A very English cricket blog by Patrick Kidd. Subscribe to a feed of this Times Online blog at http://timesonline.typepad.com/line_and_length/rss.xml
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Bad weather last week finally ended any hopes that a batsman would pass 1,000 first-class runs by the end of May, a feat achieved only twice since the Second World War. In fact, barring the most astonishing batting today, no one will have got close. Mark Ramprakash is a six-hit away from 700 runs, but with Essex batting first against Surrey today, he will probably have to wait until June to add to that. Seven batsmen have passed 500, Jonathan Trott and Andy Flower joining Ramprakash as the only men to make three centuries so far this season.
So perhaps it is time to start a new competition: will anyone do the rare all-rounder's double of taking 50 wickets and scoring 1,000 runs in a season? Shane Warne made 742 runs and took 87 wickets last year; Graeme Welch made 818 runs and took 60 wickets and no one else came close.
The best-placed to achieve the feat so far are Ryan Ten Doeschate, of Essex, with 349 runs and 20 wickets so far, and Mark Ealham, of Notts, who has 294 runs and 23 wickets.
I detect a campaign brewing, certainly among the tabloids, to castigate Monty Panesar at every opportunity for his poor fielding. Duncan Fletcher's comment this week that the left-arm spinner is under pressure came out of nowhere. The coach will not have deliberately set out to undermine his player, it will have been an off-the-cuff response to an aggressive question in a press conference. Naturally the tabloids have blown this up into a "Monty fighting for his place" story.
Let this blog be a lone voice in defence of the Northamptonshire spinner. It is true that Panesar is not the world's finest fielder - having seen him recently step out of the way of a caught and bowled chance at Northampton to let mid off take the catch, I can attest to the fact that he does not like the ball coming near him - but he has dropped only two catches in his five Tests. Yes, both (at Bombay and Edgbaston) were sitters. Yes, the second one, off Maharoof, ended up costing England quite a few runs. But have we already forgotten the fielding disaster that was Kevin Pietersen last summer, or the iron gloves that England has behind the stumps?
Continue reading "In defence of Panesar" »
Yesterday's C&G Trophy matches contained few shocks, apart from Michael Vaughan completing a full match for Yorkshire, as his side beat Scotland by six wickets. The idiocy of only one team from each of the new ten-team conferences qualifying for the play-offs is becoming more apparent as more games become meaningless.
That did not stop Surrey and Glamorgan from conjuring a gripping game yesterday in the only match that did not require the services of Mr Duckworth and Mr Lewis. Both sides dominated with the ball as Surrey recovered from 37 for five and 117 for seven to post 200, a target that was 68 runs too high for the Welshmen, who also reached 117 but did not have an Azhar Mahmood to steer the tail home.
Derbyshire won a rain-affected match against Worcestershire by seven wickets, Michael Di Venuto making an unbeaten 93.
Hampshire beat Gloucestershire by 62 runs, James Bruce taking four for 18.
Durham beat Leicestershire by three wickets with 14 balls to spare.
Lancashire saw the chasing pack catch them up in the North Conference after their match with Nottinghamshire was abandoned after 21 overs.
Warwickshire beat Northamptonshire by 36 runs in an odd game that was curtailed dramatically by rain and would have been abandoned if the showers had come five minutes earlier.
Kent made 194 for four in 23 overs then pinned Ireland back to 16 for five on the way to an easy win.
Robin Martin-Jenkins and Luke Wright had an unbroken stand of 57 as Sussex continued their unbeaten season with victory over Somerset.
Kevin Pietersen has reverse-swept his way into the world's top ten for the first time. His innings of 142 at Edgbaston lifted him seven places in the ICC world rankings. As he has not yet played 20 Tests, he loses a proportion of his batting points and with five more home Tests before the Ashes, Pietersen has a chance to break into the top five before the Australians start their rescue mission on the urn. Yet, Shane Warne aside, the Australians are said not to rate the cocky Hampshire batsman, even after his 158 at the Oval last year.
Two places ahead of Pietersen at No8 in the list is the man who most expect to make a big impression this winter: Mike Hussey, who also does not have a full rating. Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss each slip one place, to No 11 and 15, while Andrew Flintoff has lost his position as the world's best all-rounder to Jacques Kallis after an indifferent match.
Alastair Cook is also moving up the rankings. His unbeaten 30 in the second innings at Edgbaston has helped to lift him 14 places to 55, one behind Paul Collingwood.
Muttiah Muralitharan, meanwhile, consolidated his position at the top of the bowling rankings, ahead of Makhaya Ntini, of South Africa. England's best bowlers, Matthew Hoggard and Flintoff, are fifth and sixth. Liam Plunkett and Monty Panesar make big leaps, of 43 places to No 69 and 15 places to 73 respectively.
Murray Goodwin judged his innings to perfection, hitting 158 off 151 balls, as Sussex chased down Essex's target of 297 with an over to spare. Ronnie Irani earlier made an unbeaten 132 and Andre Adams took three wickets for Essex but the county's lack of bowling depth was critical. The Times is supposed to be unbiased in all sporting events, but this Essex boy must be permitted a brief "grrrr" as Sussex leapfrog Essex at the top of the South Division.
Lancashire stay at the top of the North Division despite losing to Yorkshire in another high-scoring run chase. Mal Loye's 95 out of 287 was outdone by contributions from all of Yorkshire's batsmen as they won with eight balls to spare.
Derbyshire could have overtaken Lancashire but they lost meekly to Scotland. A total of 180 was chased down for the loss of just two wickets, Ryan Watson making 108.
Worcestershire beat Northamptonshire by 50 runs, Phil Jaques making 112 for the home side and only Lance Klusener (85 not out) having any response.
Middlesex had no difficulty in beating Ireland at Lord's. Chad Keegan took four wickets to bowl the visiting side out for 184 before Ed Joyce and Ed Smith made a first-wicket stand of 181.
Gloucestershire beat Glamorgan by five wickets, chasing down 169 in a match shortened to 36 overs.
There may have been the odd wobble in pursuit of a less than testing target, but England have wrapped up victory in the second Test against Sri Lanka and taken a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series. England will have been worried about chasing a large total against Muttiah Muralitharan, and the maestro with the flashing eyes did take four wickets this afternoon, but fortunately England needed only 78 to win.
After a frustrating Saturday when play started late and only one wicket fell, England did at least polish off the Sri Lanka tail swiftly for the first time this series. Liam Plunkett took three second-innings wickets to go with his three in the first innings. He still needs to work hard at his batting if he is to cement the No 8 position for England (a total of 10 runs in his five Test innings is pretty poor) but his bowling is getting better and better.
The four Englishmen to lose their wickets will be frustrated. Kevin Pietersen, after dazzling everyone with his reverse-swept six off Muralitharan on Friday, tried the same trick again without success today but was again dismissed a couple of balls later. It's one thing to try and be a fancy-dan, another to let it go to your head. At least Alastair Cook kept his cool with an unbeaten 34 to take his average over 65. Interestingly, he has the same average as Michael Vandort in a similarly brief career, but no one is yet talking about Vandort as being the bedrock of his side's batting for the next decade.
England find themselves in a similar position at Edgbaston to where they were on the Saturday morning at Lord's: in strong control of the game after two days but with a worried glance at the weather for the weekend. They cannot allow it to get into their heads again, however. There will be plenty of overs available between any possible showers and with Sri Lanka still 68 behind, and their two best batsmen gone, England are in a very strong position.
They will not want to chase more than 150 against Muralitharan, however, and it is imperative not to let the Sri Lanka tail perform the same sort of tricks they have pulled in their first three Test innings on this tour. The task for the day is not to let any of Vaas, Kulasekara, Maharoof or Malinga make more than 20 runs each.
Kevin Pietersen was the undisputed hero of Friday, a fourth Test century his reward. His reverse sweep of Muralitharan for six just before the end of his innings was breathtaking, but the performance of the rest of the team is concerning after they batted so strongly at Lord's. For the second best score to be just 30 suggests a lack of application and although Flintoff and Collingwood shared 50-run partnerships with Pietersen, they made only 28 runs between them.
There are draws galore around the country as the rain dampens play. Essex drew with Gloucestershire at Chelmsford, Mark Hardinges making a brisk century for the visiting sideand Varun Chopra adding an unbeaten 50 to his first-innings hundred.
Worcestershire and Glamorgan also drew, but Worcestershire almost collapsed. Only Stephen Moore stood between them and defeat, his 50 helped them to reach the close on 117 for nine.
Jonathan Trott's 139 at Lord's helped Warwickshire to 362 for seven in pursuit of Middlesex's 520.
Hampshire and Kent meander towards a draw in a rain-affected match. After making 271 (Nic Pothas 96), Hampshire reduced Kent to 195 for seven.
Lancashire v Nottinghamshire also seems draw-bound, although Brad Hodge passed 100 as Lancashire moved 25 runs ahead on first innings.
There may be a result at Taunton today, however. Leicestershire have an 85-run lead over Somerset with six second-innings wickets in hand but have lost their first four batsmen.
There was no play between Northamptonshire and Derbyshire.
The tabloids can go back to comparing Andrew Flintoff's captaincy to Mike Brearley rather than Ian Botham now that England have put the catching nightmare of Lord's behind them. Mahela Jayawardena may have been thinking of Ricky Ponting's mistaken decision to give England a bat at Edgbaston last year when he won the toss and padded up, but it backfired as England's bowlers got movement from the start.
There are some days when you can almost rely on Matthew Hoggard taking an early wicket. It may have been sunny early on, but there was a swagger to his run-up as he prepared to bowl the first ball. Upul Tharanga was beaten for swing and clean bowled. There is a lesson there: if you can't trust your fielders to hold catches, bowl at the stumps instead.
Continue reading "England revival" »
Andre Adams took three wickets as Gloucestershire fell to 114 for five against Essex in their second innings, a lead of 122. Earlier, Varun Chopra had reached his first championship hundred.
Glamorgan have a 73-run second-innings lead over Worcestershire, but have lost Mark Cosgrove to an injury and David Hemp to Zaheer Khan.
Hampshire have made 186 for eight against Kent.
Middlesex declared on 520 for nine against Warwickshire, then Chad Keegan took the first three wickets as the visiting side struggled to 98.
Lancashire are 240 for five (Brad Hodge 82 not out), chasing Nottinghamshire's 253.
Ben Phillips took two Derbyshire wickets as Northamptonshire defended a total of 386. By stumps, Derbyshire were 58 for two. Earlier Matt Nicholson had made an unbeaten hundred from No 9.
Stuart Broad took three for 31 as Somerset reached 138 for five, pursuing Leicestershire's 254.
Sussex wrapped up victory disturbingly quickly over Durham to increase their lead of the county championship. Having been bowled out for 229, with Stephen Harmison taking four wickets for Durham, Sussex dismissed the home side for 80 in the second innings, Mushtaq Ahmed and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan taking five wickets each. Mushtaq's match figures of 10 for 37 are still unlikely to earn him a call-up for the Pakistan Tests against England this summer.
Ed Smith made his first championship hundred of the season, 120 not out, as Middlesex made Warwickshire regret putting them in at Lord's. Owais Shah made 73 as the home side reached 255 for three.
Worcestershire reached 68 for one in pursuit of Glamorgan's 239 before bad light stopped play.
Weather also affected the game at Southampton where Hampshire stumbled to 74 for four against Kent.
Only 42 overs were possible at Taunton, with Leicestershire making 132 for four against Somerset.
The champions continue to struggle this season: Nottinghamshire reached 201 for seven against Lancashire.
Varun Chopra made 80 on his championship debut as Essex reached 172 for three. Earlier, Gloucestershire had Ian Harvey's hundred to thank as they made 396.
Northamptonshire reached 130 for four against Derbyshire.
St Kitts could not have asked for a better match with which to launch international cricket on the island. West Indies, having at one stage faced a probable target of more than 300, not only restricted India to 245 but then chased the total down with a ball to spare in a thrilling match.
This was the third match in a row in this series that has come down to the final over and is just the thing to reinvigorate enthusiasm for the game in the West Indies before they host the World Cup next year. To judge by the tooting and dancing that greeted every dot ball in the first innings and every single in the second, reports of the death of cricket in the Caribbean have been exaggerated.
The hero yesterday was Ramnaresh Sarwan, scoring an undefeated century in his 100th one-day international. He has a good record against India, having previously made undefeated innings of 99 and 98. He was joined in a 106-run fifth-wicket partnership by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who batted for most of his 58 with a runner after injuring a knee. With West Indies taking runs of almost every ball for the last 15 overs, rather than hitting boundaries, there was potential for confusion with the runner, but good calling prevented it.
Continue reading "West Indies return to form" »
Having passed 250 in every previous innings this season, Durham were skittled for 110 by Sussex's two Pakistani bowlers at the Riverside. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan took four for 28 and Mushtaq Ahmed five for 25. In reply, Sussex moved past the total for the loss of two wickets.
Alex Tudor played his first game in more than a year for Essex, bowling 13 overs without reward as Gloucestershire reached 296 for six at Chelmsford.
Mark Cosgrove made a brisk 61 as Glamorgan reached 133 for three against Worcestershire.
They may have gone for two little known Australians as their overseas players rather than established international stars as Ireland have done, but Scotland's gamble on signing Corey Richards and Ian Moran is paying off with a second successive win in the C&G Trophy.
Richards made 73 and Moran took five for 28 as Scotland beat Northamptonshire to add another first-class scalp to go with their win over Worcestershire earlier in the month. But could the inclusion of the pair actually harm Scotland's chances in the World Cup? Obviously neither will be able to play in the West Indies and by taking the place of two Scotsmen who would be in the international side, Richards and Moran could be doing more harm than good.
Take Richards´s 88 and 73 away from the last two games, and Moran´s six wickets and 53 runs for once out, and Scotland´s resources look bare. Playing two Scots in their place would make it less likely that they would win any games against the counties but it would give a full XI vital practice against good opposition. Then again, perhaps the good publicity from winning these games will help to ingnite passion in the next generation of Scotland players.
I've just been speaking to Ricky Ponting at the 19th hole of the El Prat golf course near Barcelona. The Australia captain has been playing a round of golf with Steve Waugh, his predecessor, and both men are in town for the Laureus World Sport Awards tomorrow night. Ponting said that he was glad of a break from cricket after a hectic nine months and wanted all his team-mates to be taking it easy.
"I'm hoping they've all got their feet up, relaxing and not even thinking about cricket. We've all been exhausted after what we've been through for the past few months and so I've encouraged the guys to get away from cricket for the next few weeks. We've got to come back strong and well prepared for the Ashes and World Cup later in the year."
Continue reading "R&R for the Aussies" »
After some contrived declaration bowling, Surrey set Worcestershire a sporting target of 285 in what could have been about 60 overs at the Brit Oval on another rain-interrupted day and the championship's bottom-placed side went for it, achieving the target for the loss of eight wickets. Phil Jaques hit 107 off 69 balls and Stephen Moore made a fifty at a run a ball to set up the chase. We don't see this sort of entertainment often enough since four-day championship cricket came in, and although Surrey will be kicking themselves, they deserve credit for setting up a thrilling finish.
Rain denied Stephen Harmison any chance of a bowl at Trent Bridge, which suggests that he won't be risked in the second Test next week. In the brief time possible, Durham did bowl Nottinghamshire out, giving them maximum bonus points for the match
There was no play on the final day at Derby as Derbyshire drew with Leicestershire.
Stephen Harmison bowled 15 overs without reward as Jason Gallian's century ensured that Nottinghamshire avoided the follow-on against Durham. With four Notts wickets remaining, and the home side 149 runs behind Durham, it will probably need a contrivance to force a result.
Leicestershire slumped to 49 for four in pursuit of Derbyshire's first innings of 401, but recovered to reach 137 for four before rain brought a premature close.
Yorkshire followed on against Lancashire but batting was easier second time round as Joe Sayers and Anthony McGrath saw Yorkshire through to the draw on 177 for one.
Surrey's spinners took all six Worcestershire wickets to fall at the Brit Oval as the visiting side tried to accumulate batting points in a match that will surely end in a draw. At stumps on the penultimate day, Worcestershire were still 187 runs behind on first innings.
Mark Ramprakash made the 82nd first-class hundred of his career as Surrey reached 501 for seven before declaring against Worcestershire at the Oval. The visiting side reached 55 for no loss.
Yorkshire lost nine wickets in pursuit of Lancashire's 417 and are still 165 runs behind after two days at Headingley. Tom Smith picked up four for 55.
Steve Stubbings and Travis Birt both made 119 as Derbyshire reached 399 for six against Leicestershire.
Durham ground out 332 runs for six wickets against Nottinghamshire, with Gordon Muchall making 88 and Dale Benkenstein 73.
Not much play today in a rain-affected Championship. At Headingley, Lancashire extended their first innings to 417 for nine on the second day, with Stuart Law adding a century to the runs made by Mal Loye the day before.
The other three matches are on the first day. Durham lost Jimmy Maher in reaching 88 for one against Nottinghamshire, while no wickets fell at either the Oval (Surrey 126 for nought against Worcestershire ) or Derby (Derbyshire 132 for nought against Leicestershire).
In the only County Championship match yesterday - a rain-affected one at that - Mal Loye scored his second hundred of the season to help Lancashire to 228 for three in the Roses match against Yorkshire.
Kevin Pietersen's innings of 158 may not have won the Lord's Test for England but it has lifted him nine places in the ICC world rankings to seventeenth, his highest ranking. Paul Collingwood, who made 57, has entered the top 50 for the first time.
Alastair Cook, who made 89, rises 14 places to 69th place, but his ranking is not as high as it should be as the rankings deduct a certain amount of points for those who have not played many Tests. Mahela Jayawardena, the Sri Lanka captain, is rewarded for his innings of 61 and 119 with a rise of three places to No 13 in the list headed by Ricky Ponting.
None of the bowlers advanced their cause, but Matthew Hoggard's three wickets in the first innings keep him at No 5 in the bowling list, headed by Muttiah Muralitharan. Andrew Flintoff is sixth, but the next four England bowlers in the world rankings (Harmison, Jones, Giles, Anderson) all missed the Lord's match with injury.
They are saying the final rites over this match and it looks as if it has ended a draw. All credit to Sri Lanka for some dogged batting, keeping out the good balls and leaving the bad ones for all but 200 overs. That takes an immense amount of concentration and they deserve praise for sticking to the task.
But England really dropped this sitter of a match. Andrew Flintoff was right to enforce the follow-on, but his fielders have done the best to give Sri Lanka chance after chance. I make it nine lives that England have given Sri Lanka, and even cats tend to curl up and die after that many.
I also find it baffling that of the 199 overs bowled, Monty Panesar was given only 27. He was clearly getting some spin and a change of pace may have unsettled the batsmen. It might even have been an idea to chuck the ball to Kevin Pietersen, who told me last week that he wants to be used more as a bowler, on the principle that something out of the ordinary can often bring dividends. Just ask Stephen Fleming, who became Ashwell Prince's first Test victim a couple of weeks ago when a triple century seemed on the cards.
Read Christopher Martin-Jenkins match report here
Half past three and Sri Lanka still have two wickets in hand and a lead of 132. England have looked clueless in the field for the past two days and I make it eight catching chances put down. The only surprise is that none of them have been by Monty Panesar. Assuming that this match is echoing the last Lord's Test between these two countries (in 2002 Sri Lanka declared just after making 550, forced England to follow on and then threw away the advantage), we can expect Sri Lanka to add another 30 or so runs before declaring and trying to bowl England out.
England's chance of victory are in the hands of the weather gods today after their own hands let them down yesterday. The home side may well come to rue the half a dozen spilled chances, which allowed Sri Lanka to build a lead. Four swift wickets are needed when play starts today, otherwise those rain clouds will look more and more menacing.
For Christopher Martin-Jenkins's fourth-day report, click here
A quick run through yesterday's C&G Trophy results:
Mal Loye hit a career-best 127 as Lancashire set a target of 308 that was 125 runs too high for Durham.
Derbyshire beat Warwickshire by nine runs thanks to five wickets for Steffan Jones.
Yorkshire won a high-scoring match at Northampton by two runs. Having set the home side 342 to win, Yorkshire were almost denied by David Sales's 161.
Leicestershire lost six wickets in the first 14 overs to scupper any chance of chasing Worcestershire's 191 for eight.
Kent beat Hampshire off the last ball of their match at Southampton. Matthew Walker scored all 12 of the runs needed off the final over.
Ravi Bopara's hundred helped Essex to chase down Somerset's 188.
Rana Naved-ul-Hasan continued his fine form by taking five Glamorgan wickets for five runs as Sussex won by 97 runs.
Surrey's match against Ireland was abandoned when only 15 overs could be bowled.
Line and Length is saddened by the news that Fred Trueman is being treated for cancer. The 75-year-old former England and Yorkshire fast bowler, the first man to take 300 Test wickets, was renowned throughout his career for his fighting qualities and it is hoped that he regards this battle, which has been detected in the early stages, as another inconvenience to bully his way past.
Essex chased down a testing target of 347 to beat Somerset at Taunton, Mark Pettini, taking his chance at the top of the order in Alastair Cook's absence, made his first first-class hundred and James Foster added an unbeaten 82 to boost calls for him to be recalled to the England wicketkeeping job.
Yorkshire batted out the last day of a dead game, Anthony McGrath making 123 not out as Kent took only two of the visiting side's second-innings wickets.
Durham won their second championship game of the season, beating Middlesex by 135 runs. Jamie Dalrymple made 71 but the visiting side suffered for having lost four early wickets on the third evening.
Well, having been told that there would be rain showers on Saturday and Sunday, only for the rain to hold off, the forecasters are now predicting sunshine today and rain showers tomorrow. To avoid any risk of being caught out on the final day, England have to polish off Sri Lanka today and with seven wickets to take it seems more than likely that they will. Doom-sayers have spoken of Sri Lanka adding 300 more runs and Muralitharan skittling England out for 100 or so, but that is stretching pessimism too far.
All the bowlers bar Liam Plunkett played their part yesterday. Monty Panesar will be delighted to have picked up his first two wickets on home soil. He is a popular player with the crowds, in part because of his perceived weak fielding. He made one howler yesterday but has otherwise covered the ground well and if he keeps taking wickets then that will make up for any other weakness.
Andrew Flintoff's captaincy has again been impressive. The team ethic brewed under Michael Vaughan is as strong as ever. Geoffrey Boycott may have dismissed the daily team huddles as "cobblers" but it is clear that this is a team that plays for each other. Superior team spirit, allied to excellent bowling, may just be enough to retain the Ashes this winter.
The similarities between this Lord's Test and the last time that Sri Lanka played at the home of cricket, in 2002, are remarkable. On each occasion, the side that won the toss (then, Sri Lanka; now, England) was blighted by injury (Muralitharan had a shoulder injury; England have plenty) and chose to bat. Having made just over 550 (555-8; 551-6), they each then proved dominant with the ball.
The difference is that England's batting collapse in 2002 came from the middle order (203-2 to 275 all out) while Sri Lanka have slumped from the start. Nonetheless, we can expect Sri Lanka to follow on, as England did in 2002, and then England fans have to hope the similarities stop. In 2002, England's second innings made 529 for five, with hundred from Michael Vaughan and Mark Butcher, and the match was drawn.
One can hardly expect this frail looking Sri Lanka line-up to emulate that and England must now be strong favourites to win this match within four days, even if there are rain interruptions, but they must not take their feet off the accelerator.
Hampshire's two spinners, Shane Warne and Shaun Udal, took two wickets each to set up a 193-run win over Warwickshire. Six Warwickshire batsmen passed 20 but none made more than 34.
Kent ground out a first-innings lead of 151 over Yorkshire, the innings coming alive only when Justin Kemp made 124 not out off 176 balls at the end of the day.
Middlesex tripped up in pursuit of 368 to beat Durham, losing their first four batsmen for 87. Earlier, Jon Lewis had been dismissed for 99 to set up the testing target.
Essex need 347 on the final day to beat Somerset after both captains declared their innings on Friday. Ronnie Irani put Essex before his own landmark, declaring when Essex reached 400 for four and he was on 141 not out. Four Somerset men then passed 50 in reaching 275 for five.
Derbyshire astonished many by winning their second successive match, beating Worcestershire by 35 runs in a thrilling match at New Road. Ray Price's fifty threatened to snatch victory for the home side, but Steffan Jones's four wickets proved the difference.
Daniel Cherry and David Hemp made a record-equalling third wicket stand of 173 for Glamorgan as the Welsh side, following on, avoided defeat against Leicestershire.
Northamptonshire lost a low-scoring match to Gloucestershire by six wickets. The home side wrapped up the 94 runs they needed before lunch.
England have reached a strong position after the first day of the first Test of the summer, scoring 318 for three against Sri Lanka, but they need to press on towards 500 swiftly today if they are to be in a winning position. With rain forecast this weekend, it is imperative not only to have Sri Lanka batting sometime around tea-time today, but to remove a couple of their wickets by the close.
Sri Lanka's batting has looked very frail in their warm-up matches. They may have scored 550 on their last Test appearance at Lord's, but they are now without Atapattu, De Silva, Arnold and, for the time being, Jayasuriya. Upul Tharanga has potential, and a middle order of Sangakkara and Jayawardena is strong, but it is more than likely that Matthew Hoggard will claim his 200th Test wicket (he needs three more) at some point early in Sri Lanka's first innings.
For now, he has another job to do, going in this morning as Kevin Pietersen's partner. Hoggard, the nightwatchman, did his job superbly last night but he must play some shots early on, hitting out or getting out, to enable Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff to come in and push the score swiftly on towards the minimum of 500 that is needed by tea.
I enjoyed the first bottle of champagne of the season at Lord's today, shame that the opportunities to bring my own choice of drink into other Tests has been curtailed by the spinelessness of all other Test venues. Here's to drinking vile Australian lager over the rest of the summer. To find out more about the ICC's bizarre diktat, click here.
Nottinghamshire collapsed for 120 chasing 162 at Hove. Mark Ealham took four wickets as Sussex were bowled out for 247 but Notts lost seven wickets quickly to the Pakistan pair of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mushtaq Ahmed.
Warwickshire lost two wickets for 69 as they set off in pursuit of 404 to beat Hampshire. Shane Warne took five for 52 to bowl out Warwickshire for 217 and Hampshire then declared on 218 for six.
Durham took a first-innings lead of 106 after Graham Onions's four wickets helped to bowl out Middlesex for 242. Durham then reached 80 for two in their second innings.
Kent polished off Yorkshire's tail for 382 and then David Fulton and Robert Key made an opening stand of 153 before the gloss was taken off by losing three late wickets.
Gloucestershire lost an early second-innings wicket but they are in a strong position as they chase just 102 to beat Northamptonshire. Jon Lewis, released by England, took five for 36 for Gloucestershire as Northamptonshire were bowled out for 114.
Ronnie Irani and Andy Flower both made unbeaten centuries to rescue Essex from 80 for three (all three wickets for Andy Caddick) and reach 282 for three by the close against Somerset, who posted 471.
Worcestershire moved from 60 for four to 278 all out, 60 runs behind Derbyshire, thanks to a century from Vikram Solanki and then took two Derbyshire second-innings wickets for 68 runs.
Glamorgan must bat out the final day of their match against Leicestershire after being forced to follow on chasing 525. Glamorgan were bowled out for 297 and then lost Robert Croft, who opened in the second innings, in reaching 37
Leicestershire made 525 (Dinesh Mongia 161) and then picked up two Glamorgan wickets for 90.
Fourteen wickets fell at Bristol as Northamptonshire were bowled out for 219 and then reduced Gloucestershire to 70 for four.
Somerset reached 312 for six against Essex, with fifties for James Hildreth and Keith Parsons.
Derbyshire were bowled out for 338 by Worcestershire with Graeme Welch making 94.
Mushtaq Ahmed took six wickets at Hove and somehow incensed Chris Read as Nottinghamshire took a first-innings lead of 86. Sussex were 111 for three in reply.
Hampshire claimed maximum batting points against Warwickshire after John Crawley made 96 and Nic Pothas 67 not out. Warwickshire then reached 160 for five.
Jimmy Maher made 106 and Chris Silverwood took four wickets as Durham posted 340 for nine in their first innings against Middlesex.
Yorkshire recovered from 34 for four to reach 312 for five against Kent. Darren Lehmann was not out on 176 overnight.
Sanath Jayasuriya, the veteran Sri Lanka batsman, may be pulled out of his brief retirement from Test cricket to play in the second Test against England if his former team-mates do not play well at Lord's tomorrow. Ashantha de Mel, who became chairman of Sri Lanka's selectors on Saturday, has said that his predecessors forced Jayasuriya into retirement too early last month.
The merits of Jayasuriya playing seem clear on paper. He has scored almost 7,000 Test runs, has experience of English conditions - having played for Somerset last season and has a Test average of more than 50 in England - and his country needs him after Marvan Atapattu, the captain, ricked his back.
But there are several reasons why Jayasuriya should resist the calls: he is almost 37 and his Test form is in decline. In 2004, he had the second best year of his career, scoring 1,130 runs at an average of 56.5. Since then, he has made only 225 runs in eight Tests. And he was a failure at Somerset last season, averaging barely 25 in his seven matches. Also, what sort of message does it send to Upul Tharanga and Michael Vandort, the likely openers tomorrow? That if they fail, they will be dropped in favour of a man whose Test career began 15 years ago?
Jayasuriya has been a great servant of Sri Lanka cricket and his country needs him. Learning to do without him could be just the lesson they need.
It has been one of my fascinations since childhood: the annual race to see if any batsman can reach 1,000 first-class runs before the end of May. It is one of those records that is both eccentric and challenging. No one cares if a batsman makes 1,000 runs between, say, July 8 and August 20, but it is arguably harder to make the runs in a similar timeframe at the start of the season.
The feat has been achieved only twice since the Second World War: by Graeme Hick in 1988 and Glenn Turner, for the touring New Zealanders, in 1973. Tom Hayward, Wally Hammond, Charlie Hallows, WG Grace, Bill Edrich and Don Bradman (twice, naturally) all made the mark before 1945.
That does not mean that the record is unassailable, although you need a kind fixture list to be able to achieve it. Two years ago, Robert Key made 906 runs by May 28 but did not have another fixture until June. So who are the candidates to scale this Everest in 2006?
Continue reading "The hunt for 1,000" »
Three matches started today in the County Championship:
At Hove, Sussex were bowled out for a disappointing 143 in 66 overs, with the wickets being split between the six Nottinghamshire bowlers. The county champions then lost two wickets and the departure through injury of Jason Gallian, the captain, to reach 72 at the close.
Michael Carberry made a hundred as Hampshire racked up 280 for four against Warwickshire.
In the second division, Leicestershire's strong batting streak continued, Dinesh Mongia making 142 not out, his second hundred of the season, as they reached 303 for three.
For any readers of this blog, being asked to name three England cricketers is as easy as A(nderson) B(ell) C(ollingwood), but it seems as if even the general public has now got to grips with cricket. Before last summer's Ashes series, the ECB had set an objective of having three players recognised by 10 per cent of the population by 2009. Now a Yougov poll has shown how unchallenging that target was.
According to the survey, 43 per cent (36% women, 56% men) can name three or more England players. The ECB press release doesn't reveal which three are the most popular, although we can hazard a guess at Andrew Flintoff being one of them, possibly followed by Kevin Pietersen and Michael Vaughan.
So, now that this easy-peasie test has been passed, how about for a real challenge. If the public can answer these three questions by 2009 then we'll really be getting somewhere:
1) Name four England spin bowlers
2) What is reverse-swing and how scared of it are the Australia batsmen?
3) If Australia are such a strong sporting nation, why has there been such excitement that a man born in the 1960s says he wants to play until 2009?
You have to admire Shane Warne, sometimes. The Australia leg spinner wins today's award for needling England with this comment in defence of his Hampshire team-mate, Shaun Udal: "He is a very good lower-order batsman, what you would call an all-rounder over here."
The implication is that England's batting depth is so bad, even a poor batsman can claim to be only slightly sub-Flintoff in ability. But consider this: should England play Australia tomorrow, and the two Hampshire spinners be selected, they would probably line up with Udal and Warne each at No 8 in the order (Warne has batted there in 109 of his 194 Test innings). In 246 first-class matches Udal averages a little over 23 with the bat. Warne, from 266 matches, averages 18.66. Who has the weaker batting line-up now?
That said, Jason Gillespie spent most of his career batting two places below Warne and after his double hundred in Bangladesh he is probably calling himself an all-rounder too.
Sam Reddish, the 18-year-old Bradford/Leeds UCCE opening batsman, is the new leader of the Walter Lawrence Trophy award for students, awarded to whoever scores the most runs in an innings for one of the six MCC Universities against another university or first-class county.
Reddish, from Solihull, scored 148 in his side’s second innings against Worcestershire at Harrogate on May 5.
Mark Ealham, of Nottinghamshire, has an almost unassailable lead in the main Walter Lawrence Trophy, for the fastest first-class hundred of the year, having made his mark off 45 balls in the first game of the season. So confident are the organisers that Ealham will not be overtaken that they have effectively "closed the book" in the annual competition for journalists to pick the winner and are opening a new competition for the second fastest ton. I'm sticking with my original guess of 63 balls, possibly to be attained by Lance Klusener, of Northamptonshire.
Northamptonshire stay rooted to the bottom of the North Conference after an eight-wicket loss to Lancashire. The crowd at Wantage Road were denied a sight of Andrew Flintoff batting, although the England captain took three for 30 to limit the home side to 172. Brad Hodge and Stuart Law saw Lancashire home safely.
Middlesex won their first game in any competition this year, beating Hampshire by 13 runs. Kevin Pietersen (43) and Michael Carberry (52) led the Hampshire charge towards 255, set by Middlesex thanks to Ed Smith's 88, but they fell just short.
Essex made light work of Ireland at Chelmsford. Alastair Cook showed his one-day credentials with 91 not out as Ireland failed to defend 192.
Marcus Trescothick was rested but that didn't stop Somerset from beating Surrey by 26 runs. Matthew Wood's 92 and Arul Suppiah's 63 set up a target of 280 and Suppiah then took four for 39 to ensure victory.
Derbyshire continued their fine form with a five-wicket win over Leicestershire. In a rain-affected match, Chris Taylor's 66 not out proved crucial.
Scotland won their first victory of the year, beating Worcestershire by eight wickets.
Durham took advantage of rain to set a target of 225 off 36 overs that was 67 runs too steep for Warwickshire.
In the three matches that lasted into the fourth day, Nottinghamshire, the champions last year, lost by 60 runs to Warwickshire despite an unbeaten century from David Alleyne. Matt Prior added 55 not out to his first-innings hundred as Sussex beat Yorkshire by five wickets and Derbyshire claimed their first win of the season in division two, beating Glamorgan by 28 runs. Robert Croft, the Glamorgan captain, made 41 not out but ran out of partners.
England A had no difficulty in finishing off the Sri Lankans at Worcester. Robert Key and Alastair Cook needed eight overs to make the 41 runs required for victory after Stuart Broad (three for 17) and Jon Lewis (three for 41) finished off the touring side.
Jon Lewis took two late wickets to have Sri Lanka reeling on 68 for five at Worcester, still needing 12 more runs to set England A a target
Shane Warne took seven for 99 to stop Middlesex's attempt to make up for being bowled out for under a hundred on day 1. Hampshire won by ten wickets.
Sussex should win or lose this morning against Yorkshire. They need 54 runs with five wickets left. Darren Lehmann had earlier made 88 to set a target of 193.
Sajid Mahmood, bowling well to lift his England hopes, and Glen Chapple bowled well to set up a six-wicket win for Lancashire over Kent
In a match that has featured five wicketkeepers, Nottinghamshire need 187 runs with five wickets left to beat Warwickshire
Northamptonshire took the last nine Somerset wickets not long after lunch with Monty Panesar returning five for 32 to boost his England chances. Northants won by an innings and 46 runs.
Surrey demolished Gloucestershire at the Brit Oval. Mark Ramprakash extended his overnight innings to 292 before Mohammad Akram and Azhar Mahmood skittled the visiting side for 135, a loss by an innings and 297 runs.
Having followed on 175 runs behind, Essex did not delay Leicestershire's march to victory. Claude Henderson took five for 69 to set up an eight-wicket victory as Essex missed Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara.
Glamorgan need another 197 runs today to beat Derbyshire with eight wickets left
Northamptonshire put themselves into a strong position, dismissing Marcus Trescothick before the close with Somerset 168 runs behind. Earlier, Lance Klusener (147 not out) and Bilal Shafayat (101) had taken the home side to 449 all out.
Mark Ramprakash smashed 276 not out off the Gloucestershire bowlers as Surrey passed 600 and a lead of 401 runs.
Mark Cosgrove, the Australian batsman, made 114 on debut for Glamorgan and Michael Powell made an even hundred as Glamorgan closed 39 runs behind Derbyshire's 335.
Essex were made to follow on at Chelmsford after being bowled out for 242, Mohammad Asif taking five for 56 for Leicestershire. Essex lost Mark Pettini before the close.
Having bowled out Sussex for 301, a lead for the visiting side of 29, Yorkshire failed to make inroads into the deficit at Headingley. They lost Matthew Wood and Jason Gillespie for the combined total of three runs before the close. Earlier, Matt Prior had made 124.
Andrew Strauss made up for a first-innings duck with an unbeaten 117 for Middlesex at Southampton as the visiting side reached 204 for three, still 124 behind Hampshire.
Mark Chilton made 118 not out for Lancashire as they reached 293 for three, 34 behind Kent.
Nottinghamshire had a tough day: bowled out for 157 (Dougie Brown four for 49), they then saw Warwickshire stretch their first-innings lead to 278 with seven wickets left, Ian Trott making 84 and Ian Bell 72 not out.
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