Mumbai qualified for the Wills Trophy from the West Zone on Wednesdayby topping the table with the maximum eight points from their fourgames. In their last league encounter of the Ranji Trophy one daytournament, they registered a nine wicket victory over Baroda at theMotibaug ground in Baroda.Jacob Martin and Sameer Dighe, skippers of Baroda and Mumbai strolledout for a crucial toss as both Baroda and Mumbai were unbeaten intheir matches so far.Dighe won the toss and decided to chase a target as they had done inall their matches this season. Santosh Saxena (3/39) pushed Baroda onthe backfoot scalping Connor Williams (5) and Daulat Thorat (9) inquick succession. Kiran Powar ran out keeper Milap Mewada who did notface a delivery. Baroda were tottering on 33 for three.Jacob Martin (66) and veteran Tushar Arothe (76) put on a rescue actwith a 105-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Santosh Saxena brokethe partnership having Martin caught by Vinod Kambli and it was alldownhill for Baroda from there on. They folded up for 203 in 47.1overs. Allrounder Robin Morris chipped in with three for 30.Mumbai openers Robin Morris (56) and Wasim Jaffer (116 not out)continued their good form with the bat putting up their secondconsecutive hundred run partnership for the first wicket. Robin kepthis good form scoring his third half century of the tournament.Wasim’s 98-ball innings had two towering sixes and 15 hits to thefence. Robin put up two sixes and six boundaries in his innings.Mumbai romped home in 29.2 overs scoring at a rate of seven runs anover.

Scotland captain Preston Mommsen admitted his side was feeling the after-effects of the World Twenty20 Qualifier, but said he was relieved after Scotland’s tense three-run win over Nepal on Wednesday.”There’s no doubt we were under pressure,” Mommsen said after the win. “They certainly put us under pressure. They batted well and they ran well. I think it was a combination of a few things and one of those things was fatigue and the end of a long campaign. Today that was always going to be a challenge for us, getting up for this game. We wanted to make sure we didn’t take this Nepal team lightly. We know they are capable and they showed that they are capable today. We’ll have to go away and do some more homework and make sure we come back even stronger on Friday.”Nepal were in the middle of a 139-run partnership with eight wickets in hand in the final two overs needing 25 to win before Gavin Main sparked a slide of three wickets in four balls by removing Nepal captain Paras Khadka for 70. It was 20-year-old Main’s maiden List A match and his freshness proved to be the key after having sat on the bench during Scotland’s entire World Twenty20 Qualifier campaign. Mommsen said despite Nepal’s strong position he was confident Scotland’s experience would help them in the end.”I think there were certainly signs of tiredness toward the end,” Mommsen said. “It’s been a long three or four weeks for us and I think at the end of the day we are just very happy to get the points and move on. I didn’t ever feel like we were going to lose the game, but it was far too close than we would have liked. I still had faith in our bowlers to come back and nail our plans.”Mommsen, who scored 78 off 62 balls, credited Con de Lange, who scored his maiden 50 for Scotland, with propping the team up after Nepal had Scotland in trouble at 101 for 5. Their 113-run sixth wicket stand lifted Scotland out of trouble and took them to a winning score as the hosts scored 86 runs in the final seven overs to finish on 235 for 7 in 36.”Obviously it was a slightly tricky period when I came in so to get through that initial bit of hard work was good and then to try to capitalize toward the end. I thought Con also batted nicely and together we put on quite a nice partnership there. That was his first 50 for Scotland so he batted well and adapted really well to conditions. I think we did really well in the end to post the score that we did.”Khadka said after the match that he felt Nepal’s cautious start did not cost them in the end. Opener Anil Mandal scored 100 in 93 balls, with his second 50 coming in just 32 deliveries. However, Mandal and Mahesh Chhetri only scored one boundary in the opening seven-over power play of the chase, reaching 24 for 0.”We had a plan that we’d build up the innings slowly but steadily and accordingly move from there,” Khadka said. “It could be a slow start, it could be a fast start but in the end it was a matter of one ball. Had the result gone in our favor, things would have gone well and we wouldn’t be talking about that. This is what it is. As long as you play the game we have to take the other side of the story and today unfortunately we couldn’t cross the line.”The Nepal captain was reasonably positive though despite the defeat. After a rough tour of Ireland where they secured a lone victory over USA in their opening match of the World Twenty20 Qualifier, taking this match to the end was an indication that his side had greater confidence in their skills in the 50-over format.”We came very close. It was a very good game altogether. I think both teams played equally well. Scotland after being [101] for 5 managed to put up a decent score and we put up a fight until the last ball but unfortunately we couldn’t pull it off in the end. It was just a matter of one ball. Sometimes I’d say this is what cricket comes down to. When you play good teams, it’s just a matter of those small margins.”

The BCB High Performance training programme that began in June this year has ended a few days early, but coach Mal Loye said he was satisfied with the players’ efforts during the camp. The programme had to be ended this week after rain forced the group to return to Dhaka on Monday from Bogra where they were supposed to play a few matches till September 12.”The effort from the players has been first-class throughout the four months,” Loye said. “I am really pleased with their progress. I am a little sad that we didn’t see them play towards the end. We had a change of play to go to Bogra but unfortunately the conditions and ground wasn’t right. We had to close the programme slightly early. But generally I am happy with the players.”They had played some matches during the early stages of the programme. This was the first HP camp undertaken by the BCB since 2007 when the programme was abruptly closed, and later replaced by the National Cricket Academy in Mirpur. The current HP unit has worked in the academy too.The 22-member HP squad included four international players – Sabbir Rahman, Mohammad Mithun, Jubair Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman. Rony Talukdar and Liton Das made international debuts while the uncapped left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib was picked in the Bangladesh A team for their tour to India this month.Allrounder Mahmudul Hasan, who was in the 22-member squad, said his game had improved. “I have improved technically in my batting and I have worked on my balance while bowling,” Mahmudul said. “I have become slightly faster in the field too. I think everyone also got better physically too. My balance while batting is now better. While playing the on-drive, the bat used to turn and my head was a bit more bowed. I have corrected this.”Loye said that the players will be tested in the 2015-16 season’s National Cricket League which is supposed to begin later this month. Many of them had done well in last season’s domestic first-class and one-day competitions.”We had a programme in place to cover everything, whether it is T20, ODIs and Tests. The programme included playing in all conditions. It was an easy job for me, if I am being honest. Their efforts were outstanding.”The feedback we got from the players has been the best thing. They feel they have improved. Unfortunately we didn’t see them play. In this NCL coming up, hopefully we will see the fruits of our work.”Given that the programme’s goal is to ensure best-prepared players for international cricket, Loye hoped that the training programme would have helped create a competitive environment for the senior teams.”It creates a healthy environment when you have a number of players competing for a position. It gets players out of their comfort zone. Hopefully the HP did that to the national team and created a healthy atmosphere.”The programme put in place was excellent. As good as I have seen. We executed it very well. The players’ attitude towards it was first-class. Hopefully it was evident to show it was an exciting and interesting programme for their development.”Loye, who was appointed in May this year for two years, will return home to England and hopes to return next year for the new intake.

The family of Ankit Keshri, who died in April after an on-field collision, will soon get a compensation of Rs 25 lakh under the BCCI’s group insurance policy. The BCCI has dispatched a cheque to Ankit’s home association, the Cricket Association of Bengal.Ankit died on April 20 after colliding with a team-mate while fielding as a substitute during East Bengal’s Division One quarter-final match against Bhowanipore Cricket Club in a CAB tournament.”The insurance company has delivered the cheque to the BCCI office. It will now be mailed to the CAB, who will hand it over to the family of the deceased cricketer,” Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s general manager of game development, told ESPNcricinfo.The development was news to Raj Kumar Keshri, Ankit’s father, who said he was unaware of the insurance cover: “I had no idea. No one including CAB has told us so far. We are grateful to the BCCI.”Ankit’s family recently spoke to The Cricket Monthly on their ordeal. During his meeting with the CAB officials, Raj Kumar expressed one of his wishes was that he should not be forced to ask for financial assistance. He said that so far, the family had got Rs 10 lakh each from CAB and Kolkata Knight Riders, and Rs five lakh from East Bengal.According to Shetty, the BCCI provides accidental insurance cover for all the senior and junior cricketers on the domestic circuit. The affiliate units have to provide a list of 35 cricketers for each age group (Under-16, Under-19, Under-23 and Ranji Trophy) at the start of a season and the BCCI provides them accidental insurance.Since Ankit had been shortlisted by CAB as a promising cricketer, the BCCI processed claiming the accidental insurance and followed it up with the service provider till it was approved. “For an accidental death, like the unfortunate incident with Ankit, the maximum claim amount is Rs 25 lakh. For injuries during Ranji Trophy, a player can claim up to Rs 50,000 per week for a maximum of 52 weeks,” Shetty said.According to Subir Ganguly, the joint secretary of the CAB, the BCCI cheque had not yet arrived. “I also heard it from the BCCI on the group insurance. We are expecting the cheque in the next few days,” Ganguly said.

JP Duminy has been ruled out of the remainder of the ongoing ODI series between South Africa and India after cutting his hand during the third match in Rajkot. Top-order batsman Dean Elgar has been called up as a replacement but Duminy, who will need between two and three weeks to recover, will remain with the squad in India to receive treatment. South Africa’s team management aims to have Duminy fit for the first Test, which starts on November 5.Duminy sustained the injury after a ball was hit back to him while he was bowling. He fielded in his follow-through and showed immediate signs of discomfort, but remained on the field. After the match, it was revealed that the injury was more serious than thought and that Duminy would not be able to play any further part in the series.The news comes as a blow to South Africa, who have used Duminy to share the fifth-bowler duties with Farhaan Behardien, and have relied on him to provide a strong finish with the bat. South Africa will hope his replacement, Elgar, can do the same.Elgar, the regular Test opener, has only played five ODIs for South Africa, all in 2012, but has been in good form in the domestic one-day competition which has just started. He scored 57 and 86 in the two innings he batted in, and has also been contributing with his left-arm spin, which South Africa may call on as well, especially if they stick to their strategy of playing only one specialist spinner in the starting XI.If Elgar plays, he would likely bat higher than Duminy’s No.6 or No.7 position, which could mean that David Miller, who opened the batting in the third ODI, is pushed back down the order to his regular finisher’s role. South Africa have another reserve batsman in the squad, uncapped player Khaya Zondo, who could make his debut in the next two games.While India have already been hit with one injury concern – R Ashwin was ruled out of the ODI series after one match with a side strain – Duminy’s injury is South Africa’s first serious worry. The visitors will also be monitoring Morne Morkel, who complained of a sore quad during the third ODI but was able to continue bowling.

South Africa will not sink into their shells against spin despite their aggression resulting in a third sub-par batting performance in the series. After limping to 184 and 109 in Mohali, South Africa managed to creep up to 214 in Bangalore but Hashim Amla said the team’s approach will not change in the next two matches.

Steyn uncertain for Nagpur

South Africa are still sweating over the availability of their premier pacer Dale Steyn, who sat out his first Test in six years after suffering a groin strain in Mohali.
Hashim Amla could not provide clarity on the severity of the injury or how soon Steyn could be back in action, but indicated South Africa would give the matter their full attention in the coming days.
“I’m not 100% sure what the exact prognosis is. But it would be great if he is ready for the next Test. It would be great to have the world’s No.1 bowler back in our team,” Amla said.
“If he was fully fit he would have played this Test. So I don’t think he is fully fit at the moment. I don’t know, I’m not sure, I haven’t touched base with the physio as yet. I didn’t want to until this game is done, which it is now. In the coming days, we will probably have a better idea. “

“You’ve got to be positive in everything you do. If the guys got out playing a positive shot, I am happy because at least he tried to take the game forward and tried to score runs. That’s the name of the game,” Amla saidDean Elgar, Faf du Plessis, Dane Vilas, JP Duminy and even AB de Villiers have all got out attacking this series instead of protecting their positions. Had they shown a bit more staying power, Amla believes South Africa could have made better use of conditions which had nothing sinister about them.”If I had won the toss, I would have batted first anyway. I think it was a good wicket,” he said. “We just didn’t get any partnerships going. AB was exceptional as always. Unfortunately no one stuck around with him long enough to post a big total.”In South Africa’s haste to get runs before getting out, they did not realise that the turn they were trying to get away from was not really there. They were playing for imagined conditions instead of the actual ones, and have already had four days to assess why they let mind get over matter.Now, they have a week to reverse that thought process, but Amla has cautioned against too much thinking before South Africa get to Nagpur. “We’ve had a lot of time to reflect but we don’t want to over-reflect,” he said.”It’s pretty simple: you try and be as positive as possible and sometimes it was the lack of turn that outdid us. You don’t overdo it, you try and keep the game as simple as possible. We’ve had three innings that haven’t gone to our plan and I am sure in the Nagpur Test, hopefully we come good. We have talked about it but you can’t over talk about something and complicate it more than it is.”An obvious complication is the composition of South Africa’s XI. For the first time since the retirements of Graeme Smith and JacquesKallis, it seems to lack something, especially as du Plessis and Amla himself are not firing. That leaves the top four shaky, but Amla dismissed any thoughts of change, especially in the top two, just yet.”I’ve always felt opening batting is probably the most difficult job in Test cricket. Sometimes you’ve got to field for 150 overs and thenyou’ve got 10 minutes to put your pads on. It is quite a demanding position to be in but Dean and Stiaan are our best openers and they will do a great job for us,” Amla said. “The fact that myself and Faf in this game haven’t got going, we only have ourselves to blame. No one else.”Still, Amla was careful not to condemn his team too much. He even left open the possibility that South Africa could have come back into the Bangalore Test. “Although we got bowled out for 220 odd and India were in a good position at the end for the day, Test matches are not always won on the first day. There was a lot of time left for us to claw our way back into the game. You never know what could have happened.”

The day night match at The Oval started with a succession of firsts for Surrey this season, it was at home and on time, the darkness and 100% cloud cover were in keeping with the spirit of things and there was life in the pitch.This was home, there was a nasty taste in the mouth from the weather and performance related problems of the last few weeks and messrs Bicknell and Tudor were in the mood to make somebody pay. The first four fast, straight overs produced three wickets and held a memory of the home sides great, though so far this year unrealised potential and a hope that given decent conditions and the change to adequately prepare their pitches Surrey’s season may take off once again.From the start it was nice to see proper cricket being played with Surrey deploying a slip cordon for their opening bowlers and the bowlers responding with good line and length. It wasn’t until the sixth over that the first boundary of the Hampshire innings was scored – a splendid cover drive by Robin Smith. The skies brightened throughout the Hampshire innings, but although Smith, Warne and Extras attempted to make a game of it, Hampshire, in poor form were always struggling. Warne top scored, despite riding his luck early and surviving not being good enough to touch several deliveries from the intermittently excellent Ben Hollioake he struck several magnificent fours from him.Stephenson, fifth out with the score on 38, was deeply disappointed to be given out caught behind.Warne in contrary to his reputation of this summer scored three excellent fours from Ben Hollioake to race ahead of Smith, the only other player to offer any resistance.Surrey’s reply began with Butcher driving the third ball of the innings from Mulally in the air to cover point, but from then on there was little or no difficulty with Ward batting steadily and Brown coming into form after a slow start. The enticing spectacle of Brown vs Warne was not long in coming, Warne was tidy and span the ball despite the early season wicket, but, with both batsmen able to choose the ball to play and Brown especially playing well against him there was little that even the great Australian could do to defend a pitiful total against a strong batting side.Given the poor historical record of the Surrey Southpaws against spin Ian Ward deserves some mention for his play against the strongest spin opposition Surrey will face this season, he scored four with the edge and the assistance of one of many appalling misfields from a dreadful attempted cover drive from Warne but otherwise his play against spin was blameless if you will forgive the crossbatted waft across a straight ball while trying to end it early and reducing Surrey to eighty one for three.Yet again Ali Brown got himself out trying to hammer a poor delivery from an average bowler out of the ground, Francis taking the catch this time at deep fine leg from the bowling of Mascarenhas. Hampshire did not seem eager to hurry the inevitable, taking their time about bowling the few overs necessary for Surrey to complete a routine rout – the only urgency to seek a result seeming to be on the behalf of their outfielders who seemed keen to bring about a speedy conclusion by a hapless performance. Overall it was hard to believe that this was the same Surrey team which lost badly against Glamorgan at the weekend or the result of Hampshire buying in, in Warne and Mullaly two excellent bowlers.There was almost an element of resignation in the long hop from Warne which Adam Hollioake pulled cleanly for four to win the match.

Struggling at lunch time on the second day to save the follow on, the target was achieved more easily than expected, due in the main to an innings of patience coupled with an array of fine stokes by Hampshire wicket-keeper Adrian Aymes. His three hour innings of 71 brought an air of respectability to the home sides reply. Hampshire finishing 38 runs behind on the first innings, a score that looked a long way away at the lunch break.He soon lost Robin Smith shortly after the interval but found Dimitri Mascarenhas as foil to a 52 run partnership. Mascarenhas was bowled off stump trying to drive, and Aymes was joined by the left handed Alex Morris and together they brought Hampshire their one batting point with a gathering of 54 runs for the ninth wicket.Aymes eventually fell to a diving catch from wicket keeper Burns, his 71 had lasted three hours and was by far the leading scorer of the innings. Morris pulled a loose ball to deep square leg where Ben Smith took the catch to conclude the innings.The Leicestershire bowlers minus their main attack acquitted themselves admirably. Boswell and Wells each took three wickets. Dakin who dismissed both openers in the morning looked an excellent prospect for the future.When Leicestershire started their reply with 17 overs remaining in the days play, Maddy and Sutcliffe looked in little trouble against four Hampshire bowlers in the evening sunshine to advance to 42 without loss, a useful a lead of 80.

In what has become something of a Super Max tradition, only one ball remained in today’s last semi-final to decide who would play in tomorrow’s 2000 final at Eden Park’s Outer Oval.Because Auckland got up to score the 124 runs needed for victory, it was decided that the preliminary semi-final between Auckland and Wellington scheduled for tomorrow morning will not now be played, leaving the way open for the same two teams to contest the final.Otago was keen to make the final after being forced to play two games today and came within an ace of doing so.After being well beaten in its first game by the defending champion Wellington, Otago came out after lunch with all guns blazing. Andrew Hore, who had another fine day of big hitting, hit 45 from 20 balls in the first innings and set Otago on its way to 116-3.Auckland was tied down by some fine Otago bowling and could post only 95-4. But then in a reversal of batting form Otago slumped badly to be 21-4 in its fourth over of the second innings. That proved crucial in the final outcome as its hardest hitters were all back in the pavilion.Craig Pryor and Mark Billcliff added 73 runs but were parted in the ninth over at just the stage Otago could not afford to lose momentum. Only eight more runs were scored and while it set a stiff target for Auckland, it needed a repeat of its first innings bowling effort.That wasn’t forthcoming however. Auckland seemed determined to knock Otago’s bowlers off line, and it succeeded.Aaron Barnes and Llorne Howell launched a blistering assault and with 51 on board in four overs, Otago was staring down the barrel. Howell played a vital role by remaining until the 10th over by which time Auckland had enough batting left to ensure it would take the win.It was injured Black Caps medium pace bowler Dion Nash who took some satisfaction from a disappointing summer by hitting the second ball he faced to the boundary for four. It was a controversial end, as Billcliff was ruled to have bowled a wide from the previous delivery, a ball that looked a more than reasonable delivery.Auckland got home with a ball to spare however and will now play out a repeat of last summer’s final.

For those who felt Roland Holder was finished, he gave them 117 reasons yesterday to demonstrate he’s still a high-quality batsman.Showing no effects of a finger injury that sidelined him for the better part of last three months, this loyal servant, with the vast experience of 15 first-class seasons, completed a chanceless hundred in front of another large crowd at Kensington Oval.Among them were some who felt Holder’s days were numbered against the background that he is now 33 years of age, and in light of the fact that he had limited match practice ahead of the competition.”I don’t have anything to show to the critics. The critics can take it to mean whatever they want it to mean,” he said after a solid 117, his 17th first-class hundred, 12th at regional level, first against Guyana and first at this level since 1997.”My view is simple. I have been playing for Barbados for a number of years. Once I continue to perform and do well, it is up to the selectors to select me. I am not begging anyone to select me. I think my performance speaks for itself – take it or leave it.”With teenager Ryan Hinds, whose 60 was his fourth first-class half-century, Holder ensured that Barbados extended their overnight 304 for six to a significant 422.By the close of the second day of the Busta Cup opener, Guyana had made an encouraging reply by posting 99 for one in three hours of application.Little Nicholas deGroot and the left-handed Azeemul Haniff, a West Indies selectee a few months ago, added 71 for the first wicket in almost 34 overs in which both offered chances. deGroot was the more composed in his unbeaten 45, but gave a difficult tumbling chance on 20 to Philo Wallace at first slip.Haniff’s offering on 26 to Floyd Reifer at second slip was more straightforward, but his luck ran out when an alert debutant wicket-keeper Corey Glasgow accepted a chance that was initially missed by Reifer off Corey Collymore.Collymore, seemingly with a point to prove after a series of troubling back problems, bowled with plenty of enthusiasm and deserved more than a solitary wicket.During the morning session, Barbados advanced by 87 runs despite Guyana’s persistence with a mainly leg-stump line from the spinners.At that point, Holder and Hinds were approaching their landmarks and it was understandable that they did not throw caution to the wind.”We recognised what they wanted to do and it was a bit frustrating,” Holder said.”They obviously decided to slow down the pace of the game. It worked to some extent where they tried to reduce the scoring. We did not want to take that extra chance.”Even without taking the chances, the scoring rate was acceptable and Holder was greeted by warm applause on reaching a century that give him satisfaction.”It’s particularly pleasing to me because Guyana was the only team that I had not gotten a regional century against,” he said. “It settled that issue for me. I at least have a century against every regional side.”Hinds’ half-century was also made with little bother and his contribution was one in a line of many that beefed up Barbados’ total.”All in all it was a good team effort. We all supported each other well and there were several important partnerships during the innings,” Holder said.After lunch, there was an immediate plan to lift the tempo, but it was short-lived. Holder, after batting for 5 1/2 hours in which he faced 287 balls, attempted to swing left-arm spinner Neil McGarell, but skied a catch to the bowler who he had earlier swung over backward square for six just after reaching his century.He reported that there were no negative effects from the injury itself, but his lack of recent match practice left him slightly sore.Hinds followed 15 minutes after Holder when he trudged onto his stumps in attempting to turn leg-spinner Ron Matthews through square-leg.It was one of three wickets for the 17-year-old debutant. McGarell also claimed three victims and Carl Hooper took four, the two combining for 100 overs.