Paul Horton gives County Championship leaders Lancashire a boost at Chester-le-Street

The clash of the top two promised to test Lancashire’s resolve against a team who have been obliged to eke out victories on flat pitches.

Three of the leaders’ five wins have come at Liverpool and, despite their 590 at Hove, the average total of the side batting first in their previous six matches has been 299, compared with 474 for Durham. Nor have the pitches on which Durham have played deteriorated.

In six of their seven games the final innings has produced more than 300 runs, the exception being their 102 for two to beat Warwickshire at home.

There was a tinge of green in Sunday’s strip, so Durham put Lancashire in and for 30 minutes they threatened to wreak havoc.

Then the sun came out, the batsmen dug in and the seamers erred. Graham Onions and Callum Thorp took a wicket each in reducing Lancashire to nine for two, but dropped too short too often thereafter.

Watched by England selector James Whitaker, Onions did not enhance his chances of being called up for the second Test in place of James Anderson. Onions came under fire from Glen Chapple when the new ball was taken on 241 for seven.

Nine overs later it was 310 for seven, but Mitch Claydon had Chapple caught at third man for 46 and the last three wickets went down for one run.

Paul Horton’s 94 revived Lancashire, but when he was fourth out with the total on 158 the benefits of diligent application began to be dissipated, with Gareth Cross and Tom Smith both guilty of over-ambition against the spinners.

Although he gave no clear chance, Horton led something of a charmed life.

An edge on one brushed Gordon Muchall’s fingertips at first slip, a leading edge on 19 just evaded cover and a skied hook on 65 fell into space.

He showed good judgement of what to leave, however, and remained alert to the chance to dispatch poor balls, hitting 15 fours.

Three came in one over from Ben Stokes – a pull, a square drive and an on-drive – to take Horton into the 90s, only for Stokes to nip one back to hit the off stump and end a stand of 72 with Steve Croft.

Both batsmen had set out to leave whatever they didn’t need to play at in the post-lunch spell from Onions and Thorp. Durham’s hopes of reuniting Onions and Steve Harmison for the first time since August, 2009 were dashed by the back injury which afflicted Harmison at Edgbaston.

It seemed unlikely to matter, however, when Stephen Moore fell to the 12th ball of the day, guiding a head-high catch to third slip, then Keith Brown shaped to drive Onions and edged to Michael Di Venuto at second slip.

The Tasmanian also held a simple catch to end Mark Chilton’s 23-over vigil for 12 and a brilliant one to get rid of Croft and give Ian Blackwell the first of his three wickets.

View the original article here

Worcestershire prosper thanks to excellence of Alan Richardson and Damien Wright

Worcestershire chairman Martyn Price has excused the county’s chief executive David Leatherdale and director of cricket Steve Rhodes of any wrongdoing over the Adrian Shankar affair.

West Mercia Police are investigating whether batsman Shankar may have provided false information to obtain a two year contract with Worcestershire, who abruptly terminated the deal last week.

Price has backed his senior management team and asked the England and Wales Cricket Board to review its registration procedures.

“David and Steve have my full backing, they have done nothing wrong and have worked hard to sort this mess out.” Price said. “If there is any blame attached the ECB have to take a bit of it."

At least Worcestershire’s on-field performances diverted some of the attention from ‘Shankargate’ by making the champions struggle on a seamer-friendly pitch.

Worcestershire have lost all six matches since they returned to the top flight but they were spirited and competitive thanks to the excellence of Alan Richardson and Damien Wright.

The new ball pair shared six wickets between them and beat the bat on numerous occasions.

Riki Wessels, controversially registered after he obtained an obscure entrepreneur visa, the terms of which require him to be contracted through a company, marked his Nottinghamshire championship debut with an aggressive 67.

The champions scrambled their first batting point in three matches thanks to lower order resistance from Chris Read, Paul Franks and Andre Adams.

The most fluent innings of the day was played by Vikram Solanki who played beautifully for his 53-ball 52 before he went LBW to Adams.

Solanki’s stand of 65 with Matt Pardoe for Worcestershire’s second wicket was the only half century partnership of the day.

View the original article here

Denly delivers as Kent dominate

Joe Denly scored his first LV= County Championship hundred since 2009 as Kent’s batsmen enjoyed a prolific opening day in the bottom-of-the-table Division Two clash against Leicestershire at Tunbridge Wells.

Kent reached stumps on 376 for three, with Denly making 143 and receiving admirable support from Rob Key and Sam Northeast, who each fell narrowly short of three figures.

Key was dismissed for 91, also a season’s best for him, after putting on 198 for the first wicket with Denly, and Northeast scored 99 before being dismissed by what became the last ball of the day.

Northeast, trying to get to three figures before the close, attempted to flick Andrew McDonald wide of mid-on and was lbw to the fifth delivery of the 96th over.

Kent, anchored to the foot of Division Two after losing four of their first six championship games, have targeted this match against second-from-bottom Leicestershire to try to reverse their fortunes after an injury-ravaged opening seven weeks of the season.

Importantly, Key won the toss and first use of an excellent pitch and, on a blustery day, set about a Leicestershire attack missing England Lions fast bowler Nathan Buck, who has a stress fracture of the foot.

Kent were 134 without loss at the end of the morning session and it was almost an hour after lunch before the opening pair were split when Key drilled a return catch to seamer McDonald.

The Kent captain had faced 146 balls, hitting nine fours and a six over long-on off slow left-armer Claude Henderson.

Denly was then joined in an equally productive second-wicket partnership of 140 by Northeast, which saw the two young Kent-born batsmen keep up the pressure on the visitors.

There were 19 fours in Denly’s hundred, made from 147 balls, while Northeast found the boundary 10 times en route to his half-century, which came off 80 deliveries.

Denly has made three centuries and three ducks in his last six first-class innings at Tunbridge Wells and this was his 11th first-class hundred.

Last season he registered only 610 runs in championship cricket, at an average of 21, and this summer he had previously scored just 82 from eight innings and had also suffered a broken finger.

Northeast, who made 112 in the first match of the season at Essex, has also largely struggled for runs, but this fluent innings underlined his rich promise.

It was just a shame for him that he played across the line in the final over of the day – in search of what would have been a third championship hundred – instead of waiting to reach the landmark at the start of the second day.

Northeast’s 99 came from 157 balls, with 15 fours, and Denly faced 247 balls in all and hit 22 fours.

Denly and Key’s partnership was the first century stand for any Kent wicket this season, and was full of superlative shots.

A fast outfield meant that Denly, Key and Northeast gained full value for their strokeplay, and their fine batting has already given Kent a big advantage in this game.

View the original article here

Wells and Goodwin flay Yorkshire

Luke Wells and Murray Goodwin each compiled unbeaten centuries as Yorkshire’s decision to put Sussex in on the first day of their LV= County Championship Division One tussle at the PROBIZ County Ground badly backfired.

Wells enhanced his reputation as one of the best young batsmen in the country by batting through the day to reach 143 not out - his third hundred in only his eighth championship game - while Goodwin had 108 to his name at stumps as Sussex closed on 295 for two.

Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale probably felt a pitch with an even covering of grass would assist his seam attack and Ajmal Shahzad, who is one of the contenders to replace James Anderson in England’s squad should the Lancashire paceman be ruled out of the Lord’s Test, did take the scalp of the in-form Chris Nash in the ninth over with one which nipped back.

Wells was only opening because Nash’s regular partner Ed Joyce is playing for Ireland.

Joyce is due back in time for the third day and his nominated substitute, Joe Gatting, struggled to take his chance.

Gatting failed to score off 40 of the 44 balls he faced before he drove loosely at Steven Patterson and was well caught by the diving Joe Sayers at cover, although that was as good as it got for Yorkshire.

Wells, briefly becalmed before lunch, brought up his fifty with a cover-driven boundary off Patterson and during the afternoon session he and Goodwin made serene progress.

Wells had one alarm on 79 when he was knocked off his feet by Ryan Sidebottom’s yorker but umpire Richard Kettleborough - recently promoted to the ICC’s elite panel - adjudged the ball was sliding down the leg side.

The 20-year-old left-hander reached his century off 198 balls with successive fours when leg-spinner Adil Rashid obligingly dropped short. In total he faced 286 deliveries and found the boundary on 23 occasions.

Goodwin lost little in comparison to his partner although he also had one moment of good fortune, on 49, when he edged between the two slips off Patterson.

Otherwise Sussex’s vice-captain looked in total control, taking every opportunity to play his favoured back-foot shots whenever the bowlers dropped short.

He reached his 46th hundred for the county, in 217 balls, with his 13th four in the final over of the day and so far the third-wicket pair have added 217 in 71 overs.

Sussex are giving championship debutants to two South Africans. Left-armer Wayne Parnell only arrived at 6.30am on an overnight flight from Johannesburg to replace Pakistan’s Rana Naved-ul-Hasan as overseas player, while all-rounder Kirk Wernars, who qualifies because of his Dutch passport, was also included.

View the original article here

Maharoof admits Sri Lanka struggled

Farveez Maharoof was left to reflect on a "tough day at the office" as Sri Lanka again toiled in the field on the fourth day of the first npower Test in Cardiff.

Jonathan Trott led the way for England with a superb 203, the highest Test score by an England player against Sri Lanka, with Alastair Cook and Ian Bell contributing 133 and 98 not out respectively as the home side reached 491 for five in their first innings, a lead of 91, by stumps.

The tourists have gained little reward from the 153 overs sent down over the past two days and, while he was quick to praise the performance of the England batsmen, Maharoof believes he and his team-mates needed to keep things a bit tighter.

The 26-year-old seamer said: "It was a tough day at the office, but credit to the English batsmen; they batted really well. Personally I am coming back into the side after a three-and-a-half year period and it was tough, but that is what Test cricket is all about.

"To be honest Trott batted really well, but we could have bowled much better to him.

"We could have been more consistent with our line and length, but you should not take anything away from his innings; he batted really well."

Maharoof, recalled to the Test side this week after his impressive recent form for Lancashire, had got rid of Cook, who edged a cut behind, not long after play began at 2:30pm following more rain in the Welsh capital.

Soon after, Rangana Herath trapped Kevin Pietersen in front for three - the 19th time in Tests he has fallen to a left-arm spinner.

While Maharoof admitted Sri Lanka had discussed that record, the seamer believes that it was the tactic of denying Pietersen easy scoring opportunities that ultimately paid dividends.

"It's normal with any batsman on a pitch where bowlers don't get much help that you want to keep the run scoring dry," he said. "That's what we did with him, we tried to stop him getting easy runs and he got out so it worked very well.

"It (left-arm spin) is something we talked about. Herath had bowled a massive spell of about 20 overs or something like that and he bowled very well.

"Most of our bowlers bowled very well and the only thing to work on is to be more consistent in the coming days."

The prospects of there being a result in Cardiff appear slim with three of the four days being blighted by rain.

More rain is forecast for tomorrow and the docile nature of the pitch would suggest that Sri Lanka will have little difficulty in securing a draw should they be asked to bat again, particularly as England will be down to three frontline bowlers due to James Anderson's side strain.

And Maharoof believes there is little that either side can take from this game ahead of next week's second Test at Lord's.

"A lot of time has been lost in this Test, there are two innings not completed, so you can't take much out of this Test because more than 100 overs have been lost," he added.

"As a team we batted really well to get 400 on that wicket in the first couple of days, we just need to be more disciplined and bowl in the right areas."

View the original article here

Trott doubles up as Bell shines

Jonathan Trott - again - and Ian Bell were the biggest beneficiaries as England condemned Sri Lanka to another chastening day in the field at Cardiff.

Trott converted his overnight 125 into a sterling 203, the second double century of his Test career but one which perhaps serves as the greatest example of his apparently unquenchable thirst for runs.

Bell, meanwhile, helped himself to a sprightly unbeaten 98 on a truncated day that ended with England 491 for five and boasting a lead of 91.

Although this game is seemingly destined to end in a draw, the positive manner in which Bell - and, late on, Eoin Morgan - batted suggested England have not entirely ruled out the prospect of mounting an improbable victory push tomorrow.

The hundred that Bell’s pleasing strokeplay warranted may have to wait until the morning, but he, Trott and Alastair Cook, who finally fell for 133 today, have done much to demonstrate the scale of the task facing Sri Lanka this summer.

Today followed much the same pattern as yesterday, with initial success for the tourists after a rain-delayed start merely heralding another sizeable England partnership.

While Cook and Trott’s 251-run stand for the third wicket was finally broken shortly after the resumption today, Trott and Bell joined forces to add 160 for the fifth once Kevin Pietersen had fallen cheaply.

Sri Lanka have mustered just five wickets in 153 overs in this match - 63 of which were bowled today - yet it is the benign nature of the pitch which is likely to ensure the teams head to Lord’s on Friday with the series all square.

Trott’s occupation of the crease was, therefore, more remarkable. His approach to batting borders on monastic, and it was only after he breached 200 did he allow any element of risk to enter his thinking.

England resumed at 2.30pm on 287 for two, following the loss of the morning session for the third time in four days.

Stymied by a combination of Cook and Pietersen’s downfall in quick succession, Sri Lanka’s accuracy and their containing tactics, Trott was becalmed but in control for much of the afternoon.

Cook had added just four to his overnight score when he was caught behind via outside edge as he chased a short, wide one from Farveez Maharoof six overs in.

It represented Sri Lanka’s first success in almost 74 overs, and Maharoof’s obvious relief was no doubt shared by his colleagues.

Pietersen fell lbw to Rangana Herath, the left-arm spinner, moments later. Attempting to cut one that kept low, he was afforded the benefit of the doubt by umpire Billy Doctrove given that there was plenty of bat involved, but the decision was overturned on the basis of video evidence that suggested, but did not prove, the ball clipped his back pad first.

Bell marked his arrival at the crease with a towering straight six out of the ground at Herath’s expense, although he saw Kumar Sangakkara spill a sharp chance to his left at gully off the persevering Maharoof on 20.

He continued to mix good fortune with typically immaculate drives and cuts, and was in confident enough mood to unfurl a couple of reverse-sweep-cum-switch-hits after registering an 88-ball half-century.

Trott, who struck a solitary boundary in a 23-over afternoon session, pressed on unerringly, punching Suranga Lakmal past mid-on to usurp Graham Gooch’s 172 as the highest score by an Englishman against Sri Lanka.

The double century was never in doubt - fittingly, a single into the leg side took him to the milestone - and he had faced 409 balls and struck 17 fours during the best part of two days when he was finally bowled making room to Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Sri Lanka’s reward: the sight of Morgan, who made 193 for England Lions against Sri Lanka last week, on his way to the middle.

View the original article here

Pakistan thrash Ireland

Ireland's hopes of convincing the International Cricket Council they are deserving of a World Cup place were undermined by a thumping seven-wicket defeat to Pakistan in a rain-affected first one-day international in Belfast.

Ireland were bowled out for just 96, with young left-armer Junaid Khan claiming career-best figures of 4-12, before the tourists eased past the total with 51 balls to spare.

The defeat was as one-sided as it was untimely for the Irish just a month before an ICC chief executive committee is due to discuss the possibility of overturning a decision to omit the associate countries from the next World Cup in 2015.

They were bowled out for their lowest total since Australia skittled them for 91 at the 2007 World Cup, may have left them with some convincing left to do in Monday's final game of the short series.

Ireland could, however, claim they lost an important toss after 21-year-old Junaid, who had only taken three wickets in his young international career before today, revelled on a Stormont wicket that offered the seamers plenty of assistance after rain had delayed the start by just over three hours.

The home batsmen hardly helped their own cause, though, as they surprisingly opted to play their shots despite the conditions.

That strategy initially paid dividends when nuggety opener Paul Stirling thrashed 39 from 22 balls, but when he became Junaid's first victim the wickets fell at regular intervals thereafter.

Junaid next skittled Alex Cusack's stumps before he had scored, while Umar Gul found skipper William Porterfield's edge.

Buy this photo

Ireland's star man at the World Cup Kevin O'Brien showed signs he was intent on following Stirling's lead with a couple of muscled strikes, but his stumps were also sent cartwheeling by Junaid before he found full flow.

And when Junaid then located Andrew White's edge next ball Ireland found themselves deep in trouble at 66 for six before the rain arrived again.

That offered the hosts a 20-minute reprieve, but with their top order having already succumbed in the hour beforehand, the wickets continued to fall and Saeed Ajmal cleaned up the tail to finish with three for seven as Ireland last only 20 of the rain-reduced 36 overs.

Pakistan's openers Taufeeq Umar and Mohammad Hafeez took a cautious approach to the chase, which straddled the lunch break after Ireland's early demise.

The pair took until the 15th over to bring up the 50 with their only moment of concern before when Taufeeq edged Trent Johnston to Stirling at first slip, only for a no-ball to be called.

Ireland did finally get a breakthrough, albeit with just 22 required, when Taufeeq again offered a low chance to Stirling at slip off Cusack to depart for a laboured 23 from 62 balls.

Hafeez brought up his half-century soon after, with his seventh four, but fell next ball bowled by Cusack who then also picked up Asad Shafiq to finish with three for 13.

That left it to skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and veteran Younus Khan to guide the tourists home with plenty of time to spare.

View the original article here

Mental strength key for Cook and Trott

England opener Alastair Cook believes stubbornness is the key to the phenomenal weight of runs scored by himself and Jonathan Trott in recent months.

Cook and Trott were the mainstays of England’s batting line-up during the triumphant Ashes campaign, scoring a combined 1,211 runs in five matches Down Under, and the pair shared another unbroken stand of 240 on day three of the first Test against Sri Lanka.

Cook reached stumps on 129 not out, with Trott only four runs behind following a superb partnership in Cardiff in reply to Sri Lanka’s 400 all out.

Cook has now scored five hundreds in his last eight Test outings, with Trott striking four in his last seven appearances.

Explaining what has made the duo so unflappable at the crease in that period, Cook said: “We’re very similar in terms of our mental approach, I think we’re both quite stubborn guys and it seems to suit our style playing together.

“We’re quite happy just to bat in fives. We just try and get five more runs and we always remind ourselves of that. I think ’just another five’ is going to be stuck in my head all night.”

With 17 centuries to his name at the age of 26, Cook is already just five shy of the England record of 22 held jointly by Geoffrey Boycott, Wally Hammond and Colin Cowdrey.

Reflecting on the fine recent run that has taken him to those lofty heights, he added: “You never master it (batting), but you can improve on it and that’s certainly one of those things I was talking to people about before I went out to Australia.

“I’d never really gone on and got big 150-plus scores, daddy hundreds, but the last couple of hundreds I have done that so the method I’m using seems to be working.

“You never say you’ve mastered it but it is certainly improvable. A double hundred would be nice tomorrow but it’s easier said than done.”

With plenty of time lost from the game to rain, forecasts uncertain for the final two days and seamer James Anderson unfit to bowl in the second innings, England may struggle to force victory at Cardiff. But this was a time to revel in the efforts of two men in the form of their careers.

Trott’s average stood at over 66 by the close of play, a figure that puts him above most of the game’s greats bar Sir Donald Bradman.

It will take something special if he is to maintain that mark but Cook was full of praise for his partner.

“He’s been a revelation for us since he came in in the 2009 Ashes. He’s been fantastic,” he said.

“His stats are phenomenal. Having that rock at number three means our batting order is very settled. We have every base covered at the moment.”

Looking ahead to England’s prospects of doing enough to set up a final-day tilt for victory, Cook added: “Our only real way of winning this game with the weather around is to bat once and bat really big. We’ve laid a platform to do that and there’s still 200 overs left in this game which is a hell of a lot of cricket to be played.”

View the original article here

Harmison out of Lancashire clash

Steve Harmison has been ruled out of Durham's top-of-the-table clash with Lancashire after he suffered a spinal joint sprain at Warwickshire

Steve Harmison has not been included in Durham’s squad for their top-of-the-table clash with LV= County Championship leaders Lancashire at the Emirates Durham ICG.

The former England paceman suffered a spinal joint sprain in the innings-and-103-run victory against Warwickshire yesterday, when he was unable to bowl in the final two sessions.

The quick turnaround has meant that Harmison has been unable to overcome the problem and he has not been risked.

However, Graham Onions returns after being rested at Edgbaston, while Liam Plunkett is included following his recovery from a torn quad muscle.

Durham will be looking for their third consecutive win, having also claimed an innings victory at Worcestershire, but they come up against a Lancashire side who have won five and drawn one of their opening six championship fixtures.

The Red Rose go into the fixture three points ahead of Durham and captain Glen Chapple is expected to return to duty after sitting out the 10-wicket thrashing of Hampshire inside three days at the Rose Bowl this week.

Nottinghamshire have included Riki Wessels in their squad as they look to end a three-game winless run against rock-bottom Worcestershire at New Road.

The defending champions last tasted victory in the championship against Worcestershire last month at Trent Bridge, but they have drawn with Yorkshire and suffered nine-wicket defeats to Sussex and Warwickshire since then.

Wessels impressed in Wednesday’s Clydesdale Bank 40 victory over Gloucestershire and is named alongside the returning Samit Patel and Darren Pattinson. Ali Brown makes way, and Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann remain on international duty with England.

Adam Voges will make his final four-day appearance of the season against Worcestershire, who have lost all six of their championship fixtures, following the arrival of David Hussey from the Indian Premier League.

Yorkshire will be looking for their first win the championship since the opening game of the season but they will come up against a resurgent Sussex at the PROBIZ County Ground.

Andrew Gale’s men have drawn two and lost four four-day matches following their success against Worcestershire last month, while Sussex will be looking for their third consecutive victory following triumphs against Nottinghamshire and Somerset.

First and second also play each other in Division Two as leaders Northamptonshire face Glamorgan at Wantage Road.

Northamptonshire are undefeated in both the County Championship and the Clydesdale Bank 40 but they look set to be without wicketkeeper-batsman Niall O’Brien, who is still recovering from a hairline fracture to his left hand sustained during their CB40 win over Hampshire.

Glamorgan lie just three points behind Northants and they have included seamer James Harris in their squad after he missed their last championship encounter at Surrey with a sore foot.

Graham Wagg and Jim Allenby also return after recovering from a hamstring injury and a side strain respectively.

Ryan ten Doeschate is expected to make his first appearance of the season for Essex against Gloucestershire at Bristol.

The Netherlands all-rounder returns after representing the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL and will replace Graham Napier, who is being rested, while Chris Wright and Maurice Chambers come back in after missing the draw against Middlesex earlier this week.

Gloucestershire will move up to third if they can defeat Essex and should be able to welcome back pace duo Liam Norwell and David Payne, both of whom missed the draw with Leicestershire two weeks ago.

New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill is in line to make his Derbyshire debut against Surrey following the early departure of Usman Khawaja due to Australia A commitments.

Azeem Rafiq’s loan spell from Yorkshire has been ended one game early by a suspected fractured finger, Tim Groenewald is rested, and Steffan Jones, Mark Turner, Ross Whiteley and Paul Borrington are added to the squad.

Kent, who could move off the bottom of the table if they overcome fellow strugglers Leicestershire at Tunbridge Wells, will be buoyed after ending a four-game losing streak in the championship following their draw with Derbyshire.

View the original article here

England v Sri Lanka: first Test, day three report

"You wonder what will happen after a couple of months off," Cook said. "I got bogged down a bit but I was pleased with the patience I showed to get through.

"It’s an opportunity for Trotty and I to get big ones. There are still 200 overs left in this game, which is a hell of a lot of cricket to be played."

Trott did not begin his England career until he was older than Cook is now (26), so he has little hope of that slice of immortality: this century was his sixth. But Trott further cemented his second place in the all-time Test batting averages behind Sir Donald Bradman, lifting his 61 to 66 by the close.

At the outset, however, their partnership was hum-drum because the pitch demanded patience: it was fancy-dress day but not one for fancy batting. While Chennai powered along at ten runs per over in the final of the Indian Premier League, Cook and Trott brought up England’s 50 at exactly two an over.

But too many England teams of the past would have gone out, played big shots, and landed themselves in trouble. Neither Cook nor Trott was too proud or complacent, even after their heroics in Australia, to go back to the basics of blocking or leaving the accurate balls and dispatching the inaccurate ones.

Ajantha Mendis imposed most of the early restrictions, until the batsmen worked him out. His one wicket - Sri Lanka’s only wicket in the 70 overs that followed morning rain - was that of James Anderson who, although he has been declared unfit to bowl for the rest of this game, was able to visit the crease: ‘bat’ might be too strong a term, but he had done his duty as nightwatchman yet again by surviving overnight, the 16th time out of 16.

Anderson was caught by the finest slip-fielder Asia has produced. Well might Graeme Swann envy Mendis for having Mahela Jayawardene at slip, for among the nuts and bolts that England need to tighten before the Lord’s Test is their slip-fielding to spin.

Anderson is still unproven as England’s slip for Swann, and Andrew Strauss even more so: he got a wrist, not a hand, on the edge that Prasanna Jayawardena sent his way off Swann’s quicker ball.

Strauss had tasted the job in the Mohali Test of five years ago, dropped one off Monty Panesar and abandoned it. Such a specialist position is slip to a spinner - and such is England’s dearth - that Jayawardene should be invited to give a master-class at the Loughborough academy after this tour.

England’s acceleration was impressively smooth. Cook was first to put his foot down, after Mendis’s first six overs had cost three runs. As in Australia, he never contemplated the outside lane, or even fourth gear, just content to move from second to third and tootle along the whole day.

Human weakness surfaced momentarily. Two successive balls however from the slow left-armer Rangana Herath served to illustrate Cook’s great strength as well. First he missed an ambitious sweep, then he missed out on a full toss, driving straight to a fielder.

But thereafter it was like winter returning to the Northwest Passage. There was no way through Cook’s defence; and the dispatching of inaccurate balls was resumed.

Trott was no less patient and no less unflustered. Ordinary mortals would have become upset at such a slow start: after 30 balls the Master of Melbourne, and Baronet of Brisbane, had reached five. In one over from Mendis he had missed out on three short balls to the extent of scoring only a single.

It is Graham Gooch, England’s batting coach, who preaches from the ancient text saying only the next ball matters, and he could not have asked for two more ardent devotees than England’s second-wicket pair.

Trott cover-drove his 31st ball for four, and was away, beaver-busy, as insatiable for runs as Cook - no mean appetite - and almost caught his partner up.

Sri Lanka rang the changes but had no extreme pace to call on, and no extreme spin in the absence of Muttiah Muralitharan, and no extreme foxiness in the absence of Chaminda Vaas. After tea Herath resorted to bowling over the wicket outside the righthander’s legs: unspoken condemnation of the pitch’s lifelessness.

As everything is measured nowadays, perhaps pitches should also be. If more than two edges fail to carry off pace bowling to the wicketkeeper - as here - let a ground be banned from staging international cricket for a year: that would activate administrators intent on five-day blandness.

Test cricket is bringing its own extinction closer by being staged on such pitches. Or stage it at night, without floodlights.

View the original article here

Anderson satisfied with England start

James Anderson was pleased with the way England got back to business on day one of the first npower Test against Sri Lanka.

After the highs of the Ashes and the rigours of the World Cup, England’s homecoming was delayed by rain until 3.30pm.

Having lost the toss they were asked to bowl first against a talented touring batting order and stuck to their task diligently as Sri Lanka reached stumps on 133 for two from 48 overs.

Captain Tillakaratne Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana both impressed in reaching 50 and 58 not out respectively, but England’s bowlers beat the bat on several occasions to keep them interested.

Reflecting on the hosts’ efforts in circumstances that could not have been more different to their last Test match in Sydney, Anderson said: “We’ve got to move on from the winter. We had a great winter and we enjoyed it but it’s the start of a new summer, the start of a new series and we’ve got to try and put that to one side and concentrate on the challenge ahead.

“I thought we started pretty well considering we spent most of the day in the dressing room, it sometimes can be quite hard to get yourself up for that kind of start time.

“But I thought we did brilliantly in the first hour. We could have got a few wickets, we beat the bat a couple of times but they played pretty well too and left well.

“I thought we got some deserved wickets in the evening.”

England’s day would have been significantly worse had Anderson not removed Kumar Sangakkara for 11 in the evening session, a decision that initially needed a referral and even then appeared controversial until technology suggested a thin edge.

England were confident they had their man when they went upstairs but on a handful of other occasions opted not to use the UDRS

They have been criticised in the past for using their allocated referrals wastefully in the past and Anderson acknowledges it is something they have been attempting to improve.

“We’ve tried to shut Swanny up so he doesn’t waste them,” he joked. “But because it’s quite a new thing it was always going to take a bit of time getting used to them. I thought we used them pretty well today and hopefully we can continue to do that.

“The slips were convinced (about Sangakkara’s dismissal). With the strong breeze across, the guys in front of the wicket didn’t hear anything but the slips were convinced so we had no hesitation in asking.”

The Lancashire seamer was also pleased with the pitch at Cardiff, adding: “There’s more life than we thought here. We were delighted that there is some movement there and a little bit of bounce for the taller guys.

“If you bend your back you can get something out of the pitch so it’s a good cricket wicket. It’s going to be a hard contest tomorrow I think and further on in the game.”

View the original article here

Middlesex edge ahead

Middlesex established a first-innings lead over Essex on day three of their LV= County Championship Division Two clash but only 31.5 overs were possible in between stoppages for rain at Chelmsford.

Tim Murtagh picked up his first five-wicket haul of the season as Essex were bowled out for 291 - 94 runs shy of Middlesex’s first-innings total.

Chris Rogers then pummelled 32 from 25 deliveries as Middlesex added a further 39 for the loss of Sam Robson.

Essex had resumed on an overnight 235 for seven and the first two wickets were picked up by fast bowler Murtagh.

First he produced a delivery that nipped back to trap Essex captain James Foster lbw without offering a stroke, but not before the batsman had advanced from 44 to 58 to register his fourth half-century of the summer.

Foster's fine effort contained six boundaries and his dismissal effectively ended Essex’s hopes of getting within touching distance of Middlesex's 385 total.

David Masters provided Murtagh with his second success. He stayed long enough to find the boundary with his only scoring stroke before putting up an easy catch to Dawid Malan at short extra cover.

Tim Phillips produced a few aggressive strokes with Reece Topley as his partner but was unable to take Essex to a third batting point.

They were still nine short when Anthony Ireland removed Phillips for 28 as wicketkeeper John Simpson claimed his third catch of the innings.

Murtagh finished with figures of 5-82 as Middlesex established their useful advantage.

When they went in again they had moved to 34 when Ravi Bopara struck in his opening over by bowling Robson, a century-maker in the first innings, with a ball that kept low.

But Chris Rogers had moved to 32, containing six fours, as he and Ireland reached the close without further mishap.

View the original article here

Red Rose race ahead

Lancashire extended their lead at the top of the LV= County Championship Division One to 27 points by hurrying to a 10-wicket demolition of Hampshire on the third morning at the Rose Bowl.

Kyle Hogg, who took seven first-innings wickets, claimed four more today as the hosts’ remaining five fell in 15 overs, leaving the Red Rose seven for victory.

Resuming on 163 for five - 32 behind - Hampshire lost Nic Pothas for nought, opener Benny Howell bowled for three more than his overnight 68, Dimitri Mascarenhas lbw and Dominic Cork - all to Hogg, who finished with 4-31 and match figures of 11-59 in 31 overs. Gary Keedy ended the innings by bowling David Griffiths with the total 201.

Paul Horton twice struck Cork for four in the only three further balls faced by unbeaten Lancashire, who have now won five out of six games this season.

Durham, who sat joint-second heading into this round of fixtures, have already claimed eight bonus points from their match against Warwickshire and would move to within three points of Lancashire should they claim victory at Edgbaston.

The north-east county were held up by rain today but still managed to make significant strides towards claiming a fourth win of the season.

Warwickshire failed to add to their overnight score of 186 for nine and trailed by a whopping 416 runs on first-innings.

Only 14 overs were possible thereafter, during which the hosts, following on, slumped to 35 for three. All-rounder Ben Stokes added two wickets, including the scalp of Mohammad Yousuf for a king pair, to his four in the first innings.

Somerset came up against determined resistance from Yorkshire on the third day of their match at Taunton, although two late wickets for Arul Suppiah left the visitors in a position of peril.

After a delayed start, Marcus Trescothick’s side resumed on 389 for six, a lead of 31, and added a further 63 before being dismissed.

James Hildreth was the last man to fall, having struck 87 from 125 deliveries, while Adil Rashid finished with 4-100 for Yorkshire.

Joe Root moves past 50 as Yorkshire look to fight back at Taunton. Two late wickets for Arul Suppiah dented the visitors' progress

Joe Root and Andrew Gale both registered half-centuries in Yorkshire’s second-innings and the in-form Bairstow reached stumps on 80 not out.

However, Suppiah struck twice in the penultimate over of the day to remove Gary Ballance and Steven Patterson as the White Rose stumbled to 249 for six, a lead of 155.

Each of the four Division Two fixtures were affected by rain to varying degrees.

The weather came to Surrey’s rescue at the Kia Oval after they conceded a first-innings lead of 135 to Glamorgan.

Surrey were bowled out for 284 on a rain-interrupted third morning, having started the day on 240 for six, with Chris Ashling claiming career-best figures of 4-47.

However, Glamorgan could only reach 46 without loss in their second innings before further showers brought play to a premature halt.

Derbyshire were also frustrated by showers at Canterbury as they looked to set Kent a challenging final-day target.

The visitors ended day three on 85 for one, leading by 193, with first-innings centurions Wayne Madsen and Usman Khawaja unbeaten on 43 and 32.

Kent had earlier progressed from 198 for four to 352 all out, thanks to a series of useful contributions from the tail. Tim Groenewald was the pick of Derbyshire’s attack with figures of 4-64.

Only 31.5 overs were possible at Chelmsford, where Middlesex dismissed Essex for 291 to claim a first-innings advantage of 94.

The visitors then moved on to 39 for one, thanks largely to a quickfire unbeaten 32 from Chris Rogers, but appear to be running out of time in their bid to force victory.

Not a single ball was bowled at Wantage Road, where Leicestershire are 53 ahead of leaders Northamptonshire with all 10 second-innings wickets still intact.

View the original article here

New Web Site

Just a wee post to let you know I've got a new site Learn Guitar 365.

England v Sri Lanka: first Test, day one report

Ashes holders or not, English cricket can ill-afford to treat its patrons so shabbily. A large section of this ground has been closed off because the lack of ticket sales for this Test could not justify its opening, due to the extra stewarding costs that would incur.

You’d think therefore, that ensuring a fulsome experience for those that do turn up, would be a given, but while that was certainly the case here for the Ashes Test two years ago, it wasn’t yesterday.

Not that England gave the 7,000 spectators present much to be grateful for either after Sri Lanka ended the day 133-2, after winning the toss and electing to bat. With the covers in place until just before the start, they probably expected a seaming pitch and England’s Ashes winning bowlers to run rampant on it.

If the first transpired, to a degree, the devastating bowling did not, as evidenced by the 93-run opening partnership between Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana.

England’s pace bowlers failure to fire with the new ball was partly due to the blustery conditions, which make it devilishly difficult to find a rhythm, and partly because they have not bowled much in first-class cricket since the end of the Sydney Test last January.

This season James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who shared the new ball yesterday, have bowled 71 and 59 overs this season respectively, enough to get rid of any rust but not to find a good sheen.

As a result, they gave the impression that they were suffering from the tension from expectation that sometimes overcomes bowlers after their captain has won the toss and put a side in. Broad, especially, was off beam, and everyone who has seen him bowl for Nottinghamshire this season reckon he was undercooked for this Test.

How much his recent injuries contributed to that impression is not clear, but the vigour of youth is quickly replaced by something more circumspect once the knocks mount up.

Anderson did not leak as many runs in his opening salvo, he was equally guilty in allowing the left-handed Paranavitana leave more than he had to play.

Dilshan doesn’t leave many alone, however wide of off-stump they are. Judging from the unfettered way he reached fifty, his attacking philosophy has not been dulled by captaincy or the early season pitches in England.

Over the years the impression in some circles, false as it happens, has grown that he is little more than a dasher. But yesterday he passed 4,000 Test runs, becoming only the ninth Sri Lankan batsmen to reach the milestone.

Aggressive instincts can work against you though and no sooner had he acknowledged his fifty, than was bowled by Graeme Swann after bottom-edging a cut shot that would have been less risky had it limited its ambition to two runs rather than four.

The breakthrough achieved after Swann having give Andrew Strauss some belated control, England got the prized wicket of Kumar Sangakkara, though it needed some sharp eyes by the Rod Tucker, the TV umpire, after Aleem Dar had initially turned down Anderson’s appeal for an edge.

From every replay angle it looked as if Dar’s judgment had been right until Hotspot registered the merest dot of heat as the ball brushed against a few microns of bat.

Although Snicko, not yet used a as tool for such decisions, later confirmed it, Sangakkara has a big sponsor’s label on his bat that overlaps the edges. It wouldn’t be too far fetched, given the faintness of the contact, that he might have enjoyed a different outcome had it not been there.

His fall brought Mahela Jayawardene to join Paranavitana, now applying himself with resolve of an old hand on the sluggish pitch.

But Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s finest batsman of all time, did not look as assured as the tall left-hander, who passed 1000 Test runs en route to a watchful fifty made off 145 balls.

View the original article here

England must prove themselves in India and Sri Lanka before laying claim to No1 spot says Muttiah Muralitharan

England return to the five-day game for the first time since their glorious Ashes tour, determined to earn the right to be called the best Test-playing nation on the planet.

But Muralitharan, who took 800 Test wickets before his retirement last year - and removed an English batsman 112 times - believes Andrew Strauss' men need to prove themselves in countries such as Sri Lanka and India before they can claim to be the best.

''I think they are good in England, but on the sub-continent they are not that good,'' he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

''They had a brilliant win in the Ashes but other than that they haven't done many great things in the sub-continent.

''They have to improve on the sub-continent, beating sides from the sub-continent in the sub-continent. They have to beat Sri Lanka and India in their conditions.''

Muralitharan has acknowledged the brilliance of England spinner Graeme Swann, but feels they will be unable to conquer the Asian sides on their own patch unless they can find a spin twin to go alongside the Nottinghamshire man.

''At the moment they have a lovely spinner in Graeme Swann, but they need one more spinner to be fighting in the sub-continent because it's difficult with one,'' he said.

''In the sub-continent you need two good spinners. I think Graeme Swann is world class but they need another one.''

Sri Lanka's attack is somewhat different to the one that last toured England in 2006, with Muralitharan having retired completely, and the dangerous Lasith Malinga also calling time on his Test career.

Malinga cited a need to preserve his fitness as the reason why he will only play one-day cricket in future, and Muralitharan has backed his former team-mate's decision.

He said: ''I think he was struggling for the last two or three years with his knee. He only played one match last year.

''He thinks his career is over in Test cricket and he can play one-day cricket until the next World Cup and I feel it's a wise choice for him to do that.

''I think his body would not take it because he had a very bad knee.''

View the original article here

Chris Gayle in brutal form again as Bangalore make short work of Kochi

Chris Gayle was in blistering form again as the Bangalore Royal Challengers consolidated their top-four position in the Indian Premier League table with a nine-wicket win over Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

Gayle, who struck 107 from 49 balls on Friday against Kings XI Punjab, this time powered his way to 44 in 16 balls as Bangalore chased 126 for victory, with Tillakaratne Dilshan (52 from 31 balls) and Virat Kohli (27) leading them home in just 13.1 overs.

Brendon McCullum (22) led a profitable opening period for visitors Kochi, as he and Michael Klinger built a solid 43 together but their promising start was halted by two wickets apiece for the Bangalore captain, Daniel Vettori, and Sreenath Aravind.

McCullum was then caught off Vettori, while Klinger (24) was bowled by Gayle and Kochi were in trouble at 73 for four as Vettori dispatched Mahela Jayawardene and the wicketkeeper AB de Villiers' acrobatics ran out Parthiv Patel for 19.

It slowed the run rate considerably and allowed Aravind to remove Brad Hodge and Raiphi Gomez as Ravindra Jadeja's fighting 23 helped Kochi reach 125 before losing two more wickets in the final over.

Bangalore's batting was once again dominated by Gayle, who smashed five sixes and three fours off the hapless Kochi attack alongside Dilshan.

Gayle's departure to Vinay Kumar only delayed the inevitable for Kochi, as Dilshan picked up his pace to reach 50 in 30 deliveries while Kohli provided able support in the 61-run stand, hitting the winning boundary off Prasanth Parameswaran.

View the original article here

Sri Lanka police to investigate match-fixing allegations levelled by former captain Hashan Tillakaratne

Tillakaratne, who played 83 Tests and 200 one-dayers, claimed last week that Sri Lankan players had been involved in match-fixing since 1992.

“I have asked the inspector-general of police to investigate these claims and give a report to me,” Mahindananda Aluthgamage said on Monday.

“Match fixing is something which has been in this country over a period of time. This has spread like a cancer today,” Tillakaratne was quoted as saying by Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror newspaper on Friday.

“There were threats of this issue being exposed at various times. But it was kept quiet by giving money to various people.

“If the people who were responsible for that are listening to this, I state this today with great responsibility, I will shortly reveal the names of those responsible,” he said.

However on Sunday, Sri Lanka's World Cup captain Kumar Sangakkara challenged Tillakaratne to prove his allegations.

“Hashan has played the game for years and he’s captained Sri Lanka as well. So it’s interesting to see what he has to say and if he has anything more than allegations,” Sangakkara said.

View the original article here