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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHe may have eased off on plans to wear a black armband to protest the ‘death of Associate cricket’, but John Mooney followed through with an impressive spell of seam bowling to launch Ireland’s 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier campaign in a seven-wicket win over Namibia at Stormont, Belfast. The allrounder’s man-of-the-match winning spell of 3-23 restricted Namibia to 124 for 8 before Ireland, riding on captain William Porterfield’s unbeaten half-century, knocked off the runs with 16 balls to spare.After Namibia’s Stephen Baard pulled a six and four off the opening over bowled by Tyrone Kane, Mooney replaced Kane for the third and peeled off an impressive four-over spell to quell Namibia’s top order. Baard fell slashing to Niall O’Brien at third man off Mooney’s third ball before Gerrie Snyman edged an attempted drive to Gary Wilson in the fifth over. Mooney capped off his burst with a brilliant yorker to remove Raymond van Schoor as Namibia slipped from 20 for 0 to 45 for 3.The spin tandem of George Dockrell and Paul Stirling kept the clamps on Namibia’s middle order from the 10th through the 16th overs. After Stirling started off with a maiden in the 10th, Dockrell struck in the first ball of the 11th when JP Kotze’s tame cut floated to Alex Cusack at backward point where he dived forward for the catch.Dockrell started the the 13th over with a wicket after Sarel Burger skipped down the track but failed to clear Kevin O’Brien at long off. Craig Williams then lofted Stirling to Andrew Balbirnie at sweeper cover in the 14th to make it 73 for 6.Namibia’s biggest partnership of the day – 32 for the seventh wicket between JJ Smit and Nicolas Scholtz – came to an end when Smit edged an attempted cut behind to Wilson off Cusack. Scholtz failed to fend off a short ball two balls later to give Wilson his third catch of the day.Ireland’s chase got off to a sloppy start with Stirling spooning his second ball to short extra cover off Jason Davidson where Baard claimed a low diving catch. Three balls later, Porterfield nearly ran himself out on nought when he set off from the non-striker’s end for a single behind point. He was sent back by Niall O’Brien but the throw to the bowler’s end bounced over the stumps.Porterfield and Niall O’Brien survived another pair of chances, on 5 and 18 respectively, before settling down to notch up a 71-run stand. Niall eventually holed out to long off against Burger on the first ball of the 11th for 45 before his brother Kevin was dismissed in identical fashion in the next over off Bernard Scholtz’s left-arm spin for 3.Porterfield and Balbirnie shared an unbroken stand of 48 runs to ensure Ireland had no further alarms. Porterfield hit his sixth four through extra cover to bring up his half-century off 43 balls, and level the scores. He ended the match the very next ball with another four .

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the former West Indies captain, has been signed by Durham as a replacement for Scott Styris for the remainder of this season. His move to Durham was delayed due to work permit and visa problems.The batsman, named Man of the Series in the recently-concluded Test series between England and West Indies, will replace Styris whose stint with Durham was ended a week before his contract was due to expire after a series of niggling injuries.Geoff Cook, Durham’s head coach, said: “Signing a player of Shiv’s class is a statement of our intent for the rest of the season. He is in exceptional form at the moment and will provide valuable middle order runs while demonstrating what it takes to be a world-class batsman to some of our younger players.”With a number of important games and obviously the Lord’s final on the horizon, adding Shiv to the squad will give us extra batting options as we strive to make this Durham’s most successful season.”Chanderpaul, who will join the squad on Saturday, could make his first appearance for Durham as early as the following day against Surrey in a Pro40 match at Guildford. He will be available for the county until the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship starting on September 11.

The fourth Test between England and Pakistan has been forfeited in favour of England, after an extraordinary day of rumour, speculation, and high farce that brought the game to the brink of one of the biggest crisis in recent memory. The decision was finally made at 10pm London time, in a makeshift press conference hall in the bowels of the Oval pavilion. It was the first such forfeiture in 129 years of Test cricket.Four long hours after play was called off for the day, and after protracted negotiations between the ICC, the ECB and the PCB, it was left to David Collier, the ECB’s chief executive, to read out a statement that will doubtless raise more questions than answers. Though both teams and their boards were keen for the match to continue, it was the umpires, Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove, who were not willing to budge from their original decision.”It was concluded with regret that there will be no play on the fifth day,” read the statement. “The fourth npower Test match between England and Pakistan has therefore been forfeited with the match being awarded to England. In accordance with the laws of cricket it was noted that the umpires had correctly deemed that Pakistan had forfeited the match and awarded the Test to England.”It may have been the correct application of the letter of the law, but the decision made a mockery of a match in which Pakistan had made all the running from the very first morning, and had been bubbling towards a thrilling conclusion on the final morning, as England looked set to put at least a token target on the board.According to Surrey officials, 12,000 tickets had been sold in advance – all of which will now have to be refunded, along with 40% of today’s takings – a combined loss of about £400,000. And Pakistan will certainly not be content to return home with a 3-0 defeat to their name, not to mention the further implications of the forfeiture. As Bob Woolmer announced at the close of play: “The team is upset by the inference they have been accused of tampering with the ball and therefore cheating.” The ICC, in a separate statement, confirmed that Pakistan has been charged under Level two of the Code of Conduct, 2.10, which relates to changing the condition of the match ball.The initial incident took place in the 56th over, when umpires Hair and Doctrove deemed that the quarter seam on the ball had been raised and would therefore have to be changed. But the situation only really kicked off after tea, as the Pakistanis remained in their dressing-room in protest at the decision.After waiting in the middle of the pitch for twenty minutes, the umpires went to the Pakistan dressing-room to ask whether or not Inzamam-ul-Haq would lead out his team or not before they went out, took the bails off and left, thus awarding the Test to England.Bob Woolmer told Cricinfo that after Pakistan refused to come out after the tea break, both umpires, after waiting on the field, went to the Pakistan dressing room to ask whether or not they would continue to play. Inzamam countered by asking the umpires why they had changed the ball, which led to the Pakistan team protesting.”We are not here to answer that question,” Hair was reported to have said, and when Inzamam didn’t provide any reply to their initial query, they walked back out again. By the time Pakistan were eventually led out onto the field by Inzamam, the umpires had already walked on, knocked the bails off and gone back inside, refusing to come out again.The decision was made according to Law 21, regarding the result of a match, which states, “A match shall be lost by a side which in the opinion of the umpires refuses to play.” A further subsection adds, “If an umpire considers that an action by any player or players might constitute a refusal by either side to play then the umpires together shall ascertain the cause of the action. If they then decide together that this action does constitute a refusal to play by one side, they shall so inform the captain of that side. If the captain persists in the action the umpires shall award the match in accordance with above.”

Division Two

Points TableA fifty by Jonathan Beukes was the only crumb of comfort Scotland could take from their match against Sussex, who totally outplayed them at Hove. Put in to bat by Sussex, Scotland got off to a poor start losing Fraser Watts for a duck with just two on the board. His wicket was one of five for the Pakistani Naved-ul-Hasan, who has enjoyed an excellent season with Sussex. Beukes arrived at the crease with the score on 32 for 3, and wickets continued to tumbled all around him; in fact, six of Scotland’s wickets were bowled. Sussex lost three wickets in pursuit of 133, losing two to medium-pacer Sean Weeraratna, but reached their target with more than 21 overs left to spare. Matt Prior top-scored with 69 from 50 balls, including 13 fours and a six, to see Sussex home by seven wickets.Kent brushed aside Yorkshire with a convincing performance at Canterbury. Yorkshire’s innings never got going, and they were thankful for an innings of 34 from Simon Guy. The South African, Andrew Hall, was particularly economical, picking up two wickets and conceding just 19 runs in 7 completed overs. Kent’s target of 165 was never likely to trouble their batsmen, and they eased home by six wickets thanks to a fifty from Darren Stevens, and a pair of forties from Andrew Hall and Justin Kemp.

Zaheer Khan must be wondering which part of his body will give way next. Back problems, shin niggles, knee injuries, heel stresses, and a frail hamstring of late – it has been a career riddled with breaks. The latest in the list was the tweaking of a quad muscle in his left leg, which ruled him out of today’s game against Bangladesh. All these injuries have forced him to miss five Tests and 27 one-dayers (including today’s match). The following time-line tells the story:Final one-dayer v Zimbabwe at Rajkot, December 14, 2000
Misses the match due to a back problem. He had played in the first four matches.July 2001
Has shin-related problems apart from a snag in the in-step of his landing foot before the Test series against Sri Lanka.October 2002
Knee stress forces Zaheer to miss the Kolkata Test against West Indies and the seven-match one-day series thereafter.One-dayer v South Africa at Dhaka, April 13, 2003
Zaheer leaves the field after a hamstring pull. He was rested for the next two matches.Second Test v Australia at Adelaide, December 12, 2003
Zaheer does not bowl in the nets and spends the time testing his hamstring injury. He is ruled out of the match.Third Test v Australia at Melbourne, December 27, 2003
He bowls with a shortened run-up after suffering a hamstring injury in his fifth over, though he had passed a fitness test before the match. This injury rules him out of the final test at Sydney and the tri-series following it.First Test v Pakistan at Multan, April 1, 2004
Zaheer doesn’t bowl in the second innings because of a strain in his right leg. He is ruled out of the rest of the series.One-dayer v Sri Lanka at Dambulla, July 18, 2004
Before bowling a ball, he tweaks a quad muscle in his left leg while sprinting for a ball while fielding.

Charlie Austin previews the second Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand at Kandy which starts on Saturday, May 3 at 0430GMTAfter an attritional drawn opening Test in Colombo, a dreary contest on a lifeless pitch, more frustration is in store for the second Test at Kandy. This time it is not the defensive mindset of the two teams that makes another draw seem likely, but the early onset of monsoon rains, which have poured down in the hill-country during the last two weeks.Both sides’ preparation has been severely hampered by the wet weather, washing out the Sri Lanka practice on Thursday afternoon. Sri Lanka and New Zealand were at least grateful for some time in the side nets on the eve of the game, but too much time has been spent lolling in the team hotel.Should the rain – which has moved in each day in the early afternoon – stay away tonight then there is a chance that play could start on time. However, Sri Lanka’s chief curator expects a late start and possibly no play at all on the first day. The pitch is bone dry and the 30-yard inner circle has been covered, protecting the run-ups, but the outfield is like a bog and the worms are having a field day.The prospect of serious time being lost suggests a continuation of the first Test stalemate. With this being a two-Test series, both sides were reluctant to take risks, and this is unlikely to change, although New Zealand’s captain, Stephen Fleming, noted the need for a more adventurous approach: "Both teams just looked a little apprehensive. Our team had better take some risks if we are going to push forward."His counterpart, Hashan Tillakaratne, concurs, arguing that two-Test series encourage captains to be "over defensive". He believes that three matches should be a bare minimum: "The idea of a two-match series is bewildering – I see no logic in it. If this is washed out it will be very sad."But the number of matches alone cannot explain the lack of positive intent displayed thus far. New Zealand’s batsmen were understandably wary of Sri Lanka’s spinners on the first day in Colombo, using that match to gather valuable experience and build confidence against Muttiah Muralitharan in particular. "We had a nervous first day, which put us behind in the game, but we really had to have a good look at the spinners," admitted Fleming. "We gained valuable experience and put to bed some of our demons against Murali."Tillakaratne, meanwhile, a naturally defensive batsman and leader anyhow, is also under pressure. Appointed as a caretaker captain, apparently until such time as Marvan Atapattu is perceived ready to take over, he will be desperate to avoid defeat, a result that could conceivably end his tenure in charge.For Sri Lanka there is the added worry of playing in Kandy, a venue where everything that can go wrong has gone wrong in the recent past. They have won their last two Tests here, against West Indies and Zimbabwe, but that has not fully healed the deep scars left by shock defeats against South Africa in 2000, England in 2001 and an injury-ravaged Indian side later that year. All three would have been won had the home side not succumbed to pressure and squandered winning positions.New Zealand, who have noted this with some interest, will also hope that their pace attack will be able to exploit the likely overcast conditions on a pitch that has a reputation for assisting fast bowlers with extra bounce and seam movement.However, this pitch – grassless and biscuit dry – does not look like a traditional Kandy surface. The Sri Lankans are convinced that it will offer more assistance to the spinners than the surface used in the first Test and they are not expected to alter the balance of their bowling attack."To be honest, looking at the pitch, I think it will turn more than the last game and I don’t think the third seamer is going to come into play here," said Duleep Mendis, Sri Lanka’s interim coach. "The only issue to discuss with the selectors is the final make-up of the spin bowling attack."New Zealand, too, are expected to play a similar side. Fleming and Mark Richardson, their two in-form batsmen, have recovered from niggling injuries sustained during the first Test.New Zealand (from): Stephen Fleming (capt), Matthew Horne, Mark Richardson, Lou Vincent, Mathew Sinclair, Scott Styris, Robbie Hart, Ian Butler, Jacob Oram, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Paul Wiseman, Richard Jones, Ian Butler.Sri Lanka (from) Hashan Tillakaratne (capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Michael Vandort, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Dharmasena, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Upul Chandana, Chaminda Vaas, Prabath Nissanka, Dharshana Gamage.

It’s been delayed by almost a month. But it has made no difference tothe approach and enthusiasm of the two teams in the annual Cable &Wireless Under-15 cricket final starting today.And one thing’s for certain the name which is etched onto the trophywill be one that has never been engraved there before.The Lodge School in St John and Queen’s College in St James arecontesting the final for the first time in the history of thetournament which was first sponsored by the telecommunications company15 years ago.The match, originally set for August 7-9 was initially put back by aweek. But it was further delayed to allow both teams to be at fullstrength. Had it been played from August 14-16 both schools would havebeen affected by the absence of players on tour in England with theNational Sports Council’s (NSC) Under-13 team.Those players have returned to the island and the stage is set forwhat is anticipated to be a competitive three-day final.We expect to win, even though we would have been better off playingstraight after the semifinal, said Rory Sidaway, the man in charge ofQueen’s College. We had just thrashed St Leonard’s and we were feelinggood. We’ve been practising hard. We have maintained the momentum asbest we can and we are ready to beat Lodge.Sidaway’s counterpart Clifton Phillips was just as upbeat. Our chancesare pretty good. We’ve worked hard throughout the season and the guyshave really responded well. This is what it all comes down to, so oncewe execute, we can come out on top.The Lodge appear to be the team which might have been most affectedhad the match gone ahead when the NSC squad was on tour.Queen’s College are welcoming back their leading wicket-takerChristopher Jordan, while Lodge had three boys in England ShamarhBrooks, Chad Linton and Dawayne Sealy.I don’t see it (the delay) as being either positive or negative,Phillips said.We are taking it in stride. Fortunately a number of our players areinvolved in the second division and we’ve had some good practices inbetween.Queen’s College have not been known to be powerhouses in schools’cricket but they have reached this far on the strength of hard work,regular practice and playing to their potential.They have been playing to their ability, Sidaway said. We bat welldown the order. We have a good bowling attack and we’re veryconfident.Among their leading players in the prelimina-ries were captain KerwinElias (243 runs), Nicholai Parris (199) and Nicholas Stanford (187).Apart from Jordan, the bowling revolved around off-spinning allrounder Niaz Dokrat (21 wickets) and medium-pacer Mario Gill (18).The Lodge’s top run-scorer was captain, wicket-keeper, opening batsmanand Barbados Under-15 selectee Nicholas Squires. He made 327 runsincluding a highest score of 130 to go with 17 dismissals behind thestumps.Brooks, one of the island’s gifted young talents, made 118 runs andtook 35 wickets with his leg-breaks, while all-rounder Andre Gillweighed in with 142 runs and 15 wickets.It has been a team effort really. We don’t have one really outstandingplayer at this stage, Phillips said.Quite a few people have gotten wickets at different stages and almostall the batsmen have had score of significance.

Scorecard
Rohit Sharma scored 79 to help Mumbai put up a strong reply to Rajasthan’s 478 in Jaipur•Rajasthan Cricket Association

Madhya Pradesh’s veteran captain Devendra Bundela scored a fighting hundred, and the young offspinner Jalaj Saxena chipped in with a breezy 61 to take MP to within 77 runs of three points in Hyderabad. Saxena had helped them salvage a point in the previous game too, by batting out more than two hours with the tail.MP were struggling on 44 for 3 when the day began, but Bundela found an able ally in Udit Birla, with whom he added 108 for the fourth wicket. Birla’s wicket, though, brought another, and at 159 for 5 MP were still struggling. However, Hyderabad found no success in the 36.5 overs that followed. The two have added 106 and have set up an exciting first session or so for the final day.
Scorecard
Building on their openers’ centuries, Punjab batted Bengal out of the game, and declared with enough time to take one wicket before stumps. That left Bengal needing 228 runs to avoid an innings defeat on the final day.Most of Punjab’s scoring was done by wicketkeeper Uday Kaul who was unbeaten on a career-best 165 when the declaration was made. Jiwanjot Singh, who began the day on 102, added 56 more before he finally fell to the part-time leg-spin of Manoj Tiwary. Jiwanjot’s average now is 185.5, albeit slightly less impressive than it was at the end of the second day.As Uday went solidly, the others provided quick runs in the declaration push, most notably Manpreet Gony’s 25 off eight balls. Siddarth Kaul then got rid of Subhomoy Das before stumps.
Scorecard
Each of the four Mumbai specialist batsmen who batted in Jaipur reached half-centuries, with Hiken Shah turning it into an unbeaten hundred. Consequently Mumbai had reached within 119 runs of claiming three points against defending champions Rajasthan.Rajasthan’s bowlers, especially Pankaj Singh, had been impressive in seaming conditions in Kolkata a week earlier, but they have gone 118 overs now for just the three wickets. Kaustubh Pawar was the first success of the day for them, and when they denied Aditya Tare a century, they had a little bit of momentum with them, which Hiken and Rohit Sharma duly thwarted.The duo added 175 for the third wicket, and batted together for 51.3 overs. Rohit missed out on a century when he fell just before stumps, but Hiken and nightwatchman Kshemal Waingankar saw through the day without further incident.
Scorecard
Sagar Jogiyani and Ravindra Jadeja scored unbeaten centuries and added an unbeaten 203 for the third wicket to set up an interesting fight for three points on the final day. Jadeja began the last season too with a century, only going on to make it a triple. Responding to Gujarat’s 600 for 9 declared, Saurashtra were 323 for 2 at the end of the third day.Gujarat must have for hoped for much better after removing Chirag Pathak in the second over of the day. The second success of the day, Bhushan Chauhan, came early enough, and reduced Saurashtra to 120 for 2. For the rest of the day, they didn’t taste any success. This was Jadeja’s sixth first-class hundred, and Jogiyani’s fourth. While Jogiyani was cautious, Jadeja went at a strike-rate of 65.

South/West Division

Chris Benham blasted Hampshire to their first win of the season as they chased down a mammoth total with three balls to spare against Gloucestershire at the Rose Bowl. Alex Gidman’s career-best 105 helped guide the visitors to a towering 350 for 5 and Hampshire’s hopes of opening their account were looking slim. Marcus North belted 85 from 73 balls, while Hamish Marshall (64) and Christopher Taylor (53 off 23) contributed to the carnage. The tall target was reduced to 240 from 30 overs after rain affected Hampshire’s innings, and Michael Carberry got them away to a strong start with 60. A 98-run stand between Benham and Nic Pothas pushed them closer but when Pothas fell for 43 from 32 balls the victory was far from secured. Jon Lewis chose to bowl the final over himself, a decision he might regret as he finished with an unflattering 0 for 49 from 4.3 overs as Benham ended up unbeaten on 54 from 27 balls and Greg Lamb clubbed 8 from three deliveries.Glamorgan survived a late scare from Steffan Jones, who clattered 42 from 36 to nearly take Somerset to an unlikely win at Taunton, but the visitors crept home by 19 runs with more than three overs to spare. Glamorgan’s 221 was set up by a fine 95 from David Hemp, including 11 fours, but there was little else from his team-mates apart from Mike Powell’s 32. Somerset struggled in reply, with Marcus Trescothick (15), Craig Kieswetter (18) and, crucially, Justin Langer (7) all falling cheaply. Ian Blackwell muscled 42 from 36, but when Somerset slipped to 163 for 9, there appeared little hope for the home side. Jones, though, gave them genuine belief with a blistering 42 – lifting three sixes – before he was last man out to David Harrison.

North Division

A career-best 75 from Navdeep Poonia was not enough for Scotland who fell to Derbyshire by six wickets in a rain-affected match at Derby. Charl Langeveldt collected 4 for 28 and troubled Poonia’s team-mates, none of whom passed 16 as Scotland battled to 169. Chris Rogers, who recently lost his Cricket Australia contract as he was not considered a one-day player, guided Derbyshire’s chase with 57 from 73 balls while his opening partner Steve Stubbings laboured for 53 deliveries for his 24. And although both fell, Dominic Telo (15*) and James Pipe (4*) took Derbyshire home with 14 balls to spare.Click here for John Ward’s report from Old Trafford where Lancashire pulled off a stunning win over Durham.

Midlands Division

HD Ackerman’s 103 and a fine all-round performance Jim Allenby took Leicestershire through to a comfortable 39-run win over Ireland at Grace Road. Ravi Rampaul, Ireland’s recently-signed overseas player, couldn’t inspire his new team-mates – conceding 49 from his 10 overs – but he bowled Dillon du Preez late in the innings for 3. Ackerman dominated his opening stand of 103 with Tom New (31) before he and Allenby put on a further 87 for the second wicket. Chasing a sizeable 252 Ireland slipped to 68 for 5, with Garnett Kruger picking up two early wickets, but Andrew White (52) and Gary Wilson (58) staved off Leicestershire’s march to victory with a fine sixth-wicket stand of 109. However, once Allenby removed Wilson, the rest folded quickly and Allenby ended with 4 for 44.Nottinghamshire had the better of a rain-affected day at Trent Bridge, where Darren Pattinson helped them account for Northamptonshire in a Duckworth/Lewis result. Pattinson, the Victorian fast bowler, picked up 3 for 39 from ten overs in his first one-day match for Nottinghamshire as the visitors struggled to support Stephen Peters, who made 90. They wobbled to 64 for 5 before Peters finally found some support from Lance Klusener, who made 60 from a very un-Klusener-like 109 deliveries. Northamptonshire ground out their 50 overs to reach 189 for 7, but later rain meant the home side’s target was reduced to 143 from 30 overs. Nottinghamshire’s other Australian player, Adam Voges, completed the six-wicket win with 42 from 40 balls after Will Jefferson set the platform with 36.

South East Division

Click here for Brydon Coverdale’s report on Surrey’s win over Middlesex at Lord’s.Kent won a nailbiting match against Sussex at Hove, with Justin Kemp (68*) and Ryan McLaren (17) squeezing them home to a four-wicket win with one ball to spare. Sussex’s 246 was set-up by four thirties from Matt Prior, Chris Adams, Luke Wright and Carl Hopkinson, with Michael Yardy making 50 from 78 balls. Kent began solidly, with Joe Denly making 43 and Martin van Jaarsveld cracking 58 from 55, but Wright hit back with three quick wickets to check Kent’s run-chase. Geraint Jones and Azhar Mahmood both fell in the dying overs, but McLaren held his nerve and smacked 17 from 14 balls to help Kemp and Kent through to victory.

The trial of former Zimbabwean Test batsman Mark Vermeulen, who is charged with arson attacks against Zimbabwe Cricket property in November, has been postponed to July. This is the fifth time that the case has been postponed since he first appeared in court in December.Prosecutor Tawanda Zvekare told a Harare magistrate that the case could not be heard as the state was still deliberating over medical reports relating to Vermeulen’s mental health.”The accused is to be remanded until July 11,” Zvekare said, adding that “the medical affidavit which we were waiting for has been compiled, and we are (still) making final deliberations”. Vermeulen remains free on bail although his passport has been confiscated. He faces two counts of arson and will face 25 years in prison with hard labour if convicted.He is accused of first trying to burn the ZC boardroom at the Harare Sports Club ground in October 2006 – the fire was quickly put out – and then burning down the pavilion at the Academy the following day. That fire destroyed the main building and it remains gutted.As part of his defence, Vermeulen has been examined by a psychiatrist. Another medical report from Australia describing the effects of a serious skull fracture he sustained in January 2004 in a one-day match against India has also been submitted.