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ScorecardRikki Clarke’s unbeaten half-century helped Birmingham overcome a poor start to their chase•Getty Images

NatWest T20 Blast champions Birmingham Bears are guaranteed a quarter-final place in this year’s competition after beating closest rivals Worcestershire Rapids by five wickets in front of a sell-out crowd at New Road.The North Group leaders opened up a four-point gap when old hand Rikki Clarke kept cool in making an unbeaten 52 from 43 balls as the Bears made it five wins in a row.Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Brett D’Oliveira made half-centuries in taking the Rapids to 160 for 5 and the Bears overcome a chaotic start to complete a successful run chase with three balls to spare after a quick-fire 22 not out by Ateeq Javid.It was an earlier partnership of 68 in nine overs by Clarke and Laurie Evans which restored order before the latter was caught at long-on off Saeed Ajmal.In the closing stages wicketkeeper Ben Cox intermittently employed the tactic of discarding his gloves and taking up a sort of long stop position, but it made no odds as the Rapids suffered a blow in their bid for a quarter-final spot.

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Birmingham are the first county to qualify for the quarter-finals this season and within this victory there was evidence to why they are deservedly so. With 30 balls remaining in their run-chase they were still 57 short of the target – a less successful team may have panicked, but there was no sense of that as four consecutive double-digit overs saw Birmingham to victory with three balls remaining.

Their innings had been a tale of two exciting academy-developed prospects and two contrasting phases.Kohler-Cadmore registered his third half-century in the competition and D’Olviera, from the third generation of a famous cricketing family, reached an explosive 50 from 29 balls, his highest score in all formats for the first-team.Yet for all this enterprise, the Rapids were tied down for more than half of the innings as Warwickshire’s three spinners conceded only 71 runs – and three boundaries, all by Kohler-Cadmore – in the space of 11 overs.On a sluggish surface, which was used for two previous T20 games, Worcestershire were only able to break out of the shackles when D’Oliveira hit four sixes as pace bowlers Oliver Hannon-Dalby and Recordo Gordon were carted for 56 off the last four overs.When D’Oliveira hoisted the last ball of the inning over long off, the 23-year-old allrounder was undefeated with 56 from 30 deliveries, having more than doubled his previous best in the competition.Worcestershire made a poor start when captain Daryl Mitchell came down from a mid-week double century in the County Championship to a first-ball duck when he steered rather than smashed a short ball from Rikki Clarke to backward point.Richard Oliver was bowled for 10, aiming to slog wrist spinner Josh Poysden’s opening delivery, and Colin Munro was smartly stumped by Tim Ambrose off Jeetan Patel.Kohler-Cadmore managed to shut out problems at the opposite end by taking five boundaries in the power play and the former Malvern College batsman was up to 66 from 51 balls when he holed out to deep midwicket off Poysden.In contrast Warwickshire’s top order lurched into trouble. Brendon McCullum hit two sixes but the New Zealand captain’s dismissal, bowled by Joe Leach for 15, sparked off a slump to 48 for 4, one of the wickets falling to D’Oliveira.

As Steve Harmison lurches into his latest crisis following an insipid performance in Hamilton, Allan Donald, the man who last summer was charged with trying to coax him into action, has revealed Harmison came to him and admitted he was ‘scared’.Donald was England’s bowling coach during the 2007 season but turned down the full-time position so that he could spend more time with his family and has joined Warwickshire as their bowling coach. The moment when Harmison opened up came at Old Trafford during the third Test against West Indies after he’d struggled to hit the cut strip.”He needed confidence,” Donald told the . “He needed to feel appreciated. I’ve never seen a cricketer as low as he was. He came off the field in the Test at Old Trafford and told me he was scared. It was so sad.”From his low point in the first innings at Old Trafford, Harmison did manage to regain some composure with an improved performance on the final day and in the fourth Test on his home ground at Chester-le-Street. However, just as he was finding some confidence another injury came along and he missed the rest of the summer. He has continued to suffered fitness issues, especially with his back, during the winter tours of Sri Lanka and New Zealand.Harmison’s fate is now in the hands of Ottis Gibson after Donald opted against a full-time role. “To be honest with you, I wouldn’t have taken the England job even if this role at Warwickshire hadn’t come up,” Donald said. “Working with the England team was fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed it and feel I made a positive impact. And, I have to say, the ECB were brilliant. They are a highly professional organisation and, in many ways, everything about the job was great.”But I’ve been on the road for years. At some stage you have to put the family first. I want to see my children grow up.”

Ashley Noffke will warm up for his Test tour of West Indies with a brief stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after Bangalore picked him to replace the injured Nathan Bracken. Noffke leaves for India on Tuesday but must be back in Brisbane in early May for Australia’s training camp ahead of the Caribbean series.Noffke did not originally nominate for either of the IPL auctions and intended to stay focused on his push for international honours. But after he was confirmed for the West Indies trip and named in Cricket Australia’s 25-man squad of contracted players for 2008-09, Noffke decided a short Twenty20 spell could be beneficial.”It’s a pretty exciting proposition to go up against so many good players,” Noffke said. “I’m taking the view that it will be good for my development as a player as well as a chance to get some bowling under my belt ahead of the Windies tour.”Noffke’s last-minute dash to India means he will be available for Bangalore’s opening clash against Kolkata on Friday. If selected, that could pit Noffke against the Australia captain Ricky Ponting as well as the newly-contracted David Hussey.He will also be free to play three more IPL games before heading home for the training camp. Bracken, who is still recovering after having knee surgery in March, will be assessed prior to the ODI tour of West Indies to determine whether he can take part.

ScorecardDurham have secured their first win in the Royal London One-Day Cup in the 2018 campaign, defeating the Worcestershire Rapids by nine runs via the Duckworth/Lewis method.Michael Richardson scored a half-century to guide his team to a total of 209 after losing the toss, while Gareth Harte also impressed with 48. Charlie Morris claimed figures of 4 for 33 to give the visitors hope of earning their third win on the bounce in the competition.However, a clatter of early wickets put the home side in command as Chris Rushworth, Matt Dixon and Nathan Rimmington struck, handing Tom Latham’s men the narrow victoryDurham were inserted by the visitors and were immediately pegged back in the first over as Josh Tongue removed Graham Clark lbw for four. Richardson and Cameron Steel dug in to see off the opening burst and put on 50 for the second wicket before Steel was caught on the fence by Ross Whiteley off the bowling of Ed Barnard.Latham made a brisk 21 off just 19 deliveries, only to be dismissed by a straight delivery from Patrick Brown. Morris put the home side on the back foot with further inroads, removing Will Smith and Stuart Poynter in the space of three balls. Harte, making his List A debut, battled well with Richardson to guide Durham out of trouble.Richardson seem well placed on 64 to kick on towards three figures, but he was caught on the boundary by Whiteley off the spin of Brett D’Oliveira. Ryan Pringle then followed from his first ball to leave Durham 147 for 7.Fortunately for Durham, the tail wagged as Rimmington and Rushworth provided valuable runs down the order. Although the end was to come abruptly as Morris returned to the attack to wrap up the innings, claiming career-best figures of 4 for 33.Worcestershire’s reply began poorly as Daryl Mitchell edged a Rushworth delivery behind to Poynter in the first over. Travis Head and Tom Fell departed in quick succession as Durham continued their surge into the middle order. D’Oliveira scored three boundaries on the spin to stem the tide, but the Rapids then lost Joe Clarke for 17 when he was removed by Rimmington.Cox scored his first boundary by edging the ball over the top of the slips. However, he quickly found his stride, finding his rhythm at the crease, blasting Harte over extra over for a six.Due to the fall of early wickets, the Rapids had to bat with aggression to reach the Duckworth/Lewis target of 92 in the 15th over. Even their onslaught against Harte was not good enough, falling just short before the rain came and ended the contest.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

There were plenty of star batsmen on show but the two best innings of an absorbing encounter came from two youngsters. Shaun Marsh’s unbeaten 84 on his IPL debut, carrying Kings XI Punjab to a comfortable seven-wicket win – their third on the trot – and fourth place in the points table, followed Rohit Sharma’s 76, which lifted the Deccan Chargers to a respectable 164.Each side also saw cameos from more experienced hands; VVS Laxman provided the early aggression for Deccan with a typically fluid 48 off 34 balls, while Mahela Jayawardene shrugged off his indifferent form to date with an assured unbeaten 45 to shepherd Marsh – the son of the former Australian opener Geoff Marsh – as they ran down the target with ease.Sent in to bat, Deccan raced to 50 for 1 after six overs on the back of Laxman’s efforts, and seemed on course for a huge total. However, the game’s complexion changed when legspinner Piyush Chawla intelligently varied his trajectory and pace in a two-over spell to remove Herschelle Gibbs and Laxman. Gibbs, on his IPL debut, fell as he clubbed a short one straight to midwicket while Laxman was too early into a drive to lob one to Yuvraj at covers to leave Deccan at 67 for 3 after nine overs.Enter Rohit, who had burst into the limelight with a fighting fifty against South Africa in the ICC World Twenty20 last year. As wickets fell around him and only Shahid Afridi touching double figures, Rohit took the fight to the bowlers. He started slowly, as the Punjab’s bowlers keeping things tight.It wasn’t till the 15th over that he opened out, taking Chawla for 12 runs, including a four and a big six, to spoil the legspinner’s figures. The next over was from Gagandeep Singh, playing his first IPL match; he fired in a couple of great yorkers but Rohit hit him for two powerful boundaries off the last two balls. His fifty came with a heave over midwicket off VRV Singh and the runs continued to flow as he took Gagandeep for three consecutive fours in the 19th. A six off Irfan in the final over rounded off his exploits, having scored his last 57 runs off 22 balls.For all that, though, it was still a below-par total that Punjab had to chase down and Marsh got them off to a confident start with a couple of sweetly-timed boundaries in the first over. Laxman shuffled the bowlers around and managed to stifle the runs but it needed a stroke of luck for the breakthrough.With the score on 41 in the sixth over, Marsh lashed a Sanjay Bangar delivery straight back and the bowler managed to get a hand on it as it crashed into the stumps with non-striker Ramnaresh Sarwan out of his crease. Sangakkara fell soon after but Marsh and Yuvraj were involved in a 41-run stand off four overs to keep the target well in sight.Marsh remained unruffled even after Yuvraj’s dismissal and was joined by the cool-headed Jayawardene, who smashed three boundaries off his first five balls. The only time they looked in trouble was when Bangar sent down a tight 14th over and the required run-rate crept over nine. The response from Punjab was swift – Jayawardene played a couple of scoops and an extra-cover drive as 19 runs came off the next over.Besides scoring heavily square of the wicket on the off side Marsh – who was a replacement for Simon Katich, Punjab’s matchwinner in their previous game – also unleashed some lovely on-drives. There were a few streaky shots towards the end before he clubbed Zoysa for a straight six, his first of the match. Jayawardene brought up the victory with another classy extra-cover drive, as Punjab continued their resurgence after losing their first two games.

The president of the Guyana Cricket Board, Chetram Singh, has said that Shivnarine Chanderpaul was granted permission to attend the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) awards ceremony mid-way through Guyana’s Carib Beer Cup match against Windward Islands.There was confusion on the second day when Gajanand Singh came out to bat with captain Travis Dowlin, although Chanderpaul had been unbeaten on 78 after the first day. Match referee Omar Bacchus, along with the two umpires, Davetirth Anandjit and Terence Birbal, confirmed to that they were not informed by the Guyana team-management about Chanderpaul’s absence, and hence ruled him retired out.Guyana’s manager, Carl Moore, and coach Albert Smith were unable to explain Chanderpaul’s absence during the second day, with Smith saying that Chanderpaul should have informed him of his plans to play only a part of the match.Chanderpaul’s unexplained absence on the second day and parts of the third day had incensed the Windwards team-management, who refused to allow Guyana a substitute fielder for him. Chanderpaul, though, returned during the second session of the third day and remained at the pavilion when Guyana’s turn came to bat again.But Chetram maintained that Moore was informed about Chanderpaul’s plans to attend the awards ceremony. “The manager was informed that Shiv was leaving and I am at a loss as to way he felt it was not necessary to inform the relevant authorities.”The responsibility of the manager is to inform all the relevant parties that Shiv was not going to continue his innings and I would say that poor management caused all this confusion.””Shiv asked to go before the match began and permission was granted. He agreed to play for his country which was good for the game, especially since [Ramnaresh] Sarwan was asked to rest from this game,” Singh told .”The idea was for him to leave after the day’s play and return the next day but no flight was available out of Guyana to Trinidad after 10:30 pm. Shiv was forced to cut short his innings to catch that [sic] flight and as agreed, he returned the next day even though the second Test was being played in Trinidad.”Singh felt Chanderpaul “deserved to have been allowed to personally collect his awards”, and blamed a flight delay for him not being able to resume his innings. “He could have also requested some rest and missed the last-round game, but in the absence of Sarwan he felt he needed to play. It was unfortunate that the unavailability of an afternoon [return] flight resulted in him having to cut short his innings.

ScorecardFile photo – Asghar Stanikzai smashed 13 fours and six sixes in his 127 off 163 balls•ICC/Helge Schutz

Coach Inzaman hails Afg’s come-from-behind win

Afghanistan coach Inzamam-ul-Haq has said the win against PNG was all the more significant given his team had been switching between formats a lot of late.
“The performance was exceptional and outstanding because this was the third different format they were playing inside four weeks,” he said, adding their aggressive approach after a poor start was important. “These are big, powerful and talented lads who play without fear. It requires a lot of guts and courage to hit the number of fours and sixes they hit in the second innings when they had their backs against the wall.
“These are positive signs and we just want to build upon these foundations without burdening them with too much information.”

Afghanistan completed a stunning comeback win as they overcame a 151-run first-innings deficit to thrash Papua New Guinea by 201 runs in Sharjah. Asghar Stanikzai (127), Mohammad Shahzad (116) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (112) all struck centuries as Afghanistan piled on 501 in their second innings – along with handy lower-order fifties from Gulbadin Naib and Mirwais Ashraf – to set PNG a target of 390.PNG were never in the chase at any point as they lost wickets in clumps to succumb for 188. Assad Vala struck his second half-century of the game and offered some resistance with his 81 but it was not close to enough. Zahir Khan and Yamin Ahmadzai both picked up four wickets to break the back of the PNG chase.Earlier, it was PNG that dominated with both bat and ball as they bowled Afghanistan out for 144, with Norman Vanua doing most of the damage with figures of 4 for 36, and then put up a total of 295 through Mahuru Dai’s 129 and Vala’s 62 to earn a lead of 151. Zahir and Ahmadzai were again the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets apiece.