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Andrew Strauss, the England team director, says that allegations that Jonny Bairstow “headbutted” Cameron Bancroft in a bar in Perth last month have been “blown out of all proportion”, as the ECB seeks to draw a line under the latest off-field incident to have rocked their Ashes campaign.The incident is alleged to have occurred in The Avenue bar in Perth almost a month ago after members of the England squad bumped into members of the Western Australia squad by chance during the early weeks of the Ashes campaign.Bairstow is alleged to have made contact with the side of Bancroft’s head and later apologised. Bancroft was not a member of the Australia squad at the time.Speaking to journalists in Brisbane, Strauss insisted that the incident had occurred out of “playfulness”, adding that there was “no malice”, and that it had been “blown out of all proportion”. There will be a de-brief of players and staff after the Brisbane Test, he added.There is no police involvement and no official reports were made by anybody involved, including by a member of the ECB security staff who was present throughout in the bar.England, privately, are adamant that the incident is being deliberately exaggerated to destabilise their squad.An ECB spokesman said: “At close of play in Brisbane today, we were made aware of allegations of an incident in Perth four weeks ago.”There has been no report of any incident from the venue, security or police and there was no injury reported.”Following an initial conversation with Jonny Bairstow tonight we understand the context and will follow up with England players and management after the Brisbane Test.”Bancroft went on to score heavily in first-class cricket following the incident and won a Test debut at the Gabba.Jonny Bairstow in private conversation with England security officer Sam Dickason•Getty Images

Bairstow was one of those fined and warned about his future conduct by the ECB after accepting a charge of “unprofessional conduct” for his behaviour in Bristol the night that Ben Stokes was arrested for his part in a brawl.Neither he nor two other players fined – Jake Ball and Liam Plunkett, who is not in the Ashes party – were with Stokes at the time.The new allegations came to light when Bairstow came out to bat in the second innings of the first Test at the Gabba. While no England player is welcomed to the crease with smiles, Bairstow received a particularly ferocious reception which led to questions being asked as to the motivation.England will suspect that the sledging, picked up by a stump mic, was a deliberate set-up intended to leak the story.England initially refused to comment on the validity of the claims, but the ECB has been keenly aware that the behaviour of the squad would be under fierce scrutiny from the moment they set foot in Australia.It is understood the management only became aware of the allegations during play on the fourth day of the Gabba Test. Strauss was among those who spoke to Bairstow at the close of play.The claims against Bairstow comes as the police investigation continues into Stokes’ actions in Bristol in September.While England’s players decided not to impose an alcohol ban for the Ashes tour, they had agreed their behaviour off the field would be followed closely following the Stokes incident and decided they would not drink in the immediate lead-up to matches.England’s coach, Trevor Bayliss, explained at the time: “The players sat down and had a chat. They are the ones who have come up with this.Cameron Bancroft is giving his Baggy Green at the start of the Gabba Test•Getty Images

“There are no set curfews, they are just sensible rulings. To me, it’s what we should have been sticking to anyway as players or people around a professional set-up.”Not drinking between matches is just sensible. We certainly don’t want to keep players in their rooms because it is a long tour. You have to get out and experience what the country you’re touring has to offer.”It’s about picking the right time to have a couple of drinks, but knowing to stay away from it if you’re preparing for a match.”If there is any truth in the allegations, the consequences could extend well beyond the Ashes tour. If a third England player (after Stokes and Alex Hales) is shown to have been involved in any sort of violent incident while in a social environment, it would raise questions about the culture and management of the England squads.In particular, it would lead to renewed scrutiny about the leeway given to players and their misuse of such a policy. It would also raise further questions about their use of alcohol and, perhaps, ask questions of both Bayliss and Strauss about their failure to control the players.It would not be the first time there had been an incident involving England and Australia players in recent years. Four years ago, the attention was on David Warner who was banned after an early morning stand-off with Root in an infamous night at the Walkabout Bar in Birmingham.

Sri Lanka’s players have indicated strong reluctance to travel to Lahore for the third T20I against Pakistan, by signing a letter that requests the match be moved to a neutral venue. SLC officials, however, are likely to attempt to convince the players to tour. The board will discuss the issue further at its executive committee meeting on Monday.Though the players have not definitively ruled out traveling to Lahore, the mood in the dressing room is one of firm objection. “I don’t think the players will change their stance,” a cricketer, who was among the 40 contracted players who signed the letter, said. Not only were Suranga Lakmal and Chamara Kapugedera physically present on the bus that was attacked in Lahore in 2009, the other players are aware of the trauma suffered by those on board. The current players also believe the 2009 team suffered a singular attack in the world of sport, and are unwilling to be among the first teams to return to Pakistan.SLC CEO Ashley de Silva said player security remained the board’s primary concern, and that “a decision will be made at the ex-co meeting taking into account all the security information”. But other officials, such as president Thilanga Sumathipala, appear very keen on the team traveling to Pakistan. The board is expected to make an appeal to the players over the next few days. The country’s sports ministry is also keen to send a team.Both parties have tread softly so far, out of a desire not to incense the other: the players have stopped short of issuing a categorical refusal; the board has at no stage indicated there would be punishments for players who decline to travel.But for the other major party in the equation – the PCB – a refusal from Sri Lanka’s main players would amount to a setback, given the progress they had recently made in bringing back international cricket to the country. SLC officials were quick to point out that not only have Sri Lanka’s players been promised the same level of security afforded to the World XI team in September, but that the ICC was also content to now send its match officials to Pakistan.If the majority of players are unconvinced by SLC’s overtures, however, the board may consider sending a second-string team comprised of those who are willing to travel. Thisara Perera, who played in the World XI series, is understood to be favourable towards traveling to Lahore again.The chances of a full-strength Sri Lanka team playing in Lahore, however, have diminished with the signing of this letter. For the administrators of both boards, who had all spoken with optimism about this match going ahead, that is something of a problem.

Kusal Mendis’ recent string of poor scores may be a result of mental fatigue. That, at least, was the diagnosis of batting coach Avishka Gunawardene, ahead of the fifth ODI against India. Though he hit an excellent hundred in the second Test at the SSC, Mendis is yet to make a substantial impact in the ODIs, producing scores of 36, 19, 1 and 1.This is despite Mendis’ having begun his ODI career well – hitting 11 fifties and a century in his first 28 innings. In his last eight knocks, however, Mendis has returned five scores of one or zero.”We had a chat about Mendis after the last game, and we feel that he is mentally drained,” Gunawardene said. “He is still 22 years old. It’s nothing to do with any technical issues. We will see what the management comes up with. I think it’s better to give him a break before the next tour rather than keep playing him throughout.”Mendis has more reason than any of his teammates to feel a little weary of Sri Lanka’s very busy schedule. Although he is often the youngest man in Sri Lanka’s XI, Mendis has made 62 international appearances – including 17 Tests – since the start of 2017. That is five more matches than any of his teammates have managed. Incredibly, that is without having debuted in limited-overs cricket until the middle of last year.Gunawardene believes Mendis should be deployed more sparingly, given his age and the stage of development he is at. “Personally, I think someone who is young like that should only be playing the longer version of the game and ODI cricket,” he said. “I would rather keep him out of T20 cricket. He is still a player who is developing. Obviously we are looking at having him around for the next so many years. Better keep him for the longer formats – that’s my personal opinion.”Elsewhere in the top order, Sri Lanka have more problems to solve. They have not passed 250 once in the series, and even batsmen who did score runs have largely played laboured innings. None of Sri Lanka’s four half-centuries in the series have come at quicker than a run-a-ball.”Dot balls have become a big issue for us,” Gunawardene said. “Our dot-ball ratio in the last 12 months is something like 145 in a game. That is almost 50 percent, and that is one area we have rectify. We have set a target to improve that area by about 15 percent. We are trying to see whether we could improve our singles ratio while cutting down on dot-ball ratio.In fact, Sri Lanka’s dot-ball percentage in this series is even higher than those figures – they have not scored off 57% of the balls they have faced. India’s dot-ball percentage, meanwhile, is 47%. Though the teams are neck-and-neck in terms of dot balls faced in the first 10 overs, India are much better at rotating the strike through the middle. Sri Lanka have also had issues putting partnerships together.”Another target is that we try to tell the top five that someone has to bat for 45 overs. Then batting partnership is something that we have also spoken about – where we ask players to give us one 100-plus stand and one 75-plus stand. If we can do that the batsmen are capable of getting a decent score.”

File Photo – Shreyas Iyer’s counter-attacking 97-ball 108 rescued India A from a precarious position•PTI

With the national selectors trying out different options at No. 4 in the one-day set-up, Shreyas Iyer continued to present his case across formats. A month after hitting an unbeaten 140 that helped India A win the tri-series in South Africa, his counter-attacking 97-ball 108 rescued the side from a precarious 114 for 4 and put them on the road to victory on the second day of the first unofficial Test against New Zealand A in Vijayawada.Iyer, who walked in to bat at No. 5, following Karun Nair’s dismissal, amassed 78 of those in little over an hour before lunch to put New Zealand on the defensive quickly. In Rishabh Pant, Iyer found a partner who matched him stroke for stroke. Pant, who was not considered for the longer format during the A tour in South Africa, made an impression immediately, hitting 67 to swell India A’s lead to 173.In their second innings, New Zealand were on 64 for 2 when bad light forced a premature end to proceedings, and they once again wasted a steady start from the openers Jeet Raval and George Worker, who had added 41 runs. The visitors still need 109 to make India A bat again, with the possibility of a three-day finish looming large.The post-lunch session was particularly entertaining as it turned into a mini-contest between Iyer and Pant, both capable of playing audacious shots at different times. While Iyer drove, slapped and walked down the pitch to flat-bat fast bowlers over their heads repeatedly, Pant backed himself to clear long-off and long-on when spinners bowled in his hitting arc. Not even Iyer’s dismissal forced Pant to adopt a circumspect approach, an inside-out hit over long-off against the turn proving there was more to his range than just brute force. His 26-ball half-century was a chanceless fare in which he favoured the straight boundaries – six of his nine fours and both sixes coming in the region.The day began with much promise for New Zealand A as Ish Sodhi, who prised out Priyank Panchal and Sudip Chatterjee late on the opening day, had Nair chop on in the 31st over. The India A captain, who had battled calmly until then shaped to cut but erred in trying to play back to a flipper that cramped him for room. R Samarth, who progressed to make his third successive half-century for India A, then fell into the short-ball trap to give New Zealand more voice.Samarth gloved an attempted hook off Scott Kuggeleijn to George Worker, who was strategically placed at leg slip, to leave India A wobbling at 114 for 4. With the ball still fairly new, the visitors went full tilt with their pace battery. Setting attacking fields came with the risk of conceding runs in pursuit of wickets. On Sunday, however, Iyer’s breathtaking onslaught, which got him into his groove, had a cascading effect as Pant’s fearless innings handed India A a convincing lead.Amidst the carnage, Sodhi held his own, picking five wickets. Initially branded a flat and skiddy bowler, Sodhi, who spoke of having to reinvent his methods, tossed it up to get the batsmen to commit mistakes, even if it came with the risk of being tonked. The delivery that got Iyer proved his efficacy at doing the same. After being hit for a huge six over long-off, he tossed the ball again, but landed it wider, as an another attempt from Iyer at clearing the ropes resulted in a slice to cover. Pant carried on from where Iyer left off, but once he fell, the innings swiftly ended, with Todd Astle, the legspinner, bagging two lower-order wickets.New Zealand A started well in their second innings, with Jeet Raval and Worker blunting the India A attack for over an hour, the focus clearly being on crease occupation over run-scoring. But being circumspect against spin, even to deliveries which batsmen may try to put away most times, resulted in two false shots. Raval misjudged a sweep and was bowled to a Shahbaz Nadeem delivery that spun back in to hit the leg stump, while Henry Nicholls, the captain, was out lbw to Karn Sharma, beaten by sharp turn back in from the rough. Will Young and Worker, however, ended the day without any further hiccups.

The PCB wants an apology from the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) for its response after a bomb blast in Kabul on May 31. Ties between the boards were effectively severed in the wake of an attack that left more than 80 people dead and nearly 500 injured. But on Sunday*, after a meeting of the board, the ACB chief Atif Mashal said: “our relations with other cricket boards, including PCB, are based on mutual respect and national interests and we do not see the need for an apology”Soon after the blast two months ago, ACB tweeted that it was cancelling “agreed terms of mutual cricketing relationship” with its Pakistan counterpart. And the issue escalated when the ACB, in an expanded statement, blamed Pakistan for the attack, saying that no agreement could be “valid in a country where terrorists are housed and provided a safe haven”.”One day, their chairman [Mashal] met me and was very positive about having good relations,” Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, said in Lahore. “But next day he gave an extremely political statement about Pakistan, so then we told them that we don’t have anything to do with you. He later did express his regret on making the statement and had also apologised privately. But we, the board, have taken a position that until they apologise in public, we should not be reviving any cricketing ties with them.”Three days before the May 31 blast, a delegation led by Mashal had met Khan in Lahore. After lengthy discussions, the Pakistan board expressed its willingness to provide Afghanistan with venues for training and conditioning camps, and laid the groundwork for Pakistan’s youth and senior teams to play reciprocal tours. Both boards had agreed, in principle, to play T20 friendlies – as opposed to internationals – as part of their efforts to renew ties with each other. The matches were set to take place in Kabul and Lahore in July and August.But, following the blast, the ACB changed its stance. The PCB issued a strong response extending its sympathies to the victims of the attack, but hit back at the “baseless allegations levelled by the Afghanistan Cricket Board”. After the ACB had cancelled the itinerary, the PCB then said that the matches were simply an “informal understanding with ACB”. The Pakistan board also said that the tour was subject to conducive security conditions in Afghanistan and therefore stood cancelled due to the continuous “insecurity and instability” there.Afghanistan were recently awarded Full Member status at the ICC and are now eligible to play Test cricket. The PCB has played a lauded role in Afghanistan’s cricketing progress over the years.That rise, over the past eight years, has been steady ever since they gained ODI status in 2009 after the World Cup Qualifier in South Africa that year. That was followed by three-consecutive promotions starting from the fifth division of the World Cricket League. Over the past 12 months, Afghanistan have been fairly successful against other Full Members, securing three ODI wins over Zimbabwe and tying West Indies in an ODI series in June.*1025 GMT The story has been updated with the ACB’s response

Ravi Shastri, the former India allrounder and team director, has been appointed head coach of the national side until the 2019 World Cup. Zaheer Khan has been named bowling consultant for the same tenure, while Rahul Dravid will be India’s batting consultant for overseas Test series.The confirmation came late on Tuesday night after the CoA impressed upon the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), comprising Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendullkar and VVS Laxman, the urgent need to end the uncertainty over the next India coach.The vacancy arose because Anil Kumble resigned after the Champions Trophy in June, stating that his partnership with India captain Virat Kohli had become “untenable”. India went to the West Indies to play a limited-overs series without a head coach.Shastri was one of five candidates the CAC interviewed for the role, along with Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus and Lalchand Rajput. He had not applied when the BCCI invited applications for the first time, but did so after Kumble was no longer in the fray.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Shastri had applied for the role in 2016 as well, and was disappointed to lose out to Kumble, because India had done well during his tenure as director.He had been appointed team director in August 2014 and under him, India made it to semi-finals of successive global events – the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 World T20 – and also climbed to No. 1 on the Test rankings for a period of eight weeks until February 2016. During that time, India also won their first limited-overs bilateral series in Australia, whitewashing the hosts 3-0 in a T20I series. While he worked alongside Duncan Fletcher in the early part of his tenure, Shastri had sole responsibility of the team after the 2015 World Cup.Zaheer, a former India fast bowler, has no formal coaching experience but he has been part of the Delhi Daredevils thinktank in recent IPL seasons. He was offered the role of bowling consultant last year by the BCCI, but both parties could not come to an agreement over remuneration.Dravid recently gave up his position as the Daredevils mentor, after accepting a two-year contract to coach the India A and Under-19 teams.The appointments bring to an end a period of uncertainty over the India coaching job that began at the end of May, when Kohli told BCCI officials that some players were uncomfortable with Kumble’s approach to man management. Following Kohli’s feedback, the BCCI advertised for the position and Kumble was one of several candidates to apply. While Kohli maintained in public that there were no problems with Kumble, the issue came to a head soon after the Champions Trophy when, with no new coach in place, Kumble was offered an extension to cover the tour of the West Indies but decided to step down instead.Shastri’s first assignment as head coach is the Test series in Sri Lanka, which begins on July 26.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:45

Agarkar: Complete performance from Pakistan

Never mind the damp conclusion; this is Birmingham in June, what did you expect? The weather shouldn’t detract from the fact that Pakistan pulled off an upset in the game of the tournament so far. It is a shame the contest wasn’t able to carry on till its natural conclusion, because it could have been the day the 2017 Champions Trophy finally came to life. Instead, it was the day Pakistan ensured they remained alive, beating South Africa by 19 runs via the DLS method to complete a turnaround only they seem to be able to manage, and with inexplicable regularity.Pakistan put on a vastly improved bowling display as they shackled South Africa’s batsmen to restrict them to 219. It might have been nearer 150 when Pakistan got rid of six South African batsmen inside the first 30 overs for 118, but David Miller, so often required only to provide late firepower, showed his all-round batting credentials. He anchored the innings with an unbeaten 75 off 104 balls. Hasan Ali finished with 3 for 24.It turns out you can open the bowling with two quality fast bowlers in England conditions, after all. Mohammad Amir and Junaid Khan were tight and disciplined, bowling to a plan, meticulous in ensuring South Africa’s openers were not allowed width. Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock had to shuffle around to manipulate the ball past the inner circle, never quite looking as comfortable as they so often do. A superb opportunity to get a wicket was missed as early as the second over, with de Kock setting off for a suicidal single, and only Shoaib Malik’s inability to hit the stumps spared him.The seamers might have started well, but the spinners wounded South Africa. Imad Wasim – brought on inside the first Powerplay – removed Amla with his second delivery, the batsman missing his nudge off a straight ball.De Kock joined him soon after. He had survived an lbw shout off Mohammad Hafeez as Pakistan failed to review an lbw call that would have been overturned, but he hadn’t learned his lesson and missed a sweep off Hafeez. South Africa’s innings went from shaky to all-out panic just an over later, when captain AB de Villiers slashed Imad Wasim first ball straight to backward point. Pakistan suddenly had complete control of the game.Miller tried to take some control of the South African innings, stepping out to hit two sixes, but South Africa simply could not get partnerships going. Duminy and Parnell were victims of contenders for ball of the tournament, each pitching around off stump and tailing away. Duminy got an outside edge that carried to first slip, while Parnell could put no barrier between ball and off stump. South Africa were 118 for 6, and Pakistan were running through them.Chris Morris gave Miller some company as South Africa looked to get as close to 200 as possible, but there were no signs of the ragged death bowling that had been a feature of Pakistan’s performance against India. Mohammad Amir and Junaid Khan were unplayable at times, bowling reverse swinging yorkers almost on demand.Miller was able to hold his side’s innings together though. It was a small win in an innings where Pakistan had the upper hand almost from start to finish. Other than Morne Morkel’s bowling, it was the only positive South Africa could cling to on a day even the most conniving spin doctor could struggle to describe as anything other than a disappointment for the world’s top-ranked side.Set 220, Pakistan approached the run chase the way modern teams have been doing all around the world, but coming from Pakistan, it still felt like a novelty. Fakhar Zaman was clearly given a job to do, but actually doing it against Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell under gloomy skies on debut is altogether different. He was dismissive of any width, slashing the ball through the covers and behind point at every opportunity, and even creating width when there wasn’t any to smash the bowlers square of the wicket either side.But it’s the nature of quick hitting that it is always likely to be ephemeral. Morkel, whose place in the side has been a subject of such debate of late, reigned in a galloping Pakistan. Both openers were dismissed in one over as the tall fast bowler exploited both his variation and the bounce he invariably seems to generate on every surface. That over was followed by 20 straight dot deliveries as South Africa neutralised Pakistan’s flying start and came roaring back into the game. Morkel’s opening spell reading 5-1-7-2.Hafeez and Babar Azam were stuck with negotiating the sustained pressure the bowlers were putting on them by now, the renewed energy in the fielding side palpable. Both were hanging around without ever looking especially comfortable, and South Africa always seemed to be on the cusp of a wicket. That arrived, somewhat inevitably, with the second ball of Morkel’s second spell, as Hafeez tried to pull one that grew too big on him, leaving Imran Tahir to take his second catch of the evening.Rather than add pressure on Pakistan, that somehow relieved it, and what followed was their most free-scoring spell since the first six overs. Rabada and Morkel went for two boundaries each in their subsequent overs, and by the time rain intervened, Pakistan were 19 runs ahead on the DLS equation. That was good enough, on a day an unfancied Pakistan side had generally been exactly that.

ScorecardA devastating spell of bowling from Mark Footitt – or perhaps that should be Mark F00000itt – powered Surrey into an overwhelmingly dominant position at The Kia Oval.Footitt claimed 6 for 14 as Warwickshire were bowled out for just 91, the lowest first-class total by a visiting team to The Oval since 1999 and their fourth lowest total this century, to give Surrey a first innings lead of 363 runs.At one stage Footitt, generating sharp pace on an easy-paced wicket, claimed six wickets for three runs in 32 deliveries as Warwickshire collapsed from 30 without loss to 48 for 8. It was a passage of play that saw five Warwickshire batsmen – including Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell – dismissed for ducks and gave Footitt a five-wicket haul for the fourth Championship match in succession.No other bowler in this match – and there are several who have been in international reckoning in recent times – has come close to replicating the bounce and pace achieved by Footitt as he charged in from The Vauxhall End. In one over before tea he accounted for Trott, set-up by some back of a length deliveries and then pinned by a lovely full inswinger as he fell over to the off side, and Bell, edging a peach of a ball that bounced and left him, while Sam Hain, drawn into a poke outside off stump, fell in his next over.William Porterfield was beaten by another beauty that bounced and took his outside edge, Rikki Clarke played across another that swung in and Keith Barker was bowled by one that may well have kept a bit low.While a couple of Warwickshire batsmen – not least Bell, who received one that scuttled along the pitch two balls before he was dismissed, and Barker, who was struck by a bouncer the ball before he was bowled – may point to some variable bounce as mitigation for their dismissals, the fact that their tenth-wicket pair posted the equal highest stand of the innings underlined the failings of the top-order and they may reflect that it was their choice to bowl first. Chris Wright, coming in at No. 10, finished as their highest scorer with an unbeaten 28 as reward for some application and a straight bat.It may well be that Footitt’s England chance has passed him by. He made it into the squad during the 2015 Ashes and then went on the tour to South Africa but, after an understandably nervous performance during the warm-up games, was overlooked for the start of the series. He came tantalisingly close to selection for the final Test in Pretoria but, in the end, the England management went for Chris Woakes instead. There is every chance that was as close as Footitt will get to a Test cap.But in form like this, he really does present a compelling case for a recall. Offering left-arm pace and swing, all delivered amid an awkward flurry of arms and legs, he challenges batsmen in a variety of ways and has the ability to unlock strong line-ups in good batting conditions. Certainly he looked a far more dangerous bowler than the relatively sedate Sam Curran, another left-arm swing bowler who has been tipped for selection, and he might yet – aged 31 – add some bite and variety to the England attack.It might be that he did not help himself at the start of last season. Having come back from what was, ultimately, a bit of a disappointing tour of South Africa from a personal perspective, he went into his first season with Surrey a little short of match fitness. He subsequently suffered a side strain in the opening weeks of the season after coming up against better batsmen on flatter tracks and finding it took more out of his body than had been the case at Derbyshire. It has taken time to recover his confidence, rhythm and pace.It would be a risk to take him to Australia. He is, despite his age, relatively inexperienced and might well find the aggression and pressure of an Ashes series a huge culture shock. He would have to learn to swing the Kookaburra ball, too. But if he can bowl like this, he will enjoy the pace of Australia pitches and no batsman will fancy facing him. It would be a stretch to compare him to Mitchell Johnson – he’s not that quick or awkward – but the challenges he offers are not so different.”I still have the ambition to play for England,” he said afterwards. “If it’s too late, it’s too late. But Gareth Batty went on the last tour and we was 38, so I’ve not given up and I don’t think you’re ever too old.”Would I like to go to Australia this winter for the Ashes? I’ve never even been there, so it would be nice just to go. Perhaps I wasn’t quite there fitness-wise this time last year but I feel strong now and I have my pace back.””I’ve seen a few spells over the years,” Jim Troughton, Warwickshire’s first team coach said, “but that’s right up with the best of them. He got pace and shape and bounce. I wouldn’t say any of our batsmen threw it away but we weren’t up to it and we’re going to have to front up in a big way over the next couple of days. I still think it’s a pretty decent track.”At least Warwickshire showed a little more resolve having been asked to follow-on. But any doubts Ashley Giles, Warwickshire’s new director of sport, had about the enormity of the task facing him upon his return to Edgbaston should now have been dispelled. An ageing side lacked the pace to extract life from the surface and the batting line-up looks overly reliant upon two men in their mid-30s. There are few obvious reserves pushing for selection, either. These are early days, but it could well be the start of a painful transition for Warwickshire.They had actually enjoyed the best of the first half of the day. Bowling with excellent discipline, they slowed the Surrey rate of scoring to a crawl and then picked up wickets as the batsmen’s frustration mounted. From a platform of 314 for 2 in the 86th over, Surrey lost their last eight wickets for 140 runs in a further 55 overs – and the last five for 49- with Wright recovering from an expensive start to finish with a five-wicket haul for the first time since July 2015. It was nothing compared to what followed from Footitt, though.

The PCB has provisionally suspended Mohammad Irfan from all forms of the game for allegedly failing to report an approach. The 34-year-old fast bowler was sanctioned on Monday as the board’s investigation into alleged corruption in the Pakistan Super League gathered steam.ESPNcricinfo understands that Irfan broke the PCB’s anti-corruption code twice and that the latest incident happened at the PSL in February. He had been pulled up for questioning during the tournament but was allowed to keep playing for his team Islamabad United. Last week, however, the PCB summoned Irfan to appear before the anti-corruption committee again. He was one of two players called before the committee, the other being Karachi Kings batsman Shahzaib Hasan.”The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in furtherance to its investigation issued a Notice of Charge and provisionally suspended Irfan under the PCB Anti-Corruption Code,” a press release from the board said. “Irfan has been charged with two violations of Code Article 2.4.4 and now has 14 days to respond to the Notice of Charge. He has also been provisionally suspended with immediate effect from participating in all forms of cricket.”The article that Irfan was found in breach of dealt with “failing to disclose to the PCB Vigilance and Security Department (without unnecessary delay) full details of any approaches or invitations received by the Participant to engage in Corrupt Conduct under this Anti-Corruption Code”.Irfan is the fourth player to be suspended in relation to this case. Batsmen Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif were charged in February but since they were contesting some of the charges an independent tribunal has been set up to look into their case. The former Pakistan opener Nasir Jamshed was suspended and arrested in the UK as part of the same investigation, later being let out on bail.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said that the board is in talks with former India spinner Sunil Joshi for a role as the Bangladesh team’s spin consultant for their series against Sri Lanka next month. On Sunday, BCB’s operations committee chairman, said Joshi would join the team for the Sri Lanka series, and former South Africa batsman Jonty Rhodes is also in the mix for the series as fielding consultant.*”At least for now, we are getting Joshi for the Sri Lanka series,” Akram said. “We have held talks with him. We will decide whether to keep him for a longer period after seeing his work. Jonty [Rhodes] is also nearly confirmed.”Joshi, who played 15 Tests and 69 ODIs for India between 1996 and 2001, is currently coach of the Assam side in India’s domestic circuit and also had a stint as Oman’s spin-bowling coach during the 2016 World T20.*09.25GMT, February 12: This article was updated after Akram Khan spoke.