Magoffin magic evokes Mushtaq in crushing win

ScorecardSteve Magoffin had Marcus Trescothick caught behind to begin another Somerset collapse•Getty Images

Sussex have soared to the top of Division One after completing an innings victory over Somerset in less than five sessions at Horsham. Steve Magoffin again tormented Somerset, as they were dismissed for 108 – having made 76 in a disastrous first innings on Wednesday – to hand Sussex their third win in five games, with the match completed at 2.35pm on the second day.Australian quick Magoffin, who had destroyed Somerset with 8 for 20 on the first day, added four more victims to finish with career-best match figures of 12 for 31, the best by a Sussex bowler since Mushtaq Ahmed led them to a third Championship title in five years in 2007.Somerset’s day had started well when Alfonso Thomas had Magoffin (23) caught at mid-on in the first over but only after he had helped Sussex to 300 to secure a third batting bonus point. Somerset began their second innings without too many alarms and openers Marcus Trescothick and Arul Suppiah had reached 27 when Trescothick was caught behind for 13 aiming an airy drive at Magoffin.It triggered another spectacular collapse as Somerset subsided from 27 for 1 to 63 for 6 before lunch and even when Magoffin came out of the attack there was little respite. James Anyon worked up a lively pace and picked up three wickets as Alviro Petersen got a leading edge to point, Suppiah drove loosely to mid-on and James Hildreth was leg-before playing across the line for the fifth duck by a Somerset player in the match.Alex Barrow fell in similar circumstances and Peter Trego was superbly caught down the leg side by the diving Ben Brown behind the stumps to give Chris Jordan two wickets as Sussex’s seamers maintained their stranglehold.Jos Buttler attacked briefly after lunch, hitting Monty Panesar’s first over for 16 including a straight six before he was athletically caught by the diving Matt Machan at backward square leg off a reverse sweep for 29, Somerset’s highest score of the game. But the game ended as it had begun with Magoffin proving virtually unplayable.The Queenslander wrapped up the innings with the wickets of Jack Leach, taken low down at slip by Jordan, before Brown dived in front of Jordan to take another excellent catch and remove Jamie Overton. His match figures were the best by a Sussex bowler since Mushtaq took 13 for 225 against Worcestershire in 2007 when Sussex won to clinch the Championship title.

BCB to investigate Mushfiqur resignation

Emotional outburst is now the accepted rationale of Mushfiqur Rahim’s resignation from the Bangladesh captaincy but BCB president Nazmul Hassan has vowed to get to the bottom of this sudden decision, hinting that there were other contributing factors.Mushfiqur’s inability to control himself has been well known to those close to him, and given how easily Bangladesh went down to Zimbabwe in the ODI on Wednesday, it was enough for him to get riled and defeat to Zimbabwe would obviously lead to anger in the Bangladesh dressing-room.There were far too many poor shots played by senior batsmen, including Mushfiqur, and the bowling was not efficient enough to defend 247 on Wednesday or 252 in the 2nd ODI. In general, there was a lack of hunger, noticeable in the players’ body language.There was, predictably, a lot of expectation on Bangladesh. A team that can beat West Indies and Sri Lanka would certainly be expected to win the subsequent series against Zimbabwe. Instead the pressure of expectation got to the players, some taking the contest too lightly while others, like Mushfiqur, visibly crumbled.When he took over as captain in 2011, former Bangladesh national selector Faruque Ahmed, who picked Mushfiqur at the age of 16 to play the Lord’s Test in 2005, pointed out only one blemish in Mushfiqur’s make-up, saying: “He has difficulty handling matters when he doesn’t do well himself.” In essence, Faruque meant that when his batting or wicketkeeping sees bad days, he has a difficult time coming to terms with it.At the time this was a minor factor as some argued that he was mature enough to keep a positive outlook in tough times. There was a short honeymoon period in his captaincy before losses to Pakistan at home, but over the last 12 months, Mushfiqur has led well and kept the team on an even keel.But in Zimbabwe, his preparation was hampered by poorly organised practice sessions and trouble in the hotel. For someone who is very particular with preparation, these were important issues that needed to be taken care of. Then came the 335-run defeat in the first Test, after which Bangladesh recovered with a series-equalling win in the second Test. Mushfiqur led from the front, his 93 in the second innings being the clinching factor. But the 2-1 ODI series defeat ultimately became the trigger for his announcement.He talked to BCB president Hassan on Wednesday night, but like he told his teammates and the media earlier, he did not elaborate on the “why” and “why now”. Apparently he was sobbing as he talked to Hassan, who was critical of the time he chose to quit, especially as it was done while on tour and with two more matches left to play.”Mushfiqur couldn’t speak properly when I called him,” Hassan said. “He was probably choking back tears. He just told me that he can’t give proper leadership, and that there were issues with teamwork. We will investigate all of this when the team returns.”But it wasn’t smart to give up the captaincy while on tour. We will find out upon his return why he quit so suddenly. We need to find out what compelled him to take this decision, if there were any instigating factors. If we find anyone guilty of hampering our team’s progress in any way, we will definitely take action.”Hassan said he will also talk to Mushfiqur about some of the shots the senior batsmen played. Throughout the three ODIs, there were ordinary dismissals from the top and middle-order batsmen that led to collapses but while they recovered through Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah and one occasion Abdur Razzak, it was not enough in the second and third ODIs.”We probably still don’t know how to bat in such conditions,” Hassan said. “But at the same time, the way some of the batsmen gave away their wickets at crucial times was just astonishing. I have told the management to investigate already, but I think it’s best to talk to Mushfiqur directly.”The Bangladesh captaincy has changed hands quite frequently over the last decade, despite the cultural subtext that success was not always the defining factor. Since the team loses more often, the captains over the years have been expected to lead from the front. In his stint, Mushfiqur has done it well on the field, but this move will lose him a lot of goodwill.If there were internal issues that prompted him to quit, Mushfiqur should have spoken to the players directly or gone through the cricket board. A defeat to Zimbabwe is unacceptable in Bangladesh, but this was no case to kick out the captain. It should have led to introspection, and now perhaps there will be, but with a lot of hue and cry.

Top-order batting let us down – Watson

Australia’s acting captain Shane Watson has said a 4-0 thrashing is what Australia deserved given their struggles over the past few weeks and India’s outstanding performances. Watson was in charge for the final Test in Delhi when Michael Clarke was ruled out due to his back injury but he was unable to turn the tide of a series that flowed in only one direction, and a loss inside three days was hardly the way the Australians wanted to end the tour.The only other time Australia have lost a series 4-0 was when an exhausted squad flew directly from a Test tour in India to South Africa in 1969-70 and the loss at the hands of Ali Bacher’s men cost captain Bill Lawry his job. Not since a team ravaged by World Series Cricket departures lost 5-1 to England in 1978-79 had Australia lost this many matches in a Test series.”It’s extremely disappointing,” Watson said. “We came here with high hopes of having a good series here and the 4-0 here is what we deserved. The Indians have totally outplayed us. We haven’t played to our best unfortunately. It certainly has been a big learning curve and that is one of the biggest challenges for us as a team is continuing to learn very quickly. We have got quite a number of young guys who are still learning.”But with me for example, I haven’t scored the runs that I wanted. I knew how important it would be to be able to score runs to help the team get to a total while other guys are learning around me. That has been extremely disappointing, knowing I have played a lot of cricket here and I didn’t score anywhere near the runs that I wanted. Especially when the team is learning in these conditions, these conditions are as foreign as we will ever get around the world.”Watson was one of the biggest disappointments for Australia on this tour, averaging 16.50 in his three Tests, and he was one of three members of the top six who averaged less than 20. Watson’s drought without a century now stands at 39 innings and stretches back nearly two and a half years, and the dearth of hundreds is starting to spread: Michael Clarke scored the only one for Australia on this trip.”Hopefully I haven’t rubbed off on too many of them because that would be a shame if they all get my disease,” Watson said. “For all of us as top-order batsmen, it has been very disappointing. Michael continues to be in amazing form. We’ve all got to continue to strive for what Michael has been able to achieve as a batsman. All top-order batsmen, we have to be scoring big runs if we want to be considered in the top six and playing consistently.”It just hasn’t been good enough from all of us to be able to score the runs we know we needed, especially in the first innings. That has probably been the biggest disappointment. We know that conditions change later on as the game gets older. The first innings really is the important one to get a big total. I’m the first one to put my hand up because I certainly haven’t been good enough in this series.”For me as an experienced senior player, it’s part of my role to be able to stand up and score runs. It has been very disappointing not to be able to do that. I personally take a lot of blame for that. I take just about full responsibility to be able to show the way and I’ve certainly got to get a lot better.”However, Watson also said the challenging pitches at all four venues needed to be taken into consideration when assessing Australia’s batting.”The conditions here are very foreign and the conditions have been just about the opposite to anything we have got in Australia, that’s for sure, but also playing cricket here in the past whether it was Test matches, one-dayers or T20s, the wickets have been different to those as well,” he said. “It’s been a big learning curve for everyone.”To see how the wicket played in this game was certainly a huge challenge against their high quality spinners and even they struggled at times with our high quality spinners as well. We’ve all learned a hell of a lot out of this series. We certainly need to continue to improve and improve and improve very quickly. With the challenges and the series we have coming up, the conditions are going to be different to what we have in this series.”The coming months for Australia will provide the challenge of changing formats a few times, for some players will spend the next month in India for the IPL before the Champions Trophy in England and then back-to-back Ashes series. A united side is important in such a big year and Watson said the so-called homework sackings – Watson, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja were not considered for the third Test – had brought the side together.”It was a little bit rocky there for about a day,” Watson said when asked about his relationship with Clarke and the coach Mickey Arthur. “But after that things are very good. Michael and the leadership group had to make a decision. At the time I wasn’t very happy with the decision that was made but we’ve all sat down and had a great chat and we’ve all moved on and we’re really excited about the future that’s coming up.”It has been a big shot in the arm for just about the whole group let alone the Mohali four. It has been a big shot in the arm for us to be able to galvanise the team. It’s one thing coming back after the few days I had at home for the birth of my little boy. It has been amazing to see how the team has really come together. There was a bit of collateral damage with a few of us going down and missing a Test match. What has come out of it has been a very united group.”

Finch to replace Clarke for Pune Warriors

Aaron Finch will replace Michael Clarke in the Pune Warriors squad for the sixth IPL season after Clarke was ruled out of the entire season with a back injury. Finch, another top-order batsman, tweeted the development and is expected to leave for India on Saturday.Finch will be joining his third IPL franchise after playing for Rajasthan Royals in 2010 and Delhi Daredevils in 2011 and 2012. He was released by Delhi in November 2012 and went unsold in the auction on February 3 at a base price of $200,000.He represents Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League and averaged 66.40 in eight matches last season, scoring 332 runs with a highest score of 111 not out. However, he scored only 4, 7 and 1 for Australia in the three T20Is in January against Sri Lanka and West Indies.Overall, he has scored 1699 runs in 58 domestic T20 matches at 36.14 with a strike-rate of 130.49.The Warriors will be captained by Angelo Mathews this season.

New Zealand Women take lead in two-match series

ScorecardEllyse Perry took two crucial wickets, but it couldn’t prevent defeat for Australia•Getty Images

New Zealand Women beat Australia Women by six wickets with two balls to spare in the first Twenty20 match of the series in Melbourne on Tuesday. The two sides will play the second match of the series later in the day.Captain Suzie Bates led the New Zealand team’s chase of 151, with an important knock of 42. Bates and Sophie Devine set the foundation for a New Zealand win, adding 67 runs for the third wicket, before Frances Mackay and Nicola Browne took their side past the target with an unbeaten fifth-wicket stand of 54.Earlier, Australia managed to score a respectable 7 for 151 after they were reduced to 3 for 15. Left-arm spinner Morna Nielsen and medium-pacer Lea Tahuhu struck early to dismiss Jess Cameron and Lisa Sthalekar in quick succession after opener Alyssa Healy was run out in the first over.The Australia innings recovered following a 75-run partnership between Meg Lanning, who top scored with 76, and Alexandra Blackwell for the fourth wicket. However, Australia again lost a flurry of wickets towards the end of their innings that limited them to 151.

Healy slams Wade over glovework

Ian Healy has slammed Matthew Wade’s wicketkeeping during the Test summer and said Australia needed to choose their best gloveman for the upcoming tours of India and England. Healy, who watched from the commentary box as Wade kept wicket for his first home summer, was disappointed not only with the way Wade missed opportunities for stumpings and catches, but also what he perceived as a lack of discipline in getting the basics right.”He’s not happy at all. He didn’t have a good summer with the gloves at all,” Healy told on Friday. “Even some of the basic stuff that he’s not tidying up, he’s not getting to the stumps, he’s not taking returns well, he’s not sharpening up the fielding effort. Even those basic disciplines weren’t being created, let alone missed dismissals.”Nathan Lyon wouldn’t have been that happy, there were four or five chances missed from his bowling. He’s getting criticised for not taking wickets. These are all the little internal conflicts of an under-achieving wicketkeeper. Matthew Wade says he’s still young and he wants to keep improving, but I don’t think he’s that young. He’s 25.”If he is keeping for Australia, these sort of things have to be done, and they have to be done better. We’re playing against Sri Lanka, it’s not as if we’re playing against South Africa or England for five Tests [where] we need everything taken. He needs to really get a look at what Brad Haddin is doing and try to find a way to get it done himself.”Healy’s strong words came as Wade was at home resting from the first two one-day internationals against Sri Lanka, having played more matches for Australia over the past year in all formats than anyone except David Warner. John Inverarity’s selection panel is so keen on Wade as a Test player that he even batted at No.6 during the third Test against Sri Lanka in Sydney, and scored an unbeaten century.That was a position that not even the great Adam Gilchrist occupied on a regular basis during his days in the Test side. Healy is widely regarded as the best of Australia’s modern glovemen, while his replacement Gilchrist performed adequately behind the stumps and was brilliant with the bat. Healy said during Gilchrist’s time, when Australia had bowlers like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, they could afford to play a wicketkeeper whose batting was his stronger suit, but not anymore.”What Adam Gilchrist had was a relevance to his team,” Healy said. “He was appropriate to the team. He had a team with a great bowling attack that created more chances than you needed. We haven’t got an attack like that now. We’ve got an attack that if you need 20 wickets in a Test, they might create 18 and you’d better take a half-chance here or there or a great run-out and you might get over the line.”That’s where you don’t need a wicketkeeper missing stuff. Right now Australian cricket in the Test form initially needs the best wicketkeeper. We need to find out who that is, and someone who is not making mistakes.”Healy said he could not understand why the selectors had chosen Wade ahead of Brad Haddin at the start of this summer. However, he also said that he believed Queensland’s Chris Hartley, 30, was the best pure gloveman in the country but that he was unlikely to earn an opportunity at international level with Wade, Haddin and Tim Paine all ahead of him in the queue.”I don’t understand why they dropped [Haddin] and it’s never been explained to me or the public after the West Indies,” Healy said. “He wasn’t in great form [and] he had to go home and look after his ill daughter. Then when he gets that right and he’s ready to play again, he’s not picked. I thought that was a bit harsh.”Tim Paine can emerge without being picked for Australia. Chris Hartley must be sitting in Queensland thinking I’m gone here, even though he’s probably the best keeper of the lot. You talk to the players and they say that all the time. He’s missed out I’d say. He’s 30 and there’s three being talked before him.”

Crisis 'nowhere close to 2007 World Cup loss' – Dhoni

India’s Test side has not played so badly since 1999-2000 when a whitewash in Australia was followed by a 2-0 home series loss to South Africa. But this defeat to England is not the lowest point MS Dhoni has sunk to as an international cricketer.After two whitewashes in England and Australia, India have now lost a Test series at home, their last piece of pride in Test cricket, but Dhoni said he has seen worse.”It has been tough,” Dhoni said after the draw in Nagpur that gave the series to England, “But there are not many things that will come close to when we lost the 2007 50-over World Cup. This is not even close to that.”This, he said, was a rebuilding stage. “We are going through a tough time, we are going through a stage where we will have to see what will work for us,” Dhoni said. “A few big players for us have left us. Youngsters coming up will have to fill the gap, and seniors will have to take extra responsibility till the juniors start getting runs or start taking wickets.”The quality of spinners coming through has been a big concern. Dhoni said he wouldn’t want to judge somebody like Piyush Chawla – who has been averaging 40 and upwards in first-class cricket for the last three years – based on just one match. “It’s very difficult if you assess a youngster based on one performance,” Dhoni said. “You have to see how they go once they play a few games. They will get the exposure. Not to forget Piyush came after five years so he will feel the nerves. It wasn’t a fantastic wicket for him to bowl.”There was no pace. It’s very difficult to deceive the batsman with his wrong’un or the legbreaks. You have to analyse everything. Just don’t see the stats – so many overs, so many maidens, so many runs, wicket column empty – and think you have bowled badly. We have seen you get wickets off full tosses or caught at point through a cut. We need to analyse honestly to see if the batsman or the bowler is doing well. It’s not only the runs that say the batsman is batting well or five wickets in the bowler’s case.”Dhoni spoke of the importance of backing the youngsters. “What you need to see is if you don’t give youngsters chances how do you know whether they are good enough or not?” Dhoni said. “You won’t get all of them scoring big hundreds in their first game. Some of the big players, they started off with even four or five zeros.”You have to back youngsters who you think are very talented. Who you think can succeed at the top level. Even if they don’t score in a few games, it is important to back them. It’s about trying them and giving them a chance to prove themselves. Scoring runs in domestic cricket is not a certain sign they will score at the top level but you have to back them so you know with proper exposure at first-class level and proper backing at international level, at some time they will start scoring.”Dhoni said the batting and pace bowling was the difference between the two sides in this series. “In this series the batting was the department that was lacking,” he said. “In the sense we needed to score more runs. Mumbai was a tough wicket, but apart from that we were not able to get into big partnerships.”In cricket it’s not about who is scoring how many runs. It’s about between two individuals how big the partnership is. We were not really able to have those big partnerships that can have the big impact, especially when playing in subcontinent.”Dhoni praised Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann, who outbowled his spinners, but he said James Anderson was crucial. “Anderson bowled very well throughout the series on wickets that there was no help for the fast bowler,” he said. “That was crucial. He tested the batsmen all the time. In his second or third spell when he started to get reverse and yet the ball was slightly on the harder side. The major difference between the two sides was James Anderson who bowled really well.”Dhoni didn’t give any indication about Sachin Tendulkar’s future. Asked if we will see Tendulkar again, he said, “I hope so.” Has he indicated anything to the captain? “No.”

Dilshan warms up for Tests with ton

Scorecard
Tillakaratne Dilshan made 101•Getty Images

Tillakaratne Dilshan warmed up for the Test series against Australia with a century as most of Sri Lanka’s top-order batsmen spent some valuable time in the middle on the second day of their tour match in Canberra. After Scott Henry brought up a double-century for the Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI, who declared at 6 for 439, the Sri Lankans moved their own total on to 4 for 276 by stumps on the second day of the three-day game.Dilshan and Dimuth Karunaratne put on 105 for the opening wicket, a stand that ended when the young Western Australia spinner Ashton Turner had Karunaratne caught at mid-on for 40. Dilshan brought up his hundred shortly before tea and retired out to allow his captain Mahela Jayawardene to spend some time in the middle, along with Kumar Sangakkara.Sangakkara made 55 before becoming a rare victim of the medium-pace of Usman Khawaja, who in 60 first-class matches has only claimed one wicket, that of the bowler Chris Duval. Khawaja trapped Sangakkara lbw and Jayawardene was caught and bowled by the offspinner Glenn Maxwell for 36, before Prasanna Jayawardene (24 not out) and Dinesh Chandimal (12 not out) took the Sri Lankans to stumps without any further damage.The Chairman’s XI had started the day at 4 for 390 and they added 49 to their overnight total for the loss of two more wickets. Their resumption allowed Henry, who is yet to post a first-class century, to bring up his double-hundred, an innings that ended only when the declaration came. Dhammika Prasad picked up both wickets of the morning for the Sri Lankans, Travis Head caught for 35 and Sam Whiteman caught and bowled for 4.

Root swoops as Yorkshire break duck

ScorecardJoe Root hit 65 and then pulled off an excellent piece of fielding as Yorkshire reached their first Finals Day•Getty Images

Yorkshire reached their first T20 Finals Day with a 29-run win over Worcestershire, inspired by Joe Root’s maiden Twenty20 half-century, not to mention an impudent piece of fielding on the deep midwicket boundary that brought a boisterous Headingley crowd to their feet. Root also opened the bowling – admittedly to slightly less spectacular effect – in a display that will have again given the England selectors a tug on the sleeve.Phil Hughes’ unorthodox power and placement helped keep Worcestershire in the game but his unbeaten 80 was not enough, as fellow Australia international Mitchell Starc returned to keep a lid on the final overs, finishing with 3 for 24 from his allocation. In the face-off between the tournament’s leading run-scorer and its leading wicket-taker, Starc was the victor on points.After Hampshire’s dramatic victory over Nottinghamshire later on Wednesday, Yorkshire were drawn against big-hitting Sussex for what promises to be an explosive semi-final encounter between the North and South Group winners on August 25.Worcestershire, who were also aiming to reach Finals Day for the first time, kept pace with the Yorkshire par score but were lacking the blast of nitrous oxide provided by the batting of David Miller and Gary Ballance, who hammered 82 from the last five overs earlier in the day. A similar power-up was not forthcoming from the visitors’ middle order, despite forceful twenties from James Cameron and Gareth Andrew.The former was sent on his way by Root – though his name won’t appear on the scorecards. Having hoisted Rich Pyrah high into the outfield, Cameron may have been expecting to record his second six; but Root, running round from long-on, demonstrated quick-thinking to go with his quick feet, catching the ball, steadying himself in front of the rope and then tossing it back to Miller as his momentum took him out of bounds.The third umpire was consulted, as a matter of course, but both Root and his team-mates knew he had pulled off a piece of fielding that is no less exhilarating now that T20 has made it a more common sight. “The cameras are here aren’t they, so you’ve got to make it look good,” Root said, over his on-pitch mic.Root’s contribution with the bat was even more important, if a little less showy. He is an accomplished strokeplayer in the classical mould, though he repeatedly turned to the reverse sweep in a largely unsuccessful attempt to show he could play the peacock too. Perhaps hitting three of his four first-class sixes in a superb innings of 222 not out at West End earlier this month has convinced him to broaden his batting horizons.His runs were scored all around the wicket, though his first boundary came via an edge between keeper and slip. He could – possibly should – have been dismissed on 40, when a reverse dab against Brett D’Oliveira looped off the top edge to Andrew’s left at short third man but the fielder went at it one-handed and only succeeded in fisting the ball to the boundary. Two overs later, Root drove Aneesh Kapil behind square to reach his fifty, from 36 balls, and he was in full flow against Worcestershire’s England Under-19 allrounder, cutting, driving and pulling three more boundaries off successive deliveries before spooning a slog straight up to be caught and bowled.Root, appropriately, had anchored Yorkshire, as Worcestershire chipped away early on. Yorkshire have twice broken the club record for opening stands in T20 this season but Andrew Gale and Phil Jaques combined to less sparkling effect in the first over of the innings, with the Australian run-out off a wide. Jack Shantry’s delivery swung down the leg side, before deflecting away off the wicketkeeper Ben Scott’s pads, and Jaques was three-quarters of the way down before it became apparent that Gale was not for haring.The Yorkshire captain had missed a month of cricket with a hip injury, so was perhaps just feeling a bit ginger early on. After scoring three singles off his first eight balls, he crashed five fours off his next ten, taking 16 off a Shantry over before chipping Daryl Mitchell’s extremely slow medium-pace back to the bowler. Worcestershire’s captain also accounted for Jonny Bairstow, whose mighty bash wasn’t quite mighty enough to clear long-on and at the halfway stage Yorkshire were 83 for 3, behind the rate on a good pitch.Kapil’s costly over, though it saw off Root, was the trigger for a run rush that saw Yorkshire pile on 104 from the last seven. Miller hit the first six of the innings from the last ball of the 16th over, slog-sweeping Moeen Ali into the stands, and Ballance cracked the next ball, from Shantry, over cover for six more. Miller then smacked sixes over long-on and long-off, before pulling a flat missile through midwicket for four more, progressing to a 23-ball fifty in the following over before miscuing a heave at David Lucas.Shantry finished with 0 for 46 from three overs but Lucas, bowling the final over, was not to be spared either. A single off the first ball brought Ballance on strike, red-faced but cool at the crease, and he cleared the ropes four more times – a bottom-handed club over wide long-on; a flat swipe through midwicket; a stand-and-deliver punch down the ground; and a wristy flick over deep backward square leg – to lift Yorkshire to their highest total in this year’s FLt20 and just one run shy of their best in T20.Root, a slight 21-year-old, is not yet the man for such power-hitting but his all-round abilities meant he was given the new ball as Yorkshire started with an over off offspin. Root went for 10, though both of Moeen’s boundaries – an inside edge past the stumps and a paddle past the diving Moin Ashraf at short fine leg – could have resulted in wickets. Starc then struck in the second over, Vikram Solanki pinned lbw despite the ball looking a touch high, to bring Hughes to the middle.His first boundary was a six down the ground but a succession of partners could not match his efforts. As Root showed, it isn’t over until it’s over the rope – and neither could Worcestershire get over the line.

Under-19 players should target 2015 World Cup – Warner

Australia batsman David Warner has said players participating in the upcoming Under-19 World Cup in Australia should aim to make it to the senior squad for the World Cup in 2015, which will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Sixteen teams will participate in the tournament to be held in Queensland (Brisbane, Townsville and Sunshine Coast) from August 11-26, 2012.”I think each individual who will be appearing in the Under-19 World Cup in 2012 needs to have goals of returning here for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 because if you are good enough to be where you are today, you have to be good enough to be in that squad and that environment in 2015,” Warner said.Warner, 25, was part of the squad for the 2006 edition, held in Sri Lanka. He scored 91 runs in five matches with one half-century as a middle-order batsman. Since his international debut in 2009, he has established himself as a destructive opener in all forms of the game for Australia. Warner said the tournament is a good finishing school for promising players hoping to play for the country.”It’s funny, I batted in the middle-order back then, and now I am opening the batting. I can see where I have come from in respect to changing my game to be the best I can,” Warner said. “Everyone’s got to start somewhere, and for me it was batting in the middle-order and bowling a little bit of leg spin.”As a player, I think I’ve matured into a better person and a better team player – not saying that I wasn’t a good team player, but you learn how to actually play the game as an individual and as a team player. I also think you become more knowledgeable about the game.”South Africa batsman Hashim Amla, part of the 2000 edition in New Zealand, said the tournament teaches youngsters invaluable cricket and life lessons. Amla scored 191 runs in eight games with two fifties. He made his international debut in 2004.”It is a great platform to launch your international career. Look at Wayne Parnell who had a great tournament for South Africa at the event in 2008 (Malaysia) and a year later, he was making his international debut,” Amla said. “The challenge for the youngsters is how they manage themselves after they have made their debuts at such an early age.”

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