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Hashim Amla is unique in many ways – his backlift, his beard, his batting records – and he could soon find himself the holder of another individual milestone. Test captain Faf du Plessis said there is a chance no other South African will follow in Amla’s footsteps and play in 100 Tests.”I am going to make a big call and say Hash (Amla) is probably going to be the last guy that plays 100 Tests for South Africa because of the way that the game is changing,” du Plessis said. “Quinnie (de Kock) and KG (Rabada) are possibly looking at that as youngsters but it’s a long way into the future.”Du Plessis is not being overly dramatic in that assessment. The average age of South Africa’s 13-man squad is 27.85, including two 24-year-olds who are yet to play a Test: Theunis de Bruyn and Duanne Olivier. Take them out and the average age of the expected playing XI at the Wanderers, with Wayne Parnell being swapped for Kyle Abbott, is 28.54.Of those, five players: du Plessis, Amla, Stephen Cook, JP Duminy and Vernon Philander are over 30. Dean Elgar is 29. De Kock and Rabada, who are 23 and 21 respectively, are expected to have lengthy careers but du Plessis said that does not necessarily mean a large collection of Test caps.”It’s a massive call to make. Test cricket these days, the game has evolved so much. If you look at Hashim and AB (de Villiers) and Jacques (Kallis) and Graeme (Smith) and all those guys, it was a period of a lot of Test cricket that was played over a long period of time. Now, there’s lots of T20s, so I think the game is changing a little bit, that you won’t play for as long because there is so much more cricket,” du Plessis said. “What I mean by that, is that its really special for Hash to do something like that. I’m not going to get to 100. The guys in the team that are playing now, JP, all those guys, its something we will never get to.”South Africa depend on Hashim Amla’s calming demeanour on and off the field•Getty Images

Du Plessis had forgotten the one man closest to Amla, Dale Steyn. He has 85 Test caps but is not expected to return to action until June as he recovers form a shoulder injury. Steyn told ESPNcricinfo he thinks it could take him as long as three years to reach 100 Tests but after watching tribute videos to Amla on television in the lead-up to the Wanderers Test, he is motivated to get there. Perhaps any player would be, because as du Plessis said it is an “amazing, amazing effort”.It’s also a time to celebrate what a player has done over a sustained period of time and although Amla has stayed out of the limelight, attention has found him. His team-mates have heaped praise on him, with du Plessis the latest to join the chorus.For du Plessis, Amla has been an example of consistency, not just in runs but in attitude. “He has been the rock of our batting. He has been the most consistent player I reckon with Jacques Kallis that South Africa have ever had,” he said. “Of course he is not scoring as much runs now but what he brings off the field still offers a lot. Hashim when he is scoring runs or when he is not scoring runs is exactly the same person and that brings a calmness to the dressing room. Even when he is not scoring runs, he is offering a lot of value and for me as a player, I’ve learned a lot from that. You need to look at success and failure in exactly the same way.”Du Plessis said he’d like to see the rest of the South African batsmen learn how to bat big and long, like Amla•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Although Amla is no longer captain, he continues to offer leadership which is of particular importance to du Plessis, who has just taken over. “As a leader he’s a huge asset to me – I rely on his knowledge a lot. Take away the runs, the demeanour and person he is in the dressing room is very calm. Even if he goes to the wicket and doesn’t score runs it feels like he relaxes the batting unit – he’s just got that personality,” du Plessis said.Du Plessis would like the rest of the line-up to learn how to bat big, like Amla. Not only is Amla the holder of South Africa’s highest individual Test score but he also has the second-most number of double hundreds behind Smith, and his conversion rate is something du Plessis wants the team to try and emulate.”Hash’s concentration – that’s his biggest thing and his biggest asset. It’s something that I admire and it’s something that I challenge myself and the other batters with,” du Plessis said. “It’s happening too often these days that you don’t get enough guys to anchor big and score big runs. To score hundreds is great – we want to score hundreds – but to push ourselves to get even better to get to 150s and 200s. Hash is normally a guy that leads that.”While Amla will be celebrated at the Wanderers, there will be also be questions about his future. After 100 Tests and at his age, 33, there are people wondering whether Amla will retire in the near future. Du Plessis brought news that for now, they can shelve that thought.”I’ve spoken to him and he’s still very keen to push it as long as that great body of his will let him go. But he’s not even thinking about retirement.”

Alastair Cook has conceded that England’s Test fortunes may have “stagnated” over the past 12 months, but confirms he will not rush any decision on the future of his Test captaincy, in spite of another humiliating defeat in the fifth and final match of England’s tour of India.Cook’s dismissal for 49 in the first hour after lunch was the catalyst for another dramatic collapse on the final afternoon in Chennai, as England lost ten wickets for 104 runs in 48.2 overs – including their last six for 15 – to slump to defeat by an innings and 75 runs, and a 4-0 series loss.The defeat was England’s eighth in 17 Tests in 2016, equalling their record number of losses for a calendar year, and they will finish the year at No. 5 in the Test rankings, some way below the levels they might have anticipated after winning both the Ashes and a memorable away series against South Africa last year.When asked by Sky Sports if England had “stagnated” under his leadership, Cook responded: “That’s a fair shout, you can say whatever you want now, if I turn around here and slag everyone off and use emotive language, I’m not doing my job. When you lose Test cricket, you get criticised. You have to take it on the chin.”The defeat was Cook’s 22nd in 59 Tests at the helm, meaning he has overtaken Michael Atherton as England’s most defeated captain in Test history. However, he confirmed he will wait until the dust has settled on the tour before deciding whether to carry on as captain, following an anticipated meeting with Andrew Strauss, England’s team director, in the New Year.”This is not the place to be standing asking me these questions,” Cook said. “I have to go away and do some thinking. I need to get back home and do it without the emotive side of what’s happened over the last nine weeks.”In his subsequent press conference, he added: “I need to go home first enjoy Christmas as much as I can do and then come back in January and look to plan with Straussy and see what’s the right decision for English cricket. I’ve got to go away and decide whether I am the right man to take England forward. It’s the wrong time to make those decisions as energy is low, energy is low and you can make foolish decisions as those times.”When there’s not a Test match for seven months it’d seem very foolish to stand here now and make a decision which either you regret or don’t. If there was a Test match in three weeks time you’d have to think. But while there is a bit of space why not use it?”The defeat at Chennai was England’s second by an innings in as many matches, and just as in Mumbai last week, they were blown away in spite of winning the toss and posting a large first-innings total – 400 at the Wankhede, 477 at Chepauk.”I don’t think we ran out of fight, all the guys gave their all, but weren’t good enough,” Cook said. “Whether that’s a culmination of the pressure being built up over a long period of time, or a bit of mental tiredness, people will look at that and say it’s an excuse, but we haven’t been good enough in these conditions.”I said at the beginning of the series, it was vitally important to stay in the contest as long as we can, because we’ve seen in previous tours here, it’s a hard juggernaut to stop – the India juggernaut at home, when they’re are playing as well as that. Once they get ahead, their confidence goes and it’s hard to stop that momentum.”Whether 4-0 is fair or not, it’s hard to say,” he added. “We’ve struggled to take 20 wickets and we haven’t got enough runs, so we probably didn’t deserve much more than that.”We’ve missed opportunities, we’ve been in games and had good fortune to win four out of five tosses, but we haven’t pushed home our advantages. Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say we are not good enough in these conditions. We will have to be better when we come back.”

Shreyas Iyer, on 191 overnight, stood between Gujarat and a first-innings lead. His early dismissal for 194 on the final day meant Mumbai fell 15 short of taking three points, despite Shardul Thakur’s half-century at No. 9. Mumbai were bowled out for 417, having begun the day on 328 for 6.The second innings was reduced to a mere formality as Gujarat’s openers scored 82 without loss in 45 overs when the captains shook hands in Hubli. Priyank Panchal, the opener who made 232 in the first innings, was unbeaten on 56. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was named Man of the Match for a career-best 6 for 71.Mandeep Singh struck a brisk century, and medium-pacer Manpreet Gony hammered an unbeaten 66 off 26 balls, in the drawn game between Punjab and Tamil Nadu in Nagpur.Punjab had conceded the first-innings lead thanks to Kaushik Gandhi’s career-best 164. In the second innings, they scored at 4.74 runs per over, before declaring for 375. Mandeep Singh’s 128 off 160 balls anchored the innings in which Uday Kaul (65) and Gurkeerat Singh (55 off 45) also got runs, before a promoted Manpreet Gony hit eight sixes.However, the timing of Punjab’s declaration left Tamil Nadu only 37 overs to negotiate in a chase of 306. They lost only one wicket, as Abhinav Mukund (67*) and Gandhi (21*) put on 78 for the second wicket and took them to stumps.Saurabh Wakaskar scored his second fifty of the game as Railways settled for a point after conceding the first-innings lead to Madhya Pradesh at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. MP took the lead early in the day, having begun on 356 for 5, just 15 behind Railways’ 371. Overnight batsmen Devendra Bundela and Shubham Sharma continued their remarkable partnership for the sixth wicket, taking it past 200 and finally being separated with the score on 406, having come together on 164 for 5.Shubham scored 119, his maiden first-class century, while Bundela scored a career-best 188. MP added 104 runs in the last 21 overs, before declaring on 510 for 8. In reply, Railways reached 150 for 1 at the end of play. Wakaskar was unbeaten on 71, after putting on 100 for the opening wicket with Shivakant Shukla, who scored 57.

Group A

Fourteen wickets fell in Dharamsala in the fourth-round clash between Bengal and Railways. Railways’ bowlers vindicated their captain’s decision to field by dismissing Bengal for 205. But their batsmen couldn’t hold on to the advantage as they slipped to 37 for 4 by the close.Four of the five bowlers used by Railways picked up wickets, with Anureet Singh’s 4 for 66 leading the way. Right-arm medium pacer Amit Mishra picked up 3 for 38, while Karan Thakur took two wickets and Karn Sharma one. Bengal’s innings featured two partnerships of note. First, Sudip Chatterjee, the No. 3 who top-scored with 85, added 52 with Sayan Mondal for the second wicket. He then combined with Agniv Pan for a fifth-wicket partnership of 66. Ashok Dindachipped in with a 26-ball 30, before Bengal’s innings was wrapped up in 69.5 overs. Dinda got the wickets of Saurabh Wakaskar and Mrunal Devdhar early in Railways’ reply. Amit Kulia and Sayan Ghosh also joined in with a wicket each to compound Railways’ woes.At the Feroz Shah Kotla, Deepak Hooda was in sight of his maiden first-class double century as his career-best 190 not out headlined Baroda’s day of dominance against Punjab. Baroda piled on 358 for 6 in 90 overs, despite a four-for from Sandeep Sharma, who had rocked them early in the day with the wickets of their openers.With Baroda reduced to 11 for 2, Dhiren Mistry and Hooda compiled 178 for the third wicket to offset the early stumble and lay a solid platform. Mistry made 76 before being caught behind off Siddharth Kaul. Hooda added 80 more for the fourth wicket with wicketkeeper Pinal Shah. Sandeep removed Pinal for 42 and Yusuf Pathan for a second-ball duck, while Vishnu Solanki also fell cheaply. But Hooda stayed dominant and ended the day with 16 fours and three sixes, having struck at 88.37 per 100 balls.Elsewhere, at the DRIEMS Grounds in Tangi, Tamil Nadu put behind twin early jolts to recover to 262 for 4 on the opening day against Madhya Pradesh. Tamil Nadu lost both their openers for ducks inside the first two overs, after being put in. They were then lifted through half-centuries from Kaushik Gandhi (71*) and Dinesh Karthik (95).Gandhi and Karthik got together with the score at 54 for 3 and added 144 in 46 overs for the fourth wicket. Karthik struck 15 fours in his 153-ball knock, before being caught off Chandrakant Sakure, the right-arm medium pacer, five short of a century. B Indrajith and Gandhi then joined hands for an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 64. Indrajith was unbeaten on 44. Sakure ended the day with 2 for 47, while Ishwar Pandey and Ashwin Das, the new-ball duo, dismissed the Tamil Nadu openers.At the Palam Grounds in New Delhi, right-arm medium pacer Imtiaz Ahmed’s 4 for 48 helped Uttar Pradesh fight back against Gujarat, who squandered a strong start to end the day on 276 for 8. Gujarat’s openers Samit Gohel and Priyank Panchal laid a solid platform through a 122-run opening stand. Both batsmen made scores of 60, before Imtiaz dismissed both. But none of Gujarat’s other batsmen could make a noteworthy contribution, with the exception of Parthiv Patel, the captain, who also scored 60. Chirag Gandhi, the No. 6, was not out on 33 when stumps were drawn.

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim has said that consistency will be their main target in the second Test against England, even though their fighting performance in the Chittagong Test raised expectations of a better result in Dhaka. Recent history, however, suggests that Bangladesh have a hard time following up on a good performance in home Tests.Against Pakistan last year, they were hammered by 328 runs in Dhaka after earning a credible draw in Khulna in the first game. In 2012 against West Indies, they got close in the first game before going down in the second game by ten wickets. Three years earlier against Sri Lanka, they again fought well in the first game but were crushed by 465 runs in the second Test.”Our challenge will be to play consistently, especially against a good side like England,” Mushfiqur said. “We wouldn’t have become the No. 1 team in the world by beating England in Chittagong so our target remains to do well over four to five days in a Test, and afterwards if we get into a winning position, we will push on. We have many more performers in our side these days. So everyone has expectations from the players. Our performance and the fight we put up in the first Test wasn’t unexpected. We will also try to cope with the pressure of expectation.”Mushfiqur said that the loss in the first Test, and the bitter aftertaste as the margin was their closest in terms of runs, would spur them on for the second match. “We are still hurting from the loss in Chittagong so it is best to move on from that game,” he said. “We know that had we given 1% more, the Test would have been in our favour. We would like to take the positives from that game, and use them in Dhaka.”Mushfiqur said that the Bangladesh spinners’ attacking nature would keep them in the game for a long time, though heavy rain on the day before the first Test could have some effect on the Dhaka pitch, which was expected to be drier than usual.”The rain might have some impact on our plans,” he said. “The wicket is mostly prepared but if the sun was out today, it would have dried up further. If there’s a bit of moisture, the ball would be gripping on the surface for the spinners. Shakib Al Hasan, Taijul Islam and Mehedi Hasan combined to take 18 of the 20 wickets to fall, and they will be expected to have a similar effect in this game as well.”Their spinners don’t have to attack because of their pace bowlers. For us, the spinners are the main weapon; they have to attack and take the wickets. I think in that sense, our spinners are ahead of them. They are natural at bowling with the new and old ball, defensive or aggressively. But I would still say that our spinners have room for improvement.”

Shane Jurgensen, New Zealand’s bowling coach, has promised a fight from his side on the final day of the Kanpur Test. New Zealand need to bat out 98 overs with only six wickets in hand, after losing the first four in 37 overs. They need 341 runs to win, which is nigh impossible.”We made some adjustments today,” Jurgensen said. “I think like that last partnership towards the end today, we’ve just got to keep fighting. And that’s the way we play cricket. We have to fight to the end. There is still six wickets to go and if you get a good partnership going, and we saw that today when India batted, if you get a good partnership you can score at a decent rate, and more importantly you can bat for time. That’s our goal, to fight for as long as we can, have a good start in the morning and really try and fight as far as we can. From my experiences in this game tomorrow is a new day. We’ll see what happens then.”Jurgensen said it was obviously challenging to play in conditions they are not accustomed to, but said it was important to enjoy the experience in order to get better of the challenges. “Some turn, some don’t and some jump,” Jurgensen said. “It’s just a matter of not feeling the pressure and starting to accept the challenge and play with a smile on your face. What a great opportunity it is tomorrow to come out on the fifth day. If we attack it like that, it’s our best opportunity to get through.”One of the keys to the fight is the nuggety wicketkeeper-batsman BJ Watling, who went off the field with a mix of dehydration and back issues. Jurgensen said he was going to bat. “I think he’ll be assessed over the next 24 hours,” Jurgensen said. “But as far as I’m aware he’ll be good to go tomorrow. It was just pretty warm today.”One of the areas where New Zealand could have given themselves less time to survive was by bowling tighter in the second innings, but conceded 377 runs at 3.51 an over. “Obviously they got a few boundaries and batted really well,” Jurgensen said. “These are conditions the Indian players are very familiar with and we saw how well they can bat in their conditions. Today we made the necessary adjustments and showed a much-improved performance with the ball. All we can focus on is those positives. Credit to the Indian batsmen. There were times where we bowled well and created pressure but they are very experienced, wore us down and played well.”In Wellington in 2013-14, New Zealand batted out 210 overs in the second innings to salvage a draw against India, but those were totally different conditions. With the ball turning so much, against Indian spinners who are at the top of their game, New Zealand are left needing a miracle to not go to Kolkata trailing in the series.

Yorkshire have signed Jake Lehmann, son of the Australian coach Darren, for the remainder of the 2016 Specsavers County Championship season.Lehmann junior, one of Australia’s most up-and-coming batsmen, now has the chance to tread in the footsteps of his father, the most popular overseas player to wear the White Rose, as Yorkshire chase a hat-trick of Championship titles.He joins Yorkshire ahead of a key period of Championship action, the first of six remaining games getting underway at Old Trafford on Saturday when the White Rose take on rivals Lancashire.He also has the added appeal of a British passport.After the completion of Australia A’s match against South Africa in Townsville, he is due to leave Australia on Wednesday and should arrive in time to play in that four-day match.Yorkshire moved swiftly to secure the services of the South Australia and Adelaide Strikers man after the departure of Travis Head on Sunday. Head, 22, was called up earlier than expected after winning selection for Australia’s ODI series in Sri Lanka and has left the Club with immediate effect.Head’s departure to Sri Lanka in time for the final Test, where he will train and assimilate into the dressing room, but play no active part, has left Yorkshire in the lurch for their NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final against Glamorgan in Cardiff on Thursday.Even if Lehmann could have arrived in time, ECB regulations prevent the signing of overseas players in the later stages of both one-day competitions to seek to prevent counties strengthening with gun players for the final stages.Arguably, however, the policy shows scant understanding of realities in which overseas players come and go in country cricket with alarming regularity. Injuries occur, contracts are won, promises are broken, honest intentions fail to come to fruition and by limiting a county’s ability to respond to events, the ECB is essentially creating a lottery.As well as Yorkshire facing Glamorgan without Head – as well as four absent Englansd stars – Middlesex must cope without a replacement for Brendon McCullum against Northamptomshire because he needs a back operation.Yorkshire’s head coach Jason Gillespie nevertheless has used his friendship with Lehmann senior and involvement with South Australia to broker a quick deal which will sustain Yorkshire in the Championship.”Getting a player of quality is always difficult at this stage of the season, but we’re delighted to secure the services of Jake,” he said.”Things happened pretty quickly, triggered by Travis being called into the Australia squad and hopefully he goes on to get a game. Cricket Australia were fantastic to deal with and coordinating with South Australia went fantastically well and we were able to arrange for Jake to come over.”He’s a great kid, gives the ball a whack and has shown good nous and awareness. Having worked with him at the Strikers he’ll fit in to the changing room too, as all our players do. I just hope that he has a good time with us, enjoys himself and contributes to some good wins for Yorkshire.”Darren Lehmann represented Yorkshire as an overseas player for a decade from 1997, his weight of runs and laconic, easy-going nature making him comfortably the most successful overseas player to represent the club since the members first voted to allow overseas players in 1992.In all, he scored 8871 runs at an average of 68.76. In 2001 he helped Yorkshire to their first County Championship title since 1968. His top score of 339 against Durham in 2006 during his final game for the club enabled Yorkshire to avoid relegation by a point. It was also the highest individual first-class innings at Headingley and the second highest for Yorkshire behind George Hirst’s 341 against Leicestershire in 1905.

Match Facts

August 3, Edgbaston
Start time 11am (1000 GMT)1:22

Three things to expect at Edgbaston

The Big Picture

“Edgbaston is like our Gabba,” Stuart Broad said last week. After defeat at Lord’s, England’s confidence has soared again on the back of a thumping win at Old Trafford and now they arrive at a venue with good memories. They have won three of their last five Tests here by large margins, including last year when they reclaimed the lead in the Ashes, spurred on by the most vocal crowd in any English venue.But this series is still just 1-1. Old Trafford was the type of match Pakistan have not had to play in quite some time: asked to field first on a good batting pitch, with a four-man attack stretched to contain England. Yasir Shah’s drastic change in fortunes meant Misbah-ul-Haq was always struggling to stem the flow of runs. Pakistan’s chances of pushing England in this match could well rest on the toss. Win it, put a decent score on the board and follow the Lord’s template.England will again have to cover for the absence of Ben Stokes after his calf injury. Chris Woakes’ form has meant that Stokes’ loss has not been as keenly felt as it might have been this summer, but his fiery pace bowling did add another dimension to the attack at Old Trafford before he went lame. His batting, although not especially required last time out because of Joe Root’s epic 254, provides ballast amid a misfiring middle order that still has a lot of uncertainty about it.It will be those top-order batsmen outside of Root and Alastair Cook where much of the attention will be this week for England. The vulnerability – or at least uncertainty – of Alex Hales, James Vince and Gary Ballance remains the major weakness of this side and leaves much on the shoulders of the two senior batsmen. Ballance, on his return, has looked the most secure but Pakistan’s quicks appear to have the number of Hales and Vince having picked over their techniques.Given the size of victory at Old Trafford – and the fact they have a quorum of key players in form – if England get on top early they will be difficult to stop. However, in the likes of Yasir and Mohammad Amir, not to mention the steel of their captain, Pakistan have it them to strike back.The pressure has increased on Alex Hales and James Vince•Getty Images

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
England WLDWW
Pakistan LWWWD

In the spotlight

Pretty shots alone don’t make a Test career. There is a strong desire, not least from coach Trevor Bayliss, for James Vince to make it as a Test batsman but so far there has been the occasional moment of style but very little substance. He had a perfect platform at Old Trafford to take advantage of good batting conditions yet once again fell to an edged drive – what has already become a signature dismissal. England will need to consider rebalancing their side when they get to the subcontinent, so time is running out for Vince to ensure he is not the fall guy should a batsman make way.Pakistan need their senior batsmen to lift. Younis Khan’s eccentric footwork remains a worry, but Azhar Ali‘s form – scores of 7, 23, 1 and 8 – has also left the top order vulnerable, exposing Younis while the ball is still hard. He was the victim of a couple of tight lbw calls at Lord’s, but his first-innings dismissal at Old Trafford was limp – popping a return catch – and then he was beautifully set up by James Anderson in the second. He spent useful time in the middle against Worcestershire, making 81 against a modest attack, and at a time of questionable batting talent coming through for Pakistan they can ill-afford Azhar not to deliver.

Team news

Steven Finn returns to the side to replace Stokes on the ground where he made his match-winning comeback against Australia last year. Cook said it was a tight call between him and Jake Ball: “I was awake at 2am thinking about.” Moeen Ali will keep his place ahead of Adil Rashid.England 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 James Vince, 5 Gary Ballance, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Steven Finn, 11 James AndersonSami Aslam, the 20-year-old batsman, is set to replace Shan Masood at the top of the order as Pakistan concede they can’t accommodate Anderson’s bunny any longer. There may also be a change in the pace attack, with consideration being given to Sohail Khan replacing Wahab Riaz.Pakistan (probable) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Sami Aslam, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz/Sohail Khan, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Rahat Ali

Pitch and conditions

There was substantial rain over Monday night into Tuesday but the forecast for the game is good. Cook said that there was a decent covering of grass on the surface. In the County Championship this season, the pitches have ranged from the lively (against Somerset) to the dead (against Hampshire). It is not expected to break up as the game progresses.

Stats and trivia

• This will be England’s 500th Test match on home soil.
• Pakistan lost by nine wickets at this ground in 2010 after being bowled out for 72 in their first innings: the England pace attack was Anderson, Broad and Finn. England’s last defeat here was in 2008 against South Africa.
• Cook needs one century to reach 30 in Test cricket; Wahab needs two wickets for 50 and Rahat Ali four wickets for 50.
• The most wickets for an England bowler in a series against Pakistan is Anderson’s 23 in 2010 – Woakes currently has 18.

Quotes

“He’s going to be a danger, there’s no doubt about that, and he will have learned from his experience up at Old Trafford, that’s what happens when you have a tough game. That’s the beauty of a series. He can bounce back now and perhaps pose a different challenge but if we play him like we did at Old Trafford and have that same kind of game-plan we should play him better than at Lord’s.”
“We need to really improve. In the previous Test match we let them score heavily on the first two days and couldn’t put pressure on them. It’s difficult to come back from 600 runs but still we could have done better with the bat. We got starts, 20s, 30s and 40, but we need to go big.”

The bidding for eight franchises in the inaugural Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) has fetched a total of INR 33 crore, with Thoothukudi Sports & Entertainments Private Limited making the highest bid of INR 5.21 crore for the ownership rights of the Thoothukudi team. According to Tamil Nadu Cricket Association secretary KS Viswanathan, all the franchises will have ownership rights “in perpetuity”.”The whole idea is to give an opportunity for players in Tamil Nadu to showcase themselves so that they have better prospects in the bigger tournaments that are being played today,” TNCA president N Srinivasan said at a press conference in Chennai on Thursday.

‘No loss of reputation for cricket in Chennai’

N Srinivasan is optimistic of the MA Chidambaram Stadium receiving the necessary clearances from the municipal authorities after Chennai was allotted a Test between India and England later this year. “I don’t think there is a problem to hold a Test match here. I believe things will be resolved in due course, hopefully,” he said.
Srinivasan also said there was no loss of reputation for cricket in Chennai, and was confident about the smooth return of Chennai Super Kings into the IPL fold in 2018. In 2015, Super Kings were suspended for two years, along with Rajasthan Royals, for corruption in the IPL.
“After one more season, CSK will come in without any external intervention,” Srinivasan said. “I don’t want to go into it in detail.”

The league will consist of 27 matches, including two semi-finals and a final, that will be held from the end of August to the second week of September. Chennai, Tirunelveli and Natham have been shortlisted as venues. The eight teams have been split into two groups of four, with each team scheduled to play a minimum of six matches.A player draft will be held in July, with each team having the right to retain players up to three years. “We are not going to have an auction,” Srinivasan said. “Whoever has bid the highest will get the first pick of players listed and it will keep repeating from one to eight [players] and again starting from one. We are going to suggest a modest salary cap, around Rs 60 lakh and see how it develops.”While the tournament features players registered with the TNCA, Srinivasan was hopeful of the BCCI allowing players from other states to take part in the event. “There will be a dialogue with the board, and we are hopeful they will agree to allow players from other states to be included in the player pool,” he said. “We have a very strong, robust competitive First-Division league, which has for many years players from other states playing here regularly as registered players. They are eligible to play.”He was also optimistic about the participation of big-ticket players from Tamil Nadu like R Ashwin and M Vijay, despite India having a packed season. However, that will depend on India’s domestic calendar as BCCI has indicated the possibility of the country’s top players playing in the Duleep Trophy, which will be used to trial the pink ball.In other developments, Star India has been roped in as the broadcast partner, and will provide commentary in English and Tamil. Ravi Sawani, the former BCCI-ACSU chief, will be the TNPL’s anti-corruption unit chief.FranchisesThoothukudi – Thoothukudi Sports & Entertainments Pvt Ltd, INR 5.21 crSouth Chennai – Metronation Chennai Television Pvt Ltd, 5.13 crCoimbatore – Lyca Productions Pvt Ltd, 5.01 crMadurai – Kothari (Madras) International Limited, 4.001 crKancheepuram – Ruby Builders & Promoters, 3.69 crThiruvallur – VB Cricket Academy, 3.48 crDindigul – Take Solutions, 3.42 crKaraikudi – Chettinad Apparels Pvt Ltd, 3.3 cr

ScorecardJimmy Adams led the way in an improved Hampshire display•Getty Images

Hampshire took advantage when their desire to bat first was granted by Durham’s acting captain, Mark Stoneman, in pleasant conditions at Chester-le-Street.With the top five all passing 40, the visitors built on an opening stand of 160 to reach 319 for 6 at the close of the first day.After Jimmy Adams led the way with 86 greater riches were promised when Michael Carberry and the recalled Adam Wheater were putting on 73 in 15 overs for the fourth wicket.They took 28 off the first five overs with the new ball, only to depart in quick succession.Having played himself in carefully in his new role at No. 4, Carberry moved impressively through the gears to reach 48 before he shaped to pull Graham Onions from outside off and bottom-edged into his stumps.A straight drive by Wheater gave him his seventh four and took him to 44 off 40 balls. But his attacking instincts left him in no position to deal with some skiddy extra pace as Barry McCarthy’s next ball pinned him lbw.McCarthy, who will shortly be on Ireland duty again in the one-day series against Afghanistan, shared the second new ball in the absence of Chris Rushworth.After bowling 16 of the first 40 overs as Durham desperately sought a breakthrough Rushworth was off the field for the rest of the day.He conceded only 30 runs and beat both openers several times, although the greatest scares came in the first four balls.Jimmy Adams, sent back when almost halfway down the pitch after Will Smith played to midwicket, would have been out had the throw throw hit the stumps. Then Smith went perilously close to playing on.Adams drove nicely through the off side and had a couple of leg glances among the eight fours in his 76-ball half-century.Smith needed 121 balls to reach his 50 and continued to leave the many balls wide of off stump before nibbling at one which left him in Keaton Jennings’ second over of gentle medium pace.Smith was caught behind for 67 and Adams drove a head-high catch to Jennings at midwicket off McCarthy.Tom Alsop played well for 40 before offspinner Ryan Pringle hurried one through to have him lbw to bring in Wheater, who twice reverse-swept Pringle to the boundary.Jennings, deputising at first slip for the injured Paul Collingwood for much of the day, clung on at the second attempt late in the day to remove Ryan McLaren, giving Paul Coughlin a wicket in his first Championship appearance of the season.