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ScorecardThe Stratford-upon-Avon ground today resembled a mix between a tempest and a midsummer day’s dream as heavy rain forced the players off three times in between bright sunshine. However, in the 76 overs that were played, Lancashire progressed to 299 for 3, 200 behind Warwickshire’s 499, with Mal Loye unbeaten on 125.The small outfield meant a barrel load of boundaries yesterday, and even though the delays for rain slowed the game – and the outfield – down a touch, today was a similar story. In total, 123 boundaries have been struck in the game so far, and the likes of Loye, Stuart Law, and Dinesh Mongia, Lancashire’s latest overseas star, kept up Lancashire’s run-rate measure to measure to Warwickshire’s as they cruised towards the follow-on target.Loye provided the backbone of the Lancashire reply. After Mark Chilton edged Neil Carter to Mark Wagh at third slip for 13, and Alec Swann’s ungraceful 20 was ended by Ian Bell, Loye unleashed his usual array of unorthodox and unexpected strokes, including two successive short-arm pulls from Dougie Brown’s first two balls. He hit 16 fours in his 28th first-class hundred and did his best to prevent Lancashire from sliding to their sixth loss in a row this season.Law was unlucky to be given out when adjudged to be caught down the leg side by Tony Frost off the impressive Naqqash Tahir for a typically stylish 44. Indeed, Law and Carl Hooper will be a difficult double act to follow for Lancashire, but Mongia certainly made an impressive start, easing his way to an unbeaten 70, and being particularly savage on Warwickshire’s overseas player, Brad Hogg.While both players were playing in the World Cup final last year in front of a packed Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, today provided a slightly different scenario. Both players are fighting to get back into their national teams, but on today’s evidence, Hogg has a long way to go. He may be doing wonders with the bat this season, but he’s in need of a miracle or two with the ball. A pale shadow of his international form, Hogg wasn’t introduced until the latter stages of the day, and he bowled far too short and wide to gift Loye and Mongia easy runs in their unbroken stand of 137.

Cricket has grown in popularity in Zimbabwe and is now the second most popular sport in this soccer-crazy country. A lot of children in the high-density areas, who used to play football with home-made balls fashioned out of tightly rolled plastic bags, now play cricket with equally improvised equipment – tennis balls in place of proper cricket balls, dry maize stalks supported by bricks for the stumps.The massive upsurge in the popularity of cricket with the younger generation in Zimbabwe started after England’s (in)famous tour in 1996, when they were thrashed 3-0 in the one-day series. Many of these young people have grouped together and formed clubs, but their efforts have been hampered by lack of equipment and money. Many do not even have proper cricket grounds to play on, and instead play on fields which were once used for rugby and soccer.According to a Zimbabwean cricket follower who, unsurprisingly, wishes to remain anonymous, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union has done little to assist most of the disadvantaged communities who have so much passion for the game. He says that the ZCU has imported equipment earmarked for development over the years, but this equipment doesn’t seem to have reached its intended beneficiaries. There have been complaints from several parts of the country that most of the equipment has been allocated to Takashinga, an all-black club from Highfield, a high-density suburb in Harare.The exorbitant cost of cricket equipment in Zimbabwe means that almost none of the newly formed clubs can afford to buy their own equipment – a quality cricket bat costs about US$100, and most of the newcomers to cricket come from the less-privileged societies in Zimbabwe and cannot afford such a luxury.Only two new stadiums with the facilities necessary to host first-class matches have been built by the ZCU since Zimbabwe gained Test status in 1992. These are Takashinga in Harare and Emakhandeni in Bulawayo, the construction of which is still underway.The ZCU recently announced that it had “frozen” all the assistance it had been giving to clubs through the provincial associations. Ozais Bvute, a controversial member of the board who was involved in the row between the ZCU and the 14 rebel players, told the Matabeleland Cricket Association that the ZCU was not a “bottomless pit”, and that clubs should source their own funding.As our correspondent points out, this latest move by the ZCU means that aspiring cricketers from disadvantaged communities will have to continue using improvised equipment. They will continue to play their matches on football pitches, use tennis balls for practice, and risk life and limb when facing real cricket balls without the necessary protective equipment.

Darren Gough is confident that Steve Harmison will soon regain his form. The fast bowler Harmison slipped from top of the world bowling rankings to eighth after an indifferent Test series. He picked up just nine wickets at 73 apiece as England completed a 2-1 series victory against South Africa.”Confidence plays a big part in fast bowling,” Gough told the BBC Sport website. “Especially after a couple of games haven’t gone your way. It goes in spells and he’s a quality bowler. He’s going to take wickets sooner rather than later. I don’t think Harmison is doing that much wrong. He had two catches dropped on the last day of the last Test.”Although Harmison will be fit for England’s third ODI this Friday after recovering from a calf strain, he knows that he will not be an automatic selection. “It is progressing nicely,” Harmison said, “and with a bit of luck I will be fit for Port Elizabeth, [but] the way the boys have bowled I might not get a game.”England take a 1-0 lead into the second of seven matches on Wednesday at Bloemfontein.

Highlights of the day

Cheteshwar Pujara blasted his highest score in Twenty20 cricket, as Saurashtra thrashed Jammu & Kashmir by 73 runs in Kochi. Pujara slammed five fours and sixes each during a 55-ball 81, and shared a 70-run partnership with Chirag Jani, who stroked 38 off 19 balls. Their efforts lifted Sauarashtra to 157 for 7. J&K failed to string together a single meaningful stand in their chase, and folded for 84 inside 18 overs, with only two batsmen managing double-digit scores. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers, ending with figures of 3.1-0-19-3.Gujarat nearly made a mess of a small chase against Hyderabad in Nagpur, but Parthiv Patel’s 70-run blitz ensured the team had enough gas in the tank to register a three-wicket win. Set 132 for victory, Parthiv drilled eight fours and three sixes during a 40-ball 70, and added 99 for the opening wicket with Priyank Kirit Panchal. Parthiv’s dismissal in the 12th over triggered a slide, as Gujarat lost seven wickets for just 30 runs, but held on to complete the chase with three balls to spare.Domestic heavyweights Karnataka suffered their second defeat of the season, going down to Uttar Pradesh by five wickets in Cuttack. Karnataka, opting to bat, compiled a total of 160 for 6, thanks to a 40-ball 45 from Mohammed Talha, and handy lower-order knocks from CM Gautam and Aniruddha Joshi. UP, though, gunned that total down with relative ease, as their top and middle order all got in among the runs. The opener Prashant Gupta top-scored with 48, while Suresh Raina carried forward the momentum by smoking a 15-ball 28 with three sixes.Biplab Samantray’s maiden T20 ton went in vain, as Odisha failed to defend 183 against Maharashtra. Samantray thumped a 59-ball 102, and put up 155 for the third wicket with Govinda Poddar, but important knocks of 44 and 49 from Prayag Bhati and Ankit Bawne respectively helped Maharashtra to a last-ball win.

Other brief scores

Full tournament schedule

West Indies, the hosts, will play the first match of the 2007 World Cup against Pakistan, in Jamaica, on March 13, 2007. The match, from Group D, will be staged at the newly renovated Sabina Park in Kingston.Australia, the defending champions, will open their tournament against Scotland in St Kitts on March 14. Overall the tournament will involved 51 matches in 47 days and the final will take place on April 28 in Barbados.Trinidad & Tobago will host Group B. Matches will commence on March 15 when Sri Lanka meet Bermuda, India and Sri Lanka meet in the group’s showpiece game on March 23.St Lucia, which is hosting England’s group for the round robin stage of the tournament, starts its matches on March 14 with Kenya taking on Canada. Kenya will also close out the group by playing England, who’s first match is against New Zealand on March 16.The round robin play will see six games over a period of 11 days in each of the four groups. The winners and runners-up from each group will earn the right to advance to the Super 8 stage of the tournament where teams will play each of the other teams advancing – except the team which advanced from their own group – for a total of six games each.The Super 8 stage of the tournament, which begins on March 27, will be played in four countries: Antigua, Guyana, Grenada and Barbados. The last match of this segment of the tournament will take place on Saturday 21 April.For the semi-finals the four remaining teams will travel to Jamaica and St Lucia. On Apri 24 Sabina Park in Kingston will be the venue for semi-final one, where the second and third place finishers from the Super 8’s will square off against each other.On April 25 the Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia will stage semi-final two, pitting the first and fourth place finishers from the Super 8’s against each other.The event logo and event mascot were also unveiled at an event in Trinidad and Tobago. The event mascot is a teenage character called `Mello’ who embodies the lifestyle of the region.

Shane Warne is having an amazing effect on this summer of cricket. Even when he is not actually on the field, he can inspire a team to victory. As Warne watched his Australian team mates get hammered around Chelmsford, his county side, Hampshire, were grasping their hands on the C&G trophy, their first domestic silverware for 13 years. Shaun Udal, their victorious captain on the day, said Warne had played a major part in getting the county into this position.”He has already been on the phone,” said a delighted Udal at the post-match press conference. “He set the foundations of the club because obviously we were struggling when he arrived – but it is down to him that we are in this position now. He is an awesome man and cricketer.”However, Udal did admit that he was concerned about his teams prospects ofvictory as Nick Knight and Ian Bell batted Warwickshire into a commandingposition. But Bell, who had played a superbly composed innings of 54,suffered from a severe bout of cramp which required treatment, and Hampshire sensed their moment. When Bell chipped to mid-off, Hampshire throttled Warwickshire’s innings thanksto the brilliant death bowling of Shane Watson and Andy Bichel – two Aussies who have that winning feeling their national side would love to taste next week.”I was very concerned at one point,” said Udal. “But then the rate started to increase and I thought the cramp that Bell [suffered from] helped us, because it was tough for a new batsman coming in.”

Udal was also full of praise for Hampshire’s century-maker Sean Ervine, the former Zimbabwean allrounder. Ervine hit 104 – to back-up his match-winning hundred against Yorkshire in the semi-final. Udal said: “He has taken to county cricket like a duck to water. We have promoted him up the order in the Championship and he has responded with half-centuries andnow he has hit two centuries in this competition.”Ervine has left Zimbabwean cricket behind and is getting to the stage where he will have to decide where his future lies. He is travelling back to Australia to play for Western Australia this winter but has yet to make up his mind between England and Australia. “At the moment I am justplaying cricket but my ambition is to play Test cricket again. I probably have a year or two left to decide on my options but, at the moment, it is edging towards England.”While Ervine and Udal were happy to look to a bright Hampshire future, Knight, Warwickshire’s captain, was left to reflect on his fruitless 118 in their chase. Even after his stand with Bell had been broken, victory was still within his team’s grasp as he and Jim Troughton carried them past 200.However, Troughton fell the ball after a lengthy standing ovation, following the announcement on the big screen that Richie Benaud was on his last commentary stint at Lord’s. “It’s just part of the game, there were a lot of stoppages to today.”However, he did pinpoint Bell’s cramp as a key moment in the match, although refused to make excuses. “What is it with these young guys? They are supposed to be fit and train hard,” Knight ruefully joked in the press conference. “I started to get a bit of cramp at one point but managed torun it off, but I am a fair bit older than him so I’m allowed to get it.”

Scorecard
Railways extended their overnight lead of 113 to 211 before their bowlers ran through Jammu & Kashmir in just under 46 overs, completing a comprehensive win on day three in Delhi. J&K could only muster 123 in their second innings as Sanjay Bangar picked up the last four wickets in 8.5 overs.Resuming on 307 for 7, Railways reached 405 with No. 7 Karan Sharma, unbeaten overnight on 68, going on to score a century on first-class debut. Sharma was involved in a 103-run stand for the eighth wicket with Harvinder Singh (38). Sharma was the last to fall, but the 211-run deficit was too much for J&K, handing Railways a well-earned victory and six points.
ScorecardAfter having conceded a first-innings lead to Goa, Haryana were left with a chance for victory, needing another 241 runs with nine wickets in hand.Starting the third day 67 runs behind Goa’s first-innings 271, Haryana were bowled out for 246, Shadab Jakati finishing with 6 for 52 from 29.2 overs. Goa got off to a shaky start, losing three wickets with only 30 on the board as Joginder Sharma struck twice.Opener Sagun Kamat made 60, but it was a fighting 86 by Ajay Ratra, the former Indian wicketkeeper, that enabled the home team to reach 221. Ratra was involved in a 32-run last-wicket partnership with Harshad Gadekar as Amit Mishra, Haryana’s strike bowler, took 6 for 75. Haryana, set a target of 247 – one more than their first-innings total, lost a wicket before stumps, Jakati making the breakthrough.
ScorecardGujarat looked well-placed for a win in Ahmedabad, having reduced Assam to 15 to 2 after having set them a target 407.Nilesh Modi and Niraj Patel amassed 215 runs for the third wicket as Gujarat more than consolidated on the 39-run lead they had gained after bowling out Assam for 189. Niraj hit 15 boundaries in his 192-ball stint for his 124, while Modi was more circumspect, his unbeaten 152 coming at less than a run every two balls. Niraj fell with the score on 333, and his side declared once the lead was extended beyond 400. The hosts had the added bonus of two wickets in the 15 overs they bowled, with Siddharth Trivedi and Nehal Raval bagging one apiece.
ScorecardMadhya Pradesh skittled out Jharkhand for 139, gaining a first-innings lead of 84, and then scored 165 for the loss of five wickets at stumps on the third day in Jamshedpur.Jharkhand, resuming at 83 for 5, managed a further 56 as the last five wickets fell within the first 24 overs of the day. Anand Rajan bagged 4 for 51, adding two scalps to the couple he picked up on Sunday. MP lost wickets at regular intervals as they looked to build on their lead, but ended on 165 for 5, with a more than handy advantage of 249. Shankar Rao was the pick of the bowlers for Jharkhand, with three wickets in his 16 overs.
ScorecardServices, who conceded the first-innings lead against Tripura, looked poised to set the home team a challenging target on the final day of the match in Agartala. Yashpal Sharma scored an unbeaten 94 as Services, overnight on 112 for 2, reached 308 for 7, an overall lead of 222 runs. For Tripura, Vineet Jain took 3 for 66.

Following on from its Under-19 National Open Tournament in Chicago in August, Major League Cricket (MLC) has announced its plans for an inaugural Inter-State Cricket Cup for North America, to be launched in November 2005.The plans are for a nationally organised tournament with representation from 16 US states and Canadian provinces. They will be competing on two levels – a Senior Division, and an Under-25 Division. Florida has been chosen as the location for the tournament, which is to be played from November 14 to 20, 2005.MLC also announced that the former West Indian batsman, Desmond Haynes, has been appointed US National Coach, and will oversee the Inter-State Cricket Cup tournament as well as the future training of the select MLC US squads following the tournament.Once the tournament is complete, MLC is planning to select two 25-member US squads, one each from the Senior and Under-25 Divisions. Coaches and managers will be selected to work with both squads to train the teams for regional and international competition. The Inter-State Cricket Cup competition will offer state-level players the opportunity to show off their abilities and potential. MLC believes that this display will provide tournament officials the criteria needed to accurately select – on two levels – future national USA cricket teams.Bernard J Cameron, president and CEO of MLC noted that, as part of MLC’s long-term initiative, the Inter-State Cricket Cup would be one of the main strategic anchoring mechanisms for the grass-roots development and growth of American cricket.To promote and market this event, MLC Events, the programming and publicity arm of MLC, will wage a campaign for securing sponsors who would benefit by access to the estimated 6 million people belonging to the diverse cricket-loving community in the US.MLC claims that, according to the KBS Media Guide, more than six million cricket fans reside in the United States and Canada, out of a global audience of over two billion. In addition, more than 50,000 of these enthusiasts actually play the sport in North America.In the USA alone, there are more than 700 cricket teams. This makes the United States the ninth most-active cricket-playing country in the world, ahead of all except the top-tier Test-playing countries. Over 1.3 million Americans watched pay-per-view coverage of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, paying three times as much per viewer than their counterparts elsewhere in the world.There has never been a sustained campaign launched in the USA to attract major sponsors for cricket in the USA. MLC has already set a good record for attracting sponsors to its National Open U-19 Championships in Chicago in August, and hopes to build on its achievements between now and November 2005.

Dimitri Mascarenhas’s life has changed considerably in the couple of months since he was part of England’s one-day squad in New Zealand. He has been named Hampshire captain after Shane Warne terminated his deal, but more significantly he will be the only England representative in the Indian Premier League.His three-year deal with Jaipur came about after Warne made contact with Mascarenhas following the first round of auctions. Some hasty negotiations followed before a contract was signed, although for this season he will only be part of the IPL for two weeks in mid-May, with the possibility of returning for the final on June 1 if Jaipur make it through.In recent weeks the ECB have been trying to convince people that England players won’t be joining the IPL, a stance reiterated in some bullish comments from the chairman, Giles Clarke. However, there has been a subtle shift in attitude from some leading lights with Kevin Pietersen the most high-profile player to say that they should be given a slice of the action.Mascarenhas has yet to find out how envious some of his England team-mates are, but being a non-centrally contracted player clearly has its advantages. It allowed him to come to a deal with Hampshire which didn’t involve the ECB and he doesn’t feel his international career will be jeopardised. Future seasons of the IPL could be moved to avoid conflict and Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, has already said that international commitments will take precedence.”If you look around, all the other players can take part in the IPL and still play for their countries,” he said. “I’m not missing any one-dayers or anything. I suppose there is an element of risk, but speaking to the hierarchy – Hugh Morris, Geoff Miller and Peter Moores – they are all pretty positive about it and don’t see too much of a problem. They couldn’t guarantee me anything, obviously they can’t, but they all seemed very positive.””I did all the negotiations with Rod [Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman] and he’s been really supportive of what I want to do. He thinks it’s a good opportunity for me, but also for Hampshire to be involved.”Mascarenhas is fairly relaxed about the whole affair, and thinks the experience of bowling to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and facing Brett Lee will be benefit his game, even though he has little idea of what to expect when he arrives next month.”Because I got in late I literally don’t know anything about it,” he said. “All I know is the dates, I don’t know where I’m going to be. I’ll just meet up with Warney and the rest of the team when I get there. I’ll be getting some good cricket, playing with and against world-class players. I can’t see why more won’t do it in the future.”Hampshire, though, will have to do without their captain for two weeks while Mascarenhas is away. “At the time I signed I didn’t know the captaincy situation would come up, but there are a couple of guys lined up who could take over,” he said.One name suggested by Mascarenhas as a stand-in was Nic Pothas. He has spent parts of his winter with the Indian Cricket League (ICL), the unofficial event which has caused the ECB more headaches even though it hardly clashes with the domestic season. Hampshire, too, were unimpressed when Pothas took up his ICL deal, but clubs are having to find pragmatic solutions as cricket’s changing face makes an impact on English shores.

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

After India had stodged and struggled on the first day, West Indies’ batsmen showed that run-scoring wasn’t so difficult on this Antigua pitch after all, rattling up 318 for 6 by close of play on the second day. Chris Gayle led the show upfront with a thunderous 72, while Dwayne Bravo continued to play the role of India’s tormentor with aplomb, scoring a sparkling 68. With Ramnaresh Sarwan chipping in with a classy half-century as well, West Indies finished the day 77 in front.If the batting performances of the two sides was a contrast, then so was the bowling displays. While West Indies’ fast bowlers mostly bowled in the channel outside off and forced the batsmen into indiscretion, the Indian seamers – especially Sreesanth and VRV Singh – sprayed it liberally on both sides of the wicket, offering plenty of scoring opportunities, which Gayle and co. grabbed eagerly.The run-deluge started early, after Daren Ganga was harshly adjudged lbw to Munaf. Gayle, who had survived a far closer shout when on 1, took on the fast bowlers with typically audacious strokes, and India’s total of 241 suddenly looked even smaller. Footwork has never been his forte, and here again, Gayle backed his hand-eye coordination, going hard after the ball when offered the width. The upper-cuts came into play early as Gayle hoisted the ball well clear of the slips. That forced the bowlers to pitch it up further, and Gayle was ready with some brutally powerful shots down the ground, especially memorable being one hit off the hapless Sreesanth which cleared the long-off fence.The early onslaught forced Rahul Dravid on the defensive – the slip cordon reduced to two, a third man was brought in – but the runs continued to flow. VRV Singh came on to bowl in the tenth over of the innings, and his initiation wasn’t a memorable one: the first ball was cut away for four by Sarwan – who played an ideal second foil to Gayle in the 119-run second wicket stand – while there were two more boundaries in an over which leaked 13.It needed Anil Kumble’s guile to winkle out Gayle, but by then West Indies had already gained the initiative. India recovered somewhat when they quickly got rid of Brian Lara – who sparkled briefly for his 18, but then perished thanks to his extravagance – and Sarwan, but that was the cue for Bravo to get his act going.Throughout this series, be it with bat or with ball, Bravo has stamped his authority on the game, and he did it here again. When he came in to bat, West Indies were 182 for 4, still 59 in the arrears. That number whittled away in quick time, as Bravo launched himself at the Indian attack. Precise in footwork, high on confidence, flawless in shot-selection, Bravo pushed India back on the defensive in a trice. His trademark shot was the flick through and over midwicket when the bowlers drifted on leg, and sometimes even when they didn’t. It was effective, and it was glorious to watch – front leg going across, bat going up in a high backlift and ending with a flourish for a follow-through. Even Kumble wasn’t spared as Bravo stroked him cleanly through the leg side, and played a couple of outstanding back-foot punches through cover when the length was marginally short.The bowler who suffered most through the day, though, was Sreesanth. He was clobbered first by Gayle (29 off 27 balls), and then by Bravo (22 off 17), who once crashed him for three fours in an over – a slashed edge, a flick, and a straight-drive as Sreesanth lost all control of direction and served up a juicy full-toss. Eighty-two runs in 13 overs indicates just how much West Indies relished his offerings.For Dravid, it was a tough day in the field. He chose to go with four bowlers, three of whom had little Test match experience, and two of whom inspired little confidence. The situation was dire enough for him to abandon his usual position in the slips and come over to mid-off to talk to his bowlers. That helped little in the case of Sreesanth and Singh – who was far too erratic to be effective – and while Munaf bowled a couple of effective spells, by the final session he was a spent force, bowling at around 120 kmph.India’s plight would have been even worse had it not been for Virender Sehwag, who got the ball to turn, bounce, and was rewarded with two wickets. The ball with which he got Bravo was a beauty – it pitched outside off, turned, bounced, and went between bat and pad as Bravo attempted a drive. Dhoni effected a superb stumping to give the Indians something to cheer about, but with a substantial lead already, and with Denesh Ramdin batting sensibly, West Indies will feel quite satisfied with the way the day panned out.

Munaf Patel b Edwards 0 (241 all out)
West IndiesDaren Ganga lbw b Munaf 9 (18 for 1)
Chris Gayle c Dravid b Kumble 72 (137 for 2)
Brian Lara c Yuvraj b Munaf 18 (159 for 3)
Ramnaresh Sarwan lbw b Kumble 58 (182 for 4)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul c Dhoni b Sehwag 24 (255 for 5)
Dwayne Bravo st Dhoni b Sehwag 68 (282 for 6)
End-of-day interactive video highlights from the Test series are available for $9.95 to Cricinfo users in the USA and Canada.