Carl Crowe took a career best 4 for 55, and coupled with Vince Wells 4 for 54 it led Leicestershire to an unexpected victory after Hampshire had directed much of the play in the morning session.The early days luck soon deserted the home side, as they lost by 61 runs by 3:20 to stay bottom of the PPP healthcare County Championship Division I.Requiring 120 for victory after lunch, Hampshire soon lost the disappointing Laney who took a leading edge to offer up a return catch to Crowe. The prime wicket of Robin Smith fell soon after; when with an attempted drive at the off-spinner was caught at the second attempt. Adi Aymes who had led the way in Hampshire’s first innings battled out 55 minutes for 6. He was seventh out at 190, and the worm had turned against the home side.Dimitri Mascarenhas offered up some lusty blows, but his partners all fell, Stephenson edged Wells to the wicket-keeper, Udal was lbw to the same bowler playing back, and Alan Mullally proved why he is number eleven, with a second ball drive that was gobbled up by Ian Sutcliffe, to the glee of the Leicestershire side.This defeat was not the preparation Hampshire required before their biggest game of the season again Warwickshire in the Nat-West Semi-Final on Saturday. Robin Smith will have to pick up his teams morale, as they travel to Birmingham by coach.

Sensible fast bowling from Carl Bulfin and innocuous, but accurate, medium-pace from Matthew Walker and Paul Hitchcock carried Wellington to its victory over Otago in Auckland.No matter the batsmen, Bulfin managed to pin them all down with tight control and he had the same figures in both innings, two wickets for 11 runs from his two overs.Walker, a bowler of bulk, managed to get through the defences consistently while Hitchcock had a happy knack of picking up wickets at just the right time.Bowlers came back in the Otago first innings and Wellington’s second innings to halt what seemed to be runaway scoring trains. Andrew Hore’s 45 in Otago’s first innings was a continuation of the form he showed in Westport when he hit Otago to a victory over Canterbury to qualify for the semi-finals.But once he was dismissed, just after having scored the shot of the match, a straight-lofted six out of the ground, there was little else of substance in the Otago batting and the Wellington bowlers Bulfin, Walker and Hitchcock closed the game right down.Wellington started at a similar rate in its second innings, although it suffered dearly after Roger Twose was given not out by the third umpire Dave Quested to what looked to be a neat piece of catching at point by Neil Rushton. Twose was on four at the time and playing out a difficult over from Karl O’Dowda who conceded only one run in the over.Twose then blasted three Max shots over the long on-long off fence, one a four and two sixes, before Craig Pryor bowled him. When Chris Nevin departed two balls later, the momentum was lost and two other strong hitters, Richard Petrie and Grant Donaldson were forced to graft more than they would have wanted.But if Wellington’s bowlers were tight in the first innings, they were more impressive in the second and Otago was squeezed out of the game. Bulfin (1-11), Walker (2-10) and Hitchcock (2-14) off their two overs were outstanding.

Rahul Arora’s unbeaten 112 and his fourth wicket partnership of 121runs with opener Varun Gupta (95) went a long way in clinching thevital first innings lead for Punjab against Saurashtra on the secondday of their Vijay Merchant Trophy knock out tournament quarterfinalat Kolkata on Saturday. Replying to Saurashtra’s score of 295, Punjabby brisk scoring, had made 312 for six wickets off 78 overs by stumps.Saurashtra had the comfort of some early wickets and at 69 for three,Punjab were not very comfortably placed. But Varun Gupta and RahulArora turned the innings around with their crucial association. Guptawas out at 190 after facing 135 balls and hitting 16 fours. Arorafound another valuable ally in Gaurav Gupta (28) with whom he added 46runs for the sixth wicket. And finally Arora and Tarun Kansh (44 notout) added 65 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket to steer Punjabahead. By close, Arora had batted four hours, faced 163 balls and hitten fours. Kansh, who dominated the unbroken stand, had faced 84 ballsand hit eight of them to the ropes.Earlier, Saurashtra resuming at Thursday’s score of 269 for eight(there was no play on Friday because of a bandh in the state) were allout after adding 26 runs. Amit Sinha, who came in at No 9 on Thursdayevening and resumed at 57, was last out for the top score of 75. Hefaced 144 balls and hit 12 fours. Vipul Sharma, who took both thewickets to fall on Saturday morning, finished with five for 43.

Cricket returns to the controversial Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium when Sri Lanka ‘A’ take on Pakistan ‘A’ in the first of three four-day unofficial ‘Tests’ starting on Wednesday.The stadium, built at an estimated cost of around Rs. 300 million, but now running close to the Rs. 500 million mark, is presently under intense scrutiny due to alleged financial mismanagement.The Dambulla has hosted only two one-day limited-over games previously – both played early this year. One was a practice game including past and present Sri Lanka cricketers to inaugurate the ground, and the other, the first One-Day International between Sri Lanka and England played here on March 23.The pitch was sluggish and England struggled against the off-spin ofMuttiah Muralitharan who took four wickets for 29 runs to dismiss them for 143 well inside the 50 overs. Sri Lanka begun well, racing to 50 for one by the tenth over, but lost three wickets for eight runs within the space of 32 balls.A fifth wicket partnership of 70 between Marvan Atapattu and Russel Arnold saw them through by five wickets with almost ten overs to spare. Graham Thorpe, making his debut as England captain, scored the only half-century of the match – a combative 62 not out off 107 balls.A lot of water has flown under the bridge since that inaugural international match, and the once highly praised stadium, has suddenly become something of a ‘social pariah’ when the Sports Minister took it upon himself to replace the elected Cricket Board officials with an interim committee to administer the game.How the Dambulla pitch will behave over four days is a matter of conjecture as no match of such a long duration has been played on it to date.It was a wise move on the part of the Cricket Board’s interim committee to shift the match from the NCC to Dambulla because of the bad weather being experienced in Colombo at present. Although Dambulla was chosen as a cricket venue to prevent the game from the vagaries of the weather, there is no guarantee that it will be free of it.It rained here all Monday, and although there were threatening dark clouds hovering around the ground Tuesday, a stiff breeze kept the rains at bay allowing the two sides to practice.The Cricket Board’s chief curator Anurudda Polonowita who is handling the preparations of the ground here said the pitch would have more life than the one used for the One-Day International against England.On paper, Pakistan ‘A’ look the more experienced side than their Sri Lankan counterparts with as many as seven of the 15 players having appeared in Test cricket and three others in one-day internationals.Skipper Hasan Raza, Imran Farhat, Qaiser Abbas, Misbah-ul-Haq, Humayun Farhat, Danish Kaneria, and Irfan Fazil have all played at the highest level, and Shabbir Ahmed, Yasir Arafat and Kashif Raza in the shorter game.Comparatively, Sri Lanka ‘A’ have only Kumar Sangakkara and Ruchira Perera with Test experience, and skipper Thilan Samaraweera, Chimera Silva and Akalanka Ganegama who have appeared in one-day internationals, even though the original squad invited for training consists of many experienced cricketers.Although winning is part of the exercise, the most important aspect of these tours is to unearth new talent and feed them to the senior national side. In that aspect, Pakistan coach/manager Mudassar Nazar was more to the point when he said that he would be happy if by the end of the tour, he can pick four to five players who are ready to play at the highest level.Sri Lanka won the last ‘A’ series played at home defeating Zimbabwe by 2-0 (1 drawn) in the three unofficial ‘Test’ matches. They were led on that occasion by Samaraweera who played a prominent role as an all-rounder scoring an unbeaten century at Galle and following it up with a match haul of nine wickets at Matara to seal the two wins.The teams:
Sri Lanka ‘A’ (from):Thilan Samaraweera (captain),Dhammika Sudarshana, Ian Daniel, Kumar Sangakkara, Michael van Dort, Chimera Silva, Jeevantha Kulatunga, Sajeewa Weerakoon, Chandana Samarasinghe, Ruchira Perera, Akalanka Ganegama, Dinusha Fernando, Upekha Fernando, Gayan Wijekoon, Muthumudalige Pushpakumara.
Pakistan ‘A’ (from): Hasan Raza (captain), Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Salman Butt, Faisal Naved, Qaiser Abbas, Misbah-ul-Haq, Humayun Farhat, Shabbir Ahmed, Najaf Shah, Danish Kaneria, Azam Hussain, Irfan Fazil, Yasir Arafat, Kashif Raza.
Umpires: Gamini Silva and Ranmor Martinesz, Match Referee: Don Anurasiri.

Runs kept coming at The Oval with Mark Ramprakash featuring prominently in registering his second CricInfo Championship century. It was a brilliant, chanceless innings and by stumps took Surrey to an imposing 322 for threeThroughout his 228 minutes at the crease he looked totally at ease against the Somerset attack, playing his shots with confidence and showing what a force he remains on the county circuit. His 119-run, third-wicket stand, from 163 balls, with Nadeem Shahid further strengthened Surrey’s position, after he had already put on 79 earlier for the second wicketRamprakash remained unbeaten on 116 off 190 balls and played the major role in Surrey’s progress to just 55 runs behind – with seven wickets standing – Somerset’s substantial first innings.Shahid’s innings was equally impressive with 50 of his 65 runs coming from boundaries and just as Mark Butcher and Ramprakash had done, he too made Somerset’s bowling look quite innocuous. None of the bowlers were able to settle under the onslaught from Surrey’s strong upper-order batting.Faced with Somerset’s considerable first innings total of 377, which now looks inadequate, Surrey’s left-handed opening pair Butcher and Ian Ward began a spirited reply, reaching 50 in 10.3 overs. Butcher was particularly fluent in his strokeplay and along with Ward took the total to 76 before the first bowling change split the stand when Ian Jones had Ward caught at second slip.With Mark Ramprakash coming in, the scoring rate remained brisk and Butcher reached his fifty from 59 balls. They took the total to 155 in 40 overs when Butcher drove at Keith Dutch only to edge the ball to slip. Forty of his 76 had come from boundries.It was an excellent knock from Butcher; he used his feet well to the spinners, Dutch and Ian Blackwell, playing his shots mainly in the cover and wide mid-wicket area. But one of his finest shots was the flick to backward square-leg that gave him his fifty.Ramprakash, who was 43 at Butcher’s dismissal, reached his half-century in the last over before tea which was taken on 178 for two.Earlier today, in the Somerset innings, Richard Johnson’s hard hitting half-century was most entertaining, containing two sixes and five fours. His was the last wicket to fall, half-an-hour-before lunch.Resuming on the overnight score of 260 for six, the lower order had little difficulty in adding 117 with Blackwell first and then Johnson doing the bulk of the scoring with the help of two sixes and five fours.Blackwell added 31 to his overnight score before Martin Bicknell took the second new ball and hit his off-stump. He struck again, having Matthew Bulbeck caught low at gully and Somerset were 326 for nine. Then came the free-hitting 51-run stand, from 57 balls, before Bicknell picked up his third wicket of the morning, bowling Johnson for 51 and finishing with figures of four for 62.

Central Districts’ 52nd annual general meeting will be held in Palmerston North on Sunday, September 2 at 2pm.Nominations for officers of the Association close with the executive director Blair Furlong on August 17 at 5pm.Any notices of motion need to be received by the executive director by 5pm on August 3.On the day of the annual meeting, a meeting of the Central Districts council will be held at 11am.Nominations and notices of motion can be sent to: P.O. Box 309 Napier, Fax: (06) 835 0543, E-mail: [email protected].

After seeing his side end the day on 291 for 6 at Taunton Somerset Coach Kevin Shine told me: “It was a good end to the day for us. ‘Dutchy’ and ‘Noddy’ played very well for us.”When asked about the innings of ‘keeper Rob Turner, who returned to form to end the day on 71 not out he said: “Rob is getting back to where he was two years ago. He’s decided to keep it as simple as possible,and as the old saying goes -‘if it isn’t broke why fix it’. Today he kept it simple and it worked.”

Michael Di Venuto and Graeme Welch raised Derbyshire’s hopes of their first Championship win of the summer as Warwickshire wilted on the third day at Edgbaston.Warwickshire old boy Welch undermined his old county with his second five-wicket haul of the summer and Di Venuto then dismantled Warwickshire’s powder-puff attack as he raced to a brilliant 109.It was only the Tasmanian left-hander’s second Championship century in as many seasons for Derbyshire but it turned a first innings deficit of 39 into a potential match-winning lead of 165 as Derbyshire closed on 204 for two.Di Venuto received excellent support from Steve Stubbings in a belligerent stand of 170, Derbyshire’s best for the first wicket in a year, in which the pair romped along at more than four an over.Warwickshire either over-pitched or dropped short and Di Venuto savaged them as he cut and straight drove his way to an imperious century.Stubbings, who reached his fifty first, was first out when he nibbled Dougie Brown to wicket-keeper Keith Piper.Di Venuto fell shortly after he had completed his century when he top-edged Brown to square leg having struck 18 fours from 127 balls.Earlier Welch and another Warwickshire exile, Tim Munton, had made their former county graft for runs as they extracted late movement from the pitch under heavy cloud cover.Warwickshire’s problems were increased by two silly run-outs including Dominic Ostler who returned to the crease after he was forced to retire hurt with a recurrence of an elbow injury.Ostler has had four injections in his right elbow during the course of the season and he is already rated doubtful for next Wednesday’s C&G Trophy quarter-final against Yorkshire.Welch worked his way through the order and completed the sixth five-wicket haul of his career when Neil Carter was pinned lbw by a full-length delivery.

Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya was delighted after his sideconvincingly beat India by 10 wickets in the Galle Test. After thematch,the Sri Lankan captain said, “It was very pleasing, as wehaven’t had a victory against India for 16 years.””We played our natural game and played hard right from the start. Webowled well, especially Dilhara (Fernando), who took the initiativeaway from India. Murali then cleaned up things for us,” remarkedJayasuriya.The southpaw from Matara feels that the burden on Muralitharan’sshoulders has been reduced,”It’s pleasing to note that there are a lotof upcoming fast bowlers in Sri Lanka now. We don’t have any fearsabout our future fast bowling reserves.”With the bowlers having done a decent job, it was then up to thebatsman to put the side on top. “Marvan (Atapattu) and I started welland then Kumar (Sangakkara), who had been in the best of form, playedbrilliantly to ensure that we had a lead of 175.”Coach Dav Whatmore admitted that the team enjoys playing in Galle.”When we win by ten wickets things have gone our way. But it’s not astrange phenomenona for us in this venue. This has been a happyhunting ground for us.”However, Whatmore sounded a note of caution. “This was just one game.We are in the beginning of reconstructing the team, so that we do notonly do well in home conditions, but will prosper away as well.”Before the match there was some debate as to who should keep wicket.Whatmore admitted that it was a tough job for Sangakkara, who alsobats at number three “It’s a physically demanding job and Kumar(Sangakkara) needs to be extremely fit. It is not an ideal situation,but he is willing to take on the challenge.”Jaysuriya defended the selection of Suresh Perera, who did not performwith the bat and failed to bowl in the second innings. “Suresh (Perera)is an exciting all rounder and we need to groom him for the future. Ithought he bowled well in the first innings and was only not used inthe second because the pitch suited the spinners more.”

A stand of 113 in 20 overs between Darren Lehmann and Craig White laid the platform for Yorkshire Phoenix to win a tense day/night thriller against Nottinghamshire Outlaws at Trent Bridge by three wickets with just four balls to spare.The win broke a sequence of three successive defeats against the Outlaws in the national cricket league but they had to survive a few anxious moments before confirming the win which lifts them to within two points of Notts in fifth place in the Division One table.Lehmann’s partnership with White began with the Phoenix reply in ruins at 31-4 with Greg Smith and Nadeem Malik sharing the wickets.Batting under lights is never easy but for a 20-minute spell the two batsmen also had to contend with the off field distraction of smoke billowing from underneath the William Clarke Stand when the cooking range in one of the refreshment kiosks caught fire. The ringing of alarms, the arrival of the fire engines plus tannoy announcements to vacate the area would have tested the concentration of anyone.Lehmann proceeded to his 50 from 52 balls and White from 53 as they threatened to overhaul the useful Notts total. If anyone on the field would have wanted to dismiss Lehmann it would have been his great friend and South Australian team-mate Greg Blewett and it was he who had cause for celebration when he knocked back the left-handers off stump.White, though, found his new partner, skipper David Byas, in inspired form. His timing was immaculate from the off and his punchy midwicket drives propelled a 50 partnership in just eight overs.61 runs were needed from the last 10 overs and sensible strokeplay reduced that to 33 from six when Byas hoisted Gareth Clough to deep square leg where Paul Johnson took a well-judged catch.Two balls later the ground erupted for a catch of supreme athleticism. White, who’d made 73, slashed the same bowler powerfully to point. Kevin Pietersen threw his 6’5″ to his right to pluck a one handed catch inches from the ground. A better catch you will never see!Yorkshire weren’t finished though as Richard Blakey and Andy Gray scrambled ever closer and in a dramatic penultimate over 12 runs were scored to bring them within four of victory. Blakey drove Richard Logan to the extra cover boundary for the winning runs.Earlier there had been useful contributions from all of the Outlaws’ top six. Usman Afzaal top scored with 53 and both Blewett and Pietersen got into the 40’s as the home side reached 244-7 in their 45 overs.