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ScorecardWellington defeated Central Districts by an innings and 33 runs in their fifth round match at Napier to move second in the table. Central resumed on their overnight total of 106 for 8, but could only muster one more run for the final two wickets.They were made to follow on, with a deficit of 295, but they were soon in trouble at 53 for 4. Half-centuries from Geoff Barnett (56) and Jarrod Englefield (61) temporarily halted their decline, while Brendon Diamanti (33) and Andrew Schwass (35 not out) chipped in with flighty cameos. But all of these innings were not enough to arrest the inevitable slide as they slumped to 262 all out. The medium-pacer Iain O’Brien and the offspinner Jeetan Patel each took three wickets as Wellington climbed the table.
ScorecardAuckland cemented a strong position against Otago on the third day at Eden Park. Resuming on their overnight total of 318 for 4 – 30 behind Otago – Auckland went on to post 528 for 8 before declaring with a lead of 180.Andre Adams was Auckland’s main steer on Day 3, posting 53. In their second innings, Otago inched to 33 from 16 overs by the close, but they are still 147 runs behind with all ten wickets remaining.

Billy Taylor has completed his expected move to Hampshire from Sussex, signing a three-year deal with the club where he began his career.Taylor played for Hampshire’s 2nd XI but was never an offered a contract and so went to Sussex to further his career. He took 21 wickets last season and even though Sussex made it clear they wanted him to stay next season, he insisted on leaving, and has now gone back to where it all started.Tim Tremlett, Hampshire’s Director of Cricket, said: “He is former Hampshire Schools and Hampshire 2nd XI player, a wholehearted cricketer who has improved a lot during his time with Sussex.” He added, “He is a bowler who is always willing to learn and he is looking for a new challenge in the hope of playing regular first-team cricket. It is nice to get him back.””This is a wonderful opportunity for myself”, Taylor told the press at The Rose Bowl today. “I always wanted to play for Hampshire, and it feels like coming home. I was disappointed at not being offered a contract all those years ago, but hopefully I have proved my worth at Sussex. I am much fitter and able to bowl long spells with more pace. I hit the seam much more so I like to take the new ball.” He added, “Coming to the Rose Bowl is fantastic, what a magnificent stadium."

Had someone suggested to Nasser Hussain that he would encounter inIndia a pitch that was virtually undistinguishable from the outfield,the English skipper would probably have scoffed and asked him to gethis head examined.Yet, in Jaipur, for the final tour match ahead of the first Test, thatis exactly what Hussain did encounter. On a green-top that beckonedseamers and medium-pacers almost seductively, Hussain won his thirdtoss in a row and had no hesitation in opting to field.Richard Johnson, in for Matthew Hoggard, took it upon himself to provehis captain right. In his very first over, he had opener Vinayak Manecaught behind and Yere Goud bowled. Before the sparsely dispersedspectators could blink their eyes in disbelief, Johnson struck againin his next over, removing Gautam Gambhir leg-before. Newly inductedAndrew Flintoff, hoping for a Test berth, decided that he wanted hisshare of the spoils and promptly had Rashmi Parida caught behind.India ‘A’ were 8/4, and the English attack suddenly looked sharperthan a freshly minted guillotine.It took some obdurate batting from local lad Gagan Khoda and AbhijitKale to blunt the bowlers. Plumping for caution, the batsmen refrainedfrom strokes with any element of risk, which helped the run-rate asmuch as the abominably slow outfield. Even the appearance of spin, inthe form of Ashley Giles, did not stir their blood; Giles, hoping toprove match fitness ahead of Mohali, bowled with nice loop and someturn, but he did not get the bite that is so essential on the subcontinent.India ‘A’ went in to lunch at 88/4, a reasonable recovery but by nomeans all that was needed on a pitch that looked increasingly doublepaced. Khoda fell to that very vagary of the track when a Flintoffdelivery stayed low and, to compound matters, squirmed eel-likethrough the bat-pad gap to uproot off-stump. The dismissal endedKhoda’s innings of 64 and a partnership of 114 runs.Three overs after Kale reached his own half-century, Flintoff packedReetinder Singh Sodhi off to the pavilion, caught behind off thefaintest of edges. The twin strikes did little to disturb Kale’sconcentration; shrugging off edges and appeals, he hit the bad ballsand defended stoutly otherwise. He was especially pleasing to watchagainst Giles, exposing the left-arm spinner’s lack of variation byrepeatedly dancing down the track to play him on either side of thewicket.Resuming at 178/6 after tea, Kale and Ajay Ratra plodded their waypast the 200-run mark. The only sign of aggression in their standresulted in a six over mid-on that took Kale to his century, off 192deliveries.Having crossed that landmark, Kale retreated into his shell, emergingonly when he was caught at short-leg off Richard Dawson. His partnerRatra fell in the very next over and, once Dawson had skipper SunilJoshi trapped in front, the latter declared his side’s innings closedat 233/9.If India ‘A’ started catastrophically, the visitors could not havebeen more comfortable if they were asleep. Both Michael Trescothickand Mark Butcher, the latter in particular, motored along unfazed byany pitch vagaries, perceived or real. The Indian seamers, for theirpart, did not seem to know how to bowl on a pitch that, surprisinglyin India, was loaded in their favour. Pitching either too short or toofull, Iqbal Siddiqui and Dodda Ganesh gave Butcher many chances tofree his arms, allowing him to race to 32 off 39 deliveries.Although England will be pleased on the whole with their bowlingperformance today, they will look askance at their spin attack which,on pitches more placid and against the likes of Sachin Tendulkar andVVS Laxman, will be about as effective as a candle in a typhoon.Giles, Dawson and Martyn Ball, if they are to make an impression inthe Tests, will have to maintain impeccable line and length, andperhaps bowl with more variation. Hussain, however, will sleep easiertonight, with the burly images of Flintoff, Johnson and Hoggard, redcherry in hands, etched comfortingly in his mind.

Mashrafe Mortaza’s planned return to first-class cricket has been delayed after he was admitted to a Dhaka hospital on Friday morning with dengue fever.Mashrafe was supposed to travel to Khulna on Friday to play the division side’s third round match in the National Cricket League against Rangpur Division but at around 2:30am, he was taken to Apollo Hospital in Dhaka with high fever. His son Sahel has also been suffering from fever over the last few days.Mashrafe, whose previous international game was in mid-July, has been training hard to get back into competitive cricket and has also expressed optimism about a return to Test cricket, a format he last played in 2009. He would have had to wait till the Bangladesh Premier League in mid-November for his next assignment but decided to play at least two matches in the NCL this season. His previous first-class appearance was in January 2014.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was delighted with the impact of Jonjo Shelvey during his side’s 3-2 Premier League victory against West Ham.

The Reds came back from 2-1 down in the final 20 minutes to claim the three points.

Shelvey played a big part in the winner, with his movement forcing defender James Collins to divert the ball into his own net.

In the absence of talisman Luis Suarez, the 20-year-old was forced to play in a central attacking role, and his manager was delighted with the performance he saw:

“He was outstanding. But you see there are two different ways in which you can play the number nine role.” The Northern Irishman told SkySports.

“In this country it is always a very traditional target man, a clear number nine. Give credit to Carlton Cole, I know him form my time at Chelsea, he is a real handful and was outstanding today.

“But you see young Jonjo at 20 years of age playing the number nine role in a different way – dropping into midfield and combining with the midfield players to make the fourth man, being a threat when he is in around the box, showing great feet and I thought he was outstanding today the kid.

“It was great credit to him because there was a lot of pressure on him because people have been trying to compare him to Luis Suarez.

The Anfield chief also backed the former Charlton star to improve in the future:

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“He is only 20 and has a big future ahead of him.”

Liverpool took the lead through Glen Johnson before a Mark Noble penalty and Steven Gerrard own goal swung the score line.

Joe Cole equalised after 76 minutes, before Collins put the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Scotland have made one change to their squad for the ICC World Cup qualifiers in South Africa next month from the one they had announced for the tournament in Pakistan last November with Caroline Heron being replaced by Paula Ritchie.Heron underwent an operation and is not yet fit to make it to the squad. Vari Maxwell, who was part of the squad in November, will not be able to make it to South Africa because she is a Royal Navy employee and her ship is still at sea.Fiona Urquhart will lead the side in what will be Scotland’s first international tournament since July 2003 when they played in the International Women’s Cricket Council Trophy in Netherlands. Six players from their last match of that tournament – Kari Anderson, Kathryn White, Fiona Campbell, Urquhart, Caroline Sweetman, Sahar Aslam – will be travelling to South Africa next month.Scotland play their first game of the qualifiers against Zimbabwe on February 18 at the Van der Stel Cricket Club in Stellenbosch. “Qualifying for the World Cup would be an absolute dream for all the girls in the squad and, although this tournament is going to be very demanding, I don’t think I’m being unrealistic in saying it’s not out of our reach to qualify,” said Urquhart.Simon Smith, the Scotland men’s side wicketkeeper, will coach the team for the tournament. “I’m very pleased to be working with Fiona and the girls in this adventure,” said Smith. “They are all determined to do their level best to represent Scotland with some good performances. If they do succeed, it will be no more than they deserve.”Scotland squad:
Fiona Urquhart (c), Kari Anderson, Kathryn White, Charlotte Bascombe (wk), Abbi Aitken, Catherine Smaill, Fiona Campbell, Caroline Sweetman, Leigh Kasperek, Sahar Aslam, Charlotte Farr, Diane Pedgrift, Paula Ritchie

Graeme Wood in his playing days © Getty Images

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.”

Back with a bang: Virender Sehwag has promised to live upto expectations in the new year © Getty Images

Virender Sehwag has said he will adopt a new approach to his game in the coming year, beginning with the Test and one-day international series in Pakistan in January.Admitting that he had not performed to potential recently – specifically in the shorter version of the game – Sehwag said he was eager to put his poor form behind him. “I know I have not played up the expectations, especially in the one-day games,” he told PTI. “I have been able to score 20s and 30s but could not convert them into big innings. But I believe this is a thing of the past. In the new year, people will see a new Sehwag with a new technique and I am confident of making good scores.”Sehwag was keen to point out that it was at the top of the order where he would continue to bat. “I have played better than many players who have opened for India in the recent past,” he said. “Many batsmen such as VVS Laxman, Hemang Badani, SS Das, Aakash Chopra, Wasim Jaffer and Sanjay Bangar also opened with me but I think they were not so successful. I made my debut as an opening batsman in 2002 and since then I have made nine centuries whereas playing in the middle order, I have made one century. By any standards, I think it’s a good performance.”Sehwag also maintained that every batsman suffered a slump in form, and that his bad patch would pass. “There comes a time when a batsman is out of form and everybody from Sachin to Rahul Dravid to Sourav Ganguly to Laxman – all of them have gone through it.”

Scorecard

Ryan Campbell helped Western Australia to a straightforward win against Victoria with an unbeaten 56© Getty Images

There was a sellout crowd of 20,000 at the WACA for the first domestic Twenty20 game in Australia as Western Australia beat Victoria by eight wickets. It was the first time that a game at the WACA has been sold out since a one-dayer between Australia and West Indies in 1981.Officials closed the gates at 6.45 pm, within half an hour of the start, and one woman, who had wanted to rejoin the rest of her family after parking the car, was denied entry. She was not alone. The presence of Shane Warne, whose shirt form the recent tsunami charity match received over 240 bids and sold for more than AUS$140,000 (approximately £57,000) at an auction on eBay, helped boost the attendance.In the match itself, Luke Ronchi and Ryan Campbell clobbered their way to a century opening stand from only 56 deliveries to give WA a straightforward win after Victoria had managed 8 for 141 from their 20 overs. Ronchi was dismissed after scoring 67 from 24 balls, while Campbell was undefeated with 56. In Victoria’s innings, Peter Worthington claimed 2 for 40 and Adam Crosthwaite had made 57 from 46 balls.WA’s captain Mike Hussey, who did not play this match but has taken part in Twenty20 cricket in England, before the start told the what players need to bring to this form of cricket. “I think there’s still a role for playing some good smart cricket,” he explained, “but you do need to make sure you have a couple of boundaries flowing at all times. From a bowling point of view it’s really exciting: there’s lots of bouncers and slower balls. But the big thing that comes out is the fielding. There’s some fantastic catches taken and with balls flying everywhere.”It remains to be seen whether the popularity shown for this Twenty20 match is more than a one-off. On Thursday, Australia A will play the Pakistanis in the first international Twenty20 fixture at Adelaide.

Leonardo di Caprio’s histrionics in the movie, Titanic would have won far greater acclaim from critics had it not been for the spiel that a well-oiled public relations machine dished out in the weeks and days preceding the release of the movie. Munaf Patel’s situation is not a far cry from the same. For some time now, he has been touted, alternately, as the pace sensation that will rock Australia and as the greenhorn, raw paceman attracting too much credit. Some even likened him to a spoiled child, getting attention when all that was called for was a rap on the knuckles. On his first-class debut, against the New Zealanders at Rajkot, he proved that the truth lay somewhere in-between.Patel, a big young man of 20, lumbers rather than sprints in to the crease. As he quickens his step, he opens his shoulders, reaches for the popping crease with a pronounced final step and sends the ball down with considerable effort. You’re left almost listening for a Jimmy Connors-esque grunt. The arm is high, but not nearly high enough, as there is a bit of space between bowling arm and right ear. The ball zips out of the hand, and has enough weight behind it to climb considerably when banged in short.It was such a short ball that Mark Richardson received first up, quite literally, on the shoulder, ducking into one that did not quite get up as much as he expected. Perhaps he had been reading about Patel in the local papers as well. From there on, though, Patel settled into an easy rhythm, displaying adequate pace to keep the New Zealand batsmen from committing onto the front foot.His first spell, while economical, did not produce a wicket. When the players walked off the field for lunch Patel’s 7.4 overs (he stepped in to bowl four balls to complete an over after RP Singh twisted his ankle) had cost 21 runs.At lunch, there must have been some talk about the appropriate length to bowl, for Patel began to pitch it up consistently in the second session. While the wicket had something in it for the seamers, both in terms of lateral movement and bounce, there was nothing to fear for the New Zealand batsmen who are more than familiar with conditions that help pace bowling. The effect of switching to a fuller line did not bear immediate fruit as Patel was pummelled for three strident boundaries by Stephen Fleming in the first over he bowled after lunch.Then came a 15-ball spell of three wickets for five runs that vindicated the faith people have in Patel. Fleming looked to leave one outside off at the last moment and nicked the ball back onto his stumps. Scott Styris then tickled one fine and Deep Dasgupta held a diving catch low and to his left. Both these wickets came with a little help from his friends, but Patel could confidently claim his next scalp – the prize one of Nathan Astle – as his very own. A sharp delivery ducking in just a trace trapped Astle in front of the stumps, very first ball.When he returned with the second new ball the inexperience showed, expectedly. After all, this is just his first big game. That would have been the leeway afforded to any other fast-bowling debutant. Patel cannot ask for that, for it is partly the hype that fast-tracked him to this level in the first place. And at the end of the day, as an exercise, it was well worth it.Mark Richardson, who made a dogged unbeaten 128 in over six hours, certainly thought so. “The young Indian lads might have got a bit carried away with the bouncy and carry and bowled a bit short. Perhaps they might have had a bit more success if they had pitched the ball up. The bowlers have promise and certainly have enough pace and bowl a heavy ball.”