Michael Bevan has responded to another excellent Mark Ramprakash hundred byfiring a sweet half century of his own to afford Sussex a slight edge overMiddlesex after three days of the teams’ absorbing County Championshipfixture at Southgate.Bevan (57*) reached his milestone in smart time to lead the visitors to asecond innings mark of 118/3 by stumps, one which leaves them precisely 150runs short of victory in a contest in which they have always appeared tohave their noses slightly in front. Typically, it was the Australian’s eyefor spotting gaps in the field, and placing his shots into them with aminimum of fuss, which lay at the core of his innings. Although aninjudicious attempt from Toby Pierce (25) to loft a Phil Tufnell (2/39)delivery over mid wicket and a similarly ill-timed lapse in concentrationfrom Chris Adams (20) in pushing out an arm ball from the same bowler didnot help the cause, his efforts largely ensured that Sussex was back ontrack for success by the time that stumps were finally drawn.Just in case no-one had noticed the events of two days ago, it had earlierbeen Ramprakash (112) who had dominated the opening two sessions of theday’s play with a brilliantly crafted fiftieth first-class century. Rightnow – with another Test axing hanging over his head and his Middlesexbatting teammates seemingly doing precious little on the field to help easethe pain – he could have been forgiven for cutting a tragic figure. But,in again summoning the mental and physical resources to prove himself a cutabove his colleagues, he proved the very antithesis. It was a courageousdisplay and was full of character, no mean feat considering that he spentthe first half of it watching another succession of batsmen come and go atthe other end. It wasn’t until Richard Johnson (52) followed his lead, andbatted with unstinting application to contribute half of a priceless 104run stand for the eighth wicket, that the formidable right hander finallyattained the support that he deserved.

Hosts Goa lived to fight another day in their South Zone Ranji Trophyencounter against Andhra at Margao on Saturday. After Andhra declaredat their overnight 514/5, presumably satisfied by a handsome lead of351, the hosts progressed to 249/5 before stumps were drawn. The pickof the batsmen was Goa import Tanveer Jabbar who made 94 before beingrun out in the final session of the day.Goa were in troubled waters at lunch, going into the break at 87/3.The top three in the batting order, Messrs. Rane, Kolankar andAmonkar, all fell in their twenties, failing to push for a big scoreafter getting their eye in. Jabbar and Sagun Kamat gave Goa somesolace, batting through the post-lunch session. Their 110 run standwas finally broken when Kamat gave off spinner YS Ranganath his thirdwicket of the innings.Jabbar found another dependable partner in Anant Bhagwat, the pairadding 51 before the former fell just 15 balls before the curtain wasbrought down. His 94 had come off 174 balls and included 11boundaries. Bhagwat who made a brisk unbeaten 41, negotiated Goathrough to close of play in the company of skipper Pravin Amre on whommuch will depend if the hosts are to provide any semblance ofresistance on Sunday.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Shaun Pollock led a stand-out seam-bowling performance as the Mumbai Indians notched up the most convincing win of the tournament, and their fifth in a row, handing the Kolkata Knight Riders an eight-wicket drubbing at the Wankhede Stadium. None of Kolkata’s batsmen came to terms with the seamer-friendly pitch, crumbling to an embarrassing 67 all out – the lowest score of the tournament and the fifth-lowest in all Twenty20 matches – before Sanath Jayasuriya hastened the finish with a 17-ball 48, as Mumbai sailed home with 87 deliveries to spare – a record in all Twenty20 games – significantly boosting their hopes of a semi-final berth.The visitors were put in by Sachin Tendulkar, who won his second toss in a row, but even he wouldn’t have dreamed of the display his bowlers served up. The pitch helped significantly, offering bounce and plenty of seam movement to each of the five bowlers who were used – in fact, so good were the conditions for seam bowling that Rajesh Pawar, the left-arm spinner who made his IPL debut, wasn’t even pressed into the attack.The start was deceptively normal, with Salman Butt moving away to club Pollock down the ground for four, and then carving Ashish Nehra for the 400th six of the IPL. From then on, only one team did all the celebrating.Pollock led the way, bowling with impeccable control, seaming the ball both ways from a perfect length, and giving the batsmen no chance. Against a top four that has an equal mix of right- and left-handers, Pollock kept his line around off stump against both, extracting bounce and seaming the ball away to induce the edge. Butt was the first to perish to the movement, getting a leading edge while trying to flick, offering Tendulkar the first of four catches.Thereafter, the slide was swift. Kolkata made the situation worse when Aakash Chopra was involved in his second mix-up with Sourav Ganguly in three games, charging down the pitch even as Ganguly didn’t respond. Another perfect delivery in the corridor from Pollock accounted for David Hussey, and when Tendulkar decided to bowl his four overs on the trot, Pollock responded by inducing an edge off Mohammad Hafeez, which was snaffled by Robin Uthappa at a wide second slip.Pollock was done, finishing with figures of 3 for 12, but there was no respite for Kolkata, as Dwayne Bravo continued from where Pollock had left off, getting exaggerated seam movement in both directions. Wriddhiman Saha was defeated by the bounce and movement, and slashed to Tendulkar, and Kolkata had lost half their side for 29.With the conditions so friendly for the seamers, Tendulkar cleverly decided to use Dominic Thornely and Rohan Raje, both medium-pace bowlers, and the results came almost instantly. Raje removed the dangerous Laxmi Ratan Shukla with a superb delivery which pitched on middle and seamed away to take off stump.

Through the destruction at the other end, Ganguly hung on patiently, hoping to weather the storm and guide Kolkata to a respectable total. He came in to bat in the third over and stayed till the 13th, but was stuck at the non-striker’s end most of the time, facing only 20 deliveries as the batting line-up was destroyed at the other end. He finally perished in tame fashion, as Yogesh Takawale hung on to a catch with his second attempt as Ganguly tried to cut. With Kolkata’s last hope falling, the rest followed quickly.Kolkata’s only hope of avoiding complete embarrassment was for Shoaib Akhtar to do an encore of the previous game. He began with a fiery first over, having Jayasuriya dropped at slip off the first ball, and then winning his personal battle with Tendulkar, who nibbled one to the wicketkeeper, slightly dampening the spirits of the home crowd.Jayasuriya’s response to that dismissal was emphatic, as he waded into Ishant Sharma and Shoaib in the next two overs. After clipping Ishant unconvincingly over mid-on, he found his timing perfectly in Shoaib’s next over: a flick and a short-arm pull both sailed over the boundary, while two crisp drives raced through the covers in an over which leaked 23, more than one-third of the target.The Shoaib threat was over, and the end came soon after, as Jayasuriya flicked a no-ball off Ishant for his 17th six of the IPL, the highest for a batsman in the tournament, and then finished it off next ball. Mumbai now have the best net run-rate, and with ten points from nine games, have given themselves an excellent chance of making the last four.

Suresh Raina has said he wants to establish himself as Test batsman, the only format in which he has not nailed down a spot in India’s batting order. Raina, the only Indian to have scored a century in all three international formats, attributed his inability to cement a Test spot to his lack of opportunities.”I have been doing consistently well in ODIs and T20s. Even in the IPL, I scored runs,” Raina told . “It’s true that I didn’t do well in three innings in Test cricket in 2012. It was the same story in 2015, but that doesn’t mean I am not experienced enough to be in the Test side.”I have not been given enough chances to prove my calibre as a Test cricketer. You can’t judge a player on the basis of just one match after a hectic series of one-day and T20 games. I am not asking for five Test matches to prove myself. Give me two-three games. And if I don’t perform, drop me forever.”

Raina moves on from Rhiti Sports

Suresh Raina has changed management companies, moving to IOS Sports and Entertainment from Rhiti Sports, a firm launched by MS Dhoni’s friend and in which the India captain had a 15% stake. Raina feels his decision to move on from Rhiti Sports will put an end to the conflict of interest allegations.
“I have signed a three-year deal with IOS Sports and Entertainment. I am happy to be associated with the new company. Above all, I am happy that there would be no conflict-of-interest under the BCCI system.”

After scoring a century on Test debut in Colombo in 2010, Raina has played just 18 Tests spread over four stints. His maiden stint lasted eight matches, when he was dropped after the first Test in South Africa in 2010; he had made 32 runs in six innings.He was drafted back into the side for India’s three-Test series in the West Indies in 2011. In seven consecutive Tests – three in the Caribbean followed by four in England – he managed 337 runs in 13 innings at 25.92. Sandeep Patil then took over as the selection-panel chairman and the new committee moved on to consider Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane to fill the open slot in India’s batting order.Raina made a surprise comeback for the two-Test series in New Zealand in 2012 but made just 58 runs. His last comeback to the Test team was the most disastrous of all, a pair in Sydney earlier this year.Since then Raina appears to have faded from the selectors’ radar for the longest format, having not even been considered for India A’s ongoing series against Australia A. Raina, however, is confident he has it in him to make a good Test cricketer.”I am sure I have the ability to be a consistent performer at Test level, but it’s just a matter of getting the chance to do so,” Raina said. “Before gearing up for the World T20, I will focus on my Test comeback.”Ahead of the World Twenty20, I have plenty of opportunities to play in the longer version of the game, especially in the Ranji Trophy in October-November before we tour Australia in January for an away series.”The domestic games will give me a platform to show my calibre and stake claim for a recall to the Test side. I am desperate for this. The Test series against South Africa in India will allow me to play at least four-five Ranji games for UP.”

Netherlands will take on 2015 ICC World T20 Qualifier co-champions Scotland in the headline matchup of round two in the ICC Intercontinental Cup and WCL Championship. Scotland will travel to The Hague for the four-day Intercontinental Cup match scheduled for September 8-11 at Sportpark Westvliet. Netherlands last played there in 2012 when they defeated Bangladesh by one wicket in a Twenty20 international.The two sides will then play a pair of 50-over WCL Championship fixtures at the VRA Ground in Amstelveen. Both sides are currently joint leaders after round one of the WCL Championship after Netherlands swept Papua New Guinea in June and Scotland claimed two rain-affected matches over Nepal in Ayr last month.Ireland will travel to Namibia in a top-of-the-table clash in the I-Cup from October 24 to 27 in Windhoek. Ireland claimed full points with an innings victory over UAE in Malahide in June to kick off round one while Namibia did the same, defeating Hong Kong by 114 runs in May. Namibia then host Kenya in two WCL Championship matches in Windhoek on October 30 and November 1.Hong Kong travel to UAE in the second week of November with both teams seeking their first win of the I-Cup. The four-day game will take place at the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai from November 11-14 and will be followed by WCL Championship matches on November 16 and 18.The second round of the I-Cup will wrap up with Afghanistan hosting PNG in Sharjah from November 21-24. PNG will be looking to bounce back after their dreams of reaching the 2016 World Twenty20 in India were dashed by Afghanistan in Malahide last month.PNG are then scheduled to take on Nepal in a pair of WCL Championship fixtures on November 28 and 30, with both teams seeking their first wins in the competition. However, the venue for those games has not yet been decided. An ICC release stated that the matches are currently slated to be held in Kathmandu, though that is subject to a security and infrastructure assessment and clearance following a series of earthquakes that struck near Kathmandu in April and May.According to a source, the games may be shifted to the UAE. From a logistics standpoint, it would not require additional travel for PNG, who will already be there for the four-day match against Afghanistan, and the ICC GCA would be available to serve as a neutral venue. The ICC recently had to shift the 2015 U-19 World Cup Qualifier out of Nepal due to infrastructure damage from the earthquakes and it was announced earlier this month that the tournament will now be hosted this October in Malaysia.

It may be only be a conditioning camp, with as many as 27 players in the mix, but for Al-Amin Hossain and Sohag Gazi, being called up to be among them is a huge relief. Out of contention for roughly the same time, both bowlers now have a platform from which to get back into the Bangladesh team for the upcoming Test series against Australia in October.The training camp will mainly focus on fitness. Skill work will begin from September 5. The National Cricket League first-class competition is also being preponed to get the Test players some game time ahead of the Australia series.Al-Amin hasn’t played international cricket since November 2014. So this is a chance for him to reconnect. He had been part of the World Cup squad, but was sent home midway through due to disciplinary issues. Since his last international outing, he has taken 12 first-class wickets at an average of 32.58 in five games.Although Bangladesh struggled for penetration in their pace attack in the Tests against Pakistan, India and South Africa, Al-Amin was kept out. He is taking the training camp as a sign of being “in the selectors’ plans” again. He had also been part of the Players of National Interest (PONI) camp recently in the National Cricket Academy.”I am feeling great, a lot relieved,” Al-Amin said. “I was in the PONI camp but I didn’t feel really sure of my future. But getting called in this camp means at least now I am in the selectors’ plans. I can work on my fitness, and I am getting a chance to prove myself.”Spending the last six months out of the national side, he said he has understood that the team’s composition is changing and the competition within it has gone up as a result of recent victories.”I have seen both sides [being in and out of the squad] in a very short span of time. I learned a lot. I also understand the team is not what it was a year ago. There’s a lot of competition. I have to prove my worth,” he said.Gazi’s story is similar. He served a short suspension at international cricket for an illegal action, got the clean chit from the ICC in February this year and has already played a T20 for Bangladesh in July. He also felt the call-up to the training camp was a sign that he remains in contention for the national side, but felt hard done by having to sit out most of the 2014-15 season.”I was disappointed,” Gazi told . “I played for the senior team recently but from there I was nowhere. It is hard to explain this feeling. It is good to be called up to the camp. I can tell myself now that I am in contention.”It is hard to assess fitness after just one T20. But I will improve my fitness, which goes down when you are out of the team. This is a chance to make it better. The National Cricket League is coming up so I will use the conditioning camp for my own benefit. Doing well in the domestic circuit will surely bring me more opportunities. “It is, however, likely that both players could end up playing for Bangladesh A in their African tour in October and November, the same time as the Australia tour.

ScorecardRavindra Jadeja continued to press for his return to international cricket with another six-wicket haul – taking his season tally to 17 wickets in three innings – before scoring a fighting 58 to help take Saurashtra into the lead on a day that 20 wickets fell on a powdery surface in the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground. The selectors will want to look at the wicket hauls with a pinch of salt, or the puff of dust that flew from ball one onwards. Then again Jadeja can turn around and tell you he scored 58, the second-highest individual score of the match so far, on the same pitch that he took six wickets for 71.With the ball Jadeja had to overcome a special innings – 87 off 69 balls with eight sixes – by Jharkhand opener, 17-year-old, left-hand batsman Ishan Kishan. Kishan scored 87 of the 120 runs that came while he was at the wicket, thrilling the 100-odd spectators. Once Jadeja got rid of Kishan, though, finally through a miscued chance held at long-off by Jaydev Unadkat on the second grab, he ran through the rest of the Jharkhand batting with his accurate left-arm spin. He was helped along by offspinner Kamlesh Makwana, who took four wickets in 18 overs, conceding just 46 runs.Jadeja wasn’t done, though. He had to rescue his side, which was reeling against the left-arm spin of Shahbaz Nadeem, flat legbreaks of Samar Quadri and offbreaks of debutant Vinayak Vikram. Saurashtra’s first big hope fell to Quadri’s legbreak, caught at gully. Pujara’s wicket left Saurashtra at 63 for 4, with prospects of the tailored pitch backfiring on them. That was when Jadeja and Sheldon Jackson got together, the rescuing pair from the last match. That was also around the time when the Jharkhand spinners began to bowl too many long hops and full tosses. “We were dying for one loose ball when we batted,” Kishan said. “But we didn’t get it. We, though, gave them quite a few.”Jadeja made full use of them, hitting seven fours and a six, much to the delight of the small crowd that kept shouting “”. Jharkhand pulled back again on a seesaw day, reducing Saurashtra to 172 for 9, a lead of only four runs, but the experience of Jaydev Unadkat came in handy as he hustled through to 23, taking the lead to a valuable 35.The day ended with the match referee Shakti Singh’s long look at the pitch. He even took photos of it with the cell phone. He wouldn’t say, though, if taking photos of a pitch at the end of the day’s play was regular protocol (to prevent pitch tampering overnight) or if he was doing this for an unfavourable report on the pitch. The Saurashtra camp, though, remained confident there was nothing wrong with the pitch because “there was no dangerous bounce on the pitch”. When pointed to the puffs of dust and turn from ball one, a Saurashtra official said, “What’s wrong with it? You don’t say the same when it seams from ball one.”

Debutant left-arm spinner Bert Chikomba’s 5 for 36 set up Mashonaland Eagles‘ five-wicket win over Mountaineers in the second round of the Pro50 Championship in Harare. Chikomba’s five-for skittled Mountaineers out for 167 before a 71 from opener Cephas Zhuwao and an unbeaten 35 from Gary Chirimuuta took the side to a win with more than 16 overs to spare.Mountaineers got off to a slow start after opting to bat, and struggled to lift their overall scoring rate as the innings progressed. Innocent Kaia scored 52 but the rest of the batsmen were all dismissed for less than 25 as Chikomba ran through the middle order in his second spell. The spinner took four wickets in three successive overs between the 38th and 41st – including the wickets of Shingi Masakadza and Kudzai Sauramba off successive deliveries.Zhuwao and Kudzai Maunze shared an 111-run opening stand to give Eagles a strong start but the side soon slipped to 141 for 4 following wickets from Roy Kaia and Tatenda Mupunga. Chirimuuta, who had scored an unbeaten fifty in the last game, saw the Eagles through to their second win.Fifties from Mbekezeli Mabuza and Taffy Mupariwa guided Matabeleland Tuskers to a six-wicket win against Mid West Rhinos, their first of this tournament. The pair also shared a 99-run partnership for the fourth wicket, helping the side overcome a shaky start that had them struggling at 19 for 2 in the eighth over.The early breakthroughs for Rhinos came from fast bowler Carl Mumba but Mabuza anchored the side – first with a 72-run partnership for the second wicket with Nkosana Mpofu and then his stand with Mupariwa. Mabuza was finally dismissed for 87 off 121 deliveries but by that time the score had moved to 190 for 4. Mupariwa, who finished unbeaten on 67 off 64 deliveries, struck a flurry of boundaries to guide the side home.Mabuza made an equally important contribution with the ball and, along with left-arm spinner Keith Dabengwa, finished with a three-wicket haul. Their strikes ensured that Rhinos were limited to 230 for 7 despite fifties from their openers Tarisai Musakanda (82 off 118 deliveries) and Tendai Maruma (55 off 92 balls). The batsmen were involved in a 135-run opening stand but a mid-innings slide saw Rhinos squander the advantage as they dropped from 167 for 1 to 199 for 6.

Dominic Cork and Darren Gough left West Indies reeling at Lord’s today after taking six wickets with a ferocious late afternoon spell of pace bowling.Both finished the first day’s play of the Cornhill Test with four wickets a piece after a day that started poorly for England and finished on an unexpected high.West Indies had dominated proceedings from the first over of the morning, progressing easily to 180 for three at tea but the progress slowed noticeably in the last 20 overs in which England’s seamers, who had bowled loosely for most of the day, suddenly discovered untapped resources of energy, pace and aggression.They were led by Cork, who was recalled to England for this Test after an 18 month absence from the international scene. He set the ball rolling following a half hour delay for bad light which seemed to have the effect of buoying England’s confidence.For two and a half hours, right hander Hinds entertained with his natural timing and powerfully struck cover drives but on 59, he edged a delivery from Cork and the catch was taken by Stewart.It was Cork’s 100th Test wicket and a reminder of the form that earned him career best figures of 7-43 on his debut against West Indies at Lord’s in 1995. He then swept away Ridley Jacobs, caught behind for ten and Curtly Ambrose, who was snapped up by Mark Ramprakash at short leg and by the close, his figures were 4-39 from 24 overs.Amid this clatter of wickets, Darren Gough was also finding his rhythm after an indifferent spell this morning. He tempted Lara into chasing a delivery veering down the off-side and then trapped Jimmy Adams, the West Indian skipper who made 98 at Edgbaston, lbw for a single.A menacing looking Franklyn Rose, who’s fitness had been in doubt for this Test, frustrated the bowlers towards the close with some big-hitting and young Matthew Hoggard was dealt a blow when Rose lifted him high into the Mound Stand for six in an over that yielded an expensive 16 runs.There were another four boundaries as the Jamaican bowler made a quickfire 29 from 30 deliveries until Gough applied the brakes with a ball that thudded hard into his pads and was plum.When Rose went with the score 253 for eight, West Indies had lost six wickets for 78 runs and with them, the strong position so industriously secured earlier in the day. That position looked even less tenuous in the penultimate over the day when Gough picked up his fourth wicket, from an inswinger to Shivnarine Chanderpaul that was played on.Chanderpaul had been trying to play the anchor role while the mayhem went on around him, and made just 22 runs from 61 balls over two hours before Gough brought his innings to a close, the score 258 for nine. Two balls before the scheduled close, umpires once again offered the batsmen the light and with the score 267 for nine, the players came off.

Nasser Hussain still finds run eluding him but he shared the joy of his Essex team as they thrashed Gloucestershire by 109 runs at Bristol.On a wicket where the bounce became more variable as the third day wore on they shot the home side out for 85 in two and a quarter hours.If it shook Gloucestershire almost on the eve of their Benson & Hedges Cup final with Glamorgan at Lord’s the win, the second in succession, was no surprise to Essex’s Ronnie Irani.”With the new ball we could end it in the evening session and when the early wickets fell we knew we would even without claiming the extra half hour” he said.For Gloucestershire’s part having bowled Essex out the second time for 1999 with Jon Lewis returning six for 47 they believed the victory could be theirs.But by the end of the 18th over they had crashed to 39 for five with the seam attack of Mark Ilott, Irani and Ashley Cowan finding some balls bouncing on the tinder dry surface and others shooting through low.All this was largely academic for Hussain who had elected to play in this second division match in a bid to find batting form after his failures against Zimbabwe in the previous test.Out for three in the first innings he fared even worse in the second falling to his fifth ball for a duck. After varying all the balls he received Lewis dug in a faster one quite short. The England captain swayed away but the ball shot off the top of the bat to wicket keeper Reggie Williams for the most important of the five catches he held in the match.The wicket was already showing signs of uneven bounce and only Paul Grayson of the top Essex order played it with any real confidence, defending and waiting for the one to hit.It explained the nine fours in his 52 before he was undone just before lunch by Mark Hardinges, a 22-year-old seamer from Bath University, bowled by one that kept low.In the first over after the break Hardinges followed this by having Irani caught in the slips for 42 with the score still on 127.With six wickets down Essex now relied on the commonsense of Darren Robinson who faced 124 balls for an unbeaten 32 and then a late heave from Cowan – a six and three fours in a quick 21 – to give them the right platform.The home side shed wickets rapidly with only three of them, headed by Tim Hancock, getting into double figures. Opener Hancock top scored with 26 and was left shaking his head in disbelief when a leg before shout went against him.Gloucestershire’s New Zealand coach John Bracewell claimed: “We lost this one in the first innings when we failed to take a lead of 100 runs but I pledge this result, bad as it was, will have no bearing on the cup final. The lads have always showed they can raise their game in the one dayers.”While Irani finished with 3-30 off 11 overs the celebrations were all for Danny Law. He came on late in the second innings with his seamers and wrapped up the win in 4.4 overs with four wickets at a cost of just 15 runs.