England compled a convincing win over Sri Lanka in the Under-19 `Test’at Trent Bridge with a day and an innings to spare thanks in the mainto Kabir Ali’s accurate seam bowling.Kabir was backed up by slow left-armer Monty Panesar, who collectedthree wickets as the Sri Lankans collapsed for 184 in their secondinnings.Jehan Mubarak, who top-scored on the first day, was again the main rungetter with 44.But after he was fifth out, the Sri Lankan tail added just 47 moreruns before England won by an innings and 22 runs.Resuming on 325 for five and a big lead of 114, England’s Kadeer Ali,who had steadied the innings superbly the previous day, fell soonafter the start to a juggling catch at slip having made 59. Hisovernight partner Peter Trego, continued however with the sameaggressive strokeplay that had brought him a half century the previousevening.After hitting 13 fours and a six, Trego seemed headed for a centurybut he was bowled attempting to cut a ball from spinner RanilDhammika. But by now England were 180 runs in front and Kabir hit abreezy 28 before the innings ended on 417, a lead of 206.In the second innings, Sri Lanka raced to 25 before Kabir uprootedopener Ian Daniels’ off-stump in his third over. The 19-year-old thendismissed the other opener, Nimesh Perera, caught at backward pointand Sri Lanka were 42 for two.The third and fourth wickets also fell before 100 had been registeredbut the batsmen continued to adopt aggressive tactics.Panesar then removed three left-handers, all to edges caught at slipor by the wicketkeeper and at 156 for eight it was just a matter ofhow long it would take England to seal the win.

Surrey’s jubilant supporters on the Family Day at Foster’s Oval saw thepresentation of the trophy to the ‘Lions’ for winning the Norwich UnionNational League Division Two.It’s been a most successful season for the London team having already gainedpromotion, prior to today’s match, to the first division of the League andwill, no doubt, be completing the formality of gaining the one required pointto clinch the Championship title from their match at Old Trafford next week.As such, their last league match today was simply of academic interest tothem and for their opponents, Durham, the victory by 59 runs would be alittle consolation. They have had a poor season, they will still be finishingtowards the bottom of the league’s second division points table and have beenrelegated to the second division of the championship. However, they will bepleased with their fourth victory of the season today in the League.Surrey, having been obliged to bat second, made a spirited reply with IanWard showing glimpses of the form that brought him the big hundred in thatrecord-breaking stand with Mark Butcher earlier in the week in thechampionship match. Ward and Alistair Brown hit freely with the latterreaching his half-century from as few as 36 balls, having hit seven of thoseto the boundaries and a six.They put up 87 on the scoreboard before Brown became the first of IanHunter’s three victims. When he claimed the next two wickets, he had taken 3for 7 in a 12-ball spell. Surrey’s next stand of 38 was the highest of theirinnings and when that was broken with the dismissal of Gareth Batty for 20,Surrey were unable to make a recovery. The only score of note after that was37 by Gary Butcher as Durham’s bowlers took control and off-spinner NickPhillips with 4 for 30 produced his best figures in the League. It tookDurham 40.3 overs to dismiss Surrey for 192.Durham had begun their innings poorly, losing two wickets for 31 within halfan hour to the bowling of Carl Greenidge. But in distinct contrast to thatstart came the third wicket stand between Jimmy Daley and Paul Collingwood.They put on 177 runs which is a Durham record for the third wicket in theNational League. It was a weakened Surrey attack with none of the bowlers whowere in the championship match which ended the previous day, included in thisteam of five changes. But, nevertheless, Daley and Collingwood batted well,playing some fine strokes during their 196-ball partnership.By the time Collingwood had his off-stump uprooted by Tim Murtagh in the40th. over, he had 86 to his name from 97 balls with eight boundaries and asix which he hit over long-off in the previous over from the same bowler. Ithad been an expensive over conceding 14 but not quite as expensive asGreenidge’s first over when he returned for a second spell, that went for 16.Jon Lewis hit a quick 25 from 19 balls before being caught at long-off from alofted drive and in the meantime Daley reached his maiden century inlimited-over’s cricket, he has three in first-class. Having opened the batting, he was the last to be dismissed, off the final ball of the innings for 105 from 134 balls.It had been a brilliant innings with 46 of his runs coming from boundaries. He had taken Durham to 251 for 5, their highest total this season in one-day cricket.

ScorecardAzharullah picked up three second-innings wickets as Kent succumbed inside three days•Getty Images

Northamptonshire dismissed Championship Division Two rivals Kent for 208 to wrap up an innings-and-23-runs victory with almost a day-and-a-half to spare at Canterbury.Hosts Kent seemingly had little desire for the fight as they lost nine wickets in less than two sessions to gift a 23-point win to Northants. That left Kent second from bottom and they went straight into the nets afterwards having banked only three points from this their seventh defeat in 12 Championship games.Resuming on 90 for 1 at the start of Thursday’s play, Kent lost four more wickets in the morning session of what transpired to be a one-sided clash.Once again, poor shot selection led to their demise with Joe Denly starting the rot with a meek clip off his hip straight into the hands of Josh Cobb at short midwicket. Captain Sam Northeast was pinned leg before when playing across a full length ball from Azharullah, as was Ben Harmison, whose painful 36-minute stay for 3 ended with a near identical stroke against Ben Sanderson.On 27 Rob Key had raised Kent’s 100 in fortunate circumstances with a top-edged hook against Azharullah that was palmed over the ropes for six by Maurice Chambers at long leg. But after adding another nine to his own score Key perished when another miscued pull against Sanderson sailed to Azharullah who safely pouched the opportunity to make it 121 for 5.The capitulation gathered pace after lunch when Darren Stevens was adjudged leg before for 15 to the excellent Olly Stone who, in tandem with Azharullah, sent down 53 of the 78 overs needed to skittle Kent.Stone then cleaned up Calum Haggett with the very next delivery for a golden duck and although James Tredwell survived the hat-trick ball, the end for Kent was nigh. Azharullah had Tredwell caught at long leg, one of three Kent players to be caught out on the hook, as was top-scorer Sam Billings (43) leaving Chambers to polish off the win by rearranging the stumps of Kent’s last man Matt Hunn.Northamptonshire captain Alex Wakely said: “I’ve just said in our team meeting that I believe that to be the best collective bowling performance that I’ve ever witnessed by a Northants team. We barely bowled a bad ball throughout and really made life tough for a Kent batting line-up that is chock full of experienced players.”I’m very proud of that performance considering we were missing the two spearheads of our attack. Stone and Azharullah were magnificent and Ben Sanderson has again proved a real asset. We’ve also given ourselves a valuable day off ahead of our T20 quarter final.”Northeast said: “I thought Northamptonshire bowled really well on this pitch. There wasn’t much in it for our lads, but they got out of it what they could.”A couple of us made starts in this match but nobody went on to play a match-defining knock. We all have to stick our hands up and say that wasn’t good enough. We have four games to go in this competition now. We need to look at our practice and how we’re going about things because there’s no denying that we’re very inconsistent.”

Mominul Haque will lead a strong Bangladesh A team for their tour to India later this month. The 15-member squad consists of 14 internationals including Al-Amin Hossain, who has been out of representative cricket since the World Cup.”Its my first tour abroad as a captain so looking ahead to make it memorable,” Mominul said. “It wont be easy considering we will be playing against the Indians at their own backyard but I am confident that we can put up a good show considering our strength. I think we have got an experienced squad and it will be good for our preparation ahead of the series against Australia.”Saqlain Sajib, the left-arm spinner, is the only uncapped player in the squad and it is learned that he was picked as cover for Taijul Islam, who has been given two weeks’ rest to recover from jaundice.

Bangladesh A tour of India

• Sept 16 – 1st one-dayer v India A, Bangalore

• Sept 18 – 2nd one-dayer v India A, Bangalore

• Sept 20 – 3rd one-dayer v India A, Bangalore

• Sept 22-24 – Three-day match v Karnataka, Mysore

• Sept 27-29 – Three day match v India A, Bangalore

Al-Amin, who was sent home from Australia in February after a disciplinary breach, is one of four seamers in the team. Taskin Ahmed has been passed fit and will likely play multi-day cricket for the first time in over two years when Bangladesh A meet India A and Ranji Trophy champions Karnataka in Bangalore and Mysore. Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam complete the quartet.Anamul Haque, who lost his place in the senior side after injuring his shoulder in the World Cup, has been included in the A team while Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das and Sabbir Rahman are some of the other upcoming batsmen who have played international cricket in this team.Nasir Hossain and Mominul are the senior batsmen in the side, and Shuvagata Hom, who last played the solitary Test against India, is one of the batting allrounders in the side.Bangladesh A squad: Anamul Haque, Rony Talukdar, Liton Das, Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque (capt), Nasir Hossain, Saqlain Sajib, Arafat Sunny, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shuvagata Hom, Jubair Hossain.

ScorecardA rainbow over the Spitfire Ground at Canterbury•Andrew Miller/ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Daniel Bell-Drummond was the sole casualty of a rain-ruined opening day in Canterbury where only 15 overs were bowled at the start of Kent’s final home game of the LV= County Championship campaign against Gloucestershire.After barely an hour’s play Kent had reached 67 for 1 at stumps with Sean Dickson on 31 not out together with Joe Denly, who was unbeaten on 9.Play finally got underway at 5pm, when the visitors elected to bowl after winning the delayed toss, yet within five minutes match umpires David Millns and Paul Baldwin asked for the floodlights to go on. However, high wind speeds prevented use of the retractable pylons under health and safety regulations and Kent were made to bat on.Despite the blowy and gloomy conditions Kent opener Bell-Drummond made a breezy start by taking four early boundaries; two steers through third man, a clip through backward square and a crisp off drive all off the bowling of David Payne.At the other end, Dickson, the 24-year-old opening bat making his home debut, required 17 balls before getting off the mark with a steer for two through square leg.Bell-Drummond (22) departed when his late decision to shoulder arms at an in-ducker from left-arm quick bowler Payne left him susceptible to the lbw shout that immediately followed to make it 24 for 1.To Bell-Drummond’s chagrin, the other players followed him off for a seven-minute break for yet another shower and the loss of a further over’s play.Dickson re-emerged after the interval and, in tandem with Joe Denly batted out the final eight overs of the day without any further alarm.There had been no play in the opening two sessions at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence after overnight rain and blustery morning showers delayed the start for six-and-a-half hours.

Here is a case of crash and then crash through. Travis Head first made headlines when he was hit by a car in North Adelaide and spent a night in hospital after a rare Sheffield Shield victory for South Australia over Victoria in early 2013.On Monday, Head came through with the sort of innings that will be remembered rather longer than his accident outside the Lion Hotel. A bold and brazen yet also calculated 202 helped South Australia reel in Western Australia’s seemingly distant 350. They therefore started the competition in a fashion that leaves all members of the squad feeling validated in pursuing a punishing pre-season under the tutelage of new coach Jamie Siddons and Stephen Schwerdt, an AFL fitness coach of note.”There’s a range of reasons why we’ve started as we have,” Head said the day after his blizzard of boundaries. “Stephen Schwerdt was a great appointment, getting someone from football over we’ve changed a lot up with fitness, GPS and recovery, so blokes are in great nick, we’ve got great belief and Schwerdty’s brought that to the group.”Jamie’s brought that belief, being aggressive and playing as positively as we can – I think we showed that yesterday in the way we played our cricket. That’s how we want to play through the season, it’s not going to work every time, but if we can play that sort of brand we’ll hopefully win more time than not.”I think that just gets us off to a great start, gives us the confidence that what we’re doing in pre-season has worked a little bit hopefully, and again in this tournament situation if we can get momentum and take it to Thursday [against New South Wales] we can do anything.”Head has been the subject of rave reviews from Ricky Ponting and Darren Lehmann, among others, who believe he has what it takes to be a formidable international batsman. His elevation to lead the Redbacks at the end of last summer was a decision made prior to the arrival of Siddons and over the raised eyebrows of numerous judges – it was a lot of expectation to place on one so young.But it was telling that his Hurstville innings was played alongside the Redbacks’ senior batting pro Callum Ferguson, who has already provided valuable leavening to Head’s instinctive power by showing how to look for gaps and singles in addition to fours and sixes. Their relationship as young captain and older subordinate will be pivotal to the team’s hopes of seeking some rare silverware for the state. Both can benefit each other.”It’s hopefully going to be a big season for me and Callum,” Head enthused of a player he declared would be pushing for higher honours this summer. “Coming into the season we want our senior players to get the runs. Callum showed that last year and was fantastic but probably didn’t have the support from the others that was necessary, so hopefully this is a starting point for a big season for a few blokes.”I’ve been trying to up-skill I guess and Callum’s really good at using his feet, finding gaps and always been good at getting twos. For my game personally trying to be a bit more powerful and aggressive, I’ve definitely learned a bit from Callum about one-day cricket, manipulating fields and things like that.”I used that in periods yesterday to get to 100. After I got to 100 Callum gave me the opportunity to take the game on a bit. But definitely to 100 Callum and I have worked really hard on picking gaps and that showed again yesterday, how good he is – he went under the radar and just kept getting ones and hitting the gaps. He’s great through the middle.”Hurstville Oval’s dimensions are highly favourable to batsmen, and it was in the closing overs of WA’s innings that Head and his bowlers laid the foundation for a successful afternoon chase. At 1 for 246 with 10 overs remaining it was quite possible they could have been chasing anything up to 400, but a serviceable death display prevented the Warriors from launching into orbit. Training at the similarly small Adelaide Oval No. 2 had steeled the Redbacks for the chase to come.Similarly, Head has been helped in his limited-overs development by a background with the Tea Tree Gully grade club, which in recent years has more or less made a monopoly of the Adelaide Twenty20 and one-day competitions. In that environment, Head has commonly been a younger man surrounded by others nearer to 30 years old. He duly showed composure beyond his years on Monday.”It all started with about 15 overs to go,” Head said. “At the drinks break I think we mentioned it was a big moment in the game, if we could restrict them in the last 10. Coming into the game we knew with the small field what we’d be in for, we’d been practising on Adelaide No. 2 a lot and working on match scenarios. Our batters had been batting fantastically well in those scenarios so we knew the batting was going to be great.”Adam Zampa bowled amazingly to have 0 for 43 off 10, to do that probably put us in a good position to win the game. A couple of early wickets would be nice, we can probably attack a bit more at the front end and get ourselves an opportunity. Kane Richardson is one of the best death bowlers in the country, so if we can get him in bowling at the middle to lower order I think we’ll restrict them more than having to bowl at the top five.”Next up is a full-strength New South Wales, who showed their keenness for the new season by obliterating the under-aged Cricket Australia XI in Bankstown. At the start of a season in which he wants to achieve the dual goals of lifting silverware and guiding numerous SA players into the national team, Head was in no doubt that a meeting with the Blues at North Sydney Oval would provide an ideal test of that resolve.”It’s a great challenge for us, it’s the time you want to get runs and take wickets,” he said. “Our boys are really looking forward to the opportunity to play a really strong outfit, and to win this tournament we’re going to have to beat the best side.”So we’ll go in the same way we went into this [WA] game, we’ll try to play the same way, take the game on and hopefully get the result. It’d be great to get two wins on the board. Jamie and I want to get players playing for Australia and want to get silverware. That’s what we’re there to do.”

The fourth Test of the India-South Africa series is likely to be held in Delhi, with the Delhi High Court on Wednesday asking the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to provide the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) the provisional clearance needed to organise the match at Feroz Shah Kotla. The two-judge divisional bench of the high court also appointed Justice Mukul Mudgal as an observer for the match pending his approval.However, there remains one last roadblock in the way of Delhi hosting the Test, which starts on December 3: getting the no-objection certificate, relating to entertainment tax, from the excise department of the Delhi government. The DDCA has accumulated, despite repeated reminders, entertainment tax dues amounting to Rs 24.46 crore from 2008 onwards.The court adjourned the matter to Thursday morning, when it will hear the counsels from both DDCA and the government before issuing a final order. In the interim, the court also asked the DDCA to get clearances from the various civic bodies, which are mandatory.The MCD provisional certificate was one of the two clearances the DDCA had to procure in order to get the permission from the BCCI to host the Test match scheduled to be played between December 3-7. The court asked the MCD to issue the clearance only for the period between December 1-10. It also warned the DDCA to not approach the court next time and clear all outstanding to the MCD by March 31, 2016.The BCCI, which had extended the original deadline of November 17 it had set for DDCA to get the clearances, has decided not to comment on the issue.The DDCA, however, welcomed the decision. “A major hurdle has been crossed and we have got relief,” DDCA vice-president Chetan Chauhan told .”We also welcome Justice Mudgal to oversee the match and its organising. He (Mudgal) is a good man, a cricket lover and very reasonable. He is very impartial and we are happy to carry on our duties under his guidance.The discussion on entertainment tax will be brought up in tomorrow’s hearing. We are not running away from it but it should be reasonable.”

Hyderabad had things their own way on the opening day of their RanjiTrophy semifinal against Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy stadium inBangalore on Tuesday. At close of play, the visitors were sittingpretty at 344/2 after VVS Laxman (163) and Mohd. Azharuddin (103)mercilessly punished Karnataka, with an unbroken 253 run partnership,for an apalling display in the field that saw three catches go downbesides several shocking misfields. Laxman’s seventh hundred in eightmatches this season and the 17th of his Ranji Trophy career also sawhim cross the thousand mark for the season.Combining power with finesse, Laxman played some exquisite squarecuts, leaning back and slicing the ball past point. He was also strongoff his legs and when the ball was pitched short, he pulled with regalauthority. Both batsmen made merry on a wicket which did not give thebowlers as much assistance as was expected.Both sides went in with three pronged seam attacks, with Hyderabadleaving out middle order bat D Vinay Kumar to accommodate Fiaz Ahmed,the third seamer. The left-right combination of Daniel Manohar andNandakishore opened the batting but the latter did not last long as hefell to Prasad for 11. There was a hint of outswing as the batsmanplayed defensively and the ball just about carried to Vijay Bharadwajat second slip who took a low catch to his left.Laxman started cautiosly, taking 23 balls to get off the mark with adisdainful pull to the square leg boundary off Mansur Ali Khan. Mansurwas unlucky when Laxman checked an intended drive and deposited theball in the no man’s land behind the bowler’s head. Hyderabad’s fiftycame up in the 18th over as both batsmen played the bowling withincreasing confidence.Laxman gave Ganesh a pasting with two charming pulls in one over tothe square leg and mid wicket boundaries. Sunil Joshi was brought onbut although keeping the batsmen on a leash, he did not pose anythreat to their well being. Suddenly however for no rhyme or reason,Laxman stepped down the track and tried to hoist Joshi over mid on. Hedidn’t get the intended elevation and the ball went at shoulder heightto Rowland Barrington, who dropped it to the universal disbelief ofthe fielders and the crowd. Laxman was then on 30 and the score at89/1.One run later, Prasad struck again as Daniel Manohar presented theblade in a defensive posture and got a tickle through to Thilak Naidufor 39 (95 balls). Prasad didn’t have a mid wicket to Azharuddin andhe was tempted soon enough to flick one into the gap only to get aleading edge that landed short of gully.The cup of the woe continued to fill for Karnataka as Akhil at secondslip grassed Azhar, then on 16, low down to his right. Akhil’s luckdid not change when he came on to bowl with Laxman taking threesucessive boundaries in his first over. Azhar had a lapse ofconcentration just before tea when he flailed at two balls outside offstump from Mansur Ali Khan. Vijay Bharadwaj got a hand to the firstbut could not hold on as it raced to the fence while the secondbisected Bharadwaj and Prasad at first slip just over their heads.Laxman got a couple of gift boundaries as Mansur Ali Khan let one slipthrough his legs at mid off and later Mithun Beerala fired in a throwat the bowler’s end which Joshi, daydreaming at mid on, failed tocollect. Laxman’s hundred came when he drove a ball into the groundwhich bounced over the bowler’s head and went down to the long offboundary. The umpires had to caution the Karnataka players shortlyafter when Mansur Ali Khan had expressed his displeasure over a legbefore appeal against Azhar that had been turned down.Dodda Ganesh was also upto his antics with some uproarious appealsfollowed by a trot down the wicket to stare at the batsman. But he wasput in his place as Azhar ferociously hooked him to the square legfence to go into his nineties. He finally got to his century off 167balls with a push past cover and Laxman’s 150 followed with a slicebetween gully and point that raced to the pickets. His career bestscore of 301 against Bihar should come under threat on themorrow. With the wicket expected to deteriorate later in the game,Karnataka have to pull out all the stops to prevent Hyderabad frombatting them out of the match tomorrow.

Although England have dominated this Test from the outset, they have gone onto firmly establish their overwhelming superiority as the match has progressed.The innocuous bowling that Zimbabwe have had at their disposal has had noeffect on England as their batsmen, led by an imperious Alec Stewart and anequally authoritative Graeme Hick have piled on the runs.The opposition does not possess any strength of note and if that meanscompetitiveness is missing in this Test and in every likelihood from theseries; for England it has been a most welcome opportunity of getting into awinning mode. That is a luxury that they have not been particularly familiarwith in recent times.Even though Zimbabwe managed to claim all England wickets, the last six in aspace of 39 runs, it mattered little. The feature of the third day’s play hasbeen England’s batting. Both Hick and Stewart took full advantage of the lackof penetration in the tourists’ attack and scored freely in the manner thatcan only have given them confidence for the rest of their task in this summerof extended Tests and One-Day Internationals.While Stewart continues so strongly in his role of a specialist batsman(wicket-keeping apart) and remains, at 37, an England stalwart, Hick’sposition in the side has been far from tenable over the years.Stewart has shown consistancy both as an opening batsman, having partneredMichael Atherton on no less than 50 occasions, as well as in his position inthe middle order. In fact it was only in 1998 (calender year) that he, with1222 runs (average 43.64), had scored more than any other batsman in theworld. He remains in the forefront as an England run-getter.For Hick it would have been particularly pleasing to reach a century againstthe country where he was born and bred and a member of their World Cup side as a 17 year old. It is interesting to note that his captain then was the current England coach, Duncan Fletcher.Despite being an excellent batsman, a prolific scorer, he has had a chequeredcareer so far as an England Test player.The potential was there from the start and his dominance of the county sceneoffered promise of great achievements for England. But he has struggled tohold a regular place in the Test side.A flaw in his technique, in facing the short lifting ball from world classbowlers of genuine speed, has been exploited time and time again and it ishis weakness in that area that has been the cause of his irregular Englandappearance.His innings today, which brought him his sixth Test hundred and the first atLord’s would no doubt have been of sentimental value to him but moreimportantly it demoralised the Zimbabwean bowlers. His partnership of 149with Stewart produced an entertaining exhibition of strokeplay. The twobatsmen drove, cut and pulled with excellent timing and style.For Zimbabwe, Heath Streak’s most commendable effort brought him 6 for 87 butwith his side in the despairing position of 39 for 5 in the second innings(although they may possibly have been a little unlucky with an umpiringdecision) and 293 behind, England should wrap up the match no later thanmid-afternoon tomorrow, weather permitting.

Pankaj Dharmani and Dinesh Mongia, with an unbeaten 330-run partnership forthe fourth wicket put Punjab in a position of considerable strength atclose of play on the second day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy leaguematch against Jammu & Kashmir at the Burlton Park in Jullundur on Monday.After being 36 for three in reply to J&K’s first innings total of 168,Punjab at stumps were 366 for three.Medium pacer Surendra Singh rocked Punjab by taking the wickets of RavneetRicky (6), skipper Vikram Rathour (23) and Manish Sharma (3) in his firstseven overs and suddenly the J&K first innings total looked veryimpressive. However over the next 76.5 overs, Dharmani and Mongia changedthe scenario dramatically. They did pretty much what they liked with thebowling. Eight bowlers were tried but to no avail as the fourth wicket pairscored at will. Mongia was slightly the more aggressive of the two and byclose he had hit 176 in 296 minutes. He faced 253 balls and hit eight foursand five sixes. The experienced Dharmani was no less impressive in hisstokeplay and his 148 took him 306 minutes to compile. He faced 210 ballsand hit eleven fours and three sixes. Surendra Singh by stumps had threefor 52 off 16 overs but the rest of the bowling was harshly dealt with.