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It was an agonising day for the bowlers, spin and pace alike, at theMA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Monday. While MRF toiled hard,after having lost the toss and being put out on the field, the NewZealand A batsmen took their time milking the bowling. At the end ofthe day, the visiting team’s skipper Matthew Bell could be nothing butpleased, both for his 111 and for the side’s 303/4 off 101 overs.Having won a close first round encounter against Mumbai CricketAssociation, New Zealand A took no chances. On a wicket that can bestbe described as a featherbed, the spinners toiled ceaselessly withlittle reward. A look at the bowling analysis tells the tale – leftarm spinner Babloo Kumar 0/65 from 22 overs, Ashish Kapoor 0/68 from27 overs, Tanseer Jabbar 0/43 from 22 overs.Having said all this, it would be unfair to the extreme to takeanything away from the Kiwi batsmen. Having played out the best partof the day with extreme care, pushing, nudging and stroking the ballinto the gaps for ones and twos, the New Zealand batsmen really cashedin, just after tea, when the wicket was at its best and the bowlingtired.Earlier in the day, Mark Richardson (0) and Mathew Horne (4) missedout on a good chance to get some good scores as New Zealand A slumpedto 20/2. From there on however, the pair of Bell and Lou Vincent shutthe door on the MRF bowlers. Adding 156 runs for the third wicket, thepair blunted the bowling. Playing the sweep with aplomb, both Bell andVincent were positive without being aggressive. Bell in particular waskeen to play a long innings and outlasted Vincent (85 runs, 165 balls,11 fours). The departure of Vincent saw young Hamish Marshall have ago at the batting. Easily the most comfortable batsman at the crease,Marshall took the attack to the spinners, striking 11 boundaries andtwo sixes, one that clattered into the sight screen, on the way tomaking an unbeaten 84 (123 balls).It took a long while, 377 minutes in all at the wicket, before Bellwas dismissed on 111. Coming off nearly 300 balls, Bell’s knockincluded 11 hits to the fence. At the end of the day, Marshall hadJacob Oram (1 not out) for company.* Railways have a jolly good dayRailways are on track for a huge first innings lead at the end of dayone of their three-day MRF Buchi Babu tournament quarter-final againstthe National Cricket Academy at the Southern Railway Grounds inChennai on Monday. At close of play, the Railway men had reached 116-2after dismissing the NCA for a paltry 158.It was the left-arm spin of India discard Murali Kartik that played abig part in destroying the NCA wards in just 47.5 overs. An unbeaten81-run partnership between Dheeraj Sharma and Railways captain YereGoud then placed the Railways in a comfortable position at close. Goudand his team will be seeking to build on the solid foundations thatthey have laid when play resumes on TuesdayNCA got off to a good start with openers Vinayak Mane and GautamGambhir (21) putting on 59 runs off 14.5 overs. Thereafter batsmanafter batsman succumbed to Kartik. And those who slipped from hishands promptly fell to the two off-spinners in the Railways squad -Sanjay Satpathy and Kulamani Parida. Mane, who plays in the RanjiTrophy for Mumbai, top scored with 52 off 92 balls with seven foursand one six. Raza Ali who made 34 off 46 was the only other batsman tomake a mark in an innings that lacked direction.The 25-year-old Kartik returned impressive figures of 14.5-2-45-6while Satpathy and Parida claimed two wickets each.The Railways reply did not get to the best off starts with opener AmitPagnis guiding a delivery from left-arm seamer Salabh Srivastav intowicket-keeper Deep Das Gupta’s hands with just three runs on theboard. But No. 3 Dheeraj Sharma, who made a patient unbeaten 55 off139 balls, added 42 runs in the company of the other opener VineetSaxena before the latter was out.The arrival of 29-year-old Goud, the bulwark of the Railways battingfor many years now, then ensured that his team smoothly chugged alongto 116-2. Goud was batting on 38 off 63 balls with four fours and asix.* Bharadwaj ton rescues KSCA XIVijay Bharadwaj stood tall amongst the ruins scoring a defiant hundredfor Karnataka State Cricket Association XI in their quarter-finalmatch against the Cricket Association of Bengal in the MRF Buchi Babutournament at the Guru Nanak College Grounds in Chennai on Monday.KSCA XI were bowled out for 232 in 93.2 overs. By close of play CABhad scored six runs and lost the wicket of opening batsman Subhnoy Dasfor a duck.KSCA XI skipper Anil Kumble won the toss and elected to bat on a pitchwith some moisture in it. The start of the play was delayed by 30minutes because the umpires were not happy with the condition of thepitch.The tall and well-built 20-year-old fast bowler, Shib Sankar Paulcreated a flutter in the KSCA XI camp by striking two early blows. Thepace and bounce was what did the opening batsmen Mithun Beerala (4)and Rowland Barrington (8) in.Meanwhile, Laxmi Ratan Shukla claimed the wicket of Shyam Ponnapa (7).The young Deepak Chougule made just 12 before he was bowled by Paul.KSCA were in deep trouble at 64/5 when they lost Sunil Joshi (12), whofell to veteran left arm spinner Utpal Chaterjee.Bharadwaj and wicket-keeper batsman Rajashekar Shanbal set out torepair the innings and went on to play sensibly. Bharadwaj who playedwell to get to his nineties, played a couple of cut shots in the airpast the ropes at third-man fence to get to his hundred.Bharadwaj’s vigil came to an end when he chanced his arm against theoff spinner Sourashish Lahiri, to sky a catch to Shukla at deep midon. He made 105 runs off 237 balls with the help of 16 boundaries.Bharadwaj and Shanbal added 159 runs off 61.1 overs for the sixthwicket. In the space of 51 balls KSCA lost their remaining wickets,scoring just eight more runs. Lahiri was the pick of the bowlerstaking 4/52.CAB had to bat for the remaining 20 minutes in fading light as DavidJohnson and NC Iyyappa went hunting for early breaks. Iyyappagenerated good pace and beat the bat a few times. He had a confidentshout for lbw against Das turned down and claimed the wicket with thefollowing ball, given out lbw.The pitch is a cause of concern as it has started breaking up at thegood length area. Skipper Anil Kumble could prove a handful on thisunder-prepared pitch for the CAB batsmen led by Rohan Gavaskar.* Banks have a job on handA good performance by Jolly Rovers’ bowlers meant that All IndiaAssociated Banks could only score 247 runs in their first innings inthe MRF Buchi Babu tournament quarter-final between the two sides atthe Chemplast grounds in Chennai on Monday. Jolly Rovers were eightfor no loss at close of play.In the morning, Banks captain B Akhil won the toss and decided that hewould back his strong batting line-up to put up a huge total onboard, But things din’t go quite according to plan as opener DanielManohar, who also plays for Hyderabad, got out without troubling thescorers.The other opener Jyoti Yadav was in good nick and gaining inconfidence. After the loss of No.3 M Srinivas for 12, Yadav, who made52 off 135 balls and Pankaj Dharmani (39) began rebuilding theinnings. Next man Thilak Naidu smashed a quickfire 39 off 42 balls asthe Railways innings enjoyed their best period of the match.The rest of the batsman though couldn’t make any significantcontribution as the bankmen lost their way. Akhil made 25 off 79balls.For Jolly Rovers, opening bowler Ramkumar and Ganesh Kumar claimedthree wickets each.

Suriname’s anticipated debut at the ICC Americas Under-19 Division One championship will have to wait at least another two years after the team was forced to withdraw from the event starting on Sunday in Bermuda. According to an ICC release, the U-19 Division Two champions had to pull out after failing to secure transit visas.A source told ESPNcricinfo that because there were no direct flights from Suriname to Bermuda, the squad needed to secure visas to transit through either the USA or Canada in order to get to Bermuda. However, the visa applications were not processed in time.The tournament’s format originally stipulated that the four competing teams – Bermuda, USA, Canada and Suriname – would play an initial round-robin stage after which the lowest-ranked team on the points table would be eliminated before commencing a second round-robin stage with the three remaining teams. Instead, USA, Bermuda and Canada will play a double round-robin amongst themselves, as was the format in 2013.The first-place team in Bermuda gains automatic entry into the 2016 ICC U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh. The runner-up will have a second chance at qualification in a global qualifier comprised of runner-up teams from other ICC Associate regions due to be held in Nepal later this year.In addition to the 10 Full Members who received automatic entry, other teams to have qualified for next year’s U-19 World Cup include Afghanistan, Namibia and Fiji while the runner-up teams who have gained a spot at the repechage qualifier are Nepal, Uganda and Papua New Guinea. The ICC Europe U-19 Qualifier begins on July 11 in Jersey.

Aiden Markram, the captain of South Africa’s Under-19 World Cup winning side in 2014, will lead a young Invitational XI against England in the opening match of their tour in Potchefstroom.The three-day match, starting on December 14, will not have first-class status so both sides will be permitted to use their full squads. For England it is one of two three-day games before the opening Test in Durban on Boxing Day. The second match, also against an Invitational XI, in Pietermaritzburg, coincides with the opening round of Sunfoil four-day matches so it remains to be seen what strength opposition England will face ahead of the first Test.Another eye-catching name in the Invitational squad side is paceman Junior Dala who has impressed since moving from Lions to Titans. He has taken 10 wickets in five one-day matches in the current South Africa domestic season and seven wickets in eight Ram Slam T20 outings. The 19-year-old fast bowler Andile Phehlukwayo, who has eight wickets in eight Ram Slam matches, is also included.”The squad consists mainly of SA Academy Players plus a few who have just started to make their mark at franchise level,” said CSA High Performance Manager, Vinnie Barnes. “It will be a wonderful opportunity for these players to show what they can do against world-class opposition.”SA Invitation XI Aiden Markram (capt), Gionne Koopman, Luthando Mnyanda, Zubayr Hamza, Somila Seyibokwe, Heinrich Klaasen, Simon Khomari , Andile Phehlukwayo, Johannes Diseko, Thandolwethu Mnyaka, Junior Dala, Ruben Claassen

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Aftab Ahmed warmed up for Bangladesh’s one-day series against Sri Lanka with a match-winning 92 in a three-wicket win against a Sri Lankan XI in Colombo. Ahmed led a recovery from 96 for 5 as the Bangladeshis chased down 242 with four balls remaining.After the Test series where the top order struggled a similar pattern was forming in coloured clothes. Shahriar Nafees, who was added to the one-day squad at the last minute, was caught behind first ball then Tushar Imran and captain Mohammad Ashraful failed to reach double figures.Tamim Iqbal held the early stages of the chase together with 45, but when he was stumped off Lasith Fernando the Bangladeshis were staring down the barrel. However, Ahmed began the fightback in a sixth-wicket stand of 81 with Mushfiqur Rahim (25) before adding 56 with Farhad Reza to bring the target within sight. Reza clubbed two sixes in a 25-ball 26 while Ahmed paced his innings perfectly as the winning runs came two balls into the final over.As usual it was the Bangladeshi spinners who played a key role with the ball in restricting the home side. Ian Daniel (57) laid a solid platform, but Shakib-al-Hasan and Abdur Razzaq kept the run-rate down with their left-arm spin. The middle order couldn’t accelerate, although Tharanga Paranavitana’s unbeaten 63 lifted the total towards something competitive.

Jacques Rudolph and Andrew Hall were both confident that South Africa would be able to save the first Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo. The pair gave their team the ideal start towards drawing the match with a record opening partnership of 165 in 206 minutes that saw South Africa end the fourth day on 311 for 4. They still require a further 276 runs to make Sri Lanka bat again with six wickets in hand going into the final day tomorrow.”We are playing well the way we expected. The guys are positive and the way we are playing suggests it can be done,” said Hall who scored 64. “It is still a very good pitch to bat. If you compare the first innings, we had many soft dismissals whilst in the second we’ve worked hard with determination. We had better shot selection.”Rudolph who missed out on a hundred by ten runs was of the opinion that the first hour of the final day was crucial. “It was a big day for us and I feel tomorrow is important”, he said. “If we can get there and survive the first hour we will have a good chance of saving the game.”If we are to save this test we need a big partnership. Hally [Hall] and I have given our team the platform. To get out in the 90s was disappointing. Dilhara [Fernando] was bowling a good spell at that stage. This is my fourth score of 90 in Test cricket. I don’t want to make it a habit. I must admit I enjoy Sri Lanka very much.”Tom Moody, the Sri Lanka coach, said that he was very confident of getting the remaining six South African wickets tomorrow.”We knew it was always going to be difficult”, he said. “It would have been nice to have snapped one more wicket at the end of the day. But four wickets we are reasonably happy with. We have our work cut out tomorrow. But you’ve got to give credit where it’s due. They dug in which we knew they were going to do and played well.”Hopefully the wicket will deteriorate a little bit more. It hasn’t certainly deteriorated as much as what we would have liked. If anything, it’s probably got a little bit more placid. It’s turning, but turning very slowly. It nullifies the greatest spinner [Muttiah Muralitharan] the game has seen”Moody said that given the conditions of the pitch, they had to try something new to take wickets and that is why Muralitharan was given the second new ball, with which he took AB de Villiers’s wicket. “We have to give him every advantage as possible when the wicket is not doing a hell of a lot,” said Moody. “I think you need a little bit of an imagination and experimentation when you get into situations like this. Try something out of the ordinary.”Moody added that Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, did the best he could in the field to apply the pressure. He was also confident that the players would be rejuvenated on the last day and take every chance that comes their way.”It makes all those wonderful achievements even sweeter when there is success. The boys know that. They’ll rest up well tonight and look forward to the challenge tomorrow. They will come out fighting for that victory.”

Sachin Tendulkar’s chances of playing in the third Test at Nagpur, starting on Tuesday, have skyrocketed after his first net session in nine weeks. Tendulkar is rated a better than 50-50 chance and one Indian team source said he would be “stunned” if he was ruled out again.Tendulkar was unable to drive, open doors, lift his children or even sign autographs with his left hand when his tennis elbow was at its most painful. But he seems certain to return for the final Test in Mumbai, when the Australian captain Ricky Ponting is expected to make his comeback from a broken thumb.”I have started using a lighter bat but it is too soon to say when I will be back,” Tendulkar said. “I am feeling much better but the doctor has said that this injury is such that it will take time to heal. I am keeping my fingers crossed.”Tendulkar has not played since the Asia Cup final against Sri Lanka on August 1.

West Indies take on New Zealand at Edgbaston tomorrow in what has effectively become the opening game of the NatWest Series after yesterday’s washout at Old Trafford. The two teams last met at Port Elizabeth in the 2003 World Cup where New Zealand won by 20 runs. While only just over half of the current West Indies squad played in that game, eight of the New Zealanders who won that day are likely to play tomorrow.While their recent one-day form means New Zealand are the better team on paper, their performances in the warm-up games have been far from convincing, and their confidence is low following their 3-0 defeat in the Test series against England. Though their batting has been impressive, with Stephen Fleming and Hamish Marshall both scoring hundreds, their much-touted one-day bowling strength has not yet been seen.The injury to Shane Bond, the fast bowler, has hit them hard, but Daniel Vettori, who tore his hamstring during the second Test, is on the verge of returning to action. In any case, much will rest on the broad shoulders of Chris Cairns if New Zealand are to get the series off to a good start. Their back-up bowlers took only three wickets between them in last week’s game against an under-strength Essex side, while Derbyshire had little trouble chasing a target of over 250.West Indies, on the other hand, come into this game after some promising performances against Sussex and Kent. The batting is in good shape after successfully chasing 181 in 23 overs in a rain-shortened game at Hove, and Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brian Lara are all in excellent form. Apart from a blip in the second match against Ireland, where Ravi Rampaul was carted for 74 from seven overs, the inexperienced bowling attack has performed well, though they will be weakened by the loss of Tino Best, who has picked up a niggling leg injury.Lara, the West Indies captain, was keen that his side made a positive start. “We need to start in front,” he said today. “We’ve been working on the mental side of the game to get the guys hyped up to win games. Our team is full of talent and we’ve got to make sure we harness that talent into something special.”Meanwhile, Sarwan told Sky Sports: “We have the Test series coming up and I think if we can do well in this tournament we can boost our confidence.” He continued, “We played pretty well in the Caribbean, especially in the one-day form recently but it is different conditions here. We will take time to get used to conditions, but we will try and enjoy ourselves as much as possible.”However, there is a chance that no-one will be enjoying tomorrow very much considering the weather forecast. After the sun came out today, the bad weather may again arrive to spoil the party, as it did for the opening match between England and New Zealand. The outlook is not promising, with plenty of rain predicted.New Zealand (possible) Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns, Brendon McCullum (wk), Chris Harris, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey, Ian Butler.
West Indies (possible) Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara (capt), Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo, Ricardo Powell, Ridley Jacobs (wk), Darren Sammy, Ravi Rampaul, Jermaine Lawson.

Australia inflicted a World Cup record lowest score of 112 on New Zealand when fast bowler Brett Lee ripped out five batsmen for three runs to give the defending world champions a 96-run win in their Super Six match at Port Elizabeth today.Lee was outstanding when feasting on New Zealand’s under-employed middle and lower-order at the tournament.He took five wickets for 42 in his 9.1 over spell which proved far more decisive than the New Zealand record-breaking effort of six for 23 by Shane Bond earlier in Australia’s innings of 208 for nine wickets.Brought back for a second spell, Lee achieved the desired goal in removing New Zealand’s best batsman at this World Cup Stephen Fleming when Fleming gloved a rising ball going down the leg side to wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist.Fleming scored 48, the only innings of substance in a disappointing effort that the New Zealanders will reflect on as a match they could have won.That might seem strange given the margin of victory.But at 84 for seven wickets, as Australia were when batting first, New Zealand looked to have given themselves a great chance.Fleming said the side was feeling pretty good at that stage but had been there before against Australia.”We just ran out of juice,” he said.”When we batted we knew we needed a partnership but it didn’t happen for us.”Lee, who hit two big sixes off the last two balls of the Australian innings earlier in the game, said that when they had been in so much trouble the plan had been to hang in for as long as they could and hopefully the runs would come.That demand suited Michael Bevan and Andy Bichel who played out a tradesman-like, and Australian record, eighth-wicket partnership against New Zealand worth 97-runs before Jacob Oram picked both of them up at the end of the innings.Bichel scored his maiden half century on the same ground as his previous highest score, 34 not out against England last week. He finished on 64 scored off 83 balls while Bevan scored his 41st One-Day International half-century with 56 off 94 balls.Australian captain Ricky Ponting said the side’s bowling had been outstanding, not only because of Lee’s great display of yorker bowling, but also due to Glenn McGrath who made the early breakthrough by picking up Daniel Vettori, who was used as an opener, Nathan Astle and Scott Styris.Ponting said on the slow Port Elizabeth wicket it was always going to be tough for any side trying to chase runs.In the meantime the Australians would need to identify the best way to play in the first 15 overs at the ground where they have twice been hard hit in the early overs in matches. They will now play their semi-final at Port Elizabeth next week.Asked what his instruction had been when Bichel went out to join Bevan he said it was: “Try and bat out the 50 overs to give ourselves a chance to stay in the game.”And so they did.Bond had been devastating while taking six of the first seven wickets to fall. He removed both openers early which was just what the side needed as he further revealed his appetite for Australian wickets.Of the 47 ODI wickets he has taken in his 25 matches, 22 have come against Australia at an average of 10.45 with an economy rate of 4.04 and a strike rate of 15.5. These are opposed to his career average of 19.97, economy of 4.36 and strike rate of 27.4.They represent an impressive ability to perform against quality players.Matthew Hayden’s wicket was the first, as he edged a ball behind to wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum, while Gilchrist was given out leg before wicket, to a ball which barely landed on leg stump, although it was full.With both back in the pavilion with 24 runs on the board, New Zealand had made significant inroads which went even deeper after Ponting joined them when trying to drive a rising ball which he edged to Fleming at first slip.Bond took a break after six overs and three wickets.But when Fleming brought him back for the 23rd over, not even the skipper could have expected the results that were achieved.In his last four overs, Bond took three more wickets for three runs, adding Damien Martyn, Brad Hogg and Ian Harvey to his list of victims.His haul surpassed the six for 25 Styris took against the West Indies at Port of Spain last year.However, his completion of his overs by the 29th over, meant the pressure went on the rest of the attack.Chris Harris bowled tightly again in conditions he has utilised so often in New Zealand and took none for 24 by the time he was finished in the 40th over while Vettori bowled out his 10, for 40 runs, by the 35th over.Oram took two for 48 from his seven overs, his figures suffering as a result of the successive sixes hit by Lee off the penultimate and last balls of the innings.While Lee enjoyed his hit out, McGrath had more satisfaction by scoring his first World Cup runs in his third tournament.But in 25 World Cup games he has only batted four times, testimony to the outstanding record the Australians have achieved in recent times.A record that was extended in outstanding fashion today.

John Crawley hit the fifth double century of his career as Lancashire made Northants suffer on the first day at Old Trafford.Crawley ended unbeaten on 208 from 326 balls with 32 boundaries out of a total of 444 for three after he had won the toss and chosen to bat.The Lancashire captain had only managed 19 runs from his last fourChampionship innings, but showed his class in a chanceless innings which exposed the innocuous Northants bowling attack.Crawley had played a supporting role in partnerships of 85 with MarkChilton, who made 46 before edging Tony Penberthy, and 76 with AndyFlintoff, whose 38 included a six over mid-wicket until Jason Brown bowled him through the gate in his first over after lunch.Neil Fairbrother then continued his consistent season with an 81-ball half-century, in the process going past 20,000 first-class runs in his career.He was trapped lbw by Graeme Swann but there was no end to the agony for Northants on a stifling day as Joe Scuderi came in to hit an unbeaten 89, his best score since joining Lancashire from South Australia last season.Scuderi, who does not count as an overseas player because he has an Italian passport, has faced 111 balls and hit 15 fours and a six off Swann.Northants captain David Ripley had turned to the occasional medium pace of Mike Hussey before lunch, and even gave Paul Taylor an over of left-arm spin – in which Crawley reached his 150 by clipping a full toss effortlessly for four.Lancashire have already made their highest total of the season and are well-placed to beat their record total against Northants of 528 for four at Old Trafford in 1928, with Crawley on course to beat Frank Watson’s individual record of 223 in the same game.But he and his team will be more concerned about ending a run of four defeats in five matches, and claiming a first win in seven which would ease Lancashire’s relegation fears.

Baroda were on the brink of a crushing innings victory over Saurashtrain a West Zone Ranji Trophy game at the Gujarat State FertilizerCorporation Ground in Baroda. After bowling out Saurashtra for 197 intheir first knock, Baroda had them struggling on 92/5, the second timeround.Carrying off at 64/3, Saurashtra’s overnight pair of Rakesh Dhruv andPrakash Bhatt were separated at 115 after a 79 run stand. Dhruv wasthe first to go and when Bhatt followed him back to the pavilion,after top scoring with 63 (130 balls, 9 fours), the innings fellapart. Saurashtra closed at 197, the last six wickets tumbling for 46.Sixteen year old left arm seamer, Irfan Pathan grabbed 5/55 while leftarm spinner Valmik Buch finished with a haul of 3/26.Following-on, 284 runs behind, Saurashtra lost both openers with justfour runs on the board. Skipper Sitanshu Kotak led a rally with a fine51 (72 balls, 7 fours) which ended when he was bowled by Buch. Thechief destroyer this time was medium pacer Rakesh Patel, a product ofthe National Cricket Academy, who finished with 3/22. When stumps weredrawn, Saurashtra needed a further 192 to make their opponents batagain.