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Powered by Adrian Barath’s 192 and five wickets from young left-arm slow bowler Imran Khan, Trinidad & Tobago took complete control over Leeward Islands at St Augustine. Leewards had done well to reduce T&T from 280 for 4 to 349, thanks to Gavin Tonge’s six wickets, but their batsmen struggled to hand the home side a lead of 141 by stumps.Barath resumed on 163 and looked set for a maiden double-century, but Tonge bowled him eight short. That sparked a collapse of six wickets for just 27 runs, with Tonge taking a career-best 6 for 86. Leewards were off to a shaky start, with Ravi Rampaul striking early blows. It was Imran, however, who did the most damage with his slow stuff. Having never picked up a first-class wicket in five previous appearances, Imran took five in 69 deliveries. His strikes included the only half-centurions, Montcin Hodge (55) and Omari Bankas (55).The T&T openers added 13 in the remaining two overs of the day.Dwayne Smith continued his excellent match in Crab Hill, hitting a century to almost single-handedly carry Barbados to 271 against Combined Colleges and Campuses. Barbados’ bowlers backed up Smith’s efforts by reducing CCC to 128 for 5, a lead of just 55.Smith’s four wickets had helped Barbados bundle out CCC for 198, but his batting proved far more crucial. There was only one half-century, Kevin Stoute’s 50, in what was an otherwise disappointing batting card. From an overnight 53 for 2, Bardados found themselves 55 for 4 as Kevin McClean struck in the morning. Smith and Stoute added 160 there on, Smith being the dominant partner, but CCC again hit back to reduce Barbados from 215 for 5 to 271. Smith’s 155 was an outstanding effort indeed.With a 73-run lead, Barbados came out enthused. Their new-ball pairing of Pedro Collins and Corey Collymore, former West Indian fast bowlers alike, left CCC 8 for 3. Life was breathed back into the innings thanks to Chadwick Walton (46) and Romel Currency (56), but a double-strike by Nikolai Charles left Barbados in a strong position.A century to Donovan Pagon and 97 from David Bernard carried Jamaica to 441, after which Andrew Richardson took a wicket before stumps at the Providence Stadium. Guyana’s bowlers were made to work hard on the second day as Jamaica rallied from 149 for 3 to a large total. Pagon, who resumed on 39, lost the experience Wavell Hinds (42) early in the day but with Bernard, added 101 before he was run out for 105. Bernard found support from Keith Hibbert (37) and Nikita Miller (45) but was unlucky to miss a century bu a shave. Jamaica declared eight wickets down before Richardson bowled Shemroy Barrington for a duck in the four overs left in the day.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outZimbabwe sealed the five-match series, a lopsided battle of the minnows, with a seven-wicket win in Nairobi to record a clean sweep. They were barely challenged, save for two early wickets, in their chase of a modest 200 as Hamilton Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri and Sean Williams compiled attacking half-centuries to steer them home with 15 overs to spare.The win was set up by the Zimbabwe spinners, led by Graeme Cremer, who took 4 for 31, while Masakadza picked up 2 for 20, which he backed up with his run-a-ball 84. A seventh-wicket partnership of 75 between Collins Obuya and Rajesh Bhudia helped Kenya claw back from a middle-order collapse in a desperate bid to save face in a series already lost.Things didn’t look so rosy for the visitors at the start of their chase. They lost Keith Dabengwa off the second ball, chasing Peter Ongondo’s away swinger, and then Vusi Sibanda in the following over, edging Lameck Onyango to Maurice Ouma. Game on with Zimbabwe 2 for 2 but that was to be Kenya’s only period of domination as Masakadza and Matsikenyeri led a quick recovery.Masakadza set the tone with consecutive boundaries through the on side off Ongondo while Matsikenyeri looked to attack with aerial shots over the same region. Kenya needed a wicket but the breakthrough came a little too late, after the pair had added a match-winning 93. Matsikenyeri, ironically, perished to his favoured on-side region, hitting it down Rakep Patel’s throat at mid-on off Hiren Varaiya shortly after reaching his fifty.Masakadza too reached his half-century, off 52 balls, and found an able partner in Williams, who took on the bowling straightaway. He was harsh on the spinners, Patel and Varaiya, picking them for powerful boundaries through the off side. He reached his fifty – his ninth – with a four past mid-off off Ongondo shortly before the victory. The final act was reserved for Masakadza – the highest run-scorer in the series – who picked Onyango for consecutive boundaries to seal the series.Collins Obuya’s tenacious effort of 75 was the only noteworthy performance for the home side, who’d elected to bat. They made a solid start with the opening pair of Kennedy Otieno and Seren Waters putting on 45 but the batting caved in once Masakadza had Otieno caught by Ray Price in the ninth over.The Zimbabwe bowlers not only managed to choke the top order but struck at regular intervals and the hosts were reduced to 92 for 6. The match looked to be going the same way as other games in the series, completely in Zimbabwe’s favour.However, Obuya and Rajesh Bhudia’s stand helped Kenya claw back. Budhia’s cameo, off 49 balls, included six boundaries and it set Kenya up for Obuya’s late assault.Budhia’s run-out in the 46th over though sparked another collapse as Cremer struck three times in two overs. In a turnaround from his slow approach early on, Obuya tore into Elton Chigumbara in the 48th over, slamming three sixes and two fours in that over. The late charge gave the total some respectability but in the end, Kenya were well short.The whitewash has also earned Prosper Utseya’s team a promotion in the ICC ODI rankings, displacing Ireland from the tenth spot.

New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder will miss the fourth one-day international against West Indies in Wellington on Saturday because of “inadequate preparation”. Ryder missed a team meeting on Thursday morning and was unable to train in the afternoon after a late night of drinking.Ryder was fined after a disciplinary hearing for missing both the meeting and training. New Zealand have called up Mathew Sinclair as a replacement and he will bat at No 3.”We are all disappointed that this has happened. Since February last year, we have witnessed encouraging signs from Jesse both on and off the park,” Justin Vaughan, chief executive of New Zealand Cricket, said. “These vast improvements meant Jesse was recently given more latitude in his personal decision making. In hindsight, this was premature. However while it is a drinking-related issue, it does not compare with last February in its severity.”In February, Ryder had put his hand through a window while trying to gain access to a toilet area that had been accidentally locked. The injury occurred in Christchurch the morning after New Zealand’s ODI series win against England and it later emerged that he was also out drinking until 1.30am on the eve of a game. He had to undergo surgery and was sidelined until September.Ryder apologised to his team-mates at training for his latest indiscretion. “I have not only let myself down, but also my team-mates, support team and the cricket fans in general,” Ryder said. “I thought I had reached the point where I could control my drinking better, but that is obviously not the case.”I am only now starting to appreciate the size of the challenge that I face. I am totally committed to overcoming this problem and understand I will have to work even harder with the support group around me.”The five-ODI series against West Indies is currently level at 1-1.

Two dropped catches significantly increased New Zealand’s deficit in Adelaide, where they face an enormous challenge to save the Test with two days remaining. On a day when Ross Taylor snared a one-handed blinder at first slip to remove Brett Lee, New Zealand could only wonder how Daniel Flynn and Daniel Vettori put down sitters earlier in the afternoon.”Ross Taylor’s was a beaut wasn’t it,” the fast bowler Iain O’Brien said with a smile when asked about the team’s catching. “They hurt when a guy goes on to bat as positively as he did for as long as he did. You take 70 or 80 runs off that, and it’s a different scoreboard.”O’Brien was referring to Flynn’s simple opportunity that was grassed at mid-on when Brad Haddin was on 72. The batsman went on to make 169 and Australia’s lead of 230 at stumps on the third day could have been much more manageable. Vettori’s miss was less costly – he could not hang on to a return chance off Lee – but helped cap off a disappointing day for New Zealand.Vettori was understandably exhausted after sending down 59.4 overs for the innings, including 30 on the trot on the third day, and O’Brien said it was hard on the captain to expect so much from him. “We came from a Test match a month ago in Chittagong where he basically won the whole match for us,” O’Brien said.”He batted twice and scored 50-plus both innings and bowled a lot of overs and took a lot of wickets. Unfortunately at the moment that’s his role. It’s tough when bowling from one end is left to one guy and he does it so well, so it’s kind of hard to let someone have a go as well.”O’Brien, who ended with the best figures for New Zealand, with 3 for 111, and with series figures of seven wickets at 30.42, is happy with his own form. He was remarkably chirpy after such a tough day in the field but he has thrived on the challenge of playing the world’s No. 1 team.He sent down a string of bouncers to Lee before getting him out – knowing fully well the fire will come back when he bats – and spoke candidly of his day-two chat with Ricky Ponting. O’Brien had Ponting caught at midwicket for 79 and words were exchanged between the pair, but O’Brien said it was “just a bit of on-field humour”.”[What I said] was along the lines of you’ve missed out there,” O’Brien said. “He didn’t quite hear me, asked what I’d said, I told him and then he got a bit fiery and a couple of the other boys got a bit fiery and there’s nothing in it.”The Australians will have the last laugh if they can wrap up the match on the fourth day after posting 535 – a score that was a batting lesson for New Zealand. “That’s the kind of total we should have got first up,” O’Brien said. “We’re way behind now, but it’s a hell of a deck. We’ve got to bat a long time now to come out of this match.”

Scorecard

Tamil Nadu’s openers gave their team a perfect start to the new season, rattling off 377 runs in an unbroken stand at the Golf Club Ground in Nasik. M Vijay continued to build on his impressive showing in the Challenger Trophy, where he finished as the second-highest run-getter, scoring an unbeaten 202. Abhinav Mukund contributed 164, and the pair need 88 more to break the record for the opening stand in the Ranji Trophy – set by Raman Lamba and Ravi Sehgal against Himachal Pradesh in 1994-95.Tamil Nadu’s runs came at a healthy run-rate of 4.18; Vijay hit 23 fours and five sixes, and Mukund 19 fours and two sixes. Enamul Haque jnr, Maharashtra’s recruit from Bangladesh, had a disappointing start, conceding 114 in 25 overs.
ScorecardAt the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, newly-appointed captain Robin Uthappa led from the front for Karnataka, making 131 in a solid batting effort against Railways. Uthappa, the leading run-scorer in India Blue’s triumph in the Challenger Trophy, chose to bat and vindicated his decision by putting on 157 for the first wicket with KB Pawan, who was dismissed for 54 by left-arm spinner Murali Kartik.Ganesh Satish and C Raghu didn’t last long, and Uthappa became Harvinder Singh’s second wicket with the score at 221 for 4. Thilak Naidu and Bharat Chipli each scored 19 before falling to Kartik, who took 3 for 65 off his 24 overs. Karan Sharma also bowled 20 overs of spin, taking 1 for 56.Gujarat 304 for 4 (Sunny 90*, Thaker 73*) v Saurashtra
ScorecardA 144-run stand for the fifth wicket between Bhavik Thaker and Sunny Patel helped Gujarat, winners of the Plate League last season, to a comfortable 304 for 4 against 2007-08 Super League semi-finalists Saurashtra in Rajkot. Sunny scored 90 in that stand, with 17 fours in his unbeaten run-a-ball innings. At the other end, Thaker pushed to 73 off 147 balls, and both batsmen will look to score centuries and help their team to a big score on Tuesday.Nilesh Modi and Parthiv Patel, the leading run-getters in Gujarat’s Plate League success, failed to build on their starts after their team was asked to bat. Sandeep Jobanputra struck early for the hosts, getting Priyank Kirit Panchal for 4. Modi and Parthiv then put on 71 before Parthiv was out after a brisk 42 . Modi too scored 42 but, while Parthiv needed only 50 deliveries, Modi took 155. Niraj Patel made 36 but his dismissal left Gujarat in a spot of bother at 160 for 4. Thaker and Sunny, though, seized the advantage for their side.Hyderabad 228 for 7 (Pai 78, Teja 71) v Orissa
ScorecardSeventies from Dwaraka Ravi Teja and Anoop Pai took Hyderabad to 228 for 5 after they made a shaky start against Orissa at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Tirumalsetti Suman was trapped leg before by Debasis Mohanty off the first ball of the day and it became 24 for 2 when Mohanty bowled Doddapaneni Rushi Raj in the 11th over. Teja and Arjun Yadav made a brief recovery, but Yadav was caught and bowled for 9 by left-arm medium-pacer Preetamjit Das.Pai and Teja then added 79 for the third wicket. Teja was lbw to Preetamjit, who finished the day with 2 for 41 off 14 overs. Teja made 71, which included eight fours and a six. Wicketkeeper Abhinav Kumar chipped in with an unbeaten 48, but Hyderabad lost Pai, who made a 240-ball 78, in the final over of the day to Basanth Mohanty.ScorecardLNP Reddy played anchor for Andhra against Uttar Pradesh with a slow, unbeaten 89 to guide his team to 222 for 4 on the first day in Meerut. Opener Hemal Watekar was the only batsman to score at a strike-rate of over 50 as Andhra went at a rate of 2.41 per over. Watekar was the first out, for 34 in an opening stand of 39, to left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta. ASK Varma scored only 7, caught behind off Gupta, and Bodapati Sumanth’s 93-ball 26 was ended when he was caught off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Captain Y Gnaneswara Rao was also out for 7; he put on 58 with Reddy. AG Pradeep then made an unbeaten 35 as he and Reddy helped his team to 222 for 4.
ScorecardDefending champions Delhi played out a testing day of cricket at the Roshanara Club Ground. Punjab, put in to bat, made 237 for 5, with No. 3 Sunny Sohal scoring his maiden first-class ton. Left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan and legspinner Chetanya Nanda jolted Punjab with two wickets apiece, but an unbroken 61-run stand between Uday Kaul and Ankur Kakkar played out till stumps.Mumbai 293 for 8 (Rahane 73, Rohit 62, Jaffer 60, Menaria 3-7) v Rajasthan
Scorecard
At the Brabourne Stadium, Rajasthan fought well to keep Mumbai down to 293 for 8 on the first day, Mumbai’s innings was powered by a 106-run fourth-wicket stand between Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma, both of whom scored half-centuries. However, Ashok Menaria, a part-time left-arm slow bowler, took 3-1-7-3 on debut to leave the honours even.

Stephen Fleming, the former New Zealand captain, is likely to take over as the coach of Chennai Super Kings from Kepler Wessels for the Champions Twenty20 League. He, however, will not be playing for the team in then tournament next month. Wessels, who led the team to the finals in the inaugural IPL season and helped them qualify for the Champions Twenty20 League next month, confirmed that his one-year tenure was over. “My contract was just for one year,” he told Cricinfo.Fleming had a disappointing IPL campaign playing for Chennai, scoring 196 runs from 10 games at a strike-rate of 118.78, failing to score a fifty. He was unavailable for the semi-final and final as well after heading back to New Zealand for the birth of his child.He recently committed to Wellington for the domestic Twenty20 campaign in New Zealand beginning February 2009, a move which could also see him turning out for the team in the next edition of the Champions LeagueHis appointment is the latest in the series of management changes by the IPL teams ahead of the second season. Hyderabad’s Deccan Chargers, who finished at the bottom of the league, brought in Adam Gilchrist as their new captain, replacing VVS Laxman and Bangalore’s Royal Challengers, who finished just ahead of Hyderabad in the points table, replaced Martin Crowe, their coach last year, with Ray Jennings. The Hyderabad, Jaipur and Delhi franchises have already changed their chief executives.Michael Hussey had already announced that he would represent Chennai and not Western Australia for the Champions Twenty20 League which kicks off on December 3 with the finals in Mumbai on December 10. Chennai Super Kings will face Victoria in their opening Group A encounter on December 4 in Mumbai. Middlesex and Titans are the other teams in the group.

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.

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.

ScorecardRichard Levi’s 72 of 88 balls helped the South Africa Academy beat the Bangladesh Cricket Board Academy by 18 runs in the first of three one-dayers played on Wednesday. Levi’s knock, which comprised eight fours and two sixes, helped to steer South Africa to 211 for 9 in 45 overs, which proved enough as the visitors managed only 193 for 8.Batting first, the South Africa Academy had a shaky start, losing opener Rushdi Jappie for five in the sixth over, with the score on 31, and No. 3 Roelof van der Merwe for 0. However, a 56-run stand for the fourth wicket between Levi and Reeza Hendricks saw the team recover to 120 for 4.With Levi getting run out and Hendricks falling for 31 soon after, it was up to Stiaan van Zyl and David Wiese to make a useful contributions. A 54-run sixth wicket stand between the two ensured South Africa Academy reached a competitive total. Delwar Hossain, playing his first game of the tour, bagged 3 for 46 in his nine overs and Ziaur Rahman took 2 for 27.Needing 212 to win, Bangladesh lost their openers early and were in serious trouble at 55 for 5 in the 17th over. However a 120-run sixth-wicket stand between Marshall Ayub (69) and Farhad Hossain (64) gave the visitors some hope, but it did not trouble the home team in the end.David Wiese was the pick of the South Africa Academy bowlers with 3 for 31 from his nine overs. Mthokozisi Shezi ended up with 2 for 46 in nine overs, while Mondli Mahlombe and Roelof van der Merwe finished with one scalp each.The next match is at the LC de Villiers Oval in Pretoria on Friday.

Division One

The rain relented in the West Country enough to allow 21.3 overs at Taunton, and that was enough for Justin Langer and Marcus Trescothick to launch Somerset’s first innings against Surrey in style. The pair put on an unbroken 110 for the opening stand as Mark Ramprakash’s decision to field first backfired. Thirty-six came from the first 3.5 overs as the openers took toll of wayward spells from Pedro Collins and Jade Dernbach. Trescothick, who became the first Division One batsman to pass 1000 Championship runs this season, peppered the cover boundary with 10 fours in his 65-ball 46 while Langer reached a fine fifty from just 57 balls.Miserable conditions at Chester-le-Street ruled out any play between Durham and Nottinghamshire.The first day of the Roses match between Lancashire and Yorkshire at Old Trafford was also washed out without a ball being bowled.

Division Two

Middlesex lost Eoin Morgan towards the end of a frustratingly curtailed day at Derby, but Ed Joyce stroked a fine 64 to leave honours even against Derbyshire. Play finally got underway at 3.30pm after heavy rain had washed out the morning, but in spite of the helpful conditions, Derbyshire’s opening bowlers couldn’t find their lines and Billy Godleman and Joyce pounced. Graham Wagg, in particular, struggled with his control – but Charl Langeveldt bowled a tighter spell and had Joyce edging past the slips early in his innings. Godleman rode his luck against Langeveldt before he edged him straight to Chris Rogers, Derbyshire’s captain in place of Rikki Clarke who ended his tenure today. Joyce grew in confidence to bring up his fifty, and though he was dropped on 60 by Jon Clare in the gully, Wagg ran him out soon afterwards with a dead-eye throw from mid-on. Late in the day, Morgan top-edged a hook to long-leg to lift Derbyshire spirits – and they could should have had Dawid Malan caught for 12, too, but a simple chance was spilled by Tom New behind the stumps as Middlesex finished the day on 146 for 3.Rain prevented any play between Warwickshire and Essex on the first day at Edgbaston.Conditions over in Wales were no less grim, as Glamorgan and Gloucestershire’s match at Cardiff failed to start.