Notts and Surrey Fire towards the Final

While the cream of the world’s one-day batsmen were struggling to accumulate scores of 300+ in the Champion Trophy, elsewhere in England those left behind were making hay while the sun shone on the knockout stages of the Royal London Cup.

The group stage runners-up and third placers met in the sort-of-quarter-finals at Taunton and Headingley. Somerset scored an impressive 405 but unfortunately for them, it w in pursuit of a stunning 429-9 racked up by Nottinghamshire, who had passed 400 twice in last year’s competition. Even without Hales, their batting in limited overs has enormous potential, and most delivered last week.

Brendon Taylor thrashed 154 in 97 balls, followed by a rapid 62 in the semi-final a few days later. Riki Wessels and Samit Patel knocked half-centuries but only Somerset’s reliable Dean Elgar managed a decent innings (91) in response. The late-order did their best with cameo hitting but were bowled out 24 runs and two overs short.

Surrey also claimed an away win by the same margin. That man Kumar Sangakkara passed three figures yet again in that beautifully fluent style that is his hallmark.

When it came to the semis, Surrey were even more emphatic. England discard Jason Roy rediscovered some form with 92 and wicketkeeper struck a second successive score of 86, ahead of the Sri Lankan legend’s 72-ball 73. In a week where county attack were being taken apart, all credit – albeit grudgingly! – to Gareth Batty, who took 5-40 as Worcestershire crumbled.

At Chelmsford, Alastair Cook achieved a third century in the competition this summer for Essex, and at more than a run a ball. His face may not fit the current template for power and aggression but often it’s mastery of the basic which can be so effective in the 50-over game, and Cook is undoubtedly a master batsman. His skipper Ryan Ten Doeschate also produced another of his 102 not outs  And yet it wasn’t enough. A brilliant partnership of 185 between Samit Patel, sweating in the sunshine, and the ebullient Steve Mullaney, took them to the brink of the huge 374 target before Mullaney was caught behind off Wagner on 111. Patel took his side over the finishing line six deliveries later.

It all sets up an enthralling final next month.

Team of the Week: Cook (Ess), Wessels (Not), Sangakkara (Sur), Patel (Not), B Taylor (Not), Mullaney (Not), Foakes (Sur +), Gregory (Som), Batty (Sur), Azeem Rafiq (Yor), Porter (Ess)

Yorkshire Take the Roses Crown

The weather had an East-West split this week. Unusually, it was the West which enjoyed the sunshine while the East suffered unseasonal rain and cold winds. This had an effect on the cricket results, too, but the top of Division One has a Northern look about it.

Yorkshire bounced back to deliver a decisive 175-run victory over their Roses rivals and go level on points with Lancashire. However, the Reds remain on top having won more games. In fact only two points separate the top four, with Middlesex making a move.

It was a great all-round show by Adil Rashid, while Tim Bresnan’s 2016 debut after a calf injury was also successful, contributing 98 runs and six wickets. It was a shame for Neil Wagner, who added another eight to his Championship scalp tally.

Middlesex thrashed Hampshire by an innings at Northwood, but required a fourth day fine weather window to finish off the job. Adam Voges shared two sizeable partnerships, the first of 279 with Dawid Malan, then a further 174 with ‘keeper John Simpson, before declaring on 467-3. Tim Murtagh and Toby Roland-Jones then left the visitors reeling and following on more than 300 behind. James Fuller bagged a five-for and only Adams managed more than 33 in the futile run chase.

For two delightful days, Somerset sat in third place having squeaked home by a solitary wicket against Surrey at Taunton. Old enemy Gareth Batty achieved an impressive 7-32 to establish a first innings lead of 162. They may regret not enforcing the follow-on because Jack Leach and the Overton twins set up an exciting final day. Trescothick and Allenby each struck 50s but tailenders Leach and Groenewald were the batting stars. They survived almost fifteen overs to score the required 31 runs. Phew! A victory on the board at last!

Nottinghamshire and Durham shared the spoils at Trent Bridge where the batsmen were well on top. Brendan Taylor became the first Notts player to strike two hundreds in the same match since 2003, while stand-in stumper Riki Wessels slammed 159 not out. However, Durham’s Steve Borthwick combined an unbeaten 188 with eight leg-spin wickets and the forecast rain spoilt any remote hope of a contrived final day finish..

In Division Two, it’s three southern counties competing for the promotion places. Awful weather at Canterbury meant neither Kent nor Leicestershire could garner many bonus points let alone the 16 for a win. That enabled Gloucestershire to leap into second spot by beating Worcestershire in a high-scoring encounter.

At 31-5, the home team were in a bad way but Tom Kohler-Cadmore (169) and Jack Shantry’s run-a-ball 106 helped them to a very respectable 439. Graeme van Buuren’s unbeaten 172 enabled Gloucs to declare 75 behind, then Craig Miles’ 5-54 set up an exciting fourth day chase. Michael Klinger was well up for it but it was Jack Taylor’s fireworks at the death which clinched the victory, achieved with a six. It was a bitter-sweet week for Taylor as he faces a second bowling ban because of a dodgy action. However, with innings like this, he surely merits a place as a specialist batsman.

Sussex took maximum points from their ten-wicket mauling of Derbyshire at Hove. Without the runs from the visitors’ Shiv Thakor it would have been even more one-sided. Centuries from Ed Joyce and Luke Wells, then the swing and seam of Steve Magoffin and Ollie Robinson, were too just too much.

In the remaining Championship fixture, Essex and Northants amassed more than 1000 first-innings runs between them. Mickelburgh, Foster and Ten Doeschate each racked up hundreds, with Monty Panesar’s already distant hopes of an England recall demolished under the onslaught. With Northants 56-4 at stumps on day 3, another Essex triumph would have been inevitable were it not for the rain which restricted play to just six overs.

So now we have a fortnight’s break for a blast of twenty- and fifty-over cricket, not to mention England going for a Test whitewash of Sri Lanka. Just as the Championship was boiling up nicely. There were lots of fine performances this week, including some in the T20, and several failed to make my Eleven, which reads as follows:

Duckett (Nor), Malan (Mid), Borthwick (Dur), van Buuren (Glo), B Taylor (Not), Wessels (Not +), Rashid (Yor), Bresnan (Yor), Batty (Sur), Wagner (Lan), Leach (Som)

World Cup 2015: Australia make it five!

A shame that the final proved so one-sided because until today the tournament looked as open as any World Cup I can remember. Whether it was home advantage, extra tactical nous or luck, Australia made their experience tell when it mattered, ending New Zealand's magnificent march to Melbourne.

Maybe, too, the script was pre-typed for Michael Clarke to dedicate victory to the late Phil Hughes and announce his retirement from ODIs. Steve Smith has stepped into the breach superbly, with Shane Watson recovering some form at last. More remarkable was the work done by the physios to ensure the Aussie pacemen stayed fit throughout, and each of them played a part in the nation's success.

I felt that if the Aussies were going to win the final they had to dismiss both Black Cap openers cheaply. In the event, four players were out for ducks but none more significant than Brendon McCullum. He was brilliantly bowled by a 93mph inswinging Starc yorker, but not sure if anyone could have dug that one out. Guptill and Williamson fell before the scoreboard read 40 and, while Grant Elliott stuck around for another 80+ score, the quicks did their job and bowled out the opposition with ten overs to spare.

Southee, Boult and Vettori have bowled NZ into the final but, apart from Finch's caught-and-bowled for zero, there was to be no repeat of the group stage heroics. Michael Clarke can retire with head, as well as World Cup, held high, scoring 74 from 72 balls, although James Faulkner's 3-36 earned the Player of the Match award.

As for the World Cup itself, I reckon it was another wonderful advert for the 50-over format. The huge tally of sixes will please the T20 fanatics but there was plenty to enjoy amongst the bowling fraternity and also those of us wanting to see the nations like Ireland and Afghanistan mixing it with the big boys - and England - in 2019.

So who comprises my team of the tournament?

My openers are Martin Guptill and Shikhar Dhawan. The New Zealander's 237 not out against the West Indies was just the icing on the cake and his captain McCullum's four rapid half-centuries came close to edging out the Indian, whose 137 against South Africa showed that ODI batting is not all about slogging the ball over cow corner. Chris Gayle thumped more sixes than anyone but apart from that 215 he was largely quiet.

Kumar Sangakkara is an obvious choice at number three thanks to his four consecutive centuries, also taking the gloves, and AB De Villiers again demonstrated why he is one of the greatest batmen of his generation. However my number four doesn't represent one of the top nations and didn't even reach the quarter-finals. Brendan Taylor of Zimbabwe accumulated 433 runs from his six matches, including successive hundreds against Ireland and India. His scoring rate of 107 was up there with the best, too. He may have occupied the fourth position but I think Mahmudullah's first two ODI centuries of his career were too important for him to be left out of the team.

It wasn't really a vintage World Cup for established all-rounders but I'll make an exception for Corey Anderson. His wickets tended to be expensive but his 231 runs at more than a run a ball provide ample compensation, and gave New Zealand great impetus in the latter stages of a few innings.

Daniel Vettori hasn't played a lot of cricket in recent years but at 36 and recovered from injuries a-plenty, the former NZ captain was the top spinner of the World Cup. He played in all nine games, took 15 wickets at 20 apiece, conceding barely four runs an over. Despite the talents of Mitchell Johnson and Wahab Riaz, two other left-arm quicks led the wicket-taking league. Trent Boult's seam and swing were critical in the Black Caps' success, but Mitchell Starc's extra pace and place on the winner's podium won him the Player of the Tournament award despite both claiming 22 scalps.

Umesh Yadav enjoyed a productive set of games in the latter stages, pipping team-mate Mohammed Shami to the Eleven thanks to his marginally superior wicket tally. Both proved many people, myself included, wrong about the quality of Indian seamers, but it wasn't enough to beat the eventual champions in the semi-final.

In summary, hats off to Guptill (NZ), Dhawan (Ind), Sangakkara (SL, +), Taylor (Zim), De Villiers (SA *), Mahmudullah (Ban), Anderson (NZ), Vettori (NZ), Starc (Aus), Boult (NZ), Yadav (Ind).

Above all, hats off to Australia and New Zealand for co-hosting a successful tournament as well as providing the two best teams. ICC, take note: don't ruin a winning format!

Zimbabwe Back with a Win

In their first Test match since September 2005, Zimbabwe rounded off a great win against Bangladesh today. After all the political troubles, player boycotts and retirements, it was good for cricket to see the African nation return to the five-day international scene almost six days after India gave them a drubbing in Harare, when Irfan Pathan took twelve wickets.

OK, so Bangladesh didn't exactly provide them with strong opposition, but the mainly young and inexperienced team acquitted themselves well on home territory. Four Zimbabweans made their Test debuts and the remaining seven commanded only about eighty caps between them. Wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu is a 'veteran' of 28 Tests, while spinner Ray Price, who impressed during the World Cup is, at 35, by far the oldest member of the side.

Put in to bat by Shakib, Zimbabwe made an excellent start. The top four batsmen all made runs, led by centurion Hamilton Masakadza and at one stage were 304-2. To Bangladesh's credit, they fought back to dismiss the home side for 370, but their batting was too inconsistent and debutant Brian Vitori took 4-66, He's so new he doesn't even have a photo on Cricinfo, but hopefully the 21 year-old's face will become better known soon! Zimbabwe added salt into the wounds by declaring and setting Bangladesh 375 to win, waiting until captain Brendan Taylor reached three figures for the first time. Seven years after his Test debut at 18, he's had to be patient, although he has notched more than a hundred ODIs and aggregated over 3000 runs. Another bowler making his first Test appearance, Kyle Jarvis also claimed four wickets as Bangladesh capitulated again, with the exception of a spirited T20-style onslaught from Abdur Razzak.

The winning margin was a healthy 130 runs. Healthy for Zimbabwe, that is. Things aren't looking too promising for Bangladesh, whose improvement over the past decade seems to have stalled and possibly even reversed. The African nation may have nobody of the calibre of Andy Flower, Heath Streak or Andy Blignaut but by forging multicultural team spirit, free of political control, they can start to build slowly in one- and five-day cricket. Masakadze, Taylor and Elton Chigumbura are useful players. The latter has demonstrated some talent at T20 and is a former Player of the week when at Northants last season. However, the all-rounder has disappointed in the longer formats and needs a few big innings and/or wicket hauls to make a mark at international level.

Next up for Zimbabwe are five ODIs against the same opposition, then a brief visit by Pakistan next month. They get to tour New Zealand for another one-off Test and a few ODIs and T20Is early next year to see how they get on away from home territory. If they can manage the occasional victory over these more established, if not world-leading teams, the confidence will do them a world of good. So they may be a million miles from challenging India, England and South Africa but a good showing in the next T20 World Cup or the proper 50-over tournament can only benefit world cricket.