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ScorecardGrim batting characterised Nottinghamshire’s determined efforts to build a match-winning total against Yorkshire. Bilal Shafayat and Mark Wagh both dropped anchor. on a pitch they couldn’t quite trust, for dogged fifties as the home team batted again after leading by 52. Until then, swing bowling again had played a significant part.Early on, the only real question appeared to be whether Yorkshire were capable of reaching three figures, so clueless were they against the morning swing. Their own bowlers had been able to do little with the conditions yesterday, and they were indeed fortunate that Darren Pattinson was not playing and in his regular county form. As it was, Charlie Shreck cut his run-up and pace, finding prodigious swing at times, and the visitors’ lower order were for the most part totally out of their depth.Matthew Hoggard (1) was the first to go, caught at third slip off Andre Adams, who was also finding movement, and his single was the only run for 18 minutes before Adil Rashid hit Adams for four to midwicket. Gerard Brophy, Hoggard’s overnight partner, took more than half an hour altogether to open his account but, despite their care, neither of these batsmen thrived, both falling lbw to Shreck just short of double figures.As time went on, the ball swung a little less, though Mark Ealham was still able to get some sharp movement. Rana Naved slapped an uppish drive to the cover boundary to take the score past 100, to the relief of his team; he managed two similar bold strokes in succession off Shreck in the next over before being bowled through the gate by another big winger for 18. His partnership of 20 with the solid Tim Bresnan was at this point the second-best of the innings.Bresnan was in fact streets ahead of his team-mates and remains capable of becoming a genuine all-rounder. He rarely appeared in trouble, though he played himself in with great care, and he found good support from last man Deon Kruis, with whom he batted up to lunch. So capable did Bresnan look that even when he was scarcely into double figures, Notts succumbed to the modern stupidity of putting seven fielders on the boundary to gift him singles in an effort to get at Kruis, instead of actually trying to get him out.The pair was still together at lunch, however, with their stand now worth 46, though with the first ball afterwards Ealham deceived Bresnan (32) with another swinging ball and trapped him lbw. Kruis was unbeaten with a noble 17, and Yorkshire’s deficit was 52: quite sizable in the context of the match, but considerably less than had seemed likely. Shreck took 5 for 58, the underused Ealham 3 for 17.The afternoon session was rather tedious, as the home side treated it as a war of attrition as they attempted to build an unassailable lead. The Yorkshire bowlers found some swing and there were frequent appeals, one of which found Matt Wood eventually lbw to Hoggard for 14. There was some criticism of Hoggard’s omission from the Headingley Test team, but on recent evidence Hoggard is doing an adequate job in county cricket, but is not in Test-match form yet. He may well come again and should never be written off.Shafayat, a makeshift opener replacing Will Jefferson – dropped, but finding some form with 74 for the seconds today – played laboriously but determinedly to hold the fort. He opened out somewhat after tea, snicking Bresnan for four past slip to reach 50 off 125 balls. The team 100 came up in the 43rd over. Shafayat eventually fell for 62, in unusual fashion: he straight-drove Hoggard powerfully, the bowler could only parry the chest-high hit, but Naved, racing over from mid-on, managed to take a fine diving catch behind the umpire. The stand realized 103, and soon afterwards Hoggard left the field with an injured hand.Wagh took nearly 100 minutes to move from 27 at tea to his 50, which took him 122 balls. Towards the close the scoring rate picked up and the home side finished the day with a clear advantage. Most unusually, the two sides had completed their 96 overs for the day by 6pm, so no extra time was required.

Luke Ronchi is used to his batting making headlines in Australian domestic cricket but in his first outings at international level it has been his glovework that has drawn praise. After the first-choice wicketkeeper Brad Haddin flew home to recuperate from a broken finger following the first ODI Ronchi was guaranteed four games and has impressed in the initial two.Haddin has been told he does not need surgery on the finger and it should be fully healed in two to three weeks, meaning he will be fit for Australia’s three ODIs against Bangladesh in Darwin starting in late August. Ronchi is well aware that however he performs in the Caribbean, Haddin will remain the No. 1 for some time.”Hads is that good of a player and he hasn’t done anything wrong, so I don’t think there’s any way I’m going to push him out of the spot at all,” Ronchi told . “It’s just a case for me to play as well as I can when I do play, and if that happens to lead onto more and better things, then hopefully that does happen, but at the moment it’s more of a replacement position.”A destructive opening batsman in Western Australia’s limited-overs setup, Ronchi has not yet had a chance to bat in his first two ODIs. He is the owner of the fastest hundred in Australia’s domestic one-day history and he showed a glimpse of that talent with a dynamic 36 in the Twenty20 international against West Indies in Barbados.In the 50-over format his work behind the stumps has been excellent and he began his career with a sharp caught-behind first ball before following with three terrific dismissals in his second game. A diving catch was followed by a slick take to an edge off Andrew Symonds’ offspin, but perhaps best of all was a brilliant stumping when he was standing up to Nathan Bracken.The efforts drew praise from the captain Ricky Ponting, who said: “I thought his job behind the stumps in game three was outstanding. We haven’t had the chance to see him with the bat yet, but hopefully in the next couple of games we’ll get to see that.”The small crowds in the Caribbean and lack of intense media attention might have made his job easier in his first appearances for his country. Ronchi said it had also helped having just come from a stint with Mumbai in the Indian Premier League.”The big thing out of all of it was the fact I’ve gone from playing in front of 40 or 50,000 people screaming in India to here, where the crowds aren’t massive, so you’re actually a whole lot more relaxed,” Ronchi said. “The first three to four weeks of the IPL was out of this world. I’d never seen anything like it before in a game of cricket.”The first game I played, I’ve walked out to bat and the crowd was so loud, you just couldn’t hear anything. And I was shaking as the bowler was running in for the first ball, it was just the most amazing thing.”

Dubai’s Attorney General will conduct an inquiry into the case involving Mohammad Asif, who has been in detention in the emirate for the suspected possession of an illegal substance.”Our lawyer has confirmed that Asif’s case will start on June 22 and no charges have yet been lodged against him,” Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, told .A Dubai court had referred Asif’s case to the Attorney General last Sunday after the public prosecutor had completed his investigation and made his recommendations. “We have maintained that Asif is innocent until proven guilty and all speculations on the case are unwarranted,” Naghmi said.Asif had been held at the Dubai International Airport on June 1 after authorities allegedly found a banned substance in his wallet.If convicted, Asif could face a sentence of up to four years. He is also likely to face an investigation by the PCB.

Virat Kohli, the captain of the India under-19s, and team-mates Pradeep Sangwan and Tanmay Srivastava, have been awarded the Border-Gavaskar scholarship for 2008. The scholarship will enable them to train for six weeks at Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane.”It’s really good to receive the scholarship. I think my performance in the [U-19] World Cup has been taken into consideration for this” Sangwan told the . Sangwan, a left-arm seamer who is Kohli’s team-mate in Delhi’s Ranji squad, was one of the stand-out performers in India’s victorious U-19 World Cup campaign, taking eight wickets from six matches at 20.75.Meanwhile, Srivastava, who was the top-scorer in the tournament with 262 runs at 52.40, felt it was an “honour” to be a recipient of the scholarship. “This is the most sought-after scholarship and I am really lucky to get this. I am looking forward to further working on my skills and improving my game while we are trained in Australia.”Kohli also had a good run in the U-19 World Cup, scoring 235 runs to finish as the third-highest run-getter, and was one of only three batsmen to score a century in the tournament, which was held in Malaysia.The trio will be joined on their Australian stint by Mumbai seamer Dhawal Kulkarni, whose trip has been sponsored under the Dilip Sardesai Scholarship, which has been newly constituted by the Mumbai Cricket Association. They will leave for Brisbane on Saturday.

The chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Lord MacLaurin, has added his voice in support of the two men in charge of the Ashes tourists.MacLaurin, who retires from his post next year, believes Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher represent England’s best chance of fighting back against Australia after two crushing Test defeats.”I think in Nasser and Duncan Fletcher we have a very good management team,” MacLaurin insisted. “It is just ridiculous (to suggest otherwise).”MacLaurin backed the original selection policy for the tour, adding that the warm-up schedule once the squad arrived in Australia may have had more to do with England’s problems.”We certainly have our best players out there. But I think it is fair enough to say we have played some pretty strange matches to start with, two days here and three days there,” he told Sky Sports News. “If we had had two or three four-day matches before we started the Test matches it would have been better.”MacLaurin insisted that should Hussain decided to stand down as England’s captain – perhaps after this winter’s World Cup – it would be detrimental toEngland’s prospects.”I think that would be very sad,” he said, calling on followers of English cricket to get behind their team.”Are we supporting it [English cricket]?” he asked. “Do we want to see it through this difficult period? Or are we going to hound out the best people?”

It was the levelheaded approach of Ramnaresh Sarwan that helpedthe West Indies to a thrilling win at Jamshedpur. I mustcongratulate the tourists team for the resilience they haveshown. After losing the first two Test matches, they have shown apositive approach to their game, and that has patently manifesteditself in a marked improvement in their fielding standards.The signs of improvement started showing even during the KolkataTest, and there is a very definite air of positive confidence totheir body language now. After the Jamshedpur one-dayer, the teamwill now be boosted even more by the performances of their toporder batsmen like Wavell Hinds and Marlon Samuels. And eventhough the experienced Carl Hooper may have failed, Sarwanrefused to throw away his wicket and, ignoring the mountingpressure, sealed a scintillating win.For India, promoting Ajit Agarkar to number three must be ratedas a big gamble. Fortunately for the team management, the gamblepaid off. Agarkar played very well for his 95 runs, and it wasgood to see him involved in two big partnerships, with VVS Laxmanand then with Rahul Dravid.Mohammad Kaif played yet another brilliant cameo towards the end.Surely India have now found their own version of Michael Bevan, alate-order player who can hit up quick runs, consolidate whenneeded, and pace a one-day chase well. Kaif has shown glimpses ofall three skills, and the first of the three helped India to tatotal of 283 – a good score, especially in the absence of aninjured Sachin Tendulkar.But Agarkar’s success with the bat may pose a few problems. WithKaif then coming in at number eight, the batting line-up looksrather over-crowded, and when Tendulkar returns, either Agarkarwill have to move back to his slot in the tail or one of theregular batsmen will have to make way.

Then again, going by their display at Jamshedpur, the surfeit ofriches in the batting department is the least of India’s worriesin one-day cricket. The fact that they failed to defend a scoreof 283, on a placid Indian pitch, must be a worrying factor forthe team management. As the tour progresses, the West Indians arealso getting used to Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh; notably,Samuels, Hinds and Sarwan are finding their feet against bothspinners. The pitch was a touch on the slower side and shouldhave helped Kumble and Harbhajan, yet both were completelyoutplayed.Virender Sehwag was the onlybowler to create an impact on the West Indies. I thought hebowled intelligently and was crucial in the Windies almostchoking towards the end. It is this lack of depth in the Indianbowling that causes worry.The two teams look very evenly matched at the moment, and theremaining games of this one-day series might continue in the samepattern. It is the change in batting fortunes of the West Indiesthat has made all the difference, and the likes of Sarwan,Samuels and Hinds have the right attitude towards the game. Ifthey can concentrate on the job a touch harder and score heavily,the West Indies might give this experienced Indian team a realscare.

Somerset face Scotland when they start their quest to regain their Cheltenham and Gloucester crown in 2003.Scotland have already beaten the Lancashire Cricket Board XI to reach this stage of the competition and the Cidermen will not relish the prospect of a trip north of the border on May 7th to face what could be a very difficult tie.Over the last two years the C and G has been the only one day competition where the Cidermen have enjoyed success, but facing non first class opposition on their own territory can prove to be difficult as they found in 2001 when they looked to be in danger against Cambridgeshire until they were rescued by Mark Lathwell.The two sides have met just once in this competition previously and on that occasion the Cidermen were victorious.Assuming Somerset are successful against Scotland they will face the winners of the Staffordshire and Surrey tie at the County Ground in Taunton on May 28th 2003 another difficult tie.

Cricket Wellington is attempt to rebuild its women’s cricket to the levels reached during the late-1980s and early-1990s when it regularly vied with Canterbury for top honours in New Zealand.A women’s forum group was formed two years ago with the aim of trying to build the base of numbers playing the game, both at girls’ and women’s level.There are signs of developing momentum and Cricket Wellington is keen to rebuild its base of elite team to get them back into their rightful position at, or near the top of the tables in national competitions.Two recent additions to the TelstraClear White Ferns in Anna Corbin and Frances King from Wellington are a signal of the talent in Wellington.The Blaze this year are determined to challenge for a finals position in the National State League competition.A larger squad is training this year, and their will be strong competition for a number of places, a luxury we have not had for a number of years. The team still has a strong base of experienced players in Maia Lewis, King, Corbin, and promising youngsters in Amanda Green and Amanda Cooper.Several players who have been unavailable in recent seasons due to injury and other commitments have returned to the squad and will bring some valuable experience with them. Although we have lost Anna O’Leary who has retired, she will be ably replaced by the very talented international Fiona Fraser who returns to her home town of Wellington.In terms of club cricket, there will be a Senior and Senior Reserve and Super 8 Grade. Cricket Wellington are focusing this year on building up the number of club teams, particularly in the new Super 8 Grade.This may suit individuals or groups of friends, it is a purely social, participation-based grade based around everyone having fun and features the following:

• Eight players per team
• Mid-afternoon start
• Game time about three hours
• Everyone participates in all facets of the game
• Grade winner will win a night out – dinner and drinks for the team

These shorter version, more participation grades have also been introduced at primary school level. Recently a girls-only grade was introduced at Intermediate School level, and with the success of this, two further grades have been introduced, more at a participation, first time playing grades.These will be:

• Super 8 Intermediate Age Grade
• 16-over innings, soft ball, full participation – batting in pairs and bowling two overs each. This will also be introduced.

Cricket Wellington really want to build on the base of players this year and introduce girls and women to the game to show that participation in this team game is a lot of fun, and with changes in rules, the time commitment is less than the previous requirement.If you require further information on local clubs, please call Cricket Wellington on (04) 384 3171.

Steven Mullaney was still fielding questions about the Hundred with Nottinghamshire’s Blast quarter-final against Hampshire barely 24 hours away. Flicking the switch from one competition to another is not that easy when the media is still flicking it back again.Even Nottinghamshire, a T20 side to be reckoned with as winners in two of the past four years, were wary about making that instant switch when their loanees to the Hundred reassembled with the rest of a squad who had been consigned to duties for much-weakened sides in the Royal London Cup.It was enough for the Notts media unit – one of the most far-sighted in the country – to put together a welcome-back video with family members stressing how important Notts Outlaws’ success was to them and how proud it made them feel. “It’s a long time since the squad was together,” Mullaney said. “It was really touching to see how much it means to them and how proud everyone is. It’s going to be a really special occasion.”Nottingham quickly took to Trent Rockets in the Hundred, with crowds ranging between 11,483 and 13,688, and there will be no fall-off for the Blast – quite the contrary. Advance sales were more than 13,000 on Tuesday lunchtime, a record, putting the record crowd for a domestic fixture, 14,478, tantalisingly close. If the Hundred energises the Blast, rather than overwhelms it, the counties will be mightily relieved.Related

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“The Hundred will get more interest in the Blast in my opinion,” Mullaney suggested. “You will get lads wanting to get into the Hundred by standing out in the Blast. It’s been a real positive for the county game.”They have had 10 home quarter-finals in the last 12 seasons. It is an extraordinary record. But they will need no reminding that the two they lost, in 2012 and 2014, were against Hampshire (who have been boosted by the returns of Liam Dawson and Chris Wood from injury).Mullaney’s summer became all the onerous when Australia threw Notts’ plans into confusion on the eve of the tournament by surprisingly recalling Dan Christian at the age of 38. While Christian, an inspirational T20 leader for Notts, had a thin time on limited-overs tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh, Mullaney inherited leadership responsibilities in the Blast to his role as club captain.”I did have the luxury of 10 days in isolation as a Covid close contact so I had a bit of a rest there,” he said. “But at my age you want to play as much cricket as you can at the highest level you can.”He politely waved aside the suggestion that being a like-for-like player might have made it a little easier. “I think that’s a bit of an injustice to DC saying we’re alike,” he said, “I think he’s a bit better than I am.”It was a late call to take up the T20 captaincy but it was a natural progression as captain of the four-day side. I’ve not tried to change too much. Obviously, every leader has a different style but the blueprint has not changed.”It was a really exciting opportunity for me. I had never captained a T20 before so it probably took me three of four games to get a proper grip on it. You have to make snap decisions and on the chosen day they might be different to Dan’s. I spoke to him quite a bit before the tournament and also throughout the tournament – he is always in touch and always there for you to call.”Mullaney has captained Notts in Dan Christian’s absence•Getty Images

No side has ever successfully defended a T20 title in England, a fact about which Mullaney is regularly reminded. That was enough to make their pre-tournament odds of 5-1 – and their status as favourites – seem a little uninviting. They possessed the most fearsome openers in the land in Alex Hales and Joe Clarke; Ben Duckett, at No. 3, is a three-times winner; and Samit Patel’s admirable skill and durability is thoroughly uplifting for everybody whose gym membership card occasionally gets lost under a family pack of Twix bars.But the bowling? With Harry Gurney retired, Luke Wood lost to Lancashire and no overseas saviour, it just appeared to be a little vulnerable.But in hurried piece of advice offered by Christian before he left helped to set the Outlaws on the right track. He urged Mullaney to put trust in the legspin of Calvin Harrison, which was pretty much an unknown quantity even to Harrison himself. Mullaney was persuaded and Harrison, who had been invited to Trent Bridge as a 2nd XI trialist, went on to top Notts’ wicket-taking charts at a decent average and even got a gig in the Hundred for Manchester Originals, such a dizzying rush to prominence that it was fortunate he had undertaken a psychology degree to help him cope with it.Mullaney said: “Just before DC went back, he said, ‘I think this kid has to play’. I think his numbers have spoken for themselves. He spins it hard whether it be googly or legspinner. What he has got better at is holding his length. He drives it into the pitch. He has had a bit of a whirlwind but he is a very level-headed lad.”Calvin had got a hundred against us for his uni side earlier in the season and we wanted a look at him in the second team more as a batsman, although he did bowl a bit of legspin. Since then he has worked tirelessly.”Alongside Harrison, Matt Carter, the towering offie, and Patel, as irrepressible as ever, have seen Notts through to another home quarter-final.”Carts for a few years has been a mainstay of the T20 side,” Mullaney said. “He bowls often at difficult times during the Powerplay. If you ask other countries one of the hardest grounds to bowl at would be Trent Bridge so his stats speak volumes about how well he has done.”He recalled a recent interview with ESPNcricinfo about how statistics suggest home advantage does not matter in a Blast quarter-final, but perhaps it matters a little bit more at Trent Bridge because of the misshapen outfield – and anyway, considering that Nottinghamshire only ended a three-year winless streak in the Championship in May, and have since reached Division One in the culmination to the Championship season, a home quarter all adds to a sense of a club in good health.”We have had a tough three years and I have been captain of that. It has been really tough, not winning a game. I have often said that I believed I was the right man to lead the side and we had the talent to turn it round. We have backed that up this season with performances.”We’ve had a lot of home quarter-finals and it always feel special. We have players who have performed well under pressure but we will have to be at our best to win.”

Jammu & Kashmir set Goa a mammoth target of 412 runs in their second-round Group C match in Surat. Goa were 22 for 0 after 10 overs at stumps on the second day.Goa began the second day from an overnight score of 43 for 5 and were bundled out for 77, giving J&K a first-innings lead of 150. Seamer Ram Dayal finished with figures 4 for 15 from 11.5 overs, while Umar Nazir picked up three wickets. J&K then struck 261 runs in their second innings at a rate of 4.24 runs per over to establish a sound advantage. Ian Dev Singh (64) and wicketkeeper Puneet Bisht (87) struck fifties, the latter hitting 12 fours and a six in his 106-ball innings.A top-order slump saw Himachal Pradesh squander a good start and finish the second day at 198 for 8, 50 runs adrift of Kerala‘s first-innings total of 248 in Kolkata.Himachal openers Ankush Bains and Prashant Chopra (60) had added 74 for the first wicket but the side stumbled to 100 for 4 in a span of eight overs. Jalaj Saxena’s offspin accounted for three of the top four Himachal batsmen, and he eventually finished the day with 5 for 53. Earlier, Kerala’s last six wickets could add only 85 runs, after resuming from an overnight score of 163 for 4. The overnight pair of Sachin Baby (61) and VA Jagadeesh (35) were both dismissed by Mayank Dagar, before Rishi Dhawan wrapped up the lower order to finish with 4 for 66.Half-centuries from openers Nitin Saini and Shubham Rohilla eased Haryana to a 45-run first-innings lead over Hyderabad at stumps in Jamshedpur. Haryana’s score of 236 for 4 was set up by a 126-run first-wicket partnership between Saini and Rohilla before No. 3 batsman Chaitanya Bishnoi anchored the innings, ending on 47 not out.Andhra finished the second day of their Group C match against Chhattisgarh at a shaky 151 for 5, trailing by 243 runs in Kalyani. Earlier, Chhattisgarh’s first innings had ended at 394 with overnight batsman Abhimanyu Chauhan (123) completing his fourth first-class century.Andhra were propped up by opener Prasanth Kumar’s boundary-filled 62 even as the rest of the line-up struggled against Chhattisgarh. Prasanth contributed 62 to the team total of 93 before he was run out by Kant Singh. The score soon turned to 104 for 5 before Dwaraka Ravi Teja steadied the innings until stumps, finishing on 30 not out.Earlier, Chauhan, who began the second day on 73, took the team’s score past 350 after Amandeep Khare and Ajay Mandal fell early in the first session. He added 79 with wicketkeeper Vivek Naidu before both batsmen fell in successive overs. Fast bowler Duvvarapu Siva Kumar finished with 4 for 61.Tripura bowlers will look to wrap up the Services innings early on the third day and bag a first-innings lead after they limited the opposition to 202 for 9 on the second day in Guwahati.Services finished the day with a deficit of 73 runs, with Shamsher Yadav unbeaten on 71. Yadav’s half-century was the only substantial effort in Services’ first innings helping them recover from 49 for 4. Tripura, who began the day on 228 for 7 pushed the score to 275 with key contributions from Rajat Dey (34) and Gurinder Singh (35).