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England have sought clarification from the match referee over the use of the Decision Review System (DRS) by the third umpire after the dismissal of Mark Stoneman on the first day of the third Test in Perth.The England captain, Joe Root, and coach, Trevor Bayliss, went to see the match referee, Richie Richardson, after play at the end of the first day in an attempt to understand the process by which Aleem Dar gave Stoneman out.Dar overruled the not-out decision by the on-field umpire Marais Erasmus on evidence the England camp felt was far from conclusive. While footage later emerged which seemed to suggest Dar was correct, England wanted to make the point that the umpires had not had such footage when the decision was made.Stoneman was given out caught behind after Dar adjudged the ball had brushed the glove while it was still on his bat on its way through to the keeper.While the England camp are disputing that they made a complaint, it is clear they were unimpressed by the speed of Dar’s decision and wanted to know what evidence he had for making it. Root was understood to be particularly angry, and was seen thumping the dressing room door in frustration when Stoneman was given out.England’s wider issue is with the lack of standardisation with DRS around the world. The equipment used – and therefore the process – is different depending on the capabilities of the host broadcaster, with England hoping the ICC eventually insists on standardisation.

Big picture

Bangladesh have picked six specialist spinners in their 16-man squad. It tells you what you need to know about the Chittagong pitch for the first Test against Sri Lanka. Spin is set to dominate proceedings as the two sides renew a growing rivalry following years of one-sided Tests.In the absence of Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh have gone as far as picking Nayeem Hasan from their Under-19 team in New Zealand, and recalling 35-year-old Abdur Razzak, who last played a Test in 2014. They have also picked the uncapped Sunzamul Islam and Tanbir Hayder in a desperate bid to beef up their spin attack.Sri Lanka will be more confident, having bounced back strongly to claim the tri-series title. They will also be buoyed by Dinesh Chandimal’s recent form: he made 366 runs in three Tests in India. Dhananjaya de Silva, meanwhile, will look to build on his fighting, unbeaten 119 in the Delhi Test.Akila Dananjaya, who was found a second wind in international cricket, could make his Test debut in Chittagong. The major threat for Bangladesh, however, is Rangana Herath, who has taken 41 wickets against the hosts at an average of 22.63.How the Bangladesh batsmen handle him will go a long way in deciding this series. Mushfiqur Rahim, perhaps, has handled Herath the best although he has got out to him three times in 11 innings. Mahmudullah, the stand-in captain, has struggled against Herath: he has been dismissed four times in five innings, having scored just five runs against Herath in 33 balls.But the likes of Tamim Iqbal, Mominul Haque and Mosaddek Hossain can be expected to apply themselves and occupy the crease for longer periods. On the bowling front, Mustafizur Rahman and Mehidy Hasan need to fire in the absence of Shakib.

Form guide

Bangladesh: LLLWWSri Lanka: DLDWW

In the spotlight

Mushfiqur Rahim will be playing his first Test after losing the captaincy in December. There is also the possibility of the team management playing Liton Das as the wicketkeeper and Mushfiqur as a specialist batsman. Mushfiqur hasn’t played a Test without being a wicketkeeper and/or captain since 2006.Since suffering a glute injury, after making his third century in the Delhi Test in December, Dhananjaya de Silva has played only one first-class game. Can he prove his fitness and keep up his fine form in Bangladesh?

Team news

With Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman and Subashis Roy left out from the squad, Bangladesh need to make three changes. Tamim Iqbal and Mosaddek Hossain are set to slot into the batting line-up, but the team management’s biggest headache will be to pick three spinners out of six.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Mominul Haque, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim, 5 Mahmudullah (capt), 6 Liton Das (wk), 7 Mosaddek Hossain, 8 Mehidy Hasan, 9 Taijul Islam, 10 Nayeem Hasan/Abdur Razzak, 11 Mustafizur RahmanSri Lanka have to make at least two changes from their last Test. With Angelo Mathews sidelined with a hamstring injury and Sadeera Samarawickrama dropped, Kusal Mendis and Rangana Herath are set to return. There may be a toss-up between Lakshan Sandakan and Akila Dananjaya with the latter’s impressive performance in the ODI tri-series likely to fetch him a Test debut.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne 2 Dhananjaya de Silva, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (capt), 5 Roshen Silva, 6 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 7 Dilruwan Perera, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Lakshan Sandakan/Akila Dananjaya, 11 Lahiru Gamage

Pitch and conditions

The presence of six specialist spinners in Bangladesh’s squad suggests what Zahid Reza, the Chittagong curator, will dish out. Chandimal also reckoned that the pitch will assist spin. The forecast is clear for all five days.

Stats and trivia

• Tamim Iqbal is 114 runs away from becoming the first Bangladesh batsman to reach 4000 Test runs.
• Suranga Lakmal is four wickets away from becoming the fourth Sri Lankan fast bowler to 100 Test wickets. He will join Chaminda Vaas (355), Lasith Malinga (101) and Dilhara Fernando (100).

Quotes

“The tri-series is over. Now we are playing a different format and situation. We have to play session by session in a Test match. Let’s not think about the ODIs.”
“[Rangana Herath] is a wily old fox. He can do what he wants to do. He is a big asset in our team. We hope he is going to do his basics right. It will be challenging for Bangladesh.”

“We know cricket is a game of ups and downs. We need to go back, see where we are going wrong, calm down and do our business.”Does that sound like a panicked Kagiso Rabada to you?It shouldn’t. He’s a reasonable, measured man weighing up the pros and cons of professional sport.How about this?”When you are losing, it’s tough to find an answer.”Does it sound panicked? Or bemused?Probably the latter, as Rabada, a bowler who hasn’t had enough runs to defend, tries to explain why the batsmen are struggling.What about this?”We clearly haven’t come to the party. It’s not acceptable at all.”Does that sound panicked?At worst, it’s anger. At best, especially said in Rabada’s thoughtful tone, it’s disappointment.But panicked? South Africa are not there yet, or so they say.They’re positive, because that is the only way they think they can turn things around. “You need to speak the right language in your mind, be very strong mentally and strive to perfect your skills on the pitch. We need to stay positive. And try not to seek too many answers. When you are winning, you don’t ask yourself too many questions. So it’s just stay positive and try to change the momentum,” Rabada explained.Though the scoreline looks bad and the scorecards from the first two ODIs look worse, South Africa – or at least Rabada – are able to put the situation in perspective.They have lost to injuries what Rabada called “three names that are pretty much irreplaceable at the moment” in AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock, and they are not exactly an ODI team in great shape. Although South Africa’s most recent outing before this series were three wins over Bangladesh, that came after an awful Champions Trophy and a series defeat to England last winter. The manner in which South Africa’s mid-year assignments ended – in tears, with the usual questions over their big-tournament mindsets and the usual finger-pointing – left them trailing other teams, and trailing quite far behind India.”India are a strong team. They beat Australia 4-1. They have been playing good cricket, I know they’ve been playing a lot at home, but good cricket. They’ve had a good foundation for quite a while,” Rabada said. “It doesn’t help that we have been going through a few changes and not been in the best form since the Champions Trophy. We are still trying to catch up at the moment.”Virat Kohli’s unit seems to be streets ahead of South Africa both in their ability to adapt to different conditions and in the make-up of their XI. They attack as a collective and stand out as individuals, something South Africa are struggling to match.Because the batting line-up has failed, the bowlers have very little to work with, so the first thing South Africa must put right is their approach to wristspin. At Tuesday’s optional training session, South Africa had a slew of spinners, of varying competence, trying to put their batsmen through their paces. They did not have the pressure India’s fields have put on them or the looming prospect of going down 3-0, so what good that did them will have to seen on match day but at least they are trying.If the batsmen get it right, then the bowlers will have more to work with but, even then, they need to find ways of being less one-dimensional. In Rabada, Morne Morkel and Chris Morris, South Africa have three similar seamers: tall, quick and back-of-a-length by default. If Lungi Ngidi plays, they will have more of the same. Andile Phehlulwayo, who takes pace off the ball, is an option but, crucially, South Africa need their spinner(s) to get into the game more. Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi, who played at SuperSport Park, have barely made an impact. Against India, they may continue to struggle, but a campaigner as experienced and wily as Tahir should have a plan.Overall, South Africa, as a unit, should have a plan and Rabada insisted they do but also admitted that, for now, they will take winning any way they can get it. “In an ideal world, [we’d want to get] close to the perfect game: lot of people score runs, lot of people take wickets, or we need individual brilliance. We’ll take either-or,” he said.And if they get neither, will they panic?Probably not, because the only thing they will lose is a series and the No.1 ranking, which coach Ottis Gibson has made clear is not that important in shorter formats anyway. And they will gain a proper understanding of the areas they need to work on ahead of the 2019 World Cup and the players they want to take to that tournament. “Widening the pool is great, so perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise,” Rabada suggested, in a voice that was as calm as you get.

West Indies are set to become the latest international team to tour Pakistan. Najam Sethi, the PCB chairman, has announced that they will visit the country for a series of three T20Is, all of them to be played in Karachi. *These matches were originally scheduled for April 1, 2 and 4 but the final one has been pulled forward by a day so as not to clash with the death anniversary of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.These will be the first international matches in Karachi since the 2009 attacks on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore brought international cricket in Pakistan to a virtual halt. Pakistan have played nearly all their “home” matches in the UAE since then. There has been a slow trickle of international teams returning to Pakistan since 2015, with Zimbabwe, a World XI, and most recently Sri Lanka making short visits for limited-overs games, but all of them were confined to the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore. Karachi is also set to host the final of the ongoing Pakistan Super League.”I have been working day and night to conclude an agreement with West Indies which I have just finalised an hour ago,” Sethi said. “Good news is that West Indies will play three games, on [April, 1, 2 and 3], but these matches will be played in Karachi. They will not play in Lahore but in Karachi. That is how we intend to put Karachi back on the cricket map once again. The PSL final, and now three more games for Karachi as per routine. Karachi people should welcome this.”Sethi said Reg Dickason, the ICC’s security consultant, would visit Karachi during the PSL final to look at the security arrangements for the series.”Reg DIckason and his men will be here during the PSL final and we have contracted them to oversee the West Indies games as well,” Sethi said. “Their expert will stay back for seven days and conduct the security for West Indies series. This is part of our agreement with the West Indies board. This will be a one-off series, since, as I told you before, it will be a loss-making enterprise. The idea wasn’t to make money; it was to bring cricket back, so this is a step in that direction.”We have a separate agreement with the West Indies in which we are exploring a tri-lateral series including Pakistan, West Indies and one other country, which will be played in the USA over next five years. The details about the venues, dates, financial model will be discussed later but in principle it has decided that three countries will play in the USA.”Sethi had last year announced a five-year plan that involved the West Indies touring Pakistan every year until 2022, but in January walked back on that claim due to the costs involved.*

Sometimes new caps are like buses. You wait ages for one, and then three come along at once.So it was today at Loughborough, as England Women’s squad to tour India in the forthcoming ODI and T20 tri-series was announced, and not one but three new names appeared on the list: Hampshire’s 18-year-old left-arm seamer Katie George; Bryony Smith, Surrey’s 20-year-old opener; and Alice Davidson-Richards, the 23-year-old all-rounder who has represented Kent for eight years, four times winning the County Championship title, but whose name will still not fit on most scoreboards.The man pulling the strings is of course coach Mark Robinson, who has plucked the three from county obscurity in a move that nobody – not least George, Smith and Davidson-Richards – was quite expecting.George is fresh from completing her A levels. Davidson-Richards has a degree from the University of Leeds in Human Physiology, and works as a personal trainer. Smith is a secondary school teacher. These are players who one week were jobbing county amateurs (lest we forget, there is still almost no money to be made in English women’s domestic cricket), and the next have had the possibility of a glittering career in international cricket dangled before their eyes.”It’s really weird,” Davidson-Richards (known to her team mates as “ADR”) said in the ensuing press conference. The three have spent the past two months up in Loughborough training almost full-time with the full England squad, something that is still alien to her: “It’s such an odd concept that you train, and then you’re done for the day.”It has been a marker of Robinson’s tenure as coach that, unlike the previous incumbent, he is prepared to blood new players. Spinners Alex Hartley and Sophie Ecclestone have both made their debuts; Fran Wilson has been brought back in from the cold, after five years’ absence from the international scene. All have experienced success, with Hartley and Wilson both integral to England’s World Cup win last year.And yet Robinson’s selections, this time around, seem bolder; more unexpected.Katie George, who debuted for Hampshire in 2013, has spent her entire county career playing in Divisions 2 and 3 of the Women’s County Championship; in 38 matches for the county she has taken 32 wickets at a nothing-special (in women’s county terms) economy rate of 3.59. Bryony Smith has represented Surrey for the last four seasons, since the age of 16. In that time she has hit 797 runs at an average of 17, with a highest score of 70. On paper, these numbers are far from spectacular.Davidson-Richards’ selection is in some ways the most surprising. Perhaps it shouldn’t be, but given the dearth of career opportunities, 23 – in women’s cricket terms – is old. Davidson-Richards was one of only a handful of players to survive a recent cull by Robinson of the Women’s Senior Academy squad, in which several players of her generation lost out, including Georgia Adams (24), Eve Jones (25) and Sophie Luff (24).”I definitely thought my time had passed me by,” she admitted today. “When I finished university it was like, ‘what am I going to do with my life? No idea!’ I went and played for six months in Australia, enjoyed the game again, which is the important thing for me. And from there it’s somehow got me to here!”Then there is the fact that should Smith or Davidson-Richards make their debut in India – and with three ODIs and the potential of five tri-series matches (assuming England reach the final), the likelihood is that they will – either one would become the first batsman to debut for England in five years.So why these three? And why now?Robinson was, as ever, frank in his assessment: “We’ve got to address some areas that we haven’t done very well in T20. The youngsters are there to wake a few people up. What we’re doing at the moment isn’t going to win you a World Cup, and we have to change that.”Smith, he suggests, “gives it a good hit”; Davidson-Richards – who bats at No.5 for Kent and Yorkshire Diamonds – offers “power down the order”. For an England side which has struggled to acclimatise to the new era of women’s T20, in which scores of 160-plus are the new norm, these are potentially crucial assets in what is, after all, a World Cup year.Of Smith in particular he was clear that her role lay in attempting to answer the as-yet unsettled question of who might open alongside Danni Wyatt in the World T20 in November: “We haven’t been able to find that partnership. Bryony will chuck herself into the ring as a potential opener.”His most effusive praise, though, was reserved for George, who he described as “a junior Katherine Brunt”. Brunt herself will be missing the India tour with a back injury; and at 32 will in any case not be around forever. There is perhaps no better time to attempt to blood a possible replacement.Another factor has been the importance of their ongoing performances in the Kia Super League, a competition which has helped expose players to the kind of high-level opposition which has sometimes been lacking from women’s domestic cricket. George and Smith both shot to national attention during the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2016: George, at age 16, stood out in particular as being the youngest player to feature, yet still looked right at home in Vipers’ world-class bowling attack. For Davidson-Richards her time came last season as, in front of the TV cameras at Headingley, she scored 22 not out and took 3 for 20 for Yorkshire Diamonds, securing the Player of the Match award.”The KSL’s fantastic,” Robinson said. “Watching Katie George bowl [for Vipers] in last year’s final, I absolutely loved it. She raced in, she bowled quick. She absolutely went round the park” – she bowled three overs and finished with figures of 1 for 34 – “but she kept running in fearlessly and bowling.””Live on TV, 5000 people at Hove – what brilliant exposure. That wasn’t a player shrinking, that was a player having a proper go, and that’s what you want.””And I watched Bryony Smith, again on TV, hit four consecutive fours against Katherine Brunt in that first year. And you’re thinking – wow, she’s taking on the big girls, it’s brilliant!”Certainly Smith did not shy away from the idea of “taking on the big girls” in today’s press conference. Asked what she saw as her role for England, she was unequivocal: “I want to open. That’s where I want to be, at the top.”For all three, one thing that will need to be carefully managed is their possible future transition into full-time professionalism. For now, both Davidson-Richards and Smith will continue to juggle paid employment outside cricket with their international commitments. “It’s a really big step up,” Davidson-Richards admitted. “I like going back to work on a Monday. It brings me back to the centre.” It highlights the dilemmas for a women’s game which, in England at least, is still caught somewhere between its amateur history and the professional present.For Robinson, the important thing right now is to broaden the talent pool: “We’ve got to improve our depth and we’ve got to get players up and running.” For the players concerned, meanwhile, the tour represents nothing more or less than an opportunity to represent their country. That, for now, is more than enough.

South Africa had been scheduled to play three Tests in Sri Lanka in July, but one of those Tests has been traded for a five-match ODI series and a T20I.

• First Test: July 12-16, Galle

• Second Test: July 20-24, SSC

• First ODI: July 29, Dambulla

• Second ODI: August 1, Dambulla

• Third ODI: August 5, Pallekele

• Fourth ODI: August 8, Pallekele

• Fifth ODI: August 12, Khettarama

• Only T20: August 14, Khettarama

Earlier, too, South Africa Tests in Sri Lanka have been either postponed, or commuted to limited-overs matches, most notably in 2013. The reasons, then as now, are commercial: Sri Lanka Cricket loses money on all Test tours not involving India, England, Australia and Pakistan. As such, the board insists that three-Test series against most teams are unsustainable, particularly if unaccompanied by the more profitable ODI and T20I games.The revised tour will begin with Tests in Galle and at the SSC – which had also been the venues of South Africa’s most-recent Tests on the island – before moving to Dambulla, Pallekele and finally Khettarama for the limited-overs leg. The first Test begins on July 12, just under two weeks after Sri Lanka return from their three-Test tour of West Indies, and the one-off T20I is scheduled for August 14, four days before Sri Lanka Cricket’s new franchise T20 tournament is set to begin.For South Africa, the Sri Lanka Tests will be the first since their just-concluded series against Australia. They are the only non-Asian side to have defeated Sri Lanka in a Test series on the island over the past six years, having won their 2014 series 1-0.

Justin Langer asked his former boss – the WACA chief executive Christina Matthews – for his old job back. The new Australia coach was joking of course, during a draining week of meetings and discussions about how to revitalise cricket in the country in the wake of the Newlands ball-tampering scandal, before making his first address to the squad to depart for England on Monday.Among his key messages to the team, shorn of Steven Smith and David Warner due to their suspensions for what occurred in Cape Town, was that “if you’re not a good bloke, that’s what people remember”. Langer said that the missing names of Smith, Warner and Cameron Bancroft from the pool of potential players had reminded him of the size of the task at hand.”I’m looking forward to getting on the plane and starting to think about cricket to be honest,” Langer said in Brisbane. “There’s been a lot of information. I got here [to the National Cricket Centre] about 7am on Tuesday, had my first selection meeting, got home about 8pm, sat on my chair and I texted Christina Matthews my old boss and said ‘am I too late to get my old job back?’ It seemed like a good job, I had my feet under the table, I knew the lay of the land, it was pretty cruisey, but this has certainly been a big eye opener, which I’m really looking forward to.”We’ve got to aim to be No. 1 in professionalism in the world, we’ve got to be No. 1 in honesty, that’s a really important value, and we’ve got to be No. 1 in humility. It doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got, or how many games or how many runs, if you’re not a good bloke, that’s what people remember. So humility is important. Our mateship is really important, sticking together. So they’d be the main values at this stage.”When I had the first selection meeting the other day and I saw you take those three names out, it’s a bit of a shock to the system, and it’s not even a cliche, but it’s a very good opportunity for some blokes. It’ll be great for us in the future to make sure our depth is strong.”Australia are expecting plenty of hostility from English crowds and media on their first tour since Newlands, something Langer said was part of what would be a long process to restore the team’s reputation. “Expecting to cop plenty from the crowds and the media, but that’s England,” he said. “Even if you’re winning all the time and you’re squeaky clean you still cop it, so I’d say we’ll cop it just as much as usual, but that’s ok.”It won’t take one tour or one year. It will take one behaviour, one thousand behaviours, one million behaviours to win back respect. If we behave well on and off the field, we will earn some trust and respect back. The Australian public loves the Australian cricket team but there is more to it than just being good cricketers.”As for the way he would address Australia’s recently demonstrated deficiencies in the 50-over format, Langer said that he wanted to get away from talk of copying the advances made by other nations. “I’m hearing about mimicking England’s style and mimicking New Zealand’s style,” he said. “We’ve got to mimic Australian style, because we should be so proud of what we’ve achieved in our past. We’ve got our way of doing things and we shouldn’t shy away from that.”Can we get better in one-day cricket? Absolutely, our ranking shows that, we haven’t been great in one day cricket, we’ve just got to play it better. For me it’s really clear, you need really good athletes, they’ve got to be able to field well, got to be really fit, because they’ve got to run hard between the wickets, the little basics. We’ve got to take responsibility with the bat, we’ve probably got away from that the last year or so, our ranking suggests that. Ultimately it’s about what we are doing as a team, not the individuals.”Langer said he did not expect the wicketkeepers Tim Paine and Alex Carey to both be chosen in the same team, and flagged that there were numerous players in the mix – including Travis Head, D’Arcy Short and Marcus Stoinis – to partner Aaron Finch at the top of the batting order. He also spoke warmly of the recent progress made by the Test opener Matt Renshaw for Queensland and Somerset.

Scorecard”In many ways, it’s been enjoyable to see grounds we don’t normally see,” said one good citizen of Middlesex as he reflected on life in Division Two of the Championship. What he politely left unspoken, though, as he gazed upon the hushed setting of Grace Road was the thought that one season would be quite enough. And, for Middlesex, an immediate return to Division One is not remotely the sure-fire thing that many pundits assumed it would be in April.Few would have imagined that Middlesex would come to Leicester in mid-June down in seventh, with only one win from five matches, to face a Leicestershire side, perennial whipping boys for longer than they care to remember, in third.Middlesex, already 28 points off a promotion place, need their spurt to begin soon. But a polished, unbeaten 150 by Colin Ackermann, once billed as the future of South African cricket, now seeking in his third season to be the future of Leicestershire, has ensured it must wait a little longer. The first day ended in the Foxes’ favour at 353 for 8.The South African was playing with a protective cast on a finger in his right hand, but he was not inhibited as he reached his hundred with a huge six over midwicket off the left-arm spinner Ravi Patel, whose inclusion ahead of Ollie Rayner did not pay immediate dividends, and collected 150 off the final ball of the day. He survived another blow, too, on 54, this time when a return drive from Neil Dexter struck the boot of Hilton Cartwright and flew up into his face. He remained down on the floor a worryingly long time before responding in redoubtable fashion.For Middlesex’s director of cricket, Angus Fraser, the phrase emblazoned on the back of his sponsor’s shirt – Perfect Smile – was hardly encouraged by the unfolding of the day. Until the league table improves he will just have to rely upon a few tips on how to fake one, such as the Tongue Touch Trick (place your tongue on the roof of your mouth), the Close and Open Eyes Trick (avoids awkward expressions brought on by dropped catches) and the Clamp and Smirk Trick (which in itself might not guarantee promotion but will apparently make him look cool and mysterious.The redoubtable county performer, Toby Roland-Jones, is out for the season, but three seamers – Tim Murtagh, James Harris and Hylton Cartwright have 53 wickets between them at a decent average and only one win has so far fallen their way. Two gun batsmen, Dawid Malan and Nick Gubbins, have been absent because of England and injury respectively and Sam Robson has barely made a run. Malan is back here with a big task ahead.Murtagh was again a great provider. To finish with 5 for 52 from 23 controlled overs and still be behind the game will have been a frustrating outcome. He made the first breakthrough of the day, producing a fine delivery which seamed back in to hit the top of Horton’s off and middle stumps.Two more wickets soon fell, but the cloud began to clear and Ackermann, in company with Neil Dexter, took advantage on a pitch which had been used the previous day for a one-day match between Leicestershire and India A.Dexter’s 50 against his former county came off 73 balls, but shortly after he was dropped by Middlesex captain Malan, a tough low chance diving to his right off James Harris, Murtagh beat an attempted drive and wicket-keeper John Simpson took an easy catch.Murtagh had Lewis Hill caught at first slip by Robson, bowled Zak Chappell and bounced out Callum Parkinson, but Ackermann found support in between times from Ben Raine and even Gavin Griffiths dug in for a career-best 18 not out.

Yorkshire 192 (Lyth 70, Clark 5-58) lead <b<Lancashire Lancashire 109 (Davies 51, Coad 3-28) by 83 runs
ScorecardIt is doubtful if many of those attending the 272nd first-class Roses match arrived at Emirates Old Trafford talking of the contribution Jordan Clark might make to the match. It is unlikely if by mid-afternoon anyone was discussing anything else.Yet by the end of the day even Clark’s hat-trick and his career-best figures were becoming vague memories of a mad Sunday on which both sides had been bowled out, supporters of each team had called for everyone to resign and Lancashire’s captain, Liam Livingstone, had broken his thumb. Yorkshire ended the day comfortably in the ascendant, as they so often do in Roses matches, but the means of their ascent made the Hinterstoisser traverse look facile.For on a day which began in the thick-furred gloom of a Mancunian morning yet ended in the crystal sunlight of this treasured summer Clark became only the second Lancashire bowler to take a hat-trick in this fixture since the County Championship was properly constituted in 1890. And when he bowled Ben Coad for 15 to end Yorkshire’s innings for what seemed a plainly inadequate 192, Clark had taken 5 for 58, his finest figures for Lancashire.The quality of Clark’s hat-trick victims was even more bewitching than the feat itself. Those who had hoped to see Joe Root make runs had to be content with five fluent boundaries before the England captain pushed half forward to Clark and was leg before. Enter Kane Williamson, who was caught helplessly on the crease by Clark’s first delivery to him. Exit Williamson and enter Jonny Bairstow, whose nervous prod edged a catch to Jos Buttler at third slip. Yorkshire 59 for 4.Having dismissed the batsmen ranked second, third and 16th in the world, Clark indulged in an aeroplane impersonation and sprinted towards The Point, caught in the exultation of the moment. He was followed by his team-mates and the game was reduced to a Benny Hill sketch. The black comedy awaited us.In the pavilion most of the former players attending their Lancashire reunion watched these events happily and one hopes they showed Clark’s celebrations appropriate indulgence. After all, none of them could talk about their hat-tricks in Roses matches. The only man to share Clark’s honour was Ken Higgs, who passed away in 2016, although one could argue that playing for Lancashire and taking a Roses hat trick are two of the few things the pair have in common.Clark looks like an athlete whereas Higgs, as his obituary in obituary pointed out, had “an arse which crossed two postcodes”. Clark has a straight run-up whereas Higgs had a curving approach and rumbled to the wicket like an irate landlord in hot pursuit of a chiseler. Clark’s diet is strictly controlled and probably owes much to energy supplements and isotonic refuelling. Higgs more or less lived on fish and chips.Jordan Clark claimed a Roses hat-trick for Lancashire•Getty Images

But both men know, or knew, how to compel the shot and move the ball late, albeit that Higgs’s virtues earned him 1536 first-class wickets whereas Clark has so far picked up 75. And neither man had to be born in Lancashire in order to pledge their loyalty. Clark is a Cumbrian; Higgs was born in Staffordshire. They also serve who hail from Whitehaven or Kidsgrove.So great was Clark’s apparent dominance of this day – he also ran out Tim Bresnan for nought when he got a hand to a fierce straight-drive by Adam Lyth – that it was sometimes difficult to understand that other cricketers were playing well too. Old Trafford may not be Lyth’s favourite ground; indeed, expressing such an opinion may be something of a heresy in Yorkshire. But it is one on which he has scored a lot of runs and the opener’s fluent 70 was vital in ensuring his side posted what became an eminently defendable total. When Bresnan was out, Yorkshire were 86 for 6 but Lyth helped Steve Patterson put on 45 before both fell to slip catches by Keaton Jennings, Lyth being James Anderson’s only victim.But what had appeared to be a bottomless Harrod’s hamper of a day for Lancashire rapidly became a soggy packed lunch. The most serious long-term blow was struck when Liam Livingstone fractured his left thumb when attempting to take a slip catch off Lyth. He is likely to be out of action for some time.Perhaps in solidarity with their captain, Lancashire’s batsmen then inflicted some blows on themselves and they should be fatal for their chances in this game. Yorkshire’s four seamers bowled superbly, no one better than Ben Coad, who took three wickets in an over as the home side lost four wickets for no runs in eight balls.By then, though, Haseeb Hameed had been dismissed for the fourth successive innings when playing no shot, a dismissal followed two balls later by Dane Vilas’s departure, leg before on the back leg to Patterson. Alex Davies made 51 and put on 46 for the first wicket with Keaton Jennings, who was brilliantly caught one handed by Root at short midwicket off Bresnan. Jennings was blameless but many other Lancashire batsmen were deeply culpable. God knows what the former players thought of it but one doubts it harmed bar takings.

Mohammed Siraj is mobbed by his team-mates•PTI

Mayank Agarwal was dismissed for an overnight 220, but fifties from Hanuma Vihari and Srikar Bharat armed India A with a first-innings lead of 338, before they declared on 584 for 8. The misery, however, did not end for South Africa A: fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, who had bagged 5 for 56 in the first innings, cracked open their top order again. South Africa A were 99 for 4, still 239 behind, at stumps on day three at Chinnaswamy Stadium.”I could not do much [today] and got out the first ball. I am a little disappointed but on the whole we did well to get a 350-plus lead,” Agarwal said after play. “I’m very happy with the way I’ve begun the season..Just because you got 2000-odd runs last season you can’t take things for granted. I’m not thinking about the India selection. We have this A series against South Africa and the quadrangular A series coming up.”Either side of an hour-long rain delay, Siraj swung the new ball both ways and benefitted from the variable bounce on offer. The first ball he bowled snaked past the feeble waft of opener Sarel Erwee. The next ball snuck under the bat and shot through at shin height. Having worked the Dolphins batsman over, Siraj had him nicking off for 3 in his next over. Siraj and Navdeep Saini continued to explore the channel outside off and teased both the edges of Pieter Malan and Zubayr Hamza. While Malan also nicked off to wicketkeeper Bharat for 0 off 20 balls, Hamza needed eight balls to get off a pair.Siraj then struck with his second ball after the rain break to pin captain Khaya Zondo lbw for a duck too. His first spell read 8-4-12-3. Siraj wasn’t done yet; he returned in the fading light to have Senuran Muthusamy sparring one to a tumbling Vihari at gully for 41. At that point, South Africa A were 92 for 4 in 37 overs. Hamza, who top-scored in the second innings for the visitors with an unbeaten 46, and Rudi Second, the top-scorer in the first, saw out the remaining three overs before close.In the morning, South Africa’s attack was more penetrative than it had been at any point on Sunday. Left-arm quick Beuran Hendricks, who has played seven T20Is, trapped Agarwal in front with a nippy inswinger and then went on to remove Shreyas Iyer with extra bounce and seam movement for 24 by having him caught behind.Vihari and his Andhra team-mate Bharat, however, built on the lead with a breezy 95 run-stand for the fifth wicket at a run rate of 4.38. Bharat took on the short balls from Hendricks and Duanne Olivier and began his innings with a triptych of pulled sixes over long leg. He hit one more six in his 77-ball 64.Bharat was the second-highest scorer in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2017-18 with 390 runs in eight innings at an average of 55.71, but his form in the red-ball format in the past season was less encouraging. He had managed only 292 runs in 10 innings in the Ranji Trophy at 29.20. Bharat had made 2 and 33 not out against West Indies A in a first-class match in Beckenham last month, but he did not find a place in the team against England Lions. Rishabh Pant struck twin fifties in that game and subsequently broke into the India Test squad.Vihari also made a fifty of his own on Monday, reaching the landmark when he launched a straight six into the sightscreen off left-arm spinner Muthusamy. Axar Patel, who has gone wicketless so far, had some fun with the bat, slog-sweeping offspinner Dane Piedt over midwicket and late-cutting Muthusamy to the third-man boundary. There would be no such fun for the South African batsmen.