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Worcestershire have dropped Tom Kohler-Cadmore after he told them he planned to join Yorkshire at the end of the season. ESPNcricinfo understands that Kohler-Cadmore, who is out of contract at the end of the current season, has been omitted from the side to play Sussex in a Championship match starting on Friday.It currently remains unclear whether he will be included in the Worcestershire side scheduled to play in the semi-final of the Royal London Cup on June 17 – Worcestershire’s first semi-final appearance in any competition in 13 years – or any other games this season. It is understood that neither Yorkshire nor Kohler-Cadmore have made any request (or have any expectation) that he will be released early from his contract.Kohler-Cadmore is an important player for Worcestershire. Having come through the club’s academy – he was educated from sixth-form level at nearby Malvern College – he has developed into a clean-hitting batsman who scored the fastest century of the English domestic season, off 43 balls, in 2016. Aged just 22, he was a big part of Worcestershire’s plans for the future and the decision to drop him may well be a manifestation of the bitter disappointment Steve Rhodes, the director of cricket, feels at losing a player in whom he had invested such faith and time.Until going to Malvern, however, Kohler-Cadmore had developed through the Yorkshire system. And it seems the lure of home – and playing with those he grew-up with – has had a strong influence. He had been of interest to several other clubs, including Warwickshire, while Worcestershire are understood to have offered him a new deal. There is no suggestion that Yorkshire’s approach was anything other than appropriate: they gave Worcestershire notice of a 28-day approach several weeks ago and have progressed the deal by the book.It may also be relevant that Yorkshire are likely to be one of the host grounds in the new-team T20 competition. As a highly promising white-ball player, Kohler-Cadmore is likely to have one eye on ensuring he is among the lucky few picked to play in an event that may well prove to be lucrative and well-publicised. He might argue that moving to a higher-profile club and rubbing shoulders with more high-profile players might be of benefit. It is understood he informed Worcestershire of his intentions early to help them plan and recruit a replacement if necessary.Worcestershire finished top of the North Group in the Royal London Cup with Kohler-Cadmore making their only century of the campaign to date – a potentially deal-securing innings of 118 against Yorkshire. They have also won all four of their Championship matches this season, with Kohler-Cadmore averaging 48.40 in the campaign to date.

The mood in the Kolkata Knight Riders camp was sombre during the mid-innings break after they had posted only 131 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The team, however, was in no mood to give up without a fight. Captain Gautam Gambhir wanted intensity from his men, and the fast bowlers set the tone for it. They picked up all the 10 wickets of the opposition inside as many overs, with Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Woakes and Colin de Grandhomme accounting for nine of those.After Royal Challengers Bangalore were sent crashing to 49 all out at the Eden Gardens, Woakes called it an “unbelievable” win not least because Knight Riders knew they had a below-par total. “The heads were down in the dressing room at half-time,” Woakes told . “But, we came out and we had a chat and we said it was time to show some pride and fight. The captain wanted some intensity and the two opening bowlers did that. The rest of us backed it up from there on. I suppose until you go out there and don’t pick wickets, you don’t believe you can do it. Once we started getting wickets, all of a sudden you had belief.”It was Coulter-Nile who had triggered the collapse by dismissing Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in his first two overs before claiming Kedar Jadhav’s wicket in his third. Woakes said he could tell Coulter-Nile was in good rhythm from the way he was bowling. “It was a great opening spell of T20 bowling. He was hitting the pitch pretty hard and moving the ball well,” Coulter-Nile said. “Getting Virat Kohli first ball showed you his confidence. From then on, I suppose you just try and put the ball in your right areas and hope for the wickets to come.”Coulter-Nile, though, was more subdued in his assessment of his performance. “I would have taken any three wickets as long as I was taking wickets,” he said. “All the boys did that throughout the game and it doesn’t really matter who it is. I don’t have numbers or names in my head, but yes, pretty good players to have in the bag.” Woakes himself snared a big wicket in the form of Chris Gayle with a bit of help from Coulter-Nile, who held on to a skier. Woakes joked that while he was sure that Coulter-Nile would complete the catch, the latter’s heart would have been pounding.”When I saw Nathan under the ball, I knew he would take it. He has a safe pair of hands and I knew 99% he was going to take it,” Woakes said. “It was obviously a big wicket. But I felt AB de Villiers’s wicket was a huge one too because he came and struck a couple of boundaries early on. Getting the big three was huge, but we had to get all ten to win the game. All ten were just as important.”While Woakes felt the pitch was seamer-friendly with good pace and carry on offer, Coulter-Nile said the margin for error for bowlers was very less. “It was a tough wicket to bowl actually,” Coulter-Nile said. “If you went a little bit off, you got punished. I went for 41 the last time against Gujarat Lions. You just got to be right on the money. Sometimes you go for runs and sometimes you got the wickets. It was fun to play there.”

Hours after Bangladesh team manager Khaled Mahmud confirmed that allrounder Mahmudullah would not be a part of the playing XI for the Colombo Test and would fly home on the eve of the match, BCB president Nazmul Hassan claimed the player’s return would be a personal decision and not one taken by the team management.The Test, which begins on March 15 in Colombo, will be Bangladesh’s 100th and Mahmud had said that given the match would be an emotional, landmark occasion, it was decided not to keep a high-profile, senior player sitting on the bench.Hassan said the decision to either stay in Colombo or return to Dhaka was up to Mahmudullah.”It is totally up to him [Mahmudullah], whether he wants to stay [in Colombo] or return [to Dhaka],” Hassan said. “There’s no question about sending him home by us or the team management, because the ODIs are coming up. I am sure he is supposed to stay back. At least I would have known if something like that had happened.”Mahmud later confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Mahmudullah could return to Dhaka, either on March 14 or 15, depending on the availability of an air ticket. Sources, however, indicate that Mahmudullah’s likely return will be discussed after Hassan arrives in Colombo on Tuesday.Mahmudullah made scores of 8 and 0 in Bangladesh’s loss in Galle, and bowled just two overs of his offspin. He had made a half-century in the one-off Test in India before this, but before that had gone ten innings without getting to a fifty.He was at the ground with the team at practice today and took part in the warm-ups, but did not train thereafter.Hassan also backed Mahmudullah’s selection for the three ODIs and two T20Is that follow. The ODI series starts from March 25, while the two T20Is will be played on April 4 and 6.”The ODI team isn’t submitted to me yet,” Hassan said. “Whether he will play or not, but I don’t think anyone will drop him from the squad without talking to me first.”He is a senior player who has made a lot of contribution. I don’t see any possibility of him being dropped from the squad.”

Imran Tahir has said it is “very special” to be ranked the No. 1 bowler in both ODI and T20 cricket. He completed the double when he went top of the one-day table after South Africa’s 5-0 victory over Sri Lanka where he claimed 10 wickets.Tahir began that series with a Man-of-the-Match performance of 3 for 26 at Port Elizabeth and only in the high-scoring Cape Town match, where Sri Lanka replied with 327 to South Africa’s 367, was he punished as he conceded 76 off his 10 overs. Even then he claimed two wickets to snuff out Sri Lanka’s brave chase.It’s that skill of taking wickets, alongside his control, that makes him such a valuable asset to South Africa’s white-ball sides. In recent times he has rarely failed to deliver a breakthrough for his captain – whether that is Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers or Farhaan Behardien – and his last wicketless ODI was 10 games ago. He has been integral to South Africa’s winning run which stands at 11 ODIs.Tahir was twice previously ranked No. 1 in ODIs, when he briefly held the top spot during the 2015 World Cup before being leapfrogged at the end of the tournament by Mitchell Starc, then again in October 2015, and there is a chance of a bowl-off for the position in this series against New Zealand with Trent Boult, the No. 2-ranked bowler.”When I started cricket I never thought I’d be No. 1 bowler, it’s all the hard work I’ve done and I’m very excited,” Tahir said. “There are a lot of good players in world cricket and coming top of that is a really good achievement and I’m really grateful.”It’s an absolute honour playing for South Africa, the boys have helped me over the years and made me the bowler I am today. Credit goes to them as well. I’ll try and stay in the spot as long as I can but there are some other brilliant cricketers.”Tahir has not been able to produce the same success at Test level. His 20 appearances, the last of which came against India in Delhi, have brought 57 wickets at 40.24 and South Africa have moved on from him in that format.However, with the white ball he has certainly grown older gracefully. “He doesn’t bowl bad balls anymore,” AB de Villiers said last month. “He always used to take wickets but now you don’t see bad balls, which makes him really difficult to play.”When Tahir was asked what advice he would give Ish Sodhi, the New Zealand legspinner he could go up against over the next few weeks, he gave an insight into what had made him such a successful bowler.”If I was him I’d work harder, I’m not saying he isn’t but that’s my advice because when I started like him I didn’t know my game or use my variations,” Tahir said. “I just bowled leggies, but then I worked hard to try to find how what would work for me in international cricket. Coming from South Africa is not easy because the pitches aren’t spin-friendly, so I had to work out how to adjust.”They are skills that will serve him well in New Zealand, too, where – as Sodhi could no doubt attest to – conditions are not what legspinners dream of. Tahir has previously played three ODIs against the hosts in the country, the most recent of them the 2015 World Cup semi-final where he was wicketless but conceded just 40 in nine overs in the high-scoring contest, and New Zealand are aware of the impact he could have.”He’s a great operator for South Africa, and any team he plays for,” Kane Williamson said. “We’ve played a lot against each other. It’s important we play him well.”A few batting line-ups of late have found that easier said than done.

Josh Little, Ireland’s 17-year-old left-arm quick, has put his education ahead of his cricket and pulled out of Ireland’s squad for a T20I series against Afghanistan in India next month.He has been replaced by Peter Chase, the Malahide seamer.Little has already interrupted his studies for an Under-19 tournament in Bangladesh last year, as well as two T20s against Afghanistan and Namibia in the Desert Challenge in Abu Dhabi last month,”Josh is only 17 and there were concerns about the time missed in what is a crucial period for his education,” said Cricket Ireland’s head coach John Bracewell.Little became the second-youngest player to be selected for a Twenty20 international, behind Hong Kong’s Waqas Khan, when he made his debut against Hong Kong in Bready last September.Chase, 23, has yet to make his T20I debut for Ireland, but has played eight ODI’s and one ICC InterContinental Cup tie.Bracewell added: “Peter was impressive during the ODI series last summer against Afghanistan, taking seven wickets, and gets that crucial extra bounce with his height.”Cricket Ireland have also appointed former Leicestershire coach Ben Smith, 44, as consultant assistant coach for the tour to UAE and India. Andrew White, who fulfilled a similar role during the Desert T20, was unavailable for the tour due to work commitments.Performance director Richard Holdsworth said: “Given that Peter Johnston is tied up in his role as acting national academy and performance manager, while Ryan Eagleston is preparing the Under 19’s for their World Cup qualifiers as well as working with the emerging academy we felt we needed to go outside for this temporary role.”As well as coaching the first-team at Leicestershire, Smith has held roles with both Worcestershire and the ECB Development Squad. He is currently working in New Zealand as a specialist coach with Central Districts.Ireland play the UAE in two ODI’s at the ICC Academy 1 ground on March 2nd and 4th, before travelling to India to face Afghanistan in nine matches across three different formats.

West Indies captain Jason Holder has praised Kraigg Brathwaite for showing the qualities “we have been asking for in the dressing room” during his 142 off 318 balls, an innings in which he carried his bat and gave his team a 56-run lead in Sharjah.Holder went on to take three wickets early in Pakistan’s second innings, and they were four down before they wiped out the deficit. He put that performance down to the motivation Brathwaite had given West Indies, and predicted that the opener would go on to play 100 Tests.”He showed great character, great composure, great faith,” Holder said of Brathwaite. “It was very inspirational for me and gave me the energy to go and do what we did in the end.”I have played a lot of cricket with Brathwaite – Under-13, 15, 17 and 19, and now senior cricket. He has scored a lot of runs in junior cricket. He has already played 30-odd Test matches and he has been the mainstay in terms of opening partnerships. I have no doubt in Braithwaite, who has shown the world what he can bring. If he can remain consistent, he will definitely play 100-plus Test matches.”After Brathwaite secured the lead, Holder consolidated the advantage by taking out Sami Aslam, Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan inside the first 20 overs, reducing Pakistan to 41 for 3. They were ahead by only 31 at stumps, with six wickets in hand.”We knew there’s just limited time in the last session, so we wanted to just give it our all,” Holder told . “Fortunately for me, I was able to get some balls to lift off a good length, which took the edge or the gloves. Fortunately, we had some luck in this session. I think we put ourselves in a good position because of this session.”When asked about offspinner Roston Chase bowling 13 of the first 39 overs in Pakistan’s second innings, while Devendra Bishoo bowled only two, Holder said the legspinner had a big job to do on the fourth day.”As the pitch wears out, Bishoo will come into the picture. He has a big job to do for us tomorrow,” Holder said. “The plan is to just keep rotating bowlers.”It was important to be disciplined and get wickets, and not allow them to get away from us with the runs. Roston was outstanding in the first innings. He has done a tremendous job for us since he has come into the team, so we’ve given him that responsibility.”Holder was concerned about the bounce in the pitch, but said that if it did not become variable, a target of around 200 was achievable.”It’s important to keep them under pressure in the first hour. We just have to continue to maintain the intensity. We all have to really toil for the wickets. We are very happy with the situation but we need to start well tomorrow.”

ScorecardFile photo – Roston Chase scored 36 and picked up a wicket on the second day of West Indies’ warm-up match•Associated Press

Wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich and Roston Chase were the beneficiaries on the second day of West Indies’ drawn warm-up match after getting a workout with the bat in the second innings against Emirates Cricket Board XI.Resuming on 56 for 7, the ECB XI crossed 100, thanks to Rohan Mustafa’s patient, unbeaten 44. Spinners Jomel Warrican and Devendra Birshoo took the three remaining wickets to fall on the second day to bowl the ECB XI out for 117.Leon Johnson and Shai Hope, who struck fifties in the first innings, were dismissed for 10 and 0 respectively. Jermaine Blackwood and Jonathan Carter then struck boundary-laden cameos, but it was Chase and Dowrich’s 49-run stand off 85 balls that ensured West Indies didn’t collapse.Left-arm spinner Ahmed Raza took three wickets, including that of Chase, who struck an 81-ball 36. Dowrich hit six fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 52.West Indies declared their second innings at 173 for 7, setting the ECB XI a target of 306. West Indies’ spinners got 14 overs in, before the game was drawn.West Indies will play a three-day warm-up match against a PCB XI from October 7, before the first Test against Pakistan, which begins on October 13.