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Man of the dayFew cricketers have deserved a day in the sun quite like Ryan Sidebottom. Dismissed for so long as a one-cap wonder after his solitary appearance at Lord’s in 2001, he never got a sniff of a recall in the Duncan Fletcher days, despite taking 50 wickets a season on a regular basis for Nottinghamshire. He was nothing more than a trundler, so the reasoning went, but he’s trundled into the record-books in this game. With his father, Arnie, watching from the stands, he picked up England’s 11th hat-trick in Test history, and the first since his new-ball partner, Matthew Hoggard, in Barbados four years ago.Dismissal of the dayThe hat-trick was special, but there was another wicket that fell in the intervening over that arguably made even more of a difference. Brendon McCullum had emerged to a rousing reception, two places higher than his customary No. 7 position. The intention was clear – New Zealand wanted quick runs to set up a challenging declaration – but that wasn’t quite how it mapped out. McCullum blocked his first ball from Monty Panesar, then mowed his second, high and hard over deep midwicket. But he didn’t connect as sweetly as intended, and Andrew Strauss made good ground to complete another excellent catch. The wobble was now fully on.Catch of the day No. 1It doesn’t take much for the vultures to start circling around Hoggard’s career. One off-colour game and the talons have quickly been extended, but at the age of 31, he demonstrated his enduring athleticism with an outstanding pluck at deep midwicket. Jamie How connected sweetly, as he has done all summer, but Hoggard judged the flight and his run to perfection. He galloped 20 metres, leapt at the last possible moment, and got both hands to the offering with both feet off the ground. It was an outstanding moment, reminiscent of Darren Gough’s outfield extravagances, and it gave England just a sniff of salvation.Catch of the day No. 2What is the matter with Alastair Cook? It seems only last week that England had to hide him in the field. Every catch that came his way was juggled at least three times, and even strokes along the ground were an invitation for error. But now he’s leaping like a spawning carp every time the ball comes close, and Ryan Sidebottom would not be celebrating his maiden Test hat-trick without his incredible efforts at gully. If his first was good then his second was spectacular, a full lift-off to his left to pouch a fizzing edge from Mathew Sinclair. It was his fifth of the match, and every one has been a collector’s item.Shot of the dayUntil their innings started to go pear-shaped, New Zealand’s destiny was in the hands of their former captain, Stephen Fleming, who struck the ball as sweetly as ever during his 88-ball 66. Some of his driving was as languid and elegant as David Gower’s, with whom he shares a birthday, but it was his pick-up for six off Steve Harmison that really took the breath away. It was short and misdirected, but helped on its way over fine leg with dismissive insouciance. He’s got four more innings before he calls time on his career, but on this evidence, he could endure for several seasons yet.Unexpected acceleration of the dayThe pace of New Zealand’s innings and the drama of their collapse made the grind and shuffle of England’s effort seem like a long-distant memory. But their 11-hour, 867-dot-ball stodgefest really did happen. And Paul Collingwood really did score from just 29 of the 182 balls he faced in a four-hour 66. And so it took everyone by surprise when, in the 157th over of the innings, he galloped down the track to Daniel Vettori and deposited him coolly over long-off for six. Like Kevin Pietersen on the third day, it was a lone statement of aggression.

Hampshire 2nd XI kicked off their One-Day Trophy campaign with an incredible 100-run victory over Glamorgan on the Nursery Ground of the Rose Bowl yesterday.After 45 minutes play, it didn’t look as though Hampshire would even make it to treble figures as they were left reeling at 17-5.Glamorgan’s chief destroyer was Alex Wharf, who took three quick wickets, and ex-Dorset bowler Owen Parkin took a couple.This crisis called for some serious character. Alex Morris started the rearguard with some sensible batting, but the star of the show was Irfan Shah, as he took the attack to the Welsh lads. The pair took the score past the hundred mark, with Shah driving and pulling any loose deliveries to the boundary.Morris was run out for 35. His partner continued with Damien Shirazi in another vaulable stand. Shah’s 62 and Shirazi’s 42 helped Hampshire to 201.James Schofield and James Hamblin then took up the task.Schofield ripped out 5-35, and Hamblin 3-36, as they completed the turn around with some brilliant seam bowling. That left a wicket apiece for Shah and Lawrie Prittipaul to wrap up the Glamorgan innings for just 92.

Indian seamer Javagal Srinath is included in the Leicestershire squad and is all set to play in the floodlit Norwich Union League match against Kent at Canterbury on Wednesday, and the Championship game which starts the following day.Srinath has signed on as Leicestershire’s overseas player until the end of the season in place of Michael Bevan, who has now joined up with the Australian one-day squad.The debut of Srinath coincides with the debut of Steve Waugh for Kent, and a big crowd is guaranteed at Canterbury for the clash.Srinath will come into the side in place of fellow Indian star Mohammad Kaif, who joined Leicestershire on a five-day contract last week and played in the County Championbship defeat by Surrey and the Norwich Union League win over Yorkshire.Leicestershire also hope to have their captain Vince Wells back in action after he was ruled out for the two games last week by a groin injury. He will have a fitness test on Wednesday before a decision is taken.Fast bowlers Devon Malcolm and Matt Whiley are not in the squad for the Norwich Union League match, but will return for the Championship game in place of Charles Dagnall and Jamie Grove.

It was in their fourth game of the World Cup 1996 that West Indies surrendered to Kenya by 73 runs at Poona.Talking to the media on the eve of their ICC Champions Trophy tie against Kenya, the West Indies skipper Carl Hooper indicated that they have put that shocking defeat in the past and are moving on.Hooper said, “I haven’t got the World Cup of 1996 in my mind. But I can remember a number of games where shocks have taken place; like Bangladesh beating Pakistan in 1999, and if we turn up on the day not focused and play poorly we will get beaten.”We have to be a bit more consistent than our last game. Obviously it is a game of cricket; if you turn up on a day not focused and play poorly then you’ll get beaten. It is a One-Day International and you have to take it seriously. I don’t think we are in a position to be complacent,” he said.”We are in a situation that everybody expects us to win, so they will come out and give it a good shot. We have to be ready to play some good cricket.”We hope for a crushing defeat of Kenya and then hope that Kenya beat South Africa. It is a big hope; but it is a game of cricket, and we are going to do what we can. We are thinking long term, using the ICC Champions trophy as a stepping tournament for the World Cup,” Hooper added.The Kenyan skipper Steve Tikolo was also asked about the 1996 World Cup win over West Indies.”That was six years ago,” he said, “The teams have changed, and we are looking forward to the game. We do take positives from 1996, but now we want to concentrate on the game here. We have got better since then, our batting and bowling has come through, and our fielding has improved by leaps and bounds.”Tikolo also lamented that the Kenyans don’t get to play cricket at the highest level that often, which is proving a hindrance to the development of Kenyan cricket.The Kenyan skipper is happy to be the underdogs going into their first game.”They are the ones under pressure to try and bowl us out cheaply or get a lot of runs. In the process they might make mistakes and that might work in our favour.”We still have two games left and they have already played one and lost one and the pressure is back on them,” Tikolo added.The Kenyans were in Sri Lanka a few months ago, when they played a series against Sri Lanka A. Tikolo has also spotted that the pitches in Sri Lanka tend to slow down and keep low as the game progresses.”I’ve watched the few games so far and the wickets have played pretty well in the first session but then get slower and turn as the match goes on. With our bowling line-up that could work in our favour.”After tomorrow’s game, the West Indies team will stay on in Sri Lanka and continue their preparation for the forthcoming series against India. The team is scheduled to leave for India only on October 1.

View points table

Chennai Super Kings
When Mahendra Singh Dhoni leads his boys against last-placed Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad, he would expect nothing but a win which will ensure his team’s spot in the final four. Chennai are currently on 14 points, and victory in their final match will see them jump to 16, and whatever Mumbai does, Chennai will still be through as Delhi Daredevils finished on 15.Things, however, will become complex if Chennai lose to Deccan. Chennai will then be stuck on 14, and their way through will depend on Mumbai’s results. If Mumbai lose their final two games, they will end on 12 points, two shy of Chennai. If Mumbai win one of the remaining two, they would need to suffer a big defeat if Chennai are to qualify for the semi-finals.If, due to rain or any other circumstance, a result is not possible in Hyderabad, then Chennai will reach 15 points. To go through, they will then need Mumbai to lose one of their games.Mumbai Indians
For Mumbai, currently on 12 points, two wins – against Rajasthan Royals and Bangalore Royal Challengers – will guarantee them a place in the semi-finals irrespective of what Chennai do. If they lose one, Chennai must suffer a reverse in their last game against Deccan. Also, Mumbai must ensure they do not lose by significant margins, or they could squander the net run-rate advantage they have over Chennai.In case Mumbai win one and get one point from the other (if the match is abandoned), they will make the cut, while a loss and one point from the other or two losses will result in Chennai and Delhi joining Rajasthan and Kings XI Punjab in the semi-finals.

Southland all-rounder Jeff Wilson provided some encouraging signs on Saturday that he should be ready to join the Otago side in their next State Championship match, against Canterbury starting at Carisbrook on Friday.Wilson suffered a side strain two weeks ago and was ruled out of Otago’s opening match, but he returned to his Appleby club side with a vengeance. They recorded a five-wicket win over Invercargill-Old Boys with Wilson taking five for 48 from his 10 overs while he scored 34 when batting with two fours and two sixes during his side’s first innings, before backing up with 48 not out with another two sixes and two fours, in their second innings.And just to show there were no ill effects from his injury he gave a fine display in the field, taking four catches during the opposition’s first innings, then took another in their second innings.There was encouragement also for Shayne O’Connor in the Vincent competition in Central Otago.His Alexandra team rolled Queenstown for 19 on Saturday. However, O’Connor wasn’t one of the main beneficiaries. He took one wicket for eight runs, but Brendon Domigan with four for seven and Jason Orr three for two were the wicket-takers. Eleven extras, made up of seven wides and four leg byes made a significant contribution to the Queenstown total.Meanwhile, in Christchurch club cricket Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan had powerful effects for their respective clubs.Cairns scored 116 not out for the Lancaster Park-Woolston second grade team against East Shirley on Saturday, and then, in a first grade one-day game, against High School Old Boys yesterday he scored 92 not out in his side’s win. He took two for five from seven overs in his Saturday game and one for 16 in seven overs yesterday.McMillan scored 106 off 77 balls for his East Christchurch-Shirley club on Saturday against Marist He hit three sixes and 17 fours in his innings.In Auckland, Lou Vincent scored 91 in a two-day match for his Grafton United side while in Wellington, Paul Hitchcock took four for 26 as Eastern Suburbs beat Hutt Districts while Mark Gillespie played a fine hand in his North City club’s win over Taita. He took four for 11 and then his 54 not out to confirm a victory.The Hutt Districts second team had a day to forget in the Hazlett Trophy when dismissed for 24 by University.

Somerset Under 12′ have enjoyed mixed fortunes over the last few days.On June 23rd they played against Hampshire at Farleigh School. Batting first Somerset made 106 for 9n from their 45 overs, with Nick Gibbens top scoring with 32 and Jonathan Lodwick making 20.In reply Hampshire reached their target for the loss of five wickets.On June 27th at Wells Cathedral School they made amends by beating Warwickshire.Batting first Warwickshire were all out for 99. In response Somerset reached 101 for 3, Callum Haggett making 26, Jos Butler 20 and Tom Vickery an unbeaten 15.

Former Test opener Michael Slater has fallen for a duck as New Zealand beat New South Wales by 30 runs today to complete an unbeaten four-match tour of Australia.After New Zealand was bowled out in the 45th over for 199, last year’s ING Cup one day champions got off to a bad start with opener Brad Haddin out for two.First drop Slater then flurried at a wide shot in his typical aggressive fashion, nicking Shane Bond into the safe hands of Chris Harris.Fast bowler Bond led the way for the Kiwis capturing 5-32 as NSW was bowled out for 169 with four overs left.After spending time in the off-season commentating in England, Slater was looking forward to the season ahead today despite the bad start.”The focus will be a lot easier given the Australian side is well out of the picture,” he told Channel 10.”My number one focus is firstly scoring runs for the Uni of NSW and carrying that over to state cricket.”When I was at my worst I felt `Is this what I want to be doing now’, but then having a little bit of time away from the game in England there is no doubt I knew within a few weeks of being over there commentating that I still wanted to out there playing and I didn’t want to be talking about it.”Captain Stephen Fleming top scored with 59 for the Kiwis while Mathew Sinclair made 43, with NSW’s top scorer Dominic Thornely making 48 while Philip Jaques got 43.”It was a good week to get back into the swing of things and we’ve learnt about combinations we want to use,” Fleming told New Zealand Press Association.”Rightly or wrongly we put ourselves in positions where we had to fight out of it and we achieved that.”The match was the Kiwis’ final build-up match to next week’s ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka.The New Zealanders are scheduled to fly out of Sydney to Sri Lanka tomorrow to defend their Champions Trophy title.They will play another two practice matches in Colombo before taking on Australia in their opening match of the tournament.

Scorecard

Lancashire perhaps had slightly the better of a bread-and-butter opening day at Old Trafford, thanks to a determined and invaluable opening partnership of 109 between Paul Horton and Iain Sutcliffe when conditions were the most testing. They did not quite build as they might have done on such a good foundation, with three batsmen getting out after scoring good fifties, but a fourth in Steven Croft is still there, and his team will be looking for him to play the leading role in building a daunting total tomorrow.Lancashire won a toss they might have preferred to lose, given that swing was likely under an overcast sky. The pitch itself played soundly enough on the whole, giving some help to the bowlers, even Graeme Swann’s offspin on the first day, but not enough to interest the ECB pitch inspector, Mike Denness, who arrived by train from his home in Essex, after the previous championship match on this ground, against Durham, had finished before lunch on the third day.A minor curiosity in this match is that the two captains are both wicketkeepers: Chris Read, the official captain of Nottinghamshire, and Luke Sutton, standing in for the injured Lancashire skipper Stuart Law. The ball did indeed swing copiously at times, especially early on and especially when the medium-pacer Mark Ealham was using it. Ealham came into the action early on, as Charlie Shreck had difficulty finding his line from the Brian Statham End, although later he came back with better results from the Stretford End.The Lancashire openers, Horton and Sutcliffe, did a superb job for their team as they saw off the difficult overs with the shine still on the ball, and survived until after lunch in their team’s first century opening stand of the season in any competition. Inevitably there were a few plays-and-misses, but on the whole remarkably few errors, and they also managed to take advantage of loose deliveries to keep the scoreboard ticking along.Ealham was the most difficult of the bowlers to face, swinging the ball considerably away from the right-hander and bowling a good line and length; with a little more pace, he may well have been lethal. Again, the openers handled him with great skill and judgement.Sutcliffe was the first to his fifty (91 balls), just after lunch, reaching it with one of his few errors, an edge that would have been a chance had third slip been in place, but instead flew between second slip and gully to the boundary. He then survived a very close lbw appeal against Ealham, before Horton reached his 50 (112 balls) – ironically also with a false stroke, an inside-edge that missed the off stump and shot to the left of the keeper to the boundary.Then came disaster for Lancashire, as Horton played a ball into the covers, called for a quick single, and a superb pick-up and direct hit from Adam Voges found the irate Sutcliffe just short of his crease. He made exactly 50 of the 109-run partnership. The balance of the match swung as Horton (64) fell to the swing of Ealham, well caught one-handed by Swann at slip, who then also caught a struggling Mal Loye (3) in the same position as he edged a rather desperate slash off Shreck. With Lou Vincent, clearly out of practice in his first first-class match of the year, bottom-edging a hook off Shreck to the keeper for 5, Lancashire slumped to 131 for 4 and the balance of the match had quite shifted.The situation did not faze ‘Faf’ du Plessis, the South African still undervalued by home supporters. He and Steven Croft began cautiously, but du Plessis grew in confidence and the pair gradually pulled their team out of the mire. They put on 84 together, but du Plessis was another whose valuable fifty (105 balls) was not converted into three figures; he flicked at an arm ball from Swann outside off stump and was caught by the keeper for 55.Croft appeared to be much slower, but in fact he had less of the strike. Just before the close he reached his fifty off 117 balls, and then survived a hard low catch to slip off the petulant Swann. Hard as the Notts bowlers tried, they could effect no further breakthroughs, and Croft survived to make an attempt tomorrow morning to reach the century he narrowly missed in his last match at Headingley.

A moment of unforgivable thoughtlessness slackened a tightening West Indies stranglehold late on the opening day of the fifth, decisive Cable & Wireless Test yesterday.Wavell Hinds’ wanton stroke that ended an innings of flawless quality and aggression for 113 breathed new life into an Indian team that was then barely registering a heartbeat.Their supposed advantage of bowling first on the well-grassed Sabina Park pitch had long since disappeared at 264 for one as Hinds followed a commanding opening partnership of 111 with his fellow Jamaican left-hander Chris Gayle with another of 135 for the second wicket with the stylish right-hander Ramnaresh Sarwan.All day, the 10 000 or so in the stands had celebrated the powerful strokeplay of the two Jamaicans and the touch of Sarwan.They were prepared for more when, with 22 overs remaining and a fielder pointedly stationed on the long-off boundary three overs earlier, Hinds stepped out to off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and aimed for his third six in the same direction.This time, the ball settled in Wasim Jaffer’s lap ten yards or so short of its intended target.Sabina’s din was transformed into stunned silence. It did not return until fading light brought a premature end with three overs scheduled. By then, Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan had gone as well and the West Indies were 287 for four.If Hinds did not, everyone knew that he had the Indians at his mercy. For almost five hours, he had not made a single mistake confident drives, sweeps and strokes off his legs accounting for the 14 fours he added to his two sixes.As he trudged back to the pavilion, the remorse etched all over his face revealed that he knew he presented an unearned wicket.On the way in, he passed Lara heading in the opposite direction.This was the right time for the premier West Indies batsman to put an unsatisfactory series average of 30 behind him and to play as only he can. But Lara has been a pale imitation of himself since the four-month lay-off necessitated by his elbow injury in December.Once more, he scratched around, eking out nine unconvincing runs in a half-hour. His dismissal seemed likely any ball and came off his 25th, an edge to the keeper as he felt for one outside off-stump from the left-arm swing bowler Ashish Nehra.When Sarwan was caught at leg-slip from a thin inside-edge onto pad off Harbhajan’s off-break in the next over for 65 his fourth score between 50 and 65 in the series the spring that had been squeezed out of the Indian step from early in the day suddenly reappeared.Had Shiv Sunder Das held on to captain Carl Hooper’s driven catch at extra-cover off Nehra 14 runs later, India’s fightback would have been nearly complete.It could be an expensive error. Hooper, ten at the time, has made the most of his several chances in the series, so that he came into the match with three hundreds and 556 runs in the previous four Tests.He saw out the day at 14. His partner is the left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who has also had three hundreds in the series and with whom he has shared stands of 293 in the first Test, 215 in the third and 186 in the fourth.It requires something similar if the total is to reach the heights of 500 that did not seem far-fetched when Hinds, Gayle and Sarwan were in full flight.As Hinds and Gayle shared the best opening stand of the series, for either side, and Hinds built on it with Sarwan, the Indians became increasingly frayed at the edges and ragged in the field.They seemed clueless as to where their next wicket would come from as captain Sourav Ganguly swung his changes and shifted his fielders. At one point in mid-afternoon, he trundled his unthreatening medium-pace to seven defenders on the off-side.Seduced by the greenery not even the oldest locals could remember covering a Sabina pitch, Ganguly chose to bowl on calling heads and winning the toss for the first time in the series.But the veteran Javagal Srinath and his two young left-arm accomplices, Nehra and Zaheer Khan, sprayed the new ball in all directions except where it was likely to create any damage.Gayle spent 30 balls over his first three runs, carefully assessing the situation and he and Hinds saw out six successive maidens in the first eight overs.Once they were convinced there were no devils in either the pitch or the bowling, they opened their shoulders and put the bat to the loose stuff on offer.By lunch, they had accelerated to 88, Gayle moving from three to 55 at run-a-ball rate, Hinds carrying 32 runs into the interval.On resumption, the cramp that occasionally hobbles Gayle in the middle such as in the second innings of the second Test when he had to retire brought trainer Ronald Rogers onto the field.It is impossible to assess the effect it had on Gayle’s mobility. But he added only 13 on resumption, including two spanking off-side fours off Zaheer, before he steered the same bowler to gully.Gayle’s 68 from 105 balls had 13 fours as the main scoring strokes but it made no difference to the West Indies’ deliberately aggressive approach.Sarwan was quickly out of the blocks with deft leg-glances and wristy off-side strokes, while Hinds intentionally went after Harbhajan, stepping out to twice clout him over unprotected long-off for sixes and through mid-wicket for fours.For variation, he also swept him for a couple of boundaries.He arrived at his 100 at 227 in the 65th over, justifiably rejoicing as he completed the relevant run.He has gone through difficult times since he came into the team as Man Of The Series against Pakistan two years ago and, if the manner of his dismissal was immature, he has batted with distinction on his return, both in Antigua and now here.It was only a pity that his ambitions didn’t extend to a double-century, for it was surely not out of the question.