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The former Test captain has been on leave from playing since stepping down last year

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff12-May-2022Tim Paine’s playing career appears over with the former Australia captain not given a fresh contract with Tasmania.Paine, who stepped down as Test captain in a texting-messaging controversy before last summer’s Ashes series, hasn’t been included in Tasmania’s list for the 2022-23 season.After taking time away from cricket after his captaincy resignation, Paine returned to the Tasmanian fold as an assistant coach late last season. But his playing career remained uncertain until the release of the Tigers squad on Thursday.Related

• 'He's got a bit more thinking to do..' – Ponting reveals Langer might be interested in coaching Hobart Hurricanes

• Tim Paine out of Ashes after taking indefinite break from the game

• Have we seen the last of Tim Paine on a cricket field?

• Paine involved in Tasmania coaching set-up

Paine, 37, is understood to be keen to remain involved in cricket in a coaching or development role, but his on-field career appears to have ended after 35 Tests and 147 first-class matches.His resignation as Test captain last year came when he was recuperating from neck surgery. He made one appearance for Tasmania’s 2nd XI before making himself unavailable for the Ashes and took an indefinite break from the game.Tasmania’s contract list remained largely stable with Billy Stanlake’s arrival from the Queensland the most significant move. Tim Ward, the promising opening batter, who was the team’s leading run-scorer last season with 552 at 39.42 signing a three-year deal. Peter Siddle will continue for one more season although has previously indicated it might be his last.Tasmania men’s contracts Tom Andrews, Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird, Iain Carlisle, Jake Doran, Nathan Ellis, Brad Hope, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Sam Rainbird, Peter Siddle, Jordan Silk, Billy Stanlake, Matthew Wade, Charlie Wakim, Tim Ward, Beau Webster, Mac Wright, Nick Davis (Rookie), Jarrod Freeman (Rookie), Mitch Owen (Rookie), Nivethan Radhakrishnan (Rookie)
In Nick Davis, Billy Stanlake | Out Tim Paine

A first-class batting of average of 55 and bowling average 21 – the Western Australia allrounder has the makings of an outstanding cricketer

Andrew McGlashan16-Dec-2020.What’s his career been like so far?In first-class cricket, outstanding. He has five centuries in 21 matches, including a career-best 197 earlier this season against New South Wales, the most recent of them was against the Indians last week – and he holds a batting average of 55.04. It was a game against Queensland at the Gabba in November 2019 where he showed what he could achieve with the bat, making 87 and 121 not out batting at Nos. 8 and 9. That was also the last game he bowled in for a year. With the ball (and more on that in a minute) he averages 21.72 for his 33 wickets which include 5 for 24 on his first-class debut against Tasmania, who he also took his career-best 6 for 30 against in 2018. His white-ball career doesn’t stand out quite so much, although he made his ODI debut a couple of weeks ago, however that’s from just a handful of matches – nine in both List A and T20. It is with the red (and pink) ball that he is getting everyone really excited at the moment.So there are some big expectations?You could say that. Greg Chappell has called him the “best since Ricky Ponting” in recent interviews and back in June (when there was no cricket) ESPNcricinfo put together the scenario of Australia playing both Tests and T20Is on the same day – which could happen next year – Chappell picked him at No. 6 in the Test side straightaway.”To me, Cameron Green is the next superstar of Australian cricket,” he said. “He is a genuine prospect with bat and ball, but I think his future is as a batsman who can offer some quality overs. Cameron is a batsman of rare talent. At 6ft 7in, he could become something very special. I would bat him at No. 6 to start with, but I reckon No. 4 is his long-term position. The sooner he gets to play at this level, the sooner he will become the player that he should be.”What about the recent injury scare?That looked a bad moment when he was struck on the side of the head by a drive from Jasprit Bumrah at the SCG. He immediately went off the field and was subbed out of the match with concussion and also went for scans which cleared him of any fracture. Fortunately, the blow has not done major damage (unlike Will Pucovski, Green doesn’t have a history of concussion) and it looks as though he will pass all the Cricket Australia protocols to be able to debut.So is he the allrounder Australia have dreamed of?Maybe, but with a bit of caution. That’s got nothing to do with the talent, but he has been on restricted bowling loads due to a back stress fracture he suffered last year. He has undergone some work on his action with the WA bowling coach Matt Mason and has so far been limited to four-over spells. This season he has not bowled more than eight overs in a day in match conditions. However, he’s still shown the knack of picking up wickets: he claimed two in the second innings against the Indians at Drummoyne Oval and produced a beauty to remove Shubman Gill before his injury at the SCG.Tim Paine also suggested the bowling restrictions will be loosened. “I’ll think he’ll bowl a few more than that, once you are selected in a Test match you are good to go. Having said that we don’t expect him to bowl a huge amount of overs with the attack we’ve got.”Has his debut come sooner than expected?In some ways, yes. In fact, just a matter of weeks ago it felt unlikely he would make the XI at the start of the series despite being named in the enlarged squad. The favoured route was that Australia would retain their traditional balance of six batsmen, a wicketkeeper and four bowlers. However, recently plans have been thrown into chaos due to injuries to Warner and Pucovksi which has led Australia to reshuffling the batting order (for one Test at least) and that has created the opening at No. 6. That is not to say Green is not deserving. On current form you could easily say he’s among the best six batsmen in Australia with Justin Langer and national selector Trevor Hohns having said he is worthy of selection for his batting alone.

Stand-in captain brings considerable influence to bear for Northants

Richard Hobson in Northampton17-Sep-2019Northamptonshire 217 (Rossington 82, Rushworth 5-68) and 235 for 6 (Levi 60, Rossington 52) lead Durham 131 (Sanderson 6-54) by 321 runsDavid Ripley provided a glowing reference for Adam Rossington in June when Northamptonshire announced that the wicketkeeper would assume temporary charge of the Championship side following the resignation of Alex Wakely as captain. Over the past two days, Rossington has confirmed why the head coach was so fulsome in his praise.Victory this week may not be quite enough for Northants to guarantee promotion to the first division, but it would eliminate Durham as fellow contenders should Gloucestershire beat Worcestershire at New Road. Just when clubs are looking for captains to lead by example, Rossington has brought considerable influence to bear.He has struck half-centuries of vastly different fashion in each innings and become his county’s leading run-scorer for the summer along the way. In between, he removed Ned Eckersley with a brilliant legside stumping when his opposite wicketkeeper was trying to coax the Durham tail towards a deficit of below 50 on first innings. If Northants did champagne moments, this would have been it.All is not yet lost for Durham because the sun has burnt off much of the green tinge on the pitch and they will have plenty of time to chase whatever the fourth-innings target. But some of the bounce has been variable, Scott Steel made the odd one turn and they will be following their second lowest first-innings total of the season, 131. Ben Sanderson and Brett Hutton were all over them.Sanderson has already reached 50 wickets for the third time in four seasons and he is on course for matching the 60 victims removed in 2018. Numbers four and five of the innings accrued to his third and sixth balls of the second day, but the swarthy and powerful Hutton was at least as dangerous and moved the ball just as consistently.Rossington was prepared to stand up to both, enabling the standout dismissal of the day. With Eckersley lifting his back foot when Hutton drifted down the leg side, Rossington performed the wicketkeepers’ equivalent of the Timewarp: two skips to the left and a sweep of the arm to the right, before hitting the stumps with a flourish. All it lacked was the pelvic thrust.It needed dexterity and hand-eye co-ordination. Posting a video recording of the dismissal on Twitter, Richard Vasconcelos, the injured Northants batsman/keeper, noted: “That’s four byes if I’m there.” There might have been a touch of modesty, but it is true that even a basic stop would have drawn applause. Hutton told team-mates it had all been a ploy; not all were convinced.From 42 for 6, Durham had recovered to within a run of the hundred thanks to Eckersley and Ben Raine, prompting Rossington to return to his frontline pair. After a cluster of wickets, Matt Salisbury and Chris Rushworth offered a few late blows, but the lead of 86 looked very handy indeed. Furthermore, Durham had fallen further behind Northants on bonus points for the game.They made the early breakthrough they needed when Rob Newton, handicapped by a hand injury sustained in the field on the first day, pushed only half-forward to Raine’s first ball. Rushworth threatened, as always, but without getting the edge. Meanwhile, some of Durham’s ground fielding was poor even allowing for the scrubbiness of the late-season square.Slip catches accounted for Ben Curran and Wakely in successive overs, and when Rob Keogh fell cheaply to give Salisbury a second wicket, Northants were effectively 151 for 4 and probably only just ahead. The next hour would be critical, but it was an hour that Northants won decisively thanks to the enterprise of Richard Levi and Rossington in adding 91 at nearly five an over.Both are in a shape best described as comfortable. No matter: they were hitting cricket balls, not auditioning for the Chippendales. In his third game of the season, Levi recorded his first half-century from 59 balls and proceeded to strike Salisbury beautifully for successive fours through extra cover. Rossington, who blitzed 60 from 22 balls during a mad period on Monday, played with more circumspection this time and reached his own fifty from 94 balls.”It was a challenge and there were one or two plays and misses, but we were good enough to put the four-ball away and relieve the pressure,” Levi said. “If you show intent you have a chance. When we went four-down, I think perhaps Durham sniffed something and searched for the next wicket a bit. ‘Rosso’ was very calming and we complement each other by scoring in different areas.”Levi fell to Rushworth’s first ball back, pulling to deep square leg to give the bowler a wicket he deserved, just not with one like that. Rossington’s technique served him well. He is still at the point of release and plays straight. Raine appeared to beat him for pace, but on a warm day, the attack was entitled to tire thereafter and Luke Procter added important runs before winding down towards close.

Tom Moores, batting with a runner, struck 27 off one over from Simon Harmer as his do-or-die innings turned the match in Nottinghamshire’s favour

ECB Reporters Network22-Jun-2018
ScorecardA hobbling Tom Moores, batting with a runner, launched a blitz of sixes in a whirlwind 87 that enabled Nottinghamshire to set a beleaguered Essex a near-impossible target of 441 in 131 overs. Notts had four Essex batsmen back in the pavilion by the close.Moores, the 21-year-old son of head coach Peter, took a particular shine to Essex spinner Simon Harmer, who he deposited all around Chelmsford in an over that went for 27. In all, Moores hit seven fours and seven sixes in an 80-ball knock, and was the only contributor to a last-wicket stand of 58 from 52 balls with Harry Gurney, who was not out nought from 13 balls.With a series of pulls, straight drives, many lofted, and unorthodox shots out of the one-day repertoire, Moores followed up his maiden century in the last Specsavers County Championship match, at Taunton. He recorded his second highest first-class score despite turning his right ankle during wicketkeeping drills before the start of the third day.Notts assistant head coach Paul Franks said: “We’re not sure at the moment how serious it is. But we could see that he was in a bit of discomfort and would not be able to run between the wickets. He is in a bit of pain but these things can settle down overnight. He’s had a fantastic season and really made his mark on the team. He’s had to follow in some big footsteps.”He has a good range of shots, and sometimes it looks like he doesn’t always use them. But his ball-striking was outstanding and he managed the situation really well. Sometimes when you have a runner, batting with tail-enders chaos can ensue. But he handled it well.”Essex had agreed at lunchtime that Moores could bat with a runner, and Jake Libby duly walked out alongside him at the fall of the seventh wicket on 143. His efforts almost doubled Notts’ score and put the game far beyond Essex’s reach. Moores did not appear behind the stumps later with Riki Wessels taking the gloves briefly before young 2nd XI player Tom Keast arrived from Trent Bridge.Essex’s chase got off to the worse possible start as their top-order folded again. Alastair Cook went lbw in the second over without scoring, playing back to a ball from Matt Milnes that kept low, and Varun Chopra’s middle stump was knocked out of the ground in Milnes’s next over. To compound that, stand-in captain Tom Westley was beaten by one from Luke Fletcher that nipped back and struck off-stump.It was Cook’s second duck in nine innings for the county this summer, Westley’s fifth single-figure score in 11, while Chopra has totalled just 92 from eight Championship outings.Dan Lawrence and Ravi Bopara set about trying to save the game in the early evening, and their patient partnership reached 55 in 20 overs when Lawrence was caught and bowled by Samit Patel.But the day belonged to Moores. At the start of his innings, he was struck firmly on the boot by Neil Wagner. It did not discomfort Moores in the least as he was soon pulling Harmer for four and sweep-swiping his first six from the following ball. He went down on one knee to cart Jamie Porter over midwicket for his second six.But it was the return of Harmer, who went for 78 from his 15 overs, that sparked the fireworks. The first ball was thumped over long-off for six to reach a 63-ball fifty. The next was driven for a one-bounce boundary, followed by a swept four. There were further sixes, one on to the press-box roof and another to long-leg, before the over was completed with a single into the deep.Moores’s sixth six brought up the fifty partnership for the last wicket, and he added a second in the only over of the match bowled by Ravi Bopara. Moores finally departed, edging Porter behind.The day had not started so promising for Notts when they lost nightwatchman Milnes without addition. Patel pushed forward to Coles and sent Adam Wheater tumbling to his right to take the catch low down. Ross Taylor, centurion in the first innings, lasted just seven balls second time around, bowled trying to cut.Libby perished on 51 as Wagner found some exaggerated movement off the pitch. Switching around the wicket, the New Zealand pace bowler slanted one in to remove leg-stump.Wagner added his second straight after lunch when he got one to climb and take the edge of Wessels’s bat. Billy Root had just reverse-swept Harmer for four to reach 29 when he popped the next ball into Cook’s hands at third slip. But the Tom Moores show was about to begin.

The long-serving SCG curator Tom Parker will step down later this year, just a few months before Australia’s home Ashes series

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jun-2017The long-serving SCG curator Tom Parker will step down later this year, just a few months before Australia’s home Ashes series.Parker has spent 20 years in charge of the SCG pitch and turf, and will be joined in his exit by Allianz Stadium curator Michael Finch, with the SCG Trust planning to bring both the cricket and soccer venues together under one team of groundstaff.”It’s been a privilege to work at this magnificent ground,” Parker said. “There are certainly some special moments that I’ll look back on in coming years but the opportunity to call the SCG home for the past two decades is what I’m most proud of.”SCG Trust chairman Tony Shepherd said: “Tom has been a key figure in the ground’s history and has played a huge part in its success over the years. On behalf of my fellow Trustees I would like to thank him, both professionally and personally, for the commitment he has shown to the SCG.”Despite Parker’s achievements over the past two decades, he did face criticism in 2015, when a Sheffield Shield match at the SCG was abandoned due to what was deemed an unsafe outfield. After several players slipped over, the match officials decided to abandon the match, a decision that neither Parker nor the SCG Trust believed was necessary.

Mumbai Indians have signed Jerome Taylor as a replacement for the injured Lasith Malinga for the remainder of IPL 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Apr-20162:18

Jerome Taylor joins Mumbai Indians’ set-up

Mumbai Indians have signed West Indies pacer Jerome Taylor as a replacement for the injured Lasith Malinga for the remainder of IPL 2016. Taylor trained with Mumbai on Wednesday, and will be available for selection for their game against Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday.A knee injury has kept Malinga out of action since February this year; he last played competitive cricket in the Asia Cup and missed out on the subsequent World T20. His participation in the IPL was always doubtful, but Mumbai had decided to wait until their first five matches were completed to give him time to recover before looking for a replacement. The highest wicket-taker across IPL seasons, Malinga was eventually ruled out of the 2016 tournament on April 17.Taylor has been involved in the IPL in the past, as part of Kings XI Punjab and the now defunct Pune Warriors. While he didn’t get to play a match during his time with Kings XI, Taylor represented Pune Warriors in five matches in the 2011 tournament, taking six wickets at an economy rate of 8.05. Overall, in 61 T20s, Taylor has 74 wickets at an average of 23.18, having conceded 7.81 runs to the over. He was part of West Indies’ squad for the 2016 World T20, but played only one game where he went wicketless.

A century from opener Ruvindu Gunasekera, complemented by a fine bowling performance by medium-pacer Jeremy Gordon, helped Canada stroll to an eight-wicket win over Netherlands in just over two days in King City.

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Aug-2013
ScorecardJimmy Hansra (right) and Ruvindu Gunasekera shared a sixth-wicket stand of 87 runs•Eddie Norfolk

A century from opener Ruvindu Gunasekera, complemented by a fine bowling performance from medium-pacer Jeremy Gordon, helped Canada stroll to an eight-wicket win over Netherlands in King City.Netherlands, put in to bat, had a slow start, losing both openers Michael Swart and Michael Rippon to the seamers Gordon and Cecil Pervez within 14 overs. Eric Szwarczynski, batting at No. 3, revived the innings with a brisk 57 off 72 deliveries. He smashed 10 fours and added 82 for the third wicket with Tim Gruijters, as Netherlands stabilised.Pervez, brought back into the attack, got the breakthrough for Canada, trapping Szwarczynski lbw in the 35th over. His wicket triggered a collapse, as the visitors, unable to deal with Canada’s pacers, lost the last eight wickets for 32 runs. Raza-ur-Rehman, took four of those wickets, conceding eight runs off 8.3 overs. Gordon also took four wickets, including three in successive overs, as the pair bowled out Netherlands for 164.Gunasekera led Canada’s first innings, hitting 21 fours and two sixes during his 173-ball 150 to take Canada to 436. He put up crucial stands of 73, 112 and 87 for the fourth, fifth and sixth wickets with Ashish Bagai, Salman Nazar and Jimmy Hansra respectively as Canada established a lead of 272. Netherlands medium-pacer Vivian Kingma struck three early blows but the visitors found things difficult once Canada’s batsmen had settled down.Facing a vast deficit, Netherlands had another shaky start as Gordon and Harvir Baidwan dismissed Swart and Rippon in the first three overs. Gordon, who finished the match with figures of 8 for 149, then dismissed Gruijters to leave Netherlands at a precarious 45 for 3.Szwarczynski, however, counter-attacked with 85, and was involved in a 99-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Daan Van Bunge, who made 54. Szwarczynski eventually edged a delivery from Gordon back to the wicketkeeper Bagai, but the visitors showed more mettle and resistance in the second innings, as Wesley Barresi, Tom Heggelman and Pieter Seelaar all made useful contributions.Seelar led the lower-order resistance with an unbeaten 75 as Netherlands managed to wipe out the deficit but failed to open up a big enough lead, before being dismissed for 336. Pacer Harvir Baidwan complemented Gordon’s effort, finishing with a four-wicket haul in the second innings.Canada took 43 balls to reach the 65-run target, led by a 24-ball 44 from Gunasekera. The win took Canada up to fifth in the Intercontinental Cup table, one point ahead of Kenya, while Netherlands finished last.

Preview of the second one-day international between England and South Africa at West End

The Preview by Alan Gardner27-Aug-2012

Match Facts

August 28, West End
Start time 1pm (1200GMT)Alastair Cook has enjoyed a vastly successful 2012 as England’s ODI captain•Getty Images

The Big Picture

Persistent rainfall in Cardiff limited the action to just 33 legitimate deliveries in the first ODI, as England retained their No. 1 ranking by virtue of a no-result. In that short window, however, Ian Bell managed to hit Morne Morkel for sixes over midwicket and long-off, racing to one of the most classy (if pointless) 26 not outs you’re likely to see. He only faced 18 deliveries in the mid-afternoon murk but it was enough to re-emphasise why England are happy with their post-Kevin Pietersen one-day set-up.The proposition remains the same for the second match of the series, with a win for South Africa enough to depose England at the top of the rankings. Conceivably, the No. 1 tag could be handed back and forth in Chuckle Brothers style (“To me, to you”) over the course of the next week and a bit, though England may hope that a return to the sort of damp, overcast conditions that provided the backdrop to their 4-0 win over Australia will aid their pursuit of a fourth consecutive ODI series victory in 2012.Under AB de Villiers, South Africa have won six from eight ODIs, beating Sri Lanka 3-2 at home (losing only the two dead games) and then claiming a 3-0 whitewash in New Zealand. Few of the current squad have played at Hampshire’s West End ground before, though they did manage a visit to nearby St Mary’s for Southampton’s Premier League match against Wigan at the weekend and may take inspiration from the visitors’ 2-0 victory. At the very least, their warm-up games of football should show some improvement.

Form guide

(Most recent first, completed matches)
England WWWWW
South Africa WWWLL

Watch out for…

Steven Finn has taken 23 ODI wickets at 15.91 in 2012, at a better strike-rate than any other bowler in the world with ten or more dismissals to their name. His fiery spell on day four of the third Test evoked the consistent hostility of Finn’s recent one-day bowling, which appears to have improved his discipline and economy. A comparison with Lonwabo Tsotsobe, the only fast bowler currently ranked above him, should be interesting.There are few bigger holes to fill in world cricket than that left by the rested Jacques Kallis. Dean Elgar made his South Africa debut in the first ODI, though it was limited to trudging around a wet outfield, and the 25-year-old should have a more extended chance to impress while filling in for Kallis at No. 3 this time around. Elgar won the domestic one-day cricketer of the year award in 2011-12 and his slow left-arm spin could come in useful if the pitch offers turn.

Team news

Despite Jonny Bairstow’s T20 pyrotechnics, England seem unlikely to ditch Ravi Bopara, who returned to the side at Cardiff after time off for personal issues. Bopara’s form is a question mark, however, and he was released to get some batting practice for Essex in the CB40 today. Samit Patel may return at the expense of Chris Woakes if England want a second spin option.England (possible) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Ian Bell, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Ravi Bopara, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 7 Samit Patel/Chris Woakes, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven FinnAlbie Morkel and Dale Steyn missed out on the brief skirmish at Cardiff due to minor injuries and neither is expected to play on Tuesday, though both should be fit for World Twenty20. South Africa could call on Imran Tahir after more than a year out of the one-day side.South Africa (possible) 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Dean Elgar, 4 AB de Villiers (capt & wk), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Ryan McLaren, 9 Wayne Parnell, 8 Robin Petersen, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Pitch and conditions

On Twenty20 Finals Day in Cardiff, where the first ODI was rained off 24 hours earlier, Hampshire were presented with a familiar slow, low surface on which they duly prevailed. A similar track is perhaps to be expected at West End, though England made 288 against West Indies at the ground earlier this summer and with a bright, clear forecast, batsmen shouldn’t fare too badly. De Villiers has consulted Hampshire’s former South Africa international Neil McKenzie and he advised the touring party to expect the pitch to spin.

Stats and trivia

• South Africa have played only once at the Rose Bowl, as it was then called, in 2003 against Zimbabwe – a match they won by seven wickets, with Graeme Smith scoring 69.
• Ian Bell has made his two ODI hundreds – both scores of 126 – at the ground.
• AB de Villiers currently averages 158.33 as captain/wicketkeeper of South Africa’s ODI side.
• As on Friday, if South Africa win this match they will become the first team to hold the No. 1 position in all three formats.

Quotes

“The guys who have come in and replaced him have done particularly well. Whoever has stepped up has done really, really well.”
“David has a bright future ahead of him and I look forward to playing with him one day, but we have just got quite a lot [of destructive batsman].”

Australia have more players in need of match practice than they can fit into the team for the tour match against a Sri Lankan Board XI, and the only certainty is that Phil Hughes will open

Daniel Brettig in Colombo24-Aug-2011Australia’s captain Michael Clarke is certain that Phil Hughes will open the batting in the three-day tour match against a Sri Lankan Board XI at Colombo’s P Sara Stadium from Thursday. Beyond that things get rather tricky.Because the match has been bestowed first-class status, the tourists may only pick 11 players, when they have more, particularly in the bowling department, in need of match practice. Apart from Mitchell Johnson and James Pattinson who were in the ODI team, each of Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Trent Copeland, Nathan Lyon and Michael Beer are yet to play on tour.Compounding the headache is that Clarke and the tour selectors Greg Chappell and Tim Nielsen are far from certain about the composition of their best XI for Galle, where the conditions are likely to assist spinners. However they are uncertain whether it would be assistance enough to have Australia play multiple specialist spinners for the first time since Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill – plus Dan Cullen in one Test – on the 2006 tour of Bangladesh.Shaun Marsh is expected to be given first look at the No. 6 batting spot, but his rival Usman Khawaja may find himself at the top of the order if it is decided to rest Shane Watson after his limited overs exertions.”I can say Hughesy will open the batting for us and then it would be between Usman [Khawaja] and Marshy to bat No. 6 I would say,” Clarke said. “Then we’ve got to work out do we pick two spinners, do we pick three quicks. Conditions in Galle will determine that one and it’s a hard one for selection for tomorrow as well, are we sure which three quicks, do we go for the three who we think are going to play, is it our best attack? There’s a lot of questions we need to answer.”Rain sent the Australians scurrying indoors for practice on match eve, and it was in this environment that Clarke got his first genuine sight of the offspinner Lyon’s bowling. It is thought that Lyon may be better prepared to adapt to Sri Lankan climes than his nominally senior spin partner Michael Beer, given how elastically Lyon has adapted to the different tactical demands of Twenty20, one-dayers and first-class cricket.”They’ve obviously played a bit of cricket in Zimbabwe which I think helped, they got some overs under their belts in pretty slow, turning conditions as well,” Clarke said of the pair. “They’ve been training hard since they got here and Tim’s been at every training session, Greg’s been at every training session, so if we pick two spinners tomorrow they get that opportunity, and if we only pick one it comes down to their preparation leading in, what they did in Zimbabwe.”Clarke denied that the choice of a single spinner for Colombo would dictate who played in Galle, as the amount of turn available would be the final arbiter on the number of spinners required.”We still have net preparation that is important, but I still think you need to go on conditions once you get to Galle,” he said. “It’s hard because you can only fit 11 in [for the tour match], so do we think we’re going to play three quicks or two spinners. If I look at the one-dayers, Steve Smith, Xavier Doherty and Dave Hussey played a big part in our success, but I think our fast bowlers statistically got the most wickets, so we need to work out what is the right combination as a bowling unit in the conditions.”Australia’s preparations have been punctuated by the release of the Argus review, and Clarke reiterated his happiness with how the team had taken on his message that the size of the distraction was dictated by the players themselves.”The one point I’ve tried to push is that in this business everybody has a job to do, and our job as players is to prepare well and perform well on the field,” Clarke said. “The other stuff, the administration, the selectors, all the other stuff that goes with our game which is very important, all of that will be taken care of and is out of our control really, so the size of the distraction is determined by us. If we make it a big distraction then it could affect the team.”But so far on tour, nobody has [made it a big distraction]. We know what we’re here to do, we know how important this tour is, and I was stoked the way we won that fourth one-day game of the series, I think it showed a lot of character. What I see in the review is we’re trying to make people accountable, we’re trying to have measures of performance and trying to make people accountable.”For us right now the players are accountable to our performances throughout this tour, the one-day tour we knew it was going to be tough cricket and we performed pretty well in quite different and tough conditions. The Test tour’s the same, we’re ranked 5th in Test cricket, so we need to improve. From the first camp we had up in Brisbane at the Centre of Excellence I think our preparation is outstanding. It’s easy to say ‘we’re going to wake up every day and try to get better’, but I know we have.”

India have been fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during their defeat to Sri Lanka in the tri-series final in Dambulla on Saturday

Cricinfo staff29-Aug-2010India have been fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during their defeat to Sri Lanka in the tri-series final in Dambulla on Saturday. The match referee, Alan Hurst, found the team to be two overs short of its target at the end of the Sri Lankan innings after taking the time allowances into consideration.The captain MS Dhoni was fined 40% of his match fee while the remaining players were docked 20% each. Batting first, Sri Lanka compiled 299, with big contributions from Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara. India, in reply, managed 225.Last December, Dhoni was slapped with a more severe penalty for a slow over-rate, when he was banned for two ODIs during Sri Lanka’s tour of India. He was found guilty during the Nagpur ODI and Virender Sehwag led the side in his absence. Back then, India were three overs short, which came under the “serious over-rate offence” category. Falling short by up to two overs in an ODI, and five in a Test day, is considered a “minor offence”, and merits a ban only if the offence is repeated twice in 12 months.