All posts by csb10.top

The reception given to MS Dhoni at his pre-match media briefing before India’s final group match at the World Cup reflected none of the heated arguments on in print or television, or even outside the media conference room at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Rather than a barrage of unpleasant questions about captaincy, the Indian team’s batting performance in Nagpur, Ashish Nehra’s 50th over or R Ashwin’s debut, the treatement could be described as cordial. “Happy Holi, Mahi,” a reporter said, referring to the famous festival of colours that will spread across most of India over the weekend. Dhoni wished the reporter back warmly. When the question about the batting did turn up, Dhoni decided to leave the colourful quotes behind and tried splashing some whitewash over Nagpur.Dhoni was asked whether there had been a thorough debrief after India lost their last nine wickets for 29 runs in their defeat to South Africa. He replied: “The beauty of our batting side is that you don’t need to always pinpoint what went wrong or what needs to be done. The amount of experience we have got, the moment you commit a mistake you realise, okay, this is what exactly went wrong.” What happened in Nagpur, he said did not “need to be addressed in a big way. Most of us have played over 100 games. But the better sides are the ones who do not repeat their mistakes in short intervals.”India’s biggest mistakes in its two matches against top-flight teams – England and South Africa – he said, had been to take their foot off the pedal after the best of starts. “It’s not only about how well you have started the game and how long you have dominated, you can’t say you have won a game till it’s over. It is a big learning and hopefully we won’t repeat the same mistakes that have happened so far. We are human beings; we are always supposed to commit mistakes. Hopefully the interval between two will be long.” All of India will be wishing that the interval would at least be longer than the next two weeks.R Ashwin is likely to get a game after cooling his heels for the previous group-stage matches•Associated Press

After being pretty tight-lipped about team selection through the tournament so far, Dhoni stuck his neck out this time, and said “everyone” on his team “would have played at least one game before the knockout stage.” Translated that means that the two men who have not had a match so far, Suresh Raina and R Ashwin, will be in the XI on Sunday.Dented reputation or not, what India still has is belief within the batting and the fact that the unit as a whole is “due”. Their captain said so with emphasis. “Our seven batsmen have not fired at their best. If we get a really good day on the field with the batting department, we have the capabilities of putting huge totals on the board and it will definitely be a par plus score.”The question that produced the response was one about the batting. But, as if on autopilot, Dhoni produced a spontaneous, unsolicited comment on India’s fielding, just in case anyone would slip the question in. “I do not see plenty of improvement in the fielding department. We are definitely not as good as some of the teams in the present World Cup but on our own we have shown that we are improving. Our good fielders are doing better every game and our safer fielders are getting better in each and every game.”Sunday’s match would be the last game for India with a safety net of any kind – Bangladesh’s loss on Saturday has guaranteed their path to the quarter-finals – yet an unconvincing performance against West Indies is, unlike one of India’s practice sessions, not an option.

Tim Bresnan is sure England’s attack has plenty of improvement left in it after Sunday’s high-scoring tie with India in Bangalore. Bresnan was the lone star in the England bowling group with 5 for 48, to that point the best figures in this World Cup by a fast bowler, but India still managed to post an enormous 338.England could also benefit from having Stuart Broad back after he was confined to bed over the weekend due to illness, and tweeted about his headaches and upset stomach. A much-improved Broad trained at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday, although it remains to be seen whether England will rush him back for the Ireland game at the same venue on Wednesday, or allow him to rest until they meet South Africa on Sunday.One of the concerns for England against India was the continued poor form of their main strike bowler, James Anderson, who took 1 for 91, the equal second-most expensive analysis ever by an England player in an ODI. Anderson had also leaked 72 from his ten overs against the Netherlands in Nagpur, but despite his struggles, England have still managed to open the tournament with a win and a tie.”There’s not a lot of margin for error on these wickets,” Bresnan said. “The Holland pitch was a very good wicket and the one the other night was probably the best we’ve ever seen to play on, I mean 330 plays 330, you can’t really argue with that. Jimmy [Anderson] will be disappointed with his performance but he’s a quality bowler and I know he’ll bounce back from that and we’re all backing him to bounce back. That’s where the improvement lies, if we gel as a bowling unit.”Tim Bresnan was the only England bowler to have success in the game against India•Getty Images

Anderson was unlucky in the opening over against India, when he curved the first ball away from Virender Sehwag and Graeme Swann dropped a sharp chance at slip, before two more leading edges nearly went to hand in the same over. But the swing disappeared quickly and it was only Bresnan, with his subtle changes, who looked dangerous later in the innings.”It’s not swinging a great deal up the top and it’s not really moving off the seam, so it’s quite difficult to take wickets without using variations,” he said. “You’ve just got to mix it up as much as you can and try to create pressure and get wickets that way.”You can’t really get away with anything wide of off stump. Even on off stump is still wide to some players. Different players have their different areas and it’s quite difficult to keep it in an area where they can’t score. Especially up top and in the Powerplays, when India took it the other night with the new ball, it skidded on nicely.”A day out from the Ireland clash, the pitch at the Chinnaswamy Stadium looked a little green, but after 676 runs were scored at the ground on Sunday, it’s unlikely there will be much assistance for the bowlers by the time the game starts. But as Bresnan showed, the rewards for hard work are still there.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRana Naved-ul-Hasan struck two vital blows and then kept his nerve in the last over to deliver a close win for the Tigers•Getty Images

The Tasmania Tigers survived a chaotic final over to claim an extraordinary win at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney and go top of the Big Bash table.Man-of-the-Match Rana Naved-ul-Hasan kept his head when everyone around him was losing theirs, as a missed run out, a dropped catch, and a bizarre wide call all featured in a final over that had to be seen to be believed.The Tigers looked safe with 18 runs required from the last six balls but Ben Rohrer played the shot of the tournament off the first ball of the last over, stepping outside off and ramping a near-perfect yorker over fine leg for six to give the New South Wales Blues a chance.Two balls later, Rohrer should have been run out turning for an ambitious two. Ben Hilfenhaus fired the throw in from long off to the striker’s end but stand-in wicketkeeper Travis Birt missed the stumps when trying to whip the bails off, which allowed Rohrer to get home.Rohrer then survived a dropped catch by Xavier Doherty off the next ball to get two more. The fifth delivery was a perfect slower ball, Rohrer backed away and missed, the batsmen pinched one to the keeper, and got another run and an extra ball from the umpire who called an incredibly harsh wide.Steve O’Keefe dug out a great yorker from the extra ball which yielded only a single. The last was a low full toss but Rohrer could not find the rope and the Tigers held on for a nail-biting two-run win.The Blues had been in cruise control at 0 for 69 after 8 overs in pursuit of their target of 153. David Warner (38) and Usman Khawaja (33) were ticking along nicely before Warner gifted his wicket to offspinner Jason Krejza. Krejza had been unlucky earlier, when he opened the bowling and trapped Khawaja plumb in front first ball, but the umpire was unmoved.The Tigers had a number of umpiring decisions go against them, including the third umpire reprieving Moises Henriques, who looked for all intents and purposes to have been run out.Krejza’s wicket sparked an inspired move from Tigers captain George Bailey. Worried that Krejza only had one over left in his quota, having conceded eight runs in three, Bailey turned to opening batsman Rhett Lockyear to roll out some offbreaks. Lockyear’s second ball bowled Phillip Hughes who looked all at sea. Curiously, though, Krejza never returned to complete his four.Naved-ul-Hasan bowled Khawaja and Peter Nevill in consecutive balls to set the Blues back. First the classy left hander was deceived by a crafty slower ball, and then Nevill lost his middle stump to a searing yorker, leaving NSW reeling at 4 for 78.But Rohrer (47 not out off 29 balls) showed his experience and composure to keep the Bues alive only for Naved to have the last laugh.The Tigers’ total of 6 for 152 proved just enough. Travis Birt top-scored for the visitors with a powerful 47 while 17-year-old NSW debutant Pat Cummins proved a slippery customer claiming 3 for 29 in a spell where he regularly clocked 140kph.

Phillip Hughes, Australia’s opening batsman, said he was “hit pretty hard” by Ian Botham’s claim that he was cheating for appealing for a catch during the SCG Ashes Test. Hughes was fielding at short-leg when he took the ball off Alastair Cook and quickly expressed his uncertainty over whether the ball had carried – replays showed it hadn’t.But by then Botham, commentating on Sky Sports, had said: “Terrible. Cheating. How much do you want it to bounce into your hands? He knows he hasn’t caught it.”Hughes was defended by both Cook and Michael Clarke, the captain, and said he was “shocked” by the comments. “I remember [Clarke] came back into the sheds and said, ‘Botham’s called you a cheat’,” Hughes said in the Sunday Telegraph. “I said, ‘what’s he talking about? What’s going on here?'”If you saw the replay you could see I wasn’t sure, and I even said to Alastair Cook I wasn’t sure. People will look back on the incident and know I wasn’t sure. I was a bit shocked by the comments. It doesn’t matter when people say your technique isn’t great, but when you’re called a cheat, it hits you pretty hard.”Hughes struggled for runs after replacing the injured Simon Katich, managing only 97 in the final three Tests of the series. “I suppose when you lose everyone comes out and nails you, but if you score 50 or 100 and win the game, people don’t comment,” he said. “That’s part and parcel of professional cricket.”He was also in trouble during the series for attending pre-game breakfasts with Clarke in Sydney and Melbourne. James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, called the decision “a supreme error of judgment” that opened them up to criticism. “You learn through your journey,” Hughes said. “Everyone makes mistakes and this was a mistake.”

Michael Hussey expects Michael Clarke to be a positive and aggressive leader in his first outing as Australia’s Test captain on Monday. Clarke gained the post following Ricky Ponting’s withdrawal with a broken finger and will be in charge of a young outfit that has the job of levelling the Ashes series at the SCG.Clarke is the team’s most experienced player with 68 Tests, while Hussey, one of only two men in the squad over 30, has appeared in 10 fewer matches. Hussey said it would be strange walking on to the ground without Ponting, but he is confident Clarke will be a strong replacement.”He’ll be an aggressive captain, always looking to take wickets out there, make changes to the field and with the bowlers,” Hussey said. “He’ll be searching for a wicket all the time, and will always want the game going forward. That’s the way Australians have played our cricket as long as I can remember. I think he’ll be a very positive captain.”Clarke has been successful in the limited-overs arenas and was in charge of Australia’s journey to the final of the World Twenty20 in the West Indies in May. He also has 13 victories in 18 ODIs as leader and has been able to impress his team-mates with his high-energy style.”I guess the challenge is to be able to maintain that over the five days,” Hussey said. “It’s going to be a hard old graft. But we have 100% confidence in him. I think he’s done a really good job when he’s captained the team so far in his career.” This Test assignment is more complicated because it comes at a time when Clarke is struggling for runs, having scored 148 in seven bats against England.England retained the Ashes with their victory in Melbourne last week, and Hussey hopes the Sydney Test will be the start of Australia’s revival. “Our focus is trying to get it back to 2-2 – I think that would be a real morale-boosting win for us,” he said. “We’ve got to get better. We hope our Test team is going to get better over the next 12 months to two years, but the process starts now. Unfortunately, we can’t win the Ashes, but if we can get it back to a two-all series leveller, it will be a good result for us.”Hussey, who is 35, was particularly disappointed after the MCG defeat. “It’s the Ashes and the biggest thing you play for,” he said. “I hope I get another opportunity to have another go at it. But I don’t know if I will, so that is a pretty hard thing to start thinking about.”

After a breathtaking 19 wickets fell on the first day, Faisalabad emerged from the wreckage with the edge over Multan in the battle between the bottom two teams at the Bahawal Stadium in Bahawalpur. Multan were asked to bat first, and were in trouble straight away, losing both openers with no runs on the board. The Faisalabad bowlers, led by Rauf Nazir, were then able to keep the pressure on all through the innings. Nazir knocked over the hosts’ middle order, taking 4 for 23, and was well supported by Zeeshan Butt, with 3 for 14, and Ahmad Hayat, with 2 for 27, as Multan crumpled to 81 all out. The visitors’ innings began in equally dramatic fashion, as Abdur Rauf ripped out three of the top four batsmen to leave them in tatters at 6 for 3. Unlike Multan, however, the middle and lower orders offered some resistance, and Hayat’s unbeaten 45 helped Faisalabad push on to 163 for 9. Rauf kept taking wickets, seven in total, but was also expensive, going for 3.80 runs an over, and the rest of the bowlers lacked penetration, allowing Faisalabad to take a lead that could turn out to be crucial in what is shaping up to be a low-scoring game.Table toppers Water and Power Development Authority wasted no time in asserting their authority over Pakistan International Airlines at the Marghzar Cricket Ground in Islamabad. WAPDA won the toss and opted to field, and Naved-ul-Hasan and Sarfraz Ahmed removed both openers for just 26. Asad Shafiq then steadied the PIA innings somewhat, as they reached 84 for 3, before Azhar Attari and Umaid Asif each struck twice to make it 85 for 7. However, No. 9 Tahir Khan led a recovery alongside Anop Santosh, the pair adding 90 before Santosh was bowled by Sohaib Masqood for 39. Khan continued to battle, taking PIA past the 200-mark, and remaining unbeaten on 69 as the innings folded for 214. Attari was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 21 in 10 overs. In reply, WAPDA were 30 for 1, having lost Jahangir Mirza for 12.Fast bowler Rashid Latif picked up a five-for to help Rawalpindi dismiss Islamabad for 218 at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. Ameer Khan topscored with 79, and Imad Wasim made 46 down the order, but the hosts failed to get contributions from their top and middle orders. Opener Nauman Masood was the only other batsman to go past 20, making 37 before becoming Latif’s second victim. Latif prised out five of the top six batsmen, including Khan, to finish with 5 for 77 from 23 overs. Naved Malik and Shoaib Nasir got the visitors off to a blazing start, adding 52 at better than a run-a-ball, before Malik fell to Shehzad Azam for 30, having faced just 17 balls and struck 5 fours.Fourteen wickets fell on the first day at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium as Habib Bank Limited finished with the advantage against Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited. HBL took just 35.5 overs to bowl ZTBL out for 118 after putting them into bat. Azhar Mahmood, the former Pakistan allrounder, took 5 for 41 to run through ZTBL’s top order and then Younis Khan, who is in the Pakistan Test squad for their upcoming tour of New Zealand, polished off the tail, taking three wickets with his part-time seamers. ZTBL got off to an inauspicious start when opener Yasir Hameed, who has played 25 Tests for Pakistan, was out for a duck with the score still on zero. There were two more ducks in ZTBL’s innings, as none of their batsmen past the 30-run mark. HBL then had problems of their own early on with the bat. They were 20 for 2 after opener Imran Farhat and Saleem Elahi were out for single digit scores. Younis got the day’s highest score with his 32 and captain Hasan Raza was not out on 27 as HBL finished the day at 130 for 4. ZTBL seamer Mohammad Khalil took 3 for 44. HBL and ZTBL are both tied in second position in the tablewith 39 points each.Centuries from Mohammad Ayub and Mansoor Amjad took Sialkot to a strong position against Karachi Blues after a shaky start at the National Stadium in Karachi. After being into bat, Sialkot found themselves at 48 for 4 before Ayub and Amjad led a tremendous fightback. Both batsmen were unbeaten on 109 at stumps, having added 245 to take Sialkot to 273 for 4. Fast bowler Babar Rehman had done the early damage for Karachi, taking three early wickets. Both teams desperately need points, having picked up only three each so far this season.Sui Northern Gas Pipelines put National Bank of Pakistan in and then bowled them out for 155 on the first dayat the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. Seamer Asad Ali, who is the second highest wicket-taker this season, gave SNGPL an early breakthrough, bowling opener Rashi Riaz. Riaz’s opening partner Nasir Jamshed battled hard for his 40, but wickets kept falling at the other end. Wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, who was left out of Pakistan’s Test and Twenty20 squad for their tour of New Zealand, was NBP’s second-highest scorer with 31. Asad finished with 3 for 46 and then SNGPL reached 73 for 2 by the close of play. They are six points behind NBP in the table.

England women’s captain Charlotte Edwards, who is two games away from becoming the most-capped ODI player in women’s cricket, has warned against complacency during her team’s tour of Sri Lanka where it plays two ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals.”We are favourites, but when you are playing Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, it is always hard playing a team at home. So we won’t be complacent because we know what we are going to be up against,” Edwards said upon arrival in Sri Lanka. “Sri Lanka have been an ever-improving side over the last couple of years, every time that we have played them. Other people will make us favourites; we are going into the game with confidence that we can win the series, but we won’t be taking them lightly at all.”Edwards, who made her one-day debut against South Africa in 1997, has played 140 games for England and is just one game behind current record-holder, Karen Rolton from Australia. “My first game as captain was in Sri Lanka (in 2005),” Edwards said, “and hopefully in the upcoming two-match ODI series, I will gain the world record for the most number of caps, but that’s more on a personal note.”Edwards said the tour would serve as significant preparation for bigger assignments ahead. “The objective of this tour is to get some cricket in our off season in preparation for the Ashes series against Australia in January. This tour is vital in preparation for that trip and also in for the 2012 Twenty20 World Cup which is going to be held in Sri Lanka.”Any experience we can get of the wickets in the subcontinent, especially for the 2013 50-over World Cup which is to be played in India, is going to be vital for us. This is the reason we’ve given four of our academy girls the opportunity to tour in the next few weeks.” The four new faces in England Women’s team are Fran Wilson, Susie Rowe, Beth MacGregor and Lauren Griffiths.Edwards said her team was looking to build on their 50-over World Cup success in 2009 in the next couple of years with the introduction of new talent in their line-up.”We are very lucky at the moment. We have got some very good senior players within our team and some younger players who have got some experience.”We have got a provincial county system in England which is the same as the men’s and a thriving youth academy which I think is the most important thing. We are probably reaping the benefits of that system, especially from our success in 2009, which has probably made a lot of girls want to take up cricket,” she said.Sri Lanka, who are led by allrounder Shashikala Siriwardene, have brought in uncapped left-arm spinner Sherina Ravikumar to replace Hiruka Fernando. Fernando will be retiring next month after serving Sri Lanka in 60 ODIs with her left-arm spin.”Hiruka had indicated in her letter of retirement that she wouldn’t mind a youngster being given her place in the team for the series against England. We left it to the selection committee who decided to replace her with Sherina who will pair off with experienced offspinner Rose Fernando who has been recalled to the team,” Siriwardene said.The first ODI will be played on November 14 at the P Sara stadium in Colombo.

South Africa have been forced to experiment this series, with Jacques Kallis’s calm head missing from the top of the order, and captain Graeme Smith unable to rely on the menace of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel with the ball due to a slew of injuries.But an authoritative 64-run win in the first one-day international against Zimbabwe in Bloemfontein has eased worries about South Africa’s second string, and Smith urged the newer members of the squad to make the most of their opportunities and “make those positions their own”.”You’ve got two guys [Morkel and Steyn]”, explained Smith. “One has bounce and he can hit 145 km/h, the other has swing and can hit 140 to 150km/h. They are wonderful assets to have. At the moment we don’t have that, but it’s an opportunity for guys to still get their skills right.””Some of these guys are going to be performing in the next games, and when those guys are back and fit these guys will be looking to stake claims, so it’s important that they show their worth.”While Smith made sure to mention David Miller’s expressive half-century – which came from just 30 balls and included five fours and two enormous sixes – he held special praise for the stellar knock from Colin Ingram. He became the first South African – and the sixth batsman overall – to strike a century on ODI debut and his aggressive 124 boosted South Africa’s total well out of reach.”I think he [Ingram] was pretty nervous walking in today, but he remained calm and stuck to his game plan. He’s done a lot of work at domestic level, and he was able to bring that here. He trusted himself out there today and that’s an important mindset to have. If you put the work in, it’s about going in there and allowing yourself to trust yourself, and I think that was quite evident today.”Smith confirmed that South Africa will be without Morkel’s services at least until the final game of the series in Benoni on Friday and suggested there were times at which South Africa’s replacement bowlers let Zimbabwe’s batsmen dictate terms. Nevertheless he insisted that the bowlers had, on the whole, progressed from their unconvincing performances in the Twenty20s.”It’s always difficult to rate a performance like that,” said Smith. “We put 350 on the board, but it was a very quick outfield and a beautiful batting wicket. I think in patches with the ball we were very good. There were times we drifted a little bit. Maybe the first ten overs was an area we were a little bit loose.”We let them get away a bit but from then until about the 35th or 36th over I thought we were very good. From there, once you realise a team is not being competitive anymore it makes it a little bit tough in the cold like that. There are always things to improve on, but compared to Sunday’s bowling performance, it was a lot better.”

Misbah-ul-Haq has been appointed Pakistan’s captain for the two-Test series against South Africa in Abu Dhabi in November. He becomes the fourth man, after Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi and Salman Butt, to lead Pakistan in Tests in 2010 alone, and the decision completes a remarkable and typically Pakistani comeback; earlier this year, after the Australia tour, he had been dropped from all formats of the game. In July, he was contemplating retirement.Instead, he will now lead a 15-man squad which includes Mohammad Sami, opener Taufeeq Umar, Danish Kaneria – each of them recalled – and a first time Test call-up for Asad Shafiq, who impressed in his debut ODI series against England recently.There are signs that the decision hasn’t pleased everyone involved with selection of the squad. When asked about the reasons behind the appointment, Mohsin Khan, chief selector, told ESPNcricinfo only that “the selection committee has nothing to do with the appointment of the captain.” He refused to comment about the squad.For now, however, the main focus will be on the 36-year-old Misbah who has, over the years, never quite managed to nail down a long-term position in any Pakistan side.Since making his Test debut in 2001, he has played only 19 Tests and the majority of those came after 2007, when he returned to the international stage after a four-year gap. Over the next year or so, Misbah enjoyed his most productive period, scoring two Test hundreds on a successful tour of India. But a run of just three half-centuries in his last 15 Test innings – despite decent returns in the limited-overs formats – resulted in his exclusion in favour of younger options.Though the decision is surprising, as one selector told ESPNcricinfo, it has been compelled on a board short of serious options. Shahid Afridi, who was retained as ODI and T20 captain, retired from Test cricket after a one-Test return as captain in England. Salman Butt, who succeeded him and impressed, is currently suspended for his alleged role in the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the summer tour. Ijaz Butt’s feud with the man who has twice walked away from the captaincy, Younis Khan, continues to rule out the latter’s involvement. Yousuf was the only other credible option within the side, but after leading Pakistan to seven international losses in Australia, has not been considered again.”Who else is there right now?” the selector said. “We’ll have to wait and see how it goes of course but Misbah has plenty of domestic experience as a captain to back him up at least.”Misbah has led Pakistan once, in an Asia Cup ODI win against India when he stood in for Shoaib Malik. He was impressive both as captain and batsman in that match, during a period in which he was Malik’s official deputy, and was considered by some in the team management as a potential captain. He has plenty of leadership experience domestically to draw on, having led his departmental side Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL).The board also announced on Friday their decision to retain Afridi as the limited-overs captain of Pakistan. Though the ODI and Twenty20 squads had been announced for the series on Thursday, the board did not initially name a captain. This led to speculation that Afridi might not be retained, the board claiming that the appointments were done on a series-by-series basis.An official told ESPNcricinfo, however, that the delay came about due to the chairman’s concerns about Afridi’s role. “Afridi didn’t get a very good report on his leadership in England from the team management,” the official said. “That, and then some of his public comments recently have not impressed the board. Ultimately though it has been decided to give him another opportunity.”The series with South Africa takes in two Twenty20s, five ODIs and two Tests.Test squad: Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah ul Haq (capt), Umar Akmal. Azhar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rehman, Zulqarnain Haider, Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir (subject to fitness).

ScorecardMichael Di Venuto struck a fine 129 to frustrate Somerset•Getty Images

Somerset’s quest for their maiden Championship title was ended in the cruellest of manners while they watched and waited on the pavilion balcony at Chester-le-Street, as Nottinghamshire pulled off their desperate quest for bonus points down at Old Trafford by posting a total of 400 before snatching three quick wickets in 4.4 overs at the end of their contest against LancashireSomerset had been in pole position going into the final day of the Championship season, but they were denied victory by Durham as they failed to chase down a near-impossible 181 in 17 overs. With the game finishing earlier than normal to allow the visitors to reach Newcastle Airport this evening, to head to London for the CB40 final, they left the field not knowing whether the draw was enough to secure them their first Championship title with Nottinghamshire having reached 400 for 9.That total had been sufficient to give them their fifth batting point, and when Samit Patel clung onto an edge from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, they drew level with Somerset on 214 points, but snatched the total with seven victories to Somerset’s six.For Marcus Trescothick, the Somerset captain, it was the second agonising near-miss of the season after losing the Friends Provident t20 final to Hampshire on virtue of wickets lost. “It’s gutting, with it being our first we realise how special it will be when we finally get there,” he said. “To get so close – level on points – is so tough but we’ll just have to wait another year now.”It’s terrible. It’s something that will live with us for a long, long time. To know we were so close, touching distance to the trophy, but so far away when Nottinghamshire got that third wicket.”Somerset could have removed all the uncertainty with a victory here, but Durham showed impressive character to battle through the final day. Michael Di Venuto continued his fine innings although he edged short of slip as Charl Willoughby found some swing before bring up his third hundred of the season from 155 ballsBen Harmison laboured to 15 off 72 balls in a third-wicket stand of 68 before was caught down the leg side off Alfonso Thomas, but it was looking increasingly likely that the results elsewhere would now be important for Somerset’s changes.Di Venuto, Durham’s leading batsman in a poor run-scoring season for the defending County Championships, continued to move along untroubled while Ian Blackwell began clubbing the ball with an end-of-season freedom. However, moments before lunch Peter Trego made his latest vital mark on this match when he found Di Venuto’s outside edge to rekindle Somerset’s hopes of forcing the outright victory.Then, two balls into Murali Kartik’s next over, Blackwell got a big inside edge into his pad which ballooned up to short leg as Somerset left the field with a spring in their step with the prospect of a chaseable fourth-innings target.But Phil Mustard and Dale Benkenstein formed another stubborn partnership which ate away at 15 overs before Mustard was trapped lbw by the tireless Thomas. Benkenstein, batting at No. 7 after being off the field yesterday, and Scott Borthwick dead-batted through 10 more overs.Somerset, though, wouldn’t give up and Trego squeezed a yorker through Borthwick which had just enough force to dislodge the bails and Willoughby swung one back into Liam Plunkett to trap him straight in front. The target was already getting out of hand but Chris Rushworth top-edged a pull and Benkenstein’s resistance ended with an edge to slip.Trescothick and Craig Kieswetter renewed their Twenty20 opening partnership, but 181 in 17 overs was a tough ask even by their standards of fast scoring especially as Durham could bowl almost where they liked and spread the field. Kieswetter missed a swing against Blackwell, Trescothick carved to cover and when Trego was stumped by miles they played out time. Then they were left to wait, and were ultimately denied.