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ScorecardIndia Emerging Players crushed South Africa Emerging Players by 102 runs after Jaidev Unadkat dismissed the South Africans for a paltry 64. This win took India to the top of the table with two wins from as many matches while the South Africans have lost both their games.Chasing India’s 166, the South Africans were reduced to 7 for 33 at one stage. Unadkat’s spell read 3-0-10-4 as eight batsmen, including the top seven, did not reach double figures. He was supported by Vinay Kumar and Piyush Chawla, both of whom took two wickets, as the South Africans were shot out in 13.1 overs.Earlier, the Indians were off to their second blazing start of the tournament, with an opening stand of 66 in 7.2 overs between Shikhar Dhawan and captain Parthiv Patel. Patel was the more aggressive of the two, making 37 off 23 deliveries, while Dhawan made 47 off 45. Naman Ojha was unbeaten on 20 off 10 deliveries with two sixes as the Indians finished on 7 for 166, after three wickets in eight deliveries had reduced them to 6 for 142.
ScorecardAustralian Institute of Sports thrashed New Zealand Emerging Players by eight wickets, overhauling the target of 162 inside 15 overs. The Australian chase was anchored by wicketkeeper Ben Dunk who shrugged off the early loss of his opening partner Nic Maddinson to remain unbeaten on 64 off 44 deliveries. Luke Pomersbach hammered 38 off 13 deliveries with three fours and as many sixes, as the Australians raced to 78 in six overs. Thereafter, James Faulkner combined with Dunk in an unbroken 87-run stand as the Australians cantered to victory in 14.4 overs.In New Zealand’s innings, captain Jamie How top-scored with 40 off 29 deliveries, as they reached 8 for 161 in their 20 overs. Four other batsmen got twenties but New Zealand lost five wickets for 19 runs at the death to be reduced to 8 for 145 in 19 overs. However, Brendon Diamanti took 16 runs off the last over in a late flourish, remaining unbeaten on 27 off nine deliveries.

Derbyshire are hoping to continue strengthening their squad with the signing of Billy Godleman, the 23-year-old opening batsman who was released by Essex towards the end of the 2012 season. Godleman made his first-class debut for Middlesex as a 16-year-old – the second youngest man to make his first-class debut for the club – and represented England at every level from Under-15s to Under-19s.Having joined Essex for the 2010 season, he averaged in the mid-20s in 2010 and 2011 and despite scoring a century in Essex’ opening Division Two game in 2012 he lost his first-team place in the latter half of the summer and was told his contract would not be renewed.Derbyshire, who won promotion to Division One for the 2013 season, also announced the signing of wicketkeeper Richard Johnson from Warwickshire earlier this week. Their aim is for Godleman to open the batting and hope he can mirror the success of other players – such as Chris Wright, Stephen Peters, Varun Chopra and Derbyshire seamer Tony Palladino – whose fortunes improved significantly once they left Essex.

Haroon Lorgat, the former ICC chief executive, will be assisting the Pakistan Cricket Board in setting up the proposed Twenty20 league, contributing at a strategic level to ensure the board is headed in the right direction.Lorgat, who was headed to Sri Lanka, stopped over at Lahore after the PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf invited him for his expert opinions on launching the league in March next year.”It’s not a long time from now to then but there is still a lot of planning and work has been done and a lot to be done but I can see that there is a lot of energy to get this league off the ground,” Lorgat said at the PCB headquarters. “Cricket is a growing game and Twenty20 cricket seems to have taken roots and I am pleased to see the progress the PCB has made in that respect.”He served as the ICC chief executive for four years before stepping down at the end of June. He has been assisting Sri Lanka Cricket as a special advisor to help the board revamp its domestic cricket structure and improve the administration of cricket in the country. The PCB, however, didn’t offer him a permanent role.”At this stage (I am supporting the PCB) at a strategic level, ensuring that the details are being attended to and that the concept (for the league model) is correct,” Lorgat said. “With my experience in dealing with sponsors, broadcasters, setting up models, the kind of objective and the financial matters are the level where I am contributing at the moment. It appears like the PCB has already done a lot in linking with the member boards and interactions have been made with the international players as well.”Lorgat sees the proposed premier league as a stepping-stone for the revival of international cricket in the country and said it needed to exploit the shortest format of the game on a commercial scale. International sides have refused to tour Pakistan since the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked in Lahore in March 2009. Last month, a World XI side played two unofficial T20s against a combined Pakistan XI in Karachi.”Twenty20 cricket is certainly an attraction, lots of new audiences are coming and a lot of exciting players are coming into it. I can recall a few years back even players didn’t consider it as a serious form of the game. So on one front Pakistan should not be left out. They should have a league of the highest professional standard and there are commercial opportunities and the PCB is looking to exploit that.”So far, Bangladesh is the only full member board to give Pakistan a positive response in breaking the ice, towards the revival of international cricket. “You do lots of little things to grow in confidence, you will get those interested in coming to Pakistan and the league will go a long way in securing the confidence that cricket can be played in Pakistan.”It’s a good stepping-stone, if international players come in personal capacity to play. Many of them can experience it themselves that cricket can be played at a secured venue and there’s no reason why they can’t convince the member boards to send their national teams.”

Hosts Mumbai were in a suicidal mood as they managed to salvage a drawagainst Baroda in the Under-22 West Zone tournament match played at theWankhede stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday. Mumbai earned five points bankingon their first innings lead and the visitors went home smiling with threepoints.Mumbai were set a target of 44 runs off three overs in the second inningsto win the match. The hosts went after the runs and in the process, lostsix wickets for nine runs in three overs. Two of the wickets were needlessrun outs. Shekhar Joshi scalped three wickets. Joshi was on a hat-trick onthe last ball of the day. He foxed Sachin Sawant with the fourth ball ofhis second over and skipper Hrishekesh Shinde was back in the pavilion onthe fifth. The last ball was bowled with a rare field placement, with allnine fielders in the slip cordon. Amol Bhalekar played out the last ball.Joshi returned with the magical figures of three for six runs off two overs.On the opening day on Monday, Mumbai skipper Hrishikesh Shinde won the tossand invited the visitors to bat first. His medium pacers did not disappointhim as they reduced the Baroda top order to 79 for three in 30 overs.Opener Rohan Salvi (42) and Jitendra Singh (44) put up a brave fightback.Rohit Chandorkar top scored with a quickfire 49 off 55 balls with sevenboundaries and two sixes. Baroda were all out for 195 off 67.2 overs.Sachin Sawant scalped five for 36 and Sriran Kannan supported him withthree for 38.The hosts lost their first two wickets in quick succession. PinkeshGurbaxani sent back Amol Patil and Shekhar Joshi scalped Sachin Sawant fornought. The middle order fought back. Kunal More and Saket Adhikari added230 runs for the fifth wicket off 52 overs. More top scored with anunbeaten 173 off 208 balls with 24 hits to the fence and one over it.Adhikari scored 77 off 188 balls with eight boundaries. Mumbai declared on336 for five off 110 overs, taking a 141-run lead.Baroda did not far any better in their second innings and were bundled outfor 184 off 84.5 overs. Jitendar Singh top scored with 71 off 187 ballswith seven hits to the fence. Sriram Kannan was the wrecker-in-chief as hebagged four for 38. Kunal More took three for 29 with his left arm spinners.

South Africa won a dramatic second Test against the West Indies in Portof Spain on Wednesday when they bowled the home side out for 162 to record a69-run triumph to take a one-nil lead in the five match series after theopening draw at the Bourda in Georgetown.When tea was taken at 143-6 with Carl Hooper unbeaten on 46 and 89 runsstill required, the crowd of close to 15 000 had every reason to believethat victory remained a possibility.But the slide began soon after the final session began and just 19 moreruns were added as Hooper watched on in sadness, unbeaten and unbowed at theend with 54 not out from 172 balls in three hours and fifty minutes ofclassy resistance.It was, in fact, a remarkable achievement for the home side to get soclose after a violent collapse in the first hour that saw them lose threewickets for one run to crash from 50-2 to 51-5 after resuming on theirovernight 32-1.Nightwatchman Dinanath Ramnarine (11) slashed a full length Allan Donalddelivery to Jacques Kallis at slip without adding a run but Marlon Samuels(9) played two of the shots of the day while he and opener Chris Gayle (23)brought up the team’s half-century.Then disaster.Samuels, like Ramnarine, edged Donald to Kallis and Gayle perished as aresult of retreating into a defensive shell and abandoning his normallyattacking approach. A tentative prod at Shaun Pollock resulted in an edge to’keeper Mark Boucher.The most valuable wicket, inevitably, belonged to Brian Lara and it wasclaimed for the third time in four innings by Makhaya Ntini – with a littlehelp from Dominican umpire Billy Doctrove who enjoyed an otherwise finematch. Lara’s delivery, however, pitched a long way outside leg stump. Thescorebook shows an 11-ball duck.Local hopes were revived with a disciplined sixth wicket stand of 92between Hooper and his 20-year-old fellow Guyanese, Ramnaresh Sarwan, as thetwo men batted through all but the last 10 minutes of the middle sessionwith the tourists’ bowlers looking increasingly desperate.So desperate, in fact, that Pollock called his disparate team togetherinto a ‘huddle’ 15 minutes before tea to deliver a motivational team talk.Whether it had any effect or not, the wicket fell five minutes later whenKallis induced a mistimed hook from Sarwan (39) which was superbly held at square leg by a furiously back-peddling Nicky Boje who also had thesun shining in his eyes.Ridley Jacobs (4) was magnificently run out by a Herschelle Gibbs directhit from cover five overs after tea and thereafter the end was swift as afired-up Kallis, who should have had Nixon McLean caught behind first ball,ripped into the tailenders.McLean (2) duly saved some of umpire Daryl Hair’s considerable blushesby edging Kallis once again to Boucher – this time for ‘real’ – and MervynDillon was trapped lbw in the same over for a second ball duck.Some of the gloss from a brilliant Test for Courtney Walsh was removedwhen Pollock hit his off stump to win the match, but by then there werestill over 20 overs remaining and he could not have been expected to survivethat long.

Paul McGregor continues his occasional series, giving a photographer’s eye view of the county cricket scene.

Punctuating the photocalls that form the pre-season workload for the cricket photographer are the promotional events. Welcome among these for the upcoming season was the promotion by Durham CCC of their allotted ODI between Australia and Pakistan in June. For this England – and sometimes Yorkshire – all-rounder Craig White made an appearance alongside the new Durham coach (ex-Yorkshire) Martyn Moxon.Such events normally get aired on the local TV stations even in a football-dominated area such as the north-east of England. Photographers are anxious to get Mr White looking at their particular lens as he makes a point so as to capture a moment that belongs only to that cameraman and not the guy taking pictures a yard or so away.

The photographer’s job is clear on these occasions; get a good clear image , well lit and without letting the flash overexpose the subject. Normally bounce or diffused flash would be considered but care must be taken with such techniques. Also remember to get that all-important logo in for the club or sponsor.In the meantime, the job of cleaning up the ground after the storms and floods of winter continues all over England. The tedious task of cleaning all the seats in the ground goes alongside a new lick of paint on the stands. Keeping the members’ areas spick and span is of particular importance. Members of county clubs in England are known to be particular about where they sit.

Now is the time for CricInfo.com to once more proudly proclaim its sponsorship of the Nottinghamshire Outlaws. Pictured in their Sunday best the Notts team are seen with CricInfo officials at Trent Bridge. This is a particularly welcome event for the CricInfo photographer as he will now get a brand spanking new shirt to wear on a Sunday.

Accusing India of “intransigence”, Pakistan says there is little chance for an India-Pakistan cricket series in the near future. “The Indian Government’s intransigence is the main hurdle in the resumption of the Pakistan-India cricket series," Pakistan’s Sports Minister, Col SK Tressler told reporters in Islamabad on Friday night.”The Pakistan Government and the country’s cricket board wanted to have cricket ties with India. But perhaps the Indian Government right now is suffering from a defeat phobia in the cricket field,” Tressler was quoted by the official APP news agency as saying.”As such there is very little scope for the teams of the two countries to play,” he said adding that “still the ball is in the Indian Government’s court as far as the resumption of the cricket ties between the two countries are concerned.”Describing cricket as “an expression of the nation’s sentiments”, India’s Sports Minister Uma Bharti is on record saying the ban on bilateral series with Pakistan would continue for the present.

After bowling an impressive 10 overs and taking 3 for 22 for Somerset Cricket Academy against Sussex at Taunton School today, former England Under-19 bowler Matt Bulbeck said: "It felt good out there today. The rhythm is slowly coming back. I’m pretty much there and back to full speed."Matt, who missed virtually the whole of last season because of a back injury, went on: "It’s amazing how I haven’t felt any pain at all. It’s great to be back out there on the pitch, but I’m dying to get back to first team cricket. There’s nothing like playing first team cricket it gives you that extra challenge."It may not be very long until he is back with the first team. Earlier in the day Somerset Coach Kevin Shine had spoken to Matt. "Kevin says I’m in the "pot" for selection, and so is Richard Johnson. The final selection is with Jamie Cox and he may not want to risk both of us returning in the same match at Leicester."

The Hampshire Cricket Board’s womens and girls representative squads are on the lookout for club or school grounds to play their county games on.Development Officer Clair Slaney has asked whether your club or ground could help on the following dates and times …Under 13s (2pm – 6pm)
Sunday 16 June, Sunday 30 June, Sunday 7 JulyUnder 15s (2pm – 6pm)
Sunday 23 June, Saturday 6 JulyUnder 19s (1pm – 7pm)
Saturday 1 June, Saturday 29 JuneIf you or your club can offer assistance, please contact Clair on 07808 105181.

Saeed Anwar, one of the best openers in present day cricket, slapped the face of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) when he declared himself fully fit for the coming Test series against New Zealand.The opener was not considered by the PCB selection committee claiming that his fitness was in doubt.The PCB chief, time and again has been suggesting that players were the best judge of their fitness. He suggested the theory of rotation among a select band of players to save them from burn-out. Nobody can disagree with the PCB boss on his logic of burn-out. However, he has repeatedly said that the final selection of matches lie with the players themselves. But in the case of Saeed Anwar the same standard has not been applied.It only shows double standard of the PCB when Saeed Anwar was not consulted and someone or some people around the high ups decided themselves to rule out the classy opener. There were some whispers that he lacks match practice.Of course Saeed Anwar has not played competitive cricket for nearly six months. But he has to make a beginning if he is still good enough to be included in the team preparing for the World Cup next year.The functioning of the PCB is beyond imagination. Its working is as unpredictable as the team’s performance graph which is most unpredictable. There is jubilation on Pakistan’s thumping win over Sri Lanka in the final of the Sharjah Cup this week.It was nothing so surprising. The team’s performance is unpredictable and on a day when everything was in their favour and they were going great guns, the Sri Lanka team had the misfortune of losing their only match-winning bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan who had to leave the field with a dislocated shoulder before he could even spin a single delivery.This unforeseen incident electrified the morale of the Pakistan team and played a demoralising effect on the Islanders. The rest is history as Pakistan amassed 295, a match winning total.The PCB chief was so overjoyed that he announced a bonus of three lakh rupees to every member of the Pakistan contingent which included `extra baggage’ who was not a member of the team as well as the counselor specially flown in. It seems as if the PCB has turned into a charitable trust and the Pakistani cricketers are its only beneficiaries.What was so great about the Sharjah victory. It was the same Pakistan team which failed to score 19 runs in the last three overs against the same outfit. And if one goes with the entire achievement of the Pakistan team which has been boasting of world’s best talent for almost two decades, it has just one World Cup and one Asian Championship title to its credit.Sharjah and Sahara Cups have no credentials. They are just `Nataks’ of cricket staged by the international event managers to mint money from advertising and other hidden sources. If the overall performance at Sharjah is taken into consideration one would like to ask the manager and the coach what were they doing when Rashid Latif and Wasim Akram were struggling to score 19 runs from 18 balls and failed.Manager Yawar Saeed, after the match said that the players made a mistake as they did not ask for the change of the ball which they should have done.If the players in the heat of the situation failed to demand the change, the wiser men who were sitting outside should have sent in the message. One thinks that the team management was busy counting their gains.The PCB has an army of officers to run the show on fat salaries. If the team coach can be paid around Rs 2,40,000 for a month does he deserve a bonus too? Secondly one player who was not among the 15 was also paid the bonus of Rs 300,000. One has nothing against Faisal Iqbal he is a budding youngster. Now for no fault of his own this poor chap is being made target of criticism just because he is being pushed into the team when there is no place for him at the moment.One hopes Faisal does not meet the same fate which Shoaib Mohammad met as he was pushed into the Pakistan team rather prematurely by his supporters and when Shoaib really made a mark and deserved a place in the team he was ignored because of the prejudices and bias of the then cricket board and the selectors.If the PCB is really interested in grooming Faisal he should be kept in the cricket academy and given chance when there is an opportunity.Faisal has toured with the Pakistan team to Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, was a member of the team in the Asian Test Championship staged in Pakistan early this year, then was a member of the team in the off-shore Test series in Sharjah and again was a non playing member of the team in the just concluded Sharjah Cup.He has perhaps set a new Pakistan record of touring with the Pakistan team. One wonders will his career end as a tourist. His supporters should think over it and plan out his career.And lastly one would like the PCB to cut down it’s extravagant expenditure. The payment to the players, officials and non active members should correspond with the overall economic condition of the country. Cricketers are not rare commodities.Pakistan hockey team has won more laurels for the country but its players were never honored or given financial gains. Can one imagine that a win at Sharjah made everybody on the bandwagon richer by at least by Rs three lakh.Even a country like America, the world’s richest nation never showers it’s Olympic champions with such financial gains. How a poor country like ours can afford such a luxury is beyond imagination.President Pervez Musharraf who every time advocates for accountability should give a look at the PCB as the money being given to individuals is after all public money and instead of making individuals rich it should be spent on development of cricket in particular and sports in general. The autonomy given to the PCB is perhaps being misused and it should be stopped immediately.