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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.

At a time when many counties are bemoaning the fact that their overseas players are arriving late or leaving early to fulfil international commitments, Essex have announced that their 2002 signing, Andy Flower from Zimbabwe, is actually going to arrive early.Australia’s tour to Zimbabwe had been scheduled to take place once the one-day international series against South Africa had been completed. However, with that tour postponed in the light of the political uncertainties in Zimbabwe, Flower has been given permission by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union to travel to England three weeks earlier than expected. He is now scheduled to be in Chelmsford on April 15th.Chief executive of Essex, David East, commented: “We are obviously thrilled that Andy is able to join us early. We were not expecting him to arrive until after the last Test match finished in Zimbabwe on 9th May, but this is a great bonus for the team.”Andy will now be able to take part in the zonal rounds of the Benson and Hedges Cup, together with our early Championship matches against Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire.”Flower was recently named as on of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year. Although he has experienced league cricket in Birmingham and spent a season coaching the Oxford University side, this is his first season of English county cricket.

Day two of this fixture saw perhaps the most one sided first-class match played at this ground since the Riverside hosted fixtures from 1995. The Durham University students, having been dismissed for a record low score of 67 on day one, and then toiled in the field as Durham CCC scored another 351 runs for the loss of only 3 wickets. Indeed one of these wickets was Durham skipper Jon Lewis who was out “retired” for 110.

Starting the day on 134 for the loss of only Gough, both Lewis and Daley proceeded to centuries in an identical number of balls – 214. Lewis had hit 15 fours and Daley 12. Daley eventually retired hurt on 128 with an upper leg strain and Collingwood and Speak went on to continue to hit the hapless University bowling around the large outfield. Collingwood became the third county centurion in the first over after tea, his century only taking 146 balls and including 10 fours and 3 sixes. Three centurions in an innings for Durham for the first time ever. Collingwood was eventually smartly stumped by Foster off Phillips for 130. Nicky Peng fell to the same combination for a duck but by then the home team had neared 450 with only 4 wickets down.The cricket was obviously not competitive but new Durham CCC coach Martyn Moxon said that whatever the state of the game the practice in the middle was invaluable and far better than merely having a net. Durham had, during the captaincy of David Boon, ended the friendly matches with Oxford University as they did not provide strong enough opposition. However Moxon did say that he saw this current match as a potential annual fixture.Looking forward to the Championship season, which begins on Friday with a home fixture against Gloucestershire, Lewis welcomed the opportunity for the players to get some much needed match practice. He was pleased that all the batters for the home side had had some time in the middle and that, despite the brevity of the University innings, the home side bowlers had got some overs under their belts.For the season ahead Lewis said that new import Danny Law could prove to be the genuine all-rounder that the club were looking for. If Law performed up to expectations this might enable Durham to utilise more bowling options in the season and play a spinner more often, continued Lewis in a press box interview session.Everyone at the county club was pleased with how Steve Harmison was coming on and saw a fresh sharpness in the bowling of Neil Killeen. If only the students had a bowler who came somewhere near either of these two professionals this match would be more of a contest than a thrashing. Quite what new arrival from Australia, Martin Love, made of it all is not known but as a representation of English cricket this cannot have created a good impression.To be fair to the students their fielding did not flag and there was no evidence of a loss of enthusiasm. However by the premature close of play – caused by a rainstorm – less than 50 spectators were left braving the elements.

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.

“It was the perfect ball at the perfect time.” That’s how Ravi Rampaul, the West Indies seamer, described his delivery that got rid of Sachin Tendulkar in the first over in Chennai. Rampaul, in his first World Cup match, went on to take a maiden five-wicket haul in ODIs but his team was at the receiving end of an 80-run defeat. Despite the eventual loss, the five-for, and delivery, marked a personal highlight for Rampaul.”It was the best ball of my cricket career. It was one of those moments in life you dream of. When I saw him walk I felt great. It was an amazing feeling. I wasn’t sure how to celebrate. Here was I, in one of the biggest matches of my career, getting the wicket of one of the greatest batsmen. I felt really great to get such a massive breakthrough for the team,” Rampaul said.Rampaul was drafted in to the XI due to an illness to Kemar Roach. He began on an unsavoury note, conceding five wides off his first delivery in World Cup cricket. But off the final ball of that first over, he got a shortish delivery on off stump to straighten, one that Tendulkar stabbed at and ended up feathering an edge to the keeper. Tendulkar walked off immediately after he was caught, even though Steve Davis, the umpire, shook his head.”I was happy to get into the team and play my part. It was very exciting to play in front such a large crowd on such a big stage,” Rampaul said. “I went out and got five wickets and I was really happy to get the full support of everyone in the team. I was happy to be able to make the most of my opportunity.”Rampaul returned in his next spell to break a century-stand between Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh, and continued to chip away in the death overs when India, as they had done against South Africa, collapsed. He finished with 5 for 51. “The pitch had some extra bounce at the start of the India innings and I knew if I got the ball in the right areas I would be successful,” he said. “Later in the innings I got the ball to reverse swing and I attacked the stumps. Things went in my favour and I felt good to get my first five-wicket haul in one-day cricket.”The defeat for West Indies meant they finished fourth in Group B, setting up a quarter-final clash in Dhaka against Group A leaders Pakistan on March 23.

Mohammad Ashraful’s confession of his involvement in match-fixing in the Bangladesh Premier League has led to confusion over whether it amounts to a criminal offense. There are mixed opinions over whether and how to prosecute Ashraful since there are no specific laws on fixing in Bangladesh’s legal system.Some believe that the case is quite straightforward as he has “cheated”, which is a clear violation of the law of the land. Others, however, point towards a vacuum of laws, i.e. that the existing laws are not strong enough to charge him.The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of Bangladesh has, according to the Dhaka-based , only discussed the controversy informally. The commission is following the developments and is still mulling whether or not to get involved since the Bangladesh Cricket Board itself is considered a regulatory body.The ACC chairman Golam Rahman has said that he is not in favour of being involved in the fixing issue. “There is a regulatory authority and that’s the [Bangladesh] cricket board,” he said.”The authority should play its due role. If we interfere in everything, then the other authorities will become dysfunctional. However, if the BCB fails to act then we will think of getting involved.”Criminal law expert ABM Sharfuddin Mukul said that a law is in place for every corrupt practice. “The rules state that he is not supposed to be involved in fixing, but he has done so. He has cheated for his personal benefit. This is a violation of the law.”So in a broader sense, a charge can be made based on Section 420 (which deals with cheating and dishonesty) of the penal code. He has violated the rules of the tournament so a police or the victim can file a case. If he has done anything wrong while sporting the national jersey, any cricket fan who feels cheated can file a charge against him as well.”The Delhi Police had also initially registered the cases against the three Rajasthan Royals players (Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan, Ajit Chandila) under the Indian Penal Code section 420 and 120B, which, similar to Bangladesh’s section 420, deals with fraud, cheating and criminal conspiracy.According to another senior lawyer, the current laws in Bangladesh are not modernized enough to deal with the problem. “There isn’t an exact law against fixing in this country. I don’t think that section 420 and 406 can be interpreted in that way that many lawyers are doing it in the case of Ashraful. The nature of crime is changing and we require newer laws,” said barrister Mahbub Shafique.High-ups in the BCB also fear a fan backlash, where a member of the public could file a lawsuit against Ashraful. But, as Rahman had stated, if the BCB acts on it appropriately, there will be little room to build a criminal case against the former Bangladesh captain.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAB de Villiers’ daredevilry made the difference•BCCI

Royal Challengers Bangalore finally got their first away win of the season, beating bottom-placed Pune Warriors by 17 runs. The margin of victory suggested a comprehensive win, but Royal Challengers were run close by Robin Uthappa, who showed his potential with a blazing fifty which gave Warriors hope of chasing a tall 188. AB de Villiers was at his innovative best with the bat, smashing an unbeaten 50 off 23 balls to launch Royal Challengers past 180. His blows were the difference in the end.De Villiers’ assault helped Royal Challengers ransack 68 off the last five overs. Warriors needed 66 off the last five overs, but with a set Uthappa at the crease, Royal Challengers couldn’t afford to relax. Angelo Mathews too gave the visitors a scare with his cameo, but his untimely departure only piled further pressure on Uthappa. Uthappa’s form was good news for Warriors, but had he received better support, the result could have been different.The pitch at Pune has been one of the slower ones in the IPL and one that was going to test the batsmen more than the one in Bangalore when the teams last met. Chris Gayle found out the hard way early in his innings when he found the spinners hard to get away. It was a clever ploy by Warriors to take the pace off the ball, giving Ajantha Mendis the new ball and bringing in the part-timer T Suman. A repressed Gayle plodded to 15 off 19 balls before lofting Suman over the sightscreen for a six. It was hardly a sign of things to come as he tried to repeat that shot the following the ball and miscued it to deep extra cover, falling for a sluggish run-a-ball 21.Since there was no blazing launchpad by Gayle for a change, it was unusual watching Royal Challengers scrap to 59 after nine overs. Saurabh Tiwary and Virat Kohli gave the innings some impetus with a rousing stand of 63. Tiwary, who has batted in the middle order, had requested to go up the order and he justified his promotion with a half-century.The most decisive phase in the match came in the final over. De Villiers was on 24 off 17 balls when Ashok Dinda – not the most reliable death bowler – ran in. De Villiers moved across his stumps and smoked a full delivery outside off stump to deep midwicket for a flat six. The second was smashed over the bowler’s head for four, the third over long-off for six, the fourth reverse-swept to third man and the fifth scooped over short fine leg. De Villiers had raced to 50 off 23 by the end of the over, rousing Royal Challengers and demoralising the Warriors before the chase began.Warriors needed a pacy start but they too found the going difficult early on, moving to 49 for 2 after eight overs. Yuvraj Singh gave the innings a push with two exquisite sixes and his confidence began to rub off on Uthappa, who was starting to peak when he launched Muttiah Muralitharan over the sightscreenRoyal Challengers bounced back with two wickets in an over from Vinay, but Uthappa’s was the wicket they needed. The equation narrowed after one over when Uthappa and Mathews targeted the most experienced of the lot, Muralitharan, smashing three clean sixes in one over. Forty-five off 24 was achievable, but Vinay provided some relief to the visitors when he had Mathews caught at backward point. Uthappa’s heroics ended the following over when he top edged Murali Kartik to point. The chase was all but over when he walked back.

Sri Lanka Cricket expects government assistance to pay for the two new stadia that were the prime contributors to the board’s financial disarray, even though it has wiped over $8 million from its debt since January 2012, SLC treasurer Nuski Mohamed has said. SLC owed almost $70 million after building international venues in Hambantota and Pallekele, as well as renovating Colombo’s Premadasa Stadium.”We talked with the national treasury twice about the stadium debt, and we are discussing it with them now,” Mohamed said. “The ICC has also told us that because this debt has had such a major bearing on our balance sheet, we should somehow negotiate to get that money from the government. As far as I see it, the government has said it would look at things and take over that debt, but there has not been a concrete outcome there yet.”The stadium in Hambantota is understood to have been built on Sri Lankan government’s recommendation. Hambantota was a largely rural district before the tenure of president Mahinda Rajapakse, but it has since had substantial infrastructure development, and now has a functional international airport as well as a port. The cricket stadium forms part of the government’s plan to transform Hambantota into the second major urban hub of Sri Lanka, away from Colombo.Mohamed said that in addition to making a dent in the debt, SLC had also kept up with ongoing payments, including player salaries, and had settled accounts from the World Twenty20 tournament Sri Lanka hosted last year. Not counting the debt incurred by building stadia, for which government assistance is now expected, Mohamed said he hoped SLC would be debt-free inside two years.”During the year, we made a profit of 1.369 billion rupees (approx $10.9 million). Most of that surplus went to the payment of capital and interest to the bank, in order to reduce our liabilities. The liabilities we took over at the time were almost US $18.5 million, and I am pleased to inform you that the current liability position is a little over $10 million with the Bank of Ceylon.”SLC paid outstanding player salaries in February 2012 by obtaining a loan of just over $5 million from the state-owned Bank of Ceylon. Mohamed said the loan taken specifically for player payments had been settled by the middle of last year, but that SLC is still in massive debt to Bank of Ceylon, due to other loans.”Because we don’t have many tours this year, our cashflow is low,” Mohamed said. “As a result we asked the bank to spread our loan repayments over 36 months, rather than 24 months as originally planned, so that we can get a little bit of relief.”In addition to asking for a repayment extension, SLC has also proposed a change in the interest rate, in order to assist with the board’s ongoing financial recovery.”If you look at it on the international level, interest is only about 3 or 3.5%,” Mohamed said. “The interest on the loans given to us are higher than that. I don’t think that given the interest rates in Sri Lanka, they will lower them that much, but even if they lower it by half a per cent or one per cent, that would be a big amount for us.”