Australians get heavy in Essex

Michael Clarke retiring out on 76 and David Hussey scoring 67 were the mainstays of an Australian innings of 313/9 at Chelmsford. Only Reece Topley did himself any favours for Essex with 4/46.


Alastair Cook certainly didn't do himself any favours when it was his turn to bat, out for just 5.

Essex limped to 32.4 overs before being all out for 134, James Foster 41, Ravi Bopara 39. The Tourists won by 179 runs.

1 wicket behind Yasir Arafat 98 v 99

Azhar Mahmood, trying to reclaim the mantle of leading T20 wicket taker, had plans that went array when his four overs went for 61 runs with just 1 wicket, taking him to 98. Kent's opponents at Canterbury, Middlesex had a good day, 207/2, Joe Denly 90*, Paul Stirling 63, Eoin Morgan 36.
Kent replied with an opening stand of 80 but the innings fell away after that and the Panthers won by 48 runs.






At Wantage Road, Somerset toyed with the hapless Steelbacks, restricting them to 115/6. Somerset then raced to their target losing 3 wickets in the process in 13.4 overs; Craig Kieswetter 51, Con de Lange 3/22.

v Yorkshire T20 at Scarborough

Rain again by the sea

England Dwayned but Hales reigns supreme!

will he celebrate with an ice cream
with a flake in?

In the England Outlaws game at Trent Bridge, the Windies won the toss and chose to bat.


Steve Finn accounted for Chris Gayle (2), Stuart Broad snared Lendl Simmons and Graeme Swann had Marlon Samuels caught at the wicket. 38/3 (8 ov)


At half-way, WI 57/3 Dwayne Smith 36*


15 overs 101/3 Smith 64*


West Indies 172/4 (20 ov)


Dwayne Smith 70
Dwayne Bravo 54*
Kieron Pollard 23*


After the early loss of Craig Kieswetter (3), Alex Hales brought-up his 50 with a six off Dwayne Bravo's bowling.


At half way, England were 72/1 with much to be done.


After 15 overs Alex Hales had reached 90 not out and England were 127/1


After 18.1 overs, Ravi Bopara brings-up his 50 with a boundary off his namesake Rampaul.


On the last ball of the penultimate over, Alex Hales is bowled on 99 (6 fours, 4 sixes)


With 2 to win, Ravi Bopara is out for 59


With two balls to spare England won by 7 wickets.






The (rest of) Outlaws lost another game to the weather, this time against Yorkshire. The game had started on time:



Adam Voges lost the toss at Scarborough and Notts Outlaws were asked to bat first.


Michael Lumb was out to ex-Outlaw, Ryan Sidebottom in the first over, Riki Wessels followed in the 4th over to the Aussie import Mitchell Starc - 45/2 (6 ov).
At half-way Outlaws were 72/2 Adam Voges 29*




11.1 overs saw Rain Stopping play 76/3


14.0 overs saw another stoppage for rain, 105/3 James Taylor 41*, Chris Read 15*


But that was it, Notts' third NR so far and 3/5 to date.




At Hove, Sussex Sharks amassed a daunting 209/6 against the Essex Eagles. 
Chris Nash 52
Joe Gatting 45*
Luke Wright 40
Reece Topley 3/43


Essex weren't up to the task and were all out 190. Chris Liddle 3/35 


At Canterbury, Hampshire had a comfortable win over Kent by 6 wickets with 10 balls to spare. Glenn Maxwell 66* from 32 balls.

East Midland Cricket Grounds 2

Pears drop Steelbacks

Worcestershire withstood an onslaught from Cameron White (62* including 4 sixes) to run out winners by 14 runs at Wantage Road against the home side, Northamptonshire in a typical, for the venue, low scoring game.

Weather for Swanns

With Samit Patel on England duty again, the game tonight at Old Trafford has Luke Fletcher and Scott Elstone included in the Outlaws' T20 squad as well as Graeme White.


The Met Office has issued an "Amber Warning " for Greater Manchester" among other areas in the NW for today with lots of heavy rain expected.

Chasing Puddles
Owing to the early abandonment of the 3rd ODI, Samit Patel might find himself on the Trans-Pennine Express to watch the rain at OT following the rain at Headingley, that he would have watched this morning.






2wann Deal
Graeme Swann has today signed a new two-year deal for Nottinghamshire, securing his limited services until the end of 2014 for the the club.




Full House


All 18 counties are due to play T20 group matches this evening, how many will play?


Outlaws' game at OT - abandoned.


Foxes v Sheep reduced to a E8 match


All the other games started.


Results: Bears crushed Pears at New Road to win by 8 wickets (21 balls to spare). Varun Chopra the game's top scorer with 49 not out.


Who needs Chris Gayle?
James Hildreth 107 not out - Somerset needing 12 per over at just past half way; Hildreth smashed the Glamorgan bowlers to such an extent that the required rate was down to 7 for the final run in. Somerset won by 4 wickets with 1 ball to spare. As the saying goes, "Glamorgan snatched defeat from the jaws of victory"!

Simon Jones, bowling at the height of the assault, escaped for just 5 per over.


Ian Saxelby proved to be the match winning death bowler at Bristol tonight as Gladiators beat the Sticklebacks by 8 runs.

Foxes trot to victory over lame Sheep.
The shorter format suits Leicester's under-performing line-up
Leicester 80/3
Greg Smith 23
Josh Cobb 17
Matt Boyce 16 not out
Derbyshire 72/6
Wes Durston 21
Abdul Razzaq 3/20
Rob Taylor 2/7
Leicester won by 8 runs


Sid tumbles Dynamos
In a game dominated by South African batsmen, Ryan Sidebottom's miserly bowling proved the game clincher for Yorkshire


Tykes 171/6
David Miller 74 not out
Joe Root 41
Adam Lyth 30


Dynamos 159
Herschelle Gibbs 76
Ryan Sidebottom 4/25
Mitchell Starc 3/33
Yorkshire won by 12 runs


Essex win in another low scorer at Chelmsford.


This time beating Surrey by 3 wickets off the last ball, James Franklin 63 batting through-out the Essex chase to 145.

"Convicts" lock-out the Foxes

With the easiest of warm-up matches on these shores; the Australian tourists thumped Leicestershire by 102 D/L runs.


The Convicts major opposition came from the weather that firstly restricted their their inning from 50 to 41 but then made the Leicestershire target easier to 239 from 36. At 89/2 in the 17th over the Foxes were at their nearest to achieving the improbable but after that they slid to 136 all out.


Australian XI  241/8 (41 ov)


David Warner 74 retired out
David Hussey 37
Matthew Wade 32


Abdul Razzaq 3/39


Leicestershire 136 (29.4 ov)


Greg Smith 44
Matt Boyce 38
Paul Dixey 17

Clint McKay 4/31




Elsewhere, Essex beat Middlesex by 6 runs at Lord's and Bears game against Somerset was cut short by rain at Edgbaston after 7.1 overs of the first innings.

Foxes Struck by Lightning

T20 Champions, Leicestershire finally arrived at the races today at Old Trafford only to find Lancashire Lightning also in improved form.


Foxes 179/4
Matt Boyce 63 not out
Abdul Razzaq 61
Leicester having the X Factor again with Extras 21


Glenn Chapple 2/10


Lightning 180/2 (19 ov)
Stephen Moore 54
Tom Smith 42
Steven Croft 41 not out


Lancs won by 8 wickets


In another North group game;


DYNAMOS DOWN FALCONS


In a floodlit game at Derby Durham breezed passed the Derby-set target.


Sheep 141/6
Usman Khawaji 36
Wayne Madsen 26
Ross Whiteley 19


Durham 142/5 (18.5 ov)
Johann Myburgh 46
Hershelle Gibbs 38
Gordon Muchall 21 not out


Durham won by 5 wickets


Some late big hitting from James Foster (51) in the Eagle first innings at Chelmsford, an innings which included 4 sixes (one of which was a net-8) proved crucial, as Essex narrowly defeated Spitfires by 3 runs.
Greg Smith 5/17 in the desperation  as Kent were all out 155. 

ODI II - The Oval

West Indies with a strengthened line-up batted first.


WI 238/9


Dwayne Bravo 77
Chris Gayle 53
Kieron Pollard 41


England  239/2 (45 ov)


Alastair Cook 112
Ian Bell 53
Jonathan Trott 43 not out


England won by 8 wickets


Geoff Miller has rested Broad, Bresnan and Swann for the remaining ODI against WI, drafting in England Lions Meaker, Tredwell and Woakes.




 Easy Bears


With other T20 fixtures being re-scheduled due to the District Line actions yesterday morning, the game at Edgbaston was the sole match this evening; the weather was the best in the Midlands that we've had for quite some time too.

1/26 and 23* next stop England

Cameron White clubbed a 60 not out for the visiting Sticklebacks helping them to 149/4 but that score prove short of the mark as Laurie Evans smashed 68 not out to see the hosts home with an over to spare.

Sheep penned-in and wiped out

Derbyshire's T20 campaign suffered a set-back tonight at the former Racecourse ground at Derby.
Yorkshire set 150/5 when they elected to bat on a rain-free June evening; former Sheep Gary Ballance top scorer. In pursuit, Sheep were pegged back by the off breaks of Azeem Rafiq plus the medium pacers of Moin Ashraf and Rich Pyrah. Tykes winning by 41 runs.


Carnegie 150/5
Gary Ballance 47 not out
Andrew Gale 39
Joe Root 36


David Wainwright 2/14


Falcons 109
Wes Durston 21


Moin Ashraf 4/18
Rich Pyrah 3/21


In the only other game, Middlesex beat Hampshire.


Chris Woakes has been drafted into the England squad after Jade Dernbach was given leave of absence following the tragic events at Wimbledon Park Underground station in the early hours of this morning.


Darren Bravo has gone home with his thigh strain.