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Botha spins South Africa some local advice

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Graeme Smith often jokes that the South African team are so used to seeing countrymen in opposition camps all over the world that it would be more unusual if it was not the case. In Adelaide it is almost no different. For more than an hour after training on Tuesday, some of the squad were holed up in their dressing room enjoying the company of one of the local players. Johan Botha.The offspinner has not been away that long, having relocated to South Australia at the beginning of the summer. But he will spend two seasons captaining them and opted out of his national contract to do so. Botha, like Mickey Arthur, is now just somebody that the South Africans used to know.He could be a very useful person to know though. Given that none of the current bowling attack has played a Test in the city, Botha may share some important information. He has only played two first-class matches at the Adelaide Oval this season but found that bowlers enjoyed late assistance in both.In South Australia’s match against Tasmania in early October, a first-innings total of more than 400 was followed by two scores of less than 250. “That was a pitch that helped the seamers a lot,” Botha said.”But the second was a normal Adelaide wicket which sped up as the game went on. It was really good for the first three days and then assisted the spinners a bit. It was even a bit uneven for the quicks and then started reversing.” In that match against Queensland both first innings yielded scores in excess of 400 and lower totals later on.Mickey Arthur has also talked about Adelaide as a place where a match that looks headed for a draw lights up in the last two days. Botha said the real fun in that is that the late activity requires no extra coaxing out. “I don’t think you really have to be more aggressive in the second innings, the wicket just starts helping you a bit and the game speeds up that way,” he said. “The bounce of the pitch is true and the outfield is pretty quick.”That will come as good news to the frontline spinner South Africa select, most likely Imran Tahir. With South Africa’s changing mindset to spin in recent times, Tahir has aIready become so key to their make-up that his absence in Brisbane was analysed in great detail. Botha was one of the armchair experts.”It was actually a surprise for me when South Africa went in with four seamers in Brisbane,” he said. “They always say you can’t just pick an attack for the first day, you’ve got to pick an attack for day four and five as well and they did miss Immi late in the game.”He should play here and they will probably go with him again in Perth. It’s going to be quite hot in the lead up to and during the match, so it will definitely deteriorate here. The quicks also can’t bowl all day in the heat. It should be a good match to watch because the bowlers are going to have to work hard.”Tahir missed out on the chance to bowl at Shane Warne’s favourite ground, the Gabba. Botha said leaving him out Adelaide should be out of the question because of what he is capable of and what the ground can do for his career.”Immi has got a lot of variation. And it’s also a handful to get in against him,” he said. The current South African attack is the best it’s probably ever been. I hope Immi does play and he does get a good haul, I think he needs that.”Although Tahir has been around the Test squad for the last year and played in most of their matches, his numbers have not been as eye-catching as the hype. In 10 Tests, Tahir has managed 26 wickets and had to operate in the shadows of the pacemen. Botha hopes that will change in Adelaide.”People are always talking about whether he is doing the business. I hope he can pick up five or six wickets here so people will leave his spot alone,” Botha said, while sympathising with the pressure Tahir must be feeling.”For anyone, you just want that one big performance to settle your own nerves and everyone else’s. In any new team you want to put in a big performance, even if you have played 100 first-class games you still want to put in a big performance to show everyone you’ve still got it.”Botha is waiting for the same to happen to him in the four-day game with South Australia. He will have the chance when they play Victoria from Friday and will be keeping on eye on Tahir’s progress from Melbourne.

Jamshed and Ajmal help Pakistan level series

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsNasir Jamshed gave Pakistan an outstanding start to their chase with his 97•Associated Press

Nasir Jamshed batted across two months to deliver Pakistan a series-levelling victory in Abu Dhabi, where the extreme humidity left Australia’s players dripping, and in some cases dropping, by the time the match finally finished at 2.27am local time. Despite being confounded by Saeed Ajmal again, Australia’s batsmen posted a reasonable total of 248 for 9, but Jamshed and Azhar Ali helped Pakistan secure a seven-wicket win that meant the series would be decided in the final match.Jamshed fell just short of a century, lobbing a catch to mid-off when he had 97 and Pakistan needed a further 82 runs, but Azhar and the captain Misbah-ul-Haq ensured Jamshed’s fine work was not wasted. Facing Mitchell Johnson after 2am should be a daunting prospect but the humidity appeared to sap Australia’s bowlers of all their energy – at one point Mitchell Starc hunched over and left the field exhausted during his over – and Azhar and Misbah were able to cruise to the target with 38 balls to spare.Azhar finished unbeaten on 59 and Misbah on 35 and for them as well as the Australians, this match, which started at 6pm on August 31 and ended well into September 1, was a feat of endurance. The outfield was so dewy that the Australians all carried large towels in the back of their trousers as if they were off to a sauna, but in fact they were already in one. The bowlers struggled to grip the wet balls and Michael Clarke was left wondering why on earth he chose to bat first.But none of that can take away from the performance of Jamshed, who batted in a helmet for 98 balls in those same conditions, and scored at a run a ball. Jamshed found runs all around the ground, forcing off the back foot through the off side, finding the gaps through – or over – the leg-side fieldsman, and later in his innings he sought to drive in the air down the ground.

Smart stats

  • The win is Pakistan’s fourth by a margin of seven or more wickets against Australia. Two of these have come in matches played in Abu Dhabi.

  • The target of 249 is the fifth-highest chased by Pakistan against Australia and the second-highest in Abu Dhabi. The highest they have chased against Australia is 274 in Perth in 1987.

  • The number of balls remaining after the win (38) is the third-highest for a successful chase of a 240-plus target against Australia. The highest is 66 balls in Pakistan’s nine-wicket win in Rawalpindi in 1994.

  • Nasir Jamshed is only the fourth Pakistan batsman to be dismissed in the nineties against Australia. The last Pakistan batsman to be dismissed in the nineties against Australia was Mohammad Yousuf in 1998.

  • Saeed Ajmal’s 4 for 32 is his second-best bowling performance in ODIs and his best against Australia. His top three ODI bowling performances have come in Abu Dhabi.

  • Ajmal’s 4 for 32 is also fourth on the list of best bowling performances by Pakistan spinners against Australia. Shahid Afridi is on top with his 6 for 38 in Dubai in 2009.

  • David Warner’s strike rate of 35.29 during his innings of 24 is the second-lowest for a 20-plus score by an Australian batsman since 2000.

  • The 101-run stand between Azhar Ali and Jamshed is the fifth-highest second-wicket stand for Pakistan against Australia.

His half-century came up off 59 balls and with solid support first from Mohammad Hafeez and then from Azhar, it gave Pakistan precisely the start they needed. The Australians thought they had Jamshed in the second over of the innings when he was adjudged lbw to James Pattinson, but the batsman asked for a review and replays showed the ball had pitched outside leg stump.The opening stand ended at 66 when Hafeez pulled a short ball from Daniel Christian straight to Michael Hussey at deep midwicket for 23. The shot was timed sweetly but didn’t have the elevation Hafeez wanted, though a pair of similar pulls from Jamshed off Christian did have the height and cleared the boundary.Eventually it was Johnson who got rid of Jamshed and Pattinson picked up a wicket when he bowled Asad Shafiq for 9, but Pakistan were never in serious danger after the strong start from the openers. At the halfway point of the match the target looked like it would be a real challenge, and the Australians had Michael Hussey to thank for getting them to 248 as Ajmal again caused problems throughout the top and middle order.Pakistan did not help themselves in the field, dropping catches and missing run outs, and it could have been worse had the Australians capitalised more on the five free hits given up due to no-balls from Sohail Tanvir. It was left largely to Ajmal to keep Australia in check and he was not only dangerous but also economical, slowing the scoring rate towards the end after removing Hussey for 61 and the dangerous Glenn Maxwell for 28.Ajmal finished with 4 for 32 after he picked up both Hussey and Maxwell in the same over, Hussey bowled attempting a tired slog and Maxwell advancing down the pitch, missing the doosra and finding himself stumped by a matter of metres. But Hussey and Maxwell had done their job, continuing the rebuild started by Hussey and George Bailey after the top order wobbled to 87 for 4.Maxwell launched two consecutive sixes off Abdur Rehman, one a slog sweep and the other a drive over long-on, and that was followed by six more from the next delivery when Hussey pulled a short ball from Junaid Khan. As usual, Hussey was good at finding the gaps and rotating the strike, and he brought up his half-century from 59 balls.Maxwell helped keep the scoreboard ticking over, although he should have been caught on 21 when he top-edged a slog sweep off an Ajmal doosra and was put down by Asad Shafiq running in from deep midwicket; the ball had sailed so high the batsmen were able to run two. Maxwell had come to the crease after Bailey departed for 39 from 46 balls when he pushed a catch back to the bowler Rehman.But Bailey, through a calm 66-run stand with Hussey, had played a key role in Australia’s recovery after the top order struggled against the spin of Ajmal and Hafeez. After the early loss of Matthew Wade, Michael Clarke and an unconvincing David Warner moved the score along to 74 for 1 before three quick wickets set back their progress.Warner, who never looked comfortable and had taken 19 deliveries to get off the mark, was lbw playing back to Ajmal and looked almost relieved that his ordeal was over. Clarke followed soon after, lbw to Hafeez for 37 and David Hussey was lbw to Ajmal for a duck shortly afterwards.It was a shaky period for the Australians, who had rebuilt after the early loss of Wade, who drove at a wide ball from Junaid and played on for 7, one ball after he was dropped by Umar Akmal at point. Junaid returned in the dying overs to pick up two late wickets and finished with 3 for 52, but this night belonged to Ajmal and Jamshed.

Bowlers set tone for victory – Smith

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Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain, praised an “incredible” innings from Hashim Amla and the exemplary performance of his bowlers after a difficult first day, in condemning England to a huge defeat in the first Test.Smith, playing in his 100th Test, led his team to a victory that puts them 1-0 in the three-match series and takes South Africa a step closer to the No. 1 Test ranking. The tourists had been lacking something on day one, when England racked up 267 for 3, but roared back to dominate the rest of the match.”It’s an extremely proud moment for all of us,” Smith said. “To achieve a victory in what is the first Test of what is a big series, and play as well as we have … in the context of the first innings to come back and win the game is an incredible achievement.”I don’t think we were that terrible on day one, we lacked maybe a little bit of X-factor. We found that on day two, when maybe the conditions suited us. We found the intensity that maybe we lacked, we got a couple of plans right and all credit to our bowlers, they set the tone in this Test match and managed to finish it off on a really good batting wicket.”We felt coming into this Test that we were ready, we just needed to get ourselves into the contest. We managed to do that on day two, each player contributed, it was fantastic the way the guys played. I must give credit to Hash, it was an incredible achievement for him. A performance like that really means a lot to all of us and we’re extremely proud of him.”South Africa must win the series to regain the No. 1 spot they last occupied in 2009. The second Test begins at Headingley on August 2, with Smith hoping to confirm a first series defeat at home for England since South Africa’s last visit four years ago.”We’ve got a batting unit that’s been around for a period of time now, been successful in conditions around the world,” he said. “We know we’re going to Headingley and the conditions are going to be different. The team is very motivated to prepare as well for that Test match and understand it will be different at Headingley and we’ll need to play a slightly different game.”We believe we’ve got the players who can adapt and mentally we’ve got a lot of experience of what we need to do to be successful there.”

South Australia cull six from contract list

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Long-term South Australia players Daniel Harris, Cameron Borgas and Aaron O’Brien have all lost their state deals after the Redbacks pruned their contract list significantly, having failed to win a Sheffield Shield match last summer. South Australia have also cut the allrounder Theo Doropoulos and the fast bowler Mick Delaney, while the batsman Aiden Blizzard has signed a two-year deal with Tasmania after the Redbacks did not offer him a new contract.South Australia have named a 16-man squad for next summer, including their only Cricket Australia-contracted player, Nathan Lyon. The Redbacks had already announced their major inclusions, the new captain Johan Botha, and the former Test opener Phillip Hughes from New South Wales, while the fast bowler Joe Mennie has been upgraded to a full contract from the rookie list.Mennie, 23, was one of the first-class success stories for South Australia last summer, collecting 23 wickets at 26.26 in his maiden season of Sheffield Shield cricket. Daniel Worrall, a fast bowler from the Melbourne Cricket Club, has been handed a rookie deal, while the batsmen Travis Head and Alex Ross have also been added to the rookie list. Last year’s rookies Ben Dougall and Tom Thornton have been dropped.The Redbacks won the Ryobi Cup last season but are desperate for improvement in the longer format, having won only one Shield match over the past two summers. Jamie Cox, the state’s director of cricket, said South Australia were happy with the balance of their squad.”It is no secret that we are delighted with the new additions of an international captain in Johan Botha, and a player with Australian Test experience in Phillip Hughes,” Cox said. “To retain the rest of our list is a fantastic result for South Australia and we believe we have a squad that is capable of some exciting cricket in the coming summer.”South Australia squad Cullen Bailey, Johan Botha, Daniel Christian, Tom Cooper, Callum Ferguson, Peter George, Jake Haberfield, Phillip Hughes, Michael Klinger, Tim Ludeman, Nathan Lyon (Cricket Australia contract), Joe Mennie, Gary Putland, Kane Richardson, Chadd Sayers, James Smith. Rookies Travis Head, Elliot Opie, Alex Ross, Daniel Worrall.

Gillespie misses out on New Zealand contract

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The fast bowler Mark Gillespie has missed out on a national contract despite being New Zealand’s leading wicket taker in their most recent Test series. New Zealand have named their 20 contracted players for 2012-13 and five new names have appeared on the list for the first time – Dean Brownlie, Doug Bracewell, Andrew Ellis, Tarun Nethula and Kruger van Wyk – while James Franklin has regained his deal after being cut last year.But the inclusions meant there was no room for Gillespie, 32, who made his return to international cricket in March having not played for New Zealand in more than three years. He proved the value of his recall by collecting 11 wickets in the Test series against South Africa, despite playing only two of the three Tests, and only South Africa’s Vernon Philander had a more productive series.New Zealand Cricket uses a set criteria to rank its players across all three forms of the game, with Test cricket given twice the weighting of ODIs and Twenty20 internationals. But that wasn’t enough to put Gillespie, who is currently battling an ankle injury, in the top 20.Kim Littlejohn, the national selection manager, said the contracted players were those likely to add the greatest value to the national side over the next year. Littlejohn and the NZC director of cricket John Buchanan were the men in charge of awarding contracts this year, with the outgoing coach John Wright not taking part in the process.As reported last month, Jesse Ryder did not have his contract renewed, and the other men who lost their existing deals were Hamish Bennett, who missed all of last season due to back surgery, Neil Broom, Andy McKay, Luke Woodcock and Reece Young. Michael Bates, Ronnie Hira, Graeme Aldridge, Brent Arnel, Colin de Grandhomme, Jeetan Patel and Tom Latham all played for New Zealand during the past year but did not win a contract.

New Zealand contracted players for 2012-13

Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Andrew Ellis, Daniel Flynn, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tarun Nethula, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Kruger van Wyk, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson

“We have five new contracted players and their addition reflects the strong performances they have put in over the past 12 months and the value they are expected to bring to the Black Caps this coming year,” Littlejohn said. “It’s an exciting time for the Black Caps with a number of important series in the 2012-13 season including the ICC World Twenty20 tournament.”We believe the contracted players will be integral to the success of the team in what will be a demanding period against highly ranked opposition. There were some difficult decisions and it’s disappointing for the players who did not have their contracts renewed. We are confident they will continue to work hard and look to force their way into the team through performance.”The players who missed out on national deals will now have to wait for major association contracts, which will be announced on July 22.

Pybus to confirm Bangladesh coaching role

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The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is all set to appoint Richard Pybus as the national head coach after a day of meetings and “fact-finding”. None of the other candidates who were shortlisted – Mick Newell and Mark Greatbatch – are due to be interviewed, and Pybus’ appointment is likely to be confirmed within a week.”There won’t be any more interviews, nobody else is coming. We want one person and I’m sure we will succeed,” BCB president AHM Mustafa Kamal said. “We have spoken to him [Pybus] and we are quite interested to get him. We can get a concrete decision from him in six to seven days.”After arriving late on Thursday night, Pybus spent time with Kamal at his residence. On Friday, he visited the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur to check out the facilities and meet some of the directors. In the evening, he met with some of the senior Bangladesh players in Dhaka. He is due to head back to Cape Town on Saturday afternoon.”This is nothing official nor is it an interview,” Pybus told reporters. “This is a fact-finding mission on my behalf and I am here to meet the president and the support staff. I want to make an informed decision and find out whether I can make a valid contribution.”It is about meeting people and finding a common ground. I have a family back in South Africa and I will go back and tell them whether it is feasible.”The living situation is the only hitch in an otherwise done deal as the BCB chief confirmed that there won’t be any more interviews or meetings with the other candidates.Pybus has seen Bangladesh up close a few times as Pakistan’s coach, most famously when Bangladesh upset Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup in a group game in Northampton. Before heading to Bangladesh, he spoke the wife of the late South Africa allrounder Eddie Barlow, who was Bangladesh’s coach after that World Cup.”Eddie Barlow was a friend of mine in South Africa and before he passed away, he spoke very highly about Bangladesh cricket,” Pybus said. “I spoke to his wife Cally last week and she only had good things to say about the people in Bangladesh.”Pybus will be coaching an international side for the first time since 2003. He was impressed with Bangladesh’s performance of late and said that he has a passion for the top job.”There is a lot of raw talent, and they have started to play some good cricket, build on the work done by Stuart [Law] and the support staff on the progress of the boys. It (Shere Bangla Stadium) is a wonderful, world-class stadium. It is nice to be here and nice to be in a country where the passion is incredible.”There’s never a shortage of hunger there. There’s always a challenge but it is about making a valid contribution. Those are the important things,” he said.Edited by Kanishkaa Balachandran

Surrey crush Somerset in final repeat

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ScorecardRory Hamilton-Brown’s hundred came off 87 balls and included 11 fours and two sixes•PA Photos

Surrey, the Clydesdale Bank 40 defending champions, opened their account with a convincing 105-run victory over Somerset in a replay of last season’s final. Led by captain Rory Hamilton-Brown, who set the tone with 101 off 89 balls, Surrey posted a daunting 295 for 6 before Stuart Meaker, Zafar Ansari and Gareth Batty, who each took three wickets, combined to dismiss Somerset for 190.With Vernon Philander resting a sore back, Alfonso Thomas on IPL duty and Steve Kirby ruled out with a thigh injury, Somerset’s attack contained four bowlers aged 20 or under, including 18-year old debutant Jamie Overton. That didn’t deter Somerset from bowling, having won the toss, but the Surrey openers took full advantage, laying the foundation for a sizeable total by racking up 163 in 23 overs.Hamilton-Brown was dropped at short mid-wicket on 13 and Steven Davies survived a caught-and-bowled chance on 39, off Craig Meschede. In the 15th over, Hamilton-Brown launched George Dockrell over long-on for six. In the next, he simultaneously brought up his half-century, off 53 balls, and the hundred stand.Davies posted a 45-ball half-century and Hamilton-Brown clubbed a second maximum off Dockrell. But the re-introduction of Peter Trego produced the wicket of Davies, who was bowled around his legs for 72.Hamilton-Brown moved to his second hundred in one-day cricket, from 87 deliveries, only to fall, moments later, to a catch on the straight boundary. Jason Roy was lbw attempting to reverse sweep Max Waller to make it 193 for 3 but then Tom Maynard and Zander de Bruyn flayed 63 in just eight overs.In reply, Somerset suffered the early setback of losing Craig Kieswetter, beaten for pace by Meaker, and Trego, who was caught and bowled by Jon Lewis. Nick Compton and James Hildreth combined for 48 in six overs before Hildreth danced down the wicket to Batty’s second ball to be stumped for 21.Compton moved to a 48-ball fifty in the 18th over before drilling a catch back to Ansari in the next. The 20-year-old slow left-armer struck again, when Arul Suppiah chopped on, and with Jos Buttler, attempting a reverse sweep, going caught behind off Batty for 29, the writing was on the wall.Meschede went for 20, seeking to lift Batty over long-off for a second successive six, before Waller was bowled around his legs by Ansari. Meaker then returned to dismiss Lewis Gregory and Dockrell and seal a thumping victory for Surrey.

Varadarajan takes USACA to court over elections

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Ram Varadarajan, presidential candidate for USA Cricket Association, is taking what he calls a “historic fight” to court on Thursday in a bid to overturn February’s decision by the USACA board of directors to ban 32 of its 47 member leagues from voting in their general elections. Varadarajan, along with the California Cricket Academy (CCA), filed a lawsuit last month in a bid to reinstate the voting rights of those leagues which were barred from voting.The case will be heard before U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California on April 12, just two days before the scheduled USACA elections. Varadarajan and CCA are seeking a preliminary injunction to force USACA to hold off elections until May 18 in order for banned leagues to be reinstated to ensure their participation. They are also asking the judge to force USACA to recognise regional election results from 2011 which were declared null and void by USACA president Gladstone Dainty last July.”Nobody can predict how a judge will rule,” Varadarajan told ESPNcricinfo when asked about his chances of gaining a judgment in his favour. “We believe that not only we have a solid case but also that we are on the side of righteousness and that we are morally correct.”He said that USACA board has committed a number of unconstitutional actions, the least of which is overstaying their designated three-year term by more than a year and that the recent actions taken by the board were the last straw to force him to pursue legal action.”It’s not that the US cricket population doesn’t feel outraged,” Varadarajan said. “They do feel outraged but the question is what is the remedy? So they write letters to editors, they write blogs, they send emails and things like that but the next step… you can shame a certain government into action but that clearly is not working here.””Regional elections were held and the results were withheld,” he said, making reference to last year’s Atlantic Region elections. “People took it all lying down. I think now I’m actually showing a path forward on how this can be remedied, by going to a court and seeking redress which is the right way to do it. The one organisation that they cannot ignore is a judge in a court of law.”Varadarajan said that he has written to the ICC regarding the current state of affairs in US cricket and that he received a response which said they were monitoring the situation. Although USACA has been suspended twice before by the ICC due to poor governance, he said that it should not be the fallback solution for internal problems within the US cricket administration.”My goal is not to have USACA suspended,” Varadarajan said. “My whole goal is to make sure that we follow a fair democratic process.”On March 30, 2011, USACA announced that general elections would take place on October 15. However, Dainty initiated a highly controversial member leagues compliance review audit in September as a means for determining which leagues were “members in good standing” and were eligible to vote versus those who were not. Varadarajan said that he has no problem with having an audit, but the timing was inappropriate and it should not have been used as a means to delay the elections.”There should be a process set up to clean house and do all those kinds of things but that has to be done as a regular administrative task and cannot be used as a mechanism, unless you are in some banana republic, to extend the government. That’s the whole issue here, extending tenure by illegal means and making it sound as though it’s very altruistic. It’s clever, but it’s not legal.”Varadarajan hopes that this case will be a turning point in the history of USACA and that a judgment in his favor will open the door to free and fair elections as well as pave the way to establish good governance.”This is a historic fight. I think the importance here is that at last somebody is standing up to bring goodness and fair play, which is what cricket is all about, to the game of cricket in America.”Varadarajan was appointed by USACA last April to serve on the board of directors for Cricket Holdings America (CHA), the joint entity between USACA and New Zealand Cricket, to pursue the formation of a professional Twenty20 league in the USA. However, he resigned from his position on the CHA board last month before initiating legal action against USACA.USACA general Manager Manaf Mohamed declined an opportunity to speak to ESPNcricinfo for this story. Dainty did not respond to attempts to reach him for comment.

Shaiman carries UAE home in close game

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ScorecardKyle Coetzer’s 73 went in vain•ICC

UAE won the second of their two ICC World Cricket League Championship matches against Scotland in Sharjah, chasing down a target of 206 in a close game. Scotland chose to bat and were steered by their opener, Kyle Coetzer, who made 73 from 106. Gordon Goudie and Fraser Watts also chipped in with cameos as Scotland finished with 205 for 9. Arshad Ali finished with the pick of the figures for UAE, taking 3 for 35 with his medium-pace.UAE’s innings followed a similar pattern, with No. 3 batsman Shaiman Anwar scoring 77 off 107. There were a couple of other cameos, but no one could really get going and Scotland struck regularly. Shaiman, though, remained unbeaten and did just enough to steer his side home, with two wickets and one ball to spare.Scotland batsman Watts received one suspension point for two breaches of the ICC’s Code of Conduct during the match, meaning he will miss his side’s opening match of the World Twenty20 Qualifiers against Kenya on Tuesday. Watts was charged with two offences relating to “using language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an International Match”, and “using inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players in the course of play during an international match”. The incident had occurred between Watts and UAE captain Khurram Khan. Khurram received a reprimand for his part in the episode.

Celebrate Warner's switch-hitting – David Hussey

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David Warner’s remarkable switch-hitting ability should be celebrated and not banned, according to his team-mate David Hussey. In the third over of Wednesday’s Twenty20 against India, the left-hander Warner changed his batting stance as R Ashwin was releasing a delivery, and he muscled an enormous six with a right-handed grip over what would have been deep extra cover.Under the laws of the game Warner’s move was perfectly legal, even though a bowler must tell the umpire if he is bowling with a different hand, or switching between over and around the wicket. Similarly, a fieldsman cannot deceive the batsman by significantly changing his position as the bowler runs in.Switch-hitting has been an issue in the past, when Kevin Pietersen mastered the stroke and said that he felt it was such a high-risk shot that bowlers were not disadvantaged. Hussey said Warner practised the shot regularly in the nets and that he could become a pioneer of the style, and there was no reason the stroke should not be allowed in Test cricket as well.”I think it’s innovative,” Hussey said. “Dave is a very classy player, he can bat right-handed or left-handed. It’s just a new invention of Twenty20 cricket and I think it definitely should be allowed. I think everything is snowballing from Twenty20 cricket. You see [Test] run-rates up to four or five an over now, so you never know, a switch hit in Test cricket, maybe to bring up a double-hundred in a day.”I think you can [adapt to it]. You see in baseball there are people who bat both sides of the plate so there’s no reason why you can’t do it in cricket. Davey is probably a pioneer. Hopefully a few of the younger kids coming through can work at those skills.”As opposed to the reverse-sweep, which is often played with the hands still in their starting position on the handle of the bat, Warner’s switch-hit involved a complete change of stance and hand position. When Ashwin ran in, Warner was a left-hand batsman, but as he released the ball, the batsman had become a right-hander.Aside from the issues of fairness to the bowler and fielders, the move raises questions over umpiring, and whether wides and lbws should be adjudicated based on the original stance or the new position when the shot was played. They are the sort of grey areas that could frustrate Warner’s opponents, and even Hussey conceded it was hard bowling to him.”Dave does it to me in the nets all the time and it’s frustrated me, so I beamed him,” Hussey said. “I tried to hit him in the head and it didn’t go down very well. We had a bit of a falling out for a couple of moments there.”Hussey said if he was bowling in a match and saw the batsman change position early enough, the best move would be to “aim at his toes so he can’t swing and get into his arc”.