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Sachin Tendulkar, the controller, and Ambati Rayudu, the enforcer, made short work of the below-par target to give Mumbai their second successive win of the tournament

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera12-Apr-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSachin Tendulkar ended unbeaten for the second time in two innings•AFPSachin Tendulkar, the controller, and Ambati Rayudu, the enforcer, made short work of the below-par target set by Bangalore to give Mumbai their second successive win of the tournament. However, it was with the bat that Bangalore lost the game tonight. It was a strange innings as Bangalore were in consolidation mode for most of the time after they slipped to 19 for 2 and then meandered away to 140.There was no such hesitation shown by Mumbai in the chase. Every time Bangalore tried a new bowler, Tendulkar and Rayudu lashed out. When Abhimanyu Mithun was introduced in the sixth over, Tendulkar showcased his gorgeous straight drive, and Rayudu swatted a bouncer before creaming him through wide mid-off. When Tillakaratne Dilshan came on in the tenth over, Tendulkar deployed the slog sweep and the conventional sweep to collect more boundaries. When Asad Pathan was brought in the 12th over, Rayudu crash-pulled the first delivery to midwicket and when Virat Kohli returned for a second spell, in the 13th over, Tendulkar smote him to the straight boundary.Mumbai’s batsmen reserved their best for Zaheer Khan, whose awful night mirrored Bangalore’s in many ways. Davy Jacobs flat-batted the fourth ball of the chase for a stunning six over long-on, and sandwiched fours through the covers and long-off with a lovely whipped six in Zaheer’s next over. When Zaheer returned for a second spell, Rayudu cut him to the point boundary, slammed a full toss to midwicket and lofted him through long-on.In comparison, Bangalore’s approach was completely lacking in intent. Tillakaratne Dilshan hit a half-century but it felt like an imposter was wearing his jersey. AB de Villiers made 38 but never looked like he would hurt the opposition. “It’s a difficult track to bat; there is spongy bounce and AB (de Villiers) and I thought 140 would be a good score,” Dilshan said at the end of the innings. He couldn’t have been more wrong, at least tonight.The ball didn’t appear to stop on the batsmen, there wasn’t any alarming turn but they struggled to get going. Mumbai’s night was set up by Lasith Malinga with a brute of a first ball. It was full, it was pacy and it curved away devilishly late, past a stunned Mayank Agarwal and knocked out off stump. Next, Malinga pinged Virat Kohli on the boot with another screaming yorker, but it was not given out. Kohli fell soon after, top-edging his trademark on-side heave to the keeper. It was the beginning of the crawl.Dilshan tried to punch his way out of trouble but rarely found the timing or the gaps. de Villiers also played within himself and the pair started concentrating on singles. de Villiers fell in the 17th over, top-edging a slog against Pollard and that paved the way for Saurabh Tiwary to free his arms. He flat-batted Malinga over extra cover and heaved Harbhajan Singh to cow corner. Dilshan woke up in the last over to slap Malinga for six over midwicket as Mumbai finished on a mini-high but the target proved grossly insufficient.

A round-up of matches on the sixth and final day of the ICC World Cricket League Division Seven competition in Gaborone, Bostwana

ESPNcricinfo staff08-May-2011Irfan Bhatti and Mohammad Murad starred with bat and ball as Kuwait lifted the ICC WCL Division 7 trophy in Gaborone, Botswana, comprehensively beating Nigeria by 72 runs.Kuwait’s top and lower orders were solid enough to ensure they didn’t suffer due to a middle order collapse that saw four wickets fall for 24 runs to seamer Olajide Bejide. Bhatti had started strongly in a 66-run opening stand and struck nine fours and a six in his 60 off 77 deliveries before he fell to Joshua Ogunlola. Kuwait soon slipped from 91 for 1 to 129 for 6 as Bejide ran through the middle order. But Mohammed Naseer and Azmatullah Nazeer revived the innings with a 44-run partnership. Some late hitting from Abdullah Akhunzada and Midhun Pakalapati took Kuwait past 200.Murad bowled Ademola Onikoyi off the third ball of the chase and Nigeria were on the back foot soon at 35 for 3. Ramit Gill (45) and Sean Philips (35) tried to revive the innings in a busy 56-run stand but Pakalapati got the breakthrough, bowling Gill. Nigeria ran out of steam after that and Nazeer had Philips caught behind to effectively seal it. Murad returned to mop up the tail, finishing with 4 for 20, and Nigeria were shot out for 147. Murad was named Player of the Tournament for his 15 wickets. Both teams had already qualified for Division 6.Hisham Mirza, the winning captain, said he did not think Kuwait were favourites coming in to the tournament. “It wasn’t our home tournament and the only side we had background on was Germany, having played them in Division 8. I don’t think I can single out one player that performed for me as we are very much a team effort. However, I will mention my fast bowlers, they’ve been the best in Division 7 and Division 8 in my opinion. They are quick, they are good.”Division 6 would not be easy for Kuwait, Mirza felt, saying that they needed to make sure they were better prepared for the event that takes place in Malaysia in September.Endurance Ofem, the Nigeria captain, said that his side had achieved their purpose of gaining promotion. “The good thing is we’ve played Kuwait twice now so we now know what to expect of them when we face them in Division 6. Our player-coach Sean Philips has done a lot for us as a side and Segun Olayinka has come up with the goods for us in the last three games, contributing two half-centuries in the tournament, and of course Ademola Onikoyi, who had given us good starts upfront.”Rana-Javed Iqbal and Shakeel Hassan took four quick wickets to break the back of Botswana’s chase and took Germany to a 25-run win in the third-place play-off, after Asif Khan’s hundred had lifted his side to a challenging 269.Noor Ahmad (74) had led Botswana’s chase, adding 64 for the first wicket, 61 for the second, and 50 for the fourth with Faisal Rana, Denzil Sequeira and Karabo Modise. At 180 for 3, Botswana needed 90 at a run a ball. But Iqbal got Ahmad leg before, and Hassan took two more as Botswana slumped to 189 for 7. The lower order tried but Germany finished the innings in the 49th over at 244.Asif and Rishi Pillai (67 not out) had earlier helped Germany recover from an indifferent start that had reduced them to 63 for 3. The duo added 146 in 135 balls for the fifth wicket as Germany surged to 269, which proved to be just enough in the end.Norway brushed Japan aside by 56 runs in the fifth-place play-off as Japan stuttered to 169 for 9 chasing 225. Contributions from Gulfam Butt, Shahid Ahmed and Adeel Ibrar formed the bulk of Norway’s total, and wicketkeeper Iftikhar Suhail ensured they got well past 200.Japan never got going after losing Gavin Beath off the first ball and were in danger of being bowled out for under 100 at 83 for 9. Patrick Giles-Jones’ unbeaten 68 and his last-wicket partnership with Raheel Kano more than doubled Japan’s score from that position. It was in vain, though, as it only reduced the margin of defeat. Both sides had already been relegated to Division 8.

Batting hasn’t been much fun at Edgbaston this year but, after several weeks of famine, it was time for a feast

George Dobell at Edgbaston24-May-2011
ScorecardBatting hasn’t been much fun at Edgbaston this year but, after several weeks of famine, it was time for a feast. The day after Warwickshire lost their appeal for producing a poor pitch in the match against Worcestershire, they produced a surface so benign that it might have been designed to nurse an ailing batsman back to health. Which is, pretty much, exactly what it did.The chief beneficiary of the conditions was Will Smith. The leap of delight the 28-year-old gave upon reaching his century spoke volumes: this was his first three-figure score since September 2009 and, after the travails of last year, his joy was understandable.Smith endured a testing 2010. Despite leading Durham to the Championship title in 2009, he was sacked just four games into the new campaign after the side suffered their first loss in 21 matches. His own form also fell away – he averaged just 16 after seven innings – and, after May 10, he didn’t appear in the Championship side for the rest of the season. His future in the game was beginning to look uncertain.Here, however, he has looked utterly secure. Not only has he not given a chance, he’s barely played and missed despite batting all day. His method was simple: he left well, scarcely played a front foot stroke until after he had passed his century and waited for the short ball which he put away ruthlessly. His pulls, cuts and back-foot drives were particularly impressive.In partnership with Dale Benkenstein, Smith has so far added 221 for the fourth-wicket – a new Durham record for any wicket against Warwickshire – and ensured the visitors have made full use of winning an overly important toss.Afterwards, Smith admitted he had feared his career might have been over last year. “[Last year] was tough for various reasons,” Smith said. “Primarily, I need to be a batsman and I need to score runs. I wasn’t doing that and that was only ever going to be my fault. Batsmen are judged on hundreds; they are our currency. Until today, I was the only one in the top seven not to have scored a hundred. I had to rectify that.”Yes, I thought about chucking it away. But you try and push those thoughts out of your mind. I took some time off up until Christmas and just thought about how much the game means to me. I re-found that this winter. I’m doing something that millions of other people would like to do and I thank my lucky stars for that.”Without meaning to detract from Smith’s efforts, those ‘lucky stars’ are probably relevant. Had Mark Stoneman not broken his hand in the first game of the season, it is quite possible that Smith might, even now, be languishing in the seconds. Now, however, he has taken his chance on a heaven-sent wicket and will surely prove hard to displace.The rest of the Durham top-order will feel they missed out. Michael Di Venuto fell to a thin edge as he tried to withdraw the bat, Gordon Muchall pushed hard at one on off stump and edged to slip, while Ben Stokes’ promising innings was curtailed when he obligingly clipped a half-volley straight to mid-wicket. It could not have been what Geoff Miller, the on-looking National Selector, was hoping to see.In Benkenstein, however, Smith found a similarly determined ally. Both men were admirably disciplined and happy to wait on the back foot and pick off the runs when the opportunity arose.Warwickshire, however, might reflect that they didn’t make them wait as long as they should have done for those run-scoring opportunities. On a slow, flat wicket, the bowlers failed to maintain a tight enough line or length to create pressure and, dropping short frequently, were punished with merciless efficiency. They also donated 22 runs from no-balls. Boyd Rankin, conceding more than five an over and overstepping seven times, was the worst offender.Perhaps Warwickshire could take some pleasure amid the pain. The last two games at Edgbaston have been played on substandard wickets, culminating in the ECB penalising Warwickshire eight points after a panel deemed the pitch for the match against Worcestershire to be poor.Part of Warwickshire’s defence – that there was nothing more they could have done to produce a good wicket – offered more questions than answers. It suggested that Warwickshire were now so at the mercy of the conditions, that pitch-production had become something of a lottery: surely not an acceptable state for a Test ground? On this occasion they have taken no chances: on the first day, at least, batting here has been easy.In truth, however, this is not a good pitch. It is horribly sluggish, soaking up all pace and allowing batsmen to sit on the back foot and wait for the ball to sit up. After several games in which conditions at Edgbaston have favoured bowlers too much, the balance has now titled too far in the other direction. Rightly or wrongly, however, no-one at the ECB seems to mind if the batsman is on top. Inevitably, Mike Denness, the ECB Pitch Liaison Officer in attendance, passed the pitch as fine.

Mitchell Johnson’s first advice from the new Australian bowling coach Craig McDermott must have seemed fiendishly simple

Daniel Brettig12-Jul-2011Having waded through the many technical tweaks and tips offered by Troy Cooley over five years, Mitchell Johnson’s first advice from his new bowling coach Craig McDermott must have seemed fiendishly simple: a new grip.Cooley and Johnson had been close to inseparable on Australian tours since the summer of 2006-07. But McDermott’s suggestion, that a more pronounced split of Johnson’s fingers across the ball might contribute to better seam position and greater control, indicates that a fresh pair of eyes could be useful for a bowler who at 29 has never quite managed to assume the spearhead’s mantle.The greatest difference between Cooley and McDermott is the international experience they each have to call on. Cooley’s modest Sheffield Shield career with Tasmania bears little comparison with McDermott’s 291 Test wickets and countless spells under the most intense of cricket’s spotlights.”It’s good to have Craig on board with his Test experience,” Johnson said in Brisbane. “I had a good relationship with Troy Cooley and worked really well with him, but having Craig there with his Test and international experience is going to be a big boost for us.”I haven’t worked on too many technical [aspects] with him; just my fingers, split fingers and things like that. Nothing too out there, but just little things here and there, which has been good. But having him on tour in situations where we might come off the field and he might see something that we’re not seeing, it’ll be good to have that experience.”Johnson’s mention of split fingers brought its own memory – many can recall McDermott’s split-finger slower ball, which comically confounded Aravinda de Silva and Hashan Tillakaratne during a World Series ODI in Melbourne in 1996. But when pressed to expand, Johnson related the fact that his stock grip had perhaps encouraged him to spray the ball in the past, and that his new mentor had suggested the adjustment.”I bowl with my fingers close together and I don’t have as much control with the ball,” he said. “So this just helps me stand the seam up a little bit; or hopefully that’s the plan – to stand that seam up a little bit and give me that balance with the ball.”I’m not going to be fiddling around with my wrist or anything like that at this [point. I’m going on 30 now and I don’t think fiddling around too much like that is going to help me.”Subtle advice on technique and tactics, plus a large helping of empathy, is a formula that has worked well for numerous bowling coaches across the globe. Former Indian bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad describes himself as more of a tactical advisor than a technical seer, while David Saker’s emphasis with England’s attack in Australia was as much about knowing the conditions as the bowling action.Johnson agreed that McDermott would be useful as he seeks to draw a line under the Ashes gremlins in his action that first surfaced in 2009 and returned again last summer, either side of a freakishly incisive spell on the second day of the third Test in Perth. Either side of the lunch break Johnson had appeared unplayable, but by the end of the summer England and their attendant Barmy Army had enjoyed very much the better of the duel.”That’s just the pressure of the game sometimes,” Johnson said. “I struggled over in England in an Ashes series [in 2009] and probably let it get to me. Towards the end of that series I started to feel okay, but I guess it’s just the build-up and the pressure of an Ashes series.”I haven’t found it in any other series, I haven’t struggled that much with the pressures, but it is a big thing, the Ashes. I haven’t thought too much about it but I would like to get better at it.”I think for me I put too much pressure on myself, because I try to bowl the perfect ball all the time and then I put too much pressure on myself. And in a big series like that you just can’t do that.”You look at their [England’s] squad, they’d been playing well for a long time, they’ve got a very good opening pair at the moment, a bit like a Justin Langer/Matthew Hayden sort of relationship. They’re working really well as an opening pair. So there’s a few things that come into it but I think I definitely try to bowl that perfect ball too much.”Johnson’s mental approach is now to close the gap between his best and his worst, so he may deliver sturdy spells even if the planets have not aligned as they did at the WACA ground last December.”Today was a perfect example, I didn’t feel at my best today but still worked through it and bowled good enough I think,” Johnson said. “I had a chat to Craig about it after and he said I looked pretty good. Having him and his experience as well is going to help me in the rest of my career.”Definitely it’s something I’m going to keep working on. You have your bad days but you’ve still got to go out there and perform, I’ve just got to find that balance.”That right balance, and the right grip.

Northamptonshire have managed to fight off interest from at least four other counties and secure Jack Brooks, the pace bowler, on a new two-year contract

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jul-2011Northamptonshire have managed to fight off interest from at least four other counties and secure Jack Brooks, the pace bowler, on a new two-year contract.Brooks, who has taken 43 Championship wickets this season and has recently been named in the England Lions squad to face Sri Lanka A, had been approached by Yorkshire among other teams but has now committed his short-term future to Wantage Road.”I’m very happy to know that my future lies here at Northants for the next two years,” Brooks said. “The club has been great to me and I’m keen to re-pay their investment by helping Northants gain promotion to the top flight of the Championship and challenge for trophies across all competitions in the coming months and seasons. I also believe this is the best place for me to continue to develop my all-round game as I strive to further my career.”It’s very flattering to be courted by other clubs and I thank them for their interest but I’ve made this decision for purely cricketing reasons,” he added. “I believe the club is going places. There are some talented youngsters here and I know that I’m one of the players the club is looking at to take the club forward. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”David Capel, the head coach, said: “This is an important signing for Northants and one that is mutually exciting for supporters, and also for Jack himself. He’s done very well for us this year and it’s good that he is marrying his own ambitions with those of the club.”

Anura Ranasinghe, who died in his sleep on Monday night was one ofthe finest all-round cricketers produced by Sri Lanka and the firstschoolboy to play in the World Cup

Sa'adi Thawfeeq18-Aug-2011Anura Ranasinghe, who died in his sleep on Monday night, was one of the finest all-round cricketers produced by Sri Lanka and the first schoolboy to play in the World Cup.Ranasinghe never had the chance to fulfil his potential to the full at the highest level, because eight months after Sri Lanka had played their inaugural Test with England in February 1982, he went to South Africa with a Sri Lanka rebel side and along with 13 other players who undertook that tour was banned for a period of 25 years.The ban virtually ended his career as a cricketer, and Ranasinghe was never the same again until six months ago, when his club Bloomfield appointed him as the coach of their Under-23 and division III teams.Ranasinghe accompanied Bloomfield to Galle for their U-23 23 fixture last weekend. He returned home on Monday and having foregone his lunch, went to sleep. He never woke up afterwards, according to his sister Rohini. He was only 42 years at the time of his untimelydeath.Ranasinghe distinguished himself as a right-hand batsman and bowled left-arm medium-pace and slow spin. As an allrounder he was renowned for his fighting qualities, where on several occasions he had rescued his school Nalanda College and club from perilous situations withboth bat and ball. Renowned radio commentator Premasara Epasinghe and Nelson Mendis were Ranasinghe’s coaches at school through whom he learnt the rudiments of the game.Ranasinghe created history in 1975 when he became the first schoolboy to play in a World Cup when he represented Sri Lanka in the inaugural tournament in England at the age of 18 years. He played in all three matches against West Indies, Australia and Pakistan.He was unlucky not to make it to the final XI of Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test against England at the Sara Stadium in February 1982 when another schoolboy from the rival school Ananda College, Arjuna Ranatunga got the vote ahead of him, and went on to score a maidenTest fifty.Ranasinghe made his Test debut the following month against Pakistan at Faisalabad. He scored six and five (being caught on both occasions by Pakistan captain Javed Miandad) and sharing the new ball with Ashantha de Mel, captured the wicket of top scorer Ashraf Ali (58)for 23 runs. He played one other Test – against India at Chepauk that year – scoring an aggressive 77, before undertaking the illegal tour to South Africa.Ranasinghe also appeared in nine one-day internationals scoring 153 runs (avg. 21.85) and taking two wickets (avg. 140.50) and toured England in 1981, when Sri Lanka were elevated to the ranks of a Test nation. He also captained the Sri Lanka Under-25 team to South Indiaand successfully regained the Gopalan trophy against Tamil Nadu and also led Sri Lanka U-19s in the series against Pakistan in 1975 and 1976.”Anura had rare qualities of being a top fielder and a dual purpose left-arm bowler,” said Bandula Warnapura, Sri Lanka’s first Test captain and formerBloomfield stalwart. “He was a fighter to the core and took up any challenge. He was a tough guy on the field and was very outspoken.””He was a fine cricketer. Bloomfield has lost a good man,” added Bloomfield president Shelley Wickramasingha.Born in Colombo on October 13, 1956, Anura Nandana Ranasinghe was the fifth in a family of three brothers and three sisters. Two of his brothers – Lakshman Ranasinghe and Aruna Ranasinghe – were notable cricketers, representing Nalanda and Bloomfield.For a short period, Anura worked at Pelawatte Sugar Corporation. He married and has a son aged 12 years old.He is the second Test cricketer produced by Sri Lanka to depart, the first being Sritharan Jeganathan who passed away last year.The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka have undertaken the funeral arrangements. His funeral will take place at the general cemetery, Kirillapone tomorrow.

A dose of grim autumnal weather is doing its best to write off the one-day leg of India’s benighted tour of England

Andrew Miller at The Oval08-Sep-2011A dose of grim autumnal weather is doing its best to write off the one-day leg of India’s benighted tour of England, and to judge by the glut of injuries that have plagued the tourists in recent weeks, you’d be forgiven for thinking that they themselves have written the campaign off as a lost cause, with a view to regrouping in their own conditions on the subcontinent in little over a month’s time.However, according to Graeme Swann, the huge turnover of Indian players – with Manoj Tiwary joining the party ahead of Tuesday’s 23-over contest at the Rose Bowl, and Ravindra Jadeja now in contention at The Oval – has created a whole new set of challenges, as England seek to extend their current run of dominance to seven wins out of seven completed fixtures when the third ODI starts on Thursday.”It doesn’t feel like the same team we played against three or four weeks ago,” said Swann. “We’re still learning about this opposition, so we don’t go in there thinking: ‘We’re going to trounce this lot today’, we go in thinking, ‘we’ve got a game on our hands each time’. A few of the younger guys are playing with a carefree attitude that is working for them, and it means we are being provided with new challenges.”The players in question include the openers Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane, whose enterprising attitude at the top of India’s order has enabled them to post challenging totals in each of the three limited-overs contests to date. To all intents and purposes, the newcomers also include Suresh Raina, whose 42-ball pair in the fourth Test at The Oval was the culmination of a grim Test series, but whose returns in coloured clothing have been the work of a reborn cricketer. Since that date, he has amassed 111 runs from 67 balls, including a brisk 40 from 19 at the Rose Bowl.Graeme Swann believes England are benefiting from facing a new-look India side•Getty Images”It could have been he just woke up one morning and thought, ‘sod this, I’m going to smack the ball around’, or it could have been the 42-ball pair here that made him walk off and think ‘never again’,” said Swann. “You never know, but he’s certainly been very exciting, and he looks a completely different player. Some of his hitting the other night was spectacular to watch even on the field, and it must have been great for the Indian fans off it, because I know there were a lot in the crowd.”Despite the best efforts of the weather, the interest in the series remains significant, with a sizeable majority of the Rose Bowl crowd sitting tight for five-and-a-half hours on Tuesday in the hope of witnessing what turned out to be an entertaining, albeit curtailed, contest. For England, who have experienced a slackening-off of ambition at this time of year in the past – not least during their 6-1 drubbing against Australia two years ago – the determination to offer no let-up is plain, as they seek to deny India even a consolation victory to take away from the tour.”We’ve played some unbelievable cricket this summer, especially in the Test matches, so we don’t want the one-day series to be a bit of a damp squib at the end,” said Swann. “It was that in 2009 [after the Ashes victory], and although it didn’t take the polish off for any of the players, I’m sure it did for a few people watching. It’s important we carry on the momentum, not least for the guys who’ve come in for the one-day squad, because we want all three forms of the game to be going in the right direction in the next few years.”Another reason to keep up the intensity is the fact that the return ODI series against India is already looming large. The first of five matches gets underway in Hyderabad on October 14, and seeing as England were panned 5-0 on their last trip in November 2008 (and would surely have lost 7-0 but for the abandonment of the last two matches) there’s plenty at stake for this squad.”It would be massive to win in India, but we’ve got to cross that bridge when we get to it,” said Swann. “We certainly don’t look at it as one series, because these are two contrasting conditions. I don’t think you can take late September in England, in these damp squib conditions, compared to what it’ll be like in India where it’s really hot, and the India players will feel much more at home.”

Centuries from Michael Carberry and Neil McKenzie secured a draw for Hampshire at the Rose Bowl – and denied Warwickshire a first County Championship crown since 2004

15-Sep-2011
Scorecard
Michael Carberry hit a superb hundred as Hampshire battled to a draw•Getty ImagesCenturies from Michael Carberry and Neil McKenzie secured a draw for Hampshire at the Rose Bowl – and denied Warwickshire a first County Championship crown since 2004.The hosts, resuming on 43 for 3, got off to a flying start with Carberry and McKenzie – who combined in a record-breaking partnership of 523 against Yorkshire last month – frustrating the Warwickshire bowlers.Within the first hour of the day’s play, the pair had moved Hampshire past three figures, with former England man Carberry finding the boundary with particular fluency. The pair took their partnership past 150 on the stroke of lunch, and in doing so, ensured the title-chasing Bears would need to bat again if they hoped to secure the County Championship title.But any hopes the visitors had of quick wickets after the interval were quickly extinguished, as Carberry and McKenzie continued to frustrate with some dogged batting. Carberry went to a richly-deserved century during the afternoon session from just 152 balls, before eventually falling for a superb 111, when he was harshly adjudged lbw to England paceman Chris Woakes.That ended a fine partnership of 182 between Carberry and McKenzie, who continued to progress serenely at the other end. New batsman James Vince (33) looked confident at the crease, and with McKenzie, he took Hampshire’s lead past 80, before David Metters had him caught on the boundary by Boyd Rankin.Sean Ervine was next in for Hampshire, and together with McKenzie – who moved to his third championship hundred of the season after tea from 211 balls – the pair ground Warwickshire down.The new ball failed to yield any success as Rankin and David Wright laboured on a perfect batting strip. Young spinner Metters raised hopes briefly by removing Ervine and Michael Bates – who bagged a pair in the match – with successive deliveries.But that proved to be the last meaningful acts on a day when Warwickshire took just four of the three wickets they required for victory. At just after 5pm, the captains called the game a draw with Hampshire 158 runs ahead, and McKenzie unbeaten on 115.The draw meant Warwickshire finished the season in second place, and possibly rueing an eight-point deduction accrued earlier in the campaign.

Andre Russell, with an entertaining hundred, and Carlos Brathwaite punished Bangladesh A following a middle-order wobble

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Nov-2011
ScorecardDanza Hyatt and Nkruma Bonner steadied West Indies A after their openers failed, before Andre Russell, with an entertaining hundred, and Carlos Brathwaite punished Bangladesh A following a middle-order wobble. Kamrul Rabbi then struck twice towards the end of the day to limit the damage.Medium pacer Rabbi removed Kyle Corbin for a duck and Rajindra Chandrika for 9 to reduce West Indies A to 11 for 2. Hyatt and Bonner then set about rebuilding the innings, with the former the more aggressive of the pair. Hyatt reached his 50 just before lunch, from 66 balls, and together with Bonner took their side to 100 for two at the break. They extended their partnership to 115 before Bonner was caught and bowled by left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo for 43. Two more quick wickets followed, with Jonathan Carter falling to Shuvo for a duck and Devon Thomas for 2 to Robiul Islam, leaving the visitors tottering at 131 for 5.That brought Russell to the crease and he proceeded to play with his typical freedom, forcing Bangladesh on to the back foot. He added 58 with Hyatt for the sixth wicket before Hyatt was unfortunately run out eight short of a hundred, having struck 11 fours and two sixes in his 157-ball knock. Brathwaite, though, picked up where Hyatt left off as West Indies A continued to punish the Bangladesh A bowlers.Such was Russell’s confidence that on 98 he chose to play a reverse sweep to bring up his hundred. In all he struck 18 fours and four sixes in his 128, adding 155 with Brathwaite, who was not to be left behind,reaching his 50 from 67 balls.Just when it seemed they would take the game away from the hosts, Rabbi struck twice in the last half-hour, first bowling Russell and then trapping Brathwaite lbw for 62 in the final over of the day to leave West Indies A on 352 for 8.”We needed big partnerships and what we did was try to be positive and stay confident,” Russell said. “I back myself because I know I have the strength to get the ball away so when they [the Bangladesh A bowlers] give me the opportunities I made use of them.”

The Lord Chief Justice has rejected the appeals of Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir against their sentences in the spot-fixing case

Andrew Miller at the Royal Courts of Justice23-Nov-2011The former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and the teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir will remain in prison for their full terms of 30 months and six months respectively, after their appeals against the sentences imposed at the spot-fixing trial were dismissed by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.Butt and Amir’s cases were heard in front of a three-man panel headed by the Lord Chief Justice, Igor Judge. Neither man attended the hearing, which was wrapped up inside two hours as Lord Judge stated that cricket would be “utterly impoverished” if the original punishments were allowed to be overturned.”This is a notorious and essentially simple case,” said Lord Judge after hearing the submissions from the players’ lawyers. “It was spot-fixing. Three no-balls were bowled, in effect, to order. It was a betting scam, and they were very well rewarded.In the original trial, Butt had pleaded not guilty on two counts, conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments. His counsel, Ali Bajwa, admitted for the first time that his client had been implicated in the plot to bowl deliberate no-balls during the Lord’s Test in August 2010, but argued that he had only been tempted in a one-off capacity by the size of the bung, £150,000, offered by the .Bajwa presented a skeleton argument in his client’s defence, drawing parallels with the MPs expenses scandal, in that the fall from grace from a high-profile position should be taken as punishment in its own right. Butt, he added, was a “broken man” as a result of his involvement in the scandal, but 30 months was a “disproportionate” punishment.Furthermore, Butt’s defence argued that seeing as he had not actually bowled any one of the three no-balls at the centre of the plot, there was a case of “objectionable disparity” between his sentence of 30 months and the 12-month jail term received by Mohammad Asif, who has lodged a separate appeal against his conviction having brought in a new defence team.However, in a damning summary, Lord Judge described the former Pakistan captain as a “malign influence” and reiterated the opinion of Justice Cooke, who had presided over the Southwark trial, that he was the “orchestrator” of the plot. “His duty as captain was that if there was the faintest whiff of corruption, he was to step in and stop it,” Lord Judge added.”This corruption was carefully prepared,” he said. “It was not the spur of the moment or a sudden temptation to which either applicant succumbed … These three cricketers betrayed their team, the country they had the honour to represent, the sport that gave them their distinction, and all the followers of the game around the world.”What was required of them was that at all times they should give of their best. If for money or any extraneous reward, this cannot be guaranteed … then all the advantages enjoyed from those who watch cricket will eventually be destroyed.”In normal circumstances, Lord Judge added, he would have ruled Butt’s appeal “unarguable”, but he wanted to hear his submission in conjunction with that of Amir, towards whom he showed some sympathy in describing him as a “prodigious talent lost to cricket”, but whose failure to co-operate fully with the ICC hearing in Doha in January ultimately undermined his appeal.Amir’s counsel, Henry Blaxland, had called for his client to be released immediately, on the grounds that a suspended sentence would suffice in the circumstances, given the time he has already spent in jail. Blaxland argued that the age of Amir, who was just 18 at the time of the offence, should also be taken into account.Amir’s decision to plead guilty was “courageous”, added Blaxland, while the public remorse he showed in his final statement to the court at Southwark was “worthy of full and proper recognition”. However, the Lord Chief Justice, a cricket follower, remarked that he had spent a lot of time “trying to bamboozle the ICC” during the Doha hearing.”The situation for Amir was much less culpable,” said Lord Judge. “But we cannot give the view that it was extinguished. He was open to the malign influence of Butt, but he can have been in no doubt about the risks and dangers of corruption, and how they would be dealt with. It was an elementary part of his education as a Test cricketer.””This prodigious talent has been lost to cricket,” he added. “Cricket will be poorer for the loss. But in the longer term the game would be utterly impoverished if the court did not recognise that this is criminal conduct of a very serious kind that must allow for a criminal sanction. A short custodial sentence was appropriate. We see no reason for interfering in the decision of the court.”