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Division One

Despite a fifty at the top of the order from Richard Montgomerie, his second of the season, Sussex’s disappointing form with the bat continued today when they were dismissed for 218 on the first day against Lancashire at Liverpool. Chris Adams (30), Matt Prior (37) and Luke Wright (28) all got starts, but failed to capitalise as Glenn Chapple (4 for 35) rocked the top order. Gary Keedy and Dominic Cork wrapped up the tail, after Mushtaq Ahmed had clobbered 22 useful runs at a run-a-ball. Sussex struck back with the ball though, leaving Lancashire 133 for 4 at stumps, trailing by 85. Mushtaq, inevitably, was to the fore again and ended the day with impressive figures of 3 for 29.

Division Two

Steve Stubbings fell two short of his second hundred of the season as Derbyshire battled to 279 for 6 on the first day against Glamorgan at Derby. Stubbings lost his opening partner, Michael Di Venuto, for 18 – and when Travis Birt (16) fell, Derbyshire were in danger of stumbling at 131 for 3. Stubbings was resolute, however, receiving good support from Hassan Adnan (52). Robert Croft bowled tidily, and for most of the afternoon, picking up 2 for 52 from 31 overs.

Scorecard
Phil Jaques capped a memorable match by adding a damaging century to his first-innings 240 as Australia A set India A an imposing 482 for victory at Cairns. The visiting openers made a positive reply, cutting the deficit by 117 at stumps, as Robin Uthappa, who survived three missed catches, posted a boundary-filled 67 and Gautam Gambhir collected 40.In the first innings Jaques showed his fine application and today he unleashed, crashing an intimidating 117 that included seven fours and five sixes from 103 deliveries. Australia A held a lead of 207 after dismissing their opponents early in the first session, but Brad Haddin refused to enforce the follow-on and his batsmen dashed for quick runs, scoring at almost a run a ball before the declaration at 7 for 274.The openers were again the most impressive and Jaques showed his powers of destruction in the 167-run stand while Rogers raised his second fifty of the match. Rogers departed first for 64, but Jaques continued to flex and brought up his hundred with a six that hit the grandstand.Jaques launched two more sixes before finding Subramaniam Badrinath at cover from Venugopal Rao’s offspin, and Travis Birt (10), Shaun Marsh (1) and Mark Cosgrove (18) soon followed. Rao benefited from the home team’s aggressive attitude with four wickets, but he also gave up 79 runs in 12 overs. Piyush Chawla grabbed two victims before the declaration came at tea, Mitchell Johnson ending the onslaught with another shot that struck the grandstand.Johnson and Shaun Tait cleaned up the India A innings within seven overs this morning as Johnson claimed 4 for 45 and Tait picked up 3 for 67. Parthiv Patel, the former Test wicketkeeper, opened with a couple of fours and a six in his 43, but the visitors were all out for 254.

ScorecardIndia Under-19 clinched the Test series against England Under-19 after a fine performance from their spinners on the final day at Shenley. England had to bat throughout the day to save the match, but couldn’t quite pull it off despite Michael O’Shea’s 56. Shahbaz Nadeem was the main star for India with a five-wicket haul.England slumped during the morning session as Nadeem added to his overnight wicket of Varun Chopra by removing Billy Godleman and Greg Wood. He also dispatched Adil Rashid 12 and at 107 for 5, India could sense their victory.However, they were held up by a fighting partnership between O’Shea and Adam Lyth – who helped to save the first Test with an impressive century – as the sixth-wicket pair knuckled down against the spinners. Karan Singh, an 18-year-old legspinner, made the breakthrough when he dislodged Lyth and England’s lower order struggled to keep out the bowling.Nadeem was a constant threat and went at barely one-an-over through his 35 overs as the England batsmen tried to hold out. Andrew Miller blocked out 54 balls for an unbeaten six but Singh wrapped up the match with the wickets of O’Shea and Steven Finn in the same over. The telling factor was the quality of India’s bowling and the failure of the England batsmen to build on their starts in this decisive match.

has revelations about team selection which has elicited reactions from former selectors. Here are a few extracts (published in Mumbai-based Mid-Day) followed by the reactions

Team selection and the zonal selection policy

Division One

Second day
Mushtaq Ahmed took his 11th five-wicket haul of the summer, also giving him 10 wickets in the match, as Sussex edged closer to the Championship title on the second day against Kent at Canterbury. Although Sussex were quickly dismissed for 289, to gain a slender 41-run lead, Kent’s batsmen once again fell victim to Mushtaq’s wile. Matthew Walker anchored the sinking ship with 66, spending over three hours at the crease, while Darren Stevens batted aggressively in his 54. However, Kent’s lead only amounts to 138 with two days (and two wickets) remaining.First day
Nick Compton became the 20th batsman to carry his bat for Middlesex who were torn apart by Charlie Shreck, who claimed a hat-trick on the first day against Nottinghamshire at Lord’s. Shreck was given excellent support by his team-mates, with lively fielding and some sharp catches held. After losing Ben Hutton, Owais Shah and Compton batted attractively, although Shah was reprieved – dropped by Mark Ealham at second slip. But Paul Franks trapped Shah leg-before for 28 shortly afterwards. Then came Shreck. He’d removed Ed Smith with the last ball of an over, then bowled Eoin Morgan who attempted rather ambitious drive first ball; Paul Weekes was the hat-trick, his stumps destroyed. He didn’t stop there, as Nash fell in the same over handing a straightforward catch to David Hussey in the slips. Four wickets in six balls. Compton was defiant, however, finishing on 105 as Middlesex were bowled out for 230. In reply, Nottinghamshire moved to 120 for 2, with Will Smith unbeaten on 54.

Division Two

Two contrasting hundreds from Phil Weston and Craig Spearman led the way for Gloucestershire, who reached 385 for 7 on the opening day against Surrey at Bristol. Although it was arguably Gloucestershire’s day with the bat, Surrey were confirmed Division Two champions at exactly 17.10 with the fall of the sixth Gloucestershire wicket – Steve Adshead bowled by Nayan Doshi – to hand them the required two points. It was Spearman who took the attack to Surrey, smashing a 98-ball hundred to put on 154 for the opening wicket with Weston (130). Hamish Marshall took up the attack, clobbering a run-a-ball 56, but Gloucestershire’s middle-order collapsed from 316 for 2 to 285 for 7.

A bad week for Zimbabwe Cricket grew worse with a threat from Themba Mliswa, the controversial Zimbabwean political activist, that he was set to challenge Peter Chingoka, the board’s chairman, and Ozias Bvute, the managing director, with the support of the country’s “highest authorities”. The board were already reeling from the resignations of Crispen Tsvarai and Bruce Makovah and will be further alarmed by this latest development.Mliswa, who has a chequered career, was the man widely considered responsible for driving Tatenda Taibu into retirement last year. After seeming to ingratiate himself with the Chingoka-led interim executive, it seems that, as Cricinfo exclusively reported last month, he had a major falling out with the executive’s top brass.Mliswa, heading a group calling itself “Black Pioneers stakeholders”, addressed a media conference at a Harare hotel this afternoon, repeating virtually the same allegations that have been raised against the ZC bosses by players and disgruntled stakeholders over the past two years. But this time, Mliswa vowed to finally deal with the alleged maladministration and corruption by the ZC top brass.”These individuals are holding Zimbabwe cricket to ransom,” Mliswa said. “They are killing the game for what are evidently selfish ends. They are directly responsible for the rampant corruption, mismanagement and outright criminal activity that has become the order of the day.We have confidence in the authorities and powers that be in this country that they will deal with this decisively now.”He was sitting alongside Makovah, the former convener of selectors who resigned earlier this week after a fall-out with the country’s board. “I resigned because there were serious lack of transparency”, Makovah said, adding another reason was the decision by Chingoka and Bvute to allow Kevin Curran, the coach, to dictate selection matters.Mliswa also revealed he had held discussions with Taibu and now claimed to be on talking terms with him. “I admit to be one of the people who had a go at him, but I never threatened him,” he insisted. “I tried to talk to him as a brother. Tatenda is a Zimbabwean. He wants to play for his country… but in the best environment with the best adminstrators”.He also said he had met some of the old provincial chairmen, although he evaded he said he was independent of the former administrators.

The table tennis ball bounced past, blissfully uncontested, as I was still rejoicing in the magnificence of following through on a fearsome smash, utterly convinced that the point was already mine.”Don’t try that again if you not prepared for it to come back,” said one of my uncles, a better-than-average table tennis player and cricketer who was using my grandmother’s dining table to teach me an important lesson that remains as fresh as the day it occurred more than 30 years ago.Last Wednesday’s verbal clash between Chris Gayle and Michael Clarke in Mumbai brought home the relevance of that bit of advice, and also reinforced the belief that when it comes to the concept of “do so ain’t like so”, Australia’s cricketers are the unrivalled world champions.In his tour diary entry on the incident, Gayle inferred that Clarke was the instigator of the confrontation, and while conceding that his protracted tirade against Clarke deserved some form of punishment, it was disappointing to see the man who triggered the whole thing – at least from the Gayle’s perspective – get off scot free.It also did not go unnoticed that the match officials made no report of the incident until the next day, by which time Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, had already passed his judgement in implying that the only way the credibility of the disciplinary process would be upheld was if Gayle was brought to book.Of course, from the moment the matter came within the purview of match referee Mike Procter for investigation, the issue was no longer if Gayle should be disciplined, but what would be the nature of the censure. It was not surprising either that Clarke was absolved.An outstanding allrounder that he was, Procter clearly lacks an even hand in arbitrating matters that involve Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. An outrageous charge you say? Well, what other conclusion is there after his response to journalists’ queries that the Aussies were getting away with an abundance of excessive over-appealing in last November’s series against West Indies, stating that players from those countries are more aggressive, and that had to be taken into consideration? In other words, there is one rule for those three and another for everyone else.It was heartening to hear Ramnaresh Sarwan – who led the side superbly in the field in the absence of the injured Brian Lara – in his post-match comments alluding to the Gayle-Clarke tete-a-tete and suggesting that players who like to dish out should be prepared to get some back.Sarwan knows only too well how to give back, his instant response to Glenn McGrath’s malicious remark on the fourth afternoon of the Antigua Test in 2003 causing McGrath to completely lose his cool. I wonder if John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, would have been so eager in rallying to the defence of McGrath in the furore that followed the incident if he knew what his compatriot had said in the first place.Every team in every sport, at one time or another, engages in baiting the opposition, winding them up to try and trigger a loss of concentration. But it is more than a little annoying that, having legitimised and institutionalised an underhand practice as “mental disintegration” (the pretentious terminology of former captain Steve Waugh), the Australians recoil in self-righteous indignation when they find themselves on the receiving end.Which is why, in the sporting context, if you want to upset the best in the world, sometimes to have to fight fire with an inferno. The opponent strikes a match, you respond by burning down his house. It is an overreaction, but an overreaction with a purpose – to let him know in terms that he can best understand that you’re not taking any foolishness.Lara is a past master at being both an instigator and flame-throwing responder, especially against the Australians, which is why they fear him so. They will always speak in the most glowing terms about Sachin Tendulkar because they think they have his measure as far as beating them off his own bat. But they can’t handle Lara, what with the ability to dissect and destruct with his scything blade, while at the same time sallying forth with enough caustic lyrics to keep them on edge.In this context, I’m reminded of Javed Miandad’s attempt to test the sweet spot of his bat on Dennis Lillee’s head during Pakistan’s 1981-82 tour of Australia. Miandad was no doubt saying more than a thing or two to the fiery fast bowler, which was a bit of a reversal for Lillee, who was accustomed to having the last (very strong) word, especially against timid players from the Indian subcontinent.Put off his stride by Miandad, Lillee kicked him on the back of the legs on the way back to the top of his mark. As anyone with any sort of broughtupsy would know, to kick someone, even lightly, is just about the lowest form of degradation towards another human being.It necessitated a strident reaction, and as Miandad drew his blade back in a backlift higher than anything ever managed by Lara, the presiding umpire stepped in to save Lillee from the response he deserved. Do so really ain’t like so, and they need to be reminded of that occasionally, even if it costs 30 per cent of a day’s pay.

Pakistan 257 for 7 (Yousuf 102) v West Indies
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Pakistan how they were out

A year that has already been a spectacular one for Mohammad Yousuf goteven better as he stroked his way to yet another classy hundred – a recordeighth in 2006, and his fifth in successive matches – on the opening dayat Karachi. Requiring 148 at the start of the day to equal Viv Richards’srecord of most runs in a calendar year, Yousuf reduced the deficit to just46, but his dismissal for 102 gave West Indies the edge, as they foughtspiritedly in the field to restrict Pakistan to 257 for 7.Imran Farhat contributed a useful 47, while most of the others got starts,but as has been the norm this year, Yousuf was the only batsman who kickedon. On a dry pitch lacking in pace and bounce – hardly anything rose aboveknee length, while Denesh Ramdin regularly collected deliveries around hisankles – Yousuf found his rhythm and timing with amazing ease, driving onthe up with the languid grace that has been such an attractive feature ofhis batting. While others struggled to get the ball off the square, Yousufcreamed boundaries almost at will before missing a pull shot off CoreyCollymore late in the day.But for Yousuf’s effort, West Indies would have been in complete commandof the match. Despite losing the toss and having to bowl on a completelygrassless surface, the bowlers kept their spirits up quite superblythroughout the day. They went in a bowler short – Dave Mohammed wasdropped for Ramnaresh Sarwan – but the lack of bowling resource didn’taffect them, as the fast bowlers all toiled hard. Collymore bowled withoutstanding control all day, Jerome Taylor managed pace and some swing,while Daren Powell, even though he finished wicketless, bowled awhole-hearted spell late in the day, getting appreciable reverse-swing.Dwayne Bravo chipped in with two crucial wickets, and the fielding wassharp, with several direct hits – the only blemish was Denesh Ramdin’sreprieve of Yousuf, when he was on 63.Apart from that one lapse, though, it was a near-flawless knock fromYousuf, who became only the third batsman to run up a streak of five hundreds insuccessive Tests. (Don Bradman, with six, and Jacques Kallis are theother two.) Right from the outset Yousuf timed the ball crisply – a clearindication of the dream form he is in – even as the rest battled toovercome the lack of pace in the track. He leant into his drives andpeppered the cover and extra-cover boundaries whenever the bowlers pitchedit up outside off, and picked off anything on his legs with immaculateclips off the legs. A gloriously executed back-foot punch through covertook him past the 500-run mark for the series, as West Indies struggled tokeep him in check.The rest of the batting, though, remained a disappointment. MohammadHafeez was comprehensively beaten by a superb indipper from Collymore,Farhat promised a lot but fell to yet another poor stroke, Younis Khan wasa victim of atrocious running between the wickets, while Inzamam-ul-Haq’sbattle for survival was a telling commentary of how ephemeral form can be.Widely recognised – till recently at least – as the best batsman in theside, Inzamam’s struggles were in stark contrast to Yousuf’s fluidelegance. The pair put together 66, of which Inzamam contributed alaboured 18 off 64.Finding the lack of pace a huge hindrance, Inzamam pottered around, unableto time his drives or place the ball in the gaps. That he finally fell tothe innocuous offspin of Daren Ganga, driving straight to mid-off, tellsjust how badly out of touch he was.The West Indians, for their part, did most of the things right in thefield. In a match they must win to level the series, it would have been easy tolose heart after seeing the way the ball behaved in the first couple ofovers – there was no swing on offer, and very little bounce – but theyfought on. Brian Lara often employed unorthodox fields: recognizing thefact that the edges to the slips might not carry, he reduced the slipcordon early on, instead using the short midwicket and short cover to tryand snaffle the miscues. They were especially dominant in the lastsession, taking four wickets for only 73, and despite Yousuf’s century,Lara would be happy with their day’s work.

Fanie de Villiers, former South African fast bowler, stated his interest in coaching India’s fast bowlers on their current tour of South Africa. “In the absence of a bowling coach, they need local help,” de Villiers, who worked with the Indian bowlers in 2001, was quoted as saying in , the Bangalore-based daily. “Without a doubt, they need somebody local like me to give them advice on how to bowl on these wickets, what the lengths should be like, things like that. I have done it in the past, and there is no reason why I shouldn’t do it again.”India’s bowling has always been better than they thought in this country. I helped the bowlers a while back, I went to the nets and they had their lengths completely wrong. Their lengths here have to be different from what they bowl in India. They got driven quite a lot. They have to plan properly. They have to know the exact lengths they have to bowl. They need to use the crease better because of extra bounce.”If they do their homework, they will be better. Irfan Pathan is a great player and [Zaheer] Khan is a good bowler. They must get their line and length right. I enjoy [watching] Sreesanth, and I am looking forward to enjoying the bowling of Pathan here. I am frustrated because I have always backed the Indians. I have seen what they can do in India and the sub-continent. Some of their players have been ranked very, very highly. But they have played nine Tests in South Africa and never won; since 1992, they have played 16 one-dayers and won just three. That’s a bad record, not good at all.”Each time India have come to South Africa, they have been disappointing. I don’t know what it is to do with – planning, form, bounce – but they haven’t fared as well as they should. Why does it boil down to conditions always? There are other teams who come from the sub-continent and fare well. Conditions are no more an excuse. It is history. They have to lift their game, be disciplined and give more respect to the bounce here. You can’t just play on national memory. If India play on national memory, they are going to get themselves out.But I am hopeful of India doing well. I personally believe coaching can play a really big role in a series in South Africa, and I am sure that Greg Chappell might take them to the next level.”

Scorecard
Craig Cumming smacked an unbeaten 102, his maiden State Shield hundred, as Otago cruised to an eight-wicket victory over Northern Districts at Taupo’s Owen Delany Park. Set 201 to win after a disciplined bowling effort, Otago overcame the early loss of Shaun Haig thanks to handy partnerships for the second and third wickets. Cumming brought up his 50 off 67 balls with nine fours, then added seven more plus one six to move to three figures and finish the game in 34.5 overs. Aaron Redmond (32 from 40 balls) and Neil Broom (34 not-out from 40 balls) assisted Cumming well to earn their team maximum points. Cumming also picked up two wickets and utilised his bowlers well to keep ND down to 200. All-rounders Mark Orchard (40) and Joseph Yovich (39) top-scored for the hosts.
Scorecard
A three-pronged seam attack dismantled Canterbury for just 92 and then Michael Parlane hit an unbeaten half-century to power Wellington to a thumping Duckworth-Lewis-ruled win at the Basin Reserve. Rain kept the match down to a 24-overs-a-side affair – Canterbury was reduced to 30 for 3 before a long break for rain – and State Shield debutants Michael Burns and Kevin Forde, as well as Grant Elliott, combined to bowl the visitors out cheaply. Set 90 to win thanks to the D/L method, Parlane sped to an unbeaten 53 in a 58-run second-wicket stand with Jesse Ryder (27 not-out from 30 balls).
Scorecard
Central District’s match against Auckland at New Plymouth was abandoned without a ball being bowled after rain hampered proceedings.