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Canterbury‘s bowlers kept their nerve to edge a tense thriller against Northern Districts at Whangerei. After making just 125 for 4 – a fairly low score for this format – the Canterbury attack needed to muster all of their acumen to restrict ND.The home side’s chase was going great guns while James Marshall and JosephYovich (21*) were batting, after coming together at 69 for 4. They added 45 between them but Marshall’s dismissal for 48 on the last ball of the 17th over proved the turning point.The team then needed 12 from the last three overs, but lost a further three quick wickets to put paid to their chances. Two of those fell in the final over, bowled by Leighton Burtt – Graeme Aldridge was run out, and then Daryl Tuffey was caught and bowled. Three runs were needed off the final ball, but they could only grab a single as Canterbury squeezed the win.Canterbury were indebted to their captain Chris Harris’s unbeaten 45, which rescued them from a spot of bother at 64 for 3.No such bumsqueaking at Auckland where the home side’s 212 proved insurmountable. Central Districts’ reply got off to a confident enough start – and then some – Ewen Thompson (25) and Jamie How (52) putting on 79 off the first 28 deliveries.But How’s dismissal triggered a collapse from which they couldn’t recover. Dave Houpapa was Auckland‘s topscorer – he struck 74 not out from 53 balls and his knock proved the difference.

Alec Coxon, the Yorkshire fast bowler who played once for England, has died four days after his 90th birthday.The Second World War delayed Coxon’s first-class debut until 1946 by which time he was 29, but he made an immediate impact with 69 wickets at 19.71 as Yorkshire won the Championship.In 1948 good county performances led to him being called up for the second Test against Australia at Lord’s where he took 3 for 172 but he wasn’t retained. This, and the fact that he was not given another chance in subsequent seasons, led to speculation that there was more to his omission than pure cricketing reasons, and stories circulated that he had had a blazing row during the game with Denis Compton. Brian Close, a former team-mate, said that Coxon had a “harsh and grating manner”.In 1949 and 1950 Coxon passed 100 wickets, with his best being 131 at 18.60 in 1950 which was to be his last for the county. At the end of the season he retired to play league cricket, and he turned out as Durham’s professional between 1951 and 1954. Coxon also played league football for Bradford.His death leaves Alec Bedser, Ken Cranston, Allan Watkins and John Dewes as the last survivors of the England side which played Don Bradman’s invincibles in 1948. Coxon was the third-oldest surviving England Test cricketer, with only Mandy Mitchell-Innes and Dennis Brookes being older, and the tenth oldest in all.

Younis Khan, recently appointed Pakistan’s vice-captain, is upbeat about the Indian tour, and inspired by the memory of his father and the words of Imran Khan. Younis’s father had died last month, and he intends to dedicate this series to his memory.”Just a day before he passed away I spoke to him [my father] on telephone and he kept on telling me that I had a lot more to give to Pakistan," said Younis, speaking to . "That I should work harder on my game and be more responsible in my approach to life." Younis, who caught the first available flight home as soon as he learnt of his father’s death in Perth, has never played a Test against India.”It was my father’s greatest desire to see me always perform well when I went out on the field in the Pakistan colours," Younis continued. "He was a very patriotic person who didn’t like it whenever we lost or I failed to do well."Younis was appointed vice-captain in place of the experienced Yousuf Youhana. Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain, had backed Younis to be the captain of the side after expressing disappointment over Inzamam-ul-Haq’s captaincy in Australia. “When a legend like Imran backs you publicly, it means something and it’s a big boost," said Younis. "I try to play my cricket like him [Imran] without taking too much pressure.”The Indian tour is a high-profile one and as the vice-captain I would like to see the team return home leaving a very good impression behind with the Indian people as good human beings and good sportsmen."

Scorecard

For a few hours it was possible to suspend belief and fantasise that all was right out there, that England were on top of the world, and that the football season has been forgotten. A packed fifth-day crowd crammed into The Oval to see England blow away the South African tail inside an hour and then knocked off the 110 runs needed to win the match – and square the series – 41 minutes into the afternoon. The spectators, in a party mood from the fourth over of the day when Martin Bicknell struck twice in as many balls to dissipate South Africa’s hopes of mounting a rearguard, celebrated as if the Ashes had been regained.The hard work was done early on when England took the last four South African wickets to leave themselves plenty of time to chase a small target. The heroes were Bicknell, who was written off by some after the first day, and Stephen Harmison, who shared eight wickets in the innings, and all four on final day.Bicknell prised open the door in the fourth over with the wickets of Mark Boucher and Andrew Hall with successive balls. Bicknell toyed with Boucher, bowling him two inswingers and then the outswinger which Boucher was drawn into playing, and Alec Stewart held the thinnest of inside-edges. Boucher made 25 (193 for 7). The next delivery was one of Bicknell’s worst, almost a long-hop, but a slightly surprised Andrew Hall fended it away with hard hands and it dollied to Ed Smith at short midwicket (193 for 8).Those two quick strikes forced Shaun Pollock onto the attack. He launched into Bicknell, smacking him back over his head and then carving him twice to the third-man boundary for three fours. But in the next over he tried to steer a short, wide one from Harmison to third man, but it flew straight to Graham Thorpe at backward point instead (215 for 9). Pollock had made 43, South Africa’s lead was still under 100, and the crowd was in raptures.Paul Adams went for broke, cracking the tiring Bicknell for three fours to take South Africa’s lead past 100, but Harmison ended the innings with a brute of a ball which climbed on Makhaya Ntini, and Smith leapt to hold a diving, one-handed catch at short leg. Ntini had scored 1. Fifty-five minutes after he had led England onto the field to thunderous applause, Alec Stewart led them off it to an even greater reception.

As South Africa struggled to raise themselves one last time to save a series they appeared to have in the bag long ago, they needed the luck to go their way. It didn’t. In the second over Ntini produced a peach with turned Trescothick square, found the edge, and flew between second and third slip where Hall completed a wretched morning by spilling a waist-high chance. Heads visibly dropped as those flickering hopes of a dramatic finale disappeared.England had been largely cautious before lunch, but some looming, darkening clouds injected more urgency afterwards. Michael Vaughan fell straight after the re-start, but Butcher and Trescothick gorged themselves on some weary bowling, unleashing a string of boundaries to the delight of the crowd.The only thing that would have completed the fairytale end to the summer would have been for Stewart to have hit the winning runs. As it was, he had to be content with cheers every time the big screen showed him sitting on the players’ balcony. It was more fitting, perhaps, that the winning runs were hit by Trescothick, a man who is key to the future of the England team and one whose 288 runs were instrumental in this success. Only Don Bradman, with 244 and 77 in 1934, had previously scored a double-century and a fifty in the same Oval Test.Man of the Match Marcus Trescothick
England Man of the Series Andrew Flintoff
South Africa Man of the Series Graeme SmithWisden Day 4 Verdict: South Africa face Groundhog Day
Wisden Day 4 Bulletin: Harmison leads the charge after Flintoff’s fireworks

Despite a five-wicket haul by Kerala left-arm spinner Mani SureshKumar, Andhra Pradesh took the first-innings lead in their RanjiTrophy league match at Cochin on Sunday.Y Venugopal Rao, coming in at the fall of captain MSK Prasad, added 70runs for the fourth wicket with Illa Srinivas (22). No partnershiplasted quite so long after the fall of Srinivas with the score on 133,although Venugopal Rao plodded along slowly making 76 off 220 balls.Once Venugopal Rao fell with the score on 180, Kerala must havesniffed a chance of bowling their rivals out. The lower order,however, defied the bowlers, with Hemal Watekar (24) and KhatibSahabuddin (27*) taking their side past the 200-run mark.At stumps, Andhra Pradesh were 234/8, with Sahabuddin and MohammedFaiq (6*) at the crease.

ScorecardTravis Dean scored twin centuries in his first match (pictured) and has now added 84 in his next innings•Getty Images

Victoria opener Travis Dean continued the remarkable start to his first-class career by adding 84 in his third innings to the twin centuries he scored in his first two. Dean looked set for a third consecutive hundred when he was finally dismissed for the first time in his first-class career, leaving him with an average of 347.Dean was caught behind off Andrew Tye late on the first day of Victoria’s match against Western Australia at the MCG, one of three wickets for Tye, who was the best of Western Australia bowlers. However, the Warriors still had plenty of work ahead of them in the match after the Bushrangers went to stumps at 4 for 293, with Aaron Finch on 43 and Glenn Maxwell on 46.The day began with drama for Victoria, whose captain Matthew Wade suffered a broken collarbone while batting in the nets before play. The match referee allowed Victoria to replace Wade in the XI with debutant wicketkeeper Aaron Ayre, and Peter Siddle was named Victoria’s stand-in captain, although he had only just rejoined the team after flying home from the Test squad in Perth.Rob Quiney was the first wicket to fall when he pulled Tye to square leg for 44, but Marcus Stoinis (58) provided good support for Dean in a 115-run partnership. Peter Handscomb made 12 before he was caught behind off the bowling of David Moody.