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Scorecard

Netherlands won the first match of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament with a good victory over Kenya by 19 runs. Their star performer was the South African-born Ryan ten Doeschate, the Man of the Match with a top score of 56 and impressive bowling figures of 3 for 27.At nine o’clock this morning it looked unlikely that the match would be able to take place, or indeed the other two scheduled for today, as the rain was falling steadily as it had done for much of the last twelve hours. But there was a remarkable transformation as the sun suddenly appeared, the groundstaff did a superb job in clearing up, and though pampered Test players might have protested, the associate members were only too keen to take the field.Kenya won the toss and put Netherlands in to bat. Play opened only 25 minutes late, for the full 20 overs, in sunshine and in front of a crowd approaching 100 in number. Netherlands made a steady start, with Darron Reekers the more attacking of the openers, until, with 13 off Peter Ongondo’s first over, they reached 49 off the sixth over. Then left-arm spinner Hiren Varaiya came on and immediately had Reekers stumped for 29 off 26 balls.Eric Szwarczynski, South African by birth, was his opening partner, beginning slowly but then making 28 off 25 balls before driving a simple return catch to Varaiya. ten Doeschate and Daan van Bunge pushed on the score with some hectic running, and Kenya missed a stumping and at least one run-out opportunity. After 10 overs they were a promising 80 for 2. Variaya finished four overs with 2 for 24, but the offspinner Jimmy Kamande travelled for 11 off four balls before he had van Bunge stumped for 12; 111 for 3 after 14 overs.ten Doeschate flourished, swinging two big leg-side sixes, but could not quite break loose in the final overs. Overs 18 and 19 yielded only seven runs. His fifty came in the last over, off 43 balls; he then hit a high six over midwicket before being caught at long-on for 56 trying to repeat the shot next ball. The innings closed at 153 for 5. Thomas Odoyo, conceding 16 off four overs, was the most economical bowler.Edgar Schiferli almost struck for Netherlands in his first over, having Kennedy Obuya edging a catch to the slips – only for the umpire to call no-ball. Mudassar Bukhari’s first over yielded 12 as Obuya and Morris Ouma were unafraid to hit the ball in the air as they attacked with panache. But it couldn’t last, and Ouma holed out on the leg boundary for 13 off 11 balls. Otieno soon followed for 13, falling into a trap set for him at short fine leg, and after that Kenya became rather bogged down, with Bukhari able to complete his overs for just 20 runs.At the 10-over mark, Kenya had only 60 on the board, 20 behind Netherlands at the same stage. Steve Tikolo, despite playing some good shots, did not really look in good form, and after 13 overs (83 for 3) the required rate went above 10. Tikolo now holed out at long-off for 37 off 33 balls, leaving only Odoyo capable of producing a miracle.Fifty four were needed off the last four overs, and then Odoyo (17) clubbed to long-off to make defeat as inevitable as anything can be in this game.Collins Obuya did his best to achieve the miracle, with two sixes in 16 off six balls, as did the other tailenders, and at least Kenya went down with guns blazing, finishing with 134 for 9. ten Doeschate took wickets with the last two balls of the innings, contributing to his good figures, but it was Schiferli, with 3 for 23, who took the first three wickets and broke the back of the innings.

The former president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, is believed to have been arrested in a campaign by the government that has been strongly criticised by Amnesty International.Chowdhury and others are reportedly held under the government’s “Operation Clean Heart” initiative, which is billed as a crackdown on crime by the army and police. But Amnesty is urging an immediate investigation into allegations of deaths in custody and torture.”The government must bring to justice any army or police personnel involved in the torture of detainees, and clarify the legal status of the army’s involvement in arrests of civilians,” said Amnesty.Chowdhury is political secretary to the leader of the opposition, Sheikh Hasina,and is thought to have been arrested earlier this week. Amnesty claims over 2000 people have been arrested and at least five people have died in custody in the operation.Amnesty believes that Chowdhury, along with Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, a member of parliament and former health minister, are possible prisoners of conscience. No details have been made public about the possible charges against them, and Amnesty fears they may be detained solely for their peaceful opposition to the government.”It is every government’s duty to ensure law and order for the benefit of all citizens, but this cannot be imposed at the expense of the basic rights of the people”, Amnesty International said.As president of the Cricket Board, Chowdhury was a key figure behind Bangladesh’s elevation to Test status two years ago.

Steve Massiah, the USA captain, is confident his side can get back to the top of the Associates after spending most of the past three years in the wilderness. And that road to redemption begins with the World Cricket League Division 5 which gets underway in Jersey on May 23.Massiah, 28, captains the USA in Group A of the tournament, where they will face the hotchpotch collection of Germany, Mozambique, Nepal, Norway and Vanuatu. Meanwhile Group B features Afghanistan, Bahamas, Botswana, Japan, Jersey and Singapore.”I believe we have a very, very good chance of going all the way and getting back to the top,” Massiah said. “But we are not taking any of the other teams lightly. We’re going to go there and take it very seriously, play positive cricket and hopefully get through to the next level.”At the time we were excluded from international cricket (in 2005 and again in 2007) we were playing with the top Associates and now we are down near the bottom. But as I told the guys, I think it could be a blessing in disguise as it gives us a chance to generate a bit of team spirit and will hopefully allow us to assess the players and figure out what our best combinations are.”In April, the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) was re-recognised as an Associate Member of the ICC. USACA had been suspended for a second time by the ICC in March 2007 after failing to meet a number of conditions, including constructing a new constitution, and to hold elections for a board of directors. All these goals have now been achieved following a process overseen by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and, following a report presented to the ICC, the suspension was lifted. Now, however, they face their first major test on the field and Massiah is chomping at the bit to get back into it.”I am happy with the preparations so far. It has been easier for the guys in the warmer parts of the country,” he said. “We had a really productive training camp down in Florida and I think we have put together a well-balanced side with some experienced players and some exciting young talent. I really don’t know anything about the other teams in the tournament but I am looking forward to getting over there and back into international cricket. It has been a long wait and everybody is really excited waiting for the first game.”The tournament will match some unlikely pairings, however, with Massiah’s men set to face teams from as diverse places as the heartland of central Europe to the foothills of the Himalayas and the remote Pacific islands. Germany, coached by Keith Thompson, have their first opportunity to pit their skills against opposition from outside Europe since the ICC Trophy in 2001.The team secured its spot after being ranked third in the European Championships Division 2 event last year. Mozambique qualified for this event at the ICC World Cricket League Africa Region Division 2 tournament and will be captained by the middle-order batsman Muhammed Shoaib Younus.Nepal are an up-and-coming side in world cricket and, having done well in the past two Under-19 World Cups the future looks bright. Of the side that got to the Plate Championship final in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year, Paras Khadka, Gyanendra Malla, Mahesh Chhetri and Amrit Bhattarai have all graduated to the senior squad for the WCL Div. 5.The 12-team event will be staged across six venues and will take the format of two groups of six with the top two from each section progressing to the knock-out stage. The finalists from this tournament will be promoted to the World Cricket League Division 4, joining Hong Kong, Fiji, Tanzania and Italy in a six-team event that will take place in Dar es Salaam from October 4.From there, the top two teams from that tournament will progress to the third division of the World Cricket League in Argentina next January, followed by the World Cup Qualifier next year. And, finally, at the end of that tournament, the top four Associate or Affiliate teams will be booking their places at the 2011 World Cup.Group A
Germany
Mozambique
Nepal
Norway
USA
VanuatuGroup B
Afghanistan
Bahamas
Botswana
Japan
Jersey
Singapore

Sachin Tendulkar’s 113 took India to their highest score in the NatWest Series so far. It was his 33rd one-day century which helped India to a 63-run win over Sri Lanka at Bristol. He reckons that the fact India had already qualified for the final helped him to relax and play as he did.”Since we have qualified for the final I just wanted to go out there and enjoy myself,” he said. “It was a fantastic batting wicket too.”Meanwhile, the Sri Lankans will be pleased their tour is at an end after a run of disappointing results. Their captain Sanath Jayasuriya admitted things have not always gone as he would have liked over the past three months. He would certainly liked to have had his main bowler, off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, available throughout.”If Murali had been there this would have been a different game,” he said. “In this one-day series we would have won one or two games more at least.”Looking back on tonight’s defeat, Jayasuriya felt Sri Lanka could have done muchbetter after Kumar Sangakkara had given them a good start with his rapid innings of 66. But the turning point proved to be the departure of Mahela Jayawardene.”We started very well, and Sangakkara played very well. But to win chasing 300 you need someone to go on to a hundred,” Jayasuriya said. “A few got started, but nobody went on very far past 50. You cannot afford to do that if you are going to have a chance of a successful chase when the opposition has got such a big total.”

Otago joined the list of financial achievers over the past season by recording a small surplus of $3400, which represented a vast improvement and a turnaround of $186,948 within 12 months.That co-incided with a $186,395 increase in New Zealand Cricket (NZC) grants, and distributions, of $862,049, up from the previous year’s $675,654.Chief executive Graeme Elliott noted total expenses had been reduced from the previous year while income had increased by $170,000. The association had also benefited from a capital advance of $300,000 in funds from NZC.Otago have also made some strategic moves to capitalise on their turnaround.Steve Davie has been appointed as fundraiser and event manager which opened new areas from which to obtain regular annual income.”The real benefit from this appointment will be seen in the next financial accounts,” Elliott said.The staging of a One-Day International at Queenstown in the New Year also offered significant funding opportunities while the redevelopment of the University Oval would assist in reducing costs for the hosting of home matches in Dunedin while also providing membership opportunities for Otago Cricket.Elliott said the new strategic plan will be presented to the annual meeting on Thursday.”I am confident that we are moving in the right direction as we assemble the staff and resources to ensure that we are able to play a full part as a Major Cricket Association and develop the game in our region,” he said.A significant part of that is the appointment of Glenn Turner as the first full-time State Otago Volts coach.”With the appointment of Glenn for a two-year period, he has had the opportunity to plan for the coming season. A fit Shayne O’Connor and an enthusiastic Jeff Wilson will add real depth and experience to our team this season,” he said.Otago’s age-group teams continue to perform well and a huge investment was being made.”We have the structures in place to provide for the orderly development of players. Our High Performance Centre offers our teams and coaches excellent facilities for our winter programmes and we now have top class grass practice pitches constructed for the Under-19 World Cup. These will be of real value to all our teams as they prepare for tournaments,” he said.Elliott said coaching director Mike Hesson’s contribution had been outstanding.And on the playing side selection convener and Otago coach Turner said: “There was a strong emphasis on the three R’s this season, respect for self, respect for others, responsibility for all your actions.”In general a stronger approach to higher ethical standards. Otago Cricket made a concerted effort to follow and action ‘The Spirit of Cricket’ as outlined in the laws of cricket. If there had been a fair play award, the State Otago Volts would have won it this year.”Curiously, values have altered to the point whereby such an award is seen as a loser’s award. Unfortunately, this summer the Otago Volts added fuel to this myth in the four-day Championship.”It will be very interesting to follow the Volts fortunes in the 2002/03 season. Will last season’s approach of encouraging players to look deeper into their own game, taking responsibility for their own actions and being asked to come up with some of their own answers, be performance-enhancing in the long term?”

Derbyshire v Northamptonshire at DerbyDerbyshire have a chance to extend their winning run and go top against the men from Northampton. After Dominic Cork led them by spectacular example in their first two matches, including a last gasp two-run victory over Durham in the most exciting finish of the season so far, they will hope to overcome the visitors. Both Stephen Stubbings and overseas player Michael Di Venuto have so far impressed with the bat.Northants’ opening game of the season was at Northampton and went true to form for that ground, with well over 1,000 runs scored for the fall of just 13 wickets, Mike Hussey, Mal Loye and Russell Warren all piled on the runs but perhaps of more significance is the fact that both John Blain and the young Carl Greenidge, who moved from Surrey in the winter, bowled with considerable success. Northants are hard pressed to gain results at home – especially early in the season – and must therefore fight hard for away victories if they are to bounce back into Division One.Nottinghamshire v Essex at NottinghamNotts welcome Essex after being steam-rollered at Lords in Gus Fraser’s championship farewell. If they are to pursue promotion they will need to find runs from sources other than Darren Bicknell, but with Chris Read coming in at number eight their batting is capable of greater resiliance. South African born Greg Smith (31) took four wickets as well as scoring 50 in a lost cause against Middlesex.Essex hope to return immediately to the top division, and having replaced one prolific batsman in Stuart Law with another in keeper/batsman Andy Flower, they may well have got a better deal than the ECB, as Andy is clearly flowering while their other stumper Foster is out of action, having been kept from playing by ECB order for the first part of the season. Essex are without the services of promising young seamer Ricky Anderson, and may lack the bowling to knock sides over twice. But they have signed Jon Dakin from Leicestershire and Middlebrook from Yorkshire to back up their veterans and tyros.Worcestershire v Glamorgan at WorcesterWorcestershire, having begun the season well in both competitions, will be hoping to repeat their victory in the B&H match at Cardiff this week. Veteran David Leatherdale, together with Ben Smith and young Stephen Peters, formerly of Essex, have begun the season well with the bat and the bowling of overseas player Andy Bichel has been ably backed up by Kabir Ali and Gareth Batty, another new signing who moved from Surrey over the winter in pursuit of a regular first-team place. Batty, a 24-year-old off-spinning all-rounder from Bradford, impressed for Surrey in his few first-team appearances last season as well as in the seconds.Glamorgan will be hoping that Simon Jones can repeat his career best 6-45, and that overseas player Mark Kasprowicz produces a better return on their investment this match. A side with limited bowling particularly needs its batting to stand firm. What runs they have scored this season have been spread around, although they will be hoping that the ECB don’t notice that their county and B&H batting averages are topped by their 20-year-old England Under-19 wicket-keeper, who ran up a century in defeat at Derby.

P W L D Bat Bowl Deduct PointsMiddlesex 2 2 0 0 8 6 0.00 38.00Derbyshire 2 2 0 0 3 6 0.00 33.00Worcestershire 2 1 0 1 8 4 0.00 28.00Gloucestershire 2 0 1 1 6 6 0.00 16.00Essex 1 0 0 1 4 3 0.00 11.00Northamptonshire 1 0 0 1 5 2 0.00 11.00Durham 2 0 2 0 2 6 0.00 8.00Glamorgan 1 0 1 0 0 3 0.00 3.00Nottinghamshire 1 0 1 0 0 3 0.50 2.50

Western Province had the worst of the opening day of the UCB Bowl 4-day final at Newlands.They were dismissed for a paltry 165 after being sent in to bat on a pitch with a distinct green tinge, and by close of play Northerns had closed to within 86 of this total with nine wickets in hand.Even this total represented a recovery of sorts for the home batsmen, who had been reeling on 8 for 3 within the first half-hour of play. Friedel de Wet dismissed recent senior players Rashaad Magiet and Jonathan McLean for ducks, while JP Duminy threw his wicket away with the silliest of run out’s, a bemused Finlay Brooker hardly breaking into a trot as he sauntered in from mid off to whip off the bails.Ryan Maron played a gritty innings of 34 before being bowled, and Wesley Euley picked off 8 fours in his innings of 51, the only half century of the day. Mark de Stadler batted aggressively for his unbeaten 26, mustering enough support from the tail to take the total to an almost respectable score. Friedel de Wet was the best of the bowlers, taking 4 for 35.Coming in to bat after a delayed tea interval, Aldin Smith and Maurice Aronstam made slow but steady progress, putting on 58 for the opening wicket in 20 overs before Smith perished cutting at Paul Harris. Aronstam and Allahudien Paleker played safely until close of play, which came when the umpires took the players off for bad light with just over four overs to be bowled . All of the home bowlers, except Ryan ten Doeschate, were economical, going for less than two runs per over. Harris was particularly impressive with figures of 10-6-9-1. The score at stumps was 79 for 1, with Aronstam on 41.

The NSWIS (New South Wales Institute of Sport) Blues have defeated the Queensland Fire by 33 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three final series of the 2000-01 Women’s National Cricket League at Bankstown Oval, Sydney, today.A powerful 80 by former Australian batsman Michelle Goszko, playing on her home ground in grade competition, carried the Blues to an impressive fifty-over total of 5/234 after NSW captain Belinda Clark won the toss and elected to bat.Goszko shared a third-wicket partnership of 116 with Lisa Sthalekar (43) to lift the Blues’ scoring rate in excess of 4.5 per over.Pace bowlers Tricia Brown (2/57) and Kelly Klibbe (2/58) had the most success for the Fire, while Cindy Kross bowled her ten overs unchanged for the figures of 0/16. But the NSW bats always looked comfortably on target for a 200-plus score.Vanessa Pickering (35) and Melissa Bulow (37) made an impressive start to Queensland’s pursuit of 235 in the early overs, however the introduction of slow bowlers Hayes and Sthalekar to the NSW attack but the brakes on the scoring.When both openers were removed, Queensland were 2/80 in the 30th over and well behind the required run-rate. Sally Cooper (78 not out from 60 balls) played a superb knock, hitting two big sixes, but had little support. The last five wickets fell for 12 runs with the chase beyond Queensland’s reach, the Fire all out for 201 in 48.3 overs.Left-arm pace bowler Emma Liddell (4/33) was the most successful of the NSW bowlers, while Lisa Sthalekar bowled ten overs of tidy off-spin to concede 0/20. Bronwyn Calver claimed 3/48, but suffered an injury to her left thumb late in the game when taking a return catch to dismiss Cindy Kross.New South Wales have won the Women’s National League in each of the last four seasons and will be looking to another win over Queensland tomorrow in the second final to make it five in a row. Queensland, the only side to beat the Blues in the round-robin series this season, need a victory tomorrow to take the finals series into a third day on Sunday.

Australian left-handers Mike Hussey and Jeff Cook laid the foundations for a solid Northamptonshire score against the reigning champions Surrey at Wantage Road.Coming together following the demise of Mal Loye with only eight on the board, Hussey (75) and Cook (80) added 172 in 40 overs as the home side reached 320-4 at the close, fully justifying acting-captain Tony Penberthy’s decision to bat first.Their stand set a new county record against Surrey, eclipsing the 154 posted by Cook’s namesake, former skipper Geoff, and David Steele at The Oval in 1977.Northants might still have struggled after collapsing in mid-afternoon from 180-1 to 186-4 in the space of five overs, but another substantial partnership was forthcoming from Penberthy (62 not out) and Alec Swann (64 not out).They batted right through the final session of the day, putting on 134 to make certain of three batting bonus points – with power to add.Surrey had made the ideal start when Loye edged Alex Tudor to Graham Thorpe at third slip in the fourth over of the morning, but Hussey and Cook made the most of another good batting pitch at Northampton to tilt the balance back in Northants’ favour.Cook hit 12 fours in his 121-ball knock while Hussey, who eventually became a second victim for leg-spinner Ian Salisbury, stroked eight boundaries in a stay of three-and-a-quarter hours.Swann and Penberthy completed their half-centuries in successive overs just before the close, making it a largely frustrating day for last year’s Division One winners.

Have New Zealand flattered to deceive with their first-up victory over Sri Lanka at Sharjah?By taking their victory by 11 runs, this despite losing five wickets for nine runs to the one-man Sri Lankan demolition squad that is Muttiah Muralitharan, the New Zealanders have extended their run of successes at Sharjah over the Sri Lankans to 6-1, with one tied.This suggests a degree of dominance over the highly-ranked Sri Lankans, but in effect most of the results were achieved a good time ago.The real scorecard at all venues in their most recent contests has Sri Lanka leading New Zealand 8-3.And that is what makes last night’s success all the more important for New Zealand.The side is now in World Cup countdown mode and every step along the way is another step toward ensuring strategies are in place to counter whatever situations arrive during the World Cup.Clearly the Muralitharan factor needs some tweaking. In 23 ODIs against New Zealand, he has taken 39 of his 275 ODI wickets at an economy rate of 3.64.But on last night’s performance his economy rate was down to 0.9!With one more game, and hopefully two, against Sri Lanka in the tournament, there is a need to go some way down the road towards uncovering the mischievousness of his bowling. For a team that managed to unmask Shane Warne during the last summer, there is surely some method whereby Muralitharan’s effect can be negated.New Zealand are not alone in their inability to get on top of him, but having the confidence to cope with him goes a long way towards ensuring he doesn’t hold the whip hand in the World Cup final, and that is how every opponent must be viewed now.Considering that New Zealand went into the match under-strength, without Chris Cairns, and latterly without Andre Adams, the effort to win the game had to be admired. Adams was hit in the jaw in pre-match training and is not expected to be able to play tomorrow night’s game against Pakistan either.This is a good Sri Lankan unit which has had the wood over New Zealand in recent years so the ability to fight back is encouraging. No one bowler dominated the Sri Lankan innings which suggested some outstanding teamwork to achieve the win.From New Zealand’s point of view, there had to be huge encouragement from Jacob Oram’s return to international matchplay. Batting at No 8, his 46 off 33 balls again proved crucial in ensuring Sri Lanka would have a sizeable total to chase. And with the ball he took one for 31 from 7.1 overs.This is significant for New Zealand. Oram’s all-round abilities, including his fielding, coupled with Adams’ qualities, blended in with what Cairns has to offer, along with Chris Harris, Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan, gives New Zealand some outstanding options. To have all these players firing is exciting, and would make the side very competitive in any World Cup scenario.It was interesting that Chris Nevin was the victim of the law which does not allow a television umpire to intercede if a player has clearly not hit the ball. When a catch was claimed off Nevin the enquiry from the umpire on the ground only asked if the ‘catch’ had been held. The replay showed his bat was well away from the ball, but the third umpire could only comment on the query.With that in mind it is not surprising that Mathew Sinclair stood his ground in the face of umpire Srinivas Venkataraghavan’s decision he had been caught. Sinclair claimed the ball was off his arm, and Venkat discussed the matter with Sanath Jayasuriya and changed his decision.New Zealand has started to up its consistency rate in ODIs, and in the calendar year 2002, it has won eight of 16 ODIs which is a success ratio of 50% – not insignificant considering Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka must all be genuine contenders for the World Cup. When compared to New Zealand’s all-time success rate of only 43%, that is a start.Lifting both statistics even higher by year’s end will be a significant factor for confidence when embarking for South Africa next January.