On Saturday a new generation of cricket fans will assemble en masse at Trent Bridge, the venue for the first-ever Twenty20 Cup final. At the competition’s launch back in May, in the trendy Kensington Roof Gardens complete with pop bands and fancy dress, the general consensus was “ok, it’s a gimmick, but let’s see what happens.” A gimmick it remains, but it has turned out to be a successful one.

The ECB have gone to great pains to tell us how the crowds have been on the up, which was their preliminary aim. And with a sell-out crowd for the finals day, audiences are set to touch 255,000 for the whole competition, thrashing the 2002 Benson and Hedges Cup in terms of bums on seats, as well as breasts in jacuzzis.The day kicks off at 10.45am with the first and less glamorous semi-final, between Leicestershire and Warwickshire. Leicestershire won the North group with five wins out of five – even though Dominic Cork did his best to dispute that – while Warwickshire made it as the best runner-up. They lost only one game, against the other semi-finalists Gloucestershire, and were blasted there mainly off the back of Nick Knight’s bat. Knight smashed 235 runs in the group stages and he will need to continue to shine brightly against the wily Leicestershire Foxes’ attack, who have used the spinners as the secret of their success.Indeed, Virender Sehwag surprisingly heads the Leicestershire bowling averages, and he and Jeremy Snape will play a big part in slowing things down. Warwickshire too have relied on their slow bowlers, and Neil Smith and Collins Obuya will have to work out a way of keeping Brad Hodge quiet – he averages 47.00 with a top score of 97.The second semi starts at 2.45pm, but promises to be worth the wait. Surrey take on Gloucestershire, undoubtedly the two best one-day teams in the country, and this tie is worthy of a final itself. Both breezed through the group stages unscathed, and both have dangermen worth watching. For Gloucestershire, Ian Harvey took to Twenty20 like a bat to ball. He became the first – and only – player to score a century with a blistering 50-ball 100 against Warwickshire. He averaged 80.33, by far the highest, and along with his fellow Antipodean, Craig Spearman, (averaging 44.75) they have the most explosive top order of the four teams.For Surrey, Azhar Mahmood stands out above all their international superstars. Mahmood only played in three group matches due to Pakistan’s involvement in the NatWest Challenge, but he certainly made his mark with both bat and ball. He averaged over 50 runs, took eight wickets under ten apiece and is a proven matchwinner. Adam Hollioake, Surrey’s captain, is also tailor-made for the game with his buccaneering batting, and he heads the competition’s wicket-takers with 13.The winner of the second semi will be favourites for the final, which starts under the lights at 7.15pm. The finale will complete a long day, but if it’s anything like the group stages, then it should be an exciting one. And bearing in mind Atomic Kitten will be strutting their stuff in the interval, there will be enough to keep everyone interested.

England’s elite players will rejoin their counties this week for the Frizzell Women’s County Championship which starts on Saturday July 26 in Cambridge.The competition lasts five days, with 18 counties competing in one-day matches in three divisions, across a range of university pitches in Cambridge.The Frizzell Women’s County Championship holders, Yorkshire, return to defend their title whilst the other first division teams – Kent, Sussex, Berkshire, Nottinghamshire and Surrey – seek to end Yorkshire’s decade-long domination.England captain Clare Connor will lead Sussex and admits the Championship provides the perfect preparation for the forthcoming npower Women’s Test Series and NatWest Women’s Series against South Africa.”With five matches in five days, the competition will be intense but it provides a showcase for women’s domestic cricket in England and gives England players a genuine opportunity to find form ahead of the international games,” she said.Connor will then see the international opposition as the Frizzell Women’s Champions play South Africa women on Thursday August 1 in the tourists’ first warm-up game at Fenner’s.Division One will witness some tantalising individual duals as England team-mates face each other. Two young bowling sensations of the England team, Isa Guha (Berkshire) and Laura Spragg (Yorkshire), will have a chance to bowl at England’s prolific batters, Charlotte Edwards (Kent) and Claire Taylor (Berkshire).

Tuesday July 29 will see Lydia Greenway and Charlotte Edwards – the strongest batting pair in the competition – face the world-class Yorkshire bowling attack which includes Clare Taylor, selected for England last month for the 12th consecutive year.The Frizzell Women’s County Championship welcomes Cheshire to Division Three following their success in the Emerging County Championship last year. One team is relegated and promoted from each Division, with the last placed team in Division Three reverting to the Emerging County Championship next year.The introduction of Durham and Cheshire to the competition, plus the three additional teams competing in the Emerging Counties Championship reflects the significant growth of the women’s game at county level in the past three years, with the greatest rise at U13 level where 22 counties now run a total of 87 U13 teams.Division One: Berkshire, Kent, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Sussex, Yorkshire
Division Two: Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Lancashire, Middlesex, Somerset, Staffordshire
Division Three: Cheshire, Derbyshire, Durham, Essex, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire

Michael Powell was in sight of his second hundred of the match, and also his 1,000 runs for theseason at the end of the penultimate day of Glamorgan`s Championship match against Yorkshireat Colwyn Bay. Powell finished the day unbeaten on 81, and will need a further 24 runs on thefinal morning to reach this landmark, as his side ended the day with a lead of 314 overthe visitors.The day had begun with Yorkshire resuming on 291/4, but both of their overnight batsmen wereback in the Rhos pavilion within the first half hour. Robert Croft made the earlybreakthrough when in the fifth over of the morning he had Matthew Wood caught at short-legby Adrian Dale. The off-spinner then took a fine one-handed catch at mid-on, plucking theball out of the air as Steve Kirby tried to hit Dean Cosker over the top.Richard Blakey and Andy Gray then added 50 in 12 overs before Glamorgan took the new ball.Michael Kasprowicz ended the partnership as he had Blakey leg before after he had added 73 withGray. David Harrison, who had come on at the Embankment End, soon removed Richard Dawsonthanks to a fine catch at cover by Powell who held onto a rasping drive.Gray however continued to play a series of cuts and dabs, but his next partner ChrisSilverwood was soon bowled by Kasprowicz as he chopped a ball onto his stumps, and after somehearty drives by Darren Gough, the Australian clean bowled the former England quickieas Yorkshire`s innings ended on 422, with Gray unbeaten on 48.Kasprowicz finished with 3/60, whilst Croft and Cosker also ended with 3 wickets. Croft`s tally for thesummer has now reached 51 – the most so far by an English qualifiedspinner this season.The loss of Yorkshire`s last six wickets in the morning session gave Glamorgan a first innings lead of 44,but they made a poor start as they lost Jimmy Maher in the opening over. Mark Wallace and Adrian Dale thenadded 116 for the second wicket, with Wallace playing some fluent cover drives and wristy flicks off his legs,and one of his legside glances off Dawson saw the Glamorgan wicket-keeper to his half-century from 59 balls.Dale was initially the more passive of the two, but he lofted Yuvraj Singh overlong on and through the covers for successive fours to bring up the century partnership, and theirstand eventually ended when Wallace skied Dawson to Gray running back from mid-off after making 61.Powell was soon into his stride, but he soon lost Adrian Dale as he was adjudged caught behind for 47,trying to leg-glance Yuvraj Singh. Matthew Maynard then departed soon after tea, before David Hempcame in to give Powell valiant support, and as in the first innings, the two shared a productivepartnership for the fifth wicket, and saw their side build up a sizeable lead after tea. Powell raced tohis half-century from just 48 balls, striking 9 fours, and punished anything offlineor overpitched. He became becalmed in the final hour, as Hemp reached his fifty from 77 balls, with theirunbeaten stand worth 112 runs by the close

Close New Zealand 282 for 8 (Astle 103, McMillan 54) trail India 500 for 5 by 218 runs
Scorecard

A century from Nathan Astle, and some doughty resistance from Daniel Vettori late in the day, frustrated India’s endeavours to bowl New Zealand out on the third day of the Test match, and left New Zealand 282 for 8 at stumps. New Zealand are by no means out of the woods: they ended the day still 19 runs short of the 301 required to save the follow-on. The Test match is interestingly poised, and rife with possibility: New Zealand may either manage to get past 301 tomorrow, or else fall short of it, and if that happens India may either chose to bat again, as they did in a similar situation against the same team at this very ground four years ago, or else put New Zealand back in.On the day, though, it was a hard grind for India after the early inroads made by them last evening. It was Astle who held the New Zealand innings together, with partnerships of 91 for the fourth wicket with Scott Styris and, after Styris was out for 34, another 91 for the fifth wicket with Craig McMillan. These stands ensured that India could only take two wickets in the first two sessions, and had to wait till later in the day for larger rewards.Astle began the day on 13, and progressed to a half-century by lunch, and a century, his first against India, by tea. His favoured stroke was the cut, which brought him most of his fourteen boundaries. Against the spinners, he often cut so late as to take the ball virtually out of the wicketkeeper’s gloves. Astle’s cut has a distinctive fanlike motion, as his bat changes direction in backlift and he hits down on the ball; in contrast, a batsman like Virender Sehwag often cuts the ball in the air, over point and on occasion even over third man. Astle benefited from India’s strategy of leaving the point region vacant when Harbhajan Singh was bowling, and successfully took up the challenge of playing against the spin. His one lapse came just before he reached his hundred, a thick edge off Harbhajan being put down by Parthiv Patel.Craig McMillan’s half-century was the other contribution of note for New Zealand. McMillan came into this game with no form at all – his highest score in the last eight innings was 18 – but today he made merry against some indifferent bowling after lunch, and progressed rapidly to his half-century with some increasingly adventurous batting, even reverse-sweeping Harbhajan for four.

He and Astle looked so secure that Sourav Ganguly had to turn to the off-spin of Virender Sehwag. The move paid off in unexpected fashion. McMillan went down on one knee to play one of his favourite strokes, the paddle, and met the ball on the full. But Akash Chopra, who was only a few yards from the batsman, stayed low and focused and snapped up an excellent catch, inches from the ground (199 for 5). Chopra also caught Styris off Harbhajan at the same position; his close-in fielding throughout the day was of the highest standard.India could only feel as if the end was in sight when they claimed the vital wicket of Astle for 103, in the fourth over after tea. Astle had played nearly flawlessly in the company of Styris and McMillan, but seemed to feel the need to compensate for the scorelessness of Jacob Oram, who either pushed at the bowling with his pads or attempted ineffectually to counter it with a series of ugly prods and creasebound swipes. Oram’s queasiness proved infectious as Astle charged down the wicket to Harbhajan, was beaten by his straighter ball and stumped (223 for 6). Shortly after, Oram’s misery came to an end at he fenced at Kumble, and offered a simple catch to Rahul Dravid at slip. It was Kumble’s 350th Test wicket.India could take only one more wicket in the day, that of Robbie Hart lbw to L Balaji for 15. It was Balaji’s first Test wicket, and considering the nature of the pitch, he bowled a surprising number of overs in the day: 18 in all. Zaheer Khan, who bowled with such skill and hostility yesterday, failed to recapture that form, and bowled only 11 overs in the day. Nevertheless, it is that searing opening burst by him last evening that is responsible for India’s current position of strength. But 12 wickets still have to be taken, and possibly some runs made, before India can go ahead in the series.

1st Grade – Two-Day CompetitionSt Albans 58.75,LPW 42.26,East Shirley 27.93,HSOB 15.99,Old Collegians 15.75,BWU 15.53,Sydenham 12.45,Marist 10.82,Riccarton 9.68.1st Grade – One-Day CompetitionEast Shirley 18,Riccarton 18,St.Albans 18,HSOB 12,BWU 6,Canterbury Country 6,LPW 6,Marist 6,Old Collegians 0,Sydenham 0.2nd Grade – Two-day CompetitionOld Collegians 59.57,Riccarton 32.45,BWU 30.17,East Shirley A 20.66,Sydenham 18.65,East Shirley Budgies 18.07,Marist 17.23,HSOB 16.47,LPW 15.59,St.Albans 14.37.2nd Grade – One-day CompetitionEast Shirley A 18Old Collegians 18,East Shirley Budgies 12,HSOB 12,LPW 12,Marist 6,Sydenham 6,BWU 6,Riccarton 0,St Albans 0.3rd Grade GoldBWU Maroon 55.67,LPW 51.72,St Albans 33.58,HSOB Cavaliers 32.76,BWU Gold 28.13,Old Collegians 27.73,Sydenham 21.62,Riccarton 16.6,East Shirley Gold 16.11,East Shirley Blue 11.67.3rd Grade Red – Two-Day Competition:Christ College 60.96,Christchurch Boys HS 34.05,St Andrew’s College 32.74,Shirley Boys HS 31.31,Timaru Boys HS 18.64,St Thomas 11.46,St Bedes 10.76,Burnside HS 9.12.3rd Grade BlackChristchurch Boys HS Blue* 61.48,St Andrew’s College 46.87,Christ’s College 34.48,Shirley Boys HS 31.86,Burnside HS* 21.1,Christchurch Boys HS Black 16.48,Christchurch Boys HS Red 11.59,Riccarton HS 6.09,St Bedes 4.11.4th GradeSt Albans B 25,Old Collegians Cavs 20,LPW Yabbage 17,St Albans A 17,East Shirley Hooters 15,Burnside West 10,Marist 5,Sydenham Muppets 5.5th Grade:LPW Yaks 27,Riccarton Gold 25,St Albans 22,Riccarton Hogs 15,Burnside West SNCC 17,Burnside West Maroon 10,Burnside West Blue 5,Burnside West Gold 5,Old Collegians Tan 0,Old Colls Gold 0.6th GradeSt Albans 22,Sydenham Blue 20,Sydenham Red 20,Burnside West 17,Marist Fozzie Bear’s 12,Marist Gold 10,Lancaster Park Woolston 7,Parklands 5,Old Collegians SGC 0.Presidents Grade:East Shirley Gold 27,Riccarton+ 27,Sumner Misfits 22,Sydenham 25,Hospital 17,Burnside West 15,High School Old Boys 15,LPW Gladiators 15,St Albans Gold 15,LPW Red 10,East Shirley Blue 7,St Albans Blue 7,Old Collegians 5,Marist 0.+denotes holder of the G.Frampton Challenge CupWomen’s Cricket1st Grade – One-Day Competition:Lancaster Park Woolston 20,St Alban’s 20,Old Colls/Country 10,East Shirley 0.1st Grade – Two-Day Competition:St Alban’s 4,East Shirley 2,Lancaster Park Woolston 2,Old Colls/Country 1.1st Reserve:Sydenham 42,St Alban’s 30,Riccarton 28,Burnside West 11,Old Colls/Country 10,East Shirley 8.2nd Grade:St Alban’s 27,Lancaster Park Woolston 25,Sydenham 17,Harewood 15,Old Colls/Country 5.3rd Grade:St Albans 27,Hornby 20,Riccarton 17,Sydenham 12,Burnside West 10,Lancaster Park Woolston 2.4th Grade Sen Trad Girls:St Albans Gold 27,Lancaster Park Woolston 20,Hornby 15,St Albans Grammar 15,Old Colls/Country 10,East Shirley 2.

NSW’s ageless veteran Steve Waugh produced a match-winning century to deny Western Australia a notable victory in their ING Cup cricket clash at North Sydney Oval today.Waugh scored 101 as NSW successfully chased a revised target of 246 from 41 overs following a 56 minute mid-afternoon rain delay.The NSW captain became only the second NSW player after Michael Bevan to score 2,000 one-day runs for the Blues.The 38-year-old veteran struck 13 fours and a six in his 94-ball innings.WA scored 5-280 off its 50 overs with Michael Hussey (106 off 94 balls) and Chris Rogers (75 off 100) providing the substance of the innings.It was Hussey’s third domestic one-day hundred and Rogers’ highest limited overs score for WA.”It was a pretty good pitch, once you get in, it wasn’t that difficult really, it was a place you’d expect to get runs although chasing that total was never easy,” Waugh said.”I thought it was a good team win, a lot of guys chipped in with 20 and 30 off not many balls and it needed someone to anchor the innings and that was me today.”A dashing cameo of 34 from 15 balls by Murray Goodwin, who blasted four sixes in his brief but explosive innings, lifted the Warriors to their final total.NSW required a further 147 from 23 overs after the rain delay with Phil Jaques (27 off 23 balls) and Michael Slater (27 off 20) assisting Waugh in the chase.With the competition’s all-time leading wicket taker Jo Angel declared unfit to play because of a stomach strain, the Warriors fielded a novice attack with none of their frontline bowlers having played ten or more one-day games.WA captain Justin Langer turned to part-timers Hussey and Marcus North, with the former supplementing his batting efforts with the wickets of Mark Waugh (7) and Brad Haddin (18) as the occasional medium-pacer took 2-38 from 5.3 overs.Debutant John Taylor finished with 2-48 off nine overs.The Blues were struggling at 5-171, but Waugh and Brad Haddin (18 off 12) added a quick-fire 37 for the sixth wicket.Waugh and young allrounder Aaron O’Brien knocked off the remaining runs with the latter securing the victory in style with a six.”Stephen is a champion player and he showed it once again today. Our bowlers have to learn from that,” Langer said.”There’s no doubt the facts and figures show we lacked experience in our bowling and hopefully these young guys have learnt something from today and will be better players for it.”He (Waugh) is a joy to watch when you are playing with him, but unfortunately over the last probably three or four times I’ve played against him, I’ve felt how the other international captains around the world must feel, he’s hard work.”Waugh said he felt very relaxed and was enjoying playing for NSW and said the first 15 overs in which the Blues conceded only 44 runs with paceman Don Nash giving up just 11 from his first seven was critical.”We kept WA down to about three an over for the first 15, 20 overs and once you do that on a small ground and on such a good pitch we knew that the game was heading in our direction,” Waugh said.Searching for its fourth straight title, NSW made it two wins out of two while the Warriors suffered their first loss in two outings.

Australia 323 and 284 for 3 dec (Hayden 99) drew with India 409 (Ganguly 144, Gillespie 4-66, MacGill 4-86) and 73 for 2 (Dravid 43*)
Scorecard

Steve Waugh provided an already exciting Test with one final twist by declaring late on the final day, just when no-one expected it. Australia set India an improbable victory target of 199 from 23 overs, on the back of a savage 99 from Matthew Hayden. India then lost both openers cheaply before Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman took them to a respectable 73 for 2 from 16 overs, at which point play was called off, and the Test drawn. Amazingly, even with almost ten hours lost, this Test kept spectators interested till the very end.When Akash Chopra and Virender Sehwag walked out to bat, chasing over 8.5 runs an over, they had little to gain and almost everything to lose. They could either shut up shop and help themselves to some time out in the middle, or go for quick runs and risk being dismissed cheaply. What the openers decided to do, we may never know, but the results were there for all to see. Sehwag (0) tried to flick the first ball he faced, from Nathan Bracken, closed the face of his bat too early, and could only get a leading edge to Damien Martyn at midwicket (4 for 1). Chopra (4) poked at the very next ball, and presented Justin Langer with a catch in the slips.In an instant, the match came alive, and Bracken was on a hat-trick on his Test debut. VVS Laxman came out to the middle. Sachin Tendulkar, who was off the field for 48 minutes of the Australian innings, could not bat till that much time had elapsed, or five wickets had fallen. Laxman squirted the first ball he played through gully to avoid the hat-trick.From then on, there were no scares for India. Dravid dominated Stuart MacGill to pick up an unbeaten 43 from 47 balls, while Laxman (24 not out) was his charming self, as India reached 73 for 2 from 16 overs, and the match was drawn.

But apart from the last session, and Hayden’s savage assault, the day did not hold as much interest as the scorecard might suggest. On the fourth day, India’s tail had wagged with all the enthusiasm of a terrier’s when in pursuit of a fox, but it subsided limply on the morning of the final day. India lost two wickets without adding to their overnight score of 362 for 6. Ajit Agarkar (12) slashed one to the slips, and Parthiv Patel’s top-edged hook was well taken by a diving Andy Bichel at fine leg and he was on his way for 37.Zaheer Khan then merrily drove three boundaries, and lofted one glorious straight six in his 27, while Harbhajan Singh swatted the ball in inimitable fashion as India pushed along to 409. Zaheer took some effort to convert a MacGill delivery into a yorker, and was bowled (403 for 9). Ashish Nehra then confirmed his No. 11 position by padding up to a fuller one from MacGill. While Nehra might have looked quizzically back at Steve Bucknor when the finger went up to confirm the lbw, it is unlikely to inspire any of the outrage another similar incident did.India had taken a first-innings lead of 86, which in itself was an achievement for a team written off by many even before the series began. And when Langer edged Agarkar to Patel before he’d scored, the Indians were cock-a-hoop. Australia were 6 for 1 and suddenly Test cricket Down Under did not seem such a tough ask after all.

Hayden then brought the Indians crashing back to earth with an array of heavy strokes that would have done a wood-chopper proud. He stood on the crease, transferred his weight from back to front foot, and simply bludgeoned the ball in all directions. The straight hits were particularly savage, and left the bowlers spinning in their followthroughs to track the flight of the ball back towards the fence. And he did this with gay abandon even as Ricky Ponting made as less-than-inspiring 50 and departed. He continued to biff the ball as the hundred approached, and moved from 93 to 99 with a big six.His confidence high – perhaps too high – on a wave of form that has made him the first man to score 1000 runs in a calendar year three times in succession, Hayden holed out. He swatted Harbhajan straight down Sehwag’s throat at the midwicket fence. Hayden’s 98-ball 99 had put India on the back foot.With the field well spread out, and Zaheer Khan back in the pavilion nursing a hamstring niggle, Waugh (56 not out) and Martyn (66 not out) kept the scoreboard ticking over at a steady pace. A brace of sweetly timed straight sixes from Martyn signalled that a declaration was imminent. It came with 23 overs left in the day, with the lead 199, but it did not change the end result.Anand Vasu is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo.

South Africa 658 for 9 dec (Kallis 177, Gibbs 142, Kirsten 137) beat West Indies 264 and 329 (Sarwan 114, Chanderpaul 109) by an innings and 65 runs
Scoreboard

South Africa duly wrapped up the second Test at Durban by an innings and 65 runs, and so took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-Test series. But the day itself belonged to Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who salvaged a degree of pride for West Indies with a pair of battling centuries.Sarwan, who was felled by a Makhaya Ntini bouncer when he had made 29, shook off the ill-effects to make 114, his third Test century. West Indies had been deep in the mire at 32 for 2 when he set about his rearguard, and he eventually found an ally in Chanderpaul, with whom he added 113 for the sixth wicket. It was not enough to carry the match into a fifth and final day, but it was something to cling to and carry forward into next week’s Cape Town showdown.West Indies had begun the day in a hopeless situation, still 376 runs away from asking South Africa to bat again. And it took just six overs for the first breakthrough of the day. With his fourth ball, Andre Nel produced a perfect yorker that zipped under Wavell Hinds’s bat and into his stumps for 11 (31 for 1). And almost before the dust had settled, Shaun Pollock struck Daren Ganga on the back pad with a typically accurate wicket-to-wicket delivery (32 for 2).That brought Brian Lara to the crease, in his 100th Test. He made 72 in the first innings, after the Windies had slumped to 17 for 4, and looked determined to produce something even more substantial, as he took his time to settle into his innings. Sarwan, by contrast, set off like a train, cracking six fours in his first 29 runs, including consecutive cover drives off Makhaya Ntini. But he was considerably shaken by his crack on the helmet, took the rest of the session to regain his momentum.To make matters worse, Sarwan lost his partner. After inching to 11 from 70 balls, Lara couldn’t resist taking on Andrew Hall, and spooned a simple catch to Neil McKenzie at square leg (78 for 3). Shortly afterwards, Jacques Kallis picked up his first wicket of the match as Carlton Baugh drove loosely to Ntini at mid-off, and West Indies were staring down the barrel.Ridley Jacobs thumped two typically unorthodox boundaries in his 15, before skidding a low catch to Gary Kirsten in the covers off the legspinner Jacques Rudolph, and Rudolph might have had a second wicket, but Martin van Jaarsveld couldn’t cling on at short leg when Chanderpaul had made 2.Sarwan went to tea on 95 not out, and brought up his century in the first over after the break, as Rudolph was met halfway down the track and on-driven for four. Chanderpaul took a liking to Rudolph as well, hoisting him into the midwicket stands and driving him down the ground. But Ntini returned after the drinks break, and instantly made the breakthrough, as Sarwan underedged onto his stumps (243 for 6).It was the cue for Chanderpaul to cut loose, and he had raced to 79, by the time Andre Nel grabbed two wickets in three balls to leave South Africa in sight of victory. Vasbert Drakes flinched a short ball to Rudolph at short leg, before Merv Dillon fished a comfortable catch to Herschelle Gibbs at third slip (271 for 8).But Adam Sanford proved a resolute ally, although he was aided by a Gibbs dropped catch when Chanderpaul was on 92. The pair added 46 for the ninth wicket, with Chanderpaul reaching his ninth Test century with consecutive fours off Nel. With little reason to hold back, he then chanced his arm once too often and pulled Ntini to Neil McKenzie, who clung onto a fierce chance at square leg. Ntini completed the rout by having Fidel Edwards caught behind for 5, but thanks to Sarwan and Chanderpaul the margin of victory was less emphatic than had been feared.

If results were all that mattered then Kenya’s participation in the Carib Beer Cup would be judged as a failure. They have hardly set the world alight – in fact, they have been on the receiving end of more than one drubbing – but their presence in the Caribbean is all about gaining experience of competitive cricket, and in that regard it has been a success.Kenya’s surprising showing in the 2003 World Cup led some to predict that they would be front-runners in the Caribbean’s first-class tournament, but that never crossed the mind of Andy Moles, once of Warwickshire and now Kenya’s coach. “We could have brought the side that was in the World Cup,” he told the Barbados-based Nation newspaper. “But there was a 42-year-old, a couple of 37 and 38 year-olds, and they are past their best. They did well and got the side to the World Cup, but we’re building for the future.”At some stage, you have to look at your squad and say `the time is right’. We felt the time was right to bring a younger side here.”And Moles dismissed suggestions that Kenya had underperformed. “Everywhere we go, they are saying that we have been a bit disappointing. I’m not disappointed at all. We’re building for the future and the pleasing thing for me is to give these players an opportunity to come and learn how to play against good players in new conditions.”If Kenya are serious about becoming Test cricket’s 11th member, then they need exposure to the longer form of the game, and Moles said that was just what they were getting. “We’re learning to concentrate for longer periods of time. The pleasing thing has been the way the batsmen have developed in stages, grasping the skills of the four-day game. The concentration levels are longer.”If we’re going to be lucky enough to play Test cricket, the guys need to continue to play the longer version of the game.”

South Australia’s Chris Duval has not yet broken into the state first-team, but he has been spotted by baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers.Duval, 20, left Pat Kelly and Tony Harris, scouts for the Dodgers, impressed when his pitches were timed at 137 kph during a workout at the Adelaide Oval.”Definitely I would contact the Dodgers and say he’s an interesting kid,” Kelly said. “What he has is the ability to move the ball naturally, so he has no idea what he’s doing and the ball does things you cannot teach people to do.””He would be in the top one per cent absolutely, in the top one per cent of his age and his size,” Duval told ABC Sport. “He’s young, he’s a very strong big durable guy and he’s got arm strength which is something you can’t teach. All those three things you really can’t teach you know, they’re just God given.”