Report
Scotland stun Lancashire
A round-up from the latest Friends Provident Trophy matches
Cricinfo staff
05-May-2008
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North Division
Scotland pulled off a sensational two-run win over Lancashire at Old Trafford despite only scoring 155 for 9. The shock came a week after they had been skittled for 74 in the reverse fixture. Steven Croft took 4 for 24 as Scotland struggled for runs, and Andrew Flintoff chipped in with 2 for 13. Lancashire's innings fell apart as they crumpled to 44 for 7 before Luke Sutton and Kyle Hogg put on 71 for the eighth wicket. Eight were needed from the last over, and James Anderson needed to hit a boundary off the last ball but Gordon Drummond restricted him to a single.
Click here for John Ward's report of Yorkshire's match against Durham at Headingley.
Full postWest Indies storm to Under-15 title
West Indies proved that they have what it takes as they defeated Pakistan by 89 runs in the 2008 CLICO International Under-15 League Championship final
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05-May-2008
West Indies 228 for 9 (Brathwaite 82, Senior 50) beat Pakistan 139 (Azam 51, Senior 4-24) by 89 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
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Pakistan, who defeated the West Indies by two runs in the Knockout final of the competition in St Kitts last month, were dismissed for 139 after the home team, led by a patient 82 from prolific Kraigg Brathwaite and a dominating 50 from Man of the Match Raman Senior, reached 228 for 9 after winning the toss and electing to take first strike.
Openers Brathwaite and John Campbell again laid a solid foundation for the Windies, posting a stroke filled 61-run partnership at more than a run-a-ball for the first wicket. Campbell was the aggressor in the stand which at times was frustrated by spinners Hafiz Usman Qadir and Mirza Ahsan Jamil when they were introduced from the 11th over.
Full postKent's late flurry buries Surrey
Kent's middle-order went from mild-mannered to supermen at The Oval, where a late assault from Geraint Jones and Azhar Mahmood turned a shaky start into a match-winning 282 against Surrey
Brydon Coverdale at The Oval
05-May-2008
Kent 282 for 7 (Jones 86, Kemp 63, Mahmood 62, Collins 4-46) beat Surrey 192 (Batty 63, McLaren 5-46, Arafat 4 for 35) by 90 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
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Surrey made a similarly wobbly opening as Yasir Arafat picked up early wickets but there was no recovery from their 43 for 4, as the visiting attack maintained their pressure where the hosts had eased back earlier in the day. Ryan McLaren was largely responsible for keeping a tight rein on Surrey and he finished with a career-best 5 for 46, picking up several lower-order wickets as Kent secured a 90-run victory.
Fittingly, Jones and Mahmood both contributed to the success in the field after their batting rescue, removing two of Surrey's most dangerous players cheaply. Mahmood jagged one back to bowl Mark Ramprakash for 5 and Jones, sometimes maligned for his glovework, snared a terrific one-handed catch in front of first slip to send Ali Brown back for 14.
Full postGough inspires Yorkshire to easy win
A good all-round bowling performance, spearheaded by a vintage spell from Darren Gough, and a dashing innings by Andrew Gale were the main features of Yorkshire's comfortable win over Durham at Headingley
John Ward at Headingley
05-May-2008
Yorkshire 186 for 5 (Gale 68, McGrath 45*) beat Durham 185 (Gough 3-31) by 5 wickets
Scorecard
Scorecard
A good all-round bowling performance, spearheaded by a vintage spell from Darren Gough, and a dashing innings by Andrew Gale were the main features of Yorkshire's comfortable win over Durham at Headingley.
The rain forecast did not arrive but Yorkshire nevertheless put Durham in to bat on winning the toss in hazy sunshine. Gough was quickly proved correct, as his bowlers moved the ball about and for a while the Durham openers found it very difficult to get bat on ball, especially the normally dynamic Phil Mustard. Dion Kruis was particularly hard to play, yet he conceded 47 overs and failed to pick up a wicket.
Only 20 runs came in the first seven overs for the wicket of Michael Di Venuto.
Mustard, with 26 out of 69, played a most uncharacteristic innings and hit his
first boundary in the 13th over, but was distinctly miffed to be given out
caught at the wicket slashing at a very wide ball from Gough. Gough dismissed Paul Collingwood (2) and Neil McKenzie (1), caught at the wicket and at slip respectively, soon afterwards.
Full postNew Zealand seamers clinch warm-up win
New Zealand were given a boost ahead of their match against England Lions this Thursday with a 92-run win over Essex at Chelmsford. Set 293 to win, Essex faltered to 200 all out, with Alastair Cook top-scoring with 57, while Iain O'Brien and Michael Mason
Cricinfo staff
05-May-2008
New Zealanders 355 and 195 (Mills 53*, Chambers 3-37) beat Essex 258 and 200 (Cook 57, O'Brien 3-54, Mason 3-36) by 92 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
New Zealand were given a boost ahead of their match against England Lions this Thursday with a 92-run win over Essex at Chelmsford. Set 293 to win, Essex faltered to 200 all out, with Alastair Cook top-scoring with 57, while Iain O'Brien and Michael Mason shared six wickets.
It was a tall ask for Essex, and much rested on Cook's shoulders at the top of the order. After Ross Taylor dropped him on nought yesterday, Cook was threatening to make New Zealand pay with a solid 57 from 126 balls. He and Tom Westley pottered along without great intent, though they weren't helped by the often wide bowling from New Zealand's opening attack. But their patience paid off; Westley was caught at cover, and Ravi Bopara and Mark Pettini fell within an over of eachother to leave Essex struggling on 87 for 4.
Once Cook fell - followed two balls later by James Foster for a duck - Essex still required a further 193 to win. And though Ryan ten Doeschate spent nearly two hours compiling 38, wickets continued to fall at the other end and O'Brien wrapped up a convincing win by bowling Alex Tudor in the 71st over.
Full postIndia and Sri Lanka post crushing wins
Round-up of the third day of matches at the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka
Cricinfo staff
05-May-2008
India 275 for 7 (Dhar 92*, Rawat 69) beat Pakistan 93 for 9 (Extras 33, Sultana 3-9) by 182 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
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Rumeli Dhar slammed a career-best 92 and the bowlers backed her up with a superb performance as India crushed Pakistan by 182 runs. This was India's third successive win in the tournament while Pakistan have lost all three of their games.
After choosing to bat, India lost two early wickets but recovered through a 50-run stand between Asha Rawat (69) and Priyanka Roy and then moved into a position of strength as Dhar and Rawat put on 89 runs. Rawat remained unbeaten scoring at nearly a run a ball and with the help of some lower-order hitting from Amita Sharma and Jhulan Goswami took India to 275 - the highest total of the tournament.
Full postPunjab make it five wins in a row
A seaming pitch at the Chinnaswamy Stadium sent Bangalore crashing to a paltry 126 which Punjab managed to chase down easily to move into second place
The Bulletin by Kanishkaa Balachandran
05-May-2008
Kings XI Punjab 127 for 4 (Marsh 39, Sarwan 31) beat Bangalore Royal Challengers 126 (Dravid 66, Kohli 34, Chawla 3-25) by six wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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The Kings XI Punjab proved why they are one of the tournament's best all-round sides by extending their winning spree to five, beating the Bangalore Royal Challengers comfortably by six wickets in a low-scoring encounter. After their bowlers used a seaming pitch to send Bangalore crashing to 126, their batsmen chased it down easily to push Punjab up into second place, behind the Rajasthan Royals on net run-rate.
One of the reasons for Bangalore's woeful struggle in the tournament has been the batting, and today was no exception. Rahul Dravid, with a battling 66, stood out in a sorry scorecard that had five ducks, three run-outs and just two batsmen crossing double figures. The constant reshuffling of the batting order reflected their weakness, none more so than at the top of the order today as their fifth opening combination in seven matches walked out to bat.
Full postBenham fires Hampshire to first win
A round-up from the latest Friends Provident Trophy matches
Cricinfo staff
04-May-2008
South/West Division
Chris Benham blasted Hampshire to their first win of the season as they chased down a mammoth total with three balls to spare against Gloucestershire at the Rose Bowl. Alex Gidman's career-best 105 helped guide the visitors to a towering 350 for 5 and Hampshire's hopes of opening their account were looking slim. Marcus North belted 85 from 73 balls, while Hamish Marshall (64) and Christopher Taylor (53 off 23) contributed to the carnage. The tall target was reduced to 240 from 30 overs after rain affected Hampshire's innings, and Michael Carberry got them away to a strong start with 60. A 98-run stand between Benham and Nic Pothas pushed them closer but when Pothas fell for 43 from 32 balls the victory was far from secured. Jon Lewis chose to bowl the final over himself, a decision he might regret as he finished with an unflattering 0 for 49 from 4.3 overs as Benham ended up unbeaten on 54 from 27 balls and Greg Lamb clubbed 8 from three deliveries.
Glamorgan survived a late scare from Steffan Jones, who clattered 42 from 36 to nearly take Somerset to an unlikely win at Taunton, but the visitors crept home by 19 runs with more than three overs to spare. Glamorgan's 221 was set up by a fine 95 from David Hemp, including 11 fours, but there was little else from his team-mates apart from Mike Powell's 32. Somerset struggled in reply, with Marcus Trescothick (15), Craig Kieswetter (18) and, crucially, Justin Langer (7) all falling cheaply. Ian Blackwell muscled 42 from 36, but when Somerset slipped to 163 for 9, there appeared little hope for the home side. Jones, though, gave them genuine belief with a blistering 42 - lifting three sixes - before he was last man out to David Harrison.
North Division
Croft seals remarkable Lancashire win
Even in one-day cricket, a six off the final delivery to win the match is not a common occurrence. Steven Croft of Lancashire, and the Lancashire supporters, will long remember his superb stroke that did just that for his team against Durham
John Ward at Old Trafford
04-May-2008
Lancashire 152 for 5 (Loye 58, Croft 10*) beat Durham 151 (Di Venuto 66) by 5 wickets
Scorecard
Scorecard
Even in one-day cricket, a six off the final delivery to win the match is not a
common occurrence. Steven Croft of Lancashire, and the Lancashire supporters, will
long remember his superb stroke that did just that for his team against Durham
at Old Trafford in a thrilling rain-reduced match.
Infuriating drizzle delayed the start, but play was finally possible at
4.30pm, with the match reduced to 23 overs per side - almost a Twenty20 contest.
Lancashire won the toss and put Durham in to bat, although by doing so they
condemned themselves to bat in very poor light.
Durham began with nine off the first over, only to have Phil Mustard caught at third man for six in the next. His partner Michael Di Venuto proved to be the key man for the team, almost batting through the innings as he held it together. His problem was in finding reliable partners; the best was Dale Benkenstein who came in at 60 for 4 and hammered 40 from 31 out of a partnership of 61.
Full postBenning blasts Surrey to victory
On the day when James Benning turned 25 years old he gave himself the ultimate birthday present for a cricketer - a century at Lord's that set up an easy win for his side
Brydon Coverdale at Lord's
04-May-2008
Surrey 236 for 5 (Benning 106) beat Middlesex 233 for 8 (Berg 65, Scott 52, Nicholson 3-37, Dernbach 3-44) by 5 wickets
Scorecard
Scorecard
On the day when James Benning turned 25 years old he gave himself the ultimate birthday present for a cricketer - a century at Lord's that set up an easy win for his side. Benning blasted 106 from 84 balls to propel Surrey to a five-wicket victory over a listless Middlesex, who relied on their least experienced player, Gareth Berg, to make a game of it.
Berg's 65 lifted Middlesex to 233 after they stumbled to 55 for 5 but they were still short of a truly competitive total and Benning's blitz easily gave Surrey their first win of the tournament. He also wrote his name in the history books as only the second Surrey player to score a century in a 50-over match against their cross-town rivals Middlesex, 20 years after Alec Stewart became the first.
Whereas Surrey's fast men swung the ball prodigiously early in the day, the Middlesex attack too often dropped short and Benning pounced, blasting 19 off one Tim Murtagh over, including a vicious, flat six pulled over midwicket. He peppered the short, square boundaries with back-foot drives and pulls, and raced to his half-century from 32 balls.
Full post