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Champions Gloucestershire suffered a 27-run defeat to Northamptonshire on the Duckworth-Lewis system in their final National League match of the season.Gloucestershire captain Mark Alleyne was presented with the trophy by sponsors Norwich Union after the finish of a low-scoring encounter.It was the county’s third one-day trophy of a record-breaking season and, despite the defeat, it did little to dampen the champagne celebrations at the end.A 3,500 crowd helped create a buoyant atmosphere during the game and they must have thought a Gloucestershire victory was on the cards when the visitors, who had elected to bat, slumped to 32-5 in the 14th over.Ian Harvey uprooted Jeff Cook’s off stump with the first ball of the innings and the Australian all-rounder went on to record a career-best one-day return of 5-19.He finished the campaign with 34 National League wickets, which was four more than the county record he set last season.It needed some disciplined batting from Tony Penberthy (30), David Ripley (17) and Kevin Innes (32) to take Northants into three figures.Even so, a score of 129 in a match reduced to 43 overs per side by a shower looked inadequate.Gloucestershire were asked to score 129 rather than 130 to win under the Duckworth-Lewis rules, and set off briskly in pursuit of the runs.The fifty came up in ten overs and a quick finish looked likely as Harvey blazed the ball to all areas.He had smashed 43 from only 27 deliveries when he was bowled by Penberthy, a wicket which changed the game dramatically.The runs dried up and Penberthy also accounted for Matt Windows, Alleyne, Chris Taylor and Martyn Ball in a spell of 5-29.It was his best figures in a limited overs match, surpassing the 5-36 he took against Gloucestershire in a Sunday League match at Northampton seven years ago.He was well supported by off-spinner Jason Brown, who claimed a return catch to remove James Averis in nine overs which only cost 12 runs.Jack Russell stood defiant for Gloucestershire with an unbeaten 17, but the end came when Innes had Mike Smith caught at slip by Northants skipper Matthew Hayden.It was appropriate that Hayden should hold the final catch of Northants’s season, for the Australian won’t be back with them next year because he is expected to be part of his country’s Ashes squad.Harvey should be back with Gloucestershire, however. He will probably be part of Australia’s squad for the triangular one-day series, but that won’t preclude Gloucestershire from re-signing him. They have already offered him a new two-year deal.

Bihar went into the third day of their Ranji Trophy East Zone Leaguematch played at Keenan Stadium, Jamshedpur, against Tripura on 212/1and went on to declare their first innings at 450/6 in 123 overs.Right handed batsman Nikhilesh Ranjan took the honours of the day withhis innings of 110 on a day when three Bihar batsmen were dismissed inthe eighties. Having allowed Bihar gain a lead of 214 runs in thefirst innings, Tripura were 90/2 in 45 overs at the close of play.Bihar batsmen made most on a day when Tripura bowlers looked clueless.Left handed batsman Tariquer Rehman was the first to go for 83. He hadadded 189 runs in 75.3 overs with Nikhilesh Ranjan for the secondwicket. Rehman’s innings lasted 208 balls and he hit six fours. Biharsoon lost the centurion Nikhilesh Ranjan for 110. He was at the creasefor six hours as he faced 304 deliveries hitting one six and tenfours. Bihar rubbed salt into Tripura’s wounds with another bigpartnership for the fourth wicket between Rajiv Kumar and Sunil Kumar.They added 162 in 25 overs. Captain Rajiv Kumar went on a leather huntwith a breezy knock of 80 in 78 balls. His innings was studded withone six and five boundaries. Sunil Kumar was not to be left behind ashe scored 87 in 100 balls including eight boundaries. It was sad tosee both the batsmen miss out on a chance of getting to theirhundred. C Sachdev of Tripura had a hard work out of 44-12-121-3 as hewas the best of the bowlers.Tripura have their captain S Dasgupta unbeaten on 33 as they stilltrail by 124 runs going into the last day of the match. Dasguptaplayed a good supporting role to S Chowdhuri who was dismissed justbefore the close of the third day for 47 (7 boundaries) as they added76 in 38 overs.

After a week of bluster and hyperbole, it fell to Andrew Strauss to provide the sense of perspective required ahead of the Investec Ashes series.Strauss, England’s new director of England cricket, was at the Kia Oval to promote a charity match in which he will captain a team. And as he looked around the room to see some of the injured servicemen who he will represent in his Help for Heroes side, the talk of “war” and “battle” that so often precedes the Ashes was given a sobering slant.Help for Heroes is a charity that aims to help those injured in real wars. The match, on September 17, will involve some of the world’s most high-profile players (Brian Lara, Graeme Smith, Matthew Hayden and Graeme Swann are among those confirmed to play) and will raise funds for those facing a lifelong fight to live with their battle scars. It was a reminder of sport’s ability to heal and help, but also of its relative triviality.”It makes you realise that the Ashes is not about life and death,” Strauss said. “It’s a game of cricket. It’s a number of games of cricket between two very passionate sides who desperately want to win.”We don’t need to build it into something it’s not. Ultimately our team are going to be very focussed to go out there and beat Australia, as every team that’s represented England will do so. But that kind of war rhetoric when it comes to the Ashes is unhelpful. The players should be competitive, they should stand up to each other and play in the right sort of spirit, and if we do so it will be a great advertisement for the game of cricket.”But nobody should mistake Strauss’ sense of proportion with any lack of desire to win the Ashes. While there has been much talk of late that the style of cricket played by England will be almost as important as the result, Strauss is not convinced. Certainly, he dismissed the idea that the victorious England side of 2013 struggled to win over everyone due to any lack of style.”The reason people weren’t all that impressed in 2013 was because they’d got very used to us winning Ashes series,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s very hard to come out of an Ashes series as a loser and be pretty happy with yourself. It is about winning and losing, as professional sport is generally.”But I do think everyone involved in English cricket got a real lift from the two series against New Zealand. They got a lift from the way those games were played and the type of cricket England played. It made us all appreciate and understand the importance of engaging with the public.

Cook will try new things – Strauss

Andrew Strauss has reiterated his commitment to Alastair Cook as Test captain and suggested he is at the stage of his career where he will welcome the encouragement to develop as a more dynamic captain.
While Cook has rediscovered his form with the bat in recent games, doubts about his conservative captaincy have arguably been magnified by England’s impressively positive cricket in the limited-overs series against New Zealand.
But while Strauss was reluctant to be drawn on the situation beyond the end of the Investec Ashes, he felt Cook was going into the Ashes in a “better frame of mind” than has been the case for some time.
“As I said at the start of the summer I think Cook is very much the man to take the England Test team forward,” Strauss said. “He’s had two Test matches, he’s played well and I think he has captained well. So my opinion hasn’t changed in any way.
“None of us know what’s going to happen over the next five Test matches so it would be wrong to speculate about what goes on after the end of this series. But at the moment he is the right man. I also know he is incredibly motivated for this series; from a team level he is going into this series in a better frame of mind than he has been for some time.
“I think Alastair is in a phase of his career where he is not afraid to try new things. I know from my experience that when you’ve been involved with English cricket for a long time it’s quite nice to have that sort of fresh change of thinking. I am sure he and Trevor Bayliss will forge a very strong partnership.”

“Ultimately we are in the entertainment business and people have a choice whether they turn on cricket on television or go and watch a cricket match or do something different. We’ve got an obligation to make the product one that people want to watch.”Strauss has maintained a relatively low profile this summer. Despite taking some major decisions – notably the replacement of the England coach – this was the first open press conference he had held since the day of his appointment. Even now, he was only persuaded to do so by the boost to the charity event his profile guarantees. As he put it: “If I can use the higher profile of my new role to blatantly engender more publicity for this game, then I will have no hesitation in doing so.”While Strauss’ attention has, understandably, been on the recruitment of Trevor Bayliss as coach – Strauss admits he only learned about him when he was linked to the job at the time Peter Moores was reappointed and that, the more he found out, the more impressed he was – it is clear his plans are starting to take on more long-term projects.Notably, the national academy at Loughborough is about to undergo a review, while it seems inevitable that an announcement into the restructure of county cricket will be made by the end of the year. The current likelihood is that each county will play 12 Championship matches (they currently play 16) and that the domestic T20 tournament will be played a month or so later than it is at present.”I think there’s a general feeling that Loughborough isn’t producing,” Strauss admitted. “But I don’t think people were saying that two or three years ago when we were top of the world rankings. It’s also very difficult to measure the impact because all the good players go through there and go on to play for England.”I have spent a lot of time there since I took over the job. There is a lot of good and hard work goes on there but there are areas we need to look at and see what we can do better. It’s not a process that’s starts and finishes in a couple of weeks.”And yes, we have to find a way of creating a different structure for the domestic competitions. There isn’t any cricketer who goes through the full season that feels like we are giving ourselves the best chance of producing England players in the various formats with the structure we have at the moment.”Personally I think there needs to be some change but whatever change that is implemented has to appeal to a wide array of people and it has to definitely be better than what we have at the moment.”The process of national selection is already under review. “I am sitting on selection,” Strauss said. “But I don’t have a vote. The process will continue as it has done, but it is an area I am looking at and doing a bit of a review of whether it is the best possible structure going forwards. I think there are some issues about responsibility and accountability which need to be flushed.”

ScorecardRiki Wessels scored his second List A hundred and first for Nottinghamshire•Getty Images

The best one-day score of Riki Wessels’ career helped Notts Outlaws maintain their unbeaten start to the Royal London Cup and secure their place in the knockout stages.Wessels scored 132 as the Outlaws posted 295 for 9 to beat Middlesex by 49 runs at Lord’s, with 12 balls to spare.The 29-year old scored his runs from 118 deliveries and hit 12 fours and seven sixes as he registered just his second century in the format and first since 2008.Steven Mullaney and Luke Fletcher added some lustre to the Outlaws’ innings, sharing an eighth-wicket stand of 63 in just 8.1 overs before both fell in the final over of the innings.Ollie Rayner returned his career-best figures of 4 for 35 and Gurjit Sandhu ended with 3 for 64.Sam Robson scored 88 in Middlesex’s response but when he fell in the 38th over the home side’s chances disappeared with him as the Outlaws’ spinners took control. Imran Tahir ended with 3 for 38 and Samit Patel took 3 for 45.A combination of an uncertain weather forecast and a tube strike meant that very few spectators were in the ground to see the Outlaws’ openers walk to the middle after James Franklin had inserted his former county.Alex Hales was clearly attracted to the shorter boundary on the Tavern side and deposited Sandhu several rows back before then drilling a return to the same bowler to depart for just 11.Michael Lumb, playing his first match in this season’s competition only made a single, before edging Toby Roland-Jones behind as the powerplay produced a meagre return of 28 for 2.James Taylor, like Hales, had made a century in this same fixture 12 months ago but perished for just 8, shuffling in front to be given lbw against Roland-Jones.Brendan Taylor, fresh from a pair of ducks against Essex and Lancashire, over the last four days, scored 19 before sweeping Rayner’s first delivery to short fine leg.Wessels was already starting to pepper the short side, hitting two sixes in his fifty but then lost Samit Patel who chipped back to Rayner for 9.On 87, the opener had his only moment of concern as Dawid Malan got a hand to a leg-side blow but had to settle for pawing the ball back into play, rather than conceding the six runs it would have been had he continued to topple over the rope.Wessels reached three figures for the first time in a Notts shirt, from 100 balls, with his fifth six, a switch hit off Rayner. Two more sixes, from consecutive Roland-Jones’ deliveries, took him to 132, whereupon he presented a catch in the deep, off Rayner.Brett Hutton made just 9 but solid contributions from Luke Fletcher, who blasted 39 from 29 balls, including two sixes, plus 51 from Mullaney, saw the Outlaws to within five runs of 300.Mddlesex’s response was given the perfect start with a solid opening stand of 71 before Tahir had Malan caught at backward point by Hales for 33.Robson, playing just his 13th List A match, passed 50 from 70 balls with five fours and received good support from Nick Gubbins in a second-wicket partnership worth 81.The 29th over saw Notts make a double strike. Hutton sent back Gubbins for 45, with Taylor gratefully clinging on at midwicket and then former Outlaw, Franklin, was run out for nought by a direct hit from Lumb.Robson’s top score in this format came to an end with an ill-advised blow down the ground in Tahir’s comeback over and the tail folded meekly as Patel picked up the final three wickets to seal the win.

Eoin Morgan has been ruled out of Middlesex’s final County Championship fixture of the season against Worcestershire at New Road tomorrow after failing to recover sufficiently from the blow to the head he took while batting against Mitchell Starc in last week’s fifth ODI against Australia.Morgan, England’s limited-overs captain, was forced to retire hurt on 1 during the seventh over of the series decider at Old Trafford on September 13, when he took his eyes off the ball from Starc that struck him a fierce blow on the side of the helmet.After a lengthy period of treatment on the field Morgan was forced to retire hurt, and he did not return either to complete his innings as England were bowled out for 138, or lead the team in the field during Australia’s series-sealing eight-wicket win.Angus Fraser, the Middlesex director of cricket, confirmed that the club were following the current advice from the ECB medical team, which recommends that players who have shown signs of concussion need to be symptom-free for a full week prior to their next fixture.Morgan, who was described by Trevor Bayliss, the England head coach, as “having a lump on his head and a headache” after reportedly taking an hour to come fully to his senses in the dressing room, was apparently still worse for wear last Tuesday morning, a full 48 hours after the incident.”To be eligible to play in the next game after suffering concussion, the ECB advice is that a player has to show no symptoms for a week,” Fraser told ESPNcricinfo. “Unfortunately Eoin was still a bit groggy and fuzzy when we assessed him last week. He is absolutely fine now and I’m sure he would be available to play if there was another fixture next week.”The management of head injuries in cricket came sharply into focus last November following the death of Phillip Hughes following a blow to the head during a Sheffield Shield fixture between South Australia and New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground. That incident was clearly on the minds of several of the Australian players at Old Trafford, not least Starc, who had been fielding for NSW when Hughes was struck, and was visibly shaken by this latest incident as he was comforted by his coach, Darren Lehmann.In common with many other sports, such as Australian Rules Football and America’s NFL, the ECB this season introduced new guidelines for counties when dealing with concussed players, a move that has become imperative for all sports administrators following a study into Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive degenerative disease of the brain that was recently found to be present in 96% of a study of ex-NFL players.This season has involved several high-profile head injuries, not least the on-field collision between the Surrey fielders Rory Burns and Moises Henriques at Arundel in June. Burns, who suffered cuts above his left eye as Henriques sustained a broken jaw, was back playing for Surrey within a fortnight.An ECB spokesman confirmed that Middlesex took the decision to rest Morgan last week, having followed the current advice and guidelines from the ECB medical team.This article was amended at 2130 on September 21, 2015 with additional information.

Sometimes fairy tales do happen in sport. Geraint Jones, Ashes winner in 2005 turned priceless county pro – via Papua New Guinea – signed off his professional career by being chaired around Lord’s after Gloucestershire secured the Royal London Cup with an epic come-from-behind victory.Jones had dragged Gloucestershire to a competitive total with 50 off 65 balls, using his wealth of experience to assess the conditions, before being bowled as the first of Jade Dernbach’s hat-trick wickets. For 34 overs of Surrey’s chase it appeared Dernbach’s 6 for 35 would be the headline act, but then Kumar Sangakkara clubbed a full toss to mid-on and Gloucestershire, evoking the spirit of the one-day sides which dominated from 1999-2004, strangled Surrey and took the match to the final over.”I just feel very lucky to be honest,” Jones said. “To finish this way, very few people get the chance to walk off holding a trophy and look back on a great day. Personally I couldn’t have asked for any more. Since the knockout stages I’ve been saying to myself, dare to dream and who knows. And it couldn’t have worked out better.”My family was here, although I had to keep batting because the boys had swimming lessons this morning and then had to get the train up so I couldn’t get out until they showed up – that spurred me on. To finish this way, with a group that has given such energy back to my cricket, it’s a pleasurable way to finish.”Jones was not actually on the field the moment the match started to change as Jack Taylor’s full toss found the hands of substitute Will Tavare at mid-on. “Thankfully when I popped off for a toilet break is when Sangakkara hit that ball to Tavs, because I knew they were trying to hit it my way,” he said.”I must admit at half time I was very nervous that we were 15-20 shy especially with the way Sangakarra has been playing. But once we got into it, I knew the way our spinners have been bowling all summer has been exceptional and the wicket was going to be good for them because Batty showed when I was batting that it wasn’t easy to score off them.”Michael Klinger, the Gloucestershire captain, also pinpointed the role of his spinners – Taylor and Tom Smith who combined to take 5 for 85 in 20 overs – plus the unfortunate absence of Zafar Ansari for Surrey as a key part of the match. He said he, too, would have bowled with the 10.30am start but also backed the strength of his team’s bowling if they were able to get a score on the board.”They were a little bit light on their batting playing a lot of allrounders,” he said. “We talked pre-game that if we could get through the top they were quite inexperienced and it just so happened the two wickets we got were the two in batters. We knew it would be tough to score against our spinners. In the end, two spinners was the advantage for us. Unfortunately Ansari’s injury hurt them a little bit as well.”Klinger also paid tribute to Jones. “It was fitting that he was our best batter in his last game and to finish his career the way he did.”For Jones, who celebrated with his children on the outfield as Gloucestershire enjoyed a lengthy lap of honour in front of a large number of travelling supporters, this victory will take a special place in his career highlights.”It’s right up the top, purely for the fact I was able to contribute and the group of lads have added more than I can put into words because they’ve made my last few months in cricket so enjoyable.”He will certainly be remembered for more than just that one catch.

Sandeep Patil, India’s chairman of selectors, has expressed concerns over the Indian team’s performances, and said the panel has discussed “a few issues” with the team management. The way Ajinkya Rahane is being used – captain one day, carrying drinks the other; batting at No. 3 one day, 6 the other – was definitely one of the issues, but Patil said they discussed other things too. But he said he retained faith in the ODI captain MS Dhoni, the team director Ravi Shastri, and the support staff. India have lost both the Twenty20 internationals to South Africa, and two out of the first three ODIs.”It is not [about being] happy or not happy,” Patil said about India’s performance in the series against South Africa so far. “We are concerned. The two selectors with the Indian team had a word with the team management and the captain. Today also we had a detailed discussion with the captain.”It is not about worrying. Every time they win we feel good. Every time the Indian team lose we feel bad. Nobody is happy about losing the game we should have won. Besides that, we still back the team we have chosen, we still back the ideas, we still back the team management, the support staff. We want them to do well. The areas we felt that needed looking into have been discussed, and I hope that the team management and the captain will give a good thought to it.”Patil was asked whose fault it was that the India captain feels the No 5, 6 and 7 slots are unsettled. Has he not got the teams he wanted or have the selectors not shown enough foresight?”I have said this earlier too, and I’d like to clarify once again, that our jurisdiction is to give the captain the team which not only the captain wants but the team which the selectors feel will do well, looking at the form of that particular player, looking at the slot for which he has been chosen, looking at the opposition,” Patil said. “I think we are still on the same page. Whether it is the captain, whether it is the director, whether it is the team management, the support staff, whether it is the BCCI.”All selectors feel we have picked the best combination. The final selection of the XI is always left to the team management. That’s why earlier when I was asked if we have discussed this issue, yes we discussed this issue, we worried about a few things. I hope things will work better hereafter.”In recent Indian cricket, for the selectors to even discuss these issues and then acknowledge that issues exist is almost unheard of. A necessitating factor could be the way Rahane is being used. The captain has said he is an excellent ODI batsman against the new ball or against the old ball on quick pitches – which basically leaves him either a slot in the already packed top order or none at all. Yet he was played at No. 3 twice, with Virat Kohli having to move down to 4. In those two ODIs he scored 60 off 82 in a chase of 304 and 51 off 63 in India’s first-innings total of 247 for 9. In the third ODI Rahane was moved down, but perhaps because of the rapidly rising asking rate he was pushed all the way down to No. 6.Patil insisted Rahane was not the only matter of concern. “We have discussed not only Ajinkya but other players also with the captain and the team management,” Patil said. “Me and my co-selectors have had a word with the director [Shastri] also. But this is always left to the team management and the captain. We have limitations. We have no complaints but we have limitations. We discuss and we agree to a conclusion, and finally decide the combination of 15 players, but it is always left to them to pick the final XI and the batting and bowling order.”When asked if he was satisfied with the way Rahane was being handled, Patil remained non-committal. “It is not whether I am satisfied or if we are satisfied,” Patil said. “As I said we have full confidence in our captain and team management and the director. We have discussed these issues. Not only regarding Ajinkya Rahane. There were a few more issues. We have discussed them with the team management and the captain. I am sure they will give good thought to it.”

ICC chairmanship
While there have been reports of N Srinivasan being replaced as the BCCI’s nominee for ICC chairman, it is learnt that the board is divided on the issue. A member from the East Zone said some people within the BCCI felt that prematurely ending Srinivasan’s tenure, which is set to end in June 2016, would draw global attention to “BCCI politics”. A member of the South Zone, though, maintained that it is “highly unlikely” that Srinivasan would continue in the ICC role.Two new IPL teams
There is likely to be greater clarity on the bidding document for the two new franchises following the AGM, wherein a discussion on parties that have shown interest in buying the two new franchises is likely to happen. A BCCI official said a few companies from Kerala had shown interest in owning a franchise in the IPL.Conflict of interest
Discussion on the document prepared by BCCI president Shashank Manohar that deals with conflict of interest issues is likely to be the main item on the agenda at the AGM.Composition of IPL governing council
The IPL governing council may likely see three new independent directors introduced alongside five BCCI members. It is understood that Ravi Shastri and Sourav Ganguly, who hold key positions within the India team and the Cricket Association of Bengal respectively, may be dropped in keeping with Manohar’s attempts to eliminate conflicts of interest.The selection panel
There has been plenty of conjecture on the composition of the senior team’s selection committee, with different suggestions – ranging from a comprehensive overhaul to a continuation of the existing panel – floating around. The dominant theory, however, is the panel, save for possibly Roger Binny, is expected to continue till the conclusion of the World T20.Appointment of ombudsman
This has been one of the new administration’s pet projects. An independent observer, who according to a senior administrator will be an “eminent figure”, is likely to be appointed on Monday to offer a dispassionate assessment of the workings of the BCCI.Trimming committees
It is understood that Manohar is keen on pruning the number of members on different committees, and the downsizing is likely to be effected at the AGM.Discussion on venues
The board is likely to discuss the recent controversies surrounding the DDCA and the impact of that on Delhi hosting the fourth Test against South Africa. Cricket Association of Bihar Secretary Aditya Verma told ESPNcricinfo that he had made submissions in connection with Bihar’s affiliation to the BCCI, and the matter was set to come up in the AGM. There is also likely to be discussion on the status of the disputed stands at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, which, if unresolved, would lead to the city losing hosting rights at the World T20. Sources in the Andhra Cricket Association have also indicated that they will push for Test status for the stadium in Visakhapatnam.

Another (overcast) day, another spectacular clatter of wickets at New Road.Even allowing for the intervention of further showers, fourteen morefigures perished today as Worcestershire and Gloucestershire’s ‘batsmen’did their best to outdo one another in seeing just how rapidly they couldfritter their innings away. As it was, though, the former lost the battlefor mediocrity and their team now holds an overall lead of 229 runs withone more second innings scalp in tact.Again it seemed that the batting calamities were no fault of the pitchalone: a view certainly shared by ECB pitch liaison officer Phil Sharpe,who will not be initiating action against the club on account of thequality or otherwise of the surface. For however lopsided the contestbetween bat and ball has become in this match, it was indeed more thecombination of some fine bowling and some equally poor strokeplay that wasresponsible. There was a suggestion too that the dull, bleak conditions inwhich the day’s play began also loomed large; a state of affairs aboutwhich Glenn McGrath was hardly complaining. He used the bowler-friendlyweather to rise to his destructive best and captured all but three wicketsin the course of a demolition job that saw Gloucestershire slidehorrendously to 87. Believeable or not after their own ineptitude of theday before, the locals had somehow seized a first innings lead of elevenruns in the process. McGrath’s rival Australian, Ian Harvey, admirablytried to stop the rot with a plucky 27 – the highest score mustered byanyone in the match until then – but even his ability to occasionallypierce a tightly set attacking field became akin to an exercise in tryingto pile up sandbags in the face of a tidal wave.McGrath was methodical, hostile and relentless. It is difficult tocomprehend the notion that he hasn’t taken a five wicket haul on thisground at any stage previously in the Championship season but then that hasprobably had as much to do as anything with the loss of substantialportions of a number of games to poor weather. In any case, his 7/29 here- the third best figures of his brilliant first class career – redressedthe situation eloquently.It did not take long for the Gloucestershire seamers to begin returning thecompliment even if their inability to make the ball lift off the pitch aseasily as McGrath allowed Worcestershire’s top and middle order slightlymore respite. Harvey (5/95) followed up with five wickets of his own onthe back of his trademark variations of pace. But Vikram Solanki found amethod of countering the apparent impossibility of occupying the crease forlong enough to make a productive contribution – by crashing his way to 41off only thirty-two deliveries – and the home team’s lead was soonbillowing beyond the positively gigantic figure of one hundred. Solanki’seffort suddenly made batting look easier, and David Leatherdale (56), SteveRhodes (50*) and Paul Pollard (20) all profited handsomely from being shownthe value of positive thinking.

Karachi, July 5: India defeated Pakistan by 33 runs in a match ofacademic interest in the Asia Cup Under-15 cricket tournament at KualaLumpur on Wednesday.Both the teams qualified for July 9 final.Batting first, Indian teenagers slumped to 79 for five before reaching181 for seven from the allotted 40 overs. An unbeaten 52 bywicketkeeper-batsman Abhinav Kumar, who starred in a 83-run sixthwicket partnership with N.Chaudhary (28) was the feature of theinnings.In reply Pakistan could manage only 148 for 9. Brief scores: India181-7 in 40 overs Pakistan: 148-9 in 40 overs on Tuesday, Pakistanbeat Bangladesh team by seven wickets in its fourth pool match.After being put in to bat first, the Bangladesh could score 131 forthe loss of eight wickets in the stipulated 40 overs. Mahmoodullahtop-scored with 39 consuming 48 balls and hitting two fours. AnwarHosain scored 15. Pakistan’s paceman Talal Zia and Muhammad Azhar Alitook three wickets, each.Pakistan won the match by scoring 132 for the loss of three wickets in26.1 overs. Opener Syed Sibtain Raza remained not out at 44, consuming81 balls and hitting four boundaries. The other opener Shahid Yousufalso scored 44 but on 39 deliveries and hit one six and four fours.Mahmood Asim Butt scored 15.Mahmoodullah (Bangladesh) was declared the Man-of-the-Match.