Scorecard Worcestershire’s patched-up seam attack will have fewer easier outings than this as Derbyshire, without a home win in almost three years, suffered a familiar collapse and were asked to follow on by Vikram Solanki. Michael Mason did the early damage, having Michael di Venuto caught behind in the first over, and shortly after dismissing Jon Moss in similar fashion. David Wigley weighed in with three wickets, as only Chris Bassano offered much in terms of resistance with a rapid 26-ball 30. Alamgir Sheriyar, the first player to be loaned out under the new ECB rule, wrapped up the tail to bag a three-wicket haul and take his career aggregate past 500. Earlier, Solanki had shown his keenness to move the game forward by declaring once his side had reached 350 – the mark for four batting points – rather than scratch around with the final-wicket pair. If the rain stays away Worcestershire will expect to get their promotion bid off to a flying start. Scorecard Play did not start until 4.30 at Chelmsford and the Essex batsmen could only extend their first innings slowly as the Yorkshire attack showed an improvement from their opening day efforts. Grant Flower could only add 10 to his overnight score before a mistimed pull gave Matthew Hoggard his first wicket of the season, and Hoggard struck again to remove Ravinder Bopara for a sprightly 46. But without some imaginative captaincy this game is going to become a battle for bonus points. Scorecard Ian Blackwell offered the only real resistance as an impressive allround performance from the Lancashire attack put them in a strong position at Old Trafford. Blackwell, never one to hang around at the crease, was dropped at slip by Stuart Law when on 17, going on to make 74 before bad light stopped Lancashire making any further inroads and securing a useful first-innings lead. Jimmy Anderson, in his first serious bowl since his chastening experience in the Johannesburg Test, opened with an encouraging spell of 11-7-11-1. But it was Dominic Cork who started the rot, dismissing both openers with just 22 on the board. It was good day for Cork, who helped Lancashire pass 300 by hitting 65 before giving a return catch to Andy Caddick and Sajid Mahmood made his second first-class half century, an aggressive 57 from 71 balls. Mahmood also chipped in with a brace of wickets, and Gary Keedy removed an obdurate Michael Burns following a stand of 80 with Blackwell. Scorecard The Durham attack dramatically backed-up their batsmen’s efforts in racking up over 500 by scything through the Leicestershire order, forcing them to follow-on a massive 400 runs behind and justifying Leicestershire’s pre-season odds of 50-1. All eyes were focused on Steve Harmison to see if he could bounce back from a poor winter, but it was Liam Plunkett, his opener partner, a similarly tall but not yet as fearsome fast bowler, who stole the show. He grabbed the first four wickets to fall, including HD Ackerman and Darren Maddy, then returned to mop up the final wicket and finish with 5 for 43. Two run outs further undermined the Leicestershire innings and vindicated Michael Hussey’s decision to grind them down with over 160 overs in field. Hussey was finally dismissed for 253, caught off David Masters and he declared once Philip Mustard was stumped for an aggressive 28. Harmison must hope that it his turn, next, to contribute to this match.
India will face Pakistan in England next year in a group match in the ICC Champions Trophy, which is to be played in September 2004. For the first time, the ICC’s official one-day rankings were used to determine the make-up of the four groups of three.The draw was made earlier today, at which point Pakistan were in third position in the table. Had they lost to New Zealand in their match at Lahore today they would have dropped to fourth, and would have been drawn against England – but they won (Mohammad Sami took 5 for 10), remained third, and set up an intriguing clash against their neighbours. Kenya complete that group.England, who are currently fifth in the table, have group games against Sri Lanka (fourth) and Zimbabwe (ninth). Australia, the top-rated team, will play New Zealand and the winners of the forthcoming ICC Six Nations Challenge in the United Arab Emirates in February and March next year.In the final group. South Africa (ranked second) will play West Indies and Bangladesh. The four group winners will progress to the semi-finals.The tournament will run from September 10 to 25, with all the matches to be played at The Oval, Edgbaston, or the new Rose Bowl in Southampton. The exact schedule will be announced later this month, but all the matches will have a reserve day to allow them to be completed in the event of bad weather.
Having been behind for the first two days of this match and looking likelyto lose by an innings, Mashonaland fought back yesterday to finish threeruns ahead at stumps. Although losing six second-innings wickets in theprocess, they have two seasoned campaigners unbeaten at the crease capableof frustrating Manicaland’s push for victory.Resuming their overnight score of 164 for five, Mashonaland managed only afurther 62 before Leon Soma snuffed them out 45 minutes before lunch.Getting the old ball to reverse sharply, he chose a replacement used ball(over the available new one) to finish off the tail when the original ballsplit.Three balls into the second over of the new innings Lance Malloch-Brownwafted at a wide one, suggesting Mashonaland might sink without trace. WhenRyan Butterworth played around a straight one from debutant leg-spinnerKeegan Taylor the over before lunch (32 for two), the writing seemed to beon the wall.A 51-run partnership between Barney Rogers and Darlington Matambanadzo forthe third wicket calmed Mashonaland nerves. Left-handed Rogers was the nextto go, playing unaccountably back to a Whittall leg-cutter that went on toclatter the stumps. Kudzai Taibu – brother of Zimbabwean wicketkeeperTatenda – lasted only 10 balls before clipping Justin Lewis to KingsleyWent.All the while Matambanadzo kept working away, refusing to give up. Hefinally found a partner prepared to stay the distance with the arrival ofCraig Evans. Between them they hit 87 (77 minutes) for the fifth wicketwith Matambanadzo surprisingly outscoring his big-hitting partner.Manicaland suffered two casualties during the afternoon, with wicket-keeperFerreira requiring four stitches to a split lip and Taylor X-rays andpainkillers for a direct blow to the knee at short leg. A nice touch wasthe intervention of former rugby player Evans who hoisted the crippledTaylor over his shoulder and carried him to the clubhouse.It was left to man-of-the-match Whittall to break the partnership, forcingMatambanadzo to play on after a period of sustained pressure. Mahwire wasbowled soon after, leaving Whittall (three for 42) top wicket-taker for asecond day. Hero of the day was Craig Evans, hitting a flamboyant unbeaten109 (20 fours), leaving Mashonaland an outside chance of victory. He tookadvantage of some tired bowling and worse fielding as Manicaland wiltedunder a third day of unseasonably high temperatures.Starting the last day effectively three for six, Mashonaland will need tokeep Manicaland fielding well into the second session to give themselves achance. The pitch remains true and the drought-affected outfield fast -suggesting a lifeline if Mashonaland have the stomach for hard work.
Based on the 96-run first innings lead overPunjab, Madhya Pradesh qualified for thesemifinals of the Cooch Behar Trophy Tournament onThursday. On the final day at the Pune Club, theMP skipper SM Dholepure who lead the team from thefront with a fine 113, declared the first inningsat the overnight score of 341 for 9.Punjab scored 267 for nine declared in the secondinnings. The score was helped on its way by a 130-run third wicket stand between SP Singh (87) andBinwant Singh (63). Thereafter wickets fell inquick succession as OP Yadav (5 for 70) ran thoughthe middle order.Needing 172 runs for victory, MP in their secondinnings were 107 for 2 when stumps were drawn.After Sachin Dholpure (0) and Mohanish Mishra (15)fell early, N Ojha (44) and Jatin Saxena (48)ensured no further hiccups for MP with an unbrokenthird wicket stand of 63.
This is part of The Transfer Tavern’s Talking Tactics series, where we analyse two changes a manager should make in their upcoming fixture.
Glasgow Rangers have a healthy 3-0 aggregate lead going into the second leg of their tie away at Red Star Belgrade in the UEFA Europa League, but Giovanni van Bronckhorst will know that the job is not done yet, and that they will have to be professional if they are to see it through.
With players like Allan McGregor, Leon Balogun and Fashion Sakala left to rest on the bench in the most recent 3-0 win away at Dundee in the Scottish Cup, there will be plenty of potential changes for the Dutchman to make to his starting eleven, and we feel there are two big risks he should take.
Alex Lowry starts
Of course, with the likes of Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe in the squad, young Alex Lowry has not had too many opportunities so far this season, with just four senior games played in total.
However, he came off of the bench late on against Dundee and made an instant impact, grabbing himself an assist for Sakala’s goal straight away.
The teenager will be full of confidence, and given that they are already three goals up, it would do no harm for van Bronckhorst to start him this evening, with the option of bringing on Morelos or Roofe if things are not quite working out.
Ryan Jack axed
Unfortunately for Jack, he was rather clumsy in conceding the penalty in the first leg, earning him an early yellow card, but luckily McGregor was there to spare his blushes in what could otherwise have been a very nervy end to the half.
Having played almost the full 90 minutes at Dundee as well, after being subbed off for Lowry, the £12,000-per-week ace may need a rest and just to be taken out of the firing line a little given what happened in the first leg at Ibrox.
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Nonetheless, he is still a handy option to have off of the bench, and van Bronckhorst may need to call upon him to help see the match out in the second half.
In other news, find out which ‘excellent’ talent Gers have now set sights on here!
Mahela Jayawardene, whose 153-run third-wicket partnership with Kumar Sangakkara helped Sri Lanka post a competitive 238, believed the team had themselves to blame for the loss. “We still couldn’t get the finish I intended, losing wickets in the end,” a visibly disappointed Jayawardene said. At 3 for 161 after 38 overs, they had an excellent launching pad, but only scored 77 in the last 12 despite having plenty of wickets in hand. He also thought India were gifted runs by his side’s sloppy fielding.But Jayawardene praised Sangakkara, his vice-captain and long-time friend, with whom he has been involved in several big partnerships in the past. In the scorching heat, the pair came together with Sri Lanka struggling and performed an admirable rescue act. “The role that Kumar and I have is to bat the majority of the overs. Kumar batted extremely well, one of the best I’ve seen him play for quite some time,” he said. “Credit to Kumar to (help the team) get to 238 from the situation we were in.”India’s chase got off to a dreadful start which had them stuttering at 3 for 35, but three crucial partnerships swung the momentum their way and prevented Sri Lanka from making further inroads. “When we picked up wickets we got the opportunity to put pressure, but Yuvi took chances and started hitting the ball. Our line was not consistent and our fielding wasn’t up to the mark,” Jayawardene said.”You shouldn’t take anything away from Yuvi’s innings, but we contributed to that as well.” He said that both Yuvraj and Dhoni had played really well in different situations, and refused to pick one innings as more important than the other.With their third loss in five games, Sri Lanka are at the bottom of the table, six points below second-placed India. “I haven’t done my maths yet but I know we need to win two out of our three games and India need to lose all their remaining games,” Jayawardene said. “Every game is like a semi-final.”
Michael Vandort struck a century to put Sri Lanka A in a strong position on the opening day of the second four-day match against Bangladesh A at the Colombo Cricket Club Ground. Vandort scored 114 as Sri Lanka A reached 296 for 5 at stumps.Bangladesh A got off to a superb start after putting Sri Lanka A in to bat. Their new ball bowlers, Nazmul Hossain and Mohammad Sharif, removed Sri Lanka A’s openers, Mahela Udawatte and Kanchana Gunawardene, with the score on 39. Chamara Kapugedera joined Vandort and the pair added 64 runs for the third wicket before Nadif Chowdhury took his third catch to dismiss Kapugedera.The game was evenly poised on 103 for 3 when Jehan Mubarak came to the middle. With Vandort holding up one end, Mubarak got into his stride and soon gave Sri Lanka the advantage. They added 128 for the fourth wicket but Bangladesh A dismissed both batsmen late in the final session to end the day on a satisfactory note. Sharif’s best bowler was Bangladesh A’s best bowler with 2 for 36 in 15 overs.
The three-match ODI series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka starting on Friday becomes crucial as both teams look to avoid relegation to the preliminary round of the forthcoming Champions Trophy. Countries have until April 1 to improve their rankings and make it to the group stage.According to the new format, eight teams will be divided into two groups of four each which include the top six in the ICC ODI Championship table as of April 1 2006, plus the top two from the preliminary round. This round comprises a four-team round robin play-off for the sides ranked seven to10 in the ICC rankings.Sri Lanka are under greater pressure to qualify for the group stage – their fate hinges not only on their performance in the three-match series against Pakistan but also on the results of the India-England ODIs starting March 28. India and England are scheduled to play two ODIs before the April 1 cut-off date.Sri Lanka are currently ranked at seven in the latest rankings with 107 points, just behind England (108). A 2-1 win for Sri Lanka will mean that they can topple England and claim that sixth spot, but can slip back to No.7, should England win one of their two games against India.If Sri Lanka sweep the series 3-0, they will immediately move to No.6, but Pakistan face the danger of being relegated to No.7, should England win one of their games. If Pakistan win 2-1, Sri Lanka will slip to 106 points but will need to rely on India winning both their games to jump to the sixth spot.A fourth – and worst-case scenario – is if Pakistan sweep all three games, which would mean that Sri Lanka would have no option but to deal with the preliminary round, irrespective of the results of India’s matches against England.Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka have shown a bit of inconsistency with their ODI form. Pakistan, after beating England in the ODI series at home late last year, suffered a reversal, losing the ODI series to India 1-4, which included four straight defeats. Sri Lanka rebounded after disappointing performances in India and New Zealand by reaching the best-of-three VB Series finals in Australia, eventually going down 1-2. A shock defeat in the second ODI against Bangladesh followed, although they took the series 2-1.Kenya, currently in Bangladesh for a four-match ODI series starting March 17, are yet to play the minimum number of games to qualify for the rankings. The exact number will be determined at the ICC Executive Board meeting in Dubai next week.For the full list of rankings click here.
Surrey have confirmed that they will host an all-star Twenty20 game between an Asian XI and International XI at The Oval on June 20 to provide aid to the victims of disasters. Surrey hope to raise a million pounds (US$1.9million) to rebuild a tsunami-hit Sri Lankan village and help other areas hit by natural disasters.Rahul Dravid, Muttiah Muralitharan, Anil Kumble and Chaminda Vaas will all be part of an Asian side which will take on an International XI. The opposition will include Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Shaun Pollock, Stephen Fleming and Graham Thorpe.Paul Sheldon, Surrey’s chief executive, said, “Having recently been to Sri Lanka I am acutely aware of not only the need to help those affected by the tsunami, but also to ensure that the money given is spent for the benefit of those who need it most. To this end we will donate the money to a Cricket Aid village named after Surrey in Sri Lanka. The game itself will be a festival of cricket, where the best players from all over the world will play in this unique game at the newly re-developed Oval.”Financial help will also be extended to Grenada, which was hit by hurricanes in 2004, and some cash will be put aside in order to help if there are natural disasters in cricket-playing nations in future.A similar initiative was also taken by the ICC when it hosted a charity game to raise funds for tsunami victims at the MCG in January which raised US$11 million. This was followed by a series in New Zealand.
A defiant century by Wade Seccombe and four quick strikes by the Queensland attack lifted the them out of a crisis and into control of their Pura Cup match against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval.Chasing 284 to win, South Australia were in deep trouble at 4 for 17 at stumps on day three, with Mark Higgs on 1 and Andy Flower on two. Michael Kasprowicz and Andy Bichel each took two wickets in a nine-over burst before the end of play, leaving SA on the ropes. They need another 267 runs to win, while Queensland were only six wickets from their first win of the season.A total of 17 wickets fell today. After SA resumed on 7 for 283, their innings was quickly wrapped up for 301, giving Queensland a nine-run first-innings lead, with Bichel taking 2 for 3 in three overs to finish with 6 for 61.The Queensland top order then self-destructed, with Jimmy Maher, Clinton Perren, Martin Love, Andrew Symonds and James Hopes all falling cheaply, leaving them staggering at 5 for 46 in their second innings. But Seccombe (115) and Stuart Law (72) led the Queensland fightback with a 138-run sixth-wicket partnership, with the pair continuing their good form after both made half-centuries in the first innings. Seccombe and a free-hitting Bichel (44) then added a 69-run seventh-wicket stand to help Queensland to 274 all out.”One thing we talk about as a group is a lot of belief in ourselves,” Seccombe said of the team’s ability to extricate themselves from trouble today. “We mentioned it prior to this game and always obviously believing we can pull ourselves out of any situation and win from any situation. Obviously we take that belief into everything we do.”Seccombe was given a life by Mark Higgs at second slip, who dropped a straightforward chance off Shaun Tait’s bowling, when he was on 12 and the score was 5 for 84, in what proved an extremely costly fumble. His match-turning century was his fourth in first-class cricket and his first against SA, and came off 185 balls, with 13 boundaries and a six.Greg Blewett, SA’s captain was hopeful they could stage a similar late-order recovery tomorrow to snatch the match. He said: “It would have been nice to have a few more wickets in hand tomorrow, but one good partnership I think and the game’s still up for grabs.”