the north-western suburb of Rohini. Jain was coach of Shivam's school and has been mentoring him since then. Jain stresses that Shivam is "a genuine allrounder". "You cannot conclude whether he is a better batsman or a bowler. He is special," Jain said. "He has a great ability to read the game and is a natural leader."

After Shivam was picked up by Kings XI Punjab for his base price of Rs 10 lakh, Jain was constantly reminding his favourite ward to be patient. "Not that he needed to be told but we were just discussing that he needed to wait for the first opportunity to showcase his talent."

When the opportunity came, it was against one of the most destructive batting line-up, the Royal Challengers Bangalore. That too at one of the smallest grounds in India, which is not known to assist spin. But Shivam first foxed Yuvraj with a classical offspinner's dismissal - forcing a left-hander to edge one that goes away from him straight into slips - and then enticed Morkel into a false stroke to finish with notable figures of 4-0-26-2.

"You have seen how clean his action is and how skilful he can be with the ball. I am sure he will show his prowess with the bat in the coming days. Let's hope he gets an opportunity to show his worth."

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