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

When Alastair Cook raised his bat shortly before lunch to acknowledge his third Test century, few felt it likely another England batsman would match his effort – certainly in its elegance and quality – in the first innings. Ian Bell did just that, and some, on the second day at Old Trafford, in a Test which slipped quickly away from Pakistan in the afternoon.So dominant yesterday, England showed even greater reserves of determination and class today in extending their lead well beyond 300 to put the match out of Pakistan’s reach. No team has conceded a deficit of more than 291 to win at Old Trafford and, with a pitch offering discerning bounce to those over 6 foot 5 inches tall, it is unlikely Pakistan will buck that trend. In spite of all the injuries to have affected England since losing the Ashes, this Test is already shaping up into something closely resembling a milestone. However, in the dying moments of the day, Steve Harmison appeared to pull a muscle in his rib cage and was in clear pain, casting a worrying shadow on an otherwise excellent day’s work.England were in difficulty early on though as Kevin Pietersen, who could so easily have taken the game away in a session or less, fell to the second legitmate ball of the day. There was a refreshed determination and togetherness from Pakistan in the morning session, in which their bowlers – led by Umar Gul but well supported by Mohammad Sami – made the most of heavy, humid overcast conditions. On several occasions, Paul Collingwood fished and wafted outside off stump at deliveries which angled in before swinging away markedly. Cook though, much as yesterday, was reassuringly solid and elegant; even against the swinging, seaming delivery he had the ability to nudge it fine past gully and point, or swing it lustfully over midwicket as he did off Sami and Gul.Collingwood appeared to aid Cook’s momentum. With the introduction of Danish Kaneria the right-hander smacked him for two sixes over long-on, signalling to Cook that now was the time to press forward and show the initiative. He did so, cutting the tiring Abdul Razzaq behind point before climbing into a half volley and dispatching it to the extra cover fence. All of a sudden, he was into the 90s.Even Cook’s icy-cool temperament is prone to thawing when approaching a hundred, and a combination of good bowling from Shahid Afridi and evident nerves from the batsman left him scratching and poking. Inevitably he dropped it too short, allowing Cook to squirt one behind square with great skill and bring up his third, and most impressive, Test century. Even his celebration, while clearly delighted, was muted and composed as if to say “What’s all the fuss about?”

Collingwood and Cook soon parted, and Geraint Jones offered precious little to dispel his critics, as Pakistan fought back boldly in the afternoon. With just Bell left to siphon runs from a worryingly long tail, the understandable fear of lower-order capitulation failed to transpire as Bell marshalled his underlings like a farmer rounding up cattle. Driving with the utmost fluency down the ground; off the back foot; through extra-cover, he moved serenely onto fifty thanks to good support from Sajid Mahmood.No one in England possesses such a solid and technically perfect technique as Bell and in spite of an impressive career average of 45, it is his neck to which the sharpened knives are aimed. Give him a tail and he morphs into a different player entirely. Whether it is the responsibility of squeezing runs from England’s lower order, or simply that he’s taken on board Michael Vaughan’s cliché of players “expressing themselves,” it clearly suits him.Even after losing Mahmood, Bell opened his shoulders – the highlight of which was the most crisply struck back-foot lofted drive over long-off. It could have been Damien Martyn or Mark Waugh. Indeed perhaps that’s the very point: today, Bell was Bell; he batted with an abandon and freedom which until today had been dormant. It was his fourth Test hundred, his third against Pakistan and his best yet.Despite the concern over Harmison, this was England’s day – and another good one for Strauss. Pakistan have it all to do.

How they were out

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsChris Gayle smashed four successive sixes of Jeevan Mendis as Barisal won in a canter•BCB

Chris Gayle sent out a stern warning to the rest of the playing field with a blazing unbeaten 92 that flattened the already demoralised Chittagong Vikings. The eight-wicket win consolidated Barisal’s position in the top half of the BPL standings as they moved to 12 points.Gayle struck nine sixes and six fours in his unbeaten 47-ball knock. But the big hitting was triggered by Mehedi Maruf, who slammed Bilawal Bhatti, before the Jamaican took over by slamming Maruf for 18 in the fifth over of the innings. There was more carnage as Gayle slammed Asif Ahmed for 19 courtesy three fours and a straight six.The six-hitting spree didn’t stop there as Naeem Islam and Tillakaratne Dilshan also came under fire, as Gayle brought up his 53rd T20 half-century in just the 13th over to put Barisal in cruise control mode. From there on, it was simply one-way traffic. With 21 needed to win, Gayle struck Jeevan Mendis for four sixes over long-on to end the game within the bat of an eyelid.However, there was controversy in the first over of the Barisal chase when Dilshan bumped into Rony Talukdar, who was trying to take a quick single. The collision meant Talukdar was well short of the crease when Dilshan picked up the ball and threw it to the wicketkeeper Anamul Haque, who removed the bails instantly. Both Talukdar and Gayle discussed the matter with the umpires but ultimately it was given adjudged run out.Earlier in the day, there wasn’t much drama, but there was inconsistency that has hampered Chittagong time and again this season. Their makeshift captain Dilshan had a new opening partner in Anamul for the first time in the tournament after Tamim Iqbal pulled out due to a groin niggle. They put on 52 for the first wicket before Dilshan fell. His 22-ball 28 was courtesy ith two fours and two sixes, which he hit in the same Al-Amin Hossain over.Anamul also struck two fours before Sohag Gazi, playing in his first BPL match this season, had him bowled. The offspinner finished a fine four-over spell in which he conceded only 17 runs.Kevon Cooper had Yasir Ali caught at point in the tenth over before Mendis got into a tangle trying to play a reverse-sweep and was given out. Mohammad Sami then got into the act, first dismissing Umar Akmal after being hit for a six, and then Asif Ahmed in the last over. On both occasions, the batsmen had just changed their bat before the delivery. As far as these performances were handy in restricting the final total, none of it could match the might of Gayle on the night.

Australia’s captain Steven Smith has criticised the nature of home pitches this summer, arguing that the Gabba and the WACA Ground in particular have work to do to ensure they regain their natural characteristics in the future.Following the loss of the fifth and final ODI against India in Sydney, Smith noted the series’ record tally of 3159 runs in a five-match limited-overs bout. He went on to state that Australian pitches needed to show more variety than had been the case this time around, when the Test matches against New Zealand and West Indies were also marked by dull surfaces, with the exception of a well-grassed Adelaide pitch for the inaugural day/night Test.The man of the ODI series was India’s prolific opener Rohit Sharma, but Smith reserved a special mention for his inexperienced bowlers. John Hastings, Kane Richardson and Scott Boland all shouldered a heavy load on wickets that offered precious little help, and were largely able to restrict India’s talented top order to tallies within Australia’s reach.”It was quite remarkable wasn’t it, to see over 3000 runs scored in five ODI matches,” Smith said. “For me the most disappointing thing was the characteristics of our wickets. I’d like to see the Gabba and WACA produce the traditional fast and bouncy wickets that we’re used to. I thought they were pretty slow and benign and it was very difficult for the bowlers.”I was really proud of our bowlers throughout this series though, I thought they really stepped up at pivotal times, we’ve got quite a few bowlers out at the moment and quite a young, inexperienced attack and we were able to pull it back in every game including [the SCG], so I’m really proud of the performance of those guys.”Smith can at least be consoled by the fact that others at Cricket Australia are aware of the imbalance and eager to alter in for next season, when South Africa and Pakistan will be the touring teams. The CA team performance manager Pat Howard has said he will be working on more equitable surfaces for 2016-17.”In an ideal world we’ve got some of the best fast bowlers in the world who like it hard, fast and bouncy and we’re not getting that at the moment,” Howard told the . “We’re after the old fair balance between bat and ball and the unique characteristics [of each ground].”And we do try and get the domestic cricket to try and mirror the Test stuff so we’ll have to sit down and do that at the end of the year and make sure we get those better aligned. The balance probably hasn’t been as good as we’d like this year.”There was somewhat more assistance for pace bowlers at the SCG on Saturday, and Smith bemoaned dropped catches and the scoring of only seven runs in the final two overs of Australia’s innings as reasons for defeat. India, by contrast, held their chances and collared 22 from the last 10 balls of the match to squeak home.”We got seven off the last two overs and we probably should have got a bit better than that, we were in a pretty good position with some wickets in the shed as well, so you probably want to score a few more off the last two overs,” Smith said. “Having said that I think it was our fielding that cost us quite a lot. We dropped a couple of quite regulation chances and when you’re dropping players like that they’re going to come back and bite you.”Australia’s prime solace from the match was a breakout century by Mitchell Marsh, even if his pursuit of three figures contributed to the late slowing of team momentum. Smith said the way Marsh started was most significant, taking a positive attitude and working the ball around despite a delicate match scenario. He has been more stilted at other times this season when granted batting opportunities.”Anytime you get a hundred you get some confidence out of it and the most pleasing thing for me today was the way he started,” Smith said. “He came out and was nice and positive from ball one, he hit the ball hard down the ground, he hit his sweepers, got himself in. We know when he gets himself in he’s got incredible power and we saw that. Hopefully it’s the start of something really special for Mitchell.”

The ICC Europe Cricket Committee have confirmed Ireland as the host for next year’s European Division One Championship.They lasted hosted the tournament in 2002 when 12 teams participated. In the past five years, however, six more countries have joined including Europe’s four High Performance Program countries: Denmark, Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. Norway – who won Division Two in 2006 – also join Italy.The previous championship, hosted by Scotland in 2006, crowned Ireland as the European Champions and 2008’s event will also feature three official one-dayers.Meanwhile it was also confirmed that Guernsey will host the Division Two Championship in August, a six-team tournament which includes France, Germany, Gibraltar and Jersey. The sixth place will be decided later this year when Croatia meet Israel on November 18.

Zimbabwe’s hopes of resuming playing Test cricket have been dealt a hammer blow by the ICC Cricket Committee which met in Dubai this week.The newly-constituted committee, chaired by Sunil Gavaskar, has recommended that the ICC does not allow Zimbabwe to return to the Test arena “until such time as the team demonstrates its ability to perform at a standard that does not risk undermining the integrity of Test cricket”. It continued: “In order to be able to judge when Zimbabwe’s performance merits a return to Test cricket, the committee felt the team first needed to continue in its current practice of playing a number of representative four-day matches. The committee encouraged the scheduling of such matches against ICC Full Member A teams and Associates with, for example, the inclusion of Zimbabwe in the next ICC Intercontinental Cup.”Although the recommendations still have to be discussed by the ICC executive when it meets in London at the end of June, they will make it much harder for Peter Chingoka, the ZC chairman, to persuade other members that Zimbabwe are ready to resume playing Tests.It has always been stressed that Zimbabwe’s suspension was at their own behest, but there have been increasing concerns that the standard of their side is now so poor as to threaten the ethos of Tests.Zimbabwe first voluntarily suspended themselves in 2004. They returned to Tests in January 2005 but of eight matches between then and their second withdrawal in January 2006 they lost all but one by massive margins, with the one drawn match being severely disrupted by rain. They have also won only one of their last 19 ODIs.If the committee’s recommendations are accepted then Zimbabwe could be added to the eights countries in the 2007-08 Intercontinental Cup which gets underway next month and runs until late 2008. That would enable them to play four-day matches against the leading Associates as well as other series against A teams.There is unrest, especially among the Associates, that Zimbabwe continue to be heavily funded by the ICC – they are about to receive US$11.5 million from the World Cup – and yet they do little more – less in some instances – than Associates such as Ireland, Scotland and Kenya who receive a fraction of that money.

Kapil Dev called recent remarks made by Sharad Pawar, the Indian board president, about the Indian Cricket League (ICL), “shameful”.”If the board thinks that only the national XI can attract crowds, then it should stop conducting any domestic tournament,” Kapil, who is the chairman of the ICL’s executive board, told .When asked to comment on the unofficial ICL, which is being bankrolled by Zee Telefilms, India’s largest listed media company, and carrying a prize of US$1 million, Pawar said that the competition would mainly feature players coming out of retirement. “Everyone wants to see official cricket, not the oldies. I see no reason for young players going there. Only those who play official cricket can represent India.” Pawar also warned that promising young players would be ineligible for the Indian team if they played in the tournament.Kapil said the BCCI should not be threatening players because they cannot perform on the field under fear. “The board is scared of the ICL. That is the only reason it is not willing to talk to us,” Kapil said.The BCCI will meet on August 21 to decide, among other matters, whether Kapil should continue as chairman of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), now that he has joined hands with the ICL. Kapil, who had earlier been sent a letter by the BCCI on the matter, remains defiant. “BCCI is like a king and I am its subject. If it wants to sack me from the NCA then I cannot stop it.”The ICL will feature six teams playing Twenty20 matches. Each team will comprise four international players, two Indian players, and eight upcoming players. Brian Lara is the only confirmed player on the ICL list. Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath have denied Kapil’s claims that the two have been signed for the league. Among other big names Inzamam-ul Haq, Stephen Fleming, and Chris Cairns are reported to be negotiating deals with the ICL.

An allround performance by Bradley Scott helped Otago beat Wellington by 18 runs at Invercargill. The win has secured them hosting rights for the State Shield final on February 10. Set a target of 231, the Wellington top order wobbled and a 107-run stand between Stu Mills (60) and Luke Woodcock (47) for the seventh wicket wasn’t enough to secure a victory. Otago seamers Scott and Mathew Harvie took three wickets each and seized the initiative as Wellington were struggling at 100 for 6, before Mills and Woodcock tried the resurrect the chase.The Otago innings too had followed a similar script after they were struggling at 103 for 6. Gareth Hopkins top-scored with 47 off 48 balls while Nathan McCullum chipped in with 31. Scott’s late cameo of 35, scored off 26 balls with three sixes lifted his side to 230, a knock which made a difference to the final result of the match.

Weather again had the biggest say in the match between Auckland and Northern Districts at Eden Park’s outer oval. Only 173 overs were possible over the four days, Northern winning on first innings after Auckland lost its last wicket this morning at 194, 60 runs behind. Batting second, Northern got through to 41 for 2 before the weather had the final say. Unfortunately, James Marshall (18) did nothing to advance his cause for selection in the New Zealand team to face Sri Lanka when he fell cheaply again.Canterbury completed the formality of knocking off the paltry 89 runs set by Otago at Carisbrook. They did so with just the loss of two wickets, Peter Fulton (31*) and Craig McMillan (30*) were the not-out batsmen. Otago’s innings ended early on the third morning, with Hamish Bennett finishing with 4 for 43. It was a difficult match for batting, with no total above 200 and only Brendon McCullum, with 80, looked assured at the crease.Central Districts beat Wellington by 54 runs at the Basin Reserve but that wasn’t the big news from the day. It was confirmed that Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, had broken his finger. The injury might keep him out of the new-year series against Sri Lanka. Attempting to chase the target of 329 for victory, Wellington slumped to 103 for 6 with only Michael Parlane (54) of the top order getting any traction at the crease. Jesse Ryder was run out for 0 while Fleming managed just 7 before being trapped in front. Chris Nevin (90) and Jeetan Patel (50) offered spirited, but ultimately futile, resistance. Ewen Thompson took 4 for 52. Central picked up their first points of the championship, while Wellington still lead on 16 points.

Michael Clarke could miss the first Test against West Indies in Jamaica next week following the death of his fiancée Lara Bingle’s father. The rest of Australia’s squad departed for the Caribbean on the weekend but Clarke stayed at home having been given compassionate leave.Graham Bingle, who had been fighting cancer, died in Sydney on Saturday and with the funeral likely to be held later this week it is still unclear how long Clarke will remain in Australia. “My priority is Lara and her family,” Clarke told the . “That’s all that matters at the moment.”If Clarke was to fly out on the weekend he could arrive in Jamaica with as little as two days before the first Test, which begins on Thursday May 22. But a lack of practice – his team-mates will have had a warm-up match by then – means he would be no certainty to play, according to the coach Tim Nielsen.”If he gets over for the first Test, he will need some preparation,” Nielsen said. “But as the Test gets closer, we’ll make some decisions and work out where he is at.”A Cricket Australia spokesman confirmed Clarke’s departure date was still up in the air. “Our thoughts are with Michael and Lara and the family at this difficult time,” the spokesman told . “Michael’s providing support to his fiancée’s family ahead of the funeral and I’m sure that in due course, and when the time is right for both of them, he’ll be liaising with Cricket Australia about his future availability.”Brad Hodge, who was playing in the Indian Premier League, has been enlisted as a shadow player while Clarke is unavailable. However, the original squad featured Simon Katich as the backup batsman and he is more likely to play the Kingston Test than Hodge.

Kennedy Otieno, Kenya’s first choice wicketkeeper-batsman at the moment, has secured a contract to play in Australia ahead of the World Cup.Otieno, who fell out of favour earlier in the year but battled his way back into the side, will play for Caboolture in Queensland. It will be his second spell playing club cricket in Australia.”I am looking forward for the challenge of the Australian cricket,” Otieno said. “I hope my playing there will improve my cricket.”It is expected he will return home if picked for the World Cup, although his absence might cause the national selectors a few problems. Of late, they have tended to favour domestic-based players, and while a few, such as Steve Tikolo, do play a good standard of cricket overseas, Otieno’s club is not in the same class.