Will Kendall and Robin Smith restored some pride to Hampshire’s batting by leading a spirited fightback in the final session at Taunton. Coach Jimmy Cook had demanded a more resolute approach after Piran Holloway’s first century for almost a year enabled Somerset to build a first innings lead of 226.And, after openers Andy Sexton and Giles White had fallen cheaply, an unbroken third wicket stand of 76 enabled Hampshire to close on 140-2, with the deficit reduced to just 86.Kendall smacked 10 fours in reaching only his second Championship half-century of the season and finished unbeaten on 74, while skipper Smith looked increasingly menacing as he move to 35 not out.It was a welcome relief to Cook, who was backing his side to produce a vast improvement on their woeful first innings effort of 142.”Away from home we have found opponents guarding against Shane Warne by leaving some grass on the pitches and our batsmen have lost confidence by being rolled over on some poor wickets,” he said.”This track is about the best we have encountered and I was interested in seeing how we performed in better weather than we encountered in our first innings. I told the players they should be looking forward to batting in such conditions.”By the closing overs Kendall and Smith were doing just that, with the latter producing some typically swashbuckling square cuts that were ominous for Somerset.Hampshire still have some way to go to save the game. But, with the weather forecast poor for the final two days, the home side are no longer cast iron favourites.They looked to be gaining a stranglehold on the match when Holloway and Mike Burns built a sixth-wicket stand of 110 after Somerset had resumed on 208-4.Holloway was given a life after adding just two to his overnight score of 53 when John Stephenson dropped a catch running back from slip off a top-edged hook. Peter Hartley was the unlucky bowler.It proved an expensive miss as the little left-hander went on make a typically determined 113, off 280 balls, with 12 fours, before edging a Warne googly to wicketkeeper Adrian Aymes.Burns put a string a low Championship scores behind him, producing several well-timed cover drives in his fluent 56, an innings ended by a brilliant leg-side stumping by Aymes off seamer Dimitri Mascarenhas.At 320-5 Somerset looked on course for maximum batting points. But Burns’ departure saw the last five wickets fall for just 48 as Warne reaped the reward for 38 overs of perseverance on an unhelpful pitch with figures of 4-91.The Australian never looked happy and was limping at times. But Cook is full of praise for his unstinting efforts.Hampshire’s second innings looked to be heading the same way as the first when Steffan Jones removed Sexton for four and White to the last ball before tea, lbw for 18.At that point Hampshire were 64-2. But the final session belonged to them and a Somerset attack, lacking its spearhead Andy Caddick because of England duty, still has it all to do to capitalise on what appeared a winning position.

Mutare Sports Club celebrated its inaugural first-class matchrather wetly, and less than half of the first day’s play waspossible, only that due to superb work on the part of the localauthorities. Manicaland, put in to bat, finished the day on 102for two.Despite some wet days during the week, the ground had remainedfairly dry, thanks largely to the new extensive covers bought bythe club. However, on the eve of the match there was steady rainfor most of the night which left a fair portion of the lower endof the ground in standing water. Play looked quite unlikely onthe first day, but Manicaland player Steve Lawson runs a swimmingpool business and got his pumps to work, while the ground staffand local officials worked hard, the boundary was brought in onone side and the sun shone intermittently. Conditions were stillnot good, but since the sides are predominantly amateur they werekeen to play if at all possible! Play was scheduled to start at2.15, but more rain seemed to be approaching and the start wasdelayed in anticipation of it, which would have been disastrous.Fortunately it blew away, and the players eventually took thefield at three o’clock.Gus Mackay, replacing Trevor Penney who had returned toWarwickshire in the team and taking over as captain, won the tossand decided to field, despite the likelihood of a wet ball. Alsonew to the Mashonaland team were Darlington Matambanadzo and Garydu Plessis, replacing Brad Robinson and Brighton Watambwa.Manicaland were strengthened by the return of the Whittallcousins, although Guy cannot yet bowl, in place of James Sparrowand Brian James, who became twelfth man.Everton Matambanadzo bowled Mutare Sports Club’s inauguralfirst-class delivery, and Neil Ferreira turned it to long leg fortwo. Runs came slowly after that, even though the bowlingsometimes lacked accuracy. The outfield was naturally slow afterall the rain, and also due to the fuel crisis it had not beenproperly cut, so the grass was thick. One fielder early onslipped on a wet patch at midwicket and took a nasty tumble.Tea was declared to have been taken before the match started,which left potentially a three-hour session of 45 overs, lightand weather permitting. Ferreira and Patrick Gada put on 28 forthe first wicket before Gada (13) pushed forward to a deliveryoutside off stump from du Plessis and edged a catch to keeper DonCampbell.Mark Burmester soon brought a greater air of aggression to thebatting, driving and pulling powerfully when he received a looseball, but often failing to get full value for his strokes. Heovertook the watchful Ferreira in the twenties, but fell with hisscore on 39. As he tried to reverse-sweep Viljoen – the firsttime he had ever attempted the shot in a match, he said – theball looped over the keeper’s head, and Campbell ran back tocatch it; he was given out perhaps controversiallyThis slowed the scoring rate, as Brent came in as night-watchmanand played for the close. Ferreira kept chugging along, relyingon nudges and pushes with an occasional cut or sweep, andManicaland were 102 for two at the close (Ferreira 39, Brent 5).But more rain is very possible tomorrow.

Himachal Pradesh completed a facile five wicket win over Jammu andKashmir in their North Zone Cooch Behar Trophy Under-19 match at thePolice Stadium in Chamba on the third and final day on Tuesday.Himachal Pradesh collected eight points.Set to score 133 for a win, Himachal, guided by a fine 52 by opener HDogra, needed just 23.1 overs to overhaul the J&K total. Dogra wholost his partner Prasanth Kumar with the score at 27, forged a 61-runsecond wicket stand in 12.1 overs, ensuring Himachal of victory. Butafter his fall, Himachal lost three further wickets before theyreached home.Earlier, on the opening day, J&K put into bat, put up a fighting 242on the board. The chief architect was SS Salaria (87) who shared a 89run fourth wicket stand with Sathyajit Singh (52). Then I Sheikh (22)frustrated the Himachal bowlers to take the score past the 200 runmark.In reply Himachal took a slender 11 run first innings lead. Openers HAngarish (52) and Prasanth Kumar (45) gave Himachal a solid start byputting on 79 runs in 17.5 overs. The middle order batsmen came upwith some useful contributions, helping Himachal to total 253.J&K in their second innings were tottering at 33 for 6 before opener AJalani (55) and SS Salaria (53) added 74 runs for the seventh wicketto help J&K post a moderate 143 on the board.

Maharashtra kept piling up the runs on the secondday of their West Zone Ranji Trophy league matchagainst Saurashtra at Rajkot on Sunday before theydeclared at 539 for six after the innings lasted168 overs. At stumps, Saurashtra starting theirlong haul, were 41 for no loss off 10 overs.Overnight not out batsmen Surendra Bhave andHrishikesh Kanitkar carried on from where theyleft off on Saturday. Their second wicketassociation was worth 313 runs off 99.5 oversbefore Kanitkar was bowled by Hitesh Parsana for190. Kanitkar batted 394 minutes, faced 304 ballsand hit 27 fours and three sixes. A little later,Bhave was finally out for 149 after having batted519 minutes. The veteran faced 384 balls and hit15 fours and a six. Abhijit Kale (55) and SagarShah (45 not out) then flogged the tiredSaurashtra attack before the declaration.Saurashtra openers Sudhir Tanna (23) and PrashantJoshi (12) batted confidently in the final overstill stumps were drawn. But it is a long, hardroad that Saurashtra still has to traverse.

Glamorgan will regroup over the weekend after their 328 run defeat by Yorkshire in the County Championship match at Swansea.”Nobody likes to lose, but we must take our hats off to Yorkshire,” said Glamorgan captain Steve James. “They put in a much better performance than us and thoroughly outplayed us. We have got to stick our hands up and say that Yorkshire got too many runs in the first innings – 280 was way above par on quite a sporting pitch."”When it was our turn to bat, Chris Silverwood bowled superbly early on and we were three down for virtually nothing. From then on we were chasing the game, and in the second innings, they began 180 ahead and we knew it would be difficult batting from that position. Our eventual target was to score 454 in over five sessions, but I could never see us batting for that length of time because the ball was still doing plenty.”Whilst Glamorgan have never lost before by so many runs in a County Championship match, their defeat by Yorkshire is not their heaviest in the competition. The table below lists the four heaviest Championship defeats, all recorded during the inter-war period:

Innings and 331 runs v Surrey at Cardiff Arms Park, 1936Innings and 327 runs v Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, 1929Innings and 270 runs v Sussex at Horsham, 1923Innings and 258 runs v Yorkshire at Cardiff Arms Park, 1922

The West Indies selectors today recalled fast bowler, Reon King, for the back-to-back tours of Zimbabwe and Kenya starting later this month. Also recalled for the One Day series only, is Guyanese Mahendra Nagamootoo, who has not represented the West Indies since the ill-fated tour of Australia earlier this year.During a selection meeting yesterday, the selectors chose separate Test and One Day International squads for the two and half month tour of the African continent. Each squad is comprised of sixteen players.Three changes will be made to the One Day International squad. Leon Garrick, Colin Stuart and Dinanath Ramnarine will all play in the Test series, replacing Wavell Hinds, Kerry Jeremy and Mahendra Nagamootoo.The West Indies along with India, will join host Zimbabwe for a triangular One Day series, to be followed by two Tests involving Zimbabwe, before the team moves on to Kenya for a series of One Day matches.The management team for both tours will comprise of Ricky Skerritt (Manager), Roger Harper (Coach), Ronald Rogers (Trainer), Garfield Smith (Scorer/Analyst).The full squads are as follows:One Day Internationals:-
Carl Hooper (captain), Ridley Jacobs, Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Wavell Hinds, Cameron Cuffy, Mervyn Dillon, Reon King, Corey Collymore, Kerry Jeremy, Neil McGarrell and Mahendra Nagamootoo.Test Squad:-
Carl Hooper (captain), Ridley Jacobs, Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Leon Garrick, Cameron Cuffy, Mervyn Dillon, Reon King, Corey Collymore, Colin Stuart, Neil McGarrell and Dinanath Ramnarine.

There was nothing but surprise today for the late-arriving spectator who came to Maple Leaf Cricket Club, asked the CricInfo scorer when the match would be starting, and was then told that it had already finished. But it was easy to understand his bemusement, given just how quickly first-seed Scotland completed its six-wicket victory over Fiji.For many of the Fijians, it was a day when they gained their first experience of batting on turf wickets. Sadly for them, they had to do so against probably the best pace attack in the competition – an attack which was able to brilliantly exploit favourable conditions.It was the first match played on the new turf wicket on the north-west of Maple Leaf’s five grounds, and neither side knew quite what to expect.Neil Maxwell is Fiji’s only player with extensive experience of turf pitches and he read it as likely playing fairly slowly with low bounce, offering early help to the seamers because of the overnight dew.Scotland captain George Salmond called correctly, and duly put the Fijians into bat. It soon became clear that this was by no means an easy wicket on which to bat, with considerable bounce, some pace, and much movement off the seam.Although Durham pace bowler James Brinkley was rested for this match, the Scots opening attack of John Blain (1/11) and Asim Butt (5/11) relished the conditions. Blain generated considerable pace bowling up the hill and Butt (although of a much more moderate pace) was a real handful, combining late inswing with movement off the seam.The Fiji cause was not helped when Maxwell (2) – who, earlier in the same over, had already experienced trouble in avoiding a short pitched ball from Blain – called for a sharp single, only to be sent back by his partner. A sharp pick up and direct hit from Salmond left him well out of his ground.The Fijian lower order showed some enterprise, and after Craig Wright (3/16) had bowled Iniasi Cakacaka (12) with his first ball, only to have it called no-ball, he was struck for a couple of excellent fours. Cakacaka became the only Fijian to reach double figures before falling to the same bowler.Butt finished with an impressive 5/11, conceding only six runs off the bat, and at one point taking three wickets in the space of four balls. It was Fiji’s lowest total ever in an ICC Trophy match, erasing their tally of 69 (made against Bermuda in 1986) from that part of the record books.Fiji nonetheless refused to meekly accept defeat. Taione Batina (2/13) and Atunaisa Tawatatau (0/14) both troubled the Scots openers. Bruce Patterson (3) sought to play his shots, but had trouble with the high bounce. A poorly judged hook led to a top edge and an easy catch at gully, and Colin Smith (0), having survived a confident appeal from his first ball, was less fortunate with his second, being adjudged lbw as he prodded forward.Douglas Lockhart (14) played with patience and steadied the innings, taking few risks until he hooked left armer Jone Seuvou (1/9) straight to square leg. Although by now the Scots were nearly level, the Fijians had one last fling and, with Maxwell generating good pace, Salmond (2) had some difficulty with one short pitched delivery and then snicked an easy catch to slip. With the scores level, Greig Williamson (4) advanced down the wicket to his first ball and smashed it over mid off for the winning runs.After the match, Maxwell, whilst not offering excuses, explained how hard it was for the Fijians to adjust to the conditions, given that they have experienced no opportunity to practice on turf wickets, either at home or in the warm-up matches to the competition.Scotland coach Jim Love felt that, whilst the high bounce would favour his strong pace attack, batting will be very hard on this pitch, particularly early in the day when the effects of dew are still evident.

The day after top scoring with 76 in England’s heavy defeat at the hands of the Aussies at Edgbaston, Marcus Trescothick was back at the County Ground on a wet Monday morning training hard, lapping the ground and sprinting short distances.”I’m really looking forward to playing against Glamorgan on Wednesday. It’s been a long time since I played here last,” he said.When I asked him about the next time he would be available to play for the county he said: “pass.”I asked him what he thought about the two Pakistan players turning out for Somerset against Australia he said, “It will be good for the crowd because everyone wants to see him (Shoaib Akhtar) bowl, he is very quick. It will give us a chance to rest key players, and get a large crowd in for the game, which is important.”

The MCC have offered half-price tickets for the fourth day of next year’s Lord’s Tests against either Sri Lanka or India for spectators who witnessed the final session of this year’s Test.The game was concluded in less that 90 minutes on the fourth day, as Australia wrapped up an eight-wicket victory.

Gloucestershire’s excellent Championship form continued as Mark Alleyne’s side put themselves into a commanding position against Nottinghamshire.With Matt Windows (174) and Chris Taylor (148) taking their third-wicket partnership to 306, a record stand against Notts, Gloucestershire pushed on to build a big lead.Jeremy Snape helped himself to an unbeaten century as the visitors’ bowlers again erred in line and length, reaching the landmark in only 96 balls and striking a six and 11 fours.Skipper Alleyne too looked in good form, driving powerfully in front of the wicket for his 72 before he was fifth out at 502.The declaration finally came at 608-8, giving Gloucestershire a formidable lead of 286. Nottinghamshire’s woes continued as they lost three early wickets.Acting captain Darren Bicknell fell in the second over to Alistair Bressington for a duck and Greg Blewett’s miserable match continued as he bagged a pair, edging Averis to Ball at slip. Averis also claimed the wicket of first innings centurion Paul Johnson, also without scoring, to leave Notts on 10-3.Guy Welton batted defiantly for his 30 but after Kevin Pietersen had been caught down the legside by Russell off Bressington the opener lost his off stump to Alleyene to reduce the visitors to 54-5.John Morris was defiant, making a well crafted 54, but wickets continued to tumble and with the extra half-hour looming Chris Read became the sixth man out, leaving Alleyne with the easy decision to take the half-hour.Morris finally fell to Alleyne, eighth out at 125, and with Greg Smith run out it was left to Stephen Randall and Nadeem Malik to defy the Gloucestershire bowlers in a tense last five overs with Notts on 139-9, still 147 runs behind.