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A five-wicket haul by West Indies fast bowler Jerome Taylor followed by a merciless assault by Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels helped Jamaica decimate Bermuda by nine wickets in their Stanford 20/20 match in Antigua. The West Indies trio proved too hot to handle for the World Cup qualifiers as Jamaica eased to their target of 75, getting there in only the sixth over.Taylor finished with fantastic figures of 5 for 10, which included a three-wicket burst in the space of four balls in his third over. Jermaine Lawson too kept the batsmen under check at the other end with some incisive seam bowling as Bermuda were tottering at 26 for 4. Oliver Pitcher and Delyone Borden made a recovery of sorts, adding 30 before another burst of wickets let them down. Pitcher top-scored with 19 as his side were bowled out for 74.Bermuda caused some early jitters, as George O’Brien bowled Xavier Marshall for a duck. Samuels earned a reprieve, skying his first delivery to extra cover, only to be dropped by Pitcher. From then on, it was Jamaica all the way with Gayle smashing four sixes in his unbeaten 40 off 22 balls. Samuels smacked five boundaries in his unbeaten 25, as Jamaica booked their place in the quarter finals.
ScorecardTravis Dowlin, the Guyana opener, hit an unbeaten half-century to guide his side to an easy eight-wicket win over Montserrat in their Stanford 20/20 match in Antigua. Dowlin and Narsingh Deonarine (31 not out) reached the target of 116 with 21 balls to spare in front of a capacity crowd which had a large Guyanese contingent.Choosing to bat first, Montserrat struggled to force the pace against the slow bowlers, led by former West Indies spinners Mahendra Nagamootoo and Neil McGarrell. Montserrat had an encouraging start, with their openers Nesta Piper and McPhearson Meade adding 46, picking runs of the seamers. The spinners then came into play, sharing five wickets between them to restrict Montserrat to 115 for 8. Guyana made a steady reply, with Dowlin opting to graft it out instead of going for the big shots.Guyana will now meet Jamaica in the quarter-finals next Friday.

Sheriff Hutton Bridge 203 for 6 (Crowder 76) beat Eynsford 201 (J Wise 59) by four wicketsSheriff Hutton Bridge, from North Yorkshire, won the National Village Cup final at Lord’s, beating Eynsford (Kent) by four wickets with eight balls to spare.A good-sized crowd basked in glorious sunshine, although their attention sometimes wandered as events unfolded at Trent Bridge. Chasing 202 to win, Sheriff Hutton Bridge, who were beaten semi-finalists in 2004, reached 203 for 6 off 38.4 overs.Eynsford, who won the toss, were bowled out for 201 in their 40 overs. Jamie Wise, one of three brothers in the side, top-scored with 59 before holing out to long-off.Sheriff Hutton Bridge got off to a flying start in reply, racing to 108 for 2 in 20 overs before being pegged back. Steve ‘Stiggy’ Crowder emerged as the hero with an unbeaten 76, including nine fours, after crucially being dropped at long-off when he had made 56.Crowder, who was named Man of the Match, hit the winning runs when he pulled spinner Ian Playfoot for four over mid-on to finish with 76 not out.

Peter Gregory, England’s chief medical officer, has hit back at criticism regarding the handling of Andrew Flintoff’s ankle injury.In an official release, the ECB wanted to clear up what they called “further misguided and unjustified criticism of the management” about the situation. Despite his injury, Flintoff was cleared to bowl in the first Test against West Indies after a cortisone injection, but the England management came under fire for allowing him to do so, with suggestions that Flintoff was needlessly being rushed back in to action.However, Gregory was quick to point out that wasn’t the case, and that the medical staff were carrying out a routine procedure regarding this type of injury, with a break from bowling and then a cortisone injection top the of the doctors orders. “If the first two stages of this process are not successful, then an operation may be required as a last resort,” Gregory said. “But we would not want Andrew to undergo surgery unless this was absolutely necessary and it would be irresponsible to carry out this procedure until we have exhausted all available other options.”He added: “Andrew’s ankle has responded well to treatment thus far and the risks associated with injection for this condition are far less than for undergoing surgery that would keep him out for a significant period of time.”We are fully aware of the international programme England face over the next 18 months,” he continued, “but elective surgery is not being considered, as the cortisone injection has been effective at present and Andrew continues to bowl pain-free.”Flintoff, who played as a batsman only in the NatWest Series, bowled only 11 overs in the first Test, but still took four crucial wickets in the match, as England won by 210 runs.

Wes Hall’s criticism of the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the scheduling of the series between the West Indies and Sri Lanka during the rains was misplaced, according to Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the ICC.Speed said that Hall, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), was wrong to blame the ICC because it was the responsibility of individual country boards to decide where and when matches would be played.”The only role the ICC has in scheduling [matches] is to make sure that all teams fulfill their commitment to play each other in a series of not less than two Test matches and three one-day internationals both home and away in a five-year cycle.”In this year’s West Indies schedule, the WICB, for sound cricket and commercial reasons, decided to play four Tests and seven ODIs against Australia and this decision obviously impacted on their ability to schedule the Sri Lanka series.”The previous chief executive of the WICB raised some concerns about the timing of this tour with the ICC last year and we indicated that there were alternative times available for the games to be played within the five-year schedule but no alteration to the schedule was made.”Hall had earlier said that scheduling matches in June – the hurricane season in the Caribbean – was “cricketing madness”. He also expressed his inability to alter the itinerary. “You may ask then why, as president, I don’t change it. I can only say that the West Indies board has only one vote at the ICC and I can only hope that we are able to convince the authorities that it is madness to play in June.”

Tasmanian captain Ricky Ponting used it as an opportunity to make history. And Jamie Cox used it as another chance to continue banging down the door for Australian selection.But it has to be said that the fourth and final day of this Pura Cup match between New South Wales and Tasmania otherwise carried something of an air of uselessness as it inexorably resulted in a high-scoring draw.Ponting celebrated a cool but sunny day here at the Sydney Cricket Ground by scoring twin centuries in a match for the fifth time in his first-class career. In so doing, he became the first Australian to achieve the feat as many times, snatching for himself a record that he had previously shared with Sir Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Stuart Law and Cox himself.Though it was only constructed before a small crowd – herded into a tiny section of the ground – his 154 was a masterpiece in concentration and execution.His strokeplay was just as effortless, in fact, as it had been in his first innings contribution of 126. Other than for a tired, top edged pull that finally brought about his undoing, the only real hint of a false stroke came with his score at 55 as he was nearly caught behind fiddling at a delivery down the leg side from left arm spinner Mark Higgs (0/46).Cox’s score of 80 also came from another fine innings, though it was a little rusty at times by his own high standards. He was dropped twice and played and missed more than once outside the line of off stump. The almost inevitable outcome was yet another big score against an opponent that he has grown to love.Captains old and new complemented a 77-run stand for the opening wicket between Cox and Dene Hills (32) by forging another 127-run union for the second to ensure that Tasmania’s progression to a finishing score of 3/356 was always going to be smooth.Though the only sting left in the game by now was the one coming from the howling southerly wind ripping across the ground, there was time enough for Shane Watson (58*) to bat attractively and for Don Nash (2/62) to grab his first two wickets of the match. But there was no confusion by then that proceedings would be called off half an hour early.”We knew this morning that we had to go out there and bowl them out,” lamented New South Wales captain Shane Lee.”I thought that if we could have got one or two quick wickets – particularly get Cox out and Ponting – anything was a chance. Unfortunately, that just didn’t happen.”We’ve got to lift a lot for our next game. We dropped five catches overall and that’s too much in a first-class game. We definitely paid for that.”Where Ponting’s batting was encouraging for Australian followers ahead of the opening Test against New Zealand on 8 November, the bowling of paceman Glenn McGrath (1/35) would also have heartened those close to the team. Though he only claimed the wicket of Hills – to a dubious lbw decision – his line and length was generally impeccable and he looked to be returning to something approaching his best.At the end of a frustrating week, leg spinner Stuart MacGill (0/88) also bowled tidily. His figures would have been substantially improved if Michael Bevan had not spilled a mistimed cut by Cox (then on 27) or if he had held a sharp, low caught and bowled chance offered by the same batsman two runs later.

ScorecardAlex Wakely recorded his fourth first-class hundred•Getty Images

Alex Wakely’s first-class best 123 led Northamptonshire from danger on the opening day at Wantage Road. From 42 for 4, Northants recovered to post 325 against Leicestershire. Three wickets late in the day as the visitors began their reply completed the comeback.Mark Cosgrove’s decision to bowl first initially paid dividends when Clint McKay struck four times in the opening hour but Wakely settled and went through to his fourth first-class century, helping his side to a healthy total but perhaps only a par score on a good batting surface.Wakely looked in superb touch from the start of his innings with a delightful back-foot drive off Ben Raine and an imperious pull against Wayne White among the 10 fours that he scored in reaching his fifty from 68 balls. He survived a strong shout for lbw on 52 and was becalmed in the hour after the lunch break. But he began to move his tally along again, opening the face to run White towards vacant third man, and a second pull stroke took him to 90. Clipping the off spin of Rob Sayer through midwicket nudged him three away from a century and a paddle sweep brought up his fourth first-class hundred with his 18th boundary.It was Wakeley’s second century in four Championship matches, made in similar circumstances to his first of the season at Cheltenham six weeks ago with his side also in trouble. Here, he shared stands of 71 with Josh Cobb, 78 with Steven Crook and 69 with David Murphy to make good progress throughout the afternoon.Northants could well have been shot out for far fewer after the Australian McKay took four wickets in his opening eight-over spell. He struck in his second and third overs to remove both Northants openers. First the in-form Ben Duckett was lbw to an inswinging yorker and then Rob Newton, pushing hard at a ball swinging across him, got a leading edge to mid-off and fell for just 9 in his first Championship match since June.Two further wickets fell in the first hour. Both Rob Keogh, trying to leave, and Richard Levi, attempting a cut, dragged into their own stumps. Wakely and Cobb settled the situation but a dropped catch by Angus Robson at first slip – Cobb on 11 – was a sliding-doors moment. It would have given McKay a fifth wicket shortly after lunch. As it was Cobb saw off McKay and the Leicestershire back-up bowling was not as incisive. An injury to Raine did not help; he limped off having taken a knock diving for a catch at long-on.Cobb only added 19 after being dropped but Steven Crook, after his whirlwind first-class best against Australia last weekend, continued the counter-attack. He flicked his first ball for four through midwicket, and immediately took on the offspin of Sayer, slog-sweeping him over midwicket. But having late-cut his eighth four, he skipped down to Sayer, missed, and was stumped for 40 in 31 balls.Overall, the last six Northants wickets added 283 with Rory Kleinveldt making 43 to push Northants to a third batting point.And they were able to apply pressure in the 15 overs they had to bowl at Leicestershire late in the day. Lewis Hill failed to deal with a rising Kleinveldt delivery that he gloved down the leg side and the same bowler produced a good delivery to square up Ned Eckersley and take out his off stump for a duck. A third wicket fell five overs from the close with Sam Robson chasing a wide ball and edging behind. Leicestershire closed 295 runs behind.

Watch Nathan Coulter-Nile up close and it is not hard to see why Australia’s selectors drafted him into the squad for Hobart. Tall, strong, and athletic, he can hit the ball miles and then hurl it down the wicket at speeds approaching the 145kph mark. He is also an outstanding fielder, rivalling the best of Ryan Harris for covering ground and firing in flat returns from the outfield.Yet his tendency to be injured and his lack of recent cricket have made Coulter-Nile a figure of some curiosity since his first call-up to the Test squad. Coulter-Nile had been a reserve alongside Doug Bollinger during the 2013-14 Ashes summer, but since then his ODI appearances have been sporadic, and he notably missed this year’s World Cup due to hamstring surgery.At 27, Coulter-Nile is aware that his opportunity is now, and he has no intention of simply making up the numbers either in this squad or the Australian bowling attack should he be granted a chance due to the heavy workloads being placed on the likes of Josh Hazlewood and Peter Siddle.”Every Test is an opportunity. I mean, you take five-for in a Test it becomes very hard to drop you,” Coulter-Nile said. “That’s why none of the boys want to give up their spot. You don’t see Sidds going, ‘Oh I’ve got a sore back I’m going to have a rest,’ because you don’t want to give the opportunity to the next bloke. I’m the same. If I get an opportunity I don’t want to just feel like a gap-filler, I want to press my case to play the next Test and the one after that.”The shock of not even being in contention for the World Cup after being around the limited-overs mark for some time had a considerable effect on Coulter-Nile, leaving him to reassess how seriously he took the game and how he prepared for it. That realisation did not prevent further injuries – a hamstring strain in England during the ODIs earlier this year and a shoulder problem that kept him out of action for the early part of the Sheffield Shield season – but it has hardened his outlook.”Not to be even in contention for selection was a tough one, it was a bit of an eye opener,” he said. “It was the time the penny dropped, I needed to sort my body out, sort myself out and I did and then I got injured again. It’s part of the game. If you want to bowl fast and put your body through that you are going to get injured it is just something you have to deal with and get on with I guess.”Adam Voges is Coulter-Nile’s state captain, and a well-placed observer of his abilities. He foresees a role similar to that played by James Pattinson, the other firebrand in the team following the retirement of Mitchell Johnson and now injury to Mitchell Starc.”He can be used primarily as a strike bowler for us, I think,” Voges said. “He bowls good pace – he can touch sort of mid 140kph and get some good shape at that pace as well. In terms of whether he gets a game or not I’m not too sure but I see him and Jimmy Pattinson in a similar vein in terms of good pace and can swing the ball. It’s certainly a good asset to have.”Obviously with his hamstring troubles that we know about, he’s had some issues there. The shoulder he’s coming back from was from a freak accident in a warm up game so that was just really unfortunate but from what I saw from the back end particularly from the last Shield season where he played six games in six weeks and just got better and better the more he played. The resilience was there and I think it’s coming, he’s just been a little bit unfortunate with his injuries.”The fresh intensity Coulter-Nile brought to his playing of the game has had one unfortunate side-effect. A dissent charge after disputing an umpire’s wide call during his return from injury in the Futures League led to a suspension from the one Shield game available to him before this week, and a moment’s pause about his Test prospects. The selectors, however, kept faith with someone who has been in their plans now for several years, reasoning that he had shown enough signs of rhythm in the earlier fixture.”I was playing a 2nd XI game to get back into the shield team and I played it as hard as I could, as aggressively as I could,” Coulter-Nile said. “I stepped over the line, paid the price and I missed a Shield game, it was just very fortunate that I have got the opportunity here. That’s how I play my best cricket and I don’t see myself changing but I definitely will respect the umpire’s decision.”If you’d had it [the injury] for a long time and you haven’t bowled I guess it’s hard, but the injury I had I started bowling two weeks later, so I didn’t miss a lot of bowling. I feel pretty good in that space. I feel like I play cricket 365 days of the year so I don’t feel like I’ve missed a large portion of cricket.”I’ve been bowling a long time, it’s not like I’ve had to build back up or anything, I didn’t start up on half run and build back up, I was straight off the long run and bowling flat out, so it wasn’t really an issue there.”The question of whether Coulter-Nile can put all that ability together and perform on the Test match stage will remain open until he gets his chance, but said he will try not to think about that. “I don’t really get drawn into how I’m going to go, I just go out there and try my best,” he said. “If it comes off, it comes off. If it doesn’t work this time, hopefully it works next time. I don’t get caught up in how it’s going to go, you can’t change that.”In one net session at Bellerive Oval, Coulter-Nile lost little by comparison to the rest of the bowling attack. His talent indicates that he belongs – he awaits the chance to back that up with performance.

As Geoff Lawson waits to learn whether he will be the next Pakistan coach, he has targeted a fit Shoaib Akhtar as being a crucial component in the country’s push to be a regular international force. Lawson, the former Test bowler, has returned to Australia after being interviewed to replace Bob Woolmer and he spoke with Shoaib during his visit.Shoaib has struggled with lengthy injuries and will come back from a knee problem for the tour of Scotland next month. “He’s a vital cog to them being top of the tree,” Lawson said in The Australian. “At 32, he’s still got two or three very good years left in him.”I had a good chat to him and saw him bowl a bit in a practice game. He looks pretty good. He bowled four or five overs and bowled sharply. He looks fit and by all accounts has been training hard.”Lawson was one of three people interviewed for the job this week after making the shortlist alongside Richard Done, the ICC high performance manager, and Dav Whatmore, who has guided Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He said he was impressed with the PCB’s organisation and said safety issues in the country were “blown out of proportion a little bit”.Lawson, who played 46 Tests between 1980 and 1989, has a strong bowling focus and believes Shoaib’s future hinges on his recovery from injury. “He’s had some knee surgery,” he said. “Pakistan, like everyone else in international cricket, have a pretty hectic schedule coming up. A lot will depend on how players are managed. I’m sure they would like him to be fit three-quarters of the time.”

Twenty matches to go before the World Cup … This is how the Indian team would be looking at one-day cricket till March next year. And when the time comes to play that first World Cup game, India should feel that they have looked at all the options available and have picked the best 15 players for the tournament.I would like to think that the selectors are still looking and their net is spread wide to include players showing either sparks of talent or strong performances. At the end of the 20 matches, the Indian team should consist of a unit that has been formed after a genuinely exhaustive exercise that would have lasted for more than a year. The team that goes to the West Indies should be a team where each player has proved his worth, regardless of his age, his past or his experience.Based on these thoughts, I believe there should not be too much scrutiny of the team selected for the tri-series in Sri Lanka next month. Dinesh Mongia, who played in the last World Cup, is back in the Indian team after a long absence. There are various stories floating around regarding his selection, but I look at it as maturity on the part of the selectors. They have showed that although youth is an important consideration in their planning, they are not obsessed with it. This selection is on performance alone, though, quite interestingly, it is based on performances during the English county season.Suddenly, performances in county cricket have become more and more relevant for the Indian team selections, with Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan also staking their claims by playing for counties. This also means that the Indian players who do not play county cricket are somewhat disadvantaged. Mongia would clearly not have been back in this Indian team if not for his participation in county cricket.With India playing round the year and having international commitments even in June, July and August, and with our domestic season finishing much before that in April, there are no match opportunities in India for the fringe players to make a strong case for selection, unless he is influential enough to get a county contract – a situation that the BCCI could make note of.Anil Kumble’s unbelievable perseverance as a bowler has got him back in the reckoning for one-day cricket, a possibility that was almost ruled out two years back as focus had shifted to youth and energy in the field. Though he has not been picked in the team for Sri Lanka, you can quite clearly gauge that he is a strong candidate for the World Cup. By not selecting him in the team but by keeping him well informed about their long-term plans with him, the selectors have shown the virtue of communication. The importance of a dialogue between players and selectors can never be underestimated.Kumble is not in the India one-day team but he is not unhappy or hurt, for he has been motivated by the words passed on to him by the men in charge. This contact between players and selectors helps keep the harmony in the dressing room. Kumble has now reached a stage in his career where he does not need one-day match practice to excel in that form of the game.It is going to be a tough outing for India as they take on South Africa and Sri Lanka in testing weather conditions. Even after the 4-1 loss in the last one-day series in the West Indies, there is no denying the fact that India is still a very good one-day team. And unlike that series, they will be hoping that this time they return with more answers than questions.

Three one-day practice matches in Namibia and Zimbabwe may not be international cricket’s most mouth-watering prospect, but when players are returning from injury and pushing for selection in the country’s only two Tests scheduled for eight months, they can be forgiven for feeling a tad nervous. Four Black Caps fit that category ahead of New Zealand’s opening match tomorrow against Namibia in Windhoek.They are big-name players, too. Jacob Oram, the premier allrounder, Daniel Vettori, the world-class spinner, Scott Styris, the regular No. 4, and, fingers crossed after a two-year absence, Shane Bond, the 150kph opening bowler. The calibre of the returning quartet means the adage “never change a winning combination” will have already received a thorough examination, even though their last Test was a convincing innings-and-38-run victory over Sri Lanka at Wellington in April.Namibia’s vast temptations, such as quad-biking the Swakopmund sand-dunes or game viewing in Etosha National Park, will be ditched with the attention squarely on the three playing days before the first Test against Zimbabwe at Harare on August 7. The victorious XI from Wellington are on the tour while the returning four men are at varying levels of fitness and form so the selection process – Vettori to replace Paul Wiseman excepted – is not simple.Most interest centres on Bond, who last played a Test in May 2003. Despite plenty of favourable comments, the wickets have hardly flowed for Bond since he returned to the first-class stage in the latter stages of last season. However, one thing in his favour is plenty of recent bowling during the New Zealand Academy’s tour of Australia.As the selectors are likely to be just as keen as the fans to see Bond terrorising international batsmen again, he will probably replace Kyle Mills. No Test appearances would give Mills even more reason to be relieved about his sponsor’s change of heart over its threat to withhold payment if he toured Zimbabwe. Oram, who would be a shoo-in for the third-seamer spot without his back injury, will challenge James Franklin and Chris Martin, but he has bowled only a handful of overs for the Academy and needs to play a full part in the warm-up matches to be considered.Franklin made useful progress last season and offers the left-arm variation while Martin is coming off a six-wicket bag against Sri Lanka, and both deserve to retain their places. However, Oram’s batting prowess is such – his Test average of 43.56 is bettered only by Hamish Marshall – that he held the No. 6 position in his last Test at Adelaide in November and should do the same against Zimbabwe.For that to happen there is a logistical nightmare. One of the incumbents, probably Lou Vincent, who scored 224 in his last innings, would be a casualty and there would be no room for Styris. The alternative would be a top-order re-shuffle with Stephen Fleming replacing either Craig Cumming or James Marshall. Fleming is as well equipped as anyone to face the new ball and had New Zealand struck anyone other than Australia after Mark Richardson’s retirement at the end of 2004, he would almost certainly still have the job.

Fleming has been primarily a No. 3 for the last three seasons, but with Hamish Marshall an instant hit there last summer, the captain seems intent on staying one place further down. But there is a recent precedent for Fleming opening when John Bracewell, the coach, has wanted to field his best batsmen. Last year in England Michael Papps was left out to allow the hit-or-miss Craig McMillan to come into the middle order. This year’s case, with both Oram and Styris, is even stronger.As New Zealand are strong favourites to win irrespective of who plays, and with Zimbabwe’s return tour apparently ruled out by the New Zealand government, the decision may well come down to whether Fleming sees himself opening in the Test series in South Africa next April. However, Oram, who averages a whopping 54.60 in the Bracewell era, is a must for the top six and only when he is able to operate as a frontline bowler should slotting in an extra batsman be considered.For a man who debuted with a century from No. 8, Styris has done an excellent job at second drop since he assumed the role in India in October 2003. The incumbent until suffering an injury in February that gave Vincent his chance, Styris is in a tight race for selection and his lack of first-class runs for Middlesex – 385 at 25.46 – might prove fatal. Styris has been in top form with the ball, but with Nathan Astle effective as a back-up medium-pacer it is of lesser importance.New Zealand (probable) 1 Stephen Fleming (capt), 2 James Marshall, 3 Hamish Marshall, 4 Lou Vincent, 5 Nathan Astle, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 James Franklin, 10 Shane Bond, 11 Chris Martin.