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Scorecard
Stuart Clark and Stuart MacGill made Darren Lehmann’s decision to bat look questionable in the Pura Cup match at Adelaide Oval, where South Australia crashed to 154 – and were lucky to even make that. MacGill finished with 3 for 6 as he ran through the Redbacks late in the innings, while Clark (2 for 33) set up the day of New South Wales dominance with two wickets in his first four overs.Phil Jaques and Greg Mail let the Redbacks off the hook with seven dropped catches between them but South Australia were unable to capitalise, managing to bat for only 65.3 overs. The opener Shane Deitz was dropped four times on his way to 62 before Doug Bollinger (2 for 30) finally had him caught behind off a thin edge.Lehmann also had a life before he was out for 32 just before tea to a magnificent return catch by MacGill. Clark, who is fighting for a place in Australia’s Ashes attack, had Matthew Elliott caught at gully for 0 from the fourth ball of the match, then claimed Cameron Borgas for 2. The Blues’ success came despite the fact that Moises Henriques, who took 5 for 17 against Queensland barely a week ago, was left out to make way for MacGill.In reply New South Wales showed there were runs in the pitch, reaching 2 for 96 at stumps. Phil Jaques and Ed Cowan (29 not out) led the way before Jaques was out for 44 off the last ball of the day.

Peter Moores says England will not jeopardise Andrew Flintoff’s future if his left ankle could be further damaged by continuing to play.Flintoff has struggled following a third operation on his ankle this summer, whereby he missed both Test series against West Indies and India. He returned for the one-day series against India, but, after suffering a swollen knee at Bristol, felt more pain in his left ankle following the match at Old Trafford. He missed two further games before having a steroid injection to help him through the decider at Lord’s.During his four-over spell against Australia in the ICC World Twenty20 pain was etched on his face and such determination to play through the problem has prompted fears he could do himself more damage.”At the moment I do know that Fred wants to play cricket,” admitted Moores, England’s coach. “He could aggravate it here but he could aggravate it at the next tournament, so you have to find out.”His ankle needs managing, there’s no doubt about that, but this is quite a good tournament for us to be able to test out where we are with him. He has four-over spells. It’s a short form of the game and we can control it and look at it so at the end of every game we do that.”If at any stage we thought we were damaging it or making it worse, he wouldn’t play. That is the basic premise everyone is working towards. He’s getting through and it’s manageable so they can look at different ways of rehab and strengthening it as we go along. At the moment it isn’t great because he’s definitely having to work a little bit within himself, but he’s still doing a good job for the team.”Moores then allayed worries that, in order to prolong his career, it may be best for Flintoff to pick and choose which matches he plays. He said that it’s not something England have considered just yet “because we just don’t know.””You can wrap him up and leave him but they’ve got to find out and I think that’s common sense. He saw the surgeon before we came out and the surgeon was very happy with it. It’s all credit to Fred for getting stuck in and playing.”Flintoff will undergo a fitness test – something he will be well used to by now – before England’s first Super Eight match against hosts South Africa on Sunday.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

A day truncated first by a wet outfield and then bad light ended saw only 27.2 overs being bowled at Napier as West Indies reached 95 for 1 thanks to sensible knocks from Daren Ganga and Brian Lara. West Indies may have been happy to have been saved by rain in the first two Tests which they lost, but their last shot at redemption was seriously jolted in the final Test.When Stephen Fleming won the toss and chose to put West Indies in at 3pm, with 47 overs to play, he held all the aces. Shane Bond had recovered fully from his illness and was firing on all cylinders, the skies were overcast and the outfield damp and slow. It was the condition of the outfield that had delayed the start of play in the first place, leaving both sides hanging. Despite all this, though, Chris Gayle and Ganga began well, as they have done more than once in this series.Gayle in particular disregarded the 0-2 Test series scoreline, coming on the back of a 1-4 hiding in the ODIs, and played some sumptuous strokes. He drove through the off side well and played his favourite pick-up shot through the on side with ease, only occasionally struggling against the pace and bounce of Shane Bond. Gayle had struck five boundaries in his 30 when a moment of indiscretion cost him his wicket. He punched Chris Martin on the up towards short cover where Peter Fulton was placed for just such a shot.After Gayle’s error in judgment a determined Lara knuckled down and blunted the New Zealand bowling. Defensive for the best part, Lara moved exaggeratedly in his crease getting right behind the line of the ball. He was able to handle the pace of Bond quite well and even unfurled an attractive cover-drive, full flourish of the MRF bat sending the ball screaming to the cover fence.Fleming, leading New Zealand for the 75th time in Tests, behind only Allan Border the former Australian great who led his team 93 times, sensed that his main fast bowlers were not getting much assistance from the conditions and threw the ball to Nathan Astle who bowled a tight line and length and kept one end very quiet. He troubled Lara with his nagging line, getting in a good lbw shout from which Lara was only saved by the height. When tea was taken, after 22 overs of play, Lara was on 17 while Ganga had reached 23 in West Indies’ 75 for 1.Soon after a tea break which both team really could have done without, considering the fact that they were cooling their heels in the dressing-room for the best part of two sessions, West Indies pressed on. They consciously looked to put runs on the board, and this almost resulted in a second wicked when Lara pushed Bond to gully and set off. Fortunately for the West Indies the shy at the stumps missed and Lara lived to battle on. He slapped Bond over point for a boundary, and two balls later, when the light was offered, the batsmen accepted it. Lara was on 28 and Ganga on 31, the second wicket partnership of 58 pushing West Indies along to 95 for 1, the score on which stumps were drawn soon after when the light situation failed to improve.

Chris Gayle c Fulton b Martin 30 (37 for 1)

Scorecard

Kent claimed only their third domestic title in 29 years with a thrilling four-wicket victory in an action-packed and controversial Twenty20 final against Gloucestershire. Needing 13 off the final over, Darren Stevens crunched two boundaries off an overawed Carl Greenidge, but in chaotic scenes there was confusion over if the match had actually been won.The equation had come down to six off three balls when Stevens launched Greenidge over cover. Kent’s batsmen ran off to begin celebrating, but Gloucestershire were ready for another ball and the umpires weren’t sure either. It had been missed, apparently by everyone except TV, that a no-ball had also been called. After a consultation between the umpires the Kent celebrations began in front of a near full-house.The champagne spraying was led by Robert Key, but the final was tinged with a moment of controversy involving the Kent captain’s dismissal for 18. He flicked a ball from Greenidge and Hamish Marshall dived forward at midwicket to claim, what appeared, another impressive catch. Key took Marshall’s word and made his way off, but in similar scenes to Kevin Pietersen’s ‘dismissal’ at Lord’s against India earlier this season the big screen flashed up a replay before Key reached the boundary.He lingered inside the rope, but by now the umpires (Neil Mallender at square leg had been happy about the catch), and players were ready for the next delivery and the TV replay wasn’t called for. Clearly unimpressed, Key flung his bat across the boundary and stormed into the Kent dug-out. A short while afterwards, having calmed down in the dressing-room, he told : “I’m surprised they didn’t take it to the third umpire. The boys told me to go back like Kevin Pietersen.”Repercussions are likely for such a clear show of dissent, but it proved how much the players now want to win the Twenty20 and that it is played as intensely as the other tournaments. “I’ll probably cop it,” admitted Key afterwards. However, it shouldn’t take away from an impressive performance by Kent who were on-song throughout the day. In the end, Key was able to smile with his first trophy as captain and said: “Two overs from the end I was back in the dressing kicking a few things around thinking we were done for, but it’s pretty special.”Ryan McLaren’s hat-trick, the fifth in English Twenty20, helped restrict Gloucestershire to 146, a total around par for the day where scoring never appeared quite as easy as first imagined. After slipping to 62 for 4, Gloucestershire threatened a recovery as Marshall, with a 49-ball 65, formed a useful stand with Mark Hardinges before McLaren intervened. Marshall chopped into his stumps as he tried to glide a ball to third man, Stephen Adshead was cleaned-up by a beauty that held its line and took off stump and Ian Fisher was trapped in front.As in the semi-final against Sussex, Kent’s chase was handed a flying start by Key and Joe Denly. After Key’s dismissal Denly and Walker continued to make good progress. However, Hardinges removed Denly and Martin van Jaarsveld as the pressure mounted. Then Jon Lewis brought himself back and picked up Matthew Walker on the deep square-leg boundary and bowled McLaren. When Geraint Jones was involved in a manic run out, slipping as he tried to abort a second run, Gloucestershire were sensing the win.But Lewis had gambled on giving the final over to Greenidge, the weakest link in his attack, and the move backfired badly as he followed long-hop with half-volley, even bowling one delivery off two steps. Stevens connected cleanly with two mighty swings and the first trophy of the season was heading to Canterbury. That, though, was only one of the talking points from another eventful Twenty20 final.

Scorecard

A captain’s innings from Charlotte Edwards and four wickets from Isa Guha helped England to a last-gasp victory with just four balls remaining against India at Arundel. England were making heavy going of chasing down 186, at a sticky 73 for 3, but Edwards rescued them with a 61-ball 47, and with Jenny Gunn (42 not out), propelled England to success.Beth Morgan chipped in with a handy unbeaten 14 from 18 balls to ensure the win in which England managed to reverse the momentum after Jhulan Goswami and Amita Sharma had them in trouble early on.India’s own innings had got off to decent enough start, with Karu Jain and Rumeli Dhar adding 41 for the first wicket. But Dhar fell shortly after Jain, both subsiding to the medium pace of Guha, before Laura Newton accounted for the dangerous Anjum Chopra (93 for 3).Hemlata Kala repaired the innings a touch, putting on 84 for the fourth wicket with the topscorer Mithali Raj, who made 73. Another quick double strike from Guha removed Kala and Raj and once more punctured the momentum at a crucial time (180 for 5).England are now on their way to securing the series after going 2-0 up in the third of five matches. They have a point to prove after being beaten 4-1 in India over the winter. They set about making that point at Lord’s, no less, on Monday with a convincing victory. Today’s match was more nailbiting but England’s nerves held out.

Division One

Darren Bicknell and Stephen Fleming batted firmly for Nottinghamshire as a heavily rain-affected match edges towards stalemate. Andrew Harris took three of Sussex‘s final four wickets as they made 355 on the third day. Harris ended with 5 for 131. In reply, Jason Gallian fell early for 5 and Russell Warren made 25 before being bowled. But Bicknell (88) and Fleming (102 not out) stood firm to take Notts into a strong position.Mohammad Akram took five wickets in the second innings to consign Hampshire to Surrey a heavy defeat at The Rose Bowl. Ormond had taken apart the top order – Jimmy Adams, who made just 1 for the second time this match, Michael Brown (20) and Chris Benham, who made a duck – before Akram ripped through the middle order with 5 for 41 from just 9.3 overs. John Crawley offered the best resistance for the visitors, with 67, before Harbhajan Singh penetrated his defences and Hampshire collapsed to 160 all out from just 33.3 overs.An intriguing final day is in prospect at Southgate after Middlesex declared on 435 for 4, and Glamorgan replied with 125 for 3. In another run-fest, Ed Smith fell eight short of his century, Scott Styris 15 short of his but Ed Joyce managed to post his – and went on to stricke an unbeaten 155. Glamorgan increased their lead of 149 to 325 by the end of play, but Daniel Cherry couldn’t repeat his first innings heroics: he made 16 before Alan Richardson dismissed him, the first of his three wickets. Matt Elliott (20) and David Hemp (29) were the other casualties.Kent are strongly placed for victory after their batsmen struck 569. Warwickshire still trail by 272 with eight wickets remaining. For a full report see Match of the Day.

Division Two

Dale Benkenstein followed up a good performance with the bat with four wickets as Durham took firm control of their match against Northamptonshire. Benkenstein ran through the middle order with 4 for 29 as Northants collapsed from their overnight score of 98 for 2 to 214 all out. Jonathon Lewis and Nathan Astle led the charge in reply, each striking half centuries to leave Durham with a good chance of success as they have a lead of 372 with six wickets remaining.Lancashire edged a one-wicket win against Derbyshire. The visitors had been in firm control, requiring just 136 for victory after Muttiah Muralitharan took six wickets to shoot Derbyshire out for 185. But they didn’t make it easy for themselves – and Derbyshire nearly snuck the win after Lancashire slumped from 57 for 1 to 131 for 9. Ian Sutcliffe, though, proved a hero with the bat, anchoring the innings with 62 not out as Muralitharan hit the winning runs in the third additional over.Worcestershire are scenting victory at Grace Road after advancing to 323, with Zander de Bruyn topscoring with 67. Daryl Mitchell ended unbeaten on 63 and James Pipe added 47 to give the visitors a first innings lead of 98. Leicestershire chipped away at the deficit, but lost four wickets for 28 runs, and HD Ackerman fell for 2 later to give them a slim lead of 34, with five wickets remaining. Worcestershire will press for early wickets tomorrow.

Jacob Oram, the New Zealand allrounder, doesn’t want to think about a worst-case scenario as he recovers from his latest back injury. Despite a sequence of bowling-related injuries, Oram maintained that he was far from becoming a specialist batsman as he concentrated on his rehabilitation ahead of the summer season.Oram’s latest injury is another stress reaction identical to the one he suffered 18 months ago. “It’s a good time to get injured right now,” Oram told the . “I’d rather have it now so I can hit the season 100% fit. Bowling doesn’t help; the stresses of bowling a cricket ball makes it worse.”The latest injury is a bruised bone, which can lead to a stress fracture including degenerative joint and disc problems. This time around the injury was less stressful because it was not in the middle of summer, as the heel injury was which put him out of action for two months.”You try and talk yourself out of it but you know deep down you are moving into pain,” Oram said. “I didn’t realise it would be such a major [problem]. But as soon as I went to bowl again, it was very evident. It happened on the last day of the tour [of South Africa] which really did disappoint me because it was my first Test series for a long time and personally I felt very good with bat and ball.”However, Oram felt that his inactivity at home gave his body a chance to recover. With competitive cricket set to begin only in October, he said he had time to mull over his future.”I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it,” he said. “I could give batting a really good shot and maybe there is a future there. Out of the three injuries, this one seems the most positive because I seem to have good direction and know about my rehabilitation.”

Bennett King, the West Indies coach, reposes more faith in his unproven bowling attack than in the team’s batting. King believes it will be the Australian bowlers who will turn on the pressure on the West Indies in the three-Test series that begins in Brisbane on November 3.”We have the bowling that can unsettle the Australian batsmen,” King was reported as saying in the . “History shows they have two of the best bowlers in the world, so batting is in for a tough time, I guess.”King regards Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne as the prime threats to a star-studded batting lineup that includes Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle, all of whom have played over 50 Tests. Lara averages 53.75 with the bat, Chanderpaul 47.41, Sarwan 40.87 and Gayle 39.38, but King feels that they have their task cut out for them.The West Indies squad to Australia includes six fast bowlers, none of whom has played more than 17 Tests. Jermaine Lawson, whose action has been scrutinised in the past, is the only fast bowler who averages less than 30 with the ball. King believes all six have the necesssary pace and fire to succeed, and cited their good showing in Sri Lanka in July. “We didn’t get enough runs in Sri Lanka on very good batting decks but we certainly got very good players out,” King said. “We know we can get good players out. We have to make sure we get runs as well.”King’s claims come a day after his bowlers, led by Daren Powell (4 for 58), bowled out Queensland for 323 in a warm-up game ahead of the Test series. Lawson, Fidel Edwards and Corey Collymore were all rested but are expected to come into contention for the first Test.

A good innings from skipper Ronnie Irani who made 95, helped Essex torecover from 13 for three to make 292 all out in 103.2 overs againstfellow Division Two County Championship promotion hopefuls Glamorganat Southend on the first day today.Irani (95) and Stuart Law (70) put together a partnership of 111 forthe fourth wicket before Law fell to Robert Croft. Irani was out toDean Cosker, the left arm spinner.The other impressive performer for Essex was the debutant James Foster(52) who fell to Steve Watkin. For Glamorgan, Watkin, Croft and DarrenThomas took three wickets each.In reply, Glamorgan were 40 for 1 with Steve James being the batsmandismissed for 30 by Ashley Cowan. In the process he crossed 1000 runsfor the season.

Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMAIt seems like yesterday – well, maybe last week! – that a 16-year-old kid was charging down the pitch and hitting Abdul Qadir into the crowd. Sachin Tendulkar is 33 now, and as his career enters his last phase, he struggles with injury and a desire to play that simply isn’t matched by his physical fitness. In this interview with Dileep Premachandran, which was conducted for the , he talks about his “desire to get back into action” and “the hunger to go out there and perform.”He tells us of “sleepless nights”, of “nights full of frustration” as he waits to get back into action. He also talks of the vagaries of time, and of how he ignores what the outside world says about him. “I don’t need a newspaper to make me believe that I’ve scored a double-hundred,” he says, remembering the time a journalist asked him during the Sydney Test against Australia in 2004 if he would read the papers the next day.It’s our greatest batsman at his most candid. Listen in!Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMA