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Ricky Ponting will warn his players to tone down their on-field behaviour after Chris Gayle declared he wasn’t surprised by Shane Watson’s over-the-top celebrations because he “didn’t expect anything better” of him. Watson was the third Australian player to be fined by the match referee during the Perth Test, which also featured a two-ODI suspension for Sulieman Benn, and left Australia’s players embarrassed by their actions.The West Indies camp was upset by the disparity in penalties and has not ruled out pursuing the matter further, and Gayle’s feelings were plain when he declined to comment on Benn’s ban. “I might be the person getting the ban as well, you might not get anymore interviews,” he said. However, Gayle said he was not shocked by Watson’s antics when he had Gayle caught behind and then moved close to the batsman and cheered excessively.”Not really, he’s that sort of person,” Gayle said. “I didn’t expect anything better, so that’s typically Shane Watson, he’s a passionate person. That’s how he expresses himself but maybe he just overdid it a bit, but that’s Shane Watson.”Watson was fined 15% of his match fee, while Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson were slugged 25% and 10% respectively after their run-in with Benn. Johnson clashed physically with the West Indies spinner and Haddin inflamed the situation by pointing his bat angrily at Benn and engaging in a verbal stoush.The reports followed a reprimand in Adelaide for Doug Bollinger, who had kicked the ground in anger when he had an lbw appeal denied. Ponting said the three men who were fined in Perth knew they had crossed the line, but he would sit down with the entire squad before the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan to reinforce how they should behave.”We all have responsibilities,” Ponting said. “It’s one of my responsibilities as the captain to make sure that guys aren’t overstepping the mark. Definitely this week when we get down to Melbourne as a group together it will happen in our first team meeting, we will go over some of the events of this week.”I’m not proud of the fact, I’m sure the players aren’t proud of the fact either, that we’ve had three guys reported in the one game. Reports are something we’ve been really strict on the last couple of years, that’s amongst the player group ourselves. And we’ve actually got a good record on that over the last couple of years. I know all the guys are a bit embarrassed probably and know they’ve overstepped the mark.”Despite the incidents, Gayle insisted the match had been played in the right spirit and aggression was a good thing for the game. There was certainly plenty of passion and fierceness from his 200-centimetre spinner Benn, who did not back down when he was targeted verbally by Haddin. Benn is often seen singing when not playing the game and was described by the Australians as “unusual”.”He is unusual,” Gayle said. “Benny has always been himself, that’s how he plays cricket out there. He will talk and these things give him an extra drive to be competitive. He’s a competitive person. He’s sometimes miserable at times, too.”

ScorecardTwo standout performances, from Mominul Haque and Abul Hasan, ensured Bangladesh Under-19 clinched the series against Zimbabwe Under-19 with two games to go. While Mominul’s well-compiled half-century ensured Bangladesh finished on a competitive 186, right-arm fast bowler Abul followed up his five-for from the previous match with 4 for 27.Choosing to bat, Bangladesh lost too many wickets despite scoring aggressively, and stuttered to 70 for 5 in the 17th over. But the sixth-wicket stand of 56 between Mominul and Noor Hossain proved to be crucial. Mominul struck seven fours during his 104-ball stay, while Hossain managed four boundaries.The Zimbabweans were under the cosh from the start of the reply as Abul picked up two top-order wickets. Dean Mazhawidza top scored for the visitors with a strong 39, while Natsai Mushangwe threatened at No. 8 with a quickfire 38. But once Abul removed Mushangwe, he followed it up with Simon Mugava’s wicket. Stev Chimhamhiwa’s run-out signalled the end in the 40th over.

The BCCI has said it will stand by its decision to ban Services from this year’s Ranji Trophy despite mounting pressure from various sections of the Indian government. The ban was imposed on Tuesday after Services, which is run by the national defence ministry, skipped a Plate League match against Jammu and Kashmir in security-sensitive Srinagar.P Chidambaram, India’s home minister, on Wednesday said the BCCI should allot fresh dates for the match and accept an apology from the team, who claimed, late on Tuesday, that their absence at the venue early that day was due to an administrative slip-up.Deputy defence minister M Pallam Raju called the Services decision to stay away “unfortunate” and said it had been taken at a lower level. He reiterated an offer to play on fresh dates in Srinagar if the BCCI revoked its decision.That, however, looks unlikely at the moment. A senior BCCI official said the decision was based on the Indian board’s rules and regulations governing domestic cricket and cannot be changed. “We are aware that there have been appeals at various levels to accept the apology and reschedule the match,” a senior BCCI official told Cricinfo. “But the decison to ban Services was taken as per established rules, and there is no change in our position on the issue.”It remains to be seen though whether the BCCI is able to resist political pressure on the issue for long considering the connections of some its key office-bearers. For instance, Sharad Pawar, the ICC vice-president and former BCCI president, still enjoys a commanding sway over Indian cricket matters and is also a senior federal minister in the coalition government.Chidambaram’s appeal to the BCCI came after the team’s pullout – ostensibly due to security reasons – was seen as a huge embarrassment for the government, which has maintained that they were in control of the security situation in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir, that has seen continued militant activity over the last two decades. Chidambaram added that he had also spoken to AK Antony, India’s defence minister, on the matter.Meanwhile, local media reports have claimed that Services pulled out after receiving information of a possible disruption of the match by separatist protesters in the state. But apart from the apology that was issued in the form of a press release, the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), which manages the team of defence employees, is yet to publicly clarify their position.

Tier A

The sixth weekend of matches of the Premier League Tier A competition took a beating, with bad weather forcing all six matches to end in draws. The result kept Nondescripts Cricket Club (NCC) on top of the table and there were hardly any changes in the positions from the previous weekend. The exception was that of the wooden spoon position, where Colombo Cricket Club lifted themselves from the bottom as Army Sports Club were unable to make any headway in their fixture against Moors Sports Club, with no play possible on the last two days at Braybrooke Place.In the opening day at the NCC Ground, captain and Sri Lanka opener Upul Tharanga and former schoolboy cricketer Dinesh Chandimal continued their fine form for the season with contrasting half-centuries. Tharanga scored a 167-ball 95 and the more enterprising Chandimal faced just 75 balls for his 70 as NCC made 312 against a depleted SSC side where coach Avishka Gunawardene was forced to come out of retirement and play, after six cricketers departed to India with the national team.Offspinner Sachitra Senanayake stepped up in their absence to return career-best figures of 8 for 117 after surprisingly opening the bowling. SSC struggled to 102 for 6 before bad light and rain came to their aid.Another offspinner, Dilshan Wimaladarma, opened the bowling for Saracens Sports Club and also ended up with a five-wicket haul. Wimaladarma, who handed his team their first win of the season last weekend, continued his great form with the ball with figures of 5 for 106 against Chilaw Marians. Saracens couldn’t make much headway against Marians’ total of 305, sliding to 146 for 6 before the game ended. Play was possible only on the first day in the Moors Sports Club-Army Sports Club and Ragama Cricket Club-Badureliya matches.

Tier B

Although the five Premier Tier B matches were also affected to some extent by the bad weather and also ended in draws, only two failed to produce first-innings points. One of them was the key clash between the top two teams, Lankan Cricket Club and Panadura Sports Club at Panadura. . Panadura made 187 for 4 before rain intervened, ruling out play for the rest of the game. Lankan CC maintained their 21-point lead at the top. Burgher Recreation Club, Air Force Sports Club and Police Sports Club obtained vital first-innings leads but could not make much of an impact on the standings.

Division One

Relegated Sussex fought all the way, but Nottinghamshire secured second place with a 35-run victory at Trent Bridge. Samit Patel took a career-best 6 for 84 as the home side ensured themselves of the £225,000 prize for finishing runners-up to Durham – albeit at some distance. When Nottinghamshire were bowled out it left Sussex 372 off 84 overs and they gave it a fair crack as Mike Yardy and Chris Nash opened with a stand of 114. That was broken by Luke Fletcher and Mark Ealham, in his final first-class match, pulled off a great catch to remove Murray Goodwin. After Samit Patel worked through the order, Ealham was allowed the chance to finish the match but the final wicket went to the Patel brothers.Yorkshire and Hampshire played out a dull final day to their Championship season. John Ward endured the action at Headingley.Worcestershire ended an awful season with a fight draw against champions Durham. George Dobell was at New Road.

Division Two

Essex secured promotion to Division One with a stunning run chase against Derbyshire. Andrew McGlashan watched the action.Surrey managed to bat out the final day against Glamorgan at The Oval to earn a draw. Jon Batty, in what could be his final innings for the county, made 120 and captain Stewart Walters hit 82 after Surrey had slipped to 63 for 3. Glamorgan paid the price for dropping Batty on 13 and 96.

Victoria will start their tilt at the lucrative Champions League Twenty20 tournament in October by coming up against their best bowler. Dirk Nannes was the only player to side with his away team for the tournament, but Victoria received US$200,000 as compensation for their man turning out for Delhi Daredevils when the outfits meet on October 9.A condition in Nannes’ IPL contract meant the decision was made for the left-arm fast bowler. “We’re all good mates [at Victoria] and they understand my decision,” he said. “It’s going to be a pretty hard-fought game. I don’t know who’s going to win, hopefully it’s me, but I don’t know.”He said it was an awkward choice but his itinerant playing career made it easier. “In the last 12 months I’ve played for six sides, or something like that, so we’re all used to playing against each other,” he said. “It’s going to be an interesting one. We’ll have a beer afterwards and we’ll go back and play together back home.”Nannes, who appeared in his first ODI for Australia against Scotland on Friday, has 24 wickets at 13.08 for the Bushrangers in Australia’s domestic Twenty20 competition and won’t be much fun for his state friends to face. David Hussey, the Victoria batsman, has been ribbing Nannes about his decision and is planning his tactics already. “We wanted him at Victoria for the Champions League,” he said. “Unfortunately Delhi have Dirk and we’ll have to take him down there and hopefully win the silverware.”

Jason Gallian has announced his retirement after losing his place in the Essex first team. It brings to an end a 19-year career split between Lancashire, Nottinghamshire and Essex with a brief England spell in 1995.Gallian, 38, was born and raised in Sydney and played youth cricket for Australia before throwing his lot in with England when he signed for Lancashire. He moved to Nottinghamshire in 1998 where he had a spell as captain, but it wasn’t always a smooth time for him and he had a falling out with Kevin Pietersen.In 2008 he joined Essex where he recaptured some solid form and helped them win two trophies, but in 2009 has managed just five Championship matches with an average 13.33″I have spent 19 years playing professional cricket which I have thoroughly enjoyed and had a great experience and several challenges along the way,” he told the Essex website. “My last challenge has been at Essex, and the highlight in 2008 was being involved in the winning of two trophies.”However, all good things come to an end. Essex has a lot of young players coming through and it is their time now to perform. I am pleased to have finished my playing career at a club as good as Essex”.Paul Grayson, the Essex first eleven coach, said: “Jason has done well for us for the past two years. He played some really good one-day cricket in 2008. Unfortunately Jason has struggled for runs in the County Championship this season. He is good to have around the dressing room with his knowledge and experience of the game. All of us wish him well in the future.”Gallian scored 15,266 runs in first-class cricket at an average of 37.50 including a career best 312 for Lancashire against Derbyshire. He earned England selection in 1995 against West Indies, but broke his finger on debut at Edgbaston. He played another Test at the end of that series and one in South Africa but was a victim of the inconsistent selection policy of the era.Essex have also released offspinner James Middlebrook and quick bowler Jahid Ahmed.

Glenn Turner, New Zealand’s chairman of selectors, has defended the selection of players without central contracts for the upcoming tour to Sri Lanka in August and September. Reacting to criticism over the selection of five players not on the list of 20 contracted players over the likes of Brent Arnel and James Franklin – both with retainers – Turner admitted there were flaws in the central contracts system and said he was working on a new arrangement.Included in New Zealand’s 15-man Test squad were Daryl Tuffey, Reece Young and Craig Cumming, who all missed out on central contracts last month. Young, the Auckland wicketkeeper, was picked as cover for Brendon McCullum despite Gareth Hopkins being the spare gloveman in the contract list released a fortnight ago. Hopkins was chosen in the ODI squad while a fourth wicketkeeper, Peter McGlashan, was named for the Twenty20 portion of the trip. The ODI side includes another without a contract, Nathan McCullum. Turner defended these selections, saying there were picked on merit.”You can argue that the system is flawed. It has obviously worked for a period but you have three solid forms of the game now, not two,” Turner told the . “I know people say we’ve got three back-up keepers and shake their heads and say ‘how can only one have a contract’? Ideally, under a different system – where you were giving contracts for each form of the game – all three would have got some money and that would have been a lot fairer.”We have Reece Young doing the Tests because we feel he is the next best gloveman; the next best gloveman after him, who also bats pretty damn well in both forms, is Hopkins; then you have McGlashan who can keep in Twenty20s but is valued more as a batting improviser in that form of the game.”According to Turner, because New Zealand were likely to play two fast bowlers, two spinners and Jacob Oram and Jesse Ryder as support seamers, Tuffey’s experience of Sri Lankan conditions earned him selection ahead of the uncapped Arnel. “Do you want a newcomer to be making his debut under Sri Lankan conditions? The answer is ‘no’, if you can avoid it. So selection is not so cut and dried,” said Turner.Per the existing contracts system, points are allotted to each player on the list. The players with the most points – each receives a highest of 25, a lowest of one – are offered New Zealand Cricket contracts. Turner said he was looking at devising a new system that would allocate points based on each format of the game and rate that against New Zealand’s itinerary for the upcoming year.”What I’ve noticed is that you could, let’s say, be ranked 11th on the Test list which would give you 18.75 points. If you don’t get any points in the ranking for limited-overs cricket, that 18.75 points would put you 29th on the overall list,” he said. “All of a sudden people see somebody who is playing Test cricket who doesn’t have a contract – who is not even close to a contract – and they think how could that possibly be?”The other example is that if you got 16th in both forms of the game, you would end up this year with a contract 15th on the list, which gives you a decent retainer [$90,000] and yet you’re 16th in line when it comes to 15-man squads. So you’re not selected in either form and yet you’ve got a contract.”Heath Mills, the New Zealand Cricket Players Association executive manager, said he could not see “wholesale changes” when the current contract system ends next year. “We have to figure out how to factor Twenty20 into the equation but at the same time it is important we still put our focus on the longer form of the game. That’s the form of the game the players want to see protected.”

Bermuda’s annual Cup Match will be screened live for free on Fresh TV after the company won broadcasting rights for the annual classic.Fresh will also screen a two-hour special live from the Somerset and St. George’s cricket clubs on selection night as team officials meet to discuss their squads. Last year’s event at Somerset Cricket Club, was the first time Cup Match was broadcast live for free both days.Nicole Conrad, of Fresh Creations, said the company aimed to take Cup Match coverage into a new era with a slick professional production, featuring fan interviews, player bios and live broadcast of every ball.Fresh’s coverage will be broadcast on cable channel 3 and streamed live on the Internet. The Bank of Bermuda is helping fund the coverage as part of its sponsorship package for the event on July 30, 31 at St. George’s Cricket Club.”We’ll have pre-game and post game commentary, player profiles and interviews. It’s a six-camera shoot so it will be a very professional production.” Conrad added: “We are honoured to have partnered with the St. George’s Cricket Club to provide free live coverage of this year’s Cup Match on Fresh TV Cable 3.”In addition, we would also like to thank our title sponsor for the broadcast of Cup Match, the Bank of Bermuda, for their lead sponsorship in bringing this live coverage to the people of Bermuda.”The Bank of Bermuda also confirmed a three-year sponsorship package with St. George’s cricket club at yesterday’s press conference.

Kenya have appointed Maurice Ouma, the dynamic wicketkeeper batsman, as their new captain to replace the long-standing Steve Tikolo. Ouma’s first duty will be to lead Kenya in their first match of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, against Ireland in July.Thomas Odoyo was overlooked in the 15-man squad, while Rajesh Bhudia makes way for David Obuya, who has been in encouraging form lately.Tikolo, 37, stepped down in April but insisted he will still play for Kenya, this time under Ouma’s watch. Ouma, 26, has played 43 ODIs for Kenya and has cracked three fifties. He laced 114 last year in Kenya’s Intercontinental Cup fixture against Netherlands.Jimmy Kamande, the 30-year-old offspinner, was named Ouma’s deputy.Kenya squad: Maurice Ouma (capt), Jimmy Kamande (vice-capt), Kennedy Obuya, Alex Obanda, Steve Tikolo, Collins Obuya, Thomas Odoyo, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Lameck Ngoche, Peter Ongondo, Hiren Varaiya, Rakep Patel, Elijah Otieno, Seren Waters, David Obuya