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Scorecard

Stuart Clark sparked another Western Australia collapse to lead New South Wales to a crushing win within three days at Perth. Clark finished with his first ten-wicket match in first-class cricket as Western Australia struggled to 209 and lost by 188 runs.His fast-bowling colleagues Mark Cameron and Doug Bollinger finished with better second-innings figures but it was Clark’s removal of both the openers in his first spell that set the Blues on target for victory. Following on from his first-innings 8 for 58, Clark had Justin Langer caught and Chris Rogers lbw as the Warriors began poorly in their unlikely chase of 398.When Rogers went it began another of the freefalls that had plagued Western Australia throughout the match as they lost 5 for 30 and their most dangerous batsmen departed. Aaron Heal (53) and Brett Dorey (43) offered resistance but Cameron’s 4 for 37 in just his second first-class game finished the demolition.Dorey had already played his part, taking 5 for 47 as New South Wales made 279 in their second innings. Brad Haddin top-scored with 70 but the Warriors’ disastrous first innings meant the Blues were always the favourites.It was an embarrassing home result for Western Australia, who boast one of the strongest batting line-ups in the Pura Cup. Both teams remain in contention for a place in the final but the loss could be a crushing blow for the Warriors, whose last two games will be away from home.

The Indian Premier League feels increasingly like the Shane Warne Show. Tonight, after his Rajasthan Royals side made it four wins in a row in front of a partisan crowd at theSawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur, Warne launched into a stinging attack on Sourav Ganguly, the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders, for what he perceived to be a blatant disregard for the spirit of the game. He seemed to have a point, but right now Warne could probably tell you the earth was flat and you’d believe him.Warne was already irritated by the time Ganguly refused to walk for a catch claimed at deep midwicket by Graeme Smith. Ganguly famously made Steve Waugh wait at the toss, and now Warne believed the former India captain was running on Sourav-time yet again. “Our batters were waiting five minutes for the home side to go out,” said Warne. “And when we came out in the field, we were waiting for Sourav. He was just going on his own time.”Then came the catch, or non-catch, depending on your interpretation of the TV pictures. Smith was convinced he had taken Ganguly’s swing cleanly, and so, plainly, was Warne. But Ganguly asked for a replay – which he is not supposed to do – and Asad Rauf up in the TV box could not be 100% certain the ball had not bounced. Ganguly fell in the next over anyway, but Warne was furious.”I was disappointed because in Bangalore we signed that wall about the spirit of cricket,” he said. “If an international captain like Graeme Smith caught it and said it was a clean catch and Rudi Koertzen said he caught it, easy… And anyway, the players aren’t allowed to ask for the umpire. But Sourav asked the Indian umpire to go to the TV replay. That’s not in the spirit of the game so I was very, very disappointed with Sourav.”Warne’s young charges are learning more than they can have dreamed from him as this tournament progresses, so it will be interesting to see if they adopt his aversion to Ganguly by the time these sides next meet, on May 20 at Eden Gardens.As Warne pointed out, to score 196 for 7 when the in-form overseas pair of Graeme Smith and Shane Watson have contributed two runs between them suggests an unusually close-knit side. Rajasthan sprang a surprise – at least that’s how Warne presented it – by picking the unknown 24-year-old opener Swapnil Asnodkar, who promptly added to the Midas Touch theory by whacking a 34-ball 60 which belied his tiny frame.There were runs too for Yusuf Pathan, whose stature grows by the game, and two wickets in an over for Siddharth Trivedi, who was singled out for special praise by Warne. Actually, he singled out pretty well everyone for special praise, including Ravindra Jadeja (33 off 19 balls and a “future superstar”) but then that’s what he does so well.”We try to get the best out of every individual in our squad,” he explained. “I’m trying to teach 20 years of knowledge, about summing up the situation, finding a way to score, how to construct an over, be positive, stand up tall, and back yourself. And so far it’s working. It’s the benefit of my experience and to their credit they’re learning very, very fast. We show spirit every game. Everyone’s in it together. Never underestimate the spirit of a team.”There was a symbolic moment right at the end of the game. Kolkata’s No.11 Ashok Dinda lifted Watson in the gap between mid-off and extra cover, and both Warne and the substitute fielder Taruwar Kohli, converged on the ball as it hung temptingly in the air. In the event, Kohli hung on, but Warne fell to the ground with him, as if helping him complete the catch right down to the last detail.”Sometimes international players think they know it all,” said Warne, implicitly advocating the exuberance of youth. You sense his players will do anything for him. And if they win against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday, they will present him with a league table which, against all the odds, will show Rajasthan Royals on top of the IPL.

“So you think you are Klusener?” Anil Kumble shot out at Abhishek Nayar after being hit for three consecutive fours on the second day’s play at the Wankhede Stadium. Replay this for a moment: after Nayar stepped out to swing the first two balls to cow corner, Kumble shrugged, “That was just a slog”. He fired the next one in quick and short, Nayar went back to slap it to the cover-point fence and smiled at the comparison with Klusener.However, if Pravin Amre and Sachin Tendulkar had not helped, the aggressive 24-year old Mumbai allrounder would not be here today, having a chuckle on the cricket field. He was dropped after three ducks in the 2005-06 Ranji season but just as the self-doubt started sinking in, Tendulkar happened. Nayar recalls with gratitude a special 45 minutes he spent with Tendulkar at the Bandra-Kurla complex in suburban Mumbai.”I was down and was having problems with my batting. I was unable to get any power in my strokes off the back foot,” Nayar told Cricinfo. He says he could drive but knew his back-foot play was going to hinder his cricketing career. Tendulkar asked him to take his stance and play a few back-foot shots. Nayar, who crouches in his stance before shuffling across from an outside-leg-stump guard, tried changing his stance in the Under-16 and 19 days but felt uncomfortable and returned to what he knew best – attack. Tendulkar spotted that his weight was on the heels rather than toes and that Nayar’s shift in balance was not smooth.”He suggested a few drills – playing with a cone, he told me not to bother about changing my stance and talked a lot about the mental strength. He gave examples from his own career – how he once famously played out seven quiet overs from [Glenn] McGrath in a Test before returning the next morning and going onto the attack.”Nayar told himself that if such a famed batsman could swallow his ego and play according to the situation, so could he.Amre, Mumbai’s coach, worked on Nayar’s batting at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana club and gave valuable input on the mental aspect of cricket. Two years ago, Nayar says, he would’ve probably said something back at Kumble but not now. Because Amre has made him realise the importance of being cool, calm and collected.Flash forward to the 2006-07 season when, after playing three games without a point on the board, Mumbai recalled Nayar for a game against Gujarat. Ajit Agarkar was set to play the next game and Nayar knew if he failed there, he would be dropped again. Remembering Tendulkar’s words, he fought hard initially before exploding in the end to finish with 97 from 173 balls. He added 213 with Rohit Sharma, and that turned the tide for both player and team. Nayar was the third highest run-scorer for Mumbai, with 360 runs in five matches, and took 15 wickets to finish third in the bowling tally. Two breezy centuries this season, including one in the Irani Trophy, and life is suddenly sunnier for Nayar.

Unlike many others in India Nayar didn’t play much tennis-ball cricket. Instead, he started off with the leather ball as a 10-year old. One man who shares that uncommon trait is his team-mate Prashant Naik, who tackled Kumble with a straight bat to score a crucial 78 to help Mumbai stretch the lead in the first innings. Like Nayar, he too was drafted into the squad in the last season for the Gujarat game. He didn’t play, but instead of idling his time, Naik hit the gym and lost four kilogramsIf Nayyar’s association with Amre was at the Shivaji Park, Naik came under the former India batsman while playing for Air India, with which Amre was involved. Ironically, for a man who took a confident front-foot stride to tackle Kumble with aplomb, the front-foot movement used to be his major flaw. “I had a very short forward stride and I was struggling a touch with my front-foot play. Amre sir gave me specific drills [he was made to hit golf balls thrown at him with a shortened bat and had to stretch well forward to make proper contact] and that helped.”Naik too has a special Tendulkar moment. Earlier in his life, he used to bowl an assorted mixture of legspin and medium pace. On one occasion Tendulkar, batting at an adjacent net, spotted him bowling his spinners and told him to concentrate on just that. “He gave me tips on my run-up, action, follow-through and the other nuances of the art,” says Naik, who bowled a few overs today against Rahul Dravid, mirroring Tendulkar’s action. He has that same walk to the crease and although he doesn’t turn it big, you can see the Tendulkar imprint all over him.Naik played his junior grade cricket in Pune before he moved to Mumbai upon the advice of his cricket-crazy father and uncle. He missed the U-14 trials as he arrived late to the city, but was given a chance in the U-16 round. He impressed and has risen through the ranks to play for Mumbai and now dreams of representing India. The signs have been good, based on a century on first-class debut in the Mohammad Nissar Trophy recently, and 78 here.In Nayar, Kerala-born but raised in Mumbai, and Naik, from Pune, the defending Ranji champions have found two talents for the future.

Morne Morkel, the South Africa fast bowler, has signed for Yorkshire as cover for Rana Naved-ul-Hasan for the early part of the season.Morkel, who played for Kent last season in their Twenty20 campaign, had a reasonable one-day series against West Indies last week, picking up seven wickets in three games with a best of 4 for 36.”I am really pleased to have signed for Yorkshire,” Morkel said. “Although it is a short-term deal I am excited about the opportunity to play for such a historic and important club. The opportunity to play county cricket is one I couldn’t ignore.”I want to use the time I have with Yorkshire to help get the team off to a flying start and develop my own game. It will be great to play under a captain like Darren Gough and I know I can learn a lot from him about quick bowling.”Morkel has signed on a “week by week” contract until the availability of Naved-ul-Hasan – whose Pakistan board have expressed concerns over the amount of county cricket their internationals play – is confirmed.”Morne Morkel is a quality acquisition and a very talented prospect,” Stewart Regan, the Yorkshire chief executive, said. “We are pleased to have secured his services and he will provide excellent cover for Rana Naved during the first part of the season. He is highly regarded by Geoffrey Boycott who tells me that he can bowl very quickly indeed.”I’ve also spoken to Jacques Rudolph who has been impressed by Morne’s performances and is looking forward to playing with him at Headingley.”

England’s chastened cricketers regrouped in the howling winds of Wellington’s Basin Reserve on Tuesday, as they prepared to put their tour of New Zealand back on track after Sunday’s humiliating 189-run defeat in the first Test in Hamilton. With criticism ringing in their ears after the abject nature of their final-day collapse, the batsmen were put through their paces in a morning net session, not least by a fired-up Steve Harmison, who seemed to have been piqued into finding that extra gear that he so obviously lacked last week.Harmison’s efforts, however, may have come too late to spare him the axe when England unveil their team for Thursday’s second Test. The recently appointed selector, James Whitaker, watched his spell closely from the sidelines, having agreed to stay on to oversee the remainder of the series. His presence alone, however, reaffirms how important it is for England to be seen to take action after such a desperate defeat. Stuart Broad, who made his solitary Test appearance in Colombo before Christmas, remains the favourite to take Harmison’s place.Nevertheless, it’s not all doom and gloom in the England camp, as Ian Bell was at pains to point out after practice. “Obviously it’s disappointing to lose a Test match, but hopefully it’s something we can shake off very quickly,” he said. “We’ve just got to make sure we turn up here prepared to win. I think everyone believes that. We’ve just got to go out there and express ourselves, and believe that we can win this Test.”Bell provided England’s only reason to cheer in that second innings, as he chivvied the tail along with a composed and attractive half-century that served to highlight how good the going might have been had his team-mates got stuck in at the top of the order. He finished with 54 not out from 151 balls, having added 33 for the last wicket with Monty Panesar, but was honest enough to admit that his innings hadn’t been compiled when the pressure was really on.”Given the position we were in, it was only a matter of time before they started bringing the field up to try and keep me on strike by tossing a few balls up,” Bell said. “It was nice to bat a bit freer at the end, but to be honest the result wasn’t the ideal situation to do that. Hopefully we’ll all get back to the way we used to play – play a bit more on instinct and go out and be really positive.”In the aftermath of the defeat, which took England’s recent record to four draws and three losses in seven Tests, Michael Vaughan suggested that there was “a lack of confidence” in the dressing-room, particularly among the batsmen, who have mustered three centuries between them in those games. Bell tried to play his captain’s comments down, although he did admit that things were not quite as relaxed as they used to be.”I wouldn’t say it’s a lack of confidence, we’ve just put a bit of pressure on ourselves,” he said. “We need to free it up a little bit and back ourselves. The top six have got some great records, so we need to go out there and show that. We need to play naturally, and if we see the ball, hit it. We need to get back to how we used to score runs.”Confidence can, however, come across as recklessness if wrongly carried through, and Bell admitted that it’s a fine balance. “I don’t think anyone’s more nervous than normal going out to bat,” he said, “but sometimes you have to come back at the bowlers a little bit more. We were guilty of sitting in a little too much, and didn’t take it to them enough. But a lot of credit has to go to their bowlers. They showed us how to play on those slow wickets.”Though Vaughan claimed after Hamilton that getting straight back onto the horse was the best remedy, England have just one more day of practice and mental preparation before they head back into the fray. Bell, however, was confident that the team would be ready to compete properly this week. “The guys have been trying and training really hard, but there’s not that much we have to change,” he said. “It’s just about a slight difference of mindset, a few little tweaks here and there. We’ve had a good session today, the wicket looks good, and we’re excited about trying to turn it around.”

After two disappointing days at the WACA ground in Perth, West Indies’ batsmen have come out fighting on day three of the tour match against Western Australia today. Led by a defiant century from opener Sherwin Campbell (119), the West Indians have reached a second innings score of 6/266 by stumps, one that provides them with an overall lead of forty runs heading into the final day.Although the loss of the wickets of both Campbell and nightwatchman Mervyn Dillon (3) to the medium pace of Tom Moody (2/9) in the shadow of stumps provided a sour end, this was a heartening day for the tourists. With their experienced right hander offering the perfect prototype, virtually every one of their players who visited the crease today seemed intent on playing an innings loaded with resolve and application.The result was the generation of a succession of patient and disciplined partnerships. Nightwatchman Marlon Black (3) and Wavell Hinds (27) fell, and Campbell himself failed to score for well over an hour through one phase, but even through the first session, there was a strong hint of what was to come. Other than for the cross-batted, top-edged pull at a short Steve Nikitaras (1/66) delivery down the leg side which engineered Hinds’ demise, ill-disciplined strokes were minimal in number.Later in the day, Campbell received similarly fine support from experienced players Shivnarine Chanderpaul (43) and Jimmy Adams (41*). Chanderpaul did not look quite at his best, but fought doggedly against the Warriors’ attack until finally spooning a catch to square leg twenty-five minutes before tea. Adams survived one beseeching lbw shout against Brendon Julian (1/37) halfway through the final session and endured the misfortune of receiving two deliveries from the same bowler which barely did anything but run along the ground after pitching just short of a good length outside the line of off stump. Otherwise, though, he looked as sound in defence as ever against an attack which never really assumed a rating of anything exceeding steady.As for Campbell himself, he alternated between long periods of methodical defence and shorter bursts of attacking shotmaking, particularly through the off side. In fact, it was probably fitting that his century was raised with a forceful cover driven boundary. Before a first innings failure in this match, he had opened the tour with a century in the festival-style game at Lilac Hill earlier this week. With another seven hours at the crease now under his belt, this innings offered another welcome morale-boost as he continues his preparations for the upcoming Test series against Australia. Even more encouragingly, it clearly did so for the side as a whole as well.

Justin Langer continued his outstanding county season with 145 at nearly a run a ball in Somerset’s 87-run one-day victory over Middlesex on Sunday. Langer was well supported by Cameron White, who made 61 as the visitors piled on 332 at Lord’s.It was Langer’s second limited-overs century in the tournament and he is now second on the county one-day run tally for 2007, and third in the first-class list. His effort against Middlesex took 149 balls and he shared in a 136-run stand with White.Just when the home side appeared to be setting a platform to launch the big chase through a 52-run partnership between Eoin Morgan and David Nash, White became the hero with the ball, removing both batsmen and finishing with 3 for 37.On the same day at Worcester, Phil Jaques turned his poor form around to register his second hundred of the season. Jaques made 102 but was overshadowed by Vikram Solanki as they added 223 for the first wicket. Solanki remained unbeaten on 144 as Worcestershire cruised to 2 for 307 from 46 overs, easily overhauling Warwickshire’s 6 for 303.It was not such a memorable match for Doug Bollinger, however, whose first season with Worcestershire has not gone to plan so far. Bollinger took 1 for 63 from his ten overs, two days after he was taken for 75 from eight overs against Durham at Chester-le-Street. Kabir Ali, who has played Test cricket for England, also struggled and cost 94 from ten overs as Durham’s batsmen – including Michael Di Venuto with 49 – blasted their way to 4 for 332. Jaques and Solanki could not save the day and Worcestershire lost by 143 runs.Hampshire confirmed the value of having two of Australia’s best bowlers as they skittled Glamorgan for 146 to win by 137 runs at Swansea. Shane Warne – who earlier had enjoyed a cameo of 18 from nine balls – claimed 2 for 32 but it was Stuart Clark’s devastating opening spell that did for Glamorgan. Clark, who finished with 4 for 25, took three early wickets as the home side spiralled to 7 for 49. Glamorgan only climbed to 146 through some late hitting from Simon Jones and Dean Cosker.Clark and Warne were also effective in the four-day match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston earlier in the week but Hampshire’s batsmen let them down. Clark collected 3 for 65 and Warne 2 for 47 as they dismissed the home team for 262 in reply to Hampshire’s 169. Hampshire eventually escaped with a draw but found themselves sixth on the County Championship table for Division One.Marcus North signed off from his impressive stint with Gloucestershire, scoring his third first-class century from five games. North’s 109 helped his side to 394 against Northamptonshire at Gloucester and he followed up with 2 for 23 as the visitors struggled to 223. North, who is Gloucestershire’s leading run-scorer in first-class and one-day cricket this season, will be replaced next week by his Western Australia team-mate Ben Edmondson.At Hove, Stuart Law compiled his second century of 2007 as his team, Lancashire, finished with a slight edge over Sussex. Law made 119 and Brad Hodge scored 43 as Lancashire posted 330 in the first innings.Both batsmen failed in the second, however, and despite a nine-wicket match from Lancashire’s star bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, the match ended in a draw. Although nine players in their squad boast Test or ODI experience – Law, Hodge, Muralitharan, Andrew Flintoff, Sajid Mahmood, James Anderson, Dominic Cork, Mal Loye and Glen Chapple – Lancashire are third-last on the Division One table.A bold declaration by Langer backfired spectacularly at Lord’s. He called Somerset’s innings closed at 8 for 50, in an effort to expose Middlesex on a damp pitch. However, the home side clearly had not read the script and ploughed along to 252. That left Somerset with a hefty first-innings deficit and despite a better effort on the third day – White chipped in with 77 – Middlesex took the points and leapfrogged Somerset into second place on the Division Two table.In first place are Nottinghamshire, who narrowly missed another victory against Leicestershire at Oakham. Set 377 to win, Nottinghamshire were on course thanks in part to David Hussey, who continued his prolific form with 79 off 65 balls.But Hussey, who made his name leading enormous chases at Victoria, was caught behind and the visitors soon had little option but to play out a draw. Hussey now has 737 runs at 81.88 this season and is second only to Mark Ramprakash on the county run-tally.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out