Glamorgan's Friday night party

Glamorgan have a terrific chance to progress to the quarter-finals of the Friends Life t20, but is on-field success or the days of the week the key factor for pulling in the crowds?

Cricket in Cardiff is most often a placid affair. The gentle flow of the River Taff matching a sedate nature inside the Swalec Stadium that, on the whole, reflects county cricket around the country. But over the last few weeks of Twenty20 there has been something a little different if you turn up on a Friday night.

The club are hopeful of a record attendance when they take on Northamptonshire. The previous mark for a domestic game in Cardiff is 9,200; a T20 against Gloucestershire in 2010 when Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait made his debut on a balmy Friday night. The ground was a little over half full.

Now all the stars have finally aligned and the club can welcome in the numbers one would hope for. They have a huge catchment area to draw from (and they're letting anyone over 16 named George in for free in honour of the Prince of Cambridge).

The Northamptonshire fixture is a top of the table meeting, the forecast is excellent (the ECB have struck lucky with the timing of the recent dry spell, although they were due a break on that front) and most crucially it's on a Friday night. For Friday night really is cricket night, Glamorgan have found. Perhaps, then, it's a good job the Friends Life t20 is changing to a season-long competition next year.

"When it comes to the debate over T20 whether to play it on certain nights of the week or in a block, from our perspective people have voted with their feet," Alan Hamer, Glamorgan chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo. "We had a big crowd for the Somerset game two weeks ago and we're expecting a similar attendance tomorrow.

"We've only have two Friday matches this year but for them both to be very well attended tells you something. On Tuesday we had good weather and got 3,200. Similarly against Warwickshire, midweek match, 2,500 turned up.

"People who come on a Friday treat it more as social event, they wouldn't come midweek. A few years ago we played Northants, both sides were out of the competition and we still ended up with the highest crowd of the season."

Glamorgan, no longer the Dragons, just plain old Glamorgan, are on the verge of a quarter-final. Should they beat Northamptonshire or Gloucestershire they will be very unlucky not to qualify from the group stage for only the third time. Both remaining matches are at home and the cricket they have produced suggests they should be confident.

But how much does all of that actually matter?. It seems spectators want an occasion, a fete, a party, rather than a sporting event and something that fits in with the working week. And they can all come on a Friday night. No bucking broncos, walk-on girls or darts players - cringeworthy gimmicks tried by various counties - are going to drag them out at any other time.

Glamorgan's players might be a little miffed at the suggestion that their efforts alone are not enough to woo the crowds because they've bucked their ideas up this season. It is five years since their last appearance in the knockout stage. And that was by default. Yorkshire were thrown out of the 2008 competition for fielding an illegible player. Glamorgan took their place but lost to Durham.

Nine years ago, therefore, was their only bona fide journey beyond the group stage, when Warwickshire were turned over in Cardiff in front of 6,000 packing out the old Sophia Gardens ground.

Could Glamorgan add another 11,000 to that figure for a home quarter-final this year? They would certainly like the opportunity and have a strong case to do so, having won five from five to begin the competition in style. They only lost to Northamptonshire at Wantage Road off the last ball but it proved more than an aberration as thumpings by Somerset and Gloucestershire followed.

The campaign was back on course after a well-paced chase against Worcestershire - a fourth successful chase in their five wins. Guiding them home on Tuesday were two experience heads, Jim Allenby and Murray Goodwin, both of whom the club are keen to secure for next season but both of whom are considering their futures. Allenby was vexed when he was dropped as T20 captain and 40-year-old Goodwin wants a season longer than the one-year deal Glamorgan have offered him.

But success on the field may simply be a happy sideshow for the Friday night soiree that appeals to the locals. Glamorgan are gradually building the largest garden party west of the Severn Bridge.

Read More..

Taylor calls for bolder batting

Zimbabwean top-order collapses have been as ubiquitous as the kombis (mini-vans) on the local roads in the last decade. During that time, on average, the score usually hasn't yet reached 30 by the time the first wicket falls. The loss of early wickets has clearly been identified as a problem area by the coaching department, and in that regard Sikandar Raza and Vusi Sibanda's effort in the first ODI was pretty impressive.

But Zimbabwe will never be able to set the sorts of totals that allow them to compete in one-day cricket with such a defensive mindset, and especially not against a batting side as strong as India. What is needed is a balance between attack and defence, and with limited opportunities to strike this balance in match situations, Zimbabwe have to learn on the job.

To that end, captain Brendan Taylor has suggested that his side's batsmen will be more proactive in the second one-day on Friday. The hosts' opening batsmen defied India's seamers for almost 22 overs in testing conditions in the first match, but struggled to score quickly and Zimbabwe's eventual score failed to challenge India's strong batting line-up.

"We need to have that positive approach with our batting because that can only lead to being competitive and winning against better sides," said Taylor. "Our main goal [on Wednesday] was to keep wickets in hand. Watching in the changing room we felt the ball was doing a great deal and the batters consolidated pretty nicely but it was just too risky to go after them. Tomorrow we might have to change that because batting first, 230 or 240 is not going to be enough."

Much has been made of the importance of the toss in this series, and Zimbabwe will be hoping that Virat Kohli calls incorrectly and they won't have to bat first thing in the morning when the ball is nipping around. "Unfortunately it could boil down to the toss, but that's not to take anything away from the way the Indians outplayed us. I think they showed why they are one of the top teams in the world. But they made it extremely difficult for us in the morning and the wicket did flatten out in the afternoon which made it tough for our bowlers."

Whether they bat first or second, Zimbabwe will still have to deal with legspinner Amit Mishra's wily variations. Mishra removed both Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza with unpicked googlies, and also got rid of top-scorer Sikandar Raza to finish as the most successful bowler with 3 for 43. "All the guys are saying they've read [Mishra's googly], but it doesn't look like they have," added Taylor. "We've faced him before, and I think that first game was a bit of nerves."

Zimbabwe's own spinners couldn't match Mishra's efforts. Prosper Utseya was gifted the wickets of Kohli and Suresh Raina once the match was as good as won, and Tino Mutombodzi was dispatched for an exorbitant 65 runs in 7.5 wicketless overs. The Zimbabweans may consider bringing in a fourth seamer, with left-arm quick Brian Vitori having been left out of the first game. "There's a discussion about a fourth seamer but to be honest we haven't even announced the side yet," explained Taylor. "I think we'll know first thing in the morning, but maybe a fourth seamer instead of a spinner because they play their spin pretty well."

Zimbabwe will have learnt that Kohli plays both spin and seam very well, and without the firepower to blast him out Taylor admitted that his side's best chance of removing the Indian captain could be to maintain their own discipline and hope that he makes an error. "When the wicket's flat it seems nearly impossible [to get Kohli out]. He's a class player and he's done it against the best teams in the world, but we just need to keep it simple to him and hopefully try and frustrate him and let him make his own mistakes."

Zimbabwe trained for several hours on the eve of the second match, with Raza turning up early for some one-on-one practice with Grant Flower. It's clear that they want very badly to succeed, and it's hard to overstate just how crucial success in this series and the ones against Pakistan and Sri Lanka is.

"The importance of the next two or three months is huge and that's what we keep discussing," said Taylor. "It's up to us players to try to contribute to getting the public back in and getting sponsors back in so it's a big time for us and a couple of good results against the best side in the world can only do us some good."

Read More..

Stokes keeps Durham's quarter-final hopes flickering

Durham 120 for 5 (Stokes 41*, Taylor 4-11) beat Leicestershire 119 for 7 (Thakor 42, Rushworth 3-19) by five wickets
Scorecard

Ben Stokes and Gareth Breese propelled Durham to a third successive win in the Friends Life Twenty20 against Leicestershire at Chester-le-Street.

Coming together on 56 for 5 in the 13th over in pursuit of Leicestershire's modest total of 119 for 7, they shared an unbroken stand of 64 runs in 5.4 overs to see their side to a five-wicket win with two overs to spare.

After hitting five sixes in each of the two previous wins, Stokes hammered three more in his unbeaten 41 off 26 balls and Breese made 24 off 15.

With one group game left at home to Derbyshire on Sunday, Durham still have a slim chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals. Leicestershire now have no hope of progress.

Their defeat was tough on allrounder Rob Taylor, who raised their hopes after a feeble betting performance by taking 4 for 11 in four overs of accurate left-arm swing.

Durham scored only six runs in four overs in the middle of their innings and it was when Anthony Ireland was guilty of a fumble at long-off that the floodgates opened. It allowed Stokes to go back for a second run and he hit two of the next four balls from Shakib Al Hasan for six over long-on and backward square leg. In the next over he pulled Shiv Thakor for six, while Breese produced some clever improvisations in hitting four fours.

After being put in Leicestershire did not get going at all until Taylor and Ned Eckersley scored 23 off the last two overs. Chris Rushworth's opening burst of 3 for 10 in three overs stifled Leicestershire, who were indebted to England Under 19 allrounder Thakor for holding things together with 42 off 38 balls.

He hit one four and a six over long-off, otherwise there were only two boundaries in the innings until Eckersley hit Stokes for four and six in the final over.

Phil Mustard's fine form at the start of the competition has deserted him since Durham started winning and in the second over of the reply he drove at an away-swinger from Ireland and edged to Joe Burns at slip.

Acting captain Mark Stoneman fell for 12 when he drove Taylor to cover, then Will Smith was caught behind and Scott Borthwick clipped a catch to midwicket in to end a good innings of 30. Taylor also had Gordon Muchall lbw, but once his spell was finished Durham cut loose.

Read More..

Lord's sell-out watch Middlesex crash

Surrey 178 for 7 (O'Brien 54, Patel 3-28, Berg 3-37) beat Middlesex 92 by 86 runs
Scorecard

It was over so quickly that people didn't really know what to do with themselves. Some stayed in their seats, others meandered - all finishing off the food, drink and conversations that would have lasted them 20 minutes more. The rest sidled out into the streets of North-West London, muttering about one of the worst Middlesex performances in recent memory.

For the first time in their Twenty20 history, Middlesex failed to reach three figures. It was rather uneasy to watch; Dawid Malan, Joe Denly, Adam Voges and Paul Stirling managing to face only 21 deliveries between them, amassing 25 runs. Eoin Morgan hit the hardest nine runs you'll ever hear, before Jason Roy took a superb catch at backward point. He would drop one later, eliciting the second biggest sarcastic cheer of the night - first coming in the games' aftermath when St John's Wood station was deemed open, just minutes after the PA announced it was closed.

But if Middlesex were bereft of ideas, it was because Surrey weren't giving them any clues. Their in-fielding was top notch, backing up some impressive bowling, particularly from Chris Tremlett who looked as quick as he has done this season.

Essentially, the game was settled on who utilised the boundary away to the Tavern and Mound Stand best. "Barely 45 yards," according to Kevin O'Brien, who pillaged 54 in just 24 balls. However, it was his Irish counterpart Stirling on the opposition who made the most emphatic use of the abbreviated edge when he hooked Tremlett out of the ground. It was the only maximum Middlesex could muster.

O'Brien will join Ricky Ponting - kept out of today with a groin complaint - in the Caribbean Twenty20, which he sets off for on Sunday. As such, he will be unavailable for the knockout stages of the FLt20, but he has helped Surrey get closer to them with this win seeing them leapfrog Middlesex into third via run rate, with two games left to play.

It was a shame that Middlesex's home campaign in the competition ended in such a disappointing manner in front of a bumper crowd of 28,000. Is it a London thing? Surrey have also boasted sell outs at The Oval this season, and it will again be the case tomorrow when Hampshire visit.

The capital's two grounds are 45 minutes and two trains apart, and there may indeed be a crossover of neutrals, but they are shining advertisements that Twenty20 cricket is a good thing. The vitality it brings to the domestic game cannot be understated, not least when it comes to carrying through a new generation of fans - one that was probably lost in the time before free hits. Just ask Roy who was mobbed like the boy band member he resembles when he stepped out of the Pavilion to head home, by a crowd of kids baying for his signature on programmes, mini bats and boundary signs.

As the crowds settled in, Surrey were flustering to 17 for 2. But it was the promotion of O'Brien to No. 4 that proved to be the making of Surrey's innings, as he made use of 11 of the remaining Powerplay deliveries available to him to score 29.

At the other end, Vikram Solanki was proving a contrasting foil for O'Brien, as they put on 90 - Surrey's highest partnership for any wicket in the competition this season. They batted with such polarising ways and means that you could imagine them flat sharing in the lower east side of Manhattan; Solanki, the city slicker, all class and convention, and O'Brien, the small town biffer, with larger than life personality and tree trunks for arms. Cue your conventional sitcom capers.

The difference in their methods was perhaps most evident when it came to their approach to the short boundary. While Solanki danced and flicked Ravi Patel to midwicket for six, O'Brien clubbed and muscled. Both fell in Patel's final over, as the left-arm spinner finished with the impressive figures of 3 for 28 in his four, the only Middlesex player to leave Lord's with anything to celebrate, albeit sheepishly.

Gareth Berg might have been another when he quelled a last over blitz with some fine yorkers to concede only four runs by taking two wickets. It turned out to be rather pointless in the end, as Middlesex flopped in London's dusk and all but quashed their FLt20 dreams.

Read More..

'More than nervous, I was emotional' - Rayudu

Ambati Rayudu's personal history has all the makings of a classic bildungsroman. The early promise of a teenage prodigy, the growing pains, the rebel years, and now redemption. The final chapter of his story is yet to be written, but now that he's enjoyed a successful debut for India, it's a lot more likely that his ending will be a happy one.

"It feels marvelous," said Rayudu after he shared a match-winning 159-run stand with Virat Kohli to help thump Zimbabwe by six wickets in the series opener at Harare Sports Club. Kohli departed before the match was won - though not before racking up a 15th ODI century - but Rayudu stood firm and hit the winning runs off a Tinotenda Mutombodzi full toss.

"It's been pretty emotional," he said. "More than nervous, I was very emotional." If that was the case, he hid his emotions well after entering with India at 57 for 2 with the openers back in the pavilion. India weren't exactly under intense pressure at the time, but the match was far from won.

With Kohli stroking the ball supremely at the other end, Rayudu was afforded the luxury of time and space to play himself in, and left three of his first 10 deliveries alone. Placing the ball and running well, he left the bulk of the aggressive stroke play to Kohli and reached a debut fifty, off 74 deliveries, in the 39th over.

"I think he's playing the best cricket possible," Rayudu said of Kohli. "I definitely feel that he's the best in the world right now in the one-day format. He made it a lot easier for me, and I was just looking at the way he was constructing his innings. It's a very good learning experience."

Rayudu's clashes with authority over the years have been well documented, and a large tattoo on the side of his neck completes the 'bad boy' image, but it was at the IPL that he found a support structure to temper his fiery side and harness his potential. Whether the tournament helps or hinders young cricketers' development is a deeply divisive issue, but in Rayudu's case the Mumbai Indians set-up seemed to bring out the best in him.

"My family, my friends and especially the Mumbai Indians support staff [have been there for me]," Rayudu said. "Sachin [Tendulkar] and Robin Singh especially. They've helped me a lot, and I'd definitely like to thank them for that.

"I always had the belief that if I could get things right and I could get my mind right I could make it into the team one day, and I'm really happy that I got my chance today."

Read More..

Penalty compounds Gloucs misery

Warwickshire 149 for 3 (Clarke 40) beat Gloucestershire 145 for 7 (Klinger 68, Javid 3-26) by 0 wickets
Scorecard

Warwickshire kept their hopes of reaching the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals alive while inflicting further misery on Gloucestershire with a seven-wicket win at Edgbaston.

The Bears paced their chase of a 126-run target to perfection with Varun Chopra and William Porterfield leading the way with an opening stand of 68 and Rikki Clarke clobbering 40 from 21 balls.

Gloucestershire's defeat, which ended their own slim hopes of making the knockout stages, followed the decision by an England and Wales Cricket Board pitch panel to deduct them two points from next year's competition for the substandard surface they prepared for their home group match against Warwickshire at Cheltenham on July 14.

The Gladiators, who were shot out for 96 at Cheltenham, were more competitive this time and made 145 for seven after they were put in thanks to captain Michael Klinger's 68 from 52 balls. It took Klinger time to assess the pace of a pitch that Warwickshire used for last Saturday's win over Northamptonshire and the Australia A right-hander managed only 21 runs in the first 10 overs.

But Klinger found his range by pulling Steffan Piolet over the short-midwicket boundary before reverse sweeping Ateeq Javid for a second six. Klinger's third six, swept off Piolet, took him to a 40-ball half century but he perished in the penultimate over of the innings when he was bowled while aiming Jeetan Patel through the off-side.

Apart from Klinger only Ian Cockbain, who also launched Piolet for a six in his quickfire 25, really got to grips with Warwickshire's miserly offspinners.

Javid followed up his four wickets at Cheltenham with 3 for 26 and Patel, who bowled Ed Young with his last ball, finished with a season's best 2 for 13.

Chopra and Porterfield's partnership ensured there was no chance of a repeat of Warwickshire collapse against Somerset on Sunday when they were shot out for 73, their lowest Twenty20 total.

Porterfield eased to 34 from 30 balls, comfortably his highest score in this season's competition, but then carved Alex Gidman to Cockbain at point and Chopra also perished when well set, falling lbw while trying to sweep slow left-armer Tom Smith.

Clarke then struck three sixes off Young in what proved to be the decisive over before he picked out deep midwicket, and Darren Maddy guided Warwickshire home with 14 balls to spare.

Read More..

Stevens edges basement battle for Kent

Kent 173 for 7 (Stevens 67*) beat Sussex 164 for 6 (Machan 67) by nine runs
Scorecard

Kent edged victory by nine runs in the basement battle against Sussex watched by a near 4,000 crowd at Canterbury.

The visitors' challenge faded when Scott Styris was caught on the deep-midwicket boundary from the fourth ball of the final over, having hit the previous two balls for four and six.

New Zealand international big-hitter Styris had the home fans on edge as Mitchell Claydon made a bad start to the task of preventing Sussex from scoring 23 from the final over in reply to Kent's 20-over total of 173 for 3. But then Styris, attempting another clubbing legside blow, holed out to Brendan Nash at deepmidwicket.

Despite bowling a wide to new batsman Will Beer from his next ball, Claydon held his nerve to allow just a single and a leg bye from the last two balls of the contest to close out Sussex on 164 for 6.

It is only Kent's second win of the group stage, but at least they now go above Sussex - who are anchored at the bottom of the South group table with just one win from nine games. Kent still have three matches left.

In the end, Kent were indebted to a late assault by Darren Stevens - who finished on 67 not out - and a far faster start to their innings than Sussex. Stevens faced only 44 balls in all, striking four sixes and three fours, and took 18 runs from the last six balls of the Kent innings in a merciless attack on Lewis Hatchett.

Kent scored 70 for 2 from their first six Powerplay overs, but Sussex managed only 39 for 1 from theirs. Although Matt Machan hit 66 from 48 balls, with two sixes and six fours, and added 68 for the third wicket with Chris Nash, who made 31 from 24 balls, they were always struggling to keep up with the required rate of 108 from the second 10 overs.

Earlier, Nash's clever four overs of offspin had brought Sussex back into the game. He went for just 15 runs but Styris, mysteriously overlooked for the final over, conceded just 13 runs from his three overs. That final Hatchett over was to cost Sussex dear.

The Kent innings was given a flying start by the youthful opening pair of Fabian Cowdrey - son of Chris and grandson of Colin - and Sam Billings, who put on 60 in 5.2 overs before Billings was bowled for a 14-ball 24, swinging at Chris Liddle.

Cowdrey, 20, got things moving by hitting Mike Yardy for successive fours from the first three balls of the third over and Billings joined in by pulling a full toss for six from the fifth ball of the same over.

Billings, 22, then drove fours through extra cover off Liddle before Cowdrey swung Hatchett over midwicket for six to bring up Kent's 50 and then earned four more from a ramp shot to fine leg off the same bowler. There was a further six from Cowdrey, driven straight off Liddle, before he fell for a brilliant 41 off just 21 balls when, deceived by a slower ball from left-arm paceman Liddle, he mishit to cover.

Nash, in at No. 3, could not get going and made only 15 from a third wicket stand of 53 in 10 over with Stevens before the returning Liddle bowled him. But Stevens,who had already hit Yardy over the midwicket boundary and driven leg-spinner Beer straight and to wide long-on for successive sixes, then provided the explosive finish in a final over which cost Sussex 20 runs, with Hatchett starting it with a high full toss that went down in the book as two no balls.

Veteran all-rounder Stevens then sprinted for three twos before flipping another full toss for four, hitting another two into the legside and then, from the last ball of the innings, carving a short ball over cover for six.

Read More..

Lancashire have power when its needed

Lancashire 127 for 2 (Moore 66*) beat Yorkshire 124 for 8 (Lyth 32, McClenaghan 2-19) by eight wickets
Scorecard

An electricity failure may not have been the perfect dress rehearsal for hosting the third Investec Ashes Test in a week's time but as omens go, an emphatic hammering of your fiercest rivals to all but secure your place in the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals was almost as good as it gets for Lancashire.

Dominant throughout in front of a partisan 12,151 crowd, Lancashire will qualify for the quarter-finals if Derbyshire fail to beat Leicestershire on Friday. It was the perfect send off, almost, for the refurbished Emirates Old Trafford before it is handed over to the ECB in preparation for potentially the decisive Test in the Ashes.

Yet only a week before the ground will hold 26,000 for the opening day of the Test, Lancashire suffered a 20-minute power cut at the Statham End, which wiped out electricity to the dressing rooms and two floodlights at that end of the ground, and was only resolved shortly before the start. It was perhaps fitting, given his recent form, that Jimmy Anderson should rectify the problem, although not England's premier swing bowler, but his namesake who performs as Lancashire's resident electrician.

That problem apart, which ground officials insisted would not have delayed the start, it was a triumphant evening for Lancashire. The temporary seating area, which will hold 9,000 for the Ashes, was utilised for the first time and they delivered one of their best displays of the season to all but end Yorkshire's slim qualification hopes and boost their own with a fourth win in their last five matches.

Having won the toss and decided to bat first, presumably to ensure Lancashire had the potentially more difficult task of batting under floodlights, Yorkshire's plan backfired spectacularly and they struggled to 124 for 8 on a sluggish pitch. Restricted to 23 for 2 at the end of the six Powerplay overs, they were unable to regain any momentum after being confronted by an electric display in the field from Lancashire.

Their only partnership of note, 33 off 27 balls between Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance, had limited effectiveness because of the athleticism of Lancashire's fielding display that frustrated their desire to show more aggression. Lyth fell to a catch at fine leg attempting to scoop Tom Smith and Ballance fell to a brilliant diving catch by Steven Croft, who ran in from the long-on boundary.

Attempting to gain momentum, Yorkshire suffered two run outs in a desperate chase of runs and recorded only one boundary in their final four overs, which provided a stark contrast to Lancashire's approach when they began their reply. From the moment Stephen Moore pulled two boundaries in the second over from Iain Wardlaw, the contest was all but over.

Moore and Smith added 88 in only 7.4 overs and although Lancashire lost two wickets in Azeem Rafiq's first over, Smith stumped as he advanced down the wicket for an aggressive 42 and Ashwell Prince brilliantly caught at cover by Lyth, any anxiety from the mainly Lancastrian crowd was brief with Moore's unbeaten 66 off 35 balls securing victory with nine overs remaining.

Read More..

Australia revival 'will take time' - Howard

Australian cricket faces years of difficult times ahead until the nation's domestic competitions can again be relied upon to provide effective preparation for young batsmen and spin bowlers. This grim view was not shied away from by Cricket Australia's team performance manager, Pat Howard, as he sifted through the wreckage of the 347-run defeat at Lord's, which has left many wondering how such a result could be possible two years after the Argus review highlighted many of the problems on display.

In a frank discussion of what appears a dire medium-term forecast for the national team, Howard defended his decision to sack the former coach, Mickey Arthur, and replace him with Darren Lehmann a mere two weeks before the start of the Ashes series. He also agreed with an emotional James Pattinson's assessment that the lack of rest afforded the bowlers by an inept first-innings batting display at Lord's had contributed to his back stress fracture.

But the major conclusion Howard was prepared to draw from Lord's was that problems in the Australian game will take years to remedy, requiring even stronger alignment between the states and CA to strengthen the club and Sheffield Shield competitions that have been left in disrepair while Twenty20 dollars have been chased with far more vigour than adequate grounding for Test match cricketers.

"When Australia and Australia A play over the same weekend and the highest scores were Glenn Maxwell and Moises Henriques getting 60s and 70s [in Zimbabwe], our ability to bat a long time needs to improve," Howard said. "We need to work with the states to enforce that message around batting for a long time and batting with patience. Making sure Sheffield Shield cricket goes into the fourth day so we start getting footmarks, we start getting spinners bowling more in the Shield so they get used to that as well.

"There's a big process there to get right, and it's going to take time. I definitely need to work with the states to get this to a point where the Shield prepares players for Tests even better. We would love lots more people scoring big hundreds at home. Only two people got three hundreds in Shield cricket last year, Ricky Ponting and Chris Rogers. One of them is here and one you know plenty about, so the system has got to help provide that."

A minor victory for CA's high-performance regime in their battle with the marketing and programming side of the governing body's Melbourne office is a change to the 2013-14 summer, which will see the domestic limited-overs competition played as a whole early in the season, before a run of six consecutive Shield matches leading up to the final two Tests of the summer. The Big Bash League then takes hold until mid-February.

"I am happy about the fact it is not going Shield, one-dayer, Shield, one-dayer - there are six games of red-ball cricket in a row at the start of the season," Howard said. "No interruptions, no trying to hit it over the top, people are going to have to be patient and spinners will get some time to get wickets. I am hoping we will reinforce over that period the discipline of red-ball cricket. It's an opportunity for the coaches to drill in those messages."

On the matter of Arthur, Howard said he did not retreat for one moment from the call to install Lehmann, on a basis the South African has described as "totally unfair".

"When you sit there and look and have conversations, and there were plenty of articles written about what was right and what was wrong, you knew there was something that needed to be dealt with," Howard said. "It was dealt with and you make decisions not just for one week or two weeks but you make them for a period and who's going to best galvanise the side. I don't want to go into that particularly, but who was going to get the best out of this group, that was a simple decision.

"Obviously there is a legal issue going. I can't comment on that. But it's never nice when you get moved on. It's happened to lots of people. It's never nice. On the ground it's not affecting the players. They've moved on, gone on and feel galvanised with this group. Even though there are two Tests we lost, was one close, the other we didn't play well enough, clearly … I don't move away. It was the right decision."

Read More..

McClenaghan earns dramatic tie

Lancashire 139 for 9 (Cross 28, Taylor 4-23) tied with Leicestershire 139 for 9 (Smith 45)
Scorecard

New Zealand fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan hit a last ball boundary to give Lancashire a dramatic tie with Leicestershire at Grace Road.

Chasing a victory target of 140, Lancashire needed 13 to win off the final over bowled by left arm spinner Shakib Al Hassan. Eight runs came off the first four balls but Shakib had Gareth Cross caught off the penultimate delivery, leaving five runs off one ball.

McClenagahan faced his first ball needing to hit a six for victory or a four to tie and he obliged by clipping the ball to the deep backward square leg boundary as Lancashire finished on 139 for 9, exactly the same score as the Foxes.

It was Lanashire's second tie in the competition this season and leaves them in second place behind Nottinghamshire in the North Group. The result means Leicestershire must now win their last three games to have even the slightest chance of reaching the quarter-finals.

Put in to bat the hosts made a woeful start to their innings, scoring only eight runs in the first three overs for the loss of Josh Cobb, brilliantly caught by Ashwell Prince off Glen Chapple. But Greg Smith and Joe Burns added 40 for the second wicket before Burns was caught and bowled by Kabir Ali.

After that it was a case of the Foxes battling to post a competitive total on a slow paced pitch. Smith top scored with 45 off 42 balls and Shakib hit a quick-fire 23 off 16 balls with four boundaries.

But the crucial knock came from Rob Taylor who smashed three sixes - two of them off McClenaghan - in a 15-ball innings that gave the Foxes something to defend. McClenaghan took 2 for 29 and Kabir 3 for 23.

Lancashire looked on course for their fifth win when they were 48 for 1 at the end of the power-play. But some tight bowling from Taylor, who finished with a competition best of 4 for 23, Shakib (1 for 22) and Shiv Thakor (1 for 31), saw Lancashire lose their way.

Wickets fell in clusters and in the end Cross was the top scorer with 28 until he was ninth out in the last over caught in the deep by Taylor off Shakib. But McClenaghan kept Lancashire in sight of a place in the quarter-finals with his last ball boundary.

Read More..