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Franchises in the IPL believe that the league’s new format and the player retention clause take away their control over their players and also affect their bottom lines. At least three IPL franchises say the new regulations devised by the BCCI are needlessly complicated.”New IPL rules a bit confusing,” Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan wrote on the micro-blogging website Twitter.”Two new teams added (good). All players should go into pool to make it fair for everyone. Simple and straight.”The new rules governing player retention allow a team to keep up to four players but at a steep price. The first player retained will cost a team $1.8 million against the salary cap of $9 million, regardless of the amount the player is actually paid. The second player will cost $1.3 million, the third $900,000 and the fourth $500,000.A team official told ESPNcricinfo, this rule suited a franchise only if it owned a player worth the $1.3m-1.8m bracket. “That person needs to win you at least five or six games and three IPL seasons have taught us that there is no one such player to be found.” Using all four retention options will mean that a franchise will have only $4.5m to spend on 26 other players.The handful of players who may come into the $1.8m bracket, an official said, would be big-ticket names like Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. A franchise official said the next group of players who could find themselves up for retention would be “Kieron Pollard, Suresh Raina and maybe Virender Sehwag but after that, I can’t see anyone else”.The high cost of keeping a player effectively means most players will be part of November’s auction. An official said, “Given the amount of money that you have to commit to retention, practically it will be difficult for teams to retain players”.While the schedule of 74 games ensures the franchises will play a minimum of 14 games, the same as in previous years, the addition of two new teams means each team gets a smaller share of the central revenue. “The business revenue models were calculated on the extra games,” another team official said and thought that the new clauses had, for the franchises, made the IPL “a loss-making proposition”.The new rule under which all IPL player contracts can only be vetted by the BCCI has also come in for criticism with another franchise official saying, “This is a very player-centric rule and it benefits the player more than the franchise. So what leverage do franchises have with them?” The new rule had sent out a message from the BCCI to the franchises, “It is clear the BCCI understands that their biggest assets are the players and not the franchises.”With the players now out of their control, the only budgetary elements directly under the control of the franchises would be gate revenues, merchandising and sponsorships.

Pakistan fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan has said he is desperate to meet with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt so he can get his ban revoked, even going so far as to making several unsuccessful trips to the Gaddafi Stadium in the hope of arranging a meeting.”I am getting desperate now because if the PCB chairman goes abroad once again my appeal against the ban will be left pending for another month or so,” Naved told .The appellate tribunal headed by retired Justice Irfan Qadir is due to hear Naved’s appeal on August 21, but has asked him to meet with Butt before that.”I hope I can get some time with the PCB chairman so that I can state my case to him and have this ban removed,” he said. “If I am unable to meet with the PCB chairman before the next date of my appeal then I am afraid it will be prolonged for another month or so.”Naved, along with several of his team-mates, was punished by the PCB following the tour of Australia in 2009-10. He was banned for one year and slapped with a Rs 2 million fine. All the punished players, except for Naved, have met the PCB again and had their bans revoked, and fines lifted or reduced. Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf, both of whom were banned, have since been recalled to the Pakistan side as well.”I am ready to go and apologise to PCB chairman if there is a feeling I did something wrong,” Naved said. “I am desperate to play for Pakistan again. But I am not being given the opportunity to state my case before the chairman.”Naved-ul-Hasan was recently permitted by the board to play county cricket. He has played nine Tests and 74 ODIs for Pakistan.

ScorecardMark Ramprakash hit an unbeaten 63 but could not inspire a Surrey win•Getty Images

Tom Maynard hit a magnificent 78 not out from just 43 balls against Surrey at the Brit Oval to keep Glamorgan’s hopes of a Friends Provident t20 quarter-final alive. Maynard struck five sixes and five fours to lift Glamorgan from a wobbly 46 for 3 to victory by five wickets with three balls to spare in an entertaining South Group match.Surrey began the day as one of four counties in second place on 12 points behind group leaders Sussex, but their hopes of a seventh win from their 12th game disappeared as fast as the strokes that flew from 21-year-old Maynard’s bat.Glamorgan now have five wins from their own 12 group games to date, and the identity of the three counties who will qualify for the knock-out phase behind Sussex looks like remaining in doubt right up to the last round of matches.At 70 for 3 at the 10-over mark, it seemed as if Glamorgan were struggling to keep pace with the task of scoring 169, but Maynard was just warming up and in the 14th over he began to hit the accelerator with a brilliant pick-up for six over deep square leg off Stuart Meaker which took the total past 100 and then a pull for four from the next ball.Jamie Dalrymple, the Glamorgan captain, played his part with four successive fours off Rory Hamilton-Brown’s 15th over and although Chris Tremlett returned to york Dalrymple for 28 two overs later, the force was by now with Maynard.The son of Glamorgan cricket director Matthew Maynard took two crucial boundaries off Tremlett later in the same over and perhaps the moment which finally decided the outcome came in the 18th over when Stewart Walters brought off a superb diving catch at deep square leg, as Maynard swung away a ball from Chris Schofield, but could not prevent his momentum from carrying him over the boundary rope.It was Maynard’s fourth six and the fifth arrived in the final over. Glamorgan began it needing 10 but Hamilton-Brown fired a wide down the legside with his first ball, also enabling Ben Wright to scamper a bye, and Maynard then hit the next ball – a full toss – high over mid-wicket. Two balls later, with the scores level, Wright hit the cover-driven four which confirmed Glamorgan’s win.Mark Ramprakash had provided the anchor innings in Surrey’s 168 for 4, finishing on 63 not out from 49 balls. He set off like a train, hitting Will Owen for a six and four from successive balls in the third over after starting with two boundaries in Robert Croft’s opening over.He and Tommy Lancefield added 68 in less than six overs for the first wicket, and Ramprakash later swung Jim Allenby high over wide long-on for another six, but otherwise the former England batsman concentrated on rotating the strike as a succession of partners attempted big hits at the other end.Left-hander Lancefield hit two sixes in a quickfire 27 and Walters provided the necessary end-of-innings impetus with a six and three fours in a 19-ball 31 not out but, although Jason Roy and Hamilton-Brown also both managed sixes, there were no fireworks from Andrew Symonds, who holed out to long-off with a poor shot after scoring just four.Glamorgan, who began well in this year’s Twenty20 Cup, have fallen away badly since having fast bowler Shaun Tait called up by Australia, and again missed his extra pace as their seamers were treated harshly by the Surrey batsmen.But spinners Croft, Dean Cosker and Jamie Dalrymple all bowled creditably and maintained enough control to give the Welsh county hope of victory themselves at the halfway mark.

Ricky Ponting has credited Shaun Tait with restoring some of Australia’s spark in the one-day arena, despite their loss to England at Old Trafford. The tense finish handed England the series but Tait helped bowl Australia back into the match with 3 for 28 from his ten overs, and the challenge now is to push his injury-prone body to perform in two more 50-over encounters in the next six days.Tait gave up first-class cricket so that he could drive himself as hard as possible in the shorter formats, and Twenty20 has been his staple over the past year. He hadn’t played an ODI for nearly a year and a half when he took the field at Old Trafford, where he promptly delivered a searing, swinging 152kph yorker with his fourth ball that dislodged Craig Kieswetter’s middle stump.”It’s really encouraging to have him back in the side and it’s always exciting when you’ve got someone who can bowl like that,” Ponting said after the match. “It tends to lift the rest of the group as well. It’s no fluke that we had a bit more energy in the field today, someone like Tait creates that for you.”Ponting refused to make Tait bowl spells any longer than two overs, which allowed him to make virtually every delivery an effort ball. There were grunts to rival Maria Sharapova as he kept charging in, and when he sprayed a head-high full toss well wide of Andrew Strauss in his eighth over, it looked like completing ten overs might be beyond him.But Tait regained his control and in his final over was still touching 150kph, and importantly was tailing the ball in with difficult late swing. He picked up Kevin Pietersen with a reflex return catch and had Michael Yardy caught behind towards the end of England’s chase, and Ponting was confident that Tait could play a key role in Australia’s one-day future, if he was used as a shock weapon.”You’ve always got to be mindful of using blokes like that well, and knowing that he’s come off such a long run of Twenty20 cricket only, with the IPL and then the T20 World Cup, that his conditioning for bowling longer spells is probably not where it needs to be,” Ponting said. “But he’s that sort of bowler anyway, where you’re better off using him in a couple-of-over spells and hoping he makes an impact. I think he did that in almost every spell today.”Having someone like that, who’s got that firepower and that bit of unpredictability in your team, is always nice to have. I thought that with the exception of a couple of wides that he bowled today, everything else was very, very good. It was a welcome return for Shaun.”Although he did play 50-over cricket for South Australia during the home summer, Tait struggled for impact, so his zip and menace at Old Trafford was an especially pleasing sign for Ponting. The series is gone but if Australia can reincorporate one of their stars of the 2007 World Cup into the side over the next week, they will have achieved something of value as their title defence approaches.

Graeme Smith has praised his men for completing a clean sweep against West Indies with their one-wicket win in Trinidad. South Africa were coming off a disappointing exit in the Super Eights at the World Twenty20 and Smith was pleased with the way they turned their form around to ensure a 5-0 result.”It’s terrific to have achieved this result, and bounce back from the failure at the Twenty20 World Cup,” Smith said. “It was an important time for us as a group of people, and it was important for us to regain the faith of a lot of the public back home. I think a lot of the fans back home in South Africa support us through thick and thin, so it is nice to give them all something about which to feel good.”The fifth game almost didn’t go South Africa’s way, and they needed 17 from the final two overs with two wickets in hand to chase down West Indies’ 252. The last pair, Roelof van der Merwe and Lonwabo Tsotsobe, held their nerve in the 50th over to confirm the victory with two balls to spare.”The last few games have been too close for comfort,” Smith said. “We have chased on some pretty flat pitches, and West Indies have controlled the games at different times, and we have lost wickets at crucial times. But we have held our nerve. Winning is a habit, and when you get into tight games, and you are used to winning, you are able to limp over the line.”Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, was hoping his men could put the one-dayers in the past and focus on the upcoming Test series. He said his side had struggled in the key moments against South Africa.”We seem to be in a bad habit of losing, and when it comes down to these tight situations in matches, we do not know how to handle ourselves,” Gayle said. “It’s been tough losing this much. The good thing is we have a few days off to put this behind us, and hopefully, we can get a fresh start in the Test series.”

Australia 197 for 7 (Michael Hussey 60*, White 43) beat Pakistan 191 for 6 (Umar 56, Kamran 50) by three wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Michael Hussey pulled off a sensational run-chase to send Australia into the final•Getty Images

This is what makes a champion side and don’t Pakistan know it. In 40 overs Australia re-taught their opponents the lessons of four days in Sydney from earlier this year, the moral of which remains that till the precise moment Australia are out, they are never out. Pakistan were on top for three days in Sydney, and 39 overs here, but Australia hunted away, gripped in, stuck at it. And with one ball to go, they pulled off an astonishing chase of 192 to enter Sunday’s final, leaving on Pakistan the deepest kind of scars in an already abusive relationship. On this form, England needn’t bother turning up.Michael Hussey was the man in Sydney and he was the man here again, his captain Michael Clarke calling him, justifiably, a “freak,” afterwards. Like Michael Bevan on speed, he pulled off an improbable heist, having come in at 105 for five in the 13th over, with too much needed and not enough wickets in hand. But as he crescendoed with 38 runs from the last ten remarkable balls of the game, he completed what must be – with little doubt – the finest innings of its kind in the short history of this short format; it is only hoped that Shane Warne was watching.Australia were mostly out of it when he had walked in. Cameron White, as fearsome a T20 hitter as there can be, had been scaring Pakistan until then with some monstrous hits, but a regular fall of wickets lulled Pakistan into false hopes. Even the batsmen who had fallen earlier had done so while blazing away, a trait as Australian as Vegemite.Five sixes in five overs from White had come from the 11th onwards, but Pakistan’s spinners still kept a lid on things and when Saeed Ajmal bowled a five-run 14th, it seemed a crucial one. Australia still needed 70 from five and when White fell, it seemed over. But Hussey had already gotten his eye in, pulling Shahid Afridi for a pair of key sixes, and a mirage of momentum remained.Thereafter he did Hussey things, running hard, placing the ball infuriatingly well so that when he prepared his final onslaught – 34 needed off two overs – it wasn’t an outlandish task. Aamer was picked up on the leg-side for two boundaries, which sandwiched four hard-run doubles in between in the 19th. When he pulled the second ball of the last over for maximum, the force was fully with him. The next ball went down the ground, then a sliced cut trickled away, and aptly the finish came with the 14th six of the innings.Until then, it had looked that for the second year running, Pakistan would fell the behemoth of the day in this tournament, with all the assurance of men who know the force is with them. Their run has been the subject of much sniggering but the one truth they have shown about global tournaments and this format is that it is all about timing and they almost got it right here.Fear had played a huge role in their recent run against these opponents of 11 straight international defeats. It seemed to have been shed by their batsmen initially. Predictably, the Akmal brothers had much to do with it; the elder Kamran took responsibility at the top, before the younger Umar provided an almighty burst at the death.Clarke, in overcast conditions, decided to bowl first after the start was delayed half an hour; Afridi would have done likewise but they had planned this smartly. His openers decided the best policy against such an attack was to simply bide their time, a plan loaded with as much risk as sense. But after two overs of nothing – as much time as you will get in this format – Akmal went first, choosing to play bad cop to Salman Butt’s good.Dirk Nannes was sliced and then driven down the ground to begin the fun. Butt joined in, taking on Shaun Tait with a brace of typically lush off-side shots and when Akmal ended the over with a pull, Pakistan were beginning to stamp it. For the first time in the tournament, Tait and Nannes had failed to strike in their opening bursts and Pakistan were well on the way to the best opening start against Australia by some distance.Change came in the bowling, but not the batting. Steven Smith was slogged for 15, Akmal mistiming him straight down the ground for a maximum that brought up the fifty. Two overs later, as he bludgeoned 18 off Shane Watson, lofting, driving and cutting, he was bringing up his own fifty. Every now and again Butt would provide a gentle reminder of his presence, slicing and dicing a cute flick or cut here and there.Very briefly momentum stalled as the openers went, but it was at this moment Umar decided to show the watching world once again the range of his talent. As sure of himself as a young rockstar, he went at Australia without fear. Intent had been announced with a slog-sweep off Smith and Nannes was then deposited in a similar area for a maximum, before being scooped over fine leg.A glorious, brief peak came in Mitchell Johnson’s 18th over, in which Umar, with all the arrogance of youth, pulled and slog-swept three sixes. A second consecutive fifty came in between the carnage. Even the generally meek Khalid Latif was bitten by this bug, a useful six-ball cameo ensuring that Pakistan pumped it to the end. Australia looked mostly shocked at such impudence, bowling wides, fumbling byes and overthrows.When Hussey finished it less than two hours later, they were still shocked, only in a very different way.

Michael Clarke will attempt to raise his game at the ICC World Twenty20 but don’t expect him to rain sixes over the small grounds in the West Indies. Clarke, who left Sydney with his squad on Friday, is less suited to the shorter format than his big-hitting team-mates and is more comfortable with along-the-grass play.He wouldn’t be captain if the selectors didn’t believe he was capable of regular heavy contributions and he showed he could lift the pace with 67 off 45 balls when Australia chased 214 in Christchurch in February. While he has a modest strike-rate of 108.83 in 24 matches, he won’t be over-hauling his tactics.”I think I can probably still take it up a notch but I think that’s the way I play,” he said of placing his strokes instead of powering them. “I can guarantee I won’t be the type of guy who goes out there and tries to smack the first ball out of the park. I know I won’t be successful like that, so for me it’s important to play my way: to play cricket shots, to use my strengths, my speed, my running between wickets, my energy in the field, and then if I have to bowl.”With the squad we have there are so many guys who can walk out there and hit it out of the park. We’ve got a lot of those players so I don’t think I have to do that.”Australia have two warm-up games in St Lucia next week before starting their tournament against Pakistan on May 2. Last year Australia were knocked out of the World Twenty20 in the opening round and the side has undergone some significant changes, including the retirement of Ricky Ponting and the elevation of Cameron White to the vice-captaincy.Clarke sees some good signs in his outfit, half of which spent the past week in Brisbane fine-tuning while the other members were in the IPL. “I’ve said for a while that Twenty20 is a form of the game that we are improving in, but we haven’t been as successful as we’d like and this is a great opportunity on a big stage to show our colours,” he said.Australia now have a specialist outfit that includes David Warner, David Hussey, Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes, who are currently not in the 50-over side. In the early stages the format was treated as a bit of fun, but the support from the crowds and the huge money available to successful short-form players has helped alter the thinking.The Australians always talk about winning every tournament they enter and Clarke is convinced his team-mates have the right credentials. “There are no guarantees in this game, but with the talent we have in this squad I don’t see any reason why we can’t be as successful as we have been in one-day and Test cricket,” he said. The final is in Barbados on May 16.Despite being in charge of Australia in eight T20 games, Clarke admits he is still asking for advice about the format. He has kept in regular contact with his team-mates in the IPL to gain the latest thinking on tactics.”It’s important for me to get over there and learn as I go,” he said. “Conditions are going to be a lot different to what the guys have been playing on in India and what we played in recently in New Zealand. It’s important that we adapt as soon as possible and make sure we’re ready to go in the first game.”

Wellington’s notorious wind scuppered the Umpire Decision Review System on the fourth day as gusts of up to 120kph left the hi-tech cameras too unsteady to be relied upon. The problems emerged when the Australians referred a not-out lbw against Brendon McCullum, only to be told the projected path was unavailable.Confusion reigned for several minutes while Ricky Ponting and Daniel Vettori conferred with the umpires and eventually the on-field decision was upheld but the Australians did not lose their review. The ball-tracking cameras at the Scoreboard End are mounted on a scaffold and were shaking in the gale, which made their projections unreliable, while the side-on Hot Spot cameras were taken down to protect them.The match referee Javagal Srinath told both teams that reviews would be assessed on a case-by-case basis and if the technology was not adequate, the on-field decision would stand and no review would be lost. However, the problem did not arise again after the McCullum incident, partly because of the long delays due to bad light that reduced the day to 52 overs.”The cameras that are involved in the UDRS are shaking quite a bit so they are unable to do the job,” Srinath said. “These are very unfamiliar conditions, what we are facing today, so they are not able to get the pictures across to us. All of the cameras are shaking. It is a very unusual day, a very, very unusual day. We know it is not the best in terms of decision-making.”Nathan Hauritz, who bowled the big-turning offbreak that led to the McCullum referral, said there was uncertainty out on the field until word came through on the umpires’ walkie-talkies. The players were told about the weather problems and Hauritz had to deal with the disappointment of missing what he felt would have been a wicket, after McCullum didn’t offer a shot.”We didn’t really know anything until the actual appeal and then we found out Hawk-eye (it was actually Virtual Eye) wasn’t working because of the wind,” Hauritz said. “You can’t really do much about it. It was just going to be off until they could put it back on, but the wind didn’t change through the day so it sort of made any real challenge tough to do because at the end of the day the third umpire is just going on what the normal umpires see.”The wind, which was described by Tim McIntosh as the strongest he had ever encountered in Wellington, made things hard for players and groundstaff as well as the match officials. Covers were blown from under the feet of falling groundsmen and equipment was hurled all over the place but Hauritz played down the impact of the gusts on his 23 overs into the wind on the fourth day.”It wasn’t too bad to be honest,” Hauritz said. “It was very windy at times but you can’t do much about it, it’s out of our control. It made it difficult at times, I reckon it would have been just as tough running down wind, trying to get that control. The wind might have played into my hands a bit, made it a bit harder to hit but it certainly was a new challenge and it was pretty good.”Hauritz picked up the only wicket of the day, when Vettori bottom-edged a sweep and played on. But more than Hauritz, more than Vettori or even McCullum, who finished unbeaten on 94, Wellington’s weather was the most important player of the day.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Scott Styris launched a six in the final over to seal New Zealand’s win•Getty Images

Scott Styris went from probable 12th man to match-winner after guiding New Zealand to a two-wicket victory in a tense chase of 276 in Napier. Styris began the day outside New Zealand’s starting XI but was called in late due to Daniel Vettori’s stiff neck, and the inclusion helped Ross Taylor start his international captaincy career on a high.Styris sealed the win with a six over long-off from the second ball of the 50th over from Doug Bollinger and finished unbeaten on 49 from 34 deliveries. He roared as the ball sailed over the boundary and was pumped up after he and Mitchell Johnson appeared to clash head and helmet in the 46th over, in which Styris slogged two boundaries.He and Shane Bond had combined for a 35-run stand that meant Jacob Oram did not have to bat after suffering a potentially serious injury to his left knee in the field. Although it was Styris who saw the chase home from No. 7, fittingly it was the fill-in captain Taylor who had put New Zealand in a winning position with his 70 from 71 deliveries. He woke up on match day unaware he was about to lead his country for the first time and by the end of the evening had a 100% winning record.The late withdrawal of Vettori had the potential to ruin New Zealand’s victory chances. He is their captain, a selector, their best bowler, an important lower-order batsman and in his spare time probably maintains the New Zealand Cricket website. But New Zealand showed that Australia, who made seven changes from Sunday’s Twenty20 side, were not the only squad with depth.Daryl Tuffey bowled well, James Franklin stepped up as a bowler in Oram’s absence, Peter Ingram gave them a good start to the chase and Styris did the rest. There were also the expected contributions from Taylor, Bond and Brendon McCullum. The key to New Zealand’s chase was getting a strong start and a 75-run opening stand from McCullum and Ingram fulfilled that requirement.McCullum looked set to continue the form he showed on Sunday when he posted a Twenty20 century. He took to Bollinger early and flicked short balls comfortably off his hip behind square, and drove with supreme power through the off side. Ingram (40) began in scratchy fashion and for a while looked outclassed, until he got a few away off the middle of the bat through the off side against Ryan Harris.Eventually Ingram tried to lift Johnson over mid-off only to see Michael Hussey sprint back to take a wonderful catch with the flight of the ball. Bollinger was understandably elated when he cramped McCullum and drew an inside edge onto his stumps for 45 from 43 deliveries. From there, Taylor’s confidence and Styris’ calmness finished the job, albeit in tighter fashion than they hoped.Taylor was aiming to be there at the end but his departure, caught at deep midwicket off Shane Watson, gave Australia a sniff. In the finish, it wasn’t enough to save Australia from their first defeat in their past 14 one-day internationals. They were punished for posting a below-par 275 for 8 on one of the best batting surfaces they had seen.The visitors needed to capitalise on the enticing combination of a wonderful pitch and the absence of Vettori. On paper, their score probably looked impressive but the lowest first-innings total in the past six years and ten ODIs is 273, which Australia barely scraped past despite a blazing start that threatened a score well in excess of 300.Watson seemed to think the Twenty20 series was still going as he struck 14 from the opening over off Tim Southee and dented a green plastic seat in the stands with a powerful pull for six off Bond. Australia reached 50 in the sixth over but things slowed significantly when Watson lifted Oram to deep midwicket and was well taken by Ingram for 45 off 31 balls.From there, it was more a gradual climb than an all-out assault and New Zealand’s seam-only attack did well to vary their tactics and pick up regular wickets. Ricky Ponting looked set to anchor the innings until on 44 he failed to adjust to Franklin’s slower ball and drove to short cover, where Martin Guptill took a sharp one-handed catch.Michael Clarke (22) was surprised by a snorting bouncer from Tuffey and fended an edge behind, and the bowler also collected Cameron White for 33 with a delivery that jagged back and took the off stump. Perhaps only Elizabeth Taylor could match Australia for sheer number of partnerships cut down in their prime.It wasn’t until Hussey (59) and James Hopes (33) came together that Australia found another half-century stand to follow the 50 compiled by the openers Watson and Brad Haddin. Their 72-run combination pushed Australia to a competitive, if slightly underwhelming total that was boosted by a few late boundaries from Johnson.The only negative for New Zealand in the field was the injury to Oram, who was helped from the ground after what looked like an innocuous incident. He jogged in from mid-off to collect a ball but something clearly twinged in his left knee and he slumped to the turf in pain. Luckily for New Zealand, he didn’t need to hobble to the crease to bat.