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Warwickshire’s run chase against Gloucestershire at Bristol came to a soggy end when heavy rain wiped out play after 4.45pm.The visitors, set 239 to win in a minimum of 42 overs, were 113-2 in the 22nd over when they came off and in a reasonable position to claim their fourth CricInfo Championship Division Two success of the season.Discarded England opener Nick Knight was well set on 47 not out, while David Hemp was unbeaten on five.Michael Powell fell for 16 when he was well caught by Jeremy Snape, running back from cover, off strike bowler Ben Gannon.Mark Wagh, playing with the confidence which brought him 89 in the first innings, had scored a brisk 37 when he was caught at midwicket by Mark Alleyne from the bowling of spinner Martyn Ball.Earlier, Jack Russell and Jeremy Snape had been largely responsible for extending Gloucestershire’s second innings to 297 and into early afternoon.The pair shared a sixth wicket stand of 136 before Snape was caught and bowled by Neil Smith for 89.Russell, in a typically obdurate innings, occupied the crease for 275 minutes and 240 balls for his 91 not out.Smith finished as Warwickshire’s most successful bowler with 3-57 from 24 overs.Gloucestershire, meanwhile, have confirmed that their England A pace bowler Jon Lewis, out of action for the past month, will miss Saturday’s Benson & Hedges Cup final with Surrey at Lord’s amid fears that he has a stress fracture of the back.The county learned on Friday that vice-captain and opening batsman TimHancock would be sidelined for the final after he broke a bone in his right hand during fielding practice.

Tharindu Kaushal’s indifferent outing at Galle raised concerns over whether he could become Rangana Herath’s spin-bowling successor, but Herath himself could still play for some time yet, Angelo Mathews said. Herath played a leading role in a second successive Galle victory for Sri Lanka, this time claiming match figures of 10 for 147.Herath is now 37 (five years older than Dhammika Prasad, who was Sri Lanka’s second-oldest player in this XI) and has said he would assess his future and retirement following next year’s World T20. Mathews had also suggested that Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene had more international cricket in them, but both batsmen have now retired, leaving Mathews with a green Test top order.”I believe, Rangana can play few more years because he is also working very hard with our trainer and now he has reduced lot of weight,” Mathews said. “We mustn’t look at his age but at his performance. That said, I accept the fact that other bowlers also should come up. If they want to achieve what Rangana has achieved, they need to work hard.”Among those needing work is Kaushal, who returned figures of 1 for 94 in this Test match. He had been particularly disappointing in the first innings, where he failed to find a consistent length, and proved expensive. He also overstepped six times.Kaushal was recently banned from bowling the doosra, following biomechanical Tests in Chennai. Both Mathews and the Sri Lanka team’s coaches believe he can be penetrative even without that delivery, particularly as he turns the offbreak substantially. However, his lack of control and subtlety appear to be frustrating his career.”Tharindu Kaushal was pretty disappointing – he was not bowling at his best,” Mathews said. “We wanted to go with Kaushal, especially on this wicket. It was a tactical move. We wanted someone who can really give it a rip on this wicket. Unfortunately, he was pretty poor in this game.”He’s still working very hard with spin coach Piyal Wijetunge. We just wanted him to bowl his offspinners on the spot. If he does that, he’s going to get lot more wickets than with his doosra. But he didn’t do that well. He can keep improving.Mathews suggested the team was wary of asking Kaushal to make too many changes so early in his career. “When it comes to pace, he doesn’t change his pace that much. We didn’t want to change him upside down, because the way he bowls, he’s going to get lot of wickets.”Mathews issued glowing praise to the top-order batsmen that formed the bedrock of Sri Lanka’s first innings 484. The top four had had a particularly lean series against India, against whom Sri Lanka did not cross 400. Opener Dimuth Karunaratne made a career-best 186, and for much of that innings batted in the company of Dinesh Chandimal, who hit 151. The pair put on 238 for the third wicket.”We had some individual brilliance to lead us to victory,” Mathews said. “To start off with, Dimuth and Chandimal were brilliant. They batted us to a position where we could hardly lose. After getting 480-odd, it gives the bowlers some cushioning to go out there and enjoy themselves. We haven’t put up a total like that for quite some time.”We can’t keep talking of the past all the time, so we’ve decided to take up the challenge and responsibility. After Sangakkara and Mahela left the team, we needed those guys to stand up and take the responsibility. I’m glad that they did it.”

The touring Kenyan team scored the first victory of their fortnightlong tour of India when they defeated Mumbai CA XI by seven wickets atthe Brabourne stadium on Monday. The visitors had earlier lost to TataSC in a one day match at Mumbai and then drew with Maharashtra CA XIin a two day game at Pune.Put in to bat, the Mumbai side were dismissed for 153 in 47.1overs. They never really recovered after opening bowlers Suji andOdoyo got rid of the first four batsman – A Rane, skipper Amit Pagnis,Sushant Manjrekar and Kiran Powar – with only 46 runs on theboard. The middle order boosted the score a bit with A Dani at No 7getting 32 and Mussavir Khote at No 8 scoring 26. The two put on 39runs for the seventh wicket from 13 overs after six wickets had gonefor 93 – the highest stand of the innings. Odoyo, Suji, Tikolo andOdumbe all took two wickets each.It was far from smooth sailing for Kenya as they commenced theirreply. Openers KO Otieno and RD Shah were out midway through the fifthover with only nine runs on the board. However HS Modi (19) and SteveTikolo weathered the early storm by adding 50 runs for the thirdwicket off 13.4 overs. It was then left to the experienced duo ofTikolo and skipper Maurice Odumbe to apply the finishing touches withan unbeaten fourth wicket partnership of 97 runs off 16 overs. Tikolohit 84 off 89 balls with nine fours and two sixes while Odumbe’s 34was compiled off 48 balls and included two hits to the ropes.

Somerset will be travelling to March on Wednesday June 27th to take on Cambridgeshire of the Minor Counties in the third round of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy, which was formerly the Nat West Trophy.If Somerset are successful at March they will play the winners of the match between Glamorgan and Derbyshire at The County Ground on Wednesday July 11th.Details regarding tickets for the Cambridgeshire match can be obtained from The County Ground.

Kevin Pietersen’s second ton in as many games ensured Dolphins made short work of a target of 168 as they cruised past Knights to notch a nine-wicket win with 20 balls to spare. On Wednesday in a win over Lions, Pietersen took 63 balls to reach triple-figures but only needed 45 balls on Friday as Dolphins sprinted toward victory with Pietersen’s unbeaten 100.Pietersen added 135 for the second wicket with Morne van Wyk with the wicketkeeper-batsman finishing on 34 not out. This came after an opening stand of 35 between van Wyk and Cameron Delport in which Delport scored 34 of the 35 runs, the other coming courtesy of a wide, before being dismissed by Ryan McLaren. A first-innings ton by Theunis de Bruyn was in vain as Pietersen’s opposite number on the Knights struck 100 off 55 balls before he was one of two wickets for Kyle Abbott. Opener Reeza Hendricks had given Knights a steady start with a run-a-ball 42 after they were asked to bat.Titans emerged with a four-wicket win over Lions in a tricky chase of 116. Quinton de Kock top-scored for Titans with 34 but the victory was secured thanks to a 33-run seventh-wicket stand between Graeme van Buuren and Chris Morris after their side was left in trouble at 84 for 6 in the 14th over.Aaron Phangiso took 3 for 19 to give Lions hope after a poor batting performance in which just two players reached double-figures. Captain Thami Tsolekile made 58 off 41 balls at No. 5, but received no support from the rest of the line-up and was eventually ninth man out. Chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi finished with 3 for 20 while Morris and Lungi Ngidi took two wickets each.Cape Cobras fought back with a strong rally in the field to hold on for a five-run win over Warriors in Paarl. Opener Richard Levi top-scored with 52 off 37 to lay a platform for a total of 140 for 6 after Cobras were sent in. Andrew Birch and JJ Smuts took two wickets each as Warriors used nine bowlers.In reply, Warriors were 100 for 1 thanks to a 79-run second-wicket stand between Colin Ackermann and Colin Ingram but the wicket of Ingram unsettled the chase. Still, Warriors looked to be headed toward a win at the start of the 19th over with Ackermann at the crease on 58 and the score 124 for 2 with 17 needed for victory.Dane Paterson then took two in two balls to start the over before a four by Ackermann off the final ball meant Warriors needed 10 off six balls. Wayne Parnell came to the rescue for Cobras, taking two wickets in three balls – the second of which was Ackermann’s for 64 – with another dot in between to leave Warriors needing 10 off three with two new batsmen at the crease. A run-out followed on the next ball before the final two deliveries resulted in a two and a single by Jerry Nqolo and they fell short by five runs.

Samit Patel has won a surprise recall for England for the first time in nearly three years after Zafar Ansari was ruled unfit for the forthcoming series against Pakistan in the UAE because of a hand injury.Ansari’s selection for what would have been his England debut series was a clear indication that England were looking to the next generation, but Patel has always suggested he has never quite abandoned hope of an England recall and that faith has now been justified.Patel joins two other spin bowling allrounders in the tour party – Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid – and, as a batsman with the ability to bowl slow left-arm, he is a like-for-like replacement.For all Patel’s faith that he could force his way back into England reckoning, he has not had a good season. He has taken 25 Championship wickets at 32.40, but he has had an unproductive time with the bat, averaging only 24 in Nottinghamshire’s middle order. Nevertheless, he has shown in his time for England that he plays spin bowling as well as anybody. His director of cricket at Notts, Mick Newell, also insists his red-ball bowling has matured this season, despite an unhelpful summer for spinners.To a large extent, Patel’s recall encapsulates the dearth of spin bowling options in England, with Middlesex’s spin bowler, Ollie Rayner, arguing on ESPNcricinfo that conditions in England were hostile to the development of spin bowling.That Patel’s weight will again be a topic for discussion is inevitable, and he will just have to put up with it. It was held to be a reason why England looked elsewhere last season at a time when the pundit and former England coach, David Lloyd, termed him the form player in county cricket. He looks trim.But the old jokes are the good ones. As one cynic was quick to observe when his recall was announced: “Zafar Ansari got a first at Cambridge; Samit Patel had seconds at lunch.”Patel played five Tests in 2012, taking only four wickets at 62 runs apiece. His last Test was against India in Kolkata in December of that year, a match that England won by seven wickets en route to a remarkable 2-1 series victory.Upon signing a new three-year deal with Notts in March this year, he insisted: “I still harbour England ambitions and playing with Nottinghamshire will give me the best chance of doing that.”Ansari is distinctly unfortunate. It was on the day he was called up to his first England Test squad that he suffered an open dislocation of his left thumb against Lancashire at Old Trafford and was sent to hospital.Surrey confirmed the extent of Ansari’s injury in a tweet at 10pm on Tuesday, but the club had been fearing the worst from the outset. Fielding at cover point, Ansari dropped a very difficult catch off Lancashire’s Ashwell Prince and immediately gestured for assistance from the dressing room. He left the field holding a bandage to his left hand and soon went to hospital.His withdrawal from the tour was confirmed following an MRI scan during a visit to a hand specialist yesterday. He will now undergo further rehabilitation with his participation in the EPP and Lions tours of the UAE subject to a further assessment from the ECB and Surrey medical teams in approximately three weeks’ time.”The timing of this injury, on the day his selection was announced, was particularly cruel for Zafar and he is naturally extremely disappointed to have to pull out of the tour,” James Whitaker, the national selector. “As a left-arm spinner and a middle-order batsman, Samit is a similar type of player to Zafar and his previous international experience, and in particular, experience of performing for England in sub-continental conditions will be an extremely useful asset to the squad in the UAE.”Ansari was one of three players uncapped at Test level included in England’s 16-man squad for the three Test series against Pakistan which starts on October 13. Alex Hales, Patel’s Nottinghamshire team mate, and Rashid were also named.England Test squad: Alastair Cook (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Samit Patel, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, Mark Wood.One-Day International squad: Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, James Taylor, Reece Topley, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.T20 International squad: Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Stephen Parry, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Reece Topley, James Vince, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

Northamptonshire has moved back to the top of Division Two of the CountyChampionship after completing a resounding home victory over Worcestershiretoday with more than two sessions still remaining.For the second week in a row, it was off spinners Jason Brown (5/55) andGraeme Swann (4/88) who proved the matchwinners. After taking seventeenwickets together in the last round, the tandem slow bowling combinationadded another sixteen to their rapidly swelling collective tally withanother superb exhibition.Worcestershire had entered the final day at a score of 102/6 in its secondinnings – and still facing a massive overall deficit of 168 runs. Matterssoon became even worse as Brown tempted Steve Rhodes (4) into drivingextravagantly at, but alas over the top of, a conventional off break.Stuart Lampitt (56*) and, to a lesser extent, Paul Pollard (9), summonedenough defiance to see out eighteen overs together before the latter’swicket fell but, from there, the end came quickly.There was both good and bad news for the visitors in Lampitt’s attainmentof a well-deserved half century – for he gained appropriate reward for apositive innings and yet illustrated, in scoring it, the thoroughinadequacy of his team’s match totals of 249 and 198 on what was by nomeans an awkward pitch on which to bat.Following this result, the rampant Northamptonshire now finds itself threepoints clear of Sussex at the head of the divisional standings. It seemslikely that its fate will be determined in its two meetings with thatparticular rival over the course of the next fortnight – the first of whichbegins at Northampton on Wednesday.

New Zealand coach Mike Hesson has said his team will take plenty of positives from their tour of Africa, despite losing the one-day series to South Africa 2-1. The tour finished with New Zealand’s loss in the final ODI in Durban on Wednesday, but they had beaten Zimbabwe in the ODI series that began the trip, beat Zimbabwe in a T20 and shared the T20 series with South Africa.New Zealand entered the tour without some of their key players, with Brendon McCullum and Tim Southee rested, and Trent Boult and Corey Anderson missing due to injuries. Kane Williamson captained the squad in McCullum’s absence and Hesson said he was pleased with the way several newer faces took to international cricket.”It was a pretty fair reflection of the performance,” Hesson said. “I think we were a little bit off song in all three departments. South Africa were on song, they adapted to conditions better than we did and they put us under pressure.”Overall I’m still delighted with the tour in terms of what we wanted to achieve. Sure, it’s a disappointing way to finish but it doesn’t take the gloss off what’s been an excellent tour for us moving forward as a cricket side. We’ve unleashed a number of new players and a few other players have come back into the fold as well.”Tom Latham was New Zealand’s third-leading run scorer across the whole tour and scored his maiden ODI century against Zimbabwe, and Doug Bracewell enjoyed the South African bowling conditions in his first one-day internationals for more than two years. Legspinner Ish Sodhi was another who was given a chance and claimed six wickets in the first six ODIs of his career.”Ish played a lot of cricket and I thought he got better and better as the tour went on and grew in confidence,” Hesson said. “He didn’t pick up the wickets I thought he deserved at times but I thought he was excellent. The South Africans looked to go after him and I thought he held his composure nicely.”We couldn’t ask any more of Tom. He and Martin were outstanding at the top throughout both the one-day series. He scored at a good rate, playing good quality cricket shots. Delighted to be able to give Tom some consistent opportunities and then for him to take it adds to our depth nicely.”We had a very strong seam bowling attack over here even without Trent and Corey. We had a lot of competition for places. Doug certainly forced his hand through performances and earned the opportunities that he got. Really pleased with the consistent areas he bowled and the way he adapted to different conditions.”

ScorecardVarun Chopra helped secure a first victory for the 2014 beaten finalists•Getty Images

Warwickshire notched up their first victory of this season’s Royal London Cup after a thrilling last-gasp three-wicket win against Lancashire at Old Trafford.Varun Chopra’s 88, plus Tim Ambrose’ half-century at better than a run a ball laid the foundations for Warwickshire to reach their target of 266, but they still needed three fours in the final over from Ateeq Javid to seal victory with a solitary ball to spare.Last year’s finalists had lost twice and gained a point from an abandonment in their other fixtures and managed to restrict their hosts to 265 for 7, Ashwell Prince and Alex Davies starring for Lancashire, who were put into bat. Lancashire were quickly on the back foot when Keith Barker tempted Karl Brown to edge behind in just the fifth over as the Lightning struggled for a foothold in the opening exchanges.Salvation came in the usual shape of South Africa’s Prince, who brought his stunning first-class form into the shorter format with a typically belligerent innings that found its feet in the 10th over when the veteran opener pulled successive balls from Rikki Clarke to the leg side boundary for four then six.Prince and fellow countryman Alviro Petersen put on 62 for the second wicket before the latter skied an on drive to the back-pedalling Keith Barker at mid-on for 22. The setback made little difference to Prince who continued unheeded as he and Paul Horton proceeded to compile another crucial partnership of 75 until Horton was strangled down the leg side for 37 by Boyd Rankin.Rankin had struggled early on but his second spell proved far more fruitful as Horton’s departure triggered a mini collapse. Prince was the next to go, missing out on his century after edging the big Irishman behind for 82, and when skipper Steven Croft quickly followed in the same manner, Lancashire had lost three wickets for seven runs.It was left to 20-year-old wicketkeeper Davies to restore some momentum into the innings with a knock full of improvisation which included one boundary off a one-handed backhand smash.Davies and James Faulkner added a valuable 79 before the close, but it was a target that looked well within Warwickshire’s reach, especially when Chopra and William Porterfield put on 64 for the opening wicket.The introduction of left arm spinner Steven Parry proved vital as he removed Porterfield for 38 before former England Test player Jonathan Trott quickly departed following a poor shot off Faulkner.Chopra and Ambrose, compiled a third wicket partnership of 102 to bring the visitors back into contention. Ambrose fell lbw to Jarvis for 59 off 57 balls before the accurate Parry removed Clarke for five and then Croft bowled Laurie Evans for 11.Chopra was finally dismissed in the 44th over, 60 runs short of the target, but in a nail biting last over Javid and Jeetan Patel kept their nerve as the former hit Tom Bailey for the winning boundary from the penultimate delivery of the match.

If it’s the Eden Gardens, it seems to be a big hundred for VVS Laxman. The Hyderabadi stylist helped himself to a painfully slow unbeaten 154 as the third and final Test meandered to the tamest of draws. For his part, Sachin Tendulkar missed out on a golden opportunity to score a double hundred, being dismissed by Cuffy for 176. But the little master had the satisfaction of earning the Man of the Match award for his match-saving knock that rescued India from a precarious position of 87/4. Unsurprisingly, Harbhajan Singh’s 20 wickets were enough to win him the Man of the Series award.On the final evening, Laxman struck an unbeaten 154 as India declared their second innings at 471 for eight to salvage a draw in the third and final Test against West Indies, which enabled them to clinch the series 2-0.The fourth Test hundred of Laxman’s career came at his favoured venue – Eden Gardens – after India opted to settle for a draw rather than make a aggressive declaration and push for a whitewash on a wicket that was low and slow.The visitors, after suffering huge defeats in the first two Tests, had earlier harboured visions of a face-saving win when they took a 139-run first innings lead and reduced India to 87 for four on the fourth day.But Tendulkar forged a record 214-run fifth wicket partnership with Laxman, who batted with unusual reticence.Tendulkar, who faced 299 balls in his seven-hour knock peppered with 26 boundaries, strained his hamstring and has been ruled out of the one-day series starting on Wednesday. Punjab left-hander Dinesh Mongia replaces Tendulkar.Laxman’s second century against West Indies followed his Indian record 281 at the ground last year, which lifted India to a series-levelling win over Australia after they had followed on. It was also his second century against the West Indies, after his 130 in the fourth Test at St John’s, Antigua in May 2002.