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Vettori lauds 'perfect' day

Days like these have become a rarity for New Zealand. A disciplined line from their new-ball pair of Kyle Mills and Tim Southee, an agile and pro-active fielding unit that forced two spectacular run-outs, rounded off by controlled yet aggressive batting from the openers made New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori call it a “perfect” day.”I am not sure if you can ask for too much more – we wanted a complete performance out of ourselves and right from the start we put it together. To dismiss a good Zimbabwe line-up for 160 on a very good (batting) wicket and then chase it with ten wickets in hand, I can’t really ask too much more from the guys,” Vettori said, describing his feelings after New Zealand became the only team this World Cup to win by a ten-wicket margin twice.In their tournament opener, Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill had dashed to the target of 70 in 37 minutes as New Zealand demolished Kenya in Chennai. But that was followed by a below-par performance against arch-rivals Australia five days later, where none of the New Zealand batsmen got a start and the bowlers found it hard to defend 206, with the defending champions registering a seven-wicket victory.New Zealand had arrived on the back of a 2-3 series loss to Pakistan at home. They had also lost 18 of their previous 29 matches from the beginning of last year. That involved series whitewashes in Bangladesh and then India. The big worry was the constant failures of the batsmen to raise a platform. After Ireland’s improbable victory against England, New Zealand were wary of Zimbabwe, who have won matches against higher-ranked teams in the last one year including India and Sri Lanka. “There was a little bit of pressure around the game. It was a must-win game,” Vettori admitted about the mindset at the start of the match.New Zealand were aggressive in all departments against Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad•Getty Images

But Hamish Bennett’s spectacular dive to run out Charles Coventry in the second over of the morning triggered a quick downfall, and even before the first hour was over, Zimbabwe were in dire straits. If not for the 87 runs gathered by Nos 7 to 10, Elton Chigumbara’s men could’ve faced the same assault that West Indies inflicted on Bangladesh in Dhaka later in the afternoon. “It is hard to bounce back from there,” Vettori said of Zimbabwe’s plight at 46 for 5 after 15 overs. “If you can get those initial breakthroughs you can put a lot of pressure on the team. Then you can set attacking fields which makes it difficult for the opposition. We were fortunate to take those early wickets through great seam bowling, some very good fielding which made my job and the rest of the bowlers’ a lot easier.”Vettori was also glad that the McCullum-Guptill combination had played sensibly to bolster New Zealand’s confidence ahead of marquee contests against Pakistan next week and later Sri Lanka, two teams New Zealand has struggled badly against recently. Their unbeaten partnership today was the highest by a New Zealand opening pair in a World Cup and eighth overall.Vettori said the influence of John Wright cannot be forgotten. Wright took over as New Zealand coach from the Pakistan series and has been blunt in his appraisals of batsmen ever since. During training here he has worked hard having one-on-one sessions. Yesterday Ross Taylor said that Wright had made it clear to the batsmen in a closed-door meeting that they had to step up as a group and not individually. Vettori said the openers’ success proved the players were understanding the Wright way. “What we did with the ball allowed Brendon and Martin to take their time, get themselves in and really produce innings of timing and quality. They still played their natural games. There was no need to score at any pace. It was a good controlled innings and we got on top quite early.”

Muralitharan doubtful but Sangakkara upbeat

For the second match in succession, Sri Lanka are sweating over the fitness of Muttiah Muralitharan who is nursing a leg injury ahead of the semi-final against New Zealand tomorrow. “Murali and everyone around him is trying to get him as fit as possible and fit enough to play,” Kumar Sangakkara said.”It’s no use thinking about the final and saving him for other games, this is the crunch game and if he can play tomorrow that’ll be great for us, but if that doesn’t work out, we’ve got enough cover to make sure that we are still a solid winning side.””At the same time its two different injuries. He knocked his knee at Mumbai and he’s just aggravated a quadricep muscle – a very slight strain – in the game before so it’s not the same injury. We’ll just have to monitor how he goes and hope he is fit enough to play.”Sangakkara said that with injuries, it was crucial to see that both the team and the player were comfortable with him taking part in the match, especially a big one like the semi-final. “If Murali is not fit it’s something that we have to accept and get on with.”Having thrashed England by ten wickets in the quarter-finals, Sangakkara said that complacency is the last thing on Sri Lanka’s radar. “There’s no chance of that happening in anyone’s mind. You understand the gravity of the situation, you understand the challenge that’s going to come your way, you got to accept it and you got to enjoy it.Muttiah Muralitharan is in doubt for the semi-final with a leg injury•AFP

“The guys have done pretty well and tomorrow is not going to be any different. You can’t play too much to the crowds, or too much to show off, it’s a question of playing good solid cricket, concentrate on doing the best. We have set ourselves small goals to achieve, if we keep our heads and we perform as well as we can, we can turn it into a solid performance.””The expectations are always there, that’s not something that we can control, what we really want to do is to make sure that when we go out tomorrow, we are realistic. We stay in the moment and make sure we concentrate on what we have to do and make sure our focus is 100 per cent on tomorrow.”Sangakkara said the win over England was made to look easy because the openers – Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga – came up with a magnificent batting performance. “Those kinds of partnerships don’t come very often and that kind of overshadowed the contest as such. But England is a side that we were very wary of and we expected nothing less than their strong performance. In the light of that tomorrow it’s a new game for us. It’s nothing to do with England, we are starting from square one and we want to make sure that we understand that.”Sangakkara said that his team was building up momentum towards the final and that they were improving by the day. “In a tournament like this, there’s never a point when you think over where you are the best. It never happens in cricket. Also in big tournaments it’s always a question of gradual and continuous improvement for us. There are lots of areas we have to make sure we cover, we’ve done pretty much in the two days leading upto tomorrow. The guys are much focussed they are pretty confident but at the same time they understand that it is the performance that counts and that’s what we are trying to deliver tomorrow.”Sri Lanka were second-placed in Group A in the league stage which was considered relatively easier compared to Group B but Sangakkara didn’t think that was the case. “It’s hard to say that we got lots of breaks in the group stages and very few breaks this time. That’s not something that we can control, the schedule was set long before and we are happy that we have got here. Ours is to go one step further tomorrow.”Sri Lanka used three specialist spinners plus the occasional spin of Dilshan against England, but Sangakkara did not indicate what their plans were against New Zealand. “We thought that was the best combination to play against England. It was a very good track and it stayed true throughout. At the same time we have to consider other options as well. We have fast bowlers, especially Nuwan Kulasekara, who has done exceptionally well against New Zealand. So we got to make sure we play the right combination.”

South Africa A surge into series lead

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSouth Africa A’s bowlers set up a comfortable six-wicket win with over six overs to spare at Senwes Park on Wednesday, to take an unassailable 2-1 lead against Bangladesh A.Winning the toss and bowling first, the hosts blitzed the visitors’ top order to reduce them to 88 for 6. Ethy Mbhalati and Kyle Abbott picked up two wickets each, while the rest of the attack maintained the pressure. Yet, Nadif Chowdhury and Nasir Hossain pulled their team out of the muck, with a 103-run stand as Bangladesh A finished with 218.Loots Bosman and Jacques Rudolph began the chase well, adding 44 in quick time before the hosts lost three quick wickets. Dean Elgar and Imran Khan calmed the nerves though, with a 78-run stand, before Vaughn van Jaarsveld upped the scoring-rate to take his side home in the 44th over. Imran finished with an unbeaten 58 off 84 balls with five fours.

Petersen puts Surrey to the sword

ScorecardAlviro Petersen was the toast of Wales after an unbeaten 178 off 289 balls helped Glamorgan to a mammoth 352 for 4 on the opening day of their County Championship clash with Surrey at the Oval.The Glamorgan skipper’s first hundred for the visitors was complemented by Michael Powell’s 99 from 178 deliveries in a 225-run third-wicket stand in 57 overs, a new Glamorgan record against Surrey.After winning the toss and electing to bat on a well-grassed pitch the visitors raced to fifty inside 11 overs and at lunch had reached 111 for 2. The Welshmen were fortunate to see off the new ball for the loss of just one wicket – that of Gareth Rees, who was trapped on the crease by Jade Dernbach in the fifth over.In the first hour, limited foot movement coupled with a policy of presenting the bat to anything remotely loose also prompted a number of appeals for catches behind the wicket – and even one at second slip – but umpire Steve O’Shaugnessy’s hands remained firmly behind his back.At one stage Will Bragg cut Dernbach over backward point for six and the opening session would have belonged exclusively to the visitors had Bragg not fallen to Zander de Bruyn shortly before lunch. Despite needing treatment to his back, Petersen was still there at the break, on 48. The Glamorgan captain duly moved to his fifty, off 84 balls, in the fourth over after lunch.Petersen nearly perished on 67 when Chris Jordan, running in from deep fine leg, could only get a hand to a top-edged hook off Dernbach. But for much of Petersen and Powell’s third-wicket alliance, the ball scarcely beat the outside edge.Gareth Batty’s first over brought a sweep from Petersen that sailed over the square leg boundary for six, though not before the South African had driven Tim Linley majestically straight down the ground for four.In the 55th over, Petersen went to three figures, from 163 deliveries, when a single to long-on off Batty had four overthrows added to it. His century featured 10 fours, a six, that five and a bizarre seven when a push for three to long-on was returned wildly to the third man boundary by Dernbach.Powell took an immediate liking to Chris Schofield, pulling his first ball for four and repeating the dose from his fifth and again from the first delivery of Schofield’s next over, taking Powell to a 102-ball half-century just before tea.In the 78th over, Petersen cover drove Batty to bring up his 150, in 227 deliveries, and take his side past the 300-mark. Five overs later, Powell was within touching distance of a hundred when a bottom edge trickled agonisingly onto his stumps. Shortly before the close Ben Wright was caught at second slip for a 23-ball duck, giving Dernbach a second scalp to celebrate on the day he was awarded his Surrey cap.

Sri Lanka attack backed to surprise

Sri Lanka’s fast bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake is confident that his young and inexperienced charges can spring a surprise on England in the upcoming three-Test series. Ramanayake, who played 18 Tests and 62 one-day internationals from 1988 to 1995, will have to make the most of limited resources especially in the pace department.Without the retired Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga the onus will be on Dilhara Fernando, who has played 35 Tests, to lead the attack. Fernando missed Sri Lanka’s first warm-up match against Middlesex, at Uxbridge, but will play against England Lions next week ahead of the opening Test in Cardiff. The total experience of Sri Lanka’s five seam options is limited to 105 wickets in 43 Tests with 90 of those coming from Fernando.None of the fast bowlers picked for Sri Lanka’s last tour to England in 2006 are around in the present squad namely, Vaas, Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Nuwan Zoysa and Farveez Maharoof, although the latter was drafted in for the first week of the tour. Fernando toured England in 2002 and is the only bowler with some kind of experience in English conditions.”Yes, we have one of the most inexperienced fast bowling line ups taken to England. Except for Dilhara Fernando the others haven’t played much Test cricket at all,” Ramanayake said. “It’s an opportunity for the youngsters to take over and continue. We have the disadvantage of inexperience but looking at it the other way none of the English players have played against our fast bowlers before. It’s an unknown attack to them. I think with that we can unsettle them.”England will know plenty about Fernando and did have a brief taste of Chandaka Welegedara, the left-arm quick, when he made his Test debut at Galle in 2007 but their preparation for the rest will rely in video footage and some advice from Andrew Strauss who hit 151 against them at Uxbridge.”The Englishmen don’t know much about these bowlers and they have not faced them,” Ramanayake said. “It will take some time for them to gauge them and get to know what they are doing. They all bowl quite sharp. Nuwan Pradeep and Thisara Perera bowl in the 140s, Suranga Lakmal has already played two Tests against West Indies and bowled really well.”Perera is waiting on the wings to get into the Test team and has done well in the past year and a half in ODIs. We’ve got some good youngsters and I am quite happy to take this squad because we can really work something with these boys. They can improve and you’ll never know they’ll get wickets in English conditions. I have great belief in them that they can do well.”Pradeep, who had an IPL contract but left early along with captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, is one who comes in for particularly praise from Ramanayake. “You take Pradeep he hasn’t played any cricket at all in his younger days and at school,” he said. “He’s got raw pace, beautiful rhythm and consistency. Consistency comes from rhythm. If the rhythm pattern changes then you don’t bowl a consistently good line and length. You’ve got to be smart as well nowadays.”You got to expect what the batsman is going to do, assess conditions and adjust to the situations and bowl. All these young fast bowlers they haven’t got it yet, but they are getting it from the exposure we give them. They got the right ingredients and this is the best bowling unit we have right now.”Ramanayake also hopes that responsibility will help bring the best out of Fernando who has always been foil for the likes of Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan but now has to be a spearhead on his own. “Dilhara hasn’t played much cricket in the last few months but still the selectors have faith in him,” he said. “He has to deliver the goods because he is the only experienced bowler and he has to show that he is good enough to play Test cricket. That will give him a little bit of responsibility to take up the challenge and do well in England.”Ramanayake thinks Sri Lanka will play three quick bowlers in the Test series, although there best chance could come if the dry weather continues and their spinners – Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis and Suraj Randiv – can play both an attacking and defensive role.”The two warm-up games are vital for us and whoever performs well will have a good chance of playing because you got to get used to the conditions,” he said. “Depending on the pitches three will definitely play or maybe four if there is a lot of grass on the wicket. We are expecting some seaming tracks, but you never know.”England has been quite warm. The weather pattern has changed and we might get warm weather but normally in early summer the wickets are expected to seam. We’ve also got three good spinners in our attack. Rangana very experienced, Suraj has been bowling really well and Ajantha has also got some experience.”

van der Merwe powers Somerset

ScorecardA career-best 89 not out by South African allrounder Roelof van der Merwe coupled with an unbeaten half-century from Marcus Trescothick allowed Somerset to open their Friends Life t20 win account at the expense of hosts Kent.Set to chase a Spitfires total of 163 for 8, Somerset made the most of some charitable Kent bowling and short boundaries at The Nevill Ground in Tunbridge Wells to secure their nine-wicket victory with 18 balls to spare.After the early loss of former Kent allrounder Peter Trego, bowled by Spitfires debutant Charl Langeveldt for six, Somerset cantered to the win line with an unbroken second-wicket stand of 150 in 15 overs.The diminutive Van der Merwe led the charge with a powerhouse unbeaten innings from 51 balls, with seven fours and six sixes, for his first t20 half-century in only his second start for the Sabres. Four of his sixes came off the bowling of England off-spinner James Tredwell, whose two wicketless overs ultimately cost 33 runs.Trescothick also reached the milestone from 30 balls, with eight fours and a six. In the process the left-hander also reached 1,500 career runs in t20 cricket as last year’s beaten finalists chalked up a comfortable first win of the 2011 campaign.The Spitfires made a dreadful start to their innings in front of a sell-out 5,000 crowd by losing their first three wickets for 32 runs inside the opening 27 balls of the game. Joe Denly, fresh from scoring over 200 runs here in the four-day game against Leicestershire, nicked a drive to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler to go for 7, then Matt Coles was yorked by Steve Kirby to make it 23 for 2.Vice-captain Martin van Jaarsveld then pulled a Lewis Gregory bouncer down the throat of Arul Suppiah at long leg, forcing Kent into a rethink and a rebuilding programme. Gregory, the pick of Somerset’s attack, finished with 3 for 26.Captain Rob Key and Darren Stevens began the rescue work with a fourth-wicket stand of 80 in 9.4 overs that ensured the Spitfires at least batted out their 20-over allocation. Seven short of his fifty, Key heaved across the line to be bowled by Suppiah but Stevens charged on to hit a brace of sixes in his 32-ball half-century and two more in his total of 68 from 41 deliveries, which ended when he looked to flick Alfonso Thomas to leg but saw his off stump pegged back.Azhar Mahmood and Geraint Jones went for single figures then Adam Ball had his off stump plucked out for a golden duck as Kent’s late bid for quick runs came unstuck and left them with at least 30 too few to defend.

Sussex back in contention after battling win

Scorecard
Sussex moved back into contention for a place in the quarter-finals of the Friends Life t20 with a four-wicket win over Glamorgan at Hove.Murray Goodwin, who earlier in the day was reprimanded by his county for two counts of dissent against an umpire’s decision in the last month, led his side home with an unbeaten 41 as Sussex wrapped up victory with four balls to spare to move level on 16 points with Surrey and Somerset in second place in the South Group.Chasing 133 for victory on a slow, spin-friendly pitch, Sussex were up against it after Glamorgan took three wickets in five balls to reduce their hosts to 32 for 4 in the sixth over. Left-armer Alex Jones picked up two wickets in successive balls as Lou Vincent (four) was caught on the mid-wicket boundary and Matt Prior (25) was beaten by one which nipped back and hit the top of off stump.When skipper Michael Yardy, playing his first game for a month after taking a break from cricket as he battles depression, played on to James Harris for a duck Sussex’s quarter-final hopes were fading.But Goodwin and Chris Nash (30) batted sensibly to add 58 in 53 balls and although Nash holed out in the 16th over, a target of 40 from the final five overs proved well within Sussex’s reach.Joe Gatting became Jones’s third victim when he was caught at long off from the last ball of the 19th over with three runs still needed, but Ollie Rayner drove James Harris through the covers for the winning boundary.Out of contention for the knockout stages, Glamorgan made four changes and were soon in trouble after winning the toss. Skipper Alviro Petersen was bowled by left-armer Chris Liddle for seven after Sussex had opened the innings with three overs of spin and Australian Mark Cosgrove (11), who had been dropped on nought, chipped a catch to mid-off in the fifth over.Off-spinner Nash, having accounted for Cosgrove, picked up his second wicket when he bowled Gareth Rees, who played across the line, and when Nick James, playing his first Twenty20 game since 2007, was stumped off Yardy the Dragons were 47 for four in the 11th over.Sussex bowled spin for 12 of the first 14 overs but when the pace bowlers returned Glamorgan duo Stewart Walters and Chris Cooke launched a spirited fightback by adding 64 from 35 balls for the fifth wicket.Cooke was the principal aggressor with 42 off 18 balls including five sixes – two of which came off successive deliveries from Umar Gul. Walters, meanwhile, made 37 off 39 balls before Liddle bowled him off his pads.The dismissal sparked another collapse as Gul picked up three wickets in his final two overs. Cooke slogged his slower ball to short fine leg in the 17th over and the Pakistani trapped Michael O’Shea and bowled David Brown to finish with three for 24.

Long odds for injury-hit India

Match facts

July 29- August 2, Trent Bridge
Start time 1100 (1000 GMT, 1530 IST)Is it time to replace a below-par Harbhajan Singh?•AFP

Big Picture

England’s comprehensive victory at Lord’s, with a performance hailed by their captain as “outstanding”, has put them one step closer to the much-desired No. 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings. Some are already proclaiming them the best team in the world, irrespective of what the rankings say. Others suggest they aren’t yet, and that judgment should be withheld until later in the series, given India’s remarkable knack of bouncing back after defeats in series-openers.An injury-hit India presents England with a great opportunity to settle the debate. MS Dhoni’s side is crippled by the loss of arguably their most influential player, Zaheer Khan, due to a hamstring problem.What will make it worse is if Gautam Gambhir, who is still recovering from a blow to the elbow he took in the first Test, joins the injury list. While India at least have a couple of back-up quick bowlers to choose from to replace Zaheer, Gambhir’s absence could end up upsetting the batting configuration. One of three makeshift openers will have to be employed – Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid or Wriddhiman Saha – and the experienced middle order, India’s biggest strength, could be exposed early to the swinging ball.England start as favourites in Trent Bridge, but as India have repeatedly shown, they are a surprisingly resilient side, regularly managing to circumvent problems caused by their relatively weak bowling line-up. Can they do it once again?

Form guide (most recent first)

England WDDWW
India LDDWD

In the spotlight

Harbhajan Singh’s place in the XI has rarely come under the scanner, especially after his ascension to the lead spinner’s role after the retirement of Anil Kumble nearly three years ago. Now, though, questions are being asked after a run-of-the-mill performance in the Caribbean was followed up with a 1 for 218 at Lord’s. While the track for the first Test didn’t offer much for the spinners, Harbhajan’s inability to keep the runs down hurt a Zaheer-less India. He needs three more caps to complete 100 Tests, a milestone he may not reach in this series unless he turns his form around.At Trent Bridge four years ago, Matt Prior’s career hit one of its lows when he faced a barrage of criticism for the infamous jelly bean saga. Now he returns to the venue acclaimed by some as the best Test wicketkeeper-batsman in the world. With four centuries in the past year and an average that has soared to the mid-forties, Prior has made quite a convincing case.

Team news

The most settled side in world cricket, England’s only concern is the hamstring problem that is troubling their tall fast bowler Chris Tremlett. Andrew Strauss is confident Tremlett will be fit to play but even if he isn’t, there’s a ready replacement in Tim Bresnan. The rest of the XI are certain picks.England 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Andrew Strauss (capt), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Chris Tremlett/Tim Bresnan, 11 James AndersonIndia have more to ponder. The good news for Indian fans is Sachin Tendulkar has recovered from the viral fever that troubled him in the first Test. The bad news is that Zaheer is out and Gambhir could join him on the sidelines. Sreesanth is likely to get his first Test since Cape Town six months ago, and Yuvraj Singh could get yet another shot at reviving his Test career.India 1 Abhinav Mukund, 2 Gautam Gambhir/Yuvraj Singh, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Sreesanth

Pitch and conditions

This is a ground that is famous for its swing, and teams have struggled to score big in recent years. India’s phalanx of experienced batsmen can expect a thorough workout against an on-song England pace attack.The clouds are expected to stay away this week, with warm and dry weather forecast.

Stats and trivia

  • Trent Bridge has been one of the most challenging Test venues for batsmen since 2005, with only Sabina Park having a lower runs-per-wicket ratio.
  • James Anderson has an outstanding record at Trent Bridge, bagging 28 wickets at 15.89 in four Tests
  • In this match, Tendulkar will become the first man to play 100 away Tests. The next person on the list is Rahul Dravid with 87 overseas Tests.

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Quotes

“We don’t want to look at the negatives, we want to look at the positives, this will give a chance for someone to become a hero.”

“If we can make it 2-0 here this week we are in a brilliant position to win the series. We aren’t looking at Edgbaston or The Oval.”

Few spectators to witness pink ball experiment

Scorecard
Geraint Jones inspects the ball with the umpires before play begins•Getty Images

History was made in Canterbury as floodlit championship cricket with a pink ball came to the St Lawrence ground for the first time – only for the ECB’s great and the good to all but out number the crowd.When a distinctly chilly set of players left the ground at 9pm, Glamorgan had reached two without loss after five overs having spent the best part of three sessions in dismissing Kent for 237.With little riding on the result, the ECB’s hasty decision to play this end-of-term second division clash under lights and using pink balls may have seemed a reasonable one, but the Kentish public seemingly voted with their feet. Barely 300 turned up for the opening day of a fixture that might usually attract 1,000-plus, yet the committee room appeared full with visiting administrators.”I don’t see any rhyme or reason to it,” said one Kent member trudging out of the ground at a usual finish time of 6pm; “It feels like we’re being used as lab rats.”Former ICC president and ex-ECB chairman, David Morgan, was among the ECB delegation casting an eye over this experimental game, that will see a pink Tiflex ball used in both first innings, followed by a Kookaburra version second time around.”I know it’s not the case for all counties, but some clubs would love to play day/night first-class championship cricket,” Morgan said. “We are here to see if we can give them an element of choice. We will have to gauge the opinion of the players and the umpires as the game progresses and see where we go from here.”As for the players, in-form Kent opener Joe Denly, fresh from 199 in Derby last week, was seeing it like a football from the start, a pink football that is, as his 69 from 130-ball underpinned the Kent total. “I picked the pink ball up really well from ball one,” said Denly, whose two-and-a-half hour stay included six fours.”The first delivery from Graham Wagg swung in plenty, but after that, it did nothing. Yes, it turned early on, but it was really slow turn. The major thing for me was that the ball lost its brightness really quickly. If they continue to use this ball I would think they will be changing it fairly frequently.”Only 14 overs into a blustery opening session Glamorgan turned to spin at both ends and reaped an immediate benefit when Dan Cosker trapped Daniel Bell-Drummond leg before with his first delivery.By lunch Kent had lost four as Sam Northeast and Alex Blake both paid the price for indeterminate strokes against left-arm spinner Nick James while Darren Stevens mistimed a cut against Graham Wagg straight to point.After indifferent first-session batting, Denly finally found a willing partner in acting captain Geraint Jones who hit 48 for his part in a stand worth 59 only for Denly to be undone by a useful delivery from John Glover. Azhar Mahmood’s decision to shoulder arms to the same bowler also proved fatal and once Jones followed suit, to go two short of his half- century, Kent simply unravelled to post only two batting bonus points.With only a handful of spectators still around to watch, Glamorgan played out four maidens through to stumps and will go into day two trailing by 235.

Chand named captain of India Under-19 squad

Delhi’s Unmukt Chand has been named captain of the India Under-19 squad for the quadrangular series in Visakhapatnam replacing Maharashtra’s Ankit Bawne, who was named captain at the time of the announcement of the squad on September 18. A release from the BCCI stated there was a discrepancy between Bawne’s date of birth as mentioned in the BCCI’s database and his passport, following which he was omitted from the squad.Chand made his Ranji Trophy debut last season, and scored a century against Railways in his fourth match. An aggressive opener, he was signed by Delhi Daredevils for the IPL but played only two games. Karnataka’s Shreyas Gopal was included in the squad in place of Bawne.Jharkhand’s Kumar Deobrat is the vice-captain while Sandeep Sharma from Punjab and Mumbai’s Harmeet Singh are the only two players in the squad who were at the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand last year, when India finished sixth.Harmeet, a left-arm spinner, impressed in his first two Ranji Trophy matches in 2009-10, taking 12 wickets, and then bagged his first five-for in the 2010-11 season. Also in the squad is Delhi left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra, who took 18 wickets in the 2010-11 Ranji season. Deobrat score 191 runs at an average of 63.66 and strike-rate of 84.51 during Jharkhand’s successful campaign in the 2010-11 Vijay Hazare Trophy.The tournament will also feature Under-19 teams from Australia, West Indies and Sri Lankato and will be be played between September 27 and October 9.Squad: Unmukt Chand (captain), Kumar Deobrat (vice-captain), Akhil Herwadkar, Baba Apparajith, Hanuma Vihari, Smit Patel, Akshdeep Nath, Vikas Mishra, Harmeet Singh, Kamal Passi, Rush Kalaria, Mohsin Sayyad, Sandeep Sharma, Manan Vohra, Shreyas Gopal

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