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England face a late selection quandary over the inclusion of Chris Woakes in the team for the second Test.Woakes, who bowled immaculately in the first Test, was described as “fine to play” by England captain Alastair Cook. But the England captain also admitted Woakes was suffering from a “bowling niggle” and from the “wear and tear of bowling”.As a result, England are considering rotating him with a view to injury prevention and to ensure he is fit for the final three Tests of the series.If Woakes is rested, England have to decide whether to pick James Anderson, who has not played a game since August, or recall Steven Finn or Jake Ball.”It’s a real tough one,” Cook admitted. “We know what we’ve got coming up but the way the 11 guys played in the last game was outstanding. So it’s either the rotation policy or do you stick with what we’ve got. That’s the decision we’ve got to make.”Woakes is the one we’re looking at because of the amount of overs he has bowled over the last six or seven weeks. He was outstanding in Rajkot, so we will have to make a decision. He has just got a bowling niggle really. Just the normal wear and tear of bowling, so he’s fine to play.”Under normal circumstance, England would have no hesitation in drafting Anderson back into the side. But Cook is clearly nervous about risking him as part of a three-man seam attack after such a long period out of the game.”Jimmy has come over and done really well in the nets,” Cook said. “He’s confident as he can be in terms of his skills and where he’s at but he hasn’t got miles in his legs.”The last time he played in a game was in August. So you’re weighing up that against guys who have been out here for seven weeks and also against Chris Woakes. It’s going through our heads what we are going to do.”While Woakes is keen to play and had a brief bowl in training, it could be that Finn is the beneficiary of a decision to rest him. Finn has continued to bowl well in the nets – not always a precursor to bowling well in a match – and troubled most of England’s batsmen.Whatever England conclude, they go into the second Test in greater confidence than they went into the first. Their ability to post a score of over 500 in Rajkot – whatever the state of the pitch and the state of India’s fielding – has infused the batting line-up with confidence, while the success the bowlers had in slowing India’s rate of scoring in the first innings and putting them under pressure in the second has provided a similar boost. Crucially, England’s spinners lost little in comparison to their Indian counterparts.”The way we played was particularly pleasing over the five days,” Cook said. “We were relentless in all aspects of the game. There were a couple of dropped catches here and there, that does happen in the game, but apart from that we were excellent with the ball and in the field.”There were three first-innings hundreds to get more than 500 and, when the pressure was on in the second innings and it looked like we were the only side who could lose the game, Haseeb Hameed played really well. A lot of things went well for us and that can only give us confidence that we can compete with India and put them under pressure.”If England do go on to win the series, it may be that we look back and reflect on the defeat in Dhaka as a key moment. That loss – and the manner of it, with England losing 10 wickets in a session – was such a shock that Cook believes it acted as a catalyst to their improvement.”They were incredibly tough wickets to bat on,” Cook said. “It doesn’t matter whether you’d played 130 Tests in Asia with a good record or your first game. It was incredibly tough for the top order with the same balls skidding and spinning. If you look at mine and Gary Ballance’s [first-innings] dismissals we both received exactly the same deliveries with exactly the seam release out of the hand. One hit leg stump and the other got caught [by the keeper]. That was the challenge facing us.”It didn’t make us bad players of spin. But what it did do was focus a real intensity in our training after those 10 wickets fell in a session. It makes people not re-evaluate their game but really concentrate, particularly in those first 30 balls of your innings.”We had a really good couple of days in Mumbai and when conditions were slightly more favourable for batting and the hard work we’d put in paid off. Now we have to do it again. Everyone starts on nought now.”It appears the toss will once again be vital. While the pitch looked oddly damp on Wednesday and was given a further sprinkling of water, the groundsman has stated he expects it to start turning on the second day. The relatively lush outfield and fresh-looking square will again do little to generate reverse-swing. While there may be a little in the surface in the first session, batting fourth is likely to prove especially demanding.’The toss is important,” Cook said, “but in Mumbai the last time we played here we lost the toss on a turning wicket and we outplayed India. So it is important but it doesn’t mean you can’t win the game if you lose it. If you go back to our last game in Rajkot, our worst bit of the game was that first 25 minutes when we showed a bit of nerves. Everyone here says the toss is important but if we lose it, it will just be another challenge we will have to overcome.”

The West Indies Cricket Board has sent a notice to Darren Bravo saying the batsman’s match contract has been cancelled due to the “disparaging” remarks he made on Twitter about board president Dave Cameron earlier in the week. In an e-mail sent to Bravo on Friday, Richard Pybus, WICB’s director of cricket, warned that if the batsman did not delete the tweet and apologise by Saturday afternoon, he could face further action from the board’s disciplinary panel.While Bravo has not made any comment in public, it is learnt he has not yet responded to the WICB. On Saturday, the WICB had replaced Bravo in the squad for the Zimbabwe tri-series for “inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour”, which breached contractual obligations. While the cancellation of his match contract applies to the Zimbabwe series for now, it could include future tours. Bravo is currently without a retainer after he declined a central contract offered by the WICB for the 2016-17 period in November.Earlier this week Cameron told , a Caribbean television network, that Bravo was offered a grade C contract (the lowest of five grades) because of his declining averages over the last two years. He also questioned how a player would be motivated if he continued getting a grade A contract despite a slip in performances.Bravo responded by tweeting: “You hav been failing 4 d last 4yrs. Y don’t u resign and FYI I’ve neva been given an A contract. Big idiot @davec51.”Cameron had pointed out that the decision was taken by a team led by Pybus, which carries out annual appraisals of players. Pybus said Bravo’s statement was a breach of his contract.”It has come to our attention that on November 11, 2016 you published a tweet on your Twitter account (@DMBravo46) disparaging the President of the West Indies Cricket Board,” Pybus said in an email to the cricketer. “We would expect as a senior West Indian cricketer, that you would recognise that your decision to vent your frustration online, as well as to denigrate the President of the WICB, was inappropriate and unacceptable as well as contrary to your contractual obligations to the WICB.”Clause 9.3.1 of your match/tour contract provides that in default by you in respect of your obligations under the contract, WICB may in its absolute discretion cancel the contract by written notice to the Cricketer. In light, therefore of your breach of your obligations to WICB in clause 4.7.2.2 of your match/tour contract, the letter serves as a written notice that your match/tour contract is hereby cancelled.”Bravo was West Indies’ second-highest run-getter in the recently concluded Test series against Pakistan in the UAE. Before that, he had a poor Test series against India at home, scoring only 139 runs in seven innings. Since November 2014, Bravo scored 1089 runs in 17 Tests for West Indies, a tally that is second to Kraigg Brathwaite’s 1258 runs in 20 matches.Pybus urged Bravo to acknowledge on Twitter the “impropriety” of his remark and stressed the batsman should not use social media sites in a manner that could embarrass the WICB or its officials, or bring the game into disrepute.”We also request you immediately remove the highlighted tweet from your account, and desist from tweeting about WICB officials in the future,” Pybus said. “We further request that you acknowledge, via your Twitter account, the impropriety of your actions and your recognition that your decision to publicly express your views on social media was not conduct befitting of a West Indies cricketer.”I strongly discourage you from continuing to use Twitter or other social networking sites in a manner which might cause embarrassment to the West Indies Cricket Team, the West Indies Cricket Board or any official of the West Indies Cricket Board and which can potentially bring the game into disrepute.”I ask that you also note that any further such action on your part, including failure to comply with our request above by 4 p.m. Eastern Caribbean time on November 12 2016, may result in further disciplinary action, including referral to the WICB Disciplinary Committee.”

India have rested R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami for the first three ODIs of the upcoming series against New Zealand, which starts on October 16. All three are key bowlers in the Test team, and the selectors have chosen to give them a break with India set to play 11 more Test matches in the 2016-17 home season.

India ODI squad for first three matches

MS Dhoni (capt), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav
In: Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav
Out: Yuzvendra Chahal, Rishi Dhawan, Faiz Fazal, Karun Nair, Lokesh Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Barinder Sran, Jaydev Unadkat,

Suresh Raina, who last played an ODI in October 2015, was recalled to the squad, while Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul were unavailable due to injuries.This was the first India squad picked by the new selection panel chosen during the BCCI’s annual general meeting on September 21.In the absence of the three frontline bowlers and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was ruled out of the third Test in Indore with to a back strain, the team’s seam options comprised Umesh Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, while Amit Mishra, Jayant Yadav and Axar Patel made up the spin options. Like Raina, Mishra too had not played an ODI since October last year. MSK Prasad, India’s chairman of selectors, said Raina’s part-time spin was a factor in his recall.India’s previous ODI series was against Zimbabwe in June, for which the selectors had rested most of the senior players. Apart from captain MS Dhoni, seven players from that squad – Mandeep, Bumrah, Kedar Jadhav, Kulkarni, Manish Pandey, Axar and Jayant – were retained for the New Zealand matches.Mandeep, Jayant and Pandya were yet to make their ODI debuts. The 24-year-old Mandeep enjoyed a good stint with the India A side during its recent tour of Australia, scoring 198 runs in six matches in the Quadrangular A-team series, including two successive fifties, one of which was a match-winning innings of 95 in the final against Australia A.Jayant, the 26-year-old Haryana offspinner, played the two unofficial Tests on that tour, taking seven wickets at 22.57. Pandya, a regular member of India’s T20 side, having played all their matches at the World T20 earlier this year, has not featured in the 50-overs side yet.Raina was left out of India’s ODI squads for the tours of Australia (December-January) and Zimbabwe, and also missed the two T20Is against West Indies in the USA. In between, he had a disappointing run of form in the Asia Cup and the World T20. In the Asia Cup T20s, Raina scored 39 runs in three innings, and followed that with 41 runs in four innings at the World T20. Before his exclusion from the ODI team last December, Raina had managed only one century in the format in 26 matches.

Jeff Dujon, the former West Indies wicketkeeper, has said it would be a “terrible embarrassment” if West Indies were unable to qualify automatically for the 2019 World Cup.West Indies are currently jostling with Pakistan for the final automatic qualification spot in the one-day rankings ahead of the series in UAE, which starts on Friday. If Pakistan can repeat their 3-0 scoreline from the T20 series in the ODIs, they will jump ahead of West Indies into eighth place.The cut-off for qualification is September 30, 2017, with the ODI nations who sit outside the top eight then joining the qualifying tournament which is currently scheduled to take place in Bangladesh. West Indies missed out on a place in next year’s Champions Trophy after being pipped for the final berth by Pakistan and Bangladesh.”It would be a terrible embarrassment for West Indies to not automatically qualify,” Dujon, who played in the 1983 and 1987 World Cups, told ESPNcricinfo. “It would be damaging for any team who has tasted what it’s like to be in the top echelon of world cricket.”As someone who played in a very successful era, it’s very embarrassing but it has to be an indication of exactly where we are at and something needs to be done. It hurts.”We can’t be fooled by the fact that we’ve just won two tournaments – the World T20 and the U-19 World Cup – the fact we are still struggling to qualify shows we shouldn’t get carried away with that.”On the eve of travelling to the UAE, Phil Simmons was sacked as coach – less than six months after West Indies won the World T20 – with the WICB citing “differences in culture and strategic approach.” Dujon does not believe a satisfactory explanation has been given for Simmons’ departure, despite the strained relationship he had with the board following comments about one-day selection last year.”The sacking of Phil Simmons was a surprise. I’m not sure we have the real reasons, what we were given were a bit sketchy,” he said during a visit to London for a Lord’s Taverners event honouring wicketkeepers. “It’s disappointing for me that we haven’t been able to find a settled situation in the coaching area which would give the team some direction. It’s a setback. Jason Holder as captain also still has a lot to prove so things are in a pretty unstable situation now.”Simmons’ last engagement was the Test series against India where, although West Indies lost 2-0, there were moments of encouragement, particularly with Roston Chase’s match-saving maiden Test century in Jamaica and the promising returns of young quicks Miguel Cummins and Alzarri Joseph.”The talent is still there, it’s a matter of who is going to work with them to help them develop,” Dujon said. “We are still in a situation where we are trying to solve the problem from the top down rather than the bottom.”A promising move recently is that it seems we are going to have more A-team tours which is vital for development. They are meaningful when you go and play in countries who are better than you, it gives you a better gauge of where you are at. That has to be focus, as expensive as it may be, and hopefully we’ll have a better quality of player coming through to the top level in the next four or five years. Right now, some of the players who have come to the top level are not the complete article.”The Lord’s Taverners is the UK’s leading youth cricket and disability sports charity whose objective is to give disadvantaged and disabled young people a sporting chance

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details 0:58

Biggest Test win in terms of runs for New Zealand

After wondering whether they could pick up 20 wickets on unresponsive Zimbabwean surfaces before the series began, New Zealand did it twice to seal the rubber 2-0. They took seven for 35 on the final day in Bulawayo to round up a Zimbabwean line-up that was as unlucky as they were uncertain.Two poor umpiring decisions in the morning session opened Zimbabwe up and the middle and lower order could not muster the fight they had shown earlier in the series. Martin Guptill proved a surprise destroyer-in-chief, finding turn that neither of New Zealand’s specialist spinners had produced, although, Ish Sodhi finished the match with seven wickets including a career-best four for 60 in the first innings.Zimbabwe’s hopes of batting out the day started well as nightwatchman Donald Tiripano and Craig Ervine saw off 70 minutes of play. They left well, coped with movement from Trent Boult and the short-ball symphony from Neil Wagner. They were dealing with spin equally well until Mitchell Santner sent Tiripano a delivery that pitched on leg, went on with the arm hit the batsman’s pads and seemed to miss the stumps. Umpire Paul Reiffel, however, upheld the appeal.Prince Masvaure, who sprained an ankle in warm-ups on the third day had recovered to join Ervine, but looked edgy. He had faced 10 balls when he tried to turn Santner to short leg and gave Henry Nicholls a chance but the ball popped out of his hands. Two balls later, Masvaure thought a single was on and was halfway down the pitch at the non-strikers’ end, but got back in time to avoid any damage.With Williamson keeping the field spread, Zimbabwe were hopeful of getting to lunch without further damage. But Guptill found a way through Ervine, dragging the batsman forward to defend and having him caught behind. Replays indicated there was daylight between bat and ball though.After the break, it appeared the sting had been taken out of the Zimbabwean tail. A combination of poor shot selection – Sean Williams drilled a drive off a Guptll half-volley to Williamson at short cover while Peter Moor played for turn when there was none from Sodhi – and more poor umpiring decisions led to their undoing. Reiffel ruled Graeme Cremer lbw even though he had hit the ball and Michael Gough ruled Masvaure out caught though the ball had lobbed off his pad to slip. New Zealand needed only 44 minutes to wrap up the five wickets they needed.Despite the decisions, the end result reflects the difference between the two teams. While New Zealand had three centurions in each Test, Zimbabwe only had two in the series and could not string together enough big partnerships. Zimbabwe were unable to bowl New Zealand out even once and managed just 12 wickets in the series but showed that with more cricket, there have the talent to improve.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:53

By The Numbers – Wagner bosses in Bulawayo

Neil Wagner’s career-best 6 for 41 dismantled Zimbabwe’s fragile line-up and the hosts were only saved from being dismissed for the lowest first-innings score in Bulawayo by their tail. Prince Masvaure and Donald Tiripano shared an 85-run ninth-wicket stand to take Zimbabwe from 72 for 8 to a relatively respectable total of 164, but the day belonged to the South African-born New Zealand left-armer.Wagner employed a short-ball strategy his former countrymen are known for and extracted surprising bounce from a usually tame surface to force a Zimbabwean collapse. Twice. In the second hour of play, the hosts tumbled from 35 for 1 to 36 for 4, and then, in the post-lunch session, lost four wickets with the score on 72. Wagner had bowled throughout that period, in a marathon 13-over spell broken by lunch, before New Zealand were frustrated by Zimbabwe’s late fightback.Masvaure, playing his first Test, and Tiripano, in his second, batted for almost three hours and faced 260 balls in the partnership. The rest of Zimbabwe’s line-up only fronted up to 207 deliveries. On a pitch which called for patience and application, and against an opposition who were aggressive with ball in hand and in the field, Zimbabwe’s top-order was found wanting, which may prompt questions about why their captain exposed them so early.With three debutants and plenty of inexperience in his ranks, Graeme Cremer would have been forgiven had he opted to field but he followed conventional wisdom and put his men in the firing line. Brian Chari was first to front up and Tim Southee did not allow him any easing in. The first ball swerved away, took the edge and went for four. The second did exactly the same but landed in the hands of Martin Guptill at second slip.Hamilton Masakadza ushered debutant Chamu Chibhabha through a tricky period against Southee, who found consistent movement, and Trent Boult, who did not. Just as the pair settled, spin was introduced in the 12th over but it was Wagner who began the assault.He banged in a series of short balls to Chibhabha, who eventually pulled uncertainly to mid-wicket. Wagner had the same plan for Sean Williams and hit him on the helmet first up. Williams had barely recovered from a change of grille when Wagner banged in another short ball. The batsman pulled and the ball went off his helmet to midwicket. Williams was given out, even as he pointed to his helmet in explanation. Sandwiched between those dismissals Masakadza gifted Mitchell Santner a return catch, which cost Zimbabwe their most experienced player.Wagner continued to use brute force. He struck Craig Ervine in the rib cage and Sikandar Raza on the thumb but the pair survived to lunch. They enjoyed a small window of productive run-scoring after the break, headlined by Raza’s strength while playing the drive, but it did not last long. Their partnership had reached 36 when Ervine stepped out of his crease to loft Santner over the infield, made no contact and was stumped.That fired Wagner up even more and five balls later, Raza succumbed to yet another short ball. Wagner changed lengths to Regis Chakabva, who was caught behind off a length ball that slanted across him, and then dismissed the Zimbabwean captain for a golden duck in signature style. Cremer inside-edged to short leg to leave Zimbabwe reeling at 72 for 8.Masvaure watched the carnage from the other end before he could face a ball but showed the temperament to suggest he could bat higher up. He and Tiripano kept Wagner out, forced Williamson to bring back both Boult and Southee for spells with the older ball, and even dealt well with legspinner Ish Sodhi in a lesson to the rest of their line-up.They built slowly and cautiously, especially as Williamson continued to test them with close catchers in unusual positions. The pair pushed the score past 100 and then past 150, and sprinkled their circumspection with some stunning hits, mostly off Sodhi. Masvaure’s back-to-back sweeps and Tiripano’s six into the stands were highlights but it was the slow grind of their stand that they will be most proud of, although there would be disappointment at not carrying it further.With the second new ball ten overs away, Williamson brought Southee back for a last burst with the old ball, and he had Masvaure trapped lbw. Michael Chinouya could not hand around long enough to help Tiripano reach his maiden Test fifty. Chinouya was bowled by a Wagner delivery with a hint of reverse-swing that left Tiripano unbeaten on 49, his highest Test score.Having already done the bulk of the day’s work with the bat, Tiripano then had to open the bowling with Chinouya. Zimbabwe did not manage to build any pressure as New Zealand ended the day with all ten wickets intact and their sights on the best batting conditions in the match tomorrow.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza has said he is “hopeful” England will tour the country for the entire series in October. Bangladesh’s 30-man preliminary squad for the England series began training on Wednesday with a focus on fitness. England are scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on September 30 for two Tests and three ODIs.”I personally hope that the tour goes ahead,” Mashrafe said. “Cricket followers in Bangladesh have been waiting for a long time for a home series. Bangladeshi people love cricket, and they hope that England are coming for the tour. I am hopeful they (England) will come to hold on to the cricket culture.”England have always helped Bangladesh. They had sent the team in the Under-19 World Cup. They will certainly get security, as much as what other cricket teams get when they come here. Bangladeshi people respect cricketers. I don’t think there will be a problem.”The ECB had said it will follow government advice on whether the tour should go ahead as planned following the terror attack on July 1. Gunmen had stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in the Gulshan district of Dhaka before security forces brought the hostage situation to an end. England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan had also expressed “big concern” over the tour.The BCB had said the ECB’s concern was “quite normal” but ruled out the possibility of playing the series at a neutral venue.Mashrafe said their job would be to focus on on-field activities while the BCB would tackle the security issue with the ECB. “There are still three months left so I remain hopeful of the tour. We should keep focusing on our fitness. BCB will take care of the rest.”The Bangladesh team is without strength and conditioning coach Mario Villavarayan who is away due to a “personal reason”.”We are not accustomed to working without Mario. But Iftekharul (Islam) has been around for a long time,” Mashrafe said. “Mario has told him what to do but the players know what they have to do.”Everyone knows that they may lose fitness if they are not serious after a six-week gap. This is a great opportunity for us to take care of ourselves and hold on to our fitness.”

ScorecardBen Duckett took more runs off the Sussex attack•Getty Images

Northamptonshire strengthened their position in the 30 overs that were possible on the second day of the Specsavers County Championship match against Sussex at Arundel.Captain Alex Wakely batted through the morning session for his unbeaten 46 as Northants reached 142 for 2, just 36 behind Sussex’s first-innings 178. Rain set in during the afternoon and got steadily heavier and umpires Ben Debenham and Steve O’Shaughnessy abandoned play for the day at 5.10pm.Northants lost just one wicket in the action that was possible when Ajmal Shahzad had opener Ben Duckett caught at second slip by Chris Nash for 72, driving at a pitched-up delivery. The left-hander had added 94 for the second wicket with Wakely and took his first-class aggregate to 718 runs with his fifth 50-plus score of the season.Wakely had a scare on 17 when he edged Steve Magoffin just out of the diving Nash’s reach but otherwise batted solidly in difficult light. Wakely was joined by Rob Keogh in an undefeated third-wicket stand of 26 as Northants reached 142 for 2 at lunch when the rain arrived.