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Lancashire survived a late onslaught from Graham Napier to secure a 28-run win over Essex at Old Trafford.

20-May-2012
ScorecardLancashire survived a late onslaught from Graham Napier to secure a 28-run win over Essex at Old Trafford. The result leaves Essex still looking for their first win in the competition, while Lancashire have now won their opening two matches.Stephen Moore, Steven Croft and Paul Horton all hit half-centuries as Lancashire posted 258 for 9 and Essex looked in trouble on 139 for 6 in the 28th over in reply before Napier smashed 51 in just 25 balls in a quick-fire 68-run partnership with Greg Smith to give them a fighting chance.Once Napier holed out to a brilliant catch from Croft, Smith continued the fightback with 44 from 40 deliveries. But, in the end, Essex fell short as they were bowled out for 230 with 15 balls left, Lightning spinner Gary Keedy claiming three for 49.Moore and Croft gave Lancashire a lightning start after winning the toss. They both brought up their half-centuries at faster than a run-a-ball, with Moore smashing a six off Tymal Mills to bring up their 100 partnership off 77 deliveries. Tom Craddock ended the 111-run stand when Moore was caught at cover by Smith for his 62 which came off just 50 deliveries.David Masters then struck twice in an over. First, Croft was trapped lbw for 53 and then Karl Brown chipped the ball to Mark Pettini for 15 as Lancashire slumped from 130 for 1 to 148 for 4. Horton, however, led the rebuilding with 54 from 53 balls.Lancashire continued to lose wickets regularly, with Masters finishing with 4 for 41 by adding the scalps of Stephen Parry and Horton and Napier seeing off Sajid Mahmood as he claimed 2 for 49.Alviro Petersen and Pettini made a bright start for Essex until Ajmal Shahzad claimed his first wicket at Old Trafford as a Lancashire player by bowling Petersen for 24. Pettini, who was dropped by Horton on nine, added just eight more as Parry took a difficult catch.After Tom Westley was involved in a mix up which saw Adam Wheater run out for a duck, he put on 56 with James Foster to keep Essex in the game before being caught on the boundary by Mahmood for 33.Foster made 41 before being bowled by Keedy, and when Michael Comber was run out for a duck two overs later, the game looked over. But Napier and Smith ensured Lancashire were tested to the end, with Mahmood suffering the brunt of their attack as his eight overs went for 60 runs.

Stuart Meaker and Jack Brooks each took three wickets as England Lions dismissed the West Indians for 147, despite Darren Bravo’s half-century

Andrew McGlashan at Northampton10-May-2012
ScorecardJack Brooks took three wickets as the tourists struggled to cope with the moving ball•Getty Images

Given the start West Indies have had to their tour things could be said to be looking up. The full squad is finally available after Narsingh Deonarine arrived in the country and they managed the majority of a day’s play for the first time. However, in reality, that time on the field did not allay any of the concerns about their batting heading into the Test series as they stumbled to 147 all out – albeit in tricky conditions.Yet they are the sort of the conditions very likely to greet them at Lord’s next week and their audition against the Lions attack was from convincing. Only Darren Bravo, with a determined and increasingly fluent 51, offered significant resistance after the top order was blown away and the tail folded without much fight. From England’s point of view it was another display of the fine bowling resources on offer to them – Stuart Meaker was the best on show – but somehow the visitors need to find a way of putting 300 on the board. If they can do that their bowling attack is good enough to keep the contests even.Given all the recent poor weather, the fact that play was only delayed by an hour was unexpected but it was no surprise that James Taylor, the Lions captain, inserted the visitors and neither that they struggled to combat the moving ball, although in mitigation it was their first extended period in the middle. An inexperienced top order was always going to be up against it, as they will be during the Test series.Last week at Hove, where there were only 34 overs in three days, the West Indian top three did not flourish and it is a major weakness. On this occasion they were back in the pavilion with 16 on the board and when Shivnarine Chanderpaul departed cheaply even three figures appeared distant.But they cannot be relying on Chanderpaul all the time and Bravo gave the English audience their first glimpse of his ability with an increasingly positive display, especially considering the conditions. He battled at the start of his stay, reaching 6 off 44 deliveries before three boundaries in four balls kick-started his innings shortly before lunch. He continued to drive well after the break, reaching fifty from 86 balls, before top-edging a pull off Meaker, who bowled with impressive pace and troubled the batsmen throughout.Bravo had added 75 with Marlon Samuels, who was reacquainting himself with first-class cricket following a spell in the IPL, but two overs later Meaker added a further dent to the recovery when Samuels played slightly away from his body, although it was another good delivery. Meaker, who has taken 11 wickets in two Championship matches this season, soon added Shane Shillingford to his tally as the tall offspinner lost his off stump and gave Meaker three wickets in 15 balls.The earlier success had gone to the hometown boy. Jack Brooks, wearing his trademark head band (although in England red and white rather than Northamptonshire maroon), had to bowl into the wind and produced a strong opening spell. Adrian Barath, who had twice edged over and through the cordon, was the first to fall when he fended off the back foot to third slip. Brooks’ second came courtesy of a fine diving catch by Ian Bell at second slip to remove Kirk Edwards, who is captaining the tourists here after it was decided to rest Darren Sammy.Between Brooks’ successes Jade Dernbach also made his mark when he found the edge of Kieran Powell to give Jonny Bairstow a catch. Both Dernbach and Brooks were replaced after exacting six-over spells but the pressure was maintained by Meaker and Matt Coles. The former was particularly impressive, bowling with hostile pace and getting the ball to jag back at both Bravo and Chanderpaul.However, it was Coles who bagged the key wicket of Chanderpaul although not with one of the many good deliveries. Instead, Chanderpaul tried to bail out of a half-hearted pull stroke and lobbed a catch to mid-on. It was a notable first Lions scalp for Coles but rare for Chanderpaul to offer such a gift.Coles claimed his second when Denesh Ramdin drove to gully playing a loose drive without footwork when conditions demanded more circumspection and the equal share of the success continued with Brooks and Dernbach cleaning up the innings.The signs were not promising for a West Indian fightback when Fidel Edwards began the Lions reply in horrid fashion with three consecutive no-balls, the last of which took Michael Carberry’s inside edge into the stumps. Eventually, though, Edwards put his foot behind the line and trapped Joe Root lbw with one that scooted through low.Carberry opened his scoring with a pulled six off Ravi Rampaul but lived a charmed life, edging short of third slip off Edwards and being dropped in the gully on 9, off Kemar Roach. Nick Compton looked more assured as the West Indian bowlers struggled to locate a consistently full length. They have not got long to find their range.

The Colombo weather hurt Pakistan’s push for a result, allowing only 44.2 overs on the second day, during which the visitors added 154 for 3 to their overnight 334

The Report by Sidharth Monga01-Jul-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Azhar Ali gets the hundred, and makes it a big one•Getty Images

The Colombo weather hurt Pakistan’s push for a result, allowing only 44.2 overs on the second day, during which the visitors added 154 for 3 to their overnight 334. It could have been worse for Pakistan after the slow start they made to the day, but their batsmen showed more urgency as the clouds gathered.Azhar Ali might have slowed down in the 90s, but he made up for it through some urgent accumulation after the mark even as rain and Rangana Herath countered the progress. Mohammad Hafeez fell four short of what would have been a maiden double, and Younis Khan continued to provide a case for DRS. Herath bowled a 23-overs spell – 20 of them today – to provide Sri Lanka some sort of control.Ali, who specialises in scoring inconspicuously, remained the centre of attention on the second day. He spent 45 balls in the 90s, but scored 54 off the next 75 balls he faced, once again through ones and twos, almost unnoticed. This was the first time since the infamous Karachi Test of 2008-09 that two Pakistan batsmen reached 150 in the same innings. The two men, Hafeez and Ali, also put together the highest partnership against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka – 287.Ali faced eight dots each on 98 and 99 as Hafeez added 24 to his overnight 172 while Ali moved from 92 to 99. Hafeez seemed bent on beating Ali to the landmark, but missed with a slog to a Herath delivery that was fuller than expected. As the ball hit the leg stump, Herath avoided conceding 100 runs without a wicket, something he has been guilty of only once in his career.Ali wasn’t to be ruffled, though. He remained patient, waited till the field came up, and went after one wide delivery to go from 99 to 103, his second century against Sri Lanka. That boundary was the morning’s 37th run in 14.2 overs, and it didn’t owe to the conditions, which were about as friendly as on day one. Nuwan Kulasekara once beat the edge, and Herath got one to spin past the edge, but that was about all the assistance the bowlers received on the second morning. There was an obligatory outside edge that fell well short.Ali steadily picked up the pace after reaching his hundred even as Younis Khan felt his way into the innings. An afternoon shower then forced the lunch break 12 minutes before schedule. The rain cost about an hour and 32 minutes of play after which Pakistan were decidedly more urgent. Mahela Jayawardene interestingly didn’t go for pace to make umpires wonder if they should walk off in gloomy conditions.Against Herath’s spin and Angelo Mathews’ medium-pace, both Ali and Younis relished. Pakistan added 84 in 18 overs after the break; they had scored 70 in the 26.2 overs before it. Neither of the two had to play a shot in anger as Sri Lanka operated with fields resembling middle overs in an ODI. After a slow start, Younis was approaching the 50-strike-rate when he was given lbw on 32 even though he was hit outside the line of off, the third dodgy decision against him in three innings. One of these days he might break his Provident Fund to pay for the technology required for DRS in matches involving Pakistan.Ali continued smoothly, and duly reached his 150 with a dink down the ground even as Misbah-ul-Haq improvised at the other end. When Ali tried the same, he top-edged a reverse-sweep to fall for 157, equalling his personal best. It was as if the elements didn’t like Herath’s removal after a spell today of 20-2-57-2. A few overs after he was taken off, the rain arrived again, forcing players to take tea 20 minutes before the rescheduled break at 3.40pm.Persistent drizzle meant it was the end of the day’s play too. An overnight declaration might sound a stretch, but wasn’t completely an outlandish idea given how the track shows signs of life only in the morning session.

Ross Taylor is confident he will return from injury earlier than anticipated, but it will still be too late to revive New Zealand’s one-day hopes unless they can stay alive in the series in St Kitts on Wednesday

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jul-2012Ross Taylor is confident he will return from injury earlier than anticipated, but it will still be too late to revive New Zealand’s one-day hopes unless they can stay alive in the series in St Kitts on Wednesday. Taylor is recovering from a shoulder injury he sustained during the first Twenty20 loss to West Indies in Florida, and he has been batting in the nets over the past two days.Initially, Taylor said the problem would keep him out for “anywhere between two and six weeks”, but ten days after suffering the injury he is already gearing up for a return. It remains to be seen whether that will be during the one-day series, which finishes on Monday, or for the first Test, which begins in two weeks.”It was my first net against the quicks [today],” Taylor said in St Kitts on Tuesday. “I had the spinners yesterday. It was nice to get out there. It was a little bit better today. There’s still a little bit of pain there but if I can keep improving like I have every day then I’m every chance of hopefully playing a little bit earlier than I was first expecting when I first heard about the injury.”In Taylor’s absence, the captaincy duties have fallen to the young batsman Kane Williamson, who has not yet found a way to deliver victory to a side that is struggling. However, Williamson scored 58 in the second ODI in Jamaica on Saturday, and Taylor has been impressed with the way he has handled the responsibility of leading a squad in which only two players, Doug Bracewell and Tom Latham, are younger than him.”He’s been great. He’s only young, and to come out here and captain guys who are a lot older than him is always a little bit intimidating,” Taylor said. “But the players respect him. He’s got a good cricket brain and the way he batted in the last game showed what a mature player he is. Hopefully for his own confidence he can continue that form with the bat and hopefully everyone else can rally around him and give him that first win which will give him a lot of confidence.”I’ve talked to him quite a bit. He’s been very forthcoming with asking questions and picking my brain. Hopefully he has learnt a lot. He’s got my full support and hopefully he can continue the way he’s going so far.”New Zealand must win on Wednesday to keep the five-match series alive, after West Indies took a 2-0 lead in Jamaica over the past week. Should New Zealand fail, it will be their first loss to West Indies in a bilateral ODI series in ten years, and Taylor believes the side has the ability to turn their form around.”We’ve just got to forget about the last two games and try and be as confident as possible,” he said. “When you do lose 2-0 you start second guessing yourself a little bit, but we’ve got to be as positive as possible and know that our performance in every game so far has been slightly better.”

Explorer Mike Horn has been very important in South Africa’s preparations for their tour of England and he returned to their camp ahead of the final Test

Firdose Moonda14-Aug-2012With South Africa’s preparation for the final Test in the series against England almost complete, they have called on a special assistant to add the finishing touch. Explorer Mike Horn, famous for his solo full circle of the globe without motorised transport, has joined up with the camp in London to complete a journey that began at his home in Château d’Oex, Switzerland, before the tour began.The squad spent four days with Horn before arriving in England on an excursion that was focused on gaining mental strength through physical exertion. Their challenges included cycling up Alpine slopes, hiking for miles and skiing. Although they will not be doing anything similar with Horn this time, his presence will serve as motivation as they approach the match that will determine whether they are crowned world No.1.”He is an inspiration for us, he played a big role in our preparations before the tour and he will no doubt add value to our current team environment,” Gary Kirsten, South Africa head coach, said.Horn and Kirsten are friends who have worked together before, most notably during India’s 2011 World Cup campaign, which ended in victory. The Indian squad did not shy away from crediting Horn with helping them believe they could achieve and Kirsten is hopeful he will have the same effect on the South African side.”I can’t come here and teach the players how to bat or to bowl,” Horn admitted. “I am here to bring something away from the game. They have proven that they are a better team than before. There is a good ambience in the camp and the players are looking forward to performing better as a team. I’m not going to say much, I think my presence will say a lot.”Horn’s impact on the changes made to the South African mindset are obvious. Jacques Kallis referred to it as simply a “very positive frame of mind,” but it is more complex than that. There is a sense of confidence that did not run as deeply as before. Even Mark Boucher, the toughest, hardest member of the squad whose retirement was forced in the first match at Taunton after a horrific eye injury, admitted he had never been so severely challenged as he was in Switzerland.Along with Boucher, other members of the squad called the camp the toughest few days of their lives. Dale Steyn remembered the a day when they scaled a 3,300-metre peak, which included a rope climb and an ice-field which exhausted most of the squad but left Horn looking like he had “just pitched up home after a stroll in the park”.The day did not end there as Horn then led them to the top of a 750-metre peak, on an uphill cycle for 7 kilometres. “Players used every swearword in the book, until they were too exhausted to swear… and there was still more to climb,” Steyn wrote on his blog. “I had never been so physically exhausted in my life. But I was in Mike Horn territory, so I refused to get off my bike, refused to rest, refused to walk. I found reserves that I never knew I had.”AB de Villiers said that he had never been that exhausted before and that he pushed harder than he had ever had in his life. He now knew he could do more than he believed.”A lot of the rhetoric the team squad has sprouted since that trip has been of a similar nature. It sounds contrived and candyfloss but the expedition to the Alps appears to have made a major difference to the South African mindset. Often criticised for collapsing at the crucial moment, South Africa have shown displays of fortitude in the series so far.After a lacklustre start on the first day at The Oval, they returned to knock England back on the second morning and then batted them out of the match. When it looked like Kevin Pietersen was going to seize the series back for England at Headingley, South Africa returned to remove him swiftly the next morning. Having arrived in England with the mantra that winning crucial moments will win the series, South Africa have done that so far.Their most crucial moments await at Lord’s. Having Horn on the balcony to remind them of the things they have already conquered is what South Africa hope will spur them on to triumph in their biggest Test to date.

A half-century from Mignon du Preez followed by a tidy bowling performance helped South Africa Women take the third Twenty20 against Bangladesh Women in Mirpur, and with it, the series 2-1

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Sep-2012
ScorecardA half-century from Mignon du Preez followed by a tidy bowling performance helped South Africa Women take the third Twenty20 against Bangladesh Women in Mirpur, and with it, the series 2-1.Bangladesh chose to bowl and enjoyed success straightaway, reducing South Africa 31 for 3 in the seventh over. But a fifty from captain du Preez, at over a run a ball, kept them afloat and almost single-handedly carried them to 85; South Africa were bowled out with a ball to spare, with Marizanne Kapp being the only other player to get into double digits. Shukhtara Rahman was the star for Bangladesh with the ball, picking up 3 for 4 in her three overs. Offspinner Khadija Tul Kubra also pitched in with three scalps.South Africa’s opening bowling pair of Kapp and Shabnim Ismail kept a tight rein on the chase from the start, bowling eight overs between them for 10 runs and two wickets. None of the Bangladesh batsmen could hang around long enough or get enough momentum, the top scorer being Farzana Haque with 23 off 31; the hosts finished on 69 for 7, falling 16 runs short.

A day after some former India players questioned Yuvraj Singh’s fitness and asked for him to be dropped, MS Dhoni has reiterated that Yuvraj is in shape for Twenty20 cricket and that his place in the India XI is not in doubt

Abhishek Purohit in Colombo01-Oct-2012A day after some former India players questioned Yuvraj Singh’s fitness and asked for him to be dropped, MS Dhoni has reiterated that Yuvraj is in shape for Twenty20 cricket and that his place in the India XI is not in doubt. Yuvraj took 2 for 16 in three overs and made an unbeaten 19 in India’s win against Pakistan.”When it comes to fitness, as far as this format is concerned, he looks very fit for this format,” Dhoni said. “I think he has done a lot [of work] in the last few months. It is not like he has played cricket straight in the World Twenty20. Before this he has spent a lot of time at the National Cricket Academy and after that he played a bit of active domestic cricket. He looks good. I am not really concerned about his fitness.”Yuvraj was quite sharp in the field on Sunday, stopping a possible boundary off the first legal delivery of the match with a dive at point. He also ran out Yasir Arafat later with a direct hit from point. He did take some time, though, to catch his breath while batting after running sharp singles or a couple.Dhoni has repeatedly said he missed Yuvraj the part-time bowler while he was undergoing treatment for cancer. Given how vulnerable India’s attack has looked of late, the package of skills Yuvraj offers Dhoni makes him too valuable to be left out. He got the important wickets of Nasir Jamshed and Kamran Akmal, to leave Pakistan struggling at 49 for 4.”Yuvi was already in the team, the fact whether Yuvi should play or not was not even considered,” Dhoni said. “Especially when we play with seven batsmen, the role of the part-timers is very important. Virat [Kohli] is one option but a left-arm away-going option is good to have. Here Yuvi’s role is important. We all know that he is a good fielder as well. Today he effected a good run-out as well. If we are playing with four specialist bowlers then it is difficult to leave out Yuvraj.”And his batting today will give him a lot of confidence, because even if you play in the domestic circuit you don’t get bowlers who bowl at the international level. He will take a lot of positives from all these matches. We all know once he gets going he is a terrific batsman to have in the side.”

Phillip Hughes continued to show the improvements he has made in his time out of the national setup, steering South Australia to a hefty nine-wicket win over Queensland at Adelaide Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2012
Kane Richardson took 6 for 48•Getty Images

Phillip Hughes continued to show the improvements he has made in his time out of the national setup, steering South Australia to a hefty nine-wicket win over Queensland at Adelaide Oval. After Kane Richardson picked up six wickets to restrict the Bulls to 189, Hughes guided the chase with ease and finished unbeaten on 95 when the winning runs came in the 37th over, handing the Redbacks a valuable bonus point.Hughes and Michael Klinger put on 138 for the opening wicket and quickly ended any hopes Queensland may have had of defending their small total. Klinger faced more of the strike and brought up his half-century from 60 deliveries, eventually departing for 72 when he was trapped lbw by James Hopes.But it was Hughes who was most impressive, scoring all around the ground in a confident display as he brought up his fifty from 56 deliveries. He found gaps with his usual cuts and cover-drives, and notably with pulls through and in front of square, which has not always been a strong area for him. Hughes has now started his first season as a South Australia player solidly, adding to the 95 and 83 he made in the first Sheffield Shield game.He brought up the victory with six over long-on from the spin of Brad Ipson, and it was a fittingly dominant way to end a match that South Australia owned completely. The result had been set up earlier in the day by Richardson, who was named Man of the Match for his 6 for 48, the equal third-best one-day bowling figures by a South Australia player.Things weren’t going too badly for the Bulls early as the opener Usman Khawaja brought up a confident half-century. But having pulled Richardson for six in the 24th over, Khawaja tried to repeat the stroke a few balls later and managed only to sky a catch to deep midwicket, where he was caught for 57 from 69 balls.It was just what the Bulls didn’t need, for none of the rest of their batsmen found it easy to get in. Richardson caused all kinds of havoc in his next over, picking up three wickets as Peter Forrest was hurried by a bouncer and fended a catch to fine leg, Chris Lynn was caught and bowled off a leading edge and Nathan Reardon edged behind from a ball that moved away.Queensland were wobbling badly at 5 for 103, and it took some patience from Joe Burns to help steady things. Burns had taken 16 balls to get off the mark, with a slog-swept six off Johan Botha, but after that he found scoring difficult and scratched out 51 from 83 balls, while he had support from Ipson, who made 33 batting at No.9. But Richardson’s strikes had been terminal for Queensland, who were bowled out for 189 in the 49th over.