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Worcestershire have released batsman Adrian Shankar after barely two weeks with the club – and passed his registration documents to the police after it emerged there was more to the departure than a simple change of mind.The background of Shankar, who represented Worcestershire in the CB40 and County Championship last week, and whose deal was terminated without further comment on Thursday, has started to unravel. It has emerged he is actually three years older than he told the county and talked his way into a two-year contract through a mixture of bluff and bravado.Worcestershire only signed Shankar on May 10. In the press release that announced this, the club stated that Shankar was 26 years old and had just returned from a prolific winter in Sri Lanka. It also stated that he was in demand from several other counties.None of it is true. Shankar is actually 29 and, while he may have played some cricket in Sri Lanka, it was not at first-class or an equivalent level.”Adrian Shankar was signed by Worcestershire CCC on the 10th May after agreeing terms,” said the club in a subsequent statement. “It quickly became evident that documents provided in order to satisfy the club’s obligations to the England and Wales Cricket Board were unacceptable. This documentation has now been passed to West Mercia Police for investigation and no further comment will be made by the club while the investigation is taking place.”Shankar left Bedford School (he played in the same team as Alastair Cook) after his A Levels in 2000, made his second XI debut in 1999 (for Nottinghamshire) and his first-class debut in 2002. He’s subsequently played second XI cricket for Sussex, Worcestershire, Lancashire and Middlesex.Were the details he gave Worcestershire correct, it would have meant he made his second team debut aged just 14. But when Shankar registered at Cambridge and Bedford, he gave his date of birth as May 1982. Only much later did it change to May 1985.It seems he produced identification proving that he was born in 1985, but he has explained his past by suggesting he might have been the youngest Cambridge University captain in history. Until yesterday, even the Cambridge University Cricket website (www.cucc.net) carried that version of events. Meanwhile, a little research proved that several of the players he was supposed to have played against in Sri Lanka were actually playing elsewhere on the same days.Shankar has also said that his career progression has been held-up by an 18-month bout of glandular fever, that he played tennis to national standard as a junior and that he was in the Arsenal academy at the start of Arsene Wenger’s tenure.On the field Shankar is, at best, an ordinary player. After a decade in the game, he had a first-class average of just 19 and has passed 50 only once in 21 innings. He made 143 in the Varsity Match of 2002 (as a 17-year-old, if you believe his version of events) but, as Chris Scott, the Cambridge UCCE coach, said: “The bowling was unbelievably bad. He was a poor player and there’s no way I would have recommended him.”Oddly, however, when Shankar signed for Lancashire, the Cambridge coach was quoted in a press release referring to him as one of the finest young players the side had seen since John Crawley. “I phoned Lancashire and made it clear that I’d never said anything of the sort,” Scott said. “No-one at Worcestershire or Lancashire asked my opinion before they signed him.” Instead of smelling a rat, however, Lancashire simply removed the offending paragraph.Does any of this matter? Is it just an example of a determined man refusing to give up on his dream?Perhaps. But Shankar was also taking another man’s place in the Worcestershire team. And, by claiming to be 26, Shankar slipped in under the threshold to qualify for the young player incentives handed out by the ECB to first-class counties. He therefore gave himself an unfair advantage in the fight for a place in the Worcestershire team. His swift release was no surprise.The episode also raises questions about Worcestershire. It seems incredible that no-one at the club thought to check Shankar’s story. Five minutes spent on the web would have been enough to raise suspicions; ten minutes on the phone would have confirmed them.Instead, however, Worcestershire contented themselves with a photocopy of a passport and took Shankar’s word for his former achievements. They even threw Shankar straight into their first team – as an opening batsman – without even taking a look at him in a Second XI game (though he did play for their second team in 2003). He was out for a third-ball duck against Middlesex and, batting in the middle-order in the Championship against Durham, was unbeaten on 10 when injury ended his innings.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsL Balaji’s dismissal of Shane Watson was the beginning of the end for Rajasthan•Associated Press

(Balaji, walk a little slowly) was the cry in 2004 when L Balaji charmed the Pakistan public with his skill and smile. Seven years later, post a career-threatening back problem, both the traits were visible tonight and Eden Gardens lapped it up in delight as a Balaji-inspired Kolkata Knight Riders routed Rajasthan Royals on a slow pitch.Balaji produced a magical delivery to knock out the dangerous Shane Watson in his first spell before he returned to torpedo the lower order. The delivery that took out Watson was one of the best, if not the best, delivery bowled by a seamer this IPL. It landed on the good length around the middle stump line and jagged away sharply past the waft to hit the top of the off stump. Balaji screamed, his team-mates were delirious, and the crowd roared; everyone knew the importance of Watson’s dismissal, accentuated even more by the absence of Rahul Dravid and Johan Botha in the line-up. He later returned to remove Ajinkya Rahane with an incutter and had Ashok Menaria upper cutting to thirdman.Buoyed by Balaji’s feat, a charged-up Kolkata applied the squeeze with discipline in bowling and desperation in the field. Iqbal Abdulla produced two sparkling moments: he first got one to dip and turn to leave Amit Paunikar stranded out of the crease before he produced a stunning effort in the field. He charged across and dived to stop a push-drive at short mid-on region off his own bowling and was shaping to throw at the striker’s end when he realised that damage had to be done at the other end. He switched his arm at the very last instant to fire down a direct hit to run out Faiz Fazal.The wicketkeeper Manvinder Bisla got in the act next to play his part in removing Ross Taylor in the 11th over. Taylor had overbalanced out of his crease, trying to flick a wide delivery down the leg side but Bisla reacted quickly to whip off the bails.It was then the turn of Shakib Al Hasan to leave his imprint on the game. He reacted quickly at midwicket to fire an accurate throw at the striker’s end to run out Abhishek Raut. Later, after Balaji had taken out Rahane and Menaria, Shakib took wickets off successive deliveries in the 15th over to hasten the end. Two arm-balls, with varying pace, took out Amit Singh and Shaun Tait for ducks, before Brett Lee rearranged Siddharth Trivedi’s stumps to give Kolkata a perfect finish.The chase wasn’t a stroll, though. Jacques Kallis fell for a second-ball duck, top edging a lifter from Shaun Tait, and Manvinder Bisla fell to Shane Warne after a scratchy knock. Gautam Gambhir, however, stayed till the end to finish the job.

Daniel Vettori who led New Zealand in the 2011 World Cup, has been named the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore for IPL 2011. Vettori, who was in the Delhi Daredevils line-up for the first three seasons, takes over from Anil Kumble, who has retired from the game, but will mentor the Bangalore team this year. Ray Jennings will continue to be the side’s coach.”Vettori is a hugely respected professional not only within his team but among his international peers as well,” Kumble was quoted in the team’s website. “His unique ability to get players to perform as a unit and deliver more than just the sum of their parts, as he has done time and again with New Zealand, will be a big asset to any team.”Jennings echoed Kumble’s views on Vettori’s leadership, and also touched upon his bowling abilities. “Vettori is probably the best spinner in the world at the moment and brings in tremendous skills that will be extremely useful on the Indian pitches,” Jennings said. “We hope that he will inspire the young Royal Challengers as much with his performance as with his leadership skills in the upcoming season.”Bangalore had a disastrous 2008 season, when they finished seventh in a field of eight teams, but fared much better in the next two editions of the IPL. They were losing finalists in 2009, and finished third in the 2010 edition. They also qualified for the first two editions of the Champions League, but failed to win the event on either occasion.”We are very excited for the upcoming season,” Vijay Mallya, the owner of the Bangalore franchise, said. “Vettori is a highly experienced and respected leader and we hope to ride to the pinnacle of success this IPL under his leadership.”Meanwhile, Deccan Chargers have announced that Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara will lead their side in the IPL. Sangakkara swaps the leadership role with former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist who has taken over as the Kings XI Punjab captain. Australia batsman Cameron White will be Sangakkara’s deputy, while Darren Lehman will continue to coach the Hyderabad-based franchise.

Scorecard
Promising batsman Tom Beaton helped Western Australia take control at the WACA•Getty Images

20-year-old Tom Beaton’s unbeaten 72 helped Western Australia to a 377-run lead on the third day of their Sheffield Shield match against South Australia. Alongside a half-century from captain Marcus North, it helped Western Australia take firm control despite four wickets Peter George.Coming into the day, Western Australia were sitting on a 72-run lead with nine wickets in hand and had to rebuild after losing nightwatchman Michael Beer early in the day. No. 4 to No. 9 all made good starts but it was only North and Beaton who passed 45.At one stage, when North fell, Western Australia were 6 for 211 with South Australia well in the game, but Beaton found solid support form Luke Ronchi, in a 37-run stand and then shared a bright stand with Nathan Coulter-Nile, who swished seven boundaries in his 41-ball 35. By the time he fell to the impressive George, Western Australia were well in control with a lead of 365.With his job now done with the bat, Coulter-Nile and his fellow bowlers have to finish off the match on the final day.

Matabeleland Tuskers beat Mashonaland Eagles by 65 runs at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo after forfeiting their second innings in an attempt to force a result. The Tuskers were put in to bat and they responded well, with opener Terry Duffin and wicketkeeper Adam Wheater hitting half-centuries to take their team to 339. The Tuskers, though, had batted for a good part of the second day as well, and the Eagles just saw out 15 overs to declare at 32 for 1 – a deficit of 307. Once the Tuskers decided to forfeit their innings, The Eagles had to chase 308 for victory, and at 205 for 3 they looked good to achieve it. Captain Forster Mutizwa led by example, making 116, and adding 137 for the fourth wicket with Greg Lamb, who contributed 74. But the Tuskers seamers brought their team back into contention. Chris Mpofu starred with five wickets, supported by Tawanda Mupariwa’s three-for. The last seven Eagles wickets fell for 37 in a matter of just over 13 overs to hand Tuskers their third win of the competition. The Tuskers now find themselves in second position in the points table, the Eagles are second from the bottom.Only 45 overs were possible in the contest between Mountaineers and Mid West Rhinos at the Mutare Sports Club as the first, third and fourth days were washed out.

Scotland coach Pete Steindl says his team are in desperate need of a cash boost if they are to avoid being overtaken by their rivals.Scotland missed out on a potential $60,000 when they lost the final of the Intercontinental Cup to Afghanistan in December last year and though they were able to add a fourth full-time professional – Matthew Parker – to their ranks, Steindl is worried about the future.Cricket Scotland have been unable to attract a major new backer since the withdrawal of Lloyds TSB almost two years ago and Steindl thinks that if the financial concerns are not sorted out soon it will become impossible for the team to improve.”We have done well to maintain all our development programmes and match schedules,” he told the Daily Record. “But we have reached a threshold and there is no room for manoeuvre.”Even if you stand still in sport you go backwards in real terms. We need more financial security to take things to the next level. It’s great to get a fourth professional but we need more. Ireland and Afghanistan are virtually fully pro, as are Kenya – and Canada have about eight full-timers. We have to make sure we can compete.”Scotland are next in action in the CB40 campaign, having failed to qualify for the 2011 World Cup.

Haryana continued their dream season after being promoted from the Plate League this year, surging to 293 for 2 on the opening day of their quarterfinal clash against Tamil Nadu at the Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium in Rohtak. On a track that was expected to aid seamers through the season, Tamil Nadu chose to field, but were left to rue their decision by stumps.Things began brightly for the visitors, with first-change seamer Sunil Sam removing Rahul Dewan in the eighth over. Thereafter, it was a long day of toil for Tamil Nadu as Nitin Saini and Sunny Singh ground their attack with centuries. Tamil Nadu did not make matters easy for their bowlers; two of their most senior players – Dinesh Karthik and S Badrinath – dropped Saini on 11 and 28 respectively. The second-wicket pair raised 241 before R Ashwin got rid of Sunny for 102, his tenth first-class ton. Ankit Rawat saw away the last nine overs of play with Saini, who marched on to 137 off 283 balls. With a batsman of Hemang Badani’s pedigree to follow, Haryana have the opportunity to raise a really big score and put the more-fancied Tamil Nadu under pressure over the course of the match.Pankaj Singh was not overawed by defending champions Mumbai, taking six wickets as Rajasthan dismissed the visitors for 252 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Pankaj struck almost immediately after Mumbai chose to bat, trapping Onkar Gurav lbw for no score. He followed that up by bowling Sahil Kukreja for 10 and three overs later, when Sumit Mathur bowled former India opener Wasim Jaffer, also for a duck, Mumbai were in some trouble at 53 for 3. Rohit Sharma could only make 21 before becoming Pankaj’s third wicket, and Ajinkya Rahane, who had batted for two and half hours, then fell to Deepak Chahar for 60, leaving Mumbai gasping at 116 for 5.Former India allrounder Ajit Agarkar and Abhishek Nayar attempted to rescue their side, adding 61 for the sixth wicket, but Pankaj struck again to remove Agarkar for 36 and Iqbal Abdulla for 5, to earn his fourth five-wicket haul of the tournament. Chahar chipped in again with the wicket of Nayar, who also 60. Ramesh Power hung around to make 25 before becoming Pankaj’s final wicket, giving the seamer figures of 6 for 64. Aakash Chopra, fresh off a triple-hundred, and Vineet Saxena then took Rajasthan to 17 for no loss.Munaf Patel helped give Baroda the upper hand against Railways at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara, taking four wickets as the visitors slumped to 181 for 8, before Yere Goud and Nileshkumar Chauhan staged a mini-recovery to carry their side to 241 at the close of play. Railways surprisingly opted to open with left-arm spinner, Murali Kartik, but the move paid off as he went on to make a fluent 57, striking nine fours and two sixes.His dismissal to Yusuf Pathan, who has had a great season with the ball, however, triggered a collapse, with 109 for 2 quickly becoming 125 for 7. Munaf picked up three of the wickets to fall, having Prashant Awasthi caught for 34 before bowling Mahesh Rawat for 5 and Dhiran Salvi for a duck. Jai Prakash Yadav then joined hands with Goud to add 56. Left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt snapped up Yadav for 42, but Chauhan resisted stoutly for 87 minutes and remained unbeaten on 31, while Goud’s three-and-a-half-hours vigil yielded 44.Karnataka‘s bowlers proudced an all-round display to knock over Madhya Pradesh for 200, with only opener Jalaj Saxena’s half-century proving to be any resistance at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. Saxena and Naman Ohja put on 42 for the first wicket, and appeared to have things under control, but Vinay Kumar got Ohja to edge one behind. Mohnish Mishra was then caught and bowled by Sunil Joshi for 14, before Devendra Bundela (7) and Abbas Ali (0) fell in quick succession.Saxena then became one of Sreenath Aravind’s three victims, having made 73, to leave MP stuttering at 118 for 5. Ankit Sharma provided some lower-order impetus, making an unbeaten 41, but got little support from the rest of the batsmen. Aravind ended with 3 for 35, while Joshi and Vinay picked up two wickets apiece. Robin Uthappa and KB Pawan then guided the visitors to 35 for 0.

India have picked wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and seamers Umesh Yadav and Jaidev Unadkat for the three-Test series in South Africa, which begins on December 16 in Centurion. Zaheer Khan makes a return to the squad after being ruled out of the ongoing third Test against New Zealand because of a groin strain, but he, along with four other senior players, will miss the first two ODIs of the series against New Zealand.Gautam Gambhir will lead the ODI team in the absence of MS Dhoni, who had said he would request the BCCI for rest after playing non-stop since the tour of Sri Lanka earlier this year. Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh were the other players rested for the ODIs against New Zealand due to “injury concerns, which require attention and rehabilitation”.Unadkat, the left-arm seamer from Saurashtra, had been drafted in as Zaheer’s replacement for the third Test while Yadav, who is currently playing for Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy, impressed during the IPL with Delhi Daredevils and made it to India’s squads for the World Twenty20 and the tour of Zimbabwe. Saha, who plays for Bengal and has represented India in one Test, is fresh from a century against Assam in the Ranji Trophy Super League.Saha will also make his ODI debut, having been included in the squad for the first two games against New Zealand. Dinesh Karthik, who has been the usual replacement for Dhoni in the 50-over format, was not selected. Saha, whose glove work is highly regarded, will have at least two games to prove his batting skills before the selectors pick probables for the World Cup.Allrounder Yusuf Pathan, who last played for India in June, made his return to the team for the ODI series. Pathan is having a good domestic season with Baroda, smashing 89 off 42 balls against Gujarat in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and scoring 195 off 138 balls against Haryana in the Ranji Trophy. He performed with the ball as well, pickng up ten wickets in a defeat against Uttar Pradesh.Dhoni, on the eve of the ongoing third Test against New Zealand in Nagpur, had asked for rest for players like himself and Suresh Raina ahead of the tour of South Africa.India coach Gary Kirsten had stressed the need for a few players to depart early, at least a week ahead of the Test series, not only to acclimatise but also understand the ground conditions better. The BCCI agreed to send some players early to South Africa to make up for the absence of practice games ahead of the Test series, even if at the expense of participation in the ODIs against New Zealand. Despite Saturday’s announcement of senior players being rested, it is still unclear as to who would make the trip to South Africa before the others.India face New Zealand in the first of five ODIs on November 28 in Guwahati.Squad for first two ODIs v New Zealand: Gautam Gambhir (capt), M Vijay, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Saurabh Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja.Squad for South Africa Tests: MS Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, M Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Jaidev Unadkat, Pragyan Ojha.

Khalid Usman and Jahangir Shah put on 122 for the eighth wicket to build on opener Waqar Orakzai’s maiden ton, and push table-toppers Abbottabad to 467 against Lahore Ravi, at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. By the close of play, Lahore had slumped to 43 for 4 to give Abbotabad a firm grip on the game. Usman was unlucky to miss out on a maiden century, having played fluently to make 93, his highest first-class score, an innings that contained 13 fours and 2 sixes, and took 114 balls. Shah’s strike rate was marginally slower; he needed 92 balls to make 68, which included seven fours and a six. Legspinner Tanzeel Altaf toiled through 36.1 overs for his five wickets, including Usman’s, giving away 128 runs. Lahore were in trouble straight away, as Mohammad Naeem took two early wickets to have them reeling at 9 for 2. Usman then backed up his performance with the bat with two wickets of his own.A 172-run partnership between Fayyaz Ahmed and Usman Saeed took Pakistan Television to the verge of a first-innings lead over Karachi Whites at the National Stadium in Karachi. Saeed joined Fayyaz after PT had lost two quick wickets, and the pair soon set about the task of chasing down Karachi’s 307. They coasted along to 259, needing another 49 to go past Karachi, when Atif Aqbool struck thrice to reduce PT to 290 for 6. Maqbool dismissed Fayyaz for 108 and Saeed for 83, as well as Zohaib Ahmad for 9. At close of play, PT needed another 16 runs with four wickets in hand to earn those a vital three points.Hyderabad failed to capitalise on a strong position at the end of day one, crawling to 326 against State Bank of India at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad. They began the day on 179 for 2, but lost Rizwan Ahmed almost immediately for his overnight score of 48. Azeem Ghumman fell soon after, for 77, having added four to his score on the second morning. The other batsmen got starts, but weren’t able to make the most of them, with Lal Kumar’s 37 being the best of the rest. Bilawal Bhatti was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4 for 46 from 28 overs. The State Bank of India openers, Kashif Siddiq and Faisal Athar, coasted to 43, before Athar fell for 15 just before stumps.Usman Salahuddin’s third first-class hundred was the backbone of Lahore Shalimar‘s first-innings total of 435 for 8 against Quetta at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Salahuddin batted for almost six hours to make a sedate 110. Captain Kashif Mahmood (73) was then involved in two partnerships lower down the order. He put on 39 with Saad Nasim and then added 70 with Ammer Hayat. Quetta lost a couple of early wickets to the medium pace of Arsalan Mir to end the day on 75 for 2, with Bismillah Khan unbeaten on 40.Peshawar eked out a 12-run first-innings lead over Khan Research Laboratories, despite a hundred from Bazid Khan, and stretched that to 62 with eight wickets in hand when play ended at the Sports Complex in Mardan. KRL had crumbled to 1 for 3, as three of their top four batsmen made ducks, before Bazid and Mohammad Wasim rebuilt the innings. Bazid was eventually dismissed for 103 by Sajjad Ahmed, who was one of three bowlers to take three wickets. Wasim was the second highest scorer with 39, as only one other batsman went past 20.

Chandra Gocool, Cricket Canada’s chief executive, has questioned the ICC’s thinking on developing cricket around the world following the decision to shrink the 2015 World Cup to 10 teams, but expand the World Twenty20 to 16 teams.”Being an Associate Member country that has moved past T20 being the ‘lightning rod’ to our development, as we play the other two forms of the game currently, it begs the question – what do we aspire to?” Gocool told ESPNcricinfo.The ICC has asked its governing council to examine the issue of qualification for ICC global events and make recommendations to the board, but Gocool says a 10-team event makes the likelihood of an Associate Member playing in the World Cup a challenging prospect. “Much depends on what the qualification process will look like for Associates to grow and be able to be part of this event in future.”Canada has played in the 1979, 2003 and 2007 World Cups and while they have not thought through what kind of qualification process they would like, one thing they do want is a “workable ranking system and clear criteria developed to provide the top Associates reasonable opportunities to match their skills against the Full Member countries.”Gocool said there had been no conversations between the ICC and Canada about the proposals since they were first put forward by the ICC’s chief executives committee last month. At the time he said the proposals would create a glass ceiling and the “challenge will be [to see] how we break through.”Still Gocool was hopeful that a system could be found that would benefit everyone. “Time will only tell, but the hope is still there that there will be opportunities for Associate Member countries to pit their prowess against the best.”