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MCC won by an innings and 44 runs – ScorecardTate made his first appearance for the tourists and did excellent work by disposing of Bill, Bradman, Kippax and McCabe for 53. Allen bowled at a great pace and was most effective against the later batsmen; in fact, Fingleton and McCabe were the only two to offer any real resistance. McCabe monopolised the scoring while he was in and at one period hit Verity four times in succession to the boundary. Showing a very strong defence, Fingleton was in for four hours and 36 minutes. He is very quick on his feet and a great off-side player. At the close of the first day’s cricket MCC had scored 6 for 0.Saturday’s play went entirely in favour of MCC, who made 339 for 4. Wyatt, who if never quite at home to O’Reilly, batted more freely than usual and helped Sutcliffe to put up 140 for the first wicket. Hammond failed, but Pataudi assisted Sutcliffe in a stand of 133. At the close of play Sutcliffe had made 157 not out, his only chance being a very difficult one at 48.Sutcliffe’s great innings came to a close when he attempted to turn Hird, a young googly howler, who tossed the ball well up, to leg; but Ames, after batting very solidly for his first 50, hit out well and made his last 40 in 52 minutes, adding 100 for the eighth wicket with Voce an MCC record v NSW. Ames was dropped at square leg by McCabe when 34. Facing a deficit of 257 NSW began their second innings badly by losing three wickets for 68 before stumps were drawn.The last day’s play was notable for some fierce hitting by Cummins, who rather spoilt Voce’s analysis, hitting 25 off two overs from the Notts man. Owing to illness Oldfield was unable to keep wicket and Love was allowed to take his place. Although able to bat, Bradman was handicapped by a slight chill.

Sri Lanka Cricket has confirmed that it will send a strong A side to tour Zimbabwe.The itinerary has not been finalised, but the trip is scheduled to take place between October 10 and 31. At least three four-day games will be played against the full Zimbabwean side, which is using the matches as part of groundwork for a Test return.India and South Africa sent A sides to the country in August but both experienced problems, especially with food which is in increasingly short supply as a result of the government’s attempts to battle the spiralling inflation rate and mass unemployment.In July, West Indies cancelled their proposed A-team tour after players refused to go on safety grounds.

Devang Gandhi, the former Indian Test opener and Bengal batsman, has retired from first-class cricket. Gandhi said his motivation levels had gone down and that he was happy to leave a strong team behind, with a number of youngsters making their “presence felt”.Gandhi, 34, played four Tests for India between October and December 1999 before he was dropped from the squad. He continued to grind out hundreds at the first-class level, where he averaged 42 over 12 seasons, and led East Zone to a Deodhar Trophy title in 2004. Poor form, though, kept him out of the Bengal side for most of this season and he didn’t play too much of a role in their revival.He made his debut against New Zealand in Chandigarh and began on an inauspicious note with a first-innings duck. But he made amends in the second with an impressive 75 and followed it up with another composed knock in the next Test at Kanpur, where he contributed 88 in an opening partnership of 126 with Sadagoppan Ramesh.”I will rate the Kanpur innings as the best of my career,” he said while addressing a press conference at Eden Gardens, “as that was a difficult wicket and I was top-scorer for India in that match.” He was picked for India’s Australia tour in December but a double failure in the opening Test at Adelaide, when he made 4 and 0 and looked completely out of sorts, cost him his place. Gandhi, whose opening slot was taken by VVS Laxman, spoke about the harsh initiation. “My preparations for the tour Down Under was not adequate,” he explained. “Also, I think the batsmen in India develop weakness in facing short balls, as the slow domestic wickets do not allow them to get attuned to such stuff.”He revealed that he would continue to play county and club cricket in England. Gandhi is also a qualified Level II coach through a course offered by the England Cricket Board (ECB), but he didn’t have any immediate plans on that front. “I won’t be doing justice to the kids as I will not be able to give them enough time. I will concentrate on coaching only when I give up the game fully.”Gandhi, who played his final first-class game in December last year, said he regretted not being able to lead Bengal to a Ranji Trophy title. He had a chance to lead East Zone to their first Duleep Trophy title in March 2004 but was thwarted by North in a pulsating final at Mohali.’DG’, as he is called in the Maidan circuit, might be remembered in many ways (not least by Ramesh’s famous statement – “given the bowling we get at the domestic level, why Devang Gandhi, even Mahatma Gandhi will score runs”). But the most poignant memory will be the gesture that ended his career, when on the eve of a Ranji match he offered his place to Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, his partner at Sporting Union. Jhunjhunwala had a fine debut season, culminating in a India A spot, as Gandhi quietly rode into the sunset.

Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan and Essex legspinner, will miss the end of the county season after being asked by the Pakistan board to report to a training camp being held in Pakistan from next week. The camp will include most of the contracted players, exceptions being the ones present at the ICC World Twenty20.Kaneria will miss the NatWest Pro40 match against Northamptonshire on September 16 and the final LV County Championship fixture with Middlesex that starts on September 19.”We are very disappointed Danish could not complete the campaign but we understood this might happen towards the end of the season as we have to respect the wishes of the PCB,” David East, Essex chief executive, told the Essex County Cricket Club (ECCC) website.”Danish has made a massive contribution this season and we look forward to welcoming him back next year after his international commitments have been concluded.”Kaneria, who has already signed a contract with Essex for 2008, told the website: “I’ve had a very good season with Essex but am disappointed we couldn’t get a promotion in the Championship and that I could not complete the season as we are struggling to stay up in the Pro40.”I have given Essex 100% every time in trying to win games for the county. Unfortunately things didn’t go to plan as we lost senior players [Andy Flower and Ronnie Irani] during the season. Hopefully the boys will work hard during the winter and the young guns will be fully loaded next season to try to win trophies and make sure we are in division one of both leagues.”I have enjoyed playing under the captaincy of Ronnie Irani. He has been a big influence on my career with Essex and I respect him like an elder brother and guardian. Graham Gooch [the coach] has also been very supportive and I’d also like to thank every member of ECCC for their hospitality and hope to play for Essex for many years to come.”

Scorecard

If Dilip Vengsarkar, who was in Delhi to watch this game, was specifically looking at a possible reserve opener for the Test series in South Africa, he would have been utterly disappointed by what he saw from Aakash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir. Forget about the pacy, bouncy tracks of Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg, a slow, low wicket at the Feroz Shah Kotla was enough to see the back of both openers with only 25 on the board, leaving Delhi in a spot of bother at 54 for 2 in response to Tamil Nadu’s first-innings 347.Gambhir and Chopra have been the talk of the newspapers in the lead-up to this match, and the anticlimax could not have been more stark. Gambhir failed to get his bat down in time to a ball that skidded through from D Tamil Kumaran, with just one run on the board. It was a wicket Tamil Nadu dearly wanted, for Gambhir rarely occupies the crease without scoring at a decent clip.Although Kumaran picked up the first wicket, it was Vijaykumar Yomahesh who was a revelation. On a pitch where fast bowlers have struggled to generate any sort of carry or bounce, he consistently got the ball to climb on the batsmen. In each of his overs he bowled an effort ball or two, bending his back and beating the bat for pace. Eventually he was rewarded for his spell as Chopra nibbled at one outside off only for M Vijay at second slip to dive to his right and pluck a stunning catch.Fortunately for them, Shikhar Dhawan and Mithun Manhas, coming together at 25 for 2, were able to see off the rest of the day without further loss. Dhawan, who had battedefficiently for 29, got more loose balls than he should have. At 54 for 2, though, with the ball still reasonably hard, the first hour on the third day could prove decisive.When Tamil Nadu resumed, on 184 for 3, they needed to ensure that they pushed the score as close to 400 as possible. They would not have minded even if the run-rate was a little less, for that would mean more time out in the middle and give the pitch chance to wear out. S Badrinath, who played such a vital hand on the first day, continued from where he left off, but saw R Sathish fall early. Ashish Kapoor could only manage 14,and it suddenly looked as though Tamil Nadu would fold early, thereby nullifying the good work done on the first day.It was then that Vikram Mani, the wicketkeeper-batsman making his Ranji debut, repaidthe faith selectors had placed in him with an innings that made the difference between a low score and a decent one; a total that could be defended so long as the early breakthroughs came. Although he was struck on the knee twice, and looked in serious discomfort at one point, needing to receive treatment on the field, he batted with imagination and confidence.He was able to strike the boundaries – seven in all – and made 52 critical runs at No. 6. While the rest of the lower order did not really score too much between them, they at least hung around long enough to let Mani do his thing.When the Tamil Nadu team was finally bowled out, for 347, they might have felt that they were a few runs short. But the advantage they had was that the best batting conditions of this game are already gone. It was now up to the bowlers to maintain a straight line and generate pressure through tight overs. On this pitch it’s unlikely that any bowler will run through a side, with wickets falling in a heap; a sort of surface that gives little to any type of cricketer. There was little value for strokes, no bounce for the fast bowlers to work with, and whatever turn there was on show was slow.

Marcus Trescothick said his hundred against the Patron’s XI on England’s first day of competitive cricket in Pakistan has given him a good platform for the tour.”I am just very hungry to do well after this hundred,” Trescothick said after scoring an unbeaten 124, in a five-and-a-half-hour knock which included 16 boundaries and two sixes.Trescothick’s valiant innings spared England embarrassment in their first outing since winning the Ashes last month. England finish the day at 256 for 9 against a young Pakistani side. Trescothick watched his colleagues fall quickly with England tottering at 60 for 6 at lunch, after winning the toss and deciding to bat, but the left-handed opener kept his composure.”I just wanted to get in and spend as much time at the crease and that was the main objective today – just be there for a long period of time.”PCB Patron’s XI bowler Yasir Arafat, who also played for Scotland in the last English season, chipped in with four wickets for 45 runs, cleaning up the middle order in the process. Trescothick then helped add 177 runs for the next three wickets.”The ball was nipping back a little bit and the Pakistani bowlers got wickets as they bowled wicket to wicket. Arafat just got the ball to seam a little bit both ways. He bowled pretty well and troubled the guys a lot.”