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Zimbabweans 221 for 8 (Matsikenyeri 49, Hossain 3-34) beat Bangladesh Cricket Board President’s XI 195 (Chowdhury 42, Brent 3-32) by 26 runs
Scorecard

Zimbabwe got their tour off to a winning start with a 26-run victory over a Bangladesh Cricket Board President’s XI at the BKSP cricket ground in Dhaka.Zimbabwe won the toss and Stuart Matsikenyeri anchored the innings with 49 from 61 balls, including four fours and three sixes. He was ably supported by Mluleki Nkala (37) who was standing in as captain for the injured Prosper Utseya. Mosharraf Hossain was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 34 and Tapash Baishya weighed in with 3 for 50. The home side never overcame the loss of early wickets, and their hopes were virtually wiped out by a mid-innings wobble.”It was a good test for the guys because most of them had time at the crease,” said Kevin Curran, Zimbabwe’s coach. “The bowlers also got some valuable overs. We batted well, especially Stuart. But a competitive score would have been about 240, so we were short of that.”Our ground fielding also let us down as we let through 20-25 runs. If we had stopped them, we would have bowled the BCB President’s XI out much earlier. It was good that we won in the end but we made the margin much narrower that it should have been.”Zimbabwe now travel to Khulna for a Twenty20 match against Bangladesh on Tuesday, and the first ODI on Thursday.&

India Seniors 214 for 5 (Sanjeev Sharma 66) beat Pakistan Seniors 211 (Azam 61) by 5 wickets
ScorecardSanjeev Sharma, the former Indian allrounder, guided Indian Seniors to a comfortable five-wicket win over their Pakistan counterparts in the third one-day match at Sheikhupura. Indian Seniors now lead the series 2-1. Sharma scored a strokefilled 66 with seven boundaries as India Seniors made light work of the target of 212.Mohammad Azharuddin, who came into this match with the series level at 1-1, won the toss and chose to field. Azam Khan, the wicketkeeper, resisted at the top of the order with a half-century, but Aamer Sohail and Mansoor Akhtar fell early, leaving Pakistan seniors at 36 for 2.Wickets fell at regular intervals, and no meaty partnerships developed. The best stand was for the fifth wicket, and was worth 55, the only half-century partnership of the innings. While Manoj Prabhakar and David Johnson gave the Indian seniors the early breakthroughs, Sukhwinder Singh and Noel David chipped in towards the end with two wickets apiece as Pakistan Seniors were bowled out for 211 in 37.2 overs.In contrast to their counterparts the openers for the Indian Seniors – Prabhakar and Sharma – provided a healthy start, putting on 51. Then WV Raman, the former left-hand batsman, chipped in with 35 at No. 3. The Indian Seniors then faced a blip as Abdul Qadir, the legspin great, snapped up Mohammad Azharuddin and Amarjit Kaypee relatively cheaply. India were five down, but still easily overhauled the target, scoring 214 in 33.3 overs.Khusro Pervez Khan, the home secretary of Punjab, Jalil Ahmed Sharqpuri, the district nazim, Inam-ul-Haq the DCO, Nazim Mohammad Virk, the tehsil, were among the dignitaries who watched the match.

A superbly constructed 171-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Graeme Smith and Gary Kirsten completely swung the match South Africa’s way, as they levelled the series 1-1 with a convincing six-wicket win at Wellington. Needing 152 on the final day with seven wickets in hand, Smith led the way with an unbeaten 125, but Kirsten, in his last Test innings, played an equally crucial hand, battling his way to 76 before being dismissed in the last over before lunch.The story of the day was the matchwinning stand, but the most poignant moment came off the last ball of the morning session, when Kirsten left the field for the final time in Test cricket after being trapped in front by Scott Styris. Normally not given to emotion, Kirsten passionately kissed his helmet before walking off in tears, while all the New Zealand players stood aside and applauded the effort of the man who had – one last time – helped steer his team to the brink of victory.When play began on the final day, both sides had an equal chance of victory, but Smith and Kirsten shut New Zealand out with a nerveless batting display. Smith carried on from where he had left off on the fourth evening. Pilloried for everything from lack of mental toughness to lack of tactical acumen in the last month, he hit back in style. The feature of his knock was his leg-side batting, as he repeatedly took balls from around off stump and effortlessly clipped them to midwicket, a stroke which, fittingly, brought South Africa the winning run. It would normally be termed risky cricket, but so fluent was Smith that it seldom appeared so.Kirsten, on the other hand, was far more scratchy at the start – he mistimed drives, played and missed at a few, and generally struggled with footwork and timing. Hardly the sort of person to be bothered by it all, he just knuckled down, soaked up all the pressure, knocked around the singles, and gradually got back into the groove. By the end of his innings he was in excellent form, stroking drives through cover and back past the bowler, and even executing a couple of delightful late-cuts for four.With early wickets so crucial to their chances of victory, New Zealand started proceedings with Chris Martin and Jacob Oram. However, both began by straying towards leg stump, and were picked off for easy runs by Smith, who flicked fours off both bowlers to reach his half-century in style. Martin failed to get the swing that had made him such a potent force in this series, which meant that the deliveries which were supposed to pitch on leg and move late across the left-handers now became regulation runscoring opportunities.Twenty-four came off the first seven overs, but New Zealand gradually tightened their line, as Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori were pressed into the attack. The next nine overs produced only ten runs, but both batsmen survived that period patiently, knowing that with plenty of time in hand, the onus would be on New Zealand to force the issue. Cairns, in possibly his last home Test, bowled with plenty of fire and tried every trick in his bag, bowling from round the wicket, teasing the batsmen with wide half-volleys and then with the short stuff, but today, he came off second-best.The highlight of the session was the way Smith and Kirsten neutralised the threat of Vettori. On a pitch that – despite some rough areas outside the left-handers’ off stump – was still an excellent one for batting, both used their feet regularly against him, not to tonk boundaries but to work him with the spin just wide of mid-on for ones. And when Vettori altered his length, the batsmen were waiting on the back foot to turn it away behind square for more singles. It was risk-free cricket, and it added to the frustration for Vettori and Stephen Fleming.After working their way through a critical runless phase, Smith and Kirsten slowly turned it on: Cairns was slashed through gully for four by Kirsten, ending a sequence of 19 consecutive singles by both batsmen, while Vettori was lofted for four over mid-on.The over that completely shifted the momentum was the 55th, Vettori’s tenth and last of the match. Smith creamed an on-drive and a flick for two fours, in between chopping one past slip for two, as 12 came from the over. Vettori went into the drinks break – the second of an extended morning session – completely demoralised; Smith and Kirsten went in for the breather with victory well in sight, and the target whittled down to 73.The personal landmarks for both batsmen came immediately after play resumed – Kirsten clipped one from Oram to square leg for three to bring up his 34th Test fifty, and next ball, Smith eased a four to midwicket for his seventh century. Kirsten’s wicket was a bit of a dampener, but he had done enough to ensure that his swansong would end in a memorable victory for South Africa.

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Craig Spearman chose the ideal time to make amends for a meagre Twenty20 season with a match-winning 55-ball 86 to put Gloucestershire into the final, for the first time, at Edgbaston with 19 deliveries to spare. An impressive fielding display kept Lancashire to 148 as Gloucestershire produced two vital run-outs, including Andrew Flintoff for 3.Gloucestershire produced the brand of cricket that made them a one-day powerhouse under Mark Alleyne and John Bracewell. Crucially they came out on top during the six-over fielding restriction periods, which play such a vital part in Twenty20, and Spearman expertly showed how to exploit the early overs.Before this match Spearman was averaging 7.85 in this season’s tournament, but was quickly into his stride as 23 came off James Anderson’s second over. He regularly brought out the reverse sweep against the spinners – sending Muttiah Muralitharan to the deep cover boundary twice in his first over – and reached his 33-ball half-century with a straight six off Gary Keedy.Not even Flintoff could change the tide for Lancashire. He steamed in from the Pavilion End during an opening two-over burst, having a loud lbw shout against Spearman turned down before making a breakthrough when Hamish Marshall slashed to point. Flintoff was pumped, letting out a primeval roar, but his second over included a no-ball and the resulting free hit was dispatched by Spearman as Gloucestershire raced away and passed fifty in the sixth over.Kadeer Ali played his part in a second-wicket century stand that came off just 67 balls, but everyone else was overshadowed by Spearman. He took Dominic Cork to the cleaners with two huge leg-side sixes in a superb display of clean striking before tamely chipping Muralitharan to midwicket with 12 needed. But he had more than done his job.Spearman’s top-order onslaught is what Lancashire missed. They suffered a chaotic build-up when Mal Loye, someone who could have produced a similar performance, was forced to pull out with a recurrence of his back problems. Mark Chilton, the captain, was going to drop himself if Loye played, but Lancashire still had plenty of power with Flintoff and Stuart Law opening.However, a tight new-ball spell by Jon Lewis kept Lancashire in their shell. Law tried to break the shackles with a heave over the leg side, but his top-edge was sharply pouched at slip. Flintoff had already been dropped at mid-off on 1 by Alex Gidman before he was run out. The ball cannoned off his pad towards slip, Hodge started running before stopping and Flintoff couldn’t get back.Hodge, though, provided some impetus to the innings as he crunched six authoritative boundaries to become the second batsman to pass 1000 runs in the competition. However, Mark Hardinges picked up the key wicket when Hodge smashed a firm drive to Marshall at extra cover and the same combination accounted for Chilton.Lancashire were partially revived by an enterprising innings from Gareth Cross and a 30-run stand between Cork and Glen Chapple. However, the fact that the only six came as late as the 19th over showed the extent of Gloucestershire’s grip. Their batting ensured they never let go.

The Duleep Trophy, Indian domestic cricket’s inter-zonal tournament, begins on Thursday with two four-day matches: South Zone take on West Zone in Indore, while Central Zone do battle with East Zone in Gwalior.Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain, will lead East Zone. After his failure in the recent Challenger Trophy, the tournament is another opportunity for Ganguly to prove his form for a return to the national side. Meanwhile, VVS Laxman, who missed the Challenger Trophy due to a hamstring injury, has been appointed captain of South Zone. Wasim Jaffer, the Test opener, will lead West Zone.Zaheer Khan, the left-arm fast bowler, has also targetted the Duleep Trophy for a comeback. India tour South Africa for five one-day internationals and three Tests from November, and thus the tournament provides ample opportunities to impress.The Duleep Trophy tournament consists of six teams, divided into two pools, which play each other in four-day matches. Five of the competing teams are Indian, while the sixth is an overseas side. This season, Sri Lanka A has been included after conflicting playing schedules forced the Nashua Dolphins to pull out.The 2005-06 competition was won by West Zone after they beat East Zone by five wickets in the final.For the full schedule of the 2006 Duleep Trophy, click here.Squads
East Zone: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Lakshmi Shukla, Deep Dasgupta (wk), Subhomoy Das, Shib Shankar Das, Ranadeb Basu, Debasish Mohanty, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Sourashish Lahiri, Ashis Sinha, Pravanjan Das, S S Rao, D Mohan, S Saigal, P Mallick and Ashoke Dinda.South Zone: VVS Laxman (capt), Venugopal Rao, Anil Kumble, S Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa, Sreesanth, L Balaji, Pragyan Ojha, Gnaneshwar Rao, Arjun Yadav, Ibrahim Khaleel, Swapnil Asnodkar, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh.West Zone: Wasim Jaffer (capt), Parthiv Patel (wk), Dhiraj Jadhav, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Amol Muzumdar, Kiran Powar, Sairaj Bahutule, Vinit Indulkar, Rajesh Pawar, Zaheer Khan, Siddharth Trivedi, Ravindra Jadeja, Suyash Burkul and Sanjay Maniar.North Zone: Mithun Manhas (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Akash Chopra, Ravneet Ricky, Sachin Rana, Yashpal Singh, Mahesh Rawat (wk), M Bisla, Ashish Nehra, VRV Singh, Gagandeep Singh, Joginder Sharma, Rajesh Sharma, Virat Kohli, Vishal Bhatia.Sri Lanka A: Thilan Samaraweera (Capt.), Jehan Mubarak, Michael Vandort, Mahela Udawatte, Jeevan Mendis, Malintha Warnapura, Kaushal Silva (wk), Upul Chandana, Rangana Herath, Chamara Silva, Dhammika Prasad, Tharanga Lakshitha, Akalanga Ganegama, Ishara Amarasinghe, Kosala Kulasekara.

Mr Consistent
The one aspect of Thorpe’s career which has stood out has been his consistency. Success came early for him – in his debut Test, in fact, when he scored an unbeaten 114 in his second innings. A brief lull followed, during which period his average dipped to the early 30s, but it crept past the 40-mark in his 10th Test, and since then it’s never fallen below 38. Since 2000, Thorpe’s average for a calendar year has been at least 42 (except in 2005 so far, when he’s only played four matches) – even when his personal life was in turmoil, Thorpe still churned out the runs whenever he played for England. (Click here for Thorpe’s career summary.)Australia’s nemesis
During this 12-year period, Thorpe’s numbers look especially impressive against Australia. He missed 14 of the 30 matches played between the two teams, but when he did make it to the starting XI, he made a difference. In all Tests against Australia, Thorpe averaged 45.74, but when he played them in their own backyard, the average rose to 48.18. Since 1993, Vaughan is the only English batsman to do better against Australia, and he’s only played five games against them. England might feel confident about the strength of their current batting line-up, but they’ll still want Thorpe around when the first Ashes Test starts on July 21.

Winning factor
Only Ken Barrington has a higher average in England¹s post-war Test winsthan Thorpe. This could mean Thorpe makes runs when victory isalready certain but for most of his career England victories never seemedcertain. Instead the statistic suggests two things: that Thorpe has playedan unusual number of match-changing innings and that he often played in aweak side. When he failed, England failed too.

(Since World War II. Qualification: 1,000 runs)Highest of the high fives
Ostensibly Thorpe has been the ultimate No. 4: fearless counter-attacker andrugged scrapper rolled into one small bundle of defiance. But the numberstell a different story: he is the most productive No. 5 in England¹s Testhistory by some distance and his average there is much higher thananywhere else. Perhaps he should not be moved up the order to accommodateKevin Pietersen after all.

Dashing debutant
At the end of the 20th century English batsmen took to Test cricket likeSuperman to Kryptonite with one exception. Whereas no other specialistbatsman scored more than 33 on debut during the 1990s, Thorpe bashed thatfabulous century against the Aussies at Trent Bridge. Sometimes it is safeto judge a book by its cover.

(Averages cover both the first and second innings of a player’s debut Test.They refer only to batsmen from Nos. 1-7.)Spin master
Thorpe is pretty adept against fast bowling, but his stats against spin are quite awesome. And he’s done well in the subcontinent against the slow bowlers as well – the only bowler who has clearly got the better of him is Muttiah Muralitharan.

John Buchanan believes his Ashes opponents have improved as a team unit since Andrew Flintoff’s injury-enforced absence. Buchanan has been impressed with the way England’s players have not sat back and looked to their stars to perform in consecutive Test wins over Pakistan.”I think what we have seen from them is a gradual build-up in terms of the way they’re playing, their teamwork, and responsibility being shared around the team, which I think has been a real plus for them,” Buchanan said in The Age. “It hasn’t been a case of turning to Freddie Flintoff all the time to take a wicket or turning to [Steve] Harmison or [Kevin] Pietersen to deliver something. They’ve actually had the ability to share it around … the likes of Cook, Bell, Panesar and now [Chris] Read’s come in.”Buchanan said England would be “very pleased” with their progress, especially with players such as Flintoff due to return before the Ashes in November. “I think we understand the English game and how they want to play it, and they ours,” he said. “It really will be a case of keeping your own mind, thoughts and plans clear so that you can actually deliver your skill. That’s hopefully one of the things we will gain from our time at the camp.”Buchanan has devised a bush training exercise in Queensland for the team later this month, which will be attended by the entire 25-man contracted squad. “The underlying philosophy is about taking all of us outside our comfort zone and then seeing how we respond to that, individually and collectively,” he said. “The means to get there is secretive and that’s where it remains.” After the camp the players will spend a couple of days at a luxury Sunshine Coast resort as they plan for the Champions Trophy, The Ashes and the World Cup.

Scorecard

Darren Lehmann moved to equal fifth on Australia’s list of first-class century-makers but South Australia were in desperate trouble after losing three late wickets. Set 360 for victory after New South Wales closed their second innings at 2 for 187, South Australia showed the same signs that ruined their batting last season when they were reduced to 3 for 14 in eight overs from three Test bowlers.Brett Lee struck first when he trapped Matthew Elliott with his fifth ball and Glenn McGrath claimed Shane Deitz before Stuart MacGill bowled the nightwatchman Cullen Bailey in the last over of the third day. Callum Ferguson was sent in ahead of Lehmann and survived his only delivery.Lehmann towered over the Blues in the first-innings as he reached his 71st first-class century, putting him on the same line as Justin Langer and Stuart Law, and scored almost half his side’s runs before he was last man out. Greg Chappell (74), Steve Waugh (79), Mark Waugh (81) and Don Bradman (117) are the only Australian players more prolific than Lehmann, who hit 23 fours and stayed for 203 deliveries before being caught at third-man by Lee off McGrath.South Australia began the third day at 5 for 190 and gave up a 172-run first-innings lead following a 91-run partnership between Lehmann and Mark Cleary. Simon Katich, the New South Wales captain, did not enforce the follow on and then shared a 139-run stand with Phil Jaques before declaring for the second time in the match.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Kevin Pietersen marshalled Quetta Gladiators’ chase of 136•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

In the second thriller of the day, Quetta Gladiators knocked off seven runs off the last over with a ball to spare to establish themselves as the early pace setters in the Pakistan Super League. Quetta top the table with three wins in three matches.Elton Chigumbura thumped a four after two short balls, the second of which was deemed a wide, from the last over bowled by Wahab Riaz. The penultimate ball was deflected for four between slip and keeper, off Anwar Ali’s pad, as Quetta broke into big celebrations, mentor Viv Richards even getting off his seat and having his hands aloft.The victory was set up by 21-year old Mohammad Nawaz, who picked up his second Man-of-the-Match award in three matches. Bowling with a newish ball, Nawaz impressed with his skiddy darts and clever arm balls. He ended a promising opening partnership when he dismissed Tamim Iqbal for 14. Two balls later, Mohammad Hafeez swept the spinner straight to Chigumbura at square leg. Nawaz would also account for Shahid Yousuf to finish with figures of 3 for 29.Umar Gul rattled Peshwar Zalmi further with a double-strike in the 12th over, removing Dawid Malan and Shahid Afridi. By then, Peshwar had slumped to 59 for 5 in 12 overs. Darren Sammy, however, clubbed four sixes and one four during his 31-ball 48 to lift his side to 135.Quetta then lost their openers Luke Wright and Ahmed Shehzad within five overs of the chase. Kevin Pietersen dropped anchor and marshalled the youngsters even as Sarfraz Ahmed threatened to run himself and Pietersen out. Pietersen’s wicket tightened the chase, but Chigumbura and Anwar Ali showed good composure to steer Quetta home in a tense finish. For Peshwar, Afridi and Wahab took two wickets each.

Aaron Redmond, the latest player to earn a call-up into New Zealand’s ever-changing top order, is hoping to make his tour of England more successful than his father did 35 years ago. Redmond was named in the 16-man Test squad and could become the eighth person to follow his father into New Zealand Test cricket if he makes his debut in the three-game series.Rodney Redmond played one Test and was highly successful, scoring 107 and 56 against Pakistan in Auckland in 1972-73. However, he then struggled to adjust to new contact lenses on the visit to England later that year and managed only 483 runs at 28.41 and had to settle for being remembered as a one-Test wonder.The younger Redmond learnt of his call-up at his father’s house in Perth and he said it was a special moment for the family. “A big smile came over his face and he chucked out his hand to congratulate me and opened up a bottle of red wine to celebrate,” Redmond told the Otago Daily Times.Redmond was en-route from New Zealand to England, where he was planning to play league cricket for Wigan, when the phone-call came from the chairman of selectors Richard Hadlee. “It is something you always dream about, but it has definitely come as a surprise,” Redmond said. “My initial goals were hopefully to get the opportunity later down the track.”But to get the call [on Saturday] and be told it has come a little bit earlier, it just wasn’t in my wildest dreams. It’s one thing getting the chance – now I’ve got to make the most of the opportunity.”Redmond’s elevation came after a solid State Championship season during which he made 447 runs at 40.63 for Otago. However, he said it was “bitter-sweet” that his promotion came at the expense of his domestic team-mate Craig Cumming, who was left out of the squad after being one of four openers used by New Zealand in the past six months.”I’m great friends with Craig and he has played some awesome cricket this year and is a great player,” Redmond said. “I’m sure it won’t stop him. You have your good and bad times in cricket and I know he’ll bounce back.”