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The CLEAR Black Caps’ efforts in Sri Lanka, before last night’s reduced overs match, could have netted them four wins out of four but for two tight finishes against the Sri Lankans where the home side came out on top.These results, in the face of some severe sickness that seemed to affect half the team, has the Black Caps still in with a chance to take their place in the tournament final.On what seem to be some very low scoring wickets, the toss has played a very important part in these contests as the team winning the toss has some clear advantages, but that is all well and good because then the team has to make the most of the advantage.The Kiwi boys need to win their last game to make the final and, in spite of last night’s loss, I really think they can take this tournament.Instrumental in the series so far has been Dion Nash.It’s great to see him back and leading from the front.He is a class player and his form considering he has been out of top cricket for some time, is tremendous. His aggressive style is well known throughout the cricketing world and opposition teams know they have a battle on their hands when the name D Nash appears on the score sheet.Along with his skill, his off field contribution is just as big, as his astute reading of the game will no doubt be helping Stephen Fleming. I hear that Flem was hardest hit by the bug going around and I hope he has recovered well because I reckon he is due for a big score.Along with Dan Vettori, and the ever reliable Chris Harris, New Zealand has some experience and quality to call on. Throw in excellent performances from the two young men opening up the bowling in Tuffey and Mills and the NZ bowling attack is looking very competitive.I have been following the Black Caps recently on my lap top from South Africa. Hooked up to CricInfo’s superb ball by ball coverage means I can follow the fortunes of the guys all over the world.The reason I am currently in South Africa is to aid in my recovery from the knee surgery I had in Febuary this year. Here in Johannesburg it is winter just as it is in New Zealand.But here there are a few differences that will allow me the best chance to get back to full fitness as fast as I can.Last week I had my first bat on a grass wicket since January 2 which was my last game for the Black Caps.This is what has brought me to Joburg, the ability to have a functional rehabilitation incorporating proper outdoor practice, not be confined to indoor training where the floors would be too unforgiving on my newly operated on knee.While, with Christchurch recording record low temperatures, that’s not really a place to be trying to practice cricket!!The temperature here is 20 degrees during the day and there is not a cloud in the sky. The South Africans are so lucky to have this weather and top rate training facilities available to them at this time of year. My commitment to getting my place back in the Black Caps has seen me source out the best possible facilities in the world to help in my rehabilitation.It is early days yet but things have gone very well and I am hoping to begin bowling this week and can’t wait. Along with information passed through to me on the Black Caps website from our fitness trainers it means my progress is monitored by our experts so I’m lucky to have the best of both worlds, communication from home and some of the best facilities in the world to train.

After scoring an unbeaten 88 which secured Bangladesh’s seven-wicket win against South Africa, Soumya Sarkar revealed that he kept trying to pull the short balls since he was confident he had the mindset to take on the visitors’ attack. Soumya said that he was not worried about the consequences, like getting out, but understood the need to prolong his good starts.”I heard from somewhere that they will stop me by bowling bouncers,” Soumya said. “I wanted to play at them, even if I got out. I wanted to get out of that mindset. I planned that no matter how fast they bowl and how much they try to bounce me, I just wanted to take them on.”South Africa’s pace attack bowled eleven deliveries to Soumya that ranged between very short to just short of good length, but the batsman either managed to get on top of the bounce, or threw himself at a pull. He initially got mixed results as many of the balls fell short of the mid-off fielder after he failed to time it.But later in the innings, after Soumya had crossed 60, he cracked a pull emphatically off Kagiso Rabada for four. It was a statement of intent that he later said wanted to deliver to the opposition attack. Soumya added that South Africa hardly gave him breathing space like he received from the Pakistan attack on his way to an unbeaten 127 three months ago. He rated this unbeaten knock higher than the century.”Against South Africa, I have had to make a bad ball as they weren’t giving away. Pakistan were giving at least one bad ball per over. This was a tougher knock. We were chasing a bigger total against Pakistan so we could plan accordingly. Small targets are always hard to chase. We have to change plans quickly. You have to start fresh after quick wickets. I will keep this innings ahead.”In the four innings after his maiden century on April 22, Soumya failed to bat for more than 47 deliveries or 70 minutes. He made 54, 34, 40 and 27, but got out trying to attack further. The BCB president Nazmul Hasan had mentioned the same to him during their meeting on Saturday, but Soumya said he has heard the exact same thing from everyone.”Everyone says the same thing. Even those who are younger than me tell me, ‘Bro, please finish your innings’. I have been getting used to this,” he said. “I didn’t do too many different things to prolong my innings. My target wasn’t to score a 50 or a 100 but to finish the chase. I just wanted to play till the end.”Soumya said that he minimised the risk in his plan to play a longer innings. Bangladesh’s poor start of losing Tamim Iqbal and Litton Das by the fourth over also contributed to his subdued start.”I cut down one or two of my shots thinking that it might bring me a positive result. A big innings always brings relief. I started differently today but that was due to the circumstances. I think I faced just one ball in the first three-four overs. We had lost two wickets by then so I had to think fresh. I had thought earlier that I would play in my own way. But the two wickets changed my plans.”The other factor he feels helped was having Mahmudullah back in the team. Soumya and Mahmudullah added 135 runs for the third wicket that took Bangladesh within four runs of victory. The pair has already added three fifty-plus stands and Soumya said Mahmudullah understands his game the best, which helps them bat well together.”Since the World Cup whenever I see Riyad bhai come to bat, I smile. I do that whenever I see him in the middle. Today I told him everything is fine. But what he tells me, I always take it seriously. He understands my batting very well.”

Two teams with little in common are meeting at crossroads, one side coming to an end of a successful period, the other beginning a long journey. Contests between South Africa and Bangladesh in any format – save their World Cup meeting in 2007 – have not been much of a contest, but the home team’s improvement will ensure the visitors are anything but complacent.Bangladesh have had few breaks while playing four series and a World Cupin the last 12 months, and these two Twenty20 internationals, three ODIs and two Tests against South Africa will end their 2014-15 and 2015 seasons, which merged into one vast period. They have two months off before hosting Australia in October.South Africa, on the other hand, are touring Bangladesh for their first international assignment since losing the World Cup semi-final to New Zealand in March. Having had three months off, they begin with Bangladesh, before playing New Zealand at home, India away and England at home, before returning to India for the World T20 in March 2016. Between now and February, South Africa play 12 Tests, 16 ODIs and nine T20 internationals.No wonder then that Dale Steyn thought his energy would be better spent elsewhere than in Bangladesh, but since the team arrived in Dhaka last week, his team-mates Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy have given their opponents’ current form due credit. Having had success in the subcontinent previously, South Africa are not the type to go easy on any opponent, and Bangladesh’s victories over Pakistan and India would have hardened that approach.Apart from a host brimming with confidence, South Africa will also have to contend with the heat and humidity of the Bangladesh summer, and Duminy said how well they take care of themselves physically could be critical to success. The T20Is start at 1300 local time.South Africa are missing Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir for the T20Is, and will test an emerging attack comprising Kyle Abbott, David Wiese, Kagiso Rabada, Eddie Leie and Beuran Hendricks, along side Wayne Parnell. Steyn will play only the Tests, while AB de Villiers will play the T20s and ODIs before going on paternity leave.They will be expected to dominate Bangladesh nonetheless, and unless there is an upset, the results are likely to receive a low-key response back in South Africa.In Dhaka and Chittagong, though, interest in cricket – call it madness or frenzy too – is at an all-time high. It has peaked after the 2-1 victory in the ODIs against India, as evidenced by the rush for free seats during South Africa’s warm-up match against a BCB XI in Fatullah. Bangladesh’s fans will do anything to get a glimpse.The captain Mashrafe Mortaza and coach Chandika Hathurusingha have said that South Africa are likely to be tougher than Pakistan and India, not only because of their formidable away record, but also because Bangladesh are coming to the end of a long season.The two Twenty20 internationals are the start of both sides build-ups to the 2016 World T20, and the ODIs that follow are of special importance to Bangladesh. They are all but through to the 2017 Champions Trophy, but one victory against South Africa will cast their qualification in stone.The T20 and ODI series will also be the first under the ICC’s new playing conditions for limited-overs games – no mandatory catchers in the first ten overs of an ODI, no batting Powerplay, five fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle in the last ten overs of an ODI, and free-hits for all kinds of no-balls. Bangladesh have expressed happiness with many of these changes, and it remains to be seen how the teams adjust to them.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHow they were out

An unbeaten century from Tim Bresnan, his second in first-class cricket, and a 129-run partnership with Stuart Broad for the eighth wicket, allowed England Lions to gain the upper hand at the end of the first day against the touring Indians at Chelmsford. The Indian bowlers, led by the experienced Zaheer Khan, made an impact in the second session but Joe Denly’s aggressive 83 at the start, as well as the Bresnan-Broad union, overshadowed that effort.Barring a brief 20 overs under the mid-afternoon sun, the bowlers struggled on a benign surface. Andrew Strauss, who won a good toss, failed to capitalise on the good batting conditions, as did Owais Shah but a trio of batsmen with contrasting styles – Denly, Bresnan and Broad – made India pay. A middle-order collapse raised visions of an fightback but three dropped catches, allied with the Indians’ inability to polish off the tail, returned to haunt them.The Lions dominated at the start of the day, suffered a blip in the middle before solidifying their position towards the end. Denly, the 21-year-old opener who has been in red-hot form for Kent, began as if this was a one-dayer, clattering Zaheer for as many as five fours in an over, racing to 43 in just 29 balls. Bresnan, the 22-year-old allrounder from Yorkshire, was relatively more compact in his style and showed how well he could bat with the tail, guiding them from a modest 225 for 7 to a healthy 379 for 8 at close.Bresnan has chipped in with the bat with some handy contributions this season, helping Yorkshire to the top of the County Championship table. He walked in at 185 for 6, with Zaheer and Ramesh Powar turning in a fine spell in tandem, but survived the early moments confidently. Ravinder Bopara fell soon, at the stroke of tea, but Broad provided him good company after the interval. Broad enjoyed large dollops of good fortune – Wasim Jaffer grassed a tough chance at short leg before MS Dhoni and Ramesh Powar fluffed a sitter apiece. It allowed Broad to get into his groove before opening up with some handsome lofts over the infield.But it was Denly who was the most confident batsmen on view. He was particularly severe on Zaheer’s full-pitched deliveries early on and it was only when the length changed that he was in any trouble. He brought up his fifty with a crisp crack through midwicket and went to lunch set for a big one. However he couldn’t resist the temptation to charge down the track to a flighted offbreak from Powar, left a big gap between bat and pad and watched MS Dhoni pull off a neat stumping.His dismissal fired up the Indians, especially Zaheer, in what was their most successful passage of play. Zaheer cranked up his pace and mixed up his length well, occasionally slipping in a well-directed bouncer, and didn’t flag at any point. Jonathan Trott, who reached 40 without much problem, was suddenly rattled and fell to a half-hearted drive away from his body.Tim Ambrose followed soon, undone by a fuller ball that ricocheted off the edge to the wicketkeeper. Bopara and Bresnan added 40 in quick time but Sachin Tendulkar, bringing himself on just before tea, lured Bopara into an airy flick, only for Dinesh Karthik to pull off a smart reflex catch at short leg. It gave the Indians a sniff but proved to be the last cheery moment of the day.

Anant Wagesh Kanmadikar, former secretary of Indian board and the doyen of Madhya Pradesh cricket, passed away on August 15 at 2.00pm following a massive heart attack. Kanmadikar, 82, served as secretary from 1980 to 1985 and earlier served as a joint secretary between 1975 and 1980. He also served as the vice president of BCCI and as chairman of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association. He is survived by wife, two sons and a daughter.Till recently Kanmadikar was actively involved with Madhya Pradesh cricket and as recently as May 2005, he acted as an observer to conduct the fair elections of Bhopal Divisional Cricket Association. He believed that though cricket was a religion in India, the youngsters lacked the right approach to the game. “Playing cricket from morning to evening would not help you,” he said. The need is to play with the right approach and proper guidance.”Sharad Pawar, BCCI president, condoled the death, hailing Kanmadikar’s contribution to cricket. “He was an untiring administrator. His contribution to the game at very crucial stages will be remembered forever,” Pawar said. “During his tenure as an office-bearer for 10 years, he coordinated for the success of the 1983 World Cup. It is sad that Indian cricket has lost an able administrator and a human being who always had the players’ requirements in mind. It is a great loss and the vacuum cannot be filled. He has contributed immensely not only for Madhya Pradesh and Indian cricket, but for world cricket too.””He was always accessible and a very friendly person,” Raju Bharatan, the veteran journalist recalls. “He was a very fit and remained actively involved with Madhya Pradesh cricket. He was fondly called as the Judge”.

Neil Ferreira, a left-hand top-order batsman, is expected to be called into the squad when the Zimbabwe selectors name their team for the first Test against New Zealand on Thursday.Sources within the selection panel said that Ferreira, a 26-year-old left-hand batsman, would be named in the starting line-up as an opener. The selectors wanted Matabeleland and Zimbabwe A opener Terrence Duffin to partner Ferreira, but Duffin is unavailable for selection due to a knee injury.Ferreira, who is currently playing club cricket in England, impressed the selectors during Zimbabwe’s two four-day matches against Pakistan A in May. To show that he was really committed to playing for Zimbabwe, he bought his own ticket to return home from England when he learnt that he had been called up to the A side. He scored 57 runs in the first innings and followed that up with 90 runs but that all in vain as Zimbabwe A went down by three wickets in the first four-day match at the Harare Country Club.The selectors have constantly ignored Ferreira in recent years despite brilliant form forManicaland in the Logan Cup. In 2001-02 he hit three centuries in five matches with a high score of 210 against Matabeleland despite the pressure of being captain, wicketkeeper and opening batsman for Manicaland.Ferreira and former Manicaland teammate Richard Sims hold the country’ first-class record for the first wicket stand of 314 against Matabeleland at Queens Sports Club in October 2002.He was part of the group of players who rebelled against the Zimbabwe board last year but he subsequently returned to the fold. It is largely believed that the selectors are fed up with Stuart Matsikenyeri’s consistent failure at Test level and now want to try out other options for the top-order slot.

Nottinghamshire’s C&G Trophy game against Wiltshire has been switched to Trent Bridge after heavy rain prevented the tie being completed in the two days initially allocated.”The ECB recognised earlier this week that adverse weather looked likely to result in a number of matches failing to get under way and so approved an additional two reserve days for fixtures in this round," said David Collier, the Notts chief executive. “As a result, our game against Wiltshire will now be played at Trent Bridge on Monday, May 17, with the 18th held in reserve."He added, “We are extremely grateful for the foresight and flexible approach shown by the ECB in allowing this move and for the co-operation of our opponents. As a result of this agreement, cricket will be the winner and we look forward to welcoming Wiltshire to Trent Bridge.”

Somerset’s Ian Blackwell sent what will probably be his final message back from South Africa this winter before setting off for home.He made no bones about how he was feeling at the end of a day that saw England’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup Super Sixes disappear after Zimbabwe and Pakistan’s final match was washed out and they shared the points.`Blackie’ told me: "Without doubt this has been one of the worst days of my career to date. Firstly waking up to rain in Bulawayo didn’t bode well for what should have been our qualification day! Things went from bad to worse when we decided to play golf at lunch time, and then I lost my mobile phone!"He continued: "I thought that I was having a bad day on the golf course but when we got to the nineteenth hole and discovered from the television that the Zimbabwe game had been abandoned I couldn’t describe the feeling that went through my body."The Somerset all rounder continued: "Still now we are homeward bound. I never thought this day would come, and what a trip it has been. Mostly it’s been very enjoyable with some of the highest highs I have ever known, but even more lowest lows! A rollercoaster of emotions that I don’t think I could handle regularly."He concluded: "The body is on the verge of collapse and a welcome break from the game is our only consolation. Anyway I’m glad to be coming home and we land sometime on Thursday morning."On behalf of all readers I would like to thank ‘Blackie’ for all the information that he has sent back to the website over the last few months. It has been very much appreciated by everybody.

Worcestershire openers Philip Weston and Anurag Singh went some way towards wiping out Gloucestershire’s first innings total of 222 on a busy opening day at New Road.When light rain stopped play with 16 overs to bowl, they had put on an unbroken 84 to make the most of paceman Andy Bichel’s second demolition job on the West Country side this season.The Australian followed up a career-best 6 for 44 at Bristol in May by taking 6 for 54 on a pitch with plenty of seam movement and some disturbing lift.Bichel went without reward in his new-ball spell, and despite losing early wickets to Kabir Ali and David Leatherdale, Gloucestershire looked well-placed after a measured 54 by Kim Barnett.But Bichel came back shortly before lunch to land a double blow. In successive balls, Barnett drove to backward point and Mark Alleyne edged to wicket-keeper Steve Rhodes.Chris Taylor, with 50 from 85 balls, promised a recovery in the afternoon until Bichel and Stuart Lampitt accounted for Jeremy Snape and Ian Harvey in consecutive overs.Taylor then went to an edge off Kabir and Bichel later removed Jack Russell and James Averis in the space of three balls as Gloucestershire approached terminal decline at 183 for 9.But last man Ben Gannon helped put on a useful 39 as Martyn Ball attacked Bichel and eventually reached 45 from 60 balls with nine fours.The final act was almost bizarre. Gannon was badly dropped at square leg and took a single to bring Ball back on strike but he fell to a catch at second slip from Bichel’s next delivery.

A fine exibition of bowling by medium pacer Koushik Choudhuri with amatch analysis of 8 for 58 helped Assam defeat Tripura by an inningsand 73 runs in an East Zone Cooch Behar Trophy match at thePolytechnic Institute Ground at Agartala.Tripura, who opted to bat on the first day piled up 368 on the board.R Banik (70) was the topscorer in an innings which witnessed some finebatting by Rasudeb Dutta (57) and Rajib Saha (54). In response, theAssam innings folded up in the 50th over with only 97 on the board.The innings saw four Assam batsmen failing to open their accounts.Following on 271 runs behind, Assam in their second innings faredlittle better. Medium pacer, Kousik Choudhuri who picked up 4 for 13in the first innings ran through them for the second time along withTushar Saha (3 for 42). Choudhuri claimed four for 45, taking histally to 8 in the match.