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Y Venugopal Rao hit an unbeaten 74 to hold the Andhra Pradesh innings together in their Ranji Trophy league match against Karnataka at Kurnool on Monday.Winning the toss, Andhra Pradesh elected to bat but lost one opener early. There were, however, a string of significant scores all through the batting line-up. GN Srinivas made 39, and Fayaz Ahmed scored 48.At the close of play, Andhra Pradesh were 251/5, with Venugopal Rao batting on 74 and RVC Prasad not out on 2. For Karnataka, Dodda Ganesh was the best bowler, picking up two for 46.

To say Ross Taylor was not seeing the ball well in Brisbane would be an understatement – he was not seeing it at all.Taylor has revealed that he had to consult an eye specialist after the Gabba Test for treatment of a pterygium in his left eye – an overgrowth of the thin clear membrane on the surface of the eye. This would be no surprise to those who saw him look completely out of sorts in the first innings of the series, and not much better in the second.Having trained his hardest leading into the match, Taylor knew something else had to be wrong, and was relieved to find there was a medical solution. Duly cleansed by eye drops and a less intense preparation for the WACA, he went out and constructed the most prolific innings ever made by a visiting batsman in Australia.”I had to get my eyes tested in between,” Taylor said. “I couldn’t really see the ball so the eye drops obviously worked. I have a pterygium in my left eye and I do that a lot [open eyes]. The optometrist said when it’s dark you’ll probably do this a lot [opens eyes] and I told the boys and they lost it because that’s how they take the mickey out of me.”The eye issue was just one of numerous obstacles Taylor overcame in order to bat so brilliantly at the WACA, a performance that left the Australians in wonderment at his concentration and ability to efficiently take advantage of anything loose. Back in August, Taylor had suffered a serious blow to the testicles in Zimbabwe that required a trip home and surgery – he is still under doctor’s instructions not to get hit amidships for another two months, a difficult assignment when faced with a fired up Mitchell Starc.”Yes, for four months, try to not get hit – it’s an interesting thing to tell a player,” Taylor said of the testicular injury. “I think I’ve got about two months to go so I’m counting down. It’s good to be hitting balls again but there’s no discomfort. It’s a bit nerve wracking when 160kph is coming at you but once you get into the fight the adrenalin kicks in and the instincts take over and you just bat.”Just batting was something Taylor was unable to do for anything like as long as he needed to in the lead-up to this trip. A practice fixture in New Zealand the week before departure for Australia was the first time he had picked up a bat since the Zimbabwe tour, and in the days before the Gabba, he trained hard. Perhaps too hard.”I was out of the game for six weeks, I couldn’t do anything,” he said. “I was anxious, it’s a big tour and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves and I wanted to do well and was a bit underdone and all at sea.”I trained pretty hard leading in but sometimes when you try too hard you don’t get the results. Leading into this I let it all go to see where it took me.I’d put too much pressure on myself so I just relaxed, got on the balls of my feet and played straight. Chalk and cheese from where I was a week ago.”Set in Stone: Ross Taylor’s record-breaking score on the WACA scoreboard•Getty Images

There had been correspondence with Taylor’s longtime friend and mentor Martin Crowe also, a long email correspondence before this match and then the happy contrast of a short congratulatory text message this evening after the day’s play. Along the way to 290, Taylor had also surpassed Crowe’s 188 in Brisbane in 1985 as the highest Test score by a New Zealand batsman in Australia.”I heard from Hogan [Crowe] leading into the Test match,” Taylor said. “He sent me a long email. I heard a little bit from him before Brisbane. I got a text from him last night and he jokingly said he was disappointed because that was his proudest moment having the record here in Australia, 188, He was rapt – I received a text before and he’s very proud.”The other major player in Taylor’s story this week was Kane Williamson, the softly-spoken but quietly commanding young batsman who has led the way for New Zealand on this tour. Taylor looked on approvingly – if not comprehendingly – as Williamson showed Australia’s attack could be thwarted in Brisbane, and emulated him here.”Not only this series but the last 18-24 months every format of the game outstanding, consistent in way he prepares, his process is very meticulous,” Taylor said. “It’s great for the Australian public to see a world-class batter. You don’t often say that in New Zealand, good example for other batters.”Not a lot of words out there but know you’re going to have to work hard to get his wicket. He took a lot of pressure off me at start. For such a young man to achieve what he has achieved, it’s only the start.”Through an innings that occupied near enough to two days, Taylor witnessed numerous passages. The most thrilling was Starc’s second new-ball spell on the second afternoon, when Taylor got his bat behind a ball clocked at 160.4kph. The most amusing was his rollicking last-wicket stand with Trent Boult; it ended when it was Taylor who got out short of 300 rather than his nervous partner.”It’s not easy when you come out to bat after a partnership,” Taylor said of Brendon McCullum’s meeting with Starc. “Brendon had to wait a long time and Starc had his tail up. Fortunately we had a little bit of luck. It was very fast and hostile and both survived seven overs straight with the new ball in those conditions, it’s not easy. I’m sure that would have taken a lot out of him.”I was disappointed not to get 300, but if you’d said at the start of the day I would have been close, I would have taken it. I feel a bit happier that Boulty didn’t get out because he was so nervous out there, if he’d got out and I was close that could have broken him for a few years.”The final word on Taylor’s innings can go to Adam Voges, who watched a visitor show plenty of sense in how he handled the WACA, and grew in admiration for him with each passing hour. “I wish that nick carried early yesterday,” he said of an early Taylor edge. “I thought the innings he played was outstanding.”He pounced on any width that we gave him throughout the whole innings and I think he just grew into his innings wonderfully well. He didn’t really give us a sniff. I thought it was an exceptional innings. After we put on [almost] 560 in the first innings it actually gave them a bit of ascendancy back in the game. He batted really, really well.”Eyesight to the blind, and a record that will take some beating.

Andrew Musgrove has given his reaction to some positive Newcastle United news that has now emerged involving Ryan Fraser.

The Lowdown: POTM nominee

As shared by the official Twitter page of the St. James’ Park faithful, Fraser has now been nominated for the Player of the Month (POTM) award for February.

The Scotland international grabbed one goal and one assist in the four games played in the Premier League, helping his team pick up three wins and a draw (Transfermarkt) to lift them further away from the relegation spots in the table.

The Latest: Musgrove reacts

Taking to Twitter, The Chronicle journalist Musgrove has now given his reaction to the news of Fraser’s nomination, claiming that he has had a ‘fantastic turnaround’ in a Magpies shirt.

Before his goal and assist last month, the 28-year-old had managed just one assist in the top flight this season.

The Verdict: No looking back

After a disappointing start, Fraser will not want to look back, and the winger will hopefully kick on even further from now until the end of the campaign.

Eddie Howe has even been singing his praises, stating in his pre-game press conference ahead of their match at home to Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon that he has played ‘very well’ under him and that he has ‘proved’ that he is a ‘good’ player.

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Nonetheless, with Allan Saint-Maximin still a doubt for the visit of the Seagulls, it is Fraser’s time to shine once more.

In other news, find out who was not in training alongside Saint-Maximin here!

Defending Carib Beer Challenge Trophy champions Trinidad and Tobago will take on Guyana in the opening game of the 2008 Carib Beer Series, set to begin on January 4 at Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre.T&T bowl off their campaign with the luxury of a home fixture, unlike in the previous season, and would look to utilise that advantage to the fullest before their away games against Leeward Islands, Windwards Islands and University of West Indies (UWI).Last season, T&T, who were the team to beat, fell short in their first game, losing away to Barbados by three wickets and immediately starting the tournament on the back foot.This season, T&T will travel to Carib Lumber Park, St Maarten to take on the Leeward Islands, before returning home to face newly-crowned KFC Cup champions Jamaica at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain from February 29 to March 3.Jamaica and T&T will get enough time to prepare for their clash as all the teams take a break for the 2008 Stanford 20/20 tournament, scheduled to take place between January 25 and February 25. T&T will have their last home game from April 25-28 against Barbados, also at the Queens Park Oval, while the Challenge final will take place from May 2-6 at a venue to be announced.

John Buchanan has helped Australia win the Ashes, now he’ll get a say in his replacement © Getty Images

The Ashes series has been a tale of two coaches with John Buchanan improving his record and Duncan Fletcher losing ground by the game. Both men may have been involved in their last Tests at the SCG, but Buchanan leaves with the greater reputation after being a key backroom member of Australia’s 5-0 victory and a 12th win in a row.Buchanan’s stock is currently so high that Mark Taylor, a Cricket Australia director, said he will be a main figure in the search for the country’s next coach. The World Cup in the West Indies is Buchanan’s final task in his current role, but Taylor, who is on a committee to choose the replacement, has added to his duties.”Quite a bit will depend on [Buchanan’s] thoughts,” Taylor said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “Depending on who we go for, it might be possible for them to travel to the World Cup with John, if they are not already coaching an international team. If that is possible, that would be our preference.”We have had some informal chats already as a committee. I’m not at liberty to say much more than that, but certainly the one-day series will give us an opportunity to get together in the next couple of weeks to discuss matters further.”Tom Moody, the Sri Lanka coach, and Tim Nielsen, who is in charge of Australia’s Centre of Excellence, are the front-runners while Greg Chappell and Dav Whatmore have also been spoken of as contenders. Whoever gets the job faces a huge task to match Buchanan’s record of 70 wins from 91 matches.Ricky Ponting praised Buchanan after his side sealed the Ashes whitewash and waved goodbye to a huge chunk of the side. Apart from Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer, Australia have also lost Buchanan and Damien Martyn from the Test scene during the series. Martyn, who went into hiding in Adelaide, was a surprise guest in the Australian dressing room after play and Shane Watson, the injured allrounder, also joined in the celebrations.Buchanan made three points before the team walked out on the final morning in Sydney – Ponting could only remember two of them – and he will continue to make more until the World Cup. “He’s been very overlooked,” Ponting said. “We’ve been a talented side but talented guys don’t win you everything.”He’s been responsible for getting the best out of me, out of Langer, out of Hayden, out of Steve Waugh to a certain degree, maybe even a bit out of Warney. And McGrath. All our coaching staff right through the last 12-13 months have been terrific.”

ScorecardDheeraj Jadhav, tipped by many to be a potential India opener, sparkled on the second day’s play against Tamil Nadu at Nasik with a battling hundred, but the tourists held their own to grab nine wickets before stumps with Maharashtra just 32 runs ahead. Tamil Nadu did well to trigger a manic middle-order collapse following Jadhav’s dismissal, but Sairaj Bahutule stroked his way to a vital 77. Maharashtra’s day began well thanks to a fiery three-wicket burst from Munaf Patel, the opening bowler, as Tamil Nadu, 254 for 7 overnight, were bowled out for 275. Sreedharan Sharath, Tamil Nadu’s veteran, was the highest scorer with 75.Murali Kartik, the left-arm spinner currently on domestic duty, did his chances for a national recall no harm with a five-wicket haul to dismiss Mumbai for 367 on the second day’s play at the Wankhede Stadium, but Railways faced an uphill task after losing the vital wicket of Sanjay Bangar, their captain, before stumps. Ramesh Powar, Mumbai’s allrounder, proved a thorn in Railways side with a 221-ball 74 after Amol Muzumdar fell in the morning session with his 20th first-class hundred. Greg Chappell, India’s coach, had stated yesterday that there was little point in keeping Kartik in the squad for the second Test against Sri Lanka when he was not in the final XI, and his decision to give the spinner a chance to ply his trade in the Ranji Trophy was spot-on.A solid 79-run opening partnership between Shikhar Dhawan and Aakash Chopra made way for a critical period of collapse at the hands of Siddarth Trivedi and Hitesh Majmudar, Gujarat’s pace duo, as the hosts slipped to 186 for 5 on day two at the Feroze Shah Kotla. Trivedi, Gujarat’s opening bowler, continued from where he heroically left off on the first day with the wickets of Dhawan and Mayank Tehlan, whose previous stay at the wicket yielded a debut hundred, as Delhi proceeded to lose its way. In the morning session, Amit Bhandari, Delhi’s captain, added a sixth wicket to his tally to dismiss Gujarat for 143 and break a fine 60-run last wicket stand after Asraf Makda’s explosive innings spared them a major blemish. Despite the late hiccups, it was a marked improvement from Delhi’s batsmen after their first-innings 69, and set them up for what should be an engrossing third day’s play.
ScorecardFive strikes against Haryana before stumps at Hyderabad and a solid wag from the tail in the first two sessions of play made it Hyderabad’s day at Uppal. The star of the day was Narinderpal Singh, as he became the first medium-pacer from South Zone to claim 300 wickets in the Ranji Trophy when he trapped Bagheshwar Bist lbw in the third over. Earlier, Joginder Sharma’s third five-wicket haul of the season – he now sits atop the wickets tally with 24 – had earlier helped dismiss Hyderabad for 328, but given that they were 250 for 5 overnight, that total was significantly larger than the tourists would have liked. Haryana, still 222 runs behind Hyderabad, will need to put in a good day at the shop tomorrow, and much of that rests on the shoulders of Joginder and Mahesh Rawat, whose last innings was an unbeaten 90, in good time, against Baroda.An unbeaten 98-run stand between Bharat Chipli – who raced to a maiden first-class fifty – and Barrington Rowland led Karnataka’s reply after Rohan Gavaskar’s 96 took Bengal to 331 on the second day’s play at Mysore. Shib Paul, Bengal’s opening bowler, dismissed Robin Uthappa for just 5 in the fourth over of Karnataka’s reply, but Chipli and Rowland displayed terrific application towards their task by forging an aggressive partnership. In just his third innings for Karnataka, the 22-year old Chipli has already launched two sixes. Bengal’s first-innings total could have been substantially larger if not for the fine efforts of Udit Patel, the offspinner, who picked up four wickets to run through the tail.
ScorecardUttar Pradesh’s lower order stepped up to the plate to propel their side to 433 against Punjab on the second day of the Elite Group B match at Lucknow before Ashish Zaidi, the veteran fast bowler, capped a good day for the home side by dismissing both Punjab openers in a telling spell before stumps. Piyush Chawla, P Kumar and Avinash Yadav all produced career-best scores as 185 runs were added by the last four players. Hardevinder Sandhu, the opening bowler, was the most successful for Punjab with 3 for 101.
ScorecardMSK Prasad, Andhra’s wicketkeeper-batsman, finally struck form while patiently batting himself to a half-century at stumps on day two at Palam as the tourists finished on 112 for 2, 184 runs behind. Earlier, Jasvir Singh fell eight runs short of a hundred but Sarabjit Singh, Services’ wicketkeeping captain, pushed on to a gritty fifty as they added a further 83 to their overnight 203 for 4. This was the first score of note this season for Prasad, a former India wicketkeeper, and Andhra will look to him and Venugopal Rao, the captain, to further their fortunes as play resumes tomorrow.

Marvan Atapattu will miss the tsunami relief fundraising game in Melbourne on Monday because his two children have fallen ill. Atapattu had hoped to catch Sunday’s flight to Australia but abandoned those plans on Saturday night. "Marvan will miss the game because his children were hospitalised on Saturday," confirmed Ray Illangakoon, Sri Lanka Cricket’s media manager.Muttiah Muralitharan, making his return to international cricket after a five-month layoff, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara and Chaminda Vaas will now represent Sri Lanka in the Asian XI, which will also be missing Sachin Tendulkar (elbow) and Shoaib Akhtar (hamstring) because of injury.

Grant Bradburn has returned to the Northern Districts fold, but not as a player. Bradburn has been appointed as the Community Cricket co-ordinator for the Waikato Valley region.Bradburn has been one of the great stalwarts of Northern Districts cricket with a playing career spanning 17 years. In all he appeared in 115 first-class and 121 one-day matches for Northern Districts, both of them records. He is the third highest runscorer, and the second highest wicket taker, and has the most catches by a non-wicketkeeper. He played seven tests and 11 one-day internationals for New Zealand.Bradburn will be working in the newly-constituted Waikato Valley region. A boundary review has seen the trial amalgamation of the Thames Valley and Midlands senior District Associations for the 2003-2004 season (with the exception of the Taupo sub association which has returned to the Bay of Plenty).His responsibilities will involve working closely with the senior District Association and the Midlands and Thames Valley Junior Cricket Board’s to promote the game at all levels (primary school, secondary school and clubs) and to elevate the profile of cricket in the greater Waikato region. He will also be responsible for the national development programme in the region.He will be attached to Sport Waikato, as well as Northern Districts, as a member of the Sportsforce team. Dave Richardson, previously Sportsforce cricket development manager for the whole Waikato region will now focus on Hamilton and becomes Hamilton Cricket development manager. Bradburn will continue his ownership of Grant Bradburn Sports which operates as a shop at Westpac Park. Grant will be based at the Northern Districts office at Westpac Park.

West Indian captain Carl Hooper admitted that his side had been beaten fairand square by Sri Lanka in Galle but promised that the team will come outfighting in the second Test starting on Wednesday.The tourists lost to Sri Lanka by 10 wickets on Saturday despite havingscored 448 in their first innings.”We didn’t play as we could have done, but I don’t think we were disgracedin any way,” he said. “We are disappointed we lost but we’ll come outfighting again in the second Test.””We knew it was going to be tough. They have a world-class spinner inMuttiah Muralitharan and he is going to put you under pressure.”I was very hopeful when I saw the way Sarwan and Ganga played in the firsthour. They were fairly comfortable it was unfortunate to lose Ganga and thenSarwan immediately afterwards.”West Indies were cruising at one stage on 423 for four, but following thedismissal of Brian Lara, they capitulated, losing their remaining fivewickets for just 23 runs. Sri Lanka then rattled up 590 to set themselves upfor victory on the final day.”When we were 423 for four we should have made 550,” said Hooper. “Weallowed them back into the game and then bowled too short and wide on thefirst day. As a result they got away.”We made a big effort in trying to pull them back on the third and fourthday, but we were obviously up against it.”Hooper defended the decision to play two spinners: “It was a dry wicket fromday one we knew it was going to turn. Ramnarine bowled well, whilstMcGarrell didn’t bowl as well as he should have, but if we had to do it allagain we would picked two spinners.”Muttiah Muralitharan picked up 11-169 in the match, the third time he hastaken ten wickets in consecutive Tests.”When you play against a world class bowler like Muralitharan, it’sdifficult to have a plan,” he said. “It’s not as if he has one particularstrength. He bowls virtually everything: he’s got a straighter ball, aflighted ball and a flat ball, so, basically, you’ve got to play what yousee.”We will now have a day off, before coming and working in the nets again. Wewill discuss where we went wrong and how we can tackle them in the secondtest.”

PepsiCo India, the title sponsor of the IPL, is set to terminate its five-year contract with the league two years ahead of schedule. The decision, understood to be linked to the negative publicity enveloping the tournament following the 2013 corruption scandal, will be the first major setback in terms of perception for Shashank Manohar, the new BCCI president, who was elected largely because of his clean image.It was reported that PepsiCo was considering such an exit soon after the Lodha panel announced a two-year suspension for Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals in July. While it is understood that PepsiCo has sent the termination notice to BCCI and IPL authorities, it’s statement to ESPNcricinfo was carefully worded. “BCCI and PepsiCo have had a longstanding cordial relationship and have been in discussions to work out a solution which addresses PepsiCo’s concerns. Both parties will share it when ready,” the statement said.The BCCI, for its part, issued a similar statement as well on Friday. “BCCI and Pepsico have had a long-standing cordial relationship. Pepsico has raised certain concerns with the BCCI,” the statement said. “BCCI has assured that steps will be taken to address the concerns and will work necessary solutions in the interests of the league as well as Pepsico. As part of the process BCCI and Pepsico have been in amicable discussions and further update will be shared in due course.”IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla confirmed that the BCCI would not enter into any legal dispute with PepsiCo, which had signed a deal worth Rs 396 crore in 2012. “They have been a very good partner all this while and we do not want to disturb our relationship with them. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen in a very smooth manner,” Shukla told .A settlement with Pepsi is likely to be rubber stamped in the BCCI working committee meeting in Mumbai on October 18.Shukla tried to downplay the issue by stating the BCCI has already started the hunt for PepsiCo’s replacement. “We are in talks with other sponsors as well, so the title deal with Pepsi is not that big an issue. They have certain points and we are going to settle them amicably in the next meeting,” he said.It remains to be seen if the IPL, in its most tumultuous phase, attracts a new sponsor that could match the price that was being paid by PepsiCo. For now, even the number of teams that will participate in IPL 2016 is uncertain, with Super Kings having challenged their suspension in the court, and the BCCI still having the power to exercise its right to terminate the franchise agreement of both Super Kings and Royals.PepsiCo will be the second corporate house to end its association with IPL as a title sponsors. DLF India did not renew its association after the expiry of its five-season deal following the first five editions of the league.