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Sam Billings played his first Blast innings of substance [file picture]•Getty Images

A rain-shortened contest at Hove ended in a thrilling tie, on Duckworth-Lewis, as Alex Blake hit the stumps from long on to run out Laurie Evans as he tried to complete a second run for Chris Nash, who finished 50 not out as Sussex ended up on 87 for 3 in reply to Kent’s 176 for 4.Kent’s total owed much to Sam Billings and Jimmy Neesham, who added a record 102 in ten overs for the fourth wicket and scored 64 and 51 not out respectively before heavy rain interrupted this NatWest T20 Blast south group match.The final over of the game, bowled by Mitch Claydon and Sussex’s eighth as they chased a revised target, began with just eight runs required and both Nash and Evans going well.Evans hit the first ball for two to long on and, after Claydon sent down a wide and then a dot ball, there were three singles as the fast bowler held his nerve amid mounting tension. That left Nash needing two to win, and one to tie, from the last ball – which he drove towards Blake at long on. The fielder sprinted in to pick up and throw down the stumps at the bowler’s end.A diving Evans just failed to make the crease and Blake wheeled away, his arm raised in triumph, before being surrounded by his celebrating teammates. Grabbing the tie was certainly to Kent’s credit, and particularly to Claydon’s as his first over had earlier been despatched for 18 runs.Sussex’s chase, of 88 from eight overs, began well with Nash and Luke Wright plundering 19 from the opening over, bowled by Matt Coles.Nash flicked Coles’ first ball over midwicket for four and then lifted the second ball of the innings over the legside ropes for six. Later in the over, Wright pulled Coles for six, but in the second over he was caught for 8 at long on attempting another big hit at Neesham.Ross Taylor soon followed, chipping a return catch to medium-pacer Calum Haggett, but Nash effortlessly lofted Imran Qayyum’s left arm spin high over extra cover for six in the fourth over and the next, Claydon’s first, cost 18 runs as Nash twice swung him over mid wicket for six before Evans square drove for four.A Coles full toss was smashed over square leg for six by Evans, in an otherwise tidy sixth over, leaving Sussex to score 20 from the last two. In a remarkable seventh over, Nash pulled a Neesham full toss for six off the first ball but was then perplexed by the next four deliveries – a mixture of slower ones and fast, short-pitched balls – before carving the final ball over Blake’s head at long on for another six.That blow looked to have sealed the game for Sussex, but then came the dramatic finale and Evans’ run out for 23. Nash’s 50 took him just 25 balls, with six sixes and one four.Billings’ 64 came from 42 balls, with one six and nine fours, while New Zealand left-hander Neesham clubbed five sixes and just a solitary four in an impressive 51 not out from 30 balls as 112 runs were plundered from the second half of the innings. Chris Jordan, the England seamer, conceded 43 runs from his three overs.Kent were 64 for 3 at the mid-point of their innings, losing Sam Northeast in the tenth over when the captain cut hard at a sharply-rising short ball from George Garton and edged behind to go for 28 off 25 balls. Northeast had pulled Jordan and swatted Briggs for sixes as he sought to rebuild a Kent innings which had stuttered initially to 33 for 2 following the early fall of openers Joe Denly and Daniel Bell-Drummond.Denly had launched David Wiese’s medium pace for six over wide mid-wicket before being superbly caught for 16 by keeper Ben Brown, diving a long way to his left to hold an authentic leg glance off the pace of Tymal Mills. Bell-Drummond, however, had struggled to 5 from 15 balls before skying an attempted hoick at a short ball from Jofra Archer to cover.Neesham swung Danny Briggs’s left arm spin high over mid wicket for six as he and Billings, who had begun carefully, began to accelerate the scoring rate. The fourteen over, bowled by Garton, signalled the start of the Kentish charge, with Billings driving the young left-armer with stunning power through extra cover for four and then flipping the next ball, a short one, to the deep square leg boundary. Later in the over, Neesham clubbed four through square leg and after 15 overs the Kent total had reached 114.The last five overs saw Sussex’s bowlers become powerless the staunch the rapid flow of runs as Billings and Neesham took control. Billings pulled Mills for four and then slapped a slower ball straight for another boundary, while Neesham pulled Garton brutally for six.The partnership sailed past Kent’s previous record for the fourth wicket against Sussex, the unbroken 91 added by Billings and Blake at Hove in 2015, and had reached three figures by the time Billings drove Jordan to Wiese at long on from the fourth ball of the final over.Kent’s innings, though, finished in spectacular style as Neesham lapped a Jordan full toss over the unguarded fine leg boundary for six and then, from the last ball, flipped another six over long leg to complete his half-century.

File photo – Vinod Rai: “I am not frustrated. I am just saying the writ of the court must run.”•Getty Images

A year since the seminal judgment and we are where we started. How do you look at the current situation?
I will speak only from January 30. I (CoA) cannot look into what happened before that. The Supreme Court tried to implement the reforms till January 30. But that did not take place for whatever reasons. Then we were appointed. Our mandate was to implement the recommendations of the Lodha Committee as approved by the Supreme Court on July 18, 2016. How do we ensure that mandate is fulfilled? We can ensure that mandate is fulfilled only by making the BCCI’s special general body meeting (SGM) pass a resolution (to adopt the new constitution and reforms). Isn’t it? If that could have been done by January 30, then we would not have been required.Since the verdict was thrust onto them, they did not agree so I tried to build consensus (among BCCI members). I told them you have said withdraw the order, but the Supreme Court would not withdraw it since it has passed the judgment. I asked the BCCI members to narrow down the parts of the order that were hurting them, but please adopt the new constitution. And then appeal to the court asking to look at the shortlist of recommendations again.I asked them not to defy the court, be obedient to the verdict and if you have some genuine problems bring it to the notice of the court. That is why I held the meeting (with the state associations) before the SGMs (on June 6 and June 25). I was impressing upon them the fact that if you adopt the constitution you get onto the right side of the court. Then you point out X & Y are practical difficulties and hence cannot be implemented.This attempt failed due to the intransigence of a couple of people with vested interests who could sway the others.Since they once again decided to ignore the Supreme Court order in the June 26 SGM, we had no option but to tell the court (through the status report) of all our efforts and all that had transpired.Because I don’t have the power to thrust the constitution on them, I can’t force them to adopt the new constitution. So if anybody says why couldn’t the CoA implement it, how can I implement it when the court itself has not been able to do that? We have now told the court that we have tried, I can’t implement because they are intransigent and because of a few disruptive elements. I just laid it bare.So your patience has been tested?
It is not patience. My consensus-building efforts did not fructify. I am not frustrated. I am just saying the writ of the court must run.Would it help if the court gave you powers or passed a clear judgment at its next hearing?
I have told the court to issue an order under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, and issue direction to the Registrar of the Tamil Nadu government to register the new BCCI constitution.So the sooner the court issues that order, the easier your job would get?
Yes because the court could not succeed in persuading them to pass the constitution. Then the court asked us to do it. We have tried our best to persuade them, build the consensus. Now that they have not agreed, I have sought the direction of the court.Would it be helpful if the court finally takes a hard stance on the issue?
Article 142 says: “Enforcement of the decrees and orders of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it and make it enforceable throughout the territory of India.”The court need only pass an order enforcing its own decree. No one else can do that.Last week the BCCI trimmed its reservations to three recommendations. What is your view?
As far as I am concerned now it is just too late. Everything is a closed issue. It just too late. Now, I have made my recommendation to the court. The court will examine it on September 5. If it gives me the order on September 5 I will convene the SGM first, adopt the new constitution. And, as per the constitution, convene the AGM to elect the office-bearers and close the CoA’s tenure latest by October 31. I continue to stick by my schedule.

ScorecardA Jonathan Trott century has earned Warwickshire an outside chance of victory in the bottom of the table battle at Taunton.Trott made 175 – the 20th score of 150 or more in his first-class career – to help Warwickshire to their highest first-innings score of the season. It was his second century of the Championship campaign and his third of the first-class season.Grant Thornton, a debutant seamer recently signed on a three-month contract, then claimed wickets with his eighth and 23rd deliveries in first-class cricket to build pressure on Somerset. Realistically, they require 264 to avert the follow-on and make the game safe on the final day.Perhaps, had Trott been caught at gully before he had added to his overnight 50, Somerset may have taken control of the match. But the chance, an outside edge from a Craig Overton delivery, was put down by Peter Trego and Trott added 146 for the fifth-wicket with Tim Ambrose – Warwickshire’s highest Championship stand of the season – to steer Warwickshire into the ascendancy.Somerset had worked hard for that chance. Trott had gone scoreless for the first 20 minutes of the third day and survived a sustained appeal for a catch down the leg side. He was also fortunate to escape a top-edged slog-sweep off Jack Leach when he had 55 that flew just over the head of Marcus Trescothick at slip.From then on, however, he began to take control. Leach, who conceded only three boundaries in his first 20 overs, was taken for five fours in seven balls at one stage while Trott hit three sixes – he admitted he couldn’t recall hitting more in a first-class innings – including a slog-sweep off Roelof van der Merwe to bring up his century and a thundering drive into the Sir Ian Botham Stand off Jamie Overton. Having suffered three ducks in the Championship this season, he was determined to take advantage of his start. It was the 42nd first-class century of his career and he passed 17,000 first-class runs in its latter stages.Jonathan Trott has kept Warwickshire hoping•Getty Images

Despite the acceleration, Warwickshire missed out on full batting bonus points. Requiring eight runs off the final over of the 110-over qualifying period, they fell five short despite Rikki Clarke’s aggressive 50 (from 53 balls). Still, this was the first time this season they had recorded even four batting bonus points in an innings and represented a step in the right direction after a poor start to the season.Warwickshire lost their last five wickets for 22 in an attempt to up the pace. Van der Merwe finished with three wickets and probably gained a little more turn than Leach, but Jamie Overton remained the pick of the bowlers. Gaining movement in the air and off the surface, he generally maintained a good, probing length.The value of Trott’s innings soon become apparent as Somerset subsided to 86 for four against an attack containing two Championship debutants. Tom Abell’s grim run of form – he has now scored 10 runs in five Championship innings this season and starting to worry those who feared the captaincy was offered to him prematurely – continued as he defended a delivery from Jeetan Patel only to see it dribble back off his bat and knock off the bails, before Steve Davies (34 runs in five innings) turned one off his hips only to find Sam Hain, at short-leg, able to cling on to a very sharp chance.That was Thornton’s second wicket. Bowling at an odd angle amid a whirl of arms, he represents an awkward proposition for batsmen who have not seen him before and appeared to surprise James Hildreth with a full ball that found the batsmen crease-bound and perhaps playing slightly across a straight one. Dean Elgar, beaten by a couple that left him sharply, was leg before to one that didn’t swing.Had Leach, the nightwatchman, been taken at slip – as he might have been as he twice edged Patel agonisingly close to the cordon – Somerset would have been in deep trouble. But Trescothick, not for the first time, ensured some stability. Resuming on the final day nine runs short of reaching 50 for the 186th time in first-class cricket, he passed 25,000 first-class runs late on the third evening and, aged 41, remains the wicket that opposition most value in this Somerset side. He knows he has work ahead of him on the final day and he will relish it.”I’ve been sweating on that record for a couple of weeks,” he said afterwards “I knew I needed to reach 29. I remember my first run: it was 1993 and I made 1 and 3 in a game against Lancashire. I reckon my first run was down to third man. And I’ve scored a fair few more down there over the years.”Earlier in the day he pulled off an outstanding catch to dismiss Ambrose. Seeing the batsman shape for a delicate sweep, he ran from slip to leg slip and dived full length to cling on to a well-anticipated chance.”There is no chance I will be still be playing at 41,” 36-year-old Trott said later. “That’s just silly!”It’s great that Marcus is still playing county cricket and setting an example to the young players in his dressing room and opposition teams. His will be a huge wicket for us tomorrow.”Meanwhile it is understood that interviews for the role of chief executive at Somerset have begun. ESPNcricinfo understands that, of the 125 applicants, Jason Ratcliffe, Charlie Hodgson and Jez Curwin are among the short-listed candidates. Hodgson is the commercial director at Surrey, while Curwin fulfils a similar role at Somerset. Ratcliffe was a player at Warwickshire and Surrey before moving to the PCA where he spent 14 years, latterly as deputy chief executive.

ScorecardThe first day of the season is as good a day as any to be reminded that Championship success is usually hard-won. Both Essex and Lancashire could feel satisfaction come the close at Chelmsford; both will know that further unstinting effort will be required to sway this contest over the coming days.Lancashire may feel they had the best of it, particularly after recovering from 160 for 6 to pass 300, thanks to a 51-run last-wicket stand between James Anderson and Kyle Jarvis, who then took a wicket apiece before the close. Nevertheless, Essex’s new-look attack acquitted themselves well by bowling out Lancashire after being put into the field. All but two Lancashire batsmen made starts but only Dane Vilas managed to pass fifty, as Neil Wagner and Aaron Beard – overseas pro and homegrown tyro – collected six wickets between them.No one faced more balls than Haseeb Hameed, who provided some proof of his fitness after sustaining a hand injury in Lancashire’s university match. Hameed was watched by James Whitaker, the national selector, and Mark Ramprakash, England’s batting coach, as well as his parents during his first significant innings since making a highly regarded Test debut in India over the winter.Hameed’s tour of India was cut short by a fracture to the little finger on his left hand, which required the insertion of a metal plate. He sustained a blow practising his fielding at short leg before play against Cambridge and then had to leave the field while batting; however, a scan detected no further damage and he batted without discomfort for just over two hours here before falling three runs short of fifty.”The finger’s fine, it was a bit of a freak incident, trapping it in the warm-up and then I tried batting and it got quite painful. So I think we made the right decision in getting it checked out and thankfully it was all okay,” he said.”The surgeon suggested, when there’s a bit of time off, it might be worth getting [the plate] out. But I think there’s a six-week recovery period from having that surgery to remove it, so it wouldn’t make sense now. If I’ve got a bit of time in the future, I probably will take it out.”Ryan ten Doeschate, Essex’s captain, suggested before the game that Lancashire’s batting might present a “chink in their armour” and that looked a shrewd assessment as the visitors experienced a middle-order slide of 4 for 42 on a pristine afternoon. However, Vilas, one of three new Kolpak signings on show, provided the grit that Lancashire desperately needed with 74 before a ticklish thrash between Anderson and Jarvis lifted them towards a more competitive total.For all the topics being discussed at the newly anointed Cloudfm County Ground on the first day of the new season – Hameed’s availability, Alastair Cook’s absence (depriving the crowd of a head-to-head with Anderson), the Kolpak issue, Essex’s survival chances (or Lancashire’s for that matter) – perhaps the closest to local hearts was the decision to drop James Foster for the first time in his 17-year Essex career. Adam Wheater, his replacement behind the stumps, has pedigree as a Division One batsman, as well as the advantage of being from the same east London manor (aka Gooch Country) but it will not be an easy gig.It is accepted around Chelmsford that Foster cannot go on forever but there were rueful shakes of the head when Wheater failed to get a hand on a stumping chance provided by Steven Croft in the first over after lunch. Croft and Hameed had quieted a healthy crowd during a third-wicket stand of 68 but there was a notable frisson of disappointment as the opportunity for Simon Harmer’s first Championship wicket zipped by.By then, Hameed had set about reassuring those nervous about the state of his delicate hands during a composed innings that featured several sumptuously timed drives. Barring a skittish swipe at the first ball he received from Wagner – a team-mate last season, back when Hameed was still a precocious talent smarting at missing out on the U-19 World Cup – he seemed to have everything in the right place, a sort of batting feng shui as he lined up the bowling with the precision displayed during his debut Test series in India. That is, until he fractionally misjudged a delivery from Jamie Porter that kept coming back in at him to clip the top of off stump the over after Croft’s reprieve.For a brief while, there was a vision of England’s possible batting future in the middle, as Liam Livingstone joined Hameed. Livingstone, now at first drop and with a chance to impress after batting in the lower-middle order during his debut season, showcased his revolving-door wrists with a second-ball four that rattled away to the deep midwicket rope and he stroked five more boundaries in between ducking Wagner’s head-hunting bouncers.Livingstone’s attacking instincts eventually got the better of him, a wild flash providing Beard with his first wicket – via a goalkeeper save from Tom Westley (second slip) that was collected on the dive by Varun Chopra (first). Beard also removed Vilas, as a leading edge sailed to mid-off, while Harmer did eventually get Croft, taken at short fine leg when sweeping. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in his 43rd year and only in the country a few days, was run out after a mix-up with Vilas.

The DDCA will set up an independent enquiry committee to investigate into the spat between Gautam Gambhir and Delhi coach KP Bhaskar. Gambhir had accused Bhaskar of “creating an atmosphere of uncertainty” among the team’s youngsters.It is understood that both parties agreed to the creation of such a panel after retired Justice Vikramjit Sen, the DDCA administrator, met with Gambhir, Bhaskar and Delhi manager Shankar Saini on Friday morning at the Feroz Shah Kotla.The composition of the committee was not known and no time-frame was given for the completion of the enquiry. Bhaskar refused to elaborate on the spat but said he was not the first person to be at the “receiving end”. “There have been eight other instances which have happened. It’s unfortunate that I was at the receiving end this time,” Bhaskar told ESPNcricinfo.” I respect Justice Sen and I have full trust in his judgment and wisdom.”While Gambhir admitted to having an argument with Bhaskar after Delhi’s Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh on Monday, he denied that he had abused the coach as had been stated in a few news reports. Gambhir was particularly critical of Bhaskar’s handling of the exclusions of batsmen Unmukt Chand and Nitish Rana during the Vijay Hazare Trophy.”If protecting a youngster is a crime, I am guilty. If making 20-22-year-olds feel secure in an insecure environment is a crime, then I am guilty. But I could not have let this man (Bhaskar) play with careers of young players like Unmukt Chand and Nitish Rana,” Gambhir had told PTI on Tuesday.Gambhir had also said he was trying to provide security to the youngsters, and that he didn’t want them to face the insecurities he did. “There has been a culture in Delhi cricket about making players insecure. I have myself faced that when I was a youngster. When I got into the Ranji Trophy team, I was made to feel insecure. Then only I had decided, if I ever take charge I will never make young boys feel insecure.”

ScorecardFile photo – Marnus Labuschagne fell short of a hundred•Getty Images

Allrounder Jack Wildermuth scored his second first-class century as Queensland continued to dominate their Sheffield Shield match against Queensland on the second day in Hobart. At stumps, the Tigers were 0 for 20 in their second innings with openers Alex Doolan on 8 and Jake Hancock on 7, but they trailed by 267 runs after Queensland piled on 437.The morning began with the Bulls on 2 for 131 and Marnus Labuschagne, who already had a half-century, moved along to what looked like becoming his third first-class hundred. However, on 96 he pushed at a shortish delivery outside off stump from James Faulkner and was caught behind.Queensland were 5 for 226, but they had plenty of batting left. Wicketkeeper James Peirson made 42 and Wildermuth registered his first hundred of the Shield season to take his run tally for the campaign past 500. He fell for 110, bowled by Cameron Stevenson, but Ben Cutting smashed a quick 68 off 50 balls to lift Queensland’s total even further.

Australia’s premier fast bowlers are used to carrying a heavy load. In the period before their bounce back during the home summer, when Australia’s batting line up collapsed in a Pune-India fashion with alarming regularity, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, in particular, have toiled long and hard in the middle.Even during the series against Pakistan, their workloads were significant: they each bowled 56 overs in the first Test in Brisbane. The only Test of the Australian summer in which they bowled less than 42 overs each was in Australia’s massive defeat by South Africa in Hobart.So for Starc and Hazlewood to only bowl two overs each in the second innings in Pune, and 11 and nine for the match, was the cricket equivalent of putting your feet up on the table and leaning back while all your mates fetch you cold beers. Time to collect.”It’s amazing,” said Starc. “I think it’s making up for the summer Josh and I had. The spinners bowled really well and the pitch didn’t have much in it for Josh and me. There was very minimal natural swing because it was so abrasive and it didn’t really go too much reverse. But when Steve’s [O’Keefe] taking that many wickets and Nathan’s [Lyon] bowling really well there’s not really much need for us on that wicket.”But Starc expects he’ll be required for heavier duties in Bangalore, particularly after Australia’s spinners were able to exploit the ragging Pune pitch which backfired on India so spectacularly.”I can’t see it being too bouncy or quick because it’s a weakness of the Indian batters,” said Starc. “We’ll probably see it not turning as much as this wicket has or breaking up as quickly. I think we’ll probably see a wicket similar to maybe the England series they had over here where it’s probably flatter and there’s some really big first innings totals and the game happens a bit quicker towards the end. It’s a smaller ground but a bit better of a wicket than what we’ve seen here in Pune.”But even on a Pune pitch offering him little, Starc produced a ripper of a delivery to dismiss Cheteshwar Pujara, the ball rearing up off the back of a length area and catching the glove as Pujara tried to defend. If there’s any bounce to be found in M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Starc will seek it out.”It’s probably something not many batsmen like, especially the guys over in the subcontinent, where they’re not used to those faster or bouncier wickets. So we can get up around their nose every now and again,” Starc said. “A lot of teams have showed that it’s not an area that the India batsmen like most. Hopefully there’s a little bit of bounce in the Bangalore wicket or the wickets to come in this series and we can try and exploit that as well.”While Pujara’s first-innings dismissal was a key moment in the match, the wicket of Virat Kohli is the most highly coveted by his former Royal Challengers Bangalore team-mate – he had him caught at first slip, chasing after a wide delivery. However, Starc admits there was an element of luck in his dismissal.”If you look closely at the ball it was supposed to come back in, so it was a bit of luck there. It was his first couple of balls at the crease so he was probably going a little too hard. Not one I’ll be giving back anytime soon, that’s for sure.Australia’s pacers enjoyed a rare deficit in workload, but Mitchell Starc expects that to change in the second Test•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

“I had a bit of a chuckle the ball before and while I was fielding at long-on and and he was in the dugout. Nice to get that one early in the series. He’s a class player, we all know that. He’s scored a mountain of runs already this year. I’m sure he’ll come back bigger and stronger in the next Test and be wary of the Virat comeback.”With Australia’s spinners dominating the first Test on such an abrasive wicket, there was little opportunity for reverse swing to come into the equation for Australia’s quicks but Starc believes it could be a key factor in the second Test and an area in which Australia can improve.”Obviously we’ll wait until we get there to see what the conditions are like but I’m sure it will be a pretty dry wicket again, so that’ll probably help reverse swing there and it’s something we’ll be working hard at all the time in the nets,” said Starc.”We know we’ve got huge reverse swing every time we’ve got it here in India, so we’ll have a look at what the wicket has got for us. It’s about looking after that shine on an abrasive square. And if it’s not going to spin as much in Bangalore, we’re going to have to make sure we’re using that reverse swing to make up for not as much spin as we’ve seen here in Pune.”For Starc, the lead in to Bangalore couldn’t be much better. It’s been a long time since he’s been able to go into a second Test this physically fresh and off the back of such a confidence-boosting victory that has silenced the doubters.”Obviously we’ve come here as a group believing we can win, and I think everyone has written us off and expected India to win,” said Starc. “So to shut a few people up and really show that this young team is here to play – and we’ve adapted really well in our lead-up – has been great for the group. But it’s one Test win, it’s not a series win yet so we’ll be doing all we can. Especially in the next Test in Bangalore. It’s going to be pretty special for this young group [if we pull it off].”

Andre Russell is praying and hoping that the independent anti-doping tribunal does not ban him for missing out on filing his whereabouts on three occasions in 2015. The three-member tribunal will deliver the verdict in Kingston on Tuesday.If found guilty, Russell could face a maximum ban of up to two years under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules. Missing three tests in 12-month period amounts to a failed dope test under the WADA guidelines.”It’s been stressing and hard playing cricket and all that’s in the back of your head. But at the end of the day you have to do what you have to do,” Russell told . “It’s like a big cloud over my head. If I get a ban then definitely I’m out of cricket [during the period of the suspension]; I mean all formats. So I’d just love to know I’m back and I can represent Jamaica Tallawahs, West Indies, and all the other teams I play for in the world.”Honestly, I’m being positive and I haven’t been thinking about anything else that I want to do apart from playing cricket; doing what I love. I have so many fans out there and they would be disappointed, just as I would be. I just want to remain positive at the moment. I think I can [avoid a suspension] with the help of God; I think it’s out of my control, so I just have to wait on what happens on Tuesday.”In March 2016, Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) pressed a legal charge against Russell for failing to provide his whereabouts between January and July 2015. According to JADCO Russell had failed to file his whereabouts on January 1, July 1 and July 25 that year despite several reminders over email, phone and letters.In his defence, Russell told the tribunal that he had not been properly trained to file the whereabouts, and that he had authorised his agent and travel agent to file his whereabouts since he was busy with cricket commitments.The three-member tribunal comprising Hugh Faulkner, Dr Marjorie Vassell and Dixeth Palmer, a former Jamaica cricketer, has been deliberating on the case for a long time and even delayed the original verdict date last December.Russell, who is recovering from a left hamstring injury which forced him out midway through the Big Bash League in Australia earlier this month, tested his fitness last Saturday when he turned to play a league game for St Catherine’s Cricket Club. He ended up with three wickets which played a role in his team’s victory.Last July, while playing for the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League, Russell had said it had been “depressing” for him to carry on playing while the hearings were on. Ahead of the hearing, he hoped his prayers would be answered.”As I said in the team meeting to the guys, I just would love for them to say a prayer for me, and I’ve been praying for myself as well,” he said. “I have faith (in) the work that my lawyers put out… I think they summed up things very well.”

Arthur Morris, the late Australia batsman, has been inducted as the 82nd player into the ICC hall of fame. He played 46 Tests and was the highest scorer among Don Bradman’s “Invincibles” in the 1948 Ashes. Noted for his elegance at the crease, the left-handed opener was also a destructive presence, averaging 46.48 with 12 hundreds and a top score of 206. He died in Sydney in August 2015, aged 93.Judith Morris received a personalised cap celebrating her husband’s contributions from Steve Waugh, another member of the ICC hall of fame, at tea during the New Year’s Test at the SCG. “It is a great honour to be receiving this award, which brings in a flood of memories along with it,” she said.Among them might have been how Morris had struck hundreds in his first two first-class innings – or his 155, 122 and 124 not out in consecutive innings in his first Test series. He was at the other end when Bradman made a duck in his final innings at The Oval and finished with 196, which helped Australia to an innings victory and did not give Bradman the chance to lift his average into three-figures. selected Morris as one of their cricketers of the year in 1948 and said he had an “air of complete composure” and that “he combined unusual defensive qualities with the ability to decide early in the ball’s flight what his stroke shall be”. He was named in Australia’s team of the century in 2000, and in the following year, he was inducted into the Australian hall of fame.Tuesday marked an occasion for more praise for Morris. “Cricket has developed over the years and decades due to the contribution of players who entertained the crowds with their attractive game and made contests memorable due to their steely resolve. Arthur Morris was one such cricketer and that is why he is remembered even so many years after he played the game,” Waugh said.Morris’ form tapered away towards the end of his career, coinciding with Sid Barnes, his long-time opener partner, getting into problems with the administrators. He played the last of his 46 Tests in June 1955.”He spent a long period in the motor trade, then played a significant part in the introduction of tenpin bowling to Australia, before finishing in PR,” Morris’ obituary in says of his life after retirement. “He remained an honoured guest at cricket grounds everywhere, his dignity never puffing up into pomposity, thanks to an acute sense of the ironic and the whimsical. He was appointed MBE in 1974, and was a member of the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust for 22 years. Three days before he died, the Arthur Morris Gates were unveiled as a tribute to his long association with the SCG.”

First dates are hard, and the one India are having with DRS has thrown up its share of adorable and awkward moments.Batting for the first time in front of his home crowd in a Test match, Cheteshwar Pujara used the system to overturn an lbw decision against him and score a “special century” in front of his family and friends. That high, however, dissipated in the second innings when he was again caught in front of the stumps again but did not realise the ball had pitched outside leg. His wingman M Vijay was no help, and his coach Anil Kumble gave him an earful for not being brave enough to take the plunge. Poor Pujara.In Visakhapatnam, India’s difficulties in judging when to use the system came out in the span of three balls from Moeen Ali. A ripping offbreak took Wriddhiman Saha’s pad and after an eternity Kumar Dharmasena raised his finger. Perhaps the delay encouraged Saha to review, but replays showed it was three reds.Ravindra Jadeja should have reviewed his lbw decision•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Two deliveries later, Ravindra Jadeja went forward to defend the second ball he faced, expecting turn from Moeen bowling around the stumps. Instead he was met by a full delivery that held its line and struck him low on the front pad. Dharmasena upheld the appeal for lbw, and it was time to engage the temptress.Jadeja strode down the pitch to get some advice from R Ashwin, his partner, who wasn’t sure it was a good idea. India now had only one review left. But they had just lost one of their best lower-order batsmen. It was probably worth the gamble. When the replays came on, it confirmed as much, with the ball missing leg stump by a whisker.England and DRS have had a much longer fling, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they do not have their own issues. Alastair Cook, in the first morning of the series, was given out lbw after he missed a flick to a delivery from Jadeja that seemed like it would clearly miss leg stump. Here too the non-striker was consulted, but Haseeb Hameed, the 19-year old on Test debut, had enough to worry about without having to calculate the ball’s trajectory.India managed a happy ending though. Jayant Yadav, on debut, struck Moeen on the pads in the first over after drinks in the final session. The batsman had come down the track, but the offspinner had seen that he hadn’t really covered that much distance and more importantly the ball had straightened. Umpire Dharmasena had ruled against the on-field appeal but Jayant knew a debut wicket was only a ‘T’ sign away and convinced his captain to go for a review.The ball pitched in line, hit the batsman on middle and went on to hit leg stump, three reds when so often in such cases the umpire’s call comes into play. The Indians’ celebrations – Virat Kohli, who just about raised his bat on scoring a century earlier, was punching the air in triumph – were indicative of an unfamiliar job very well done.