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West Indies coach Ottis Gibson took heart from the fight shown by his side despite coming up short in the final T20 against New Zealand in Wellington. The visitors are homeward bound after a dismal tour during which they could only register two wins.”We thought 170 might have been a good score so you could probably argue that we were 10 runs short. [Denesh] Ramdin was outstanding. He played really well tonight for us,” Gibson said. “You can work with 160 in T20 cricket and we tried. But you have to give credit to the way Ross [Taylor] played and then the way [Luke] Ronchi came in and took the game away from us. In the end, it’s a little bit disappointing to lose but I’m pleased with the effort.”They gave us a lesson in how to chase in this format. I think in the first game we played, they got a few too many runs and we didn’t chase properly at all. We panicked and tonight the way Ross played, steadying the ship and then setting it up for somebody to come and play the way Ronchi did, he played a really good innings”West Indies complicated their jobs by failing to convert as many as three opportunities on the field, including a botched attempt at running Taylor out when he was only 5. He added 34 more runs to his tally and was crucial in keeping the chase on track for New Zealand. “We dropped a few catches in the field also but then the guys picked themselves up,” Gibson said. “In the night, the weather turned, the temperature dropped – pretty uncomfortable temperature for us”Gibson believed his team will fare better at home against Ireland and England under familiar conditions after back-to-back disappointments on tours to India and New Zealand.”I don’t think all is lost. We are missing a lot of key players and there are players who will come in and strengthen us in the next couple of weeks,” Gibson said. “I’m looking forward to the mini-series versus Ireland, England next month and of course, the T20 World Cup.”We have lots of cricket to be played still. We’ll see how [Chris] Gayle is doing and there’s [Kemar] Roach and Ravi Rampaul to also come back. I’ll have a look to see how [Kieron] Pollard is doing also and we can look forward from there.”He also referred to Marlon Samuels, Darren Sammy and Darren Bravo as crucial absentees who would reinforce his unit once fit.When asked if the revolving door of players used in the recent trips abroad destabilised his team, Gibson dismissed the notions as well as those suggesting his players were homesick for such a lengthy period of time.”No, I don’t want to get into that sort of stuff. There are some of us who have been here [on tour] longer than others and at the end of the day, this is what you sign up for. We knew it was going to be back-to-back tours and it was going to be tough. You get yourselves up for the big events. We gave guys time off so they can keep their batteries topped up,” Gibson maintained.

A much more stringent approach towards accrediting player agents is one of several recommendations the IPL probe committee, headed by Justice Mukul Mudgal, has made in an exhaustive report on corruption in the league, which it submitted to the Supreme Court on Monday. While the committee had no mandate to punish offenders, it offered a list of suggestions to the BCCI to clean up Indian cricket.As part of the report’s ten recommendations, the committee urged the BCCI to be more ‘proactive,’ rather than ‘reactive,’ in its approach to dealing with corruption. It also advised that the players should not be employed in their franchise’s group companies, the governance structure should be more inclusive, that there should be interactive sessions between players and former cricket stars, and that the anti-corruption code should be made available in local languages. These measures, the committee said, “may make the game of cricket a cleaner game so as to eliminate the evil of spot and match fixing.”In the immediate aftermath of the corruption scandal exposed by the Delhi and Mumbai Police during the 2013 IPL, the BCCI announced operation clean-up. It was decided that players would need to declare their agents and get them accredited. However, months later, the exercise had not yet commenced.The Mudgal committee took note of the delay and suggested that one way of vetting agents was to make them take eligibility tests. “Before registering player agents there should be an examination of the agents to confirm their understanding of the rules and regulations of BCCI and IPL,” the report said. “Besides this the antecedents of the player agent should also be verified so that dubious elements of society with links to bookies or the underworld are not given a registration as a player agent.”One of the bookies arrested by Delhi Police in their raids last year was Jiju Janardhan, a long-time friend of Sreesanth. Janardhan allegedly posed as Sreesanth’s agent and stayed with the player in the Rajasthan Royals team hotel. To prevent bookies from getting close to players, the committee recommended that agents not be allowed to travel with the team and stay in team hotels, “especially when it is in proximity to the date of a match being played by a player who the agent represents.”The committee was also against a player having an ownership stake in a company that managed other players. Last year, India captain MS Dhoni found his name dragged into a conflict-of-interest debate after it was found that he had ownership stake for a short period in Rhiti Sports Management Private Limited, which manages other Indian players Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja.”Players should not be allowed to own any stakes or interests in player agencies or companies involved with cricket unless such interests are in the nature of sponsorship or endorsements. Such interests should be declared by the player or his agent to the BCCI, within 15 days of such interest accruing. In particular employment of the players in the franchise group companies should be avoided,” the report said. Incidentally Dhoni, who is on the Indian Cements corporate board, is one of the few players who is employed by his IPL franchise.The committee was also critical of having a “foreign instructor” from the ICC’s ACSU imparting player education, and was in favour of retired senior officials from the Indian army or police conducting “more interactive meetings in a local language,” which would be understood by players easily.”The BCCI need not spend enormous sums of money on ICC deputed anti-corruption instructors, and reputed retired armed forces and police officers from India should be asked to do it after due training and sensitisation in Indian languages,” the report said.The committee also wanted the BCCI to appoint a dedicated “investigative wing” with autonomous powers. “The investigative wing of the BCCI, should be clearly defined and no person holding office in the BCCI, should have the power to curtail, restrict or define any such investigation,” the report said.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAngelo Mathews revived Sri Lanka from 8 for 3•AFP

Sri Lanka’s spinners effected a mid-innings trauma and Bangadesh returned the favour, before Angelo Mathews’ collected 74 not out overcame a collapse and sealed victory. The hosts’ bowlers made a game of the dead rubber, carving through Sri Lanka’s in-form top order early in the chase, but a target of 205 had always seemed insufficient, even on a worn pitch. Bangladesh’s lack of ambition both with the bat and in the field perhaps ceded crucial moments to the opposition, who strode home by three wickets, and one over remaining to extended their unbeaten run in the country.The Bangladesh openers had made 74 before Ajantha Mendis made the incision that began a top-order haemorrhage – five wickets for 45 runs. Mendis befuddled Shamsur Rahman with an offbreak, hitting him on the pads with a ball that would have clipped leg stump, before sneaking one under Mominul Haque’s bat four balls later.Mushfiqur Rahim attempted an injudicious scoop off Chaturanga de Silva three overs later, and was also trapped in front, before part-time offspinner Ashan Priyanjan struck twice in his three overs. Perhaps eager to complete his second consecutive half-century, Anamul Haque advanced to Priyanjan’s first ball, but chipped it to Lahiru Thirimanne at midwicket, who snaffled the chance in a diving second attempt. Shakib Al Hasan sought to spur a now-flagging run rate, but in the 34th over, an inside edge off an attempted shot through cover carried to short midwicket. His demise left the team at 119 for 5. They would never really recover.That Sri Lanka’s innings was not similarly derailed was thanks to Mathews’ increasing appetite for finishing matches, allied with a sharpening cricketing wit. Sri Lanka never faced a tall required rate, so he shelved his familiar belligerence and forged an innings of restraint. He struck at 71 and only played three violent strokes in the innings – an advancing six over long off and two heaves through midwicket, one of which brought the winning runs. Bangladesh made a late surge, dismissing Chaturanga de Silva and Thisara Perera when Sri Lanka were in sight of victory, but Mathews did not allow losses to rattle him.Sri Lanka’s collapse had occurred at the outset. Kusal Perera swiped at an Al-Amin Hossain short ball, sending a thin edge to the keeper, before Kumar Sangakkara was handed his first failure of the tournament, nicking to slip as he cover drove. With plenty of overs remaining to achieve the modest target, Mahela Jayawardene may have hoped to bat himself into touch, but he was thwarted by his partner before he had made a run. Lahiru Thirimanne called him through for a single, then sent him back, after Jayawardene had traveled most of the distance to the other end. He was short by a distance, leaving Sri Lanka at 8 for 3.Ashan Priyanjan and Thirimanne promised a sustained resurgence, as they became accustomed to the pace of the pitch, but a Mushfiqur hunch brought another wicket: Ziaur Rahman, who had bowled only 12 overs in the series, drew an outside edge from Priyanjan in the 15th, before Thirimanne departed eight overs later, as Rubel Hossain sprinted around from long-on to take a catch in front of the sightscreen.At 75 for 5, Mathews and de Silva joined to provide the definitive partnership in the match. Like Mathews, de Silva began sedately, but soon was matching his captain shot for shot, showcasing particular ease against spin, as he mined gaps square of the wicket, and found the fence when the bowlers missed their lengths. Their march was measured and efficient, with 82 runs off 98 balls, but it was not without incident; Mathews edged just wide of the keeper on 21, and de Silva had two leading edges fall short of fielders. Mushfiqur was perhaps also guilty of allowing the match to meander. Too many of Sri Lanka’s runs were achieved without risk.Sri Lanka’s decision to rest Lasith Malinga had eased the Bangladesh openers’ task, but the hosts had begun cautiously nonetheless, seeking the same security at the top of the innings that had been the foundation for their plunder in their last match. Suranga Lakmal extracted away-swing and Thisara was accurate, but neither was a significant menace to batsmen intent largely on seeing them out. Anamul progressed largely in singles, but Shamsur was more reliant on boundaries. When the spinners arrived, he smote Sachithra Senanayake through the covers off consecutive balls. But the spurt would not last long.Mahmudullah and Nasir Hossain kept the hosts afloat with a 55-run stand after the collapse, but when their expansive attempts were repeatedly thwarted by the slowness of the surface, they settled for the singles Sri Lanka were content to offer them. The batting Powerplay brought only 18 runs, and though they had set themselves for a dash in the last 10 overs, both batsmen were dismissed by Lakmal for 30.Malinga was barely missed at the death as Lakmal provided the yorker-length balls. His penultimate over went for only two runs, and there were no boundaries off the bat between the 44th and 49th overs. Thisara knocked two men over after Ziaur Rahman broke that drought to lift the hosts beyond 200.

Last year

4th, CC Div 1; Group stages, FLt20; 7th in Group A, YB40

2013 in a nutshell

It says something for the expectations at Edgbaston that a fourth place finish in the Championship is considered a disappointment. But, after winning the title in 2012 and assembling an unusually strong squad, much was expected last year. Warwickshire never really challenged, though, and endured a wretched limited-overs season. They finished bottom of the YB40 group, beneath the Netherlands, and gave themselves an impossible task in FLt20 after losing their first three games.There were mitigating factors. New director of cricket, Dougie Brown, almost never had a full squad to select from with his side disproportionately hit by injury and England call-ups; at once stage they were lacking five bowlers who had been in England squads in previous months. The prolonged loss of Chris Wright and Jim Troughton with back injuries was particularly damaging. After it became clear that they had no hope of progressing in the YB40, they also decided to use the remainder of the competition to provide experience to younger squad members.There were success stories, too: Keith Barker continued his development and looked one of the most dangerous new ball bowlers in the country, while Varun Chopra underlined his status as one of the most consistent batsmen in county cricket. Laurie Evans and Ateeq Javid also made huge strides with the bat and were largely responsible for keeping the side’s head above water at times. No side lost fewer games in the Championship’s top division than Warwickshire and the presence of three players in the England XI for the final Test exemplified the contribution to the England cause.

2014 prospects

Expectations remain high at Edgbaston. With arguably the strongest bowling attack in the country and a batting line-up that goes on forever and will include, for at least the first month of the season, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell, Warwickshire expect to mount a serious challenge on the Championship. The new ball will be taken by Wright and Barker with Chris Woakes, hoping to force his way into the England team as an allrounder, first change and vying for a place at No. 5 or No. 6 in the batting line-up. Rikki Clarke and Boyd Rankin will provide back-of-a-length pace once the shine of the ball has worn, though how the latter returns after a chastening winter with England remains to be seen. Jeetan Patel, whose off-spin bowling and aggressive lower-order batting have proved so valuable in recent seasons, returns as primary overseas player and will again prove especially potent when utilising the footmarks created by Barker.After Kumar Sangakkara and Shahid Afridi turned down approaches, Shoaib Malik has been brought in as a second overseas player in the T20 Blast. Richard Jones, signed from Worcestershire, Recordo Gordon and Oliver Hannon-Dalby will compete for bowling spots when call-ups and injuries allow. The one potential weakness looks to be in the batting. If Trott and Bell are absent, there are holes in the line-up that will need to be filled by the likes of Freddie Coleman or Sam Hain.The absence of Troughton will be felt keenly in the opening weeks of the season, too. While his batting has been a fading force for some time, his leadership skills are highly respected and cannot be easily replaced. Warwickshire hope that the move to 50-over cricket will aid their accumulative style and, with a team stuffed with allrounders, they should improve their limited-overs form.

Key player

Tim Ambrose is one of the forgotten men of English cricket. Despite the fact that he remains one of the best glovemen in the country, has a Test century to his name and scored an unbeaten 76 in his last Test innings – at Bridgetown in 2009 – he is seldom mentioned as an alternative to Matt Prior et al. But England’s loss is Warwickshire’s gain and, in the 31-year-old, they have a tough, experienced cricketer equally adept at digging his side out of trouble or pushing on following a strong start. There are some worries about long-term wear and tear issues – a hip problem has been a recurring theme of recent seasons – but if Ambrose can remain fit for all three formats, Warwickshire look a much stronger side. Peter McKay, an able keeper and decent batsman though not in Ambrose’s class, is his deputy

Bright young thing

Such was the impression that Sam Hain made when he appeared at a first team net session, several senior players remarked that he might just be the most talented young batsmen they had seen. Hain, like Sam Robson of Middlesex, was brought up in Australia – he has played for Australia U19 – and could yet return there. He did not score the second XI runs anticipated of him in 2013 but, at 18, has time on his side. Warwickshire, will keen not to burden him with expectation, are suggesting privately he could be the successor to Bell. Aaron Thomason, a 16-year-old seam-bowling all-rounder, is unlikely to break into the 1st XI this season, but looks an exciting prospect.

Captain/coach

Dougie Brown enters his second season as director of cricket, but with Alan Richardson having joined as bowling coach from Worcestershire. The previous bowling coach, Graeme Welch, who doubled as assistant coach, has moved on to Derbyshire. Tony Frost is the batting coach. Jim Troughton remains club captain but will miss the first few weeks of the season following surgery on a long-standing back injury that might hasten the end of his career. In his absence, Bell or Chopra will captain.

ESPNcricinfo verdict

At full strength, Warwickshire have as strong a squad as any and may prove the team to beat in the Championship. But while they surely have the bowling depth to withstand the inevitable call-ups and injuries, the depth of their batting will be sorely tested should Trott be recalled to rejoin Bell in the international teams. Even so, they should be able to improve substantially on their limited-overs form and will surely challenge for the Championship title. The downside of the expectation at Warwickshire is that pressure will mount quickly should results not go their way.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIn two of Chennai Super Kings’ last three games, they had been left with 11 to get from the last over with MS Dhoni at the crease. Today, against Rajasthan Royals, it came down to 12 from the last over. Dhoni was there, of course, batting on 15. In situations like that, all he needs is one ball in his slot.It came off the second ball of the over, the first time he was on strike, when James Faulkner angled one across him but pitched it a touch too full. Down came that big bat-swing, and up went the ball, soaring for a flat six over wide long-on. A wide full-toss brought him two runs to deep cover the next ball, and with three needed off three, a push to the same fielder became the winning hit when Faulkner failed to collect Kevon Cooper’s throw and gave away an overthrow.It had all looked very different when Rajasthan Royals, having chosen to bat, had moved to 84 for 1 after 10 overs. Shane Watson was on the cusp of a half-century, and with him was Ajinkya Rahane. Steven Smith and James Faulkner, who had turned certain defeat to exhilarating victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the space of four crazy overs, were waiting their turn in the dugout.But Super Kings pulled things back, with Mohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja proving particularly hard to hit on a slow, grippy surface, and Royals lost seven wickets and scored only 64 in their last 10 overs. Super Kings looked to have made things more difficult for themselves when Dhoni sent in R Ashwin at No. 5 ahead of himself, but Dhoni always leaves it till the end.Royals sprung a surprise right at the start, opening with Ankit Sharma and Shane Watson instead of Karun Nair and Ajinkya Rahane, who had put on 54 in their previous match.The new combination laid a solid foundation, starting sedately before the left-handed Ankit greeted R Ashwin by hitting him for two fours and a six in his first over. Ankit put on 60 with Watson before he holed out to long-on while trying to slog Ashwin against the turn.Apart from one big over against IPL debutant Vijay Shankar, in which he smashed the medium-pacer for a four and two sixes, Watson had also been kept fairly quiet. Royals’ 10-over score, therefore, didn’t present the full picture of what had gone before. There had been some help for the spinners, and the seamers had been hard to get away when they changed their pace.It wasn’t that much of a surprise, then, that Royals didn’t really take off in the last 10 overs. Mohit used his back-of-the-hand slower ball cleverly to pick up three wickets – including those of Watson and Smith, both bowled – and Ravindra Jadeja picked up two with his round-arm darts from left-arm around.Even so, the extent of Royals’ slow-down was startling, and they contributed to it with their endless experimentation – they waited until the end of the 15th over to send in Smith, and until the 18th to send in Faulkner. Both failed to get going, as had Rahane and Nair before them, displaced from the opening slots.It left Super Kings 149 to get. Dwayne Smith got them going with his cleanly struck hits down the ground, but they lost wickets at the other end, with Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina both unlucky to see their sweeps off Ankit going straight to fielders in the circle.In Pravin Tambe, Kevon Cooper and Rajat Bhatia, Royals possessed three bowlers designed for this sort of pitch, and their cutters and leg-rollers stalled Super Kings’ progress, particularly after Smith’s dismissal in the 10th over. Du Plessis and Ashwin cobbled together 29 in 29 balls, leaving Super Kings needing 44 from 30 when Dhoni walked in. It was a tricky equation, considering the conditions, but it could have been even trickier had Royals not fallen away so spectacularly in the second half of their innings.

ScorecardSteve Magoffin caused Lancashire predictable problems (file picture)•Getty Images

Meringues, balsa wood, talcum powder. A variety of metaphors connoting flimsiness have been employed to suggest the frailties of Lancashire’s batting in 2014. Ramrods, a gun barrel, bullets. The similes used to explain the virtues of Sussex’s bowling for much of this still young season have been equally instructive.So when Chris Nash’s powerful, if hardly irresistible, forces came into contact with the very moveable objects known as Lancashire’s batsmen, something approaching cricketing carnage was predicted. So it proved. This game’s much-vaunted uncertainty can only do so much, we thought.But even Werner Heisenberg, who knew a thing or two about uncertainty, might have been pushed to suggest that there was an unlikely quality about Lancashire’s collapse to 80 for6 in a mere 34.5 overs.Even Robert Peston could not have deepened the gloom pervading the Old Trafford pavilion in mid-afternoon on the second day of this game. “It’s all right redeveloping the ground,” grumbled one member, “What about redeveloping a few of the ruddy players?”At this point, Tom Smith, who has actually been in vaguely respectable form, was joined by the diminutive wicketkeeper Alex Davies, who was only playing his sixth first-class match because Jos Buttler is with the England squad.Wile Smith is in decent nick, Davies is a determined little so-and-so in the Lancastrian tradition of George Duckworth and Warren Hegg. And even as the skies darkened around Old Trafford this May Bank Holiday, the pair lifted the mood of the home supporters with a truculent, industrious, unbroken stand of 77 for the seventh wicket. When bad light ended play 21.3 overs early, Smith had passed forty for the fourth time in seven innings and Davies was 41 not out, which is his career-bestSmith measures 6ft 3ins in height, seven inches taller than his partner, and their batting styles reflect the difference. The experienced all-rounder utilises his height to drive the ball in an imperious fashion; Davies prefers cuts, pulls and deliciously timed clips off his hip. Smith is a genial fellow, who smiles a lot and is self-deprecating about his talents; Davies, you sense, likes a fight and relishes the struggle.Both batsmen displayed a secure defence and, indeed, this was a sine qua non for anyone hoping to resist Nash’s bowlers, particularly Steve Magoffin, whose 3 for 31 runs from 17 overs were nothing less than his deserts. The Australian began Lancashire’s subsidence when he moved one off the seam and had a blameless Paul Horton brilliantly caught one-handed by second slip Michael Yardy, who dived to his left to complete the snare. Magoffin then had Luis Reece lbw, playing no shot. The rookie opener has scored 62 runs in seven Championship innings and must hope that the rest of May affords him kinder wickets than the green seamers of April.Lancashire were poorly placed on 32 for 2 at lunch and their decline accelerated in the early afternoon. Magoffin’s accuracy was too much for Brown’s defensive push and Prince’s back foot slash off James Anyon inside-edged the ball to Ben Brown. Prince remains the prize wicket for Lancashire’s opponents, although that title does not take much earning at the moment.Steven Croft was recalled for this game but played down the wrong to his fourth ball and lost his off stump to Anyon. He trudged off, possibly reflecting that scoring 197 off Yorkshire’s second team at Northop Hall, a picturesque but small ground in North Wales, is not ideal preparation for playing Divison One cricket.Lancashire’s travails on Monday were completed – although no one thought it so at the time – when Luke Procter misread slow left-armer Ashar Zaidi’s length and was lbw on the back foot for 26. Once again, most frustratingly for himself and others, Procter had played himself in, only to get himself out.The rest of the day belonged to Smith and Davies, who both played outstandingly well against a fine attack. Indeed, Sussex should be in the hunt for the County Championship this summer.One cannot be so sanguine about Lancashire’s prospects. The Old Trafford side’s Division One batting woes in 2012 were chronicled in black-bordered detail at the time. This season Lancashire’s average partnership going into this game was worth just 21.5 runs. Raising that bar should not be the responsibility of Alex Davies, although there can be little doubt that he would be up for the fight.