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The ECB has privately indicated that it has retreated from proposals to downgrade the 18 county academies in favour of creating “regional training hubs as opposed to county programmes” as part of a plan to “define a new pathway for English cricket”.ESPNcricinfo revealed last month that independent consultants had concluded in a confidential report, commissioned by the ECB, that the much-vaunted eight-team T20 tournament could “impact on the future structure” of the professional game in England and urged the ECB to take the chance to “reorganise the geographical structure of county cricket”.The revelations caused immediate disquiet within several counties as they prepared for a meeting at Lord’s on March 27 which will further examine plans for the new T20 tournament. If given the go ahead, the tournament will have major ramifications for the professional game in England and Wales.When the potential implications of the independent report became clear, Andrew Strauss, England’s director of cricket, was forced to undertake a ring round of the counties to assure them that the ECB had no intention of adopting it in its most radical form.Strauss gave private assurances that the 18 county academies will remain the chief pathway for professional cricket in England – and that there would be no attempt to drain county academies of revenue to concentrate coaching resources upon the regional hubs that will stage the envisaged new T20 tournament.There is appetite for some change, however. The ECB will advocate a limited centralisation of services, with counties encouraged to share support that, for financial reasons, might not otherwise be available to them, such as specialist coaches, psychologists or expensive technology.One recommendation of the report has been implemented already, with the appointment of Alun Powell to the new position of national talent development manager. Powell will join from the RFU and work alongside Andy Flower and Andy Hurry – the Lions and U-19 coaches – to identify and develop players below international level.It remains to be seen whether the counties will be appeased by Strauss’ intervention. Throughout the process towards an eight-team T20 tournament, many have sought to suppress the underlying fear that in the medium term they might be signing their own death warrant.The details of how such an arrangement might work – and which grounds might host such facilities – remain in their infancy. The ECB has yet to comment openly upon the plans.

Victoria will enter the Sheffield Shield final against South Australia with James Pattinson bowling as well as he ever has in his career, according to senior batsman Aaron Finch. Pattinson destroyed Queensland by claiming 5 for 7 in the second innings of Victoria’s final regular game last week, and had also run through Western Australia with a five-wicket haul in Alice Springs in the previous round.Pattinson had been out of action due to injury for nearly a year when he returned for the BBL and the second half of the Shield summer, and he has spoken of his desire to get through the Shield season before being considered for national selection. Finch said Pattinson was bowling as well as he had in his career, though scarily for opponents he appeared to still be bowling within himself.”When he gets his tail up and the ball is shifting in the air slightly, it’s a different ball game,” Finch said. “He’s someone who has obviously got pace. I think it took a couple of games for him to find his rhythm back again. I think he was, probably by his own admission, a little bit off the mark in his first couple of Shield games back.”But that second-innings spell against WA up in Alice – to knock them over when they were starting to build a nice lead, was unbelievable. Then he kept that going in Brisbane. He looks like he’s bowling within himself, but still fast and with a lot of control. He’s obviously very passionate and when he gets his tail up, he can be hard to stop.”I don’t know if I have seen him bowl better than this at the moment. I think that he is really comfortable where his action is at and where his body is at. Not being a fast bowler, I can’t imagine the mental toughness that it takes to get through injury after injury, doing all your rehab, getting back, then being back in the gym doing your rehab again. He’s just really comfortable with where his game is at.”Pattinson could be a key factor in Victoria’s push to win a third consecutive Sheffield Shield title, a hat-trick that New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia have all achieved but the Bushrangers have not. The final against the Redbcaks begins on Sunday at Traeger Park in Alice Springs, which has become a second home for Victoria in recent years due to the unavailability of the MCG due to AFL season.”I think the wicket up in Alice is reasonably slow by nature,” Finch said. “I don’t think that good players are generally worried by pace, they’re more worried by movement. If you can move the ball at 135, it’s a lot tougher to face than someone who doesn’t swing it at 145. But he [Pattinson] has got all the attributes at the moment to knock over a side.”The great thing about us at the moment is we’ve got guys bowling beautifully around him. Chris Tremain is in great form, Scott Boland came in in the last game and had a real impact when he got the ball in his hand. Along with Jon Holland … it’s a nice balanced attack we’ve got at the moment.”The boys love it up there. A couple of weeks ago was my first time playing up there. It’s a great ground, it’s great facilities. The way that the town up there welcomes us is fantastic. I think we’ve played five games over the last two and a bit years. It’s a place the boys love playing. It suits our style of play.”

South Africa face a dilemma over the workload on Kagiso Rabada early in a year crammed with commitments for the young fast bowler.Rabada, who took 2 for 31 in Hamilton, missed the match in Christchurch due to a slight problem with his left knee, but had an extensive bowl at the Basin Reserve on Friday with the knee taped. He has been carefully managed in the early days of this tour, also sitting out the T20 at Eden Park, having played all five matches the preceding one-day series against Sri Lanka.There will be a significant number of overs for Rabada in the months ahead. After this one-day series there are three Tests against New Zealand, followed a by the IPL for which Rabada landed a INR 5 crore (USD 750,000 approx) deal with Delhi Daredevils. Then comes the Champions Trophy and a marquee four-Test series against England. Throwing further ahead, South Africa’s 2017-18 home season will their busiest ever.If South Africa had managed to haul themselves over the line at Hagley Oval there is a decent chance Rabada would have been wrapped in cotton wool for the remainder of the one-day series. That could still be the case, with South Africa keen to assess their other bowling options before the Champions Trophy, but his cutting edge would be missed.”He has been stalwart for us for a while now,” JP Duminy said. “He has been our main strike bowler in most formats and it’s always a great strength for us to have him in our attack. It will be good to see him back.”In 2016, Rabada sent down almost two hundred overs more than any other South Africa bowler across all formats – 431.3 overs, with Kyle Abbott next on 239.1 – and made the joint-most appearances with 32 alongside Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis.South Africa also have to meet quota targets over a season which includes an average of two Black African players in an XI. Rabada and Andile Phehlukwayo are part of the one-day squad, while Temba Bavuma will be alongside Rabada in the Test side.Although Rabada’s return would strengthen South Africa’s attack, they have pinpointed the batting – and a failure of anyone to play a major innings – as the reason they could not chase down 290 in Christchurch. The top six all reached double figures, but de Kock’s 57 was the top score and he fell to an ill-judged leg-side heave.Dwaine Pretorius, at No. 7, almost turned the game with his 27-ball 50 and with Phehlukwayo down at No. 10 there was enviable depth to the order, but Duminy said that does not always translate into success.”It can sometimes be a bad thing. Even though we bat deep it doesn’t mean the top order shouldn’t take responsibility. It’s a great thing to have but there’s still a lot of responsibility from the top six or seven to make sure we put in those performances for the team.”However, he was not overly concerned about South Africa’s first reversal in 13 ODIs and suggested it was a timely reminder of the level of performance they need to achieve.”It was kind of inevitable at some point we’d lose a game. It’s something we have spoken about, that it doesn’t put us in any different situation in terms of where we’re trying to go as a team, our preparation and our goals. We’re trying to work towards the Champions Trophy and it’s probably a good thing to go through a few losses along the way to bring us back down to earth and understand there are certain things we still have to improve on.”

In the aftermath of Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw taking Kolpak deals, Test captain Faf du Plessis has asked his country’s cricket administrators to act quickly to prevent more players from leaving. The pair have joined Stiaan van Zyl, Hardus Viljoen and Simon Harmer – all of whom have been capped in the last two seasons – in effectively ending their international careers and du Plessis does not want to see more talent lost.”It’s a red flag and we have to address it. It’s important that we look at how we can learn from this and make sure that this isn’t something that two years from now, has meant we’ve lost 10 or 15 players and we say, ‘oopsie’, du Plessis said. “We need to make sure we get better at it. There’s too much talent in South Africa to lose guys like that.”Du Plessis identified three general reasons for players packing up and placed Abbott’s somewhere in the midst of those but hoped Cricket South Africa (CSA) will take all of them seriously. “Opportunity, money, transformation – there’s a lot of things that different guys will look at as their excuse or their reason for going overseas. Every single reason that is causing players to leave is a concern and we need to look at every single one of them,” du Plessis said.”I can tell you directly that’s not Kyle’s reason for leaving. We’ve spoken about it and it’s more the point of view of security and what the future holds. He’s someone who has been not sure [of playing] for a very long time. Possibly inside he just wants to be sure. We know Kyle and we respect him for what he’s done for us as a team, and I respect his decision. I don’t agree with it but I respect it.”From a financial perspective, Haroon Lorgat, the CSA chief executive, admitted that their “declining currency” makes it difficult to retain talent and they cannot simply throw more money at the problem. CSA has substantial cash reserves but they would set a dangerous precedent that would encourage more players to seek deals overseas as bargaining chipsLorgat made it clear that if he had been able to engage with Abbott on the issue, it would not have been with chequebook in hand. “It’s not cash, cash and cash. It’s pride, career, conversations. It’s the investment that we make in them holistically,” Lorgat said. “Right now we have got some world-class stars who are not here because we pay them substantial rands. They want to represent their country and they earn a comfortable living out of playing for the Proteas.”They are amongst the top 5% of earners in the country, and they get that income supplemented by some of the other leagues that they play. We are also in the process of launching our own domestic league which we think will make a difference.”Lorgat pointed to the medical costs CSA had to bear for Rossouw’s injuries – a stress fracture of the foot and a dislocated shoulder are among them – as well as the fact that CSA do not schedule cricket during the IPL, to allow players to make themselves available for the entire duration of the tournament and the resultant disappointment when players turn their backs on the system. “We invest huge sums of money in every individual. Sadly there’s no return for us in the years to come.”Russell Domingo: ‘There are obviously issues that players haven’t been sincere’•Getty Images

Russell Domingo, the head coach, echoed the disappointment but more from a cricketing perspective. For Domingo, having players in the set-up who are only intending on leaving derails his plans.”There are obviously issues that players haven’t been sincere about because I’ve been picking guys and they’ve known that they’re done, which sets me back and our team back massively,” he said. “It’s a massive concern because as soon as we give a young player a Test cap, they can go and sign a Kolpak. So if Kagiso Rabada breaks a finger tomorrow and I ask Duanne Olivier to come and play a Test match, but bear in mind that Kagiso is coming back straight afterwards because he’s one of the best bowlers in the world, Duanne might say, ‘Well stuff that, when am I going to play again? I’m going to go and sign a Kolpak.’ Those are the type of challenges we’re sitting with.”That suggests what players want are guarantees and neither South Africa, nor any other team, can give them that although Domingo wondered whether longer contracts for younger players may help. “Guys like Kagiso and Quinton de Kock who we would love to contract for 10 years, or five years, maybe that’s what the board has got to decide.”For now, South Africa will concentrate on counting the other factors du Plessis mentioned -opportunity and transformation – in the hope players can feel more secure.The six franchises only allow for around 90 professional contracts and the ongoing domestic review is currently considering expanding that to eight teams, which would allow for another 30 contracts. They are also relooking at the composition of those franchises by limiting the number of Kolpak returnees who can play in South African domestic cricket during the English off-season. “We cannot have places that are being used up by professionals that will not avail themselves to the Proteas. We need to keep those spots open for those South Africans who want to play for the Proteas,” Lorgat said.Even if there are limits on the likes of van Zyl, Harmer, Viljoen, Colin Ingram and Rory Kleinveldt (all of whom have gone Kolpak and play in the South African domestic competition), there is still the issue of transformation which regulates how franchises balance their sides. Each starting XI is required to have six players of colour including three black Africans which leaves five spots for white players. CSA has also extended targets to the national team – six players of colour, including two black Africans – although those are applied over a seasonal average.CSA’s commitment to change remains aggressive and Lorgat stressed that he did not believe it was driving players away. “I haven’t received from any player in the national setup, feedback that they are concerned they won’t get selected because of transformation targets. In fact we’ve openly said consistently that they are the best XI on the field, and so it was in the past,” he said.That transformation would be blamed for an exodus was expected, but it is a policy South Africa cannot run away from. The sports minister has impressed on them that unless they act on the issue, they will remain banned from hosting major tournaments. At the same time, they need to be able to give players incentives to stay because as deep as the talent pool has proved, du Plessis wants the administrators to act before it runs dry. “It’s too important and too valuable to sit back and say whatever happens, happens and there’ll be enough players to fill the gaps. That’s not good enough.”

Scorecard Colin Ingram struck a half-century to lead the Warriors to victory (file photo)•Getty Images

Colin Ingram’s unbeaten 56 saw the Warriors qualify for their first T20 final in five seasons since the 2011-12 summer. The Warriors finished second in the league phase and beat the third-placed Lions in a playoff on a slow Port Elizabeth pitch to set up a meeting with the table-topping Titans on Friday.The home side had their bowlers to thank for setting up a straightforward chase after the Lions squandered a strong start. They slipped from 77 for 2 at the halfway stage to add just 59 runs in the last 10 overs, in which they also lost four wickets for 10 runs. None of the Lions batsmen scored more than 32 runs.Rassie van der Dussen and Reeza Hendricks put on 30 in the first three overs but Kyle Abbott pulled them back with a strangling second over which exposed the Lions’ batsmen. They played as though they were at altitude but the big hits did not get over the boundary. Van der Dussen swung and missed, Temba Bavuma and Hendricks swung and holed out and it was up to the middle order to post a competitive total.Mangaliso Mosehle looked likeliest to anchor the second-half of the innings but was bowled by Jon-Jon Smuts and that sparked the collapse. Nicky van den Burgh went back to an Ingram delivery and missed the cut shot while Wiaan Mulder and Hardus Viljoen were dismissed in the space of three balls in the penultimate over to leave the Lions well short of a winning total.Warriors paced their chase well and even though they lost Smuts in the third over and Clyde Fortuin as the Powerplay came to an end, they were in a strong position at 48 for 2. Ingram had only faced nine balls at that stage and was content to rotate strike and let his team-mates attack while he settled in.None of the Lions’ attack was able to maintain the control needed to put pressure on the Warriors and Ingram bided his time until he was joined by Christiaan Jonker. With the right mix of aggression and caution, the pair put on 78 runs off 64 balls and eased the Warriors to victory with 10 balls to spare. Ingram’s fifty came off 43 balls and was his third of the tournament. Smuts continued to lead the run charts, 14 ahead of Farhaan Behardien, who he will go head-to-head against in the final.

Group C

Ashutosh Singh stood out with 140 on first-class debut as Chhattisgarh consolidated their position with a 137-run lead at stumps against Tripura in Ranchi.The overnight batsmen – Ashutosh and Mohammad Kaif – extended their partnership to 62, before seamer Abhijit Dey removed Kaif for 27. Dey then dismissed Ajay Mandal for 5 and reduced Chhattisgarh to 124 for 5 en route to career-best figures of 4 for 26.Ashutosh, however, held the innings together. He struck 16 boundaries and a six and took his team to 255, before he was the last man dismissed. Dey was supported by Rana Dutta, who claimed 3 for 39. Tripura closed the day at 10 for 0.Opener Akshath Reddy’s 11th first-class ton gave Hyderabad the first-innings advantage against Goa in Nagpur. In reply to Goa’s 164, Hyderabad progressed to 188 for 4 at stumps on the second day. Reddy was unbeaten on 105 with Bavanaka Sandeep for company.Having started the day at 28 for 1, Hyderabad lost Vishal Sharma to seamer Rituraj Singh for the addition for just five runs. Rituraj struck again when he dismissed B Anirudh for 5 to leave Hyderabad at 49 for 3 in the 20th over.Reddy and captain S Badrinath, who was playing at his former home ground, put on 90 runs for the fourth wicket to revive their team’s hopes. Left-arm spinner Darshan Misal broke the partnereship when he had Badrinath stumped for 41, but Reddy and Sandeep pushed Hyderabad towards 200.Haryana dismissed Services for 197 and then sliced 117 runs off the deficit for the loss of three wickets at Bradbourne Stadium in Mumbai.After Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Rajat Paliwal shared most of the wickets, opener Shubham Rohilla drove Haryana with an unbeaten half-century. He added 52 runs for the first wicket with Nitin Saini before debutant left-arm spinner Vikas Yadav struck to remove Saini (25) and Chaitanya Bishnoi (7) quickly. Yadav then got rid of Himanshu Rana (18) off the last ball of the day to finish with 3 for 31 in 10 overs.Earlier, Services added 54 to their overnight tally of 143 for 6 before being bowled out in 73 overs. Shamsher Yadav stayed unbeaten on 29 off 72 balls. Formerly of Services, Paliwal applied the finishing touches for Haryana when he had No.11 Poonam Poonia caught by Rohit Sharma for 8.Only 7.2 overs were possible on the second day in Kalyani as Kerala moved to 282 for 7 from an overnight 263 for 7 against Jammu & Kashmir. Sanju Samson remained unbeaten on 142 off 277 balls, including 22 fours and a six.Rain wiped out the second day’s play between Himachal Pradesh and Andhra in Bhubaneswar. Centuries from Prashant Chopra and Sumeet Verma had helped Himachal recover from 103 for 5 to 318 for 7 on the opening day. While Chopra (117) became medium-pacer Ashwin Hebbar’s maiden first-class victim, Verma remained unbeaten on 116.

Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Lahore Qalandars have removed Pakistan ODI captain Azhar Ali from the captaincy, but retained him in the side. Azhar is likely to be succeeded by Brendon McCullum, whom Qalandars are set to pick in the draft to be held in Dubai on October 19.Qalandars will get the first pick in every round of the draft for the second edition of the PSL as the team finished at the bottom in the inaugural edition earlier this year. Given this advantage, Qalandars have decided to snap McCullum from the top Platinum category and name him captain. The former New Zealand captain will also act as a mentor for the team.”We are bringing in McCullum, whose credibility and performances as captain are tremendous,” said Aqib Javed, the franchise’s director of cricket operations. “We are signing him not only as captain but as a batting mentor as well. We are announcing it earlier because we want to take the captain on board so that we can make a better combination than the one we had last year. We are really happy to have him on board and the level of commitment he has shown so far is really great.”Qalandars were arguably the most explosive batting side in the competition last year, boasting Chris Gayle, Umar Akmal, Cameron Deport and Dwayne Bravo, but only managed to win two out of eight games. Azhar’s captaincy position was called into question in the immediate aftermath of the tournament, but the official announcement came only on September 22, weeks before the second PSL draft. The franchise had already revamped their working executive, bringing in former fast bowler Aqib as director cricket operations and Muddasir Nazar as consultant.In last year’s draft, Azhar was relegated from the Diamond category to the Gold category, and then from Gold to Silver, before Qalandars eventually picked him up. Commenting on Azhar losing the captaincy, Aqib said that he had leadership qualities but added that McCullum was a “much better choice”.”Azhar is a great human being and does have the leadership qualities, but you can’t compare him with Brendon at all,” he said. “There is no comparison between the two players. Last year, unfortunately, we didn’t do well and now we want to make a winning combination. With Brendon on board, we want to start planning much earlier to make a difference. This won’t hamper Azhar’s national captaincy at all, but Brendon was a much better choice.”Azhar’s ODI captaincy has also come under increased scrutiny after a tough 17 months during which Pakistan slipped to ninth place in the rankings with 86 points, their lowest ever rating since the ranking system was introduced in 2001. In the eight series with Azhar at the helm, Pakistan have beaten only Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Ireland. After Pakistan’s 4-1 defeat to England in August-September, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan asked Azhar to consider relinquishing the captaincy, but Azhar decided not to step down. With Shaharyar currently in London, recuperating after a heart surgery, the status quo has been maintained for Pakistan’s forthcoming ODI series against West Indies in the UAE.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:58