Graham Onions, the Durham bowler, wants to force his way into England’s Champions Trophy plans after earning a shock call-up into their one-day squad. Onions has replaced Darren Gough for the remainder of the limited over series against Pakistan after Gough was ruled out with shin problems.No-one was more surprised at his elevation to the international ranks than Onions, who has been used sparingly by Durham in limited overs matches this year and has not taken any one-day wickets. But Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, has seen something in Onions and called him into the squad despite his lack of limited overs experience.”It’s unbelievable really,” admitted Onions. “If someone had said at the start of the season that I’d be representing my country I would have laughed at them, but it’s a great opportunity for me. I’ve always been desperate to play for my country and I’ve put a lot of hard work in the winter and it’s paid off now – I just didn’t think I’d get here as quickly as I have.”Should Onions impress this week he has a chance of being included in the 14-man squad for next month’s Champions Trophy tournament in India. That may come too soon, however, and more realistically he may be looking to get into England’s plans for the one-day series in Australia early in the New Year, with the World Cup possibly to follow.

Scorecard
Tasmania were in the driver’s seat at the end of the second day of the Pura Cup match against Queensland at Brisbane. Half-centuries by Travis Birt, Brett Geeves and Michael Di Venuto helped the Tigers gain a first-innings lead of 138 before their opening bowlers, Adam Griffith and Ben Hilfenhaus, rattled the top order to leave the home side at 3 for 54, still trailing by 84.Resuming at 1 for 70, Di Venuto and Birt added 72 for the third wicket to take them closer to Queensland’s total of 196. Di Venuto fell 12 runs short of his century, caught by Martin Love off Nathan Rimmington, and his dismissal sparked a middle-order collapse.After being reduced to 6 for 214, Tasmania regained control through Birt and Geeves, who added 57 for the seventh wicket. Geeves struck 12 boundaries in his entertaining 65 off 77 balls but was lucky to be let off on 38 when Andy Bichel spilled a sharp return chance. Birt also made 65 and played a more sedate knock.Dismissed for 334, the Tasmanian opening bowlers soon had Queensland reeling after picking up three wickets for five runs. Matthew Hayden was forced to drop down the order due to an injured finger, and his absence was felt as Griffith accounted for Martin Love and Jimmy Maher in successive overs.Love chased a wide delivery outside off stump, edging to Daniel Marsh at first slip, and in the next over Hilfenhaus got the crucial wicket of Clinton Perren, who was caught behind first ball. James Hopes reached 40 by stumps and was being assisted by Lachlan Stevens.

Dinesh Karthik, the wicketkeeper-batsman who was, to the surprise of many, chosen to replace the injured Yuvraj Singh, a pure batsman, for the tour party to South Africa, has said that he had volunteered to open in the Duleep Trophy in order to get an opportunity to play the new ball.In an interview to Cricinfo just prior to his departure to South Africa, Karthik said that he had asked VVS Laxman, the South Zone captain, if he could open. “I wanted to face the new ball because batting at No.7, I wasn’t getting enough opportunities,” he said, “and it clicked in the second game against Sri Lanka A”.Batting in an unaccustomed position, Karthik took time to settle, without troubling the scorers too much in South Zone’s first match at Indore. He failed in the first innings of the second game against Sri Lanka A, scoring just 5, but his fluent 95 in the second compensated for his failures. His confidence reflected in his wicketkeeping as well, taking four catches in Sri Lanka’s second innings.Prior to that, his 85 off 68 balls in the Challenger Series in front of his home crowd in Chennai was timely, as the tournament was a virtual try-out for India’s tour of South Africa. Particularly impressive were his innovative strokes, scooping the fast bowlers over the wicketkeeper for boundaries in the slog overs, proving his worth as a finisher.”It was definitely a great experience for me, playing in front of my home crowd and it was a good feeling getting runs there. Some things are very instinctive and sometimes you get these [scoop] shots. It’s not something that I had planned on while at practice.”More importantly, it has been Karthik’s wicketkeeping which has improved by leaps and bounds, and his acrobatic catch to dismiss Geraint Jones in his last one-day international would have made Adam Gilchrist proud.”Diving is something that has come really naturally to me,” he continued. “There is always the risk of serious injury but touchwood, it hasn’t happened yet. I have got feedback that my diving technique has been pretty good.”Pressure is nothing new to Karthik, and he has often been in situations where he was given just a game or two to perform, since the arrival of Dhoni. When asked how he motivated himself, Karthik said that the thrill of playing for India is enough to keep anyone going. His interaction with senior players, like Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh too helped him get through testing situations.”No matter who your competitors are you have to keep improving your game. The most important aspect is how hard you work at your game and also how you enjoy the game. In the end of the day, you must have fun.”And how is his relationship with Dhoni? “Fantastic,” he exclaimed. “He is a very nice person and I have often gone to him for help. I wouldn’t describe it as a big-time rivalry. It comes down to who performs more consistently. It’s important that we have a healthy competition. At the same time, we are good buddies.”Karthik may have played only three one-dayers in his short career, but his comeback is an indication that he is by no means a forgotten man and just a Test match specialist.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Brian Lara’s masterful 196 not out, which comprised a 77-ball century in the opening session, stunned Pakistan at Multan, providing West Indies with a great chance to level the three-match series. Lara’s 34th Test hundred, during the course of which he plundered 26 runs off one over, and Dwyane Bravo’s sprightly 89 helped in establishing a valuable 152-run lead at the end of the third day.Becoming only the sixth batsman to speed to a century before lunch, Lara gave a lesson in the art of destroying legspin. His 34th Test century, the ninth-fastest ever, included a belligerent attack on Danish Kaneria, plastering him for 60 runs off the 29 balls he faced before lunch. Having equalled Sunil Gavaskar’s tally of hundreds, he went on to break Don Bradman’s record for the most 150-plus scores and, at the end of the day, stood just four adrift of his ninth double-hundred.Pakistan had a window of opportunity in the first session, snapping up four wickets amid the Lara carnage, but there was hardly any joy for the next two. The superb 200-run partnership between Lara and Bravo – both from Santa Cruz, one nicknamed the “Big Dog” and the other the “New Big Dog” – thwarted them for most of the day. A couple of close umpiring calls going against them, apart from a tough slip catch and stumping chance going down, didn’t help matters.Kaneria returned with an impressive third spell, in which he removed Bravo with a ripping legbreak, but there was absolutely nothing he could do against Lara, who reeled off his fourth successive century against Pakistan. The dismantling operation began with the 11th ball he faced, sashaying down the track and lofting Kaneria straight into the sight-screen, and it was complete in the 25th over of the morning.Four pendulum-smooth swings of the bat – depositing the ball to long-off, midwicket, long-on and the roof straight behind the bowler’s arm – and one swat down midwicket resulted in the phone-number sequence of 406664. It was the second time that Lara had scored more than 25 in an over, after his Robin Peterson bashing at Johannesburg three years ago. In between, Kaneria went through 13 overs that cost 83 runs; 29 of those balls to Lara were whiplashed for 60.Kaneria, who’d dismissed both the openers with well-pitched legbreaks earlier in the day, didn’t bowl anywhere as bad as his figures suggested; one man’s mastery just left him clueless. The legbreaks were picked on the half-volley and the extension of the bat after striking the ball helped it soar way over the boundary. With extraordinary body balance, a perfect arm-swing and hand-eye co-ordination that few batsmen possess, Lara was simply unstoppable.Out of the 58 that he added with Ganga, Lara’s contribution was 36; the corresponding figure for his 61-run partnership with Runako Morton, in just 31 balls, was an awesome 56. The Bravo union was more evenly distributed, mainly because he chose to shift one gear lower, allowing the apprentice a chance to express himself. Bravo picked up the lead and didn’t hold back, especially against the medium-pacers. Shahid Nazir was punished when he strayed in line and Kaneria’s torment continued, at the receiving end of three spanking fours in an over. He was fortunate on 19, when an lbw appeal against Nazir was turned down, and survived a stumping chance on 79 but his urgency between the wickets and ability to milk the spinners proved invaluable.Lara had his problems during the afternoon session, mainly against Pakistan’s pair of offspinners – Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik. Being sucked onto his front foot against deliveries that were zipping away after pitching, he was caught off guard against a few that turned from the rough. Shelving his high backlift, he patted the ball into the gaps and preferred to rotate the strike instead. He was lucky on 127, surviving a huge lbw appeal against Hafeez, and soon, after charging down the track and edging a wide one, saw Imran Farhat grass a tough chance at first slip. They were just brief glitches, though. Like a master vocalist clearing his throat, it didn’t take too long to continue the glorious rendition.

Victoria 7 for 251 (Hodge 88, Moss 60) beat South Australia 6 for 222 (Lehmann 77*) by 29 runs
ScorecardVictoria moved joint top of the table with a 29-run victory over South Australia in a day-night match at the Adelaide Oval.The result means the Redbacks go into Christmas propping up both one-day and Pura Cup standings, and increases the pressure on Darren Lehmann, their captain, and coach Wayne Phillips.Lehmann certainly pulled his weight with the bat, making 77 not out as South Australia reached 6 for 222 chasing Victoria’s 7 for 251, but he lacked enough support to mount a serious challenge.The Redbacks lost Matthew Elliott early for 10, and Mark Cosgrove (41) and Daniel Harris (47) then put on a breezy 57 before some inspired captaincy from Cameron White triggered the breakthrough – he brought on David Hussey for one over, and in it Hussey trapped Cosgrove leg-before. Callum Ferguson then holed out to midwicket, and Harris perished when he missed an attempted cut off White.By then, the asking rate was climbing, and although Lehmann and Graham Manou put on 44 for the fifth wicket, Manou’s run-out was followed three balls later by Ryan Harris’s dismissal and the game was as good as over. Lehmann’s belligerence at least enabled South Australia to gain a bonus point.The early stages of the game had been far more promising for the Redbacks. An excellent spell from Jason Gillespie, whose ten overs cost only 20, pinned Victoria down, but the other bowlers failed to back him up. Gary Putland’s opening over went for 14, although he removed Michael Klinger in his second, finishing with 2 for 60.Man of the Match Jon Moss and Brad Hodge put on 104 for the second wicket, and after a brief wobble, Hodge and David Hussey gave the vital mid-innings acceleration, adding 71 off only 76 balls. Hodge perished within sight of a hundred when he causally flicked the ball straight to midwicket.

A quickfire 87 from Neil Broom propelled Otago to a five-wicket victory with nine balls to spare against Central Districts at Fitzherbert Park. Earlier, aggressive half-centuries from Jacob Oram and Brendon Diamanti spurred Central to 275 for 7 off 50 overs.Chasing a stiff target, Otago lost opener Jordan Sheed for 19. Craig Cumming, the captain, held the fort with 46 but two quick wickets reduced them to 91 for 3 in the 20th over. Broom and Greg Todd added 83 for the fourth wicket to put the chase back on track. Broom’s 87 came off just 84 balls and included five fours and three sixes.Otago needed 102 runs off the final 15 overs when Gareth Hopkins began his blitz. He slammed four fours and three sixes and raced to 56 off 39 balls to seal the victory. Oram was the best of Central’s bowlers with 2 for 44 off 9.3 overs.Central, who won the toss, had slipped 116 for 4 in the 20th over with only Geoff Barnett making a meaningful contribution. Oram and Diamanti provided the innings with momentum through a rapid 89-run partnership in just 10.1 overs. Oram remained unbeaten on 70 off 69 balls while Diamanti hammered 60 off 35 deliveries with three fours and four sixes.

Graeme Wood, the former Test batsman, will replace Tony Dodemaide as the Western Australian Cricket Association’s chief executive next month. Dodemaide is moving to a similar job in Victoria and Wood will leave a senior management position with Foster’s to accept the role.David Williams, the WACA chairman, said he was “delighted” with the appointment. “Not only is Graeme one of the state’s most highly decorated players, but he offers years of experience as a senior executive and brings a range of marketing, administrative and financial skills coupled with a deep knowledge of the landscape of cricket.”Wood, who played 59 Tests for Australia and also led Western Australia to a hat-trick of Sheffield Shield titles in the mid-1980s, said he was looking forward to continuing the progress the WACA has made over the last three years.”I have a deep connection to the WACA from my time as a player and more recently as a board member and chairman of selectors and I know this will hold me in good stead,” he said. “I’m very much looking forward to tackling the challenges ahead, including the appointment of a new coach, the on-going major stadia debate and the continuing process of bringing all of cricket in Western Australia under the WACA umbrella.”

If only we were always this helpful, courteous and efficient in dealing with each other. Monday morning around the UWI St Augustine Campus was like being in a whole different country.Police everywhere, not buffing you up, but politely moving the traffic along. World Cup volunteers, bedecked in brightly-coloured uniforms befitting a Caribbean event, positioned every 50 metres or so, on the route to UWI SPEC to guide motorists and pedestrians alike in the right direction.My direction was towards the Accreditation Centre in the main building, and despite the trouble-free journey thus far, I was still anticipating some sort of hiccup, in keeping with decades of being conditioned by a don’t-care-damn culture that makes almost any interaction with any public service department an exercise in frustration.Yet less than five minutes after walking into the office (open since 5.30 am), I was back outside with the precious pass and a lovely bag containing a press kit (we media types really enjoy any kind of freeness). The experience left me with a hollow, anti-climactic feeling for I had prepared myself mentally to deal with at least some form of administrative bungling, or officious hostility, or both.On the way back out, there were no vehicles parked indiscriminately on either side of the road, no litter strewn across the lawns and no one stopping just so to pick up passengers. In fact, it was reassuring in a strange sort of way to see normal life resumed as I hit the Eastern Main Road: horns blaring, drivers cussing and doubles vendors serving a sizeable clientele, some of whom didn’t seem to care that they were standing directly in the path of oncoming road hogs.On this week of warm-up matches before the real business begins, we are seeing just what our citizens are capable of when properly motivated. Money is what usually prompts the required change, but remember, these are volunteers, who just want to be involved in the once-in-a-lifetime experience of a World Cup in the West Indies.For most of the players among the small fry of this tournament, this event is also more than likely their one and only chance to sample life in cricket’s Big Yard. The manner in which the predominantly amateur players of Ireland pushed South Africa all the way, at the same time that the much more experienced Kenyans were giving the West Indies a bit of a scare up in Trelawny, suggests that there is a real desire to make the most of this opportunity.Who knows how much the stinging criticism about too many sub-standard teams in the sport’s premier event might be turned into a motivating factor? It is still more than likely that the Irish and Kenyans will be joining the Bangladeshis, Zimbabweans, Dutch, Scots, Canadians and Bermudians on flights back home in three weeks’ time, but it’s entirely within the realms of possibility that they could have their moments against some of the really big fish.One player who is already enjoying his moment in the sun is an unlikely character who overshadowed the efforts of two West Indian namesakes- Bravo and Smith- on Monday.Dwayne Leverock’s Bermuda gave a pathetic batting effort against England in St Vincent, being shot out for just 45 runs. Yet the jovial, bulky slow bowler more than held his own when England batted first.Given the intense focus on producing finely-chiselled athletes at the highest level of the game, Leverock – all 270 lbs of him – looked completely out of place in the World Cup environment, even in what amounted to a 13-a-side training session at Arnos Vale. That is, until he rippled up to the crease and delivered ten overs of better-than-ordinary left-arm spin, removing Paul Collingwood to a catch at the wicket and having Kevin Pietersen smartly stumped.Obviously, he is more than a few notches below world class, but his willingness to use flight and guile, complemented by impressive accuracy, presented accomplished batsmen with a real challenge to get him away. It will probably be a different story when he comes up against the Indians and Sri Lankans at the Queen’s Park Oval from next week, but I really, really hope that Leverock does well in those Group B matches, if only to show the West Indies selectors that even the Bermudians are ahead of us in the appreciation of what classical spin bowling is all about.Successful or not, he will surely be a favourite for Oval fans who, in an earlier era, never hesitated to let Rangy Nanan have it whenever he looked a bit more heavy-set than usual.This is really what the Caribbean cricketing experience is all about. The International Cricket Council’s all-encompassing rules for their World Cup may prevent all sorts of seemingly harmless items from being brought into their grounds. Inappropriately branded shirts have to be turned inside-out, unauthorised liquids must be consumed outside or dumped, and written permission must be had before a conch shell gets past the turnstiles.But long before there were flag-wavers, face-painters, deafening amplifiers and a never-ending supply of winer girls, West Indians enjoyed themselves armed with nothing more than a wonderful sense of humour and a genuine appreciation of good cricket, whether it was exhibited by visiting players or their own heroes.They can’t take that away from us, even with the very best security screening systems known to man.Send in your comments here

Zimbabwe 221 (Matsikenyeri 73*, Sibanda 67) tied with Ireland 221 for 9 (Bray 115*)
Scorecard

Zimbabwe tied with Ireland in one of the greatest World Cup matches ever, the game at Sabina Park producing some of the most pulsating, enthralling cricket you could ever ask to see. Zimbabwe will wonder how they threw away an almost certain victory, and while the points are shared, the day belonged to the Irish, and in particular their batting hero Jeremy Bray. It was they who were celebrating at the end while the expressions on the faces of the Zimbabwe side were of utter bewilderment.Zimbabwe had seemed to be cruising when on 92 for 1 chasing 222; within 45 minutes they were teetering on 133 for 5. But Stuart Matsikenyeri and Brendan Taylor, with plenty of time available to them, steadied the ship and guided Zimbabwe falteringly towards the finishing line. As Ireland started to look sloppy in the field, there appeared to be only one winner.Then the wheels really came off. Taylor was run-out in desperately unlucky circumstances at the non-striker’s end after a fortuitous deflection off the bowler’s wrist. That did not seem crucial at the time, but it was the turning point. When Gary Brent fell leg-before with ten needed, the jitters really set in among a very inexperienced side.Matsikenyeri was the difference between the teams but he was not on strike – he faced only 15 of the last 30 balls – as the penultimate over started with nine still required. Kevin O’Brien, in only his second over of the innings, had Prosper Utseya caught off a full toss with his first ball, and then Christopher Mpofu was stranded at the wrong end off the last.Matsikenyeri took five off the first three balls of the last over, bowled by Andrew White. Rainsford chipped a single off the fourth, leaving Zimbabwe needing three from two. Matsikenyeri then top edged and an airbourne Trent Johnston at short third man couldn’t quite cling on to the ball, and then his shy at the bowler’s end was thwarted by some unsubtle but effective blocking by Rainsford who threw himself in the path of the throw.With the scores tied, Matsikenyeri had to get something on the ball but he played and missed, and while the attempt to stump him failed – he never left his ground – Rainsford, who had charged towards his colleague, was left stranded. Zimbabwe had lost four wickets for nine in 15 balls in one of the most sensational World Cup chokes.Zimbabwe had been in trouble twice earlier. They struggled early on when a battling 67 from Vusi Sibanda bailed them out. Terry Duffin and Chamu Chibhabha both came and went without ever looking remotely in touch – Duffin dropped behind the wicket twice in four balls before finally being caught off the fifth.Sibanda kept the scoreboard ticking along with some well-struck drives, but he lacked any support. Sean Williams came and went after a most bizarre cameo, batting like a man who wanted to be showered and back in his hotel within the hour. He threw the bat at everything and almost inevitably and immediately holed out. Two balls later Zimbabwe could have been in deeper trouble when Matsikenyeri was left stranded when sent back by Sibanda, but Kyle McCallan failed to gather Kevin O’Brien’s throw with Matsikenyeri flailing in no-man’s land. It was a crucial miss.Sibanda’s excellent innings ended in unfortunate circumstances when he stepped back on his stumps as he looked to punch the ball into the covers, sparking delirious celebrations among the small but hugely vocal Irish contingent – which included two of the unlikeliest Leprechauns you will ever see. For five overs it could have gone either way, but Matsikenyeri and Taylor dug deep and appeared to have weathered the storm.

After the heart-stopping drama of the final overs, it was easy to forget that Bray’s unbeaten 115, which earned him the Man-of-the-Match, had bailed Ireland out after their top order had also come apart at the seams. Bray, who batted right through the innings, was the only batsman who came to terms with Zimbabwe’s wibbly-wobbly seam attack which at one stage threatened to bowl out Ireland for under a hundred.Bray, who sounds more Wagga Wagga than Wicklow, was a virtual bystander as Ireland’s top order came and went, perishing to inauspicious shots against bowlers who lacked pace but not nagging accuracy. All Ireland’s top five are left handers, and they were unable to cope with balls angled across them.They were a wicket down inside the first over when William Porterfield nicked Chris Mpofu, and although the loquacious Taylor spilt the chance, Sibanda dived across from second slip to snatch the rebound. Eoin Morgan, highly touted as being one who might follow Ed Joyce onto bigger things, survived a few alarms before edging to first slip. Mpofu bowled a super first spell and a lamentable second one at the death.The innocuous-looking Elton Chigumbura then ripped through a paper-thin middle order. Bray, who smacked some sumptuous cover drives and two off-side sixes, needed someone to stay with him. O’Brien began to look like he would do that until he fell to a limp jab to give Taylor a second catch. At 89 for 5 an early finish was in store.But Bray, who smacked some sumptuous cover drives and two off-side sixes, finally found support from White and Johnston, and as the scoreboard ticked over, Zimbabwe’s fielding lost its shape. Chigumbura’s Chaplinesque drop at deep square leg will take some beating in this competition, but he was not alone – Rainsford, the victim on that occasion, spilled a chance the next over.Bray’s hundred, which was delayed by a brief rain break, came up with a slashing cover drive and he and the swishing Dave Langford-Smith made Zimbabwe pay in the last few overs. It provided the platform to send the Leprechauns into seventh heaven, but Zimbabwe, who have had so little to cheer in recent years, will be left wondering quite how they blew it.

Phil Simmons hopes his new position as Ireland’s coach will help erase the terrible experiences he had while coaching Zimbabwe. Simmons was officially in charge of Ireland from the beginning of March, but it was agreed that outgoing Irish coach Adrian Birrell would remain at the helm until after the World Cup.Simmons, the former West Indian allrounder, is currently an assistant to Birrell in the Caribbean. “My role was to come and be part of the team and to get to know the people,” Simmons said. “It’s been easy because Adrian is happy with it. Basically, I’m an assistant. It hasn’t been hard at all, it’s been very easy actually.” The agreement will last a little longer now that Ireland have qualified for the Super Eights.Happy as he is, Simmons is taking his new challenge in his stride after his controversial assignment in Zimbabwe. “Off the field, it has taught me – don’t trust many people,” Simmons told the . “It’s a sad thing to say, but that’s the thing it’s taught me through and through. There’s not many trustworthy people in the world anymore.”His contract with the Zimbabwe Cricket was terminated in August last year and he suddenly found himself having to fight a battle over deportation and compensation. “I can’t get scarred,” he said. “I am too blessed to get scarred. As coach of Zimbabwe, it taught me different things. It taught me a lesson about life in Zimbabwe which is totally different to life anywhere else I’ve been.”