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Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, feels Stephen Fleming may not be easily swayed out of thoughts of an early retirement. Fleming, a former captain, was tipped to quit Tests after the forthcoming tour of England but recent reports have suggested he could retire sooner, after the third Test against England in Napier next month.”If you know Stephen, he doesn’t get his arm twisted on too many things,” Vettori told the . “Stephen has always been strong in his thoughts and decisions. I don’t think it will be my place to try and twist his arm. It’s his decision. We’d love to have him as long as we can.”People at 34 or 35 start reflecting on their careers and other things they may want to do. We’ll just sit tight and wait for Stephen’s decision.”It was reported that Fleming’s decision was prompted by family reasons, with his wife expecting their second baby in June. He quit one-dayers after the World Cup last year and was relieved of the Test captaincy in September. He is also one of the contracted players of the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) set to commence in April.Though yet to confirm the retirement plans, Justin Vaughan, New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive, confirmed he was in discussions with Fleming on his future.”We all know he’s coming to the end of it,” Vaughan told the paper. “We are discussing exactly where he draws the line. Obviously he has made a fantastic contribution.”Fleming’s exit would be the latest in an exodus of senior players over the last year, with the likes Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan quitting all forms of the game. Scott Styris recently quit Tests to focus on his limited-overs career and question marks still remain over fast bowler Shane Bond’s future after signing up with the Indian Cricket League, a league not sanctioned by the ICC or cricket boards across the world. As a result, Bond lost his contract with the New Zealand board.Vettori, however, put a positive spin on things and said New Zealand only had everything to gain, with opportunities aplenty for the youngsters, echoing coach John Bracewell’s comments recently that it was time to look to the future.”And the guys who’ve come in so far, like the Jesse Ryders and Tim Southees, do give me a lot of excitement for the future,” Vettori said. “And it’s not just going to be us rebuilding all the time, we’ve actually got players who can compete at international level.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGrant Elliot collected 4 for 15 to rip through Karachi Kings’ top order•PSL

Grant Elliott picked up his second consecutive Man-of-the-Match award, helping Quetta Gladiators become the first team to seal a spot in PSL playoffs following their five-wicket win against Karachi Kings in Sharjah.Elliott followed up his 3 for 25 against Islamabad United on Thursday with a career-best 4 for 15, carving through Karachi’s top order and restricting the team to a below-par 126 for 9. Karachi’s captain Shoaib Malik top-scored with 45, but nobody else made more than 23, as Elliott struck at regular intervals to thwart any momentum Karachi hoped of building. Anwar Ali, Zulfiqar Babar, Aizaz Cheema and Mohammad Nabi snared a scalp apiece, as Quetta were left needing just over six an over in their chase.Ahmed Shehzad ensured Quetta aced the small chase without any major worry, as his 27-ball 41 guided the team home inside 19 overs. Karachi kept striking blows at various points, but did not have enough left to defend with, as handy knocks from Kevin Pietersen (26) and Sarfraz Ahmed (29) lifted Quetta to their fifth win of the season.

In a well contested game, Gujarat defeated Saurashtra by 24 runs inthe West Zone Ranji Trophy one day match at the GSFC ground in Barodaon Friday.Put in to bat, Gujarat thanks to valuable knocks by opener AmrishKotecha (42), Kiran Damani (45) and Bhavin Mehta (38) scored 218before being all out in 49.4 overs. Wickets fell at regular intervalsthanks in the main to some good bowling by Niraj Odedra who took fourfor 50 off ten overs.Saurashtra started well and were 55 for one in the 14th over. ButLalit Patel and Tejas Varsani caused a collapse and Saurashtra were107 for six. A seventh wicket partnership of 64 runs off 11.4 oversbetween Hitesh Parsana (39) and Sudip Mehta (42) revived Saurashtra’shopes but the late order succumbed meekly and Saurashtra were all outfor 194 in 47 overs. Lalit Patel (3 for 35 off ten overs) and Varsani(2 for 26 off nine overs) caused the main damage.

Former England captain Mike Atherton has called into doubt the ECB’s decision to award an Ashes Test next year to the redeveloped Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.The rebuilt ground – which Glamorgan now refer to as the Swalec Stadium after selling the naming rights – only has a capacity of 16,000, smaller than any of the traditional venues which were all sold out in 2005. The ECB’s decision was based on commercial factors, with Cardiff guaranteeing a greater income, even if not more spectators, than grounds like Old Trafford.”The Swalec Stadium has a capacity of 16,000, but look at Australia and you’ve got capacities of 50,000, 60,000, even 100,000,” Atherton said. “To my mind the first Ashes Test should be, and could be, a game that you could sell out many times over the 16,000 capacity here, so I question the ECB’s policy of increasing the number of international grounds.”The ECB’s decision to add new venues to the existing number of international grounds has caused concern, with fears that the reduction in guaranteed matches as the load is spread thinner might place the futures of some of them in doubt.”You have to ask whether a better policy would be to reduce the number of Test match grounds, but increase the capacity and availability for people to buy tickets to watch Ashes cricket,” Atherton said. “By doing that you’d be able to reduce the price of tickets and make it more affordable for families.”While he described the new-look ground, which staged its first match on Friday night, as “functional”, he added that it looked “terrific compared with the old Sophia Gardens.”

If today Mumbai are embarrassed to find themselves scraping the bottom of the IPL barrel they have no one but themselves to blame. If they faltered during the bidding process – for example, forsaking local boy Wasim Jaffer for Ashwell Prince – equally baffling was the decision to pick a coaching staff that has only Lalchand Rajput with any international credentials. Sameer Dighe, Atul Bedade and Subroto Banerjee have played international cricket but would agree they still are novices when it comes to coaching at the highest level.It can be seen in the team’s limitations on the field. Mumbai are yet to win a game in four attempts so far. Not one of the Mumbai batsmen has recorded even a half-century (the highest so far has been Robin Uthappa’s 48 against Bangalore Royal Challengers in Mumbai). No wonder no Mumbai name features in the top-five run-getters so far in the tournament. And apart from Harbhajan’s 3 for 32 against Kings XI Punjab no other Mumbai bowler has had a telling impact on the opposition.Martin Crowe, who was famous for being innovative during his tenure as the New Zealand captain, and now with the Bangalore team, said Twenty20 is all about tactics. Sadly, Mumbai have displayed none of that, thereby increasing their strife.Despite the constant failure of their opening pair of Sanath Jayasuriya and Luke Ronchi – 15 is the highest opening partnership – Mumbai have persisted with the duo. In Twenty20 cricket, flexibility in not uncommon. Dwayne Bravo, Uthappa and Abhishek Nayar, their three most reliable batsmen, have all shown aggressive intent, with the first two having opened in ODIs, but the think-tank is reluctant to shuffle the batting order.John Buchanan, coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai’s opponents on Tuesday, felt it was relatively too early to work out the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, but said “the top sides have shown the tendency to have a strong top-order batting and also have bowlers strike fast”.Buchanan said Mumbai have lagged on that front. “When you look at Mumbai they are lacking at the top of the order. Jayasuriya hasn’t really got going and he is definitely a key player. And in terms of the strike bowling capacity, possibly, Shaun Pollock and Ashish Nehra haven’t fulfilled the expectations”.Pollock, the stand-in captain on Sunday, said his team lacked the attacking instincts that would provide the thrust. “We are not firing yet and once we do that we will get the inspiration”, Pollock said minutes after Adam Gilchrist’s whirlwind century had floored Mumbai on Sunday.Successful teams have been boosted by the fire power of the top-order batsmen or the top bowlers. Instead whenever Mumbai have batted first they have failed to raise the total anywhere in the vicinity of the 200-mark, which is now the par score on the flat wickets here. The two times they batted first they set 166 and 155 as targets. It didn’t help the team’s cause when Harbhajan Singh won the toss twice and both times put the opposition in when the thumb rule is: win the toss, bat first.The team’s performance also exposed the flaws in their selection policies. Jaffer, a Mumbai lad, was bought by Bangalore for just $150,000 while Mumbai picked up the South African pair of Prince and Loots Bosman for $175,000 each. Even if critics might point out Jaffer’s limitations as a Twenty20 player, what’s puzzling is that Sachin Tendulkar didn’t stress on recruiting local players like Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and Rohit Sharma, who were all allowed to be snapped by rival franchises.It’s also strange why Bosman wasn’t picked for their previous game against Deccan Chargers, despite him arriving on time for the match from South Africa. Bosman has established a reputation for himself as an explosive batsman at the Twenty20 competition in South Africa.It is not too late for Mumbai, with ten more games to go, as Pollock said there was no need to push the panic button yet. “We have worked out if we go on to win seven games we still are favourites to end up as the fourth semi-finalist”, Pollock said. Buchanan agrees too, and felt the nature of the game is such that fortunes can swing either way. According the former Australian coach, teams will soon work out the winning methods.For Mumbai to start wining they need Tendulkar fit and playing, especially in these difficult times when they know one of their senior players has been banned. Shane Warne has proved that inspiration can make a player believe in his abilities and forget about pressure. Rajasthan Royals’ success has been the story of the IPL so far, after being labeled as the weakest franchise before the tournament began.Mukesh Ambani, the richest Indian and one of the top-20 billionaires in the world wouldn’t have put his money on Mumbai Indians without giving it a thought. But before he enters the dressing room the team needs to work out a winning script soon.

Genuine international contests may return to the United States if the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has anything to do with it.Following on from the notable crowds drawn by the Twenty20 All-Star matches concocted by Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne, Sutherland has proposed the scheduling of limited-overs triangular series among leading nations in the USA, a concept flirted with more than a decade ago but more recently ignored by teams protective of television rights.In the week of the inaugural day-night Test match, Sutherland spoke boldly of USA as “potentially a great asset for cricket” and pointed out that it was Australia’s third biggest overseas television market behind India and England, ahead of the likes of Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand.”I’d love to do it one day with the shorter forms of our game,” Sutherland told . “It would be a great thing to play a triangular series with say England and India or South Africa and Pakistan. We can really nurture the US market and get their people engaged. We’re talking about our third biggest overseas television market.”When we sell our rights overseas, India is the biggest, England is the second biggest and then North America third in terms of dollars they spend. There’s huge potential. There are more players in America than there are in New Zealand. During the World Cup we had 90,000 visitors to Australia and New Zealand and a quarter of them came from North America. A lot of it is born out of South Asian expats. This market is potentially a great asset for cricket.”Numerous attempts have been made to build regular cricket fixtures in North America, but most have floundered after a few years. The first day of the day-night Test in Adelaide drew a crowd of 47441, and Sutherland has clearly been encouraged to think more bullishly about where to take the game in the future. “This Test in Adelaide is a great example of what we’re trying to do,” he said.”It’s got a Melbourne Spring carnival type atmosphere about it. It’s a major event which brings people to the cricket. I think this is a game changer. It’s all about the fans and making cricket accessible. When people are working and kids are at school, it’s hard to sell Test cricket on a Thursday or a Friday. Moving it to the evening makes a big difference.”Right now kids have multiple choices in terms of what sports to play and computer games etc. We’re competing for people’s leisure time. Our focus is very much about giving fans a proposition to come to our games or watch us on TV. We want cricket to be a priority in their lives. We need to make sure the at-match experience is great because it’s such a good sport to watch on TV. We’re all about inspiring the next generation of players and fans.”

Matthew Hobden, the Sussex pace bowler, has died at the age of 22. The news was announced by his county club late on Saturday evening.Police Scotland announced on Sunday that Hobden had died in the Forres region in north-east Scotland, about 25 miles east of Inverness. They said his death was being treated as “unexplained” but preliminary enquiries did not suggest suspicious circumstances.”Sussex Cricket is deeply shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Matthew Hobden,” a Sussex statement said.”Matthew was an exciting young cricketer with a big future ahead of him in the game. He was a fantastic individual who had progressed through Sussex’s Youth and Academy ranks, having been born locally in Eastbourne.”He made his first-class debut for Sussex in 2014 and had represented the county across all three formats over the past two seasons. He will be greatly missed.”Sussex would like to offer their deepest condolences to Matthew’s family and friends at this difficult time.”Players and staff will be offered as much support as is possible and we would like both Matthew’s family, and everyone connected with Sussex Cricket, to be respected with privacy at this time.”Angus Porter, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, said: “The PCA are deeply saddened to hear about the death of Matt Hobden at the age of just 22 and our thoughts and sympathy go out to his family, friends, colleagues and all at Sussex.”Matt was a young seamer with immense potential and he had been identified by Sussex as a player with a bright future in the game when he took two five-wicket hauls playing for Cardiff MCCU.”The PCA will work closely with Sussex to ensure that their players and coaching staff are supported during this difficult period for the club.”Hobden made his first-class debut in 2012 for Cardiff MCCU and his first-team debut for Sussex in a one-day match against Nottinghamshire in 2013. His first-class Sussex debut came in 2014 and in 2015 he played in 10 Championship matches. Overall he claimed 48 first-class wickets at 39.35. He had been named in the fast-bowling group for the Potential England Performance Programme late last year.Kevin Shine, the ECB’s lead fast bowling coach, said he has seen enough to Hobden during his time around the PEPP to say he would be an England bowler of the future.”As a player, I remember the first time I saw him just thinking ‘wow’. He was the strongest, most powerful cricketer I’ve ever seen on that programme – up there with elite athletes from different sports. His potential was huge, he was improving rapidly and I’m certain that he would have played for England.”But for all that, my over-riding memory of Matt will be of his character, he was a wonderful lad. It’s devastating for all who knew him to have lost him so young.”Tributes were quick to come from fellow cricketers. Matt Prior, the former Sussex and England wicketkeeper, tweeted: “Thoughts & prayers with all of Matt Hobden’s family at this tragic time. A great guy with a huge future taken far too soon. #riphobsy.”Eoin Morgan, England’s limited-overs captain, posted: “Thoughts and prayers are with Matt Hobden’s family and friends at this extremely difficult time.”

Ireland have announced a squad of 13 for their opening fixture in the Friends Provident Trophy against Nottinghamshire at Clontarf this Sunday (April 27).As expected, William Porterfield has been confirmed as captain for the game, taking over from Trent Johnston. Nineteen-year-old James Hall makes his first appearance in the squad, while 17-year-old opener Paul Stirling retains his place, giving the line up a youthful look.Ireland haven’t named an overseas player for the match, and coach Phil Simmons explained: “It’s been difficult to get the right player because of the IPL. I hope however to be in a position to confirm a signing on Tuesday, and he will be available for the seven other games in the competition.”It’s hard when you lose players of the calibre of Trent Johnston and Dave Langford-Smith, but it does give some of the other players a chance to make a name for themselves, and cement a place in the team. It’s a new era, and captain, William Porterfield will be able to assert his style on the team.”Ireland squad William Porterfield (capt), Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Phil Eaglestone, Thinus Fourie, James Hall, Gary Kidd, Kyle McCallan, Kevin O’Brien, Paul Stirling, Reinhardt Strydom, Andrew White, Gary Wilson.

Shane Watson, the Queensland allrounder, has been confirmed as Hampshire’s overseas player for the Twenty20 Cup. It will be Watson’s second spell with the club and during his previous stint he helped them win the 2005 Friends Provident Trophy.Watson is one of the players up for the second Indian Premier League auction on Tuesday, but that won’t impact on his Hampshire stay which will commence after the tournament in India has finished in early June.”[Shane] was an instant hit with members and fans of Hampshire when he was here in 2004 and I, for one, am very excited at the prospect of seeing him here again this summer,” Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, said. “It is fair to say that we have under-performed in the Twenty20 Cup so far, and we have been saying for a while that 2008 will see us focusing more and more on this exciting competition.”Our signing of such a fantastic talent as Watson shows our clear intent to compete hard to be in the finals day that we are so proudly hosting in July.”Watson has been through another injury-hit domestic season in Australia as he continued to struggle with hamstring problems and he hasn’t played international cricket since the ICC World Twenty20. In seven Pura Cup matches he finished with 439 runs at 33.76 and a top score of 190, although he managed just nine wickets.He is currently one of three overseas players on Hampshire’s books although Shane Warne, their captain, won’t be available until the latter part of the season due to his IPL and poker commitments.Shane Bond was signed for the first two months of the season but his participation is now in major doubt after he joined the Indian Cricket League. He is unlikely to gain the required No Obligation Certificate which will allow him to play.

The BCCI’s next course of action in response to the Lodha Committee’s report is expected to be delayed as its state units have sought more time to discuss the recommendations. A BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo that president Shashank Manohar had informally suggested convening a special general meeting – effectively the board’s first official reaction to the report – on February 15, but it is all but ruled out as an SGM requires a 21-day notice period.It is understood that the BCCI’s legal committee, headed by PS Raman and comprising Abhay Apte and DVVS Somayajulu, is slated to meet on February 7, but with the state associations unlikely to put forth any concrete suggestions by then very little is expected to come out of the meeting. The legal committee had earlier met with Manohar and Thakur on January 17, but a source privy to the meeting said it was “inconclusive.””It was agreed at the meeting that there were issues that needed rectifying, and that we needed state associations to come on board,” the source said. He added the BCCI agreed with the Lodha Committee’s observations on transparency, proper upkeep of accounts and the need for election officers and an Ombudsman. “But there are other issues that needed to be discussed threadbare, and that’s why it is a time-consuming process. The president [Manohar] is very keen to resolve it, but at the same time there are logistical difficulties.”After the report was made public on January 4, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur had asked state associations to convene their internal meetings and discuss the recommendations before January 31, but most of them have pointed out that a document of such wide scope and serious implications couldn’t be rushed. “Studying the report is at least a three-month job, if you aren’t doing anything else that is,” the BCCI official said. “We need to time to study, internalise and discuss without bias before adopting or rejecting it in toto, or adopting parts of it.”Some units like the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association have already conducted a meeting of its executive committee, but have given its members more time to present their thoughts on the recommendations. Mumbai Cricket Association, among the first state bodies to react to the report, said it would accept the recommendations “made for transparency and ethics,” but has subsequently not discussed it at its AGM recently.Officials of the MCA and Hyderabad Cricket Association have spoken of the need to have their legal experts study the report. “We need a good lawyer to go through it,” HCA secretary John Manoj said. “I have already informally asked Anurag Thakur for more time. We are having our EC [Executive Committee] meeting [today], and after that we will formally write to the secretary tomorrow requesting for a time of 30 to 45 days.” Other associations which haven’t made formal requests are expected to follow suit in the coming days.Rajesh Verma, secretary of the Jharkhand State Cricket Association, attributed a busy domestic schedule as another reason for the delay. “This is the time when all the tournaments are at their peak. There are zonal tournaments till the 31st in Ranchi,” he said. “We are also hosting the Sri Lanka women’s team for an ODI and T20 series, so we will form our own ideas and collectively look at the report soon.”However, Aditya Verma, secretary of Cricket Association of Bihar and the petitioner in the IPL spot-fixing case, has contended that the BCCI was deliberately trying to drag its feet on the issue. “Surely they are delaying it,” he said. “At present, why would BCCI want to implement these recommendations with the interests of many of its members at stake?”Verma has filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking full implementation of the Lodha Committee report. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India TS Thakur and Justice R Banumathi has agreed to hear the plea.