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Scorecard
Worcestershire avoided further embarrassment by the Unicorns after a rousing effort by their former reserve wicketkeeper, Josh Knappett, in the Clydesdale Bank 40 clash at New Road.Knappett made defiant 91 from 100 balls – beating his previous best in the competition by a single run – but the Unicorns’ total of 181 for 9 was not quite enough for them to repeat their victory when the teams met at Kidderminster last month.After seven consecutive CB 40 defeats, Worcestershire made it two wins in a row when edging home by five wickets with 12 balls to spare in a match trimmed to 37 overs a side because of rain. For Knappett it was special day back in Worcester where he spent three seasonsbut never played in a competitive match for the first team at New Road.Now back playing for Finchley in the Middlesex Championship, he has made his appearances for the Unicorns a showcase for his ability with the bat. This was his third half-century while scoring exactly 300 runs in 10 innings. Given that he scored a first-class hundred for Oxford UCCE before joining Worcestershire, it was no surprise to see him playing with such authority after the county attack had dismissed the Unicorns openers in six overs.Jackson Thompson clumped Jack Shantry’s second ball to mid-on and Chris Mutagh gave Chris Russell a debut wicket in the competition when Vikram Solanki held a slip chance at the second attempt. The part-timers ran into more bother when skipper Keith Parsons was caughtbehind off his one-time Somerset team-mate, Gareth Andrew, but Knappett built a new platform in successive stands of 50 with Sean Park (21) and Neil Hancock, the Devon-based Australian who hit two sixes off Shakib Al Hasan in making 29.Knappett, having hit 10 of the 15 boundaries in the Unicorns’ innings, cruelly missed the century he deserved when he attempted to pull Andrew and dragged the ball down on to his stumps. Andrew and Shantry finished with three wickets each in keeping Worcestershire’s target below 200 and Moeen Ali launched their chase with 40 from 26 balls in an opening partnership of 55 with Solanki.When Moeen departed in the seventh over, driving ex-Surrey seamer Neil Saker to mid-off, the early momentum was lost as Hancock conceded only 17 runs in seven overs and took two wickets, including Solanki at deep midwicket for 39.Off spinner Chris Brown also kept things tight in an eight-over spell for 33 and Knappett held a chance to remove Daryl Mitchell for 23, but James Cameron (25 not out) and Shaaiq Choudhry (21 not out) kept their nerve in a match-winning stand of 44.

Ireland have made two changes to their squad for the two-match RSA series against Netherlands that begins on Monday after they comprehensively beat the same opposition in the Intercontinental Cup.Following Allan Eastwood’s successful debut in the win against Netherlands, where he took 4 for 62 in the second innings, he retained his place in the squad ahead of Craig Young who hasn’t recovered from a side strain. Elsewhere Andrew Poynter returns to the squad following the shoulder injury he picked up in the final of the World Cricket League last month in place of James Hall who will instead play for Ireland A in a three-day game against Hampshire which begins on Wednesday at the Rose Bowl.Ireland Squad: Trent Johnston (capt), Alex Cusack, George Dockrell, Andrew Poynter, John Mooney, Kevin O’Brien, Paul Stirling, Albert van der Merwe, Andrew White, Gary Wilson (wk), Allan Eastwood, Nigel Jones.

Muttiah Muralitharan has singled out Harbhajan Singh as the only bowler capable of emulating his record feat in Tests. Murali, the leading wicket-taker in Tests and ODIs, who will retire from the longest format later this month, also said the decline of Tests and 50-over cricket meant slow bowlers would struggle for survival.”I think only Harbhajan can do this,” Murali, who currently has 792 wickets, told . I don’t know how old is he and how long he will continue. But he is the only one who can achieve this feat in Test cricket.” Harbhajan, 30, has bagged 355 wickets in 83 Tests to date.Murali said it would get increasingly difficult for spinners to set the kind of records he has. “In the current scenario Test cricket is dying. One-day cricket does not have bright future. Only Twenty20 is going to survive. So it will be difficult for any slow bowler to survive so long,” he said.Murali’s success was a significant factor in the turn in Sri Lanka’s fortunes as a Test-playing nation, but they were unable to win a Test in India, South Africa or Australia during his 18-year career. The absence of a win in either of these countries during his career, Murali said, remained his biggest regret. “I have achieved everything that an international cricketer can dream about. I have only one regret that I could not win in India, South Africa and Australia. But one cannot get everything in life.”Murali is just eight wickets away from reaching 800 wickets, and said reaching that landmark would mark a satisfactory end to his Test career. “I don’t run after records. I have the world record in my name. Although if I could get eight more wickets, it will be a good way to end. I am sure I will be able to do that in one match. If not, no worries,” he said.When asked who was the toughest batsman he bowled to, Murali said: “If we talk about the consistency, then no other batsman can match Sachin [Tendulkar] and [Brian] Lara. They are the best against whom I have bowled. I had to put in extra effort against them. I am happy that I will be able to bowl Sachin in my last Test.”Murali said he is yet to decide whether to participate in the 2011 World Cup, but was available for the IPL. “I have not given it a thought yet [about the 2011 World Cup]. I cannot say that it is off my radar but I will think about this. After that I will be able to say something about participating in the tournament,” he said. “I want to continue playing in the IPL till the franchise (Chennai Super Kings) needs me.”

ScorecardThere was a time, not so long ago, when batsmen visiting Edgbaston would drool in anticipation. The slow, flat pitches promised a chance to fill their boots and, between the start of 2007 and the end of 2009, only five championship matches here ended in an outright result as sides found it well nigh impossible to claim 20 wickets.Not any more. Edgbaston is a ground transformed. No side has taken maximum bonus batting bonus points here this season and, judging by the evidence of the first day of this match, they’re not about to start.While Somerset’s first innings total of 268 might appear, from a glance at the scorecard, a modest total, it is likely to prove highly competitive. The pitch is offering assistance to bowlers of all types, with Warwickshire’s seamers achieving steepling bounce and their spinners gaining sharp turn and bounce. Batting, at times, was very difficult indeed.Some made it appear more difficult than others, however. Arul Suppiah laboured for 96 minutes and 56 deliveries over his two runs – his dismissal in the 24th over was cricket’s version of a mercy killing – while Jos Buttler (17 balls) was little more fluent.Others, however, coped more easily. Marcus Trescothcik, after a sticky start, produced some characteristically thumping drives, while James Hildreth underlined the impression that he has taken a step forward this season. Looking compact and solid, yet unleashing some rasping square cuts, Hildreth passed 50 for the sixth time in his last seven championship innings. Craig Kisewetter, Peter Trego and Alfonso Thomas also weighed in with useful contributions.Somerset also benefited from Warwickshire’s profligacy in the field. Depending on your level of generosity, the hosts spurned at least half-a-dozen chances, with young keeper Richard Johnson responsible for half of them.Johnson, only 21 and playing just his second championship match, understandably struggled. He can rarely, if ever, have kept to a legspinner of Imran Tahir’s class and this dry pitch was hardly the easiest training ground. No doubt he will improve for the experience. It was a reminder, however, of how much Warwickshire miss Tim Ambrose. Or an in-from Tim Ambrose, anyway.As things stand, it appears that Ambrose is on his way out of Edgbaston. Out of contract at the end of the season, he is currently unable to maintain a place in the team after averaging just 11.63 with the bat in championship cricket.Rather than playing for the seconds, he has been given time off to clear his head and take stock. Already Hampshire have issued an official 28-day notice of approach and it is likely that other counties will follow. It seems hard to believe that it was just 15 months ago that he was playing, with some success, for the Test team in the Caribbean.None of Johnson’s reprieves were hugely costly. But, on a pitch where Trescothick reasoned that 250 was a good score and on which batting will only grow more difficult, they could prove crucial. Zander de Bruyn, on 12, was missed off an outside edge off the bowling of Woakes, before Kieswetter should have been stumped off Tahir when he had just seven. Trego, on 14, was also missed off the impressive Ant Botha.Johnson was not the only culprit. Varun Chopra, at midwicket, put down Trescothick on 32, off Maddy’s first ball, while Tahir missed a hard caught-and-bowled opportunity offered by Kartik and Rikki Clarke, at slip, put down a fiendishly tricky chance offered by Thomas off Botha.Clarke more than made amends with the ball, however. Bowling admirably straight and with some venom, he was easily the pick of the Warwickshire seamers and fully deserved to be handed the second new ball. After promising much but delivering little as a bowler for some years, there are now signs that Clarke – in tandem with Warwickshire’s new bowling coach, Graeme Welch – is beginning to harness his undoubted ability.Here he dislodged Suppiah, who had taken a stinging blow to the helmet from a Boyd Rankin bouncer, with a short ball that reared on the batsmen, before Buttler edged a similar delivery to slip and Trescothick was drawn into feeling for one angled across him. At the time Clarke had figures of 3 for 3.Botha was, perhaps surprisingly, the more potent of Warwickshire’s spinners. He dismissed Hildreth, trying to withdraw his bat, with an unplayable delivery that bounced and turned sharply, before Kieswetter and Phillips were caught at short leg as they struggled to nullify the spin. The wicket of Hildreth was his 300th in the first-class game.Botha also took a fine catch at deep mid-wicket to dismiss Trego, who was slog-sweeping, before Woakes returned to wrap-up the tail. Given the spinners’ success, however, it was something of a surprise that Westwood did not call them into the attack until the 50th (Imran) and 63rd (Botha) overs.Warwickshire faced only 16 deliveries before stumps, but it was enough to suggest they face a torrid examination on day two. Their first innings scores in their last three games (113 against Lancashire, 127 against Somerset and 100 against Durham) don’t exactly inspire confidence, so when Ian Westwood was caught at gully, trying to avoid a short ball that climbed on him from Charl Willoughby, it brought a familiar groan from the Edgbaston faithful. It will be a surprise if this match reaches a fourth day.

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Mark Ramprakash was the mainstay of Surrey’s first innings with his 110th first-class hundred•PA Photos

Mark Ramprakash scored the 110th first-class hundred of his prolific career to give Surrey the upper hand as they finished on 286 for 4 after a hard-fought first day of their County Championship game against Middlesex at The Oval.Ramprakash, who finished the day on a chanceless 125 not out, has an impressive record against Middlesex, the county he left following the 2000 summer after 14 seasons. This was his 14th first-class innings against them for Surrey – he now totals 1,183 runs against them at an average of 118.30, with five centuries.At The Oval, too, his run-scoring has been the stuff of legend throughout his career for Middlesex, Surrey and England. He now has 31 first-class tons on the ground, and he averages well over 70 here across his 24-year senior career.Surrey really needed this latest Ramprakash effort, too, as they began thismatch stuck at rock bottom of the table. Middlesex, who began the season with four successive defeats but are now in mid-table after successive wins, will have come to The Oval with a real desire to add the scalp of their suffering local rivals.A flat pitch greeted them, though, and Surrey captain Rory Hamilton-Brown had no hesitation in opting to bat first when he won the toss. But the early wicket of Laurie Evans, bowled through the gate by a Tim Murtaghbreak-back, gave Middlesex hope of embarrassing the home side with the newball.A mid-morning shower and a half-hour break for rain also enabled Murtagh and the dangerous Steven Finn to bowl, in effect, two separate opening spells and before lunch it was simply a case of Ramprakash and Arun Harinath making sure they occupied the crease and blunted the impressive Middlesex pace attack.At the lunch interval Surrey had scored only 46 for 1 from 24 overs, butRamprakash began to play some strokes in the afternoon and even the defensive Harinath opened up with two superb offside fours against Shaun Udal’s offspin.On 39, however, Harinath edged behind attempting to force Udal square andHamilton-Brown came in at number four to help Ramprakash take the game to the Middlesex bowlers.Hamilton-Brown completed a feisty 55 from 60 balls, with nine fours, beforeskying an attempted big hit at Udal to deep mid-on but Ramprakash remained and was joined in a further sizeable partnership by Usman Afzaal.Ramprakash and Hamilton-Brown had added 86 in 22 overs for the third wicket, but he and Afzaal put on another 99 in 32 overs before Afzaal, on 42, drove the last ball of the day – from Udal – into mid-off’s hands. It was a foolish shot, especially as the pair had just seen off eight overs of the second new ball.By the close Ramprakash, who had completed his hundred from 222 balls with 13 fours, had batted for 344 minutes. After reaching three figures after a 20-minute wait on 99, he hit Udal high over long-on for six and had also hit 15 fours in total.

ScorecardIndia’s women booked their place in the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 by surging past Sri Lanka in their winner-takes-all Group B encounter in Basseterre. Chasing 145 for victory after fifties from Sulakshana Naik and Mithali Raj, Sri Lanka stumbled to 73 for 9 in their 20 overs, with Diana David claiming 4 for 12 with her offspin.With a victory apiece against Pakistan and a defeat to the in-form New Zealand, both sides entered this contest with everything at stake, but the powerful Indian line-up scarcely took a backwards step. After winning the toss, they were given a solid base by Naik and Poonam Raut, who added 34 for the first wicket before Raut was bowled for 12 by in the seventh over by Udeshika Prabhodhani.That brought Naik and Raj together, and they quickly put India in the ascendancy by adding 86 in 10.3 overs for the second wicket. Naik eventually fell for 59 from 54 balls with three overs remaining, and though Jhulan Goswami was run out for 10 in the final over, Raj kept up the impetus to finish unbeaten on 52 from 39 balls, with five fours.Sri Lanka endured a calamitous start when Chamari Atapattu was run out without facing in the first over, and their situation scarcely improved. David’s early introduction was devastating, as she struck with her first ball to bowl Suwini de Alwis for 4, before picking up a second in the same over as Dedunu Silva was caught by Goswami.David made it four in 12 balls when Chamari Polgampola and Sripali Weerakkodi fell to consecutive deliveries, and when Dilani Manodara ran herself out to make it 19 for 6, the contest was over. Deepika Rasangika batted through the remainder of the innings to save some face with an unbeaten 31.

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Injury-hit Durham claimed top spot in Group C with a convincing win over Leicestershire Foxes in their Clydesdale Bank 40 clash at Grace Road. Chasing a revised target of 176 in 26 overs, the Foxes could only manage 154 for 8 as they lost by 26 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis system.But Durham suffered further injury woe when seamer Will Gidman hobbled off after twisting his right ankle during his fourth over, becoming the seventh bowler on the Dynamos’ injured list. To add to the drama, there was also confusion soon after the start of the Foxes’ innings when it was discovered the victory target should have been set at 181 under an updated version of the Duckworth-Lewis method software.But, with the innings already under way, the umpires ruled that the target of 176 would have to stand. In the end, the mistake had little bearing on the outcome of the game with the home side never scoring quickly enough to stay in the hunt. After winning the toss and batting, Durham had their innings interrupted by rain having reached 91-2 off 19 overs.Despite the loss of Phil Mustard for a duck in the first over, Ian Blackwell and Ben Harmison took the fight to the home side, sharing a bright stand of 77 before Blackwell edged behind off Wayne White. Harmison went on to make 45, but it was Durham’s captain, Will Smith, who tilted the game in his side’s favour after the rain break with a fine, unbeaten half-century off just 33 balls, with the innings containing four boundaries.That took Durham to a total of 156 for 4 off 26 overs and Leicestershire looked favourites to secure victory with their revised target. But they never maintained the necessary run rate despite 45 off 41 balls from Will Jefferson and useful knocks of 22 by Paul Nixon and 36 by White.In the end, they left themselves with too much to do and, with 31 runs needed off the last two overs, fell well short of the target. Seamer, Chris Rushworth, claimed three for 29 and Harmison two for 25 for the visitors, while there were also two wickets for Gidman before he limped off as Durham continued their unbeaten start to the season in all competitions.

Stuart Broad has followed the example of his England team-mate, Graeme Swann, in apologising for his on-field behaviour in the closing stages of the 181-run victory over Bangladesh in Chittagong.Swann’s ascent to No. 2 in the world – which he completed with a matchwinning ten-wicket haul in the first Test – was marred by the loud curse he emitted upon dismissing Bangladesh’s star batsman in their second innings, the centurion Junaid Siddique. Now Broad has taken a similar course of action after failing to look at the umpire while appealing for lbw against Abdur Razzak.Although there was little doubt about the full and straight delivery with which Broad dismissed Razzak, his failure to involve umpire Rod Tucker before heading off to celebrate with his team-mates grated with onlookers who feel that this is becoming an all-too-frequent trait.”It had been a frustrating morning for us, I rapped the fella on the pad and I knew it was out straight away,” said Broad. “But I get on really well with the umpire and I just said ‘Rod, sorry about my mishap’. He just laughed it off. I made a mistake and I apologised to him, but he was very light-hearted about it. It had been a tough day and he used his common sense.””It’s a communication thing,” he added. “You’re always talking to the umpire and if you are getting frustrated and or crossing the line, they can have a word with you and calm it down a little bit. But it’s still important to show a presence on the field, as the whole England team does. At the end of the day you are playing for your country, so you are going to have passion and pride out there.”All of England’s bowlers needed some fire in their bellies to overcome a moribund surface that, for Broad, brought to mind his Test debut against Sri Lanka in Colombo in December 2007, when Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara had kept England in the field for 190 overs in 40 degree heat and 90% humidity.”Chittagong was a really flat wicket, the batsmen were saying it was in their top five flattest wickets in the world, so it was really tough to get wickets with not a huge amount happening off a good length to get edges and lbws. But it was pleasing in the end that we managed to do it.”It was tough, but we come across them a lot and it is what you come to expect,” said Broad. “It’s a patience game as a seamer on the subcontinent. You have to keep it straight and look for bowleds and lbws. Sometimes you have to accept that your job is just to hang in there.”

The all-India senior selection committee has named the squad for India Women’s Twenty20 series against England, as well as the 30 probables for the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 in the West Indies in April and May.The three Twenty20 internationals against England will be played at the MCA recreation centre in Mumbai on March 4, 6 and 8.Squad for Twenty20s against England: Jhulan Goswami (capt), Mithali Raj, Amita Sharma, Rumeli Dhar, Sulakshana Naik, Anjum Chopra, Reema Malhotra, Poonam Raut, Priyanka Roy, Gouhar Sultana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Babita Mandlik, Latika Kumari, Diana David, Sonia Dabir.Probables for World Twenty20: Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj, Amita Sharma, Rumeli Dhar, Sulakshana Naik, Anjum Chopra, Reema Malhotra, Poonam Raut, Priyanka Roy, Gouhar Sultana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Babita Mandlik, Latika Kumari, Diana David, Sonia Dabir, Neha Tanwar, MD Thirushkamini, Mamta Kanojia, Shweta Jadhav, Priti Dimri, Ekta Bist, Neha Maji, Archana Das, Snehal Pradhan, Harpreet Dhillon, Shika Pande, Anagha Deshpande, Kadambini Mohakhud, Samatha Labatto, Vasha Chaudhury.

Steve Smith and Travis Birt could make their international debuts on Friday night after being named in Australia’s 13-man squad for the Twenty20 match against Pakistan at the MCG. The selectors have picked a radically different outfit from the one-day squad in what is the strongest indication yet that they have learnt their lessons from past World Twenty20 failures.Michael Clarke will captain the team with Cameron White as vice-captain in a group that does not feature Michael Hussey, Peter Siddle, Nathan Hauritz, James Hopes, Clint McKay or Adam Voges. After Australia crashed out in the first round of the World Twenty20 last year, the selectors were criticised for choosing a squad not suited to the format.The next World Twenty20 is in the West Indies in May and Australia have five Twenty20 internationals before then to fine-tune their side. For Friday’s game, they have chosen several men who have shone in the shortest format at domestic level, including the clean-striking Tasmania batsman Birt and the New South Wales allrounder Smith.The fast bowler Dirk Nannes, who has been a Twenty20 star for Victoria, was chosen after making his Australia debut last year, while Shaun Tait was also named along with Ryan Harris. David Warner and David Hussey were the other Twenty20 specialists chosen.”On this occasion there are significant changes between the one-day and Twenty20 side as we look at several players who could play a key role in our World Twenty20 campaign,” the chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said. “The national selection panel has always regarded Twenty20 cricket as a separate form of the game and this selection has highlighted some players who we think can have an impact in Twenty20 cricket such as Dirk Nannes, Shaun Tait, David Warner, Travis Birt and Steve Smith.”Travis Birt has shown really good white ball form for several seasons now and we have picked him with a view to him playing a specific role in the middle order in the Twenty20 side. Steve Smith is obviously an extremely exciting prospect and performed well for NSW in the Champions League Twenty20 and KFC Twenty20 Big Bash and gives us great flexibility with his ability to bowl leg spin, bat and field.”Ryan Harris also is someone who has been in the plans of the NSP for the World Twenty20. Ryan’s chances have been limited by injury but he’s now back to full fitness and playing very well.”Australia squad Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh, David Warner, Michael Clarke (capt), Cameron White, Travis Birt, David Hussey, Steven Smith, Brad Haddin (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Dirk Nannes, Shaun Tait.