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The BCCI has retained Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh among its seven-member support staff team for the three-Test South Africa, but dropped assistant coach Lalchand Rajput who had managed the team since the Bangladesh tour last May.Prasad, the former India new-ball specialist, will remain in charge of bowling while Robin will handle the team’s fielding. The South Africa series, starting March 26 in Chennai, will mark the debuts of Gary Kirsten as coach and his associate Paddy Upton as mental conditioning coach and physical trainer.Paul Close, the physio of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore will assist the team as its physiotherapist till the BCCI appoints a permanent candidate. “The BCCI will appoint a full-time physiotherapist for the Indian team by the end of April,” Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, said.Prasad, Robin and Rajput have also signed up to coach IPL teams while Kirsten has shied away, saying he wants to focus on the Indian team. Prasad has tied up with the Bangalore franchise and Robin with Hyderabad, while Rajput will coach the Mumbai IPL team.Mumbai-based Ramesh Mane remains the Indian team’s masseur while Chennai’s Russell Radhakrishnan will continue to be the team’s travel assistant.

Plan B for Bouncer sounds like it might be the title of an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, but there was not a lot of mystery or intrigue about the storyline as conjured by Stuart Broad on a day heavily punctuated by bad light and heavy rain. As the hardiest spectators filed out, puddles were still swelling on the outfield.Warwickshire had added 48 runs to their overnight 181, for the loss of Dominic Sibley, when Broad began the 109th and by far the most eventful over of the contest. Nottinghamshire had scarcely used the short ball up to that point and, if nothing else, the change of tactic would challenge the home side to score the quick runs they needed for a second batting point.Three fielders took their place on the leg-side boundary primed for the misplaced hook. Another crouched at a deepish short leg. On the offside the straightest man was located at cover. Broad was about to spring either the most audacious double-bluff in cricketing memory or the worst-disguised trap since Douglas Jardine clapped his hands and shouted: “Let him have it, Harold.”Adam Hose, nicely set, ducked the first ball and defended the second. The third struck a glancing blow on the helmet which left him briefly on his backside. Springing up quickly, he jogged through for a leg bye before being cleared by the physio to continue. Liam Banks evaded a bouncer in relative comfort and umpire Martin Saggers stepped in to warn Broad for running on the pitch.This would have done nothing for Broad’s disposition, and when Banks swayed inside the line of ball five, Saggers signalled that the bouncer allocation for the over was up. Think of all this as background, the build-up of suspense. Now came the big event.The designated last ball was an absolute snorter. The most hostile of the over, of the day, perhaps of the game so far. Short, yes, but how short? That was the difficult question for Saggers. It certainly seemed too quick for Banks who could not get out of the way and appeared to glove through to wicketkeeper Tom Moores tumbling to his right. But as Broad began to celebrate, Saggers signalled no ball.The umpire felt that it went through above shoulder height. Broad in turn pointed out that it had taken the glove and must therefore be deemed a legitimate wicket. He opened his arms, palms upwards beseeching justice before a theatrical gesture of ball brushing glove. At one point, astounded, he seemed to appeal to the batsman himself, while captain Steven Mullaney joined the conversation as though seconding the proposal of his team-mate.Saggers remained unmoved, and to add to the sense of theatre Banks stroked the eventual seventh ball, the fullest of the over, to the off side boundary. Cheers roared from the stands; Broad must have felt he was in Brisbane rather than Birmingham. He re-opened conversation with Saggers while taking his sunhat and Mullaney came in for a second time, this time to usher away his team-mate before things became even more fractious.Perhaps they did go too far. While Saggers may not literally Dial L for Lord’s, his match report might well conclude that Broad’s behaviour represented dissent. Alternatively, he could look at the replays and agree that he was wrong. Peter Moores, the Nottinghamshire head coach, believes so. “I think it [the decision] was probably a mistake,” Moores said. “It happens, and you move on. Sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don’t.”Sequel: Next over, Banks attempted to sweep the off-spin of Matt Carter and was adjudged leg-before by Tim Robinson. Justice was probably done, albeit with no personal advance to Broad’s haul of wickets. Warwickshire didn’t get their extra point. And Broad didn’t bowl again. People did, indeed, move on.After the slow pace of Monday, Warwickshire showed more urgency in the 37 overs possible. Sibley added only six more runs to his overnight 81 before opening the face, slightly, to a ball from Luke Fletcher of perfect length, but Hose, with 101 runs in eight Championship innings hitherto, played soundly in defence, batting out of his crease to combat swing, while capitalising on opportunities.Forcing sixes off both spinners, Carter and Samit Patel, he played efficiently either side of the wicket and will resume on 84. Overall, though, the bowlers offered very few freebies and Mullaney’s disciplined swing earned wickets before the worst of the weather hit. Tim Ambrose shouldered arms before Henry Brookes fell lbw.Jeetan Patel gave a brief insight into the way Warwickshire may try to move forward from here when he forced his second ball from Samit Patel over the ropes. As Peter Moores said, Nottinghamshire must hope that time taken from the game delays any deterioration of the surface until they have at least batted once themselves.

The Goa middle order put up a brave fight but there was preciouslittle substance in the rest of the batting and Andhra took firstinnings points as their rain affected three day KSCA Coca Cola Trophymatch ended in a draw in Bangalore on Tuesday.Andhra declared at the overnight total of 285 for five. Goa’s toporder made a mess of things and at 65 for four, they were down in thedumps. However Amit Jadav and Gaurish Phadte initiated the recoveryprocess by adding 77 runs off 34.1 overs. Phadte’s 42 was scored off116 balls and was inclusive of six boundary hits. Jadav and S Misquinthen kept the momentum going with a sixth wicket partnership of 36runs off 12 overs before Jadhav was out for a gallant 50. He faced 160balls and hit three fours and two sixes. Once Jadhav was sixth out at178, the tail offered little resistance. Misquin made a valuable 34off 60 balls with four fours and two sixes but Goa were all out for204 off 86.4 overs. Balaji Krishna Singh was the most successfulbowler with four for 51. Due to dampness of the pitch, play started 50minutes late. Andhra got five points and Goa three.

Titans 153 for 6 (de Villiers 46, Bodi 45) beat Dolphins 135 (Mbhalati 3-18) by 18 runs
ScorecardThe Titans were at their sharpest with bat and ball as they turned the Dolphins into sushi with an 18-run win in the Standard Bank Pro20 final in Durban. The win marked the Titans’ second triumph of the summer in the wake of their successful MTN domestic championship campaign.Led by a third-wicket stand of 60 between Gulam Bodi (45) and AB de Villiers (46), the Titans posted 153 for 6 – the highest total scored in this competition at Kingsmead this season. The Dolphins struck back by dismissing Bodi and de Villiers 10 balls apart, but Albie Morkel steered the Titans to their challenging total with an unbeaten 33 that he blasted off 17 balls with two fours and two sixes.Then, spearheaded by Ethy Mbhalati’s 3 for 18, they sent the home side packing for 135 in 19.1 overs. The Dolphins crashed to 49 for 5 in reply before Pierre de Bruyn (29) and Daryn Smit (36) dragged them back into the game with a stand of 60. But the Titans turned the tide conclusively when Faf du Plessis had Smit brilliantly caught on the midwicket boundary and Albie Morkel bowled de Bruyn.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMishab-ul-Haq led the way for Rangpur with 61 off 39 balls•BCB

Mohammad Amir claimed career-best T20 figures on his BPL debut but he was unable to prevent Rangpur Riders from winning off the last ball, by two wickets, in the tournament opener against Chittagong Vikings. Misbah-ul-Haq’s clever late onslaught coupled with Thisara Perera revived Rangpur after they had looked dead in their chase.With 14 required off the last over, Darren Sammy half-connected with a slower ball from Shafiul Islam for a six over long-off before he was dropped by Asif Ahmed at deep cover. Sammy then scythed the fourth ball for a boundary through point but the fifth ball had him run-out going for a second. With one run needed off the last ball, Saqlain Sajib ran through for the single and threw his bat in delight.Despite the last-over heroics of Sammy, it was Misbah who played the innings that swung the game Rangpur’s way, hammering four big sixes down the ground in his 39-ball 61. He shared an 80-run sixth wicket stand after Rangpur had seemed done for at 87 for 5 in the 13th over, having already added 64 for the fifth wicket with Al-Amin. Misbah remained the strong accumulator and used his experience to release the pressure by hitting late sixes and fours.Comeback kid Amir removed the dangerous Perera and Misbah with consecutive deliveries of the 19th over. Amir had earlier taken the wickets of the openers Lendl Simmons and Soumya Sarkar – who had earlier been dropped by Asif from his first ball – in consecutive deliveries, too, as Rangpur were reduced to 23 for 4 in the fifth over. Soumya’s leg-before decision was iffy, however, as all three stumps were exposed when the ball hit his pad.The thrill of having a tournament start with Shakib Al Hasan bowling the first ball to Tamim Iqbal didn’t disappoint the modest Mirpur crowd but it was Jeevan Mendis who made the difference to give Chittagong their competitive total. He came in to bat in the comfort of 117 for 2 in the 13th over but saw three wickets fall quickly, his team slipping to 134 for 5 in the 16th over. Jeevan made 39 off 18 balls, adding 44 runs for the sixth wicket with Asif. He was at his best in the 18th and 19th overs, hitting Abu Jayed and Arafat Sunny for sixes over square leg, long-on and midwicket.Chittagong must have thought a big total was around the corner after the way Tillakaratne Dilshan and Tamim Iqbal blazed to 50 runs in just four overs. Later Tamim and Anamul Haque added 65 runs for the second wicket, with the Chittagong captain reaching his 50 off 32 balls before getting caught at deep midwicket off Sajib in the 13th over to start the mini-collapse that had them losing 4 for 17 runs in 2.5 overs.Both the collapses in the two innings became inconsequential as Misbah batted like the master of chase that is known for.

Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, has said he did not entirely agree with ICC match referee Jeff Crowe’s assessment of calling the Nagpur pitch as poor. Manohar said that while he would “abide” by the ICC’s verdict, he called Crowe’s decision “subjective”.The Nagpur Test, the third of the four-Test series between India and South Africa, finished inside three days, with batsmen from both sides failing to counter the excessive spin which the pitch took from the first hour of the first morning. The ICC subsequently issued an official warning to the pitch without imposing any penalty.However, despite the notice, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur and India’s team director Ravi Shastri disagreed with the assessment. Shastri even pointed out the example of the Adelaide Test between Australia and New Zealand, which also ended in three days, and asked why there had been no furore on that occasion.When asked if the ICC was exercising double standards in the way it assesses turning pitches and pitches with bounce, Manohar was cautious in his response.”The ICC has framed rules with regards to excellent wicket, good wicket, poor wicket and dangerous wicket,” he said. “Now with regards to poor wickets, they have said where there is excessive spin or where there is excessive seam movement, the wicket is considered to be poor.”In case of Nagpur, what the match referee held was that there was excessive spin on the third day and there was uneven bounce. Now according to me it is a subjective decision taken by the match referee.”The decisions may vary based on whether it is uneven bounce, or whether the wicket is spinning more than what is supposed to be. It is again a subjective thing because one spinner may spin the ball less (and) the other spinner may spin the ball more. So all these factors have to be taken into consideration. But finally the ICC is the supreme body and we would abide by that decision.”

Andrew Birch, the pacer, did the damage with the ball as Warriors beat Dolphins by nine wickets to earn a bonus point win in Durban. That meant they opened up four-point lead over Lions and jump to the second spot in the Momentum One Day Cup standings.Birch returned career-best List A figures of 4 for 15 as Dolphins, who opted to bat, were shot out for 110 in 28.3 overs. Keshav Maharaj, the No. 9 batsman, top scored with an unbeaten 43. That only four batsmen managed to get into double figures was an indication of Dolphins’ struggle. While Birch wrecked the top and middle order, Ayabulela Gqamane, the pacer, dismantled the tail to finish with three scalps.Warriors turned a small chase into a cruise courtesy a 106-run opening stand in 22 overs between JJ Smuts and Colin Ackermann. A 10-wicket thrashing was avoided as Andile Phehlukwayo, the pacer, dismissed Smuts one short of his half-century, but Ackermann, who hit eight fours and a six in his 83-ball innings knocked off the winning runs with 157 balls to spare.

Six, six, six
Chennai, chasing 188, had lost two wickets in the space of five balls and the required rate was hovering near nine an over. Sixteen deliveries without a boundary wasn’t helping their cause, but the big-hitting Albie Morkel swung Chennai back by plundering 23 runs off the 14th over, bowled by Virender Sehwag. The first ball was heaved over midwicket for a massive six, the second biffed dead straight for the same result, and the hat-trick followed with another clout over midwicket. That spectacular comeback from Morkel made the difference when push came to shove.AB pulls off a blinder
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was threatening to finish the match himself, batting sensibly as wickets fell around him, but a stunning catch from AB de Villiers cut him short. Sehwag called back Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh to bowl the penultimate over and Dhoni skipped down to drill a full delivery towards long-on. The ball was dipping on de Villiers, harrying in from the boundary, but he dived forward and cupped it off the ground, refreshing memories of Ajay Jadeja’s similar stunner to dismiss Allan Border in the 1992 World Cup.Chamara surprise
Chennai seemed to have just four overseas players in their squad but everyone was caught on the wrong foot when Chamara Kapugedera, the Sri Lankan batsman, was named in the XI. Apparently he signed over the weekend and sneaked ahead of Makhaya Ntini, who hadn’t managed to get a wicket in three games. He didn’t have a great start, though: going for 15 runs in his only over. Things weren’t much better when he batted though his presence did play a part in Chennai moving towards the target.

Less than a month after Worcestershire announced a £50,000 deal with Kidderminster CC to stage county matches at their ground in the event of New Road flooding again, the old pavilion at Chester Road has been destroyed by fire.Fireman were called to tackle a blaze in the early hours of Sunday morning but were unable to save the wooden building which had to be demolished as it was unsafe. Police believe the fire was started deliberately.The structure was built around 1870 at the old Lorne Street ground and subsequently moved with the club to the current venue. It was replaced by a newer building in 1927 and has more recently been used for storing equipment.A spokesman for the club said that the worst hit would be the 150 youngsters whose kit was all lost in the fire. “We’ve accumulated a lot over the last few years but it has all gone up in smoke … the boys need bats, helmets, boxes and pads and the price of those all adds up.”

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has announced a new franchise-based T20 league, the Afghanistan Premier League. The first season of the tournament, featuring five teams, is being planned to get underway around October 2026 in the UAE.The ACB had launched an Afghanistan Premier League in early 2018 as well and there was only one season played of that tournament later that year, between five teams. High-profile names such as Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Shahid Afridi and others had played in that edition, but it was discontinued after payment issues and concerns around the league’s integrity started emerging.The new league by the same name is likely to have its draft around June-July 2026.”The inaugural season will feature five city-based franchises, bringing together Afghanistan’s leading national players alongside prominent overseas professionals and emerging local talent,” the ACB said in a press release.”The Afghanistan Premier League represents a meaningful step forward in our cricketing journey,” Mirwais Ashraf, the ACB chairman, said at the launch in Dubai on Saturday. “It creates new opportunities for our players, inspires the next generation, and allows Afghanistan cricket to be showcased on a global platform. We see the APL as an important contributor to the growth and unity of the game, both domestically and internationally.”The ACB has partnered with Cricket Venture, a joint venture of Trans Group and ITW Universe, for the league.”Following the launch, organisers will move into the next phase, which includes finalising franchise identities, confirming commercial partners, and progressing the player auction or draft process,” the release said.Afghanistan continue to play their domestic T20 league – the Shpageeza Cricket League – between five domestic teams in the July-August window every year.