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A young Somerset team scored a memorable victory over Gloucestershire Seconds at Bristol University in a three-day match.Batting first Gloucestershire scored 235, with Wes Durston taking four for 29 for the visitors.In reply Somerset scored 315, with Arul Suppiah making 69, Wes Durston 61 and Richard Timms 59.Batting in their second innings Gloucestershire declared at 302 for five, and the Cidermen’s young hopefuls reached their target for the loss of seven wickets, thanks again to Wes Durston who made 59 to round off a very good all-round match for him, and Arul Suppiah who made 54.After the game Somerset second eleven coach Mark Garaway told me: "This was a very pleasing all round performance."

Guided by the good form their batsmen found themselves in, Uttar Pradesh stamped their supremacy in the Under-16 category by winning the Madhavrao Scindia Trophy by virtue of their 163 run first innings lead over Rest of India at the Kamla Club ground in Kanpur on Tuesday.Opting to bat first on the opening day, Uttar Pradesh amassed 455 for 7 on the board. The UP skipper Rahat Ilahi (122) was the top scorer. He drew able support from A Alam (88) with whom he shared a 89 run stand for the fourth wicket. This was followed by a 141 run stand with S Raina (63). Rahul Arora (2 for 33) and SA Pai (2 for 27) were the pick of the bowlers for the Rest of India side. During a three and a quarter hour stay at the crease, Ilahi faced 271 balls and hit just four boundaries and two sixes.In response, Rest of India who batted for the rest of the second day and the third were all out for 292. The top scorer was the Rest of India skipper Rahul Arora with 55. K Vasudeva Das (45), opener SO Kukreja (43) and SA Pai (46) made useful contributions. Praveen Gupta (5 for 61) was the most successful bowler for UP.

The country reacted with anger and disgust over Sherwin Campbell’somission from a West Indies training squad from which the team to tourZimbabwe and Kenya will be chosen. But the man at the centre of thefurore remained upbeat.Obviously, there is a chance that my days could be numbered, a modestCampbell told NATIONSPORT yesterday.I’m not the oldest guy, but I’ve got to be positive and realistic, the30-year-old opening batman added.I have to stay positive all the time and always feel there is a chanceand never give up.The squad of 22 for the pre-tour training camp in Trinidad from May 28to June 8 includes three specialist opening batsmen Chris Gayle, LeonGarrick and Daren Ganga along with Wavell Hinds, a regular No 3 whowas asked to go in first in four Tests in the recent series againstSouth Africa.At no stage did any of them emphatically make a statement withconsistent heavy scoring against the South Africans.But they were preferred to a batsman whose fighting qualities are wellknown and who has been the West Indies’ most reliable opener sinceDesmond Haynes left the international arena in 1995.I am a little disappointed, but that’s life and that’s how things go,said Campbell, whose 51 Tests brought him 2 856 runs (ave. 32.82) andfour centuries.I’ve got to put it behind me and think about the future and thinkabout ways and means of getting back into the team.I don’t think you can kill yourself over it. Of course I amdisappointed, like anyone else, but it’s not the end of the world.Two-and-a-half years ago when Campbell was not picked for the WestIndies’ tour to South Africa, he responded with a prolific run in the1999 Busta Cup and was immediately recalled.You have to focus on getting back into the team and doing well toprove the selectors wrong, Campbell said.That is my main goal to focus on my performance and think about mygame some more and focus on getting scores consistently.The Barbados captain does not feel that the pressure is on him to theextent that he has to come back and prove a point.I just think I have to get out there and score runs and be consistent,he said.Campbell recently returned from New York where he visited Dr AnsworthAllen for an opinion on a shoulder injury he first sustained duringlast October’s Red Stripe Bowl.When I throw from the deep it affects me a little bit, but from closein and when I’m batting, it’s fine, Campbell said.When I throw from the deep it is not as strong as I would like it tobe.It is an injury which requires an operation and in view of his noninclusion in the West Indies training squad, he hopes to have thesurgery as soon as possible.I have not set a date as yet, but hopefully it will be very soon, hesaid.

England’s Twenty20 captain, Stuart Broad, envisaged his side playing the “perfect game” in this World Twenty20 after Luke Wright calmed the jitters about their top order in a six-wicket defeat of New Zealand with seven balls to spare in their Super Eights tie in Pallakele.Things change quickly in T20. Only New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum, as the match finished, was ahead of Wright in the leading run-makers for the tournament. After all the talk of their batting frailties, England had three batsmen – Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales also – in the top five.Broad, visibly uplifted after the torment of England’s misconceived batting displays against India and West Indies, said: “Today’s result means a lot. Although it wasn’t perfect we put in a lot of strong performances. I genuinely believe that we will get that perfect game and I think we will be pretty unstoppable when that happens.”That perfect game might have to happen on Monday. England face Sri Lanka at Pallakele and will have to win to be assured of a place in the semi-finals. “It will be an electric atmosphere for us on Monday and it will be important for us to keep our composure,” Broad said. “It will be loud, it will be hectic and there will be a lot of fans shouting for Sri Lanka but that will be exciting for us.”Wright paced his innings to perfection, stroking 16 from his first 16 balls but then scoring 60 from his next 27 with five sixes, including four in the space of seven balls faced. New Zealand’s emphasis upon spin, with Rob Nicol’s part-time offbreaks also called up for three overs, was logical enough in view of a dry pitch and England’s reputation, but it failed to bring dividends.The rate got up to nine an over midway through the innings and stubbornly remained there for quite a while. England needed 54 from the last six overs before Wright’s six-hitting spree settled the game, with Tim Southee also punished as he failed to hit his yorkers. Wright took the Man-of-the-Match award, suggested that Steven Finn’s three wickets should have won it, and praised Eoin Morgan’s influence at the non-striker’s end for the pacing of his innings.Stuart Broad believes England are close to playing to their full potential•ICC/Getty

“It is easy to start panicking then and sat in the dugout you look out to the middle and get a bit nervous but the guys showed a lot of calmness to get us over the line as they did,” Broad said. “If we can really keep our wickets intact you will see the power we have. The key for us is to express ourselves but also to have the skill to pack that last 10 overs full of batsmen.”Wright, who made 99 in the group stage against Afghanistan, banished the memory of his first-baller against West Indies, an attempted leave which he steered to slip, a shot that had added to the uncertainty surrounding England’s top order. Against New Zealand, he played naturally, not trying to be something he isn’t, a strong hitter who allowed himself time to get in and then reaped the benefit.”It was just nice to get past the first ball after the last innings,” he said. “After that I was able to chill out a little bit and build a partnership. In the last game I tried to leave it and I found myself out so it wasn’t as if I was going at it too hard. One thing you find is that if you do have a batter in, people can bat around you and it’s amazing how much you can catch up and score.”

The visiting South African under-19 cricketers showed they were well prepared in foreign conditions, when they lined up for their opening New Zealand tour match against an Otago under-19 side at Centennial Park in Oamaru.After the start was delayed by an hour due to overnight rain, the South Africans provided a most enjoyable day’s cricket by hitting the loose ball hard and, sometimes, even the good ball in the same manner.Sent in by the Otago captain Jordan Sheed, the South Africans found conditions difficult in the early stages. The bowling side benefited from a greenish pitch which produced quite a few awkward balls to negotiate.However the South Africans, in spite of losing opener Michael Price when the score was 25, battled hard and eventually his partner James Schorn scored a fine 94. He deserved a century but surely will manage that goal before the tour is over, given the talent evident within him.The South African captain Rivash Gobind scored an attractive 38, and Chad Baxter an excellent hard-hitting 70 before Imran Khan (not to be confused with the former Pakistani captain) and Gerhard de Bruin each got into the teens to take their side to 280/9 before declaring.The Otago wicket-keeper Matt George impressed with four catches as did the Otago fielding with some excellent returns from the deep.In the bowling department Johnathan Hodson (4-63 from 22 overs) deserved a five-wicket bag, which nearly came his way. In support Anthony Wilkinson, took a very tidy 1-21 from 16 overs and Matt Adair 2-54 from 15 overs, while Ben Ryan (1-52 from 15.3) and Jamie Murley (1-57 from 16) were the other wicket takers. Overall Otago bowled well but not outstandingly on a pitch which was good to bat on after initial life.The Otago openers Shaun Haig and Anthony Wilkinson had to bat an hour before stumps were drawn at 7pm, and faced a fiery spell from speedster Monde Zondeki who beat the bat many times. His partners were Gerhard De Bruin and South African vice-captain Johan Botha, who too provided a stern test for Haig and Wilkinson. But perserverance paid off and Otago reached 20 without loss at the close of play.

Sri Lanka fast bowler, Lasith Malinga, who became the first bowler in World Cup history to take two hat-tricks, has said that he learnt to bowl his deadly yorkers by watching Pakistan’s legendary pair of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. Malinga ran through the hapless Kenya batting to take a career best 6 for 38 runs, and pick up the Man-of-the-Match award, as the opposition crumbled under his assault for a mere 142 runs.”This is a slow pitch and bouncers will not work so I decided to go for yorkers,” Malinga said. “I didn’t have any idea of how to bowl a yorker when I first came into the national team but I was taught how to bowl them by Champaka Ramanayake and Rumesh Ratnayake (two former Sri Lanka fast bowlers).”I also watched Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis bowl and I learnt a lot from them.”Malinga missed his side’s opening two matches with a sore back, but came back strongly to take the wickets of Tanmay Mishra, Peter Ongondo and Shem Ngoche with successive, full, swinging deliveries, with the latter two having their stumps rearranged. His hat-trick was spread over two overs – the last ball of his seventh and the first two balls of his eighth. In all, four of his six victims were bowled and the two others were trapped lbw.In the 2007 World Cup, Malinga grabbed the headlines with four in a row against South Africa at Guyana. “I rate the performance in South Africa with four wickets in four balls as the best. But I am happy that I got six wickets today which was my career best.”Malinga stated that he could have played in the second match against Pakistan but did not on the advice of the team physio, Tommy Simsek. “I was sad and also lazy when I was not playing the first two matches. I didn’t play because I was not fully recovered.”He said that he was happy to perform the way he did in front of the Sri Lankan public. “I didn’t have much hopes to play for a long time when I was coming to cricket. My only aim was to contribute as much as I can to the team whenever I play for them. I will give my 100 percent in whatever the game I participate. That makes me happy.”I have played for the national team for the past seven years. A lot of people have said that I would not be able to play for a long time (due to injury concerns). But I am happy to have played for the last seven years.”Contemplating his future the 27-year-old fast bowler said, “I don’t know how long I could play, but I am happy to contribute to the team whenever I play. I believe I can still play Test cricket after considering my injury concerns. When I feel that I can’t do anything for the team, I will happily retire.”

Pakistan’s one-day captain Shahid Afridi has said Pakistan will be a surprise package in the World Cup later this year, despite the problems plaguing the team’s recent campaigns, due to them being better suited to the 50-over format.”No matter what people say and believe, I’m confident that Pakistan will do really well in the World Cup,” Afridi told the after returning from New Zealand following the three-match Twenty20 series there which his side lost 1-2. “I won’t make any predictions but would make it clear that Pakistan will take their best shot for the World Cup title.”With under 50 days left for the event, Pakistan are yet to finalise their 30-man preliminary squad. Three of their key players — Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir — have been provisionally suspended following the spot-fixing controversy and their fates will be decided in Doha, later this week. There are doubts over the futures of two other players – Shoiab Malik and Kamran Akmal – who will appear before the board’s integrity committee prior to the announcement of the preliminary list.”It’s certainly not an ideal situation,” Afridi said of the side’s controversy-ridden build-up to the World Cup. “But it’s our history that we give our best under pressure.”Pakistan have performed reasonably well in their recent one-day campaigns, taking five-match series against England and South Africa to the final games. Afridi said Pakistan’s one-day side was more likely to succeed than their outfits for the other formats.”I would agree that a lot of work has to be done before we start doing well in Tests consistently,” he said. “Even our Twenty20 team needs a world of improvement. But when it comes to one-day cricket, we are close to achieving an ideal combination. Most of the players in our Twenty20 team are better suited to the one-day format.”Afridi hinted he had given up on the option of opening the innings following his failures at the top in the New Zealand Twenty20s. “The idea behind my decision to open was to help give the team some fast and useful starts,” he said. “But it didn’t work out. Now I’ve decided to stick to No.6 spot both for Twenty20s and ODIs in the future.”

India’s national selectors will meet on Tuesday in Mumbai to pick the squad for the five ODIs in New Zealand in January. On their just-concluded tour of South Africa, India lost two ODIs heavily while their bowlers conceded 301 in the washed-out third game. However, the selectors are not expected to tinker too much with the one-day unit, with the focus being on providing stability to the outfit in the run-up to the 2015 World Cup. Cheteshwar Pujara’s Test displays in South Africa are likely to earn him a spot ahead of Yuvraj Singh, which is expected to be the only major change.Yuvraj had undergone a strenuous fitness program in France and forced his way back into the side for the home limited-overs series against Australia In October following a string of big scores in List A cricket. His first innings on comeback was an unbeaten, match-winning 77 in the solitary Twenty20 in Rajkot but a torrid ODI series followed, in which he scraped 19 runs from four innings at an average of 4.75. Each time, he fell to a fast bowler, succumbing three times to the pace of Mitchell Johnson alone.He did make a fifty in the following three-match home ODI series against West Indies, but struggled against Sunil Narine’s offspin. At the Wanderers, he made a second-ball duck in his only innings in the South Africa ODIs.Yuvraj’s form in the occasional Ranji Trophy match he has played for Punjab has also been disappointing. He made 33 and 40 against Mumbai, 0 and 4 against Delhi and was out for 39 in the first innings of the ongoing game against Jharkhand.Pujara, on the other hand, averaged 70 over the two Tests despite not being part of the ODI squad that had had a taste of South African conditions beforehand. Pujara has played only two ODIs compared to 17 Tests, and there have been calls for him to be given a bigger role in one-dayers, given his tight technique and the fact that the 2015 World Cup will be played in Australia and New Zealand.Among the others, Mohit Sharma’s place could be under scrutiny, after his lackluster display in the Wanderers ODI, where he went for 82 runs from ten overs.It is not certain if the selectors will use the same meeting to choose the side for the two Tests in Auckland and Wellington that follow the one-dayers in New Zealand. If they do, there are unlikely to be major changes, with the batsmen doing reasonably well, barring the last day in Durban, and the fast bowlers carrying out heavy workloads.

India’s selectors will pick squads for the ODIs and the Tests in South Africa when they meet in Baroda on Monday, though the Test series begins only on December 18. The early selection is designed to give the players as much preparation time as possible. The BCCI is planning to send the Test specialists to South Africa a week in advance.The selection committee was scheduled to meet in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, during the second ODI against West Indies, but the meeting was rescheduled due to the cyclone that hit coastal Andhra Pradesh.India are likely to take 16 players for the two Tests in South Africa, and while 12 pick themselves the other four spots could be filled by a variety of people. This is India’s first selection since the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar and his spot in the XI is likely to go to Ajinkya Rahane or Ravindra Jadeja, who missed the home Tests against West Indies because of a shoulder strain.The composition of the bowling group, however, is not as clear. Ishant Sharma’s place is under the scanner – he was in the squad for the West Indies Tests but did not play – but don’t be surprised if he makes the trip to South Africa. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav are the first choice seamers, but because there could be space for a fifth quick, either Zaheer Khan or Jaydev Unadkat might make it. The selectors are likely to leave Zaheer’s selection up to the team management. If he is not a certainty in the playing XI, he might not get included in the squad.Gautam Gambhir’s chances of being selected as reserve opener hang in the balance despite his match-winning hundred for Delhi, in trying conditions, against Haryana. If the selectors feel Dinesh Karthik is suitable for a dual role – that of reserve wicketkeeper and reserve opener – then Gambhir might not make the squad. Gambhir has scored 372 runs in six Ranji Trophy innings this season, while Karthik has only 85 in four without a half-century. However, if the selectors decide to exclude Pragyan Ojha, who is unlikely to be used in South African conditions, both Gambhir and Karthik could be included, with Suresh Raina being another candidate for a reserve batsman.For the ODIs, it will be interesting to see if the selectors persist with Yuvraj Singh. He scored an unbeaten 77 off 35 balls on his comeback in the T20 against Australia, but scored only 35 runs in five ODI innings since. In the bowling department, Vinay Kumar is likely to be retained despite his mediocre form against Australia because of the unavailability of Dhawal Kulkarni, who got injured a day after being picked for the West Indies ODIs.Test squad certainties M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kolhi, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra JadejaRemaining four Test slots Two out of Zaheer Khan, Jaydev Unadkat and Ishant Sharma; two out of Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina and Pragyan Ojha

Asad Shafiq has warned South Africa they could have less than 24 hours left in the Abu Dhabi Test match as he predicted a result in Pakistan’s favour by tomorrow. Shafiq said that more turn from day four could bring a speedy end to the match in which Pakistan have dominated South Africa in eight of the nine sessions played so far.Only the middle session of day one, when South Africa scored 86 runs for the loss of just one wicket, belonged to the visitors. Hashim Amla, the batsman who held things together in that period, is already out and Shafiq is anticipating the Pakistan spinners to give South Africa’s middle and lower-order a working over.”We have been playing on this wicket for the last three series and we have a fair idea that it will turn on the fourth and fifth day. Day three is very good for batting but it will start turning more tomorrow,” Shafiq said, underlining the fact that South Africa may have squandered their best opportunity to score runs on the third afternoon.Turn was evident from day one, with Pakistan’s spinners generating it early on. South Africa’s spinners could not match that but as soon as Pakistan were back in the field, the threat returned. Saeed Ajmal troubled Smith, who looked to sweep against the turn, and Zulfiqur Babar took a wicket with his first ball, turning from around the wicket and taking the edge off Hashim Amla’s bat.With Mohammad Irfan still extracting steep lift and Junaid Khan causing problems with his angle and movement, Shafiq thinks Pakistan hold all the aces in pursuit of a quick finish: “We know how to exploit conditions, especially here, and our bowlers have done very well. That (a day four) finish is what we are focusing on.”Having only lost to Pakistan three times in 21 Tests, the last one six years ago, South Africa remain hopeful of staging an Adelaide-style comeback. In that game against Australia in November 2012, South Africa were 162 runs behind and were eventually set a target of 430 to win. They batted for a day-and-a-half and had Faf du Plessis to thank for saving the game.But doing that in far more testing conditions will require different technique and perhaps an even stronger mindset. “We can’t hide from the fact that we haven’t batted well in the first innings and at the start of this one,” Vernon Philander admitted. “We need to try and get one or two big partnerships, and try and get between 150 and 200 ahead. Then we can maybe set up something for day five. It might be difficult to try and draw the game from here but if we get them four down, their tail starts quite early, you never know. It’s going to be hard work but we do bat fairly low down.”From the sounds of it, Philander is eyeing bowling again, a task he was more successful at than some expected. In his first Test in subcontinent conditions, Philander picked up three wickets and felt comfortable adjusting.”It’s a lot different to what we are used to be back home and there’s not as much assistance as I’ve experienced around the world up to now,” Philander said. “I was expecting that. I didn’t change too much, maybe just slightly straighter than normal. It’s a pretty tough challenge but I am always up for a challenge.”South Africa’s error on day two was an overuse of the short ball, which they rectified on the third day. They still struggled to maintain pressure because “We kept going at four an over,” Philander said. “It was difficult to hold an end up which also made it difficult to strike because usually you dry one end up and strike from the other.”South Africa are not used to being bullied in this fashion. They last time they lost a Test was in December 2011 against Sri Lanka. The last time they lost a Test away from home was in 2010, against India. Philander was not part of either side.He hadn’t made his debut when the Kolkata defeat came – which was also the last time South Africa conceded a lead this big – and he sat out the Sri Lanka game with an injury. Of the 17 Tests he has played, South Africa have only lost one. It’s no wonder he still has belief enough to imagine being back to defend a target on day five, despite Shafiq’s words.He said the squad will enjoy Jacques Kallis’ 38th birthday before turning back to their task with renewed energy tomorrow. “Cricket is not going to take over your life. We will still have a drink with him,” Philander said. “This is the first time we find ourselves in such a tough situation. But we hope we can find a way out.”