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Coaches, city workers, coffee shop owners – all occupations of retired first-class cricketers. But David “Syd” Lawrence, once a fearsome fast bowler for England, has deviated somewhat in his second life.David Lawrence’s career was cut short by a cruel knee injury•Getty Images

Lawrence is still performing in public but has swapped cricket’s 22-yards for the stages of the bodybuilding circuit. And now he his not judged by the accuracy of his deliveries but the definition of his muscles.Lawrence’s career was effectively ended by a harrowing knee injury in Wellington in 1992 and he admits the cruel turn of fate was tough to deal with for a long time after he had retired: “You can’t look back – it just wasn’t meant to be,” he said.But that competitive edge has never left him and he is now training harder than ever, with morning gym sessions completed before 9am and a diet that puts his food intake as a cricketer to shame.”Even when I was playing cricket I was always in the gym,” Lawrence told ESPNcricinfo. “People said I spent too much time in the gym. But I was probably ahead of my time, if you look at cricketers today, they spend a hell of a lot of time in the gym.”If someone throws me the ball at half five on a hot day, that’s physically hard work. It’s very demanding. Fast bowling is one of the hardest things you can do. You have to be mentally very strong as well.”But bodybuilding is pretty tough. Not just the training but to be in the best shape for competition is about 14 weeks of hard dieting. And that is mental pressure.”He has enjoyed success, becoming over-40s South West champion, over 20 years on from the end of his playing career.Lawrence took 515 first-class wickets at 32.07 in just over a decade with Gloucestershire. “1985 was probably one of my best years,” he said. “I opened the bowling with Courtney Walsh, we finished second in the Championship – and should have won it. The partnership between me and Courtney was frightening for so many people. They didn’t want to play against us.”His England debut came in 1988 against Sri Lanka at Lord’s but it would be three more years until he gained a run in the side. His 18 wickets across five Tests included dismissing Viv Richards for the final time in Test cricket – at The Oval in 1991.Lawrence was one of a number of British West Indians in county cricket. But there has been a remarkable drop off in recent years. It is a concern for Lawrence: “There’s a massive problem with English West Indian kids – they’re just not interested in the game. And they have no role models. What we need is West Indians born in Britain to be able to fly the flag.”

ScorecardJames Vince batted for more than six and a half hours in the second innings•Getty Images

James Vince, whose talent and in particular the excellence of his cover driving is not in question, is that much closer to playing for England. His unbeaten 152, made in considerable heat against a competitive attack, enabled England Lions to draw the second first-class fixture on this short tour of South Africa. The only pity was that no third match had been scheduled to follow two contests that were called off around tea-time on the final day.The other significance for English cricket in general was that Jonathan Trott, who now flies home to Birmingham and then on to Florida on a family holiday, went, at the conclusion of the match, further than before in terms of his view about resuming his England career. He has, after all, made a double century at Paarl and a half century here, looking, all the while, fit and enjoying his cricket. “I felt in August when playing for Warwickshire that my game was coming back to play for England. I’d love that opportunity to do so,” he said.The Lions had a slender lead, 51, at the start of play with six wickets intact. Graham Thorpe, England’s lead batting coach, reckoned that if they were still batting at lunchtime after a two and a half hour morning session, they had a fair chance of securing a draw. They did that and more. Jonny Bairstow went early, edging Rory Kleinveldt to Rudi Second, whose wicketkeeping in this series has been far from ideal. Now, though, he held a neat catch in front of first slip.

Five-day games would have been good – Trott

Jonathan Trott, the Lions captain, was delighted with how his team had responded to pressure situations in Bloemfontein to fight out a draw but said that it would have been nice for the games to be five days.

“We had been under pressure the previous evening but were trying to force a declaration and go for a [positive] result, but that was not realistic. James Vince looked fantastic. To have come in and played like that did him great credit. I’ve really enjoyed the challenge of captaining a talented bunch of cricketers and have got on very well with Robbo [Mark Robinson, the Lions coach]. To have had five-day matches would have been exciting but that was not to be.”

Justin Ontong, South Africa A’s captain, said: “We are really disappointed we let the match slip, but there were some special performances and all in all I am proud of the players. The future of South African cricket is good. Theunis de Bruyn’s batting was a highlight. He was absolutely outstanding and has all the attributes of a future Test cricketer.”

That was 227 for 5, 66 on, which meant that, on a pitch of increasingly variable bounce, Vince had to progress beyond a century. He drove Chris Morris to the cover boundary, the ball skimming away down the slope as all his drives seem to do. Dropped for a second time in this innings by Stiaan van Zyl, who was bowling medium pace, he then bisected the off-side ring once again. This textbook shot off Kagiso Rabanda took him to 99.Surprisingly, given that Justin Ontong is an astute captain, Dane Piedt then bowled the next over with mid on pushed back, allowing Vince a single to complete his first century at this level, and his 15th in first-class cricket, off 196 balls with 16 fours. The new ball was promptly taken – and was quickly dispatched by Adil Rashid to the extra cover boundary and by Vince to long on. Kleinveldt and the impressive Morris had both had reasonably lengthy spells at the start of the day, which, in a session lengthened to make up for time lost in the thunderstorm the previous afternoon, was not ideal.So the new ball was seen off. At least it was until Rashid, having made 32, edged Rabada to first slip. Liam Plunkett, not one to bother about a sighter, belted the same bowler for two successive fours before he was bowled by a fine off cutter from Morris, but Mark Wood, who gives the appearance of being able to develop into an allrounder, gave Vince invaluable support.Wood, whose bowling has impressed South Africa A, pulled Morris for four and then steered the next ball over the slips to the third man boundary. Vince, not be outdone, swept Piedt for six and, in bringing up his 150 with 22 fours, also took the Lions total to 400. The 12th man had been on and off with drinks and, no doubt, messages for the batsmen. The upshot was that stumps were drawn at 2.45, before tea, which was probably just as well for Wood, who had wrenched a shoulder in executing his favoured pull. Vince finished with 152 from 292 balls and a reputation enhanced. No bad thing to make your first century for the Lions in front of Graham Thorpe.

Match facts

Saturday, March 7
Start time 1400 local (0100GMT)

Big Picture

Safe South Africa. Precariously placed Pakistan. It could not be a better prospect. With one of the tournament favourites already looking to the knockouts and the other desperate to get there, Eden Park could see a clash of a strategies which could make for a sensational contest.South Africa are trying to stack up strong showings and coming off the back of two totals of 400-plus, they may be aiming for 450. But they will be up against the most challenging attack they will face in the group stages, a Pakistan line-up laden with left-armers and laced with aggression. They will want to be careful but no too hesitant, especially if they are chasing.It was just three matches ago that South Africa’s unbeaten World Cup record against India was broken by a fragile batting line-up. They have the same advantage over Pakistan, and will want to guard against it being overturned, especially as it could have an impact on where they finish in the group.Pakistan have their own problems with the bat, which they need to fix especially when coming up against quality bowling. Their top order remains brittle and they continue to rely overly on Misbah-ul-Haq and their bowlers to smooth over any shortcomings. They will know only a complete performance against an outfit like South Africa will do.While this match is not quite make or break for Pakistan, they would prefer things not to get to that stage – they wouldn’t want to face another tricky game against Ireland in the group stages of a World Cup. They would much prefer to make a statement against South Africa and clear their own path to the knockouts.

Form guide

Pakistan WWLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
South Africa WWLWWCan the pacy Wahab Riaz and Co stop AB de Villiers?•Getty Images

In the spotlight

Quinton de Kock scored his first international century against Pakistan in November 2013, and he may look to that for inspiration to end his lean patch. He has only got into double figures once in his last five ODIs and has been struggling with footwork and shot selection, but has been tipped by everyone from his coach Russell Domingo to his opening partner Hashim Amla to come good. As the only member of South Africa’s top six yet to score a century in this competition, de Kock is due.The man who has delivered the fastest ball in the tournament so far is not Mitchell Johnson or Dale Steyn but Wahab Riaz, who sent one down at 154kph against the UAE and has reminded batsmen not everything can go their way. In operation with Mohammad Irfan, Rahat Ali and Sohail Khan, he is part of an attack that can rival South Africa’s in almost every way. Riaz and Co will relish the opportunity to go toe to toe with the opposition pack, and will be keen to see if anyone can stop AB de Villiers.

Teams news

Both JP Duminy and Vernon Philander have passed fitness tests and are available for selection, which leaves South Africa with a conundrum. Duminy should slot straight back in leaving space for only one of Farhaan Behardien or Rilee Rossouw, but Philander will face competition for his place from the in-form Kyle Abbott.South Africa (probable) 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Farhaan Behardien/Rilee Rossouw, 8 Vernon Philander/Kyle Abbott, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran TahirPakistan have indicated they will have a relook at their top order with Sarfraz Ahmed being considered as an opener, probably in place of the under-firing Nasir Jamshed. They may also have to make a change at No. 3 because Haris Sohail is nursing a heel injury and will need to be assessed to determine his availability, which could bring Younis Khan back into the XI. Yasir Shah will likely remain on the bench with the four-pronged pace attack complemented by Shahid Afridi.Pakistan (probable) 1 Nasir Jamshed/Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Haris Sohail/Younis Khan 4 Sohaib Maqsood, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Wahab Riaz, 9 Sohail Khan, 10 Rahat Ali, 11 Mohammad Irfan

Pitch and conditions

With short straight boundaries and a pristine outfield, Eden Park promises bucket loads of runs but looks may be deceiving. In the only match of the World Cup played here so far, 100 fewer runs were scored than South Africa managed to score in a single innings in Canberra.Heavy moisture in the air will aid bowlers but may threaten the match. Wet weather is forecast for tomorrow afternoon with the heaviest rain expected to fall between 6pm and 8pm.

Stats and trivia

• South Africa and Pakistan have played each other three times at a World Cup, in 1992, 1996 and 1999, and South Africa have won all three matches
• Misbah-ul-Haq is 7 runs away from 5,000 ODI runs, while Shahid Afridi is five wickets away from 400 scalps

Quotes

“I feel like we are playing some good cricket. We’re starting to figure out a way. We’re putting this puzzle together and everything is coming together quite nicely.”
“Everybody is determined. We all know that this is an important game if we really want to progress in this World Cup. We’re really focused, determined, and looking forward to this game.”

March 18
News – England were wrong to sack me – CookMarch 13
George Dobell – England underwhelm one last time
Report – A very English farewellMarch 12
News – England stare down yet another fresh start
Mark Nicholas – Surprised by England’s World Cup debacle? Don’t beMarch 11
Video – Dravid: Nature of defeats should worry England
News – Moles plots England’s final ignominy
George Dobell – Professional shake-up is the key for England
March 10
News – Players have not performed – DowntonMarch 9
Video – ‘Worst England performance in their ODI history’
George Dobell – Embarrassment to foster radical change
News – ‘We’ve let people down’ – Moores
Report – Mahmudullah, Rubel knock England out

ScorecardWes Durston got Derbyshire back into the match•Getty Images

Derbyshire’s pace attack delivered a late twist to another enthralling day to give the home side a slender advantage in their Division Two match against Lancashire. Mark Footitt and Tom Taylor dismissed openers Paul Horton and Luis Reece along with nightwatchman Peter Siddle as the visitors closed on 36 for 3, a lead of only 55 with two days remaining.A fourth-wicket stand of 148 between Billy Godleman and Wes Durston helped Derbyshire recover from an impressive opening spell from Siddle to reach 274, with England spinner Simon Kerrigan taking 3 for 21 from 18.5 oversThe late drama reflected the start of the day, with Lancashire’s hopes of a third batting point vanishing when their last two wickets fell for one run – Taylor bowling Kerrigan and having Tom Bailey caught at third slip without scoring.Siddle delivered a quality nine over spell from the Racecourse end to remove Martin Guptill and Wayne Madsen as the home side slipped to 26 for 3. Bailey trapped Ben Slater lbw half forward before Siddle discovered his line to have Guptill taken head high at second slip by Tom Smith and find Madsen’s outside edge.Siddle was unlucky not to claim more wickets as he repeatedly beat Durston and Godleman but they hung on and took advantage when the Australian was rested. They grew in authority as the second day mirrored the first, with the batsmen prospering in the post-lunch sunshine as the ball lost its hardness.Durston pulled Kyle Jarvis for his sixth four to reach 50 off 61 balls and Godleman brought up the 100 stand when he drove Smith to the cover boundary. The opener steered Smith to third man for his eighth four to bring up his 50 and Lancashire had become desperate for a breakthrough when Durston tried to hit Kerrigan over the top and became the spinner’s 200th Championship victim.Shiv Thakor became the third Derbyshire batsman to fall without scoring when he edged Bailey to first slip and Godleman was caught behind cutting at Jarvis. The rest of the innings fell to spin but Alex Hughes, who hooked Jarvis for six, and Harvey Hosein both played well to deny Lancashire a bigger lead before Taylor and Footitt struck.Horton was yorked, Reece edged behind and Siddle was taken low at first slip to leave Durston looking forward to the morning. “I would say it’s very even but getting those three wickets means we can go into day three still par and I think the first session will be very important to setting up the rest of this game,” he said.”Early in the morning the ball does a little bit and hopefully we can use that to our advantage and nip out a couple more so the first two hours will be very important.”Kerrigan admitted he was unaware he had reached a personal milestone: “I hadn’t a clue but it’s a really pleasing thing for me to achieve and hopefully there are plenty more landmarks to come for me. Hopefully we can bat well tomorrow and look to try and get what we did in the first innings.”

Quinton de Kock and Wayne Parnell are the two nationally contracted players who have opted to change franchises ahead of the 2015-16 summer. Both are leaving the teams where their careers began with De Kock moving from Lions to Titans and Parnell from Warriors to Cobras.De Kock’s shift is more surprising because he was quite close to Lions’ head coach Geoffrey Toyana, who oversaw an important phase of his career when he was trying to break into international cricket. After de Kock had an unsuccessful start with a particularly poor tour of Sri Lanka in 2013, Toyana spent many hours in the nets with him to hone his game. The results were stand out – de Kock reeled off three centuries in succession against India, became South Africa’s regular limited-overs opener and wicketkeeper and started his Test career as well.In the process, de Kock also earned IPL deals, first with Sunrisers Hyderabad and then Delhi Daredevils where he would have worked closely with Rob Walter, Titans’ head coach for two seasons after a long stint as South Africa’s fitness and fielding coach. Titans won their first trophy under Walter, the one-day cup in the 2014-15 season, after sharing the trophy with the Cobras the year before.Walter has two more years in charge and will be targeting more silverware. De Kock will add to a squad that has already poached another Lions player, Chris Morris and two other glovemen. Heino Kuhn and Mangaliso Mosehle may give him a break from being behind the stumps. The situation will not be too unusual for de Kock, who also found himself with a clutch of keepers at the Lions. Thami Tsolekile and Dominic Hendricks both play at Lions and have been retained for next season.At the coastal end of the country, Parnell travels from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town for “lifestyle” reasons according to his agent Donne Commins. While his move has left the Eastern Cape based franchise without one of their senior bowlers, it has added to the embarrassment of riches in the Western Cape. Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Rory Kleinveldt, Justin Kemp, Dane Piedt and Robin Peterson make up the international component of the Cobras attack while they also have promising youngsters in Dane Paterson and Mthokozisi Shezi, who, like Parnell, is a left-arm seamer.The only solace for the other franchises is that Cobras’ national players do not often turn out for them because of international commitments and Parnell is likely to be no different. When he is available, coach Paul Adams intends to use him as a “fully-fledged allrounder.”

Chandika Hathurusingha, the Bangladesh coach, has said that India sending their best team for the ongoing ODI series is an indication that they regard Bangladesh as a stronger unit than last June. He was, however, not entirely satisfied with his team’s performance on Thursday despite them posting their biggest win against India.”The best example (of the change in the Bangladesh team) is that India is sending their strongest team,” Hathurusingha said. “It speaks for itself, how far we have come from that series to now. It is always good to gauge your success or what you are doing, by how your peers are looking at you. I think it is a big rap for our boys that India came with their full strength. Our confidence is high, the way we are playing now is also a bit different.”During last year’s three-match ODI series, India were without regular captain MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami. But Suresh Raina’s side won 2-0, including the one in which they bowled Bangladesh out for just 58 runs. It was also Hathurusingha’s first assignment as head coach and it was a tumultuous time after Shakib Al Hasan had got into a fracas with a fan during one of the matches.Bangladesh turned around their fortunes remarkably since the Zimbabwe series last November, winning nine consecutive ODIs at home on either side of a decent World Cup campaign. This time India are only without Shami who is recovering from a knee injury.Hathurusingha, however, was not pleased with the Bangladesh batsmen giving away good starts in the first game. Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar got to fifties but didn’t push on despite looking comfortable. Debutant Litton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim fell early before Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman got them back into reckoning with a strong fifth-wicket stand.”I am not happy at all with the last game,” Hathurusingha said. “That’s the scary part: we still can improve in all departments. We played better against Pakistan. I think we are looking to improve from the next game.”When you get a start, we always talk about going big in partnerships. We talk about simple things, which we did well against Pakistan. I want them to do that in the middle. We had three-four hundreds against Pakistan. If one of the top batters get set and go for a big score. It helps us to score big runs,” he said.On Mustafizur Rahman, who took a five-wicket haul on debut in the previous match, Hathurusingha said it helped him that he is an “unknown factor” but his job would only get challenging as teams would start preparing for his kind of bowling.”Definitely for any bowler, when you come into international cricket, because you are unknown factor, it is a big plus,” he said. “Nowadays even before that, they can look at videos and be prepared. For Mustafizur it is going to be a challenge because people get to know more and respect him a bit more. But again, he has to execute well, so has the batsmen. We expect the Indians to come hard at us.”

Kumar Sangakkara confirmed he will retire from international cricket after the second Test of Sri Lanka’s forthcoming series against India, calling time on one of the most successful careers in modern cricket. Sangakkara will not play the third Test in the ongoing series against Pakistan, choosing instead to play for county side Surrey, before returning to Sri Lanka ahead of the first Test against India.”I have decided to call it a day on my international career during the second Test of the Indian series,” Sangakkara said after stumps on day three of the second Test in Colombo. “This was the commitment I had made with the previous selection committee. I had originally planned to retire after the World Cup, but following discussions with the previous selectors, I gave the commitment that I will be available for these two series.”At the same time I said that I would be unable to play six Test matches, but I could do four, and if that was okay, and I would give 100 percent of my commitment to these four Tests. Once they said this was okay, I decided that I would extend my career.”Sangakkara had given thought to playing only the first Test against India following a change of proposed dates for that tour, but has since chosen to honour his commitment to the previous selectors. There had been calls, from within Sri Lanka’s sporting and political establishments, for him to extend his career by another year, but he has declined those requests.However, a hitch has arisen in the latest schedule for the India series, with Sri Lanka’s general elections now scheduled for August 17 – the day before the first Test of that series is set to begin. Sangakkara hoped the India series “wouldn’t be postponed again”, but with the board reluctant to begin a high-profile series so soon after the elections, it now appears likely that the Galle Test will not begin on August 18, as presently proposed. A postponement of several days is likely.There is also the matter of the venue of the second Test. The tentative schedule has it slated for Colombo, but there are suggestions it would be more fitting if Sangakkara retires in his home town of Kandy. Ideally, he would play his final match at Asgiriya, where he grew up playing school cricket for Trinity College, but this is unlikely as the ground’s facilities are now considered inadequate to host international cricket. Pallekele would be a likelier option, but SLC has not committed to switching venues for the occasion.”I am actually not sure where the venues are,” Sangakkara said. “I would love to choose where I am going to end, but that’s not going to be possible. I have to play wherever the matches are.”I watched Muttiah Muralitharan play his last Test Match in Galle. Murali is from Kandy and we both grew up there. Kandy would have loved to say goodbye to Murali. I have had so much good fortune in my career, and I can’t ask for everything. Sometimes you have to just do the best you can with what’s there. If I don’t get a chance to play my last Test in Kandy so be it. I will be disappointed, but that can’t be helped.”Asgiriya would have been perfect. I remember when Test cricket went away from Asgiriya, I was disappointed as a player. But I understand that facilities and surface and all these things matter. It’s not going to be at Asgiriya.”Sangakkara said his decision to stagger his last four Tests over two three-match series had more to do with his personal desire to play only a few Tests beyond the World Cup, than with his contract with Surrey. “My request to play two Tests in each series is nothing to do with the Surrey commitment. Any county understands that your country commitment comes first. Even if I go now and say, ‘Listen, I am not coming. I want to play for Sri Lanka,’ there are no issues. I have signed a two-year contract with leeway to come and go whenever the national duty comes.”Sangakkara is Sri Lanka’s most successful Test batsman, having hit 12,305 runs over 132 matches. He is fifth on the all-time run-scorers list, and his present average of 58.31 is the second-highest for any batsman with more than 7000 runs. In terms of number of innings, he was also the quickest batsman to 8000, 9000, 10,000 (equal with Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara), 11,000 and 12,000 runs. He has 38 hundreds and 11 double-centuries – one behind Don Bradman’s record of 12.

Paul Farbrace, England’s assistant coach, has admitted the team put in a disappointing batting display against Afghanistan but praised the application that allowed them to emerge with a 15-run win in Delhi.England have won two games in a row, in wildly differing circumstances, after losing their opening match with West Indies and still have their sights set on a semi-final spot. Having chased down 230 to beat South Africa in Mumbai on Friday, England stuttered to 142 for 7 against Afghanistan but put in an improved bowling display to secure victory.”We can talk about a developing team, a team lacking experience, but it’s also about winning and I think that the character we showed in the second half of the game was excellent,” Farbrace said. “I thought we showed really good character.”But we were very disappointed with the way that we batted. There’s no fudging that. We didn’t adapt to the conditions. We didn’t work out that the ball was skidding on and played for turn that wasn’t there. The Afghan bowlers bowled in the right way, they bowled wicket-to-wicket and encouraged us to hit across the ball. We did, and lost wickets.”There certainly will have been a decent discussion at the end of the game, and there will probably be more over the next couple of days, through practice, leading up from Saturday. We know we’ve got areas to improve, we’re not going to hide behind anything. We’ve got to keep working hard on our all-round game. We’ve played half a game again, but we have won which is the most important thing.”England’s fluctuating form has reflected their inexperience – both of international cricket and the conditions in India. Their final Group 1 match will be against Sri Lanka on Saturday, with a win required to give them a realistic chance of reaching the last four.While Sri Lanka are the defending champions, they are also rebuilding after the retirements of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, as well as the loss of Lasith Malinga to injury. Farbrace was in charge when they lifted the trophy in 2014, while England coach Trevor Bayliss has also been at the helm with Sri Lanka, and they will not be taking the challenge lightly.”Sri Lanka have got some high-quality bowlers,” Farbrace said. “[Rangana] Herath would have loved to have bowled on that surface, so he’s someone we’re going to have to prepare and practise well for for Saturday. [Tillakaratne] Dilshan is another one, he skids the ball on. Yes he does spin it, but he’s also a very experienced bowler.”They’re a very good side. In Graham Ford they’ve got a fantastic coach. Angelo Mathews is an exceptional captain. They’ve had a tough little period in the last few months. In Mahela and Sanga they’ve lost two hugely experienced players who have been fantastic guys for them on the field. But they’ve still got good players, and they’re capable of beating anyone on their day, as we are, and as anybody is in this tournament.”Between Trevor and myself we know a fair bit about them and their players, but our focus will be on us and what we need to do and how we need to win the game.”Farbrace also offered words of encouragement for England’s captain, Eoin Morgan, whose first-ball duck against Afghanistan extended his run of middling form in white-ball cricket, with his last ODI or T20 half-century coming 16 innings ago on the tour of the UAE.”In practice – and you’d expect me to say this – he’s striking the ball very well,” Farbrace said. “The one thing that Eoin is, he’s very honest. He’s not someone who’ll be kidding us and making excuses. He misjudged the ball. He makes an error, and that costs you a wicket. But I think he’s been hitting the ball really well, practising really well.”He’s the sort of bloke who is our experienced man, and maybe he feels that in this side he carries a fair bit of weight on his shoulders in terms of experience going into every game. Maybe he feels he has to do more than he needs to, and that’s something that only he knows. But between now and Saturday, there’ll be a decent discussion with him, making sure he’s clear in his own mind how he’s going to play, and making sure that his plans are absolutely right.”

It is important to put Indian farmers’ interests before those of the IPL franchises, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has said in his column in the . His comments come in wake of the Public Interest Litigation filed in the Bombay High Court over IPL games – which require significant water usage on the field and pitch – being held in drought-hit Maharashtra, a state where farmer suicides have been a common tragedy year after year.”The issue of drought is one such where many lives are at stake,” Gavaskar wrote. “I am no expert on ground and pitch preparation and how much water will be consumed for it, nor do I know whether the water that will be saved if the matches are not played can be used to irrigate the lands that have become dry and parched. What, however, is without any doubt is that it is the farmers of this country that help put our food on the table and if their lives are at stake, then whatever needs to be done must be done to ensure that not even one life is lost.”The BCCI… will no doubt do what is in the best interest of the nation. There will certainly be losses to the franchises if the games are moved out of their home grounds but, as happened in 2009 and 2014 when the tournament was moved to South Africa and UAE, the franchises will no doubt get compensated… It is a small price to pay, for the alternative could well be unnecessary loss of lives of those whose hard work gives us our daily and .”The Bombay High Court had adjourned the matter on Thursday, with the next hearing scheduled for April 12, meaning the IPL opener will go ahead as scheduled in Mumbai on Saturday.Don’t get caught up with age – Zaheer
Zaheer Khan, the newly appointed Delhi Daredevils captain, is set to take the field in recognised cricket for the first time in almost a year when his team play Kolkata Knight Riders on April 10. Zaheer, 37, retired from international cricket last October, and had missed half of Daredevils’ season last year due to injury. But he is raring to go, he told the IPL website, and doesn’t think he is too old for the format.”I think it [T20 cricket] is about clear thinking and strategy, and if you are good enough and fit enough to play and cope with the pressures and demands of the format, then why not,” he said. “At times we get caught up with numbers, be it statistics on the field or be it the age, so I think we all need to move on from that. There are plenty of guys who are playing the shortest format and been around for a long time.”I always look ahead. It’s a new season and a new start. Everyone put in a lot of work to get things together. We can’t wait to get to Kolkata and play the first game.”