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ScorecardDavid Lloyd, seen here in an early-season dismissal against Surrey, registered his top score [file picture]•Getty Images

Glamorgan youngsters David Lloyd and Dewi Penrhyn Jones provided some light to another dull day at Wantage Road where Northamptonshire closed 128 for 5, 105 behind.Lloyd made a breezy 92 in the morning session – the first uninterrupted session of the match – and looked set for a maiden first-class century at the age of 23 but fell to a fine diving catch by Richard Gleeson running to his left from deep point.”It was a very good experience for me,” Lloyd said. “It was a tough wicket and to get 92 was a highlight of my career so far. I was disappointed not to get over the line but it wasn’t meant to be and hopefully there are plenty more chances to get a hundred.”I thought the way the wicket was playing and what the ball was doing, I thought maybe the way was to be as positive as I could be, going hard and attacking just paid off in the end so hopefully it’s helped the team’s cause with a few more runs than we were going to get at one point, and it came off.”Lloyd began the day on 64 not out – already his first-class best score – and continued to play with a freedom not seen throughout the rest of the order in swinging conditions. His driving was especially impressive.In total Lloyd struck 15 boundaries in his 106-ball stay and gave Glamorgan a batting bonus point and a smart recovery from 84 for 5.Jones, a 21-year-old from North Wales, then took his chance with the ball to take the first two wickets of his first-class career on debut. He was handed the final over of the morning session and with the last delivery, shaped one away from Ben Duckett to have the left-hander caught behind for 20.Jones’ second-wicket was the Northants captain Alex Wakely, who played confidently for his 40 before edging behind. Rob Keogh followed in the same manner off Graham Wagg, who also removed Josh Cobb, bowled for a 13-ball duck. It left Northants struggling to get on terms with Glamorgan but bad light around 3pm took the players off the field and they did not return.But there was at least some meaningful cricket in the morning session and Olly Stone took the remaining three wickets in the Glamorgan innings, on the day he was named in the England Performance Programme Squad for the winter training camps in South Africa and Dubai.Stone began with a sharp delivery that Andrew Salter could only fend off to leg gully. Jones was caught in the cordon before Lloyd’s wicket gave Stone 4 for 73 and 38 County Championship wickets for the season.

Babar Azam hit a maiden BBL half-century, and combined superbly with in-form Josh Philippe, as Sixers overwhelmed Thunder to claim the bragging rights in the Sydney Smash.Sixers produced a vintage performance on a very good batting surface, which notably contrasted to sluggish pitches often seen at Engie Stadium.Sixers have long dominated the crosstown rivalry, but entered the match under pressure after consecutive defeats to start the season. The spotlight was firmly on Babar, who made scores of just 2 and 9 in a tough initiation to his BBL career.Babar Azam made his first substantial score of the season•Getty Images

But Babar effectively anchored Sixers’ innings with 58 off 42 balls, and shared a 140-run second-wicket partnership with Philippe, who was dismissed in the final over for a 57-ball 96.Needing to complete a record chase on the ground, Thunder crashed to 17 for 3 after the early wickets of Matthew Gilkes, Sam Konstas and a returning David Warner, who batted at No. 3, having previously opened in all 23 innings in his BBL career.Konstas and Warner – who had missed Thunder’s opening loss to Hurricanes due to a side injury sustained while playing with his children – both made just 2. They also holed out in almost identical fashion to short deliveries from Jack Edwards, who starred with 5-26 from 4 overs.Sam Billings clubbed 51 off 28 balls and Shadab Khan made 41 but Thunder never threatened. While Sixers got their season back on track, Thunder – last season’s finalists – are winless from two games.After Warner elected to bowl, all eyes were on Babar, who had not been able to get through the powerplay in Sixers’ first two games. He played watchfully and focused on rotating the strike, to allow Dan Hughes to get Sixers rolling.Josh Philippe provided Sydney Sixers some impetus•Getty Images

While Hughes took the aerial route, Babar was orthodox and hit a gorgeous cover drive on his eighth delivery, in what to that point was clearly the best shot of his fledgling BBL career. Hughes dominated the scoring, making 21 of 29 runs in the powerplay, until his off stump was rattled by left-arm quick Reece Topley.Babar flicked nicely through deep backward square to reach double figures for the first time in the BBL. But he was overshadowed by Philippe, who accelerated once spinners Shadab and Tanveer Sangha entered the attack.Philippe showed why he has been Sixers’ standout batter, having entered the season with confidence after playing in the recent ODI and T20I series against India.He launched Sangha down the ground in the eighth over to register the first six of the innings – a contrast to the record 36 sixes that were hit 24 hours earlier in the astonishing Heat-Scorchers game.Philippe took a particular liking to Shadab, smashing him for two sixes. A third was all but certain, if not for a spectacular high-flying save at long-off from Konstas, who had initially caught the ball before throwing it back into the field of play.Babar got into the act by top-edging Daniel Sams to register his first six in the BBL as he followed Philippe in notching up a half-century. Babar had his sights set on batting through the innings, until falling in the 18th over, after being caught behind off the glove in an overturned decision.Sixers’ momentum fell away at the death. Philippe agonisingly missed out on a first BBL century after hitting straight to deep backward point, where Sams caught the ball centimetres from the grass.

Worcestershire, who were relegated from the Championship Division One and have suffered major losses as a result of the flooding of new Road, have announced that they are releasing three players at the end of the season.Dewald Nel, Stuart Wedge and allrounder Roger Sillence will not be offered new contracts for next summer.”We continue to develop young talent through our academy and I am always on the look-out for quality players from outside the county,” Steve Rhodes, the director of cricket, said. “But we do need to find a couple of high quality seam bowlers.”

Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s dismissal was almost a premonition of defeat © AFP

It should hurt deeply, but it doesn’t. Why? Because the lessons of the last ten years have conditioned many followers of West Indies cricket to hope for the best, yet expect the worst. Some will insist that for the West Indies side to lose nine wickets for 29 runs and turn a comfortable winning position against Australia into a 78-run defeat as they did yesterday in Kuala Lumpur is really the lowest.That they could get away with delivering an unprofessionally high number of wides, enjoy a few generous slices of luck in pursuit of a target of 280, and still manage to squander the perfect platform of 172 for 1 in just the 24th over represents a capitulation that will prompt all sorts of heated overreaction around the territories, at least until the next match against India.That’s the way it is with us: prematurely heralding the long-awaited turnaround after defeating the Indians 4-1 at home three months ago, now launching scathing attacks and suggesting that with this pathetic effort they have dipped below the standards of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.You want to know real pain of the sporting variety? Try the five-run loss to the same Australians in the semi-finals of the 1996 World Cup in Mohali, that after Mark Taylor’s side had been reduced to 15 for 4 batting first, while the West Indies were cruising into the final ten overs of the match needing 48 runs with eight wickets in hand.I saw recently that Curtly Ambrose described the experience as one he will never get over. He is not alone. For anguish of considerably more recent vintage, how about the first Test against New Zealand in Auckland in March of this year?The home side can go on and on as much as they want about how the changed ball made all the difference in the match, but nothing will ever convince me that, from 148 without loss chasing 292, it was the West Indies who contrived to lose by 26 runs and not the New Zealanders who pulled it off by dint of their determination and never-say-die spirit.Compared to those two occasions, yesterday’s latest remake of “Calypso Collapso” was just another example of the regional side embarrassing themselves. The DLF Cup is just another money-making one-day tournament crammed into an already packed international schedule to milk even more money from an Asian market that just cannot get enough of the shorter version of the game on their television screens. Win, lose or tie, the West Indies will emerge US$2 million richer after the four preliminary matches, with another US$1 million if they manage to make it into the final.Even if the collapse under the lights at the Kinrara Oval was a rather extreme example of what we have grown uncomfortably accustomed to, the fact is that, more often than not, contemporary West Indies teams invariably fold under concerted pressure on foreign fields. If anything, the two-wicket victory over England in the Champions Trophy final at The Oval two years ago is the notable exception that proves the rule.No one needs to be reminded that losing, like winning, becomes a habit, and when it happens often enough, it tends to become almost a self-fulfilling prophecy in tight situations. The look on the players’ faces who were yet to bat after the dismissals of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brian Lara in quick succession was almost a premonition of defeat, and the complete absence of any resistance thereafter confirmed that they were beaten long before the slide was in full swing.All is not lost, though, for useful fragments can always be found in the midst of a smouldering rubble. Chanderpaul’s blazing 93 and a 136-run opening stand with Chris Gayle should settle the former captain at the top of the order in the countdown to the World Cup.The bowlers surely will not combine for 18 wides in a single 50-over innings for the rest of the tour, so at least that’s out of their system. At least I hope so.Ramnaresh Sarwan complained the day before the match about still feeling jet-lagged after the long journey to the Malaysian capital. So maybe that explains yesterday’s performance. Whatever the reason or the excuse, it’s not the end of the world or the end of our chances in the Champions Trophy or World Cup.And, of course, there is always the prospect of an instant turnaround tomorrow. That’s one-day cricket for you.

Kevin Pietersen and Makhaya Ntini could have been team-mates © Getty Images

Shaun Pollock, the World XI captain, has said that he hopes young cricketers do not leave South Africa to play for other countries like Kevin Pietersen, the English middle-order batsman, did.Pollock and Pietersen, both, played for KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. “It’s a bit worrying as we don’t want to lose our talent, but it’s an individual’s choice,” Pollock was quoted as saying by BBC Sport. “When Kevin was with us he used to bat down the order and bowl some quite good off-spin. We tried to keep him and set up a meeting with Ali Bacher [then head of the United Cricket Board of South Africa] to try to give him a bit of security.”Pietersen did not have a permanent place in the KwaZulu-Natal team and he left for England after being disillusioned by the racial quota system that influenced selection in South Africa. He played for Nottinghamshire and then Hampshire and in the process qualified to represent England in the national side.”He [Pietersen] was looking for a guarantee about his future but they [South African board] couldn’t give him one,” added Pollock. “If we knew how good he was going to be we would have done everything to try to hold onto him. Kevin has backed his decision with hard work and performances. I’d much rather have him on my side than the other.”

Indians 190 for 1 (Sehwag 53 ret, Tendulkar 51 ret, Yuvraj 39*, Ganguly 37*) beat Sri Lankan Academy XI 187 (Wijeratne 46, Tendulkar 2-13, Balaji 2-21, Harbhajan 2-34) by nine wickets

Virender Sehwag: serving out an early warning to the opposition© AFP

The Indians warmed up for the Asia Cup with a comfortable nine-wicket win against a Sri Lankan Cricket Academy XI at the Nondescripts ground in Colombo. Chasing 188 for victory, the Indians cruised to their target in just 30.3 overs, with most of their batsmen having a decent outing.The only disappointments for the Indians were Rahul Dravid, who was caught behind for a first-ball duck, and Zaheer Khan, who sprayed the ball all over the place, bowling 16 wides in his eight overs.However, the rest all had useful outings. Harbhajan Singh was impressive in picking up 2 for 34, while Lakshmipathy Balaji and Sachin Tendulkar picked up a couple of wickets as well. For the academy side, which included three Test players – Michael Vandort, Dinuk Hettiarachchi and Hasantha Fernando – Sahan Wijeratne top-scored with 46, but a close second was extras, at 45.The Indians began the run-chase in style, with Virender Sehwag (53) and Tendulkar (51) smashing half-centuries before retiring to allow the others a hit. Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh were still there when the winning runs were scored.The Indians open their Asia Cup campaign with a match against the United Arab Emirates on Friday, before taking on Sri Lanka in their last group match on Sunday.

England allrounder Andrew Flintoff’s chances of playing in Thursday’s first npower Test against Zimbabwe at Lord’s have been described as “very doubtful” by the England & Wales Cricket Board’s chief medical officer, Dr Peter Gregory.Flintoff did not practise at Lord’s today after tests carried out last Friday revealed bruising and swelling around the nerves in his right shoulder. The injury continues to affect his right bowling arm and hand.There was more worrying news for England after Matthew Hoggard underwent an ultra-sound scan this morning which revealed strained abdominal muscles in his left side – but according to an England spokesman, the injury is healing and his fitness will be re-assessed after England training on Tuesday. Hoggard batted during England’s indoor practice at Lord’s on Monday afternoon but did not bowl.James Kirtley looks likely to make his Test debut at Lord’s if Hoggard is ruled out.As if those two injuries weren’t enough, Mark Butcher twisted his right ankle during the practice session, but it is not expected to keep him out of the match.

Tormented once, as Shane Warne says, by master-blaster SachinTendulkar in nightmares, the legendary leg-spinner has finally foundwords to express his admiration for the batsman.A candid and insightful autobiography by Warne, which hit the standsin Sydney, describes how he was “Tendul-corized” and hails the Indianas “number one” in the game.Amongst descriptions of the many memorable matches played againstalmost all cricketing nations across the globe, Warne relates thelegendary on-field battles with Tendulkar and Brian Lara.”Much has been made of my personal contest with Tendulkar,” he writes.”Some people have said that my duel with Tendulkar in India in 1997-98was the most compelling Test cricket they have ever seen, but there isno doubt he enjoyed the better of the exchanges.”He has played me better than anybody. Most Indian batsmen pick thelength very quickly, even when it is flighted above the eyeline, butTendulkar moved into position even earlier than the likes of MohammadAzharuddin and Rahul Dravid.”The eulogy continues. “His footwork is immaculate. He would either goright forward or all the way back and he has the confidence to go forhis strokes. I suppose I would be confident too if I batted as well asTendulkar.”The candid admissions seem to flow right from his heart as he says,”Although my statistics in that series don’t make happy reading, I amstill prepared to say it was a pleasure to bowl to him”.Warne even goes on to write: “Obviously, I never bowled to the Don,but if he was consistently superior to Tendulkar then I am glad he wasan Australian.”On the loss in the Coca Cola Cup final in Sharjah, Warne says, “Wewere once again Tendul-corized!”He also talks of how ahead of the 1997-98 series against India whilehe was recuperating in Australia, Sachin was practising intensively bydeliberately scuffing up an area outside leg stump in the nets to facethe Aussie wrist spinners.”I suppose I should take it as a compliment that he felt he needed todo that before he took Australia and me on. I have nothing butadmiration for the guy and as the series progressed he showed why heis the number one.”The other Indian batsman who impressed Warne during the series was theopener Navjot Singh Sidhu. “One batsman I never felt received thecredit he deserved during the series was Navjot Sidhu,” he writes.Among the spinners during 1990s who gave Warne most pleasure were AnilKumble and Mushtaq Ahmed. Warne writes, “If he was not a hero in Indiaalready then Kumble set himself up for life when he took all 10Pakistan wickets in an innings in Delhi in February 1999.”Kumble was always like an old buddy for Warne. “We would chat aboutour methods. It is no different from a couple of used-car salesmenbumping into each other. They will pass on a few tricks aboutdeceiving customers while we talk about deceiving batsmen.”Kumble’s strengths are his longevity and consistency…. He is athorough gentleman off the field but extremely competitive on thefield.”Warne talks at length about the match-fixing controversy whilepleading his innocence.”I have never attempted to fix a game or any part of a game in mylife. I never would and never will. Nor have I knowingly receivedmoney from a bookmaker.”As far as the man I knew only as John is concerned, I was stupid andnaive to accept money. It didn’t dawn on me that he might be involvedwith trying to fix cricket matches. I thought he was a wealthy man wholiked to bet, who had won money on Australia in the past and wanted toexpress his thanks. I took it at face value and thought he was tellingthe truth.””In hindsight I think it would have been better for all of us if theBoard had made it public straight away.”The news that Mark Waugh and Shane Warne had taken money from a bookiebroke after months of silence from the ACB in December 1998.”In my heart I knew I had done nothing wrong. I would love John tocome forward to confirm my version of the story. In future, if I canstill help the cricket authorities to get to the bottom of anythingrelating to corruption then I will be happy to assist,” he writes.He further writes: “Like Hansie Cronje, Mohammad Azharuddin wasanother guy I never held under any suspicion, but who is said to havebeen involved. I thought of him as a very polite, sensitive, quietperson, who dressed extremely smartly away from the game.”He was also a particularly high class batsman, capable of takingbatting to another level on his day.”Even while discussing Sharjah and charges of it being the hotbed ofcorruption, Warne cannot help but allude to Tendulkar, albeit in ahumurous vein. “I have played in Sharjah, where investigations havecentred, and not to my knowledge, set eyes upon a bookmaker.”I am afraid, like Sachin’s straight drives, it all went over myhead!”In Warne’s opinion, match-fixing warrants a life ban and it is theduty of every cricketer to pass on any information however small andinsignificant it might seem to the authorities.But his own gambling habits are no hidden secrets. “I played blackjackand roulette and bet on Aussie Rules, but never on cricket when I wasinvolved.”Warne, who made his Test debut against India in 1991-92, says, “Apartfrom the pitches in India, the harsh conditions, heat and humidityexplain why so few sides come out on top.”But I must say that food did not present quite the problem for methat people might have imagined from some of the newspaper headlinesand pictures of tinned spaghetti and baked beans being shipped outwith the words ‘To Shane Warne in India’ plastered all over thecrates.”Warne is indignant about the Australian team being labelled as theworst sledgers in the world. “Fast bowlers generally sledge out offrustration. For some reason Australia have acquired the reputation ofbeing the worst sledgers in the world, but I think New Zealand shouldhold that mantle.”Compared to the Australian side I joined in the early 1990s, the teamof today is relatively quiet, even with McGrath in our ranks,” hewrites.And it was none other than Allan Border who taught Warne theusefulness of sledging. “If things were not happening for me, he(Border) suggested it was probably worth having a word with thebatsman – not for the sake of having a go, but to switch myself on forthe contest.”While Shane Warne may not have been included in Bradman’s Dream Team,he has been voted one of the five greatest cricketers of the twentiethcentury along with Sir Donald Bradman, Gary Sobers, Vivian Richardsand Jack Hobbs.In the book, Warne lists his own Dream Team and Tendulkar, who is theonly contemporary cricketer to find a place in Bradman’s XI, figuresin both Rest of the World Test and one-day teams.

Ahead of Australia A’s series against his side, the India A coach Rahul Dravid had made it clear he wanted quick, bouncy pitches. Viewing his role as “someone to develop young players so they can go and perform overseas”, Dravid had called for conditions that would test his young batsmen’s ability against the Australian fast bowlers.”If on tracks that have good pace and bounce, if somebody succeeds as a batsman, then we will know these guys are capable of playing at the next level.”Going by those words, the surface at the MA Chidambaram Stadium for the first four-day game will not have pleased Dravid. With the ball barely coming on to the bat, India A’s batsmen were engaged in an attritional battle against stump-to-stump bowling on day one. Australia A did not even bother with a slip after lunch on the first day, reckoning edges would not carry that far. Not that the batsmen were rejoicing: with the ball not coming on, they couldn’t play their shots for fear of scooping catches to short mid-on or short cover.KL Rahul, who scored a composed 96 on the first day, said it would have been “nice” to play on a quicker pitch, but maintained that the sluggish surface still posed plenty of challenges.”As players we were not focusing on what wicket we were going to get,” Rahul said, at the end of the second day’s play. “Whatever wicket you’re going to get, you have to put your best foot forward, make the best use of these conditions. And we know these conditions well.”We came here expecting slow turn, and we were prepared for this, but if we did get a bouncy wicket, it would have been nice, it would have been a good challenge for us. Not like this is not challenging, this is still challenging, because it’s very hot and the wicket is very slow. Outfield is a little heavy, so you have to push yourself as players and physically it is very tough. We’re enjoying this.”Still, between the two camps, you would suspect Australia A are happier with how the series is panning out so far – not so much in terms of the match situation, which is nicely balanced, as much as the kind of challenge their players are coming through.The management has already seen how their players respond to conditions vastly different from anything back home. They must be pleased with the discipline shown by the seamers on the first day, the way the left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe bounced back from a poor start to finish with six wickets, and the century partnership between Peter Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis late on day two. They may even be thankful to the curator for providing their players such a test of their skill and adaptability.It has been a test for India A too; It just isn’t the test their coach had envisioned.

With the much anticipated news that FIFA have finally announced goal line technology will be introduced into football, fans, managers and players alike have been celebrating a new era for the sport. After years of yearning for more conclusive evidence to be made available to referees, there is now a system in place to remove any questions marks over whether the ball has crossed the line.

Despite this progress, there are still concerns that the new system will be the end of the professional game as we know it. Sepp Blatter v Michel Platini may not be a prize fight that fans would flock to witness but the two leaders of World and European football are at loggerheads over how intrusive the latest technology will be. I for one have always favoured the idea of technology playing a role but I could never see how it would be introduced without it spreading to every facet of the beautiful game. With this in mind I must admit to agreeing with the concerns raised by UEFA’s outspoken President.

While Blatter has responded to constant cries from the professional game to introduce such a system, Platini has remained steadfast in his concerns that it will be the beginning of the end for football as we know it. The Frenchman insists he’s against all form of technology, not simply on the goal line, and has been vocal in his concerns for the future of the sport as more and more incidents become scrutinised. A recent example of this was Ukraine’s disallowed goal against England at Euro 2012. The ball was over the line so a goal should have been given and yet replays showed there was an offside in the build up meaning in fact the goal shouldn’t have stood. While two wrongs by the linesman do not make a right, the correct decision was made but the manner with which it was reached is not a precedent for future refereeing. Platini believes extra officials are the key to increasing the success rate of decisions but in this instance both the linesman and his little helper behind the goal got it wrong. In all honesty, the involvement of the extra officials will be regarded as completely unnecessary until they are seen to actually make a decision but clearly however many eyes the authorities place around the ground, there will always be room for human error.

As much I dismiss Platini’s naivety when introducing 5th and 6th officials, I do understand his attempts to avoid technology for as long as possible because unfortunately there are still far too many loop holes to be found and controversy will inevitably follow. Had a goal line system been in place in Donetsk then Ukraine’s goal against England would’ve been given. The logic is officials must assume every decision they made in the build up was acceptable and ultimately the only debatable issue is whether the Ukrainian shot actually crossed the line. Well as we all know it did, so Ukraine are given a goal but England are left bemoaning technology once more, especially considering the ease with which spectators have seen the replays. Suddenly technology has given a goal that wasn’t and this will be heightened when a handball or a foul is also involved during the build up.

Blatter believes the bottom line is that goals are most important thing for officials to get right. If we start debating offside calls as well then we have to look at handballs, throw ins, fouls and every other decision made since the ball last went dead. It would be impossible to sift through minutes of footage to find the smallest inconsistencies so perhaps the technology is better suited to its finite role. Since fans currently suffer through plenty of controversial decisions, surely any improvements will be to the benefit of the game, however limiting the authorities are being at the moment.

If supporters accept that goal line technology is the only system to be introduced then there’s no reason why it cannot be embraced amidst the remaining contentious decisions that surround the game on a weekly basis. I may fear the potential repercussions but I appreciate there will be a number of teams who will benefit from system even if it doesn’t spread throughout the game. That said I still wait with trepidation for the day a player is rewarded for standing offside and handling the ball over the goal line.

Are you pleased to see goal line technology introduced? Do you think it will be the downfall of football as we know it?

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