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Scorecard1:08

Clarke leads Australia on low-scoring day

If day three in Chelmsford produced more mixed fortunes for the Australians, the forward strides made by two of their most spinal contributors was enough to obscure other more ambiguous outcomes against an Essex side that is far from the most threatening combination in county ranks.Mitchell Starc, indifferent in his initial spells, returned to the sort of rhythm and swing that made him the player of the World Cup, as his six wickets hurried Essex from 291 for 1 late on the second evening to 414 all out on the stroke of lunch. Then the captain Michael Clarke played his most substantial innings since braving a bad back, torn hamstring and the emotional weight of Phillip Hughes’ death to compile a memorable hundred in Adelaide last December.These two performances provided a reminder of Starc’s danger and Clarke’s value, while also ensuring the pair will be feeling confident and settled entering into the first Investec Ashes Test against England in Cardiff, with wickets and runs behind them. Clarke’s crisp knock was especially timely, going some way to proving he will be capable of something more than the flashy cameos he has indulged in since returning from hamstring surgery.Michael Clarke made his first substantial score of the tour•Getty Images

Regular wickets at the other end meant that the tourists needed Clarke to stand up, on a very good Chelmsford pitch that was showing welcome signs of deterioration late on day three, as all good first-class surfaces should but few enough contrive to do. Chris Rogers, Adam Voges and Shane Watson all completed matches without major scores, while David Warner and Mitchell Marsh were unable to follow-up their first-innings success.It is fair to assume Rogers, Voges and Watson have all done just enough to maintain their spots in the Test team, leaving Shaun and Mitchell Marsh as the unfortunate men to miss out. That being said, the final day of this fixture will provide the opportunity for Watson and the younger Marsh to again match wits as bowlers, leaving the selection chairman Rod Marsh and the coach Darren Lehmann to deliberate on who best to choose.Essex’s vim in the field ensured that Clarke’s men could not skate away to an unassailable lead, meaning the final day should provide decent entertainment on a July Saturday as Tom Westley and Ravi Bopara attempt to reprise their first-innings heroics against a touring team now eager to get to Cardiff. None more so than Starc.At one point on the first evening, Starc’s figures of 11-3-26-0 were flattering, for he had barely made the batsmen play and more often challenged the reserve gloveman Peter Nevill to limit a mounting tally of byes. But a move around the wicket had him swerving through Westley and the nightwatchman Jamie Porter, and there was more the following morning.Swung around to the River End by Clarke after Bopara had taken further toll on the finger spin of Nathan Lyon, Starc zoomed through the final four wickets of the innings in the space of 20 balls at a cost of five runs. Thus did 0 for 26 become 6 for 51, a turnaround reminiscent of a tour match two years ago in Taunton, but also the sort of damage once wrought by Wasim Akram for Pakistan and Lancashire. The need for Starc to find his best with regularity during the Ashes grows with every minute team medical staff fret over the state of Ryan Harris’ right knee.Batting a second time, Australia’s batsmen looked a little hazy in focus, something reflected by Warner’s drag on to the stumps, Rogers being dropped on nought before edging behind at 32, then Voges and Watson both missing straight balls – the latter’s a full toss he would have expected to make solid contact with. Clarke’s gaze looked rather more fixed, and in the company of Marsh he ensured the avoidance of embarrassment.As the close of play drew near, Clarke appeared good for a century, only to be done in when a flatter delivery from Aron Nijjar skidded through low to disturb the stumps. Frustration passed understandably across Clarke’s face, but it was doubtless leavened by the thought that he was now tracing towards a three figure score in the matches that matter most of all.

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

Dinesh Karthik hooks to fine leg but India had to negotiate a testing passage of play before winning by seven wickets to go one up in the three-match series © Getty Images

After all the excellent work done over the last four days, India needed only to complete the formalities on the final morning but they were made to work hard to polish off the remaining 63 runs. Led by a fiery spell from Chris Tremlett, England fought with plenty of heart, and India needed 21 overs before finally completing a seven-wicket victory, their fifth Test win in England and the first at Trent Bridge, to go 1-0 in the series.Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik resumed the Indian innings at 10 for 0, and motored to 47 fairly comfortably. Karthik played a couple of handsome backfoot punches square on the off side, while Jaffer played his trademark effortless flicks. Both played and missed a few times off Ryan Sidebottom, but a ten-wicket win was on the cards when Tremlett struck – not once, but three times. England’s only hope of gaining some brownie points was to take a few top-order wickets before the Oval Test, and Tremlett did that, nailing both openers with short balls that bounced more than the batsmen expected – Jaffer top-edged a pull to gully while Karthik nicked a beauty which bounced and seamed away.Buoyed by those successes, Tremlett and James Anderson let rip at India’s two most experienced batsmen. Both bowlers liberally dished out short-pitched deliveries, and then mixed it with pitched-up, awayswingers. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid played and missed a few times, before Tendulkar pushed at a short one off his hips straight to Alastair Cook at leg gully, who had been cleverly stationed for that stroke.Dravid, though, patiently swayed out of the way of every short ball that came his way, and with a target of 73, victory was only a matter of time. The winning runs came when Tremlett bowled an inswinger that beat Sourav Ganguly and Matt Prior and raced down for four byes.The victory means India have now won at least one Test in ten of their last 12 tours, but have only won two of those series against a team other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. With the last Test at The Oval – a venue which has traditionally produced belters – India have an excellent opportunity to go on and get that rare overseas series victory. England, on the other hand, haven’t lost a series at home since the 2001 Ashes, which sets up the last game of this series quite splendidly.

Shoaib: ‘If it was up to me than I could play tomorrow for Pakistan’ © Getty Images

Shoaib Akhtar has vowed to bowl faster than ever if he recovers in time for the third Test against England at Headingley on August 4. He missed the first Test at Lord’s because of an ankle injury and is unlikely to play the second at Old Trafford beginning on Thursday.”I’ve worked really hard for this series,” Shoaib told AFP. “I wanted to start right against England but I tried to do too much too early and I got a couple of niggles. I think I will be a yard quicker when I do come back. If I get some good match practice, I’ll be right up there – I’m not going to get slower, trust me.”Shoaib last played a Test against India in Karachi in February and since then, he missed the tour of Sri Lanka and the early part of the England tour owing to the ankle injury. “The ankle is good, it’s recovering,” said Shoaib. “I’ve bowled around three or four times with the full run-up and that’s been no problem. Everything I do is calculated and we’re not taking any chances. We have a long, tough year ahead of us, so we’ve been very sensible.”Shoaib’s rehabilitation has been assisted by an offer from Warwickshire to train with them. He has done that for more than a week and is hopeful of playing some league cricket before making his Pakistan return”If it was up to me than I could play tomorrow for Pakistan. I love playing for my country and I love being out there and it’s very frustrating watching my team play on television.”

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.

Tim Lamb: ‘We would prefer not to tour, and the players will go with heavy hearts’© Getty Images

Tim Lamb, the ECB’s chief executive, admitted that England will agree to tour Zimbabwe this autumn, but added that the players would go "with heavy hearts". It is the first time that any senior board official has admitted that the trip will only take place because of threatened penalties by the ICC.Reacting to the news that there was going to be a debate in the House of Commons on the subject, Lamb acknowledged that the only measure acceptable to the ICC – a ban by the government – was constitutionally impossible."A debate is being considered, but the government’s position is they have no legal powers to prevent us,” Lamb said. “We would prefer not to tour, and the players will go with heavy hearts.”The ECB is due to meet with Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, on May 4. The government’s opposition to the trip has already been tabled, and even if parliament passed a vote condemning the tour, that would be unlikely to satisfy the ICC, which demands nothing short of a government ban.”They can’t confiscate the players’ passports. Cricket is not state-run in England like it is alleged to be in Zimbabwe,” Lamb told the BBC. “We have a lot of sympathy with [the government’s] position that they don’t have the power to instruct us not to go.”But, he continued, the potential financial penalties left the ECB without any room for manouvre. “The downside and fallout from us not going could have a catastrophic effect on the fabric of the game in England and Wales. Any country that is in breach [of the ICC agreement] is liable for suspension.”

Wellington paid the price for poor batting in the first innings of their State Shield semi-final match with Northern Districts and suffered a four-wicket loss at the Basin Reserve.ND reached Wellington’s paltry total of 137 with 11 overs to spare.ND now meet Auckland in the State Shield final at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland on Saturday.In perfect conditions and on yet another seemingly benign pitch typical of New Zealand’s summer, Wellington’s total of 137 was never going to be enough to defend and while ND suffered a few hiccups along the way, they knocked off the required runs with relative ease.Wellington’s top order never got going. Following a partnership of 48 for the second wicket between Chris Nevin (24 off 35 balls) and Richard Jones (37 off 73 balls), the innings floundered. Only James Franklin (34 from 82 balls) showed any further resistance.A disappointed Wellington captain Matthew Bell was quick to concede this was the cause of his side’s loss.”We just didn’t perform well with the bat today. If your top order can’t score runs consistently you will always struggle”.The ND bowling was also very much on song. Ian Butler bowled with genuine pace and plenty of venom throughout and was rewarded with three wickets for 15 runs from his nine overs.Left-arm spinner Bruce Martin bowled with guile and was prepared to flight the ball and entice the batsmen out of their crease. Martin bowled 10 overs and took two wickets for 22 runs. He caught and bowled Nevin with his first ball and then had Neal Parlane stumped.Graeme Aldridge who bowled his nine overs for one wicket for 31 runs and Mark Orchard with two for 32 runs from his 10 overs, also chimed in well for ND.ND had no real problems knocking off the 138 it needed for victory. James Marshall (32 off 46 balls) played a handy innings at the start, Michael Parlane (32 off 48 balls) played some typical bludgeoning shots and David Kelly (30 not out off 70 balls) batted intelligently.They did suffer a hiccup in the 31st over when they were on 114. Matthew Walker got a double breakthrough when he removed Parlane and Joseph Yovich (0).But Kelly and his skipper Robbie Hart steered their side home and on the basis of today’s performance, they thoroughly deserve to be in the State Shield final.

Under a sky half-covered in light cloud and against a backdrop of theBvumba Mountains at the beautiful Mutare Sports Club ground, Indiabegan their six-week tour of Zimbabwe on Monday. The highlight of thefirst day of their match against Zimbabwe A was a brilliant century byRahul Dravid, which enabled them to declare at 336 for nine. They thentook one wicket for 33 runs in 16 overs by the close.The pitch contained some bounce but the ball did not appear to come onto the bat, while the outfield was uneven. However, for a recentlyrevived ground with new developments taking place all the time, it wascommendable. There was a keen Monday morning crowd of about 200,mostly parties of schoolchildren, and the number doubled during theafternoon.India made a steady start against the bowling of Bryan Strang andTravis Friend for half an hour before both openers fell in quicksuccession. Sadgopan Ramesh (13) chopped a lifter from Friend on tohis stumps, while Shiv Sunder Das (4) snicked Strang to wicket-keeperTaibu in the next over. India suddenly found themselves at 18 for two.Venkatsai Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar both settled in, content to waitfor the bad ball, but neither was to go on to play a major innings.Tendulkar, driving straight, hit a ball back at Mutendera’s midriff,which he juggled and finally grasped to send the little master on hisway for 11. Laxman continued to leave the off-side fielders standingwith his powerful stroke play, but then, when on 24, he played back toMutendera and was bowled through the gate. Overall Friend looked thebest of a good trio of bowlers, showing good pace and stamina after along layoff from the game.Saurav Ganguly (12) was next to go, brilliantly caught low down byFriend at second slip off Mutendera; at 71 for five after 26 overswith only Rahul Dravid of their top order remaining, India were inunexpected trouble. Wicket-keeper Samir Dighe, though, made animmediate positive impression at the crease, looking more comfortablethan some of his superiors, and the pair were still there at lunch.The afternoon session produced cricket as different as day from night.Dravid and Dighe batted superbly until after tea in a finepartnership, with Dravid’s share a glorious century. India appeared tohave decided at lunch to take the initiative, as Dravid, pulling anddriving with time to spare, took 16 runs off Friend’s first over afterthe break. The onslaught continued, with runs now coming at about sixan over. The batsmen used their feet to leg-spinner Brian Murphyand pulled fiercely at anything short, Dravid quite belying hisreputation as an accumulator with one dazzling stroke after another.No bowler was able to restrain the flow of languid, beautifully timedboundaries all round the wicket. With tea drawing near the scoring slowed,as Dravid approached his century with caution and Zimbabwe A resortedto defensive field placing.Dravid’s hundred finally came off 97 balls. It took a while to warm upagain after tea, and just as Dravid was getting into his stride againand taking Murphy apart, the leg-spinner lured him into an uppishdrive to mid-on and he departed for 137, scored off 135 balls, with 22fours and a six. India were now 296 for six, and the partnership withDighe had added 225.Murphy also claimed the wicket of Dighe, lbw for 87. Zaheer Khan (14)and Harbhajan Singh (19) hit freely before Ganguly declared with thescore 336 for nine. Mutendera took three for 69, Murphy three for 77and Friend two for 70.Zaheer Khan and Debashish Mohanty opened the bowling with some firebut an absence of line, and Gavin Rennie (1) was highly annoyed to begiven out caught by the keeper while chasing a ball from the latterwell down the leg side. Dion Ebrahim (25) and Hamilton Masakadza (6)played safe for the close.

Rangers full-back Borna Barisic has admitted that he is not happy with his current situation at Ibrox under Gio van Bronckhorst.

He has found himself playing a supporting role to Calvin Bassey at left-back and is not content with being a back-up for the Glasgow giants.

The Glasgow Times quotes him as saying: “As far as Rangers goes, I’m still playing plenty of minutes because we are playing every three or four days at the moment.

“I haven’t played in a few games and I’m not happy about that, but it’s not a drama.

“It’s been a fairytale for me at Rangers and some things have changed now. But it’s nothing terrible.”

Axe him

Van Bronckhorst must now end Barisic’s fairytale at Ibrox by brutally axing him from the club in the summer – cashing in on him whilst his stock is still relatively high.

He was hooked off at half-time in the club’s last Old Firm clash at the start of February as he endured a rough 45 minutes against the Hoops in a 3-0 loss.

Former Celtic defender Mark Wilson commented on his performance, saying: “He did look terrified in possession, he looked terrified out of possession. I think we can all agree he probably had one of his poorest nights in a Rangers shirt.”

Since that match, he has only started four games in the Premiership and Europa League. He was, however, handed the left-back spot in both legs of the knock-out win over Borussia Dortmund but registered dismal SofaScore ratings of 6.2 and 6.4.

In the second leg, van Bronckhorst hauled him off at half-time after a poor showing in the first half. As per SofaScore, he only completed 64% of his attempted passes and gave possession away seven times whilst winning just one duel, which led to him being brought off at the interval.

Watford were reportedly interested in a deal for the Croatia international in January before moving on to other targets, with the Gers valuing him at £5m. The Dutch head coach must now allow him to leave if any offers in that price range arrive in the summer as his performances in big games have been nowhere near good enough of late.

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His showings against Celtic and Dortmund, along with Bassey’s emergence as the first-choice at left-back, suggest that it is the right time for him to move on. Barisic’s comments also hint at him not wanting to play second fiddle and there is nothing to suggest that he will usurp the Nigerian any time soon, which is why Rangers must cash in on him now.

AND in other news, Left for £0: Allen had Rangers howler on “outstanding” 6ft4 gem whose value rose 700%…

Scorecard

	Bangladesh got their first win against an ODI side © Tigercricket.com

It was a historic day for Bangladesh as they got their first win against an ODI team when they beat Pakistan by four wickets in Kurunegala. Salma Khatun, the Bangladesh captain, scored 53 after offspinner Tithy Sarkar restricted Pakistan to 134.After their crushing 182-run defeat to India on Friday, Bangladesh bounced back impressively to bowl out Pakistan with an over to spare. Sarkar took two wickets in two overs and Pakistan stumbled to 55 for 3 in 19 overs. She picked up two more wickets and ensured no partnership was forged as Pakistan plodded along at less than three an over. Bismah Maroof top scored with 29 and her opening partnership of 27 with Tasqeen Qadeer was the innings’ highest.Though the target was relatively modest, Bangladesh got themselves in to trouble early on, losing three wickets for 26 runs. Then Salma joined Panna Ghosh at the crease and the two added 37 together. Ghosh stayed for 51 balls, for her 14, and allowed Salma to push the chase along. Bangladesh lost two more wickets before Salma wrapped up the match with 27 balls to spare. She hit six fours in her 92-ball innings.
Scorecard
Mithali Raj followed up her unbeaten century on Friday with a half-century as India continued their winning ways at the Asia Cup with a 29-run victory over Sri Lanka in Dambulla.The Indian openers, Jaya Sharma and Karuna Jain, set the platform for the total with a 62-run partnership before both were dismissed by Shashikala Siriwardene. Raj added another 62 with Priyanka Roy to take India to 227. Suwini de Alwis, who took two wickets against Pakistan, picked up 3 for 36 while Siriwardene ended with 3 for 54.Though Sri Lanka lost two wickets – to Rumeli Dhar – early in the innings, Friday’s top scorer Dedunu Silva hit 74 off 87 balls to take them to the 100-run mark. But Sri Lanka lost their last seven wickets for 66 runs as Pujare Seema and Dhar shared six wickets between them.

Just when the sponsorship dispute between the West Indies cricket board and the players association appeared to be nearing resolution, the saga has taken another twist. Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the West Indies Players’ Association, has claimed that Brian Lara and six other dropped players have received death threats owing to the sponsorship dispute with the board.”[They] face overwhelming pressure including death threats, and threats from the WICB never to play again,” claimed Ramnarine. “Threats and intimidation from sponsors, and pressure from the highest political levels within the length and breadth of the Caribbean community.”Ramnarine lashed out at the board, further saying that the dispute – in which seven players were dropped from the squad for the first Test against South Africa in Guyana – had made the board “tyrannical and despotic”. The board “has suspended its discretion, jettisoned all reasoning, and is hell-bent at all costs to do the bidding of its sponsor. In fact, the board was prepared to sacrifice West Indies cricket and the development of a successful team on the altar of commercial expediency.”The board, however, has declined to comment on the allegations made by WIPA. A statement on the windiescricket.com website quotes the WICB as saying: “The WICB is concerned about the tone and content of this highly emotional and totally inaccurate statement, which is most unbecoming and unworthy of an organisation representing professional sportsmen. The WICB, therefore, is of the view that this irresponsible statement is unworthy of any further response.”