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Central Districts v Otago
A staggering 466 runs were scored on the first day at Napier, thanks largely to a career-best 217 from Ross Taylor. Many pundits were picking Taylor to be part of the New Zealand squad playing Sri Lanka and he showed why, scoring his runs off just 212 balls with 26 boundaries and two sixes. Magnifying his innings was the fact of the other Central batsmen only Bevan Griggs passed 30, scoring 75 in a third-wicket partnership of 158. James McMillan continued his impressive start to the season with 4 for 82. Central might even feel a little disappointed with their total of 394, given that Otago had cruised serenely to 72 for 1 at stumps, Sean Haig and Aaron Redmond the not-out batsmen.Wellington v Northern Districts
A far more sedate day’s play was taking place in Hamilton, where last season’s runner-up Wellington cruised through to stumps at 351 for 4. A toothless Northern attack could do nothing to upset the visitors, particularly Matthew Bell, who scored his 17th first-class century before being dismissed for 101. Joining in the run feast were the Parlanes, with Michael scoring 61 and Neal unbeaten on 66. Chris Nevin chipped in with an even 50. Graeme Aldridge was the best of a disappointing attack with 2 for 69.Canterbury v Auckland
Canterbury put the yawns on everybody by limping through to a sleep-inducing 251 against home side Auckland at the Eden Park Outer Oval. Only discarded New Zealand batsman Peter Fulton quickened the pulse with a well-made 68 off 99 balls. Michael Papps scored 21 on his comeback from injury. Andre Adams was Auckland’s best bowler with 3 for 57 off 25 overs. Tim McIntosh, the Auckland opener, scored four runs off the only available over before stumps.

Worcestershire have signed Fidel Edwards, the West Indian fast bowler, as their overseas player for the second half of the 2008 season. Edwards is expected to join the club in time for their match against Northamptonshire on July 10, subject to clearance from the West Indies Cricket Board.Worcestershire had failed to sign Shane Bond, the former New Zealand fast bowler, after several weeks of negotiations but are confident in the international experience Edwards brings to the club.”Fidel is an International strike bowler with 30 Test matches under his belt who has the ability to bowl at 90 mph. His pace and aggression will suit Worcestershire for the second half of the season when the wickets have dried out,” Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire’ director of cricket, said. “He is exciting to watch and will add even more venom to our bowling attack.”Edwards, 26, said that playing county cricket had been an ambition for some time, and that he was excited at the opportunity to join the club. “I have heard it is hard work but I like it when I am being tested. It’s going to be a learning experience for me and I am willing to give whatever experience I have gained from playing test cricket. I can’t wait to be there.”Edwards has taken 75 Test and 44 one-day international wickets respectively.

Neil Williams, the medium-fast bowler who played one Test for England in 1990, has died in hospital after short battle against pneumonia. He was 43. He suffered a stroke at his St Vincent home three weeks ago from which he never recovered.Williams’ one cap came when he was drafted into the England side for the final Test against India at The Oval in 1990 when Chris Lewis withdrew with a migraine. India amassed 606 for 9 and Williams took 2 for 148 – but the victims were Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin. Sent in as a nightwatchman on the second evening, he made 38 in a second-wicket stand of 74 with Graham Gooch, an achievement he rated higher than his two wickets. He was not considered for that winter’s Ashes series, and when not even summoned when injuries hit, it was clear that at 28 his chance had come and gone.Williams was born in St Vincent and was a quietly spoken player who was happy to let others grab the headlines. He emigrated to Britain when he was 13 and joined Middlesex after a season-and-a-half as an MCC Young Professional during which time he had been playing for Hornsey. A deeply religious man, when he first arrived at Lord’s he refused to play on Sundays.

He made his county debut for Middlesex in 1982, one of a number of Caribbean-born players to represent them in the 1980s – Roland Butcher, Wilf Slack and Norman Cowans, who also debuted in 1982, were among the others. Brisk rather than fast, Williams was accurate and had a dangerous late away-swinger, and in a 12-year career with Middlesex made 193 appearances, taking 479 wickets. He was a key part of four Championship-winning sides (1982, 1985, 1990, 1992) and in 1995, following a successful benefit, he moved to Essex where he played until 1998.In the winters he played three seasons for Windward Islands and also enjoyed one season with Tasmania in 1983-84. He was the coach of St Vincent’s Academy for Kids at the time of his death.Mike Brearley, his first captain at Middlesex, said he was a “modest, unassuming person who always did his absolute best for the team,” while Christopher Martin-Jenkins described him as a “courteous, friendly man brought up to believe in the precious traditions of fair play”. Former team-mate Angus Fraser said he was “a very talented bowler who, in another era and had he not picked up so many injuries, may have played for England a few more times.”

Group A
Faisalabad Wolves, one of the favourites for the title, got themselvesup and running in the competition with a 24-run win over Lahore Eagles. And as in their two-run loss in their opening game, it was skipperMisbah-ul-Haq once again leading the way. He followed his 53 withanother cultured innings, an unbeaten 60 that led the Wolves to a parscore of 162. The Eagles never soared, losing Ashfaq Ahmed off thesecond ball of the innings. No one scored more than 29 as Shahid Nazir(two for 26) led a strong Wolves attack to consign the Eagles to theirfirst defeat.Group B
Farce, controversy, Duckworth and Lewis conspired to produce a two-runwin for defending champions Sialkot Stallions against the KarachiZebras. Being bundled out for 106 was no way for champions to starttheir defense, with only Rana Naved-ul-Hasan’s 28 denying Malik Aftab (4for 17) and Danish Kaneria (3 for 11). But when the Zebras came out tobat, Mohammad Asif and Naved-ul-Hasan reminded everyone just why theStallions remain favourites this year. Together they reduced the Zebrasto 69 for five, despite a clever partnership between Faisal Iqbal andHasan Raza that ended with both batsmen throwing their wickets away. Atthat stage, 69 for five, the match was wide open but a floodlightfailure meant that no further progress could be made. The umpires chosenot to wait too long for a potentially exciting climax, whereuponentered Duckworth and Lewis.Group C
In a match studded with superstar comebacks, it was the unheraldedleg-spin of Imranullah Aslam that led the Multan Tigers to a 21-run winover the Islamabad Leopards. Aslam took five for 17 as the Leopardscrashed chasing 148, only Bazid Khan making an impression, with 53.Shabbir Ahmed did his continuing rehabilitation no harm, supportingAslam with three wickets. But the one player all eyes were on didn’tdistinguish himself: Shoaib Akhtar, leading the Leopards, ended withnone for 30 from his four overs, including 20 off the last. Instead, itwas team-mate Azhar Mahmood, whispered off as a potential returnee forthe World Cup, with three for 17, who did much of the damage.Group D
Mohammad Wasim did as all good openers do, carrying his bat through 20overs for Rawalpindi Rams, as he led them to a comfortable 20-run winover Quetta Bears. Wasim, a former Pakistan Test opener, made 86 but itwas only a sixth-wicket partnership with the feisty Yasir Arafat, whomade 43, that led the Rams to 172. No one could replicate Wasim’scontribution for the Bears, a number of batsmen like Shoaib Khan (44)getting off to a good start but not finishing. Emblematic, ultimately,of the Bears finishing close, but not close enough.

Scorecard

Lancashire may have had a wry smile when the fixture list pitted them back at The Oval, the scene of their heartbreaking 25-run defeat last September which handed Sussex the Championship title, for the first match of this season. They weren’t grinning, however, as Mark Ramprakash added to the twin centuries he scored in that game with his 98th first-class hundred as Surrey motored to 242 for 2 and overshadowed the return of Andrew Flintoff.For Ramprakash it was as though 2007 had never finished, but he should have been marching off with a duck. The over after Flintoff struck with his 20th ball Ramprakash edged the lively Oliver Newby behind, but Luke Sutton could only palm a regulation chance through the slips. There will have been a feeling of déjà vu in the Lancashire camp; during the match last September they had a chance to remove Ramprakash twice in single figures. History repeated itself when Ramprakash, on 24, pushed the ball towards mid-off and set off for a single before slipping mid-pitch. Flintoff collected, turned but missed his shy at the non-striker’s end with Ramprakash stranded.From then on it felt inevitable that Ramprakash would reach three figures, and the second half of his innings was markedly quicker. He brought up the hundred off 164 balls with a meaty pull through midwicket. It was just one of a string of imperious shots with his driving a stand-out feature. Before this game Ramprakash spoke about a couple of soft dismissals he’d suffered in pre-season and how it warned him to keep working. Faced with the first real serious challenge of the season it was enough to focus the mind.However, regardless of how many runs Ramprakash makes – and today’s came in front of Geoff Miller, the national selector – an England recall seems to have passed him by. Miller, though, was really here to watch Flintoff, playing his first first-class match since last August and he produced spells of five and four overs before bad light cut short his third stint. Play had been delayed by two hours by heavy overnight rain, but the surface was unaffected and Mark Butcher was happy to bat.Flintoff came on in the 13th over and worked up a decent head of steam from the Pavilion End on a typically true Oval pitch, following through nicely and getting the ball carrying to Sutton at waist height. His first spell ended with the impressive figures of 5-3-9-1 and he remained the pick of a Lancashire attack that struggled to contain except when Gary Keedy wheeled away from the Vauxhall End.The ball that gave Flintoff his first first-class wicket since August 11 was one of his more undisguised efforts as he dragged the delivery down short. Scott Newman quickly latched on with a pull, but didn’t keep the ball down as it spiralled towards long-leg where Newby sprinted in and held a fine, low catch. Newby had taken the opening wicket in the previous over, trapping Jon Batty lbw with a full delivery.Newby should have also been involved in a third wicket and Lancashire were made to pay for giving Ramprakash a life. Butcher joined in an entertaining third-wicket stand of 186 and was actually the more fluent early on. He crunched a couple of pleasing early drives and reached his half-century off 89 balls. His chance to open the hundred account for the season must wait; Ramprakash has already started and the countdown is on.

16 – The number of times Australia have beaten New Zealand in the last 18 ODIs between the two teams3 – The number of half-centuries for Daniel Vettori in ODIs. Two of them have come against Australia – at Christchurch in 2005 he scored 83, his highest in ODIs103 – The seventh-wicket partnership between Vettori and Jacob Oram – it’s New Zealand’s third-highest for that wicket in ODIs, after the 115 that Lee Germon and Adam Parore added against Pakistan at Sharjah in 1996, and Parore and Dipak Patel’s 111-run stand against West Indies at Kingston.28 – The number of runs Daniel Vettori leaked in his last four overs after conceding just 13 in his first six52 – The number of runs Australia scored in their last ten overs, despite having six wickets in hand after 40 overs15.21 – Hamish Marshall’s average in his last 21 ODIs.51.98 – The average partnership between Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn in ODIs. In 62 innings they have added 3015 runs46.36 – Andrew Symonds’ average in ODIs won by Australia. Of his 25 fifty-plus scores, only one has been in a losing cause18.36 – Glenn McGrath’s bowling average in ODIs against New Zealand. In 27 matches against them he has taken 53 wickets

Harbhajan Singh has been temporarily suspended from the Indian Premier League following his spat with Sreesanth at the end of the Mumbai-Punjab game in Mohali on Friday.His suspension is pending the inquiry into the incident on Monday, which means he would not be able to play Mumbai’s home match against Deccan Chargers on Sunday.”Based on prima facie video evidence as seen and reviewed by the match adjudicator and referee Farokh Engineer from the tapes provided by Sony & TWI a decision has been reached to suspend Harbhajan Singh pending the inquiry into the incident on Monday, April 28th 2008,” a release from the Indian board said.Engineer will conduct a hearing on April 28 inquiring into the Harbhajan-Sreesanth row in Delhi. Both Harbhajan and Sreesanth will be present and video evidence, if any, will be used during the hearing which will be conducted as per the ICC Code of Conduct.Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer of the board, said Harbhajan was answerable to both the IPL and the BCCI. “There will be separate inquiries from the IPL and BCCI,” he said.Engineer was the match referee of the game between the Kings XI Punjab and the Mumbai Indians, after the completion of which Harbhajan allegedly slapped Sreesanth, reducing him to tears on the field. Although both players sought to play down the incident, the Punjab team lodged a formal complaint against Harbhajan Singh to the BCCI. The Indian board took a serious view of the incident and asked him submit his explanation before April 28.”The inquiry date has been fixed for Monday in New Delhi. We are not going to sweep things under the carpet. The complaint has to be carefully examined before any decision is made,” Engineer said. “Everything possible will be done to adjudicate it immediately.”The complaint made by the management of the Punjab team has been referred to me by Lalit Modi, chief commissioner of the IPL, for immediate adjudication under the ICC Code of Conduct. I have already started the process and will be summoning all concerned and will also seek any video evidence recorded by the host broadcaster.”Since the process has started I will request the media not to seek any further clarification or information. I will furnish my report to chief commissioner of IPL, keeping in view the ICC code of Conduct and interest of cricket.”The Mumbai Indians are hopeful the issue will be resolved amicably. Reacting to the news that Harbhajan has been temporarily suspended till the hearing on Monday, a top team official of the Mumbai Indians said, “The incident involving Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth of the Kings XI Punjab was most unfortunate.”The [IPL] governing council has set up an adjudication panel to inquire into the incident. The Mumbai Indians are confident that the decision taken by the panel will be in the best interests of cricket and the Indian Premier League.”IS Bindra, the Punjab Cricket Association president, said they would provide logistical support to Engineer to conduct the inquiry. The hearing will take place at the Maurya Sheraton, New Delhi on April 28th, after which Engineer will announce his verdict.

At the beginning of the series against Australia, India’s middle-order batsman Robin Uthappa had said his team would meet “fire with fire”. On the eve of the fourth ODI in Chandigarh with India trailing 0-2, Uthappa admitted that the “intensity levels had dropped” after the World Twenty20 because “they had little time to plan for a tough series”.Keeping the intensity levels high and playing hard cricket is what Ricky Ponting had said aggression was all about. He felt Australia’s dominance was a result of them training and preparing harder than most teams and their confident on-field attitude was a result of their meticulous planning. In Kochi, Australia had Yuvraj Singh caught on the drive by Matthew Hayden at short cover for 10. In Hyderabad, however, Yuvraj scored a scintillating 121 off 115 balls and Ponting said a team meeting had been held to form a plan of attack against him.”We’ve looked at a few different lines and lengths that we should be bowling to him and some areas that we let him off in the last game. We’ll adjust things a little bit and test him in different areas and see what the outcome is.”Ponting had also said the inclusion of India’s big three – Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid – in the ODI squad after they opted out of the Twenty20 tournament could work to Australia’s advantage because they knew their strengths and weaknesses. That statement was backed up by what followed. Ganguly hasn’t had a hit yet but Tendulkar and Dravid have scored only 90 runs between them in five innings.”If you have a look at a couple of their [Tendulkar and Dravid’s] dismissals, it would have been the way that we wanted to get them out, the way we’ve got them out a few times in the past. We know that they are quality players and on any given day they can be match-winners for India.”Sachin was just working his way into his innings the last game, setting himself up for a big one, so we have to make sure we don’t let him off the hook early on. If Ganguly plays tomorrow, we’ve got a pretty good idea of where we should be bowling to him and, so far, we’ve got Dravid pretty well looked after. But you can’t expect that to keep happening, these guys are going to come good and play well at some stage and we’re prepared for that if they do.”Australia have backed up all their talk with quality performances in the three games so far. It doesn’t matter whether the Indians get in the Australians’ faces on Monday, what matters is if they’ll be able to get on the scoreboard.

Dates for the second Ol Pejeta “Cricket in the Wild” tournament in Kenya have been confirmed – the competition will begin on Friday September 28.The three-day event is designed to raise funds to support the Ol Pejeta Conservancy – a 90,000 acre wildlife park at the foothills of Mount Kenya – which, it is hoped, will help with the development of schools and other local facilities.Each of the eight teams, split into two leagues, is required to raise a minimum of KSh200,000 (USD 2900) – usually by sponsorship – to secure their place in the tournament. The cricket itself will be 10:10 (10 overs per side) with eight-ball overs.The winner receives a trophy, and there will be a special prize for the most humorous sledge, at the umpire’s discretion.

Sri Lanka 294 for 7 (Sangakkara 81, Jayasuriya 77) beat Scotland 135 by 159 runs
Scorecard

Sri Lanka’s veteran batsmen proved too strong for Scotland’s bowlers in their warm-up match at the 3Ws Oval in Barbados, as Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya rattled up an imposing total of 294 for 7 with a pair of brisk half-centuries. With Upul Tharanga anchoring the innings with a composed 70 from 114 balls, Scotland’s resolve crumbled as they were bowled out for 134 in reply.Sangakkara top-scored with 81 from 57 balls, but it was Jayasuriya – inevitably – who provided the turbo-charged start to Sri Lanka’s innings. He thumped four fours and five sixes in a 62-ball 77, with the captain, Craig Wright, coming in for special punishment: his solitary over was clubbed for 20 runs.Farveez Maharoof applied the finishing touch to Sri Lanka’s innings with 28 from 14 balls, including two fours and two sixes, and got in on the act with the ball as well, as he dismissed the dangerous Ryan Watson for 17. Scotland were never in the reckoning from the moment that Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga grabbed three wickets for nine runs.Jayasuriya also enjoyed himself with the ball, taking 2 for 7 in two overs as Scotland’s innings ebbed away. After the game Sri Lanka’s captain, Mahela Jayawardene, said he was satisfied, but they can still raise the bar.”We had a great day out and we are pleased with the result at the end of theday,” he said. “We still can get better and we will be working on ourintensity. There were times today when we slackened of a bit, so we knowwhat we have to do come Friday.”Scotland’s captain, Wright, summed up the game as a “a great learningexperience” and said his players would come back stronger in the other matches.He praised his seamers John Blain, who took 2 for 51, and Dougie Brown (2for 52) for their discipline and smart use of the change of pace. He alsonoted that left-hander Gavin Hamilton played well for his 25 off 59, whichmanaged to keep out Muttiah Muralitharan.