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R Ashwin has said Steven Smith’s look towards the Australian dressing room for DRS advice on day four of the Bengaluru Test was “completely unheard of”. Speaking to his team-mate Cheteshwar Pujara in a video, Ashwin said the incident reminded him of his junior cricket days.”Steven Smith actually turned back and asked the dressing room if he could take a review,” Ashwin said. “That is completely unheard of. The last time I thought that to happen was in an Under-10 game, when my coach used to suggest where point fielders and cover fielders used to stand.”It was really surprising. I have a lot of respect for Steven Smith, but that was very very surprising.”

BCCI comes out in support of Kohli

A day after the Bengaluru Test ended, the BCCI issued a release in support of Virat Kohli and his team with regards to the Steven Smith-DRS referral issue. The Indian board said it had asked the ICC to “take cognizance” of the matter.
“The BCCI, after due deliberation and seeing the video replays of the episode, steadfastly stands with the Indian cricket team and its captain Mr Virat Kohli,” the release said.
“Mr Virat Kohli is a mature and seasoned cricketer and his conduct on the field has been exemplary. Mr. Kohli’s action was supported by ICC elite panel umpire Mr Nigel Llong, who rushed in to dissuade Mr Steve Smith from taking recourse to inappropriate assistance.
“BCCI has requested the ICC to take cognizance of the fact that the Australian skipper Mr Steve Smith in his press conference admitted to a ‘brain fade’ at that moment.”

There was a lot of chat on the field between the Indian and Australian players through the Test match, and Ashwin and Pujara detailed specific instances during their conversation. Pujara said he had been in David Warner’s ear, telling him about Ashwin’s record against him. Ashwin ended the match having dismissed Warner in both innings – and nine times over his career.”Well, see, they were talking a lot and probably sledging is something which, as a unit, we felt that we can give them back,” Pujara said. “They were always under pressure when they walked in to bat, and I wanted to make sure their batsmen were thinking about it, especially David Warner. Whenever he walks in to bat, Ash [Ashwin] is always happy, so I always keep reminding him that Ash is the one who picks [up his wicket].”After dismissing Mitchell Starc, Ashwin sent him off by repeatedly pointing to his own forehead – mimicking the gesture Starc had made after Abhinav Mukund had top-edged him for six in India’s second innings.”I saw yesterday, Abhi [Mukund] pulled Mitchell Starc for a six, he top-edged it for six,” Ashwin said. “But yes, I don’t think he was in any sort of hurry when he pulled that ball, and Mitchell Starc suggested that he would hit him on the helmet. I don’t know, people generally have the habit of saying I’ll hit you back on the helmet at Gabba.”It doesn’t matter, this is Bangalore, so I thought I must tell him that he got hit off me, in the first innings, on the helmet.”Pujara also revealed that he had batted with a sore neck while scoring 92 in India’s second innings.”It was my neck which was troubling me a lot,” Pujara said. “To be honest, it was a serious issue when I went in to bat in the second innings. I would like to thank Patrick Farhart, our physio, who made it possible for me to bat, and bat at No. 3, because there was one stage where I felt I might not be able to bat No. 3 because my neck was really sore. But he worked on it and ultimately I achieved the goal for the team.”

Injury robbed Lasith Malinga of the chance to contribute to Sri Lanka’s World Twenty20 last year. A promising display on his return to the side for the first time in a year at the MCG marks the start of his effort to be a force at the Champions Trophy in England later this year.At the age of 33, Malinga is far nearer the end of his career than the beginning, and the knee problem that cruelled his World T20 campaign last year was doubly frustrating as a result. Sri Lanka’s coach Graham Ford outlined his value to the side not only as one of the world’s most destructive and intelligent limited-overs bowlers, but also as a leader in terms of keeping the rest of the attack focused on the principle aim in the latter overs of a T20 – keep the runs down.”I think the damage control was really good – it’s something they talk about a lot. Malinga is brilliant at leading that discussion as to just how important it is,” Ford said. “I think at the end he was not necessarily searching for wickets, he was searching to control the run-rate. We weren’t going to bowl them out but taking the wickets certainly slowed things down there.”[Malinga] is a very proud man. He has done a lot of great things for the country in terms of cricket. He has had unfortunately a long lay-off. When you miss the game for that long, you get hungry and you want to get out there and play and do the things you used to do.”That is exactly where he is at now. He is playing the 20-over format with a view to building up and hopefully being able to play in the Champions Trophy later in the year. We just hope everything goes well in terms of his body. He just makes such a difference at controlling the end overs.”Having bested South Africa away from home before arriving in Australia, Sri Lanka are building some decent momentum and confidence as a limited-overs combination, even if Upul Tharanga is their third T20 captain this year. Ford said that the growth of confidence and therefore performance had been noticeable with each successive match – underlined by Chamara Kapugedara’s nonchalant last-ball boundary to seal the MCG match.”We gave them a few in the field and that made the target a bit steeper than we’d hoped, but it was an excellent chase and the guys held their nerve nicely at the end,” Ford said. “Although we’re not a young team, it’s a fairly inexperienced one, so each time we get over the line I think it does a hell of a lot for their confidence and belief.”Some of our guys batted exceptionally well and played some unbelievable shots. That’s T20 cricket and you take your chances. But they’re worked hard on those options and they worked out.”

Warwickshire have completed the signing of Ashley Giles as their new director of cricket.Giles, a former Warwickshire player and coach, had been the club’s first choice for the position long before they sacked Dougie Brown in October. Giles was contracted to Lancashire until the end of 2017, however, and it is understood that negotiations between the clubs were only concluded on Christmas Eve.While a compensation package has been agreed, it is understood the move is amicable. Lancashire has been sympathetic to Giles’ family situation – his wife has suffered serious illness and the family home remains in the Midlands – and wished him well for his future.A Lancashire statement said: “Over the last 12 months the board and staff at Lancashire have supported Ashley and his family during a difficult period due to the time Ashley’s role has kept him away from his wife and family. After lengthy discussions the board has agreed to give further support to Ashley’s personal circumstances and has given him permission to discuss a move to his home county in the best interests of his family.”The role is something of a departure for Giles. He is expected to be seen in a suit more often than a tracksuit, fulfilling a management and planning role not unlike that adopted by Andrew Strauss with the England team. Giles will, therefore, leave the day-to-day running of the first team to Jim Troughton – whose appointment as head coach he approved even before his move was finalised – and his team of specialist coaches. Giles and Troughton were the coach-captain partnership when Warwickshire won the County Championship in 2012. Head of women’s cricket, Darren Franklin, and elite performance manager, Paul Greetham, will also report to Giles.”Ashley’s appointment completes the new structure of our Senior Management team at Edgbaston,” Neil Snowball, the Warwickshire CEO, said. “Ashley has enjoyed great success as a coach and director of cricket and this new expanded role will allow him to apply his experience and expertise across the organisation and to develop the Warwickshire and Birmingham Bears teams at all levels.”He has also worked very closely with Jim Troughton as a player and in his previous role with the club as Director of Cricket, where they led the team to our seventh County Championship in 2012. We’re very confident that the new management team can deliver more success for the club, not just at senior level, but across all age groups.”I would like to express my thanks to Lancashire for their understanding and for agreeing to release Ashley from his contract to be able take up this new role at Edgbaston.”Giles enjoyed a 13-year playing career with Warwickshire before he took over as director of cricket in 2007, and subsequently helped the club achieve County Championship success in 2012 and a one-day cup triumph at Lord’s in 2010. He was appointed head coach of England’s limited-overs squads in late 2012 and led the team to the Champions Trophy final at Edgbaston in 2013.But, having lost his job in the reorganisation following the Ashes debacle of 2013-14, he joined Lancashire as director of cricket ahead of the 2015 season, winning the NatWest T20 Blast as well as securing promotion to Division One of the County Championship in his first year.”I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Lancashire and I would like to thank the club’s Chairman, Michael Cairns, and the board for the opportunity to work as Director of Cricket at such a great club,” Giles said. “I am also very grateful for their understanding and for agreeing to release me from my contract so that I can take up this new role with Warwickshire and move back to the Midlands, where my family have remained.”I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the players and management team at Emirates Old Trafford in this past two years. I thank them for their support and hard work, and wish them well for the future.”The new role at Edgbaston is a great opportunity and I am delighted to return to Warwickshire. Whilst I have a lot of history with the Bears and have previously enjoyed success as a player and a coach, this is a brand new challenge and I look forward to meeting up with all the players and the new management team in January.”Lancashire have named Glen Chapple as acting head coach and Mark Chilton as acting assistant while they reflect on how to reorganise.

Shahid Afridi has handed over the captaincy of Pakistan Super League (PSL) team Peshawar Zalmi to Darren Sammy, who has led West Indies to two World T20 titles. Younis Khan, who was unpicked by any team, was named as Peshawar’s batting mentor.The announcements were made during the second PSL draft in Dubai on October 19, with the tournament scheduled to be played in the UAE in February and March 2017. Some of the other highlights at the event were:

• Lahore Qalandars traded Chris Gayle for Sohail Tanvir with Karachi Kings, where Gayle will join his West Indies team-mate Kieron Pollard
• Islamabad United traded Babar Azam to Karachi Kings and selected Dwayne Smith. Islamabad released Umar Siddiq and Asher Zaidi
• The first pick of the draft was former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, who went to Lahore Qalandars. Lahore also traded Sohaib Maqsood to bring in Aamer Yamin, and released Mustafizur Rahman and Kevon Cooper.
• Brad Haddin will double-up in an assistant coaching role with Islamabad, where Dean Jones is the head coach.
• Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, who have returned to domestic cricket in Pakistan after their bans for spot-fixing, were not picked. Mohammad Amir, however, was retained by Karachi and rose from silver to diamond category.
• Islamabad and Quetta Gladiators are the only teams likely to be captained by Pakistan players – Misbah-ul-Haq and Sarfraz Ahmed respectively.

Peshawar Zalmi

Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales will join forces in the PSL•Getty Images

New players: Eoin Morgan (England), Haris Sohail, Alex Hales (England), Mohammad Shahzad (Afghanistan), Irfan Khan, Khushdil Shah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh), Sohaib MaqsoodRetained players: Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Darren Sammy (West Indies), Mohammad Hafeez, Chris Jordan (England), Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh), Kamran Akmal, Junaid Khan, Imran Khan, Hasan Ali, Mohammad AsgharReleased from 2016: Aamer Yamin, Abdur Rehman, Jim Allenby, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Musadiq Ahmed, Shahid Yousuf, Shaun Tait, Brad Hodge, Israrullah, Taj Wali

Lahore Qalandars

Brendon McCullum was the first player picked in the 2017 draft•AFP

New players: Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), Sunil Narine (West Indies), Anton Devcich (New Zealand), Fakhar Zaman, Ghulam Mudassar, Usman Qadir, Saif Badar, Mohammad Irfan, Grant Elliott (New Zealand), Aamer Yamin, Shaun Tait (Australia), Bilawal Bhatti, Sohail TanvirRetained players: Umar Akmal, Dwayne Bravo (West Indies), Yasir Shah, Mohammad Rizwan, Cameron Delport (South Africa), Azhar Ali, Zafar GoharReleased from 2016: Adnan Rasool, Kevon Cooper, Chris Gayle, Hammad Azam, Mustafizur Rahman, Sohaib Maqsood, Zia-ul-Haq, Zohaib Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Ehsan Adil, Imran Butt, Mukhtar Ahmed

Karachi Kings

Babar Azam moved from Islamabad United to Karachi Kings•Getty Images

New players: Kieron Pollard (West Indies), Ryan McLaren (South Africa), Kashif Bhatti, Abrar Ahmed, Khurram Manzoor, Abdul Ameer, Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), Rahat Ali, Amad Alam, Babar Azam, Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Chris Gayle (West Indies)Retained players: Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Amir, Ravi Bopara (England), Imad Wasim, Sohail Khan, Shahzaib Hassan, Saifullah Bangash, Usama MirReleased from 2016: Bilawal Bhatti, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mir Hamza, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nauman Anwar, Shakib Al Hasan, Lendl Simmons, Sohail Tanvir, James Vince, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Fawad Alam

Islamabad United

Andre Russell will turn out again for the defending champions•CPL/Sportsfile

New players: Ben Duckett (England), Shadab Khan, Zohaib KhanRetained players: Shane Watson (Australia), Andre Russell (West Indies), Samuel Badree (West Indies), Dwayne Smith (West Indies), Brad Haddin (Australia), Sam Billings (England), Misbah-ul-Haq, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Sami, Khalid Latif, Saeed Ajmal, Rumman Raees, Imran Khalid, Amad Butt, Hussain Talat, Asif AliReleased from 2016: Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Ashar Zaidi, Umar Siddiq, Umar Amin

Quetta Gladiators

Carlos Brathwaite is set to play his first PSL season•CPL/Sportsfile

New players: Carlos Brathwaite (West Indies), Tymal Mills (England), Rovman Powell (West Indies), David Willey (England), Hasan Khan, Noor Wali, Mir Hamza, Umar AminRetained players: Kevin Pietersen (England), Sarfraz Ahmed, Ahmed Shehzad, Luke Wright (England), Anwar Ali, Umar Gul, Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan), Mohammad Nawaz, Asad Shafiq, Saad Nasim, Bismillah KhanReleased from 2016: Grant Elliott, Nathan McCullum, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Bilal Asif, Elton Chigumbura, Jason Holder, Aizaz Cheema, Rameez Raja, Kumar Sangakkara

Tier-two teams

Rangpur Division, demoted from tier one

Big Picture
Rangpur Division, champions in 2014-15, were demoted from Tier-1 in the previous season. It was a drastic slide, and had a lot to do with the form of Liton Das, who had scored a lot of runs when they were champions. But he had a tough time in the domestic scene after failing in international cricket.However, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Sajidul Islam and Naeem Islam are good enough to pull the team out of the second tier. They also have allrounders Ariful Haque, Mahmudul Hasan and Tanveer Haider, and wicketkeeper-batsman Dhiman Ghosh, who was their top-scorer in the previous season. Alauddin Babu and Subashis Roy will be in charge of the pace bowling attack, while Sanjit Saha will be invigorated after being cleared by the BCB’s bowling action review committee.Key player
Liton Das needs to be back among the runs to have any chance of making it back into the Bangladesh side in the next 12 months. He showed good form in the latter stages of the Dhaka Premier League, but would need to do a lot more to get back his 2014-15 vibe.Below the radar
Left-arm quick Sajidul Islam has had limited opportunities at every level, despite possessing the ability to bring the ball back into both right and left-handed batsmen. He has had some success at the top level, but in domestic cricket, Sajidul suffers from the lack of pace-friendly pitches.

Rajshahi Division, second place

Big Picture
Five-time NCL champions Rajshahi Division need to put their act together to get themselves out of the second tier. After winning the title for the last time in 2011-12, their form has disintegrated in the last two years.They will once again rely on Jahurul Islam, Farhad Reza, Farhad Hossain and Junaid Siddique, with help from Saqlain Sajib, Muktar Ali and Delwar Hossain in the bowling department.It is a pity not to have Rajshahi in the top tier of Bangladesh’s first-class competition, but playing as a team will be high in their priority list this season, if they are to return to their best.Key player
Farhad Hossain has been Rajshahi’s top performer for a number of years and always finds a way to finish among the top ten scorers in the competition every season. He will need to have one of those seasons again.Below the radar
Nazmul Hossain Shanto played for Bangladesh Under-19s in the World Cup this year and for Abahani in the Dhaka Premier League. But this competition will give him ample time to score big runs.

Sylhet Division, third place

Big Picture
Sylhet Division have all their stalwarts to pull them out of Tier-2 this year. Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Imtiaz Hossain and Enamul Haque jnr will have to bring their A-game to the NCL this season.They also have a number of youngsters like Abul Hasan, Abu Jayed and wicketkeeper Zakir Hasan to get them out of trouble from time to time. They are one of the least successful first-class teams in the country, but they have all the potential to make it to the next tier at the end of this season.Key player
Imtiaz Hossain has always been a heavy scorer. During this year’s Dhaka Premier League, his run-making, which translated into winning scores, caught everyone’s attention. He will have to keep Sylhet on firm ground throughout the tournament, and it will also help him progress as he heads into the last stretch of his career.Below the radar
Ebadot Hossain is a pace bowler who was discovered during a pace bowling hunt from earlier this year. He works for the Bangladesh navy, for whom he played volleyball for a number of years. But he has been identified as someone who can bowl fast with proper training, and staying with the NCL team would help him immensely.

Chittagong Division, last place

Big Picture
There are very few good things to be said about Chittagong Division who finished last among all eight teams in the two tiers. The last few years have been quite bad for the country’s second-most affluent division, which also boasts a BPL team and a league of its own.But apart from Mominul Haque, Tasamul Haque, Nazimuddin, Mahbubul Karim and a few others, the Chittagong side has a long way to go. Mohammad Saifuddin, Yasir Ali and Irfan Sukkur are young players who offer a lot of promise, but they need proper fitness and skill development to take them to the next level.Key player
Mominul Haque will once again be the only person of interest when Chittagong plays in the NCL. He is a Test regular, but the Bangladesh team management have left him out of the limited-overs teams for a long time now, and he has all the motivation to do well in the NCL.Below the radar
Mohammad Saifuddin impressed everyone in the Under-19 World Cup, but was reported for a suspected bowling action later and got injured in the Dhaka Premier League. The right-arm medium pacer has remodeled his action and will be looked at with some interest as he is also a capable batsman.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said that the board has finalised a bowling coach for the Bangladesh team. The name of the individual cannot be revealed yet due to an obligation but Hassan said that he would arrive in the country at the end of August.

On England’s security inspection tour: “We sent the ECB a security proposal. We are guessing that they will visit Bangladesh when they go to India for the security inspection trip, possibly between August 15 to 20.”
On Dhaka Premier League payment delay: “It is very unfortunate that the players had to meet the CEO even after we set the clubs the deadline. The board will pay even if the club doesn’t. It shouldn’t have been delayed. The board will deal with the legal procedure with the clubs later. Players shouldn’t suffer. It was our mistake; we must pay them immediately.”

The board had been looking for a new bowling coach since Heath Streak quit in May. Aaqib Javed had turned down the offer in June, and since then, the BCB had put up a shortlist of candidates.”The good news is that our search is over,” Hassan said. “We know who we will take [as bowling coach]. But, unfortunately, because of some obligations, we cannot announce his name. We are hoping he will come to Dhaka any time in the last week of this month. But since he is working somewhere, we shouldn’t be making any announcements. Once his contract is over, we will announce it together.”Meanwhile, Hassan informed that former India left-arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju will arrive in Dhaka later this month as a spin consultant for the High Performance programme. He also said that Javed, who is currently in Dhaka for a seven-day stint as the HP’s pace consultant, has been asked to take a look at the progress of the bowling actions of Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny, who were suspended by the ICC for illegal bowling actions in March.

Mark Williams, CEO of a financial services company, has been appointed CEO of Eastern Province (EP) Cricket, where the Warriors franchise is based. Williams takes over from Jesse Chellan, who will be the ICC’s regional director for cricket in Africa, from September. Chellan spent 17 months with Eastern Province, during which time they secured new sponsorships and underwent stadium upgrades.Williams has been involved in cricket in the region in the past. He was the lead independent director on the EP Cricket Board when they were placed under administration by Cricket South Africa. As a result, he is familiar with the turbulence at the union, which resulted in former president Graeme Sauls being ousted after allegedly making several decisions without board approval. Since then, cricket in the province has stabilised and under Chellan’s tenure, EP won the most improved affiliate prize CSA’s annual awards in 2016.Williams is a Port Elizabeth local who attended the Bethelsdorp High School and studied at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. He holds an MBA and has worked in banking for 24 years. In 2008, he was awarded the Young Global Leader Award by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Among the challenges facing Williams will be to ensure St George’s Park continues to remain among South Africa’s premier Test grounds. It will host the Boxing Day Test match against Sri Lanka later this year as proof of its prestige. More pressingly, he will want to ensure the franchise, Warriors, add to their trophy cabinet after several seasons without success. Warriors have not won a title in six seasons since the 2009-10 season when Russell Domingo was in charge. In their quest to end the drought, they have some new additions to their squad, most notably international fast bowler Kyle Abbott, who moved from the Durban-based Dolphins.The Dolphins are now the only franchise without a CEO. Pete de Wet had resigned in June to take up a post at New Zealand’s Central Districts and has yet to be replaced.

Tinashe Panyangara, Zimbabwe’s pace spearhead, has been ruled out of the two-Test series against New Zealand after failing to recover from a back injury. Panyangara, who picked up the injury during a training camp ahead of Zimbabwe’s limited-overs series against India in June, is expected to resume bowling in August.That means Zimbabwe will likely look to the recent A series against South Africa at home for a replacement. Shingi Masakadza and Brian Vitori, who played one game each during the series, are the most high-profile bowlers competing for the slot.Masakadza, who took three wickets in the first innings of the first four-day fixture in Harare, also offers a batting option down the order while Vitori’s left-arm action will provide variation, although he is short of match practice.Vitori, who was out of action for six months after being suspended for an illegal action in February, made a comeback in the second match in Bulawayo, but was both expensive and ineffective. He conceded 106 in 21 wicketless overs, and sent down eight no-balls.A wild card would be Victor Nyauchi who opened the bowling with Masakadza in the Harare game and returned figures of 1 for 94 in the first innings and 2 for 26 in the second.The pace department is not Zimbabwe’s only concern, however. With Graeme Cremer likely to captain the Test side as well, after he was given the job for the ODIs and T20Is against India in June, they could find themselves limited to a legspinner, should they go into the Test with just one specialist slow bowler.John Nyumbu could be an alternative if they choose to field a second spinner. With conditions at Queens Sports Club expected to be slow and low, Zimbabwe will also have to call on the all-round ability of the likes of Sikandar Raza and Sean Williams to perform in both disciplines.Although Hamilton Masakadza was relieved of the captaincy duties after the World T20, he is expected to take up his position at No.3, leaving it up to Vusi Sibanda and Tino Mawoyo, who have Test experience, to battle it out with in-form Brian Chari and Prince Masvaure at the top of the order.Chari scored 98 in the first match against South Africa A while Masvaure made 146 in the second, which should give Zimbabwe some much-needed batting depth in Brendan Taylor’s absence.This will be Zimbabwe’s first Test series since November 2014, when they toured Bangladesh. Zimbabwe have not played Tests at home since a one-off fixture against South Africa in August that year.It will also be Makhaya Ntini’s first Test series in charge, after he took over the head coaching duties ahead of the India series. Ntini has not been confirmed as the permanent coach of the team but remains in charge until a decision is made. He will be joined by fellow South African Lance Klusener, who is the batting consultant.

ScorecardAdam Lyth continued his good form as Yorkshire sneaked to victory on DLS•Getty Images

Rain helped Yorkshire notch their first NatWest T20 Blast win of the season by just one run against Derbyshire at Headingley. Chasing a modest 154 target, Yorkshire were 67 for 3 in nine overs when light rain swept across the ground, exactly the score they required to win the game under the Duckworth Lewis Stern method.After losing their first three matches in the competition and then having two no-results, this was just the result that bottom-of-the-table Yorkshire needed and it brought some comfort to the 7,114 fans who turned out on a dreary afternoon.Put in to bat, Derbyshire were never able to bring any real momentum to their innings and they were partly held in check by offspinner, Azeem Rafiq, who has been brought back to Yorkshire on contract until the end of the season. Man-of-the-match Rafiq, who was the county’s Twenty20 captain for a spell, was playing his first game in almost exactly two seasons and he was brought back after some impressive performances with the 2nd XI.”It was a brilliant day for me but it was even more important that we got over the line,” Rafiq said. “I really enjoyed myself and it was nice to get a wicket with my fourth ball. Kane had the idea in his mind to bring me on early and he mentioned it to me before the game, so I was ready for it when I came on.”I have been playing for Yorkshire seconds for the last couple of weeks and feel in a good rhythm and I am happy where my cricket is at. I was asked by second team coach Ian Dews if I wanted a game or two and I jumped at the chance.”Rafiq struck with only his fourth delivery having come on at 18 for the loss of Neil Broom’s wicket. His second ball was smacked for four by Chesney Hughes who then sliced him high to Liam Plunkett at cover.It became 35 for 3 in Rafiq’s next over as Hamish Rutherford was caught at deep mid-off by Adam Lyth for 15 and although Rafiq was less successful in a later spell he still finished with figures of 2 for 33 from his four overs and also held on to two good catches. Left-arm spinner Karl Carver also bowled well to claim 1 for 17 from three overs but the best figures were returned by Tim Bresnan who finished with 3 for 22.Too many of Derbyshire’s batsmen got out to miscued shots that sailed into the hands of waiting fielders and although Shiv Thakor reached 30 and James Neesham and Alex Hughes made it into the 20s no one played the big innings that the Falcons were looking for.The best stand was for the fifth wicket, Thakor and Neesham adding 44 together before Neesham skied Plunkett to Gary Ballance at cover, his 23-ball innings containing three fours and a six.Yorkshire’s one-day captain, Alex Lees, dropped himself from the match in order to accommodate the in-form Lyth who blasted centuries on consecutive days in 50-over matches last week, New Zealand skipper, Kane Williamson, taking over the reins.With rain threatening, Yorkshire needed to keep up with the required rate and Lyth made sure that they did, hitting Wayne Madsen just over deep mid-on for four in the first over and driving a straight six off Ben Cotton. David Willey was lbw to Madsen for 8 to make it 26 for 1 in the fourth over but Lyth went on to blast Neesham for four and six while Williamson drove Madsen sweetly for six.Having faced 16 deliveries for his 30 from 16 balls with three fours and two sixes, Lyth attempted to reverse sweep Matt Critchley but missed and was lbw.Yorkshire had two of the best batsmen in the world together with Williamson and Joe Root at the crease. But with the score at 60 Williamson was out to a cruel piece of misfortune, Root driving the ball back to Alex Hughes who brushed it into the stumps with the Kiwi just out of his crease.With their strong batting line-up, Yorkshire would have been favourites to reach their target had not rain intervened but it was still a cruel way for Derbyshire to lose the match.Before the game began Yorkshire president, John Hampshire, and both teams lined up for a minute’s silence in memory of murdered Batley and Spen MP, Jo Cox, after which the crowd burst into spontaneous applause.

ScorecardSteven Crook played a defiant innings at No. 7•Getty Images

Rob Newton and Steven Crook hit centuries to bat Northamptonshire to a draw on the final day of the County Championship match with Gloucestershire at Bristol. Newton, unbeaten on 58 overnight, went on to make 108, off 234 balls with 18 fours, while Crook hit 103 not out before Gloucestershire called off their bowlers in the evening session.The visitors closed on 399 for 8, leading by 157, having batted with far more application than in the first innings. Adam Rossington contributed 39, despite clearly feeling discomfort from the finger injury he suffered while wicketkeeping on Monday, and Richard Gleeson a valuable 31.David Payne (3 for 72) was the pick of the Gloucestershire bowlers, but in general they erred on the short side. The hosts took 11 points from a game they had high hopes of winning at the start of the day, while Northants claimed seven.The visitors began the day on 120 for 3, trailing by 122. After the early loss of Richard Levi for 23, caught behind dabbing at a wide ball from Payne, Rossington helped Newton add 60 for the sixth wicket. Rossington,looked in pain against the quicker bowlers, but played well before miscuing the medium-pace of Kieran Noema-Barnett to mid-on where Payne took a good diving catch.Crook appeared to survive a chance to Roderick, standing up to Noema-Barnett, before he had scored and was unbeaten on 7 at lunch, while Newton headed off on 99 with plenty of time to contemplate his century, having looked untroubled.He brought up three figures by pulling the second ball after lunch, a juicy long-hop from left-arm spinner Graham van Buuren, for his 17th boundary. It was a chanceless hundred, but Newton then fell to the second new ball, which was taken with Northants 241 for 5, still one run behind.Five had been added when Payne found a way between Newton’s bat and pad with a full, swinging delivery, which rattled into his stumps. That brought in Seekkuge Prasanna, on his Championship debut. He immediately went on the counter attack, blasting 26 from 23 balls, including four fours and a six, before holing out to deep backward square, top-edging a short delivery from Payne.At that stage Northants led by only 52, but Gleeson then joined Crook in a match-saving stand. Crook was unbeaten on 82 at tea, with his side 357 for 7 and leading by 115.The final session produced more frustration for Gloucestershire on a pitch offering little assistance. Crook reached a brilliant hundred with successive boundaries off Josh Shaw, having faced 127 balls and hit 17 fours. By the time Gleeson fell lbw to van Buuren for a hugely valuable 31, the partnership with Crook was worth 101 and Northants led by 153. Soon afterwards the players shook hands.