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India took their series-winning streak to ten as they survived a scare when defending 231. Quinton de Kock and Dewald Brevis were dominant in taking South Africa to 118 for 1 in ten overs in the dew, but with a changed drier ball India took four wickets for 15 to scuttle the chase. Jasprit Bumrah was the main difference between the two sides with figures of 4-0-17-2 on a night that 432 runs were scored.Marco Jansen gave India one final scare on a breakout tour with successive sixes in the 16th over, but the fact that India could be assured of winning only after they had taken their eighth wicket underlines how difficult it is to defend totals in the night in India. Which is what makes the assault from Hardik Pandya – second-quickest T20I fifty for India – and Tilak Varma – 73 off 42 – all the more important as they turned around an innings that had begun to plateau.Four India batters, including Hardik and Tilak, hit a boundary first ball; Hardik was the most dangerous of them all, scoring 31 off his first seven balls and ending up with 63 off 25.Samson, Abhishek give India flying startWith Shubman Gill missing because of a foot injury, Sanju Samson served another reminder of his graceful, effortless hitting when the pace is on and the field is up. Abhishek Sharma was his usual self, charging at Lungi Ngidi first ball he faced and scoring 34 off 21. The two added 63 in 5.3 overs.Sanju Samson made 37 in 22 balls•BCCI

South Africa crawl backThat India got off to this start without South Africa bowling poorly was a sign the pitch was good to bat on. George Linde further emphasised it with three straight overs for 19 runs. He also got Samson out bowled with one that pitched leg and hit off. Samson scored 10 off 9 outside the powerplay, which is why despite all the languid grace he is not the first-choice opener. Suryakumar Yadav’s year ended without an international half-century as Linde shut him up and Corbin Bosch lapped up the consequent wicket.Hardik, Tilak turn the game aroundHardik, though, must have immediately made South Africa regret getting Suryakumar out. Like Abhishek and Tilak before him, he charged at a fast bowler first ball and went one better, hitting a six. He didn’t stop there. In the next over he rearranged Linde’s figures with two sixes and two fours. Not one of those balls was overpitched.Tilak hadn’t exactly been slow before Hardik, but now India went both barrels at the bowling. The two added 105 in 7.2 overs, often managing to hit sixes without getting close to the pitch of the ball, which suggested they would need each of those extra runs when they bowled. Shivam Dube also hit a six first ball to make sure South Africa didn’t escape even when the duo got out.Quinton de Kock gave South Africa a blazing start in the powerplay•BCCI

De Kock, Brevis threaten IndiaIn his 100th T20I, having copped a fair few blows on the fingers when keeping, de Kock stunned the crowd in the densest stadium in the world. First he got the better of Arshdeep Singh, scoring 32 off his first two overs and correcting his match-up against him, which previously read 56 balls, 66 runs and five dismissals.Reeza Hendricks’ ordinary career as a T20I opener continued when he gave Varun his first wicket in the seventh over, which only proved to be beneficial for South Africa. Brevis and de Kock teamed up to make Varun’s next over his joint-worst in T20Is, taking 23 off it. Hardik then got half a taste of his own medicine, which made it 42 runs in the two overs leading up to the drinks break and a ball change.Bumrah starts a never-ending slideBumrah bowled the first of his three remaining overs with the drier ball, and immediately had de Kock hitting an offcutter back to him. Somehow the ball stuck in his arms, and India got some room to breathe. Hardik bowled smartly to deny Brevis a hit into the shorter straight boundaries, getting him caught at deep midwicket with a slower bouncer.Varun Chakravarthy took two wickets in two overs to dent South Africa•BCCI

Varun’s night turned again as he had both Aiden Markram and Donovon Ferreira in successive balls. Markram had just managed the rare feat of successfully charging at Varun when he went down for a lap shot and was given lbw with an umpire’s call on impact. An identical wrong’un bowled Ferreira through the gate.David Miller did his reputation of being just a good frontrunner no harm as he fell for 18 off 14, but India still couldn’t breathe easy. One last time, on a tour that he has been the standout player and has played every match of, Jansen got stuck into Varun, making his the costliest four-for in T20Is.Fifty-five off the last four might have still been entertained had Bumrah not had two overs remaining. He got Jansen with a slower ball to seal the win for India.

After months of rumour and little information, signs of progress in the review of the USA Cricket Association’s constitution have finally emerged.In a letter to regional league presidents, John Aaron, the chairman of the USACA League Presidents Reconciliation Commission, has announced that a document will be sent out this week.Referring to the last few months, Aaron said that there had “been some minor victories, several stalling moments and political meanderings that saw the forward progress stumble, stop and start. It has been equally frustrating for the five league presidents of the Reconciliation Commission, as much as it has been frustrating for each of you, particularly in the absence of information emanating from our national body – USACA.”I have called for calm along the way, seeking your patience and cooperation, as we see participated in this renewed effort of getting cricket back on track. I appreciate the support you have given the commission and myself, and now seek your support in reviewing the constitutional document expected to be on the USACA web site within the next 24 hours.”Aaron said that Chris Dehring, the former World Cup organiser charged by the ICC with overviewing the process, was looking for three goals; the distinction between policy making and administration in the structure of USACA; the need to have true regional representation and responsibility in determining national policy; transparency and accountability in the governance of USACA.Feedback from the initial document will be considered with the intention that a final version would be circulated on November 1. Aaron said that the aim was still to hold fresh USACA elections before the self-imposed deadline of November 30.

Alan Mullally chose a good day to pick up a career best nine wickets, with England playing a test match just 77.4 miles up the road, but, by the close of play Hampshire were still struggling to catch the Derbyshire’s first innings score of 310.Mullally added four wickets to his overnight haul finishing with 9-93, with Peter Hartley taking the wicket of Matthew Dowman who had added just nine runs to his overnight score when his luck finally ran out.Hampshire started their reply badly, and at 53 for four, the follow on target seem a distance. White was lbw to the first ball of the innings, emulating the fate of Stubbings in the Derbyshire innings, a feat that had statisticians and the wonderers asking whether this had been done before. Will Kendall was strangled down the leg-side off Munton and Stephenson was lbw to the in-form Dean pushing forward. Jason Laney then edged Dean to second slip, and the batting horrors of Hampshire’s season were raised again.Robin Smith, batting despite some pain in his hamstring joined Kenway in an attempt to bring things around. Smith grafted well through some indifferent light that forced Derbyshire to bowl their spin attack, rather that persevering with seam. Paul Aldred enticed Smith lbw to a ball that kept low and he departed for only his second half century of the season.Kenway held on with Mascarenhas but much work has to be done to salvage something for the visiting side.

Toby Radford has left his position as head coach of Glamorgan after two seasons in the role. He has departed with a year remaining on his contract as Glamorgan seek to restructure their coaching operation.There have already been calls for Robert Croft, a former England offspinner and a long-time Glamorgan servant, to be given a more central role – with the former England fast bowler Simon Jones among those naming him as a strong favourite.Both Croft and his former team-mate Steve Watkin, who is also on Glamorgan’s coaching staff, applied for the head coach role when Radford was chosen to replace the Australian Matthew Mott.Hugh Morris has been serving as both chief executive and director of cricket, an onerous task, but there are no indications he will step down from one of the roles.Radford will now return to specialist batting coaching, a role he performed both for the ECB at Loughborough and with the West Indies when they were crowned ICC World Twenty20 Champions in Sri Lanka in 2012.Glamorgan finished fourth in Division Two of the Championship last season, their second-highest position in the past decade, but a small squad faded badly in the second half of the season. They were also one of the few counties not to benefit from a general rise in T20 attendances, although they were not helped by a block of early-season matches in unfavourable weather.Radford admitted that he was disappointed with his departure, talking of “big strides” in developing a Welsh flavour in the side that Glamorgan again crave.”I am obviously pleased that the team showed major improvement in the past two seasons and it has been highly competitive across all formats and in all competitions,” he said.”It is disappointing for me not to be able to see the work through to its conclusion but I am confident that the wealth of home-grown young talents like David Lloyd, Aneurin Donald and Andrew Salter, all of whom are now first team regulars, gives the club huge optimism for both the immediate and long-term future. I would like to thank all of those who supported me in taking this club forward. Together we made big strides.”Morris said: “Toby’s hard work and commitment to the role has been evident for all to see and under his leadership we have made an important step forward in championship cricket. The coaching Toby has done with our young batsmen has been particularly important and I believe the players and the club will reap the benefits of this work in years to come. He leaves the club with our best wishes for the next stage of his coaching career.”

Australia’s captain Steven Smith has levelled heavy criticism about how Mitchell Marsh came to be given out at a pivotal moment of the deciding Chappell-Hadlee Trophy match in Hamilton. His opposite number Brendon McCullum, however, disputed the view that there had been no appeal to force an umpires’ referral.Marsh’s squeezed stroke off the bat and boot rebounded to the bowler, Matt Henry, who claimed the catch and raised his hand while turning towards the umpire Ian Gould. After some delay, during which time the big screen at Seddon Park showed a replay that indicated Marsh was likely to be out, Gould and the other on-field umpire, Derek Walker, agreed to refer the decision.Smith, the acting coach, Michael Di Venuto, and the team manager, Gavin Dovey, confronted the match referee Chris Broad after the match, and were told that neither umpire had heard an appeal initially. After that discussion, Smith contended that the episode had been handled “pretty poorly”, even though he admitted the right decision was made.”I don’t think decisions should be made on the big screen, I don’t think that’s right for the game. I think better processes need to be put in place,” Smith said. “We’ve got a review system in place. You have 15 seconds to make your decision and I don’t think that was necessary for that to come up in that point in time.”Neither of the umpires heard an appeal so the game went on. Well it was supposed to go on. It was shown on the big screen that there was a half-appeal so they went upstairs. I was pretty disappointed with the whole process .. it was handled pretty poorly. New Zealand players genuinely believed it wasn’t out and, not until they saw it on the screen, did they change their mind.”The right decision was made – he was out, there’s no doubt about that. But if I get hit on the pad next time and it’s missing leg, do I stand there and wait until it shows that up on the big screen?”For his part, McCullum disagreed that there had been no appeal, but admitted to expressing a further opinion to the umpires that the right decision needed to be made despite the circumstances.”I saw a couple of the guys appeal,” McCullum said. “The right decision was made but the process was far from ideal. It’s disappointing from the Australian point of view. When it did come up on the screen, which is not ideal, I yelled out ‘what the … is going on’. The only thing I said was the right decision has to be made.”It is not the first time Australia and New Zealand have been embroiled in a television umpiring controversy. During the Adelaide Test, Nathan Lyon was given not out after a lengthy review in which the third umpire Nigel Llong misinterpreted the evidence in front of him. The decision turned out to be pivotal to the outcome of the match, and New Zealand sought clarification from the ICC in its aftermath.

Israel will host Croatia in a European Division Two play-off game in November.As part of the new ICC World League structure, the Croatians, as winners of the European Division Three tournament played over the summer, have the right to challenge Israel, who finished second from bottom at the Division Two tournament in 2006, for the right to participate in Division Two in the 2008 tournament.According to the new ICC structure, each regional division is to consist of six teams. Division One consists of Ireland, Holland, Scotland, Denmark, Italy and Norway, who received promotion having won Division Two. Israel will need to defeat Croatia to remain in Division Two, which includes Gibraltar, France, Germany, Jersey, and Guernsey.The match, to be played on either Sunday November 11 or 18, with the Monday set aside as a rain day, is being embraced by the Israel Cricket Association, with chairman Stanley Perlman delighted at the opportunity to host an international match. “We have been trying to host international cricket in Israel for many years now, and hope that the visit of the Croatian team will pave the way for other countries to tour in the future. We will invite the Croatians to play a couple of friendly matches before the game against our national team as well.”Croatia defeated Spain by four runs to win Division Three in August, which included teams from Isle of Man, Belgium, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus and Finland.

Ireland 222 for 7 (N. O’Brien 72, Botha 42, Haq 3-59) beat Scotland 199 (Watson 83, McCallum 54 ) by 23 runs
ScorecardA tight bowling performance from Andre Botha helped Ireland to beat Scotland, but they could not gain the bonus point needed to share the series title with West Indies. To do that, they needed to bowl out Scotland for 177, but the visitors reached 199. Nevertheless, Ireland will be pleased with their performance after holding their bowling nerve when Scotland were well set.Botha’s tight bowling pegged Scotland back, and he earlier struck 42 to round off an impressive all-round performance in front of a meagre home crowd. His dismissal of Ryan Watson, who made 83, was the turning point of the match as Scotland threatened to overhaul their target. Watson was well supported by Neil McCallum who struck 54. Botha ended with 3 for 27.Niall O’Brien’s 72 lifted Ireland to 222, which was a competitive score on a slow Stormont wicket. John Blain and Paul Hoffman bowled tight first up for Scotland, prompting the dismissal of William Porterfield, attempting to pull, and opening the way for Gordon Drummond to strike to remove Eoin Morgan for 10 in his first over.Ireland recovered from their early losses, though, through the combined forces of O’Brien and Botha as they put on 46 for the third wicket. Botha finally came good with 42 following a promising 27 against Netherlands and a duck against West Indies.Both played patiently at first, picking off the odd loose delivery, before opening up later. A change of ends finally worked for Majid Haq, who had Botha stumped.Kevin O’Brien and Alex Cusack moved the score along steadily, but it was the reliable Trent Johnston who boosted Ireland later, with a 57-run stand that brought Ireland near the 200-mark before he and O’Brien fell in the same Haq over.

Geoff Lawson would like to see Pakistan playing more Test cricket over the next few years, but admits there is little that can be done about it.Pakistan are scheduled to play only three Test series in two years and one less if Australia pull out of their scheduled tour to the country next month. As the Future Tours Programme (FTP) stands, Pakistan will play Australia next month, host India towards the end of this year and then go to Sri Lanka in July 2009. Their last Test series was in November-December last year against India.”It is strange that that we play only three Test series in two years but I am not responsible for the FTP and I don’t organize the programme,” Lawson said at the National Stadium in Karachi. “It’s a little bit like India a few years back where we had lots of ODIs but few Tests. More Tests would be great sure.”Towards that end, Australia coming, even if for a shortened tour, would help and Lawson said that getting them over was the top priority. “My first concern is that Australia come over,” Lawson said. “We can’t affect what Cricket Australia or their players do but we can affect our own preparation and cricket. My focus is to make sure that our minds are on cricket and that we are mentally and physically ready to take on Australia when they do come.”Things are coming together for Pakistan in that respect. As ever, they will rely heavily on their pace attack for the series, in particular Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul, who have both been out with injuries recently. Lawson said, however, that the pair was getting back to full fitness. “They’re both working hard at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore and are bowling again. Asif is bowling off a three-quarters run up and if his elbow holds up, he will come back an even better bowler.”Gul has come back from Australia [after a check-up on his back] and has been cleared and is doing some gym work now.”Pakistan are also looking into the possibility of hiring a sports psychologist for the side, a recommendation that Lawson had made after the tour to India. “We’re in the process of trying to organize it,” Lawson said. “Every major sporting team has one and we want to do everything to make our team the best side.”I have suggested a few names from Australia who have experience with cricket, but I am also open to local names as they might understand and work with the Asian mindset better.”

Paul Millman, Kent’s chief executive, has appealed to players’ associations across the world to hold talks with India’s Twenty20 leagues as well as the ECB to avoid a possible legal showdown over the status of players in county cricket.Kent are concerned that Justin Kemp and Azhar Mahmood, currently playing in the unofficial Indian Cricket League, may be unavailable to them if regulations outlined by the ECB last week prevent them from honouring their county contracts. There is also uncertainty over the future of Yasir Arafat, who has yet to receive Pakistan Cricket Board clearance to re-join Kent. “If Pakistan put a stop on Yasir Arafat and the ECB prevented Azhar and Justin from joining us then the consequences would be catastrophic, we would be left in a hole,” Millman said. “But should we be allowed to sign two out of the three, then I think we’d have a fighting chance.”This is moving rapidly, even as we speak, but as we stand we have filed our player registration applications for Kemp and Mahmood – Justin as a Kolpak signing and Azhar as a newly-qualified British citizen, and we await the board’s response.”There are so many different interpretations floating around right now it’s difficult to know which to believe and it’s not my job to pre-empt what the ECB’s stance will be. All I hope is that pragmatism will prevail, otherwise this will end up in the courts.”If these Indian leagues truly want to help cricket, they must find a window to play their games that doesn’t conflict with the international programme or with domestic schedules in other countries.”Millman told the Kent Messenger that Kemp’s “preference was to play IPL, but because that clashed with county cricket, he turned it down”. He continued: “I’ve spoken with Justin extensively. He’s locked in hotel rooms with dozens of other potential county cricketers out there in India who are all left feeling a bit rudderless.”We have lots of documentation going back to 2006 stating Justin’s intent to play county cricket for us long-term. He’s just turned 30 and has said to me on a regular basis his greatest wish now is to play cricket for Kent. All he was looking to do was supplement that with off-season opportunities, as most overseas players look to do. Since then the war has escalated and retribution is being sought against players are about to go out on the pitch over in India.”Millman concluded by asking FICA (The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations) and the PCA (Professional Cricketers Association) to broker a solution.

Seventy-six years after Bill Brown was run-out without facing a ball on his first-class debut at the Gabba, he was given a farewell at the same ground by the cricket community who considered him the grandfather of the game. Brown died on March 16 aged 95 and the memorial service in Brisbane followed a private family funeral last week.Sam Loxton, a fellow Invincible, headed the guest list that also included Allan Border, Matthew Hayden, Ian Healy, Brown’s wife Barbara and his family. “The world was a better place for Bill Brown being in it,” Healy told the gathering of about 150 people who had been touched by Brown’s batting, kindness and gentlemanly demeanour.Loxton, who is 87 on Saturday, is one of four players remaining from the undefeated England trip of 1948 – Ron Hamence, Arthur Morris and Neil Harvey are the others – and he smiled as he spoke of his rise to No. 2 in the rankings. He remembered Brown always carried a book under his arm. “Bill was the only one on the ’48 tour who gave the impression he could read,” he said.During the visit the Australians were playing at Lord’s and Loxton, who felt under-used during the early stages of the visit, was looking for someone to practise with. Brown decided he would have a bowl and Loxton spent an hour in the nets. “I was in for the next game and got a few, then in the third Test they dropped Bill and picked me,” Loxton said. “He was heard to say ‘never give a sucker a break’.” Brown would not add to his 22 Tests.Brown, who grew up in a one-bedroom home in Sydney and had to share a bed with his brother, was a cautious right-handed batsman who represented Australia between 1934 and 1948. Only one of his Tests came at the Gabba – he scored 11 against India in 1946-47 – but he appeared there regularly for Queensland, the state of his birth, after returning from New South Wales for the 1936-37 season.In retirement he would take his grandchildren to the ground, arriving two hours early for a Test to get a good seat. Then the stories about his playing days and big-name team-mates would begin as he answered questions from those around him.Jamie Brown told how his grandfather occasionally played social games and was a great asset during a father-and-son match at high school. Brown was 72 so the schoolboys felt they should ease up on the old man, but they were soon looking in creeks for his boundaries before he purposefully got out on reaching fifty.During his trips to the Gabba in the 1980s Brown spotted the talent in a young Steve Waugh and was pleased when they later became friends. Waugh believed Brown embodied the spirit of the baggy green while Hayden said he respected the modern player and “relished in their success”.”He was always on my side or was there for a quiet word,” Hayden said. “And he could console you about opening.”The cricket writer Mike Coward delivered the eulogy and was played at the end of the service to recognise Brown’s time as a flight lieutenant in the airforce during WWII. Coward described Brown as “a cricketer of the people” and “the grandfather to the cricket community”.