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West Indies 138 for 9 (Sammy 30, Dockrell 3-16) beat Ireland 68 (Sammy 3-8, Rampaul 3-17) by 70 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGeorge Dockrell led Ireland with 3 for 16 but it was West Indies’ bowlers who made the difference•Getty Images

Darren Sammy shone in every way to ensure West Indies overcame the absence of Chris Gayle and a stuttering batting display as they overpowered Ireland. Sammy collected 30 runs, three breakthroughs and a record four catches during the 70-run success. Ravi Rampaul’s three-wicket opening burst was also crucial in Ireland being knocked over for 68, the second-lowest total in Twenty20s.The captain Gayle didn’t play due to a problem with his glutes, leaving Dwayne Bravo in charge, and there were thoughts of an upset when West Indies scrapped to 138 for 9 on a sluggish surface. There was a party atmosphere in the stands of the Providence stadium, but life was much more serious on the ground for the home batsmen, particularly when the 17-year-old George Dockrell was operating.All the worries over the size of the total evaporated as soon as Kemar Roach struck with his second ball and Ireland, an Associate country, could not recover after losing their top three for 11 in 11 balls. William Porterfield (4) edged Roach to Sammy, who dived to his right at second slip for a sharp take, and his team-mates also struggled with the extra pace.Sammy got his second catch in the next over when Paul Stirling skewed to midwicket and Rampaul (3 for 17) struck again almost immediately to remove Niall O’Brien caught behind. Ireland were 13 for 3 when some relief arrived in the form of rain, but there was no reprieve after the half-hour delay.Alex Cusack (2) went shortly after the resumption when taken at second slip by Sammy, who seemed to be everywhere, and Rampaul had his third. Sammy then chipped in with the ball, taking care of Kevin O’Brien, as the visitors crawled to 39 for 5. While standing at cover Sammy collected his fourth catch when leaping high to collect the push of Gary Wilson, who top scored with 17. Sammy picked up Boyd Rankin and finished the match to gain 3 for 8 and start the local celebrations.At the halfway stage it was the visitors who were on a high following the impressive effort of Dockrell, the seemingly nerveless left-arm orthodox. The youngest player in the tournament showed how much of an impact accurate spin has in these conditions and finished with a highly impressive 3 for 16 off four overs.West Indies needed a late thrust from Sammy to take them to the highest total in the four innings at the venue on Friday. Sammy powered a straight six that broke a window and collected another in the same Trent Johnston over in a vital 17-ball display.Andre Fletcher, who replaced Gayle, struggled to find the boundary during his 19 off 22 and left to Dockrell after failing to clear long-on with a one-handed drive. Two balls later Ramnaresh Sarwan (24) tried to strike over long-off but was taken by Wilson and the hosts were wobbling at 77 for 4.After Rankin (2 for 35) followed up by having Denesh Ramdin (1) caught behind, Dockrell completed his collection thanks to Narsingh Deonarine’s miscued slog sweep. Kieron Pollard entered at 93 for 6 and managed 8 before he was caught-and-bowled by Andre Botha when trying to pull. Throughout the innings the hosts made useful starts before being undone by a mixture of the surface and Ireland’s enthusiasm.The opener Shivnarine Chanderpaul (14) top-edged to Wilson at point and Bravo entered for a bright cameo of 18 off 10 including two sixes. He departed to a strong straight drive hit back to the bowler Cusack (2 for 19), which struck his leg, bobbled around his midriff and was eventually captured resting on his chest. Ireland’s energy ran out in the second innings and they will have to beat England on Tuesday to have a chance of staying in the tournament.

Out, four and out
Abhishek Jhunjhunwala had made just one when he clearlyfeathered one behind off Jacques Kallis. The Royal Challengers Bangalore werestunned when umpire Hariharan shook his head, and Kallis’ mood worsenedwhen Jhunjhunwala then scythed one over slip for four. The next delivery,however, was chopped back on. This time, no umpire was needed.Bounce, baby, bounce
Dale Steyn set the tone, Kallis followed suit, andeven Vinay Kumar joined in, clattering Yusuf Pathan’s helmet with a shortball. Against the short-pitched barrage, he ducked and bobbed and madehalf-hearted attempts to steer over slip. But when Vinay deviated from theplan and bowled a length delivery, Yusuf was ready. It went into thestands behind long-on. The next ball, short and slow, was propelled in thesame direction.Direct delivery
It wasn’t the short ball that got Yusuf though. Instead,Virat Kohli swooped from short cover and threw the stumps down at thekeeper’s end with Yusuf just short. The ball from Kumble was later shownto be a no-ball. Would they have attempted such a risky single if it hadbeen called?Thrice as nice
Praveen Kumar ended Damien Martyn’s misery, and that ofthousands who worship at the altar of stylish batting, with a ball thatcrashed into the base of the stumps. And when Sumit Narwal was thenbrilliantly caught by Manish Pandey running in from fine leg, the stadiumwas abuzz with the possibility of a hat-trick. Praveen steadied himselfand with the crowd baying in the background, breached Paras Dogra’sdefence. Cue mayhem, and the sort of Nou-Camp atmosphere that greetedLionel Messi’s goals on Wednesday night.Do I know you?
Kallis and Morne Morkel may be team-mates in the nationalside, but seniority asserted itself when the run chase began. Three sweetclips through the on side raised Morkel’s hackles, and when he summoned upa brute of a bouncer, fortune was on Kallis’ side, with an odd-lookingstroke flying off the edge and over the slips for four more. With 32 onthe board after two overs, the game was as good as over.Warnie, Warnie
The stadium announcer did his best to drum up support forShane Warne when he came on to bowl, but the crowd wasn’t having any ofit. Pandey treated him with some respect though, but when Warne slightlyerred in length, Pandey was quickly in position to mow one through midwicket. Anera has passed?

England’s coach, Andy Flower, has said that Alastair Cook must concentrate on being his own man as he prepares to lead the team on their tour of Bangladesh, which gets underway with a one-day warm-up against a BCB XI in Fatullah on Tuesday.Despite confirming that Paul Collingwood will serve as England’s official vice-captain for the five-week trip, Flower is adamant that Cook is sufficiently worldly-wise to shoulder the leadership burden without having to lean too heavily on his senior colleagues.”The most important thing for Alastair Cook is that he is quite clear in his own head how he wants to lead the side,” Flower told reporters prior to the team’s departure from Dubai. “Also, how will he deal with the eternal challenge for cricket captains, of leading a team while also making sure that your own game is in order, which is very important.”Following the decision to give Andrew Strauss a break ahead of the English season, Cook was named as England captain for a trip which includes three ODIs and two Tests. It was a move that met with considerable opposition, not least because Cook has not been entirely certain of his place in the side of late. He had been short of Test form until a timely run of scores in the recent series in South Africa, but he was 12th man in this week’s Twenty20 series in Dubai, and will lead England into next week’s three ODIs without having featured in a 50-over match since November 2008.”I think he’s content with his batting,” said Flower. “One of the healthy things about Cook is that he’s always looking to improve. He’s done some really good work with Graham Gooch, who he respects and I respect tremendously, and they’ve worked really well together. If you couple his slightly altered technique with the determination and ability to deal with pressure that he’s always had, you’ve got a strong package.”Flower added that he expected nothing less than victory in the five matches of the tour, but felt that the pressure to win straightaway would not faze Cook. “I shouldn’t think it will be playing on his mind at all,” he said. “He will have thought about both series, and talked about both series already, but it would be wrong to look that far ahead. As a sportsman, you control what you can control, and looking at the end result of a five-week tour is not the way to do with that.”Should injury or illness afflict Cook during the tour, Collingwood will now be the man who takes charge, despite admitting that he doesn’t want a full captaincy role again having found the job difficult during his time as one-day leader in 2007-08. He is nevertheless an experienced and level-headed figure to have alongside a young captain, and he has also been in impressive form through England’s recent overseas trips, beginning with the Champions Trophy and continuing on the tour of South Africa which concluded last month.”The last time Colly captained the one-dayers, it took a lot out of him, and he doesn’t want to put his name forward in a medium to long-term capacity for the captaincy,” said Flower. “But he knows this would only be a stop-gap measure. As he said [on Saturday], if someone gets injured he’s quite happy to step into the breach.”Flower added that Kevin Pietersen had also come into consideration for the role, despite some well-publicised differences of opinion between the two during Pietersen’s shortlived stint as captain in 2008. “We had to consider all options as possible leadership candidates, and he was one of them,” said Flower. “But in the end it was a simple cricketing decision.”Collingwood did a good job in the Twenty20s, and it does take a while to get up to speed as captain, so the more you get used to thinking in that way, the better,” said Flower. “With some of the Twenty20 cricket we’ve played with Colly captaining, he’s feeling more comfortable.”The fact that Pietersen’s run-scoring is so important for England may well have played a part in the management deciding not to burden him with the vice-captaincy. He showed a pleasing return to form in the 1-1 series against Pakistan with two impressive innings – an unbeaten 43 followed by a 40-ball 62 – after admitting he has found it tough since returning from injury.”Both his innings were superb innings,” said Flower. “The first in a more controlled fashion, certainly after he got himself in, playing second fiddle to [Eoin] Morgan which doesn’t happen very often. And yesterday it was the more dominant Pietersen we are more used to seeing. It was great to see him hitting the ball as cleanly as that and looking more confident and balanced at the crease.”The squad which gathered in Bangladesh on Sunday included an extra name in Craig Kieswetter, the Somerset wicketkeeper-batsman, who was added to the party following his impressive form for the Lions, with a view to a possible role in the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean in April and May. Ajmal Shahzad, the Yorkshire paceman, who began his international career with two wickets in his first over against Pakistan, is also part of the group.”Kieswetter impressed everyone when playing against the national side the other day, and from chatting to the Performance Programme coaches and Lions coaches, he’s been very impressive,” said Flower. “The England selectors have been quietly watching him through the England summer, and he has performed well. He’s trained hard, he’s lost weight, he’s got stronger and fitter, and he’s shown in his performances the sort of hard-hitting capability that we need at the top of the order.”

Darren Maddy has suffered a facial injury while batting in the nets during Warwickshire’s pre-season training camp in Bloemfontein. Maddy, 35, may need an operation to repair the damage and will see a consultant on Thursday.”It is always nasty to see a player suffer a facial blow but after consultation with the medical staff out here we are positive that Darren will make a quick and speedy recovery,” said Ashley Giles, Warwickshire’s director of cricket.”It is a blow for Madds after missing last summer with his knee but with his determination, I am confident that he will be back playing as soon as he can.”The injury is an unfortunate setback for Maddy, who played in only two County Championship games last season before he snapped a cruciate ligament in his knee. That injury required surgery and ruled him out of the rest of the season, but he had worked his way back to full fitness and had been due to play a full part in Warwickshire’s campaigns this year.

Manoj Tiwary, the Bengal captain, has been suspended for a match and fined his entire match fee for his angry reaction on being dismissed lbw during his team’s Vijay Hazare Trophy encounter against Jharkhand in Cuttack. Tiwary was miffed after being adjudged lbw for 3, off the bowling of Yaju Krishanatry.”He was unhappy at the decision and he abused the umpire. Worse happened later when he brought out his anger in the dressing room. He damaged glass, mirror, switch boards and even dust-bins,” Orissa Cricket Association secretary Asirbad Behera told PTI. “Behaviour of this order from a senior player like Tiwary, who has played for India, is disgraceful. This really leaves a bad example for the junior players.”Behera said he had also written to Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president, asking for further action against Tiwary.”I have asked him [Dalmiya] to take disciplinary action against him. The Bengal manager offered us money for the damage amounting to about Rs 40,000 (US$860),” Behera said. “But that’s not an issue. This attitude should change.”Arun Mitra, the CAB joint-secretary, said that the CAB was considering further action. “Let him come back then we will see what can be done. We will have to see the manager’s report,” he said.

Victoria 4 for 150 (Hussey 60*) beat Queensland 5 for 149 (Dunk 70*, Hopes 44*) by 6 wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
David Hussey made sure the Champions League remained out of Queensland’s reach for the second year in a row•Getty Images

Victoria’s experienced core handed another lesson to Queensland’s emerging players to secure a place in the rich Champions League Twenty20. In the most valuable domestic game of the year – the winner of the tournament in India collects US$2.5m – the Bushrangers repeated their preliminary final success of last summer when David Hussey’s cool finish guided them to a six-wicket win.The visiting bowlers were superb as they restricted the Bulls to 5 for 149, but the game was evenly poised until Hussey forced the result with 60 off 39 balls. Victoria’s second prize was a spot in the final against South Australia in Adelaide on Saturday, when they will aim for their fourth Big Bash title in five years.There were some Victorian doubts when Brad Hodge’s departure for 30 left them at 3 for 68, but Hussey, who was helped by Cameron White’s 17 and Andrew McDonald’s 12, ended those concerns and sealed the win in strange circumstances with seven balls remaining. With one run to win Hussey mishit to mid-on and was walking off thinking he would be out, but the ball dropped between the confused pair of James Hopes and Chris Simpson. Hussey altered his direction to amble a single before raising his arms in triumph.Victoria had changed gears in the 13th over when Hussey went down the pitch for a straight four off Hopes and White followed up with a six to long-on in an over costing 13. Hussey soon backed up with a fierce straight six off Ben Cutting, who then picked up White with a catch to Andrew Symonds at cover.A second Hussey clearance, this time off Simpson, cut the target to 36 off 26 balls, and he made the assignment even easier with another six down the ground off Cutting. When Hussey backed up with a boundary in the same over the target was a run a ball.”The boys were pretty good tonight, although we could have been better in the field,” White said. “But we did enough to win, which was pleasing.”The second innings did not begin well for the Bulls, with Nathan Rimmington dropping Aaron Finch twice at short fine leg, and he was relieved when he picked him up for 22 thanks to a sharp catch at mid-on by Cutting. Cutting was involved again when he trapped Ross Taylor, the dangerous New Zealand import, for 4, but the Bushrangers had too many senior players to rely on.”It was a pretty slow start again, but we played some good cricket to get into position,” Simpson said. “It’s a bit of a shame to end the way we did, but that’s cricket.”Queensland were out-played at the same stage last year when they batted first and scratched to 112 and were heading the same way at 5 for 54. The experience of the well-qualified Victorian bowlers overwhelmed the hosts until Hopes and Ben Dunk came together in a vital, but ultimately fruitless, stand of 95 in 11.5 overs to finish the innings.The pair consolidated for a couple of overs and then Dunk lifted the pace with a trio of boundaries behind square leg off Clint McKay, Hussey and John Hastings. Dunk, the 22-year-old wicketkeeping understudy, got his start in the competition with an injury to Chris Hartley and brought up his maiden half-century in the second last over. A six to long on followed and the penultimate ball also cleared the fence to ice his collection, which finished on 70 off 40.At the other end Hopes struggled after avoiding the early collapse, with his best shots going to fielders and lots of squirted singles. His unplanned anchor role resulted in him carrying his bat with 44 off 55 and the contribution was valuable at the time, even though the innings lacked the muscle expected by the crowd of 11,801. Dunk’s clearances were the only two of the innings and the Bulls were held back by the precise yorkers of the Bushrangers.Victoria started to grab control in the sixth over when Symonds (1) went playing an ugly swipe to Hastings, who accepted an easy catch to have the hosts 3 for 47. Things got much worse when Glen Batticciotto backed up too far and was beaten by Hodge’s underarm and Craig Philipson edged McDonald to Taylor at first slip from his opening delivery.The opener Simpson sped to 17 off seven balls after winning the toss, but his spark went out in the third over when bowled trying to heave Dirk Nannes. Nannes also rushed a short ball through Lee Carseldine (7) on the way to 2 for 26 off four overs. McDonald had 1 for 22 – his immaculate figures were ruined by 15 from the final over – and Hussey allowed only 21 from his four. The fine contributions were responsible for setting up a trip to the Champions League, where Victoria will aim to improve on their semi-final spot in last year’s event.

Jacques Kallis will line up for South Africa in the opening Test against England after the hosts confirmed his presence by releasing three players from their 15-man squad to play franchise cricket. Friedel de Wet, the uncapped pace bowler, has been retained as cover for Dale Steyn following his hamstring problems but Alvrio Petersen, Ryan McLaren and Wayne Parnell have all been allowed to return to domestic action.”We are happy with the state of readiness of all squad members to play in the first Test on Wednesday,” said coach Mickey Arthur. “Both Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn should be fit to take their places.”Nevertheless we are keeping Friedel de Wet on standby as a like-for-like replacement for Dale. There is always the chance with bowlers that Dale could wake up on the morning of the match with a recurrence and we don’t want to have to scramble around for a last-minute replacement.”There has been much speculation over the fitness of Kallis as he recovers from the fractured rib that ruled him out of the Test series. However, he came through South Africa’s three-day training camp in Potchefstroom with no adverse effects although it is highly unlikely that he will resume bowling duties.That will leave South Africa with a four-man attack which is a calculated gamble given Steyn’s recent injury problems. He bowled at decent pace on Sunday but was restricted to indoor training at Centurion Park on Monday after heavy thunderstorms left the nets unusable. De Wet’s was the most surprising inclusion in the original squad but Mike Proctor, the convenor of selectors, has been impressed with what he has seen.”He had a good season last year and I’ve seen him bowl recently on some pretty flat tracks at East London and at Johannesburg so he’s a player worth looking at and we’ll see what comes out of it,” Procter said last week.The decision to release the three players also confirms that Morne Morkel will return to the Test line-up after missing South Africa’s previous match against Australia in March. With concerns over the potency of the attack Morkel is viewed as someone who can add a cutting edge with his height and bounce.Makhaya Ntini, who will play his 100th Test, will be the third quick bowler and he believes South Africa will start favourites. “Of course,” he said, “we are on our home grounds and will have a lot of support.”He also said that Andrew Flintoff’s absence from the England line-up will be a significant blow to the visitors. “They’ve lost one of their major players in Freddie Flintoff. He was the one who made a huge impact. Losing the pillar of the team means we have a better chance – because he was always the guy that intimidated us.”Revised South Africa squad Graeme Smith (capt), Ashwell Prince, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher (wk), Paul Harris, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Friedel de Wet

He spent all of Thursday evening replying to messages. The act of punching the mobile keypad possibly left him more tired than the six hours of mayhem he unleashed yesterday that had put him 16 runs short of becoming the first man to hit three triple centuries. And so it appeared this morning when, despite a sound night’s sleep, he made an error of judgement to fall short of the landmark by seven runs.His fans at the Brabourne Stadium – thousands of them, some rushing in from neighbouring Gujarat – were visibly disappointed, but not so their hero. “It is a missed opportunity,” Virender Sehwag agreed, yet remained upbeat. “I’m very happy I scored at least 293 runs. The fact that I could still score 290 after two three triple centuries … I’m proud of myself and extremely happy.”Any other man would have left the stage upset and angry, possibly hitting pad with bat in disgust (as did Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh today) but Sehwag, after just a moment of very visible anguish, sauntered back to the dressing chest out, smiling as he acknowledged the applause from the stands.Later, he revealed the story behind his big innings, which is bad news for bowlers the world over. No more, it seems, is he interested in merely playing smackdown with bowlers: he wants to exercise restraint for at least the first hour and that, says his coach Gary Kirsten, can reap him rich dividends.Kirsten and Sehwag had a chat during the first Test in Ahmedabad, and the coach asked him to spend more time on the pitch before going for his shots. “He [Kirsten] said that if I survived the new ball for the first 10 overs I cannot imagine how quickly I can get to big hundreds,” Sehwag said. So, yesterday, Sehwag spent the first 40-odd minutes warming up. “I played a lot of dot balls and showed a lot of patience.” (He was right: he played 129 dot balls in his 254-ball innings). At the eighth over he’d hit only one four and had scored 15 off 31 balls. His eventual strike rate of 115 was virtually double the combined strike rate of his partners (60.5).The pattern was established in Kanpur. He scored 131, but the first boundary arrived in the twelfth over, by when he’d already faced 26 balls for six runs. At that point Gautam Gambhir, his opening partner, was on 24. But Sehwag eventually reached his half-century a ball before Gambhir reached his.And to those who still believe Sehwag doesn’t think too much about his game, he revealed that he does – in fact, he plays mind games with the bowlers, saying the best way to distract a bowler is to take him by surprise. So even if he never practises certain shots like the reverse sweep or the reverse paddle that he played on Thursday he said he was confident he could implement them whenever he wanted to. “I played those shots because I didn’t want the bowler to settle down. I wanted to force him to ask questions of himself,” Sehwag said.Sehwag understands that his Bolt-like powers of acceleration can give India a chance to boss the game. “I always tell myself to bat the full day and if there is a ball to be hit just hit because, if I’m able to bat the full day, we will be in a good position.” It happened in Kanpur, where India scored 400 on the first day and immediately put Sri Lanka under pressure. In Mumbai, too, India are once again poised to record their second straight innings victory against Sri Lanka.The Sehwag effect can get contagious, too, as four Indians got half centuries and Dhoni even managed a magnificent hundered lower down the order. “It was one of the best hundreds by a wicketkeeper-batsman in the lower order. He defended well and then hit the big shots,” Sehwag said of his captain’s innings.With 180 overs still to be bowled Sehwag said “a good team” like the Sri Lankans can easily put up a fight on a pitch that still has everything for both batsmen and bowlers. “At the same time we also would need to be patient especially the way MS Dhoni and Pragyan Ojha batted in the end with a good partnership.”

Shane Warne and his great mate Michael Clarke will go head to head as captains in a Twenty20 exhibition at the Gabba on Sunday. Warne will lead the Australian Cricketers’ Association XI while Clarke, the national Twenty20 skipper, is in charge of an Australian XI in a match that kicks off the international summer.The contest represents the new and old of the country’s cricket, with Warne in a side including Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden. Three of Australia’s Test squad to face West Indies in the first Test on Thursday are playing, with Brad Haddin and Peter Siddle joining Clarke’s outfit. Shaun Tait, who has struggled for South Australia’s FR Cup team this summer, is in the side along with the boom New South Wales young players David Warner and Steve Smith, who were part of the Champions League Twenty20 success in India.”While the emphasis will be on entertainment, the national selection panel sees the game as a great opportunity to continue our preparation for the World Twenty20 in the West Indies next year,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said. “We have introduced into the side Smith, an exciting legspinning allrounder, who we see as having the potential to really impact in Twenty20 cricket at the international level.”Nathan Reardon, the Queensland batsman, has been picked in Warne’s outfit and learned of his call-up while making 147, his maiden first-class century, against the West Indians at Allan Border Field. “It’s a good opportunity,” he said. “I know it’s an exhibition game but for us young blokes who are having our first crack at that sort of level, it means a bit to us.”Australian XI Michael Clarke (capt), Cameron White, George Bailey, Brad Haddin (wk), David Hussey, Andrew McDonald, Clint McKay, Peter Siddle, Steven Smith, Shaun Tait, Adam Voges, David Warner.Australian Cricketers’ Association XI Shane Warne (capt), Travis Birt, Lee Carseldine, Adam Gilchrist, Daniel Harris, Matthew Hayden, Jason Krejza, Rhett Lockyear, Graham Manou (wk), Glenn McGrath, Nathan Reardon, Nathan Rimmington.

Yasir Arafat has been retained by Sussex as their overseas player for the 2010 season.Yasir played a big part in Sussex’s one-day success during 2009, as the side won both the NatWest Pro40 and Twenty20 competitions. The club also finished runners-up in the Friends Provident Trophy.His contribution was 24 wickets at 25.83 in List A matches and he also took 15 wickets at an average of 14.00 in Twenty20 matches, going at just 6.08 an over.”I’m delighted to be coming back to Sussex for the 2010 season,” said Yasir. “When I played my first year at the club in 2006, I was determined to return in the future. I did that last season and enjoyed every minute of it.”Although we did not do so well in the Championship, our one-day form was tremendous and it was a joy to be part of that. I look forward to 2010 and returning to a great bunch of players, coaching staff and supporters with a view to improving on 2009.”Mike Yardy, Sussex’s captain, said: “Yasir played an integral part in our successes last season and it is great for us to secure him for 2010. He is a huge team man, who has a great influence in the dressing room.”