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Nottinghamshire 213 for 4 beat Durham 159 by 54 runs
Scorecard
Alex Hales cracked 67 to help boost Nottinghamshire past 200•PA Photos

Nottinghamshire Outlaws extended their lead at the top of the Friends Life t20 North Group as they thrashed Durham Dynamos by 54 runs.Alex Hales (67 from 39 balls) and skipper David Hussey (54 not out) were the star performers with the bat as Nottinghamshire racked up 213 for 4 after winning the toss – the highest score against Durham in the history of the competition.Steven Mullaney then took 3 for 26, including Durham captain Phil Mustard for 29, as the visitors lost five wickets inside the opening nine overs and were eventually bowled out for 159, Gareth Breese top-scoring with 34.In front of England selector James Whitaker, Hales was once again hugely impressive, striking eight crisp fours as he got the Notts innings off to a flying start in partnership with Riki Wessels.Wessels made 31 before he was lbw to Chris Rushworth, and Adam Voges kept up the momentum while making sure Hales was given as much of the strike as possible. The pair put on 72 in just over seven overs before Voges was adjudged to have feathered an attempted pull off Liam Plunkett to wicketkeeper Mustard for 39 off 24 balls.Hussey was straight in the action, hitting his fourth ball for a straight six, and although Hales and Samit Patel were both bowled by Mitch Claydon, Hussey continued to smash the Durham attack to all parts. He brought up his half-century – from just 24 balls – with his fourth six off the final ball of the innings from Liam Plunkett.Needing more than 10 runs an over, Durham had no option but to swing hard from the start and did not enjoy the luck they needed to pull off an unlikely chase. Gordon Muchall drove to cover in the second over and with four further top order wickets falling in five overs, Durham’s hopes were all but extinguished.Breese hit a breezy 34 but was then caught at short third-man off Andy Carter, with Darren Pattinson finishing off the tail as he claimed 3 for 33.

It was a Faysal Bank Twenty20 debut to remember for Faisalabad Wolves batsman Asif Ali. The 19-year-old Ali smashed a century to set up a match-winning total for his team against Multan Tigers in the opening game of the tournament.Ali, who has worked as a blacksmith and has played only three first-class games, showed no sign of nerves when he came in to bat at No. 3, after Faisalabad lost opener Mohammad Hafeez off the first ball of the match. He put on 125 in 13 overs with Asif Hussain and went on to get his hundred in the company of Pakistan and Faisalabad captain Misbah-ul-Haq, with whom he added 52 runs in five overs. He was dismissed in the 19th over, after making 100 off just 59 balls with nine fours and seven sixes.”Ali played an exceptional innings,” Misbah said. “Such innings are very rare from someone batting on his debut and this is a good sign for us.”Multan captain Abdur Rauf said Ali’s innings was the difference between the two teams. “The youngster took the game away from us as he was unstoppable and it’s great to see someone play such a knock on his debut,” he said.Ali was named Man of the Match and Faisalabad coach Ijaz Ahmed jnr said he looked an exciting prospect for the future, and called for his inclusion in the national side. “He [Ali] is an extraordinary player and the selectors should look at him because I believe he will go on to become a star for Pakistan,” he said.”I’m amazed the way he played. At the same time, I’m astonished at how we failed to spot such a talent in the last two to three years because last time around, he was a part of the squad but wasn’t given a chance.”

ScorecardThere was barely a moment on the second day in which Glamorgan relinquished their strengthening grip on this match, and by the close of play their lead had stretched to an imposing 367. The feebleness of Middlesex’s batting effort yesterday – taking nothing away from James Harris’s well-earned five-for – was thrown into stark relief by the ease with which Glamorgan’s batsman went about their business on the second day to reach 517 for 8 – their highest total at Lord’s, beating the 505 all out two seasons ago.Gareth Rees and William Bragg swelled their patient stand for the second wicket, begun yesterday afternoon, to 140 before they were parted, after which Ben Wright’s dashing hundred and some resolute batting from the lower order demoralised Middlesex even further.Middlesex appeared to give themselves something to fight for with two quick wickets on either side of lunch, but Glamorgan counter-attacked in fine style through Wright and wicketkeeper Mark Wallace’s rapid 119-run stand for the fifth wicket. Wright, in particular, looked keen and able to take charge, bursting out of the blocks to raise his half-century from just 46 deliveries.After losing his partner for a breezy 46, Wright slowed down in the company of Harris, who nudged and chipped his way to 41 – out of a stand of 60 – before he was bowled swiping at a Jamie Dalrymple offspinner. Wright shrugged off the setback to reach his hundred from the 127th ball he faced, but then top-edged a pull at his 128th to be easily caught by Scott Newman at mid-on.Glamorgan’s lead had already passed 250 by that stage, and there was to be no respite as Robert Croft and Graham Wagg eased their way through a 101-run partnership at better than four an over. Wagg became the fourth batsmen of the innings to pass 50, racing to the mark from 66 deliveries, and had swung his way merrily to an innings worth 63 that included nine fours and a six before he played one shot too many to Dexter, driving straight to mid-off. The dismissal came moments before stumps and Alviro Petersen will now have the pleasure of considering whether or not to declare overnight, his team in total control.Middlesex’s best chance of gaining a foot-hold in this match had come in the morning when, under mostly grey skies, the ball had nipped around once more and both Rees and Bragg were beaten outside off stump in the opening spells of Gareth Berg and Corey Collymore. The edge never came, however, and after 40 minutes, Dexter turned to Toby Roland-Jones and Tim Murtagh in the hope of forcing a breakthrough.Bragg, who had been so strong through cover point on Thursday afternoon, showed that he also has a good pull shot, going for the stroke even with two men out at deep square and long leg, and using it to good effect as he put Murtagh away with authority to move into the 80s. He fell against the run of play shortly afterwards to the same bowler, the seamer getting one to move back into his pads down the slope to dismiss him lbw for 87.Murtagh was at least more consistent in line and length than he had been yesterday evening, and bowled much straighter – particularly after the wicket. The wicket breathed new life into an attack about which there is an undeniable sameness and who thus require such moments of inspiration. Murtagh found an extra yard and at the end of an hour-long spell then prised Rees from the crease in similar fashion to the previous dismissal, the Umpire upholding an appeal after the left-hander had been caught on the crease and pinged on the pad in front of middle twenty minutes before lunch.Mike Powell departed to the second ball after the interval, getting a feather on one that left him off the pitch, and, having reduced Glamorgan to 230 for 5, there was still hope for Middlesex to limit the damage. Any such ambitions dissipated steadily over the course of the afternoon, and Middlesex now face a Herculean task if they are to salvage a draw from this game.

Rashid Latif, the Afghanistan coach, hopes a tournament arranged in Pakistan’s border city of Peshawar will unearth new talent for his side. The tournament will feature six teams named after provinces in Afghanistan, with each team featuring three players from the national side.Afghanistan have become the fastest-rising Associate team after refugees escaping years of war fled to Pakistan and discovered a love for cricket. “We are playing a tournament of three-day matches in Peshawar followed by a Twenty20 and then a one-day tournament, and I hope these events will help us find more players,” Latif told .Latif, the former Pakistan wicketkeeper, took over as Afghanistan coach last year and helped them win the four-day ICC Intercontinental Cup, before guiding them to a shock win over Pakistan in the Asian Games Twenty20 semi-finals.In recent years Afghanistan has leapt up to Division One in the World Cricket League, which gave them one-day status, and they have since qualified for the World Twenty20 held in the West Indies last year. Latif hopes that the new tournament will help secure the progress the country has made.”We have also included the Afghanistan Under-19 team so that they can prepare for the qualifying round of the junior World Cup,” Latif said.Afghanistan’s Under-19 team won an Asian qualifying event in the UAE earlier this year and stands a good chance of qualifying for the Under-19 World Cup in Australia next year.Ahmed Taqseem, who is on the Afghanistan Cricket Board’s technical committee, felt the facilities available in Pakistan will help the Afghanistan side develop.”The facilities provided in Peshawar are world-class so playing here will give our players a chance to improve and this is a great help from Pakistan,” he said. “We realise that in order to improve at an international level we need to strengthen our domestic setup and we are endeavouring to do that.”Cricketing relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are strong, with a six-member delegation from the Afghanistan Cricket Board meeting PCB chairman Ijaz Butt on Friday. Butt pledged that Pakistan would provide any support needed to develop Afghanistan cricket and appointed Amir Nawab as a coordinator for Afghanistan.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Kieron Pollard smashed 94 off 55 deliveries to transform the game•AFP

West Indies opener Devon Smith made a maiden century but his effort was overshadowed by Kieron Pollard, who bludgeoned a limited Ireland attack all around Mohali to muscle his side to a tall total. Pollard’s effort helped to quell the criticism over his lack of performances at the international level, and gave West Indies their third win in four matches, putting them in prime position for a quarter-final spot.A fluent Ed Joyce steered Ireland’s sprightly reply but they lacked the spark needed to chase down the substantial score, though for the fourth match in a row they showed they aren’t out of their depth against top teams. They kept fighting even when hopes of a victory were lost, reducing the margin of defeat to 44 runs and ensuring that their net run-rate didn’t take too big a hit.The decision to replace the injured Chris Gayle with bowling allrounder Andre Russell meant West Indies had a long tail, and no batsman of note below No. 5. That meant Ireland would have been the happier side when West Indies crawled to 142 for 3 by the 35th over. The batsmen gambled by taking the batting Powerplay then; a wicket at that stage could have scuppered the innings, but Ireland couldn’t make the vital breakthrough and were helpless as the power of Pollard helped ransack 55 runs in five overs to shift the balance of the game.Ireland had two opportunities to remove Pollard in the Powerplay: John Mooney narrowly missed a direct hit from square leg when Pollard had given up hope of making his ground in the 37th over, and Gary Wilson shelled a catch at long-on after hurtling across to get to a skier in the next over.Over the next 45 minutes Pollard made them regret those misses with his now familiar brand of hitting, mainly muscling boundaries in the arc between long-on and midwicket. Boyd Rankin, Ireland’s quickest, was brought in to handcuff Pollard, but his short ball was walloped to midwicket and an attempted yorker was pummeled down the ground. Rankin was rattled by the ferocity of the second hit, muttering to himself as his fractional mistake was punished.A drive to midwicket in the 42nd over brought up Pollard’s half-century off 35 balls – he celebrated by kissing an arm band bearing the injured allrounder Dwayne Bravo’s number – but he was just warming up. The wickets tumbled at the other end, but there was no stopping Pollard, who capped a frenzy of hitting with 20 runs of an O’Brien over, which included a monstrous one-handed six that easily sailed over deep midwicket.O’Brien had taken four wickets for the first time in his one-day career, but the Pollard assault ruined his figures. Pollard was also in line for the second quickest World Cup hundred -after O’Brien’s epic against England last month – but fell attempting a six over long-off.The pyrotechnics at the end made up for a dull start to the match in front of a nearly empty stadium when the West Indies openers treated the dibbly-dobbly attack with undue caution. There were only six fours in the first 15 overs on a track that, despite plenty of grass, afforded little movement for the seamers.West Indies were dawdling at 3.5 runs per over when O’Brien struck in the 25th, getting Chanderpaul first, and Darren Bravo for a duck three balls later. Smith persevered and he stepped up his strike-rate in the Powerplay with a series of fours, reaching his hundred in the 39th over. It didn’t thrill the watchers, but for a side which has only managed four centuries in their last 28 matches, it was an important innings.Soon after, Kevin O’Brien struck twice in an over for the second time, though that didn’t stop the runs. Puzzlingly, Ireland used their best bowler, left-arm spinner George Dockrell, for only three overs.Ireland’s chase got off to a terrible start as Paul Stirling’s poor World Cup continued, dismissed in the second over. Joyce walked in and caressed his first two deliveries for four and Ireland sprinted to 35 for 0 in five, before Darren Sammy reeled off three maidens in a row and, combining with the pacy and accurate debutant Russell, created the pressure that led to William Porterfield’s dismissal.Joyce and Niall O’Brien steadied Ireland, adding 44 trouble-free runs before Niall played down the wrong line to Sulieman Benn. Joyce and Wilson then forged the biggest partnership of the innings to keep Ireland afloat, but just as Wilson picked up the pace with a huge six and two reverse-swept fours, Joyce was dismissed. Kevin O’Brien fell to a spectacular diving catch from Pollard and with that Ireland’s hopes were washed away.A controversial lbw decision by umpire Asoka de Silva, which wasn’t reversed on referral, ended Wilson’s stay in the 42nd over, but by then Ireland were hurtling towards their third defeat, and now need two wins to qualify for the next stage.

Match Timeline

In their first warm-up before the home World Cup, Bangladesh showed a mix of nerves, rust and over-excitement to lose to Pakistan by 89 runs. Four simple catches went down, two big batting guns didn’t quite deliver, and the batsmen looking in good touch played reckless shots to get out. Coach Jamie Siddons, always a forthright talker, didn’t look to hide what went wrong, but said he wasn’t too concerned with what happened in the warm-up game. The team was ready for February 19, he said, when the whole world will be watching them.”The other catches were quite disappointing,” Siddons said. “[But] I am glad it was a practice game that we dropped catches in, and not on the 19th. Our batting was a little bit rusty. Probably been three months since we have played against good-quality bowling. We weren’t quite up to it. Especially in the middle overs, we couldn’t quite get off strike. Hopefully we have got the bad one out of our way. The boys are still upbeat, I am still upbeat. I am not too worried about this match.”Big chases against good sides have always been a problem with Bangladesh, and that is what Siddons focused on. Once they lose Tamim Iqbal early, which they did in this game, there is almost always a feeling of inevitability when Bangladesh are chasing scores in excess of 250 against good sides. That, Siddons says, has to change.”I think chasing 285 is a big target, but it is achievable,” Siddons said. “I don’t think we were sensible enough. The captain led from the front, and played a silly shot [a pull straight to long leg], and it went through the whole team. With five and six required an over, they got under pressure a little bit. We have talked a little bit about it already, we are going to talk more about it before the India game. Against good teams, we are going to have to chase 280 a lot. The chase is gettable, and I think we will do a lot better the next time.”There were positive signs too. Shafiul Islam, before going off with a foot injury, started well, bowling five overs for 19 runs. The pitch assisted the spinners, and Shakib Al Hasan was quick to utilise it both as a bowler and as a captain. “Shafiul was the pick of the bowlers,” Siddons said. “He bowled beautifully. Swung the ball a lot, bowled fantastic lines, had the openers in trouble, got a wicket. Shakib has got his rhythm back, and confidence back, which he hadn’t had for two series. And the pitch spun, which is a positive for us for the tournament. Imrul Kayes [39] was a positive. Raqibul Hasan [30] positive towards the end.”It was a better warm-up experience for Pakistan, with their in-form batsmen, Ahmed Shehzad and Misbah-ul-Haq, struck centuries to take their side to a big total. The concerns, if you were to look hard, were that Younis Khan was yet to get into his groove, and Shoaib Akhtar didn’t bowl at all.”Often only one or two players score big in one big innings, that’s what Misbah and Shehzad did,” Waqar Younis, Pakistan’s coach, said. “Younis Khan missed out, we would love to have him get some runs going into the World Cup. I am not too worried about it, but if he gets runs in the next game, things will start rolling for us.”Shoaib could be a bigger concern, in whose absence Abdul Razzaq opened the bowling. “Shoaib is not in touch at the moment,” Waqar said. “If he gets it right in the next game, he is obviously the No. 1 choice. At the moment, we have a slight problem with the new ball, but there is still some time to go.”We played Shoaib in New Zealand. He improved in patches. It is important he gets into full throttle before we get him into the side. We are trying to work with him. Aaqib Javed and myself, we are working with him, trying to get his rhythm right before the tournament starts.”Waqar was pleased with Shehzad, who survived a good opening spell, and then accelerated to get a century. “Pretty impressed,” he said. “He has been playing really well, from the back end of the New Zealand tour. He scored a hundred in his last game as well. He is in superb touch. For a youngster to come in to such a big scene and playing such a good knock with such responsibility, it is amazing to see that. Hopefully he is going to carry on delivering.”

Chris Gayle has said he will treat the 2011 World Cup as his last and believes the West Indies have the “fire power” to emerge triumphant on the subcontinent.”This is my third World Cup,” he told reporters in Colombo. “I played in South Africa in 2003 and in the Caribbean four years ago. I don’t know what the future holds and I don’t want to sit back and wait for the next World Cup in four years time.”I am sure we have the team to get the job done for the people of the Caribbean. We have the fire power – the bowling combinations are good, and we have good allrounders and quality in our batting.”How far the West Indies eventually go will depend in part on the starts the explosive Gayle can provide his team. Over the course of his career, the 31-year-old has amassed 7,917 runs at an average of 39 and a strike-rate of 83.74. He also boasts 19 ODI centuries, tied with Brian Lara for the most by a West Indian.”The West Indies have a legacy of winning and I want to give my best to win matches for us,” Gayle said. “Whenever I cross that boundary rope I won’t leave anything on the field. I’m going to give it my all, give it my best shot. I am looking to try and dominate the World Cup,”The team have had a patchy lead-up go the tournament. Their five match-ODI series in Sri Lanka was first postponed due to bad weather, then shrunk to three matches, one of which was, again, rained out. They also haven’t won an ODI against a Test team since beating India in June 2009, but Gayle said they will take it one game at a time while targeting a quarter-final place as a preliminary goal.”We will look to build strength from the early stages and develop as we move along. It won’t be an easy task but it has to be done and we as players have to do it.”He expects the pitches to favour the batsmen and that the proliferation of Twenty20 cricket means most teams “are learning much better how to execute – especially in the Powerplay overs. Ultimately we will have to just wait and see what happens, and as I said before, the team which does the better job on the day will win.”

Group B

National Bank of Pakistan cruised to an eight-wicket victory over Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, and secured a spot in the semi-finals. ZTBL were in early trouble at 74 for 4 after choosing to bat first, but Babar Azam and Haris Sohail each made brisk half-centuries to propel their side past 200. Azam was caught behind off Mohammad Talha for 61, while Sohail was snapped up by Fawad Alam for 75. Talha was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 29. NBP’s succesful chase was built around a pair of almost identical 67s from Nasir Jamshed and Naumanullah. Jamshed, who opened the batting, needed 79 balls to reach his score and struck eight fours, while Naumanullah, who remained not out, took 78 balls and struck seven fours, as NBP reached their target of 223 in the 37th over.Water and Power Development Authority also reached the semi-finals after posting a comfortable five-wicket win over Sialkot Stallions at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot, going past their target of 165 with 13 overs and five balls to spare. WAPDA opted to field first, and the bowlers made steady inroads into the Sialkot batting line-up, reducing the hosts to 91 for 5 before Mohammad Ayub, who top scored with 47, and Bilal Azmat, who made 29, put together the only substantial partnership of the innings – 51 for the sixth wicket. Medium pacer Bilal Khilji and and left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar took three wickets each. WAPDA had an early flutter, losing their openers with only 36 on the board, but Rizwan Malik’s composed, unbeaten 61 took his side home with plenty of time to spare.Multan won their third match of the tournament, thrashing Faisalabad at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, but it wasn’t enough to take them to the semi-finals. Multan took just 28.3 overs to chase Faisalabad’s score, after bowling them out for 198. Faisalabad got off to a solid start, with opener Mohammad Salman and Hasan Mahmood getting half-centuries. But they collapsed from 144 for 3 to 198 all out after a four-wicket haul by legspinner Imranullah Aslam. Multan’s openers knocked off most of the runs themselves, with Zain Abbas scoring 83 off 68 and Imranullah Aslam getting 76. They fell in quick succession, but Multan won by three wickets.

Group A

There was no result in the match between Pakistan International Airlines and Habib Bank Limited after rain at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, but both teams had already qualified for the semi-finals. HBL managed to bowl PIA out for 159 after putting them in, but their chase was called off due to the weather after just four overs. Seamer Fahad Masood gave HBL a couple of early breakthroughs, and then legspinner Danish Kaneria and left-arm spinner Mohammad Aslam ran through PIA’s middle order. Aslam finished with figures of 3 for 24 in four overs, as PIA’s innings lasted just 32.3 overs.Islamabad completed a 93-run victory on the Duckworth/Lewis system over Rawalpindi in a rain-affected match at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. Islamabad reached 301 in their 50 overs after half-centuries from Zeeshan Mushtaq, Faizan Riaz and Kashif Majeed. Majeed’s 54 came off 36 balls and gave Islamabad the impetus they needed at the end of their innings. Zahid Mansoor picked up five wickets for Rawalpindi, but was expensive, giving away 49 runs in his seven overs. Rawalpindi got off to a poor start, collapsing to 15 for 3. Seamer Nasrullah Khan did the early damage, taking 3 for 22, and Rawalpindi never recovered. After 41.1 overs, Rawalpindi were 159 for 7; the game was called off for bad light and they were well behind the required D/L score.

The Centurion pitch for the first Test between South Africa and India starting on December 16 will not be a trampoline, subject to the weather, the groundsman at Supersport Park, Hilbert Smit, has said. “It will have just a bit of bounce,” Smit told ESPNcricinfo.”But everything depends on the weather. If it stays hot, somewhere in the region of 34 degrees Celsius and the pitch dries out, then it will flatten out totally and then we will have a problem because we need some moisture to get bounce,” Smit said.South Africa have instructed Smit to prepare a track that will favour their pace attack. “I’ve been told to leave some grass on it, so there will be bounce. I’ve rolled some grass into the base for that,” Smit said. He has to ensure a delicate balance between producing a pitch that will generate bounce and one that doesn’t offer too much movement and the possibility of the match ending prematurely. “If I leave too much grass on the pitch, there will be too much movement and then the match could be over in three days and we don’t want that. If it ends in four days, that will be fine, but ideally, I would like it to go the full five days.”Smit has also been told to leave no room for turn, all but negating the role of the spinner, who will, particularly in the case of someone like Paul Harris, be used to contain. However, bounce alone may be enough to excite the slow bowlers, particularly tall ones like Harris and Harbhajan Singh, according to former South African spinner Paul Adams. “Spinners just need the bounce to be able to deceive the batsmen,” he said.Smit said he has “done most of the Test pitch already” and, on Friday during the MTN40 final, it had quite a fair amount of grass on it, but he has had an interruption in his preparation. The domestic limited-overs final was played six days before the first Test. It meant that Smit could not work on the Test pitch for two days, Thursday and Friday.The Test pitch, number five on the square, is sandwiched between the MTN40 final pitch, number six, and the pitch used for the other MTN40 games, number four. “There will be a little bit of wear and tear on the Test pitch and the grass may come out a bit because of its position,” Smit said. It’s the first time Smit has had a domestic game played so soon before an international, and therefore he said he doesn’t know what the effect will be on the Test pitch.Luckily, the weather is expected to work to Smit’s advantage. Although the mercury has topped 30 degrees Celsius for the past few days, it has rained on three of them. Rain is forecast all day for Sunday and Monday while clearing on Tuesday and returning on Wednesday night. Thursday, the first day of the Test, is also expected to be overcast and wet.

Cricket Kenya has launched a new logo and identity for the organisation to “reflect a new era for the sport in the country” according to board chief executive Tom Sears.”The new identity retains all the heritage and core elements of the previous logo but is a more dynamic and modern image mirroring the organisation’s approach to the challenges that lie ahead,” waxed Sears. “The new logo will feature on all national team’s playing uniforms and will be first seen worn by the Kenya Women’s team in the Pepsi ICC Africa qualifying event for the women’s World Cup being staged in Nairobi later this month.”We are delighted with the new look and feel it represents Cricket Kenya strongly. The feedback we have had so far has been excellent.’The design was done by a Delhi-based company who were briefed to create something “contagious”.