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England Under-19s captain Ben Duckett has been dropped from the tour to UAE for failing to meet minimum fitness standards.

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Nov-2013England Under-19s captain Ben Duckett has been dropped from the tour to UAE for failing to meet minimum fitness standards.Duckett, who led England Under-19s in the one-day series in South Africa in February and against Pakistan and Bangladesh this summer, was withdrawn from the 17-man squad for a tri-series with Pakistan and UAE.Kishen Velani, the Essex allrounder, has also been left out on fitness grounds but both he and Northamptonshire wicketkeeper-batsman Duckett will still be given an opportunity to be selected for the Under-19 World Cup in Febraury, also in the UAE. Luke Wood and Saqib Mahmood have been called up in their place.”The England Development Programme and England Under-19 programme gives us an opportunity to set high standards and expectations for our future England cricketers,” the England Development Programme chairman of selectors, David Graveney, said.”On this occasion Ben and Kishen did not meet the minimum standards required for selection so this presents a great opportunity for Luke and Saqib to experience a challenging overseas tour and to press their case for inclusion in the squad for the Under-19 World Cup.”Northamptonshire’s chief executive, David Smith, said there were “no excuses whatsoever” for Duckett’s poor fitness. “I’m disappointed in him, not for him,” Smith told the . “He’s not grasped the need to meet fairly basic standards.”We pride ourselves at this club on our sports science and making sure our cricketers are fit for purpose. It’s not as if he didn’t know what was required and they are all well versed in this area.”Everybody has to be responsible for their own actions and in simple terms, at that age, you should be passing these tests.”Duckett played four first-class matches for Northamptonshire last season, scoring a half-century against Leicestershire, as well as five Yorkshire Bank 40 matches and three in the Friends Life t20. Velani made his first-class debut in Essex’s final match of last season, against Hampshire.Both players will be denied experience in the host country of next year’s Under-19 World Cup. England will play six matches in December, three each against Pakistan and UAE, with the fixtures split between Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai.Hampshire’s Tom Baber has also been ruled out with injury. Nottinghamshire seam bowler Wood and 16-year-old Mahmood, from Lancashire, have been added to the squad, which also includes Surrey batsmen Dominic Sibley, who became the youngest player to make a double century in the County Championship.England Under-19s squad to tour the UAE: Edward Barnard (Worcestershire), Karl Carver (Yorkshire), Joseph Clarke (Worcestershire), Harry Finch (Sussex), Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire), Miles Hammond (Gloucestershire), Ryan Higgins (Middlesex), Robert Jones (Lancashire), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Lewis McManus (Hampshire), William Rhodes (Yorkshire), Robert Sayer (Leicestershire), Josh Shaw (Yorkshire), Dominic Sibley (Surrey), Jonathan Tattersall (Yorkshire), Jack Winslade (Surrey), Luke Wood (Nottinghamshire)

Bengal served up a green top at Eden Gardens which provided copious amounts of movement for their quicks and bowled out UP for 212

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Dec-2013
Scorecard
File photo – Bengal captain Laxmi Shukla will be satisfied with his bowlers’ performance, but his batsmen have a challenge on their hands•FotocorpWith six rounds of the Ranji season complete, Bengal are in fifth place of Group B and have played one match more than each of the four teams above them. They desperately need points, and their match against table-toppers Uttar Pradesh is their final home game. All of which meant they served up a green top at Eden Gardens, on which their medium-pacers flourished to bowl out UP for 212.That might still not be enough though; given the manner in which RP Singh was hooping the ball around, matching that score will be quite a task for a batting line-up missing the services of Manoj Tiwary and Wriddhiman Saha.None of Bengal’s quartet of quicks have express pace, but they troubled the batsmen as there was copious movement and bounce on offer. UP’s openers, though, survived the first hour before both Mukul Dagar and Digvijay Singh were dismissed in the space of seven deliveries. Mohammad Kaif’s indifferent run of form this season continued as he was trapped lbw for 14, struck around the line of off stump by Ashok Dinda. The only specialist batsman to go on to a significant score was Prashant Gupta, who reached his half-century with a picture-perfect cover drive before nicking a wide, full delivery to slip in the same over.The middle-order was clueless against the swing and bounce, and UP slid from 79 for 2 to 138 for 8. The last of those wickets came through the ball of the day, and a contender for ball of the Ranji season – medium-pacer Sourav Sarkar got an improbable amount of inswing as his yorker dramatically curved in from well outside off to home in on the base of Amit Mishra’s offstump.Bengal were totally on top at that stage, but UP’s lower order again showcased the resilience that has served them so well this season. Ali Murtaza and Imtiaz Ahmed knew they didn’t have the defensive technique to keep out the killer ball and so threw their bats around to put on 60, possibly match-turning, runs for the ninth wicket. That ensured UP reached a total of around 200, which is a competitive one on this surface.RP Singh showed just how tough it will be for Bengal to match UP’s first-innings score by producing plenty of cracking deliveries from round the wicket to the right-handers. He got the ball to snake in dangerously towards the stumps, getting rid of two batsmen before the fading light stopped play.Bengal’s batsmen have a serious challenge on their hands on the second morning, and how they fare could well decide the fate of Bengal’s season.

The Bangladesh players will get two first-class games before their Test series against Sri Lanka begins from January 27. They will be the first two rounds of the Bangladesh Cricket League which will begin on January 12

Mohammad Isam06-Jan-2014The Bangladesh players will get two first-class games before their Test series against Sri Lanka begins from January 27. Those games will be the first two rounds of the Bangladesh Cricket League which will begin on January 12.The tournament, however, will take a long hiatus after the two rounds. It will return after the World Twenty20, which will end on April 6. The Bangladesh Cricket Board’s rationale is that since the country’s top players will be taking part in the BCL, it will continue the tournament only once everyone is available.The two rounds of the BCL will be the Bangladesh players’ only match preparation ahead of the Sri Lanka Tests. There were questions regarding preparation ahead of the home series against New Zealand last October as the Bangladesh cricketers played only domestic one-day matches in the lead-up.Akram Khan, former Bangladesh captain and the BCB cricket operations committee chairman, said the BCL is being organised quickly so that the national cricketers can have some longer-version matches under their belt.”We are going to see the country’s top players take part in the tournament. It is important they play first-class matches ahead of the Test series against Sri Lanka,” Akram said. “We will hold the matches in two venues nearby in BKSP, and it will be crucial for the players and the management to pick the right squad.”The BCL is the second first-class tournament in Bangladesh’s domestic calendar. It began in the 2012-13 season as part of BCB’s efforts to encourage players to take the National Cricket League (NCL) more seriously. The NCL is the bigger first-class tournament with eight teams taking part, while the BCL has four, making sure the NCL performers get selected in the BCL teams.The board is waiting on the NCL till the political strikes and blockades are over, so that the eight-team competition can be held in all parts of the country.The four-team BCL for now will take place till January 21, both rounds being played at the two BKSP grounds. The country’s largest sports institute has a second ground now on the western part of the premises, which held some Dhaka Premier League games earlier this season.

Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore has not given up on getting a result despite his side trailing Sri Lanka by 220 runs with five wickets still to take

Umar Farooq in Sharjah19-Jan-2014Pakistan didn’t go into the fourth day thinking of a win but, after their bowlers picked up late wickets, the contest remains open to the possibility of a twist on the final day of an otherwise slow Test. After losing the toss, Pakistan had seemingly accepted that forcing the win they need to draw the series was a distant possibility but their coach, Dav Whatmore, has not given up on getting a result.Trailing 1-0 in the series and having played conservatively throughout the match, Pakistan find themselves 220 behind and needing five more second-innings wickets to set up a run chase. Sri Lanka, having done as much as possible to slow the game down in pursuit of a draw, crawled to 133 for 5 in 71 overs, as Mohammad Talha provided a spark for the hosts.”The game is nicely poised going in to the last day,” Whatmore said. “It will be a very interesting fifth day. We just need five more wickets quickly so I think it will be a very important first hour and we take it from there as it goes along.”We really expect to continue to create chances. You can’t win a Test match in a session so you need to continue to chip away at them and when the chances come, take them. It is still pretty much a flat wicket, except for the footmarks. Other than that, it just hasn’t broken up. If it pitches in an area where the footmarks are it has become a little bit tricky, but other than that it is just a very flat wicket which is playing a bit slower now.”Pakistan lost their way in the first session, their remaining four wickets falling inside 15 overs to trail by 87 runs. Misbah-ul-Haq tried to whittle down the deficit in his familiar, steady fashion but there were questions as to whether Pakistan could have pushed harder for quick runs earlier in the game, to put pressure on Sri Lanka.When asked, however, Whatmore was clear about his team’s desire for victory. “Every game we play we try to win, so we will go all out to get the best we can to achieve the result,” he said.Saeed Ajmal’s struggles continued, although he found the right length to bowl in the evening session, picking up the wicket of Mahela Jayawardene. Ajmal has so far taken eight wickets at 50.50 in the series but Whatmore defended his star bowler. “If you have seen the first two Test matches you will know the wickets have not favoured the spin bowlers,” Whatmore said. “Ajmal is still a world-class performer. All world-class performers need a little bit of encouragement from the wicket and we haven’t had that.”

The PCB chairman said he didn’t want the ICC to pass any major proposal hastily, and wanted a consensus decision taken

Umar Farooq31-Jan-2014Zaka Ashraf, the PCB chairman, has said the ICC was looking to get resolutions that would shake up the world game approved “hastily”. He said the PCB and several other boards managed to hold off the Big Three for the benefit of cricket. He insisted he wasn’t against any of the proposals but wanted all decisions to be taken through consensus, with every member board taken in confidence.Ashraf was speaking after returning from the ICC meeting in Dubai, where proposals by India, England and Australia over the governance and the finances of cricket were discussed. No final decision was taken on the proposals which would give those three countries a larger share of ICC revenues and more of a say in running the game.The ICC, though, said it had “unanimous support” over “principles” which were similar to what the Big Three originally proposed. Ashraf has called for an emergency meeting of the PCB’s board of governors to discuss the issue.”At the moment, we have stopped the Big Three,” Zaka Ashraf said at a press conference in Lahore. “This was our strategy, not to do it in haste and to stop it. It’s our wish that whatever decision be taken it should be with consensus, but unfortunately they brought it so hurriedly that few members were on one side and the others were on the other side. I think the first thing was to stop it in which we have succeeded and now we will see what the next strategy should be. We have also got time to consult our board.”The PCB, according to Ashraf, is far from accepting the proposals for the restructuring of the ICC though it had been offered the same amount of money from future ICC events as they currently earn. He however didn’t divulge any specific reason why Pakistan is opposing the resolution.”If we were in favour we would have given our vote but cricket will be destroyed if we go after the money. When we took the stand, the four countries (Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) , we wanted to have some time to think about it. We are not against anything, we want all the ICC members to develop consensus and move forward together. But if there’s anything, which is against the interest of our country or cricket, we were against it.”The Bangladesh Cricket Board was one of the four boards that Ashraf claimed were against the proposals, but on Wednesday it accepted the revised proposals for the restructure of the ICC after securing assurance that its Test status will not be revoked. Apart from Pakistan, it is understood that South Africa and Sri Lanka have sought time to study the revised paper.”Bangladesh has left, they must have seen their interest, but we have to see if it’s a short-term gain or a long-term gain, we will also see what is good for our board and for our country.”It’s a matter of calculation. The three countries have raised their share according to the new formula and they have given us surety that whatever we are getting it won’t be reduced (from what we are receiving now). We will have a board meeting on Monday in which we will give briefing to all the members and that’s the normal procedure with all the other cricket boards.”We didn’t form a group in the ICC, everywhere in the world this new formula had faced criticism and faced a very strong reaction. We also stood firm against it, we have to stand firm on rules, but we also have to look after the interest of the cricket board and the country. They (Big Three) have ensured that whatever money we are getting it won’t be reduced, they are dropping lots of clauses with every passing day, let’s see what happens.”Ashraf revealed that the BCCI offered to play a series against Pakistan. The two countries haven’t played a Test series since 2007, and limited-over matches between the two, which are highly lucrative, have also been reduced due to political tensions. “The BCCI offered all the cricket boards and they offered us a lot too. Since they haven’t played our home series in last seven years, we definitely needed a guarantee. Although they have assured a bankable document, we have to look into how sincere they are with their proposition.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the deciding one-day international between West Indies and England in Antigua

Preview by Andrew McGlashan04-Mar-2014Match FactsMarch 5, Antigua
Start time 9.30am (13.30GMT)Jos Buttler catches one in the left webbing as he prepares for the deciding ODI•Getty ImagesThe Big PictureThe first two one-day internationals have been a combination of some very good cricket and some very ordinary cricket – both teams have provided both aspects. In the second match, England played enough of the better stuff than West Indies, but it was a close-run contest as they found themselves in a heap of trouble chasing a small total.Stuart Broad’s reaction on hitting the winning runs showed how much it meant to him to register a victory. The team desperately needed a positive result after twice letting strong positions fritter away in the opening match. Going 2-0 down, in the face of chasing just 160, would have left the danger of painful memories from Australia being revived.The result of this series will not mean a huge amount in terms of the challenges ahead but a number of players are taking their chance to impress for England, notably Michael Lumb, Moeen Ali and Stephen Parry who claimed three wickets on his debut. For West Indies, Lendl Simmons has twice held the innings together while Sunil Narine has been the handful expected of him.However, the hosts need much more from their top order – which is missing Chris Gayle’s power – and need to find a way of either putting more pressure on England’s spinners or, at least, not losing early wickets which sets the innings back and leaves the likes of Simmons needing to stage a recovery.Form guide(completed matches, most recent first)
West IndiesLWWWL
England WLLWLWatch out for…Nikita Miller can fly under the radar when all the attention is on the wiles of Sunil Narine, but he has had a significant impact for West Indies in recent ODIs. His last three matches – against New Zealand, Ireland and England – have brought him eight wickets and it was his dismissal of Michael Lumb which sparked England’s collapse the other day. He and Narine make an ideal pair; if a team aims to largely survive against Narine, especially on turning pitches, Miller can take advantage of the pressure created.Jos Buttler has not been able to show his finishing skills so far in his brief series. He fell trying to clear in the in-field as the asking rate climbed in the first match and was surprised by a short ball on a slow pitch in the second. Neither dismissal need raise major alarms, but England put a lot of onus on Buttler to be able to close out an innings. Behind the stumps, the amount of spin bowling has tested his glovework which, at times, remains fallible as shown by the controversial stumping of Dwayne Bravo.Team newsWest Indies’ top four have struggled and Marlon Samuels appears to have overcome his injury so would be a logical swap for one of them, perhaps the rather leaden-footed Kirk Edwards. Samuels would also provide another bowling option, although he is not allowed to use his quicker ball after ICC testing ruled it illegal last year.West Indies 1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Kieron Powell, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Lendl Simmons, 6 Dwayne Bravo (capt), 7 Darren Sammy, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Ravi Rampaul, 10 Nikita MillerEoin Morgan and Alex Hales trained on Tuesday, but with T20s around the corner neither may be risked even though it is a deciding one-dayer. That would mean a reprieve for the struggling Luke Wright.England 1 Michael Lumb, 2 Moeen Ali, 3 Luke Wright, 4 Joe Root, 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Ravi Bopara, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Stuart Broad (capt), 10 James Tredwell, 11 Stephen ParryPitch and conditionsFor the third game in a row the same pitch will used: it was tired during the second match, it could well be comatose this time. Expect more spin, albeit slow, and even less bounce – 150 may not be far off defendable again.Stats and trivia England have bowled 314 deliveries of spin in two matches. Their most in a series of three matches is 384 during the 1977-78 series against Pakistan which was played over 35 eight-ball overs Luke Wright has gone seven innings across both limited-overs formats without reaching double figures For both teams a series win here will be their first in one-day cricket since February last year: West Indies beat Zimbabwe and England beat New ZealandQuotes”If I was asked to go up the order, I’d snap off the hand of whoever makes the decision.”
“It caught us by surprise … and we were not able to counteract it, or come up with a gameplan against it.”

A round-up of East Zone matches played on April 3, 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Apr-2014Fifties from Wriddhiman Saha and Manoj Tiwary helped Bengal cruise to an eight-wicket win over Jharkhand at Eden Gardens.Saha and Tiwary added 97 in nearly 11 overs to guide their side’s chase of 153 in 18.1 overs. While Saha was dismissed for 54 off 37, Tiwary finished unbeaten on 67 off 52 with six fours and six.Earlier, Jharkhand failed to take advantage of a strong start by their openers, Ishank Jaggi and Ishan Kishan, who added 46 for the first wicket. Shahbaz Nadeem, promoted to No. 3, managed 7 off 12 and the side suffered further setbacks when captain Saurabh Tiwary and Kumar Deobrat were dismissed within three overs. A whirlwind 25-run, tenth-wicket partnership between Rahul Shukla and Jaskaran Singh, which came off the last two overs, lifted the side to 152 for 9.Fast bowler Abu Nechim’s 4 for 21 helped Assam edge past Tripura by 11 runs at Eden Gardens.Chasing 153, Tripura were kept in check by Nechim who dismissed the side’s openers and then took two wickets in the 14th over to leave the side at a wobbly 87 for 6. Nirupam Sen Chowdhary and Tushar Saha tried to revive the chase with brisk 20s but could only manage to reduce the margin of what looked likely to be a huge loss.Assam’s innings, after they opted to bat, was book-ended by two collapses. In between, though, a 79-run partnership Sibsankar Roy and Pritam Debnath lifted the side from 57 for 4 to 136 for 4, setting the base for a strong total. Roy scored his maiden T20 fifty, finishing with a 36-ball 53 that had eight fours. Assam squandered the opportunity, however, losing four of their last six wickets to run-outs to finish at 152.

Big Bash League teams will be able to replace squad members who are unavailable due to national duties next summer, one of several changes to the competition’s contracting rules

ESPNcricinfo staff07-May-2014Big Bash League teams will be able to replace squad members who are unavailable due to national duties next summer, one of several changes to the competition’s contracting rules. A second trade week will also be introduced to allow teams to refine their lists, and the salary cap has been bumped up from $1.05 million to $1.2 million for each side.Last summer, the rules regarding replacement players were relaxed to allow injured players to return to a squad after being replaced – previously if an injured player was replaced, his tournament was over. This time, a similar rule will allow players called up by Australia to be replaced in the squad and return to their BBL side when they again become available.The move should help those teams who are heavy on international talent, while also meaning sides are not disadvantaged if a player is unexpectedly promoted to the national side. Mike McKenna, the executive general manager of operations at Cricket Australia, said the change was an extension of last season’s injury regulation.”We want fans to be able to watch the best available players, so it’s important the rules encourage clubs to continue to contract players who may have national commitments over the summer,” McKenna said. “This rule change will minimise the impact on clubs for the period of time that their players are with the Australian team.”The eight BBL sides can begin contracting players from May 19 and must have signed at least 10 players by July 11, before finalising their 18-man squads by December 5. There will now be two trade weeks, one at the start of the contracting period and one in November, in which players may be transferred between teams, though it is not necessary for a side to receive a player in return for giving one up.The trade periods can help sides to ease any salary cap pressure they may be suffering, although the salary cap has been boosted by nearly $200,000. Cricket Australia said the higher amount was part of an increase in player payments across all men’s competitions after CA’s revenue was bolstered by last year’s media rights agreement, which included a $100 million deal for the BBL to be shown on free-to-air television.A set of figures released to Sydney’s has shown the effect of the exposure offered to the BBL by the Ten Network during the 2013-14 season. A tournament conceived and launched primarily to attract new follows to the game appears to be doing so.BBL matches consistently attracted television audiences of around 1 million viewers per match, a figure near to those maintained by the AFL and NRL football codes and well in advance of those for the A-League and the Super Rugby competition. Ground attendances that averaged about 19,000 per fixture were on pace with every sport but the AFL.Other figures in the study conducted by Gemba showed that:* 42% of crowds came to their first BBL game* 1 in 5 BBL attendees came to an elite cricket match for the first time* Over 50% of attendees were with family* 24% of BBL attendees are kids vs. 9% at Tests* 51% of women attended their first BBL game* BBL is the clear favourite format of cricket among kids aged 5-15″We have unashamedly designed a competition and marketed a competition to attract new people to the game,” the CA chief executive James Sutherland said. “If it doesn’t do that it won’t last because it’s not a good investment for us. We’re excited to see that data.”

Wahab Riaz, Nasir Jamshed, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq and Shahzaib Hasan have been fined Rs. 500,000 for participating in ‘disapproved’ exhibition T20 matches

Umar Farooq and Peter Della Penna16-May-2014Wahab Riaz, Nasir Jamshed, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq and Shahzaib Hasan have been fined Rs. 500,000 (approximately $5000) for participating in “disapproved cricket” matches in the United States.The five players played alongside banned Pakistan legspinner Danish Kaneria in exhibition T20 matches that were not organised by the USACA and they did not have No Objection Certificates from the PCB. The Pakistan board also officially reprimanded its director of marketing, Badar Refaie, who was seen being photographed with Kaneria during the games.The PCB had launched an internal investigation into the matter in April and the committee established the players did not obtain the required clearance and recommended fines. It noted Badar’s participation was a case of poor judgement and let him off with a reprimand.”They [players] had participated in an event that under the ICC Regulations is considered Disapproved Cricket, their contention of not being aware of the NOC requirement was not accepted by the Committee, which recommended that each of them should be fined Rs. 500,000,” a PCB release said.”As for the Director Marketing, the Committee concluded that he was neither involved in the organisation nor inviting players for the event. He just briefly attended one match only on invitation of the organisers and while his subsequent photograph with Danish Kaneria was a case of poor judgement, there was nothing to suggest that he conducted himself in any inappropriate manner. However, in the Committee’s opinion, he should have shown better judgement and avoided being photographed with a banned player. Hence, an official reprimand is recommended.”Fawad, Jamshed and Riaz are currently a part of the month-long summer camp in Lahore organised for 40 probables. Badar, a former USACA executive secretary, holds a directorial position in the PCB and was originally hired for the Pakistan Super League during Zaka Ashraf’s regime.The PCB also sought a reply from Kaneria, who is currently serving a life ban for spot-fixing.”As Danish Kaneria is serving a life ban and also did not appear at the hearing, nor did he respond to notice in writing, the committee referred his case to the Integrity Committee for further suitable action against him,” the board said.While the ban prevents Kaneria from playing matches under the ECB’s jurisdiction, he has been participating in exhibition T20 games in the United States, such April’s Friendship Cup matches in Texas and T20s in Florida in December last year.USACA issued a memo on May 14 warning its players to not participate in unsanctioned tournaments like the Friendship Cup that may include players who have bans imposed by other national boards. However, two USACA national selectors served as coaches or managers at the event and at least 33 current or former USA national team players also played in the USA Friendship Cup. Among them are two USA players who played on the same team as Kaneria, as well as Shahzaib Hasan and former West Indies bowler Jermaine Lawson.Hasan was also listed on the same Houston Eagles official roster alongside Kaneria at the US Open T20 in Florida in December. Apart from Lawson, there were also seven other former West Indies internationals plus 11 current or former Canada national team players who played in the Texas event.”All USACA regions, leagues, clubs and players are advised to be careful participating and playing in tournaments involving international players,” a USACA statement said. “In a recent incident an ICC and PCB banned player participated in an unsanctioned tournament in the USA. USACA is a strong supporter of the ICC’s policies in this area and we are obligated to support and help enforce these policies as part of our ongoing membership.”Any tournament involving USACA members with international and national US players must be sanctioned by USACA. In tournaments involving international players, those players participate under the control of their national country boards and the ICC, and various rules and regulations have to be followed per a formal event sanctioning agreement.”All USACA regions, leagues, clubs and players should take great care to be assured that any tournament they participate in with international players have the correct sanctions. US national players should be aware that the ICC can impose penalties and prohibit them playing in ICC tournaments if they are found playing in unsanctioned tournaments involving international players.”

Mithali Raj and Meg Lanning scored half-centuries before four wickets for Sana Mir helped ensure victory for a Rest of the World XI against MCC at Lord’s

ESPNcricinfo staff19-May-2014
ScorecardMithali Raj led the way with 67 in the ROW XI’s victory over MCC•Getty ImagesMithali Raj and Meg Lanning scored half-centuries before four wickets for Sana Mir helped ensure victory for a Rest of the World XI against MCC at Lord’s. Charlotte Edwards’ top-scored with 70 for MCC but they fell 41 runs short in the match arranged as part of the Lord’s bicentenary celebrations.The MCC team featured a majority of current England internationals, with the retired Claire Taylor, playing for the first time in three years, and Arran Brindle joined by Holly Colvin after a break from the game. Edwards and Heather Knight put on 98 for the first wicket but only two other players made double figures.Knight fell for 51 and MCC struggled to keep up with the rate, with Edwards becoming the fourth wicket down in the 32nd over with the score on 150. Natalie Sciver struck a 48-ball 45 but Mir worked through the middle order and MCC were dismissed with two balls remaining.The ROW innings did not get off to the best start, with Kate Cross dismissing West Indies’ Stafanie Taylor for a golden duck. Raj and Lanning, the captains of India and Australia respectively, came together with the score on 41 for 2 and added 90 runs in 12.5 overs. Lanning’s Australia team-mate Ellyse Perry stroked 49 before Cross came back to complete a four-wicket haul and the total of 283 for 9 proved beyond MCC.