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ScorecardDavid Masters has put Essex in a position to try and force a quick victory and dodge the poor weather which is forecast•Getty Images

It’s the lot of a bowler that much of their success can be attributed to batsman error. With video clips and a modicum of technical nous, even the most memorable deliveries can be stripped of their pomp: “Why was Michael Clarke trying to work Steven Harmison’s slower-ball through the leg-side, anyway?”As such, it’s important that displays like Essex’s on day two, when their trio of seam bowlers dove-tailed brilliantly to hound Kent out for 107 in their first innings, are treated with the respect they deserve. Much of the plaudits will go to David Masters for his 6 for 41 – his third five-wicket haul of the season – but Graham Napier and Reece Topley deserve recognition for their parts in a relentless display.Forever the leader of the attack, Masters instigated the rout with two spells before tea – taking two wickets in each – that gutted the hosts’ top order with consummate ease. He looked almost unplayable, either beating batsmen outright, or luring them into a false sense of security with some smart approach play, and reaping the payback. The wicket of Daniel Bell-Drummond summed up the disparity between bat and Masters in this mini-session perfectly.With Bell-Drummond unable to score a run off Masters’s previous eight deliveries, playing and missing outside off stump as he tried to remain positive on the front foot, James Foster had a cunning plan.Reinforcing the slip cordon to four, with a man at point, he asked Jaik Mickleburgh to helmet up and come in – quite literally – under Bell-Drummond’s nose. With the man in place at daft-cover, a bat-pad dismissal was now in play. Perhaps realising that only a perfect forward defence would avoid such a demise, Bell-Drummond played away from his body, leaving an inviting gap. Masters is too good not to exploit even the minutest of flaws, and took out the middle stump.A switch to the Nackington Road End only provided a change in backdrop, as he bowled Rob Key and then trapped the dangerous Darren Stevens in front. Along with Napier’s wicket of Brendan Nash, the pair had seen off Kent’s three key batsmen – each with over 900 Championship runs this season – for just 11 runs between them.Napier bagged the sixth wicket, trapping Geraint Jones in his crease, and then treated us to one of the balls of the day; a sharp inswinger from the Pavilion End that uprooted the left-handed Callum Haggett’s leg-stump with such malice that middle and off needed counselling.Topley was then rewarded with his first wicket of the day when Mark Davies swiped wildly to become the fourth batsmen to fall bowled. He was unlucky not to have more, bowling with great control and minimal luck, particularly in his third over, when a hat-trick of lbw appeals were turned down against Key.Fittingly, Masters finished what he started, with two wickets in two balls to leave Kent with a first innings deficit of 169. Naturally, with a forecast of rain over the next two days, Essex enforced the follow-on. Just three hours after they first came to the middle, Sam Northeast and Rob Key were out again to see out the day.Credit, too, for Foster, who ensured he used all 10 of the overs left in the Kent second innings, with four going to spin, with the umpires ready to walk off for bad light in the second over, just as Topley was loosening up to share the new ball.Earlier in the day, Foster scored 46 of the 90 runs that Essex’s last six wickets added. Owais Shah could only add one to his overnight score, while Ben Foakes scored his third fifty of the season, before he chased a wide ball from Charlie Shreck which he could only edge to slip. Once Napier fell, the onus was on the captain to shepherd the tail, and he did so impressively; rotating well with the more-than-capable Masters, before farming the strike when in partnership with Panesar and Topley.Should they replicate today’s bowling performance tomorrow, they will comprehensively trump Kent and Mother Nature.

Kevin Pietersen has been ruled out of the remainder of the second Investec Ashes Test at Lord’s with a calf strain and his involvement in the third Test is now in doubt.Pietersen injured his calf while fielding on the second day at Lord’s and did not warm-up with the England team on the third morning. He underwent a scan on Saturday and will not field again in the Lord’s Test.He will now be assessed before a decision is made on his involvement in the third Test at Old Trafford, which begins August 1.Pietersen has recently returned to cricket following a three month layoff after bruising his knee on England’s tour of New Zealand in March. Pietersen left the tour before the final Test in Auckland and did not return to action until June 21.So far, Pietersen has had a quiet Ashes series with 85 runs in four innings, including two single figure scores at Lord’s. But he did make a composed 64 in the second innings at Trent Bridge which helped swing the tide of the match back to England.But now, for the second home Ashes in succession, Pietersen’s availability is in doubt due to injury. He missed the final three Tests of the 2009 series with an Achilles problem.There was better news of Eoin Morgan, who broke a finger in the Champions Trophy. He has received the all-clear from England’s medical staff and is now expected to return to action for Middlesex imminently. It had been feared Morgan would be out for a far longer period.In a clear sign that he remains of interest to the England selectors in all formats, Morgan, who holds a central contract, trained with the Test squad at Lord’s and faced some throw-downs from the coaching team.

George Bailey, Australia’s stand-in captain for the Champions Trophy, has admitted that Australia are low on confidence, reasoning that the fate of the Ashes hinges on the result of the first couple of Tests. Australia, the defending champions, failed to make the semi-finals of what is supposed to be the last edition of the Champions Trophy, after they lost to Sri Lanka on Monday at The Oval narrowly by 20 runs, finishing at the bottom of Group B behind England, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.It has been a demoralising few weeks for Australia, starting with the loss of their regular captain Michael Clarke to back injury, following by the David Warner controversy after the player admitted to being involved physical altercation with England batsman Joe Root in a pub in Birmingham last week before culminating in their exit from the tournament on Monday. With the first Investec Ashes Test commencing on July 10 at Trent Bridge, Australia could not be in a worse state of mind.However, Bailey felt that the switch in the formats, the change of the ball, the infusion of fresh legs and the probable return of Clarke in to the squad could reinvigorate an Australia and arrest the downward spiral.”There is probably not a great deal of confidence there,” Bailey said at the Oval. “But it’s just a very different mindset, I think, going from a one‑day tournament to a Test tournament. I don’t think it’s mattered where sides have been ranked going forward or in the past.”The Ashes just tends to bring out something special in both sides. Whatever can be written and said leading up into those games, but until that first Test and the result of that first Test, I think that will dictate how the summer plays out. I think there is a huge importance in the results of the first couple of Tests.”Whatever Bailey’s thoughts, the worries will persist. The biggest concern would be the slump the top-order pair of Shane Watson and Phillip Hughes. Watson had an aggregate of 34 runs while Hughes finished with 43 runs in the three Champions Trophy matches. Add to that the failure of Warner, who managed nine runs in the match against England and successive ducks in two warm-up matches, and the fragility of the Australian batting order becomes that much prominent.There were only four half-centuries by Australia’s batsmen including one from the James Faulkner, a bowling allrounder. Bailey and Adam Voges, the best performing batsmen, are not part of the Ashes plans. Australia, Bailey pointed out, would need to forget the Champions Trophy as soon as possible to move into the Ashes with a positive frame of mind.”All of these guys will have to put this tournament behind them whether they’ve scored runs or not, and just focus on going forward,” Bailey said. “That’s no different for an Australian player to any other international player. Everyone has form slumps, everyone has their ups and downs. As a team, I think there is a really big challenge that’s going to be ahead of them in the next couple of months. I think what Australia have done this time is they’ve got a really good preparation.”I think a couple of the guys, the batters from this group, will maybe even join up and play the Australia A game that’s due to start later this week. So, there are going to be plenty of opportunities for those guys to get some match practice in. Plenty of opportunity to get lots of practice against the Dukes balls in.”What would help the Australians immensely would be the return of Clarke who, Bailey reckoned, was likely to return for the first Ashes warm-up match, starting next Thursday, against Somerset in Taunton. According to Bailey even though it might seem Australia had been mortally wounded in the Champions Trophy there were still some positives to take forward. One reason for encouragement was Faulkner, the left-arm fast bowler, who might have just had three wickets, but his rich mix of variations could make him the surprise weapon during the Ashes.”Faulkner has been really impressive. I think it’s been good to have a lot of guys over here playing a lot of cricket in the lead‑up to the Ashes. So it’s not necessarily just on the Champions Trophy group, but a lot of guys that have been playing county cricket,” Bailey said. “Obviously, the Australia A groups are over here. The Champions Trophy boys that have been here for a number of weeks have been getting used to the conditions, different color ball and different format. But all of that plays a part in getting settled in. So I think all of those things will take some positives out of.”

ScorecardLiam Plunkett was one of the key bowlers for Yorkshire•PA Photos

An exceptional day for Yorkshire sees them on the brink of inflicting Middlesex’s first defeat at Lord’s since May 2011 and achieving their first away win in this fixture since 1987. A total of 13 wickets fell as the visiting bowlers bowled tirelessly through the day to expose fragility in Middlesex’s middle order that up until now had been shielded by the success of their in-form openers Chris Rogers and Sam Robson.It was a heavily overcast start and when play was halted at 11:46 for bad light, you did wonder how Middlesex would deal with the extra intervals. Unfortunately for the hosts, that proved to be the only one. Returning 26 minutes later, Rogers soon departed with only 46 on the scoreboard, and with him the faint hope that the follow-on would be avoided.When it was enforced, the Middlesex captain lasted only five balls into his second innings and, while Robson looked like he was beginning to settle into a groove, he played across the line to a short ball from Adil Rashid that straightened and hurried on to all but end Middlesex’s hopes of saving this match.It is worth noting that of the seven century partnerships Middlesex batsmen have put together this season, only one was scored without either Rogers or Robson, who have featured together in four of them.It is an indication of just how over-reliant Middlesex have been on their opening pair and how lucky they have been that their underperforming middle order had not cost them. Neil Dexter has been the only batsman outside the top two to reach triple figures, while others like Joe Denly and John Simpson have contributed the odd half-century, but nothing more. Dawid Malan has already paid the price for his paucity of red ball runs, and there is little chance he will be the last.For all Middlesex’s batting malaise, the Yorkshire attack put in a near faultless display. The wickets have been shared about this season, as evidenced by the fact that Steven Patterson has the most (24) despite not having taken five wickets in an innings. His haul of four to finish Middlesex off for 175 is his highest to date.Ryan Sidebottom was masterful from over the wicket, particularly to the left handers, taking the vital second innings wicket of Rogers, while Rashid took three valuable wickets in the evening session with some bite and turn that will buoy him going into tomorrow. But it was Liam Plunkett who incorporated some versatility into his bowling repertoire to hammer home Yorkshire’s advantage.”A freedom to smash the deck as quick as I can,” was the response from Plunkett when it was put to him that his control looked as good as it ever has been. On first change in the morning, the onus was on him to plunge the knife into Middlesex and then twist it with the help of Patterson. It took him three balls, as Rogers nicked behind, before he worked over Adam London and then made a mess of Simpson’s stumps with a sharp yorker – “a delivery that can get people out” as he needlessly put it – you would not wish upon the toes of your worst enemy.His last season at Durham was one he was keen to forget – both on and off the field, where he picked a second drink driving charge – so much so that he went down to Headingley as soon as the 2012 season ended to begin his indoor work. A stint bowling into the relatively flat Adelaide decks helped him find some rhythm and confidence. He says he still bowls the odd bad ball – not that they were on show today – but feels experience has taught him to let them go. “You can always take a wicket with the next ball” his new mantra.A good night sleep is on the cards for him and the rest of the Yorkshire side, as they return tomorrow with six wickets to take and, perhaps, a modest total to chase, for a first win in 19 attempts against Middlesex and one which will take them to the top of the Championship.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided ‘not to involve’ former captain Mohammad Ashraful in any form of cricket until the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) submits its report on investigations into alleged match-fixing and spot-fixing in this year’s Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). The decision was taken at a BCB meeting on Tuesday after Ashraful admitted to his involvement in the activities.”[Mohammad] Ashraful has admitted to his guilt, so I feel he has no chance of staying with the game in the near future,” Nazmul Hassan, BCB president, said after the board’s executive committee meeting. “Ashraful himself told me about his confession. What he has confessed to, I don’t know because I want to read the full report first.”Later, a BCB statement confirmed that Ashraful would be kept out of the game: “The board decided not to involve Mohammad Ashraful in any cricketing activity under BCB’s jurisdiction until further notice. This decision was based on the player’s own confession of involvement in corrupt activities.”After Bangladesh’s admission into international cricket in 2000, Ashraful was its first recognised face and sometimes its only flag-bearer since his debut in 2001. His admission of guilt has had a major impact in the image of Bangladesh cricket, especially at a time when the cricket team has been faring quite well.Hassan said he will deal with the latest controversy in the right way, and take stringent action against those involved in corruption. He has also said that the ACSU report would be made public to clear any doubts about the BCB’s intent to tackle allegations of match-fixing and spot-fixing.”I am not going to let anyone off the hook. Everything has to be in a system, within rules. There will be hundreds of problems, but if we go about it the right way and solve them one by one, it will help us,” Hassan said. “We will make public whatever report we get from the ICC ACSU. They offered me bits and pieces of information on Sunday, when I met them. I said I want full details, and I can wait for it.”The BCB chief also explained how the ACSU, which was hired by the board to keep an eye on corrupt practices, went about their investigation during the BPL.”The day after BPL ended, they gave me a list of names [of people] who were suspected to have been involved in illegal activities. I immediately agreed to know the full details. This is the background of how all this started,” Hassan said. “They have taken interviews of a lot of people around the world. They have come to the end of their investigation, except for one last interview. It was supposed to have been taken yesterday, somewhere abroad. They told me that after that last interview, it would take them five to six days to submit the final report.”According to BCB’s anti-corruption laws, a 10-member tribunal is supposed to be formed to decide on the judgment of such cases. But Hassan is inclined to take the decision himself, since the investigation has been conducted by the ICC ACSU, on behalf of the BCB.”Since we couldn’t do the investigation ourselves, I think our decision, too, should be based on ACSU’s report on the matter,” Hassan said. “Whether we need a tribunal or not, we can consult BCB’s and ICC’s legal unit. But I think as a board president, I can take a decision and punish the guilty based on the ACSU report.”One of Bangladesh’s most experienced cricketers, Ashraful played 61 Tests and captained the national side in 13 Test matches, 38 ODIs and 11 T20Is between 2007 and 2009. During a career which extended from 2001 to 2013, he scored 2,737 runs in Test matches at an average of 24. He has also played 177 ODIs and scored 3,468 runs at an average of 22.23.

ScorecardJade Dernbach took two wickets in two balls after tea to put Surrey on top•Getty Images

On a day where the sun shone bright and the sky remained spotless, Middlesex produced an inept batting display to leave themselves with one first innings wicket remaining and a deficit of 177 runs.Collectively, the Surrey bowling unit operated with a determined nature that would have buoyed Graeme Smith. It must be said Smith rotated them well – Chris Tremlett in particular responding positively to the four over shifts he was given – but Middlesex will know their own batting sold them short. Many have championed their bowling attack but there was undoubtedly going to be games where the batsmen would be needed to make something happen. This is one of them.Zander de Bruyn started the morning with the bat and showed good intent to push Surrey on, as Tim Murtagh swung a delivery past Steven Davies’ inside edge and rapped him on the pads, in front of middle and off, to send him on his way. Murtagh was reliable as ever, but Steven Finn was off-colour, seemingly concentrating solely on pace; the giveaway being a handful of leg side wides. His third and final wide, before he was taken out of the attack, was particularly unbecoming of a Test bowler.Pennies for the thoughts of Andy Flower and David Saker; both present at Lord’s today, surely running the rule over the four international quicks present, past and future. Toby Roland-Jones represents the latter and he was more convincing today, claiming his first wicket of the match with a devilish back of a length ball that made a play for de Bruyn’s shoulder, but made do with the thumb of his glove.Surrey will know they left runs in the track as Corey Collymore, an international of the past, and Paul Stirling shared the last four wickets. Head coach Chris Adams preaches “hard cricket” and he will not be happy that the last six wickets only added 71 runs, but what he can’t fault is the response with the ball.Middlesex’s innings started at a greater pace to Surrey’s dreary first go, but where the visiting side left well – particularly day one centurion Rory Burns – the hosts found themselves falling for temptation. Chris Rogers took a brace of fours off Jade Dernbach before he chased a wide, full length delivery from de Bruyn and only succeeded in diverting it rather violently onto his middle stump. His replacement Joe Denly also seemed nonplussed by Dernbach until he made one just duck in, which the batsman – head falling to the offside – could only meet with pad.One of England’s preliminary 30 for the ICC Champions Trophy, Dernbach failed to make the whittled down 15 as Ashley Giles went for substance above style. There’s no doubting his talents; his armoury of slower balls, cutters and back-of-the-handers seems both a gift and a curse. His slower-ball did make an appearance and had Dawid Malan baffled briefly before the ball dipped just wide of his toes and onto his bat.But Dernbach has shown this season that he has a clear appreciation of the sub-plots of long-form bowling. After Robson was squared up neatly by de Bruyn and Malan unluckily adjudged lbw to Gareth Batty’s first ball when it seemed there was bat involved, Dernbach produced a mini-spell of pressure which pressed home Surrey’s advantage.Neil Dexter edged him to Vikram Solanki in the slips before Dernbach produced an in-swinging yorker to greet Paul Stirling on his County Championship debut. Regardless of how many more times Stirling dons the whites in county cricket, he’ll struggle to face a better ball – especially first-up.Roland-Jones swatted two fours before giving Tremlett a return catch for his first wicket, while Simpson’s chip to mid-on should rightly earn him some blank stares and coarse words from anyone with Middlesex’s best interest at heart.

South Zone

A last-ball four by L Balaji took Tamil Nadu to a tie against Karnataka. However, no Super Over was played because the match finished 33 minutes after the scheduled close of play. The captains were told that the BCCI’s playing conditions state that the Super Over has to be played within 30 minutes after the scheduled close. The sides got two points each and are joint leaders in South Zone.Put in, Karnataka were reeling at 79 for 5 in the 14th over, but Karun Nair’s 51 off 38 balls took them to 150. He got support from wicketkeeper CM Gautam who scored 27 off 15. Abhinav Mukund led Tamil Nadu’s response with a 40-ball 42 but they kept losing wickets regularly, three of them to Abhimanyu Mithun.When Balaji came in to bat, Tamin Nadu needed seven to win off three balls. He took a single off SL Akshay, followed by a single for V Shankar. Balaji got four off the last ball to level the scores, but the match had already gone into overtime.A 78-run stand between VA Jagadeesh (52*) and Rohan Prem (49) steered Kerala to a comfortable seven-wicket win against Andhra in Shimoga. Chasing 135, Kerala reached the target in the 19th over after opener Nikhilesh Surendran also chipped in with a 17-ball 27. After Kerala chose to field, B Sumanth scored an unbeaten 60 off 45. Naren Reddy made a 17-ball 24 but Andhra lost wickets regularly and their total of 134 for 7 proved insufficient.Goa defended 141 against Hyderabad after losing their openers for ducks. Reduced to 7 for 2 after being put in to bat, Goa’s Swapnil Asnodkar (36) and Ravikant Shukla (30) put on 64 for the third wicket to take them to a respectable position. Reagan Pinto then scored 33 off 24.Hyderabad were led by their opener Ravi Teja (33) but his wicket in the 11th over was followed by two more in the next over, leaving them 68 for 5. Hyderabad were eventually restricted to 134 for 9. While Darshan Misal picked three wickets for 29, Saurabh Bandekar and Robin D’Souza took two each.

Central Zone

Aggressive knocks from Rameez Khan and Naman Ojha helped Madhya Pradesh to a three-wicket victory over Uttar Pradesh in Nagpur. Although they kept losing wickets in their chase of 137, the innings was held together at the death by Harpreet Singh, who scored a run-a-ball 17 and saw his side home with 8 balls to spare. UP’s innings revolved around a 31-ball 44 from opener Prashant Gupta. But the innings stalled in the middle, which proved costly in the end.Railways’ top-order batsmen ensured a five-wicket win against Vidarbha in Nagpur. Chasing 144, Railways lost Murali Kartik in the third over but Amit Paunikar (38) and Prashant Awasthi (28) added 52 runs together. Once they both were dismissed, Mahesh Rawat scored an unbeaten 39 from 27 balls to finish the chase with seven balls to spare. After Vidarbha chose to bat, they were led by Akshay Kolhar (34) and Ravi Jangid (42).

East Zone

An all-round effort from Assam took them to a crushing eight-wicket victory over Tripura in Agartala. Seamer Pritam Das and spinner Gokul Sharma took two wickets each as Tripura lost six wickets for 39 runs to limp to 121 for 9. In reply, a half-century from Pallavkumar Das and a knock of 34 from Pritam Debnath steered Assam to their target in 15.5 overs.Bengal defeated Jharkhand by 37 runs in a one-sided contest, also in Agartala. After being put in to bat, a 48-run stand between Shreevats Goswami and Anustup Majumdar took Bengal to a commanding position, and was backed up by a 45-run stand for the fifth wicket to help them set their opponents a target of 150.Jharkhand crumbled in their chase. They were reduced to 25 for 4 before Saurabh Tiwary, Kumar Deobrat and Shahbaz Nadeem repaired the innings. Eventually, they limped to 112 for 9, with seamer Shami Ahmed and spinner Iresh Saxena taking three wickets each.

North Zone

A three-wicket haul from Siddarth Kaul, and three run-outs, crippled Jammu and Kashmir‘s chase of 147, to take Punjab to a 43-run win in Gurgaon.Punjab, batting first, kept losing wickets, but decent contributions from Gurkeerat Singh (27), Ravi Inder Singh (23), MS Gony (23) and Amitoze Singh (21) helped them to 146. Seamer Ram Dayal and spinner Raman Dutta took three wickets each. J&K similarly lost wickets in their chase and besides Fayaz Ahmed (34), Ahmed Bandy (26) and Dayal (21), no other player scored more than six runs. They were bowled out for 103 in the final over.Varun Sood’s three-wicket haul led Delhi to a four-wicket win against Himachal Pradesh in Rohtak. After HP decided to bat, Sood claimed 3 for 22, restricting HP to 109 for 7 which included a 33-ball 38 from Rishi Dhawan. Delhi were also jolted early by Vikramjeet Malik and even though he struck thrice, Delhi had enough contributions to reach home with ten balls to spare.Services cruised to an eight-wicket win over Haryana in a low-scoring match in Rohtak. Once Haryana were put in to bat, Shadab Nazar and Ritesh Negi (2 for 14) choked them with parsimonious spells, giving 27 runs in their eight overs. Then Narender Kumar took three wickets and, with two run-outs, Haryana were reduced to 49 for 7. Jayant Yadav’s unbeaten 30 off 21 took them to 102 for 9.Services were given a strong start by openers Anshul Gupta and Sumit Singh when they put on 47. Gupta took them home with Yashpal Singh in the 19th over.

West Zone

Mumbai crashed out of the tournament with their third successive defeat as Saurashtra thumped them by 60 runs in Ahmedabad. Saurashtra made 152 for 7 after choosing to bat, Kuldeep Raval’s unbeaten 53 off 26 helping them finish big after an underwhelming start had them struggling at 67 for 4 in 12 overs. In reply, Mumbai were dismissed for 92 in the 19th over. The highest any Mumbai batsman managed was Siddharth Chitnis’ 15. Saurashtra seamer Siddharth Trivedi did the damage upfront with a spell of 3-0-7-3, while Chirag Jani and Raval took two wickets each.Led by a knock of 82 from captain Parthiv Patel, Gujarat beat Baroda by eight runs in a high-scoring match in Ahmedabad. Parthiv opened and scored 82 off 54, including seven fours and five sixes which stitched a 111-run partnership with Niraj Patel for the third wicket. Bhargav Bhatt took three wickets in an over but Gujarat went on to score 170 for 6.Baroda’s Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Devdhar put them on track but both were dismissed by the tenth over and Yusuf Pathan scored only 1, leaving them 74 for 4. Irfan Pathan went on to score 32 off 28 but Mehul Patel struck regularly to finish with 4 for 39 and Baroda fell short by eight runs.

List of locked out players

• Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Pradeep, Kushal Perera, Shaminda Eranga, Sachithra Senanayake, Jeevan Mendis, Dimuth Karunaratne, Lahiru Thirimanne, Suranga Lakmal, Thisara Perera, Chanaka Welegedara, Ajantha Mendis, Suraj Randiv, Thilan Samaraweera, Prasanna Jayawardene, Upul Tharanga, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekara.

Sri Lankan cricket is headed towards a major crisis with the board on Saturday night freezing out 23 of its top players over a contracts deadlock, less than a week before the start of the home series against Bangladesh. SLC, which met the players earlier in the day, has told its selectors not to consider those cricketers for any international cricket, including the Bangladesh series, until they agree to their new contract terms.Player contracts expired on February 28, and all 60 players who were offered new contracts have refused to sign them before the March 2 deadline prescribed by the board.”We spoke to all of the players present at the meeting, and gave our viewpoints and they also gave their points,” SLC president Upali Dharmadasa said. “We have said, ‘Nothing doing. We’re going to stick to our guns.’ It ended like that.”They will not be getting any facilities that Sri Lanka Cricket has been offering them, including, physios, masseurs and coaches. They can’t come for practice at our venues.”New Test captain Angelo Mathews and Twenty20 captain Dinesh Chandimal are among the players frozen out, along with the bulk of Sri Lanka’s Test and ODI players. Mathews and Chandimal were appointed captains just over two weeks ago, and are yet to play any matches in their new capacity.Dharmadasa did not rule out the possibility of Sri Lanka’s top cricketers playing in the first Test against Bangladesh in Galle, but only if the players signed their contracts by then. Kumar Sangakkara is the only player immediately affected by the lockout – he was due to play in the three-day tour match against Bangladesh in Matara, which begins on Sunday. The match was supposed to be Sangakkara’s return to competitive cricket after fracturing his index finger in the Boxing Day Test.Dharmadasa also said SLC had not planned any more meetings with the players, but had invited them to put their concerns in writing, and present them to the board.The major point of dispute in the new contracts is SLC’s refusal to pay the players 25% of the board’s earnings from ICC events, as they have done since 2003. This payment is to compensate players for their images being used by the ICC and its sponsors to promote the tournament as well as during the event.Other points of contention include the board’s move to freeze payment to cricketers taking part in the IPL for as long as he is with his IPL team, a clause tying pay to team performance, and the scrapping of a convention that allowed players’ wives to travel on one tour a year on SLC’s money.Contract terms also sparked a dispute in 2012, though SLC had a weaker bargaining position then, having not paid its players since the 2011 World Cup. The disputes were eventually settled in July after players threatened to boycott the Sri Lanka Premier League, after having played international cricket without an official contract for over four months. Payment from ICC events had also been a sticking point on that occasion, as well as a clause that required the players to have SLC permission before speaking to media.

BRISBANE, Oct 19 AAP – Rookie quick Damien MacKenzie became Queensland’s unlikely hero against NSW today as the Bulls snatched valuable first-innings points in a tense Pura Cup clash at the Gabba.The match finished in a draw, but that result had been apparent since the third day when the main prize centred on the dogfight for first innings points.MacKenzie, who admitted he “didn’t deserve to bowl” yesterday, broke the back of the Blues with three quick wickets as they were rolled for 443 in reply to Queensland’s 5-507 declared.The Bulls then made the most of batting practice in sapping heat to reach 1-216 in their second innings when the captains agreed to an early finish, with Brendan Nash following his 176 with an unbeaten 81.Jimmy Maher (60) and Martin Love (56 not out) joined in the runs as both teams conserved some energy for tomorrow’s ING Cup one-day match at the Gabba.The day promised more for the Blues and they looked likely to take some rare points from Brisbane when they crept to 5-405 on a morning with temperatures soaring past 30 degrees.But MacKenzie (3-98), who wasn’t bowled during yesterday’s final session because of a wayward spell, claimed the wickets of Brad Haddin (23), captain Simon Katich (43) and Stuart MacGill (zero) in 19 balls to leave the Blues in deep trouble.The 22-year-old enticed Haddin into a careless catch to Andrew Symonds at deep point before Katich, who thumped consecutive boundaries off MacKenzie, chipped a slower ball to Maher at short cover.When MacGill was trapped LBW with the very next ball, NSW was gone and MacKenzie had redeemed himself despite conceding 48 runs from his seven overs today.”It’s been a mixed two days for me and I probably didn’t deserve to bowl yesterday after the way they came out,” MacKenzie said.”But I just tried to relax today and the ball was starting to go a bit Irish (reverse swing) and I was starting to get it fairly straight.”MacKenzie’s breakthroughs were the first real triumphs for the bowlers in a match dominated by the batsmen, including Nash, Lee Carseldine (124 not out) and NSW pair Matthew Phelps (147) and Michael Clarke (134).Phelps’ innings ran over three days before finally coming to a halt early today when he provided a regulation edge to wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe from the bowling of impressive quick Ashley Noffke (2-90 from 39 overs).Haddin then ignited the slow tempo with 23 from 26 balls, including five boundaries, before he went for one aggressive shot too many.While Queensland reflected on a tough but satisfying start to its chase for a fourth consecutive Pura Cup crown, the Blues would also be happy with some of the positive points to emerge from the match.They had been easybeats in some previous visits to the Gabba but the likes of Phelps and Clarke showed encouraging fight under new captain Simon Katich, who endured a trying time in the field against the Bulls batsmen.NSW quick Doug Bollinger (0-96 and 0-55) deserved a wicket during an encouraging debut, bowling Nash today with a no ball.The diminutive Queenslander had scored just eight when Bollinger took his off bail, only to watch the ball race to the boundary.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsQuinton de Kock starred with an unbeaten 126, the highest by a South African in Twenty20s, as the Lions beat Cape Cobras to register an opening win in the tournament in Potchefstroom. The Cobras had set a target of 184, but their chances of winning the game were quickly quashed by a 124-run opening stand between de Kock and Gulam Bodi. After Bodi fell, de Kock took most of the strike, as he went from 74 off 48 balls to 126 off 69, scoring 52 runs in just 21 balls. De Kock sealed the match by striking three consecutive boundaries off Charl Langeveldt, as the Lions won inside of 19 overs.The Cobras were asked to bat as opener Richard Levi (40) and Dane Vilas gave them a solid start. Aaron Phangiso then struck with two wickets in two balls, claiming Owais Shah first ball. Justin Ontong and Vilas helped stabilize the innings before Ontong fell to Phangiso. Qaasim Adams was sent in, and proceeded to score a rapid career-best 43 off 22, helping the Cobras score 183 in their quota of 20 overs.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA 109-run stand between Christiaan Jonker and Colin Ingram earned a comfortable victory for the Warriors against the Knights in a rain-affected match in Kimberley. As rain intervened, the target was reduced from 137 to 127 from 18 overs, and a half-century from Jonker, took Warriors home with 11 balls to spare.The Warriors started abjectly when Ashwell Prince was out lbw on his first ball to Johan van der Wath. Jonker and Ingram batted briskly as they effectively took the game away from the Knights. Jonker scored a career-best 66 off 44 balls, striking six fours and four sixes. Ingram played a vital supporting role with 46 off 43. In the end, Davy Jacobs sealed the match with a six off the first ball of the 17th over, to give the Warriors an opening win in the tournament.The Knights were put in to bat, with Rilee Rossouw and wicketkeeper Gihahn Cloete putting on a 65-run stand for the second wicket after Loots Bosman was dismissed in the third over. However, once Cloete was run out in the 12th over, the Knights had a difficult time putting together substantial partnerships. They ended up reaching 136 for 7 at the completion of their 20 overs. Rusty Theron finished with figures of 2 for 23, at an economy of 5.75.