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Dav Whatmore, the Pakistan coach, has criticised the ICC’s decision to ban the captain Misbah-ul-Haq from the Galle Test because of an over-rate offence committed during the fifth ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo earlier this week. Whatmore suggested that instead of banning a player, a better alternative would be to impose penalties during the match in which the offence was committed, rather than let the punishment affect the next game.”I find it very difficult to understand why a good player, a captain, is barred from playing,” Whatmore said after the third day in Galle. “I know there’s rules with it. People want to see the best teams participating, particularly in Test matches where there is some discussion on the popularity of it. You want your best players playing all the time. I think we need to reassess and revisit that.”During the fifth ODI, Pakistan were found to be three overs short of their target even after time allowances were taken into consideration. As this was Pakistan’s first serious over-rate offence in the past 12 months, the match referee Chris Broad handed Misbah two suspension points while each of his players received a 40% fine. It meant Misbah had to sit out the Galle Test, since suspension points are to be applied to the subsequent international matches in which Misbah was most likely to participate on a chronological basis immediately following the announcement of the decision.Misbah was replaced by Mohammad Hafeez as captain, and his place in the side went to a debutant, Mohammad Ayub. In Misbah’s absence, Pakistan struggled in response to Sri Lanka’s 472 and were bowled out for 100. They are 36 for 3 in the second innings, chasing 510 for victory.

ScorecardChris Rogers’ 173 came in 191 balls with 21 fours and three sixes•PA Photos

Chris Rogers batted like he had a plane to catch or, more relevantly, a poor weather forecast to defy. In between the showers, Middlesex have so far clambered all over Somerset at Lord’s, and Rogers’ sparkling 173 matched the visitors’ total all on his own. It was compiled with the urgency of a captain who knows he will likely have limited time over the next two days to force a result that could take the hosts to top of the County Championship.Alongside a nicely modulated 105 not out from Joe Denly, Rogers hurried Middlesex to 321 for 2 by the close, 148 runs clear of Somerset’s plainly inadequate 173. Rogers is commonly – and somewhat lazily – regarded as “merely a first-class batsman”, the rough and tumble of Twenty20 and some limited overs cricket having passed him by in the eyes of various selection panels. But he was brimful of assertive strokes here, whether punching emphatically through the covers or flicking straighter deliveries through or over midwicket.He blazed from 62 to 78 with four boundaries in five balls delivered by Gemaal Hussain, and after reaching his century took a mere 28 balls to go to 150, pelting the seats beyond the short eastern boundary with a trio of sixes. Rogers had added 245 with Denly when he perished to Peter Trego’s bouncer, caught on the deep backward square leg rope by Arul Suppiah. A weary Somerset were grateful to see stumps drawn at 7pm.All this took place on the same pitch that had helped Middlesex’s bowlers rumble through the remainder of Somerset’s batting in the space of 10 balls on the second morning. The burst was made all the more critical by the continued absence of Corey Collymore, who did not bowl again after complaining of knee pain on the first afternoon. Rousing themselves accordingly, Gareth Berg and Tim Murtagh shared the spoils as Craig Kieswetter perished without addition to his 48, Jos Buttler completed a duck of two days’ duration, and Craig Overton edged behind first ball.Murtagh was on a hat-trick at that point, but it was Berg who claimed the fourth wicket of a frenzied passage when he found a way through Alfonso Thomas’ forward stroke. Trego salvaged another 40 runs from the remainder of the innings, primarily in a stand of 31 with George Dockrell, before Toby Roland-Jones winkled out the last two.Robson and Rogers began the Middlesex reply in collected fashion, covering the movement on offer to Trego and Gemaal Hussain. Thomas’ introduction had Robson shuffling across the crease and pinned LBW. Joe Denly walked to the wicket with a decent run of scores behind him, and found a more sedate gear in the middle while Rogers accounted for the major share of the scoring up to tea.There was the sniff of a dropped chance before Denly had scored, and Thomas appealed vehemently for LBW when he had 9, but the umpire Neil Mallender was unmoved. It was to be the last notable moment for Somerset’s bowlers in the day. Denly grew into an innings of greater authority and power with every added minute of shared occupation alongside his captain.Rogers was a little more circumspect in the shadows of his century, working in singles where previously he had dealt in boundaries. By then, however, the momentum was all with Middlesex, and he duly reached his second century of the season and the 54th of his career. The stroke that took him there, an inside edge past leg stump when he played back to Dockrell, was by a distance the least convincing of Rogers’ innings. But the enterprise he had shown was more than worthy of some good fortune, and it was also entirely fitting that the same run took Middlesex into the lead.The 150 stand was raised in 237 balls, and Denly marked the occasion by hoisting Dockrell for six to wide long on. Rogers took further liberties with Suppiah’s very slow left-arm spin, twice swinging him unmercifully into the Mound Stand. More arresting was a smear through cover off Trego, which was followed up with a heave well into the Tavern Stand after the bowler moved around the wicket. Somerset had no answer to Rogers in this sort of mood, and it is worth pausing to wonder how many bowlers would have.

It was an interesting question put to Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach. What would he consider to be a successful series for his side in England? Gibson started by admitting the visitors would have a tough time against the No. 1 Test team in cold conditions, before finishing his answer with a witty retort. “The last time we played at Lord’s, I was in the England dressing room, and the game was over in two-and-a-half days. If we can take this Lord’s Test to four days, that will be great,” Gibson said pithily.Gibson cannot, and does not, have a defeatist mindset. He was simply being realistic as he made it clear immediately that West Indies have a far better chance during the ODI leg of the tour considering the squad would be bolstered by the return from the IPL of first choice players like Chris Gayle.”It seems that not much is expected of us, which is good, in a sense. We can just go out and play and enjoy our cricket,” Gibson said from Hove, a day after landing in England. “We know what we are capable of. The Test series is going to be tough but we believe we have a one-day team that is more than capable of winning the ODI series. The one-day series is where I think the success is more likely to happen.”However Gibson assured that West Indies would aim to be competitive during the three-Test series, starting at Lord’s on May 17. Gibson, who was the England bowling coach during West Indies’ 2009 tour, has taken the same kind of approach he learned under Andy Flower. Gibson has remained his own man, taken hard decisions and not relented despite the outside pressure since taking the coaching reigns with West Indies. His public criticism of Gayle as soon as he took over is still raw.Darren Sammy and Ottis Gibson concede that England will be difficult opponents for their developing side•PA Photos

Gibson has laid emphasis on installing a professional platform in the West Indies dressing room, giving priority to fitness above anyone and anything. He did not relent when a senior batsman like Ramnaresh Sarwan was dropped after a bad bout of form; he only played the hardworking Ravi Rampaul in one Test against Australia as the fast bowler was not completely fit.Gibson’s biggest supporter in the team has been Darren Sammy, the West Indies captain, and the coach’s right-hand man. Today Gibson sat to his left and Sammy vocally described the respect for his coach.Though ‘Gayle v WICB’ dominated the headlines over the last 12 months, in the background Gibson and Sammy worked hard to establish an atmosphere where every player put the group ahead of himself.Even though West Indies did not cause any major upsets, they have come close. Last year during the Test series in India, in Delhi and then Mumbai, the batsmen posted a good first-innings score only to lose their spine in the third innings; the same mistake was repeated in Barbados against Australia this April. They lost both those series.England, and England in May, will not be forgiving. The same cold and damp conditions experienced in 2009 have been forecast this time around, too. Only three players – Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Denesh Ramdin and Fidel Edwards – in the current 15-member squad toured England on the last trip. Still, the visitors are not exactly shivering in the cold.Sammy is not bothered by inexperience or the elite status of the opponent. He believes his fast-bowling attack, comprising Kemar Roach, Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul and the young, untested Shannon Gabriel, is capable of giving England a scare.”Oh, yes, no doubt,” Sammy responded, when asked if the fast bowlers can cause problems for England’s batsmen. “We have been taking 20 wickets in Test cricket for the last year-and-a-half. I must give coach Gibson credit for that. All the bowlers commend him on the work he has been doing with the bowlers. We are a much improved bowling team. The conditions up here do tend to aid fast bowling and swing bowling and I am quite confident that our guys can put the English batsmen under pressure.”Captain Sammy has overseen an overhaul of West Indies’ team attitudes•Associated Press

At the same time Sammy willingly admitted his own top order is more than vulnerable, as seen against Australia during the three Tests at home earlier in April. “It is a fair comment. Stats don’t lie. Our top order did not click against Australia, but the selectors have shown faith in two of them [Adrian Barath and Kieran Powell]. They are quite young, they are still learning on the job. Yes, they will fail sometimes. But there is one thing we won’t do and that is give in. We are going to come out there and work hard for every run and every wicket.”Gibson, too, echoes Sammy’s words, but highlighted the fact that it is important to erase errors to make progress. “If we can eradicate some of those mistakes, I think we’ve shown enough of ourselves that we can be competitive here in England.”Despite England’s lukewarm Test form, losing 3-0 against Pakistan and then fighting back to level the series in Sri Lanka, both Gibson and Sammy are not under any illusions. Both agree England are No. 1 in the Test rankings for a reason. They said they are more concerned with getting their own house in order.This is part of the new culture, Sammy pointed out, which someone like Gayle will need to fall in line with: the culture of discipline, hardwork and focus and team bonding.”Guys work hard for each other,” Sammy said. “Ever since coach Gibson came on board he has tried to instil the professional attitude. One of our team mottos is to display a positive, can-do attitude at all the times. As you could see the way we have played recently, normally when we have had our backs against the wall we would kind of crumble. But so far, somehow we have found a way to get out of the situation. That is because of the constant drilling of the team, that is why that is happening. The whole mindset about doing it for the West Indies people, the guys are taking it on board. That is at the forefront of our minds.”

Michael Clarke was the subject of some criticism when he chose to ignore the advice of Australia’s physio Alex Kountouris and play through a hamstring strain in the latter part of the home ODI triangular series. However the misadventures of the team so far in the Caribbean have proved that Clarke’s hesitance about missing matches was well-founded, as the tourists are now facing the prospect of a first series loss since he took over the captaincy from Ricky Ponting.Having recovered from the hamstring strain that he aggravated by playing on in Australia, Clarke flew out to the West Indies on Sunday in order to have plenty of acclimatisation time ahead of a warm-up match and three Tests against the hosts in Barbados, Trinidad and Dominica. Clarke will not take part in the final ODI, but has watched his team-mates intently from afar, noting the difficulty presented by the slow, turning pitches of St Vincent and a feisty home side.”Conditions have been tough. I’ve watched a lot of it on television,” Clarke said. “The wickets look really slow and they’re spinning a fair bit, a lot different to what we’ve faced in Australia. It’s great experience for a lot of the guys who haven’t toured the West Indies before.”It’s a big game tomorrow morning for us to level the series. It will help the guys already there to have played in those conditions. It does take time to adjust. The wickets look really slow and have spun as much as any wicket around the world. We always talk about spin in India and Sri Lanka but the wicket in St Vincent, that’s as much as I’ve seen the ball spin and bounce for a long time.”The break enforced by Clarke’s hamstring trouble has allowed him time to strengthen other areas of his body, notably a troublesome back that has intervened to limit his international appearances – though never Test matches – on numerous occasions since his 2003 debut. Clarke still believes he did the right thing by playing on in defiance of Kountouris, and also feels the time off has refreshed him for the Caribbean tour.”If you ask me I’m saying 100 percent I made the right decision – it was a finals series,” Clarke said. “If you ask the Australian physio he would have liked some more time. He would have liked me to probably not play that second final but that’s part of what we do. There are injuries in our sport.”Touch-wood my body has been pretty good. I’ve played almost 10 years of international cricket and my body has held up pretty well. It’s just now about monitoring with the amount of cricket we’re playing. It’s no doubt [the break has] been a positive for my body – not picked up a bat or a ball – improved strength – opportunity to strengthen back.”I’m feeling really good. It’s been a big couple of weeks of rehab and treatment with my physio. I had a fitness test Friday. Alex flew up from Melbourne and I passed all of that. It’s really positive and I’ve got seven days before our tour game starts so I’ve still got a bit of time when I get to the Caribbean.”Due to his recovery program, and also the rigours of one of the longest travel hauls undertaken by the Australian team, Clarke departed two days in advance of the other Test players. He has spent some time thinking about the right combinations for Caribbean climes, and said the option of dual spin from Nathan Lyon and Michael Beer was looming larger in his thoughts now than ever.”If conditions are like they are in the one-dayers it’s certainly something we need to consider,” Clarke said. “Nathan Lyon and Michael Beer are two very good spinners who have great control. I’ve seen them both during the Australian summer bowl very early domestically so they can control the new ball as well.”They can tie off one end if it’s not spinning but if conditions are like what I’ve seen in the one-dayers I think they’ll both be a handful.”Edited by Abhishek Purohit

Big picture
Kings XI Punjab have never believed in big names. In fact, they have just one millionaire on their roaster in Australian David Hussey ($1.4m). Their most expensive buy at this year’s player auction was former Pakistan allrounder Azhar Mahmood for $200,000. Their most popular face is the 40-year old Adam Gilchrist.Punjab’s maxim has been: we do not need the names, but we can still win. Last year they proved that theory correct when an unknown Paul Valthaty, who was clinging to the edges of domestic cricket before the tournament, catapulted himself into the front pages of newspapers and television screens with his batting exploits.But Punjab, the 2008 semi-finalists (which remains their best showing so far), is the only team from the original bunch of eight, which has failed to evolve. Ownership issues disrupted their development in the first three years of IPL. But last year, the franchise, after having successfully staved off a threat from the BCCI to remove it from the IPL, decided to put fresh plans in place. The biggest positive was the appointment of Gilchrist as the leader. He led Punjab to a fifth place finish last season, an improved showing over the 2010 season when they had ended at the bottom of the pile with only four wins.This year, Gilchrist has been appointed the coach-cum-captain. Two more Australians – Joe Dawes, who is the Indian bowling coach and former Australian fielding consultant Mike Young, have been hired as Gilchrist’s assistants.The franchise has also strengthened its domestic vaults. Ramesh Powar, who played for Punjab in first three seasons, is back to play the role of lead offspinner while the medium pace pair of Harmeet Singh and Parvinder Awana have been roped in to add more teeth to the fast bowling line-up.Like nervous teenagers, Punjab have always struggled to find their feet early in the tournament. In 2010, Punjab’s scored only one win in their first eight matches, which came in a tied game after a one-over eliminator. Last year, they started with a defeat, won three matches on a trot but followed it with five defeats in a row.Key players
Adam Gilchrist: Gilchrist is one of the two 40-year-old players* in the tournament. A hardworker, a good man-manager who leads by example, Gilchrist has been rightly appointed by Punjab as the coach-cum-captain. Last year, he inspired the likes of Valthaty to aspire for greater heights and helped Punjab finish at the middle of the points table. Needless to say, Gilchrist will push on the accelerator once again.David Hussey: The younger of the Hussey brothers did turn heads last season but for the wrong reasons. He managed only 64 runs in eight matches, leaving Punjab fans and critic’s wondering if he was worth the $1.4 million price tag. But Hussey is a pedigree player: he is the highest scorer in Twenty20 cricket (4270 runs) and also topped the batting charts for the Melbourne Stars in the inaugural season of the Big Bash League earlier this year. A brilliant fielder, who can keep a tight line with his offbreaks, Hussey’s biggest suit is his experience, making him a dangerous proposition. Shaun Marsh: Marsh has been Punjab’s most consistent and dependable batsman. By ending fourth on the IPL run charts last year, Marsh proved that his heroics in the inaugural edition of the tournament, where he finished as the highest scorer, was no fluke. Even though Marsh is yet to find a firm foothold in the Australian Test side, in the IPL he manages to slip into the zone easily and gives Punjab the right platform to build and chase totals.Big names in
Azhar Mahmood: Do not get deceived by his age: Mahmood, the only Pakistan player in IPL, is 37, but he is still the sturdy allrounder he was for Pakistan when he made his debut at 21. Mahmood, who now lives in England, was the player of the season for Kent in the County Championships. But Mahmood’s best has come in Twenty20 cricket. He finished as Kent’s highest scorer in the domestic Twenty20 competition with a century. With his experience, Mahmood can easily provide solidity to Punjab’s middle order and play the leading allrounder’s role in the absence of the injured Stuart Broad.Joe Dawes: Dawes, who was recently appointed as India’s bowling coach, replaced fellow Australian and former quick Jason Gillespie, who moved to Yorkshire as head coach. Dawes will take this opportunity as a good learning experience to understand Indian players, conditions and culture. In exchange, his coaching experience with Queensland is bound to come handy for the youngsters at Punjab.Big names out
Dinesh Karthik: Punjab sold him to Mumbai Indians for an undisclosed but substantial sum, reportedly good enough to offset the money spent on Hussey and Gilchrist.Below the radar
Piyush Chawla Chawla was Punjab’s joint highest wicket-taker last season and plays important role with his attacking legbreaks and a decent googly at any point in an innings. His bowling and his ability to play influential cameos with the bat, makes Chawla an important player for Punjab and a good man to help Gilchrist with his local knowledge.Abhishek Nayar Nayar has been one of the most attractive allrounders on the domestic circuit but frequent injuries have slowed his progress. This year, Nayar played with renewed vigour, showing maturity and patience during Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy campaign. He will be one of the regulars in the playing eleven and will look to make an impression, with an eye on the allrounder’s spot in the Indian team for World Twenty20 competition later this year. Availability :Stuart Broad: The England allrounder underwent a scan for the calf-strain he suffered during the first Test of the Sri Lanka series and is reportedly expected to be fit in two weeks’ time.Ryan Harris: Punjab’s best fast bowler last season, Harris is currently on national duty with Australia in the Caribbean, participating in the Test series against West Indies. He will join the team from April 29.2011 in a tweet: Late starters, recovered to make headlines with their unexpected resilience, but lost the momentum again towards the end.April 13, 08:15 GMT: The article earlier mentioned that Adam Gilchrist was the only 40-year old in IPL. This has been corrected.

ScorecardDwayne Smith’s 103 not out is the second-highest score, so far, in the BPL•BPL T20

Dwayne Smith scored the third hundred of the Bangladesh Premier League, setting up an easy win for Khulna Royal Bengals against Sylhet Royals in Mirpur, in the tournament’s final group match. The victory places Khulna at No. 2 on the points table, meaning they will play the third-placed Dhaka Gladiators in the semi-finals on Tuesday.Khulna was asked to bat and faced an early set-back, losing opener Shivnarine Chanderpaul early. From there on, though, they dominated, first through Herschelle Gibbs – who made 41 off 28 – and then Smith. Smith, batting at No 3, finished the innings unbeaten on 103 off 73 balls with six fours and six sixes, splitting his West Indies team-mate Chris Gayle’s tournament-record scores of 101 not out and 116.That meant Khulna set Sylhet a stiff target of 187, and they never really seemed to seriously threaten it. Sylhet slipped to their eighth loss in ten matches, with no one scoring more than No. 8 Sohail Tanvir’s 26 not out. Eventually Sylhet folded for 117 in 16 overs, handing Khulna a 69-run win. While the Khulna bowlers rather evenly shared the wickets around, left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak finished with the best figures of 2 for 8 in two overs.