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ScorecardAn innings of immense promise from Sarah Taylor enabled England to secure a three-wicket victory in the fourth one-day international at the Rose Bowl and with it the series against India. Taylor’s 61 was the outstanding innings of the day and she batted with an ease that no one else managed. England’s chase was not without its alarms, but they had enough in reserve as Jane Smit and Katherine Brunt carried them over the line with 26 balls to spare.India had fought back after a poor start as they lost both openers with just a single on the board. Mithali Raj and Anjum Chopra added 108 for the third wicket to lead the fightback, however a clutch of late wickets restricted the total to below 200.England’s chase was rocking after an impressive early spell from Jhulan Goswami, who took three wickets in an eight-over burst that went for just 10 runs. She claimed two in two balls when Caroline Atkins inside-edged onto her stumps then Charlotte Edwards, again batting down the order, pushed at her first ball and was well taken by Karu Jain.It was anyone’s game at 17 for 3, but the innings was steadied by Claire Taylor and Jenny Gunn. India gained another vital breakthrough when Taylor was stumped down the leg-side, bringing Sarah Taylor to the middle. For the first match of this series she was selected as the wicketkeeper, in place of Smit, but she can more than hold her own as a batsman.In the third match, at Arundel, her 40 was full of class and at Brighton College she loses nothing in comparison with her male colleagues. This innings gave a wider audience a view of her ability as she timed the ball from the outset and was well-organised throughout. “It’s been a steep learning curve,” she said later, although such sentiments could have applied to India’s bowlers as she routinely punished them with conviction. Much of the batting up to that point had been a struggle, but Taylor found the gaps and had the timing to reach the fence.Her half-century came off 51 balls – “I’m looking to score at a run a ball” she later confirmed – but when she sliced to point the game was not quite won with 29 still needed. However, Smit – who had originally been left out as keeper in favour Taylor – used her experience to strike five boundaries, the final three arriving in a rush to seal the match.Despite India’s early wickets they had always appeared about 25 runs short after struggling to press the accelerator following the early loss of their openers. Raj and Chopra played well, in a record third-wicket stand between the two teams, but were reluctant to chance their arm. It was left to Hemlata Kala to pick up the rate with a well-paced 40 off 46 balls.England’s bowlers stuck to their task with Holly Colvin, who earlier in the day gained 10 A-stars in her GCSEs, producing an economical spell with her left-arm spin. However, it was England’s other young star who played the vital hand, and laid a marker for the future -“I’m loving it” she smiled – as the team managed to reverse their series defeat from the winter.

South Africa 510 for 9 dec (Hall 163, de Bruyn 83, Kumble 6-131) and 169 for 4 drew with India 466 (Sehwag 164, Gambhir 96)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

South Africa took the psychological points after the run-fest in the Kanpur Test, which predictably ended in a draw. After keeping the Indians at bay over the first four days, South Africa had the better of the exchanges on the final day as well. First they took six Indian wickets for only 65 runs this morning to bowl them out for 466 and take a first-innings lead of 44. Then the batsmen survived a mini-wobble, ending on 167 for 4, with Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Boeta Dippenaar all getting some useful batting practice before the second Test at Kolkata, which starts on Sunday (Nov 28).The result of the match was a foregone conclusion, but the last day’s play wasn’t the boring stalemate that had been anticipated – ten wickets fell in the first two sessions today, after only 13 had fallen on the first four days. Unlike in South Africa’s first innings, when the Indian spinners were completely toothless, they asked plenty of questions of South Africa’s top order today. There was more bounce and turn on offer, and Murali Kartik, especially, settled into an excellent rhythm. His over-the-wicket line in the first innings denied him the opportunity to attack, but here, he bowled from round the wicket, got drift and spin, and ended with excellent figures of 2 for 17 from 14 overs. For India, though, it only meant that their task of deciding on their bowling combination for the Kolkata Test became slightly more difficult.Smith and Andrew Hall, the hero of South Africa’s first innings, put together 67 without many worries, though Smith was extremely lucky to survive a couple of lbw shouts from Anil Kumble. Then the spinners struck. Hall nicked one off Harbhajan Singh, and Dinesh Karthik, who had a poor day behind the stumps, latched on to this one. Kartik then struck in his first over, trapping Martin van Jaarsveld (13) in front with a sharply turning delivery, and then inducing Smith to push a bat-pad catch to short leg (110 for 3). When Jacques Rudolph failed again, following his first-ball duck with just 3 before edging to the keeper, South Africa had slumped to 115 for 4.That was as good as it got for India, though, as Kallis and Dippenaar denied them further success, batting out the entire final session, in the process collecting more valuable practice against the Indian spinners.Earlier, it was the South Africans who enjoyed their time in the field. As on the fourth day, their bowlers bowled a consistent line, but they were helped significantly by the indiscretion of the Indian batsmen. The slide started in the third over of the day. Rahul Dravid added just two to his overnight 52 before reaching out to a widish delivery from Makhaya Ntini and nicking it to the keeper (407 for 5).Karthik, playing only his second Test, had an opportunity to make a mark as a batsman, but he lasted only four balls, shouldering arms to one from Shaun Pollock that nipped back and trapped him right in front. Ntini’s off-stump line proved too good for Kumble, and when VVS Laxman dragged one onto his stumps, India had lost four wickets for 13 in the space of 29 balls, and Ntini suddenly had three in the bag after toiling away without success for two days.Harbhajan and Zaheer Khan stemmed the rot somewhat, adding 36 for the ninth wicket before both fell in quick succession, ending India’s innings just 90 minutes into the morning session.South Africa took the first-innings lead, and by close of play, they had ensured that they would leave Kanpur in a much better frame of mind than when they arrived. Most of the batsmen spent a reasonable amount of time in the middle, and their experiment with Hall as opener met with resounding success – he was later declared Man of the Match. The bowling was a bit of a worry, though, and Robin Peterson may well miss out at Kolkata. But for the moment, Ray Jennings will have every reason to be delighted with the outcome at Kanpur.

Given that his team had just been thumped by 247 runs in the final of an international tournament, Botswana’s captain, Akram Chand, shouldn’t really have been smiling quite so broadly. But the margin of their defeat – shot out for 96 in reply to a South African Country Districts XI total of 343 for 5 – was of little consequence.That is because Botswana’s mere presence in the final of the World Cup Qualifying Series in Benoni ensured that they would process to the next stage of a lengthy qualification process – one that could ultimately lead to an appearance in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. The crunch game had come in their semi-final on Thursday, when Botswana beat Ghana by four wickets to book their places in the African Cricket Association Championships (ACAC) in Zambia in August.The County Districts XI had only been drafted into the tournament as late replacements for Morocco, who withdrew apparently because their government refused to let the squad out of the country, after the national handball team failed to return from a tour to Europe earlier this year.They proved to be the best team in the tournament by some distance. Ghana were sent packing for 18 in their first match, and the target was knocked off in just eight balls. The South Africans followed up by dismissing Mozambique for 29, before batting first against Rwanda, andamassing 418 for 6. They then dismissed the Rwandans for 60 in 26.5 overs to win by 358 runs.In their semi-final, South Africa dismissed Malawi for 20 and took 2.4 overs to reach the target with all 10 wickets standing.However, the tournament winners enjoyed important advantages over the other seven sides in the tournament – they are used to turf pitches, they play regularly and at a reasonably competitive level, and they form part of the rich culture of South African cricket.Unsurprisingly, therefore, Chand was not downcast at the size of their defeat. “Our cricket is more competitive and of a higher standard than in some of the other countries playing here,” he told Wisden CricInfo. “We back ourselves to be one of the best teams in Africa.””In Gabarone we have one main ground, but we’re developing a second,” Chand said. “In the other towns we have another four grounds. There are no turf pitches in Botswana, we play mostly on Astroturf. A few of our players are based at universities in South Africa, so they have experience of turf pitches, but for the rest of us it’s a learning experience."Despite those hardships, cricketers in Botswana enjoy a busy season.”We start our season with a six-a-side tournament in February and March,” Chand said. “After that we have a 35-over league, in which 16 teams play in two divisions. That takes four months, and then we play an inter-town league of 50 overs-a-side matches.”Not surprisingly, Chand’s eyes gleamed at the thought of playing in the World Cup. “It would be a tremendous achievement for Botswana,” he said. “Playing for the country is one thing, but to make it to the biggest stage of all would be awesome.”Two teams from the ACAC will play in the ICC Trophy in Ireland in July next year, while a third will go to the ICC Trophy Qualifier in Malaysia next February.

England are “very likely” to take up an offer from Allen Stanford to play a multi-million dollar Twenty20 match during the tour of West Indies next year according to Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman.Clarke met with Stanford at Lord’s on Tuesday to discuss possible joint ventures which could include Stanford having a role in any future English Premier League plus the match next year, which could be worth as much as $20million, against an All-stars West Indies XI.”We did see Sir Allen – a date has not been fixed for when anything will be played, or what format it will take this year or going forward into the future,” Clarke told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme. “I think that match is very likely to take place. Sir Allen is doing a huge amount for cricket in the West Indies and we are keen to help things develop there.”With no window in the current international schedule to allow England’s centrally contracted players to compete in the Indian Premier League (IPL) the ECB is eager to appease players who are keen to cash in on lucrative Twenty20 tournaments.Clarke added: “Of course we are also keen to give our players the chance to make a significant amount of money and these types of games can be tremendously dramatic. We are extremely interested in his ideas but there is a long way to go.”We need to confirm a lot of things with our friends in the West Indies. There is not a specific date at this moment of time and no specific structure at this time.”Clarke also admitted that the ECB are still formulating plans for an English Premier League. “I think what the IPL will achieve is remarkable given the time and speed with which it has been put together. We are spending a lot of time looking at creating a robust, sustainable and economically viable league that still protects our core revenues of Test cricket.”Stanford has previously tried to invite South Africa for a winner-takes-all match but it fell through after a clash with the West Indies board. Last year Stanford also offered to bring the World Twenty20 winners, India, to the Caribbean but the BCCI wasn’t keen on taking part in an unofficial event.

West Indies 294 for 3 (Lara 119, Sarwan 106*) lead Bangladesh 284 (Rajin Saleh 47, Banks 4-80) by 10 runs
Scorecard

Hundreds by Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan put West Indies in control of the second Test against Bangladesh at Sabina Park yesterday. At the close they had reached 289 for 3, a lead of 10 runs.Although Lara fell five overs before the close for an excellent 119, the day belonged to West Indies. Pedro Collins wrapped up the Bangladesh innings in the morning, and despite the early loss of Chris Gayle, caught behind off a lazy drive for 14, it was one-way traffic thereafter.Bangladesh will be hoping to take the attack to the West Indies early on this morning, starting with the wicket of nightwatchman Tino Best. With three days to go in this match, there is a lot of cricket still to be played, but with the West Indies poised to build a big lead, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Smith, Ridley Jacobs and Omari Banks still to bat, the home team remains in a good position to ease to a series-winning victory.The weather forecast for Kingston today is warm, with a high of 31 degrees, but it will be mostly cloudy with a chance of scattered thunderstorms.

West Indies today named their preliminary 30-man squad for the ICC Champions Trophy this September in England.Brian Lara will lead the squad, and there were recalls for the likes of Merv Dillon, Corey Collymore, Daren Ganga, Wavell Hinds and Marlon Samuels, who has been out of action since November 2003 with a knee injury.Joey Carew, the acting chairman of selectors, said the squad contained, in the main, players who have been involved in one-day cricket over the last couple of years, and that it was indicative of the continuity which the selectors felt was important for the stability of the squad.Carew said: “Although in a sense, the selection is purely academic since the final squad of 14 has to be selected by 10 August, it gives an indication of who we have in mind to represent us in this important one-day tournament as we keep our focus on the World Cup.”He added that those players in the squad who were not currently in England must continue practising and playing where possible to ensure that they were fit and ready if selected in the final 14.West Indies preliminary squad
Omari Banks, Carlton Baugh (wk), Jason Bennett, Tino Best, Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Merv Dillon, Fidel Edwards, Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Ryan Hinds, Wavell Hinds, Ryan Hurley, Ridley Jacobs (wk), Sylvester Joseph, Brian Lara (capt), Jermaine Lawson, Ricardo Powell, Ravi Rampaul, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Adam Sandford, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith, Dwight Washington, Kurt Wilkinson.

Richie Benaud added his voice, on Sunday, to calls for Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to be dropped from senior international cricket. Benaud, currently in England where he is commentating for broadcaster Channel 4, made his comments after witnessing Bangladesh’s innings and 261-run defeat in the first Test at Lord’s.The match, Bangladesh’s first Test in England, finished before lunch on the third day with Benaud labelling it an “absolute shambles”. Benaud, writing in the News of the World, was adamant that the presence of Bangladesh – whose only win in 37 Tests has come against fellow strugglers Zimbabwe – was neither good for the game as a whole or for the teams themselves.Benaud said: “After witnessing this two-and-a-bit day farce at Lord’s, I am convinced our game’s governing body – the ICC – must make a firm and swift decision, They must remove Bangladesh and Zimbabwe from full-time international cricket until their ability and infrastructure warrant their re-inclusion.He added: “Both teams need to be put on hold for the good of cricket. They are simply not good enough to be pitched against proper Test match countries. What should be done is to have both countries scheduled to play a carefully programmed series of matches against A teams and minor teams from the other eight [Test] countries and they should play against one another as well. They can undertake short tours where none of the opposition will be of international standard and we can see if they are improving, standing still or going backwards.”The ICC is due to hold its annual meetings at Lord’s in June. However, it is unlikely that the standing of either Bangladesh or Zimbabwe will be on the agenda given that the governing body has repeatedly said their Test status is not up for discussion. Benaud, 74, one of cricket’s best-known broadcasters, was the first player to complete the all-round double of 2,000 Test runs and 200 Test wickets. He led Australia in 28 of his 63 Tests and never lost a series as captain.

Scorecard

England held on for a fighting draw in what was a tense finish to a closely-fought opening Test against Sri Lanka at Galle. After battling efforts from Mark Butcher, Paul Collingwood and the lower order, the umpires offered England the light with four overs to go and nine wickets down.The weather certainly came to their rescue, but England’s draw represented an impressive display of tough concentration and commitment to the cause, especially against Muttiah Muralitharan on a wearing pitch. And as always in these situations, England will feel like champions and take plenty of heart with them to the next Test. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will be ruing their inability to finish the job off, and their slow batting on the fourth day.After Collingwood was out on the stroke of tea for a gutsy 36, England were staring down the barrel at 170 for 7. But Ashley Giles and Gareth Batty made sure the floodgates didn’t open. They scrapped it out together for valuable 50 minutes after the tea break, before Batty threw all his hard work away in a moment of madness to give England the wobbles again. He gifted Murali another wicket when he played a vile heave across the line and was bowled middle stump (204 for 8). Batty stayed on his knees for a few seconds, realising the foolishness of such an irresponsible shot at such a crucial time.The light slowly deteriorated, the umpires continually checked their metres, but the show went on. Richard Johnson curbed his attacking instincts and admirably played one big block for 35 balls. But with seven overs remaining, he played on to Murali trying to leave the ball, and it was all down to Giles and Matthew Hoggard to save the day as the tension mounted.Giles refused to buckle under the pressure, and took the brunt of the strike. The umpires continued to deliberate on the conditions at the end of every over, and after what felt like an eternity for England, they offered the light – and the batsmen were off in a shot. Giles finished with an invaluable 17 not out, and as he looked up to the darkening skies, he knew his side had done enough to escape with a hard-earned and exciting draw.From the moment Dinusha Fernando resumed play with the new ball this morning, England realised they were up against it. Michael Vaughan was never allowed to settle as Fernando worked him over outside off stump. He squirted an attempted leave through third man for four, and after one sweet pull through midwicket, he propped forward to an immaculate full-length outswinger, and Hashan Tillakaratne at first slip grabbed the edge at the second attempt (16 for 1).Marcus Trescothick was in no mood to be dominated. He cracked a half-volley from Chaminda Vaas through the covers, and helped to put a dent in Fernando’s figures with a bullet of a cut shot. But his positive intent proved his downfall, when he danced down the track to Sanath Jayasuriya, failed to make contact and was bowled straight through the gate for 24 (62 for 2).Murali by this stage had barely bothered to warm up, but he was never going to be kept out of the limelight for long. Sure enough, he popped up with the prize scalp of the morning. Graham Thorpe was easing into his stride when he badly misread Murali’s doosra, and top-edged a simple chance to Vaas, who nonetheless made a meal of it as he ran in from mid-off (73 for 3).

Butcher and Collingwood provided stern resistance and ate up valuable time. Both batsmen showed good concentration and discipline against accurate bowling, led by Murali and Jayasuriya. But it wasn’t all just blocking. Butcher launched Kumar Dharmasena for six over mid-on, and then stroked an elegant straight drive off Murali to bring up a well-deserved half-century. Collingwood provided good support at the other end, playing with a calm concentration, as the pair put together a valuable fifty partnership.England’s bid for survival was slowly starting to take shape, but back came Vaas to pierce a double dent in their progress. Vaas landed one on a perfect length outside off and Butcher nibbled at the ball as it went through to Kumar Sangakkara (125 for 4). In his next over, Andrew Flintoff drove him loosely to Tillakaratne at point for a duck, and suddenly England were hanging on at 125 for 5.Chris Read refused to lie down and he swept his way to 14, including a six over midwicket. Collingwood continued to stand firm, putting away anything wide or short to the boundary. The clouds began to roll over the ground, but if England had any thoughts of scrambling to safety, that man Murali made them think again. Read propped forward to defend another big offspinner and gloved the ball via the pad to Mahela Jayawardene at short-leg (148 for 6).Batty knuckled down to give Collingwood support, and found time to effortlessly clip Dharmasena over midwicket for six and thwack Murali past midwicket. The rain started to trickle down, but the umpires decided to stay on. It was a big call, as England lost their anchor in Collingwood. He pressed forward to Dharmasena and was superbly caught by Tillakaratne low to his left at silly point (170 for 7). It was a big blow, as shown by the Sri Lankans’ shrieks of delight, and it set up a thrilling final session in which England somehow survived.

Northerns 316 for 6 (Smith 97, Paleker 51, Dros 57, Almeida 3-35) beat Easterns 236 for 9 (Bodi 76, van Woerkom 3-43) by 80 runs
Northerns made the best possible start against Easterns at SuperSport Park as Aldin Smith (97) and Allahudien Paleker got away to a flier scoring 77 runs for the first wicket, with Paleker’s 50 coming off 31 balls.Nic van Woerkom then smashed a quick 49 off 45 opening the door for Gerald Dros to race to 57 off 40. Not to be outdone Justin Kemp then fired 26 off 10 balls for Northerns to end on 316. Easterns had struggled in the field with only Renato Almeida featuring by taking a creditable 3 for 35 in his nine overs.Easterns made a good start with their first fifty coming up in 10 overs as Andre Seymore tried to accelerate the innings. He edged an expansive drive into his stumps to be bowled for 40 while Goolam Bodi tried to emulate the Northerns tactics. His 50 came up in 35 balls after sending eight fours and two sixes to the ropes.But maintaining an run-rate of seven or eight an over proved to be just too much as Bodi swung across the line once to often to be trapped in front for 76. With wickets falling at regular intervals Northerns ran out worthy winners by 80 runs.KwaZulu-Natal 190 for 4 (Smit 74, Lazarus 52*) beat Free State 187 (Summers 50, Africa 4-48) by six wicketsFree State made the cardinal mistake of getting bowled out by KwaZulu-Natal inside their 45 overs at Kingsmead. Shane Summers, batting at No. 9, gave Free State a glimmer of hope by scoring a half-century, but with no-one able to stay with him the innings closed on 187.Keegan Africa, the young Under-19 KwaZulu-Natal pace bowler, was the main wicket-taker as he walked off with four scalps. Kyle Smit, the hard-hitting Natal opener, gave the home team the start they needed, stroking eight fours and a six in his 74. Fabian Lazarus then made sure that Natal won by carrying his bat for 52.

Martin Bicknell, the Surrey and England fast bowler, has retired. Bicknell, 37, had enjoyed some outings in Surrey’s first team this year, but had always said this was to be his final season and he finally called time on his playing career today, a few weeks earlier than planned. “Physically I was struggling,” he said,”but it just felt like it was the right time.”I’m relieved in a way,” he added, “but also a bit sad. It’s the end of an era.” It certainly is. Bicknell has been with Surrey for the last 28 years, since he joined them at the age of ten. He always wanted to play professional cricket and that dream came true when he was handed his first county contract at the age of 17, following a successful season in the seconds.In all he took 1047 wickets for the county, but he also fashioned something of a batting career for himself, and he’s rightly proud of his 6740 first-class runs. He smiles: “I was almost an allrounder.”He also flirted with the Test stage, although he only had four matches at that level. His debut, in 1993 against Australia, was a most fiery baptism. “I was thinking this is so tough – Allan Border, Steve Waugh, David Boon, all at the height of their careers.” Nevertheless, he had some success, taking four wickets, but injury wrecked his chances of a winter tour.He then waited for a call but that only came a decade later. “I wasn’t selected, it baffled me for a while.” True, he had stiff competition from Andrew Caddick and Darren Gough because he was seen as a new-ball bowler, but Bicknell still finds that perception bemusing. “It’s a bit of a mystery. I was actually most successful on the unresponsive pitches at The Oval.”He just shrugged and got on with being a strikeforce for Surrey, and helped them lift the Championship trophy in 1999, another career highlight. Then came the surprise Test recall in 2003, when he was 34. “I had just gone past my peak,” he admits. “I was very concerned at how I’d get on.” He need not have worried; he took a wicket with his second ball against South Africa at Headingley and then bowled England to victory in the final Test at The Oval.

“I had two very good performances and that left a good feeling for me. I had happy experiences of playing Test cricket.” But should he have played more? “People will look back and think I was a bit unlucky. Obviously it would be nice to have played 60 or 70 Tests, but it’s just one of those things. I was lucky to have played Test cricket at all.”Alan Butcher, the manager of cricket at Surrey, added, “Martin Bicknell is one of the true Surrey greats. He was integral to Surrey’s success during the glory years between 1997-2003, and is one of those cricketers who are truly irreplaceable.”Bicknell may have called time on playing, but he intends to maintain his Surrey links, hopefully getting involved with coaching their juniors. “That would be very enjoyable.” And he will be nurturing more youth as Head of Cricket at Charterhouse School, after four successful months with them.When he’s not involved in cricket, Bicknell enjoys his golf – and he has an impressive handicap of 2. He’s back off to India in February for the World Cup of Golf, where former international cricketers compete for the honours, and he hopes to claim the title this year, after Kapil Dev pipped him in the inaugural competition this year. “It’s a lovely day out,” he says of playing golf. “I love the game. I could play every day.”And as for cricket, though he won’t be playing every day, he will look back on his time with happiness. “I’m not leaving the game with any regrets.”