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ScorecardJames Hopes picked up six wickets to bundle Western Australia out for 175•Getty Images

Queensland’s pacers Luke Feldman and James Hopes did the damage for the team, leaving Western Australia in disarray chasing 395 as Queensland closed in on a big win.Hopes had already made a mark on the second day, running through Western Australia’s top and middle order to leave them struggling at 7 for 149, and he needed only another nine overs to dismiss the tail, as the team folded for 175. Hopes finished with 6 for 44 while Michael Neser chipped in with three scalps.With a massive 216-run lead in hand, Queensland made further inroads as Usman Khawaja struck an unbeaten 74 and forged big partnerships with Dom Michael and Chris Lynn to carry the team to 3 for 178, before they decided to declare.Set 395 for victory, Western Australia never really got going as Feldman picked up three wickets to dismantle the team’s top order. Adam Voges was the only batsman to offer some resistance, scoring 30 not out, as Western Australia closed at 5 for 73, still needing another 322 for an unlikely win.

Seamer Andrew Ellis’ fourth five-for in List A cricket helped Canterbury thump Central Districts by 10 wickets in Christchurch. Ellis ran through Central Districts’ middle and lower order and finished with 5 for 17. Only four batsmen managed to reach double digits, as the team collapsed for 94 in 19.1 overs. Hamish Bennett picked up three scalps, while Ryan McCone and Matt McEwan chipped in with a dismissal each for Canterbury.Canterbury made short work of the paltry target, as George Worker (46 not out) and Tom Latham (50 not out) had an unbroken stand of 97 for the opening wicket to take the team home in 15.2 overs.BJ Watling’s unbeaten 97 helped set up Northern Districts‘ 110-run thrashing of Auckland in Hamilton. Watling struck nine fours and a six during his 93-ball knock, and forged a third-wicket partnership worth 87 with Daryl Mitchell (59) to help Northern Districts recover from the loss of an early wicket and post 257 from their 50 overs. Bhupinder Singh and Matthew Quinn snared two wickets apiece.Auckland were unable to gather any momentum during their chase and stumbled to 102 for 7 inside 30 overs. Donovan Grobbelaar, coming in at No. 7, was their highest scorer with 29, and he was the only batsman to make more than 20. Scott Kuggeleijn, Anurag Verma and Graeme Aldridge claimed two scalps each for Northern Districts as Auckland folded for 147 in 42.5 overs.A four-wicket haul from the left-arm seamer Andy McKay helped Wellington hold their nerve for a two-run victory against Otago at Basin Reserve. Chasing 309, Sam Wells’ 29-ball 50 looked to have taken Otago home, but McKay dismissed Wells off the last ball of the match to leave the visitors stranded on 306.Wellington, put in to bat, were buoyed by an opening stand of 144 between Stephen Murdoch (89) and Michael Papps (98). Otago fought back with three quick wickets, but quick knocks from Tom Blundell (47) and James Franklin (24) propelled the score to 308 for 5.Otago lost Hamish Rutherford in the third over of their chase, but recovered through a second-wicket stand between Aaron Redmond (96) and Michael Bracewell (60) that yielded 155 runs. They were well placed at 206 for 2 in the 37th over, but two wickets in two deliveries helped Wellington wrest the momentum. Redmond was run out for 96 and off the next ball, Jesse Ryder was caught behind for a golden duck. Wells, coming in at No. 7, waged a counterattack by drilling two fours and four sixes, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.

ScorecardVirender Sehwag made is first ton in first-class cricket since November 2012•Getty Images

Virender Sehwag’s century saw MCC cruise to victory in the Champion County match in the desert and condemn Durham to a losing start to 2014.Sehwag’s hundred at better than a run-a-ball ended a 16-month wait for a first-class century; his last coming against England in Ahmedabad in November 2012.But he rediscovered his bludgeoning best in the second-innings with 18 fours and a six to see MCC to their potentially tricky target at almost four-and-a-half runs per over.With Sehwag dominating, MCC needed only careful support from the other end and Samit Patel provided the job with an unbeaten 48.But that knock also came in good time, with six fours from 61 balls as the pair dispelled any notion of struggling on a fourth day wicket with a stand of 105 in just 17.4 overs.With both MCC openers dismissed before the close on day three, the final day was nicely poised but Sehwag rolled back the months to take the game away from Durham.The English champions’ only successes with the ball on day four came via a caught and bowled dismissal from Scott Borthwick to remove Daniel Bell-Drummond and Sehwag shortly after he completed his century.

ScorecardLewis Gregory claimed his second career five-for as Somerset ran through the hosts’ batting•Getty Images

Somerset’s delight at Marcus Trescothick’s restatement of his batting pedigree translated into an excellent bowling display on the third day at Hove as they forced Sussex to follow on under heavy skies and then rounded upon them once more with such conviction on a sunlit evening that they even had the glimmer of a three-day victory.Ultimately, Sussex survived but it was a hollow achievement with only four wickets remaining, still 68 runs needed to make Somerset bat again and the weather set fair for the final day. Somerset’s domination of this match has been striking, their tread optimistic again, assumptions that they will again struggle to retain their Division One status thrown into question.Sussex’s openers met the challenge with pragmatism, but twice a flimsy middle order failed to meet the challenge. Luke Wells batted through Sussex’s first innings for 79 with stately deliberation – the first batsman to achieve the feat for Sussex since Richard Montgomerie 10 years ago – and it would be no surprise if Ed Joyce, 76 not out at the close, matched the feat in the second innings. If that was to happen, it would be unprecedented in Sussex’s history.Conditions have favoured the bowlers throughout, although far from impossibly, and with every wicket that fell – 15 in all for 279 runs – Trescothick’s second-day century grew in status. He even undertook wicketkeeping duties in Sussex’s first innings, which is not a great career move for a heavily built man with ankles he regularly needs to plunge into ice buckets, but the task was forced upon him by Craig Kieswetter’s absence with a stomach ailment and he stopped what came his way with an air of contentment.Alex Barrow, summoned from Taunton as an emergency wicketkeeping replacement, finally arrived three overs into Sussex’s second innings, which even allowing for the regular loss of wickets suggested he may have travelled by tractor.From his emergency vantage point, shifting a couple of yards from his usual post at second slip, Trescothick had a slightly straighter view of Lewis Gregory’s threat. “A batsman who bowled” was how his captain labelled Gregory, fairly enough, after his 47 batting at No 11 in Somerset’s first innings, but the lively medium pace of the Batsman Who Bowls was always threatening on this surface and he returned the second five-for in a first-class career barely 200 overs old.Gregory is a zestful all-round cricketer, whose emergence this season, at 21, would help to offset Somerset’s limited fast-bowling resources. A Devonian and product of Plympton in the Devon League, he brims with attacking intent and can now begin to build on the promise he displayed when he made his debut against Pakistan nearly four years ago.Alfonso Thomas must wonder about the sense of playing too much Championship cricket at 37 when the decks at Taunton are unforgivingly true, but his appetite must also have been whetted by heavy morning cloud cover.Jamie Overton, too, allied decent pace at times to a more acceptable degree of accuracy than is sometimes evident. He is a hulking figure for a 20-year-old, powerful rather than lithe, the sort of man who could cause a midsummer traffic jam in Barnstaple by strolling across the main road. England like their fast bowlers gigantic and he looks as if he must cost a fortune to feed. He needs protective handling and the mere sight of him vaguely feeling his back once or twice was enough to bring a spark of concern.Mark Robinson, Sussex’s director of cricket, judged that batting became a little easier after around 35 overs but, by then, both innings were in terminal decline as batsmen fell to a collection of indifferent strokes. Michael Yardy’s footwork was leaden and Gregory uprooted Ben Brown’s stumps twice in one day. In the second innings, Rory Hamilton-Brown slapped a slower ball that sat up in the pitch straight to the leaping Nick Compton at cover. Matt Machan was unhinged by a climbing delivery from Gregory in the first innings but his second-innings departure was a tale of self-harm as he flicked him off his hip to deep square leg.Ashar Zaidi also faces a Sussex investigation into his response when he was adjudged caught at the wicket off Overton in the first innings. It was not his display of disbelief towards umpire Nigel Llong, as unwelcome as that was, as much as the fact that he took to Twitter to comment “stinker #wtf,” so becoming the latest sportsman to fall foul of the social networking site.”I didn’t think he showed any dissent,” Robinson said. “He was just desperately disappointed as he didn’t hit the ball. The umpires are two of the best in the business but you get wrong decisions from time to time.” He was more critical of the Twitter escapade, however. “You can’t be doing that sort of thing whether or not it was a good or bad decision,” he said. A fine and a reprimand are likely to follow.

West Indies seamer Jerome Taylor attributed his team’s resurgence on the first day of the Trinidad Test to a strategy of waiting it out on a grassy surface at the Queen’s Park Oval.Having lost the toss, West Indies were made to field and put on the back foot by a half-century from Tom Latham, who also added 104 runs for the second wicket with Kane Williamson to take the visitors to a strong 120 for 1. However, two quick wickets in the second session triggered a collapse, as New Zealand lost their last seven wickets for just 62 runs in the final session and were dismissed for 221.”It [Queen’s Park Oval] is the kind of pitch that you have to put in something to get something out of it. You have to put in that hard work,” Taylor said. “After the first session, we went back out knowing that we had to give ourselves a chance to get into the game and just be a bit more patient.Jerome Taylor continued his impressive return to the international stage with a haul of 4 for 34•WICB

“It just goes to show that whenever you’re patient and you’re disciplined it pays off. We spoke about how they got away from us in the first session and decided we had to make amends and cut down the run rate and look to get some wickets in between. I think we did a good job.”Taylor believed it was this patient approach that was missing from West Indies’ game during their 186-run mauling in Jamaica.”In the first game in Jamaica, we spoke about the need to be patient as well. The New Zealanders were patient and they pulled off a win and we needed to beat them at that,” he said. “I think I bowled a bit straighter and a bit fuller than I did in Jamaica and that also helped me. I had the batsmen playing a bit mor, which is what you need to do as a fast bowler.”Taylor, who had not played a Test series since 2009, continued his impressive return to the international stage with a haul of 4 for 34. He removed Hamish Rutherford early in the day, before snaring three more scalps in the final session to wreck New Zealand’s middle order. He credited his performances to the inputs provided by West Indies’ bowling coach Curtly Ambrose.”I have been having a lot of talks with Sir Curtly and he is someone that you can learn a lot from in terms of fast bowling,” Taylor said. “He is passing on a lot of the knowledge and that is something that is vital for us.”I must give some credit to him, he had done a lot for us in terms of mindset and approach to the game. He continues to stress that in Test cricket you need to be patient with the ball.”

Shakib Al Hasan has denied making any threat to retire from Tests and ODIs to Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha, but he apologised to the coach for a spat regarding his return from the CPL. He said that BCB’s cricket operations chairman Akram Khan had given him the green signal to leave for Barbados on July 2.”I did not make this comment, it was the coach’s comment,” Shakib told reporters at the Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. “Why should I say something like this? If I get angry and tell my father that I don’t want to eat, will it come out in the news? It is a simple issue. If I didn’t wish to play for Bangladesh, would I have returned today? I would have left without telling anyone. I want to play for Bangladesh at least till the 2023 World Cup.”Later in a separate press briefing at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, he said that he had apologised to the coach for the spat they had had. Shakib had wanted to stay in the Caribbean till the end of the CPL (August 16) and join the Bangladesh team in West Indies before the first ODI on August 20, while Hathurusingha wanted him to play till July 30 and return to Dhaka and join the Bangladesh team.”I was angry and I said a few things that I shouldn’t have, but I said sorry and he accepted that as well,” Shakib said. “Because I was on a flight for ten hours I couldn’t talk to him and that’s why he probably complained in a letter. I didn’t have time to talk to him. I tried to reason with him and explain that should I come back for just ten days? He told me that look this is a team game and asked me to stay in the camp. He showed his logic and I showed mine. At the end of the day it went his way.”Shakib said that before he left for Barbados, he had spoken to Akram after speaking to two other BCB officials on July 1 and 2. Back in December, Shakib obtained a No Objection Certificate for playing in the MCC-Rest of the World match, and he had thought it was the same NOC for CPL.”I have always obtained the NOC before going to all these leagues,” Shakib said. “Tamim [Iqbal] and I took NOC for the ROW-MCC game. I thought it was the same NOC for CPL, but Sabbir bhai [cricket operations manager Sabbir Khan] told me that it wasn’t the CPL’s NOC.”The day before I left, I asked Sabbir bhai what to do. He told me to call [acting CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury] Sujon bhai. But he was in Malaysia from where he told to speak to Akram bhai, who said he was in Chittagong so he won’t be able to sign the NOC. He said, Leave the NOC with Sabbir, I will sign it. Go to CPL, play well. This is what happened.”Shakib has pleaded innocent, and hopes to get the BCB’s clearance to play in the CPL. “I can’t say any further because I have to speak to the board, but I think it is a matter of miscommunication,” Shakib said. “I think it will all be clear after I talk to Papon bhai [BCB president Nazmul Hasan]. I don’t think there is any mistake from my side. But the board will decide about me. If I am given permission, I will go.”

ScorecardAndrew Flintoff put in the best performance since his return from retirement•Getty Images

Andrew Flintoff faced four balls and managed only one run as he wielded a bat in competitive cricket for the first time in five years but took three wickets to help Lancashire secure their place in the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast.Lancashire’s score looked vulnerable as Leicestershire reached the last five overs needing only 43 with six wickets in hand after Josh Cobb and the New Zealand big hitter Scott Styris had put on 35 in five and a half overs to give their side a fighting chance.But then Flintoff returned to the attack for his third over, the first of those final five, having claimed an important scalp when Niall O’Brien holed out to deep square leg after hitting him for six and four during the Powerplay overs, after which the former England allrounder had 1 for 17 from two overs.Now Styris went after him, launching a huge blow towards the long-on boundary. But Steven Croft, who was Lancashire’s other hero on the night with three wickets and three catches, read its trajectory, eyed up the boundary rope and skilfully got himself under the ball to parry it back into play as his own momentum carried him over the rope, stepping back inside to complete the catch as the ball came back down.That was a big blow for Leicestershire’s hopes and it was followed immediately by another as Cobb, who had hit 60 off 51 balls in a fine effort on a slow pitch, sliced Junaid Khan to deep cover, where Ashwell Prince took the catch.Cobb took with him Leicestershire’s best chance and when Flintoff took his third wicket with the last ball of his final over, Croft taking another catch at long-on to see off Tom Wells, desperation set in and the home side failed even to complete their allocation, losing their last three wickets in seven balls.Thus the second match of his Twenty20 comeback with Lancashire confirmed that his selection has been more than justified, this performance, following on from his two wickets against Worcestershire last week, pretty much cementing his place in the side for the remainder of the competition, however far it takes Lancashire.Junaid’s stint with the county finishes after their next fixture – the first of two at Old Trafford, against Derbyshire and Durham – and Flintoff is already demonstrating that he still has the nerve to bowl under pressure.Whether he can contribute with the bat remains to be seen. Having not been needed at New Road, he came in at 111 for 6 in the 16th over this time with Lancashire struggling to put together a competitive total.There were cheers as he jogged through for a single to his third delivery against Cobb’s leg spin, pushing the ball to mid-on. But back on strike in the same over, Flintoff swung across the line and missed. Cobb appealed for leg before, umpire Alex Wharf took a moment to consider the matter, then raised the finger.It was Flintoff’s first competitive innings since the second innings of the final Test of the 2009 Ashes series at The Oval, on August 22, 2009, and his first for Lancashire since he hit 93 in a Twenty20 at Derby on June 25 of the same year.There was a brief injury scare. As Kabir Ali bowled the first ball of Leicestershire’s innings, Flintoff pulled off a fine diving stop at slip to deny Cobb a boundary but had to race off the field for emergency repairs after splitting the little finger of his right hand. Happily, a plaster was all that was required.Prince’s 41 off 35 balls was the biggest contribution to Lancashire’s total and a few meaty blows from Flintoff’s bat would have come in handy. As it was, they were indebted to Jordan Clark and Kabir, whose 37 combined off the last three overs gave Lancashire just enough to defend.Flintoff, sheltering in the Lancashire dressing room as supporters gathered in front of the Grace Road pavilion, among whom some of the stragglers from a crowd of around 3,000 having clearly lubricated themselves lavishly, declined to fight his way through to speak to the media.But Croft stepped out to sing his praises: “Freddie has come in after four or five years out of the game and been brilliant, in the field as well, putting his body on the line to save four from the first ball, it was like he had never been away.”He has put himself into a tough situation and done well. His first two balls last week went for four and six and he might have thought, ‘what have I done?’ but he has come back well and turned it round.”He has bowled really well for us twice and if you look around the country there are only a handful of quality death bowlers, yet he can still get them down, with a bit of reverse swing and he is not slow. He is going to be an asset going into the quarter finals and hopefully beyond.”The batting can be difficult because you only get one chance and it is tough coming in at the end with people expecting you to hit the ball out of the park, but I think he will win us a game with the bat as well down the line.”

ScorecardTim Bresnan ripped through Worcestershire•Getty Images

Tim Bresnan led Yorkshire to an emphatic six-wicket victory over Worcestershire in the Royal London Cup and declared himself ready for an England return.Bresnan said his zip had returned after taking 4 for 28 which dismantled Worcestershire for just 141, a target Yorkshire took only 30.2 overs to overhaul for a third win in four matches.There was an early upset for Yorkshire as Alex Lees spooned a catch to Tom Fell in Mitchell McClenaghan’s first over but Adam Lyth and New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson added 50 before Lyth edged Joe Leach to wicketkeeper Ben Cox for a patient 14.McClenaghan, who had been punished with three fours in an over by Williamson, gained his revenge by having him lbw for 43 off 63 balls with seven boundaries.Williamson survived a chance near the start of his innings when he was put down at second slip by Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who had to leave the field with a finger injury.Eager to get on with it, skipper Andrew Gale’s first six scoring shots were all boundaries and he found the rope again before McClenaghan bowled him for 29 to leave Yorkshire on 100 for 4.Jack Leaning, with 20 not out, and Adil Rashid, an unbeaten 27, were in no mood to hang about either and the fifth-wicket pair needed only seven overs to knock off the remaining runs.Worcestershire found batting a constant struggle after a 3 for 0 spell in two overs from Bresnan had helped reduce them to 54 for 5 and it was only a last-wicket stand of 39, the highest of the innings, between Leach and McClenaghan that gave the total an air of respectability.Bresnan finished with 4 for 28 from 7.2 overs, legspinner Rashid claimed 3 for 21 and 16-year-old quick bowler Matthew Fisher impressed with a hostile spell in which he got rid of opener Daryl Mitchell, the only top-order batsman to show any sort of form.The slide began when Jack Brooks trapped Richard Oliver lbw before Bresnan clean bowled Fell and with his next delivery had Alexei Kervezee caught at the second attempt by Lees at first slip.The first ball of Bresnan’s next over saw Kohler-Cadmore deny the England paceman his hat-trick but he then failed to withdraw his bat in time and was caught by Lyth low down at second slip.Fisher, who last summer became the youngest cricketer at 15 years and seven months to play in a competitive county match when he made his Yorkshire debut at Scarborough, took over at the Kirkstall Lane End from Brooks and his seventh delivery accounted for Mitchell for 33 from 48 balls with four boundaries.Rashid also had an early success upon replacing Bresnan as Cox was bowled round his legs and it became 78 for 7 when Ross Whiteley fell lbw to the slow bowler. Brooks returned to have Shaaiq Choudhry caught behind by Andy Hodd and the score had just crept into three figures by the time Rashid struck again, Jack Shantry being lured out of his crease and stumped.Worcestershire’s front-line batsmen were shown how it should be done by Leach and McClenaghan, the former playing some fine orthodox strokes, and Bresnan had to be recalled to end the resistance. His first ball was off-driven for four by McClenaghan but the next shattered his stumps for 16, leaving Leach unbeaten on 43 from 63 balls with five fours.Reflecting on the comfortable victory for his side, Bresnan said: “It was definitely a pitch worth bowling first on – there was a bit in it with a 10.30 start and it did it all game, but we got the best out of it with our seam attack. I thought we all bowled pretty well with our seam attack with Jack Brooks and myself up top and Matthew Fisher backing us up really well followed by Adil Rashid and Richard Pyrah.”I feel to have got my old zip back. You have spells when you feel in good rhythm and I suppose I am in the middle of one of those spells. I do like the white ball and one-day cricket and I don’t mind bowling in the Powerplays, up front or at the death. I find it a nice exciting challenge and if you bowl pretty well there’s an opportunity to pick up wickets.”Asked about his chances of an England return, Bresnan said: “I imagine the selectors are watching closely and it’s up to them. I’m available for selection and whenever they want to come and knock on the door I’m ready.”

The stand-off between the BCCI and the Rajasthan Cricket Association has left players from the state unsure about their future. When publishing their domestic programme, the board had omitted Rajasthan from Ranji Trophy, women’s tournaments and all age categories – Under-16, Under-19, Under-23.Robin Bist, the 26-year old who was top-scorer for Rajasthan last season, had been contemplating a promotion to the national squad and was surprised with the developments.”Losing a year means a loss of five years,” Bist told . “I think that I have a chance of playing for India in near future and this is going to hit me hard. It’s not about a year but a career. Administrators will never realise the hours and sweat we put in.”His team-mate Ramesh Powar had opted to cut ties with Rajasthan and had done as the BCCI had suggested – took an NOC to search for an opportunity with a different team. However, Bist believes the process is not quite so straight forward.”It’s not about the NOC. They think that it’s easy or what? In any case it’s too late,” Bist said. “Teams are decided 4-5 months before the start of the season and they are made to play in tournaments like Buchi Babu and KSCA. They also hold camps at home grounds to let the players adjust to the wickets. Ranji Trophy is not village cricket.”Vineet Saxena, 33, highlighted the difficulty of a slotting into a Ranji team’s plans when they might already be in full swing. “Good teams have already hired professionals, so to find a team at this juncture would be tough,” he said. “And even if the players opt for that, maximum four or five might get teams but what about the rest? And what about junior cricketers?”Ashok Menaria was one of those younger players who had worked through the system and enjoyed a productive time with India A against New Zealand A last year. The BCCI had said the players would not be affected, but Menaria expressed his concern.”What can the players really do? Do they have an option? For players who are on the wrong side of 30s, their careers might just end abruptly,” Menaria said. “A 20-something still has age on his side and can still afford the loss.”There are some 500-odd cricketers who represent Rajasthan at various levels and they all are clueless. For the last two months everyone is waiting for some sort of communication.”

Bengal middle-order batsman Manoj Tiwary will captain East Zone in the upcoming Duleep Trophy, which starts on October 15 in Lahli, Haryana. Rajesh Verma, the secretary of the Jharkhand Cricket Association and a convener of the East Zone, confirmed that Manoj will lead a 15-member squad which includes experienced players like Laxmi Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha, Ashok Dinda and Saurabh Tiwary, who will serve as the vice-captain. The team will be coached by former India opener Shiv Sunder Das.Manoj was recently also named as the captain of the India A squad that will host West Indians in two practice games, on October 3 and 5 in Mumbai.East Zone squad: Natraj Behera, Basant Mohanty, Govinda Podder, Rameez Nemat, Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem, Samar Quadri, Sudip Chatterjee, Manoj Tiwary (capt), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Laxmi Shukla, Ashok Dinda, Gokul Sharma, Abu Nechim, Rana Dutta