Australia sack Mickey Arthur – live
Live updates from the Cricket Australia press conference explaining the reasons behind Mickey Arthur’s dismissal
ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jun-2013
Live updates from the Cricket Australia press conference explaining the reasons behind Mickey Arthur’s dismissal
ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jun-2013
Jack Brooks took 4 for 22 after Somerset were made to follow on but Marcus Trescothick managed to guide the visitors to a draw
Les Smith at Headingley10-May-2013Somerset 252 (Petersen 54, Trescothick 53, Bresnan 4-76) and 61 for 6 (Brooks 4-22) drew with Yorkshire 505 for 9 dec (Rashid 180, Ballance 107)
ScorecardSteven Patterson claimed two second-innings wickets after replacing Jack Brooks•Getty Images
For a short while this evening Jack Brooks, the “Headband Warrior”, and Steve Patterson breathed life into what looked like a dead contest, and even hinted at another remarkable Yorkshire victory. Almost repeating his feats from last week against Derbyshire, Brooks took four Somerset wickets in his first four overs as the visitors followed on.In Brooks’ fifth over he injured his left thumb fielding a drive off his own bowling and left the field immediately. Patterson replaced him and wasted no time in adding to the pressure on Somerset by taking two wickets of his own.But Marcus Trescothick stood firm while his side crumbled around him and a match in which 120 overs were lost to rain and bad light ended in the draw that seemed the most likely result at the start of a day in which the first two-and-a-half hours were washed away.When play finally got under way at 2.10pm, Andrew Gale gave the ball to Patterson at the Football Stand End, and he struck with his second ball. Jos Buttler hung his bat outside off stump to give Andy Hodd a simple catch behind the stumps. James Hildreth didn’t last much longer. He looked promising, whacking Rich Pyrah’s first two balls to the off side boundary, but then authored his own demise by flat-batting Pyrah to Adil Rashid at point.Peter Trego stayed for 40 minutes but then tamely steered a Patterson ball to cover. Alfonso Thomas and Steve Kirby set about restoring some order, while Gale set attacking fields for Tim Bresnan and Rashid. The batsmen made it through to tea, but didn’t survive long afterwards. Thomas brought up a second batting bonus point with a top-edged cut to the boundary, but immediately afterwards Bresnan struck. He has bowled excellently throughout this match, and was very quick on Friday. First Kirby edged a fast-rising ball to slip and the next delivery was simply too rapid for Jamie Overton.Yorkshire enforced the follow on with 25 overs left in the day, reduced to 23 by a shower. Brooks’ wicket celebration has already become legendary at Headingley, and the crowd were treated to it four times in a few minutes. He had Nick Compton and Alviro Petersen snaffled by Adam Lyth at second slip – Compton for a duck – then removed the off stumps of Hildreth and Arul Suppiah, who completed a pair.When Brooks retired to the pavilion nursing his thumb, with a wicket-taking spell of 4 for 22 in 25 balls behind him, Patterson proved a more than adequate replacement, finishing with figures of 2 for 4. Buttler played a loose shot and was caught at first slip, then Trego was lbw to a ball that shot through. But throughout the mayhem, Trescothick stood firm, never looking in trouble, and guided his team to safety.Yorkshire’s coach, Jason Gillespie, was full of praise for his side at the end of play. “I thought our seam bowling was excellent all game. Our batting, after being 75 for 4, to finish 505 for nine was brilliant, the way they went about it.” Gillespie is big on positivity and “intent”, telling his players that someone arriving at the ground who hasn’t yet seen the scoreboard should look at them and assume they’re on top.These sides meet again in the YB40 on Saturday. If there is such a thing in sport as momentum, then it’s with Yorkshire but, as Gillespie stressed, Somerset are a very good side, and the one-day game is different to Championship cricket. Brooks will almost certainly not be playing as he was sent to Leeds Royal Infirmary for an X-ray.2200BST, May 10: This story was correct to amend the ends of the ground
Dirk Nannes has signed for Glamorgan as an overseas player in this year’s Friends Life t20 competition.
George Dobell01-Mar-2013Dirk Nannes, the Australian left-arm fast bowler, has signed for Glamorgan as an overseas player in this year’s Friends Life t20 competition.Nannes is the world’s leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 and Matthew Mott, the head of elite performance at Glamorgan, has hailed the signing as “gold dust” for the county.”He was on the radar for a number of clubs and we are very happy to have secured his signature,” Mott said. “We were looking for a strike and death bowler because they are like gold dust in T20 cricket. He is still one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket, and I am sure he will excite the public when he comes tearing in for Glamorgan.”Nannes has emerged as the archetypal freelance T20 specialist over the last couple of years. Now aged 36, he has given up first-class and List A cricket in order to specialise and extend his T20 career. He has already represented Middlesex (2008), Nottinghamshire (2010) and Surrey (2011-12) in the county game.But he stands out as one of he few cricketers to regularly appear in nearly all of the T20 tournaments around the world. In the last 12 months he has appeared in the Bangladesh Premier League (for Sylhet Royals), the Big Bash League (for Sydney Thunder), New Zealand’s HRV Cup (for Canterbury), the Sri Lanka Premier League (for Basnahira Cricket Dundee) and in the Champions League (for Lions). He also had an IPL deal with Bangalore but didn’t play a match.”Dirk is vastly experienced in this format and a proven performer,” Mott said. “With his experience of the competitions across the world, he will also provide a great deal of firepower and intimidation to our bowling unit.”Dirk has also expressed he would love to be involved with the club and utilise our facilities throughout the year. This will be invaluable for our bowling group to be able to tap into his vast experience and see how he prepares.”Nannes added: “I’ve enjoyed spells in county cricket and around the world,” Nannes said. “I am looking forward to coming over and playing for Glamorgan this summer. I’d like to think I can share my experience with the lads and be someone who can take crucial wickets for the team.”
The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has adopted a new constitution and, as per the stipulations of the new constitution, elected former assistant secretary Drubahadur as its president
ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jan-2013The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has adopted a new constitution and, as per the stipulations of the new constitution, elected former assistant secretary Drubahadur as its president. These changes were sanctioned at the GCB’s annual general meeting in Georgetown on January 27, but it is as yet not certain whether this new development would ease the WICB-backed Guyana board’s continuing standoff with the country’s government.Drubahadur, a GCB press release said, was the lone nominee for the post of president. He takes over from Fizul Bacchus, who was named acting president following the resignation of Ramsey Ali in February 2012. Ali had been elected to the post in a contentious election in July 2011, and quit after police and court officials raided his home and the homes of other board officials.Those raids were part of the ongoing conflict between the GCB and the Guyana government, which began when the government dissolved the board due to the dispute over the 2011 elections. The elections were boycotted by some of the board’s constituent members, one of which, the Berbice Cricket Board, took the GCB to court, claiming the new administration was not properly established. The Chief Justice recommended that “there may be immediate need for the minister responsible for sports to impose his executive will in the national interest”.Following that ruling, Guyana’s sports minister Dr Frank Anthony appointed an Interim Management Committee (IMC), headed by ex-West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, to run cricket in Guyana. The WICB, however, refused to acknowledge the IMC, in keeping with the ICC’s stance against government intervention in cricket administration, and said the only authority it would recognise was the GCB.At Sunday’s AGM, Bacchus was elected vice-president, administration, while Anand Sanasie and Anand Kalladeen got the posts of secretary and treasurer respectively. Auditing firm Barcellos Narine was also elected to be auditors of the Guyana board.
The meeting in London between the three Pakistan cricketers at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal and senior administrative and diplomatic officials has been pushed back to Thursday
Nagraj Gollapudi in Taunton01-Sep-2010Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, the three Pakistan cricketers at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal, have returned to London from Taunton and will meet with PCB officials on Thursday for an internal inquiry. Cricinfo understands that the three men have already had an informal briefing with the chairman of the board, Ijaz Butt, ahead of a more intense round of talks in the wake of last week’s allegations in the News of the World.However, in an interview with the BBC, Ijaz Butt reiterated his stance, first outlined to Cricinfo on Monday, that he would resist all pressure to remove the players from the reckoning for the one-day series that gets underway at Cardiff on Sunday. “They will be free to play immediately,” he said. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, met with the PCB chairman on Thursday, while the ECB remain firm in their stance that the trio should not be allowed to play.The players’ presence in London effectively rules them out of Pakistan’s warm-up game against Somerset on Thursday, and though they are still expected to rejoin the squad on Friday, it now seems likely that they will have to remain in London for a planned meeting with the Pakistan high commissioner to the United Kingdom, as well as further interviews with the Metropolitan Police.Meanwhile the rest of the squad had another training session at the County Ground and Shahid Afridi, who has resumed the captaincy from Salman Butt, said the players wanted to move on. “All the players are focussed,” he told Sky Sports News. “What has happened has gone.”As the three players left for London a senior English journalist asked Butt “will you be back?”. Butt turned his head, looked the man in the eye and said: “Yes, why not?.” That response only attracted unwanted attention. A tabloid reporter pounced on the opportunity and said “are you guilty?”. Butt started to look towards the journalist but wisely did not react and walked into the cab.Butt’s insistence he will return shed further doubt on whether the three players allegedy involved will be suspended, something the England players are very keen takes place before the Twenty20 internationals.”The feeling among the players is that they are professional cricketers and the matches will go ahead,” Angus Porter, the Professional Cricketers’ Association chief executive, told Cricinfo, “but they don’t want them to become sideshows so there is a preference that it would be beneficial if the three players didn’t appear.”Amir was his usual jovial self at the team hotel on Wednesday morning, with a smile on his face, and was bantering with team-mates. He was later joined by Butt, who looked a little circumspect. Both are understood to have received support from Waqar Younis and Ijaz Ahmed, the head and deputy coach respectively. Asif has largely confined himself to his room since the spot-fixing story broke on Saturday night.The hotel has been the centre of attention since the Pakistan squad checked in on Monday afternoon, a day ahead of schedule. The lobby, a business lounge in normal times, was overnight transformed into a high-security zone with hotel staff keeping a close watch on movement in the area.A couple of unarmed policemen arrived minutes before the three players left for London in a luxury cab, with the team’s security officer Khawaja Najam in their wake. Fears of crowd trouble, of which there has been some in the past few days, proved unfounded.Meanwhile the rest of the squad carried on with their schedules, though the mood was palpably subdued. “It doesn’t feel like practice day, does it,” remarked Alex, the bus-driver who has been driving the team around on this tour. Afridi broke with habit to read the morning papers at the breakfast table. The team had a closed-door nets session at the Somerset County Cricket Club ground on Tuesday afternoon; they held another on Wednesday that was open to the media.
He smacks an unbeaten 62 off just 28 balls to help Hurricanes hunt down 187
AAP05-Jan-2025A brutal unbeaten 62 from 28 balls from Tim David helped Hobart Hurricanes to a fourth straight win and the second-highest run-chase of the BBL 2024-25.David hit six sixes and three fours as Hurricanes chased down Adelaide Strikers’ 186 for 5 with eight deliveries to spare and five wickets in hand at the Bellerive Oval. He hit 40 runs during the power surge in the 14th and 15th overs when the game was on the line.Strikers’ Jamie Overton took most of the punishment and finished with 0 for 54 from three overs after also suffering heavy treatment from opener Mitchell Owen.Owen scored 37 from 16 deliveries, which included three sixes in a row off Overton – one landing on the roof of the members’ stand.David came to the crease at 101 for 4 in the 11th over after Strikers spinners Lloyd Pope and Cameron Boyce (2-23) slowed Hurricanes’ chase. David took some time to get going before notching his fastest BBL half-century.”I’m stoked. It was my turn to put my hand up when they needed me,” David said. “I was like two off eight. I was hitting it pretty badly, but thankfully it changed. We knew the pitch was good … just good cricket shots, hit the ball out of the middle of the bat.”Hurricanes, who are gunning for a maiden title, rose to third on the ladder while Strikers remain second last.It is the first time Hurricanes have won four in a row since 2019 and comes after an impressive 50-run victory over the ladder-leading Sydney Sixers.”We’re building towards a finals crack this year, we’re only halfway through, but we’re in a good spot so far,” David said. “Everyone has contributed so far in our batting order and that’s a great place to be.”Earlier, Chris Lynn top scored for the Strikers with 49 from 27 balls after he was struck on the helmet by a 140kmph bouncer from Riley Meredith in the first over.Lynn, who hit five fours and three sixes, was out in the ninth over, caught in the deep off Waqar Salamkheil trying to clear the rope, leaving the visitors 75 for 3.Skipper Alex Ross steadied the ship with Ollie Pope, before Overton inflicted damage late with an unbeaten 27 from 18.Meredith was the pick of the Hurricanes’ bowlers with 1 for 26 from four overs, including the scalp of Pope in the 16th over.
Wiaan Mulder, meanwhile, struck a career-best 146 to keep Lions in close pursuit of the table-toppers
Liam Brickhill24-Jan-2019
A career-best match haul of 13 for 141 from Cape Cobras captain Dane Piedt helped his team maintain a slim lead at the top of the points table after the penultimate round of the 4-Day Franchise Series in South Africa.Piedt was in the wickets with his offspin from the first innings of the match in Oudtshoorn, skittling the middle and lower order to pick up 6 for 75 as Titans reached 275 after choosing to bat. A 135-run opening stand between Simon Khomari and Pieter Malan helped the Cobras secure a 100-run first-innings lead, and Piedt pressed home the advantage in Titans’ second innings.Opening the bowling on a pitch offering generous help for the spinners, he collected 7 for 66 in 28.1 overs, while George Linde bowled 30 overs of left-arm spin and Andrea Agathangelou’s 84 provided the only resistance as Titans were bowled out for 151. That left Cobras needing 52, Zubayr Hamza’s unbeaten 26 seeing them to an eight-wicket win with a day to spare.That result opened up a significant lead of more than 25 points at the top for Cobras, but Lions narrowed it to just over three points with their sixth win of the competition. Lions’ eventual five-wicket win over Knights at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein was built on sterling performances with both bat and ball: Wiaan Mulder, Kagiso Rapulana and Nono Pongolo all achieved career-best performances with the bat, while left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin collected his best ever first-class figures.Fortuin’s 7 for 70 meant meant Knights could only reach 357 despite a strong start from their top order. Rapulana and Mulder’s centuries – their highest scores in franchise cricket – and Pongolo’s maiden franchise fifty opened up a 133-run lead, and Pongolo’s 4 for 49 in the second innings tipped the balance further. Lions made heavy weather of a second-innings target of 76, losing five wickets, but Dominic Hendricks’ 49 not out saw them home, and closed the gap on Cobras.Zubayr Hamza keeps his eyes on the ball•BCCI
Meanwhile, bad weather seems to be following Dolphins around. Last week, rain washed out much of their match against Knights in Pietermaritzburg, and inclement weather also forced a draw in their game against Warriors in East London.After captain Jon-Jon Smuts won the toss and opted to bat first, Warriors made a strong start thanks to centuries from Edward Moore and Yaseen Vallie, declaring their first innings at 436 for 7. Having conceded a first-innings lead of 118, Dolphins clawed back thanks to seamer Eathan Bosch, whose 4 for 36 reduced Warriors to 163 for 9 in their second innings.That was the score on which they declared for the second time in the game after play on the final day only got underway after the lunch break with bad light playing havoc with the day’s action. Set 275 to win, Dolphins were kept ticking by Marques Ackerman’s rapid 77 and had reached 171 for 5 in 30 overs, with a possible 22 overs left in the day, before the weather closed in once again to force a draw.
As South Africa continue to consider their all-round options in both the Test and limited-overs sides, Wiaan Mulder’s career-best 146 and cheap second-innings wickets will not go amiss. Temba Bavuma’s impact with the bat in the same match was modest – he managed 30 in the first innings and 6 in the second – while Zubayr Hamza returned to franchise cricket after his Test debut against Pakistan with scores of 28 and 26 not out in Cobras’ win.
Dane Piedt now sits comfortably at the top of the competition bowling tables after his 13-wicket match haul took him to 52 in nine games this season.Piedt has led Cobras with aplomb this season, as well as recording both his best figures in an innings and his best-ever match haul. He also struck his maiden first-class century against Knights in Bloemfontein to kick off the new year, and if Cobras can maintain their slim lead over Lions, he will have some silverware to cap what has been a brilliant season.
Since the PCB provisionally suspended the batsman on March 18 last year, for his role in the PSL spot-fixing saga, his ban is less than three weeks from its end
28-Feb-2018Last year’s PSL spot-fixing scandal has claimed yet another scalp, with Shahzaib Hasan handed a one-year ban after falling foul of the
PCB’s anti-corruption code. Shahzaib was found guilty on two counts of breaching Clause 2.4.4, which deals with a failure to disclose corrupt
approaches, and one count of Clause 2.4.5, which concerns the failure to report any incident a player is aware of that would amount to a breach of the anti-corruption code.Shahzaib has, crucially, been found not guilty of breaching the far more serious Clause 2.1.4, which involves “directly or indirectly soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating any participant to breach any of the foregoing provisions of
this Article 2.1.” That would have likely led to a significantly longer ban.The judgement revealed that Shahzaib, in addition to failing to report a corrupt approach from bookmakers “Sajid” and “Robbie”, had also failed to inform the PCB’s anti-corruption unit about the details of the approach to the national cricketers. It was also judged that he failed to disclose the full details of approaches received by Babar Azam and Sharjeel Khan relating to engaging in corrupt conduct during the fifth ODI against Australia in Adelaide in on January 26 last year.Since Shahzaib was provisionally suspended by the PCB on March 18 last year, his ban is less than three weeks away from its end. He has also been fined Rs 1 million (approximately GBP 6500). However, the PCB’s legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi, speaking to reporters after the verdict, said this did not mean he would be eligible to play cricket as soon as that.”His ban may end on March 17, but remember that according to the anti-corruption code, you have to go through a rehabilitation process. The first step towards beginning rehabilitation is the acceptance of guilt. If he does not accept that he was guilty, then his rehabilitation process cannot begin.”Shahzaib is the sixth player to be sanctioned in the wake of the PSL spot-fixing case. Today’s events meant all six players – Sharjeel Khan (5
years), Khalid Latif (5 years), Mohammad Irfan (1 year) , Mohammad Nawaz (2 months), Nasir Jamshed (1 year) were the others – have been banned for certain lengths of time for their role in the saga. Even so, the process is not yet concluded. The PCB has slapped further corruption charges on Nasir Jamshed, which could result in a longer ban, while it is not yet clear whether either party will appeal the tribunal’s verdict on Shahzaib.It has been more than seven years since the opening batsman Shahzaib last played for Pakistan, with his participation in their victorious 2009 World T20 campaign the highlight of his brief international career of three ODIs and 10 T20Is.
Alex Lees scored a century to get Yorkshire’s reply off to a solid start but his dismissal late in the day led to some self-recrimination
Paul Edwards at Trent Bridge20-Apr-2015
ScorecardAlex Lees made his third 50-plus score in as many innings•PA Photos
So great has been the praise bestowed on Yorkshire’s academy recently that one is almost surprised to discover that Plato is not in charge of the place. Not only did Headingley’s finishing school supply many of the players that secured the title last September, it often seems to be mentioned whenever England’s progress is discussed.Some White Rose Academicians are already representing England in the West Indies while a few others, so the forthright argument holds, should be doing so. On the other hand, graduates like Adil Rashid should be back in England playing for Yorkshire, although those selectors could do far worse than open with that Alex Lees.All of which brings us to a warm afternoon in early spring at Trent Bridge, the trees still seasonally skeletal in Fox Road but the views across West Bridgford to Edwalton as crystal as could be wished. More particularly, it brings us to the century scored by the 22-year-old Lees, the seventh of his first-class career, and one which provided the backbone for Yorkshire’s reply.Lees is a most distinguished former member of the academy, directed by Ian Dews, and many predict a fine future for him, particularly if his development is not rushed. And on the evidence provided by Monday’s cricket, the Yorkshire opener, while plainly a very fine young player indeed, is not yet the finished product.On the credit side one can point to the fact that Lees has passed at least fifty in each of his three County Championship innings this season. This latest effort was a monument to his concentration as he dug in for 271 minutes to help Yorkshire reach 226 for 3 at stumps, a more than solid foundation for the second half of the game.Just as valuably, one can identify Lees’ secure defensive technique and the ability to capitalise upon the bad ball. There were periods in the afternoon session of the second day’s play when he and his second-wicket partner, Cheteshwar Pujara, simply had to defend their wickets against an accurate Nottinghamshire attack which had already dismissed 20-year-old Will Rhodes, another Academy lad, who edged Harry Gurney when he had made 41 out of an opening stand of 66.For the most part Lees batted with polished ease against Chris Read’s seamers and did not lose anything in comparison to the India Test cricketer with whom he was batting. His successive fours off Gurney, a cover drive and a clip square on the leg side, were lovely example of chanceless attack and they were warmly appreciated by a crowd that knows its cricket.Indeed, at one stage of the evening session, as their assurance grew and chances were dropped, it seemed that Lees and Pujara would take their side to stumps. In nine overs, though, both were gone. First Pujara, having reached his first half-century for Yorkshire with a glorious on-drive and a crisp late cut off Patel, made to punch the slow left-armer through the leg side but only gave a catch to substitute fielder Ben Kitt at midwicket. “We needed a break,” said a low wit, “and we got a Kitt catch.”Seemingly undaunted by Pujara’s dismissal for 57 on 178, Lees added a further 37 with Andrew Gale, who was playing his first match after serving a two-game suspension. And the captain congratulated his young partner when he reached three figures with a cut for three off Patel. He would, however, have been less than pleased to see Lees play the loosest of cuts to the next ball he received and edge a catch to Read, thus giving Will Gidman his first Championship wicket for his new county. It was left to Gale and Jack Leaning, another of Dews’ boys, to see their side to the close.”With Adam Lyth not there and the other guys missing in the West Indies someone needed to stand up and although I am still relatively inexperienced, I am trying to take a bit of that pressure by being as consistent as possible,” Lees said, before conceding his culpability.”I got out to short wide ball and I thought I did half a job out there but we’re in a decent position and hopefully the other lads can carry on from the good start.”Yorkshire supporters should be encouraged both by Lees’ talent and by his disappointment. He had been dropped twice in getting to three figures and he seems a fine example of a Test cricketer in the making. At times he looks like an old pro.Certainly there could be few better places to watch young players learn their trade than Trent Bridge. Nottinghamshire’s home has achieved a remarkable feat and one that may be unique among homes of English cricket: it possesses the grand facilities of a Test venue; it evinces warm local pride in the style of a county headquarters; and it has the easy informality of a club ground.To walk round the pavilion, its walls covered with photographs of Nottinghamshire cricketers and at least one of its ceilings decorated with pennants, is to experience the English game at its very best. And to watch the game from the Radcliffe Road Stand, as very many spectators were doing on the evening of the second day, is a comparably rich experience.Here’s the thing, though. A group of those spectators were schoolboys and they were watching Lees bat in four-day county cricket while they discussed the possible composition of England’s team for the Test in Grenada.
Sunil Narine was absent but West Indies were buoyed by Adrian Barath and Darren Bravo, who made half-centuries at Leicestershire
George Dobell at Grace Road02-Jun-2012
ScorecardDarren Bravo made his third half-century of the tour against Leicestershire•Getty Images
Sometimes a person’s absence is more notable than their attendance. So, just as Kate Middleton might have provoked even more column inches had she not shown up to her wedding, so Sunil Narine’s absence from the first day of the tour match at Grace Road was arguably more surprising than anything he might have achieved on the pitch.Narine, the 24-year-old spinner, was called up on Wednesday to replace the injured Kemar Roach in West Indies’ squad for the third Test at Edgbaston which begins on Thursday. But Narine, it turns out, has not even arrived in the UK yet. Instead he spent Friday playing club cricket in Trinidad – T20 club cricket at that – and is expected to arrive in England on Sunday. He will not, therefore, have the benefit of any match practice or even an extended period of acclimatisation before the Test. Ottis Gibson, West Indies’ coach, admitted that he did not know if Narine had ever played in England.But it appears that will not prevent Gibson selecting him on Thursday. Nor will the fact that Narine has only played six first-class games, or that the last of them was in February. Indeed, Gibson expressed the belief that Narine’s lack of exposure was a significant bonus for West Indies.”He’s just come back from playing a hell of a lot of cricket, so I’m sure he’s been bowling a lot,” Gibson said. “I think it’s his first time playing international cricket in England and there’s a disadvantage playing for the first time in these conditions but it’s an advantage because the opposition haven’t seen him yet.”If he were to play this two-day game then there would be some footage of him for them to go and have a look at. He isn’t playing and it means that if he plays [at Edgbaston] it will be something completely new to them so that could be a bit of an advantage for us.”It is an interesting replacement. He’s somebody we’ve identified from the shorter version of the game but the selectors also believe he can play the longer version and this is an opportunity to put that to the test.”The one major flaw in Gibson’s argument is that Narine has just finished playing in the IPL; the most high-profile domestic tournament in world cricket. Still, the spinner’s record is exceptional: his last three first-class games have brought 31 wickets at an average of 9.61, while he could also claim with some justification – he was the second-highest wicket-taker and had the second-best economy-rate – to have been the best bowler at this year’s IPL. Bearing in mind England’s recent struggles against high-quality ‘mystery’ spin and there is the possibility that Narine may prove something of a game-changer. It is, however, asking a great deal of a young man with so little experience to adapt to new conditions and a different format so quickly.Narine is also unlikely to solve West Indies’ problems with their top-order batting. There were, however, some welcome signs of improvement on the weather-shortened first day of the game against Leicestershire. With Adrian Barath and Darren Bravo both recording half-centuries and adding 111 for the third-wicket, two of West Indies’ top four will arrive at Edgbaston with renewed confidence and the benefit of having spent time in the middle.Both played very well. Barath, who has shown glimpses of his ability in the Test series, again left the ball well and demonstrated his pleasing cover drive without the moments of lost concentration that have dogged him of late. Bravo, having survived some loose shots early on, calmed down to play some delightful strokes including a six over long-on off rookie left-arm spinner, James Sykes.It was a less happy day for Kirk Edwards, despite being promoted to lead the side, and Kieran Powell. Powell – who has scored 47 in four Test innings on this tour – was drawn into an edge as he pushed at one he might have left before Edwards, with the footwork of a statue, was bamboozled by swing. Both wickets were claimed by Nadeem Malik who, aged 29 and nine years into his first-class career, will be out of contract at the end of the season.Edwards’ failure means he has scored just 20 runs in eight innings on this tour. While he can take comfort of sorts from the fact that this game against Leicestershire does not have first-class status, he will also know that his travails over the last month have left his international future in jeopardy. When he arrived in the UK he had a Test average in excess of 50, two Test centuries to his name and he had recently been elevated to the vice-captaincy.With English conditions – and English bowlers – exposing some obvious technical flaws, however, Edwards currently looks bereft of form and confidence. His third-ball duck here begged the question as to whether he was enduing the most miserable tour of England in history by a specialist batsman. The Maharaja of Porbandar – who scored only two first-class runs on the All-India side’s 1932 tour of England – has strong claims to that title but, as he was selected more due to his wealth and perceived social standing than any ability with the bat, it is probably unfair to consider him a specialist batsman. It may be relevant that West Indies also used this game as an opportunity for Assad Fudadin and Narsingh Deonarine to apply pressure on their under-performing top order.This Leicestershire attack is perfectly respectable. Robbie Joseph generated pace even on a sluggish surface, Malik bowled some dangerous deliveries and Sykes, while raw, could go a long way in the game. Suffice it to say, however, that whoever England select at Edgbaston will provide a substantially sterner test.