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Former South Africa fast bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe has been charged by CSA for several breaches of its Anti-Corruption Code relating to the 2015 RAM SLAM T20 Challenge Series. He has also been provisionally suspended from any involvement in cricket under the jurisdiction of CSA, the ICC or any other ICC members.The charges include contriving to fix during the T20 tournament and follows the previous bans handed to six players, including former Test wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile and batsman Alviro Petersen.

Significant charges against Tsotsobe

• Contriving to fix or otherwise improperly influence, or being party to a scheme in which attempts would be made to fix or otherwise improperly influence, a match or matches in the 2015 RAM SLAM T20 Challenge Series

• Seeking to accept, accepting or agreeing to accept a bribe or reward to fix or contrive to fix or influence improperly a match or matches in the 2015 RAM SLAM T20 Challenge Series

• Failing to disclose the receipt of a gift or payment that he knew or ought to have known was given to him to procure a breach of the Code or that was made in circumstances that could bring him or the sport of cricket into disrepute

• Failing to disclose to the Designated Anti-Corruption Official (without unnecessary delay) full details of any approaches or invitations to engage in Corrupt Conduct under the Code

“The charges against Tsotsobe follows a lengthy investigation which started around October 2015 by CSA’s Anti-Corruption Unit, and the previous findings and bans imposed on Gulam Bodi, Jean Symes, Pumi Matshikwe, Ethy Mbhalati, Thami Tsolekile and Alviro Petersen for offences under the Code relating to the 2015 RAM SLAM T20 Challenge Series,” CSA said in a release.”To date Tsotsobe has not been under any form of suspension. Under Article 4.7 of the Code, CSA has now provisionally suspended Tsotsobe from playing, coaching or otherwise being involved in any capacity in any match under its jurisdiction or that of the ICC or any other ICC member.”Tsotsobe, 33, played five Tests, 61 ODIs and 23 T20Is for South Africa in a career that began in January 2009. His last appearances for the national team came 2014. He played 61 first-class matches, 144 List A games and 77 T20s over a 11-year career; the last of those domestic games were in December 2015.

Australia’s cricketers are considering the formal payment MOU offer announced by Cricket Australia (CA) on Tuesday, as the board pushes on with its attempt to break up the fixed percentage of revenue share agreement that has existed since 1998.While CA have agreed with the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) to include women in a single MOU for the first time, the remainder of the offer stays broadly in line with the initial pay submission presented to the players late last year. Talks have so far been the most fractious since the ACA was formed 20 years ago. The offer was formally submitted to the ACA this afternoon.

The proposed changes

• Total pay increases to A$419 million for 2017-22, from the current A$311 million

• Average women’s pay increases by more than 125%, to A$179,000 a year from A$79,000 for international cricketers; it is A$52,000 from A$22,000 for domestic cricketers

• Average international men’s central contract to rise to A$816,000 by 2021-22, with match fees up to an average of A$1.45 million from A$1.16 million in 2016-17

• Average domestic men’s payments to rise to A$235,000 by 2021-22, up from A$199,000 in 2016-17

• Minimum and average hourly pay will be the same for men and women domestic cricketers

• Identical match fees for Women’s National Cricket League and Matador Cup

James Sutherland, the CA chief executive, heralded measures such as equal hourly rates of pay for male and female domestic players, an increase for women of 125% next to their current deals. He also outlined the overall increase in player remuneration from A$311 million over the current MOU period (2012-17) to A$419 million over the next MOU (2017-2022).”We are pleased that the Australian Cricketers Association agrees with us that women, for the first time, should be part of the MOU, and we have proposed a financial model that has gender equity at its heart,” Sutherland said.”Under the proposal, women will receive an immediate average pay increase of more than 125%. As a result, our international women cricketers will see their average pay increase from A$79,000 to A$179,000, as of July 1 this year. By 2021, we expect to see our international women cricketers earning an average of A$210,000.”And our state female cricketers, playing both WNCL [Women’s National Cricket League] and WBBL [Women’s Big Bash League], will see their average remuneration more than double from A$22,000 to A$52,000 this year. Under this offer, we will achieve gender equity by ensuring that the minimum and average hourly pay will be the same for state men and women in 2017/18. In addition, match fees for the WNCL and the Matador Cup will be exactly the same: a one-day game for a state cricketer is worth the same to both men and women.”We are also introducing, for the first time, prize money for the WNCL of A$258,000 and the WBBL of A$309,000 this coming summer.”The Australia’s women cricketers’ fees – those who play international cricket – have increased by 125% to A$ 179,000•Getty Images

One of the most hotly-contested aspects of the initial CA submission was that only the top male players deserved a fixed share of the game’s revenue because they helped provide most of windfall from international matches. Sutherland indicated that CA wanted to offer guaranteed minimums to the players while keeping any blue sky amounts over and above projections for funding other aspects of the game.CA’s figures come with the asterisk that the next round of television rights deals, both for Australian and overseas markets, are resolved over the next 15 months. Sutherland indicated that even if the revenue raised by these deals turned out to be comfortably above current projections, only international players would be entitled to a share in the upside.”We have placed the emphasis on increasing the guaranteed amount that the men will receive, rather than rely on any projected increase in revenue,” Sutherland said. “We understand that the ACA prefers the status quo, but CA believes that the model devised in the 1990s, which is based on a fixed percentage of revenue, has served its intended purpose – to make Australia’s cricketers some of the best paid sportspeople in the country.”It was a means to an end, not something that has to hold us back from providing players with financial certainty, a fair deal for all players including women, and the flexibility to invest in the grassroots of the game.”This is a landmark agreement. We are now looking forward to sitting down with the ACA to work through the details and we are confident we will be able to announce a completed agreement before June 30.”Another pillar of past MOU agreements was CA’s provision of an annual grant to fund the ACA, something the board openly questioned in their initial submission. Sutherland declined to indicate whether this was being maintained in the new offer.”That’s something that is in the detail of the proposal, I don’t want to go into that right now,” he said. “It’s something we can talk about later on. In the first instance we see that as a matter for the members and the ACA to consider and we can talk through that detail in the future.”Both Sutherland and the ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson have spent time with the Test team in India in recent days. The players have so far been united in their rejection of any attempts to break up the revenue sharing model, and have also rebuffed CA’s efforts to negotiate directly with the players rather than the ACA.The national captains Steven Smith and Meg Lanning co-signed a letter to Sutherland to this effect in December after talks broke down. While they have resumed in the new year, the two parties remain a long way apart. Nicholson said that the ACA was positive about some elements of the pay offer, but also stated that much of its detail still needed to be digested before the players respond.”There is a lot of fine print to examine and a lot more forecast information still needed by the players,” he said. “Like all such proposals the devil is always in the details. For the moment, what can be said is that this proposal shows a number of promising signs that indicate that CA has been taking the ACA’s lead on various key points from our MOU submission.”However, with a lack of detail in the terms and conditions that underpin this proposal, the ACA will continue to seek clarification from CA and advise the players on this accordingly. The ACA will respond more fully in the coming weeks.”Australia’s looming series decider with India in Dharamsala should ensure that there will be little further jousting until the Test match concludes.

India fast bowler Ishant Sharma, who went unsold at the auction in February, has been picked by Kings XI Punjab as a late purchase one day before the start of the tournament. Virender Sehwag, Kings XI’s head of cricket operations, confirmed Ishant was a replacement for batsman M Vijay, who will miss the IPL because of wrist and shoulder injuries that he played with for a better part of India’s long home season.*Kings XI play their first match on April 8, against Rising Pune Supergiant, the franchise Ishant represented last season.”I share a strong bond with Ishant Sharma as he played under my captaincy in the Ranji Trophy and later in the India team. His addition will most definitely strengthen our squad,” Sehwag stated in a release.Kings XI’s pace attack already comprises Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, Varun Aaron, Anureet Singh, Matt Henry and T Natarajan, who was bought for INR 3 crore at the auction.Ishant played four IPL matches last year, taking three wickets at an average of 49.33 and an unimpressive economy rate of 9.86. He struck with his first ball last IPL – trapping Rohit Sharma lbw – but could not maintain the form later on, leaking runs in every match he played. Overall, Ishant has previously represented four franchises so far – Kolkata Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Supergiant. In terms of wickets, his best season was 2013 in which he played 16 matches for Sunrisers and collected 15 wickets with an economy rate of 7.81.*7.50GMT, April 5: M Vijay’s injury update has been added.

A glance at the scorecard will tell you Umesh Yadav’s first spell on day three of the Hyderabad Test fetched the wicket of Monimul Haque. What it won’t tell you is the pressure he maintained during the course of a nine-over spell which Shakib Al Hasan, who made 82, termed “the best spell” he has faced in his career.Shakib said Umesh’s late movement both ways on an unresponsive deck made it hard to lay bat on ball. Although he scored 30 off the 34 balls he faced from Umesh – five boundaries included – just how he made Shakib grope and feel for the ball that he yo-yoed away at pace and got it to reverse, added to the intrigue. He also mixed up his deliveries with cutters. There were bouncers too, mostly accurate.There were moments when it seemed Umesh would run through the batting line-up, but had to settle for just the one wicket. The pressure he built up, however, resulted in a wicket at the other end when Mahmudullah was prised out by Ishant Sharma.”Obviously he was bowling really well,” Shakib said. “It was probably the best spell I have faced in my career. The way he was moving the ball both ways, it was tremendous. All credit goes to him. I was thinking I need to be positive at that time. If there is a ball to hit, I will obviously hit it and the rest I will play with soft hands, and make sure that I don’t nick it.”There was nothing much on the pitch. Because we play at Kolkata Knight Riders, I know him very well. Probably this was the best spell I have faced in my Test career. The way he was moving the ball both ways, some balls were unplayable. I am lucky that I survived his spell.”Umesh actually found reverse swing from the 14th over, which was the last over of the second day. His ability to swing it both ways with the conventional method gives him the advantage of getting maximum out of a ball that reverses.”Ishant bowls slightly back of a length. Umesh’s length allows him to swing the ball with the new ball and also with the old ball,” India’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar said. “He’s worked a lot on his wrist positions and balance at the crease Ever since the Delhi Test match against South Africa, you’ve seen him giving the breakthroughs that the team requires.”Our seamers Umesh, Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar), (Mohammed) Shami and Ishant have chipped in with the crucial wickets right at the top or in the middle part of the innings where the spinners were not able to get the breakthrough. So I think the reason for that many Test victories is not only the contribution of the spinners but the small contributions the fast bowlers have made. That’s why someone like Umesh stands out because I believe that he’s the most improved bowler in the last season and a half.”

The Supreme Court, in a significant reprieve to BCCI and state office-bearers, has allowed them to serve separate nine-year terms at central and state level, permitting a total of 18 years in cricket administration. The clarification on Friday contradicted the Lodha Committee’s interpretation of the court’s order on January 2, when the committee said an office-bearer would be ineligible to continue if he had served nine years in total, whether at BCCI or state level or combined.The confusion over tenure arose after the court modified its January 2 order, which had originally said: “A person shall be disqualified from being an Office-Bearer if he or she has been an Office-Bearer of the BCCI for a cumulative period of 9 years.” On January 3, the court modified that to: “Has been an Office-Bearer of the BCCI or a State Association for a cumulative period of 9 years.”The original Lodha Committee recommendation regarding eligibility, which was passed by the Supreme Court on July 18 last year, had made it possible for an individual to serve nine years each at both BCCI and state level. A BCCI office-bearer’s cooling-off period could have been a three-year term at their state association, after which they could once again contest an election for a BCCI position. And if they won the BCCI post, the ensuing three-year term would serve as their cooling-off period from holding office at state level. An individual could therefore have spent 18 years in Indian cricket administration between the BCCI and his state association.Such a scenario was possible once again after the Supreme Court clarified the uncertainty that arose following the order on January 2 and 3, and reverted the terms of tenure to the original recommendation of the Lodha Committee.The purge of the existing BCCI and state leadership may not be as severe as previously thought•PTI

The Supreme Court also put off finalising the committee of administrators (COA) to supervise the BCCI to January 24. The court had asked amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium and senior legal counsel Anil Divan to nominate people for the COA, which they did by submitting nine names in a sealed envelope on Friday. The court asked the parties not to disclose the names, and pointed out a nine-member panel was “too big”.Upon studying the names, the court asked Subramanium if any of the candidates were over the age of 70, because the Lodha Committee had recommended that BCCI and state office-bearers should be under 70. Subramanium said a few names were over 70 and that the reasons for their inclusion were also listed.On January 2, the court had dismantled the existing power structure of the BCCI by removing the board’s president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke for impeding the implementation of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations. The court said the board would be supervised by a committee of administrators until new office-bearers were elected once the BCCI implemented the recommendations. The court had directed the COA to supervise the administration of the BCCI through its chief executive Rahul Johri.The COA’s other key function was to ensure that the Lodha Committee’s recommendations passed by the court order on July 18, 2016, were implemented by the BCCI and state associations.Last week RM Lodha, the former chief justice of India and chairman of the Lodha Committee, said the COA would issue a fresh set of guidelines for the BCCI and state associations to adopt the new constitution in accordance with the recommendations. “There has to be [fresh timelines], but that will be done by the administrators. We said we don’t have that much of time, and that there has to be layers of administrators,” Lodha said. “The changes will happen. We will be there to supervise and guide the administrators.”The Lodha Committee was formed in January 2015 to determine appropriate punishments for some of the officials involved in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal, and also to propose changes to streamline the BCCI, reform its functioning, prevent sporting fraud and conflict of interest.In January 2016, the committee released its report, which recommended an exhaustive overhaul of the BCCI’s governance and administrative structures. On July 18, the Supreme Court of India approved the majority of the recommendations and directed the Lodha Committee to supervise the BCCI’s implementations of the same. However, despite the Lodha Committee laying out timelines and other directives, the board did not cooperate because it said that its state associations objected to the recommendations. This impasse eventually led to the Supreme Court removing Thakur and Shirke from office on January 2, 2017.

Edgbaston, Dubai, Sharjah, Christchurch, Hamilton, and now Melbourne: Pakistan’s rise to the No. 1 Test spot and subsequent fall has been punctuated by a series of spectacular batting collapses.On the final day at the MCG, on a still-pristine pitch on which Australia had added 159 runs in the morning in under 30 overs, Pakistan lost their last eight wickets for 100 runs. That sealed their 11th successive Test defeat in Australia and, with it, a chance to go to Sydney with the series still alive.Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, had his own future on his mind, but he struggled to explain how his side ended up losing a Test which they had begun by declaring on 443 by an innings and 18 runs.Pakistan had to bat out a minimum of 67 overs when they began their second innings in a Test in which three days were almost half lost to rain.”There is no explanation,” he said. “Once you are under pressure, from a position when you score [443] in the first innings and are dominating the game, then on the last day you are saving the Test, that pressure sometimes does things like that. And it was sheer pressure. Full credit to Australia, the way they batted and put us under pressure.”Though he acknowledged his side’s batting in pressure situations “is not what it should be”, he did also point towards the limitations of a bowling attack that twice wilted under pressure from Australia’s batsmen.The first time was on the third day when, after a tight opening spell, David Warner and Usman Khawaja rattled along at such speed that they punctured whatever momentum Pakistan had built from Brisbane and their first innings here.Then, on a final day which began with Australia 22 ahead and six wickets down, Pakistan allowed the lead to balloon to 181 half an hour before lunch.”Those two sessions took the game away from us almost,” he said. “From a winning position, you are on the back foot. We just gave the momentum back to Australia. They were a bit lucky they played well, took their chances, and after that we were in no position to attack.”Even today, in the morning session, we could’ve taken a couple of wickets. [Mitchell] Starc played well and that was a big blow for us. If we had taken one more wicket, wrapped the tail up, maybe 50-60 runs deficit, it could have been easy for us to handle the situation.”The taking of wickets has been a particular problem. When Steven Smith declared today, it was the sixth time in the last five Tests Pakistan have played in Australia that the hosts have had the luxury of declaring.Yasir Shah conceded over 200 runs in an innings for the second time this year, continuing a tour in which he has bowled mostly to fields set for run-saving, rather than wicket-taking.”I think as a bowling unit, we couldn’t put pressure,” Misbah said. “When the opposition is playing well and you’re not bowling well, then it is difficult to implement any sort of plan, any sort of strategy. That has been happening to us.”Yasir is a bit low on confidence at the moment. That sometimes doesn’t give you control as a captain. When you have no control, you struggle with your strategies. And it looks to those sitting outside, watching, what’s going on? That’s where I think everything went wrong for us in this Test.”

ScorecardBabar Hayat hit six fours and four sixes in his 68-ball 78•AFP

An aggressive half-century from Babar Hayat set Hong Kong up for a 39-run Duckworth-Lewis win in a rain-affected match against Kenya in Nairobi. The win moved Hong Kong up to 11 points from eight games, leaving them a point adrift of joint table-toppers Papua New Guinea and Netherlands.Rain delayed the start of play and forced the match to be reduced to 31 overs a side. Sent in to bat, Hong Kong lost Kinchit Shah with only two runs on the board, before Hayat joined the opener Christopher Carter in a 119-run second-wicket partnership. Both then fell in the space of eight balls, to the left-arm seamer Lucas Oluoch: Hayat for 78 off 68 balls (6×4, 4×6) and Carter for 41 off 63 (4×4, 1×6). Hong Kong lost Anshuman Rath soon after as well, and were 148 for 4 in 25.1 overs when rain came down again.That interruption caused the match to be shortened further, with Kenya set a revised target of 173 in 25 overs. They made an excellent start, courtesy a 79-run opening stand between Irfan Karim and Alex Obanda, but fell away thereafter, losing all ten wickets for the addition of only 54 runs. Left-arm spinner Nadeem Ahmed, offspinner Ehsan Khan and medium-pacer Tanveer Ahmed picked up three wickets each.

Australia women legspinner Kristen Beams has been ruled out of the remainder of the home ODIs against South Africa due to a finger injury. She had fractured her right little finger during the third match on Wednesday in Sydney and parted with the squad on Friday.While the Australia squad headed to Coffs Harbour for the last two ODIs of the series, which they lead 3-0, Beams returned to Melbourne after undergoing surgery. Beams had bowled six overs for 35 runs and one wicket on the day.”You never want to see one of your team-mates get injured,” seamer Rene Farrell said before training at Coffs International Stadium on Saturday. “We’ve all been there and we’ve all had finger injuries before. Hopefully she’ll be right around the middle of the WBBL season. I know she’ll come back stronger, she’s a tough character.”Beams had broken her finger after bowling four overs on Wednesday and received medical treatment near the boundary line before returning to bowl another two and dismissed centurion Lizelle Lee in her final over.”Her finger was still dislocated and she bowled her last two overs for us,” Australia opener Nicole Bolton said. “That shows the strength of character of someone like Beamsy, who we heavily rely on with the ball, and for her to come out and do that for us was just incredible.”Beams had a terrific tour of Sri Lanka in September, across four ODIs and the lone T20I. She was the leading wicket-taker in the ODI series, which Australia whitewashed, with 13 scalps at a stunning average of 5.92 and took two four-fors. In the T20I, her figures of 3 for 11 from four overs restricted the hosts to 59 for 8. She had bettered her career-best figures in both formats on the tour.She is also Australia’s leading wicket-taker (18) in ODIs this year, behind South Africa legspinner Suné Luus (30), England’s Katherine Brunt (21) and Luus’ team-mate Ayabonga Khaka (21).

MS Dhoni, India’s limited-overs captain, will lead the 14-member squad for the two T20Is against West Indies in Florida on August 27 and 28. Dhoni and Jasprit Bumrah are the only members in the squad who are not who are not in the West Indies for the ongoing Test series.The squad for the USA matches includes nine members of India’s 2016 World T20 team. Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Pawan Negi, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra and Manish Pandey have missed out.

Changes from World T20 squad

In: KL Rahul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Stuart Binny
Out Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Pawan Negi, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Manish Pandey
Full squad for WI T20s: MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Stuart Binny

While Pandya and Pandey are with the India A team in Australia, Raina, Yuvraj and Harbhajan will feature in the upcoming Duleep Trophy that will be played with the pink ball, and under lights starting from August 23 in Greater Noida.Yuvraj and Raina have been named captains of the India Red and India Green teams in the Duleep Trophy respectively. Negi does not feature in the squads for the Duleep Trophy either, while Nehra is recovering from a knee surgery following the conclusion of the IPL in May.KL Rahul, who made his T20I debut in Zimbabwe in June and has been in good form in the ongoing Test series against West Indies, has been retained, while Amit Mishra and Stuart Binny have been recalled to the squad. Binny last played a T20I in Zimbabwe in 2015, while Mishra has not featured in the format since April 2014.Meanwhile, M Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shardul Thakur, Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha will return after the fourth and final West Indies Test in Port of Spain, which is scheduled to end on August 22. Vijay, Pujara and Thakur are likely to be available for the second round of the Duleep Trophy.

by two wickets.
ScorecardPaul Collingwood’s Durham loved a return to cricket’s roots•Getty Images

This game ended with small eruptions of blue and yellow joy in front of the pavilion and on the railway side of Trafalgar Road. They were accompanied a larger and more boisterous outburst of triumph from Durham’s players in the dugout as Chris Rushworth cover-drove a Kyle Jarvis half-volley to the boundary, thus placing a seal on Durham’s two-wicket victory.But, no, the occasion in its proper sense did not end there. For Paul Collingwood and his players later threw their bags on the coach that had arrived to take them home and told the driver they were staying in Southport. They played cricket with some of Southport and Birkdale most junior players on the outfield and one just wished that Colin Graves, the chairman of the ECB, had been there to see it. Look, one could have said, this is what can happen when you take four-day cricket back to its roots. Now, would you like a pint, Colin?Having been invited to Southport the Durham players did not overstay their welcome. They won the match, had a few drinks and regaled the Southport and Birkdale members with “Blaydon Races”, many, many verses of it, and then “American Pie” and “I’m Gonna Be”.On a golden evening when players made common cause with those who watched them, photographs were taken amid the rich choruses. It made a wonderful tuneful conclusion to the sweetest of weeks. Then the Durham players asked if they could come back to Southport next year.Suddenly summer is in full sail and she has a following wind.Of course the eagerness of Durham’s players to return may be something to do with the fact of their victory. Yet Lancashire’s players were also deeply appreciative of everything that this outground experience had offered them and they will certainly return for the county has a three-year staging agreement at Trafalgar Road.All spectators can hope is that the match is as stuffed with delights as the 2016 game managed to be. The final day began with the visitors needing 247 to win and when Collingwood’s side were 170 for 2, it looked that this might be a match to deviate from the pattern of damp-palmed tension which had characterised games between these sides.Even when Jack Burnham was leg before to a full length ball from Simon Kerrigan, few reckoned the match was about to be blown off course. After all, Burnham had made 52 and he had looked increasingly comfortable as he lifted both Steven Croft and Kerrigan for sixes.Lancashire did not look like taking wickets. “Bang, bang, bang,” said the players on the ground as they encouraged each other. But it did not happen. Then Keaton Jennings, after cutting and pulling his way to 82 off 140 balls in this season when even warm-ups are welcome preludes to success, skied a pull off Tom Smith. The wicketkeeper, Tom Moores, tottered under it, shielded his eyes and clung on. In Smith’s next over Michael Richardson perished down the leg side. 175 for 5. Ho hum.Enter Durham’s captain to warm and respectful applause.For all his 40 years, his 68 Tests and his trademark jig-and-squat as he goes out to bat Paul Collingwood still marches to the wicket with the air of a no-nonsense PE teacher on the way to sort out trouble in the playground. You know the sort, the type who announces himself with: “I don’t care who started it but I know who’s going to finish it.”For nigh on two decades Collingwood has been playing this sort of role in Durham cricket, ending collapses, calming mayhem. But not on this occasion. For he was pinned on the back foot by Smith having made only 4, and when the same bowler had Paul Coughlin quite brilliantly caught by Moores diving to his right, Durham were 195 for 7, still 52 short of victory. This glorious match was back in the hazard.Moores’s third catch was his best but in its way hardly better than that mighty skier which he could hardly see but still pouched to remove Jennings. For his part, Smith was in the middle of an eight-over spell in which he took four wickets for 12 runs and would finish with five for 25.But it was another 19-year-old in this game filled with promising young cricketers who then share in the stand which all but decided the match. Until he took a couple of wickets on the third afternoon, Adam Hickey had enjoyed – or not enjoyed – a quiet first-class debut, Now, he walked out to join Ben Stokes, who had already deposited Simon Kerrigan over the railway line and into Dover Road.As Hickey later explained, the two batsmen calmed things down before tea before going on the attack when the players returned. In truth, by this stage, with Durham on 197 for 7, the spectators needed the tea break as much as the players. On the resumption Stokes hit two more sixes over deep midwicket off Kerrigan and Hickey lifted Kyle Jarvis onto the roof of the pavilion with a much mightier blow.Steven Croft rotated his bowlers but the game was gone. Or was it? Suddenly Hickey called Stokes for a quick single and the England all-rounder was run out for 36 at the bowler’s end. Four runs needed. Rushworth dealt with business and another county match at Trafalgar Road was over.And all this drama followed an morning session which was as tense as was expected. Lancashire savoured the first success as early as the sixth ball of the day when Mark Stoneman played across the line to one from Jarvis which pitched middle and leg only to hold its line and take him on the pad. Durham responded by taking 26 off Nathan Buck’s four overs, forcing Croft to call Smith into the attack.Another good fourth-day crowd was held by the cricket and the ground grew in stillness broken only by the action in the middle. The houses on Harrod Drive became such as might be painted by Hopper, the trees as by Pissarro at Osny or Pontoise.Necessity, though, benefited Lancashire as Smith squared up Scott Borthwick, whose previous three innings against Lancashire had been 134, 103 not out and 64. The left-hander was caught in the gully by Alviro Petersen for 28 so that more or less qualified as under-achievement.Failures of any sort have been thin on the ground this extraordinary week. And the thing is that while Southport and Birkdale may be very special, it is not unique. There are many clubs who would welcome first-class counties and all they are looking for is the chance to put on a show.Outground cricket is enjoyed by spectators and appreciated by players. Amid the entirely understandable desire to maximise the revenue from other formats, someone should think a little more about taking the game back to the people who are its lifeblood.