All posts by h716a5.icu

Jimmy Kamande, the Kenya captain, has promised that his side will express themselves much better against Canada tomorrow after three crushing defeats

Nagraj Gollapudi in Delhi06-Mar-2011″Lean forward. Keep your head still. Don’t hit hard … look for the timing. Go through the full shot, don’t stop halfway.” These were the exhortations of Eldine Baptiste, the Kenya coach, as he paced up and down the various nets on Sunday morning. It is not that the Kenyan batsmen do not know the basics. The problem is that they are not applying them leading to disastrous defeats in their previous three matches, where their highest score has been 142 while their bowlers have been wayward.The rights and wrongs of the Associates being shunted out from the next World Cup has been widely debated, but what about the insufficient improvement countries like Kenya have made despite getting a big helping hand from the ICC. In fact, Jimmy Kamande, Kenya’s captain, acknowledges the support Richard Done, the ICC’s High Performance manager, has given to uplift the status of the game in the country known more for its marathon runners than cricketers.As far as exposure goes Kenya have played one-day series against Zimbabwe twice in the last two years, played couple of domestic sides from India both at home and away, visited South Africa to play second-string domestic sides in addition to contesting in various Associates tournaments. So they are not exactly starting from scratch. Kenya remain the only Associate to make the knockouts stage in World Cup history, reaching the semi-finals in 2003. It was the most opportune moment to take a big stride forward, but Kenya have been back sliding since then.Tomorrow they can learn from Canada, who nearly pulled the rug under Pakistan’s feet earlier in the week. Though Canada’s batsmen stuttered while chasing a low score, they showed a lot of character in the 46-run defeat. One of the big positives was their bowlers who just focussed on bowling a tighter line while Pakistan’s batsmen plunged into mistakes with surprising conviction.”It is a bit of an opportunity to perform against them from every corner to earn ourselves a bit of respect,” Kamande said. “It has been tough for us in the past three games. We have not done justice to our abilities. Hopefully we’ll put up a good score.” Surely it is not an easy job to lead a side that is losing so badly. “It is a lot of work when you are losing in every series, not just the World Cup, to keep the guys strong, to keep working hard, to keep motivating them. We have to keep every player believe in himself so that he can believe he can do wonders.”Kamande could definitely do with some help especially from two men who have been their beacon of hope for long. Steve Tikolo and Thomas Odoyo, the grand old men of Kenyan cricket, have a lot to answer for and time is running out on them. They have to dispel the news that they are part of a clique that is against Baptiste’s way of doing things. Odoyo missed out on playing Sri Lanka and had nothing much to say in the opening match against New Zealand where Kenya were knocked out for a record low of 67. Against Pakistan he was the highest wicket-taker with 3-41 and would need to produce better figures against Canada. But it is Tikolo who remains a mystery. Once a prodigious talent, Tikolo never managed to scale the heights expected of him and remains a failure so far this tournament, scoring a total of 22 runs. “They are the leaders. Steve is the guy with his experience in the batting,” Kamande said. “Thomas is the new ball bowler and they play a big role for us.”The day before New Zealand dealt them the knockout punch in Chennai, Kamande had said that his team would like to bring to the table the Kenyan brand of cricket. And what is that brand? “Enjoying the game, hitting the ball and not playing defensive. The idea is to be positive,” Kamande said. That has not happened yet. “We have not given ourselves a chance to express ourselves. I guarantee you tomorrow we are going to express much more than we did in the past matches,” Kamande said, with an expression of a man who has been challenged.

Having more or less been in stasis since he completed his starring role in the Ashes back in January, Alastair Cook is back at the County Ground in Essex, and gagging to get stuck into Friday’s first round of the County Championship

Andrew Miller at Chelmsford06-Apr-2011Exhaustion is the common theme coming out of England’s eventful winter, with several of the key squad members having gone to ground since their return from the World Cup, with no intention of re-emerging until mid-May at the earliest. For Alastair Cook, however, the situation could hardly be more different. Having more or less been in stasis since he completed his starring role in the Ashes back in January, he’s back at the County Ground in Essex, and gagging to get stuck into Friday’s first round of the County Championship. It’s fair to say his feet are firmly back on the ground after an unforgettable tally of 766 runs in five Tests against Australia.Cook was the centre of all attention at Essex’s pre-season press day in Chelmsford on Tuesday, as he braved the April chill alongside his county team-mates. His international winter had ended on the morning after the night before in Sydney back in January, when he flew home to Heathrow less than 24 hours after England’s 3-1 Ashes triumph had been secured, while his team-mates boarded a bus to Canberra to begin the ill-fated one-day leg of their travels.The frustration of his one-day omission is still apparent, though Cook has not exactly been brooding in the interim. An Essex pre-season tour of Barbados was followed this week by his first first-class outing of the season against Cambridge, a match in which he scored a second-innings century to confirm his readiness for the challenges ahead. And in between whiles, he’s had the challenge of lambing season on his girlfriend Alice’s farm to keep him busy, and away from the trappings of fame that his efforts in Australia might have earned. “I’m a little bit more recognisable, but to be honest it’s the same old, same old,” he said. “The sheep don’t know what’s happened.”While Cook has been spared an endless round of internal flights and hotel transfers during the World Cup, he has been subjected to a very different type of beasting by his mentor and coach, Graham Gooch, who was never a man to rest on his laurels during his own 20-year international career, and is determined to instil the same standards in his star pupil. Along with Mark Pettini, his former housemate and ex-county captain, Cook has been rising at 6am to take part in a training regime called “The Triangle”, which involves lugging bricks through the woods near Gooch’s house in Chelmsford.”There’s three sides to the triangle so you run one, jog one, run one and keep going,” Cook said. “We were carrying bricks because he [Gooch] thought it was fun and he was on his bike with the speedo telling us how fast to go and, if we slowed, telling us to speed up. He enjoyed it, but I don’t think we did. He wouldn’t even let us in the house for breakfast afterwards — he set the dogs on us. Thankfully, he went off to the World Cup.”Cook’s post-Ashes life hasn’t been entirely devoid of glamour. He went along to the Millennium Stadium to watch England’s Six Nations victory over Wales in February, and discovered that even in Cardiff he is an instantly recognisable figure. That is perhaps just as well, seeing as England’s first Test of the new season takes place in the city, against Sri Lanka on May 26. And with India also touring in the second half of the summer, a big season looms against the two teams who contested the World Cup final last week.”It’s a really important summer again for English cricket, and part of the reason is we want to be the No. 1 ranked side in the world,” said Cook. “If we want to do that we have to beat two high-ranked sides as well this summer. It’s an open ambition for the side, we see it as part of a journey to get to No.1, and to get to that we have to beat Sri Lanka and India. Carrying on from the Ashes now, we hope it’s another exciting, successful summer.”There may be more international duties for Cook than just the seven Tests, however, given that Andrew Strauss is rumoured to be considering retirement from ODI cricket. Were that to happen, there could be a vacancy for Cook at the top of the order in both formats, and he might even slot straight in as captain, given that he performed the role with some distinction on the tour of Bangladesh back in March 2010.”I haven’t heard anything as you can well imagine,” said Cook. “Look, Straussy’s done a fantastic job since 2009. Okay, the World Cup didn’t go as well as we’d all hoped it could have done, but the team’s one-day cricket had been going on a real upward curve.”The scheduling hasn’t helped us, let’s be honest,” he added. “Five months away, playing that intense cricket it’s almost impossible to keep the standards as high as we’d like. Looking from afar, the guys looked very tired. Speaking to a couple of them, they were tired so they tried to hide it, but unfortunately they couldn’t hit the standards they’d have liked.”With that in mind, Cook has looked upon his break from international action in two minds. “It was disappointing not being at the World Cup but you’ve got to use it to your advantage,” he said. “You have three weeks to do nothing and then work as hard as you can in February and March to get yourself ready and hopefully stuff you do now, you’ll bank for later on.”It was frustrating because I was in as good form as I’ve ever been, and as much as it was nice to be back home for me personally I felt wasted because form like that doesn’t come very often. But the selectors went a different way and you’ve got to live with that. I’ve got a good relationship with Andy Flower, he spoke to me and Geoff Miller, and that is the way they went and unfortunately I couldn’t do anything about it.”

Nottinghamshire breathed life into their Clydesdale Bank 40 League campaign with a seven-wicket victory over fellow Group C strugglers Unicorns

15-May-2011
ScorecardNottinghamshire breathed life into their Clydesdale Bank 40 League campaignwith a seven-wicket victory over fellow Group C strugglers Unicorns atWormsley.The hosts reached 200 for 4 from their 40 overs after being put in to bat – with Michael Thornely (97) top-scoring. However, a solid all-round batting effort enabled Nottinghamshire to wrap up a comfortable success – their first in three matches – with 39 deliveries to spare.Australian Adam Voges led the way with an unbeaten 60 from 56 balls, including nine fours, sharing in a 103-run stand for the third wicket with Samit Patel.Earlier, Thornely and James Campbell put on 64 for the first wicket for Unicorns, before the latter fell leg before wicket to Paul Franks on 33. Thornely and Josh Knappett contributed 105 for the second wicket, with the stand ending when Knappett was caught and bowled by Darren Pattinson for 43, an innings which contained five fours.Robin Lett fell for 10 when he was bowled by Franks and Thornely had moved to within three runs of a century when he was bowled byPattinson off the final balls of the innings, ending an entertaining 95-ball knock which contained nine fours.Nottinghamshire’s reply started strongly, with Akhil Patel and Mark Waghputting on 72 runs for the first wicket. The stand ended when Wagh was dismissed for 31, caught by Lett off the bowling of Glen Querl.Just one run had been added when Patel departed for 35, bowled by Amar Rashid. However, that brought together Patel and Voges – and they had taken their team to the brink of victory by the time they were separated.Patel fell for 50 from 53 balls, caught by Luis Reece off the bowling of Neil Saker. But Voges and Ali Brown (16 not out) teamed up inflict a fifth defeat in as many matches on Unicorns.

Ricky Ponting, the former Australian captain, expects to bat at No.3 when the team led by Michael Clarke plays three Tests in Sri Lanka in August.

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jun-2011Ricky Ponting, the former Australian captain, expects to bat at No.3 when the team led by Michael Clarke plays three Tests in Sri Lanka in August.The day after Simon Katich was unceremoniously removed from the 25-man list of Cricket Australia contracted players, Ponting emerged to express the view that he would keep his place at the fall of the first wicket.The debutant Usman Khawaja batted in Ponting’s place during the final Test of the Ashes series at the SCG, but may now be looking at a middle order berth.”I will stay at where the captain wants me to bat, the last few years I have had the luxury of batting where I want because I was the captain – but I can’t do that anymore,” Ponting told the radio station . “Sri Lanka I will probably stay at three and see where we go after that, but I have not heard from the captain.”Not too much will change on the next tour, although Simon Katich received some bad news yesterday which opens the door for Phil Hughes to slot into the opening partnership there.”Though he batted there with some success early in his career, and significantly had an excellent series in Sri Lanka in the role in 1999, Ponting expressed some distaste for batting lower down the order now he has relinquished the captaincy.”I am not averse to it, but when I started my Test career at number six I found it really difficult being a top order batsmen my whole junior days,” Ponting said. “I did not know what to do with my time basically, waiting to go out to bat.”I quite often found myself more mentally tired waiting to go out bat rather – but if the captain wants me to bat at three or six then so be it.”

Leicestershire boosted their hopes of a place in the quarter-finals of the Friends Life t20 with their first home win in the competition for two years, beating Worcestershire by 19 runs at Grace Road

25-Jun-2011
ScorecardLeicestershire boosted their hopes of a place in the quarter-finals of the Friends Life t20 with their first home win in the competition for two years, beating Worcestershire by 19 runs at Grace Road.The Foxes produced a superb performance in the field to peg the Royals to 132 for 7 after setting them a victory target of 152. Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq took 2 for 16 in his four overs and left-arm spinner Claude Henderson 2 for 29 as the home side cemented second place in the North group.After being put in to bat, Leicestershire posted 151 for 8 from their 20 overs, with veteran Paul Nixon top scoring with a gritty innings of 44 to lead a recovery after his side had slumped to 58 for 5 in the eighth over.Josh Cobb gave his side a good start, hitting 30 off 16 balls with five boundaries before slicing a catch to third man off the bowling of Gareth Andrew. But wickets then began to tumble as the Foxes struggled against the spin of Saeed Ajmal and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.Runs were hard to come by until Nixon and Razzaq joined forces in a sixth-wicket stand of 54 in nine overs. Razzaq hit two sixes off Daryl Mitchell and Nixon also cleared the ropes off a delivery from Jack Shantry.When Nixon was stumped off Ajmal and Razzaq caught off Andrew the innings stuttered again, before skipper Matthew Hoggard struck a six and a four off the last two deliveries off Ajmal. Ajmal finished with 3 for 31.Splendid bowling from Razzaq and Harry Gurney saw the Royals struggle to 24 for two in their six overs of Powerplay and Leicestershire never lost their grip on the game from that point on.James Cameron top scored with 36, Moeen Ali made 32 and Mitchell 23, but the visitors could never get ahead of the rate and finally needed 30 off the final over of the game, which duly proved impossible.

Billy Godleman hit a career-best 130 as Essex moved into a commanding position at the end of the third day of the County Championship match against Leicestershire at Grace Road

12-Jul-2011
Scorecard
Billy Godleman hit a career-best 130 as Essex moved into a commanding position at the end of the third day of the County Championship match against Leicestershire at Grace Road. Essex closed on 306 for 4 in their second innings to lead by 354 runs, leaving bottom of the table Leicestershire facing an uphill battle to save the game on the final day.Godleman and Tom Westley laid the foundations with an opening partnership of 104 and then Owais Shah hit an unbeaten 84, joining Godleman in another century stand for the second wicket.It completed a day totally dominated by Essex after seamer David Masters had claimed Leicestershire’s last three wickets in the morning session to finish with 5 for 67. The home side, who began the day on 245 for 7, were dismissed for 274 giving Essex a first-innings lead of 48.Masters made short work of the Leicestershire tail – having Claude Henderson caught at slip, trapping Tom New lbw and then dismissing last man Harry Gurney, who was caught behind by wicketkeeper James Foster.From that point on Essex took total charge as a lacklustre home attack failed to make any inroads into the visitors’ batting line-up. Godleman and Westley had cruised to a lunch score of 55 in the first 16 overs with very few alarms and soon after the interval Westley reached his half-century off 55 balls with nine boundaries.Westley was the dominant partner and when he and Godleman put on 100 it was the first century opening partnership for Essex for two years. But it was finally broken in the 34th over when Gurney breached Westley’s defences to bowl him as the batsman went onto the back foot. Westley was out for 67 off 95 balls having hit 11 fours.Shah then joined Godleman in another big stand with neither batsmen looking like being out against a toiling Leicestershire attack. Godleman reached his half-century off 139 balls and after the tea interval Essex looked to accelerate, with Nadeem Malik conceding 23 runs in his first three overs after the break.Shah, looking in confident form, went to his 50 off 76 balls and the next landmark was Godleman’s first century of the season, which arrived off 225 balls and contained 12 boundaries. He celebrated with a six off Jigar Naik but as Essex looked for quick runs in the closing overs the off-spinner claimed three quick wickets.He had Godleman lbw to end a stand of 177 off 43 overs, trapped Ravi Bopara lbw as he tried to sweep and then had Matt Walker caught at long on. But it was all too little, too late for Leicestershire, who now face a difficult final day as they try to save the game.

England’s selectors won’t be overly taxed in deciding on the squad for the first Test against India which will be announced on Sunday

Andrew McGlashan16-Jul-2011England’s selectors won’t be overly taxed in deciding on the squad for the first Test against India which will be announced on Sunday. The only place to be nailed down is the third fast-bowler’s position and whether Stuart Broad retains his spot ahead of Tim Bresnan or Steven Finn.Broad’s match haul of 6 for 162 against Somerset, which included 5 for 95 in the first innings, is likely to be enough to spare him the axe following his demotion from the one-day side for the final match against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford. Reports from the game at Trent Bridge, where he had a tough contest with Marcus Trescothick, were that he was finding his rhythm again.”From my point of view, he bowled with good pace, moved the ball off the pitch and through the air, and to get five wickets was a fine return,” Chris Read, Nottinghamshire’s captain, said during the match. “He has been among the leaders of the England attack in the last couple of years. He is still a young bowler who bowls at 90 mph and we all know what he can do with his height and the bounce he can generate.”Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower are big supporters of what Broad brings to the team but the decision to drop him last week has shaken up the pecking order despite Broad being Twenty20 captain. If he does keep his place at Lord’s, he’ll need to start taking significant hauls after claiming eight wickets in the three Tests against Sri Lanka and just two in the one-dayers.The selectors, though, will name 12, so that means a place for either Bresnan or Finn which will keep Broad on his toes in the lead up to the Test. Bresnan missed the opportunity to build on his successful Ashes series – where he helped secure victories at Melbourne and Sydney – by picking up an injury at the start of the season, which meant Finn earned a chance against Sri Lanka when James Anderson strained his side.Unlike Finn, Bresnan has had a Championship match to get mileage in his legs. He took four wickets and hit 41 against Worcestershire, at Scarborough, and it was clear how much England rate him when he was brought straight back into the one-day side for the Sri Lanka series having recovered from injury.He is also a steadier operator than Finn and would give Strauss control which will be important in keeping a tight hold on a strong India batting order. However, Finn has shown the priceless ability to take wickets even when not bowling consistently and is the fastest England bowler to 50 Test scalps.Away from the competition for Broad’s position, the England side is set in stone after Eoin Morgan’s steady return against Sri Lanka. The opening Test will mark another change in the captaincy as Strauss regains control from Alastair Cook following his 3-2 series win in the ODIs against Sri Lanka. It will be an interesting few days for Strauss as he reasserts his authority while also deciding the immediate future of a fellow international captain.”It is not like we are doing radically different things – Alastair, myself and Stuart – we are still operating within a general strategy which we have all had a hand in formulating,” Strauss said. “So it’s not as though the side has completely gone one way and then it’s completely gone somewhere else.”It should be a fairly smooth transition, I think. I’m in a position to come back and let guys know what my plans are and what I expect of them over the course of four Test matches. I’ve spoken to Alastair as well. The whole communication aspect between the three captains is important, and that’s something I’m trying to focus on.”Strauss, himself, spent valuable time in the middle against India when he made 78 for Somerset at Taunton. It provided an early taste of his battle with Zaheer Khan and Strauss comfortably came out on top following his problems against Chanaka Welegedara earlier in the summer, but it promises to be a fascinating confrontation during the series.Possible squad Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson, Tim Bresnan.

Another telling contribution from consistent all-rounder Will Gidman putGloucestershire in control on the second day of the County Championshipmatch with Leicestershire at Bristol

08-Sep-2011
ScorecardAnother telling contribution from consistent all-rounder Will Gidman putGloucestershire in control on the second day of the County Championshipmatch with Leicestershire at Bristol.The 26-year-old former Durham player hit an unbeaten 85 to guide his side froman overnight 235 for six to 394 all out and four batting bonus points. IanCockbain (63), Ian Saxelby (21) and David Payne (24) shared useful stands, whileNathan Buck finished with 5 for 99.Payne then claimed three for 26 as Leicestershire collapsed to 49 for fivebefore Wayne White (37) and Ned Eckersley (35 not out) gave their total somerespectability with a partnership of 81. They closed on 131 for 6, Gidman taking two for 20.If Gloucestershire can win the game and take 23 points they will go into theirfinal fixture just nine behind opponents Northants and still in the thick of thepromotion race. Showers interrupted the morning session as Cockbain and Gidman looked to build from overnight scores of 46 and 11 respectively. There were two rain breaksbefore, with the total on 256, Cockbain was caught at mid-wicket trying to pulla delivery from Buck.An early lunch was taken at that point and play resumed at 12.55pm. Twenty runswere added before Jon Lewis was bowled off stump by Buck for eight and Gidmanwent on to a half-century off 113 balls, with five fours. Saxelby and Payne ensured Leicestershire were kept in the field for longer than they would have expected and there was an early shock in store for the visitors when they began their reply.Lewis, making his final appearance for Gloucestershire at Bristol before movingto Surrey next season, marked the occasion by striking with the openingdelivery, knocking back Will Jefferson’s middle stump. The ball beat the bat on countless occasions before four wickets fell in rapid succession. Greg Smith was leg before pushing forward to Will Gidman for 33 in the 16th over and left-arm seamer Payne followed up by sending back Matt Boyce, Josh Cobb and James Taylor for the addition of only five runs.Boyce was caught behind driving, Cobb bowled for a duck and Taylor lbw on theback foot to an inswinger. Leicestershire were in disarray, but White and Eckersley showed more mettle than their predecessors to defy the home attack until White, having hit sevenfours, was caught at backward point off Gidman, who now has 45 wickets to add tohis 977 Championship runs this season.

On Saturday the final piece of silverware will be contested as Somerset and Surrey go head-to-head for the Clydesdale Bank 40 trophy

Preview by Andrew McGlashan16-Sep-2011Match FactsSeptember 16, 2011, Lord’s
Start time: 11.30am (1030GMT)Who will have this tomorrow evening?•Clare Skinner/MCCThe Big PictureThe thrilling conclusion to the County Championship wasn’t quite the end of the domestic season. On Saturday the final piece of silverware will be contested as Somerset and Surrey go head-to-head for the Clydesdale Bank 40 trophy. It’s a match that pits together the recent bridesmaids of the county game with a dynamic, youthful team that appears to have turned the corner.Surrey have already celebrated this week after beating Derbyshire to secure Championship promotion. Under Rory Hamilton-Brown and Chris Adams they have pulled together an impressive team that suggests the dark days may be behind the county. A trophy in the cabinet would further suggest that they are a team who can rise up the domestic scene. They have reached the final playing an exciting brand of cricket led by fearless batsmen – Hamilton-Brown, Steven Davies, Jason Roy – and backed up by a powerful bowling unit that includes pace and spin.The batting feeds off the confidence instilled in the dressing room and they back themselves to attack throughout an innings. In the semi-final against Sussex they made 228 in 24 overs. A key part of their success has been with the spinners and there can sometimes be five options available to the captain even before Pragyan Ojha, the India left-armer, is considered.Somerset, meanwhile, continue to find that final hurdle the hardest one to cross. Runner’s up three times last season they have already finished second this summer in the Twenty20. At least that means a trip to the Champions League Twenty20 in India, but that also brings some major headaches as the team have to dash out of London on Sunday evening and will arrive in Hyderabad less than 24 hours before their opening match.However, that journey will feel so much easier if they have a victory behind them. The barrier now is psychological rather than a talent issue. Once losing in a final becomes a habit it can be hard to break.Players to watchTom Maynard has excelled in his first season at Surrey after moving from Glamorgan. There is more than a hint of his dad, Matthew, in his strokeplay – especially on the leg side – and he isn’t afraid to go over the top. He is one of a crop of young batsmen who play fearlessly which makes for exciting cricket whether it comes off or not. A Lord’s final is a good stage to catch the eye.He has tried everything to be fit for this match, including an oxygen chamber, and Marcus Trescothick will battle through the pain to try and secure that elusive trophy. He damaged his ankle last month and is still someway short of full fitness but is confident he can last 80 overs of cricket. His presence at the top of the order will be a huge boost for Somerset.Team newsBarring any last-minute issues, Trescothick will resume his role at the top of the order while Somerset will have both Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler once they make a late-night dash back from Cardiff where they have been playing for England.Somerset (possible) 1 Marcus Trescothick (capt), 2 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 3 Peter Trego, 4 James Hildreth, 5 Nick Compton, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Craig Meschede, 8 Lewis Gregory, 9 Alfonso Thomas, 10 Murali Kartik, 11 Steve KirbySurrey have Jade Dernbach available and plenty of options to chose from. Yasir Arafat is set to be the overseas player ahead of Ojha, while Mark Ramprakash hasn’t been part of the one-day side.Surrey (possible) 1 Rory Hamilton-Brown, 2 Steven Davies (wk), 3 Jason Roy, 4 Tom Maynard, 5 Zander de Bruyn, 6 Chris Schofield, 7 Matthew Spriegel, 8 Gareth Batty, 9 Yasir Arafat, 10 Jade Dernbach, 11 Tim LinleyPitch and conditionsLessons have been learnt after staging last year’s final under floodlights and it’s a late-morning start which means the chilly evening will be avoided. That should also mean no undue advantage with the toss and the forecast is also pretty good although there could be the odd shower.Stats and trivia Surrey last reached a Lord’s final in 2001 when they beat Gloucestershire by 47 runs with Ben Hollioake Man of the Match All Surrey’s likely top order, apart from Zander de Bruyn, have scored at over a run-a-ball in this season’s CB40 Somerset’s last trophy came in the 2005 Twenty20 CupQuotes”It’s never nice coming second as we know. We’ve done it a few times in the last couple of years. Hopefully the boys can use that inspiration to overcome it.”
Marcus Trescothick hopes to go one better“I’d like to think we are underdogs to be honest. Somerset have had a lot of success over the past couple of years in one-day cricket. Within our dressing-room we think we are good enough to win.”

Steven Finn capped a personally outstanding tour with the superb figures of 3 for 22 in only his second Twenty20 international, as a chastised England team produced a spirited display in the field to limit India to an obtainable 120 for 9

The Report by Andrew Miller29-Oct-2011 England 121 for 4 (Pietersen 53) beat India 120 for 9 (Raina 39, Finn 3-22) by six wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSteven Finn looked the part once again for England, as he finished with 3 for 22•Getty ImagesEngland finished a tough tour of India on an upbeat note, as they preserved their world No. 1 ranking in Twenty20 cricket with a hard-earned six-wicket victory in Kolkata. Steven Finn, with 3 for 22 in four fast and accurate overs, was England’s inspiration with the ball as they limited India’s powerful line-up to 120 for 9 after MS Dhoni had won the toss. Then it was over to Kevin Pietersen, who overcame an anxious start, and a fourth-ball life, to silence a raucous and expectant crowd with a blistering 53 from 39 balls.Given how poorly England had fared in their 5-0 whitewash in the ODI series, they began the match on a hiding to nothing. However, from the moment they claimed two wickets in the first eight deliveries of the match, they were the team dictating the pace of the contest. Suresh Raina, with 39 from 29 balls, threatened for a time to restore the status quo, as did the Indian spinners who dominated the thrust of their attack. But when Raina dropped Pietersen at backward square leg off R Ashwin in the fifth over of the innings, India squandered the chance to ramp up the pressure that had led to England’s collapse of 10 for 47 on the same surface in Tuesday’s fifth ODI.Pietersen’s response was far from instantaneous, however. Although he showed no ill-effects from the chipped thumb that ruled him out of the final ODI, the left-arm spin of Ravindra Jadeja helped to limit him to 2 from his first nine balls before a stunning change of approach reaped the richest of dividends. In the space of his next three balls, he dropped to his knees to scoop Yusuf Pathan over his head for his first boundary of the innings, before flipping to a left-hander’s stance and butchering a perfect switch hit over the fence at what had been deep extra cover.Craig Kieswetter had already fallen to a mistimed lofted drive off Jadeja, and when Alex Hales holed out to deep midwicket off Pathan, both of England’s openers had fallen with 40 runs on the board. However, Samit Patel’s combative hitting proved to be the ideal foil for Pietersen, and their 60-run stand from 46 balls broke the back of the run-chase. Patel played second-fiddle for much of their stand, not least when Pietersen pumped the last two balls of the eighth and nine overs for three fours and a six. But he was not averse to taking the aerial route himself, as he proved when he flogged Vinay Kumar into the stands at long-on.Typically, the denouement was not without its alarms for England. With 100 on the board, Patel sliced Virat Kohli to cover to depart for 21, and one over later, Pietersen was also on his way – courtesy of a shocking lbw decision from umpire Sudhir Asnani, who was perhaps distracted by another change of stance from Pietersen when he put up his finger for a delivery that clearly pitched outside leg. However, Ravi Bopara got away with a plumb appeal in Raina’s next over, as he and Jonny Bairstow sealed the match with 10 balls to spare.If nothing else, the victory – England’s first in an away match against India since 2006 – was due reward for an outstanding month’s work from Finn. By trusting in the same virtues of line, length and pace that had earned him eight wickets in the ODIs, he claimed the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane with the fourth ball of the match, courtesy of an outstanding one-handed pluck in front of first slip from Kieswetter, then later returned to remove two dangermen, Raina and Ravindra Jadeja, with consecutive deliveries.Finn conceded three boundaries in his 24 deliveries, one to Virat Kohli when he overpitched in his first over, and two to Raina – a clean swipe for six, back down the ground, and a rare poor delivery on the pads when he returned to the attack to start the 12th over. The rest of the time, however, his rhythm and accuracy was unrelenting, and it was his key extraction of Raina, who cut loosely to backward point in Finn’s third over that was the pivotal moment of the innings. One ball later, Jadeja chopped on for a golden duck, and at 74 for 6 with eight overs remaining, India’s habitual acceleration was thwarted.It wasn’t a one-man show from England’s bowlers, however. Tim Bresnan bounced back from a disappointing ODI series with a second-ball strike to remove Robin Uthappa for 1, and also cut short a threatening performance from Kohli, who had moved along to a run-a-ball 15 when Alex Hales on the deep midwicket boundary pulled off an excellent running catch inches inside the rope.Graeme Swann’s struggles with the ball continued when Raina pumped him for 16 in his first over, but his captaincy was certainly on the ball. Patel fizzed through his first three overs for 13 and bowled a frustrated Manoj Tiwary when he attempted to slog his way out of a rut, while Bopara pulled off some impressive changes of pace to deliver a double-wicket maiden in the 17th over of the innings. Yusuf Pathan missed the change-up after two slower balls and was bowled; two balls later Praveen Kumar had a mow and went the same way.MS Dhoni, inevitably, was on hand to provide some late resistance as he and Ashwin scalped 25 runs from India’s final two overs, but a run-a-ball chase was always within England’s grasp – even allowing for the depth of their failings on this most disappointing of one-day campaigns.