Windward Islands 63 (Kelly 6-31) and 202 for 9 (Sammy 59) beat Trinidad & Tobago 160 and 104 by one wicket
ScorecardThe Windward Islands pulled off an amazing victory over Trinidad & Tobago despite being bowled out for only 63 in their first innings. When the third day started at Arnos Vale the Windwards were 69 for 4, chasing 202 – and they just got there, with the last pair putting on 14 runs to squeak their side home. The Windwards had slipped to 101 for 6 before Darren Sammy, who made a vital 59, put on 56 with his captain Rawl Lewis (32). Sammy eventually fell to Reyad Emrit, caught by Sherwin Ganga who also removed Lewis. But Deighton Butler and Kenroy Peters inched the Windward Islands over the finishing line.Guyana 191 (Deonarine 45) and 77 for 5 (Bernard 3-5) trail Jamaica 410 for 6 dec by 142 runs
ScorecardGuyana are facing a huge defeat at Sabina Park, after slipping to 77 for 5 in their second innings after following on 229 behind Jamaica. Resuming on the third morning at 13 without loss in their first innings, Guyana slipped to 191 all out, with only Narsingh Deonarine (45) staying for long in the top order. Jamaica’s surge was briefly held up by the Nagamootoo brothers, who put on 50 for the eighth wicket – Mahendra made 36 and Vishal 33. But, with Daren Powell and Nikita Miller both taking three wickets, Guyana were soon all out and batting again. This time it was Dave Bernard who did the damage, claiming 3 for 5 in only four overs as Guyana slumped to 77 for 5.
ScorecardLeeward Islands took the upper hand on the second day of their match against Barbados at the Kensington Oval, finishing the day only 19 behind with six wickets in hand. After Adam Sanford took his sixth wicket to polish off Barbados for 292, the Leewards made a solid start. Shane Jeffers (48) and Tonito Willett (43) put on 76 for the first wicket, then Runako Morton, who made 58, shared a century stand with the 35-year-old former Test opener Stuart Williams, who was still there with 87 at the close.

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Sri Lanka A tied the unofficial two-match Test series 1-1 despite a heroic fightback from Matthew Prior, England’s Sussex-based wicketkeeper, who cracked 104 from just 106 balls to revitalise a run-chase that had been in terminal decline. Prior had arrived at the crease with the score on 22 for 5 in pursuit of 285, and though Sri Lanka were made to sweat, it was fitting that the final word was provided by Malinga Bandara, who sealed the 40-run victory late on the third afternoon after an outstanding match performance.Sri Lanka A had started the day in their best position of the series, 199 runs ahead with five wickets remaining. They strengthened their grip during the first hour despite the early loss of Prasanna Jayawardene (32), as Jehan Mubarak (36) and Bandara (50) added 46 for the seventh wicket. But England’s offspinners, Graham Swann and Richard Dawson, then hurried the innings to close to the leave England requiring a tough but not impossible 285-run target.English hopes all but evaporated after a spectacular early collapse. The slide was started by Gayan Wijekoon, a gentle-looking left-armer, who dismissed both Vikram Solanki and Ian Bell for ducks in his first over. Owais Shah, the top-scorer in the first innings, was also dismissed for a duck and only Alistair Cook (36) provided any top-order resistance.However, just when England’s cause appeared hopeless, Prior, 23, launched a stunning counterattack. He was particularly severe on Bandara, the key dangerman after his first-innings eight-for, who bleed runs in his opening overs and was soon forced out of the attack. Swann (71) provided stout and enterprising support and the pair galloped along at over a run a ball, adding 126 on 20.2 overs.England A had won back the initiative when Mubarak, Sri Lanka A’s captain, took an inspired punt and brought on Thilina Kandamby, a part-time legspinner. He snared Swann and then Bandara moved in for the kill, polishing up his expensive figures to finish with a match haul of 11 for 126 – a performance that relit his international ambitions seven years after he played his only Test at the tender age of 19.Rod Marsh, England A’s coach, conceded that defeat was always on the cards after the dreadful start to the innings. “When three of your top four get nought you are going to have trouble chasing 285,” he said, “although there were a couple of fantastic innings. We did very well to get ten wickets for 296."Marsh rated Bandara’s performance in the first innings as "absolutely outstanding’ but felt he had been less effective second-time around. “The pitch was less responsive today. It didn’t bounce and turn as much as in the first innings. He bowled magnificently in the first innings but I don’t think he bowled well in the second innings. But he got three wickets. It is a sign of a good bowler."Afterwards, Sri Lanka’s coach, Stan Nel, praised the batting of Prior and Swann, but was pleased with his side’s patience. "At this level of cricket [that’s what] it’s all about. We had a gameplan and we were patient and we went through with it although it was a very difficult period.All credit to the captain [Jehan Mubarak] for keeping his cool and the cool of the team and finally winning it.Nel described Bandara as `a fantastic cricketer’ and said: "He has all the attributes of a complete allround modern-day cricketer. He is athletic, he fields and bowls well and he gives you a great option with the bat. He has waited for four years patiently for an opportunity to be given to him and he has certainly taken it with both hands."

Twenty20 cricket should be played at future Commonwealth Games, according to Don Parker, England’s sports director for next year’s Games in Melbourne. The reduced form of one-day cricket has proved a huge hit in England during its first two seasons, and has now been taken up in South Africa and Australia.The 2010 games will take place in Delhi, and Parker believes Twenty20 is just the right format of cricket for the Games – if the top players were available. “If everything could be done to clear the cricket calendar for that period of time and everybody would be available, I think Twenty20 cricket would be great,” he told newspaper. “It would have attracted a lot of interest in Melbourne, and in India they’re even madder about cricket than in Australia, if that’s possible.”Cricket has been included in past Commonwealth Games, but has not become a permanent fixture. In 1998, South Africa won the gold medal, defeating Australia in the final in Kuala Lumpar. However, the matches did not have official one-day status – the likes of Jamaica and Barbados played as islands, not as the West Indies – and some of the teams were not at full strength. Australia were without Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, while England did not even send a side.International Twenty20 cricket is now becoming part of the calendar. New Zealand played Australia at the start of their current tour and England will take on Australia, at the Rose Bowl in Hampshire, on June 13.

Toss
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
India won the toss and elected to bat first at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium after early morning dew had delayed the start by an hour, reducing the contest to 48 overs a side. The lunch interval was reduced to half an hour and on a surface expected to produce a small mountain of runs – neither team had chased successfully so far in this series – it appeared a good toss to win. With the series beautifully poised at 2-1 in India’s favour, the stage was set for a titanic tussle – the sun beating down and the stadium packed to the girders.India made two changes to the side that lost so meekly at Jamshedpur. Lakshmipathy Balaji, who had recovered from a side strain, returned in place of Irfan Pathan, and Murali Kartik got his first outing of the series, replacing Harbhajan Singh. Pakistan kept faith in the XI that were emphatic winners by 106 runs in the previous game.For some of India’s marquee names, it was a chance to play themselves back into something resembling form. Between them, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif had managed just 96 runs in the first three games, leaving Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to carry the batting burden.After missing out on a Test match, this was Ahmedabad’s chance to prove that they didn’t lag behind in the hospitality stakes. The security outside the stadium and inside the ground was certainly formidable, with commandos and the local police present in the thousands to ensure that the match passed by without incident – away from the pitch.India: 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 4 Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly (capt), 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Mrali Kartik, 9 Lakshmipathy Balaji, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra.Pakistan: 1 Salman Butt, 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Yousuf Youhana, 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Arshad Khan, 9 Iftikhar Anjum, 10 Naved-ul-Hasan, 11 Danish Kaneria.

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Lancashire were left to thank Mark Chilton, their captain, for salvaging a draw against Northamptonshire after another wicket-filled day at Old Trafford. Although not as dramatic as the third day, when 18 wickets fell, there was a tense finish with Lancashire eight down at the end. Their target of 252 was never a realistic proposition after they slipped to 8 for 2 and as Jason Brown as running through the middle order defeat became a distinct possibility. However, Chilton remained firm and chose the perfect time to make his first century of the season. He was grateful, too, to Gary Keedy, who stayed with him for the final half an hour and survived 20 balls. Chilton was the first person to pass 50 in a match dominated by the bowlers, a pattern which had continued as Muttiah Muralitharan removed Northants’ lower order, ending with 4 for 68.
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John Francis scored a battling century as Somerset finally found their backbone to seal a draw on the final day at Oakham School. After following-on 233 runs behind they needed someone to show some grit and Francis put his hand up. He lost Graeme Smith early in the day, when he edged Charl Willoughby, his Western Province team mate, to Paul Nixon. Francis received sterling support from Michael Burns, who batted for over four hours while compiling 59 from 202 balls. Burns was finally trapped lbw by Stuart Broad and although Sanath Jayasuriya failed a repeat of the first innings collapse was never in cards. James Hildreth reined in his natural attacking instincts to partner Francis for final period of the day
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Ravinder Bopara’s first first-class century guided Essex to a draw, leaving Derbyshire to rue their decision to not declare until lunch. Michael di Venuto and Ben France had taken their opening stand to 147, and di Venuto was unbeaten on 110 when the innings was closed, but Derbyshire only left themselves with two sessions to bowl out Essex. Graeme Welch created an early opening, removing Will Jefferson and Grant Flower in two balls to reduce Essex to 14 for 2. But Bopara and Alistair Cook added 127 for the third wicket and, when Cook fell, Andy Flower scored a quick fire 41 from 30 balls. Bopara reached his century just before play was called off, after facing 145 balls. After piling up 462 in their first innings, then having Essex on the ropes in their first innings, Derbyshire will feel they missed a opportunity to force their first Championship win of the season.
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This match drifted to a draw, with Paul Collingwood gaining the most for the final day with an unbeaten 103. It was useful time in the middle for Collingwood, who will shortly be joining up with the England squad for the one-day matches. Collingwood’s century – from 155 balls – was the last action of the match and he added 137 with Jon Lewis, following the early loss of Nicky Peng to Kabir Ali. Collingwood’s century was the second of the match, after Ben Smith’s 123, which was ended during the morning session by Ashley Noffke. The stand between Smith and Chaminda Vaas was extended to 115 for the eighth wicket before Noffke and Collingwood wrapped things up.

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Australia launched their tour of England with a comprehensive eight-wicket win against a PCA Master’s XI at Arundel. Although they reached their target of 168 with a ball to spare, the result was never really in doubt after an opening stand of 131 between Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden.Both batsmen got in some early practice, taking advantage of friendly bowling from the PCA XI and a fast outfield. Ricky Ponting sealed the win by hitting a six off the first ball of the last over and a four off the fifth.Paul Collingwood managed to dismiss Hayden and Chris Tremlett accounted for Gilchrist but Australia scored freely. Devon Malcolm, 42, opened the bowling for the PCA XI and was dispatched for 38 in three overs.Hayden was impressed with Tremlett, who had figures of 1 for 17 from his four overs. “There’s some quality fast bowlers [in England],” he said. “We saw that today with Chris Tremlett. He is a huge bloke [6ft 7”] and I felt like a midget. I was playing for Hampshire with his old man Tim and I saw him as a young boy. It makes me feel a bit old at 33 to be honest.”Australia stamped their authority on the game from the first ball when Stephen Fleming edged Brett Lee to second slip, where Ponting held a sharp chance. Collingwood managed a useful 38 before he was the first victim in a Michael Clarke hat-trick.

Clarke then had Kevin Pietersen caught off a top-edged sweep and Graeme Swann was stumped first ball. Pietersen had come to the game fresh from trying to hit balls over the River Thames and was attempting a similar blow when he perished after five deliveries.However, Darren Maddy, the leading run-scorer in the 2004 Twenty20 tournament, used his experience of the format to compile 70 and was aided by a quick-fire 39 off 25 balls from Mark Ealham.This was a gentle introduction for Australia in a festival atmosphere, but a crowd of 11,000 will know they mean business. Their next stop in the build-up to Monday’s Twenty20 game against England at Southampton is a match against Leicestershire on Saturday.”We haven’t played a great deal of it,” Hayden said of Twenty20. “The England team have been a little bit more fortunate to see just how the game’s come to life. We haven’t had that opportunity yet but we are catching up slowly and we’re enjoying it.”

As Bangladesh gear up for their final match of a tough tour of England, it is clear that the warm afterglow of that victory over Australia has yet to wear off. Bangladesh face the Aussies for the third and final time at Canterbury tomorrow, but their captain, Habibul Bashar, is adamant that the trip has been a success.”I am very pleased with the way we have played in the one-day series,” Bashar told the Press Association. “We didn’t start well against England at The Oval but came back against Australia at Cardiff. In the last couple of games we could have done a little better but we are showing improvement.”Australia exacted swift revenge for their humiliation at Cardiff, as Bangladesh were pummelled by ten wickets in the return fixture at Old Trafford, and their captain, Ricky Ponting, insisted their would be no let-up, even though their place in Saturday’s final is already secure.”There won’t be anybody resting as such on Thursday,” he confirmed. “If anyone is carrying a knock or needs a game off through injury or something like that, then we’ll consider it. But we’ve tried over the last few games to keep the same group of players together and try and create some momentum. That’s partly because of the way we started the tour as well.”Ironically, it is the Bangladeshis who are allowing their gaze to wander. Their next challenge will be a trip to Sri Lanka in September, and after emerging from England with their morale intact, Bashar is adamant that a further upset is on the cards. “We are becoming more competitive,” he insisted. “In the last three games we have put ourselves in a position where we had a platform to make a big score but did not carry it through. That shows our improvement.”Bashar singled out the efforts of three of his players – the batsmen, Javed Omar and Mohammad Ashraful, who have provided consistent runs in the NatWest Series, and the paceman, Mashrafe Mortaza – and re-iterated his belief that some of his players would be able to make the grade in county cricket.”I think it would a great opportunity for us if we came and played county cricket,” said Bashar. “If the boys can get a chance to play in England, they should take it because they could improve a lot. There is no shortage of talent in our team. They just need a little bit of exposure and a little bit of experience and to be playing a good level of cricket.”

Somerset have given two-year contracts to six players: Keith Parsons, James Hildreth, Matthew Wood, Gareth Andrew, Neil Edwards and Carl Gazzard.Peter Anderson, Somerset’s chief executive, said: “As always, negotiations tend to be long-winded, as players seek to do the best for themselves in terms of pay and length of contract.”Parsons, 31, has been with Somerset for the last 12 seasons, but has played only four games in the last two years. “The club obviously wants to stick by its younger players and those, such as Keith Parsons, who have been loyal to the club,” Anderson explained. “We do not, however, have a bottomless pit of money and there has to be a degree of compromise on both sides.”

New Zealand 545 for 6 dec (Fleming 202, Styris 89) beat Bangladesh 182 (Vettori 6-70) and 262 (Baisya 66, Mashud 51, Vettori 6-100) by an innings and 101 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

It took New Zealand just 25 minutes on the fourth morning to wrap up a comprehensive victory by an innings and 101 runs in the second Test at Chittagong, and take the series 2-0.Daniel Vettori grabbed his second six-wicket haul of the game – he finished with 12 for 170 here, and 20 for 224 in the two matches to be named the Player of the Series. At least Tapash Baisya made sure Bangladesh went down with some pride, hammering a 36-ball half-century as New Zealand were within sight of the finishing line.Only some late-order resistance from Bangladesh’s batsmen last night had stretched this game into a fourth day, and Vettori broke the stubborn ninth-wicket stand of 34 with his fourth ball of the morning. Mohammed Rafique, who added one to his overnight 30, was too early on one that kicked, and his attempted flick to leg ballooned to Mathew Sinclair at silly mid-off.At that point Baisya cut loose. Using his feet to attack the spinners, he hammered Paul Wiseman for five fours and a six in two overs, and Vettori for three fours and a six – although Vettori should have caught him off his own bowling with the first ball of his second over, but he spilt a skyer.The end finally came when Baisya charged Vettori once too often, missed the ball by a country mile and was easily stumped by Brendon McCullum. His 66 – the fastest Test fifty by a Bangladesh batsman – had come off 47 balls and at least ensured there was a reward for the smattering of spectators who had turned up to watch the last rites.”A spinner is always expected to get wickets on the subcontinent,” admitted Vettori, who will lead New Zealand in the forthcoming one-day series when Stephen Fleming returns home. “This pitch was ideal for spin bowling.”New Zealand’s 2-0 series win was achieved at a canter. Their innings-and-99-run victory at Dhaka was their biggest win in any Test, and this one beat that by two runs. It was a familiar sorry tale for Bangladesh: this was their 29th defeat in 32 Test matches.The stats, however, made sorry reading for the Bangladeshis. This was their 29th loss in 32 Tests, and their 16th series defeat in succession. The only glimmers of consolation came with their good bowling in the first session of the match, and their determined resistance of the third afternoon. That aside, it was one-way traffic.

In an effort to qualify for the next World Cup, in West Indies in 2007, Scotland are to appoint a full-time coach. Investment from Sport Scotland will help to finance the post.Roddy Smith, who became Scotland’s chief executive on Monday, said the full-time position will be filled by “the best candidate we can find and that the search will be worldwide.” Initially, the coach will be on a fixed-term contract until September 30 2005, after which there will be a review.To win qualification for the 2007 World Cup Scotland would need to finish in the top five at the 12-team ICC Trophy for non-Test nations, which is being held in Ireland in next July. Tony Judd, who is the current coach, works part-time. He thinks that making the post full-time has been overdue and it will be vital for them to qualify for the next World Cup.Judd remains until December 31, and is undecided whether to apply for the new position. “I will continue to do everything I can to support the teams training and competition programme until the end of the year,” he said. At present he is helping the Scotland side prepare for the semi-final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup against Kenya in Dubai starting on November 16.Smith paid tribute: “Tony has done a fantastic job in his part-time capacity…last year culminated in the Scottish side defeating a full Test-playing country [Bangladesh] for the first time, something for which Tony can be very proud.”