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Tamil Nadu were one wicket away from closing out their Group C SuperLeague tie against Haryana at Gurgaon. At stumps on the third daytoday Haryana were 237-9 in their second innings with 41 still neededto avert an innings defeat.Resuming at 371-5, Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 486 an hour into theday after their tail had been allowed to wag generously. Robin Singh,Sharath and Reuben Paul fell in the first six overs but Mahesh,Gokulakrishna and Vidyuth entertained the spectators with some lustyhitting. Pradeep Jain finished with 5-143.A fighting century by Haryana opener Jitender Singh helped to delaythe inevitable after the home team commenced their second knock 286behind. Jitender and captain Parinder Sharma put on 63 for the firstwicket in 26 overs but Tamil Nadu struck at regular intervals with sixbowlers sharing the spoils. Jitender scored exactly 100 ( 179 balls,13 fours) before he was seventh out.

Until it receives an official response from its equivalent body inIndia, the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) has no plans to look for anew opponent for the series of three one-day international matches tobe staged in the country in September.Following a decision late last week from India to play in Asian TestChampionship matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh instead, it nowseems that the ACB’s first-choice guest will be unable to commit tothe series unless its proposed dates are the subject of significantrevision.Originally, the ACB had been seeking India’s participation in matcheson 14, 16 and 18 September. But, after the Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI)’s move to accept a request to play againstPakistan – from 13 to 17 September – as part of the Asian TestChampionship series, hopes that such a contest would proceed nowappear to have been scuttled. Following that Test – which will betheir first in Pakistan since December 1989 – the Indians are alsocommitted to playing a home Test against Bangladesh from 21 to 25September.Reports emanating from India today have quoted BCCI spokesmen asconfirming that a decision to decline the Australian invitation hasbeen taken.An ACB spokesman said on Monday, however, that no official responsefrom the BCCI has been received at this stage and that no contingencyplans necessarily exist at this point in time.If it were to be received, a negative reply from India would likelyforce the ACB to quickly direct its efforts to seeking a positiveresponse from another team. Sri Lanka, to which strong attentionreportedly turned in original discussions. Sri Lanka would shape asone strong contender to be invited to play in the match at the ‘Gabbaground in Brisbane and the two matches at Colonial Stadium inMelbourne that are expected to form the core of the series.South Africa, the Australians’ opponent in the corresponding serieslast year, is not likely to receive a return invite as it will beinvolved in Test and one-day international cricket in neighbouringZimbabwe throughout September.

Nathan McCullum, 35, has said that he will retire from international cricket at the end of this New Zealand season to spend more time with his family.”I don’t want to make a big song and dance about it, but it’s time to start thinking about the next phase of my life,” McCullum told the . “I’ve got the sense that the end of this season is the right time to call it quits in international cricket.”The offspinner had a meeting with New Zealand coach Mike Hesson and manager Mike Sandle, and will help mentor young spinners such as Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner over the remainder of his playing career. “We’ve got to get these guys up to speed and I’m looking forward to playing a mentoring role there.”He said he was also keen to be able to devote more attention to his wife and three young children. “It’s been hard work for Vanessa in the past five years,” McCullum said. “She’s spent a lot of it pregnant and has had to do it on her own most of the time. It’s time for me to start investing time in my family and being there for dinners and helping the boys with their homework.”McCullum made his T20I debut in 2007 against South Africa while his ODI debut came in 2009 against Sri Lanka. Till date, he has taken 63 wickets from 84 ODIs at an average of 46.92 and an economy-rate of 5.01. In T20Is, he has 55 wickets from 61 games at an economy of 6.9. He has also struck four fifties and has a batting average of 20.98 in ODIs.McCullum said the 2011 World Cup quarter-final win over South Africa was “special.” He took 3 for 24 from ten overs as New Zealand defended 221 by 49 runs. “To come back and win a match we shouldn’t have won was pretty special.”He had words of praise for his younger brother and captain Brendon. “Every now and then it’s hard case when your little brother is barking orders at you… but he deserves everything he gets in terms of praise. He’s worked his butt off and created this team along with Hess and Mike Sandle.”

NATAL relied on the talents on veterans Eldine Baptiste and Jonty Rhodes toemerge victors by 28 runs from their match against Western Province atKingsmead on Friday.The home side totalled 216-9 before restricting Province to 188 for nine.Neil Johnson, with 48, and Ashwell Prince, the match’s top-scorer with 76not out, were unable to pull it out of the fire for Province.Baptiste, bowling his best for Natal for some time, finished with theimpressive return of 9-3-17-3 and Rhodes added spectacular catches todismiss Johnson and Andrew Puttick to his solid 42 off 45 balls scored whenhis team needed it most.After a stuttering start to their innings, the Natal cause was given a newlease of life by a fifth-wicket stand of 53 off 52 balls between Rhodes andAshraf Mall.They took the score from 55 for four to 108 before Mall steered a widishdelivery from Graeme Smith into the safe hands of Herschelle Gibbs atbackward point. He made a classy 40 in facing 67 balls and hit fourboundaries in rendering fine support to the ever-keen Rhodes.Rhodes mistimed a delivery from Claude Henderson and hit a return catch tothe left-arm spinner.Province were earlier in command and with Roger Telemachus and CharlWilloughby making the early inroads they reduced Natal to 55 to four in the19th over.Rhodes and Mall did their bit to put that right, but then Goolam Bodi wasadjudged run out for 22 and it was 184 for seven. With no third umpire onduty the decision stood although television replays showed Bodi tobe clearly home.The almost forgotten man of the innings was Errol Stewart, who in asupportive role scored 45 not out off 57 balls.After reaching 51 without loss Province stumbled to 52 for three as Jon Kentand Baptiste, who bowled Graeme Smith for one and then trapped HD Ackermanin front with his next ball, rattled the visitors’ top order.Thereafter Johnson lost his momentum and Rhodes took the vital catches todismiss the Zimbabwean and Puttick before the total had reached 100.Half the side was out and the run rate had climbed to a staggering 8.3 perover. From there, only one team was going to win it – and they weren’twearing blue.

ScorecardLuke Wood provided some more lower-order resistance but Nottinghamshire had little else to be happy about•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire were not really Championship challengers. Everybody knew that. As the county who still had an arithmetical chance of the title, their role in the grand scheme of things was to allow everyone to pretend for a day or two more. But with Yorkshire still five points short at start of play, it was faintly embarrassing for the title to be settled by 3.06pm on the first day.Yorkshire bundled out Middlesex in 33 overs and eyes turned to Trent Bridge to see if they could prolong the wait by gaining maximum batting points against Durham. Whoops, not from 73 for 7 they couldn’t. That they got to 204 and lasted 54 overs was something of a bonus at which point the title was duly settled when Harry Gurney swung blindly at Graham Onions, the stumps were shaken for the second time that over, and Onions had 5 for 56 to celebrate on his 33rd birthday.”That’s the worst we have played for a long time: we batted very poorly, bowled very poorly and fielded awfully,” Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s coach, said. “Rushworth and Onions, on a pitch that did a little bit, would be a challenge for most teams in the country and I thought they exploited what there was in the wicket very well.”By the close, Nottinghamshire’s designs upon runners-up spot had been dented by half-centuries for Mark Stoneman and Scott Borthwick, leaving Durham 30 runs behind with eight wickets standing as they seek their first win in six matches. If Durham here and Yorkshire at Lord’s turn positions of authority into victories that could yet leave Warwickshire with the chance of a top-two finish. The manner in which Yorkshire’s closest challengers succumbed so swiftly on the opening day was slightly disturbing.Paul Collingwood, who has just agreed another year’s contract, as four-day captain once again we can safely assume, inserted Nottinghamshire on what he sensed would be a productive bowling morning. The skies were overcast, and perhaps the Nottinghamshire batsmen were downcast, this game coming less than 48 hours after their last-ball defeat in a memorable Royal London semi-final at the Kia Oval. You don’t get time to lick your wounds in county cricket. You barely get time even to know you are wounded.Peter Moores’ arrival in mid-season as assistant coach has been one of several factors in Nottinghamshire’s transformation from relegation possibles in June to potential runners-up, but even he would have needed a duffle bag of artificial stimulants to persuade Notts that they felt no hurt from another season when they have failed to prove their limited-overs prowess with a trophy.Jake Libby offered the chance of a fresh outlook, a batsman unharmed by events at The Oval. He made an immediate impact at the end of last season with a century on debut against Sussex, ruptured a cruciate ligament in the close season playing for Latrobe in Tasmania, and finally returned against Durham for his first Championship game of 2015. This time there was no achievement to cherish, a second-ball duck registered as he edged Chris Rushworth to third slip where Gordon Muchall, whose contract might not be renewed despite a decent season, held an excellent catch.That set the tone. Brendon Taylor drove to point and Michael Lumb became the first of four top-order victims for wicketkeeper Michael Richardson, both batsmen making only a single. There is always a consolation: at least Taylor could be confident that after a day like this he would not wake up in someone else’s car. Irishman Barry McCarthy picked up a couple of wickets on debut, given his chance because John Hastings is supplementing the Australia one-day squad. As Middlesex collapsed at Lord’s, Notts seemed set upon keeping pace at Trent Bridge.Onions probed in that angular way of his and Rushworth, burly, shaven headed and insistent – and the country’s leading wicket-taker – had the air of a better class of nightclub bouncer: not a man to mess with. Steven Mullaney and Luke Wood rebuilt with a stand of 92, Mullaney playing with sober intent, Wood with the freedom that had brought the summer’s most unexpected Championship hundred, against Sussex at Trent Bridge, but even Wood was careful against Rushworth with conditions in his favour. Thank you, Mr Rushworth, would you mind if I took the liberty of a single? Get in the queue, sonny, and await your turn with everybody else.

* Das dedicates man of the match award to his parentsIndian opening batsman Shiv Sundar Das, who was chosen as the man ofthe match in the first Test between India and Zimbabwe at Bulawayo forhis two innings of 30 and 82 not out has dedicated the award to hisparents and coach. In an interview to a Kolkata newspaper, Das said,"I am a relative newcomer to the team. For me to have played a partin this historic win, is quite thrilling. I dedicate the MoM award tomy parents Uttam Das and Kanchanbala Das and to my coach KishoreMania."In the interview, Das also stated that at one point, he thought ofgoing for a hundred. "However, once Laxman got out, I decided to hangon till the end. Even Sachin Tendulkar told me to hang on till the winwas completed. After this, I decided not to get out," said Das.However, inspite of his two innings, Das is unhappy at the way hebatted. "Maybe I got the runs. However, I had a few close shaves.That is why, before the second Test begins, I will have a session withMr. Gavaskar. Since he is on this tour, I will discuss a couple ofproblems that I am having."* Das’ performance hailed in home stateCricketing circles in Orissa exploded in joy after opener Shiv SundarDas played a stellar role in India’s victory over Zimbabwe in thefirst Test at Bulawayo on Sunday. While the Orissa Cricket Association(OCA) announced at Cuttack an award of Rs. 50,000 to the batsman forhis performance in the Indian win, the first in a Test outside thesub-continent in 15 years, Das’ unassuming coach praised the opener’stemperament in taking up a challenge.”I have been impressed with Shiv Sundar’s temperament and attitude,”Kishore Mania, who honed the diminutive opener’s skill all theseyears, said. A coach with the state directorate of sports, Mania saidDas looked more and more assured as the innings progressed.Family members of the cricketer sat glued before the TV and saw Buddha(as Shiv Sundar is known at home) return to the pavilion undefeated ona brilliant 82. “Budha called home shortly after the match ended toshare his happiness with us. We asked him to continue the good workfor the country,” Uttam Das, the batsman’s father said. OCA sourcessaid Das would be presented a purse on his return.* Cricket academies a step in right direction: MalhotraCurrent Test selector and former Indian cricketer Ashok Malhotra feelsthat the establishment of zonal cricket academies is a step in theright direction for nurturing young talents in the country. Talking toreporters in Bhubaneshwar on Sunday, Malhotra said that the move wouldhelp in spotting more talented cricketers.Malhotra said he was satisfied over the composition of the Indianteam, now in Zimbabwe. Asked about the players who could figure in theone-day squad to be picked on June 13, he said it would be too earlyto speculate because the team was to play another Test at Harare. Hehowever, indicated that Delhi’s Vivek Sehwag, who created a fineimpression in the first one-dayer against Australia before beingsidelined with an injury, and Punjab all-rounder Reetinder Singh Sodhiwere in the race. Bengal wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta was also underwatch, he said.Malhotra said the present Ranji teams of Punjab and Orissa were thetwo best young sides in the country. They needed to sustain this levelof performance, he added. The success of the Orissa team whichqualified for the semifinals of the Ranji Trophy for the first timethis season was a very good sign for Indian cricket, the nationalselector said.Praising Orissa’s Shiv Sundar Das, Malhotra said the diminutive openerfrom Bhubaneshwar had cemented his place in the Test team. Formercricketers and commentators including Sunil Gavaskar are happy withhis performance, he said.* Asoka de Silva to officiate in India-Zimbabwe TestFormer Sri Lankan cricketer turned umpire Asoka de Silva is the manexpected to restore the battered image of the Sri Lankan umpires.Asoka has been assigned to officiate the second Test between India andZimbabwe along with Zimbabwean Ian Robinson starting on June 15 atHarare.The standard of Sri Lankan umpires has been highly criticized in therecent past and during the recently concluded English tour, it was atit’s lowest ebb in the first two Tests. Sri Lanka had the benefit ofsome dubious umpiring decisions in the first Test at Galle whileEngland had their share of luck in the second at Kandy. However, Asokawho has been in the international arena for a little over two yearscommanded the respect of the players in the third Test at the SSC.According to the Director of Umpiring of the BCCSL, KT Francis,English skipper Nasser Hussain in his report had admired Asoka andeven had recommended him to be picked to officiate in furtherinternational matches on a regular basis.

Following on from the ICC issuing a set of 39 terms and conditions that the USA Cricket Association must meet in order to be reinstated as an ICC Associate member, ICC chief executive David Richardson recently stated that the USACA may be “rebranded”. It’s another hint that USACA’s time as the ICC’s member governing body in the USA may be coming to an end, at least in its current form.At a press gathering in Ireland during the World Twenty20 Qualifier, Richardson was asked if the ICC views the American Cricket Federation or some other third party group as a viable alternative to USACA in the event that the board is unable to fulfil the stringent reinstatement demands made by the ICC. His response indicated that the board may be reshaped, one way or another.”The bottom line is we have to try to get all of the stakeholders together and take USA cricket forward from there,” Richardson said. “Hopefully, USA Cricket Association in title may be rebranded. Who knows under a new strategy who will be the ones to do that but it will only be possible if they are able to unite the country from a cricket perspective.”The 39 terms and conditions include passing a new constitution with sweeping governance reforms recommended in a 2013 report by TSE Consulting as well as turning over numerous financial records and accounting documents. The USACA has shown reluctance to fulfil these in the past two years. Richardson was optimistic that they will work towards fulfilling the conditions but acknowledged the challenges the organisation would face in doing so.”We are hopeful they will work with us,” Richardson said. “I think on their own, they will find it difficult to meet all of those terms and conditions simply because in my view it’s probably harder to run USA cricket than it is to run Indian cricket. It’s such a vast country. There are so many leagues that are going on. Some are part of USACA, some part of other bodies, some on their own. It’s going to take a major effort to bring them all together. I don’t think the ICC could do it alone and USA cricket on its own will battle.”Expulsion of the USA Cricket Association or US cricket will be no good to anybody. You only have to look at Ireland going back a number of years where they used to have a governance structure where all clubs were voting for their representatives on the board and were going really nowhere. The changes they implemented on the governance side were the catalyst for Ireland taking huge leaps forward as a cricketing nation. They’ve done it. There’s no reason why USA can’t do the same.”Under previous ICC suspensions handed down to USACA in 2005 and 2007, USA had their participation in the 2005 Intercontinental Cup and 2007 World Cricket League Division Three rescinded. As a consequence, USA dropped down to WCL Division Five when they were reinstated in 2008 and have found it difficult to climb back up the Associate ladder ever since. However, USA were allowed to play at the qualifier in Ireland in spite of the suspension and produced impressive wins over Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea. Richardson reiterated the ICC’s on-field support for USA.”The idea is not to prejudice USA cricket in any way if at all possible,” Richardson said. “So hopefully we can work with the USA Cricket Association in trying to remedy those resolutions and recommendations that were made to make sure that the suspension is lifted. There’s a lot of work to be done in that regard but I’m confident that it can be done and the necessary governance changes can be made.”But in the mean time, we don’t want to prejudice cricketers who are playing cricket in the US. Ideally, we keep an eye on how the competition structures are run there, how the trials and teams are selected so that we give every chance for cricketers in the USA to go to these tournaments and hopefully qualify.”Aside from assisting the national team development with projects like the upcoming ICC Americas Cricket Combine next month in Indianapolis, Richardson once again highlighted the ICC’s hopes of tapping into USA’s commercial market potential if the administrative issues can be sorted out.”There is enough potential for the USA to be participating at major global events,” he said. “There’s enough cricketers, there’s enough money in the country and the economy is strong. So we think if correctly administered, there is the potential. It’s not for other member countries to benefit financially from cricket being strong in the US.  Yes, the ICC might benefit from the fact that if USA is at a major global event, then we are hoping to attract sponsors from the part of the world of our events and obviously broadcasters as well.”

Robert Key is aiming to enjoy his first one-day series in England blues in the hope of upping the scoring tempo for the remaining two Test matches of the Ashes series.Key believes the less strict format of the triangular series with Australia and Sri Lanka may help to develop a fresh approach for the Tests at Melbourne and Sydney over Christmas and New Year.”I’m going to go out there to enjoy it, try a few things out that you don’t get the chance to do in Test cricket and hopefully if we take them into the Tests it might work,” said Key, who has joined the one-day squad in Sydney while Michael Vaughan rests his sore right knee.”They’re a really good side, but all they do is the basics really well. They don’t run up and bowl magic balls at you, they bowl outside off stump and they don’t let you score a run.”They are good but it’s their discipline that counts. None of their bowlers run up and bowl big outswingers, they know exactly how to bowl and set the fields according to how each of them bowls and their discipline and their basics are what it is all about.”They bowl in a decent place and give themselves a chance of getting you out – they very rarely bowl you a bad ball. There are ways to combat someone bowling outside off stump, leaving it and things like that, because it’s not as if you’re out there wondering how you’re going to survive, you’re just wondering how you’re going to score.”England captain Nasser Hussain tried unsuccessfully to charge Glenn McGrath in the Perth test, while Key was trapped leg before walking across his stumps.Nasser tried it a bit when I was batting with him in the last Test whenMcGrath just wasn’t bowling a bad ball,” explained Key. “He started running at him and I tried walking across a couple of times but I was out lbw – you have to work on a couple of things just to try and break up his rhythm.”I enjoy one-day cricket because it gives you a chance to play your shots a bit more, particularly against these boys when you’re fighting for every run, leaving a lot and deciding whether or not to have a go.”Sometimes you can’t wait for a bad ball out here and you have to try and make something out of nothing. This is a good chance to try a few things and possibly take things into the Test series.”England’s build-up for the first section of the one-day series – matches against Australia in Sydney and Melbourne, and against Sri Lanka in Brisbane and Perth – with day-nighters against strong New South Wales and Australia A sides at the SCG over the next few days.”After being beaten pretty comprehensively in three games it gives us a chance to get out there and get a few wins and get something positive to look at rather than almost drowning your sorrows,” admitted Key.”This will hopefully give us the chance to get a bit of confidence. It’s my first tour, but I just find it a bit bizarre to play a one-day series in the middle of a Test series. I suppose it’s come at quite a good time where we can come away with something positive – if we play well in this series it can only do us good going into the last two Tests.”Admirer of the Australian side though he may be, Key admits to being less impressed by the standards of the sledging dished out to him during the last two Tests.”Steve Waugh called it mental disintegration, but I wouldn’t call it that – they’re just talking rubbish most of the time,” Key said. “I quite enjoy all the banter.”When they start getting at you I try and stare them down or try and come back with something if I’ve got something decent stored up. They’re no different from anyone really. They might be the best team in the world but their sledging’s pretty ordinary.”England will practice under lights tomorrow before Friday’s match against a New South Wales line-up which includes seven players with Test experience for Australia, including McGrath, both Waugh brothers, Brett Lee and Stuart MacGill.

One of the best teams in cricket history playing against an injury-hit England squad which has fumbled through its warm-up matches wouldn’t normally point to an enthralling summer.But it’s the Ashes – and that is why fans will pack grounds around the country.While those close to the Australian team are wary of writing off England, among those preparing to take their places in the stands to watch their heroes, it’s a different story.Australian cricket fans are gearing up to have another go at the Poms, while British expats and the Barmy Army hordes puff their chests out and begin sentences like: “Well you never know, we just might…”.Then they stop and, as if realising the absurdity of what they are about to say, mutter with familiar self-deprecating humour something about fully expecting to get soundly thrashed.With world champion Australia on home soil chasing an eighth consecutive Ashes series, fans may have little doubt about the outcome but they still want to be there.Former Test great Alan Davidson, NSW Cricket’s long-serving president, says the Sydney Cricket Ground has already recorded unprecedented figures for people wanting reserve seats at the fifth and final Test.So what is it about the Ashes that it can still pull such big and passionate crowds.”I think basically England-Australia in Test matches have always had that special significance,” says Davidson, who played his first Test at Trent Bridge on Australia’s Ashes tour of England in 1953.”It’s this little colony that had the hide to take on England at a game which was started in England and the pupils, I suppose you could call us, have taken on the masters and we’ve beaten the masters.”Now the Australians are the masters and England has not won an Ashes series since 1986-87.People love to watch winners and this Australian side has proven time and again that it’s the best in the world.But it hasn’t always been this way. Australia is some way from dominating Ashes cricket overall.Of 61 series played, Australia has won 29 and England 26 with six draws.Australia has won 121 of the 301 Tests between the nations with England winning 94 and 86 drawn matches.And there have been significant periods when England has been on top.In 1953, England wrested back the urn to break an Australian stronghold on the trophy dating back to the 1930s.Australia had to wait until its summer of 1958-59 to reclaim the honours and went overseas in 1961 determined to beat England on its home soil, which it did.There is something else that gives The Ashes its mystique and inspires the young to dream.”My grandfather on my mother’s side one day showed me a photograph of the ship taking our team to England in 1938,” Davidson says.”I was nine at the time and I said, ‘well one day I will, Grandad.'”A sport and rivalry steeped so firmly in tradition inspires the desire to emulate past heroes like no other competition.”What made Australia during The Depression, when things were at their toughest? There was a horse called Phar Lap and a bloke called Bradman,” Davidson says.There is no greater Australian hero than Don Bradman – the man whose astounding talent prompted England to resort to leg-theory in a bid to stop him, resulting in the infamous Bodyline series of 1932-33.Davidson remembers watching the fifth Ashes Test of 1946-47 in Sydney as a teenager.”I actually wagged school and went with my uncle down to watch the Test match,” he says.”I saw Bradman score 12 runs and, whilst it was a very modest score for him, it was amazing … I don’t recall a shot that he played but I do remember how he used his feet.”While Australian-English relations had long since recovered by the time of that Test match, Bodyline will never be forgotten.The game has changed, the names have changed.But, with another breed of heroes to worship, Australian punters are set to relish a fresh tilt at the old enemy.

Drop of the day
Jamie How tried to pull James Anderson on 4, the ball looping andskying to where a short fine leg would have positioned himself.England’s diminutive little wicketkeeper, Tim Ambrose, joggedbackwards quickly and made excellent ground, steadying himself all thewhile. The ball plopped into his gloves, panged off the middle fingerof his right hand, and plopped out again. England’s body languagehuffed disappointment and anger, as Ambrose plodded and moped,doubtless realising there were 46 more overs left in New Zealand’sinnings. Fortunately for him, How only lasted another four overs.Bat-snapping of the day
Several years ago Michael Atherton, the former England captain,wondered why someone couldn’t do the honourable, justifiable thing andbreak Glenn McGrath’s arm. It was a perfectly reasonable request,never more so when considering McGrath had dismissed him a record 19times. A similar tactic was employed today by Anderson, thoughchoosing to snap Brendon McCullum’s bat, not his arm. McCullum hadonly nudged the ball to midwicket yet the blade almost split in two,hanging on by the bat’s thin outer covering. Perhaps the replacementdidn’t feel right for McCullum, as he fell in Anderson’s next over,edging to first slip. “That’s the sign of a bat that has been kept fortoo long in a dry place,” Atherton noted. Perhaps he should havelocked McGrath in a greenhouse.Rookie mistake of the day
Welcome to captaincy, Kevin. Jacob Oram had calmly, almost anonymouslymoved onto 36 from 34 balls, and together with Scott Styris helped NewZealand recover from 124 for 4. Pietersen’s decision to stick withOwais Shah’s only occasional offbreaks, rather than the greaterability of Ravi Bopara’s nagging seamers, raised a few eyebrows, notto mention the spirits of the outnumbered New Zealand fans. Oramheaved him into the Mound Stand over midwicket before opening hisshoulders and depositing another six into the Edrich Stand to bring upa brutal fifty from 37 balls. Pietersen’s said yesterday that he would”be smoking a cigar at mid-off” if they achieved all their goals, butthere wasn’t hope of him even enjoying a spivvy little roll-up withOram (and later Stryis) threatening as they were.Completely in, emphatically out
It is nothing short of perplexing watching Ian Bell attempt to asserthimself. He began England’s chase in silky, oozy fashion, flickingKyle Mills for two beautifully timed fours through midwicket.Immediately, he showed his intent, class and authority at the crease,and he continued in the same vain against Mills later in his inningswhen he stood tall to drive him crisply off the back foot. The moresettled he looks, the more complacent he becomes, the greater theinfuriation for his fans. Rather predictably, on 27 he walked acrosshis stumps to Mark Gillespie and that was that; a soupcon of aninnings, once again leaving England impatiently hungry for more.