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Certain numbers can trigger instant recognition from the true cricket fan. The figures 400, 375, and 501 evoke the memory of Brian Lara’s epics of batsmanship, in Antigua and at Edgbaston. 519 will remain linked to Courtney Walsh. The intensity of the debate over the number of centuries scored by Sir Jack Hobbs is due in part to the attachment many have to the traditional figure of 197, rather than the perhaps more statistically accurate figure of 199.The number 628 is perhaps known to fewer followers of the game. It marks the crowning achievement in minor cricket records, the highest single innings score by a batsman in any class of cricket. Compiling this class of records is fraught with difficulty – it is hard to verify, hard to locate scorebooks, and sometimes there are feats that beggar belief. The names are generally obscure, the teams even more so (although it is worth noting that the highest partnership for any wicket ever recorded was between a certain SR Tendulkar and VG Kambli). The record of 628 has stood for over 100 years, and was set by AEJ Collins, a schoolboy at Clifton College. More of Collins later, as it is worth tracing the history of this particular record.In the early days of cricket this is difficult – records are far from complete, and scoring was rudimentary. A convenient starting point is the first known stroke-by-stroke scorebook record of a game. This dates from 31 August 1769, when the Duke of Dorset’s XI played Wrotham. It also contains the record of the first known century, an innings of 107 by John Minshull. As far as it can be traced, the record was broken twice in the next decade. Minshull was playing for Surrey six years later when John Small (senior) broke it, making 136. Small was playing for the legendary Hambledon club, who in this match at Broad Halfpenny Down beat the county by a massive 296 runs. Small was in his way a cricketing revolutionary, a bat-maker who abandoned the curved bats then in style for the modern straight-bladed bat. Both Small and Minshull were participants in the match where J Aylward extended the record to 167, as Hambledon beat All England by an innings.Lord Frederick Beauclerk was the next record holder; at the beginning of the 19th century he dominated the cricket scene like no one else. Described as “an unmitigated scoundrel” by Benny Green, he was also a talented cricketer, who in 1806 beat Aylward’s record by three runs, whilst playing as a given man for the Homerton Club against Montpelier. Montpelier were so overwhelmed by Beauclerk (who also had a hand in ten of their wickets) that they conceded the match.Beauclerk’s 170 stood until the first double hundred was hit in 1820 by Mr W Ward. He was playing for the MCC against Norfolk at Lord’s and recorded the massive score of 278. Ward was a prominent figure in more than one way. A powerful hitter, he wielded a four-pound bat, a favourite that saw 50 years of service. He was a director of the Bank of England and later an MP for the City of London. He also saved Lord’s five years later; when Thomas Lord decided to develop the ground for housing. Ward bought out Lord’s interest for £5,000, later to transfer the lease to JH Dark.Ward’s record stood until 1837 when Alfred Adams, playing for Saffron Walden against Bishop’s Stortford (at the time villages in rural Essex, now suburban commuter towns) beat it by a solitary run. We know more about the next holder of the record, the splendidly named Edward Ferdinando Sutton Tylecote. He was a Test player, touring Australia with Ivo Bligh, and hitting a memorable 66 in the match that decided the series. A wicket-keeper, he made two first-class hundreds for Kent, but his big innings came when he was just 19, and at school at Clifton College. In a practice match between Classical and Modern he hit the first quadruple hundred, 404*.Tylecote, of course was a classical scholar, and after the Moderns had been dismissed for exactly 100 (Tylecote taking three wickets – presumably his wicket-keeping talents were not required), he opened the innings. The 100 mark was soon passed, but it appears that although this was a single innings match, the game continued until all Classical batsmen had had an innings. By the third afternoon, the Classical scholars totalled 630, with the next highest score being 52. The bowling figures mercifully are not recorded. Tylecote scored one seven, five fives, 21 fours, 39 threes, 42 twos and 87 ones – all run except for one four hit out of the ground. and batted for approximately 6 hours.Tylecote’s innings attracted considerable publicity, and was the subject of an article in that year’s Wisden by WH Knight, who listed all known double-hundreds – only 26 at that time, with seven of those innings taking place in 1868. High scoring was to become more commonplace in the next few years, with the improvement of wickets and the advent of WG Grace. Clifton was definitely the place to make a high score, with both WG and his brother EM making double centuries for the Clifton Club. In 1876 WG made 400* for the United South of England. Presumably he was not much interested in passing Tylecote’s record.So it was not WG who broke Tylecote’s record but the far more obscure WN Roe, a promising schoolboy batsman who had gone up to Cambridge. Despite making good scores in college matches, and playing some matches for the University XI, he had failed to gain his blue. In July 1881, University cricket consisted of teams put together by scholars who chose to stay at Cambridge during the summer break. The Emmanuel Long Vacation Club team were to play Caius’ long vacation team but could only find nine men. Accordingly they looked for a couple of substitutes, and asked Roe (a Magdalen man) to play. What their opponents thought of this is not recorded, but they cannot have been overly impressed when Roe took five wickets with his off-breaks.

Caius only managed 100, and then had to face Roe again, opening the innings. At the end of the first day, Emmanuel had made 157 without losing a wicket, and the rout continued the following afternoon. Roe started to play carelessly after he passed 200, and was dropped three times. With a record in prospect, his team-mates told him to concentrate. At the end of the day, he’d passed Tylecote’s record by 11 runs – 415* in four hours 55 minutes. All hits were run out – thus Roe ran 708 runs, close to eight miles. Wisden described the opposition bowling as “weak in the extreme”. Roe went on to play 83 first-class matches, making four first-class hundreds, playing for Somerset as well as the University.We know far less about the next record holder, JS Carrick, who played for the West of Scotland. The Scots were on tour in southern England in 1885, and took on the Priory Park Club in a two-day match at Chichester. Carrick opened the innings, and proceeded to bat for the entire two days, making an unbeaten 419 out of 745/4. Carrick batted for eleven and a half hours in all and scored one eight (a huge hit to square leg), two sixes, two fives and 30 fours. The Priory Park bowling was headed by James Lillywhite, a bowler with over 1,200 first-class wickets, including eight in his two Tests. He was in his final year of first-class cricket but his figures of 1/170 suggest that Carrick was a very good batsman. Carrick’s innings featured some strong off-driving, and big hits to leg, and he only gave two chances, one to deep-mid-on and one to the keeper. Priory Park did not seem to resent being denied an opportunity to bat and at the conclusion of the second day, Carrick was “carried to the dressing room amid immense cheering”.His record stood just a single year before being broken by AE Stoddart. Stoddart was perhaps the most distinguished of cricketers to hold the record, captaining England in Australia, and acknowledged as one of the best bats of his day. He had made his first-class debut in 1885 – he was 22 at the time and it is said that prior to that date he did not take cricket seriously. His name came to national attention following his mammoth 485 for Hampstead against the Stoics, made in a single day on August 4 1886. The Stoics would have had to be stoical indeed as Hampstead batted the entire day of the one-day game, making 813 in the process. Stoddart was seventh out, batting six hours and ten minutes and including one eight, three fives, and 64 fours. The runs were scored at a rapid pace – the score was 370 for 3 at lunch after 150 minutes of play. He made 207 for Hampstead in the next match three days later, and on August 9 was playing for Middlesex and made 98 – 790 runs in a week. His big innings launched a stellar career. He made his debut in Tests the next year (as well as representing England at Rugby), and toured Australia four times, twice as captain. He made 221 in his final first-class innings in 1900.And so finally to AEJ Collins, and back to Clifton College. Indian-born, Arthur Edward Jeune Collins was 13 when picked to play for his Clifton College house (Clarke’s) against North Town. House matches were played to a finish over as many afternoons as it took to complete the match. Few would have predicted that this game would finish six days after it started. Collins opened the batting, and stayed for six hours and 50 minutes, spread over four afternoons. The breaks undoubtedly assisted the young man as he amassed the unprecedented score of 628 not out, out of a total of 836. The next-highest score in the match was 46, the extras conceded by North Town, followed by Whittey’s 42. Collins’ innings was a challenge to the scorer, who is reported as saying it was “628, plus or minus twenty shall we say”. Unlike Stoddart, whose innings was nearly chanceless, Collins was dropped on 80, 100, 140, 556 and 612. When the dispirited opponents batted, Collins took 7 for 33 and 4 for 30 as Clarke’s won by an innings and 688 runs.How could Collins follow this? He continued to play cricket (and rugby, boxing, rackets, cross-country, and swimming) and won a place in the Clifton XI in 1901 and 1902, with some success. He chose to follow an Army career, and that severely limited his sporting opportunities. As a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers he made 58 and 36 against the Artillery at Lord’s. He went to France when war broke out in 1914, and was killed in action on November 11 of that year.It is hard to imagine that Collins’ record could be broken in first-class cricket. It has stood for over a hundred years, and few modern minor matches are played under the conditions that would permit a batsman to score such a huge number of runs. However, a quadruple century was made by V Malhotra in Under-17 cricket in India in 1989-90, and Tendulkar and Kambli’s huge partnership was made in Bombay school’s cricket. Deepak Chougule, currently in England with the Indian under-19s, made 400* in junior state cricket when we was just 13. If the record is to be broken it will likely be in India, by a young batsman whose name will be as obscure as Collins’ was in his day.

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Bazid Khan seems to have taken a liking to the North West Frontier Province in Peshawar, he scored 170 in Federal Areas’ first innings on Saturday, and made another century on Sunday as his team followed on.Bazid’s second ton for the match – an even 100 – ensured Federal Areas avoided a defeat, after they fell 183 runs short of NWFP’s 573 in their first innings. Asked to follow on, Federal Areas were given a solid start by their openers Raheel Majeed and Afaq Raheem. The two added 53 before Waqar Ahmed snared them both in quick succession.The next three batsmen, however, consolidated on the foundation provided to bat their team to safety. Ashar Zaidi made 75 and put on 169 runs for the third wicket with Bazid. His 75 contained nine fours and two sixes and came off 143 deliveries, while Bazid took 164 for his 100, which included 13 boundaries.Yasir Shah, the legbreak bowler, dismissed the duo, but by then Federal Areas had wiped out the deficit. Sohail Tanvir helped himself to a 39-ball 50, as his team finished the day at 296 for 5.Earlier, resuming on 381 for 8 in their first innings, Federal Areas could add only nine runs. Nauman Habib ended with 4 for 76 for the innings, while Yasir scalped three.Despite earning no points from this game, Federal Areas are second in the table after Sind, three points ahead of NWFP in third.

On a sultry Mumbai afternoon, the cop-turned-fast-bowler Shane Bond hit the sluggish wicket at the suburban ground trying to hunt down a few weapons that had slipped from his grasp during the lengthy recuperation period from a back injury. Rhythm, pace, line, and length. Especially rhythm, the others usually come as free accessories with it. He left the arena a tired man, still in search of them.Only three balls beat the bat in his first spell that yielded 26 runs in five overs. The first one kicked up from a length to bruise the right hand, the second whizzed past the outside edge after landing on a length, and the third got an edge, but flew to the third-man fence, when the batsman tried to force a short-of-a-length delivery. Though he was more fluent in later spells he didn’t look threatening at any stage. But New Zealand would not have expected any miracle from him on this slow pitch and would be satisfied that he had clocked some miles under his belt.Faces peered eagerly through the fence at the far end as Bond, sporting a black wristband on his left hand, ran in 13 paces before arching back his upper body to release the ball. However, today, it didn’t usually land where he wanted. First over was spent in search of both line and length as he threaded on either side of the wicket, sometimes short, sometimes full. However, he ended it with a snorter that hurt the right hand of Rishikesh Parab, the plucky opening bat. Maybe Bond has found his rhythm now and will dismantle the first-class batsmen from Baroda. It was not to be. His next ball was slashed over point by Parab. Hmm… a bouncer or a yorker, now, surely? A length ball followed and Parab took a single off the next.At the start of the third over Vettori, the captain, moved out the second slip to gully. A gully and a point were now in place. In better times, Bond would have kicked it up from short of a length outside the off stump, got an edge out of the startled batsman and either the gully or point would have come into play. He attempted straightway but to Bond’s surprise, it flew off the middle of the bat and sailed over backward point. Parab had reproduced a Virender Sehwag special. There was a buzz around the arena. Now we had a real contest on the cards. Unsurprisingly, a bouncer followed. Parab calmly swayed away. Then another one, banged in short, was punched down on the off side. A fullish one was served up next which was driven powerfully and if not for an agile cover, it would have been a four.Vettori ran across to hand over the goggles and a pat on the back as Bond trudged back to his fine-leg position to attend to his end-over ritual. Some chilled water would go down the throat, some down the back of his neck and he would then grab a towel to wipe his perspiration away. The heat was truly on.Early in his next over, Parab edged a short-of-a-length delivery to the thirdman fence to produce a shake of the head from the bowler. The next one flew at the throat of Parab who swayed away quickly. A couple of balls later Parab tried to whip a ball on the legs to the on side but got a leading edge that fell short of mid-off. That ball didn’t deserve a wicket but neither was lady luck smiling on the tired fast bowler. A series of balls that were banged in short of length were served up in the next over, all of which was pushed away without any fuss. Off his penultimate ball of the spell, Bond sent one full and on the middle and leg, hoping to trap an lbw decision but it was nonchalantly flicked past the square-leg. And that was that.When he came back for his second spell in the 34th over, he operated on two lengths – bouncers and just short of driveable length. He even attempted a yorker, his first of the day, in his eight over.However the dark clouds cleared for him even as the sun was setting in the western sky. Off the penultimate ball of the 47 th over, his ninth, he finally got one to pitch full and just short of driveable length to clean up a tailender. He looked more relieved than happy as he slowly halted his follow-through, came to a stop somewhere in the middle of the pitch and just stood silently. His team-mates, however, realised the importance of the wicket and ran towards him to high-five. Slowly, the hand stretched out and the tired lips spread into a smile. Bond had found his first clue and his hunt will continue another day.

The Champions Trophy is only three months away and the World Cup a little more than seven, but the ICC’s thoughts have already turned to the subject that gave it so much adverse media during the last two such tournaments – ambush marketing.The confiscation of drinks made by rivals to the official sponsors from spectators was one of the least edifying images in recent years, and the whole subject resurfaced during the football World Cup when fans were forced to remove trousers carrying the logos of a beer company not approved by the organisers.ICC officials are in India to prepare for the Champions Trophy, and they have warned that any infringement of copyright or trademark would be severely dealt with. “Worry may be too strong a word to describe our concerns, but we are aware of the potential of ambush marketing and prepared to safeguard the interest of official sponsors and advertisers,” Brian Murgatroyd, ICC media manager, explained, adding that official partners and sponsors would get “value for their money by investing in cricket.”The ICC is working out ways to circumvent potential issues but Murgatroyd simply said: “Just suffice to say that everybody would be watching and monitoring.”However, the ICC also acknowledged that endless commercial saturation on TV and at grounds also posed problems. “It’s all about striking a balance between commercialism and giving value to the viewers and cricket lovers,” Murgatroyd added.

Tier 1Naeem Islam struck his maiden double-hundred across formats in Rangpur Division‘s draw against Dhaka Division in Khulna. He amassed 216 out of Rangpur’s first-innings total of 560 for 8 (declared) which also included centuries from Suhrawadi Shuvo and Ariful Haque.Naeem struck 23 fours and five sixes in his 349-ball innings that lasted eight-and-a-half hours. His 266-run fourth-wicket stand with Shuvo took Rangpur past 300, before he added another 183 runs for the sixth wicket with Ariful.Rangpur batted till 3pm on the second day, with Shuvagata Hom returning the best figures – 3 for 125 – among the opposition bowlers. In reply, Minhaz Khan, Raqibul Hasan and Shuvagata made fifties, but could not convert their knocks into bigger scores. Dhaka were bowled out for 321 as Abdur Rahman bagged a four-for with his left-arm spin.Asked to follow-on, Dhaka batted out 49 overs on the final day, crawling to 85 for the loss of Rony Talukdar. Opener Abdul Majid made a patient and unbeaten 52, having batted for more than three hours.Barisal fought hard to draw against defending champions Khulna despite being asked to follow-on in Rajshahi.Having elected to bat first, Khulna declared on 511 for 8 after Robiul Islam Robi and Ziaur Rahman made 114 and 152 respectively. Robi struck 17 fours while Ziaur blasted six sixes and 11 fours in his 222-ball knock. Barisal offspinner Sohag Gazi finished with figures of 4 for 148.Three-wicket hauls from Nahidul Islam and Abdur Razzak helped Khulna skittle Barisal out for 296 runs in 92 overs, despite half-centuries from Salman Hossain, Moin Khan and Gazi.Following-on, Barisal scored 296 again, but this time at the expense of only five wickets while playing out 110 overs. Captain Fazle Mahmud’s 107 anchored the innings, with fifties from Rafsan Al Mahmud and Gazi, whose unbeaten 68 saved Barisal from defeat as the ten Khulna bowlers used could only dismiss five batsmen.Tier 2Delwar Hossain’s all-round show – a match haul of 9 for 92 coupled with a half-century – and a second successive century from Mizanur Rahman powered Rajshahi to an innings and 13-run win over Chittagong in Bogra. With Sylhet defeating Dhaka Metropolis in the other Tier-2 game in this round, Rajshahi confirmed their promotion to next season’s Tier 1.Trailing by 143 after the first innings, Chittagong were shot out for 130 in 41.4 overs with Sadiqur Rahman’s 48 being the only substantial contribution. Delwar’s 6 for 23 – his career-best figures – helped him become the first quick bowler in this season’s National Cricket League to grab more than five wickets in an innings. Delwar’s charge with the ball was abetted by Farhad Reza, who coupled his first-innings four-for with two in the second.Put in to bat, Chittagong scored 260 in the first innings on the back of a 128-run fifth-wicket stand between Saeed Sarkar (70) and Sazzadul Haque (95). Rajshahi replied with 403 courtesy Mizanur’s 102, which included 13 fours and two sixes. Having hammered 143 in his side’s previous game against Sylhet, Mizanur added 153 for the third wicket with nightwatchman Delwar, who scored his second first-class half-century (62). Later, the wicketkeeper-batsman Hamidul Islam (73*) added important runs in the lower order and strung an 88-run ninth-wicket stand with Saqlain Sajib.A five-for in each innings from Sylhet‘s Enamul Haque Jnr handed Dhaka Metropolis a 190-run drubbing in Chittagong. In what was his seventh 10-for in his career, Enamul earned the distinction of becoming the first bowler to bag a 10-wicket match haul since the 2015-16 season.Sylhet put together 319 after electing to bat, with captain Imtiaz Hossain making 132 in nearly five hours, peppering 17 fours during his innings. Shykat Ali, Nihaduzzaman and Sharifullah took three wickets each for Dhaka Metroplis.Dhaka Metro were bowled out for 259 in 77.4 overs with captain Marshall Ayub scoring 98 off 149 balls as no other batsman crossed 40. Enamul took 5 for 96 from the 34 overs he bowled.Headlined by half-centuries from Shanaj Ahmed, Shahanur Rahman and Abu Jayed, Sylhet added 263 runs to their 60-run first-innings lead. Nihaduzzaman took four wickets and Elias Sunny picked up three wickets.After Sylhet declared on the final day to set a target of 324, Dhaka Metro lasted just 49.2 overs, as Enamul ran through the line-up with 5 for 63, skittling the opposition for only 133 runs.

A team of Royal Marines were emphatically beaten today by the Afghan National Army, in a match to celebrate New Year and Eid.Members of 45 Commando Group, who are currently based in Helmand, southern Afghanistan, were bowled out for a paltry 56 in 14 overs. Their opponents knocked off the required runs in just 12 overs.”The skill level of the Afhans was brilliant,” Lt Rob Cooper told . “We soon realised we were in trouble when they opened the bowling.”Afghanistan enjoyed a successful tour of England last summer – their first – in which they also beat the Officer Cadets of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Cricket is enjoying a boom in Afghanistan, ever since the Taliban were overthrown in 2001, thanks to the refugees bringing the sport home from the camps in Pakistan. The game continues to be well supported by the government and has spread to over 16 provinces, where it was once banned by the Taliban to just four.”Obviously, we were disappointed to lose as badly as we did,” added Cooper, “but we still managed to enjoy the encounter. It certainly provided a good break from the operational work being done on a daily basis out here.”

Matthew Hayden says beating India, especially in front of their own crowds, ranks high among his favourite cricketing moments. In an interview with , Hayden said defeating India almost matched the experience of defeating old rivals England.”I think India is close on being my favourite side to beat,” he said. “They’ve almost taken the No. 1 seed off England in a lot of ways. It’s a side that within its psyche has amazing highs and amazing lows. So it doesn’t take long to realise they’re at a low when you’re standing in front of 70,000 people at a stadium and you can hear a pin drop. It’s a great position to be in and you know you’ve got them beat.”Hayden and the Australian team had plenty of those moments on their tour earlier this month. Though they lost the last two games, including the one-off Twenty20 game in Mumbai, the Australians dominated the first six ODIs and eventually sealed the series 4-2. Hayden had a good time too, scoring 290 runs in five innings, including three successive half-centuries.Hayden said he had nothing personal against the Indians. “Our ambition is to keep their crowd as quiet as we possibly can and just play good cricket. It’s not a personal thing.”The series in India was also highlighted by plenty of verbals from players of both sides, and Hayden said India’s aggressive approach had fired him up for their return visit to Australia, which includes four Tests and a triangular one-day tournament also featuring Sri Lanka.Denying the criticism of aggression directed at the Australian team, Hayden said: “I think it’s one of the greatest misconceptions of this side ever, that it’s aggressive. I think what we are, it extends from our culture, is just having a great mateship and camaraderie within any kind of team.”You put any 12 blokes together and you’ll get a job done. Whether it’s getting a bogged four-wheel-drive off the beach or standing in front of a cricket wicket and making sure we’re in a dominant position. It’s the same dog, different leg action, so to speak. I think it shows an insecurity to do anything else other than that. All it really does is just amp up the intensity of the way we play our cricket. It’s a good thing for us.”You never want an Australian with his back up against the wall. We saw that last summer against England, you’re seeing that now with this verbal jousting that’s happening between India and Australia. And that’s exactly where we want to be. We’re very comfortable in that position. We want to get into that position because that’s when we play our best cricket.”Looking ahead at his own career, Hayden, who will turn 36 on October 29, said: “I almost feel like it’s an undying passion at this stage. And until that starts to waver, I can’t see myself finishing. And I know that’s a ridiculous thing to say but at this stage I’m not going anywhere.”

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Half-centuries from Billy Godleman and captain Tom Westley guided England to an eight-run D/L victory at Royal Selangor Club. England next take on the winner of Thursday’s Australia-Bangladesh clash in the fifth place play-off final.Sri Lanka, after being put in, got off to a disastrous start and were reduced to 10 for 2 in the fourth over. However, powered by an unbeaten 97 from Sachith Pathirana, who is currently the tournament’s leading run-scorer, they posted a competitive 241. Pathirana smashed five boundaries and two sixes in his 91-ball effort. There were also significant contributions from opener Lahiru Thirimanne (47) and captain Ashan Priyanjan (54).In reply, England’s openers put on a brisk 75 before Pathirana removed James Taylor for 30. Godleman (57) was the next to go, stumped off the bowling of offspinner Roshen Silva with the score on 106. Westley (58) and Sam Northeast were involved in a patient 90-run stand for the third wicket which left England needing 46 at a run-a-ball. However, with the score at 204 for 3 after 44.1 overs, the rains came down and England were adjudged winners by the D/L method.
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West Indies shot out Papua New Guinea for 89 and cruised to victory with six wickets and nearly 35 overs to spare. They now face Nepal on March 1 in the ninth place play-off final.PNG had a torrid time after opting to bat with none of their batsmen making more than 14. Even their measly total was achieved because of some wayward West Indies bowling, which conceded 27 extras, including 22 wides. They would have collapsed for even less if not for a 26-run ninth-wicket partnership, the largest of their innings. West Indies spinners Veerasammy Permaul, Steven Jacob and Sharmarh Brooks turned in impressive performances, giving away a mere 35 runs in 24 overs while sharing four wickets.Though West Indies lost four wickets – including three for one run – in chasing down the target, breezy knocks from Kieran Powell (37) and Adrian Barath (26) ensured the result was never in doubt. The lone bright spot for PNG was medium-pacer Loa Nou, who picked up the wickets of Powell and Barath in his three overs.

Just before leaving for Canada’s trip to Kenya, national coach Andy Pick passed on some of his thoughts. Overall he was upbeat and looking forward to a busy tour.”As time ticks down to the World Cup, we have to look at and identify roles for the personnel in this team; to see who fills each role best. The importance of the World Cricket League with a Twenty20 Championship place in to be won (and the $250,000 from the ICC that goes with it) means we must go out and try to win. We can’t use this event to experiment with players.”Some of the Associate coaches control player selections, but this is not the case in Canada. Pick admitted: “It is frustrating that we cannot name our World Cup squad now (before the WCL trip). Time might be spent on a player or players in Kenya who are not named for the World Cup. It’s very frustrating, but the bottom line is it is very prestigious to qualify for the Twenty20.”Looking beyond the Kenya squad, he said: “there are a couple of the overseas batters not available for Kenya who are likely to be in the World Cup squad.” I am sure he was thinking in terms of opener Geoff Barnett (contracted to Central Districts) and Ian Billcliff (personal reasons – his wife is expecting a baby).””We can look at the encouraging performances in South Africa and look to players to step up again and look for continuing improvement through to the World Cup.”12 of the 13 named for South Africa are in the 15-man squad for the Tri-Nations and WCL series in Kenya. Given limited facilities for other players to prepare adequately, especially those outside the Greater Toronto area, it seems imperative for the core squad to do at least as well in Kenya as in South Africa.That still leaves some additional steps to climb when it comes to the likes of New Zealand and even England. But the core players have been working hard and, in my opinion, deserve their chance at the World Cup. Even so, there may be some disappointments for some of the current squad when it comes to the World Cup.

Kenya Select 147 and 14 for 0 trail Zimbabwe A 234 (Dabengwa 92, Varaiya 3-43) by 73 runs
ScorecardKenya Select turned in a more impressive second-day performance at Harare Sports Club, restricting Zimbabwe A to a first-innings lead of 87.Zimbabwe were bailed out by Keith Dabengwa. He has been the star of the Logan Cup with the ball, the leading wicket-taker by some way, but this time he shone with the bat. His 92 ensured that Zimbabwe, who at one stage were wobbling on 85 for 5, gained what could be a match-winning first-innings lead.Nehemiah Odhiambo and Alfred Luseno bowled really well in the morning session to get rid of the two overnight batsmen. Eric Chauluka added nine to his overnight 18 before being bowled by Odhiambo. Hamilton Masakadza was dismissed fishing outside off stump to Luseno, nicking to wicketkeeper David Obuya for 20.Regis Chakabva never settled, getting off the mark with an edge off Luseno. He scored three more boundaries in his 20 before he fell first ball after lunch, getting a faint edge off Jimmy Kamande.Dabengwa freed his shoulders and smacked a pulled six and a couple of fours as he switched into attacking mode. He put on 63 for the eighth wicket with Blessing Mahwire but with a second first-class ton in sight, he perished to a sloppy slog-sweep off Hiren Varaiya, skying the ball to Elijah Otieno at deep midwicket.Varaiya, who finished with 3 for 43, removed Blessing Mahwire next over and Collins Obuya brought himself into the attack for the first time in the match and trapped Trevor Garwe with his second ball to end the innings.In their second innings, Kenya safely batted out four overs before bad light ended play with three overs remaining.