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ScorecardAlex Hales reached his half-century off 46 balls before the rain came•Getty Images

Samit Patel picked up four wickets for the second day running to help Nottinghamshire into the semi-finals of the Royal London Cup after defeating Durham by 49 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.Patel, who helped spin his county to a Championship success over Warwickshire a day earlier, produced figures of 4 for 11 to end Durham’s reign as domestic one-day cup holders. The visitors had been set a target of 194 but they lost their way once pace had been taken from the ball and were bowled out for just 144 in 21.2 overs.Earlier in the day Notts had reached 94 for 1 in 17.2 overs, after being put in, before deteriorating conditions forced the players from the field. After a stoppage of almost five hours, the contest was then reduced to 24 overs per side. The home team managed to advance their innings to 170 for 4, with Alex Hales making 62 and Dan Christian blasting an unbeaten 48.

Semi-final draw

Nottinghamshire v Surrey or Kent
Essex or Yorkshire v Gloucestershire or Hampshire

Hales and Riki Wessels gave the Outlaws a perfect platform as they posted 55 for the first wicket, making the best of any width offered by Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth.The introduction of John Hastings into the attack accounted for Wessels, who pulled the Australian straight into the hands of Scott Borthwick at short midwicket for 25.Dan Christian, promoted to No. 3 in the order, punched Onions down the ground for four from his first delivery and repeated the dose two overs later. Hales moved to his fifty in spectacular style, slog-sweeping Borthwick for the first maximum of the match, with his half-century coming from 46 deliveries, seven of which were struck for fours.When play resumed after the rain interruption Hales hit another six before holing out to Ryan Pringle at deep midwicket. James Taylor wasted little time in finding his range, striking Borthwick for three consecutive sixes on his way to 29 from just 15 balls. Taylor fell in the final over of the innings and was followed back to the pavilion by Patel, who hit the last delivery into the hands of Rushworth at third man.Mark Stoneman and Phil Mustard gave the northeast county a flying start to their reply by putting on 63, but the contest swung back again when three wickets fell in six deliveries. Christian enticed Stoneman to hit to midwicket for 36 and then Steven Mullaney picked up two wickets in his first over. Mustard lofted to long-on for 24 and then Paul Collingwood drilled his first delivery straight back into the waiting hands of the bowler.Calum MacLeod and Graham Clark shared in a stand of 61 for the fourth wicket but Durham collapsed dramatically as the required run rate soared. Patel’s introduction saw off both players and he then removed Hastings and Pringle in quick succession, having also caught Gordon Muchall off Mullaney’s bowling.Rushworth was run out and Onions had his stumps knocked over by Jake Ball as Durham’s reign came to an end. Notts progress to the last four, where an away trip to the winners of the Surrey versus Kent quarter-final awaits them.

Zimbabwe batsman Hamilton Masakadza has said that his bowlers needed a cushion of around 180 runs, instead of the 163 for 7 they ended up getting after batting first.The combined efforts of an inexperienced bowling attack, led by the legspinner Graeme Cremer, almost snuck one past Bangladesh, who needed cameos from Shakib Al Hasan and Nurul Hasan to get over the line. Zimbabwe got Bangladesh down to six wickets, with 27 runs still left in the chase. However, two gigantic wides down the leg-side, bowled by Brian Vitori and Luke Jongwe, went for fours, tilting the game heavily in the hosts’ favour.Masakadza felt that the batsmen could have scored a few more runs to make it easier for the bowlers. He said that the injured Tinashe Panyangara was missed, but that Zimbabwe wanted to move on with the young attack for the next three games.”I think in the end you can look at little things like [the wides],” Masakadza said. “But I thought if we were defending 180 it would have made a big difference. So I thought it was more of the batting side than the bowling side.”Obviously he [Tinashe Panyangara] is a big loss to us. He is one of the more experienced seamers that we have. There is a bit more responsibility on Graeme’s shoulders but we have to move on with what we have and look at the younger guys to come through for us.”Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda added 101 runs, only Zimbabwe’s second century opening stand in T20s, and their highest so far. It was still going well till the end of the 16th over before the visitors imploded to give away five wickets for just 21 runs. While the lower order failed to fire, Masakadza, on his part, read the wicket early, going for his shots, encouraging Sibanda to do the same.”I thought we missed out on 15-20 runs in the end. From the position we were looking at, at least 180. I thought it was quite a good wicket, the bounce was true and the ball was coming on nicely.”I think the main thing is to keep making sure that I will do my part and whenever you get someone supporting we will get over the line. As long as we keep sticking together I am sure the result will come.”

The Canadian team flew out of Toronto on Sunday night, heading for Africa where they face Kenya and Namibia.They are due to arrive in Nairobi late on Monday and will play a warm-up match on Wednesday before the start of their four-day Intercontinental Cup tie on October 12. There are then two ODIs, again in Nairobi, before the side moves down to Namibia on October 21. Once there, they will take part in another Intercontinental Cup game.Canadian Cricket Association (CCA) president Mr. Ben Sennik was at the airport to see of the squad, as were various relatives, friends and some other leading local cricketers, including Abdool Samad and Mohsin Mulla. Sennik is not going to Kenya.Most of the squad play in the Toronto and District Cricket Association. Three players – Qaiser Ali, Abdul Jabbar Chaudrey and Krunalbhai Patel normally take part in the Federation Quebecoise du Cricket/Quebec Cricket Federation.

Ronnie Irani: flying to California © Getty Images

Essex’s captain, Ronnie Irani, is set to fly to America next week to undergo hip and knee operations. Irani, 35, flies out to Colorado at the weekend for appointments with reputed surgeons Marc Philippon and Richard Steadman.Irani enjoyed an outstanding 2006 season for Essex, scoring 1075 runs at 59.72 in the County Championship, 379 runs at 63.16 in the C&G Trophy and 338 runs at 42.25 in the Twenty20 Cup. In addition, he led his side to success in the NatWest Pro40 and Twenty20 Floodlit Cup.Speaking to essexcricket.org.uk, Irani said: “I’m going to fly out on Sunday to Vale, Colorado to see a Doctor Marc Philippon, whose reputation goes before him. Ashley Giles went to see him to have surgery on his hip and obviously he’s now back and looking fit ahead of the Ashes.”He will be operating on my hip where the cartilage has come away a little bit on the hip joint and maybe also looking at doing a microfracture on the hip joint itself. I’ll probably be on crutches for eight weeks but I should be fit and raring to go for the next county season come April.”My left knee has also been playing me up for the last month of the season so while I am out in Colorado I’m also going to see the knee specialist Richard Steadman and hopefully he will operate on my left knee simultaneously.”It’s all part and parcel of being a professional cricketer – perhaps this career should have a government warning: ‘playing professional cricket can seriously damage your health!’.”

Malcolm Speed has promised to look into the substitute fielding controversy next month © Getty Images

The International Cricket Council (ICC) will tackle the substitute fielder rule following the furore created by the issue during the ongoing Ashes series.Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, told BBC Five Live that he will meet umpires and international captains in Sydney next month to debate the matter. “It’s something we want to talk to the captains about and the umpires. But it’s a delicate issue and a difficult issue.”Speed’s comments come after Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, condemned England’s regular use of substitutes during the series. Although Ponting had spoken on the issue before the series began, matters came to a head during England’s three-wicket win in the fourth Test at Edgbaston. In the second innings, Ponting was run out attempting a sharp single by substitute Gary Pratt.The incident sparked a public outburst from Ponting and he was subsequently fined 75% of his match fee. He has since then called England’s repeated use of replacements a “disgrace”.England’s bowlers have left the field regularly after their spells for short periods; Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, insists the breaks are to answer calls of nature and within the laws of the game. Ponting argues England have manipulated ICC regulations and that their actions violate the spirit of the game.Speed, however, clarified England had done nothing illegal by using substitutes but added, “I think Ricky Ponting has a point there – we need to be careful that we keep it under control, define what’s acceptable and the captains buy into that.”In a statistical feature in The Numbers Game last week, Cricinfo found that England’s substitute fielders have effected more Test dismissals than any other team since September 2001. In 52 Tests in that period, they have dismissed 18 batsmen. Australia, on the other hand, were at the bottom of the table with only four such dismissals in 50 Tests.

Lancashire 311 (Hooper 77, Cork 77*, FIsher 5-114) are level with Gloucestershire 311 for 8 dec
Scorecard

Ian Fisher: five wickets and the crucial catch helped send Lancashire down© Getty Images

Lancashire’s slim hopes of avoiding relegation finally disappeared shortly after 4pm, when an attempted hook from Andy Crook was held in the deep by Ian Fisher at a damp Old Trafford. It gave Gloucestershire their second bowling point, ensuring their own safety, and consigned the pre-season title favourites to the drop.A delayed start did not help Lancashire’s cause, and when play did start an hour late, they faced an almost impossible task. They needed to score either 300 for 2 or 400 for 5 or better, thus depriving Gloucestershire of vital bonus points, and then force a win. It was always going to be beyond them.Mark Chilton and Iain Sutcliffe made a cautious start, reaching 40 for 0 at lunch, and they took that to 87 before the dismissal of Chilton for 47 triggered a collapse in which Lancashire lost four wickets for 23 runs.Carl Hooper and Glen Chapple stopped the rot in a fifth-wicket stand of 44 before Martyn Ball bowled Chapple for 10, his third wicket of the day. Hooper offered some dogged resistance, and Dominic Cork ensured that the home supporters had something to cheer with a 70-ball 77 not out, which included six sixes. But the real battle was by then over.In addition to taking the crucial catch, the Yorkshire-born Fisher finished with 5 for 114.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is likely to face a compensation claim of 50 million pounds from the Global Cricket Corporation (GCC), which holds TV rights for all ICC tournaments until 2007. According to a report in , the ICC are unlikely to back down in the face of the claim.The GCC, after having paid US$550 million for the TV rights, claims that the cancelled England-Zimbabwe and New Zealand-Kenya World Cup matches, along with ambush marketing of the official sponsors in India, have resulted in a considerable loss of revenue.Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the ICC, said: “The ICC have responded to all these challenges. Some of the issues remain unresolved, but overall the ICC took on a greater role for leading the sport.” Although the ICC “concede that they will have to forfeit some money,” they may look towards the Indian board (BCCI) to bear some of the costs as compensation for disregarding the ambush-marketing clause even after signing the Participating Nations Agreement.

Martin Bicknell and Saqlain Mushtaq provoked a Somerset collapse after the home side had reached 142-1, having won the toss on the opening day at Taunton.Four wickets fell for just 17 runs after tea, with Bicknell and Saqlain picking up two each, before Rob Turner and Ian Blackwell steadied things with a stand of 48 to help Somerset close on 207-6.After the morning session had been lost to steady rain, play finally got underway at 2.15pm, with 41 overs having been lost.Somerset were able to include Richard Johnson following his release from the England squad and had a further boost when skipper Jamie Cox won the toss and elected to bat.Cox and Matt Wood were soon making up for lost time as both found the boundary in the opening overs. Only Martin Bicknell of the Surrey bowlers caused any problems, going past the edge of Wood’s bat and seeing Cox kick the ball away from his stumps as it rolled towards them.It was Bicknell who made the breakthrough, yorking Wood, with the ball just flicking the bat before splaying the middle and off stumps. The 20-year-old batsman had made 24, with five fours, helping Cox put on 49.Cox and Mike Burns continued to punish anything loose. The Somerset captain brought up his half-century from 85 balls, with nine fours, and the partnership was worth 68 at tea as the home side reached 117-1 off 31 overs.But the rest of the day belonged largely to Surrey. Burns, on 38, was picked up off bat and pad to give Saqlain his first wicket and soon Peter Bowler doubled his tally by flicking a catch to mid-wicket.Cox had made 76 when carelessly cutting a short ball for Bicknell straight to Ben Hollioake at point, while Mark Lathwell drove all around a full-length ball from the paceman.Turner survived an appeal for a catch at third slip by Ian Ward offBicknell, with umpire Ray Julian ruling that the ball hadn’t carried, but fell for 29 to the last ball of the day, lbw to Ed Giddins.

David Willey, Northamptonshire’s England allrounder, is likely to be one of the most sought-after close season signings after the county agreed in principle to him leaving with a year of his contract still to run. There will be a price, though, for his suitors, with reporting that the club want £50,000 compensation for his early departure.Northants have honoured a verbal agreement with Willey, 25, that he could move this winter, provided the move clearly represented an advancement for his career and that they were suitably compensated.ESPNcricinfo reported last month that Willey was likely to be on the move after England’s exciting new look in one-day cricket had caught the eye.Willey made his ODI debut in May during a 3-2 series win over New Zealand and also played in the subsequent Twenty20 victory. He has taken 11 wickets in five appearances over 50 overs. But he is regarded as a long way from Test selection and he has concluded that only First Division championship cricket will further his career.Warwickshire are in the running, and want him to open the batting in limited-overs cricket, and Yorkshire, who have serious limited-overs issues to address but who have stiff competition for Championship places, Middlesex and Durham have also been touted. The list is not likely to end there.Willey first came to prominence when he won the man-of-the-match award in the 2013 Twenty20 final, combining 60 from 27 balls with a hat-trick as Northants saw off Surrey, but he wants to win opportunities in all forms of the game.Ben Duckett has been another player on Northants’ mind. He was banned from driving for 12 months by Northampton Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to a charge of drink-driving.Northants Cricket said it was very disappointed in the player, who had made “a huge mistake and he will now have to deal with the consequences”.The club statement added: “This is a judicial matter and we completely respect the decision and authority of the court and, therefore, we will not be applying further punishment ourselves. We expect the highest level of behaviour from our players and impress on them regularly the social responsibility that they carry.”Duckett was said to be “extremely remorseful” and would be starting a programme of education. He said: “I made a stupid decision that night and I deeply regret my actions and wish to apologise to my family and to the club for letting, not just myself, but, them down too. I am extremely grateful that my actions didn’t lead to anyone getting hurt.”Duckett is the second professional cricketer in England to flout drink-drive regulations this summer. James Faulkner will not be considered for Australia’s one-day squad in England after being charged with drink-driving. He is due to appear in court in Manchester on July 21.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is already planning for next season after religuishing his title to neighbours Manchester City on Sunday.

It was plain to see that Man United’s squad was not their best ever this season. And with Man City going from strength to strength and will certainly add to their already impressive squad this summer.

Many pundits have stated that Man United must add to their squad if they wish to halt Man City’s Premier League domination and one of the areas most believe United have struggled with this season is the lack of creativity in central midfield.

Well it seems Ferguson agrees and has already set his sights on Borussia Dortmund’s 23-year-old Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa.

Kagawa has rejected a new deal at Dortmund meaning he will be out of contract next summer but he is expected to complete a move before then.

Kagawa has been in tremendous form for Dortmund this season as they secured a league and cup double, weighing in with 17 goals and 13 assists.

The 5ft 7ins star is another in a long list of new ‘little men’ who are lighting up football in this new era. Kagawa is primarily a central midfield player but can also play on the wings which makes him an attractive propersition for Sir Alex.

He would certainly add creativity to United’s midfield and bearing in mind they lost the title on goal difference this season I’m sure Ferguson will want to see more goals from his team next year to avoid a repeat.

Kagawa has already admitted meeting with Ferguson, stating:

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“It was good to meet and actually talk to him. He had some nice things to say to me. Several clubs contacted me but I can not say which is the best.

“I want to choose the club where I can challenge. It would be good to play in the Premier League.”

It seems it will be a busy summer at Old Trafford with many comings and goings as United look to regain their title next year, halt Man City’s progress and hold off challenges from Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham who will all be aiming to win the league next year.