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In a game overflowing with twists and turns, Jeetan Patel landed the decisive blow to see Warwickshire to a tense victory over Somerset

George Dobell at Edgbaston15-Apr-2012
ScorecardJim Troughton had more reason than most to be thankful for Jeetan Patel•Getty Images

In a game overflowing with twists and turns, Jeetan Patel landed the decisive blow to see Warwickshire to a tense victory over Somerset. Patel, coming to the crease with his side requiring 52 for victory and only two wickets in hand, thrashed 43 in 36 balls to settle a match which had veered from one side to the other throughout an intriguing three-and-a-half days.No-one had more reason to be grateful for Patel’s intervention than Jim Troughton. The Warwickshire captain, who played his part in a match-clinching 55-run stand with Patel, had dropped a simple chance on the third day that had allowed Somerset back into the game. Jos Buttler was on seven and had added just 12 with Nick Compton when Troughton missed an easy chance at mid-off. Buttler went on to score 93 and extend Somerset’s sixth-wicket partnership to 167.Troughton admitted that he had not been able to eat or sleep since the miss. He said that the pressures of captaincy had clouded his mind and described the feeling as dropping such important catches as “the worst thing in cricket.”We were in a great position at the time so, when we batted, it was the reason I wasn’t going to let this one go. I told the guys ‘this one is on me.'”The final twist came when Marcus Trescothick introduced the spin of teenager George Dockrell into the attack with three overs to go before the new ball and 16 required by Warwickshire. It was a gamble that backfired as Patel, the New Zealand spinner, thrashed a six and two fours from the first three balls, before levelling the scores with a single from the next. With Troughton forcing the next delivery for four through the covers, Dockrell’s five balls had cost 19.It was not Dockrell’s fault. Patel took a chance and it paid off. More senior bowlers – the likes of Peter Trego and Vernon Philander – had received equally rough treatment with Patel giving himself room to thump the former over long-on and the latter over third man for sixes. Not for the first time in recent years, victory was snatched from Somerset’s grasp.Warwickshire should have won far more comfortably. Midway through the morning, with seven wickets in hand and only 69 more runs required, it appeared they were cruising.Inexplicably, however, they lost five wickets for 17 runs in 47 balls with a succession of batsmen wilting under pressure. Though Ian Westwood left a straight one and Keith Barker, having been hit on the head by Trego’s bouncer, trod on his own stumps, none was more culpable than William Porterfield. The Irishman tarnished his excellent innings with an attempted slog across the line that Shahid Afridi might have thought twice about in the last over of a benefit match.Barker can surely expect a bouncer barrage every time he walks to the crease in future. Suffice to say, he played Trego – admittedly a fired-up Trego, bowling with more pace than usual – as if he were Allan Donald at the WACA. At one stage Trego took four wickets while conceding four runs, with only two of those coming from the bat.Still, Warwickshire clung on for an immensely encouraging win. Missing four of their top players – Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott are being rested following England duty, and Boyd Rankin and Chris Woakes are both injured – they demonstrated they have the squad depth to challenge throughout the season. They should grow stronger. Bell returns ahead of the Championship game against Lancashire in Liverpool later this week, while Woakes is recovering ahead of schedule. What is more in Chris Wright they have a much-improved seamer who one umpire and a couple of players are beginning to talk of as one of the quickest bowlers in the county game.County cricket will always have its detractors. But there should be no doubting the entertainment on offer or the intensity of the competition. And the quality? Well, all four of the key protagonists involved at the end of this game – the two batsmen and the two bowlers – are cricketers with international experience, including the man who has just set a record as the fastest to 50 Test wickets. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?

A Michael Carberry hundred and a fluent half-century from Jimmy Adams led Hampshire to a comfortable nine-wicket win against Somerset

27-May-2012
ScorecardA Michael Carberry hundred and a fluent half-century from Jimmy Adams led Hampshire to a comfortable nine-wicket Clydesdale Bank 40 win over Somerset in front of a 4,000 Taunton crowd.The two openers set their side on course to easily chase down a target of 213 with a stand of 103 in 14 overs before Adams fell for 56. Carberry went on to score an unbeaten 103 off 83 balls, with a six and 14 fours, as the visitors skated to victory with more than 11 overs to spare.Somerset had posted 212 for 9 after losing the toss, Nick Compton (81) and Jos Buttler (71) sharing a fourth-wicket stand of 121 and Dimitri Mascarenhas taking 2 for 17, bowling his eight overs straight through with the new ball.It never looked likely to be enough on a good batting pitch and Hampshire confidently made it three wins from as many Group B games with a convincing all-round performance.Mascarenhas had Somerset under pressure from the start, bowling with superb control from the River End and uprooting the off stump with similar deliveries to remove Craig Kieswetter and Peter Trego. When James Hildreth was caught at slip skying a top-edged pull off Chris Wood, the home side were 25 for 3 in the eighth over.Compton and Buttler were forced to show caution as they set about rebuilding the innings. But Buttler still produced some stunning boundaries all around the wicket to reach his half-century off 59 balls.He averaged 137 in the competition last season and was looking set for another century when run out by Liam Dawson’s direct hit at the bowler’s end having called for a quick single to mid-off.Compton was unable to break loose and hit only six fours in his 106-ball innings, but it was still a valuable knock as apart from him and Buttler, only Craig Overton (20) managed double figures in the face of some sharp Hampshire fielding.Somerset’s score looked 30 below par and they needed to take their catches to defend it. Instead the first chance went begging as Carberry, on 1, was spilled by Compton diving to his left at point off Trego. It proved an expensive miss as Carberry and Adams started scoring as they liked. Adams hit two towering sixes off Peter Trego, managing to hit his own car with one of them.He was first to fifty off 42 balls before lofting a catch to mid-on off Craig Overton. Carberry reached his half-century off 40 deliveries, with seven fours, and the result was never in doubt. Just to make sure, James Vince cracked an effortless 44 not out after Adams’ dismissal and Carberry won the game with the straight six that took him to his century.

Damodar Daesrath, a former Guyana captain, will debut for Canada in their ICC Intercontinental Cup game against Scotland next week

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jun-2012Damodar Daesrath, a former Guyana captain, will debut for Canada in their ICC Intercontinental Cup game against Scotland next week. Daesrath has been playing club cricket in Canada for the past four years.He last represented Guyana in a first-class fixture in March 2005 before settling in Canada. Daesrath has played for the Brampton Masters Cricket Club in the Toronto Elite competition, captaining them for the last two years.”I [am] extremely delighted to be named in Canada’s senior team for the first time and I am eager to go out there and make a big impression for them as early as possible,” Daesrath said. “I love playing cricket in Canada. The standard is very good and I can truly compare it to inter-county cricket tournament in Guyana which I think is very competitive.”Daesrath’s first game for Canada will be a four-day match against Scotland in Glasgow where he will join Jeremy Gordon, another ex- Guyana player, who made his Canada debut against his former team in the Caribbean T20 in January this year.”It will be a challenging experience for my first outing with Canada but I think I am prepared and equipped to meet the high demand on the international scene,” Daesrath said.

South Africa A played out 56 overs in the fourth innings with the loss of only two wickets to deny Sri Lanka A a chance to square the two-match series

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jul-2012Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSouth Africa A played out 56 overs in the fourth innings with the loss of only two wickets to deny Sri Lanka A a chance to square the two-match series. South Africa had beaten the visitors by an innings in the first match in Durban.Sri Lanka A started the day with opening batsman Dimuth Karunaratne, on 99 overnight, reaching his century in the first over of the morning with an off-drive to the boundary. Karunaratne, who had scored 83 in the first innings, went on to take Sri Lanka past 300 and completed 150 runs in the process. He declared the innings soon after, giving a target of 349 runs in a minimum of 71 overs to the home team.South Africa A lost openers Dean Elgar and Reeza Hendricks with only 37 runs on the board, but Stiaan van Zyl, 39 off 140 balls, and Faf du Plessis, 55 off 120, combined together in an unbeaten 93-run partnership as the game meandered to a draw.

New Zealand lifted their fielding, and exposed West Indies’ brittle batting to get an 88-run victory

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran11-Jul-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Nathan McCullum, promoted to No. 7 ahead of Jacob Oram, did more than what was expected of him•DigicelCricket.com

New Zealand’s tour seemed to have hit rock-bottom midway through the third ODI against West Indies when their only consistent batsman of the series, BJ Watling, joined their lengthy list of injured players. This was after their struggling and inexperienced batting line-up got the gift of a pancake-flat track, a tiny ground where the straight boundaries are only 60m long, and the chance to bat first, but could only reach 249. It was, the pundits agreed, a total that wouldn’t challenge Chris Gayle & Co, and West Indies seemed set to continue their dominance in this series.Instead, New Zealand had their best session of the series, and picked up their first win of the tour. The first sign that New Zealand weren’t completely demoralised by their woeful performances so far came in the second over. Trent Boult fired in a yorker in his first ball in ODI cricket, which Gayle managed to squeeze out. The baby-faced Boult walked back to his mark with a smile, unfazed by the pressure of bowling to the most destructive batsman in the world.All the talk in the lead-up to the match had been about how to stop the marauding Gayle – he had four fifty-plus scores in four games coming into this match. So far, Gayle had combined casual brutality with consistency to put West Indies in charge of every match. This time, though, he was out early, as he edged an away-going delivery from Tim Southee to slip, exposing West Indies’ explosive-but-brittle batting line-up.The one department in which New Zealand have been as good, if not better, than West Indies is the fielding. Today was no different, as they pulled off three run-outs and a sharp catch. That catch by Nathan McCullum sent back Dwayne Smith, who continues to infuriate and enthrall by turns, for 19. Dwayne Bravo was run out soon after, as he attempted a third after Southee had fired in a laser-guided throw from deep midwicket, which reached the bowler inches from the top of the stumps. Martin Guptill made up for his batting failures with a sensational stop at cover that resulted in Marlon Samuel’s wicket – on making the save, Guptill instantly flung the ball towards middle stump at the striker’s end to catch Samuels short of his ground.

Smart stats

• The 88-run win is New Zealand’s third-highest margin of victory in ODIs against West Indies and their best against West Indies in the West Indies. Their best win is the 107-run win at Lord’s in 2004.

• New Zealand’s 249 is their fourth-lowest first-innings total in an ODI win against West Indies. The lowest total they have defended successfully against West Indies is 158 in Guyana in 1996.

• Andre Russell’s 4 for 57 is his fifth four-wicket haul in 25 ODIs. The number of runs conceded (57) is joint-sixth on the list of most runs conceded by a West Indian bowler in a match in which he has picked up four-plus wickets.

• For only the second time in ODIs against New Zealand, three West Indies batsmen were dismissed run out. The previous occasion was at Lord’s in 2004.

• West Indies’ total of 161 is their lowest in St Kitts. Their previous lowest was 172 against Australia in 2008. It is also the lowest total at the venue by a Test-playing team (completed innings).

• Russell’s strike rate of 175 is the fourth-highest for a West Indian No.9 batsman (40-plus score). It is also the highest strike rate for a No.9 batsman against New Zealand (40-plus scores).

Kieron Pollard whacked a full ball straight to deep square leg, and Darren Sammy played one from McCullum too early, lobbing a return catch to the bowler. West Indies had stuttered to 95 for 7 and the game was up, despite Andre Russell showing off some clean hitting and highlighting the lack of gremlins in the track at the end.At the start of the match, far higher scores were predicted. Former fast bowler Ian Bishop was talking about how glad he is that he wouldn’t have to bowl on this pitch, and former wicketkeeper Jeff Dujon was hoping there was a sufficient stock of balls as he expected plenty to be hit out of the park. That sort of talk ceased midway through New Zealand’s innings, as they had lost half their side and were in the middle of a 12-over boundary-less spell.An already flatlining innings shifted to an even lower gear as Rob Nicol, the only top-order batsman to capitalise on the perfect batting conditions, miscued a catch back to the bowler Samuels. New Zealand were 125 for 5 and the priority switched from looking to belt the bowling around, to trying to play out the entire quota of overs. Once again the young top order failed: Guptill added to his run of low scores, Daniel Flynn didn’t improve his pedestrian ODI record, Tom Latham made 12 and Kane Williamson played-on for 9.One man who would have thrived in these conditions, Brendon McCullum, wasn’t picked as New Zealand decided to give him time to acclimatise – he only flew in to the Caribbean a day ago. His brother Nathan, promoted to No. 7 ahead of Jacob Oram, did more than what was expected of him, reaching his fourth ODI half-century, and Watling made his third significant contribution of the series to ensure New Zealand didn’t collapse to an embarrassing score.During a 66-run stand with McCullum, Watling again showed his enterprising brand of batting. There were scoops, sweeps and his bread-and-butter nudge in front of square leg, and with West Indies trying to force him to score on the off side, he unleashed several cuts and a terrific inside-out lofted drive over extra cover for six.He exited trying another scoop, after which McCullum started to take more risks, even hooking Dwayne Bravo over deep-backward square leg for six. Till Watling’s dismissal in the 41st over, McCullum had been cautious, happy to work the singles and make sure no more wickets went down. He finally fell in the final over of the innings, pretty much making sure no overs went to waste.It still looked too small a total for New Zealand to defend, but a combination of kamikaze batting, outstanding fielding and disciplined bowling proved enough to consign West Indies to their fourth straight defeat at Warner Park.

A round-up of the 5th, 9th and 13th place play-off matches that took place in the Under-19 World Cup on August 21

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Aug-2012England‘s bowlers led by Reece Topley, restricted Bangladesh to 217 for 7, before their batsmen overcame a middle-order stutter to complete a four-wicket win in the 5th place play-off semi-final at Townsville.Bangladesh’s batting effort was anchored by opener Litton Das, who made a century. Das and captain Anamul Haque (56) put on 113 for the second wicket and at 122 for 1, Bangladesh looked set for a big score. However Topley ran through the middle order as Bangladesh lost five wickets for 25 runs and slumped from 187 for 2 to 212 for 7. England’s chase followed a similar pattern to the Bangladesh innings: at 90 for 1, with Sam Wood (46) and Ben Foakes (47) looking set at the crease, they looked to have the chase well under control. However a quick flurry of wickets meant 90 for 1 soon became 158 for 6 and England’s chase looked in trouble. However, Adam Ball and Aneesh Kapil stayed steady and their unbroken 60-run stand for the seventh wicket carried England home with 10 balls remaining.Pradeep Airee narrowly missed out on becoming Nepal‘s first centurion of the tournament, but he did enough to set up victory over Namibia in their 13th place play-off semi-final at the Peter Burge Oval in Brisbane. Airee finished unbeaten on 98 from 76 deliveries as Nepal put together a total of 219 for 7 having chosen to bat, and the chase did not begin well for Namibia.They were 22 for 2 in the ninth over and although half-centuries to the captain Stephan Baard (56) and Zhivago Groenewald (54) helped steady the ship, once they departed it was all but over for Namibia. Bhuvan Karki, the Nepal left-arm spinner, picked up 5 for 21, the equal second-best figures of the tournament, and Namibia were dismissed for 180, handing Nepal a 39-run victory.It was a proud day for Papua New Guinea at the WEP Harris Oval in Brisbane, where they closed out a 12-run victory over Zimbabwe in the other 13th place play-off semi-final. It was their first win of the tournament and was a major turnaround after Zimbabwe beat them by 104 runs ten days ago. The win was set up by half-centuries to Charles Amini (63) and Lega Siaka (50), as PNG were dismissed for 235 from the last ball of their 50th over.The Zimbabwean chased appeared to be well and truly on track as Kieran Geyle (42) and the captain Luke Masasire (68) put on a 108-run opening stand, but then things began to crumble for Zimbabwe. Kabua Vagi Morea collected three wickets in quick succession and Zimbabwe’s middle order struggled. Still, they remained favourites with 37 needed from six overs with four wickets in hand, but a pair of run-outs and another wicket hurt them, and the tenth wicket fell from the first ball of the 50th over, with 13 runs still required for victory.Javed Ahmadi recorded the highest individual score of this edition of the World Cup, with his 134 helping Afghanistan to a massive win over Scotland in the 9th place play-off semi-final at Allan Border Field. The captain Ahmadi smashed 17 fours and four sixes in his 111-knock before he was dismissed in the 38th over. Some power hitting by Najibullah Zadran (83 off 51) and Afsar Khan took the score to 336, the second-highest total so far. The total was well out of reach for Scotland, who managed only 210, to lose by 126 runs. Only two batsmen passed 30, with the highest score being Mathew Cross’ 37.

Derbyshire were incensed at James Tredwell’s substitution as their promotion hopes took a blow at Kent

David Lloyd at Canterbury06-Sep-2012
ScorecardSam Northeast has enjoyed a coming-of-age season•Getty Images

Derbyshire are not happy, not by a long way. And the suddenly vulnerable second division leaders will be fuming all over again by tomorrow night if England spinner James Tredwell bowls promotion rivals Kent to a vital victory here.The visitors were shocked to learn just 45 minutes before play resumed this morning that, contrary to emails sent by the ECB to both teams and the umpires ahead of this game, vastly experienced campaigner Tredwell was being allowed to replace fellow off-spinner Adam Riley in the home side at the halfway stage of this highly significant match.”They told us Tredwell could come in if he didn’t play at Trent Bridge and we have got an email to that effect,” explained Derbyshire’s head coach Karl Krikken. “He played in that game, so from half past two yesterday we thought he wasn’t going to play here. At a quarter to 10 in the morning, I found out from the umpires that he was able to play.”The rules were set at the start of the game but it’s like saying ‘it doesn’t matter, let’s tear that up and he can play anyway’. It’s wrong, it’s totally and utterly wrong. I feel sorry for the Derbyshire supporters and for the players because they have worked their knackers off to get into this position and you look to play a fair game and then don’t get it.”Kent want to do their best so they will try to push every rule they can, but it’s totally wrong. It’s nonsense. It’s moving the goalposts.”The principle of England players leaving and joining Championship matches on days one and two is now firmly established, even though it goes against the grain for those traditionalists who insist cricket is an 11-a-side game, full stop. But it was the ECB’s change of mind, under the “exceptional circumstances” rule mentioned in the competition regulations, that so annoyed Derbyshire.Because the ODI at Trent Bridge was won by South Africa with more than 15 overs to spare, the Board accepted Kent’s request to release Tredwell after all – on the basis he would have plenty of time to travel to Canterbury from Nottingham last night. And they are not at all apologetic about the revised decision, seeing it as a sign of their flexibility and desire to let county cricket supporters watch the best players in action whenever possible.”We operate on the basis that England players should be made available for their counties so long as there are no fitness or workload issues,” an ECB spokesman said.Kent chief executive Jamie Clifford added: “It is crucial that there is a spirit of co-operation between the counties and the ECB, and in particular concerning England players if we are to continue to support Team England.”The bottom line here, of course, is that a 20-year-old spinner, Riley, playing only his 13th first-class match, has been replaced by a 30-year-old, Tredwell, who has taken 332 wickets at this level.Tredwell warmed up for tomorrow’s task by bowling five maidens tonight, having earlier played a part in the one wicket to fall after Derbyshire had been set a mighty 404 to win. When Wayne Madsen edged Mark Davies, Darren Stevens parried the chance at third slip for Tredwell, at second, to hold the rebound.Whatever happens on the final day, Derbyshire will go into next week’s final round of matches as second division leaders. But having been top of the table almost all season, the gap is now far too small for their comfort. Yorkshire have already won so defeat tomorrow would leave them just one point clear – with Kent only a further five points back in third spot.It is a great pity, though, that this bit of a rumpus over Tredwell’s introduction took some of the shine off a terrific Kent batting performance which saw Sam Northeast, the highly talented 22-year-old opener, make a championship best 165.This was the former England Under 19 batsman’s sixth first-class hundred overall and his third of what has turned out to be a coming of age season.Northeast has taken a little longer to develop than had seemed likely when he was scoring centuries for fun as a schoolboy and making the Harrow 1st XI as a 14-year-old. But he batted beautifully for six hours here without giving a chance, striking 14 fours and depositing spinners Wes Durston and David Wainwright for one six apiece.Having taken three wickets, for one run, just before close of play yesterday, Derbyshire appeared to be right back in this match with Kent only 120 ahead. But Northeast and Nash combined brilliantly to deflate the visitors during a stand of 137. Then Northeast twisted the knife by adding 123 alongside Mike Powell before finally upper-cutting a catch to third man.Derbyshire had endured more than enough for one day. But they will be back to fight again in the morning.

Incessant rain and drizzle forced abandonment in the first ODI between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Pallekele, without a ball being bowled

Andrew Fernando in Pallekele01-Nov-2012
ScorecardThe covers were never removed on Thursday in Pallekele•AFP

Incessant rain and drizzle forced abandonment in the first ODI between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Pallekele, without a ball being bowled. The covers were never removed, and match referee Andy Pycroft called off the match at 17.15 local time. The weather had also severely hampered both teams’ preparation in the lead-up to the match. Tuesday’s Twenty20 was also a washout, after only 16 overs were bowled.The action now heads to Colombo, which hosts the second and third ODIs of the five-match series. The monsoon rains have been no less prevalent there however, and more rain is forecast across the island over the next few days. The second ODI is scheduled to be played at the R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.