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Scorecard James Faulkner and Tim Paine helped Tasmania recovering from a precarious 6 for 56 to 7 for 240•Getty Images

There was a fleeting moment when the engraver walked away from the Shield and the game sprung to life. One fleeting moment when Tasmania felt vulnerable for the first time in the match, and Queensland could actually see an avenue to a victory that had previously seemed as far away as Brisbane is from Hobart.Ryan Harris provided the moment, and gave us a glimpse of what the Australian Test team has been missing. He bowled Jonathan Wells for his fourth scalp in six overs of quality pace bowling to leave Tasmania teetering at 5 for 15 in the second innings, with a lead of 209.But the ray of light dimmed as soon as it appeared, thanks to the class of Tim Paine and the tenacity of James Faulkner. The pair combined for a chanceless 161 across two sessions of near faultless batting.They negated the uneven bounce and reverse swing superbly. Faulkner’s defence was resolute and he manoeuvred the ball into gaps with great efficiency. He continued to push his case as a potential international allrounder with his highest first-class score and has a chance for a maiden century on the fifth day.Meanwhile, Paine showed the exceptional class and maturity that once had observers predicting him to be the next Australia captain. His bat was straight and broad throughout. He stayed legside of the ball and kept his front pad out of the way to take the lbw out of play. Paine’s timing was terrific on a slow surface and his placement equally impressive. He fell an 13 runs shy of his second hundred, miscuing a pull to midwicket off James Hopes in the shadows of stumps.The partnership was the fourth highest for the seventh wicket in the history of the Sheffield Shield final. They fell just short of the 163-run stand set by Sean Clingeleffer and Luke Butterworth in Tasmania’s first Shield triumph six years ago.Initially, it was Paine and Alex Doolan who showed cool heads and steady hands after the carnage caused by Harris.The first two wickets of the collapse were more luck than skill. Both Jordan Silk and Mark Cosgrove, who combined so patiently for 133 on day one, dragged wide balls onto their stumps to start the rot.Ricky Ponting shouldered arms to an inswinger from Harris and was given out appropriately. Umpire John Ward had no choice but to raise his finger, despite the knowledge that it might have ended Ponting’s last innings in Australian first-class cricket. The former captain has been non-committal about his future with Tasmania, and the Bulls had given him an ovation when he walked onto the field.Two balls after Ponting’s exit, George Bailey had his stumps shattered by Harris. Wells followed not long after, committing the same error as Ponting, and Tasmania were suddenly under pressure for the first time in the match.Harris took 4 for 10 in a fabulous spell that would have caught the eye of the Australian selectors. But Doolan and Paine showed poise. They combined for 41 before Doolan was trapped in front by Cameron Gannon. Then Paine and Faulkner snuffed out any hope of a Queensland win as the bowlers failed to threaten on a surface that is getting slower and lower.Earlier, the Bulls first innings limped past 200 as James Hopes and Nathan Hauritz made a steady start to the extended day. However, Hauritz gifted Evan Gulbis his fourth wicket of the innings with a meek return catch. Faulkner then pinned Harris lbw and yorked Hopes with a brilliant slower ball to add three wickets to his impressive batting displays in both innings.

England seamer Jade Dernbach and former Surrey captain Rory Hamilton-Brown are to give evidence at the inquest of Tom Maynard at Westminster Coroners’ Court on Tuesday, February 26. The pair are believed to have been among the last to have seen Maynard, their former Surrey team-mate, alive.Maynard’s body was found on the tracks near Wimbledon Park station at 5.10am on Monday, June 18, 2012. His car had been stopped by police at 4.15am after officers described it “being driven erratically on Arthur Road, SW19” after which the male driver “made off on foot.” Maynard, the son of former England batsman and batting coach, Matthew Maynard, was 23.Dernbach and Hamilton-Brown are the only cricketers called as witnesses. Hamilton-Brown, 25, relinquished the Surrey captaincy in August following a prolonged spell of compassionate leave. A school friend and housemate of Maynard, he subsequently left Surrey for a new start at Sussex. Dernbach, 26, continues to feature in England’s T20 side.

Salman Butt, the former Pakistan captain, has asked for a chance to resume his playing career as he prepares to challenge his ICC ban handed down for spot-fixing during the Lord’s Test against England in 2010.Butt, who was banned for 10 years with the possibility of five suspended, and Mohammad Asif, currently serving a seven-year ban with two suspended, will appear at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, over the next two days in a last-ditch attempt to appeal against the bans.In a statement released through his lawyer on Wednesday, Butt said: “It may be easy for some people to say that a five-year ban from cricket is all right but what they don’t realise is that for a sportsman like me – this is like a lifetime ban,” he said in a statement issued by his solicitors this afternoon.”Cricket is my life and every single day that has passed has been so painful because I have not been able to play. All I want is an opportunity to get back into cricket whilst I am still young and I can still play well.”Asif’s hearing is scheduled for Thursday and Butt’s for Friday. Unlike criminal trials, CAS hearings are held in private and not open to either the public or media.Lawyers from both parties – the ICC and the player – will present arguments in front of the three-strong arbitrators panel, including the current president of CAS. Butt will be represented by Yasin Patel, a London-based barrister, who was also part of the legal team that fought his case in the UK.”We are appealing the sanctions that were imposed upon us and they should not have been so high,” Patel said. It is understood that Asif’s arguments will be similar.CAS, which was formed in 1983 to rule on a variety of disputes within sport, is widely regarded as the final point in the appeal process. It cannot reverse the UK court rulings because the criminal proceedings were under UK laws, but it does have the power to reduce or overturn the ICC sanctions as they are part of the appeal system laid down in the ICC anti-corruption code. If the outcome was an alteration to the bans it is unlikely that there would be a counter-appeal process open to the ICC. No new witnesses or evidence can be produced by the players.It is not yet clear whether the CAS will issue an instant verdict and that will depend on the arguments they have heard and if they are satisfied or if they require more time to study the case.Mohammad Amir, the third player to be caught in the sting, has decided not to appeal against the five-year ban against him. The ban does not permit the players to take part in any official match – international, domestic or club – until at least September 2015. All three players served time.Butt served seven months of a 30-month prison sentence, Asif was released from Canterbury Prison in Kent on June 3 last year after he served half of a year-long sentence while Amir spent three months in a young offenders’ institution after admitting his charge at a pre-trial hearing.

Jackson Bird will become Australia’s 431st Test cricketer on Boxing Day against Sri Lanka after the coach Mickey Arthur confirmed the left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc would be rested. The decision means the only remaining uncertainty around Australia’s side is the fitness of the captain Michael Clarke, who will be given until the morning of the match to prove himself ready, after batting in the MCG nets on Monday.Bird, 26, will share the new ball with Peter Siddle and his strong record in Melbourne, where he has taken 14 first-class wickets in two matches, indicates he should be suited to the conditions. However, there will be extra pressure on Bird given that the man he is replacing, Starc, collected 5 for 63 in the second innings of Australia’s victory against Sri Lanka in Hobart and remains fit and will be left out only because of workload concerns.Starc, 22, is expected to return to the side for the Sydney Test, and his rotation out of the team means Bird, Siddle and Mitchell Johnson will share the pace duties in Melbourne. Arthur defended Australia’s decision to rest Starc, who has taken 14 wickets in the past two Tests, and said it was made with the goal of ensuring he will remain fit for Australia’s busy upcoming schedule in 2013.”That’s a real tough decision to make,” Arthur said. “It’s a tough conversation with Mitch and he took it very well. He’s clearly very disappointed and I wouldn’t expect anything other than that. We’ve just got to look and see the amount of cricket that we’ve got going forward. Mitch is integral to that.”Mitch is our one quick bowler who plays in all three forms of the game. He starts in all three forms of the game. It is tough on Mitch but hopefully he misses one Test to make sure that we don’t have another injury and that there’s a lot of longevity with that decision and he’s ready to go in the one-dayers, he’s ready to go for the tour of India and he’s ready to go for the Ashes.”Arthur said he was confident Bird could handle the pressures of Test cricket given the way he had risen to first-class cricket since making his debut last summer. Bird, who plays for Tasmania having moved from New South Wales to gain greater opportunities, is a consistent bowler who works on a nagging line and length.”When he went down to Tassie he has bowled unbelievably well, he’s taken 50 wickets last season and well on the way, leading wicket-taker in the Shield this year,” Arthur said. “He brings line and length, he brings pressure, he swings the ball out, he brings some nice pace. He’s got all the attributes of a quick bowler. We’ve got a lot of faith in Jackson. At the start of the summer we had a list of bowlers that we wanted to keep fresh and keep ready to go and Jackson was one of them.”Bird spent Monday morning working hard in the nets, where all eyes were on Australia’s captain Clarke, who continued his recovery from a hamstring injury. Clarke faced 15 minutes of throwdowns from the assistant batting coach Stuart Law and then spent about half an hour facing the bowlers, including Johnson, Nathan Lyon and John Hastings, who is not part of the squad, and he also jogged between the wickets to test his running.Australia will not make a decision on whether Clarke leads the side or hands the reins to the vice-captain Shane Watson until the morning of the match, and while Arthur said he was happy with Clarke’s progress, he also indicated that the upcoming workload would need to be taken into consideration. The decision will be made based on advice from Clarke and the team physio Alex Kountouris.”We’ll give the skipper as long as possible,” Arthur said. “That might only be on the morning of the game. He’s clearly improving. Whether or not that gets it over the line I’m not sure. But we’ll give him right until the very last before we make that call.”I’d love Michael Clarke captaining the team in a Boxing Day Test match with a series on the line. He went far better today than he did yesterday and I suspect he’ll go far better tomorrow than he did today. It’s a 50-50 call. We’ve got to be mindful as well, much like the Mitchell Starc decision, of the amount of important cricket that we’ve got coming up. We’ve got to be intelligent with the decision we make. But if I was a betting man I’d bet on Michael Clarke leading the team out on Boxing Day.”Dean Jones, the former Test batsman and batting coach of South Australia, has been on hand at the MCG over the past couple of days, working as a mentor to the batsmen in the same way that Allan Border, Greg Blewett, Tom Moody and Matthew Hayden have earlier this summer. Jones spent plenty of time with Clarke in the nets on Monday and said while he was impressed with the captain’s work, the test would be running between the wickets in a match situation.”[He was ] absolutely superb, I couldn’t fault him at all,” Jones said. “He ran a bit between the wickets and he was good. He’s going to take it until the last minute I think, but batting wise he was fine. [But] with the soft surrounds around the pitch, if you bat first and you’re running between the wickets, you get into a situation where there might be half a chance of a run-out, you put your spikes in and you see what happens there. I’m bullish the way he is. He looked really good in the nets. Better than yesterday.”

Jacques Kallis will not be able to bowl for the remainder of the second Test but he will be able to bat, South Africa’s team management has said, after the allrounder sustained a hamstring injury in the first session and went off the Adelaide Oval. His availability for the third Test in Perth will depend on how he responds to treatment.Kallis had taken two wickets in 3.3 overs to reduce Australia to 55 for 3 when he aborted his run-up and immediately went off the field. He did not return for the rest of the day, and will now have to spend as much time on the field as he spends off it if South Africa want him to bat wherever they wish. If he is unable to spend enough time on the field, South Africa will have to push him down the batting order to No. 7 or later.”Jacques has suffered a Grade 1 strain to his right hamstring,” Mohammed Moosajee, the South Africa team manager, said. “He will not be able to bowl in the current Test match but can bat, we can only make a call on his availability for the next Test match closer to the time as it is subject to how he responds to treatment.”After the day’s play, with South Africa having conceded 482 runs, their coach Gary Kirsten said the injury was one Kallis had not had before. “We don’t really know what it is yet. He is a little bit sore. He made a wise decision in that as soon as he felt a twinge, he got off the park.”South Africa’s other injury concern is Vernon Philander, who was ruled out of the second Test this morning and Rory Kleinveldt had to fill in. Kirsten was in the hotel lift on the way to breakfast when he got the message that Philander had woken up with a bad back.”He got out of bed this morning and he couldn’t bend. That probably hasn’t happened to many of us. It only happened to me once,” Kirsten said. “You feel a lock, a spasm and usually it doesn’t last long. We hoped it would ease in the time that we woke up to when we had to go to the ground but it didn’t.”A scan revealed Philander’s injury to be less serious. “Vernon’s scan reveals nothing more than a lower lumbar muscle strain as initially suspected,” Moosajee said. “He will receive treatment and undergo rehabilitation during the course of the current Test match and we are hopeful he will be fit for the final Test in Perth.”During the final session of the first day, Dale Steyn also went off the field in the middle of his 15th over, with a tight left hamstring. He was treated in the dressing room and returned shortly after. He bowled again and took the wicket of Michael Hussey to end the day. Kirsten was confident Steyn’s niggle will not recur. “He came back onto the field and he felt okay, so I think he is fine.”

ScorecardThe match between Services and Jammu and Kashmir is poised for an exciting finish after another day of see-sawing fortunes in Delhi. J&K managed to put up a fight in their second innings, adding another 133 runs to their overnight 136 for 6, and sniffed an opening when their bowlers reduced Services to 7 for 3. But Yashpal Singh and Soumya Swain shared a recovery stand to inch closer to the target., They ended the day on 71 for 4, needing another 63 runs.J&K, after being virtually out of the contest on the second day, began the third positively as their unbeaten batsmen Manik Gupta and Ram Dayal stuck for the first 22.5 overs of the day. Both batsmen got to half-centuries but couldn’t carry on. A target of 134 didn’t seem likely to test their opponents, but Services’ top three departed quickly.
ScorecardIn a tight battle for first-innings lead, Goa edged past Himachal Pradesh, ending the third day on 347 for 8, nine runs ahead of Himachal’s 338. Middle-order batsman Reagan Pinto and opener Swapnil Asnodkar played two crucial knocks — 85 not out and 80 respectively – to help Goa take the lead. But it looked unlikely when they were 193 for 6 after losing five wickets for 33 runs at one stage.Asnodkar and No. 3 Amogh Desai resumed at 118 for 1, and the team had progressed to 160 for 2 when Asnodkar got out. This led to a slide, but vital stands between Pinto and Shadab Jakati, and later between Pinto and Saurabh Bandekar helped them recover.
ScorecardTripura face a tough final day and are in with a chance of saving the game against the dominant Kerala. They face a deficit of 203 runs to make Kerala bat again, after a poor day at the Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium. Pacer Unnikrishnan Manukrishnan registered his best figures in his short first-class career when he added two more wickets to his overnight tally of four wickets, and with another newcomer Sandeep Warrier, who took three wickets, helped bowl Tripura out for 127.After being enforced the follow-on, Tripura were again in trouble at 7 for 2, but a 63-run stand briefly halted the one-way traffic, before another wicket fell. Sreesanth, coming back from surgery to his toe, took his first first-class wicket since November, 2011.
ScorecardAmol Muzumdar scored his third century this Ranji season to firmly put his team in command after the third day of the game against Jharkhand in Dhanbad. Starting the day at 132 for 4 , Muzumdar built on his stand with AG Pradeep and later found support from Duvvarapu Shivkumar and Rajesh Pawar to help Andhra put up 410 giving them a 153-run lead. Jharkhand were 20 without loss at stumps.Muzumdar struck 20 fours and two sixes in his 275-ball 180. He is now among Ranji’s top ten run-getters this season.

Confusion over India’s batting Powerplay in the first ODI has become a laughing matter three days after the event but it reveals a serious loophole in on-field communication. In the end, though, India got away with what seems like a wrongly interpreted signal by the umpires and the batsmen’s failure to cross-check with them.The problem originated before the 17th over, when Virat Kohli signalled to the dressing room for a cap. The umpires, though, seemed to think it was an indication of the batting Powerplay being taken, and Bruce Oxenford signalled accordingly with the circular motion of the arm and a tapping of hands above the head.The TV commentators on Ten Sports then referred – with some surprise – to the batting Powerplay, which is normally taken by sides after the 30th over. The (mis)information also sparked some debate over India’s radical new strategy. Only Mahela Jayawardene seemed to have got it right and set his field accordingly, and took his bowling Powerplay from the 34th over.India’s batsmen – Kohli and Virender Sehwag – seemed unaware, and did not visibly change their approach during the five-over period, in which India collected 32 for 0. The penny dropped for the Indians only later in the innings, when they sought the batting Powerplay and were told it had already been taken.The matter then ended there, but Sehwag spoke about it on Monday. “When I asked the umpire he said that Virat Kohli gave him the signal to take the Powerplay,” Sehwag said during the press conference at the team hotel on Monday. “When I asked Virat he said I asked [for] my cap rather than asking [for] the Powerplay, so that was a misunderstanding I think.”

Sri Lanka Cricket has received $2.5 million from the ICC, to help with the costs of hosting the World Twenty20 that begins on September 18, a board official has said. The $2.5 million includes a string-free grant of $500,000 and a loan of $1 million, as well as $1 million advance payment for ticket sales. The ICC has also guaranteed the SLC an additional $1 million in ticket sales, which will be paid after the tournament ends. The money will be used to upgrade facilities at the Hambantota, Pallekele and R Premadasa stadiums, where the World Twenty20 matches will be held.”We requested the money to make up the shortfall we were expecting for the tournament,” SLC treasurer Nuski Mohamed said. “The money will pay for new equipment that will be used for the World T20 and beyond.” The required equipment includes new pitch covers, supersoppers and rollers, which had been transported in between venues during previous tournaments but cannot be moved from place to place during the World Twenty20 due to the hectic match schedule. “We want to make each venue self-sufficient,” Mohamed said.The $2 million for ticket sales is expected to be more than what the heavily-indebted SLC would have received, had no guarantee been put in place, Mohamed said. “The ICC doesn’t want the ticket prices to be high, that’s why they’ve made this guarantee. I don’t think the ticket sales will be $2 million, so we’ve got a good deal.” He added that the loan of $1 million does not have to paid until 2015 and that it has not been borrowed against any collateral. SLC had requested the funds at the annual ICC’s annual conference in Malaysia in June, and had their application approved over the past month. Mohamed said the deal was not facilitated by newly-appointed SLC advisor and former ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, though the request had been made in the last few days of Lorgat’s tenure at the ICC.The costs of building two new stadiums in Hambantota and Pallekele and conducting extensive renovations to the R Premadasa Stadium were the main contributors to the SLC’s debt of almost $70 million following the World Cup in 2011. Sri Lanka cricketers went unpaid for eight months last year, and were only paid their dues by the board after the state-owned Bank of Ceylon released 600 million rupees (approx US$5.07 million) to the board.Twenty-seven matches have been scheduled for the World T20, which will be played over three weeks. Hambantota will host three matches, Pallekele will host nine, and the remaining 15 are set to be played in Colombo.

Jason Holder, the 20-year-old quick who opened the bowling for West Indies A in the recently-concluded unofficial Test series against India A, has said he is keen on tightening up his bowling.Holder had claimed a five-for in India’s chase in the first unofficial Test, helping reduce the visitors to 115 for 8, before they recovered to an unlikely win. In the Twenty20s that followed, he returned figures of 3 for 19 in West Indies three-wicket win on June 23. Now, he will play the three-match ODIs series.”I have been bowling reasonably well, but I still have areas where I could improve upon – the extras and ‘boundary balls’ are the main areas I need to eliminate,” Holder said on eve of the first unofficial one-dayer.In limited-overs cricket, he enjoys bowling at the death, he said. “I am always keen on finishing the innings [while bowling], as it’s one of the most exciting parts of the game. It’s a really good feeling when you bowl a good last over.”Holder, at 6ft.7, towers over several team-mates, and is often compared with former West Indies quick Joel Garner. He has learnt a lot from Garner, Holder said, but he does not try to imitate him. “I have a great deal of respect for him [Garner] and his knowledge. I try to speak to him as often as I can and he always offers great advice. I see him as someone who has done it all and can help me along the way. I don’t try to be a carbon-copy of him.”My ultimate ambition is to play for West Indies. That is still some way off and I know there is a lot of work to do… I need to keep growing. There are some bowlers and allrounders ahead of me, but I’m prepared to put in the [required] work.”

ScorecardEngland and West Indies were forced to make do with net practice on a wet day in Birmingham•Getty Images

England’s ambitions to inflict a 3-0 whitewash upon West Indies were frustrated by the weather as rain washed out the first day of the third Test at Edgbaston. It was the first time a full day’s play in a Test in England had been lost because of bad weather since the third day of the 2009 Ashes clash against Australia, also at Edgbaston.Rain is forecast on Friday as well, raising the possibility that the opening two days of a Test in England could be abandoned without play for the first time for nearly 50 years, since an Ashes clash at Lord’s in 1964.The toss and team announcements have yet to take place, leaving Stuart Broad to face another uncertain evening as he waits to see if he will be rested alongside his new-ball partner, James Anderson.If Broad plays, only one of Steven Finn and Graham Onions is certain of a fast-bowling spot. Finn’s reputation as one of the world’s most-promising young fast bowlers suggests that he is the likelier choice but Graham Onions has been in outstanding county form for Durham and his case could become more persuasive as rain takes chunks out of the game.For West Indies, Sunil Narine is favoured to replace his fellow spinner Shane Shillingford, who England dealt with comfortably at Trent Bridge, and either Tino Best or Fidel Edwards will partner Ravi Rampaul. Kirk Edwards is expected to lose his top-order batting place after an unproductive tour.Heavy overnight and early morning rain meant the square was fully covered when the captains should have been tossing up ahead of a scheduled 11am start. There was only a brief spell when the covers were removed before fresh rain arrived. At 3.35pm it was announced that play had been abandoned for the day.