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England will have a review reinstated after the supplier of Snicko technology admitted an operator error may have cost them the wicket of Alex Carey on the opening day of the Adelaide Test.ESPNcricinfo understands that Brendon McCullum and Wayne Bentley, England’s head coach and team manager respectively, held talks with Jeff Crowe, the match referee, after the close of play to air their grievances. The ECB will also encourage the ICC to review their systems to improve their decision-making processes in future.TV umpire Chris Gaffaney upheld Ahsan Raza’s on-field “not out” decision after Carey, on 72, flashed at a ball from Josh Tongue outside off stump. There was a clear spike shown on the Real-Time Snickometer (RTS) several frames before the ball had passed the bat. “There’s a clear gap, no spike,” Gaffaney said.But Carey, who went on to score 106, admitted after play that he thought he had hit the ball, saying he had “a bit of luck” and was “clearly not” a walker. BBG Sports, the supplier of RTS, later suggested that an operator had “selected the incorrect stump mic for audio processing” and took “full responsibility for the error”.David Saker, England’s bowling coach, said on Wednesday night that the dressing room has harboured concerns about the reliability of RTS all series. “We shouldn’t be talking about this after a day’s play, it should just be better than that,” Saker said. “In this day and age, you’d think the technology is good enough to pick things up like that.”The ICC’s playing conditions allow player reviews to be reinstated at the match referee’s discretion if a player review “could not properly be concluded due to a failure of the technology”. There is precedent for the decision from England’s tour to India in early 2021, when Ajinkya Rahane was incorrectly given not out in the second Test in Chennai.Related

• Starc calls for ICC to foot the DRS bill

• Snicko supplier takes 'full responsibility' for Carey error

• Ehantharajah: England bowlers chase Christmas No.1

• Carey and Khawaja stand out on juvenile batting day for Australia

• Carey keeps Australia afloat as Ashes refuses to find slower gear

Crowe’s decision means that England will have two reviews available to them on the second day in Adelaide, with Australia set to resume their innings of 326 for 8. It may be scant consolation to them given Carey was able to bat on and score a further 34 runs after being incorrectly given not out.The ICC has two approved “sound-based edge detection technology” suppliers: RTS, which is used in Australia, and UltraEdge, which is used in the rest of the world. Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, said on Thursday morning that umpires “can’t trust” RTS and suggested that UltraEdge is superior.”This technology that we are using here is simply not as good as technology that’s used in other countries,” Ponting said while commentating on Channel 7. “You talk to the umpires, they’ll tell you the same thing. They can’t trust it.”They’ve got a third umpire sitting up in there that’s got to make decisions based on what he’s seeing that the technology is providing, and sometimes they have a gut feel that it’s not right. “That can’t happen. You’ve got to be able to trust the technology that’s in place.”The ICC did not respond to a request for comment.

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Trinidad sent CCC crashing from their overnight 185 for 3 to 275 before completing a nine-wicket win to move into second place in the Carib Beer Series.With only 36 needed for victory, Trinidad lost William Perkins for 12, after which Dwayne Bravo struck a boundary down the ground to complete the formalities.Earlier, CCC went through the first half-hour of the morning session without alarm, but the situation changed when Chadwick Walton was caught at second slip by Perkins off Richard Kelly for 58. Kelly struck two overs later, when Perkins pouched an edge from Kurt Wilkinson, who could not open his account.Amit Jaggernauth, the offspinner, ended a fledgling partnership between Craig Emmanuel (15) and Floyd Reifer. Ravi Rampaul, who went on to get the Man-of-the-match award, then dismissed Kevin McClean and Jason Bennett in quick time. Meanwhile, Reifer reached his half-century when he slogged Dave Mohammed over midwicket before Jaggernauth dismissed Kavesh Kantasingh. Mohammed, though, got the better off Reifer when he was caught at mid-off.
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Ramnaresh Sarwan’s superb 150 enabled Guyana to stretch their first innings score to 415 and claim a 211-run lead, after which their bowlers, led by 3 for 56 from seamer Esuan Crandon, left Leeward Islands on a verge of an innings defeat in St.Thomas.In their reply, Leewards slipped to 51 for 4, with Crandon dismissing opener Shane Jeffers and Tonito Willett for five and eight respectively. Runako Morton, the Leewards’ captain, blitzed an unbeaten 80 off 112 balls with six fours and two sixes and added 73 runs for the fifth wicket with Steve Liburd (30) to briefly steady the innings, but their stand ended when Liburd was run out.Crandon then proceeded to dismiss Jahmar Hamilton for a duck before offspinner Zaheer Mohammed took two tail-end wickets.Looking to build on their lead, Guyana lost Crandon in the second over after adding two runs to their overnight score of 299 for 6. But Sarwan, who began the day on 89, soon brought up his century, and made his way to 150 after adding 103 runs for the eight wicket with Mohammed (43). Liburd was the most successful Leewards bowler with 3 for 46.

Oh, no!
You are used to seeing him walk without much ado but you rarely see Adam Gilchrist walking away with a shrug, showing dismay at the umpire’s decision. Sreesanth’s previous ball was a tight one, not allowing Gilchrist freedom to swing his bat. The third ball of the match was a sharp inswinger. Gilchrist’s feet were in an awkward position as he inside-edged the ball on to his pads. However, Rudi Koertzen failed to hear it as he raised the dreaded finger in robotic fashion. It was a sad pitstop on Gilchrist’s farewell tour.Punter’s agony
This could be one of the worst slumps of Ricky Ponting’s career. And more than anyone, two Indians have been annoying him all summer. If Harbhajan Singh continued his torment of the Australian captain, Ishant Sharma doubled the suffering with his extra pace, movement and the bounce. He had bowled one the best overs to Ponting at the WACA last month, something Ponting acknowledged, and had his number once again at the MCG. The ball pitched short of a length, Ponting squared up but was beaten by the extra bounce and the edge flew straight into the hands of first slip.Planned to perfection
It was a perfect set-up. Brad Haddin had been trying to negate the spin by stepping out of his crease. Harbhajan Singh speared one down leg, Haddin stepped out and tried to sweep, but he missed and Mahendra Singh Dhoni took off the bails in a trice. Simon Taufel signalled a wide but Haddin wasn’t even waiting for the third umpire’s decision.Where were you, Mr Cricket?
Removing the helmet and raising the bat to all sections of the crowd arecelebrations typically reserved for a hundred but MichaelHussey was so pleased to reach his half-century that he made the most ofthe moment. True, it was a very important innings after Australia slumpedto 6 for 92 but Hussey averaged 55.90 coming in to the match. So why wouldhis minor milestone mean so much? Perhaps it was because he’s had a lean12 months in ODIs – he had not passed fifty in anODI since last February’s Chappell-Hadlee Series.Over and out
It all seemed to be going wrong for Ishant in his second over withthe new ball. A pair of edges off Matthew Hayden flew over the slip cordon tothe boundary, another delivery was driven for four to long-off and twoconsecutive no-balls were followed by an aborted run-up. Eighteen camefrom the over, enough to dent the spirit of most 19-year-olds. But Ishanthas already proved more mature than many teenagers, and his decision tokeep attacking brought a well-deserved wicket in his next over when he hadHayden caught behind.Speared in
155.9 kph. Now that came straight into Virender Sehwag from Brett Lee who had the batsman’s measure in the first over but was unlucky. This time Sehwag got his bat just in the nick of time to avoid the humiliation of seeing any damage to his woodwork.Shots of the day
Lee was rattled after Tendulkar hit him past square for a four. The next ball was 150kph just around the good length but the ricochet came off the bat at the same speed, hitting the boards. Resounding. Next ball: 151kph attempted yorker at his off stump. Tendulkar brings that heavy bat down and just guides it past the bowler’s right hand for another exquisite boundary.Hard luck
This one would be debated for a while. Tendulkar charged out to send one over the long MCG boundary off the last ball of Stuart Clark’s first over. It looked more of a slog and he missed miserably and in the process nicked it to Gilchrist. But Koertzen again failed to hear the edge, which was later confirmed by snicko. The Aussies couldn’t believe it and the crowd sighed a loud “boo”.To dive or not to dive
He was not sure if it would fly past just like Tendulkar was unconvinced about playing the stroke. Mitchell Johnson had bowled a slow off cutter and Tendulkar was in two minds but went for the drive over the inner circle. Lee stood his ground and then when he saw it was within reach, dived as if it was penalty shootout to pouch it high on his wrong side. Yes. What a catch.

Australia 3 for 255 (Ponting 107*, Gilchrist 51, Clarke 48) beat New Zealand 7 for 254 (McCullum 96, Taylor 50) by seven wickets
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Ricky Ponting settled the first of several scores against New Zealand, his 24th one-day century leading Australia to a seven-wicket victory in the Chappell-Hadlee Series opener in Adelaide. He dodged the rain to drive them home with 45 deliveries remaining after a 25-ball fifty from Adam Gilchrist and Michael Clarke’s 48.Ponting’s run-a-ball hundred left New Zealand with no answers. He was as composed as ever, putting his bat where his mouth was, after promising to do his utmost to regain the title. He couldn’t have done much more, and received decent support from Clarke before he and Andrew Symonds finished the job.Australia may have taken the early honours, but New Zealand will be largely satisfied by the way they handled the pace as McCullum made good their pledge not to crumble against the fast men. McCullum earned his highest one-day score of 96, although their 7 for 254 was somewhat below par on a flat track.Daniel Vettori’s bold decision to face their speed demons first up appeared to be paying off when they were well-set at 1 for 115, yet two quick wickets for Shaun Tait, in his first international match at his home ground, and then McCullum’s dismissal to Brad Hogg, applied the brakes. Ross Taylor injected some late momentum with 50, as did Jacob Oram with an unbeaten 32, but Australia’s bowlers regrouped well and were backed up by decent fielding.Gilchrist and Hayden then raced to fifty inside five overs, almost as if Hayden was getting a taste for the Twenty20 he missed out on earlier this week. But when Hayden popped a soft catch back to Mills for 17 and Gilchrist perished soon after, not waiting to see if Taylor had taken the skier to deep cover off Chris Martin, Australia were temporarily stopped in their tracks.Ponting and Clarke then rebuilt, patiently at first – Ponting was even content to pat out a maiden to Martin – but they were beginning to move through the gears, including a fifty for Ponting, when the rain came. The 45-minute break, with no overs lost, merely upped the ante further, Ponting dashing to another ruthlessly efficient hundred from as many balls while Clarke blended seamlessly with him until falling to Kyle Mills. Symonds was then dropped by Oram early off Mark Gillespie but it hardly mattered as Australia were well up with the run-rate.New Zealand’s star was McCullum, who collected at nearly a run a ball and struck 12 fours and a six, and he was a ready example of how to attack fast bowling. He combined well with Jamie How in a stand of 99 and Taylor in a partnership of 52.The visitors admitted before the match that pace had been a weakness, but McCullum in particular stood up to everything that Australia – in the mighty form of Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Tait – could throw (er, bowl) at him. Though McCullum was cut in half more times than a busy magician’s assistant early on, it was soon his turn to do the slicing with some terrific drives and cuts until he carved out just short of a hundred.Tait, whose action was questioned before the game by New Zealand, also got the treatment with one over disappearing for three cover-driven fours, but he came back strongly in a crucial second spell which produced edges from How and Scott Styris. In his third, he cleaned up Vettori (18) with a yorker, by which time the damage was done. New Zealand now need a win in the second match at Sydney on Sunday to stay in the series, while Australia are one step closer to Ponting’s aim of adding yet another trophy to their cabinet.

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Sri Lanka’s varied spin attack, led by the left-armer NavinKavikara, performed a slow strangle act that would have made their seniorteam proud as they set up a five-wicket win against Australia at the PenangSports Club. They dismissed Australia for 172 and Dilshan Munaweerahelped them gun down the target with more than 12 overs to spare. The victory put Sri Lanka on top of Group C and set up a quarter-final clash with New Zealand, while Australia will play Pakistan, the winners of Group A.Sri Lanka used five spinners in all – Kavikara, Sachith Pathirana, UmeshKarunarathne, Roshen Silva and Munaweera – and between them theypicked up seven wickets for 109 in 37.3 overs. The introductionof the slow bowlers curbed the runs after the top-order batsmen accelerated to 79 for 2 after 13 overs.When the offspinner Karunarathne came on in the 13th over, he bowled the Australian captain Michael Hill but his joy quickly turned to disappointment as the umpire signalled a no-ball. Hill, a left-hander, took on Karunarathne, pulling the free-hit to the wide long-on boundary and lofting the next ball for six over midwicket. There were a sizeable number ofAustralian supporters and cries of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi” rang around the ground.Not content with 11 runs off two balls, Hill attacked again, trying to hitagainst the spin but top edged to cover. In his next over, Karunarathneinduced an edge from Phillip Hughes and as he had done with Hill, gave the batsman a pumped-up send off. Having lost two quick wickets to be reduced to 80 for 3, Australia switched fromattack to consolidation mode and looked to nudge the ball around androtate strike.The two left-arm spinners – Kavikara and Pathirana – bowledin tandem and zipped through their overs with a wicket-to-wicket line.Kavikara delivered a mix of conventional spin and straighter ones and trappedMichael Cramner lbw with one that kept low and straight. He then hadSteven Smith and Dom O’Brien stumped as Australia slipped further.Both batsmen left their crease, realised they were beaten by the length and tried to defend, but the ball spun past the outside edge and the wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal, who was involved in seven dismissals, did the rest. Kavikara finished with 3 for 20off ten overs. Pathirana, who was limping during his first spell, bowled flat and fast to hit James Faulkner on the pads as he tried to play across the line.The watertight performance from the spinners was in contrast to the displays of thenew-ball bowlers, Tissara Perera and Denuwan Fernando. Although Tissara and Fernando beat the Australian openers whenever the length was right,they strayed often on either side of the wicket, which allowed Hughes tocut and flick powerfully. The start was steady: Australia were 22 for noloss after five overs and they accelerated after Hill’s arrival to get therun-rate to six.The Sri Lankan innings also got off to a brisk start, although Lahiru Thirimanne lost his off stump to the left-arm new-ball bowler Faulkner early on. The other opener, Dilshan Munaweera, was a treat to watch. He didn’t play the other group games because of a finger injury but his innings – 43 off 42 balls – ambushed Australia and gave Sri Lanka an ideal platform while chasing a small target.Munaweera is a short, stocky right-hand batsman who has a cavalier approach. He looked to attack from the outset, playing ambitious drives, cuts and pulls. Though he was beaten a few times and inside-edged a couple, he did not change his mindset. He was hit in the midriff by James Pattinson but responded by square driving and lofting to the point and long-off boundaries.Three more fours came off Munaweera’s bat in the fifth over – a fierce pull, a slash over point and an elegant and orthodox cover drive. He also took on Faulkner, who wasbowling at considerable pace, and smashed him twice to the long-off boundary. By the time he holed out to long-off from Clive Rose’s left-arm spin, the Sri Lankan run-chase was on course.The former Sri Lankan batsman Aravinda de Silva, who is a consultant with the under-19 team said Munaweera’s approach was part of a plan. “In this particular innings, I wanted him to be more positive and aggressive,” he said. “Particularly against Australia, we needed it.” There was a minor hiccup as they lost another wicket – Chandimal – to Rose a few balls later, but a 76-run stand between Angelo Perera and Ashan Priyanjan helped seal the win.

Bermuda’s national cricket team may have some of their senior players back – but now they have nowhere to train.Gus Logie’s training squad is currently doing gym work as the BCB tries to find them a home ahead of the tour to Dubai and Kenya. And though he now has the likes of Janeiro Tucker, Kwame Tucker, Chris Foggo and a host of stars of the Under-19 team at his disposal, Logie has nowhere to coach them.”The National Stadium has been made unavailable to us. I’ve been told we won’t be able to use it from September 21 to October 15. I don’t know why. We are just doing gym work and we are trying to sort something out with Bailey’s Bay and Berkeley so that we can have some cricket sessions. It’s not an ideal situation but that’s where we are at. It’s always been a problem [lack of training facilities] but we just have to deal with it.”The situation is made worse by the fact that many of the island’s cricket grounds are now in the process of converting to football pitches for the upcoming soccer season.Logie added that wide-ranging improvements were needed to Bermuda’s cricketing infrastructure – not just for the national team but for the domestic league as well.”Those of us who watch cricket on a weekly basis have seen the standard of the pitches and of the grounds. You can’t say that it is good. We need to improve it. We need to put more effort towards improving everything we are doing.”Reprinted with permission of the Bermuda Sun

Andrew Strauss says he is still coming to terms with being omitted from England’s Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka and has yet to decide on his next option. After a poor 12 months he was overlooked in favour of Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara, the first time he has been dropped from the Test side since his debut in 2004.”To say that it hurts is a massive understatement. In truth it is the culmination of a long, tiring and immensely frustrating 12 months in which little has gone my way,” Strauss wrote in . “I have been a victim of some poor umpiring decisions, some unfortunate dismissals and a few incredibly good balls delivered at just the wrong moment. But I still have to take responsibility for my less than satisfactory contributions.”When the squad was announced David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, said Strauss, who has a central contract, will still come into consideration for the New Zealand tour next February. Strauss is set to have a meeting with Graveney next week to discuss his options, which include being part of the development squad in India or following the same path as Steve Harmison and playing for an overseas team.”I am determined to take a little time to let the news and disappointment settle in before deciding how best to plan the fight to get my spot back,” he said. “Some further time away from the game, regaining hunger and desire, may be beneficial. But over the longer term the only way I can rediscover the habit of scoring runs is by playing, so I will have to look into the opportunities available.”

The Karnataka – Hyderabad encounter petered out to a tame draw on the fourthand final day at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bangalore. When ‘play’ wascalled, openers Daniel Manohar and Nandakishore were at the crease with 9and 0 respectively. Having been forced the ignominy of a follow on,Hyderabad showed that their batting had more stuff than was on display intheir first essay. Manohar, who grafted well, was caught at forward shortleg off the bowling of Sunil Joshi just one run short of his fifty. Thisbrought Ranji Trophy star VVS Laxman to the crease.The day belonged to the him, and he celebrated his recall to the Indian team by scoring an unbeaten century. In the previous season, Laxman made over a thousand runs in the Ranji Trophy. His innings of 100 not out (159 balls, 11 fours, 1 six) helped Hyderabad reach 233 at stumps. In the meantime, Nandakishore was snared by Anand Yalvigi for 43. Vanka Pratap (26 not out) and Laxman (100 not out) saved Hyderabad the blushes.

Global sports good manufacturer Adidas today said the Indian board has no rights over personal endorsement contracts of a player, countering rival Nike’s claim that it derived rights from the board to use Sachin Tendulkar’s name and image for advertising purposes.In their ongoing battle over Tendulkar at the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC), Adidas contended that the board would have to enter into a separate agreement with them in a case-to-case basis, which players can even refuse.”What is the authority of BCCI [Board of Control of Cricket in India] for granting such rights of Tendulkar’s [to Nike],” the Adidas counsel said, commenting on Nike’s reply in which the sportswear firm has contended that “it believed it had derived rights from BCCI” to use Tendulkar’s name and image, both still and motion picture. “They can use the BCCI name and logo but not use individual’s name,” the Adidas counsel said.The counsel also claimed that Nike was not an official sponsor of the Indian cricket team. “As per the documents, Sahara India Airlines is the official sponsor of the cricket team … It does not mention Nike as a sponsor.”Following the commission’s direction, Adidas submitted its contract with Tendulkar but without Clause 3 of the agreement. Clause 3 deals with the amount it paid to the cricketer for endorsements.The BCCI also submitted its contract with the players. The MRTPC bench headed by Justice OP Dwivedi directed Nike to produce a copy of its agreement with BCCI and has listed the matter for the second week of August.

One of the off-field entertainments in place during this tournament is the dancers placed around the boundary edge who jump onto stage with each boundary that’s hit or wicket which falls. It’s a miracle none of them collapsed of exhaustion the way Bangladesh flew out of the blocks at Newlands. Few, if any, innings, even in Twenty20, have begun in such astonishing style and after 4.2 overs the score line read 58 for 4. There’d barely been a ball where the dancers hadn’t been up on their podiums.Bangladesh batted with a freedom of a team who knew they were already in the next stage, but you sense that they wouldn’t have played much differently if the situation hadn’t been so comfortable. They have some of the most naturally aggressive batsmen in the game – one of the reasons their Test growth has been much more stunted than in limited-overs cricket – and once the big shots began it was hard to stop them.There has never been any doubting their ability to play shots, but even in Twenty20 there is a judgment call to be made. Mohammad Ashraful opened his innings with a majestic first-ball six over square leg then scooped his next delivery over short fine leg. Ten in two balls is plenty, but the adrenalin was coursing through Ashraful’s veins and he couldn’t stop, miscuing his third ball to Graeme Smith at mid-on.Aftab Ahmed also quickly found his over drive setting, mauling Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini in the early overs. It was an audacious period of striking and the packed crowd were lapping it up. England captain Paul Collingwood was spotted in the crowd, trying to collect a few tips for Sunday’s key Super Eights game, but he seemed as equally baffled by what was going on.If the likes of Ashraful and Ahmed are going to play with such abandonment, they also need to learn when to step back for a moment. The phrase, ’20 overs is more than you think’ has been used so much by domestic players that, in five years, it is already a cliché but it does hold true. Ahmed had given his side such an early kick-start, he could have taken a few overs to consolidate, but instead fell to an awful swing across the line.

Deriders of Twenty20 say it is not much more than glorified slogging. But the innings of Chris Gayle and Sanath Jayasuriya already in this tournament have been a compacted version of how they play in ODIs. Jehan Mubarak’s 13-ball 46 against Kenya was clean, straight hitting, not slogging. However, some of Bangladesh’s shot selection did lurch back towards the hit-and-hope variety. “We wanted to play our natural game,” said Ashraful. “We have good strikers in the top six but while the run-rate was good we lost too many wickets.”Their age can be put forward as a significant factor in their defence – no one in the side is older than 25 – and the passion they put into their cricket is a joy to watch. They want to succeed every time and Ashraful could barely tear himself away from the crease after his dismissal. Against West Indies Ashraful and Ahmed guided the team to victory, but even though the batting was no less aggressive there was a touch more selection. That, however, was in a chasing situation and, as expected, it is quickly becoming clear that hunting down runs is the way to go.In the end they weren’t a million miles away from a decent total, which is where some restraint would have paid dividends. It is still difficult to judge what a defendable score is when batting first and as Bangladesh’s approach suggested they did really know what they were aiming at. But it cost them nothing having a go and if ever there was a game to try something different this was it. As with everything in their development, it will have been a valuable learning experience.