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Nick Knight frustrated Surrey’s hopes of wrapping up their third County Championship title in four years as Warwickshire secured a battling draw at Edgbaston. Knight, batting with a runner because of a hip injury, added 109 with Jim Troughton (63) and another 73 with wicket-keeper Tony Frost, who made 20 after taking 53 balls to get off the mark. Knight was eventually bowled by Ian Ward for 133, and the game ended when Warwickshire declared on 404 for nine, 205 runs ahead. They remain the only county with a mathematical chance, albeit wafer-thin, of overhauling the leaders.Middlesex enhanced their Second Division title hopes with a six-wicket win over Worcestershire at New Road. They were left needing 190 to win the match after Steve Rhodes (47) helped extend the hosts’ second innings total past 400 after they followed on yesterday. Andy Strauss and Sven Koenig set Middlesex on their way with an opening stand of 56, and after a brief wobble as they lost three wickets for 14 runs, Ed Joyce (46*) and Paul Weekes (40*) saw them home.Usman Afzaal made a century as Nottinghamshire settled for batting practice on the final day of their Second Division clash with Glamorgan at Colwyn Bay. Afzaal finished unbeaten on 104 as the game was drawn with the visitors on 274 for five, a lead of 243. Afzaal shared in a stand of 143 with Nicky Boje (70) for the fifth wicket; Dean Cosker finished with three for 101 for Glamorgan.

The last day’s play for the Indians before the Lord’s Test that starts on Thursday ended as expected, in less than spectacular fashion. Chasing 253 for victory on a wicket that was increasingly difficult to bat on, Hampshire were bowled out for 186 in 46.2 overs, giving India victory by 66 runs.The day’s play was of purely academic interest, with the result almost a foregone conclusion. It began with Hampshire’s Robin Smith and John Francis attempting to keep the Indian bowlers at bay. With deliveries continuing to surprise batsmen by bounce or the lack of the same, there was little the bowlers needed to do besides putting the ball in the right place.Sanjay Bangar got one right on target to trap Smith (19) in front of the stumps. Lawrence Prittipaul, a cousin of the popular West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, entered to encouraging cheers. The middle-order batsman gave those gathered at the Rose Bowl reason to smile, as he played a few fierce cuts that raced to the fence. On a day where batting was a bit of a lottery, Prittipaul livened things up with an innings of 32 in just 40 balls. By the time he had begun to look good, however, wickets were falling at the other end. John Francis (19) gave Tinu Yohannan his only wicket of the innings.From then on to 129/8 there was little batting of note, and it appeared that the game would be over well before the scheduled luncheon interval at 1 o’clock. But Hampshire’s batting can hardly be expected to fold up to suit those looking out for a good lunch. Shaun Udal batted imaginatively to reach an unbeaten 36, putting on 57 for the ninth, and effectively last wicket.James Tomlinson (23) supported Udal as best as he could, but could not get the bat down in time to keep out a Kumble skidder. When the appeal for lbw was upheld, it was all over for the hosts. John Crawley, due to do duty for England in the forthcoming Test series, did not bat. The middle-order batsman, laid low by a virus, could have just as easily been kept back to avoid the risk of injury on this Rose Bowl wicket.While sections of the media have been quick to decry the Hampshire authorities for the wicket, Indian coach John Wright was his calm, collected self. “Obviously we would have liked a better surface,” he told reporters soon after the match. “But we don’t like to moan and groan about it. This is a new surface and it will take a bit of time to settle down,” he added.The decision to rest both left arm seamers Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan raised a few eyebrows, but once again Wright had his answers close at hand. “They’ve all done a lot of bowling in the recent past and it was a conscious decision on our part to give them a rest. We’ve simulated match conditions in practice sessions and preparations are fine.”In contrast to India, England have had their share of injury worries. With Darren Gough, Alex Tudor, Marcus Trescothick and Andy Caddick all on the injured list, Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher have a bit to worry about.Wright, though, was happy to leave the worrying to the opposite camp. “We don’t really want to think too much about the injuries in the England team. It’s not the way we think. They’re a highly competitive side and we know that from their recent tour to India. What we need to do is concentrate on playing well, as close to our potential as possible. We nearly did that in the one-dayers, and that’s what we need to take forward to the Tests as well,” said Wright.It is true that India’s preparations for the Test series have been hampered by the two-paced nature of this wicket. But Wright was quick to reassure journalists that the Indian team was well prepared. When pressed to make further comment on the wicket, Wright sprang a surprise. Departing from his usually guarded and careful style of answering, he said: “I’m told wickets are a bit like red wine. They need a bit of time to settle down.” There was a twinkle in is eye as he ended the press conference and moved over to the nets where the Indians were having a session. Wine apart, the Indian team certainly appear in high spirits going in to the Test series.

Warwickshire’s 19 year-old batsman Ian Bell has been called up to join the England Test squad in New Zealand as cover for the injured Mark Butcher and captain Nasser Hussain. Both sustained their injuries while in the field during England’s 98-run victory over New Zealand in the first Test in Christchurch.Butcher has a cracked bone in his right hand, while Hussain jarred the middle finger on the same hand. Hussain expects to be fit to lead the side in the second Test starting in Wellington on Thursday, while Butcher hopes to be fit for the final Test starting on March 30th in Auckland.Meanwhile Bell is due to fly to Wellington today with the man responsible for his selection, David Graveney. The chairman of selectors has been keeping an eye on the exciting progress of the Coventry-born, right-handed batsman as he has made his way through all the age-group sides.A former England Under-19 captain, he appeared at under 14, 15, 16 and 17 age groups before that and was called up as a replacement for the England A side touring the Caribbean last winter where he made an immediate impression. Put into the team to face the Leeward Islands with a battery of fast bowlers on a bouncy pitch in Anguilla, he played an innings that realised only 31 runs but he survived for three hours. He has been highly recommended by Rod Marsh after his performances with the National Academy in Adelaide this winter.Bell has only played 13 first-class matches, during the first of which he was bowled for a third ball duck. That was in 1999, but he put the disappointment behind him and last season finished ninth in the first-class averages, scoring 836 runs in 11 matches, including 103 against Nottinghamshire at Edgbaston when he became the youngest Warwickshire century-maker in the championship at the age of 19 years and 115 days.That was one of three centuries he scored in his 16 innings as he averaged 64.30. His career average stands at 55.37. He captained the Academy to a 112-run victory over Western Australia in Perth in a match that finished only last Wednesday. He has featured prominently as a batsman with the Academy, and has bowled his right-arm medium pace with good effect.It augurs well for Bell that his first international century came against New Zealand Under-19s at Alexandra during the 1998-99 tour.While it is stressed that he is being taken to New Zealand now as cover for the injured batsmen, there is no reason to believe that he would be over-awed if he does get the chance to play. Failing that, this very mature teenager can only benefit from being around the England dressing room becoming acquainted with the atmosphere of Test cricket. If he does not get his chance now, it can only be a matter of time before he does.

As the West Indies were coasting to their 3-1 victory in the Testseries in England in 1963, the critics in their analysis wrote inglowing terms of the victors being a superbly balanced outfit. TheWest Indies line-up was made up of five batsmen, two all-rounders, awicketkeeper and three bowlers. And with one of the all-rounders beingGary Sobers, it was no wonder that the side remained the top team ofthe sixties.Glance at any all-conquering team in history and it will be seen thatit has been graced by the presence of at least one, preferably two allrounders. Warwick Armstrong’s formidable Australian outfit of the1920s had the omnipotent presence of Jack Gregory. One of the reasonsbehind the success of the great Australian side of the late 1940s andearly 1950s was the presence of the dynamic Keith Miller whose greatrival Trevor Bailey was England’s No. 1 all-rounder during thatcountry’s heyday in the midand late-1950s. And as has been mentionedbefore, the incomparable Gary Sobers provided substance and style tothe superbly-balanced West Indies side of the sixties.

Over the last quarter of a century however there have been exceptionswherein the outstanding Test sides of the period have run roughshodover opposition without the presence of a genuine all-rounder. TheAustralians of the 1970s, the West Indians of the 1980s and early1990s and the current Australian side are all examples of this. But inthe cases under study, it will be observed that the batting andbowling have been so strong that even the non-availability of theubiquitous all-rounder has scarcely been felt.Indian cricket has generally never been blessed with so formidable abatting and bowling line-up and so have always depended on their allrounders to lend a helping hand. And fortunately there have been quitea few players who have displayed their skill with both bat and ball.CK Nayudu played an admirable role in the formative years in the1930s, and in the 1940s and 1950s, India had the good fortune ofhaving in their ranks, Vinoo Mankad, Lala Amarnath, Dattu Phadkar andGulabrai Ramchand. In the 1960s, fulfilling this utility role wereChandu Borde, Salim Durrani, Bapu Nadkarni and Rusi Surti. And in the1970s, India could depend on the all-round skills of Abid Ali,Mohinder Amarnath, Madan Lal and Karsan Ghavri.In the late 1970s, Kapil Dev burst upon the scene and for a decade anda half, he bestrode the scene like a colossus. By the time he retiredin 1994, he had run up an all-round record fit to be ranked with thebest of all time. And through the 80s and early 90s, even under theshadow of Kapil Dev, all-rounders like Roger Binny, Ravi Shastri andManoj Prabhakar did make their presence felt.India’s all-round problems commenced with the summary banishment ofPrabhakar in 1996. Over the last half-a-dozen years, the team hassearched in vain for an all-rounder. The lack of a player withomnipresent qualities has worked to the detriment of the team’sfortunes. They have been forced to field six batsmen and four bowlers.And while four bowlers may be good enough to win matches in India, aquartet is just not enough to repeat the trick abroad. The moreattacking policy of five batsmen and five bowlers was tried out for afew matches in the late 1990s but this involved playing wicketkeeperNayan Mongia as an opening batsman. In any case, a more defensiveoutlook took over in the 21st century and for some time now it hasbeen back to six batsmen and four bowlers. There is a crying needright now to fill the breach with a genuine all-rounder.For some time, Sunil Joshi looked to be filling this role. Given hisbig break in England in 1996 following a tremendous domestic season in1995-96 when he became the first player to complete the double of 500runs and 50 wickets in one year in the Ranji Trophy, he did reasonablywell initially but somehow could never consolidate his position asillustrated by his career figures of 41 wickets at 35.85 apiece and abatting average of 20.70 over 15 Tests. This, despite a splendid allround show of eight wickets in the match and a top score of 92 in thevictory over Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2000.Robin Singh then looked to be a candidate but he was tagged as a oneday cricketer and this limited his Test appearances to just one. Thencame Ajit Agarkar towards the end of the 1990s and he seemed to be theanswer to our prayers. But after 11 Tests, he has taken only 26wickets at an average of almost 42 and with a number of ducks to hisname, has a batting average of just 7.81. So, obviously he too hasn’tfitted the bill.At the end of another disappointing campaign in the Caribbean, theexperts are divided whether the batting or the bowling failed us most.In the ultimate analysis, it was perhaps the lack of an all-rounderthat saw India fail in yet another overseas campaign. There is littledoubt that Indian cricket’s most urgent requirement right now is thepresence of an all-rounder. Besides strengthening the batting andbowling, he could also lend stability to the side. With some luck, hecould even help solve the problem at the top of the order, if one goesby the record of players like Mankad, Shastri and Prabhakar. The huntfor such a player has been on for some time but the situation hasnever been so desperate as it is now.

On Thursday, just two days before the Cidermen take on Yorkshire in the 2002 final of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy at Lords, the Somerset Board XI face Cornwall in the first round of the 2003 competition.The Board XI, who were unlucky to miss out against Norfolk at the end of last year will be hoping to beat the Minor County side, and if they are successful on Thursday they will play the Wales Minor County team.Success against Wales will ensure that Somerset Board XI a tie against a first class county in the third round which will be played next season.Board XI manager Peter Robinson has named team combining experience with youth for the match at Camborne, several of whom will have played earlier in the week for Somerset Under 19’s in their semi final against Essex at Uxbridge.The Board XI team will be; Tom Webley, Kevin Parson (capt), Wes Durston, Arul Suppiah, Michael Coles, Kevin Sedgebeer, James Hildreth, Alistair Garnsworth, Gareth Andrew, Matt Dimond and Michael Parsons.Peter Robinson told me: “We are taking a strong side down to Cornwall, and we will be hoping to win to progress to the next round. Over the next few days there are several big matches and my ideal way to end the season would be for the Under 19’s to win their semi final, the Board XI to win on Thursday, Somerset win the C and G on Saturday, and then the Under 19’s win their final at Bristol next week.”

The handful of Hampshire fans who witnessed the last day of the county’s opening CricInfo Championship match at Edgbaston would have been amongst the lucky few to watch their favourites bat throughout the last day to hold out for a draw. They would have been particularly enlightened by Robin Smith’s first Championship century for three years.Robin Smith put Warwickshire into bat on the first morning and despite early success in dismissing the home captain Michael Powell for 0. He was soon to rue his decision as Nick Knight and Dominic Ostler each scored centuries against a Hampshire attack that lacked penetration on the docile, slow wicket.Alan Mullally, as befitting his status as an international cricketer, looked the best of the bunch, taking three wickets for 77. Alex Morris looked back to his full fitness with a brace.John Stephenson, starting his benefit year bowled tidily at the end of the innings to polish off the Warwickshire tailenders, and James Hamblin took a debut wicket when he had Keith Piper caught behind the wicket, but his bowling showed some nervousness.The score of 455 soon became a distance as Hampshire showed sight of some de ja vu when they returned to their wicked ways of last season, falling well behind in their first innings.Derek Kenway and Giles White gave Hampshire a good start when they started their reply, sharing an opening partnership of 62 before Sheikh and Brown each took command to pick up wickets as Hampshire lost six wickets for 34 runs.Neil Johnson, making his debut batted with some comfort whilst watching the debacle at the other end and his two hours 20 minute stay at the crease showed that he could be a useful asset to Hampshire’s fragile middle order.Hampshire were forced to follow on 285 runs in arrears, and lost Giles White to the sixth ball of the innings. Will Kendall fell shortly after and a three-day defeat looked on the cards. Derek Kenway scored a promising 52, striking nine fours in his two hour stay but, with Hampshire losing Johnson for 0 to his second ball, the visitors were grateful to the rain that fell over Birmingham and curtailed play for the rest of the third day.The Hampshire players and their few supporters may have looked up to the skies when they woke in their hotel rooms, but although cloudy, any rainfall had passed over through the night and on arrival on the ground, found play ready to start on time. In fact Edgbaston was the only match in the country to have a full days Monday play.Starting the day at 114-4, John Stephenson and Robin Smith failed to give a single chance in their patient but important innings. Between start and lunch, Stephenson had hit five scoring shots to move from his 1* to 17*. Smith, perhaps a little more belligerent scored some 28 runs in that period, a sight unbeknown to followers of the Hampshire captain in the past.Both batsmen with their backs to the wall continued to progress after lunch, albeit slowly with the pair being content to wait for the bad ball and defend staunchly at everything the Warwickshire attack had to throw at them. The partnership of 106, which had taken five minutes short of four hours, finally came to an end when Stephenson edged the Warwickshire overseas players Vasbert Drakes to the wicket-keeper, from the second over of the new ball. His innings had lasted 209 balls and although he scored only 39 runs, it was to prove an extremely valuable contribution to his side’s cause.After tea, Robin Smith’s innings came to a halt when he was bowled middle stump by Mohammad Sheikh for 118. The innings of 307 balls lasted exactly six hours, hitting 16 fours and a single six off Neil Smith to take him past the magical three figure mark.When Aymes was dismissed, Hampshire were still struggling to avoid defeat with three wickets left and a possible 18 overs remaining. This brought together Dimitri Mascarenhas and Alex Morris and again like the earlier batsmen, the grinded the Warwickshire bowlers down. Mascarenhas scored just 11 from his 54 balls and Morris 48 balls for his 25.With the scores level and only two overs remaining, the match was drawn.A game of totally mixed fortunes after two and a half days, Hampshire were in serious danger of losing their opening game by an innings and were fortunate to lose half a day to rain. This did not however take away the magnificent performance of the Hampshire batsmen, led by example by Robin Smith to stave off what seemed to be a likely defeat.This can only do the teams fortunes a power of good. They will go into their next matches with confidence that despite having their backs to the wall, they came out with credit.Robin Smith, talking to me after the match was naturally delighted with the teams’ performance and was ecstatic over his own personal milestone. “I felt like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders, the trip to South Africa and the first innings here continued a nightmare start.””I have to give credit to John Stephenson”, said Robin, “Without John’s support at the other end, I would not have been able to have continued.””The youngsters at the end, Dimi and Alex, also did us proud, and we will be looking to go from here with our heads up.””In discussions before the season started with the coaches and the whole squad, our game plan was if we could not win a match, we were going to make a concerted effort not to lose it. This we achieved first time of asking today and I am proud of all the squad.”

West Indies’ offspinner Sunil Narine has been named the Emerging Player of the Year for 2012 at the ICC Awards ceremony in Colombo. He saw off competition from New Zealand’s Doug Bracewell, Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal and Australia’s James Pattinson to take the award.Blessed with biting turn, a difficult knuckle-ball and a natural knack for guile, Narine, 24, has quickly become one of the world’s most promising talents. In the assessment period (August 4, 2011, to August 6, 2012), Narine carved up New Zealand in two home Tests, taking 12 wickets at 25.66. In Twenty20s he took 7 wickets in five games at 18.28. He hit his best form in the 50-overs format though, where he took 28 wickets in 15 games at 18.82.Narine follows West Indies legspinner Devendra Bishoo as a recipient of the Emerging Player award. “We’ve a good junior set-up so hopefully the awards keep coming for us,” Narine said. “I would say this is just the start. As Emerging Player of the Year I know I am someone to look at, and hopefully I will continue to do well.”I’ve enjoyed my first year in the West Indies team. I’ve worked hard and I’ve dedicated myself to the game. This makes me look at life and makes me want to dedicate myself more to the game and to improve. I dedicate this award to my father who kept pushing me.”

ScorecardCallum Ferguson carried on from the first day to bring up his highest first-class score•Getty Images

Queensland’s Wade Townsend and Joe Burns scored half-centuries and shared an unbeaten 80-run fourth-wicket stand to end the second day 267 runs behind South Australia in Adelaide. Queensland were jolted at the start of their innings when they lost their opener Alex Kemp in the sixth over. They were in a tricky situation early in the third session at 3 for 55 after Dan Christian struck in quick succession to remove Usman Khawaja, who scored 19, and Peter Forrest.Further damage in the day was prevented, as Burns and Townsend put up a fight in the last session. Burns was the more aggressive of the two and hit eight boundaries in his half-century. Townsend, who was dropped in the slips earlier in the day, remained unbeaten on 50 off 132 balls.Queensland had a tough session in the morning. After keeping a tab on the scoring rate on the first day, Queensland bowlers were unable to control the flow of runs as Callum Ferguson brought up his highest first-class score of 164 and shared an attacking 162-run sixth-wicket stand with wicketkeeper Tim Ludeman, who scored 78. Both batsmen were out early in the second session and the tail helped South Australia past 400 and declared immediately after the fall of the ninth wicket. Ben Cutting was the most successful bowler for Queensland with 3 for 73.

A century from Paul Grayson provided the backbone as Essex fought out a draw against Surrey at the Oval. The county champions were unable to break a resilient, defiant batting display by the visitors who had started the day requiring a further 332 runs for victory with all wickets intact.Surrey though made an encouraging start with the wickets of Paul Prichard and Darren Robinson in the fifth over of the day to raise their hopes of being able to force their first win of the season in the competition as Martin Bicknell struck twice in three deliveries.Whilst Stuart Law was at the crease, the visitors retained an interest in pursuing their victory target as the Australian added 103 with Grayson for the third wicket to endorse those hopes. But with his score on 57, Law nicked a delivery from Ian Salisbury to give Alec Stewart his third catch of the innings and Essex decided to put up the shutters.Grayson then fashioned the draw, his indefatigable studiousness negating the Surrey attack in a compelling contest. He did survive one chance at 73, when Martin Bicknell spilled a mid-wicket catch off the bowling of Ian Salisbury, but thereafter he moved inexorably on to complete his vigilant century having batted for 334 minutes and hit 11 boundaries.He was finally dismissed in the second over after tea for 115 when surprised by a delivery from Alec Tudor that kept low and rattled middle stump but his fourth wicket partnership with Ronnie Irani that occupied 34 overs whilst realising 73 runs had virtually ensured the draw for his side.Irani then assumed the dominant, impassive role and found a staunch ally in Stephen Peters who resisted further vain efforts from Alec Stewart’s side to find another breakthrough.

An innings of quality from Mahela Jayawardene has put the Sri Lankans into a commanding position against Middlesex at Shenley. With one day to go, the tourists lead by 193 runs with six wickets in hand. This was after the county side had been bowled out for 274 for a first innings lead of 88.Middlesex had started the day on 178 for six, but they lost Ed Joyce when the Irishman was in sight of his third first-class century. When he had 93 he fell lbw to Charitha Buddika Fernando who then took the wicket of David Alleyne almost immediately to claim his fourth wicket of the innings.Despite an undefeated 39 from Aaron Laraman, the rest of the innings did not detain the Sri Lankan bowlers for too long and the stage was left for Jayawardene and Hashan Tillekeratne to share an unbroken partnership of 179 for the fifth wicket. This was only after four of the top-order batsmen had again spurned the opportunity for batting practice in advance of the first Test by giving their wickets away far too easily.However, Sri Lanka manager Chandra Shaffter pledged that it will be a different story at Lord’s. “There will be a different atmosphere, a whole different ball game and the attitude of the players will be different,” he said.”Although some of the batting has in a sense been disappointing, I’m not unhappy with the situation because everybody has shown what they can do since we arrived in England.”Virtually all the batsmen have had a good score and shown they can perform well at some stage.”But he was forced to concede: “Fewer boundaries and more runs might have been better. Weweren’t taking the ones and twos we should. They have been making the big hits but not the singles.”He added: “Overall, I’m satisfied. I am certainly in no way despondent. I’m sure we will be a different team when the Test comes along.”The manager will not want a different performance from the two not out batsmen. So far, Jayawardene has scored 125 and Tillekeratne 71, and the manager will be hoping they can go on to set up a morale-boosting victory on the final day of this game before the team head a few miles south to the venue of the first Test.