Kent continue to soar as Somerset face exit

ScorecardDaniel Bell-Drummond was to the fore as Kent’s wonderful T20 season continued•Getty Images

This season’s NatWest T20 Blast has shown, quite clearly, that it is a myth that England’s T20 tournament needs to be played in a block to attract high-quality overseas talent. Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell, Shahid Afridi, the list of star players who have appeared this season is long, illustrious, and that is only a snapshot.What this season’s tournament has also shown, as did last season’s Big Bash League, is that a team and a tournament does not necessarily need high-quality overseas talent to be popular and successful. No team embodies this more than Kent.Kent, to much derision, did not sign a single overseas player for this season’s T20 Blast, and yet, following another typically clinical and well-rounded victory over Somerset in front of a large crowd are top of the South Group with 16 points and are well on track for sealing a home quarter-final.This was a match, like much of Kent’s season, that was not won by one man, or by one performance but by multiple, complementary performances, contributing more broadly to a tried and tested strategy.

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This season should serve as something of a wake-up call for a Somerset squad who are not as good as they used to be. Marcus Trescothick’s days in the format appear over, Peter Trego is certainly not the destructive presence he used to be, Alfonso Thomas is another ageing force, James Hildreth, not a ferocious T20 player at the best of times, also seems past his peak while Jos Buttler is no longer available. Somerset have arguably lived too long on their three consecutive finals appearances between 2009 and 2011. The time to change and regenerate has come.

Nothing represented Kent’s confidence in their own method more than the innings of Daniel Bell-Drummond and Joe Denly as the opening pair put on 112. It would have been very easy for either of these two men, emboldened by their starts to look too big, to aim too high, to perhaps, be selfish and look for a century of their own. Instead both men played at a pace appropriate according to conditions, the opposition and the batsmen they had below.Denly was the first man to fall. Looking to push on with Kent 112 without loss after 13.4 overs he was caught deep on the leg side attempting to clear the boundary-rider. He was, naturally, annoyed to have got out, but there was no anger or worry in his face as he left the middle. He trusted what was to come.So confident were Kent, they promoted Alex Blake, who had hammered a fifty against Hampshire earlier in the season, to No.3. Blake came and very quickly went. Experiment failed. Move on.This was again when Bell-Drummond’s restraint was key. He recognised that as the settled batsman his wicket was almost worth double. But crucially he did not hold back, rather he just did not do anything reckless. Not scoring and not getting out is probably worse than just getting out. Bell-Drummond was proactive and positive. He struck consecutive fours in the over that Blake was dismissed, and two more in the following over.Northeast, Kent’s standout player this season, managed just 7 from 13 balls, but with Sam Billings next in, there was, again, a sense of calm to Kent’s batting, even with them a few short of what they would have wanted with two overs to go, at 166 for 3.Billings played three remarkable shots in the penultimate over, scoring three leg-side boundaries, all off balls that pitched well outside off stump. Such brilliance epitomised Kent’s supremely confident innings. Just seven runs and three wickets came from the final over, including the dismissal of Bell-Drummond for 77, but his innings went beyond numbers. An opener batting through a T20 innings brings a calming presence that the scoreboard does not do justice to.Somerset captain Alfonso Thomas felt a target of 173 was “a few too many” but it was not one that was beyond a powerful Somerset batting line-up. However given Kent’s form and Somerset’s comparative struggles, Kent were always favourites.Indeed not at any point in the chase did Somerset ever seem to be threatening Kent’s score. Eleven came from the first over, but with the third going for two and the fourth going for just one Somerset were behind the rate. The pressure of the scoreboard told when they lost Johan Myburgh in the Powerplay before Jim Allenby fell in the eighth and Peter Trego and James Hildreth went in the ninth to leave Somerset reeling at 57 for 4.It was then that Kent deployed their spinners, James Tredwell and Fabian Cowdrey, and they squeezed the remaining life from Somerset to ensure Kent’s victory well before the end of the match. The final over bowled by Matt Coles was, rather anti-climactically and almost comically, slugged for 34 including three no-balls. But it was a mere stain an otherwise superb victory for Kent.Somerset, who have had Gayle and Luke Ronchi this season – along with Corey Anderson due to play before he was injured – remain in eighth and even if they win all three of their remaining fixtures are unlikely to make it to their quarter-finals.

Tait back from hamstring injury

Andrew Johns will get another chance in the New South Wales side © Getty Images

Shaun Tait will return from injury for South Australia’s Twenty20 match against Queensland at Adelaide on Wednesday, nearly a month after he was diagnosed with tendinosis of his left hamstring. Tait will be keen to impress at every opportunity, having been named in Australia’s preliminary 30-man World Cup squad.He will replace Gary Putland, who has strained his left quadriceps, in the Redbacks’ line-up. South Australia, who have only one win from their three games this season, have dropped Callum Ferguson and Paul Rofe, and included Simon Roberts and the batsman James Smith, 18, who has been rewarded for his outstanding form in Adelaide grade cricket.Brendan Nash has been called into the Queensland line-up as cover for their stand-in captain James Hopes, who is in the Australia squad to take on England at Sydney on Tuesday.New South Wales have stuck with their controversial selection of Andrew Johns, the rugby league player, for Wednesday’s match against Tasmania, despite the move contributing to their loss against South Australia on Sunday.The Blues, who are now out of contention for the KFC Twenty20 final, lost to the Redbacks after Simon Katich refused to put Johns on strike in the last over of their run-chase. But Cricket New South Wales maintained the decision to play Johns as a crowd-puller paid off, with 10,652 spectators flocking to the game at Newcastle.Nathan Hauritz will miss the game with a calf injury and has been replaced in the 12-man squad by Jarrad Burke, the top-order batsman who played all three Twenty20 games for the Blues in 2005-06. Tasmania, who have only one win on the board, have included Ben Hilfenhaus in their 13-man outfit, although his availability is uncertain after he was named in Australia’s Twenty20 squad.Western Australia, who travel to the MCG for a top-of-the-table clash with the Bushrangers, have made no changes to their line-up. Victoria’s 13-man squad includes Cameron White and Shane Harwood, both of whom could play in the match against England. The winner of the game at Melbourne should host the final on Saturday, although a big win for Queensland could see them take the honour.South Australia squad Daniel Harris, Darren Lehmann (capt), Mark Cosgrove, Nathan Adcock, Ken Skewes, James Smith, Graham Manou (wk), Ryan Harris, Trent Kelly, Dan Cullen, Simon Roberts, Shaun Tait.Queensland squad James Hopes (capt), Craig Philipson, Brendan Nash, Clinton Perren, Nathan Reardon, Aaron Nye, Michael Buchanan, Chris Simpson, Steve Paulsen, Chris Hartley (wk), Andy Bichel, Ashley Noffke, Nathan Rimmington.New South Wales squad Ed Cowan, Phil Jaques, Brad Haddin (wk), Simon Katich (capt), Daniel Christian, David Warner, Jarrad Burke, Dominic Thornely, Aaron O’Brien, Tim Lang, Scott Coyte, Andrew Johns.Tasmania squad Michael Di Venuto, Dane Anderson, Travis Birt, Daniel Marsh (capt), George Bailey, Michael Dighton, Tim Paine (wk), Adam Polkinghorne, Damien Wright, Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, Matthew Wade, Ben Hilfenhaus.Victoria squad Brad Hodge, Aiden Blizzard, Michael Klinger, Cameron White (capt), David Hussey, Robert Quiney, Andrew McDonald, Jon Moss, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Shane Harwood, Gerard Denton, Mick Lewis, Darren Pattinson.Western Australia squad Luke Ronchi (wk), Shaun Marsh, Adam Voges, Marcus North (capt), Luke Pomersbach, David Bandy, Theo Doropoulos, Sean Ervine, Peter Worthington, Aaron Heal, Tim Macdonald, Ben Edmondson.

Jayasuriya leads Sri Lanka's romp

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out – Sri Lanka
How they were out – England

Sanath Jayasuriya could do no wrong at The Oval with a century and three wickets © Getty Images

Sanath Jayasuriya showed his hunger for one-day cricket hasn’t dimmed with a match-winning display at The Oval. He struck a sublime 122 which, alongside crunching fifties for Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, powered Sri Lanka towards their impressive 319 for 8. While England had Kevin Pietersen there was hope but Jayasuriya struck the key blow in the 32nd over before returning to clean up two more, snuffing out any thoughts of a fightback and, in the process, sealing a 2-0 series lead.Some aspects of England’s play were improved from an effort at Lord’s that was sometimes shambolic, yet the margin of defeat was significantly larger. Steve Harmison was outstanding in his 10-over spell and the ground fielding lifted itself by a few notches – especially the fine catches held by Pietersen and Tim Bresnan. Promising partnerships between Pietersen and Ian Bell then Pietersen and Paul Collingwood shaped a hopeful run-chase but ultimately too much rested on to few.Not all the failings from Saturday were erased, either, with 33 extras being conceded including another criminally high 21 wides. In their current form, Sri Lanka are not a team that need a helping hand and they quickly showed their intent to climb all over England while they are down.Harmison’s early pace brought the wicket of Saturday’s hero, Upul Tharanga, but once Jayasuriya and Jayawardene had assessed the conditions – and found them to be very flat – they set their sights on doing serious damage to England’s bowling figures. Jayasuriya was the first to flick the switch and unleash a volley of rasping boundaries. Sajid Mahmood was brought back following a first two-over spell that cost 26 and proved even more expensive second time around as Jayasuriya put his foot down by taking 17 off Mahmood’s fifth over, including an effortless six over midwicket.Jayawardene lost nothing in comparison to his partner and his fifty was noticeably faster, taking just 50 balls. The partnership raced past 150 and ended in the only way that appeared likely – a mix-up between the batsmen. Jayasuriya ploughed on to his 20th one-day century off 122 balls and continued a fond acquaintance with The Oval after he first signalled his presence to English crowds with a double-century in the 1998 Test. Sangakkara ensured the momentum was never lost and, after a steady start, he showed his own repertoire of boundaries and raced to his half-century from 41 balls with a swing over midwicket off the struggling Mahmood.

Kevin Pietersen gave England hope but couldn’t carry his innings through © Getty Images

Chasing more than a run a ball from the outset, England needed a rapid platform. Trescothick’s start hinted at the possibility of a Jayasuriya-style onslaught but, attempting a third four, he leant back on a drive and sliced a catch to backward point. With the more orthodox pair of Strauss and Ian Bell together the innings didn’t get the flyer that was needed to exploit the fielding restrictions.Strauss tried to hit over mid-on and only located Muttiah Muralitharan at mid-off but in many ways his dismissal opened up England’s best chance of staying in the game. Pietersen started positively with a couple of crunching cover drives – one from a short-of-length ball that was still rising – and a glorious lofted drive over mid-on off Ruchira Perera, whose first two over cost 21. Pietersen found his range and overcame a painful blow to the knee from Lasith Malinga to crunch a forehand smash off the same bowler. Bell was not overshadowed and slapped a stunning straight six off Chaminda Vaas as England upped the tempo.However, Malinga made the breakthrough for Sri Lanka when Bell top-edged a pull and found Muralitharan at mid-on. With the stand flourishing it was bad timing for England and Malinga had again proved a valuable go-to man for his captain. Pietersen, who eased past fifty off 48 balls, and Collingwood formed another sensible stand and were the ideal combination to bring the required mixture of singles and boundaries.But the day quickly turned into the story of one man of which so much has already been written on tour. Jayasuriya kept firing in his non-spinning, leg-stump bullets and Pietersen fatally showed his stumps as he missed an expansive sweep. Collingwood’s typically energetic half-century came off 55 balls but the task was becoming desperate. He fell to Jayasuriya’s quicker ball and Dalrymple went in similar style with a massive air shot.The last three wickets – varying degrees of laughable run outs – summed up proceedings. Sri Lanka have dominated the two matches from start to finish, England haven’t been at the races. It would be a brave person to put money on this series being alive into next week.

Police dismiss speculation about second autopsy

Mark Shields: confident first autopsy was accurate © AFP

Jamaica’s deputy police commissioner Mark Shields on Wednesday denied media reports that a second autopsy would be performed on the body of Bob Woolmer. “I can assure you there is no post mortem, there is no planned second post mortem,” Shields was quoted by AFP.He added that any post mortem would only be announced in consultation with the Kingston coroner’s office. “If there was any question of a second post mortem it would be something that I would discuss with him and announce,” Shields said.Several newspapers carried claims that the first autopsy was not thorough, and some have gone as far as suggesting that there were enough inconsistencies to indicate that Woolmer might not have been murdered at all, but could have died after falling heavily against a bathroom sink.The forensic pathologist, Ere Seshiah, initally claimed that the results of the first autopsy had been “inconclusive”, and Shields conceded that this might become an issue in the event of a trial. “The jury may want a second post-mortem and if we arrest someone this week and charge them, the defence counsel will want a second.”Shields also said the quality of footage taken from the CCTV cameras in the hotel was better than expected. “There were some people in the footage that I’d met in the week after the murder of Bob Woolmer that I could clearly and easily identify,” Shields said.His priority was to locate and interview as many witnesses as possible. “We are working from the inside out – it is those that we know were close to Bob Woolmer, were associates of Bob Woolmer, people who were on the same floor or close to him from the time he returned to the hotel until the time he was murdered.”He also said that it was highly likely that people had left traces of DNA at the crime scene. “The reason we’re taking DNA samples from everybody is to exclude them,” he said.

First win on tour helps West Indies level T20 series

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:35

Sammy pleased with ‘professional’ effort

West Indies’ bowlers delivered tight lines and intelligent variations of pace on a slow Khettarama surface to force a Sri Lanka collapse and prise a 23-run victory to end an otherwise barren tour. Dwayne Bravo collected four wickets, and Ravi Rampaul three, in the visitors’ defence of 162 for 6 which, like their bowling, had also been a collective effort.The victory gives West Indies a share of the series, though Sri Lanka keep the top T20 rank. Bravo, who hit a run-a-ball 31 in addition to his 4 for 28 with the ball, was named Man of the Match.Tillakaratne Dilshan struck his second fifty of the series but – although his own strike-rate was nearly 137 – his 70-run stand with Shehan Jayasuriya drew some of the momentum from Sri Lanka’s innings. Jayasuriya was out for 30 off 32 balls. His wicket set in motion a capitulation that cost nine wickets for 46 runs. Incoming batsmen attempted to hit out immediately, mindful of a climbing required rate, but managed only to find secure pairs of hands in the outfield.Jayasuriya was scoreless off his first seven balls and, although he struck successive fours off Jerome Taylor, he slipped into a pattern of finding fielders with his big shots. Dilshan also misread the pace of the ball off the pitch on occasion, and West Indies continued to squeeze in cheap overs through the first half of the chase. When Jayasuriya was dismissed – thanks to an outstanding running catch from Andre Russell at the long-on boundary – Sri Lanka’s required rate was nearing 10.Dinesh Chandimal was almost caught at the leg-side boundary first ball, but was securely held immediately after. Dilshan was out switch-hitting Rampaul in the same over, and Angelo Mathews was caught trying to clear the backward square leg boundary not long after that. From then on, Sri Lanka lost at least one wicket per over. Chamara Kapugedara was caught at cover. Milinda Siriwardana was stumped running at Sunil Narine. The hosts had unraveled definitively by the middle of the 18th over.This was after their own bowlers had withstood brief charges from Johnson Charles and Denesh Ramdin, who both hit 34 at either end of West Indies’ batting effort. The visitors had warmed up slowly, hitting only 17 from the first 26 balls, until Charles ignited the innings with a four-ball sequence that brought 22 runs. Charles ran at Sachithra Senanayake twice to lift him into the leg-side stands, and swept him twice as well, collecting a six and a four. The next over from Dushmantha Chameera was equally expensive. Andre Fletcher struck three fours as Chameera erred down the legside – though he also had Fletcher dropped off a slower ball, on 16.With 44 runs having come off the last two Powerplay overs, West Indies appeared to be surging. Siriwardana’s left-arm spin quickly brought the hosts some control. He trapped Fletcher in front with a slider, saw Marlon Samuels run-out later in that over, then struck again with his arm ball to have the visitors 75 for 3 after nine overs.West Indies attacked intermittently after that, but had their salvos briskly shut down. Andre Russell was dismissed in the 12th over after two sixes had come in the previous five balls. Ramdin cracked two sixes and a four in the 14th and 15th overs, but was soon forced to contend with a stream of good yorkers – particularly from Nuwan Kulasekara – which he could only dig out for singles or twos.Sri Lanka’s seamers were pinpoint at the finish. Although opposition hitters were at the crease, Malinga conceded only five runs in each of his last two overs, and Kulasekara no more than seven from his. Ramdin remained unbeaten at the end of the innings.

Watson feared heart attack when pains struck

Shane Watson has recovered from a severe stomach problem © Getty Images

Shane Watson feared he was having a heart attack when he was rushed to a Chandigarh hospital with chest pains that turned out to be severe gastritis. He said thoughts of his former Tasmania team-mate Scott Mason, who died last year from a heart attack aged 28, were running through his mind when the illness struck on Tuesday.Watson suddenly felt sick after a team meeting and said he was “just about crumpled up on the floor” of his hotel room before he was taken to a hospital specialising in heart treatment. “We’d had a team meeting and I went back to bed for an hour or so before we were leaving to go to training,” Watson told . “I just started to get really bad pains in my chest and it gradually got worse and worse.”The things that were going through my head were that my Dad has already had a triple heart bypass, so I was hoping my heart was right. I was also thinking about my mate Scott Mason. I’d never had chest pains before, so I didn’t know what it was.”He said Mason’s death last April had deeply affected him. “That was really hard because Dad had a bypass and he was fine after it,” he said. “After Scott had his heart operation, I thought that everything would be fine with him as well, like it was with Dad.”Watson, who has opened in the previous two games, said one positive from the timing of his illness was that he had time to recover before Australia’s Champions Trophy clash with India on Sunday. “There’s no reason why I wouldn’t play,” he said. “The great thing was that it happened a fair way out from the game so I can get a bit of rest and make sure everything is right for the game.”

Clarkson and Rance take Central Districts to maiden win

A 33-ball partnership of 64 runs for the eighth wicket between Josh Clarkson and Seth Rance led Central Districts to a two-wicket win over Northern Districts after five rain interruptions at Hamilton’s Seddon Park. Central Districts faced a revised target of 200 runs in 33 overs after Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten knock of 93 took Northern Districts to 266 for 6 in their 50 overs.Clarkson struck three fours and three sixes in his 24-ball 48 and was ably supported by Rance, who hit a 19-ball stay of 32. This after some tight bowling from Ish Sodhi and Scott Kuggeleijn – both of whom picked up two wickets each – had Central Districts struggling at 123 for 7. Once Rance fell with Central Districts needing another 13 runs to win, Clarkson took over and finished the match with five balls to spare.Earlier in the day, Mitchell struck seven fours and four sixes in his 93. Dean Brownlie struck 47 and Nick Kelly hit 57 runs, but that proved to be not enough for Northern Districts. The win was Central Districts’ first of the season in three games.Inclement weather in Dunedin and Wellington meant the fixtures between Otago and Canterbury, and Wellington and Auckland respectively were washed out without a ball being bowled.

Warne keen on ICL if 'whole package is right'

Shane Warne: ‘People the world over are turning to Twenty20 for a quick fix of cricket and they will love the spectacle in India’ © Getty Images

Shane Warne says he is keen to take part in the Indian Cricket League (ICL), which has already signed Brian Lara for its inaugural multi-million dollar Twenty20 tournament. Yet even as the buzz around the ICL grows, so does the confusion, with Warne’s manager denying reports that he had been signed on and one top ICL official – and former cricketer – contradicting another.”Playing cricket in India is always an experience,” Warne wrote in his column for the . “That is one reason why I am keen to take part in the new Twenty20 League in October and November. The organisers are ambitious and, if the whole package is right, then I’ll be out there.”Brian Lara has committed to it and I have been speaking to him and a few other players. I know that I will miss the game during the winter, having retired back home. This is ideal at roughly three weeks long. People the world over are turning to Twenty20 for a quick fix of cricket and they will love the spectacle in India.”On Thursday, Kapil Dev, the chairman of ICL’s executive board, told Warne and Glenn McGrath were “on the verge of signing” and that the news would be released within 24 hours. But Kapil was contradicted by the managers of both players who denied that the former Australian cricketers were close to joining the ICL.The ICL had met with disapproval from the BCCI and Warne’s manager, James Erksine, said that he would not be a part of it if there was going to be a conflict. Erksine said that he had spoken to Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland about the matter.”I asked him [Sutherland] politically what the situation is,” Erskine told the . “He tells me that the BCCI are going to be in a situation where they’re probably going to get upset by it. He wonders whether all the Indian players they say they’re going to pick will fly in the face of the BCCI. We will wait and see what the political fallout is before anyone puts pen to paper.”McGrath’s manager, Warren Craig, said that he had been contacted by the ICL earlier in the week to discuss matters but McGrath was also no closer to signing up.Dean Jones, one of the executive directors on the ICL board, said that Kapil’s comments were not accurate. “He [Kapil] hasn’t been briefed properly,” Jones said. “He’s firing from the hip. Everything’s fine. It’s just normal Indian press and a few guys not communicating. Discussions are still continuing.”The ICL is a Twenty20 series proposed to be held around October in India featuring six teams comprising four international players and two Indian stars, with the rest made up of younger players.

ICC seek deal to share corruption intelligence

Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the chairman of the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU), says that his body is close to signing a memorandum of understanding with the UK’s National Crime Agency that will enable a greater level of intelligence on cricket corruption to be shared between all police forces in the United Kingdom.”We have a whole series of ongoing investigations at the moment ranging across different countries so the benefit of the increased co-ordination are already being seen,” Flanagan told The Daily Telegraph.”We want MOUs with investigative bodies wherever world cricket is played. We have it already in New Zealand and Australia and we are in the final stages in drawing them up to be signed within the next month or so with South Africa, India and the National Crime Agency in the UK.”However, Flanagan denied that his unit needed to “regain the trust” of the players whom it is supposed to protect, in the wake of the Chris Cairns perjury trial in which leaked testimony from the current New Zealand captain, Brendon McCullum, formed one of the key pieces of evidence in the failed prosecution.Several players’ union spokesmen, including the outgoing head of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, Angus Porter, have said that the treatment of McCullum and other witnesses during that trial will make other players more reluctant to speak out about approaches in the future.However, Flanagan added that the ACSU is not a police force and therefore has limited investigative powers. Instead, he said, players needed to get the message that “we are their friend and here to protect them.””I don’t feel we have to regain trust,” he said. “At the recent World Cup the relationship we had was very positive and the feedback we had from teams was very positive too. It is a question of building on that and making the players realise we are there to protect them and that we are not there to snoop on them. We are there to protect players from the predators that would want draw them in.”The criticism of the ACSU during the Cairns trial centred on its failure to produce sufficient evidence to support the prosecution – it was said during the trial, by the former ICC intelligence unit general manager Ravinder Sawani, that the information it had collected went “beyond rumour”, yet very little of it was revealed in court. Cairns, who pleaded not guilty to two counts of perjury and perverting the course of justice, was acquitted last month after a nine-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.It was claimed in the same newspaper that the ACSU had examined 450 intelligence reports in 2015 alone, of which around 20 percent had originated from players and umpires. That represents a steady rise in reports over the past five years, with 70 being handled in 2009 and 281 in 2011.”It is very important that there is a recognition that we are not a police force, do not seek to be a police force and do not have the powers,” said Flanagan. “We cannot investigate members of the public. We can only investigate people within our remit, players in the international game as far as the ACSU is concerned, which is why it is so important to work hand in glove with colleagues in individual nations that have their own anti-corruption structures.”It is also key that we keep good relationships with other sports whether it be tennis, horse racing, rugby or soccer because I’m convinced the bad guys do not confine themselves to one sport.”Prevention, Flanagan believes, is as important a part of the unit’s work as investigation, and to that end, a new head of prevention is being appointed to improve its education programme, alongside a new director and co-ordinator of investigations, and a senior analyst.”The job of the head of prevention is to look at everything that goes on with educating players, make sure we are getting the best from that and bring it up to date,” said Flanagan. “I want to work with the players’ associations to make sure that our education programme is world class.”

Lara's arrival still up in the air

Whither Lara? © Getty Images

The speculation over whether Brian Lara will turn up to play in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) continues. Contrary to what Gaurav Seth, head of marketing at ICL, said earlier this week, the latest news is Lara is to arrive over the weekend.This time around Seth played it safe and chose not to confirm Lara’s arrival sometime late Friday. “Hopefully Lara will arrive over the weekend,” said Seth, unable to get a confirmed date because he hadn’t spoken with Himanshu Modi, the ICL chief who had rushed to London few days ago to have another meeting with the West Indian legend. “Lara had his own concerns but they’ve been sorted out now.” According to Seth, Modi is on his way back to India and soon things would be made clear.Lara, listed as captain of the Mumbai Champs, one of the six squads that complete the ICL league, was supposed to arrive last weekend to join his team-mates for practice at the Western Railways ground. The second part of the ICL phase starts now with the practice games that commence from tomorrow at five centres across India. The Champs will play the first of their three practice games against Kolkata Tigers from tomorrow, sans Lara.With the extended delay of his arrival, rumours about Lara opting to play both ICL and the BCCI’s Indian Premier League (IPL), which is scheduled to start in the summer of 2008, were adding sweat to ICL management. Seth said he was not bothered about the IPL now that Lara has agreed to the new terms.”He [Lara] had some concerns regarding the contract he had signed originally and wanted to renegotiate certain terms,” said Seth.It’s only natural that Lara will try to come on his own terms now that he knows he is the biggest player with the biggest brand value in the ICL. If he opted out, the pressure would be right on the sponsors.

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