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Sri Lanka will welcome Lasith Malinga and other limited-overs players into their squad as they look to build on their success in the shorter formats in Australia

Andrew Fernando in Sydney09-Jan-2013One of Sri Lanka’s biggest frustrations during the Test series was their inability to call up Lasith Malinga to spearhead the attack, despite him already being in Australia, and in wicket-taking form. The possibility of a Malinga Test comeback was floated repeatedly, but team management maintained he was not fit enough for five-day cricket, though at times, they were hopeful he might eventually return in whites.They will no longer be without their most penetrative bowler though, with Malinga having joined the Sri Lanka squad on Tuesday, after completing his stint with the Melbourne Stars. He has been the standout bowler of the Big Bash League in the last month, taking a tournament-high 13 wickets, while his average of 10.69 and his economy rate of 4.96 are both the best in the league for any bowler with more than five scalps.Allrounder Jeevan Mendis said Malinga’s arrival in the team had already boosted the side, and that he and the other limited-overs specialists will likely inject energy into Sri Lanka’s Australian campaign. In addition to Malinga’s BBL exploits, he was also 2012’s highest wicket-taker in ODIs.”Any team would like to have Malinga,” Mendis said. “Having him in the one day team is a great opportunity for us to do well, and it also gives us confidence. With Malinga coming in and some other guys from Sri Lanka like Akila Dananjaya, and Upul Tharanga, we have a better chance of doing well in ODIs than we did in the Tests.”Though Dananjaya, Tharanga and Ajantha Mendis just arrived in Australia, both Jeevan Mendis and Thisara Perera have been playing in the BBL, while Nuwan Kulasekara, who has been in Australia with the Test team, is expected to recover from a cracked rib in time for the first ODI. If Kulasekara plays, he will complete a much more formidable attack than the bowling unit that struggled in the Tests, with four bowlers in the squad who have already had a taste of the conditions.”I have been playing for the Sydney Sixers, with whom I have a contract for four games, and that helped me get used to playing here,” Mendis said. “To come to Australia and play is a difficult task. It’s one of the best teams in the world, but if we take a look at the last few years, Sri Lanka have been doing well in ODIs and Twenty20s.”Encouragingly for Sri Lanka, they have won more matches than they have lost against the hosts in their last two limited-overs series in Australia. Sri Lanka were beaten in the finals of last year’s tri-series, but defeated Australia in four matches from seven in that tournament, while in 2010, Sri Lanka won a three-match bilateral series.Mendis said Sri Lanka’s versatile ODI squad, which can contain up to three allrounders in Mendis, Perera and Angelo Mathews, would give the visitors the edge in the upcoming series as well. “It was a great series to beat Australia here in 2010. It gives us confidence going into the ODIs. With the number of players we have that can both bat and bowl, we can do something good. We are good enough to win again. We need to forget about the Tests and focus on the ODIs and Twenty20s.”This will be Sri Lanka’s second ODI series under the new rules, which do not allow more than four fielders outside the 30-yard circle at any time in the game. The visitors prospered in their first dalliance with the new laws, winning a rain-affected series against New Zealand 3-0, and Mendis said Sri Lanka had since stopped thinking about the new rule as a limitation.”We are not used to it, but in one way it’s good for a spinner, because it allows us to bring the field in and gives a little more opportunity to get wickets. We’re thinking about the positive side about what we can do with the new rule. The first time it was difficult to bowl with the five fielders in, but as time went on, we thought it was a good opportunity for the bowlers to get some wickets. With the new rule, you have to be perfect as a spinner and you have to be smart about the field.”

Eight Australian bowlers had a workout on the second day of their warm-up match in Chennai and Moises Henriques and Nathan Lyon were the most successful

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Feb-2013
ScorecardEight Australian bowlers had a workout on the second day of their warm-up match in Chennai and Moises Henriques and Nathan Lyon were the most successful. They worked their way through the Board President’s XI top order and helped the Australians secure a slender first-innings lead.Henriques and Lyon reduced the home side to 61 for 4 and eventually took seven wickets between them. Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson and rookie spinner Ashton Agar were the other wicket-takers. Fast bowler Jackson Bird did not take a wicket but conceded only ten runs in as many overs.Ambati Rayudu scored 87 for the Board President’s XI but didn’t get much support from anyone else. Parvez Rassol, who had taken seven wickets on the first day, made 36 at No. 8, the next best score. The home side was dismissed for 230.”I have worked a lot on my game with Robin Singh and Mr Sharath and I am getting into good positions, having enough time to play my shots,” Rayudu said after the game. “Mentally I am looking to spend a lot more time in the middle. Have been relaxed the whole season, happy that I am getting into a zone such as this.”Most of them were the same pace, they were really trying to swing the old ball, use a lot of reverse,” he said of the Australian bowlers. “They got reverse swing after about 30 overs, it started reversing pretty early and they worked on it as well. They are looking to pull out a lot of reverse swing.”The Australians played four overs in their second innings, opening with Glenn Maxwell and Usman Khawaja, and made 15 for 0.

Matthew Wade, whose confident innings of 62 rescued Australia after they had lost early wickets, said he felt in control during his innings, but was disappointed not to have played a bigger knock

Brydon Coverdale in Hyderabad02-Mar-2013The first day in Hyderabad was bookended by two strange decisions from the Australian camp. In the morning they wrote the names of two spinners on their team sheet but neither was Nathan Lyon. And in the late afternoon Michael Clarke declared at 237 for 9, the only time in Test history that a captain has declared the first innings of a non-rain-affected match closed with so few runs on the board. The rest of the day provided some goings on that could have been weird except they have become all too familiar for Australia.Again they lost wickets in clumps, 4 for 63 at the top and then 5 for 25 at the bottom. Again Clarke was one of the two batsmen who rescued the innings and dragged it out of the realms of embarrassment. His partner on this occasion was the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who in this series is doubling as a member of Australia’s top six.Their 145-run stand was a record for the fifth wicket by an Australian pair in India and it gave Australia hope after Clarke won the toss and chose to bat. Just as Moises Henriques had in Chennai, Wade looked like the only man capable of staying in the middle alongside Clarke. He struck eight boundaries, used his feet to the spinners and appeared in control until losing his cool; a stumping reprieve was followed next ball by a slashed catch to backward point.”I felt in control today,” Wade said. “I felt like my plans against the spin and against the quicks came off pretty well. It’s still pretty disappointing to get out when I did. Me and Michael had built a really good platform and we lost a lot of wickets in that last session, so it was satisfying in a way that my plans that I’ve been working on in the nets are working out in the middle, but very disappointing that we couldn’t kick on and have a really big partnership.”Noticeably absent from Wade’s game was the sweep shot, which brought him undone in the second innings in Chennai when he tried to sweep a ball that was too straight and was bowled by Harbhajan Singh. Wade has been practising the shot in the nets but decided it wasn’t the best option on the first day of a Test when the ball was not turning as significantly as it would later.”This is day one of a Test match so the spin is not as big,” Wade said. “I think when conditions suit spinners it’s an important shot for a couple of our players. I certainly won’t be putting it away for the whole tour if conditions suit. If I feel like it’s on I’ll go back to it. I think it’s just assessing when we play it. England played it really well over here and scored a lot of runs, so I think it’s a valuable shot. Going into day four and day five I think it will play its role.”Wade might also have been hesitant to risk top-edging a sweep after he entered this match with a minor fracture to his cheek suffered while facing throwdowns in the nets on Friday. Australia’s team doctor Peter Brukner said on match eve that Wade was likely to play, though he would need to see how he recovered by morning.”There was no doubt really,” he said. “I just needed to check how I woke up to make sure my eye didn’t close over. When I woke up and had a look in the mirror and I could see properly, I was all good to play.”There was no such luck for Lyon or Mitchell Starc, both of whom were dropped after the loss in the first Test, leaving Australia with three frontline bowlers – James Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Xavier Doherty – and two allrounders, Henriques and the debutant Glenn Maxwell. The bowlers were given an early chance when Clarke declared late in the day, forcing India’s openers to face three overs, but they survived unscathed.”With the ball a little bit harder there was probably a bit more up-and-down bounce in the first hour or so, hence the reason why we declared,” Wade said. “We felt that if we could get the ball in the right area and get one to stay low or one to jump up, and we get a couple of nicks or a couple of lbws, we could have a couple of wickets tonight. That didn’t happen but we’re pretty confident that if we hit the stumps enough we’re going to create enough chances.”We’ve got two spinners, plus Michael, and Davey [Warner] can have a bowl if he has to. I think that will play a big role tomorrow. But I also think the quicks are pretty hard work, it went reverse swing for them. You saw their first three wickets were from the quicks. We’ll be hoping that a couple of seamers can get a couple of lbws or bowleds tomorrow.”

Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne is attracting more interest from Saudi Arabia – this time from a second-tier side.

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De Bruyne wanted by Saudi sideWill make offer if they get promotedAl-Nassr also linked with BelgianWHAT HAPPENED?

Saudi second-tier side Al-Qadsiah have remarkably set their sights on the Belgian playmaker, according to . A move would be contingent on promotion, but the Khobar club expect to reach the Saudi Pro League and hope to lure the City star to boost their hopes of becoming a big name in the top flight.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

It is not clear if De Bruyne will be interested in making the move to Saudi Arabia any time soon, however. The 32-year-old's contract at City expires in 2025 and he remains an important figure in the team, but the ex-Chelsea player has managed just one Premier League appearance so far this season, having sustained a muscle injury in the first game of the season.

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De Bruyne is at the top of Al-Qadsiah's list of international targets for the summer transfer window. They are not the only Saudi team linked with him, though, as it was reported in October that Al-Nassr hope to meet with his agent to discuss a possible transfer.

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Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR DE BRUYNE?

The attacking midfielder will continue his rehabilitation with the aim of getting fit and back into action in the near future.

David Hussey waited until the last Sheffield Shield round to make his first century of the season but Victoria still finished a rain-interrupted day trailing Tasmania

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Mar-2013
ScorecardDavid Hussey waited until the last Sheffield Shield round to make his first century of the season but Victoria still finished a rain-interrupted day trailing Tasmania.Victoria fell 11 runs short of Tasmania’s first innings total despite Hussey’s innings, and the hosts’ reply was again underpinned by a strong opening stand between Jordan Silk and Mark Cosgrove.Cosgrove perished to Fawad Ahmed for 50, but Silk continued in the company of Alex Doolan, leaving Tasmania in a position to set a target on the final day, provided the weather is kind. Both sides require an outright result, the Bushrangers to host the final and the Tigers to have a chance of reaching it.

Australia’s national selector John Inverarity has spoken frankly of his panel’s struggles to find batsmen capable of thriving in a Test match following the retirements of Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey

Daniel Brettig30-Apr-2013Australia’s national selector, John Inverarity, has spoken frankly of his panel’s struggles to find batsmen capable of thriving in a Test match following the retirements of Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey, admitting he is not sure whether they will emerge in strong numbers ever again.In a searching interview with ESPNcricinfo, Inverarity said that Twenty20’s influence on the Australian summer schedule loomed large among a variety of reasons for the tailing off of Australian batting in recent summers, to a point where the captain Michael Clarke is now the only member of the Test top six with an average of better than 40.”I don’t think anyone has got the exact answer as to why we haven’t got players coming through who bat for long periods,” Inverarity said. “But one thing I am sure about is young players need to work it out for themselves … Society is different now, there’s fast food and immediate gratification and those things, so whether we’ll see it in the abundance that we’ve seen it over the years before I don’t know.”I think an intelligent young player with some talent, and looking to make his way in cricket, I would think high on his agenda would be developing an appetite and the wherewithal to bat for long periods and make big scores. A young player, if he wanted to play Test cricket, then applying himself in that regard is what we’re on the lookout for.”While careful to credit the T20 Big Bash League with building a new audience for the game in Australia, Inverarity conceded the lack of Sheffield Shield cricket across summer’s prime months in December and January had affected a player’s ability to develop continuity, momentum and the habit of high scoring.”The cricket scene now is more fragmented than it was, with T20. If you’d said 10 years ago that there wouldn’t be any domestic first-class cricket in Australia in December and January you would’ve thought that was not possible,” he said. “The Big Bash League has been a great attraction and in spreading the word of cricket it’s been a great success. But in terms of players developing momentum it has made it rather difficult.”A very good example is Alex Doolan, who has been a very promising player for some time and built up some real momentum in October/November, and then of course the next time he played a Shield match was in February. So that was difficult for him.”Inverarity mounted a staunch defence of the management and rotation of Australian players over the 2012-13 summer, and disputed claims that batsmen – in contrast to bowlers – were disadvantaged by being given the occasional rest instead of playing throughout the year.”I think that’s exaggerated. It does not stand up to scrutiny,” he said. “Missing a game or two for an elite professional cricketer, who plays all three formats and for numerous teams, should not be an issue at all. Players regularly come back from a prolonged layoff for injury and bat brilliantly.”Playing in all forms, players can tend to become jaded. I think Michael Clarke at the moment is benefiting greatly from having a break. Over a period of five years, my view is you’ll get more out of a player if he has appropriate breaks. And of course that creates opportunity for others. Jackson Bird playing for Starc in the Boxing Day Test was a great benefit to Australian cricket.”There was also an explanation for why the New South Wales spin bowler Steve O’Keefe has not been selected for national duty, despite handsome domestic figures. Inverarity said he had been close several times, but the panel’s collective view had remained consistent that other, better options existed.”Steve O’Keefe is a very good cricketer. He’s taken wickets, and he’s a steady batsman,” Inverarity said. “Whenever we’ve been at the selection table, we’ve marginally preferred other players to him. But he’s still regarded as a good cricketer. We’re very aware of his figures and we do look deeper than that. But there’s a panel of five of us and there’s a consistency of view when we select the spinners.”

Preview of IPL 2013’s first qualifier, between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians in Delhi

The Preview by Nikita Bastian20-May-2013Match factsMay 21, 2013
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Chennai Super Kings sent Mumbai Indians packing in last year’s playoffs•AFPBig PictureAfter 72 league matches – mismatches, in some cases – we’re into the final week of the IPL. The most important week. The week Chennai Super Kings have negotiated five times previously, with more success than failure; they’re the only team to progress past the league stage in every edition of the IPL so far, losing once in the semis, finishing runners-up twice (including last year), and winning the title in 2010 and 2011. Of the 10 playoff matches they’ve contested, they’ve won seven. They will go into the first qualifier knowing just how to win these big games, and with the cushion of having a second chance at making the final should they need it – both huge pluses.But, in Mumbai Indians, Super Kings face the only IPL line-up that is arguably even stronger than their own. While the two teams match-up on the batting front – both in terms of proven performers and power-hitting – Mumbai hold the clear edge in the bowling department. This season, especially, Mumbai’s bowlers have been lethal as a unit (as opposed to Lasith Malinga being the single biggest threat), with Mitchell Johnson swinging it at pace, Harbhajan Singh striking consistently while being economical, and Pragyan Ojha and Dhawal Kulkarni providing reliable support. They’ve already demolished Super Kings’ line-up once this season, rolling them for 79 – the tournament’s lowest total – at the Wankhede.Both teams are coming off losses after seemingly letting their guard down in inconsequential matches, but before being tripped up in Dharamsala Mumbai had five comfortable wins in a row. Super Kings, on the other hand, have an up-and-down record of late after posting an record-equalling seven consecutive IPL victories earlier in the tournament. That has prompted talk of them having peaked too early.Both teams have injury concerns to key players: Albie Morkel and Sachin Tendulkar. If Morkel is fit, he is likely to slot in as one of three overseas seam-bowling allrounders for Super Kings. If Tendulkar is fit, Mumbai will have to take a tough call – his replacement, Aditya Tare, has made two handy contributions, scoring rapidly as opener for a team that has got off to slow starts more often than not. Ambati Rayudu, who has 196 runs in 16 matches at 17.81, could be the one to miss out.Form guideChennai Super Kings: LWLWL (most recent first)
Mumbai Indians: LWWWWIn the spotlightM Vijay has had a woeful IPL 2013 so far. He came into the tournament having enjoyed much success in India’s home Test series against Australia, but his form has fallen away rapidly. More than his stats – 271 runs at 22.58 in 13 games – it has been the manner in which he has batted that has inspired very little confidence: he has swung and missed, scratched around, and hardly ever dominated the bowling. Against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday, Super Kings seemed more interested in allowing Vijay to bat his way back into form than going after the steep target in the eight-over shootout. The team, and Vijay, will be quietly hoping for a repeat of last year, when he followed up a forgettable league stage with 113 off 58 balls in the qualifiers.Lasith Malinga, by his standards, has had an average IPL. He has not been in contention for the purple cap at any point, and is only third on Mumbai Indians’ bowling charts in terms of wickets taken. But his record of 17 wickets at 21.05, with an economy rate of 6.71, is far from poor and it would be silly to underestimate him; it is still likely to be Malinga who causes the most telling damage if he gets those killer yorkers right.Stats and trivia Mumbai are comfortably ahead in the head-to-head against Super Kings, winning eight off 13 games. In their last six encounters, Super Kings have won only once. But, revealingly, Super Kings have won both the playoff games between the two On Saturday, Malinga became the first bowler to 100 IPL wickets. Harbhajan Singh and Albie Morkel, with 73 wickets apiece, are joint-third behind Malinga and Kings XI’s Piyush Chawla for the most wickets taken for a single team in the IPLQuotes”I have been given the role of bowling in the Powerplays. But the only instruction I was given was to stick to whatever I have been doing so far, not think too much and try to remain as blank as I can. The coach and captain told me that whatever I have done on the cricket field so far has brought me into the IPL and the same will take me forward in my career.”

After guiding Rajasthan Royals out of a hole and a step closer to the IPL 2013 final, batsman Brad Hodge has expressed much satisfaction at the result in the Eliminator that followed an “emotional week”

ESPNcricinfo staff23-May-2013After guiding Rajasthan Royals out of a hole and a step closer to the IPL 2013 final, batsman Brad Hodge has expressed much satisfaction at the result achieved in the Eliminator that followed an “emotional week”. His experience, Hodge said, came in handy in what was a tense situation.”It was a close contest and that is exactly where you need your experience to get a team over the line,” Hodge told the IPL site. “This is the most thrilling game I have ever played in the IPL. I have played for Kolkata Knight Riders and Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the past editions. This is the first time with Rajasthan Royals and I am delighted to win the game for the team.”Rahul [Dravid] was delighted when I walked back to the dugout. It has been an emotional week for us, and it is a really good result for Rajasthan Royals and especially for Rahul.”Chasing 133, Royals had been reduced to 57 for 5 and needed 76 off 60 when No. 7 Hodge put together a 45-run stand with Sanju Samson – in which 18-year-old Samson contributed 9 – at close to eight runs an over. Once Samson was out, Hodge added 33 more with James Faulkner at over nine an over to take the team home with four wickets and four balls to spare. Hodge finished unbeaten on 54 off 29, hitting Darren Sammy for consecutive sixes to close out the game.”The wicket was a fraction slow and that suited the type of cricket Sunrisers have been playing through the tournament. We wanted to try and be aggressive early on in the innings. We got a decent start but faltered mid-way,” Hodge said. “It did not go according to script.”We were slightly under pressure while chasing the stiff [asking rate towards the end]. We found ourselves in a bit of a hole and needed a few shots to come off well to get the asking rate down. Thankfully, we got a couple of shots in the stands that helped us get over the line.”Royals will now play Mumbai Indians in the second qualifier on Friday. That Royals are on the threshold of the final is a just reflection of the way they have played this season, Hodge said: “Everyone wants to play in the final and it is satisfying to see that you are just a step away from the final. We have had a great season this year and have been one of the top teams in the competition, and it was only fitting that we got closer to grabbing the trophy.”

The legspinner Fawad Ahmed’s application for Australian citizenship has officially been approved, clearing the way for a possible call-up to the Test squad for the Ashes.

Brydon Coverdale02-Jul-2013The legspinner Fawad Ahmed’s application for Australian citizenship has officially been approved, clearing the way for a possible call-up to the Test squad for the Ashes. Ahmed described the confirmation from former federal immigration minister Brendan O’Connor as a “dream moment”, and said he was now looking forward to giving something back to the country that had welcomed him after he fled from Pakistan in 2010.In one of his final acts as immigration minister before losing the position in a cabinet reshuffle, O’Connor approved the application last week and an official citizenship ceremony is all that remains before Ahmed can obtain his passport. The announcement was made at the MCG on Tuesday and O’Connor said he had listened to a number of submissions, including those from Cricket Australia, on the character and virtues possessed by Ahmed.”I was able to tell Fawad Ahmed today that his application for citizenship has been approved,” O’Connor said. “It was approved late last week … and it was approved because we were able to look at the application in a different light because of the changes to the Australian citizenship act that went through the parliament not long ago.”Those changes meant that some individuals could have their citizenship fast-tracked if it was considered they could be of benefit to Australia in a range of fields, including sport, science, medicine and the performing arts.However, Ahmed’s lack of wickets in two matches for Australia A in Belfast and Bristol last month mean that an Ashes call-up is no certainty, and he is instead concentrating on the upcoming Australia A tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa. Ahmed said he was grateful for the support he had received in his application for citizenship and he was pleased to be able to focus solely on cricket for the first time in many years.”It’s a long journey and it was a long struggle,” Ahmed said on Tuesday. “The whole community of Australia – the people really supported me throughout this journey. It’s a victory for our sport … and for this country. I just can’t wait to be a citizen. Especially in the field of cricket, I just want to give back something to this country.”I have a great opportunity with Australia A in Zimbabwe and South Africa. I will try my best to perform well on those two tours and it depends on the selections. It will be an honour to represent Australia in the Ashes or maybe other tournaments. It’s more relaxed now, I can feel there are no issues. Now I’m a citizen and can concentrate on my cricket and look forward to my bright future in cricket.”Whether that bright future includes this year’s Ashes tour remains to be seen. The left-arm spinner Ashton Agar is likely to travel with the Ashes group in a development capacity, not as an official squad member, but his encouraging performances for Australia A could make him a more likely candidate for a call-up than Ahmed if the selectors decide they need a second spinner alongside Nathan Lyon.Agar picked up six wickets at 16.50 on the Australia A tour of the British Isles and will play for the Australians in their tour match against Worcestershire starting on Tuesday. By comparison, Ahmed had a tougher time for Australia A and managed only two wickets at 82.50.”The conditions were tough,” Ahmed said. “It was freezing cold, it was nine degrees and the wind was pretty fast. I was bowling against the wind. But I should have bowled a bit better than that. I bowled a few really good balls as well and beat the bat, and I was unlucky a few times with dropped catches but that’s a part of cricket.”

Warwickshire’s frustration was greater than Yorkshire’s when only an hour’s play was possible on the final day

Jon Culley at Headingley05-Aug-2013
ScorecardBoyd Rankin made short work of Yorkshire’s lower order•PA PhotosWarwickshire’s frustration was greater than Yorkshire’s when only an hour’s play was possible on the final day, when heavy overnight rain persisted well into the morning to leave the Division One leaders less vulnerable to defeat than they might otherwise have been. Even so, had the weather been kind to the defending champions after a 2.40pm start, they might still have pulled off a third win in a row.As it was, after completing the first part of their assignment by prising out the three remaining Yorkshire wickets, they had no sooner begun the chase for the 174 they needed than the weather closed in again, after only two overs of the 36 that theoretically were available.The draw enabled Yorkshire to reinforce their lead a little, extending the gap between themselves and Sussex from seven points to 10. Warwickshire, with five games left, have 37 points to make up if they are to catch Yorkshire and retain the title they won last year, although as was pointed out by Varun Chopra, still acting captain while Jim Troughton struggles to regain full fitness, the gap is as it was.”It would have been nice to have closed the gap with a win but with Sussex and Durham losing, we have not lost any ground,” he said. “And we are playing some very good cricket now.”We dominated against Middlesex and Notts in our last two games, which is easier said than done, and we were favourites to win this game here. With five games to go we will be a match for most teams and if we could win four of those we would have the same number of points that won us the title last year.”It took 13 overs for Yorkshire’s attempted resistance to collapse after resuming on 148 for 7. Chris Woakes finished with 5 for 42, his best analysis of the season, after uprooting Ryan Sidebottom’s stumps with his yorker and Boyd Rankin’s pace and bounce was too much for Steve Patterson and Jack Brooks, both caught on the leg side fending off rising deliveries. The big Irishman might have seen them off sooner but in questionable light Chopra was anxious not to give the umpires an excuse to take the players off and felt obliged to use Jeetan Patel from time to time.Chopra feels Rankin could be Warwickshire’s trump card on the run-in, compensating for the loss of the injured Chris Wright. “He had got something different to most county cricketers, with being 6ft 8ins, massive and fast. Standing there at slip, you can see it is hitting the ‘keeper real hard.”He is a better bowler this year even than last, with his areas and lines that he bowls. Last year you might have got the odd release ball from him but he is more at the batsmen this time and it looks very uncomfortable for anyone facing him.”It was not one of Yorkshire’s better performances, an analysis with which their captain, Andrew Gale, did not disagree, although he is not alarmed enough to revise his view that three more wins, perhaps even two, will be enough to clinch the title for Yorkshire for the first time since 2001.”I thought 300 was a little below par but the way we bowled on the second day put us in a good position,” he said. “But that morning session on the third day, where we had our foot on the throat of the defending champions, we let them off the hook. We should have made more than 180 in the second innings, when our batting was a bit soft in places, and that put them in a commanding position.”We cannot afford to have many sessions like that if we are to win the title but it might not have been a bad thing in a way as a wake-up call.”From here I think two more wins will put us in the mix, especially if we can beat Sussex away and Durham at Scarborough, and three would see us home.”Gale, whose side were a batsman short with Phil Jaques and Joe Sayers both injured, says that Yorkshire have ruled out signing an overseas batsman for the closing weeks of the season, despite the threat of losing another one, Gary Ballance, to England.”The club’s finances dictate what we can and can’t do and there is no money there, it is as simple as that,” he said. “But Phil is well on track to be back for the next Championship match and Joe is back playing second team today so we should have a full squad next time.”Gale admitted he would be irked if he were to lose Ballance to the England Lions games against Bangladesh A, which clash with Yorkshire’s clash with Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.”As far as Gary is concerned if England come for him we will have no say in the matter, of course, but I would hope we would not lose him for the Lions game,” he said.”If he goes and plays for England that’s fair enough but if it is for England Lions I think he’d be better off playing for us, in the Championship, to be honest. With the three in the senior side and five in the Under-19s I think we’ve given our fair share to the three lions.”