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Canterbury beat Wellington in a close game by five runs at the Aorangi Oval in Timaru to nudge ahead of them in the points table in the HRV Cup and keep their hopes of making the finals

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Dec-2010Canterbury beat Wellington in a close game by five runs at the Aorangi Oval in Timaru to nudge ahead of them in the points table in the HRV Cup and keep their hopes of making the finals.Wellington won the toss and elected to field but it was Canterbury who got off to a good start with openers Rob Nicol and Peter Fulton (25) putting on 65 in the first six overs before Fulton was dismissed. Nicol celebrated his inclusion in New Zealand’s preliminary 30-man squad for the 2011 World Cup by top-scoring with a blistering 85 off 48 balls. Handy contributions from Dean Brownlie (22) and Michael Papps (33), together with Johan van der Wath’s cameo of 22 off just 9 balls at the end carried Canterbury to a competitive 207 for 6 off their allotted overs.Wellington started their chase in positive fashion with Jesse Ryder and England import Luke Wright putting on 115 in the first 9 overs. van der Wath struck to pick up the crucial wicket of Wright and Canterbury were soon back in the game as Carl Frauenstein dismissed Ryder and had Grant Elliot run out in quick succession. James Franklin and Stewart Rhodes tried to get Canterbury’s chase back on track with a 49-run fourth-wicket partnership. However Canterbury lost the momentum when Frauenstein picked up the crucial wicket of Franklin. They needed 26 runs off 15 balls but failed to get over the line as they only managed to reach 202 for 4.

Central Districts left-arm spinners George Worker and English import Ian Blackwell led them to a comfortable win over Northern Districts at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth. CD needed only 17.3 overs to chase ND’s 110 and pick up a six-wicket win. The win means CD are level with their opponents on points at second in the table, with just one more round of games to be played before the final.Worker and Blackwell took five wickets between them for 35 runs in eight overs, and stalled a Northern Districts innings that was motoring on till the last ball of the eighth over when Herschelle Gibbs was trapped lbw by Blackwell for 7. That left Northern Districts at 67 for 2. Another left-arm spinner, England’s Michael Yardy, then picked up the big wicket of Brad Wilson (37) in the next over. Worker got into the act in the tenth over, taking the wickets of Anton Devcich and James Marshall to leave ND in trouble at 71 for 5.Scott Styris tried to lead a recovery with his 19, but failed to receive any support as none of the remaining six batsmen reached double figures as ND were all out in 18.5 overs. Worker finished with 3 for 18. A large chunk of the early runs came off fast bowler Adam Milne, who was named in New Zealand’s Twenty20 squad for their series against Pakistan. He went at 11.50 in his two overs.Central Districts’ chase suffered two early setbacks after fast bowler Graeme Aldridge dismissed Peter Ingram and Worker to leave them at 13 for 2. Captain Jamie How steadied the ship with his 35, and Ross Taylor, who will captain New Zealand in the Twenty20s against Pakistan, took his team home with 35 off 29.

England’s injury-hit bowling attack is being pushed to the limits after two more quicks picked up problems in Brisbane

Andrew McGlashan in Brisbane30-Jan-2011England’s injury-hit bowling attack is being pushed to the limits after two more quicks picked up problems in Brisbane. Chris Tremlett was ruled out of the fifth one-day international with a side strain and Ajmal Shahzad limped off during the match with a hamstring problem.Shahzad suffered his injury two balls into his eighth over and left the field having completed it at reduced pace. Both he and Tremlett will go for scans on Monday when the team travels to Sydney and it leaves England short of cover for the final two matches. Steven Finn made his ODI debut at the Gabba and Chris Woakes was recalled to the line-up in place of Michael Yardy.Woakes enjoyed a memorable game as he claimed 6 for 45, the second best figures for England in ODIs, but the continued problems to England’s World Cup bowlers is a serious concern.Shahzad joins Stuart Broad (stomach), Tim Bresnan (calf) and Graeme Swann (knee/back) on the casualty list with the latter two having flown home from the tour. Only James Anderson of England’s first-choice World Cup attack hasn’t been injured on tour but he was rested for the start of this series.”We’re beginning to run out of bowlers now,” Strauss said. “Woakesy came in and did brilliantly today. He hit the deck hard, bowled some really good deliveries. That delivery to get rid of [Cameron] White was an absolute scorcher. Finny came in after not playing for a long time and did some good work as well.”Strauss added they may need to call in reinforcements even though the tour only has seven days to run and it may mean scouring Australia for any potential options. The England Lions have recently begun their tour of West Indies and it’s a long journey to get someone from the Caribbean to Australia who then may not be needed.England’s problems could be eased a little by the surface in Sydney. They didn’t play any spinner in Brisbane, but they are likely to need one at the SCG which would mean a recall for either Yardy or James Tredwell who could replace Shahzad, while Luke Wright is also in the squad. One option Strauss ruled out was an early return for Broad who has rejoined the tour for rehabilitation from the abdominal injury he sustained during the second Test at Adelaide.

Umpiring in the World Cup has run into fresh controversy with William Porterfield criticising Asoka de Silva’s decision to give Gary Wilson out lbw despite replays showing he had offered a shot and was hit outside the line

Nagraj Gollapudi in Mohali11-Mar-2011Umpiring in the World Cup has run into fresh controversy with Ireland captain William Porterfield strongly criticising Asoka de Silva’s decision to give Gary Wilson out lbw despite replays showing the batsman had offered a shot to a delivery that replays clearly indicated had hit him outside the line. Porterfield’s comments – unusually sharp for a team captain – came after a match which, he said, turned on that decision.”I am still trying to understand it myself. The feedback we have got so far is that the ball hit him outside the line and the umpire judged him [to be] not playing a shot. I don’t know how many people agree with that,” Porterfield said after Ireland’s 44-run defeat against West Indies.The ball in question, delivered by West Indies captain Darren Sammy, pitched outside the off stump and cut in to hit the outside of Wilson’s front pad. Wilson was trying to nudge it but failed but the Sri Lankan official thought he was offering no shot and raised his finger instantly. A surprised Wilson asked for a review. Third umpire Bruce Oxenford told de Silva that the ball had hit outside off and would, according to HawkEye, go on to hit the outside of the off stump. Replays on the big screen made that clear as also the fact that Wilson was actually trying to play the shot. Disappointed and confused, Wilson asked de Silva to refer the review this time. It was an extraordinary moment, which bordered on the comical, as de Silva went back to Oxenford once again. In the end, de Silva stuck to his stand and Wilson charged out, furiously shaking his head.”If you see the replay on the big screen he could have still been able to reverse his decision from there. It was clearly seen he was playing the shot. (And) even though he [de Silva] judged that (wrongly) in the first place he saw the replays on the big screen,” Porterfield said. He said that he did not have much time to discuss the issue with Wilson, who was not “in a great state of mind” when he came off the ground. “The word we are getting at the minute is the umpire went back upstairs to check if he hit the ball before the impact on the pad and if it was pad first, or bat first. Surely if you are asking if it was pad first or bat first, you know he is playing a shot. In my opinion they got it wrong.”Asked if the DRS was proving to be a nuisance rather than a help, Porterfield said he would not blame the reviews per se. “I would like to say it (DRS) was working but if you get a decision like that then I don’t know. When you have all the technology, it is supposed to eradicate the mistakes and for me that did not happen this time.”Interestingly, Porterfield – speaking at the post-match press conference – had to stop briefly as Phil Simmons, the Ireland coach, walked in to have a few private words with a team official, who in turn relayed the message to Porterfield. The exchange, the media was told, was “off the record”.Porterfield admitted that Wilson’s wicket was the turning point in Ireland’s chase. Wilson had showed a wise head in the company of Ed Joyce, sharing a vital 91-run partnership for the fourth wicket. After Joyce departed Wilson took the onus on him and was playing fluently. Ireland needed 77 from 51 balls and the batting Powerplay was yet to be taken when Wilson was ruled out. “It was the pivotal moment in the game. It was not one of the things that cost us the game as there were other things we did,” Porterfield said. “But it was a pretty crucial decision. He was going well. If we had taken the Powerplay we never know especially with Cusy [Alex Cusack] and John boy [Mooney] to come there.”One man who was more than happy to see the back of Wilson was Sammy. “I was happy that we got him out. That was the main focus for us, he back in the pavilion,” he said.But at the time of the incident, Sammy was intensely chatting to Wilson after de Silva’s original decision. Asked if he saw Wilson’s point, Sammy said personally he would not have argued with the umpire. “Umpires have been in charge ever since I started playing cricket. He did what he had to do,” Sammy said. So what was he was making Wilson aware of? “I personally tried to tell him you know what, at the end of the day, the umpire said you are out so don’t hang around because you don’t really make an issue and get fined. We learned as a team that if the umpire says you are out, unless he tells you to hold on, you walk. You can always give your feedback in the captain’s report.”Incidentally, Ireland were fined. But for another crime. Apparently they had bowled an over short and as a consequence Porterfield was penalised 20% of his match fee while the rest of the team had to take a 10% cut.

MS Dhoni said that Indian cricket was in its current position because of the 1983 World Cup win and the emergence of Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid

Sharda Ugra in Mumbai03-Apr-2011Before he led India to a World Cup victory, MS Dhoni’s earliest identity as a cricketer had been attached to the Twenty20 format. It was India’s victory in the World Twenty20 under Dhoni that was one of the factors that led to the speedy launch of the Indian Premier League. Dhoni then led his team, the Chennai Super Kings, to a double last year, winning the IPL and the Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa.Yet, more than once during this World Cup, Dhoni has demonstrated that he is conscious of the course taken by Indian cricket in the last three decades and where Saturday’s victory now stands.At the media conference following India’s six-wicket victory, Dhoni was asked by an English reporter to explain what the World Cup victory actually meant to Indians who, Dhoni was told, did not enjoy much success in other world-level sport. Yuvraj Singh, the World Cup’s Player of the Tournament sitting next to Dhoni, raised his eyebrow, and his captain took the opportunity to say that India had been growing as a nation that supports sport, citing the examples from shooting, badminton, hockey and football.But cricket, Dhoni said, “was special” to Indians because of the change that the 1983 victory achieved for Indian cricket. “People started loving the sport and you then saw two individuals making their debut, Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar.” He then said that the successful careers of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, which began in 1996, marked the next step. “This was the chain of players because of whom we are in this position right now. We earn a lot of money, we get a lot respect and what we are trying to do is to pass it onto the next generation.”Three of the players mentioned by Dhoni were at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday night; Tendulkar a part of Dhoni’s team, Kumble in the audience and new commentator-columnist Ganguly, who stood at the boundary on the far side of dressing room from where he watched the Indian team go past on its lap of honour with Tendulkar sitting on Yusuf Pathan’s shoulders. Ganguly, who led India to the final of the 2003 World Cup and who still responds to India’s performance as if he were a part of the team, was beaming. “What a win,” he said, “what a performance.”Dhoni was asked to compare his two biggest victories as India captain and said, that while every format was “special” in its own way, “I have always loved the ODI format. Because I always think you see a lot of variety in one-day cricket.” The final he said had been the best example. “In this game, we lost a couple of early wickets and then you have two batsmen struggling to get runs.” He said that the one-day game showed “a glimpse” of what may not be Test cricket but was a shortened version of its demands.”Two batsmen looking for survival and looking to get runs at the same time. At the end you saw a slog, from Yuvraj and me. And at the end of it,” Dhoni said, “you see a result.” It is a summary that would please the ICC enormously which, after the unfortunate 2007 event in the Caribbean, has needed a successful World Cup to prove to its community that the three formats of the sport could survive. Between that World Cup and this one, there has been a mushrooming of the Twenty20 leagues, and was seen as a threat to the 50-over format. Now with the captain of the 2011 World Cup winners, and the biggest audience and market in the sport, enthusiastically endorsing the format, the ICC has further proof of what it has always maintained: that the 50-over game can play a few more innings.

Kings XI Punjab will be replacing England allrounder Stuart Broad and Dimitri Mascarenhas in their squad for the 2011 IPL

Tariq Engineer23-Mar-2011Kings XI Punjab will be replacing England allrounder Stuart Broad and Dimitri Mascarenhas in their squad for the 2011 IPL, as both players are unavailable for the tournament due to injuries, a franchise official has said. Broad picked up a side strain during the World Cup, while Mascarenhas has not yet recovered from surgery to fix his achilles injury.”We are still in the process of identifying their replacements,” Aravinder Singh, the chief operating officer for Punjab, told ESPNcricinfo. “I am in touch with the coach and the captain.”Under IPL rules, the replacements have to be chosen from the pool of players who went unsold in the January auction, and cannot be paid more than the players they are replacing, though they can be paid less, depending on their base price in the auction. This limits the choice of players to those whose base price is equivalent to, or less than, the players being replaced. Broad was bought for $400,000 while Mascarenhas was bought for $100,000. Both replacements will be for the 2011 season only.Punjab opens the tournament on April 10 against Sahara Pune Warriors at the DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai. The team began its preparations for the tournament on Monday with a six-day fitness camp at the HPCA Stadium, with the final camp for the full team to be held at Mohali from April 2 to April 8.Mumbai Indians have also signed a replacement player, according to a BCCI statement listing the players in each team, with Sri Lanka fast bowler Dilhara Fernando coming in for Australia fast bowler Clint Mckay, who was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left foot in January.
Pune are the only team to sign the full complement of 30 players, while the Kolkata Knight Riders have the fewest players on their roster with 20. The defending champions Chennai Super Kings have 23 players.The Deccan Chargers, who have 27 players in their squad, still have US $1.49 million out of their allotted $9 million, the most of any franchise, while Punjab has approximately $1.46 million left over. Rajasthan Royals, whose salary cap was reduced by a court order, have spent all of their money. The Mumbai Indians, one of two teams to retain the maximum four players, have $1739 remaining. Chennai, the other team to keep four players, have $15,435 left over.

Sri Lanka Cricket has decided to allow its cricketers to play in the IPL till May 18, after a meeting with sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Apr-2011Sri Lanka Cricket has decided to allow its cricketers to play in the IPL till May 18, after a meeting with sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage. The board had earlier asked the players to return on May 5 in order to prepare for the tour of England, which begins with a practice match against Middlesex on May 14. However, they have now issued a release saying the players have only to arrive in time for the second warm-up game, against England Lions, starting May 19. The first Test is on May 26.”We are favourably looking at giving players more time to play the IPL before joining the team for the England tour,” Aluthgamage told . “We have excellent relations with the government of India and the Indian cricket board. We don’t want to upset, or embarrass India.”He, however, denied that Sri Lanka were succumbing to pressure from the BCCI. He said the initial decision to call the players back early was taken by the new selection panel headed by Duleep Mendis in order to give the players time to prepare for the series, and it was not intended to spark any controversy. “The selectors felt the boys were playing too many one-dayers and Twenty20s for the past two months. They wanted the players to come early and adjust to English conditions and new changes in team management. There is no sinister move.”As seven of the 16 players selected for the Test tour are involved in the IPL, SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga stated that the selectors would pick an additional three to four players to make up the XI for the tour opener against Middlesex.SLC had originally given the Sri Lanka players till May 20 to play in the IPL, and following their change in the date, the BCCI had contacted Sri Lanka’s board asking them to reconsider. The decision had sparked mixed reactions among the Sri Lanka players, with Muttiah Muralitharan criticising it, while new captain Tillakaratne Dilshan said he did not mind it since playing for the country came before playing the IPL.Sri Lanka’s players will now miss only the last week of the IPL. Lasith Malinga has not been slected for the Tests, since he had told the board he was injured, but he has been asked to return to Sri Lanka to undergo a rehabilitation programme.

Royal Challengers Bangalore may as well rename him Criss Gayle

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga27-May-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Chris Gayle was devastating once again•AFP

In Jamaica the term is used to suggest everything is all right. Royal Challengers Bangalore may as well rename him Criss Gayle. For with Gayle, they criss. Gayle fell 11 short of his third century this IPL, but for 15 overs he played so much above the game that the 37 that came in the five after his exit didn’t look far off par on this surface. Mumbai struggled to replicate Gayle’s impact except with the new ball when they got off to a flying start. Gayle came on then to stifle the openers with a two-run over. The pressure resulted in wickets, everything was criss again, and Bangalore were in the final of the IPL.When batting, Gayle was assisted by Mayank Agarwal, his 20-year-old opening partner yet to make first-class debut, who scored 41 off 31 in a 113-run opening stand. Gayle will be the first one to concede, though, that he couldn’t have found a more accommodating opposition. To begin with, Mumbai Indians opted to bowl on a track where sides batting first have won six out of seven games this season. Then they refused to take the bull by its horn, throwing the new ball to Abu Nechim as opposed to Lasith Malinga. It can be argued that they succeeded in the previous game with Dhawal Kulkarni bowling the first over, but surely against a side as heavily reliant on Gayle as Bangalore they would have unleashed their best bowler right away.Nechim can still argue he hardly bowled a bad ball in that first over, but he still went for 27. The first of the boundaries came off an edge past slip, the second burst through Sachin Tendulkar at mid-off. Nechim, though, bowled length, and Gayle took six, two and four off the rest of the over. Agarwal played his part, foiling Mumbai’s other strategic move of bowling Harbhajan Singh to Gayle. Gayle faced only one delivery in Harbhajan’s two overs at the start, with Agarwal dominating the strike and hitting big, down the ground and with the turn, taking 20 runs.More friendliness followed from Mumbai as Malinga dropped Agarwal at square leg. At 57 for 0 after four, it became a Gayle show. Malinga bowled one good over full of slower ones for just one, but Gayle had his way with the rest of the bowlers. Only Rohit Sharma escaped his wrath, but Agarwal tucked into him with a four and a six. The beauty of the partnership was obvious: the right-hand batsman took care of the offspinners, Gayle everything else. The best of Gayle revealed itself in the 10th over, when Nechim was almost through a decent comeback over for four runs. The last ball, though, hardly left the ground, and yet crashed into the sight screen. Gayle was on 61 off 32 then, Bangalore 111.Rohit dropped Agarwal in the next over, but made amends two balls later. Gayle, however, was not through, and went on to suggest that maybe he didn’t need any shielding from Harbhajan, smacking him for back-to-back sixes over midwicket. Munaf, who held his own along with Malinga, eventually got rid of Gayle with a slightly slower one, and patted Gayle’s back as he walked back. All of a sudden, slower balls started working, the ball started gripping the surface, inside edges appeared, and the batting seemed like hard work. Just how well Gayle batted was further driven home.Despite the early wickets, Tendulkar, through cricketing shots and some improvisation, kept Mumbai’s fans interested with 40 off 24, but ICL returnee J Syed Mohammad produced one sharp offbreak across Tendulkar to get him stumped. Kieron Pollard, who often teases the fans in such chases with late but insufficient hitting, was spectacularly and coolly caught by Abhimanyu Mithun on the edge of the long-on boundary. With the Mumbai dugout right behind him, Mithun stood with his feet six inches inside as the Mumbai extras made way for him, stretched over the boundary and completed the catch one-handed to shut the door on Mumbai. The filmstar Mithun, known for his outlandish stunts, would have been proud.

Derbyshire moved into a match-winning performance at the midway point of their County Championship clash against Glamorgan thanks to Jon Clare’s figures of 5 for 29 and Dan Redfern’s 88 with the bat

28-Jun-2011
ScorecardDerbyshire moved into a match-winning performance at the midway point of their County Championship clash against Glamorgan thanks to Jon Clare’s figures of 5 for 29 and Dan Redfern’s 88 with the bat.Derbyshire made 367 all out in their first innings in Cardiff before the hosts limped to 174 for 8 in reply at the close of the second day of the Division Two match. They were 193 behind, needing a further 44 to avoid the follow-on.Only Glamorgan captain Alviro Petersen, with 83 not out, showed any real resistance. In only the second over of the day Redfern brought up his fourth 50 of the summer in 92 balls with five fours before Glamorgan hit back with the new ball.Graham Wagg struck with the fourth delivery, trapping Ross Whiteley lbw. Glamorgan continued to take wickets at regular intervals. Luke Sutton was dismissed when he top-edged a James Harris delivery to wicketkeeper Mark Wallace.Redfern perished for 88 when he played on to Jim Allenby, failing to convert a 12th first-class 50 into his maiden century as Derbyshire reached lunch at 338 for 7. Allenby hit form in the afternoon session as he took the remaining three wickets to claim career-best figures of five for 44 from 20 overs. It was Allenby’s third five-wicket haul of his career and his second for Glamorgan.But batting points proved harder to come by as opener Gareth Rees began Glamorgan’s procession of wickets before tea, falling leg before to Tim Groenewald, who also accounted for Will Bragg in a similar manner.From 36 for two the home side sank further into trouble at 59 for three when Mike Powell was caught behind off Whiteley. Ben Wright followed in the next over when he top-edged a pull to Knight running back at square leg off Clare, who also struck three balls later when Allenby was bowled by a full delivery for a duck. Glamorgan lost three wickets for one run in 10 balls as 59 for two became 60 for 5.Petersen, who reached his 50 from 105 balls, put on 68 with Wallace before the wicketkeeper, Harris and Wagg were all caught behind off Clare in the space of three balls. On 74, Petersen did survive a chance at short leg off Knight, the slow left-armer.

In the end, England were so ruthless in their dismantling of the No. 1 Test side that it was hard to believe India had been in match-winning positions twice in the first two days

The Report by George Binoy01-Aug-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Tim Bresnan was England’s hero on the fourth day•Getty Images

In the end, England were so ruthless in their dismantling of the No. 1 Test side that it was hard to believe India had been in match-winning positions twice in the first two days. Before the fourth day was over in Nottingham, England had secured the two-match lead they need to win the series by to move to the top of the ICC rankings. Their lower-order batsmen ransacked a hapless bowling and fielding outfit, before their fast bowlers demolished India with venom the Nottingham crowd hadn’t witnessed since Stuart Broad’s hat-trick on the second evening. England had broken India and the upshot was victory by 319 runs, the largest margin in Tests after conceding a first-innings lead.Several England players have queued up to perform starring roles this series, and today the unlikeliest of them all took his turn. Tim Bresnan, who was selected only because Chris Tremlett was hamstrung, tenderised batsmen with accurate short-pitched bowling and his career-best performance of 5 for 48 helped blow India away for 158. His spell came after he had bashed the ball around Trent Bridge during a partnership of 82 with Broad at a run-rate of 6.30. Bresnan helped England score 103 runs in 19.2 overs and extend their lead from 374 to 477.Like their bowlers and fielders during England’s second innings, India’s batsmen showed no fight after they began the improbable task of surviving more than five sessions. Rather, England didn’t let them fight. Andrew Strauss’s team was streets ahead of India in terms of strength, fitness and preparation and that widened the gulf in form between the sides.James Anderson should have reprised his first-innings success of striking first ball, but Abhinav Mukund’s edge was dropped at slip. England, however, did not have to wait long, and Stuart Broad snagged the bigger fish. During the 30 minutes he had to survive before lunch, Rahul Dravid, India’s best batsman on tour, edged Broad to Matt Prior. India were 8 for 1 at the break.

Smart stats

• For the first time since 1974, England have won two Tests in a home series against India.

• In Tests since 1990, this is the seventh time that India have lost by a margin of 300 runs or more (excluding innings defeats). In the same period, the 319-run loss is their largest margin of defeat against England.

• India’s score of 158 is their second-lowest fourth-innings total in a Test defeat against England in Tests since 1990. Their lowest total is 100 in Mumbai in 2006.

• Bresnan’s 5 for 48 is his first five-wicket haul in Tests. After Stuart Broad achieved the feat of scoring a fifty and picking up five wickets against India, Bresnan did the same in the second innings.

• England’s total of 544 is the second-highest total made in the team second innings against India. The highest is Pakistan’s 599 in Karachi in 2006.

• Since 1990, England’s total of 221 is their fifth-lowest score in the match first innings in a Test victory. Excluding the 2006 Oval forfeiture, their lowest first-innings total in a win in the same period is 180 against Australia at the Oval in 1997.

• James Anderson dismissed Sachin Tendulkar for the seventh time in eight Tests. He is now second behind Muttiah Muralitharan on the list of bowlers who have dismissed Tendulkar most often in Tests.

• England scored 73 fours in their second innings. In Tests since 1990, this is joint-fifth on the list of England innings with the most boundaries.

• Rahul Dravid’s first-innings century is only his third in a Test defeat and his second hundred in a defeat in this series. Of his 34 centuries, 14 have come in wins and 17 in draws.

When play resumed, Anderson took out India’s other second-innings pillar, bowling VVS Laxman with the perfect delivery. It drew the batsman forward, straightened off the pitch, beat the outside edge and still managed to uproot off stump. Laxman was left looking wide-eyed and bewildered. India were 13 for 2. And then it was over to Bresnan, who sent down short ball after short ball at batsmen ill-equipped to cope with such a hostile attack.He had Abhinav fending helplessly at a bouncer that lobbed off the glove to slip. He had Raina caught at long leg, playing an uncontrolled hook against a rising delivery. And after softening Yuvraj, who was hit on the body several times, Bresnan had him caught at slip too. Yuvraj had also fended haplessly, unaware that Alastair Cook had caught the ball until he saw the celebrations begin. Bresnan then dismissed MS Dhoni first ball, lbw after the Indian captain offered no shot. India were 68 for 6 at lunch.Of the specialist batsmen, only Sachin Tendulkar had resisted. He had begun his innings positively, driving down the ground repeatedly, but the speed of his scoring plummeted as the carnage unfolded at the other end. Tendulkar, however, only achieved his 60th half-century and not his 100th hundred. After he too was lbw, padding up to an Anderson inswinger, England were always going to win before stumps. Broad, who had twice rescued England with bat and ball, fittingly took the final wicket, bowling Sreesanth in the 48th over.The fourth day had begun as the third had ended – with India hunting leather. Bresnan, who had resumed on 47, reached his half-century with an edge that flew over the cordon to third man, which remained empty despite a glut of runs in the region. Prior, who batted aggressively last evening, also hit consecutive fours – a glance to fine leg and a cover drive off Praveen. He didn’t last long though, edging Praveen to Dhoni to end the seventh-wicket stand on 119 off 20 overs.Broad, however, gave India no respite. He and Bresnan, whose driving when offered full and wide deliveries was sublime, ran India ragged. Dhoni also turned to his part-time spinners – Yuvraj and Raina. Yuvraj dropped short on the off side and Broad clobbered him repeatedly towards the cover boundary. When Raina pitched short, Broad heaved consecutive deliveries into the cheering masses beyond the midwicket boundary. It was brutal.The partnership ended on 82 because of a rare moment of brilliance in the field. Broad pushed towards cover and set off for the single. The substitute Wriddhiman Saha rushed in, swooped on the ball and threw at the bowler’s end in one flowing motion, scoring a direct hit that caught Broad short. The rest of India’s fielders were utterly exposed. Bresnan and Broad only needed to place the ball slightly wide of the fielders to reach the boundary. India had not looked this outclassed on a cricket field in recent memory.

Somerset extended their lead at the top of the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group C table but they had to settle for a point after no result was possible in their clash with Lancashire Lightning at Old Trafford

18-Jul-2011
Scorecard
Somerset extended their lead at the top of the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group C table but they had to settle for a point after no result was possible in their clash with Lancashire Lightning at Old Trafford.Rain throughout the day in Manchester prevented play starting until 8.15pm, which meant the clash was reduced to 15 overs per side. But there was more wet weather to come after 7.4 overs of Lancashire’s innings with the hosts struggling at 39 for 3 on a turning track.Somerset, last year’s runners-up, may have moved one point clear of Essex after six matches but this result ended their 100 percent record in this year’s competition. Spinners Murali Kartik, Max Waller and Arul Suppiah bowled 5.4 of the 7.4 overs – with the former two taking the new ball.Indian Kartik, a former Lancashire overseas player, struck with the sixth ball of the match when he had Stephen Moore caught at point by Craig Meschede. Lightning stand-in captain Steven Croft, who had earlier won the toss, hit two boundaries off Waller’s first over but he and his partners failed to find the fence again until the seventh over when he pulled Meschede’s medium pace to the fence twice.During that time opener Karl Brown became the second wicket to go, trapped lbw by Alfonso Thomas for one to leave the score at 15 for 2 in the third over. Paul Horton struggled for any rhythm during his innings of 7 not out off 17 balls and he lost Croft lbw to the legspin of Waller the ball before the rain arrived as Jordan Clark made his way to the crease.Croft, whose side have only won two of their six matches, finished with 26 off 18 balls. Kartik claimed figures of 1 for 6 from two overs, and Thomas 1 for 1 from one over.