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Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, has sought to reassure his top-order batsmen that their modest displays in the victory over South Africa will not necessarily lead to their exclusion from the Test side that takes on Sri Lanka in England in May.But Bayliss has conceded that, with batsmen unable to cement their positions in the team, “there are possibilities” for players in domestic cricket who start the County Championship season well.Alex Hales and Nick Compton both contributed just one half-century each during the four-Test series against South Africa. But Bayliss saw enough in each of them to retain faith that they could prove valuable players for England, though possibly in different batting positions.Certainly he retains faith in the natural talent of Hales – a key member of the limited-overs squads – and feels that Compton will find greater consistency once he relaxes in the England environment. And while Hales looked vulnerable outside off stump, Bayliss felt some technical work – and perhaps a move down the order – could help him flourish in Test cricket.

Bayliss on…

Kevin Pietersen’s World T20 hopes
“I’ve been concentrating on the guys in the squad. We’ve done pretty well over the last six or seven matches. I don’t think there is any real need to change it at this stage.”
Jonny Bairstow
“He would be more disappointed with missing catches than his team-mates. Anyone who misses a chance feels a little embarrassed. They know how hard their team-mates are working to get the edge. I know he is disappointed. We like to enjoy each other’s success but we must stand by our mates as well when things don’t quite go our way. Everyone who has played the game has some bad days and disappointed your team-mates at certain times. It is just the way it is. So certainly there are some challenges for Jonny but at different times his keeping was very good. And he was starting to look like he belonged as a batter.”
Moeen Ali
“I’m reasonably happy with his spin bowling. Again, he’s a work in progress. On his day, he puts a lot on the ball and gets good spin and good bounce. Probably at times, he lacks a little bit of consistency in length more than anything. It just makes it a little bit easier for the batters to get off strike. That’s something he is aware of and trying to improve on all the time. If you take out the absolute superstars, most spinners became good spinners when they were 30 years old. He is improving since I first saw him.”
Defeat at Centurion
“There’s still a lot of hard work to do and that performance is a bit of a reminder. It was a bit of a kick up the backside to the players that we still have a lot of hard work in front of us. And it is also a message to the fans not to get too far ahead of ourselves. We’re going to go through a few difficult periods as well and disappoint, not just themselves but also the legion of fans. But have confidence that they are working very hard to rectify that. I still think we are probably two or three years away from reaching our absolute best.”

“Hales is one of the guys who will be disappointed with how he’s gone in this series,” Bayliss said. “I thought the first couple of games, even though he didn’t score a lot of runs in Durban, he looked quite comfortable at the crease and like he belonged.”He’s one of those guys who has shown what he can do at this level. So it’s about knocking off a few of those rough edges. Whether it is as an opener or somewhere else in the order, he is certainly a guy with a lot of talent.”Swapping Compton and Hales is one of those possibilities. Compton has done the job before and I think Hales has batted at No.3 before. That is certainly an option and has been spoken about in the past.”Bayliss admitted there had “been glimpses” of the intensity that that did not always endear Compton to all his colleagues, but suggested he looked “very solid” at times early in the series. And while Compton – perhaps scarred by his previous experiences in the England environment – has seemed somewhat unnerved by talk around his relatively sedate pace of play, Bayliss suggested he should not feel any pressure to change his natural game.”Early in the series, I thought he looked very solid,” Bayliss said. “Yes, he played a few more shots than I thought he would. Whether that’s any different to what he has done in the past, I’m not sure.”Hopefully, he’s not confused with what his role in the team is. He and Alastair Cook are very much blokes the rest of the order can bat around. So if he approaches it his natural way and scores 80, 90 or 100 or more, the rest of the attacking players can bat around him.”I think there were a few glimpses of that intensity. But a few of the coaching staff and people I’ve been talking to were saying that change in him since the first time he played for England was very noticeable. So hopefully he is relaxing as he gets a little older to give himself the best opportunity to succeed. He is trying to do whatever he can and certainly some of the signs were pretty good.”With neither man – or James Taylor, who also made a single fifty in the series – having made an irrepressible case for their continued selection, though, Bayliss said he would be watching the early weeks of the county season with interest. Given England’s almost relentless schedule, and the fact that he was appointed mid-way through last year, Bayliss has seen very little of the talent available in the county game, but did take the opportunity to watch England Lions team training a couple of times while he was in the UAE.”The players we have in South Africa are the best players we have at home,” he said. “But I think it is also a sign to everyone else in county cricket that, if I come out and score runs early in the season, there are possibilities there.”So when I watch county cricket, it will be a little bit with a view towards current selection and a little bit about looking towards the future. From my point of view, it is not necessarily about technique and the number of runs scored. It is the style of player or person. It’s about guys that have got a bit about them, guys who are a little bit tougher.”They always seem to be the guys that can make it at the top level. You don’t necessarily have to have the best technique to score runs or take wickets. It’s how you use the technique that you’ve got and being hard enough and strong enough and smart enough to be able to use that in the right context.”I’ll certainly be making an effort to watch some cricket and start to understand a bit more about the English game.”

Thomas Rew, Somerset’s highly rated wicketkeeper-batter, will captain England at the forthcoming Under-19 World Cup, to be played in Zimbabwe and Namibia in January and February.Rew, 18, missed the recent tour of the West Indies, where England Under-19s were beaten 5-2, due to his involvement with England Lions in Australia. He made his first-class debut in the Lions’ game against Australia A earlier this month, making scores of 19 and 47, having played for Somerset during the summer while still 17.Thomas is the younger brother of James Rew, another wicketkeeper-batter, who was part of the Lions tour – though Thomas was preferred to take the gloves at Allan Border Field. He broke the record for the fastest England U19s century with a 73-ball effort against India in June.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Nottinghamshire offspinner Farhan Ahmed – younger brother of England international Rehan – will be vice-captain, having led the side in the Caribbean. The rest of the 15-player squad is largely the same, with uncapped Leicestershire left-arm spinner Ali Farooq the only new inclusion for the World Cup.”This is an amazing opportunity for the players we have selected to not only wear an England shirt at a World Cup but also to go out and try and do something special,” England U19s head coach, Mike Yardy, said.Related

• Thomas Rew's blistering century helps England U19s level series with India

• Simbarashe Mudzengerere named captain of Zimbabwe Under-19 for home World Cup

• Scotland call up Thaker and Tekale for men's Under-19 World Cup

• Farhan Yousaf to lead Pakistan at Under-19 World Cup

“We have a balanced squad with a core group of players who already have county experience and who have developed a camaraderie while playing together for the U19s that will serve them well during the tournament.”I really want the players to enjoy the opportunity to play at a World Cup, in a beautiful country like Zimbabwe, and to embrace the chance to compete against different countries and show their quality.”England are in Group C with Pakistan, Scotland and hosts, Zimbabwe, at the Under-19 World Cup. They will begin their campaign against Pakistan at the Takashinga Sports Club in Harare’s on January 16.England Men’s Under-19 World Cup squad: Thomas Rew (capt), Farhan Ahmed, Ralphie Albert, Ben Dawkins, Caleb Falconer, Ali Farooq, Alex French, Alex Green, Luke Hands, Manny Lumsden, Ben Mayes, James Minto, Isaac Mohammed, Joe Moores, Sebastian Morgan

Derbyshire have made their first move to strengthen their squad in preparation for Division One cricket by signing wicketkeeper Richard Johnson from Warwickshire on a three-year deal.Johnson, 24, developed through the Warwickshire system from the age of 10 and played in the team that won the CB40 final in 2010, but has found his first-team opportunities limited by the return to form of Tim Ambrose at Edgbaston.Johnson had two loan spells with Derbyshire during the 2012 season, which included making a match-winning 79 against Yorkshire in a CB40 game, and will vie for a place with Tom Poynton as the club’s first-choice keeper.Derbyshire head coach Karl Krikken said: “I’m delighted to welcome our first signing of the close season as we pursue our aim of becoming a stable Division One club in 2013. The addition of Richard adds to our batting and wicketkeeping options at a time when intensifying competition for places is very important.”Ashley Giles, Warwickshire’s director of cricket, said: “It’s sad that we’re losing such a talented home-grown player as Richard, who is very popular with everyone here at Warwickshire. However, we cannot stand in the way of someone’s ambitions to play more first team cricket, so he leaves with the best wishes of all players and management at Warwickshire and I’m sure that he’ll also enjoy a successful career at Derbyshire.”Johnson said: “I’m absolutely over the moon to be signing. When I came here on loan earlier in the summer I fitted in really well, the lads were great to be around and everyone at the club treated me brilliantly.”Now having this opportunity to sign for Derbyshire for three years is amazing. I can’t thank the club enough and I can’t wait to get started. The chance to play first-team cricket with Derbyshire is a fantastic proposition. I have played a bit of first-team cricket for Warwickshire in the past, so I am hopeful that I can add some experience to the squad in that department.”

A year after the Argus review delivered a damning indictment of Australian cricket’s culture, the national captain Michael Clarke has delivered a stern reminder that much still needed to improve if the team are to rise above what he called an “unacceptable” present.Before departing for an ODI tour of the UAE that will take in matches against Afghanistan and Pakistan, Clarke outlined how he and the coach Mickey Arthur had stressed at the team’s Darwin camp that representing Australia is no laughing matter, requiring harder work and higher standards than anything at first-class level.Their message was supported by the embarrassing mid-year tour of England, which saw the ODI team routed 4-0 to surrender top spot in the ICC rankings. With an increasingly youthful, changing team around him, Clarke is adamant that the players with whom he shares a dressing room take responsibility for their roles and acknowledge that, while talent may have lifted them into the Australian team, hard work alone will keep them there.”The most important thing for Mickey and myself is to continue to build the culture we want,” Clarke said in Sydney. “For me the reason I sit where I am today is because of hard work; preparation and hard work are the only two answers for me to be representing Australia, and that’s something that I will continue to push with the young Aussie boys who haven’t played too much cricket around us.”There is a difference between first-class cricket and playing for Australia. Yes, you have to be very talented to be playing for your state, and to get selected for Australia, but the amount of cricket you play these days, the amount you travel, there’s a lot of difference.”The most important thing is the culture. We want to make sure we’ve got the right culture, which we’ve been working on really hard since Mickey’s come in, and I think we’re certainly getting there…hard work and preparation is something I’ll continue to push.”Michael Clarke pushed his men hard at the Darwin training camp that followed a heavy defeat in England•Getty Images

Clarke spoke frankly that all players had to deliver far more with actions than words, after several players’ pre-series pronouncements were made to look decidedly hollow when the tourists were completely outplayed by an England side who were themselves then beaten by South Africa to lose the top Test match ranking.”The other thing I spoke about on the camp was it’s actually not about what you say, it’s about what we do as a team,” Clarke said. “We’ve all sat in meetings and heard the coach or the captain have their opinions and say what they felt, but it’s now up to us as individual players and a team to do something about it, to realise we sit fourth in the ODI rankings, third in the Test rankings and ninth in the Twenty20 rankings. Every player knows that’s unacceptable for an Australian team to sit there, but that’s easy to say – it’s now about what we do.”It’s not about being selected and that’s it, go and have a good time. There’s a lot that comes with representing your country, on and off the field and it’s just about making it very clear to all the boys that we all sit on the same line, there’s no-one special in the team, everyone has the same rules, the same guidelines and the same expectations.”I’m pretty sure all the players know where we sit now, we know how hard it’s going to be, Darwin was a great indication of how hard we’re going to have to work to get back to being the No. 1 team in all three forms – we’ve set a good standard.”These words echoed many of those contained in Don Argus’ review of the Australian team’s performance, released on August 19 last year. It was a frankly worded excoriation of a decline that followed the retirements of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist in the 12 months after the 2007 Ashes victory.Australia’s first match is against Afghanistan on Saturday, before three matches against Pakistan. Clarke expected spin to play a major role in the matches, a measure the touring party prepared for on slow, spinning wickets prepared to emulate those of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.”We’ve got a lot of work to do to get back to the No. 1 one day team in the world, where we’d all like to be,” Clarke said. “We came up against a pretty good team in England in conditions they were used to, their confidence was pretty high as well after beating the West Indies. But it’s no different against Pakistan, they know these conditions really well, I think spin’s going to play a huge part in this series, both facing it and bowling it.”

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has sold the worldwide broadcasting rights for the home series against West Indies to Virgo Media Ltd.The outgoing BCB president Mustafa Kamal said Virgo, the owners of Channel 9 in Bangladesh, will produce the matches. “Channel 9 will handle the production and the board will be paid $50,000 dollars for the sale of the rights,” Kamal said. “We received a few other offers but this seemed like the most profitable deal.”Channel 9 is the official broadcaster of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). A source at the TV station said they would have to sell it to a foreign-based sports channel to make the deal profitable, as they had done for the first edition of the BPL earlier this year.Kamal also said the BCB would launch another tender following the West Indies series in order to sell its worldwide media rights for the long term. The board has been without an official broadcaster after its deal with Nimbus concluded in March this year.BCB had, in August, floated the tender for a TV deal from November 1, 2012, to April 30, 2016, after a committee headed by vice-president Ahmed Sajjadul Alam prepared a guideline for the new deal. A last date for buying the tender was set for August 31, but since only two companies showed interest, the deadline was first extended to September 12, and then to September 14, and amendments were made to the initial clauses in the tender. It still drew a lukewarm response. Last month, the BCB had to turn the long-term offer into a short-term one just for the West Indies series after Virgo Media did not raise their offering of $6 million, though the board had asked for at least $15 million.The prerequisites for prospective bidders were modified for the broadcasting and media rights. After it was understood by the BCB that companies with less experience wanted to apply, the new requirement stipulated a tender would be acceptable only if either the marketing agent or the broadcaster had five years’ experience in the related field. Earlier all three components of the media rights – production, broadcasting and marketing – were required to have five years of experience in cricket coverage. A $2.5 million bank guarantee was also made a key part of the deal, but the board is likely to revise the stipulations.West Indies are scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on November 5 to play two Tests, five ODIs and one Twenty. The second Test and the first two ODIs are expected to take place in Khulna, while the rest of the games will take place in Dhaka.

Opener Imran Farhat scored his second consecutive century to help Lahore Blues reach 258 for three against Bahawalpur on the first day of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Cricket match at the LCCA Ground on Sunday.Imran, who hit 170 against Sheikhupura in the last match, played with great authority and confidence to remain unbeaten with 151 off 167 deliveries. His 225-minute knock was laced with 30 fours and one six.Test star Saeed Anwar was batting alongside Imran with four when stumps were drawn for the day.Another Test batsman Yousuf Youhana fell cheaply for eight to Kamran Hussain.Imran and Irfan Munawar (41) gave Lahore Blues a fine start by sharing an opening stand of 115 runs in just 89 minutes after the match started 20 minutes after lunch because of fog. Irfan hit six boundaries.Imran and skipper Shahid Anwar (39 off 87 balls) added 123 for the second wicket in 102 minutes.

A full house at the Sharjah stadium and millions of cricket fans in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and other countries of the world shall be anxiously awaiting the ARY Gold Cup Tournament reaching its climax, when the two finalists Pakistan and Sri Lanka take the field today (Friday) afternoon. The two Asian giants who have shared many honors between themselves in the past, shall clash with full force to clinch the prestigious trophy.With the remarkable feat of securing 8 points through 4 straight victories in the tournament as against 2 points each won by Sri Lanka and New Zealand, Pakistan dominates the show. There is no denying the fact that the Pakistan team has performed marvelously well in the league matches on its favorite hunting ground. Supported also by the law of averages, Pakistan emerges as the natural `favorite’.Like scores of other observers of the game, Sri Lanka coach Dave Whatmore also accepts Pakistan as the favorites to win the finals, at the same time stressing that his side was capable of putting up a tough fight. Similarly New Zealand Captain Craig McMillan whose team received a thorough beating at the hands of Pakistan, termed Pakistan as `slightly favorite’. He also expressed the view that Sri Lanka was a tough side capable of beating any team on its day.Skipper Sanath Jayasuriya who blamed his side’s poor fielding for defeat in league matches, however, considers his team a hard nut to crack and capable of springing a surprise. Evaluating the remarkable feats that they have performed in the past, I tend to agree with him. It was just their bad luck to lose to the Black Caps in the last encounter. It is otherwise a bitterly fighting outfit.The Pakistan squad participating in the tournament landed at Sharjah without the bunch of stars like Wasim Akram, Moin Khan, Shoaib Akhtar, Yousif Youhana and Azhar Mahmood. It looked handicapped initially but found the right combination to defeat its opponents. A scintilating batting performance by Saeed Anwar, Inzamam ul Haq and Shahid Afridi, effective use of the ball by Saqlain Mushtaq and dynamic leadership by Waqar Younis, however, eliminated all the misgivings.The fact remains that while Saeed Anwar with scores of 90, 88 and 81 and Inzamam with an excellent tally of 44, 87, 71 and 85 contributed the lion’s share to shape Pakistan’s 4 convincing victories, the other batsmen did not show much of a grit. The two matches against the Black Caps were won by the top order batsmen while those in waiting did not get a chance even to take the crease.Though Pakistan is likely to be reinforced by the inclusion of Abdur Razzaq, the team can get into trouble if the top order batting does not click. Realising the situation Sri Lanka would naturally aim at getting Saeed Anwar, Inzamam and Afridi out early in the innings.Another aspect to rejuvenate Sri Lanka’s fighting spirit would be the fact that unlike the Black Caps, they lost the two matches to Pakistan by a marginal difference of 16 and 28 runs, which can be made up by grabbing all the chances that come in their way. The front line batsman Atapattu who has not gone beyond the top score of 36 in the tournament must regain his form. Same applies to Muttiah Muralitharan who appears to have lost his magic.The final of a tournament normally brings up the resurgence of fighting spirit on both sides, irrespective of the past performance. No side can thus take the victory as granted. Pakistan may be the favorites but Sri Lanka is not the side to give in easily. So let us watch the tough and exciting final with anxiety and eagerness without pinning hopes on any of the two giants.