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National League Division One
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Surrey 297 for 6 beat Gloucestershire 231 by 66 runs at The Oval
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Surrey stamped their authority on their title rivals Gloucestershire, as they secured a vital 66-run win to regain top spot in the National League. Surrey, who won the toss and batted first, were in a rampant mood, racking up a huge 297 for 6 in their 45 overs. Ally Brown launched the innings with a ferocious 84 from 61 balls, and Mark Ramprakash brought up the rear with a scarcely more sedate 83 from 102. Graham Thorpe and Rikki Clarke each made handy contributions, and Gloucestershire were up against it from the offset of their innings. Craig Spearman and Phil Weston brought up the first 50 in 29 balls to keep their hopes alive, but five run-outs effectively sealed the match. Spearman went on to make a brave 85, but when he clipped a Clarke full-toss to deep square-leg, that was that.Essex 298 for 5 beat Glamorgan 153 by 145 runs at Chelmsford
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Nasser Hussain launched a thrilling riposte to all those who doubt his continued hunger, by smashing an unbeaten 161 – his highest score in limited-overs cricket – to defeat Glamorgan singlehandedly at Cheltenham. Hussain batted right through a lopsided innings, in which Dean Cosker took all five wickets to fall. Andy Flower added 176 for the first wicket, and Jon Dakin lamped 40 for 23 balls in the closing overs, but other than them, no-one else exceeded 11. Glamorgan, though, needed an unlikely 299 for victory, and when Robert Croft and Michael Powell fell in the same over from Antonio Palladino, they gave up the ghost. Matthew Maynard made an even 50, but Glamorgan tumbled to 153 all out in 26.1 overs.Hampshire 250 for 6 beat Sussex 181 by 62 runs at Hove (D/L method)
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Sussex swapped one embarrassment for another, as a floodlight failure interrupted play just as Dmitri Mascarenhas was bowling Hampshire to a comprehensive victory. Play did eventually resume, and Sussex did eventually put up a fight, but the damage had been done at the top of the innings. Responding to Hampshire’s healthy total of 250 for 6, Sussex were reduced to 37 for 5 before a gutsy performance from the tail lifted them to 181 with ten of their allotted overs remaining. Mascarenhas finished with 4 for 24, and James Bruce chipped in with 3 for 45. Earlier, Hampshire’s innings had been based around a trio of fifties from James Hamblin, Simon Katich and John Crawley.National League Division Two
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Nottinghamshire 203 for 6 beat Durham 199 by four wickets at Chester-le-Street
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Kevin Pietersen rampaged to 72 from 57 balls to keep Nottinghamshire’s promotion hopes alive in their National League Division Two game against Durham at Chester-le-Street. Durham batted first and made an underwhelming 199, but that total looked to be plenty when Nottinghamshire slumped to 56 for 5. But Pietersen, who had made a cautious start, suddenly opened his shoulders and stormed from 20 to 72 in six overs. Graeme Bridge was slotted for three sixes in an over, and even Shoaib Akhtar came in for some tap, before getting his own back as Pietersen was caught at backward point. But the damage had been done, and Chris Read and Paul Franks steered Notts home with 6.3 overs to spare.Somerset 283 for 8 beat Middlesex 216 by 67 runs at Taunton
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Jamie Cox provided some long-overdue oomph to Somerset’s top-order, with a superb 130 from 120 balls to dent Middlesex’s promotion push at Taunton. Cox was at the forefront of an impressive team batting effort, as Somerset racked up 283 for 8 after winning the toss. Cox was dropped once on 85 by Tim Bloomfield, but otherwise was in complete control. He added 89 for the third wicket with Keith Parsons, and even though no other batsman exceeded 38, Somerset’s total was all too much for Middlesex, who were all out for 126 in 39.1 overs. Ed Joyce made 59, but Ian Blackwell took three wickets.

Scott Styris has taken an unusual route to recovering his place in the CLEAR Black Caps one-day team.The Northern Districts all-rounder left today for Sydney where he will play the first five weeks of the Sydney grade competition for Gordon.ND operations manager Pat Malcon said today that the spot in Sydney had been arranged very quickly over the last week.”Scott thought Sydney’s competition starts a month before we start playing cricket in New Zealand and felt that if he wants to start the season firing he should take the chance,” he said.Former New Zealand coach Steve Rixon had helped set up the chance for Styris who is recovering from knee surgery to an injury which forced him out of the national side midway through last summer.”It is a unique way of preparing, but it will give him a good chance to try it out,” Malcon said.There is also a chance that long-serving ND bowler Alex Tait may have a delayed start to the summer.He is in with a chance of selection for the Northland golf team for the national amateur inter-provincial golf tournament, the Tower-sponsored event, which is played in late-November and if selected for the golf team he won’t be available for ND until the one-day series after Christmas.

David Miller did not break his drought of international half-centuries but could still find himself at the top of South Africa’s ODI order more often in the future as part of a new strategy which involves saving the most skilled players to face spin.”He is a very positive player. I like him up the order with new hard ball in India,” AB de Villiers, South Afirca’s captain explained. “It gives myself, Hashim [Amla] and Francois [du Plessis] an opportunity to bat against the spinners in the middle overs. They’ve got 30 overs of spin in the game and I’d like to think Hashim, myself and Faf are the best players of spin in the team so for us to bat 3, 4 and 5 gives India a feeling that they’ve got a lot of work to do to get through our batting line up which worked to the ‘t’ today.”

Morkel bowls two spells with injury

Morne Morkel’s match-winning last two spells, in which he took 3 for 29, were delivered despite an injury that could have ruled him out of action before the death overs. Morkel hurt himself in his sixth over but pushed on through the pain to earn the plaudits and the praise of his captain, AB de Villiers.
 “Morne came to me after he bowled six overs and said had got a bit of a sore leg so I might have to get his overs out of the way but he bowled so well in his return spell that I had to keep him for one at the end there,” de Villiers said. “He showed a lot of guts and determination to get through that spell. It would have been a very easy decision for him to go off and to call it a day but he pulled through for the boys and he bowled exceptionally well with a sore leg. He turned the game on it’s head.”
South Africa’s attack made particularly good use of the short ball and Morkel, with the advantage of added height, could generate added awkwardness, which he is confident he will be fit enough to deliver in the next match too.
“On these sort of wickets, with my height, if I hit the deck hard I get a lot of inconsistent bounce and that’s a strength in the subcontinent,” Morkel said. “I am a little concerned, I pulled up my quad my fourth ball of my sixth over. We have a very good medical team and I am confident I will be ready for the next game.”

India’s spin-heavy attack, which featured a trio of tweakers for the first time in the series, managed to tie South Africa down but not to shut them out. Du Plessis employed his signature uber-patience to survive the strangle and gave South Africa’s finishers a chance to end with a flourish, and it may be the way they look to play in the subcontinent in the future.”Hashim didn’t come off, I also didn’t come off but Faf came off,” de Villiers said. “There’s always one of the three that comes off in the middle overs and gives freedom for Farhaan [Behardien] and JP [Duminy] to enjoy themselves at the end.”The new plan did not entirely answer the questions that have been plaguing Miller, who has looked out of touch and unsure in both his footwork and his strokeplay, but de VIlliers was pleased with the start he had. “David [Miller] and Quinton [de Kock] played exceptionally well, there’s not a lot of turn with the new ball and both left-handers looked very comfortable against the spin on what was a slowish wicket and not easy for us to bat on. They made it look easy so I was very happy with the start today. They laid a foundation.”De Kock went on to build on that foundation to announce his return to the international circuit after months of struggle which started when he was rushed back into the squad following an ankle injury. He was expected to spend months out of the game after he rolled on his ankle last December but made a remarkable recovery to return to action in January, although he appeared out of touch.He was dropped from the South African side in Bangladesh over the winter but worked his way back with centuries for the A side in India, and in Rajkot showed how he refound his form. He batted through difficult periods of heat – in the literal and figurative sense (it was 37 degrees and India’s spinners were making life tough) – to score his first century this year.”I think he answered a lot of questions,” de Villiers said. “He is a unique player, he has an immense amount of talent and I love to have him in the side. It’s very nice to have him back doing his thing with the bat and with the gloves. I thought he played extremely well, against the spin, against the seam, paced his innings well, played a mature knock. A lot of opening batsmen on this kind of wicket would have thought to get too many boundaries upfront. He paced his innings well, he got his ones with the odd boundary in between. Amazing batting.”South Africa are back in the lead and de Villiers hopes they can go for the kill at the earliest opportunity. “We sit here 2-1 up against India and it’s a great position to be in,” he said. “We have a wonderful opportunity to win a series. We won’t touch the money yet but we’ve got a good chance. We have to win one out of the last two, of course we’d love to win both.”

Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul-Haq headlined the list of players as the Indian Cricket League (ICL) announced its teams for the inaugural tournament. Lara has been named in the Mumbai Champs side while Inzamam will play for Hyderabad Heroes.Inzamam and Lara, along with Stuart Law, Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan are likely to lead the teams.The other international players include Abdul Razzaq, Taufeeq Umar and Shabbir Ahmed of Pakistan, Australia’s Ian Harvey, South Africa’s Johan Van der Wath, Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje and Andrew Hall, New Zealand’s Nathan Astle, Chris Harris and Daryl Tuffey and England’s Vikram Solanki. The ICL is in talks with Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu, while Russel Arnold and Upul Chandana have already signed.The overseas players have been spread among the six teams – Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh Lions, Chennai Superstars, Delhi Jets and Kolkata Tigers. The coaches for these teams are Sandeep Patil, Madan Lal, Balwinder Sandhu, Moin Khan, Daryll Cullinan and Michael Bevan.”We have ensured the teams are balanced in every way and receive the best facilities in terms of coaching, showcasing their talent and exposure to international cricket,” Kapil Dev, the chairman of the ICL’s executive board, said. “I wish all the players best of luck for the tournament.”The teams will be taking part in a practice camp in their respective cities.The tournament begins on November 30 in Panchkula, a town near Chandigarh.Teams:Chennai Superstars: Stuart Law, Ian Harvey, Hemang Badani, Chris Read (wk), Russell Arnold, Sridharan Sriram, Shabbir Ahmed, V Devendran, R Sathish, Dakshinamoorthy Kumaran, Hemanth Kumar, Jamaluddin Syed Mohammed, Thiru Kumaran, J Hareish, V Sarvanan, R Jesuraj, Sanjeev Martin, G Vignesh, P Vivek.
Coach: Michael BevanHyderabad Heroes: Inzamam-ul-Haq, Chris Harris, Nicky Boje, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Anirudh Singh, Ambati Rayudu, S Shahubuddin, Stuart Binny, IS Reddy, Vinay Kumar, Ibrahim Khaleel, Kaushik Reddy, Bheema Rao, Alfred Absolem, Shashank Nag, PS Niranjan, Baburao Yadav, Zakaria Zuffri.
Coach: Moin KhanKolkata Tigers: Craig McMillan, Lance Klusener, Darren Maddy, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Rohan Gavaskar, Upul Chandana, Deep Dasgupta, Abu Nechim, Parviz Aziz, Shiv Sagar Singh, Boyd Rankin, Mihir Diwakar, Rajiv Kumar, Sayed Akhlakh, Subhomoy Das, Sujay Tarafdar, Pritam Das, Anshu Jain, Ali H Zaidi.
Coach: Daryll CullinanDelhi Jets: Taufeeq Umar, Niall O’Brien, Paul Nixon, Dale Benkenstein, JP Yadav, Mohnish Mishra, Abbas Ali, Ali Murtaza, T Sudhindra, Abid Nabi, Sachin Dholpure, Abhishek Tamrakar, Dishant Yagnik, Dhruv Mahajan, Abhinav Bali, Raghav Sachdev.
Coach: Madan LalMumbai Champs: Brian Lara, Vikram Solanki, Robin Morris, Nathan Astle, Kiran Powar, Shreyas Khanolkar, Johan Van der Wath, Rakesh Patel, Avinash Yadav, Nantie Hayward, Subhojit Paul, Dheeraj Jadhav, A Sanklecha, Ranjeet Kirid, Pushkaraj Joshi, Suyash Burkul, Raviraj Patil, Nikhil Mandale, Sridher Iyer.
Coach: Sandeep PatilChandigarh Lions: Chris Cairns, Imran Farhat, Dinesh Mongia, Hamish Marshall, Andrew Hall, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Rajesh Sharma, TP Singh, Sarabjeet Singh, Ishan Malhotra, Daryl Tuffey, Sumit Kalia, Chetan Sharma, Manish Sharma, Luv Ablish, Bipul Sharma, Karanveer Singh, Amit Uniyal, Gaurav Gupta, Harpreet Singh.
Coach: Balwinder Sandhu

In the men’s game, Sachin blinks and it’s front-page news. For the women, seismic shifts are underway, but they barely register on the Richter scale of media – and world – attention. Keen eyes, though, would have been scanning the developments following last year’s merger of the ICC with the IWCC. And those followers won’t have been disappointed.While some countries whose boards merged years ago will see only marginal benefits – Australia and England, for example – for the rest it’s like all their Christmases, Diwalis, Eids, and birthdays arrived at once, in a big bundle labelled “Cash”.India are already benefiting from huge improvements – getting to play in better stadiums, with better facilities and vastly increased match fees. As if to celebrate, they lifted the Asia Cup again, and even won a Test against England for the first time, just their third ever victory – and it was achieved on English soil, too, as they won the two-Test series 1-0. They did, however, fall to the Australians in the one-off Test earlier in the year.Women’s cricket in Africa is taking shape, too. For the first time there was a set of Africa pre-qualifiers for the qualifying tournament in Pakistan in 2007. Zimbabwe, in their first ever one-dayers, swept aside all opposition to storm into the next round, winning 3-0.Something for Zimbabwean cricket as a whole to cheer about, as their male counterparts (and in some cases brothers – Julia and Chamu Chibhabha, Ed and Yvonne Rainsford all play at the highest level) slid into further misery on the international stage. Zimbabwe women will now join South Africa, who are still kicking themselves after narrowly missing out on automatic qualification in the last tournament, which they hosted, in 2005.And it’s not just cash: the ICC put their mouth where their money is. There was a big stride forward on the awards stage when Karen Rolton became the first ICC Female Player of the Year after three years of ICC Awards. It was fitting that Australia’s captain should lift the award, after Anjum Chopra and Katherine Brunt were the others on the shortlist.So the women are finally mixing it with the big boys like fellow Aussie captain Ricky Ponting and on the pitch there will be more mixing – with the announcement of a women’s Twenty20 preceding a men’s for the first time, when South Australia and Queensland head to the Adelaide Oval on January 10 in Australia. The idea is to showcase the women’s matches, at no extra cost, to a ready-made audience. If it is deemed successful, the format could extend to international matches, an idea which has already been mooted informally in England.

Recognition came for one woman at Lord’s. England returned to the home of cricket for the first time in five years and Claire Taylor graced the occasion with a flowing 156 from 151 balls against India, the fastest one-dayer at Lord’s in history, eclipsing Viv Richards’s effort in the World Cup final in 1983. She was rewarded with an honours board at the ground and that achievement, along with the admirable conduct of both sides in front of a crowd of 6000, will have done wonders in helping to convince the decision makers to stage another women’s match at headquarters soon.Another psychological boost came when Somerset offered Taunton as the home of women’s cricket in England. For the first time the women will be considered alongside the men when it comes to having the pick of the fixtures. The more cynical may say this hints at Somerset bidding for Test status – if they can prove they can stage internationals and are seen to be promoting all forms of cricket, but they’re showing their commitment in other ways, with an enviable women’s set-up. They’re even funding a girl, Anya Shrubsole, on the Academy at a cost of around £15k per annum and other counties, such as Lancashire, are following suit.Attention, then, is being paid to the women’s game. Sky covered some more one-dayers once again, if only to cover their contractual obligations. And unfortunately, despite some compelling cricket, the cameras also captured great swathes of empty seats, as matches still failed to large crowds.India’s captain Mithali Raj, though, is confident that with the new cashflood, the women can up their game to play more exciting, attacking cricket. Tests in particular need an injection of excitement. Scrapping them altogether may be more feasible. Tests are thin on the ground as it is – there were only three Tests played all year – and the players don’t even practise playing this form of cricket leaving England, for example, to rely on their coach, the former first-class player Richard Bates, to talk them through session by session, as the games unfolded.New Zealand refuse to play this form of cricket – and, with low attendances and little incentive to play, perhaps other countries should follow suit. Although two-day cricket is being introduced to India that makes them the only country to play anything above one-day cricket at domestic level. And of course two-day cricket is still vastly different from four days, as played in Tests.Women’s cricket, then is heading in the right direction. But while there’s light, it’s still a very long tunnel.

Haroon Lorgat, the South Africa selection convenor, plans to “look beyond colour” when picking the team for the crucial second Test against Australia at Melbourne on Monday. South Africa chose four black or coloured players for the opening match at Perth, but the places of Ashwell Prince and Charl Langeveldt appear in doubt with the expected returns of Jaques Kallis and Nicky Boje.The United Cricket Board’s constitution says South Africa must be a “team of colour”, with an unofficial component of at least two non-white representatives in each side. However, Lorgat said in Sydney’s the second Test squad would be “a pure cricket selection”.”We have to look beyond colour with this,” Lorgat said. “That won’t be an issue in our deliberations. Of course one of our duties and responsibilities is to provide opportunities for black players but cricket is doing enough at all levels.”Makhaya Ntini and Herschelle Gibbs would cover the “target” system’s requirements, but halving the team’s non-white representation could attract large amounts of political criticism from South Africa. Boje, the left-arm spinner, appears to be a certain selection while a top-order batsman will make way for Kallis if he recovers from an elbow injury. Prince has said the quota or target systems are wrong because they “mess with the minds of both white and black players”.

Duncan Fletcher was pleased with his team’s perseverance after they hadlost the toss and were asked to field first on the opening day of thethird Test at Newlands. Despite 74 from Graeme Smith and a serene 81 notout from Jacques Kallis, South Africa were restricted to 247 for 4 in the day’s 90 overs."We’re quite happy with our performance on that wicket," said Fletcher. "Ithink the guys have done a good job, because it’s quite a flat track and afast outfield and it’s not offering the bowlers anything. From our pointof view, we’d have looked to have scored over 300 if we were only fourdown on the first day, so it was pleasing to restrict them to around 250.I think if we can restrict them to around 350 or 400 that would be a goodeffort.”It was a tough ask for England’s bowlers to get back out into the field sosoon after their victory charge in the second Test was scuppered by badlight, but Fletcher conceded that the conditions here are much morepleasant than at Durban. “I don’t think the guys looked too tired at theend of the day, but it’s totally different to Durban and it’s a lot morepleasant playing cricket here temperature-wise.”It’s not easy and it would have been asking too much if we were playingin Durban today, but you have that cool breeze here which helps. It’sdifficult to maintain that intensity over two days, but we’ve playedback-to-back Tests in Sri Lanka and that is a hard ask – it’s not as hardplaying this one."England’s day began with a late selection drama, as Mark Butcher – who hadbeen under pressure for his place – was ruled out at the last minute witha troublesome wrist injury. "He felt a twinge while he was batting inDurban," explained Fletcher. "He saw a doctor yesterday, but when we goton the bus this morning, I thought he was playing." Butcher’s place hasbeen taken by Robert Key.

National League Division OneDivision One TableGlamorgan 273 for 2 beat Essex 267 for 6 by 8 wickets at Sophia Gardens
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Jimmy Maher belted a magnificent 142 from 113 balls, inclusive of 18 fours and 4 sixes, as Glamorgan sauntered home with 6.5 overs to spare. Essex’s total had been inspired by Nasser Hussain’s superb 144 and Ronnie Irani’s 63. But Maher, and Robert Croft who made 64, made light of the stiff target on a day when bowlers on both sides took some fearful hammer.Leicestershire 295 for 7 beat Worcestershire 219 by 76 runs at Oakham School
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A comfortable victory for Leicestershire. Trevor Ward, with 68, and Virender Sehwag – who slammed three sixes in a blistering 59-ball 76 – gave Leicestershire the perfect start, while Darren Maddy provided the late innings-momentum with 58. Stephen Peters anchored the reply with 82, but Worcestershire were never on the ball as Jeremy Snape and David Brignull both finished with three wickets.Warwickshire 244 for 4 beat Surrey 242 for 9 by six wickets at Edgbaston
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Ian Bell (59*) and Mike Powell (26*) led Warwickshire to an ultimately facile victory after Nick Knight (74) had given the run chase the perfect start. Waqar Younis, who finished with 4 for 35, did the damage early on, before Collins Obuya – with 3 for 65 – mopped up the lower order. Mark Ramprakash held the innings together with 57, but it wasn’t enough against a Warwickshire team that was never behind the eight-ball.National League Division TwoDivision Two TableNorthamptonshire 215 for 7 beat Durham 166 by 49 runs at Chester-le-Street
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Another match, another Australian having a party. Mike Hussey carried his bat for a superb 112, before Ben Phillips and Ricaldo Anderson ripped through the fragile Durham batting. As for Shoaib Akhtar, his 9 overs cost 48 runs, for one wicket. Not quite his day, and certainly not Durham’s.Middlesex 337 for 5 beat Somerset 305 for 9 by 32 runs at Southgate
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Middlesex triumphed in a run-fest at Southgate. Owais Shah and Andrew Strauss both made 74 in quick time, but it was Abdul Razzaq, who slammed 5 sixes in a 49-ball 79, who provided the impetus as Middlesex cruised past 300. Keith Dutch (65) and Ian Blackwell (64) gave Somerset a chance, but Jamie Dalrymple and Chad Keegan did enough to ensure that Middlesex prevailed. Nottinghamshire 212 for 5 beat Hampshire 208 for 7 by five wickets at The Rose Bowl
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Chris Cairns and Chris Read saw Nottinghamshire home in a thrilling finish with a 55-run partnership. Cairns made 57 from 58 balls, while Read chipped in with an unbeaten 33 after Jason Gallian had nurdled 60 at the top of the order. Hampshire’s modest total owed much to Simon Katich’s sedate 56, and an unbeaten 45 from South Africa’s Nick Pothas. Derbyshire 235 for 4 beat Sussex 232 for 6 by six wickets at Arundel Castle
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A game of two centuries, with Christopher Bassano’s being the decisive contribution, as Derbyshire made it past the target with 20 balls remaining. Mohammad Kaif cobbled together 44, and Dominic Hewson – who had earlier snared 4 for 40 – made 34 in support of Bassano’s brilliant 126. Murray Goodwin was Sussex’s batting hero with a classy 129.

At Universals Sports Club. Old Hararians 197 (R E Butterworth 65, S M Ervine 64) beat Universals 69 (D T Mutendera 14, N B Mahwire 14; S M Ervine 3-6, N Chari 3-40) by 128 runs.At Eaglesvale High School. Harare Sports Club 313 (T R Gripper 119, G M Croxford 75, Taylor 68) beat Takashinga (formerly Winstonians) 169 (T Taibu 60, T R Gripper 4-20, G Johnstone-Robertson 3-16) by 144 runs.At Old Georgians Sports Club. Old Georgians 268/5 (C N Evans 100, A J C Neethling 97) beat Alexandra Sports Club 267/6 (D A Marillier 131*, R Liddell 84) by 5 wickets.Defending champions Old Georgians opened their defence of the MashonalandVigne Cup First League title with a five-wicket win over last season’s runners-up Alexandra Sports Club at Old Georgians. Elsewhere Old Hararians and Harare Sports Club posted crushing victories over Universals and Takashinga.Alex batted first at Old Georgians and enjoyed a solid opening partnership of Douglas Marillier and Ross Liddell before the latter was dismissed for 84, caught by Gus Mackay off the bowling of Ian Coulson. Marillier, who has had stints with the national team, was unbeaten on 131 as Alex made 267 for the loss of six wickets off their allotted 50 overs.There were no significant figures from the Old Georgians bowlers. Iain Coulson took two wickets for 38 off 10 overs while Mackay finished with 2/57 off nine overs.In reply Old Georgians reached their victory target for the loss of five wickets with an over remaining. Craig Evans led the scoring with 100 whileAndre Neethling weighed in with 97.National league champions Old Hararians beat Universals by 128 runs in the second match at Universals. Old Hararians, who finished at the bottom of last season’s Vigne Cup, batted first and were dismissed for 197 after 48.5 overs. Opener Ryan Butterworth top-scored for OH with 65 runs, while Sean Ervine was the second best scorer with 64.Shiraz Adam led the Universals attack with four wickets for 35 off nine overs. Ali Shah took three for 32 off 8.5 overs.Universals were dismissed for a mere 69 in just 22 overs. Sean Ervine took three wickets for six runs off four overs. Nyasha Chari also took three wickets but was more expensive conceding 40 runs, 20 of them wides, off eight overs. There were only two batsmen from Universals to score double figures, DavidMutendera and Blessing Mahwire, who both scored 14 batting at number two and three.The last match, between Harare Sports Club and Takashinga (formerly OldWinstonians), initially set for Harare Sports Club, was moved to EaglesvaleHigh School because of some upgrading work at the national ground. Young wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu left Bulawayo on Friday evening having gonethere with the national team but his presence could not save Takashinga froma crushing 144-run defeat.Harare Sports Club piled up 313 runs for the loss of just four wickets in 50 overs as the inexperienced Takashinga attack failed to trouble the HSC batting. Opener Trevor Gripper was the HSC top scorer with 119 while Guy Croxford added 75 runs.Facing a required run rate of over six an over, Takashinga were bundled out for 169 in 40.3 overs. Gripper came back to haunt Takashinga with the ball, taking four wickets for 20 off seven overs.Taibu was the only successful batsman for Takashinga, scoring 60 runs. Harare Sports Club also fielded Brighton Watambwa who withdrew from the Zimbabwe team for the first Test against South Africa a week ago because of a knee injury. He bowled 10 overs, conceding 35 runs (six no-balls) without taking a wicket.

While the old firm of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara made merry in their last few years, unloading big scores on oppositions like they were having a going-out-of-business sale, Sri Lanka had also invested in a few startups. Lahiru Thirimanne was among the promising ventures that impressed in domestic cricket, and made encouraging starts to their international careers.There has been some frustration in the years since, but the investment in Thirimanne has begun to come good in ODIs. His Test average, though, remains in the mid-20s. He hit two centuries in the 2014 Asia Cup, and became Sri Lanka’s youngest World Cup centurion in March, so the selectors feel there is quality there. They will hope that his 44 in Galle and a 62 at the P Sara hint at big Test runs to come, following a lean series against Pakistan.”If you look at the ODIs, I was always in the runs,” Thirimanne said. “In Tests, the shots I played weren’t executed all that well. There was an element of bad luck as well – sometimes the shots went directly to hand. Mentally I never had an issue. I was always ready for the matches I played. But then when you spend a little bit of time at the crease it gets easier. Once you score 20 or 30 runs, you start playing those shots well.”Despite his good returns in ODIs, Thirimanne has largely been a slow mover in Tests, in which his career strike rate is 40.26. He has added attacking strokes to his ODI game, but his approach in Tests could do with some fine-tuning, he said.”When I go to bat, usually there’s a bit of pressure on the team. There are two options – to hit out quickly and try to get some runs with the batsman on the other end, or to stay at the wicket for a while and work through it. I did take the second option quite often. But then sometimes you think that it would have been good to follow a middle path – to score runs without taking too many risks. My low strike rate has often had to do with the situation.”Thirimanne has been a victim of Sri Lanka’s frequent top-order reshuffles. In this series alone, he has batted at Nos. 3, 4, 6 and 7, and has had no more than 13 innings in any particular spot, out of 42 overall.He has been talked about as Kumar Sangakkara’s replacement at No. 3, and even his ODI success has come in the top three. But with Upul Tharanga set to return to the XI, Thirimanne may have to settle for a middle-order position.”You have to bat well wherever you get the opportunity, so there’s no real excuse,” Thirimanne said.  “That’s something I’ve learned since making my debut. You have to play anywhere at this level. That said, I do have good one-day form in the top three, and I hope I can replicate that in Tests.”Thirimanne has been among the left-handed batsmen who have struggled against R Ashwin’s offspin this series. He has fallen to Ashwin three times in four innings.”Even though Ashwin doesn’t have a doosra or too many other variations, he troubles batsmen with those changes of speed,” Thirimanne said. “He doesn’t give many loose balls at all. It’s a big challenge for a left-hander. A right-hander would have two or three options. We’ll talk as a team and work hard in training. We’ll try to counterattack him and win through. It’s important to go in with a clear mind and a clear plan.”