Andrew Strauss warmed up for next week’s first Test by taking the early honours at the start of the head-to-head with Zaheer Khan on his guest appearance for Somerset

The Bulletin by Andrew McGlashan at Taunton15-Jul-2011
Live scorecardArul Suppiah cracked an unbeaten 145 on the first day of India’s tour match against Somerset•Getty Images

Andrew Strauss warmed up for next week’s first Test by taking the early honours at the start of the head-to-head with Zaheer Khan on his guest appearance for Somerset, and Arul Suppiah hit an unbeaten 145 as the Indians were made to toil at Taunton. Strauss and Suppiah added 101 for the first wicket before Suppiah and Nick Compton put on 223 between two stoppages for rain to take the home side to an imposing 329 for 2.Strauss struck 11 boundaries in bringing up his half-century from a sprightly 63 balls. All his shots were in good working order as he drove, pulled, and glanced his way into form ahead of Lord’s next week. He did have a couple of close shaves: firstly on 20 when Zaheer had a big lbw shout turned down by Graham Lloyd, and then on 64 when Wriddhiman Saha, the reserve wicketkeeper playing in place of the rested MS Dhoni, dropped an edge off Amit Mishra. However, the keeper took the next chance when an edge bobbled off the pad and looped in the air as Strauss departed for 78. In the context of the runs that followed, he missed out.The loan deal for Strauss had provoked debate, both about the whether the structure of domestic cricket does all it can to help the England team, and also what Somerset gained from the move. Despite coming off a four-day Championship match, the county fielded several first-team regulars, including England Lions captain James Hildreth, and somebody missed out to let Strauss play. However, he received a warm ovation as he left the field following his innings and, wearing his Somerset kit, appeared to have been adopted at least for the day.”He looked very good, he was moving his feet very well and striking the ball out of the middle,” Suppiah said of Strauss. “It’s just a shame he got out, he probably could have got a hundred but he played really well. He looks hungry for runs, left the ball well and played straight which is the main thing for an opener.”The battle with Zaheer was a gentle precursor of what will follow in the Tests as the bowler eased himself back into action after a lengthy lay-off following the IPL. The initial overs of Zaheer’s first spell were friendly, but he started to generate a touch more pace and find some swing later in an eight-over burst.Zaheer is the only one in this Indians’ attack certain to play at Lord’s next week with Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar rested following their workload in the Caribbean. It meant a chance for Sreesanth and Munaf Patel to stake a claim for the third seamer’s slot, although neither made a compelling case. The attack actually looked toothless – Suresh Raina’s late wicket of Compton came when the batsman reverse-swept to short third man – but India will back themselves to lift for the major challenge.Sreesanth was tight to begin with but Strauss started to take to him with three boundaries in an over as he moved to his half-century. Patel, meanwhile, was steady but didn’t provide much threat. Mishra began with three no-balls in his first three overs and Strauss picked off the legspinner with ease, pulling him over midwicket and driving through the off side, before the bowler struck back.While Strauss’s runs will be welcome, he’ll know that they don’t guarantee a successful start to the Tests. Ahead of the Sri Lanka series he scored two hundreds – one of them against the visitors at Uxbridge – but then struggled to convert that when the internationals began, and ended with 27 runs from four innings.With the focus understandably on Strauss, Suppiah was a quiet partner in every sense at the other end. He didn’t register a boundary until the start of the second hour when he played a lovely straight drive, but a sign of the gentle nature of the surface was that he, too, didn’t have many alarms.Rain brought a lengthy stoppage shortly after lunch but when the skies cleared, Suppiah and Compton made positive progress as the Indians found wickets elusive. Suppiah became increasingly positive on either side of his half-century, but the Indians missed a chance to break the partnership when Compton, on 24, was dropped at square by Sachin Tendulkar, when he pulled Sreesanth.Compton cashed in on his chance with a series of well-timed boundaries, one of which was a stand-and-deliver cover drive off Zaheer, who was the pick of a disappointing seam attack, as he reached a half century from 74 deliveries. Mishra was taken at more than four-an-over and also dropped a tough caught-and-bowled chance off Suppiah, who was on 71. Mishra was forced to leave the field mid-over for treatment on his finger but was said to be fine. The 17 overs shared by the part-time spinners, Raina and Yuvraj Singh, cost 110 runs including 18 off one Yuvraj over.The resumption after tea was delayed by further rain, but the final hour was possible which gave Suppiah the chance to register his sixth first-class hundred from 179 balls, and he is closing in on a new career-best. It’s been a good time for Suppiah: he registered world record Twenty20 figures of 6 for 5 in a Friends Life t20 game against Glamorgan last week. And it won’t have done him any harm to score runs in front of the England captain.

Joe Root, the Yorkshire batsman, and Lancashire left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan have been called into the England Lions squad to face Sri Lanka A

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2011Joe Root, the Yorkshire batsman, and Lancashire left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan have been called into the England Lions squad to face Sri Lanka A in the one-day series which starts on Friday.Root, who made 66 in the four-day fixture against the same opposition, replaces Ravi Bopara after his inclusion in the full England side to face India at Edgbaston. Kerrigan, meanwhile, takes the place of Danny Briggs, the Hampshire spinner, who has picked up a shoulder injury.Briggs took 5 for 19 in Hampshire’s Friends Life t20 victory against Durham on Saturday which secured them a spot on finals day. Kerrigan has played six of Lancashire’s t20 matches and two County Championship games along with eight CB40 outings.The three-match one-day series begins at New Road on August 12 before the second match at the same venue two days later then a final game on August 16 at Wantage Road.

Dawid Malan struck a brilliant century as Middlesex took control on the third day of their top-of-the-table clash against Northamptonshire

26-Aug-2011
ScorecardMiddlesex’s hopes of forcing a victory over County Championship Division Two leaders Northamptonshire were dashed as the final day’s play of their Wantage Road clash was washed out.Northamptonshire had ended day three on 22 without loss, 181 runs behind their opponents, but second-placed Middlesex were deprived of the chance to press home their advantage as play was abandoned at 2pm. They would have had high hopes after declaring on 479 for 8 yesterday in reply to Northamptonshire’s 276 all out, but have to settle for 10 points from the draw, which puts them 18 points off the pace with a game in hand.Northamptonshire come out of this match with six points and will look to take a giant step towards promotion against Surrey at Wantage Road next week whilst Middlesex face bottom club Leicestershire at Lord’s.

A round-up of the fourth match-day of the Quadrangular Under-19 series in India

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Oct-2011India Under-19s continued to dominate in the youth quadrangular series in Visakhapatnam, registering a comprehensive six-wicket win against Australia Under-19s.Batting first, Australia was in trouble straightaway, losing their top three for only three runs to Sandeep Sharma. Ashton Turner and captain Kurtis Patterson essayed a brief recovery, but once offspinner Baba Aparajith broke the stand, none of the lower middle could get going as Australia folded for 173 in 48.5 overs. In reply, India were solid, knocking off the runs with 17.4 overs to spare. The chase was built around a number of 30 and 40 something cameos from the top order – Aparajith top scored with an unbeaten 48. This is India’s fourth win in four games in the series.A team performance helped Sri Lanka Under 19s to a two-wicket win against West Indies Under-19s.Choosing to bat, West Indies slumped to 94 for 5 in 28 overs, before a 152-run stand for the sixth wicket between Kavem Hodge and Justin Greaves carried them to a competitive total. Fast bowler Lahiru Madushanka and left-arm spinner Amila Aponso were the pick of the bowlers, claiming five wickets between them, as West Indies put on 258 for 8 in their 50. Sri Lanka’s top and middle order all contributed in the chase, with each of the top seven scoring between 22 and 47. While West Indies kept pecking away at the wickets, the cameos were enough to carry Sri Lanka home with nine balls in hand. This is Sri Lanka’s third win in four games, while West Indies are yet to register a win in the tournament.

England Women wrapped the T20 series with an easy seven-wicket win over South African Women

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEngland Women’s bowlers suffocated South Africa Woman before their batsmen completed a comfortable victory with 4.1 overs to spare in the third and final T20 game and claim the three match series 2-0.Rain forced the abandonment of the second game, giving South Africa a chance to square the series, and Cri-Zelda Brits and Trisha Chetty started brightly. Brits drove Aaran Brindle twice through the covers while Chetty worked Danni Hazell to the long leg fence. The introduction of Georga Elwiss and Laura Marsh put the brakes on the scoring and Chetty and Brits were reduced to taking singles and twos. The pressure finally told on Chetty, when she holed out to the deep mid-wicket area of Jenny Gunn, having made 33. Brits progressed to 50 before she was bowled by Brindle and though South Africa did not lose any more wickets, they weren’t able to accelerate and posted a below-par total.Masabata Klass bowled Laura Marsh for 2 and one ball later Chloe Tyron did the same to Charlotte Edwards to reduce England to 27 for 2, but Sarah Taylor and Lydia Greenway steadied the ship and with the asking rate always under control, even Taylor’s departure for 39 was not going to stop England cantering home.

Mohammad Hafeez’s Man-of-the-Match winning 83 in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Dubai has extended his prosperous run as opener

Umar Farooq in Dubai19-Nov-2011Mohammad Hafeez’s Man-of-the-Match winning 83 in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Dubai has extended his prosperous run as opener, a slot that has been a headache for Pakistan in recent years.Hafeez made his international debut in 2003 as part of the sweeping changes after the World Cup debacle in South Africa. He flitted in and out of the Pakistan team for seven years, and it was only during the controversial tour of England last year that he cemented a place in all three formats of the game.Since the comeback in 2010, he’s amassed 1350 ODI runs at a solid 39.79 and snapped up six Man-of-the-Match awards, assuring him a permanent slot. He said he had to work hard on his batting technique to succeed but his bowling was a natural ability that required little work.”I worked very hard on my technique, which has paid off and really given me (a lot of) confidence,” Hafeez said at the post-match press conference on Friday. “I am very thankful to the support staff, especially my batting coach – Shahid Aslam – who really worked hard with me to correct things. And I am very happy with the way I am performing for my country.”Besides runs at the top of the order, Hafeez has also chipped in with his tight offspin bowling, a combination which has boosted him to the third spot in the ICC’s one-day allrounder rankings. “Bowling is natural for me, I don’t really work very hard on it,” Hafeez said. “Basically I am a batsman, I can understand the psyche of the batsmen.”The confidence given by the management is very important, especially by the captain. Previously Shahid [Afridi] was using me very well and now Misbah [ul-Haq] – with whom I had played at the domestic level too. So in any situation, he trusts me and if required asks me to do the job for the team and it has really worked.”Misbah highlighted Hafeez’s importance to the team, and praised the allrounder’s contributions. “You can say he’s one of the best allrounders because of the way he has performed over the last one-and-a-half years,” Misbah said. “He’s really doing well for Pakistan team in all formats, be it Twenty20s, one-dayers or even Tests. He can bat, bowl well, is good at fielding and is improving day by day. It’s really a blessing to have a person like him in the team.”

Surrey have signed Indian left-arm spinner Murali Kartik for the whole of the 2012 season

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Dec-2011Surrey have signed Indian left-arm spinner Murali Kartik for the whole of the 2012 season. Kartik joins on a one-year deal and is available for all three competitions.Kartik, 35, has enjoyed several spells in county cricket, most recently for Somerset where he played against Surrey in the CB40 final in September. He will add experience to Surrey’s squad as they return to Division One of the County Championship.”I am very happy to be signing for Surrey for next season,” said Kartik, who has taken 71 wickets for Somerset at 25.00 in the last two seasons. “Surrey are one of the biggest domestic sides in the world game and I hugely look forward to playing my cricket at an iconic ground like the The Oval.”Kartik will join up with Surrey for pre-season training in the new year and it is hoped his presence will help the development of young spinners Zafar Ansari – who, playing for Oxford University, dismissed Kevin Pietersen in his comeback match in May – Matthew Spreigel and Freddie van den Bergh.The Surrey team director, Chris Adams, said Kartik would add another dimension to Surrey’s bowling attack. “As shown with the signing of Pragyan Ojha for the final part of the 2011 season, a ‘mystery’ spinner can often make a major difference to the outcome of a campaign. Having someone of Kartik’s quality on board for the entirety of next season will be a great boost.”Surrey begin their 2012 season against Sussex at the Oval on April 5.

The Hobart Hurricanes Twenty20 blueprint, or more accurately purpleprint, has worked again. This time the Adelaide Strikers succumbed to Xavier Doherty’s team by 14 runs

Alex Malcolm28-Dec-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsXavier Doherty’s 4 for 17 was the standout performance in the match•Getty Images

The Hobart Hurricanes Twenty20 blueprint, or more accurately purpleprint, has worked again. This time the Adelaide Strikers succumbed to Xavier Doherty’s team by 14 runs at the Adelaide Oval in front of more than 27,000 patrons.The Hurricanes skipper Doherty was again the chief architect of the win, taking 4 for 17 in a match-winning display of spin bowling. His side have now won three from three and sit atop the BBL table. But the identical nature of the three wins is most intriguing, although tonight’s victory was their toughest yet.For the third consecutive match Doherty won the toss and elected to bat. For the third consecutive time the Hurricanes had eight or more wickets in hand with 10 overs to go, having crawled through the first half of their innings at less than seven runs per over.Yet they were able to post 4 for 171. Again it was Travis Birt who ignited the Hurricanes. In the eleventh over, having faced only two balls after Jonathan Wells fell to Johan Botha at the start of the tenth, Birt launched an assault on Bryce McGain. He clubbed two sixes and one four from the over. McGain had delivered two overs that cost 29.Only 15 runs came from the next three overs however. McGain was held back while Kane Richardson, Aaron O’Brien, and Alfonso Thomas tied Phil Jaques in knots. McGain exacted some revenge when he ended Jaques’ 42-ball stay at the start of the 15th over. Jaques’ 41, which included just two boundaries, left onlookers wondering if the Hurricanes tactics had finally come unstuck.Enter English import Owais Shah. He smashed 36 unbeaten runs from just 18 balls. He and Birt again accelerated the innings at a rapid rate. Birt thumped 44 from 26 including three fours and three sixes. He became Botha’s second scalp in the 18th over, but it did not slow the rate. Shah, in combination with Matt Johnston, orchestrated 66 from the last five overs to push the total to 171.The Strikers bowling group were reasonably impressive. Botha, O’Brien, Thomas and Richardson all conceded eight an over or less. But McGain’s four overs cost 49, which meant the Strikers were chasing a testing target. No side had ever chased more than 170 in a T20 in Adelaide.With the spinners having done well in the Hurricanes’ innings, Doherty and Jason Krejza opened the bowling but conceded 19 in the first two overs to Aiden Blizzard. Doherty then put on a masterclass of T20 bowling. He clean bowled Blizzard in the third over before saving his last two overs for the second half of the innings.In between he mixed and matched his bowlers well. Johnston bowled two overs for just nine. His awkward action, with which he delivers swerving inswingers off the wrong foot, caused significant difficulties for Michael Klinger and Adam Crosthwaite. Krejza returned to dismiss Crosthwaite lbw, while Rana Naved picked up the vital wicket of Callum Ferguson, in the following over, with Rhett Lockyear clutching a sharp chance in the gully.Doherty brought himself back on in the eleventh over to bowl at the key partnership of Klinger and Cameron Borgas. He struck immediately, forcing a miss-hit from his opposing captain, and only conceded three from the over.Klinger’s dismissal left the Strikers needing 99 from 55 balls. Borgas and Tom Cooper were unperturbed by the absurdity of the task. They ramped balls over the keeper’s head, switch-hit boundaries through backward point, and generally caused Hobart headaches in their 62-run partnership. Cooper even hit Rana onto the roof of the Chappell Stands.But Rana removed Borgas later in the 17th over. Tom Triffitt, the wicketkeeper, held his nerve under the towering skier, something Krejza had failed to do the previous delivery, but the game was still alive with the Strikers needing 37 from 18 balls.Ben Laughlin delivered the 18th over that cost just nine and saw Botha being run out.Then Doherty delivered the last rites. He bowled Richardson and O’Brien in consecutive balls to finish with four wickets. After his first over had cost nine, his next three yielded figures of 4 for 8.Cooper was left stranded on 44 having hit five fours along with his enormous six. The Strikers may well lament that he was only able to face 27 deliveries as their chase went awry. The Strikers have now lost two in succession after thumping the Renegades in their opening match.

A round-up of the Pentangular Cup matches that took place on January 26

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2012Shahzaib Hasan and Faisal Iqbal scored centuries to give Sind a huge lead against Baluchistan on the second day at the National Stadium in Karachi. Resuming on 127 for 1, with Hasan on 66, Sind were dismissed for 487, leading by 323 runs. Hasan scored 119 off 129 deliveries, while Faisal’s century was more rapid – 112 off 134 deliveries. There were useful contributions from Fahad Iqbal (68) and Mohammad Sami (48) as well. Fast bowler Rahat Ali took 5 for 106 for Baluchistan but was unable to prevent Sind from taking firm control of the Pentangular Cup game.Punjab dismissed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province for 210 and then reached 95 for 1 on the first day of their Pentangular Cup match at the at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Raza Hasan took 5 for 80 after Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chose to bat, and he was supported by Asif Raza, who took 3 for 29. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were in fact in danger of not reaching 200, but the No. 9 Khalid Usman scored 59 off 48 balls to lift them from 144 for 7. No other batsman made more than 50 in the innings. Punjab lost Nasir Jamshed for 8 in their reply but Ahmed Shehzad and Shoaib Malik steered them through to stumps without further loss. Shehzad scored 57 off 77 balls in Punjab’s 95.

The Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi has been stripped of its right to host Railways’ home games for the 2012-13 season due to poor pitch conditions, the BCCI has said

Kanishkaa Balachandran17-Feb-2012The Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi has been banned from hosting Railways’ home games for the 2012-13 season due to poor pitch conditions during a match in the current season. The BCCI’s Technical Committee, which took this decision at its meeting in Mumbai on Friday, also let off Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) with a warning for the state of the pitch for the Plate match against Maharashtra in the same season.The committee also decided, as part of its recommendations to improve the game, on a two-point penalty for any hosting association if its pitch is deemed “underprepared” by the match referee.The Railways match in question was the Elite group stage match against Saurashtra, which was over in two days. Eighteen wickets had fallen on the opening day, primarily to the spinners. Though Saurashtra went on to win by 97 runs, their coach Debu Mitra was reprimanded for criticising the playing surface. The match had scores of 175, 81, 152 and 149.The technical committee meeting was attended by representatives of the HCA and Railways Sport Promotion Board (RSPB) based on the reports submitted by the match referees.According to Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI CAO, the match refereee for the Hyderabad match, the former Tamil Nadu batsman S Sharath, had noted the pitch was not up to the mark and hence the technical committee called up the HCA official for explanation.The match had only three completed innings, with scores of 124, 184 and 54. Maharashtra won by an innings and six runs, with the left-arm spinner Akshay Darekar taking 8 for 20 to send Hyderabad crashing to an embarrassing 54 at their home ground.