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India’s loss against Zimbabwe at Faridabad was not the first timethat they snatched defeat from the very jaws of victory. India’spoor one-day record at the Nahar Singh Stadium now looks evenworse after the stunning win that Zimbabwe pulled off in thefirst match of the five-game series on Thursday.

It must be stressed, however, that the record has nothing to dowith the ground, the weather or any external factors. India’sfailure to close the match in their favour was caused by someabject fielding and incompetent bowling that came to the forewhen it mattered most.The Indian captain did not do his team any favours through poorlythought out field placements and bowling changes. Sourav Gangulyneeds to readjust his thinking cap and seriously think about onfield strategy. Such matters will go a long way in determiningIndia’s fortunes in the 2003 World Cup.The real mettle of a player, captain or umpire shows only when heis under tremendous pressure. We saw, in the recent Delhi Testmatch, how a few individuals wilted under the pressure. It was nodifferent in Faridabad, with number 10 batsman Douglas Marillierplaying a do-or-die innings, even as Ganguly and his boysliterally stood benumbed by the onslaught.The body language of the Indian team in the last five overs ofthe match was that of a team trying to defend, when all theyreally had to was pick up two tail-end wickets to finish thegame. The pressure also got to the umpires, one of whom handedout a poor decision against Tatenda Taibu.Fortune is determinedly partisan to the brave; Marillier playedone of the most stunning one-day knocks in recent memory. I mustsay that the self-belief this Zimbabwe team has shown on the touris simply superb. I had mentioned this crucial element in myprevious column as well.Having said that, I thought Zaheer Khan bowled superbly. He wasby far the best bowler on the day, although he completely lostthe thread in his final two overs. In spite of the Marilliermiracle, I single out the 111-run partnership between Andy Flowerand Alistair Campbell as the one that laid the foundation of thesensational victory.Chasing a target of 275 was never going to be easy, especiallyafter Zaheer Khan had made early inroads by picking a couple ofwickets. The senior Zimbabwe batsmen, however, played with a lotof determination against the double-spin attack of HarbhajanSingh and Anil Kumble. If Andy Flower had not fallen to Kumble,attempting an ambitious shot, those two would have made it lookmuch easier for the visitors. Campbell also played an innings ofcharacter – the hallmark of the Zimbabwe team.I thought the Indian batting plan almost worked to perfection. Itwas a good idea to open with Dinesh Mongia, and the Indianbatting line-up had remarkable depth to it even without theservices of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. It wasparticularly pleasing to see Ganguly and Mongia make usefulcontributions, as also the responsible manner in which VVS Laxmanplayed.Ajit Agarkar seems to relish the slog overs, and the quick-firepartnership of 63 runs with Mohammad Kaif helped India to post animposing score of 274. Zimbabwe’s bowling looked a bit overenthusiastic, and it was, on the whole, a disappointing show bythe visiting bowlers. Instead of attacking on just one side ofthe wicket, they bowled on both sides and gave away many runs inthe process. Zimbabwe’s fielding was, as always, very good, butthey were made to look ineffective as the Indian batsmen calmlyexploited the gaps in the field.All credit to Zimbabwe, therefore, for a remarkable victory.India’s pride has been damaged with this loss at home, and theresult will make the next encounter at Mohali a truly engrossingaffair.

Today at the Glamorgan Media Day, Ysgol St Curig Primary School in the Valeof Glamorgan met some of the Glamorgan cricket stars as a reward for winningtheir local schools indoor cricket competition. Led by Teacher RhodriJones, they met with Test star Robert Croft to announce a brand new welshmedium pack for teachers in Wales to help brighten up lessons using cricketas a theme.Over the last two years the CBW has been placing in Welsh Primary schoolsthe “Howzat” cricket resource to help teachers teach cricket. This wellpraised pack also helps teachers in their delivery of key stage 2 curriculumfor Physical Education, English, Maths, Science, ICT, Design & Technology,History, Geography, Art & Design and PSHE. Within the cross curricular packare a set of worksheets which have been translated and produced into Welshwith the help of S4C.These translated small packs clip in to the Howzat file and have beendespatched via the Local Authorities to all 444 welsh medium primaryschools.Mark Frost Director of Cricket said:”We have been placing the complete resources in schools up and down Walesand this now adds to an excellent teacher aid for all schools where learningis via the medium of the Welsh language. I am really pleased that welshmedium schools will have the benefit of making lessons more interesting byusing cricket to add some colour!”

Gloucestershire is playing host to Lashings on Sunday 11 August and is trying out the new 20 over games format. There will be two 20 overs matches with the first game starting at 12 Noon. Coloured clothing will be worn and a white ball used.Representing the Lashings XI will be
Richie Richardson – captain, Jimmy Adams, Stuart Williams, Junior Murray. Sherwin Campbell, Shoaib Akhtar, Grant Flower, Stewart Carlisle and Chris Harris

Mark Lavine smashed 113 runs off 108 balls to temporarily keep North West’sheads above water in Potchefstroom on Friday.However, by the close Border were 86 for three in their second innings for alead of 102. Border were dismissed for 274 in their first innings onThursday, and ended North West’s reply at 248 on Friday.Glen Hewitt and Lavine held together an otherwise lacklustre North Westfirst innings in which the first three wickets fell in the space of 18deliveries with just 23 runs on the board.Vasbert Drakes bowled Riaan Niewoudt for 15, before Piet Botha had AndrewLawson caught behind for four and trapped Morne Strydom in front for afourth-ball duck.In fact, the home side dwinded to 68 for five before Hewitt and Lavineintervened. The next 33 overs belonged to them as they took on thepreviously rampant Border attack.Their partnership grew to 165 before Hewitt was trapped in front byoff-spinner Geoff Love for a 62 that included 10 fours.However, Hewitt’s dismissal was the start of another slide that claimedthree wickets in the space of five deliveries – the last of them Lavine’s,caught off Tyron Henderson for a sparkling 113 struck off just 108 ballswith 16 fours and three sixes.Henderson had Alfonso Thomas caught first ball and dismissed Lavine twoballs later on his way to figures of four for 53.Allrounder Botha then put on his other hat and featured in a solid-lookingopening stand of 57 he shared with Craig Sugden and then in scoring acompetent half-century.However, medium pacer Francois van der Merwe refused to allow Border to getgoing. He removed Sugden in the 23rd over and accounted for Botha and LadenGamiet, for a duck, in the space of four balls six overs later to head forthe showers with figures of three for 27.

After ten weeks in Caribbean sport’s most critically analysed job,Carl Hooper appreciates that West Indies’ cricket is facing turbulenttimes.In recent years, successive captains, coaches, managers, performanceconsultants and whoever else have endured the burden of moderateresults, especially overseas.For most of the period Hooper was one of the lieutenants. He is nowthe general and the new West Indies captain would have observed thekind of pressure that his successors went through.I’m prepared for that. I’ve seen it with (Courtney) Walsh. I’ve seenit with Brian (Lara). I’ve seen it with Jimmy (Adams), Hooper said.It is nothing new for me. It’s nothing different. All the criticismand the flap that is going to come down, I am prepared for and expect.The most important thing is to make sure that the team is focussed,not swayed by outside influences and try to take one step at a time inbuilding what we think will be a very good West Indies team in yearsto come.The truth of the matter is that the knowledgeable West Indian publicalways demands success and, based on results alone, Hooper has notbeen able to deliver.One should not forget that he came into the job as West Indies captainafter almost two years in the wilderness and in the aftermath of theteam’s 5-0 Test series drubbing in Australia.West Indies were able to show admirable fighting spirit in the firstphase of the series against South Africa, but in the end, they couldnot win either the Vivian Richards Trophy for the Test series or theCable & Wireless Trophy for the One-Day Internationals.And while supporters around the region have started to pile onpressure, Hooper remains unflustered.I’ve got to hold up. I can’t let that get to me. If I let it get tome, it will start affecting my game, he said.His players, however, have been hot and cold with their performances.Take Chris Gayle, for example. On the opening day of the Test series,he cracked several off-side boundaries on the way to 81. There were afew other scores of 40-odd, but there were times when his footwork andshot selection often caused his downfall.Others were affected by similar problems, but Hooper is satisfied hismen were committed to the task.I think they’ve been trying in all honesty, he said. We’ve just beencompletely outplayed. I don’t think it is a lack of determination ordesire.When those like Gayle made mistakes, the captain tried his best tosolve their problems.When they’ve got out, I’ve sat down and had one-on-ones with a numberof young players and they all want to do well. It’s just that we’velacked the depth, experience and the know-how to go about dealing withthe South Africans. I hope they will learn from it and put it down tojust an experience and be better for it at the end of the series.As one who was part of the West Indies side that went through thehumiliation of a whitewash in South Africa a little over two yearsago, Hooper knew the type of quality opposition he would be facing.The South Africans are a highly professional unit which has madeimmense strides since their re-entry to international cricket in 1991.We were always aware that they would be a tough team to play. Itdoesn’t make it any easier, Hooper said.Unfortunately, the gap between the two teams has been shown, but we’renot going to lose heart. It’s a good time to sit and gauge where weare at the moment and where we want to go.As the series winds down, have the West Indies moved any closer tonarrowing the distance between the two sides?It’s hard to bridge that sort of gap in just a few weeks, the WestIndies captain responded. South Africa have worked for years to get tothe level of where they’re at and it is going to take us the same timeto get up there.I don’t expect to see it overnight. You probably won’t see it foranother year or so, but certainly we know where we want to go.

ScorecardNottinghamshire hit their highest-ever score in 40-over cricket to defeat Durham by 43 runs in the Clydesdale Bank 40 at Trent Bridge.Led by a blistering 84 off 51 balls from opener Michael Lumb and an unbeaten 71 from skipper Chris Read, Nottinghamshire raced to 294 for 8 after being put in to bat. Despite the in-form Mark Stoneman hitting his second successive century in the competition, Durham were unable to keep up with the hefty run-rate required and were bowled out for 251.Fast bowler Andy Carter claimed 4 for 45 – his best figures in List A cricket for Nottinghamshire – while medium-pacer Steven Mullaney accounted for Stoneman for 102, Paul Collingwood and Dale Benkenstein to finish with 3 for 44.Both sides were all but out of the semi-final places in Group B before the match started but ICC World Twenty20 winner Lumb looked like he had a point to prove ahead of the announcement of England’s final 15-man squad to defend their title in Sri Lanka.The left-hander hit three fours off the fourth over, delivered by Ben Stokes, and launched Chris Rushworth and Mitch Claydon for six as he raced to 50 off 31 balls. Nottinghamshire had reached 77 without loss at the end of their first eight overs and although they lost Alex Hales for 22, bowled by Claydon, Lumb and Riki Wessels smashed 40 off the bowling powerplay that followed.That Powerplay finished with Lumb hitting Claydon for four consecutive boundaries, before the 32-year-old was then bowled by the Australian-born paceman having struck 14 fours and two sixes in total. Wessels kept up the momentum with 43 from 28 balls, hitting three sixes and four fours, before he holed out to long-on attempting to lift Gareth Breese over the ropes.Scott Elstone, Samit Patel and Mullaney all fell in the teens as the run-rate dropped but a terrific late assault from Read boosted the score once more – with 69 coming off the last six overs, Read hitting six fours and three sixes.Durham had a decent start despite losing Phil Mustard to Carter in the third over, and the muscular power of Stokes briefly threatened to keep the visitors in touch.Stokes reached 34 off 23 balls when he holed out to long-on after Patel and no Durham batsman was then able to give Stoneman – who had hit his first Championship century of the season against the same opposition earlier in the week – the support he needed.Stoneman slog-swept Mullaney to deep midwicket to end his 90-ball innings, having hit 13 fours, and Carter then returned to mop the tail.

The delights of cricket at Pukekura Park are many and varied – there is no ground in the world which so simply unites beauty and utility – but Andre Adams added another with an innings which contributed substantially to the North Island’s 28-run over Sri Lanka at that jeweled setting today.It may be proper, in setting the backdrop to Adams’ innings of 90 from 52 balls, the specifics of which make magical reading, to first make on behalf of the Sri Lankans a number of reasonable and obvious excuses.Firstly, they arrived at their New Plymouth hotel late yesterday afternoon after a flight from Johannesburg to Auckland, after the inevitable problems of marshalling luggage and clearing customs in a new country, after the formalities of an official welcome and after the last short but wearisome domestic hop from Auckland to their tour’s first venue.They had a single night to rest from both the onerous experience of international air travel and from South Africa itself and from the whirlwind end to a tour and a series of matches which brought them very little good news.They were then rushed into this match which was an addendum to their original tour itinerary, concocted at a late stage to allow the tourists to prepare themselves for the first of their series of one-day matches against New Zealand to be played at Napier on Wednesday.The North Island XI – it at last settled on that label after toying with such grandiose titles as a Shell Cup XI or a New Zealand selection – was something of a hobbledehoy, giving every indication of having been thrown together at the last moment and with great speed.The players had no generic strip but began the match, instead, in the respective uniforms of their home provinces – respectively the blue pinstripes of Auckland, the bold gold of Wellington and the suggestive maroon of Northern Districts. But by the halway stage of the game, as if there had been some major upheaval in the home team’s dressing room or at least as if the lights in that dressing room had gone out, the players emerged wearing a jumble sale hybrid of all of those uniforms.There were players in blue striped pants and maroon tops and there were others literally black and blue. So in that sense both sides had their excuses for not performing – in short travel-weariness on the part of Sri Lanka and lack of preparation time on the part of the local selection.But it was ultimately the Sri Lankans who were under the greater burden. Their performance in the field didn’t truly suggest tiredness – they fielded with a mixture of efficiency and vim and vigour but their bating performance was oddly subdued and the middle of their innings was cored-out with three run outs.The North Island XI had won the toss and batted on a pitch which, with the combination of Pukekura Park’s short boundaries, offered many more runs than these players have been used to seeing in their Shell Cup matches this season. North Island’s total of 276/8 was at least 100 runs larger than a single innings in any of the Shell Cup finals.The innings took place in three portions – nominally the overture, the adaggio and the crescendo.Chris Nevin, James and Hamish Marshall and Lou Vincent gave the innings a sprightly tempo at the start, Nevin particularly fastening on to anything which gave him width. He hit four fours in an innings of 25 from 13 balls.The North Island were 98/3 when Nevin and both Marshalls were out but the innings then entered its slow movement and the middle overs saw the fall of four wickets for only 50 runs. Lou Vincent, Tama Canning and Kyle Mills were all out after making promising starts.It was then Adams and Dion Nash who revived the innings and brought it to its resounding conclusion. Nash made a watchful start and had finally lingered 94 minutes over his innings of 45 which was boosted near its end by a single four and a six out of the ground.But it was Adams who was the conductor of the quickstep at the end. He dashed to his 50 in 38 minutes from 42 balls and he shared a partnership of 101 for the North Island’s seventh wicket which lasted only 43 minutes.But that was only a warmup for his grand final. After reaching his 50 with a four, he added his last 43 runs from only 11 balls and 10 scoring shots. For the record, and it deserves to be recorded, the last scores against his name were 4, 6, 4, 4, 4, 6, 4, 6, 1, 4.The first 28 runs of that sequence came from a single over – the last by Kumar Dharmasena who saw each delivery despatched to or over the boundary. He had 2-31 after nine overs and finished with 2-59, his figures ritually brutalised.Brooke Walker joined the fun as the last North Island batsman to the wicket, adding 11 from only five balls with two fours.Of the Sri Lankan bowlers, Ruchira Perera who opened, seemed a sharp and effective medim pacer and he finished with 3-64 from nine overs. Aravinda de Silva, who bowled through the middle stages of the innings, discharged his 10 overs for 23 runs, taking two wickets.The total was an imposing one, even on Pukekura Park which calls itself a batsman’s paradise but Sri Lanka set about it with typical urgency. They sent out Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana who are both batsmen who don’t hang around and they had 60 runs on the board from the first nine overs.But Jayasuriya was out for 23 after only 40 minutes and Kaluwitharana after a vibrant innings of 40 two overs later. Kaluwitharana’s timing and placement were sometimes breathtaking.There was then a decline in the Sri Lankan innings, fuelled by those run outs and in turn by outstanding fielding particularly from Hamish Marshall and Brooke Walker who played as if they were being billed for every run Sri Lanka scored.There was also the recovery in an innings which neatly mirrored the three tempos of the North Island effort. Kumar Sangakkara and Eric Upashantha were the architects of the reivval, lifting Sri Lanka from 127/7 to 218/8.Sangakkara made 65 from 69 balls with 10 fours and Upashantha, who delighted with his extravagant strokeplay, made 52 with a four and five sixes.Sri Lanka had needed 120 from the last 12 overs – an enormous task – but with Upashantha and Sangakkara’s efforts, they were down to eight runs per over through the last 10. Sangakkara was out six overs from the end, the third of Daryl Tuffey’s victims, and Upashantha was the last man out, caught, appropriately, by Nash off Adams.

Match facts

May 19, 2013
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)David Warner’s forgettable four months in India will soon come to an end•BCCI

Big Picture

Despite three years of unremitting mediocrity, the fans of Pune Warriors have faithfully turned up to cheer on their side. It will be a testament to their loyalty if they show up in numbers for Warriors’ final game of the season, which pits their team against Delhi Daredevils, another side which has had an utterly forgettable season. The only interest in the game will be to see which team avoids the bottom spot, in a season in which both have been inept.

Form guide

Pune Warriors WLLLL
Delhi Daredevils LLLLL

In the spotlight

Most players in either side will be waiting for the season to end, but few want it to finish as desperately as David Warner, who has had four months of woe in India. He arrived long before the IPL, for the Test series in which Australia were comprehensively beaten 4-0 and Daredevils have rarely looked like rising out of the bottom half in the IPL. To top it off, he could be in trouble with Cricket Australia after a series of angry tweets lashing out at an Australia journalist.

Stats and trivia

• Warriors’ victory over Kolkata Knight Riders earlier this week was only their third victory in 24 matches
• One of the biggest disappointments of the season for Daredevils has been Mahela Jayawardene, who has been striking at a sluggish rate of 105.66 despite getting plenty of opportunities at the top of the order

Darren Sammy, the Sunrisers Hyderabad allrounder, produced one of the top-five bowling figures of IPL 2013 so far, helping his team to a 30-run victory against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali. With the pitch sporting a sprinkling of grass he and his team-mates, Sammy said, on the advice of bowling coach Waqar Younis, were just looking to bowl “like in a Test match”.”On that wicket you don’t have to do much. With the grass on the good-length, our bowling coach, Waqar Younis asked us to bowl like we do in a Test match – just put the ball on that one spot and let the pitch do the rest,” Sammy told the IPL site. “Later on we took pace off the ball.”Sammy finished with 4 for 22, as Kings XI got to 120 for 9 in response to Sunrisers’ 150. He got Shaun Marsh and Adam Gilchrist with his first two deliveries, as both batsmen tried to pull length balls. In his second over, he got batsman in the spotlight, David Miller, with another length ball. Miller was the biggest of the wickets, Sammy said. “All of them have been dangerous at different times in the tournament but David Miller, especially. Our plan was to bowl on good length to him and let him try to have a go at us. Even though he scored a 100 in 38 balls a couple of games back, Saturday he was starting on naught. He made a mistake and we got the result.”Working with Waqar and Dale Steyn at Sunrisers, Sammy said, was proving quite beneficial to his bowling. “There’s so much of experience there. The one [biggest] thing I have picked from them is to be clear. Make sure when you’re on the top of your mark, you know what ball you’re going to bowl – if it’s a yorker, slower one, length ball, bouncer, whatever it is. When you start running in, no matter what the batsman does, you know that is the ball that’s going to come out of your hand.”On Saturday, that Sunrisers got to a total of 150 came down to stout rearguard resistance in the company of opener Parthiv Patel – who made 61 off 47 – after the team had been reduced to 52 for 5 by the ninth over. Parthiv played a smart knock, Sammy said. “I think it’s proven that the anchors are as important in this format as the hitters are. Michael Hussey is not a big hitter but he has the Orange Cap. I think batting in T20 is more about reading the situation of the game and executing your shots properly.”I thought Parthiv did that really well on Saturday night. He assessed the conditions, analysed the situation and he knew that if he got 50 in the end, we will end up with 140-plus.”

Channel Nine may be closer to losing the television rights to international cricket in Australia than at any time in the past 33 years, after their rival Ten made a bold combined bid for both international and BBL matches as a way to revitalise the recently moribund network.Following the conclusion of an exclusive negotiating period between Ten and Cricket Australia, ESPNcricinfo understands Nine have been made aware of the scope of Ten’s bid, which for international cricket alone is believed to comfortably outstrip CA’s seven-year, $315 million deal with Nine that expired at the end of summer.This news will be the cause for hurried additional meetings by Nine executives over the next month, as they weigh up the cost of retaining rights they have not been seriously challenged for since their former impresario Kerry Packer used the World Series Cricket breakaway to win exclusive access to all officially-sanctioned international cricket in Australia in 1979. Nine have always retained the rights to the last bid, but the strength of their resolve is now to be tested.Nine may yet come through with the cash required to trump Ten, but the latter is already set to claim free-to-air rights to the Twenty20 BBL for next summer and beyond, having been attracted to the revamped competition through its eye-catching television ratings on Fox Sports over the past two seasons.It was a result that required a significant financial outlay by CA and the states to generate. These costs were obscured somewhat by the annual windfall provided by the T20 Champions League, whose exorbitant TV rights, participation fees and prize money were negotiated by CA and the BCCI in the afterglow of the inaugural IPL in 2008.Were Ten to win the rights to international cricket they could be expected to show most of the BBL on their digital multi-channel One, an option CA would likely find attractive over pay television because it would be available in a far greater number of households than Fox Sports.Though CA’s relationship with Nine has been a mutually beneficial union over many seasons and both parties remain comfortable with one another, there is a growing view that a change of television rights holder would reflect cricket’s desire to remain vital in an increasingly fragmented and competitive sporting landscape.There is little fear at CA that a move from Nine to Ten would result in a reduction of television audience figures for the game, despite the Australian public’s instinctive association of cricket with the network of Packer, Richie Benaud, Bill Lawry and Ian Chappell.While the BBL and international matches are in demand, little interest exists in the domestic limited overs competition or the Sheffield Shield, though there remains a chance the competitions could still find partial television coverage.