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Isobel Joyce’s 63 steered Ireland to a comfortable victory•International Cricket Council

South Africa brushed aside West Indies in a top-of-the-table clash involving the two unbeaten teams in the tournament. It was a team effort that clinched the victory and not outstanding individual contributions – opener Shandre Fritz’s 43 was the highest score of the match, and the wickets were shared around, with three of South Africa’s bowlers picking two each.West Indies chose to bat and lost Juliana Nero in the third over. The bigger blow was when in-form opener Stafanie Taylor fell lbw for 20 in the 14th over. West Indies also lost their captain, Merissa Aguilleira, and 19-year-old Deandra Dottin in the next over to slip to 62 for 4. Stacy-Ann King made a patient 38 to push West Indies to something of a respective total before they were bowled out for the first time in the tournament.South Africa were rarely in trouble during the chase, with Fritz and captain Cri-zelda Brits adding 62 for the second wicket. Even though both were dismissed within two overs of each other, twenties from Mignon du Preez and Marizanne Kapp took South Africa to their fourth straight victory.
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Shashikala Siriwardene, Sri Lanka’s captain, turned in an all-round performance that lifted them to victory over Pakistan, and help them stay in the hunt for third place. Siriwardene top-scored with an unbeaten 67 after Sri Lanka were put in to bat, and then spun out three batsmen with her offspinners to consign Pakistan to their second defeat of the tournament.A 73-run second-wicket stand between opener Chamari Polgampola and Suwini de Alwis gave Sri Lanka a platform before Siriwardene, coming in at No. 4, took charge in the second half of the innings. Sri Lanka were also helped by the 25 wides that Pakistan sent down and by a quickfire 27 from Dilani Manodara towards the end of the innings.Pakistan’s chase got off to a good start and No. 3 Nain Abdi’s half-century pushed them to a promising 147 for 2 by the 32nd over. Sri Lanka tried nine bowlers in search of wickets, which came in a flurry once the third-wicket partnership was broken. Their final eight wickets went down for 42 runs, and three middle-order run-outs helped Sri Lanka ease to a win.
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Ireland crushed Netherlands in the battle between two teams who were yet to post their first wins of the tournament. Half-centuries from the Joyce twins, Isobel and Cecelia, steered Ireland to a victory with more than 21 overs to spare, after the Ireland bowlers had restricted Netherlands to a moderate total.Netherlands chose to bat and much of their total was through three batsmen – Marijn Nijman (43), captain Helmien Rambaldo (30) and Annemarie Tanke (39), with 25 wides from Ireland being the next highest contributor. Netherlands’ innings fell apart against Ireland’s slow bowlers – legspinner Ciara Metcalfe and offspinner Eimear Richardson took three wickets each.Faced with the small target of 173, Ireland lost opener Clare Shillingon for a duck in the first over. Then the Joyce sisters added 150 for the second wicket at quicker than a run a ball to make the match a one-sided affair.

This time the South African crowds had no reason to indulge in their crude taunt, “Siddle is a w****r”, when Peter Siddle stood ready to bowl the first delivery of the match. Admittedly, it wasn’t the Centurion lot who coined that wonderfully ingenious line, but their cousins down the road at Wanderers when Siddle was peppering Dale Steyn in a test match two summers ago.They forgot about him after that, as he had virtually vanished off the radar for them as rudely as he had arrived on it, missing the one-day international series to recover in time for the 2009 Ashes. Siddle made a brief reappearance in South Africa for the Champions Trophy but they have only really got another good look at him during the match between the Victoria Bushrangers and the Central District Stags, and they may have been surprised to see how much less of a man he was.”He is about 10 kilograms lighter than he was before” said Aaron Finch, Victoria’s opening batsman. “He has been battling to recover from stress fractures and has worked really hard. I haven’t seen anyone work as hard as him and his two wickets got us off to a really good start. He was hitting the keeper’s gloves hard today and gave us a real advantage upfront. He was very impressive.”Perhaps the real reason Finch identifies so well with Siddle is because there was a bit of bad-boy streak in both. Finch’s match-winning 93 not out is the culmination of a period of maturity for the 23-year old. “If I compare myself to last year this time there’s a big difference. I have worked very hard on my technique and my temperament.” It’s mostly the latter that Finch thinks has got him to where he is now. “I couldn’t handle playing at the top level but this Victoria side is one everyone wants to be part of and I am really enjoying it.”One of his great sources of pleasure has come from being moved from the number three spot to the opening berth, a role he is more comfortable in. “I’m pleased to have played a decent innings at the top. Batting at number three is tough and I feel I have more freedom at the top.” The best way to exploit that freedom is to “take every bit of luck you can get,” Finch said, adding that that was his strategy after he was caught off a no-ball in the second over.”The catch of the no-ball proved to be very important. We let ourselves down in the field,” said Stags skipper Jamie How. “165 was a defendable score. The wicket was a bit tired and hitting through the line became difficult. We bowled a few too many boundary balls but there were also some nicks that went for four. That’s just the game.”Although the Central Districts will face an uphill battle to advance further in the tournament, How was pleased with the improvement his team made after their loss to the Chennai Super Kings last Saturday. “After that match, a few people would probably have written us off and they would have had a right to. Today we proved we can compete with the best sides in the world. We almost had a complete game. Our start wasn’t ideal but we did well to get ourselves back into the game. We will concentrate on getting over the line in the next two matches.”The Stags scored 117 runs in the second half of their innings, 67 of them came in the last five overs, a strategy that seems to be dominating in this year’s tournament. “We weren’t surprised that they ended on 165 because we’ve seen in this tournament that teams that get to 60 in the first ten overs with two or three wickets down can pull out 10 or 15 runs an over for the rest of their innings,” said FinchDid Victoria aim to do a similar thing, leaving themselves 57 runs to get off the last five overs? “I was little more nervous when we needed 12 off one over, than when we needed 57 off five. I think if you have to chase more than 10 in the last over, things could get tricky,” Finch confessed.Those watching would have backed him to chase down more than 12 if needed. Finch won the match for the Bushrangers with two balls to spare with a towering six over long-on. “I was a bit worried about the angle but I was hopeful that it would get over. I have very good bats now, so I was pretty confident.” There was a sneaky smile in Finch’s eye when he said that, one that was suspiciously similar to the one Siddle used to wear during his South African sojourn. Maybe soon that will result in a naughty song being scripted about Finch too.

ScorecardJosh Davey’s 5 for 9 put Scotland on track to level their one-day series against Afghanistan with a six-wicket victory at Ayr. After Davey’s heroics demolished the visitors for 120, Fraser Watts guided the run chase with an unbeaten 55 as Scotland overcame an early wobble and won with ease.Afghanistan had stormed to a nine-wicket success the previous day but found batting much tougher this time around after losing Karim Sadiq first ball, caught behind off Gordon Drummond, and the innings quickly subsided to 49 for 6. Davey’s memorable day started when Nawroz Mangal, the Afghanistan captain, gave a return catch and Mohammad Nabi gave him his fourth when he chipped to midwicket.Noor-ul-Haq and Samiullah Shenwari tried to revive the innings with a stand of 46, but the final three wickets fell for four runs and Davey completed his haul when Shenwari flicked to square leg.Afghanistan struck early in reply when Mirwais Ashraf removed Gavin Hamilton for 2 and debutant Ryan Flannigan was caught behind for a duck as Scotland wobble on 15 for 2. Ten overs later Davey was bowled by Hamid Hassan, but Watts found a stable partner in Richie Berrington as the pair added 60 for fourth wicket to take Scotland to the brink of victory.Although Berrington was bowled attempting a sweep Watts was able to complete his victory before he and Moneeb Iqbal finished the job with more than 16 overs to spare.

Parthiv Patel, the Gujarat captain, will lead India’s team in the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia in August. Cheteshwar Pujara, who finished as the highest run-getter in the recent A-team tri-series in England, has been appointed Parthiv’s deputy. The four teams – South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and India – play two competitions – Twenty20 and 50-overs – during a two-week period.Each of the 15 players selected in the squad participated in the IPL, and a significant number has played for India. Parthiv and legspinner Piyush Chawla have played Test cricket, while medium-pacer Vinay Kumar, offspinner R Ashwin, seamer Umesh Yadav and wicketkeeper Naman Ojha have had exposure in the ODI format. Among the players missing from the India A squad that toured England are batsmen Manoj Tiwary and Manish Pandey. Tiwary averaged only 19 in five limited-overs games, while Pandey 11 in as many.The Emerging Players tour is an important opportunity for Saurabh Tiwary, the left-hand batsman who impressed in the IPL and had a successful Ranji Trophy, scoring thee centuries in the Plate League last season. He was picked in India’s ODI squad for the Asia Cup while on tour to England with the A team, but didn’t get a game.Squad: Parthiv Patel (capt & wk), Cheteshwar Pujara (vice-capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Saurabh Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Naman Ojha, Abhinav Mukund, Umesh Yadav, Jaidev Unadkat, Vinay Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaskaran Singh, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin.

ScorecardAn injury to Ryan ten Doeschate marred Essex delight at a 10-run Friends Provident t20 victory over Somerset at Taunton. The all-rounder top scored with 48 in the Eagles’ innings of 177 for 7, taking his average in the competition to nearly 74, but was forced to retire hurt with a leg injury and had to be helped from the field.Somerset looked in control when reaching 122 for 1 in the 13th over, with Nick Compton contributing 74 and Marcus Trescothick 40. But a clatter of wickets saw them collapse to 167 for 9 as David Masters, Scott Styris and Danish Kaneria claimed two victims each. It was later confirmed that ten Doeschate had suffered a torn calf muscle that is likely to keep him out for six weeks.Both teams have now won two games and lost three in the South Division and will need to improve to feature in the quarter-finals. The Essex innings was given a brisk start by Alastair Cook after they had won the toss. The England opener hit four fours in facing only nine balls before sweeping a ball from Zander de Bruyn straight to James Hildreth at short fine leg.Ravi Bopara fell cheaply, but Matthew Walker hit four fours and a six in his 35, while ten Doeschate looked in supreme touch from the start of his innings and looked set to lift his side towards 200 as he took successive sixes off Arul Suppiah.It was a massive blow for the Eagles when he collapsed attempting a quick single off Kieron Pollard with the total on 148 for 4 in the 17th over. Alfonso Thomas took the wickets of Grant Flower and Tim Phillips in a typically tight last over to keep Essex below 180.That did not look like being enough when Trescothick and Compton put on 99 in 11 overs, or when Kieron Pollard came in to blast three sixes in the space of four balls off Kaneria. But he was out in the same over and Essex sensed their chance.Compton was out hit-wicket trying to reverse sweep Masters, having faced 55 balls and hit 11 fours, but at 147 for 4 the home side still looked favourites. But Masters, Styris and Chris Wright had other ideas at the death, bowling full and running through the middle and lower order.

A day ahead of India’s departure to Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup, MS Dhoni has said the tournament presents a chance to start zeroing in on the combination for the 2011 World Cup. Dhoni and several other senior members of the Indian team have had a month away from the treadmill of top-flight cricket, and will join several youngsters such as offspinner R Ashwin and quick bowler Ashok Dinda for the competition in Dambulla.”This is the time, with 8-10 months to go for the World Cup, when you can make a few changes,” Dhoni said in Chennai. “Once we get closer we want to play with a fixed side and give them more exposure, get them more used to the conditions.”Over the past few years, most venues in the subcontinent have laid out batsmen-friendly tracks for one-dayers but Dambulla, which hosts all matches of the Asia Cup, remains one of the exceptions. “It is an important tournament. We’ll (seniors) be playing one-day cricket after quite a long time,” Dhoni said. “Conditions will be a bit different, Dambulla is not one of the high-scoring venues, it will be important to keep that in the back of the head.”One of the talking points about the Indian squad has been the axing of Yuvraj Singh, who has struggled for form and fitness in the past several months. Dhoni said he was a ‘fan’ of Yuvraj and expected him to make a quick return to the team.”Last couple of years, he has been the main strength of our middle order, definitely we will miss him,” Dhoni said. “The kind of talent he has it shouldn’t be difficult for him to come back.”The squad is also missing a quartet of young fast bowlers – Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Sreesanth and Munaf Patel – whose form has declined after heartening starts to their international careers. Dhoni felt that with more experience they would return to their best. “It is a difficult job, when it comes to fast bowling in the subcontinent,” Dhoni said. “The wickets are placid in ODIs, the more exposure they get, the better they will get.”The Asia Cup will be Dhoni’s first assignment since the disastrous World Twenty20 campaign in the Caribbean last month. There had been reports of coach Gary Kirsten giving the team a dressing down after three defeats in the Super Eights led to an early exit, but Dhoni played down the issue.”Gary had individual sessions, it was not to bring anybody down or point anybody down,” Dhoni said. “It is the normal procedure we have most likely after every series, it was nothing more than that.”

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Ben Wright and captain Jamie Dalrymple cracked half-centuries as Glamorgan made inroads into Gloucestershire’s competitive first-innings total on the second day of their County Championship clash at Cardiff.Gloucestershire were bowled out for 417 in their first innings with fiveplayers passing 50, before Glamorgan reached 257 for 3 by the close – 160 behind – with Wright 77 not out.At the start of the day Chris Taylor and Stephen Snell made serene progress after Gloucestershire resumed their first innings on 303 for 5. Taylor reached his half century from 118 balls and Snell went to the landmark rather quicker from 89 deliveries.And it took a change of bowling to break up the partnership which was worth120 in 35 overs. Jim Allenby struck with his second ball to have Taylor trapped in front and three overs later, after Gloucestershire had registered a fourth batting point, he dismissed Snell, who was caught behind attempting to cut.Jon Lewis increased Gloucestershire’s modest scoring rate with a 51-ballhalf-century helped with a top-edged six off Huw Waters to get off the mark. He went soon after reaching his 50, going back fatally to Dean Cosker and being adjudged leg before.Gloucestershire’s first innings extended 4.1 overs into the afternoon session. And it was Croft who wrapped up the innings by taking the last two wickets in the space of eight balls – claiming the seventh and eighth lbw decisions of the innings to remove Vikram Banerjee and Stephen Ireland respectively.The former England offspinner has now taken 991 first-class victims forGlamorgan. The irony was that Gloucestershire had put in a request to Glamorgan two weeks ago to take Croft on loan. But that was turned down by Glamorgan’s director of cricket Matthew Maynard, despite Croft only figuring in one of Glamorgan’s first five championship matches.Glamorgan did not hang about in their reply with Mark Cosgrove clubbing seven fours in a brutal cameo which saw the county reach 50 for 0 inside 10 overs before the South Australian was bowled by Ireland. Cosgrove departed having made 34 from only 33 balls.Gareth Rees, who was dropped on 27 by Snell at second slip off Ireland, andDalrymple guided Glamorgan to tea at 111 for 1. But shortly after the interval Glamorgan lost Rees, who was bowled by Irelandvia a glove as Glamorgan reached 125 for 2.When Wright came to the wicket Dalrymple was on 41, but the 22-year-oldproceeded to outscore his captain contributing 50, from 68 balls, to athird-wicket partnership of 78. That partnership was broken when Dalrymple was neatly stumped by Jon Batty after the batsman had charged down the track to a Banerjee delivery.

ScorecardNathan Buck took four wickets to earn Leicestershire a valuable lead•Getty Images

Nathan Buck underlined his promise with the best figures of his fledgling career to give Leicestershire the upper hand at Derby. The 18-year-old fast bowler took 4 for 44 in 15 overs as Derbyshire were bowled out for 207, despite half-centuries from Greg Smith and Robin Peterson, to trail on first innings by 72.Will Jefferson and Paul Nixon went cheaply when Leicestershire batted again but by the close they had moved to 83 for two, a lead of 155. Derbyshire went into the second day 239 runs adrift and had shaved just a single off their arrears before Buck struck with the fifth ball of the morning.Wayne Madsen edged the first ball he faced to second slip and Garry Park losthis off stump aiming a lavish drive at Buck. When Dan Redfern also drove carelessly at Matthew Hoggard and was caught behind, Derbyshire were in deep trouble at 73 for 5.Peterson is a useful batsman to have coming in at number seven with six first-class hundreds behind him, and he showed why Derbyshire believe he will make them a stronger team this season. The former South Africa Test all-rounder played a measured innings which featured some handsome straight drives, and with Smith also displaying sound judgement, the sixth-wicket pair batted into the afternoon session before they were parted.Smith hit eight fours in his second fifty of the season and Peterson’s maiden half-century for Derbyshire included six boundaries, but Claude Henderson snared them both in consecutive overs. He had Peterson caught behind for 54 to end a stand of 94 in 31 overs, and then Smith went for the same score, caught at short leg off bat and pad.Henderson has started the season well, taking six wickets in the first innings of the previous game against Northants, and he had another victim when Tim Groenewald missed a big mow across the line and was lbw. Buck had plucked out Lee Goddard’s off stump with a rapid ball in the previous over but Leicestershire were frustrated by a last-wicket stand between Steffan Jones and Mark Footitt. The pair added 33, helped by two poor pieces of fielding by Hoggard, who brought himself back into the attack to bowl Footitt with a full-length ball.Jones pegged the visitors back by trapping Jefferson lbw for six and Nixon played round a straight one from Groenewald, but Matthew Boyce and James Taylor batted out the day in bright sunshine to leave Leicestershire well placed with two days to go.

Ross Taylor is preparing for a short-pitched attack from Australia’s fast men when the first Test kicks off at the Basin Reserve on Friday. The practice wickets out in the middle have provided sharp bounce and pace, and as the Wellington wind began to howl on Wednesday the prospect of facing a bowler of Mitchell Johnson’s speed with help from a gale loomed as a tough challenge.Adding to the difficulty for New Zealand is the inexperience of their top three – Tim McIntosh has played 11 Tests, BJ Watling two and Peter Ingram one. The New Zealanders have called on the expertise of Martin Crowe to help them get ready and Taylor said he had already provided plenty of advice.”It’s about getting forward until getting pushed back, because Australia in the past can come at us hard and bowl a lot of short deliveries and put pressure on us that way,” Taylor said. “Martin has been good for me, I’ve enjoyed working with him and I think the other guys have taken a lot from him as well.”Any Australian side likes to use their bouncers and if the practice wickets are anything to go by the wicket will have a bit of bounce – and true bounce at that. We’re expecting that, but not only that. Quite often you play the short ball okay but it’s what actually comes after the short ball so we’ve got to be ready.”There is no question that Johnson will bowl with the wind, presumably as first change after Doug Bollinger begins. But the Australians will need to decide which of the uncapped Ryan Harris or Clint McKay, who has played one Test, will join the attack and take on the workhorse role into the breeze or gale. However, Harris has a sore side and is in doubt, with Peter George called in as cover from South Australia.Johnson enjoyed a good one-day series after beginning with a heated head-clash with Scott Styris, while Bollinger’s limited-overs form was poor. Harris and McKay have been productive in their short-form appearances but stepping up to the five-day game is a major challenge.Taylor said the key for New Zealand was to bat for time and force the bowlers to stay in the field as long as possible. “They’ve been pretty good, they’ve used Mitchell Johnson as an attacking weapon and quite often when he’s come back he’s picked up a wicket and then Ricky has taken him off,” he said. “He’s going to be a big factor for them and he’s bowled very well over the last 18 months.”Bollinger had a very good Test series over there against Pakistan and West Indies and Harris is yet to make his Test debut. Hopefully we can negate them and take them into four or five sessions and see how they are after being out on the park with that wind blowing around all day.”To get primed for that task, New Zealand’s batsmen have been training for longer than usual – up to four hours – and batting sessions out in the middle have been interrupted by drinks breaks and other intervals to simulate a real day’s Test cricket. It was hard work for the fast men on Wednesday as the wind whistled across the Basin Reserve, but New Zealand’s bowling coach Shane Jurgensen believes it will be even more difficult for the Australians, who are not used to the conditions.”The wind is a critical factor,” Jurgensen said. “It’s difficult to adjust. It’s about the bowler himself being as balanced as possible as they run in. There’s a lot of positives about bowling into the wind – the ball will swing and it’s just a matter of trying to create that consistency. It does gust, it’s not a consistent wind. One minute it’s quiet and the next minute it hurls through.”

Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, has returned to the squad for the first two ODIs against Zimbabwe in Providence after missing the Twenty20 to be with his unwell mother. The selectors, however, did not pick Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo in the 14-man squad.Sarwan scored a hundred for Guyana against Windward Islands in the WICBfour-day tournament but, according to a CMC report, the team management wanted to assess his fitness further before recalling him to the national set-up. The match was Sarwan’s first game since he injured his back during the tour of Australia in December.Bravo had also nearly recovered from the hand injury he sustained while playing for Victoria in the Big Bash, Australia’s domestic Twenty20 competition. He trained with the West Indies squad last week and is likely, along with Sarwan, to be chosen for the last three games against Zimbabwe.The only other change to the squad that lost a low-scoring Twenty20 against Zimbabwe in Trinidad is the inclusion of Guyana batsman Narsingh Deonarine at Darren Bravo’s expense.The first ODI between West Indies and Zimbabwe will take place on March 4 and the second on March 6.Squad: Chris Gayle (capt), Adrian Barath, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard,Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Andre Fletcher, Nikita Miller,Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy,Dwayne Smith.