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Gary Kirsten admitted that it is a “little bit concerning” that seamer Vernon Philander will head straight into two months of county cricket after a busy season. Philander played in seven of the eight Tests South Africa contested this season and turned out in all formats for his franchise, the Cobras. He will not have a break until the end of May, a month before South Africa’s tour to England.Kirsten said despite the packed schedule, Philander must honour his contract with Somerset because he agreed to it before he became a nationally contracted player. Kirsten was consulted about the decision and encouraged Philander to accept Somerset offer because of the experience it would allow him to gain. “That decision was made during the first Test against Australia in November,” Kirsten said. “Philander asked me my opinion and I said I didn’t think it will be a bad idea to get used to the bowling conditions there. I don’t think anyone would have thought that he would play seven Tests and get 50 wickets and really play a major part and bowl a lot of overs for us.”Philander stunned the international stage with his consistent wicket-taking and was awarded a CSA contract in January, which comes into effect on April 1. Philander’s Somerset contract was subject to conditions relating to whether he was able to secure an IPL deal. When he went unsold in the February auction, Philander’s agreement with Somerset kicked in. He will play eight matches starting on April 5, when they host Middlesex in their first Championship match.Kirsten said it is vital Philander sees out his contract but hopes CSA can work with Somerset to ensure he is not overworked or burnt out. “He wasn’t under CSA contract when he signed the Somerset contract. He needs to honour his contract, that’s important. But we would like to create a relationship with them and say these are our needs going forward in terms of the Test series,” Kirsten said. “What’s important for me is that he has a window period, a conditioning period. We would like to create that. We will chat to Somerset and see where they are on it and hopefully we can get a significant conditioning period. As it stands at the moment he is due to comeback at the end of May.”County seasons are known to be gruelling on most and South Africans have sometimes struggled to keep up. Dale Steyn was one of the bowlers who had a tough time adjusting during his 2005 stint at Essex and Lonwabo Tsotsobe also battled in his time at the same county last season. Kirsten said Somerset have promised to be accommodating with Philander but even if they are not, he should have ample rest. “They’ve been quite good about it already. They’ve said we are not going to overuse him but I know how the county circuit works. There’s no such thing as overuse when you’ve got a game on the line,” Kirsten said. “He has got a month off when he gets back and then we go to England so it’s a decent break.”Philander’s England experience is being eagerly anticipated after his explosive start in Test cricket. He is level as the second-fastest bowler to 50 Test wickets, achieving the feat in just seven matches. Although not expressly quick, Philander has shown the worth of being a crafty bowler and has gone from rookie to being the leader of the South African attack in a short space of time.The secret to Philander’s success seems to be nothing more complicated than rewards for discipline and skill and a testament to the work he put in at domestic level. “He is very consistent, he has got good control and gets subtle movement of the ball both ways,”Kirsten explained. “He bowls very accurately and has got enough pace. He knows what he is doing with the ball and he has got a great, very simple bowling technique. But, more importantly, he has got the mental capability to make big plays when we need him to make big plays and that is very exciting. It’s very exciting that we have those types of individuals. We tried him out this summer and look at the summer he had.”

Marcus North, the Western Australia captain, will miss the rest of the season due to an injury to his right little finger. He will now also be ruled out of the first three months of the English season, where he has signed to play for Glamorgan.The injury means North will be unavailable should the Western Australia make the Sheffield Shield final, which looks increasingly likely after their comprehensive win over New South Wales in Perth on Sunday.It was during that match that North suffered the problem in the field, and he took no further part in the game. North had surgery on Friday night and was told he had ruptured tendons in the finger, which will keep him out of action for at least three months.”There’s never a good time for an injury and unfortunately it’s come for me at the back end of the season when we’re playing really good cricket,” North told reporters in Perth on Monday. “It’s devastating not to have the opportunity to play the rest of the season, but I’ll certainly be right behind the guys and hoping for the best. It would be great to top it off with making a Shield final and winning a Shield final and if they do, I’ll just have to live with the fact I won’t be playing in it.”Shaun Marsh will captain the Warriors in their next match, a Ryobi Cup game against New South Wales on Wednesday, which will be his first experience of state leadership. The vice-captain Adam Voges has been ruled out of the one-day game due to a shoulder injury.

ScorecardWriddhiman Saha flayed the Central Zone medium-pacers during his 170•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

East Zone surged to their maiden Duleep Trophy title in less than eight sessions in Indore, their fast bowlers ripping through a spineless Central Zone line-up with a succession of short deliveries. Despite trailing by 237 runs after the first innings in a five-day game, Central tried to pull and hook their way out of trouble, but only managed to top-edge catches.Central Zone had caved in for 133 in the first innings. Take out the opening partnership of 79, and they managed 138 in the second – they were minus opener Vineet Saxena, who wasn’t able to bat after fracturing a finger. The Holkar Stadium pitch had eased out on day two going by the way Wriddhiman Saha had flayed the Central Zone medium-pacers for 170. But Shami Ahmed and Ashok Dinda showed that there was still help from the surface for those who had the ability and the intent to extract it.Bengal fast bowler Shami was outstanding, consistently getting bounce and zip from just short of a good length. Dinda, whether he was running in during his first over or his 25th, leapt into his delivery stride with the same effort to end the first-class season with a staggering 59 wickets.The only sore point in an otherwise dominant performance was East Zone’s slip catching. Shami alone had at least a couple of catches put down and at one point shrieked at his blundering team-mates in frustration, “” (What are you guys doing?). It also led a spectator to wryly shout, “” (You should hold your catches at times as well).Central Zone, though, were in no mood to put up any sort of fight, despite national selector Narendra Hirwani’s presence. Central Zone began the day trailing by 189, and had to go for quick runs if they were to come back into the game. Saha had said yesterday that East Zone would look for wickets in the first session on day three, and their fast bowlers were relentless in that quest today. That Naman Ojha and Jalaj Saxena were able to last for almost nine overs today was down more to their good fortune than their survival skills.Jalaj had resisted through a mix of inside edges, slashes, slogs and lofted shots. On 46, he steered Dinda straight to gully, where Shahbaz Nadeem juggled and put down the catch. Two balls later, Dinda produced a searing bouncer, Jalaj went for the hook, but could only top-edge to fine leg. It was to become a pattern.Before that, though, Shami served more notice of his ability to get the ball to rear from just short of a length. Ojha could only fend the snorter to Saha. Mohammad Kaif, who is usually a jittery starter, seemed like getting out at any moment, edging through the cordon a couple of times. He chose to pull a short Shami ball from outside off stump, and fine leg was in business again.The Ranji Trophy’s highest run-getter, Robin Bist, fluffed another opportunity to push his case at the zonal level. Dinda sent one at his throat, Bist hooked, and Saha ran behind square leg to take the offering.The bouncers to the batsmen before him made Parvinder Singh try to play even a good length Shami delivery from the crease, only to be trapped plumb in front. Parvinder fell off the last ball before lunch, and the talk during the break was about how soon the innings-defeat would arrive.It arrived just over an hour into the second session. If the specialist batsmen had not held back on the pull, there was no question of Piyush Chawla doing so. Another bouncer. Another top-edge to fine leg. Another tame dismissal.Mohnish Mishra played some big strokes during his 44, but he was put down three times in the cordon – two of the chances were straightforward. Anustup Majumdar finally held on to a chance to end Mishra’s stay and give Dinda his third wicket.The end came soon with TP Sudhindra holing out to deep midwicket, setting off celebrations among the East Zone players, who took back all six stumps as mementos. Three wins in three games, two of them outright. No longer were they pushovers in the Duleep Trophy.

Misbah-ul-Haq, successor as Pakistan captain to the disgraced Salman Butt, has appealed to England to forget the spot-fixing scandal that has blighted his country’s cricketing reputation and expressed confidence that there is no chance of a repeat.Pakistan and England meet for the first time in 17 months since a plot by Butt and the two Pakistan fast bowlers, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, to bowl deliberate no-balls for financial gain were uncovered in a sting operation by the now defunct tabloid, the .The players were banned by the ICC and three months ago received lengthy jail sentences at Southwark Crown, leaving Pakistan and England to approach a three-Test series in the UAE fearing lingering resentment.Misbah, flanked by Pakistan’s team manager Naveed Akram Cheema at an arrival media conference at the ICC offices in Dubai, asked England to give Pakistan a fair chance to recover their reputation.”I think both teams know we just have to forget the past,” he said. “Our area of concern is to play good cricket, fair cricket – and that’s what we can do. In a year and a half, our performances show that – the way we are behaving on the field, the way we are conducting ourselves.”Credit goes to the team and all the players after a difficult time – everybody just stuck to the task, gathered their thoughts and just wanted to prove to the world that we were good players and a good team. Our target is just to play cricket in the true spirit. We want good relations, and to play really good and hard cricket.”Cheema was also adamant that Pakistan have put their house in order. “The Pakistan Cricket Board has introduced a code of conduct – an anti-corruption code – and all these guys have been told. We are following this code in letter and spirit. I think with those rules and regulations in place, the chances [of spot fixing] happening again are not there. I’m absolutely confident about that.”Some England observers have looked askance at Pakistan’s selection of Wahab Riaz, who was omitted while legal proceedings took place against his former team-mates, but who has now been recalled.”As far as Wahab was concerned, I think all those who were involved in the unfortunate incident have been imprisoned,” Cheema said. “Nothing special has been pointed out against [Wahab] – neither from the ICC nor elsewhere – and until something is found these are mere speculations. As far as the PCB is concerned and Wahab is concerned, there are no allegations which we have received.”Coincidentally, Misbah and Cheema were speaking within minutes of an MCC World Cricket Committee media release in Cape Town, calling on the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit to impose life bans on any captain, vice-captain or coach found guilty of corruption.

ScorecardLuke Wright’s 117 was his highest score in Twenty20s•Getty Images

Luke Wright must have felt right at home tonight. Conditions were akin to an icy, wet, January evening in the UK and the Englishman produced an innings that lit up a dull Hobart sky. In doing so, he broke nearly every Australian domestic Twenty20 batting record to help the Melbourne Stars to a crucial victory over the ladder-leading Hobart Hurricanes. Wright thumped an extraordinary 117 from 60 deliveries with eight fours and nine sixes to leave the 13,713 in attendance breathless, and launch his side up to third position on a very congested Big Bash League table.Wright and Robert Quiney (62) justified their captain’s decision to bat as they combined for the highest partnership in Australian domestic T20s. Along the way Wright set record after record of his own. He reached 50 from 23 balls, the fastest half-century in this BBL. That record was broken by Travis Birt an hour later. But Wright’s hundred from 44 balls will be a record that will take some breaking. He brought it up with a big straight six off the usually miserly Xavier Doherty.The consistency of Wright’s hitting was astonishing and he generated great power to knife several balls through the icy, gale-force wind and beyond the rope on nine occasions.Wright and Quiney were helped significantly by some jittery fielding during their 172-run stand. Hobart dropped four catches between the pair, including each player off consecutive deliveries. Eventually Birt clung on a Quiney missile on the midwicket rope. The Hurricanes dropped a fifth catch, off Matthew Wade this time, in the final over. Ironically, it probably helped rather than hindered their cause, as it meant David Hussey faced only three balls rather than four. Hussey steered two near-perfect yorkers from Ben Laughlin to the backward point rope to lift the total beyond 200.It looked a target beyond the Hurricanes’ reach when Phil Jaques miscued to mid-on second ball of the innings. Enter Birt. In the fourth over from Jackson Bird he launched a six down the ground and then flat batted another one over the point rope.The next over from Clint McKay was carnage. After copping the first ball on the thigh, Birt swatted the next two to opposing square boundaries for four. That was the entrée. For the main course he swept the fourth ball, a low full toss, over fine leg and out of the ground. The fifth and sixth were no-balls, and they both were dispatched miles over the midwicket fence to take Birt to 51 from 22 balls. Birt would not add to it though as he dragged the next ball onto his stumps. McKay’s over cost 28 runs, featured three dot balls, and claimed the crucial wicket of Birt.Owais Shah immediately picked up the slack, continuing his outstanding form in the tournament. He danced around the wicket with typical style and flourish. His 55 from 37 kept Hobart in the hunt but when he fell to James Faulkner the chase was over. The Tasmanian left-armer claimed four important wickets for the Melbourne side although they came at a cost of 46.Yet again the masterful craft of Shane Warne and the clever guile of Hussey were features of the Stars’ bowling effort. Warne claimed 2 for 23, and Hussey 2 for 28 to effectively strangle the chase, after the Hurricanes spinners had gone for more than 13 an over as a pair.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammad Hafeez opened the bowling in the morning, and later underlined Pakistan’s dominance with the bat•AFP

The Bangladesh top order graced the first day of the Chittagong Test with a display of carelessness, to make a masterstroke of Misbah-ul-Haq’s strange decision to bowl on a flat pitch. The senior batsmen – Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib Al Hasan – led the way, succumbing to three of the more atrocious shots of the morning, and the lower order followed suit in the afternoon. Bangladesh were eventually dismissed for 135 in less than two sessions, proving additional strength to the growing criticism of their Test status.The situation would have been worse had Nazimuddin not batted with more grit on debut than some of his colleagues have shown in the entire year. His 31 and Nasir Hossain’s free-spirited 41 contributed more than half the total. The Pakistan openers – Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar – put Bangladesh’s performance and the pitch in perspective with an unbeaten 132-run stand.Obduracy is not beyond Bangladesh – they routinely give up stiff ODI chases and bat out time, as they did in the second ODI – but they refuse to show that characteristic in the format where it is a pre-requisite. Bangladesh underlined why they hadn’t managed even a draw against a full-strength top-flight side in over 10 years, without assistance from the weather.Misbah undermined his decision to bowl by handing the new ball to Mohammad Hafeez – the first time a Pakistan spinner was bowling the first over of a Test. The experiment was quickly shelved after Hafeez’s bunny, Tamim, survived his first three overs. Aizaz Cheema replaced Hafeez, and angled his fourth ball across Tamim, who responded with a loose drive away from his body and edged behind. In Cheema’s next over, Shahriar Nafees fell for a duck while defending in front of his body without decisive footwork.While Cheema specialised in big inswingers bowled from wide of the crease, Umar Gul settled into his usual mix of legcutters, indippers, and tempting half-volleys. Mohammad Ashraful’s comeback lasted 11 balls, before he produced a mirror-image of Tamim’s dismissal. The away-going delivery was not quite there for the drive, but he threw his hands at it and nicked behind.Mushfiqur Rahim started with a promising off-drive for four, but Saeed Ajmal trapped him in his first over with a sharp offbreak. Shakib produced the illusion of stability by hanging around for eight overs, before the rash-stroke epidemic got to him. With ten minutes to go for lunch, and men around the bat, he swept Abdur Rehman straight to square leg.Nazimuddin battled through it all, showing exemplary judgement against short balls and swing. He repeatedly dropped his wrists and swayed out of line when tested by bounce, and covered the line of length deliveries. A series of rasping drives showed that he belonged, before he betrayed his inexperience with two needless flirts outside the off stump. The first edge landed short of the slips, but the second carried to Hafeez.By now Ajmal had settled into his nagging lines from round the wicket, tossing up doosras, sliders and offbreaks from similar trajectories. Mahmudullah was lbw playing back to a slider, while Elias Sunny nicked another to slip. Nasir did the right thing in the circumstances, chancing his arm while he still had partners. The best of his shots came against Cheema, whom he pulled, glanced, hooked and drove for boundaries. He also heaved Ajmal for a six down the ground, and eased him through the covers for four as Bangladesh nursed hopes of getting to 150. They were denied by another hare-brained shot, when Nasir paddled Rehman onto his jaw en route to silly point.After tea, Hafeez began an afternoon of accumulation by flicking his first ball for three. As always Hafeez’s driving was top-class, but Bangladesh’s indiscipline also allowed him to cut and glance for early boundaries. Shahadat Hossain and Rubel Hossain bowled six listless overs that yielded 33 runs before Mushfiqur brought on his crew of spinners.Whenever the spinners over-pitched, Taufeeq was completely at ease, driving and flicking with a strong bottom hand. That prompted a change in approach from Bangladesh’s spinners – the one department in which they can claim to be world class. They shortened the length, and Taufeeq repeatedly pushed in hope with an opened face as the ball spun away. The edge inevitably followed, but Mushfiqur could not hold on. Mahmudullah got Taufeeq edging three more times – on either side of Nafees at slip, and once on the bounce.Hafeez had no such worries, though, and strolled past fifty with a cover-driven four. Shahadat then dropped Taufeeq in the final over, denying Bangladesh the sliver they could have taken out of the day.

In a remarkable match at the Mutare Sports Club, Mountaineers weathered an astonishing top-order collapse against Southern Rocks to get their first victory of the tournament. Tanyaradzwa Munyaradzi and Prince Masvaure struck twice each with the new ball to leave Mountaineers tottering at 18 for 5. Kevin Kazusa, though, transformed the match with a jaw-dropping unbeaten century, blasting 129 off 91 deliveries, including five sixes to bring Mountaineers back in the game. He was assisted by Gary Chirimuuta, who made 46 at almost a run-a-ball. The pair added 126 for the sixth wicket but three more single-digit scores followed from the Mountaineers’ tail to leave Southern Rocks a target of 230.The wickets tumbled early in the chase as well, and this time there was no belligerent middle-order century to stop the slide. The biggest partnership of the innings was 24 runs, and only No. 8 Tendai Chisoro made it past 20 as Southern Rocks subsided for 123, handing a 106-run victory to Mountaineers. Natsai Mushangwe was the pick of the Mountaineers bowlers, adding three late strikes to his double-blow early on to finish with 5 for 22.Mid West Rhinos moved to second spot with a comfortable nine-wicket win over Matabeleland Tuskers in Bulawayo. After being put in, Tuskers lost two wickets cheaply but found their feet through a 131-run third-wicket partnership between Gavin Ewing and Craig Ervine. Ewing went on to complete his maiden domestic one-day hundred while Ervine fell for 57 with a third of the innings remaining. Tuskers should have capitalised on that platform, but none of their other batsmen even reached 20. From 150 for 2 they collapsed to 227 all out.During the Rhinos’ reply, the batsmen were rarely troubled as they cruised to victory with more than nine overs to spare. The captain Gary Ballance led the chase with an unbeaten 108, and forged two substantial partnerships. He put on a watchful 94 with fellow opener Steve Marillier before Malcolm Waller injected plenty of momentum during an unbroken 134-run stand. Waller slammed 65 off 54, including six fours and three sixes, to hurry Rhinos to their second win of the season.

Somerset and Mumbai Indians came into the Champions League Twenty20 saddled with a strikingly similar bunch of setbacks. Both began the tournament without several of their biggest names, including their first-choice captains. Both have come close to silverware in recent years without managing to go all the way; MI have been in the final and semi-finals of the last two IPLs, while Somerset have finished second best in five of the last six English domestic tournaments over the previous two years. Saturday’s semi-final will be a depressing addition to one of those two trends.Somerset arrived in India a day after their dispiriting defeat in the CB40 final, and had to go through the lottery that was the qualifying round. They played their league games in Hyderabad and Bangalore, but will now have to adapt to the treacherously unpredictable Chepauk wicket in Chennai, where their opponents have played three of their four fixtures. However, the Somerset captain Alfonso Thomas was not too concerned that his side’s first look at the strip will be in a knockout game.”The wicket in Chennai looks quite slow, but we have a couple of spinners and hopefully things will work out in our favour,” Thomas said. “We came from England and had only a day ahead of the first qualifier. I thought the guys did quite well in that game [so I am not too worried about preparation]. At the end of the day it is a game of XI v XI.”The Mumbai Indians captain Harbhajan Singh, also chose to downplay the concerns surrounding the pitch. “I don’t know how good this wicket will play, whether it is low or slow. But this is the same wicket where David Warner scored a hundred,” Harbhajan said. “You can’t really complain about wickets and facilities; you just have to do well with what you have.”While their pre-tournament woes may have been similar, the two XIs have charted completely different courses to reach the semi-finals. Somerset had to fill the holes in their line-up with youngsters, while Mumbai got a generous helping hand from the organisers, who allowed them to play a fifth overseas player. With Suryakumar Yadav now deemed fit, they will have to do without the fifth foreigner for the rest of the tournament.”I don’t know how much of a luxury it was at the end of the day,” Harbhajan said of the privilege extended to his side through the league phase. “This now is an opportunity for guys like Suryakumar, Sarul [Kanwar], R Satish and T Suman to show their mettle on the field, and will make it easier for us to decide who to pick in the next IPL.”Harbhajan will have a tough time deciding which of his five foreign players to bench. Kieron Pollard endured a blow on his hand on the match eve, but Harbhajan confirmed that it wasn’t serious enough to keep him out. Lasith Malinga and James Franklin are also likely to retain their spots, meaning one of Aiden Blizzard and Andrew Symonds could miss out. His bigger worry, though, will be over his top-order’s poor returns in each of the three games they have played at Chepauk.”Given the kind of batting line up we have, we have not performed up to expectations and reputations,” Harbhajan said. “But Twenty20 is not the kind format in which you always need to be in the best of your form to do well. It is really a matter of the first five balls – if you connect well, it could be your day. If you get a wicket with your first or second ball, you can be a different bowler.”Somerset, on the other hand, have no concerns on the form front. “The absence of first-choice players gave opportunities to a couple of youngsters,” Thomas said. “That was probably a good thing because now these youngsters don’t really have the fear of failure. Most of the guys have got game-time, so we have 14 guys who have played at some point in the tournament.”It has been an eventful tournament for Harbhajan, after being forced to lead because of Sachin Tendulkar’s injury. He had to deal with the personal setback of being left out of the Indian side for the first time in years. He didn’t allow that disappointment to affect him, though; he has remained ebullient off the field, while bowling with purpose and leading well on it.”Not having the full-strength side can bring the best out of some people,” Harbhajan said. “It was a great opportunity for me to and I have enjoyed every moment of it. I always believed that if each one of us did what we were capable of, we could win this tournament. The results will only matter if you think too much about them. We are not bothered about the results, but I have made sure that we gave it our best shot and expressed ourselves.”Harbhajan may not admit it, but come Saturday night, the result will matter.

ScorecardTom Maynard top-scored for Surrey with a rapid 60•PA Photos

Surrey secured a place in their first Lord’s final since 2001 as a power-packed batting line-up proved too much for Sussex in a rain-reduced CB40 semi-final at The Oval. The home side’s 228 for 7 in 24 overs, including Tom Maynard’s 33-ball 60, followed the attacking brand of cricket they have played throughout the tournament and Sussex were always struggling in reply.Rain had started shortly before noon and didn’t stop until after 3pm and during that time it was unclear exactly what sort of match there would be. The semi-finals have a reserve day available, but a reduced game on the original day is permitted if both captains agree. Given the decent crowd that hard turned up it was the sensible solution to have a shortened game; a knockout match that spills over rarely creates much atmosphere.In the end, Surrey’s total wouldn’t have been out of place over the full 40 overs. They are not a side to hold back with the bat – of the eleven playing here, only Zander de Bruyn and Gareth Batty have strike-rates below 100 for the competition – and a reduced innings gave them more license, especially as 10 of the 24 overs were Powerplays, a greater percentage than in a Twenty20 innings.Sussex, meanwhile, paid the price for losing steam at the wrong ttime. They came into this semi-final on the back of three consecutive defeats in the group stage which meant they progressed with a whimper rather than a bang. It also cost them a home draw with all the advantages that playing at Hove would have brought. They looked a side whose confidence had taken a hit.Surrey, though, despite losing their final group game to Durham, played with real vigour. The top three set a rapid benchmark as runs came at nearly 10-an-over. Ajmad Khan, an odd selection by Sussex given his limited one-day outings this season, provided extra pace for the batsmen to work with but the visitors didn’t help themselves in the field. Rory Hamilton-Brown was dropped on 5 when Ben Brown couldn’t gather a top edge running towards third man and was angry at Monty Panesar for distracting him.Steven Davies was also given a life, on 6, when Chris Nash couldn’t hold onto a tough chance at deep midwicket and although both openers didn’t build on their starts there was no let up from Surrey. Maynard played the key hand in the middle of the innings after Jason Roy, who had more difficultly against spin than pace, missed his expansive sweep against Panesar.Maynard showed his power as he peppered the leg-side boundary from long-on to midwicket with four sixes – the last of which took him to his half-century from 28 balls. Maynard has impressed since his move from Glamorgan last winter and if he can maintain his development next season could well press for higher honours.It was a run chase where everything had to go Sussex’s way, but they were soon two down and it was a pair of key batsmen. Matt Prior carved Matthew Spriegel’s offspin to cover, a dismissal similar to some in his troubled ODI career, and giving Spriegel the new ball brought further rewards when Murray Goodwin got a leading edge which the bowler intercepted with a well-timed leap.Hamilton-Brown summed up conditions well by using just four overs of seam in the innings and taking pace off the ball. Ed Joyce kept Sussex’s hopes briefly alive but Gareth Batty gained an lbw decision to settle Surrey. They kept their standards high until the end with Davies pulling off a swift stumping and Roy taking an excellent running catch at long on to remove Nash as Chris Schofield wrapped up the innings. A clash with Somerset in the final is an enticing prospect.

Match facts

James Anderson does the hard yards in training at The Rose Bowl•Getty Images

September 6, Rose Bowl
Start time 1400 (1300 GMT)

Big Picture

At Chester-le-Street on Saturday, and at the sixth time of asking, India’s cricketers finally enjoyed the better of one of this season’s international tussles with England. However, with England on the ropes at 27 for 2, chasing 275, the victory that MS Dhoni’s men were surely anticipating was thwarted by the onset of grim autumnal weather, and the match finished as a dispiriting wash-out.Now, 48 hours later, the squads have relocated from the country’s northern-most venue to its most southerly, Hampshire’s Rose Bowl, where the series resumes in earnest at 0-0 with four to play. India’s resolve in the Durham opener was a timely reminder of the class they still exude in limited-overs cricket, even with an injury-ravaged squad that now includes Rohit Sharma, whose finger was broken by Stuart Broad on Saturday, and Sachin Tendulkar, who missed the match with a foot injury, and is flying home from the tour.However, England will recognise the errors that they made in that opening contest, and besides, their captain, Alastair Cook did not accept the widely-held view that his team would have lost had the match been played to a conclusion. Certainly, after the start that they enjoyed, in which England’s short-pitched approach was found out in a solid 82-run opening stand from Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane, India might have hoped to get closer to 300. However Tim Bresnan and the ever-improving Jade Dernbach regained a decent measure of control at the death.It is with the bat that England have rather more to prove. Cook’s own failure can be mitigated by the glut of runs he racked up in the ODI series against Sri Lanka earlier in the year, but it is his opening partner, Craig Kieswetter, who is looking more of a problem. His stiff-armed technique was mercilessly probed by the swing of Praveen Kumar, and a return of 6 from 19 balls was not what England required from such a devastating striker of a cricket ball.A flatter track at the Rose Bowl could aid him in that respect, but with Kevin Pietersen rested for this series, and the youngster Ben Stokes still awaiting his first significant international innings, there’s a shortage of proven power-hitting to bolster England’s ambitions. If they want to be taken seriously as an ODI outfit – and that is one of Andy Flower’s stated aims since reaching the Test No.1 status – then the opportunity to get one over the 50-over World Champions is not something that England will want to pass up.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
England NWWWL
India NLLWW

In the spotlight

Eoin Morgan’s one-day pedigree is not exactly in doubt, but as England start to build towards the 2015 World Cup, it is increasingly clear how central to their plans he is going to be. This season began with the quiet confirmation of his vice-captaincy role in the Twenty20 team, and continued in Dublin last week with his first experience of leadership – a hard-fought victory in which his 59 earned the Man of the Match award. As for the coming contest, no England batsman is more at home at the Rose Bowl. In three appearances, he’s never made less than 43, and against Australia and Pakistan last summer, he bossed the games with a brace of brilliant unbeaten hundreds.Praveen Kumar’s joie de vivre was one of India’s few redeeming features in the Test series, but in the 50-over format, his hard-to-handle swing bowling looks like adding another degree of menace, particularly in English conditions. He bowled four of India’s 7.2 overs at Chester-le-Street, in which time he delivered 20 dot-balls and two key wickets, as neither Cook or Kieswetter found a viable method to negotiate him. With little pace on the ball, and substantial lateral movement to thwart any attempts at aggression, he has the ability to thrive in the Powerplay overs, so long as his impeccable line and length does not waver.

Team news

Graeme Swann ought to be fit for selection after fighting a virus at Chester-le-Street. Ben Stokes, who dropped a catch at gully in his only meaningful contribution to that match, is likely to be given another chance to stake his claim in the middle order.England (possible) 1 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 2 Alastair Cook (capt), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Ian Bell, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Graeme Swann, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Jade DernbachRohit Sharma’s broken finger necessitates yet another middle-order rejig, although neither of the two batting replacements, Ravindra Jadeja nor Manoj Tiwary, have yet linked up with the squad, which means Amit Mishra – who impressed with the bat in the Test series – could feature. Tiwary could, at a pinch, be thrown into the game straight off his plane on Wednesday. Tendulkar’s absence means Rahane stays at the top of the orderIndia (possible) 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Parthiv Patel, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 7 Amit Mishra, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Munaf Patel, 11 R Vinay Kumar

Pitch and conditions

Clear skies for the preview day, but there’s yet more rain forecast for the match itself. The pitch is hard and true, and potentially loaded with extra bounce, if the Sri Lanka Test is anything to go by.

Stats and trivia

• India have played two previous internationals at The Rose Bowl … and the first came against Kenya in the Champions Trophy in 2004, when Rahul Dravid – the only survivor from that fixture – made 30 not out from 16 balls in a 98-run win
• England have played in six of the 12 ODIs at the venue, and have won four of them, including each of their last two games against Pakistan and Australia.

Quotes

“There is no point me trying to become something I’m not. I have to play to my strengths. I have to pick the gap like I do in Test cricket.”