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Bermuda 125 and 311 (Tucker 123, Minors 66, Henry 4-69) beat Canada 207 and 181 (Qaiser Ali 52, Durham 3-29) by 48 runs
Scorecard

Janeiro Tucker brought Bermuda right back into the game © ICC

Bermuda produced a major upset by beating the favourites Canada by 48 runs in Toronto, putting them in pole position to secure a place in the semi-finals of the Intercontinental Cup.Bermuda had seemed down and out yesterday when they slumped to 116 for 5 in their second innings, only 34 ahead, but a sixth-wicket stand of 119 between Janeiro Tucker and Dean Minors brought them back into the game. The partnership was worth 93 when play resumed and, although Minors soon fell, Tucker marshaled the tail superbly, making an outstanding 123 and giving his bowlers something to get their teeth into.Canada, with far more experience and on home soil, were still favourites to chase 230, but that changed when Saleem Mukuddem and Kevin Huddle reduced them to 13 for 3. Sunil Dhaniram and Ashish Bagai stopped the rot with a stand of 53, but Dhaniram’s departure for a run-a-ball 35 was almost immediately followed by Bagai’s wicket, and at 73 for 6, Bermuda scented victory.The game had another twist left, as George Codrinton (40) and newcomer Ali Qaiser (52) posted 91 for seventh wicket to take Canada to within 66 of their target. But Hasan Durham nipped out the tail, aided by Qaiser being run out by the narrowest of margins, to complete a remarkable turn around.Bermuda have little time to bask in their success. They play their next match, against Cayman Islands in Toronto, on Saturday, knowing that victory will secure them a semi-final place against Kenya in Namibia. But should they draw or lose, then Canada could still pip if they were to comprehensively beat Cayman Islands when they meet next Wednesday.

While Michael Vaughan and the England team practised at the Chester-le-Street ground for Tuesday’s match against New Zealand, a burglar walked into the English dressing room and, after a quick look around, strolled away with Vaughan’s watch and wallet, as well as £300 and 17 credit cards that belonged to Darren Gough.According to The Daily Telegraph, security cameras caught the thief on tape, and established that he was careful not to leave behind fingerprints. He spent three minutes inside the dressing room and took the long way out to avoid detection. His job was made easier by the absence of a security guard outside the dressing room.Vaughan, who lost more than £1000 and the valuable watch, believed that the thief was familiar with the layout of the ground. “It’s a maze finding your way to the dressing room,” he said. “We’re always getting lost.”If the thief knows his cricket, the contents of Vaughan’s wallet could well surprise him. Besides the money, it contained a match ticket from the recent Antigua Test, autographed by Brian Lara, who broke the 400-run barrier in that game. Incidentally, though other valuables were lying around the room, they were left untouched.

Yet another big partnership between Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden put Australia in the driving seat at the end of an absorbing and ill-tempered second day of the fourth Test in Antigua.

Steve Waugh and Brian Lara exchange views after Lara was given not out when the Australians thought they had him caught behind Photo © Getty Images

West Indies, largely thanks to a spirited 68 from Brian Lara, had battled their way to match Australia’s 240, but then Langer and Hayden undid all their hard work with a flying and match-turning stand of 171. And with the wicket slightly deteriorating, Australia ended the day firmly in control of the match.On a day of anger, aggression and temper, Lara showed his frustration late in the day after he dropped Hayden at slip when the stand was worth 122, and he could do little to stem the flow of runs as Hayden and Langer’s imperious driving and cutting.Relations between the two sides throughout the day were hostile, triggered first thing when David Shepherd turned down what Australia thought was an edge from Lara through to Adam Gilchrist off Jason Gillespie.The normally cool Steve Waugh showed what he thought with a curt and frank exchange of views with Lara, and that was followed by a barrage of verbal taunts from Australia’s bowlers. But Lara remained aloof and let his bat do the talking as he passed 8000 Test runs.He hit a first-ball six off Brett Lee over third man, and then while Ramnaresh Sarwan was with him at the crease, he continued to play only the way he can. The expansive back-lift, the shuffle in to line, and the execution of another drive or square cut. It was thrilling to watch. And Sarwan too took his captain’s lead and enjoyed some dashing cover-drives – and some exchanges with the Australian fast bowlers.But, as so often, it was Andy Bichel who did the job for Australia just when it mattered. He only picked up two wickets during the day, but they were those of Lara and Sarwan. Sarwan went first in the morning, Bichel superbly clinging on to a sharp caught and bowled chance.But the celebrations really got underway when Bichel got Lara midway through the afternoon. In one enthralling over, Lara crashed three fours with identical pull shots, but Bichel had the last laugh when Lara got too carried away and mistimed a cover-drive straight to Langer at mid-off for 68. Bichel was delirious, Lara was fuming.

Once Lara, Sarwan and the hapless Ridley Jacobs – who needlessly ran himself out – had gone, Omari Banks continued his impressive allround display with a crucial 16 not out, and with the help of a cameo 14 from Jermaine Lawson, West Indies, for the only time in the series, were on an even keel with the mighty Aussies. But, thanks to Langer and Hayden – that didn’t last long.

The chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), TimLamb, will meet the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) officials in Mumbai onFriday to explore the possibility of making couple of changes in thevenues for England’s winter tour of India.The ECB officials are not happy with two main venues – Kanpur andMohali in Chandigarh – as they claim that there are no direct flightsto Kanpur. Chandigarh also does not have a five-star hotel.However, the BCCI officials insist that Mohali has a fantastic groundwith very good dressing rooms for the teams. The hotels in Chandigarhoffer good facilities and moreover it is left to the host nation tochoose the venues, the sources added.

West Brom’s new manager Steve Bruce managed to finally pick up his first Championship win in charge of the Baggies in their 2-0 win over his former club Hull City at the weekend.

This evening sees the former Newcastle United boss get the chance to secure a second victory in a row as the Midlands club welcome Huddersfield Town to the Hawthorns in their latest league outing.

On the chalkboard

One figure that started in the win over Hull that should not be in the team on this occasion is striker Callum Robinson.

With 82 minutes under his belt against the Tigers before being replaced by Grady Diangana, the Irishman failed to register even one shot at goal, as well as complete just 14 of the 20 passes he attempted, showing that he didn’t have much of an impact on the game.

Even from a defensive point of view, things weren’t great for the 27-year-old as he lost six of the eight duels he was involved in and got dribbled past on two occasions with no tackles or interceptions made.

This lacklustre display ultimately earned him an underwhelming overall match rating of 6.6, making him the second-lowest rated Baggies player that started the match according to SofaScore.

With this in mind, it doesn’t seem that this performance would have persuaded Bruce into giving him another start for tonight and risk holding the team back again.

In terms of the entire season, the £18k-per-week attacker has failed to deliver a goal contribution for his team in the past eight league appearances he’s made for them, showing that he hasn’t been the most reliable or consistent player when it comes to putting the ball in the back of the net or setting up his teammates.

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Having been slammed for his “appalling” decision to not get vaccinated during the recent global pandemic by Danny Mills, Robinson could be better off starting this match on the bench and being brought on as a substitute should the manager need him at any point rather than have him be a passenger again.

In other news: Cost £15m, now worth £4.5m: West Brom had a nightmare over £16k-p/w “disgrace” – opinion

More than a few English county professionals have struggled to adapt to the harsh glare of Sydney Grade cricket over the years, but nobody can accuse Nick Browne of being among their number. He has become the new star in town. Browne has become the first cricketer from the UK to hit a double century in Sydney Grade, advancing his reputation and sparing the blushes of a few English professionals in the process.Browne, one of the few bright spots in Essex’s 2015 season, struck 206 at the weekend for Mosman against Sydney University at the Allan Border Oval, following up a century in his first match in even more spectacular style.He beat the previous best score by an English batsman – 194 by Mike Gatting in 1979. Gatting had already won England recognition by then – making his ODI debut in 1977 and playing his first Test a year later – and went on to captain England and win 79 Test caps.Many in Essex believe that Browne should have received some sort of England development squad recognition this winter – but although he was overlooked it has driven him to a continuation of the form he showed in the county season.Browne was one of the few successes in 2015 in an Essex season that ultimately led to the removal of Paul Grayson as coach. He made six first-class centuries as he added his name to the long list of contenders urged by the England coach, Trevor Bayliss, to make an unanswerable claim to an England place in county cricket.He finished the season on a high – a career-best 151 not out against Leicestershire (albeit Division Two’s bottom club). His 1157 first-class runs represented the first time an Essex batsman had passed 1000 in the Championship since Ravi Bopara in 2008.This is the second year Browne has travelled to Sydney to play for Mosman during the English winter. His 206 was only four runs short of Mosman’s highest club score, so sparing one of Australia’s most famous clubs more emotional trauma than it could take. His opening partnership of 252 with David Lowery in a score of 406 for 3 was the second highest in the club’s history.

The Queen’s Park ground in Invercargill is set to host some of Otago’s matches this season after nearly a decade of being overlooked in favour of the University Oval in Dunedin. But now, with the University Oval being used for New Zealand’s first Test against Bangladesh in January and for an England tour game in March, Queen’s Park will get finally a slice of the domestic pie.Following a multi-million-dollar renovation of the ground and facilities, Queen’s Park was inserted into the fixtures list for an Otago State Championship match against Wellington in March and a State Shield game against Northern Districts in February next year. Apart from those two matches, Queen’s Park will also host a women’s two-day game and a Twenty20. If Otago qualify for a State Shield home semi-final, Queen’s Park will be booked for the playoff.Richard Hoskins, the executive officer of the Southland Cricket Association (SCA), said it was expected Queen’s Park would get high-quality fixtures this season. “We are delighted and now we just have to make sure the wicket continues to play well and we host some good fixtures,” Hoskins told the . “It’s really positive.”According to the report, the SCA was also hoping to rope in Chris Cairns and Nathan Astle to play invitation one-day and Twenty20 games at Queen’s Park in December.Queen’s Park last hosted a first-class game in February 1998 as part of the Shell Trophy when Canterbury beat Otago by seven wickets. The last State Shield one-day match at Queen’s Park was in January 2002 when Central Districts beat Otago by 99 runs.

Division One

Anthony McGrath’s defiant century took Yorkshire to a decent lead ahead of the final day at Old Trafford. After the early loss of Joe Sayers (6), the senior pairing of McGrath and Craig White added 183 before McGrath fell just before the close, to take Yorkshire to 192 for 2, with White making 78 not out. Earlier, Luke Sutton had made his way to 151 not out, just about reaching the 150-landmark before the Lancashire innings came to a close on 441, to give Lancashire a first-innings lead of 96.Shane Warne opened up Hampshire’s contest against Middlesex at Lord’s with a positive declaration as soon as his team had reached 400, and taken maximum batting points. Nic Pothas’s third century of the season compensated for the early loss of Michael Carberry in the day’s fifth over after adding just a single to his overnight 103. Sean Ervine contributed a forthright 42 before edging the new ball to first slip, but Pothas pressed forward and reached three figures with a Chinese cut. In the next over Warne carved the ball to the cover fence and promptly jogged off the park, aware that Hampshire need to win this match to maintain pressure on the top-of-the-table teams.An intriguing final day is in prospect at Edgbaston after Nottinghamshire‘s openers made inroads into their mammoth target of 404. Darren Bicknell and Jason Gallian shared an unbeaten stand of 88 to set up a tester tomorrow. Bicknell had reached his fifty by the close, with Gallian making 30. Warwickshire had earlier made their way to 230 for 9 before declaring, Mark Wagh topscoring with 70.

Division Two

Craig Spearman made his second century of the match – and just missed out on his 150 for the second time – to take Gloucestershire to 272 for 2 by stumps, a deficit of six runs. He and Phil Weston put on 227 for the first wicket as Gloucestershire worked their way towards parity. Matthew Nicholson eventually grabbed both openers, but they were to prove the only wickets for Northants on a frustrating day for their bowlers at Northampton.Surrey strode to an emphatic victory at at New Road, crushing Worcestershire by an innings and 108 runs to keep their title contention firmly on track. Ahzar Mahmood took 4 for 53 to start Worcestershire’s slide and then Ian Salisbury (3 for 36) and Anil Kumble (2 for 28) wrapped up the tail between them. Vikram Solanki offered the only resistance of note, his 56 propping up the home side for a while, but the rest of the wickets slid away, until they were all out for 165. Rikki Clarke had earlier lifted Surrey’s total past 500 with a firecracking 40 not out.Derbyshire stand on the brink of victory following another authoritative day against Somerset at Derby. The visitors have just three more wickets left in their pursuit of a further, and unlikely, 179 runs. Cameron White is still there, though, having already gamely fought his way to a valiant 197 and he will be Somerset’s biggest hope tomorrow. Steffan Jones is Derbyshire’s most successful bowler so far this innings, taking three wickets to bring his match haul to seven.

Kevin Pietersen: accepted into the fold © Getty Images

On the eve of the second Test at Edgbaston, Kevin Pietersen has been awarded an ECB central contract on the recommendation of the selectors, after making a remarkable start to his international career.During the first Test at Lord’s, Pietersen was the only England batsman to come to terms with the challenge posed by Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, thumping a half-century in each innings of his debut. That followed on from his stunning first foray in one-day cricket, in which he has amassed 786 runs in 15 innings, including three centuries in quick succession against his native South Africa.”By following up an outstanding ODI tour of South Africa with impressive performances in the NatWest one-day international programme, Kevin forced his way into the Test side and he fully deserves being upgraded to Central Contract status,” said David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors.Pietersen’s acceptance into the fold has been a gradual process. He became qualified to play for England last October, but was initially omitted from the South Africa one-day series until Andrew Flintoff’s ankle injury gave him a late opportunity to impress. He was the pundit’s choice to play in the Tests against Bangladesh earlier this summer, but was again overlooked, this time in favour of Ian Bell.His inclusion takes the total number of players contracted to the ECB to 13, after 12 players were awarded 12-month contracts for the year from October 1, 2004. These players have their salaries paid by ECB and are available to their counties on a free-of-charge basis when released from international duties at the discretion of the coach, Duncan Fletcher.

Craig Spearman: highest score for Gloucestershire© Getty Images

While his former New Zealand team-mates played for pride against England at Trent Bridge, Craig Spearman today broke the record for the highest first-class score by a Gloucestershire player.Spearman flayed the Middlesex attack, smashing his way to 341 off 390 balls. He hit 40 fours and six sixes in his innings, moving past 318, and the record – previously held by none other than WG Grace – with a leg-side clip for two off Ben Hutton, whose grandfather Len was no stranger to triple-centuries himself. Grace scored his 318 not out against Yorkshire at Cheltenham back in 1876. Spearman’s innings was only the fourth triple-century scored by a Gloucestershire player, and the first since Wally Hammond’s 302 against Newport in 1939. Hammond also made another 302, his time not out, against Glamorgan at Bristol five years earlier.Spearman was eventually out, caught by David Nash off Hutton, but his 341 will go down as the highest first-class score in England since Brian Lara’s 501 not out in 1994, and is the joint eighth-highest in all County Championship cricket. It is also the third-highest score by a New Zealander, behind Bert Sutcliffe’s two knocks of 385 and 355.Chris Taylor’s first century since becoming captain was almost overlooked in the circumstances. He was dismissed for exactly 100 just before lunch, but Spearman went on and on, and eventually Gloucestershire declared at 695 for 9. Spearman, whose previous-highest score was 180, made the Middlesex bowlers look tame. His innings included a repertoire of reverse sweeps and massive sixes, as well as his trademark flowing cover-drives.Spearman, who has a business-studies degree, decided to give up his New Zealand career in 2001, after 19 Tests and 51 one-dayers, for a career in banking, which brought him to London. It was there that John Bracewell, a fellow New Zealander and the Gloucestershire coach at the time, asked if he fancied a few games at Bristol. He has not looked back since, and after a fairly ordinary international career has become one of the county’s most consistent batsmen. He does not play as an overseas player as he holds a British passport – his mother is Welsh.