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Division Two

Final pair Craig Wright and Danish Kaneria survived 2.2 overs as Essex just managed to hold on for a draw against Glamorgan at Cardiff to lift them to third in the table, 12 points behind Northamptonshire. In the penultimate round of matches, Essex play Northamptonshire and Glamorgan take on fourth-placed Gloucestershire in the tightest ever promotion race. The two teams in this contest ideally needed victory and Glamorgan came within one wicket of giving their campaign a major boost. After being set 320, Essex – who slipped to 38 for 3 – appeared to be safe at 164 for 4 with James Foster and Alastair Cook, batting at No. 6 after food poisoning kept him off the field yesterday, holding firm in the middle order. The pair added 58 in 32 overs before Cook was caught at short leg. However, it was Foster’s demise for 78 from 228 balls, lbw to Robert Croft, that sparked Essex panic, as they lost 4 for 2 in eight overs against Croft and Dean Cosker, who claimed a career-best 11 for 126 in the match. When Tim Phillips was leg before to Croft it left Glamorgan minutes to claim the final wicket, but Wright and Kaneria managed to block out time although Croft thought he had won it with a bat-pad appeal off the penultimate ball.

Deep Dasgupta and Rohan Gavaskar are among six former ICL players to have been named in a 35-man Bengal probables squad for the forthcoming Ranji Trophy season.In May the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) said it was ready to accept all Bengal players who had joined the ICL into its fold, after which Dasgupta, a former Bengal captain, and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala requested to be released from the ICL. The BCCI then went on to grant amnesty to 79 domestic players.Bengal, along with Punjab and Hyderabad, was one of the teams that suffered most from the ban on domestic players to have joined the unofficial ICL. Among the others to have been included into the Bengal fold are Subhomoy Das, Eklak Ahmid and Shibsagar Singh. Subhajit Paul, who had also quit the ICL, was not deemed fit for selection, said the CAB.Shib Shankar Paul, the veteran pace bowler, has been named in the squad, subject to his fitness. The 35 players will congregate at the Eden Gardens for a camp starting August 20. Bengal coach Roger Binny, appointed earlier this summer, will join the side later in the month.

“There is pressure, yes, but not much. There is competition of course but I am confident and ready.” Manoj Tiwary has to be ready – this could be his make or break season. Two years back he was the chief fringe player for India before an injury pushed the likes of Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and even Virat Kohli ahead in the queue. Now the wheel has turned a reasonably full circle – Raina is injured, Rohit is in iffy form and Tiwary is at the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia to try and jump ahead.Now, if only his luck holds.Rewind to a fielding session ahead of the ODI series against Bangladesh in 2007. Tiwary, due to make his India debut, threw himself full stretch to stop a ball but injured his shoulder and was out of the series. He was out of cricket for eight months, going through the tough recuperation process alone. His bad luck didn’t end there, though.In 2008, Tiwary was rushed to Australia as a replacement for the injured Yuvraj Singh, made his ODI debut – still jet-lagged – against the home side and received the perfect yorker from Brett Lee to fall for just 2. He has not played for India since. Two good domestic seasons later, Tiwary was named in the probables for the ICC World Twenty20 but more agony waited around the corner. In the IPL’s second season this year, he met with another injury and was out of the tournament and the World Twenty20.”Lots of youngsters have gone ahead of me,” Tiwary says. He is just 23 but that’s the lot of domestic cricketers in Indian cricket; you age quickly if you are not in the spotlight and 25-26 is the dreaded age if you are playing only domestic cricket as you could be treated as ‘too old’ for India. “My bad fortune was good luck for them. That’s life.” However, there is a sliver of hope from the recent poor performances, especially against the short ball, from his contenders. And Tiwary knows it. “This could be my chance provided I continue to do well in this season. My chance might come.”Nicknamed in Bengal cricket, after Sourav Ganguly, Tiwary has been always a confident man. His hero is Sachin Tendulkar but he greatly admires – and seeks to emulate – Kevin Pietersen. He keeps tugging his sleeve at the crease like Pietersen, charges out to the seamers and strikes a very confident pose in the middle. “It is his confidence that I like. The courage to play shots and I like to play in a similar manner.”However, in the last domestic season or two, Tiwary has batted a bit more cautiously, with a more matured shot selection. Is this the new Tiwary? “No. I had to do that because Bengal was in a difficult stage in Ranji Trophy. We fought relegation to the Plate League and I was the main batsman for the team. I had to bat differently. Now I plan to return to my older aggressive self but with better shot selection.”His new nickname – given by Robin Uthappa – is , which he has tattooed on his arm. Tiwary is reluctant to talk about it – “Nothing till I get back to playing for India. My focus is purely on that.” Is it because he got some bad press about his ‘attitude’ in the past? “Hmm, that was so strange. It came after my IPL contract. [He was paid $675,000 to play for Delhi Daredevils] Everybody started saying I had turned arrogant. It was sad. What I got was due to my playing skills. People’s opinion of me changed but I had not changed as a person beyond the cricket field. And God knows I needed that money.”The first major chunk of the money went into buying a new house for his parents. It was his chance to repay his father, a fitter with Railways who supported three kids with big aspirations on Rs 5000 per month. “I have always known about what it means to struggle. I have seen my father trying hard to make ends meet and support my cricket. So these injuries and other bad lucks haven’t made me weak. I have been through worse. And I will bounce back.”The first act of his comeback is playing this week in Brisbane in the Emerging Players Tournament. Ironically, this was the venue when he received Lee yorker. Tiwary remembers that moment: “I was sitting inside the dressing room, watching the TV and feeling extremely disappointed. Tendulkar saw me and asked me move out to the sitting area. He spoke about his own first dismissal and how he feared about international cricket. He was so kind. He asked me not to worry; anyone could have got out to that ball, just make sure do well when I get the next chance.”It didn’t come in that series nor in the near future. Tiwary bumped into Tendulkar again during the IPL. Another chat ensued and Tendulkar again spoke and predicted a bright future ahead for Tiwary, provided he keeps doing well in the domestic cricket. Tiwary has set out to do just that. His time starts now.

Match facts

Thursday June 18
Start time 1300 local (1200 GMT)New Zealand will be banking on a power-packed performance from Suzie Bates•Getty Images

Big Picture

There’s a certain irony to the semi-final line-up in the women’s World Twenty20 – all four teams have gone further than their male compatriots in the equivalent event. That’s because this tournament, unlike the men’s, has gone entirely according to conventional rankings. Nonetheless, it gives these teams the added incentive of being sole representatives of their countries at the World Cup – and, for New Zealand and India, a chance to get the sort of central contracts that have greatly benefited their counterparts in England and Australia.This is the second World Cup for women in three months – following the 50-over event in Australia – but no one can say there is any fatigue or overkill. In fact the players would welcome it, especially India who went into the tournament having played only two Twenty20s.Looking at this match, New Zealand are better-placed, having won all their group games, including the one against potential finalists Australia. India will know that going into the semis having beaten only the minnows, and losing to England by ten wickets, is not ideal preparation but Twenty20 as a format does not depend much on momentum.The last time these two teams met was in the World Cup in Australia, where New Zealand beat India by five wickets. Since then New Zealand have lost their long-standing captain Haidee Tiffen, who announced her retirement soon after New Zealand lost the 50-over title to England. However the in-form players from that World Cup – hard-hitting allrounder Suzie Bates and offspinner Lucy Doolan – have had success in England as well.India added a few more players to their Twenty20 squad but again it’s the ones who toured Australia who have done well, especially legspinner Priyanka Roy.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand WWWLL
India WWLLW

Watch out for…

Mithali Raj: India’s leading run-scorer in the tournament so far scored a 22-ball 32 in a must-win game against Sri Lanka and is peaking just at the right time. Before the start of the World Twenty20, Raj had said batsmen needed some “surprise” shots to go with orthodox strokes and had come prepared with back-up plans since the format was so short. So New Zealand better watch out for those.Priyanka Roy: The 21-year old spinner was India’s leading wicket-taker in Australia with 12 wickets at an average of 14 from seven games. And she improved on that here with a record 5 for 16 against Pakistan. Only New Zealand’s Amy Sattherthwaite has done better, with 6 for 17.Suzie Bates: The tournament’s leading run-scorer is tailor-made for the Twenty20 format, as those who watched her battering of Pakistan in Australia will testify. She scored 168 off 105 balls, including 19 fours and six sixes in an ODI record second-wicket stand.

Team news

India are likely to stick to the XI that beat Sri Lanka, Poonam Raut opening with Anjum Chopra and Raj coming at No. 3.1 Poonam Raut, 2 Anjum Chopra, 3 Mithali Raj, 4 Rumeli Dhar, 5 Sulakshana Naik (wk), 6 Reema Malhotra, 7 Amita Sharma, 8 Harmanpreet Kaur, 9 Priyanka Roy, 10 Jhulan Goswami, 11 Gouher Sultana.New Zealand may replace left-arm spinner Saskia Bullen with the more experienced right-arm medium-pace bowler Sophie Devine, who missed the previous game against South Africa.1 Lucy Doolan, 2 Suzie Bates, 3 Aimee Watkins, 4 Amy Satterthwaite (capt), 5 Nicola Browne, 6 Sara McGlashan, 7 Sophie Devine, 8 Rachel Priest (wk), 9 Kate Pulford, 10 Sian Ruck, 11 Sarah Tsukigawa.

Stats and Trivia

• Suzie Bates is the highest run-getter in the Women’s World Twenty20 thus far with 125 runs in three games at 62.50. Her captain Aimee Watkins is third in the list with 109 at 54.50. Mithali Raj is the only Indian in the top ten, and finds herself at tenth place with 71 runs at 35.50.
• Bates and Watkins were involved in an unbeaten 118-run stand for the second wicket – the highest in the tournament and the second-highest in women’s Twenty20 internationals – in New Zealand’s nine-wicket win over Australia.
• Rumeli Dhar and Priyanka Roy have been India’s most successful bowlers, grabbing five wickets each. Roy is the only bowler to have taken five wickets in an innings in this competition, and she combined with Dhar – both took eight wickets between them – to bowl out Pakistan for 75 in India’s five-wicket win.

Australia will draw on the lessons learned from Shane Warne’s shock exit from the 2003 World Cup as they attempt to deal with the departure of Andrew Symonds on the eve of the World Twenty20. Ricky Ponting had barely commenced his international captaincy career when Warne, then at the height of his powers, tested positive for a banned diuretic and returned home from South Africa on the morning of Australia’s opening match against Pakistan.On that occasion, Symonds blazed a tremendous century at the Wanderers to lift the spirits of the shell-shocked Australians and commence momentum that continued through to a victorious final against India. This time, others will be required to fill a void created by Symonds – he was ordered home following an alcohol-related incident during the week – and Ponting is confident he has the squad to cover.”I’ve been there before, I know how to handle it,” Ponting said. “It’s about the next guy in line coming in and putting his hand up when required and making a name and identity for himself at international level.”Michael Clarke, Ponting’s deputy, stressed on Friday that the recommendation of Australia’s leadership group to send Symonds home was not personal, but was made with the interests of the team in mind. The leadership group – comprised of Ponting, Clarke, Tim Nielsen and Steve Bernard – felt Symonds’ repeated behavioural infractions set a poor example for Australia’s younger players, and decided accordingly to push for his removal from the World Twenty20.”It’s certainly not personal, the decision was made for the benefit of the team and I think all of us are trying to move on and trying to focus on what’s in front of us,” Clarke said.”No matter what comes along on a tour, as a team you need to stick together and I think we’ve shown that.”We trained really well yesterday, I think our preparation today has been spot on, so the boys are looking forward to tomorrow’s game and what’s happened in the past will stay in the past.”

South Africa and West Indies opened the much-anticipated World Twenty20 in Taunton on Thursday, an unprecedented opportunity for the women’s game. The real interest may have been in the second game, with home team and favourites England facing India but the first match proved a fitting opener, going down to the last three balls.Shane Warne may have retired from international cricket but he has been reincarnated – almost – in the form of 16-year-old South African, Dane van Niekerk who made her Twenty20 debut in that match. Fellow blonde van Niekerk, who you have guessed is a legspinner, showed how she has copied Warne’s action right down to the deliberate walk into bowl and putting the hands together right just before the delivery. The famous suncream is absent, however.The tournament is well staged. Huge banners everywhere proclaim “Taunton” – alongside the heavy signage for ICC sponsors – leaving you in no doubt where you are, nor that the organising bodies have done a good job in making everything look professional.Everything, that is, apart from the sightscreen areas, shrouded in black materials. For all that Taunton is coming into the modern era – the new-rise apartment block opposite the pavilion stands in shining testimony – the sight of two or three men scrambling to remove the sheets every other over, for the sponsors’ boards to be seen, is nothing other than endearing and a hint at an older charm.A crowd of 1750 witnessed the first match, which swelled considerably for England’s victory. One school party had driven up from Cornwall, while there were also members of the navy who lent hearty cheering voices to proceedings. Rarely can England women have played in frontof such an atmospheric crowd, who even cheered them wildly throughout their warm-ups and their cool down.If this game looked like something of a mismatch then Sri Lanka and Pakistan can only tremble at the thought of what may happen to them in the other Group B matches. India should ease through to the semi-finals but all eyes will be on the favourites England.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Herschelle Gibbs was the Man of the Match for his unbeaten 69•AFP

A tenacious display from Deccan Chargers’ bowlers followed by a murderous assault from their opening batsmen secured their fourth consecutive win of the tournament and firmly established the Hyderabad side as the team to beat this season.Pragyan Ojha once again bowled impressively – picking up two wickets in one crucial over, including that of the dangerous-looking Matthew Hayden – to restrict Chennai to merely 165 when they looked set for much more at one stage. The competitive target, however, was diminished by a withering assault from Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs. They blitzed 60 runs off the first four overs and gave their team enough cushion against a few setbacks on their way to victory.Gilchrist dictated terms from the first over, in which he drove L Balaji to the long-off and extra-cover boundaries. Gibbs took on Manpreet Gony in the next: he charged and lofted straight down the ground for four, pulled over the fine-leg boundary and hit two more fours to midwicket and square leg to take 20 runs off the over. Balaji dropped Gilchrist – a hard caught-and-bowled chance – in the third over and paid for it by conceding 17 runs. Gilchrist deposited the ball into the stands at deep square leg, pulled another one to the midwicket boundary, and launched yet another over the straight boundary. MS Dhoni brought Albie Morkel into the attack but there was barely any improvement as Gilchrist drilled him to the cover boundary and whacked him over the rope at square leg.With the fast bowlers bleeding runs, Dhoni turned to spin and the breakthroughs came from the unlikeliest of operators. Suresh Raina struck twice with his offbreaks, inducing both Gilchrist, who clobbered 44 off 18 balls, and VVS Laxman to cut to short third man. Deccan had gone from 67 for 0 to 75 for 2 and they scored only 25 runs between overs six and ten. However, the early momentum provided by Gilchrist and the steady half-century from Gibbs, who batted through the innings, ensured that the lull did not do irreparable damage. Gibbs shifted to a lower gear but ensured that he was on strike when eight runs were needed off the last over. The first ball was full from Balaji, Gibbs got under it and heaved it over the deep midwicket boundary to ease Deccan’s nerves.A larger target would have stretched Deccan, given that they had only three balls to spare, and Ojha’s double-breakthrough in the 13th over played a crucial role in keeping Chennai to 165. Hayden was at his bullying best, stepping out and muscling bowlers across the quick outfield at Kingsmead. Parthiv Patel continued the odd trend of teams losing a wicket before scoring a run but the early loss did not faze Hayden. He attacked RP Singh, the league’s highest wicket-taker, immediately by walking down to swat him to the midwicket boundary and to cut over point. The extra pace and bounce of Fidel Edwards didn’t make a difference either and Hayden advanced and powered him through the off side.Hayden found an attacking partner in Suresh Raina but both batsmen were lucky to survive dropped catches. Raina was let off by debutant Azhar Bilakhia at gully when he was on two and Gilchrist grassed a tough chance to his left when Hayden was on 17. They made Deccan pay for their lapses during a 64-run stand for the second wicket.Ojha repeated his performance against Mumbai Indians soon after the tactical time-out. Against Mumbai, he took three wickets in successive overs and today he managed to dismiss both Dhoni and Hayden in one. Chennai slipped from 102 for 2 to 103 for 4 in the space of three balls. Curiously Gilchrist didn’t give Ojha another over and he finished with figures of 2 for 11 in two overs.Jacob Oram, who replaced the injured Flintoff, provided Chennai with acceleration towards the end of the innings, hitting the debutant Shoaib Ahmed for massive sixes down the ground. Oram helped Chennai take 20 runs off the 18th over but their total proved too little against Deccan’s in-form batting line-up.

Peter Walker, the former Glamorgan allrounder, has been appointed president of the club, replacing David East.Walker attracted controversy earlier this month when he referred to Glamorgan’s home ground, the Swalec Stadium, as an “unfriendly gulag” during his presidential election address. Walker, 72, has previously spoken of his concern at the level of debt the club now faces following the redevelopment of Sophia Gardens into a 16,000-seater stadium fit for international cricket. It will host the first Ashes Test on July 8.His appointment as president follows the departures of Mike Fatkin, the chief executive, and head groundsman Len Smith, though the club have refused to explain the reasons behind their exists. Fatkin did admit, however, that there were differences of opinion in how the club intended to move forward.”Glamorgan Cricket would like to thank David East, for the enormous amount of work that he has undertaken over the last 12 months as the club’s president,” a statement read. “Mr East has worked tirelessly fundraising and promoting both the team and the new stadium.”

Sreesanth fears he has entered the most difficult phase of his career after he was told four days ago by doctors in Sydney that a stress fracture of his lower back had ruled him out of international cricket for the next three months.The Indian fast bowler, who has not played international cricket for the last 11 months due to various injuries, has been ruled out of the IPL next month and is now almost certain to miss the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in England in June.”I have never been through anything like this in my life before,” Sreesanth said from Sydney. “It’s been a year now since I have been hit by a series of injuries and it’s just too bizarre. But I don’t want to think about anything else just now except to focus on my recovery. Tournaments come and go, and I am not going to sit in a corner and worry about missing them. All I need to focus on is to get fit again.”Sreesanth, who had established himself as one of India’s leading strike bowlers within a year of his Test debut in 2006, first suffered a left side strain during the last IPL in May 2008. Subsequently, he developed a second injury that was initially diagnosed as a “stiff back”.He was cleared to play domestic cricket in December, after undergoing a rehabilitation stint at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore, and carried on till the Duleep Trophy final in February – however, he looked far from his best, unable at times to execute his full, natural action or his run-up.”It was devastating to be told that I had been carrying this injury for almost five months,” Sreesanth said. “But in a way, I am happy too that the injury has been diagnosed. There was always this niggling pain down in the back even after I was cleared to play last year. But I was told by experts in India that I was perfectly alright and was just not mentally tough enough to play again. They questioned my mental strength and commitment and even I started doubting myself. But now, I have my answer.”Sreesanth says the first step to recovery happened when he got in touch with Patrick Farhart, the physio of his IPL team (Kings XI Punjab). “He asked me to come to Sydney for assessment and then took me through an exhaustive check-up, including a bone scan and an MRI scan,” he said. “Clearly, there was a stress fracture in the lower back (L2). Now I am following Patrick’s recovery schedule.”Sreesanth now hopes that his “faith in god” and “amazing support” from friends, including Brett Lee, his IPL bowling partner, will see him through the present crisis. “Lee and Mitchell Johnson are the two guys who have come back from similar injuries and still done extremely well,” he said. “So that’s an inspiration. Brett has always been a good friend, and he has been particularly helpful here. He has worked out with me, and spoken to me a lot, mostly about keeping the faith and believing in oneself during such situations.”Sreesanth says he has been told that his international career – stuck since last April at 14 Tests and 50 wickets – hinges on how well he manages the recovery, and not how quickly he does it. “That’s why I am going to play safe now,” he said. “I am not going to rush back like I have done before and spoil it all again. But I will be back because I know my best is yet to come.”

Andrew Flintoff’s immediate future should become clearer on Friday with the ECB expected to make an announcement over his rehabilitation from the hip injury that ruled him out of the fourth Test in Barbados.He was at the Kensington Oval on the opening day of the game to receive further treatment on the problem he picked up in Antigua. The fact that more information is set to be released mid-way through this game suggests that it won’t be positive news.”Obviously he is continuing his rehabilitation and I think there will be some news on him later,” Andrew Strauss said, “in terms of what his best plan is, rehab wise.”There are various scenarios that could be explored, including sending him home for a short period to try and recover for the one-day series which starts on March 20. However, the decision may be taken to rule him out of the rest of the tour so he can recover in time for the home season.One other factor to take into consideration is the IPL, in which Flintoff is due to play for three weeks as part of the Chennai Super Kings. Earlier this week he said he was confident about his fitness for that stint.”I don’t think it will be touch and go,” he said. “The IPL’s still a while away so for all intents and purposes I’ll be fit for that. I’m intending to go but it’s not really at the forefront of my thinking. I want to play Test cricket and I want to play the one-day internationals.”I’m not in the Barbados Test and there’s a chance I’ll play in Trinidad but I’ll have to see how it settles down. We’ll see how the next week goes. If we’ve got to get it rescanned, we’ll see what happens. If I’m being honest I don’t know.”