Amended playing conditions to take effect

The changes to the playing conditions for different formats of cricket, which include amendments to Powerplays, DRS, no-balls and bouncers among others, will take effect from October 30, when Sri Lanka play New Zealand in a Twenty20 international in Pallekele.

These recommendations were made by the ICC's Cricket Committee in June, and they were endorsed by its Chief Executives Committee later that month.

General changes

DRS (Test and ODIs)

An amendment has been made to the LBW protocols. The margin of uncertainty applicable to the point of impact with the pad has been increased so that it is the same as provided for determining the projected point of impact with the stumps. For example, if the centre of the ball is shown to be impacting in line within an area demarcated by a line drawn down the middle of the outer stumps (and the bottom of the bails), then the decision will always be out.

If the whole of the ball is shown to be impacting outside the line of the stumps, then the decision will always be not out. If there is anything in between, the original on-field decision will stand.

No-balls (All formats)

After every dismissal that is not permitted off a no-ball, and subject to the availability of technology, the third umpire will check for a foot fault and advise the on-field umpire accordingly over a two-way radio.

Dead ball (All formats)

The playing conditions have been altered to include the use of the Spydercam, a camera that moves over the field on suspended cables, by broadcasters. If the ball, while in play, is hit by the batsman onto the camera or its cables, it will be called a dead ball.

Over-rates (All formats)

The allowances given to the fielding team because of time wasting by the batting team will be deducted from the allowances granted to the batting team in the determination of its over-rate.

Changes for Test matches

Day-night Tests

Participating countries can decide whether to play a day-night Test. The two boards will decide on the hours of play - six hours per day - and on the specifics of the ball that will be used.

Intervals

Although the duration of the lunch and tea intervals remain unchanged - 40 and 20 minutes respectively - the host team, with the consent of the other side, can apply to the ICC for an approval for intervals of 30 minutes each.

Changes for ODIs

Powerplays and fielding restrictions

There will be only two blocks of Powerplay overs, instead of three. For uninterrupted innings, the first block will be during the first ten overs and only two fielders will be allowed outside the 30-yard circle. The second block, comprising five overs, will be taken by the batting side and must be completed by the 40th over. Only three fielders will be allowed outside the circle during the second Powerplay.

During non-Powerplay overs, a maximum of four fielders can be placed outside the circle, a reduction from the earlier five.

Short-pitched deliveries

Law 42.6 (a) has been amended to allow the bowler a maximum of two short-pitched deliveries per over in an ODI.

Changes for Twenty20 internationals

One-over per side eliminator

In both innings of the eliminator, the fielding side will choose which end to bowl from. Only nominated players in the main match may participate in the eliminator. Should any player be unable to continue to participate in the eliminator due to injury, illness or other wholly acceptable reasons, the relevant laws and playing conditions as they apply in the main match shall also apply in the eliminator. Any penance time being served in the main match shall be carried forward to the eliminator.

The fielding captain or his nominee shall select the ball with which he wishes to bowl his over in the eliminator from the box of spare balls provided by the umpires. The box will contain the balls used in the main match, but no new balls. The team fielding first in the eliminator shall have first choice of ball. The team fielding second may choose to use the same ball as chosen by the team bowling first. If the ball needs to be changed, then playing conditions as stated for the main match shall apply.

Chennai victory leaves Yorkshire winless

Chennai Super Kings were largely untroubled in their final match as they coasted to a four-wicket victory that left Yorkshire winless in the Champions League T20 proper. S Badrinath, often overlooked in a batting line-up of star names, showed once again how important he is to the Super Kings' middle order, holding together the innings after three of his top-order colleagues holed out attempting to hammer the ball out of Kingsmead.

The Yorkshire top-order, too, came up short once again, as they have invariably in this tournament, before Gary Ballance smashed his second half-century of the CLT20 to lead them to a respectable 140.

None of the regular top three of Andrew Gale, Adam Lyth and Joe Root have reached 30 in this competition, which repeatedly left Yorkshire three down early. It was no different today as Gale chipped a catch to cover after a brisk 23, before Lyth was dismissed in a carbon-copy manner and Root gloved a leg-side ball to the keeper to leave Yorkshire at 43 for 3.

The Yorkshire middle-order had been boosted by the return of David Miller, back after domestic duties with the Dolphins, and he helped the team recover through a big stand with Ballance. They took their time to get going - overs 6-10 only yielded 21 runs - but the introduction of Super Kings' second-string bowlers helped boost the rate. Suresh Raina, captaining in place of MS Dhoni, was swept for 12 in his first over, and Ravindra Jadeja was thumped for two sixes in his first.

Dhoni, playing his first Super Kings match as non-captain, also didn't keep wickets, bowling some seam-up instead. He bowled a couple of wayward overs, experimenting with back-of-the-hand slower balls, and was whipped by Ballance for two consecutive sixes as Yorkshire's run-rate finally hit seven.

Doug Bollinger, who was the best of the Super Kings' bowlers, returned to end the stand by dismissing Miller, but Ballance whacked a couple of sixes off Ben Hilfenhaus in the penultimate over to lift Yorkshire towards 140.

Super Kings lost both M Vijay and Faf du Plessis in the Powerplay, but Badrinath was involved in two solid partnerships to put them on course for a second consolation victory. First, he paired up with Raina, compiling 48 to stabilise the innings, and then added 43 with Dhoni as Yorkshire struggled to build pressure on the Super Kings.

Badrinath missed out on a half-century after he was bowled attempting a scoop, and Iain Wardlaw added a second scalp when Dhoni missed an attempted helicopter shot, though those two wickets were too late to have an impact against a line-up with plenty of depth.

Innings Dot balls 4s 6s Powerplay 16-20 overs NB/Wides Yorkshire 52 6 8 36-1 45-3 0/6 Chennai Super Kings 39 10 3 37-2 33-3 (16-19) 0/1

Sarwan wins case, $161,000 damages from WICB

R.Sarwan the West Indies batsman who hasn't played since June 2011, has won his case against the WICB over comments made about his fitness and has been awarded $161,000 in damages. The matter was heard in arbitration.

Sarwan had lodged the appeal, in conjunction with the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA), against the WICB in March 2011 for unfairly questioning in public his fitness and attitude. This, he said, effectively cost him not only a central contract for the 2010-11 season but also damaged his "reputation as a professional cricketer" and "sullied his career as an international cricketer."

Accepting Sarwan's claim that he had suffered "loss and damage", the arbitrator, Seenath Jairam, concluded that the batsman had been "denigrated" because the selection processes of the WICB were not transparent and the board had committed various breaches of their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the player.

The WICB called the verdict a "highly flawed ruling by the arbitrator." A release issued on the board's Facebook page stated it was treating the matter as "closed".

Earlier this summer Sarwan, who had a successful county season with Leicestershire even as West Indies were being beaten on their England tour, had said how he had been "mentally broken down by certain individuals", while blaming the coaching set-up for his non-selection.

The problems started when Ernest Hilaire, the WICB chief executive, sent a brief communiqué to Sarwan on January 11, 2010, immediately after West Indies' Test series in Australia. Sarwan had played the final two Tests of the three-match series with injury, which he suffered on the eve of the first Test. Hilaire told Sarwan the WICB had done a review of the tour and was concerned about his "attitude and approach to fitness and physical preparation."

"While this letter is not intended to highlight specific incidents, we hope that you take our concern as a statement of our desire for a higher level of commitment and application from you as a contracted player and a member of the West Indies cricket team," Hilaire had said.

Sarwan called up Hilaire for clarification, and in his testimony during the arbitration, Sarwan mentioned Hilaire had not been forthcoming. "Dr. Hilaire still refused to let Mr. Sarwan know what he meant by his words in his letter and, further, stated that 'if I don't change my attitude, my career would end', and then he hung up the phone," Jairam noted in his final judgement. Hiliare, who did not testify during the arbitration, denied that Sarwan was "threatened" in any way, as was reported during the hearing.

"Mr. Sarwan had a telephone conversation with Dr. Hilaire relating to the letter. Mr. Sarwan, in that telephone conversation, contested that he was unfit and argued that the team physiotherapist and fitness trainer did not like him," the WICB said. "Dr. Hilaire defended the professionalism of the staff. Mr. Sarwan was told that he would need to satisfy team management that he was sufficiently fit to play."

Sarwan noted the indifference of the West Indies team management during the Australian tour when at one stage he was denied an MRI scan; he eventually had it done, with the charges being borne by Cricket Australia. Then, during the home series against South Africa in 2010, Sarwan picked up a hamstring injury but was told by West Indies coach Ottis Gibson that he was not in charge of the matter and the physio was the best man to deal with it. Sarwan sponsored his own trips to Florida and later Canada to get treatment.

When the WICB issued fresh contracts for the 2010-11 season, Sarwan was not given one. He was told by Clyde Butts, the chairman of selectors, that he did not get a contract "due to concerns about his approach and attitude to fitness, which resulted in the frequency of injuries sustained." Sarwan said he was astounded as no one, including Butts, had ever raised any issue about his fitness or attitude in person in the past.

However, a WICB media release, made public on September 2, 2010 put the onus on Sarwan. "The team management, selection committee and the WICB are concerned about Mr. Sarwan's extremely indifferent attitude and sporadic approach towards fitness, particularly in recent years. It is the considered view of the selection committee, following consultations with the specialists in the team management, that Ramnaresh's less than satisfactory and fluctuating fitness levels have directly contributed to multiple injuries thereby causing him to be unavailable for selection to the West Indies team.

"Due to these multiple injuries, Ramnaresh was available for only two Tests and a total of only 13 international matches for West Indies in the past contract year, (October 2009 to September 2010) which is less than half of the total number of matches played by West Indies for the period."

Deposing before Jairam, Sarwan said he was shocked as no one from the team management or the WICB had sent him a report expressing any concern. He found the release to be a breach of the WICB's MOU with players.

While delivering the verdict, Jairam said he wasn't in any doubt that the WICB had treated Sarwan unfairly, and that the board's selection process and the appraisal procedure were far from transparent. Accordingly, he awarded Sarwan the following damages: $95,000 as damages for loss of retainer (original claim $120,000), $20,000 as damages for breach of contract (claim: $40,000), $18,000 for loss of provident fund contributions given his age (claim: $18,000), $13,000 as damages for loss of publicity/reputation (claim: $15,000), and $15,000.00 under his claim for further or other relief.

'It is like starting a new life' - Yuvraj

Yuvaraj Singh who is expected to mark his return to international cricket during the first Twenty20 in Visakhapatnam, has said he is treating his comeback as a new beginning. The match is expected to be attended by several of his friends and family members.

Yuvraj overcame a rare germ cell cancer, diagnosed late last year, after undergoing chemotherapy in the USA and was named in the Twenty20 squad after being declared fit by doctors at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

"It is hard to believe that I will be playing for India again," Yuvraj said. "A few months back I had trouble climbing four steps, now I can't wait to take the field. It is like starting a new life."

Yuvraj has received a lot of media attention over recent months, with fans praying for his speedy recovery. It continued when he resumed training and not surprisingly, much of the attention in the lead-up to the first Twenty20 against New Zealand has centered on him. However, the captain MS Dhoni cautioned that the increased attention could be distracting to the player and the team, especially with the World Twenty20 coming up in Sri Lanka.

"The whole world is talking about his comeback in a manner as if they are helping him out. In a way, it puts the burden on the individual," Dhoni said. "It's important to keep it as normal as possible, not to let him think what has really happened in his life.

"He has fought through it as he is a strong character. As I said, he needs to turn up and just enjoy his cricket. That's what he has done from age-group cricket till now. So he should not think about anything else."

Yuvraj's return was welcomed by his fellow team-mates, some of whom last shared a dressing room with him back in November 2011, during the home Tests against West Indies.

"Now this is what we call a comeback," said Harbhajan Singh, who is also making a return after being dropped. "There can't be a bigger inspiration in cricket than Yuvi. It is a privilege to be back in the dressing room with him."

Batsman Suresh Raina said his story was an inspiration. "Yuvibhai is such a great fighter. He has put in so much effort, and worked really hard at the NCA," Raina said. "You will get to see this when he comes out on the field. He is a team man. We are pretty confident that he will do well."

ICC AWARDS 2012-Sangakkara, Amla, Philander, Clarke in running for top ICC honour

South Africa's Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander, Australia's Michael Clarke and Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara are in the running for the ICC Cricketer of the Year award for 2011-12. The ICC announced the shortlists for the annual awards on Thursday, and the winners will be announced at a function ahead of the World Twenty20, on September 15, in Colombo.

The four cricketers have also been nominated for ICC Test Cricketer of the Year, while Lasith Malinga, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli join Sangakkara as the contenders for ODI Cricketer of the year.

The nominees were picked off the ICC's longlists, via voting by an academy of 32 people consisting of former players, members of the media, and representatives of the ICC's panel of umpires and match referees. The players were picked based on their performance between August 4, 2011, and August 6, 2012.

The Twenty20 Performance of the Year shortlist includes Tillakaratne Dilshan (for his century against Australia last August), Ajantha Mendis (for his six-for against Australia during the same series), Chris Gayle (for his unbeaten 85 against New Zealand in Florida) and Richard Levi (for his ton against New Zealand, the fastest century in international T20s).

West Indies' Stafanie Taylor and England's Sarah Taylor are most prominent on the women's shortlists, nominated for both Women's ODI Cricket of the Year and Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year.

List of nominees

ICC Cricketer of the Year: Hashim Amla, Michael Clarke, Vernon Philander, Kumar Sangakkara

ICC Test Cricketer of the Year: Hashim Amla, Michael Clarke, Vernon Philander, Kumar Sangakkara

ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year: MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Lasith Malinga, Kumar Sangakkara

ICC T20I Performance of the Year: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle, Richard Levi, Ajantha Mendis

ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year: Lydia Greenway (Eng), Anisa Mohammed (WI), Sarah Taylor (Eng), Stafanie Taylor (WI)

ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year: Alyssa Healy (Aus), Lisa Sthalekar (Aus), Sarah Taylor (Eng), Stafanie Taylor (WI)

ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Doug Bracewell, Dinesh Chandimal, Sunil Narine, James Pattinson

ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year: Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell, Ed Joyce, Paul Stirling (all four Ireland), Dawlat Zadran (Afg)

ICC Umpire of the Year: Billy Bowden, Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena, Richard Kettleborough, Simon Taufel, Rodney Tucker

ICC Spirit of Cricket: Mohammad Hafeez, Jacques Kallis, Daniel Vettori, AB de Villiers

People's Choice Award: James Anderson, Jacques Kallis, Vernon Philander, Kumar Sangakkara, Sachin Tendulkar

Ashwin spins India to innings win

For all that spin bowling is considered an art involving guile and deception, India's spinners took apart the New Zealand batting with the precision of surgeons combined with the calculations of mathematicians. The first Test in Hyderabad had a severely truncated third day and a slightly curtailed fourth, but ended with a day to spare.

India won by an innings and 115 runs, its spinners taking 18 of the 20 wickets to fall. New Zealand, following on in their second innings, were all out for 164 an hour before the scheduled close of play on Sunday, losing their last nine wickets for 66 runs.

At the top of the pile stood R Ashwin, who finished the game with his first ten-wicket bag in Tests, taking 6 for 54 in the second innings and a match tally of 12 for 85 - the best figures for an Indian bowler in Tests versus New Zealand.

Ashwin sent down a repertoire of flighted off-breaks and top-spinners of varing pace, made canny use of his special "carrom" ball. It helped clean up the New Zealand tail, with four still left for the taking after tea. Ashwin got three of the remaining four, two with the carrom ball that leaves the batsman. Ashwin's second-innings tally followed up his 6 for 31 in the first.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha bowled in perfect tandem with Ashwin, both making maximum use of the frequent bite and bounce on the surface, and also the struggle of the New Zealand batsmen against spin. Ojha's match tally was 6 for 92.

The morning session was delayed by two hours due to rain and India's push for victory was resisted handsomely up by a gutsy 72-run second wicket partnership between Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson. They batted all through the 90 minutes before lunch, scoring 51 careful runs and holding off the Indian spinners.

McCullum's departure early on in the second session gave the Indians the opening. New Zealand's last nine wickets fell for 66 runs; it had taken a few pieces of masterful spin to pull the ground out from underneath New Zealand's feet.

It all began when McCullum steamed off when given out leg before in Umesh Yadav's second over after lunch, an inside edge the source of his fury. The sound of the inside edge appeared decisive but replays showed simultaneous points of contact off both bat and pad. McCullum's had been a sagacious innings, the perfect senior colleague in partnership with the 22-year-old Williamson, scoring 32 in close to three hours of batting.

Until then, McCullum had played the assured hand, Williamson taking the risks of trying to drive against the spin. Ashwin tried to lure him into a false stroke. In the first session, the waiting game worked for New Zealand, Williamson driving Ashwin down the ground for a boundary the moment he over pitched. McCullum pulled out his patent pull shot when Ojha bowled one short and on leg stump. It was New Zealand's session in which their batsmen held some control.

After the break, though, came the deluge. If McCullum fell to a somewhat controversial lbw, seven runs later, Ross Taylor shouldered arms to Ashwin, who got the ball to turn and knock the top of his off stump. Williamson - clearly New Zealand's batsman of the entire Test - held his own at the other end, getting to 50 with a steer past third man for three.

With less than half an hour left for tea, Ojha, who had bowled 11 overs non-stop from one end, came in for his second spell of the day. The second ball was a peach: it looped up towards the stumps and drew Williamson forward. As it pitched, it bounced and turned away from him, nibbled at the edge of Williamson's bat and flew to Virender Sehwag at first slip.

Daniel Flynn, who had until then played foil to Williamson, tried to sweep Ashwin in his 54-minute innings for the first time. The end result was identical to his first innings: unequivocally, leg before for 11. Three runs later, Ashwin worked out the dismissal of James Franklin, with five minutes left for tea. Franklin nicked a climbing off break, and Sehwag dived to his right to take a one-handed catch at first slip. Five wickets had fallen for 54 runs in the 30 overs between lunch and tea. Right there, New Zealand's time in the Test match was as good as up.

Rain respite for New Zealand after follow-on

Only the combination of torrential rain and New Zealand's best batting form of recent months could possibly thwart India's thunderous march in the first of ten home Tests this season. When a second-session downpour ended play on the third day of the Test in Hyderabad, India had New Zealand following on in their second innings at 41 for 1. New Zealand were all out for 159 in their first innings, losing their last five batsmen before lunch.

Only 38 overs could be bowled today, enough for India to seize control of this game. Play began late on the third day, due to the heavy rains that had beaten down on Hyderbad in the hours preceding the scheduled start time. India, though, made the most of the overs available to them, especially when they had before them the lower order of a team that had come into this series without a warm-up game.

When play was called off an hour after lunch, New Zealand had put in a seemingly more thought-out second-innings batting performance, losing just the one wicket in18 overs. This, after a morning on which their bottom half had fallen over in just 19 in their first innings.

India's spinners picked up nine first innings wickets between them in the first gig, Ashwin finishing with 6 for 31. Both Ashwin and Ojha used the the dipping length of the floated, spinning ball, slow turn off the track and the uneven bounce on one side of the pitch to keep up their interrogation of New Zealand's fortitude in adverse circumstances.

Following on, with Ojha opening the bowling, the New Zealand openers batted like the better of the India middle order had. With circumspection, patience and certainity. Brendon McCullum was batting on 16 off 59 balls at stumps, after unluckily losing his partner Martin Guptill, ajudged lbw off Ojha for 16.

Guptill, New Zealand's in-form batsman on their last tour of the West Indies, had batted for almost an hour with McCullum and hit Ojha for two consecutive boundaries with the spin. He tried to nudge a third past the slip cordon only to nick to Virat Kohli at second slip, but he couldn't seize the chance. Two overs later, Guptil padded up to Ojha, fullstretch to a ball that may have hit him in line with off stump. Replays indicated it was spinning away from the stumps. This has been the only piece of misfortune in New Zealand's batting so far in this Test match. The situation they find themselves in has otherwise been of their own making.

Ashwin had begun the second innings on a hat-trick, introduced only in the 18th over, the last before the downpour. Off the three balls he got in, McCullum spanked one tossed-up, outside-off delivery for his first boundary in 58 balls. It was an unusual kind of McCullum innings, but his approach was not a bad way to attempt to erase the memory of what New Zealand had managed in the previous two sessions.

When play began today Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav opened the bowling in what appeared to be a warming-up formality. Yadav took the only New Zealand wicket that didn't fall to a spinner, Kruger van Wyk leg before in the second over of the day. Yadav made use of the inconsistent bounce at one end, getting van Wyk while he was trying to execute the pull. He was struck above the pad, given out as he crouched - the ball would have hit the stumps as vanWyk is not the tallest of men.

Doug Bracewell survived competently for four overs against the two-man seam attack. The eighth ball that he faced against Pragyan Ojha though, he was in knots, caught between the intent to charge and the necessity to defend. He still scored two with a lofted drive over cover. He followed up by stepping out again, but his heave missed the line completely as the ball looped away. Dhoni's stumping splayed the wickets.

If Ojha got his wicket in quick time, Ashwin, brought on in the 16th over of the morning, needed only three overs to get rid of the three remaining batsmen. Patel reached out for a drive, only to offer a low return-catch to Ashwin's left. A ball turning in front of his bat got Trent Boult inside edging to shot leg Gambhir. The No. 11 Chris Martin did defend, but only got the thin air in front of his bat as Ashwin's off-break cannoned into the stumps.

All that stands between India and New Zealand and their varied hopes in this Test match, now, is the weather.