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Australia’s potential No.3 for the Sydney Test, Alex Doolan has said it was not until Ricky Ponting told him last summer that he was good enough for Test cricket that he really believed in himself

Brydon Coverdale30-Dec-2013Graeme Swann would probably like Alex Doolan, for nobody could accuse Doolan of being up his own backside. The former Tasmania coach Tim Coyle has always believed in him. So has Michael di Venuto, once the state’s batting mentor and now part of the national setup. But it wasn’t until Doolan was told by Ricky Ponting that he was good enough to play for Australia that he really believed in himself.Like Ponting, Doolan is a classy No.3 from Launceston. Like Ponting, cricket runs in Doolan’s family; Ponting’s uncle Greg Campbell played four Tests, Doolan’s father Bruce was a wicketkeeper-batsman for Tasmania. Like Ponting, Doolan is a cricket bat nerd, constantly picking up and inspecting the bats of his team-mates in the change rooms. There the comparisons must end, for, at 28, Doolan has only six first-class hundreds and an average of 37.92.But the No.3 Test position filled by Ponting for a decade could be occupied later this week at the SCG by Doolan, after he was named in Australia’s 14-man squad for the Ashes finale. It was last summer when Ponting spent much of the season playing for Tasmania that Doolan really started to develop, and two century partnerships with Ponting were high points in his season, along with his unbeaten 161 for Australia A against the touring South Africans.”He led by example. He didn’t necessarily tell me how I had to go about it,” Doolan said of Ponting after being called up for the Sydney Test. “He just tried to instill the belief in me and made sure I believed I was a good player and that I could do it and not be satisfied with anything I’d done. If you got a hundred, to make sure the next time you batted you were looking to get a hundred again.”There’s a difference between belonging and wanting to dominate and contribute every game. I’ve probably felt I belonged at the level for a while but probably had been happy just belonging and not wanting to be one of the best players in the competition. That’s one of the differences for me, that I actually, after having chats with Ricky, wanted to play for Australia.”It hadn’t really been a goal or an ambition of mine … an ambition it was, but I hadn’t set goals in place to play for Australia. And that’s the difference, once he spoke to me and told me he thought I was good enough to do it, that’s what I wanted to do.”Doolan finished the summer with 876 first-class runs at 51.52 and was mentioned by national selector John Inverarity as one of four players considered to replace the newly retired Ponting for the home series against Sri Lanka, along with Phillip Hughes, Rob Quiney and Usman Khawaja. The role went to Hughes, and Khawaja has since then had opportunities and failed to grasp them, and now it could be Doolan’s turn.”He’s a fine young batsman Alex Doolan who over the last year and a half has really started to believe that he is a good player,” di Venuto, who has seen plenty of Doolan as Tasmania’s batting coach and now the national batting coach, said. “He benefitted greatly last year from having Ricky Ponting around at Tasmania quite a bit and learnt a lot from just being up the other end from him.”He was involved in quite a few partnerships with Ricky throughout the year. He actually matched it with him a few times and that’s where he really got his belief that he is actually a very good player. He has had another good start to the season with Tasmania. He scored a very impressive hundred in a run chase against NSW. Michael Clarke was playing in that game and he said it was an outstanding innings. He deserves his spot.”However, Doolan’s overall output has been down this year compared to last summer, and he has 432 first-class runs this season at 38.36. He sits 17th on the Sheffield Shield run tally this summer, well behind Hughes, who must have been a strong contender to come in for the Sydney Test if Shane Watson’s groin problem rules him out.One of Doolan’s greatest challenges has been to ensure the Twenty20 format does not affect his red-ball form; a fortnight ago he conceded that had been the case last summer when he played for the Melbourne Renegades. Doolan said he would play for the Renegades against the Brisbane Heat in Melbourne on Monday night before joining the Test squad in Sydney, and he hoped he would be able to adjust back to long-form cricket.”You’ve got to keep yourself prepared and ready, as much as you can,” Doolan said. “It’s a long [Ashes] series and you never know with form slumps or injuries. But my focus because we’ve had such a hectic start to the Big Bash with the Renegades, basically travel, play, train, travel, play, train, it’s been hard to focus on the Test cricket but it’s always in the back of your mind, I think.”Doolan’s chances of playing in Sydney will most likely rest on Watson’s ability to bowl after picking up a groin injury on the first day of the Melbourne Test. Watson batted and made a valuable contribution in Australia’s victory but appeared hampered by his groin problem while bowling and fielding in the second innings.

Team-building is the key goal for South Africa as they prepare for an intense Test series against Australia by taking a leisurely time-out

Firdose Moonda06-Feb-2014While Australia will spend the next two days playing an inter-squad match on a wearing Wanderers pitch, South Africa will be braaing fireside, counting stars and darting rhinos. They’re headed to the town of Hoedspruit, close to the Kruger National Park and about as far as you can get from competitive cricket.”We all love the bush so we’re just going to have a couple days to push the reset button,” AB de Villiers explained. “I find the bush is good for the soul. It just slows things down a little bit.”Although the South African squad have not played any international cricket in five weeks, the players have mostly been occupied with the domestic twenty-over competition, so the time has been anything but quiet. As a squad, they were separated before this week and with a high-profile series against opposition who are known for their ability to push on any weak spots, they feel a need to, as de Villiers put it “reconnect.”The South African squad will spend Friday and Saturday in the company of the retired wicket-keeper Mark Boucher and members of the Rhinos in Safe Hands campaign. On one of the afternoons, they will assist in darting a rhino – in effect tranquilize the animal – to collect a DNA sample which will be entered into a database. The idea is that if the rhino is poached for its horn and a sample is then found, there could be grounds to prosecute the offender.Boucher has been involved in the campaign since he was forced to give up the gloves because of his eye injury and, occasionally, members of the South African squad have accompanied him. Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis were two that were involved a few months ago and now the rest will join in. “A lot of the guys have never been that close to a rhino that you can actually touch it, so that’s going to be something new,” de Villiers said.Activities like these are the sports squads’ equivalent of team-building. It sounds funny because they are actually a team and it is thought that they wouldn’t need anything to make them feel more like one. But occasionally they need to be reminded of the ties that bind, like South Africa were in Switzerland ahead of the series against England in July-August 2012.Then, they spent a week with Mike Horn, cycling, climbing mountains and engaging in other physically challenging tasks, which verged on extreme sports. It was a week designed to push them to every limit so that they could see how far they could go. “It was very busy, we had lectures and meetings and strategising and a lot of activities,” de Villiers said.The exertions paid off. South Africa went on to beat England 2-0 and claimed the Test mace. They have held on to it since, triumphing over Australia in Australia, sweeping a home summer against New Zealand and Pakistan, in which no match went to a fifth day, beating Pakistan in the UAE and India at home.It’s fair to say Australia at home is the biggest challenge of that lot. South Africa have defeated Australia in a series in Australia twice but not at home since readmission. With the next profile series coming in as long as two years, against England in the summer of 2015-16, this is the contest South Africa want to win to confirm their authority over the No.1 ranking.To prepare for that, they’re taking another time-out, albeit a less busy one ahead of this series. This time, the focus is on spending time together in a way South Africans love to when they have time off. Chances are the cellphone reception will be patchy, if it exists at all, the team’s partners are not traveling with them and for most of the time, the only thing they will have to do is talk to each other.They may not discuss much cricket at all, which will probably bring them closer together. They hope to come back a unit so strong that Australia will not be able to find ways through and if that is the case, they believe they will break the duck against Australia at home and end of their summer on a massive high.

A seamless 178-run union between Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene formed the centrepiece of Sri Lanka’s familiar dominance

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Feb-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKumaar Sangakkara hit Test century No. 34•AFPA seamless 178-run union between Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene formed the centrepiece of Sri Lanka’s familiar dominance on the first day in Chittagong. Having been joined with Sri Lanka in minor strife on 49 for 2, Sri Lanka’s senior pair bent a torpid Chittagong surface and a spin-heavy Bangladesh attack to their will, through a combination of cricketing nous and batting instinct.Sangakkara finished the day unbowed at 160, after two late wickets weakened Sri Lanka’s chokehold. Jayawardene had fallen for 72 early in the third session to Mahmudullah, who was one of four frontline spinners Bangladesh played – having anticipated the nature of the pitch. Al-Amin Hossain was the only seam bowler.Having drawn level with Sangakkara’s 33 tons in Mirpur, Jayawardene had hoped his team-mate would eclipse him once more in Chittagong, but for most of their time together, it appeared as if both were destined for triple figures. Sangakkara’s hundred drew him equal with Brian Lara and Sunil Gavaskar at fifth on the century-maker’s list. His runs had come in spurts, like the undulations of a melody. Jayawardene – slower and steadier – held rhythm, finding a greater percentage of his score in the outfield.Sangakkara’s most profitable stroke was his pull. Rarely did he fail to slink back and wallop any spinner that pitched it short – which Mahmudullah and Sohag Gazi did frequently. All three of his sixes came over deep midwicket – the second of which propelled him beyond fifty for the seventh time in as many innings against Bangladesh.Though Jayawardene had taken time to adjust to the pitch’s pace, jamming down late on three Al-Amin deliveries in the morning, Sangakkara had unpicked it almost immediately. Often he flitted quickly into position when he saw a poor ball, but delayed his stroke whenever it slowed markedly off the track. It was the sort of surface on which batsmen may never feel set, but the almost complete absence of false strokes in Sangakkara’s 245-ball stay was tribute to his enduring concentration.The stone most often thrown at Jayawardene is that he makes his runs on generous decks, but in difficult conditions favouring spin, his batting so often seems effortless. The spinners fed him enough loose balls after his mild travails against the seamer, and he soon slipped into the kind of slow-pitch reverie that is a familiar sight in Galle or at the SSC. Sangakkara played calculating cricket, darting down the track to hit bowlers off their length, but Jayawardene’s method was mass-hypnosis. When Mahmudullah spun one more than expected to strike him in front of middle and leg, he had been in his breezy monotone for hours.There was turn from the track as well, but it was of the slow variety batsmen find easier to contend with, and Bangladesh did not deliver enough good balls in a stretch to mount significant pressure. That had been part of their undoing in Mirpur as well. Gazi began the day bravely, putting his balls in the air and hoping for something unusual for the surface. He generated decent turn in his opening spell, but though he dismissed Kaushal Silva, his overs became flatter and faster as the day wore on.Shakib Al Hasan was the most expensive frontline bowler, conceding 70 from his 15 overs – largely because he could not settle on a consistent length. Mahmudullah suffered from the same malaise, to a lesser extent, but his line was better in comparison. Abdur Razzak bowled only one four-over spell, in the morning, before he left the field with a strain in his left hamstring in the 37th over.Bangladesh might have had hopes of dismissing Sri Lanka for under 300, when they sent back both openers in the first session. Silva was undone by the low bounce, as his sweep shot passed over the ball, which struck him in front of the stumps.Dimuth Karunaratne had been positive at the other end, finding runs into his favoured leg side and dealing with the vagaries of the surface with security and confidence. But his inability to convert starts at this level persisted. On 31, he hit a short wide one from Al-Amin directly to the man at point, and sunk to his haunches in disappointment before exiting. He now has five scores between 20 and 40 in his last eight Test innings.Dinesh Chandimal also scripted a disappointment, running down the pitch at Shakib with only six full overs left in the day, to offer a leading edge to backward point. He had fallen in similar fashion against Saeed Ajmal two weeks ago, and in this innings, Chandimal had already survived another familiar close call. In the over before he got out, Chandimal had spotted a short ball from Al-Amin and pulled it on impulse, but though the fine leg fielder could have stayed within bounds after snaffling the top edge, momentum took him over the line. Angelo Mathews also fell attempting a slog – which left Shakib with the best figures of the day, though others had bowled better than him.

Michael Clarke has said that he was long overdue a century, after scoring 161 not out to take Australia into a strong position in Cape Town

Daniel Brettig in Cape Town02-Mar-20140:00

‘Satisfying to finally get some runs’ – Clarke

Michael Clarke overcame a sustained spell of attack from Morne Morkel to score one of his finest hundreds•Getty ImagesAn “overdue” Michael Clarke spent much of the night being treated by Australia’s physio Alex Kountouris and team doctor Peter Brukner due to the fearful blows from Morne Morkel, something that will make his 27th Test century remembered as one of his very finest.Though reluctant to discuss detail of the injuries sustained by Morkel’s battering, particularly the question of whether he suffered any concussion after twice being struck about the head, Clarke admitted he would not have been able to continue his innings without the fastidious care of Kountouris and Brukner, who each had ventured onto the field at various points on day one.”Plenty of treatment, plenty of ice and I’m fortunate to have Alex the physio and the Doc [Peter Brukner] help me out,” Clarke said. “It was a long night, a longer morning to be honest, but I’m in great hands. Without their help, no way would I have got on the park today.”It’s obviously very satisfying to contribute in this series. I was overdue, any time you make a hundred for Australia it’s good. I’ve never had a bad one. There were some tough stages there yesterday, I thought Morne Morkel bowled a couple of pretty quick spells when he went around the wicket and tried to attack the emblem on my helmet, the bounce was a little inconsistent so it wasn’t easy to consistently duck or hook and pull.”I have been hit plenty of times through my career, maybe not so many times in one spell, but that’s the way it goes. So that was a bit difficult at the time so it was nice to get through, most importantly we have had one and a half days of Test cricket and we have 494 runs on the board, so I am extremely pleased with the position we are in.”Before he could reach his century, Clarke had to weather a tight spell from the South African seamer Kyle Abbott, who kept him scoreless for three overs in a row amid a 24-ball wait on 99. Clarke eventually made it to the other end where he laced Vernon Philander through cover to reach the milestone, his 13th hundred as captain of Australia.”It didn’t really bother me to be honest,” Clarke said. “Our goal today was to try and bat exactly like we did yesterday up until lunch and then assess where the game was at. So it wasn’t about my runs personally, it was making sure I was seeing that new ball off and doing the job for the team. Fortunately I was able to get that period.”Clarke is now left to ponder the timing of a declaration, given that more than three hours of play were lost to rain on the second afternoon. He left open the possibility of batting on early on day three, the better to ensure his side does not have to bat again in their pursuit of a series-sealing victory.”I want to see what the weather’s like more than anything else in the morning,” he said. “The advantage now is we start at 10am every day, so we’ll still get some overs back. The forecast is pretty good for the next three days. I’ll have a good chat to Boof tonight. Obviously our goal is to win this Test match, so if that means batting for some time and getting as many runs as we can if we think it’s the best way to win we’ll do that. If we think declaring overnight is the best way then it doesn’t bother me.”We hope that the wicket’s going to deteriorate and there’s more up and down [bounce]. Hopefully some reverse swing and a little bit of spin as the game goes on. You’ve got to sum up runs in your first innings versus how tough they’re going to be in second innings, how much time’s left in the game, what the weather’s like. A few things to consider, but the most important thing is how you’re going to win.”

Dwayne Bravo has credited T20 leagues such as the Big Bash League and the IPL in improving relationships between cricketers of different countries

Abhishek Purohit in Mirpur31-Mar-2014Dwayne Bravo may not count the Australians among his best friends but the hostility that was seen in West Indies’ celebrations after they beat George Bailey’s side in the World T20 was limited to the field, according to the allrounder. Bravo credited that to T20 leagues such as the Big Bash League and the IPL, which he felt had improved relationships between cricketers of different countries. As an example, Bravo said he had discussed the BBL with his Australian opponents at their common hotel in Dhaka a couple of days after their tense World T20 match.”We are all professional cricketers. They want to win and they will do whatever it takes to try and get a win,” Bravo said. “Sometimes, we use it for motivation and some other teams retaliate. We are not a side that retaliates. We try and prepare well and be expressive on the cricket field. At the hotel, we see each other, meet each other and have a quick chat. We may not be best of friends or go out for dinner.”Obviously that happened in the field. (Sunday) morning, I was having a chat with [Brad] Haddin, [Aaron] Finch and [David] Warner about the Big Bash League. Speaking for myself, we are all good friends off the cricket field. I play a lot with them in the Big Bash. That game was really heated. We really needed to win. We were better placed in the group than them, but the comments before the game played up a bit, but that happens on the field.”We play together for the Big Bash and the IPL and some of them come and play in the Caribbean Premier League too. With all these leagues in the world, you end up developing a better relationship.”Bravo pointed to the cordial manner in which West Indies play India and said that was one of the benefits of the IPL, apart from the monetary returns for players. “Look at the India-West Indies games, the relationship is like one love and it’s like one country playing.”Thanks to the IPL, it allows that. It’s a good thing for international cricketers. Apart from money, it also brings you closer to another cricketer from another country and become friends.”

After a mauling at the hands of Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals now face the strong batting arsenal of Chennai Super Kings

The Preview by Rachna Shetty22-Apr-2014Match factsWednesday, April 23, 2014
Start time 1830 local (1430 GMT, 2000 IST)4:12

Agarkar: CSK always start favourites

Big pictureAfter the shock-and-awe show by Glenn Maxwell and David Miler, Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Watson was quick to admit there was little any bowling side could have done in the face of such calculated and skillful belligerence.Chennai Super Kings will be a bigger challenge for Royals on the basis of facing possibly the strongest top six in the current IPL. Their win against Delhi Daredevils would have buoyed Super Kings as it turned out to be a far more comprehensive effort than the game against Kings XI Punjab, where their bowling and fielding were a letdown. An even better sign for them was the team selection in conditions that played right into their three-seamer strategy. In Dubai, too, the ball can seam under lights early on, as the Daredevils attack showed a few days ago against Kolkata Knight Riders, so Super Kings may well opt to leave Samuel Badree out for one more game.In spite of their loss, Royals had a lot of positives from their game; the biggest, undoubtedly, being Watson’s return to form. The new opening pair of Mumbai batsmen – Ajinkya Rahane and Abhishek Nayar – haven’t yet settled at the top, but with Stuart Binny and Steven Smith showing they can hold the middle order together, the old pair of Rahane and Watson striding out may lift the team against a tough opposition.Players to watchSanju Samson’s half-century on Sunday stood out for two reasons – an ability to strike cleanly and a lack of fear, evident in the way he smacked L Balaji over the leg side off just the sixth ball of his innings. As India’s highest run-getter at the recent Under-19 World Cup held in the UAE, he also brought in his experience of local conditions into play.Ishwar Pandey has been on the fringes of the India team for the last couple of seasons and found himself in the same position on the Pune Warriors bench last year, as he played just two games in a long campaign. He found his rhythm immediately on debut for Super Kings and will hope for a longer run in the tournament this year.Stats & Trivia Before his half-century against Kings XI Punjab, Shane Watson’s last T20 fifty came during the IPL in May last year Royals have won five out of 13 IPL matches between the two sides With 19 fifties and one hundred, Suresh Raina shares the record for the most fifty-plus scores in the IPL (20) with Chris Gayle and Gautam Gambhir. He also has the record for most catches in the league (55)

West Indies fast bowler Jason Holder has been added to the squad for the first Test against New Zealand at Sabina Park starting on Sunday

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jun-2014Revised squad for 1st Test

Denesh Ramdin (capt), Sulieman Benn, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kirk Edwards, Shannon Gabriel, Chris Gayle, Kieran Powell, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Shane Shillingford, Jerome Taylor, Jason Holder

West Indies fast bowler Jason Holder has been added to the squad for the first Test against New Zealand at Sabina Park starting on Sunday. Holder will be the fourth seamer in the 14-man squad that also includes Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel and Jerome Taylor. The West Indies Cricket Board did not explain why an extra fast bowler was included.Holder, 22, has featured in the limited-overs squads of late and has played 17 ODIs and a T20. He has 25 ODI wickets with a best of 4 for 13. Holder played just one IPL game, for Sunrisers Hyderabad this season. He took part in the two-week preparatory camp in Barbados.West Indies are still waiting on the fitness of Chris Gayle, who is due to play his 100th Test.

Kings XI Punjab became the first team to confirm their seat in the playoffs with a four-wicket win over bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils

The Report by Kanishkaa Balachandran19-May-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:17

Prasad: Bailey empowering his players

Kings XI Punjab became the first team to confirm their seat in the playoffs, with a four-wicket win over bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils, but what should have been a comfortable chase turned into a scramble for the finish line. Against the best chasing team in the competition, Daredevils had to produce their best batting effort but they frittered a strong platform in the last four overs to post 164. Kings XI also suffered a few hiccups after a typically blistering start, and despite experimenting with their batting order, got home in the final over with two balls to spare.An impetuous shot by Kings XI captain George Bailey – caught in the deep in the penultimate over – gave Daredevils a sniff and it came down to nine needed off in the 20th. Akshar Patel, the unlikely hero with the bat for Kings XI, was well set on 41 off 34 balls when Rishi Dhawan joined him. The pair ensured there were no dot balls in the final over from Wayne Parnell to pile on the pressure, and with four needed off three Dhawan pulled to the deep midwicket boundary to seal the win.The Kings XI’s openers Virender Sehwag and Manan Vohra blazed 67 off 6.2 overs, with Vohra the more dominant partner. Vohra’s sixes down the ground stood out, particularly the back-foot punch off Mohammad Shami that sailed over deep cover. But in trying to attack Imran Tahir, he found M Vijay at long-off and went for 42 off 19 balls.It was one of those rare days on which both Glenn Maxwell and David Miller failed. They also fell trying to attack the spinners – Maxwell off Tahir and Miller off JP Duminy. Kings XI were 95 for 4 off in 10 overs but they had a contingency in the event of a Miller-Maxwell no-show. Bailey promoted Akshar over himself and it paid off.Akshar ensured he never got bogged down, looking for singles and keeping the required rate within manageable levels. Having moved to 18 off 19 balls, he had a productive over against Parnell, fetching three boundaries though he was lucky when an inswinging yorker deflected off his pad to third man. It was a close lbw shout but eventually given as runs. A six off Jaydev Unadkat brought the equation to 11 off 12 and the capacity crowd at the Kotla had to see the home team slump to a seventh straight defeat.After being put in, Kevin Pietersen and Dinesh Karthik were commanding during their stand of 71 for the second wicket. Karthik was not afraid to play audacious shots off the seamers, such as his sweep off Sandeep Sharma that went flat over deep square leg. Pietersen took 18 off an over from Hendricks, and by the end of ten overs Daredevils were 84 for 1.Just when his first fifty of the season was there for the taking, Pietersen fell to his old nemesis – the left-arm spinner. Batting on 49, he played down the wrong line to one that ripped off the pitch from Akshar and beat the bat. Karthik meanwhile was dominant against the spinners, lofting exquisitely down the ground.Daredevils took 30 off overs 15 and 16 but it started going downhill with a spurt of wickets. Their best finishers, Duminy and Kedar Jadhav failed and the responsibility fell on Karthik for late acceleration. When Karthik departed for 69 – caught at deep square leg – his was the fourth wicket to go down in the space of nine balls. Daredevils managed only 20 off the last three overs and it cost them.

Nottinghamshire clung on to secure a one-wicket win against Lancashire at Aigburth on a thrilling third day

Paul Edwards at Aigburth15-Jul-2014
ScorecardTom Smith’s three quick wickets gave Lancashire hope•Getty ImagesIt was an astonishing afternoon when Lancashire found they had supporters in Leeds, a teatime when Nottinghamshire discovered temporary fans in Newcastle. Such are the transient fealties produced in the second half of the County Championship season when one team’s result affects everyone else’s fortunes.When all was done, it was the Novocastrians who were celebrating on Tuesday evening after a tremendous cricket match had ended with Chris Read’s team securing a nerve-shattering one-wicket victory which will live in everyone’s memory utterly regardless of their loyalties.Any relief on Tyneside or the banks of the Wear will be felt because Lancashire’s defeat leaves the Old Trafford side 11 points adrift of seventh-placed Durham having played a game more. Yet the keenest joy will, of course, be felt in Nottinghamshire’s cricketing heartlands like Caythorpe and Cuckney, for their county had completed a win which puts them 11 points clear of Somerset after 12 games and 16 ahead of Yorkshire, albeit that Andrew Gale’s men have a game in hand.Yet great matches also need great finishes and this contest filled that box with more ticks than one. Such matches also need a hero: this game provided many, but none more worthy of the laurels than the teak-tough Read. Needing 170 to win, Nottinghamshire were 119 for 7 when Luke Fletcher joined his skipper. The only time issue was whether the match would end on the third evening or not.Coolly, the Nottinghamshire pair added 44 runs in 18 overs, Fletcher blocking capably and nudging singles where possible, Read batting with all the skill and nous Trent Bridge supporters know well and love greatly.A three-wicket victory seemed very probable when Kabir Ali had Fletcher well-caught at third slip by Tom Smith. Enter Andre Adams, who can really only play in one uncomplicated way. A whacked four wide of mid-on and a skied two over Jos Buttler’s head followed. Then Adams pulled his fifth ball from Ali to deep-backward square-leg, where Stephen Parry sprinted round and held a fine catch low down: 169 for 9. “When was the last tie in the Championship?” someone askedThat, though, was also the end of the over and the batsmen had crossed. Step forward Harry Gurney, who cover drove Chapple’s first ball as stylishly as you like for a single. The Nottinghamshire players on the balcony of the Aigburth pavilion erupted in untrammelled joy. Who know what this win might mean in mellow September? Lancashire’s players trooped off, although they may also have been contemplating the eventual results of defeat.Read was unbeaten on 40, his runs accumulated over 117 minutes off 66 balls. “It was relief in the end,” said the captain when queried as to his feelings after the game. “It should have been excitement needing only seven runs with three wickets still in the shed but in the end when Harry Gurney hit those runs I was flapping.”Harry shouldn’t have been on strike and I was not particularly happy with losing two wickets in that penultimate over. It was relief but that’s the best shot I have ever seen Harry Gurney play. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”In that respect, the Nottinghamshire skipper will be joined by the vast majority of the spectators at Liverpool, where Chapple’s men have fought out so many tight finishes in recent years. Throughout the day, supporters had sat enthralled by the drama unfolding before them. Newspapers were cast aside, their crosswords barely started.The second-hand bookstall resorted to a major sale at teatime but no one wanted to read about cricket when there was so much of it to watch. October will come soon enough. The ice-cream van did progressively less business despite the fine warm weather which had replaced Monday’s tent-tugging winds. At the tensest moments a frenetic calm settled on the ground.Yet perhaps we should not be surprised that a game between these two sides should have produced an extraordinary finish. Nottinghamshire secured their 2010 title in dramatic circumstances when they secured a bowling bonus point against Lancashire, and Chapple’s men only lost April’s opening match of the season at Trent Bridge by 45 runs after a noble run-chase. The teams have a history of producing toughly-contested matches and this result will have pleased nobody more than Steven Mullaney who has represented both counties.The absorbing dénouement to this game had been set up by morning and early afternoon sessions in which Lancashire had extended their overnight 55 for 2 to 205 at the cost of their eight remaining wickets, Usman Khawaja making 53.All but one of the wickets had been claimed by Gurney, who took 4 for 13 in 29 balls during a high-quality spell of left-arm seam bowling, and by the Brobdingnagian figure of Fletcher, who removed three batsmen in five balls immediately after lunch. A valuable last-wicket stand of 36 between Parry and Ali probably gave disproportionate encouragement to Chapple’s attack but even the most imaginative and experienced cricket-watchers could not envisage the stomach-clutching tension to come.Initially wickets were almost traded for runs in the visitors’ second innings. Four of the top six batsmen reached double figures but no one made more than Riki Wessels. On a wicket which had always rewarded good cricket, Smith removed Mullaney, Michael Lumb and James Taylor to become Division One’s leading wicket-taker. Nottinghamshire stumbled to 79 for 5 but had recovered to 116 for 6 when Wessels drove Hogg to Ashwell Prince at cover. The crowd tried to settle, wondering how things would turn out. They little knew.

Mahela Jayawardene’s swan song will be at his home ground, after SLC’s Executive Committee decided to move the second Test against Pakistan from the P Sara Oval to the SSC ground

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jul-2014Mahela Jayawardene’s swan song will be at his home ground, after SLC’s Executive Committee decided to move the second Test against Pakistan from the P Sara Oval to the SSC ground. Jayawardene has been prolific at the venue, piling up 2698 Test runs at an average 77.08.Jayawardene also hit the highest score for a Sri Lankan and the highest score by a right-hander, at SSC, when he made 374 against South Africa there in 2006. He has played for SSC since his late teens, following a highly successful school cricket career with Nalanda College.The change of venue means Jayawardene’s final series will be played at his two favourite grounds, with the first match against Pakistan in Galle. No batsman has made more Test runs at any venue than Jayawardene has made at both. SLC said it will celebrate his career with commemorative events at both venues.