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ScorecardFile Photo – Sudip Chatterjee struck 16 fours for his 145•PTI

Sudip Chatterjee’s hundred rescued Bengal from what seemed set to be an extension of their previous season, against Karnataka in Bangalore. Bengal were reduced to 41 for 4 mainly by Vinay Kumar’s new-ball exploits, before Chatterjee and Wriddhiman Saha pulled them out of the pits with a stand of 173 runs for the fifth wicket. Saha fell ten runs short of a hundred in the last over before tea and Chatterjee was dismissed for 145, his third 50-plus score in four first-class matches, while Vinay ended the day with 3 for 80.Vinay opted to bowl and removed the Bengal top order all by himself. He didn’t swing the ball much in his first two overs, but once he did, he pitched it in the corridor to take the outside edges of openers Abhishek Das and debutant Naved Ahmed. There was more drama in the third dismissal when Vinay threw the ball back in his follow through to hit Shreevats Goswami’s bat and the ball deflected onto the stumps. Goswami had grounded his bat in time but when the ball hit the stumps, his bat was in the air and so were Bengal’s fortunes. Manoj Tiwary came out at 26 for 3 and struck an authoritative four off the back foot, but he gave his wicket away by pulling a short ball from well outside off, for a top-edge to square leg and Bengal were four down in just over an hour.That brought together Chatterjee and Saha in the 14th over. Chatterjee was more watchful out of the two and didn’t go for any extravagant shots. Saha, though, had a nervy start. He edged the ball a couple of times early on, but his use of soft hands made sure the ball didn’t carry to the slips. He switched gears as soon as legspinner Shreyas Gopal came on in the 20th over by greeting him with a six over long-off and a beautiful cover drive the next ball. Saha struck two fours in an over against Vinay too, not long before lunch, and lofted left-arm spinner J Suchith over mid-off early into the second session to earn some confidence.Bengal were 104 for 4 at lunch and the two batsmen, now at ease, struck the occasional boundary and soon brought up their 100-run stand with the ball old and the sun blazing down on the pitch. Vinay tried several bowlers in quick succession, unleashed his own reverse-swing, placed unorthodox fielders but wickets eluded Karnataka.Saha targeted the off side more, while Chatterjee found success off his pads as both batsmen attacked the spinners. Just when it looked like the second session would go completely in Bengal’s favour, Gopal turned one into Saha and Robin Uthappa, who was keeping instead of CM Gautam, took a sharp catch down leg.Chatterjee, on 99 at tea, didn’t take too long to move into three figures for the second time in this format and found an able partner in Laxmi Shukla to take the score past 250. By now Chatterjee had read the bounce well; he played the ball late, ducked under the bouncers, cut Vinay off the back foot for fours and was headed towards a big score. That his first first-class hundred was a score of 192 speaks of his patience and grit. Shukla was striking boundaries at will, including a six down the ground, and along with Chatterjee brought up the fifty stand in ten overs, but Karnataka, like they usually do once they make inroads, continued to pick wickets.Shukla chased one outside off with a big drive that flew to Manish Pandey at first slip in no time and Pragyan Ojha’s resistance of 35 balls, that included several short deliveries, ended as soon as Vinay took the second new ball. The big wicket came when Chatterjee threw his bat like Shukla and was also caught at first slip, off HS Sharath. At 295 for 8, Bengal were helped past 300 when No. 9 Veer Pratap Singh struck three firm drives for four before lobbing one off the back foot to mid-off which was Sharath’s third wicket and marked the end of the day.

Ricky Ponting is confident Andrew Symonds will be fit for Australia’s push to regain the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, which begins on December 14. Symonds hurt his ankle while batting in the first innings of the Hobart Test and took no further part in the match after posting his half-century.”We’ve got three weeks before the Chappell-Hadlee, I would imagine he would be right for those,” Ponting told . “If you look at the way he has batted in the last couple of games, he has gone out when we were looking at declaring and got 50 off 50 balls both times.”We know how destructive he can be and we saw that in Melbourne last year, that magnificent [Test] hundred he made there. It’s not only his bowling. He gives us a fair bit with the bat and he can give us a lot in the field as well. He’s a pretty vital cog in our team at the moment so we hope he can be back on the park pretty quickly.”Ponting is keen to regain the trophy after New Zealand surprised Australia with a 3-0 series win in February. During that tour Australia rested Ponting and Adam Gilchrist, leaving Michael Hussey in charge of an under-strength side that came up against some impressive New Zealand batting.However, New Zealand’s results so far on their South Africa tour – they lost both Tests and failed to post 200 in any innings – suggest they are not in the same kind of form as earlier this year. “New Zealand right at the moment they’ve got a few injuries as well,” Ponting said. “Shane Bond is down and Jacob Oram is down. A few of their guys have gone down over in South Africa.”Ponting said a 3-0 result had not reflected the closeness of the February series. “There was a lot spoken about in that series about probably how badly we went,” Ponting said. “If you actually look at the games I don’t think we played that badly at all. We scored 340 and 350 in a couple of those games and lost. There’s extra motivation there.”New Zealand’s tour opens with a Twenty20 international in Perth on December 11. The three-match Chappell-Hadlee Series follows with games in Adelaide, Sydney and Hobart before Australia switch back into five-day mode for the Boxing Day Test against India.

Shabbir Ahmed, the Pakistan fast bowler who served a 12-month ban for an illegal action, has been called up as a reinforcement for the side touring South Africa following injuries to Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul, both of whom are on their way home.Shabbir’s last Test was against England at Multan, in November 2005. The ICC lifted his ban last December after receiving a detailed report from the Universiity of Western Australia, which conducted tests on the bowler’s action. “Shabbir is coming,” Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, said, “but I don’t know his condition.”Shoaib was only a late addition to the squad, having been omitted originally on the grounds that he wasn’t fit. But he was called up as cover for Gul, who is suffering from an injured ankle, and returned spectacularly after a long lay-off, helping to skittle out South Africa for 124 in their first innings at Port Elizabeth with a four-wicket haul. The 11-over burst proved too much, a hamstring strain preventing him from bowling in the second innings.”According to an interim medical report Shoaib has torn his hamstring and would require at least 14 days to recover,” Salim Altaf, the PCB’s director of operations, told the Karachi-based .To compound matters, TV channels also broadcast what appeared to be a heated argument between Shoaib and Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, before the start of play on the second day of the Test. There has been speculation about the nature of the argument but no official word has been forthcoming. Altaf said that Talat Ali, the team manager, will conduct an inquiry into the incident.”I have talked with Talat on this particular incident,” said Altaf. “The manager has assured the board that he would conduct an inquiry and then take action if required. The board has told the manager that it would support any decision he takes over the issue.”Shoaib’s injury isn’t the only headache for the management, with Gul’s ankle injury not improving and Shoaib Malik yet to play any part in the series. Malik, too, is suffering from an ankle injury and is considered a doubtful starter for the third Test, starting at Newlands on January 26. He is, however, expected to be fit for the one-day series.”Talat has told us that the management would have a meeting tonight at which it would decide about the fate of the squad’s injured players,” Altaf said. “Unfortunately, Gul and Malik have not responded to the treatment they have been receiving for the last several days.”

Trouble is brewing after some fans reacted angrily to tough regulations on alcohol introduced by New Zealand Cricket during the ODI at Christchurch on Tuesday.Bars inside the ground stopped serving wine and beer midway through the game, even though there was no unruly behaviour. But what appears to have really angered some people was the level of security on entering the ground. There were intensive bag searches at the gate, and no liquid at all – even water and thermos flasks of coffee – was allowed to be brought in. NZC countered by arguing that things were thrown onto the outfield during the second ODI at Eden Park and any container is potentially dangerous.Peter Dwan , NZC’s marketing manager, defended the measures. “For every person who says that security was a bit intense in terms of the bag searches … there are another 15 or 20 people saying, ‘It’s great we can go to the game of cricket and have a safe and enjoyable day’.”The bag checks have been thorough and a lot of people have come for the full day out, other than just to get legless,” he continued. “There’s been a slight attitude change, it’s the time of year when people are more relaxed and the crowd have been pretty laid-back.”But Warren Lees, the former New Zealand international and coach, was less than impressed, warning that large numbers of spectators could be put off by the over-zealous security.”We’re basically breeding aggressive crowd behaviour through our approach to crowd control,” Lees told the New Zealand Herald. “People are turning up at the cricket ready to be treated as criminals. It’s not a good scene.”He added that the confrontational style of the security teams would drive many away for good and that it was an overreaction to isolated incidents. “Security are continually misjudging the type of crowd they are dealing with. They are actually riling law-abiding folk with their heavy-handed and antagonistic attitude. There’s no need.”

Simon Jones has been passed fit after recovering from a stomach bug, and is certain to play in the second Test at Durban, which starts on Boxing Day. Jones had withdrawn from practice at Kingsmead on Friday morning, complaining of a bug which struck overnight, but he made a rapid recovery on Saturday.The news was the perfect birthday present for Jones, who turned 26 today. It was Jones who sparked England’s recovery on the fourth day at Port Elizabeth, first grabbing a spectacular outfield catch to dismiss Graeme Smith, then taking four important wickets when he bowled.Probable England line-up for second Test
1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Michael Vaughan (capt), 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Matthew Hoggard, 10 Simon Jones, 11 Stephen Harmison.South African squad
Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers, Jacques Rudolph, Jacques Kallis, Boeta Dippenaar, Hashim Amla, Andrew Hall, Shaun Pollock, Charl Langeveldt, Thami Tsolekile (wk), Nicky Boje, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn.

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.