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It is not yet an epidemic but the loss of medium-fast swing bowler Shayne O’Connor to retirement is another blow for New Zealand cricket’s depth of resources.O’Connor, 29, announced today that he was withdrawing from international and first-class play to settle into a business venture in Alexandra in Central Otago.The news comes after O’Connor finished third on the New Zealand domestic wicket-taking list this year with 42 wickets at a cost of 18.71 runs. He had been a key performer for the improved Otago side which finished third in the State Championship.It is ironic that the players’ strike of October was aimed at keeping players in the game longer, yet in the last 12 months, New Zealand has lost experienced players like Adam Parore, Chris Drum and now O’Connor who all had, potentially, many years of cricket left in them.Their loss was not only felt in New Zealand’s international options, but also on the first-class scene. O’Connor was regarded in many quarters as a certainty to make the New Zealand team to tour Sri Lanka in April which is to be announced next week.In his 19-Test career he took 53 wickets at 32.52 and in 38 One-Day Internationals he took 46 wickets at 30.34. He played 72 first-class matches and took 275 wickets at 23.70, including 16 five-wicket bags and two 10-wicket bags.He first captured the public’s imagination during a tour of Australia in 1997/98 when he bowled Steve Waugh for 96 at the WACA in the second Test.”It could have slipped past his bat as a full toss, but it turned into a yorker. People said, ‘Gee, what a great ball’ and it grabbed some attention which was great for me,” he said.O’Connor had spent the summers of 2000/01 and 2001/02 recovering from a knee injury after probably the finest form of his brief international career in Africa in late-2000.As New Zealand’s bowling attack succumbed to injury, O’Connor bore an increasing workload. He was bowling faster as the result of some refinements to his technique, but no sooner was he back in New Zealand than he broke down and suffered for the remainder of the summer.O’Connor said the African tour had been the best of his tours.”I learnt how to play international cricket and fitted in fully with the New Zealand team. I was satisfied that I was accepted as a real international bowling option instead of giving me the ball and wondering what I was going to do today.”The tour was long, and helluva hard. I think if we had had a full-strength side we could have pushed South Africa but we struck them two months into the tour and were already tired whereas they were fresh and playing at home and much better off.”The programme we had was an injustice to the team. We were on tour for four months,” he said.A recall for last summer’s tour of Australia came to grief during the first Test at Brisbane and he missed out on being awarded a New Zealand Cricket contract for this year.O’Connor said the contract system was not a factor in his decision.”When I first played first-class cricket I didn’t think ‘Aw gee, I could make a lot of money out of this,” he said.”I made up my mind a long time ago. And once I started thinking about it I looked at it with a bias for affirmation for what I was thinking.”I was pretty determined to do well this year and I played as if I still wanted to play for New Zealand, to keep my name in the hat. But I still feel comfortable with my decision,” he said.O’Connor said he would be surprised if he played first-class cricket again.The injury he suffered after the African tour and his time to recover over two summers were not really a factor in his decision, although he said it was while injured that he began to think about life after cricket.”I never saw myself as having a long and illustrious cricket career, winning a county contract. That wasn’t for me.”I did what I wanted to when I set out in cricket and I’m thrilled with what I did,” he said.New Zealand selection chairman Sir Richard Hadlee was surprised by O’Connor’s decision.While giving nothing away about his thoughts of the chances O’Connor may have had of being part of the Sri Lankan tour, Hadlee did say that experience was an asset and at 29 years of age, O’Connor had that.O’Connor said that had he continued to play he felt he would have been more consistent in his bowling because with the experience he had he could contribute so much more.Hadlee said he respected O’Connor’s decision and that it seemed he wanted a change of lifestyle and had lost the motivation.”I’m sure he would have been discussed,” he said of the selection meeting that is taking place on Monday. The team would probably be announced on Wednesday, he said.

Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmore threw his support behind fast bowlingallrounder Suresh Perera, who was reported for having a suspect action inthe Galle Test, after Sri Lanka’s final practice before the second Test inKandy.

“We feel that Suresh (Perera) has a very bright future,” he said. “It’s alittle bit disturbing, but we are confident that his action will be of noconcern in the very near future.”He admitted though that Steve Bucknor’s decision to report Perera had causedconcern: “It’s a little bit worrying because he is a young player who hasonly played in two Test matches and is thought of very highly by theselectors and the captain.”He now needs to go through a process set up the ICC and we will fall intoline with our duties, as laid down by the controlling body,” he said.”We are not sure what specific delivery prompted the report, but anoccasional delivery has caused a concern for an international umpire, whichis fine, as he has duties as well,” he said. “We will learn more in time asto the specific nature of the concerns.”Perera is still in contention for a place in the Kandy Test: “The rules arequite clear,” said Whatmore. “Suresh (Perera) can still participate ininternational cricket for the six weeks and as a result it will be up theselectors to decide whether he plays in this game.”This is not the first time that Perera’s action has been questioned by anumpire. In 1999 umpire Asoka de Silva reported Perera to the Sri Lankancricket board after a domestic game.

The India team is not happy with Vineet Kulkarni’s umpiring, and the captain’s post-match report has remarks critical of the official, ESPNcricinfo has learnt. Vinod Phadke, the team manager, said the umpiring was not good, and that he was going to complain about Kulkarni in his report at the end of the series in addition to the captain’s remarks, which he said he has not seen.”I have not seen the captain’s report, but I am going to mention him in my report,” Phadke told ESPNcricinfo. “It is obvious to everybody that the umpiring has not been good.”Phadke’s remarks led to the ICC charging him* with making “inappropriate comments.”At the end of the first Twenty20 international against South Africa, in Dharmasala, captain MS Dhoni had brought up the umpiring issue unprovoked at the post-match presentation. “We did not have quite a few decisions going our way and sometimes these can change the match,” Dhoni said. “It could have been different if we could have got Duminy out early.”

The two decisions that irked India

1st T20I, Dharmasala
16.2 Kumar to Duminy, 2 leg byes, a huge appeal for lbw after the yorker crashes into Duminy’s boot as he misses the flick. That’s absolutely plumb. Bhuvneshwar isn’t usually the emotional sort but he is quite angry. They run two leg byes
1st ODI, Kanpur
7.3 Morkel to Dhawan, OUT, given lbw! But was that missing leg? The ball was quite full from round the wicket, angling into the left-hander. Dhawan was caught on the crease and hit on the pad as he looked to play on the leg side. Morkel went up immediately, and the umpire followed after a short pause … it did look like that would have missed leg stump, or just about clipped it.

Dhoni was referring to the lbw appeal against JP Duminy in South Africa’s successful chase of 200. Duminy looked pretty plumb to a Bhuvneshwar Kumar yorker, but survived. Had Duminy been given out then, it would have reduced South Africa to 157 for 4 in the 17th over. Eventually South Africa won with two balls to spare. In the Kanpur ODI Shikhar Dhawan was given out lbw to Morne Morkel when it seemed the ball was headed down the leg side from round the wicket. India eventually lost that match by five runs.The 36-year-old Kulkarni has stood in 18 ODIs and seven T20Is. The convention in bilateral ODIs is for a local umpire to team up with a neutral umpire. Aleem Dar is the ICC’s neutral official for the ODI series, and it is the home board’s prerogative to provide a local umpire provided he is part of their international panel of umpires. Kulkarni is scheduled to stand in the second ODI, which will be played in Indore on Wednesday. This will be his last match as on-field umpire in the series before he returns as third umpire for the last ODI. This, though, was decided in advance, and has nothing to do with the captain’s report.*October 14, 2015 0950 GMT: This article has been updated with the ICC’s tweet

Omar Henry, who has Test match and international one-day cricket on his CV as well as the captaincy of Scotland, has been appointed convener of the South African selectors in what amounts to an almost total clean-out of Rushdi Magiet’s discredited previous panel.Of Magiet’s six selectors, only Haroon Lorgat remains on the new five-man panel named on Wednesday. Along with Henry and Lorgat, Pat Symcox, Hugh Page and Douglas Maku, the black African representative, will pick South Africa’s national teams in a season that will culminate with next year’s World Cup.According to United Cricket Board chief executive Gerald Majola, the UCB general council wholly endorsed the recommendations of the newly-constituted National Cricket Committee. Although there was a slight delay in announcing the new panel, this was largely the result of the time it took to inform the axed former selectors that their services were no longer required. Along with Magiet, Morris Garda, Graeme Pollock and Peter Bacela did not win re-election. Mike Procter, who is now an ICC match referee, was not available to be re-elected.The most striking feature of the new panel is that it possesses far greater credibility than its predecessor. Given the performance of the previous panel, it could be argued that this is no great feat, although, in fairness, the previous selectors tended to be hamstrung by the inept and muddled Magiet.Along with Henry, who will relinquish his position as Boland coach, Symcox has also played post-isolation first-class and international cricket and will be a popular choice among the wider South African public. Within cricketing circles, the appointment of the genial Page, who played for South Africa during isolation, will also be welcomed and his brings to the new panel his knowledge of South African junior cricket as convener of the national under 19 panel.Lorgat provides continuity with the former selectors while Maku, a Border selector, is unlikely to be a dominant influence in his first season on the panel, but will remind the selectors of the UCB’s commitment to transformation.It is Henry, though, who will attract the most attention. A left-arm spinner and handy lower-order who played in the 1992 World Cup, he started his career under the old South African Cricket Board before switching to the SA Cricket Union. He remains the oldest player to have made his Test debut for South Africa – he was 40 years and 295 days old when he played against India at Kingsmead in 1992.More significantly, Henry’s appointment signals the end of some of the old grudges and suspicions that have lingered on in South Africa cricket. Because he crossed the floor from black to white cricket, he was at one point viewed as a sell-out. His new appointment, however, indicates a softening of some previous hard-line attitudes. With the performance of the selectors bound to be closely monitored ahead of the World Cup, Henry’s credentials should go a long way towards satisfying most of the sometimes disparate elements that make up South African cricket.The first tasks facing the new panel would seem to be resolving the question of the nationally contracted players as well as naming a training squad with the World cup in mind. As selection convener, Henry will remain on the National Cricket Committee, but Symcox and Lorgat will have to drop off. It is not entirely clear when and by whom they will be replaced.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Inspired by another outstanding century from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, West Indies levelled the three-match one-day series with a 61-run win at Edgbaston. Chanderpaul’s unbeaten 116, and a third-wicket stand of 175, formed the backbone of an impressive total as West Indies’ final 10 overs brought 102 runs. England’s chase never got off the ground with Ravi Rampaul claiming the key wickets of Kevin Pietersen and Owais Shah.It was an impressive resurgence from West Indies after their drubbing at Lord’s, especially after they’d been asked to bat in overcast conditions and a day after the ground was soaked by torrential downpours. They assessed the situation early on, forming a solid platform before the late assault from Chanderpaul and Samuels launched them to a strong total. Chanderpaul’s seventh ODI ton was a perfectly paced innings off 114 balls and showed the importance of not panicking if early momentum is tough to come by.No-one could produce a similar performance for England as wickets fell at regular intervals. Alastair Cook and Matt Prior are still getting used to their opening partnership, and the styles they need to play, but Cook made a positive start with three flowing boundaries in his 19 before inexplicably carving to mid-off where Fidel Edwards produced a well-timed leap. However, Ian Bell can feel unlucky with his dismissal after the ball struck him high on the back leg and would have carried over off stump.Kevin Pietersen hasn’t quite seemed at his peak since the end of the Test series and his failed whip across the line, against the impressive Rampaul, ended a brief stay and left England with an uphill struggle. Prior and Owais Shah were in the tricky position of needing to ensure against further loss, while also keeping an eye on the Duckworth-Lewis figures with showers never far away from Birmingham.Prior again mixed solid defence with some fine attacking shots including – amazingly for a batsman renowned for his power-hitting – the first six of his ODI career when he pulled Powell over mid-on. He went to his first ODI fifty off 71 balls, then in the following over spooned a limp chip shot to midwicket with his job only half done.England suffered from not having a wicket-taking option in the middle overs – relying on medium-pace throughout – but, sensing the kill, Chris Gayle was able to recall the hostile Edwards at Paul Collingwood. After one searing bouncer, Edwards aimed at the stumps and trapped Collingwood plumb and proceeded to give Shah a working-over too.

Shah, though, kept England’s hopes alive in a 54-run stand with Michael Yardy. He had a dip against Dwayne Smith, taking two fours and a swivel-pull for six. However, in the space of four balls Yardy picked out deep square-leg with a pull and Shah got a thin-edge on a similar shot, as Rampaul collected a career-best haul, to ensure the series goes to a decider in Nottingham.The result vindicated the long-awaited move of making more of Chanderpaul’s prolific form. After a tour of walking to the middle with his side in trouble, Chanderpaul was finally shifted up the order to No. 3 and was able to build on a 50-run opening platform from Gayle and Devon Smith. His runs came with a sense of inevitability, although for large sections of his innings he didn’t set the world alight with the scoring rate.Chanderpaul flicked and squirted his way to an 85-ball fifty, against accurate but unthreatening bowling, but needed only 29 more to move to three figures. He raced into the 90s by taking 19 off Ryan Sidebottom’s eighth over – including a disdainful six over long-on – and he went to 98 with a brazen sweep off Anderson.Chanderpaul’s chief ally was Samuels – normally eager to launch the ball into neighbouring streets – who reined himself in until given licence to thrill in the final 10 overs. After collecting a golden duck on Saturday he found it difficult to force away the medium-pacers and didn’t hit a boundary until his 21st ball. Then he was put down by Collingwood – off his own bowling – on 14, a simple catch by Collingwood’s standards, before slowly expanding his strokeplay and reached fifty off 83 balls.Samuels ignited the final 10-over charge by sending James Anderson’s eighth over for 18 and was finding his full range when he cut to short third man. Chanderpaul, though, ended in style as Anderson finished with his most expensive ODI figures, including a final four overs that were dispatched for 50. The charge had been timed to perfection and there is still a chance of West Indies leaving the tour with some silverware at Trent Bridge on Saturday.

Former TV-AM presenter Nick Owen has been appointed as the next president of Derbyshire, succeeding Trevor Bowring in March next year.Owen, who currently works for the BBC in the Midlands, is a vice-president and honorary life member of the county.”I am thrilled and very honoured,” he said. “When I first started following Derbyshire in the days of Gladwin, Jackson and Morgan, I never dreamed that one day I would be asked to become president.”My mother, Buxton born and bred, and other relatives who still live in Derbyshire are extremely proud. I very much look forward to becoming even more involved with the club.”

The Sri Lankan board (SLC) has revealed its unease with the growing crisis over West Indies’ squad.The two-Test series is due to start on July 13, with the side arriving early next week. But so far, only five players are thought to have signed the West Indies’ board’s match/tour contracts, with the remainder locked in a dispute between the players’ association and the board.””We would obviously be very disappointed if the West Indies were unable to send a full-strength side,” Adel Hassim, an SLC board member, told Reuters. “The likes of Brian Lara and the other West Indies players are a huge attraction amongst the cricket-loving public in Sri Lanka and we all want to see the full team here.”The financial ramifications of a weak West Indies side are a major concern to the Sri Lankans. Were West Indies to scrap the whole trip, then they would have to pay around US$2 million compensation to SLC. But as long as they fulfill their obligation to send the strongest side available to them, then there would be no comeback for the Sri Lankans.SLC are expected to meet to discuss the problem further. “We are watching the situation very closely,” Hasim said. “The interim committee will discuss the issue at its meeting later this week, but we hope that an amicable solution is reached.”

Muttiah Muralitharan does not have a new delivery, and has been bowling his doosra for over five years, according to Duleep Mendis, Sri Lanka’s new chief executive and former captain and coach of the national team.Muralitharan was reported to the International Cricket Council by Chris Broad, the match referee during the recent Australia series. Broad said that Muralitharan’s action was possibly suspect when “when he bowls his ‘new’ delivery that turns away from the right-handed batsman.”But Mendis insisted that Muralitharan has been bowling the same delivery regularly for at least five years, but during the recent tour of Sri Lanka by England the media started to make references to a “new” or “special” delivery. Muralitharan was indeed working on a new ball, but that was a back-spinner, which he has still not yet been bowled in a match.”There is no such thing as a new delivery,” Mendis told reporters. “Murali has been bowling this ball in international cricket for over five years now. The only difference between then and now is that he has now perfected the delivery, making it more effective and accurate.”Nevertheless, the board, although surprised and disappointed by Broad’s decision, has already started stage one of the ICC’s new two-stage process for dealing with suspect bowling actions. A Bowling Review Committee will meet on Monday evening, and an ICC-approved human-movement specialist will be appointed shortly after consultation between Mendis and Dave Richardson, the ICC’s cricket operations manager.The specialist will analyse the doosra and work with the Bowling Review Group to prepare a report for the ICC within the stipulated six-week period. The board hopes to “do everything possible as early as possible”, but the report is unlikely to be ready for Sri Lanka’s first one-dayer in Zimbabwe on April 20.There is no suggestion, though, that Muralitharan will not play, or be discouraged from using his doosra in the interim period, unless there is scientific evidence that proves that there is a problem. Mendis remains very confident that Muralitharan will be cleared once and for all.Mendis met with Muralitharan on Monday morning at the board headquarters in Colombo. “Murali is obviously disappointed, but he is a born fighter,” he said. “Having spoken to him, I am sure he will fight his way through this – I was pleased to see him in this mood.”Murali himself confirmed: “I am very disappointed by what has happened as I thought this matter was behind me. I have been bowling this delivery for over five years now and I am naturally upset because I feel there is nothing wrong with it.” And, he told reporters on Monday, he is hopeful that the fourth set of rigorous scientific tests on his action in his career will finally put an end to the controversy. “I am very confident that these assessments will prove, once and for all, that my bowling action is perfectly legal.”Muralitharan’s bowling action was first assessed by the University ofWestern Australia in 1996, using six cameras shooting at a thousand framesper second. They concluded that his unique bent-armed action created theoptical illusion that he was throwing. Further voluntary research was carried out by the University of Hong Kong the same year, and in England in 1999.Sri Lanka’s Bowling Review Committee was chaired by Roshan Mahanama, who will now have to be replaced after being appointed as an ICC match referee. The other members include Lalith Kaluperuma, the current chairman of selectors; Champaka Ramanayake, the board’s fast-bowling coach; KT Francis, Sri Lanka’s first ICC-appointed umpire; and Roger Wijesuriya, a former Test left-arm spinner.

Venue Event Event Day Capacity AttendanceBoland Park, Paarl12-Feb Holland vs India Pool A Match 9014 367419-Feb Canada vs Sri Lanka Pool B Match 9014 329825-Feb Holland vs Pakistan Pool A Match 9009 5508Buffalo Park, East London16-Feb England vs Holland Pool A Match 13428 484027-Feb Canada vs South Africa Pool B Match 13428 9279De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley16-Feb Namibia vs Pakistan Pool A Match 6055 292826-Feb Bangladesh vs New Zealand Pool B Match 6055 371204-Mar Kenya vs West Indies Pool B Match 12110 4587Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein10-Feb New Zealand vs Sri Lanka Pool B Match 13894 376622-Feb Bangladesh vs South Africa Pool B Match 13894 767203-Mar Holland vs Namibia Pool A Match 13894 2939Harare Sports Club, Harare10-Feb Namibia vs Zimbabwe Pool A Match 7357 389913-Feb England vs Zimbabwe Pool A Match 0 019-Feb India vs Zimbabwe Pool A Match 7326 5800Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban11-Feb Bangladesh vs Canada Pool B Match 19884 1048226-Feb England vs India Pool A Match 20010 1835303-Mar South Africa vs Sri Lanka Pool B Match 19993 19744Nairobi Gymkhana Stadium21-Feb Kenya vs New Zealand Pool B Match 0 024-Feb Kenya vs Sri Lanka Pool B Match 6036 6000Newlands, Cape Town08-Feb The Opening Ceremony 23591 2416909-Feb South Africa vs West Indies Pool B Match 23076 2418015-Feb Canada vs Kenya Pool B Match 22985 1259022-Feb England vs Pakistan Pool A Match 23097 2279628-Feb Sri Lanka vs West Indies Pool B Match 23020 19382North West Cricket Stadium, Potchefstroom12-Feb Kenya vs South Africa Pool B Match 10169 736420-Feb Australia vs Holland Pool A Match 10169 437627-Feb Australia vs Namibia Pool A Match 10169 5966Pietermaritzburg Oval14-Feb Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka Pool B Match 7093 290023-Feb India vs Namibia Pool A Match 7088 4805Queens Sports Club Ground Bulawayo24-Feb Australia vs Zimbabwe Pool A Match 6469 500004-Mar Pakistan vs Zimbabwe Pool A Match 6469 400028-Feb Holland vs Zimbabwe Pool A Match 6469 4860St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth13-Feb New Zealand vs West Indies Pool B Match 18106 965919-Feb England vs Namibia Pool A Match 18106 975602-Mar Australia vs England Pool A Match 18131 15987SuperSport Park, Centurion15-Feb Australia vs India Pool A Match 21156 1769423-Feb Canada vs West Indies Pool B Match 21156 1163001-Mar India vs Pakistan Pool A Match 21156 19679The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg11-Feb Australia vs Pakistan Pool A Match 30488 2708116-Feb New Zealand vs South Africa Pool B Match 30568 3130501-Mar Bangladesh vs Kenya Pool B Match 30623 17897Willowmoore Park, Benoni18-Feb Bangladesh vs West Indies Pool B Match 9812 432303-Mar Canada vs New Zealand Pool B Match 9812 5114Grand Total for matches in SOUTH AFRICA 569253 399435

The Indian cricket selectors would meet in Mumbai on August 2 to pickthe Test squad for the three Test matches against Sri Lanka fromAugust 14.The Indian Cricket Board executive secretary, Sharad Diwadkar, toldPTI in Mumbai on Thursday that four to five changes are likely fromthe squad which is playing in the on-going triangular series with NewZealand as the third team.The three Test matches would be played at Galle (from August 14 to18), Kandy (from August 22-26) and at the SSC in Colombo (from August29 to September 2).