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Kevin Pietersen has branded the decision to omit Ian Bell from England’s touring squad to South Africa as “pathetic,” “insane” and “ridiculous.”In a series of furious interviews, most notably on talkSPORT, BreatheSport and ESPNcricinfo, Pietersen also labelled former England coach Andy Flower “a clown” for dropping Nick Compton ahead of the 2013 Ashes and suggested that the decision to disregard Bell’s experience for a tour of South Africa was “a disgrace.””England are playing the best team in the world with one of the best fast bowling attacks the game has seen for years,” Pietersen told ESPNcricinfo. “So not to take one of your most experienced players with a great record against that team is absolutely ridiculous. You have to take him for his experience.”He’s played 118 Tests and you need that experience on tour. He’s probably got another five, six, seven or eight Test hundreds in him. It is an insane decision to leave him out.”Yes, Belly hasn’t scored the runs he would have liked of late. But that happens to all players and it’s at those times that the management need to stick by him. It’s a disgrace they way they’ve dropped him now.”Pietersen also questioned what he saw as the inequitable treatment of Bell compared to the patience shown to the team’s captain, Alastair Cook, and questioned what he sees as an ageist attitude prevalent within English cricket.”Captain Cook himself can go two years without a Test hundred but he can play every single game,” Pietersen said on BreatheSport. “As for Belly, he struggles a bit – he got a hundred, what nine or 10 Test matches ago? – but he’s not good enough to get to the South Africa tour? I think it’s pathetic and I think he’s been hard done by here. People need to start having a hard look at themselves.”He’s 33, not 53,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “Why is that, in England, that 33 is considered too old? In other countries we have seen the likes of Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting play on far longer than that. Belly isn’t over the hill. Of course he can fight his way back from this. I believe he will. He is a class player. You don’t score 22 Test centuries without being a top class player. I’m very angry about this.”While Pietersen might be expected to be outspoken on this issue – as has been well documented, his relationship with the England management is not cosy and he is a director of the management company that looks after Bell’s interests – he has not been alone in his criticism of the squad.Mark Boucher, the former South Africa wicketkeeper, tweeted that South Africa would experience “a boost in confidence” by seeing a squad without either Pietersen or Bell, while Graeme Smith, the former South Africa captain, tweeted that he was “very surprised” Gary Ballance had been recalled and that bowlers would be “licking their lips” in anticipation of bowling to him.”I know the South Africa players, and they will be licking their lips bowling to a bloke like Gary Ballance,” Pietersen told talkSPORT.”You just have to see what the likes of Mark Boucher and Graeme Smith have said on social media today, England are just being laughed at. It’s horrendous. Goodness, my mind just boggles when I see what happens there. It’s frustrating.”He did, though, see merit in one of the decisions. “It’s good to see Compton back. He was dealt an horrendous blow by that clown who coached England a couple of years ago.”

In Bruno Lage’s first season as Wolves manager since replacing Nuno Espirito Santo back in the summer, the Old Gold are currently well in the race to secure European football with a total of 12 wins, four draws and eight defeats under their belt in 24 games played.

One impressive factor of Wolves’ season so far is their defensive record, having conceded just 18 goals, leaving only league leaders Manchester City with a better record.

With that in mind, one player that has contributed a lot to Wolves’ impressive defensive record this season is Romain Saiss.

The Moroccan has started all but two of their league games this term, only missing fixtures with Southampton and Brentford as a result of AFCON, which shows just how important he’s been for Lage in 2021/22.

With Wolves conceding in both games that he missed last month and keeping three consecutive clean sheets before he jetted off for international duty, it suggests that the Old Gold’s defence was undoubtedly weakened due to his absence.

The 31-year-old’s performances this season have also shown just how valuable he is to Lage’s side with WhoScored giving him an overall rating of 7.02/10, making him Wolves’ third-highest rated player.

From a defensive point of view, the £28k-per-week Morocco international has managed to win a total of 56 aerial duels, 44 interceptions and 26 tackles, highlighting how much of a defensive unit he has been in this campaign and how much he has contributed at the back.

Having been likened to former AC Milan defender Paolo Maldini by people at the club according to Lage, Saiss’ current contract at Molineux is due to expire at the end of the season.

Taking into account his impressive performances this campaign, the defender has certainly put himself in the frame for the club to offer him a new deal given how valuable he has proven himself to be.

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Moving forward, if the defender can keep up the same level of performance he has done throughout the season to date, the Midlands club should definitely see if he would be willing to continue his career in a Wolves shirt and sign a new contract.

In other news: Forget Traore: Fosun heading for unforgivable Wolves howler, Lage would be furious – opinion

Mumbai bowlers Dhawal Kulkarni and Karsh Kothari, and opener Prithvi Shaw sealed their knockout berth in style by crushing Tripura by 10 wickets on the third evening at Wankhede Stadium. After declaring overnight on 421 for 8 with a lead of 226, Mumbai bowled out Tripura in 78 overs with four wickets apiece from Kulkarni and Kothari. Set a target of 63, Mumbai belted out the runs in 6.2 overs with a 26-ball 50 from Shaw.Tripura saw a couple of partnerships flourish once Kulkarni struck in his second over to remove opener Samrat Singha for 7. Bishal Ghosh (38) and Udiyan Bose (34) stitched a stand of 65, but Kulkarni had Bose caught at the score of 76 and Akash Parkar bowled Ghosh eight runs later. Smit Patel (68) and Yashpal Singh (82) struck fifites with a century stand and gave Tripura some hopes by rallying the score past 200. However, Jay Bista’s offspin broke the stand and Kothari struck on consecutive deliveries to leave them reeling on 222 for 6.No. 8 Rajat Dey counter-attacked with a 21-ball 30 even as Kothari had Yashpal stumped and Kulkarni returned to wipe out the tail and bowl them out for 288. Mumbai’s openers Shaw and Bista – whose ages add up to only 39 – came out with a T20 mentality and Shaw struck eight fours in his fifty while Bista was unbeaten on 13 off 12 to score at over 10 runs per over together that earned them seven points.Tamil Nadu’s bowlers fought back to leave them with a chance of picking up an outright win after conceding the first-innings lead to Baroda in Vadodara. Tamil Nadu had ended the second day on 226 for 5 in response to Baroda’s 309. But they lost five wickets for 48 runs on the third day to be bowled out for 274. Both B Indrajith and J Kousik were dismissed for their respective overnight scores of 59 and 37 as Tamil Nadu lost three wickets for 10 runs. Yo Mahesh and Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore added 38 for the ninth wicket. Mahesh was dismissed for 26, while Sai Kishore remained not out on 17. Lukman Meriwala led a collective effort from Baroda’s bowlers with 3 for 37.Baroda lost half their side inside 25 overs of their second innings, with just 68 on the board. Swapnil Singh (49) and Atit Sheth (40) lifted them with a 66-run sixth-wicket stand. But despite their efforts, and Kartik Kakade’s 33 at No. 9, Baroda folded for 197. Tamil Nadu’s pace duo of M Mohammed and K Vignesh combined to take six wickets between them. Tamil Nadu’s openers N Jagadeesan and Abhinav Mukund, their captain, saw off the two overs to stumps. Tamil Nadu require 231 runs and Baroda need 10 wickets on the final day for a win. However, an outright win won’t do for either team, as they need other results to go their way to make the quarterfinals.Odisha were still trailing Madhya Pradesh after a laboured third day in Indore, where they scored just 219 runs in 90 overs.Odisha had conceded a huge first-innings lead of 241 runs on the second day and ended it on 18 for no loss. By stumps on the third day, they were 237 for 4, requiring four more runs to wipe out the deficit. Odisha lost Ranjit Singh and their captain Govinda Poddar in the space of 10 overs following a 70-run opening stand. Rajesh Dhuper and Subhranshu Senapati, the promising 20-year old batsman, then buckled down for a third-wicket partnership of 120. Having stoically resisted for most of the day, Odisha lost two wickets in the final hour; first Dhuper fell for 88 to the medium-pacer Puneet Datey before Biplab Samantray followed him after 1 off six balls. Senapati held firm till stumps and was on 78, with Shantanu Mishra on 10 for company. Odisha are out of the race to the knockouts. Mumbai’s win has left MP needing nothing short of an outright win. Currently third, a win will take MP straight to the top of the table.

Vengsarkar on Powar : “Ramesh has to get fitter and field better. He also has to improve his bowling” © AFP

Dilip Vengsarkar, India’s chairman of selectors, has sounded out a warning to the senior players following the team’s second consecutive defeat to Australia in the seven-match series.Vengsarkar made it clear that the seniors needed to raise their game, especially in the wake of the World Twenty20 triumph engineered by a young side. “There are many players like S Badrinath and Suresh Raina who are performing with the India A side,” Vengsarkar told , a Mumbai-based tabloid. “These guys are waiting for their chance and you cannot ignore them. It’s a professional set-up and nobody can take their place for granted.”India made one change for the fourth and fifth one-dayers, bringing in left-arm spinner Murali Kartik for offspinner Ramesh Powar. Powar bowled only 11 overs in the first two ODIs, failing to pick up any wickets and conceded 7.27 runs an over.Vengsarkar justified the move. “If you get picked as a frontline bowler, then you have to bowl 10 overs. Plus, if your fielding is found wanting and you do not contribute with the bat, the team is obviously at a disadvantage. Ramesh has to get fitter and field better. He also has to improve his bowling.”Vengsarkar also justified Kartik’s selection over promising Hyderabad left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha. “Ojha is very young, just 21. It is not fair to unleash him against a side like Australia. We need to groom youngsters. Kartik is experienced and offers us better variation than two offspinners.””We are not a great fielding side anyway,” he said when asked for an assessment of the series so far. “Australia saved about 25 runs on the field. If we had fielded that way, the match would have been much closer.”

‘We have already started aligning our policy to the WADA code and we will make sure that this process happens as quickly as possible now’ – Ashraf © Getty Images

Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to a zero-tolerance policy on doping in the wake of criticism from Percy Sonn, the ICC president, over the board’s handling of the doping cases of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif.The bowlers were initially handed bans by a committee set up to investigate their cases, only for the judgment and punishments to be totally overturned by a subsequent appeals committee. The findings of the appellate committee raised questions about the PCB’s anti-doping regulations and it prompted Sonn to remark, in an official statement, that “the judgment highlights inconsistencies in the PCB’s anti-doping processes and regulations.”But Ashraf, speaking to Cricinfo, defended the role of the PCB in the matter. “We remain totally committed to a zero-tolerance policy on doping. I cannot stress that enough. But the verdict of both commissions also has to be honoured and respected. The board has nothing to do with the commissions. They were completely independent; they proceeded and arrived at their conclusions in an open and transparent manner.”What appears to be a particular concern is the seemingly wide divergence between the PCB’s anti-doping regulations and those of the ICC and WADA (World anti-doping agency). As a result of the disparity, the original committee found both players guilty and punished them based on ICC and WADA regulations but the appellate committee exonerated them of all charges under PCB regulations, further arguing that the first committee was wrong to have referred to an international code in the first place.Ashraf explained that the discrepancy existed because the PCB had framed their policy in 2002, much before the ICC adopted the WADA code. And in response to Sonn’s call for member countries to align their regulations with those of the ICC and WADA, Ashraf said the process had already begun in Pakistan.”We have already started aligning our policy to the WADA code and we will make sure that this process happens as quickly as possible now. Our policy should be as close to possible as their’s. Pakistan is one of only four members that has an active anti-doping policy at the moment and ours was framed back in 2002.”Though drugs have crept into cricket through a number of incidents in recent years – international players have been fined for smoking marijuana and first-class cricketers banned for more serious abuse – Shoaib and Asif are the only players to test positive for a banned anabolic steroid. Shane Warne tested positive for a diuretic which is used to mask the presence of steroids and was banned for a year.And Ashraf reasoned that from this incident, there was an opportunity for cricket to learn as well. “This unfortunate incident has created mass awareness of doping issues in cricket. That is something we can all, as a sport, now learn from and try and prevent such cases from occurring again. This is a good lesson for all players because the responsibility ultimately is theirs for what goes into their body.”We will also take greater pains to ensure that all players are properly educated about doping matters and fully understand the issues at stake. And we will do this while being completely committed to zero tolerance on doping. That is something the board, and I personally, will not compromise on. I believe in zero tolerance and I will implement this belief.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Graeme Smith raced to a fantastic 134, his highest score in ODIs, as South Africa took an unassailable lead © AFP

Undone by some ordinary batting on a grassy pitch ideally suited to South Africa’s seamers, India succumbed to 188 – a score that looked unlikely till Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif bailed the team out – and then found it impossible to defend such a low total under lights, in dewy conditions. Their batsmen failed to apply themselves in helpful conditions early on. When it was their chance to bowl, there weren’t enough runs on the board, and Graeme Smith led from the front with a superb 134 not out, as South Africa won by 10 wickets.When Smith won the toss and instantly chose to field, it was clear that the going would be anything but easy. Even with Makhaya Ntini unavailable through illness, South Africa, led by the redoubtable Shaun Pollock, had the bowling to exploit the conditions handed to them. India responded with unorthodoxy, sending Irfan Pathan out to bat with Gautam Gambhir. But Pathan lasted only three balls, dragging Pollock back onto his stumps. Soon after, Sachin Tendulkar got one that lifted and moved away and tickled fine to the keeper. Gambhir laced two excellent boundaries, giving hope that resistance was possible, before dabbing one straight to Smith in the slip cordon, and India were in deep trouble at 23 for 3.Virender Sehwag, not overtly concerned with the mess that the Indian scoreboard was in, started well, punching powerfully through the off, both sides of the cover fielder. His footwork was Sehwag-minimalist, his balance perfect, and strokeplay exhilarating. But with the ball moving about quite a bit both in the air and off the pitch, it was only a matter of time before something gave. Andrew Hall, who had been treated with some disdain by Sehwag, picked up the wicket when one moved enough to kiss the outside edge on the way to the keeper. Rahul Dravid, who had been everything Sehwag was not, lasted 31 balls in a careful vigil at the crease before a peach from Charl Langeveldt sent him packing. A ball slanted in from wide of the crease swung away late, and Dravid, who was enticed into driving towards on, lost his off stump. India were 71 for 5 and looking straight down the barrel of Smith’s loaded gun.

Shaun Pollock set up South Africa’s win with a superb performance early on © AFP

Yuvraj and Kaif then showed remarkable resilience. Kaif survived a couple of close calls early on, edging outside off and falling over and being hit on the pad, but soon tightened up and looked confident and competent. Yuvraj was always confident, whether leaving the ball alone or punishing the loose ones, and his footwork was decisive. All of a sudden two young batsmen were running hard between the stumps, the scoreboard was ticking over, and India had their first strong partnership of the innings – 81 for the sixth wicket.Then South Africa struck back, through Johan Botha, the offspinner, removing Yuvraj lbw as he flicked and missed. When Kaif (46) clipped Nel straight to midwicket soon after India were again brought to their knees at 167 for 7. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, batting down the order, was well contained by bowlers who kept the ball short of a driving length, and when he failed, holing out to long-on, India were well short of a competitive total, bowled out for 188 in under 46 overs.Smith and Hall came out to bat knowing fully well that they had to make all the mistakes if South Africa were to fail to chase the modest target. Smith, in particular, was impressive, going after anything that was just a touch short or wide. His bat did not quite describe a flamboyant arc but it certainly came down hard on the ball in short, sharp bursts, and sent point and cover scattering. Hall was the opposite, playing with a very straight bat, and repeatedly failed to beat the infield. But overall South Africa were more than healthy – the 50 came up without the loss of a wicket in under 12 overs.The introduction of spinners, Harbhajan Singh in particular, caused a momentary deceleration, but soon enough Smith broke the shackles, jumping down the track and lofting the ball back over the bowler’s head. Then, as the runs required narrowed in on the overs remaining, and South Africa reached a position from which they could not lose, Hall came to the party, taking Murali Kartik on and repeatedly heaving over the infield. Hall ended on 48 not out, and Smith on 134 not out when South Africa won. But you could not help wondering if the crowd roared in appreciation of an innings well played, or because India minus their darling, Sourav Ganguly, were getting thumped. Either way, it’s 2-1 with one to play in Mumbai.

India
Irfan Pathan b Pollock 0 (2 for 1)
Sachin Tendulkar c Boucher b Pollock 2 (14 for 2)
Gautam Gambhir c Smith b Pollock 11 (23 for 3)
Virender Sehwag c Boucher b Hall 30 (29 for 4)
Rahul Dravid b Langeveldt 6 (71 for 5)
Yuvraj Singh lbw b Botha 53 (152 for 6)
Mohammad Kaif c Smith b Nel 46 (167 for 7)
Ajit Agarkar b Kallis 11 (187 for 8)
Mahendra Dhoni c Botha b Hall 14 (187 for 9)
Harbhajan Singh lbw b Hall 0 (188 all out)

Roland Holder: a different ball game© Getty Images

Roland Holder has decided to resign from the post of secretary of the West Indies Players’ Association. Holder, the former West Indian batsman, felt that the association had become too confrontational, and quit the post that he had held since 1996.”WIPA has gone in a direction I’m not totally comfortable with,” said Holder, 36, in a conversation with . “I’ve become less and less involved and times change, people change and views change. We [WIPA] have become very confrontational. When I started, the view was that we should work with the West Indies Cricket Board and other stakeholders. These confrontations have led to some challenges and I prefer not to be involved.”Though he didn’t spell it out, Holder was clearly referring to the recent disagreements between the players’ association and the West Indian board, the latest of which was the row that was triggered when Digicel were signed up as the sponsor of the national team. Several players protested, through the players’ association, about their image rights being compromised as they had existing agreements with rival companies.Holder, who played 11 Tests between 1996 and 1999, was appointed as the manager of the Barbados team earlier this week. He will take over from Tony Howard for the upcoming Carib Beer Series, which begins on January 7, as Barbados look to defend their title.

South Africa 682 for 6 dec (Smith 259, Kirsten 108) beat England 173 (Ntini 5-75) and 417 (Flintoff 142, Ntini 5-145) by an innings and 92 runs
Scorecard

Andrew Flintoff breaks his bat, but not his spirit

In a Test match full of records, two more were broken in a memorable fourth and final day of the second npower Test at Lord’s, which South Africa inevitably won, by a huge innings and 92 runs. England were always on to a lost cause, but Andrew Flintoff made sure they went out with a bang with a Test-best 142 – the highest score by a No. 7 at Lord’s – while Makhaya Ntini became the first South African to take ten wickets at the ground.It was a surprisingly dramatic ending to such a one-sided Test. Flintoff and Ntini locked horns in their own personal battle, but both came out winners. Flintoff reached his second Test century with a pull past square leg, while Ntini took the magic ten when he removed Steve Harmison two balls later.Their reactions were different, however. Flintoff greeted the raucous applause in a muted fashion, simply holding up his second bat (the first one had earlier split in dramatic fashion), before thanking Harmison for sticking around with him. Ntini, on the other hand, bent down and kissed the pitch in recognition of his achievement.Ntini showed the sort of fight and heart lacking from any of the England bowlers and thoroughly deserved his joint Man of the Match award with Graeme Smith. Along with the exemplary Shaun Pollock and the combative Andrew Hall, Ntini made sure England lost by a mile, but Flintoff kept everyone interested as he fanned the embers of their innings.While Ashley Giles and Harmison gave him the majority of his support before they both fell to Ntini, Flintoff, as was the case with the ball, didn’t give up. He brought up the 250 with a towering six off Paul Adams which nearly smashed a window in the Media Centre. He continued to give Adams a bit of hammer with three more crushing boundaries and signalled his fifty with a classy straight drive off Dewald Pretorius. Then the fun really began.Ntini returned with the new ball and he and Flintoff tussled out an intriguing duel. Flintoff pulled him for a four and two sixes in the same over and then broke his bat trying to lace him through the covers. Ntini then replied by hitting Flintoff on the helmet, but it didn’t deter him from playing his shots, much to the delight of the crowd.Gough also joined in the fun with a few flashy drives before he drove Pollock loosely to Adams at cover not long after tea (344 for 8). Even when Harmison went, Flintoff continued to keep England alive with some astonishing hits. He brought up the 400 in a 20-run mauling of Pollock, including two sixes, and the whole of Lord’s were cheering their hero, who eventually fell when Adams had him stumped by Boucher.But Flintoff’s fireworks couldn’t hide the fact that England’s was an embarrassingly poor display, made worse by a late morning mini-collapse in which three late wickets undid England’s solid work in the first hour-and-a-half of the day.Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart all fell before lunch to make England’s good start a complete waste of time and effort. Butcher and Hussain had played watchfully in good batting conditions and passed a sparkling hundred partnership on the way, but once Butcher succumbed to a lapse in concentration, the house of cards began its collapse.After an encouraging first hour for England, in which Butcher passed his fifty and Hussain passed 5000 Test runs, they both gave their wickets away. In a gaping lapse in concentration, Butcher clipped Hall to Gary Kirsten at square leg for 70, before Hussain attempted a bizarre pull against an Ntini ball which pitched way outside off stump. The ball squirted up in the air, Hussain let out a desperate cry of anguish, and Mark Boucher did the rest (208 for 4).That may well have been Hussain’s last Test innings at Lord’s, but for Stewart it was most certainly the final curtain. He lasted only two balls before edging Ntini to Hall at second slip. The ball moved away a touch, Stewart prodded firmly at it, and Hall dived low to his left to take a good catch (208 for 5). It was a sad end for Stewart who only made 7 in the first innings.And just after lunch, England’s woes continued when McGrath nibbled a Shaun Pollock awaycutter to Boucher for a scratchy 13. It was a good ball from Pollock, but McGrath didn’t move his feet as he poked at the ball which nipped down the hill (208 for 6). Never mind the rumours that this may be the last Test for the old stalwarts such as Stewart, Hussain and Gough – it may be McGrath’s too.Click here for yesterday’s bulletin

Queensland had its top three to thank for first innings points after a middle order collapse on day three of the Pura Cup cricket match against Western Australia at the WACA today.At stumps the Bulls were 7-474, a lead of 42 runs, courtesy of opener Jimmy Maher’s 174 and hefty contributions from Martin Love (91) and Jerry Cassell (86).Queensland claimed first innings points, but not before the WA attack had breathed new life into a game that had seen 501 runs made for the loss of just five wickets in the preceding five sessions to tea on day three.Maher sparked the collapse when he fell to a controversial LBW decision on the last ball before tea when the score was 3-374, just 59 runs away from first innings points.He was out on the third ball of Warriors captain Simon Katich’s (1-21) first over after having defied the WA attack for 319 deliveries and striking 23 fours.The classy left hander was well down the wicket when the ball wrapped his pads and he looked up in astonishment when he was given out by Ian Lock.Maher came to the wicket when opener Cassell delivered a full blooded cut to Matthew Nicholson at gully off Brad Williams (3-103).He reached his 150, and completed a 150 run partnership with Love, with a straight drive past Jo Angel (1-94) to the boundary.The pair continued to compile runs until Love fell agonisingly short of his ton when Sean Cary (1-60) accepted a sharp chance off his own bowling to send him back to the pavilion after 188 minutes in the middle.Then, in a fiery opening 40 minutes after the break, Williams had Andrew Symonds caught at third man by Nicholson for one and Stuart Law played ontohis stumps for four.Nicholson (1-95) then chipped in to remove Clinton Perren, LBW for 11, to make the score 6-392 and the Bulls’ tail was left to find the 41 runs needed for first innings points.James Hopes contributed 14 before he became Angel’s first wicket when he skied a drive to Scott Meuleman at point.Wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe (37no) then survived a missed chance by his Warriors counterpart Ryan Campbell when he was on 15 and the score 7-425.From there he and Ashley Noffke (33no) steered the Bulls safely to stumps.

Sri Lanka’s chairman of selectors Kapila Wijegunawardene is confident that offspinner Tharindu Kaushal can work on his action for the doorsa and bring it inside the ICC’s 15-degree limit. After being reported for a suspect action during the home series against India and tested in Chennai, Kaushal was cleared to bowl the offbreak but his doosra was banned from international cricket.”Where Kaushal is concerned, we had a very close scrutiny of him and it was only after we were convinced that he was within the rules that we picked him to play in the side,” Wijegunawardene said. “However this citation came and he was tested, after which we were notified that his doosra was exceeding the stipulated parameter of 15 degrees marginally, but his offspin was cleared with flying colours with his extension being only five degrees.”On the doosra, 50% of the deliveries in which he was tested was within the stipulated parameter and only the balance marginally exceeded 15 degrees,” Wijegunawardene said. “What we now need to understand is at which point he is able to bowl this particular delivery and support him towards staying within the rules. Not being able to bowl the doosra does impact his armoury of deliveries. However, if you closely analyse the wickets that he has taken during his short career, he has no more than three-four wickets with the doosra with a large majority of the wickets being with offspin.”From the side of Sri Lanka Cricket, everybody is very eager and committed to support him towards getting this delivery cleared. Going forward we hope to work proactively with the ICC and it is not the first time we are facing a situation like this. I am confident that he will overcome this slight impediment.””This boy’s got a special talent where he has ultra supple wrist similar to Muralitharan. If he succeeds in bowling this delivery within the stipulated regulations it will be a huge plus factor and also good for the game.”Kaushal, 22, had been randomly tested in Canberra by the ICC at the conclusion of the 2012 Under-19 World Cup and there had been nothing amiss with his action, including the doosra. He made his debut in December 2014 and has played six Tests – taking 24 wickets at an average of 42.