All posts by csb10.top

Corrie van Zyl, the South Africa coach, has said experience in Twenty20 events like the IPL and the Champions League is unlikely to help India’s batsmen handle South African conditions during their three-Test series which starts on Thursday in Centurion.”When you play here as an IPL team or in the Champions League, you play on wickets that are a lot slower and flatter,” van Zyl said at a press conference in Johannesburg. “They might feel a lot more comfortable touring because of those experiences, but in terms of the conditions such as the pace and the bounce, I don’t think they would have an advantage. It’s not easy to get used to South African conditions if you haven’t been playing in them for a while.”The Twenty20 tournaments – IPL 2009 and Champions League 2010 – were held in April-May and September respectively, times when South African pitches are traditionally known to be slower. It’s only when summer fully strikes, from November to February, that pace and bounce becomes a factor and for that reason, van Zyl thinks the Indians will have a lot of adapting to do.The South Africa media has been making threatening noises about the hosts’ desire to exploit their home advantage and van Zyl confirmed that view. “We are hopefully going to play on wickets that will benefit our style of play. There’s been a lot of talk about pace and bounce and yes, that’s what we would like to see from our South African wickets.” With a pace attack that’s spearheaded by Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, and an Indian line-up that’s become known for its vulnerability to the short ball, it’s clear what South Africa’s strategy will be.The home seamers, however, are not the only ones looking forward to responsive pitches. Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth spend most of their time toiling in the subcontinent and will relish the chance to enjoy some assistance from the conditions. van Zyl believes the team that makes better use of the conditions will finish on top. “It’s one thing to play in those conditions and another thing to execute. If we think that the Indians don’t have bowlers that can bowl well on bouncy wickets then we are mistaken. It’s about who handles the bounce and the pace the best.”South Africa are certain to include a fourth seamer in the starting XI, but van Zyl was “not comfortable” discussing whether that bowler will be Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Ryan McLaren or Wayne Parnell. Tsotsobe is the incumbent, having played in the West Indies in June, which was the the last time South Africa used four seamers – Steyn, Morkel and Jacques Kallis being the others. Tsotsobe was the leading bowler during the one-day series against Pakistan in the UAE and indications are that he will get the nod.”Tsotsobe has grown tremendously as a bowler and a lot of that has to do with the fact that he has improved tremendously in terms of confidence,” van Zyl said. “I don’t think he is the bowler he used to be, purely from a confidence point of view. He has worked hard on his strength and conditioning and I think he has really come along recently.”Tsotsobe has only played one first-class game this season for his franchise, the Warriors, in which he took just one wicket. He is not the only South Africa player who may lack adequate practice, as wet weather continues to play havoc with the team’s preparations. The squad assembled in Johannesburg on Sunday, and their first practice session on Monday was delayed by two hours. They had just managed to get onto the field at the Wanderers when rain interrupted again. van Zyl has “an eye on the weather, and the other eye on what we can do if it does rain for the whole week.” Indoor nets are available if need be, but ideally, van Zyl will want his batsmen to practise outdoors.Alviro Petersen, AB de Villiers, Morne Morkel, Ryan McLaren and Paul Harris had match time thanks to the MTN40. Players who were not involved in the domestic tournament have found other avenues to train, and some, like Tsotsobe, travelled to Cape Town where they were under assistant-coach Vincent Barnes’ watch. Graeme Smith’s fitness, however, remains a concern. He was cleared to play after fracturing the ring finger on his left hand against Pakistan, but is yet to face hard balls.While India have never won a Test series in South Africa, and have only won one out of 12 Tests since 1992, they’ve got progressively got better at competing overseas. The current world leaders in Test cricket are also visiting South Africa for the first time under Gary Kirsten. That factor alone has increased tension ahead of the series.”He’s not playing, is he,” van Zyl joked about Kirsten’s involvement. Even though South Africa won’t have to contend with Kirsten on the field, van Zyl is aware of the other challenges MS Dhoni’s side will pose. “It’s an excellent Indian team. If you are talking about a good team then you can’t single out individuals, they are not No. 1 because of an individual, they are No. 1 because they are a very good unit and I think if we look at one or two individuals then we are going to miss the boat.”Many feel that if India fail to beat South Africa, the credibility of their ranking will be in doubt. van Zyl said he was not going to bother about the ratings until the series was over. “It’s not really for me to say if the ranking would be right or wrong,” he said. “I would just like to see us beat them in this Test series, then we can see about that.”

Stumps
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Younis Khan defied South Africa to score his 17th Test century on the 5th day of the 1st Test•AFP

Younis Khan defied South Africa to guide Pakistan safely to a draw in the first Test at Dubai, cracking an unbeaten 130 – his 17th Test hundred and his third fourth innings century in his last three Tests against the South Africans. Pakistan’s top order resisted everything South Africa’s bowlers could hurl at them and, befitting the occasion on the first day of Eid, passed a number of records in a feast of runscoring.Younis was ably assisted by Azhar Ali, who contributed a brave 63, and captain Misbah-ul-Haq, with whom he added an unbeaten 186 for the fourth wicket – Pakistan’s highest partnership in Tests against South Africa. The match was called off shortly after entering the final hour of the day as Pakistan reached 343 for 3, their highest fourth innings total in Tests.South Africa were left ruing three clear chances that went down as Younis was dropped by Mark Boucher on 16 and Jacques Kallis when he had reached 70, while Hashim Amla couldn’t quite cling on to a tough chance off Misbah at short leg minutes before lunch. Younis, who had experience of just this sort of situation having scored fourth-innings hundreds against South Africa at Lahore and Karachi in 2007, took full toll as he and Azhar took the honours in the first hour this morning, compiling an 82-run partnership, though not without some luck.Younis had started tentatively, fencing outside off stump and getting a thin edge to a Steyn outswinger that dropped short of Boucher in the second over of the day. In Steyn’s next over he slashed wildly outside off stump to send a chance flying to the right of a diving Boucher, but the ball spilled out of the wicketkeeper’s gloves as he hit the ground. With a panicked Younis stranded mid-pitch, a shy at the stumps went wide to give him yet another life.At other end, Azhar was still visibly battling with the effects of the blow to the hand he received on the fourth afternoon but quickly settled into a defensive groove, and as the batsmen eased to Pakistan’s highest third-wicket partnership of 2010 – beating the 65 this same pair put on in the first innings – Smith turned Johan Botha’s offspin and Jacques Kallis’s reliable seamers.While Botha kept things tight, finding a reasonable amount of turn and variable bounce, Kallis tested Azhar’s mettle with a series of short-pitched deliveries with fielders circling close in at midwicket, cover and short leg. The first thumped painfully off his hand and into his ribs, but Azhar quickly waved the medical staff off the field and counter-attacked in fine style, thumping the next ball – another bouncer – to the midwicket boundary.The partnership had reached 80, Azhar reaching a third Test half-century, when Paul Harris joined the attack with almost immediate results. Coming round the wicket, he spun the final ball of his first over of the day past the outer half of Azhar’s bat and onto the off stump. South Africa celebrated the dismissal with due enthusiasm, and Misbah entered a testing cauldron as the spinners operated in tandem with men all around the bat and the appearance of renewed life in the pitch.Botha created another chance as, just before lunch, the ball exploded out of the rough and bounced off Misbah’s glove towards Amla under the helmet at short leg. Misbah was out in identical circumstances in the first innnings, but Amla couldn’t quite grasp onto the chance today, the ball bobbling out of his hands as his shoulder hit the turf.Younis, a bundle of fidgety energy first thing this morning, burst into life after the interval. With no forewarning, he leapt down the wicket to smite a floated offspinner from Botha high over long-on and followed that up with a powerful sweep to long leg. Steyn returned with the old ball and was immediately slapped for two smouldering fours, through mid-off and deep cover. That prompted Smith to take the new ball – already overdue – and an eventful over was completed when Younis thrust his bat out at a ball he might have left and a thick edge burst through Kallis’s hands at third slip to leave the fast bowler absolutely livid.It appeared a fourth chance had been pouched when a delivery from Morkel ricocheted off Younis’s pad and Amla plucked it out of the air at short leg, but Asoka de Silva decided there had been no inside edge and was vindicated by replays. Younis retaliated by scorching an imperious drive on the up through cover, and as the heat of the afternoon began to take its toll tempers frayed on both sides.Morkel opted for a bruising, round-the-wicket line of attack once again and after a series of bouncers engaged in some heated banter with Younis. Both Misbah and Umpire Daryl Harper stepped in to appeal for calm, Harper warning Morkel for running on the pitch, and amid an eventful spell Misbah survived an enthusiastic appeal for lbw off the same bowler. After Younis flowed past his hundred with 12 runs in a single Botha over, Misbah brought up his own fifty with a mighty slog-sweep over deep midwicket just before tea, and suddenly it appeared that Pakistan might have a world-record chase in mind.It soon became clear that a draw would be regarded as a victory in itself, however, as both Younis and Misbah settled into stubborn defence. With the match meandering towards a draw, Younis helped himself to two more sixes off Botha before both captains decided to call the game off minutes into the final hour.

Group A

Madhya Pradesh went top of the Group A table after an innings and 239-run victory over Jharkhand at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. MP needed just 37.3 overs to bowl out the visitors for 140 on the third day. Seamer Amit Sharma and Anand Rajan took four wickets each, giving Rajan eight for the match. MP’s victory had been set up on the first two days after they bowled Jharkhand out for 131 and then piled on 510. It was always going to be an uphill struggle for Jharkhand from then on, and they surrendered meekly. Their highest scorer in the whole match was wicketkeeper Shiv Gautam who got 32 in the second innings. Jharkhand remain at second-last position in the table.It was a strong fightback from Hyderabad on the third day at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium as they brought themselves to within 131 runs of Goa’s big first innings score and still have five wickets in hand. Captain Ravi Teja set the platform with his 126 and then Syed Quadri got 68 to take the hosts to 351 for 5 at stumps. Having avoided the follow-on, they have all but assured themselves of a draw but still need to do a lot of work to avoided conceding the first-innings lead and with it three points. Reagan Pinto’s excellent match continued as he followed up his century in the first-innings with two wickets with his part-time legspin for Goa.

Group B

Services set Vidarbha 353 to win in the fourth innings – a stern ask considering the pitch has been offering the bowlers plenty of assistance and Vidarbha haven’t scored more than 300 since their first game of the season. Services had the advantage at the start of the third day at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, having dismissed the hosts for 147 on the second. Openers Pratik Desai, captain Yashpal Singh and Soomik Chatarjee drove home that advantage, getting half-centuries to take Services to 265 for 6. They then declared to give themselves an entire day to bowl Vidarbha out.A 93-run stand by AP Singh and Parvez Rassol for the sixth wicket helped Jammu & Kashmir avoid a possible innings defeat, but Andhra Pradesh are still in the driver’s seat at the Gandhi Memorial Science College Ground in Jammu. The pair came in when J & K were 60 for 5 in their second innings, still 63 behind Andhra. Rassol was the aggressor hitting nine fours and two sixes in his 68 not out, while Singh was unbeaten on 39 at stumps. Captain Syed Sahabuddin and legspinner Sairaj Bahutule had given Andhra five early breakthroughs after Bodapati Sumanth’s 136 had helped them to a first innings total of 376. The overnight pair of Sumanth and Sahabuddin, who got 71, took AP from a precarious position of 219 for 6 in the morning to a strong total. J & K are now 30 runs ahead but will need to make their last five wickets last well into tomorrow to stave off a defeat.Maharashtra’s match against Kerala is heading towards a draw after another rain-hit day at the the Nehru Stadium in Kochi. The visitors accelerated their scoring-rate on the third day, scoring 130 runs in 29.5 overs. Sangram Atitkar scored 109 and Maharashtra declared at 347 for 8. Kerala played just one over and were 5 for 0. Maharashtra will be hoping for a whole day’s play tomorrow so that they can try to bowl out Kerala and at least pick up three points for a first-innings lead.

If all other sports have substitutes, why shouldn’t cricket? The question was from a cricketer who may just have been seduced by the marketing speak, or may have landed upon an interesting point; either way, he’ll remain nameless. He was speaking at the launch of the MTN40 and was posing his question because many members of his franchise were opposed to the use of substitutes in cricket.South Africa’s 40-over competition this season will feature not one, but two substitutes, allowing teams to name 13-member squads for every match. Unlike the last time substitutes were used, the starting eleven does not have to be named before the toss. Only the squad of 13 has to be named, allowing certain players to play specialist roles.That’s the biggest change in the second season of this competition. The other adjustment to playing conditions is a Powerplay change. There will only be two Powerplays; the first one is allocated to the first ten overs, and the second, is a five-over power-play that can be taken any time before the 31st over on the request of the batting side.The competition’s structure has also been tweaked. The six franchises have been divided into two groups of three teams each. Each team will play the other two teams in its own group twice (home and away) and play the three teams in the other group only once. Each franchise plays seven round-robin matches. The semi-finals will be played in the best-of-three format with the final scheduled for December 10. The day matches will start at 11am local time and the day-night games at 4pm.Gerald Majola , the chief executive officer of Cricket South Africa (CSA) said the changes have been made because CSA anticipates that the ODI format will be modified after next year’s World Cup, so it wants to be ready for all possibilities. England and Australia are also experimenting with their 40-over competitions and Majola believes the three countries will have valuable inputs for the ICC come 2011. “Together with the other countries, we will compare and discuss what works and what doesn’t and then there may be changes to the format of the World Cup after next year.”This season’s competition gets underway in Durban on October 29. Last year’s runners-up, the Dolphins, will be hosting the Cape Cobras. It’s a Cape-Natal rivalry of a special kind; on October 30, the rugby teams – Western Province and the Sharks – from the two provinces, will square-off in the final of the country’s premier rugby competition, the Currie Cup.The next two MTN40 games will be played on October 31 – the Lions play the Knights in Potchefstroom and the Warriors take on the Titans in Port Elizabeth.

Kabir Khan, the former Pakistan fast bowler and Afghanistan coach, has accepted an offer to coach United Arab Emirates. Kabir ended his association with the Afghanistan team in August, resigning over a dispute with the officials of the Afghanistan Cricket Board, and now aims to help UAE qualify for the World Twenty20 in 2012.”I have agreed to take over as UAE coach on a three-year deal and my target will be to help the team to the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in 2012,” Kabir told . “UAE team has played the World Cup (50 overs) in 1996 so the idea will be to help them qualify for the World Twenty20 and help them achieve good status.”UAE has a lot of potential and the administration is also keen on improving the team, so I will do my best to help UAE regain their status at international level and there is enough talent to achieve that.”Afghanistan’s ascent in international cricket occurred under Kabir’s supervision. His achievements include guiding Afghanistan to official one-day status in 2009, helping them qualify for the World Twenty20 this year in the Caribbean, and securing third place in the World Cricket League Division One. UAE’s next assignment is the Intercontinental Shield final against Namibia between November 25-28.

ScorecardHemang Badani contributed little with the bat, but compensated with the ball•ICL

A responsible yet attacking innings from Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas, and a surprise four-wicket haul from Hemang Badani gave India Cements a 25-run victory against Air India in the first semi-final in Visakhapatnam.Badani had never taken more than two wickets in a List A game, and he chose a significant moment to better his personal best. Air India’s chase was set up by their top order, and they had the in-form Naman Ojha to try complete it. Two overs of Badani’s usually innocuous left-arm spinners, however, swung the match towards India Cements.He had Ojha stumped for 33 off 19 balls in the 44th, and followed it up with a first-ball dismissal of Ankeet Chavan – Dinesh Karthik taking a smart low catch. Paul Valthaty, who had briefly threatened in Ojha’s company, also edged behind in the 46th, and Ajit Chandila offered a return catch to give Badani figures of 4 for 23 in seven overs. RP Singh and Siddharth Trivedi lashed a few late runs but Air India had lost too many wickets too quickly, and eventually folded 25 runs short.That India Cements has 275 to defend was largely down to Vasudevadas’ innings of 93 off 75. By the time Vasudevadas was dismissed off the penultimate ball of the innings, he had ensured his team had overcome his top-order colleagues’ failure to convert their starts into significant contributions. Every time a partnership threatened to go into overdrive, Air India hit back with a wicket, and Karthik’s bizarre dismissal – bowled ducking under a slow, dipping full-toss – typified the course India Cements’ innings was taking. When Badani departed for 8, they had stumbled to 174 for 5 in the 39th over, and even a score of 250 seemed a stretch. Vasudevadas, however, had plans of his own.With the tail struggling to pick Trivedi’s variations, Vasudevadas had little support forthcoming, but he kept counterattacking without taking too many risks. He struck no sixes, but 13 fours ensured his runs came briskly before he fell one short of his career-best score.For the most part, Air India’s innings followed a script similar to India Cements’. Chandan Madan, Manvinder Bisla and Hrishikesh Kanitkar all threatened to make the target seem inadequate, but perished just when they had things under control. Unfortunately, they did not have someone with the finishing skills of Vasudevadas to fall back on. And they had Badani to deal with as well.

Match facts

Thursday, September 16
Start time 1730 (1530 GMT)Dwayne Bravo was in top form with the bat, but his bowling was less exemplary•AFP

Big Picture

Top seeds are expected to breeze into the second week of Grand Slams, but the combined wattage of Mumbai Indians’ stars is struggling to keep their campaign glowing five days into the Champions League Twenty20.
On paper, their clash against Guyana should be one of the biggest mismatches of the tournament. On the one side, a line-up littered with the most valuable players in Twenty20 cricket and complemented by a bunch of the most consistent domestic batsmen of IPL 2010; on the other, a bunch of little-knowns whose most recognised batsmen, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Narsingh Deonarine, pushed themselves to No. 8 and below in a crunch Twenty20 game against the more favoured Trinidad & Tobago (a strategy which, however, proved successful).Two Trinidad & Tobago men playing for Mumbai here, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, learnt in that game that entering the match as heavy favourites doesn’t have any effect on the end result. The rest of Sachin Tendulkar’s side also discovered that after slipping up against the low-profile Lions on the opening day. Bravo maintained T&T are the best Twenty20 team in the region despite that loss to Guyana, and will be craving a victory over his bitter Caribbean rivals.The worry for Guyana is their bowling attack, bereft of pace and heavily reliant on spinners. The slow bowlers are likely to have a tough time against Mumbai’s brutal hitters, who caned South Australia’s spin pair of Aaron O’Brien and Cullen Bailey for 79 runs in seven overs on Wednesday.Neither team can afford defeat on Friday: for Mumbai it will certainly be curtains, while Guyana will be left with a slim mathematical chance of qualifying, especially after the battering their net run-rate took against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Team news

It will be interesting to see what changes Mumbai make to their XI. As far as overseas players are concerned, the only option is to swap JP Duminy for Ryan McLaren. Among the Indians, Abhishek Nayar is perhaps the best player on the bench but his chances of getting a game diminish due to the presence of two other quick-bowling allrounders in Bravo and Pollard. They may also toy with the idea of bringing in R Sathish, if for nothing else, at least to improve the appalling fielding standards.Mumbai Indians 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Sachin Tendulkar (capt), 3 Ambati Rayudu (wk), 4 Saurabh Tiwary, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 JP Duminy/Ryan McLaren, 8 Ali Murtaza, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Lasith MalingaGuyana are likely to go in with the same side that lost to Bangalore, mainly because the four players who were left out have the combined experience of two Twenty20 matches.Guyana 1 Travis Dowlin, 2 Sewnarine Chattergoon, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan (capt), 4 Narsingh Deonarine, 5 Christopher Barnwell, 6 Royston Crandon, 7 Jonathan Foo, 8 Lennox Cush, 9 Esuan Crandon, 10 Derwin Christian (wk), 11 Devendra Bishoo

Watch out for …

Dwayne Bravo was outstanding coming in to bat late in the innings against South Australia, blitzing a 12-ball 22 to propel Mumbai to what seemed a winning score. He’ll need to up his game with the ball, though, havinng leaked 46 in four.Like the rest of the Guyana team, opener Travis Dowlin didn’t have the best of times in the opening match against Bangalore. He needs to recapture the steady form of the Caribbean T20, where his two half-centuries were pivotal to Guyana’s run to the title.

Key contests

Kieron Pollard v Jonathan Foo: The battle within the T&T v Guyana grudge match will pit Pollard against the youngster many believed would reprise his heroics from last year’s Champions League. Foo did not make an impact in his opening game, but one failure hardly counts in this format. Can he make a name for himself here? Will Pollard stop him in the tracks?

Stats and trivia

• With a quarter of the year still remaining, Pollard has already played an eye-popping 53 Twenty20s in 2010. In 2009, Tillakaratne Dilshan played the most Twenty20s, a comparatively paltry 37
• Pollard is also the leading wicket-taker this year (60), fourth highest run-scorer (1004) and fourth in number of catches held (21)
  

ECB chairman Giles Clarke has called for Pakistan’s return as a host of international matches and said an ICC World XI would tour the country “in due course” since it is still not possible for national teams to visit. Pakistan has not hosted international cricket since the March 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team.”World cricket must keep giving Pakistan cricket the chance to fund itself and move forward, to do something for the spectator in Pakistan,” Clarke wrote in the September issue of magazine. The security challenges are enormous but we cannot allow the terrorists to win. They must lose by an innings – repeatedly.”So world cricket must go back and play in Pakistan. I do not think it will be possible for individual national teams to tour yet. But with determination and courage an ICC World XI in due course will go and play against Pakistan in her great cities and there will be a marvellous atmosphere.”He said the cricketing world could not afford to forsake a country with such fervent fans and a strong history in the game. “Cricket cannot abandon a nation with such a magnificent history in the game, such wonderful players and such enthusiastic and knowledgeable supporters. It will be an historic moment when international cricket resumes in Pakistan and the first ICC team walks out.”Clarke, who is also chairman of the ICC’s Pakistan Task Team, revealed that the inability to host international cricket has resulted in the PCB’s income falling from £27 million to £10 million, “a brutal impact that few enterprises could survive; terrorism does not care about its human consequences” he said.The ECB plans to host more neutral matches featuring Pakistan to help the PCB with its finances. “The ECB intends to assist in staging more Pakistan games here [England] in 2011 and 2012,” Clarke said. “The atmosphere, the passionate support and, of course, the tremendous cricket played by the Pakistan team made it a compelling experience. The PCB’s economic needs make it imperative.”Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman welcomed the announcement and expressed his gratitude for Clarke’s efforts. “It is indeed heartening to note that the cricket fraternity is working on revival of cricket in Pakistan. I am very grateful to Mr. Giles Clarke who is a dear friend of Pakistan, for pursuing our case and working tirelessly in bringing international cricket back to Pakistan,” he said.Ijaz Butt’s views were echoed by Pakistan captain Salman Butt, who said it would be a major boost for followers of cricket in his country. “It would be wonderful to have any kind of international cricket going on in Pakistan and if all the players can come and do this favour for Pakistan cricket it would be wonderful.”People of Pakistan are cricket lovers and they are their heroes not only from Pakistan but from around the world and they love watching them. hey are great admirers of people playing around th world so if that happens it would be great for Pakistan cricket,” he said.England captain Andrew Strauss said the initiative would benefit Pakistan’s young players who would needed exposure at the highest level. “The key for them is to get as much cricket as possible. They’ve been starved over the last couple of years. For some of their younger players, the more experience they get the better they’ll be. The international cricketing community has to help out teams like Pakistan who have difficulties at home,” he said.Strauss was open to the possibility of touring Pakistan with the World XI side, provided it were declared safe. England’s 2008 tour of India was jeopardised by the Mumbai terrorist attacks, forcing the squad to head back home midway through the ODI series. Strauss was part of the Test side that returned to India to play a rescheduled series. “In the wake of Mumbai bombings, I’ve always felt it was wrong not to go somewhere if security people said it was safe. They make that judgment with as much information as they can. If they said it was safe to go I’d certainly consider it.”Strauss said that while the cricketing world had a responsibility towards Pakistan due to their situation, it should not extend to the field of play. “With the natural disasters there, some of the difficulties they’ve had in terms of terrorism over the last couple of years it’s very difficult for their players to keep their minds on the job and play at their best. We can have sympathy for them in that sense, but it doesn’t come into it on the pitch. It’s like getting into a boxing ring: you can’t have sympathy for the guy you’re competing against,” he said.

Scorecard
Rob White’s brilliant knock helped Northamptonshire Steelbacks keep their Friends Provident t20 quarter-final hopes alive with a 11-run win over Lancashire Lightning at Wantage Road. White, who has struggled for runs this season, blasted 80 off 58 balls, his knock including seven fours and four sixes, as the Steelbacks reached 170 4 for off their 20 overs.Lancashire spinner Stephen Parry continued his impressive tournament by taking two for 29. Despite an explosive 41 off 22 balls from wicketkeeper Gareth Cross, Lancashire fell short of their target and deal a blow to their bid for a home tie in the last-eight.Lancashire won the toss and chose to bowl and they gave Northamptonshire an early scare when West Indies international Daren Powell almost ran out White from mid-on White and his opening partner Chaminda Vaas quickly combined in a stand of 77 before the Parry struck in the 12th over.Vass had progressed to 29 before he lifted the spinner to Steven Croft at long-on. White went on to reach his half-century from 46 balls before David Sales departed in the same fashion as Vaas, with Sajid Mahmood this time taking the catch at long-on off Parry.White then smashed three sixes in consecutive balls off Powell in the 16th over before he finally perished by scooping England Lions paceman Mahmood to Tom Smith at extra cover. Smith then bowled Alex Wakely, who made 20, before Zimbabwe international Elton Chigumbura and Steelbacks captain Andrew Hall, unbeaten on 16 and 11 respectively, guided the home side through the last two overs.Chasing 171, the Lightning got off to a poor start when Stephen Moore edged Jack Brooks to wicketkeeper David Murphy in the second over. His fellow opener Smith made 16 before he went cheaply by smashing David Willey to Sales at midwicket.Croft looked composed as he made 24 before he tickled the finest of edges to Murphy off the bowling of Chigumbura. Captain Mark Chilton went for 7 when he was trapped lbw by James Middlebrook before Wakely took one of the catches of the tournament when he snared Paul Horton with a flying one-hander at long-on in the same over.Vaas then claimed the wicket of Nathan McCullum, when the New Zealander launched him to Middlebrook at backward point, as the Lightning fell short despite Mahmood’s 27 off 10 balls.

ScorecardA last-wicket stand of 55 between Rikki Clarke and Boyd Rankin gave Warwickshire their first batting bonus point for five games, but they ended the second day well adrift at Chester-le-Street. They also had coach Ashley Giles on the field after Jim Troughton and Andrew Miller were forced off while the Durham openers, Michael Di Venuto and Mark Stoneman, both survived slip chances to reach 78 without loss in the second innings.That gave them a lead of 142 after dismissing Warwickshire for 224, with Clarke the last man out for a classy 68, leaving Rankin unbeaten on 10. With the ball swinging and some help in the pitch for Durham’s quartet of seamers, Clarke was the only batsman to look settled, although he was dropped on 40 by Callum Thorp at gully.That was one of four sharp chances Durham put down as well as fumbling a run-out opportunity, although the day’s worst miss was by the Bears’ Darren Maddy at first slip off Neil Carter with Di Venuto on eight. A misfield by Ian Blackwell gave Clarke the two runs which took him to 50 and prompted extra jubilation from his team-mates as it also brought up the 200, earning the batting point.Clarke finally sliced a drive to point to leave Chris Rushworth with career-best figures of 3 for 46 as he and Thorp shared the last seven wickets. Both swung the ball in the morning but remained wicketless as Steve Harmison’s hostility accounted for the openers, although Maddy clearly did not agree with his caught-behind decision.With Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell helping England Lions to victory against West Indies A, and Varun Chopra injured, Warwickshire had 18-year-old Ateeq Javid at No. 5. He slapped a long-hop from Thorp to point before Tim Ambrose and Troughton put on 48 for the fifth wicket.Troughton led a charmed life before he departed for 44 when Rushworth had him caught behind, while the recalled Ambrose scored most of his 31 runs behind square on the off side before Rushworth brought one back to pin him lbw.Thorp took the next three as Carter drove to mid-on, Miller lobbed a catch to second slip and Imran Tahir twice edged fours to third man before Claydon was posted there and promptly held a high slice.The pitch appeared to be easing in the evening sunshine and after their early escapes the Durham openers prospered, mixing crisp strokes with alert running. Stoneman finished unbeaten on 42 with Di Venuto on 31.