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Yorkers. The key for a pace bowler to succeed in limited-overs cricket. Time and again, pace bowlers have showed that a yorker – well-directed or otherwise – can swing the game either way. Abhimanyu Mithun displayed in Ahmedabad on Sunday how to turn a game in his team’s favour by executing perfect yorkers consistently.In the semi-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Bengal required 22 runs off the last three overs. Subhajit Banerjee and Saurasish Lahiri managed a boundary each in the first four balls of Mithun’s penultimate over to bring the equation down to 13 off 14. Then, the lanky bowler found his key weapon going.The last seven balls he bowled – most of them being yorkers – fetched Mithun three wickets for just two runs to keep Karnataka’s dream run on the domestic circuit alive.”The situation was such that we required wickets to get back into the game. And the ball was reversing as well, so I just backed myself to bowl yorkers and I am delighted it worked,” Mithun told ESPNcricinfo from Ahmedabad on the eve of Karnataka’s final against Punjab.Bowling yorkers, especially in the death overs, doesn’t come easily. But Mithun was confident since he had worked on it. “I have been working on it for a while now, and I had delivered it consistently during the league stage, so I went for it knowing that I wouldn’t miss the length,” he said.Mithun’s ability to hit the block hole in the death overs augurs well for Indian cricket since many Indian pacers have failed to hit the right lengths in international matches. Perhaps Mithun’s ability to do it again and again will help him get back on the selectors’ radar once again.After impressing on placid tracks in Sri Lanka during his debut Test series in 2010, Mithun has hardly been persisted with by the national selectors. The last time he featured in India’s squad was two years ago, when he was roped in as a replacement for his Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar during the home T20s against England. And finishing with an impressive haul of 41 wickets in last season’s Ranji Trophy also did not earn him a call for the India A tours earlier in the year.Mithun admitted that he being overlooked by the selectors has been “difficult to deal with.” He couldn’t have asked for a better person than Vinay to have helped him remain positive in such a situation. Vinay has spent more years in the domestic circuit than Mithun in an attempt to play international cricket.”As a captain, as a senior player, he [Vinay] has been a great help,” Mithun said. “He has helped me in thinking of how I can keep improving myself and delivering for the team rather than thinking about things that are not in my hands. Many times, he walks up to me voluntarily and discussed about many things, which is great.”The duo’s partnership has flourished on the field and has been a key factor in Karnataka continuing to dominate domestic circuit since last season. While they achieved the triple of Ranji Trophy, Irani Cup and Vijay Hazare Trophy last year, Vinay’s team is now one step away from retaining their one-day title. If Mithun and Vinay repeat their heroics with the bat – their unbeaten 46-run partnership for the last wicket against Bengal was instrumental in Karnataka setting up a respectable target – and the ball, Harbhajan Singh’s Punjab will find it difficult to win the title.

India allrounder Irfan Pathan has hit back at criticism suggesting he has prioritised Twenty20 cricket over the first-class format, and said he was targeting playing a full Ranji Trophy season to boost his case for a comeback

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-2014India allrounder Irfan Pathan has hit back at criticism suggesting he has prioritised Twenty20 cricket over the first-class format, and said he was targeting playing a full domestic season to boost his case for a comeback to the India side. The allrounder last played for India in the 2012 World T20 and has since struggled with injuries. In the last two domestic seasons, Irfan has played just five first-class games, including four in the Ranji Trophy, but has played more matches in the limited-overs tournaments.Irfan last bowled in the first-class format during the 2012-13 season, in which he sent down 44 overs during a Ranji Trophy match and an India A game against an England XI. During the 2013-14 season, he played three matches for Baroda only as a batsman. In T20s across the same period, Irfan bowled more than 100 overs and played in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the IPL, for Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2013 and 2014 respectively.”When anyone questions my credentials in the team, it really hurts but I don’t think too much about it. When people talk about not playing the last two domestic seasons, they don’t talk about me playing as a batsman for half of the Ranji season even when the physio had told me to wait,” Irfan told ESPNcricinfo after the launch of Cricket Academy of Pathans, a forum created with brother Yusuf, that aims at conducting short-term training modules for budding cricketers.”The physio had told me I couldn’t do any harm if I played as a batsman. I could have easily taken that away and sat out. But I thought it was my duty to serve Baroda cricket, and [for] half of the season I played as a batsman when I could have easily said ‘Let me get fully fit and I would wait and play only as a bowling allrounder’. Besides, I played one-day cricket and the Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well. People in Baroda cricket and those who know me know well that just before the Mushtaq Ali Trophy I had typhoid. And I hadn’t recovered fully.”I want to make sure that those kind of questions don’t arise. People don’t talk about it which is very unfortunate. You know what you are doing, you believe in God and you know you are honest. So eventually, I keep working hard towards playing for country again which I will do very soon. Let people talk what they want to talk.”Irfan was confident about an India comeback and said that the larger goal for him was to get fitter and better by playing more games.”Yes, the World Cup is in mind. But at the same time I need to be realistic, making sure to play as many Ranji Trophy matches and a full domestic season,” Irfan said.”Once I do that, as a bowler you know that the more matches he plays the better he gets, the fitter he gets. His bowling gets to the level which he wants. I also want to do the same by playing as many matches as many possible. And then there is an aim of playing for India. That may happen either before the World Cup or after it. But that’s gonna happen for sure.”Irfan had been picked in India’s squad for the Champions Trophy in England last year but did not get a game. He was a part of the squad for the tri-series in West Indies but was ruled out due to a hamstring injury. He then suffered a rib injury that sidelined him for the early part of last season’s Ranji Trophy.

The double act produced by Adam Lyth and Aaron Finch in the Roses match at Old Trafford was re-enacted for local consumption at Headingley as Yorkshire kept their quarter-final fires burning with a 14-run win against Leicestershire

David Hopps01-Jul-2014
ScorecardAdil Rashid claimed two wickets as an impressive Yorkshire fielding display secured victory•Getty Images

If you thought the most wondrous catch in the NatWest Blast this season was too good to be repeated, think again. The double act produced by Adam Lyth and Aaron Finch in the Roses match at Old Trafford was re-enacted for local consumption at Headingley as Yorkshire kept their quarter-final fires burning with a 14-run win against Leicestershire.To watch such a slick combination once was a privilege. To see it twice in a matter of weeks defied belief. It had become an everyday miracle like birdsong or Black Sheep bitter. Twice, Lyth and Finch have achieved standards that if produced in IPL would be talked about for years.Nothing could be a better advertisement for the NatWest Blast as it battles to gain a place in public affections. There might even be a grudging nod of approval when no one is looking from those Yorkshire members who stoutly refuse to give house room to anything other than Championship cricket.At Old Trafford, it was Tom Smith who perished as Yorkshire clung on for a narrow victory. This time Josh Cobb was silenced just as a domineering stand between Cobb and Greg Smith suggested that Leicestershire could successfully pursue the 169 needed for victory. On both occasions, the Blast achieved standards that would delight any T20 league in the world.The routine is so slick it is tempting to assume it has been practiced more than it has. On both occasions, Lyth acrobatically knocked back the ball in mid-air from over the long-on boundary for Finch to complete the catch inside the boundary rope. Only this time the marks for artistic impression were higher: there was more of a twist in Lyth’s leap and Finch, instead of just accepting a perfect hand-off, had to plunge forward to hold a low, right-handed catch. “That was ordinary – we’ll have to work on that in the morning,” Finch joked.”I don’t know what to say to be honest,” Lyth said. “I needed a bit of luck. I had to run a little bit further for this one. And it’s Finchy who gets the catch.” They were quite rightly judged by Sky TV as joint winners of the Man of the Match award.”It changed the game,” Andrew Gale, Yorkshire’s captain, said. “Leicestershire have a lot of power up top. We practise a lot of our fielding but I’m not sure how much we practise that. It just shows the power and athleticism of the boys.”Fielding settled this match – one that Yorkshire were desperate to win to make the most of two home matches in successive days. Matt Boyce and Ben Raine were both run out, the latter via a direct hit from Azeem Rafiq. For Raine, who had bowled Finch on his way to 3 for 25, a first-ball dismissal killed his thoughts of a match-winning turn. It was all far removed from Leicestershire’s shoddy fielding display.There was a stumping, too, from Jonny Bairstow to rid Yorkshire of Ned Eckersley as the spinners, Adil Rashid and Rafiq, strangled Leicestershire in mid-innings on a gripping pitch. But as Bairstow seeks to rebuild his reputation he should reflect, too, on a careless missed run-out of Eckersley when he took the throw one handed and broke the stumps after the ball had slipped from his grasp.Yorkshire struck 33 from the last two overs of their innings – Tim Bresnan and Richard Pyrah rescuing an innings which had never caught fire. Greg Smith, out four overs from the end after making 56 from 49 balls, ensured Leicestershire needed only 27, but from the first ball Tom Wells struck Ryan Sidebottom flat to long-off where Finch this time took the catch without the need for a combo. At eight wickets down, Leicestershire never threatened again.Gale had provided the half-century that gave Yorkshire early ballast. “They gave me a few lives, but you need a bit of luck in T20,” he said. “I’ve had a stinker in the first five games so I’ve gone back to being an orthodox slogger, if you like.”The captain could be satisfied with his change of fortune but, as they returned to the top four, of far more importance was an essential victory less than 24 hours before Durham arrive at Headingley. Who knows, those Championship-only members might even turn out to cheer them on.

Group A

Prashant Gupta’s unbeaten maiden T20 hundred helped Uttar Pradesh chase down a 179-run target against Haryana, boosting their run rate and, eventually it turned out, putting them in the final against Baroda on Monday.*Prashant slammed 102 off 58 balls striking five fours and seven sixes as he guided the run chase with steady partnerships. He had good support from Eklavya Dwivedi and Akshdeep Nath as UP achieved the target with four balls to spare.Earlier, Haryana were reduced to 119 for 5 in the 14th over after their openers Avi Barot and Rahul Dewan had added 63. Late cameos from Rahul Dalal (24 from 19 balls) and Lokesh Sharma (16 off 10 balls), however, lifted the side to a competitive 178 for 8.Both Goa – one of the most dominant teams in this tournament – and Gujarat needed to win big to topple UP at the top of the points table, and seal their place in the final. Both teams fell short, Goa heartbreakingly so. Gujarat needed to win by roughly 30 runs, defending 180. Goa needed to chase it down before the completion of the 15th over. Gujarat didn’t get close, Goa fell short by roughly two balls. Needing a boundary off 14.4 to lift their net run rate over UP’s, the set Harshad Gadekar was out caught. The following delivery, the other set batsman, Rohit Asnodkar was bowled by left-arm seamer Kamlesh Thakor. Goa finished the game with a four one ball later, but it was not enough – again it was so close yet so far for them; had they managed a six off this final delivery, their net run rate would still have been marginally better than UP’s.That they were able to get so close was once again down to a solid platform set at the top – opener Swapnil Asnodkar slammed 64 off 28 deliveries.If Gujarat were in with a good chance of their own, that was also because of the solid beginning their top order game them. Priyank Panchal and Rajdeep Darbar added 86 in nine overs, before No. 3 Smit Patel hit 50 not out of 31 to take them to a very competitive 180.Goa had suffered similar heartache even in the Ranji Trophy, failing to make the knockouts by the thinnest of margins.

Group B

Baroda qualified for the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy despite yielding their three-match winning streak in the Super League. Kerala were joined with them on 12 points with the victory, but were 0.114 points shy in the run-rate battle. The fact that it got that close was because of an unmitigated assault from Raiphi Gomez. He razed 42 off 19 balls, with three fours and three sixes to imbue momentum to a meandering Kerala innings. Jafar Jamal held the other end during a stand of 55 runs in 30 balls as a scoreline of 81 for 5 in 14.1 was transformed to 152 for 6 in 20 overs.Aditya Waghmode kept Baroda in the hunt with a well-paced half-century. But the middle overs proved disastrous as KJ Rakesh and Rohan Prem orchestrated a collapse – five wickets for 18 runs. Waghmode was the first domino who fell after scoring 50 off 32 balls. The tail realised the futility of an equation that demanded 48 off 13 balls and ushered Baroda through to the 20 overs to salvage vital run-rate points.A fifty from Kshitiz Sharma and seven wickets shared between Javed Khan and Yogesh Nagar helped Delhi beat Rajasthan by seven runs.Kshitiz’s 57 off 42 balls had four fours and four sixes and helped lift Delhi from 36 for 3 to 121 before Sumit Narwal smacked a quick 17 off seven balls to take the score to 144 for 4.In reply, Arjit Gupta looked set to steer Rajasthan to victory, smacking a 36-ball 72 with five fours and six sixes. His dismissal in the 13th over, however, created instability within the ranks and two overs later, Ankit Lamba’s dismissal triggered a slide that saw Rajasthan lose their last seven wickets for 21 runs to fold for 137. Javed and Nagar were the architects of the collapse and finished with 4 for 18 and 3 for 13 respectively.12.45GMT, April 12: The round-up has been updated, after the completion of the Goa-Gujarat game.

Nepal made three changes to their 15-member squad that featured in the ICC World T20 Qualifiers in the UAE last year, bringing in Prithu Baskota, Naresh Budayair and Sompal Kami in place of Anil Mandal, Mahesh Chhetri and Amrit Bhattarai

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Feb-2014Nepal made three changes to their 15-member squad that featured in the ICC World T20 Qualifiers in the UAE last year, bringing in Prithu Baskota, Naresh Budayair and Sompal Kami in place of Anil Mandal, Mahesh Chhetri and Amrit Bhattarai. Baskota and Kami were part of the ODI squad that played in the World Cup Qualifiers in New Zealand last month, while Budayair is uncapped.The team, led by Paras Khadka, is placed in Group A along with Bangladesh, Hong Kong and Afghanistan for the qualifying round of the tournament. They will play their first match on March 16 against Hong Kong in ChittagongNepal: Paras Khadka (captain), Pradeep Airee, Prithu Baskota, Binod Bhandari (wk), Naresh Budhaayer, Shakti Gauchan, Sompal Kami, Avinash Karn, Subash Khakurel, Gyanendra Malla, Jitendra Mukhiya, Sagar Pun, Basant Regmi, Sharad Vesawkar, Rahul VishwakarmaIn – Prithu Baskota, Naresh Budayair, Sompal Kami,Out – Anil mandal, Mahesh Chhetri, Amrit Bhattarai

Adelaide’s first transportable Test pitch, as far as batsmen were concerned, promised to be more check-in than drop-in. England had no option but to hang in there

The Report by David Hopps at Adelaide Oval04-Dec-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:00

Kimber: A day of mistakes

Adelaide’s first transportable Test pitch, as far as batsmen were concerned, promised to be more check-in than drop-in. England, after fielding two spinners and losing an influential toss, had no option but to hang in there against an Australian side sensing the chance to build an unassailable lead. By the end of an engrossing first day, they had achieved their primary goal, but it was a close-run thing.George Bailey’s perma smile was becoming broader by the minute in the final session after registering his first Test fifty and Michael Clarke, although playing well within himself, a captain bearing his duties seriously, possessed the sort of Adelaide batting record – an average of more than 100 – to bring trepidation. The second new ball was doing nothing.Then Stuart Broad, with the admirably combative attitude of a bowler always willing to shake things up, fired in a bouncer and Graeme Swann pulled off a thrilling catch at square leg. Bailey, who had attacked the spinners, Monty Panesar in particular, with verve, departed for 53, the third Australian after Shane Watson and Chris Rogers to make a half-century but not take full advantage. This second Test is engrossingly poised.England could have been relishing unexpected riches if they had not dropped three catches in the final session, the most criminal a simple miss at backward point when Brad Haddin, on 5, cut Panesar: the culprit, Michael Carberry, has been a strange mixture in the field of brilliance and fallibility in his brief England career.There were other blemishes with the old ball, far tougher chances both. Panesar spilled a quick return catch from Bailey, on 10; Joe Root sprang to his right at short midwicket, with Clarke on 18, but a demanding chance off Swann went to ground.For all that, England, thumped by 381 runs in the first Test at the Gabba had cause for satisfaction. After the intimidating atmosphere of Brisbane, the challenge in Adelaide was a markedly different one. Expectations of a sedate batting surface persuaded them to select two spinners in a Test in Australia for the first time for 23 years, since Phil Tufnell and Eddie Hemmings combined in Sydney. There was enough grip in the surface to justify the gamble. This pitch is strikingly dry and, even if it will not disintegrate, it will dust up. They will hope for dividends later in the match.The new-look Adelaide Oval – now a multi-sport stadium with AFL the dominant partner – has been largely commended. Even dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists conceded that, as stadiums go, it possesses more style than most. The protected Moreton Bay figs still stand behind the old scoreboard at one end of the ground and you can even still see the cathedral if you are seated in the right place.England’s attention, though, rested exclusively on 22 yards of South Australian soil. Somehow, in a Test that looked bound to be a long haul, they had to find a way to take 20 wickets. As showers strafed the ground in the morning, there was little superficially to revive memories of how Swann and Panesar had toiled so successfully in tandem a year ago as England recovered from 1-0 down in India to win the series, but they both have a wicket to their name.James Anderson’s return catch off Shane Watson’s bat started a mini-collapse•PA Photos

Panesar, after a mediocre, not to say troubled season, did as much as could reasonably be expected. He bowled with a blustery wind coming over his left shoulder and, after a few short ones initially, produced an admirable holding operation in the afternoon. His post-tea spell was shoddy as Bailey met him adventurously, twice lofting him straight for six.The middle session finished with England on a high they could barely have foreseen as Watson and Rogers fell in successive overs and Steve Smith succumbed to the last ball before tea, comprehensively bowled as Panesar straightened one; three wickets lost for 19 in 39 balls.Rogers and Watson had ambitions on building something more unassailable. But Watson fell for 51 as James Anderson made one cut back slightly and responded lithely to a half-hearted drive with a low return catch. Rogers followed for 72 in the next over, Swann making one turn to have him caught at the wicket – the seventh time Swann’s offspin has dismissed him in as many Tests.Consolidation could be Rogers’ middle name. He freely admitted ahead of the Test that his position would be under review if he failed in Adelaide, and although he made his first Test fifty in Australia, he would be frustrated at not making full use of a golden opportunity. He also needed one moment of good fortune on 27 when he marginally survived an England review for lbw as Panesar turned one back into his pads. As for Watson, the times in Test cricket that he has not taking full toll after a promising start are innumerable.England also made good use of a rain-disrupted morning – restricted to 14.2 overs as squally showers forced three stoppages – by dismissing David Warner, who had looked in the mood to strut his stuff before he self-destructed against Broad, toe-ending him to Carberry at backward point. It was an intemperate moment, part of Warner’s batting DNA and accepted with relief by England, who must have been fearing a repeat of his better than a run-a-ball hundred made on this ground against South Africa a year ago.Panesar’s inclusion meant that England gave Ben Stokes a Test debut, his cap awarded by the former England captain, Andrew Strauss, before start of play. It was a risk for England to field Stokes, the rumbustious Durham allrounder, as high as No. 6, and rely on him to fulfil the third seamer role; promising as he is, his form for England in one-day cricket and tour matches has so far been unremarkable.Stokes was solid enough in his first day in Test cricket, but it was a difficult ask and Rogers, who had been cagey against the seamers, unsightly even against the spinners, was at his most confident against him as he brought his favourite square drive into playThis was a pitch which did not give its favours easily to the quicks, the sort of pitch upon which England have become attuned, the sort of pitch they might well have chosen upon which to try to get back into the series. Shane Warne suggested on Channel 9 before start of play that England had ordered extra chest pads and arm guards to combat the short-pitched menace of pace of Johnson. If that is so, on the evidence of the first day, many of them will remain unpacked until Perth

Sri Lanka can only play one warm-up first-class match ahead of their Test series in England next year, thanks largely to a condensed tour schedule

Andrew Fidel Fernando12-Sep-2013Full tour schedule

May 9 Sri Lanka arrive
May 13 50-over tour match v Essex, Chelmsford (D/N)
May 16 50-over tour match v Kent, Canterbury (D/N)
May 18 T20 tour match v Sussex, Hove
May 20 1st T20I, Oval
May 22 1st ODI, The Oval (D/N)
May 25 2nd ODI, Durham
May 28 3rd ODI, Old Trafford (D/N)
May 31 4th ODI, Lord’s
June 3 5th ODI, Edgbaston (D/N)
June 5-8 four-day tour match v Northamptonshire, Northampton
June 12-16 1st Test, Lord’s
June 20-24 2nd Test, Headingley

Sri Lanka can only play one warm-up first-class match ahead of their Test series in England next year, thanks largely to a condensed tour schedule.The four-day match that has been scheduled will be against Northamptonshire in Northampton, with two 50-over tour matches to be played in Chelmsford and Canterbury before the limited-overs series. A Twenty20 tour match will also be played, in Hove.Sri Lanka had played two first-class warm-up matches in their last tour to England, in 2011, ahead of the series they lost 1-0.The ECB moved Sri Lanka’s Tests to mid-June in order to avoid a clash with the IPL, but that reshuffle, and the abundance of cricket in England next summer, does not allow for a lengthy warm-up period. After Sri Lanka’s two-Test series, India play five Tests in the UK.In 2014, they will arrive in England without having played a Test match outside Asia in the last 16 months. However, Sri Lanka will have played five ODIs and a Twenty20 international in the UK before the Tests begin.Sri Lanka are set to arrive in England on May 9.

Warwickshire’s frustration was greater than Yorkshire’s when only an hour’s play was possible on the final day

Jon Culley at Headingley05-Aug-2013
ScorecardBoyd Rankin made short work of Yorkshire’s lower order•PA PhotosWarwickshire’s frustration was greater than Yorkshire’s when only an hour’s play was possible on the final day, when heavy overnight rain persisted well into the morning to leave the Division One leaders less vulnerable to defeat than they might otherwise have been. Even so, had the weather been kind to the defending champions after a 2.40pm start, they might still have pulled off a third win in a row.As it was, after completing the first part of their assignment by prising out the three remaining Yorkshire wickets, they had no sooner begun the chase for the 174 they needed than the weather closed in again, after only two overs of the 36 that theoretically were available.The draw enabled Yorkshire to reinforce their lead a little, extending the gap between themselves and Sussex from seven points to 10. Warwickshire, with five games left, have 37 points to make up if they are to catch Yorkshire and retain the title they won last year, although as was pointed out by Varun Chopra, still acting captain while Jim Troughton struggles to regain full fitness, the gap is as it was.”It would have been nice to have closed the gap with a win but with Sussex and Durham losing, we have not lost any ground,” he said. “And we are playing some very good cricket now.”We dominated against Middlesex and Notts in our last two games, which is easier said than done, and we were favourites to win this game here. With five games to go we will be a match for most teams and if we could win four of those we would have the same number of points that won us the title last year.”It took 13 overs for Yorkshire’s attempted resistance to collapse after resuming on 148 for 7. Chris Woakes finished with 5 for 42, his best analysis of the season, after uprooting Ryan Sidebottom’s stumps with his yorker and Boyd Rankin’s pace and bounce was too much for Steve Patterson and Jack Brooks, both caught on the leg side fending off rising deliveries. The big Irishman might have seen them off sooner but in questionable light Chopra was anxious not to give the umpires an excuse to take the players off and felt obliged to use Jeetan Patel from time to time.Chopra feels Rankin could be Warwickshire’s trump card on the run-in, compensating for the loss of the injured Chris Wright. “He had got something different to most county cricketers, with being 6ft 8ins, massive and fast. Standing there at slip, you can see it is hitting the ‘keeper real hard.”He is a better bowler this year even than last, with his areas and lines that he bowls. Last year you might have got the odd release ball from him but he is more at the batsmen this time and it looks very uncomfortable for anyone facing him.”It was not one of Yorkshire’s better performances, an analysis with which their captain, Andrew Gale, did not disagree, although he is not alarmed enough to revise his view that three more wins, perhaps even two, will be enough to clinch the title for Yorkshire for the first time since 2001.”I thought 300 was a little below par but the way we bowled on the second day put us in a good position,” he said. “But that morning session on the third day, where we had our foot on the throat of the defending champions, we let them off the hook. We should have made more than 180 in the second innings, when our batting was a bit soft in places, and that put them in a commanding position.”We cannot afford to have many sessions like that if we are to win the title but it might not have been a bad thing in a way as a wake-up call.”From here I think two more wins will put us in the mix, especially if we can beat Sussex away and Durham at Scarborough, and three would see us home.”Gale, whose side were a batsman short with Phil Jaques and Joe Sayers both injured, says that Yorkshire have ruled out signing an overseas batsman for the closing weeks of the season, despite the threat of losing another one, Gary Ballance, to England.”The club’s finances dictate what we can and can’t do and there is no money there, it is as simple as that,” he said. “But Phil is well on track to be back for the next Championship match and Joe is back playing second team today so we should have a full squad next time.”Gale admitted he would be irked if he were to lose Ballance to the England Lions games against Bangladesh A, which clash with Yorkshire’s clash with Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.”As far as Gary is concerned if England come for him we will have no say in the matter, of course, but I would hope we would not lose him for the Lions game,” he said.”If he goes and plays for England that’s fair enough but if it is for England Lions I think he’d be better off playing for us, in the Championship, to be honest. With the three in the senior side and five in the Under-19s I think we’ve given our fair share to the three lions.”

Glamorgan imploded in spectator style when in sight of victory on an afternoon of astonishing drama that saw Glen Chapple rally Lancashire to victory

Paul Edwards at Colwyn Bay03-May-2013Lancashire 123 (Glover 3-29, Hogan 3-31) and 272 (Katich 65, Glover 3-41) beat Glamorgan 242 (Goodwin 69, Kerrigan 4-48) and 139 (Kerrigan 5-32, Chapple 4-64) by 14 runs
ScorecardGlen Chapple, so often Lancashire’s hero, took four wickets to inspire a miraculous victory•PA Photos

A glance at the scorecard for this match will do little to convey the intricacy of the contest over three days or the astonishing drama that unfolded on Friday evening when Glamorgan seemed to be progressing to what would have been a deserved victory in facile fashion, only to implode in spectacular style when within sight of 20 points.Needing to score 154 in a maximum of 47 overs on the third evening, Glamorgan cruised to 94 for 2 in 18.2 overs before losing the remainder of their wickets for 45 runs in 19.2 overs.Destroyer-in-chief was Glen Chapple, who once again proved that age is just a number when you have skill and core fitness in abundance. He had been roughly treated early in the innings yet he returned to take four wickets including top scorer Will Bragg for 61. Accurate and penetrative, Chapple is always at the batsmen, but so is Simon Kerrigan, the sorcerer’s apprentice. Bowling from the Penrhyn Avenue End, Kerrigan contained the batsmen and among his five wickets was the vital scalp of Murray Goodwin, caught by Simon Katich for 11 when attempting a cut.It was Kerrigan who had last man Michael Hogan spectacularly caught by a leaping Ashwell Prince on the long-off boundary as Hogan sought to score the 15 runs his team needed in something like three blows. That wicket sparked joyous scenes in front of the Colwyn Bay pavilion by Chapple and his players who were celebrating their first Championship win in 11 matches, a run stretching back to last June’s triumph on a gloomy Saturday evening at Chester-le-Street.But at first it had been the Glamorgan batsmen who were racing towards victory. Spectators settling down after tea expected the siege of Stalingrad; instead they got the Battle of M’boto Gorge from Blackadder Goes Forth. Wallace’s openers seemingly had little truck with arguments suggesting cautious accumulation was the best policy. Ben Wright and Will Bragg garnered 38 runs off the first 27 balls of the innings, a result of some over-pitched bowling, a few edges and a fast outfield, before Wright cut James Anderson low to Karl Brown in the gully. It seemed both teams had plans for Saturday. Now Lancashire’s players may be nursing the odd sore head while Glamorgan’s will be wondering where it all went wrong.”That win’s right up there with any we have achieved over the last two years,” Chapple said. “It’s a terrific victory and a great boost for the lads who have worked hard. It’s been a difficult week for us in some ways because we have not played our best cricket but we hung on and kept believing. We’ve come away with a victory we’ll remember for a long time.”But as Glamorgan discovered to their cost, getting into a winning position is one thing; sealing the victory – “bringing home the bread” as they call it in parts of Manchester – is very much another. At 12.22pm on the third day of this match Simon Katich essayed a drive at Glamorgan seamer John Glover but only succeeded in edging the ball to wicketkeeper Mark Wallace. His departure for a well-made, fighting 65 left Lancashire on 164 for 7 in their second innings and their lead was a piffling 45. It seemed Glamorgan were on their way to consecutive victories.Then again, this is cricket, a game which delights in taking the absurdly improbable and making it so. First Chapple and Gareth Cross added 42 for the eighth wicket, Chapple whacking Hogan into the back garden of a nearby house during his innings of 26. Then, when Chapple had holed out at mid-on off Mike Reed when the lead was 89, Kyle Hogg joined Cross, who was himself playing on the ground of the club he has represented in the Liverpool competition for some years. Together, these Lancastrians put on a further 63 runs with a mixture of shrewd aggression and unsparing vigilance.Rarely has Cross, a naturally aggressive batsman, played with more responsibility than he did during his 143-minute innings of 26; it took a fine two-handed diving catch by Dean Cosker to remove him. One run later Hogg gave Glover his third wicket when he stretched to drive and trudged off having made 47, yet another reminder of a frequently unfulfilled talent. All the same Lancashire’s lead was 153. It was, as they say, game on.The first session of the day had been as well contested and involving as its predecessors. Lancastrian hopes that Jimmy Anderson would frustrate the Glamorgan bowlers in the classic manner of the specialist nightwatchman were quickly demolished when the England batsman was beaten all ends up by Jim Allenby in the third over of the day when only a single run had been added to the overnight total.But likewise, Welsh fancies that the visitors’ batting would disintegrate like candyfloss in a high wind were similarly unfounded. Instead Katich and Steven Croft batted with busy, acquisitive competence to add 49 runs in fifteen overs before both batsmen perished caught behind attempting to drive in the space of three overs. Croft was the first to go, playing loosely at Reed, then Glover took the key wicket of Katich when he drove in a flurry of dust and footholds and Tim Robinson decided he had edged the ball. Not everyone was convinced but Katich trooped silently off. Never walk, never complain. He had made 65, an innings which had certainly kept his side in the game. As things turned out, it played a large part in winning it.

أكد هاني سعيد المدير الرياضي لنادي بيراميدز، أهمية الفوز الذي حققه الفريق أمام فيوتشر، بهدف نظيف، ضمن منافسات بطولة الدوري المصري الممتاز.

بيراميدز واجه فيوتشر، أمس الجمعة، على استاد الدفاع الجوي، في إطار الجولة 30 من عمر المسابقة المحلية. طالع

وقال هاني سعيد في تصريحات للمركز الإعلامي لبيراميدز: “3 نقاط مهمة والأهم الابتعاد بفارق 7 نقاط بالمركز الثاني في جدول ترتيب الدوري”.

وتابع: “بيراميدز استحق الفوز ولعب من أجله منذ الدقيقة الأولى، وكان بإمكانه الفوز بأكثر من هدف، ولكن في النهاية الفوز مهم والثلاث نقاط غالية”.

وأضاف: “لاعبو بيراميدز أثبتوا أنهم رجالًا وعلى قدر المسؤولية خاصة بعد الخروج الإفريقي وخسارة لقبي الكأس والسوبر المصري، ويحسب لهم أنهم قرروا التعويض في الدوري وتحقيق الانتصار تلو الآخر”.

وأكمل: “ومن المهم مواصلة المسيرة والفوز الثامن تواليًا في مواجهة فاركو المقبلة، والتي لابد من الفوز بها للاقتراب أكثر من حسم المركز الثاني والاستمرار ولما لا في المنافسة على لقب الدوري، قبل التوقف الدولي المقبل”.

واختتم: “ننتظر خلال 3 أسابيع عودة الثنائي عبد الله السعيد وأسامة جلال للفريق بعد سفرهما عن طريق النادي لألمانيا لإجراء الفحوصات اللازمة هناك، وحاليا يستعد الثنائي للسفر مجددًا لبدء المرحلة الثانية من برنامج العلاج والتأهيل من الإصابة”.

ويحتل بيراميدز وصافة ترتيب الدوري المصري بـ61 نقطة بفارق نقطة واحدة عن الأهلي المتصدر بـ5 مباريات أقل، بينما يسكن فيوتشر المرتبة الثالثة بمجموع 54 نقطة.