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Match facts

Monday August 18, 2008
Start time 10.45 (9.45GMT)

Big Picture

This is the first time the Auld Enemy have met in a one-day international and it’s the biggest match staged north of Hadrian’s Wall. It’s an occasion which Scotland have nothing to lose and everything to gain. It shouldn’t be a contest with the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff going head-to-head with a collection of county and club professionals. However, these matches can do funny things to the so-called ‘big boys’ as they attempt to avoid an embarrassing banana skin. In 2006 England made hard work of beating Ireland and if the dank, damp weather of recent weeks hangs around the conditions will be ideal for Scotland’s motley crew of honest seamers. For England, though, this should be useful preparation for the one-day series against South Africa and allow the players to switch from first-class cricket into limited-overs mode. If Scotland can pull off an upset, expect the mother of all parties in Edinburgh. It’s just a shame there isn’t television coverage of the match.

Form guide

England LLLNRW
Scotland NRLWLW

Watch out for…

Matt Prior After being dumped following his spate of dropped catches in Sri Lanka, Prior has earned another chance after a prolific season for Sussex. Firstly his opportunity is in the one-day game, but the signs are pointing towards a Test recall if all goes to plan over the next three weeks. He will probably open, although given the revolving door that is the top order for England in one-day cricket nothing is certain. However, Prior’s ability to hit through and over the infield with proper, orthodox batting make him the perfect man to give England the rapid starts they have been craving.Gavin Hamilton It’s often easy to forget, but Hamilton has an England Test cap to his name, although his appearance at Johannesburg in 1999 amounted to a pair and no wickets. His returns for Scotland during the 1999 World Cup earned him that chance and since his first-class career, taking in Yorkshire and Durham, ended he has became a valuable source of experience. He doesn’t bowl anymore, but his solid batting in the top order often provides the ballast for Scotland and he’ll be key against the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad.John Blain Another with county experience having played for Yorkshire and Northamptonshire, England will underestimate Blain at their peril. He has been in good form recently, taking consistent hauls in one-day, Twenty20 and first-class cricket. He can set the tone with the new ball and a couple of early wickets will boost confidence through the Scotland team.

Team news

Scotland are boosted by the availability of their county batsmen – Kyle Coetzer of Durham and Navdeep Poonia of Warwickshire – who will add strength to the top order when coupled with the experience of Gavin Hamilton and captain Ryan Watson. They have a good hand of seam bowlers, with the final decision likely to come down to between Richie Berrington, Gordon Drummond and the left-arm spin of Ross Lyons. One of Scotland’s most experienced players, Fraser Watts, hasn’t been able to find a place in the squad.Scotland (from) Ryan Watson (capt), Gavin Hamilton, Kyle Coetzer, Navdeep Poonia, Colin Smith, Neil McCallum, Richie Berrington, Craig Wright, Calum MacLeod, John Blain, Dewald Nel, Gordon Drummond, Ross LyonsEngland have injuries among their pace attack with Ryan Sidebottom missing and Chris Tremlett doubtful with Tim Bresnan being called up as cover. The most interesting aspect will be the make-up of the opening pair. Matt Prior is back and the most likely combination would be him with Ian Bell, who took that position against New Zealand. The other options include Luke Wright and Owais Shah, the latter opening in one match for the Lions against the South Africans. With Paul Collingwood serving his four-match suspension there is a middle-order place available which could hand Samit Patel a debut.England (possible) 1 Ian Bell, 2 Matt Prior (wk), 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Ravi Bopara, 5 Owais Shah, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Luke Wright, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James AndersonUmpires: Peter Baldwin (Germany) and Simon Taufel (Australia)

Pitch and conditions

Predictably, given the weather in recent weeks, the forecast is poor for Monday with rain forecast throughout the day. With all the rain the pitch is likely to favour the seamers and could play fairly slowly.

Stats and Trivia

India has lost the first Test of a series in England 12 times outof 14. The only exceptions are 1971 and 1986 and interestinglyenough India won the series both times.

Actually Indian contests in England can be divided into twodistinct phases with 1971 being the cut-off year. Prior to that,India played six rubbers in England (including the only Testplayed in 1932) and lost every one of them. Since 1971, India hasplayed seven Test series’ in England, winning two and losingfive. And there has been marked improvement since the dismalinitial record. Many times ­ in 1979, 1982, 1990 and 1996 ­ theseries has been lost narrowly. On all the four occasions, Indialost the first Test but drew the remaining matches.The present team can certainly take some inspiration from the1979 squad, the only previous outfit to get four Tests inEngland. On that occasion, India was given little chance againstan England team that, following the defections to Kerry Packer’sWorld Series Cricket, was probably the No 1 cricketing nation.India lost the first Test by an innings and 83 runs in four days,were shot out for 96 on the opening day of the second Test andyet heroically held on to draw not only that Lord’s Test but alsothe two remaining games.That England team, led shrewdly by Mike Brearley, was, as I said,arguably the best in the world. But it is astonishing how Indiahave repeatedly gone down in England to teams which are all toomodest in their composition.In 1959, India lost all five Tests, during one of the finestsummers, to an England side which had been thrashed 4-0 inAustralia just the previous winter. In 1967, England were notexactly on top of the world and yet India lost all three Tests.The home team were also a fairly mediocre outfit both in 1990 and1996 and yet India again contrived to lose the series each time.Paradoxically, England were the best team in the world when Indiaregistered the historic series victory in 1971.There was a time when the wicket and weather conditions inEngland were heavily loaded against the Indians. And while theseremain factors, they are now not as pronounced as in the past.Many of the current Indian players have had considerableexperience of playing in England, either on previous tours orthrough their county engagements. Moreover, in the second half ofthe English summer, the weather is more or less settled and thepitches do not pose the kind of problem they may pose in May andJune.What’s more, this is again a pretty modest England side. Theirmixed record at home in the last few years underlines this. Andthen there is the growing injury list. The bowling, in theabsence of Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick and Alex Tudor was prettyordinary at Lord’s. Now Simon Jones, inarguably their fastestbowler, and Graham Thorpe, arguably their most accomplishedbatsman (in addition to the already injured Marcus Trescothik),will be missing from the line-up at Trent Bridge.If after all this, the Indians are still one down in the seriesafter the opening game, a major factor has to be that they arenot playing up to potential. They have allowed themselves to beout batted, out bowled ­ and out thought.As I pointed out in a previous column, nothing will convince methat England’s batting line-up is as strong as India’s. Thebowling admittedly has discernible weaknesses and it may lack thefirepower to bowl out England twice. But India has the batting todraw a Test even if they lack the bowling to win it.The bookies, in fact, had a drawn game as a prohibitive favouriteon the second evening of the first Test with India 128 for one inreply to England’s 487 and who could find fault with them forthat? Virender Sehwag was going great guns, Rahul Dravid wasbatting in typically obdurate fashion and Sachin Tendulkar,Sourav Ganguly and Venkatsai Laxman had not even picked up theirbats to take on a bowling line-up that lacked both bite andvariety. However, as is well known, the scenario changeddramatically on the third morning.The fact of the matter is that India should never have allowedthe game to drift away so quickly. It took a No 8 batsman with anaverage of 7.81 going into the match and a dubious record of oncehaving registered five ducks in a row and a No 11, who has nopretensions to being any kind of batsman, to show up the failuresof the famed Indian batting line-up.Whichever way one looks at it, then, the onus is on the batsmen,more than on the bowlers, to perform. They have a greaterreputation to live up to. As the stronger of the two departments,it is imperative for the batting to shoulder much of theresponsibilities.Again, the present set of batsmen can take the cue from theirpredecessors in 1979. On that occasion too, the batting wasstronger than the bowling and so well did they perform that butfor a couple of unfavourable decisions by the umpires, Indiacould well have drawn level in the final Test at the Oval. Thereis nothing bowlers like better than commencing their job with abig total to defend. In these circumstances, even a toothlessbowling line-up can perform like hungry lions.

Former New South Wales batsman Graeme Rummans and paceman Shane Harwoodwill make their Pura Cup cricket debuts next week for Victoria.They’ve been selected in the squad of 12 for the cup match against SouthAustralia from October 15 at Adelaide Oval.The game opens the cup campaigns for the two teams.Rummans, who suffered a doping suspension earlier this year, scored adouble century this week in a ACB Cup match against Queensland.Next week’s match will also be the coaching debut for former SA captainand Test batsman David Hookes, who is in charge of the Bushrangers.Squad: Matthew Elliott (capt), Jason Arnberger, Darren Berry, Will Carr,Ian Harvey, Shane Harwood, Brad Hodge, Mathew Inness, Nick Jewell,Michael Lewis, Graeme Rummans, Cameron White (12th man to be named).

Loughborough UCCE will aim for a second consecutive clean sweep of University cricket trophies when the team plays Oxford UCCE in the One-Day Challenge Final at Lord’s tomorrow, (Tuesday 2 July).Last year Loughborough won the BUSA Championship, UCCE Championship and UCCEOne-Day Challenge competitions and this year it is looking to emulate thetreble-winning achievement.Loughborough UCCE head coach, former England paceman Graham Dilley, said, “We won all three last year and have already won the BUSA Championship, beating Durham in the final, and the UCCE Championship this year, so we want to make sure we retain the third title as well.”Of Loughborough’s 14-man squad, 10 of the players are under county contract,the only absentee from a full-strength line-up being the Hampshire-contracted John Francis, who is injured.The Oxford UCCE side, meanwhile, boasts three county contracted players, andcoach Graham Charlesworth is confident his side can upset the odds and beatLoughborough.”Loughborough has probably been the best side amongst the UCCEs this seasonand they certainly have strength in depth,” said Charlesworth, “but we have a few guys – Jamie Dalrymple who is a very experienced player, Hugh Jones, and Tom Mees, who is the quickest bowler in university cricket, amongst others – who can turn a game and we will certainly be looking to put one over them.”The two sides gained the right to contest the final by finishing respectively first and second in the 2002 UCCE Championships. The game will be a 50-over contest played to Benson & Hedges Cup regulations.

Oxford UCCE Squad: (contracted to.. / representative of..)1. JJ Sayers (Yorkshire)2. HR Jones3. JWM Dalrymple (capt) (Middlesex)4. N Millar5. JRS Redmayne6. SH Dalrymple7. PP Evans (wk)8. TC Hicks9. T Mees (Warwicks)10. TJ Sharpe (Hants Academy)11. IJ Hilsum12. WOF HowardCoach: Graham CharlesworthLoughborough UCCE Squad: (contracted to.. / representative of..)1. JHK Adams (Hants)2. V Atri (Notts)3. SA Selwood (Derbyshire)4. MJ Powell (capt) (Northants)5. RA White (Northants)6. CD Nash (Sussex – summer contract)7. DF Watts (Scotland international)8. DH Wigley (Yorkshire)9. CP Coleman (wk)10. MA Tournier11. MS Panesar (Northants)12. P Carter (Gloucs – summer contract)13. R Wilkinson (MCC YCs – Worcs Academy)14. Chris Benham (Hants)Coach: Graham Dilley

Cricket season has arrived early for six up and comers on the New Zealand cricket scene.Kyle Mills, a recovering TelstraClear Black Cap, Jamie How, Jeetan Patel, Shanan Stewart, Rob Nicol and Joseph Yovich, have been called into the New Zealand Academy side to travel to Townsville for a Southern Hemisphere cricket academies tournament.The team leaves on Wednesday next week and will play two three-day games against each of the Australian and South African Academies and two one-day games with each.Bangladesh was to have been involved as well but it withdrew from the tournament.The extra players have been required because only eight males (Jesse Ryder, Jordan Sheed, Stuart Mills, Iain Robertson, Mark Gillespie, Gareth Shaw, James McMillan and Ian Sandbrook) were included in the Academy intake this year, and also to ensure the bowling workloads are not too heavy on the Academy players.That suits Mills and Yovich especially. Mills is coming back after injury and has already gone to Darwin to get some preliminary match play under his belt.Yovich has been working at the High Performance Centre at Lincoln University with New Zealand Cricket’s player development manager Ashley Ross in the off-season on some technical aspects of his bowling which needed to be tested out in a playing environment.The series of games are a chance for Academy coaches to assess and analyse the players and to work with them when they return to Lincoln.

Delhi’s Sonnett Cricket Club opened their New Zealand tour with a 54-run win in the first fixture against Sparks’ Tour XI at Woolston Park, Christchurch earlier this week.The opening pair of Onkar Singh (63) and Jitender Singh (116) posted 171 runs for the first wicket. Jitender, a Punjab state player, spent 101 minutes at the crease facing 84 balls in an innings of forceful drives and delicate placement of the ball all around the field.Sonnett’s innings of the 35-over fixture closed at 271/3.Sparks’ Tours XI run chase received good support from two Lancaster Park/Woolston players heading to England for the off-season, Shayne McConnell (42) and Peter Robinson (71).Sparks’ Tours XI were dismissed for 217 in 30.2 overs giving the visitors a 54-run win.At the end of play, Sonnett’s vice president Sanjay Bhardwaj said “His boys really enjoyed their first match in New Zealand.”The Sonnett Cricket Club is in Christchurch for two weeks playing four fixtures against local club teams in that time. This tour follows the highly successful visit in January by the Desert Youth Cricket Club who played five games in Christchurch winning three and losing two, claiming a series win.

Hampshire’s outside chance of qualifying for the quarter final stage of the Benson & Hedges Cup in it’s last season fell after a poor defeat in the hands of Essex at Chelmsford on Sunday.Winning the toss on a dank, cloudy morning, the visitors soon lost pinch-hitter James Hamblin in the first over, and Derek Kenway in the fifth.Hampshire’s ploy of scoring quick runs in the opening 15 overs proved difficult in the swinging conditions against the accurate bowling of skipper Ronnie Irani and Ashley Cowan.Neil Johnson and John Crawley looked to attack but when they fell, only Will Kendall, with a diligent not out score of 34 gave Hampshire any sort of total in their twice interuppted innings, that had been reduced to 47 overs.Irani with 5-28, his best one day figures was the pick of the Essex bowlers and former Hampshire captain John Stephenson stepped in with three.Under the Duckworth/Lewis calculations, Essex were required to score 174 in 47 overs and despite losing Stephenson and Napier early on to the admirable Mascarenhas.England captain Nasser Hussain, making his first outing of the season looked out of touch at the start of his innings, but he then took advantage of the meanial target to score 47 in an 81-ball stay.Zimbabwean Andy Flower was the mainstay however of the innings, winning the “Gold Award” for his 79 not out, with only Shaun Udal restricting the scoring after Chris Tremlett had limped off after three overs with shin problems.

England opener Marcus Trescothick gave Somerset’s hopes of reaching the Benson & Hedges Cup quarter-finals a hefty boost, hitting an unbeaten 109 to earn his side a crushing eight-wicket victory over Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.Trescothick completed his second century in the competition this season, and his third in all cricket, as the visitors eclipsed Northants’ modest 219-6 with more than ten overs to spare. He stroked 15 fours in a polished and fluent 117-ball knock, and posted 145 for the second wicket with skipper Jamie Cox (72).Northants hit early trouble at 94-5 after David Ripley won the toss and chose to bat on another easy-paced Northampton pitch. Jason Kerr undermined their top order by running out Jeff Cook with a rasping throw from long leg and then dismissing Russell Warren and Graeme Swann with successive deliveries.Tony Penberthy (58) and Alec Swann (54 not out) revived the Northants cause with a plucky sixth-wicket stand worth 86 in 20 overs – a county record for the competition. But Somerset were always in command once Trescothick announced his intentions by cracking Darren Cousins for three boundaries in the paceman’s first two overs.Cousins removed Mark Lathwell cheaply, only for Trescothick and Cox to settle the issue with some aggressive strokeplay against a home attack missing the injured Graeme Swann – off the field nursing a shoulder problem.Cox’s demise near the end did not remotely threaten to affect the outcome, and Trescothick inevitably picked up the Gold Award for another high-quality performance.

Durham went to the top of the Norwich Union League division two as they heaped more embarrassment on Lancashire with a 24-run win at Chester-le-Street.Durham plundered 49 off their last five overs to reach 211 for six, but when Lancashire needed 48 off their last five they were restricted by Michael Gough and Paul Collingwood.Excellent bowling by Nicky Phillips reduced Lancashire from 83 for no wicket to 103 for four, and they limped along to close on 187 for eight.For the second successive Sunday the off breaks of Phillips (4-21) and Gough (2-27) proved decisive.Gough was also involved at the end of the Durham innings, sharing an unbroken stand of 48 with Andrew Pratt, who hit 25 off 13 balls and then claimed two excellent stumpings.Phillips even upstaged Muttiah Muralitharan, who was hit for ten in his first over by Danny Law but finished with two for 24 in nine overs. Law, opening for Durham for the first time, was bowled round his legs for 45 and Collingwood, the England one-day squad newcomer, was stumped for 23.Law was outpaced by 18-year-old Nicky Peng, who was three short of his first one-day 50 when he pulled a Chris Schofield long hop to mid-wicket.Lancashire also employed a pinch-hitting opener in Glen Chapple and he completed a maiden one-day half century off 41 balls, contributing 52 to a stand of 83 with Mike Atherton before he went down the pitch and was stumped in Phillips’ first over.Atherton made 62 off 124 balls before he was stumped in the 36th over as Durham turned up the pressure.

Whangarei produced one of its beautiful days today, a light breeze easing the heat under cloud-speckled blue skies. Unfortunately, it did not produce any cricket.Persistent rain over the previous day and a half coupled with high humidity meant that the covers could not protect the pitch and surrounds for this eighth-round Shell Trophy Northern Districts-Canterbury match from producing a tropical microclimate. It left the pitch soft and strategic points on the bowlers’ run ups like sponges.Early inspections immediately ruled out the morning session. A further umpires’ inspection at lunch moved the next decision-time back to 2.30pm when another session of pressing into the bare patches on the pitch and scuffing the run-ups, particularly at the Okara Park end, put the decision off until 3.30pm.At that point, the captains reached mutual agreement that it was in their best interests to allow the drying process to continue for the rest of the day and return to make a fresh start tomorrow. The toss was clearly the key. Neither would have been interested in either subjecting their top order to a searching couple of hours on an interesting pitch or, alternatively, their pacemen to unsafe bowling conditions.So, in the late afternoon, the ground was left to bake in glorious sunshine, disturbed only by Canterbury players going through their fielding practice routines.Weather permitting, the match will get underway tomorrow at 10.30am.