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West Indies have been hit with a penalty for a slow over-rate during the first Test against England at Lord’s, which they lost by five wickets. West Indies captain, Darren Sammy, was fined 80% of his match fee, while his players received 40% fines.Roshan Mahanama, the match referee, imposed the fines after West Indies were ruled to be four overs short of their target, when time allowances were taken into consideration. Sammy admitted that with fast bowlers Shannon Gabriel and Fidel Edwards struggling he had resorted to bowling part-time spinner Marlon Samuels to try and bring the over-rate up as England closed in on victory.”Shannon went out with back spasms and Fidel was not at his best, so Marlon had to fill in some overs and make up some time,” Sammy said.The ICC’s code of conduct governing minor over-rate offences states that players are to be fined 10% of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount. Sammy could also face a one-match suspension if he is found guilty of one more minor over-rate offence in Tests during the next 12 months.

Dwayne Smith, the West Indies allrounder, has said he is adapting well to this role at the top of the order, having decided to “give himself a chance” after moving up several rungs in the batting line-up. Smith has had a good run of late while batting in the top three, with three half-centuries in five internationals starting with the tour of England. The latest was in the first ODI against New Zealand in Jamaica, where he made an unbeaten 65 to help seal a comfortable victory.”I made a decision to move to the top order to give myself a chance,” Smith said on the eve of the second ODI on Saturday. “The selectors have put their faith in me and I have received a lot of support from everyone around. I am relaxed and in a good frame of mind.”Smith, who averages 17.72 in ODIs, was relied on to get quick runs batting in the middle order. As a No. 3, he said, he was now also expected to build an innings and bat longer. “I believe I am much more than just a six-hitter,” Smith said. I know once I look to get myself in and build an innings, I can make-up at the back-end of the innings.”I’m more experienced now and have a good understanding of what is required. I know my role in the team and that is primarily to dig in and get good runs on the board. I can clear the boundary, but I also want to show I can play quality innings and can get runs consistently.”Smith began his international career in 2004 and scored a century on debut against South Africa in the Cape Town Test. He has since played 10 Tests and 80 ODIs, and hasn’t quite managed to cement his place. He has, however, had more success as a Twenty20 cricketer, representing Sussex, Khulna Royal Bengals and Mumbai Indians among others.

Piers Morgan, the former British tabloid editor turned chatshow host, has escalated the conflict between Kevin Pietersen and the England team and officials by alleging that two of his team-mates are linked to the parody Twitter account that Pietersen found so offensive.The allegations involve two Nottinghamshire players – Stuart Broad, England’s Twenty20 captain, and Alex Hales, who took his place at the top of the order in England’s T20 side after Pietersen’s stand-off with the ECB had led to his enforced retirement from one-day cricket.The dispute drags on while Pietersen and his advisers pursue negotiations with the ECB in what seems to be an increasingly forlorn hope that he will win a reprieve and be named in England’s squad for World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka month when it is announced by Saturday’s deadline.Morgan, a close friend of Pietersen, took to Twitter, where the debate is raging, to accuse the ECB of “double standards” in lecturing the player about the overriding need for team unity while overlooking a lack of team unity elsewhere, in the shape of personal hostility towards Pietersen from some of his team-mates.What was intended to support Pietersen’s contention to ECB officials in ongoing private discussions that he is the victim, not the problem, in the England dressing room, could prove to be counterproductive as the ECB concludes that emotions are running too high to risk naming Pietersen in their World Twenty20 party.An increasingly fantastical affair has also caused the originator of the Pietersen parody account, Richard Bailey, a 20-something scientist from Nottingham who tweets personally under @Bailsthebadger, to apologise for the offence he has caused and insist that no England players were involved.ESPNcricinfo’s investigations last week had found no evidence that any England player had been actively involved in Baileys’ account and passed on all information gathered to senior officials of the ECB.Indeed, in Broad’s case, the evidence is purely circumstantial and Bailey, not a close friend of the England captain but who shares a house with two other Nottinghamshire players, is now deeply embarrassed by an outcome he could barely have imagined.Morgan’s accusation relies upon the fact that Hales was the first follower of the Pietersen parody account. Claims that Broad was involved seem to rest upon a tweet he sent on the same evening that the account was opened saying that he had lent Bailey a pair of socks, therefore putting him in the same place, if not necessarily in the know.”Put a sock in it,” was the tacit response last night of one former England coach, David Lloyd, who used Twitter to argue that it was time to move on as the ECB attempted to stop the affair running out of control.Pietersen’s England future is in the balance after England refused to pick him for the Lord’s Test against South Africa despite him appearing a video in which he made himself available for all forms of cricket and publicly apologising for mistakes he may have made.The ECB, in the person of England managing director Hugh Morris, refused to accept the apology because Pietersen had not explained “derogatory” text messages about members of the England dressing room that he had allegedly sent to South Africa players after the Headingley Test.Nottinghamshire have a long history of antagonism towards Pietersen. He left the county after his kit was famously thrown off the dressing room balcony at Trent Bridge and the views of many involved at the time – Broad and Hales were not at the county – have not noticeably softened in the meantime.A third England and Nottinghamshire player, Graeme Swann, was also dismissive of Pietersen’s captaincy skills in his autobiography, and his relationship with Pietersen is strained. Pietersen suspected Swann of being behind the account but there is no evidence to support Pietersen’s belief that Swann is in anyway involved with this latest brouhaha.Pietersen’s brother, Bryan Pietersen, also took to Twitter to threaten the instigator of the parody account and suggest his phone should be thrown into the River Trent, which runs close to the Nottinghamshire ground.In the corridors of the ECB, as this affair drags on, rivers are certainly running deep.

ScorecardGareth Andrew recorded his best bowling figures of the season against Lancashire•Getty Images

The possibility of relegation looms larger for Lancashire after Worcestershire restricted them to only one batting point from their crucial Championship clash at New Road. Worcestershire, still with a game in hand, closed the gap at the bottom of the table after dismissing last year’s champions for 216 in a draw that came down to a scrap for bonus points.Gareth Andrew led the way with a season’s-best return of 4 for 42 and Moeen Ali, who captured 12 wickets in last month’s win at Old Trafford, polished off the lower order with 3 for 46. To darken Lancashire’s mood, news then came through that Surrey and Durham, other counties in the danger area, had both snatched narrow victories.Lancashire may need to win two of their last three games if they are to avoid emulating Yorkshire (2002) and Nottinghamshire (2006) in falling out of Division One the season after winning the Championship.Worcestershire may still be the back-markers but they showed they have the punch in their attack to have a chance of escaping relegation. They have dropped only two bowling points all season and none at all on their own ground.Replying to the home side’s declaration at 251 for 7 on Thursday, Lancashire seemed to be laying a solid foundation when Paul Horton and Luke Procter stayed together until the ninth over on the final morning. There had been few alarms up to that point but soon after one wicket went down, Horton edging Andrew’s second delivery to Daryl Mitchell at second slip, they were wobbling at 47 for 3. Luke Procter moved too far across and lost his leg stump to Alan Richardson and Karl Brown was trapped in front by an inspired Andrew.This was how the innings continued, as Worcestershire attacked non-stop and Lancashire exploited gaps to hit 33 boundaries, but each time a partnership began to develop they would lose a cluster of wickets. Ashwell Prince fell to the Mitchell-Andrew combination and Andrea Agathangelou and Steven Croft, who promised more with six fours in his 28, were caught behind in the space of five deliveries from Richardson and Andrew.Gareth Cross quickly became top scorer with 39 from 38 balls before he was bowled by Joe Leach, giving the young allrounder his first Championship wicket, and Kyle Hogg edged Moeen to slip after a stand of 58. Lancashire eventually needed some old-fashioned hitting by Glen Chapple and Ajmal Shahzad to scramble a point before Moeen mopped up.In 50 minutes before the captains shook hands on a draw at 4.50pm, Worcestershire scored 33 without loss in their second innings.

The Victoria batsman Rob Quiney will make his Test debut against South Africa at the Gabba on Friday after Shane Watson was ruled out due to a calf injury. Watson suffered the problem while bowling for New South Wales in their Sheffield Shield match against Queensland on Saturday and although it will not heal by this Friday, Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur is hopeful Watson will be able to play as an allrounder in the second Test at the Adelaide Oval.”Shane Watson won’t play the first Test match. He did an assessment this morning. We’ve ruled him out,” Arthur said in Brisbane on Monday. “We’re hoping that he will play unrestricted in the second Test match at the Adelaide Oval. That means Rob Quiney makes his debut this week against South Africa.”We’re ruling him out now because we think he won’t be fit enough come Friday. We wanted to be really decisive. We didn’t want this to outplay the whole week. We wanted to make a decisive decision pretty early so we could give some real clarity to the team. I think we’ve done that. Unfortunately Shane misses out.”Quiney will bat at No.3 in a direct swap for Watson, who was unable to play any part in Australia’s home Tests last summer due to calf and hamstring problems. Watson has two and a half weeks to prove his fitness for the second Test in Adelaide and while Arthur believes there is a good chance he will be available for that match, he was confident Australia had enough depth to cover Watson’s absence in the battle for the No.1 Test ranking.”Last year we won 4-0 against India, Shane Watson wasn’t part of that side over the summer,” he said. “We’re relaxed, we’re calm. I think the team is all in a really good space. We’re comfortable that we have the players, we have the cover.”There was also some good news for the Australians on Monday, with Ricky Ponting declared a near-certainty to play after withdrawing from Tasmania’s Sheffield Shield game on Friday due to hamstring soreness. But Watson’s absence will throw out the balance in Australia’s side, depriving Michael Clarke of a valuable fourth seam-bowling option.Although that could have encouraged the selectors to lean towards including four specialist fast bowlers and relying on Clarke for some overs of spin, Arthur said after discussing the pitch with the Gabba curator Kevin Mitchell on Monday it was likely the offspinner Nathan Lyon would play.Lyon has not enjoyed his finest form for South Australia over the past few weeks, collecting six wickets at the inflated average of 68, but he should enjoying returning to the Gabba after he took seven wickets there in last year’s Test against New Zealand. Arthur said although Lyon might need a confidence boost ahead of the Test, he believed he would play a significant role against the South Africans.”We’ve still got to go and see what the wicket delivers for us,” Arthur said. “Michael, myself and [team performance manager] Pat Howard had a meeting this morning with the curator. We’re pretty confident we’re going to get a very, very good Gabba wicket, which increases the likelihood of us playing a spinner.”We’ve never ever doubted Nathan’s ability. We’re hoping that when he comes into this environment, and I know South Australia have done some very good work with him… he gets the lift that he needs. We’re backing Nathan Lyon at the moment. Michael, myself and the selection panel believe that Nathan Lyon is our best spinner and Nathan Lyon will be our best spinner for a long period of time. We want to give him that confidence and back him in.”

In the end, the best team won. Not the team that played best in Brisbane or Adelaide. But unquestionably the team that dictated proceedings in Perth, and the team that before this series started, and after it ended, were ranked No.1 in the world. The gap between South Africa and Australia may not be enormous, but over the past few days at the WACA, Graeme Smith’s men showed Michael Clarke’s players why they have reached the top.By owning the second day of this grand final, South Africa owned the series, and the Test championship mace that went with it. By dismissing the Australians for 163 on a good batting pitch, Dale Steyn and his colleagues made the previous 11 days of the series irrelevant. Australia were four wickets from victory at the Gabba, but would South Africa have played the same way if the second day hadn’t been washed out? The hosts were two wickets from a win in Adelaide, but South Africa were good enough to deny them.And when the Australians had to dig themselves out of a hole in Perth, they were unable to. The bowlers found the going tough as the South Africans piled up 565 in the second innings, but the damage was done when Australia had batted. In defeat, Australia’s captain Michael Clarke conceded that his side had failed to make use of the upper hand they held so often in the series.”I don’t want to take anything away from South Africa,” Clarke said. “They showed why they’re the No.1 Test team in the world. On the other hand I want to pay credit to the Australian boys to be able to fight it out so tough and stay strong up until this Test match. What South Africa showed us is when they had momentum, they ran with it for as long as they possibly could and when they didn’t have [it], they did everything in their power to fight their backsides off to try and grab it back.”There’s probably a few occasions throughout the series where we had momentum and didn’t run with it for long enough, that’s for sure. Against these teams, the best teams, you can’t afford to do that … There’s plenty of pros and cons and that’s something we need to do over the next few days, to assess where we continue to improve and the positives we can take from this series, the areas we need to get better if we want to be the No.1 team in the world.”One of those areas is glaringly obvious. The failure of Australia’s top three to provide consistently strong starts is becoming a major problem. In this series, Australia’s totals at three wickets down were 40, 55, 91, 34 and 102. That makes life tough for the middle order, and for the bowlers who must then keep the opposition in check in the same way. At the WACA, that was too much to ask of an attack featuring Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, debutant John Hastings and Nathan Lyon.”I don’t want to take anything away from the Australian bowlers, I thought they bowled really well in the first innings and tried their backside off on a flat wicket in the second innings,” Clarke said. “I believe the reason we didn’t give ourselves the best chance of winning this Test match is because of the way we batted in our first innings.”The missed opportunity to reclaim the No.1 Test ranking hurt the Australians even more given they wanted to provide Ricky Ponting with a fitting send-off. The challenge for Clarke and Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur is now to move on to the Sri Lankan series that begins next week, and to find inspiration without their most capped player being part of the setup.”It’s been a tough week, that’s for sure,” Clarke said. “I still don’t think it’s hit the players fully yet. I think it will come the first Test against Sri Lanka when we walk out on the field and see he’s not there. It’s not just about what he does on the field, it’s also off the field, around training sessions, in the change-room, his help, advice, guidance, is something that can’t be replaced.”Like Clarke, Ponting endured a series loss to South Africa at home when he was captain. Four years ago, Smith’s men chased down 414 in Perth, one of Test cricket’s most epic achievements, and it set up their winning tour. Within a year, they were the No.1 team in the world. Another Perth triumph has kept them there.

After a day on which they dominated beyond expectations, the mood in the Madhya Pradesh camp was quite sombre and centred around one issue: the no-balling of debutant offspinner Ajay Rajput for a suspect action, once each by the on-field umpires K Srinath and R Subramanium. The no-balls came in the 56th and 69th overs of the Saurashtra innings. Rajput did not bowl after completing the latter over, his 11th, and ended with 1 for 17.Starting with the previous three seasons, the BCCI has been very strict about this matter in domestic cricket and has instructed umpires to no-ball bowlers, who in their opinion have suspect actions, and report them to the board. The BCCI then sends such bowlers for rehabilitation to the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.In Rajput’s case, the umpires had a problem with his quicker delivery, according to MP coach Mukesh Sahni. Rajput, who has a front-on action, used the delivery liberally during the earlier part of his spell. He then cut down its frequency, and started tossing the ball up more. Sahni also said that Rajput has a natural bend in his arm – a medical certificate to this effect will have to be submitted to the board.According to the match referee Sanjay Raul, Rajput cannot bowl any more in the innings if he is called once more by the umpires but, till then, it is up to MP captain Devendra Bundela whether to use him or not. Bundela, Rajput and Sahni had a meeting with the umpires and the match referee after the day’s play.The ICC’s approach in international cricket to suspect actions differs from that of the BCCI in Indian domestic cricket; international umpires can report a bowler for a dodgy action but, even though they have not been barred from doing so, do not no-ball him on the field. The tolerance limit is 15 degrees of flex, and whether a bowler is transgressing that limit requires sophisticated tests and is extremely difficult to be accurately assessed by the naked eye.

Confusion reigns over whether Lasith Malinga will play in the Bangladesh Premier League 2013.On Thursday evening, after the auction, the Dhaka Gladiators franchise that had bid for Malinga said they were not aware of his unavailability. But the Sri Lanka fast bowler’s agent told ESPNcricinfo earlier in the day that Malinga hadn’t “entered the auction, a standpoint that was later repeated.*The BPL governing council, on Wednesday night, sent out a text message with the names of several players who had withdrawn from and been included in the auction. Malinga was listed as one of those included, before his agent claimed he wouldn’t be entering.After the auction, Malinga’s agent released this statement: “Lasith Malinga did not express an interest in playing in the BPL at any stage whatsoever so we are totally perplexed at how he ended up in the auction.”There has been no telephone discussions or emails about his involvement and certainly no signing of a pre-auction agreement. The first we became aware of him being entered into the auction was when reading a Cricinfo story on Thursday morning and we confirmed he was not available to the recruitment agents via e-mail before the auction.”Lasith wants to rest in February and early March to build up fitness ahead of a big season of limited overs cricket in 2013.”Dhaka bid $115,000 for him after he was placed in the golden category of the foreign players. “We are not aware of any news of [Lasith] Malinga being unavailable,” Dhaka’s spokesman, Minhaz Uddin Khan, said.*22.20GMT, December 20: This story was update with comments from Malinga’s agent.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has apologised for the worldwide break in transmission during the ODI between South Africa and New Zealand in Paarl but does not have an explanation for the blackout. Instead, host broadcaster SuperSport International will investigate the reasons and report back to CSA as soon as possible.”The loss of transmission was due to unforeseen circumstances beyond the control of CSA,” the organisation said in a statement. “The matter is currently being addressed by our host broadcaster to avoid a repetition of what transpired. SuperSport International will investigate the matter and furnish CSA with a detailed report.”Television coverage was first interrupted after 7.1 overs and repeated breaks accompanied by a power cut punctuated the first 25 overs of New Zealand’s innings. A source at the ground told ESPNcricinfo that the initial problem was caused by the broadcaster’s generator malfunctioning.The subsequent electricity outage occurred when the broadcaster allegedly attempted to use the stadium power, the capacity of which was quickly exhausted, according to the source. The entire media centre operated in the dark for a period of time. SuperSport told ESPNcricinfo that while they are waiting for a detailed report from people in the outside broadcast facilities they understand the power cut at the stadium came first and then a technical problem in the van. They too apologised for the interruption.It was during the power cut that Brendon McCullum was given out lbw off Rory Kleinveldt’s bowling. The delivery struck him on the back foot, after angling in. McCullum spoke to the on-field umpire about referring the decision as New Zealand still had their review in hand.McCullum was then informed DRS could not be called upon because there was no electricity*. “I’d have referred it,” McCullum said. “I was disappointed that we had to deal with the fact that the power was on and off, the use of DRS was on and off, the scorecard wasn’t even functioning at one time.”CSA said all relevant parties were informed that the technology could not be used until the problem had been rectified. “During the break in transmission no DRS was available to be utilised by the match officials and the umpires did inform the players on field as such,” their statement read.”For both teams it is a bit of an inconvenience,” McCullum said. “Paarl is a beautiful place to play cricket, so I’m not saying that needs to be addressed but some sort of back-up plan for future grounds that are susceptible to power going down might not be a bad option.”Repeated cuts followed before the situation stabilised in the second half of New Zealand’s innings. Paarl is not the only ground to have been affected by power cuts this summer. The Twenty20 against New Zealand on December 23 in East London was interrupted when one of the floodlight pylons stopped working.Both venues are regarded as “smaller grounds”, a definition imposed on them because they are unlikely to host Test matches (although Buffalo Park has done so in the past against Bangladesh) and they are on a rotation system to host other internationals. With CSA’s aim to spread the game throughout the country, both have hosted matches for a second successive summer but problems like these may put that status at risk.* January 20, 07.00am GMT This article has been updated after Brendon McCullum’s press conference

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
A swashbuckling knock by Dwaine Pretorius helped Lions to their second win in the Ram Slam T20 Challenge as they comfortably overhauled Titans’ total in Johannesburg. Pretorius walked in at the fall of Quinton de Kock’s wicket in the 14th over with 65 runs still needed. He waited just four ball before smashing first of his four sixes. In the 18th over, he took 14 runs off the four balls he faced off Marchant de Lange. By the time he was out in the 19th over, only three were needed. Jean Symes smashed his first ball to the boundary to complete the chase with seven balls to spare. Ethy Mbhalati picked up all three wickets.Lions were given a strong start by de Kock, who missed out his half-century by three runs. But Neil McKenzie stayed unbeaten on 32 to steer the chase.Titans, put into bat, lost a couple of wickets in the first three overs, but came back strong and were on 92 for 3 in the 13th over. But regular wickets from there on meant that Titans weren’t able to push beyond 150. Ferhaan Behardien and Henry Davids top-scored with 36. Sohail Tanvir, Aaron Phangiso and Hardus Viljoen shared two wickets each.