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Indian captain Sourav Ganguly grinned from ear to ear when he met the press after his side waltzed to an eight-wicket win over England to set up a semi-final clash against South Africa.Centuries from Ganguly and Virender Sehwag ensured that that India overhauled the target of 271 with more than 10 overs to spare.”We should not have allowed England to get to 270, but Sehwag’s 100 took the game away from England,” began the Indian captain.Not too many people expected India to beat England with such ease and Ganguly echoed this. “This game is never easy,” said the skipper.He was effusive in his praise of Sehwag’s knock, saying, ” Sehwag’s innings was absolutely brilliant and took the pressure away from us. The way he played was took the sting out of the game. By the time he was dismissed the game was already in our pocket. Unless something went terribly wrong, we were going to win from that position.”Nasser Hussain for his part admitted that his England side were totally outclassed on the day.”Nothing went wrong really. India just played exceptionally well on the day. The first eight overs they bowled were very difficult for our batsmen and again when they batted their first 15 overs were very good. Sometimes you just have to give credit where it’s due.”The England skipper seemed powerless to stop the onslaught of the Indian batsmen and conceded that nothing he tried on the day worked for him.”We’ve played against India a lot and have studied their game carefully. We know what areas they do most of their hitting in and have thought of a few ways to restrict that. It just didn’t work today though.”Both openers came at us strongly and we didn’t have an answer. We need to show more character in situations like this. We’re all right when teams don’t quite come at us as strongly as this and we’ll have to work out ways to counter this.”Hussain acknowledged that his side had problems when batsmen came at them and pointed out a couple of areas where England need to improve to counter this.”We need to show more character in these situations. And variations become important too. We tried a few variations today, slower balls and bumpers and the like. But today everything we bowled seemed to go for four. In English conditions where the ball does a bit more off the wicket and in the air you don’t need to do much more than put the ball in the right place. In conditions like this you need more variations.”Not totally distraught at the loss, Hussain did look back positively at the way the batting fared.”As far as the batting is concerned I’m quite pleased with the way we’ve done. In the last year or so the batting has not been a cause for worry. Even today I thought the middle-order batted exceptionally to take us to 270.”Ganguly has now led India to more than one dramatic win against England. He did however say that there were other wins that gave him more satisfaction.”Every win is satisfying really, at the international level. But I would have to say that the win at Lord’s in the NatWest trophy final and the Test win at Headingley probably mean more to me.”

Stephen Fleming produced an innings of international class to lead Middlesex to a five-wicket win at Bristol after Gloucestershire had set a target of 293 in 82 overs.The New Zealand captain was unbeaten at the end on 121, carefully compiled off 206 balls, with 16 fours, having paced his innings perfectly to see the visitors home with 3.1 overs to spare.It was a top quality effort from Fleming to add to his half-century in the first innings and gave Middlesex 16 points from a match in which they had been on the back-foot for long periods.The final day began with Gloucestershire extending their second innings total to 265-4 before Mark Alleyne made what proved a very sporting declaration. Matt Windows finished 106 not out, having completed his 11th first-class century.Clear skies and glorious sunshine clearly favoured the batsmen. ButAlleyne’s closure looked sound enough when Ian Harvey sent back Middlesex openers Mike Roseberry and Andrew Strauss with only 27 on the board.Owais Shah then joined Fleming in a third-wicket stand of 95, moving effortlessly to a half-century off 87 balls, with nine fours, before surprisingly edging Alleyne to wicketkeeper Reggie Williams.At that stage, with the total 122-3, the result looked in the balance. But Ben Hutton came out to play an aggressive innings that wrestled the match out of Gloucestershire’s grasp.The young grandson of Sir Leonard Hutton hit Jeremy Snape and James Averis for sixes as well as striking seven fours in equalling his best ever Championship score of 59.He and the unflappable Fleming added 129 for the fourth wicket before Harvey returned to dismiss Hutton and Simon Cook in quick succession on his way to figures of 4-86.The damage was done as far as Gloucestershire were concerned. Paul Weekes joined Fleming to see Middlesex to their target and the home side had to settle for five points.

New Zealand’s requirements from day four of the second National Bank Test could not be clearer – they must score at a reasonable clip, keep wickets intact, and look to get a much bigger score than the 280 England achieved at the Basin Reserve today.Easier said than done.But they made it through to 70/1 at stumps, albeit at a slow pace, clearly designed to keep wickets intact.”We’re happy with the position. We fought back very well and have to push on tomorrow,” New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said tonight.It would be important for New Zealand to score quickly tomorrow. It had been a day of mixed fortunes.England’s 280 was probably 30 more than New Zealand wanted but when England were 220/4, to bowl them out for 280 was a reasonable effort.New Zealand was still guilty of not closing in quickly enough on opportunities when wickets fell and Fleming said the bowlers still needed to tighten up between wickets.Once the tragedy of their team-mate Ben Hollioake’s death was received, just after play started for the day, it was always going to be a struggle for England.It was understandable that in the moments when determination to concentrate that little bit harder to get through a tough period is required, young men cannot help but have their minds wonder as they reflect on the circumstances of their own mortality.There is a natural reaction to want to be able to take time and reflect on their own association with Hollioake and the times they shared.But there was a job to be done.New Zealanders have grown up on the story that surrounded the tragic Christmas Eve train crash of 1953 at Tangiwai in the middle of the North Island which claimed the life of the fiancee of New Zealand Test cricketer Bob Blair who was in the midst of a Test match across the world at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.The response of New Zealand’s batsmen to a Boxing Day pace bombardment, and Blair’s courage in joining his team-mates when no-one expected him to play ahead of his own sorrow, was the stuff of legend.It wasn’t repeated at the Basin Reserve today, but there was a genuine understanding of what the England players were going through.New Zealand’s players were having to deal with their own demons, a no-balling curse that denied the side two wickets that could have made all the difference to this match delivering a result under its rain-reduced circumstances.Left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori had Nasser Hussain caught at mid-on by Ian Butler for 46 only to see Darrell Hair standing with his arm out-stretched for a no-ball. Hussain added another 20 runs before he was given out, albeit controversially caught off his forearm.Then Ashley Giles was caught by Adam Parore for a duck from Butler when he found he bowled one of 10 no-balls he bowled during the innings.Fortunately, he scored only 10 before Butler finally got him, square cutting to Craig McMillan at point.Fleming said as a batsman it was hard to accept the problems had with staying behind a line on the ground that didn’t move. It was a discipline for bowlers and it was a bad habit, certainly a bad habit that could yet prove costly in the final outcome of the game.Butler, however, had shown he was learning a lot about himself and Test bowling when advancing his career-best figures to four for 60 today. Vettori had two for 62, Chris Martin two for 58 and Chris Drum two for 85.Butler had generated good pace from the wicket and Fleming said he was excited by him and saw him as a real talent for the future.New Zealand swung the game back in their favour with a four-wicket middle-order haul for 17 runs generated by Butler and Vettori.Some late hitting by James Foster 25 not out, Giles and Andy Caddick (10) had provided bonus runs.New Zealand’s response saw Matt Horne cleaned up by a ball from Caddick for eight and then an unbroken stand of 54 between Mark Richardson and Lou Vincent. Vincent was considerably lucky to be still there having benefited from some umpiring decisions that could just as easily have gone England’s way.

The battle lines were drawn in mid-afternoon. By late evening, however, Jamaica were winning the war against Barbados.Chris Gayle, heartbeats away from his third regional hundred, was the general in command, assisted by an able lieutenant in Wayne Cuff.Their fighting third-wicket stand of 126 that frustrated Barbados for half of the day’s play has given the defending champions a comfortable lead of 243 ahead of today’s final day.Even if Jamaica went on the defensive in the final 45 minutes, they will still feel they can press for victory on a Kensington Oval pitch that remains a paradise for batsmen.Gayle resumes this morning on 97 in a Jamaica second innings total of 182 for four and no one excepts them to bat for more than an hour.Yesterday, in the middle of an absorbing contest between bat and ball, tempers flared slightly.Barbados pacers Hendy Bryan and Dayne Maynard were unwavering with the ball and Jamaica’s Gayle and Cuff were doggedly trying to survive. There appeared to be a slight collision between Cuff and Maynard and it seemed to create a bit of tension between batsmen and fielders.At the time, Jamaica, with the useful first innings advantage of 61, could hardly accelerate and managed only 63 runs between lunch and tea.To their credit, Gayle and Cuff were unflustered by all the chatter and made sure that Barbados captured no more than two wickets in the session.The two victims were achieved from stupendous catches that lifted the sprits of the Barbadians, but they made no further inroads until after 5 p.m. when the partnership was in progress for three hours and 20 minutes.Gayle, Most Valuable Player of last season, grew more and more assured as the afternoon progressed.If he was uncharacteristically cautious for the first three hours he was in, the 21-year-old West Indies discard came back after tea to unleash some of the powerful off-side strokes that brought him many of his 623 runs last season.The tall left-hander favours either the square or cover drive and the cut and they were responsible for a high proportion of his 13 boundaries.Indeed, the shot placement chart showed that 64 of his 97 runs came through the off-side, with more emphasis between extra-cover and third-man where he scored 54.Barbados had their chances to remove him with a couple of edges and the one that went to hand came late in the evening, when he was 87, was put down by Dave Marshall moving to his left at slip.It was Marshall who had earlier raised the standard of Barbados catching with a sharp third slip catch from an edge offered by Leon Garrick which was rapidly heading to the ground.Another slip chance soon came Barbados’ way, but Floyd Reifer missed his third chance of the season and was soon placed in the outfield where he made up for his miss with an excellent diving effort at cover that accounted for Brenton Parchment.Cuff is not exactly the type of batsman fans will leave home to see, but he is an uncomplicated left-hander who steadily accumulates his runs from a low crouch.The Jamaica Defence Force man followed up his highest first-class score of 65 in the first innings with an equally dogged 39 that was the ideal foil for his more illustrious partner.Cuff had faced 112 balls when Bryan, back in the attack after a long rest, claimed him lbw with a ball of fullish length. Before walking off, Cuff indicated the ball might have struck the bat.When Franklyn Rose emerged from the Garfield Sobers Pavilion, there was a feeling he was sent out to increase the scoring rate.It was therefore a surprise when he blocked the first couple of balls he received from Ian Bradshaw, who resorted to trundling left-arm spin late in the day.Rose soon skied a catch to mid-on off Bryan and confirmation came that Jamaica had packed up shop when Ryan Cunningham, the second nightwatchman, refused to take singles that would have exposed Gayle to the strike.Earlier, Gareth Breese completed career-best first-class figures of six for 47 by grabbing Barbados’ last three wickets,helped by the same type of careless strokeplay of the previous day.Roland Holder, batting at No. 8 because of a combination of stomach problems and fever, was in trouble for the hour and ten minutes Barbados batted yesterday. But without the luxury of accomplished partners, he chanced his hand and gave a catch to deep mid-on to be last out for 38.Before him, Marshall, who survived for 45 minutes after Barbados resumed on 173 for eight, choose to sweep Breese when he came on for his first spell of the day and spooned a top-edged catch to backward square.

Dismissed captain Moin Khan was given a clean bill of health by thepanel of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) doctors. Moin, who appeared intwo one-day matches for PIA , was said to have recovered well and wasfit to resume competitive cricket.”He has recovered well from his injury and can well resume hiscricketing activities,” Dr Meesaq Rizvi says in his April 13 report.Dr Meesaq observes that during the rehabilitation process, there wasno obvious swelling to joint effusion.”At this stage of his examination (April 13) of the right knee joint,there is no obvious swelling or joint effusion, there is no wastingQuadriceps muscles and the Apprehension Sign for Patellar Subluxationis a negative possible,” Dr Meesaq observes.The doctor, however, has advised the wicket-keeper weight training,stretching exercises and aerobic activities.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAndrew Strauss played a controlled innings to ensure England didn’t wobble in their run chase•Getty Images

Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott hit unbeaten half-centuries to guide England to an emphatic nine-wicket win in the second Test at Edgbaston to give them a 2-0 lead in the series. Both batsmen finished on 53 with the second-wicket pair making light work of a potentially testing surface as the hosts completed their sixth consecutive Test victory midway through the afternoon session.England did the hard work before lunch and when they resumed 47 were needed with the bite gone from Pakistan’s attack. Strauss went to his fifty from 108 balls then Trott brought up the same milestone, his second fifty of the match, with a powerful cover drive which levelled the scores. Strauss secured victory via a rather inglorious inside edge but he’ll be highly satisfied by another successful outing,The day began with thoughts of Pakistan continuing their resurgence from the third evening, but in the end it proved a stroll for England. The visitors had left themselves far too much ground to make up after crumbling for 72 on the opening day and they couldn’t create enough opportunities to defend the low target. Two more chances did go begging off Strauss, both to the hero of the previous day Zulqarnain Haider, although the first was very difficult and the second came with less than 50 needed.It took England just 11 balls to wrap up Pakistan’s innings as Stuart Broad, lighter in the wallet after his fine for throwing the ball at Haider yesterday, had Mohammad Asif taken in the gully. However, Pakistan managed the early breakthrough they desperately wanted when Cook’s poor run continued as his stumps were demolished by Mohammad Amir. Cook’s footwork was nowhere and he is becoming a serious concern, although with Ian Bell still injured and the England selectors not keen on major structural changes he is likely to have the remainder of the series to revive his season.Amir’s eight-over opening spell was another eye-catching display from the 18-year-old and he could easily have collected a second scalp as he beat the outside edges of Strauss and Trott. Saeed Ajmal was introduced for the eighth over and nearly followed Graeme Swann’s lead by striking straight away, but Haider couldn’t gather Strauss’s thick outside edge. It was a tough chance, but the type of opportunity that needed to stick if Pakistan were to stay in the contest.The pitch was also offering uneven bounce for both the spinner and the quicks. Trott was beaten by consecutive shooters outside off stump, while Strauss received a grubber from Ajmal that just missed the timber. However, the two batsmen displayed impressive watchfulness and rotated the strike well with regular quick singles.Boundaries were hard to come by, but both Strauss and Trott timed the ball nicely when the opportunity came. Trott produced the shot of the morning when he flicked Asif through midwicket, and he continues to develop into an increasingly reassuring figure at No. 3, while Strauss produced a sweet cover drive off Ajmal shortly before the break.Much had been expected of Ajmal after his five-wicket haul in the first innings, but he wasn’t able to provide the same threat as Swann. He couldn’t quite find the right pace for the surface to extract the optimal turn and, tellingly, couldn’t send down a maiden until his tenth over. Once again England proved far too strong for inexperienced opposition and Pakistan will have to show more of their second-innings spirit to avoid a whitewash.

Gary Stead, the former New Zealand batsman, has been appointed the High Performance director and head coach of the Canterbury team. Stead replaces Bob Carter, who has joined the New Zealand coaching staff under Mike Hesson.Stead, who played five Tests in 1999 against India, South Africa and West Indies, said he was “excited and proud” to be given the job. He is currently in Sri Lanka as the coach of New Zealand team playing the Women’s World Twenty20. The new assignment will be his first coaching stint in first-class cricket and with a men’s team.Lee Germon, the Canterbury Cricket chief executive, said that Stead was a stand-out applicant and his lack of experience in four-day cricket was “discussed thoroughly”.”When we scoped this role we were determined to find a top quality candidate who could not only coach our Wizards side but develop and implement a high performance system and environment for our elite athletes,” Germon said.”Gary brings top-level coaching and playing experience, a varied background in the high performance area of our sport and an impressive playing record for Canterbury and New Zealand. He is about to complete the prestigious coach accelerator programme and is very highly regarded by both players and fellow coaches.”Stead’s first-class career spanned 14 years, during which he scored 4984 runs with 10 centuries.

South Africa Under-19s got closer to sealing a finals berth in the Quadrangular Under-19 Series by chasing down Australia Under-19s‘ 134 with five wickets and more than 15 overs to spare. South Africa now have 12 points, four behind India who qualified by beating Zimbabwe, and need one more win to progress to the final. Australia, on the other hand, have only one win so far and need to win both their remaining matches to have any chances of spoiling South Africa’s prospects.Australia’s decision of batting first proved faulty as they lost their first two wickets to fast bowler Kagiso Rabada within seven overs. Sean Willis got brief support from Jake Doran and Matthew Kelly, who scored in double digits, but was the lone fighter. His innings of 51 took them close to 100 while their middle order was rocked by offspinner Yaseen Valli who took four consecutive wickets, reducing Australia to 97 for 7 after he dismissed Willis and Cameron Valente off successive deliveries.Kelvin Smith and Tom Andrews took them to 120 but they were soon all out for 134 when Valli took the last wicket to finish with 5 for 27.South Africa were not troubled much as opener Clyde Fortuin (38) and No. 3 Jason Smith (41*) took them to a comfortable position. They lost two quick wickets within seven balls a little later but Smith and Valli took them home in the 35th over.India Under-19s were given their fourth consecutive win by a hundred from Ankush Bains which helped them chase Zimbabwe Under-19s‘ 245 with ease. Bains scored 134 from 89 which included 14 fours and seven sixes, and the openers, Bains and Akhil Herwadkar, crossed 200 within 25 overs. India lost Bains at the score of 218 but Herwadkar and captain Vijay Zol saw India home within the next four overs. Herwadkar was unbeaten on 88 from 71 as he struck seven fours and four sixes.Zimbabwe’s innings was steadied by fifties from Joylord Gumbie (60) and Clive Chitumba (83) after they lost two quick wickets when they chose to bat. Gumbie fell in the 30th over to Atit Sheth (3 for 36) at the score of 124 and they lost three more wickets, including Chitumba’s, before reaching 200 before Luke Jongwe’s 34 took them past 240. Abhimanyu Lamba took two wickets for 55 runs.

Ben Stokes’ performances in the ODI series against Australia could have pushed him closer to a spot in this winter’s Ashes touring party, according to Ashley Giles, England’s limited-overs coach. Giles, who is also a selector, said the panel would sit down for a “huge meeting” ahead of Monday’s announcement of the squad to tour Australia and that the one-day form shown by the likes of Stokes and Boyd Rankin may have a bearing, despite England’s 2-1 defeat in the series.Durham allrounder Stokes was asked to fill the role of England’s third seamer and his displays were increasingly impressive, culminating in a five-wicket haul at the Ageas Bowl on Monday; he also gave a glimpse of his ability with the bat during a crucial partnership with Jos Buttler to help England win the fourth ODI in Cardiff. His ability in the field, with Giles called him “one of the best in the world”, could also help push him ahead of the likes of Chris Woakes and Ravi Bopara for inclusion as a Test allrounder.Rankin, meanwhile, was the pick of the bowlers against Australia, demonstrating pace and bounce as well as impressive control (his 29.1 overs were delivered at an economy of 3.63). Since making his one-day debut against Ireland, he has taken nine wickets at 16.88 and, with a view to Australian pitches, his height may sway England, much as Chris Tremlett’s raw physicality did three years ago.”They certainly won’t have done it any harm,” Giles said of the pair’s prospects. “If you look at the attributes both of them have; Boyd is six foot 10 or something, a huge man, and he bowls at a good rate of knots. We tend to like our tall fast bowlers. Going to Australia, playing on those wickets, those attributes are important.””Ben is someone who has been on the radar for a couple of years and people are starting to talk about him, I think he’s a really exciting cricketer and there’s a lot more to come from him with bat and ball. Already, possibly, he’s one of the best fielders in the world – I know that’s a big call – he’s a terrific athlete so those all-round skills put him in an elite market. When you can do those sorts of things you will be talked about across all forms of the game. We just need to be careful that we aren’t pushing them too hard, it still takes time and the experience of playing. But, so far, so good on the report card.”Although England’s inexperienced attack struggled to contain Australia in two of the three completed matches – conceding 315 for 7 at Old Trafford and 298 at the Ageas Bowl – Stokes finished as their leading wicket-taker, coming on at first change and nudging 90mph on the speed gun. He only batted three times but twice passed his previous best score.”We did ask a lot of him as third seamer, we know that,” Giles said. “But some of the stuff we’ve seen this summer, even with red ball, has taken us down that path. He reverses it both ways, he bowls with pace – he bounced out Wade yesterday – he’s aggressive. We don’t make those big decisions without some evidence and it’s there that he’s made great leaps.”His batting is extremely dangerous, as he showed on occasions, but there’s a lot more to come there. The guy is a genuine allrounder, across the aspects of the game and quite possibly across all three forms. It’s very important we look after these guys and try to nurture them, they are our greatest assets and we’d be silly to take our eyes off the ball.”England are expected to named a 16-man Ashes squad, although in 2010-11 they later expanded the number to 17. Giles would not be drawn further on the make-up of the party, other than to say “the first 12 pick themselves”, but said that the selectors had plenty of options to consider. “It will be a good debate, because we’ve got some very good cricketers. Some of them have come into this series and really impressed, I think that’s healthy for some of the guys we have rested that we have young players chasing them up.”The decision to omit several players who had been involved in the home Ashes, including Alastair Cook, England’s Test and ODI captain, James Anderson, Ian Bell, Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad, was not met with universal approval and while Giles was pleased with the signs of progress, he admitted that losing a second bilateral series of the summer had not been part of the plan.”It has been useful. The win in Cardiff was obviously the most pleasing aspect,” he said. “That win centred around a lot of the young guys having a really good day. We thought at the start of the series that if we could move two guys on a fair distance in terms of creating a larger pool of players in one-day cricket then this series has done a lot of its job. In Rankin and Stokes, they have probably done that on their own but there are others too, so as a coach that’s really pleasing. Ultimately, of course, these aren’t practice games and we lost 2-1.”

ScorecardDarren Stevens took four wicket as Glamorgan fell cheaply•Getty Images

Glamorgan batsman Ben Wright was the only man to reach a landmark as 15 wickets fell on the first day against Kent at the Swalec Stadium.Wright claimed the lone half-century on a day for the bowlers which saw Kent’s Darren Stevens claiming figures of 4 for 34 in 15 overs including the first three wickets to fall. He helped reduce Glamorgan, who won the toss, to 158 all out in 60 overs before Kent also struggled to reach 102 for 5 by the close, trailing by 56 runs.That was after Australian seamer Michael Hogan bowled both openers Sam Northeast and Rob Key to claim his 56th and 57th victims of the season. And the next two wickets to fall were also bowled as Brendan Nash and Ben Harmison had their defences breached by 19-year-old debutant Ruadhri Smith and Mike Reed respectively.Daniel Bell-Drummond, who finished the day on 41 not out, and Stevens rescued Kent’s predicament taking their side from 38 for 4 to 94 for 4 before Stevens became Hogan’s third victim edging to second slip.Earlier Stevens struck three times in his opening five overs to demolish the top order. First he broke through Gareth Rees’ defences before having Will Bragg caught behind by Geraint Jones and he continued his productive spell by dismissing Chris Cooke, caught by Harmison, to leave Glamorgan 52 for 3.Glamorgan reached lunch at 64 for 3 but three overs after the interval Charlie Shreck bagged the crucial wicket of Murray Goodwin, who had scored 178 against Leicestershire a fortnight ago. He went caught at short extra cover by Northeast.Glamorgan reached the 100-mark in the 39th over but Jim Allenby became the fifth Glamorgan victim caught behind off an inside-edge from Mark Davies. And 102 for 5 became 127 for 6 when skipper Mark Wallace miscued a pull to midwicket.While Wright edged towards an impressive half-century, the wickets kept falling at the other end as Smith edged Calum Haggett behind. Wright brought up his 50 from 91 deliveries before he too departed lbw to Adam Riley’s offspin, which accounted for Hogan two balls later. The innings ended when Steven claimed his fourth victim to have Reed lbw.