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Division two seems, at this early stage to be splitting into two mini-divisions of its own, with Essex, Middlesex, Derbyshire and Worcestershire in pursuit of promotion while the rest struggle to contend with apparently limited playing resources. The division has seen far more gap between top and bottom, and far more results this season – last year Warwickshire were promoted with five wins, now, not even half way through the season two teams have already reached that number.Derbyshire v Gloucestershire – Derby
Gloucestershire lost narrowly to Essex, after making a challenging declaration target last round, while Derby sat to round out and saw themselves overtaken at the top by Essex and Middlesex. Gloucestershire’s last game saw three big individual scores and a bowling performance from Australian Ian Harvey that will have warmed the hearts of their supporters and the like of which is rarely seen in defeat. The west country side, for all their reputation as one day specialists, are certainly capable of raising themselves – though they need at least one more bowler to regularly perform alongside Harvey and Lewis. That said, like Glamorgan, Somerset and Lancs they suffer from a wet climate and with the rest of the country unseasonably dry in spring are at a particular disadvantage.Derbyshire, for their part, have the highest win ratio in the championship with a remarkable five successes from six games, their success has also been based on less high scoring players than the other counties at the top of division 2, with only Di Venuto passing four hundred runs so far, that has been compensated for by everyone else mucking in with the bat and by their bowlers – led by the irrepressible Dominic Cork mowing down all comers.Glamorgan v Essex – Swansea
The Welsh county have suffered from erratic form, erratic weather, limited resources and walking into some remarkably good days for their opponents, the absence of Matthew Maynard, a leader on the pitch and a key batsman for three of six games has also hurt. Their overseas player Michael Kasprowicz has had more one day success than in the four day game. Their two root problems are not enough regular run contributions – which goes part way towards explaining their awful total of just eight batting points from a possible thirty, and the fact that when Thomas and Jones are absent from the attack then opposition batsmen are able to stick around for a long time building totals.Their visitors on the other hand have benefited from team work, and opportune spells of form, when Irani and Hussain have been absent, then Robinson and Habib have taken on the job of scoring their runs, and always they have had leading international run scorer and keeper par excellence Andy Flower. With leading bowler Irani out then the rest of their on paper limited bowling has lobbed seeming hand grenades. The way in which Essex have attacked their recent games is shown by the fact that of their seven top bowlers by average none take more than nine overs to take a wicket – a statistic matched only by Surrey’s 1999 tour de force in recent years, and they had four international strike bowlers to lead the way!Middlesex v Worcestershire – Lord’s
With Graham Hick having returned to peak form with a bang last week to lead the Worcestershire batting and Middlesex having the best record with the willow in either division this is a serious battle of the batsmen, Middlesex’s 27/30 batting points is a phenomenal achievement, and shows where their powerhouse is, eight players average over forty and their eight centuries are shared between six men. With the ball they have seemed less assured, though now Razzaq and the eccentric but extremely able Phil Tufnell look to be getting into the season to compensate for the absence of Noffke and big `Gus Fraser.At Worcester things are looking brighter by the week, Alan Donald has now arrived and coinciding with his impact Hick has delivered in spades, often the start of a run of big innings from him. These welcome contributions come into a side who’s other bowlers and batsmen have already been performing well with runs and wickets both plentiful and shared around.Northamptonshire v Durham – Northampton
At the other end of the table Northants and Durham have had a torrid year so far raising only one win from fourteen games between them, as against nine losses. While Durham play at the traditionally bowler friendly Riverside Northants reside at their batsmen’s paradise, but both share the same greatest problem, other sides are able to build huge totals against them on a regular basis, and both have displayed batting frailties.Hussey has so far amassed an total of 852 runs from seven appearances, and Mal Loye has added another 536, figures that are hard to credit in a played seven, lost five context. Carl Greenidge is still the only Northants bowler to have taken a fivefer though Brown now joins him with a sub fifty average. They need the other regular bowlers to either take wickets or get their economy rates down to, or preferably below three to make any impression on the table.For Durham, who have eight bowlers already past the fifty over mark one gets the feeling that there is more to come, and that now that they’ve started to score some runs a bit more focus should bring about a first win and maybe even a run of successes.

P   W  L  D  Bat Bowl Deduct PointsEssex                     7   5  1  1  21   20   0.50  104.50Middlesex                 6   4  0  2  27   16   0.00   99.00Derbyshire                6   5  1  0  16   18   1.00   93.00Worcestershire            7   3  2  2  23   18   0.00   85.00Nottinghamshire           6   2  4  0  11   18   0.50   52.50Glamorgan                 6   2  3  1   8   16   0.00   52.00Northamptonshire          7   1  5  1  20   16   0.50   51.50Gloucestershire           6   1  3  2  13   17   0.00   50.00Durham                    7   0  4  3  13   19   0.00   44.00

COLOMBO – Former Australian Test turned Zimbabwe coach Geoff Marsh hasurged Australia and England to play their scheduled World Cup cricketmatches in Zimbabwe next year.Australia cancelled a tour of Zimbabwe earlier this year amid securityfears and both the British and Australian governments have warned theircitizens not to travel to Zimbabwe because of the ongoing violence.But Marsh, who has been in Harare for the past year, endorsed Zimbabweas a sub-host of the World Cup.Zimbabwe is due to host all six of its World Cup matches at home,including games against England and Australia.”It’s fine, I live there fulltime, Harare is very safe,” Marsh saidahead of the ICC Champions Trophy in Colombo.”I’ve had no problems, I’ve been safe there and have enjoyed my timethere.”I’m looking forward to the England and Australian sides coming for theWorld Cup.”Asked if his comments could be taken as active encouragement, Marsh said”yes”.But he hasn’t formally talked to any Australian cricket officials.”I’ve spoken to nobody but lot of guys have asked ‘what’s it like inZim’ and I’ve said fine, ‘it’s a safe place to live’.”Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak said chief executives from nations due toface Zimbabwe next February and March, would be invited there later thisyear to check out conditions when Zimbabwe hosts Pakistan.”There’s an invitation from our board going out to all the other teamsthat are playing in our group at the World Cup, inviting the CEOs tocome to Zimbabwe when Pakistan are playing there to see for themselveswhat it is like,” Streak said.”I’m sure when Pakistan come it will be a good test for the rest of theworld to see that things are actually all right when it comes to sport -I don’t see any problems arising.”I’m confident things will go smoothly for the World Cup.”I know as far as the security goes there’s no problems with touringZimbabwe. Our government and our minister of sport have pledged theirsupport.”Streak’s farming father Denis, a former Zimbabwe manager, recently spentthree days in jail because of his resistance to the reclamation of farmsfor black Zimbabweans.Streak wouldn’t be drawn on the controversy, other than to say: “It’s aperiod of change in Zimbabwe and everybody’s affected in some way.”There’s certainly no problems in Zimbabwe at the moment – the securityis absolutely fine. All our families are there – we certainly don’t haveany problems and we’re confident the six group matches will go ahead inZimbabwe.”

Innings of the day
After Daniel Vettori had bailed out New Zealand’s batting on Friday afternoon, a Kiwi journalist asked at the close-of-play press conference whether any thought had been given to pushing him up the batting order. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong person to direct such a question to. “What, above me, you mean?” growled the man in the chair, Jacob Oram. And yet, it was a valid observation. Oram has struggled against this English attack – in five Test innings since March, he had made 76 runs with a best of 30 at Napier, and his nemesis, Ryan Sidebottom, had claimed his wicket on each of the last four occasions. And yet today he put such woes behind him, and in conjunction with the rookie, Daniel Flynn, rescued New Zealand from the depths of 120 for 4 (effectively five), with a gutsy and essential 101.Body blow of the day
On Thursday afternoon, England were a touch bemused by Brendon McCullum’s onslaught. In seam-friendly conditions, they plugged away on a full length but found themselves being lamped for 97 of the finest counterattacking runs you’ll ever see. The penny dropped at the close of play, and they resolved to treat him with more aggression the next time he came to the middle. So it proved today, with Stuart Broad employed as the baby-faced assassin. McCullum persisted in standing two feet outside his crease, but he was peppered with a selection of well-directed bouncers and eventually pinned by an arrow-straight lifter that thudded sickingly into his unguarded forearm. Thankfully X-rays showed no break, and he was later able to resume his innings, but the breach had been made, and England did everything they could to flood through it.Shots of the day
Oram and Daniel Flynn, however, held them back manfully in a 132-run stand. Though Flynn remained resolutely one-paced, the tension in Oram’s innings dissipated as the afternoon session wore on, and by the time New Zealand had passed the 200 mark there was no holding him back. He climbed into consecutive balls from Broad, flatbatting him through midwicket for four before timing him sweetly past backward point for another boundary, then sent the members scattering as he came down the track to lift Kevin Pietersen into the Pavilion for six. As he approached the nervous nineties, Michael Vaughan called for the new ball and threw it straight away to Sidebottom, but Oram displayed not a shred of nerves as he cut the first ball, straight-drove the fifth, then clubbed the last through the covers to race to his fifth Test hundred.Ball of the day
And yet, it was Sidebottom who had the final say with an astounding delivery that pitched on off stump, hit the seam, and then swung late as a devastating final measure. Oram had no chance as the ball burst through the gate to clip his off bail, and he was reduced to looking back in bemusement afterwards to work out what had happened. By then, Sidebottom was at his right-hand side, offering a sporting word of congratulation for an excellent matchsaving performance. It was a touching gesture at the end of a good-natured contest.Tactical substitution of the day
It worked for New Zealand on Sunday, and again for England today. The ball won’t do a thing if it ain’t got that swing, and so both sides lobbied successfully for a change. And what a difference it made. After eight innocuous overs, Sidebottom was suddenly a bowler transformed – having pushed every delivery across the right-hander’s bows, his first attempt with the new ball bent wickedly back into James Marshall’s pads, to send him on his way for a ninth-ball duck. Thereafter, survival for New Zealand was an entirely different proposition. It’s remarkable quite how much rests on the choice of Duke ball.Misplaced frustration of the day
Ross Taylor wasn’t best pleased when Simon Taufel sent him on his way in the morning session, lbw for 20 in Monty Panesar’s first over. The ball dipped late and jabbed Taylor on his toe in front of middle stump, although there was more than just a suggestion of an inside edge – not least from the grumpy manner in which Taylor made his way from the field of play. And yet, inconclusive though the replays proved to be, they did at least demonstrate that the ball, after impact, looped gently into the hands of Paul Collingwood at slip – and therefore he should have been given out anyway.Forgotten hero of the day
Jamie How is not a man who basks in the limelight. He was New Zealand’s captain at the start of this trip, although nobody really noticed because the IPL was in full swing; he made a ballsy 92 in the Hamilton Test victory back in March, but his efforts were forgotten amid the dramas of England’s final-day collapse. And likewise today, it was his gritty half-century at the top of the order that set New Zealand on their way to safety. The dramas of McCullum’s injury and Oram’s hundred condemned his efforts to a footnote, but by surviving the first 15 overs on Sunday evening, as well as the first session before lunch today, he allowed his team to live to fight another day.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 scored a major coup this week when South African-born CNN International news anchor Tumi Makgabo was confirmed as compere for the Opening Ceremony scheduled for Cape Town on February 8.A former anchor of the SABC 3 current affairs and news programme NewsHour, as well as SAfm’s AM Live, Ms Makgabo joined CNN in July 2000 and has covered a number of huge world events including US Presidential elections, the Middle East conflict, the fall of Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, and the World Conference Against Racism held in Durban last year. She has also interviewed world leaders and personalities including SA President Thabo Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mozambican President Joachim Chissano, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, former Pakistan cricket star Imran Khan and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Mary Robinson.Announcing the selection of Ms Makgabo, Executive Director Cup 2003 Dr Ali Bacher said he was delighted that she has agreed to be part of a show expected to be the best in Africa in sporting terms.The multi-lingual Ms Makgabo currently hosts "Inside Africa", a programme showcasing economic, social, cultural and other trends on the African continent.The opening ceremony will start at 20h30 and end at 22h30 and 5 000 volunteer artists will be performing during a "stadium theatre" show directed by Penny Jones and her crew. It is expected that 25 000 people will fill the Newlands ground, while a TV viewership of 1-billion worldwide is envisaged. SABC 3 will beam the event live in South Africa.

Somerset Sabres new mascot, the friendly dragon, who made his first appearance at the NUL game against Yorkshire Phoenix on May 12th is no longer nameless.As a result of a competition that was run by the Somerset County Gazette the dragon is now to be known as Stumpy, which is quite an appropriate name for a cricket club mascot.The name Stumpy was submitted by twelve year old Caty Larcombe, who lives in Ilminster, and many congratulations to her.Caty was delighted with her prize which is to spend the day as a guest of the club at one of their home matches later on this season.Stumpy the dragon has been taking it easy in Taunton since his first appearance a month ago, but this Sunday all being well he will make the long journey to The Rec at Bath to make a celebrity guest appearance and watch the NUL game against Leicester Foxes.Earlier today Stumpy told me through his interpreter Jo Betsworth: "I’m really looking forward to going all the way up to Bath on Sunday and meeting everybody in that part of the county.It’s along way for a dragon to travel, and I hope it is not too hot because I get very warm inside my dragon skin suit! Please tell people that I am very friendly and I want everybody, both young and old, to look out for me at The Rec and come up and say hello."

There are two ways to approach the new day if you leave the field within one shot of a century. Both were displayed at The Oval today.Alex Tudor, on the brink of a first century in what should be a long and successful all-round career was as nervy and excitable as he had been imperious on Day One. Alec Stewart, fast approaching his fiftieth hundred, simply hit the first ball of the day, admittedly a gift almost half-volley length outside his leg stump, to the ropes.His partner looked to have slept little and worried lots and could only play and miss, and even attempted to give catching pratice to the slips (he couldn’t even do this right, it fell well short) before an edge finally beat the cordon and he was safely a real batsman at last. Pressure relieved, Tudor could hardly miss a ball for a while – one cover drive would have stood out in any innings ever played, other shots were more brutal, but just as effective.With the two-hundred partnership having been hoisted Stewart (106) missed a ball keeping low, and after an interval Tudor (116) was caught in the deep from a top edge. Essex may have breathed a sigh of relief but losing the eighth wicket does not signal the arrival of the Surrey tail(more commonly pronounced Giddins). Salisbury and in particular Bicknell looked set on hoisting 500 to make their bowling tasks later in the day simpler.After the leg-spinner was caught off McGarry, the entire Essex team seemed to retreat to the fence to stop Bicknell scoring boundaries and offer him singles, a tactic which failed as theyhad but nine outfielders and would have needed twenty.The second loudest cheer of the day (after Tudor’s hundred) greeted a four to Giddins before Irani, strangely underbowled, ended the carnage by bowling Bicknell (38).The game seemed to resume on a different ground. Whereas the Essex bowlers had struggled to achieve a hint of movement, though with occasionally variable bounce, Bicknell, faster than any of the Essex bowlers and getting much more bounce, could not control the ball at all in his first over, the ball swinging enough to have two wides called.Tudor at the other end got little movement and seemed to be unable to hit the seam consistently – perhaps a symptom of a sleepless night – but generated alarming pace. The first runs from the bat came from an edge past third slip in his first over that reached the pavillion before any fielder had moved.Bicknell soon had the measure of the swing and by the time he decieved Prichard (0) with a slower ball he had beaten him on both sides of the bat more than once. Robinson (7) left a beautiful inswinger, perhaps assuming it would bounce over the stumps. It did, but not over the bails.The wicket bringing Law out to join Grayson. Law immediately looked more assured than hiscolleagues but hardly comfortable, clearing the slips with an uncomfortable edge, and playing and missing at Bicknell. Giddins replaced Tudor bowling as fast as I have seen him for his new county and getting much more movement than Tudor, finally getting Grayson (37) caught at point by Ward.Ben Hollioake replaced Bicknell and the scoring rate improved, the young allrounder showing both sides of his bowling. Some unplayable away swingers were mixed with too many short balls and half-volleys allowing Law to get well underway.Law, on the way to a classy but hardly chanceless hundred (he was dropped or missed either side of 50 and on 99, all hard chances). The rest of the Essex batting however seemed unable to cope with any of the Surrey bowlers.Irani (17), surely over-promoted at number five in a first-class game, looked to slog the side out of trouble before pulling a fast shortish ball onto his stumps. Peters (23) was correct but not able to cope for long with Bicknell’s return to the Vauxhall end.Neither Foster or Anderson (who had earlier been the pick of the Essex bowlers) looked to be middle-order batsmen, Foster in particular looking very uncomfortable facing Tudor. From a stance inside the crease, a step back before the ball is bowled inspires little confidence.Ilott however played well got into line and drove with some force before both sides seemed todecide that enough was enough and Salisbury and Ramprakash bowled a few overs to bring a long day to a close, not without Salisbury spinning the ball enough to suggest that the second Essex innings will be any easier.At the close of day two of the CricInfo Championship Division One game at The Oval, Essex were 265 for 7 in their first innings, still 223 behind Surrey’s first innings total of 498.

Morning SessionThat this was Yorkshire’s best session of the match does not mean that the champions had the better of it, there continued to be too many deliveries that were more hard to reach than they were hard to play – a fact hard to pardon at the pace Hamilton and Fellows bowl at. As with yesterday Ryan Sidebotton was the pick of the bowlers, managing to pass the edge at times and to restrict the batsmen with his left arm seamers while the other quick bowlers were rattling along at better than five an over.The home side did, however, finally manage to dispose of the Surrey openers, Ward was first to go, bowled for seventy, with the score on 161 trying to continue the dominance he and Butcher had enjoyed over Chris Silverwood, he was shortly followed by Butcher playing at Kirby in similar fashion. The brief pause in scoring rate after that was the only respite the scorers had all session and was followed by yet another flurry of boundaries as Stewart weighed into Kirby and Ramprakash launched Fellows for the first six of the match. Surrey are 100 runs ahead at lunch on day 2 with Ramprakash looking comfortable and Stewart imperious.Afternoon SessionApril continues to shower the cricket following public with unaccustomed cheer as the sun continued to shine on Surrey’s tour de force, Stewart and Ramprakash continue to push on at four runs per over in front of another good crowd, Yorkshire’s slim hopes of saving this game are now dependent on either a huge change in the weather or a miraculous batting performance in the second innings – preferably both.It is as well that most MPs are too limited to appreciate cricket or on this evidence the county championship would surely be banned for cruelty, the sad truth about Yorkshire’s bowling figures is that for much of the time the run rate is only kept below a run a ball by the fact that neither batsman has been able to reach the damn thing. In this session Lehmann’s side have given up all pretence of trying to win the game by contrast their opponents streaked to a thousand runs for the season in only their second match having lost a grand total of ten wickets before Kirby finally got Ramprakash to edge behind with thescore on 309. It was a good delivery but the wicket was purchased in large part by the scarcity of reachable fodder, nobody can say though that his confrontations with Surrey have been anything less than high entertainment in three matches he has taken seven wickets for 230 at nearly five runs per over.The breakthrough seemed to give Yorkshire’s bowlers renewed hope as the next few overs, from Sidebottom and Kirby showed a fire and accuracy that had hitherto been lacking, for the first time in the game it looked as though two Yorkshire bowlers were intent on taking a wicket, but with the first innings lead marching towards two hundred it seemed too little too late. It was a lovely change to see Kirby putting the ball in the right place however, his whippy action appeared to straighten and he looked, for a while at least the bowler who brushed several teams aside last season.Despite the improved bowling the visitors continued to be able to keep the scoreboard ticking over, the pace with which they eliminated the home side and then ran up three hundred runs also allowed Ali Brown the luxury of a steady start, Yorkshire are one of the few teams in recent years to have contained the explosive middle order batsman restricting him to just a single century in recent seasons and dismissing him for numerous single figure scores. Fellows was brought back into the attack when Sidebottom tired with instructions to frustrate the batsmen while Kirby charged in at the other end. Stewart was not in the mood to throw away his wicket in the seventies having gifted it to Sussex on 99 the week before and Brown too was content to ride out the spell.Brown’s patience was such that his first boundary came forty minutes into his innings it ran out however shortly afterwards when he played loosely at a new bowler Gavin Hamilton who looked amazed to take the wicket – it was major a victory for the tykes, they’d finally got someone out for less than sixty. The arrival of Nadeem Shahid saw the scoring rate pick up almost straight away though as he slammed Hamilton for two boundaries in the the eighty ninth over before Stewart brought up the 350 in the ninetieth, seven bonus points to one a fair measure of the game’s progress to date.The biggest surprise of the afternoon session came shortly before the break when Stewart, for the second time in two innings got himself out in the nineties, caught by Wood from the mediocre, but at least often disciplined bowling Fellows for 96, Shahid and Azhar then took the score to within spitting distance of 400 and five batting points.Evening SessionWith the bounce of this pitch increasingly erratic and its cracks widening Shahid and Azhar set about the Yorkshire attack with alacrity. For the second game in succession the championship favourites lower middle order displayed a sense of duty to the cause of fast runs at any cost that even Stuart Surridge, champion of the fifties style of “positive cricket” would have found admirable. Their partnership lasted a bare fifty runs before Shahid’s departure prompted a mini-collapse which saw both Tudor and Bicknell depart cheaply, Azhar and Surrey’s last centurian, Ian Salisbury, who hadn’t actually had to bother batting in their previous demolition job then added yet another speedy fiftystand, Surrey eventually took the first innings lead to a vast 370 on a failing wicket, although it is arguable that they should have packed up and stopped the torture when Salisbury was caught for a brutal 27 from 28 balls.That Yorkshire were able to claim Surrey’s last five wickets for just eighty runs is pathetically small comfort, that four able batsmen sacrificed their wickets for a few quick runs in the opposing cause is ominous.The scale of Surrey’s first innings achievement and Bicknell and Tudor’s pique at being dismissed so cheaply was brought into sharp focus in the eight balls of Yorkshire’s second innings. In Martin Bicknell’s opening wicket maiden he beat, befuddled and drew an edge from Wood and then, to rub salt in the would it took the increasingly potent Alex Tudor just two balls to tear Richardson out clean bowled.The champions have been utterly outclassed in each of six sessions so far, they have little, or no, hope of survival in this game, their only crumbs of comfort are that Kirby joined Sidebottom in bowling well for the latter part of the Surrey innings and that Lehmann’s second innings wicket is still intact.From the other side of this great rivalry Surrey may be concerned with the occasional dropped catch and a failure to convert enough fifties into centuries. Both seem rather mild complaint for a side which is seemingly scoring runs and taking wickets at will, and whose two best players (Thorpe and Saqlain) and captain are yet to make an appearance this season.

Inspired by the fiery bowling of the experienced Andrew Penn and the 24-year newcomer Iain O’Brien – backed by the clever hands of Chris Nevin the wicket-keeper – Wellington gave Auckland an embarrassing thumping in their Shell Trophy match at Cornwall Park today.After the Wellington second innings had withered away to a disappointing 137 this morning Auckland had ample time in which to score the 203 runs needed for an upset win.With O’Brien getting his second five-wicket bag in his first season (twice just missing hat-tricks) and Penn chiming in with four wickets, Wellington simply smashed the Auckland second innings to pieces.The first two wickets fell at 13, the next two at 20 and thereafter O’Brien and Penn simply chipped away at the fragile Auckland batting, Nevin snared five catches and Auckland were bundled out for only 75.Wellington thus had the win by 127 runs, with a full day plus 26 overs unused.The fact that only the Wellington first innings went over 200 and the next three innings dwindled progressively to 182, 137 and 75 might suggest the Cornwall Park pitch had been laced with sulphuric acid and the bowlers had an unfair amount of assistance.The batsmen of both sides cannot offer that excuse. The pitch had modest pace and bounce, but it played few tricks, apart from the new ball skidding a little, helping to account for the 12 lbw decisions.Wellington simply had the better-directed medium-fast bowling from O’Brien and Penn in both innings assisted by Matthew Walker in the first. The three of them shared 16 wickets.What is more they maintained the tight attacking line that their coach Vaughn Johnson demanded before the start of play on the first day.O’Brien especially was highly accurate, made the batsmen play most deliveries and worked the ball cleverly away from the right-handers, always with the prospect that hitting the seam might have the ball cutting back.This was precisely the type of accurate seam-bowling with which Central Districts embarrassed Auckland last week, and which their erratic batsmen seem to find a mystery.The fact that Selwyn Blackmore was the only Wellington batsman to score 50 or over (Auckland also had only one, Kyle Mills) was another indication that the batting techniques of both teams were not of the highest class.However, Wellington may have had the best of the batting conditions on the first day, even if they laboured unduly hard for their 247 and took all the first day to gather in that modest total.There was not an indication then that Wellington had gripped the game by the throat, but the wayward Auckland batting, especially among the top five who should be regarded as the main run-getters, tilted the balance irretrievably to Wellington.Auckland had three “noughts” in the top four batsmen in their first innings, and two “ducks” and a two in the top five of their second innings. Richard King and Tim McIntosh contributed three of those noughts and King also managed a two.Perhaps the only art Wellington neglected was to finish off the hat-tricks for their bowlers. Penn was sitting on a hat-trick in the first innings, but there was no special field set for the third ball, and it passed harmlessly by.Today O’Brien had two chances of a hat-trick when he removed King and Dion Nash with consecutive balls and repeated the feat with Reece Young and Andre Adams later on.O’Brien did not threaten the stumps with his first hat-trick attempt. With his second he did get Chris Drum playing at the ball, which scuffed something and went through to Nevin, with the Wellingtonians raising a sporadic and tentative appeal, which did not convince anyone Drum had actually hit a catch.Otherwise Wellington won everything, especially the toss, and Auckland won nothing – and Wellington must now be the warmest of favourites to win the Trophy when they play Northern Districts at Hamilton later this week.

Yorkshire collapsed against the pace of Andy Caddick and Steffan Jones at Headingley today as Somerset stormed to victory by 161-runs in the CricInfo Championship match.Caddick warmed up for the Lord’s Test next week by taking five for 92 to give him ten wickets in the match and Jones gave him strong support to finish with four for 91.Yorkshire began the final day on 96 for three, still needing 258 to achieve their 354 target, and everything depended on whether Darren Lehmann could blaze the trail like he did yesterday when he dashed to his half-century off only 38 balls.Lehmann resumed on 53 and skipper David Byas on 26, their fourth-wicket stand already worth 66, and they put on a further 20 quite confidently before Byas got a thin edge off Caddick and was caught behind.Yorkshire suffered another blow when Craig White played round a ball from Jones and was lbw and Somerset knew they were home and dry with the departure of Lehmann for 77 off 78 balls with 13 boundaries.The Australian attempted to hit Caddick over square leg but only made a slight contact for wicketkeeper Rob Turner to take another catch.Apart from some lusty blows by Gary Fellows, who made 29 before his off-stump was removed by Jones, Yorkshire had little to offer and Caddick had the satisfaction of dismissing his England colleague Darren Gough with a sharply lifting ball that he could only fend off to point.Caddick and Jones had bowled in tandem for 95 minutes from the start and as soon as Jason Kerr took over from Jones he ended the match by getting Chris Silverwood to top edge a skier which landed in Turner’s gloves, Somerset collecting 17 points from the match and Yorkshire four.Yorkshire captain David Byas admitted that his side had been outplayed. “They played the better cricket in most sessions of the match. It is fair to say they outplayed us really,” he conceded, before expressing the hope that his young side could learn from the match.”We have to look at this as a poor performance but learn from it and if afew of the lads get a kick up the backside from it then that is the benefit,” he reasoned.”We had aspirations of actually getting the runs when we started this morning,” Byas revealed. “It obviously got easier last night when Darren and I were in. But we knew we had to stay there. If we could have got through to lunch we had a chance. But all good plans come to an end some time, and that is what happened.”Meanwhile Somerset coach, Kevin Shine, was delighted with the win, and praised his opening bowlers in particular: “It has been a clinical effort this morning. Both our main pace bowlers, Caddick and Steffan Jones, bowled fantastically well.”

ScorecardRory Hamilton-Brown led Surrey’s charge with a destructive maiden one-day hundred•PA Photos

Surrey maintained their hopes of securing a semi-final place in the Clydesdale Bank 40 with a comfortable 39-run victory over Glamorgan after racking up 386 for 3 – a new world record total in 40-over cricket – sparked by a maiden one-day hundred from Rory Hamilton-Brown and an elegant 88 off 63 balls from Steven Davies.Mark Ramprakash and Matthew Spriegel then went to share in an unbeaten stand of 142 for the fourth wicket. Chasing a revised target of 227 in 20 overs, the Dragons battled bravely without ever threatening to turn the contest on its head. Mark Cosgrove hit 88 off 55 balls, sharing in a rousing fifth-wicket partnership of 85 in six overs with Jamie Dalrymple, who made 54 not out.In a match initially reduced to 38 overs per side, Surrey set off at nearly 10 runs an over after being inserted by the visitors. They were able to maintain that rate even after Hamilton-Brown and Davies were parted in the 20th over with the total on 190.Hamilton-Brown’s 50 came off only 33 deliveries. Davies was no slouch either, his half century taking just 44 balls. Hamilton-Brown brought the 50 up for the Lions in the fifth over with a huge on driven six off Will Owen. Six overs later, Davies posted the pair’s third three-figure opening stand in this season’s CB40 by despatching Robert Croft through extra cover for four.Having lifted Dean Cosker and David Brown over long-on for maximums, Davies was eventually caught at long-off off the bowling of Cosgrove.Glamorgan let Hamilton-Brown off the hook on three occasions – on 24, when he should have been run out at the non-striker’s end, on 40, when Mark Wallace missed a stumping chance off Cosker and on 95 when the Surrey skipper edged a drive past the wicketkeeper, again off Cosker. The second and third reprieves were immediately followed up with Hamilton-Brown sixes.After making 115 off 69 balls, Hamilton-Brown departed in the 25th over, holing out to long-on; though not before Huw Waters had caught and bowled Stewart Walters for 18.But Surrey were not finished there. Ramprakash raced to his 79th domestic one-day 50, which he reached in just 35 deliveries, and brought up the hundred partnership in the 36th over with the second of four successive boundaries off Owen. Ramprakash ended up with 85 not out from 46 balls. Spriegel’s contribution to Surrey’s mammoth total was an unbeaten 56 in 39 deliveries.Croft was caught behind off Chris Tremlett in the fifth over of Glamorgan’s reply, whereupon the heavens opened. When play resumed, the visitors refused to lie down, despite losing Will Bragg and David Brown cheaply.Tom Maynard made a breezy 19, which included a six over third man off Steven Cheetham, but the bulk of the entertainment was supplied by Cosgrove and Dalrymple, whose 54 off 23 balls included four sixes.