Story England International Season - September 8th, 2007 - India in England

www.bbc.co.uk/sport said:

Sussex clinch Twenty20 title after nail-bitting day

The day started with the 1st of the 2 semi finals between Gloucestershire and
Lancashire. Gloucestershire elected to bat and managed a total of 141/7.
Opener Craig Spearman hit a brisk 39 from 30 deliveries along with Alex
Gidman's 26 to make it to the 140 mark. The pitch looked to be doing a little
with the new ball, and there was definitely some turn as Lancashire's two
spinners in Muralitharan and Keedy made advantage. Murali finished with figures
of 3 for 35 from his 4, Keedy backing him up with 2 for 36. When it was
Lancashire's turn to bat they made a steady start. But once Hodge and Law
got going it looked like they were going to make it. The wickets of Hodge (37)
and Law (32) were crucial, as Hardinges and Fisher worked well in tandem.
With 14 needed off the final over, Cross and Croft managed to get there with
a four off the final ball.

The final saw the two sides with two top quality spinners. Murali and Keedy
were up against Mushtaq and Saqlain. Lancashire elected to chase at the
toss, which came to a surprise as they may have wanted to use the most
rough possible. Sussex again got a good start through Goodwin, who hit a
fine 50 from 38 balls, before he went to Murali. Nash went very early in the
innings, dismissed by Anderson just 6th ball. Adams hit an unbeaten 27 from
31 to get his side up to a similar total that they got in the semi final, 132/5.
Hodge again was the main batsmen for Lancashire as he hit 62, but the rest
of the top order failed. Flintoff (3), Law (9) and Cross (6) all couldn't stay
with Hodge to chase down the smallish Sussex total. Apart from Hodge nobody
got settled, and it was a surprise to see that Lancashire needed just 35 runs
from 7 overs, a run rate of just 5 an over. But it was again Sussex's death
bowling specialists in Kirtley and Wright who won them the game. Kirtley got
the wickets of Hodge and Croft who looked as if they were going to cruise
home. The 16th over was the turning point in the game as Kirtley took a
wicket and went for just 1 run. Kirtley bowled the final over, Chilton and Cork
needing 15 from 6 balls. With a boundary and a single off the first 3 deliveries,
they were just 2 hits away from victory. But two beauties from Kirtley went
passed the edge of Chilton's bat and into Prior's gloves, who was standing up
to the wicket. Chilton hit a four off the last ball, but by then it was all too
late. Sussex won their first trophy for 3 years since they won the County
Championship back in 2003.
Scorecards

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www.bbc.co.uk/sport said:

Harbhajan favourite to be called up to replace Kumble

3-DAY TOUR MATCH, Grace Road
Sri Lanka A 315/9 dec & 214/2 drew with India 316

Harbhajan Singh is the most likely candidate to replace injured spinner Anil
Kumble has been ruled out of the final test due to a broken finger. Kumble was
injured on day one of the 2nd test at Trent Bridge and was unable to bowl
for the duration of the game. Harbhajan Singh is the favourite to take his
place after he played in India's 3-day tour match draw against Sri Lanka A.
Michael Vandort hit 100 and 71 as Sri Lanka dominated most of the 3 days.
Sreesanth showed the selectors why he should be picked in the test side,
taking 3 for 65 and 1 for 75.

India's two openers from the previous two test matches, Jaffer and Karthik,
made 79 and 60 respectively. Prasad bowled very tidily for Sri Lanka A as he
took 5 wickets in India's innings. With the 3rd test match being played on the
9th, 4 days away, all eyes will be on the Indian selectors to see who they
pick to replace Kumble. RP Singh is to have a fitness test before the squads
are announced, but in case he isn't fit then Sreesanth or the extra batsmen
in VVS Laxman could be selected.

India and England will announce their sides for the 3rd and final test on 8th August

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www.bbc.co.uk/sport said:

Notts could be deducted points for poor pitch

NATWEST PRO40 DIV 1, Trent Bridge
Nottinghamshire 117/5 beat Worcestershire 116/8 by 5 wickets

Nottinghamshire could be deducted points for the very poorly prepared pitch
at Trent Bridge. In just 78.3 overs of cricket there were 13 wickets to fall
and only 233 runs scored. Trent Bridge has recently hosted the 2nd npower
Test match between England and India, but it was a different wicket used.
The ECB will look into the matter and may deduct points from Notts, which
would mean that their win would be counted out. Worcestershire could only
manage 116/8 from their 40 overs and Nottinghamshire only just managed to
get there with 9 balls to spare.

Nottinghamshire coach, Mike Newell, has stated that he feels the pitch was
just a one off and that they shouldn't be deducted points. "Yes the wicket
was poor, but you get that every so often in cricket. It wasn't as if both
sides made 70 runs or so. I'm sure that if you speak to the Worcestershire
boys they will feel they batted very poorly, and we didn't bat too well ourselves.
I just hope they take a look into the matter and leave it alone. It's not good
for the domestic game if teams start losing points just because of one off low
scoring matches."
Table

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www.bbc.co.uk said:

Harris continues to shine in U19 victory

FIRST YOUTH TEST, Scarborough
England U19s 185 & 214/4 beat Pakistan U19s 280 & 117 by 6 wickets

James Harris took 10 wickets in the 1st of two youth test's against Pakistan at
Scarborough. The England U19s recovered from a 95 run deficit from the 1st
innings to come back and win comprehensively. Pakistan made 280 in the 1st
innings, Umar Amin with a fine 80 and Ali Asad with 54. England replied with
just 185, Pakistan's Mohammad Aamer taking 8 for 68 from 28 overs. Ben Brown
top scored with 46 and Billy Godleman made 40.

The England openers Harris and Finn both ripped into the Pakistani line-up,
taking 9 wickets between them. Harris finished with 6 for 33 and Finn 3 for 25.
Only 4 batsmen made double figures for Pakistan, all of them getting out in
the 20's. England were set 211 to win and did so with ease. Adam Lyth made
an unbeaten 90 and Brown added to his 1st innings score with another forty,
this time 43 not out.

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www.bbc.co.uk/sport said:

Strauss dropped after pair at Trent Bridge

THIRD NPOWER TEST MATCH, The Brit Oval

England opening batsmen Andrew Strauss has been dropped after a pair in
the 2nd test at Trent Bridge. Strauss made a great start to the series with
169 but couldn't have a worse test at Trent Bridge. Ravi Bopara has been
called up to replace the opener in what will be his test match debut. Scoring
an unbeaten 103 in his last County Championship for Essex certainly helped
in his selection for the the final test. Bopara is expected to bat at 6, 1 ahead
of wicketkeeper Matt Prior. Michael Vaughan will move up to open with Alastair
Cook.

England Test Squad for Final Test: M.Vaughan (c),J.Anderson, I.Bell, R.Bopara,
P.Collingwood, A.Cook, M.Panesar, K.Pietersen, L.Plunkett, M.Prior (wk), R.Sidebottom

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