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The one remaining issue of the Division Two season was settled in the first hour of the day as Warwickshire secured the bonus points needed against Glamorgan for them to overhaul Worcestershire and clinch the title at Edgbaston.Glamorgan, a side whose finish to the summer on and off the field is taking on Devon Loch qualities, offered no fight once they had polished off the Warwickshire innings. Neil Carter continued the onslaught he started last night, so much so that another 21 runs had been added when Tim Ambrose was dismissed without adding to his overnight 86. Adam Shanty took two of the three wickets to fall to finish with 5 for 77.That left them needing three Glamorgan wickets, and they didn’t have to wait long as Chris Woakes tore through a flimsy top order. After removing Gareth Rees and Tom Maynard, the title was secured when Jonathan Trott caught Michael Powell, and the collapse continued as Glamorgan limped to 43 for 6. Jamie Dalrymple was the man to dig in, and his plucky 92 ensured there was no follow-on. He was last man out, caught at long-on as he tried for his hundred before running out of partners, falling to Woakes who finished with 6 for 68.Second time round, Warwickshire were, understandably, slightly less focussed, and as was the case yesterday, they lost early wickets to close on 55 for 3. The day was rounded off when Ian Salisbury was awarded the third county cap of his career, adding to the ones he gained at Sussex and Surrey.Middlesex made the most of a placid pitch at Wantage Road to amass 545 for 7 against Northamptonshire. Andrew Strauss fell early for 172, failing to beat his career-best score by five runs, but Owais Shah, 80 not out overnight, completed his hundred and then Eoin Morgan gorged himself in making an unbeaten 136. In the midst of plenty there was a rather unexpected mid-innings collapse as four wickets fell for 19, Ed Joyce, in probably his last innings for the county, making only 1, while Monty Panesar whirled away to finish with 5 for 143. Northamptonshire found things equally straightforward although their batsmen got themselves out after playing themselves in, and more application will be needed tomorrow if they are to avoid the follow-on. At the close, they were 128 for 3.Leicestershire’spolicy of fielding young England players among their Kolpaks is well documented, but it was Derbyshire’s 21-year-old Portsmouth-born offspinner Jake Needham who pulled his side back into the match at Grace Road. He took career-best figures of 6 for 49, and more impressively 5 for 24 after lunch, as Leicestershire slid from 152 for 4 to 208 all out, a lead of only 14. After that excitement the rest of a truncated day was fairly hard work for the Leicester diehards, Derbyshire grinding their way to 85 for 0 in 43 turgid overs on a pitch where the bounce remains variable.Essex were another side who decided to give they batsmen free rein on a flat pitch as they piled up 510 against Gloucestershire at Bristol. James Foster gave the selectors a nudge on the eve of them naming their Test squad for India with 122 while James Middlebrook chipped in with 75, the pair adding 107 for the seventh wicket. Gloucestershire were heartened by the performance of Rob Woodman who took a career-best 4 for 65 on his debut, but when it was their turn to bat, they found the going much harder. They slid to 49 for 3 in the 25th over, the umpires coming to their aid when they took the players off for bad light.

ScorecardSulakshana Naik and Thirush Kamini struck half-centuries to steer India to a resounding ten-wicket victory against Sri Lanka at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur. The opening pair shared an unbeaten 151-run stand for the first wicket after the Indian bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to 145 for 8 from 50 overs.Naik struck 11 fours and a six during her 79 and Kamini’s 60 included five fours as the pair finished the run-chase in just 31.3 overs. The ground work for the victory, however, was laid by a splendid bowling effort after Mithali Raj asked Sri Lanka to bat.Jhulan Goswami and Amita Sharma bowled miserly opening spells and did not allow Sri Lanka to build any momentum. Preeti Dimri took three vital top-order wickets and prevented partnerships to build. She finished with figures of 3 for 14 off eight overs and received support from Kamini who chipped in with 2 for 38 to go with her excellent innings.Shashikala Siriwardene, the captain, top-scored with 40 but there was a shortage of support from the other end as Sri Lanka struggled to reach 145 off their 50 overs.

Andrew Flintoff was delighted with his “best workout yet” after a thorough net session at Lord’s on Friday to test out his ankle. Flintoff spent an hour in the nets at the Nursery End while his team-mates piled on the runs against Pakistan during the first Test.Flintoff, whose recovery from an ankle problem has so far seen him play two Twenty20 matches for Lancashire, was monitored by the county physio Dave Roberts and Dr Peter Gregory, the ECB’s chief medical officer. He produced a lively spell pf pace then batted against members of the Lord’s groundstaff for half an hour.”I bowled six overs so it was my best workout yet and I’m not creaking or anything,” said Flintoff, who is now due to feature for Lancashire in their County Championship match against Kent at Canterbury starting on Tuesday. “I’ve played two Twenty20 matches with Lancashire, bowled three overs and two overs so far, but I wasn’t bowling at full pelt today – I’ve still got something else remaining to give.”I’ve had two tough days last week running up and down hills and it’s all been building up towards bowling and geared towards playing at Canterbury.”But Flintoff, who England hope will be their captain in the second Test at his Old Trafford home ground on July 27, warned: “I’m not going to get ahead of myself about my fitness for the second Test because I can’t be sure until I’ve bowled in a four-day match.”This is all part of the recovery and the fitness work. I’m going to have another net and practice with the England lads again tomorrow.”

Justin Ontong produced the heroics as he lifted the Highveld Lions to a last-ball victory over the Nashua Cape Cobras in their Standard Bank Pro20 match at the Wanderers on Friday. All seemed lost for the Lions as they staggered to 120 for 6 after 15 overs, chasing 182, but Ontong answered their call as he charged to 43 off just 21 balls as the Lions snatched a thrilling two-wicket victory.The Cobras will face accusations of choking because it was a game they looked to have wrapped up, but they dropped four catches and their ground fielding and bowling was poor in the last five overs. Ontong showed the skills and composure that once made him a national player as he and Eugene Moleon took the 12 runs they needed off Alan Dawson’s last over, even though Ontong was bowled off the penultimate delivery.Werner Coetsee also produced a heroic innings of 33 off 23 balls, sharing the vital seventh-wicket stand of 68 off 39 balls, before he was stumped off Adam Bacher with two overs remaining. Charl Willoughby had earlier strangled the Lions run-chase at birth as he picked up the first three wickets inside the first six overs, but the innings was boosted by bright knocks by Vaughn van Jaarsveld (31) and Tyron Henderson (22).Earlier, Bacher had laid the foundation for the Cobras’ total of 181 for 6 after they won the toss and chose to bat first, charging to 85 off just 54 balls. Henry Davids also provided impetus up front as he slammed 34 off 15 balls and Vernon Philander finished well with 21 not out off 15 balls.Offspinner Coetsee stopped the flow of runs effectively as he bowled four overs for 21 runs, while paceman Gerhard de Bruin kept running in hard and had three wickets to crow about, conceding just 25 runs in his four overs. Nevertheless, the Cobras’ total seemed secure as the Lions made a thorny start, before the Cobras lost their way at the death and Ontong led the home side to a thrilling triumph.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:40

Unbelievable that modern batsmen can play like this

In their final innings of a long and wretched series, South Africa’s batsmen produced their most unyielding display, responding with dour defence in the face of a mountainous fourth-innings task. Hashim Amla was at the forefront of their defiance, playing the slowest innings of 200 balls or more in the history of Test cricket*, but South Africa’s job, notwithstanding their captain’s monumental effort, was less than half done.India declared half an hour from lunch, after Ajinkya Rahane had become the fifth Indian batsman to score twin tons in a Test match, setting a target of 481 with just over five sessions remaining. At stumps on day four, South Africa had only lost two wickets while eating up 72 overs. They only scored 72 in that time, but it hardly mattered to them: South Africa were batting time, and runs were simply not on their minds.At stumps, Amla was batting on 23 off 207 balls and with him was AB de Villiers, on 11 off 91. Their third-wicket partnership was worth 23 off 29.2 overs. Before that, Amla and Temba Bavuma had put on 44 in 38.4 overs.South Africa began their fourth innings with a possible 158 overs remaining in the match. Given the sheer amount of time left, a draw seemed out of question, but South Africa have shown themselves capable – in Adelaide three years ago and in Colombo last year – of defying that sort of logic. South Africa’s batting has been far from its best during this series, but they kept faith in their ability – unique in this era – to bat long without thinking of runs.They had five overs to see out before lunch, and did not survive that period unscathed. R Ashwin looped one up to Dean Elgar from around the wicket, drifting it into the left-hander and getting it to leave him from a middle-stump line. Elgar didn’t reach the pitch while trying to drive straight, and Rahane took a comfortable catch at slip.In walked Amla. It took him 46 balls to get off the mark, and the first runs were unintentional, his back-foot defensive stroke off Ravindra Jadeja squirting away into the fine leg region. Bavuma, blocking with comparable single-mindedness at the other end was on 8 off 50 balls when Ashwin sent down a rare half-tracker – possibly slipped in deliberately to break the batsman’s rhythm – that left him with almost no option but to pull for six.The overs ran by quickly, hypnotically, and the close-in cordon grew in strength. It was fascinating to watch. South Africa, perhaps, were making things more difficult for themselves by contributing to India’s rapid over rate and leaving themselves more overs to face. When their innings began, 68 overs remained from the 90 scheduled for the day; India bowled 72.And while neither batsman was making too many mistakes – their control percentages hovered in the low-to-mid-90s – every little mistake was amplified by the presence of four, sometimes five, fielders around the bat at all times.Between lunch and tea, the edges weren’t finding fielders though. Amla came forward to defend Jadeja, and nicked him between first and second slip. Ishant Sharma, replacing Ashwin in the 28th over, found Bavuma’s edge twice in the second over of his spell, and the ball streaked through the slips on both occasions.By tea, India had bowled 22 maidens in 39 overs, and had only one wicket to show for it. It took a ball of great beauty from their best bowler, Ashwin, to finally break the stand in the fourth over of the final session. It drifted away slightly from Bavuma’s off stump, and hit it as he played for more turn than there was. The length was key, punishing the batsman for his lack of a front-foot stride.The pitch seemed to have slowed down slightly, but the batsmen were still being tested, forced to stay vigilant every ball. Ashwin continued to confound with his flight, and slipped in the odd legbreak for variety. Jadeja got a couple to turn sharply past de Villiers’ edge. Umesh Yadav got one to lift from a length and smack Amla’s left glove. It was, perhaps, the moment that best summed up Amla’s impregnability: his hands were as close to his body as possible, and they cushioned the impact of the ball to make it drop right next to his feet.Amla and de Villiers had been at the crease for 62 balls without scoring a run, when Kohli decided to shake things up by bringing on his part-timers. Shikhar Dhawan sent down two wide full-tosses in his first over, and Amla had no option but to smash them to the cover-point boundary, but in between he got one to spit up from a length. Amla was fully stretched out in defence, his head over the ball and his bat face almost parallel with the ground, when the ball popped up off his glove and over Cheteshwar Pujara at silly point. Pujara spun around and dived full-length, but could only get his fingertips to the ball. It was barely a half-chance, but also the only chance India would get during the partnership.In the morning, Rahane shifted gears effortlessly as India resumed 403 ahead, looking for quick runs. On day three, he had scored 52 off 152 balls, shutting South Africa out of the contest in a display of cool professionalism in the company of Virat Kohli. On the fourth morning, Rahane made 48 off 54 balls.The only major change in his batting was a willingness to go after anything remotely wide of the stumps. He picked up two fours and a six in the first four overs of the morning, all in the arc between third man and deep cover, the pick of them a perfectly timed ramp over the slips off Morne Morkel.Kohli, who began the day on 83, only added five to his overnight score before he was lbw to a ball from Kyle Abbott that crept through at shin height. It didn’t hamper India’s scoring rate as Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha kept playing their shots. Rahane raced through the 80s with sixes in successive overs off Imran Tahir and Dean Elgar, and Saha used his bottom hand to telling effect in swiping three fours in two overs.The declaration was just around the corner. Tahir bowled one full at Rahane’s pads, and he clipped it away through the leg side to bring up a hundred that he barely celebrated, raising his arms momentarily before walking off towards the dressing room. It was an understated reaction to an outstanding achievement. Among Indian batsmen, only Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar (three times), Rahul Dravid (twice) and Kohli had made hundreds in both innings of a Test match before Rahane.*

SuperSport Series

A fine all-round performance from Heino Kuhn was the highlight of the Titans’ emphatic victory over the Dolphins by an innings-and-92 runs at Pietermaritzburg. Kuhn hit 216 in the Titans’ mammoth 623 for 6 to become only the third wicketkeeper in history to score a double-century and take five dismissals in an innings in the same first-class match, having earlier claimed five catches in the Dolphins’ first-innings 237. Maurice Aronstam and Martin van Jaarsveld also scored centuries at a quick pace to help the Titans establish a first innings lead of 386 and leave themselves with almost two days to bowl out the Dolphins. Despite a battling 98 by captain Ahmed Amla the result was never in doubt and the Dolphins were eventually dismissed for 294.A fine all-round performance from Robin Peterson was in vain when the Lions beat the Warriors by five runs at Johannesburg. Peterson’s 73 had given his side a chance of victory, but he was ninth out with24 still needed, and although Brent Kops and Lonwabo Tsotsobe took the score to 259, Kops’s dismissal left them an agonising five runs short. Peterson had previously kept his side in the match almost single-handedly. He took four wickets in the Lions’ first innings 256, anchored by a fine 95 from Neil McKenzie, and then was the only batsman to top 25, scoring 54 in the Lions meagre 158. Charl Langeveldt and Friedel de Wet shared nine-wickets between them for the Lions. Peterson claimed four more scalps to bring the Warriors back into the contest when they bowled the Lions out for 166 second time round, a total that owed much to de Wet’s feisty, unbeaten 43. 265 was needed for victory, but again Peterson was the only Warriors batsman to top 50 in the second innings, a sterling effort but not enough to bring victory.A superb display of fast bowling from Eagles bowlers Johan van der Wath and Ryan McLaren blitzed the Cobras and led their side to a 52-run victory at Bloemfontein. McLaren and van der Wath claimed four wickets apiece to skittle the Cobras for 107 and leave them well short of their target of 160. Honours were even after the first innings, the unfortunate Dean Elgar having been stranded three runs short of a maiden century in the Eagles’ 218, while Henry Davids made 76 in the Cobras’ 220. Only Rudolph got to 50 when the Eagles could muster just 161 in their second knock, and they looked to have blown their chances of victory. Their fast bowlers, however, had the last word.

At least four England supporters suffered minor injuries on the final day of the first Test at Kandy, when the corrugated-iron roof of their stand blew off in high winds and landed on the seats below. According to eye-witnesses, one male supporter was taken to hospital with a gash to his chest, while three others suffered minor cuts and bruises.”To be honest, I’m feeling nervous sitting here,” said Steve Lindley, an England fan out here for all three Tests, who was hit in the small of the back by the falling sheets of iron. He and his fellow fans had been sitting in the special enclosure at the Hunnasgiriya End of the ground, which was quickly evacuated after the incident.”There was no real sign that they were going to come off,” Lindley told Cricinfo. “We were looking towards another stand where they were starting to blow off, but then there was a gust and three sheets all came off together. They came straight down onto the group of us sitting there.”One girl was taken for a medical check-up after receiving a gash to her shin, while another male supporter cut his leg on a concrete support in the rush to clear the seats. None of the injuries arebelieved to be serious, but Lindley intended to get a check-up during the lunch interval. “My back is quite sore now, and if at any point it gets worse … you never know with bruising.”The area was soon cleared, as local maintenance men set about removing the other loose sheets on the roof. “They went up there with bare feet, no safety equipment, and just dropped them down,” said Lindley. “One lad nearly dropped a sheet on his mate. There was no regard forsafety. “

Duncan Fletcher says he is happy to speak to Andrew Flintoff, but will not be the first one to pick up the phone. In his controversial autobiography, Fletcher has said that he felt let down by Flintoff’s behaviour as England captain, comments which have hurt Flintoff, according to his father Colin.Fletcher, though remains unrepentant about his comments, saying that loyalty is a two-way street and in his latest interview, this time for the , he said Flintoff must call him. “I think it is important that Andrew rings me.”If Andrew phones me we will have a discussion and clear the air, put both sides of the story across. There are certain things that I can’t disclose. It would be important that he phones me.”Fletcher added that Flintoff should still have the chance to captain his country once more. “I don’t think there is any reason why it should be held against him,” he said. “There are a lot of factors at picking a captain. If a situation arises where there is no one else then you have got to really look at Andrew.”He needs some experience. He is a very inexperienced captain in cricket, let alone Test cricket. But as long as he has learned from his mistakes, why hold it against him?”

The second ODI between Canada and Netherlands at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club was abandoned without a ball being bowled.Rain in the early morning left the ground wet, and although the mopping up operation went well, no sooner had it finished that the rain returned.At 1.10pm the rain again relented and the two captains headed out to the middle to toss, but before they got out there a light drizzle started falling and the two of them returned to the pavilion.An hour later the decision was taken to abandon the game. Even though it had again stopped raining, the umpires decided that the outfield was too wet and would take too long to clear up.Netherlands take the two-match series by virtue of their 117-run win in yesterday’s game.On Tuesday at King City, the Canadian Invitational XI beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 37 runs. This was a warm-up game for the UAE before playing Canada in a four-day Intercontinental Cup match starting on Friday at Maple Leaf Cricket Club, King City. Play begins at 10.30am.The Invitational XI scored 290 for 7, with Quebec’s Abdul Jabbar topscoring with 75. There were fifties, too, for Zain Ahmed (56) and Hemnarine Chattergoon (50).Saqib Ali made 90 not out and Ismail 62 for the visitors from a total of 233. Calvert Hooper took 3 for 45, Naresh Roopnaraine 2 for 36 and Krunal Patel 2 for 33.

Hashim Amla has resigned as South Africa captain following the second Test against England at Newlands. AB de Villiers will take over for the final two Tests of the series in Johannesburg and Centurion.Amla has come in for criticism of his leadership since the start of the series but had returned to form with the bat in Cape Town with 201 in South Africa’s only innings. Amla was named as Graeme Smith’s replacement as captain in mid-2014 and this was his sixth series in charge. After winning his first three against Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and West Indies, he oversaw a rain-affected drawn series against Bangladesh and the 3-0 defeat in India.In a statement, Amla said: “This decision has not an easy one to make I felt I had to be true to myself. I am comfortable with my decision and I feel I need to work on my own game.”I was deeply honoured when the position was given to me. Throughout my time as captain, I have always had the support of my team-mates and coaching staff . I remain committed to the Proteas across all formats and I will fully support whoever is shown as my successor.”Amla said that he had begun to think about stepping down two weeks ago, before the start of the series against England. South Africa are currently 1-0 down, after defeat in Durban, but emerged with credit after a hard-fought draw in Cape Town.”Captaining your country is probably the pinnacle,” he said. “Why I did it now, it just so happened I got 200 and it fitted nicely that the South African team did exceptionally well on the last day. It was coming for the last two weeks.”I had chatted to a few of the guys in the team before this, so I don’t think it had come as a massive shock,” he added. “We have a very tight leadership team: myself, AB, Faf [du Plessis]. AB is very able and a brilliant leader and we will all follow similar goals. Whether I’m pulling the rope, or AB is pulling the rope or Dale [Steyn] is pulling the rope, as long as someone is going in the right direction, we all will go with him.”Despite reports that Amla had, at times, been a reluctant captain during his two-year tenure, he insisted he had not had to be coerced into the role in the first place, and that his decision to stand down was also entirely his own.”It was always my decision,” he said. “In life I have learned that if you are going to do something, you’ve got to do something you enjoy. I’ve always enjoyed captaincy.”When Graeme stepped down, it gave an opportunity for me to explore my captaincy. I thought at the time I could add value and I’d like to believe that I have added value. I am really surprised some people have suggested it was not my choice. You don’t look like me in this world without being firm on what you want to do.”Amla found his form with 201 in the Newlands Test•Getty Images

“The decision has been purely based on that I think somebody else can do a better job. It was just something that crossed my mind and was working on my mind. My leadership style, and we have a very young team, maybe somebody else would have done a better job.”Haroon Lorgat, the CSA chief executive, said: “We respect Hashim’s decision and the manner in which he thought about it and then communicated with me. It was consistent with his well respected personality”He still has a huge role to play in shaping the success of our team without the need for a leadership title. He is just that type of a person and we are very fortunate to have him in our stable.”I want to thank AB for readily accepting the challenge of rebuilding our Test team as we seek to remain the best team in the world.”De Villiers said that while being handed the job in such circumstances was not ideal, it would allow him to fulfil a dream of captaining his country in Test cricket.”I’ve said this before that it is an incredible honour to captain South Africa in any format. The captaincy has obviously come at short notice and is the realisation of a lifelong dream,” de Villiers said.”At the moment my priority and focus is placed on leading this team to what can be a memorable series win against England. This Test squad is motivated and determined to turn our performances around and I’m looking forward to taking up that challenge as captain. Hashim is a good friend and close colleague and I am grateful for his support.”Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach, added that de Villiers was the frontrunner for the role full-time, but said that the selectors would make a long-term decision at the end of the England series. He added that Amla’s achievements as South Africa’s captain stood up to scrutiny in spite of the criticism he received during his time in charge.”I feel that there hasn’t been enough respect shown for what he has achieved as a player,” he said. “People can say what they want to, [but] he is still averaging 45 as captain. He has gone to Zimbabwe, won a series there, gone to Sri Lanka and won a series there which no other captain has done. He won a series against West Indies. He has gone to India where a lot of captains have lost under tough conditions, and we’ve come here with six new players who have all played under 10 Test matches.”He has sacrificed himself for the rest of the team which speak volumes for him, and people need to appreciate that type of character and it seems we sometimes undervalue that on the field. He has got a lot of experience, and expertise and advice that he can give, particularly the younger players in the side.”