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Scorecard
Chesney Hughes dragged Derbyshire back from the brink on another rollercoaster day in the County Championship match against Glamorgan at Derby.The Anguillan scored a career-best 167 to rescue the home side who were staring defeat in the face after England Lion James Harris had reduced them to 22 for four, still 63 runs behind. Harris took three for one in 14 balls but Hughes and Dan Redfern shared a stand of 154 in 40 overs to leave the game in the balance with Derbyshire 380 for eight at the close, a lead of 295.Glamorgan had scented victory three overs into the third morning when Harris and Will Owen shattered the top order but the contest followed the same pattern as the first two days with a clatter of wickets followed by a recovery.New Zealand opener Martin Guptill had played a match-winning innings at Cardiff only a couple of weeks ago so the visitors were delighted when Harris clung onto a firm return drive off the third ball of the day. Nightwatchman Tony Palladino did not hold up Glamorgan for long and bagged a pair when Owen thudded one into his pads. There was worse to come for Derbyshire who lost Wes Durston in the next over when he went only half forward to Harris and was leg before for two.At that stage, there was a chance the game could have been over before lunch but, just as in the first innings, the batsmen prospered once the early moisture had gone out of the pitch. Redfern batted with class and composure on the first day and he again looked in control as he and Hughes steered Derbyshire through to lunch but Glamorgan should have broken through early in the afternoon session.Ben Wright spilled two chances at second slip on the first day and he was guilty of another bad miss when he put down an edge by Hughes on 65 off Harris. Hughes also needed treatment when he was struck on the arm by former Derbyshire seamer Graham Wagg but Glamorgan were becoming desperate for a wicket when Redfern was needlessly run out for 63.Greg Smith made a quick 38 before he was lbw to Dean Cosker but Hughes then dominated a stand with Luke Sutton, bringing up the sixth century partnership of the contest by pulling Wagg for his fourth six, before Wright finally hung on to an edged drive to give Harris a deserved fourth victim.

Australian cricket’s marketing experiment with split innings limited overs matches, and a bevy of exotic proposed rules for next summer’s expanded Twenty20 competition, have been thrown out by the Cricket Australia playing conditions committee.The committee, which serves a similar function to the ICC’s cricket committee by deliberating on issues within the game, will forward these conclusions to the CA board for final approval at its next meeting. Committee members observed that the global body’s commitment to 50-over cricket for the 2015 World Cup, and the success of the 2011 tournament on the subcontinent, made further split innings experimentation redundant.Paul Marsh, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers Association, sat on the committee alongside the CA chairman Jack Clarke, Greg Chappell and Mark Taylor – Matthew Hayden and Shane Warne were absent – and said that no other decision could have been made.”It was really the only decision the committee could take from our perspective given that the ICC have now elected to push forward with the 50-over format towards the next World Cup,” Marsh told . “It wouldn’t have made sense to have our players playing a different format domestically, heading into the next World Cup, so it was a sensible decision.”The remit of the playing conditions committee, there’s various things we look at but one of them is that it has to be a realistic chance of getting up at international level, but there’s a time to trial things, and last year was that time. While we [the ACA] didn’t think it should’ve been trialled, it was and now we’ve got to go back to keeping ourselves in-line with what the international format is.”Clarke noted that other elements of the domestic competition, “such as using two balls, one from each end, reducing restrictions on the number of overs bowlers can deliver or increasing the number of bouncers allowed”, had been accepted as possible innovations by the ICC.However a raft of outlandish proposed rules for next summer’s T20 competition, presented to the public via a survey, were given short shrift by committee members, who reasoned that gambits like letting the crowd keep the ball or overs worth double runs were simply unnecessary.”Common sense prevailed there,” Marsh said. “The committee I know from the ACA’s perspective we’re supportive of initiatives that will promote the Big Bash and get the most people through the ground, and we’ve talked through a few alternative things there to help achieve that.”The matter of domestic playing surfaces was also addressed, and while general assessments of pitch conditions last summer were favourable, often achieving scores of 4.33/5 or better, groundsmen will be reminded of the need to prepare surfaces that reflect the challenges of Test cricket. Numerous players, coaches and the CA chief executive James Sutherland, have all pondered whether or not last summer’s pitches did not help to equip Australia’s players for the Ashes, where England’s batsmen repeatedly ran up tall scores.”The focus should most certainly be on trying to have wickets or pitches around the country that are as close to international pitches as you can get, that’s the best preparation for players,” said Marsh. “But there’s no doubt the weather played a part in it last year, we’ve thought in some cases that states are prioritising result pitches over preparation for international cricket.”

Mohsin Khan, Pakistan’s chief selector, and the PCB have reached a resolution over their differences, and the former has decided not to resign from his post. Mohsin met with board chairman Ijaz Butt in Lahore on Thursday and said “now there’s no issue at all.”Mohsin had earlier said he would step down on Wednesday if some of his player choices were not included in the 15-member Test squad for the series against the West Indies, which starts in Guyana on May 12.But after the board contacted him, he cancelled a press conference where he was expected to speak on the subject. In a statement on Wednesday the board first said that any such conference would be a violation of the code of conduct governing selectors, and then issued a statement that said Mohsin had been summoned to a meeting with the chairman on Thursday.Neither Mohsin nor Butt took any questions after the meeting, with the chairman reading from a written statement saying that the matter had been resolved.”Mohsin and I had a fruitful meeting today and we discussed a number of matters. We also discussed some of the issues that are appearing in the media for last couple of days. Without going into the details of the matters discussed, I am pleased to inform that there are currently no unresolved issues between PCB and Mohsin Hasan Khan.”No details were given of who the disputed players were, though ESPNcricinfo understands Adnan Akmal’s exclusion was one issue. Though it is thought Mohsin had issues with another selector, some local reports suggested it may have been with Butt, the final authority on selections, or even the on-tour selection committee.The statement hinted that the problems may have been over the full ambit of the selection committee. “We have today discussed the importance of bringing in clarity in the role and functions of the national selection committee and I have advised Mohsin that the selection committee has independence of taking selection decisions.”To clarify our stance on some speculations that have appeared in a section of media, after having Mohsin’s point of view, PCB has decided that no further action in this matter is required.”

ScorecardKent batted out for a forgettable County Championship draw in their rain-affected second division clash with Derbyshire in Canterbury.Kent banked nine points to the visitors’ 11 after Derbyshire opted to extend their overall lead to 364 before declaring on 256 for 4 soon after lunch. Having been set an impossible last-afternoon winning target of 365 from a minimum 58 overs – an asking rate of 6.29 an over – Kent reached 94 for two amongst the rain breaks before shaking hands on a draw at 5pm.Home skipper Rob Key anchored the innings with an unbeaten 59 from 78 balls, his second-best score of the campaign to date, while Martin van Jaarsveld enjoyed a 38-minute net in the middle for an unbeaten 12.The home reply started badly when Joe Denly, back in the side following a three-week lay-off with a fractured thumb, followed his first innings of five with a fifth-ball duck in the second. The right-hander had his middle stump uprooted by a Tim Groenewald off-cutter that darted through the gate.After another break for rain that led to an early tea interval, Kent regrouped through Key and Sam Northeast to add 61 for their second wicket before Northeast, in aiming to leg-glance against Tony Palladino, edged through to the wicketkeeper to fall for 21.The last day started with Derbyshire’s first-innings centurions Wayne Madsen and Usman Khawaja back in tandem as the east midlands side resumed on their overnight score of 85 for one.Khawaja, who will fly home to Australia tonight for his country’s A-team tour of Zimbabwe, reached 36 before he became his side’s first casualty when edging a defensive push against Azhar Mahmood to the wicketkeeper.Madsen, fresh from scoring 140 here during the opening two days, reached 71 from 111 balls before failing to get on top of a cut shot at Neil Saker and picking out Northeast at point. Dan Redfern and Wes Durston then featured in a fourth-wicket stand of 93 in 21.1 overs, each ultimately scoring a 50 from 61 and 88 balls respectively.Redfern went soon after lunch after the left-hander skied a leg-side slog against James Tredwell to make it 236 for four. Luke Sutton’s declaration followed 30 runs on and just after Durston had reached his half-century.

Stuart Law, Sri Lanka’s interim coach, has expressed sympathy with Lasith Malinga’s decision to quit Test cricket due to a knee condition, but has also acknowledged that the lure of the IPL – with its bumper signings and opportunities to secure oneself financially in quick time – makes it difficult for players to continue playing international cricket. He added it was important to keep India “sweet”, as that’s where a significant part of the revenue for several cricket boards lies.Malinga made himself unavailable for Sri Lanka’s upcoming tour of England and announced his decision to quit Tests because of a “long-standing degenerative condition in the right knee”. While the condition made it difficult for him to play in the longest format, he intends to continue playing limited-overs cricket, and is currently the leading wicket-taker in the IPL, where he represents Mumbai Indians.”‘It’s disappointing that he doesn’t want to play [the] longer [format cricket] but you can’t make [force] a guy who goes through hell every time he bowls a cricket ball,” Law told . “I can sympathise with him. I would love him to play every game for us but that’s impossible, no one does that these days.”It’s a tough one for the players because we’re not talking about $10,000 here and there. We’re talking about a million dollars and Malinga, when he bowls, he puts his body through hell, so … two more years of IPL cricket and he can put his feet up and not go through that pain again.”Apart from Malinga, there are three other prominent Sri Lanka players participating in the IPL – Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. The tour of England clashes with the latter stages of the IPL, and there’s been confusion in Dilshan’s case about when he’ll join the Sri Lanka squad. He had said he wanted to join as early as May 10, ahead of the first warm-up game, but the BCCI and the Sri Lanka board are negotiating his release date. Sangakkara and Jayawardene, meanwhile, will join their squad ahead of the second warm-up fixture.”The IPL situation – we’ve got to be smart with that,” Law said. ”India, they are big brother, we’ve got to look after them, we don’t want to upset them. It’s where a lot of the world cricket boards make a lot of their money, so we’ve got to keep India sweet.”The financial incentive of the IPL was a major temptation for players, Law said. ”You want the best for your players and the best Sri Lanka can supply to the players at this stage is nowhere near what other international players are getting.”I think [better pay] will arrive one day but right now it is difficult to attract the players to continue to play international cricket when they can go to the IPL for six weeks and earn five years’ money.”Sri Lanka have undergone a change in leadership since finishing runners-up in the 2011 World Cup, with Sangakkara and Jayawardene stepping down as captain and vice-captain respectively – decisions Law could “totally respect and understand” – and their selection committee resigning. Dilshan has been named the new captain and Law has taken over from Trevor Bayliss, who he worked with as assistant coach.”Sri Lanka will go through a rebuilding phase now,” Law said. “But the amount of talent that is yet to play international cricket at this stage is amazing.”

ScorecardChris Lynn made 172•Getty Images

Chris Lynn struck his third first-class century, and his highest score, to put Queensland in total control on the second day against Victoria in Brisbane. By stumps, the visitors were 3 for 71 in their second innings, still needing 238 more to make the Bulls bat again, with Chris Rogers unbeaten on 25 and a new batsman yet to join him after Rob Quiney fell for 34 with the last ball of the day.The first day comprehensively belonged to Queensland and so did the second, with Lynn’s 172 the standout. He rode his luck throughout the innings, caught on 60 off a no-ball and dropped again on 99, when Peter Siddle spilled a return chance that he should have taken, and again on 151 when Glenn Maxwell dropped a caught-and-bowled opportunity.Lynn, 20, is in his 12 first-class match but is already developing a strong reputation and passed his previous best score of 142. James Hopes made 84 for the Bulls, while Victoria’s leading wicket taker was James Pattinson with 4 for 128, while Damien Wright collected 3 for 86.