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Bottle-flinging fans in Pallekele caused a 35-minute disruption, and prompted the intervention of riot police, in the closing stages of India’s six-wicket victory on Sunday. In the 44th over of India’s innings, plastic bottles began to be thrown from the two grass embankments that flank the ground – many of these projectiles made their way on to the playing area. Ground staff were seen clearing the bottles, but more continued to be flung, thereby forcing the Sri Lanka fielders to move to the centre of the field in order to avoid being hit.At one stage, there was doubt as to whether the match could even be concluded, because the bottle-throwing persisted for so long. Having spent about 20 idle minutes near the pitch – MS Dhoni even finding time for a nap – players eventually shook hands and made their way off the field. Later, however, after the embankments were cleared of spectators, match referee Andy Pycroft decided the match could continue. India required only seven further deliveries to close out the game.This is the second crowd-related incident in Sri Lanka in the space of two years. In 2015, a fight between two groups of fans had broken out in the stands at Khettarama, and had subsequently degenerated into stone-throwing. That incident had also caused a disruption of play, though on that occasion, no projectiles had been thrown towards the players.Earlier in the month, fans in Dambulla had also held up the team bus in order to voice their displeasure after the first ODI. That incident, however, had not been marked by any violence.

Big picture

Rangpur Riders and Comilla Victorians will battle it out in the second qualifier to determine who will face Dhaka Dynamites in the final of this BPL season. Both Rangpur and Comilla have plenty of international stars who have lit up the league. Rangpur, however, have had a better build-up to this clash, after having crushed an impressive Khulna side in the Eliminator. Chris Gayle unleashed his firepower, his 14 sixes entertained the Mirpur crowd as much as it did his team-mates and the Rangpur owners.Comilla have racked up nine wins – the most by any side in the tournament – but their confidence was dented by a heavy loss against Dhaka in the first qualifier. In pursuit of 192, Comilla crashed to 96 all out in 18 overs with only captain Tamim Iqbal passing 30.Tamim and the other Bangladesh internationals such as Imrul Kaues and Liton Das need to step up further under pressure. Marlon Samuels and Shoaib Malik have been among the runs, but Jos Buttler has struggled on the slow, dry pitches.Comilla’s bowling, however, looks in good shape with offspinner Mahedi Hasan attacking the pads in the Powerplay and Hasan Ali attacking the stumps with the end overs.

Form guide

Rangpur Riders: WLWLW (completed matches, most recent first)
Comilla Victorians: LWLWW

In the spotlight

The wait for a Jos Buttler blitz in this BPL continues. He has managed only 199 runs in 12 innings with just one fifty. Buttler’s last five innings have been particularly poor: 5,3,11,5 and 4.Brendon McCullum, another big hitter, hasn’t fired like he can. He has only 152 runs in 10 innings but his strike-rate of 97.43 is more worrying.

Team news

Rangpur have Ziaur Rahman, Shahriar Nafees, Isuru Udana and Samuel Badree as replacement options but it is unlikely that they will break the winning XI that won the Eliminator with ease.Rangpur Riders (probable): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Johnson Charles, 3 Brendon McCullum, 4 Mohammad Mithun (wk), 5 Ravi Bopara, 6 Nahidul Islam, 7 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 8 Sohag Gazi, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Nazmul Islam, 11 Rubel HossainComilla could consider replacing Dwayne Bravo, who leaked 45 runs on Friday, with Graeme Cremer.Comilla Victorians (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal (capt), 2 Liton Das (wk), 3 Imrul Kayes, 4 Jos Buttler, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Mohammad Saifuddin, 8 Mahedi Hasan, 9 Dwayne Bravo/ Graeme Cremer, 10 Hasan Ali, 11 Al-Amin Hossain

Pitch and conditions

It rained in Dhaka on Saturday and Sunday’s forecast doesn’t seem very promising either. The pitch, which has been under the covers, is likely to offer some assistance to the bowlers.

Stats and Trivia

• Comilla had beaten Rangpur twice in the group stage.
• Comilla’s 96 all out in the first qualifier was their lowest total in the BPL.

Sri Lanka have become the eighth and final team to qualify automatically for the 2019 World Cup, following West Indies’ seven-wicket defeat against England in the first ODI at Old Trafford.With September 30 set as the cut-off date, West Indies (78 points) now cannot move ahead of Sri Lanka (86 points) in the ICC ODI rankings, irrespective of how their remaining matches against England pan out.They had gone into the five-match series needing to win by either 4-0 or 5-0 to amass enough points to leapfrog Sri Lanka, but their fate was sealed in a 42-over-a-side contest in which a Jonny Bairstow century guided England past their victory target of 205 with more than 19 overs remaining.Sri Lanka, World Champions in 1996, now join Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa as the confirmed participants in the 2019 event, which will be held in England between May 30 and July 15.West Indies, two-times champions in 1975 and 1979, must now compete in a 10-team qualifier in 2018, where they will be joined by the bottom three sides in the ICC team rankings – Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland – as well as the top four sides from the ICC World Cricket League Championship and the top two sides from the ICC World Cricket League Division 2. The top two sides will complete the World Cup line-up.”You always know there’s the potential of that [not qualifying direct], we knew it was going to be a tough ask,” said Toby Radford, West Indies’ batting coach. “But we are very positive as a group and are trying to develop in all formats. If it means the qualifiers next year, it means the qualifiers next year and we’ll build our way back up.”Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka’s ODI captain, was relieved to have avoided that fate: “It’s no secret that we have been going through a tough time, but I want to say a big, big thank you to our fans who’ve kept faith with us when things looked bleak.”ICC events have always brought out the magic in Sri Lanka cricket, and I look forward to proving that once again.”We have a clear plan toward the World Cup, and we will work hard at achieving each step. As we say in the dressing room, – Little ‘w’s [wins] add up to make the big ‘W’ – so that’s what we’ll be focusing on and I know you will see Sri Lanka’s special brand of cricket out there once again soon.”

England Lions 171 for 3 (Hain 54*, Davies 48) beat West Indies A 166 (Chase 67, Parkinson 4-26)
ScorecardEngland Lions achieved a consolation seven-wicket win at the end of their disappointing tour of the Caribbean, thanks to an unbeaten 50 from Sam Hain against West Indies A in Antigua.Once again, the Lions had to overcome a batting slump, as they lost three wickets for four runs, but Hain and Sam Northeast came together to put on 80, to take their side home at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.Matt Parkinson, the Lancashire legspinner, was the pick of the Lions bowlers, taking four wickets, while Richard Gleeson and Sam Curran took two apiece with the new ball.Roston Chase’s 67 had helped the hosts set 166, but once Alex Davies and Nick Gubbins put on 87 for the first wicket, the match was firmly in the Lions’ grasp.After West Indies won the toss and chose to bat, they were quickly reduced to 28 for 3, with Kieran Powell hooking Gleeson to fine leg before Jermaine Blackwood holed out to third man.Curran then bowled Devon Thomas for 5 to keep up the pressure, and though Chase found support in a fifty-run stand with Jahmar Hamilton, Parkinson returned to mop up the tail.The Lions started their response positively, with Gubbins and Davies both latching on to any loose deliveries from the Windies bowlers.Gubbins eventually pulled a Cornwall half-tracker straight to Blackwood on the boundary before Davies miscued an attempted ramp off Reifer, and when Jennings was trapped lbw by Cornwall for a duck, the pressure was beginning to build.However, Hain and Northeast carried the Lions over the line to record their first win in any of the unofficial internationals on this tour, following a clean sweep for West Indies A in the Test series.

Michael Rippon coupled his three-for with an unbeaten half-century•Peter Della Penna

An unbroken fifth-wicket century stand, set up by fifties from Peter Borren and Michael Rippon, helped Netherlands cruise to a six-wicket victory at Buffalo Park, with seven balls remaining, after Kenya were restricted to 226 for 7 in their 50 overs.While Borren, the Netherlands captain, had gone wicketless in the two economical overs he sent down, his returns with the bat were more impressive as he notched up his 12th List A half-century, clobbering eight fours en route to his 98-ball 86. Batting at No. 4, he took charge of the chase after the top three batsmen fell for scores in the twenties, with only 85 runs on the board. He put on 129 runs with Rippon, who added a 74-ball 56 not out to his bowling figures of 3 for 30.Kenya’s troubles with the bat started early as they lost both their openers within seven overs of their innings for only 18 runs. Batting at No. 3, 22-year old Dhiren Gondaria, who amassed 53 off 60 balls, subsequently led a part of restoration work through an 81-run stand with captain Rakep Patel (29) at a steady rate of 5.40. The latter’s dismissal in the 22nd over, however, led to Kenya losing 3 for 18 in nearly nine overs, all three wickets falling to Rippon. Collins Obuya and Nelson Odhiambo arrested the slump, adding 95 runs for the sixth wicket. Nelson’s 39 abetted Obuya’s 77-ball 72 – peppered with two fours and four sixes – and shepherded Kenya past 200. Kenya were also buoyed by a late surge that saw them amass 51 runs in the last four overs.Rippon’s left arm wristspin was ably complemented by medium-pacer Timm van der Gugten, whose two timely wickets – opener Alex Obanda and Nelson – further dented Kenya’s chances of posting a score in excess of 250.

Leicestershire have made a double Pakistan pace bowler signing for the 2018 season, with Paul Nixon beginning his tenure as head coach by bringing in Mohammad Abbas and Sohail Khan to share overseas player duties.Abbas, 27, has made a good impression since his Test debut last year, taking 23 wickets at 21.34 in five matches. He will be available for Leicestershire’s first Championship match, starting on April 20, and then again from mid-June – given his likely involvement with Pakistan’s tour of England and Ireland during the first half of the season.Sohail, an experienced seamer who has played all three formats for Pakistan and claimed Test five-fors at Edgbaston and The Oval in 2016, will deputise while Abbas is away. He could feature in four Championship games, as well as Leicestershire’s Royal London Cup campaign.”We have been looking for a quality fast bowler as our overseas professional and Mohammad Abbas ticks all of the boxes,” Nixon said. “His Test match record is different class, he is the new kid on the block, and I am delighted to secure his signature.”But we expect to be without Mohammad for the first part of the season and it was vital that we secured high-class cover. Sohail Khan has a superb record both in red- and white-ball cricket, he has good experience on English conditions, and really stood out on the last tour when Pakistan played here. Sohail’s bowling will be ideally suited to early season conditions here.”Leicestershire finished bottom of the Championship in 2017, for the fourth time in five seasons, and replaced coach Pierre de Bruyn after less than a year in charge. Clint McKay, who had spent three seasons as Leicestershire’s overseas player, was also not asked to return.Nixon, the former England international and long-serving former player at Leicestershire, was appointed to try and build on the work started by chief executive Wasim Khan. In 2015, Leicestershire won their first Championship fixture in almost three years, while the following season they improved enough to finish seventh in Division Two – although they have still faced criticism for their recruitment policies.Abbas follows in the footsteps of recent Pakistan internationals to sign for Leicestershire, such as Umar Akmal and Abdul Razzaq. His first-class record is impressive, with 304 wickets at 21.05, and he is also expected to play in the T20 Blast, filling one of the two overseas slots.”I am really pleased to be joining Leicestershire County Cricket Club for the 2018 season,” he said. “It has been a dream of mine to play in county cricket and I am looking forward to meeting my new team-mates and working with head coach Paul Nixon and the staff.”

It can be assumed that Rahul Dravid doesn’t take anything for granted since he has twice declined doctorates that were being conferred on him by two different universities in Karnataka. Dravid believed in earning the honour.No surprise then that Dravid recently asked the BCCI to halve the monetary reward he was being allotted for helping India win the Under-19 World Cup. To celebrate the victory, the BCCI, at the behest of the Committee of Administrators (COA), decided to give Dravid, the Under-19 coach, INR 50 lakhs while granting the players INR 30 lakhs each, and the support staff members INR 20 lakhs each.Once the garlands and bouquets were binned and the celebratory noise died, Dravid quietly contacted the BCCI chief executive officer Rahul Johri and informed him that as a matter of principle, he would not want any more than the players or the support staff members, who had played an equal role in India winning the title.In fact, Dravid expressed his disagreement over the BCCI’s decision on the day India beat Australia in the final to win the Under-19 World Cup. ESPNcricinfo understands Dravid informed Ratnakar Shetty, incharge of women’s and Under-19 cricket at the BCCI, of his displeasure, saying the board could not hold him over the rest of the coaching staff.The CoA chief Vinod Rai confirmed that Dravid’s request was accepted at a meeting in Mumbai this week. Although the BCCI is yet to communicate the decision officially to the Under-19 support staff, they are set to receive the same amount as Dravid: INR 25 lakhs each. “He felt that all the support staff should be adequately compensated, too. So he gave a viewpoint,” Rai told ESPNcricinfo. “He (Dravid) said you can reduce my [reward] but pay the players and other people, too.”In the past, whenever India have won global tournaments, the BCCI has paid the players more than the coach. This was the first time the coach was getting nearly double that of the players. According to Rai, the decision to pay Dravid more was because of his seniority. “Our logic was since he is a senior official and he has been involved with the team [for a long time], so we can’t equate him with the junior players. But he talked about principle and so we have acceded to his request and accepted his proposal.”According to Rai, Dravid had submitted a “list” of coaching staff who were assisting him in the lead-up to the World Cup and ought to have been compensated in addition to the coaching bench that assisted him during the tournament. Along with Dravid, the support staff that was involved in the Under-19 campaign comprised Paras Mhambrey (bowling coach), Abhay Sharma (fielding coach), Yogesh Parmar (physiotherapist), Anand Date (trainer), Mangesh Gaikwad (masseur) and Devraj Raut (video analyst).During his meeting with Johri upon returning from New Zealand, Dravid said the preparations for the World Cup had started early last year, including the tour of England.According to the , Dravid had listed the following people saying that they should also be rewarded for their contributions: former Indian opener WV Raman, who was the head coach of the Indian Under-19 team on the tour of England last summer, Amogh Pandit (trainer), Rajesh Savant (another trainer who died on Under-19 duty last year), Manuj Sharma and Sumeet Malahapurkar (logistics managers). It is not clear yet what amount Raman and others, who were not in New Zealand, would get. Dravid had asked the BCCI to work it out themselves without giving any set figure.

Matt Prior, the former England wicketkeeper, has stepped up his war of words with Australia’s Nathan Lyon, warning the offspinner that it could be his own career that is ended if England repeat their Ashes triumph of 2010-11.Prior, an integral part of the side that won the Ashes Down Under in 2010-11, was one of the most prominent England failures on their return trip three years later, making 107 runs in six innings before being dropped for the fourth Test of the series.However, having already hit back at Lyon’s claim that he had been “scared” of the extreme pace generated by Mitchell Johnson in that series, Prior went one step further in a pair of Twitter posts, as he addressed Lyon’s desire to “end some more careers” when the 2017-18 series gets underway on Thursday.”I sincerely hope you’re not part of a losing @CricketAus team on home soil @NathLyon421,” Prior wrote. “I still remember being sat on the outfield at the SCG after winning 3-1 while your press&fans were tearing into the Oz players. You want to end careers? Just make sure its not yours that ends.”Prior is no stranger to wars of words, having been the subject of a vitriolic attack from his former team-mate, Kevin Pietersen, who labelled him the “big cheese” in his autobiography in 2014.By and large, Prior kept his counsel on that occasion, but he has been less willing to take Lyon’s comments lying down.”Last time someone spouted a whole load of BS about me I stayed quiet not this time,” he wrote. “To be clear I may have been playing badly fair enough but there was no way I was getting on a plane home. You’ve embarrassed yourself @NathLyon421 & this game has a funny way of biting back.”

ScorecardQueensland joyfully accepted a desperate declaration and charged to their first Sheffield Shield title in six years during a rain-interrupted conclusion at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Tuesday.Tasmania gambled after a lengthy delay in the hope of a last-minute heist, but Queensland moved swiftly through the South Africa-bound Matt Renshaw to secure the nine-wicket win.Renshaw learned of his national call-up during the day, and he celebrated it with an unbeaten second-innings 81. While he waits to learn whether he replaces Cameron Bancroft or David Warner in the fourth Test, he warmed up with a muscular display of 12 fours and two sixes, including crashing a cut to the boundary for the winning runs.Queensland are full of potential and this was the right result perhaps, but neither side was able to show their full wares in a truncated game. Tasmania returned on the final morning at 0 for 10, with Alex Doolan and Jordan Silk trying to transform the game into a T20 contest and an unlikely victory push.As the batsmen opened their shoulders, Queensland spread the field. At one point during the 160-run stand, everyone but the bowler and wicketkeeper was on the boundary. Silk cleared the ropes twice in his 74 and Doolan was even more destructive in his unbeaten 82 off 74 deliveries, striking four sixes before bad light and heavy rain arrived at the stroke of lunch.That meant the outfield was unsuitable for play during the four-hour delay. This forced Tasmania into declaring at 1 for 166, setting Queensland 128 in at least 32 overs, but the locals would not be stopped. Joe Burns kept Renshaw company with 41 on the way to the state’s eighth Shield trophy.Queensland’s golden age began under Stuart Law’s captaincy in the 1990s and included players of the stature of Allan Border, Matthew Hayden, Carl Rackemann, Andy Bichel, Michael Kasprowicz and Andrew Symonds. The current squad is filled with young faces and even the committed cricket fan might struggle to recognise anyone other than Burns or Renshaw when they are wearing whites.Captained by Jimmy Peirson, the side has the 33-year-old paceman Luke Feldman as its elder statesman, but is mostly a band of up-and-comers alongside the journeyman from England, Charlie Hemphrey. Until Tuesday, Burns was the only player in the side to have lifted the Shield, when Queensland beat Tasmania at the Gabba in 2011-12.Queensland finished the group rounds comfortably on top, winning a game more than any other opponent, and its players were able to stare down Tasmania’s regularly-interrupted challenge throughout this contest.After the first-day abandonment, Tasmania posted a healthy 477, but Queensland went further in their response, with everyone contributing at least double figures. The coach Wade Seccombe, who was the wicketkeeper in the state’s first Shield victory in 1994-95, now has the opportunity to build the outfit into a unit craving long-term success.

Karun Nair and KL Rahul put on 239 runs for the sixth wicket•PTI

Rahul, Nair added to Karnataka squad: KL Rahul and Karun Nair have been named in Karnataka’s squad for the third round of Ranji Trophy matches beginning October 24, against Hyderabad in Shimoga. Both of them are currently part of the Board President’s XI squad chosen to play the two warm-up fixtures against New Zealand ahead of the limited-overs series starting October 22.Rahul, who has been left out of the New Zealand ODIs, struck a 68 in the first warm-up game in Mumbai on Tuesday. Nair, who led India A in the two unofficial Tests against New Zealand A, top scored with a 64-ball 78, in the side’s 30-run victory.”Having Rahul and Karun is a big boost for Karnataka,” R Vinay Kumar, the Karnataka captain, said. “Rahul has cemented his place in the Indian team while Karun is also doing well. The sight of their names on the team sheet will put opponents under pressure.”