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Darren Sammy remembers something that happened eight years before he was born

Firdose Moonda18-Nov-2014Darren Sammy remembers something that happened eight years before he was born.”You don’t forget Clive Lloyd scoring 100 in the World Cup final or Viv Richards’ three run-outs which helped us win,” he told ESPNcricinfo, talking about the inaugural World Cup final in 1975. Watching videos has left the contest imprinted on his memory, so much so that he feels as though he saw it first-hand.”There’s something about a World Cup. It’s the mecca,” Sammy said. “The event is so prestigious and as a player, you know the world is watching and there is real motivation for you to perform on a world stage. That’s what people remember.”In an age where teams can play dozens of ODIs a year in multiple series, the magic and meaning of results can be lost, which is what Sammy thinks makes the World Cup more important than anything else. It creates the chance to make an impression where it matters most and he thrives on that.”I love it. It can be too much for some players to be in a pressure situation but I love it,” Sammy said. “Even today, when people talk to me, they mention things like my innings against Australia at the World T20.”In 2012, when West Indies won the tournament in Sri Lanka, they eliminated Australia thanks to a powerful batting showing. Sammy was not needed in the line-up on that day but cherishes the performance as one of his best. Two years later, West Indies ejected Australia from the tournament again when they pulled off their best chase and on that occasions, Sammy was central to proceedings. He hammered 34 off 13 balls to haul his team over the line and it is little wonder that innings still gets mentioned.But that was in the shortest format, which has suited West Indies best in recent years and led to expectation that they will do well. In longer versions they continue to struggle, which is why Sammy is desperate for them to make an impression at the World Cup.”For us to do well will be massive for us,” he said. “I always tell the guys about that in the changeroom, even though I am not the captain anymore, I still tell them that the world needs a West Indies cricket team that is winning matches and competing.”Sammy was replaced in the leadership role in May this year with Dwayne Bravo taking over at ODI level and Denesh Ramdin in Tests. That also prompted Sammy’s retirement from the longest format, a decision over which he has no regrets.”I’m done with Tests. I am thankful for every day I had but when I retired, I knew it was time for somebody else to take over,” he said. “Cricket is not about Darren Sammy. I knew the board and the players wanted to move forward and my focus is now on playing ODIs and T20s.”Particularly ODIs, where Sammy’s focus is on the World Cup. He signed on with Titans for South Africa’s domestic Twenty20 competition to allow him to prepare on pacy pitches ahead of the big event.Sammy has since also been installed as the franchise captain, a role he still enjoys. Sammy’s approach is to bring individuals together, because that is the only way he can see collective success, a mentality to feels is especially relevant for West Indies.”With the calibre of players we’ve got and the impact players we’ve got, we can win the World Cup but it will take a real team effort to be able to do it. It’s all about the team and what we can do as a team,” he said. “That’s how it always is in cricket, not about the individuals but the team and for us, that will be very important. We really want to do well so we have to do it together.”The last time West Indies lifted the cup was the year Sammy was born which means he does not have a recollection of that, either, which is further incentive to create his own memories. “We’ve not won the World Cup since 1983 so if we can do it, it will just be massive.”Darren Sammy spoke to ESPNcricinfo on behalf of the Unlimited Titans and the RAM SLAM T20, which is being broadcasted in India by SONY SIX

Sunil Narine believes the caution a batsman takes against his variations allows him the freedom to get set into a spell

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jul-2014West Indies offspinner Sunil Narine believes the caution a batsman takes against his variations allows him the freedom to get set into a spell.”I only have three [different] balls.” he said. “Just to keep the batsmen thinking. Once you have the batsmen thinking they tend to look at you a little more and in the extra time they look at me, my overs tend to finish.”Narine had to sit out during the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand as he couldn’t make the training camp on time due to the IPL, but his return would help the hosts offer a sterner challenge to New Zealand in during the two Twenty20s. Narine has 12 wickets from five matches against the visitors.”The key component is probably to be as relaxed as possible because it’s a very intense game and batsmen are always coming at you. So the minute you get too hyper you tend to do what you’re not accustomed to. So just stay as relaxed as possible and maintain the skill level that you have.”Sunil Narine is hopeful of regaining the No.1 ranking for bowlers in T20 from team-mate Samuel Badree•AFPNarine’s spin partner Samuel Badree leads the T20 bowlers’ rankings and has claimed 21 wickets in 12 matches over the past 12 months, five more than Narine’s tally in the same period.”I think it’s a good, friendly rivalry. I think Badree has been doing very well over the past couple of months. I think he’s been doing a good job so that’s why he’s No.1. So hopefully I can do as good as him and hopefully pass him this series.”Krishmar Santokie has also become a useful addition to West Indies’ attack and had kept out the experienced Ravi Rampaul during the World T20. The left-arm seamer’s ability to dent the opposition’s top order has been a vital asset.”I think Santokie has been a very excellent bowler. The couple of games he has played for West Indies, he has been getting early breakthroughs for us and that makes it a lot easier in the middle and at the end. So I think Santokie starting up and getting early wickets does a lot for West Indies.”

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has set aside an earlier High Court order that had reinstated Zaka Ashraf as PCB chairman

Umar Farooq21-Jul-2014Pakistan’s Supreme Court has ordered the PCB to conduct an election for the chairman’s post. In a hearing on Monday, the court directed current PCB chairman Najam Sethi to continue in his post for seven days before the appointment of an election commissioner and an acting chairman, who will be responsible for conducting the election. The PCB has also been directed to implement its new constitution.A two-member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the case in Lahore. The hearing went on for five hours before the bench wrapped up the case. During the hearing, Sethi informed the court he has no intention of contesting the new election for the chairmanship, but he could hold a position in the new governing board, which is likely to be formed soon.The Supreme Court set aside an earlier High Court order that had reinstated Zaka Ashraf as PCB chairman. The apex court dismissed an order from the Islamabad High Court in May this year that had restored Ashraf to the chairman’s position in the Pakistan board. The Pakistan government appealed against the Islamabad High Court’s decision and the matter finally ended up in the Supreme Court.”The Supreme Court has set a side the High Court order according to which Zaka Ashraf was reinstated,” Irfanullah Khan, the government’s legal advisor, told ESPNcricinfo. “The government will appoint an interim chairman and election commissioner in seven days to implement the new constitution.”The Supreme Court’s verdict is the latest event in the PCB’s ongoing turmoil, which dates back to May 2013. Last year, Ashraf became the PCB’s first elected chairman, but shortly after he took office, the Islamabad High Court – responding to a petition filed by a former Rawalpindi Cricket Association official – suspended him, calling the election process “dubious and polluted”.In June 2013, the court upheld Ashraf’s suspension and later that month Sethi, a senior journalist and former caretaker chief minister of Punjab, was named the interim PCB chairman by the government of Pakistan. The very next month, the Islamabad court directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to carry out polls for the PCB chairman’s post by October 18 and overruled all major decisions taken by the Sethi administration.The election, however, never took place and after a succession of legal developments – including the dissolution of the PCB’s governing board in October and the formation of a five-man interim committee headed by Sethi to run Pakistan cricket – the Islamabad High Court reinstated Ashraf as PCB chairman in January this year.In a familiar twist, however, the Patron of the Board, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, dismissed Ashraf and dissolved the board of governors. Sharif directed a management committee to pick a PCB chairman from among its eight members and it chose Sethi.In May, Ashraf was reinstated for the second time in the year but lost his place to Sethi again within a couple of days. The developments set the stage for a protracted legal tussle within the board.Earlier this month, the government decided to form a new constitution for the board and replaced Sethi at the helm with an interim arrangement. Sethi was reinstated a day later, as the Supreme Court struck down the decisions of the government and asked the PCB to return to status quo.

Sundar Raman, the IPL’s COO, has said India will have to accommodate the interests of other countries while planning its international schedule as the BCCI cannot “disrupt world cricket” to protect its own interests

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-2014’If we admit to mistakes, we’ll get better’ – Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar, the interim BCCI chief who is overseeing the IPL, wants the board to become more transparent in its workings through frequent interactions with the public via the media. The former India captain, who was asked by the Supreme Court to take over the position last month, said the process would help the board deal with its mistakes and bring in accountability.
“I am hoping the BCCI will become more open,” Gavaskar told journalists on Monday. “Like, maybe at least for the IPL, we are trying to make it open and it will carry on for the rest of the BCCI where there will be healthy discussions where people can speak freely and fearlessly, and involve everyone in the decision making process. We will make mistakes, mistakes have been made, but if we admit to mistakes, then we’ll get better.
“This is not only to inform people of what’s been happening but also to get feedback on things that maybe we can do better. We are hoping to do this regularly for the next month and maybe beyond. It’s something new for the BCCI but I hope it will be a regular feature so that you can form your own judgment and then do as you see fit.
“I very strongly feel that there are four major stakeholders – biggest is the fan, the players, the media and the administrators, and the sponsors as well. If all of us work together, we will be able to take the game forward. Not just Indian cricket, but world cricket.”

Sundar Raman, the IPL’s chief operating officer, has said India will have to accommodate the interests of other countries while planning its international schedule as the BCCI cannot “disrupt world cricket” to protect its own interests.The scheduling of the international calendar has become an important issue after an ICC revamp proposed by the BCCI, ECB and Cricket Australia, suggested that the Future Tours Program (FTP) system be replaced with bilateral agreements between boards. Raman formed part of the “working group”, along with officials from Cricket Australia and the ECB, behind the ICC’s financial and administrative restructuring and he told a media gathering that the focus was on “reinventing” the FTP.”If India say, ‘forget everything, we will play at home December-January-February’, my exaggerated view is that world cricket will collapse,” Raman said. “Australia will not have a Boxing Day Test, South Africa will not have a season, Sri Lanka will not have a Test. So you are treading on a territory … India has to be accommodative.”We can’t disrupt world cricket so much at the cost of our own interest. Truth is, Australia don’t tour for more than four weeks at a time except for the Ashes. India is happy to go on long tours. We want to have minimum two home seasons every year, but it’s tough with the different weather conditions.”We are trying to figure the best way out so that all 26 stadiums in India get a game. It’s got to have Tests and one-dayers every year and we are planning in such a way that we prepare better for big events. Before the World T20, we’ll play more T20s. Before the World Cup, we’ll play more ODIs. We’re trying to reinvent the whole FTP. And you know every year there’s IPL and Champions League T20.”Raman also praised the “robust” IPL model despite the controversies surrounding the league. Brand IPL was hit last year after three Rajasthan Royals cricketers and Gurunath Meiyappen, the team principal of the Chennai Super Kings, were arrested on allegations of betting and spot-fixing.A Supreme Court-ordered probe, conducted by the Justice Mukul Mudgal panel, stated that Meiyappan was found to have indulged in betting and passing on information, and in subsequent hearings, the court asked N Srinivasan to step down to ensure a free and fair investigation into corruption in the IPL. Srinivasan’s reluctance to resign as BCCI president and act against Super Kings, a team owned by his company India Cements, had put the tournament under a cloud, especially when the first phase was moved to the United Arab Emirates.The conduct of the event in the UAE has, however, led Sunil Gavaskar, the court-appointed BCCI interim president for the event, to reveal that the BCCI is considering hosting the Champions League T20 in UAE later this year.”The success of the IPL here will make the BCCI look at this in a much different way than it has in the past,” Gavaskar said. “Champions League here is definitely on the back of our minds.”Following the exit of the Sahara Pune Warriors franchise last year, the IPL returned to an eight-team format, which had been successful in the first three years of the tournament. Ranjib Biswal, the IPL chairman, said the BCCI has decided not to add any more franchises at least until 2017. The 2011 edition of the IPL featured ten teams, with two franchises drafted in, while the last two editions saw nine teams competing in the league after the Kochi Tuskers franchise was ousted on technical grounds.The IPL governing council will take stock of the UAE leg which ends on April 30, Gavaskar said, at a May 3 meeting in Mumbai. Deepak Parekh, a leading banker, was named advisor to the IPL and he is expected to give his feedback on the matches he has seen so far, and present his suggestions on improving the IPL brand.

A spot in the semi-finals of the World T20 could well be heavily weighted on the toss of a coin when Sri Lanka take on New Zealand for one remaining spot in Group 1

Sa'adi Thawfeeq30-Mar-2014A spot in the semi-finals of the World T20 could well be heavily weighted on the toss of a coin when Sri Lanka take on New Zealand for one remaining spot in Group 1, but stand-in captain Lasith Malinga will refuse to use a wet ball and damp outfield as an excuse and believes his side are better prepared after coming unstuck against England.Sri Lanka could not defend 189 as Alex Hales clubbed an unbeaten 116, the expensive performance of Ajantha Mendis, who conceded 52 off his four overs, proving especially telling and the spinner may pay the price for the crunch game. Malinga was also less effective than is so often the case, going wicketless and at almost eight an over during his four overs.”When we play night games we must know to use those conditions. We can’t give excuses against a wet ball and things like that. That’s my feeling as a bowler,” he said. “In the bowling sometimes we are on top but in the last few overs against England we didn’t do very well.””Now it’s in the past and we are looking forward to the next match. We had a good training session yesterday and today and we know how to adjust to situations like dew and when the ball becomes slippery. We are all prepared.”Malinga, the team’s T20 vice-captain since October 2012, said that he was under no extra pressure leading his country for the first time even though so much was at stake. He has been forced into this position after Dinesh Chandimal was suspended for one match for his team being penalised twice for slow over rate within a 12-month period.”It’s a good feeling to captain my country for the first time. I really like to get challenged in my bowling or in my career,” he said. “This is a good opportunity for me. The other thing this is it is a crucial game and I am not thinking too much about the captaincy but to just to give 100% and win the match tomorrow.”I have a lot of good support from some experienced T20 captains in the side like Mahela, Kumar , Dilshan and Angelo . As captain I want every single player to prove his skills in tomorrow’s game.”Sri Lanka and New Zealand have met each other on 12 occasions and are tied at five wins apiece, with Sri Lanka having won the last two meetings. The teams also have the experience of a Super Over when the World T20 match at Pallekele in 2012 ended in a tie.”We have no choice but to win the match if we want to get qualified for the semi-finals. However, as a team, we’re in very good shape, I mean mentally. If you look at the last few games that we played, we’ve played well to win them,” Malinga said.”In our recent tournaments, we’ve always won the crucial match and came into the finals. We handled that pressure well.With England playing Netherlands in the first match of the day, Malinga said that his team will follow closely that game to see how the pitch behaves before deciding on their final eleven. Batsman Lahiru Thirimanne is expected to replace Chandimal, but the bowling remains unclear with either Rangana Herath or Seekkhuge Prasanna in line to replace the struggling Mendis.

Sony Six has secured the exclusive broadcast rights for the Indian tour of New Zealand, which is scheduled from January 19 till February 18

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jan-2014Sony Six has secured the exclusive broadcast rights for India’s tour of New Zealand, which is scheduled from January 19 to February 18. The tour consists of five ODIs, followed by a two-match Test series.”We are delighted to partner [with] New Zealand Cricket as the official broadcaster to this series,” NP Singh, the CEO of Multi Screen Media, which owns Sony Six, was quoted as saying in several newspaper reports.Sony has been the host broadcaster of the IPL since its inception in 2008, having rights to the tournament till 2017. It also has the rights to show the ongoing series in the UAE between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. NEO Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd was the original broadcaster for international matches in New Zealand, but stopped coverage of the recent West Indies tour of New Zealand after the 3rd ODI in Queenstown.NEO Sports had signed a deal last year guaranteeing it exclusive broadcast rights across Asia, excluding West Asia, for both domestic and international cricket tournaments to be played in New Zealand till 2020.

A polished 83 from Varun Chopra laid the base for a busy, unbeaten 130-run stand between Chris Woakes and Scott Borthwick in the evening, as England Lions moved to a comfortable 302 for 5

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo26-Feb-2014
Scorecard0:00

Chopra, Woakes dominate Sri Lanka A

Chris Woakes steadied England Lions with an unbeaten 84•ECBA polished 83 from Varun Chopra laid the base for a busy, unbeaten 130-run stand between Chris Woakes and Scott Borthwick in the evening, as England Lions moved to a comfortable 302 for 5 at stumps on the opening of the final unofficial Test. Sri Lanka A did themselves few favours as they chased a series-levelling win, shelling two chances and fluffing a straightforward run out, but the Premadasa surface also eased the visitors’ progress, flattening out considerably in the afternoon sun.Organisation was Chopra’s hallmark, as he felt his way scrupulously through a sedate morning session. At lunch, England were 60 for 2, half those runs having come from Chopra’s bat. There was little in the surface to warrant a run rate of 2.14, but Vishwa Fernando and Dushmantha Chameera found bounce when they bent their backs, and Chopra was content to sway away. He was just as comfortable leaving when the seam bowlers attacked outside the off stump.Eventually, after lunch, the scoring strokes appeared. Chameera was pasted through the covers, and behind point, and Suraj Randiv whipped square on the leg side. Chopra favoured the back foot, particularly against the spinners, and having begun gingerly against them, progressed with increasing skill and conviction.He remained vigilant as team-mates gave in to dips in concentration at the other end. James Taylor chopped Lahiru Gamage on to his stumps to collect a rare failure on the tour, and Jonny Bairstow chased a head-high bouncer from Chameera, edging behind. Chopra went to tea 17 short of a 15th first-class ton, but on resumption he was also guilty of letting his focus slip. He played a complacent swipe across the line to a quicker, flatter Jeevan Mendis delivery that skidded through to strike him on the front pad.Chopra had made three starts in the series so far – one of them a fifty – but this innings had been his most significant of the tour. “I’ve been fairly pleased with the way I’ve been batting on tour, without having that team-defining or day-defining total,” Chopra said. “The mornings here generally do a little bit and the seamers bowled well with the new ball, but we managed to fight through and the runs became easier as the day went on. The carry was a bit better here than in Dambulla, but once you get in as a batsman you prefer a bit of pace and bounce on the ball.”The bowlers’ effort waned in the evening, and Woakes and Borthwick progressed at more than four an over. Neither batsman was particularly secure, offering edges that fell short, or just evaded the slips, but they were punishing on errors of length, slamming short balls to the square leg fence, and driving confidently when the bowlers overcorrected. Having come together at 172 for 5, the pair ensured Chopra’s heavy work earlier did not go wasted. Woakes finished the day on 84 and Borthwick had 55.”I think we shaded that day. We’re pretty happy with the score,” Chopra said. “If we look to make it fast the first hour and bat half a day tomorrow, we’ll be in a good position, having won the series.”If Sri Lanka A are pursuing a level series, they had made a strange choice before the match had even begun. Offspinner Tharindu Kaushal, the top wicket-taker in the series, was omitted from the side, ostensibly to allow Randiv a run, perhaps with a view to sending Randiv on the tour to England in June.Randiv has had rich returns from his first-class outings so far in the season, having claimed 29 wickets in eight innings. He could not extract substantial turn from the Premadasa surface, but he bowled brave lengths nonetheless, and avoided the sort of wayward overs that had cost him his place in the Test side.Sri Lanka’s most costly missed chance of the day was perhaps also the most difficult. Fernando drew Woakes’ outside edge on 31, but a diving Niroshan Dickwella could not close his gloves on the chance. Having toured with the national team in the UAE and Bangladesh, this series has been a sobering return to earth for Fernando. He has only claimed one wicket in the four-dayers so far, perhaps learning like several Sri Lanka tearaways before him that pace alone may not prove penetrative against high-quality batsmen.

The Under-19 World Cup kicks off in the UAE on February 14, with England, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies scheduled for action

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Dec-2013

Group A: India, Pakistan, Scotland, Papua New Guinea

Group B: Australia, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Namibia

Group C: South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Canada

Group D: New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka, UAE

The Under-19 World Cup will kick off in the UAE on February 14, with England, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies scheduled for action on the opening day. Defending champions India will open their campaign against two-time winners Pakistan the next day.The tournament features 16 teams divided into four groups and the top two would progress to the quarter-finals. The other two teams from each group will compete in the Plate Championship quarter-finals.Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lanka captain, considered the under-19 world cup to be an important stepping stone for young players. “Having played in a couple of ICC U19 Cricket World Cups, I can tell you that this is the best stage for any raw talent to polish his skills and see if he’s worthy enough of progressing to the biggest stage of them all – international cricket at the senior level,” he said.Afghanistan, Canada, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, United Arab Emirates and the 10 Full Member nations will compete in 48 matches, which will be staged across seven venues in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai.

A round-up of all the games played in Group A of the World Twenty20 Qualifiers on November 17, 2013

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2013
ScorecardFile photo: Sarel Burger blasted 43 off just 36 deliveries•ICC/Helge SchutzAn all-round performance from Sarel Burger powered Namibia to an easy 35-run victory over USA, their first in the competition. Burger scored a 36-ball 43 that included two sixes and a four, and added 76 for the fourth wicket with Craig Williams, as Namibia finished on 163 for 4. He then bowled a tight spell of 4-0-16-1 to put pressure on USA during their chase.USA lost regular wickets throughout the chase and a 34-ball 44 from the opener Steven Taylor aside, no one else produced a significant score. Bernard Scholtz and JJ Smit picked up two wicket each, as USA managed 120 from their 20 overs.
ScorecardUAE came close to pulling off an upset, but Ireland held their nerve to register five-run win in Abu Dhabi, their second tight win in two days.UAE, helped by handy contributions from Khurram Khan and Rohan Mustafa, were 129 for 6 in the 19th over, 10 run away from a win. But in the next six balls, they lost four wickets for just four runs giving Ireland their third straight win in the competition. George Dockrell and Max Sorensen picked up two wickets apiece for the visitors.Ireland, choosing to bat, were earlier propelled by Gary Wilson’s first T20I fifty, and his 92-run fourth-wicket stand with Kevin O’Brien, that took the team to 138 for 5.

The lobby urging the England selectors to add Gary Ballance to their roll call of Yorkshire players can shout a little louder after he maintained his extraordinary consistency

Jon Culley at Headingley02-Aug-2013
ScorecardGary Ballance celebrates a very important century•Getty ImagesThe lobby urging the England selectors to add Gary Ballance to their roll call of Yorkshire players can shout a little louder after he maintained the extraordinary consistency that has been the feature of his season by scoring his third century in the space of eight Championship innings. It enabled Yorkshire to emerge from a difficult opening day in respectable shape.Under the watchful eye of England selector James Whitaker, who has been tracking his progress with interest for more than just the last few weeks, Ballance made 112 runs in around four and three-quarter hours to check Warwickshire’s ambitions. With the help of a disciplined half-century from Alex Lees, again showing maturity beyond his 20 years, Ballance prevented what might have been a one-sided day after Warwickshire’s stand-in captain, Varun Chopra, had won the toss and opted to bowl first on a green-tinged track.The defending champions had arrived in Leeds having at last looked as if they were recapturing last season’s form and the quartet of seamers at Chopra’s disposal by no means let him down, maintaining a high work rate for much of the day and, they would contend, not enjoying the best of luck given the number of times ball beat bat, especially in the morning session. Even so, they still had Yorkshire 26 for 2 after Adam Lyth and Andrew Gale departed in quick succession, the latter without scoring.But Ballance is in wonderful form. In 13 innings in the Championship, he has scored 52 or more eight times and averages 61.69, his three hundreds including a Championship-best 141 at Scarborough would have attracted rather more attention had Gale not scored 272 in the same innings.Ballance’s supporters at Headingley argue that he might have been considered as Kevin Pietersen’s potential replacement for the current Test match, citing better statistics than James Taylor. The latter’s prior experience was always going to give him an edge in that argument, but Ballance is not far away. He was named in the provisional squad for the Champions Trophy, took part in England nets ahead of the Test against New Zealand at Headingley in May and was selected for the Twenty20 series against the same opponents, although he did not play. A call-up for the one-day series against Australia after the Ashes looks a real possibility.”Over the whole season I’ve felt in good touch and I think my current form is probably up there with the best I’ve had in my career,” Ballance said. “I’ve worked hard over the last few years, so it’s probably come about through getting more experience at first-class level, having more responsibility and playing week in, week out.”It’s given me some confidence that I’ve been noticed and hopefully I can keep scoring runs for Yorkshire and you never know where that will take me in the next few years. I think one-day cricket is probably my strongest form of the game at the moment and if I can get in by scoring runs in all forms, that might be my way in.”He had extra responsibility here in the absence of Phil Jaques and Joe Sayers, who are both injured. It left Gale a batsman short and the early losses pushed Ballance into the fray earlier than has been usual. Yet he thrived, encouraging Lees to reveal his own ability to play through difficult conditions with discipline. Keith Barker, Chris Woakes, Boyd Rankin and Rikki Clarke make up a formidable seam attack but while they played and missed a few times neither Lees nor Ballance offered a chance until Lees edged Woakes to first slip soon after lunch.Adil Rashid fell to a poor shot, caught behind attempting to uppercut Rankin, and Clarke deservedly took the wickets of Azeem Rafiq and Andy Hodd. But there was no shifting Ballance, who drove handsomely on both sides of the wicket in amassing 13 fours before choosing the perfect moment to hit Jeetan Patel over the top for six, moving from 94 to 100 in doing so.Barker curtailed his progress eventually, dismissing him leg before in the fifth over with the new ball. It seemed at that moment that Yorkshire might fall away quickly, with not much more than 250 on the board, handing Warwickshire the initiative. But Steve Patterson and Jack Brooks took it back by adding 27 in the final eight overs.