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Worcestershire Royals have gone clear at the top of the first division in the Norwich Union League with a five-wicket victory over Kent Spitfires at Canterbury.With Warwickshire Bears losing to Leicestershire Foxes it means the Royals have a four-point lead in the top division, while Gloucestershire Gladiators move to the top of the second division with victory over Middlesex Crusaders.A fine spell of bowling from both the Royals Australia-born seamers decimated the Spitfires top-order in the key match in the top division at Canterbury.Spitfires slipped to 52-5 before a brave counter-attack from Matt Walker (94) and Paul Nixon (60) saw them to a final total of 224-7. But on a good pitch, and facing Vikram Solanki, Graeme Hick and Ben Smith in fluent form, it proved an inadequate total, with the Royals coasting to victory with two overs to spare. Kent drop two places to fifth in the table.Warwickshire Bears were equal on points with the Royals before this round of games, but slipped up with a four-wicket loss against Leicestershire Foxes.Nick Knight hit a battling 86 for the Bears after struggling for form with England, but his team-mates were unable to offer much support and they were all out for 189.Phil DeFreitas followed up his 1-24 in his nine overs and run-out of the influential Ian Bell with a beautiful throw from mid-wicket, with a brisk 49 as the Foxes appeared to be galloping to victory. But the arrival of Mo Sheikh to the attack brought a mini collapse, with three wickets falling for one run.Michael Bevan isn’t a bad player to have coming in at five however, and in a left-handed partnership of 102 with Neil Burns, he saw the Foxes to victory with an unbeaten 66 and helped push them away from the relegation area.An injury ravaged Somerset Sabres attack (Caddick, Johnson, Rose, Francis, Tucker and Trego are all out, as well as skipper Jamie Cox) was put to the sword by Yorkshire Phoenix at Scarborough. Sabres were forced to re-sign ex-Yorkshire and England seamer Paul Jarvis, who celebrated his 37th birthday a couple of weeks ago and retired at the end of the 2000 season, but it did them little good.Phoenix’s batsmen posted a challenging 283-9, with Craig White’s 64 and Anthony McGrath’s 59 providing the main contributions.Poor Steffan Jones! Last week Worcestershire Royals hit him for 80 from nine overs, and it was little better today, as he conceded another 72.The Sabres never threatened in reply. Blackwell (30 in 19 balls) and Burns (49 in 40) flourished briefly, but an incisive spell from Craig White (5-19) ripped out their middle order, and they fell 135 runs short of their target. It will take a great effort if they are to avoid relegation now. Phoenix remain in secure mid-table.Elsewhere in the top division, Glamorgan Dragons travelled to Trent Bridge to play Nottinghamshire Outlaws. The match was dominated by a stand of 117 for the third wicket between David Hemp (55*) and Matthew Maynard (80* in 69 balls) as the Dragons made light of a victory target of 221, crossing the line in just the 37th over.Earlier, none of the Outlaws batsmen had managed to progress beyond 39, with Mike Kasprowicz taking 3-39. They remain deep in relegation trouble, while the Dragons, with games in hand, sustain their title dream.In the second division Mark Alleyne led the way for Gloucestershire Gladiators against Middlesex Crusaders at Southgate as his side hit a formidable 272-7. The former England all-rounder hit 93 in 83 balls, after Craig Spearman had struck a quick-fire 78, with Alex Gidman weighing in with a quick 48.An opening spell from James Averis brought three wickets when the Crusaders began their reply, with none of the batsmen able to flourish. They eventually fell short by 78 runs, with Paul Weekes unbeaten 53 receiving scant support.The Gladiators go top of the second division table, while the Crusaders are left trying to avoid the wooden spoon.Elsewhere, in what was, perhaps, the match of the day, Lancashire Lightning just sneaked home by one wicket against Derbyshire Scorpions at Blackpool.Kyle Hogg, who has just celebrated his 19th birthday and Peter Martin restricted the visitors to just 169 in their innings, thanks mainly to Steve Selwood, who hit 52 to help revive the Scorpions innings from 102-7.But when Lightning slipped to 82-6 in reply the Scorpions looked to be in pole position. David Byas stood firm with 78, however, adding 55 for the seventh wicket with Gary Yates to revive Lightning’s hopes. But when he fell with the score on 137 and Yates followed shortly afterwards, the game swung back in the Scorpions favour.Hogg helped add a further 23 in partnership with John Wood, but when he fell with three still needed, it was a breathless Stanley Park that witnessed Martin’s match-winning boundary from his first ball.Essex Eagles enjoyed a good start to their encounter with Hampshire Hawks at Southend, with Dakin and Robinson posting 48 for the first wicket. But the hosts then fell away, with Robinson and Flower falling to run outs, and Irani – just back from England duty – falling for a duck.A half-century from Aftab Habib carried them to a respectable 200, before Neil Johnson, opening for the Hawks struck a fine 83 to take his side to the verge of victory. But a late wobble saw them subside from 177-2 to 195-8, with James Middlebrook’s off-spin (4-33) proving crucial, and limiting the Hawks to just three off a last over in which they required nine.The Eagles move ahead of the Hawks in the promotion race, but with both teams enjoying a game or two in hand on their promotion rivals, they still have plenty to play for.Sussex Sharks clashed with Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Hove, with the home team desperate to lift themselves off the foot of the second division. The visitors won the toss and put the Sharks in, and though several of their batsmen made starts, none could progress beyond Chris Adams’ 41 in their final total of 185-6.The Steelbacks were progressing smoothly, but the wheels came off with the loss of four wickets with the score on 54. They struggled to come to terms with the setback and finally subsided to 147 all out, and a 38-run loss. This provided the Sharks with just the second win of their campaign, while the Steelbacks have done their promotion prospects no good at all.

Dale Benkenstein dominated this top of the table clash. KwaZulu-Natal, sent in to bat, stumbled to 48 for 4 halfway through the opening session, but lost just one more wicket in the day as Benkenstein shared successive century partnerships with first Jon Kent then the veteran Lance Klusener.Charl Willoughby justified Ackerman’s decision to field first as he struck with his sixth ball, having Ahmed Amla caught in the slips. He caught the big fish soon afterwards, bowling Jonty Rhodes and when Dawson had the promising Hashim Amla caught behind, the visitors were teetering on 29 for 3. Worse came when Telemachus had Doug Watson out hooking, but that was the limit of the home team’s success.From there, Kent and Benkenstein calmly set about rebuilding the innings with a partnership of 157 in 3 and a half hours, wresting the initiative from the home side as the teeth were gradually drawn from the attack. Apart from the odd play and miss, the batsmen continued comfortably and it came as a surprise when Kent drove a Willoughby delivery to extra cover.Klusener then played a restrained innings, but still hit the ball firmly and included nine boundaries in his 50, reached shortly before close of play. KZN passed the 300 mark in the 99th over, and finished with 4.12 batting bonus points to WP’s two for bowling, and remained firmly at the top of the Super Six log.

Wellington captain Matthew Bell continues to help his English league side New Farnley in its bid to win the Central Yorkshire League this year.At the weekend he scored 120 not out as his side reached 224/4 against Gildersome. Bell was dropped early on in his innings, and then once the side was past the 100-mark he survived a run out. He was out of his ground but the Gildersome wicket-keeper had removed the bails in his quest to get the ball.And while Bell was still short of his ground, the wicket-keeper failed to pull a stump from the ground to claim the run out in the approved fashion.Bell cashed in big-time and almost scored more than the opposition. They were dismissed for 124 with Bell demonstrating his bowling skills by taking three wickets.In the Liverpool league, Peter Fulton had a more memorable day for his Lytham side in the premier division than his team-mates. Bootle scored 200/7 declared of whom Fulton took three for 40. In Lytham’s run chase Fulton scored 64, but the team was all out for 124.In the first division of the same league, James Marshall scored 46 of Formby’s 94/5 as they overhauled St Helens’ 93. Marshall had taken three for 24 with the ball earlier.Neal Parlane, playing for Fleetwood Hesketh scored 96 not out in the total of 144/4 which was sufficient to beat Southport and Birkdale’s total of 142.In the Netherlands premier division, Darren Reekers had an outstanding day. He scored 34 runs off 41 balls, including two sixes, in Quick Haag’s 150/5 in a rain-reduced game. Then he destroyed the VOC response by taking four wickets for six runs in his seven overs as VOC were all out for 63. Among his victims were three current or former Netherlands internationals.Darrin Murray scored 37 in his VRA side’s 152/4 against HBS while team-mate Peter Borren took three for 31 from 10 overs. VRA, earlier dismissing HBS for 161, won on run rate in the rain-affected match.

As in all competitions in this early season, the rain has had its say in thefirst round of the Benson & Hedges matches. Only two-and-a quarter hoursplay was possible at The Oval where Middlesex put Surrey in to bat andmanaged to bowl 35 overs under the threat of rain for most of that time.Ian Ward, who was to remain unbeaten on 71 from 95 balls when theumpires decided to abandon play, got Surrey off to a fairly brisk start alongwith Mark Butcher. The two left-handers put on 46 before Butcher, attemptingto deflect, was held down the leg side by the wicket-keeper. That was in thelast of Simon Cook’s six overs which cost 26 runs.Mark Ramprakash, coming to the crease against his old county after playing that brilliant innings of 146 in the opening CricInfo Championship match, went for his strokes straight away. He turned Cook to square leg for four off only the second ball he faced.When Cook was replaced by Chad Keegan, Ramprakash picked up two moreboundaries, a leg glance and then a beautiful drive through extra cover before being beaten, as he played forward defensively, by the off-spin of Paul Weekeswho had come on to replace captain Angus Fraser.Meanwhile, Ward had reached his half-century from 68 balls, hittingfive boundaries as he looked for scoring opportunities throughout hisinnings. He added one boundary, which was the finest stroke of his innings, astylish square cut off Keegan, shortly before the enforced stoppage whichgave the two teams a point each. Surrey had reached 146 for two, with GrahamThorpe 23 not out.

Until it receives an official response from its equivalent body in India, the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) has no plans to look for a new opponent for the series of three one-day international matches to be staged in the country in September.Following a decision late last week from India to play in Asian Test Championship matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh instead, it now seems that the ACB’s first-choice guest will be unable to commit to the series unless its proposed dates are the subject of significant revision.Originally, the ACB had been seeking India’s participation in matches on 14, 16 and 18 September. But, after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s rumoured move to accept a request to play against Pakistan – from 13 to 17 September – as part of the Asian Test Championship series, hopes that such a contest would proceed now appear to have been scuttled. Following that Test – which will be their first in Pakistan since 1989 – the Indians are also committed to playing a home Test against Bangladesh from 21 to 25 September.Reports emanating from India today have quoted BCCI spokesmen as confirming that a decision to decline the Australian invitation has been taken.An ACB spokesman said late this afternoon, however, that no official response from the BCCI has been received at this stage and that no contingency plans necessarily exist at this point in time.If it were to be received, a negative reply from India would likely force the ACB to quickly direct its efforts to seeking a positive response from another team. Sri Lanka, to which strong attention reportedly turned in original discussions, would shape as one strong contender to be invited to play in the match at the ‘Gabba ground in Brisbane and the two matches at Colonial Stadium in Melbourne that are expected to form the core of the series.South Africa, the Australians’ opponent in the corresponding series last year, is not likely to receive a return invite as it will be involved in Test and one-day international cricket in neighbouring Zimbabwe throughout September.

Shane Warne has been confirmed as the captain of the Melbourne Stars for this season’s Big Bash League, and he will be joined by Lasith Malinga in the line-up. The Stars unveiled their latest signings on Tuesday in Melbourne, which brings their list to 16 and leaves them with two more spaces to fill before the November 30 deadline.Warne, who turns 43 next month, was widely tipped to lead the Stars after Cameron White stepped down as captain in July. Warne no longer plays in the IPL and has not played a match since last summer’s BBL, in which he took seven wickets at an average of 26 and a strike-rate of 6.74.”I’ve always admired his attacking captaincy and in addition to his bowling guile we believe his leadership will have a positive influence on the team both now and in to the future,” the Stars chairman of selectors Ian Chappell said of Warne. “This is a strong addition to what was always a highly competitive squad.”The addition of Malinga also provides a major boost for the Stars, who reached the semi-finals of last year’s tournament but could not progress to the decider. Malinga, 28, did not take part in the BBL last season and his appearance for the Stars will help him move up the list of all-time Twenty20 wicket-takers – he currently sits fourth with 161 victims at 16.91.Malinga joins the England all-rounder Luke Wright as the two internationals on the Melbourne Stars list. Chappell said Malinga would be valuable for several reasons.”For quite a few years now Lasith Malinga has been one of the premier short-form bowlers,” Chappell said. “He fulfills two important roles – he takes wickets and there’s no better finishing bowler in the game.”Lasith has always been a popular player on tours of Australia and with a large Sri Lankan population in Victoria, his presence is sure to add to the atmosphere wherever he plays. Indicative of the confidence on both sides, the Stars were delighted when Lasith agreed to a multi-year contract.”

Mumbai were 83 for no loss in 28 overs when stumps were drawn on thesecond day of the warmup game against Australia at the CCI on Friday.Mumbai now have an overall lead of 208 runs. Vinayak Mane (45) andWasim Jaffer (36) were at the crease at close of play.The Australians were all out in the second over after tea. Theyfinished on 203 for nine off 64.3 overs in reply to Mumbai’s 328 fornine declared. Mark Waugh could not bat owing to a finger injury.The Australian skipper Steve Waugh left his mark on the day’sproceedings with an unbeaten century. Waugh bailed his team out with afighting knock of 106 runs off 162 balls, studded with 10 boundariesand three sixes, after the Mumbai bowlers ran through the battingorder. Paras Mhambrey bagged four for 59 and left arm spinner NileshKulkarni picked up four for 39.Earlier, Mumbai skipper Sameer Dighe declared the innings at theovernight score. He was happy at the lunch interval as his bowlers hadscalped four Australian wickets for 87 runs.Paras Mhambrey accounted for Michael Slater and Ricky Ponting, whereasfrom the other end Nilesh Kulkarni scalped Justin Langer and MatthewHayden in the first session.Soon after lunch, a determined Waugh appeared onto the field and tookthe game away from the opposition. He applied himself very well at thecrease, picking up the gaps in the field, first in a brief 31-runpartnership with Adam Gilchrist for the fifth wicket and then a 70-runstand with Glenn McGrath for the ninth wicket.Waugh was severe on all the spinners, Kulkarni, Sairaj Bahutule andRamesh Powar. He tore apart the off spinner with two consecutive sixesthat landed six rows behind in the Brabourne stadium stands. In all hetook 21 runs of Powar in the 60th over, the most expensive over of theday.The Australian innings suffered a setback when four wickets fell forjust 30 runs. Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Damien Fleming and ColinMiller were dismissed in quick succession as Steve Waugh steadily ranout of partners.Mumbai took a 125-run lead on the first innings and then openers WasimJaffer and Vinayak Mane came good in the last session. Mane was themore aggressive of the two. Both relished the new ball attack ofFleming and McGrath. Fleming was dispatched to the boundary on fouroccasions by Mane.Shane Warne however bowled brilliantly. He extracted both spin andbounce from the wicket. The only runs to come off him were twoboundaries to the cover area hit by Jaffer.

If his four-wicket haul against Delhi Daredevils is any indication, Sunil Narine may have begun IPL 2013 in the same form as last year. But his good form aside, the Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowler said he was relieved about not bowling to Virender Sehwag in the opening match of the IPL 2013.”Sehwag is the batsman against whom I’ve found things most difficult while bowling,” Narine said in the . “Irrespective of the situation, he goes on playing in his own style, which is to keep on scoring runs at a brisk pace.”The lead bowler for Kolkata Knight Riders, Narine believes his success is also the result of playing with a captain who knows how to use his talent.”Gautam [Gambhir] has a good idea of the game, which guides him to use me properly in different situations of the game,” he said. He also said he enjoyed bowling at the death, as it gave him a chance of picking up more wickets. “You can either go for plenty of runs or take wickets. It presents you with an opportunity to shine for your team.”While his performances have been consistent in ODIs and T20s, Narine hasn’t really established himself as Test player. He played just five Tests since his debut against England in Birmingham last year, and was dropped for the recent Test series against Zimbabwe, as the West Indies selectors opted for Shane Shillingford. Narine believes he can make his mark in the longer format. “Now as far as I’m concerned, I am comfortable bowling with both white and red balls. The amount of success I’ve attained with the white ball, so far, may give an impression that I’m useful in the shorter format.”

After conceding the high-scoring one-off Twenty20 in Pallekele, Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim criticised his bowlers’ work ethic, and said it was time the country takes a proper look at the state of fast bowling.”The bowlers have to work a lot harder,” Mushfiqur said. “What they are doing right now, is not enough. I wouldn’t entirely hold it against them but maybe the team management is to share the blame too.”I would be guilty if I blamed just an individual. If our pace bowlers had backed up the other bowlers, we would have a slightly different series, especially in the Tests. We are giving them enough chances, but they are not giving us the results. Our next tour is to Zimbabwe where we can’t experiment. It is a big series for us, so we have to come to a decision.”Bangladesh were left wondering how some decisions could have changed the course of the game. While the decision to pick a pace bowler with an ordinary record in limited-overs cricket left tongues hanging, the umpiring errors also added to the visitors’ misery.On a wicket that was perfect for batsmen to tee off, Shahadat Hossain had a forgettable evening. He wasted the new ball by giving Kusal Perera far too much width, and bowled short with a pace that was hardly threatening. It contributed to the body language of the rest of the team dropping as they fielded poorly and gave away 26 extras. The 54 runs he conceded in four overs highlighted Bangladesh’s pace bowling weakness in the last 18 months. It has spewed over on this tour where it has given Mushfiqur headaches.However, one would have expected Mushfiqur to go with spin even on a good batting wicket. He had the left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain at his disposal but bizarrely went with Shahadat, a seamer who hadn’t played an international Twenty20 for more than three years, and someone who was mostly benched by Khulna Royal Bengals in the BPL earlier this year.”We probably needed a front-line bowler in Twenty20s. Abul Hasan is injured, so we had no other option,” Mushfiqur said. “I tried Ziaur [Rahman] who bowled well in one game, didn’t bowl or bat well in the third game.”There was nothing in the track for the spinners and you had to bowl the quicks early. [Kusal] Perera played well, they took us apart in the first six overs.”Despite Sri Lanka’s onslaught, Bangladesh were on course to force a tight game. Mohammad Ashraful looked in good touch again, going after Thisara Perera in his first over with two sixes and a four. But when struck on the inside of the front pad off a full toss, Ashraful almost ran the full length of the pitch thinking it was going down the leg side. The umpire however relented to Perera’s long appeal. Replays showed it was quite a way down the leg side. Shamsur Rahman also got a poor decision early in the chase when an Angelo Mathews delivery was slipping down the leg side as the debutant came out of the crease to flick the ball.”I don’t know what else to say about the umpires. During this series everyone has seen the number of bad decisions that we have had,” Mushfiqur said. “We can’t get it back, but we feel sad when it happens to us. I felt sorry for [Shamsur Rahman] Shuvo, who got out off the first ball,” he said.However, Mushfiqur stopped short of making excuses. “I think rather than thinking about the leg-before decisions, we should avoid getting hit on the pads,” he said, in all seriousness.

Gloucestershire have finally landed their man for the Friends Life t20 by signing Australian allrounder Daniel Christian.John Bracewell, Gloucestershire director of cricket, had expressed his frustration at not being able to seal a deal for an overseas player. He is targeting a place at finals day and it was essential that any signing would be available for the whole T20 competition.Christian, 29, will hope to help them to a first semi-final since 2007. He has played a handful of internationals, 17 ODIs and 11 T20Is for Australia, and has a good record in domestic T20 with almost 1,300 runs at a strike rate of 131.57 and a bowling average of 25.43.Christian is well-known to new Gloucestershire captain Michael Klinger, who also plays for South Australia. But it was with Brisbane Heat that Christian won the Big Bash League in January. He also won the Friends Life t20 with Hampshire in 2010 and was signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore for this season’s IPL.”I couldn’t be more pleased about signing Dan,” Bracewell said. “He is a power-hitter and a vicious competitor, as is the nature of the new breed of top T20 players, who want to win every ball. Dan will bat in our top four and can bowl in the middle of an innings and at the death. He is a hugely exciting recruit.””I am excited to be joining Gloucestershire,” Christian said. “Having played in 2010 for Hampshire, I have already had a taste of county cricket and I am really looking forward to playing in England again.”I have two months in India for the IPL prior to joining the club which will be great preparation ahead of the English T20. I look forward to joining John Bracewell, Michael Klinger and the rest of the boys in June and pulling on a Gloucestershire shirt for the first time.”