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Essex have confirmed the departure of head coach Paul Grayson, ending weeks of speculation over his position at the club.It brings to an end a 19-year association with the club and follows another season where Essex have failed to secure promotion in the County Championship and went out of both limited-overs competitions at the quarter-final stage.Two weeks ago Grayson had been given the backing of the club until the end of the season – following a recommendation from Ronnie Irani, the new cricket chairman, that he be removed immediately.Defeat to Yorkshire last week in the Royal London Cup quarter-final hastened his departure although a club statement said the decision was by “mutual consent.” It is understood he has not worked with the team since the quarter-final and handed in his resignation on Friday, feeling that his position had become untenableGrayson has left one year into an official three-year plan which made clear that the priority was to secure a one-day trophy and rebuild a young Championship team based on home grown talent. One of those young players, left-armer Reece Topley, recently confirmed a move to Hampshire, but the likes of Tom Westley and Nick Browne have enjoyed productive seasons while seamer Jamie Porter has 42 wickets at 26.11 in the Championship.”I have had 19 wonderful years at Essex, both as a player and as a coach, but I now feel the time is right for a new challenge,” Grayson said.”I would like to thank the cricket committee for their trust and support over the years, in particular John Faragher, Graham Gooch, David Acfield, Keith Fletcher and Nigel Hilliard. A special thank you to Graham Saville, who brought me to Essex and has showed loyal support to me, for which I will always be grateful.”Thank you also to the loyal supporters who understand the vision of the club and the development of Essex’s own players. I have always been a strong supporter of the club’s policy of developing our own players into first-class cricketers and it is a pleasure to see so many doing well in the game. I would like to thank the players for their hard work and dedication, particularly the three captains I have worked with; Mark Pettini, James Foster and Ryan ten Doeschate.”Grayson had supervised consistent displays in limited-overs cricket since taking charge in 2008 with Essex second only to Hampshire in the number of victories in one-day cricket in that time. But while Hampshire have gone on to win trophies, Essex have repeatedly faltered in the final stages, typified by this season’s T20 Blast and Royal London campaignSaville, former chairman of the cricket committee, said: “I’d like to thank Paul Grayson for his loyal service to the club as both a player and as a coach. He has done everything we had asked him to do with our youth policy.”Since taking over in 2007, Paul has helped to develop some outstanding young cricketers, who we hope will go on to represent Essex for a long time in the future. We wish him all the best for the future.”

ScorecardSam Harper’s rapid century and Patrick Page’s 104-ball 99 steered Australia Under-19s to a five-wicket win over New Zealand Under-19s in Dubai.Harper’s 103 came off just 84 balls, during which he slammed 12 fours and one six. Chasing 282, he shared a 183-run, third-wicket stand with Page that ensured Australia reached the target with three overs to spare. Page stroked the same number of boundaries as Harper before he was denied a century by Josh Finnie. After Harper fell in the 42nd over with the score at 246, Clint Hinchliffe steered Australia home with an unbeaten 34. Nathan Smith was the pick of New Zealand’s bowlers, picking up four of the five Australia wickets that fell.Earlier, after opting to bat, New Zealand failed to build on Daniel Stanley and Glenn Phillips’ solid start. The pair shared an opening stand of 148 before Australia’s bowlers, led by offspinner Arjun Nair and pacer Tom O’Donnell (4 for 63), cut through New Zealand’s middle and lower order. New Zealand were eventually restricted to 281 for 9 in their 50 overs, as no batsman after Stanley and Phillips managed to make more than 30 runs.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
The Indians dominated the first two days of their warm-up match but Andy Hodd led a stubborn fightback on the third as Sussex, and rain, ensured that the chance of a result was rather unlikely. Hodd scored his maiden first-class century and led Sussex to 300 for 6 before Michael Yardy declared, giving the Indians a lead of 88. After that solid batting effort, James Kirtley and Jason Lewry rattled the Indian batsmen during a short burst before stumps and reduced them to 21 for 2.After two days of sunny weather, it began raining minutes before the scheduled start at 11.00 am and conditions did not improve through the morning. Over four hours of play were lost when the players finally took the field at 3.15pm.Sreesanth continued where he left off last evening and bowled an outstanding opening spell. He consistently hit a good length, extracted sharp bounce and got the ball to swing considerably away from the right-handers. RP Singh wasn’t as controlled though. He tried bowling to a plan, angling the ball across the right-handers from over the wicket, trying to swing it back into them to hit the pad. His execution was poor for he often strayed down leg side. However, he was difficult to play when he got it right and unsettled the batsmen with sharp in-swing and well-directed bouncers. Ranadeb Bose, playing his first game on the tour, was the least impressive of the seamers. He also found swing but his line was too wide outside the off stump to trouble the batsmen. And when he made an effort to bowl straighter, he was unable to generate as much swing.

Both Hodd and Martin-Jenkins were tested by some terrific deliveries in the afternoon but MS Dhoni had an equally torrid time behind the stumps. Sreesanth and RP Singh sent down deliveries that swung prodigiously after passing the batsmen and Dhoni frequently struggled to collect them cleanly. Sreesanth could have had a wicket early on but Dhoni was late in moving towards an outside edge from Martin-Jenkins, on 6, and dropped what would have been a comfortable catch for Yuvraj Singh at first slip.Sussex began the day trailing by 242 runs with just five wickets in hand with Hodd on 21 and Martin-Jenkins yet to score. Hodd was the more aggressive of the two, cutting and driving through cover point whenever offered width outside the off stump. A couple of his boundaries were streaky edges over slips and gully but, in all fairness, he would have had more had the wet outfield not thwarted several well-timed drives through the off side.Martin-Jenkins overcame a nervous start and grew in confidence as the session progressed. His first boundary was a crisp drive through covers off Sreesanth and by the time tea approached he was settled enough to use his feet and loft Anil Kumble over mid-on.The Indians could have had a wicket soon after tea but Kumble, running backwards to catch a top-edged pull from Martin-Jenkins off his own bowling, lost balance when he collided with the stumps at the non-striker’s end and messed up a simple catch. Martin-Jenkins went on to make 42, his highest first-class score of the season. He added 125 for the sixth wicket with Hodd before he was stumped down the leg side off Kumble.Hodd played Kumble confidently, driving him twice to the midwicket boundary. He calmly moved into the nineties before suffering several nervous moments on the verge of his century. Laxman, standing in for Rahul Dravid who was nursing a calf strain, took the second new ball with Hodd on 99 and Sreesanth backed up the decision with an outstanding maiden over, beating Hodd’s outside edge several times. Hodd played out 13 dot balls on 99 before RP Singh offered a loose delivery on the pads that he flicked to the square leg fence and raised his arms in triumph. Sussex declared shortly afterwards, and tested the Indians with a few awkward overs before stumps.Wasim Jaffer never looked comfortable and failed for the second time in the match when he was hit on the pad by one that swung back into him from Lewry. Dhoni, who also failed in the first innings, began aggressively by cutting Lewry twice through point for four. It didn’t last though and Lewry had his second wicket when Dhoni tried to pull a short ball that got big on him and top-edged it to Chris Nash at long leg. Dinesh Karthik and Yuvraj, promoted to No 3, took India through to stumps without further damage.

The hearing over the alleged ball tampering incident that led to the forfeiture of the fourth Test between England and Pakistan Test at The Oval will take place on September 27 and 28. Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council, announced this in Mumbai on Thursday at a function to launch the Champions Trophy.Speed, who had earlier addressed a similar function in New Delhi, said that Ranjan Madugalle would be able to chair the hearing at the end of the month. He also clarified that it was not entirely accurate to say that Pakistan would be cleared of charges of tampering simply because there was no evidence on videotape. “If video evidence was the only criteria, taking the analogy of crime, we would not be able to prove a lot of murders and half the jails would be empty,” said Speed. “I cannot say much, except that there are other forms of evidence, and all will unfold at the hearing.”When pressed to explain what he meant by other forms of evidence, Speed said, “There is the ball, [the accounts of] other people who were present, and there’s the umpires’ version, which is the most important.” This means that the testimony of Darrell Hair, the man in the centre of all the controversy, and Billy Doctrove, his colleague, could prove crucial should there be no evidence on tape. Mike Procter, the match referee, will also be a key player in the proceedings.”The whole issue has gotten out of hand a bit,” Speed added. “It should have been dealt with then and there by the match referee.”The pre-launch function for the Champions Trophy, due to be played in India next month, was held at the Cricket Club of India and was attended by several functionaries of the Board of Control for Cricket in India including Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, and Ratnakar Shetty, an executive secretary of the board. Milind Rege and Suru Nayak, former Mumbai cricketers, were also present.

Michael Bevan, the former Australian middle-order batsman, is set to miss the start of the domestic season to recover from knee surgery.Bevan, who was Tasmania’s talismanic batsman last summer after his move from New South Wales, said the healing process was taking longer than expected and he would not be training for another month. “No doubt it’ll come good,” Bevan told the website. “It’s just getting through the frustration and being patient enough to wait until it does.”Tim Coyle, the Tasmania coach, said Bevan would not be pressured to rush back. “We are very keen to get it right,” he said. “If it means missing the first few games, it’s better to do that and have him right for the rest of the year.” Bevan had the operation in March, but his recovery has taken twice as long as he hoped.Tasmania have more injury worries with Luke Butterworth, the allrounder, in doubt for the start of the season after undergoing groin surgery.

An emotional Vivian Richards, who resigned as chief selector of West Indies a few days ago, has spoken out in anguish about the players’ “lack of fight, commitment and passion”. He spoke about the legacy of West Indian cricket, and of how the current team seemed not just unconcerned, but actually unaware of it.”We [West Indians] are very passionate about our team and the legacy of [the] great players who have representated West Indies proudly,” he said, according to a report in the London Mail on Sunday. “But there are a lot of people who felt that wasn’t the case with the present mob. We need to instill in some of the younger players the respect for what their cricket legacy is all about.”Let the guys at the academy watch tapes of some of the great players of the past until they fall asleep,” he continued, “and then wake them up again and say: ‘This is what you are representing and this is how we want you to go about representing it.’ There is no doubt that we have some ability, but it is no good having two good days and then not turning up for the other three.”Richards’s resignation was triggered by West Indies’ 0-3 loss to England recently, which left him shattered – no surprise, given that he was the pivot of Clive Lloyd’s legendary West Indian team of the 1970s and ’80s, one of the greatest sides of all time, and then captained West Indies himself with a fair degree of success. As a player, he helped his side administer a few whitewashes, but was never on the receiving end of one.”I’m not taking anything away from England, who were very well organised,” he said. “But to try to hold on to such a prestigious record, you expect a certain amount of spirit, passion and fight – and those things were missing from the West Indies team.”

In his time as captain, Richards would have dealt with indiscipline with an iron fist, but Brian Lara, West Indies’ captain, was given to a softer approach, which reportedly led to a rift between the two (though Richards recently denied any schism). He was reportedly furious when some of the players attended a sponsor’s party immediately after the team was skittled out for 47 in the first Test, but the players did not appreciate being told off by him. Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the players’ association, recently remarked that some of the players had been “verbally belittled and threatened in public by selectors”, an allegation that Richards dismissed as “ludicrous”.Richards also had some gentle advice for Lara. “By coming back to score 400 in the last Test after being given a working-over by [Steve] Harmison, Brian showed his greatness as a player. But he must also be a motivator, not just for the few hours of [the] match, but to lead from the very top, to take control of situations.”It is up to him to inspire his players for the task ahead. It is his duty.”

Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak has welcomed his side’s win in its tour opener against the British Universities at Edgbaston.”It’s a very positive opening for us and gets the tour off to a good start,”said Streak after Monday’s 10-wicket win, achieved on day three of thescheduled four-day match.”Our last international cricket was in Sharjah, so there is a great contrastin the conditions we played in over there compared to here, in an Englishspring. We only have three first-class games before the Lord’s Test, so itwas important to get off the mark with a win and to see good performancesfrom a number of players throughout the team,” said Streak.Coach, Geoff Marsh, said it was an encouraging team performance, highlightedby a number of strong individual contributions.”Having arrived in the country on Thursday, we have acclimatised quickly toplay well and wrap up the match in three days. We’ll be looking to build onthat in our next game against Worcester on Friday, which will provide uswith the sterner test we need as we approach the Test.”Among the batsmen, several of the guys have spent valuable time in themiddle. Grant Flower will be pleased to have started off with a solid hundred and Carlisle, Vermuelen, Streak and Blignaut backed him up with runs. Those that missed out here will be looking to make up with strong form at Worcester.”Bowling wise, Hondo did very well for a player making his debut in Englandand is improving fast. It was a pretty flat wicket so we did well to bowlthem out twice in three days,” Marsh added.

New CricInfo County Champions Yorkshire received the Lord’s Taverners Trophy from CricInfo managing director Peter Griffiths during the lunch interval on the first day of their last match of the season against Essex at Scarborough today.Yorkshire fans swarmed round the presentation area in front of the pavilion to watch skipper David Byas be handed the trophy by Mr Griffiths.Also attending the ceremony were CricInfo’s head of marketing, Andrew Hall; Yorkshire president, Robin Smith; Yorkshire chairman, Keith Moss: England and Wales director of cricket operations John Carr, and the Mayor of Scarborough, Councillor Lucy Haycock.Mr Carr congratulated Yorkshire on behalf of the ECB and said that their winning the title was all the more remarkable because they had been supplying so many players to the England set-up.He also thanked CricInfo for their generous support of the competition.Mr Griffiths said it gave him great pleasure to hand over the trophy to David Byas following Yorkshire’s first Championship win in 33 years.The presentation was watched from the club balcony by Yorkshire’s last two Championship-winning captains, Vic Wilson and Brian Close.After the trophy had been handed over, Yorkshire batsman Matthew Wood received his first team cap from Byas and second team caps were awarded to Chris Taylor and Steven Kirby.It started to rain during the ceremony and Essex were unable to resume on their lunchtime score of 99 for three after winning the toss, two of the wickets going down to off-spinner Richard Dawson.Flags flew at half mast at North Marine Road as a mark of respect for events in America and the teams lined up on the field for a minute’s silence before play began.There was an early breakthrough for Yorkshire as their former all-rounder Paul Grayson was bowled by Matthew Hoggard in the fourth over but Darren Robinson and Richard Clinton revived Essex with a 61 stand for the second wicket.Robinson was dropped by Matthew Wood at second slip off Hoggard with the score on 75, but two runs later the opener attempted to sweep Dawson and was caught at silly point by Chris Taylor.Mark Pettini, who was making his first-class debut for Essex along with Joe Grant and Zoheb Sharif, had made just a single when he pushed forward at Dawson and was caught at slip by David Byas.Ronnie Irani joined the left-handed Clinton and the pair were still together at lunch, Clinton having been in 32 overs for his 33.

ScorecardColin Ingram continued his productive recent form•Getty Images

Glamorgan picked up their second victory in the Royal London Cup as Colin Ingram and Graham Wagg’s heroics with bat and ball earned a 146-run victory against Essex in Cardiff.Ingram made 130 from 144 balls, his second century in four days, and Wagg hit five fours and three sixes in a 46-ball cameo of 62 as the hosts posted 288 for 6 from their 50 overs.Essex crumbled in reply, with Ryan ten Doeschate the only one of their batsmen to acquit himself well in making 47 before they were dismissed for 142 in 37.1 overs – with Ingram, Wagg, Craig Meschede and Dean Cosker taking two wickets each.After chasing down 318 to beat Kent on Tuesday night, this was another impressive limited-overs showing from Glamorgan.Put in on an apparently slow pitch, Glamorgan lost Will Bragg in the third over when he nibbled at one from Reece Topley.The left-arm seamer and David Masters combined for an accurate opening spell and Topley claimed his second wicket when Jacques Rudolph drove him to mid-off fielder Ten Doeschate.From 18 for 2, Glamorgan recovered through Ingram – who scored 109 earlier against Kent – and 18-year-old Aneurin Donald. They put on 77 for the third wicket, with Donald hitting sixes off Ravi Bopara and Graham Napier.After Donald was bowled by Bopara, the recovery continued as Chris Cooke – another hero of the win against Kent – joined Ingram and they put on 83 before Cooke was also bowled by Bopara.Much depended on Ingram, and the South African went on to reach a career-best List A score. When Ingram holed out to mid-off, Wagg seized the initiative with some late-innings heaving scoring.Essex needing to score at almost six an over but were soon in disarray and by the end of the eighth over had slumped to 16 for 3. Tom Westley nicked one from Wagg to Mark Wallace and he was quickly followed by Mark Pettini, well caught low down by Rudolph at slip off Michael Hogan’s bowling.In the following over, Wagg took his second wicket when Nick Browne chipped a low catch to short midwicket.Jesse Ryder made his intentions clear by swinging with vigour, but after striking two fours he was caught on the extra cover boundary attempting a third. The Glamorgan seamers gave little away, and after restricting Bopara for a couple of overs, David Lloyd produced a beauty to hit the batsman’s off stump.Kishen Velani was the next to go when he top-edged Ingram’s leg spin to square leg, and although ten Doeschate top-scored with 47, the innings quickly folded after an insipid Essex batting performance.

The PCB has made a plan B of holding the Pentangular T20 Cup in case the proposed India-Pakistan series does not go ahead.Although the Pakistan government has given the nod to play India in Sri Lanka, the PCB has been fretting over the continuous delay from their Indian counterparts. While there were ideas to engage an international team, PCB believes it is not feasible to arrange an international tour in such a short notice.”We are concerned and given the short time we have to have a back-up plan,” a senior PCB board official told ESPNcricinfo. “We were expecting them [BCCI] to respond by this week, but unfortunately news coming from India is extremely discouraging. We, in the meantime, are planning a five-team T20 tournament for next month in case BCCI pulls out of their commitment.”The tournament, which is a new addition to the domestic calendar, will be a one-off and feature provisional sides – Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa and Federal Areas. The format is in-line with the already planned Pakistan Super League, with the top 75 players distributed among the five teams. Should it materialise, it would be the third T20 tournament organised by the PCB this year.According to the Future Tours Programme, a series of two Tests, three ODI and two T20 was originally scheduled between India and Pakistan in the UAE in December 2015.With the BCCI insisting they would play Pakistan only at home, which the PCB categorically rejected, a compromise formula appeared to have been reached when Sri Lanka was proposed as an alternate venue for a short limited-overs series following meetings between Shaharyar Khan and Shashank Manohar in Dubai, with Giles Clarke, the ECB chief, playing the role of a mediator.While the Pakistan government has responded positively, there has not been much said by India yet. On their part, the BCCI confirmed earlier that they had written to their government asking for a clearance for the tour. But the delay in granting permission has put a cloud over the revival of the series.