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The presence of popstar Harry Styles at the match between Luton and Manchester United sparked a funny argument between Jamie Redknapp and David Jones.

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Harry Styles attended Premier League matchTook selfie with pundit Jamie RedknappStar's presence sparked jibes from presenterWHAT HAPPENED?

The famous singer was at Kenilworth Road to watch the Premier League clash and he paid a visit to the Sky Sports team, where ex-Tottenham star Redknapp was given the honour of having his picture taken with him. The excitement caused by Styles' arrival started some good-natured ribbing between the former England international and presenter Jones.

AdvertisementWATCH THE CLIPGettyWHAT REDKNAPP & JONES SAID ABOUT STYLES

"I've never seen Jamie Redknapp move so fast out of his chair to get his selfie," Jones said.

Redknapp replied: "Yeah, watch you here now. Look how thirsty you get when he walks past you."

The pundit then put on a high pitched voice to mock Jones, saying: "'Oh can I have some tickets please?' Yeah, do one mate."

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THE BIGGER PICTURE

Styles is a known Manchester United supporter. He was in attendance to see his favourite team secure three important points to boost their hopes of breaking into the Premier League top four. United made it four wins on the bounce by beating Luton 2-1, thanks to a first-half brace from Rasmus Hojlund.

Essex launched a fine recovery to leave themselves slight favourites to beat Kent in their County Championship Division Two duel at Chelmsford

Press Association20-Apr-2015
ScorecardGraham Napier counter-attacked to get Essex back into the match•Getty ImagesEssex launched a fine recovery to leave themselves slight favourites to beat Kent in their County Championship Division Two duel at Chelmsford. After being left a target of 193, they reached the close on 66 for 3, a position of promise that seemed highly unlikely after they had resumed the second day on 67 for 6 in reply to their opponents first innings total of 193.When Essex lost another wicket with only two runs added, it seemed they would finish well adrift. But they were revived by Graham Napier’s contribution of 57 from 40 deliveries. All those runs came during a stand of 80 in 12 overs before he sliced a shot to third man where Sam Northeast took a fine diving catch.Napier struck seven fours and a six and keeping him company was Jaik Mickleburgh who was to make 46 before he was ninth out. Darren Stevens and Matt Coles finished with four wickets each as Essex closed 29 runs adrift of their opponents on 163.On a pitch which again favoured swing and seam, Kent lost both openers within the first five overs of their second innings. Joe Denly fell without a run on the board, to Jamie Porter, before Daniel-Bell Drummond gave James Foster the first of his four catches in the innings.The visitors were indebted to Northeast for their second-innings effort of 163. While wickets fell around him at regular intervals, he produced some punishing drives to anchor the innings. He struck ten boundaries before Greg Smith trapped him lbw on the stroke of tea. Northeast’s main support came from Darren Stevens whose 36 from as many deliveries came during a fifth-wicket half-century partnership after the pair had started their liaison with their side 49 for 4.David Masters, who was responsible for Kent’s early troubles, finished with 4 for 45 while Smith returned 3 for 22.When they set off in pursuit of victory, Essex quickly lost Tom Westley for a duck, bowled by Ivan Thomas, before Nick Browne and Mickleburgh raised the 50. Having added 57 in 13 overs for the second wicket, both were to depart shortly before the close. A magnificent catch by Sam Billings accounted for Browne after he had made 25 while a slip catch by Matt Coles saw off Mickleburgh for 23 to end his hour’s stay at the crease.Mitch Claydon was the successful bowler on both occasions but Essex were to steer clear of further trouble in the remaining four overs to leave a tense third day in prospect.”Those two wicket towards the close has put us right back in it and the game is very evenly poised,” Claydon said. “It’s up to us to put the ball in the right areas more consistently to go on and win the match and I think we can do that if we nick a couple of early wickets in the morning. One thing is for certain and that is that batsmen will have to battle hard for every run – it’s that sort of pitch.”Napier said: “We have ended the day with our noses in front and that’s a position we would have settled for considering how we started the day. It’s a pitch where runs are not easy to come by but I decided to adopt a positive approach and it worked to help us get near their total. But we still face plenty of hard work ahead if we are to get a victory.”

Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Pathan were the big names missing in India’s list of 30 probables for the World Twenty20 to be played in March and April of this year

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2014Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Pathan were the big names missing in India’s list of 30 probables for the World Twenty20 to be played in March and April of this year. Virender Sehwag didn’t make it either, but with his abysmal form in the domestic season it was more or less expected. Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay missed out too, which is a clear sign the selectors look at them as Test specialists. Yuvraj Singh, who has been dropped from the ODI side, continued to be part of India’s Twenty20 plans.Gambhir last played for India in the ODI against England on January 27, 2013. After being dropped, Gambhir was a part of the India A squad in the series against West Indies A, during which he scored a century. He also scored a Ranji century just before India’s squad for South Africa was picked, but that wasn’t deemed enough to earn the team’s favour back. MS Dhoni even remarked before India left for South Africa that Gambhir continues to be the third-best Test opener in India but this selection shows he faces a long road back into the side.The Pathan brothers have been out since 2012, but are always considered important because of the dearth of allrounders in India. Irfan, though, had just come back from injury as the Ranji season ended, and got to play three matches, that too as a batsman alone. Yusuf put in one of his better Ranji seasons, averaging nearly 34 with the bat and 15 with the ball. Like his IPL franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, who chose to not retain him, India have also decided against him.Harbhajan Singh, who has been retained by Mumbai Indians, will be encouraged he is part of the 30. Other significant non-regulars given hope were Sanju Samson, Rajat Bhatia, Kedar Jadhav, Unmukt Chand, Mandeep Singh, Parthiv Patel, Shahbaz Nadeem and Karn Sharma.India probables (men) Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, Yuvraj Singh, Amit Mishra, Rajat Bhatia, Sanju Samson, Ishwar Pandey, Umesh Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Mandeep Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Varun Aaron, Shahbaz Nadeem, Parthiv Patel, Karn SharmaIndia probable (women) Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Karuna Jain, Smriti Mandhana, Amita Sharma, Poonam Raut, Jhulan Goswami, Nagarajan Niranjana, Shubhlakshmi Sharma, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Veda Krishnamurthy, Ekta Bist, Sonia Dabir, VR Vanita, Anagha Deshpande, Gouhar Sultana, Archana Das, Sneh Rana, Snehal Pradhan, Shwetha Jadhav, Sushma Verma, Shika Pandey, Madhuri Mehta, Thirush Kamini, Saika Ishaque, Neetu Jaiswal, Meghna Singh, Anita Lodhi, Ritu Dhrub, Asha Joy

On a pitch that favoured spinners in the previous match it hosted, Kolkata Knight Riders opted to bowl first against Kings XI Punjab

The Report by Firdose Moonda15-Apr-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Piyush Chawla applied brakes to Knight Riders’ scoring with three big wickets in the middle overs•AFPA triple strike from Piyush Chawla in the middle of the Knight Riders innings and last over heroics from Harmeet Singh brought Kings XI back from the dead to beat their hosts in unlikely fashion. After posting a below par 134 and allowing Knight Riders to canter to 71 for 2 at the halfway stage of the chase, Kings XI relied on a spectacular effort from their legspinner to negate Sunil Narine’s jaw-dropping 5 for 19.Narine’s strangling efforts and Rajat Bhatia and Shakib al Hasan’s supporting efforts kept the lid on Kings XI. Knight Riders were favoured to chase down a moderate target after Gautam Gambhir started with a speedy 22 and Manvinder Bisla and Manoj Tiwary steered the reply with a stand of 43. But, the home side unravelled after Chawla removed three of their key batsmen, Bisla, Yusuf Pathan and Shakib. Debrabata Das threatened to take the match to its expected conclusion with his aggressive innings but a slew of legbreaks from Harmeet ensured Kings XI defended what seemed hard to defend at one stage.Gambhir began in a hurry. The early loss of Jacques Kallis – caught spectacularly by Paras Dogra at point – did nothing to deter him as he collected boundaries at will before offering Dimitri Mascarenhas a simple return catch.Despite the departure of their captain, Bisla and Tiwary continued the task stoically and formed a partnership that would not have been out of place in longer formats of the game. They rotated strike, searched for singles and only targeted the boundary when they got a bad ball. They seemed certain to guide Knight Riders to an easy win but the match turned when Tiwary was trapped in front by Bhargav Bhatt.A tiny wound had been inflicted on Knight Riders and Chawla prised it open. He bowled Bisla with a delivery that did not turn and meted out the same to Yusuf Pathan with a legbreak in the same over. After 14 overs, Knight Riders were 85 for 5. Chawla had pulled them back to exactly the position Kings XI had been in at that stage – 85 for 3. He struck again, with a googly to Shakib al Hasan, to have the Bangladesh all-rounder caught of his own bowling.Das defied the Kings XI charge. He started by smacking a full toss from Chawla for a straight six. As full deliveries were offered to him, he smoked them to the boundary. Ryan ten Doeschate provided some support and the pair took Knight Riders to within 13 runs of victory with two overs left.Praveen Kumar gave away only four of those runs, bowling an over punctuated with yorkers and Harmeet had nine runs to work with in the final over. His seemingly harmless legbreaks had ten Doeschate frustrated as he played on. Harmeet then proved impossible to get away as he made up for Kings XI’s lapses with the bat through cunning bowling.Kings XI saw off 36 dot balls in their innings and allowed Knight Riders’ attack to create pressure and use it to their advantage. Narine struck twice in his opening spell – when Adam Gilchrist top-edged and attempted pull to depart for 5 and by bowling Shaun Marsh with a delivery that turned away from the left-hander.Together with Kallis, he ensured Kings XI crawled to 31 for 2 after seven overs and that they did not score a single boundary in five of them. If not for the half-century stand between Mandeep Singh and David Hussey, they would have not got off the starting blocks at all.The pair settled in on the surface, started to time the ball better and occasionally challenged the fielders, beating them for boundaries and pushing them hard to turn singles into twos. Old-fashioned grit and grind helped them build but just as they were looking to launch, Mandeep slog swept straight to deep mid-wicket.They were never really able to push after that as Hussey was run-out soon after and the dominoes fell steadily after that. Bhatia took two wickets in his final over and Narine also struck twice on being brought back on the attack. Kings XI scored 30 runs off the last two overs which, in the end, proved to be the difference.

Mohammad Ashraful has been dropped from the Bangladesh squad for the second Test against Pakistan, which begins on December 17

Mohammad Isam15-Dec-2011Mohammad Ashraful has been dropped from the Bangladesh squad for the second Test against Pakistan, which begins on December 17. The decision follows Ashraful’s poor showing in the Chittagong Test, where he lasted fourteen balls in two innings.Shafiul Islam, meanwhile, returns to the national setup, after being ignored for the first Test. He had missed out on the West Indies Tests in October-November, because of a foot injury.There was confusion surrounding Bangladesh’s squad for the second Test, with regards to the status of Ashraful. He had checked into the team hotel in Dhaka on Wednesday and was among the fourteen players who practiced at the Shere Bangla Stadium on Thursday morning. Also, coach Stuart Law had said Ashraful was, to his knowledge, part of the squad.However, the selection panel’s list, which was yet to be approved by BCB president AHM Mustafa Kamal as is mandatory, did not include Ashraful’s name. Eventually, Kamal approved the squad on returning to Dhaka after the ACC meeting in Singapore late on Thursday evening, but the delay raised questions of professionalism.The amount of time the coaching staff spent working on Ashraful during the training session, and Law’s statements, served to add to the confusion. “As far as I know, he [Ashraful] is in the squad,” Law said. “That’s why he’s here at practice. We haven’t been told anything different. Maybe it is speculation, that sort of thing goes on in this part of the world.”Later on Thursday, the BCB’s cricket operations committee asked Ashraful to leave the hotel while he was signing up with a new club for the Dhaka Premier League on the last day of the inter-club transfers. Shafiul Islam arrived at the hotel in the evening from Bogra, his hometown. The coaching staff wasn’t informed of the switch and got to know of it only after it was reported on television channels and news websites.Squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), Mahmudullah (vice-capt), Tamim Iqbal, Nazimuddin, Shahriar Nafees, Shakib Al Hasan, Naeem Islam, Nasir Hossain, Elias Sunny, Shahadat Hossain, Sohrawardi Shuvo, Robiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Shafiul Islam.

Alastair Cook picked up where he left off in the UAE with an unbeaten 163 on the second day of England’s warm-up match against a Sri Lanka Board XI

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Mar-2012
ScorecardAlastair Cook once again held England’s batting together•Getty ImagesAlastair Cook picked up where he left off in the UAE with an unbeaten 163 on the second day of England’s warm-up match against a Sri Lanka Board XI, but the middle-order display was less convincing with Ian Bell and Matt Prior collecting ducks.Cook showed the durable qualities that England will need during the Test series as he faced 293 deliveries to take the total to 303 for 8 at the close, a lead of 134, which continued his run of form from the one-day series against Pakistan where he scored two hundreds and an 80.Cook added 89 for the first wicket with Andrew Strauss (40) and 59 with Kevin Pietersen (39) for the third, but from 188 for 2 England slipped to 247 for 8 as legspinner Malinga Bandara and offspinner Sachithra Serasinghe caused problems. Of particular concern was another failure for Bell who endured a miserable Test series against Pakistan with 51 runs in six innings where he was constantly bamboozled by Saeed Ajmal.It was an offspinner that dismissed him again when he was bowled second ball by Serasinghe who could yet be the man to partner Rangana Herath in the Test series. Ravi Bopara, seemingly pencilled in for the No. 6 spot as a replacement for Eoin Morgan, made 12 off 55 deliveries before falling lbw to Dilruwan Perera and Matt Prior got an inside edge against Kaniskha Alvitigala.”To get 300 in a day is a great effort from the team. Today was my day to carry on and I’m sure some other people are disappointed it wasn’t their turn,” Cook said. “With Ravi’s shot, we were trying to push on then. We can only bat 100 overs in the first innings so we were trying to score at four an over which is tough with a long outfield and a ball that was pretty soft by the end.”With Belly, you can always miss one early doors. He’s a world-class player. His record over 18 months is that of a world-class player. He had a poor series in Abu Dhabi but I’d expect him to bounce back and I’m sure he will do.”And Straussy spent a couple of hours out there and hit some nice shots too. It’s a flat wicket and it doesn’t spin too much but it was quite hard to score quickly with the outfield. It’s a grind, that’s what happens in these conditions.”Bandara picked up two more wickets and it appeared England would be bowled out before the close, but James Anderson supported Cook in an unbroken ninth-wicket stand of 56 with Cook continuing to push along with ease.England had made confident progress during the morning session as Strauss spent valuable time in the middle until falling lbw on the back foot against Perera shortly before lunch. Jonathan Trott became Bandara’s first wicket but seemed far from happy with the lbw decision he received.Pietersen began in positive style by using his feet against the spinners and employing the sweep and momentum was building for England as they took the lead. However, when Pietersen was given lbw against Serasinghe the ensuing collapse was a timely reminder that the next few weeks will be another severe test for this batting line-up.

Test cricket’s two leading wicket-takers, Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, will face off in the Big Bash League season opener

Brydon Coverdale06-Dec-2012Muttiah Muralitharan could be forgiven for being a little vexed this Friday night. The Big Bash League begins with a cross-town battle between the Melbourne Renegades and the Melbourne Stars. Muralitharan will make his BBL debut for the Renegades, having been lured there by Brad Hodge and Andrew McDonald, whom he got to know during the IPL. Last summer, McDonald was captain of the Renegades and Hodge their star batsman. This season, neither is there anymore.McDonald signed with the Adelaide Strikers, and in any case has now suffered a hamstring injury that will rule him out of the whole tournament. Hodge is playing in the BBL. In fact, he’s playing in Friday’s season opener. It just happens to be for the Stars. A philosophical Muralitharan said he wouldn’t be seeking revenge when the teams meet, because he was happy to have been convinced to be part of the tournament.”When I was playing for Royal Challengers [Bangalore], Hodge and McDonald convinced me to come and play,” Muralitharan said in Melbourne on Thursday. “At the time they were in the Renegades and unfortunately now they’re not there. Still, we have a good side. Thanks to them, because of them I am here.”[Hodge] convinced me to come and play. After that he went to the Stars. I called him [to find out why he left], just a friendly call, that’s all. No revenge as such. We want to play a good game.”The Hodge-Muralitharan battle will be just one of the sub-plots in the Melbourne derby. There is also the much more significant attraction of seeing Test cricket’s two leading wicket-takers on opposing sides, which might not happen again after this tournament. Warne is the captain of the Stars and the BBL is his only playing commitment nowadays, while Muralitharan has suggested this might be his last year of Twenty20.Stars still dream of Bolt

The Melbourne Stars didn’t end up signing Usain Bolt for the BBL this year but the team’s president Eddie McGuire believes there is a very good chance Bolt will join the side next season, after his commitments at the 2013 Athletics World Championships.
“Hopefully next summer he’ll come out here and with a bit of luck we’ll get him to run with Athletics Australia, at a big athletics meet we’re hoping to put together at the new athletics centre in South Melbourne,” McGuire said. “At the same time, with a bit of luck we might get him to roll the arm over or do a little bit of fielding for us with the Stars.”

A week away from the Test series between Australia and Sri Lanka, who play for the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy, the men for whom the prize is named were reflecting on their careers as they prepared for one more contest. Muralitharan joked that given the large Sri Lankan population in Melbourne he might even be more popular in the city than Shane Warne, but he said he had the ultimate respect for what Warne had achieved during his career.”His art is very difficult,” Muralitharan said. “Legspin, I have tried it when I was young, and it was very hard to do. If you can land the ball like him, it’s very hard. Not many people can do it. Once in a hundred years you get a bowler like him. I have a lot of respect for him [now] and in our playing days as well.”Warne said Muralitharan, or “the whirly-twirly man” as he referred to him, would bring a lot to the BBL in his first appearance in the tournament. Warne remembered seeing Muralitharan for the first time on Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka in 1992, when he played for the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI in a tour match, and although the only batsman he dismissed was Tony Dodemaide, he baffled the Australians with his unusual style.”It was a tour game in Kandy when we first saw Murali in ’92,” Warne said. “Allan Border said to Murali ‘what are you bowling?’ He’d played for legspin.”He’s bamboozled batsmen for the best part of 20 years the way he goes about it. Facing Murali is very tough, he does some wonderful things with the ball. For what Murali has done for the game, what he has done for Sri Lanka … and to be still playing and bowling extremely well, it’s fantastic.”Muralitharan won’t be the only Sri Lankan playing in Friday night’s game, with Lasith Malinga set to line up for the Stars. Another Sri Lankan, allrounder Thisara Perera, will also be part of the BBL after joining the Brisbane Heat as a last-minute inclusion following their loss of Dale Steyn and Daniel Vettori.

India’s only practice match on this pocket-sized tour of South Africa has been called off on a warm and sunny day, after a storm on the eve of the match resulted in wet patches on the outfield

Sidharth Monga in Benoni13-Dec-2013India’s only practice match on this pocket-sized tour of South Africa has been called off on a warm and sunny day. Benoni has received more than 800mm rain over the last three weeks, which resulted in an unusually high water table, adding to the woes of one of the slower draining grounds in South Africa. Although the pitch was ready on the morning of the match, there were a few wet patches on the outfield. The first day’s play was called off early in the morning but, later in the afternoon, the groundstaff indicated it was not possible to get the ground ready for the second day either.Willowmoore Park in Benoni raced against time to get ready for the match, which was moved a day forward to avoid a clash with former president Nelson Mandela’s funeral. However, a storm on the eve of the game put paid to the efforts of the groundsmen, who had erected a tent to prepare the pitch even as it rained.If India were peeved they couldn’t play despite warm sunshine, they didn’t show it. They practised hard with Duncan Fletcher looking over the slips-catching practice before the batsmen moved into the net. Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja didn’t bat for long, which could be a sign – albeit it’s early to be looking for them – that India might play Ajinkya Rahane as the specialist batsman at Wanderers where the first Test will begin on the 18th.The Indian team management seemed to be quite understanding of the situation. The last few weeks have brought unexpected rainfall to the Highveld. Short and sharp showers are the usual fare here, but this summer has brought less intense but more persistent rainfall to the region. The fate of the Benoni game was the subject of speculation even when the third ODI was on, but it couldn’t have been easy to move an international team to another small venue given all the security requirements. It is not known if India asked for a change of venue or if CSA offered it.

Andrew Hall struck his second century in consecutive County Championship games as Division Two leaders Northamptonshire’s clash with Hampshire predictably petered out into a draw.

01-Jun-2013
ScorecardAndrew Hall made his 14th first-class century•Getty ImagesAndrew Hall struck his second century in consecutive County Championship games as Division Two leaders Northamptonshire’s clash with Hampshire predictably petered out into a draw.Hall, who also made a ton against Leicestershire at Wantage Road two weeks ago, piled on an unbeaten 130 from 295 balls, as Northants eventually declared on 425 for 9, prompting the two captains to shake hands.Wicketkeeper David Murphy also made a career-best 81 off 119 deliveries with James Tomlinson the pick of Hampshire’s bowlers, taking 3 for 75 as his team-mates were made to toil in the field.Northants began the day on 159 for 5, 47 runs behind their opponents, with former South Africa allrounder Hall resuming on 29 and James Middlebrook on 8. But Middlebrook added just two to his overnight total before Tomlinson’s delivery crashed into his off stump in the fifth over of the day.Tomlinson struck again in his next over when David Willey edged him to former Zimbabwe international Sean Ervine at first slip to depart for a six-ball duck. But Hall stuck around to complete a patient half-century from 116 deliveries as part of a 117-run partnership with Australia international Trent Copeland.Copeland was given a second chance on 34 when he was dropped at second slip by Liam Dawson off David Balcombe before he raced to 50 off 63 balls. He and Hall surpassed Northants’ previous record eighth-wicket stand against Hampshire of 95, made between Nigel Felton and Winston Davis at Bournemouth in 1990.Copeland eventually departed on 63 from the third ball after lunch when he was trapped lbw by Danny Briggs before Hall completed his 14th century in first-class cricket off 209 balls. He had now been joined at the crease by Murphy and he comfortably completed his first half-century of the season off 80 deliveries.The pair went on to set a new record ninth-wicket partnership for the hosts against their opponents, going past the 97 shared between Gordon Williamson and Keith Andrew at Northampton in 1961.Northants resumed after tea on 390 for 8 with seeing out time the only priority, although Murphy did exceed his previous best of 79, which he struck against Glamorgan in May 2011. He finally perished when he launched Hampshire captain Jimmy Adams to Ervine at mid-on to break the partnership on 132.The draw was then agreed 10 minutes later at 4:50pm, with Northants coming out of this contest with nine points and Hampshire six.

Australia’s selectors have been reminded to maintain a reasonable level of contact with the players they choose after it was revealed that many of the cricketers seconded to play for Australia A against England in Hobart found out about their inclusion on

Daniel Brettig in Hobart07-Nov-2013Australia’s selectors have been reminded to maintain a reasonable level of contact with the players they choose after it was revealed that many of the cricketers seconded to play for Australia A against England in Hobart found out about their inclusion on Twitter.There was some bemusement among members of the A squad when they assembled in Hobart to discover that they shared the same tale of learning they had been selected through the avenue of social media, rather than any personal contact from the national selector John Inverarity or any members of his panel.Paul Marsh, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers Association, said the players were entitled to be told directly of their inclusion in national squads. However he also acknowledged that communication between the players and the selectors had improved noticeably since the Argus review and the appointment of a new panel headed by Inverarity.”The feedback I have received over the last few years is that the new selection panel has been better from a communication perspective but there have been isolated instances that players have brought to my attention,” Marsh said. “That is something Cricket Australia needs to continually improve. Players should be hearing it from them, whether they’re in or out of the team, rather than from social media or a third party.”The selector on duty in Hobart is Rod Marsh, but the wicketkeeper Tim Paine said communication to the players about their selection for this match and prospects beyond it had been minimal, if occurring at all. Paine had received unofficial word he may have been in line for the match via selection meetings for Tasmania, which he took part in as the acting state captain while George Bailey was in India.”We were actually talking about it yesterday, a few of us saw on Twitter, it was interesting,” Paine said. “I’m happy to be here and getting an opportunity, obviously it means something but it hasn’t been handed down to me as yet, I’m just trying to do as well as I can.”I heard a few whispers from our head coach that it may happen so they were preparing to pick teams, and being captain of Tassie that’s how I found out about it through our selection meeting, then I came out [of the meeting] and it was on Twitter. No phone call.”Cricket Australia acknowledged the selection of the team could have been better communicated to the players concerned. “As it stands, our priority is to communicate with players who are new to a squad or have been dropped from the previous side,” a spokesman said. “In this instance we could have communicated better with our players, and we’ll work to ensure it doesn’t happen again in future.”