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Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir are among the big names released by their IPL franchises, along with Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle and Andrew Symonds, while Virat Kohli is the surprise retention for his team for the next three seasons. Wednesday was the deadline for the franchises to name the players they would retain from their current squads and while there is no common thread running through the choices of players retained and released, the key factors seem to be form, brand appeal and age.Kolkata Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab have decided not to retain any of their players, while all the other IPL franchises have held back at least one current player. Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, the 2010 finalists, have retained the maximum of four players each, in the process parting with half of the $9 million salary cap available to teams.According to the auction rules for IPL 4, teams can retain up to four players, only three of whom can be Indians. The retained players – who must have been part of the franchise’s registered squads for the 2010 season – will be valued at $1.8 million for the first player, $1.3 million for the second, $900,000 for the third and $500,000 for the fourth.Mumbai, as expected, held on to Sachin Tendulkar, the highest run-scorer of the 2010 season, offspinner Harbhajan Singh, West Indies allrounder Kieron Pollard and Sri Lanka seamer Lasith Malinga. Chennai took the Indian trio of MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and M Vijay out of the auction, in addition to South African allrounder Albie Morkel, their regular opening bowler. Delhi Daredevils retained only Virender Sehwag, meaning Gambhir – their captain for the last two seasons – is in the auction pool.

The retained players

Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga
Chennai: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, M Vijay, Albie Morkel
Rajasthan: Shane Warne, Shane Watson
Delhi: Virender Sehwag
Bangalore: Virat Kohli

The most interesting choice came from Royal Challengers Bangalore whose sole retention is Virat Kohli, currently on an impressive run in ODIs. There is no place for Dravid, their icon player, nor for Anil Kumble, their captain and the head of the state association. Kolkata’s decision to drop Sourav Ganguly, the biggest cricketing name to emerge from the city and the face of the franchise’s on-field persona, is a bold step.Punjab’s decision to release all their players was expected following their dismal 2010 season, which means Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Yuvraj Singh will go under the hammer.Siddhartha Mallya, owner of the Bangalore franchise, said the decision to retain just one player was backed by financial logic. “You must realise that with retention, a big chunk of your budget gets taken away,” Mallya told ESPNcricinfo. ” Mumbai and Chennai have kept four players, which means that half their budget is gone. It finally comes down to how much money one was going to lose. We have a big balance sheet but we have lost $1.8 million for keeping one player. We still have about $7-odd million left but if we had retained four then we would have had to buy virtually an entire squad with the remaining half.”Age is not a universal disqualification. It didn’t count in Tendulkar’s case, nor in that of Shane Warne, Rajasthan’s coach and captain, who was retained by Rajasthan Royals, along with Shane Watson, a day ahead of the deadline. One franchise official explained the difference: “Warne is a global brand so that only helps to promote the franchise.”If Rajasthan opted for Warne because they have always viewed the IPL as a global brand, Mumbai went with Tendulkar and Harbhajan for their popularity. Pollard and Malinga may have made the cut on account of being impact players, who have backed up their strong Twenty20 credentials with consistent performance.Sehwag’s match-winning abilities, coupled with his rapid emergence as a brand, clearly had a say in Delhi’s decision to retain him. MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina must have been shoo-ins for Chennai following their compelling IPL and international form. Vijay’s performances, coupled with his potential to attract a strong local fan-base, must have tilted the scales in his favour, while Morkel’s proven all-round skills were always going to be an asset. If there is a stranger in this crowd, it could be Kohli. Despite his owners trumpeting his recent performances, Kohli is still work in progress. But he is young, ambitious and has the youth appeal – all qualities of the UB Group’s target audience.

Former Test opener Ali Naqvi hit his 13th first-class hundred as Khan Research Laboratories scored 261 for 7 against hosts Hyderabad at the Niaz Stadium. While Naqvi was assured at one end, Hyderabad managed to stay in the game by making frequent breakthroughs from the other. The 80-run stand between Naqvi and captain Mohammad Wasim, who has also played for Pakistan, was the highest alliance of the day as the middle order frittered away starts. Naqvi’s 116 came in over five hours and included 10 fours and two sixes. Kashif Bhatti and Zahid Mahmood were the main wicket takers, finishing with three apiece on a day when neither side could take a clear advantage.Abbottabad‘s captain Wajid Ali struck a boundary-filled 92 but could not rescue his side from stuttering to 246, before his opening bowler Ahmed Jamal picked up two late wickets to leave Lahore Shalimar gasping on an eventful opening day at Abbottabad Cricket Stadium. Shalimar chose to field and had the hosts in trouble immediately, Zia-ul-Haq perishing to the first ball of the day. Wajid walked out at 19 for 2, which quickly became 28 for 3, before repairing the innings through a substantial stand in the company of Riaz Kail. The pair added 161, Kail hitting 12 fours in his 68, to lift their side to a position of dominance. Seamers Aamer Hayat and Arsalan Mir, however, sparked a collapse as Abbottabad’s lower order crumbled to lose 7 for 57 and with it, the initiative. Shalimar were set to take the honours for the day, but with stumps in sight, Jamal dismissed Ali Haider and Rana Adnan off successive balls to leave the game evenly poised.Middle-order batsman Wajiuddin struck an unbeaten ton, while his team-mate Asif Zakir fell six short of one, as Karachi Whites batted themselves into a strong position against Quetta at the National Stadium. Quetta’s decision to field came apart against the hosts who accumulated diligently through the day. The openers added 45 to see away the new ball before Wajiuddin and Zakir eased into a 183-run stand for the third wicket. The pair struck 23 fours between each other, while Wajiuddin also managed to clear the ropes once. Zakir’s wicket was Quetta’s only other success of the day as the hosts surged to 282 for 3 by stumps.Lahore Ravi skittled Pakistan Television for 155, and finished at 40 for 1 to take the upper hand at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. The hosts’ effort was spearheaded by seamer Asif Raza who picked up four wickets. The rest of the bowlers supported him well as PTV failed to get going. Junaid Nadir, the No. 10, was the highest scorer with 33 before the innings ended in the 40th over. Lahore had only one blemish on the day, losing opener Farooq Saleem for a duck. Mohammad Saad and Fahad-ul-Haq, however, batted with determination to ensure there were no further losses.State Bank of Pakistan continued to impress on their comeback to the domestic fold, as the middle-order firm of Rameez Alam and Adnan Raees propelled them to a score of 283 for 4 against Peshawar in Mardan. Peshawar claimed an early wicket after choosing to field, but things went steadily downhill for them from there. Shoaib Khan jnr and Mohtashim Ali steadied the ship with a 55-run stand, before Alam and Raees took control. Alam was the aggressor initially, dominating the stand of 104 with his 72 runs coming in just over two hours. Raees took over after his exit, adding an unbroken 98 with Afsar Nawaz. He struck 12 fours and a six in his innings that came off 172 balls and was six short of a ton at stumps.

The South African cricket team is in a “beautiful space” ahead of next year’s World Cup in the subcontinent, Herschelle Gibbs has said, thanks to a change at the management and personnel levels that has translated into a change of attitude on the field. It’s a far more positive view of the team than is painted in the much-publicised extracts from his autobiography , in which he wrote of a disjointed unit, run by a clique of players and paralysed by a fear of failure.Gibbs was speaking to ESPNcricinfo in a long and wide-ranging interview on Monday, the day the book was published. He’s been part of the South Africa team for 14 years, and in his time has seen it go from a “fantastic team” that was unlucky to lose out on the 1999 World Cup final to a “team without focus” that crashed in the 2003 tournament to a unit that could not “handle the pressure” in 2007 to the men he sees them as now.The current South African squad under Corrie van Zyl doesn’t get a mention in the autobiography – though he praised the coach in his interview – but all the regimes from the Bob Woolmer era do. Gibbs feels the team never reached the heights it did in the Hansie Cronje era and is particularly harsh on Mickey Arthur’s tenure. He wrote that Arthur was “not the most forceful personality” and that “without Graeme (Smith’s) backing Mickey didn’t have influence over guys.”Gibbs wrote that during that time the team was run by a clique consisting of Smith, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and later AB de Villiers. It’s a charge he repeated on Monday. “That particular clique was an issue I was asked about a lot, even by ordinary people,” he said. “They’d always see those guys together because they are good mates and they (Boucher, Kallis and de Villiers) were senior players and they were outspoken so they assisted Smith.”The book reveals how Arthur was often held hostage to this clique and “bowed to senior players’ opinions.” Gibbs also described Smith as being “too powerful.” Arthur reacted in an article published by the South African paper , saying that Gibbs “didn’t know what was going on” when it came to player and management relationships. Gibbs had not had word of Arthur’s reaction but said he expected his former coach to react in that way and stood by what he published in the book.Smith reacted in a more personal manner. “He actually sent me a BBM (Blackberry message) this morning. I know he’s just going on what he’s seen in the papers but he didn’t even say ‘Good morning Hersch’ or anything. He just wrote ‘Too powerful? Is that what you really thought?’ And I said it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.” Gibbs said he was never in Smith’s “inner circle” of friends but that he hopes the two will not have a strained relationship going forward.”I can’t ever feel resentment or hatred for him because he was my opening partner and partners go through a lot together. We might have not spoken for a bit of time, but when I saw him the other day at the Cobras I SMSed him and said ‘I can’t be upset with you. It’s just not possible.’ He just replied saying he respects my opinion,” said Gibbs.One of the other members of the alleged clique also communicated his unhappiness. “Kallis has voiced his opinion and I believe is not entirely happy and he will support any move by Cricket South Africa (CSA) if they decide to take any action against me,” Gibbs said. However, he hasn’t only incurred wrath. Long-time friend Mark Boucher, he said, hasn’t taken the revelations too badly. “Bouchie is a hardcore sort of boy and he went through the book and he said it’s not as bad as people make it out to be.”Gibbs said the clique does not hold the same sway anymore, because van Zyl is now in charge, and, though he didn’t write about it in his book, admits that the team are gelling. “Maybe they (the clique) are still close but they don’t have as much influence on the coach.” Van Zyl’s induction has played out on the field, he said. “We had a workshop a couple of days before the Zimbabwe series started and for the first time in a long time, I felt the team was a unit. There was a sense of togetherness and they are in a much better space.”He also thinks that the likes of David Miller, Colin Ingram and Rusty Theron have added to the new sense of hunger in the side. “There are a couple of youngsters now, who have brought in a lot of self-confidence. Those guys haven’t struggled to make the adjustment to international cricket and it bodes well for the World Cup.”The 2011 tournament is one Gibbs would dearly love to be a part of. “All I’ve ever wanted to do”, he said, was win the World Cup, and didn’t even hang on to his man-of-the-match trophies because he only aimed to keep a winner’s medal. Gibbs signed a new contract with CSA this year and van Zyl has assured him that he is in their plans for the tournament, but Gibbs has resigned himself to not taking part. “I can’t see the current squad changing too much. They’ve got such depth, both with batters and bowlers.”Although it was a lifelong ambition of his, Gibbs said he won’t be disappointed if he doesn’t get to participate in the tournament. “Maybe when they’ll play without me, they’ll win,” he said in jest.He has two pieces of advice for the team that will travel to the subcontinent in February. The first is to lose the “fear of failure” that he says has crippled South Africa since the 1999 tournament. The second is more of a warning. “Until we win a World Cup, the chokers tag will stay.”

Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, has refused to apologise for suggestions he made that England fixed a match in the recent one-day series. Speaking on his arrival at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday, he said he thought the matter would be settled in days.Butt and the PCB’s legal advisor are expected to hold meetings with the lawyers of the three players at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, is also headed to London, but ESPNcricinfo understands his is a pre-planned visit.Butt and Taffazul Rizvi are expected to be in the UK for four to five days on a trip that was finalised only last week. The meetings with Elizabeth Robertson, the Addleshaw Goddard lawyer representing Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir in the spot-fixing case, were confirmed to ESPNcricinfo by a PCB official.The board expects there to be some movement from the Crown Prosecution Service on the fate of the case against the trio within the next week or so. Scotland Yard passed on their file of evidence on claims that Pakistan cricketers were involved in spot-fixing to the CPS on September 17.It is not known whether there will be meetings between Butt and the ECB while the PCB chairman is in London. The English board have demanded a full, public apology from Butt for claiming England players took “enormous amounts” of money to lose the third one-day international at The Oval earlier this month.That claim came in the wake of another spot-fixing story, this time in , which had sparked an investigation by the ICC over scoring rates during the match at The Oval. Following Butt’s outburst England came close to withdrawing from the fourth game at Lord’s but late-night meetings between Andrew Strauss and the ECB ended with the decision to continue with the series.However, both Strauss and the board came out with strongly-worded statements and have said they will pursue legal action if Butt doesn’t apologise. “We would like to express our surprise, dismay and outrage at the comments made by Mr Butt,” Strauss said at the time. “We are deeply concerned and disappointed that our integrity as cricketers has been brought into question. We refute these allegations completely and will be working closely with the ECB to explore all legal options open to us.”

Match facts

September 5, 2010, Cardiff
Start time 2.30pm (1.30pm GMT)Paul Collingwood will lead England out for the first time as World Twenty20 champions•PA Photos

Big picture

The switch from the staid whites of Test cricket to the technicolour razzmatazz of Twenty20 is one that usually suits Pakistan to the tee, and the limited-overs leg of their tour should have been a tantalising prospect. Events since the Lord’s Test have tarnished what had been an absorbing summer of cricket between these two teams, however, and the first Twenty20 at Cardiff will come under intense scrutiny although much of the attention will, sadly, not be for cricketing reasons.Pakistan face a mountainous task in attempting keep their focus and fill the vacuum left by the departure of their two best bowlers and Salman Butt, who was the team’s leading runscorer at the World Twenty20 in the West Indies earlier this year. Given the scale of the furore currently surrounding the team, all the pointers suggest that they will struggle to be competitive against a World Cup-winning England side that, despite the dropping of Kevin Pietersen, will start as firm favourites.This being Pakistan, however, nothing can be taken for granted and England will surely still be wary of a team that has proved highly adept in this form of the game. Given the nebulous cloud of allegations, suspicion and rumour that continues to swirl around the visitors, Shahid Afridi’s return to the mix appears to have brought a surprising measure of calm to their set-up. Just as Mohammad Yousuf’s return inspired a battling team at The Oval, Boom Boom’s arrival could well spark a revival in Pakistan’s fortunes – on the field, at least.England have emerged from the spot-fixing scandal unscathed and appeared a relaxed and bonded unit as they trained in Cardiff. Pietersen’s absence, and the possibility that Stuart Broad may sit out the match after suffering a groin strain, will allow the home side to experiment with a couple of new combinations, and though a couple of Twenty20s can hardly be viewed through an Ashes lens the importance of maintaining their winning streak will not have escaped England’s set-up.

Form guide (last five completed matches)

England WWWWW
Pakistan WWLWL

Watch out for…

In Ravi Bopara’s last outing for England, he launched a tame Bangladesh attack to all parts, rocketing to an unbeaten 45 from 16 balls to close England’s innings. It was an exhibition, once again, of his undeniable ability but until he performs against the stronger attacks questions will remain. He has a chance at No. 3 to boss the innings and prove to all the doubters that he belongs on the international stage.It’s pretty rare that Shoaib Akhtar’s arrival on a tour is overshadowed but with all the shenanigans going on there was an air of serenity surrounding Shoaib. Very much the elder statesman of the side at 35 he still possess the long run, long hair and fast pace that once made him the world’s most magnetic cricketer. It could, as it so often does, end in farce, or he might just wow the England crowds one final time.

Team news

England’s World Twenty20 triumph was crafted on a remorseless professionalism running through the side. It created a team where each player was entirely certain of their individual role and their position in the wider machine. In the first game after that success, however, there are a number of changes with Michael Lumb out with a broken foot and and Kevin Pietersen dropped. Steven Davies comes into the side at the top of the order and will have the gloves while Ravi Bopara will replace Pietersen. Ajmal Shahzad could get another opportunity to impress if Stuart Broad doesn’t recover from a minor groin strain. The other area of contention is whether England stick to Ryan Sidebottom ahead of James Anderson, who has been in such remarkable form this summer.England (probable) 1 Craig Kieswetter, 2 Steve Davies (wk), 3 Ravi Bopara, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Luke Wright, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Michael Yardy, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson.Amidst the off-field crisis there has also been a glut of injury concerns adding to Pakistan’s woes. Umar Akmal suffered a concussion after taking a blow to the face in practice on Tuesday while Abdul Razzak, Wahab Riaz and Umar Gul are all nursing niggles. Reinforcements have been sent for but batsman Asad Shafiq and the gigantic left-arm seamer Mohammad Irfan will only join the squad next week. Shahzaib Hasan and Fawad Alam’s matchwinning partnership against Somerset means they will slot into a side that will look very different to the one that played at the Test at Lord’s.Pakistan (probable) 1 Shahzaib Hasan, 2 Kamran Akmal (wk), 3 Fawad Alam, 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Shahid Afridi (capt), 7 Abdul Razzak, 8 Umar Gul, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Shoaib Akhtar.

Pitch and conditions

The last time these two sides met at Cardiff, back in 2006, rain proved the winner but forecasts are brighter this time round. Though hardly a minefield, scores in all forms of the game at Cardiff have been on the low side this season. The taller bowlers profited in England’s ODI against Australia earlier this summer but both teams’ spinners should also find conditions to their liking.

Stats and Trivia

• Pakistan won’t be able to call on Asif or Amir, but they’ll still have the services of offspinner Saeed Ajmal, who was their leading wicket-taker at the World Twenty20 in the West Indies with 11 scalps in six games, and Umar Gul, whose stats – 46 wickets in Twenty20 internationals at an average of 13.04 and a run-a-ball economy rate – are a good indication of his potency in the format.
• For a man seemingly tailor-made for Twenty20s and known for his big hitting, Shahid Afridi’s name is surprisingly low down on the list of six-hitters in T20 internationals, sitting in tied 20th place. He’s cleared the ropes 19 times in 33 innings, and will surely be looking to add to that tally in Cardiff.
• One man ahead of Afridi on that list is England’s own Brigadier Block – Paul Collingwood – who has hit 23 sixes in 29 innings.
• The re-called Steve Davies scored 389 runs including three half-centuries for Surrey in the Friends Provident t20 competition, finishing as their second-highest runscorer and leading the way with a strike-rate of 162.08

Quotes

“There are obviously distractions around but the guys are just looking to getting out there and playing the game.”
“Myself and the coach have already told the boys: ‘Don’t talk about this issue, we are here to play cricket.’ It is none of our business and we are here to play cricket.”

Ricky Ponting believes it is “absolutely possible” that Australia can trounce England with a 5-0 Ashes clean-sweep this summer. Although Ponting didn’t quite match Glenn McGrath’s 5-0 prediction from four years ago – which turned out to be correct – he was confident that Australia had learnt from their mistakes and such an outcome was “all in our hands”.The Australians gave up the urn in England last year with a 2-1 defeat and while they have performed strongly since then, a 1-1 draw against Pakistan last month raised a few questions. The Headingley loss was Australia’s first Test defeat since the Ashes, and back home they won’t have as much reason to fear the swinging ball.By the first Test at the Gabba, Australia should have regained their No. 1 wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and the offspinner Nathan Hauritz, while they hope Peter Siddle will also be available after battling back stress fractures. Ponting met Cricket Australia officials in Melbourne on Monday to plan for the Ashes and said there was no reason to rule out a 5-0 win.”It’s absolutely possible,” Ponting told reporters. “There’s no reason why not. It’s all in our hands. It’s how well we play and how well we take charge of different situations. We’ve learnt from a lot of the mistakes that we’ve made. There’s no doubt we made some mistakes in the last Ashes series in England that probably at the end of the day cost us the series.”We know now that we’re a more experienced and probably a better team now than we were then. We put that together plus we’re playing in our conditions, we hope to win this series and win it well. Batting collapses probably were the reason we lost the series last time around and our inability to bowl them out on the last day in Cardiff. I’ve got confidence in the squad of players that we’ve got that they are going to be good enough to win an Ashes series.”Following Australia’s 1-1 series with Pakistan, England have started their series against the same opponents with two powerful victories, winning inside four days at both Trent Bridge and Edgbaston. They play two more Tests against Pakistan, their only five-day outings before the Ashes, while Australia will fine-tune their preparations with two Tests in India in October.”[James] Anderson and [Stuart] Broad and those guys have really stepped up,” Ponting said of England.” They are coming together well as a team. We have to make sure at the end of the Indian tour that we have got everything in place to make sure that we’re ultra-competitive against them.”They [England] certainly have bowled well and they’ve had great conditions to bowl in as well, the English. We’ll have a different set of conditions and a different ball when they come out here and I’m sure our guys will equip themselves really well. We know where we have to bowl to all of their batsmen. They’ve got no one there who’s going to surprise us at all.”Jonathan Trott, the England batsman who scored a century on debut at The Oval last August, offered a wry response to Ponting’s assessment. “I’ve only played one game against them, and they wanted to win that game but it turned out pretty good for us,” he said. “That’s all I can say, I don’t know the guy and his character, but I’d find if I’d said something like that I’d have put more pressure on myself and the team, more than if I go about my business the way I know.”

ScorecardStuart Broad removed Jonathan Trott but came in for some punishment from Neil Carter•PA Photos

There may be some awkward silences over breakfast and dinner at Boyd Rankin’s house over the next few days. It’s not that the tall Irishman is a poor conversationalist – far from it – but the fact that he denied his house guest a well-deserved century that could make the atmosphere a little tense.For Neil Carter is staying with Rankin this week. And, after Rankin dozily ran himself out to leave Carter stranded on 99, both men were left crouching at either end of the pitch with their heads in their hands.Carter (123 balls, ten fours and five sixes) richly deserved a century. By thwarting an attack containing four international bowlers, he earned Warwickshire a lifeline in a match they can’t afford to lose if they are to have any chance of avoiding relegation. They have already lost seven games out of ten and know that a team has never survived the drop with so many defeats.Very well he played, too. Where once he was littlemore than a happy slogger, he has now developed into a consistent cricketer who knows when to attack and defend. This was his fourth half-century of the championship season and leaves him top of Warwickshire’s batting averages. In a squad that includes Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell, that’s a fine effort.It took a moment of madness to deny Carter. Backing-up in an over enthusiastic manner, Rankin was left well short of his ground after turning like an oil-tanker and failing to beat Graeme Swann’s direct hit. It’s not hard to understand Carter’s disappointment. He has scored only one first-class century and that was back in 2002. These opportunities don’t come along very often.Still, he could take consolation in a job well done. His efforts had helped Warwickshire to their highest first innings score since April and the relative riches of three batting bonus points. They had managed only three in their previous six matches. He had also helped Warwickshire’s last two wickets add 113 crucial runs. On a pitch that is likely to remain helpful to bowlers, the hosts’ final total is probably not far short of par.It was not just Carter’s stroke play that impressed. It was the way he farmed the strike. Time and again, he nudged the ball into gaps off the final ball of the over to ensure that Rankin faced only 12 deliveries in their tenth-wicket stand of 46. Indeed, Carter rubbed salt into Nottinghamshire’s wounds by stealing a single off the final ball of an over off which he had already plundered three sixes.Entertaining though Carter’s innings was, there was something unsettling about it from an England supporters’ perspective. This Nottinghamshire attack contains three centrally contracted England bowlers, all of whom featured in the World Twenty20 success in the Caribbean just two months ago. To see them thrashed to all parts of Edgbaston by a tail-end batsman was not encouraging for any English supporter with an eye to the Ashes.Stuart Broad sustained the fiercest mauling. At one stage Carter punished him for three sixes in an over (a pull, a wonderful cover drive and an upper cut), hitting the England fast bowler out of the attack. Whatever advice any of his teammates offered, it is highly unlikely it included the phrase ”Perhaps you could try the short ball a bit more, Stuart?’Carter also hit Ryan Sidebottom for two sixes (a back foot straight drive and a sliced drive over point) while Swann, playing his first Championship match in over a year, suffered the indignity of being slog-swept for two sixes by Imran Tahir, a man with few pretensions as a batsman. In all the trio, playing a championship game together for the first time since May 2008, conceded 248 in 65 overs.They were also out-bowled by a 35-year-old who New Zealand deemed worthy of just one Test cap. Andre Adams was easily the pick of the bowlers, maintaining a tight line and gaining enough movement to trouble batsmen all day. Indeed, by the time that Adams bowled Chris Woakes off the inside edge to leave Warwickshire on 157 for 7, it appeared the visitors had taken a firm grip upon the game.Until that point, Nottinghamshire had bowled pretty well. Sidebottom, who swung the ball all day, dismissed Botha with a beauty that moved away, before Trott was unable to capitalise on a let off in the slips on 13 and edged another fine delivery that bounced and left him. Ian Westwood drove loosely and edged to slip while Jim Troughton was drawn into a prod at one that spun away and took the edge – a classic off-spinner’s dismissal of a left-hander. Darren Maddy undid his promising to start when he pulled a short ball directly down the throat of long-leg. It was the third time this season he had fallen to such a sucker punch. Clarke edged a good one that left him and Tim Ambrose edged a footless drive.So, had Carter been taken early, Warwickshire may have failed to gain even a single batting point. As it was Nottinghamshire put him down to successive deliveries. If Chris Read did well to lay a hand on the first chance, a gloved pull that flew down the leg side, Alex Hales should have done much better with the next: a regulation outside edge to third slip. Sidebottom was the unfortunate bowler on both occasions. Warwickshire would have been 179 for eight had the first chance been taken. Carter was on just 16.Carter is out of contract at Edgbaston at the end of this season but, in his words, it would be a “massive surprise” if he were to leave. He’s been a key member of Warwickshire’s limited-overs team for years but this season is well on the way to record championship hauls with bat and ball. Aged 35, he is playing the best cricket of his career and it’s no surprise that he is beginning to attract the attention of some IPL teams.”That’s probably the best innings of my career,” Carter admitted afterwards. “It’s the most balls I’ve faced in an innings and while I’ve scored a century before, I’ve usually just gone out and blazed some shots. This time I felt I batted properly. I even played out a maiden at one point. And to do it against an attack of that class is very pleasing.”Boyd just said ‘sorry.’ What else could he do? If anything he was trying too hard. I’d still settle for 99 ten times out of ten when I go out to bat and I can only be satisfied with an innings that has put us back in the game.”

Scorecard
A resurgent Netherlands, fresh from their six-wicket trouncing of a full-strength Bangladesh side in Glasgow three days ago, have handed out similar treatment to the touring Zimbabwe XI. Grafting innings from Tom Cooper (49) and Wesley Barresi (47) carried Netherlands to 194 for 9 before Maurits Jonkman and Mudassar Bukhari combined to skittle the Zimbabweans for 136, taking three cheap wickets apiece to seal a 58-run win.The pitch at the VRA Ground in Amstelveen played consistently slow and low during the recent World Cricket League Division One tournament, and conditions were no different today. It appeared Bas Zuiderent had erred after he opted to bat first and Netherlands slid to 48 for 3 in the 18th over, but Cooper held the top order together for the first half of the innings before he was stumped one run short of a half-century of Sean Williams’ left-arm spin.He had done well to see off challenging opening spells from Ed Rainsford and Shingi Masakadza, who removed both Netherlands openers before Nathan Waller’s medium pace did for Tom de Grooth and Zuiderent.Netherlands were tottering at 94 for 5 when Cooper departed, but Barresi and Bukhari staved off the collapse with a 33-run stand before Barresi took his side to within reach of a respectable target by adding a further 50 runs for the seventh wicket with Ruud Nijman. After he was run out with the score at 177, the Zimbabwean opening bowlers returned to pick up another wicket each and keep Netherlands to under 200.The Zimbabweans would no doubt have been confident chasing such a small total, but Zuiderent’s men will have been far more familiar with a bowler-friendly pitch and chipped steadily away at the batting line-up as three partnerships worth more than 20 were put together, but none went past Regis Chakabva and Stuart Matsikenyeri’s 25 for the second wicket.Charles Coventry did his best to inject some life into the middle order with a 37-ball 31, and when he was caught behind off Bukhari the Zimbabweans were 98 for 5 – a very similar position to that midway through the Dutch innings. But none of the lower order came to term with the conditions, Jonkman picking up the last three wickets to fall. With Williams unable to bat after injuring himself in the field, Jonkman sealed the win by disturbing Natsai Mushangwe’s stumps in the 40th over.Despite the fact that only two members of the Zimbabwe XI squad – Coventry and Craig Ervine – are recent regulars in the senior national side, every member of the team has represented their country at some level and few would have backed Netherlands to pull off a convincing win with such ease. The Zimbabweans will have to acclimatise quickly if they are to hold off what is sure to be a spirited attack from a buoyed Netherlands side when the two teams meet again for a four-day Intercontinental Cup game on Sunday.

ScorecardGrant Flower is bowled during Essex’s collapse as their run chase fell apart•Getty Images

Sussex strengthened their grip at the top of the table as they beat nearest rivals Essex by 17 runs in their Friends Provident Twenty20 battle at Chelmsford.After posting a total of 174 for 5 on the back of a superb half-century from Matt Prior, Sussex restricted their opponents to 157 for 9. Prior dominated an opening partnership with Ed Joyce to such an extent that he scored 50 out of 65 runs before he drove David Masters to extra cover where Mark Pettini took a fine catch.Those runs came from only 27 balls and contained four sixes and four boundaries. Joyce, Murray Goodwin, Dwayne Smith and Andrew Hodd all reached the 20s to ensure Sussex set their opponents a testing target.Left-arm spinner Tim Phillips was the pick of the bowlers, conceding 22 runs in his four overs during which he claimed the wicket of Joyce. It looked as though Prior’s efforts would go unrewarded when Essex replied.With Pettini, who was restored to the side after a loss of form lead to him being dropped a fortnight ago, finding his touch without the burden of captaincy, Essex reached the halfway stage on 82 without loss.It was not until two overs and eight runs later that Pettini’s innings came to an end after he contributed 59 from 38 deliveries with the help of five fours and three sixes. But Essex’s hopes of recording a sixth successive win quickly evaporated as they lost their way.Pettini’s departure signalled a collapse that saw nine wickets go down in as many overs for 49 runs. Among them was young opener Jaik Mickleburgh who was run out for 32, but he struggled so much that he needed 42 balls to gather those runs while striking just two boundaries.A late flourish from John Maunders, who struck two sixes in an unbeaten 25 from 16 balls, gave the Essex reply an air of respectability but never threatened to prevent Sussex getting back on the winning trail.Their win came after two defeats and was backed up by some disciplined bowling and fine work in the field. Chad Keegan bowled with commendable accuracy while conceding just 19 in four overs, during which he gathered the wicket of Pettini, while Smith was also a model of accuracy while picking up one for 23.

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The combination of a greenish pitch and indiscipline were the key factors in Bangladesh being bowled out for a modest 231 by Essex at Chelmsford. In complete contrast to the friendly batting conditions they experienced in their recent match against Surrey at The Oval, the tourists were made to fight hard for runs.Jahural Islam, a century maker at the Oval, was quickly made aware of the pitch’s capacity to help bowlers who employed a full length. He was still seeking to get off the mark when a delivery from Maurice Chambers cut back prodigiously to uproot the leg stump.And before the 50 was raised Tony Palladino produced deliveries that moved enough to send the off stump out of the ground to get rid of Imrul Kayes and Junaid Siddique. The best and most positive batting came from Mohammad Ashraful, whose innings of 58 contained a series of well executed square cuts and drives among his 12 boundaries.But just when he seemed destined for a substantial contribution he fell victim to a wild swing against Max Osborne to provide Adam Wheater with a simple catch. Soon afterwards Mahmudullah was also guilty of a loose shot to cover point having played himself in, his dismissal coming at a time when Bangladesh needed him to show greater restraint.A last wicket stand of 35 during which Shahadat Hossain dispatched fast bowler Michael Comber for three sixes earned the tourists respectability. Chambers ended the fireworks by bowling Hossain for 33 to finish with figures of four wickets for 32 runs from 15.4 overs.The fast bowler was by far the most impressive of those used by Essex, whose side was captained by Grant Flower and included just three players who appeared in the County Championship Division One match against Kent which finished 24 hours earlier.Palladino’s three wickets came at a cost of 91 from 23 overs while Comber and Osborne, another youngster making his first-class debut, conceded 104 between them in 21 overs. But the bowlers were hardly helped by fielding lapses as three catches, two of them far from difficult, were put down.Robiul Islam was the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers when Essex replied, finding the edge to have Billy Godleman caught at second slip before Jaik Mickleburgh edged to the wicketkeeper when chasing a delivery he need not have played. He also had John Maunders dropped at deep square leg, the opener going on to close on 54 out of a total of 83 for 2. His innings contained two pulled sixes at the expense of Shafiul Islam.