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Of young players that have emerged for Sri Lanka over the past few months, perhaps none has been as surprising as the coming forth of Lahiru Kumara.He had had an excellent run in the Under-19 team, but when Test selection came for a tour of Zimbabwe, he merely appeared a placeholder quick until the more experienced bowlers returned from injury. Then, in his first match in South Africa – and third overall – Kumara collected the best-ever figures for a Sri Lanka fast bowler in the country, and also became the second-youngest Sri Lankan to claim a five-wicket haul.Coaches and selectors are enthused by how quickly he has come on, and how much he may yet improve. He needs to work on his control, bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake said, but what Kumara has always had is pace. He was clocked at nearly 145kph at Newlands.”He’s bowling 140kph plus, you know? He’ll bowl 150 very soon,” said Ramanayake. “He’s just 19-plus and he’s learning. To get six wickets here against one of the best teams – he bowled some brilliant balls. If he can get more consistency with that length, he can be a very good bowler.”The pace has come from genetics, so he’s always had that. But if he keeps improving general fitness, strengthening and conditioning work, he will get there. Especially when you’re at 23 or 24, your body becomes fully matured. That’s the time they’ll bowl fast.”Kumara had been in Sri Lanka’s age-group teams for at least four years, touring Malaysia with the Under-15 side, before graduating to the Under-19 team in 2014, aged 17. His breakthrough series had been in England last year, where he claimed 11 for 134 in a Youth Test in Northampton.”At the age of 15 he had been identified, but when the Under-19 tours came, he was really highlighted,” Ramanayake said. “He always had the pace, but he was a bit short and wild. Young fast bowlers tend to be like that through that period. But then we worked with him on hitting that length, and he has a natural ability to bowl good inswingers. The length was short, but we’ve worked on that. Now he’s much better.”The inswing had seen Kumara put a ball through Hashim Amla’s defence in the first innings at Newlands, but later that same innings, he also got balls to leave the right-hander off the seam, after having angled it into the stumps.”Now he’s working on the away-seamer as well. Because he bowls wide of the crease, sometimes he bowls that away one, which is very difficult because of the angle. He’s always had a good short ball. I’m not worried about pace. I want him to bowl more on the right spot. He’s fast, so if he hits that length it’s on to the batsman quickly. No time for them. You can see that he’s improving.”Sri Lanka’s fast-bowling stocks are regularly ravaged by injury, however, and avoiding long layoffs is among the many challenges that Kumara now faces. This series is being played without Dhammika Prasad, who had been Sri Lanka’s best seam bowler in 2015, but has not played a Test since October of that year due to recurring shoulder trouble. Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep and Dushmantha Chameera – who are on the tour – had also been sidelined for months, at different times last year.”When you have a youngster you have to manage him,” Ramanayake said. “You never know – anytime you can get a stress fractures and all. We have to look after him. Fitness-wise, he’s still raw and we’ll have to build him up slowly.”With Kumara’s emergence, Sri Lanka now have two quicks who may potentially operate in the high 145-150kph range. Chameera, who suffered a stress fracture in May last year, had previously bowled as fast as 149kph on a tour of New Zealand. He was a long way from his best on his Test return at Port Elizabeth, but Ramanayake is confident the pace will return in time.”Dushy had a stress fracture and after a stress fracture you are always not sure about giving 100%. He was one of our best bowlers before he got injured, and he’ll come back definitely. I’m not sure whether he’s playing this Johannesburg Test or not, but in the future, if we have two bowlers who can bowl at 145kph-plus, any side will be very happy. A little bit more bowling will help him.”

Australia’s captain Steven Smith and his deputy David Warner have chosen not to enter into a public debate ahead of the next round of meetings in pay negotiations between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association.Having been wined and dined by CA board directors in Melbourne on Wednesday night, Smith and Warner elected only to make conciliatory noises after the end of the Chappell-Hadlee series against New Zealand. Their words were in contrast to the more urgent tone taken by others, including the ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson and the former Australian international Simon Katich.”For us it was a good opportunity to meet the board and have a nice dinner with them and a good chat,” Smith said of the dinner, the sort of courtesy that was not offered to Nicholson, among others. “They took our points of view, we listened to them and it was nice to see everyone on the same page and trying to get the best for our game moving forward.”Sitting alongside Smith, Warner chimed in to say: “Dinner was nice.”While CA declined to comment publicly on the MOU negotiations, there is a wide expectation that the board will seek to break-up the revenue sharing model that has been fundamental to Australian cricket since 1997. Under that model, Australia’s players get around 26% of Australian Cricket Revenue, a selection of the money generated by the game that is decided upon by CA.The ACA is seeking the retention of the model while also hoping to expand and “future-proof” the sources of revenue. This is partly designed to cater for the inclusion of more expansive women’s pay in the next MOU, at a time when the game is expanding in professionalism and prominence via the Women’s Big Bash League.Smith, Warner and other senior Australian players are critical to negotiations because it is believed that CA will try to tempt them into accepting considerable individual pay rises in exchange for the revenue sharing model being stripped away. In this, the model would be similar to that presently in use for the women, who are paid separately by CA without a wide range of conditions and benefits open to the men via their longer standing MOU agreements.Another key figure in the debate is the former captain Mark Taylor, who forged a middle path between the players and the board when a pay dispute in 1997 was defused by the adoption of the revenue sharing model and the founding of the ACA itself. Now a board director, Taylor is also known to be a mentor of Smith, and a proponent of the move away from revenue sharing.The CA chairman David Peever was previously the managing director of the mining giant Rio Tinto’s Australian operations and an outspoken critic of union involvement in the workplace. In a 2012 mining conference address, Peever had outlined his views on “third party” involvement in negotiations between employers and employees.”Direct engagement between companies and employees, flexibility and the need for improved productivity has to be at the heart of the system,” he said at the time. “Only then can productivity and innovation be liberated from the shop floor-up, and without the competing agenda of a third party constantly seeking to extend its reach into areas best left to management.”CA’s negotiating team is being led by the executive general manager of strategy and people, Kevin Roberts – himself a former board director. The ACA is expected to seek the advice of the former players association chief executives Tim May and Paul Marsh at various points of the process.

BCCI president Anurag Thakur has submitted a report to the Lodha Committee on Saturday, saying the board’s members have rejected adopting in total the new memorandum of association and rules. Thakur informed the committee that the 30 members opted to instead vote separately for or against each of the committee’s recommendations, which were approved by the Supreme Court of India on July 18 this year.Thakur’s report, sent via email, was filed two days after the prescribed deadline (November 3) set by the Supreme Court of India in its interim order passed on October 21; the court had asked Thakur and BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke to file an affidavit with the committee within two weeks, indicating which of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations “have been complied with, the manner of compliance and the steps adopted for securing compliance with the remaining recommendations”.It could not be confirmed whether Shirke, too, had sent a similar report to the committee. In its order, the court also said that both Thakur and Shirke should appear in person in front of the committee to explain the manner of compliance once their report had been filed.In his report, Thakur told the committee that at a special general body meeting of the board, held in Mumbai on October 1, Shirke proposed to the members that the new memorandum of association and rules, finalised by the committee and mandated by the court, be adopted completely.Thakur said he had seconded Shirke’s proposal. “All the members, however, rejected this proposal ,” Thakur noted in his affidavit. “The members further went on to state that while they were not averse to adopting the new memorandum, they had difficulties in adopting the same in totality.”Thakur pointed out that neither he nor Shirke held a vote and, despite being “armed” with the court order, he could not “force” the members. The reasoning offered by the members was that since the BCCI is registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975, it can amend the memorandum only when three-fourths of the eligible members voted in favour of changing it.”I am thus rendered totally incapable and without any authority to force the members, who are 30 in number and have voting rights under the statute, to adopt the entire memorandum as proposed for adoption by the Hon. Lodha Committee,” Thakur said.The affidavit was submitted alongside the unauthorised draft minutes of the board’s SGM on October 1.According to Thakur, at an “informal meeting” of the board, held in Delhi on October 15, Shirke cautioned the members saying if the reforms were not adopted the court would curtail all funds to the states. Even that, Thakur told the committee, failed to change the members’ opinions. “In view of the above difficulties, the Committee may be pleased to consider issuing any further directions to Hon. President and Hon. Secretary in this regard,” Thakur concluded.Although there was no official reaction from the committee on Saturday, earlier in the week it had already predicted such a response form the board. “In the absence of the unambiguous and unequivocal letter of compliance from the President duly undertaking on behalf of BCCI to unreservedly comply with the order of Hon’ble Supreme Court dated 21.10.2016, the Committee anticipates (having regard to the consistent stance adopted by the BCCI that it has issues with regard to reforms concerning governance) that there would be impediments in carrying out the order dated 21.10.2016,” the committee said in an email to Thakur on October 29.In three emails sent on October 24, 29 and November 3, the committee had reminded the BCCI that an undertaking form Thakur to unequivocally comply with the court’s October 21 order was mandatory. Without that the committee cannot issue directions to the board on various pending decisions, including setting a new date for the IPL media rights tender, and determining the threshold value for any financial transaction of the board relating to future contracts.The Lodha Committee – comprising former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha and retired Supreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and R Raveendran – was formed in January 2015 to determine appropriate punishments for some of the officials involved in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal, and also to propose changes to streamline the BCCI, reform its functioning, prevent sporting fraud and conflict of interest.

Pakistan have added batsman Younis Khan to their squad for the second Test against West Indies in Abu Dhabi, which starts from October 21. Younis’ inclusion is the only change to the squad for the ongoing series.Younis had missed the first Test after being advised extended rest as he recovered from a bout of dengue. The 38-year-old batsman had contracted a high fever last month that was later diagnosed as the mosquito-borne disease, as he underwent treatment at a Karachi hospital. The illness also forced him out of the first round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s premier first-class tournament.Younis is Pakistan’s leading run-scorer in Tests with 9456 runs at 53.72. Before the Dubai Test, he had last missed a Test in May 2011, and had since played 41 successive matches, scoring 3839 runs at an average of 59.06. He scored 218 against England at The Oval in his last Test appearance.

ScorecardJake Libby almost carried his bat [file picture]•Getty Images

Jake Libby went close to carrying his bat for Nottinghamshire in their Specsavers County Championship match against Durham at Chester-le-Street.But after batting for three full sessions to make 144 the 23-year-old opener was last out with the total on 313, a lead of 69.The Durham openers then put on 67 but they ended the day on 83 for three, only 14 ahead, with Keaton Jennings unbeaten on 34.Mark Stoneman edged Steven Mullaney to slip for 39, then Scott Borthwick fell for nought when he padded up to a straight one from Harry Gurney.With three overs left Imran Tahir came on and skidded a quicker one through an attempted pull to bowl Jack Burnham for three.Libby’s progress has stuttered, partly through injury last year, since he made a century on debut at the end of the 2014 season. This was only his second hundred since, but easily beat his previous best of 108.Durham were guilty of feeding his strength as he scored the vast majority of his runs through the leg side, with the most memorable of his 11 fours being a back-foot punch through mid-on.Having reached 50 off yesterday’s penultimate ball, he completed his 191-ball century just before lunch and was lbw to Paul Coughlin in the last over before tea.Libby was badly missed on 87 by Michael Richardson, who had just been posted at leg gully, and survived a more difficult chance to Borthwick at slip on 116.Otherwise he looked well capable of becoming the solid opener Nottinghamshire have craved, and they would have been in trouble without him, despite Michael Lumb’s fluent 82.Lumb edged a drive to second slip when Graham Onions went round the wicket, then Brendan Taylor sliced to backward point before Libby and Samit Patel set out to build steadily.They had put on 82 in 32 overs when Jennings came on for a couple of overs before the new ball and his fifth ball skidded through low to bowl Patel for 37.That sparked the loss of the last six wickets for 45 as Chris Read and the two Lukes, Wood and Fletcher, all fell to the new ball.Imran Tahir saw off Onions and Chris Rushworth, who finished with three wickets each, only to drive Borthwick to extra cover. Libby departed in the next over.

ScorecardCraig Overton needs three more runs for a maiden Championshop hundred•Getty Images

Craig Overton was left three runs short of a maiden first-class century when play ended four overs early on the third day of the Specsavers County Championship match with Hampshire at Taunton.He faces an anxious overnight wait to see if Somerset captain Chris Rogers declares before he has the chance to achieve the landmark.He said: “I honestly don’t know what we are going to do. Of course, I would like the chance to bat on, but in the end the team must come first and I’ll go with whatever the skipper decides. I was disappointed when we came off, but the umpires had made it clear the previous over that there would not be much more play.”Overton and Roelof van der Merwe, who was also seeking his first hundred for Somerset, were unbeaten on 97 and 91 respectively, with their unbroken eighth wicket stand worth 164, and Hampshire were looking at a last day survival mission.Half-centuries from Overton, van der Merwe, Lewis Gregory and Jim Allenby batted Somerset into a strong position. By the close, the hosts had reached 534 for 7 in reply to 338, having begun the day on 257 for 5, and led by 196 for on a pitch still offering turn and occasional bounce for the spinners.After morning drizzle had forced an early lunch, play got underway at 1pm, with Allenby unbeaten on 37. He went on to a 116-ball half century before the second new ball was taken at 291 for 5.Nine runs had been added when Allenby, on 56, looked to pull a leg-side bouncer from Ryan McLaren and either edged or gloved a catch to wicketkeeper Lewis McManus.Gregory and van der Merwe were soon making further inroads into Hampshire’s first innings total, with Gregory hitting seven fours in moving to a handsome fifty off 79 deliveries.The pair were almost involved in a comical run out with the score on 302, first both racing in one direction and then the other after van der Merwe had called for a quick single. Sadly for Hampshire, the ball was fumbled and they failed to capitalise.It proved costly as Somerset moved on to 370 before Gregory edged a drive to slip off leg-spinner Mason Crane and departed for 61.Overton survived a chance to first slip off David Wainwright early in his innings, but in general the Hampshire spinners lacked the consistency in line and length to profit from the dry surface.There were no more opportunities as van der Merwe reached his half-century off 78 balls, with 2 fours and 2 sixes, and Overton followed from 93 deliveries, with 5 fours and a six.It was van der Merwe’s best first class score for Somerset and Overton’s best of the season. By the time bad light interrupted play at 4.50pm both were batting with consummate ease.A resumption at 5.35pm saw Overton smash Will Smith for 4,4,6,6 in an over that cost the off-spinner 21.Hampshire looked likely to be spared more fireworks when the umpires decided the light was too poor after just three of the 15 overs they had decreed were left in the day.But at 6.10pm the players took the field again, with six overs due to be bowled. When their stand reached 132 Overton and van der Merwe claimed a Somerset record partnership for the eighth wicket against Hampshire, beating the 131 stand of Ernie Robson and Lionel Palairet at Southampton in 1896.The day ended strangely as van der Merwe summoned the 12th man onto the field with four overs to go. As they were talking, the umpires decided no further play would be possible and Overton was left standing with head bowed so close to an important personal milestone.

Roston Chase, the 24-year-old West Indies batting allrounder, had endured an underwhelming debut in the first Test against India in Antigua. He scored 23 and 8, sent down 34 fruitless overs, giving away 102 runs.However, Chase put the disappointment behind and picked up his maiden five-wicket haul on Monday in India’s first innings score of 500 for 9 at Sabina Park. “It is a great feeling to get five wickets in any match, but at Test level, it is a great feeling for me,” he said. “I have just started my Test career and it is a great confidence boost for me that I can do it at this level.”Chase had earned his maiden call-up to the Test side after a good run in the WICB’s regional first-class tournament in which he was fourth on the run-scoring charts with 710 runs at 59.16.In Kingston, West Indies were made to earn every wicket as India’s batsmen mentally wore them down by displaying ample patience and discipline in their defence and shot-making. “Yes, it was hard for me. It’s Test cricket, so you are never taught that it will be easy,” Chase admitted. “But [in] the first game, I found out that my line was a bit too wide. So I adjusted my line and length in this match and the skipper told me to do that – to attack the batsmen more and hold a tighter line, and it worked for me.”Chase, whose wickets included those of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, felt that variations helped him improve in this game, and cutting down on pace helped him extract more turn. “As I am 6’4″, I tend to get a lot of bounce, but I found that I wasn’t only getting bounce this time but I was also getting some turn as well, so that helped me a lot,” he said. “I was spinning some balls and straightening some of them as well. I also tried to vary my pace in the game as I found that in the last match, I was a bit too quick. So when I slowed the ball down, I got more results in the match.”Chase turned his arm over for 36.1 overs, the most for his team in India’s first innings, but said he was used to it despite being in the side as a batting allrounder. “I am mainly a batsman, but earlier, in our local first-class season, I wasn’t bowling a lot earlier on. But some of our players left for West Indies duty, so that’s when I got an opportunity to express myself as a bowler. I am a bit accustomed to bowling now.”While there was uncertainty on the weather front due to expected tropical storms, West Indies may have to bat for a significant amount of time, rain interruptions notwithstanding, with two days left in the match. With a 304-run deficit after India’s declaration, Chase admitted that they would need more than the odd spark of brilliance.”We are a bit behind the eight-ball, but I believe that once the team pulls together, we have been seeing glimpses in the first game and this game that we have the ability to compete at this level. But we just need to streamline it a bit more so that we can have a better collective effort. As I said, we have had some glimpses, but we just have to streamline it and we will be fine”.

ScorecardRoss Taylor could not get Sussex over the line•Getty Images

A low-scoring classic at Hove saw Sussex Sharks snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as a floundering middler order saw them make a mountain out of a low target set by Hampshire. A simple chase of 135 from 20 overs took a turn when Sussex’s batsmen only managed five runs from three overs, in which they lost the wickets of Matt Machan and Chris Jordan.That meant 23 needed off the final three overs, which soon became 17 off 11 when Dawson caught Craig Cachopa at deep third man off the bowling of Gavin Griffiths. The silver lining of the wicket meant Ross Taylor found himself back on strike. Three fours in the remaining five balls of the penultimate over meant a manageable five off the final six.With three needed from the final two deliveries, Taylor went to lap Brad Wheal around the corner, only for the ball to pass him and leg stump through to the keeper. No wide was signalled and, with a cracking yorker, Wheal sealed a one-run win for Hampshire. Sussex Sharks skipper Luke Wright, while questioning the wide decision did not shy away from the brutal truth that Sussex lost this match through their own inexcusable carelessness.Even Matt Prior, watching on from the stands, could not bite his tongue when Sussex’s middle order woes were put to him, suggesting that he was prepared to help – although stopping short of saying in quite what capacity.While Griffiths returned three figures, it was 19-year-old Wheal that influenced where this game was headed. It was not just his ability to send the ball down consistently above the 85mph mark but his knack of second-guessing the batsmen to return 14 dot balls. Bowling Luke Wright for just nine and then trapping Machan in front just as he looked to steer the game away from Hampshire were marquee wickets.Having chosen to bat, Hampshire posted an under-par target with a batting effort that went some way to explaining why they were rooted to the bottom of the South Group before the match. It makes for unsettling viewing. In an era when the phrase “Moneyball” has been bastardised to the extent that you could get away with applying the phrase to a petrol station meal deal, they were one of the few sides that appreciated the analytics and application of T20 theorems. This will be the first season in the last eight in which they have not made it out of the group stages.Liam Dawson, morphing from one of English cricket’s “most improved” to “most valuable” white ball cricketers, cast as many disapproving looks to teammates as boundaries. Miscommunication with Tom Alsop and Shahid Afridi saw both run out embarrassingly, leaving him to pick up the pieces.Former Barbados under-19 Jofra Archer made his T20 Blast debut and, in his second over, picked up the wicket of Adam Wheater, with Chris Jordan taking the catch. It was Jordan who spotted Archer and recommended that Sussex make use of his British passport and bring him to Hove. Judging by the chain and chunky golden watch, Jordan may accessorise him, too.When he wasn’t encouraging Archer, he was showing him how it’s done. Four overs returned two for 14, as Jordan toyed with the tail when he finished his set with the 17th and 19th overs. His part in the game did not end with the ball, as he made an appearance in the 16th over of the chase, in at No. 6, as Sussex began to get stage fright.Three sixes – Taylor hitting Tino Best into the flats out at midwicket and Machan taking two in a row off Dawson – gave Sussex a degree of insurance. So, too, did Chris Nash’s 32 off the top of the innings. But a game that by Wright’s estimation should have been won in the 18th over slipped through their fingers in embarrassing fashion.It has been a strange season for Sussex: one which started with talk of an all out attack on the sole promotion spot out of Division Two and now, in the midst of the county summer’s own silly season, has them assessing how many eggs to place in each basket. Promotion is still not out of the question. But the uncertain weather and sheer effort needed to win four day games on down-trodden tracks means they will have to embark on an unheard of run in their final 10 matches to take them back to the top division.In the short term, staying in the hunt for T20 success means placing everything on beating Essex Eagles, Surrey and Glamorgan – all of whom sit above them in the group. They are still in control of their own destiny to a point but have lost all wiggle room.

Zimbabwe batsman Richmond Mutumbami has been ruled out of the second T20I against India due to a right hip injury, which he picked up during the first T20I.Batting at No. 3, Mutumbami was struck on the right hip by a back-of-a-length delivery from Jaydev Unadkat in the sixth over. The blow left him doubled up in pain for several minutes, before he had to be helped off the field.X-rays in hospital showed that Mutumbami had not suffered a fracture or dislocation, Zimbabwe Cricket said in a release, but he will use crutches to take the strain off his hips during his recovery period. His condition will be re-assessed prior to the third T20I, scheduled for June 22.Wicketkeeper-batsman Peter Moor is likely to take Mutumbami’s place in the XI.Meanwhile, the release also said that batsman Brian Chari was making steady progress in his recovery from a knee injury. He was not yet ready for selection, though.

Vernon Philander is looking to reinvent himself as a Test allrounder as he seeks to regain his place in the South Africa team. Philander sat out most of the 2015-16 summer after tearing ankle ligaments during the warm-ups before the Bangalore Test in November. The injury kept him out of seven of the eight Tests in the season and all the limited-overs fixtures, and saw him lose ground to a younger crop, including Kagiso Rabada. But Philander is hopeful he can still bring something to the national side.”What I do is unique: I do what I do. When it comes to the batting side of things, that’s a bonus as well,” Philander said at a sponsorship announcement on Wednesday. “We are all different types of bowlers in that set-up. It’s all about combinations at the end of the day. I’ve played a couple of crucial innings towards the back end. Batting at No.8 is just unique. If you have a guy who can bat at 8, that makes a difference. So yes, my all-round ability is something, I would like to see that still being part of the fold. That’s what I bring to the party.”Not only was Philander the fastest South African to 100 Test wickets but he has also scored four fifties in 32 Tests. With South Africa’s Test slide from No.1 to No.6 in the space of five months, it’s easy to see why they might want to recall someone with Philander’s record. However, with Dale Steyn back in the Test frame, Philander will need to replace one of the other pacers, such as Kyle Abbott. South Africa are still searching for an allrounder and they last used Chris Morris in the role but Philander hopes he can claim that spot despite a lack of recent game time.Since his injury, Philander has played only two first-class matches for his franchise but believes he has recovered well enough to be recalled. “The first match was touch-and-go from the mental side of things. The second one was much better,” he said. “I have been working hard in the gym. I am getting tired of the gym actually. The body is feeling good and I am looking forward to the season.”In the two matches, Philander bowled 33 overs and took five wickets at an economy of 2.18, showing signs of his usual miserly self. He also scored 64 runs in three innings. Philander had secured a short county stint, but failed to get a deal and was also not selected for South Africa’s ODI tri-series in the Caribbean next month. Instead, he hopes he will be picked for the A side and then the Test side to play two matches against New Zealand in August.”I know there is an A side tour going to Zimbabwe and I will probably want to play those four-day games before the New Zealand series, if selected. I am probably looking to get ready for that.”