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Darren Lehmann celebrated Yorkshire winning the CricInfo Championship by tearing up the record books with a a sensational knock of 191 in Yorkshire Phoenix’s match against Nottinghamshire Outlaws in Division One of the Norwich Union League at Scarborough.It led to them going on to gain victory by 179 runs over Notts who were bowled out for 173 as they replied to Yorkshire’s formidable score of 352 for six.The festival crowd of over 6 000 roared with delight as the Australian left-hander powered his way to the highest one-day score ever made by a Yorkshire batsman.Lehmann’s blistering assault brought him 11 sixes and 24 fours and his avalanche of runs came off only 103 balls. His innings lasted 116 minutes – and that included an eight minute hold-up in play while an ambulance drove on to the field to pick up a spectator who had been taken ill.Lehmann’s epic innings was the highest by a Yorkshire batsman in any one-day competition and Yorkshire’s final score was also a record for the county in limited overs cricket.The fireworks started when Lehmann joined Anthony McGrath with Yorkshire on 52 for two and the pair thrashed 172 in 22 overs for the third wicket before McGrath was out for 38.Then Lehmann battered 62 out of 80 in only seven overs with Craig White and the carnage ended when he went for another might blow off Kevin Pietersen and was caught at long on by Gareth Clough.Lehmann’s part in the match was still far from over because he claimed two for 38 off his nine overs but Yorkshire’s best bowler was Gavin Hamilton who captured three for 14 from five overs.Notts had little to offer after the wind had been knocked out of their sails by Lehmann but Darren Bicknell managed 50 from 67 balls with six fours.Lehmann said afterwards: “I had no intention before hand of trying to make a big score, it just happened. You don’t often get days like this and when they come along you make the most of them.”

Australia’s retiring captain Michael Clarke has implored his men to fight out his final Test match as deep as possible, at the end of an Ashes series in which the fifth day has been entirely redundant.It was hard to ignore the note of fatigue, even resignation, in Clarke’s voice as he spoke ahead of the last match of his international career. He has spent the past week in London with his family, and when asked how he would fare in life without the motivation provided by the game, he offered the words: “I can’t wait.”Even so, Clarke will not want to leave the arena with a whimper. He has trained as assiduously as ever leading into this match, and hopes that a team set back enormously by the past two Test defeats in Brimingham and Nottingham will take something more from the series at the Oval. No less a Cricket Australia authority than Pat Howard has declared a “big difference” between 3-2 and 4-1. Clarke wants his men to scrap this one to the finish.”We can’t win this series but a lot of the guys are going to come back here in four years so it’s important for them to try and get another win under our belt,” Clarke said after looking at an Oval pitch exhibiting far more moisture than the 2009 or 2013 versions. “It’s going to be a result wicket. Someone is going to win, someone is going to lose.””I think this Test is as much about our character as anything else. We need to play with that resilience and grit and determination and really fight as hard as we possibly can. The past couple of Tests in particular have only gone two and a half days so we need to try and take this as deep as we possibly can. That’s going to come down to fight – and that’s a big part of why you play, why you look forward to playing cricket for Australia.”I can think of so many occasions where you watch someone get through a tough period and have success, and that’s what inspires you as a young player, to play at the highest level. I think part of our responsibility is to try and fight our backsides off and grind our way to a victory in this Test match.”Clarke was reticent to offer any “advice” on where Australian cricket should go from here, whether it be to the selectors or to the new leadership duo of Steven Smith and David Warner. But he acknowledged that the end of this series will herald the biggest turnover of talent since the conclusion of the 2006-07 summer, when Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Damien Martyn and Justin Langer all bid farewell.”It is going to be a big change,” he said. “But I think that’s exciting for Australian cricket. I think, I’ve always said, there’s a lot of talent whether it be in this group or back playing first-class cricket and now we’ve just got to turn that talent into consistent performance. So, you know, guys have been waiting for their opportunity and now they are going to get it.Although Michael Clarke didn’t spell out his team, Mitchell Marsh is expected to return to the XI•Getty Images

“It is going to take a lot of hard work to transfer that talent into performance and consistent performance and a lot of guys have been making runs and taking wickets in Australia in domestic cricket and now they’re just going to have to learn to perform in different conditions all around the world. I think that’s probably the toughest challenge as a player at the highest level of international cricket, actually having success all around the world. So, I think it is exciting.”Clarke ruled out taking on any role with CA in the immediate future, saying that the team needed fresh ideas as distinct from his own. “For now I won’t be involved with Australian cricket,” he said. “I think it is best that I have some time, it is best for the team as well. When you retire you retire for a reason, and I think it is now time for, like I say, there are some fresh ideas and some fresh energy from a lot of the young players.”However Clarke did say he would make a point of regular visits to Melbourne to see his longtime team physio Alex Kountouris, who also happens to be finishing life as a constant tourist with this tour. Kountouris is being promoted to head of sports science for CA, though he will still make the occasional overseas trip. Despite a litany of physical issues over the past decade, Clarke said he expected to be able to move with relative freedom in retirement.”I’ll stay in contact with Alex. I’ll fly to Melbourne once a week just to see him,” Clarke said. “That’s one thing I know about life: your friends are your friends. It will give me more free time to spend with my friends.”With my body I think I’ll need to maintain some form of training regime to keep it healthy, which I will do. I’ll be disciplined with that. Obviously it will be a lot different to preparing for a Test match or a one-dayer . . . but there’ll still be plenty of things I can do to stay fit and healthy and not carry too much weight.””What you put your body through playing sport at the highest level, take that off it and my back and hammies will be a lot more comfortable.”While Clarke was unable to offer a team for the his final match, it is expected that Mitchell Marsh will return to the XI. Josh Hazlewood is a likely omission, leaving the selectors to ponder the inclusion of either Pat Cummins or Peter Siddle.

The Indian Premier League may have eased several restrictions on media coverage for the forthcoming event but the Editors Guild of India has condemned the clause that prevents news agencies from supplying pictures to cricket-specific websites.The Guild has also come down hard on the limitations imposed on television news channels, one that has prompted all the outlets to put their coverage on hold.”[The Guild] regrets that the news agencies have been barred from supplying pictures to one set of subscribers, namely standalone specialised websites, as the news agencies should have the total freedom to supply news and pictures to all their subscribers,” KS Sachidananda Murthy, the Guild secretary-general, said in a release. “The Guild notes that the news agencies are in negotiation with the IPL organisers to remove this clause also from the terms and conditions.”Similarly the sole telecast rights license has put new conditions on giving feed to news television channels. These are not acceptable, and the Guild fully supports the stand taken by the News Broadcasters Association.”Meanwhile the News Media Corporation, which reacted to the fresh guidelines on Tuesday, is set to discuss the issue on Wednesday evening. As of now, though, they feel the restrictions are unacceptable. “As the Guild has said, the terms remain unacceptable,” Barry Parker, the South Asia bureau chief of Agence France-Presse (AFP), said.

Justin Kemp has left the Titans to join the Cape Cobras. Kemp thanked the Titans for helping him to re-enter the international arena but said that while the decision to leave was difficult, “sometimes life has to come before cricket”.Kemp, the South African allrounder, is one of the biggest hitters in world cricket, and is a useful medium-fast bowler. He had been with the Titans, who are based in Pretoria, for four years, and said of them: “They assisted me in resurrecting my international career and for that I will be eternally grateful.”He fell in and out of favour during the World Cup, but he top-scored against Australia in the heavily one-sided semi-final.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out

West Indies held their nerve superbly in a nail-biting finish to sneak a one-run win despite once again floundering with the bat. They managed only 198, even that thanks to a battling unbeaten 98 from Ramnaresh Sarwan. Yuvraj Singh responded with 93, but was bowled by a clever Dwayne Bravo slower ball with only two balls to go in the innings. If the first game was a win that almost wasn’t for India, the second was a loss that shouldn’t have been.Yuvraj has been the in-form batsman for India a few months now and even he struggled to score fluently early on, after India had slumped to 60 for 4 in pursuit of a total that should not have caused problems for a team that has won seventeen games on the trot chasing.The warning signs were there early on when Ian Bradshaw, accurate and probing, had Virender Sehwag brilliantly caught at point and Rahul Dravid nicking a delivery that slanted away from the bat. Irfan Pathan played an ambitious across-the-line heave and Marlon Samuels plucked the ball out of the air at midwicket. The West Indies were turning the heat on. And Mohammad Kaif, who has felt the heat more than most in recent times, his unbeaten half-century in the last ODI notwithstanding, negotiated a mere 12 balls before mis-hitting a pull and being caught at square-leg.Suresh Raina partnered Yuvraj, and suddenly batting became more about scampering singles than crunching cover drives. Brian Lara sensibly took the pace off the ball, ushering in the off-spinning duo of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, and suddenly the balls ticked over faster than the runs could come.Raina’s busy demeanour at the crease gave way to restlessness and a wanton charge down the wicket to Gayle, where Carlton Baugh fluffed a simple stumping chance, was followed by a similar premeditated waltz that only resulted in the ball being deposited down Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s throat at long-on. Raina had made 27, and India were 124 for 5.The presence of Mahendra Dhoni, and the relatively modest target, meant India could breathe just a shade easy, but that was soon to change. Dhoni, looking to get his eye in had not yet attempted a big shot, but an attempted drive through point found its way back to the leg stump via the inside edge. Soon Ajit Agarkar had scooped a return catch to Bradshaw, and India were seven down for 134, still 65 runs adrift.Yuvraj, at no stage bludgeoning the ball like he can, seemed to understand that India would get across the line if he held onto his wicket, and kept his head. Every now and then – as with an early crashing cover-drive against Taylor or a powerful pull off the same bowler for maximum towards the end – Yuvraj managed to release the pressure.Taking strike in the second ball of the final over with 10 needed for victory Yuvraj streaked an edge past the keeper for a boundary and followed it up with a supreme cover-drive that raced to the fence. Bravo, charged with bowling the pressure-packed last over, rose to the challenge magnificently, and sent down a slower ball that beat the bat, brushed pad and rolled back onto the stumps, setting off the biggest party Kingston has seen in some time as West Indies won a thriller. Yuvraj had done almost everything right, and the sight of him squatting on the pitch, looking back at his disturbed stumps told a tale.There was a time in this game when it seemed unlikely that the match would go down to the wire like it did, much less end in a West Indies win. Pathan and Agarkar began tremendously after Dravid won the toss and put West Indies in, cleaning up the openers, including the dangerous Chris Gayle, with just one run on the board.Then Agarkar could have had Lara twice – first when a close lbw shout was turned down, and soon after when Raina dropped a catch at second slip – and India looked right in control. Lara did not make it count, flashing Pathan to Dravid at slip. At 25 for 3 West Indies were in danger of being shot out extremely cheaply. But Ramnaresh Sarwan ensured that this did not happen.Sarwan began in characteristically low-key fashion, dabbing, flicking and pushing the ball into the gaps for ones and twos, but soon realised that there was great merit in taking on the bowlers when they erred in line. He carved boundaries over the covers with an angled bat, and after crossing fifty, with the West Indian innings gaining some momentum, he opened his shoulders and took on the leg-side field, hitting Pathan for two fours and a six in three balls. He ended on 98, and richly deserved a hundred for his effort. He won’t mind missing out on a hundred, though, for his was a matchwinning hand.

How they were out

West IndiesChris Gayle c Dhoni b Agarkar 0 (1 for 1)
Runako Morton lbw b Pathan 1 (1 for 2)
Brian Lara c Dravid b Pathan 14 (24 for 3)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul c Kaif b Harbhajan 10 (43 for 4)
Marlon Samuels c Dhoni b Yuvraj 19 (103 for 5)
Dwayne Bravo c Raina b Powar 0 (105 for 6)
Carlton Baugh c Pathan b Powar 21 (143 for 7)
Ian Bradshaw c Harbhajan b Pathan 12 (163 for 8)
Jerome Taylor c Dhoni b Agarkar 9 (197 for 9)
IndiaVirender Sehwag c Smith b Bradshaw 12 (25 for 1)
Rahul Dravid c Baugh b Bradshaw 11 (37 for 2)
Irfan Pathan c Samuels b Edwards 14 (51 for 3)
Mohammad Kaif c Smith b Taylor 4 (60 for 4)
Suresh Raina c Chanderpaul b Samuels 27 (124 for 5)
Mahendra Dhoni b Taylor 2 (130 for 6)
Ajit Agarkar c & b Bradshaw 2 (134 for 7)
Ramesh Powar c Taylor b Samuels 12 (177 for 8)
Harbhajan Singh c & b Gayle 1 (187 for 9)
Yuvraj Singh b Bravo 93 (197 for 10)

Middlesex’s close-season recruitment drive continued with the announcement that they have signed Scott Styris and re-signed Nantie Hayward for next summer.”We needed to add depth to our batting and Scott gives us that,” John Emburey, Middlesex’s coach, told the BBC. “Added to that, he’s a more than useful bowler. He’s very strong in one-day cricket and will make a very good third of fourth seamer. As for Nantie, we believe he will become a match-winning bowler.”Hayward disappointed in 2004 with 31 wickets at 29.61 but Emburey said that he was a quality player. “He will become a match-winning bowler. The pitches didn’t help his style of bowling, and Lord’s is particularly flat. But we saw enough to snap him up for next season.”It will be Styris’s first crack at English domestic cricket and he replaces the South African Lance Klusener.Last week, Middlesex confirmed that they had signed Ed Smith on a two-year deal.

It might well turn out to be a farce, but it’s going ahead anyway. That was the verdict of James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, when asked about the decision to play the three one-day internationals against Zimbabwe.”I read that people regard the tour going ahead as being farcical, because it’s not the best against the best,” Sutherland admitted. “I accept that to some extent. But Cricket Australia has obligations to the future tours program, such that these one-day matches should go ahead. It’s never been discussed or never been an issue that the one-day matches were in consideration.”The Australian board has been widely criticised for agreeing to go ahead with the matches even though the Test series was called off last Friday.Sutherland continued that the situation which led to the cancellation must not be allowed to happen again. Asked about Zimbabwe’s Test status, he said that it was "higher on the agenda now than it has ever been before.”He went on to say that there were "a number of other full member countries are concerned about how things have developed in recent weeks. The ICC and the member countries really need to address it so there is some certainty into the future.”

LAHORE, April 3: Trials for the selection of the Pakistan women’s cricket team will be held at six centres between April 8 and May 2. The selected national team will take part in the qualifying rounds of the IWCC Trophy to be played in Holland this July.Former Pakistan captain and ex-chairman of selection committee Imtiaz Ahmad and former Test all-rounder Ijaz Faqih will conduct the trials as selectors.According to the schedule, the process of trials will commence from Gaddafi Stadium when two-day trials will beheld on April 8 and 9. The selectors will then proceed to Peshawar where the trials will take place on April 15 and 16 at Peshawar Gymkhana Cricket Ground.National Stadium, Karachi is the next venue of the trials where it will be held on April 22 and 23. In Quetta the trials will be staged at Shola ground on April 25 and 26, followed by Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad on April 29 and 30.The round of trials will be conducted at Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan on May 1 and 2.Women cricketing affairs has come under the governance of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after receiving recommendations of the scrutiny committee conveyed by the PCB chairman under the orders of the Honourable High Court.

Despite being ruled out of India’s two remaining Test matches against Sri Lanka, fast bowler Javagal Srinath is almost certain to be fit to tour South Africa in October.Srinath suffered a fracture in his left hand after being struck by a Dilhara Fernando delivery during the Galle Test match against Sri Lanka, but his orthopaedic surgeon Dr HPC Khincha said that the injury was not “serious” on Monday.”He may not be able to bat or field for three weeks,” Khincha told the Press Trust of India. “That he has bowled in a match after getting injured is a good sign. Srinath has a fracture of the left fifth metacarpal bone joining the little finger and the wrist.”Srinath did not bat again in the match but took five wickets in the first innings.Apart from Srinath, India are currently having to do without Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Ashish Nehra and Anil Kumble while captain Saurav Ganguly’s position has come increasingly under pressure.

The gap between Bangladesh and South Africa in terms of experience and performance is significant but the home captain Mashrafe Mortaza has urged his team to play fearless cricket.South Africa are the second-most successful T20 team in international cricket apart from being one of the five teams to have played at least 75 T20s. Bangladesh languish below Ireland, Netherlands and Afghanistan in terms of wins and have only played 42 matches in this format since 2006. While many of the South Africans play in the IPL, Bangladesh haven’t had a domestic T20 competition since December 2013 and their only T20 moment of note is the win over Pakistan in April, their only T20 game since they hosted the World T20 in 2014.Mashrafe is also keen to see how his team, which is full of confidence after ODI series wins at home against Pakistan and India, reacts against such strong opposition.”South Africa have a number of players who can single-handedly win them a T20,” Mashrafe said. “We don’t have many such players but if we can play as a team and maintain our consistency, we will do well. We have to play with guts. T20 is a game of courage. We have only one option: to play with self-belief. It would be better to sit at home if we are fearing them. It can happen so in that case we should keep that off the field.”What happened in the past will certainly not be of any help. What we did in the last series won’t come to use either. On the day, we have to start and finish well. If we are consistent, it will give us confidence. We don’t have a good record and we play very few T20s. We have only one experienced T20 player and that’s Shakib [Al Hasan]. They have 8-10 players who regularly play T20s across the world. They are ahead of us in that regard. But it is only a piece of statistics. It will be a different game altogether when we play well in the middle.”Mashrafe is pinning his hopes on his bowlers keeping South Africa to around 160, and said he was happy to see the pace bowlers come to the fore after years of spin being Bangladesh’s only bowling strength.”We have been reliant on spin for around 10-15 years but since the Zimbabwe series, we have been getting positives out of using three pace bowlers in the XI. Spin is still our strength but pacers are also contributing in a big way. We have to ensure our best possible combination is out in the field.”Our bowlers can win us the game. India can chase 300-plus totals but our bowlers were outstanding in that game. Of course our batsmen are doing well but I still feel our bowlers can win us a T20. If a team scores 200 it would be hard for us to chase. Our batsmen will find themselves in the game when the opposition can be restricted to around 150-160.”On Friday, Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha said it was an exciting time to be a Bangladeshi cricketer, given how much their team was winning against higher-ranked opposition. “I think it is an exciting time for Bangladesh,” he said. “I mean it is always good to win but the way we are playing and winning is more exciting.”