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Pakistan will meet hosts Kenya in the opening match of next month’s cricket tri-series which was shifted to a neutral venue over security fears in Pakistan.World champions Australia, who cited security concerns over playing in Pakistan, is the third team in the competition to be held in Nairobi from Aug 29 to Sept 7.Australia play in the second match of the competition against Pakistan on Aug 30. The top two teams clash in the final on Sept 7.The Australian Cricket Board has approved the itinerary and Pakistan and Australian officials will visit Nairobi to oversee the final arrangements later this week.Meanwhile PCB official said Tuesday President Pervez Musharraf had contacted Australian Prime Minister John Howard to help convinced the Australian Cricket Board to undertake their Test tour of the country planned for OctoberTri-series schedule:Aug 29: Pakistan vs KenyaAug 30: Pakistan vs AustraliaAug 31: Rest daySept 1: Pakistan vs KenyaSept 2: Australia vs KenyaSept 3: Rest daySept 4: Australia vs PakistanSept 5: Australia vs KenyaSept 6: Rest daySept 7: Finals

AlecStewart Photo CricInfo

Alec Stewart will walk out on his favourite ground tomorrow to become England’s most-capped Test cricketer. The first Test against India at Lord’s will be Stewart’s 119th for England, beating the record set by Graham Gooch.At the start of this season few would have backed Stewart to equal Gooch’s record, let alone beat it, after James Foster was named as England’s centrally-contracted wicket-keeper. But Foster’s misfortune in breaking an arm in the nets in April reopened the door to the 39 year-old from Surrey, who has taken full advantage.Stewart is now likely to enjoy a final tilt at the old enemy in this winter’s Ashes series, and the World Cup that follows in South Africa next February.”The first (Test) is always your biggest cap because every schoolboy wants to play for their country,” Stewart said. “I’ve never been as nervous as when I went out to bat in Jamaica on my debut, but once you get that you then want morebecause you enjoy the occasion.”There’s a thrill about playing for England and a thrill about testing yourself against the best from other countries and that almost spurs you on to want more of it.”Some people get intimidated but others seem to thrive on the full houses andthe big occasions and fortunately I put myself in that category – the morepeople watching and the bigger the occasion the more I like to respond.”He rates that debut among the highlights of his career, along with the Test in Barbados in 1994 when he became the first England player ever to score centuries in both innings of a Test against West Indies, and leading England to a series victory over South Africa four years ago.World Cup campaigns feature among the low points, including the final defeat in 1992 and the campaigns in 1996 and 1999, alongside his failure to come even close to winning the Ashes.Stewart’s parents, Micky and Sheila, will be at Lord’s for the occasion, which will be marked by a presentation to him from captain Nasser Hussain before play starts.”I’ll be trying to treat it like any other Test match, but when you see the list of people I’ve gone past like Gooch, Gower, Geoff Boycott, Ian Botham andColin Cowdrey they are England cricket legends and that’s quite an achievementto have done that,” he said.With the squad beset by injuries to Andrew Caddick, Marcus Trescothick, Alex Tudor and Darren Gough, England coach Duncan Fletcher said Glamorgan’s Simon Jones has “a strong chance” of making his Test debut, although Yorkshire’s ChrisSilverwood is on standby in case of further injuries.Meanwhile, the Indian tourists had the day off yesterday, following their win over Hampshire at Southampton, but the touring party attended an award dinner last night in which star batsman Sachin Tendulkar was named as the fans’ choice for Indian cricketer of the century.The official cricketer of the century was named in Wisden Asia’s ceremony asall-rounder Kapil Dev, but Tendulkar, 29, who equalled Sir Donald Bradman’s record of 29 Test centuries earlier this year, came out on top in the voting polls.Tendulkar came out ahead of Sunil Gavaskar, who holds the record number of centuries in Test cricket, 34 in 125 Tests.Tendulkar said: “It’s a great honour to receive this award. Travelling with the team is like a home-from-home for me and they offer me tremendous support in what I try to achieve as a cricketer.”

Marcus Trescothick returned to one day action in some considerable style at the County Ground, Taunton today, as Somerset recaptured their one day form to defeat Hampshire with overs to spare…Chasing a Hampshire total of 262, captain Marcus led from the front by making an impressive 133 to help the home side cruise to a six wicket victory.By the time that the England man and his opening partner Peter Bowler had rattled up 61 off the first ten overs the game was almost won, such was the domination of the Somerset batsmen over the Hampshire attack.Marcus stayed at the wicket until victory was in sight, sharing in an opening stand of 130 with Peter Bowler(41), before being caught at the wicket off Alan Mullally, who himself had dropped Trescothick just a few overs earlier.Earlier in the day Hampshire had looked set to post a formidable total themselves after Derek Kenway (30) and Neil Johnson (52) had put on 54 in the first ten overs, but were reined back by some tight bowling from Richard Johnson, who ended with 2 for 42, and a good fielding performance.Despite a quietly efficient display of batting from John Crawley who made 113, Hampshire failed to achieve their early promise, and set a total that was at least 40 runs short of what might have been a more challenging total for Somerset to chase.In the end it was left to Ian Blackwell (34) and Keith Parsons (21) to see Somerset home to a deserved victory at just after 5.45 pm with more that four overs to spare, and a lucrative home tie against Worcestershire in the quarter finals of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy next month.Hampshire’s Director of Cricket Tim Tremlett admitted that their innings had lost its way after a good start, they were a good 40-50 runs short of what we would have hoped for. John Crawley batted magnificently, but his partners failed to support well enough.

Bashley (Rydal) 375-5 (45 overs), Waterlooville 135 (28.4 overs)
Bashley (Rydal) won by 240 runsThatcham Town 145 (41.2 overs), Havant 146-3 (23.5 overs)
Havant won by 7 wicketsFalkland 121 (44 overs), Basingstoke and North Hampshire 122-5 (34 overs)
Basingstoke and North Hampshire won by 5 wicketsPortsmouth 272-6 (45 overs), Lymington 163 (35.4 overs)
Portsmouth won by 109 runsGosport Borough 94 (34 overs), South Wilts 95-5 (28.2 overs)
South Wilts won by 5 wicketsWinchester K.S. 181-5 (45 overs), Burridge 183-6 (42.3 overs)
Burridge won by 4 wicketsVentnor 151-9 (45 overs), Andover 155-3 (21 overs)
Andover won by 7 wicketsHungerford walkover Cove

ROUND 3 DRAW

Andover v Burridge
Basingstoke and North Hampshire v Hungerford
Havant v Bashley (Rydal)
South Wilts v Portsmouth.

Qiana Joseph, the 20-year-old left-arm seamer, returned to West Indies Women’s ODI squad that will face South Africa in a five-match series starting September 7. Joseph had broken into the side as a teenager back in 2017. She played two ODIs against England and was never seen in maroon again until just a few days ago, when she was brought back into the fold for the T20Is against South Africa.The West Indies selectors have confirmed a squad of 13 for the first two ODIs against South Africa, which also features the return of seam bowler Aaliyah Alleyne. She hasn’t played a one-dayer since the Covid-19 pandemic struck but was part of the T20I team that took on Dane van Niekerk’s side last week, picking up two wickets from three matches at an economy rate of 7.12.Offspinner Anisa Mohammed will lead West Indies once again with Stafanie Taylor still unavailable after it emerged that she was a close contact of a person with Covid-19. Caneisha Isaac, who was part of West Indies’ last ODI assignment, against Pakistan, has lost her place in the squad but her compatriots Shakera Selman and Rashada Williams are part of a provisional squad that CWI has named for this five-match series against South Africa.Lead selector for women’s cricket, Ann Browne-John said: “The T20I series [against South Africa] had some creditable performances and some of the young players have started to come through. Now that the CG Insurance ODI series is at hand, the players have to change their mindset and adjust to the longer format.”The captain, Stafanie Taylor, will also miss this series but it gives an opportunity for players to put up their hand and start to build on their performances as the team continues to prepare for the ICC Cricket World Cup qualifiers [which kicks off from November 21].”Squad for the first two ODIs: Anisa Mohammed (capt), Deandra Dottin (vice-capt), Aaliyah Alleyne, Britney Cooper, Shamilia Connell, Shabika Gajnabi, Chinelle Henry, Qiana Joseph, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Chedean Nation, Karishma RamharackProvisional squad: Anisa Mohammed (capt), Deandra Dottin (vice-capt), Aaliyah Alleyne, Reniece Boyce, Shamilia Connell, Britney Cooper, Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Sheneta Grimmond, Chinelle Henry, Qiana Joseph, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Shakera Selman, Rashada Williams

Leicestershire Foxes missed out on a Royal London Cup knockout spot despite a Louis Kimber-inspired four-run DLS victory over Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Wantage Road.The Foxes needed to win and hope for two of Surrey, Somerset and Yorkshire to lose but in spite of holding up their end of the bargain they fell a point shy in Group 1.Kimber struck 63, his second List A fifty, with Rishi Patel, Arron Lilley and Rehan Ahmed helping the Foxes to 271.Rain meant the Steelbacks needed 266 from 48 over, but Rob Keogh’s 52 wasn’t enough as they fell agonisingly short – with Will Davis, Gavin Griffiths and Ben Mike all taking two wickets apiece.The Foxes won the toss and hared out the gate as Patel aggressively blasted 41 off 33 balls, including a pick up six over midwicket.He and opening partner Harry Swindles were both bounced out by Ben Sanderson – the former plinking to extra cover to hand the fast bowler his 50th List A wicket and the latter wonderfully caught by a diving Saif Zaib at deep square leg.Like Patel, Lilley showed that an attacking spirit was the best way to make runs – the all-rounder striking 46 off 37 deliveries for his third consecutive highest format score.Partnerships were extinguished just as they started to flourish – eight of the stands producing between 20 and 50 runs – with Lewis Hill losing the top of his off-stump to Sanderson, Lilley stumped and George Rhodes leg before to Simon Kerrigan.Mike tamely chipped to midwicket and Ed Barnes was plumb in front to Zaib but Kimber provided the paste with a 53-ball half-century. He was squared up and bowled by a crafty Kerrigan delivery, while 16-year-old Ahmed marshalled the tail with a promising unbeaten 40 before Zaib bowled both Griffiths and Davis – the spinner ending with personal best figures of 3 for 37.The Steelbacks raced to 45 in 7.5 overs before rain helped slow up a wicket which was already friendly to the spin bowlers.Emilio Gay collected 42 of the first 53 runs, including eight boundaries, before he was lbw to George Rhodes and Ricardo Vasconcelos followed soon after when he slashed to point.A third wicket in 10 balls, Ben Curran chopping on, came as the hosts stalled – with a nine overs gap between boundaries highlighting the Foxes’ containment.Luke Procter and Keogh were pragmatic, if rarely pretty, in their 89-run stand. The latter reached his half-century off 56 balls before swatting to midwicket but the former fell short when he hammered straight to point for 48 – both falling to Mike.Zaib tried to take control with 42 from 41, which included a towering maximum over square, but swung a full toss straight to deep midwicket with 37 still needed from 25 balls.James Sales had put on 63 with Zaib and picked out exactly the same fielder, as did Kerrigan.It meant 25 were needed from the last 11 balls, but despite Sanderson’s big-hitting, Jack White was run out to drag the Foxes over the line.

Match facts

Kolkata Knight Riders v Royal Challengers Bangalore
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Start time 2000 IST (1430 GMT)2:37

Agarkar: Bangalore bowlers need to step up

Form guide

• Kolkata Knight Riders (Second): Lost to Gujarat Lions by four wickets; beat Delhi Daredevils by four wickets; beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 17 runs

• Royal Challengers Bangalore (Seventh): Beat Lions by 21 runs; lost to Rising Pune Supergiant by 27 runs; lost to Mumbai Indians by four wickets

Head to head

Last season: Each team won their away match – Royal Challengers thumped Knight Riders by nine wickets at Eden Gardens but lost their home match by five wickets.Overall: Knight Riders have won 10 of the 19 matches between the two sides. At Eden Gardens, Royal Challengers have won three out of seven matches.

In the news

Seamer S Aravind said that AB de Villiers, Samuel Badree and Tymal Mills were likely to be fit for the match against Knight Riders. If that is the case, and Royal Challengers look at picking both overseas players, at least Travis Head and Shane Watson could make way for them.

Likely XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 3 Robin Uthappa (wk), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Shakib Al Hasan, 8 Chris Woakes/Colin de Grandhomme, 9 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Umesh YadavRoyal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Virat Kohli (capt), 3 Travis Head/AB de Villiers, 4 Kedar Jadhav (wk), 5 Mandeep Singh/Harpreet Singh, 6 Stuart Binny, 7 Shane Watson/Samuel Badree, 8 Pawan Negi, 9 Adam Milne/Billy Stanlake/Tymal Mills, 10 S Aravind, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Strategy punt

• In the match against Lions, Knight Riders opened their attack with spin – Sunil Narine and Shakib Al Hasan. If Gayle plays, that plan may be used again. Narine has one of the best economy rates against Gayle among spinners (4.39) in T20s, and has dismissed him four times – twice in the IPL.
• Knight Riders will also be mindful of Royal Challengers’ struggles in the Powerplay, especially against spin. In the Powerplay this season, Royal Challengers have scored the fewest runs among all teams: 239 at a run rate of 6.83. Against spin in Powerplays, they have scored at a rate of 4.33, the slowest, compared to 7.33 against pace. Some of those struggles, however, are also down to the constant shuffling in the line-up forced by injuries and form: they have had five opening pairs this season, compared to three for Knight Riders and Lions.

Key stats

• Knight Riders will be particularly keen to get Gayle out early. At Eden Gardens, Gayle has scored 471 runs in nine innings, his second-best tally at a ground during the IPL after the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Since his switch to the Royal Challengers franchise in 2011, Gayle’s scores at Eden Gardens have been: 102*, 86, 6, 96 and 49, all batting second. Three of those knocks have resulted in wins.
• Knight Riders will also be looking to improve their own bowling record in the Powerplay this season: it has been their weakest passage with the ball, with three wickets at an economy rate of 9.11. Their bowlers have been the strongest during the middle overs (7-15th), taking 22 wickets, the most, at an economy rate of 7.68.
• Royal Challengers’ economy rate of 8.67 in the middle overs is, by contrast, the second poorest among teams this season, and they have taken 12 wickets in that phase. Their bowlers have been most effective in the Powerplay with 10 wickets at an economy rate of 8.25
• Manish Pandey has hit 11 sixes in the tournament, already his personal best in an IPL season. He has, however, had a bigger impact with the bat: 236 of his 245 runs in the tournament so far have come outside of the Powerplay overs, the most by a batsman this season. To put that in perspective from Knight Riders’ point of view, the next most successful batsman for them outside of the Powerplay is Robin Uthappa with 138 runs. Pandey’s contribution to Knight Riders’ tally outside of the Powerplay stands at 35.54%.

South Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey has broken the all-time record for most dismissals in a Sheffield Shield season. Carey achieved the feat on the fourth morning of the Shield final against Victoria in Alice Springs, when he pouched a take to remove the Bushrangers’ nightwatchman Chris Tremain off the bowling of Daniel Worrall.That catch took Carey to 59 dismissals this Shield summer, passing the previous record of 58 shared by Queensland glovemen Wade Seccombe (in 2000-01) and Chris Hartley (in 2011-12). Last month Hartley, who has since announced his retirement, told ESPNcricinfo that while he rated Peter Nevill the finest wicketkeeper in the country, Carey was one to watch for the future.”I think one to keep an eye on is Alex Carey from South Australia,” Hartley said at the time. “He hasn’t played a lot of cricket at this level just yet, and it’s not just the fact that he’s taken quite a few dismissals this year – I’ve kept an eye on the way he’s gone about it.”He moves well, he’s got some very good basics. That’s key for any cricketer, but certainly for wicketkeepers: if you don’t have your basics in order, when you’re under pressure or fatigued that gets found out.”Carey, 25, has not only had an outstanding season with the gloves, but has also compiled 549 Shield runs at 32.29. Although he is still searching for his maiden first-class century, his efforts make him just the fourth man to complete the double of 500 runs and 50 dismissals in a Shield season – Hartley did so three times, while Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Wade have each achieved the feat once.Carey’s efforts are all the more impressive given that this has been his first full season as South Australia’s first-choice wicketkeeper. He made his debut in February 2013 and entered this season with seven games to his name, having previously been second in line behind Tim Ludeman for the state’s wicketkeeping duties.

Hyderabad seamer Ravi Kiran and left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan took three wickets each to help their side bowl out Jammu & Kashmir for 228 and set up a 29-run win. A 70-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Parvez Rasool and Ahmed Bandy, which came at more than eight runs an over, had put J&K’s chase of 258 back on track after quick wickets. However, once both batsmen were out, the lower order slumped quickly – J&K lost their five wickets for 22 runs to fold in the 43rd over.Earlier, fifties from openers Tanmay Agarwal and Akshath Reddy carried Hyderabad to 257. Their 127-run opening partnership gave Hyderabad a platform strong enough to survive a brief slide where they lost four wickets within five overs, before S Badrinath and Hasan nudged the score past 200. Hasan remained unbeaten on 28 off 26 balls, having seen the side through to 257.MS Dhoni’s 50-ball 43 and Saurabh Tiwary’s 68 were not enough to help Jharkhand chase down a target of 267 against Karnataka, who won by five runs with only one ball to spare. The pair came together with Jharkhand at 79 for 4 in the 20th over and added 81 runs to put the chase back on track. After Dhoni fell, Tiwary kept the chase alive with a rapid 39 runs for the seventh wicket with Shabaz Nadeem off 26 deliveries. However, Tiwary’s dismissal in the 42nd over left Jharkhand with another 63 to get and although the lower order strung up partnerships, the side was eventually dismissed off the penultimate ball of the game. Rahul Shukla was the last man to fall, run out for 23 off 20 balls, having driven the lower-order partnerships. K Gowtham had returns of 4 for 58.Shukla had earlier taken 4 for 45 in his nine overs as Karnataka were bowled out for 266. Ravikumar Samarth (71) and Manish Pandey (77) struck fifties and shared a 116-run partnership for the third wicket. Pavan Deshpande, too, chipped in with 36 off 34 balls.Seamer Suraj Yadav and wicketkeeper-batsman Nakul Verma played stellar hands in Services‘ 48-run victory over Saurashtra.Yadav struck three times in his first two overs – including two wickets off two balls in the first over – to leave Saurashtra’s chase of 263 in trouble. Their score of 6 for 3 soon became 44 for 5 and they only managed to limp to 215 due to half-centuries from Prerak Mankad (58) and Jaydev Unadkat (57). Yadav returned to pick up one more wicket for figures of 4 for 47.Earlier, Verma’s second List-A century, 124 off 132 balls at the top of the order, set the base for Services’ total of 263 for 9. The remaining Services batsmen got starts but only Soumya Swain made a substantial contribution among them, with 32 off 36 deliveries. Seamer Shaurya Sanandia took 4 for 67 for Saurashtra

Keshav Maharaj and Khaya Zondo’s dominating first-innings performances against Lions helped Dolphins consolidate their lead at the top of the table in the Sunfoil Series. Zondo struck his seventh first-class century, an unbeaten 290-ball 141 that included 21 fours, to lift Dolphins to 339 in the first innings after they opted to bat in Pietermaritzburg.Vaughn van Jaarsveld chipped in with a brisk 53. Seam-bowling allrounder Dwaine Pretorius claimed his fifth five-wicket haul in first-class matches, returning figures of 5 for 54. In reply, the Lions were quickly reduced to 4 for 49. Dominic Hendricks and Pretorius brought the Lions some respectability with a 91-run partnership.After Hendricks was dismissed for 78, Kagiso Rapulana hit a patient 52 to push Dolphins’ total to 267. Left-arm spinner Maharaj finished with figures of 6 for 86.Entering the fourth day with a lead of 72, Dolphins set up a late declaration after posting 189 for 5 in 51 overs, taking the safety-first approach to ensure the Lions didn’t have enough time to bowl them out. Zondo struck a 139-ball 54. Left-arm fast bowler Beuran Hendricks took 3 for 48. The Lions chose not to go after the steep target of 262, as the game petered out into a draw.