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The new leaders of the Norwich Union League Division One, Worcestershire Royals, take on the bottom club, Durham Dynamos, in the next round of matches to be played this Sunday with every prospect of maintaining their place at the top of the table. Not only did they get there by ousting the existing leaders in their last match, but they meet a side still looking for their first point of the season. The unpredictability of cricket in this competition is one of its great appeals, but it would be a major upset if the Royals did not win again at New Road this weekend.Warwickshire Bears – the team deposed by the Royals last week – meet defending champions Kent Spitfires at Edgbaston. The Spitfires came through strongly at the end of last season to grab the title and are in a reasonable position now, two wins away from the leaders but with a game in hand on the Royals and two in hand on the Bears. And a win at Edgbaston would really give their season some momentum, something against which the Bears will be on their guard.There are two other fixtures in Division One. Glamorgan Dragons are level on points with the Kent Spitfires, but they have only played three matches in the competition so far this season. They go to Taunton to meet the Somerset Sabres buoyed by their recent success playing as Wales against England. Steffan Jones will revert to being a Sabre in this fixture after masquerading as a Dragon in the “international”.Nottinghamshire Outlaws have had a pretty miserable time this season. The only difference between their record and that of Durham Dynamos is that they had one match washed out, and so have two points to show for their endeavours. They have an east Midlands derby at Grace Road against Leicestershire Foxes who have at least won once this year, but once only.In Division Two the leaders are Gloucestershire Gladiators. They meet Essex Eagles who are six points behind but who have two matches in hand. If the Eagles are to soar, they will need to win this one, but they will be without their talismanic captain Ronnie Irani who is away on international duty. The Gladiators, on the other hand, will have all guns blazing.Surrey Lions are only two points adrift of the leaders, and they have what looks like an easy match against Lancashire Lightening, although they have to travel to Old Trafford. Lightening are languishing, just off the bottom, lost by six wickets in the corresponding match at The Oval, so they need to strike once in this fixture, let alone twice.In a process reminiscent of evolution itself, the Sussex Sharks move inland from their Hove headquarters to Arundel to play Middlesex Crusaders. The visitors have four points from two wash-outs so far this season, while the Sharks have only just begun to show their teeth, although one win might suggest they are only milk teeth at this stage.

Alec Stewart has been appointed England captain for the second and final npower Test Match against Pakistan at Old Trafford which starts on Thursday week. Stewart took over the captaincy midway through the First Test at Lord’s, when Nasser Hussain sustained a thumb injury which has ruled him out of cricket for the next three to four weeks.Stewart said: “I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to captain England on a temporary basis at Old Trafford. It’s a great honour to lead your country, and I much look forward to the game”.Stewart is unworried by the prospect of adding the responsibilities of captaincy to his existing dual role of England batsman and wicketkeeper. “I had no problem with that when I was England skipper for the first time. I did all three jobs during the 1998 Test series against South Africa, which England won. And when you’re put in charge of a good side that’s been winning, it obviously makes captaincy that much easier.”England lead 1-0 in the series after taking just three days to beat Pakistan by an innings and 9 runs in the First Test. No decision has yet been made on who will captain England in the NatWest Triangular one-day series between England, Pakistan and Australia in June.

Darren Lehmann’s status as Australian domestic cricket’s finest player received further endorsement last night when he was named winner of the prestigious Lord Hampden Medal at South Australian cricket’s night of nights in Adelaide.Lehmann’s fifth victory in the award, which recognises the Redbacks’ best player of the interstate season, follows his successes earlier in the summer in being named as the national ING Cup Player of the Series and earning his third consecutive mantle as State Cricketer of the Year. The 2001-02 season was also the platform for the South Australian captain to surpass Jamie Siddons as the highest run-scorer in the history of interstate first-class competition in Australia.Call-ups for Australia’s Test and limited-overs tours of South Africa prevented Lehmann from playing in the closing matches of the domestic summer but he was still a clear winner of the Redbacks’ major individual award.The 32-year-old left hander hammered out 772 Pura Cup runs at an average of 64.33 for the season, backing them with 374 one-day runs at 62.33 and the typically explosive strike rate of 82.01.Lehmann’s deputy, Greg Blewett, won the team’s major batting awards at both first-class and one-day level, clinching the Sir James Irwin Memorial Trophy with his 1025 runs at 56.94 in the four-day arena.Pace bowlers Paul Rofe and Mark Harrity were also among the night’s big winners, sharing three trophies between them at the end of a season in which injuries and international selections unexpectedly left each of them shouldering the responsibility of leading the Redbacks’ attack.Rofe, 21, complemented the Walter Bridgeland Trophy as the state’s leading wicket-taker of the first-class season with the Adelaide Bowling Club award as South Australia’s most improved player.Harrity was meanwhile honoured as his team’s best bowler at ING Cup level with his haul of 17 wickets at the miserly average of 19.76.

Worcestershire County Cricket Club can confirm they will play India at New Road over 4 days commencing Wednesday 31st July.Tickets are now available in advance from the Ticket Office on 01905 337921 priced £9 for Adults. Admission for adults on the day will be £11.Since the match is being played during the school holidays, a specially reduced price for all children 16 and under of just £2 will be available for advance purchases and on the day. A Family ticket is also available in advance for just £20.Chief Executive, Mark Newton, is delighted the tourists will be visiting New Road, "During the Natwest Series, India proved what an exciting team they are and we are committed to putting out as strong a team as possible for this match. Last year’s match against the Australians was a sell out and we expect there to be strong interest for this match."

If there is a ready criticism of New Zealand’s present Test side, it is that their batsmen lack the patience and application necessary to flourish in the longest format of the game. Often in the recent past, their batsmen have squandered starts with loose strokes, and have failed to consolidate partnerships, perishing in pursuit of quick runs. At times, they have batted out tough spells, only to throw their wickets away to deliveries that didn’t deserve to end their innings.But New Zealand captain Ross Taylor said aggressive batting will see New Zealand triumph against Sri Lanka, in the two-Test series which begins in Galle on Saturday. New Zealand have not won a Test in Sri Lanka in over 14 years, and Taylor said his side’s hopes of ending that run, and snapping a four-Test losing streak, will be enhanced by a batting strategy focused on attack – particularly against spin.New Zealand lost both Tests in India in August-September, and were largely derailed on that tour by spinners R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha, who shared 31 wickets between them. In the first Test in Hyderabad, Ashwin and Ojha took all but two of New Zealand’s wickets, as the visitors lost by an innings and 115 runs. However, New Zealand’s batsmen did recover from the loss, posting 365 in the first innings of the second Test in Bangalore, and Taylor credited a more positive approach for the improved performance.”We’ve got an opportunity to create some history,” Taylor said. “I think the way we played the last Test in India, the way we attacked spin is going to be crucial in this next match. A lot of teams think that’s a weakness of ours and if we show that’s a strength of ours and play positive and aggressive cricket to their spinners that bodes well for our batsmen. Hopefully we can string a few more partnerships together and instead of scoring 300-350, push that out to 400 and put pressure on the opposition.”Last time New Zealand toured Sri Lanka, Muttiah Muralitharan was their primary tormentor, taking 13 wickets in two Tests. The first Test of that tour was also played in Galle, where New Zealand lost by 202 runs, before losing at the SSC by 96. But with Muralitharan having retired, Taylor said Sri Lanka’s present attack held no terrors for New Zealand.”We don’t have to contend with Muralitharan which is always a nice thing. We’ve still got to play well ourselves and concentrate on what we can do well. But definitely their bowling line-up is an area we can target.”Last time we played here I don’t think there was a lot of spin. There was spin, but not excessive spin. Sri Lanka are probably going to go in with two spinners and the way we play them is going to be crucial.”The tour has so far been plagued by rain due to the northeast monsoon, and Taylor said the weather may produce a more seamer-friendly track for the first Test than would otherwise have been provided. Swing and seam was evident in each of the limited-overs matches that had some play, and fast bowlers from both sides generated considerable movement on the pitches in Pallekele and Hambantota.”The new ball will be crucial and putting the ball in the right area and asking questions … England were just out here recently and their seamers had a lot of success. It’s not all about spin in this country. The weather conditions might play their part and not necessarily just on day one. As we saw in the one-day series, once it did rain, the wicket did juice up a bit and that might play into our hands. For as long as we’ve been here in Galle, it’s rained every day so far in the afternoon, and we’ll have to factor that into our preparations and into the match.”New Zealand have five fast bowlers and two spinners to choose their attack from, having brought in Chris Martin, Doug Bracewell, Neil Wagner, Jeetan Patel and Todd Astle as Test specialists, to join Tim Southee and Trent Boult who were in Sri Lanka for the ODI series. Taylor said it was encouraging to see competition for places among the bowlers, but said the final makeup of the XI for the first Test had not yet been decided.”We’ve got guys like Doug Bracewell, who has been our most consistent Test bowler in the last year, coming in. Hopefully whoever gets an opportunity can perform. It’s generally a pretty good wicket that can deteriorate on day three, four and five and the overhead conditions will play a part, and that will affect the balance of our side – whether we go in with three quicks or two spinners.”

For the first time since attaining Test status in1992, Zimbabwe went into a series as favourites and underpressure to win every match as they hosted Bangladesh,newcomers to the world of Test cricket.Bangladesh, who attained Test status in June lastyear, were on their first away tour and were moreconcerned with improving their game than winning. Atthe end of the month-long tour Bangladesh had lost allits matches against Zimbabwe. However the touristswere far from being disgraced.In Zimbabwe for two Tests and three one-dayinternationals, Bangladesh opened their tour with aone-day warm-up match against CFX Academy at AlexandraSports Club, and as expected they won convincingly.The tourists won by seven wickets with 17.4 overs tospare. Batting first, Zimbabwe’s cricket cadets weredismissed for 183 in 48.5 overs. New boy MohammadSharif was the toast of the Bangladeshi attack withfive wickets for 30 in nine overs.CFX Academy’s only defiant acts came from TerrenceDuffin who scored 55 and Barney Rogers who hit fivefours on his way to 46 from 69 balls. The two featuredin a 84-run partnership for the third wicket after thefirst two wickets fell for 18.Six of the Academy batsmen were out for single figureswith three ducks. The last five wickets fell for just15 runs in five overs.Habibul Bashar scored a blistering 79 off 77 ballswith nine fours as the CFX Academy struggled to find abreakthrough.Zimbabwe won the first ODI at Harare Sports Club on 7April by seven wickets. The tourists won the tossand decided to bat on a pitch that favoured seamerswith extra bounce and they were made to pay.The first four wickets fell for just 15 runs,virtually ending the match as a contest. Bangladeshrecovered somewhat to reach 151 in 50 overs, with a topscore of 35 coming from sixth-man Akram Khan. Thosebefore him had gone for single figures.Zimbabwe reached the victory target of 152 virtuallyBlindfolded, but they still needed 43.1 overs to do so.Andy Flower, unbeaten, and Stuart Carlisle were thejoint top scorers with 40 runs. Sharif claimed hisfirst international wicket, bowling Alistair Campbellfor five.The second match was at the same venue the followingday and again Bangladesh won the toss but this timethey were much wiser and elected to field.Unfortunately for the tourists, the pitch was closercut than the previous day and this was of some help tothe batting.Led by a seventh ODI century by Campbell, Zimbabwewere 230 for seven after 50 overs. Campbell made 103from 145 balls and featured in a 133-run partnershipfor the second wicket with Carlisle.Zimbabwe lost the last five wickets for 42 runs asbatsmen sacrificed everything to increase therun-rate. Monjurul Islam and Sharif took three wicketseach.Bangladesh’s reply was rocked right from the start asthey lost their first wicket after scoring just one run andthe second with the total on nine. In the end theyjust managed to get past their lowest total againstZimbabwe of 92 and were all out for 103 with 18.2overs to spare. Opener Javed Omar carried his batthrough the innings for an unbeaten score of 33.David Mutendera recorded the best innings bowling ofthe ODI series with three wickets for 23 in 5.4 overs.Zimbabwe duly wrapped up their ODI series with a thirdstraight win at Bulawayo’s Queens Sports Club on 11 Aprilfor a 3-0 series whitewash.Flower brothers Grant and Andy led Zimbabwe to theirFourth-highest innings total of 308. The brothers madea fourth-wicket partnership of 148 with Grant’sunbeaten 142 equalling Zimbabwe’s previous best byDave Houghton against New Zealand in the World Cup of1987/88. Andy scored 81 runs off 91 balls.This turned out to be the most entertaining matchof the series as Bangladesh staged a fightback which,however, fell 32 runs short.Bangladesh made 272 for eight in 50 overs. OpenerJaved Omar scored 69 while Bashar was their highest scorerWith 74 runs from 91 balls.Omar finished the series as Bangladesh’s best batsmanwith an average of 52.50, while Bashar was nextbest, averaging a distant 26.33. Islam and Sharif werethe leading bowlers with five and four wicketsrespectively.For Zimbabwe, Grant Flower was the best batsman with174 runs, his average from the two innings he batted.Carlisle and Andy Flower were the other successfulbatsmen, averaging over 50 with 69 and 63.50respectively.In bowling, Mutendera, Brian Strang and Andy Blignautall took six wickets.

Abdur Rehman, the Pakistan left-arm spinner, is facing a ban after failing a drugs test during his stint with Somerset in the English domestic season. It is believed the drugs were recreational and not performance enhancing.Reports first emerged in the Pakistan media and ESPNcricinfo understands that a formal announcement is due to be made within the next day.Rehman, 32, played four Championship matches for Somerset and took 27 wickets, which included 9 for 65 against Worcestershire, and flew straight back from Pakistan’s one-day series against Australia in the UAE to play the match against Sussex.He was expected to join a Sialkot Stallion conditioning camp this week at the National Cricket Academy ahead of the Champions League Twenty20 but did not turn up to join the squad. Sialkot are set to fly to South Africa on October 7 to play a qualifying round of the tournament starting on October 9 in Johannesburg.Rehman has established himself as key player over the past year and caused England plenty of problems during the Test series in UAE, where he claimed 19 wickets in three matches. Overall he has 81 wickets in 17 Tests at 28.40 apiece.

Shikhar Dhawan’s amazing year continued, as he cracked a half-century to set up Sunrisers Hyderabad’s eight-wicket win in his first match as the team’s captain. While it felt “really nice” to begin his captaincy stint on a winning note, Dhawan said after the victory against Kandurata Maroons, he still has much to learn as a leader.”It was my first day as captain. It is completely a new experience for me,” he said. “It feels really nice to win your first match as captain.”But there are still a lot of things that I need to learn. I know I will be making a lot of mistakes initially, but I will have to learn from them. This is part and parcel of the captaincy and I am enjoying it.”One of Dhawan’s questionable decisions was bowling his main slow bowler, legspinner Amit Mishra, for just one over even as Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne built towards a strong total. The pitch and the opposition prompted that decision, Dhawan said. “The wicket assisted the pacers more than the spinners. Amit Mishra was bowling well but there was hardly anything for him on this pitch.”Moreover, they had a lot of left-handers on their team. That’s why we couldn’t use him much. I felt the fast bowlers had more to offer on this track.” The other legspinner in the side, Karan Sharma, who proved effective in IPL 2013, did not bowl at all.Sangakkara and Thirimanne had added 89 for the third wicket and were increasing the innings’ momentum when Ishant Sharma bowled Thirimanne with a yorker. Ishant, the only bowler in the match to concede less than a run a ball, said he tried to keep the batsmen guessing. “When a batsman is going strong, you have to use all your experience to try and get the better of him,” Ishant told the CLT20 website. “The wicket was very good for batting and so, I knew I had to mix things up a bit.”Instead of bowling all six balls on the same spot I decided to vary my length. [In the over that Thirimanne was dismissed] I tried the fuller delivery, the slower one, bowled a bit short and he hit me for two fours. Off the fifth ball I thought I should bowl a yorker and fortunately I got it right. He tried to go for a big one and got out.”India’s frequent clashes with Sri Lanka helped, Ishant said. “Most of the Kandurata Maroons players are international cricketers and hence we know what field to set to each of them and what strategy to form against each of them. We play a lot against them and we know their games inside out. That really helps.”Ishant had good words for Dhawan’s captaincy. “He has evolved so much as a cricketer in the past one year and his confidence has risen up to another level. That shows in his captaincy as well,” he said. “For instance, today, we were going for runs when Sangakkara and Thirimanne were batting but he created and maintained a very calm atmosphere on the field. He knows he has a good team and he believes in us as much as he believes in his own abilities with the bat.”Dhawan’s 71, in a 121-run opening stand with Parthiv Patel in the chase of 169, capped off his fine day. He found batting a bit difficult to begin with, Dhawan said, but Parthiv’s assured batting eased the pressure on him. “We knew we could chase down the total if we batted sensibly. The ball was coming on to the bat very nicely. The pitch had even bounce. It is not difficult to play shots on this wicket.”But I wasn’t connecting the ball well at the start. At the other end, Parthiv Patel was batting nicely and hitting the ball well. So, I thought I can take my time to settle down. In the end, we performed really well.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammad Hafeez scored his second century in Harare•AFP

With the series at stake, Pakistan hit back strongly by posting a total well beyond Zimbabwe’s reach, thereby giving the final match greater context. Mohammad Hafeez led the way with an attacking, unbeaten 136 to lift Pakistan to 299, and although Zimbabwe had their moments in the chase, they failed to stretch Pakistan over a sustained period. A clump of wickets towards the end widened the gap between the two sides, as the margin of victory suggested.Both sides, while batting, were removed from their comfort zones. Pakistan didn’t have the safety net of a steady Misbah-ul-Haq innings for the other batsmen to bat around. A rare failure from Misbah gave Hafeez the chance to step up and guide the innings. Zimbabwe, for a change didn’t have the luxury of a solid opening stand in the face of a daunting total, and the middle order couldn’t cover the slack. Pakistan, though, responded better to the challenge.Put in to bat, Pakistan had a better idea of the kind the score needed to intimidate a confident Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe were guilty of dropping catches in the first ODI but those let-offs, fortunately, didn’t cost them in the end. While they were relatively better today, one lapse cost them plenty of runs. When on 30, Hafeez went for the slog sweep but as the ball dipped towards deep square leg, Brian Vitori was a touch too late on the dive. He couldn’t hang on and Zimbabwe were made to rue the missed chance.Hafeez’s driving, flicking and defense against the seamers was solid and he used his feet against Prosper Utseya, lofting two sixes over long-on. He launched Elton Chigumbura over the same region as he progressed to his fifty off 65 balls. Following Misbah’s departure – he limped to 3 off 23 balls – Pakistan had lost all their experienced batsmen, but Umar Amin stepped up to give Hafeez the support he needed. Amin looked busy at the crease, trying to push the singles and attempting the odd slog, looking on nervously at his senior partner who urged him to play straighter.Amin opened up at the start of the batting Powerplay, taken in the 36th over, clipping Utseya wide of midwicket and then launching him over cover the next ball. He found the gaps with ease through the off side and reached his maiden fifty in ODIs off just 61 balls. Pakistan smashed 43 in the Powerplay without losing a wicket, setting the platform for their late-innings acceleration.Amin was eventually run-out from a direct hit by Tendai Chatara, but not before adding a valuable 129 with Hafeez. Hafeez made sure his side didn’t lose the initiative, like they did on Tuesday with a collapse, batting positively and finding the gaps. He had all but bettered his highest ODI score (139*), made on the same ground two years ago. A blazing cameo from Shahid Afridi took Pakistan to the doorstep of 300.Hamilton Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda had, until this game, produced opening stands of 53, 50 and 107 so it was a relief for Pakistan that the openers disbanded early in the third over. Masakadza found early momentum with some powerful boundaries off Mohammad Irfan before he was beaten for pace by Junaid Khan, losing his off stump. Much depended on Brendan Taylor to lead the way. He and Sean Williams weren’t afraid to take on the spinners, reverse sweeping them regularly. They targeted Pakistan’s main bowler, Saeed Ajmal, in his first over, playing the conventional and reverse sweeps to give the chase some momentum.Taylor kept Zimbabwe’s hopes alive with a positive fifty – his first in 13 innings – and it got to the stage where Pakistan were in need of a breakthrough. Ajmal provided that when he beat an advancing Williams, getting him stumped. Taylor had added 70 with Williams and 65 with Malcolm Waller, but all along they failed to keep with the rising asking rate.The slide started towards the end of the batting Powerplay – taken after 35 overs – when Taylor top-edged a sweep off Ajmal, only to be caught one-handed by the 7ft 1″ Irfan. Any other fielder, it would have been a boundary. Zimbabwe lost three wickets for one run, as Junaid ran through the lower order. Zimbabwe were rolled over with more than seven overs to spare. The lack of a match-turning partnership hurt them in the end.*1651 GMT, August 29: The article had said “Pakistan lost three wickets for one run, as Junaid ran through the lower order”. This has been corrected.

ScorecardWayne Madsen gave Derbyshire a solid start•Getty Images

Those neutrals who want Derbyshire to stay in the Division One feel that way, for the most part, not because of any particular dislike for Surrey or Somerset, but because it would be a cracking story. Who would have thought, after they had lost seven of their first 10 matches, that they would have had even a small chance of survival?They may still be relegated, given that both the aforementioned rivals have recruited from abroad again and Surrey have a game in hand, but thus far it has been a glorious, heart-warming effort from Derbyshire, bringing three wins in their last four games, in which none of the participants has been more deserving than Karl Krikken, their amiable Lancastrian coach, for whom avoiding relegation would be a greater achievement even than winning promotion last summer.Krikken began this season believing his team could compete at the higher level, even though the gap between the divisions has become harder to breach, and grew more frustrated by the match, as one poor result after another made it harder for some players to share his faith. Matters came to a head in the away fixture against Durham in July, when Derbyshire lost by 279 runs. It prompted some changes in personnel and a few harsh words from Krikken.”The Durham game was definitely a turning point,” he said. “We were shocking, really. We played very badly and the body language and attitude was just not there.”We made some tough decisions and although the next game against Yorkshire was not great, since they we have kicked on. We have been more aggressive, more in-your-face and we’ve kept going in games longer than the opposition. We have the knowledge of how to win games now and we’ve just got to carry on doing what we have been doing.”After the start we had, to stay up would be a massive achievement, bigger than last year. But with two games to go we know that two wins keeps us up.”The start Derbyshire have made to this game has been encouraging, the loss of Ben Slater in the 12th over their only setback against the new Division One leaders, whose attack, though still missing Ben Stokes, and with two inexperienced seamers in Jamie Harrison and Usman Arshad, is still seen strong enough to maintain Durham’s title challenge.Slater played solidly enough until Chris Rushworth, who did not bowl as well as he did against Sussex last week, located his off stump with a full length delivery, but Paul Borrington has looked more steadfast. It was Wayne Madsen who offered the only other semblance of a chance, an edge off Graham Onions that fell short of third slip.The choice of 22-year-old Harrison in preference to Mitch Claydon was another statement of Durham’s faith in the new order. Claydon, in the words of coach Jon Lewis, “bowled so well” against Sussex, taking six wickets in the match after interrupting his loan spell with Kent to answer an emergency call.”It was horses for courses really,” Lewis said. “Bowling first we thought it might swing a bit and Jamie being a left-armer it is a nice angle to have, and he bowled really well in the couple of games before he picked up an ankle injury. So it was not a difficult decision, even if it was a bit harsh on Mitch.”Harrison had problems with overstepping, bowling three no balls in the space of five deliveries at one time, but he has enough pace to be a handful and after eight wickets in his two matches last month, including 5 for 31 against Surrey, he has much to offer and Durham’s decision to go with his unproven potential ahead of Claydon’s reliability and experience in a match of this importance is a strong show of support for him.