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Watson and Haddin put Australia back on track
Australia A began well, slipped up for a brief period, and came back strongly to take the first day's honours against Pakistan A at Darwin
Cricinfo staff
11-Jul-2006
Australia A 5 for 307 (Watson 72*, Haddin 68*, Cosgrove 61, Jaques 60) v Pakistan A
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Australia A began well, slipped up for a brief period, and came back strongly to take the first day's honours against Pakistan A at Darwin. Thanks to fifties from Phil Jaques, Mark Cosgrove, Brad Haddin and Shane Watson, the hosts finished the day on 5 for 307.
Despite the loss of Chris Rogers for 9, Jaques and Cosgrove put on a fine 117-run stand on a seaming pitch. Though the ball moved around, Jaques and Cosgrove were in fine form and their association promised much more before Cosgrove held out to Mohammad Khalil in the deep off Mohammad Hafeez for 61 shortly after lunch. Jaques departed soon after, bowled by Hafeez's part-time offspin for 60. The slide ensued, with Pakistan hitting back with the wickets of Brad Hodge, the Test discard, and Travis Birt, caught at bat-pad for 0 off Adbur Rehman, the slow left-arm spinner.
Full postPakistan win despite Tendulkar fifty
Inzamam-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi both struck powerful cameos as Pakistan beat an International XI side in a charity match at The Oval, despite 50 from Sachin Tendulkar
Cricinfo staff
10-Jul-2006
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Inzamam-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi both struck powerful cameos as Pakistan beat an International XI side in a charity match at The Oval, despite 50 from Sachin Tendulkar. Rain and gloom reduced the Twenty20 clash to a ten-over-a-side encounter but a 20,000-plus crowd were entertained by the glittering array of stars on show and raised £250,000 for survivors of last October's earthquake in Pakistan.
On a wet and gloomy evening in south London, chasing 124, Afridi did what he does best and clobbered the bowling around the park. In the space of just 12 balls, he smashed 41 runs - 22 of which came from his first four balls. The unlucky victim was Zaheer Khan who, bowling in near darkness, was hit for three sixes and a four in typically violent manner.
Inzamam then finished off Afridi's work with a pugnacious 36 as Pakistan, needing 18 off the last over, sneaked home off the penultimate ball.
Full postSadat steers Bangladesh to series
Opener Nazmus Sadat was the hero again after his half-century inspired Bangladesh to a six wicket victory in the third one-day match against Zimbabwe played at Queens Sports Cub. The result means that Bangladesh have secured the five-match series 3-0
Cricinfo staff
09-Jul-2006
Bangladesh A 214 for 4(Nazmus Sadat 90, Mehrab Hossain*) beat Zimbabwe A 211(Masakadza 45, Farhad Reza 3-29) by six wickets
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Opener Nazmus Sadat was the hero again after his half-century inspired Bangladesh to a six wicket victory in the third one-day match against Zimbabwe played at Queens Sports Cub. The result means that Bangladesh have secured the five-match series 3-0.
Sadat followed his hundred in the opening match with 90 today, sharing in a third-wicket stand of 106 with Mehrab Hossain, who scored an unbeaten 65, as the visitors reached their target for the loss of just four wickets in 46.3 overs after restricting Zimbabwe to 210 in 50 overs.
Zimbabwe A made one change, bringing in pace bowler Trevor Garwe for fellow seamer Admire Manyumwa, while Bangladesh named an unchanged XI.
Full postTushar sees Bangladesh home
Tushar Imran scored a defiant 96 not out to guide Bangladesh to a four-wicket win in the second one-day match played at Queens Sports Club to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series
Cricinfo staff
09-Jul-2006
Bangladesh A 208 for 6 (Tushar Imran 96*) beat Zimbabwe A 204 (Mawoyo 61, Masakadza 60, Saqibul Hasan 4-30) by four wickets runs
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Tushar Imran scored a defiant 96 not out to guide Bangladesh to a four-wicket win in the second one-day match played at Queens Sports Club to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Imran batted for 211 minutes, faced 125 balls and stroked nine fours as the visitors scored
208 to win the match with four overs to spare. This was after Zimbabwe A had posted 204 in 41.1 overs having won the toss and elected to bat with half centuries from opener
Tinotenda Mawoyo and Hamilton Masakadza.
Zimbabwe A made two changes to the side that lost the first match at the same venue by 26 runs on Thursday, taking out their two opening bowlers Christopher Mpofu and Trevor Garwe, bringing in offspinner turned pace bowler Bradley Staddon and legspinner Ryan Higgins. For the visitors, seamer Hasibul Hossain made way for left-arm spinner Enamul Haque(jnr)
Full postFlintoff returns with a bang
Andrew Flintoff made a lively and successful return to competitive cricket following his ankle injury, with three wickets in a brilliant spell of bowling to help Lancashire beat Nottinghamshire by seven wickets
Cricinfo staff
09-Jul-2006
Lancashire 93 for 3 (Law 62*) beat Nottinghamshire 91 (Clough 30, Cork 4-16, Flintoff 3-4) by 7 wickets
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Andrew Flintoff made a lively and successful return to competitive cricket following his ankle injury, with three wickets in a brilliant spell of bowling to help Lancashire beat Nottinghamshire by seven wickets.
Flintoff was cleared by the England management to play in two Twenty20 matches for Lancashire, and a Championship game on July 18 in order to regain match fitness ahead of the second Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford on July 27. And here today, at Old Trafford, he looked back to his fearsome best showing no signs of the ankle injury which kept him out of England's one-day series against Sri Lanka.
Full postWarm-up to first Test ends in farcical draw
Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, both of whom were today included in England's squad for the first Test against Pakistan, notched fifties on the final day against the touring Pakistanis at Canterbury as the game petered out into a draw. However, the day wasn't
Cricinfo staff
09-Jul-2006
England A 595 for 9d and 153 for 1d (Cook 80*, Bell 50*) drew with Pakistanis 242 and 154 for 2 (Butt 50 ret, Yousuf 35*, Inzamam 20*)
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Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, both of whom were today included in England's squad for the first Test against Pakistan, notched fifties on the final day against the touring Pakistanis at Canterbury as the game petered out into a draw. However, the day wasn't without incident.
Robert Key, the England A captain, declared his side's innings on 153 for 1 after rain had caused a delayed start where just ten overs were possible in the morning session. Following injury to Mohammad Sami, who was struck a painful blow on his knee while fielding at midwicket, and Mohammad Asif's injury to his elbow which could force him out of the first Test, Pakistan attacked with two lesser bowlers: Salman Butt and Imran Farhat.
The pair sent down 40 overs between them - Farhat bowled Key last night - as England A made steady if unspectacular progress. Curiously Umar Gul bowled just two overs in the second innings and Danish Kaneria none at all.
Full postAustralia choke New Zealand
Riding on a quickfire fifty from Brad Haddin and the bowling trio of Brett Dorey, Shane Watson and Dan Cullen, Australia A handed New Zealand A its second defeat of the day at Darwin
Cricinfo staff
09-Jul-2006
Australia A 9 for 160 (Haddin 52, Hodge 40, Yovich 4-36) beat New Zealand A 144 (Orchard 53, Dorey 3-25, Watson 3-30, Cullen 3-23) by 16 runs
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Riding on a quickfire fifty from Brad Haddin and the bowling trio of Brett Dorey, Shane Watson and Dan Cullen - three senior side hopefuls - Australia A handed New Zealand A its second defeat of the day at Darwin. Shortly after going down to Pakistan A, the tourists slumped to a 16-run loss despite turning in a worthy display with the ball.
Having won the toss, Australia chose to bat and ran into early trouble. Chris Martin, the fast bowler with considerable international experience, dismissed Mark Cosgrove and Watson, while Joseph Yovich accounted for Phil Jaques. Staring at a potential disaster, Haddin and Brad Hodge combined for a 70-run stand for the fourth wicket, one that made the difference in the end. Haddin smashed 52 from 34 deliveries and Hodge 40 from 29, and the duo looked good for more before Jeetan Patel, the offspinner, and Yovich returned to rein the hosts in. Patel had Hodge and Chris Rogers beaten in flight and Yovich's medium pace put the skids on a late-order attack as Australia were restricted to 160.
Full postMisbah stars as Pakistan trounce NZ
Powered by captain Misbah-ul-Haq's unbeaten 107, Pakistan A trounced New Zealand A by 60 runs in the inaugural Twenty20 match of the Top End Series in Darwin
Cricinfo staff
09-Jul-2006
Pakistan A 5 for 164 (Misbah-ul-Haq 107*) beat New Zealand A 104 (Fawad Alam 2-14) by 60 runs
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Powered by captain Misbah-ul-Haq's unbeaten 107, Pakistan A trounced New Zealand A by 60 runs in the inaugural Twenty20 match of the Top End Series in Darwin. Set a challenging total of 165, the New Zealand middle order came apart as the spinners combined to dismiss them for 104 in the 17th over.
New Zealand A captain Craig McMillan's decision to send the opposition in seemed a good one after the Pakistan openers were dismissed by Richard Sherlock with just nine runs on the board. Misbah took charge of the innings thereafter, dominating the fourth-wicket stand of 57 with Bazid Khan. Hasan Raza and Fawad Alam chipped in with quick runs in the latter stages of the innings, allowing Misbah to continue his counterattack. He remained unbeaten on 107, an innings which included five sixes. It is incidentally his highest score in nine Twenty20 matches.
Full postDalrymple makes his claim for Test place
Jamie Dalrymple enhanced his prospects of a maiden Test call-up as England A overcame a freak injury to Matthew Hoggard on the third day of their warm-up match against the Pakistanis at Canterbury
Cricinfo staff
08-Jul-2006
Close England A 595 for 9 dec (Read 150*, Key 136) and 35 for 1 lead Pakistanis 242 (Faisal 82, Dalrymple 4-61) by 388 runs
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Jamie Dalrymple enhanced his prospects of a maiden Test call-up as England A overcame a freak injury to Matthew Hoggard on the third day of their warm-up match against the Pakistanis at Canterbury.
Hoggard was trodden on by his team-mate, Tim Bresnan, during a knockabout game of rugby, and was forced to sit out the day's play after having six stitches inserted in his bowling hand. He was not missed, however, as Dalrymple combined with his spin partner, Alex Loudon, to bowl Pakistan out for just 242. By the close, England had opted not to enforce the follow-on, with Rob Key the only casualty as they closed on 35 for 1.
Full postSpinners star as India A win again
Led by their spinners, India A recorded their second win of the Top End Series, easing past Australia A by four wickets in a low-scoring match at Darwin
Cricinfo staff
08-Jul-2006
India A 6 for 216 (Venugopal Rao 55) beat Australia A 213 (Haddin 56, Hodge 56) by 4 wickets
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Led by their spinners, India A recorded their second win of the Top End Series, easing past Australia A in a low-scoring match at Darwin. Tejinder Pal Singh, Piyush Chawla and Ravi Jadeja combined superbly to restrict the Australians to just 213, and though the Indians stuttered in pursuit, Venugopal Rao, the captain, steadied the nerves scoring 55 off 81 balls as India eased home with four wickets and eight balls to spare.
Australia A got off to a reasonable start after winning the toss, putting on 45 for the first wicket, but they were soon on the back foot as the Indian spinners got to work. Tejinder Pal, a part-time left-arm spinner with only 23 wickets in domestic one-day matches, got rid of Brad Haddin and Brad Hodge, the top-scorers for Australia A with 56 apiece. Shane Watson tried to inject some momentum into the innings with a 50-ball 40, but the rest of the middle and lower order fell away as Chawla, the 17-year-old legspinner, and Jadeja, another left-arm spinner, took two wickets each and kept the runs in check.
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