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The issue of player payments in the Bangladesh Premier League was brought up at the end of the Comilla Victorians – Sylhet Super Stars game, with Mashrafe Mortaza and Shahid Afridi giving contrasting versions. While Comilla’s Mashrafe indicated that all payments to his team-mates were made on time, Afridi, who plays for Sylhet, said that some players told him about their dues.The BPL’s policy, like the 2013 edition, is to clear 50% of all player payments before the tournament begins, 25% during the tournament, and the rest within one month of the tournament’s final, which in this case will be January 15, 2016.Mashrafe said that the Comilla franchise had made 75% of the player payments before the due date of December 11. “All members of our team were paid 75% of the money,” Mashrafe said. “They were supposed to pay us by December 11, they paid us last night. As far as I know, the foreign players have been paid in full though there might be one or two issues. We have no complaints about payment since we got it last night.”Afridi, however, said that some players, without mentioning their names, had told him that they had not received any payments. Nonetheless, he welcomed the BPL and said that if the payment issues were cleared, the tournament would attract more players.”At the moment some of the other players mentioned they didn’t get paid yet,” Afridi said. “The cricket board this time took a responsibility and I must give credit to the BPL and the Bangladesh Cricket Board. They organized this tournament well, and I personally enjoyed it. If they sorted out the problems with the guys, money-wise, hopefully each and every player will come from anywhere and enjoy the BPL.”

Scorecard
Points table

Mathew Inness retired in style by bowling Western Australia to a 222-run victory over Tasmania at the WACA. The Tigers began the day still 336 short of their target with seven wickets in hand, but any thoughts of a dashing chase ended when they lost 3 for 5 in five overs before lunch.Inness picked up two of those wickets, George Bailey caught behind for 33 and Tim Paine bowled for 5, and he finished the job by trapping Tim Macdonald lbw to secure the win. It capped off a remarkable year for Inness, who collected 4 for 44 to take his season tally to 40 wickets at 20.12. Only Doug Bollinger and Ashley Noffke had more prolific campaigns than Inness, who was overlooked for every match last summer.After Paine departed Tasmania were 6 for 161 and Luke Butterworth’s 79, which included four sixes, was the only bright spot as the defending champions ended their season in fourth place. Although Inness’ seven wickets were the most from any bowler during the game it was another retiree, Justin Langer, who was named Man of the Match for his first-innings 131.

Match facts

December 28, 2015
Start time 1430 local (9am GMT)Gautam Gambhir-led Delhi will be gunning for their second Vijay Hazare Trophy title against plucky Gujarat•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Big Picture

The presence of the big India stars brought some attention to the knockout week of Vijay Hazare Trophy, but it’s the two best teams with those hungry to do well at this level that are left standing. Axar Patel has been Gujarat’s talisman, but he is hardly the established star that would bring newspaper headlines to a tournament. Delhi, on the other hand, have relied mainly on team work in their bowling: Quicks Navdeep Saini and Suboth Bhati have gained massively from a dash of Ishant Sharma. Left-arm spinner Manan Sharma has been the perfect support act with an economy rate of 3.36, and Pawan Negi has had a bit of an X-factor about him.The batting of these two sides have been the opposite. Gujarat have shared around the duties: Parthiv Patel hits at the top, Priyank Pachal, Rujul Bhatt and Chirag Gandhi have been the rocks, and Manpreet Juneja returned to form with a fifty in the semi-final. Delhi are more reliant on Unmukt Chand and Gautam Gambhir. Nitish Rana has shown signs of maturity, and Negi has again provided crucial lower-order quick runs.This has been a good turnaround for both the sides after a disappointing first-class season. Delhi seemed to have put behind administrative controversies when they led the points table in the first half. They fell away in the second half whereas Gujarat failed to recover from a slow start. Only one team will cap it off, though.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Delhi WWWWW
Gujarat WWWWW

In the spotlight

The knockout stage played on tired pitches has been a low-scoring affair. The pitches, especially at Chinnaswamy Stadium, the venue of the final, have been two-paced and generally slow. In the first day-night match of the event, the conditions will be in focus.It might be easy to say Gujarat have been all Axar, but Rujul Bhatt will take exception. He has been a solid middle-order batsman, a good slip fielder and a steady offspinner. He is Gujarat’s highest run-getter with 278 runs, and has given away runs at under 4.5 an over. When Axar was running through Tamil Nadu in the semi-final, Bhatt bowled 10 straight overs for just 34 runs.Chand, meanwhile, is the only one with a realistic chance of unseating Mandeep Singh as the highest run-getter of the tournament. At 308 runs, he is 86 behind Mandeep’s mark of 394. He nearly scored that many in the semi-final, shepherding what could have been a tricky chase on the Chinnaswamy pitch.

Team news

Neither of the teams might have pressing reasons to change their winning combinations.Delhi (probable) 1 Rishabh Pant (wk), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Unmukt Chand, 4 Gautam Gambhir (capt.), 5 Milind Kumar, 6 Nitish Rana, 7 Manan Sharma, 8 Pawan Negi, 9 Suboth Bhati, 10 Navdeep Saini, 11 Ishant Sharma.Gujarat (probable) 1 Parthiv Patel (capt. & wk), 2 Priyank Panchal, 3 Bhargav Merai, 4 Rujul Bhatt, 5 Chirag Gandhi, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Manpreet Juneja, 8 Rohit Dahiya, 9 Rush Kalaria, 10 Hardik Patel, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.

Stats and trivia

• This is only the second time these two teams are facing each other in a one-day match. The last encounter was a romp for Delhi, in the quarter-final of 2012-13.
• Axar Patel is the joint highest wicket-taker in the tournament, with 19 of them. He is tied with Punjab’s Siddarth Kaul.
• Delhi have won the Vijay Hazare Trophy once in 2013. Gujarat are looking for their first title.

Quotes

“We can’t take any opposition lightly. We were beaten by Assam in the days and that cost us the knockout berth. We lost against Vidarbha, a very close match. We could not chase 163. We have got enough instances for the fact that we can’t take any opposition lightly. Of course it being a final, we have to raise the bar in all the three departments and make sure that we put in a 100%, do our best so that we win the finals as well.”
“It is great the way preparation for Australia is going. Have batted and bowled well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. But I am taking it step by step. Right now thinking of the final only. Will think of Australia after that.”

Not only is there a divide between the haves and have-not counties, if Leicestershire chairman Neil Davidson is to be believed, but there is also disagreement between the chairmen themselves.On Wednesday Davidson claimed there was a gulf between the counties who host international cricket and the rest. He said that the major counties, plus Kent and Sussex, earned £17.6 million between them in 2006 while the other nine shared £6.6 million. He also claimed that Surrey received the most – £10.1 million – while Derbyshire at the other end of the scale got £2.4 million.Clarke, whose relationship with Davidson is best described as civil, dismissed the claims in coldly polite terms. “It was deeply regrettable that Mr Davidson saw fit to release a paper which contained factual inaccuracies and ignored the findings of last year’s independent KPMG report, which concluded that the international grounds did not obtain financial benefit after taking into account facility and operating costs from international matches.”And in today’s Daily Telegraph Surrey chairman Paul Sheldon also disputed Davidson’s comments. “We can refute every financial argument that he puts,” he said. “The Test-match playing counties give £2 million a year to the centre, which is then redistributed among the smaller counties.”His research and reporting, although some of it is quite interesting, is flawed by the fact that his figures are erroneous. I cannot understand why he would do this without checking his facts. It does not seem anyone supports his views because his facts are just wrong.”

Cricket has lost one of its greatest friends with the death of former Warwickshire player Jack Bannister. He was 85.Bannister enjoyed a fine career as a player and journalist, but it was perhaps his role in establishing the Professional Cricketers’ Association – the players’ union in England – that will prove to have the greatest ramifications.He attended the organisation’s inaugural meeting and went on to serve it for 20 years as secretary and then as chairman and president. Having helped establish a standard employment contract and minimum wage for cricketers, he then set to work establishing their first pension system. Later he helped negotiate a solution when some counties were keen to ban players who had appeared in Packer’s World Series.The roots of better salaries, freedom of movement and more equitable terms and conditions for players all grew from those roots. The players of today owe Bannister and his colleagues a great deal.A medium-fast seamer, Bannister was a good enough player to take 1,198 first-class wickets over a 20-year career at an average of 21.91. His figures of 10 for 41, taken against Combined Services in 1959, remain the best innings figures taken by a Warwickshire bowler, while he also claimed 9 for 35 against Yorkshire in 1955. He featured in the Warwickshire sides that won the County Championship in 1951 and the Gillette Cup in 1966. He retired at the end of the 1969 season; the year in which the Sunday League was introduced.He established a successful chain of bookmakers during the later years of his playing career but, once his broadcasting career blossomed, relinquished control of the business to his daughter.He had started to write for the during the latter years of his playing career – a relationship that was to endure for 40 years – and subsequently enjoyed a distinguished career as broadcaster and writer with the BBC and TalkSPORT. He was chairman of The Cricket Writers’ Club between 1994 and 1996.He referred to Richie Benaud as his “best friend in life” and, every week from 1987 – when Bannister joined Benaud in the BBC TV commentary box – to three-weeks before Benaud’s death in April 2015, the pair exchanged racing tips. Golf was another great passion they shared.”There is no denying that every cricketer owes Jack a huge debt of gratitude because he was one of the pioneers who were responsible for laying the foundations for the organisation we have now,” Jason Ratcliffe, the assistant chief executive of the PCA and chairman of the Warwickshire Old County Cricketers’ Association, said.”Jack was always a players’ man and he worked tirelessly to improve pay and conditions for players during his long association with the PCA.”He was a fantastic cricketer with an outstanding record for Warwickshire. After he retired from playing, Jack became an influential figure in the broadcasting box from where he continued to promote the game he loved. Everyone at the PCA is very saddened to hear the news of Jack’s death and our thoughts go to his family, many friends and colleagues.”Wolverhampton born, Bannister’s family moved to Birmingham and he gained entry to King Edward’s School Five Ways through the 11+.

As fitness tests go, it was unconventional but effective. All week long, Ryan Sidebottom has been struggling to recover from the grade one hamstring tear that ruled him out of England’s final warm-up match in Dunedin, but with six deliveries in the nets at Hamilton’s Seddon Park, he confirmed that, come Wednesday morning, he’ll be ready to resume his new-ball role.Granted, the over was a sideshow as the target was the team’s security advisor, Reg Dickerson, who has been so under-employed on this sleepy trip that it was decided his own safety should be put on the line. But Sidebottom’s zip and swing were very much in evidence, as was his snarl of frustration when his prey avoided dismissal, as all doubts about his fitness were allayed.”I’m fighting fit and available for selection,” said Sidebottom. Earlier in the afternoon he had been put through an exhaustive series of shuttle runs by the team physio, Kirk Russell, and later returned to the nets for a proper work-out. “It’s a bit of relief because it’s a worry when you get injured, but I’m not getting on the plane home so I’m happy with that and I’m raring to go now.”The New Zealand series will be the culmination of a remarkable year for Sidebottom, who wasn’t even a blip on the international radar during the dying days of Duncan Fletcher’s England regime. But then last May came the new coach, Peter Moores, and within the month, he’d recalled from the wilderness a man whose only previous Test had come six years previously, at Lord’s in 2001.And for that, ironically, Sidebottom owes a debt of gratitude to Stephen Fleming, his captain at Nottinghamshire, who is now chief among his targets for the Test series. It was a phone call to Fleming from Moores’ deputy, Andy Flower, that set the chain of events in motion. “I had to give him an honest appraisal of Ryan’s bowling,” said Fleming, “and that killed me because I knew if I told them how good he was then he’d get taken away from us and he’d do bloody well for England. But I thought Ryan had been overlooked for too long.””He’s had some lovely words to say about me,” said Sidebottom after hearing of Fleming’s praise. “He’s a lovely bloke, a great character and a really nice man. For him to say those things about me is a great honour, and I’m looking forward to bowling at him. Hopefully I can knock him over.”New Zealand will be hoping that Fleming’s influence on Sidebottom is not too detrimental to their series prospects. “He’s a very positive captain, so I’m a lot more positive as well,” said Sidebottom. “He was always very attacking so that helped my bowling. He taught me to keep plugging away and never give up, because he always had the slips in so you had to bowl well and on the money more often than not. “So far, Fleming has been spot-on in his predictions. Sidebottom has been arguably England’s bowler of the year with 29 Test wickets at 32.27, and undoubtedly the unluckiest – innumerable chances have been missed off his bowling, not least by the former wicketkeeper Matt Prior, who has paid for his errors with his place in the side.The missed chances have been hard for Sidebottom to bear, especially on the pancake-flat decks at The Oval and Galle where he toiled lucklessly in consecutive series-deciders against India and Sri Lanka. “The lads keep going on about me having a bit of white-line fever, but aggression is part of my game,” said Sidebottom. “When I’m pumped up I’m bowling well. Sometimes go over the top and react too much so I know I’ve got to curb it a little bit, but sometimes you do get frustrated. You just have to get on with it, and keep bowling.”Happily for England, that is exactly what Sidebottom intends to do in the coming week. With England’s other injury concern, Paul Collingwood, also coming through practice unscathed, the team is taking shape nicely with one day of practice to come.

Karnataka were in line for a bonus-point win over Assam as K Gowtham triggered another second-innings meltdown courtesy three wickets to take his match tally to seven, in addition to a maiden first-class century. Assam, made to follow-on, were tottering at 169 for 6, still needing 155 to avoid an innings defeat in Mysore.Gowtham was complemented by fast bowler Abhimanyu Mithun, who picked up two wickets. The only semblance of resistance from Assam came courtesy a 56-run fourth-wicket stand between Gokul Sharma and Sibsankar Roy, who made 44. Gokul, the captain, was unbeaten on 62.Delhi, denied victory courtesy bad light in their season opener, were in closing distance of seven straight points at the Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi. Following on, Railways, were reduced to 157 for 6, requiring another 154 to avoid an innings defeat. Pulkit Narang, Vikas Mishra and Manan Sharma picked up two wickets each, while Ishant Sharma, the Delhi captain, sent down 10 overs for 19 runs and no wickets. Nitin Bhille, the top-scorer for Railways in the match, remained unbeaten on 54 at the close of play on the third day.Hyderabad’s frustration continued as they couldn’t step out onto the field for a seventh consecutive day this season. Their second game, at Gymkhana Grounds in Hyderabad, is set to face similar fate as the first one: abandoned without a ball bowled. Torrential rain in Hyderabad had earlier rendered the outfield at Rajiv Gandhi International stadium unsuitable for the T20I between India and Australia last week. Uttar Pradesh, their opponents, are also in desperate need for game time, particularly after a loss to Railways in their tournament opener.

Paras Dogra’s unbeaten 97 got Himachal Pradesh to 259 and then Vishal Bhatia took four wickets to bowl out Jharkhand 30 runs short of target in Visakhapatnam.Half-centuries from Sandeep Sharma and Manoj Sharma laid the platform for Paras’ 104-ball innings which included six fours and two sixes. Paras and Manvinder Bisla added 53 for the fourth wicket but the middle order didn’t push home the advantage. The last six wickets fell for 65 runs. But in the end the target set by Himachal was more than enough.Ishank Jaggi (55) led Jharkhand’s chase along with Saurabh Tiwary (40) and the two added 72 together before Jaggi was caught and bowled by Sarandeep Singh. When Tiwary was caught behind off Bhatia, Jharkhand needed 138 off 131 balls to win. Bhatia then removed Amir Hashmi and Santosh Lal in two consecutive overs and Jharkhand required 102 off 83 balls with four wickets in hand. The last four only managed to add 71 more.In the second match in Visakhapatnam, Tamil Nadu scored a six-wicket win over Madhya Pradesh after they bowled them out for 189 and chased the target with more than eight overs left.Shadab Khan top scored for MP with 39 and his 53-run stand with Murtaza Ali was the only one of any significance in the innings. Tamil Nadu gave eight of their players a chance to bowl and C Ganapathy, R Ashwin and S Badrinath picked up two wickets each. L Balaji, returning to competitive cricket after one and a half years, took 1 for 31 in his 7.2 overs.Badrinath hit an unbeaten 79 and added 62 with S Vidyut to take Tamil Nadu to an easy win.

Match facts

Sunday, April 13, 2008Start time 15:00 local time (10:00 GMT)

The Big Picture

Pakistan are predictably 2-0 ahead in the series following comprehensive wins in Lahore and Faisalabad. A win in Lahore tomorrow will seal the series, so the pressure falls on Bangladesh to pull off a surprise victory and stay alive in what has been a woefully one-sided series so far. The Pakistan batting has a solid look to it, with Salman Butt, Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik piling up 50-plus scores and setting up the wins.Bangladesh had a few positives in the previous game, the most significant being the lower-order revival led by Mahmudullah. The application on show was an improvement on their previous outings against other Test-playing nations as they managed bat out their quota of overs without being bowled out. Unfortunately, the bowlers failed to back that effort and apply any pressure during Pakistan’s chase.

Form guide – Pakistan

Last five matches – WWWWWPlayer to watch: Shahid Afridi is hungry and itching for more action. In Lahore, he belted 27 from 11 balls towards the end of the innings, and was the most effective Pakistan bowler with figures of 3 for 33 in the following game. He remains a crowdpuller wherever he goes and the spectators at the Gaddafi Stadium will hope for a longer stint at the crease. A promotion in the batting order would help.

Form guide – Bangladesh

Last five matches – WWWLLPlayer to watch: A livewire with the bat, Mohammad Ashraful remains infuriatingly unpredictable. His last few scores have been ordinary despite the fact that he has mostly got off to starts. In Faisalabad, he got off to a terrific beginning, unfurling an upper cut and following it up with three boundaries in an over. Though his cameo ended at 22, there’s no doubt he will be keen to buckle down and make a better contribution.

Team news

With Younis Khan pulling out of the remainder of the series, Pakistan will be forced to make at least one change. Bazid Khan, the right-hand middle-order batsman who’s making a comeback after three years, is one of the options. However, the captain Shoaib Malik spoke of playing an extra bowler, and that could give an opportunity for Fawad Alam, the allrounder who bowls left-arm spin. Umar Gul, back in the squad after recovering from a back injury, could be rested in favour of Sohail Khan, the promising right-arm seamer. For Bangladesh, Shahriar Nafees will be under pressure to retain his place after two failures.Pakistan (likely) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Nasir Jamshed, 3 Bazid Khan, 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Shoaib Malik (capt), 6 Misbah-ul-Haq, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Kamran Akmal (wk), 9 Rao Iftikhar, 10 Sohail Khan, 11 Sohail Tanvir.Bangladesh (likely) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Shahriar Nafees, 3 Aftab Ahmed, 4 Mohammad Ashraful (capt), 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mashrafe Mortaza, 8 Farhad Reza, 9 Dhiman Ghosh (wk), 10 Syed Rasel, 11 Abdur Razzak.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch is expected to play similar to the one from the first match. The batsmen should enjoy the conditions early on, with the surface likely to take turn as the match progresses. However, there is rain in the air in Punjab and the weather could intervene, just as it had in Faisalabad.

Stats and trivia