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Visitors time chase to perfection to win by eight wickets and boost promotion hopes

ECB Reporters Network21-Aug-2019James Bracey hit an unbeaten century as Gloucestershire pulled off a thrilling run chase to beat Derbyshire by eight wickets and boost their promotion hopes.Bracey scored 116 not out, skipper Chris Dent made 62 and Gareth Roderick 48 from 34 balls as they overhauled a target of 263 from 49 overs to move to second in Division Two.Derbyshire had declared on 481 for 6 with Tom Lace scoring 125 but Gloucestershire timed their chase to perfection to all but end the home side’s slim promotion ambitions.All results were possible at the start of day four with Derbyshire 86 ahead with seven wickets intact and needing to strike a balance where they could get in a position to try and win the game without losing early wickets.Gloucestershire’s bowlers had toiled with little reward for much of the previous day and it was another fruitless morning for them as Lace and Leus du Plooy accumulated steadily on a pitch that was still a good one for batting.The closest they came to breaking the stand before lunch came 50 minutes into the morning when Lace on 82 survived a hard, low chance to cover but that was a rare blemish in what was another impressive innings from the on-loan Middlesex batsman. The 21-year-old had already scored centuries at Swansea and Kidderminster this season and his first at Derby came from 195 balls, reinforcing the impression that he is a player to watch.Derbyshire’s need to press on after lunch resulted in him edging a swing at Ben Allison and du Plooy drove Tom Smith to mid off as the home side trod on the accelerator.Harvey Hosein lofted Allison for three fours in an over and Ravi Rampaul hit two big sixes before the declaration came, challenging Gloucestershire to make their highest successful run chase against Derbyshire.Dent and Bracey took no risks in the 12 overs up to tea, although Bracey survived a fierce chance on 21 to Lace who injured his left hand and immediately left the field in considerable pain.Derbyshire went with spin from both ends after tea and Dent and Bracey raised the tempo with Dent driving Matt Critchley for six to reach 50.Gloucestershire went into the last 20 overs needing 143 but when Rampaul returned to the attack, Dent cut his second ball to point.Bracey kept his side in the hunt with some improvised strokes and Gareth Roderick swept Critchley for six and reverse-swept two more fours to bring the target down to 60 from 10 overs.Roderick drove Critchley to long off in the 42nd over but Ryan Higgins swept the leg-spinner for six as Gloucestershire sealed a 23-point haul with 11 balls to spare.

It is understood an aggregated penalty of over INR 121 crore has been laid on the Indian board and its former bigwigs, among others, in connection with Foreign Exchange Act violations during IPL 2009

PTI01-Jun-2018The Enforcement Directorate has slapped a penalty of over INR 121 crore on the BCCI, its former boss N Srinivasan and former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi among others, for alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange Act (FEMA) during IPL 2009, according to agency officials.A special director of ED, it is understood, levied a penalty of INR 82.66 crore on the BCCI, INR 11.53 crore on Srinivasan, INR 10.65 crore on Modi, INR 9.72 crore on former BCCI treasurer MP Pandove, and INR 7 crore on the State Bank of Travancore (now merged with the SBI) in connection with the matter.The ED – an agency under the government of India responsible for enforcing economic laws in the country – was investigating a case of alleged contravention of the Foreign Exchange Act (FEMA) in transferring over INR 243 crore out of the country to host the 2009 IPL in South Africa. This transfer of funds was in alleged violation of the RBI guidelines meant for transferring funds abroad. The order asked the accused to deposit the fine amount with the government exchequer within 45 days.

Chris Gayle is 25 short of 10,000 T20 runs ahead of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s meeting with Kings XI Punjab in Indore

The Preview by Karthik Krishnaswamy09-Apr-2017

Match facts

Kings XI Punjab v Royal Challengers Bangalore
Indore, April 10, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)2:45

Can Gayle hit top gear?

Form guide

RCB: beat Daredevils by 15 runs, lost to Sunrisers by 35 runs
Kings XI: beat Rising Pune by six wickets

Head to head

Last season: Royal Challengers won both matches, by a whopping 82 runs (D/L method) in a rain-shortened game in Bengaluru, and by one run in a nailbiter in Mohali.Overall: The teams have met in 18 matches, of which Kings XI have won ten and lost eight.

In the news

Most times, the use of the word “history” while talking about Twenty20 can be dismissed as hyperbole. On Monday, though, the Holkar Stadium could see a genuinely historic moment – if he scores 25, Chris Gayle will become the first batsman to reach 10,000 runs in T20s.Will he play, though? Royal Challengers were without both Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in their first two matches, and while it might take a while longer for Kohli to return from his shoulder injury, de Villiers indicated he is “very close to 100%” fitness. If de Villiers does return, Royal Challengers might have to debate leaving out Gayle.Kings XI don’t have too many selection headaches after positive displays from most of their players in a six-wicket win against Rising Pune Supergiant. They might, however, ponder the inclusion of new recruit Eoin Morgan, who is perhaps a more natural T20 fit than Hashim Amla, though that swap will necessitate a shuffle in the opening positions.

The likely XIs

Kings XI Punjab: 1 Hashim Amla/Eoin Morgan, 2 Manan Vohra, 3 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 4 Glenn Maxwell (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Swapnil Singh, 9 Mohit Sharma, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 T Natarajan.Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shane Watson (capt), 3 AB de Villiers/Travis Head/Billy Stanlake, 4 Mandeep Singh, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 Stuart Binny, 7 Vishnu Vinod (wk), 8 Pawan Negi/S Aravind, 9 Iqbal Abdulla, 10 Tymal Mills, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Stats that matter

• Royal Challengers (8.82) and Kings XI (8.56) ended up with the worst economy rates among all teams in the 2016 season.
• Of all the Indian venues that have hosted the IPL, Holkar Stadium in Indore has been among the lowest-scoring, with teams managing an average first-innings run rate of 6.94 in three matches. The DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai has been the only lower-scoring venue, with a first-innings run rate of 6.89 in 17 matches.
• It would be fitting if Chris Gayle brought up his 10,000th T20 run in a match against Kings XI Punjab. He has scored 797 runs against them, the most by any batsman against a single IPL opponent, has scored two of his five IPL hundreds against them. He has a better strike rate against them – 175.55 – than against any other IPL team.
• Gayle, though, doesn’t have a great record against two of Kings XI’s bowlers. Sandeep Sharma is one of only five IPL bowlers to dismiss him three times or more, and has limited him to 55 runs off 46 balls. Mohit Sharma, meanwhile, has never dismissed Gayle, but has only conceded 18 runs off 21 balls.
• Overall, Sandeep has 12 wickets against Royal Challengers at 17.91. He hasn’t taken more than nine wickets against any other IPL opponent.
• Yuzvendra Chahal, meanwhile, has 12 wickets against Kings XI at an average of 12.50, while conceding 7.62 per over. He doesn’t have more than eight wickets against any other IPL team.
• Last season, Kings XI had the worst middle overs (7-15) in the IPL, with the poorest batting run rate (7.46) and bowling economy rate (8.35) among all teams.
• Axar Patel has dismissed Shane Watson every time the two have faced off. In three innings, Axar has conceded 22 runs off 20 balls to Watson.
• Of all the bowlers who have bowled 100 or more balls in the last four overs of IPL matches since the start of the 2015 season, Watson has the worst economy rate – 11.49.
• Iqbal Abdulla has taken 14 wickets in the Powerplay overs of the IPL – only R Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh have more, among spinners – while conceding 6.28 runs per over.

On a dry surface in a dusty Ranchi ground, India’s top order moved into customary home form, and their bowlers exposed a fragile Sri Lanka top order to win by 69 runs

Andrew Fidel Fernando12-Feb-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:49

By the numbers – Yuvraj’s maiden T20I duck

On a dry surface in a dusty Ranchi ground, India’s top order moved into customary home form, and their bowlers exposed a fragile Sri Lanka top order. Shikhar Dhawan was bruiser-in-prime, unleashing an early shellacking that brought him 51, and set the team on course to a big total. They reached 196 for 6, thanks to helpful hands from the top five, which today included a pinch-hitting Hardik Pandya. That total was 69 too many for Sri Lanka.Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina and Pandya all got to at least 25 – Pandya the quickest of the lot, striking two sixes and a four in his 12-ball 27. On a pitch with little pace and minimal seam movement, the pacers that had delivered Sri Lanka’s Pune win, were expensive. Even Sri Lanka’s first T20 international hat-trick – to Thisara Perera – barely made a difference, coming as it did in the penultimate over. Dinesh Chandimal will perhaps rue having chosen to bowl first. The track looked a good one for batting, and Sri Lanka have lately been a modest chasing side.R Ashwin had troubled Sri Lanka’s batsmen even on the Pune green top, and MS Dhoni savvily had him open the bowling here. Ashwin removed a returning Tillakaratne Dilshan second ball, and the chase never really recovered from that. Soon they were 3 for 16, Ashish Nehra claiming two early scalps. Chandimal and Chamara Kapugedara then embarked on a recovery that was far too slow to give the visitors any real chance of victory, and wickets tumbled late in the middle overs, as the required rate crept up through the teens. Ashwin finished with 3 for 14 from his four overs.Rajitha had begun his second T20 much worse than his first, spraying the first ball wide for Rohit Sharma to crash behind point, and the bowler’s evening did not improve much from there. Dhawan cracked four offside fours off his next over – the fourth of the match – to send the innings into overdrive, having already picked up legside sixes off Thisara and Sachithra Senanayake. Dhawan hit four more boundaries before the end of the Powerplay, as he clobbered spin and seam square of the wicket, largely on the legside. After six overs, India had sped to 70 – Dhawan’s share of that score 48 off 21.He got to 50 off his 22nd delivery, but departed soon after, nicking a throat-high Dushmantha Chameera ball to the keeper. That wicket bought Sri Lanka brief respite. They bowled five overs for 30, before the runs began to flow again.Chameera claimed Rohit’s scalp in the 14th over, with an athletic return catch, and Senanayake removed Rahane soon after, but India’s final push began when Pandya arrived at the crease a few places higher than he would normally bat. After two sighters he began his assault. Rajitha was struck to the midwicket boundary, before consecutive Senanayake deliveries were lifted high over deep midwicket.Raina added his own finishing blows to the closing surge, taking particular liking to Chameera, whose figures he ruined. Having sent down his first two overs for 10 runs, Chameera saw his third disappear for 18. His last also went for 10. In between Perera took a low-key hat-trick, having Pandya, Raina and Yuvraj Singh hole out to low full tosses. His figures were dramatically improved as a result. He finished with 3 for 33 from three overs.Dilshan was stumped over-reaching off the first ball he faced. Seekkuge Prasanna was sent up the order to provide some early impetus, but lacked the technique to deal with the new ball, and chewed up four balls for one run. Danushka Gunathilaka amplified Sri Lanka’s problems at the top of the order with another poor score.Kapugedara and Chandimal’s 49-ball fourth-wicket partnership yielded only 52 runs. By the time they had departed, off successive Jadeja deliveries in the 12th over, the required rate had climbed to more than 14.5, and the chase was kaput. Dasun Shanaka and Milinda Siriwardana struck some late sixes, doing good to at least their own batting confidence, if nothing much for the team cause.

Hampshire demolished Scotland by nine wickets with almost 25 overs to spare in a remarkably one-sided game in Glasgow.

13-Aug-2013
ScorecardJames Vince saw Hampshire canter to their target•Getty Images

Hampshire demolished Scotland by nine wickets with almost 25 overs to spare in a remarkably one-sided game in Glasgow.Scotland were put in and crumbled to 136 all out, with only Gordon Goudie’s late run-a-ball 26 providing a trace of respectability. James Vince then cracked an unbeaten 75 from 52 as Hampshire reached their target from the first ball of the 16th over for the loss of only Michael Carberry, who made 45 from 27.Scotland struggled from the outset, losing Freddie Coleman in the second over when he was trapped lbw by Dimitri Mascarenhas. Richie Berrington fell for a duck and Calum MacLeod made just 3 as the hosts slipped to 23 for 3 before Hamish Gardiner and captain Preston Mommsen put on 37 for the fourth wicket, albeit in almost 14 overs.Gardiner’s top score of 29 occupied 61 balls before he was dismissed by Danny Briggs, who removed Moneeb Iqbal in his next over for figures of 2 for 35. Mommsen was run out for 21, off 50 deliveries, and it was left to Goudie and wicketkeeper Matthew Cross to try and salvage the innings. Mascarenhas, Chris Wood and Sohail Tanvir all took two wickets apiece.Both Vince and Carberry found the boundary as 14 runs came from the first over of Hampshire’s reply, and their opening stand reached 50 inside seven overs. Goudie’s third over yielded three boundaries and Vice’s half-century but Carberry was stumped five short of the same landmark after a stand of 98.But Vince found the ropes twice more off Majid Haq in the next over and won the match with his 12th four as he and Jimmy Adams wrapped up victory.

Worcestershire’s hopes in the Friends Life t20 have taken a blow with the news that Sohail Tanvir has been delayed in arriving in the UK

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jun-2012Worcestershire’s hopes in the Friends Life t20 have taken a blow with the news that Sohail Tanvir, the Pakistan bowler, has been delayed in arriving in the UK due to complications in obtaining a visa.Tanvir had hoped to arrive early next week to join the Worcestershire squad as their second overseas player alongside Australian batsman Phillip Hughes, in time for their match against Glamorgan on June 20 but his unexpected call up to the Pakistan ODI squad meant he is unable to complete the visa application in Sri Lanka.He was called up to the Pakistan T20 squad but then was then asked to stay on for the ODI series. He has taken five wickets in two T20s and three ODIs, one abandoned, with two more matches to come.”It was hoped that the final part of Sohail’s visa application could be completed while in Sri Lanka,” David Leatherdale, Worcestershire’s chief executive, said. “Unfortunately, this has not been the case. Sohail will now be travelling back to Pakistan on conclusion of the ODI series on Tuesday to complete the process.”It is expected that Sohail will then be able to join us early in the week commencing June 25 for our last five important group matches. We hope that he will make the same impact as he did in the two match series against Sri Lanka, which saw him win the man of the series.”Worcestershire begin their campaign away to Warwickshire on June 15 and hope Tanvir’s T20 record – 87 wickets at 23.14, including 17 wickets in 21 international T20s for Pakistan – can help improve their poor recent record in the Flt20; they have not qualified for a quarter-final since 2007 and have never been to finals day.

Kevin O’Brien is focused on helping Ireland rise up the ODI rankings starting with the Pakistan series

ESPNcricinfo staff28-May-2011Almost three months since he blasted his way to the fastest-ever World Cup hundred, Kevin O’Brien returns to international action as Ireland take on Pakistan in a two-match ODI series. Though looking back at Ireland’s impressive World Cup campaign, during which they upset England, still puts a smile on his face, his focus now is helping Ireland rise up the ODI rankings starting with the Pakistan series.”These games are massive; with the one-day international status comes the ranking points,” O’Brien said on Irish radio show . “If we get a couple of wins here, we hopefully can climb up that table, and get as close as we can to ninth place.”Ireland are still some way off ninth-placed Bangladesh in the rankings, and even two wins would still leave them several points behind. But it would put some distance between them and Zimbabwe.O’Brien said the World Cup had been wonderful for the Ireland team, but they now had to start again against a strong Pakistan outfit. “The World Cup was a fantastic experience for all the players and the management. But we’ve got to put that to the back of our mind and start again on Saturday with a big game against Pakistan.”They’ve got some experienced players and they’ve got some young guys who are coming in looking to show what they can do at international level. So it’s going to be two very tight games, and hopefully we can perform well, to our abilities, and get a win or two.”Phil Simmons, the Ireland coach, said a big change in the mentality of the Ireland side was that they now thought about winning rather than just survival or putting up a fight. O’Brien said he doesn’t think about the result of a game and concentrates on the basics. “We’ve got to go in with a positive mentality and hopefully we can hit our areas with the ball and bat well. We can’t really look too much at the result before the game; we’ve just got to go in and do our basics well.”Ireland will be missing two key players for the series: O’Brien’s brother Niall O’Brien and left-arm spinner George Dockrell, who are both injured. Kevin O’Brien said his brother would be a big miss because of his form in the English domestic season for Northamptonshire, but it would give someone else a chance to perform on a big stage.”Niall has started the season over in England fantastically well. He has scored a couple of hundreds and five fifties, so he is in great nick. I suppose it gives another guy a chance to come in and show what they can do, and hopefully we can all pull together, the 14 guys out here, and hopefully play well.”Kevin O’Brien has also been playing in England, in limited overs-matches for Gloucestershire.

Australia’s Test vice-captain Michael Clarke believes Pakistan’s fast bowlers will be a handful during the upcoming Test series, on the evidence of their strong performances in the two Twenty20s at Edgbaston

Brydon Coverdale07-Jul-2010Australia’s Test vice-captain Michael Clarke believes Pakistan’s fast bowlers will be a handful during the upcoming Test series, on the evidence of their strong performances in the two Twenty20s at Edgbaston. The Australians found Mohammad Aamer and Umar Gul difficult prospects during the Twenty20s and both men are in the Test squad, where they will be joined by Mohammad Asif.Add the coaching expertise of Waqar Younis and the swing of the red Duke ball, and the attack could cause problems in English conditions. Australia found the curving ball hard to counter during their 2005 Ashes defeat and they again failed to win last year, which means they haven’t triumphed in a Test series in England since 2001.”They’re going to be tough opposition in the Test match,” Clarke said of Shahid Afridi’s men. “They’re going to have a very good attack, so our batters have to be at our best with the Duke ball that I’ll imagine they’ll get to swing, in conditions where, if it’s overcast, it’s going to be quite tough. I think we’re in for a really good Test series.”If it’s overcast here, I think they’ll swing the ball nicely and they’ve got some pace as well. I think the Duke will help them. Conditions play a big part in England as to how much swing there is. If it’s overcast there’s generally a bit of swing the whole day. Hopefully the sun’s out.”On Thursday, Australia will play with the red Duke for the first time on the tour when they begin a two-day warm-up match against Derbyshire. It will be a good opportunity for the selectors to see Ben Hilfenhaus, Australia’s best exponent of swing, in action after his seven-month lay-off due to knee tendonitis.At the same time, Pakistan will be honing their skills with a tour game against Leicestershire. The first Test begins at Lord’s next Tuesday, before the teams move on to Headingley for the second Test beginning on July 21.

The T20I series in Edinburgh is the first bilateral meeting between the teams since 2013

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Sep-2024Scotland pushed Australia hard at the T20 World Cup earlier this year – a victory would have dumped England out of the tournament – and have genuine belief they can go a step further in the three-match ODI series in Edinburgh.After Brandon McMullen’s 60 off 34 balls, the equation got down to Australia needing 87 off 39 deliveries and there was a realistic chance of an upset before Marcus Stoinis carried the game away from them. Having been 90 for 0 against England when the match was abandoned, it was an agonizing difference between the Super Eight and going home.Related

• Scotland call up Charlie Cassell and Jasper Davidson for Australia T20Is

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• Australia's road to 2026: Eyes on Fraser-McGurk and Ellis' chance to lead

Three games in four days with home advantage, and against an Australia side with some less experienced names, gives Scotland the chance to secure a first victory over them – and they aren’t just targeting one win.”I think we’re after a little bit of blood this week, and not just win a game but win the series”, left-arm spinner Mark Watt told the Cricket Scotland website. “We can definitely take inspiration from that game in St Lucia, but we also have a little bit of a point to prove, as we all believe we should have won that game and kicked on further in the World Cup. We can say we got close, but actually in the back of our heads we’re disappointed that we didn’t win.”All 15 players who were at the T20 World Cup are part of the squad for this series, but one new name for the Australians who were there will be pace bowler Charlie Cassell who burst onto the international scene with the best figures on ODI debut when he took 7 for 21 against Oman.”It’s a great opportunity for them to share the field with world-class players,” Scotland head coach Doug Watson said when the squad was announced. “They’re wanting to put in some huge performances and compete, and really push this Australia team. The goal for us is to win this series. The first game is really important – if we can win that, it’ll set up the next two matches.”Scotland have been the beneficiary of Ireland being unable to host Australia as originally scheduled due to financial constraints. Australia last played a bilateral match against them in 2013 when Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh combined for a first-wicket stand of 246. Current captain Richie Berrington was part of the Scotland side.In 2018, Scotland had one of their most famous days when they beat England by six runs at Edinburgh but opportunities against the leading nations outside of global events are few and far between and they are desperate for more.”It is frustrating we don’t get the opportunities to play the big boys, so to speak,” Michael Leask told . “Even the likes of Bangladesh and West Indies, we don’t get opportunities to play against them. And we would take any opportunity, because the more high quality cricket we get, the better we get.”We would love them to come and play us more often but we understand sometimes it is not feasible. We want any fixture we can get against the big boys, but they have got a heavy schedule. This is our opportunity. It would be nice if the higher associates got more exposure. We punch above our weight a lot of the time and that is down to the quality of the group we’ve got.”

Steady century steers hosts as dropped catches cost Essex dear

Paul Edwards19-May-2023
One way of assessing whether cricket matters to a place is to consider how many businesses surrounding a county ground maintain close connections with the game. One is thinking of serious immersion here rather than namecheck association. After all, many towns with a thriving cricket club have a pub named The Cricketers, but Trent Bridge now has two inns, The William Gunn and The Larwood and Voce, whose connection is plain only to the initiated.At lunch and teatime on the second day of this match, it was more likely to be Essex supporters who were seeking balm from the electric soups sold at these hostelries. For having watched Sam Cook remove Haseeb Hameed in the fourth over of the morning, they had then seen their wicketkeeper and slips put down three chances, errors that had left Nottinghamshire pleasantly placed on 102 for 1 at the first interval.The precise cost of these errors was unclear at lunch. By tea, however, although Ben Slater had been dismissed for 57, Matthew Montgomery was still there on 73. And at close of play, it was Nottinghamshire supporters who were drinking the health of Montgomery after the 23-year-old had recorded his maiden Division One hundred and guided his side to the prosperity of 326 for 5, a lead of 28 with promise of more on Saturday. Not even the dismissal of Steven Mullaney, leg before to Doug Bracewell in the final over of the evening, could knock the head off their pint of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord.But this was Montgomery’s day and it was all too easy in the glow of his unbeaten 130 to reflect on that crucial first hour of the day when Essex’s errors had helped determine the shape of what followed. The biggest offender, in more ways than one, was Adam Rossington, who dropped Montgomery on nought and 4 off Shane Snater when he failed to cling on to diving catches to his right.The second of these drops was more noticeable – Alastair Cook might well have taken it had not the keeper intervened – but the first, when the keeper scarcely touched the ball, illustrated Rossington’s current limitations more clearly. Soon afterwards, Slater should have gone for 50, but Alastair Cook dropped the chance off Bracewell. “Regulation” some called it although it’s never quite clear in such cases what regulation is being observed or breached.Simon Harmer’s off-spin was introduced in the 24th over of the morning but rather than being asked to turn the screw, Harmer came on with Essex still looking for the screwdriver. Unusually, the best slow bowler in the English game could not help them find it. Instead, he was swept and reverse-swept by Montgomery in the morning session before being powered down the ground by Joe Clarke in the afternoon.By that point, Slater had been removed when he fenced at a ball from Sam Cook and nicked a catch to Rossington, whose acceptance of the chance was probably aided by the fact that the ball went straight to him. This, though, was the sort of day coaches appreciate, when a succession of partnerships builds a substantial lead, and whereas the opener had become a little becalmed on another windless day, Clarke approached matters more briskly, cover-driving Bracewell and easing Jamie Porter through point when barely seeming to hit the ball at all. Then, having reminded us why he might have played for England a couple of summers ago, the ex-Worcestershire batsman showed us why he never did so by attempting to hit Matt Critchley’s leg spin over wide mid-on but only skewing a skied catch to Jamie Porter at mid-off.Instead of sparking a fall of wickets in one of the cricketers’ beloved clumps, that wicket was merely the prelude to tea and, less than an hour later, the moment of Montgomery’s century when an involuntary inside-edge brought him both the jammiest of his 20 fours and the prize he most coveted after 194 balls of patient accumulation. Essex still had the new ball to call on but Tom Westley’s bowlers seemed to lack their collective edge this overcast Friday and by the time they took the wicket of Lyndon James for 28 he and Montgomery has shared their side’s third fifty-plus stand. Nottinghamshire have power to add one or two more on Saturday, when this game’s shape will become clear and the Trent Bridge Inn will be packed tight with football supporters at tea-time.Tomorrow morning, though, the pub most associated with the county’s cricket will open at eight o’clock, just as it does every day, and it won’t be long thereafter before the place is dotted with green and gold shirts, most of them sported by supporters in need of breakfast rather than the bleak, double-edged comfort of sharpeners.The pub is part of a rather unpopular chain but to my eyes it hasn’t changed that much since a group of us arrived there for the first time some decades ago offering an impressive impression of thirst-maddened cattle. The walls of the place are covered with pictures of cricketers, some of them stretching back deep into the 19th century, and there could be no better way to begin a day at the cricket than by tucking into eggs benedict and coffee – free refills – surrounded by Old Clarke, George Parr and Arthur Carr.For other supporters, Andy Warhol’s thoughts on stardom and celebrity are just about right. “Michael Holding? It’s not a name to me,” said a fellow in Notts livery this morning. Nine hours later, he was probably applauding Matthew Montgomery, a truly famous cricketer.