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Gujarat joined Jharkhand in the knockouts from Group B after brushing past Kerala by seven wickets. Gujarat and Jharkhand finished with 20 points each from six games. Having chosen to bowl, Gujarat bowled Kerala out for 102, with Axar Patel picking up three wickets and Rush Kalaria, Rohit Dahiya and Jasprit Bumrah taking two each. For Kerala, it was a second successive batting failure, having been shot out for 49 by Karnataka on Thursday. Sachin Baby (41) was their only batsman to cross 15.Gujarat had a slight wobble when they lost both their openers in the space of two overs – with only one run coming between the two dismissals – to slip to 21 for 2. But the target was modest, and Himayala Barad (24), Rujul Bhatt (35*) and Chirag Gandhi (20*) ensured they got there comfortably, with 17.1 overs remaining.The result ended the qualifying hopes of defending champions Karnataka, even though they ended their campaign with a 207-run thumping of Jammu and Kashmir. Sent in to bat, Karnataka powered their way to an imposing 349 for 5, riding on the back of a CM Gautam’s unbeaten 102-ball 109. Gautam added 145 for the fifth wicket with Manish Pandey (79 off 70 balls), and 91, off only 37 balls, with Vinay Kumar, who smashed an unbeaten 51 off 20 with three fours and five sixes.Chasing 350, J&K made a poor start, losing both their openers within the first four overs. Bandeep Singh (42) and Ian Dev Singh (35) kept them interested for a while with third-wicket stand of 78 at 8.06 runs per over, but collapsed after Sreenath Aravind dismissed both of them in the same over. J&K lost their last eight wickets for 50 runs, their innings ending as early as the 28th over.Karn Sharma’s five-wicket haul helped Railways end their campaign with a 106-run win over Haryana. Chasing 220, Haryana were bowled out for 113, inside 36 overs, as the legspinner Karn finished with figures of 5 for 13 in 9.1 overs. Only Nitin Saini (20) and Rohit Sharma (26) got past 20 among the Haryana batsmen.Sent in to bat, Railways made 219 for 7 in their 50 overs, with Arindam Ghosh anchoring their innings with a 118-ball 76. Ghosh struck five fours and a six, and added 77 with Karn (29) for the fifth wicket.

Marcus Trescothick is adamant his decision to retire from international cricket is binding, contrary to the impression he may have given during an interview on Sky Sports News. Trescothick told the channel he missed the buzz of playing for his country “every day” but clarified on the website that he will not return to internationals.”I have no plans to return to international cricket,” he confirmed, “for all the good reasons that have already been explained at length. I am committed to continuing my career with Somerset and understand that people may wish to try and continually link me with a return to England, but that will just not happen.”Trescothick withdrew from consecutive winter tours to India and Australia after suffering from a stress-related illness, and has not featured in the England set-up since the summer of 2006. Despite seemingly hinting at a comeback, he officially announced his international retirement at the end of March, after pulling out at the last minute from Somerset’s pre-season trip to Abu-Dhabi.All his energies are being concentrated on the start of a new county season with Somerset, but confusion arose when he spoke to Sky Sports News. He appeared to suggest that, at the age of 32, the chance might one day arise for him to pick up where he left off in the international arena. “It’s never an easy decision, of course it’s not,” he said of his retirement. “But I think it was inevitable at that point that it was the best thing to do for all parties.”It was time to move on, draw a line under that part of my life and my career that had gone by, which was great fun but it’s time now to challenge myself in different areas at Taunton and hopefully we can do well and make things happen here.”But Trescothick was asked whether he misses playing for England, to which he said: “Of course I do, every day, and I’ll get that for the rest of my life. The buzz you have from international games in front of a full house at Lord’s is irreplaceable. But you sacrifice that at different times for things which are more important to me. I’ve made the right decision and we’ll move on from there.”As for the future, Trescothick would not be drawn: “We’ll see how it goes,” he said. “I’m not going to set targets or deadlines or anything at the moment, I’ll just continue to do the right thing for myself and make sure my health is the most important thing.”

Needing a win to secure a spot in the Nagico Super50 semi-final round, Barbados knocked off previously undefeated Trinidad & Tobago by three wickets on Sunday at Queen’s Park Oval. Barbados sent the hosts in and held them to 226 thanks in large part to captain Jason Holder’s 4 for 35.Only three batsmen reached double digits for T&T, but each made an important contribution. Foremost among them was Darren Bravo who top scored with 82 after coming back into the lineup for the first time in the tournament since returning from the Test tour of Australia. He received quality support from Kjorn Ottley, who made 38, but more significantly Denesh Ramdin, whose 57 was part of an 89-run fifth-wicket stand with Bravo.Though no one reached 50 for Barbados in reply, every member of the top seven contributed a double-figure score. Kraigg Brathwaite was the best of the lot with 48 off 87 balls as he teamed with Shai Hope for a methodical 62-run second-wicket stand to get the chase going in the right direction.Holder and Shane Dowrich added another 54 for the sixth wicket before Rayad Emrit intervened with wickets off back-to-back balls to nab Holder for 26 and Carlos Brathwaite for a golden duck to set up a hat-trick ball with Barbados still 28 short of victory. Dowrich managed to see off the threat though and carried Barbados across the line with an unbeaten 29 off 50. Emrit took 3 for 45 in defeat, though T&T still finished atop Group A. As a result, they will face Windward Islands, who finished second in Group B in one semi-final next week while Barbados will play Guyana in the other knockout contest.Jamaica survived an upset scare from ICC Americas, scratching out a one-wicket win earlier in the day, a result which meant Barbados had to beat T&T in order to avoid a net run rate tiebreaker coming into play to decide the last semi-final spot. ICC Americas won the toss and elected to bat first, posting their best score of the event and third-highest for any team at this year’s tournament in making 253 for 8.Ruvindu Gunasekera blasted 87 at the top order to underpin the innings. Gunasekera added 99 for the third wicket with Nitish Kumar, who made 43. Though Gunasekera fell in the 42nd over just 13 short of a ton, the strong platform he laid allowed the middle order to play aggressively in adding 95 over the final 10 overs. Srimantha Wijeratne led the surge with 45 off 28 balls while Hamza Tariq cracked a rapid 35 off 14. Sheldon Cottrell had a mixed day, getting hit hard by Gunasekera before claiming three wickets at the death, including Wijeratne and Tariq, to end with 3 for 57 in seven overs.Jamaica started the chase in aggressive fashion in pursuit of a bonus point which would have put added pressure on Barbados, but their eagerness backfired in the face of a disciplined ICC Americas attack. Hammad Shahid struck in the first over to remove Jermaine Harrison before Ali Khan trapped Trevon Griffith at 23 for 4. Captain John Campbell made 82 off 74 balls, including fifty-plus stands for the third and fourth wickets with Andre McCarthy and Jermaine Blackwood, but when he fell at 148 for 4 in the 25th over, the chase for the bonus point came undone.Kumar’s part-time offspin caused major problems for Jamaica in claiming not just Campbell but also Jermaine Blackwood and Devon Thomas to put Jamaica in strife at 218 for 7 in the 35th. Four balls later, Kumar was responsible for a frantic run-out of Brandon King – chasing a legbye after an unsuccessful leg before shout by Khan – by charging in with an underhanded strike from midwicket. Khan yorked Damion Jacobs for a duck in the same over to complete a stretch of three wickets in seven balls for no runs to make it 218 for 9 with Jamaica still 36 runs adrift of the target.Though the pursuit for the 40-over bonus point had to be ditched, the last man to the crease Marquino Mindley came to Jamaica’s rescue with an unbeaten 24 off 37 as the ICC Americas unit spent the next 10 overs unable to dislodge Mindley or his partner Aldane Thomas. With scores level, a boundary to start the 46th ended the match, sending the ICC Americas squad home empty-handed.Windward Islands held on by five runs to defeat Leeward Islands in St Kitts, in a match reduced to 49 overs following early morning rain. Sunil Ambris continued his fine tournament with 74 off 84 balls in the Windwards total of 243 for 6. Ambris followed a 75-run stand with Tyrone Theophile for the fourth wicket by adding another 82 with Andre Fletcher and eventually fell to Daron Cruickshank at the start of the 45th. Cruickshank also claimed Fletcher to finish with 2 for 47, while Quinton Boatswain took 2 for 31, for Leewards.In reply, Orlando Peters made 77 at the top of the Leewards chase, but no one came close to following his lead. Nkrumah Bonner made 35 and added 65 for the fourth wicket with Peters but by the 42nd over, both men had left with Leewards needing 56 off the final 7.1 overs with five wickets in hand.It was not an unwieldy equation and by the start of the final over, 13 were still needed to win. After a single and a four off the first two balls, Jeremiah Louis was run out attempting a second run, leaving seven needed off the last three. A dot and a leg by followed to put the No. 11 Boatswain on strike for his only delivery with six needed to win but another dot followed to end the match. Delorn Johnson took 3 for 36 for Windwards.Guyana completed the highest successful chase of the tournament in tracking down a Combined Campuses and Colleges total of 254 for 7 to win by five wickets at Warner Park. Rovman Powell and Anthony Alleyne both made fifties for CCC to set Guyana a stiff target but it ultimately was not enough.Assad Fudadin struck the tournament’s third century and carried his bat in making 103 not out off 136 balls for Guyana. The opener added 90 for the second wicket with Leon Johnson, whose 56 was the other major score in the chase. After Royston Crandon retired hurt on 29 off 27 balls, Steven Jacobs came in to hit 15 not out as he and Fudadin helped Guyana to victory with three balls to spare.

England’s coach, Peter Moores, was left with plenty to ponder at the end of a troubling first day at the University Oval in Dunedin. After watching his probable Test batting line-up crumble for 131 in a mere 40.1 overs, there was little solace to be found in the efforts of his bowlers, who struggled for rhythm against a strong opposition, and conceded a lead of 46 with six wickets still standing at the close.”In general we played a bit loose and we paid the penalty for it,” said Moores at the close of play. “There is not much time now, they have got one more innings and they have got to make the most of any time they get out there. It’s all about getting into that Test-match tempo and getting into that way of playing.”Of particular concern is the form of Andrew Strauss, who was dropped from the Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka before Christmas. He has since been earmarked for the pivotal No. 3 position when the first Test gets underway at Hamilton next week, but with nine runs in two innings on the tour so far, there can be no guarantees that he will hold off the challenge of Owais Shah, who top scored with 96 in the two-day practice match earlier in the week.”We’re still trying to finalise our team,” said Moores. “We’ve had Owais with us for quite a long time, but we’ve not seen much of Andrew. Fortunately he got a hundred in his last game for Northerns last week, but he’s got to do the work to put his name in the hat. We’ve got an idea of our team, but this was a chance to look at our options, and we put a side out that gives us an opportunity to look at players.”One unexpected selection was Chris Tremlett. He had not been included in the original Test squad, but was kept on as cover after the one-dayers when Steve Harmison’s arrival had to be delayed to allow for the birth of his new child. He was given his chance in the starting line-up when Ryan Sidebottom sustained a grade one tear to his left hamstring. “While we’ve still got niggles we want to keep Tremlett on, because it’s obviously a long way to ship someone in,” said Moores. “He has a chance [for the first Test], and he wouldn’t have played in this match if he wasn’t in the frame. Places are still up for grabs in the bowling department, and we’ll take as long as we need to take to identify what our best team is.”That best team need not necessarily include Harmison. Not for the first time, and presumably not for the last, he produced an enigmatic day’s work, returning the unremarkable figures of 1 for 59 from 12 overs. “Steve’s had a challenging 12 months,” said Moores. “Today he bowled better, but he’s still not where he wants to be. He needs to find rhythm and consistency, which he was starting to find at the end of the West Indies series [in June]. But then he got himself injured through no fault of his own and that put him back.”At the moment, we are very conscious he needs to get outside and bowl because he’s not hitting his straps,” said Moores. “Physically he’s fit, but Steve will admit he needs to bowl to get into rhythm, at the moment he’s not had much bowling.” With Stuart Broad and James Anderson both waiting in the wings for their opportunities, Harmison will need to find his form soon. “We have other bowlers who are exciting cricketers,” said Moores, “and it’s a fair scrap to see who gets the Test spot.”

West Indies Under-19 entered the quarter-final of the World Cup in controversial and tense circumstances, as Keemo Paul effected a mankad to claim the last Zimbabwe Under-19 wicket – that of Richard Ngarava – with three runs needed off the final over. Paul ran through the bowling crease without entering his delivery stride and broke the stumps, catching the non-striker Ngarava with his bat on the line while he was standing a couple of steps out of his crease.The two on-field umpires conferred before asking West Indies if they wanted to uphold the appeal, and once it was confirmed that they did, the third umpire was called in and found the batsman just on the line, ending Zimbabwe’s campaign in a game they had to win to make the quarter-final. The dismissal was within the rules of the game.A visibly upset Zimbabwe captain Brandon Mavuta refused to comment on the mankad after the game “We got so close, no comment about it. I don’t have anything to say right now,” Mavuta said. “No comment.”The West Indies captain Shimron Hetmyer said he was comfortable with the decision to appeal for the wicket. “I would say yes, cricket is a game of uncertainties, we’ve seen it happen in cricket before, it’s not a big deal for us.””Probably not,” said Hetmyer, when he was asked if he thought if it was in the spirit of the game.The Zimbabwe manager Admire Marodza said the team was unhappy but there was little they could do but console the players because the dismissal was within the rules. “It is too early to comment but we are trying to get emotions under control in the dressing-room. Everyone is disappointed at the loss,” Marodza said. “Rules are rules. We can’t change them and we can’t change what happened. A run-out is a run-out. I don’t think it is anything to protest about. We are not happy about losing the game from such a good position. The way our boys competed, it is an achievement. We are happy how we played in this tournament.”The Zimbabwe coach Stephen Mangongo said he was “disappointed with the way the game ended.””I have debriefed the boys in the dressing room and they were all crying,” Mangongo said. “We have explained that technically the run-out is legal. We left it to the last man and we should not have done that. It was a hard lesson and they have learnt it the hard way.”I am proud of my boys. Restricting the West Indies for 226 on a batting-friendly wicket was a good performance and we were up for the chase. And like any other games, we lost quick wickets under pressure.West Indies coach Graeme West said he felt sorry for Zimbabwe after the game. “I can imagine what they must be going through now. I feel sorry for them because they got themselves into winning positions and then we pulled it back. I share their disappointment.”

Peter Siddle, Victoria’s early hero in the Pura Cup final, battled a severe tooth ache as he inflicted pain on New South Wales at the SCG. Siddle picked up the infection on Friday and was not able to eat during the initial exchanges of the contest, but it could not stop him from taking four wickets on day one and finishing with 5 for 66 as the Blues dropped to 281 early on the second morning.He was forced to leave the field late in the final session for treatment on Saturday, but returned to capture the crucial wicket of Brad Haddin. As soon as he reached the dressing room he was taken to a dentist to deal with the problem.”It’s pretty nasty, one of those ones that might have to be pulled out,” Cameron White, the captain, told AAP. “He was in quite a lot of pain.”He had so many drugs and couldn’t eat and he started to feel really ill as well. So it was a good effort to keep bowling for us. He has gone straight to the hospital now so hopefully some doctor can fix it up, pull them out or something for him. I think he’ll be OK, he’s a pretty tough lad.”Siddle showed no signs of the problem on the second morning and picked up his fifth victim when he had Nathan Bracken caught by David Hussey in the slips. It was his fourth five-wicket collection of the season and his 29th wicket in five Pura Cup games.

As South Africa’s domestic structures come under scrutiny for their standard of cricket, Stephen Cook has proved that spending sufficient time in the set-up can still be prime players up for success at the top level.Cook became the sixth South Africa batsman to score a century on Test debut with his 115 on the opening day against England in Centurion after making 415 runs in three Sunfoil Series matches this season to continue a strong domestic output.”It’s a good sounding ground,” Cook said. “I think we need to be more patient and not think that after one or two good franchise performances, a guy will step up. A lot of the guys who have done well have come through that system and are hardened cricketers.”Cook is certainly one of them. Since playing Under-19 cricket with Hashim Amla, he waited 15 years to make an international appearance. In that time, he was picked for a South African A side in 2010, a sign that a promotion was imminent but it didn’t come.”As time wore on, I knew it was getting more difficult and less likely,” he said. “But I never gave up hope. If I had given up on that hope, it would be have been difficult to carry on playing domestically. It would have just been retirement.”Instead he carried on believing he could become South Africa’s own Chris Rogers. “There are a couple of guys who have inspired me, even someone like Neil McKenzie whose second coming was at a later age,” Cook said. “I knew that it did happen to other people and it could happen to me.”Perhaps that’s why now that the debut has finally come, everyone else seems a little more surprised than Cook himself. He has handled the call-up with maturity, so much so that he could assess the pitch and the opposition on a day that should have been all about him.”The surface did play a little bit slowly but having played first-class cricket here, it should quicken up a little bit. It’s not a coastal slow, it’s a Highveld slow,” he said. “I think early on, England searched for wickets a little bit more but later they went back into their normal patterns and they were quite patient.”Not nearly as patient as Cook has been has had to be though. With a century already under his belt it would understandable if he let himself ponder the future, but he was not getting carried away,”I always thought to myself that it’s about making your debut and playing for South Africa but it’s about performing and scoring hundreds. I want to contribute to Proteas successes and victories. But I am very much a guy who looks after today. I’ve learnt that getting ahead of myself is the worst thing I can do.”

Scottish cricket received a significant boost this week with the confirmation that a sponsor has been found to back a new national Twenty20 competition across Scotland this summer.The format has proved one of the most popular innovations in the sport during the past three years and Scotland will now have its own tournament, with Glasgow-based sponsors, Murgitroyd and Company, agreeing on a two-year deal. It is believed to be worth five figures.The existing 16-team Twenty20 events in the east and west of the country will be re-launched as the Murgitroyd Masterton Trophy and the Muritroyd Rowan Cup. In addition, two new regional competitions will be based in the Borders and the Caledonian district, and the four area winners will proceed to a high-profile national finals day at Shawholm, the home of Poloc CC, on August 3.In its initial format, this seems an ideal opportunity for cricket to raise its profile throughout Scotland in the months ahead. And although the prize money on offer – £600 for the regional winners, with a further £1000 up for grabs for the overall champions – may not be huge at this stage, this development is the most positive thing to have happened in Scotland’s game since the national side were invited to lock horns with the English counties in the NCL in 2003.”This is a fantastic sponsorship, which will spark the imagination and enthusiasm of the participation clubs,” said Cricket Scotland’s chief executive, Roddy Smith, who has worked behind the scenes with Keith Young, the CEO of Murgitroyd, to get the tournament up and running as quickly as possible. “Practically all the sponsorship fund will be returned to the benefit of the participating clubs and district organisers, and it is tremendous news. The new event will enhance and extend the enjoyment and competitiveness which has been a feature of Twenty20 wherever it has been played and this is sure to generate good crowds.”Cricket Scotland has faced criticism for a number of policy decisions over the last couple of years, but on this issue, at least, they deserve praise. As Paul Hoffmann, a former international player whose belligerent batting is likely to make him a very dangerous opponent in the abbreviated game, remarked: “We’ve watched the way that Twenty20 has taken off in England and what a success they have made of their showpiece finals day, and it will be brilliant to have something similar up here in Scotland, because I’m sure that the cricketing public will be really enthused by this.” So, one suspects, will Scottish-based TV producers, if the weather stays fair.

Eighteen percent of first-class cricketers in England would risk incurring a year-long county ban by the ECB to play in the next Indian Cricket League (ICL), and 35% would consider retiring from international cricket prematurely, according to a survey conducted by the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA).The report canvassed the anonymous opinions of 334 players, including all the current England squad, providing “a comprehensive picture of the current cricketing landscape with particular reference to the Indian cricket leagues, the opportunity they offer and their potential threat to the domestic game.”Most significantly for England, the report said that 35% of England players “would consider retiring from international cricket prematurely to play IPL, primarily to avoid the grind of cricket and spend more time with their family”. The same percentage also believe that a day will arrive where they see tournaments such as the IPL and ICL ranking ahead of obligations to their country.Currently, the ECB restricts any player who represents the ICL and are likely to ban them from playing in county cricket for a year, but the vast sums of money are keeping the ICL and the IPL the hot topic of county dressing rooms up and down the country. 89% thought that freedom of movement should prevail, however.”Almost 100% of players see Indian cricket leagues as an attractive option and are hoping that a window in the Future Tours Programme (FTP), and scheduling that doesn’t conflict with the domestic season, can be created for them,” the report said. “36 players (11 per cent) have been approached to play in either the ICL or current IPL tournaments, with 27 players targeted specifically by the ICL.”Players believe the Twenty20 format and the newly formed Indian leagues create a level of threat to the fabric of the game as we currently know it. The restrictions put in place by the ECB prevent a player from participating in county cricket for 12 months if they play in the next ‘unauthorised’ ICL tournament in October, but 18% (60) said that they would sign up for ICL knowing there was a ban in place. A further 27% (90) were currently unsure at this time.”Michael Vaughan, who has said that the IPL is huge attraction for players and an exciting development for the game, believes Test cricket remains the top level but is a route to the high-earning leagues: “The findings are revealing in many ways. We have always said playing for our country was the priority. Test cricket is the pinnacle and we see that international cricket is at present the pathway to achieve selection to any other authorised tournaments,” he said.”We’ll continue to work the ECB to see if opportunities within the FTP can be created in the coming years. In the meantime, we have much important domestic and international cricket this summer beginning, with the Kiwi’s in a couple of weeks. Let’s concentrate on that for now.”Following today’s news that Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, has been ousted from his post, the survey also revealed cricketers’ dissatification with the governing body with 64% of England players having no confidence in the ICC and 57% believing decisions are made along party lines and not in the interest of cricket.

Nottinghamshire can take very little credit for making Middlesex bat for a second time as they slumped to an embarassing 10 wicket defeat inside 3 days at Trent Bridge.Nothing much went right for Notts after Jason Gallian inserted the visitors on the first morning as a punishing century from the Australian Justin Langer took Middlesex to 412 and full batting points. Notts were then dismissed inside 80 overs in their first innings and made to follow-on 167 runs behind.Resuming on the third morning at 29-0 seamers Angus Fraser and Richard Johnson wiped out the Notts top order in the first hour of play. Fraser picked up the early wickets of Welton and Gallian with successive deliveries and that heralded the start of a steady procession back to the pavilion as the former England player took 4 wickets and Johnson 3 before lunch.The spin of Phil Tufnell accounted for AJ Harris, who had earlier pulled the same bowler for 6, to leave Notts on 128-8, still 39 runs away from making Middx bat again.However, in the first hour of the afternoon session David Lucas and Paul Franks batted sensibly to ensure that Middlesex would have to bat for a second time. Lucas, on the way to beating his previous career high of 25, dominated a stand which grew in confidence and shot selection. The first 50 partnership of the innings necessitated a return for Fraser at the Radcliffe Road End. Though obviously still tired from his marathon unbroken morning spell of 13 overs he managed to end the stand when Franks clipped to Joyce at square-leg.Franks had reached exactly 50, coming off 98 deliveries with 7×4’s. Lucas had advanced to 46 not out but any hopes he had of a maiden half century were instantly dashed as Fraser had last man Matt Whiley caught behind first ball – to complete a pair.Fraser, three days after celebrating his 35th birthday, had taken 6-64 (9-103 in the match) to take the starring role in dismising Notts for 192 in just 60 overs.Requiring 26 runs for victory openers Andrew Strauss and Mike Roseberry saw Middlesex home side 4 overs to lift their side above Gloucestershire at the foot of the Division Two table.