Somerset coast to win over Kent

South African Roelof van der Merwe made his highest Twenty20 score as Somerset beat Kent by nine wickets.

Van der Merwe made 15 in Somerset's opening T20 game against Hampshire

After losing Peter Trego cheaply in their run chase, Van der Merwe (89no) and skipper Marcus Trescothick (64no) put on an unbroken stand of 150.

Somerset reached their victory target on 166-1 with 18 balls to spare.

Earlier, Kent were indebted to Darren Stevens, who hit four sixes in his 68 and Robert Key (43) in their 163-8, Lewis Gregory taking 3-26.

But van der Merwe's innings was the highlight for last year's beaten finalists, his 51-ball knock containing six sixes and seven fours.

While Trescothick, who reached his half-century off only 30 balls with one six, passed 1,500 career runs in Twenty20 cricket.

Hussey sets up Nottinghamshire victory

Nottinghamshire Outlaws got their Friends Life t20 campaign off to a winning start with a 38-run victory over Derbyshire Falcons thanks to a brisk 60 from skipper David Hussey and four wickets from fast bowler Andy Carter.

Having been invited to bat first on a gloriously sunny evening at Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire posted 184 for 6 from their 20 overs, with Riki Wessels hitting 30 off 19 balls to add to Hussey's 45-ball knock, which included five fours and a six.

Nottinghamshire 184 for 6 beat Derbyshire 146 for 8 by 38 runs

Derbyshire started their reply solidly with a 49-run opening partnership between Wes Durston and New Zealand international Martin Guptill before the Kiwi was spectacularly bowled by Carter for 25.

From there the visitors fell further and further behind the required run-rate and despite 46 from Durston and Garry Park's unbeaten 36, the Falcons could only finish on 146 for eight. Carter, playing in only his third Twenty20 match, finished with 4 for 20 from his four overs, the third best bowling return for Nottinghamshire in the competition's history.

The hosts began their innings in quiet fashion until Alex Hales hit two boundaries off Chesney Hughes in the third over, while Wessels greeted the arrival of Tim Groenewald by slog-sweeping the seamer for six over square leg.

Groenewald then had Hales caught at mid-wicket and the left-arm spin of Tom Knight accounted for Adam Voges, caught by a diving Wayne Madsen in the covers. Wessels was yorked by Jonathan Clare to bring Hussey to the wicket. The Australian added 49 in five overs with Samit Patel (26), finally being bowled in the final over by Steffan Jones, who also had Steven Mullaney lbw. Chris Read finished 21 not out.

Carter was hit for two fours in his opening over by Guptill but returned to bowl the Kiwi in the sixth over - the first of four clean bowled wickets by the paceman. Derbyshire's hopes rested on Durston repeating his heroics from last year's fixture, when the 30-year-old smashed 111, but when he was stumped by Read off Hussey's off-spin, the game was up, despite two sixes and two fours from Park.

Tour begins with trouble in paradise

It's déjà vu all over again. A little less than a year ago, India began their World Twenty20 campaign in the West Indies just five days after the IPL. Visibly underprepared and disrespectful of international cricket, India were doomed to not go far. Not much has changed on the Indian side of affairs in 2011. Barely six days will have passed since the end of yet another IPL when India kick off their full tour of the West Indies, again with a T20 international. And just like the last time, the hosts will be forced to play at an un-T20 hour of 10 am, sadly to make sure the television viewer in India gets his 7.30 pm start. The people of Trinidad - who might want to catch up on some T20 fun on a Saturday afternoon or evening - be damned.

It serves the broadcasters right then, that India will go through this tour without many of the stars that the Indian TV viewer is believed to never get enough of. West Indies, though, should feel slighted. Virender Sehwag knew he needed a shoulder surgery even before the IPL began. He had a choice to make: he chose the IPL over the West Indies tour. Sachin Tendulkar knew he needed time off cricket: he chose to miss the West Indies Tests but not the IPL.

How the world has changed: there was once a time when players might have wanted to miss a West Indies tour out of fear of their fast bowlers. Now West Indies will feel the duo wouldn't have made similar choices if Tests in England were pitted against the IPL. West Indies will be fuming. West Indies will be inspired. West Indies will want to teach India a lesson. How off the mark can we be? The WICB - rightly or wrongly, who's to say - is not even picking the best-possible side. Chris Gayle remains more active on Twitter than the cricket field. Jerome Taylor, who just played the IPL, is not considered for selection on fitness grounds. There is trouble in paradise, and we can only sit and watch. At 7.30pm, India Standard Time.

Form guide (most recent first)

West Indies WLLLW
India WWWLL

The spotlight

First day, first show for Duncan Fletcher comes with a young inexperienced team. India won't look too different once people start retiring after the Australia tour later this year. Fletcher knew he would have to oversee this transition at some time in his tenure. Starting Saturday the new coach gets a sneak-peak into what future holds for him even as India will be interested in seeing what the new coach holds for them.

The two captains are a fascinating study. Under Suresh Raina's previous watch, India finished third in a tri-series involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. He was leading a young team then; this one is not too dissimilar, which means the challenge is just as big.

Derren Sammy, on the other hand, will perhaps never play an international without having to justify his presence. Sometimes he passes in flying colours, as he did in the Test that they won against Pakistan, sometimes he doesn't; at all times he tries gamely, making you wonder what would be if some of the more talented West Indies players played with the same passion and persistence.

Team news

West Indies' squad is almost identical to the one that beat Pakistan in the T20 on April 21. The only change is that Kemar Roach has been rested. He didn't play that game anyway. If they keep the winning combination, left-arm medium-pacer Krishmar Santokie will have to wait for his international debut.

West Indies (probable) 1 Lendl Simmons, 2 Andre Fletcher (wk), 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Danza Hyatt, 6 Darren Sammy (capt), 7 Christopher Barnwell, 8 Andre Russell, 9 Ashley Nurse, 10 Devendra Bishoo, 11 Ravi Rampaul

India's squad is so different from their usual ones, they have no previous to start from. The choices begin at the top, with Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel favourites as openers. The middle order should be a bit easier to pick, but it will be interesting to see if they go with two spinners and, if they choose to do so, who that second spinner will be. There could be an aversion to playing two offspinners, which is believed to be one of the reasons why R Ashwin lost out to Piyush Chawla in the World Cup squad. Munaf Patel and Praveen Kumar will be certainties in the pace attack.

India (probable) 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Virat Kohli, 5 & 6 two out of S Badrinath, Rohit Sharma and Manoj Tiwary, 7 Yusuf Pathan, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Munaf Patel, 11 R Ashwin/R Vinay Kumar/Amit Mishra/Ishant Sharma

Pitch and conditions

There was heavy rain in Trinidad on the eve of the match, drenching the outfield and bringing the covers on. Scattered thunderstorms have been forecast for the weekend and the following week. If somehow the moisture induces pace and bounce into the pitches, that will be a blessing in disguise.

Stats and trivia

• This is the 200th T20 international. The first was played in February 2005. It took ODIs 12 years to reach No. 200. Incidentally, India and West Indies played the 200th ODI too.
• When India beat West Indies in the 200th ODI, it was a major shock. If they do so in the 200th T20I, it won't be an upset but a minor milestone nonetheless, for India have never beaten West Indies in a T20I, losing at Lord's and Kensington Oval in their two previous clashes.
  Quotes
  "We have to continue to put in the hard work. We are a confident group of young men, and we will go into the series with the belief that we can win."
  Darren Sammy shows how mundane press conferences can sometimes be
  "The West Indies team has been playing good cricket for the past few months, and we are not going to take them lightly."
  Suresh Raina outdoes Sammy's "right areas"

Harris on alert for Sri Lanka

Australia fast bowler Ryan Harris used the Indian Premier League as an elongated fitness test. Now he has been been alerted by the national selectors to be ready to return to the Australian Test attack against Sri Lanka in August.

Given how well Harris combined with Mitchell Johnson to fire out England during the third Ashes Test in Perth, it is natural the selection chairman Andrew Hilditch wants to see more of him. A return of 20 wickets at 24.40 from his first five Tests showed Harris to be a valued member of an attack that now has a new bowling coach in Craig McDermott.

"I've got an indication they're still keen for me to play that longer form of the game, so now I've got six to eight weeks before Sri Lanka," Harris told ESPNcricinfo. "Queensland are about to start in pre-season, so I'll get into that, get into some serious gym work and fitness work. [I will] get myself fit and stronger, and by that time [in time for the Sri Lanka tour] I'll have bowled a fair bit and hopefully I'll be bowling well enough to get picked. I'm definitely aiming for that tour."

McDermott marked his promotion from the Centre of Excellence by indicating that he wanted his charges to be fitter and more capable of bowling consistently. Such a vision is in line with Harris' own harsh assessments of himself.

"I've seen some good reports about him and obviously the cricket that he's played himself, he's in a position where he can give good advice, and knows a bowling action," Harris said. "It's exciting; it's going to be different but good. He's worked with Troy Cooley as well so I guess he's passed on some information, and it's exciting to see him start.

"My aim now is to get back to the level I was bowling. I've always got to try to improve, and to stay fit for the next two or three years before I finish my career. I just want to get back to feeling good, getting my pace back up and getting the shape of the ball back there.

"I felt as though in the IPL I struggled with that and got a little frustrated with it. But that's my goal in the next six to eight weeks, to get that really comfortable feeling; to run in and bowl fast and put the ball where I want to put it."

Harris, 31, posed the most consistent questions of any Australian bowler during the Ashes, before he was waylaid by an ankle fracture during the Melbourne Test. He is also constantly managing a battered knee that needs the addition of new cartilage. Harris has elected to avoid such a procedure due to the 18 months it would cost him in the latter days of a career that did not truly bloom until he was nearing 30.

Playing for King's XI Punjab, Harris plucked 16 wickets at 23.87 during the IPL, suffering the occasional collaring but overall doing enough to suggest he is capable of making an impression on the Sri Lankans in subcontinental climes. Any lingering discomfort in Harris' ankle and knee dissipated as the tournament progressed.

"Everything's spot-on at the moment, which is good," Harris said. "It took me probably four or five games to get into it again and get the body used to bowling. The ankle was a little bit tender from the surgery; not so much the break but just where the screws were inserted, so it probably took two or three weeks to get over that pain. Once I got over that everything was good.

"The knee was a bit tender, but it never never really swelled up, and the pain or tenderness that was there, disappeared, the more I played. Everything on that front is going well, which is good because we weren't sure how the knee was going to pull up after not playing for three or four months and then going into a tournament where you play games only two or three days apart.

"I was a bit surprised myself to be honest how I went, but another test will come when I start playing the longer form again."

Spot-fixing bans 'too lenient', players say

The three Pakistan players accused of spot-fixing in the Lord's Test got off lightly, according to the majority of players polled in a recent survey. The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) has revealed the results of its player survey, and 77% of respondents believed the penalties handed to the Pakistan trio were too lenient.

Many players believe Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir received penalties that were too lenient

An ICC tribunal found Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif guilty of orchestrating deliberate pre-planned no-balls during the Test against England last August, and they received bans ranging from five to ten years. All three men could be free to play officially-sanctioned cricket again in five years, due to part of the penalties for Asif and Butt involving suspended sentences. None of the 45 players surveyed believed the penalties were too harsh, while 23% considered the bans "fair".

The process by which the three Pakistanis were punished was more complex than a simple ICC edict. Under the anti-corruption code, the decision must be deliberated over by an independent tribunal, with the verdict and penalties handed down from those arbiters. Provisions for far harsher punishments are included in the code.

Although the ICC has achieved its goal of making players aware of the Anti-Corruption Code - 100% of players said they were given education on the code before the World Cup - it's not all good news for the game's governing body. While 100% of players said they would report any suspicious approach they received, 20% did not have confidence in the ICC's anti-corruption unit treating that information confidentially.

Two-thirds of the players said they would be more comfortable reporting any approach to their team manager than to the anti-corruption unit, despite their obligation to do so. Tim May, the chief executive of FICA, said the responses from the players surveyed was an indication that they wanted a tougher stance on corruption.

"This sends a strong signal to stakeholders that the vast number of players want significant penalties to be invoked against those who are found guilty of serious corruption offences," May said.

FICA co-ordinates the activities of players' associations in seven countries: Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh. Notably, Pakistan and India are the two major Test-playing nations - along with Zimbabwe - who are not affiliated with FICA.

In addition to being found guilty of spot-fixing by the ICC, Butt, Asif and Amir are now facing criminal charges in the UK. Under Britain's Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, penalties of up to seven years in prison can be meted out for accepting corrupt payments. The trio also face charges under the Gambling Act 2005.

The players were questioned by Scotland Yard detectives after the News of the World tabloid newspaper made accusations that they had orchestrated deliberate no-balls in the Lord's Test.

Vincent Barnes in running for Bangladesh job

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has reportedly zeroed in on South Africa's assistant coach, Vincent Barnes, as a candidate to coach the national team following the departure of Australian Jamie Siddons after a disappointing World Cup campaign. Stuart Law, the interim coach of Sri Lanka, is also in the running but there are reports of his chances failing due to a disagreement over conditions with the BCB.

Bangladesh are in talks with Vincent Barnes (right)

"We are still in negotiations with Stuart Law. We are interested in him but we have given him some conditions," BCB president Mustafa Kamal told Daily Star. "If he accepts those, we'll go for him. It means our talks with him are not over.

"If it doesn't go through with Law, we will take a final decision on Barnes. If we take him, it is nothing to be worried about because we'll take a specialist coach for batting and bowling."

The BCB hopes to ratify the appointment of a new coach at their board meeting on Saturday, June 4, and Kamal said talks with Barnes were at "an advanced stage".

When contacted by ESPNcricinfo, however, Barnes only said, "I've been approached [by the BCB] and that's where it ended."

Cricket South Africa are also scheduled to unveil their new coach on Monday, June 6. Although Barnes did not apply for the South Africa job, CSA could still consider him a candidate, and he was said to be considering a role in the future set-up.

Shahid Afridi brings touch of magic to Hampshire and Twenty20

Twenty20 is back for the summer and Pakistan's travelling impresario makes his debut on Wednesday at the Rose Bowl

Shahid Afridi will play for Hampshire in this season's Friends Provident t20 Cup.

Twenty20 cricket – which, in truth, never really goes away – is back for its English summer bash. The Friends Life t20 starts on Wednesday night with Hampshire playing Somerset at the Rose Bowl, a repeat of last year's final, which Hampshire won.

Rather like a band about to make their difficult third album, these are interesting times for English Twenty20 cricket. From next season each county will play 10 rather than 16 group matches, while dipping attendances last year confirmed a sense of a format still finding its level.

Twenty20 thrives not only on extreme performances, but also on the magnetism of personality. With this in mind the curtain raiser for an as-yet rather buzz-free season is the ideal moment for Hampshire to be unveiling their new star signing. Shahid Afridi, travelling impresario of the six-hit, will make his debut on Wednesday at the Rose Bowl.

These are, as ever, interesting times, for Afridi, who on Monday announced his retirement from playing international cricket for Pakistan. Or did he?

"Let's see," Afridi said on Tuesday. "I'm retired but just from this cricket board. If this cricket board will finish then definitely I will come back." It has been said that you are no one in Pakistan cricket until you have retired at least three times and Afridi was suitably conciliatory when asked if the door might now be shut.

"No, no, no. I'm enjoying my cricket and the people want to see me in international cricket as well, so definitely I must play."

Afridi had just played his first innings for Hampshire in a Twenty20 match against Surrey's Second XI in the placid suburban surrounds of Purley, a club ground that falls some way short of being Afridi-sized.

Batting at No4, international cricket's record six‑hitter clubbed a frenetic unbeaten 44, an innings full of flying edges and one memorable back‑hand tennis‑shot six off Chris Schofield into the gardens at mid-off. International semi‑retirement certainly seems to have lifted a burden from his only-ever-marginally-burdened shoulders.

"It is a great honour to play for Hampshire," he said. "My team‑mates are very good. The captain, Corky [Dominic Cork], is full of entertainment and he's a very experienced guy so it's great fun. I haven't played for a month so I had a little bit of stiffness bowling. I will give my 110%. There are some good young players at Hampshire and the boys are capable of winning this series again."

Twenty20 cricket has certainly been a boon for Afridi, more so than most Pakistani players who are excluded from the riches of the Indian Premier League (his Hampshire team-mate Michael Lumb has just been paid $80,000 – £49,000 – for playing a single game for the Deccan Chargers, in which he made a two-ball duck).

Afridi is surfing the lesser tides of the short format. He is already booked to lead one of the new franchises in the inaugural Sri Lankan Premier League, which starts just as the Friends Provident group stages end. "I will be back if we [Hampshire] reach the finals," he promised. Later this year he will also captain a team in the Bangladesh Premier League. Little wonder, the cynic might argue, the strains of being a Pakistan international cricketer can wait for now.

"It's a great entertainment," Afridi says of the format. "For people who don't know about cricket this is the right game to bring them to and show them how entertaining this cricket can be."

Not perhaps the slogan Friends Life would have chosen to launch the season – cricket for people who don't know about cricket – but this is still decidedly on‑message with the need to get back to packed Twenty20 grounds in a chilly financial climate.

On the field, Afridi's Hampshire look a decent bet to have him haring back from Sri Lanka for another final. More of a bowler these days, Afridi was the leading wicket-taker at the World Cup, and a wrist-spin double act with Imran Tahir looks a potentially irresistible combination.

It is not just his county who will be hoping for more explosion than exasperation from this most mercurial semi-retired entertainer over the next six weeks, as the T20 looks to stave off a sense of incremental wither in the land of its birth.