If Alviro Petersen had his own tankard in the local pub and a cider named after him, he could hardly have taken to life with Somerset more comfortably

George Dobell at Taunton25-Apr-2013
ScorecardMarcus Trescothick sustained a crushing blow to the neck off the bowling of Rikki Clarke•PA Photos

If Alviro Petersen had his own tankard in the local pub and a cider named after him, he could hardly have taken to life with Somerset more comfortably.Petersen, fresh from the 258 runs he scored on debut at The Oval, followed up with a century in his first game at his new home ground to help Somerset establish a commanding position by the end of the first day of this game against Warwickshire. A total of 394 runs in his first three innings does not just bear testament to some good wickets, but also a batsmen in supreme form.Some might look at the scores and conclude that Petersen is filling his boots against soft county attacks, but it is not so. There was nothing soft about this innings. Somerset, choosing to bat on a green-looking pitch on which Warwickshire would have chosen to bowl, were up against a fast-bowling attack that contained three men pushing for an England place. And while a couple of them were not absolutely at their best, a crowd of over 2,000 was treated to a high-quality encounter between two strong teams that would not have disgraced many international matches. The standard of county cricket at the top of Division One really is impressive at present.That Somerset have, at this stage, had the best of it is largely due to the strength of their top-order batting. A trio of Marcus Trescothick, Nick Compton and Petersen would grace many international sides and they responded to the challenging circumstances with classy displays.While Petersen will gain the headlines – he drove beautifully, but also cut and pulled fluently – the foundations for this innings were laid by Compton and Trescothick in an opening partnership of 103. Progress was not easy – runs to third man were plentiful as Warwickshire’s bowlers found the edge regularly – and Trescothick was hit a crunching blow on the side of his neck in the middle of a fierce spell from the dangerous but expensive Rikki Clarke.Perhaps Warwickshire were a little unfortunate, too. Compton, on 2, survived an edge off Chris Woakes that flew between the slips and gully, while Trescothick, on 9, was lucky to see his slashed edged go high over the cordon. But both batsmen leave so well and allow so little margin for error that, having survived the early challenges, they gradually gained the initiative.”Our openers did a great job seeing off the new ball,” Petersen said afterwards. “That made my job easier. I’m pretty happy with where my game is going and I hope I can go from strength to strength in the next two years.”Warwickshire may also reflect that they were not absolutely at their best. Chris Wright, perhaps anxious to make an impression in front of the TV cameras and the watching selector, Ashley Giles, struggled for rhythm just a little and drifted down the leg side more than normal, while Oliver Hannon-Dalby, in for the injured Keith Barker and preferred to Boyd Rankin, struggled to maintain the pressure with a few spells of floaty medium pace. It meant an attack that usually has a relentless nature to it instead had a weak link that allowed the batsmen to settle and regroup.Maybe Warwickshire chased the game for a while, too. After clawing their way back into contention after lunch, they seemed to strive too hard for wicket-taking deliveries rather than maintaining discipline and patience. It saw Petersen and Jos Buttler counterattack fluently in a partnership that eventually yielded 193 runs in 47.1 overs. Woakes, the pick of the bowlers, always demanded respect, but his colleagues overpitched and underpitched more than would, by their own high standards, have pleased them. Wright, in particular, improved during the day and produced several searing bouncers – one of which struck Buttler on the gloves – but with Graham Onions prospering elsewhere, may have ended the day further from the England team than he started it.Buttler will certainly have gone in the other direction. He is an unusually gifted batsman and will resume in the morning 10 short of the third century of his first-class career. There are times, such as when he throws his hands at wide deliveries without foot movement, when you worry for his technique but, when the ball disappears for four as often as it did today, such concerns fade. For the second game in succession, he added over 100 with Petersen and, perhaps more pleasingly, for the second game in succession, he tempered his own attacking instincts for the good of the team when a break for bad light and the loss of two late wickets threatened to reverse Somerset’s progress.For a while it appeared Somerset might squander their good start. They lost four wickets for 40 runs either side of lunch as James Hildreth pulled to square leg and Craig Kieswetter’s 17-ball duck ended when he fended one to slip as if providing catching practice. Earlier Compton was unfortunate to be adjudged lbw – there was more than a hint of inside edge on the ball – and Trescothick, just starting to show glimpses of his imperious best, played down the wrong line to the first ball of offspin from Jeetan Patel.Later Petersen, slashing at a cut, was brilliantly held in the slips, before Peter Trego, in the middle of a run of batting form so grim that his last six first-class innings have garnered just 19 runs, top-edged a pull and was also athletically held by Tim Ambrose. Ambrose’s days as an England player are surely gone but, on merit, he and Chris Read really should be considered among the very best of the contenders as No. 2 to Matt Prior in the Test team.

England will return to the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua for the first time since their Test against West Indies in 2009 was abandoned after 10 balls

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2013England will return to the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua for the first time since their Test against West Indies in 2009 was abandoned after 10 balls due to a dangerous outfield consisting largely of sand.Alastair Cook, who opened the batting with Andrew Strauss in that match, will take his ODI team to West Indies for three ODIs beginning at the end of February all of which will be held at North Sound. Three Twenty20s then follow, which will be staged in Barbados, as preparation for the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh which is due to start in mid-March.The Sir Vivian Richards Stadium returned to the international scene in May 2010, 14 months after the abandonment involving England, after the outfield was relayed for a second time and has since held matches in all formats.The brief tour of the Caribbean is part of a period full of ODI and Twenty20 cricket for England in the early part of 2014 following the conclusion of the Ashes in Sydney in early January.

For all that Lancashire sit contentedly atop the Division Two table, their batting order in 2013 has displayed all the stability of a post-war Italian government.

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford17-Jul-2013
ScorecardLancashire have badly needed the stability provided by Simon Katich and Ashwell Prince•PA Photos

For all that Lancashire sit contentedly atop the Division Two table, their batting order in 2013 has displayed all the stability of a post-war Italian government. None of the six predominantly home-developed players who occupied the first half-dozen places when Glen Chapple’s team won the title at Taunton in 2011 have played every four-day game this summer.Paul Horton has been injured for much of the season and Luke Procter for a small part of it. Stephen Moore has played only two County Championship games and, along with Tom Smith and Steven Croft, is currently out of the side. Karl Brown is opening for the first-team but he has been dropped recently too. Into the gaps created by the omission of established batsmen have come Luis Reece and Andrea Agathangelou, both of whom seem to be making the most of their opportunities.In the midst of this fluxion, Ashwell Prince and Simon Katich have provided the solidity upon which most of Lancashire’s best batting efforts have been based. So when Reece trooped off a sun-soaked Old Trafford outfield this morning, having been pinned lbw on the back foot by Dean Cosker for 53, there was a certain inevitability about the way in which Prince and Katich took control of their side’s reply to Glamorgan’s first innings total of 474.Coming together at 123 for 2, the two left handers spent the rest of the first session and much of the afternoon building a partnership with a rapidity comparable to that displayed by the lime-jacketed contractors who are erecting scarlet and green stands around Old Trafford in readiness for the Ashes Test which begins in 15 days.Prince was much the quicker, reaching his 50 off 57 balls with a clip though midwicket off John Glover and his first Championship century of the season with a six into the pavilion off Dean Cosker. But Prince was also the first to depart when he gloved an attempted sweep off Nathan McCullum to Mark Wallace behind the stumps. But by then, Prince had made 113 and shared a stand of 157 with Katich, who had made comparatively sedate progress: when both batsmen had faced 99 balls, Katich was on 35 compared to Prince’s 84, although this perhaps reflected his desire to bat long once again.Katich added a further 36 with Agathangelou before the latter was caught at slip when his indeterminate forward prod off McCullum only edged the ball to Jim Allenby at slip, in which position the same fielder had dropped Katich on 18 off McCullum.When Lancashire had garnered three bonus points there was some talk of the home side declaring behind and helping to set up a run chase. This proved to be little more than gossip. Katich and Luke Procter ground on into the evening session, the Australian reaching his century with a cover drive off Wagg who later reverted to left-arm spin and had Katich caught down the leg side by Wallace for 115 five overs before the close.By then Katich had put on 90 with Procter, who goes into the final day on 53. For their part the Glamorgan attack stuck to its task on a pitch which had altered little since Wagg induced Karl Brown to play on for 48 in the eighth over of the day.That wicket ended Brown’s 99-run first-wicket stand with the impressive Reece. The partnership constituted Lancashire’s best opening partnership of the season and had the pair added another run it would have been only the seventh time in 129 innings since Peter Moores took over at Old Trafford in 2009 that the openers had put on a century. The last occasion it happened was at Taunton in 2011, the fateful day when Lancashire won the title.There have been significant changes in personnel since then but it is the addition of Katich -with 874 runs in the Championship this season – that could be so important in assisting Lancashire’s attempt to return to English cricket’s top table.

Andy Flower has praised the captaincy of Alastair Cook as a crucial factor in England’s success in the Investec Ashes.

George Dobell13-Aug-2013Andy Flower has praised the captaincy of Alastair Cook as a crucial factor in England’s success in the Investec Ashes. England secured a series win over Australia in Durham on Monday and are now unbeaten in their last 12 Tests and last four series since Cook was appointed.While Flower, the England team director, admitted the side had not played to their true potential over the first four matches of the series, he was full of praise for the team’s attitude and the calm direction provided by Cook.”I don’t think we’ve played our best cricket in the series,” Flower said. “But what we have done is been resilient. We’ve held ourselves well in pressure situations.”Cook’s captaincy has been excellent: strong in the dressing room and out in the field. He made some decisions that turned the game, such as bringing on Bresnan, who got Warner straight away. He’s been maligned in some areas, I’ve heard. I’m not sure what is said off the field but we judge ourselves by our own standards.”As a Test captain he is still a young man but he has led the side brilliantly. He’s a strong leader and he’s made some really good decisions in this Test series.”Cook’s leadership has been heavily criticised by some, with former Australian legspinner Shane Warne a persistent negative voice. Indeed, Warne took to Twitter on Monday to say: “Cook is having a horror with his captaincy in the last two Tests. He set the tone early being very defensive and negative today.”Warne was also critical of the decision to bring Bresnan back into the attack on the fourth afternoon of the game. But Bresnan claimed the breakthrough wicket of David Warner with the fourth delivery of a fine six-over spell that also included the wicket of Shane Watson.Flower also praised the contribution of Stuart Broad, who claimed 11 wickets in the match and produced a top-class spell on the fourth day as England claimed nine wickets after tea. But he admitted the Ashes tour to Australia will present further challenges and require England to adapt.”It was nice being part of that afternoon session where Broad and Cook turned things around for us,” Flower said. “Broad’s spell of bowling was outstanding, showing real competitiveness, flair, nous and heart. They are all great qualities that reside in some of these very fine players.”Playing in Australia will be a bigger challenge and we’ve already got some of our planning in operation. It will be a tough series and conditions will be very different. South Africa went there last winter and nearly lost to a very similar team to the one we’ve faced.”We won in India last winter and that was a good example of adapting to very different conditions. We’ll have to do that in Australia if we are to thrive out there.”

Brad Haddin believes the umpiring standard has been poor this Ashes, and would like DRS to be taken out of the players’ hands, and decided upon by the umpires

Brydon Coverdale19-Aug-2013Australia’s vice-captain Brad Haddin has questioned the standard of umpiring throughout the Ashes series and believed that on-field officials were second-guessing themselves because of the presence of DRS. Haddin also reiterated the call he made after the first Test at Trent Bridge to have the review system taken out of the hands of the players and left at the sole discretion of the umpires.Haddin was clearly upset when he was given out lbw by umpire Tony Hill in Australia’s second innings in Chester-le-Street, where he tried to work a Stuart Broad delivery to leg. Haddin asked for a review and the umpire’s call stood after HawkEye suggested the ball would have just grazed the very top and edge of the leg bail. When asked what it was he had said to the umpire as he walked off, Haddin said he had muttered the words: “Not again”.Haddin was quick to point out the umpiring had not been the cause of Australia’s disappointing scoreline in the series and he commended England for having performed better, but he said that both teams would likely feel that the standard of officiating in the series had been below-par. Hill particularly was under the spotlight in the fourth Test, where he made a number of incorrect decisions, but all the officials have erred throughout the series.”I think England deserve to be in the position they are at 3-0. I think they’ve played the better cricket,” Haddin said. “But in all honesty, I think the standard of the umpiring in this series has been something that they could have a look at. I know players deal with pressure in different situations and some guys respond to it and some don’t. I think with the umpiring in this series, there have been times when they have cracked under the pressure of a campaign like [this].”I think DRS has put too much pressure on the umpires on the field. I think they’re second-guessing themselves with their decisions … I should’ve hit it [in Chester-le-Street]. But I think from both teams we’ve had some things that we’ve sat back and said ‘how can this be happening?’.”Teams haven’t always had to sit back and say it – they can do so out on the field while the replays are unfolding live on the big screen. After a review, the umpires and players typically stand around the pitch in their own little groups and watch the big-screen replay, which often brings plenty of jeering from the crowd if the umpire was shown to have made a mistake.”I do think it does place pressure on the umpires because the crowd react,” Haddin said of the replays. “If it’s a home crowd here they’re always going to lean towards England. I do think DRS has put a lot of pressure on the umpires on the field. I’ve gone on record before saying it should be taken out of the players’ hands and let the umpires deal with it. If they think it needs to go upstairs, let them go upstairs.”There are also questions over whether umpires would make the same decisions for the same deliveries, depending on whether a team still holds reviews or not. If, for example, an Australian bowler appeals with no reviews left, and the England batsmen still have reviews available, an umpire might feel more inclined to give a line-ball decision out because England have the option of challenging, whereas Australia do not.”I think the umpires are aware where DRS is at, who’s got one left or who’s got none left, and I think it can influence their decision,” Haddin said. “I think it needs to be taken out of the players’ hands, and let the umpires have total control. The bottom line is you just want to have more decisions right than not. You don’t want to be talking about DRS or umpire decisions in such a big series.”The fifth Test at The Oval begins on Wednesday with Aleem Dar and Kumar Dharmasena standing as the on-field officials and Hill as the TV umpire. Together with Marais Eramsus, they are the only four members of the ICC’s Elite Panel of umpires who are able to stand in an Ashes series, as the remaining eight men on the panel are either from England or Australia.

Lancashire closed in on victory after declaring their second innings 495 runs ahead and then removing seven Hampshire batsmen before the close

Paul Edwards at Southport30-Aug-2013
ScorecardPaul Horton’s hundred enabled Lancashire to extend their lead at a good tempo•PA Photos

In one respect, at least, “outground” is a misnomer. Although venues away from a county’s headquarters do, indeed, entail a journey from a now familiar stadium or ground, they are also a return to the club environment in which almost all players learn the game and to which very many will return when their first-class days are done. Perhaps that is why so many county cricketers show obvious pleasure at the prospect of outground cricket and excel when they play it.Certainly Lancashire’s players enjoyed themselves in Southport’s familiar surroundings over the first three days of this match. And why should they have not done so? Most of them will have played club or 2nd XI matches here and over half the side regularly play ECB Premier League cricket here. Such familiarity really does give a team home advantage.For example, on the third day of a match which Lancashire have bossed in the accustomed manner of league leaders, Paul Horton (Sefton Park and Northern) made a polished 111 off 154 balls and shared an opening stand of 166 with Luis Reece (Leyland) whose own innings of 65 was his sixth successive Division Two half-century in what has become a breakthrough season for him.Later acceleration was provided by Ashwell Prince and by Andrea Agathangelou (Highfield), the latter batsman hitting braces of fours and sixes in a rapid 28. Such enterprise allowed Lancashire to make 284 for 5 declared in 56 overs and set Hampshire 496 to win, a target which soon proved almost a statistical irrelevance as the visitors limped to 137 for 7 at close of play. Despite the presence of Matt Coles at the wicket, surely all that remains on the fourth morning of this game is for Lancashire to complete their utterly deserved victory.Yet if it is right to praise Lancashire’s dynamic batting in the first half of the third day of this game, it is also proper to laud the efforts of 16-year-old off-spinner Brad Taylor who was making his first-class debut far from home and the Southern Premier League in which he represents Hampshire’s Academy. Sticking to his most difficult task with the grit of a seasoned cricketer – you try containing Prince when he has a licence to thrill – Taylor took his first four Championship wickets at a cost of 64 runs in 14 overs. The fact that some of these were the product of the pragmatic exchange of runs for wickets which characterise pre-declaration play does not diminish Taylor’s achievement on Friday. He turned the ball and looked a more than decent prospect.However, the efforts of the Lancashire seam attack on a pitch which rewarded accuracy with the new ball threw the display of their Hampshire counterparts into sharp relief. Glen Chapple had an out of form Jimmy Adams caught at second slip by Agathangelou for 4 but then had to leave the field with an Achilles injury which is still being fully assessed. His team-mates barely noticed his absence as Hampshire’s batsmen subsided in the manner of cricketers who know that the four-day format holds no glory for them this summer.Tom Smith (Chorley and occasionally Formby) accounted for Liam Dawson while Kyle Hogg had Michael Roberts lbw before removing James Vince’s off stump when the first innings centurion had made 20. That wicket was Hogg’s 56th of the season and he is now the most successful bowler in the County Championship.Simon Kerrigan (Ormskirk) maintained the form he had begun to discover in the first innings by claiming the wickets of Sean Ervine, who carelessly thrashed him to Luke Procter, the one fielder on the leg side boundary, and also Neil McKenzie, whose 44 was the most significant innings played by a Hampshire batsman on a day many of his colleagues may wish to forget.Chris Wood’s run out raised hopes that the game may be concluded in three days but Coles and Adam Wheater survived until stumps. Barring weather intervention, they have merely succeeded in delaying a victory which will reinforce Lancashire’s strong claim to be the best side in Division Two.

The match may not gain much coverage and the rewards for success may be modest, but a quietly significant game takes place at Aston Manor Cricket Club in Birmingham on Sunday afternoon

George Dobell21-Sep-2013The match may not gain much coverage and the rewards for success may be modest, but a quietly significant game takes place at Aston Manor Cricket Club in Birmingham on Sunday afternoon.In it, a team from Birmingham will meet a team from Luton. Each one of the players will be aged under 22 and each of them will come from an inner-city community that might, without this competition, have not enjoyed the opportunity to play organised cricket.The competition is the final of the City Cup. The tournament was devised by Scyld Berry, the cricket correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph and formerly the editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, who was concerned that the England team no longer provided a true reflection of the nation it is meant to represent.In particular, Berry highlighted the dominance of players who learned their game either at private schools, in South Africa or even in South African private schools. Combined with the lack of cricket on free-to-view television, Berry felt there was a danger that cricket was becoming an irrelevance to large parts of the country and that there was no obvious route into professional cricket for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.The City Cup has grown each year since its inception in 2009. Eight regions are now involved – London (south), London (north), Leicester, Luton, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Manchester and Bradford. Two players from each of the eight teams will be selected to train at Lord’s with Mark Alleyne, the MCC head coach, on September 28, while the following day at Wardown Park in Luton, there will be a game between MCC Young Cricketers and the City Cup players. In 2009, the City Cup XI beat a Middlesex XI half of which had played first-team cricket with the other half drawn from their academy.Following that game, Alleyne will select as many of the City Cup players as he likes to become MCC Young Cricketers. He has selected a player in each of the last two years, one pace bowler, one spinner, both of south Asian origin.The aim is to spread the competition to 16 inner-city areas and provide a pathway into professional cricket for those who had become somewhat disenfranchised from the mainstream game.”A pathway to the top has been established for someone playing outside the traditional club and county structures like the ECB Premier Leagues,” Berry explained. “Thousands play on poorly maintained council pitches without any chance of progressing. But now, turn up at the nets at the start of a season and you could be a professional cricketer within a year.”

Glamorgan batsman Will Bragg scored his second hundred of the summer to ensure honours remained fairly even at the mid-point of their Championship clash with Kent in Canterbury

Press Association11-May-2015
ScorecardWill Bragg hit his second hundred of the season to keep Glamorgan in touch•Getty Images

Glamorgan batsman Will Bragg scored his second hundred of the summer to ensure honours remained fairly even at the mid-point of their Championship clash with Kent in Canterbury.Bragg, fresh from a career-best 120 against Leicestershire in the first round of this season’s Division Two games, hit a dozen boundaries in his 208-ball innings as Glamorgan posted 281 all out in response to Kent’s season’s best first-innings total of 357.The left-hander from Newport took advantage of a let-off with his score on 16 to reach the fourth hundred of his career and cut Kent’s first-innings advantage to a mere 76 runs.With his side in trouble on 54 for 3, Wagg was fortunate to see Matt Coles, stationed at second slip, drop a comfortable catch off the bowling of Calum Haggett and went on to bat late into the last session on an easing pitch.Kent looked set for a considerable first innings lead as they claimed three wickets in the 90-minute stint through to lunch. Rookie Ivan Thomas set the tone by trapping James Kettleborough leg before with an offcutter, then Coles ripped out the off stump of Jacques Rudolph and, when bowling around the wicket, had left-hander Colin Ingram snaffled at second slip.Glamorgan counter attacked in the middle session but, although the run rate increased, wickets still fell at regular intervals. Chris Cooke cutting at Darren Stevens picked out Joe Denly at cover point then Mark Wallace was caught behind down the leg side when attempting to glance against Thomas.Graham Wagg prodded forward in defence at a Stevens’ awayswinger to edge low to James Tredwell at slip and, with their score on 170 for 6 at tea, Glamorgan still had concerns over reaching their 208-run follow-on figure.Tredwell pocketed another catch in the cordon after tea to account for Craig Meschede and give Haggett a deserved scalp on his comeback appearance, but Bragg ensured that batting again would not be Glamorgan’s fate. He moved to 99 by steering one from Coles to third man then punched a single to extra cover to raise three figures having spent a shade under four hours at the crease.Bragg’s vigil ended when Thomas returned to bowl him around his legs for 104, then Stevens plucked out Michael Hogan’s middle stump. Stevens, Thomas and Coles all finished with three wickets apiece and Kent batted out the final over of the day, scoring a single to extend their lead to 77.At the start of day two, Glamorgan required barely half an hour to take Kent’s two remaining first-innings scalps, with Hogan bagging a season’s best 5 for 71. A cameo 25 from Coles eased Kent past 350 for a fourth batting bonus point.

Chris Rogers has conceded that team doctor Peter Brukner was right to rule him out of both Tests in the West Indies after he suffered concussion when he was struck on the helmet at training

Brydon Coverdale12-Jun-2015Chris Rogers has conceded that team doctor Peter Brukner was right to rule him out of both Tests in the West Indies after he suffered concussion when he was struck on the helmet at training. Rogers said he had had “some pretty bad days” since the incident in the lead-up to the first Test, but he was hopeful that he was on the way to recovery after facing throwdowns in the nets on Thursday.Rogers initially thought the incident was innocuous but he has suffered from headaches and dizziness since then, and admitted he would not have been fit for the ongoing second Test in Jamaica. He said he had been surprised by how long his symptoms had persisted since being struck on May 31, and while it was a concern he had been assured by Brukner he would recover.”I got hit on the head when I was just a bit early on a pull shot,” Rogers said. “Then I was actually hit on the box and that’s when I walked away and was a little bit annoyed. To be honest, I didn’t think much of the hit on the head. I’ve been hit on the head quite a few times. I thought it was just another one.”But then I just didn’t start to feel great. I spoke to the doc and didn’t expect him to rule me out of the Test, but he did. I was a little bit surprised at the time but since then I still haven’t quite recovered. I’ve had some pretty bad days so I think the doc was right. He made the right call.”You never want to miss a Test, especially for something I thought was fairly insignificant. I guess nowadays any knock to the head can make a difference. I just didn’t really think I’d have the headaches and the dizziness that have come with it. It’s been surprising but that’s what has happened.”Rogers said at the time he had not worried about the hit from a bowler who “wasn’t even that quick”. He was not aware of having been concussed previously in his career, and said it was hard to watch on from the sidelines but having felt ill after attempting some training he knew that he needed to be ruled out of the Jamaica Test as well as the first in Dominica.”As an opening batsman and a small one, you tend to cop your fair share on the helmet,” Rogers said. “But I’ve never really had symptoms like this, I must admit. Even just running and taking a few catches and then feeling terrible for the rest of the day. It’s been a bit of a wake-up call.”Shaun Marsh has filled Rogers’ position at the top of the order in the West Indies and Adam Voges slotted in at No.5 and scored a hundred on debut in Dominica. That will mean a decision for the selectors ahead of the Ashes next month; Rogers’ experience in English conditions will make him a desired member of the side if he is fully fit.”I had a hit today and that was a good sign,” Rogers said on Thursday. “I haven’t felt any side-effects from that so I think I’m on the road to recovery now … After a while you want to be back in it and you feel a little bit left out when you’re not part of the team. But that’s natural and you just have to wait your turn.”

Mohammad Hafeez will miss the third Test against Sri Lanka in Pallekele to undergo a test on his bowling action, which was found suspect after the Galle Test

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jul-2015Mohammad Hafeez will miss the third Test against Sri Lanka in Pallekele to undergo a test on his bowling action. The offspinner was granted an Indian visa on Wednesday afternoon, and the ICC is expected to confirm a date for the test on Thursday. The PCB had earlier requested the ICC for an extension to the July 4 deadline for the test, on the grounds that Hafeez had not yet been granted an Indian visa to travel to the accredited testing centre in Chennai.Hafeez was reported for a suspect action after the first Test in Galle. According to ICC regulations, he is allowed to bowl until the results of the tests are out and he bowled 14 overs in the second Test in Colombo, which Pakistan lost by seven wickets. He travelled to Pallekele, the venue for the third Test from July 3, to join the squad, but will now travel to Colombo before leaving the country for the test.Hafeez was reported on June 21 and according to ICC regulations he needed to appear for testing within 14 days. He faces a one-year suspension from bowling if his elbow flex is found to be over the permissible 15-degree limit because it would be the second time his action was declared illegal in the last two years.Hafeez had also been reported in November last year and then banned from bowling in December because he was found to have an elbow extension as high as 31 degrees. After a delay due to injury, Hafeez was cleared to bowl only this April following tests in Chennai.1538 GMT, July 1, 2015 This story was updated after Mohammad Hafeez was granted a visa