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Steven Finn, the England fast bowler, is expected to be available for the first Test against India and he has said he is looking to put pressure on Stuart Broad and James Anderson for the new ball.Finn limped out of England’s opening tour match after just four overs with a thigh strain suffered in the field but has been taking a full part in training sessions and could share the new ball with Anderson on Thursday if Broad has not recovered from a bruised heel. Whoever is selected, both Finn and Broad will be short of match practice.Finn made his England Test debut against Bangladesh in March 2010 and played in every Test that calendar year until being dropped for the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne. Despite his height, pace and wicket-taking ability, he was criticised for being expensive, something Finn feels he has addressed.”I suppose when I started, I was a little bit expensive,” Finn told magazine. “But I still managed to take wickets, which is probably what kept me in the team. My economy rate in Tests, 3.66, isn’t terrible – but it’s not great either. I set myself very high standards, and it’s probably not up to scratch by those standards.”Finn took 46 wickets at 26.23 from his debut until the Perth Test in December 2010. “The criticism of my knack of leaking runs hasn’t been unfair but I was young at the time and I’d back myself now to be able to hold an end up and not give away as many runs,” he said. “I feel like I’ve learned and developed a lot over the last 18 months.”I’ve proved in limited-overs cricket for England that my economy rate has been as good as anyone’s. I go at 4.67 runs an over in one-day internationals, and my T20 rate, 6.70, is okay as well and there’s no reason why I can’t transfer that into Test cricket.”Finn has forced his way back into the England bowling attack and has benefited from the help offered by the senior members of the attack. “The guys who have opened the bowling for the past two or three years have been exceptional,” he said. “Broady and Jimmy have both been brilliant, so I think it would be hard for me to knock either of them off their perch.”I’m not saying it’s not something I’m aspiring to, though, because I’ve enjoyed taking the new ball in one-day and T20 cricket – and it’s something I’ve done for Middlesex since I was 18 or 19 years old. It’s something I’m accustomed to and really enjoy.”Finn is keen to test himself in subcontinental conditions again, having been one of few bright points for England during their ODI tour of India in October 2011. He took eight wickets at 31.62 with an economy rate of 5.27, when England as a team went at 5.88 an over during the 5-0 defeat.”I’ve always enjoyed bowling on subcontinent pitches because you need a different set of skills and I think that suits me,” he says. “You need to be able to reverse-swing the ball, your changes of angles on the crease are important, and having that bit of pace also helps on those sorts of wickets.”There’s definitely room for aggression, too. We saw that India struggled with the short ball when they came over to England last summer, and just because the wickets are slower there’s no reason why you can’t still use it.”Finn will resume his battle against Virat Kohli, a batsman in exceptional recent form, against whom Finn has played since he was 17. “He’s not invincible,” Finn said. “And we have a very good track record when it comes to getting the big men out.”Another big man is Sachin Tendulkar, who will be 40 in April and could end his Test career at the end of the forthcoming series. “There’s been talk of that,” Finn said. “The bloke averages 55 in Test cricket and obviously still loves the game; but you can’t play the man – you have to play only the batsman in front of you, no matter what his name is. It would be nice to say I was the last person to take Tendulkar’s wicket in Tests – definitely something to tell the grandkids.”

The secretary of Board of Cricket Control for Cricket in India (BCCI),Jaywant Lele has said that one of the main points in the agenda at theworking committee meeting tomorrow at Delhi would be the affiliationsof newly formed states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal.Lele told PTI here today after Baroda recorded a stunning 21-runsvictory Railways in the Ranji Trophy finals, that it was a routinemeeting and added “we will be discussing about the affiliations of thenewly formed states to BCCI.”Lele will leave for Zimbabwe on Tuesday night after attending themeeting to oversee the arrangements made for the Indian tour ofZimbabwe from May 28 to July seven, where the Indians will play twotest matches and a triangular series involving India, Zimbabwe andWest Indies.

A major embarrassment for the Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) and the WICB was avoided after the Trinidad & Tobago players departed for South Africa to compete in the Champions League Twenty20 after initially threatening to pull out of the tournament over a monetary dispute with the TTCB.”The players from T&T have decided to travel to South Africa,” Suruj Ragoonath, the TTCB chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo. “In the meantime, the TTCB and WIPA, who have good relations, continue discussions on the matter.”The dispute began on October 3 when five T&T players – Denesh Ramdin, Darren Bravo, Ravi Rampaul, Lendl Simmons and Samuel Badree – currently in Sri Lanka representing West Indies in the World Twenty20, told the TTCB that they would participate in the CLT20 only if the board shared with them the $450,000 it received for allowing Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine to represent their IPL teams instead of their country.The players’ emissary was Dinanath Ramnarine, the former WIPA president. Ramnarine, who has had numerous run-ins with the WICB on various issues, had recently helped Simmons and Ramnaresh Sarwan claim damages from the WICB for breach of their player contracts.It is understood the situation worsened on Thursday morning, when the ten other members of the T&T squad also refused to travel to South Africa on their 5pm flight from Port-of-Spain unless the demands were met. The problem had arisen six days before T&T’s first game in the qualifying stage of the Champions League and it caught the TTCB off guard.Reacting to the development, the TTCB initially explained to the players that a guaranteed sum of more than $20,000 was assured to each individual for two qualification matches. Ramnarine pointed out that in case the team advanced to the main round, the TTCB had guaranteed an additional $200,000 before taxes. It was also reported that 75% of the monies and any other prize money would be shared among the squad.That, however, did not change the players’ minds and so the TTCB reportedly asked the selectors to appoint five replacements. Former West Indies players Mervyn Dillon, Daren Ganga, and Dave Mohammed were sounded out, along with the pair of Justin Guillen and Stephen Katwaroo.The TTCB also contacted WICB officials and informed them about the development. “The WICB was told that the players had put down a condition to travel which the TTCB did not believe was fair,” a CLT20 official told ESPNcricinfo. “TTCB said that the money paid by the IPL franchises had nothing to do with the T&T squad and they were not willing to share. They have reached deadlock.”The WICB officials went scrambling to try and organize a Jamaica squad, who were runners-up in the Caribbean T20 last season, as a replacement team. “The WICB felt they had to send a team to represent the Caribbean and the board was is in talks with the Jamaica Cricket Association to send a team,” the official said.However, after last-minute negotiations, the T&T players decided to board the flight to Johannesburg.

ScorecardSixteen wickets fell on the opening day of the game between Gujarat and Punjab at the PCA stadium in Mohali, as the hosts reclaimed some of the ground lost by a poor batting effort.Put in to bat, Punjab imploded to 172 all out, the bulk of their runs coming from Jiwanjot Singh’s 86. Gujarat pacers Bhavesh Baria and Jasprit Bumrah bowled well early on to dismiss the Punjab top order, to leave the side at 50 for 3, before a 67-run stand between Jiwanjot and Uday Kaul put them on the track to recovery.Gujarat, however, kept picking up wickets and a lower-order collapse – five wickets for 20 runs – saw the hosts fold for 172. Bumrah was the most successful Gujarat bowler, picking up his maiden five-for in first-class cricket.The visiting batsmen hardly fared better than their Punjab counterparts. The Punjab pace attack, led by Sandeep Sharma, struck early on to leave Gujarat struggling at 36 for 6 in the 13th over. Rujul Bhatt and Akshar Patel held steady until the close of play, but with Gujarat trailing by 111 runs with four wickets in hand, the hosts would back themselves to secure a first-innings lead.
ScorecardFaiz Fazal’s seventh first-class hundred and his 181-run third-wicket stand with captain Shalabh Shrivastava helped Vidarbha finish the first day at a strong 244 for 2 against Karnataka in Nagpur.Having won the toss and opted to bat, Vidarbha lost opener Akshay Kolhar in the first over of the day, before Fazal and Amol Ubharhande shared a 62-run second wicket stand. The latter’s wicket hardly seemed a setback for the home side as Shrivastava and Fazal went about collating runs.Fazal finished the day at an unbeaten 139 off 259 balls with 21 fours, while Shrivastava scored a measured 75 off 221 with nine fours. Pacer Abhimanyu Mithun and left-arm spinner Abrar Kazi were the only Karnataka bowlers to take wickets.
ScorecardBasant Mohanty’s five-for helped Odisha restrict Jharkhand to 221 before their batsmen finished the day at 37 for 1 in Cuttack. Saurabh Tiwary top-scored for Jharkhand, making 67 in an innings that had only four batsmen reach double-figure scores.Put in to bat, Jharkhand had a poor start to the innings, as Mohanty claimed two wickets in the first over of the match without a run on the board. Jharkhand recovered with a 67-run stand between Rameez Nemat and Tiwary, but lost a quick wicket once Nemat was out. It was a pattern that repeated itself through the Jharkhand innings – they kept losing wickets in clusters right after a steady stand was broken.At 143 for 7, Jharkhand were in danger of finishing with a score below 200 but they rallied with a 73-run, eighth-wicket stand between Bhavik Thaker and Varun Aaron. Mohanty finished with figures of 5 for 60 in 20.4 overs, while pacer Alok Chandra Sahoo took three wickets for 34 runs.In reply, Odisha finished the day at 37 for 1, after losing opener Girjia Rout an over before the close of play.
ScorecardVirender Sehwag’s woeful form in domestic cricket continued as Delhi’s much vaunted batting line-up flattered to deceive yet again, finishing the first day’s play against Haryana at 194 for 8 in 84 overs at the Roshanara Club Ground. It was yet another poor show by the home team batsmen as none of the top six were able to even get past the 40-run mark. The captain Gautam Gambhir also failed, scoring 29.Read the full report here.

Sharad Pawar, the former ICC and BCCI chief, is set to return as an active cricket administrator after a two-year hiatus. Pawar is the only candidate in the fray for the post of president of Mumbai Cricket Association ahead of the association’s elections on Friday, October 18.Pawar, who was the MCA president for 10 years from 2001, had a challenger in Gopinath Munde, deputy leader of the principal opposition party in the Indian Parliament. However, on Thursday, incumbent MCA president Ravi Savant upheld the election officer’s decision to reject Munde’s nomination application on the grounds of him not being a permanent resident of Mumbai or Thane, the two districts that are in the jurisdiction of the association.Pawar, once elected, will be eligible to return to the BCCI fold as an MCA representative. He is one of the key rivals of BCCI chief N Srinivasan, who, despite having been embroiled in controversies following the IPL corruption scandal, has managed to retain his hold on the board. If Pawar leads the rival group against Srinivasan, it could indeed stir an anti-Srinivasan motion in the coming months.Meanwhile, caretaking president Savant, who was appointed as a BCCI vice-president on September 29, will be vying for one of the two vice-president posts at the MCA. Savant, Vijay Patil, an incumbent vice-president, and Pankaj Thakur, who is representing a group led by former MCA vice-president Ratnakar Shetty, are in contention for the two posts.Current joint secretaries Nitin Dalal and PV Shetty from Bal Mahaddalkar panel will face resistance from Dr Unmesh Khanvilkar from Patil’s Cricket First and Shetty group’s Pravin Barve. Incumbent caretaking vice-president Vinod Deshpande will face current caretaking treasurer Mayank Khandawala for the treasurer’s post.Thirty candidates will be in contention for the 11 managing committee members’ posts. Prominent among them are former Test players Lalchand Rajput and Abey Kuruvilla along with former Ranji Trophy paceman Atul Ranade and left-arm spinner Sanjay Patil, all of whom would be representing Cricket First.

Amit Mishra, who bowled a tight spell against Faisalabad Wolves in Mohali on Wednesday, has said he wanted to prove that he could bowl equally well to any kind of batsman. Mishra was just used for one over by his captain Shikhar Dhawan against Kandurata Maroons on Tuesday, a team with a primarily left-handed top order, but bowled his four overs for 13 runs in the second match against Faisalabad.”I have always believed that since a legspinner has more variations, it is tougher for a left-hander to play him,” Mishra told the CLT20 website. “I was waiting for a call to bowl another over, the team and the coaches were also thinking, ‘when is Amit going to bowl’. But sometimes, you don’t know what is going on in the captain’s mind and it’s best to leave some decisions to him, without thinking about it too much. Also, it was Shikhar’s first game as captain and these things happen.”The Faisalabad openers had made a solid start in a must-win game for them, scoring 48 in the first six overs, but the introduction of Mishra robbed them of the momentum. Mishra struck with his second delivery and completed a maiden as the batsmen struggled to handle his variations.”If any such thing like, ‘he can’t bowl to the left-handers’, comes to anyone’s mind, it becomes a challenge for me,” Mishra said. “So, when I bowled against Faisalabad Wolves, I certainly had it at the back of my mind that I want to prove that I can bowl equally well to every kind of batsman.”Mishra was also happy with the form the team’s batsmen have shown in the first two matches. “The biggest plus that I see in our performance in this tournament so far is our batting. In the IPL our batting couldn’t click too often but now Shikhar is in such good form, Parthiv is in good nick and the following batsmen are also scoring runs. Our bowling and fielding have always been good, so having these runs on board is a huge boost for us.”Mishra, one of the leading spinners in the format, said flight and spin remain his main weapons even in T20 cricket and it’s his attacking bowling that has reaped rewards for him. “There are times when the situation demands that I bowl to stop runs,” he said. “But even then, I ensure that it doesn’t affect my flight or spin. I have added variations in my arsenal so that before hitting me, the batsman thinks whether it is a googly, top-spin, flipper or slider. So, even when I am bowling to stop runs, I don’t want to do it with defensive bowling.”

Tillakaratne Dilshan has become the fifth Sri Lanka player to sign up with the inaugural Caribbean Premier League. He will join Guyana Amazon Warriors as a replacement for the injured New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill, who broke a bone in his right hand in the match against Antigua Hawksbills on August 17.Dilshan will join his Sri Lanka team-mate Lasith Malinga, who is also with Guyana. The other Sri Lanka players in the CPL are Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara (Jamaica Tallawahs) and Mahela Jayawardene (Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel).Guyana coach Roger Harper said: “While it is sad to lose a player of Martin Guptill’s ability at this stage of the tournament, we are delighted to have secured a top-quality replacement in Tillakaratne Dilshan.”He offers so much to any side he plays for, as an attacking batsman, a useful bowler and also someone who is outstanding in the field. We look forward to him linking up with us ahead of Thursday’s semi-final and his big-match experience will be a great asset to us.”Guyana topped the points table after the league stage and will meet Trinidad & Tobago in the first semi-final in Port -of-Spain on August 22.Dilshan has had some practice in the Twenty20 format of late, with two international games against South Africa followed by three in the Sri Lankan domestic Super 4’s tournament.

ScorecardShivnarine Chanderpaul used all his experience to se his side home to a most valuable victory•Getty Images

Shivnarine Chanderpaul has seen it all and pretty much done it all during a career spanning more than 20 years. But seldom, if ever, can his efforts have been more gratefully received than they were here by joyous Derbyshire team-mates and a small band of cheering supporters.Victory for the visitors, by a nerve-tingling two wickets and with Chanderpaul unbeaten on 74, keeps the Great Escape story alive for a county that started life back in Division One with seven defeats and three draws from their first 10 matches.They are now out of the bottom two – unlike Somerset, who trail by a point, and Surrey, who are a further 15 behind. And while Derbyshire’s next match, against title-favourites Durham, could not be tougher, there is a real of air of optimism around their camp.”It’s a tremendous win,” head coach Karl Krikken, who bats and bowls every ball from the sidelines, said. “We felt 240 was a big ask on that pitch but a couple of the youngsters stood up and the main guy, Chanderpaul, took us home.”Shiv has been superb for us this season without much luck, really. But this was a magnificent innings because he shepherded us all the way.”Had Chanderpaul been caught at deep mid-on, as he really should have been, by Craig Meschede off the bowling of Piyush Chawla when on 64 and the winning line was still 21 runs away, the ending to this always absorbing match might have been entirely different. But the two-handed opportunity went to ground and Chanderpaul captain was not about to give another chance.Typically modest after receiving the congratulations of friend and foe alike, Chanderpaul was quick to point out that victory had been a team effort. “We showed fight all the way through,” he said. “We’ve got two tough games to go, against Durham and Warwickshire, but hopefully we can carry on like this.”Opener Ben Slater, with 59, and budding allrounder Alex Hughes, who contributed 33 precious runs to a sixth-wicket stand of 68 with Chanderpaul, were the two young batsmen referred to by Krikken.But, as everyone knew when play resumed this morning with Derbyshire on 127 for 4 and 117 runs still needed, almost everything depended on Chanderpaul. He’s has had a far from vintage season, by his own high standards, and not won a match for the county while averaging below 40.Here, though, he was calmness personified, pushing singles into tiny gaps, dealing with the spinning ball like the master craftsman he is and punishing bad balls with ruthless efficiency.Piyush Chawla, who finished with 5 for 97 and 10 for 208 in the match, might have been the star turn – and probably would have taken the headlines had that catch been held. But really he released pressure far too often with freebie deliveries and was out-bowled by the highly promising left-arm spinner Jack Leach – whatever the scorecard suggests.Somerset tried most things to disturb Chanderpaul’s concentration – even giving wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter a brief go with his offspin, but the Rock would not crumble.Four wickets fell at the other end, the last of them with 28 still required. And when Chanderpaul started turning down singles to protect Tim Groenewald, the tension level increased by another notch. But no-one would have guessed Derbyshire’s main man was in a dog-fight, although the hug he gave his partner when four leg-byes completed the task showed just how much this win meant to him.The mood in the other camp was entirely different, of course. “We’re gutted – mega disappointment, really. It’s very tough to take” Somerset captain Marcus Trescothick said. “We gave it a good crack but it is clear where we lost the game.”So where did it all go wrong for the hosts in this match? Where do you want to start?Given the tightness of the contest, they could look back on the last wicket stand of 42 in Derbyshire’s first innings that lifted the lead to 195. Or, indeed, conclude that the 41 byes conceded by Kieswetter – including 22 in the second innings while enduring a nightmare session behind the stumps when Chawla was turning the ball several feet – were crucial.But really, Somerset left themselves with a mountain to climb by subsiding to 68 for 7 by lunch on the first morning and then being bowled out for 103.”You can’t win games in the first couple of hours but you can go a long way towards losing them,” Trescothick admitted. “We got close to pulling it back, and our second innings performance was brilliant, but I think we all appreciate we can’t afford a first innings like that.”Surrey at home next week will give Somerset a good chance to bounce back. But of those at the bottom, Derbyshire have most to feel optimistic about right now.”We are playing some good cricket and there is a lot of belief in the side,” Krikken said. “We’ll keep fighting and see where we end up.”

One-over eliminator
ScorecardAbdul Razzaq’s 46 placed the chase nicely for Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited•PCB

Ali Khan slammed a six on the last ball of the one-over eliminator to clinch a victory for Khan Research Labs against Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) in Karachi. After the match ended in a tie, ZTBL scored 15 in their quota of six balls. Khan Research Labs scored only five off the first three balls, but Ali Khan followed that with a four and two, and finished the match with a six when five were needed off the last ball.While chasing 132, Babar Azam and Alamgir Khan scored 12 runs off the last six balls to level the score. Needing 47 off the last five overs, Azam and Zafar Gohar slammed a six each in the next two overs to bring the equation down to 23 off 18. Zain Abbas brought Khan Research Labs back into the game, giving only three runs in the 18th over and dismissing Gohar on the last ball. When 13 were required from six, Azam hit a four on the second ball and once Alamgir took strike, he struck a four and scampered two runs off the last ball to end the match in a tie. Earlier, ZTBL were setup nicely into the chase by Abdul Razzaq’s 46 off 42 after the openers could not score more than 20 runs together. However, Razzaq was dismissed in the 13th over by Nauman Ali, who finished with 2 for 20, and Azam steered the innings from there.When Khan Research Labs were put in to bat, Mohammad Yasin and Zain Abbas provided them with a strong opening stand of 49. While Yasin was trapped lbw by Azam for 22, Abbas was run-out for 36. Azam struck again on the last ball of his last over with the wicket of Saeed Anwar jnr for 19 which left them at 94 for 3. Shoaib Ahmed’s unbeaten 31 took them to 131 as they scored 37 from the last six overs.