Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, has said the current spot-fixing investigation has diverted resources away from organising tours to Pakistan

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2010Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, has said the current spot-fixing investigation has diverted resources away from organising tours to Pakistan, and that there is now no space left in the calendar to accommodate a visiting team.”The ICC Task Force was well on its way to bringing a MCC XI team to Pakistan in which two players of each cricket board were to be included,” Butt said. “Moreover, Zimbabwe were also interested in sending their national team to Pakistan. The current spot-fixing scam, however, has diverted attention to other issues as work of inviting some teams to Pakistan could not be materialised, and there is no appropriate time left for such activities due to hectic schedule of Pakistan till the World Cup.”Giles Clarke, chairman of the ICC’s Pakistan Task Force, had called for Pakistan to resume hosting international matches back in August and suggested that an ICC World XI would tour the country “in due course”. Following the floods that devastated the country earlier this year, Zimbabwe offered to tour Pakistan to help raise money for the relief effort, and their visit was tentatively scheduled for November and early December. No international cricket has been played in Pakistan since the March 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team.Last month the ICC decided to closely monitor the running of the game in Pakistan. After a two-day board meeting in Dubai, the message of the world governing body to one of its leading members was clear: sort out the game’s administration or face the consequences, potentially in the form of sanctions. The PCB was told “it must act and be seen to be acting to uphold the zero-tolerance attitude to corruption in sport.”

The ICC has announced that the ICC Intercontinental Cup will return to being a single-division, biennial eight-team, first-class tournament.

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2010The ICC has announced that the ICC Intercontinental Cup will return to being a single-division, biennial eight-team, first-class tournament, and at the same time has scrapped the less-than-popular Intercontinental Shield.The sixth staging of the tournament is scheduled to run from May 2011 until December 2012 with the top six Associate and Affiliate teams with ODI status from 2009-2012 automatically included, namely Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland.The remaining two places will be determined by the ICC Development Committee from the top four teams of the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 event which is scheduled for April 2011 in Dubai.WCL Division 2 is currently made up of Bermuda, Namibia, UAE and Uganda with two qualifiers to proceed from WCL Division 3 (scheduled for 22-29 January 2011). The Cup will again be played on a round-robin basis with the top two teams progressing towards the final.ICC Global Development Manager Matthew Kennedy said: “Due to the Zimbabwe XI no longer participating, it has been decided to revert to the previous Intercontinental Cup structure of eight teams with more guaranteed games for all. In making this decision, consideration was given to the international cricket opportunities now provided to all 95 Associate and Affiliate Members across all three formats of the game.”With balancing these formats in mind, it is important to offer the best non-Test-playing nations the opportunity to compete in meaningful multi-day cricket. And as a result of this expanded I Cup, the second division that was the ICC Intercontinental Shield is no longer required.”In addition, the ICC Development Committee has allocated the staging of two Pepsi ICC WCL events to Malaysia (Division 6 in September 2011) and Singapore (Division 5 in February 2012).It has also been decided that the first 16-team ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, which will determine the six teams to join the ten Full Members at the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September 2012, will be staged in the UAE in the early part of 2012.Following the conclusion of WCL Division 4 in Italy in August and the subsequent global rankings, the Development Committee has confirmed that the regional Twenty20 qualification systems through 2011 will provide the ten teams that will join the six ODI nations in the WT20 Qualifier. The teams would be drawn from Asia (3), Europe (2), Africa (2), Americas (2) and East Asia – Pacific (1).

Khawaja is a run-maker who will be the first Muslim to wear a baggy green, instantly becoming a poster boy for a significant chunk of a country which has always had to watch a mono-culture team

Peter English in Sydney02-Jan-2011Usman Khawaja will bring so much more than his bat to the SCG for his Test debut on Monday. Khawaja, 24, is a run-maker who will be the first Muslim to wear a baggy green, instantly becoming a poster boy for a significant chunk of a country which has always had to watch a mono-culture team.Jason Gillespie was Australia’s only Test cricketer with acknowledged Aboriginal heritage and there have been a heavy sprinkling of players with eastern European heritage, such as Katich, Kasprowicz and Krejza. But despite the country having welcomed a huge immigrant population from Asia, it has taken the rise of Khawaja, an assured left-hander born in Pakistan, to break the mould.And Khawaja, who doesn’t drink and is a qualified pilot, fits in perfectly with his new team-mates. He is already the most popular guy in the New South Wales squad and has settled in well over the summer with the Test outfit in Brisbane, Melbourne and now Sydney.Khawaja, who moved to Australia when he was three, will bat three in the fifth Test after replacing Ricky Ponting. It is a massive job but nothing seems to faze him. Not the extra attention because of his religion, his upbringing, his flying or his batting. Not even the size of the queue for his autograph outside the SCG nets today.”Ussie is pretty chilled out, a pretty laid-back sort of guy,” Michael Clarke said. “He’s going fine. He’s really excited about being part of this Australian team and receiving his baggy green and playing his first Test match.”Like most people who have watched Khawaja, Clarke is impressed by his composed play and wristy shots. In 27 first-class matches Khawaja averages 51.70 and after 30 first-class innings for New South Wales was the state’s sixth-most prolific run-scorer. Only Don Bradman, Arthur Morris, Norm O’Neill, Phillip Hughes and Stan McCabe had done more.”I have no doubt Usman will play a lot more than one Test match for Australia,” Clarke said. “It’s important when he walks out on the field he’s doing nothing different to what he’s done the last two years for New South Wales. Get out there, play his way, be himself, be confident. I guarantee you, if he gets out there and plays the way he’s played for New South Wales, we all know he’ll have success over a long career.”There will be two new caps handed out before the toss, with the spinner Michael Beer also getting one, but Clarke won’t be delivering them like Ricky Ponting has done. Clarke’s first change as captain comes with a return to former Australian Test players presenting the baggy greens, a ceremony started under Steve Waugh.”The players don’t know who they are [getting the caps from] so it’s a bit of a surprise,” Clarke said. Shane Warne is likely to be there for Beer, a left-arm spinner, who used to play at his St Kilda club in Melbourne. Beer has since moved to Western Australia and leap-frogged from fringe state player to Test specialist in seven first-class games.Beer, 26, is more a traditional Australian player, with long vowels, short words and light-coloured, spiky hair. He has never played at the SCG and is the latest slow bowler to have shot from the selectors’ test-tube. The panel has preferred Beer to Doug Bollinger, with Ben Hilfenhaus holding on to his spot.Clarke is not worried by Beer’s lack of experience at the ground and expects him to have a big impact from the third day, when the pitch is expected to offer significant turn. “I made my debut in Bangalore and I’d never been to Bangalore before, never seen that change room, never played a game on that wicket,” Clarke said. “It’s no different. He’s lucky enough to make his Test debut at the SCG in front of a full house.”

After spending December trapped in by now and bad weather Pubudu Dassanayake, the Canada coach, is thrilled that his team are playing in the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament just prior to the World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jan-2011After spending December trapped in by snow and bad weather, Pubudu Dassanayake, the Canada coach, is thrilled that his team are playing in the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament just prior to the World Cup.Canada completed a training camp on Wednesday and will play the tournament, which will be between January 10 and 23. With the World Cup just over a month away Dassanayake is thankful that the team will get some valuable match practice.”When I thought about it, here [in Toronto], there’s snow and you have to be indoors, and, if you go to the Caribbean, you’re going to face all the top quality bowlers, you’re going to play on good grounds and facilities,” Dassanayake told CBC.ca.Ravin Moorthy, Canada’s high performance manager, echoed the sentiment and reassured that the change in format won’t affect his side’s preparations. “It’s a slightly different format than what we’ll face in the World Cup [with its 50 overs], but it’s an opportunity to play against good quality cricketers in a well-organised tournament with good facilities,” said Moorthy.”It’s a good opportunity for guys to get outside, play some cricket outdoors and dust off some of the cobwebs.”Canada are in Group B at the Caribbean T20, along with Barbados, Hampshire Royals, Leeward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago and play their opening game against Hampshire on January 11.”What we want to achieve, of course, is to win,” Dassanayake said. “But at the same time, it’s all about going with the same plans we’re going to have in the World Cup. Having the same batting order, trying to improve our fielding as a group and the variations of how we use our bowlers, is all of the stuff we’re going to work on this tour as a preparation towards the World Cup.”Moorthy felt being together for nearly a year has done the team plenty of good and he hopes they will be ready to play their best cricket by the time the World Cup comes around. “At this stage, it’s not so much technical remediation; it’s learning how to bring your best performance onto the top stage.”It has not all been plain sailing however, with Canada’s all-time leading run scorer John Davison deciding last month to withdraw from the squad until further explanation was given for the omission of batsmen Geoff Barnett and Ian Billcliff from the World Cup squad.The turmoil is sure to have rocked the camp but Moorthy is confident the bond between the team is strong enough to overcome the loss and Dassanayake backed the youngsters to make up for Davison’s absence.”It’s a group that has very little challenges as everybody seems to enjoy each other’s company so, from that perspective, it’s a pleasure to be a part of,” said Moorthy. “Everybody’s on the same page and everyone is really focused towards doing something.”The youngsters that we have, especially Nitish Kumar, Hiral Patel, Ruvindu Gunasekera and Parth Desai, have the talent to be at that level,” Dassanayake said. “Even though they’re young, you can see that these guys came a long way and they do things like senior players. I’m expecting them to perform in the World Cup and put on a good show.”

The Warriors and the Lions, the two South African franchises who competed in last year’s Champions League Twenty20, have confirmed they have not received their prize money from the tournament

Firdose Moonda31-Jan-2011The Warriors and the Lions, the two South African franchises who competed in last year’s Champions League Twenty20, have confirmed they have not received their prize money from the tournament. The amount, totalling US$ 1.5 million for both franchises, was due to be paid out on the last day of January.”We have not received any notification of the money yet,” Cassim Docrat, chief executive of the Lions told ESPNcricinfo. “We understand that it takes a while to reconcile everything although we were told that the money would be paid at the end of the month.”Signs of a delay in the processing became evident last Tuesday at the launch of the Standard Bank Pro20, the competition which produces South African’s two CLT20 candidates. Alviro Petersen was asked if he was enjoying his CLT20 money, to which he replied, ‘I’m still waiting for my wallet to fill up.”At the time, both Docrat and Dave Emslie, chief executive of the Warriors franchise, were not concerned about the non-payment, because they expected the money to arrive by the end of the month. “The tournament ended in September and we think it’s a very acceptable time period for payment to be made,” Emslie said.The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations’ (FICA), however, disagrees. “It’s simply unacceptable that three of the most financially affluent cricket boards in the world can seemingly sit on their hands for four months with no apparent sense of obligation to pay this prize money in a timely manner,” Tim May, FICA’s chief executive, said. The CLT20 is jointly owned by the BCCI, CSA and CA and the total prize money owed by them totals US $6 million.May said that FICA has been told that payment “may be made in late January or early February.” He added that participation fees, which were due to be paid no more than 20 days after completion of the event on September 26, 2010, had also not been paid. “We will be assessing our various options regarding recovery of these outstanding amounts for the 2010 event should the monies not be received within the next couple of weeks.”The two South African franchises will receive notification from CSA when the money is successfully transferred from India. On receipt, it will be divided among all six local franchises. The Warriors, who reached the final of the CLT20, will be awarded the biggest share. Despite their imminent riches, Warriors captain Davy Jacobs is in no hurry to receive his cheque. “We will get it at some stage. The later, the better,” he said. “By then we would have forgotten all the silly things we want to do with it and will spend it properly.”

Canada’s captain Ashish Bagai has praised his side’s bowling and fielding effort against Pakistan, but said the bastmen could not execute the plans of playing their natural games and seeing off Shahid Afridi

Osman Samiuddin at the Premadasa Stadium 03-Mar-2011The status of Wayne Gretzky as the most famous Canadian sportsman of all time would not really have been threatened by Ashish Bagai and his men had they pulled off an Irish – to use the current slang – but dear Lord it would have made them famous. For 83 overs, they threatened a result that would have surpassed even Kevin O’Brien’s heroics on Wednesday night in Bangalore for shock value; one that would not have been dissimilar to Ireland’s other big World Cup win, three years and 50 weeks ago.The instant Shahid Afridi won the toss and chose to bat, under dirty grey skies on a dirty brown surface, Jamaica ’07 entered the room. It was a good toss to lose, Bagai said later, the groundsman having told him it was a bowl-first wicket. And Canada were tremendous, more so given they lost a frontline bowler in Khurram Chohan early. The spirit of Ireland and Bangalore was still floating around in the morning, Bagai said. “It gave us all a little belief in the morning.”At the centre was a quite outstanding spell of precisely the kind of right-arm medium dibbly-dobblers that so often trumps a top side in these conditions. Harvir Baidwan has a reputation for taking wickets and you can kind of see why; his pace is seductively friendly and the lengths are generally full so that batsmen will take chances. Ahmed Shehzad fell for it, and Younis Khan was duped by a lovely curving ball. Two overs to Umar Akmal and Misbah-ul-Haq deserved much more than just one maiden.Harvir Baidwan’s dibbly-dobblers posed serious problems for Pakistan’s batsmen in the conditions•AFP

There was support as well: a lovely hand from the podgy Balaji Rao, who put in a pleasing, unhurried spell of legspin; Rizwan Cheema and Jimmy Hansra more than chipped in as well, leaving their captain satisfied with the overall effort in the field. “Keeping them to 184 on that wicket was a tremendous effort especially after losing one of our key bowlers in the first couple of overs. The six bowlers did a fantastic job and it was a decent fielding effort.”Canada’s problems lie most squarely with their batting. They’ve now scored 122, 123 and 132 in three games. And it’s been fragile enough to sense that even when they were sneaking along at 104 for 3 in the 34th, one wicket could change the game. Until then Zubin Surkari and Jimmy Hansra had been just the men for the job, chancing it and milking it. When Ireland took off in pursuit of 133 in Jamaica, though, and even on Wednsesay night, despite losing wickets, there remained a robustness and calm about them that, to the disappointment of Bagai, was absent in Canada’s performance in Colombo.”The wicket was getting better and better which is very unusual for this wicket. The game plan was to just be positive and because the batting has been a worry, we said we would just play our natural games. A couple of youngsters opened the batting and we said play your natural games and the same for the rest of us. We had a decent partnership in the middle, a couple of good ones, but Shahid [Afridi] came on and he was the difference between the two teams. Our batting worries continue. It’s very disappointing because I thought we had a good chance of putting in a shock performance and getting back on track but that wasn’t to be.”Afridi, especially, looked as if he might pose fatal problems; his bowling is, these days, a handful against most sides but against the Associates he is an entire truckload of trouble. There was a plan in place, Bagai said; the kind sides put out against Muttiah Muralitharan, but plans look best on paper. “We’re very disappointed one guy ran through the batting order. We started off with the approach of trying to milk him for 30 to 35 runs, but once he gets wickets he gets right on top of you and he gets very confident. He gets his variations going and then it gets harder and harder and we were just not good enough today.”They weren’t, but only just. “That’s sport, that’s cricket, you’ve got to pick yourself up. At the end of the day it is sport,” Bagai said. It can be a cruel one.

Jamaica became only the second side to capture four successive four-day regional championships

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Apr-2011
Scorecard
Nikita Miller helped Jamaica earn their fourth title in a row•Getty Images

Jamaica made it four four-day Regional Championships in a row with a comfortable 8-wicket win over Combined Colleges & Campuses inside two days at the Three Ws Oval in Bridgetown. Having taken a 113-run first-innings lead, Jamaica’s spinners, Nikita Miller and Odean Brown, triggered a spectacular collapse after CCC had reached 56 for no loss. Miller began the slide by bowling Romel Currency for 23, after which CCC proceeded to lose their next nine wickets for 63 runs in less than two sessions.Miller ended up with 4 for 33, the day’s best figures, while Brown took 4 for 54 to go with 3 for 34 in the first innings, earning the Man-of-the-Match award. West Indies allrounder Andre Russell took the other two wickets.Jamaica, who had begun the day on 106 for 3, were bowled out for 225 with captain Tamar Lambert top scoring with 41. It was the spinners who did the damage for CCC as well, with offspinner Ryan Austin taking four for 81 and left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh 4 for 89.The only other team in history to win four consecutive titles in regional first-class cricket was Barbados when they won the Shell Shield from 1977 to 1980.”This is a tremendous result for us as a team and for our nation Jamaica,” captain Tamar Lambert said after collecting the Headley/Weekes trophy. “From the start of the season we said we were looking to make it four straight and we did it in style here today. We proved we are the strongest team. We all worked hard and we played well together as a unit. I always stress on team unity and I’m happy the guys played well and won the trophy.”

Kevin Pietersen has expressed his desire to captain England again in limited overs cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Apr-2011Kevin Pietersen has expressed his desire to captain England again, saying he had given the option serious thought since rumours emerged that Andrew Strauss may give up the limited-overs post. More than two years have passed since the end of Pietersen’s brief and tempestuous reign as England captain, and he has now stated his readiness to have another crack at the role, at least in ODIs.”If the one-day job becomes available, I would ­definitely be up for it,” Pietersen said at the launch of the new England ODI shirt. “A lot of water has passed under the bridge since I last did it and it’s something I’ve thought about in the past few weeks since the rumours surfaced about Andy Strauss stepping down.”Second time around I think I could do a real good job as I’d be older and wiser, and would handle a few things a lot differently. I didn’t think I was too bad first time around – we had our moments against South Africa, and it took a century of freakish brilliance from Sachin Tendulkar to deny us a famous Test win in Chennai.”So if the opportunity came up and I was asked I would say, ‘Thank you very much, I would love to have another go’.”Pietersen is the second England player to throw his hat into the ring for the job, should it become available, after the opening batsman Alastair Cook made similarly hopeful noises last week. Reflecting on the circumstances of his departure from the job in January 2009, Pietersen said he had been hurt, but has now moved on. He also said there would be no problem forming a strong leadership axis with the England coach, Andy Flower.”I wasn’t too despondent about why it ended, or even how it ended, but I was certainly hurt by some of the negative publicity which followed. Some of the nonsense about a divided camp, and players being for or against me, was deeply hurtful and it took me a while to get over it,” said Pietersen.”But time’s a great healer and I’m ready to do it again if the opportunity arose. I respected Andy Flower as a player, and as a coach I respect him more than ever now.”He’s done an amazing job since he took over and he deserves all the plaudits. He has moulded the team in a very respectful manner, in an atmosphere where everyone is entitled to voice an opinion – whether you have played 100 Test matches or just one. It’s a happy ship, Andy keeps it on a very even keel, and my ­relationship with him is absolutely fine – both on a technical level and as a person.”

Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu took Mumbai to 159, a gettable score on this pitch, but not against an attack as ruthless as their’s

The Bulletin by Nitin Sundar02-May-2011
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAmbati Rayudu played some big shots in his half-century•AFP

If Sachin Tendulkar doesn’t get you, Ambati Rayudu will. If Lasith Malinga doesn’t get you, Harbhajan Singh will. Unfortunately for Kings XI Punjab, all four men were on top of their game today, and the rest of the Mumbai Indians XI was ruthlessly efficient. Tendulkar played within himself, Rayudu launched the occasional sortie and the middle order kept up the momentum to lift Mumbai to 159. It was a gettable target on this pitch, but not against this attack.Harbhajan and Malinga cracked open the game in their opening spells. Harbhajan nailed Adam Gilchrist on the sweep in the opening over, before Malinga put Paul Valthaty in his place with an over of pace-bowling brilliance. He began with a full ball that was through Valthaty in a blink. The second was a swerving full toss at 144.5 kph that Valthaty barely managed to get bat to. The third was faster, and Valthaty nervously glanced to fine-leg, but he was back on strike for the last two. Malinga let him have two short balls; Valthaty did not pick the first one, and missed a feeble attempt at a pull off the second. Valthaty, clearly outclassed, was stunned into his shell and Punjab never recovered.Tendulkar smelled blood, and went for all-out attack. Malinga bowled with two slips, while Harbhajan trotted in with a slip and a silly point. Valthaty continued to struggle, but Shaun Marsh managed to sneak a couple of boundaries off Malinga. Abu Nechim kept the pressure on Valthaty, who was so late on a pull in the fifth over that he ended up playing it uppishly to cover. Cover is not where a pull shot should go, neither is it the place for Munaf Patel to field: he grassed the catch, tumbling forward. Unfortunately for Punjab, that was the only fielding error from Mumbai.After dawdling to 8 off his first 24 balls, Valthaty eventually found respite against the back-up bowlers. He carted T Suman and Andrew Symonds for sixes, but holed out soon after. Marsh was in his groove by then, charming a Munaf half-volley for four and clattering a half-tracker from Nechim to midwicket, but he needed someone to hold up the other end.Mumbai ensured that did not happen: David Hussey was held spectacularly at long-on by Rohit Sharma, who hurtled forward and dived full-length. Dinesh Karthik was trapped in front by Kieron Pollard, and Abhishek Nayar allowed the entry ‘c Symonds b Harbhajan’ to enter the scorecard. Malinga tied up the loose ends in his second spell.Earlier, Mumbai were efficient rather than excellent with the bat, as Punjab’s spinners held them back in an attritional first half. Punjab were clearly looking to capitalise on Tendulkar’s weakness against left-arm spin, when they opened the attack with Bhargav Bhatt. Bipul Sharma took over for the third over, and struck with his unusual trajectory from well wide of the crease. Davy Jacobs was lazy leaning out to one of those deliveries, and turned his wrists too early as the ball slipped through to hit the stumps. The early dismissal forced Mumbai to rebuild cautiously, and the left-arm gambit had paid off though Tendulkar hadn’t fallen for it.Rayudu attempted to break free with a couple of against-the-spin heaves, while Tendulkar skipped inside the line to sweep Bhatt over deep square leg, but Mumbai showed their first real sign of intent only in the 12th over of the innings. As always, Praveen Kumar was cannon fodder once the shine disappeared from the ball, and Rayudu clubbed him for two fours and a six off consecutive balls. Punjab did not help their own cause, dropping Rayudu twice in two balls. The second a comical error in judgement from Ryan Harris at long-off, that allowed Rayudu reach his half-century.Rayudu and Tendulkar fell soon after getting to their half-centuries, but Pollard ensured there was no let-up, smashing two sixes and in the process increasing his tournament tally by a factor of five. His closing surge, aided by Rohit, took Mumbai to a score that Punjab would have fancied chasing, but Malinga and Co. had other plans.

Luke Wells and Murray Goodwin both made centuries as Yorkshire’s decision to put Sussex in badly backfired

29-May-2011
ScorecardLuke Wells and Murray Goodwin both made centuries as Yorkshire’s decision to put Sussex in on the first day of their County Championship tussle at Hove badly backfired. Wells enhanced his reputation as one of the best young batsmen in the country with his third hundred in only his eighth Championship game, while Goodwin scored his second century of the season as Sussex closed on 295 for 2.Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale probably felt a pitch with an even covering of grass would assist his seam attack and Ajmal Shahzad, who is one of the contenders to replace James Anderson in the England squad for the Lord’s Test, did take the scalp of the in-form Chris Nash in the ninth over with one which nipped back.Wells was only opening because Nash’s regular partner Ed Joyce is playing for Ireland. Joyce is due back in time for the third day and his nominated substitute, Joe Gatting, struggled to take his chance.Gatting failed to score off 40 of the 44 balls he faced before he drove loosely at Steven Patterson and was well caught by the diving Joe Sayers at cover. But that was as good as it got for Yorkshire.Wells, briefly becalmed before lunch, reached his 50 with a cover-driven boundary off Patterson and during the afternoon session he and Goodwin made serene progress. Wells had one alarm on 79 when he was knocked off his feet by Ryan Sidebottom’s yorker but umpire Richard Kettleborough adjudged the ball was sliding down the leg side.The 20-year-old left-hander reached his century off 198 balls with successive boundaries when leg-spinner Adil Rashid obligingly dropped short and added seven more boundaries after that. He will resume on 143, having so far faced 286 balls and hit 23 fours.Goodwin lost little in comparison to his partner although he did have one alarm on 49 when he edged between the two slips off Patterson. Otherwise Sussex’s vice-captain looked in total control, feasting when he bowlers dropped short to play his favourite back-foot shots.He reached his 46th hundred for the county, in 217 balls, with his 13th boundary in the final over of the day and so far the third-wicket pair have added 217 in 71 overs.Sussex are giving Championship debutants to two South Africans. Left-armer Wayne Parnell only arrived at 6.30am on an overnight flight from Johannesburg to replace Pakistan’s Rana Naved as overseas player, while all-rounder Kirk Wernars, who qualifies because of his Dutch passport, was also included.