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Eoin Morgan, England’s stand-in T20 captain, has said the two T20 internationals with India before Christmas will provide a young squad with the chance to begin formulating their plans for the 2014 World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.England, the 2010 World T20 champions, were knocked out of this year’s tournament in Sri Lanka at the Super Eights stage, a performance Morgan said didn’t meet the team’s own expectations. With T20 captain Stuart Broad injured, Morgan will step up to lead the side in Pune on Thursday and he hoped that a very different set of players could replicate England’s historic Test success.”As we’ve seen in the past, when the Test side has done well, it’s had a knock-on effect with the other two teams – and certainly we’ll be looking to win these two games and take confidence and momentum from the Test side and keep the winning habit up,” Morgan said.”Sri Lanka was a bit of a disappointment – we certainly didn’t achieve any of our expectations or perform in crucial games when we really needed to. There were a number of areas we looked at and identified, and we hope we’ll produce the performances which will catch up the learning curve we’re going through at the moment.”It’s in preparation for Bangladesh, and the young guys coming through have fantastic potential. I hope they’ll perform over the next four or five days.”Morgan has led England in a single ODI in the past, against Ireland in 2011, but is one of the senior members of the T20I squad. Of the Test touring party, only Morgan, Tim Bresnan, Samit Patel, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root have remained in India for the T20I leg. Graeme Swann, Steven Finn and Kevin Pietersen are among those rested, while Broad is recuperating from a heel problem and Craig Kieswetter and Ravi Bopara have been dropped.England struggled in their World T20 defence and only managed to beat Afghanistan and New Zealand. Their heavy group-stage defeat to India underlined concerns about playing spin and, although they appear to have worked out a method in Test cricket, the scoring rate required to be competitive in T20 cricket could cloud minds once again.Morgan was himself injured for England’s only previous T20I assignment in India, which they won by six wickets, but he was upbeat about leading a new-look side. “It’s a great opportunity for me in these two games against one of the best sides in the world in their backyard,” he said. “It’s certainly going to be a challenge I’m looking forward to.”Although Morgan has not had many opportunities to play so far in India, his two innings on tour have produced scores of 76 against Mumbai A and 47 in the England Performance Programme’s win over the Dr DY Patil Academy. After being given further responsibility by Broad’s absence, Morgan said he was ready to make the leap from reserve to captain.”Being vice-captain of the Twenty20 side in the first place, you’re always going to be thrust into a situation where the captain might get injured,” Morgan said. “It’s something not that I’ve prepared for it, but mentally you think if something happens to Broady then you might get the chance. Really, I’m quite happy to take the reins.”

Brisbane Heat have been left irate at the revelation that Dale Steyn will miss his return bout with Ricky Ponting in the BBL after the Cape Cobras withdrew his permission to play at the last possible moment.Instead of flying from Perth to Brisbane ahead of the Heat’s match against Ponting’s Hobart Hurricanes on Sunday, Steyn will return home in order to play for the Cobras in a domestic limited overs semi-final on the same day.Having signed Steyn up for the one-off fixture six weeks ago and secured a no objection certificate from the South Africa board, the Heat are understandably angered by the loss of their big-name signing a mere four days before curtain-up at the Gabba.”We conducted all of our negotiations with Dale and his management in good faith and fulfilled all requirements that the BBL needed in order to sign him as one of our international players,” the Heat general manager Andrew Blucher said.”We provided signed contracts, a NOC that was provided six weeks ago by Cricket South Africa and were completely up front in what we proposed.”We now find ourselves less than a week out from the opening game without a key element of our pre-game preparations and that is terribly disappointing for the team and our fans and members, who were eagerly anticipating seeing Dale play.”Dale is also unhappy with this outcome. He was looking forward to the match, and of course has a very good relationship with our coach Darren Lehman.”He and his manager are embarrassed and upset about the way things have turned out, considering we were crystal clear with what we had communicated to Cricket South Africa.”We would have imagined that CSA and the Cobras would have consulted and worked out the various scenarios that would have been involved. For that not to happen is quite extraordinary and highly unprofessional.”The Cobras’ unwillingness to allow Steyn to play for the Heat only emerged in the aftermath of South Africa’s win in the third Test in Perth, as it became apparent he might be available for their domestic commitments. The batsman Faf du Plessis, who is due to take part on the semi-final for the Titans, will play in the BBL tournament opener for the Melbourne Renegades on Friday.Jacques Faul, the CSA chief executive, expressed regret at the episode. “We regret having to withdraw the NOC. We are not in a position to determine which teams will be involved in the final play-off matches at the end of the competition,” he said. “Players and their agents also have a duty to consult with the home franchise in this regard.”We have an obligation to our local sponsors and franchises to play the Proteas wherever possible. We will also consider withdrawing a NOC due to workload management or safety reasons.If Cobras were not in the play-off, I am sure it would not have been a problem. We apologise if the one-off match in Australia caused so much drama. In future it might be better not clear any players in our season,in the past we have aimed to help where we can. We also advise players and agents to first negotiate with their home franchise. I have explained this to [Cricket Australia CEO] James Sutherland during our meeting in Dubai.”We are thankful for the support of our sponsors and cricket supporters who have the right to see the best in the world play in the domestic competitions. If you assess the number of players from SA playing outside the country and the number of NOC’s we issue, it is clear that we acknowledge the opportunities available but unfortunately have to balance this with being fair to local sponsors.”In saying all of this ,we have to admit that releasing the initial NOC was a mistake, we should have waited to see who is in the play-off. We apologise for that.”Cobras’ coach, Paul Adams, said the matter was a straightforward one for the franchise: “It’s simple. I want the best bowler in my team [to play] this key play-off game.”Lehmann said he would now attempt in the little time he has remaining to find a replacement international player for the match. “We had a spot free so while it is quite late in the piece, we had looked at some contingency plans with a few players in the event we had something like this happen,” Lehmann said. “We’ll get on the phone and email and see what is possible.”

Left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny took seven wickets to help Dhaka Metropolis defeat Barisal Division before the end of the third day in their National Cricket League (NCL) match in Chittagong. Barisal were pegged back in the contest after they were bowled out for 138 runs in the second innings. Sunny took three wickets, adding to his four in the first innings, while Mohammad Ashraful took three wickets with his off-spin.Barisal’s innings had spun out of control in the afternoon on the second day, after they were reduced to 28 for 5. Salman Hossain, who scored 42, led their recovery briefly in the morning of the next day. No. 8 Fariduddin’s 36 was the next best score in the innings.In the first innings, Fariduddin had shepherded the tail in his 107-ball knock, taking Barisal past the 200-run mark. Dhaka Metropolis replied with 241, mainly through a 105-run seventh wicket stand between Mehrab Hossain jnr and Suleman Khan, both of whom scored half-centuries. Barisal’s left-arm swing bowler Syed Rasel took four wickets, but with Dhaka Metropolis facing only 140 to win, even the wily international bowler couldn’t do much.Shamsur Rahman slammed an unbeaten 71 off 60 balls to enable Dhaka Metropolis to gain seven points from the game. They are now at the top of the table with 15 points.

Heavy rain forced abandonment in Saturday evening’s SLPL encounter between the Kandurata Warriors and Uva Next, without a ball being bowled. The rains came moments after Ruhuna Royals scored the winning runs in the previous match, and though they did subside late in the evening, play could not have begun by the cut-off time of 9.45pm and the teams took one point each from the fixture.The draw means that both teams are now through to the semi finals, with the fifth-placed Royals unable to match them on points, being three adrift with only one match to play. The Royals could however displace the Nagenahira Nagas from the top three, if they win their last match and the Nagas fail to take points from either of their last two fixtures.The match was the first in the SLPL to be abandoned completely due to bad weather, though several had been curtailed by rain.

ScorecardJim Troughton made an unbeaten century•Getty Images

It had been three months since Marcus Trescothick, whose importance to his beloved Somerset cannot be overstated, was able to bat. Whether on account of the extent of what initially appeared a standard injury, or his age, or probably both, his return to the crease had been delayed longer than anticipated. Now, after making 42 for the Second X1 against Essex and stationing himself at first slip, he might well be fit enough to play in his county’s Friends Life t20 quarter-final on Tuesday.Trescothick, the foremost batsman in the county game, will assess the state of his ruptured tendons after one further innings and is likely to make a decision as to his fitness on Tuesday morning. He is, it need hardly be said, “desperate” to play. Brian Rose, Somerset’s director of cricket, who journeyed to Coggeshall to watch him bat, is, of course, equally keen for him to return.”Marcus has done very well, but he is still a little wobbly on his legs,” Rose said. “There is no swelling in his ankles, which is a very good sign. We have another one day fixture against the Essex Second X1 and then aCB40 match on Sunday before the quarter-final. We are still being cautious.”Trescothick himself has another concern about the quarter-final: “The 4.15 start is far from ideal for working spectators, but it has been arranged so two quarter-finals can be screened on the same evening. We are hoping Albie Morkel will be released by South Africa to join his compatriot Richard Levi in our side.”Such selections illustrate how hard it is for young supporters – indeed any supporters – to forge an affinity with their local side, so the return of Trescothick, by name and deed a true Westcountryman, will be especially welcome. As, to a lesser degree, has been the reappearance of Max Waller, playing his first championship match for Somerset at Taunton since August 2009 and indeed his first anywhere since that season. He took the wicket of Rikki Clarke on a day of solid run-scoring by the first division leaders.Varun Chopra, who relishes batting at Taunton, progressed to 93, including 17 fours and a fair degree of application. He collected rather than smashed these runs. Jim Troughton batted with no less assiduousness, for the ball swung in the morning under cloud cover and there was some slow turn for Waller in the afternoon. A straight six off Arul Suppiah’s left arm spin was the shot of the day and, come the close, he was undefeated on 132 after five and a half hours batting.Chris Woakes, too, played a substantial innings. His contribution to a stand of 204 in 50.1 overs with Troughton was 107, his century reached off 142 balls with his 17th four, clouted to midwicket off Waller.As to Somerset’s attack, Alfonso Thomas was the pick. In the morning he had Laurie Evans held in the slips through away swing, Chopra caught down the leg side by Craig Kieswetter, who had missed a more difficult chance off a similar leg glance, and Darren Maddy for a duck by movement away from the bat.Waller struggled with his control, but that was inevitable after such a long time out of first-class cricket. His figures in his two previous matches, back in 2009, were 0 for 147 and 1 for 37 in the two innings in which he came on, which would offer one reason why he had not been chosen again before this match.

Kamran Akmal, the Pakistan wicketkeeper, has been named in the country’s provisional 30-man squad for September’s World Twenty20 after being cleared by the PCB’s integrity committee. Batsman Imran Nazir, who last played for Pakistan in February 2010, and allrounder Abdul Razzaq have also made the squad. None of the three players has a central contract.”We have tried lots of wicketkeeper batsmen after Kamran, but nothing was panning out,” Iqbal Qasim, Pakistan’s chief selector, told ESPNcricinfo. “We need a solid wicketkeeper who can score quick runs and currently Kamran is the only option for us. He has kept himself fully fit and more importantly he has been cleared by the PCB.””Imran is a good fielder and a dominating batsman, and so far he has been doing reasonably well in domestic cricket, while Razzaq is a utility player. But it [the final squad] all depends on the coach and captain’s plans.”Kamran had last played for Pakistan at the 2011 World Cup, but has been active on the domestic circuit and had played the inaugural Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) earlier this year.In May, Qasim had said Kamran needed to clear himself of integrity issues before being eligible for selection for the national team. He was summoned before the integrity committee on July 4.Kamran had come under the scanner when he was sent a notice by the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit after the Nottingham Test against England in July 2010, seeking information about events related to the 2010 World Twenty20 held in the Caribbean. He later claimed he has an ICC clearance letter that says there is no inquiry pending against him.Razzaq has not played for Pakistan since injuring his shoulder in the ODI series against Sri Lanka in the UAE in November. He was cut from the contracts list for 2012, and had criticised the selectors’ decision to keep him from the ongoing tour of Sri Lanka. Razzaq has remained active in domestic Twenty20, though, playing Australia’s Big Bash League in December-January and the BPL that followed. He is currently in England, where he is playing limited-overs cricket for Leicestershire.Nazir has impressed in domestic Twenty20 this year. He had finished as the second-highest run-getter in Pakistan’s Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup, scoring 191 at 47.75 with a strike-rate of 172 for Sialkot Stallions. He was also second on the run charts in the BPL, with 390 runs for Dhaka Gladiators, at an average of 43.33 and a strike-rate of 156.Squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shahzad, Khalid Latif, Nasir Jamshed, Imran Nazir, Shahzaib Hasan, Awais Zia, Sharjeel Khan, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik, Rameez Raja, Shahid Afridi, Hammad Azam, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Anwar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Raza Hasan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Kamran Akmal, Shakeel Ansar

England 288 for 6 (Bell 126) beat West Indies 172 (Smith 56, Bresnan 4-34) by 114 runs (D/L method)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIan Bell’s first boundary was a straight six off Andre Russell•Getty Images

Ian Bell won the battle of the replacement openers in the first one-day international as he marked his return to England’s 50-over side with his second ODI hundred – nearly five years after his previous one – to earn the home side an early series advantage with a 114-run victory. Initially West Indies threatened in the chase with Dwayne Smith filling the void left by Chris Gayle’s late injury but England’s quicks burst through either side of a rain delay.In some neat symmetry this was the same ground (albeit with a different name) where Bell made his only other ODI hundred – against India in 2007 – and this time he reached three figures from a lively 95 balls to suggest that the hole left by Kevin Pietersen’s retirement will not be as vast as some had envisaged. A day after suffering a suspected fractured jaw, and needing 10 stitches after being hit in the nets, there was barely a false shot in the innings until he top-edged a slower ball from Dwayne Bravo when level with his career best having played gracefully to show, yet again, that one-day cricket is not all about brute force.The opening partnership did not flourish with Alastair Cook was caught behind third ball against Ravi Rampaul but Bell ensured that the team’s recent run of ODI hundreds continued; this was the fifth match in a row that one of the openers had reached three figures after the back-to-back efforts of Cook and Pietersen against Pakistan in the UAE.England’s final total of 288 for 6 was less than they may have hoped for after 30 overs when they were 163 for 3, but was still the second highest score batting first at this venue – and England’s highest – after Craig Kieswetter produced some late boundaries along with Stuart Broad in a useful 43-run stand off 34 balls.After the early loss of Lendl Simmons, Smith’s innings included three boundaries in four deliveries against Steven Finn, the second of which was a pick-up over deep square-leg, and went past fifty off 38 balls. Longevity, though, has never been Smith’s strength and and aiming another shot through the legs side got an edge off Bresnan. In one sense he had done his job, but it was also a missed opportunity to build a long innings. Bresnan struck again in his next over when he won an lbw against Denesh Ramdin – batting at No. 3 after Darren Bravo picked up a groin injury in the field – after the wicketkeeper had lurched to 22.West Indies continued to play their shots with both Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo collecting early boundaries but as rain started to fall Finn struck in the first over of his second spell by squaring up Bravo with a full delivery. In that one moment West Indies went from being ahead of the D/L par score to being behind it. The margin became even greater when Eoin Morgan plucked out Kieran Pollard’s fierce cut at backward point. When Samuels clipped James Anderson to midwicket shortly after an hour’s delay for rain, West Indies’ last hope had gone. In total they lost 9 for 77 in 18 overs.

Smart stats

• England’s 114-run win is their largest ever against West Indies in ODIs. Their previous highest is the 89-run win in Adelaide in 1987.

• The win is also England’s second-largest in Southampton after the 121-run win over Pakistan in 2010. Since 2005, West Indies have lost by a margin of 100-plus runs ten times.

• England’s total of 288 is their fifth-highest against West Indies and their second-highest against West Indies at home. The total is the joint-highest for England in ODIs in Southampton.

• Ian Bell equalled his highest score in ODIs (126) with his century. He has now scored 3360 runs at an average of 35.00.

• Bell’s 126 is the fourth-highest score by an England player against West Indies and second-highest against West Indies in home ODIs. Marcus Trescothick is on top for his 130 in 2004.

• The 108-run stand between Bell and Jonathan Trott is the second century stand for the second wicket for England against West Indies. The highest is 144 between Graeme Hick and Michael Atherton in 1995.

• Tim Bresnan’s 4 for 34 is the fourth-best bowling performance for England against West Indies. The best is Andrew Flintoff’s 5 for 19 in 2009. It is also Bresnan’s third haul of four or more wickets.

The foundation of England’s total was laid by a second-wicket stand of 108 between Bell and Jonathan Trott, Warwickshire team-mates who used their understanding well to run hard between the wickets against some lacklustre West Indian fielding. The boundaries had been pushed right to edge of the playing area in anticipation of West Indies’ power-packed batting order.After the early loss of Cook, Bell gave England momentum when he took 18 off Andre Russell’s third over which began with a sublime straight six and continued with three further boundaries around the ground. Pietersen, who tweeted support to his former team-mates during the day, could not have done it any better.Bell had a nervous moment on 23 when Rampaul was convinced he had found the outside edge but umpire Richard Kettleborough said not out. Hot Spot did not show anything on replay although Snicko suggested at a thin edge. Two balls later Bell responded with a rasping square cut as Rampaul dropped short and wide.Bell’s timing and placement was effortless, but the going was tougher for Trott who had collected an early boundary through midwicket but had to wait until the 16th over for his second when Bravo drifted into the pads. As in the final Test, Sunil Narine did not overly trouble the top order – at one stage being reverse swept by Trott – but did break the partnership when Trott was caught behind cutting.It was spin (or rather slow bowling) that continued to keep West Indies in touch when Ravi Bopara edged a cut against Samuels to end his first international innings of the season following injury. Samuels also claimed the important wicket of Morgan who chopped into his stumps after a promising start to his innings and a stand of 51 in eight overs with Bell. After a debilitating winter in all formats and an IPL spent warming the bench Morgan looked in decent form and with a far less pronounced squat at the crease than on his previous appearance. After the success of Bell, significant runs for Bopara and Morgan are the next boxes England will be looking to tick.