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A round-up of the latest round of games from the SuperSport Series in South Africa, with another hundred for Jacques Rudolph, a good spell for Vernon Philander and lots of rain

Firdose Moonda23-Jan-2011There was just one result from the three fixtures in the eighth round of the SuperSport Series this week, with rain playing a big part in the all the matches.Cobras earned a nine-wicket win over Dolphins in Durban to move to second place on the table, 12.12 points behind the Titans. With wet weather hanging over Kingsmead, the Dolphins put the Cobras in to bat first and had early success. Seamers Quinton Friend, Jon Kent and Mthokozisi Shezi took four early wickets between them to have Cobras pegged back on 55 for 4. Skipper Justin Kemp rode to the Cobras’ rescue and a 137-run stand for the fifth wicket with Justin Ontong effectively set the platform for their victory. Kemp finished unbeaten on 135, Friend with 4 for 80 and the Cobras were bowled out for 360.The Dolphins were never allowed to settle in their knock and were bowled out for 162, incurring a deficit of 198 runs. Vernon Philander, who took 4 for 47, and Rory Kleinveldt, who ended with 3 for 30, did the bulk of the damage. The Dolphins were made to follow on and managed 255 in their second stint at the crease. They had a decent start with Devon Conway and Imran Khan scoring 35 and 37 respectively. The rest of the order crumbled and only Jon Kent’s half-century saved them from an innings defeat. Philander’s 4 for 49 saw him amongst the wickets again. The Cobras were set a target of 63 to win. They reached with only the loss of Alastair Gray for 15.In East London, play was only possible for the first two days of the match between the Warriors and the Titans. Jacques Rudolph’s continued claim for a national recall was the feature of the Titans innings. Rudolph scored 105 in the Titans total of 256. It was his third hundred in eight matches and takes him just 45 runs behind the competitions top scorer Neil McKenzie. Andrew Birch ran through the rest of the Titans line-up taking 6 for 52 while Farhaan Berhadien contributed 63 and Albie Morkel a confidence boosting unbeaten 55.The Warriors lost both their openers for ducks in reply. Brad Bennet was bowled by Morkel and Michael Price suffered a similar fate at the hands of Ethy Mbhalati. Jon-Jon Smuts settled in comfortably and scored 131. He was ably assisted by Arno Jacobs who scored 63 and Craig Thyssen, who was unbeaten on 67. Eden Links’ 4 for 71 was the most successful return by a Titans bowler. The heavens opened with the Warriors on 307 for 6, leading by 51, and by the end of the match had not closed.The Lions and the Knights also only managed one innings apiece in their clash in Bloemfontein. The Knights set themselves up for a long period in the field when they chose to send the Lions in to bat. Steven Cook and Alviro Petersen put on 99 for the first wicket with Petersen finishing on 52 and Cook going on to make 106. The innings belonged to young Temba Bavuma who scored 124 in just his second first-class game. The Lions declared on 336 for 9 in 98 overs.In reply, the Knights were in all sorts of trouble at 124 for 5. Dean Elgar was still at the crease on 66, but the rest of the top five were out in the single digits. Ethan O’Reilly took 2 for 33 and Friedel de Wet 2 for 11. Despite a strong performance by the Lions, they slip to fourth on the table, with the Dolphins moving into third. The competition takes a two month break to make way for the Standard Bank Pro20, which starts next Friday.Batsman of the week: Temba Bavuma came in as a late replacement for McKenzie, who had a calf injury and made the most of his opportunity. He scored his maiden SuperSport Series century to boost his franchise career.Bowler of the week: Vernon Philander’s eight-wicket match haul went a long way to helping the Cobras beat the Dolphins. Philander has 35 wickets in the competition at an average of 16.11.

India search for a maiden series win against a tenacious South Africa who have fought back despite threatening to implode in each of the four one-dayers

The Preview by Sriram Veera22-Jan-2011

Match Facts

January 23, Centurion

Start time 10.00 (8.00 GMT, 13.30 IST)
Virat Kohli could force his way into the World Cup starting XI with his irrepressible form•AFP

Big Picture

The curious case of Virat Kohli keeps getting interesting. Prior to the series his case was distilled into this emotive question: How can you drop him from the playing eleven when he is in such good form? Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and Gautam Gambhir return to take the top three. Yuvraj Singh is the best part-time spinner and can win a game with the bat, Yusuf Pathan’s explosiveness will be vital lower down, and Suresh Raina can potentially get going right from the start and is more suited to the lower order, in Indian conditions, than Kohli.Or so it seemed before this series. With Yusuf clicking in one game and Yuvraj too hitting a fifty, apart from his bowling, the pressure has escalated on Raina. If there is Yusuf and Yuvraj for power hitting, would it better to blood an in-form Kohli ahead of Raina? That’s the thought Kohli will strive to strengthen in this decider and something that Raina will try to kill.The series itself hangs on a knife’s edge. India had just won three random games against South Africa in South Africa before this series and are on verge of something special. For their part, South Africa have hung on, despite threatening to implode in all the games, and pushed the series to a decider. The weather might play spoil sport, though, with the forecast predicting thunderstorms on the match day.South Africa’s World-Cup puzzles too are falling in place. JP Duminy has shown that he has the temperament to lead the lower order, Faf du Plessis hinted at a solid temperament, and Morne Van Wyk, with an accomplished performance in the Twenty20 game, is putting pressure on Colin Ingram. Smith has had a torrid time in the last two games and though he is an established player, a good show at Centurion won’t hurt him. They have been shy to give Imran Tahir any exposure in this series, probably preferring to keep him hidden till the World Cup.Morne Morkel has been simply outstanding in this series, extracting bounce from sluggish tracks in the last two games and indicating he might be a force to reckon with even on traditional slow-and-low subcontinental tracks. The ball to remove Yusuf Pathan – a full length delivery that seamed away at the last instant – in the fourth ODI also showcased that he is just not a hit-the-deck short of length bowler but someone who thinks a lot about his game and has the full repertoire.Lonwabo Tsotsobe has been in rich form though one still has to wait and watch how he performs in the subcontinental conditions. He does have a good off cutter but can he continue to churn out good performances even in the World Cup?

Form guide

South Africa: WLLWW
India: LWWLW

Players to watch out for…

Graeme Smith: He looked a shadow of the man who scored a confident 77 in the second ODI. And it just can’t be put down to the pressure of a brittle lower order as he has struggled to put bat to ball in the last two games. He has stabbed inside the line, groped outside the line, stumbled forward, and has had a horror time. Will he get back to form with a confident knock in the last game?Suresh Raina: The selection sword dangles over him. The pressure is truly on. He got to a start in the third ODI but threw it away with a wild slog against Morne, just as the game entered the final lap. He combusted cheaply in the last match, rushing out too early to be left stranded. Meanwhile, Kohli has been marching from strength to strength. Until now, Raina had the clear upper hand as he was more suited to the lower order and his case only strengthened when you throw in his off breaks into the equation. But he can’t afford any more slip-ups.

Team news

India (probable): 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Piyush Chawla/ Ashish Nehra, 10 Munaf Patel, 11 Zaheer KhanSouth Africa (probable): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Morne Van Wyk/ Colin Ingram, 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Johan Botha, 8 Dale Steyn, 9 Wayne Parnell/Robin Peterson, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Stats and trivia

• du Plessis’ 60 in the third ODI made him the first South African batsman to score a half century on debut against India. The previous best was 43 by Adrian Kuiper in 1991.

Quotes

“We have done well with the ball in this series. We have generally fielded well. The intensity has been good. We are excited to go to Pretoria. The teams have been trading blows for two months now and it has been a competitive series”

Yasir Hameed, the Pakistan batsman, has been banned from the ongoing Pentangular Cup competition and the year’s national Twenty20 championship

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2011Yasir Hameed, the Pakistan batsman, has been banned by the PCB from domestic cricket for his interview with an undercover reporter from in the immediate aftermath of the spot-fixing controversy.In the interview, Hameed had discussed the fall-out of the Lord’s Test, the Sydney Test against Australia early last year and a possible approach by a bookie. The precise length of the ban has not been specified but it is thought to apply only to the ongoing Pentangular Cup and the domestic T20 championship that will follow. He has also been fined Rs.300,000 (US$3,500 approx).Nadeem Sarwar, the board spokesperson, said Hameed had been banned “for his
spot-fixing allegations against some national players in a newspaper interview last
year”. Hameed has always denied making any allegations, claiming that he merely repeated what the tabloid had already reported.At the time Hameed said he was duped by the investigative reporter who came to him in a hotel in Nottingham as a representative from a global airline to discuss possible sponsorship deals, but apologised to the PCB immediately after. “I was trapped into it but I should not have said all that before a stranger and I apologise to all the players who were hurt because of that,” he had said.Hameed was also summoned to the Pakistan High Commission in London to explain his utterances during the sting operation, and he recently lodged a formal complaint against NOTW with the UK’s Press Complaints Commission, accusing them of inaccurate reporting, breach of privacy, misrepresentation of character and harassment. He also alleged that the man, an Abid Khan, had sent him intimidating SMSs after the meeting once Hameed had denied what had been attributed to him.Hameed, 32, represents Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in the Pentangular Cup. The ban is the result of an investigation into the matter by the PCB’s recently-constituted Integrity Committee, in front of which Hameed appeared last month.

Lasith Malinga has said he could not bowl yorkers in the final against India because the ball was wet, while Muttiah Muralitharan said the inability of the spinners to get wickets caused the loss

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Apr-2011Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan came in to the World Cup final with 27 wickets between them in the tournament. They were expected to lead Sri Lanka’s attack on Saturday, but Murali went wicketless and Malinga couldn’t build on his first spell of 2 for 11 in four overs.Malinga got the early wickets of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, but failed to give Sri Lanka a breakthrough in the middle overs, as he so often does with the old ball. When he came on in the end, with India closing in on a win, he bowled one over for three runs, but his next went for 11, relieving the pressure on India’s batsmen. Malinga suggested the dew may have affected his bowling later on in the innings.”I couldn’t bowl yorkers properly because the ball was too wet,” Malinga said on his return to Colombo on Sunday. “It was difficult to swing the ball. I tried hard. I regret I couldn’t take more wickets.” This was not the first time in the World Cup that a player had said he was hampered by dew. After England’s loss to Bangladesh in Chittagong, Graeme Swann had likened bowling with a wet ball to playing football with your hands tied behind your back.On that occasion, England had been put in to bat by Bangladesh, but on Saturday, it was Sri Lanka’s decision to bat first. They had bowled second during their group match against New Zealand in Mumbai, and on that occasion dismissed the opposition for 153. Malinga had been expensive in that match, going for more than seven runs an over, but had not been required to bowl more than five overs, as Sri Lanka’s spinners ran through New Zealand. Murali, who took four wickets in that game, had said that it was tough to turn the wet ball but one had to learn how to adjust and think of other ways to dismiss batsmen.During the final, Murali didn’t look 100% fit – though his captain later insisted “he was fine” – and rarely troubled India’s batsmen in his eight overs which went for 39. He said the 274 Sri Lanka had posted was enough to defend but the spinners not capitalising on Malinga’s start was the main reason for the loss.”We got enough runs on the board; 274 was a good score. Malinga took two vital wickets but after that we couldn’t crack their side, especially in the middle part,” Murali said. “The spinners didn’t take enough wickets.”If I or Suraj [Randiv] took a few wickets then the story would have been different. These things happen in cricket so you have to move on and I’d like to wish the team well for the future. Hopefully, in 2015 they’ll bring home the cup.”Randiv, who had only joined the squad after an injury to Angelo Mathews and found himself playing in the tournament for the first time in the final, went wicketless in nine overs, while Tillakaratne Dilshan picked up one wicket with his part-time offspin.The loss meant Murali’s one-day career did not have the dream finish that his Test career did – he took eight wickets, including his 800th in a victorious last Test – and he admitted he was disappointed. “It was a little bit disappointing because my main aim was to win the World Cup. But unfortunately we couldn’t do that because India were a better side on the day.”While Murali had announced before the tournament started that this would be his last international series, Malinga has now said he will not play another World Cup. He has been injury prone, with a recurring knee injury being a source of constant concern, and said he will not last till 2015, by when he will be 31.”I hope to be of service to my team as long as I can, but I won’t be able to play in the next World Cup in 2015,” Malinga said. “I have been carrying injuries for the past few weeks with little rest.” He was rested from Sri Lanka’s first two group games but has since played seven matches in just over a month.Malinga has been part of two losing teams in World Cup finals, in a stop-start career that comprised only 30 Tests and 84 one-dayers since debuting in 2004.While they couldn’t do enough in the final, Murali and Malinga both had their moments in the tournament. Malinga grabbed a second World Cup hat-trick in Sri Lanka’s group-stage match against Kenya, and then took three wickets in the semi-final against New Zealand. Murali bagged three wickets in his last game in his hometown of Kandy, got four in the group match against New Zealand and then struck with his last ball in Sri Lanka, in the semi-final.When he announced his retirement, Murali had said he would continue playing domestic Twenty20 tournaments, and he will turn out for Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the IPL, which starts on April 8. After that he plans to play for Wellington for a couple of seasons on New Zealand’s domestic circuit, most likely in the HRV Cup. He said he would go to Wellington because he had promised former Chennai Super Kings team-mate Stephen Fleming he would.”Stephen has a bit to do with Wellington, so I have promised him I would come to play for two years to help them,” Muralitharan said. “It’s up to Stephen to put through a deal for me. I’ve always enjoyed playing there. You have nice, friendly people and a competitive [international] cricket team given that they made the [World Cup] semi-finals again.”Murali will also spend time working on his plan to build a sports complex for war-displaced civilians. “Cricket unites communities,” he said. “We can use the game to reach out and help those who are less privileged than us, to make their lives a little bit easier.”

Yorkshire came up against a defiant Dominic Cork who belied his 39 years with another energetic bowling display on the third day of the County Championship match with Hampshire at Headingley

13-May-2011
Scorecard
Dominic Cork rues a near miss as Hampshire checked Yorkshire’s progress on a rain-curtailed third day•PA Photos

Yorkshire came up against a defiant Dominic Cork who belied his 39 years with another energetic bowling display on the third day of the County Championship match with Hampshire at Headingley. Having enjoyed a return of 5 for 75 in the first innings, Cork added another two wickets on a rain-affected day in which only 39.5 overs were possible, to give him match figures of 7 for 102 off 48 overs.His efforts pegged back Yorkshire to 62 for 3 after they had gained a first-innings lead of 123 and they were left needing to make good progress on the final morning if they are to go on to win the match.Cork required only 13 runs to reach 10,000 in first-class cricket when Hampshire resumed in the morning on 189 for 6 with their captain on 6 and Sean Ervine on 16, Yorkshire’s lead being 166. A cover boundary off Ryan Sidebottom soon moved Cork into double figures but in
attempting a similar stroke off the former England left-arm paceman he drove straight into the hands of Joe Root to depart for 11.Ajmal Shahzad struggled in his opening spell and could not produce the same accuracy which had brought him four wickets the previous day, but when he was replaced by Tim Bresnan it brought immediate results, Ervine moving across his stumps to fall lbw for 23. Yorkshire’s attack continued to cause problems and Sidebottom struck again by getting Danny Briggs lbw with a fine yorker to leave Hampshire on 217 for 9, with Yorkshire having picked up maximum bowling points.Kabir Ali and last man David Griffiths defied Yorkshire for 10 overs, despite Griffiths being beaten outside off stump on several occasions, but Shahzad was brought back at the rugby stand end and Ali carved him to Steve Patterson at third man to leave Hampshire all out for 232.
The dismissal gave Shahzad figures of 5 for 65 from 21.3 lively overs.Yorkshire would have been reasonably happy with their first-innings lead in what had been a rather drab match, but they went to lunch on 11 for 1 after Adam Lyth tickled a leg-side delivery from Cork into the gloves of Nic Pothas. Shortly after the interval, Yorkshire lost their other opener, Joe Sayers, who was caught behind off an angled bat, Griffiths picking up his
wicket cheaply for the second time in the match.Once again, Root showed plenty of character at the crease in his first season of Championship cricket and he helped to get the score moving in partnership with home captain Andrew Gale.But with showers already around, the weather began to close in quickly and there was just time for Cork to surprise Root with movement off the pitch as he edged a third consecutive catch to Pothas to depart for 31 from 44 balls with four boundaries. Yorkshire were struggling on 56 for 3, but before Jonny Bairstow could join Gale heavy rain at 2.25pm prevented a restart until 5.20pm, and then only 3.2 overs were possible before the weather closed in again.

Eoin Morgan is expected to pay the price for his IPL stint by missing out on a place in England’s squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka, but he took his chance against the tourists with a destructive 156 for the Lions at Derby

Andrew McGlashan at Derby19-May-2011
ScorecardEoin Morgan returned to first-class action with a superb century but it might not be enough to earn him an England spot•Getty Images

Eoin Morgan is expected to pay the price for his IPL stint by missing out on a place in England’s squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka, but he took his chance against the tourists with a destructive 156 for the Lions at Derby. Morgan added 232 for the fifth wicket with Samit Patel, who made a fine return to England colours with a classy 101, as the Lions closed on an imposing 394 for 4.However, anything that happens in this match is unlikely to have a bearing on the England squad for Cardiff which will be named on Sunday. Geoff Miller, the national selector, and coach Andy Flower were both in attendance but this management group don’t make last-minute decisions.The momentum has grown behind Ravi Bopara in recent weeks as he has found form in the Championship so his scratchy 17, while a missed opportunity to impress, won’t have been a deciding factor in his immediate future.Yet, Morgan showed that he can transition from Twenty20 to first-class cricket with barely time to change his kit. He arrived back in England on Saturday, netted at Uxbridge on Sunday with Middlesex, then spent two days training with the Lions at Loughborough.He came in at 105 for 3 when James Hildreth, the captain, lost his off stump to the slingy Nuwan Pradeep, who has been compared to Lasith Malinga by the Sri Lanka coach Stuart Law. It had been hard work batting on a green pitch but Morgan cashed in as conditions eased against an older ball and tiring bowlers.There were the occasional alarms in what was Morgan’s first first-class innings of the year and second in nine months. He began with an edge through the slips first ball and top-edged a six over the wicketkeeper against Dilhara Fernando after nearly being foxed by a slower delivery.However, plenty of boundaries came out of the middle including a straight-driven six off Tharanga Paranavitna’s gentle offspin and he motored towards the 80s by attacking the expensive Suraj Randiv. There was no hanging around in the 90s, either, as a back cut off Thisara Perera was followed by a pull to reach a hundred from 128 balls. Whatever the opinions on the decisions he has made he has again shown that temperament is not a problem.Patel helped Morgan consolidate the innings, playing some handsome strokes to reach his ton from 131 balls. He has managed to hit the basic fitness targets laid down by the ECB and again showed them his raw talent. The bowling became increasingly ragged but Patel’s batting had a touch of class about it, particularly the off-side driving.He was offered two lives, both off Tillakaratne Dilshan, who spent part of the afternoon off the field after stepping on the ball, one of them by the normally safe Mahela Jayawardene who spilled two for the day. Jayawardene was one of five Sri Lankans recently arrived from the IPL. The chances, though, should take nothing away from Patel and time will tell whether he has turned a corner.Having watched the runs flow, Bopara will know he missed out. He had to bat when conditions were at their toughest after Sri Lanka won the toss and he never settled. Jayawardene dropped him at second slip on 4 then the visitors were convinced he’d edged behind on 8. They didn’t have to wait long, though, as Bopara flashed a cut at Fernando and edged to the wicketkeeper. Unlike Morgan, the major question marks over Bopara are regarding temperament.The man to do the hard work in setting up the innings was James Taylor, batting out of position at the top of the order because Jimmy Adams was the one specialist opener in the side. He was struck a painful blow on the inner thigh against the new ball but battled hard during the morning session and began to reap the rewards after the break as he collected two straight sixes off Randiv.Batting in Division Two of the Championship doesn’t always do a player many favours as there are some soft runs around, but this effort followed a gusty half-century at The Oval two weeks ago against a strong Surrey attack. He was reluctant to leave when given caught behind off Fernando but had set a strong foundation for his team-mates.Sri Lanka’s bowlers started well but couldn’t sustain pressure throughout the day. Pradeep was lively, Perara reasonably tight and Fernando occasionally threatening but they desperately need their spinner to offer control which Randiv couldn’t do. More long days in the field beckon when the Test series starts.

Darren Sammy, the West Indies captain, believes that his bowlers can take plenty of positives out of the series against Pakistan despite the home team losing the final Test in St Kitts

ESPNcricinfo staff25-May-2011Darren Sammy, the West Indies captain, believes that his bowlers can take plenty of positives out of the series against Pakistan despite the home team losing the final Test in St Kitts. Pakistan levelled the 1-1 with a comfortable 196-run victory, denying West Indies the chance to win a Test series for the first time in more than two years.”We did a great job getting the win in Guyana and we were looking for similar success here in St Kitts, but things did not go our way,” Sammy said. “Pakistan played some good cricket and you have to give them credit. Our bowlers did all that was asked of them all throughout the series. They bowled with heart and that is what we asked. This is one of the positives we could take out of the series.”We had momentum coming into the match, and we had them on the run in the first innings but the last-wicket stand switched the momentum a bit and took it away from us at that stage. When we batted we did not put enough runs on the board and we were always playing catch-up from that stage.”Especially impressive were Ravi Rampaul, who collected 11 wickets at 20.90 during the series, and Sammy himself, who took 10 at 17.90. The challenge for West Indies now is to regain their focus for the upcoming series against India, who will soon arrive for three Tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20.”It’s all about hard work and putting into play what we worked hard on during the training sessions,” Sammy said. “We have a full series against India coming up and it will be a tough series. We have to continue to put in the hard work and look to put totals on the board so the bowlers will have runs to work with. We are a confident group of young men and we will go into that series with the belief that we can win.”The first match against India is the Twenty20 in Trinidad on June 4.

Nottinghamshire Outlaws extended their lead at the top of the Friends Life t20 North Group as they thrashed Durham Dynamos by 54 runs

16-Jun-2011Nottinghamshire 213 for 4 beat Durham 159 by 54 runs
Scorecard
Alex Hales cracked 67 to help boost Nottinghamshire past 200•PA Photos

Nottinghamshire Outlaws extended their lead at the top of the Friends Life t20 North Group as they thrashed Durham Dynamos by 54 runs.Alex Hales (67 from 39 balls) and skipper David Hussey (54 not out) were the star performers with the bat as Nottinghamshire racked up 213 for 4 after winning the toss – the highest score against Durham in the history of the competition.Steven Mullaney then took 3 for 26, including Durham captain Phil Mustard for 29, as the visitors lost five wickets inside the opening nine overs and were eventually bowled out for 159, Gareth Breese top-scoring with 34.In front of England selector James Whitaker, Hales was once again hugely impressive, striking eight crisp fours as he got the Notts innings off to a flying start in partnership with Riki Wessels.Wessels made 31 before he was lbw to Chris Rushworth, and Adam Voges kept up the momentum while making sure Hales was given as much of the strike as possible. The pair put on 72 in just over seven overs before Voges was adjudged to have feathered an attempted pull off Liam Plunkett to wicketkeeper Mustard for 39 off 24 balls.Hussey was straight in the action, hitting his fourth ball for a straight six, and although Hales and Samit Patel were both bowled by Mitch Claydon, Hussey continued to smash the Durham attack to all parts. He brought up his half-century – from just 24 balls – with his fourth six off the final ball of the innings from Liam Plunkett.Needing more than 10 runs an over, Durham had no option but to swing hard from the start and did not enjoy the luck they needed to pull off an unlikely chase. Gordon Muchall drove to cover in the second over and with four further top order wickets falling in five overs, Durham’s hopes were all but extinguished.Breese hit a breezy 34 but was then caught at short third-man off Andy Carter, with Darren Pattinson finishing off the tail as he claimed 3 for 33.

Nottinghamshire were denied the opportunity to take advantage of Hampshire’s poor four-day form after heavy rain washed out day one at the Rose Bowl

20-Jul-2011
ScorecardNottinghamshire were denied the opportunity to take advantage of Hampshire’s poor four-day form after heavy rain washed out day one of the Championship Division One clash at the Rose Bowl.Nottinghamshire, currently sixth in the table with three wins from nine games, were unable to get on the field after steady rain began in earnest just after 11am.The start of play had already been pushed back to 11.30am to allow the ground to recover from Hampshire’s one-day game with Durham the evening before, but the weather stepped in to further delay proceedings.Umpires Nigel Llong and John Steele made numerous trips to the middle throughout the day in a bid to get the game under way, but after a final inspection at 5pm, the persistent drizzle around the ground forced them to abandon play for the day.The sides did announce their teams, however, with Hampshire – still searching for their first win in the Championship this season – without influential skipper Dominic Cork due to an illness in his family and deciding to bat first. Fellow former England quick bowler Kabir Ali was also rested for the hosts, with Chris Wood and David Griffiths drafted in.Nottinghamshire made three changes, bringing in one-cap England seamer Darren Pattinson, Charlie Shreck and spinner Graeme White. Stuart Broad could yet figure if he is left out of England’s XI for the Test Match with India at Lord’s.

It is understandable that Leicestershire haven’t been entirely focussed since their Twenty20 triumph on Saturday

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's01-Sep-2011
ScorecardIt is understandable that Leicestershire haven’t been entirely focussed since their Twenty20 triumph on Saturday, but after five days the foggy post-celebration haze lifted a little at Lord’s as they showed some fight in the follow-on against Middlesex. However, it won’t be enough to prevent their ninth defeat of the season while, in turn, a victory will send the home side momentarily top of the Division Two table.Even as summer turns to autumn, the same rules apply at Lord’s. If the sun is out, life is a lot tougher for the bowlers. England have previously found to their cost that asking a side to follow-on here can be the path to some hard toil and Middlesex’s bowlers had to earn their rewards – although that isn’t a bad thing because often this season Division Two wickets have fallen too easily.Middlesex only gained two breakthroughs up to tea, as Greg Smith hit 84, his first Championship fifty of the season, but inroads came during the final session including James Taylor for a determined 85. He faced 164 balls, in front of England selector James Whitaker, before gloving Tim Murtagh, armed with the second new ball, down the leg side although Middlesex were convinced they’d got him caught behind in single figures.Taylor’s display will help ease some of the frustrations of being left out of England’s Twenty20 and ODI squads having made his international debut against Ireland last week. Unlike in Dublin, where he fell to a top-edged pull, the shot was in good working order today . Overall, Taylor’s numbers for the season are impressive but it hasn’t been the most productive of summer’s in the Championship for him so a strong finish would be timely.Given he isn’t in the current England squad it appears unlikely he will make the tour to India next month (unless another player is rested) and, based on the recent India Test matches, remains behind Ravi Bopara in the pecking order for the reserve batsmen. It may be that Taylor has to be content with another winter of development for the Lions, which would actually be more beneficial than a couple of tours carrying drinks with the senior side.In the more immediate future he will need to decide where his county career lies. Leicestershire are going to offer him a new deal, but a move away – which would enable his current club to cash in – is still the likeliest option.Someone who may feature with Taylor for the Lions before next season is Toby Roland-Jones. He he has yet to gain any representative honours, but has registered interest with his economical action and ability to plug away on a nagging length. He may have already advanced further if shin splints hadn’t limited his season – this is just his sixth Championship game – but his spell post-tea was impressive.He had Josh Cobb, one of the heroes of finals day, caught behind from a loose drive that was well taken by John Simpson diving forward then produced an excellent delivery which lifted from a length to remove Ned Eckersley. When Wayne White was trapped lbw to the second new ball and Taylor followed shortly afterwards a three-day finish was on the cards but Robert Taylor and Jigar Naik erased the deficit.