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Tamim Iqbal had a long talk with Jahurul Islam on the eve of the first ODI against Sri Lanka. In the discussion between one batsman who hasn’t scored an international hundred for nearly two years and another who is known to possess a perceptive mind, the dominant topic had to be the hundred that wasn’t coming for Tamim.When it finally came in the form of 112 runs that gave Bangladesh a genuine chance to win the first ODI, Tamim was quick to thank his opening partner from the Colombo Test and someone he has known for a long time.”The biggest inspiration for this hundred was Jahurul Islam,” Tamim told ESPNcricinfo. “We stayed up till 11.30 last night and discussed some important points. It really worked for me.”I was talking to myself every ball after reaching 50. I wanted to keep my process in shape but then after I had hit a boundary, a current passed through my body. I gave a catch but it got dropped. Riyad told me to go to the 70s and then think clearly. Nasir helped out too.”Jahurul’s advice wasn’t just from outside the field. When he would walk in with the drinks as one of the substitutes, there were more words of encouragement for Tamim. “He reminded me of what he had talked about last night. He told me to that if I try to bat for 40 overs, I can score a hundred. So I would like to thank him. Jahurul is a big part of this century.”He also said that if a batsman makes 30, he starts thinking of a 50. So when you will reach 70 or 80, you will automatically start thinking of a 100. There was a gap for a long time, but I hope it won’t be a longer gap next time.”Tamim hadn’t scored an international hundred since June 2010, and no ODI hundreds since February 2010. In the meantime, he had scored 18 fifties in all formats, and eleven in ODIs and his batting average during the hundred-less period has actually been better than his career averages.His first three hundreds came in 74 games, but the fourth one has taken him another 45. He has often batted at a high strike-rate, but hasn’t played the long innings often enough. There was no serious criticism of his inability to convert half-centuries into hundreds but it was a concern for him and he had mentioned it a few times over the past year.He took his time on Saturday, moving from 80 to 100 in 41 deliveries and moved from nine to ten boundaries in 45 balls. Before and after however, he was at his best. He brought out some excellent shots, and though he survived an easy drop by Angelo Mathews on 54, he didn’t want to look back or give it away again.”I got a hundred after two and a half years. Someone asked me if I have the passion to be one of the best players in the world. That stuck on my mind and I continued to think about it.”I was sharing with [Jahurul Islam] Omi last night the wrong things I have been doing or what I should do. I was a bit lucky today, I got a life on 54. I think I batted brilliantly after that.”On the day that he ended his century drought, Tamim suffered a hairline fracture while fielding which will sideline him for the next four-six weeks.

After winning successive tight finishes against England, in the World Twenty20 final and today in the World Cup, Lisa Sthalekar feels Australia have done some “damage” to their traditional rivals on the psychological front. England had fallen short by four runs in Colombo; the margin was two runs in Mumbai, a win the veteran Sthalekar ranked “pretty high” among victories she’s been involved in.”We’d like to believe we’ve done a bit of damage in the tight finish here and the World Twenty20 victory,” Sthalekar said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to play in a few matches where it’s been tight but in a World Cup against the English girls, to win with such a tight finish, it was really important for us as a team, building momentum through to the World Cup. And that probably ranks pretty high.”England have never beaten Australia in an ODI on neutral territory. Today’s defeat was their 14th. Their captain Charlotte Edwards, though, did not think the narrow losses in the World Twenty20 final and today meant Australia had gained any psychological advantage. Edwards said England had a “great record” against Australia but was disappointed with her batsmen’s failure to chase 148.”Two poor decisions [lbws against her and Laura Marsh] definitely doesn’t help when you are opening and then in a key partnership,” Edwards said. “There was also some poor shot selection through our middle order. Nos. 3, 5, 6 and 7 played 12 balls between them. When you are in a position where you are three down you need to stand up. They didn’t today.”There was no reason to fret over the batsmen, though, according to Edwards, who backed her middle order, especially the talented Sarah Taylor, to come good. Taylor has made 35, 0 and 0 so far. “Individually they have all stood up at times. Collectively maybe we haven’t batted as well. I think India is the only game we have collectively batted as we would have liked to. So yes, our bowling is brilliant, our batting is something that we need to improve on but I am not worried.”Sarah Taylor hasn’t scored runs in the competition so far but she is dangerous and hopefully there are big things to come from her so I am not too concerned. She got a good ball the other day. Sarah normally hits them through the covers. I have no doubt she is too good a player to go through too many games without scoring so hopefully with two big games to come she will fire for us.”The England bowling gave no headaches to their captain as they routed Australia for 147 with sustained, controlled swing and seam, especially from Anya Shrubsole. It drew praise from the opposition, with both Australia captain Jodie Fields and Sthalekar lauding the efforts of the England attack. “The English bowlers bowled really well,” Sthalekar said. “You had Anya who was hooping them in. The ball with which she got Jess Cameron was pretty spectacular and then you had Katherine Brunt who was going the other way as well. We’ve got bowlers who do similar things as well and the conditions here really helped the swing bowlers early.”Australia now have six points and are in a pretty safe position in the Super Six while England, with two points, would be under pressure to win both their remaining games against South Africa and New Zealand.

Sussex have announced that Zac Toumazi, the former Hampshire commercial director, will succeed Dave Brooks as chief executive in January.Toumazi has extensive experience in the financial sector, working for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, before switching to cricket firstly with Surrey for six years and then with Hampshire from 2011.He will attempt to continue to move Sussex forward and build on the work of Brooks whose four years at Sussex saw the club win a one-day double In 2009 and Division Two of the County Championship in 2010.Since announcing he was leaving Sussex at the end of the year, Brooks has been appointed to the Guernsey Cricket Board.His successor at Sussex, Toumazi, will take over a financially healthy club, largely thanks to inheritance from former club president Spen Cama, and a recently development ground.”We are very pleased to appoint Zac,” Jim May, Sussex chairman, said. “We believe his commercial experience, cultural fit and passion for cricket give him the credentials to ensure that Sussex continues to lead the way both on and off the pitch.”Dave Brooks leaves us in great shape this month after four outstanding years. We had a very strong group of candidates who applied to succeed him.Toumazi said, “I am very excited. I look forward to working with the entire team taking Sussex forward whilst preserving the values that make it so special.”

The 2013 Women’s World Cup trophy replica, brought to Mumbai for a promotional launch of the event, has been detained by the customs officials at the Mumbai airport. The tournament will be held in the city early next year. The trophy arrived via baggage from Dubai, and according to customs rules trophies can only be brought into the country through cargo.”The trophy should be brought through cargo. In the past we have notified that it shouldn’t be part of the baggage. Prior permissions are required to bring them as part of baggage. As per the regulation, the authorities will have to pay a duty on it,” Airports customs official PM Saleem told .Saleem also mentioned that he had received a letter from the BCCI requesting for an exemption from taxes. However, without documents signifying the approval of the central government in this regard, the trophy will not be released, it is understood.An ICC spokesperson, however, mentioned that the ICC possessed all the necessary paperwork to avoid this.”Despite having all the appropriate paperwork, Mumbai Customs decided to confiscate the trophy. This is the third time. The first time was when they confiscated the 2011 ICC World Cup marketing trophy, then the World T20 marketing trophy and now the ICC Women’s World Cup marketing trophy. All the trophies are replicas,” he said.In 2011, the trophy awarded to the Indian team after they won the World Cup had been the original trophy that had arrived in the country much earlier: the replica had been taken back to Dubai following a similar customs roadblock.

USA Cricket Association president Gladstone Dainty has denied claims that certain leagues were excluded from April’s elections because they did not agree with the way the board was being run.Only 15 of the 37 leagues in America were deemed by an independent review in 2011 to meet the necessary criteria to allow them to vote in elections, although all leagues remain eligible to receive other benefits. Despite this, a number of them have thrown in their lot with the breakaway but unofficial American Cricket federation.”I would like to state it’s not true the board targeted certain regions,” Dainty told ESPNcricinfo. “The constitution is quite clear about the compliance procedures and the rules are there in the constitution and in the laws of the United States. A number of leagues were not compliant because they did not pay something as simple as dues for the number of clubs who are playing.”This position was endorsed by USACA treasurer John Thickett. “No league was sanctioned in any way and USACA has provided a large amount of material to non-compliant leagues to help them to become compliant and offered the services of its staff to also assist them. By example, some leagues did not have a written constitution, did not hold elections, and there was widespread membership dues evasion. Very few leagues had youth or women’s programs in place – a key development objective.”All USACA members are welcome to attend the AGM. On voting matters, all members in good standing are eligible to vote.”Dainty also stressed that the real issue was one of development. “The ICC spends $600k to $700k a year on USACA – $300k in cash and then on top of that the ICC pays for tournaments and other events. In terms of dues paid from inside the USA we get about $100k, so the noise you hear about these contributors to US cricket – and some of them are even challenging the authority of the ICC – is really not good for the development of the sport.””To break down the economics a little more, USACA membership is $100 per team per year,” Thickett explained. “When USACA sends any one of the national teams to an ICC tournament the costs can easily run to $5000 per player. Individuals who don’t want USACA to be a member of the ICC don’t understand the economics of ICC membership.””Some clubs and leagues are talking about being in existence for over 100 years but what do we have to show for it?” Dainty continued. “In terms of the noise you are hearing this hasn’t affected a single player. USACA doesn’t stop a single league or person from doing anything. It’s about growing the sport and not creating environments for individuals.Dainty also dismissed claims USACA was effectively bankrupt. “From a conservative accounting standpoint, there are lots of debts. We get advances against the rights for the professional league, but we should have been getting revenue from them of about $500k per quarter; we’ve been getting about half of that. We will get that when the league is in place and the investors are confident that money will come in.”He agreed that the balance sheet would show a poor position – for now. “In booking that revenue the independent auditors are saying: ‘You are owed a massive amount of money by an entity which does not have that money right now … we won’t recognise that revenue right now but we are convinced you will get it’.”But he said that in the event of the league not being ready to launch – and he insisted it would be – then there was no cause for concern. “We can live with any delay as we are not spending all the money we are getting allocated.”

ScorecardSussex’s Clydesdale Bank 40 challenge suffered a setback when Derbyshire cruised to a six-wicket victory with 14 balls to spare under the Derby floodlights.A top-order collapse saw Sussex bowled out for 167 in 37.2 overs, with seamer Tim Groenewald taking 3 for 32, and although Derbyshire lost Australian batsman Usman Khawaja to the opening ball of their innings, skipper Wayne Madsen’s first limited-overs fifty of the season and Dan Redfern’s 49 sealed victory.Madsen was unbeaten on 64 out of Derbyshire’s 170 for 4 as Sussex tasted defeat in the competition for the first time to stay in second place, a point behind leaders Warwickshire who they play at Hove next week.Sussex started well after they were put in but went off the rails in the face of some tight spin bowling from Wes Durston and David Wainwright, who celebrated a four-year contract and his Derbyshire cap by conceding only 26 runs from his eight overs.Durston went for just 37 and picked up the wickets of Ed Joyce, lbw sweeping, and Matt Machan who was stumped trying to break the shackles after scoring 20 from 32 balls.Murray Goodwin was involved in two needless run-outs which accounted for Mike Yardy and Joe Gatting in the space of three balls in the 19th over and when Ben Brown sliced a lofted drive at Wainwright to mid-off, Sussex had lost four wickets in as many overs to slide to 95 for six.Goodwin and Kirk Wernars restored some order by adding 50 but it took them 12 overs and Groenewald returned to beat Goodwin’s attempted drive and blow away the tail as Sussex were dismissed in the 38th over.Derbyshire’s chase started atrociously when Khawaja was run out without facing and his opening partner Chesney Hughes followed in the sixth over when he was pinned in front by Amjad Khan.Durston played some handsome cover drives to score 30 off 35 balls before he was caught behind down the leg side with the score on 55, and another wicket at that stage would have given Sussex a chance of defending their modest total.But Derbyshire knew they only had to bat sensibly to win the game and Madsen and Redfern did just that to take the game away from the visitors.With no danger of any interruption from the weather, the pair were content to work the ball into the gaps although Madsen drove Monty Panesar over long-on for the only six of the match in the 28th over before sweeping the England spinner for four.He reached his fifty off 87 balls and Redfern, who was also awarded his cap before the game, looked set to make his first one-day half-century of the summer but was stumped off Chris Nash which ended a stand of 96 in 20 overs.But the wicket came too late for Sussex and fittingly it was Madsen who drove Yardy for the winning boundary to complete Derbyshire’s fourth victory in Group C.

Kemar Roach and Tino Best vindicated the decision to put New Zealand in at Sabina Park, striking early and then breaking the resistance to give West Indies the upper hand. Roach claimed 4 for 70 and Best 2 for 40 on a pitch they said got harder to bowl on as the day progressed.”I would rate today’s effort as a good performance. It was not an easy pitch to bowl on – it offered some moisture in the early stages, but then it flattened out and made batting quite easy,” Roach said after play, with New Zealand all out for 260. “I put in the work, reaped some reward and I’m pleased with four wickets. They batted pretty well early on and we had to change our plans and come back at them in the final session.”Roach made the initial breakthrough, having BJ Watling caught at slip, and his new-ball partner Best struck shortly after – making Brendon McCullum edge behind. New Zealand were 11 for 2.”His pace was ‘up’ and he troubled the batsmen,” Roach said of Best. “I would say he was the pick of the bowlers for us. The role he played was fantastic out there today. It was pretty hot as well and he maintained his energy levels. That’s how Tino plays … wholehearted every day.”New Zealand recovered from losing two early wickets through a century stand between Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill, but Best returned to break that partnership. He had Taylor caught behind for 60, cutting a promising innings short, and New Zealand did not have any substantial stands after that.”I told myself to stay focussed and try to get the ball in the right areas,” Best said. “I was happy when I got McCullum early as that gave us a good start after we won the toss and put them in. After that it got harder, but I still kept my pace up and kept running in. In the end I was pleased with my effort.”Kemar was excellent and just keeps getting better as a bowler for us. I’m pleased for him. In our team we enjoy each other’s success and I was happy to support him today. To get 10 wickets on the first day is good; anyone would take that. We will look to build on the second day and push forward.”

ScorecardEdgbaston’s rain-blighted season continued with Warwickshire’s Friends Life t20 match against Somerset washed out after only 7.1 overs were bowled.Somerset reached 59 for 1 in the two brief passages of play that were possible between the showers before the finaL downpour arrived at 8.45pm.The abandonment completed a bleak month for Warwickshire, who also had last week’s 25,000 sell-out against Worcestershire washed out without a ball being bowled while three days of the England v West Indies Test two weeks ago were also lost to rain.Warwickshire have only two home games remaining in the competition, both in the last two rounds of group matches, as Edgbaston has to be prepared for England’s one-day international against Australia on July 4.The abandonment left Warwickshire with just one win from their first five group matches and struggling to qualify for the quarter-finals.The only wicket to fall was Peter Trego who top-edged a pull off Chris Wright and was well taken by wicketkeeper Richard Johnson running back towards the sightscreen.Nick Compton cut Keith Barker for four and Craig Meschede got off the mark by hooking the same bowler for six but drizzle turned into heavy rain and the players left the field soon after with Somerset on 41 for 1 from 5.2 overs.Play resumed 70 minutes later and the match was reduced to a 15 overs contest but only 11 more balls were bowled,

New Zealand tour of India 2012

August 23-27 – 1st Test, Hyderabad
August 31-September 4 – 2nd Test, Bangalore
September 8 – 1st T20, Visakhapatnam
September 11 – 2nd T20, Chennai

New Zealand will play two Test matches and two Twenty20 internationals in India as part of their preparations for the ICC World T20 in September in Sri Lanka. The BCCI has confirmed that the first Test will be played in Hyderabad from August 23, followed by the second in Bangalore from August 31. The fixtures, however, did not include an warm-up games.The teams will then head to Visakhapatnam for the first T20 international on September 8 and then to Chennai on September 11 for the second. New Zealand last toured India in 2010, losing the Test series 1-0 and the ODIs 5-0.New Zealand will be without their head coach John Wright, who said he would step down after the West Indies tour ends in early August, shortly before the India series. New Zealand is currently ranked eighth in the ICC Test rankings, while India have slumped to fourth after calamitous tours of England and Australia over the last year.

Ireland would play 12 to 15 one-day internationals a year if the ICC approves their ambitious proposals to be given further challenges to take recognition of their rising standards.Warren Deutrom, the chief executive, told the Cricket Ireland annual meeting that the ICC has received its submission and it will be go before the ICC board meeting in June for final approval. Under the proposals, ICC will help to identify gaps in the existing Future Tours Programme where Ireland can be accommodated for ODIs.Cricket Ireland has made the case that it has rapidly outgrown its fellow associates and needs further challenges. The senior side, coached by Phil Simmons, has won 30 of its last 33 games against associate members of ICC. And in recent years Ireland has also beaten Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, West Indies and England.Deutrom told the meeting that he hoped ICC would adopt the bulk of the Woolf Report, which he described as “better than our wildest dreams” and potentially the key moment in the history of the game’s ambition to be a world sport.While Ireland gets funding from ICC, Deutrom pointed to the disparity between its $685,000 grant compared to the $7-9million received by full members, who are also guaranteed participation in ICC tournaments and the FTP.”Our battle is to convince ICC to fund cricket nations on the basis of merit and need, not of entitlement,” Deutrom said.The newly-announced plan also seeks ICC funding for an ambitious academy structure which will see the best young talent nurtured in both the north and south of the island.While at times over the past decade the senior side has relied on naturalised players, the Irish system has produced some startlingly good players, with three – Ed Joyce, Eoin Morgan and Boyd Rankin – playing for England at various levels and new stars such as George Dockrell and Paul Stirling attracting the covetous ECB.There are currently ten Irishmen contracted to English counties – which is more than Pakistan and West Indies put together when you discount the fly-in fly-out Twenty20 players.The third item on Deutrom’s shopping list is ICC’s assistance in progressing the non-existent domestic first-class structure. At present the game is based on club leagues in three unions, based around Dublin, Derry and Belfast. The ambitious plan is to form these districts into an inter-provincial structure similar to the successful Irish rugby provinces.This last point is seen as crucial for the development of the game and helping Ireland to continue to produce top players.The AGM in Dundalk also elected Jimmy Joyce of Merrion as president for 2012-13. Joyce is father of five Irish internationals, including Ed, currently at Sussex, and Ireland women’s captain Isobel. The respected veteran journalist Robin Walsh was named as president-elect.