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India will start their tour of South Africa with the New Year’s Test, which is likely to begin on January 5 or 6 in Cape Town. Both Cricket South Africa and the BCCI are on the verge of finalising the details in the coming days for the tour, which as per the ICC’s Future Tours Programme included four Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.Both the boards have been holding discussions since the beginning of the year, but have not finalised the schedule yet. In August, the BCCI had made it clear to CSA that India would not arrive until the last week of 2017 as their home series against Sri Lanka ends on December 24. The BCCI wanted its players to take a short break before they departed for South Africa.Traditionally, the New Years’ Test has been played at Newlands from January 2. It is understood CSA was trying hard to convince the BCCI to play the first Test from January 4 to ensure maximum gate money, considering the match is usually a sellout during the holiday week in South Africa.However, the BCCI reiterated that the Indian team would need preparation time ahead of the big series and would want to play at least one warm-up match. According to an official involved in the discussions, India are now expected to land in the last few days of December and would “definitely play one practice match before the first Test”.ESPNcricinfo also understands the main reason behind the delay was that the BCCI was not impressed with CSA finalising the schedule for the Australian series, which starts on March 1, with the India tour dates not finalised yet. “Now they (CSA) are trying to fit in everything within a short window,” the official said.CSA is battling on many fronts. Observers are already worried about them cramming the summer schedule with nine Tests including the Boxing Day match for which an opponent is yet to be confirmed. Tony Irish, the South Africa Cricketers’ Association (SACA) head had pointed out in August that a “grueling schedule” was unhealthy and would “compound” the workload of the players.The BCCI was also concerned about playing back-to-back matches and ideally wants a decent break in order to not overwork the Indian players and risk injury ahead of a busy schedule. Immediately after the South Africa tour, India would travel to Sri Lanka to play a Twenty20 tri-series and then return home to play the IPL.Last week, Haroon Lorgat, CSA’s chief executive officer, expressed his understanding of the situation and hoped to reach a conclusion soon. “It’s a very difficult one. I’ve got some sympathy for the BCCI itself in trying to work out which dates. Of course, we are trying to have [the Test] as early as New Year start as possible,” Lorgat said at the launch of T20 team Stellenbosch Kings last Wednesday. “They are looking at travel arrangements, dates, when they finish the last fixture. I wouldn’t put our team on a flight the very next day after they complete a game. You need a day or two at home. So these are the logistics we are grappling with.”Lorgat’s delicate tone may have a lot to do with the knowledge that India’s last tour to South Africa, in the summer of 2013, was severely curtailed following issues between the two boards. India were originally scheduled to play four Tests, five ODIs and three T20s, and CSA had even announced fixtures, but the visitors only toured for two Tests and three ODIs, causing CSA to suffer a massive financial loss. The South African board also tabled a loss in their last financial year, as expected, given only Sri Lanka toured the country, and are relying on this summer’s matches against India and Australia to bring in big money.The India tour is also significant because it could see AB de Villiers make a return to Test cricket, after a hiatus since January 2016. De Villiers could also return earlier if CSA manages to organise a Boxing Day Test. It is understood CSA is considering hosting its first day-night Test in Port Elizabeth, where the stadium revamp will see new floodlights installed, but they are yet to line up an opponent.

The MCC committee has rejected plans for a residential development at Lord’s. Having consulted with MCC members over recent weeks, the committee has instead recommended the redevelopment of Lord’s in line with the club’s original, though updated, Masterplan.The club’s 18,000 members will be asked to approve a resolution consenting to the plans at a Special General Meeting on September 27. If the vote is passed and planning permission gained, work on replacing the Compton and Edrich Stands would begin in late 2019 after the ground has staged the World Cup final and an Ashes Test in the preceding summer. It is scheduled to be completed by June 2021.Subsequent developments will include a new building at the East Gate which will, among other things, house the ECB offices, a shop, a car park and contain hospitality facilities. It is scheduled to be completed by 2025.The recommendation means there is an end in sight to an acrimonious chapter in MCC history that has rumbled on for several years, costs hundreds of thousands of pounds and seen former Prime Minister John Major resign from the committee in 2012.It also means a rejection of the Morley Plan. The controversial proposal was based upon the building of two ten-storey apartments (containing 97 residential plots) either side of a new Nursey Pavilion which would have been leased to the MCC. The plans would not only have funded the redevelopment of the Compton and Edrich Stands, but left the club with more than £100 million in the bank. The developers had also offered a sweetener of £15m to members to cover two years of their subscriptions to the club in acknowledgement of the disruption the building operation would cause.The developers behind the Morley Plan were the Rifkind Levy Partnership (RLP). Charles Rifkind, an investor and cousin of former Conservative minister Malcolm Rifkind, outbid MCC in 1999 to buy, for £2.35 million, a long-term lease on a 38-metre strip of land running the length of Lord’s at the Nursery End. It means that, while MCC owns the lease for the top 18 inches of land, Rifkind owns the disused train tunnels that lie under the surface. Rifkind and co had hoped the MCC would relinquish its lease to allow building work to progress.The MCC committee’s decision follows a two-year process which involved one of the biggest pieces of analysis ever conducted by the club and a consultation exercise with members. Five consultation meetings were held at Lord’s and around the country in June and members were also asked to complete a survey which accompanied a summary of both proposals. The review and consultation process is understood to have cost £500,000.There were 4710 responses to the survey and, among the 2000 members who chose to add their own views at the end of the form, those in favour of the MCC’s Masterplan outnumbered those in favour of the Morley Plan by a margin of more than ten to one.”Today’s decision by the MCC committee provides clarity on the extremely important and often controversial subject of ground development,” MCC’s chairman, Gerald Corbett, wrote in an address to members. “Put simply, the club can afford to develop the ground using its own resources and it will do so in the coming years without the need for enabling residential development.”The Morley scheme, with flats at its heart, was considered by the committee to detract from the ambience and special feel of Lord’s, as well containing a number of operational, security, execution and planning risks. Moreover the club’s advisers were unable to recommend the proposed commercial terms.”Although the Morley scheme offers a potential cash windfall, and the opportunity to acquire the leasehold land, the committee considered the flats and the effect on the grounds character too big a price to pay and risk to take. The committee also considered the advice of its five principal subcommittees, who all recommended to implement the club’s Updated Masterplan and to reject flats and the Morley scheme.”Being new to the committee – and this issue – two years ago, I have had the opportunity to ask questions, to get into the detail and to listen to the full range of opinion as to what is best for the future of Lord’s. The consultation events and survey responses are unequivocal – members do not want flats at Lord’s and they want MCC to continue ground development through its own finances.”The programme for the next stage will be voted on by members in September and then the club can put this issue to bed by ensuring that developments at Lord’s are based on retaining the unique character of the ground, are cricket-led and operationally feasible and provide the best possible experience for players and spectators.”All members have been consulted. Many have spoken. The committee has decided. The club will now vote and we will then move on.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Shikhar Dhawan made his fourth 50-plus score in six ODI innings•AFP

The way India bat to the template of 300 in ODI cricket nowadays, it sometimes feel only some external factors can stop them. They were on their way in the first ODI of the series when the rain in Trinidad had its say.India followed a slow start with steady acceleration, but rain cut their innings short at 39.2 overs, in which they managed 199 for 3. The rain did let up for a bit, and the water and the covers were cleared too, West Indies were then set 194 in 26 overs, but more rain arrived before they could begin their chase.During the play possible, India almost sleepwalked towards 300 on a slow pitch. Ajinkya Rahane replaced the rested Rohit Sharma, but it was as if nothing had changed for Shikhar Dhawan. The two added 47 in the first overs, which in about two off India’s average 10-over score since the 2015 World Cup, and then they both began to impose themselves, putting together their fourth century stand in 14 attempts at the top of the order.Rahane will be frustrated he didn’t convert this into a big hundred: he is yet to seal himself a slot in the XI, and once KL Rahul is fit he is expected to be the third opener in the squad, not least because he can effective in the middle order too. In the end, his 62 off 78, ended by a Miguel Cummins slower ball when Rahane had started to take the odd risk, did set India up.Dhawan continued as if this too was a Champions Trophy match, falling for 87 off 92. Devendra Bishoo, the extra spinner West Indies played, kept India tied down through a spell of 10-0-39-1. India were looking to Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni for a big finishing kick when the rain arrived.

Wellington Masakadza, who last played an international match in March 2016, has been included in Zimbabwe’s ODI squad for the series against Sri Lanka.* The left-arm spinner, who has 15 wickets from 10 ODIs, last appeared in a 50-over international fixture in 2015, against Afghanistan in Sharjah.The Zimbabwe squad for the only Test of the tour had three recalls – Regis Chakabva, Carl Mumba and Natsai M’shangwe – while uncapped allrounder Nathan Waller was also picked. Solomon Mire, Richard Ngarava and Chamu Chibhabha were left out. Waller was a part of Zimbabwe’s squad for the home series against Afghanistan in February but did not get a match. The changes also mean that Mire and Ngarava will have to wait longer for a maiden Test appearance.This is Zimbabwe’s first tour of Sri Lanka since a three-Test series in December-January 2001. While the five-match ODI series on this tour begins on June 30, the one-off Test will be played in Colombo, starting July 14.ODI squad: Solomon Mire, Hamilton Masakadza, Ryan Burl, Graeme Cremer (capt), Craig Ervine, Sean Williams, Peter Moor (wk)Sikandar Raza, Tendai Chatara, Chris Mpofu, Donald Tiripano, Richard Ngarava, Wellington Masakadza, Malcolm Waller, Chamu Chibhabha, Tarisai MusakandaTest squad: Regis Chakabva, Hamilton Masakadza, Ryan Burl, Graeme Cremer (capt), Craig Ervine, Sean Williams, Peter Moor (wk), Sikandar Raza, Tendai Chatara, Chris Mpofu, Donald Tiripano, Nathan Waller , Natsai M’shangwe, Malcolm Waller, Carl Mumba , Tarisai Musakanda*June 28, 4.00am GMT: This story was updated after Zimbabwe Cricket sent out the official release

Scorecard1:22

County Championship round-up: Lancashire sweat over Anderson injury

James Anderson is occasionally seen as one of England’s grumpier cricketers but he can hardly have failed to be content with life as he began his sixth over on the first morning of this 270th Roses match. Having already caught Adam Lyth at third slip off Tom Bailey and bowled Alex Lees playing no stroke for nought, Anderson was probably looking forward to interrogating the techniques of Gary Ballance, the country’s most in-form batsman, and Peter Handscomb, an Australian with whom he will hope to renew hostilities in the winter.But that is where the tidings of joy ended for Lancashire, England and the bowler himself. As he was about to bowl his 34th ball of the day Anderson pulled up in his delivery stride and immediately collapsed on his back in the middle of the pitch clutching the right side of his groin. Umpire Nick Cook quickly summoned Lancashire physio, Sam Byrne, with whom Anderson left the field. Thus a match which takes pride in its insularities acquired national significance within an hour of it beginningGlen Chapple, the first team coach at Old Trafford, confirmed that Anderson had suffered a tight groin and would be assessed again on Saturday morning to see if he needs a scan. Chapple’s counterpart, Andrew Gale, was in admirably generous mood, saying that “for the sake of the country’s cricket, no one wants to see Jimmy go down,” but Gale’s magnanimity did not, of course, prevent Yorkshire’s batsmen looking to make hay on a day when the sun rarely shone at Emirates Old Trafford.Those efforts were led, predictably enough, by Gary Ballance, for whom this spring has been a season of greater than green abundance. Yet by the close, Yorkshire cause’s was being advanced by Jack Leaning and Andrew Hodd, whose unbroken 73-run partnership for the seventh wicket had probably justified their captain’s decision to bat first, even if that decision was prompted by a fear of batting last.Indeed, this first day at Emirates Old Trafford was notable for a scoring rate and a measure of justified caution which would have been familiar to the watching Richard Hutton, Yorkshire’s newly-appointed president. Hutton’s own era was notable for its Verdunesque sieges against the White Rose’s closest rivals, albeit that such rivalry also concealed warm friendships and a common approach to the incomparable game.To a degree Yorkshire and Lancashire need and deserve each other and this was grittily apparent as the visitors proceeded carefully to 71 for two at lunch with Peter Handscomb and Ryan McLaren, both of whom were playing in their first four-day Roses match, tussling for advantage. McLaren, who looks a better signing with every day’s cricket he plays for Lancashire, won that battle when he had Handscomb lbw for 29 in the sixth over of the afternoon.Yet as they pondered a score of 90 for 3, Yorkshire supporters could be encouraged by the way their captain was batting and especially his neat and accurate footwork. Last summer Ballance scored 780 Championship runs despite often appearing moored to the crease; this year he has three centuries and two fifties to his credit and his movements are altogether more fluid and purposeful. Perhaps he has watched his Yorkshire and England colleague, Joe Root, in action and adapted the injunction of the popular songster, Robbie Williams, to the effect that “if you can’t get a run and your best friend can, it’s time to move your body”. More likely, of course, Ballance has tweaked his technique to good purpose in the manner of fine batsmen. As a result, he leads his county in more ways than one.All of which only increased the mild shock caused when Ballance was dismissed for 74 by a wide ball of no menace from Bailey, the wicket-taking capability of the delivery only being revealed when the batsman slapped it carelessly to Stephen Parry at mid-off. That wicket was the prelude to Lancashire’s best period of the day since Anderson had conjured one back off the seam to trim Alex Lees’ off stump. Tim Bresnan hit Simon Kerrigan for a straight six but was bowled for 13 by one from McLaren which kept slightly low. Azeem Rafiq had managed only 16 when he pulled an unusually short ball from Parry straight to Steven Croft at midwicket. That left Yorkshire on 178 for 6 but Leaning and Hodd’s shot selection was the best of the day and they looked in little trouble as they shepherded their side to a slight superiority at the close.Yet the relative gentleness of the evening session and the sense in which it took its place in a long tradition did not expunge the equally pleasant memories of the early morning when Anderson had run in under full sail and the cricket had been watched by 4000 schoolchildren, all of them attending the Lancashire Foundation’s Schools Open Day. The children were given Lancashire Lightning flags and nearly all were flourished as Croft led his players out for the morning session. Not since Pyongyang displayed its latest batch of missiles have thousands of red flags been waved with so much zeal; certainly such enthusiasm was a contrast to the seething silence which once characterised the first mornings of Roses matches. God knows what Emmott Robinson would have made of it.

Shahid Afridi has joined Karachi Kings as “president”, according to the franchise. He is likely to feature for the team as a player, too, in the third edition of Pakistan Super League in 2018, though this is yet to be confirmed; the PSL’s trading window ahead of the next edition is yet to open. Last month Afridi had announced on Twitter that he had left Peshawar Zalmi after two years with the franchise.ESPNcricinfo understands that Afridi is likely to be traded between Peshawar and Karachi as part of the formalities later this year. For now, Karachi Kings owner Salman Iqbal confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Afridi had joined his franchise as president.Afridi had tweeted on March 25 that he was “announcing my end of service as president & player of Peshawar Zalmi Team due to my personal reasons”. He said it was “time for another” team. Following his tweets, Peshawar’s owner, Javed Afridi, told ESPNcricinfo that he was “clueless” in the matter. Later, it was learnt that Afridi had parted ways from the franchise over disagreements with the owner.”There are things that I don’t want to bring in media but Javed’s vision has changed with the time,” Afridi said on a TV show on Geo News. “I don’t want to become a hindrance to Javed’s goal and vision, because I have my own foundation and a lot of other things. So I can not fullfil his commitments and want to focus on my things as well. I wanted to announce it after the PSL final, but I had couple of commitments with Zalmi, so I waited for the right time.”Afridi, who is based in Karachi but was born in Khyber Agency, had talked about the importance of Peshawar Zalmi to his local region, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a day before his Twitter announcment. “We have not created the Peshawar Zalmi team to play just a month’s cricket in the PSL and then sit at home,” Afridi had said. “Our work goes beyond the cricket field and we want to change the lives of the underprivileged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”Peshawar Zalmi won the PSL title in 2017, defeating Quetta Gladiators in the final held at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Afridi had missed the final with a finger injury that he picked up during the playoffs in the UAE. In all, in ten matches in PSL 2017, he had scored 177 runs at 25.28 with a strike rate of 173.52, and taken two wickets with an economy rate of 6.75. He had captained the franchise in the inaugural edition of the tournament, before handing over to Darren Sammy this year.

Ravindra Jadeja has climbed one place to join R Ashwin at No.1 in the ICC rankings for Test bowlers in what is the first instance of two spinners jointly claiming the top spot.

Top five bowlers in Tests

1. Ravindra Jadeja – 892 points
1. R Ashwin – 892 points
3. Josh Hazlewood – 863 points
4. Rangana Herath – 827 points
5. Kagiso Rabada – 821 points

Jadeja’s seven wickets, including a first-innings six-for, in the second Test against Australia helped him occupy the top rank and assured India the No.1 spot in the ICC Test Team rankings for the annual April 1 cut-off.He shares the top spot with Ashwin, whose eight-wicket haul took him past Bishan Bedi as the fifth-highest wicket-taker for India in Tests with 269 scalps. However, Ashwin’s poor returns with the bat – 20 in the last four innings – meant he has dropped behind Shakib Al Hasan on the list of Test allrounders.The last time two bowlers shared the No.1 rank was in April 2008, when Dale Steyn and Muttiah Muralitharan were at 897 points. Jadeja and Ashwin are currently at 892 points each, and lead Australia’s Josh Hazlewood at No. 3 by 29 points.In the rankings for Test batsmen, Virat Kohli lost his second spot to Joe Root after managing only 40 in his last two Tests. Steven Smith maintained his reign at the top for the 77th Test, edging past Ricky Ponting’s 76 matches as the third longest stint at the top among Australians after Steve Waugh (94) and Don Bradman (93).

Scorecard
Shubman Gill anchored India’s chase with an unbeaten 138•PTI

Shubman Gill’s maiden hundred and an accurate bowling display from India Under-19’s bowlers, led by legspinner Rahul Chahar and left-arm spinner Anukul Roy, propped the hosts to a thumping seven-wicket win against England U-19s at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Chasing 215, India rode on 17-year-old Gill’s 157-ball 138, an innings that featured 17 fours and two sixes, to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.Gill began India’s chase in sprightly fashion, hitting three boundaries in the first over. England’s bowling attack missed the accuracy of Matthew Fisher, who sat out with a niggle, as the openers capitalised on plenty of run-scoring options off their wayward lines. Gill’s timing on a slow surface was impeccable. On a quick outfield, all he needed to do was find the gaps. He played the ball discernibly late, a marked improvement from the first two games, where he was dismissed as a result of hard hands through the line. He struck two sixes in his innings, a flat-batted slap over mid-off off a free hit and a pull over square leg.India raced past 50 in the seventh over, forcing Max Holden, the stand-in captain for Fisher, to turn to spin early. The move worked for England: Delray Rawlins had Himanshu Rana caught behind, edging a cut and Priyam Garg trapped in front off a non-turning delivery. Left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White, one of three inclusions for England, then had Salman Khan lbw, reducing India to 101 for 3.Thereafter, Harvik Desai and Gill combined to put on an unbeaten 115-run partnership to ease India home with 35 balls to spare. England’s bowling lacked penetration and depth, their lines were inconsistent, and the fielding was substandard. As the afternoon wore on, their frustration grew. Rawlins and Jack Blatherwick were involved in verbal squabbles with Gill, forcing the umpires to intervene.England’s day didn’t begin well either. After opting to bat, Holden continued his run of wretched scores on this tour. He was dismissed for eight in the fourth over off fast bowler Heramb Parab. After Henry Brook was caught for 12, George Bartlett and Rawlins, who was promoted to No. 4, were responsible for England’s rebuild.Both batsmen were fluent from the outset. Bartlett in particular, was strong off his wrists, finding the boundary – he hit six fours and a six – with ease on a sluggish pitch. However, as the spinners were introduced and the field spread, Bartlett found run-scoring increasingly tougher. Chahar troubled him by dragging his length back, extracting just enough turn. Bartlett survived a close lbw appeal off Chahar in the 22nd over, and was stumped in the next, attempting to heave a ball he wasn’t close to.Like the rest of the series, Rawlins had no such trouble against the spinners, continually using his feet and cross-batted strokes to push the score along. He hit 11 fours and two sixes – some were bludgeoned, some a result of deft touch. He hit two boundaries in the 43rd over, a six over long-off and a four over midwicket, to move to 96. The next ball, however, he reverse-swept Roy to short third man, missing his second century in three games by a few feet.Wicketkeeper Ollie Pope missed a cut off a slider and Will Jacks was acrobatically taken by Chahar at midwicket. A score of 171 for 3 quickly turned to 200 for 7 as England’s lower order struggled to find fluency against India’s spinners. Chahar returned towards the end to pick up three wickets, two of which were stumpings off wild slogs, capping a fine effort in the field.

Marlon Samuels has called on the WICB to “compromise” in their selection policy after he was omitted from West Indies’ ODI squad, and suggested he could accept a Kolpak deal in county cricket if an agreement cannot be reached.Samuels, twice man of the match in World T20 finals, was left out of West Indies’ 15-man squad after electing to miss games in the Super 50 competition – the Caribbean regional List A tournament – in order to play in the more lucrative Pakistan Super League. Current WICB policy is that no player will be considered for the international team unless they have made themselves available for the entire regional competition in that format.But Samuels, who claims he was offered double the value of his previous West Indies retainer contract (worth $135,000) to appear in the BPL, argues that the WICB could learn from the example of the boards of New Zealand and England, who allow their players to appear in overseas T20 leagues without it rendering them ineligible for international cricket. Late last year, Samuels was one of the three players – along with Darren Bravo and Carlos Brathwaite – to decline the WICB retainer. It is understood that Samuels was offered a Grade C contract worth $115,000, demoting him from the previous Grade B.”Why can’t I play some games in the PSL and come back and play against England?” Samuels asked in an interview with , a Jamaica-based television network. “I’m not 20. You’re still telling me to miss out on everything. Why can’t you compromise?”The rule they have doesn’t make any sense. You have to compromise. Eoin Morgan, the England captain, is playing in the PSL and then he goes to the Caribbean. Why can’t I do the same? Why play hard ball in everything?”While there is some logic in the WICB stance – they insist that, to retain the strength of their regional competitions, their best players must participate – the reality of the policy has been to deny them many of their best players. Players such as Samuels, who is aged 36, and aware of the diminishing opportunities he may have to earn for his retirement, can earn far more on the T20 circuit than the WICB can afford to pay in retainers. Sunil Narine, ranked third in the ICC’s ODI bowling rankings, is another who has been deemed ineligible.The ECB, by contrast, has actively encouraged some players to take part in the IPL during the county season – they have even allowed the likes of Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes to skip two ODIs against Ireland – reasoning that the benefits of the experience will outweigh the negatives of the dilution of their own domestic product. There might also be an acceptance that the value of central contracts cannot keep pace with the escalation in T20 fees and that, as a result, compromise is required.While Dave Cameron, the president of the WICB, recently stated the board’s selection policy could be reviewed, the selection of the ODI squad to play England suggests there has been no change in the short term.Samuels has not played for West Indies since the Pakistan tour in the UAE last year, and was dropped for the tri-series in Zimbabwe. He was especially surprised at his omission from the three-match ODI series against England given WICB’s recent investment in him when the board paid for his travel to England for his bowling action to be tested. That trip proved fruitful as the ICC cleared Samuels to bowl in international cricket once again.”I didn’t pay for my bowling. ICC didn’t pay for my bowling .The West Indies Cricket Board paid for my bowling. So they invested in my bowling for me to come back to bowl against England. Now I’m going to hear that I’ve to stay and play all the Super50 games.”Incidentally, Samuels ended up playing just one match for Leewards Islands in the Super50 before he left to play in the PSL.Samuels also revealed that he has been offered a three-year Kolpak deal by Derbyshire worth up to £130,000 a season, fuelling concerns that West Indies could be hit by a spate of international retirements of the sort that recently shocked South African cricket. While it is understood he has indicated a reluctance to accept the deal – he would prefer a deal as an overseas player in county cricket, thereby sustaining his hopes of playing international cricket – he has suggested it remains on the table.Samuels asserted that, for him, it is loyalty to West Indies that comes first, which was evident in his 17 years’ service in Caribbean cricket. “I’ve got a Kolpak deal on my plate which I’m contemplating,” he said. “It’s a three-year deal with Derbyshire. Worth probably £120,000-130,000 a year. The money is not the issue at the moment, I’ve been playing international cricket the last 17 years so have set myself the right way. This is about principle, about being loyal. I’ve been a loyal soldier for West Indies cricket and continue to play. I showed some loyalty, so I expect a bit of loyalty. I’m only the one from 2000 still here, sticking round and playing for the West Indies.”Samuels said he was in “no rush” to sign the Derbyshire deal as, after the PSL, he would travel to play another league in Hong Kong and had a “few other deals” in the bag.Samuels is unlikely to be the only Caribbean player attracting interest from England’s first-class counties. Darren Bravo, whose relationship with WICB would appear to be in tatters following a public falling-out with Cameron, is one who is certain to be snapped up if he decides to go that route, while fellow Trinidadian Denesh Ramdin is also understood to be of interest.Ravi Rampaul, the second highest wicket-taker in this year’s Super 50, is already on a Kolpak deal with Surrey, while former West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who was second in the batting averages, has recently signed a similar deal with Lancashire. Fidel Edwards is also signed to Hampshire as a Kolpak, Other players such as Jofra Archer, Keith Barker and Chris Jordan have also chosen to pursue their careers in England when they could have been eligible for West Indies.

Lou Rowan, the Australian umpire who was at the centre of the 1971 controversy in which England captain Ray Illingworth led his team off the SCG, has died at the age of 91.Rowan officiated in 25 Tests as well as the inaugural one-day international, and was one of Australia’s leading umpire through much of the 1960s. Prior to his death he was also Australia’s oldest living Test umpire, and away from the game he was a former Queensland drug squad detective.He was most remembered for the 1971 Sydney Test, during which Rowan warned England fast bowler John Snow for intimidatory bowling to Australia’s Terry Jenner. After the warning, Snow was grabbed by a member of the crowd while fielding on the boundary, and Illingworth walked his team off the field in protest.Rowan instructed Illingworth that England had to resume play or forfeit the match, and play did indeed continue. In his memoir, titled , Rowan – who also did not give a single lbw to England during five Tests of that series – said he did not regret his actions on that day.”It is not a happy thought that, as an umpire, I might have been the spark to explode Anglo-Australian Test cricket relations to smithereens,” Rowan wrote. “But I have no regrets for my part in the affair; I would act no differently in similar circumstances now, whether at club or international cricket level.”Rowan had also been on the field during another controversial moment earlier in his career, although on that occasion was not an antagonist. Standing in his third Test, at the Gabba in 1963, Rowan was at the other end when his fellow umpire Colin Egar called Ian Meckiff for chucking, effectively ending Meckiff’s career.