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Stuart Law has resigned as Bangladesh coach after nine months in the job, citing family reasons. He will stay on till the end of June, when his contract expires.His decision to quit comes less than a month after Bangladesh reached the final of the Asia Cup, widely seen as one of their finest achievements.”It is with great regret and a heavy heart that today I announce my stepping down as the head coach of Bangladesh,” Law said.He said he will move back to Australia after two and a half years in the subcontinent, which included a coaching stint with Sri Lanka. “Living away from the family and not seeing people growing up, I think we all understand that family comes first,” he said. “Cricket has been a huge part of my life but over the years I have realised that there is nothing more important than the family and if they are not happy then I am not happy and something had to give.”Law had taken over as national coach last July, and though the initial results were disappointing – including losses to Zimbabwe – the home season ended with Bangladesh upsetting India and Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup, before losing the final in a last-ball finish.The BCB did not give any indication of who would replace Law. However Dean Jones, who had a brief stint in the Bangladesh Premier League as technical director of Chittagong Kings, announced his presence in the fray. “Yes the Bangladesh Cricket Board has asked me if I would be interested to coach the national team.. Considering options,” he tweeted.Law’s decision appeared to have come as a surprise to those in the team. Tamim Iqbal said he was completely unaware about Law’s intentions after the Asia Cup. “I’m completely taken by surprise. But family comes first,” Tamim told ESPNcricinfo.Bangladesh media committee chairman Jalal Yunus said the board understood Law’s decision. “As he (Law) has said the family was his priority and that should be the case for all of us,” Yunus said. “We are sorry to see him go, especially at a time when under his guidance the Bangladesh team is doing really well and showing good consistency.”

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Cometh the hour, cometh the captain. But while Rory Hamilton-Brown’s unbeaten 55 prevented Surrey from being blown away in double quick time, it remains to be seen whether he has played an innings that will lead his team to victory.Frankly, anything is possible. But what we can say for certain is that by scoring the first – and, perhaps, only – half century of this bowler-dominated match, Surrey’s 24-year-old skipper has given his side a better than decent chance after they threatened to turn themselves into clear second favourites.Surrey will start the final day leading by 152 and with four wickets in hand. It does not sound great, does it? But given what has gone before – and taking into account that 19 wickets fell today for the addition of 267 runs – the hosts could yet end up triumphing by a distance. Relatively speaking, that is.Considering not a ball was bowled on day one and only 35 overs were possible yesterday, it is remarkable that we are not talking about when the two sides will shake hands on a draw. But we are not and it seems likely that only more weather interference will lead to a stalemate after seven hours of helter-skelter cricket.The main facts of day three, pre Hamilton-Brown’s half-century, are these: all 22 players batted at least once, Surrey’s 140 was their lowest first innings total at The Oval since 1999, Worcestershire longest and best stand – 13 overs and 41 runs – was for the ninth wicket, Stuart Meaker returned career-best figures of 6 for 39 for Surrey and all-rounder James Cameron became the first man to reach 40 as the visitors ‘recovered’ from 74 for 8 to 119 all outYes, the pitch has played a few clearly unkind tricks – the ball from Alan Richardson that pinned Mark Ramprakash lbw kept very low, for instance – but generally there has been only the sort of sideways movement you would expect when good bowlers are operating on an April pitch that has not had much sun on it and there is moisture in the air.Much of the batting has fallen well short of the highest calibre. But when someone has steeled himself to play straight and been content to push the ball for singles, run-scoring has looked difficult rather than impossible.Enter Hamilton-Brown. Surrey were only 80 ahead when they lost their fifth wicket. But the captain managed to make 55 at a run a ball with the help of just five boundaries. It was an excellent knock, with power to add, and it stole the day’s star man award away from the still impressive Meaker.The competition for fast bowling places is not quite as hot at The Oval as it is with England, but plenty warm enough to suggest no-one can afford to waste an opportunity to impress.Jon Lewis’s winter move from Gloucestershire gives the county four pacemen with international experience. Then there is Barbados-born Chris Jordan, admired by both England and West Indies, and Tim Linley, who failed to survive the cut for this contest despite taking 73 Second Division wickets at not much more than 18 runs apiece last season.Of the top bracket boys, Chris Tremlett is currently injured. But that still means there is no automatic place for either Dernbach or Stuart Meaker, the one-day international bowlers who would like to be pushing for Test match consideration sooner rather than later.Indeed, Meaker missed out in the last championship game, at Lord’s. Here, though, it was the 23-year-old who filled his boots by bowling fast and straight often enough to find the outside edge on a regular basis.

Jon Clare took 11 wickets as Derbyshire celebrated their best start in the County Championship Division Two for 10 years. Clare’s match figures of 11 for 57 at Cardiff helped the visitors wrap up a 130-run victory over Glamorgan inside three days.After being left 233 to win, Glamorgan slumped to 102 all out in their second innings in just 31.3 overs.Clare followed up his 5 for 17 in the first innings, when Glamorgan were dismissed for just 95, with 6 for 40 in the second. It was a dramatic end to the match as the hosts lost their last eight wickets for the addition of just 16 runs in 51 balls.Derbyshire, who beat Northamptonshire last week, are the early pacemakers in Division Two. They were bowled out for 197 in their second innings, adding 45 to their overnight score of 152 for 6. They lost their last four wickets but not before David Wainwright completed an unbeaten 50 from 164 balls – the first batsman to reach the landmark in the match.Glamorgan fought back early on day three courtesy of Jim Allenby, who struck with two wickets in the space of three balls in only the second over of the day. First he trapped Clare leg before and two balls later had Derbyshire wicketkeeper Tom Poynton caught behind as the visitors went from 152 for 6 to 155 for 8.After Glamorgan took the second new ball they wrapped up the Derbyshire innings with Tony Palladino well caught by wicketkeeper Mark Wallace, who took a fine catch diving low to his right to give Moises Henriques his fourth victim. Number 11 Mark Footitt had survived four balls before he was bowled by Graham Wagg for a duck to bring the innings to a close.Glamorgan were left 45 minutes to bat before lunch and took a significant chunk out of their chase reaching the interval at 49 without loss. Gareth Rees struck eight fours out of his opening 36 runs, although he was dropped on four by Poynton, standing up to Palladino.At that stage Glamorgan looked in good shape until Clare grabbed two wickets with consecutive balls. First Rees was trapped leg before wicket, nine short of his 50, and next ball Will Bragg edged to Martin Guptill at second slip.But in mid-afternoon the wickets clattered. Glamorgan’s demise was as dramatic as it was woeful as they lost six wickets in the space of 25 balls for the addition of only one run to go from 92 for 3 to 93 for 9. The Derbyshire win was complete when number 11 Mike Reed was run out by Footitt, the fifth Glamorgan batsman out for a duck.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAnya Shrubsole celebrates bowling Frances Mackay•Getty Images

A strong all-round performance from England Women led them to their second consecutive win in New Zealand, beating the hosts by 48 runs to go up 2-0 in the five-match series.England were sent in at Seddon Park and their openers laid a strong platform, adding 82 in 8.4 overs. Charlotte Edwards made 33 off 26 balls and the innings’ top-scorer, Laura Marsh, scored 48 off 29 with 11 boundaries. Both of those batsmen fell in quick succession but, from 86 for 2, Sarah Taylor held the rest of the innings together by scoring 45. She was dismissed only in the 20th over and England finished with 166 for 7.Lucy Doolan, who replaced Sian Ruck, took 2 for 30 for New Zealand. Ruck had broken her hand during training in the lead-up to the game and was ruled out of the remainder of the series.Anya Shrubsole continued her strong performance on tour, striking early by dismissing New Zealand opener Frances Mackay in the chase. Suzie Bates and Sarah McGlashan rebuilt the innings from 2 for 1 with a 56-run partnership, but New Zealand began to collapse after they fell to Danni Wyatt and Marsh.Amy Satterthwaite and Bates, who made 37, were out with the score on 89, and New Zealand were dismissed for 118. The last eight wickets had fallen for 29 runs. Wyatt was England’s most successful bowler, taking 3 for 24 in four overs.”It’s been a great start to the series and to go two-nil up is fantastic,” the Player of the Match, Laura Marsh, said. “It was a great track to bat on and I enjoyed being able to put runs on the board with Charlotte. The outfield was quick and the pitch was good, so it was important that we bowled to the right areas to defend our total. It was another great team performance today and we’ll be looking to continue this up in Auckland.”

George Bailey has defended Australia’s decision to tinker with their winning side as they begin to narrow their focus towards the World Twenty20 in September. Australia enjoyed a comfortable win in the first T20 in Sydney on Wednesday but they were outfielded by India at the MCG on Friday, which allowed MS Dhoni’s men to draw the series 1-1.Australia were dismissed for 131 having chosen to bat, and their disappointing effort came with Matthew Wade, who had opened and made 72 in the first game, batting down the order at No.6. He still contributed with 32 and his opening replacement Aaron Finch top-scored with 36, but Shaun Marsh at first drop failed to score and the batting was weakened with the allrounders Daniel Christian and James Faulkner left out.But Bailey believes the two games have provided Australia with a valuable opportunity to assess their T20 stocks in a year when the world title is up for grabs. Australia will play two T20s in the West Indies in March but unless games are scheduled with Pakistan in the UAE during a limited-overs tour that might take place in August, they will be Australia’s only outings before the World T20 in September in Sri Lanka.”One of the things we wanted to get out of the week was trying a few different people in different spots,” Bailey said. “Going forward Wadey is going to have opportunities at the top and in the middle. Even tonight I thought it was really pleasing that he showed he can achieve it in both areas. That just gives us another option at different times. As much as trying to win, this week was as much about trying to find out what different people can do in different situations.”We’ve also got some players out, Shane Watson, Mike Hussey, Pat Cummins. At some stage we have to knuckle down not only the guys that you want but also the areas, the roles you want them to play. While it was a great opportunity this week to try some people and try them in different areas and at different times with the bat and the ball, at some stage we have to start honing in. I thought this week worked really well in terms of having a look at some different people.”I think we’ve got a pretty good mix. I think we’ve got some great young allrounders, also with Watson out of the team we have another good allrounder there. I think one of our strengths is going to be our versatility when we’re full strength, come World Cup time.”While the batsmen struggled in the second game, especially against the nimble fielding of an energised India, Bailey said he was comfortable with the way his side had performed with bat and ball in the two games. The bowlers in particular kept creating opportunities and the fact that India had only two balls to spare when the winning runs came showed that Australia never gave the game away.”It’s one of those tough ones where we want to be attacking and keep trying to take wickets but we know we also can’t give plenty of gaps where they can tick the scoreboard along,” Bailey said. “It would have been nice to keep them winless before the one-day series but full credit to them, they outplayed us tonight, no doubt about that. It’s disappointing that we lost tonight and India have got their first win, but it’s probably a little bit surprising it’s taken this long into a tour for India to get their first win up.”Some members of the Australian side will now join the one-day squad for the triangular series with India and Sri Lanka, while others will head back to their home states for domestic cricket. Wherever they are, Bailey hopes his men can at least keep the World T20 in the back of their minds.”We’ve let guys know that everything that you’re doing now with a T20 focus is starting to gear up towards that, whether that’s with the bat or the ball, or your fitness or your fielding,” he said. “While it’s going to be hard as a group to do that [in the coming weeks], individually we’ll still be focusing.”

Harbhajan Singh, the injured India offspinner who has been out of the national side, has said he is fit to return to competitive cricket. Harbhajan had missed most of the Ranji Trophy because of a shin injury. He will be using the domestic one-day competition, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he said, to stake his claim for a spot in the national side.”I am fully fit and ready for competitive cricket,” Harbhajan Singh told . “I will be making a comeback during the zonal one-dayers, where I will be leading the Punjab side.”I have been bowling regularly at the National Cricket Academy [in Bangalore] and haven’t encountered any problems. My fight to make a comeback into the national team will start with the zonal one-dayers and hopefully I will be able to perform to the best of my abilities.”The preliminary round of the Vijay Hazare Trophy is contested by the states at a zonal level, with the top teams proceeding to the inter-zonal knockout rounds. Punjab’s first game in the North Zone group is against Haryana on February 20.Harbhajan missed out on India’s Test and one-day series at home against West Indies in 2011, as well as the ongoing Australia tour, following a run of poor form. Against England in July, he picked up only two wickets before an abdominal muscle injury forced him to return home. He hasn’t represented India since.Harbhajan also said he was considering a stint in county cricket to force his way back into the national setup. “For me, it’s about performing and making a comeback to the Indian team as soon possible. Playing county cricket is certainly not a bad idea. I can only take a call once the Indian Premier League is over, but it also depends on whether the BCCI will allow me to go and play a few matches in county cricket.”

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Pakistan Under-19 inflicted a sixth straight defeat on Zimbabwe Under-19 at the Stellenbosch University Ground. Zimbabwe, after choosing to bat, appeared to be in a comfortable situation at 73 for 1 in the 19th over. Luke Masasire (65) and Kevin Kasuza were involved in a 59-run second-wicket stand but things fell apart after the pair was separated. In a collapse, Zimbabwe lost 9 wickets for 65 runs and were bowled out for 138 in 40.5 overs. Seamer Zia-ul-Haq grabbed three wickets and was supported by Usman Qadir and Mohammad Nawaz, who took two each. Opener Faraz Ali top-scored with 68 in the chase and Pakistan sealed victory with 22 overs to spare and seven wickets in hand.

ScorecardA hundred from Callum Ferguson and a career-best performance from rookie fast bowler Joe Mennie gave South Australia a chance to avoid defeat against Western Australia at the WACA. Mennie took 7 for 96 to limit Warriors in their first innings, after which Ferguson’s 113 whittled the Redbacks’ deficit from 275 to 69.After the second day was washed out, the third began with the Warriors in command at 183 for 1. Wes Robinson was batting on 71 and Craig Simmons on 52. Mennie, playing his third Shield game, struck early, dismissing Simmons for 60. Robinson followed shortly after, lbw for 91 to an inswinging yorker from Peter George. The Warriors were 223 for 3.The next seven Warriors batsmen all made double figures but no one built on their start. Mitchell Marsh made a quick 38, off 30 balls, before he was bowled by Carl Tietjens. Mennie cut through the lower order, taking the last five wickets to dismiss the hosts for 368.Facing a huge deficit, the Redbacks made a poor start to their second innings, losing both openers to Nathan Rimminton to slip to 11 for 2. Recovery, however, was around the corner. Ferguson and Michael Klinger put on an unbeaten 195 runs for the third wicket, steering their team towards drawing level with the Warriors. Ferguson ended the day on 113 off 176 balls – he had got to 100 off 146 balls – while Klinger was on 80 off 189.

Group A

Ravindra Jadeja scored his maiden first-class triple-century to carry Saurashtra to 545 against Orissa at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Jadeja’s 314 became the highest-ever score by any Saurashtra batsman, going past Cheteshwar Pujara’s 302, and is the 11th highest score overall in Ranji history. He got his runs at an impressive strike-rate of 83.73, including 29 fours and nine sixes, though it is not the fastest triple-hundred in the Ranji Trophy.The rest of Saurashtra’s middle and lower order could not get going, and no one managed more than Pratik Mehta’s 39 on the second day. New-ball bowler Basant Mohanty finished with the best figures for Orissa: 4 for 86. Despite Saurashtra’s daunting total, Orissa’s openers managed to safely negotiate 18 overs and take their side to 51 for 0 at stumps. Saurashtra’s spinners, Kamlesh Makvana and Jadeja, conceded one run in four overs between them.Jadeja has so far only entered contention for a spot in India’s limited-overs side, but has shown the ability to bat long in first-class cricket. His previous highest score was against Orissa as well – an unbeaten 232 in 2008-09 – and he had an unbeaten 170 in the Duleep Trophy semi-final last season.

KB Pawan, who did not manage a single century over eight matches last season, has started this year’s Ranji Trophy with his highest score in first-class cricket – an unbeaten 251. Stuart Binny also got his highest first-class score, 151, and the two big innings gave Karnataka a total of 623 for 6 declared against Rajasthan at the Field Club Ground in Udaipur. Rajasthan, last year’s champions, lost two early wickets in reply, leaving them under pressure at the end of the second day in Udaipur.They had started the day under pressure too, with Karnataka having reached 273 for 3 by stumps on day one. But Pankaj Singh, who swung sides out for fun in the Plate League last season, got a couple of early wickets on the second morning, bowling Amit Verma for 69, and trapping CM Gautam in front for 10. Pawan, though, carried on from his 121 not out overnight, and at the other end Stuart Binny attacked. Binny, who had two centuries last season, scored his 151 at a strike-rate of 107.09, striking 23 fours and three sixes. His aggression meant Karnataka were able to lift their rate and scored 350 runs in 73.3 overs on the second day before declaring.Deepak Chahar, the seamer who had an impressive first season last year, found the going hard in the Elite division, toiling for 42 overs for figures of 1 for 165. Rajasthan’s problems were compounded when Vaibhav Deshpande, promoted to the opening slot in the absence of Aakash Chopra who is out for this game with a back spasm, was dismissed off the first ball of their innings by R Vinay Kumar. In the seventh over, their captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar perished to Abhimanyu Mithun and they ended the day on 49 for 2. Ashok Menaria, the 21-year-old allrounder of whom much is expected, has been promoted to No. 4 and will face the tough challenge of pulling his team back into the match on Saturday.

Punjab collapsed on the second morning at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, losing their last five wickets for 10 runs to finish with 350 against Uttar Pradesh. UP then got themselves to 221 for 3 and their first motive on Saturday will be to secure a first-innings leadPunjab’s remarkable slide started in the eighth over of the day, when RP Singh removed Sandeep Sharma to complete his ninth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. In the next over Bhuvneshwar Kumar, UP’s leading wicket-taker last season, took three wickets in four balls. First to go was Bipul Sharma, trapped lbw for a six-ball duck. That brought Harbhajan Singh, Punjab’s captain, who was recently dropped from the India Test squad, to the crease; but he was sent straight back as Bhuvneshwar trapped him lbw too. Manpreet Gony denied Bhuvneshwar the hat-trick but was gone the ball after that, giving Bhuvneshwar figures of 4 for 82. Piyush Chawla took the last wicket and Punjab’s Mandeep Singh, who had started the day on 158, was left stranded on 175.UP lost opener Eklavya Dwivedi early to a run-out, but a century stand between Tanmay Srivastava and Mohammad Kaif steadied them. The pair were both dismissed in the 60s, but Parvinder Singh came in and got 57 not out, and he and Suresh Raina negotiated safely till stumps. Raina faces a battle to get back into India’s Test squad after a poor tour of England. He did not feature in the Ranji Trophy at all last season because of international commitments but will be hoping to catch the selectors’ eye with some big innings.File photo: Wriddhiman Saha is looking to keep his place as reserve keeper in India’s Test squad•Associated Press

Mumbai‘s lower order backed up Rohit Sharma with steady cameos, to carry the team to 483 against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium. Mumbai resumed on 338 for 5 and lost Onkar Gurav in the first over of the day, to a run-out affected by Shivakant Shukla. Railways would have wanted to finish things off early after that bright start but Mumbai’s tail wagged. Ankeet Chavan got 44, Ramesh Powar made 30 and Dhawal Kulkarni scored 26 not out. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma got himself from his overnight score of 133 to 175 before being bowled by offspinner Shreyas Khanolkar, who finished the innings with figures of 5 for 78.Railways’ day got worse when they came out to bat and lost three wickets in the 23 overs they had to bat out at the end of the day. Aavishkar Salvi, the 30-year-old seamer, provided an early breakthrough, dismissing Khanolkar caught-behind. Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer did not wait long before bringing on his spinners Iqbal Abdulla and Ramesh Powar, and the offspinner Powar picked up two wickets to leave Railways in trouble at 66 for 3.

Group B

Delhi, who missed out on the quarter-finals last year after winning just one match in the group stage, have made a positive start to this season, bowling neighbours Haryana out for 293 at the Roshanara Club Ground in Delhi, and then getting to 214 for 3. Delhi had to manage without their highest wicket-taker from last year, Sumit Narwal, and would have been encouraged that their young fast bowler Pradeep Sangwan took his first five-for since the 2009-10 season. Sangwan had picked up three wickets on the first day and did not waste time wiping out the tail, finishing with 5 for 67 as Haryana could only add 37 runs to their overnight score of 256 for 7.Delhi’s opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Unmukt Chand will be carefully watched this year. Dhawan has been on the fringes of the India one-day squad, while the 18-year-old Chand’s performances in the Under-19 Quadrangular series in Visakhapatnam have marked him as someone to watch for the future. They both fell within the first 15 overs however, and it was debutant Milind Kumar and the experienced Rajat Bhatia who gave Delhi control with unbeaten half-centuries. Milind, a 20-year-old batsman, had only played three List A matches and a couple of Twenty20s for Delhi before this season but remained unbeaten on 84 at the end of the second day, and will be looking for a century on Ranji debut on Saturday.

Wriddhiman Saha’s unbeaten 167 took Bengal to an imposing 560 for 6 declared against Gujarat at Eden Gardens. Bengal lost Manoj Tiwary, who was on 120 not out overnight, early to Amit Singh but Laxmi Ratan Shukla settled in to keep Saha company. Shukla and Saha were involved in a record-breaking 417-run stand last season. This time they did not quite manage something of that magnitude but the 130 runs they put together helped Bengal reach a formidable position.Shukla edged Rikin Chauhan behind on 78. Saha then strung together his third-century stand of the innings, putting on 142 – the best partnership of the three – with Saurasish Lahiri at almost five runs an over. Tiwary declared late in the day, allowing his bowlers a six-over crack at Gujarat.Parthiv Patel and Priyank Panchal batted till stumps. Parthiv is in direct competition with Saha for the spot of India’s reserve wicketkeeper and will want to match Saha’s performance. Gujarat will need a remarkable effort, though, to prevent Bengal from taking first-innings point at the least.Heavy rain prevented any play in the Tamil Nadu v Baroda match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, for the second day running.

Umar Gul, the Pakistan fast bowler, has claimed ball tampering is not new to cricket and that there are legal and illegal methods to change the condition of the ball. He was also opposed to legalising ball tampering, in contrast to Shoaib Akhtar, who wrote in his recent autobiography that it wasn’t a bad idea to “set rules” for tampering.”The claims [of ball tampering] have always emerged against Pakistan but have never been proved,” Gul told reporters at National Cricket Stadium in Karachi. “There are many ways to tamper with the ball that are illegal, like using your nail, but there are other ways to change the condition that are legal. A player can throw the ball on the bounce to make it rough or the ball can be damaged when it hits the advertising boards on the boundary.”During the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009, Gul’s ability to reverse-swing the ball early had drawn concern from the New Zealand camp but he shrugged it off. Gul did not think ball tampering should be made legal, though, saying it would make it too easy to bowl reverse swing, which is an art, and some of the beauty of the game would be lost if the practice was legalised. “I don’t think the way is to legalise it. Leave cricket with its traditional ways rather than making changes that would take all the charm out of it.”Gul also responded to comments in Akhtar’s autobiography about Sachin Tendulkar being afraid of the former Pakistan fast bowler. “I can’t say specifically that I saw Tendulkar running away from Shoaib, but no one can deny that when Shoaib was at his fastest and best the world’s best batsmen were nervous against him and there is no batsmen who is not nervous or ruffled when facing a pure fast bowler,” Gul said. “Even Brian Lara, who I rate as the world’s best batsman, admitted to feeling ruffled when he was hit on the helmet by a bouncer from Shoaib.”Pakistan leave for the UAE on October 15 to take on Sri Lanka in two Tests, three ODIs and two Twenty20s, and Gul, who was rested for the tour of Zimbabwe, is likely to be back in the squad. “I am all fit but need a flow for which I have to have lengthy bowling spells,” Gul said. “I am bowling regularly and will be playing first-class cricket. If selected, I will train in the nets to quickly get back my form.”