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Glenn McGrath was installed as Worcestershire’s Player of the Year after a defiant but ultimately unsuccessful bid to snatch promotion with victory over Northamptonshire at New Road.The Australian took eight for 41 – the second best return of his career – to dismiss the Second Division champions for 125 and become the leading bowler in the Championship with 76 wickets.But Worcestershire were unable to clutch the last straw when set to make 262 in 43 overs. They could only hold on for a draw at 119 for six with Ryan Driver unbeaten on 47 when bad light brought about an earlyclose.Openers Paul Pollard and Elliott Wilson to leg-side catches in the first two overs from Darren Cousins and Paul Taylor.The long-serving left-armer, Taylor, went on to take four of the first five wickets, including danger man Vikram Solanki, who played one big shot too many after racing to 30 out of 41.So Northamptonshire head for the top-flight while Worcestershire stay in the lower division – and with no McGrath to boost their chances next year. He will be touring with Australia before returning to the county in 2002.An all-action last day began with Worcestershire needing to add 61 to their overnight 50 for five if they were to head off the threat of the follow-on.This was achieved in quick time by David Leatherdale (46) and Steve Rhodes (42) before a declaration at 124 for seven presented Northants with a lead of 136 but only 80 overs in which to conjure up a result.The possibility of setting a target was taken out of their hands as McGrath bowled Adrian Rollins first ball and captured five for 31 in his first spell. Kevin Innes and Toby Baiiley then added precious runs before their tormentor returned to polish off the last three wickets in 11 balls.

Saurashtra captain Jaydev Shah slammed a 80-ball 100 to lead his side to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Karnataka in the quarter-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. After being asked to bat, Karnataka could only muster 234 as Robin Uthappa top scored with a measured 50. Left-arm medium-pacer Balkrishna Jadeja, playing his second List A game, took three wickets for Saurashtra but was expensive, giving away 68 runs. The Saurashtra chase was given a solid platform with openers Chirag Pathak (64) and Sagar Jogiyani adding 87. Shah then propelled them to victory, crunching 10 fours and five sixes in his second List A hundred.The day’s other quarter-final also saw a captain’s century set up a win. Bengal cruised to a 48-run triumph over Delhi on the back of a commanding batting performance, led by captain Laxmi Ratan Shukla’s 95-ball 124 in Visakhapatnam. Bengal got off to a good start as their openers forged a 74-run stand but stumbled as three wickets fell for the addition of five runs. They got back on track thanks to an express 120-run partnership between Shukla and Anustup Majumdar, who contributed less than a third of the runs in the stand. Debabrata Das chipped in with a quick 40 as Bengal finished on 295. Delhi’s batsmen had to score briskly to chase down the big target and perished in the attempt. Though they reached 139 by the 25th over, they had lost five wickets and despite Under-19 World Cup-winning captain Virat Kohli’s efforts, they were bowled out for 247.

Group B

After bowling Assam, who had been 132 for 6 overnight, for 193, Delhi‘s batsmen piled on the runs in Vadodara. Three of their top five made fifties – captain Unmukt Chand scored 55, Nitish Rana was unbeaten on 72 and Rishabh Pant, who played the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year, was not out on 84 off 83 balls. Pant’s innings included seven fours and five sixes.The batsmen’s efforts made the second day’s play near perfect for Delhi. It had begun with Pradeep Sangwan ripping through the tail to finish with 3 for 47 – Assam’s Tarjinder Singh was left stranded with 61 runs to his name – and it ended with Delhi ahead by 48 runs with seven wickets remaining.A maiden first-class century from 19-year old Kaushal Singh helped Jharkhand secure an 83-run lead over Maharashtra in Delhi.Coming in at 108 for 5 in the 35th over, Kaushal batted through to stumps on the second day and helped his team overcome a top-order wobble. And it wasn’t like he was plodding along either. His 121 runs came off only 178 balls, with 15 fours and three sixes and that aggression meant the seventh and eighth-wicket partnerships with Shahbaz Nadeem and captain Varun Aaron contributed upwards of 50 runs each.Maharashtra, despite having only 210 on the board, would have felt hopeful considering Shrikant Mundhe began the day with two wickets in the space of four overs. But they couldn’t finish well.Saurashtra captain Jaydev Shah fell two runs shy of a career-best score as his team racked up a total of 430 against Rajasthan in Vizianagaram.Shah began the day on an unbeaten 120 and was the eighth wicket to fall for 193, an innings that lasted over six hours and included 36 fours. His strike-rate was an impressive 84.64. He added 110 runs with Chirag Jani for the sixth wicket which pushed the score over 300. Marshalled by Shah, the tail made some handy contributions as well to put Saurashtra in a position of strength.Rajasthan bowled them out with just enough time for them to bat again – 1.4 overs – which they got through unscathed.Half-centuries from Faiz Fazal and Ganesh Satish pushed Vidarbha into the lead against Odisha in Visakhapatnam. Fazal made an unbeaten 76. Satish was on 74 when he was caught behind with five overs left for stumps, a minor positive for Odisha, who had begun the day on 134 for 6 only to be bowled out for 150.Vidarbha were dominant from the very first ball they bowled on Friday – it bowled Odisha’s Biplab Samantaray for 53. Srikanth Wagh, who produced the wicket, finished with 3 for 13. Offspinner Akshay Wakhare then cleaned up the tail and finished with 3 for 19.Vidharba’s innings suffered a setback when opener Sanjay Ramaswamy was bowled for 13 by seamer Deepak Behera but Fazal and Satish negated Odisha’s bowling and added 158 for the second wicket. They have a 32-run lead and eight more wickets to work on building it further.

The MCC has submitted a planning application to Westminster City Council for six floodlights at Lord’s to be installed at the start of each season from 2009 for five years.Having floodlights is one of the provisions for hosting ICC World Twenty20 matches next year and could also be used for one-day internationals and county matches. If the plan is approved there will be six light pylons, the tallest standing at just under 48 metres behind the Warner, Compton, Edrich, and Tavern Stands. They will remain in place throughout the season and removed each winter.The application follows an in-depth study by the MCC which looked at the growing demand for day/night games The MCC realises that Lord’s needs floodlights to remain an attractive venue for day/night matches. Lord’s is one of three grounds that will host the World Twenty20, conditional on the provision of floodlights that meet ECB standards and the requirements of broadcasters.The MCC has already experimented with temporary mobile floodlighting for a day/night match in 2007 but found that they failed to meet ECB standards and there were problems with light spill and glare. A further day/night trial with temporary mobile floodlights is scheduled for August 2008 to address some of these issues.The temporary floodlights now proposed for 2009 are specifically designed for Lord’s and will implement higher quality and more accurate lighting to minimise light spill for local residents and eliminate glare for players, umpires, broadcasters and spectators. It will also enable the MCC to continue to monitor the impact of floodlighting on both the game and across the wider neighbourhood over a longer period of time.”Floodlights are now a key component for staging one day and Twenty20 matches,” said Keith Bradshaw, the MCC secretary and chief executive. “This application provides a solution to floodlighting for the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in 2009, a major international sporting event, as well as matches over the next five years. As the home of cricket globally, it is crucial that Lord’s continues to host these games.””The temporary option has been developed following a thorough analysis of floodlighting solutions. It’s important that we take into account the effect on the local area as well as how it fits in with the Lord’s masterplan, which will see significant and long-term improvements at Lord’s.”

Mitchell Marsh was waiting to bat when a voice behind the players’ viewing area piped up. “I was waiting to bat and some bloke yelled out in the crowd,” Marsh said. “He just said ‘well done, you’ve gone for $1 million [INR 4.8 crore] in the [IPL] auction’, and I was just sort of ‘yeah, whatever mate.'”Events in India on Saturday afternoon were undoubtedly significant for Marsh and his bank balance, but in years to come he is more likely to remember what happened next. Marsh walked to the middle with Australia’s chase and Chappell-Hadlee chances in serious jeopardy, but the iron-willed innings he conjured in the company of John Hastings allowed Steven Smith’s team to ease to a series-leveling win.Marsh is still a developing member of the Australia side, something that may be underlined by his possible omission from the squad for the World Twenty20 to take place in India before the IPL. Nevertheless, there were signs of a prospective leader in how he controlled things in Wellington, vitally setting down the ground rules for a match-clinching stand with Hastings.”It was just a great partnership with Johnny Hastings,” Marsh said. “We were in a bit of strife there, not sure how many we needed when he came out, 80 or so, and the way he batted and the way we batted together was extremely satisfying. We came here to get back into the series and we’ve done that now. So that’ll give us great momentum going into Monday [series decider in Hamilton].”We kept on saying we knew we were ahead of the run rate so we had plenty of time, and I just told Duke [Hastings] to give himself a bit of extra time to get in, watch the ball extremely hard and if it’s in his area smack it, because that’s when he bats his best. We kept it pretty simple and just tried to take it as deep into the innings as we could, because we knew we had plenty of time and overs left.”This summer Marsh has arguably evolved more as a bowler than a batsman, due at least in part to opportunity. A fully functioning top order left him short of meaningful innings during the home Tests, and it was not until he made a first international hundred in an ODI loss to India at the SCG that he was able to make a decent mark. This innings, guiding Australia home, was further progress and evidence of his increasing mental toughness.”During the Test match series I didn’t get a lot of opportunity because the top five were making a hell of a lot of runs and I just kept working hard,” he said. “I wanted to take the opportunity when I got it. When you’re under pressure for runs, certainly at this level, you think about a lot of things.”When you haven’t spent a lot of time in the middle things just don’t come naturally and you don’t think as clearly as you do when you’re in form. That’s been the biggest thing for me to work on, just worry about watching the ball and the rest will take care of itself. The last few weeks with my batting has given me great confidence to keep going now.”That toughness extended to blocking out the news of his IPL auction price until the match had been successfully finished off. For Marsh, at least, the prospect of winning a match for Australia still takes precedence over glad tidings from the game’s financial crucible.”I just tried to block it out because it was pretty amazing, and then Shaun [Marsh] came and sat next to me with a little grin and gave me a little nudge so then I found out,” Marsh said. “Really happy I was able to block that out and focus on the game today, because playing for your country is the most important thing to me, so while that’s great I’m really rapt we’re back in the series now.”

Gauteng will meet Northerns in the final of the SAA Provincial One-Day Challenge after they defeated South Western Districts and Eastern Province in the semi-finals held on March 8.Gauteng thrashed South Western Districts by 209 runs while Northerns prevailed over Eastern Province by 15 runs.Gauteng’s massive win in Johannesburg was set up by opener Dane Vilas, who smashed an unbeaten 119 from 115 balls, including ten fours and two sixes, as he steered his team to a commanding 297 for 5. Warren Swan chipped in with 57 while wicketkeeper Matthew Harris (25 off 13) and Dumisa Makalima (47 off 22) provided the flourish at the end. The only bowler to end with respectable figures was Rudy Hillerman, who took 2 for 49 in eight overs.Pursuing a stiff 298, South Western Districts struggled as left-arm spinner Jean Symes along with fast bowlers Yunus Keiller and Brian Mathebula shackled the visitors and bowled them out for 88 runs in 21 overs. Symes finished with 4 for 8 off 3.5 overs, while Keiller had 3 for 23 off his seven. Nigel Brouwers hit three sixes but fell for 26 as his side crashed to a 209-run lossIn the other semi-final in Port Elizabeth, Northerns scraped home in a low-scoring encounter. A tight bowling performance saw the Northerns, who chose to bat, restricted to 172 for 9. Shaun Liebisch scored almost a run-a-ball 60, but the rest of the batsmen were unable to find any run-scoring rhythm. Two run-outs in the 30th over didn’t help the cause of the Northerns either.Liebisch, though, sparked off his team-mates with the ball; he provided two vital breakthroughs when the Eastern Province top order were threatening to take the game away via building partnerships. Left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso removed Nos 6-8 to finish with 3 for 31; wicketkeeper-batsman Sean Adair fought for 69 off 100, but was one of two scalps for medium-pacer Tumi Masekela.Eastern Province were dismissed for 157 off 42.5 overs, 16 short of their target. Northerns will face Gauteng in the final on Wednesday.

Perth Scorchers not only failed to break their opening-game hoodoo in the Big Bash League, losing to Adelaide Strikers, but to add to their woes, Nathan Coulter-Nile suffered a nasty dislocation on his shoulder. Coulter-Nile slipped after a misfire at backward point, and fell awkwardly on his right shoulder. He was substituted off the ground in the 12th over, and did not reappear.It is a bitter pill for Coulter-Nile to swallow after surprisingly emerging into Test calculations ahead of the West Indies series. Coulter-Nile was in the frame to make his Test debut on Boxing Day, but now those dreams are in serious jeopardy. Victoria pacer Scott Boland – who was on standby for the first Test – is most likely to replace Coulter-Nile in the squad, if necessary.Coulter-Nile had enjoyed a fine all-round performance starting with a blistering cameo of 18 off 8 balls, including two towering sixes to help the Scorchers reach a competitive total of 6 for 151. He then performed with the ball to snare the wicket of Strikers opener Craig Simmons and was boasting figures of 3-0-18-1 before injury struck.After the match, the Scorchers captain Adam Voges said Coulter-Nile would have scans on Tuesday. “His shoulder is back in place, fingers crossed,” he said.The dislocation is the latest injury in a horror-run for Coulter-Nile, who has suffered numerous knocks this year. He picked up a calf strain during Australia’s limited-overs tour of England in September, and suffered a left shoulder injury after landing awkwardly in a training mishap during the Matador BBQ One-Day Cup in October.Having endured his own string of injury problems over the years, Scorchers allrounder Mitchell Marsh was sympathetic of his team-mate’s plight. “Nathan has had a tough time of it with injuries. We just want him back,” Mitchell told ESPNcricinfo.While his Test team-mates Voges and brother Shaun performed solidly, Mitchell had a poor game, making just one run and going wicketless. He failed to make contact with a flighted Adil Rashid delivery after lazily charging the pitch and was bowled off just the second delivery he faced. Mitchell’s dismissal stifled the Scorchers’ momentum, and they were unable to recover fully.Mitchell said he was disappointed with his performance, but believed he was in good shape ahead of his Boxing Day Test debut. “It was disappointing to miss a full toss, it was unfortunate but it happens,” he said. “I feel really good right now and I’m looking forward to Melbourne after missing last year’s Test due to injury. The MCG Test is a special week.”Mitchell said he hoped to play the Boxing Day Test with his brother Shaun, who dazzled early in the Scorchers’ innings with a 35-ball 47. Shaun is in a battle with Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns to retain his Test spot.”[Shaun’s] in very good form, and has been for the last 12 months,” Mitchell said. “That decision is above my pay grade but hopefully he gets picked. It would be extra special to play with Shaun during Boxing Day and enjoy the occasion with family.”After losing their opening game for the fifth straight year, Mitchell was at a loss for the Scorchers’ perennial slow starts to the BBL campaign.”I can’t put my finger on it because it is very important to start these tournaments well. Maybe we tried too hard,” he said. “For the team we had, we didn’t put enough runs on the board. It was a beautiful wicket, 180 would have been a good total.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDevendra Bishoo nearly pulled off a stunning heist in the last over•Caribbean Premier League

Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel huffed and puffed and just scraped through to their first win of the season by three wickets in a low-scoring encounter against Guyana Amazon Warriors. Requiring five in the last over, T&T nearly found a way to lose as legspinner Devendra Bishoo picked up his second wicket of the over with the penultimate delivery, but on inspection a no-ball was called by the third umpire because the bowler had overstepped. With one to get and two balls still remaining, Kevon Cooper smashed the free-hit for six to win it for Red Steel.Cameron Delport had got Red Steel off to a brisk start in the chase of 119, making 22 out of a first-wicket stand of 23 with Jacques Kallis. Darren Bravo and Kallis then added 38 in 44 balls, but both got out in quick succession. Again a partnership built, with Dwayne Bravo and Kamran Akmal adding 31, and Red Steel were comfortably placed at the end of 15 overs – needing 20 to win off 30 balls.Kamran played an inspired cameo – 30 off 17 – but was dismissed in the 16th over with Red Steel still requiring 13 for victory with four overs remaining. However, three frugal overs ensued, including a tight 18th over by Bishoo, in which he took one wicket and conceded just one run. Tasked with defending five off the last, Bishoo conceded three singles and took a wicket in his first four balls, and also had Cooper stumped off the fifth. That delivery, however, turned out to be a no-ball, too large an error in a game of small margins.Amazon Warriors had made a poor start to the game after choosing to bat, losing two wickets in the third over. Lendl Simmons and Brad Hodge began rebuilding with a 35-run stand, before Hodge was caught and bowled off Samuel Badree for 19. Sunil Narine came out to bat at No. 5 but couldn’t get going, eventually holing out to long-on for 14. Simmons was bowled just after he reached his half-century as Amazon Warriors slumped to 104 for 7. They were soon bowled out for 118. Dwayne Bravo produced his career-best bowling figures of 4 for 18, while Kallis and Cooper took two wickets each.

Scorecard

The Lions stumbled for the second consecutive day in a run-chase of 160-odd as they fell to a 22-run loss against the Kolkata Tigers, thus ending their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals.The match in Gurgaon was a crunch clash, as both sides needed to win to have any chance of going through. Craig McMillan, the Tigers’ captain, won the toss and his top order cashed in on the decision to bat.The momentum was provided by Subhomoy Das right at the start; he smashed three fours before Andrew Hall had him trapped in front in the first over. Lance Klusener then joined Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, and the duo added 78 in 11.2 overs.Klusener was run out by Dinesh Mongia for 38 from 34 deliveries but Jhunjhunwala stayed till the 20th over before he was dismissed in the same manner. He made 62 off 57 balls as the Tigers puta competitive total of 165 on the board. Hall took 3 for 37 in his four overs, while his new-ball partner Daryl Tuffey was miserly, conceding only 14 in his four overs.Then it was over to the Tigers’ pace attack; wickets fell at regular intervals as the Lions struggled in their hunt of 166. Abu Nechim scalped three as they succumbed to 69 for 6 after 12.1 overs. A 50-run stand between Manish Sharma and Tejinder Pal Singh raised hopes of an unlikely win. Upul Chandana was carted for runs as Tejinder Pal scored 34 off just 16, while Sharma took the same number of deliveries for his 23.Andre Adams removed the duo in the 17th over, and Nantie Hayward and Nechim got rid of the tailenders as the Lions were bundled out for 143. Nechim finished with 4 for 27 off his four overs, while Adams bagged 3 for 22 off his quota. Nechim and Jhunjhunwala shared the Man-of-the-Match award.

Former fast bowler Pramodya Wickramasinghe will head Sri Lanka’s new national selection committee, which picks both men’s and women’s senior squads. Also in the committee are former cricketers Vinothen John, Indika de Saram, Rasanjali de Alwis (nee Silva), and Tharanga Paranavitana.While the committee headed by Upul Tharanga is now defunct, there is some continuity for this fresh committee, with Paranavitana and de Saram also having served under Tharanga. Wickramasinghe has been chief selector before – between 2021 and 2023 – with Sri Lanka men’s poor performance in the 2023 World Cup prompting his removal. He was also part of a selection committee headed by Sanath Jayasuriya – now head coach – between 2013 and 2015.The change in selectors was announced by Sri Lanka’s sports ministry. SLC chief executive Ashley de Silva said the board had been involved in the process. Sri Lanka’s Sports Law dictates that such appointments go through the sports ministry.”Sri Lanka Cricket sends a list of about ten names to the ministry, and they have chosen from that,” de Silva told ESPNcricinfo. “There is no term as such. The appointment is until further notice.”De Silva also said that the Tharanga-led committee had simply come to the end of its term. Internally, there had been no push towards extending their term until the end of the men’s T20 World Cup in February and March. In fact, it had been a little over three weeks ago that Tharanga suggested captain Charith Asalanka may be replaced in the coming weeks. That decision now passes to the new committee, whose first major assignment will be to select the World Cup squad.All five members of this new committee have represented Sri Lanka at the highest level. Both Paranavitana and de Saram played domestic cricket into this decade. John is the oldest selector among them, having played his last match for Sri Lanka in 1987.