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Scorecard
Xavier Doherty finished with 5 for 83 to cap a memorable day on and off the field•Getty Images

Xavier Doherty should enter his first series for Australia full of confidence after his five-wicket haul put Tasmania on top on the second day against Victoria. Doherty has not been a regular first-class player for the Tigers in recent years and his national call-up came in the 50-over format, but he proved he has plenty to offer in the longer version as well with his best bowling since 2004-05.Doherty finished with 5 for 83 and was largely responsible for giving Tasmania a strong chance of collecting first-innings points as Victoria ended the day at 8 for 261. Rob Quiney was on 51 and Darren Pattinson was on 23, but the Bushrangers need some serious tail-wagging in order to overhaul Tasmania’s 326.Doherty collected both openers, the left-handers Michael Hill and Chris Rogers caught at short leg, and followed with three more victims. Luke Butterworth was the only other Tasmanian bowler to claim a wicket, while Ben Hilfenhaus enjoyed a lengthy if unsuccessful stint ahead of the first Ashes Test.Quiney, who batted at No. 7, reached his half-century late in the day after Aaron Finch (41) had been the leading scorer among the top order. The Tigers began the morning with one wicket in hand and the final pair added a further 11 before Peter Siddle grabbed his second wicket to complete the innings.

Muttiah Muralitharan’s team-mates expect no lessening of the offspinner’s powers as he begins life as an international limited-overs specialist. Murali, 38, retired from Tests in July with a record 800 wickets and after taking a break has been increasing his load ahead of engagements in Australia over the next three weeks.He is part of the squad that has just landed in the country, a place in which he has often been treated poorly on both sides of the fence. The captain Kumar Sangakkara smiles when he talks about Murali’s impact on the team and he will bolster the squad after missing the home tri-series victory in August.But Sangakkara turns serious when discussing criticism of Murali. “It’s always been unjustifiable if Murali has not been received well in any country,” Sangakkara said. “Just for the bowler he is, the character he is, he is a wonderful human being. However the fans react to him, or whether they accept him, it doesn’t matter in the long run because the whole cricketing world love him for who he is. And he’s very secure in that.”Murali was called for throwing at the MCG in 1995-96 and boycotted the 2004 tour here following comments from John Howard, Australia’s prime minister, over his action. While he was adored during the tsunami fundraising match in Melbourne in 2005, he was part of a Sri Lankan group that had eggs thrown at it in Hobart two years ago.”We just want him to enjoy himself and play for as long as he wants to play and be part of our team,” Sangakkara said. “It’s a joy to see him play. For us to have him in our side is a huge boost of confidence.”Murali has come to Australia via South Africa, where he was part of Chennai’s Champions League T20 victory, taking three wickets in the final. In 22 ODIs Down Under Murali has 31 victims at 32.70, with the home batsmen usually content to see out his overs.The coach Trevor Bayliss expects Murali to benefit from his Test-free workload and not suffer during the transition. “At this stage of his career having a rest every now and then will be good for him,” Bayliss said. “He’s just had a little bit of time off and he’s come back from the Champions League full of beans, and is bowling really well in the nets.”The Sri Lankans open their tour with a one-day game against Queensland at the Gabba on Friday and have some more fine-tuning before a Twenty20 in Perth on October 31 and three ODIs the following week. While it is hard to know what long-term benefits the visitors can achieve from such a short series, Sangakkara’s aims are clear.”Hopefully we get a victory in the series, that’ll be great for us going forward,” he said. “We know how tough it is in Australia. We’ve been here before and we’re yet to win, this is a great challenge to the guys.”

ScorecardBen Hilfenhaus removed Gautam Gambhir early•AFP

The Australians continued to dominate their tour game against the Board President’s XI. After the openers, Simon Katich and Shane Watson, scored centuries on day one, Marcus North, who would have been under some pressure after he scored just 36 runs in four Test innings against Pakistan, scored 124 unbeaten runs in less than three hours to take the Australians past 500. Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter George then ran through the Board President’s XI top order to reduce them to 53 for 5 at one stage.The only matter of concern for the Australians would be Nathan Hauritz, their lead spinner, who was played with ease by the BP XI lower order. Piyush Chawla scored an unbeaten and entertaining 64 off 73, and made sure his side wasn’t embarrassingly bowled out in one session of play on a slow pitch.There was a scare for the Australians early on as Pragyan Ojha removed both Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke in his second over of the day. Ponting played back to one that pitched on an in-between length, and seemed to suggest the ball stayed a bit low too. Clarke jumped out of the crease, found he wasn’t quite to the pitch of the ball, and was given bat-pad. Suddenly the quiet BP XI fielders became chirpy. The small crowd started cheering the spinners. Out came an extra set of shin pads, helmet, and abdomen guard. But North and Tim Paine thwarted it all in a 167-run partnership that ended when North was called back to give the rest a chance to bat.North is a notoriously nervous starter, and he seemed to make a conscious effort not do anything silly in the first 30-40 balls he played. It showed in how he let Paine do the early scoring, and only opened up when Chawla presented him with a long hop. In the next few overs, he pulled and drove Umesh Yadav for fours, and lofted Ojha over midwicket for another.Another period of acceleration was to come. There was a point when North was on 26 and Paine on 17. By the time Paine reached 19, North had moved to 49. He played almost all the shots except the straight drive. He wasn’t made to. The bowlers allowed him to stay on the back foot and cut and pull. When he drove, he drove through extra cover. The sweep was used sparingly: in fact he swept only thrice in scoring his first 59 runs.When he grew in confidence, he started sweeping and lofting more, and raced to his century. Paine provided the ideal solid base at the other end. He seemed to be enjoying tiring the bowlers down. After North ended his innings, though, the BP XI got quick consolation wickets, the last five falling for 11. Michael Hussey’s comeback will make sure the tail is not that long in the Test matches.The collapse at the top of BP XI innings was more spectacular. In his second over, Hilfenhaus surprised Gautam Gambhir and Ajinkya Rahane with extra bounce. Gambhir went back looking at the fingers of his right hand, and Rahane looking at some spot on the pitch. Peter George, known to be in the Glenn McGrath mould, started accurately, and removed a left-hand batsman, Shikhar Dhawan, with the first ball he bowled to him. It was a McGrathesque dismissal: the ball pitched around off, and took the edge of the hanging bat. He got Saurabh Tiwary caught-behind too, but that was a loose shot away from the body. Between those two dismissals, Mitchell Johnson squared Cheteshwar Pujara up with what seemed to be late movement away.At 55 for 5, though, spin was introduced. Chawla found it easier to negotiate and added 37 with Wriddhiman Saha. He used his feet a lot, and got to the pitch of the ball with ease, lofting both the spinners for a six each, including Steven Smith in his first over. That Smith’s over was bowled three overs before stumps didn’t stop Chawla from going after him. Between them, the Australian spinners bowled 11 overs for 66 runs, and couldn’t manage a maiden. Hauritz got one inside edge from Chawla that went fine of the wicketkeeper, and that was that.A No. 7 attacking their spinners with ease was the only worrying sign for the Australians over the last two days.

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Glamorgan seamers James Harris and Huw Waters dragged their side back into contention by sharing six wickets in the County Championship promotion battle against Sussex at Hove. Harris reached 50 wickets in a season for the first time in his career while Waters produced an inspired burst of 3 for 2 in twenty balls after lunch just when it looked as if the leaders would take control.Sussex slumped from 166 for 3 to 250 all out in the afternoon session, losing eight wickets for 84 runs to concede a first innings deficit of 50. After tea 17 overs were lost to rain and Glamorgan closed on 37 for 1, an overall lead of 87 going into the final day.Their best chance of winning the game and closing the twenty-point lead Sussex had going into the match will be to score quickly in the first session on Monday although their hopes suffered a setback before the close when Australian left-hander Mark Cosgrove fell for 9. Cosgrove, who made 142 in the first innings, was superbly caught one-handed by Chris Nash on the square leg boundary off Yasir Arafat.Six batsmen earlier fell to leg before decisions, the first of them Nash who had added five runs to his overnight 14 when he was squared up by Harris in the fourth over of the day. Dean Cosker could have been celebrating twice in his first over but skipper Mark Wallace missed an easy stumping to reprieve Ed Joyce on 26 and Ben Brown was dropped by Waters running back from mid-on.Brown made his third successive Championship half-century, studding his run-a-ball 58 with 11 boundaries, but after adding 72 in 16 overs he was bowled by Jim Allenby playing across the line. Murray Goodwin maintained the attacking tempo as Sussex scored 136 runs in the session but the game changed the first ball after lunch when Harris had Goodwin leg before.Joyce, who added just three runs in 30 minutes after the interval, played back to Harris for 56 and Luke Wright became Waters’ first victim when he was bowled offering no shot. Waters picked up Mike Yardy and Arafat in successive overs and the tail was mopped by left-arm spinner Cosker.Andy Hodd, who had held the lower order together with 26, was leg before offering no shot and James Anyon fell in similar fashion to end the innings, Monty Panesar having fallen to Allenby in the previous over.

ScorecardCorey Collymore bagged six wickets as top-of-the-table Sussex sent Leicestershire crashing to defeat by an innings and 19 runs with a day and a half to spare in their County Championship Division Two clash at Grace Road.After a delayed start because of rain Leicestershire lost their last six wickets for 97 runs in 32 overs with West Indian paceman Collymore claiming four of them for 27 runs in 9.1 overs after the lunch break.It gave him figures of 6 for 48, his best return since he joined Sussex in 2008. The only Leicestershire batsman to show any defiance was Jacques du Toit who struck 81 off 83 balls with 13 boundaries. Sussex wasted no time picking up their first wicket once play got underway with Leicestershire resuming on 59 for 4, trailing by 116 runs.Lewis Hatchett had two balls left of an unfinished over to bowl and with the first of them he produced a magnificent inswinger that shattered Tom New’s stumps. But that proved to be the only success of the morning for Sussex. Hatchett lost his line and length and Du Toit and Wayne White cashed in with a succession of boundaries. Du Toit reached 50 off 52 balls and at lunch the sixth wicket pair had put on 56 to take Leicestershire to 115 for 5.But the introduction of Collymore into the attack immediately after the interval slammed the door shut on the home side’s revival. Gaining movement through the air and off the pitch Collymore produced a superb spell of bowling and Leicestershire had no answer. He snapped up the wickets of Du Toit and Claude Henderson in the same over, both batsmen edging away swinging deliveries into the hands of Michael Yardy at first slip.Collymore then had Nadeem Malik dropped twice at slip in the same over before finally trapping him lbw. In between left-arm spinner Monty Panesar nipped in with a wicket as he beat White in the flight to give Ben Brown an easy stumping.The final wicket went to Collymore with Matthew Hoggard caught by Yardy to seal a comfortable victory. The victory earned them 23 points to consolidate their position at the top of the table.

Former captain Gavin Hamilton has been recalled to Scotland’s strong 14-member squad to face Bangladesh in the one-off ODI in Glasgow on July 19. Hamilton, who stepped down from his post last month, didn’t participate in the ICC World Cricket League Division One in Netherlands recently.Two players who were busy with county commitments, Kyle Coetzer and Josh Davey, have also been included. The squad includes the core group of players from the WCL, where the team won five out of seven games.”We are looking forward to playing another Test-playing nation at home,” head coach Peter Steindl said. “We aim to continue the fighting spirit that we have demonstrated so far this season and look forward to the challenge that Bangladesh will provide us.”The teams last met in Scottish soil during the 1999 World Cup. The ground will also host the one-off match between Netherlands and Bangladesh on July 20.Squad: Gordon Drummond (capt), Richie Berrington, Kyle Coetzer, Josh Davey, Gordon Goudie, Gavin Hamilton, Majid Haq, Moneeb Iqbal, Dougie Lockhart (wk), Ross Lyons, Neil McCallum, Preston Mommsen, Matthew Parker, Fraser Watts

Former West Indies opener Desmond Haynes has been named the new manager of Barbados for the upcoming Caribbean T20 tournament which starts on July 22. Haynes takes over from Jeff Broomes, who managed the team for the West Indies Cricket Board’s four-day tournament.The team has retained allrounder Ryan Hinds as captain and Emmerson Trotman as head coach. Vasbert Drakes will be the assistant coach while Jacqui King has been appointed the team physiotherapist.Since retiring from cricket, Haynes has served as the first-vice president of the Barbados Cricket Association and been the chairman of the West Indies selection panel. Over the course of his 16-year playing career he made 7487 runs in 116 Tests and 8648 in 238 ODIs.Eight teams are set to compete in the Caribbean T20, with the winner going on to represent the West Indies in the Champions League T20 tournament in South Africa in September.

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has asked his team-mates to perform as a unit instead of playing as individuals following his team’s six-wicket defeat to India in Dambulla.”We played well as individuals but not as a team, that’s an area we need to improve on a lot,” Shakib told reporters after Bangladesh were bowled out 167 in 34.5 overs in their first Asia Cup match. “We need to climb one step ahead and put team performances together, only then can we win some games. That’s the main area we have to concentrate on.”We are playing against teams better than us and we need to work out every time we go out and play. But it’s not been happening for the last six months. We are trying our level best and have been working hard at our game.”Bangladesh’s next game is against hosts Sri Lanka on Friday, and Shakib said his team needed to work harder on the disciplines that let them down against India. “Our middle-order batsmen didn’t play well and against spin,” he said. “Sri Lanka has some very good spinners and we need to discuss at the team meeting and do some assessment so that we can do well in next game.”Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes, Bangladesh’s openers, had raced to 35 off 2.5 overs and at 155 for 4 in the 30th over, Bangladesh looked like setting India a stiff target to chase under lights. The introduction of Virender Sehwag’s off-breaks in the 31st over, however, triggered a collapse and six wickets tumbled for 12 runs – the last four falling without a run being added to the total. “Though we lost there are some positives we can take from this game especially the way the top order batsmen started off,” Shakib said. “In the first 10 overs we played really well, but it needs to be continued with our middle order batsmen.”

Essex beat Holland by just one run as the hosts came close to causing a huge Clydesdale Bank 40 upset in Amstelveen. Set 219 runs to win, the Dutch finished on 217 for 6 as Eric Szwarczynski provided the bedrock of their brave chase. Despite seeing Nick Statham (five) and Michael Dighton (nine) depart cheaply to leave the hosts 37 for two, the South Africa-born right-hander remained unflappable as he fashioned a recovery.A Chris Schofield half-century guided Surrey to a two-wicket win over Glamorgan in their Group A game under the Swalec Stadium floodlights. Surrey were set 224 to win but looked in trouble until Schofield and Gareth Batty rescued their side from 126 for 6 in the 26th over with a 53-run partnership.

ScorecardThere was plenty to celebrate for the Sussex bowlers•Getty Images

Sussex made it three Championship wins in succession by completing a207-run victory over Gloucestershire inside three days at Bristol.The home side’s dismal batting form continued as they were skittled for 119 intheir second innings, having begun the day at 12 for 1. Collymore claimed 3 for 30 and James Anyon 3 for 29 as Sussex took 19 points to take their tally from three matches to an impressive 63.Gloucestershire, bowled out in just 39.1 overs, earned three points and arealready 57 behind their opponents in the Division Two table, albeit havingplayed one game less.There was feeble resistance from the moment Abdul-Kadeer Ali lost his off stumpto Rana Naved-ul-Hasan playing a seemingly immaculate forward defensive shotwith the total on 21.Soon it was 29 for 3 as teenager Chris Dent failed to move his feet and waspinned lbw by Collymore for 10. The West Indies paceman struck again in his following over as Hamish Marshall was superbly caught low down at first slip by Matt Prior for seven.Gloucestershire, shot out for 86 in their opening game against Northamptonshireand 128 in the first innings of this game, were again in disarray. It was 40 for5 when Chris Taylor pushed forward and edged Collymore to Joe Gatting atsecond slip.Alex Gidman and James Franklin added 40 before Franklin (29) became the game’s18th lbw victim to a ball from Anyon that appeared to keep low. Umpires TimRobinson and Barry Dudleston had given nine leg before decisions each.Gidman swished his bat in annoyance when playing a loose drive at RobinMartin-Jenkins and slicing a catch to Murray Goodwin at point. TheGloucestershire skipper had made 13 and was clearly a frustrated man.It was almost all over by lunch as Jon Lewis got a thin edge to Martin-Jenkinsand was taken by wicketkeeper Andrew Hodd. The score at the interval was 92 for8.Anyon then produced a good low catch off his own bowling to send back SteveSnell, who had looked more confident than most of his predecessors in making25. The game ended at just after 2pm when Gemaal Hussain was caught in the slips byPrior to give Anyon his third wicket.The ball had continued to swing throughout the match, but Gloucestershire’sbatting was still well below the required standard. In four innings this seasonthey have amassed just 582 runs.