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North Zone were more than happy to take the five points and leave South Zone with three as a result of the drawn match between the two, in the Duleep Trophy match that ended at the IGMC stadium in Vijayawada on Sunday. Pace bowler Surendra Singh who picked up 5/115 for the North, stole the limelight from all the batsmen who made merry on a batting paradise.Resuming on 372/6 on the final day, South had to virtually give up the run chase as they lost the remaining wickets quite cheaply. Surendra Singh claimed his fifth wicket of the innings by dismissing VST Naidu for 11. Robin Singh blasted 67 in just 51 balls smashing 3 sixes and 8 fours before he was dismissed by Harbhajan Singh. Harbhajan also accounted for Venkatpathy Raju (7), the last man to be dismissed. Sunil Joshi remained unbeaten on 22 as Ashish Kapoor did not come out to bat due to the injury. North could have enforced the follow on as they had a lead of 231 runs lead after having dismissed South for 477. They decided to go in for batting practice, as it is these days in the domestic cricket in India.North Zone had a party time with the bat second time around as no result was possible. Akash Chopra hit an unbeaten century of 125 in 187 balls. Chopra hit 18 boundaries and a six in his 251 minute stay at the crease. Vikram Rathour smashed 69 in 51 balls including 10 fours and 2 sixes. Dinesh Mongia who made a double century in the first innings missed out in the second as he was dismissed by Joshi for 4. Harbhajan who got promoted up the order scored 38 and fell to Sriram. In came Yuvraj Singh who has been through a lean patch and took the opportunity with both hands as he blasted 3 sixes and 9 boundaries in his unbeaten innings of 80 off 58 balls. North Zone were 326/3 in 58 overs at close of the match.On January 11th North will meet West at Mohali and Central will meet East at Kanpur.

Sandgate-Redcliffe opening batsman Jerry Cassell will captain the Queensland Academy of Sport team in their opening ACB Cup 2nd XI match against the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy in Brisbane next week.Cassell, fresh from a scintillating 177 for City in their win over Country in Biloela on the weekend, will take on the QAS captaincy for the first time.The right-hander, who made his Pura Cup and Mercantile Mutual Cup debuts for the XXXX Queensland Bulls last season, will lead a youthful QAS side into the clash at Allan Border Field at Albion.The match, from Monday through to Thursday, will also feature a return to action by left-arm spinner Matthew Anderson, who returned over the weekend from a playing stint in the United Kingdom.Anderson took 50 wickets on the way to helping Norwich win the East Anglia Premier League.The QAS team also contains Bulls squad members James Hopes, who scored 110 for City on Saturday, left-arm paceman Mitchell Johnson, wicket-keeper Chris Hartley, allrounder Nathan Hauritz, left-hand bat Brendan Nash and Queensland Cricket rookie contracted players Damien Mackenzie and Craig Philipson.QAS v CBCA, Sept 17-20, Allan Border Field: Jerry Cassell (c), Matthew Anderson, Chris Hartley, Nathan Hauritz, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Lance Kahler, Damien Mackenzie, Brendan Nash, Daniel Payne, Matthew Petrie, Craig Philipson.

Post his Test retirement MS Dhoni wanted a little comfort. He wanted to enjoy his game, so he wanted more time to play his game and therefore believed he should bat at No.4. But as a senior player, for the juniors to develop better and for the team’s sake, he decided instead to return to batting in the lower middle-order and be the finisher for India.”I would say more about my side of the story,” Dhoni said. “If you see once I left Test cricket, I thought ‘Now I am going to enjoy my ODI cricket, I want to bat up the order’. But when I come over here, I see my team, I see the playing XI and I find it very difficult to promote myself because we have that pressure of who is going to bat at No.6, who is going to bat at No.7?”And if you see stretches of cricket where teams have done well, the lower order has contributed a lot irrespective of the format. Your lower order needs to perform. So that was the reason I came back over here and I am still batting at No.5 or 6 because I find it really difficult; I can’t really put too much pressure on some of the other youngsters in the side. After playing so many ODIs, if I can’t do it, there are not many who will be able to do it. It’s something that I have to do.”And he provided a fine example of his skills – if perhaps a modified version where he starts slowly and dabs the ball for singles and twos before flexing his shoulders – in Indore, scoring 92 off 86 balls and remaining unbeaten as he guided India past a top-order collapse.”I felt we needed partnerships at that point of time,” he said. “Once we lost Rahane and a few other wickets fell, I was thinking, ‘Maybe I should play the big shot. I am not sure how long the lower order batsmen will survive with me.’ But that was the period I said, ‘No. Let’s look to play a few more deliveries. Let’s look to play 50 overs and if a few more wickets fall, maybe [if it had been] the last couple of wickets [that were left] I will look to hit, but it was important that we got some kind of partnership going at that point of time.”But the 247 for 9 that he helped India get to still wasn’t anywhere close to his expectations. “I thought it was a score we can look to defend. But it was not a safe score where you say, ‘okay let’s go in and if we bowl well we will win the game.’ What was important for us was getting the early breakthroughs and that was provided by the spinners.”This is the kind of victory in which the contribution of the bowlers was more than the batsmen, if you compare them, because some bowlers also contributed in terms of runs. In a score of 247, if the bowlers are contributing a score of around 40, that means a lot. I feel very happy about the fact that the bowlers won us the match.”But when asked to rate his own innings, which was vital to giving the bowlers a chance and lifting their morale up as well, Dhoni simply chose to explain the impact of a first victory in this series so far.”It’s a very good victory for us, the reason being, if you see the first game we played at Dharamsala, apart from that one over, you can say those four or five minutes we were really into the game but we were not able to win the game,” Dhoni said. “The same thing happened in the last game we played as well, Kanpur, where we were in the game but we lost a few wickets and we lost it at the wrong time because of which we were not able to win the game.”So a lot of times you play good cricket for maybe 80-90% of the game but it depends whether that 10% bad phase, how bad it was and what was the timing of that particular error that happened, that can had a big impact on the game. I feel this win was very important for us and at the same time its good to see our bowlers defend 250-odd runs on a wicket that was good to bat on.”The Indore crowd played their part as well. Sensing the turning of the tides after Faf du Plessis fell for a well-made fifty and David Miller got a first-ball duck, they produced an enchanting sight. The Holkar Stadium was packed. Well over 25,000 people. And as one, a very large majority brandished their cell phones with the flash on. It was a scene out of a Bruce Springsteen concert. One that made Dhoni and the team take a lap of honour in thanks for their support.”The people of Indore have supported us a lot, specially when there was a dull phase in the middle when South Africa had a partnership going and we weren’t getting wickets. When we got 1-2 wickets, the crowd got vocal. It helps when you are playing at home and have the support of your home crowd. Along with us, they have also supported AB de Villiers – we (fans) share our love freely. If we like somebody, we really get behind them.”But that doesn’t mean India are home free. The five-match series is tied 1-1 and Dhoni saw plenty of room for improvement. For example, finding an allrounder who can connect the top-order and the tail.”No.7 is very crucial,” he said. “Even in this game if you see, Mishra was our best bowler in the last game. But we had to drop him, the reason being we want that No.7 to bat. Axar gives us slightly more than Mishra because in the modern game you can’t play with six batters and five bowlers. That day is gone, you can’t really compete when it comes to that.”But you need somebody who can bat at No.7. And you know, the few people who are there for us – Stuart Binny is one, Jadeja and Axar. These are the three people who can bowl and bat. Other than that there are not many. There are few others in the domestic circuit who are doing well so we will definitely will like to have a look. Because ideally in this game we would have liked to play Mishra, but it just makes it impossible to think about Mishra batting at No.7 and then Harbhajan or Harbhajan at No.7 followed by Mishra.”It just puts too much pressure on the batsmen who are on top because in situations like these when you lose early wickets or you lose a few wickets in quick succession in the middle overs, it just puts tremendous pressure on the two batsmen who are batting. Imagine, you are supposed to hit a six, you want to play the big shot, but you have to be 110% sure once you are hitting, it has to go over the boundary.”So these are the kinds of pressure that you tend to take and there is no easy way out. It’s very easy to say on paper that this is the combination we should go with, but excuse me, cricket is not played that way. You need to have people who contribute.”

Somerset needed to score at 5 runs per over to win this game but throughsome disciplined and aggressive bowling from the Leicestershire attack theywere always behind the asking rate.Jimmy Ormond once again was the pick of the bowlers and picked up his firstwicket in only the second over of the innings. Bowler edged a ball to secondslip to give Darren Maddy an easy catch. The ball previous saw Maddy drop achance given by Lathwell also at second slip.It wasn’t too long before Lathwell became Ormonds second victim when hefollowed a wide delivery which found the edge through to the wicket keeper.At this point Somerset were only scoring at 2 runs per over and the pressurewas beginning to show. Burns unable to pierce the in field then set off for a risky single which resulted in a run out.You felt that as long as Jamie Cox was at the crease there was always achance for Somerset but when Scott Boswell picked up his prize wicket inonly his second over, Somerset’s chances of victory were diminishing. He wasbrilliantly caught by the diving wicket keeper Neil Burns.Parsons tried to continue the fight and looked in good form. He struck themedium pace of Billy Stelling for a huge six over mid off giving impetous tothe innings. However, Stelling fought back by clean bowling Parsons in the29th over. By this time Somerset’s chances were almost gone and continued tolose their wickets consistantly.Leicestershire thoroughly deserved this win and they now can look forward toplaying once again in the top division.

Match facts

Thursday, March 19, 2015
Start time 1430 local (0330 GMT)4:49

Chappell: Mashrafe has challenged the team to improve

Big picture

At the start of the World Cup, defending champions India would have accepted gleefully the position they find themselves in – a quarter-final against Bangladesh, the lowest-ranked of the remaining eight teams, a side with medium-pacers and spinners that India’s batsmen have found relatively easy to bully, a team without big-match experience, and a team with vulnerabilities outside the subcontinent. Ironically, Bangladesh would probably have accepted their position too.Though India, on current form, are superior in every aspect, their brand of cricket and their frailties are not unfamiliar to Bangladesh. It isn’t South Africa, who are going to blow them away with extreme pace and bounce, or with muscular hitting. India’s batsmen are better at what Bangladesh aim for – timing, using the pace of the ball, and wristwork – and India execute better in the field with a similar bowling formation to Bangladesh. There is no doubt about who the favourites are – Bangladesh admitted as much – but it allows them to plan more intuitively.When the ICC fixed the knockout schedule, Bangladesh were not mentioned. The MCG was to host the England quarter-final, and if they didn’t make it the team that did in their place would play at Australia’s largest ground. Bangladesh grabbed that spot with verve, handing England their return tickets after a clinical finish in Adelaide. They even came close to finishing third in their group. With the batsmen scoring consistently and all the bowlers contributing, Bangladesh are deservedly in the last eight.What could help Bangladesh is India going off the boil, but that hasn’t happened yet in this tournament. In a complete turnaround from their first two months in Australia, India have found the aura defending champions ought to bring. Barring one or two players, everyone has contributed to the resurgence. The quarter-final appears to be their smallest bump on the road ahead, but one uncontrolled approach is all it takes.

Form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)
India WWWWW
Bangladesh LWWLWMahmudullah has scored more runs in this World Cup than any Indian batsman•Getty Images

In the spotlight

Bangladesh’s fielders struggled with the size of the MCG playing area against Sri Lanka, their first game at the ground. They dropped catches and they grappled with field placements. It was not a surprise that during practice for the quarter-final, fielders were made to charge in from the edge of the boundary to take catches, fire throws and understand the unique dimensions of the venue. Bangladesh’s bowling coach Heath Streak also tested umpire Aleem Dar’s catching with three hits. All were taken, drawing applause from the players, who knew it was an important skill to judge catches in the outfield where only rarely is one able to see the ball against a disturbance-free background. One mistake on Thursday and it could mean the end of a dream for a generation of cricketers.India’s pace bowling in this tournament has been such a revelation that Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was considered integral to their chances, cannot find a place in the XI. In the last two games, however, there were periods when they struggled against the Ireland and Zimbabwe batsmen. The switch to New Zealand conditions could have been one reason, but it could also have been a sign of increasing weariness. India will hope that a return to Australia will help Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Mohit Sharma maintain the intensity.

Teams news

Mashrafe Mortaza missed Bangladesh’s last group game against New Zealand, but will be back to lead the side. That would leave Arafat Sunny, Taijul Islam and Nasir Hossain fighting for the remaining spot. Nasir, who picked up two wickets against New Zealand, could be the favourite because he would strengthen the batting.Bangladesh (probable) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Soumya Sarkar, 4 Mahmudullah, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Sabbir Rahman, 8 Arafat Sunny/Nasir Hossain, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Taskin AhmedIndia talked about a sense of calm ahead of the big match. They are highly unlikely to disturb that with any alteration in the team, barring injury.India (probable) 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ajinkya Rahane, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Mohit Sharma, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Umesh Yadav

Pitch and conditions

The pitch for the quarter-final is the same one that was used in the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka Group A game. It’s expected to be flat and full of runs. However, teams would keep an eye on the weather as some showers are forecast for Thursday afternoon and evening.

Stats and trivia

• Bangladesh are playing their first knockout match in a top-flight ICC tournament. India, on the other hand, are playing their 10th under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. Dhoni, with eight wins from nine matches (Champions Trophy, World T20 and World Cup) is level with Ricky Ponting, whose eight wins have come from 11 games.
• Bangladesh batsman Mahmudullah has scored 344 runs from five games in this World Cup, more than anyone from India. Five of Bangladesh’s top 10 aggregates for batsmen in a World Cup have come in this tournament.
• None of the India batsmen in this squad has scored a century in an ICC tournament knockout game.
• This is Bangladesh’s 300th ODI. They played India in their 100th (2004) and 150th ODI (2007), winning both games.

Quotes

“I wanted to congratulate Bangladesh for qualifying for the quarter-final. It’s good to see India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – all four subcontinent teams – in the quarter-final. Earlier people were saying that we don’t have allrounders for conditions, so it’s good to see the teams from subcontinent through.”
“2007 won’t help; 2011, when we lost, that doesn’t help either. In short-form cricket, what is important is how you do on the day.”

Last season
In: James Kettleborough (Northamptonshire), Craig Meschede (Somerset, loan), Colin Ingram (South Africa, Kolpak)
Out: John Glover, Murray Goodwin, Gareth Rees (all retired), Mike Reed, Stewart Walters, Tom Lancefield (all released), Jim Allenby (Somerset)
Overseas: Jacques Rudolph2014 in a nutshell
Almost identical to 2013 with a decent show in the one-day competitions but a mediocre return in the Championship. The season began in a blaze of glory with a 10-wicket thumping of Surrey at The Oval but the runs that Murray Goodwin and Jim Allenby provided the previous summer didn’t return and they only won two further matches, despite having four bowlers take 40 wickets.Glamorgan’s T20 campaign also saw a fine victory at The Oval and they were well on course to reach a first Finals Day since 2004 against Lancashire in the quarter-final before losing three wickets in an over and falling a run short of their target. They were a point short of qualifying for the Royal London Cup knockout stage, despite winning the same number of matches as all four sides above them in the table.2015 prospects
Jim Allenby is a huge loss to the club. He has been a consistent performer across all formats since arriving in 2009. Colin Ingram is his replacement on the wage bill but does not bowl and Allenby’s steady seamers will especially be missed in one-day cricket where he was Glamorgan’s most economical bowler in both competitions last season. It is therefore difficult to make a case for Glamorgan going any further in one-day cricket this year.In the Championship, runs are the biggest concern. Only Allenby topped 900 runs last season and it is imperative Jacques Rudolph comes up with a big season to ensure Glamorgan put enough weight on the scoreboard to be competitive; much rests on Colin Ingram too. Can Craig Meschede provide the 52 Championship wickets Allenby took last season? Depth in the bowling is a concern. Spin options are young. Power brokers
Given the identical nature of Glamorgan’s previous two seasons, it could be concluded that Toby Radford made little impact in his first season as head coach. It is a difficult task with a young squad at a club saddled by large debt. But Radford does have a few experienced players to work with and this season Jacques Rudolph, the former South African international, will captain the side in all formats, relieving Mark Wallace in four-day cricket.Key player
Michael Hogan has been one of the best overseas signing in recent years. He has led the bowling attack in some style with a stack of wickets in all formats – 98 in total last season. His efforts have sometimes propped Glamorgan up and sometimes made them a threat. With Jim Allenby’s departure, Hogan is more important than ever this season but is set to miss the first round of matches with a hamstring injury that the club will desperately hope is not too serious. They could be in the market for a loan signing if the prognosis is not good.Bright young thing
Craig Meschede, on loan to Glamorgan from Somerset, has made a promising start to his career at Taunton and, over the Severn Bridge for 2015, will hope to play a full part in the season and make progress. His brisk seamers made an impression for Somerset in 2013, with 26 first-class wickets at 28.38 and 22 at 21.72 in the 40-over competition, and should be a valuable asset for Glamorgan who have gaps to fill in their attack.ESPNcricinfo verdict
It is very difficult to predict improvement on the last two showings given that the player central to those campaigns has now left the club. Big seasons from Rudolph and Ingram will be needed to ensure Glamorgan remain competitive but they could be fighting off a wooden spoon. The one-day competitions present their best chance of some success but they start the Royal London Cup with a two-point deduction for a poor pitch last season.Bet365 odds
Lv= Championship Div 2: 14-1, NatWest Blast: 25-1, Royal London Cup: 33-1

Sixteen wickets tumbled on the first day at Derby, as Gloucestershire slumped to 98 for 6 in reply to Derbyshire’s underwhelming first-innings total of 188. By the close of play, the difference between the teams was Steve Stubbing’s excellent unbeaten innings of 62 from 103 balls. He had come to the crease with his side reeling at 54 for 4, which soon became 88 for 6 as Chris Rogers (40) became the first of five wickets for David Brown in a remarkable 6.5-over spell. But he was still there when the No. 11, Charl Langeveldt, fell after clubbing a handy 21 from 13 balls, and the value of his innings was soon apparent as Graeme Wagg set about redressing the balance of the match. He took 4 for 18 in 8.2 overs as none of Gloucestershire’s top six exceeded Will Porterfield’s 23.Essex need a hefty victory over second-placed Warwickshire if they are to keep their promotion hopes alive going into the final round, and their batsmen did their best to fulfil their side of the bargain on the first day at Chelmsford. No-one got stuck in for the century that might have decided the course of the game, but contributions all down the order – a pair of 72s from Ryan ten Doeschate and Jaik Mickleburgh, and a pair of 42s from Ravi Bopara and James Foster – carried them to 333 for 8 at the close. Warwickshire’s bowlers stuck to their task, with their new signing Rikki Clarke claiming 2 for 49 in ten overs, while the New Zealander, Chris Martin, claimed the vital wicket of ten Doeschate shortly before stumps.Chaos is engulfing Glamorgan as the season draws to a close – their chief executive, Mike Fatkin, went earlier in the week, and now the groundsman, Les Smith, has followed close behind. But, on the field, the team are doing their best to put all such issues out of mind, and on the first day against Leicestershire at Sophia Gardens, they took command with the bat, thanks to a boundary-laden 140 from Gareth Rees, and an excellent unbeaten 80 from Michael Powell. For Rees, it was his third century of the season, and contained 20 fours and a six. He made light of the early loss of his opening partner, David Hemp, and went on to completely dominate a second-wicket stand of 97 with the teenager, Tom Maynard, who made 26. Leicestershire were kept in the frame by their opener Dillon du Preez, who claimed three of the four wickets to fall, including Jamie Dalrymple for 9.Though Stephen Moore continued his superb season with 111 – his fifth first-class century of 2008 – Worcestershire looked as though they could have done with the services of Graeme Hick as they let Middlesex claim the ascendancy on the first day at Kidderminster. The retiring Hick was sadly robbed of his swansong by a long-standing elbow injury, and without him his Worcestershire team-mates toppled to a disappointing 265. That total did, however, represent something of a fightback, after Tim Murtagh’s 6 for 52 had reduced them to 22 for 3, and 203 for 9, before Chris Whelan more than doubled his career runs tally with a mature 58 from No. 9. By the close, Andrew Strauss had underlined Worcestershire’s missed opportunity with an unbeaten 66, though Gareth Batty did claim the wicket of Billy Godleman for 31.

Nottinghamshire took advantage of the bad weather that curtailed the day for their title rivals, Somerset and Durham, and chipped steadily away at the batting of relegation-doomed Surrey at The Oval. By the close, Surrey had reached 253 for 8, with a pair of 60s for Scott Newman and Lee Hodgson. The latter, on his first-class debut, made 63 to bail Surrey out after they had slid to 125 for 5. Surrey were hardly going down with all guns blazing. In the afternoon session of 33 overs they ground out 59 runs.Play was called off by 10am at Chester-le-Street leaving Durham frustrated in their title push and Sussex unable to pull themselves clear of any relegation concerns.Lancashire could be joining Surrey in the second division after a dreadful first day at Liverpool. Read Andrew McGlashan’s bulletin for more.Only 44 overs were possible between Somerset and Yorkshire at Scarborough. John Ward watched the opening exchanges.

“Show me the money,” hails from the film , but it could just as easily fit with the ECB in recent months. When Allen Stanford landed his helicopter at Lord’s in June he offered England’s elite players a chance at the biggest payday of the lives. And it hasn’t stopped there. Now county cricket gets its slice of the action after it was confirmed the winners of Saturday’s Twenty20 Cup will form part of the Stanford Super Series event in Antigua in October.The highlight of that tournament is the All-Stars match on November 1, but one successful county will play three matches – against the England XI, Stanford All-Stars and Trinidad and Tobago – with the prospect of a bumper payday if they are successful. If the winning county beats Trinidad and Tobago, the reigning Stanford 20/20 champions, they stand to pocket US$400,000 (£200,000).It adds even more spice to Finals Day, when defending champions Kent along with Durham, Middlesex and Essex will battle for the big prize. To put into perspective the riches on offer, winning the Twenty20 Cup itself brings a cheque for £42,000.Even before Stanford’s latest proposal, there was a huge financial carrot being dangled in front of the counties with the multi-million dollar Champions League. However, that event continues to be shrouded in doubt with Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, maintaining the stance that any team with ICL links wouldn’t be invited to join. That would rule out Durham and Kent if either progressed to the Twenty20 final.It has gone against the odds that two of the three counties without ICL players – Essex and Middlesex – have made it to Finals Day, but even if they both qualify there is still plenty of uncertainly whether the Champions League will get off the ground. The other aspect is that before Stanford’s offer, the semi-finals where shaping as the most important matches of the day, but now the result of the final brings more than just the domestic Twenty20 crown.It’s notoriously difficult to pick where the trophy will finish in Twenty20, but Durham have a side packed with international stars and also have the advantage of playing a recent Twenty20 match – the delayed quarter-final where they thrashed Glamorgan. They have managed to retain Shaun Pollock while Shivnarine Chanderpaul gives the top-order an international feel. This will also be Steve Harmison’s biggest stage since he was dropped by England.

Essex, though, are the form team going into Finals Day and have played outstanding one-day cricket this season. Graham Napier has become one of the most talked-about players on the circuit, and could yet be tapped up by the IPL following his record-breaking 152 against Sussex. They have a well-balanced team, with Danish Kaneria’s legspin being their trump card with the ball.But you can’t discount any defending champions; Kent have the been-there-done-that knowledge of how to succeed on Finals Day. As with all four sides, Kent bat deep into their order but their key weapon, especially when the pressure is on, is the death bowling of Azhar Mahmood and Yasir Arafat. Joe Denly was one of the surprise omissions from England’s 30-man Champions Trophy and has another chance to show the talent that has brought him 384 runs this year.Middlesex are the dark horses of this year’s tournament, having had a miserable Twenty20 record since it began in 2003. They have formed a powerful unit and swept all before them during the qualifying stages, yet saved their most impressive performance for the quarter-final against Lancashire. They were 21 for 4 when 20-year-old Dawid Malan played one of the innings of the season with 103 off 54 balls before the bowlers took over. Their five main bowlers have all taken at least 10 wickets, a key to them being able to restrict opposition.The live music and mascot race which have been part of Twenty20 cricket remain – and like everything in this form of the game the mascot race is bigger this year – but the format has developed out of sight from its early days. No longer is it a bonus trophy, but the path to previously unheard-of riches. This is serious cricket with a serious prize at the end.

Andrew Symonds is “in a good place” and has impressed Cricket Australia with his effort and application since being dumped from the national squad, according to the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland. However, no time-frame has been set for Symonds to return to the Australia side and Sutherland said the lack of runs Symonds had been making for Queensland was “one of the missing bits of the jigsaw”.Symonds was sent home from Australia’s ODI series in Darwin in August after he went fishing when he should have been at a team meeting. It was the last straw for the team’s leadership group, which had already been concerned about Symonds’ attitude over the previous few months.Since declaring his intentions to fight back into the Test and one-day international teams, Symonds has struggled to score big runs at Queensland, where his only major contribution was 73 in a one-day game and he has 36 from four Sheffield Shield innings. Sutherland met with Symonds recently and said he was happy with the allrounder’s progress.”We had a good chat,” Sutherland told the . “Over the last month or so, I’ve had regular chats with Andrew over the phone and I caught up with him face-to-face in Brisbane a few weeks ago, as much as anything, to be able to talk to him face-to-face and see how he’s coming along.”It was a good chat. He understands where we are up to and vice versa. He’d probably be liking to make a few more runs. I think he’s in a good place. I know talking to him and others who are close to him as he seeks to come back to full strength – mental, physical and skill-wise – that he’s progressing really well.”He’s in a good place and perhaps one of the missing bits of the jigsaw at the moment is just his on-field form. Certainly in terms of effort and application, everything is really, really good.”Symonds was not considered for the tour of India and has lost the No. 6 position in the Test side to Shane Watson, who has been a strong contributor in the first two Tests. However, there will be considerable debate as to whether Symonds will be ready to return when Australia’s home Test summer begins in Brisbane against New Zealand in late November.

“Its not going to be this easy next Thursday, Dale!” chided a spectator with a digicam as Dale Steyn walked by with his training kit. “Hah,” was the fast bowler’s reply. “It may just be easier.” Ashwell Prince wasn’t as forthcoming of his assessment of the South Africans’ dominant position at the end of day one against Middlesex at Uxbridge – and of their easy adjustment to England so far – but it was hard not to see the confidence of the touring team. South Africa are buoyant with less than a week before the first Test at Lord’s, make no mistake, despite the fact that their captain is the only one without any real form going into the first of four games this summer.”We’re confident heading to Lord’s next week, because most of the top order has got runs so far,” said Prince, whose unbeaten 104 was a crucial role in the South Africans’ total of 339 for 4 on another day of flat-track domination. “We’ve played well there before and we’re confident it will come together again.You need to grab whatever opportunity presents itself and Hashim [Amla] and myself did that today.”That they did. Both batsmen smoothed over the cracks created by the double loss of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis just after lunch, and their 190-run partnership was a South African touring record against Middlesex.Prince said he didn’t have major issues with the track – evident by the manner in which he fluently clipped the spinners and pushed the quicker bowlers into the off-side gaps. “It seemed like it was going around a bit early on with the new ball,” said Prince.”But it’s quite a good pitch, and in the afternoon it was a little bit easier – and we took advantage.”South Africa have won their last three Tests at Lord’s and Smith would have fond memories of batting there – his 259 set up an innings-and-92-run win in 2003. Smith’s first innings of the tour – he didn’t play in Taunton as he was recovering from a torn hamstring – was a plucky 35, but even if it his only one before Lord’s Prince felt it was satisfactory. “He [Smith] batted for more than two hours out there, and the ball did go around a little bit this morning,” he said. “He hasn’t batted for a while. But those two hours – and some more in the second innings, we hope – I’m sure that will be enough time in terms of preparation for the Test.”It’s much better to get time in the middle than in the nets – and I’m sure he’d like to have another go in the second innings.”The only cricket Smith has played recent times has been in the Indian Premier League, and Prince felt it was understandable that he wasn’t off the blocks immediately. “He conscientiously took his time … He probably could have been a bit more aggressive,” he said. “But I think he probably opted to play the way he did, because he hasn’t had much time in the middle – and the last time he was batting it was in Twenty20. He wanted time at the crease and to get used to playing cricket with a red ball, the IPL being the last time he batted.”Smith may not be in the runs yet, but the rest of the South African outfit has cashed in on their pre-Test practice.