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ScorecardDarren Maddy removed James Foster for a duck as Essex slumped before rain arrived•Getty Images

Warwickshire took control of their relegation dogfight with Essex on a rain-shortened first day in the County Championship Division One match at Edgbaston. Essex crumbled to 90 for 7 in 27.3 overs as the home side exploited a seaming pitch after winning the toss for the first time in seven Championship matches on their own ground this season.Ravi Bopara, unbeaten with 42 after hitting six fours, was the only batsman to make significant progress during a grim start for Essex in this make-or-break clash of the bottom two. Warwickshire won the first meeting earlier this month at Southend – in between two fearful maulings by Nottinghamshire – and already they are making up further ground on an Essex side clearly lacking in confidence.An opening stand of 36 proved to be a false dawn for the visitors. From the time Billy Godleman was out for 22, nibbling a catch to the wicketkeeper in the ninth over, Essex lost seven wickets for the addition of 54 runs, mostly scored by Bopara.Chris Woakes claimed the first three in the space of 12 balls for an overall return of three for 28. Jaik Mickleburgh and Matthew Walker were both leg before wicket, the latter offering no shot in an error of judgment which typified Essex’s uncertainty.Although Neil Carter unusually toiled without reward, Warwickshire’s first bowling changes paid off almost straight away. Rikki Clarke speared a good delivery through Mark Pettini’s defence and James Foster deflected Darren Maddy’s 11th ball to second slip.Bopara had some luck, but he was easily the most organised batsman as he made his highest Championship score since his two centuries in the match with Yorkshire at Chelmsford five weeks ago.With the total stuck on 90 as lunch approached, he lost two more partners from the first nine deliveries bowled by Boyd Rankin. Richard Johnson, preferred to Tim Ambrose behind the stumps, held a chance from Ryan ten Doeschate and David Masters became the third lbw casualty of the session.Steady rain set in during the interval and play was abandoned after the players had taken an early tea. Even with two-thirds of the day lost, Warwickshire are still well placed to grab a relegation lifeline. A victory here would give them a chance of escaping with their last two matches against Kent and Hampshire, two other teams in the danger zone.

England fast bowler Stuart Broad has been fined 50% of his match fee for throwing the ball at Pakistan batsman Zulqarnain Haider on the third day of the Edgbaston Test. Broad pleaded guilty to a Level 2 offence and was fined for breaching the section of the ICC Code of Conduct relating to “throwing the ball at or near a player, umpire or official in an inappropriate/and or dangerous manner”.The incident occurred during a defiant seventh-wicket stand between Haider, who made 88, and Mohammad Amir, whose gutsy 16 spanned 117 deliveries. Broad fielded a drive in his followthrough, and petulantly hurled the ball at Haider, striking the player on the shoulder in an incident reminiscent of Simon Jones’ misjudged shy at Matthew Hayden during the NatWest one-day series in 2005.”The actions of Stuart Broad were unacceptable,” Ranjan Madugalle, the match referee who imposed the fine, said. “I understand the frustrations of a bowler in the heat of the moment but as an international sportsman one needs to control these emotions whatever may be the situation and always respect the opponent. Stuart, by pleading guilty, realised his mistake and I’m sure he will not repeat the same again.”Apart from a reprimand for sporting excessive logos, Broad – whose father Chris is an ICC match referee – had not been found guilty of a breach of the Code of Conduct until now, despite numerous moments in his three-year Test career when he has sailed close to the wind.

The ICC has suspended Javeria Khan, the Pakistan offspinner, from bowling in international cricket after her action was found to be over the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted for bending of the elbow.Javeria had earlier been reported during a match against Sri Lanka in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 in St Kitts.The independent test was performed by Bruce Elliott, a member of the ICC Panel of Human Movement Specialists, at the University of Western Australia in Perth on June 16. The analysis showed the mean elbow extension in Javeria’s bowling action for the offbreak was 29.3 degrees, and increased to 40.7 degrees when she began to tire.She can apply for re-assessment of her action after she has modified it in accordance with clause 2.4 of the regulations for the review of bowlers reported with suspected illegal bowling actions. She also has the right to appeal against UWA’s conclusions to the Bowling Review Group. Should she choose to appeal, she must lodge written notification with the ICC within 14 days of receiving the report.The Pakistan Cricket Board said in a statement that it would work on the matter internally by supervising the remedial work on her action.

Brendon McCullum has announced that he will give up keeping wicket for New Zealand in Tests alone, in order to prolong his international career. McCullum had earlier toyed with the idea of hanging up the gloves in limited-overs cricket and playing as a specialist batsman, but realised the best way forward was to sacrifice his dual role in the game’s longest format.McCullum, who will continue to keep in one-dayers and Twenty20s, said he consulted experts before making his decision. “I have talked to a lot of people about how they went about extending their international careers, including some prominent former and current wicketkeepers,” McCullum said. “I am passionate about playing for the Blackcaps (New Zealand) and by limiting my keeping to the shorter forms of the game it increases my chances of prolonging my career.”Geoff Allott, former fast bowler and now general manager of cricket in the New Zealand board, said it was a positive step for the long run.”Brendon enjoys the challenge of Test cricket and has been a strong performer for New Zealand as a keeper over a significant period of time,” Allott said. “While his glove work will be missed, we understand and support his decision to focus his attention on scoring runs at Test level, and his objective to play on the international cricket stage for as long as possible. It is great to know he will continue to keep wickets in limited-overs cricket.”We need to work with players such as Brendon to ensure they stay fit and available for selection, with particular attention paid to those with heavy playing schedules.”Mark Greatbatch, the chairman of selectors, said the committee had no problems with McCullum’s decision, and added that only his form as a batsman will be considered for future Test selections.”Brendon has stated he wants to play cricket for New Zealand for as long as possible and that is really encouraging. I know he has had trouble with injuries that are related to keeping, and therefore understand his decision to stop keeping in Test cricket,” Greatbatch said. “But Brendon clearly understands he will only be considered as a Test batsman on his long-form batting performances.”McCullum has been a destructive opener in limited-overs games. In the last two years, he has scored two centuries and five fifties in one-dayers but his returns in T20s are relatively better, with one century and six fifties. New Zealand’s top order has struggled for consistency in all formats, and McCullum intended to focus on adding more stability to it. He too struggled to maintain his consistency in Tests as a batsman, but he remained New Zealand’s first-choice wicketkeeper. With the latest development, Gareth Hopkins could fill the keeper’s slot in Tests.

Former Australian captain turned commentator Ian Chappell has rated Ricky Ponting a better leader than Steve Waugh. Chappell said Ponting has managed to keep Australia competitive even after losing star players, while Waugh, who had high-class players at his disposal for most of his captaincy career, struggled when challenged.”I think out of the last four Australian captains, Steve Waugh runs fourth in my book. I have got Mark Taylor, Ricky Ponting and Allan Border…” Chappell told Harsha Bhogle on Cricinfo’s Opening Up. “I think Ponting is a bit conservative with his field placings for my liking, but when you think of the turnover… in the case of Warne and Glenn McGrath, two champion bowlers. He has had an enormous turnover of that level of players, and yet he has still kept Australia competitive.”In 2009, Ponting became the first Australian captain since Billy Murdoch in the 19th century to lose the Ashes twice. But Chappell said he did not rate captains by their win-loss records and that Ponting fared better than Waugh when on the back foot. “The reason why I don’t rank Steve Waugh very highly is because I think he ran out of ideas pretty quickly. He didn’t have to run out of ideas quickly very often, because he wasn’t under the pump very often. But I saw him run out of ideas. Kolkata, for instance, in 2001… I have never seen Ricky Ponting run out of ideas.”Imran Khan, Mike Gatting and Arjuna Ranatunga were other captains Chappell said he admired. Mike Brearley, the England captain famous for his tactical nous but not his cricketing talent, was not on Chappell’s list. “I think I would say about Mike Brearley that I always thought it was hard enough to win a game when you are playing 11 v 11. Why are you going into the game with 10 v 11?”Ranatunga’s mettle was proved not only at the 1996 World Cup but also when Sri Lanka were clearly the weaker side, Chappell said. “I saw him in a game at Bellerive Oval where he was outgunned. fact, Australia really only won the game on the final day in the last session, when they were the only team who were going to win from three and a half days on. But Arjuna kept that side in the game for much longer than they had any right to be.”Chappell said captaining a side was harder today because of the different formats and the interaction with the media, but he said captains today were not doing right by prioritising boundary-saving over wicket-taking and by delegating match-turning decisions to their team-mates. “My order of priority is wickets, way up there, right at the top by miles; saving singles next, quite a distance down; and then, way down, saving boundaries.”Chappell pointed at South Africa as a side that placed a premium on boundary-saving. “The idea with South African captaincy basically is, if you’ve got a couple of quickies, use them, and then you’ve got these seamers to hold things tight in between times till your real quickies are ready to come back again. So I think they place too high a store on containment, whereas I like captains who are always trying to get the opposition out.”

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan has come out in support of Shahid Afridi, saying the allrounder should be given a long run as captain to avoid the destabilising effect of frequent changes at the top.”Since I retired in 1992, Australia has had only three captains while Pakistan has had more than two dozen and that is why there is a big difference between Pakistan and Australia,” Imran told AFP.According to Imran, Afridi was the logical choice to lead Pakistan as he is already the Twenty20 captain. “Who else if not Afridi?” Imran said. “I think if they had made anyone else captain, problems would surely have persisted, so I think Afridi was the best choice available.”Imran said Afridi has to be given time if he is to develop into a good leader. “Afridi has been leading the team well in the Twenty20 format. A good captain should be brave, can handle pressure and should have the respect of the team, so let us give Afridi some time to settle and then judge him.”You can never predict about him as a Test player and a captain until you give him a chance. If he was not playing Tests and now he intends to play, then maybe with responsibility he performs better.”Pakistan’s current captaincy crisis was precipitated by Younis Khan’s resignation and the sacking of Mohammad Yousuf. The PCB then appointed Afridi to lead the team during the World Twenty20 and earlier this week made him captain for the Asia Cup next month and the subsequent tour to England.Khan also said he is in favour of having having one captain for all formats of the game. “Cricket is the only sport where you need able leadership and if a captain is successful in one format he could be successful in all three.”

S Badrinath, the Chennai Super Kings batsman, said that despite the tough time in the league phase, his side never doubted that they would make the semi-finals.”To be honest, not even at one stage we really thought that we would not make the semi-finals. We were positive all through and it showed. We were really optimistic. That’s how it has been,” Badrinath told .At the halfway mark of the league stage, Chennai’s campaign was going downhill with just two wins from seven matches. They then turned around the formbook, winning five of their return games to enter the semis on net run-rate.”It has been a mixed bag for us. We have lost some games, won some, and also finished some games really well. We have won from unbelievable situations,” Badrinath said. “The journey has been with lots of ups and downs for us this season and it is good to be there among the top four in the end. We are playing some good cricket at the moment and hope to continue in the same manner.”With Matthew Hayden in poor form, and MS Dhoni missing in action in the middle stages with injury, Badrinath shouldered extra burden in the middle order. He did reasonably well, scoring 305 runs at an average of 33.88.”It has been a good season for me. The position where I bat, it is not easy to score fifties and hundreds, but [it is easier to get] 20s and 30s. But I feel I have done well at number four, finishing the game for my team and in the process got a couple of fifties too,” he said.Badrinath has for long carried the tag of Test specialist, and few expected him to succeed in the shortest format, but Chennai backed his abilities and he is thankful for the support. “I have always had the self belief. I felt that whatever you do people are going to be after you. I did not let it affect my game. I should also credit the team management of Chennai Super Kings who had faith in me and signed me up,” he said.Badrinath felt he had learnt a lot from his overseas team-mates, like Hayden and Michael Hussey. “It’s the longevity and the attitude they play with. If you are going to be a world-class player and how long you can sustain and the attitude.”I had a chat with Hussey while he was trying to break into the Australian side at an age when most are at peak. What was he thinking? He just said that he wanted to enjoy the game. You learn different thing every time and that is how you evolve as a player. That is what matters to me.”Badrinath’s transition from being a technically sound, but restricted player to an innovative batsman has been aided by his ability to play unorthodox strokes such as the scoop shot. “The scoop shot has been my strength. It is not easy to play as you have to use the pace of the ball. You have to practise it over the years. I worked a lot over it,” he said.Chennai have made the semi-finals in each edition of the IPL without going all the way, but Badrinath believes his side has a good chance this year. “It’s been the last match which has given us confidence as we have seen the ups and downs. We have become mentally tough. We have seen the pressure. It’s hard. We have a good chance to win this time.”

ScorecardMichael Di Venuto hit the first century of the English season…in the desert•PA Photos

Durham pair Michael Di Venuto and Kyle Coetzer both scored centuries as bat dominated pink ball on an experimental first day of the season-opening fixture against MCC. The traditional county curtain-raiser has a new look this year, with the game transplanted from Lord’s to Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Stadium, while pink Kookaburra’s and floodlights are also in use.Those developments are part of a wider plan to usher in the era of day/night Test cricket, an agenda which is unlikely to have been either derailed or dramatically advanced by events on day one of this high-profile trial. Di Venuto hit a sprightly 131 and Coetzer, who batted all day, a more stately 123 not out as the champions made mostly serene progress to 329 for 3 after winning the toss.The flat wicket and serene batting conditions, rather than the colour of theball, can take much of the credit for that, though. Gloucestershire seamer Jon Lewis was handed first use of the ball, with Middlesex’s Tim Murtagh starting at the other end.Lewis beat the bat with the fourth delivery of the match but there was littleelse to worry the champion county’s opening pair in the first session. Di Venuto began positively, finding the boundary three times in the first four overs and helping himself to two more in the sixth over as Murtagh strayed.Alex Gidman turned quickly to the spin of James Middlebrook but he was soon despatched for six over long-on as Di Venuto hurtled towards the first fifty of the first-class season, a feat he reached after 89 balls. Coetzer was struggling for the strike at the other end but looked in little trouble when he did face.Lewis and Gidman found hints of swing as the ball aged but not enough tocontain Durham as they eased to 89 for nought at lunch. The lights came on just after the break, perhaps a little early with the natural light still more than adequate.The change certainly made little difference to Di Venuto and Coetzer, the former continuing to take the lion’s share of the bowling and peppering the boundary accordingly. A pair of singles brought him his hundred from 145 balls with 20 fours and a six along the way.MCC looked understandably downcast in the field, with a lively Steve Kirby appeal against Di Venuto the closest anyone got to animation before the batsman was stumped by James Foster going down the track to Middlebrook.At the point of his departure, Di Venuto had 131 of his side’s 181. Coetzer eventually passed fifty, while captain Will Smith came and went for 13 before chipping Middlebrook to Scott Newman, who juggled the catch.Coetzer began to go on the attack as tea loomed, advancing down the wicket ahandful of times to the spinners, once to loft Middlebrook for a straight six. New batsman Dale Benkenstein was busy at the crease, working his way to 41 before being bowled by Dean Cosker.By that time Coetzer, who scored just one first-class century last season, had finally nudged his way to a hundred, a feat which required 194 deliveries. At the close of play he had extended his score to 123, while Ian Blackwell was on 13.

Yorkshire have signed South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs as their second overseas player for the coming season’s Friends Provident Twenty20 competition.Gibbs will join up with the Yorkshire squad before the game against Durham Dynamos on June 10 and will be available to play in all of Yorkshire’s Twenty20 matches from then on.”I’ve always enjoyed playing cricket in the UK and have very good memories of Headingley as I got my first World Cup hundred there in 1999,” Gibbs told . “I’m really looking forward to playing over there and I’ll hopefully help to lead the troops towards some sort of success.”I think Twenty20 cricket is consistently the flavour of the month with regards to spectators, and the following worldwide has grown enormously over the last few years,” he added. “I’m still yet to get a hundred in Twenty20 cricket and I did promise myself that I’d get at least a few before I call it quits one day.”There are a lot of challenges that I’d still like to achieve and overcome, and I’m probably enjoying my cricket now more than ever before, so I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”Gibbs, who will have turned 36 by the beginning of the season, is a veteran of 90 Tests and 246 ODIs, and also has extensive experience in Twenty20 cricket, with 1627 runs in the format.He will join Ryan Harris, the Queensland and Australia allrounder who is also his Deccan Chargers teammate in the IPL, at the county, who have also signed Daryl Tuffey as early season cover for Harris.”Herschelle will add power, runs and experience to our batting line-up in this year’s T20 competition and he is also a fine fielder,” added Martyn Moxon, Yorskhire’s Director of Professional Cricket.”He’s a vastly experienced international cricketer with the ability to win matches on his own if he hits his best form. I’m looking forward to seeing him play for Yorkshire this year and I’m sure our members and supporters will enjoy Herschelle’s style of cricket too.”

An already depleted West Indies are waiting to learn whether their star allrounder Dwayne Bravo will participate in the upcoming limited-overs series against Australia. Bravo, who has been in the country representing Victoria in the Twenty20 Big Bash, broke his right thumb while batting against Tasmania on January 15 and the injury could turn out to be more serious than anticipated.A West Indies spokesperson told Cricinfo the management was waiting to hear back on test results on Bravo’s finger, and should know tonight or tomorrow morning if he will remain with the squad in Australia or return home.Bravo has been ruled out of the tourists’ warm-up fixture against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra on Thursday.West Indies have returned to Australia for five ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals after losing a three-Test series in November-December last year. They have arrived without the likes of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan as well as Sulieman Benn, who was suspended for two ODIs for an incident in the Perth Test.West Indies will use the series to prepare for a home series against Zimbabwe and the World Twenty20 tournament in the Caribbean in April and May.