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The Bihar-Orissa under 14 match played at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpursaw Bihar win the toss and lose first day honours. After electing to batfirst, Bihar skipper Rajdeep Roy saw things go badly wrong for his side asthey were skittled out for a mere 145.After starting poorly, when Bihar lost their first three wickets with justnineteen runs on the board, they were furthered hampered by the loss ofwickets at regular intervals. Th wickets were shared all around with SumitSagar Hembram, Amitav Naik, Tukuna Sahu and Dhiraj Singh scalping twowickets apiece. At the end of 35 overs Bihar were staring down the barrelat 69/7. However, a gritty innings of 38 from number eight batsman S Nadeemsaved Bihar the blushes. Santosh Kumar and Madan Kumar, who followed Nadeemmade 18 each and Bihar managed to scrape through to 145 all out.In response, the Orissa side fared much better than its counterparts.Despite losing a couple of wickets, Orissa put 55 runs on the board whenstumps was called. With eight wickets in hand, Orissa have a good chance ofoverhauling Bihar’s first innings total.

Danny Law’s maiden Championship century dragged Durham out of the mire against Hampshire at Chester-le-Street today.James Brinkley and Graeme Bridge also revealed hidden talents as Durham recovered from 92 for five, with Nicky Peng retired hurt, to reach 323 before Law was ninth out two balls after reaching his 168-ball hundred with his 13th four.Peng was unable to resume because of mild concussion after being struck just below the back of the helmet by a ball from Neil Johnson.Law shared a record seventh-wicket stand for Durham of 127 with last winter’s other signing, Brinkley, who smashed two sixes off Shaul Udal in reaching 65 after previously totalling 38 runs in nine innings.Left-arm spinner Bridge, who had totalled 12 in seven innings, made 31 after surviving a hat-trick ball in the first over after lunch as triallist seamer James Schofield, making his Championship debut, removed Martin Love and Andrew Pratt.Love was one short of his 12th Championship half-century of the season when he shaped to pull a ball which kept low and got a bottom edge into his middle stump.He had partially repaired the early damage inflicted in an excellent spell of two for 12 in eight overs by Dimitri Mascarenhas after Durham chose to bat.Law went in when Peng retired hurt just before lunch and batted very responsibly until he became Morris’s fourth victim, bowled for 103 going for a big drive.In six overs’ batting, Jason Laney and Giles White took Hampshire to 15 without loss.

ScorecardFile photo: Arun Karthik is at the crease for Assam, with the side 95 runs away from a third win in six games•PTI

Assam drew with defending champions Karnataka, beat former back-to-back winners Rajasthan by an innings, toppled Haryana at home in Lahli and are now on the cusp of beating Delhi. Ninety-five runs separate the newly-promoted team from registering their third win in six matches and consolidate their place at the top half of the Ranji Trophy points table in Group B. They still have seven wickets in hand, with opener Rahul Hazarika and KB Arun Karthik are at the crease in the final innings in Guwahati.Much of their position has been down to the bowlers who dismissed Delhi for totals under 200 both times. Spinners Amit Verma and J Syed Mohammad took six wickets between them. Unmukt Chand made 44 yesterday and that remained the top-score of the innings. Pulkit Narang tried to delay the inevitable with 26 off 133 balls and remained not out even as Delhi were all out for 172.
ScorecardHaryana crumpled to 216 all out in their first innings, which well short of Odisha’s 529 for 6 declared and were made to follow-on in Lahli. Seamers Basant Mohanty and Suryakant Pradhan picked up three wickets each whilst the only substantial resistance came from opener Nitin Saini and his 51 off 146 balls.Haryana, resuming on 38 for 0, were bundled out soon after tea. Although there wasn’t a startling collapse, none of the batsmen could put up a substantial score. Besides Saini, Jayant Yadav made 46 but the remaining eight batsmen could not push past 30. A definite problem when there is a batsman among the opposition who made 255. Natraj Behera, the Odisha captain, appears all but certain to have helped his team to their second win of the season.
ScorecardAditya Sarwate struck a combative fifty from No. 8 and then nipped out four wickets to keep Vidarbha’s hopes of an outright win. The match had been petering towards a draw with Rajasthan on 150 for 2 when he, Akshay Wakhare and Ravi Jangid orchestrated a collapse. Seven wickets fell for 69 runs and Rajasthan ended the day on 226 for 9, leading by 195 with one day left to play in Nagpur.Ashok Menaria and Vineet Saxena had picked up a half-century each during a 110-run partnership for the third wicket, but as soon as it was broken, Rajasthan’s stability was lost. Jangid provided those vital wickets, having both men caught by Wasim Jaffer for 76 and 54 runs respectively. That opening was enough for Sarwate who got rid of Rajat Bhatia for 3 and then ran through the tail to finish the day on 4 for 58.
ScorecardMaharashtra made a solid reply to Bengal, who had declared overnight at 528 for 8, with Rahul Tripathi’s third first-class century. He was unbeaten on 116 at stumps in Pune with Ankit Bawne on 59 not out keeping him good company. The hosts had put on 296 runs on the board, but were still 232 runs behind.An early wicket is not what teams going in to bat after conceding 500 runs want, but Maharashtra had to contend with opener Harshad Khadiwale falling for only 5. But his partner Swapnil Gugale made 35 off 68 balls after which Sangram Atitkar breezed to 69 off 118 balls as Maharashtra recovered nicely and gave themselves an outside chance of taking a first-innings lead.

Rajasthan Royals legspinner Pravin Tambe, who has also played for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, has participated in a private T20 tournament in the USA alongside Mohammad Ashraful, who is currently serving a five-year ban imposed on him by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for his role in fixing during the 2013 Bangladesh Premier League.The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), the governing body for cricket for Tambe’s state team in India, said the player had not sought permission to participate in the tournament and it was unaware of his involvement. When contacted for a response, Tambe said he had been unaware that it was an official tournament and that he did not know of Ashraful’s involvement in it until he took the field for a game.Apart from Tambe, Bangladesh internationals Elias Sunny and Nadif Chowdhury, who are contracted first-class cricketers with the BCB, and other Bangladeshi players also played with Ashraful in a T20 tournament in the USA. The BCB, also unaware of their participation, said no permission had been requested and that it would conduct an inquiry into the matter.An ICC spokesperson said he would revert once he had more information, when asked whether the players had violated any code of conduct by playing alongside or against a banned player. Officials from the BCB and MCA also responded in a similar manner.The website of Laurel Hill Cricket, a T20 tournament in New Jersey, mentions Tambe and Royal Challengers Bangalore bowler Harshal Patel as attractions in the competition, though Patel has not participated in any of the games and has actually been playing a tournament in India during this time.Tambe, however, played with Ashraful for South Gujarat CC Jrs against Bulls on July 27. As Tambe does not have a BCCI contract, he had to obtain clearances from the MCA, but the association’s joint-secretary Dr PV Shetty confirmed Tambe had not sought a no-objection certificate. The BCCI did not reply to an email asking for a comment.Tambe told ESPNcricinfo that he had been in New York between July 23 and 31 to visit friends but had no idea that the cricket he was playing was a competitive tournament or that his name had featured on Laurel Hill Cricket website.”I had no idea it was an official tournament,” he said. “I had just gone there to visit my friends in the US for a week of holidays and I was enjoying. I did not even have a kit with me.”Tambe said he played a match for Holmdel CC on July 26 and his friends on the team said they were going to play a practice game the next day. He went along to play on July 27 and said that only when entering the field did he take notice of Ashraful’s presence.”I was told it was a practice match. When I went to the ground I realised it was Twenty20 match,” Tambe said. “Till I went into the ground and stood at my fielding position I had no clue that he [Ashraful] was also playing. Even my friends did not know. They were told that some other friend had got him.”When asked why he did not pull out from the match as soon as he spotted Ashraful, Tambe said he found himself in a helpless position. “I did not know he was also playing. And I just went there to play a simple game of cricket with my close friends. I told my friends and the organisers I would not like to play in any other game after the incident.”Tambe said that because he was not aware of it being an official tournament he did not ask the MCA for permission. He also said he had not been paid for his participation in the Laurel Hill Cricket tournament. At present, Tambe is in the UK playing for Rainford Cricket Club in the first division of the Liverpool District Cricket competition. He said he had been playing for Rainford for more than a decade and has the necessary clearances from the MCA to do so.While Tambe teaming up with Ashraful appears limited to one T20 match, Bangladesh cricketers Sunny, Chowdhury and Shaker Ahmed played several games with the banned cricketer, in tournaments in New Jersey and Michigan. Former Bangladesh international Tapash Baisya also played with Ashraful for a team called Bangladesh Tigers XI in a tournament that ended on August 2.In July, nine current and former Bangladesh cricketers took part in an unofficial indoor tournament in which Ashraful also played. The BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said the board would look into the matter because of the frequency of such events. “We have to look into the board’s guidelines exactly and then comment on it,” Chowdhury said. “Since it is happening frequently, we will look closely… We have to see the board’s anti-corruption rules and procedures before we can say anything about it.”When Ashraful was originally banned for eight years – it was later reduced to five with two years suspended – in June 2014, Justice Khademul Islam, the convener of the probe committee, had said: “He will not be able to take part in any authorised cricketing activities anywhere in the world.”Chowdhury said the ban on Ashraful was in tournaments under the jurisdiction of recognised cricket bodies. “The tournament or match you are referring is outside our jurisdiction,” he said. “Number two, the players within our first-class contract who have participated in an unauthorised cricket event without board’s permission, or without NOC, will be addressed in accordance with the board’s policy.”It won’t be right to comment whether it is disapproved cricket or not. What we understand is that this is not official cricket. Whether this is a neighborhood tournament, we have to find out.”Some of the other players who participated in the Michigan and Laurel Hill Cricket tournaments were Farveez Maharoof (Sri Lanka), Xavier Marshall (West Indies) and John Campbell (Jamaica); Fahad Babar, Akeem Dodson, Jasdeep Singh, Durale Forrest, George Adams and Muhammad Ghous (USA), Rizwan Cheema, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Navneet Dhaliwal, Satsimranjit Singh Dhindsa and Saad Bin Zafar (Canada).

An unbeaten century from Tariq-ur-Rehman spurred Bihar to a fivewicket win over Assam in their Ranji one-day match at Cuttack onThursday.Assam, winning the toss, scored a decent 255 in their innings. A 95from an in-form Syed Zuffri was the spine of an innings that saw a lotof substantial contributions from many batsmen. Zuffri was ablysupported by Rajkumar Gohain (46); for Bihar, Mihir Diwakar took 4-46.Chasing 256, Bihar never looked in trouble. After 21 apiece from theopeners, it was Rehman all the way. Batting primarily with skipperRajiv Kumar (52 off 55), Rehman made 101 off 137 balls with six foursand a six. He took Bihar to victory in just 47.1 overs, a goodachievement.

Jason Holder has replaced Denesh Ramdin as captain of West Indies for the upcoming two-Test series against Sri Lanka, which starts on October 14. A WICB media release stated that Holder’s appointment “was recommended by the selection panel and endorsed unanimously by the directors during a teleconference meeting on Wednesday.”

West Indies squad

IN
Jomel Warrican, Carlos Brathwaite
OUT
Veerasamy Permaul

Clive Lloyd, the head of the the selection committee, believed it was “the right time for a change”, and backed the 23-year-old Holder to guide a young West Indies team forward. Holder had also been appointed ODI captain last December, but Lloyd said the selectors didn’t want to burden Holder further by giving him the reins even in T20s.”We expect to get new thinking and new dynamism from him,” Lloyd said. “Jason commands respect. He is a fine young man, very intelligent and he seems to get the best from the players because he is a straightforward guy. I think the players will warm to him. He has a young bunch of players and we feel he can guide them in the manner that is required for internationals.”We do not want to any captain to lead in all three formats just now. It would be quite burdensome on anyone. We think we can have a separate Twenty20 captain.”Opening batsman Kraigg Brathwaite will be Holder’s deputy in Sri Lanka. The squad contains two uncapped players in fast bowler Carlos Brathwaite and left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican, both of whom play for Barbados. In a like-for-like selection, Warrican replaces Veerasammy Permaul, who was part of West Indies’ squad during their home series against Australia. Ramdin retains his place as wicketkeeper.Lloyd thanked Ramdin for his contributions as Test captain. Ramdin led West Indies in 13 Tests, of which they won four, drew two and lost seven.”I have spoken to Denesh and he understood the situation and there was no animosity,” Lloyd said. “We just want him to perform a little bit better right now, particularly with the bat, and give of his best and support the new captain.”Holder has only played eight Tests so far. He has made 380 runs, with a century and two fifties, at 34.54, and taken 16 wickets at 35.37 with his medium-pace. He took over the ODI captaincy at a similarly inexperienced stage in his 50-over career, with only 21 matches behind him.West Indies endured a difficult World Cup, which they exited at the quarter-final stage, but Holder showed evidence of his leadership skills during the tournament, shouldering the responsibility of bowling in difficult situations – such as the final over against a rampaging AB de Villiers – and batting with maturity.In the home Tests that followed, the same qualities came to the fore, particularly with the bat, as shown by a match-saving century against England in Antigua, and an unbeaten 82 against Australia in Jamaica.West Indies will undergo an eight-day preparatory camp in Barbados from September 20. They are scheduled to land in Sri Lanka on October 1.West Indies squad: Jason Holder(captain), Kraigg Brathwaite (vice-captain), Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Rajindra Chandrika, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Denesh Ramdin , Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Jomel Warrican

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

When South Africa were asked to chase in the big knockout, the mind obviously went to the stats: only one successful chase of 270 or more out of nine in the last four years, and four out of 14 chases of 240 or more. The other side of the statistic was that their bowlers had allowed those scores – hardly big by current standards – extremely rarely. If they were to win for the first time in a World Cup knockout match, their batsmen would have to do it the difficult way or their bowlers would have to do it. The bowlers did it, and how: in the shortest World Cup knockout match of all they bowled Sri Lanka – who once again made questionable moves – out for 133 in a show of pumped-up skill, hostility and aggression.Kyle Abbott, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel set it up with probing spells at the top, leaving Sri Lanka at 47 for 2 by the time spin was introduced in the 15th over. Imran Tahir and JP Duminy made sure the pressure wasn’t released, and were there to accept the wickets when the pressure became too much. Duminy became the first South African to take a hat-trick at the World Cup.Playing what turned out to be his last ODI innings, Kumar Sangakkara – who had scored four centuries in his last four innings – was neutralised through excellent bowling and the failure of the rest. His score at various points of the innings read 0 off 15, 2 off 27, 6 off 42, 34 off 90 and out for 45 off 96. He was the ninth man out with the score at 127, only just past the lowest score in a World Cup quarter-final: West Indies’ 112 against Pakistan in 2011.On big days, you are looking for early signs that everything is going to be all right. Sri Lanka tried all sorts of verbal gamesmanship. When they won the toss, Angelo Mathews said, “Obviously the pressure will take it to them.” He introduced debutant offpsinner Tharindu Kaushal as a “duplicate Murali” and “mystery spinner”. They made mystery moves, too. Kusal Perera was asked to open although Lahiru Thirimanne had scored 261 runs at the top of the order this World Cup.Perera kept slashing at everything outside off until Abbott bowled a perfect seaming delivery, which looked like it would swing in when in air, but left him a touch upon pitching. The edge was taken, and would have died well short of first slip. There are quite a few specialist wicketkeepers going around today who wouldn’t even have attempted it. Quinton de Kock, who is under pressure for having scored just 53 runs this World Cup, not only went for it, not only got his left hand to it, but also took the rebound even as he dived. South Africa’s weakest link had come good. This was possibly the sign they were looking for. De Kock would go on to double his tournament aggregate in ensuring there were no hiccups in the chase.Now South Africa were all over Sri Lanka. Another lovely low catch by Faf du Plessis at second slip, and Tillakaratne Dilshan was walking back. Steyn nearly popped a vein while celebrating. South Africa were on for this. The first 13 overs of the match contained everything: two great catches, lovely outswing, some seam, four maidens, Sangakkara’s 5 off 34, Thirimanne’s 29 off 28.South Africa bowled superbly at Sangakkara. There was no room given, there was some movement around, at the times he managed a cover drive he would find the wide mid-off or extra cover, and looking at the team situation, he was in no position to take a risk. The man so famous for getting under the South Africa captain’s skin reminding him of the expectations in 2003 was now getting bogged down by the expectations that come with being, clearly, the best batsman in the side.Thirimanne at the other end was rubbing it in for Sri Lanka, who have often been guilty of getting too funky on the big day. The last time Sri Lanka lost a World Cup knockout, in the 2011 final, they made wholesale changes to a successful side. Questions will be asked of this combination too. Batting at No. 4, Thirimanne was not quite the Aravinda de Silva at 1 for 2 in the 1996 World Cup semi-final, but he was connecting everything.South Africa finally had the luxury of introducing their spinners with the pressure on the opposition, and it showed. Duminy cramped the left-hand batsmen for room, while Tahir attacked a little more. Soon, a legbreak stopped at Thirimanne, and the floodgates opened for good. Mahela Jayawardene’s last innings ended to a familiar nemesis soon after he was almost lbw to a Tahir wrong’un. Jaywardene has often struggled to read Tahir, and pulled a quicker one straight to short midwicket to fall to the legspinner for the fourth time in four ODIs.Coming in at 81 for 4, Mathews had a big job to do. He added 33 with Sangakkara, saw off the middle burst by the quicks, but whipped an innocuous Duminy delivery straight to short midwicket. That was the last ball of the 33rd over. In the 34th, Tahir got Thisara Perera with a legbreak that didn’t turn. The next ball, the first of the 35th, was a mirror image: a Duminy offbreak to the right-handed Nuwan Kulasekara that didn’t turn enough and took the outside edge. Only Duminy and AB de Villiers knew at the moment that when he trapped Kaushal lbw next ball, he had taken a hat-trick. Sangakkara now tried to throw caution to the wind, but gave Morkel, who had bowled just as well as everybody else, his first wicket with a ramp to third man. Tahir came back to finish the innings.There was one final twist remaining, though. A freakish rain break that delayed de Kock’s response to the measly target. Unlike 23 years ago in an SCG knockout, South Africa could look at the rain fall in a relaxed manner. De Kock came back out after the break to score 78 off 57 either side of the supper break and end the game with 32 overs to spare.

ScorecardFlashback to Wellington as Guptill became the centre of attention•ICC

Martin Guptill blasted a sensational maiden first-class double century to bring back memories of his World Cup quarter-final spectacular and guide Derbyshire into a winning position on the second day of the LV=County Championship match with Gloucestershire at Bristol.The 28-year-old New Zealander hit 227, off just 176 balls, with 29 fours and 11 sixes, reaching his double hundred with three successive maximums off Liam Norwell, as his side ran up 511 for 8 in reply to the home side’s 275. Matt Taylor claimed five for 89.An increasingly grouchy day in Bristol, before a modest crowd, might not have had much in common with his memorable intervention in the World Cup last eight against West Indies in Wellington, when his double hundred came up in 152 balls, but there was a reminder in his bruising strokeplay.On a day when Gloucestershire spilled six catches, Guptill received good support from Ben Slater (56), Billy Godleman (44) and Shiv Thakor, who contributed a sparkling 83 off 109 balls, with 13 fours and a six.The tone of the day was set with the first ball as Derbyshire resumed on 24 without loss. Slater drove at a wide one from James Fuller and saw a straightforward chance spilled by Geraint Jones at first slip.It was a day to forget for the Gloucestershire skipper, who later gave Guptill a life on 57 from another routine slip chance off Liam Norwell.Godleman was also dropped before falling with the score on 88 in the 27th over, adjudged caught behind off Norwell.It was 118 for one at lunch, Slater having reached his half-century off 114 balls, with 8 fours, and Guptill on 17. They took the total to 162 before Slater, given another life on 55, was held by Chris Dent in the slips off Norwell.Guptill pulled Norwell for six and after his reprieve set about the Gloucestershire attack with some savagely-struck boundaries. He lost two more partners as Wayne Madsen played on to Taylor and Wes Durston was caught by Jones, also off the young left-arm seamer.Guptill three figures off 101 balls with a glorious straight drive for four off Craig Miles On 101 he was dropped again by Will Tavare at point before tea was taken at 270 for 4.Thakor was on 22 and in the final session he began to match Guptill’s strokeplay, despite overcast conditions. The former Leicestershire player moved to 50 off 89 deliveries, with 6 fours and a six, just after Guptill had launched Kieran Noema-Barnett for a huge six over long-on.By the time the second new ball was taken at 360 for four, Guptill had reached 150 off 147 balls, with 23 fours and 4 sixes, and together with Thakor had added 90 in the previous ten overs.The carnage continued until Thakor got a thin edge to Taylor and was caught behind. The next ball was an inswinger that pinned Alex Hughes lbw and the one after that beat the outside edge of Harvey Hosein’s bat.It was belated reward for Taylor, who had bowled without much luck. But even he came in for punishment as the irrepressible Guptill starting lofting the ball over the ropes at will to reach 200 off 165 balls.An unforgettable exhibition came to an end when he miscued a Taylor full toss to extra cover, giving the bowler his fifth wicket.By the close Derbyshire led by 236, having scored 487 runs in the day, 241 of them in the final session.

The manner in which England sealed their second successive seriesvictory over New Zealand at Trent Bridge was nothing less thanemphatic. Sixty-three minutes of clinical cricket condemned their opponents toan innings-and-nine-run loss, removing their last five wickets for 35runs in 40 balls. All is not quite as rosy in England’s garden as thescoreline might suggest, however, and Michael Vaughan sounded a noteof hesitation when looking ahead to the South Africa series nextmonth.”I think the result suggests we still had to get out of a trickyposition at 86 for 5. It was a position we would not like to have beenin, but the partnership between Kevin Pietersen and Tim Ambrose set usup for a good score,” he said. “And of course the partnership betweenStuart Broad and James Anderson on the second morning seemed to knockthe stuffing out of New Zealand, because we always knew that the ballwas going to swing around and our bowlers would’ve been suited.”We’ve won four out of five Tests now and I think in every one ofthose wins, we’ve got better and better in each game. And you do startto get better the more you play together. I think what pleases me mostis it’s not been the same people. Every bowler has stuck his hand upat certain times and every batsman has got us through some trickypositions, whether it was in New Zealand or over here.”Every batsman? Well, not quite. Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood may have played their parts in New Zealand, but they havebeen the pair most in the firing line and the least profitable ofEngland’s top six. Bell scratched 45 runs in four innings in this series; Collingwood31. As a point of comparison, Ryan Sidebottom reached the loftyheights of 27 while James Anderson swished 31, although 28 of thosecame in one innings. And yet. Peter Moores, the England coach,together with an assortment of team-mates, continue to believe thepair have a big innings just around the corner.”They’re working as hard as they always do,” Vaughan said. “I knowit’s a saying, but they’re hitting it very well in practice. It’svery much an individual thing, batting, and each of those guys willknow exactly what to do to go out and get that trot. The one-dayseries which starts later on in the week…sometimes that’s a good thingto just get into another form of the game. One quick 50 or 60 couldget themselves back into form.”The word hung echoingly. Form – that elusive intangible – has utterlyevaded the pair. And, yes, the one-day series – beginning with aTwenty20 against New Zealand on Friday – does indeed offer them achance to regain confidence. However, the ODIs will also represent agolden opportunity for some of England’s younger bucks to stand talland prove their worth, not least Ravi Bopara, the Essex allrounder inscintillating form for his county this season. It is also expectedthat Luke Wright, Sussex’s bullish batsman, will get a chance in theone-dayers. Bell and Collingwood beware: for all Moores’ loyalty,England cannot carry passengers if they are to beat a confident SouthAfrica side with arguably the best fast bowling attack in the world.This was a series in which England twice collapsed, recovered anddominated. At Old Trafford, Daniel Vettori’s five wickets rolled themfor a poor 202 to concede a first-innings deficit of 179. Then, NewZealand’s confidence got the better of them to allow England back intothe game. Likewise here at Trent Bridge, England’s middle-order lackedsubstance to leave them critically exposed at 86 for 5. Only amasterful 115 from Pietersen and gutsy 60s from Ambrose and Broadbailed them out, generously assisted by New Zealand’s own lack ofself-belief. South Africa will not be so easily overturned.

“I’d like to not get in those positions,” Vaughan said, “and you knowa sign of a good team is getting out of them. But a sign of a reallygood team is not getting into them in the first place. That’s where wecan improve. We’re a pretty young side, developing. The likes of Broadhaven’t played many games and he’s showing a lot of maturity – I lovethe way he bats at No. 8: he actually has the mentality of a batsman. Andagain they’re good signs for the team in the future.”I guess the win here suggests we’ve got better as the series has gonealong. There are ways to improve and the South Africa series will bethe ultimate test to see where we’re at as a Test team.”If he’s honest, Vaughan will admit that the South Africans have beenlooming in his mind for quite some time. New Zealand were but astepping-stone for England, albeit a slippery one which needed carefulfooting, before they take on the more cumbersome boulder of SouthAfrica in July. Metaphors aside, Vaughan singled out James Anderson ashis key bowler in the hunt for his 10th series win as England captain.”He’s very exciting, Jimmy. He’s great to have in the team becauseeven when he’s inconsistent he gets wickets, and as a captain youalways want guys who can take wickets. He seems to have that knack ofgetting wickets out of nothing. Last night, Brendon McCullum andDaniel Flynn were batting very well and, out of nowhere, he getsMcCullum out. He’s got this record which suggests he’s inconsistentbut when he’s swinging it, there’s not many better around than him.”It is all too easy for laurels to be rested, particular after aseries win, and yet the manner in which Vaughan spoke at Trent Bridgeimplied his eyes have been firmly fixated on the South Africa seriesfor some time. England’s summer begins now.

MELBOURNE, Nov 22 AAP – Paceman Mick Lewis became the silent assassin today as he took a career-best 6-64 to give Victoria the upper hand over South Australia on day one of the crucial Pura Cup cricket clash at the MCG.Lewis ripped through the Redbacks’ top order to help the Bushrangers dismiss South Australia for 202 and also notched his first five-wicket haul since the 2000-01 final against Queensland.In reply, Victoria was 1-75 at stumps with Matthew Elliott (38 not out) and Graeme Rummans (12 not out) steadying after the loss of Jason Arnberger, caught behind off Ryan Harris for 25.Lewis’ pace wrecked South Australia’s batting after Shane Harwood (1-34) gave Victoria a dream start.Harwood had Ben Johnson caught in slips with the score on three after Redbacks captain Greg Blewett won the toss.Lewis then took the next five wickets in bursts to blunt any chance of a decent Redback recovery.The Victorian hardman credited his figures to curbing his sometimes fiery on-field manner although he was tempted to give former teammates John Davison and Damien Fleming a spray when they batted today.”I’ve tried not to say much this year,” Lewis said.”I’ve just tried a different approach, I found last year I used to get aggro and direct my anger at the batsman verbally and I’d just get more frustrated then.”So now I’ve just sort of gone away from that – still be physical at them and get in their face, but try not to mouth off as much.”Lewis said he had bowled well without reward this season and felt today’s haul was a fair reward since “busting to get a five-for”.”I used to get really uptight and try really hard and now if I just relax it’ll all just come along,” he said.Lewis showed good pace to dismiss Blewett (11) with a ball that quickened on him as he tried to pull and next over yorked Chris Davies for a duck.After lunch, Lewis knocked over David Fitzgerald (31) and Shane Deitz (2) in successive overs to have the Redbacks reeling at 5-68 before allrounder Mick Miller steadied the innings with a gritty 63, his maiden first-class half century.Victoria and South Australia are locked on 14 points atop the Pura Cup table