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England’s 18-team county system will survive in a revamped 20-over competition if recommendations from an ECB working party are accepted next month – but only if promotion and relegation is the price the counties agree to pay.The proposed rejection of an eight-team franchise, or big city, T20 cricket comes with a recognition that the counties must accept the rigours of two divisions based on merit – rather than the regional system currently adopted – if they are to retain a future at the centre of the English T20 game.The proposals have the pragmatic support of Andrew Strauss, the England team director, who believes they will not only improve the standard of England’s T20 cricket in the build up to the 2019 World Cup but will also prevent England’s domestic T20 competition disappearing into obscurity.A report in the has now confirmed that the long-awaited consultation paper has now been circulated to the counties. County chief executives will be asked to support what is essentially a proposal of minimal disruption to England’s professional game before the decision goes before the Board on March 7. Changes would be introduced from 2017.The working party also rejects the notion, strongly advanced by some of the bigger counties, that those city-based grounds with the biggest capacities should automatically be given First Division status on the grounds that these venues – if full to capacity – provide a better spectacle and a more attractive TV product.Meritocracy – based on the ability to win cricket matches – has for now at least won the day. It has perhaps been a blessing for the smaller counties that football, against the odds, has set an example, as Leicester City’s advance to the top of the Premier League has delighted neutral supporters throughout the country.Modest adjustment these proposals might be, but the ECB hierarchy – led by the chief executive Tom Harrison and chairman Colin Graves – is desperate for even this small mercy to be adopted on the grounds that lucrative global TV rights deal can more easily be secured when viewers can identify with a slowly-changing elite of counties.The IPL’s example, where new franchises appear annually for a variety of reasons, sometimes linked to financial irregularities, suggests that some degree of flux is not an issue. A debate over will nevertheless take place over whether two-up, two-down is preferable, as in the Championship, or whether moves should be made to restrict changes to only one up, one down.The initial contention of the ECB executive, championed by Harrison, was that to maximise revenue English cricket required a new-look tournament based on the Big Bash model and centred around eight city-based teams, so ensuring quality. A working party with a strong county make-up has unsurprisingly rejected the argument that English cricket cannot spread standards across 18 profesisonal clubs..Two divisions based on merit, with more media attention on the First Division, is a potential compromise that has long been signalled. If the solution is adopted, but fails to be a commercial or public success then not too far down the line it is easy to envisage schisms in the English professional game.A new broadcasting deal, after all, is timed for 2020 and negotiations will soon begin in earnest. Those who favour a Big City future are not about to abandon that view.Until 2020 at least, however, the 18 counties remain. They are expected to retain the county name – Warwickshire apart, who already use the Birmingham tag for T20. In theory there would be nothing to prevent all the counties simply playing as the city and town of their home ground. For some, notably Yorkshire, there would be a wish for exemption.In a PCA survey last year, a comfortable majority of professionals – around 65 per cent – believed a tournament with global appeal could simply be achieved within the current county structure by introducing promotion and relegation.The challenge from the players, however – 85% support for a change which has yet to be resolved – was to play that tournament in a block and involve England players as much as possible.A move to an elite collection of city or franchise teams has long been opposed by the counties on the grounds that it would put the entire professional system in England in jeopardy by relegating the 18 counties as second-class citizens, making their gradual demise inevitable.Such an outcome would have a negative effect on the development of players on which all forms of the game depend as well as rendering the investment in many county grounds largely wasted.There is little to suggest that the next generation of cricket lover is irredeemably wedded to the county system, but that they await to be won over by the excitement and sense of occasion they crave in England’s T20 tournament.To reject the recommendations from the working party, chaired by Andy Nash, the Somerset chairman, would leave England’s professional circuit facing an uncertain future that could make it increasingly irrelevant and conceivably bring about its eventual downfall. Tradition is being assaulted from all sides by the commercial argument..Most counties have already assembled their overseas players for the NatWest Blast in 2016 – a challenging task in itself considering the lack of availability for a tournament that stretches over a large portion of the season. Panic buying is therefore unlikely, although some counties – Yorkshire a prime example – still have overseas slots available.Those not yet at full quota have long suspected the possibility that the eight teams reaching this year’s NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final are likely to gain automatic qualification for Division One, with a potential play-off between the fifth-placed teams for the final spot.The loss of local derbies has long been advanced by counties as an argument against two divisions based on merit but this has been rejected by the working party as an essentially defeatist attitude by England’s professional clubs at a time when the rest of the world is revelling in the opportunities offered by the burgeoning interest in T20 cricket.Chelsea do not fret about not playing Fulham. Newcastle and Sunderland, the Manchesters United and City, Aston Villa and Birmingham and many others have long learned to cope at times without each other’s company. If the derby match in cricket is so important perhaps the questions should be addressed about the weak appeal of the other matches.Grumbles that under a new arrangement some counties will concentrate on success in T20 rather than produce Test players for England have also been heard but any shift in priorities is arguably an inevitable consequence of changing times. Twenty20 is an irresistible force even for those who wish to resist it.Fear that some counties will chase T20 glory to the detriment of the longer forms of the game have led some to propose a league table based on results in all competitions – a solution for county cricket’s ills that was first advanced in detail by Matthew Engel in about 30 years ago and which failed to capture the public mood.In any case, there is a simple way to control such an unwanted outcome. If a two-divisional structure in T20 attracts more lucrative TV deals then the desire of some counties to concentrate on T20 could easily be corrected by offering massive increases in prize money for the Championship – and, should it be desired, 50-over cricket as well – to make success comparable to that in T20. All paid out of central funds.As counties already receive additional payments for other factors, such as the number of players produced for England, such control mechanisms would be merely an extension of current policy. The outcome would be that the wealthiest counties would be the ones winning cricket matches.

Arnald Konwar, the Assam offspinner who had signed up for the Indian Cricket League (ICL), has announced his return to the fold of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).”I had signed up for Rs 60 lakh for two years with the ICL hoping to get a chance to play alongside greats like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath,” Konwar told reporters in Guwahati. “But since they had not joined, I decided to return.”Konwar and five other players from the state had joined the ICL alleging that they were not given a chance by the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) to play at the national level. Konwar claimed that it was not the money that had lured him into the league, but a genuine intention of playing alongside cricketing greats. Both Warne and McGrath have instead signed up for the Indian Premier League (IPL), launched by the BCCI.Konwar alleged that the ICL itinerary was yet to be fixed and even the grounds had not been finalised. “One cannot continue in such uncertainty,” he said.Bikash Baruah, ACA secretary, denied the allegations of the other five players that they were patronised by the body when it came to selection for national-level tournaments. He said they were denied opportunities due to below-par performances.

Pravin Amre: ‘Rather than trying to get behind the line, what I would advise for the present lot of batsmen is to get beside the line’ © China Cricket International Ltd

Pravin Amre, the former Indian middle-order batsman who’s most remembered for his century on debut at Durban, has a word of advice for the current crop of Indian batsmen who’ve embarked on the tour to South Africa: “get beside the line and not behind it”.”I was a front-foot player but because the ball was bouncing chest-high, I adapted by going back and across,” he told Cricinfo. “I didn’t try to keep the ball down. So rather than trying to get behind the line, what I would advise for the present lot of batsmen is to get beside the line and bring out the horizontal shots in play. It’s up to the individuals. That worked for me, but I can’t say that’s the way to play. Each one has to figure out what works best for him.”Amre, who was recently appointed as the Mumbai coach, felt that the choice of Wasim Jaffer in the one-day squad was a good one, adding that his back-foot technique would be an asset on the sporting tracks expected to be laid out for the series. “We have a lot of strokemakers around him and he could play the anchor’s job perfectly.” Yet he cautioned that Jaffer needed to watch out while playing forward. “He’s a bit late, at times, in shifting his weight on to front foot. He has worked on it a lot. But having said that I think the South African pitches would suit him actually.”Amre’s debut hundred might not have been possible without a 101-run partnership with Kiran More, India’s wicketkeeper at that time. More, who, until recently, was the chairman of selectors, concurred with Amre regarding Jaffer. “He’s a very good batsman. He stands tall and plays well of the back foot which would be vital on those tracks. Moreover, he is a natural opener and opening is a specialist job.”India’s touring party comprises two wicketkeepers – Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik – and More didn’t rule out the possibility of both playing. “Karthik is a very good talent and he’s been in fantastic form as a batsman and a wicketkeeper.” India have struggled to summon the final kick at the end of one-day games – with Suresh Raina failing and Mohammad Kaif not getting a chance to play – and More felt that Karthik could solve India’s No.7 pickle.”Initially it will be difficult, but if the batsmen continue to fail, then why not?” In his playing days, More had played in teams with two wicketkeepers: Chandrakant Pandit played as a batsman while More donned the gloves. “Yes, I remember and that’s why I won’t be surprised if we see Karthik and Dhoni playing.”Both Amre and More had no doubt that the pitches would assist pace and bounce, yet added that it would mean more scoring opportunities. “The ball comes on to bat well, you have to take your chances and constantly keep looking for runs,” said Amre. However, he had some words of caution to the present team. “We would be playing in November and December. That’s the start of the season in South Africa. The wickets will have juice and the ball should move around.” If you are an Indian fan, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Tom Moody will look to extend his winning streak as Sri Lanka’s coach on their tour of India © Getty Images

Tom Moody, Sri Lanka’s Australian-born coach, has said that the tour of India will be the start of a series of challenges that lies ahead. Since Moody took over as coach four months ago, Sri Lanka have had an easy run at home beating West Indies and Bangladesh in Tests and one-day internationals and winning the tri-series final against India.”It is an important tour for us. We’ve got some challenging cricket going ahead and this is the first stage of it,” said Moody. “It is important that we continue the positive momentum we had at home.”The IndianOil Cup final was a good test for us where we played well. In Test cricket, we played a depleted West Indies side and Bangladesh who are an emerging side. This tour is going to be a tough one, like any country touring India finds it difficult. Sri Lanka’s hasn’t had Test success there before but only one-day success. I am looking forward to it.”There’s a lot of cricket coming up which obviously involves a lot of travel. Those two things combined can be tiring. We might have to be mindful of maybe rotating a couple of players at certain stages. Overall, it’s got a lot of disadvantages when you are playing challenging cricket.”Moody said that the conditions in India were similar to Sri Lanka. “Batting is a little bit freer over there. We stuck to the same squad because it is important that we keep some continuity. The selectors have felt that we’ve got the right balance at the moment. Hopefully at the end of the seven matches everyone agrees with that.”He added that Sri Lanka was fortunate to have a team with a lot of experience playing in India and that he hoped to draw on that experience. “We hope to tap their knowledge on the grounds at the various venues. We have done a little bit of research and seen what’s happened there in the past in previous ODI games,” he said. “What average totals there are at each ground and what percentage of pace and spin had been used throughout the games in the past. We are going there with a fair amount of knowledge with what we are going to be facing.”Moody said that if Sri Lanka concentrate on what they do best and they play to their strengths and achieve all the things that they aim to do, whether training or in a match, they could overcome the obstacles. “There is no question about that.” He rated Upul Tharanga as ‘a fine young player and a bright prospect’. “He has been given the opportunity to establish himself as an international player. He is a natural striker of the ball and a free-flowing batsman.”On the role Thilan Samaraweera will play, Moody said: “His role is to add to the depth of the middle order. We felt that we needed another middle-order player. Given that we have four players who can open the batting Marvan, Sangakkara, Jayasuriya and Tharanga, we felt that we needed to get an extra batsman in the middle. Sammy is a player who is in form and given that he is playing in the Test series straight after the one-dayers, it seems to make logical sense.”Moody said that Dilhara Lokuhettige was learning about the game as a young player. “He had a poor series against Bangladesh. I am sure he is looking forward to try and bounce back. It is going to be tough work for him because conditions in India are quite harsh on bowlers. He has got to draw much on the experience of others and learn from his experience and continue to develop as an all-round cricketer. He is one of the allrounders who plays the role in all three aspects of the game, batting, bowling and fielding.”

Ian Botham’s home was burgled while he was hosting a party© Getty Images

Thieves have stolen jewellery worth £70,000 from the home of Ian Botham, the former England allrounder turned TV commentator. The jewels were snatched during a party at his luxury home in Ravensworth in North Yorkshire, and police have confirmed that they are investigating a “high value” theft in the area between July 23 and 24.According to a report in , Botham’s wife Kathy discovered the jewellery was missing after guests had left a party they were hosting. Botham is not the first English cricket personality to fall victim to thieves this year – a burglar made off with Michael Vaughan’s watch and wallet, containing more than £1000, and £300 and 17 credit cards belonging to Darren Gough after sneaking into the England dressing-room during a practice session at Chester-le-Street at the end of June.Besides the money, Vaughan’s wallet contained a match ticket from the Antigua Test last April, autographed by Brian Lara, who broke the Test batting record with an unbeaten 400 in that game.

Despite the arrival of emergency tarpaulins, which covered 90% of the ground, the around-the-clock mopping up operations of an army of groundstaff and, ironically, bright blue skies and blazing sunshine, no play was possible before lunch on the second day of his second Test at Kandy.The muddy brown outfield remains saturated after the early arrival of the southwest monsoon three weeks ago and after more overnight rain, the umpires, Daryl Harper and Simon Taufel, decided to inspect the pitch again at 1pm local time. In the meantime, both teams were packed off to their hotel, where they would spend another morning lounging by the poolside.A second successive full-day washout remains a distinct possibility with the umpires unlikely to be willing to risk injury to the players on a slippery outfield. The pitch and the inner circle are in good condition.New Zealand, who drew an attritional first Test in Colombo, are bidding to win their first series in Sri Lanka since Geoff Howarth’s side won 2-0 in 1983-84.

The County Ground was under siege on Saturday morning as members of the public tried to get their tickets for the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy semi-final between Somerset and Warwickshire on August 11th.There was a large numbers of personal callers, and four members of staff manning the telephones were hardly enough to cope with the volume of the demand.Chief executive Peter Anderson told me: “Tickets are going very quickly, and if they are not all sold today the remainder will be snapped up early next week.”This is the biggest match that we have hosted at Taunton since we beat Surrey in the Nat West semi two years ago, and we are expecting to win. People who are coming to the game are advised that no alcohol will be allowed inside the ground. Special parking arrangements are in the process of being finalised, and a press announcement will be made regarding this during the week. The advice to everyone is to get to the ground in plenty of time.”In front of the Ondaatje Pavilion, a temporary stand was being erected which is expected to increase the ground capacity for the match by an additional 1,000.The stand will be used mainly by the travelling Warwickshire supporters on the day.

As per ESPN, Manchester United are at a crossroads with out of form forward Marcus Rashford regarding a new contract. 

The lowdown: Rashford’s demise at United

Having burst onto the scene in 2016 with a debut brace against FC Midtjylland, the academy graduate appeared to have the footballing world at his feet. Since then, the England international has accrued 93 times in senior football for his boyhood club, adding 58 assists in 298 matches.

As a remarkable 300th club appearance looms, the 24-year-old has endured a difficult 2021/22 campaign thus far and desperately needs to re-ignite a stalling career at Old Trafford.

However, where Rashford may ply his trade in the long-term remains in question…

The latest: Rashford contract confusion

According to sources who have spoken to ESPN, United ‘want’ the 46-cap England international – whose career is ‘at a crossroads’ – to sign a new deal with the club to replace his current contract, which expires in 2023.

It is claimed that United have an option to trigger a 12-month extension, although Rashford may decide to move on if the Red Devils aren’t ‘delivering’ for the versatile forward.

The report added that any newly-appointed manager could view the out-of-sorts attacker as a ‘problem’ and decide to cash in on him.

The verdict: Is it time to move on?

Whilst his ailing form would suggest that United would be wise to call time on Rashford this summer, it isn’t all that cut-and-dried given the proven track record and the history of the player.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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So far this season, the Manchester-born attacker has scored just five times and provided two assists in 27 appearances, way short of the 36 direct goal contributions from last term.

Once hailed as ‘unplayable’ by ex-United favourite Louis Saha, the £63m-valued star should have enough credit in the bank to stave off talk of a departure, although there is no immediate need for a new deal just yet given the 12-month extension option that the club hold.

In other news, Manchester United are closing in on a managerial target. Find out more here.

Gulam Bodi is expected to respond to CSA charges of “contriving to fix, or otherwise improperly influence aspects of the 2015 Ram Slam T20 Challenge Series” by mid-week. There is no indication of whether Bodi will plead innocent or guilty, but his lawyer played down the hype around the matter.”We have got the charge sheet and we are preparing a response. We will have it done by Wednesday or Thursday this week,” Ayoob Kaka, Bodi’s lawyer, told ESPNcricinfo on Monday morning. “Everything is fine except that I keep getting phone calls from the media.”In a release issued by CSA last Thursday, the South African board said Bodi was cooperating with anti-corruption officials even though when he was initially suspended in mid-December, he also faced a charge of refusing to co-operate with the investigation.A legal case is also being prepared against several other players and an insider revealed that some of them “accepted money to fix”, while others failed to report corrupt activity.

Rafiqul Alam, the former Bangladesh batsman, has replaced Faruque Ahmed as Bangladesh’s new chairman of selectors, the Bangladesh Cricket Board announced today. Naimur Rahman, Bangladesh’s first Test captain, is the other change in the selection panel and he replaces Athar Ali Khan.The new selectors were appointed by a panel appointed by the ad-hoc executive committee of the board and will begin their duties from September 1. Akram Khan continues as selector. The changes were necessitated as the contracts of Athar Ali Khan and Ahmed expire at the end of the month.”We commended the previous selectors’ work over the past four years but we thought that there was a need for change,” Shafiqur Rahman Munna, the head of the sub-committee that appointed the selectors, told . “I think we have selected two competent individuals for the demanding job because they not only played for the national side but have adequate knowledge of the domestic and international cricket.”We will maintain the same salary structure for the selectors, something that was made by our previous committee, but there will be some changes in the terms and conditions. We met with both the new selectors before finalising their names. We want hundred per cent commitment in the job because now it is no more an amateur duty.”Alam said the focus will be on improving Bangladesh’s Test record. “I would not like to comment on the previous committee. What I must say is that we are quite a handful side in one-dayers now but are far, far behind in Tests and our focus should be on the longer-version.”Alam played two one-dayers during the tour of Sri Lanka in 1986. He is also a match-referee with the board and has been involved in coaching as well.Offspinner Rahman led Bangladesh in its first ever Test, against India in Dhaka in 2000. He played eight Tests and 29 ODIs and was the first Bangladesh bowler to take a five-wicket haul in Tests, incidentally in their maiden Test.