Level on points after playing six games, each team will aim to consign the other to the bottom three at the halfway stage in the tournament

The Preview by Siddhartha Talya28-Mar-2010

Match facts

Monday, March 29
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)
Sourav Ganguly, jolted by three straight losses, was in charge of a much-needed revival against Punjab•AFP

Big picture

Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils’ progress through the competition has been almost identical. Both began with wins in their first two games but slipped to lose three in a row. And they bounced back to get their campaign back on track with resounding wins over Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore respectively. Level on points after playing six games, each team will aim to consign the other to the bottom three nearing the halfway stage in the tournament.Both victories were built on batting performances. David Warner and Kedar Jadhav were the architects of Delhi’s imposing score against Bangalore, while Sourav Ganguly and Manoj Tiwary combined to do the same against Punjab.Ganguly, gradually improving at the top of the order, in his article on the eve of the Punjab game, sought inspiration from the turnarounds wrought by Pakistan in the 1992 World Cup, India in the ’03 World Cup and Bangalore in the previous IPL. Delhi will seek to continue what they’ve started, with the hope of getting back two of their star players – Gautam Gambhir and Ashish Nehra, both of whom were declared fit before being included in the Indian squad for the World Twenty20 next month.

Form guide (most recent first)

Delhi Daredevils: WLLLW
Kolkata Knight Riders:WLLLW

Team talk

Kolkata‘s comprehensive win over Punjab could prompt them to retain their XI, as has been the trend among teams who’ve had a run of success in this competition. They made five changes, two of which made an impact – Manoj Tiwary and Ajit Agarkar.Ashok Dinda and Iqbal Abdulla bowled just two overs each, while David Hussey, who replaced Owais Shah, managed just 3 with the bat. Ishant Sharma and Murali Kartik are not likely to remain on the sidelines for too long, so their replacements have to make the most of what they’re given.If Delhi choose to take it easy on Gambhir and Nehra, allowing them more rest for the injuries they had picked up, one can expect them to stick to same team that halted Bangalore’s winning streak. If they return, however, Mithun Manhas and Pradeep Sangwan could be left out.

Previously…

Delhi 2, Kolkata 1
Kolkata won the opening encounter between the teams, with Shoaib Akhtar grabbing 4 for 11 and the second game was washed out.Delhi had the better of both games in the second edition, winning by nine wickets in Durban and seven wickets in Johannesburg.

Prime numbers

• The Kolkata bowlers have conceded the least extras in this competition thus far. They’ve only given away 38, while Chennai top the list with 69. Delhi have given away 63.
• The Kolkata slow bowlers have the second-lowest economy rate in this IPL. They’ve gone for 6.41 an over and have an average of 29; Bangalore top the list with 5.78 and 18.33. Delhi’s spinners have the second-highest economy rate, 8.27, and the second-best average – 23.14.

In the spotlight

Chris Gayle v Delhi opening bowlers: Dirk Nannes and Umesh Yadav can work up some good pace – both have gone past the 140 mark consistently. Gayle took a while to open up against Mumbai Indians, facing Lasith Malinga and Zaheer Khan, but went on to get 75. Will the Delhi bowling pair be able to rein him in?Amit Mishra: He conceded just 23 in four overs against Bangalore, and nipped out two wickets. He got turn, mixed his variations well, and did not hesitate to toss it up against a power-packed line-up. Against a middle order comprising Manoj Tiwary, Angelo Mathews and Hussey, he’ll aim for a repeat.

The chatter

“After the first two matches people were going gaga over us; they even went to the extent of stating that we are a different side this season. The same people are airing completely different views after our three straight losses!”
Sourav Ganguly.

It was eerily similar to the way the first match ended. For the second time in a row, Bangladesh Academy’s ninth-wicket pair hung on to bat out a close draw against South Africa Academy in Bogra

Cricinfo staff01-May-2010
ScorecardIt was eerily similar to the way the first match ended. For the second time in a row, Bangladesh Academy’s tail hung on to bat out a close draw against South Africa Academy in Bogra. Set to chase 361, the ninth-wicket pair of Saqlain Sajib and Subashis Roy batted out the last 4.1 overs to end on 231 for 8. In Chittagong, it was the tenth-wicket pair of Subashis and Emon Ahmed who saw the team through for a draw.Earlier, South Africa’s last two wickets added a further 27 before they were bowled out for 398. Cobius Pienaar made 87 before he was caught and bowled by Shaker Ahmed, who took five wickets. Bangladesh got off to a steady start, with their openers adding 63. Keshav Maharaj broke the stand and the visitors struck regulary, never allowing Bangladesh to build threatening stands. Tanveer Haider and Sabbir Rahman added 75 for the sixth wicket before Maharaj got rid of the pair. Sabbir fell for 56 in the 80th over but from then on, the hosts clung on to the tail to see them through to another tense draw.

Stephen Peters fell one run short of what would have been the first
double-century of his career after batting for just over nine hours to put
Northamptonshire in a commanding position against Middlesex at Lord’s

06-Jun-2010

ScorecardStephen Peters fell one run short of what would have been the first
double-century of his career after batting for just over nine hours to put
Northamptonshire in a commanding position against Middlesex at Lord’s.He had faced 391 balls and hit 20 fours in the County Championship Division
Two match when he chipped a return catch to Shaun Udal, sprawling to his right. Peters looked crestfallen but he had done a great job for his side in sharing stands of 182 with Alex Wakely, 70 with Nicky Boje and 144 with his captain Andrew Hall.Hall went on to make 133 off 192 balls with 17 fours and when he declared at
581 for 7, Northamptonshire’s highest score against Middlesex, they were 234
ahead. Middlesex closed on 48 for the loss of Scott Newman.Northamptonshire had resumed at 280 for 4 in reply to Middlesex’s first innings
347 and Peters and Boje added 50 in 14 overs before Boje pulled Pedro Collins
straight to square leg. Peters, 115 overnight, was never in trouble as he went past his previous
highest score of 183 not out – scored in leading Northamptonshire to a
six-wicket victory over Middlesex at Northampton in April – but he became
increasingly tentative as he neared his milestone.In the end he could not get there but he had still made the highest score by a
Northamptonshire batsman against Middlesex and given Hall the perfect platform
to build his first century of the season.David Murphy, a wicketkeeper-batsman from Loughborough University who is
deputising for the injured Niall O’Brien, joined him in a seventh-wicket stand
of 107. Murphy made an unbeaten 50, his highest score in the championship, off 87 balls
and by the time Hall was bowled driving at Pedro Collins Middlesex were in
disarray.Udal, their captain, had his left hand strapped after splitting the webbing
between his thumb and forefinger, and Gareth Berg, their newly-capped
all-rounder, was off the field with back trouble.No fewer than nine bowlers were used with only Udal himself and Collins
emerging with any credit and the fielding was so poor that there were jeers from
a section of the small crowd. Their mood did not improve when Newman edged his third ball from Jack Brooks to first slip but at least Sam Robson and Owais Shah held out until the close.

Ryan McLaren is determined to rise to even greater heights on South Africa’s tour of the Caribbean after taking 5 for 19 in the first Twenty20 against West Indies

Cricinfo staff19-May-2010Ryan McLaren is determined to rise to even greater heights on South Africa’s tour of the Caribbean after taking 5 for 19 in the first Twenty20 against West Indies. McLaren returned the second-best figures in Twenty20 international history as he bowled South Africa to a 13-run victory in Antigua.”It’s a good way to start off the tour having practised indoors and not outdoors for the last few weeks,” McLaren said after the match. “But it’s only the first day, and there’s plenty more cricket to come, so hopefully, I can better this performance. We all know the nature of T20 cricket – the bowler is always up against it.”You can take five wickets one day, and the next day, take a thumping, but I enjoyed it. It was not an easy day for the batters, and you had to graft pretty hard. Playing shots was not easy, and there was a strong wind, so there were a lot of things you had to take into consideration.”It was obviously nice to start with a win. This was the most important thing for us. We have worked really hard over the last few days here in Antigua, had a few discussions, the energy has been good around the team, and a lot of new faces have come in. We want to have a good tour of the Caribbean, so success in this match was very important to getting us off on the right foot.”The series could be important for the confidence of both teams after they failed to reach the semi-finals of the World Twenty20. The two Twenty20s are followed by five ODIs and three Tests and the West Indies captain Chris Gayle said there was plenty of room for improvement from his men.”It was a disappointing start for us,” Gayle said. “We wanted to put our dismal performance in the T20 World Cup behind us, but this was not the best way to do it, and was not the best start to the series.”We still have a match on Thursday, so we have to pick ourselves up. This is no time for pointing fingers. We have a lot of corrections to make out there, and we have to return to the drawing board to try and get the best out of the players.”

Tillakaratne Dilshan all but scuttled Bangladesh’s hopes of staying competitive in the Asia Cup and helped earn Sri Lanka a bonus point in the process

The Bulletin by George Binoy18-Jun-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 71 off 51 balls set up the first 300-plus total in Dambulla•Associated Press

Tillakaratne Dilshan all but scuttled Bangladesh’s hopes of staying competitive in the Asia Cup and helped earn Sri Lanka a bonus point in the process. He blazed to a half-century, providing thrust for the first-ever total in excess of 300 in Dambulla, and then exercised control over Bangladesh’s escalating run-rate, while ripping out three wickets to end the visitors’ chances of an improbable victory.Bangladesh’s chase stayed true to their well-rehearsed script. They harboured hope while Tamim Iqbal attacked the Sri Lankan fast bowlers and played the spinners confidently, but once he was dismissed the rest followed without a fight. Mohammad Ashraful, who scratched his way to 9 off 29, played another momentum-deflating innings. The game, however, had been lost even before Bangladesh began to chase, for their bowlers had conceded too many on a pitch that would be harder to bat on under less-than-ideal floodlights.If the rules of boxing were applied to cricket, umpires Billy Bowden and Bruce Oxenford would have been justified in awarding Sri Lanka a technical knockout, for Bangladesh’s bowlers were unable to defend themselves against Dilshan and Upul Tharanga. Sri Lanka’s openers scored at will, finding the boundary at least once in each of the first 12 overs.Shakib had said at the toss that he hoped to restrict Sri Lanka to less than 240 but Tharanga’s fluent cover drive for three, off the first ball, indicated that would be tough to achieve. The second ball disappeared to the extra-cover boundary, off Dilshan’s flashing bat, and another went past point, making it 12 off Mashrafe Mortaza’s first over.While Dilshan didn’t need room to cut and drive Mortaza, he was offered a short ball by Syed Rasel first up and pulled it to the long leg boundary. Most of his runs came on the off, but when afforded opportunities on the leg, Dilshan took advantage – pulling a long hop from Mortaza for a six that crashed into an advertising board and brought a reward of $1500 as well.With Mortaza and Rasel proving expensive, Shakib brought Shafiul Islam and himself on but both their first overs cost 10 each. Dilshan dominated both scoring and strike and reached his half-century off his 31st delivery. Tharanga was on 13 off 15 at the time. Tharanga, however, imposed himself now and then, chipping Shafiul over midwicket and skipping down to loft Shakib for a straight six. The opening stand was worth 111 and it lifted their average partnership to 64.53, the best for any pair who have opened in more than ten innings.The contest began to find an equilibrium only after Sri Lanka reached 100 in the 12th over, as Shakib delayed the bowling Powerplay to avail the protection of five boundary riders. During this quieter passage, Dilshan’s attempt to work the ball to leg hit the leading edge and gave Shakib the softest of return catches. Sri Lanka, however, accumulated steadily through Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, and the innings was poised for a strong finish.Sri Lanka were 242 for 4 after 40 overs and Angelo Mathews and Chamara Kapugedera took over. They barely tried anything spectacular but both scored at over a run a ball during their half-century partnership, leaving Bangladesh to contemplate how they would approach a record target.Tamim began with a hat-trick of fours off Nuwan Kulasekara: the first driven past the bowler, the second over cover, and the third sliced square on the off side. He lost his partner Imrul Kayes in Kulasekara’s next over to an edge that was caught low at second slip by Jayawardene. Kayes’ dismissal heralded Bangladesh’s best period of the match, during which Tamim and Junaid Siddique attacked Kulasekara and Lasith Malinga successfully.Bangladesh had raced to 59 for 1 after eight overs and Sangakkara, seeing that pace was having no effect, turned to spin. Dilshan and Muttiah Muralitharan exercised immediate control on the run-rate, and the next five overs produced only 17. Junaid tried to break free against Murali but his attempted slog-sweep was held spectacularly by Kulasekara, who ran forward and to his right from deep square leg and dived to catch the ball moments before it hit the ground.Tamim had more success against Murali; he charged the doosra and hit it into the stands at wide long on. He also played a precisely-placed cover drive against Dilshan to bring up his half-century off 52 balls. The next delivery, however, was his last. Dilshan dragged Tamim forward with his flight, leaving Sangakkara with a routine stumping to complete.Bangladesh’s slim hopes soon vanished when Dilshan trapped Ashraful in front and had Mushfiqur stumped. At 126 for 5, all that remained to be seen was whether Bangladesh could prevent Sri Lanka from gaining a bonus point. They couldn’t.

It might be premature to describe Yorkshire’s Championship challenge as faltering but their position at the top of the table going into this match disguises a run of results that rather undermines their case

Jon Culley at Headingley03-Aug-2010
ScorecardRyan Sidebottom impressed as Nottinghamshire took control on the top-of-the-table clash•PA Photos

It might be premature to describe Yorkshire’s Championship challenge as faltering but their position at the top of the table going into this match disguises a run of results that rather undermines their case. A record of one win in six matches since May leaves them in need of renewed impetus.They may struggle to draw it from this contest after their poorest day so far, one which began with Adam Lyth out for a duck and ended with Samit Patel and David Hussey shaping up to put Nottinghamshire in control. Yorkshire’s lead at the start of this round is one point. Given Nottinghamshire’s game in hand, if this is not a must-win fixture, it is certainly one they would prefer not to lose.The morning belonged squarely to Nottinghamshire as Yorkshire stumbled to lunch at 89 for 5, prompting inevitable questions about Andrew Gale’s wisdom in deciding to bat first in overcast, humid conditions, particularly after swing had been such a factor in the Test match between Australia and Pakistan here.But the pitches here have generally played well this season. In each of four previous Championship matches in 2010, the captain winning the toss has opted to bat and the average first-innings score was 431, with Yorkshire winning both matches in which they batted first. To Gale, therefore, it was probably a straightforward decision. Ryan Sidebottom confirmed afterwards that Nottinghamshire would have batted, too, given the choice.Indeed, this pitch – blanched and dry – looks like one that will take spin and there is no one in better form to exploit that factor than leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who came into this match with 28 wickets in his last four four-day games. Gale has also turned to David Wainwright, the left-arm spinner, for his first Championship appearance since May.With a decent Yorkshire total to give them room to manoeuvre, Gale will have reasoned, those two bowlers in tandem could pose real problems for Nottinghamshire. All out for 178 – their lowest total for two years – was certainly not part of any plan.The ball ruled from the moment Lyth, the First Division’s leading run-scorer, edged the fifth ball of the day from Sidebottom into the gloves of skipper Chris Read behind the stumps. Under the watchful gaze of Geoff Miller, England’s chief selector, it was not a good moment for the Yorkshire left-hander to cop his third duck of the season.Sidebottom is back in the Nottinghamshire line-up after a knee injury sustained – in the modern cricket tradition – playing football, replacing Charlie Shreck from the side beaten heavily by in-form Somerset at Taunton last week. It was a second defeat in three matches for Read’s team, whose thrashing of relegation favourites Warwickshire in between came on the back of career-best figures of 8 for 52 by Stuart Broad, who will not figure again this season.Yet Nottinghamshire’s bowling resources are as deep as anyone’s, even if their batting can be suspect, and the attack on duty here subjected Yorkshire to their poorest opening day of the season.It didn’t help, though, that their second wicket was needlessly squandered when a misunderstanding between Anthony McGrath and Jacques Rudolph led the latter to be run out for one in the sixth over, Ali Brown doing the fielding after McGrath shaped to take a single to cover off Darren Pattinson but thought better of it with his colleague halfway down the pitch.Gale looked in good shape, helping himself to a couple of nicely-timed boundaries off Pattinson and a couple more off Sidebottom but when Paul Franks came on first change for Pattinson he struck with his second ball, one that umpire Rob Bailey judged would have hit the stumps as the Yorkshire captain went forward and across.Again Yorkshire looked capable of repairing the damage. Andre Adams conceded three boundaries in four balls to McGrath after replacing Sidebottom at the football stand end and was hit for two more by Jonathan Bairstow. But then McGrath nibbled at one from Adams to be caught behind and when Gerard Brophy was bowled by the same bowler, with a fine delivery that came back sharply, Yorkshire were in serious trouble at 89 for 5.That became 104 for 6 when Rashid was out leg before, beyond much argument, in the fourth over of the afternoon. Bairstow, who is becoming a dangerous opponent in the middle order, again went for his shots with confidence, hitting nine fours to reach 45, including three in consecutive balls off Pattinson. But he was undone by a beautiful ball from Sidebottom that bowled him after swinging late – “the kind you bowl once a season,” Sidebottom said – after which Ajmal Shahzad paid the price for stretching for one outside off stump from Pattinson and Yorkshire were 144 for 8.Wainwright proved his value with the bat by adding 20 runs to that, although with his fellow left-arm spinner, Patel, trapping both Steve Patterson and Oliver Hannon-Dalby leg before, the Yorkshire total grew by only 34.As if to even the score after Rudolph’s give-away, Nottinghamshire handed Yorkshire an early gift when Alex Hales, chasing a ball that might have been called wide, edged Steve Patterson obligingly to keeper BrophyMark Wagh was bowled by a peach from Hannon-Dalby, a late inswinger to which the batsman played back, but Matthew Wood gave his side something to build on with his second fifty in consecutive games before Patterson had him leg before.Wood, who has form in one-day cricket, has been given another chance in the four-day side as Nottinghamshire continue to seek elusive consistency in their batting. The openers are not the only problem area, however. Patel’s hundred in defeat against Somerset was his first in the Championship since September 2008 but he and Hussey had put on 50 together at stumps, with Nottinghamshire 31 behind and seven wickets in hand.

Scotland may have entered this match ahead of Afghanistan in the Intercontinental Cup table but for each of the three days at Ayr it has been the tourists who have played like leaders

Cricinfo staff13-Aug-2010
ScorecardMohammad Shahzad’s swift century set up the declaration•International Cricket Council

Scotland may have entered this match on top of the Intercontinental Cup table but for each of the three days at Ayr it has been the tourists who have played like leaders. Sitting on a 296-run lead coming into the day, Afghanistan, led by an unbeaten 105 from Mohammad Shahzad, remorselessly marched into a position of utter dominance. Scotland now face the tough task of batting out the final day with just eight wickets in hand against an attack that has already proved hostile in this match.The home side’s best hopes of slowing Afghanistan’s progress on day three lay with taking early wickets but a cautious opening stand between Noor Ali and Karim Sadiq ensured no alarms. Instead both were happy to work the ball around and pick up what boundaries were on offer during a patient 64-run partnership that took the best part of 19 overs. The loss of Ali, quickly followed by Sadiq four overs later, left Shahzad to boss the show.After starting quietly he worked his way to fifty from 75 deliveries. By that stage Afghanistan were well ahead but were unwilling to declare and instead let Shahzad progress serenely through the gears on the way to his second first-class century. He reached the mark in style, launching Moneeb Iqbal into the gardens over deep midwicket to finish undefeated on 105 and signal the declaration.With the weather set fair, Scotland’s task was either an unlikely 546-run chase, or an almost-as-difficult survival task. The openers started well enough, resisting the new-ball onslaught to reach 31 before Hamid Hasan intervened. The chief destroyer in the first innings struck again to remove Fraser Watts for 8, uprooting his off stump with a vicious delivery. Watts had battled hard, taking 44 balls for his eight runs but could not prevent the effervescence of Hasan from taking hold.At the other end, Mohammad Nabi was weaving a noose around Scotland. He did not concede a single run in 49 deliveries and had Ryan Flannigan out bowled through the gate for a fighting 32 off 97 deliveries. Ewan Chalmers stood firm to finish unbeaten on 37, using the attacking field to collect eight boundaries along the way, but he will have to score plenty more if Scotland are to avoid anything but defeat on the final day.

For three soggy days at Old Trafford, Nottinghamshire’s quest for the County Championship – the blue riband event of the English season – looked like ending in the most miserable of anticlimaxes

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Sep-2010

ScorecardThe decisive moment: Shivnarine Chanderpaul falls to spark wild celebrations from Nottinghamshire•Getty Images

For three soggy days at Old Trafford, Nottinghamshire’s quest for the County Championship – the blue riband event of the English season – looked like ending in the most miserable of anticlimaxes, as they were limited to 28 overs by a combination of rain and, perversely, dazzlingly bright sunshine. But then, on an epic fourth and final day, with their target being six bonus points and some good fortune up north at Chester-le-Street where Somerset were themselves scenting victory, the team seized upon its final chance for glory, and surged to the title in a magnificent allround display of attacking and determined cricket.”We sort of knew what we had to do this morning,” said Nottinghamshire’s Man of the Match, Adam Voges, who anchored Nottinghamshire’s bid for maximum batting points with a gutsy 126, and shared in a momentum-seizing fifth-wicket stand of 153 with Samit Patel, who made 96. “We thought that bonus points was probably our best chance of winning the Championship, so it was just a case of getting a good start. Samit played beautifully through the middle, and I’m delighted to have made a contribution in such a big game.”The drama of Nottinghamshire’s points-hunt was two-fold. Firstly, they suffered a late collapse with the all-important total of 400 in sight, as four wickets fell for 37 to leave them teetering on 390 for 9 with only the Nos. 10 and 11, Ryan Sidebottom and Darren Pattinson, at the crease. Had either man been dismissed short of the mark, Nottingham would have had to pursue an improbable six wickets in the final hour of the game, but such was their collective determination, even that scenario could not have been entirely ruled out.”We had to have some positive thoughts,” said Nottinghamshire’s captain, Chris Read. “We knew we had to go one way or another to get the requisite points. Last night a lot of senior players had a meal and discussed what to do and some of the guys said ‘let’s go out, bash 400 and take three wickets’, but I don’t think any of us thought it would be the easiest day’s play. What an incredible day it turned to be.”Read admitted that his team’s last-ditch plans had seemed doomed at the start of the day, as a wet outfield caused yet another delay to the match, with play finally getting underway at 11.35am. “This morning we were devastated because we’d decided to go for 400, but then we couldn’t start on time so we thought that would scupper our plans, and we’d have to use the other route [of a deal with Lancashire]. But on balance we thought this was our best route.”As things turned out, the title was sealed with some panache, as Andre Adams and Sidebottom bagged the three vital wickets in just 4.4 overs of Lancashire’s innings. For Adams, the decisive dismissal of Shivnarine Chanderpaul was the 68th wicket of his Championship season, and Read was understandably effusive afterwards.”Andre Adams, I couldn’t heap enough praise on him,” he said, “and whenever Ryan Sidebottom has been with us, he has been a fantastic asset. That was the part I was most confident about, that if we got 16-18 overs at them we’d get three wickets. But the 400 side, having not set foot on the park for three days, I had no idea what the pitch would play like. The way Adam Voges and Samit Patel put together that middle partnership was unbelievable.”Nevertheless, the most crucial partnership of the day was arguably that between Sidebottom and Pattinson at the end of Nottinghamshire’s innings. The tenth-wicket pair held firm for 5.1 overs as Lancashire’s bowlers, led by Simon Kerrigan, attempted to wreck their season. “It was more nerve-wracking getting those 10 runs,” admitted Pattinson afterwards. “Me and [Ryan] thought we can’t get out slogging here.””It was a good effort,” added Sidebottom. “We talked between every ball and said keep going and stay out as long as possible for those 10 runs, even if it left us with only 12-14 overs [to bowl], because that would give us the best chance to take three wickets.”Sidebottom is expected to find a new county for the 2011 season, having come to the end of his Nottinghamshire deal, and while he wouldn’t be drawn on his next move, he was grateful for the opportunities he had enjoyed since moving from Yorkshire in 2003. “If it is [my last game], I’ve gone out in style,” he said. “The club’s been amazing, and without them I wouldn’t have played many more games for England, so I owe them a big thank you, whether it’s my last game or not.”Meanwhile, up at Chester-le-Street, there was no consolation for the runners-up, Somerset, who had been in pole position throughout the final round, but whose quest for a maiden Championship title will now be extended into yet another season.”It’s gutting, with it being our first we realise how special it will be when we finally get there,” said Somerset’s captain, Marcus Trescothick. “To get so close – level on points – is so tough but we’ll just have to wait another year now. It’s terrible. It’s something that will live with us for a long, long time. To know we were so close, touching distance to the trophy, but so far away when Nottinghamshire got that third wicket.”

Josh Hazlewood is in a position to hope for an Ashes Test after being picked in Australia’s squad to face India next month

Cricinfo staff02-Sep-2010Josh Hazlewood, the 19-year-old fast bowler, is in a position to hope for an Ashes Test after being picked in Australia’s squad to face India next month. While Hazlewood and Peter George are the young, uncapped quicks in the unit, they are growing in status and will be ready to stand up if one of the main men breaks down over the next four months.”I hadn’t thought too far ahead but definitely [I’m thinking about the Ashes] now I’m in the Test squad,” Hazlewood said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “Obviously there’s quicks coming back but if I get a chance I’ll put my name forward.”Mitchell Johnson will lead the attack in the two Tests in India and the first-choice support will be Doug Bollinger and Ben Hilfenhaus, who came back from a knee injury against Pakistan. Peter Siddle (back) and Ryan Harris (knee) are close to returning and could figure in the one-day series after the games in Mohali and Bangalore.”A lot of the other quicks are getting on, so definitely Georgie and I are the younger group coming through with a couple of the other guys,” Hazlewood said. “You do get the sense it could be not too far away.”Things have happened quickly for Hazlewood over the past two years and he is so fresh he has only played six first-class matches. It did not stop him from being picked on the limited-overs tour of the United Kingdom during the winter and he collected 1 for 41 on debut against England. He has never been to India but hopes he will be comfortable bowling on the unfriendly surfaces.”I don’t think you know until you’re in that position but taking the new ball in Sheffield Shield cricket is just one step below,” he said. ”I had not too bad a season last year, playing five games, so there’s a lot of experience there. Hopefully if given a chance, I feel ready.”

Hampshire are in talks with the West Indies cricket board over the possibility of joining the Twenty20 Calypso Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Oct-2010Hampshire are in talks with the West Indies Cricket Board over the possibility of joining the Caribbean T20 and are waiting on assurances from the board.Hampshire missed out on the Twenty20 Champions League after winning the Friends Provident t20 because the tournament clashed with the end of the Championship season. Playing in West Indies’ domestic tournament would be their first chance of international competition.The club are yet to commit, however, because they are waiting on news from the WICB. “We have yet to commit as there are financial implications,” Hampshire chief executive Glenn Delve said. “Financially it needs to stack up and we have yet to receive assurances from the West Indies cricket board.”The inaugural Caribbean T20 was held in July this year with Guyana emerging triumphant and earning a spot in the Champions League Twenty20. The Calypso Cup, another Twenty20 tournament planned for January 2011, has been postponed indefinitely due to “ongoing financial challenges” faced by the board. The tournament was meant to include four domestic teams from the Caribbean, three English counties and one overseas team.Hampshire’s presence would help raise the profile of the tournament, which is scheduled for January.Hampshire were previously linked to the Royals franchise but sought to distance themselves when Rajasthan Royals were expelled from the IPL, with chairman Rod Bransgrove telling reporters when the news broke that “the club has not yet signed final documentation in relation to the proposed commercial partnership with the Rajasthan Royals.”