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England 173 for 5 (Shah 55) beat West Indies 169 for 7 (Gayle 61, Samuels 42) by five wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Owais Shah reignited his England one-day career with a classy unbeaten 55, bringing up his half-century from just 30 deliveries, as England squared the two-match Twenty20 series with a hard-earned five-wicket victory at The Oval. It was a consummate performance from England, who learned their lessons well after a heavy beating in the first match, and kept their nerve – both with the ball as Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels teed off, and later with the bat after slumping to 68 for 4 in the ninth over.West Indies won the toss and chose to bat first on the same strip of turf on which they had scythed an imposing 208 for 7 in Thursday’s opening fixture. They produced another power-packed performance in a form of the game they have taken to like ducks on the square at New Road, but crucially, this innings took a little bit longer to reach top speed, then petered out in the final overs as the momentum returned to England’s bowlers.Needing 170 for victory, England began their reply briskly. Alastair Cook slotted the last two balls of Dwayne Smith’s first over through the covers for four, while Matt Prior at the other end took the long handle to Ravi Rampaul, almost decapitating the square-leg umpire, Ian Gould, with the second of his two fours in three balls. But the introduction of Daren Powell in the third over changed the tempo of the innings. Touching 90mph with each delivery, he found the edge of Cook’s bat before plucking out his off stump in arguably his most hostile over of the tour.Prior kept on swinging, making room against Rampaul to clobber him twice through the covers. But Rampaul kept his nerve and his line, and when Prior sized up his third boundary of the over, he lost his leg stump to a wild heave. Kevin Pietersen emerged to a massive ovation from a merry crowd, but his fellow South African import, Jonathan Trott, was soon heading off in the other direction, looping a gloved hook off Rampaul into Ramdin’s hands behind the stumps.England brought up their fifty at the end of the sixth over, as Paul Collingwood thumped Ramdin through midwicket, and on that cue Pietersen decided to up the ante. He pulled Powell twice through the leg-side for four, but neither shot was quite timed to perfection – a sign perhaps that the pitch wasn’t quite as true as it had been on Thursday. Either way, after trading frustrated singles for an over-and-a-half, Pietersen chipped a tame return catch to a delighted Darren Sammy, who danced a jig of delight as West Indies resumed the upper hand.That, however, brought Shah to the crease, and he was gifted a first-ball boundary when Austin Richards fumbled horribly at third man. At the other end, Collingwood had a hairy couple of balls when he was first caught-behind off a no-ball beamer, then prodded uncertainly in the air and away through the covers, but with a run-rate still at a manageable nine an over, England were still content to deal in ones and twos.After four overs of such measured tactics, Collingwood signalled the charge by launching Samuels over long-on for six, but with his dander up, he was beaten by a quicker delivery next ball, and Ramdin – who had been so convinced of a caught-behind in the previous over he forgot to pull off the stumping – this time made no mistake in whipping the bails off. It looked like being a terminal blow as Shah and Mascarenhas struggled to pick up their tempo as Powell came back to complete a fine spell.Powell’s last ball, however, was loose and Mascarenhas latched onto it for a welcome boundary, and suddenly England were up and running again. Shah creamed Samuels for 16 in an over, including three fours of varying subtlety, and suddenly the requirement had plummeted to a manageable 40 from 25. That became 24 from 18 as Smith lost his line horribly, allowing Shah to belt a full-toss through the covers and tickle a leg-stump delivery off the pads in an over that culminated in five costly wides down the leg side.Shah and Mascarenhas never looked back after that. Another pulled four brought the requirement down to nearly a run a ball, and the pair were able to trade in singles, even as Gayle brought his ultra-slow spin into play for a nervy final over. However, a missed swipe down the leg-side gave England victory with two balls to spare.It was a harsh way to finish for Gayle, who had led from the front in his most forceful innings of the tour. Unfortunately he lacked the support of Devon Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, both of whom had been rested after their heroics on Thursday. Instead Gayle had blazed to 33 from 17 balls before his new partner Simmons had managed to squeeze his first run, and Richards was equally cagey before being pinned lbw by Stuart Broad for 10 – via a suspected inside edge.From that moment on, however, West Indies were back to their unfettered best. Samuels was the next in line, and he picked up in the vein he left off on Thursday night, clubbing his first delivery from Broad clean into the pavilion, before launching Michael Yardy onto the roof of the press box.Gayle by this time had reached his half-century from 29 deliveries – again with a six, this time off a Dimitri Mascarenhas slower ball – but it was the lack of pace that eventually made the breakthrough. Collingwood brought himself into the attack and struck with his fourth delivery, as Gayle heaved manically and Broad at short third man trotted in to take a steepling top-edge.Samuels was utterly unfazed by the demise of his skipper, back-cutting Collingwood’s next ball for four, before launching Mascarenhas off the back foot for the third six of his innings. But he too succumbed to the slower ball, mowing a slog-sweep into the hands of a back-pedalling Mascarenhas just inside the long-on rope. After that, West Indies’ momentum vanished, with just 31 runs coming from the last five overs of the innings. It ultimately proved to be the difference between the sides.

Andrew Flintoff is doubtful of being fit for the first Test against Pakistan beginning July 13 at Lord’s, with recurring pain in his injured left ankle.Flintoff had been out of the one-day series against Sri Lanka and specialists feel that there might be floating bone particles in the ankle that are causing the pain.”There is scar tissue in there and whether the bone fragments were the result of the operation or were already in there, we don’t know,” Flintoff told Sky Sports. “We will have another look in two weeks and see where we are.”Though unlikely to play the first Test, Flintoff was optimistic about recovery. “I am not running at the moment, I am doing a lot of cycling. I am doing things that don’t cause pain and trying to tick over.”We are going down the route of physio and exercises to strengthen the ligaments around the ankle. We will have another look in two weeks and see where we are.”England will play four Tests and five one-day internationals against Pakistan. They are 4-0 down to Sri Lanka in the ongoing one-day series, with a last match to be played on July 1.

A superb opening spell from Tinashe Panyangara raised visions of an upset, but Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan rallied to inspire a three-wicket victory for Pakistan in the second match of the Paktel Cup at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar. Panyangara’s medium-paced swing bowling had reduced Pakistan to 48 for 3, but the lack of quality back-up meant that Pakistan were never seriously under pressure to keep up with the asking rate. A late cameo from Shahid Afridi, the hometown hero, was the icing on the cake for a crowd that had sportingly cheered Zimbabwe’s gutsy effort.Brendan Taylor and Stuart Matsikenyeri gave Zimbabwe the perfect start, and Dion Ebrahim (71*) and Tatenda Taibu (46*) provided the final flourish as Zimbabwe tallied 252. With Pakistan struggling in reply, the much-maligned Younis came in and played a superb innings, taking singles at will and smashing the loose deliveries into the gaps. A huge six off Mluleki Nkala in the 46th over effectively ended the contest, even though Douglas Hondo had the consolation of yorking Yousuf Youhana, the stand-in captain, for just 14 (240 for 6).Afridi came in to bat with a runner, but that didn’t cramp his style, and a huge six over midwicket off Hondo sent the crowd into raptures. Pakistan eventually eased past the target with 11 deliveries to spare, but not before Younis, who had batted brilliantly for his 77, was needlessly run out after tapping the ball to Elton Chigumbura at mid-on.Panyangara had struck in the very first over, inducing Yasir Hameed to go after a perfectly pitched outswinger. Taibu pouched the edge, and Pakistan could reflect on another opening partnership gone wrong. Salman Butt, though, was soon into the groove, stroking a glorious straight drive off Hondo, and then creaming him through the covers thrice.Bazid Khan couldn’t match his fluency, and after pottering around for nine balls, he shuffled across to be hit high on the pad. Panyangara and the Zimbabweans went up, and Asad Rauf, the umpire, lifted his finger, though Hawk-Eye might have taken a more charitable view.Butt was in fine form, and had cruised to 30 at a run-a-ball when he played too early at a Panyangara delivery. The leading edge flew to Chigumbura at mid-on, and Pakistan were in real trouble. Fortunately for them, it didn’t get worse, with Mark Vermeulen grassing a chance low to his left at second slip after Malik had poked at one from Panyangara.Misbah-ul-Haq and Malik then took a heavy toll on Hondo, whose line was all over the place. A couple of powerful cuts, and flicks through the onside, increased the run rate, but Hondo persevered until Misbah (23) played back to one that took the edge through to Taibu (89 for 4).Younis, who had kept wicket instead of the rested Moin Khan, came in and provided the ideal foil for the more belligerent Malik. Both treated Prosper Utseya, who bowled another tidy spell, with respect, but pinched easy runs off the likes of Taylor and Matsikenyeri.Malik smashed Matsikenyeri for a six over midwicket, and with Younis also finding the gaps with ease, victory appeared a formality. The partnership had swelled to 114 when Malik (80) lofted one from Nkala in the direction of long-on where Matsikenyeri, who had fumbled on two previous occasions, took a stunning catch diving to his right (203 for 5).Zimbabwe had found runs hard to come by early on after being sent in by Youhana, and both Taylor and Matsikenyeri did well to survive a hostile spell from Mohammad Sami. While Iftikhar Anjum at the other end was tidy without being unduly threatening, Sami got steep bounce and consistently pushed the batsmen on to the back foot.Matsikenyeri got going with a powerful cut and a superb off-drive off Sami, and a deft flick over square leg off Anjum. Taylor, just 18, was circumspect in the initial exchanges, but once Sami was replaced by the gentler pace of Naved-ul-Hasan, he got into his stride with two gorgeous cover-drives.Naved wasn’t spared by Matsikenyeri either, with 15 coming off one over. Having conceded just 36 in the first 12 overs, Pakistan had suddenly bled 30 from the next three. Malik and Afridi stemmed the tide somewhat, but after a hesitant start, the batsmen were brimming with confidence.That was to be Matsikenyeri’s undoing. Largely untroubled on his way to 41, he gave Afridi the charge and spanked one straight to Sami at long-on. Vusi Sibanda, who came in next, didn’t even face a ball, stranded up the pitch after Afridi had dived full length at short fine leg to stop a sweep from Taylor, and throw the ball to Malik at the bowler’s end (87 for 2).Taylor and Ebrahim batted with great discipline in the middle overs, picking up singles, and setting the stage for the final onslaught. Taylor’s assured 73 ended only when he smashed Naved straight to Youhana at mid-off (159 for 3). When Vermeulen was completely deceived by a Naved delivery that swung in to take out the off stump, it appeared that Pakistan might restored some sanity to proceedings.But Taibu and Ebrahim took charge with some brisk running between wickets and some innovative strokeplay. Taibu showcased his intent from the outset, pulling Anjum for six over square leg. The return of Sami into the attack didn’t deter him, with a hoick over midwicket adding to Pakistan’s frustration.Ebrahim was no slouch either, flicking Sami over square leg for four and then driving Naved – who went for a whopping 82 from 10 overs – through cover. But it was Taibu, with powerful shots emanating from that pint-sized frame, who applied the finishing touches, with a mighty six onto the roof of the temporary stand at square leg after Naved had persisted in dropping the ball short.For more than two-thirds of the reply, it looked like 252 might be enough. But Pakistan dug deep to ensure that Cinderella wouldn’t reach the ball.

Muttiah Muralitharan recovered from a stomach upset to become the thirdbowler in history to take 500 Test wickets, during the first day’s play in the second Test against Australia. Muralitharan reached the milestone in record time, 21 matches faster than Shane Warne and 42 quicker than Courtney Walsh.Muralitharan, playing in his home town of Kandy, snapped up 4 for 48 in 15 overs, and brought up the landmark when he bowled Michael Kasprowicz with an offbreak that spun sharply back through the gate. Muralitharan’s contribution helped bowl out Australia for 120, a record low against Sri Lanka.Muralitharan will now race with Shane Warne (501 and climbing) to Courtney Walsh’s 519-wicket world record. The record may be beyond both bowlers in this series, but there is little doubt that Muralitharan will overhaul the mark sometime during Sri Lanka’s two-Test tour to Zimbabwe in April.Hashan Tillakaratne, Sri Lanka’s captain, praised Muralitharan before the second Test: “Murali is a great cricketer and a great team man. He has done Sri Lanka proud and won so many matches for us. I don’t know where we would be were it not for his bowling. He has won us so many matches.”Muralitharan, the only Tamil in the Sri Lanka team and the son of asuccessful biscuit manufacturer, first played for Sri Lanka againstAustralia in 1992, taking three wickets in his first Test. His career was later plagued by controversy after being called for throwing on tours to Australia in 1995-96 and 1998-99.But although his unique bowling still attracts suspicion in some quarters, he was cleared by the International Cricket Council after extensive, high-tech biomechanical analysis by three separate research institutes, including the University of Western Australia and the University of Hong Kong.Those studies concluded that his helicopter-wristed and locked-elbow action produced the “optical illusion” of throwing and did not contravene the game’s laws. Muralitharan has a congenital deformity that prevents him from fully straightening his arm, and a super-flexible wrist which is responsible for generating prodigious spin.

Shane Warne has been sent home from the World Cup after failing a drugstest, the Australian Cricket Board confirmed at a Johannesburg pressconference.ACB chief executive officer James Sutherland revealed that leg-spinnerWarne had tested positive for a diuretic – a drug often used to helpweight loss or as a masking agent for other drugs.Sutherland said that Warne would be flying home later today and wouldundergo further tests in Australia.Warne has been recovering from a shoulder injury and has been on afitness programme since the start of 2002.The test, carried out by the ACB, was a routine test.Sutherland told the press conference: “I am here today to announce thatShane Warne has expressed his wish to stand down from the AustralianWorld Cup team and will return to Australia today to complete furtherdrug tests and face a hearing under the ACB anti-doping policy.”This follows Shane’s advice to us that the Australian Sports DrugsAgency have told him he has tested positive for a diuretic on samples heprovided in Sydney last month.”Shane notified the ACB yesterday as soon as he received the news and hebelieves the failed tested is because of a flu reduction medication hetook in Sydney last month.”The ACB has referred the matter to the ACB anti-doping committee basedon our belief that he may have committed an offence under the ACBanti-doping rules.”The hearing will take place in Melbourne as soon as possible.”Sutherland added: “There has been an anti-doping policy since 1998. Allplayers have been educated about the policy.”We support the testing.”At the same time, we commend Shane about his approach, including comingforward as soon as the information was made available.”We have advised the ICC of the situation and have applied to thetechnical committee for approval to replace Shane in the World Cup squadcommittee.”Warne said: “As James has said, I was shocked and absolutely devastatedthat the test sample indicated a presence of a prohibited substance.”It’s not finalised until my B sample.”I’m shocked because I have not taken performance-enhancing drugs.”I did take a fluid tablet before my comeback game in Sydney and didn’tknow it contained any banned substance.”I have decided to return home in the best interest of the team andaddress the situation personally which the ACB are supportive of.”I want to repeat, I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs and amconfident it will be cleared up soon.”My previous tests have always come back negative. I have spoken to myteam-mates and they are supportive.”

Glamorgan have joined the race to try to sign left-arm pace bowler Paul Hutchison, who is being released by Yorkshire at the end of the season.But although skipper Steve James is believed to have spoken to the 24-year-old Leeds-born bowler other counties have confirmed an interest including Warwickshire, Lancashire and Northamptonshire.The only problem for Glamorgan is that Hutchinson is injury prone and has spent a lot of this season out of action.Hutchison represented England at Under-17, 18 and 19 and seemed destined to go all the way, but has got bogged down because of injury.On top of that, Yorkshire have a plethora of seam bowlers, including Darren Gough, Chris Silverwood, Ryan Sidebottom, Steve Kirby and Gavin Hamilton on their books, so they cannot keep everybody happy.Recruiting a left-armer would no doubt interest Robert Croft when it comes to bowling into the rough to right-handed batsmen.If Glamorgan do grab his signature he would be the county’s first left-arm seamer since Simon Dennis left the club a decade ago, and he would be the county’s first non-overseas signing since Alex Wharf was recruited from Nottinghamshire two seasons ago.

Peter Bowler, a stalwart of over 250 first class games, celebrated histhirty-seventh birthday with his third century of the season as Somersetevened up its County Championship clash with Durham at Chester-le-Streettoday.To experienced Bowler watchers, news of this latest century will come as nosurprise as the situation was tailor made for a man of such a temperamentand application. He restarted his innings at 62 today and built slowlytoward his landmark, so much so that he had still not ascended to it bylunch. When it did come – in a minute over six hours and from 283 balls -the generous and spontaneous applause that it prompted from the crowd was ameasure in itself of its quality and importance. By the time that SimonBrown (3/69) eventually found a way to beat his defences with an offcutter, he had reached 107 and had added a magnificent 157 in partnershipwith the almost equally resilient Graham Rose (82*) for the seventh wicket.The pair had taken Somerset from a dire position to one of near paritywith the Durham first innings of 292. That the tail enders could onlycontribute another thirty-five to the total after Bowler made his exit onlyreinforced the centrality of their twin contributions.Here a word of praise needs to be devoted specifically to Rose, anotherplayer nearer to forty years of age than thirty. When the Somerset inningswas eventually terminated at 280, he was left only eighteen short of hisown century – one that would likewise have been well deserved. To add tohis good day, he then had opener Michael Gough (5) edging to second slip asDurham revisited the crease. With the score on 29, he struck again, thistime causing first innings centurion Jon Lewis (12) to shoulder arms andignominiously lose his off stump to a delivery that kept slightly low as itswung in toward him. His was a fabulous all-round performance.Regrettably, late interruptions for rain and bad light then clippedtwenty-four overs off the day just when the match had entered perhaps itsmost critical phase of all. With Durham positioned at 73/3 by day’s end,it seems that both teams will need to play aggressively in the morning ifan outright result is to be engineered.For the home team today, John Wood (5/88) was easily the pick of thebowlers – his heart and gusto infectious on a hot morning. Its cause was,however, badly hampered by the loss of Melvyn Betts (1/22) to a knee strain.

Australian players have dominated the English county scene in recent years, in both their number and with their figures. But the IPL, the new one-overseas player limit, and, ultimately, the rain all had their part to play in limiting Australians’ appearances and their chances to contribute to the opening round of seven first-class matches last week.Chris Rogers, however, made the most of his opportunity to give a nod to the selectors who had dumped him off the contracts list, with a second-innings ton for Derbyshire in their Division Two draw with Gloucestershire in Bristol. He had made an inauspicious 3 in the first dig as the visitors collapsed.His former Western Australian team-mate Marcus North topscored in the home side’s first innings with 87 and did not bat second time out as rain put paid to proceedings after Derbyshire’s Rogers-led rally. Only three wins were registered, the four draws all victims of the weather.Lancashire captain, the English-qualified Stuart Law, made 38 as Lancashire, last year’s runners-up, drew with the champions Surrey at The Oval. His team-mate Brad Hodge made an unbeaten 43 before the rain came. Surrey were without Matt Nicholson, who had a virus.In the second division, Western Australia’s Steve Magoffin took one wicket in each innings as Worcestershire drew with Warwickshire.

The Indian squads for the tours of Ireland and England will be selected on June 12 in Delhi. The selected players will have to attend a camp in Bangalore from June 13 to June 16.”The selection committee will meet in Delhi at 5.30 pm on June 12 after the meeting of the working committee to choose the team for England and Ireland tour,” Niranjan Shah, BCCI secretary, told PTI. “The selected players would be asked to assemble in Bangalore by the afternoon of June 13 for the cricket camp which will run till June 16.”The camp will follow a fitness-specific camp for batsmen which will be held at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore from June 9-12.India are scheduled to play a three-ODI series against South Africa in Ireland in July before heading to England for three Tests and seven one-day internationals.

Sri Lanka’s captain, Mahela Jayawardene, praised the performance of his young team and said that their efforts ranked up there with the best, as the first Test at Lord’s was saved through a brilliant rearguard action.Having followed on a whopping 359 runs in arrears, Sri Lanka ground their way through 199 overs on the final two-and-a-half days before bad light brought their epic innings to an end on 537 for 9. No fewer than seven batsmen recorded fifty in the innings, and after slumping to 91 for 6 in the first innings, Jayawardene was thrilled with the fight they had shown.”It was a brilliant effort which showed a lot of character from top to bottom,” he said, after being named as Man of the Match for his twin scores of 61 and 119. “It will have given a lot of confidence to the youngsters, and that’s what they need, belief that they can do it at this level of cricket, because most of them haven’t achieved anything in their careers yet.”The effort will also have given Jayawardene a lot of belief. Since assuming a senior role in the side, he has endured criticism of his leadership skills, and still remains as the official vice-captain on this tour, in the absence of the injured Marvan Atapattu. But he was able to answer the doubters by leading from the front and watching his charges take inspiration from his resistance.”In the past when I’ve been given responsibility, people have said how difficult it is for me to concentrate on my batting at the highest level,” he said. “I think I’ve proved people wrong. It’s how I go out there and perform that matters. It’s all to do with team efforts.”Jayawardene admitted that the thought had crossed his mind to declare once they had established a lead of 140-150, but added that good sense had prevailed, given the placid nature of the wicket. Even so, had England managed to take that final wicket and set themselves up for a run-chase, his side were ready and waiting for the challenge.”If we had been put in that situation we would definitely have gone for it,” said Jayawardene. “It was really flat out there but with three or four wickets we would have had a chance. It was all about the effort we had put in, and we couldn’t have let it go like that.”Jayawardene insisted that the spate of dropped catches shouldn’t detract from his team’s achievement, but he did recognise Sri Lanka had issues to address. “We’ll need to show the same determination in our bowling,” he said, “and we might have to look at different combinations when we get to Edgbaston. We have to get England out twice to win Test matches, and we only got five wickets. Those are the areas we have to improve.”