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A round-up of the Ranji Trophy Group A matches played on January 6, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jan-2015
ScorecardManoj Tiwary’s fifty led Bengal’s reply against Tamil Nadu•PTI Irfan Pathan made his comeback to first-class cricket by scoring 98 runs which helped lead Baroda to a strong score of 498. Baroda spinner Swapnil Singh’s also chipped in with a fifty on the second day in Lucknow. Uttar Pradesh’s steady reply was led by an unbeaten fifty from opener Tanmay Srivastava as they finished the day trailing by 395 runs.Baroda, 316 for 6 overnight, had Irfan on 15 and lost Penal Shah after he added only four runs to his overnight score. Swapnil joined Irfan with the score at 320 for 7 and they stitched a partnership of 139 runs to propel Baroda past 450. Playing a first-class match after more than a year, Irfan’s 98 featured 12 fours before he was bowled by Ali Murtaza. Swapnil went on to bat with the tail, scoring an unbeaten 73 with eight fours and three sixes. Murtaza took the last two wickets and finished with 4 for 103.UP’s opening stand of 49 was broken when Yusuf Pathan had Akash Verma caught for 12. However, Srivastava’s 69 not out, with Mukul Dagar, steered them to 103 for 1.
ScorecardPrasanna unlikely for rest of the match with injury

Tamil Nadu captain R Prasanna had to be stretchered off the field after colliding with Bengal’s Ashok Dinda at the non-striker’s end at Eden Gardens. Prasanna suffered a lower back injury and was straightaway taken to a hospital. Scans revealed he had a bulge in the disc. He is unlikely to play any further part in the match.

Manoj Tiwary’s unbeaten fifty led Bengal’s reply after Tamil Nadu lost their last four wickets for 38 runs on the second morning in Kolkata to be dismissed for 246. Bengal ended the day 63 runs behind TN after good starts from their top four batsmen who steered them to a solid 183 for 2.TN were 208 for 5 overnight but Ashok Dinda struck in the first over the of day to remove R Sathish. Laxmipathy Balaji’s 25-ball 2 kept the wickets at bay for nearly eight overs but medium-pacer Pritam Chakraborty’s two quick wickets reduced them to 228 for 8. TN were dented further when their captain R Prasanna retired hurt just after reaching his fifty, at the score of 236 and a run-out ended their innings in the 89th over. Dinda finished with 4 for 76.Bengal openers Rohan Banerjee and Arindam Das put on a solid opening stand of 74, which was broken by Balaji, when he trapped Arindam lbw for 48. Banerjee also fell seven overs later but Abhimanyu Easwaran (41*) and Tiwary (54*) put Bengal in a position of strength with an unbeaten stand of 81 runs.Karnataka v Jammu & Kashmir: Uthappa 156 powers Karnataka
Mumbai v Madhya Pradesh: Rawat, Jalaj Saxena lead MP’s fightback

MS Dhoni, India’s captain, conceded that the failure of his specialist batsmen had been the biggest reason for England taking a 2-1 series lead with one Test left in the five-match series

Nagraj Gollapudi at Old Trafford09-Aug-2014MS Dhoni, India’s captain, conceded that the failure of his specialist batsmen had been the biggest reason for England taking a 2-1 series lead with one Test left in the five-match series. Dhoni said that India lost the Old Trafford Test virtually in the first hour of the match, when India were reduced to an abysmal 8 for 4 after Dhoni had elected to bat.Shortly after lunch, they were six down, and even though Dhoni, in the company of R Ashwin, put up a brave fight India could just manage a paltry 152. On Saturday, India once again folded easily in less than two sessions, to give Alastair Cook’s team the advantage going into the final Test at The Oval, which starts on Friday. Importantly, after their thrilling victory at Lord’s, India have failed to win a session convincingly.”What is important is to put runs on the board,” Dhoni said. “To some extent, Lord’s and the performance of the eight, nine, ten and eleven so far in the series camouflaged the question of the top order not performing. But when you are playing with five bowlers, the fifth bowler actually has scored more runs for us. That actually puts pressure on, whatever the reason may be. May be a few of the batsmen are having a lean period at the same time. But overall we will have to put more runs on the board so that the bowlers can get the opposition out.”Virat Kohli’s poor form continued as India failed with the bat again•Getty ImagesAccording to Dhoni, the failure of his batsmen in this Test was more exposed because the lower order, which had rallied in the first three Tests, also failed in Manchester. “First few Test matches, the performance of our batters got camouflaged,” Dhoni said. “Stuart [Binny] got runs in the first Test match along with [Mohammed] Shami, Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] and others. No one really asked the question, we are playing with one batter less so is it up to the batsmen to take the responsibility. That trend continued forward with the batting department. It is just that the lower order did not contribute in this Test match so it seems we have not scored runs.”Dhoni said the India batsmen have to learn to play time and force the opposition to bowl to them rather than go chasing the ball outside their comfort zone. “Once you see off the first 20-25 overs, when the ball is hard and new, it gets relatively better for the batsmen to bat. You just have to pull the bowler towards you rather than going outside off and looking for the big shot. If you can look to push them to bowl to you actually you can control the swing much better and you can play your strokes. That is something to an extent we lacked.”Also the fact we lost six wickets in the first half an hour and that had a very big impact on the game. A lot things had consequences in this Test match. Hopefully we will get the learning out of it and move into the next one which I feel will be very important to us.”Astonishingly, India batted a total of 89.4 overs across two innings compared to England’s 105.3 overs. Once again Dhoni said the onus was on his batsmen to stand up and deliver especially since India were playing only six batsmen, himself included. “The batting department will have to improve, especially since we are playing a batter less,” Dhoni said. “That extra bowler is actually contributing both with ball and bat. Still the top five or six batters will have to get more runs to make the bowlers feel more comfortable.”Dhoni defended playing six batsmen and an extra bowler, saying he did not have a choice. Asked as to whether it was now time to drop Ravindra Jadeja, who has failed consistently with both ball and bat barring his spirited half-century in the Lord’s Test victory, Dhoni disagreed.”Again the problem is who do you have to replace him?” Dhoni said. “Again you will fall back on the same thing of going with an extra batter and not having that fifth bowler when you really need him. That is how Jadeja plays. The more he plays the better he will get. We are hoping that it happens soon. We have seen glimpses of it. He will have to back himself to play the same kind of cricket. That is something that will give him the confidence. Hopefully he will keep hitting the ball.”In Manchester, Jadeja managed just one wicket on a pitch that offered good bounce. Moeen Ali, England’s allegedly part-time spinner, struck four times to raise his series tally to 19 wickets.Dhoni would not be forced to be drawn into comparisons, but pointed out that the biggest factor in Moeen’s success was his persistence of maintaining length and lines. “He is quite a consistent bowler. He keeps pitching in the same areas. He is quite good and uses the drift,” Dhoni said. “Why can’t we copy him? It is a very difficult thing. He has his own trajectory. He keeps bowling in one area and is quite willing to bowl that way. He is very persistent with his lengths. The odd ball turns and the others are just straight. He wants to keep it very tight. And if you want to take him on you can try your luck otherwise he may get a wicket. Our bowlers are different. They have their own way of bowling. It is not easy to copy a bowler.”Moeen’s success has raised the point about Indians being better players of spin and whether that is actually true. Again in this Test, the India middle order tried to charge him or play aggressively but failed.Dhoni did not find any fault with that method. “It is important to be positive. We will lose a few wickets. At the same time we will have to put pressure back on him. If in doing that you lose a few wickets that is still good for you because that pushes the opposition to use their fast bowlers more. That is something we will have to follow. Pujara got a tough decision but others he bowled well to get them out.”

A four-wicket haul from the seamer Shaheen Khan, followed by an unbeaten half-century from the opener Andrew Puttick powered Cape Cobras to a bonus-point victory against Knights in a rain-affected clash in Kimberley

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Oct-2014
ScorecardFile photo: Rilee Rossouw’s fifty went in vain as Knights crashed to a big defeat•Gallo ImagesA four-wicket haul from the seamer Shaheen Khan, followed by an unbeaten half-century from the opener Andrew Puttick powered Cape Cobras to a bonus-point victory against Knights in a rain-affected clash in Kimberley.After the game was reduced to 48 overs per side following a rain delay, Knights, having been inserted, began their innings in shaky fashion, losing three wickets inside two overs. An 86-run stand between Rilee Rossouw (57) and Rudi Second (26) guided a brief recovery, but from 93 for 3, Knights once again collapsed, losing their last seven wickets for just 69 runs.Shaheen ran through Knights’ tail, taking three of the last four wickets on his way to collecting 4 for 38. Rory Kleinveldt took 3 for 28, while Zakhele Qwabe chipped in with 2 for 29 to bowl Knights out for 162 in 41 overs.Cobras lost Richard Levi in the first over of the chase, but Puttick stroked 12 fours during his 89 not out to drive the team towards a comfortable win. Cobras suffered two more wickets, but their captain Justin Ontong (47*) joined hands with Puttick for an unbroken 101-run partnership and the team raced home with almost 15 overs to spare.

James Anderson believes Alastair Cook was not given enough help in Australia when the going got tough and “needs senior players around him to share the burden”

Andrew McGlashan in Manchester27-May-2014Alastair Cook has taken a lot of criticism for England’s recent slide but he could not be blamed for their latest batting calamity, as they subsided to 99 all out in Durham. Ruled out with injury, all he could do was watch on grim-faced at the procession of batsmen.It is not yet confirmed whether Cook will take his place for the third one-day international at Old Trafford although a lengthy net – he arrived well before his team-mates on Wednesday morning – suggested his chances of a return are promising.Such has been England’s constant lurching from one failure to another since last summer, with only sporadic success to offer respite, the fact he has emerged unscathed in terms of his position is viewed by his detractors as a lack of accountability for what has gone wrong.However, James Anderson – one of the few senior players left from a core that has been ripped out of English cricket – believes Cook was not given enough help in Australia when the going got tough, which was pretty much from day two of the Test series onwards.”I don’t think over the winter that senior players helped as much as they could with taking pressure off Cooky, a captain’s job is difficult and he needs his senior players around him to share the burden,” Anderson said. “When you’re in Australia and you get on to a bit of a down slope, you can get a little bit insular I guess, start worrying about your own game perhaps.”Anderson, Ian Bell and, when fit, Stuart Broad are now the long-standing international figures alongside Cook – Matt Prior could be added to that list in Test cricket if his Achilles allows him to play again – and Anderson wants them to take some of the burden off Cook’s shoulders as they face a race against time to try and build a team for the World Cup alongside reviving the flagging Test side.”If we want to win the World Cup, we’re going to have to start playing well quickly. I think the senior players have got a huge role to play,” he said. “As a captain, it can’t always be his job to discipline people or think of tactics or make bowling changes. It’s everyone’s job to be thinking about the game, how the team can improve and be offering that advice, it doesn’t always have to come from the captain.”That’s where the senior players come in. When we’ve done well in the past is when we’ve had five or six guys who can stand up in the dressing-room and give feedback, that shares the burden and takes a bit of pressure off the captain.”As the senior pace bowler – a role he has held for a considerable number of years now – it is down to Anderson to set the tone with the ball whenever he plays. He has bowled nicely so far in the series, although there was an expectation of more early wickets at Chester-le-Street, and you would think a return to his home ground would fill him with excitement, but memories of a poor Test against Australia last year linger.”You’d think so,” he said, with the hint of a wry smile when asked about a happy homecoming, “but I’ve not played very well here in the last few international games. But certainly the first two games of the series I’ve bowled well and hopefully I can continue that.”You would also think that Anderson would know exactly what type of pitch to expect but he was hedging his bets, although he hoped the groundsman had had enough time to prepare something “that suits our fast bowlers”.That did not appear to be what Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lanka captain, was seeing as he termed the surface “subcontinental” after a quick glance. He could be forgiven, though, for the notion after the surface they encountered in 2011, which certainly had shades of Colombo about it. Offspinner Suraj Randiv took 5 for 42 and Tillakaratne Dilshan opened the bowling. “Three years ago was a real subcontinental type pitch,” Anderson remembered.Not that it did Sri Lanka much good as they lost the deciding match by 16 runs in an absorbing encounter – something this series could do with after two one-sided matches. That was also a series where England had started well at The Oval then crashed to two heavy defeats before fighting back. It is debatable whether this current England team have the confidence, or belief, to come back from 2-1 down. Cook will be desperate that it does not come to finding out.

Three youngsters were killed after a rain-soaked boundary wall at the Sylhet Stadium collapsed inside the nearby Lakatura Tea Garden on Tuesday

Mohammad Isam10-Jun-2014Three youngsters have died after a rain-soaked boundary wall at the Sylhet Stadium collapsed inside the nearby Lakatura Tea Garden during the early hours of Tuesday.The victims were sleeping in their tin-shed house when the wall crumbled on them at around 3:00 AM following heavy rain that started on Monday night. The deceased were identified as Nasima Akhtar (17) and his brother Zahed (11)- both children of a tea garden worker Azan Ali- and Ruhul (11), the son of another tea garden worker Kutubuddin who hails from the Srimangal district.”All of a sudden, we felt something falling on us,” Azan told . “Somehow we managed to go out of the rubble but Nasima and Zahed could not.”Locals immediately rushed to the spot to recover two bodies, but the third body was recovered only at around 4:30 AM. The bodies were handed over to the police, who sent them to the Osmani Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsies. Following the accident, hundreds of tea garment workers staged a one-hour demonstration on the nearby airport road at around 8:30 AM demanding compensation for the victims’ families.The Sylhet Stadium was one of three World T20 venues and hosted 30 matches, including 24 in the Women’s edition. The renovation work for the stadium was delayed last year, causing flutters within the BCB as ICC inspectors visited Sylhet several times until the stadium was reconfirmed as a venue last November.The sports ministry has formed a four-member inquiry committee which has been given three days to deliver the report. The National Sports Council, the regulatory body of sports in Bangladesh, is the custodian of all stadiums in the country, and its secretary Sibnath Roy said that the wall was built during the 2004-05 fiscal year and was not part of renovation work for the recent World T20.Mohammad Rahmatullah, the additional commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police, has said the police will investigate the matter, while the BCB and the country’s state minister for youth and sports Biren Shikdar both expressed their shock over the accident.”The Sylhet Stadium is an establishment under the jurisdiction of the NSC,” the BCB said in a statement. “The BCB has already communicated to the NSC that it expects a comprehensive inquiry into this unfortunate incident.”

MM College of Commerce, Pune, secured a spot in the semi-finals of the Red Bull Campus Cricket 2014 national finals with a 52-run win against Sports College Lucknow in Chandigarh

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShubham Ranjane smacked 28 off 11 for MMCC•ESPNcricinfo LtdMM College of Commerce, Pune, secured a spot in the semi-finals of the Red Bull Campus Cricket 2014 national finals with a 52-run win against Sports College Lucknow in Chandigarh. Sports College are out of the competition.MMCC chose to bat and their top five all contributed cameos to help the side to 155 for 6. Opener Vishant More was the top-scorer with 46, while Shubham Ranjane provided the late burst with 28 not out off 11, including two fours and two sixes. Karan Singh was the most effective of the Sports College bowlers with 3 for 26.Sports College were off to a poor start in the chase, falling to 18 for 4 in five overs. They didn’t recover, with only three batsmen getting into double digits, with a high of 37 from Govind Yadav – Yadav was also the only Sports College batsmen to score at over a run-a-ball. MMCC’s bowlers shared the wickets around, eventually bowling Sports College out in the 19th over for 103.

The former England coach Peter Moores has publicly stated his desire to return to the role as the ECB prepare to start interviews for the new head coach to permanently replace Andy Flower

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Apr-20140:55

Moores admits he’s in England race

The former England coach Peter Moores has publicly stated his desire to return to the role as the ECB prepare to start interviews for the new head coach to permanently replace Andy Flower.Mick Newell, the Nottinghamshire director of cricket, has also talked of his interest in the position. It is believed there is a shortlist of five candidates, including the current limited-overs coach Ashley Giles along with Mark Robinson of Sussex and the one overseas option in Trevor Bayliss.Moores’ previous spell as England’s coach came from 2007, when he replaced Duncan Fletcher, until early 2009, when he was sacked at the same time as Kevin Pietersen was stripped of the captaincy. Although remembered for how his spell ended, Moores did identify and mould a number of players who became key to England’s success between 2009 and 2013 including Matt Prior, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann, plus brought James Anderson back into the fold.Peter Moores: ‘There’s an excitement to have another go at it’•Getty ImagesSince losing his England job Moores has reestablished his credentials at Lancashire, which included leading them to the Championship in 2011. It would be a remarkable comeback if Moores was to earn a second spell in charge of England but there is growing momentum behind his chances, particularly since England’s early exit at the World T20 under Giles.”I’m in the process so I suppose it depends what happens – I’m very conscious that I’m in a job now that I’ve loved and I still love,” Moores said. “There’s an excitement to have another go at it, and a frustration at the last time because in some ways you always have a vision when you’re doing any job of where you want to go.”There’s a draw to go back and work in that environment because you’re working with great players and it’s a very exciting place to work. It’s obviously an interesting time at the moment. It has been a tough winter and it would be an interesting challenge if it came along.”Newell, meanwhile, believes his record at Nottinghamshire over the last 12 years shows he would be able to handle an international role.”I want to bring an atmosphere of relaxed professionalism into the dressing room,” he told . “I think that is what I have done here for the past 12 years. I’m used to building and rebuilding teams. That’s what I’ve had to do over the past 12 years – changing players and changing staff and I’ve got an awful lot of experience to bring.”That’s what I hope to put on offer. It has been a very difficult winter. Nobody is going to say it has been a great winter for English cricket, but just think back six or eight months when we won the Ashes 3-0 and we were playing some really good cricket.”I believe that the talent is there and the player potential is definitely there. It just needs the new coach to put a few things right and I’m sure that’ll be done.”Bayliss, the former Sri Lanka, also put his interest on the record earlier this week.”I am interested in hearing more about the job,” he said. “I am happy doing the jobs I have got at the moment but when it comes to a position like that I would be silly not to find out what they have to say and [I’m] finding out a bit more about it.”

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq hailed his team after they pulled off their second-highest successful run chase to level the series against Sri Lanka

Umar Farooq in Sharjah20-Jan-2014Who would have thought that four days of dull Test cricket would suddenly transform into a thriller on day five at Sharjah Cricket Stadium? And, more surprisingly, who would expect Pakistan to become the fastest team to chase a target of 300-plus target in history? Both things happened, as Pakistan achieved a daunting total of 302 in 57.3 overs at 5.25 runs per over to level the series at 1-1 and stun Sri Lanka. It was truly, as described by Pakistan’s captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, an “amazing victory”.”The biggest victory for me is 3-0 against England but, as a match, it’s a very, very big victory for the team,” Misbah said. “As a game, this was one of my best victories but still I think I rate very highly our 3-0 victory against England, [when] we whitewashed the No. 1 team. But the match we won today – I guess we haven’t won chasing like that, so it’s an amazing victory.”The series in UAE had been a tedious one but day five of the third and final Test turned into a dramatic contest. In the final session, with loud music suddenly filling the stadium, Pakistan went at a rapid pace to reach the target. Azhar Ali, the No. 3, blazed 103 off 137 balls, with six fours, and Misbah remained unbeaten on 68 as Pakistan won with nine balls remaining, for their second-highest successful run chase in Test matches.Misbah said his men lived up to expectation and played like a unit. Dav Whatmore, Pakistan’s outgoing coach who has now finished his contract, may not have been expecting such a send-off on his last day but Misbah was pleased that Whatmore could leave on a high, despite failing to win a Test series during his time in charge.”It’s always important, because he had been working with us for the last two years, so we have an attachment and you always want this type of thing if somebody leaves you,” Misbah said. “He finishes on a good note, so I was really praying for that, we should win it for Pakistan and win it for Dav so that we can say we have given him a good send off. It was really a much-needed win for us as a team, to level the series, and to send off Dav it was also important.”It’s a great effort and all the players showed the will to win the game, so I am really happy, especially for the youngsters. Azhar Ali’s performance, Ahmed Shehzad in the first innings and Sarfraz [Ahmed in the second], Mohammad Talha bowled really well, so it’s really pleasing for Pakistan cricket.”Pakistan seemed to have given up on winning the game, as things coasted on day four, but after bowling Sri Lanka out for 214 in the morning session, the players made a positive decision over lunch. “There was no pressure, a clear message was there when our innings started. We sat together and in the meeting we decided we are going for it at any cost, whether it turned into 2-0, no problem, but we will try to make it 1-1,” Misbah said. “I think there was clarity in the minds of our players, and all were positive, me too, especially after youngsters had done their partnership, it was easy, you [just] had to score run a ball. Thanks god we have won the match.”Pakistan’s openers gave the team a perfect start, hitting 35 in six and a half overs, before Shehzad lofting to deep square leg. The run rate kept on fluctuating but remained around five runs per over throughout, apart from the third-wicket stand between Azhar and Younis Khan, when the scoring rate started to dip for a while. But Sarfraz, promoted to No. 5, and Azhar swaggered along during their partnership of 89 in 14.5 overs.’It’s a very, very big victory for the team. As a game, this was one of my best victories’ – Misbah•AFP”It was easy for us once Sarfraz played that innings with Azhar, that was an important partnership and brought down the required run rate to almost 5.5,” Misbah said. “They also cut down the target to 120-something, so that was simple, we could continue to play at the same rate. Don’t let it go up [above] run-a-ball, that was our main target. Nothing much was happening with the wicket so that was the target.”Pakistan’s next Test series is in nine months, against Australia, and Misbah said that was not ideal. “When you win Test matches, you gain confidence … had there been a Test series in near future, it would have benefitted us. This team has been notching such victories, like winning against England and winning a Test match against South Africa.””Except for Younis Khan, we don’t have many players who have played more than 50 Test matches that’s why you see sometimes we suffer collapses and we face problems and our performances are not consistent. Whenever they play up to their potential, they win such matches, if they play consistently and gain experience their performances will get better and better.”Misbah said playing Australia after a gap of nine months will be challenging. “Australia, South Africa, England they are all very professional teams and against them you need to be focused and you have to play with a lot of hard work because they come out with lots of plans. So, I think it will be a big challenge for us to play against Australia but it would also be challenging for them to face our spinners in these conditions. I think we will try to play the way we played against South Africa and repeat the same performance against them.”

Alastair Cook admitted to the “lowest moment” of his career as England slumped to Ashes defeat in Perth and said several members of his side would be “playing for their future” in the remaining two games of the series.

George Dobell at the WACA17-Dec-20130:00

‘Australia batted England into submission’

Alastair Cook admitted to the “lowest moment” of his career as England slumped to Ashes defeat in Perth and said several members of his side would be “playing for their future” in the remaining two games of the series.The England captain said conceding a 3-0 lead in the five-match series “hurts like hell” and described the dressing room as “a tough place to be”. It is Cook’s first series loss as captain and England’s first Ashes loss in four series stretching back to 2006-07.But while accepting that “inquests” into the defeat were inevitable, Cook appealed for calm before conclusions are made about the reasons for the loss. In particular, Cook was keen to defend Andy Flower and refuted any suggestion that the England coach should step down.”I want him to carry on,” Cook said. “He’s an outstanding coach and an outstanding person. He’s a great person to have around, especially for me, as a captain and the advice he gives me. It’s not down to him why we’ve lost this. It’s down to the fact we haven’t had enough players in form.”Cook, who has averaged just 26.93 in his last eight Tests against Australia, also reasserted his determination to continue as captain, though he accepted he needed to reflect on some of his tactics and that there would be “people questioning my place”.”There’s always going to be theories,” he said. “There’s always going to be inquests when you lose. The simple fact of the matter is we haven’t had enough players in form with either bat or ball. People in the dressing room know that.”It’s a tough place my batting. I’m putting the work in but not quite getting the results. You can see the feet aren’t always going in the right place. I’ve had a couple of very good balls as well, which doesn’t help. And when I have got in at Brisbane and here, I haven’t gone on to make a bigger score.Alastair Cook admitted that senior players hadn’t performed so far in this series and will be playing for their places in the rest of the series•Getty Images”But I don’t think the captaincy is affecting my batting. There’s always a strain, but the challenge of being a captain is trying to deal with it. I can honestly say that when I go out there as a batter, I’m thinking as a batter. My mind is not thinking about what’s going on elsewhere.”Of course, if other people who make the decisions don’t think that way, we have to go by that decision. When you lose the Ashes in the way we’ve lost, there will always be people questioning my place and all that kind of stuff. That’s the first place you always look when you lose. As a captain, the buck stops with you. I have to look at am I managing the players right? Am I doing the right things out in the middle? We have to have some honest chats.”Cook also defended his players, despite admitting that several senior figures had endured undistinguished series and that many would be playing for their futures in the remaining two games of the series.”The first thing you do when you lose is look at the hunger and the desire. I can honestly say in our dressing room, both are there. We just haven’t had the skills to match it. Sport is not about trying at all; it’s about delivering. We know we tried as hard as we could and we haven’t delivered.”It’s not just Anderson and Swann who haven’t performed. A lot of us senior batters haven’t performed as well. It’s incredibly frustrating – I know as a batter when you’re not delivering what you’re capable of – there’s not a worse place to be as a player.”I’ll never feel let down by any of the lads that go out there and put on an England shirt. I look into their eyes and I see what they do in training. The way they go about their business and the effort, you don’t see all that.”I’m never going to be embarrassed. We haven’t been good enough, that’s the reason we lost. I’ll never be embarrassed for the way we go about things and the effort the lads put in. It’s a hard thing to say when you’ve been beaten and you deserve to get beaten. It’s never good to admit it, but we have.”When you lose, or even when you win, there’s so many good players around in England wanting to be in the 11 spots we presently hold. So we are always playing for our future. There’s always a balancing act with sides when you lose with trying to introduce new players. Are they better than the players you have?”

A dazzling century by Simon Katich helped power promotion-chasing Lancashire to the brink of a first-innings lead against Worcestershire

23-Aug-2013
ScorecardSimon Katich went past 1,000 Championship runs in the season•PA PhotosA dazzling century by Simon Katich helped power promotion-chasing Lancashire to the brink of a first-innings lead against Worcestershire. Katich, who celebrated his 38th birthday on Wednesday, smacked an undefeated 104 off 89 balls.He was in deadly form and plundered his century between lunch and tea, on his way to completing 1,000 Championship runs in a season in which he has now notched four Division Two tons. He narrowly missed out on three figures in Lancashire’s opening match of the campaign, when he hit 84 off the Worcestershire attack in a rain-hit draw at Old Trafford.This time he made certain of reaching the milestone before play was called off for the day eight balls after tea because of poor light and drizzle.Lancashire lost nightwatchman Glen Chapple, who played out one scoreless over before stumps yesterday, to the fourth ball of the morning when he fell victim to a leg-side catch by wicketkeeper Ben Cox off paceman Graeme Cessford.Chapple’s quick-fire dismissal set the scene for a 77-run partnership in 21 overs between Reece and Paul Horton, who took 21 balls to get off the mark. He went on to make 30 before being well caught low down by diving Alan Richardson at backward-square leg off spinner Moeen Ali’s final delivery of his first over.Reece, joined by Prince, completed his half century off 84 balls with 10 fours before Lancashire went in for lunch at 110 for 2 off 33 overs. But Reece, the 23 year-old left-hander, departed in the first over after the interval when paceman Alan Richardson had him caught in the slips by Moeen for 59 – his third half-century in his last three Championship innings.His removal left Prince and Katich with the task of building Lancashire’s total, which they successfully achieved with a partnership that quickly gathered momentum. Prince reached his 50 with eight fours off 85 balls while the next delivery by Moeen was hammered for six by Katich to bring up his 50 off 55 balls. It was his second maximum to go with eight fours.Their combined efforts blossomed into a stand worth 92 in 20 overs before they were broken up by Cessford, who had Prince smartly caught at short cover by Thilan Samaraweera for 52.Katich, who smashed 24 off one Joe Leach over, had piled up four sixes and 14 fours by the time Lancashire, who lost Andrea Agathangelou to Richardson for 14, went in to tea on 268 for 5 off 64.4 overs.