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Division One

Craig Kieswetter played the key innings as Somerset stayed in the title chase•Getty Images

Somerset kept alive their challenge with an impressive six-wicket victory against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl to set up a title eliminator against Worcestershire on Monday. Craig Kieswetter was the star of the chase with 81 off 87 balls, adding 78 for the first wicket with Marcus Trescothick who struck 44 from 31 deliveries. Hampshire had earlier slipped to 61 for 4 with Charl Willoughby taking three top-order wickets. It needed Dimitri Mascarenhas’ 29-ball 43 to lift them over 200 although it was nowhere near enough.Durham celebrated their Championship title by securing a four-run victory against Nottinghamshire at Chester-le-Street after surviving a late assault from Luke Fletcher who hit 40 off 25 balls. The visitors looked well short when they needed 31 off the last two overs, but Fletcher cleared the ropes three times leaving six needed off the final ball and could only club a single. Ben Harmison was Durham’s main man as he hit 67 off 64 balls and claimed two wickets. Phil Mustard launched the innings with a thumping 48-ball 61, a notable effort considering the celebrations that went on yesterday evening.

Division Two

Middlesex went top of the division after Nick Compton’s 107 set them up for 50-run victory against Derbyshire at Uxbridge. Compton led the home side to a healthy 242 after sharing an opening stand of 83 with Dawid Malan, 65 with Neil Dexter for the second wicket and 64 with John Simpson. Early scalps for Tim Murtagh and Steven Finn, who removed the dangerous Chris Rogers, cemented Middlesex’s position and the rest of the attack shared the wickets.Neil Carter hit a violent 64-ball century as Warwickshire dented Kent’s hopes of claiming the Division Two title with a 59-run victory at Canterbury. Carter launched a blitz on the Kent attack as he cracked 13 fours and six sixes before having to retire hurt with a slipped disc that will keep him out for the rest of the season, but Jim Troughton contributed 53 to keep the innings on track. After ten overs Kent were 38 for 3 and virtually out of the chase although Geraint Jones and Darren Stevens added 90 to revive hope before both fell to Jonathan Trott’s medium pace.Niall O’Brien made mincemeat of the Surrey attack as Northamptonshire raced to an eight-wicket victory at Wantage Road. O’Brien hammered 81 off 46 balls as the home side knocked off 135 in 15.3 overs. The Surrey top-order had earlier been dismantled by Johan van der Wath and David Lucas as they fell to 49 for 5 and only Rangana Herath, with 39, made an impression.

Kolkata’s Eden Gardens is set to host a one-day international after nearly three years when Sri Lanka tour India for in November-December. The Tour Programmes and Fixtures Committee of the Indian board met in Delhi today to finalise the dates for the series, which includes three Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s, and will announce the dates later.The Tests will be played inMumbai, Kanpur and Ahmedabad and the Twenty20s in Mohali and Nagpur. The other four ODIs will be take place in Cuttack, Rajkot, Visakapatnam and Delhi.Kolkata last hosted an ODI in February 2007 when Sri Lanka toured India for a short series before the World Cup.

Ricky Ponting has said that his inexperienced and under-strength side’s victory in India was among the best one-day successes he has been part of, including the Champions Trophy and the World Cup wins. Australia clinched the seven-match series after winning the sixth ODI in Guwahati by six wickets, a result that gave them a 4-2 lead with one game in hand.”It’s probably one of the best one-day series I have ever been involved in, what with all the injuries and setbacks at the start of this tour,” Ponting said. “We have won a lot of series here in India but this one will be up there with some of the specials that I played in, including our Champions Trophy and World Cup wins. For the boys to stick together as a group and play as team of 11 players for the last few games has been very satisfying.”India is a hard place to come and win and this victory means a lot, especially when you haven’t got all your players to pick from. It makes it even harder when players are getting off planes and turning up and playing. No one’s shirking and no one’s whining, we have just got on with it and tried to do the best that we could.”Australia’s campaign in India was ravaged by injury even before it started with four first-choice players – Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin and Callum Ferguson – unavailable for selection. Their troubles grew more severe during the tour as Brett Lee, James Hopes, Tim Paine, Peter Siddle and Moises Henriques also picked up injuries and had to be flown home. Before the fifth ODI in Hyderabad, Australia had only 13 fit players to choose a XI from and Ponting said the way they responded to adversity was heartening for the future.”With each game that we have played, we have just gotten better and better so it’s really good signs for the team,” he said. “Some of the younger guys have come into the team and have got a few games under their belt. They have been building experience towards the World Cup in 2011 and I think they will have learnt a lot from this tour.”The victory in Guwahati was Australia’s third consecutive win in the series, following successes in Mohali and Hyderabad. Fast bowler Doug Bollinger, who took his second five-for in ODIs, and Mitchell Johnson reduced India to 27 for 5, effectively ending the contest in the first hour. “The bowlers obviously led the way today, Johnson and Bollinger were outstanding upfront. The way they started after second ball of the day went for six was really remarkable,” Ponting said. “He [Bollinger] bowled brilliantly, starting from his first game back in Delhi. To get five wickets on a pitch which did not offer much to the fast bowlers is a terrific reward. Once we got those four or five wickets we were always in control of the game.”Ponting also praised Australia’s fielding, which he felt made the difference during the close finishes in Vadodara and Hyderabad. “We talk about it a lot around our team and pride ourselves on the way we field. Quite often in close games it’s the fielding which is the difference between the teams. We’ve had a four-run win [in Vadodara] and a three-run win [in Hyderabad] in this series and some of the great fielding that we have had in this series has gone a long way in helping us win.”

New Zealand Cricket has gone back to its roots with the reintroduction of the Plunket Shield as the trophy for the men’s first-class competition this summer. The shield was first introduced in 1906 and was replaced from 1974-75 by the Shell Trophy, which was itself succeeded by the State Championship in 2001-02.But the loss of State Insurance as sponsors for 2009-10 has prompted a return to the Plunket Shield, which has been on display at the New Zealand Cricket Museum in Wellington. The NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said he was excited at the prospect of dusting off the trophy.”The Plunket Shield has a strong place in our cricket history,” Vaughan said. “The reintroduction of the Plunket Shield allows us to acknowledge the traditions of the game and at the same time appropriately celebrate and promote our four-day first-class competition. For the first time in a decade we find ourselves in a different sponsorship environment – and this gives us the opportunity to restore real history and heritage back into our first-class competition through the Plunket Shield.”The Plunket Shield has been the historical foundation of domestic cricket in New Zealand for over a century – and New Zealand Cricket is committed to retain the Plunket Shield for our four-day first-class competition into the future. The naming rights for this competition are not for sale. We look forward to some great performances in the four-day competition and we hope cricket enthusiasts will get out and strongly support the reintroduction of the Plunket Shield.”The shield was last won in 1974-75 by an Otago side captained by Glenn Turner. He said it was pleasing to see the prize back up for grabs 35 years later.”The Plunket Shield was our only first-class competition at that time,” Turner said. “There was no one-day game, and just five rounds of three-day matches, so the competition was intense. The Shield was a real symbol of inter-provincial rivalry. The four-day game remains the pinnacle of our domestic cricket, so it will be great to see it back as the focus of the competition.”The season kicks off next week with the first round of four-day games. The six teams play five rounds before Christmas and a further five rounds in February-March.

Shane Watson admitted his failure to complete his maiden Test century at the Adelaide Oval was “the most shattered I’ve been”, and vowed a more restrained approach when he next closes in on the milestone. Watson resumed the third day’s play against West Indies unbeaten on 96, only to be bowled attempting to blast Sulieman Benn through midwicket on the second ball of the morning.Watson’s momentary loss of composure was the low-point of an otherwise superb Test for the allrounder, featuring three wickets and innings of 96 and 48. His average after five matches as opener now stands at a robust 48, and includes four half-centuries from eight innings. A Test ton, however, remains elusive.”It’s always nice to score a hundred in first-class cricket, but my ultimate goal no doubt is to score a hundred in Test-match cricket,” Watson said. “There’s a big difference. I’ve been lucky enough to be in the 90s in one-day cricket and first-class cricket, but there are different things going through your mind. It really does mean so much for me to get a hundred in a Test match. I definitely learned from it, because I don’t really want to feel the way I did after I got out again.”It’s the most shattered I’ve been. To be able to be so close to realising a childhood dream of getting a Test match hundred was very shattering. I slept very ordinarily. I kept thinking about the four runs I needed to get my first hundred. Unfortunately, that’s what engulfed me when I was out there for that very brief stay the next morning. I definitely got caught up in it a little bit. Hopefully I will get another opportunity and clear my mind and not get caught up in the number like I did.”Now in the final month of the busiest year of his career, Watson continues to revel in the dual roles of opening batsman and fourth seamer. A strict training regime and an unparalleled work ethic have helped banish the ghosts of injuries past and installed him as a first-choice member of Australian teams in all three formats.Watson’s contributions with both bat and ball buffered Australia from a determined and largely unexpected West Iindies onslaught in Adelaide. His innings were notable for fluent strokeplay against the fast bowlers, and his reverse-swing in both innings limited the impact of the visitors’ in-form batting line-up.Ricky Ponting might have expressed concerns over Watson’s current workload, but the player himself is resisting calls for a demotion in the batting order. In a year when fellow allrounders Andrew Flintoff, Jacques Kallis and Jacob Oram have been struck down with various injuries, Watson insists he is capable of opening the batting and providing seam-bowling support over the long-term.”What I’ve worked so hard for is to be able to sustain it for a long period of time,” he said. “The things that I’m doing seem to be working very well. We do have a lot of cricket on, there’s no doubt about that, but at the moment I’m getting through it really nicely. It’s great to be a big part of this Test match in both batting and bowling. As always, Ricky does balance my bowling workload very well. He bowls me when it’s required and gives me a rest when it’s required.”Providing Watson with confidence that allrounders’ workloads are sustainable in the modern game is his West Indian counterpart, Dwayne Bravo. Playing his first Test series after an extended lay-off due to ankle surgery, Bravo has been in superb touch, combining for scores of 104 and 22 in Adelaide to complement his three second-innings wickets.”It is always nice to see other guys do what you’re trying to do yourself; to know that you can do it,” Watson said. “Dwayne is someone I always look out to see how he’s going, whether it’s here or overseas, just to see the things he’s been doing and the games he’s playing. Obviously you compare yourself to the people who are your likeness in international cricket.”Someone like Jacques Kallis is the ultimate allrounder with the things he’s been able to achieve, so it’s hard to compare yourself to someone like him. But someone like Dwayne Bravo, I feel there is a bit of likeness there with exactly what we do. Of course, it’s always nice to see someone achieving the things you want to achieve.”

ScorecardSaeed Ajmal laid a claim for a Test spot with 4 for 84 against Tasmania•Associated Press

The offspinner Saeed Ajmal picked up four wickets and the Pakistanis’ top order had another hit out before the three-tour game ended in a draw. On Saturday the tourists face Australia in the Boxing Day Test and they will head to Melbourne with some confidence after a strong hit-out against Tasmania in Hobart.Tasmania were finished off for 193 before lunch on the third day, with Ajmal taking 4 for 84 in his 24 overs. Ajmal is competing with Danish Kaneria, who did not play, as the No. 1 spinner in the squad and will be content with his performance, which included the wickets of Jason Krejza (23) and Brendan Drew (14).Abdur Rauf, Mohammad Aamer and Imran Farhat all earned two wickets each, with Farhat’s collection coming when he dismissed the tailenders Brett Geeves (33) and Tim Macdonald (5). The visitors earned a lead of 244 and moved to 4 for 141 before calling the game off early.Farhat retired on 40 and Faisal Iqbal, who was promoted to open, got 32 and Umar Akmal was 55 off 50 balls when he was run out. Misbah-ul-Haq (1) and Fawad Alam (2) both failed, but they got starts in the first innings.Ajmal believed his doosra would be extremely handy as Pakistan look to clinch their first Test series in Australia. ”In these times, Test scoring is very fast,” he told the . ”Ten years ago, Tests were slow and easy all-day batting for about 210 runs. But these days it’s over 300 runs in a day. So if you have any variety [as a bowler] you can survive. If do not have variety you cannot survive in international cricket.”Depends on the wicket, but the doosra is very difficult. If they [the pitches] are turning, it should be difficult for Australia against me.”Among Australian spinners, Ajmal said Shane Warne had lots of variety, but the current crop were yet to impress. ”But these days the Australian spinners are just offspinners and it’s not like they are taking five or six wickets every match, maybe two,” Ajmal said.

Ricky Ponting never stops surprising. Until this season he had enforced the follow-on twice in 62 Tests as captain; he now hopes to do it for the second time this summer. Until this match he looked, at 35, like a man whose best days were behind him; he countered that perception with his third-highest Test score and the biggest partnership he has ever been involved in at Test level.It was significant that the 352-run stand came with Michael Clarke, the vice-captain and the man who will take over the leadership whenever Ponting decides to carry his Kookaburra and faded baggy-green off into the sunset. If he keeps playing like he has over the past two days, that could be several years away.Whenever it arrives, Australia want Clarke to be perfectly prepared and gradual moves into the Twenty20 and one-day captaincy have been part of the process. As the two men dragged the match further and further out of Pakistan’s reach, it felt as if Ponting was an old warrior teaching the younger man how to kill off a prey, clinically and without mercy.For all Clarke’s successes as a Test player, turning hundreds into big ones had been a problem. Until today, his highest score remained the 151 he carved on debut in Bangalore and his longest innings was 367 minutes. Here, he lasted 437 minutes for 166.”We haven’t actually shared many big partnerships together in Test cricket, so to get that done, when we were under a bit of pressure early in the innings at 3 for 70 when we came together, was nice,” Ponting said. “I knew he made that 150 on debut, so when he was getting close to that today I was urging him along to make sure he went past that total.”At different times we pushed each other along and at different times told each other to pull the reins back in a little bit as well. That’s a big part of it. That was one of the great strengths that Hayden and Langer and myself and Marto and those guys had. Because we knew each other so well and knew our games so well, it was quite easy to coach each other through difficult times. Michael and I have played a lot of cricket together now and know each other’s games really well.”Even for Ponting, who has now scored five double-centuries for his country, his 530-minute stay was the second-longest he had ever batted in a Test innings, exactly an hour short of the period needed to make his career-high 257 six years ago. He finished with 209 and only departed because he was looking for quick runs. Staying focused for so many hours was not terribly difficult, he said, especially when he was keen to atone for a disappointing summer.”You’re only concentrating for a couple of seconds at a time but it’s having that ability to switch off between balls and look around the crowd, or talk with your partner, or whatever you need to do to keep fresh,” he said. “But I’ve had plenty of batting time stored up, I haven’t done a lot lately, so there was plenty of patience and concentration left in me for the summer.”Ponting’s wonderful innings was followed by four wickets within 36 overs as Pakistan replied late in the day and it has given Australia an excellent opportunity to make their opponents bat again. Ponting did that to West Indies at the Gabba in November and with showers expected at different stages over the remainder of the Test, he is keen to make it twice in three months if his bowlers keep breaking through.”A lot of the reason today for us batting around that tea interval and getting around 500 was to hopefully be able to make them follow-on,” he said. “It gave us two options in the game – if they batted long, we were hopefully still going to have a reasonable lead but if we happen to bowl them out it obviously gave us a chance to enforce the follow-on with that sort of total. There was a bit of that thinking today, with that weather in mind.”He was praised in Brisbane for keeping West Indies under his control and finishing the Test in three days. He will be congratulated again if he delivers Australia’s fifth win of the summer.

Fans will be granted free entry for the ongoing Duleep Trophy final between South Zone and West Zone, after the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) decided not to allow spectators inside the Rajiv International Cricket Stadium for the first two days.It was earlier reported that the HCA was fearing crowd trouble due to the political situation in Andhra Pradesh, but joint secretary DS Chalapathi clarified that fans will be given access, only from Gate No. 4, for the three remaining days.”Due to civil works, the entry was barred for public to witness the match on the first two days,” Chalapathi said in a statement. “However, we have decided to let the fans watch the proceedings from the Eastern Stand (Gate No. 4) for the next three days of the five-day final.”

Paul Harris, South Africa’s left-arm spinner, has spoken out against the criticism spinners get in his country if they don’t perform to expectations. Harris, whose four wickets played an important role in the innings victory against India in Nagpur, said the negative press in the recent home series against England had upset him.Harris began the four-Test series with a five-wicket haul in Centurion but he took only four wickets in the next two games. He was dropped for the final game at the Wanderers, which South Africa won to square the series 1-1.”South African spinners are always under the spotlight and I thought my treatment was a little harsh,” Harris told . “I took a five-for in the first Test against England (at Centurion) and then two Tests later everyone’s calling for me to be dropped. It was a bit disappointing considering what I have done for the team in the last few years, the results I have produced.”England played me well and I lost some consistency, which irritated me. In fact, it really upset me.”In the Nagpur Test, Harris sparked India’s collapse in the first innings when he foxed MS Dhoni with sharp turn from the rough from over the wicket. Dhoni shaped to leave the ball but it lobbed off his glove to the keeper. In the second innings, he got the vital wicket of Sachin Tendulkar, bowled while trying to sweep. Harris said the strategy of bowling on the rough outside the leg stump was paying off.”It’s probably not the most fashionable plan, but frustrating them out was the key. It’s more a patience game, but the Indian batsmen have big egos against spin,” Harris said. “They will kick it away for five overs but then try something in the sixth over. You know they’re going to come at you, especially because of all the media hype.”My strengths are consistency and patience, and I get a bit of bounce. My job is to keep the batsmen quiet, keep it as tight as possible and make it hard for them to score. My skill is being able to bowl over the wicket. It’s something you have to learn if you’re going to do well in Test cricket. It wouldn’t be your first-choice line of attack and if the pitch is doing a lot you’d go around the wicket. But going over, they don’t get runs and you get the odd wicket. Getting a batsman out caught at deep square leg is as good as having him caught at slip.”He said he wasn’t aware the Indians were practicing the leg-stump line in Nagpur. Were they? That’s a surprise,” he told . “But look, they could not score off me because of the situation. You can’t bat for three days under pressure. They are known to be aggressive. I would imagine they would be a bit more aggressive in their planning.”However, the bigger matchwinner was Dale Steyn, who took ten wickets. “It was Dale Steyn’s Test match. He showed how good he is and it was pretty spectacular taking 10 wickets on that deck,” he said. “He makes the spinner’s job easier, because I’m talking to the batsmen, telling them that if they don’t come after me, Dale’s going to take their heads off later on.”The tour was preceded by the drama of coach Mickey Arthur’s sudden resignation and the revamping of the selection panel. Harris said that contrary to predictions that the off-field events would distract the team on tour, it only made them a closer, fighting unit.”I hold Mickey in the very highest esteem, he was the guy who gave me a chance and backed me. He’s up there with the best coaches and a champion man, he’s sent me about a million text messages since we’ve been in India,” Harris said.”But it’s probably true that a change is as good as a holiday and it’s meant the players are now trying to impress the new management, you can see it in the intensity. When we are apprehensive about something, we stick together, it’s a great South African trait. The boys are a lot closer, we’re all real good mates and that’s made the new management’s job easier. I have to say Corrie van Zyl (the new coach) has been very good and Kepler Wessels (batting consultant) has been superb.”

West Indies bowler Darren Sammy has said his determination to perform well at the international level stems from the fear that every game he plays may be his last.”It’s a constant reminder that this could be my last game so I have to go out and do well for myself and the region,” Sammy said. “I am competing with [Dwayne] Bravo, who is one of our senior players, so it’s always difficult to cement my place in the squad. It’s up to me to go out there and be consistent in my performances and that’s what I’m striving to do.”Sammy, 26, was at the forefront of West Indies’ emphatic 141-run victory in the third ODI against Zimbabwe in Kingstown. He picked up 4 for 26 during West Indies’ defence of 245 to take the Man-of-the-Match award and, more importantly, give the hosts a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.”Today the wicket had some grass on it and it was aiding seam bowling,” Sammy said. “I was getting some movement off the seam and we put the ball in the right areas and we got results.”Having taken 5 for 26 against the same opponents in the lone Twenty20 international earlier, and 7 for 66 against England on his Test debut, he narrowly missed becoming the first West Indian to take five-fors in all three formats of the game at the international level. However, he said the only way he could become a fixture in the side was to improve with every performance.”I have to keep improving so that I can be a permanent fixture in the eleven and in the West Indies squad. So far I have been doing a good job in terms of doing the job I have been asked to do. In Test cricket I have three five-wicket hauls, one in Twenty20 and I almost got one here today in a 50-over game.”Sammy would have had five wickets had captain Chris Gayle not dropped a relatively straightforward catch at slip from Graeme Cremer, having earlier taken a superb one-handed effort to dismiss Greg Lamb off Kemar Roach. However, he praised Sammy’s effort which ensured the win.”Well done Darren Sammy, he could have got five wickets and it was my fault he didn’t,” Gayle said. “It was definitely a team effort and I am very happy with the result. I am sure Zimbabwe will come back hard at us and we shouldn’t get carried away now.”