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Taufeeq Umar, the left-hand opening batsmen, has made a comeback to the Pakistan Test squad, for the two-match series against Australia in the UAE. Taufeeq played the last of his 43 Tests in July 2012

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2014Pakistan squad for Australia Tests

Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Ehsan Adil, Haris Sohail, Imran Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Talha, Rahat Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Shan Masood, Taufeeq Umar, Yasir Shah, Younis Khan, Zulfiqar Babar
In: Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Zulfiqar Babar, Haris Sohail, Yasir Shah, Imran Khan, Ehsan Adil
Out:Saeed Ajmal, Umar Akmal, Abdur Rehman, Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Khurram Manzoor

Taufeeq Umar, the left-hand opening batsmen, has made a comeback to the Pakistan Test squad for the two-match series against Australia in the UAE. Taufeeq played the last of his 43 Tests in July 2012.Legspinner Yasir Shah, 28, and seamer Imran Khan, 27, get maiden call-ups to the Test squad. Mohammad Hafeez has recovered from a hand injury and gets a recall after being dropped for the away Tests against Sri Lanka in August – he had had a poor 2013 in Tests, averaging 17.54, and scored 21 and 1 in the only Test he played this year. He had missed the preceding ODI series against Australia with a split webbing on his left hand.Left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar, who had played those one-dayers, stays on – he last played a Test a year ago. Batsman Haris Sohail, who had been called up for the away Tests against South Africa in early 2013 but had to leave the tour without debuting due to an ankle injury, also makes the 16.Batsman Umar Akmal and left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman, whose fitness levels were found to be wanting by the PCB in September, were left out – both had played in Pakistan’s previous Test assignment, the two Tests against Sri Lanka in August. Opener Khurram Manzoor also misses out from that squad, as do the injured Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz, and the suspended Saeed Ajmal.Pakistan play two Tests against Australia between October 22 and November 3, in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Preview of the first Test between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in Harare

The Preview by Mohammad Isam16-Apr-2013Big PictureApril 17-21, Harare
Start time 1000 (0800 GMT)Mushfiqur Rahim goes to Zimbabwe knowing it has always been a tough place to tour for Bangladesh captains•AFPBig PictureIf these two teams were geographically closer, their running battles over the years would have gathered more edge and may have prompted a nickname for their matches. As nations, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are only tied together by their placing in international cricket, right down at the bottom of the Test-playing countries pile.In this year’s battle of prestige, the visitors have their noses ahead after an impressive last 18 months. Bangladesh have learned the harsh lessons in their last tour to Zimbabwe where they lost the one-off Test and also went down in the ODI series. It brought about major changes in the side, the biggest of them being the sacking of Shakib Al Hasan as captain and the subsequent appointment of Mushfiqur Rahim. The change at the top has made Bangladesh a more stable line-up, reflecting in their results.After completing their most successful tour of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh should be mentally a stronger side. They have a few more confident batsmen, which ensures a middle-order less prone to collapse. An offspinner has emerged while players with more experience have fought their way back into the team. The pace attack is worrisome, but the biggest hole in the team’s psyche remains their lack of knowledge of winning a Test match, the last of which came almost four years ago.Zimbabwe on the other hand had won that game against Bangladesh in 2011, a confidence-boosting victory as it was their first Test on return from self-imposed exile. But they have not enjoyed success since, and theirs is a side mired in disputes and injuries. They have managed to recover mostly unscathed from what looked like a dire situation surrounding player payment, Craig Ervine being the only player who didn’t sign the contract. But injuries have wrecked havoc: Christopher Mpofu (lower back), Tino Mawoyo (groin) and Regis Chakabva (finger) are out, leaving the team without one experienced seamer and two batsmen.The hosts have named a 21-member squad just in case, but their bigger worry is the quiet confidence of the opposition. An interesting contest is ahead, over the weekend, if Zimbabwe can take full advantage of home advantage, but Bangladesh’s previous experiences in this country have fitted them with pragmatism.Form guideBangladesh: LDLLL (most recent results first)
Zimbabwe: LLLLLPlayers to watchKyle Jarvis burst onto the scene in his debut Test two years ago against the same opponents. He would be expected to spearhead the attack this time, having gathered some experience during this period. Apart from a strong action, Jarvis can be expected to swing the ball in favourable conditions.Nasir Hossain’s first international foray came against Zimbabwe; he will have happy memories of scoring 63 on ODI debut there. His current form should help him continue his good work from the previous visit, as he remains an important batsman coming in at No. 7 for a team that is prone to a collapse.Team newsZimbabwe will have to make a number of changes, with Mpofu, Mawoyo and Ervine unavailable for their various reasons. To lengthen the batting line-up, captain Brendan Taylor could give the wicketkeeping gloves to Richmond Mutumbani. They are likely to continue with the spin duo of Graeme Cremer and Prosper Utseya, but the pace combination could see Bangladesh’s tormentor from the last tour, Brian Vitori, sit out.Zimbabwe (probable) 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Timycen Maruma, 3 Hamilton Masakadza, 4 Brendan Taylor (capt & wk), 5 Malcolm Waller/Sean Williams, 6 Richmond Mutumbami, 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Graeme Cremer, 9 Keegan Meth, 10 Kyle Jarvis, 11 Tendai ChataraBangladesh have a problem in balancing a line-up that could see Shakib Al Hasan in only a limited bowling role. After a shin problem, Shakib is working on a rehab programme. While he will definitely play as a batsman, it’s still 50-50 on whether he will bowl. Tamim Iqbal’s thumb injury hasn’t healed enough, while the form of Mahmudullah is another concern. Mominul Haque could make way for Shakib, while Enamul Haque jr could play alongside Sohag Gazi.Bangladesh (probable) 1 Jahurul Islam, 2 Shahriar Nafees, 3 Mohammad Ashraful, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), 6 Mahmudullah/Mominul Haque, 7 Nasir Hossain, 8 Sohag Gazi, 9 Enamul Haque jr, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Robiul Islam.Pitch and conditionsThe pitch is not considered to be too lively, because of the mild weather conditions during this time of the year. It has good, fairly consistent carry, and is likely to be flat.Stats and trivia This will be only the second Test at the Harare Sports Club in the month of April. The previous occasion was in 2001, also against Bangladesh Out of three Bangladesh captains to tour Zimbabwe, Naimur Rahman and Shakib Al Hasan lost their jobs after losing Test series thereQuotes”We have had hard moments but we still have our smiles and we still keep going. Life goes on. It’s just one little blip and we come back and we play cricket.”
“I have tried to find a way that works with the players and give them freedom. At the same time we want to have a disciplined environment, and we want to have fun. We just have a team focus and ensure that everyone steps up for the team.”

Northamptonshire captain Stephen Peters was ruled out for up to six weeks with a broken finger before their match against Leicestershire

15-May-2013
ScorecardStephen Peters faces a six-week absence after breaking a finger before play began•Getty ImagesNorthamptonshire, the second division leaders in the Championship, suffered a blow before their match against Leicestershire had begun when their captain Stephen Peters was ruled out for up to six weeks with a broken finger.Peters suffered the injury during a morning net session, meaning he was replaced in the side by 21-year-old Rob Keogh. Keogh had been due to appear for the second XI against Somerset in Taunton Vale before he was summoned back to Northampton for his second County Championship match.Struggling Leicestershire looked potential victims in Northants’ confident start to the season, but the leaders struggled with the bat, reaching 91 for 4 on a showery day restricted to 34 overs.Persistent drizzle meant there was no play before 2.30pm and then only 15 balls were possible before another downpour forced the players off.Leicestershire made a breakthrough soon after play resumed when James Middlebrook sliced Ollie Freckingham to Jigar Naik at gully after making just two. While Middlebrook was trudging back to the pavilion, the heavens opened yet again leaving the players with another sprint for shelter after another 22 deliveries had been bowled. Tea was taken with Northants on 6 for 1.Play got underway again at 4:45pm and Northants soon lost David Sales cheaply for 10 when he was taken by Naik at gully off the bowling of Alex Wyatt. Leicestershire brought on Robbie Williams in the 17th over and he claimed the wicket of Matthew Spriegel, who chipped him to Matthew Boyce at square leg to perish on 11.Stand-in captain Alex Wakely made 18 before he was next back in the pavilion when he dragged Freckingham on to his off stump.

Blessed with a God-given talent bequeathed to only the chosenfew, Brian Lara became the finest batsman of his time, and one ofthe finest of all time

Tony Cozier22-Feb-2013Blessed with a God-given talent bequeathed to only the chosenfew, Brian Lara became the finest batsman of his time, and one ofthe finest of all time.He created individual scores higher than anyone has ever reachedin either Test or first-class cricket and fashioned innings ofsuch dazzling brilliance they brought applause from even themost cynical of wizened old players.He earned fortune and fame, was accorded his nation’s highesthonour, and was elevated to the most exalted post available toany West Indian cricketer, the captaincy of the Test team.Such is the stuff of which the wildest dreams are made but, forLara, they were repeatedly transformed into the reality ofdreadful nightmares.Now 31, he should be at the height of the exceptional powers thatwere first manifested when he was a boy in short pants at FatimaCollege in Port-of-Spain, in his native Trinidad.Instead, he has been overpowered by the enormous pressures towhich every international celebrity is subjected. They havedrained him of the enthusiasm and the yearning without which noteven the greatest artists can perform. Now he cannot even bringhimself to hold the bat that he had wielded with such devastatingeffect.Lara had the world at his feet when, within six weeks of eachother in 1994, he set the new standards of 375 in a Test againstEngland in Antigua and 501 not out for English county,Warwickshire, against Durham. It was an incredible double andbrought gifts and adulation from his grateful countrymen and fatcontracts from eager sponsors.A friend warned him at the time that his headaches had justbegun. He soon came to realise what he meant. Within a year, ithad all become too much.On the West Indies tour of England in 1995, Lara complained tomanager Wes Hall that ‘cricket is ruining my life’, announced hisretirement and left the team. Only sympahetic persuasion fromthen president of the West Indies Board, Captain Peter Short,influenced him to return, but things would never be the same.Time and again, the mercurial temperament of a genius has beensince exposed with upsetting consequences.He withdrew from the tour of Australia in 1995-96 two days beforethe team was scheduled to leave. When he returned from thesubsequent World Cup in India and Pakistan, he was censured bythe board for his biting criticism of the team management thatwas picked up by the tape recorder of a snooping reporter and foran open spat with team trainer Dennis Waight. In the Caribbean,he was fined, not for the first time, for turning up a day lateprior to a Test against Sri Lanka.Not only did he seem to be self-destructing. He was also causingchaos within West Indies cricket itself.When the board overruled the selectors’ recommendation that theyreplace Courtney Walsh with him as captain for the 1997 tour ofPakistan, the Trinidad and Tobago Board charged there was ‘acalculated plot’ against ‘its captain, its national hero and itsworld-class performer’ and that it was ‘sowing the seeds ofdestruction’.Jamaicans, on the other hand, accused Lara of deliberatelyundermining Walsh as all three Tests were lost in Pakistan.For all his unpredictability, two things remained constant aboutLara. He was a very special player and he had an understanding ofthe game that made him the obvious, if not only, choice for thecaptaincy, a post for which he had been prepared since he led theWest Indies team to the first Youth World Cup in Australia.Inevitably, if belatedly, Lara was installed in his predetermined role as captain against England in 1998, replacing theadmirable Walsh, and proceeded to lead the West Indies to adouble triumph, 3-1 in the Tests and 4-1 in the One-DayInternationals.His boyhood dream, it appeared, had finally come true.In less than a year, it had again turned sour. On the way to atour of South Africa as eagerly anticipated as much for itssocial and political significance as for its cricket, the playerschose London’s Heathrow Airport as the venue for an unexpectedstrike to air their grievances against the board.Lara, and his vice-captain Carl Hooper, were immediatelydismissed, only to be reinstated after a settlement was reached.What followed was the shame of a 5-0 whitewash in the Tests and a6-1 thrashing in the One-Day Internationals.Lara returned home with his captaincy in jeopardy and his publicstatus as low as it had ever been. Had there been a clearalternative, there is little doubt he would have been sacked.As it was, he was retained, yet castigated, by the board for his’weakness in leadership’, told he had to make ‘significantimprovements in his leadership skills’ and placed on probation ascaptain for two Tests.What happened next beggared belief and revealed a strength ofcharacter in Lara not previously obvious.When the West Indies were bowled out for their all-time low 51 tolose the first Test to the dominant Australians by 314 runs,there was justifiable reason to fear the absolute worse. Instead,the crisis seemed to light a fire in Lara’s belly.He had not scored a hundred for 13 Tests. Now he successivelyreeled off three of his most magnificent. His 213 in Jamaica and153 not out in Barbados inspired remarkable victories.If his even 100 in Antigua could not prevent Australia fromlevelling the series and retaining the Frank Worrell Trophy, atleast he had almost single-handledly restored West Indian prideand self-esteem and his own reputation and credibility asleader.Once more, the euphoria was short-lived. Exit from the firstround of the World Cup followed immediately and a succession oflimp performances in later short-game tournaments in Toronto andSharjah presaged a new crisis in the life of Lara and of WestIndies cricket.It came in December and January on the tour of New Zealand whereboth Tests and all five One-Day Internationals were surrenderedto unified, committed but hardly intimidating opponents.It was the last straw.

Haseeb Ahsan, former Pakistan off spinner, has died at the age of 73 in Karachi

Umar Farooq08-Mar-2013Haseeb Ahsan, the former Pakistan offspinner, has died at the age of 73 in Karachi. Ahsan was staying with former Pakistan captain Hanif Mohammad and was on dialysis for the last two years.Ahsan played 12 Tests for Pakistan between 1958 and 1962. His last stint in cricket was in England, when he represented Pakistan Eaglets in 1963 against Scotland. Following his first-class career, which lasted almost eight years, he took up an executive role in American Express.He went on to become one of the most influential selectors in Pakistan cricket. As chief selector, he picked the teenager Wasim Akram for the national side in 1984. He was also the chairman of the 1987 World Cup technical committee and a member of the tournament’s organising committee.Akram paid tribute to Ahsan, telling : “Ahsan convinced everyone of my talent and selected me against New Zealand. He was very close to me and, as a powerful selector, spotted young talent and threw them into the bigger battles. I have lost a very close supporter.”In the official history of Pakistan cricket, he was recorded as a “prodigious spinner of cricket ball”. On debut in first-class cricket, he didn’t take a wicket against MCC in 1955 in his only match of 1955-56 season, but followed up that with a solid second season, finishing with 19 wickets at 12.68. In 1957-58, his tally was 26 wickets at 9.76, and he claimed his career best of 8 for 23 – that eventually brought him into contention for international cricket, and he was subsequently picked for a tour to the West Indies. Ahsan finished with 27 Test wickets at an average of 49.25. He took his best figures of 6 for 202 against India in Chennai in 1961.Later, Ahsan was a key figure in Karachi cricket and became the pivotal figure in the Sindh Cricket Association in 2003. In 2006, he was named in the panel that heard the appeals of fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif against doping bans.PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf praised Ahsan’s administrative skills: “Haseeb was not only a superb Test cricketer but also was a good administrator who intimately knew the game. His death is a loss to the cricketing fraternity.” Karachi City Cricket Association president Sirajul Islam Bukhari said: “Ahsan fought illness with courage.”

Yorkshire will begin the defence of their County Championship title at New Road in 2015 as Worcestershire face the toughest of starts to life back in Division One.

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Nov-2014Yorkshire will begin the defence of their County Championship title at New Road in 2015 as Worcestershire, in their 150th anniversary year, face the toughest of starts to life back in Division One.Yorkshire were comfortably the best team in the country last season and they will hope to lift consecutive titles at Headingley in the final round of the season, beginning on Tuesday September 22, where they entertain Sussex.The 2015 calendar mirrors last season with County Championship matches largely beginning on a Sunday with the first round of matches scheduled for April 12. They will be proceeded by the Champion County match, between Yorkshire and MCC, in Abu Dhabi from March 22.Newly promoted Hampshire will start their first campaign back in Division One for the first time since 2010 at home to Sussex. While relegated Lancashire can plot their immediate promotion from Derbyshire – their first fixture in the second round of the season.The NatWest T20 Blast is again spread across May, June and July, played primarily on Friday nights. The first round of matches is on May 15 with Finals Day back at Edgbaston on Saturday August 29. Warwickshire’s title defence begins with a difficult trip to Trent Bridge.A dedicated window is once more set aside for 50-over cricket where three weeks from July 26 are largely dedicated to long-form white-ball cricket. The showpiece Lord’s final is once again late in the season on September 19.Festival grounds continue to make an appearance on the calendar with favourites such as Cheltenham and Scarborough continuing to attract plenty of matches. Lancashire will also return to Southport for just their third first-class match this century.First XI cricket will also find a new part of the country in 2015 with Nottinghamshire taking T20 matches to Welbeck Colliery CC in the small village of Sookholme, north of Mansfield.For a full fixture list, click here

Kamran Akmal, the Pakistan wicketkeeper who is awaiting clearance by the PCB’s integrity committee, has been named in the country’s provisional 30-man squad for September’s World Twenty20

Umar Farooq11-Jul-2012Kamran Akmal, the Pakistan wicketkeeper, has been named in the country’s provisional 30-man squad for September’s World Twenty20 after being cleared by the PCB’s integrity committee. Batsman Imran Nazir, who last played for Pakistan in February 2010, and allrounder Abdul Razzaq have also made the squad. None of the three players has a central contract.”We have tried lots of wicketkeeper batsmen after Kamran, but nothing was panning out,” Iqbal Qasim, Pakistan’s chief selector, told ESPNcricinfo. “We need a solid wicketkeeper who can score quick runs and currently Kamran is the only option for us. He has kept himself fully fit and more importantly he has been cleared by the PCB.””Imran is a good fielder and a dominating batsman, and so far he has been doing reasonably well in domestic cricket, while Razzaq is a utility player. But it [the final squad] all depends on the coach and captain’s plans.”Kamran had last played for Pakistan at the 2011 World Cup, but has been active on the domestic circuit and had played the inaugural Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) earlier this year.In May, Qasim had said Kamran needed to clear himself of integrity issues before being eligible for selection for the national team. He was summoned before the integrity committee on July 4.Kamran had come under the scanner when he was sent a notice by the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit after the Nottingham Test against England in July 2010, seeking information about events related to the 2010 World Twenty20 held in the Caribbean. He later claimed he has an ICC clearance letter that says there is no inquiry pending against him.Razzaq has not played for Pakistan since injuring his shoulder in the ODI series against Sri Lanka in the UAE in November. He was cut from the contracts list for 2012, and had criticised the selectors’ decision to keep him from the ongoing tour of Sri Lanka. Razzaq has remained active in domestic Twenty20, though, playing Australia’s Big Bash League in December-January and the BPL that followed. He is currently in England, where he is playing limited-overs cricket for Leicestershire.Nazir has impressed in domestic Twenty20 this year. He had finished as the second-highest run-getter in Pakistan’s Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup, scoring 191 at 47.75 with a strike-rate of 172 for Sialkot Stallions. He was also second on the run charts in the BPL, with 390 runs for Dhaka Gladiators, at an average of 43.33 and a strike-rate of 156.Squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shahzad, Khalid Latif, Nasir Jamshed, Imran Nazir, Shahzaib Hasan, Awais Zia, Sharjeel Khan, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik, Rameez Raja, Shahid Afridi, Hammad Azam, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Anwar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Raza Hasan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Kamran Akmal, Shakeel Ansar

Injured wicket-keeper batsman Tim Paine has been included in the Australia A squad for the tour of England in July

ESPNcricinfo staff10-May-2012Australia A squad

Ed Cowan (capt), Peter Forrest (vc) , George Bailey, Jackson Bird, Joe Burns, Tom Cooper, Patrick Cummins, Ben Cutting, Liam Davis, Jon Holland, Mitchell Johnson, Michael Klinger, Nathan Lyon, Tim Paine, James Pattinson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc

Wicketkeeper batsman Tim Paine, who has been away from competitive cricket since July 2011 due to a finger injury, has been included in the Australia A squad for the tour of England in July. Paine, widely regarded as Brad Haddin’s successor, has undergone extensive bone-graft surgery on his right index finger and John Inverarity, chairman of selection panel, said that the selectors were keen to accelerate Paine’s return to form. “Tim was impressive when he represented Australia in the various formats and he is recovering well from his injury,” Inverarity said.Inverarity said the A squad had been selected on the basis of good performances in the domestic season, and also aimed at giving the upcoming young talent exposure to English conditions. Batsman George Bailey, bowlers Patrick Cummins, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and allrounder Steve Smith, who are part of the ODI squad, have also been named in the A team.”The second (exposure to English conditions) is a focus on the Ashes tour of 2013 and familiarising a number of our less experienced international players and back-up players with English conditions,” he said.South Australia batsman Michael Klinger, who is in England with county side Worcestershire, has been included in the squad as an opener along with Ed Cowan. Mitchell Starc, who is contracted to represent Yorkshire, has also been included.Inverarity said that the selection of the A squad had been difficult to finalise due to a busy schedule ahead and the need to manage player workloads.”There is an ICC World Twenty20 preparation camp in Australia in August. Those on the Australia A tour who are selected for the ICC World Twenty20 will have to leave the A tour after one or two of the scheduled four games. Hence there will be a need for replacements and a degree of flexibility.”

A lacklustre display by England in Alice Springs has added to the impression of an Ashes tour veering off course

George Dobell in Alice Springs30-Nov-2013
Scorecard0:00

‘Finn and Rankin unlikely to play in Adelaide’

It says much for England’s lacklustre performance in Alice Springs that there were times when it was hard to tell which team was the No. 3-ranked Test side and which was populated with players as green as the lush outfield at Traeger Park.Perhaps it was natural that England produced such a performance lacking intensity in this match. This two-day game was, in reality, little more than a practice session and some of England’s players might have been understandably reluctant to fully extend themselves a few days ahead of the second Test.But there were several players for whom this game presented an opportunity. The fringe batsmen were fighting to earn the final place in the top six; the fast bowlers were fighting for the position of third seamer. Even Monty Panesar might have felt he had a chance of staking a claim for a place in the side.Yet few players made persuasive cases for their advancement and, as England head into the second Test on Thursday, they do so with an uncomfortable number of awkward questions to answer. Thrashed in Brisbane and shocked by the departure of Jonathan Trott, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that England’s tour is veering alarmingly off course.Whereas in 2010-11 they had a settled team – Steven Finn was the only man dropped during that series – this time they have doubts about two of the top three, their No. 6 and their third seamer. For a side that prides itself on planning and preparation, that is an uncomfortable place to be.A couple of issues were resolved, though. On the evidence of this game, it seems most unlikely that Finn or Boyd Rankin – both of whom were out-bowled by 21-year-old Simon Mackin, a man without a first-class appearance – will be considered for Adelaide.Tim Bresnan will be assessed by England’s medical staff on Sunday and, unless his readiness is thought to be beyond reasonable doubt, Chris Tremlett will surely remain the third seamer in the second Test. Both Rankin and Finn bowled themselves out of contention in Alice Springs. Finn, a shadow of the menacing fast bowler that he has shown glimpses he can be, may well have bowled himself out of contention for the series.Boyd Rankin picked up one wicket but failed to stake a convincing claim for inclusion in the second Test•Getty ImagesHaving wasted the new ball through a surfeit of short balls – the Chairman XI’s openers were hardly required to play a shot in the first 40 minutes of play – the pair were thrashed around the ground by 20-year-old tailender, James Muirhead. On a brutally hot day, England looked weary and fed-up some time before the Chairman’s XI earned a 42-run first innings lead.It would be a huge risk to pick Panesar, too. While his bowling improved after a rusty start – his first delivery for England since the Auckland Test in March was a full toss – he looked nervous and fallible in the field. By the time he bowled Steven Cazzulino with a beauty through the gate, Ian Bell rated his bowling “back to his best” but, after Panesar’s experiences in recent months and Trott’s in recent days, to plunge him into the unforgiving atmosphere of an Ashes Test would verge on the reckless.At least Graeme Swann enjoyed a decent day. Against batsmen determined to attack him from the start, he claimed three wickets to failed attempts to hit him over the top and then had 16-year-old Jake Doran, who had earlier pulled Panesar to the boundary, taken at short-leg.A couple of the Chairman’s XI players will have done their reputations no harm. Steven Cazzulino and Ashton Turner were patient, Josh Lalor – a player of Aboriginal descent – attacked effectively, while Marcus Harris, who punished Rankin and Finn with a series of cuts and pulls, looked a fine player who could go on to enjoy a decent career.But Mackin is the one to watch. He dismissed Joe Root with a brute of a ball that reared from just back of a length and took the glove on its way to the keeper. It was a wicket that exposed not just the poor length of England’s bowlers, but the trouble Root has in dealing with the pace and bounce of these wickets. Gary Ballance was also beaten outside off stump by Mackin and looked relieved to reach stumps, though Michael Carberry acquitted himself pretty well.This match was never just about the result. And, in terms of spreading the reach of the game, it should probably be deemed a success: nearly 3,500 spectators attended and the England players took the time to coach groups of local kids. In terms of preparation for the second Test, however, England found little to reassure them.

A round-up of the first and second preliminary finals of the Ford Trophy 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Feb-2012Table leaders Central Districts advanced to the final of the Ford Trophy after their match against Auckland at Pukekura Park was rained out. Rain intervened after Central Districts reached 16 without loss in response to 230. Auckland were carried to that score thanks to an aggressive rearguard effort by Colin Munro and Colin de Grandhomme, who scored 60s and added 92 in just under 10 overs. They came together at 109 for 5 in the 31st over and went on the attack. Munro made 64 off 60 balls while de Grandhomme smashed seven sixes in his 35-ball 66. Marty Kain’s 4 for 46 helped Central Districts bowl out Auckland before they could bat out their 50 overs.Auckland, at second place in the points table, will have another shot at qualifying for the final when they face Otago in the third preliminary final on Wednesday.The battle between the third and fourth-placed teams in the tournament went Otago’s way in a gripping low-scorer at Dunedin’s University Oval. The hosts, Otago, were bowled out for 172 in just than 40 overs, but Canterbury, despite their strong start, collapsed to lose by 12 runs. Sam Wells top-scored for Otago with 41 at No.6 to lift them to a match-winning score. Canterbury were coasting at 93 for 1 in just under 25 overs, led by Peter Fulton’s half-century, but the wicket of Shanan Stewart triggered a collapse. Jimmy Neesham, the right-arm seamer, dismissed Fulton soon after and took three more wickets to take the game away from Canterbury. Otago claimed the last seven wickets for only 30 runs and the victory set up their virtual semi-final clash with Auckland.