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ScorecardTwo wickets in the last 11 overs from captain Glen Chapple gave Lancashire areal boost on a hard-fought opening day of their County ChampionshipDivision One match against Essex at Old Trafford.After the visitors were invited to bat despite a covering of grass on thetrack, Ryan ten Doeschate top scored with 85 as they closed on 251 for 6. Openers Billy Godleman and Jaik Mickleburgh, who shared 73 for the first wicket, both hit 39, off 74 and 95 balls respectively, but they fell to left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan either side of lunch.Kerrigan had left-hander Godleman caught at mid-wicket by Stephen Moore in the26th over and trapped Mickleburgh lbw two overs into the afternoon session toleave the score at 86 for two in the 32nd.Matthew Walker (42) and Ten Doeschate later shared 66 in 17 overs for thefourth wicket before the former chopped on to Sajid Mahmood after tea. Essex looked as if they would claim the day’s honours until Chapple trapped James Foster and Ten Doeschate, who hit 13 fours in 123 balls, lbw late in the day.Chapple finished with two for 41 from 18 overs and Kerrigan 2 for 71 from33. There was a hint of swing for Lancashire’s bowlers – certainly after the ballwas changed midway through the morning by the umpires – but not as much as hasbeen on offer early in previous Championship fixtures here.Runs did not flow for Essex, however, because the likes of Chapple, Mahmood,Daren Powell, Kerrigan and Kyle Hogg all bowled with control throughout theday. Mark Pettini and Walker added 44 for the third wicket in 20 overs before Hogggot had the former well caught low down by gully fielder Mark Chilton. At thatstage the visitors were 130 for 3.That united Walker and all-rounder Ten Doeschate. They navigated their side totea with the addition of another 39 runs, playing well straight and through thecovers. Ten Doeschate reached his 50 off 52 balls in the early evening sunshine but hisalliance with Walker was broken when the former Kent man was cramped for roomtrying to cut Mahmood. That left Essex at 196 for 4.England hopeful Ravi Bopara has been named in the Essex side and will replaceunbeaten Grant Flower when Essex take the field on day two. Bopara was at Downing Street today with the rest of England’s victorious World Twenty20 squad.

ScorecardSuzie Bates top-scored for New Zealand•Getty Images

New Zealand’s women launched their World Twenty20 campaign with a comfortable 10-run victory over India in St Kitts, a result which moved them to the top of Group B on net run-rate. Chasing 140 for victory after a brisk batting performance from New Zealand led by Susie Bates (32 from 30 balls), India lost wickets at regular intervals to finish up on 129 for 8.It was a disjointed reply from India, who lost Poonam Raut for a duck in the third over, and though Mithali Raj produced a spirited 44 from 36 balls, Sian Ruck and Lucy Doolan claimed two cheap wickets apiece to peg them back to 56 for 4 in the 12th over.Jhulan Goswami then became the first of two run-out victims for Bates, whose dismissal of Raj at 91 for 6 effectively ended the match as a contest. With rain in the air, Amita Sharma kept up the resistance with 28 from 16 balls, adding 27 for the ninth wicket with Rumeli Dhar, but it was too little too late.Earlier, New Zealand won the toss and batted with purpose from the very start, although the offspinner Diana David ensured that none of their set batsmen was able to go onto a substantial score. She finished up with 4 for 27 from her four overs, including the wickets of both of New Zealand’s top-scorers, Bates and Nicola Browne (24).

Match facts

Mumbai v Bangalore in Mumbai
Saturday, March 20
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

Big picture

Watch out for former India U-19 captain Ambati Rayudu to impress (file photo)•Getty Images

Sachin Tendulkar’s Mumbai Indians have been the team to beat so far. Even a stunning hundred by Yusuf Pathan wasn’t enough to derail them. Neither could Virender Sehwag’s Delhi Daredevils rein them in. Tendulkar has been playing like a dream and unlike last year, the Indian youngsters, such as Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu, have begun to respond. They have two fast bowlers of quality in Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga, two canny medium-pacers in the West Indians, Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard, and they have Harbhajan Singh and Sanath Jayasuriya for spin.Royal Challengers Bangalore had a false start to their campaign when their batting collapsed in the first game, but have since gone from strength to strength. Their bowlers have shown a tendency to try and bounce out the opposition, especially the domestic Indian batsmen, and their batting too has grown more potent once they got their order right. In their first game, they had Shreevats Goswami to open, and it messed up the whole order. Goswami tried to slog every ball, Manish Pandey didn’t look settled and once Virat Kohli too perished early, their batting just fizzled out. They corrected it in the second game, promoting Pandey to the opening slot but what must have given them a real boost is Robin Uthappa’s return to form with a whirlwind fifty against Punjab.That both the teams look the most settled of the units should make it an interesting match.

Team talk

Tendulkar constantly backed the Indian youngsters and they are beginning to repay his trust this year. Expect no major changes in either team, for both look to possess well-settled combinations.

Previously…

Both teams have won two games apiece, sharing fortunes in both seasons. In 2008, Bangalore won the first match at the Wankhede Stadium by five wickets, and Mumbai crushed Bangalore in the return leg by nine wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. In 2009, Bangalore won the first encounter easily in Johannesburg, and Mumbai came back to clinch a 16-run win in Port Elizabeth.

In the spotlight

Dale Steyn starred in the last game against Rajasthan Royals. He was consistently pacy and cramped the batsmen with short-pitched deliveries. In the past, his speed has been his enemy in the Twenty20 format, and it would be interesting to see how he shapes up against Tendulkar and Jayasuriya. Expect him to test Jayasuriya with bouncers.Ambati Rayudu has made a good start to the competition, and has looked the part in the middle order. Ever since his return from ICL, he has been really ambitious and hungry to make a name for himself and try to get into the reckoning for the Indian team. This IPL is as good as platform as any for him to come back into public imagination.

Prime numbers

• Jacques Kallis is yet to be dismissed in this IPL. He has scored 198 runs at a strike-rate of 140.42 and has been the pillar of Bangalore’s batting.
• Mumbai’s R Sathish has the unflattering record for conceding the most number of runs in an innings – he went for 51 runs from three overs against Rajasthan Royals.

The chatter

“It is a way of working together. I would like to help the youngsters in the team. It’s not that only the senior players can help. Even a junior player’s view is important. I’ve learnt that the more you talk cricket, the more you learn about the game.”
“Mumbai have done very well and we will be playing at their home ground, but our confidence is high and we are in great shape. The middle order has not spent significant time at the crease, but we have experienced players there in Rahul Dravid and Mark Boucher.”

Graeme Swann’s 10-wicket match haul in the first Test at Chittagong has catapulted him to second place in the ICC’s Test bowling rankings – the highest position for an English bowler since Steve Harmison reached No. 1 in August 2004.Swann sent down 78.3 overs in the match, conceding 217 runs and striking five times in each innings. When Junaid Siddique and Mushfiqur Rahim’s four-and-a-half hour rearguard effort began to look threatening, he broke their 167-run stand, eventually dismissing both batsmen, and fittingly closing off the Test match with his dismissal of Naeem Islam.Swann’s stellar rise is made even more remarkable by considering the fact that he was in 23rd position only eight months ago. During this period, he has played 10 Tests and taken 45 wickets, including 14 against Australia and 21 against South Africa, and his consistent performances against such high-ranking opposition have contributed considerably to his ascent.”He’s got six five-fors in the last year alone, and he’s been fantastic,” said Swann’s England team-mate, Stuart Broad. “He waited a long time for his chance – eight years in the wilderness, as he puts it – but since he’s come back in, he’s looked dangerous, particularly in his first overs, and it’s been brilliant for the lads to have him in the bowling unit.”The whole side is delighted for him to be No. 2 in the world, and we all hope he gets to No. 1. It’s been good for the England side with him taking regular wickets – and the seamers can take a lot of credit for the pressure they build up at the other end – and it’s helped him to climb the ladder fantastically.”Swann ended 2009 – a year in which he took 54 wickets in 12 Tests – in third position, vaulting up from 11th after his man-of-the-match performance at against South Africa at Kingsmead, where he completed match-figures of 9 for 164. He had slipped to fifth before the start of the Bangladesh series, but rose once again after his tireless effort in the first Test.In a testament to his value to England, Swann has also moved up to third in the rankings for Test allrounders, edging ahead of Bangladesh captain Shakib al Hasan.For his part, Hasan has climbed to 15th in the bowling rankings, moving up three places, after recording match figures of 5 for 195 in the first Test. Mushfiqur, who scored 79 and 95 in the match, has jumped 12 places to 34th, with Tamim Iqbal rising three places to 37th and Junaid – who hit his maiden Test century in Bangladesh’s second innings – vaulting 12 places to 60th.

Tillakaratne Dilshan, the explosive Sri Lanka batsman, has signed with New South Wales for next summer’s Twenty20 domestic competition. New South Wales won the Champions League Twenty20 last year but did not requalify for the lucrative tournament and have wasted no time in securing a big name to partner the likes of David Warner and Phillip Hughes.Dilshan is currently with the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL, is signed up with the English county Sussex, and has also played for New Zealand’s Northern Districts this season. Dave Gilbert, the New South Wales chief executive, said Dilshan was one of the world’s most destructive batsmen in the format.”We look forward to him playing a leading role in helping New South Wales win next season’s Big Bash and thereby qualifying for the Champions League,” Gilbert said. Dilshan, 33, has played 60 Tests, 174 ODIs and 23 T20 internationals for Sri Lanka.

Michael Klinger and John Hastings, two players who switched states to gain greater opportunities, have been rewarded for their post-move success at the Allan Border Medal night in Melbourne. The South Australia batsman Klinger was named the State Cricketer of the Year for the second consecutive season, while Hastings received the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year award having established himself as a key man in Victoria’s line-up.Klinger scored 36 votes and beat the Victoria pair of Chris Rogers (29) and Brad Hodge (27) for the state title. During the voting period, which ran from December 24, 2008 to February 1, 2010, Klinger scored 1532 runs at 56.74 across all formats. He was the leading Sheffield Shield run scorer last season and is again near the top this summer.The two consecutive prizes for Klinger have justified his decision to leave Victoria during the 2008 off-season, at which time he had made 1569 first-class runs at 27.05. His tally is now 3504 runs at 41.22 and the two strong years must have him firmly in the minds of the Australian selectors.Another state-switching success story was Hastings, the Victoria allrounder, who moved from New South Wales at the end of 2006-07. Hastings, 24, decided that his opportunities were likely to be greater with the Bushrangers than in a Blues line-up where he would compete with Moises Henriques as the preferred young allrounder.Hastings finished with 46 votes, well clear of the New South Wales allrounder Steven Smith on 30 and the Queensland fast bowler Ben Cutting (8). Hastings has played every Sheffield Shield match for the Bushrangers this season and is second on the competition wicket tally with 25 victims at 25.12, and he has been a valuable player in the shorter formats as well.”It seems a long while ago now,” Hastings said of his move south. “Three years ago [Victoria coaches] Greg Shipperd and Simon Helmot gave me a call and said do you want to come down to Victoria and see if you can try your luck down here and it’s been brilliant. I feel like I’m a lot stronger and a lot fitter than I was last year.”Across all formats during the voting period, Hastings scored 324 runs at 29.45 and took 49 wickets at 22.77 in 17 matches. He joins a list of Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year winners featuring elite names such as Brett Lee, who won the inaugural prize in 2000, Nathan Bracken, Shane Watson and Ben Hilfenhaus.The Women’s International Cricketer of the Year was Shelley Nitschke, who claimed her second title having also won last year. Nitschke (71 votes) scored a narrow win from Lisa Sthalkear (64), having made 631 runs at 35.05 in 18 ODIs during the voting period and collecting 17 wickets at 29.47.

A day after Mickey Arthur’s resignation as national coach, South Africa’s selection panel has also been sacked by the board. Mike Procter, the chairman of selectors, confirmed the development to a local radio station in Johannesburg.Procter told that Cricket South Africa had fired the entire selection panel, which included Craig Matthews, Winky Ximiya and Mustapha Khan, and an interim one would be appointed to serve until February 19. “It came as a huge shock to us all,” Procter said. He added that only CSA would be able to confirm if the developments were linked to the transformation issue.”I had a phone call early yesterday evening, Gerald Majola informing me that this selection panel would not be required in future,” Procter told eNews, a South African news channel. “Everyone was told that this was going to be a talk after the series. We were just going to make some presentations. They weren’t going to come after anyone. It wasn’t going to be a witch hunt.”I think we had too short a time in the business, as selectors we always gave our own thoughts, we never ended up voting on issues, we talked around issues, we enjoyed each others company and I think we were doing pretty well. The time we had was too short but we did introduce some new players.”Matthews, a member of the selection panel, said he understood that Majola would head the interim panel until a new one was put in place. “The way I understand it, there will be an interim selection panel and Gerald will be the convenor of selectors until a new panel has been picked,” he told Cricinfo. “We weren’t given any reason for the decision [sacking]. All that was said was that the board felt the selection process was flawed and that they want to restructure it.”It might be a transformation issue, but they didn’t give us any reasons, all they said was that the process needs to be reworked. I have been part of South African cricket for many years, nothing really surprises me anymore.”The sacked panel took over as selectors in December 2008, just before the historic series victory in Australia which put South Africa on top of both the Test and the ODI rankings. Results went downhill after that, losing the return Test series against Australia and only managing to draw the home series against England which ended earlier this month. Between those two assignments were the loss in the World Twenty20 semi-finals and the embarrassingly early exit in the ICC Champions Trophy they hosted. The panel’s tenure was supposed to be till the 2011 World Cup, the same as Arthur’s.

One of the frequently asked questions leading into the second Test in Durban has been about momentum. Who took what from Centurion? South Africa clearly finished the stronger after almost snatching victory in the final hour, but England managed to hold on at a ground where the home side have a formidable record.The hosts have certainly been carrying themselves with an air of confidence since their final-session performance in Centurion, where Friedel de Wet’s new-ball burst put England in a panic. It’s a sign of South Africa’s current strength that de Wet is now on the verge of being dropped and they can only be a stronger side with the return of Dale Steyn. But it has been the subtle (and not so subtle) comments about the opposition that have suggested where the balance of power lies.Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, was at it again on the eve of the Boxing Day Test when he pinpointed England’s out-of-form players. It’s not that the thoughts are a revelation, anyone looking at the statistics can draw the same conclusions, but the mind games during a Test series are a fascinating sideline to the main on field contest.”There’s pressure on [Alastair] Cook and pressure on [Ian] Bell,” Arthur said. “I wouldn’t expect England to go with five batters and [Matt] Prior at six given what happened at Centurion, I think they’ll play six but two of those come into the Test under a bit of pressure.”England’s fist-pumping after Paul Collingwood and Graham Onions survived the final 19 balls has also been picked up on by the South Africa camp. It has echoes of when Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee survived at Old Trafford in 2005, leaving Michael Vaughan to comment about how much the Australians celebrated a draw.England have recalled their own Ashes draw in Cardiff, where the final pair of Monty Panesar and Jimmy Anderson survived 69 deliveries, which was followed by victory at Lord’s, although they have also been wise enough to point out that the two scenarios are very different. Against Australia there was a feeling of euphoria that defeat was avoided, but the overriding emotion last week was relief.If England had gone 1-0 down, especially in such circumstances, it would have been almost impossible to imagine them coming back to take the series. Now it’s still all-square, and the whys and wherefores of it won’t bother Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss too much. England could so easily have lost, but they didn’t and that is something to build on. It’s the first time they haven’t lost the first Test of an away series in six attempts.It isn’t a surprise that England have kept fairly quiet because that is the style of Strauss and Flower. During their partnership, which is less than a year old it must be remembered, they have remained level-headed in victory, defeat or draw. The reaction after the debacle against Australia at Headingley, when they lost by an innings at 80 runs, was firm, but calm, and the theme of this tour has been about moving on from Ashes success rather than lingering on past glories.Neither captain nor coach are into making bombastic statements and it is dangerous to be drawn into what the opposition are saying in any case. Both are also very clever men. They know England thrive with the underdog tag – it sits far more comfortably than being favourites – so they may not mind that South Africa are making the bigger noises.”The way South Africa bowled in that final hour, they were very good at putting us under pressure and I’m sure they’ll take something out of that,” Strauss said. “Equally, we’ll take a lot out of the fact that we were able to withstand those last four or five overs.”Yet, as ever, there are two sides to the story. One more wicket-taking ball in the final 19 deliveries and the opening match was South Africa’s. Despite the fact that the victory opportunity was suddenly upon them – almost out of nowhere – they wouldn’t be human if there wasn’t a small, nagging thought in the back of their minds.What if de Wet had had the energy for a final over? What if Makhaya Ntini had beaten Onions’ defence? What if Collingwood wasn’t so bloody stubborn? “We got through it; it’s still 0-0 in the series,” Strauss said. “That can be a little bit dispiriting for the opposition as well, so it’s back to square one on Boxing Day.”But for all the talk of momentum, Arthur isn’t even a big believer in the concept. “For us the key is that we start again,” he said. “It’s nil-nil and you can talk about momentum, and I’m not a huge momentum guy because it all counts for nothing when the first ball is bowled. The series is up for grabs.”All the sparring between Tests is very much a phoney war. The mind games are fun to listen to and pick apart, but matches are decided on the field. If either side can take the series lead in Durban then they really will have the momentum.

Scorecard
Shaun Marsh’s double of 82 and 108 not out may help his national prospects•AFP

South Australia were set 351 for victory after declaring their first innings 152 behind Western Australia in the hope of manufacturing a result in Adelaide. After a slow second day, things livened up on the third with the Redbacks stopping at 6 for 249 at lunch, with Michael Klinger unbeaten on 109, before Shaun Marsh raced to a timely century as the Warriors posted 2 for 198.The hosts were 0 for 30 after 15 overs at stumps, sitting in the opposite position to last week when they lost to Victoria after controlling the first three days. They can forget that embarrassment with another 321 runs on the final day.Marsh, who scored 82 in the first innings, has been mentioned as a possible batting candidate for the Test team, which may lose Ricky Ponting for Melbourne, and his unbeaten 108 will be noted even though it came in setting up the declaration. The captain Adam Voges chipped in with 58 after Peter George had taken both the wickets to fall.Klinger’s marathon crawl continued during the first session as he moved from his overnight 64 to 109 at lunch. He spent 287 balls and almost six hours working on his innings and it was hard to tell whether he was responsible for holding the game back or keeping his side in it. The captain Graham Manou changed the tempo of the match with his declaration and has a chance to push for six points.

Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of the BCCI’s selection panel, has attributed India’s climb to the top of the Test rankings to their balance and depth with both bat and ball, and their ability to finish off games after gaining the advantage.Srikkanth said India’s batting line-up was the best around, and had displayed a tendency to withstand early setbacks with players down the order stepping up. “This is the best top-seven in the world,” Srikkanth told the . “This line-up has aggressive players such as Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The side also has Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and VVS Laxman who are very solid.”Srikkanth spoke of India’s resilience in the Napier Test earlier in the year, when, after following on and losing Virender Sehwag early, they batted close to two full days, losing just four wickets, to save the game and preserve India’s lead in the series. “When India began its second innings 314 runs behind New Zealand in the Napier Test last season, the batsmen led by Gambhir and Laxman batted with great resolve to save the Test,” he said.And yet, when the opportunity was there to force a win, like in Chennai against England, where Sehwag set the tone with a blistering 83 and Tendulkar guided India home with a rare fourth-innings century, they took full advantage. “If you had seen the conditions for batting in the fourth innings, it was an incredible chase. The side believes in itself,” Srikkanth said.Srikkanth also lauded M Vijay, the Tamil Nadu opener, who replaced Gautam Gambhir in two Tests, against Australia in Nagpur and Sri Lanka in Mumbai, and impressed with 161 runs, giving Sehwag solid support. “On two occasions in Nagpur against the Australians and here, Vijay has batted really well,” he said.The variety in the bowling attack and the ability to take 20 wickets, even on tracks where assistance was minimal, was another crucial factor in India’s success, Srikkanth said. “Everyone said the pitch was flat against Australia at Mohali last year. But Zaheer and Ishant made inroads into the line-up.”We have variety, right and left-arm bowlers, pace men and spinners in contrasting styles. The pace men have struck telling blows with the new and the old ball. Harbhajan Singh is an experienced campaigner now. Both Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra are promising spinners. You got to give them time.”The contribution of former captains Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, Srikkanth added, was also critical. “The side has been consistent and delivered away from home. We have to acknowledge the contribution of Ganguly, who made the side believe in itself. Someone like Kumble brought great value and commitment to the side.”